December 14, 2015
What does Facebook think you're into?
Buzzfeed's Katie Notopoulos brings our attention to Facebook's list of things it thinks you'll enjoy seeing ads about. It would seem that most people find some of Facebook's deductions eerily accurate and some of them hilariously inaccurate.
Don't expect an invitation
Who bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal?
Who bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal? It's anybody's guess. Nevada's largest circulating daily newspaper has been sold to News+ Media Capital Group, which was incorporated in Delaware on September 21st. The ownership of News + Media Capital Group is a complete mystery. [more inside]
“...people are guilty if they eat shrimp that we peeled like slaves.”
Global supermarkets selling shrimp peeled by slaves. by Margie Mason, Robin McDowell, Martha Mendoza and Esther Htusan [Associated Press] [more inside]
Sweet dreams!
Ladies and gentlemen, there's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on, so here's the brand new anti-earthquake bed. Here's an earlier model from 2012.
You had dogs licking screens, now here's one licking windows
Gabephex Twin. A YouTube user known as APBradley has created a cover version of Aphex Twin’s ‘Windowlicker’ from the barks and howls of his small pet dog. (SLYT via FACT)
Being a Ghost Story of Christmas
Drone Registration Rules Are Announced by F.A.A.
The FAA announced today that all drone units weighing between 0.55 and 50 lbs must be registered with the government by Feb. 19, 2016. The new rules on drones come before the holidays, when an estimated 700,000 new drones are expected to be bought. [more inside]
Get rich or die vlogging --
The sad economics of Internet fame (slFusion)
BAT-FPP
The Best Rap Songs of 2015
Passion of the Weiss: The Best Rap Songs of 2015. It's the best year-end list I've come across -- thoughtful, articulate stuff from people who get it, and the majority of it is criminally overlooked/obscure and well worth your time. No matter how in-the-know you are, there's lots of new, crucial stuff here for you. (And no Drake in sight.) [more inside]
"Authorial intent wins. Period."
In the wake of the recent casting controversies over Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop and Lloyd Suh’s Jesus in India, there have been a number of online commenters who have cited Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton as a justification for their position in the debate. What’s intriguing is that Hamilton has been offered up both as evidence of why actors of color must have the opportunity to play both characters or color and characters not necessarily written as characters of color – but it has also been used to say that anything goes, and white actors should be able to play characters of color as well. What does Lin-Manuel Miranda have to say? After all, it's not like he hasn't been been very deliberate about his casting.
"Restart the refrigerator and check timezone"
I have a Samsung RF4289HARS refrigerator. The Google calendar app on it has been working perfectly since I purchased the refrigerator August 2012. However, with the latest changes in Google Calendar API, I can no longer sign in to my calendar.From the Google support forums.
Wretched hive of scum and villainy, or jury of his peers?
The Legal Geeks discuss Han's legal justification for shooting Greedo first, via a link from The Mary Sue.
"...I’ve learned to be fierce more on the inside"
Serena Williams is Sports Illustrated's 2015 Sportsperson of the Year
The Screaming Females Talk
After ten years, six albums, and widespread critical acclaim, Screaming Females are still as hard working and viciously independent as when they began in New Brunswick’s basements in 2006. Such staying power is no small feat in a music industry where independent artists make less and less each year as the stars on the top absorb more and more of the entertainment dollar. Yet here’s a band that has found a way to make a small living, consistently create meaningful music, and all the while never sacrifice their ethical grounding. It hasn’t been easy. As with most jobs, achieving sustainability has meant constant struggles for health care, decent wages, and respect. We talked with the band about how they’ve taken on these obstacles, and what needs to happen to improve conditions for artist-workers across the industry.
Later, as he sat on his balcony...
The Deported
Kelvin Villanueva was almost home one night last June when a policeman stopped him for a broken taillight. From his truck, he could see his longtime girlfriend, Suelen Bueno... Before [she] reached them, the officer had arrested Villanueva. Bueno still had not revealed to any of the children that Villanueva had been deported. ‘‘It’s very difficult, because I don’t know how to explain it to them,’’ she said. ‘‘They’ve never been separated from him before. I don’t know what to say. I just keep telling them that he’s traveling for work, he’ll be home soon.’’ [more inside]
Popular Research Articles of 2015
Altmetric's top 100 academic research articles of 2015. These are the articles that captured the most attention from the mainstream media, blogs, Wikipedia, and social networks this year, according to Altmetric.
We Can't Wait : A Millenium Time-Capsule
A long time ago (1999), in a galaxy way, way afar . . . in anticipation of Star Wars Episode I : The Phantom Menace. Lines form outside theatres across the country. Here's a time travel trip through 1999 to visit the lines in Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, Dallas, New York, and San Francisco!
WaPo Drops the Mic on "He or She"
The Washington Post has updated its style guide: "e-mail" is now "email", "Web sites" are now "websites", and perhaps most significantly, "they/them/their" will now be used as gender-neutral third-person singular personal pronouns, instead of defaulting to "he/him/his" or recasting to make a sentence plural (e.g. "Readers will have their own opinions" will now be the more precise "Each reader will have their own opinion."). Post copy editor (and proprietor of The Slot) Bill Walsh notes "I suspect that the singular they will go largely unnoticed even by those who oppose it on principle. We’ve used it before, if inadvertently, and I’ve never heard a complaint."
How to get away with £1.3 million in cash? Start by renting a house...
Loafs of Northern Darkness
RIP Benedict Anderson (1935-2015)
Benedict Anderson, author of the unbelievably influential Imagined Communities, is dead at 79.
Born in republican China, died in postcolonial Indonesia, and in between, completely transformed our understanding of nationalism. RIP.
Demographic Destiny
The year 2050 is right around the corner, and yet it is hard to imagine the sweeping changes the world will confront by then. In a multimedia series, The Wall Street Journal helps readers envision how we will work, how we will age and how we will live. [more inside]
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