July 1, 2020
How far, how fast in a horse-drawn carriage?
I originally wrote this because I was a little irritated at reading books in which the heroine left London in the morning and had tea in Devon. Presumably she shoehorned a V-8 into her carriage and the horses were just for show.
Why are rich people so mean?
"It’s not just that heartless people are more likely to become rich. I’m saying that being rich tends to corrode whatever heart you’ve got left." Terrific summary of research covering the corrosive effects of inequality, how we can (and should) resist it, and ultimately talking about the fact that rich people aren't assholes, rather being rich makes us all assholes.
Crocodilians: a once marvelously motley tribe of reptiles had dwindled
In May 1997, the same month that The Lost World: Jurassic Park (trailer) debuted in the United States, the U.S. Postal Service released (Virtual Stamp Club) 15 stamps depicting various dinosaurs and extinct reptiles (paleophilatelie.eu). Except, as sharp-eyed paleontologist Christopher Brochu (Univ. of Iowa) noted, Goniopholis (Wikipedia) was actually based on the contemporary Nile crocodile (National Geographic). The Rise and Fall of the Living Fossil. The idea that some species are relics that have stopped evolving is finally going extinct. (Nautilus) Come for the re-consideration of ancient crocodilians and crocodyliforms, stay for the re-discovery of the "tame" desert crocodiles (Reptiles Magazine).
Aram Bedrosian
Aram Bedrosian plays amazing music on solo electric and acoustic bass guitar (with occasional collaborations). My current favorite - Weightless. His YT Channel. [more inside]
If you like watching other people work hard
Ruth Goodman (of Victorian-Farm-and-many-other-historical-series fame, previously and previously), Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold have traveled across the Channel to help build a French castle using 13th century tools.
Over one, under two, over ... what!?
Complexity 2020 is the biennial exhibition from Complex Weavers featuring brain-melting technically challenging, but lovely, handweaving (possibly computer-assisted weaving or design or both or neither). You'll have to click around a bit on mobile to get to the detail shots. Previous Complexity exhibitions are here.
You're such a silly woman!!!
The Fall of Quibi
bit windy, weather on point tho, everyone is vibing
The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons
The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons (Hyakki Yagyō) is a thousand-plus-year-old Japanese folkloric tradition, in which a series of demons parades — or explodes — into the ordinary human world. Kyōsai’s version was one of the artist’s most popular volumes, offering “a spectacular visual encyclopedia of supernatural creatures of premodern Japanese folklore.” Narratively, it paves the way for the fantastic parade with two woodblocks: the first depicts a group of adults and children gathered around a coal fire to hear ghosts stories, the second a man (probably Kyōsai) setting down his calligraphy brush and extinguishing the lamp in preparation for the night in which the demons will appear.
People want to be named and recognized, not as part of an amalgam
Constance Grady at Vox: This summer, a debate is looming over the words we use when we talk about the people who are disproportionately the victims of police brutality. When do we use the phrase “people of color”; when do we say “BIPOC,” which stands for Black and Indigenous people of color; and when do we just say “Black”? [more inside]
A laser show in a soap bubble
Rare 'branched flow' phenomenon seen for the first time in visible light. "For the first time, researchers have created the 'branched flow' phenomenon in visible light, previously only seen in other types of wave like sound. Using nothing but a laser and a simple soap bubble, scientists caused light to twist and fork along its path."
Yes, Black Girls Are Allowed To Be Soft
“See?” People say, after a Black woman dares to feel anger after experiencing the one-thousandth micro-aggression of the day. “She’s so aggressive.” To the racist world, the Black woman is not soft. - @Ashia Monet
“Let us first trace the meaning of the words delirium and exhaustion.”
“Everybody was sort of left-footed,” Hall says. “We were all like, Whoa, what are we doing? Everybody had to figure out how to relate to each other. So everybody started to act like they were in the eighth-grade chorus. It was the weirdest thing I’d ever experienced. All these superstars, whatever you want to call them, we all turned into junior-high kids in chorus, and Quincy became Mr. Jones. That’s how it shook out. Laughing like kids.” 'We Are the World': Inside Pop Music's Most Famous All-Nighter [SL Esquire]
It was time to seize the Planter
How to Turn Garden Weeds into Delicious Meals
You know those plants and weeds you see every day growing outside your home? They may not look like much, but if prepared properly, they can be transformed into a delicious and nutritious meal. [SLYT] [more inside]
"It’s certainly long overdue"
The New York Times has announced it will start using uppercase “Black” to "describe people and cultures of African origin, both in the U.S. and elsewhere"; so has the Associated Press, which is updating its writing style guide accordingly; and other newsrooms have been following suit. Here’s the story of how long it took and some of the people who made that happen, why this is "far more than a typographical change", how "the question of how to properly refer to Black people in print has deep historical roots", and why "saying 'Black' with a capital B isn't enough" .
‘Everyone misplaces ____ keys’
He, She, One, They, Ho, Hus, Hum, Ita. Amia Srinivasan reviews What's Your Pronoun? Beyond He and She by Dennis Baron at the LRB.
O Canada!
Celebrate Canada by celebrating 'Original people' of the land by Sheila North [CBC] “Dear Canada, dear Canadians, You are beautiful. True, north, strong and free. So why are you mean, so ignorant, rude and hateful?! Not all the time and not all of you. But when you are, you really are to a point that people die. To a point where certain people, your neighbours, go missing or are murdered at alarming rates. Why can't you stand up and put an end to that pandemic that's persisted for many generations? I know you care about human rights. In fact, you are known by other countries as a state that fights for human rights. And yet you fight the original people of this land when they stand up and assert their basic human rights for clean water, proper resources to care for children and access to their own lands, for example. You have more than enough now for you and your next generations to live comfortably. The benefits you have access to and have stored up are remarkable. But don't you see what getting all of that has done to the original people of this land? Surely you see the injustices, the poverty, the high incarceration rates, children in care and illnesses among the people who agreed to share this land and its resources with you, so you and your families could have a good life.” [more inside]
The Tony Hill Rig
In 1984, filmmaker Tony Hill created a contraption, the 'Satellite Crane', to revolve a camera around a subject. He used it to create an experimental film, 'Downside Up', and a music video for Cabaret Voltaire: 'Sensoria'. [more inside]
“Why should we give [William] medical coverage?”
Donald said at the time that he supported a cutoff of medical coverage that had been provided by a family company for Fred III’s son, William, who had cerebral palsy. Donald Trump told the New York Daily News that when he and his siblings were sued by Fred III and Mary, he felt, “Why should we give [William] medical coverage?”
Mary Trump is telling the story.
Mary Trump continued her studies at Adelphi University, where she earned a master’s degree in psychology in 2001, a master’s in clinical psychology in 2003, and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology in 2010, a school official said. She has written Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. [more inside]
Mary Trump is telling the story.
Mary Trump continued her studies at Adelphi University, where she earned a master’s degree in psychology in 2001, a master’s in clinical psychology in 2003, and a doctoral degree in clinical psychology in 2010, a school official said. She has written Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. [more inside]
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