April 19, 2016
The first time my ass touched porcelain I was already a married man.
It's a veritable Earthbound cabaret!
The man who composed the soundtracks to cult video games Mother and Earthbound, Keiichi Suzuki, has a crazy-ass pop duo. It's more wonderful than you would ever expect. [more inside]
Going viral on Pakistani social media
Waiting for the build (oil on canvas)
I want to fly like an eagle
JUST GET AN APARTMENT
Anti-Bullying Activist Goes Gamergate
The Strange Tale of Social Autopsy, the Anti-Harassment Start-up That Descended Into Gamergate Trutherism [more inside]
“crisis” refers a moment when the body identifies intense danger
“To Become Louder, Even Still”: Responses to Sexual Violence in Literary Spaces Apogee Journal has collected fourteen responses from writers to sexual violence perpetrated in the literary community. [more inside]
School is in attendance on Wednesday April 20th
The Vancouver School Board would like to remind students that 4/20 is a regular school day, and absences will be marked. "While not officially confirmed," the information sheet from the VSB helpfully adds, "it appears that the 2016 Vancouver event will be held at Sunset Beach." [more inside]
The not so lonesome prairie
Rex Sorgatz grew up in Napoleon, ND - population about 750, and a hundred miles from nowhere. So what's it like growing up there today, with the world at your fingertips?
'Hope everyone pukes on your artisanal treats': fighting gentrification
A Guardian article on the Los Angeles neighborhood of Boyle Heights details the efforts of "an eclectic coalition of residents, business owners, feminists, Maoists and other activists" to fight against gentrification -- and against capitalism itself: [more inside]
Someone Knows Something
Someone Knows Something is a CBC podcast that attempts to uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of Adrien McNaughton. In 1972, 5 year-old Adrien was fishing at Holmes lake in Eastern Ontario with siblings, his father, and a family friend. After getting his line stuck on a tree in the lake, he gave his pole to his father, then walked to the edge of the woods near the lake, where he sat down and watched the others fish. That was the last anybody saw of him. The podcast is led and hosted by CBC producer David Ridgen, who grew up in the same area as Adrien's family. Ridgen has a history of tackling and solving cold cases.
The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans
Nearly half of Americans would have trouble finding $400 to pay for an emergency. I’m one of them. An essay on "Financial impotence" from Neal Gabler in The Atlantic, part of a longer project on "Financial shame": True Money Stories
The alt-right explained
Doppelgänger thy name is Legion
The rise and fall of Rafael Palmeiro
the most important and costly conversation America is not having
"In celebration of National Health Care Decisions Day, Death Over Dinner and The Conversation Project are teaming up once again to challenge Americans to fill their table with comfort food, family, and friends — to break bread and taboos by taking part in a nationwide dinner party... Send an invite to loved ones, and then set the table to start talking about end-of-life care and how we want to live the final days of our lives." [more inside]
This Doodle Is Mystifying The Internet - Can You Tell What It Shows?
This drawing is stirring all kinds of confusion on the Internet. It seems that many people can pick up what’s in the drawing within a few seconds. Others, however, seem to see nothing but a black blob or find all kinds of things that aren’t there, like a kind of Rorschach test.
social media as your guide
Twirling towards freedom: the US election - New York primaries
In the endurance test that is the 2016 US presidential election, we finally come to New York State where all of the polling stations are now open. The state consists of not only the city famed for fine dining but also the mainly rural upstate region. There's a lot of delegates here; Ballotpedia has information about the Democratic and Republican allocations.
Since last time, Paul said "Nope", GOP leaders said "Meh" followed by "Rules?", Washington Democrats had their own local endurance test, Virgin Islands Republicans had an unpleasant meeting, Bernie visited the Vatican, Hillary visited Staten Island (as did Donald), the Democratic candidates debated, Donald is figuring out West Virginia, Ted appears very conservative, and a grumpy John is aiming for second. [more inside]
How Were They Gonna Say No to This?
