July 26, 2016
Same hair, new atmosphere
Over the past year, the Archie series of comics has been receiving acclaim for efforts to rethink its classic characters. This fall, that continues onto the television screen, with the forthcoming series: Riverdale [Facebook Link]. Early reports about the show claim, "More Twin Peaks than Dawson's Creek", and that the show will focus on a darker side of the iconic characters, "As a new school year begins, the town of Riverdale is reeling from the recent, tragic death of high school golden boy Jason Blossom — and nothing feels the same." As bizarre (and, perhaps, terrible) as this may sound, the pilot episode is reviewing well.
"It’s going to run rampant. People are going to bring a pizza."
New York Times: "...last week, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, signed a law permitting funeral parlors to serve light refreshments and nonalcoholic drinks, joining 46 other states..." The article also mentions funeral potatoes and funeral pie , but omits Koliva and funeral biscuits.
Social divide stays in online learning
BBC: "There are strong social divisions in how young people use digital technology, according to international research from the OECD.
The economics think tank found that in many countries wealthy and poor pupils spent similar amounts of time online.
But richer youngsters were much more likely to use the internet for learning rather than games.
The study argues that even with equal access to technology a "digital divide" persists in how the internet is used.""
Your favorite TV show sucks
Mad Men to Seinfeld: TV's most criminally overrated shows — The Guardian's reviewers unburden themselves. [more inside]
The Suit That Couldn’t Be Copied
In danger of losing the world's best DJs--
Burn Out, Depression, Insomnia, and drug abuse are among other ills destroying lives “We’re like a pinball, free and easy to fly around the world,”
It's hot as hell in Philadelphia
Join us for Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention, featuring the Roll Call of the States, Mothers of the Movement, Madeleine Albright, and President Bill Clinton. [more inside]
What happens when an activist accuses a reporter of being a police spy?
"Peter Nickeas is a Tribune reporter recently accused of informing on protesters to the police. Monica Trinidad is the activist who publicly accused him. Jerry Boyle is the Chicago attorney who put the idea in her head. And I'm the media writer who wishes he hadn't."
Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things
Genes that do the same thing in a human and a mouse are generally related by common descent from an ancestral gene in the first mammal. So by comparing their sequence of DNA letters, genes can be arranged in evolutionary family trees, a property that enabled Dr. Martin and his colleagues to assign the six million genes to a much smaller number of gene families. Of these, only 355 met their criteria for having probably originated in Luca, the joint ancestor of bacteria and archaea.Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things [more inside]
Still can't remove the male gaze, though
Thanks to science, you can now change the way a person gazes in a photo in a not at all totally creepy or derpy way.
Stop Watching Movie Trailers
Chris Ryan of The Ringer wants us to stop watching movie trailers, because "They are broken, and they're ruining movies." [more inside]
Yes, it features “Lust for Life”
T2: Trainspotting 2 [YouTube] [Teaser Trailer] Director Danny Boyle reunites the original cast: Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle. [via: Pitchfork Media]
"vomit is the limit of comfortable punishment"
The Truth About VR And Vomit "In flight simulators, the Navy has perhaps the most practical application of something resembling VR, and their research is focused on how they can minimize sickness and how well people can accomplish tasks while nauseated. On the other hand, when your goal is enjoyment of a game or movie, your threshold is probably lower, but maybe vomit in entertainment has a different appeal—it’s disgusting, but powerful and noteworthy, and it seems to keep coming up in popular art and culture in a way that other bodily functions don’t." [more inside]
Lest we forget
European refugees in India, Africa and the Middle East
During World War II in Europe over 40 million refugees sought shelter away from the catastrophic bloodshed that engulfed the continent for over six years.
Pokémon in Space, Pokémon in the NYPL
Pokémon in Space, Pokémon in the NYPL [via mefi projects] Two new Twitter bots sending Pokémon into the depths of the New York Public Library Digital Collections and NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Central bank digital currency: the end of monetary policy as we know it?
I argue that taken to its most extreme conclusion, [central bank digital currency] issuance could have far-reaching consequences for commercial and central banking – divorcing payments from private bank deposits and even putting an end to banks’ ability to create money. By redefining the architecture of payment systems, CBcoin could thus challenge fractional reserve banking and reshape the conduct of monetary policy.
Keep your face to the sunshine and you can never see the shadow.
Solar Impulse 2, a sun-powered plane many times lighter than the lightest glider, has completed a round-the-world flight.
The craft landed early Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, ending a journey that took some 558 hours (more than 23 days). The wingspan of the fuelless craft is the size of a 747, yet the unpressurised, unheated cockpit is not much bigger than a phone booth.
Towards the end of the trip it was escorted by Spanish Jets.
The landing (and all 17 legs of the journey) were streamed live. [more inside]
Inside the Playlist Factory
As streaming has gone mainstream, these curators, many of whom began their professional lives as bloggers and DJs, have amassed unusual influence. Their work, as a rule, is uncredited — the better for services designed to feel like magic — but their reach is increasingly unavoidable. Spotify says 50% of its more than 100 million users globally are listening to its human-curated playlists (not counting those in the popular, algorithmically personalized “Discover Weekly”), which cumulatively generate more than a billion plays per week. According to an industry estimate, 1 out of every 5 plays across all streaming services today happens inside of a playlist. And that number, fueled by prolific experts, is growing steadily. [slBuzzfeed]
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