May 14
He’s a Dogecoin Millionaire. And He’s Not Selling.
Glauber Contessoto went looking for something that could change his fortunes overnight. He found it in a joke cryptocurrency. What explains Dogecoin’s durability, then?
There’s no doubt that Dogecoin mania, like GameStop mania before it, is at least partly attributable to some combination of pandemic-era boredom and the eternal appeal of get-rich-quick schemes.
But there may be more structural forces at work. Over the past few years, soaring housing costs, record student loan debt and historically low interest rates have made it harder for some young people to imagine achieving financial stability by slowly working their way up the career ladder and saving money paycheck by paycheck, the way their parents did.
Instead of ladders, these people are looking for trampolines — risky, volatile investments that could either result in a life-changing windfall or send them right back to where they started.
Some memorable days from the early ‘90s
Just some tik toks.
What it was like hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time in 1991
What it was like hearing Creep for the first time in 1992
What it was like hearing Cherub Rock for the first time in 1993
What it was like hearing Freedom by Rage Against The Machine in 1993
What it was like hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time in 1991
What it was like hearing Creep for the first time in 1992
What it was like hearing Cherub Rock for the first time in 1993
What it was like hearing Freedom by Rage Against The Machine in 1993
Mammals can breathe through their intestines?
Mammals can breathe through their intestines? We all know that some creatures have to poop through their mouths. But now researchers have shown that you can also flood a mouse's colon with oxygen-saturated perfluorocarbon and have them breathe through their large intestine. Which is presumably less stressful than flooding your lungs with it.
B Girls
My deepest pleasures come from accounts of and by the original B girls. Those lucky few who, given the chance to create a school in their own image, rose to the occasion. Free to decide on their classes and lifestyles, these pioneers rejected dogma, prohibition, curfews, and dress codes, embraced annual non-resident work terms, and, as a decades-long study by sociologists proved, almost routinely turned their backs on the politics of their conservative daddies. From The Bennington Girl by Jill Eisenstadt
Misogyny And Accountability At Apple
Earlier this week, Apple employees petitioned the company for an investigation into the hiring of Antonio García Martínez, a former Facebook employee who had published Chaos Monkeys, in which he had made a number of blatantly misogynistic comments. Hours later, Apple had verified that García Martínez was fired. [more inside]
"I asked myself what I most valued about teaching mathematics"
Mathematician Ursula Whitcher is an editor for a database of mathematical research. "Branch cuts: writing, editing, and ramified complexities" (9-page PDF) discusses reevaluating career priorities (especially after the University of Wisconsin redefined tenure), reflecting on gender and sexuality, and "bridging queer and mathematical communities". Whitcher has also written for the American Mathematical Society on predictive policing, research projects that a protagonist of a Courtney Milan romance novel might be interested in, and more. [more inside]
Revenge and World's First Female Pirates
It can't be that easy: group behind voter suppression laws
From Ari Berman and Nick Surgey in Mother Jones, a leaked video and investigation into Heritage Action and US voter suppression laws. In a private meeting last month with big-money donors, the head of a top conservative group boasted that her outfit had crafted the new voter suppression law in Georgia and was doing the same with similar bills for Republican state legislators across the country. “In some cases, we actually draft them for them,” she said, “or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe.” [more inside]
Did someone order a bard?
How D&D classes use a bow (SLTT).
May 13
I am posting in a room different from the one you are in now
To celebrate Alvin Lucier's 90th birthday, over the next 27 hours Issue Project Room will livestream 90 different performances of I Am Sitting in a Room. [more inside]
Scrambled Salad and Tossed Eggs
Cyberfrunk 2077 (SLYT).
People make Glasgow
The people of Glasgow gathered quickly, and peacefully, in their hundreds today, to save two asylum seekers from detention after a dawn raid on the morning of Eid. The two men were awakened in their flat in Glasgow's Southside at dawn by the Home Office Immigration Enforcement team and loaded into the waiting van outside. But their removal to a detention centre was blocked by five local residents who gathered in front of the vehicle, one then wedging himself beneath the van. Word quickly spread, and soon hundreds of local people had gathered peacefully in the street outside the men's flat, surrounding the van and calling for their release. [more inside]
What is guilt?
