October 19, 2018

But what if I want to go from C - L, via A, B and A again?

Desire paths have been described as illustrating “the tension between the native and the built environment and our relationship to them”. Because they often form in areas where there are no pavements, they can be seen to “indicate [the] yearning” of those wishing to walk, a way for “city dwellers to ‘write back’ to city planners, giving feedback with their feet”. Stroll on through: Desire paths: the illicit trails that defy the urban planners. (SL The Guardian)
posted by Juso No Thankyou at 11:47 PM PST - 23 comments

Thanks, Mole Playing Rough

The Mystery of the Mole Playing Rough (SLYT): why did SNES classic Earthbound contain an unavoidable random encounter with a plucky (but doomed) mole?
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:40 PM PST - 4 comments

NOW YOU'RE PLAYING WITH ALL OF THE POWER

Enjoy a song consisting entirely of bits of video game console startup audio. [slyt]
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:28 PM PST - 2 comments

Are You There God? It's Me, Movie Rights

Nearly 50 years after its publication, Judy Blume has granted the screen rights to her coming-of-age classic, "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." [more inside]
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:32 PM PST - 28 comments

I am Herschel and so is my wife

A story of trout, human hubris, and the scapegoating of hungry sea lions. (SLHakai)
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 5:50 PM PST - 4 comments

Accurate perception is optional

The 2018 Best Illusion of the Year Contest results are out, and unsurprisingly Kokichi Sugihara has won with a truly disorienting illusion. Sugihara previously.
posted by jjray at 5:14 PM PST - 23 comments

What up with that?

Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac are fighting again.
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:20 PM PST - 55 comments

A tree grows in Pittsburgh. Well, up to 100,000

On a patch of land beneath the 62nd Street Bridge, Tree Pittsburgh is looking to train the next generation of local dendrophiles. On Oct. 18, the environmental nonprofit unveiled an expansion of its existing tree nursery on the shores of the Allegheny River. In addition to new space for more than 100,000 new tree saplings, Tree Pittsburgh also opened the doors to its new and totally green education center. [more inside]
posted by Bella Donna at 2:42 PM PST - 8 comments

Criminalizing Victims

Last Thanksgiving, a Chinese woman named Song Yang fell to her death during a police raid of her apartment in Queens. This is her story. (Linked article discusses sexual assault, suicide and abuse.) [more inside]
posted by zarq at 2:24 PM PST - 8 comments

poorly known and rarely seen felid

Chinese Mountain Cats. Video footage of a mother and two kittens of a cat species with "a very small known range on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (Qinghai and northwest Sichuan), [...] the only cat endemic to China".
posted by readinghippo at 1:23 PM PST - 33 comments

The Sunburnt Country

Whiteness as disease in skin-cancer-ridden Australia
posted by zeptoweasel at 11:40 AM PST - 52 comments

Is there racial inequality at your school?

A ProPublica developer uses Illinois as an example of the data on racial disparities in education that can be easily viewed using the new Miseducation online tool. A recent story uses some of the same data (and a great deal of individual reporting) to explore education disparities in Charlottesville.
posted by eotvos at 11:16 AM PST - 18 comments

“Mothers, moreover, were the typical organizers of rent strikes.”

“Starting from scattered clues left by Marx and his successors, above all Rosa Luxemburg, this essay outlines a theory of class formation and socialist hegemony in consonance with the historical, revolutionary experience of the working class’s actual lives and ideas. The basic thesis is that “agency” in the last instance is conditioned by the development of the productive forces but activated by the convergence (or “overdeterminations”) of political, economic, and cultural struggles.” Old Gods, New Enigmas: as production becomes more abstract and society more alienated, what can we learn about building class consciousness from the movements of the past? (Catalyst)
posted by The Whelk at 10:17 AM PST - 3 comments

A water fight in Chile's Atacama raises questions over lithium mining

Reuters reports on the world’s two biggest lithium producers' plans to increase output by drawing more brine from beneath Chile's Atacama desert, the world’s driest, and the attendant environmental impact. The story includes an accompanying interactive infographic version and photo essay. The industry's impact in the region has also caught the eye of photographer Edward Burtynsky, with images of lithium brine operations in the Atacama forming part of the work in his collaboration with Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, The Anthropocene Project.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:47 AM PST - 6 comments

Inertia Creeps

For the 20th anniversary of Mezzanine, arguably one of the best and most important albums of the '90s, Massive Attack has decided to not only release a deluxe, re-mastered version of the album, but following in the footsteps of avant-garde Canadian poet Christian Bök's Xenotext, and in a move unlikely to quell rumours that Robert "3D" Del Naja is actually Banksy, they are releasing it as synthetic DNA suspended in a can of matte black spray paint. [more inside]
posted by Fish Sauce at 9:16 AM PST - 55 comments

Architecture Drawing Prizes for 2018

The World Architecture Festival, with co-curators Make Architects and the Sir John Soane’s Museum, announced today the winners of their annual Architecture Drawing Prize, established in 2017
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:14 AM PST - 6 comments

.:Ultimate Writer: an Open Digital Typewriter:.

