November 30, 2017
I KNEW IT
The first study to actually count the number of cortical neurons in the brains of a number of carnivores, including cats and dogs, has found that dogs possess significantly more of them than cats. […] The results of the study are described in a paper titled “Dogs have the most neurons, though not the largest brain: Trade-off between body mass and number of neurons in the cerebral cortex of large carnivoran species” accepted for publication in the open access journal Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.
I'm gonna keep you in love with me
The National's music video for Dark Side of the Gym, choreographed and directed by Justin Peck, and performed by Justin Peck and Patricia Delgado (SLYT). As Marina Harss puts it in the New Yorker, "the whole video is essentially an extended pas de deux, highly technical but low-key, intimate, and a little sexy." [more inside]
The Picture in Her Mind
Didion’s journalism from the Sixties and Seventies seems newly relevant because then (as now) American history had taken a few alarming turns, and everyone wanted to know why and what to do about it. While crossing the nation on book tour she heard the same question from every TV and radio host: “Where are we heading?” Today, the questions remain the same. Why is this happening? And: What can we do to change it? But Didion regarded answers to these questions with skepticism, bordering on contempt. At the heart of grand narratives about who we are and where we are heading she saw self-deception in the face of meaningless disorder. Instead of trying to change the world, Didion was content, as she writes in South and West, “to find out, as usual, what was making the picture in my mind.”, Paul Gleason for The Point
Patterns in Flax
Patterns in Flax (10’55, Black & White) (1947) This Weekly Review pays respect to the traditional Māori art of raranga (or weaving), and looks at the industrialisation of New Zealand flax (harakeke) processing. The episode features a factory in Foxton where Māori designs are incorporated into modern floor coverings. Patterns in Flax features some great footage of the harvesting and drying of flax plants, and shots of immense (now obsolete) flax farms. [more inside]
Poodles Are Much More Than a Haircut
A very old breed, indeed, poodles are and were everywhere and did every thing. As you can see by the links in this first section, they are not just prancing dogs in funny haircuts, they were working dogs. They were considered for use during WW II war dogs, though they turned out not to be ideal. They've raced in Alaska sled dogs and did fairly well. And they're being retrained for what their history suggests is their most suitable job water dogs
When I Was a Girl I Wrapped Books
Erin O. White: The gift wrappers at the Chinook were North End girls, the North End being the old downtown section of a newly sprawling western city, a downtown of treed boulevards and clapboard houses so separate from the city swelling around it that only in college did I learn that the rest of the country saw Colorado Springs as something of a joke: militarized, fundamentalist, ignorant. What I saw instead was Pikes Peak from every street corner, towering and maternal and vigilant. I saw the loud and gentle Vietnam vets who lived in the Albany Apartments and panhandled out front on Tejon Street, the stucco churches with their statues of a brown Jesus, the shallow creek near the highway where in spring we waded in water the color of rust. I saw the Chinook.
Seriously, it sounds like a ballad you'd hear at Gorilla vs. Bear
Rarely can a film’s video game adaptation say it improved upon the film from which it drew inspiration, but the 1989 Game Boy version of Robocop, Paul Verhoeven’s ultra-violent genre classic, has at least one thing on its source material: An unforgettable theme song. [more inside]
"Number one: I want the movie to end with a biiiig explosion!"
Veteran screen actor Rance Howard died this past Saturday at the age of 89.
The name might not ring a bell, but chances are you know his face, perhaps as That Guy in Ed Wood; or maybe as That Guy in Chinatown; or maybe That Guy in Nebraska; or That Guy in that Seinfeld episode; or That Guy in that other Seinfeld episode; or That Guy in The Burbs; or That Guy in Babylon 5; or That Guy in the Andy Griffith Show. Or any of the other 200+ character roles he performed in over 60 years of professional acting. (You might also be familiar with his sons Ron and Clint, and more recently, his granddaughter Bryce Dallas.)
The name might not ring a bell, but chances are you know his face, perhaps as That Guy in Ed Wood; or maybe as That Guy in Chinatown; or maybe That Guy in Nebraska; or That Guy in that Seinfeld episode; or That Guy in that other Seinfeld episode; or That Guy in The Burbs; or That Guy in Babylon 5; or That Guy in the Andy Griffith Show. Or any of the other 200+ character roles he performed in over 60 years of professional acting. (You might also be familiar with his sons Ron and Clint, and more recently, his granddaughter Bryce Dallas.)
End of the LA Weekly
The LA Weekly's sale to a mysterious buyer is completed with immediate layoffs of most of the editorial staff. With the deaths of the Gothamist family of sites (previously) and the end of the print edition of the Village Voice (previously), we can now add the impending end of the venerable LA Weekly. Except, who the heck is Semanal Media? Meanwhile, in related depressing OC Weekly news...
Myanmar Brought Her Own Damn Stage
Tom and Lorenzo Present the 2017 Miss Universe Pageant Costumes:
Part One: SPINAL INJURY SHOWDOWN!
“Come to Belgium, where we like our showgirls darkly ominous and unhealthily obsessed with heraldry!” [more inside]
Let's Talk About Colin Kaepernick
There's a new Chart Party, and in this installment, Jon Bois uses math and statistics to explain why the argument that Colin Kaepernick isn't good enough to play in the NFL doesn't hold water. (SLYT) [more inside]
“...to crush a 14-year-old would appear to be a step too far.”
