February 15, 2017
And the Arthur Award goes to...
We do this thing. We open our hearts to the world around us. And the more we do that, the more we allow ourselves to love, the more we are bound to find ourselves one day... standing in the kitchen of our life, surrounded by the ones we love, and feeling empty, alone, and sad, and lost for words, because one of our loved ones, who should be there, is missing.
Stuart McLean, host of CBC Radio's The Vinyl Cafe, died today of melanoma. [more inside]
Look to the trees. Look to the rock. Look to the river.
Justin Trudeau is the latest person to create a video for the We Matter Campaign, a campaign started by two indigenous siblings, which hopes to communicate to indigenous youth their importance in the world. Suicide is the leading cause of death in indigenous youth.
Were you rushing or were you dragging?
“Pewdiepie will have to face some consequences of his own.”
Disney Drops Pewdiepie Over Anti-Semitic Jokes [Kotaku] Maker Studios, a division of Disney, just severed their deal with YouTube megastar Pewdiepie, Felix Kjellberg. They pointed to a (now-deleted) January 11 video in which Pewdiepie paid two men to hold up a sign that read, “Death To All Jews.” The Wall Street Journal reports that Pewdiepie had editorial independence in his deal, but this was a bridge too far. “Although Felix has created a following by being provocative and irreverent, he clearly went too far in this case and the resulting videos are inappropriate,” said a spokeswoman for Maker Studios. [more inside]
They're good dogs, Brent! Especially this one!
The 141st Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show was won by Rumor, a German Shepherd who took Best in Show. She is a very good dog. There are also many other good dogs. The handlers, however, are another story. Surely someone can teach these people how to dress themselves?
Why does the Wingdings Font Exist? [SYTL 3min]
What is Wingdings and why was it created? Wingdings is a font made entirely out of symbols. Buy why? [more inside]
It's kind of a mess up there
Stuff in Space is a realtime 3D map of objects in Earth orbit, visualized using WebGL.
A Martian volcano may have erupted for two billion years straight
A meteorite from Northwest Africa named "NWA 7635" has been dated at 2.4 billion years old by a team at Purdue University. [more inside]
"The body never lies"
Swan, Late: "My inability to dance became a matter of faith, something I believed in unquestioningly for the next two decades. "
The price of light has fallen by 500,000 times since prehistory
Tim Harford tells us about how economist William Nordhaus determined how much better we are at making light nowadays in a transcript of an episode of the BBC World Service's podcast series 50 Things That Made the Modern Economy.
Old French Crime
A daily pic of crime, accident or dirigible disaster from French tabloids circa 1890-1920. Created by journalist Marie Gilot, who started the project to "highlight sensationalist--and often inaccurate--journalism of the past so we can feel better about the sensationalist--and often inaccurate--journalism of today."
So hold me, Mom...in your long arms
In November, Poole Hospital in Dorset, England, announced in a press release that its preemies were seeing beneficial effects from simply cuddling a crocheted octopus. Daniel Lockyer, matron of neonatal services at the hospital, said moms and dads are thrilled to see their preemies find comfort with the little aquatic pals. The idea originated with the Danish Octo Project (which offers a pattern).
No criminology suspected
Who was Sergei Krivov? And how did he really die? Ali Watkins looks into a death in the New York Russian consulate.
Castervxnlu 2: Slmqn's Oa35t
Save on your art budget: use neural networks to generate new 8-bit pixel art! From a series on machine learning by Adam Geitgey; the whole series is good, but of particular use for some context here are the bits on generating Super Mario levels and convolutional neural networks.
A Sinful Waste of Time
Today is the 75th Anniversary of the NY Times crossword puzzle. To celebrate, the Times have posted a brief history of the puzzle. Also, celebrity solvers are pairing with experienced creators to produce some celebratory puzzles. Today's was by Jesse Eisenberg. Currently the first month of subscription is free on several digital platforms here. So brush up on the difference between eyelets and aglets, memorize your four letter Middle Eastern ports, and waste some time...sinfully.
Mental illness?
Depression Is an Unlikely Advantage in the Fight Against Fascism Life under the yoke of depression is frighteningly similar to life in Trump’s America, and knowing one can teach you how to approach the other.
The Future of the Body
The Future of the Body: Just as individual bodies change with time, so does the body collectively. How long we live, how we conceive of dis/ability, how we eat and sleep and use technology—all are influenced as much by our moment in history as by our individual life stories. This month our writers take a look at the cultural and technological patterns that shape our somatic selves and cast their minds into the future, to think about the human body not simply as it is, but as it’s likely to be. [more inside]
Basil Kirchin: The forgotten genius of UK music
‘Basil Kirchin (1927-2005) was a maverick musician and pioneering composer who is credited as a founding father of ambient music. Yet despite being hailed by acts such as Brian Eno and St Etienne, he remains an obscure figure. Now a festival in Hull is casting a light on a man regarded by many musicians as a genius.’ (Previously: i, ii). [more inside]
Finally, Trainers, FINALLY
Pokemon Go addicts, warn your spouses and work. Generation 2 will begin dropping sometime later this week, along with new Evolutions, new Encounter Gameplay, new Berries, new Avatars and Expanded Wardrobe. [more inside]
This guy watches Daesh videos so you don't have to.
My dog sniffs at it and then runs headlong into a fence.
I like a lot of the people here, but the people I like most are those that have worked hard for things. Every one of them has a quiver of interesting stories that they fire with the straightness and sharpness of honesty, a straightness and sharpness that makes any writer jealous.
Astonishing long read about Stardew Valley/Slough/love/life/money/despair by Paul Dean
Tradition is based on religion; religion is based on tradition
How did Indonesia and Malaysia become majority-Muslim when they were once dominated by Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms? This extensive (with citations!) answer by PangeranDipanagara on r/AskHistorians is worth every gold star it received. [more inside]
Dust off that R.E.M. record: this is gonna hurt.
It turns out ASLR (address space layout randomization) can be universally defeated. By javascript. Running in a browser. This is likely to greatly increase the number of javascript exploits in the coming days. In all browsers, on all systems. Arstechnica has an end-of-the-world article here. [more inside]
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