TL;DR: A digital typewriter based on a Raspberry Pi and an E-Ink screen. The code/build instructions are available on GitHub. 2600 words from ninjatrappeur describing the build, along with photographs and opportunities to contribute.
posted by cgc373 at 9:03 AM PST - 38 comments

A day in the life of a former global superpower

As a recent deputy Prime Minister joins Facebook, a John Inman double sues his weary hosts, something from the 1990s makes an unwelcome return, technology startups quietly move eastwards, residents hide from a cat, amputated limbs are (allegedly) kept in handy skips, and a rising Tory MP who but a few hours ago demonstrated he is a very angry man goes "pub carpark fight" on (inevitably) Twitter, so the lonely Prime Minister, bereft of even a genuine handshake or a legal joint (which is ironic), charges on with cannon to right of her, cannon to left of her, and cannon in front of her, though much of the nation is otherwise gripped by the latter part of Bread and Circuses, namely Jose-drama and who is [redacated] who on Strictly Come Dancing, when not growing pumpkins.
posted by Wordshore at 8:32 AM PST - 29 comments

Todd H. Bol, founder, Little Free Library Movement, 1956-2018

'“If I may be so bold, I’m the most successful person I know,” Bol said, with a sideways smile, “because I stimulate 54 million books to be read and neighbors to talk to each other. As far as I’m concerned, that’s the very definition of success.' [more inside]
posted by ZeusHumms at 8:20 AM PST - 28 comments

Oh my god what would you name this cat...?? 😱😲😺

Offer an appropriate name (and reverence, if you're smart) to this creature: Twitter | Threadreader
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:54 AM PST - 62 comments

Buffering...

The next generation of streaming video games is on its way [Engadget] “There's a specific kind of frustration associated with crappy game-streaming services. It's all about the buildup: You find a game, whether it's something brand new or a long-lost childhood favorite, and boot it up. It takes forever to load. The title screen stutters and your heart drops, but it's easy to convince yourself it was just a bout of preliminary jitters. And then the game begins. And stops. And starts up again. And stops. [...] That's been the story with so many streaming services over the years, from OnLive to GeForce Now. However, this entire ecosystem is poised to change. After years of impossible promises and half-baked public trials in an incomplete online ecosystem, streaming services are finally viable, and major companies like Google and Microsoft are teasing the future of the industry.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 6:18 AM PST - 34 comments

How The University of Oregon's Soul Was Sold

Facing pressure from an anti-tax initiative that pit university funding against K-12 education, UO president Dave Frohnmayer was forced to look to corporate funders to help fund the school's mission, especially local megacorporation Nike. But Nike's owner, Phil Knight, viewed his largesse as an investment, and that, along with family tragedy for Frohnmayer and a misstep on the latter's part leading the former to exact a brutal toll on him, would lead to the University of Oregon surrendering much of its identity and control to Nike. (SLPSMag) [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:17 AM PST - 30 comments

The feminist case against the feminist case against trans inclusion

"I’m not transphobic, but…”: A feminist case against the feminist case against trans inclusivity This Friday, the 19th October, the [British] Government's consultation on a proposed reform of the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) will close. The process has become a focal point for a heated and often toxic debate over what we as a society owe to trans people, and how the claims of the trans community - and of trans women in particular - relate to the characteristic commitments and concerns of feminism. [Content note - this article discusses transphobia extensively, as do the links below] [more inside]
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 3:00 AM PST - 135 comments

We popped down to Colwood to build a life-size Woolly Mammoth

"I’ve always seen stuff in the driftwood: oh, there’s a dinosaur bone; oh, there’s a triceratops skull" Alex Witcombe launched Drifted Creations after his first driftwood sculpture received a deluge of praise from the public. Today, the artist, who is based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, makes public art pieces and does commissions for a variety of clients. He also runs workshops to help others learn the coastal craft. More images!
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 2:25 AM PST - 4 comments

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