October 4, 2014
Uhhhhhhhhhhh
Overthinking a plate of American Chop Suey
American Chop Suey (aka Goulash) gets the Food Lab treatment from MeFi favorite J. Kenji López-Alt. (American Chop Suey was the subject of two recent questions on The Green.)
I cut my teeth on series rings... in the 80's
A surprisingly prescient cover of Royals, made back in March 2014. Today the parody is a timely paean to the boys in blue from Kansas City: they have won all three of their post-season games... their first since 1985.
“Deaths exist in all countries,”
Jean-Claude Duvalier, ‘Baby Doc’ of Haiti, Dies at 63: [New York Times]
"Jean-Claude Duvalier, a former president of Haiti known as Baby Doc who ruled the country with a bloody brutality and then shocked the country anew with a sudden return from a 25-year exile in 2011, died on Saturday."
Of course, everyone knows about levers...
Elementary Mechanics from a Mathematician's Viewpoint [direct link to large PDF] by Michael Spivak - notes from his eight 2004 lectures (which eventually became a book). See the quote inside to get the flavor of it. [more inside]
Censorship of the Arts in Australia
"Not since the days of Mike Brown’s conviction of obscenity over 50 years ago have Australian police successfully prosecuted an artist over such charges. These repeated failures have not, however, stopped the police from trying." [more inside]
Why War?
It's a question Americans should be asking. Professor in the history department at West Point, Gregory A. Daddis, explores the changing utility of war in the post WWII environment. 'As the United States charges once more into war, little debate has centered on the actual utility of war. Instead, policymakers and pundits have focused their comments on combating the latest danger to our nation and its interests as posed by Islamic State militants.' 'For well over a decade — one might suggest over multiple decades — the United States has been engaged in war, yet so few in the public sphere seem willing to ask, as a Vietnam-era hit song did: “War, what is it good for?” It seems plausible to argue that war is a phenomenon increasingly serving itself rather than any durable political goals.' [more inside]
End of an era
"a kind of weirdo, a loner, but the most interesting of all"
Yes means Yes > No means No
The groundbreaking decision in California to address rape culture with a new standard that aids in defining sexual consent was signed into law this week by Governor Jerry Brown. The men's magazine GQ immediately provided a useful (and progressive!) guide called "Nine Signs She Wants to Have Sex with You (Even in California)".
Earth is a Special Snowflake
World Space Week 2014: Unusual Facts About The Solar System
1. Earth is Special[more inside]
Earth's atmosphere is completely unique and the only one in our solar system able to support life. There is no other planet which has breathable oxygen in its air and oceans on its surface.
Serial: the podcast
The folks at This American Life are behind a new podcast called Serial. The premise behind Serial is that one story will told over 10-20 episodes, which together will constitute a "season." The first two episodes of season 1 have just been released: over the course of the next few months, creator Sarah Koenig will attempt to unravel the mystery of the 1999 murder of Baltimore high school student Hae Min Lee.
Cowspiracy is a documentary now being screened
Cowspiracy is a crowdfunded documentary now being screened that examines the environmental impact of animal agriculture and seeks to examine why prominent environmental groups have apparently not made it a focus of their efforts. David Robinson Simon, the author of Meatonomics who appears in the film, interviews filmmakers Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn. [more inside]
Ello is soooo summer of 2014. Autumn is tilde.club
While Ello burns out and MetaFilter goes 2014, tilde.club appears as a defiantly old school minimalist blogging platform. What is tilde.club? It's a community developed social network, initiated by MeFite ftrain. As described, "The only goal is for tilde.club to be a place where you can make weird web pages that you might not want to put anywhere else." Community activity involves the updating of home pages, sometimes to creative effect, discussions and thoughts on historical Internet culture, working on teccie stuff and donating towards costs via new methods and old. Live for several days now, the cultures of established and new users are differing, while interest means there is currently a new user waitlist. There is also a web ring.
Retired NSA Technical Director Explains Snowden Docs
"I had an opportunity to attend a presentation by retired NSA technical director, William Binney, which provided context for some of the published documents released by former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden. Because of the public value of Binney's expertise on the subject, I decided to publish his presentation and comments on my website." Via Bruce Schneier. (Previously: We Are Watching; Not My Department.)
Why I Refuse to Let Technology Control Me.
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