September 18
Life moves pretty fast. Try to cram it all into one day.
First in California lottery-based Citizen Advisory Panel
Earlier this year, the City of Petaluma hired Healthy Democracy to put together a citizen panel via lottery to advise on uses of the Petaluma Fairgrounds (the lease expires December 31, 2023). The process chose a panel reflective of the diversity of the City, from a group of volunteers. Fascinating look at a more inclusive process for local decision making.
September 17
An Extended Erudite Discussion of Campus Comedy in the Last Century
George Carlin + Nintendo Wii Theme (SLYT). Very short but tremendously catchy. (Originally from Carlin on Campus.) [more inside]
‘Hey, how are we going to make this work today?’
Inside the $100 Billion Mission to Modernize America’s Aging Nuclear Missiles. "Walking into Moffett’s capsule at Alpha-01 is like walking into the past. Banks of turquoise electronics racks, industrial cables, and analog controls have been down here since the U.S. military installed the equipment decades ago. Look closely at the machines and you’ll find names of manufacturers like Radio Corp. of America, defunct since 1987, and Hughes Aircraft Co., defunct since 1997. Some systems have been updated over the years, but these advances are unrecognizable to anyone who lived through the personal-computer revolution, let alone the internet age. The entire ICBM fleet runs on less computational power than what’s now found inside the smartphone in your pocket. When something breaks, the Air Force maintenance crews pull parts from warehouse shelves, pay a contractor to make them to specifications, or even occasionally scavenge them from military museums."
Moderation Is Censorship, Sayeth The Fifth Circuit
In a ruling that has left the legal commentariat in confusion and befuddlement, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of Texas in the lawsuit by NetChoice and other online service providers over the state's new social media law. [more inside]
All models are wrong, but some models are useful.
Do you think machines are neat? Ever regretted not getting that mechanical engineering degree? Enjoy playing with legos? Can you appreciate things that will teach you stuff without having much other use? Here's something that might tickle your fancy.
The newest in encabulation technology
Hot on the heels, only a 11 years after the creation of the retro encabulator (a follow up to the wildly successful turbo encabulator), comes the hyper encabulator for all your cyber security needs. (Featuring Mike Kraft again, explaining the benefits of the new model.) [more inside]
Contaminated Peat Bog Mud Product MLM May Be Back From Dead (still MLM)
(TINA.ORG) BlackOxygen Organics, MLM company, died when its products were banned by FDA and HealthCanada in 2021 for containing elevated amount of arsenic and lead. However, in 2022, the same products are apparently being brought back by a different MLM company under a different name... [more inside]
Autism is a Spectrum
The Merge
September 16
"The final dying joke caught in our hands"
"It was a reminder that this organic sound enveloping the venue was a live recreation of beautifully balanced parts which would have been meticulously layered in the studio."
Agnes Obel. Familiar
Chica, ¿qué dices?
Watch a TikTok LIVE Performance of Rosalía's entire third album MOTOMAMI, or read about the album, including some cultural appropriation concerns, in a comprehensive pitchfork review with an 8.4 score.
Bonus: Lo Vas A Olvidar with Billie Eilish.
HA-HA
coke studio sessions
The Coke Studio sessions "Welcome to the sweetest corner of the internet in the Indian subcontinent - the YouTube comment section of Coke Studio Pakistan. Coke Studio - Pakistan's longest-running music show, produced by beverage giant Coca-Cola - features studio-recorded performances by some of the country's most famous artists. The music ranges from quirky pop and soul-stirring qawwali to rap - all of which draw heavily from folk traditions and classical poetry." Some recent favourites from the Season 14 show. Pasoori, Go, Tu Jhoom
RAAAIIIID? (explosion)
Food for all!
How to Feed NYC's Largest Middle School A NYTimes video with Priya Krishna interviewing Ruth Quizhpe, the head cook at New York's largest middle school. [more inside]
Pew Research projects continued decline for Christianity in the US
Pew Research: Modeling the Future of Religion in America "If recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades."
"Reverse Dieting"
Reverse Dieting: Hype Versus Evidence. (TRIGGER WARNING FOR DISORDERED EATING) Reverse Dieting is a much-hyped method of ending a weight-loss effort by incrementally increasing food intake over time, rather than returning to a maintenance level of caloric intake immediately, with the theory being that this will reverse physiologic adaptations reducing metabolism that occur during dieting. This massive article by Dr. Eric Trexler, pro bodybuilder, researcher, and fitness coach, analyzes the claims and research surrounding reverse dieting and metabolic adaptation (Do metabolic rates get “damaged”? No. ), using research from both more modern research and the famous Minnesota Starvation Experiment. [more inside]
Wondering what could possibly link Philosophy to Chuck Norris?
