December 16, 2017
Poor cow
Exploding cows, baby killers and death rays (Dylan Owen, National Library of New Zealand blog)
Let's hope they have limited memory.
Longreads Best of 2017 Food Writing
The violence of looking away
A journey through a land of extreme poverty: The UN’s Philip Alston is an expert on deprivation – and he wants to know why 41m Americans are living in poverty. The Guardian joined him on a special two-week mission into the dark heart of the world’s richest nation by Ed Pilkington
The house that Edek built - and the secret suitcase kept inside
When Edward "Edek" Herzbaum and his wife Teresa designed and built their family home near Woking, they created a daringly modern building full of light. It was the 1950s. Young architects were in the vanguard of imagining a new, post-War Britain. Edward died in 1967, Teresa in 2002. It was not until then that their daughter Krystyna found a small suitcase full of papers that revealed her father, his story and his art. [more inside]
Jólabókaflóð: Merry Christmas, book lovers! Xoxo, Iceland
Jólabókaflóð ("Yule flood of books") is a delightful holiday tradition from one of the most book-loving nations in the world:
Every year since 1944, the Icelandic book trade has published a catalogue...sent to every household in the country in mid-November during the Reykjavik Book Fair. People use the catalogue to order books to give friends and family for Christmas. During the festive season, gifts are opened on 24 December and, by tradition, everyone reads the books they have been given straight away, often while drinking hot chocolate or alcohol-free Christmas ale called jólabland.[more inside]
You *can* do that on television.
25 Comedy Writers Pick Their Most Influential TV Episodes - Part 1, Part 2 (Josh Sorokach & Joe Reid, Decider.com) We had no idea what to expect when we reached out to 25 successful comedy professionals — the minds behind some of the best shows on TV, from The Good Place to You’re the Worst to Playing House — and asked them to write about the TV episode that inspired them to pursue a career in comedy. Their responses were passionate, insightful, nostalgic, and emblematic of the fact that inspiration comes in all forms. Were they motivated by a character? A concept? A clever turn of phrase? We’re presenting their answers to you in full, in their own words.
The beauty of Stardew Valley is that you cannot fail and you cannot die.
How Stardew Valley helped me cope with depressive episodes [VG24/7] “Games provide us with productive, hands on work away from dreary reality. We like to be challenged and stimulated in a way we control. However, when I’m not in the right frame of mind, I’m often overcome with guilt that I should be doing something ‘purposeful’ with my free time and sometimes my favourite games just don’t fulfill that need. If I spend countless hours playing competitive matches and somehow manage to lose rank, or lose an established Sims family in a fire, it feels as though those hours have been wasted and I have nothing to show for it. I come away more stressed than I was when the session began, like a bad day at work. There’s other times when I simply don’t feel up to the challenge of competitive games but don’t want the monotony of repetitive simulators. It’s a fragile line to balance. However, when it comes to indie farming-simulator Stardew Valley, there is none of that guilt or stress.” [more inside]
Fear of the state, fear of home: To be black and queer in America
Living in my truth as a black queer person comes with the understanding that I may also be quickening my death. I was sold a false narrative. I was told “it gets better,” as if becoming an adult would change the years of ridicule I had endured my entire life, and introduce me to a world that would be fully accepting of my gender and sex identity. At 32, I now know that I take my life in my hands when I dress a certain way, or have mannerisms not accepted by a masculine-centered society.
You Call. We Sing!
Dial-A-Carol at the University of Illinois Dial-a-Carol is the longest running tradition in University Housing (57 years - but who's counting?) The idea is quite simple. For one week only, anyone from anywhere can call us round the clock and request any holiday tune, and we'll do our best to sing it over the phone. The best part? It's completely FREE! 24/7 from December 14 until December 20, 2017. [more inside]
You Know You Want To Believe
The Pentagon’s Secret Search for UFOs [Politico]
Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program [NYT]
2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen’ [NYT]
practical and tactical
Leafy Neckdowns: Cornstarch, Water & Leaves Reshape Unsafe Intersection. Like the snowy neckdowns, or 'sneckdowns' of years past, light, quick and cheap elements are used to shape public space. [more inside]
I want to get those stories recognized
Stories from a real (imaginary giant animal) community: in which Boozy Badger (previously, also) was in a car accident that shattered his hip and he's convalescing and he's had furries giving him and his family unexpected support, and so he poses the topic on twitter, Tell me about a time the furries reached out and helped you. I want to get those stories recognized.
Sweetness! Utah, Letter to The Editor Salt Lake Tribune
A Blanche Dubois moment....the kindness of strangers. We all have moments, especially if we have small children, when the only solitude might just be a trip to the store, while everyone else is safe and engaged. Then in the privacy of the family car we might be the person we have always been, the person just learning to drive, a new college grad out for a ride, realizing what took you to this moment, also comes with the full weight of all you carry and Stopping by the Store on a Snowy Evening is not quite the moment Robert Frost described.
Women Composer Database
Women Composer Database In an era where the music of women composers continue to be underrepresented and programmed too infrequently, this is such a great resource for discovering the music of women composers, both living and dead. [more inside]
Merry Christmas!
Danish boy choir sings Christmas carol angelically, and a second time with a kick.
Macchu Picchu is essentially a pile of rubble
With the story of a disappointing zoo in China (it helps to have real animals not inflatables) the Guardian asked its readers for their overrated tourist locations.
This Week in Tech Scandal
Uber Engaged in ‘Illegal’ Spying on Rivals, Ex-Employee Says For years, Uber secretly spied on key executives, drivers and employees at rival ride-hailing companies as part of a larger intelligence-gathering operation that spanned multiple countries, according to a letter made public in a federal court on Friday.
Uber security employees occasionally impersonated drivers to gain access to chat groups, illegally recorded phone calls, and secretly wiretapped and tailed executives at rival companies over the course of 2016, the letter said. [more inside]
BMJ Christmas Edition
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