January 11, 2018
Anais Nin had a Side Gig
She's the kind of artist who can't be bound to a single category. Anaïs Nin is our favorite breed of artist: the kind who just can’t be bound to a single era, movement, or category. Diarist? Definitely. Muse? To many, most notably American novelist Henry Miller. Yet her oeuvre spans a good portion of the 20th century, and includes everything from those notorious diaries (about bohemian Paris in the ‘30s, Miller, etc.), works of creative non-fiction, poetic erotica, and (drumroll) some seriously trippy electro music. [more inside]
ZZK: digital cumbia (and more) from Argentina (and beyond)
ZZK Records is a homegrown record label and artist collective born out of the Zizek Club nights in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They represent an eclectic, electric collection of sounds from parties that they were throwing as a group of friends, starting back in 2006, as recounted by El G. The label officially hits the decade mark later this year, but why wait? You can start with their first release, ZZK Sound Vol. 1, on Bandcamp. With that release, called their sound "Digital Cumbia," (previously) but they've grown up to be more than that. You can track their releases on Discogs, browse their Soundcloud account, hear it all on Bandcamp, or download hours and hours of mixes in their collection of digital "mixtapes". To enjoy their visual aesthetic (more), check out their YouTube account. [more inside]
GGTOW
Having a Baby on the Tennis Tour is the Most Rebellious Thing I Could Do
Serena Williams on her medical emergency after giving birth*, motherhood, and her new tennis goals [more inside]
CAN YOU TELL IF TWO CHIMPANZEES ARE RELATED BY LOOKING AT THEIR PHOTOS?
Well, can you, punk?
The Great Ape Dictionary needs your help! In our experiment, hosted by Gorilla.sc, you will see a photo of a chimpanzee and four possible matches. Can you tell who is related to who? Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters – they’re all there! Humans can recognise biological relatives through facial features; we want to explore how kin-based facial recognition evolved in humans and other primates.
CLICK HERE TO START THE EXPERIMENT
The Great Ape Dictionary needs your help! In our experiment, hosted by Gorilla.sc, you will see a photo of a chimpanzee and four possible matches. Can you tell who is related to who? Mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters – they’re all there! Humans can recognise biological relatives through facial features; we want to explore how kin-based facial recognition evolved in humans and other primates.
CLICK HERE TO START THE EXPERIMENT
Why do we wear balls on our hats?
A brief history of the pom-pom. (Blame the Vikings, via Napoleon and maybe Michael Nesmith).
Shitty Media Men (And Those Who Defend Them)
As part of the pushback against sexual harassment and abuse that has become part of our societal discussion, the existence of the "Shitty Media Men" list was revealed. Containing the names of men in media who had histories of sexual harassment and abuse, this document had circulated among women in media, as a form of protection. And as part of that protection, its creator remained anonymous.
Until now. And it was not of her own volition that she revealed herself, but did so in response to news that Harper's Magazine had plans to out her via an expose from Katie Roiphe in their March volume. [more inside]
Until now. And it was not of her own volition that she revealed herself, but did so in response to news that Harper's Magazine had plans to out her via an expose from Katie Roiphe in their March volume. [more inside]
Miro Dreams Of Footy
Australian Rules Football (aka "Footy") says that if you're athletic enough to jump up on an oppposing player's unpadded shoulders, land kneeling, AND catch the ball, they're gonna rule it legal. Miro Gladovic of American Footy Star has a dream: to take American football players who don't make the NFL down under to play in the AFL. Aussie Rules is not only played on a larger pitch than any other major field sport in the world, its analytics & data are truly next level. Also: 10 funniest moments in the AFL.
Living with Slenderman
On March 31, 2014, two girls attacked a third in an attempt to ward off a future attack from Slenderman. Hazlitt provides an overview of the aftermath. [more inside]
"...it is a masterclass in How to Apologize"
Dan Harmon Admits to Sexually Harrassing Writer, Apologizes. “I crushed on her and resented her for not reciprocating it, and the entire time I was the one writing her paychecks.”
Full text here.
Megan Ganz response starts here.
Under river, outside time
The Woolwich Foot Tunnel Anomaly. The Woolwich Foot Tunnel provides a pedestrian shortcut across the Thames. But how short, exactly? [more inside]
Do these cinnamon rolls somehow destroy the patriarchy?
Geraldine DeRuiter from The Everywhereist likes to bake, so she decided to make the cinnamon roll recipe that accompanied Mario Batali's letter of apology for sexual harassment. The results may or may not make good eating, but I think they make good reading. accusations of harassment against Batali, previously)
Anyway, here's...
Among other things, legendary DC band Fugazi is famous [satire] for their stage banter and between-song noodling.
Experimental theater and music company Object Collection dove into 1500 hours of live show recordings to isolate the interstitial moments and create a pretty insane opera.
