June 26, 2017
Coldness was, for the first time, a possibility
The African solar power revolution. [SLNewYorker]
Podcast to the head!
Venerable Canadian comedy troupe The Frantics have pored over their entire CBC radio archive for a (planned) 50-part Best Of Frantic Times podcast. Perhaps better known outside Canada for their relatively short-lived TV sketch show Four On The Floor, The Frantics were a four-man comedy troupe most famous for Mister Canoehead, the ubiquitous-for-Doctor-Demento sketch and song Ti Kwan Leep and Boot to the Head, and a fairly well-received Star Trek sketch in the early days of the Just For Laughs comedy festival. Some of the material is... anachronistic is the charitable description; "sexist as hell" is the more accurate label. But for Canadians of a Certain Age, this was the cornerstone of our pre-KiTH comedic development.
Soothing. Therapeutic. Comforting. Yes. Yes. Yes.
The Bestest in the World. Every city has its beloved local bakeries—places that reliably turn out aromatic loaves of baguette or pumpernickel, small cafes that bake a pie, cupcake, or cookie that you crave daily. [more inside]
Court orders Salvador Dalí's body be exhumed for paternity test
in-between food
"Watching The Motel, a 2005 indie film about a Chinese-American family who own a motel in the middle of nowhere, was a revelation to me. I’ll always come back to the scene in which the mom, as a special dinnertime treat, buys McDonald’s for her family. She carefully unwraps the burgers and cuts them in half, placing each half on top of a bowl of white rice. I have never felt so understood by a movie." Let's Call it Assimilation Food, by Soleil Ho
Every baby born into the world is a finer one than the last.
Surprisingly cute baby animals (baby stingrays previously). (Sidebar may have NSFW pics)
That is all.
That is all.
Just tea for two and two and two and two
Feeling the mood of the room
Research has increasingly shown that emotions are contagious. Emotional or affective contagion has been found between mothers and infants [pdf]; in social networks, where moral outrage increases the spread of ideas by 20%; and especially at work. The emotions of a team member can impact the entire team, changing both attitudes and performance. Do you have negative people around you? Two methods to stop negative contagion that seem to work: be calm, as serenity is one of the most contagious emotions, or else ignore them, as attention is critical to the spread of emotions.
The "Progressive Liberal" is maybe the perfect wrestling heel
Kentucky-based Appalachian Mountain Wrestling has graced the world with the presence of “Progressive Liberal” Dan Richards. He definitely isn’t a face. Make sure to check out the Youtube clip linked in the article.
“They must've spent tens of dollars on this.”
Grab your robot friends. The Mystery Science Theater 3000 marathon starts now! [Twitch] From June 26 through July 2, you’ll be the subject of a 38-episode experiment to see how long it can take for the human spirit to break after suffering the type of DEEP HURTING that only the worst movies on the planet can provide. We’re even going to pile on the pain with an assortment of vintage educational shorts and other bonus content in between each episode. A running order with the full list of episodes can be found here.
Gulf of Mexico's 60,000 year old underwater forest
In an ice age, a couple ice ages ago, a forest of cypress trees was lost under the waves of the Gulf of Mexico. Amazingly, the wood is still intact, and can tell scientists about ancient forests, and how rising sea levels might affect modern forests. This short documentary will introduce you to the hurricane that allowed for the discovery, the process of diving for samples and studying them, and what we can learn from this amazing find. [more inside]
Wile E. Coyote Tech
"People are saying 'You can be gay but not in this way.'"
At this past Saturday's Chicago Dyke March, controversy ensued when 3 women displaying Jewish Pride flags (a Star of David superimposed onto a rainbow flag) were asked to leave the event for making others feel "unsafe". [more inside]
A Tale of Two "How Do I Live"s
Entertainment Weekly reports that the studio felt Rimes’s version lacked the emotional weight needed for the film. One more time, in case you glossed over that: The song lacked the emotional weight needed for a film about Nicolas Cage fighting convicts on an airplane...Jason Gallagher uses The Ringer's Good Bad Movies Week to tell us about that time that the Grammys nominated two versions of the same song for the same award in "Remembering the 'Con Air' Soundtrack War".
A man with a boat-shaped mind, in a boat with a man-shaped soul
Long Way Home: The circumnavigations of Henk De Velde and his search for that place behind the horizon.
The CIA reads French Theory
"It is often presumed that intellectuals have little or no political power. Perched in a privileged ivory tower, disconnected from the real world, embroiled in meaningless academic debates over specialized minutia, or floating in the abstruse clouds of high-minded theory, intellectuals are frequently portrayed as not only cut off from political reality but as incapable of having any meaningful impact on it. The Central Intelligence Agency thinks otherwise." [more inside]
Sundays Smiles for Monday Morning
Do you like long tracking shots? How about Eastern European influenced pop balladry? You might also enjoy Cheap Magic Inside a film by Beruit and Vincent Moon to start off your week. [SLYT, etc...]
For Sale: DUP MPs. £100m per MP ONO.
Government has been formed with the Tories striking a deal with the DUP. The big part of the deal? £1 billion is headed towards Northern Ireland.
The Atlas of Lie Groups and Representations
Math Has No God Particle - "'Mathematicians are extremely reluctant to publicize what they do', Adams said. 'The immediate reaction from 90 percent of mathematicians is, 'It's too hard, there's no point in trying to write about this in the popular press.'' (Yet here we are.) ... About two months ago — 15 years after it began — the project was finally completed. Adams and his colleagues released Version 1.0 of their atlas software... Adams and his team haven't trumpeted this latest accomplishment at all. When I reached him at his home, he summarized the milestone plainly, but proudly, in the jargon of his field: 'We can now compute the Hermitian form on any irreducible representation.'"
China's Mistress Dispellers
China's Mistress Dispellers - Jiayang Fan writes in the New Yorker about 'mistress dispellers', a cross between private detective and blackmailer, paid by wealthy Chinese women to chase off their husbands' mistresses. Fan writes that wealth, divorce law and unequal gender expectations have created a niche for a new profession.
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