January 26, 2020
The remains of the most famous non-emperor Roman may have been found
Remains Found by Pompeii Really Are Probably are Pliny the Elder, New Tests Indicate Pliny the elder, author/admiral/polymath died attempting to rescue the citizens of Pompeii from the erupting volcano. A skull that was found in the early years of the 20th century on the shores of Stabiae along with a jawbone, jewels and a sword befitting a man of Pliny's stature have recently been re-evaluated and the cranium most likely does belong to one of Rome's most famous citizens. [more inside]
The Svalbard Heist
Can surgical masks protect you from getting the Flu?
As coronavirus races around the world, surgical masks are selling out everywhere. But evidence suggests they may not be that effective. Tl;dr wash your hands regularly, and try not to touch your face.
Don't be scared for only the dark can show you the stars
Pet Shop Boys are back with their 14th album, Hotspot. This brings to a close their trilogy of albums with producer Stuart Price, who helmed the previous albums Electric and Super. Side A: Will-O-The-Wisp, You Are The One, Happy People, Dreamland (Featuring Years & Years) [official lyric video], Hoping For A Miracle [more inside]
Skooliepalooza
Skooliepalooza is an annual festival that grew out of the skoolie.net forums for people who build, live, and travel in bus conversions. [more inside]
The Girlfriend's Guide to the Gods
This is the first myth: that your boyfriend from when you were fifteen will come and get you out of hell. He might come, but he won’t get you. You will never have an interesting conversation with him, though his haircut will suggest that he should be interesting. [more inside]
Saudi Connection. A discussion of the 9/11 investigations
A NYTimes long read uncovering information about the terrorists that we never knew What did US intelligence know, and when did they know it? This article explores FBI discoveries and why we never got to hear about them. [more inside]
Six Inches Wide
Goodbye to the Visionary of Vegetables
If you've bought sunchokes (Jersusalem artichokes), dragon fruit, jicama, Stokes Purple sweet potatoes, kiwifruit, habanero peppers, or black garlic in a grocery store in the U.S., you' ll want to eat a fruit or vegetable today in honor of the woman who helped get them there: Frieda Rapoport Caplan, aka "“Kiwi Queen” and “Mother Gooseberry.” “Mushroom Lady” and “the “Mick Jagger of the produce world.” [She] broke the glass ceiling in the testosterone-doused produce world and forever changed the way Americans eat fruits and vegetables." [more inside]
The good and the bad. We have given each other all that we have.
Fantastic beasts and someone to draw them
In Hittite mythology, Illuyanka was a serpentine dragon slain by Tarhunt, the Hittite incarnation of the Hurrian god of sky and storm. Otora gitsune was a one-eyed, three-legged kitsune who lived in Aichi Prefecture. In Lugbaran mythology Adro is the epitome of all evil and the master of witches and wizards for people who live in the west Nile region of Uganda. El Sapo Fuerzo is a mythical toad from Chile. One of the creepier creatures in Scottish folklore, and certainly not something you want to meet on a dark night, is the brollachan. The linchetto is a sprite present in the popular tradition of the province of Lucca. The Sarmatian Sea Snail was a very odd creature that was in a medieval bestiary entitled On Monsters and Marvels, by a French surgeon named Ambroise Pare. The Colo Colo or Colocolo, is a malignant creature of Mapuche mythology. Artist Iman Joy El Shami-Mader is on a mission to illustrate all of the world's mythical beasts.
learn category theory -- and haskell! :P
Programming with Categories - "In this course we explain how category theory—a branch of mathematics known for its ability to organize the key abstractions that structure much of the mathematical universe—has become useful for writing elegant and maintainable code." (course page; course notes; class summaries; via; also btw: Compositionality)
« Previous day | Next day »