November 30, 2018
Sweat Glands - Activate!
Have you wondered why people from hot climates can handle the heat better than those from cold climates?
In the December 1991 issue of Natural History, Jared Diamond wrote the article "Pearl Harbor and Emperor's Physiologists" with the subtitle:
Our ability to feel comfortable in hot climates depends on where we spend the first few years of of childhood.
The mouse that hath but one hole is quickly taken
Recently, photographer Simon Dell stumbled upon a family of mice running around his garden. Instead of reaching for the traps, however, he took out his tools. Dell built the mice a miniature village and they repaid him by posing in front of his camera.
FurrICP
Meet Kung Fu Joe! He's a brand new fursuit currently wandering around this weekend's Midwest Fur Fest, the second largest furry convention in the US (maybe the world). He's there because his daughter, @RubyBruceLee, is a furry and he's there with her. Here's Ruby with her dad. Also, Ruby with her dad and a fan. And Ruby with her dad and a another fan. But why does that last tweet mention Insane Clown Posse's Violent J? Because Violent J's daughter is a furry and he's had a fursuit made that incorporates his juggalo clown markings into its fur. They're at the con and it's charming as fuck. [more inside]
41
George Herbert Walker Bush, first baseman for the Yale Bulldogs baseball team in the 1947 and 1948 College World Series, WWII naval aviator, twice elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the 7th district of Texas, 10th U.S. Ambassador to the UN, head of the CIA, 43rd Vice President of the United States for two terms under Ronald Reagan, 41st President of the United States for one term, member of a multigenerational political dynasty, and skydiving enthusiast, has died at age 94.
How High School Gamers Can Be Varsity Athletes
Delane Parnell is creating a valuable scouting grounds for new tech talent. Parnell’s PlayVS (pronounced play versus), an e-sports platform for high schools, has yet to even launch. But the 26-year-old Detroit native exudes confidence. “Investors are starting to realize that gaming is the next social paradigm,” says Parnell, answering a question about e-sports’ mainstream popularity. “And they want a piece of it.”
You don’t have to look far for evidence of gaming’s influence
“I’m the one manifesting her humanity. Soulcalibur hasn’t done that...”
The Inexplicable Sexiness Of Ivy Valentine [Kotaku] “From the first day I played Soulcalibur in the early 2000s up to playing Soulcalibur VI in the present day, I have felt every possible feeling about character Ivy Valentine’s tits and ass. Alienated. Angry. Sad. Jealous. Embarrassed. Bored. Horny. Amused. Jaded. Ivy hasn’t changed much throughout the life of the series, but I’ve changed my mind about her many times over the years.” [YouTube][Soul Calibur VI Character Trailer][History of Ivy Valentine] [more inside]
Landry Lies
Unfortunately, sometimes feel-good stories of academic achievement are built on lies and abuse. SL New York Times. Tw for racism, child abuse, and general awfulness.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Thank you for growing up with us.
The publication of Rookie magazine is ending. "In one way, this is not my decision, because digital media has become an increasingly difficult business, and Rookie in its current form is no longer financially sustainable. And in another way, it is my decision—to not do the things that might make it financially sustainable, like selling it to new owners, taking money from investors, or asking readers for donations or subscriptions. And in yet another way, it doesn’t feel like I’m deciding not to do all that, because I have explored all of these options, and am unable to proceed with any of them." -Tavi Gevinson.
“Don’t push us out.”
Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association releases a video highlighting the importance of the deep water port to the fishing industry in Portland Maine and surrounding communities.
"The working waterfront is our collective connection to the sea, to the deep maritime tradition, to the work ethic and soul of this place. Men and women of the fishing community, for generations, have been willing to tackle the sea to return with harvest; always a life or death gamble. Hotels and condos become meaningless without the context of our fishing community. To lose our working waterfront would be to betray the cultural context of this state."
12 little wharves
"The working waterfront is our collective connection to the sea, to the deep maritime tradition, to the work ethic and soul of this place. Men and women of the fishing community, for generations, have been willing to tackle the sea to return with harvest; always a life or death gamble. Hotels and condos become meaningless without the context of our fishing community. To lose our working waterfront would be to betray the cultural context of this state."
12 little wharves
The Terrible Occult Detectives of the Victorian Era
A Short List of Shenanigans My Parents' Dog Has Engaged In
My parents don’t have AC, but they have one of those “fridge on top, pull-out-freezer below” fridges. Last summer, we were remarking that we might need to shave [the dog] so she didn’t get heatstroke, to which she looked up and made a disgusted noise at us.…Then got up, used the dishrag to pull open the freezer and climbed on top of the frozen vegetables, stretching out and sighing contentedly. “Arwen,” Mom began, but was interrupted by a loud ‘WHAAAaaaaarrr?” from Arwen.
“Ok you can stay there for now but we’re getting you a kiddie pool so you have to get out when we get back. Don’t eat anything.” She ate a bag of frozen green beans and farted for three days straight. Blogger gallusrostromegalus regales us with tales of Arwen the gloriously naughty (off-duty) service dog. [more inside]
One for everyone in the audience
Tonight's the night! The Irish equivalent of the Superbowl is The Late Late* Toy Show, an annual extravaganza that reaches far beyond it's usual fanbase and into the heart of a nation. Live international stream from 21.30 GMT. It's probably easiest if you just join in the drinking game [more inside]
But How Will We Pay For It?