A discussion between your dog and your cat.... Other recent comics from They Can Talk by Jimmy Craig tackle existential animal dilemmas such as the meaning of your person going into the kitchen, the self-worth of a fish, and the identity crisis of an indoor-only cat who just saw an outdoor cat stroll past. They Can Talk was previously posted on the blue all the way back in 2016. [more inside]
main nazi doctor
The CDC has released new mask guidelines for the vaccinated
You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations including local business and workplace guidance. [more inside]
Sleater Blue Filter
Sleater-Kinney (now reduced to the duo of Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein) will be releasing a new album, Path Of Wellness, in June.
It is the band’s first self-produced album.
This is the music video for lead single “Worry With You”. It was directed by Alberta Poon
It is the band’s first self-produced album.
This is the music video for lead single “Worry With You”. It was directed by Alberta Poon
"It's a little heavy. But I want you to know this is important to me"
San Francisco Giants outfielder Drew Robinson's remarkable second act [ESPN] [CW: All links above & below include graphic discussion of a suicide attempt; if you need help, ThereIsHelp] [more inside]
What If Everything We Know About Gymnastics Is Wrong?
Lizzie Feidelson of The New York Times Magazine reports on how, in light of the horrific abuses in gymnastics being revealed and shifts in the sport's focus, older gymnasts are returning and putting to question the idea that gymnasts peak in their teens - and the need for abusive, controlling coaches.
The Largest Free Kitchen in the World
The Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab, India, feeds 100,000 Sikh worshipers and visitors for free every day - and up to 200,000 on holy days. Here's how.
"Fitness is a journey and we all start somewhere"
If you can't do full push-ups, "just like with everything else in the world, you can build up!" Hampton from Hybrid Calisthenics shows you why and how you can progress from wall pushups to inclined push-ups to kneeling push-ups and then to full push-ups in an encouraging one-minute video. (Three-minute video with more detail, still photos.) "When we're doing these exercises, we're actually building strength. When we move on to a harder exercise, all we're doing is demonstrating and using our new strength." (found via Twitter)
In a not too distant timeline, this Frunday K.Z...
Is the return of the return of Mystery Science Theater 3000 not enough for you? How about five fan-made MST3K episodes? Or an archive of almost 2000 text-based MST3K fanfics (MiSTings) riffing on bad fanfics and other texts? Or this specific archive of MiSTings of the Star Trek fanfiction of Stephen Ratliff? Or interactive MiSTings of three cheesy text adventure games, playable in your browser (note: third one is not for the childrens)? Or interactive MiSTings of six games made in the text-based ZZT engine, also playable in your browser? (Game tips and more after the jump.) [more inside]
May 12
How the Personal Computer Broke the Human Body
Pairing at Work: the Weaponization of Coder Vulnerability
What did we miss out on, by failing to make more space for people not to pair? By treating this pairing culture as something so fragile, and so precious? Pairing requires being vulnerable, to another human being, for hours at a time. Intimacy, both physical and mental. I had to share space, decisions, thought processes, and often feelings with this person.
via https://pinboard.in/popular/ [more inside]
‘Rationals’ vs. ‘radicals’:
More than 100 Republican former officials to seek reforms, threaten new party "More than 100 influential Republicans plan to release a call for reforms within the GOP alongside a threat to form a new party if change isn't forthcoming, a person familiar with the effort said." [more inside]
it may be faster and easier to just use email
JustUseEmail.com is a small site with a big opinion. It asks us to reconsider the myriad services we rely on for productivity and instead just use email. “The premise of this site is that often just using email allows us to be more efficient, effective, and focused, even when offline.” writes Lawrence (the site’s author). Though the site has just started, dozens of future posts are promised. The titles “How to have a group discussion by email that beats the one done in Slack” and “How to be less annoying to your friends and family by email” give hints about the tenor of posts.
Gall-Peters: I hate you
Who Should John Mulaney Be Now?
