December 11, 2015
We Asked Astrobiologists About Jose Canseco's Plan to Terraform Mars
We Asked Astrobiologists About Jose Canseco's Plan to Terraform Mars. Sadly, the former MLB homerun slugger seems simply to have run with Elon Musk's suggestion to continuously bomb Mars with a sequence of atomic explosions. Renowned climate scientist and professional buzzkill Michael Mann replied, “There are so many things that could go wrong here it is difficult to know where to start.” Michio Kaku makes the carpet bombing/terraforming seem pretty straightforward.
GOT for Tots
Who Said ‘Game of Thrones’ Wasn’t for Kids? "What mother in her right mind would tell children the stories about beheadings and torture? A single parent for whom mealtimes are agony."
Heavy
"These days, when I see someone so heavy, I think, That’s a happy person." Raised in a sharecropper’s cabin, trapped inside half a ton of flesh, this literate, companionable young man had dreamed of seeing the world. Aside from some carnival tours and one disastrous trip to New York, he never lived his dream. But in his short life, he found something else.
The story of Robert Earl Hughes.
Three farting uncles, Two puking dogs, Anaphylaxis in a pear tree.
Carolyn Hax's Hootenanny of Holiday Horrors 2015 was today. Advice Columnist Carolyn Hax hosts a (nearly) weekly chat in which people share their problems and she offers (nearly) instant advice. But sometimes you don't really need advice. Sometimes you just need to tell someone about the things your relatives did to you (or gave to you) at Christmas. [more inside]
"the founding of the first US libraries through the first 100 years"
The Digital Public Library of America has an online exhibit A History of US Public Libraries [more inside]
Aerial photos of airports, with a detour into abandoned airstrips
MeFite backseatpilot likes airplanes, airports and photography, and combined those into a collection of photos of New England (and beyond!) from a mile high. [via mefi projects] [more inside]
We Don’t Even Want to Talk About Midi-Chlorians At All
Ever since its 1977 cinematic debut, the Force has been strong in popular culture. People with only passing exposure to the Star Wars saga probably have at least a general notion of how the story’s mystical energy works: light sides and dark sides, wizard-like abilities over objects and minds, laser-beam swords. But who is the Force strongest with? And how has the balance between light and dark shifted throughout the series? In anticipation of “The Force Awakens,” we decided to find out by watching every minute of the first two trilogies to identify, measure, and categorize use of the Force. This was a delicate exercise, mainly because the Force is vague and entirely fictitious. But we’re confident in our findings—and if you search your feelings, we think you will be, too. The Force Accounted [SLBB]
AirBnB and Discrimination, Part II
A working paper by three Harvard Business School researchers shows evidence of "widespread" discrimination against African-American guests by Airbnb hosts.
Previously on MetaFilter, a paper by two of the study's authors, Benjamin Edelman and Michael Luca, found a similar effect involving the prices African American hosts could command on the service. [more inside]
Previously on MetaFilter, a paper by two of the study's authors, Benjamin Edelman and Michael Luca, found a similar effect involving the prices African American hosts could command on the service. [more inside]
Keep on grinding
MY CRUSHES (Secret Group)
What happens when you put all the people you have a crush on in the same secret Facebook group? Nobody gets mad, only one person leaves, you get a glimpse of what it's like to live Tina Belcher's best life, and you wind up owing them all Taco Bell. [more inside]
“America represents wilderness and freedom, and also a big house,”
Living a Frontier Dream on the Outskirts of China’s Capital by Andrew Jacobs [New York Times]
Welcome to “Hometown America,” as Jackson Hole is called in Chinese, a mammoth real-estate venture that is an exacting pastiche of an American frontier town, albeit one with a wine-tasting pavilion, a spa and security guards dressed as park rangers, who salute every passing car. Modest entry-level homes sell for $625,000. Larger abodes — described by Jackson Hole’s developers as castles — have an attached vineyard and fetch nearly $8 million. The developer, Ju Yi International, says that more than 90 percent of the 1,500 homes have already been sold. Occupying more than a square mile of arid land in northeast Hebei Province, Jackson Hole has plenty of room to expand.
I'll be fine if I go to the chiropractor later
Women Try To Pose Like Female Comic Book Heroes... and their attempts are photoshoped to match the original.
Is that a doorstop or are you happy to read me?
Are books getting longer? A new survey says yes. One of the factors cited in increasing book length is the availability of short digital content, such as Kindle Singles or Serial Box (serial SFF). But many of those digital books are going unread after purchase. Meanwhile, the rise of e-books is costing jobs: warehouse jobs.
Stork Derby
In death, Millar unleashed his biggest prank ever — a last will and testament that was basically a giant social experiment. By promising a vast sum of money to the Toronto family that could have the most babies in a 10-year period, Millar set off a race to give birth the moment he died.
