November 24, 2020
Raising Cane
Sugar candy tasted better than bitter truth: A long and beautiful read by Shane Mitchell on sugar cane. SL The Bitter Southerner
Minecraft Accessibility Plus
Minecraft is probably not the game that most people think of when they think about accessibility to the blind, but this mod is working on improving that situation. [more inside]
lofi smash mouth radio - beats to relax/study to
Courtesy Griffin McElroy and the game Fuser, an extremely cursèd DJ set: lofi smash mouth radio - beats to relax/study to [more inside]
Latria Graham: On Being Black in the Outdoors
In May of 2018, journalist and avid explorer of the outdoors Latria Graham wrote an essay for Outside Magazine, We're Here. You Just Don't See Us. "We are doing it. We are out there. We always have been. My Instagram feed is filled with people of color tackling V12 climbs, ascending mountains, teaching their children how to read the sky," she wrote. Responses to her essay overwhelmed her, and readers wanted to know how they could be safe in spaces that aren't always welcoming to people of color. In September of 2020, Graham answered: "The unraveling of this country in the summer of 2020 has forced me to reckon with my actions, my place in the natural world, and the fact that as a Black woman writer in America, I am tasked with telling you a terrible truth: I am so sorry. I have nothing of merit to offer you as protection." Out There, Nobody Can Hear You Scream. [more inside]
Extremely Online
Two reports raise questions on early autism treatments.
Hot on each other's heels, an umbrella review from Cooperative Research Centre for Living with Autism (based in Australia) and a meta-analysis from Boston University have flagged a range of concerns. [more inside]
JESUS CHRIST WADE
Today was the release date of Ready Player Two, Ernest Cline's sequel to Ready Player One. Reactions have been strong. Without having read it, one can only say that, well, these are certainly excerpts of a book that exists (live tweeting by Jacob Mercy). But there are of course now fake excerpts that would pretty much pass.
Chinese American
While most Chinese Americans vote Democrat, right-wing Chinese Americans have been spreading conspiracy theories and disinformation among Chinese-language speakers (Foreign Policy), aided in part by Steve Bannon (NYT). Shen Lu reports how sites like Chinese American and North America Headlines are starting to fight back; what happens when you’re kicked off Weibo; and the new wave of Chinese-language progressive podcasts. [more inside]
Email a dumpster fire. Literally.
1. Send an email to dumpsterfire@hey.com with whatever you want to torch. Use plain text or an image attachment. PG-13 rules apply. // 2. Watch on the live feed as your message is created, conveyed, and then dropped into the rolling flames. // 3. Experience catharsis.
Underwater statues for the environment
i remember my life as if it's just some dreams that i don't trust
Microphones in 2020 is a 45 minute long autobiographical song (with accompany 35mm photograph slideshow lyric video), a self-described "spooling out repetitive decades-long song string" detailing the life and times of Phil Elverum's early band The Microphones in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Terza rima yes; the letter "e"? no.
Lipogrammatical translations of the beginnings of Dante and Proust, by Kinton Ford. Move over, the quidnunc kid.
A tangled bank heist
Charles Darwin's notebooks reported stolen from Cambridge university (The Guardian). Two of Darwin's notebooks, including the one containing his famous "tree of life" sketch, went missing in 2000. For twenty years, curators believed they had simply been mislaid, but have now determined that theft is more likely. The notebooks were digitized immediately prior to their disappearance.
Reba! Come here and look at this!
When you woke up today, you probably didn't expect to read a deep dive on the coloring and recoloring of Garfield comics by cartoonist David Malki. But here it is anyway.
Australian art, and Americans who don't understand it
The Uncanny Valley of Culture "This article contains spoilers for Necrobarista (2020) and The Dressmaker (2015). The Dressmaker is kind of a banger of a movie so I recommend checking it out if you got the time. Necrobarista is pretty good too, but I’m biased on that one."
"Hello! Today we’re gonna talk about the stifling effects of American cultural imperialism on popular media across the world, and why creators in colonial countries feel creatively asphyxiated. Strap in." [more inside]
Its origin and purpose still a total mystery
The Utah Department of Public Safety has found a monolith in Utah.
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