August 3, 2018
Trailer Trash No More
My son, Osama: the al-Qaida leader’s mother speaks for the first time
On the corner couch of a spacious room, a woman wearing a brightly patterned robe sits expectantly. The red hijab that covers her hair is reflected in a glass-fronted cabinet; inside, a framed photograph of her firstborn son takes pride of place between family heirlooms and valuables. A smiling, bearded figure wearing a military jacket, he features in photographs around the room: propped against the wall at her feet, resting on a mantlepiece. A supper of Saudi meze and a lemon cheesecake has been spread out on a large wooden dining table.
“I absolutely do not pronounce SNES as "sness"...that's just madness.”
Nintendo Finally Confirms The Correct Pronunciation For 'NES' [Nintendo Life] “The answer to this age-old conundrum comes from WarioWare Gold of all places, the latest entry to the mischievous Mario villain's series on Nintendo 3DS.
In the museum section of the Japanese version of Wario Ware Gold, you can unlock some slides showcasing the Famicom. Also included is a picture of the NES. Within the description, Nintendo themselves says that “NES” is pronounced “Ness”. ~ 05:42 - 3 Aug 2018 @FarmboyjapanAs you can see, according to Nintendo - via the Japanese version of the game's museum area - the true pronunciation is 'Ness'. The Japanese characters on screen suggest that it should have a soft 's' sound, as opposed to a harsher 'z' sound, and the idea of saying each individual letter is nowhere to be seen.”
Quicksilver, helping improve Wikipedia's science coverage & gender bias
About six years ago, there was a Wikipedia edit-a-thon (MetaFilter) for Ada Lovelace Day, celebrating women in STEM by improving the visibility of women in Wikipedia, and there's a commemorative Wikiprojects page. Stemming from another recent edit-a-thon aimed at improving entries on women scientists to address the long-standing gender bias on Wikipedia (MetaFilter, Sept. 18, 2012), folks at Primer, a machine intelligence company, developed Quicksilver to help automate identification of missing scientists, and specifically used at three recent edit-a-thons for improving coverage of women of science (Wired coverage, with additional recognition to 500 Women Scientists for collaborating and inspiring them). You can access a Quicksilver-produced dataset on Github.
New Kids on the Block
"They kind of just like took over this neighborhood this morning." The employees of WeRentGoats.com were working on a patch of land in West Boise, Idaho this morning when a few of them found a break in the fence... [more inside]
NASA announces crews for Boeing and SpaceX flights
Today NASA announced the 9 men and women who will take part in the test flights and first missions of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner. [more inside]
Too Hot for Merriam Webster
This is etymology. You are likely to be eaten by a grue. In her years of managing the email inbox at Merriam Webster, lexicographer Kory Stamper often had occasion to draft responses that a due respect for the gravitas of that august institution would not allow her to send, so instead she collected them on her blog. [more inside]
A Potential Death of a Thousand Paper Cuts
The worker sinks her mandibles into my skin
"Given how common fire ant stings are, I was surprised at how hard it was to find detailed videos of stinging behaviors... so I decided to see if I (Dr. Adrian Smith) could capture the details of fire ant stings and other behaviors on film."
“I have a secret. My father is Steve Jobs."
In an excerpt from her upcoming memoir Small Fry,
Lisa Brennan-Jobs shares what it felt like to be the daughter of the revered tech leader. [more inside]
Today's Tom Riddle, mean, mean man
Wand Erection? Bone Thugs n' Hermione? The You Know Who? Sirius Black Sabbath? Sugar Rayvenclaw? Nine and 3/4 Inch Nails? What's your favorite #HarryPotterABand?
Meet the Scutoid
Scientists have discovered a new shape [Nature]. Matt Parker, with some help from Laura Taalman and Clara Grima, is here to explain [YouTube]. [more inside]
Men with insecurities sound more braggartly
Two-time WNBA championship winner Devereaux Peters in an Washington Post op-ed: I’m a WNBA player. Men won’t stop challenging me to play one-on-one.
Pocket pieces by Nahre Sol
Classical pianist and composer, Nahre Sol has produced a series of videos in which she reacts to music from various other genres and users them as a starting point for her own "pocket piece" compositions: the blues, funk, retro game music, bossa nova, minimalism [more inside]
Heavy metal thunder!
Why the imbalance?
Why are there so few queer female coming-of-age movies? [slGuardian] / 14 Feel-Good Summery Lesbian Movies for Summer Lesbianing [slAutostraddle] [more inside]
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