"Mulaney has had an incredibly difficult year. We knew that he had checked himself into a Pennsylvania rehab facility in mid-December for a 60-day treatment to address his addiction to alcohol and cocaine, and that he and his wife of seven years, Anna Marie Tendler, were on the verge of divorcing; the latter news was confirmed the day of his first City Winery show. On Monday night, Mulaney opened up in ways no one had been expecting." (SLVulture) [more inside]
I estimate that about 20 percent of every office job is “extra”
Working remotely for the last year has revealed just how much of office culture is accidental, arbitrary, and sexist. Guess what? It’s not their job to buy you cake.
Norman Lloyd, 1914-2021
Norman Lloyd, arguably the last surviving significant figure from Hollywood’s golden age, has died. “Who is Norman Lloyd? Well, if you don’t know Norman Lloyd, you should know Norman Lloyd, because he is the history of our industry.” – Karl Malden. Lloyd acted on Broadway and in movies and TV shows for Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Renoir, Charlie Chaplin, Robert Wise, Peter Weir, Martin Scorsese and Judd Apatow. He directed more than 55 TV episodes and movies, and produced many more. He played tennis with Chaplin and Spencer Tracy. Widely beloved in the industry, his annual birthday parties were attended by many friends of all ages, who enjoyed his skills as a raconteur. And he was married for 75 years. [more inside]
squidgy
New, incredibly detailed videos capture how the brain jiggles inside the skull as blood and other fluids flow through the squidgy organ (LiveScience): gif, Youtube. "Really, it's a very small motion," typically between about 0.002 inches and 0.015 inches (50 to 400 micrometers) at most, in terms of how far the tissue deforms [...] Making the movements appear about 25 times larger allowed the researchers to assess that motion in greater detail, tracking its direction and amplitude with precision." "Stunning" Brain Movement Detail Possible with 3D Amplified MRI (Diagnostic Imaging)
This will be on the AP Cat History exam
Room 8. Felicette. Orangey. And before there were bodega cats, there were post office cats: In 1904, the New York Times reported that George W. Cook, “the only Superintendent of Federal Cats in this country,” gave a party for 60 post office cats in honor of his own 81st birthday. [more inside]
It Took Divorce to Make My Marriage Equal
Lyz Lenz in Glamour from September 2020: I was 33, a mother of two, and bone-tired. I didn’t want the laundry and chores to be the rest of my life. I didn’t want to always be drowning in work and childcare and housecleaning and dinner, bearing the brunt of the labor. I’d spent the past two years begging for help with the kids and housework, only to be told that I could just quit my job if it was all too much. “It’s not too much,” I’d said over and over. “It’s just not all my job.” Standing in the dining room, overwhelmed with the weight of my life, I broke. The next day, in couples therapy, I asked for a divorce. [more inside]
Hardly "The Straight Story"
May 11
Typo negative: the best and worst of Grauniad mistakes over 200 years
In the Guardian / Grauniad: "Readers were informed that the 2003 spring season at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon would feature “The Taming of the Screw”. Anyone spluttering over their morning muesli at this point might have reached for Glaxo’s “controversial treatment for irritable bowl syndrome”, as we once had it." Recently on MetaTalk, wikitionary entry and urban dictionary entry, a typo from last year, and a 2009 Grauniad/Guardian article from their style editor.
A concise guide to the craft in Britain & beyond
Welcome to ThatchingInfo.com
The information available here is the result of over three decades of practical experience plus more than a dozen years of research into the history and various working methods employed in the craft of thatching. The research included an eighteen thousand mile trip around most of Britain… This is a big site, 100 pages of information[,] so please take a while to explore it properly. It’s best to start at the beginning and treat it like a book. But you can just dip in; each page stands on its own and there is a large glossary to help you.
The information available here is the result of over three decades of practical experience plus more than a dozen years of research into the history and various working methods employed in the craft of thatching. The research included an eighteen thousand mile trip around most of Britain… This is a big site, 100 pages of information[,] so please take a while to explore it properly. It’s best to start at the beginning and treat it like a book. But you can just dip in; each page stands on its own and there is a large glossary to help you.
