December 7, 2016
a perfect superposition of tragedy and farce
How the Soviets invented the internet and why it didn't work - "Soviet scientists tried for decades to network their nation. What stalemated them is now fracturing the global internet." [more inside]
Cat Hulbert: How I got rich beating men at their own game
Cat Hulbert: How I got rich beating men at their own game In her own words, Cat Hulbert describes how she got rich beating male opponents - and the casinos - and explains why in her view women are innately better at poker than men.
It is said that the present is pregnant with the future.
“Reading one book is like eating one potato chip.”
100 Notable Books of 2016 [The New York Times] The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. This list represents books reviewed since Dec. 6, 2015, when we published our previous Notables list. [more inside]
Peace, love, unity, respect, and rave with Kutski
DJ Kutski is keeping the rave alive via podcast mixes, "representing 360 degrees of the harder styles of dance music," an hour at a time. He's up to 244 episodes, and if you check out a few, you'll quickly notice a pattern in the shows. They generally feature a mix of old and new tracks, a cheeky check to see "does it sound good at 170 BPM", a bit of sample mania, and a guest mini-mix from such names as Dune and Charlie Lownoise & Mental Theo from the living history of the scenes, with folks like Sound Rush and AniMe representing the new generation. PLUR! [more inside]
Not an Onion Title: Rehab for Millennials Aims to Turn Them Into Adults
"Yellowbrick was founded a decade ago specifically to treat 'emerging adult' brains. It helps its patients navigate the extended period between childhood and adulthood." At a cost of $27,500 per month and a minimum commitment of 10 weeks, parents of prospective patients are paying dearly - and some would say being sucked dry - in the name of launching their failed-to-launch 20 or 30-something child.
smash the state, pet the pups
An American in Syria: The young United States florist headed to Raqqa, Syria, as a volunteer with the People’s Defense Units, or YPG, is known to most of Weird Twitter as PissPigGranddad.
I am proud to be brown
The other day on the bus, my kiddo was being teased about her dark brown skin. it wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. this morning we did a little self-love exercise. i wrote some positive things on sticky notes and had her stick them to her mirror. BuzzFeed interview with Alexandra Elle.
The World Sees Me as the One Who Will Find Another Earth
The star-crossed life of Sara Seager, an astrophysicist obsessed with discovering distant planets. A long read NYTMag article about a scientist that touches on exoplanets, starshades, daily commutes, love, loss, widowhood, and aliens. (As an aside: the WFIRST mission, and the proposed starshade.)
HAVE YOU SEEN HIM
The Bones Brigade’s The Search for Animal Chin — the most successful skateboarding video of all time — turns 30 next year. YouTube. Previously.
Under the guidance of Tim Payne, the original Animal Chin ramp builder, a new Chin Ramp has been erected at Woodward West Skatepark in Tehachapi, California. The outcome was a near-identical ramp complete with extensions, channels, mini ramp on top of the deck and a full vert spine – a feature that hasn't been attempted again since its original creation. [more inside]
Under the guidance of Tim Payne, the original Animal Chin ramp builder, a new Chin Ramp has been erected at Woodward West Skatepark in Tehachapi, California. The outcome was a near-identical ramp complete with extensions, channels, mini ramp on top of the deck and a full vert spine – a feature that hasn't been attempted again since its original creation. [more inside]
"the rule was to keep patients until their insurance ran out"
When people called in to ask for help or inquire about services, internal documents and interviews show, UHS tracked what a former hospital administrator called each facility’s “conversion rate”: the percentage of callers who actually came in for psychiatric assessments, then the percentage of those people who became inpatients. “They keep track of our numbers as if we were car salesmen,” said Karen Ellis, a former counselor at Salt Lake Behavioral.How treating psychiatric care as a profit-driven business has led to predictably horrifying results.
MeeeeeeeeeeEEEEeeeeeOOWWWWWWWwwwwww
Environmental Noxiousness, Racial Inequities and Community Health
Investigating Environmental Racism is the essence of The ENRICH Project, a unique and innovative project established in 2012 to address the health and socio-economic effects of NIMBYism on Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian communities. Their work is the subject of the documentary In Whose Backyard?