Wikipedia Speedruns is a browser-based game where the goal is to navigate between two articles as efficiently as possible. Start with the tutorial, then try your hand at one of several game modes, including "Prompt of the Day", "Marathon Mode", and "Party Mode". The project's Python source code is available for those who want to contribute.
It's the first ever Cloud Appreciation Day.
The Cloud Appreciation Society has created the Memory Cloud Atlas with artist Justin Wiggan, which for one day is open for anyone to share their sky. You can submit a picture or explore pictures from all over the globe. They also offer a Cloud Appreciation Pack with cloud-related lesson plans, resources and activities for schools or homeschooling.
At long last, we might have an HIV vaccine
At long last, we might have an HIV vaccine HIV mutates rapidly, which has made the development of a vaccine an enormous challenge for decades. Finally, we might have one.
September 15
"Write beautifully what people don’t want to hear."
Mejor Que Me Mate Dios
Petrona Martínez, the queen of bullerengue, won a Latin Grammy last year at the age of 82. The 2021 album Ancestras + a review with songs! On the musical legacy of slavery: "The Colombian city of Cartagena was a principal port for trading enslaved people, and many escaped to form Palenque communities of cimarrones across the Caribbean coast." On her first trip (at age 59) and performance in Bogotá: "Her fellow Colombians didn’t know anything about this ancestral music that had been preserved through generations of Black women despite —or perhaps because of— the isolation and invisibility. It wasn’t until she was in her 50s, after working as a domestic worker and a sand collector and becoming a mother of seven, that Petrona was able to record her own music."
Of hot dogs, shopping, and pricing
Effective today, September 15, 2022, IKEA has raised the price of its regular hot dogs in Sweden from 5 SEK to 7 SEK. Ikea bryter korvlöftet (IKEA breaks hog dog promise) reads the headline of the article in Sweden's Aftonbladet tabloid, which notes that since 1995 you could eat a hot dog at IKEA for five crowns. That is, until today. This was big news in Sweden. Less newsworthy in Sweden but still of note: IKEA has lowered the cost of its vegan hot dog to 5 SEK from 10 SEK, while US vegan hot dogs have been cheaper than regular dogs for some time. [more inside]
The architecture of musical instruments
“I never really knew what was going on inside. That was a realm reserved for the luthier. From time to time, while repairing an instrument, we would take a rare look inside, which was always an electrifying experience.” [more inside]
It's (probably) not Russian disinformation
The sordid story of Hunter Biden's laptop (SL: NYMag) A deep dive from New York Magazine on the whole messy affair. Serious questions are raised about bias in the "mainstream" press, as well as potential financial improprieties of the First Family. Please note that I am ONLY posting this because it comes from a fairly liberal publication, and is written in a tone sympathetic to the trials of the Biden family.
Metafilter: New Post Walkthrough | m e t a f i l t e r
Now for this walkthrough, you have your character MollyRealized open up the New Post contribution form. This is kind of an antiquated interface, so you actually have to either have your "Know HTML" badge, but, honestly, you can just use the 'link' button. Press that, and it'll ask you to paste the link in and give it a title: Final Deployment 4: Queen Battle Walkthrough | adult swim. And, see? My "Dopamine Production From Participating in Online Community" meter went up by one! [more inside]
US figure skater Ilia Malinin lands first-in-competition quadruple axel
The US International Classic "Senior B" competition makes figure-skating history. Axels are the most difficult figure-skating jump because alone among jumps, they take off from a forward position, meaning an extra half-revolution before landing. [more inside]
The Queue
’This is serious. It’s going to be really bad.'
'The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021' Peter Baker and Susan Glasser's book (review, review) doesn't drop until Tuesday. But a lot of media outlets have advance copies. [more inside]
Trying to Control This Very Uncontrollable Thing
My hope is that it’s a dark comedy in many ways. The people at YouTube and Google are idealistic about the internet. YouTube was the underdog taking on Hollywood and all the conventions of Hollywood. Then within a few short years, there was this whiplash, where it becomes like Big Tobacco. YouTube is accused of radicalization, traumatizing children, propaganda, all the worst aspects associated with the company. I thought that quick turn was just a fascinating story to unpack and tell. from Everyone knows what YouTube is — few know how it really works, a conversation with Mark Bergen, author of Like, Comment, Subscribe: Inside YouTube's Chaotic Rise to World Domination
Kaboom the border collie wins the 24" class at the 2022 WKC Masters
Kaboom, with 10 years experience of being a very good boy, goes fast as heck and wins the 24" class at the 2022 WKC Masters Agility Championship. (SLYT)
September 14
Bee Free
Do you love word puzzles like the New York Times Spelling Bee? Are you constantly frustrated by author Sam Ezersky's idiosyncratic lexicon, which often leaves out highly common words? There's [more inside]
"the State no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction"
Baltimore prosecutors move to vacate Adnan Syed's conviction in the 1999 murder case brought to national fame in 'Serial' podcast [more inside]
A different angle on Instagram pictures
The Follower: Using open cameras and AI to find how an Instagram photo is taken.
