November 4, 2015
a mail-order house in Schenectady
In an essay originally published back in 2000, Ursula K. LeGuin takes a punt at the question any writer dreads to get asked: "so, where do you get your ideas from" and uses it as a springboard to examine the art of reading and writing and why Americans are afraid of dragons.
Transforms
How can I become a Data Scientist.......the first answer in this Quora thread is a pretty concise profile of this hot (and hyped) new career choice written by William Chen, whose data science blog Storytelling with Statistics has got some cool stuff in it. Like the Probability Cheat Sheet. [more inside]
"She described it years later as a 'boy-meets-dog story.'"
Melissa Mathison dies at 65 - L.A. Times (Steve Chawkins)" "Mathison, 65, who portrayed children as sensitively heroic, died Wednesday at UCLA Medical Center. The cause was neuroendocrine cancer, her brother Dirk Mathison said. Mathison’s film credits also include “The Black Stallion” (1979), “The Escape Artist” (1982) and “The Indian in the Cupboard” (1995)."
My 2.5 Star Trip to Amazon's Bizarre New Bookstore
"'I just thought I’d ask in case you had it in the back somewhere' the customer explained. They did not have it in the back somewhere." Former bookseller Dustin Kurtz visits Amazon's new bricks-and-mortar bookstore.
Denkbild
What happens when America's food banks embrace free-market economics?
Feeding America is a network of food banks that feeds more than 46 million people. In 2005, four professors at the University of Chicago helped replace their centralized distribution system with an auction-based one, allocating "shares" to each bank to bid on donated food. The Week reports on a more detailed paper describing the transition to the new system and its overall success. [via] [more inside]
Blocking health records for fun and profit
First...Epic would have to link each system that a hospital wanted to access—a labor-intensive process for which it charged an hourly fee. Once linked, hospitals could trade information, but only by paying an additional fee: "We charge on a per-patient, per-year basis—so it's not per transaction—and it's the same whether that patient is sent to 100 different places or one other place."
"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail.
"Do you know the young lady?" I asked.
"My Mary? Impossible!"
"Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
"Let us
"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes."
"I trust that I am not intruding." I am well acquainted with the accused.
Well, she was just a-biling.
"Was you in my Room?"
"I always give too much to ladies." I am!
'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.
--I asked a computer to write a novel that it thought was similar to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. [more inside]
"My Mary? Impossible!"
"Witness: I should prefer not to answer.
"Let us
"I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes."
"I trust that I am not intruding." I am well acquainted with the accused.
Well, she was just a-biling.
"Was you in my Room?"
"I always give too much to ladies." I am!
'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.
--I asked a computer to write a novel that it thought was similar to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. [more inside]
Philip Glass: Taxi Driver
The owls are what they seem
If you happen to be lucky enough to find yourself in a room with four owls, here is how to blow. their. minds.
Statistical heaping, 20 yards, first down
What I've got: A spreadsheet containing every single play run in the NFL from 2000-2014 (500,000 in all)
What I'm going to do with it: Show that the referees subconsciously change the outcome of a play based on where the painted lines are on a field, and subsequently show that it doesn't matter.
What I'm going to do with it: Show that the referees subconsciously change the outcome of a play based on where the painted lines are on a field, and subsequently show that it doesn't matter.
Peter Tosh would be proud
In a 4-to-1 decision, the Mexican Supreme Court has ruled that recreational marijuana use is legal, an enormous change in policy that will impact the drug war, our relations to the US, and pretty much everything about the path our country has been on for decades.
What is your most awkward moment?
On Sunday, Jenny Lawson (AKA The Bloggess) shared this embarrassing exchange on Twitter: Airport cashier: "Have a safe flight." Me: "You too!" I CAN NEVER COME HERE AGAIN.
Very quickly, Lawson’s followers were tweeting their own embarrassing exchanges at her, and she began to retweet them en masse. The result was a stream of cringingly awkward hilarity.
That Time I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil
Oil may be king of the commodities, but its physical form is tough to come by for a retail investor. Mom and pop can buy gold and silver. They can gather aluminum cans, grow soybeans, and strip copper wiring, if they choose, but oil remains elusive—and for very good reason. Oil, as I would soon discover, is practically useless in its unrefined form. It is also highly toxic, very difficult to store, and smells bad.
Eddies in the space-time continuum?
Neodymium magnet falling through the interior of a copper pipe.
Another example.
Explanation. [more inside]
Another example.
Explanation. [more inside]
Forgiveness is something other people owe you after you've hurt them.
How To Apologize: "Remember, the goal of apologizing is to keep someone from being angry, because you're responsible for how other people feel about you." [SLToast]
Casting a Wide Net: 17 Possible (but unlikely) Next Bond Reimaginings
Daniel Craig's public statements that he is done playing James Bond have re-ignited the debate about whether we need yet another white guy playing the character (*cough*). The AV Club asks not only whether we need another white guy, but whether we need Bond to be straight, young, British, or even remotely sane.
There's No Pill For That
You are not a crazy genius or an irredeemable asshole or a misfit who's damned for all time. You are just a person. We are all damned in our own little ways. We are all uniquely blessed and uniquely fucked. Welcome to the world. [more inside]
and then meeting his beautiful BAWK!