“Now, a Nation investigation has uncovered an explanation for the Pentagon’s foot-dragging: For decades, the DoD’s leaders and accountants have been perpetrating a gigantic, unconstitutional accounting fraud, deliberately cooking the books to mislead the Congress and drive the DoD’s budgets ever higher, regardless of military necessity. DoD has literally been making up numbers in its annual financial reports to Congress—representing trillions of dollars’ worth of seemingly nonexistent transactions—knowing that Congress would rely on those misleading reports when deciding how much money to give the DoD the following year, according to government records and interviews with current and former DoD officials, congressional sources, and independent experts.” Exclusive: The Pentagon’s Massive Accounting Fraud Exposed (The Nation)
Pervasive racism at Tesla
Lucky Beats Good
Never, ever, ever, ever give up. (single-link 46-second YouTube)
The Definitive Guide to Tipping at Any Restaurant in America
Nora K. Jemisin wants to talk about cities
“WHEN YOU GET THAT WEALTHY, YOU START TO BUY YOUR OWN BULLSHIT”
How has someone with such sterling Establishment credentials—Harvard University, Harvard Business School, the Clinton administration—managed to find herself in such a pickle? Facebook’s leadership culture, as should be clear by now, has been anything but open, transparent, or authentic. A true leader would not have had to write a post defending herself in light of her company’s hiring of a P.R. firm, Definers, that leveraged anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about George Soros to deflect attention from Facebook’s own missteps. (“I did not know we hired them or about the work they were doing, but I should have,” wrote Sandberg, who was hired, in part, to manage Facebook’s Washington relationships.)
Rectangle after Rectangle
How did the rectangle become Western art’s anatomical limit? "This is about the dominance of the rectangular format in a certain tradition of picture making, a dominance that still holds today and extends well beyond the medium of painting. The book, the photographic print, the screen, and the museum—which has tended to favor this format—all guarantee that we encounter most pictures in rectangular frames." [more inside]
“I'd like to teach the world to poop, in perfect harmony...”
The Guardian long read: "But, like fresh bed linen and French bulldogs, the Squatty Potty exerts a powerful emotional force on its owners. “I have one and I have to tell you, it will ruin your life,” a Reddit user called chamburgers recently posted. “I can’t poop anywhere but at home with my Squatty Potty. When I have to poop at work I’m left unsatisfied. It’s like climbing into a wet sleeping bag.”" Also in The Week, bonappetit, Joe.co.uk, and Adweek. Related: which emerged first, poo or poop, and some more differences. (Previously)
"The narratives belong to the genre of tragedy."
Brian Hayes, author of Infrastructure, writes about the Merrimack Valley Gas Explosions, which killed 1, injured 25 and burned 40 homes in and around Lawrence and Andover, Massachusetts last September: Another Technological Tragedy
I admit to a morbid fascination with stories of technological disaster. I read NTSB accident reports the way some people consume murder mysteries. The narratives belong to the genre of tragedy. In using that word I don’t mean just that the loss of life and property is very sad. These are stories of people with the best intentions and with great skill and courage, who are nonetheless overcome by forces they cannot master. The special pathos of technological tragedies is that the engines of our destruction are machines that we ourselves design and build.
Emma Willard: Inventing the Map, illustrated with care and charm
Even without further context, we'd find Frances Henshaw's 1823 "Book of Penmanship Executed at the Middlebury Female Academy" imaginatively and artistically remarkable. But this 14-year-old girl's textually-derived maps and cartographically-arranged texts also provide some of our best direct evidence for the teaching practices of famed women's educational reformer Emma Willard. Willard founded Frances Henshaw's school at a time when geography was taught almost entirely through prose, and there she developed a new, visual and experimental pedagogy. This led her to assert her own impact on spatial and historical understanding in the early American republic unblushingly: "In history," wrote Emma Willard, "I have invented the map." [more inside]
So, What's the Haps on the Craps?
For years, scholars have tried to pin down the exact date (previously) but after some debate, it appears that three decades ago today was, indeed, a very good day.
“Empty my tanks,”
Soon I was locked in, balls deep, ready to be ground down by the enamelled pepper mill within her. Literary Review's. Bad sex award 2018: the contenders in quotes.
Millennial Slaying: The Rebuttal
Millennials are killing countless industries — but the Fed says it's mostly just because they're poor. The core argument is that due to the various recessions (including the Great One back in 2008), Millennials have had multiple rollbacks on their earning, and so they have less money; then they don't buy the same things, and keep them longer. When they have the money, though, they do buy similar things as to previous generations.
If there's a greater economic recovery, it might result in the end to the Millennial Economic Murder Spree.
Inhabit yourself
"I’m Broke and Mostly Friendless, and I’ve Wasted My Whole Life" The Cut's advice columnist Heather Havrilesky, a.k.a. Ask Polly, with some thoughts on the angst one feels when looking back on misspent(?) time.
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