"I don’t have $1 billion in the bank. I don’t drive Lexuses.”
Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company The founder of Patagonia, Inc., has given every share of the company to a trust & non-profit, which will use the clothing company's profits to protect the Earth. [more inside]
"Signed by the judge who is a friend of the sheriff."
"He's only targeting political enemies." LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, scandal-plagued chief of a department run by gangs, has been in a Trumpy, ongoing battle with everyone he identifies as political enemies: a local oversight committee, Black people, the County Board of Supervisors, anyone to his left. Today his deputies searched the homes of an elected County official and a member of the Sheriff's Civilian Oversight Commission. [more inside]
Eels, How Do They Work?
Bivalves boogie. Mollusks mambo.
Scallops have 200 tiny eyes, so the lights [on the modified crab pot] proved irresistible to the shellfish. "Currently, most commercial scallop harvesting is carried out using dredges, a fishing method which can cause extensive harm to sensitive marine habitats and species. This discovery paves the way for the creation of a new low-impact inshore fishery" (source). Tweet and direct link to the video of that EUREKA moment (complete with profanity).
First found via NPR.
I realized I was a bit of a sentimental hoarder
« Buy storage », they advise, « back up », save, save, save. All Is Not Vanity. An essay by Noga Arikha.
New "Our Bodies, Ourselves" website
The classic, groundbreaking, influential book "Our Bodies, Ourselves" has a new website with "updated, curated, and inclusive information about the health and sexuality of women and gender-expansive people .... features the best of the 'old' Our Bodies Ourselves as well as extensive new health content." Topics include "Sexual Anatomy and Common Medical Problems", "Trans Healthcare", and "Heart Health". In keeping with the book's inclusion of first-hand storytelling, the new site includes interview videos and transcripts. [more inside]
A Weapon That's Equal Parts Terrifying and Awe-Inspiring
September 13
Previously Known as "The Kramer Effect"
"Flanderization is the process through which a fictional character's essential traits are exaggerated over the course of a serial work" (image) (tvtropes). IRL: The Perils of Audience Capture.
Hark! A Duck
Cape Breton comics artist Kate Beaton, best known for Hark! a Vagrant has a new book relaesed today, Ducks, based on her time working in the Alberta tar sands industry. Reviews are good, from NY Times (gift link), the Narwhal, The Guardian, Wired, Quill and Quire. There is an eight page PDF excerpt here and a lengthy video from today of Beaton launching/discussing her new book. An early glimpse from 2014 of Ducks, on Metafilter with good discussion. Mefi-affiliate Amazon link.
Once More, With Feeling (Rage)
Today marks the start of the second of three trials to determine the liability of bigoted conspiracy monger and snake oil salesman Alex Jones over his defamation of the families of people killed in the Sandy Hook massacre. This trial is taking place in Connecticut, not far from the site of the mass murder, and is expected to go for four weeks. [more inside]
The Enduring Allure of "Choose Your Own Adventure" Books
To read a beautiful article by Leslie Jamison in The New Yorker about the history and impact of the Choose Your Own Adventure books (Wikipedia), complete with choices for how to navigate the article, follow this link.
To comment about the article, or the books in general, click [more inside]
Uncle Jack Charles, actor and revered Victorian Aboriginal elder, dies aged 79
it'll turn out right if you've got a potato
you are a halfling just trying to exist. meanwhile, the dark lord rampages across the world. you do not care about this. you are trying to farm potatoes ...
POTATO: a one-page RPG that you can play for yourself in a few minutes with just a piece of scrap paper and a six-sided die or a dice-rolling app. From Oliver Darkshire, who has written other one-page RPGs with the same mechanic, such as Trapped in Your House Due to Hans Christian Andersen and Gay for the Pirate King. All the game pages are free to read on Patreon. [more inside]
POTATO: a one-page RPG that you can play for yourself in a few minutes with just a piece of scrap paper and a six-sided die or a dice-rolling app. From Oliver Darkshire, who has written other one-page RPGs with the same mechanic, such as Trapped in Your House Due to Hans Christian Andersen and Gay for the Pirate King. All the game pages are free to read on Patreon. [more inside]
Class All the Way
Marsha Hunt, Hollywood actress (1935 to two upcoming documentaries), blacklist survivor, activist (documentary free on freevee) for such causes as refugees, gay rights, world hunger, has died at age 104.