May 18, 2018
the tyranny of structurelessness
"A flowing, connected interior—once a fringe experiment of American architectural modernism—has become ubiquitous, and beloved. But it promises a liberation from housework that remains a fantasy." [more inside]
A nearly two-hour elaborate marketing stunt for Ryan Reynolds.
Quorum, CS4All, and Evidence-oriented Programming
Quorum is a programming language intended to be used in K12 computer science education, as well as accessible to people regardless of disabilities. The syntax is intended to be easy for kids to grasp, hence the use of "action," instead of "function," among other interesting design choices. [more inside]
Disrupting ritual
The Ritual Design Lab is working to generate new rituals for modern life, with an eye to user experience.
The Clouds Will Part And The Sky Cracks Open
God Break Down The Door is a new NIN song. It has a saxomophone and Blackstar drumming and basically sounds like Nine Inch Nails.
"He wrote like he was avenging a death"
In 2012, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, colorful television news reporter, author, future GQ Madman of the Year and Detroit icon Charlie LeDuff golfed through a section of his beloved home city (18 miles. 2,525 strokes,) to highlight its abandonment and urban decay, using hulking industrial relics as his sand traps and everyday Detroiters as his gallery. In the process, he came across a mom trying to find her suicidal daughter, a disgruntled cop and a generous deacon. 6 years later, he's left journalism, written a new book and is "redoing" his life. [more inside]
Love in a time of multiple equilibria
Thomas Picketty is back with another pot-boiler: Brahmin Left vs Merchant Right: Rising Inequality & the Changing Structure of Political Conflict. Thrill at explanations for how elites in France, UK, and US have captured both major political wings and so prevent the correction of inequality! At 65 pages, this is a quick-for-Picketty read. (SLPSE)
zoomzoomzoom, excuse me, zoomzoomzoom
Inside a warehouse where thousands of robots zoom around a grid system, packing 65,000 grocery orders a week. The robots collaborate as a swarm and can pick an order of over 50 items in a few minutes. [more inside]
Fish catch in the North Aral Sea has grown six-fold since 2006
Once written off for dead, the North Aral Sea is now full of life.
“From hardware to software, controllers to culture,”
How Japan changed video games forever [CNN] “Japan didn't invent the first computer game. That accolade goes to "Space War!", a game created in 1962 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. But ever since then, Japan has embraced gaming culture with an almost unrivaled passion. From the Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog games that became cultural giants, to the Sega Mega Drive and Game Boy consoles which were symbols of their time, gaming was led by Tokyo for decades. "Without the contributions of Japan, we wouldn't have a video game industry," Blake J. Harris, a video game expert and author of "Console Wars," says. "Or, at least, not one that resembles what we have today in any way. ” [more inside]
Booth babes
Commodity City. A short documentary on the The Yiwu Market in China, the world's largest wholesale market (slVimeo).
The wedding that once upon a time, might never have been allowed
Don't Even Try to Escape the Media's Royal Wedding Feeding Frenzy Once upon a time, a prince would never have been allowed to marry a divorced biracial American actress. Happily, times have changed, and people around the world are celebrating that something like this can finally happen. [more inside]
"It's not like there is a Montreal Protocol police."
Why Is an Ozone-Destroying Chemical Coming Back, and How do We Stop It? A study in Nature finds that emissions of CFC-11, an ozone-depleting substance banned since 2010 under the Montreal Protocol, have been rising since 2012. The rogue emissions, possibly originating in east Asia, could delay the healing of the ozone layer by about a decade. Additional coverage in the NYT, WaPo, and Live Science.
Let’s Learn 71 Different Kinds of Beer!
John Carruthers at Serious Eats learns a lot about beer in a quest to become a Certified Cicerone (previously, previously)
Squish That Cat!
Pick up a Cat Like a Pro This Friday, let's watch seven minutes of Vancouver vet Dr. Uri Burstyn, wee Claudia, and Shoulder Cat Mr. Pirate as they demonstrate how to pick up a cat, including the Squish and the Football Carry.
Rolling Coal, tech-bro style
Bitcoin’s energy footprint has more than doubled in six months, and it’s expected to double again by the end of the year, according to a new proof-of-work study by economist Alex de Vries (Eurekalert, Joule) out Wednesday. If that happens, bitcoin would be gobbling up 0.5 percent of the world’s electricity, about as much as the Netherlands.
Pre-Budget Snacks
Yesterday, in the high-stakes world of NZ Politics, the new Labour governments finance minister, Grant Robertson, broke from the long-held tradition of his predecessor, Bill English, by opting for the Cheese Roll instead of the Meat Pie as the years budget is released to the public. The Cheese Roll is often considered to be a Southern NZ snack staple - however its origin is contested.
In the taxonomy of melted-cheese foodstuffs, the Cheese Roll is related to Welsh Rarebit.
For those wishing to recreate the humble dish, there are a few cheese-roll recipes out there in the wild with the ingredients readily available in Kiwi pantries; however the onion soup mix is often considered to be crucial.
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