Algorithmic fatigue is real – here’s how to combat it
Endless scrolling. That’s one of the telltale signs of a novel phenomenon new research identifies as algorithmic fatigue. People who spend ages browsing streaming services, looking for something new to watch, are some of the many examples of the growing numbers of consumers who are now finding that AI systems fall short.
When the algorithm fails to live up to people’s expectations of the user experience, and doesn’t deliver the service its users want, the people using the system end up feeling annoyed, frustrated, and fatigued.
Brands are slowly waking up to the same realization: AI is no longer just about the technology; it’s about how humans experience and interact with the algorithms.
.... Ultimately, it’s about creating parity: granting the users equal agency over decision making by allowing them to choose and change when they want to be actively involved in the algorithm or just passively guided by it.
The Heroine, The Hot Young Doctor, The Architect & His Double
Jorge Luis Borges and Nancy Meyers Pitch a Movie (Because, Admit It, You’ve Watched Everything Else) - Nina Sharma at The New Yorker (archived link)
The NRA Is Not (Fiscally) Bankrupt
Back in January, the National Rifle Association filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, less out of a financial need but in order to reincorporate in Texas, in light of the lawsuit in New York to dissolve their corporate charter. Today, the federal judge overseeing the case has dismissed the NRA’s request, stating that it was purely intended to get around the NY lawsuit. [more inside]
“Formally, this is it. The case is closed.”
It wasn't a yeti attack. A Yekaterinburg prosecutor held a press conference to announce his solution (previously) to the Dyatlov Pass mystery. It was not well received.(SLNewYorker) [more inside]
A Great Choice For "First Trip Back to the Movie Theater"
Zapatistas set sail across the Atlantic to discover Europe
We will set sail and journey once again to tell the planet that in the world that we hold in our collective heart, there is room for everyone. (...) We’re ready to wait there in front of the European coast and unfold a large banner that reads “Wake up!” We will wait there to see if anyone reads the message, then wait a little longer to see if anyone wakes up, and then a little longer to see if anyone does anything.
"the first and only bit of stability since I became homeless"
A few stories of houseless New York City residents who have lived in hotels for the past year thanks to the #HomelessCantStayHome campaign.
Pride and Predators
Heidi Bond (aka historical and romance novelist Courtney Milan) re-reviews Pride and Prejudice for the Michigan Law Review (PDF). "Pride and Prejudice details the community-wide damage that can be laid at the feet of serial sexual predators. It details the characteristics of predators, discusses the systemic social failures that allow predators to abuse others, and grapples with difficult questions of how communities should deal with those predators."
Colonial Ransom
Cyber-attack forces shutdown of one of the US’s largest pipelines ... Colonial Pipeline hackers apologize, promise to ransom less controversial targets in future ... Colonial Pipeline: 'A Global Day of Reckoning' [more inside]
We’ve tried a beautiful experiment here; this is where the future lies
May 10
Stereolab Live In Frankfurt (1994)
It's a Rio de Janeiro bouncy ball
Dry Cleaning is a post-punk band from South London featuring a tight rhythm section, sweet guitar riffs, and wonderfully scattershot spoken word vocals. A song with a fun arty music video. A song about the Duchess of Sussex. The title track from their new album.
It's movie sign, again, again
Mystery Science Theater 3000 lives once more! The show has been revived five times now: for Comedy Central (from KTMA), the Sci-Fi Channel (long before it was Syfy), for Netflix, as a series of live shows that technically (because of COVID) haven't even ended yet, and now, as the result of a second Kickstarter even more successful than their first, as a production for their own video site and apps, to be called The Gizmoplex. The first episode of the new season... GAMERA VS JIGER. [more inside]
Free as in "free puppy," not free as in "free beer."
Nadia Eghbal gives a Long Now Foundation seminar
on the maintenance of open source software. (SL one hour of video or audio)
Bodok, mmmm, bodok
We now have menu engineers. How some restaurants design menu weight, fonts, item positioning, boxes, pictures, and language to encourage you to buy more food. (SLBBC)