Sooner or later, the voice in my ears ceases to be a voice
OpenGenus for Open Genuses
The fastest growing civilization on the web, making the web safer, run by you, revolutionizing the way people interact with code, in the open-source wilderness. Open Genus is here.
Monopoly Model
“All in all, Westby is a corner of rural America that’s still modestly prosperous. And while its legacy of locally controlled cooperative businesses isn’t the only reason, it’s a big part of the story. Local farmers are not totally at the mercy of giant agribusinesses when they bring their products to market. Their ownership of the Westby creamery allows them to cut out middlemen and bargain collectively with food processors and retailers to get a fair price. The rest of the town benefits as well from the creamery and the other locally owned co-ops, as money and power that would otherwise flow to the absentee owners and managers of distant corporations instead stay within the community.
You either die or you’re hoisted by your own petard
I, Farmer.
Robot Agriculture: It's here. "When Heraud confesses his field-test failures to the board, they don’t vote to oust him as he’d feared, but instead encourage him to turn things around....He and his team of 20 engineers launch a 24/7 troubleshooting offensive they call “the surge.” They take turns sleeping on cots in the closet of their Silicon Valley office. They call in husbands and wives to turn wrenches and clamp tubes. They redesign fans, build mounts, change materials, and reformulate chemicals. Heraud consumes Tums by the fistful. By late 2015 they have a glitch-free LettuceBot that can handle the elements. They expand their contracts with farmers in Salinas and Yuma, Ariz. By early 2017, about a fifth of all the lettuce grown in the U.S. has been thinned by a LettuceBot." [more inside]
Golden light and deep blue sky made me.
Women who write about the wild cannot be easily labeled. They are conservationists, scientists, and explorers; historians, poets, and novelists; ramblers, scholars, and spiritual seekers. They are hard to pin down but for their willingness to be “unladylike,” to question, and to seek. The following list is in no way definitive, but if you want a primer on some of the best nature writing you probably haven’t read yet, you’d do well to start with these 25 women. [more inside]
Overkill
RIP 'Fast' Eddie Clarke, who had been the last man standing from the classic Motörhead lineup, now joins Lemmy and 'Philthy Animal' Taylor in the tour that will never end. [more inside]
...Redwall-esque fantasy world, where animals go off on grand adventures
The World Needs This Frog Friendship Sim from the Makers of ‘Neko Atsume’ [Waypoint] “Tabikaeru is a new game from Hit-Point Co.,Ltd., the makers of 2014’s historic looking-at-cats simulator Neko Atsume. It’s cute like Neko Atsume was, and it’s that same sort of “check once every few hours for a couple minutes at a time” deal, but Tabikaeru is a really a whole different animal. It’s a frog instead of cats, to be a bit literal, and instead of convincing critters to hang around, like in Neko Atsume, Tabikaeru is about helping them leave. “Journey frog is sent out on a journey,” as Google Translate puts it. “It is an application to wait for a leisurely return.”” [Previously.] [more inside]
scratch👽scratch🎷scratch👽scratch🎺scratch👽scratch🎹scratch
Star Wars cantina music as a math problem. Sound required. [single link reddit video, but TOTALLY WORTH IT]
a shocked comet fragment
The Hypatia Stone "They found that many compounds in the stone seem to have formed prior to the sun and planets. The elements are the same—carbon and silicon and aluminum and iron—but the ratios of these elements in the material are all wrong, unlike the composition of objects that orbit the sun."
"Even if you hate football, you have to go to these matches"
For Hungarian oligarchs and foreign journalists alike, the best chance of an audience with Orbán is a visit to the Pancho Arena, which is why the car park outside the ground fills up with expensive vehicles whose owners are seeking proximity to power. “Even if you hate football, you have to go to these matches,” said Gyula Mucsi of the anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International. “It is the only place that the elite are willing to socialise with anyone outside of their small circle. Big construction and infrastructure development projects and plans which require a lot of money are basically decided in the skybox.” [more inside]
Different Friends are good at different things
One year ago today, Kemono Friends (previously) hit the air. Initially derided (or ignored) for advertising a mobile game that had been shut down before the show even began, Kemono Friends went on to dominate Japanese social media, boost zoo attendance and animal popularity, and receive the largest ratings jump of the season. Early episodes captivated viewers by pairing feelgood plots with a dark mystery the characters themselves don't even notice, while later episodes turn up the intensity on everything. [more inside]
In Norway in 2017, six out of the 20 best-selling cars were electric
In Norway in 2017 battery electric vehicles (BEV) reached a market share of 20.8 percent, while plug-in hybrids (PHEV) accounted for 18.4, according to the Norwegian Road Federation´s statistics. Norway should reach at least 50,000 BEVs in 2018. [more inside]
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