"Ultimate Betrayal" as Fox Lake cop's "murder" ruled suicide
On September 1, popular police lieutenant Charles Gliniewicz of the Chicago suburb of Fox Lake, Illinois, called in the pursuit of three armed suspects (two white, one black) near the Wisconsin border. As backup arrived 14 minutes later, Gliniewicz was dying from a fatal gunshot to the chest from his own gun, after what appeared to be a scuffle with the suspects. A massive manhunt shut down Lake and northern Cook Counties, putting public buildings on lockdown and even halting the Fox Lake Metra line; hundreds of cops hunted for the suspects for more than three days. Gliniewicz was given a hero's funeral.
Today, the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force announced Gliniewicz's death was a carefully staged suicide intended to cover up Gliniewicz's embezzlement of police department funds over the past seven years, as well as threats to falsely pursue DUI charges against village officials auditing the police department. [more inside]
Today, the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force announced Gliniewicz's death was a carefully staged suicide intended to cover up Gliniewicz's embezzlement of police department funds over the past seven years, as well as threats to falsely pursue DUI charges against village officials auditing the police department. [more inside]
Stopping HIV via prevention - update on the Truvada revolution
It's been just over a year since the CDC came out with guidelines for using HIV-drug Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing HIV. Where are we now? VICE created a thoughtful documentary on the topic that interviews Truvada advocates, critics, and HIV researchers.
Stopping HIV with the Truvada Revolution :
Part 1;
Part 2;
Part 3 [more inside]
The speedometer, a little rule-breaking bit of data visualization
The question about why speedometers go so high has a number of good answers as to "why the top speeds exceed reality", but let's take a moment to enjoy the radial gauge's data visualization that breaks some standard data vis rules, and ponder the possibilities in its design. [more inside]
♫♫ I want to go where the people aren't... ♫♫
Avoid Humans is a service that scours Foursquare and Instagram checkins to find nearby coffee shops, restaurants, and bars that are the least likely to be crowded.
how Uber is turning customers into unpaid, ruthless middle managers
The rating game: How Uber and its peers turned us into horrible bosses. Josh Dzieza writes about how customer rating systems for "sharing economy" on-demand services like Uber, Airbnb and Taskrabbit has made already tenuous employment even more precarious. "We’re not just working for money," an Uber driver told me. "We’re working for ratings, but ratings have no value. Ratings serve only to prevent you from getting fired. Only bad things can happen to you. We’re scurrying like rats after these things with no value." [more inside]
Water Ballet
Dutch artist/musician Kamiel Rongen creates liquid landscapes, WaterBallet if you will.
Here are all of them. Here is his website.
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
They want to murder you in a well
In late December of 1895, the writer Stephen Crane—nervous, shabby, and all of twenty-three—attended the first annual dinner of the Society of the Philistines as its guest of honor. He little dreamed he was walking into one of history's first celebrity roasts.
The Economics Behind Grandma's Tuna Casseroles
"All too often, cooking is explained in terms of social norms about femininity, or immigrants, or, in one recent New York Times column, the Cold War. This is all very well for sophomore sociology classes, but why does no one ever offer simple theories such as 'they liked it'; 'they thought it looked pretty like that'; or 'that was what they could afford'? Having read quite a lot of the era's cookbooks and food writing, I find these the most likely reasons for the endless parade of things molded, jellied, bemayonnaised and enbechameled."
Terror in Little Saigon
Election Day 2015 Results
Houston Voters Reject Broad Anti-Discrimination Ordinance [The New York Times]
A yearlong battle over gay and transgender rights that turned into a costly, ugly war of words between this city’s lesbian mayor and social conservatives ended Tuesday as voters repealed an anti-discrimination ordinance that had attracted attention from the White House, sports figures and Hollywood celebrities. The City Council passed the measure in May, but it was in limbo after opponents succeeded, following a lengthy court fight, in putting the matter to a referendum.[more inside]
How one of the most obese countries on earth took on the soda giants
As debate rages about whether to introduce a sugar tax, this is the story of how Mexico defied its own powerful fizzy drinks industry to impose a tax on soda. [more inside]
"and the gates to hell opened"
"In those terrible moments we did not know if the ship was below the water or still floating! But like a miracle the windows cleared again, and 'Stolt Surf' continued its brave battle against the waves." Amazing photographs and first-person description by Karsten Petersen of the chemical tanker "Stolt Surf" running afoul of a strong hurricane and rogue waves in the North Pacific, 1977. [more inside]
Desire Modification in the Attention Economy
The Future of (Post)Capitalism - "Paul Mason shows how, from the ashes of the recent financial crisis, we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable global economy." (previously; via) [more inside]
Swing Dancers vs. Street Dancers
Invitational Battle between Vintage and Modern Street Dancers at Montreal Swing Riot. Modern and Vintage Street Dancers battle it out to their own and each others' music, creating an amazing mix of styles. Modern Street Dancers represented waacking, locking, popping, breaking, hip hop and krump; Vintage Street Dancers represented vernacular jazz dances like the Charleston and the Lindy Hop.
The Holy Grail of Lost Toonage
Terry Gilliam's deleted animations from "Monty Python & The Holy Grail" (SLYT - from the 40th Anniversary video gift set via the Official Monty Python Channel)
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