July 23, 2018
"I was like nope, that’s not going to happen"
You may have seen the reddit post about the Savannah waitress who body-slammed a groper. The Washington Post now has a story with more background (non-paywalled link here). There's also an editorial cartoon in the local paper.
Zim's back! You dare agree with me? Prepare to meet your horrible doom!
Invader Zim, the unlikely sounding pairing from Jhonen Vasquez, the creative mind then best known for Johnny the Homicidal Maniac [previously], and the cable channel for kids, Nickelodeon, is coming back for a movie, and it looks gloriously weird (Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus Exclusive Teaser | San Diego Comic-Con 2018 - mostly cinematic score with limited sound effects). Not sure what these words even mean? Join me, friends, for more details from a fellow perfectly normal human worm-baby. [more inside]
The Mere Wife vs Beowulf
Review of a new retelling of "Beowulf" for the modern age. With interesting redefinitions of important words, that men have always defined. And here's an NPR interview with the author: Beowulf in the suburbs
Architects of War
It's the fall of 1990. You’re in architecture school. Your assignment is to collect blueprints from a foreign country on the verge of American invasion. Are you helping to preserve threatened buildings—or unwittingly supplying intelligence for more accurate U.S. missile strikes? Geoff Manaugh investigates. [SLDailyBeast]
The puppies in the soul
The Hugo Awards and the World Science Fiction convention have been in crisis in recent years (documented in many Mefi posts linked below) as SF's equivalent of Gamergate abused the (easily abusable) nomination process. After rules changes implemented in 2016, the 2017 Hugo nominees were a diverse slate and the awards ultimately nearly swept by women, several of them women of color. The current 2018 ballot is also highly diverse, and many breathed a sigh of relief over a bullet finally dodged. And then the 2018 Worldcon released its proposed programming draft for review by participants. They variously: misgendered a participant; failed to emphasize Hugo nominees in programming and told someone calling for more diversity that it wasn't of interest to enough of the attendance; took programming suggested by people of color and left them out of it.
Worldcon's Programming committee has since taken down the draft. [more inside]
The UN’s human rights chief has had enough and now he’s speaking out
When Zeid became the UN high commissioner for human rights in 2014, no-one expected him to become a warrior, campaigner, target, hero. Activists were aghast that a Jordanian prince had been appointed to take on the world’s elites. Jordan has historically been more known for torture than democracy, and despite reforms, a recent Human Rights Watch report found “restrictions on free expression, free assembly, and women’s rights.”
“It’s a parody of difficulty sliders in games,”
It’s a remake of DOOM in Unity, called 1337d00m. Dario Zubovic, who has released it for free on itch.io, calls it a “hacker’s version of the original DOOM”. [via: Kotaku]
"You've got a good dog, Brent"
Hopeful Summer - Love Songs Edition
Hi everyone! It's Isaac. You may remember me. I got engaged to my fiancée, Amy, a few months ago. It looked a little bit like this. That was a pretty spectacular moment in my life. And, so, I've been thinking about how all of that came to be. And I got a little bit inspired to make another video that might honor the relationships that made my life possible and what might come for Amy and I in the future. So I hope you enjoy it.[more inside]
shirtless guys in shorts playing with mud
This post is really about the clones.
Survival Skills Primitive
Primitive Survival Tool
Primitive Tool
Primitive Technology Idea
Primitive Life
And it goes on... They are using digging sticks and woven baskets to make more mud huts, stone houses, swimming pools, and charcoal drinking water filters, and roman houses. All while sticking to the shirtless with shorts aesthetic. I've never been so happy with copy cats. [more inside]
Survival Skills Primitive
Primitive Survival Tool
Primitive Tool
Primitive Technology Idea
Primitive Life
And it goes on... They are using digging sticks and woven baskets to make more mud huts, stone houses, swimming pools, and charcoal drinking water filters, and roman houses. All while sticking to the shirtless with shorts aesthetic. I've never been so happy with copy cats. [more inside]
Fairness and Bias Reduction in Machine Learning
As artificial intelligence begins to drive many important decisions (e.g. loans, college admissions, bail), the problem of biased AI has become increasingly prominent (previously, previously, previously). Recently researchers, including at Google and Microsoft, have started taking the problem of fairness seriously. [more inside]
A Black Artist Named White
Four decades after his death, a son of Chicago’s Black Renaissance gets a well-deserved survey at the Art Institute. (YT) Non-video option: How Charles White Rewrote the Black Narrative. (Chicago Magazine) [more inside]
“Let's say you you were into making solar ovens.”
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