December 12, 2023
"Vindication!"
Guttural, breathy mating calls of male koalas trigger tracking devices
Guttural, breathy mating calls of male koalas trigger new tracking devices. The distinctive call of male koalas looking for a mate has been programmed into sensors that are speeding up research into where the threatened animals live.
Cocteau Twinge
Poetry is not holy just because it speaks of things that are holy. Poetry is not beautiful just because it speaks of things that are beautiful. If we are asked why it is beautiful and holy, we must answer as Joan of Arc did when she had been interrogated for too long: “Next question.” from The Secrets of Beauty by Jean Cocteau [The Paris Review; ungated]
Coming in hot!
POV footage of NASA's Artemis 1's Orion spacecraft's re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere: Real-time (25m); Time-lapsed 25x (1m)
Pharmacies routinely share data with police
The nation’s largest pharmacy chains have handed over Americans’ prescription records to police and government investigators without a warrant, a congressional investigation found, raising concerns about threats to medical privacy.
WaPo gift link
I’ve had a really good time on here. I’ve also had a really bad time.
2023 Will Go Down as the Year Twitter Died. A multipart package from The Verge looking at Twitter, for better and for worse. [more inside]
Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls, It Tolls For E3
After nearly three decades and a number of ups and downs for the event, the Entertainment Software Association has announced the end of the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, better known as E3, coming after a deal with geek culture event management firm ReedPop falling apart. [more inside]
The Annual Marshall McLuhan Bulk Candy Festival Never Had a 2nd Edition
That’s a lot of hula hoops
One christmas novelty hit is still making money —its influence on modern licensing, Motown records, and what the composer’s kid still hears in it. Steve Knopper interviews Ross Bagdasarian Jr. for Billboard.
spiderharp
SpiderHarp: Hatton’s SpiderHarp captures the essentials of how spiders use web vibrations to interpret worldly signals and pushes the idea from the realm of science to that of art.
Years ago I dreamt that something would happen here
Power (Plough, Sword & Book) and Progress (Exit, Voice & Loyalty)
Justice by Means of Democracy [archive|transcript] - "[T]he work of democracy is to continuously resist capture. There is no end of history. There is no state of rest for democracy. Democracy is the work of resisting capture by powerful interests and restoring power-sharing just over and over and over again. So we have to do work to introduce new governance mechanisms in the place of those that are not working."[1,2; link-heavy post!] [more inside]
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