Everyone good died.
it's time for this year's edition of everyone's favorite holiday tradition: The 2016 Hater's Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog! [more inside]
Four podcasts with episodes mostly under five minutes long
- Random Tape is a podcast of random audio recorded by producer David Weinberg.
(The last two episodes are longer than five minutes. Don't start there.) - Sidewalks is a podcast of short interviews and other audio recorded on the sidewalk.
(The most recent episode is longer than five minutes. Don't start there.) - Poetry Now is a podcast of modern poets reading poems, from the Poetry Foundation.
- Poem of the Day is a podcast of poems from throughout history read by poets and actors, also from the Poetry Foundation.
Fossil fuels are doomed
A meta-assessment by Rembrandt Koppelaar argues that "Solar is able to generate 14 times the energy invested to create the panels" while "oil and gas now generate roughly 11 times the amount of energy invested" in the U.S., due to declining reserve quality.
Is Your T-shirt Clean of Slavery?
Business of Fashion: "Is Your T-shirt Clean of Slavery? Science May Soon Be Able to Tell. Shoppers lured by a bargain-priced t-shirt but concerned about whether the item is free of slave labor could soon have the answer — from DNA forensic technology." [more inside]
The Clam That Sank a Thousand Ships
What adorable animal is this? It's a type of clam called a shipworm. One of the most destructive forces in the ocean and scourge of explorers. They eat boats, and apparently taste ok. These infamous clams are invading new areas, buoyed by climate change and the 2011 tsunami in Japan (PDF).
SPEAR! SPEAR! BAH GAWD HE'S BROKEN IN HALF!
Çekoslovakyalilastiramadiklarimizdanmissiniz?
What features make languages most difficult for native English speakers?
Inside Quebec’s Great, Multi-Million-Dollar Maple-Syrup Heist
In 2012 (previously), $18.7 million of maple syrup was stolen from a storage facility in St-Louis-de-Blandford, Quebec (Modern Farmer's illustrated account here). Much of the stolen syrup was eventually traced and recovered (previously). In November of this year, Richard Vallières and two others were found guilty of the crime. This was not the only maple syrup heist of its kind. Quebec produces 72 per cent of the world's supply, with quotas, prices, and quality standards set by the Federation of Quebec Maple
Syrup Producers. Rich Cohen, writing in Vanity Fair, asks: "Have there been side effects to all this success? Has the federation, with its quotas and its methods of control (quotas must be enforced), reaped its own sticky harvest?"
Food for thought at my own office.......
How To Tell Your Boss To Kiss Your Ass, And Get Away With It No description necessary.
“A new president, new justice appointees changed the dynamic"
House Bill 493, a so-called "heartbeat" abortion bill, has cleared Ohio's House and Senate. [more inside]
First off, you have to make ALL the cookies
Arty G. Schronce and the Price of Chicken
Are chicken prices artificially high? “I have come to question the validity of some of the information provided,” [Schronce] wrote [PDF] in September in preparation for a meeting at the Georgia Department of Agriculture. “I do not think I am getting actual weighted average prices from some companies.” [more inside]
Her Hobbies Include Restoring Deadly Weapons
Today marks the release of Marvel Comics' Dr. Aphra #1, the first ongoing Star Wars comic to be headlined by an Asian character. Created by Kieron Gillen for the highly praised Darth Vader title run, Aphra has been described by her creator as a morally "inverse Indiana Jones" and represents the rare breakout character with no connection beyond the comic universe. After all, who wouldn't love someone who makes it a hobby of finding and restoring weapons of mass destruction? WARNING: Links and below the fold contain spoilers for the Darth Vader comics! [more inside]
I was going for small, specific and good.
2016 was a very punishing year for a variety of reasons. We lost a lot of good people. The election certainly was divisive. I wanted to remind people that there are these moments scattered throughout the year where something good came out of popular culture. (Audie Cornish interviews Glen Weldon of Monkey See)
Once a day until December 25, the Monkey See blog is highlighting a small good thing that happened in pop culture this year. (the Pop Culture advent calendar)
Once a day until December 25, the Monkey See blog is highlighting a small good thing that happened in pop culture this year. (the Pop Culture advent calendar)
Block by block
An Atari 2600 Emulator in Minecraft built by Youtube user SethBling. After the initial 'wow' response this is actually a fascinating under-the-hood model/demo/explanation of how video game cartridges and displays functioned.
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