Two new "shots" prevent bleeding out
Here's how a simple invention plugs a gunshot wound in 20 seconds Plus Scientists invented an injection based on snake venom that stops bleeding in 6 seconds (Warning: Graphic Imagery in both articles)
Plot Twist: Spoilers actually a thing
In a plot twist to the 2011 study that said that spoilers are not a thing (previously) comes a new study from VU Amsterdam showing that spoilers totally are a thing.
C'est mon plaisir!
Isabella smoked cigarettes, and the newspaper ran stories claiming she had taken zoo lions for a stroll in the park. A dahlia bears her name, and so does a mountain peak in Washington. She once shocked all of Boston Society by showing up to the Boston Symphony Orchestra bearing a headband that declared, "Oh you Red Sox." She invited the Harvard Football team to her home after they beat Yale. She hosted a boxing match at her home and, while the men fought, she danced. She had two large diamonds attached to wires and wore them bouncing in her hair. At the opening of her museum, she served champagne and donuts. The woman courted the world, and the world courted the woman.
The most horrifying place to find yourself trapped is an echo chamber
Steven Universe (Previously) is an animated series created by Rebecca Sugar which airs on Cartoon Network. It is known for excellent world building, progressive sensibilities, a heartwarming, genuine sense of humor, and a cast of characters which is deep, complex and diverse. It has received significant critical acclaim and has cultivated a large and diverse collection of fans. The show's fandom has recently experienced controversy when some individuals engaged in a campaign of harassment and bullying that drove a young Steven Universe fan artist named Paige Paz (aka Zamii070) to attempt suicide. [more inside]
We jog when not carrying items.
To retain the final human dignity of control over one's death.
Dr. Peter Rasmussen: retired oncologist, hospice physician and advocate for Oregon's Death with Dignity law, was given a terminal brain cancer diagnosis in Spring 2014. The Oregon Statesman Journal followed Dr. Rasmussen's end-of-life journey in articles, photos and videos, as he grappled with the same issues he once fought for on behalf of his own patients. Harper's Magazine: When I Die. [more inside]
Recite 'The Fatiha,' Laugh Your Muslim Ass Off
Muslim-owned comedy venue offers "Trump Special," gives free attendance to Muslim-Americans. Mo S. Fathelbab is a Muslim-American and owner of The Experiment Comedy Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He’s offering a ‘Trump Special’ - anyone who can prove that they are Muslim by facing Mecca and reciting ‘The Fatiha’ gets free admission.
Google's vision of self-driving cars is wrong, says MIT professor
David Mindell is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. He has a new book: Our Robots, Ourselves: Robotics and the Myths of Autonomy. He has a one hour interview with Erik Davis on Expanding Mind podcast where he talks about deep sea submarine robots, drone airplanes (remote piloted aircraft) and google cars. Short CNET article: Google's vision of self-driving cars is wrong, says MIT professor.
I'm Not Sleeping Because I'm Happy
The first official Canadian government flight carrying Syrian refugees touched down at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport late last night. [more inside]
The Wayfarer
Funk Whips Old Age
Fifty years ago this week, Terry Funk had his first professional wrestling match. He retired in 1983, having held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship for more than a year and nearly three dozen other titles (many of which were in territories *not* owned by his family). Retirement didn't agree with Funk, so he signed with the then-WWF, where he fought Junkyard Dog, Tito Santana, and Hulk Hogan. He retired again a few years later, and then three more times in the 1990s. And in 2006. And in 2013. Maybe his most recent retirement match, wherein he lost by disqualification to Jerry "The King" Lawler on October 24th of this year at the age of 71, will be his last (he did, after all, take a fireball to the face). [more inside]
I wonder if he's friends with Bobby Tables?
“We Patch Anything”: WPA Sewing Rooms
During the Depression, the Works Project Administration put American men to work on large-scale, highly-visible undertakings, like dam building and highway construction. Women, too, needed work, and some of them found it through WPA Sewing Rooms, where they earned wages for making clothing for low-income Americans. [more inside]
Tell me of your homeworld's activity books, Usul.
We Investigate Post-Pooping Protocol
Gift Up
Gift Up is by a Los Angeles-based comedy troupe Local Business and is a re-imagining of Give Up—the Postal Service’s classic album—as a Christmas record: [more inside]
And a fourth one, le'Mehadrin, for Chinese food
So it's Chanukah. Time to ask that age-old question: Do Jews have trash cans in their kitchen?
'Grateful Doe' no more
One of the most investigated 'John Does' has been positively identified. 20 years after he was killed in a car accident, and a year after a new campaign to identify him began on Imgur and Reddit, 'Jason Doe' or 'Grateful Doe' has been positively identified through DNA as Jason Callahan of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. [more inside]
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