September 21, 2015
Hope is the thing with fur
Take *that*, assholes
A Modest Proposal - David Sedaris talks about the pros and cons of getting hitched
Woodblock GIFs
End the silence
sidecarcross
Fukushima.
This photographic documentary is not intended to tell the story of the events surrounding the disaster yet again. [...] It is not earthquakes or tsunami that are to blame for the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, but humans. [...] As in the Chernobyl case, it was a human, not technology, that was mainly responsible for the disaster.
Ryan Adams covers Taylor Swift's 1989
1989 as covered by Ryan Adams (except "Clean", for some reason). Blank Space is my favorite. It's available on iTunes (including "Clean"). You can read an interview with him or read about the backstory in USA Today.
A vast ocean underlies the ice on Enceladus
Cassini Finds Global Ocean in Saturn's Moon Enceladus. "A global ocean lies beneath the icy crust of Saturn's geologically active moon Enceladus, according to new research using data from NASA's Cassini mission." The discovery of a global ocean beneath its icy rind makes Enceladus an even better potential extraterrestrial incubator than previously thought. [more inside]
3D print your own speculum
Meet the GynePunks, activists who are making reproductive healthcare more accessible by using open source tools to make centrifuges, microscopes, and speculums.
“Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers.”
In Defense of Hufflepuff [The Atlantic] The much-maligned house of the Harry Potter series doesn’t get nearly enough attention or praise for its egalitarian ethos. [more inside]
Nuu-chah-nulth Territory
In 2014, flagging tape was discovered in the old-growth forest of the central Walbran Valley that concerned citizens feared were marking out proposed cutblocks - but the logging company, Teal Jones, denied having any logging plans in the area. Then in 2015, Wilderness Committee Vancouver Island Campaigner Torrance Coste obtained maps from the company showing that they were indeed planning to log eight cutblocks of ancient forest surrounding the iconic Castle Grove. Now the fight is on to save the Walbran Valley's remaining ancient forests. Meanwhile on the nearby Sunshine Coast, protesters have blocked roads into old-growth cutblocks, prompting speculation of a War in the Woods part 2.
RIP Feminist Porn Pioneer Candida Royalle
President Scott Walker will not be a thing
Guardian: Scott Walker 2016 presidential campaign in crisis after plunge in polls. BBC: Scott Walker drops out of US 2016 presidential race. New York Times: Scott Walker Said to Be Quitting Presidential Race. Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel: Campaign woes prompt Scott Walker to drop out of race. The Onion: Aides Rush On Stage To Rotate Scott Walker Back To Direction Of Audience.
Onward, intrepid hero.
New York rat drags a slice of pizza down subway steps. Insert joke about inferiority of your preferred regional pizza here.
Locked Tight
In fact, women have never once asked me why my account is locked—and unlike some of my male editors, they’ve never recommended opening it up. They understand that the online world has become a horror show, and that men largely drive that horror.Stacey May Fowles: I am afraid of men on the Internet.
You’ll Never Know
A video has emerged of a man serenading his wife of 73 years on her deathbed with a song she sang to him as he went to fight in the Second World War.
How to master Ms. Pac-Man
Here's David Manning's YouTube videos illustrating how to make use of ghost AI quirks on the fly while playing in Ms. Pac-Man: Ghost Behavior and On Grouping. It's excellent for building an intuitive sense of how to play the game which, because of random aspects, cannot be reliably beaten with patterns as with Pac-Man. [more inside]
Subject: INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY INFRINGEMENT (BEN CARSON)
Lawyers for Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson recently sent a cease and desist letter (pdf) to CafePress. The reason? To halt sales of all unauthorized Ben Carson For President products, based on the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act, The Lanham Act, Federal Trademark Infringement, Federal Copyright Infringement, state misappropriation and privacy laws." [more inside]
they paved paradise put up a parking lot
Parking sign company goes meta: Free Parking Infographic
You know, for the kids! And the future.
STEM education meets Guinness Book of World Records with world's largest bridge built from toy construction set 'A lot of engineers have probably grown to like engineering through playing with toys like Meccano.'
"For all things wood!"
We've heard before about the Wood Database, which lists detailed information ranging from crushing strength to odor to sustainability for close to 200 different types of wood. But now, the project has a beautifully simple Pinterest page as well. You can browse images of burled wood, striped wood, golden wood, and even pink and purple wood - and every image links back to the database, if you want to find out more. [more inside]
Is popular Atheism racist?
In the wake of the national furor over the arrest of a high schooler over a digital clock, one prominent atheist ponders if this wasn't part of some elaborate plan this whole time. [more inside]
Alarmingly high proportions
"There's a popular narrative about poor families and fast food: They eat more of it than anybody else. It’s dangled as evidence for the high rate of obesity among poorer Americans -- and talked about even by some of the country’s foremost voices on food. "[J]unk food is cheaper when measured by the calorie, and that this makes fast food essential for the poor because they need cheap calories," wrote Mark Bittman for The New York Times in 2011
But there’s a problem with saying that poor people like fast food better than others. It’s not true."
First Listen: Cast Recording , 'Hamilton'
"This is musical theater made by someone who knows rap to be all our cultural lingua franca, whose sense of humor is legible to people like us. It is songwriting done within rap's regulations and limitations. It's a work of historical fiction that honors the sentiments of rap, a play off collective memory that feels overwhelming personal."
NPR is now streaming the Cast Recording of the hit broadway play Hamilton (previously).
The Forgotten Battalion
In Unit Stalked by Suicide, Veterans Try to Save One Another. The Second Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment (2/7) was deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan in 2008. During eight months of combat, the unit killed hundreds of enemy fighters and suffered more casualties than any other Marine battalion that year. When its members returned, most left the military. Seven years later, at least 13 of the 1200 members of that battalion have killed themselves in the interim: two while on active duty, the rest after they left the military. That is nearly four times the rate for young male veterans as a whole and 14 times that for all Americans. (This story discusses self-harm, suicide and suicidal ideation. Some readers may find the content disturbing.) [more inside]
Rose-coloured glasses about the charm of cities in the past?
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
I heard the debut record from this band when it came out a little while ago and thought it was cool, but it didn't make a lasting impression. However, this video featuring the band performing a house concert in France really blew me away!
Skip ahead in the video to about 1:10 in to get to the actual concert:
St. Paul & The Broken Bones live at some house in France!
Wait, wait, have you written this down? Aren't you a writer?
Rescuing Ghosts
Rescuing Ghosts is a short, emotional animation to the music of Fox Amoore.
Kim Jung Gi is fast on the draw
All the feels
The Emotions Of Pixar (SLVimeo)
No hotdogs. Ever.
With the Canadian election coming in under a month, it's time for some Super Gay Campaign Advice. (round 2)
One tiny warm spot in the center, and a narrow ring of mediocrity around
When shopping for a microwave oven, bring a box of appalams and cook four of them for 30 seconds. (via What if? xkcd via this amusing ELI5 about a microwave-resistant gnat)
Why Do We Admire Mobsters?
We don’t glamorize all violent crime; no one holds the Son of Sam or Charles Manson in high regard. (It’s hard to imagine their descendants gathering for a celebratory dinner at a steakhouse.) So why are Al Capone, Lansky, Arnold Rothstein, Luciano, and their ilk held up as mythic figures, even heroes of a sort, not just by their families but by the general public? Why are members of the Italian mafia treated more like celebrities than unsavory criminals?
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