July 17, 2017
Everybody needs one
Puppy needs hug from cat. Different cat tolerates many puppy hugs. Pig and cow boop. Owls canoodle. Lots more at AnimalsHugging.
$5 to $12 billion in private American student loan debt may vanish
From The New York Times: many private lenders lack any paperwork proving that they own the debt. Dozens of cases have already been thrown out in students' favor for defaulting. Bonus: most of the loans went to for-profit colleges.
“Just one thing I want to say. Fighting games are something so great.”
EVO 2017’s Street Fighter 5 Grand Final Was Like the Last 15 Minutes of a Rocky Movie [PC Gamer] “You don't have to know anything about Street Fighter to follow this intense, exhilarating veteran vs. prodigy showdown. The three day, nine game event is perfectly engineered to generate amazing stories: anyone can enter, providing opportunity for surprises and upsets, and the double elimination format adds extra tension as one player inevitably battles their way through the loser's bracket to return for vengeance in the final match. It's a hyperconcentrated hit of everything that makes fighting games great, and that's why casual fans like me come away from EVO every year buzzing with excitement. As you watch EVO, you realize there's so much more to Street Fighter than the skill it takes to remember combos and execute special moves. Like any competitive sport, it's about strategy, timing, mind games, momentum, and the narrative we weave between matches. And all of that stuff is perfectly exemplified in this year's Street Fighter 5 grand finals, which came down to a match between veteran Japanese player Hajime "Tokido" Taniguchi and up-and-coming American Victor "Punk" Woodley.” (Spoilers in thread) [more inside]
I... worked on this FPP for a year, and he just... posted it out
It's every reporter's nightmare: you work on a story for days/weeks/months/years and right at the finish line someone else beats you to print. Elon Green asks journalists Have you ever been scooped?
There was another side to the Harvard-educated physician.
An overdose, a young companion, drug-fueled parties: The secret life of USC med school dean. slLATimes.
From the moment you enter you will know an ARTIST lives here.
"I'm not sure that I think it's gonna be around in 10 or 20 years"
Polygon has a long post with some lovely photographs that goes into the details, costs, and struggles of running an independent game store in 2017.
Staying on top of the -ography in a digital age
It wasn't displayed to the public with its pages open until 2010, but now the 1660 Klencke Atlas - one of the world's largest books, measuring 1.76 m by 2.31 metres when open - has been digitized and is now available for viewing online from the British Library. Watch a timelapse video showing how curators and imaging technicians photographed it (the Klencke Atlas, previously). This is part of the library's ongoing project to catalogue and digitize King George III's topographical collection of over 30,000 maps and views - with the goal of having it available online in 2018. Meanwhile, the library has a parallel project called Transforming Topography underway, which is examining the role of topography in historical scholarship. [more inside]
"Music is the effect created against silence."
Why does the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest winner sound so different from other contemporary pop songs? Luís Figueiredo, the arranger of the song “Amar Pelos Dois” sang by Salvador Sobral and written by Luísa Sobral, explains why. Includes an analysis of "corporate" music and advice on finding good new music since you really can't expect corporate radio to give it to you.
Oh, just vacuuming my bees, you know...
Sheila and Jerry have a problem with swarms. But, there may be a solution: "... the vac doesn't need to be opened right away, but the bees can stay there for a few days until they are no longer furious at being sucked up in a vacuum." In which people describe how to build or operate a vacuum for the collection of bees. Can be built using Staples clear boxes by a foundation activist. Can be used by someone in shorts on a ladder, a sensibly suited individual, a stereotypical tea party supporter or someone crouching next to a "missile detector". Sheila and Jerry give it a go.
Not your usual Getting Things Done.
Interested in productivity but can't relate to the dry managerialness of GTD or the saccharineness of the planner decoration world? Want advice and insight from nerdy, salty, artist types? Check out Productivity Alchemy, a podcast by sysadmin and media producer Kevin Sonney featuring his wife, author, illustrator, and Wombat Test Subject Ursula Vernon, as well as interviews with people from all walks of life who are all convinced that they are not as organised as people think they are.
Sketchplanations
Sketchplanations is a Tumblr/mailing list wherein Jono Hey draws a quick explanation of a thing each week or so, ranging from the browse line ("A distinctive line below which you don’t tend to see leaves or branches in places with animals that like eating leaves or branches.") to the beard cycle, an example of negative frequency-dependent selection.
The Shoey
The world of Formula 1 has learned a new expression. It is called "the Shoey". Initiated by Daniel "Honey Badger" Ricciardo, the Shoey has plenty of unsuspecting victims. Including someone rather famous.
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