April 2, 2019
Even A Stopped Clock Is Right Twice A Day
Through random internet poking I found this page on the proverb "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day" which I found to be supremely interesting. I thought maybe you might also find it interesting.
"It is 100 percent not a fact-based business"
Susan Deren sat at her kitchen table, carefully propped a cordless phone in front of her and a notepad to her side, and opened up her iPhone to look at a photo of a small dog, a pug in a pink harness named Luna. Then Deren, who calls herself an “animal communicator,” picked up the cordless phone and dialed Luna’s owner so she could begin communicating with the dog. Over the phone. Mind-to-mind.(Billy Baker, Boston Globe)
The hypothetical losses of the women he might have harmed
Irin Carmon on unsuccessful efforts to publish a story later broken by Ronan Farrow (previously) a about CBS leadership sexual harassment allegations.
“The system,” I said from the stage, “is still powerful men getting stories killed that I believe will one day see the light of day.”
How the South Won the Civil War
During Reconstruction, true citizenship finally seemed in reach for black Americans. Then their dreams were dismantled. [more inside]
"Mad weave is triaxial"
Maybe Joe Biden Is Not Going to Handle This Well
Joe Biden seems to have a problem with how he interacts with women. And judging by how he's reacting to some relatively tame accusations, it's only going to get worse.
When accounts like Flores’ and Lappos’ come out, Team Biden is going to rhetorically acknowledge that women have the right to discuss their experiences—but they’re not going admit to any wrongdoing, and then they’re going to try to undermine the women’s credibility by subtly questioning their memories and motives. [more inside]
Balancing three protagonists in The Favourite
Our attitudes toward the characters change time and again. The scene in which Sarah starts letter after letter to Anne, trying to regain her favor, encapsulates all three women's mercurial behavior. Her openings range from violent resentment ("I dreamt I stabbed you in the eye") to fondness ("My dearest Mrs Morley"-her pet name for the Queen). The latter is the one she sends, but Abigail consigns it to the fire, finally making any reconciliation between her rival and the Queen impossible. [more inside]
R.I.P. Vonda N. McIntyre
Vonda McIntyre, the science fiction author who helped found the Clarion West Writers Workshop has died at age 70. (previously)
The Boston Public Library 78rpm Collection
Internet Archive: "Following eighteen months of work, more than 50,000 78rpm record 'sides' from the Boston Public Library’s sound archives have now been digitized and made freely available online by the Internet Archive."
Archaeology isn’t just for primates anymore
Expanding the already growing scope of archaeology from primate archaeology (Academia.edu): Sea otter archaeology exists, and it’s awesome (Ars Technica). Sea otters' tool use leaves behind distinctive archaeological evidence. (Phys.org) The paper in question: Wild sea otter mussel pounding leaves archaeological traces (Nature Scientific Reports, open access)
“Heyyyyy. Morning!”
Peppered egg on a bed of blackberries and vegetables? BBC News: “Imagine waking up in the morning, walking down to your stylish kitchen and finding actor Tom Hiddleston making breakfast for you.” Mashable: “Despite Western confusion, though, the ad has been wildly successful - and several writers have already made arguments for why it's a fit for its intended market.” Guardian: “You’ve seen that face before, that time you caught your dog eating raw sausages out of the fridge. What has Hiddleston done, exactly?” ABC Australia: “While Western fans found the advertisement 'creepy' and 'uncomfortable', the video with many romantic elements - tailored to the Chinese market - seemed to work like a charm on the targeted audience.” Maybe this version works better for some?
What comes after “open source”
You're a Hugo Finalist! and you're a Hugo Finalist! And you're...
The 2019 Hugo Awards Finalists have been announced and the most interesting nomination is that of Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works. Does that mean that everybody that has stories published there can now call themselves a Hugo Finalist?
Some come back, some don’t.
How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong Jason Schreier writes a long form piece about the 7 year long development of their new game Anthem. Bioware's response. [more inside]
The brain isn't an exact science
Don’t Despair, Organize
“This summary of the predicted outcome of Marx’s immiseration thesis is oft dismissed as incorrect and economically deterministic. For now it is sufficient to show that, in recent decades, the immiseration thesis itself—not the predicted final outcome—has been proven correct: real wages have decreased in proportion to the overall increase in productivity and enrichment of the capitalist class. Whether this, in turn, moves the wheel of history in a direction of widespread upheaval—a scenario that think tanks are warning of and the intelligence communities are preparing for—will be a matter of time and destiny. ” The Actuality of Marx’s Immiseration Thesis in the 21st Century (Regeneration)
Towing the Line
There's Something Fishy A-boot Chicago's Towing Program "The city sells one in four towed vehicles. It pays a contractor with residents’ cars, yet the city... barely makes money. Someone should look at this." [more inside]
Trash Panda Tacos
Yesterday, CBC Radio Toronto listeners were introduced to a new food truck created by April Lee Falls. "The raccoons that we'll be sourcing come from a wilderness farm... they're eating organic fruits and vegetables.... They've got more space than most people living and renting in this city." [more inside]
“A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”
Melee Player Quits Match Over Opponent's Jigglypuff Stalling [Twitter] "Over the weekend, an entire venue of Super Smash Bros. competitors and spectators lost their collective minds over the actions of one Jigglypuff player. Did he cheat in some way? Go overboard after a win? Destroy a CRT? Yell obscenities at the audience? No, he simply played to the Pokémon’s strengths in a favorable matchup, causing his opponent to get so frustrated that he unplugged his controller and left in a huff." [via: Kotaku] [more inside]
Well they're not not Nazis.
A recent Guardian article has shed light on an intelligence report provided for US law enforcement agencies, authored by the Regional Organized Crime Information Center.
From the article:
Experts say the report mischaracterizes the dynamics of the street violence that was emerging at that time, and is mistaken in characterizing white nationalist groups as “anti-antifa”, suggesting they act in opposition to leftwing groups or out of a sense of anarchism rather than having their own political and violent agenda.
The report was made public by Property of the People and is available on their website. [more inside]
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