Hamilton is awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making it the ninth musical to receive this award. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is given "For a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life." [more inside]
"Severity always, justice when possible"
The Lure of Everest
With their empire in tatters, postwar Britons were desperate for a source of renewal to pierce their collective mourning; they needed grand projects to restore national pride. They looked eastward, and up. Starting in 1920 the lexicon and tactics of war were applied to the attempts to scout and conquer Everest. Vast expeditions — the first in 1903-4 had taken a load so hefty that 88 porters died of exhaustion — made their way across the Tibetan plateau.- writes Holly Morris in the NYT review of Into The Silence, a book by Wade Davis of the National Geographic Society covering the British Everest expeditions of 1921, '22, and '24. [more inside]
“I do not have the answer to that one.”
Helena’s mission is to “create positive impact across the globe,” is funded by “significant personal capital” from 20-year-old Henry Elkus, and “thus far, we’ve been awed by the bonds of friendship and collaboration Helena Members have begun to make in advance of their first meeting.I Have No Idea What This Startup Does and Nobody Will Tell Me
Destined to make a difference
Maryland has the highest rate of deaths attributable to emissions--113 per 100,000 annually--of any area in the United States. The Curtis Bay area of Baltimore is the epicenter for this pollution, ranking "first in the entire country for quantity of toxic air pollutants." In 2012, when high school student Destiny Watford read online about a plan to build a so-called "clean energy" trash-burning incinerator power plant less than a mile from her neighborhood, Destiny organized students and residents to fight back. Her efforts yielded two unlikely results: successfully blocking construction on the plant, and being honored with a 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize, an international prize awarded annually to 6 grassroots activists each year from each of the world's 6 geographic regions. [more inside]
Deep Alice
Recently there was a post about using deep learning techniques to apply artistic styles from one image to another. Here is a similar technique applied to moving video from Disney's Alice in Wonderland, using a number of well-known paintings to modify the source. [more inside]
Bendito Machine V
"Motor Doping"
Tiny Motor Powers a New Threat to Cycling Races (NYTimes) "A grueling cycling race is somewhat less grueling if your bike is a motorcycle."
This Business Insider article has videos and demonstrations of the motors. It also includes a sentence that puts doping into some context: "Greg LeMond, the only American to win the Tour de France, showing how one version of a bike motor works." (Previously)
This Business Insider article has videos and demonstrations of the motors. It also includes a sentence that puts doping into some context: "Greg LeMond, the only American to win the Tour de France, showing how one version of a bike motor works." (Previously)
Six bulldozers enter....
A legitimate royal rumble between heavy machinery: construction workers were from two competing companies allegedly get mad... and get even.
In A Perpetual Present
"Teen girl" chatbot Tay lit up the internet with her rapid "learning".
What happens when creating a new AI chatbot is as easy as installing a new app? Hugh Hancock writing on Charles Stross's blog explores the future implications of swarms of artificially intelligent chatbots. [more inside]
Czech Yeah!
Since the break-up of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic has been one of the few nations with "Republic" in its name without a shorter alternate version... until now: Welcome to Czechia. (most likely pronounced "Check-ya" because there are concerns it'll be confused with Chechnya, aka the Chechan Republic) (via Brand New which proposes a logo) [more inside]
Ideal to acquire instant credibility
Public discussion about offshore tends to focus on the Seychelles, the British Virgin Islands or Panama: sunny places for shady people; remote countries full of dodgy money. But if 29 Harley Street tells us anything, it is that offshore isn’t a place, it’s an idea. Formations House is about as offshore as a place can be, and our government appears powerless to bring it back onshore again.Writing in The Guardian, Oliver Bullough looks into Formations House and its premises at 29 Harley Street, which house 2,159 companies. "Why," Bullough asks, "has this prestigious address been used so many times as a centre for elaborate international fraud?"
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