June 18, 2020
Solved: the mystery of Por-Bajin, ruins on a Mongolian island
In the Tyva Republic, which lies southern Russia and includes one of the geographical midpoints of Asia (Wikipedia; user-made panorama in Google maps ), is the Mystery of the Tere-Khol Lake (Earth Chronicles; Google maps), the ruins of a 3.3 hectare (8.15 acre) structure with no confirmed history, but associated with local legend. It was Russia's most mysterious archaeological site (Archaeology, 2010). Until recently, that is, when radiocarbon-based approach capable of subannual precision resolves the origins of the site of Por-Bajin (PNAS, open article). In other words, solar radiation and dead trees tell us when Por-Bajin was built—and why it was neither palace nor fortress (Atlas Obsura). [more inside]
Stranded all alone in the gas station of love
1985 was a ridiculously strong year for music releases. June 18, 1985 is when "Weird Al" Yankovic released his third album, Dare To Be Stupid. Side A: Like A Surgeon [video], Dare To Be Stupid [video], I Want A New Duck, One More Minute [video], Yoda [more inside]
Les Archives Algeriennes
Les Archives Algeriennes pulls together videos from across Algerian history. For example, Wander through Algiers in 1896. Depart for Mecca in 1966. Return from Mecca in 1954. Watch wild monkeys on the road in 1925. Wander through Algiers in 1919. Go to school in Kabylie in 1950. Watch Alphonse Halimi box in 1960. Join 10,000 women marching in Algiers on International Women's Day, 1965. Visit the Algerian Jewish community of Ashdod, Israel in 1966. Spend some time with the Ouled Nail in 1929. Vote YES for Independence in 1962. Celebrate the International Day of Anti-Colonialism in 1967.
Nunavut Aesthetics
Nagaq, from Nunavut, rates the logos of all 24 Nunavut Communities. (Single Link Twitter) A good indication of the shifts in Indigenous representation, some great information on Nunavut, and some solid local flavour.
After racist park encounter, Chris Cooper takes us birding
10,000 years of feline domestication have led to this glorious moment
The Quarantine Cat Film Festival (trailer, sample reel) opens on Friday, June 19th. For $12, you can watch a compilation of the "cutest, funniest, bravest, and most loving cat videos" and support your local independent cinema (or any participating cinema of your choice) in the process. [more inside]
Hey Screwed
Today, Apple doubled down on a decision to reject email app Hey (from the makers of Basecamp). Hey doesn't use Apple's in-app purchase mechanism and therefore doesn't share 30% of its revenue with Apple. According to the chairman of the House antitrust subcommittee, Apple is acting like a monopolist and a bully. This all comes at a time when Apple is facing two antitrust investigations in the EU.
Supreme Court DACA ruling - 'HOME IS HERE'
In a 5-4 ruling today in Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, Chief Justice John Roberts cast the decisive fifth vote with the court's four liberal justices, saying the Department of Homeland Security's decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. (NPR News | Guardian | Washington Post) [more inside]
You Are a Sophomore at Most Distinguished University of the North
September 7, 2020, a choose your own "adventure" about returning to school this fall by Cait Kirby, a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt who promoted diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher ed and STEM.
An insidious form of holocaust denialism
The Case for Reparations: Over 60 million deaths from man-made famines. A 20% drop in life expectancy in just 50 years. Centuries of slavery. A legacy of brutal deprivation and cruel dispossession still materially felt by billions to this day. But despite it all, 80% of Britons do not regret colonialism and 44% are actively proud of it. How is this possible? And what is there to be proud of? [more inside]
Miss Major is not your token.
Trans elder Miss Major Griffin-Gracy's life and work is celebrated in the 2016 award-winning MAJOR! from Stonewall, to HIV outreach in the 1990s to ongoing support for trans women in prison. The trailer includes this quote from a younger activist on how Miss Major has been genderqueer long before the concept: "Someone will be like 'you're a woman' and she'll be like 'I'm a Wonder Woman. Wonder what kind of woman I am.'" (Film available on demand at Vimeo) [more inside]
“I don’t want to hear the same Eurocentric stuff. I’m bored.”
America has the largest immigrant population in the world and yet a Eurocentric view of what American food is remains pervasive. In the new Hulu food travel docuseries, "Taste the Nation", Padma Lakshmi challenges that perspective head-on, and explores how native and immigrant food shape American food.
"What is American food? That term typically brings to mind the image of hamburgers blanketed in melted cheese, hot dogs dressed in wavy tangles of ketchup and mustard, and fragrant apple pie sealed with a flaky crust. But in a country that has the largest immigrant population in the world, isn’t that a narrow view of what constitutes as American food? Are these the only things we are actually eating?"In honour of Juneteenth, Hulu has released, subscription-free, the episode on Gullah Geechee history & cuisine directly to Youtube. [more inside]
I Will Nuke My Own Country Because God Wants Us Dead
Twins in Paradise, an animated short by vewn, aka Victoria Vincent
[Content note: nukes, suicide, drug use content]
A testimony that refused the terms of our degradation
Princeton professor Imani Perry writes to remind us: Racism is terrible. Blackness is not. [more inside]
Commence eye-roll sequence
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