August 2, 2015
*Dʰu̯órom *Bʰl̥gés
a guy who’s giving 150 percent, and yet you’re not sure if he means it
"I’m not here, however, to adjudicate Cruise’s religious views or mental health or even, really, his public image, which seems to be a complicated one. I’m here to say: It’s time to start liking Tom Cruise, movie star and actor, again." - Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
Beyond fantasy monoculture
“As a black woman,” Jemisin tells me, “I have no particular interest in maintaining the status quo. Why would I? The status quo is harmful, the status quo is significantly racist and sexist and a whole bunch of other things that I think need to change. With epic fantasy there is a tendency for it to be quintessentially conservative, in that its job is to restore what is perceived to be out of whack.”
NK Jemisin on upending the fantasy literature status quo and getting beyond medieval fantasy Europe.
NK Jemisin on upending the fantasy literature status quo and getting beyond medieval fantasy Europe.
The Big Uneasy
"Everyone in New Orleans knows that 911 is a lost cause." ‘‘What I’m doing now isn’t all that different from the trash thing,’’ Torres said. ‘‘It’s about seeing a need — an unfortunate need — and stepping up to fill it.’’
The road to pigmentocracy
“It was ‘invisibilization’. The discourse was that we don’t have race in Brazil, so you don’t have race problems in Brazil...”
Brazil is combating many kinds of inequality. But one of the world’s most diverse nations is still just beginning to talk about race.
Brazil is combating many kinds of inequality. But one of the world’s most diverse nations is still just beginning to talk about race.
Ex-palliative care nurse dies by suicide
Healthy 75-year old dies by assisted suicide in Switzerland.
Gill Pharaoh's last blog post is here.
She has written two books about carers.
The Pig is full of Many, Many Cats
On the plus side, regular vegetables taste heavenly now.
Remember back in the halcyon days of about five weeks ago when griphus inflicted the Minnesota State Fair menu on us? Many of us sighed, thought Oh, if only..., then moved on to discussing the President on a podcast or marriage equality becoming the law of the land or some less important nonsense. But what if you really wanted to know what that stuff will do to you? Fortunately, the Cracked team is there for you (albeit at the Calgary Stampede rather than the Minnesota State Fair), with 10 Carnival Foods Invented By Crazy People (Taste Tested). [more inside]
The Tongueless Fish
"I’ve been infected by a parasite. I won’t tell you what because I don’t want you to search for it. By the time this reaches you it won’t matter much, anyway. In fact, I’m forbidding you right now from looking for anything or asking anyone. Apparently I have about twelve hours as myself. They won’t say what happens next, because it’s kind of unpredictable. There are lots of animals who’ve had it, but only two people. They won’t tell me." -- The Glad Hosts, a SF short story by Rebecca Campbell
You can't fuck osmosis jones
you can't fuck osmosis jones. other things you can't fuck: ratigan, rats from secret of nimh, the alan rickman fish from help im a fish, the iron giant, the weed ghost from cartoon all stars to the rescue, mufasa's ghost, the horrible cgi dinosaurs from dinosaur, or many other cartoon things. The deets: on tumblr. on youtube (2m)
(via @Monodi)
Delta Flight 191
30 years ago today (August 2nd, 1985), Delta Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar from Fort Lauderdale, bound for Los Angeles, crashed over a mile short of the runway at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The plane was caught in an unexpected weather event called a microburst, which causes a sudden downdraft of air. During the struggle to regain control, the plane careened across a highway north of the airport, struck a car, and skidded into two large water tanks, which broke it apart. (Flightpath/Crash diagram)
The crash killed 136 of the 152 passengers and 11 crew on board, and the driver of the car.
(Cabin seat diagram showing injuries and survivors) [more inside]
Meet Jane Marie Kroc
There has obviously been a great deal of gossip, rumors and questions about me the past few days. To put them to rest: yes, I am transgender/gender fluid. Janae Marie Kroc, in her own words, is a "Transgender/genderfluid Alpha male/girly girl Lesbian in a male body." She is also a powerlifter, bodybuilder, and strongman competitor who owns several records in the 220lb weight class. [more inside]
Don't worry, you probably won't be secretly murdered if you watch this.
In 1991, a documentary, intended to be the first of a series on celebrity businessmen, was completed. It was screened twice, but its subject prevented its release and it was clear that continuing the series wasn't worth the trouble. So why has that film been released almost a quarter of a century later? Because that same businessman is now running for president. Trump: What's the Deal? (trailer, direct Vimeo link to full film, unofficial YouTube mirror)
(Sixty(-Eight(Candles)))
After sixty-eight years, Cooch-Behar is no more. At midnight on Friday the almost-fractal boundary between India and Bangladesh was rationalised, erasing 162 enclaves and counter-enclaves, including Dahala-Khagrabari, the world's only counter-counter-enclave as well as what was, at one time, the world's only part-time enclave. [more inside]
The quikk bronw foxjumps over teh laz ydog
It started because I was trying to tell my kids about how typewriters worked (because of course they've never seen one), and all the existing typewriter simulators that I could find on the web get one very basic thing wrong - when you press backspace, they erase the character you just typed, like a computer. On a real typewriter, backspace simply moves the carriage back one space, allowing you to overtype a previously typed character. Erasing requires Tipp-Ex or suchlike.
You can't be funny in the moors.
Great Confrontations at the Oxford Union: That Englishmen are Funnier Than Americans was the third in a series of debates held at the Oxford Union debating hall in 1986, attempting to settle the debate over who is funnier, the Americans or the British. [more inside]
I have a home I built for you, right here in monkey land.
"Old Weird America", you say? I got some right here for ya: Oh, My Pretty Monkey, by Kelly Harrell. [more inside]
Featuring Spock on the space guitar
What you get if you put Shatner's version of "Common People" to clips of the original Star Trek series (Previously from 2008: The Animated Version.)
Hyperion Systems Activated
Disney's Practical Guide to Path Tracing (YouTube) Hyperion handles several million light rays at a time by sorting and bundling them together according to their directions. When the rays are grouped in this way, many of the rays in a bundle hit the same object in the same region of space. This similarity of ray hits allows us – and the computer – to optimize the calculations for the objects hit. [more inside]
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