January 9, 2016
The great British curry crisis
Maribou State: "We don’t set out to make celestial, sublime music"
The duo of Maribou State have come a long way from impressing Fatboy Slim with their remix of Praise You that landed them on his label. Last year, they dropped their debut album, Portraits (YT playlist, Bandcamp), "occupying a space somewhere between ambient electronic and a more house-nodding, four on the floor sensibility," and they had the honor of getting the first Essential Mix for 2016 (Mixcloud; Soundcloud). “We don’t set out to make celestial, sublime music. We aim for something more uptempo and less atmospheric. But that’s the way it comes out.” [more inside]
"No safe level of drinking": UK alcohol guidelines tightened
"No safe level of drinking": recommended drinking guidelines in the UK have been sharply tightened to no more than 14 units a week (equivalent to six pints of beer or seven glasses of wine) for both men and women, and no alcohol at all for pregnant women. [more inside]
The Case of the Missing Hong Kong Booksellers
One Country, Two Systems? Although none of the booksellers have disclosed their locations, a few have been in sporadic contact with family members to communicate, in opaque terms, that they are “assisting in an investigation.” On the phone with his wife, Sophie Choi, earlier last week, Lee conveyed that he was calling from Shenzhen, specifying that he, too, was voluntarily helping with a case but, strangely, spoke in Mandarin, the standard mainland dialect, rather than his native Cantonese. [more inside]
The operation's greatest success was the evacuation.
One hundred years ago, the last Allied day at Gallipoli. "The evacuation had been carried out brilliantly, of that there can be no doubt." (Peter Hart) After months of agonized fighting between forces from multiple nations, the Allies withdrew from Gallipoli, ending one of WWI's most remembered and discussed campaigns. One hundred years ago today the last British soldiers left the peninsula, leaving behind booby traps, animals dead and alive, material destroyed and as booty, and the victorious Turks. [more inside]
Maths and physics visualizations
Illustrations, diagrams, and animations, many of maths and physics concepts, created for Wikipedia by Lucas Vieira Barbosa.
what's in this sausage, anyway?
"Over the past seven years, Americans have heard an awful lot about Barack Obama and his presidency, but the actual substance of his domestic policies and their impact on the country remain poorly understood. He has engineered quite a few quiet revolutions—and some of his louder revolutions are shaking up the status quo in quiet ways. "
Native ants are diverse; they're beautiful.
Argentine ants altering California's ecosystems as homeowners give them shelter The Kentucky woman found herself waging war on a freezer full of Argentine ants.
Thousands of them had set up shop inside the appliance's insulation, and a steady stream of tiny bodies poured out of the cracks to forage in the kitchen. "There was a fortress within the freezer walls," said Cliggett, who set out baits but still spent nearly an hour a day wiping up the fallen soldiers' carcasses.
The Netflix Bible
What's on Netflix? You know how, when you go to Netflix, it shows you what IT thinks you want to watch..and how finding anything else (or even browsing other categories) is next to impossible...
"What's on Netflix" has a page where, by inserting the number from any of the many, many categories listed on the pages from the first link (note, there are three pages of categories, the navigation is at the bottom of the page) you can browse stuff you never knew existed!
A Beautiful Theorem Deserves a Beautiful Proof
Douglas Hofstadter presents a proof Napoleon's theorem (on equilateral triangles constructed on the sides of another triangle), in the form of a sonnet. (Part of a longer talk; the link should take you to 34:18 in the video.)
Thou Shalt Not Forget the Not
The Risky Business of Bible Translation. Last month, a highly unusual Bible sold at auction for a whopping $47,311.
From its exterior, the book looks rather unassuming: It lacks a general title. It contains only two colors of ink — black and red. Its pages are jagged and frayed, as if cut with a hacksaw.
Yet deep inside this 1631 copy of the King James Version, nestled in the Ten Commandments, lies what is widely considered to be the worst typographical error ever made in a Bible. [more inside]
The Summoning of the Skylark
Cool 3D World, by a pair of artist-musicians, puts out a series of Vines (compiled, 3:57) handcrafted in a warm, cozy town in the Uncanny Valley. Last month, they released their first full-length music video, "The Summoning of the Skylark" (3:40).
All NSFW due to unearthly naked demihuman flesh conglomerations.
Display Preparation Demo
Cinematographer Steve Yedlin (Looper, Star Wars Ep. VIII) has created "Display Preparation Demo," comparing 35mm film and Arri Alexa digital "prepped" with custom film-look algorithms (but doesn't reveal which is which).
After filmmaker Mario Carvalhal asked for a cypher, an email exchange ensued exploring the nature of psychological bias in the film vs. digital debate. (via)
After filmmaker Mario Carvalhal asked for a cypher, an email exchange ensued exploring the nature of psychological bias in the film vs. digital debate. (via)
Don't buy upgrades, ride up grades
Welcome back from your Saturday morning ride! Now enjoy the classic Eddy Merckx profile La course en tête. [101min.] [more inside]
Wherefore Art Thou, ATL?
Looking back at the Atlanta music scene in 2015 & the challenges it faces. (slImmersiveAtlanta)
Neither private nor tegrity
“I don’t even know where to begin...”
Animal Collective - FloriDada (Official Video) [YouTube] [Viewer discretion is advised, this video has been identified to potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.] FloriDada is from Animal Collective’s Painting With out February 19, 2016, produced and directed by sometime Adult Swim directors PFFR. [more inside]
Politics now more divisive than Race
"When defined in terms of social identity and affect toward copartisans and opposing partisans, the polarization of the American electorate has dramatically increased...Our evidence demonstrates that hostile feelings for the opposing
party are ingrained or automatic in voters’ minds, and that affective polarization based on party is just as strong as polarization based on race. We further show that party cues exert powerful effects on nonpolitical judgments and behaviors.
Partisans discriminate against opposing partisans, doing so to a degree that exceeds discrimination based on race. " (PDF). [more inside]
No war at the dinner table
Last August, the Guardian's Northern correspondent Helen Pidd invited Yasser, a 34-year-old Syrian refugee, to live in the spare room of her Manchester flat while he waited for his wife and baby daughter to join him. Helen and Yasser tell their sides of the story, from navigating the UK's welfare bureaucracy to the English's perplexing fondness for cookbooks and bare floorboards, a family Christmas near Morecambe and a topical Halloween costume. [more inside]
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