Epic Games is suing more Fortnite cheaters, and at least one of them is a minor [Polygon] “In October, Polygon learned that Epic Games had filed suit against two individuals for making and using software that allows players to cheat in the game Fortnite. Since then, the publisher and developer has filed suit against at least nine more individuals, both in the United States and overseas. Unsurprisingly, at least one of them is a minor. We know this because a new and unusual document has been entered into the court record: A sternly worded, and legally savvy, note from his mom.” [Lauren Rogers to the U.S. District Court Eastern District of North Carolina by Polygondotcom on Scribd] [more inside]
The Music of Alma Deutscher
Alma Deutscher, born 2005 in England, is a composer, violinist and pianist. She began playing the piano when she was two years old and the violin when she was three. Soon afterwards she started improvising simple melodies on the piano. Her attempts at composition began at age four, when she began writing an opera about a pirate called Don Alonzo. There followed various compositions for violin, piano, viola and voice, as well as works for chamber ensembles that were commissioned by music festivals in England and Switzerland. [more inside]
These Girls Gonna Run the World
All-girl elementary school group raps positive messages about education and Black Girl Magic. (The latter inspired by Beyonce, Serena, Michelle Obama and other prominent Black women.) The sixth graders get shout outs from none other than Michelle Obama, Jemele Hill, and Jada Pinkett Smith. Complex magazine interviewed the girls' teacher.
You won't read this article either
Save Our Stories
Three tools that help digital journalists save their work in case a site shuts down. This is also about preserving articles from writers you care about. If You See Someting You Like, Save It in the Wayback Machine.
Sur-prise, sur-prise!
RIP Jim Nabors, 87. LA Times obit. Forever known as Gomer Pyle on the Andy Griffith show, he had an amazing singing voice, putting out several albums, including The Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. Record Album and Kiss Me Goodbye, which yours truly remembers being advertised extensively on afternoon television. He also sang Back Home Again in Indiana at the start of the Indianapolis 500 almost every year from 1972 to 2014.
Oh, and he also appears on the first (broadcast) episode of the Muppet Show.
In 2013, at age 82 he married his partner of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader.
😾 *Please do not let in the cat*
His name is Max. Max is Nice.
His owner does not want Max in the Library.
We do not want Max in the Library.
Max wants to be in the Library.
Please do not let Max in the Library.
[via]
His owner does not want Max in the Library.
We do not want Max in the Library.
Max wants to be in the Library.
Please do not let Max in the Library.
[via]
"man this dithering is stable as shit. total magic going on here."
"It feels a little weird to put 100 hours into something that won't be noticed by its absence." Lukas Pope (developer of Papers, Please [previously]) had a problem with his upcoming game Return of the Obra Dinn. The dithering used in the game's stylised 1-bit graphics caused uncomfortable flickering when the camera moved. So he fixed it.
Private Dick/Family Man
Talking Simpsons, the in-depth Episode-by-episode Simpson’s podcast, takes a break to explore the history and backstory of the USA Network’s attempt to create a raunchy and extremely 90s competitor to The Simpsons, Duckman (92 min). They discuss the episode ‘About Face’, available online here.
"Everyone needs someone else"
How intentional communities try to combat loneliness, a detrimental condition experienced by 40% of Americans. "Intentional communities[...] are intimate: a couple dozen apartments or single-family homes, built around central squares or common spaces. And they’re operated in ways intended to keep the community connected — with weekly dinners at a community center or other common area, shared babysitting services, shared gardens or games or even vacations. If you don’t want to participate, fine; no one will come pester you to play a pick-up game you don’t want to play or join a committee you don’t want to join. But when you need the community — because a spouse is away or a baby is sick or you’re just plain lonely and would like some companionship — it’s there for you."
Biscornu? I hardly know you!
How to Make Biscornu Make a complicated looking octagonal pincushion out of two simple squares. They can be made with embroidered or plain fabric and you can add a button in the middle to make it look more like a doughnut biscuit spaceship. Biscornu is a French term that means 'bizarre' or crooked.
10 years later, what became of the girl in the window?
"In 2007, a feral child was found starving, covered in her own filth, unable to walk or talk. A new family took in the girl, called her Dani, and tried to make up for years of neglect." Ten years later, an update from the Tampa Bay Times. [more inside]
At first I thought you were simply taking a break
Why You Left Social Media: A Guesswork. An essay by Sofia Samatar on Kate Zambreno and quitting social media
At first I thought you were simply taking a break, as writers sometimes do, to meet a deadline or clear your head. That was before the election. Later, during the election and its aftermath, I thought maybe you left because you couldn’t stand the climate. [...] Perhaps you were suffering a kind of political depression.
We’re not that close, please don’t make me read this whole page
So, You’d Like to Buy Your Loved One a Book? A flowchart from the New York Times Book Review
Message in^H^H on a memory card
A camera left behind on a beach in Yorkshire filmed itself being swept up by the tide and recorded the beginning of a 500-mile odyssey across the North Sea. It was found on Süderoog, a tiny German island in the Wadden Sea. The owner is now being sought. (From The Guardian)
Honk if you're stroppy
The Cutest Constipation
Did you know baby tigers can need help pooping? Mika is a new baby tiger at C.A.R.E. and without a mom-tiger to help her poop. She already prefers chicken to her bottle, and she's diligently working on her sneak attacks.
Respectfully yours, Rosa L. Parks
Equal Justice [content warning: rape] - "More than a decade before Parks became a civil rights hero for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man, Parks led a national campaign against sexual assaults on black women." (previously)
Flag it and Move On
Vexillology is the study of flags. There are five simple rules. There is also an incredibly entertaining TED Talk which highlights some egregious rule-breakers.
breaking rules, not ice
Harley Windsor is an accidental ice skater (a wrong turn made when he was a child), who became a pairs skater after growing too tall, from Sydney's Rooty Hill.
“Anything’s possible,” he says. “Nina Mozer, the head coach, told me that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, if you train professionally, you’re going to show results." [more inside]
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