June 18, 2018
Meet Mr. Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow
If you're going to change your name, you might as well go with Meow-Ludo Disco Gamma Meow-Meow or just Meow-Ludo Meow-Meow for short.
Meow-Ludo, a self-described biohacker, who has previously run for office and had an RFID chip planted in his hand today had his conviction for fare evasion overturned.
He's been in the news here in Australia often enough that newsreaders can now say his name without even pausing. [more inside]
The Keeper of the Keys
Music to do nothing to
Technology Connections
Sure, in this age of LCD screens and 8k displays, it's easy-ish to understand how video is played. But what about before computers, before integrated circuits, hell, before transistors? Simple. Televisions used analog lines of light to draw their pictures. [more inside]
The night in Day is brighter than the day in Night.
Jared Pechacek (@vandroidhelsing) has used Twitter's poll feature to write three Choose Your Own Adventure-style stories — each a fairy tale, of one sort or another — as he responded in real time to readers' choices.
- The Well: a story of blessings and curses
- The Lady at Winter's Heart: a story of gifts
- The Last Queen of Elphame: a story of noir in the city of the fae*
An actual panic button
Not Ok is an app to let people know you need help. Designed by teenagers for both physical and mental illnesses. Hannah Lucas came up with the idea for this because she needed it herself. [more inside]
Seriously, it was impossible to predict
From the Department of No One Could Possibly Have Foreseen this: Tronc finally realizes it has a stupid name (previously) (previouslier) [more inside]
What Spitty does well is jump. At this, he excels.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that no pleasure is so cheaply bought, and so unmarred by complexity, as the simple joy of seeing a dog hurl itself into a pond in pursuit of a slobbery stick. Science has proven the impossibility of the human brain to register self-pity, or maunder on about the generally sorry state of things, while in the presence of canine bellyflops. (Outside magazine)
How to Spot a Perfect Fake: the World's Top Art Forgery Detective
A wonderful profile by Samanth Subramanian of James Martin, perhaps the world's best forensic forgery detection expert, waging a battle with increasingly skilled forgers who have set off a "crisis of authentication" in "a time when the art market is synonymous with art itself." [more inside]
Feeling Low? Time to Get Happy
Do you feel low? Worn down? Discouraged? Maybe you need a break. Maybe you need a lot of breaks. Here are 25 ways to feel happier in the next 5 minutes because we all could use a little happiness. No good? Perhaps 14 ways to get through tough times is a better fit. [more inside]
Sending an endless stream of pictures of Gary Busey
Nastybot is a Facebook chatbot that helps people navigate creepy and unsolicited messages. Your assistant for dealing with internet harassment.
Nastybot has answers for all sorts of scenarios when unsavory characters send unwelcome messages to your inbox. Keep her in your toolbelt next time someone harasses you online and thwart creepy messages.
So what are we going to do about it?
The Death of a Once Great City: The Urban Crisis of Affluence. What are we going to do about a New York that is, right now, being plundered not only of its treasure but also of its heart, and soul, and purpose? [more inside]
interrupt me one more time
The art and standards of obituaries, reflecting current traditions
"She will not be missed" is a brutal phrase to read in an obituary, but leads to the question: how have obits changed in recent time? Susan Soper has a theory: "after 9/11 when The New York Times wrote those hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, thousands of very short, poignant obituaries in their pages ... that was sort of when the tide turned in obituaries and people realized that you could bring a person to life and keep them alive in even a short written bio, really." And many taboo topics, like children born out of wedlock, drug use and suicide, are less of taboos than they used to be [content warning]. [more inside]
"Don’t confuse Freedom Edition with Free Edition at TurboTax.com"
Why Are Millions Paying Online Tax Preparation Fees When They Don’t Need To? Few taxpayers use the Free File system — intended to help moderate- and low-income filers — and that benefits companies like Intuit and H&R Block. Now Congress is moving to make the program permanent. (SLProPublica by Tik Root)
My Wife Said You May Want to Marry Me
"My wife said you may want to marry me. A little over a year ago, my wife, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, published a Modern Love essay called “You May Want to Marry My Husband.” At 51, Amy was dying from ovarian cancer. She wrote her essay in the form of a personal ad. It was more like a love letter to me. Those words would be the final ones Amy published. She died 10 days later." (previously)
Fred Gonsowski would like to share his gardening wisdom
Fred Gonsowski has been sharing gardening tips at Fred Gonsowski Garden Home since 2010 based on his experience building a beautiful garden at his upstate New York home. [more inside]
Bluegrass pride
Just As I Am: "By age twenty, he was working consistently on the bluegrass-gospel circuit. One gig ended abruptly when he loaned his laptop to a couple of bandmates at a recording session. They got nosy and found photos from a hush-hush trip to Gatlinburg with his clandestine boyfriend. 'I don’t know how you and God are,' the bandleader thundered at Brandon, who stared at the floor, 'but you need to get it right. If you keep on this path, you’ll be in hell for sure.'” [more inside]
The application does not define you – you define the application.
The University of Chicago announced that it would no longer require the ACT/SAT for admission, becoming the most-selective institution ever to adopt a test-optional policy. [more inside]
I feel the earth move under my feet : sports seismology
How exciting is it when your team beats the reigning World Cup champs in your first match against them? Enough to shake the earth, apparently! [more inside]
Three Point Landing
mastaba-tory or mastaba-mazing?
7,506 oil barrels floating in Hyde Park. Christo has unveiled his latest piece of art: a mastaba in the middle of the Serpentine in London. "Based on the trapezoid shapes of traditional Islamic mastabas – a type of tomb – the temporary sculpture is the realisation of the artistic duo's shared dream of creating a floating version of the form that has fascinated them for half a century." Entirely self-funded, free to view (obviously enough), and difficult to miss if you're wandering through the park.
Favorite beard goes ghostbusters Mesopotamian style
Mesopotamian ghostbusting with Irving Finkel I Curator's Corner | The British Museum.
Favorite beard is at it again with Sumerian tablets and ghostlies.
Balanced by some other force
In an 1898 letter to her son Emily wrote, “I have more brains, common sense, and know-how, generally than any two engineers civil or uncivil that I have ever met, and but for me, the Brooklyn Bridge, would never have had the name Roebling in any way connected to it!”
Debbie Sims Africa of the MOVE 9 paroled
Debbie Sims Africa was released on parole Saturday after 40 years in prison. She was one of the MOVE 9, nine men and women who were arrested in 1978 during a police raid on the building occupied by the Philadelphia Black liberation group MOVE. [more inside]
The brutality of British history
If you, or you ancestors are British, and paid tax between the 1830s and 2015 you contributed to reparations for the slave trade, not for the slaves but compensation for the owners. There are 32 images of William Wilberforce in the National Portrait Gallery, but just four images of black abolitionists. It's argued that slavery in the British empire was only abolished after it had ceased to be economically useful. When will Britain face up to its crimes against humanity? (has descriptions of slave punishment and torture)
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