Favorites from Foci for Analysis
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Computational Propaganda & its Adherents
This is a short promotional interview for a book about computational propaganda, and an introduction to the Oxford Computational Propaganda Project. This stuff has been talked about a lot since November 2016, it's not going away any time soon, and the risks are substantial.
We don’t want you to help us understand; we want to punish you.
You might disagree with how we approached it. You don’t have to agree. You just have to understand why we approached it that way.
The brief transition period between the elections and the arrival of the new administration is always a chaotic time. Outgoing staff tries to bring the incoming team up to date on the pressing issues, the looming crises, and the loose ends. But what if the new arrivals simply don't care?
“In the right context you can make words do all kinds of things.”
The Last Days of New Paris is China Miéville’s novella about a surrealist Paris magically overlapping with our realist Paris.
At the back of the book, Miéville offers endnote citations of the surrealist art that inspired his writing. I corralled all the art in this post.
At the back of the book, Miéville offers endnote citations of the surrealist art that inspired his writing. I corralled all the art in this post.
"just as monstrous and mutant alge invade the lagoon of Venice"
Peter E. Gordon — The Authoritarian Personality Revisited: Reading Adorno in the Age of Trump, June 15, 2016.
My hope is that by reading Adorno again, we might discern how Trump at once instantiates the category of the “authoritarian personality” but also challenges its meaning. The AP study, I will suggest, contained two distinct lines of argument. The first of these arguments qualified as the “official” discovery of the research program, and its basic message is the one MacWilliams identified in the passages quoted above, namely, it claimed to have identified a new “psychological type.” The second argument was rather more sobering and radical in its implications: it suggested that the authoritarian personality signified not merely a type but rather an emergent and generalized feature of modern society as such.
The Guardian's Readers' Editor is finally back from vacation
Over six months ago The Guardian published a story purporting to expose a "backdoor" in WhatsApp. The EFF wrote that "it's inaccurate to the point of irresponsibility to call this behavior a backdoor", and over seventy cryptographers signed a scathing open letter explaining the huge flaws in the Guardian's story, but they were met with almost total silence. Meanwhile, even Teen Vogue managed to get the story right. MeFi's own Maciej Cegłowski (fomenter of online drama, who runs the bookmarking site Pinboard on the side) wouldn't let it go, and now finally the Guardian has issued a non-retraction retraction where they decided to "amend" the article instead. Maciej is still not impressed, but unfortunately the damage has already been done. Much like the debunked vaccine/autism link, this story could have literal life-and-death consequences by casting doubt on the Signal protocol and pushing dissidents and leakers to use much more insecure communications like web forms and email.
Letters and Liquor
"Because my love for the culture of cocktails is so strong, it was only a matter of time before it became part of my professional work. As a graphic designer, my specialty is lettering, and the spirits world is replete with lettering styles. This blog is an attempt to merge my knowledge of cocktail history with the developments in lettering that accompanied it."
Nimrod: Lux Aeterna
A stunning vocal rendition of Elgar’s Nimrod.
"VOCES8, considered to be one of the world’s most versatile and best-loved a cappella groups, performed ‘Nimrod: Lux Aeterna’ [YT] from the English composer Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations as a tribute on Armistice Day 2016."
Birdhouse in Her Soul
Beautifully Designed Tiny Houses... For Birds. The houses all started a couple of years ago, when illustrator and wildlife artist Jada Fitch -- also an avid birder -- decided to make a new bird feeder that could provide a more interesting backdrop for her photos. For the first house, "She carved out a door and windows, and attached a little porch on the front of the structure to act as a perch. She then added the interior décor: painted throw rugs, framed ‘portraits’ of bird family members, and cardboard couches and armchairs, creating a whimsical living room in the process. Lastly and most importantly, she scattered seed across the furniture and floor and Duct taped the house to her window." Her sense of humor is evident in a post of her latest bird feeder: Agent Cooper's Hawk at Twin Beaks' Black Lodge.
What football will look like in the future
Something is terribly wrong.
Jon Bois (previously) starts a new series on the future, football and the future of football.
The House of Lee
Once upon a time, there lived a king in his castle, with his wife and three children: Dragon, Ram and Jade. He ruled with iron grip and firm hand, and under his ever-watchful eye the kingdom grew prosperous and his House grew fat. When he grew old of age, he handed his sceptre to the eldest Dragon, who ruled in his stead, and his honour. The day came when the old king died, and his subjects mourned him, weeping, lining the streets in the rain to pay their last respects. It was a moment of many passions, but little did the people know what trouble was sown that torrentuous day.
How Being Deaf Made the Difference in Space Research
In the 1950s, NASA needed test subjects who were immune from motion sickness to investigate the effects of space flight and weightlessness on the human body. So they looked to the Deaf community, recruiting 11 men who were students at Gallaudet University as volunteer test subjects. All but one of the volunteers lost their hearing from spinal meningitis, which can kill nerve and hair cells in the inner ear, essential elements of the vestibular system - the system that can trigger motion sickness. The volunteers, known as the "Gallaudet Eleven," are now being honoured in an exhibit hosted by Gallaudet University, entitled "Deaf Difference + Space Survival" (video here).
When the Smithsonian came to you!
The bicentennial was a helluva party.
The American Freedom Train, toured the country in 1975–76 to commemorate the United States Bicentenniali. The 26-car train was powered by three newly restored steam locomotives. The first to pull the train was former Reading Company T-1 class 4-8-4 #2101. The second was former Southern Pacific 4449, a large 4-8-4 steam locomotive that is still operating in special excursion service today. The third was former Texas & Pacific 2-10-4 #610, which pulled the train in Texas.
"235 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal": Sputnik Monroe
Appalachian wrestling's greatest villain, 'The Progressive Liberal,' may be making waves these days with his liberal agenda moves, but let's look back to the man, the myth, the legend: Sputnik Monroe, “235 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal," the most hated wrestler in Memphis, and a champion of integration in the Jim Crow South.
“This is harassment, pure and simple.”
Anita Sarkeesian's astounding 'garbage human' moment. [Polygon]
“The panel's first question drops. It’s about why feminism — online and in games — is an issue worthy of discussion. Sarkeesian notes Benjamin's presence and begins speaking. "If you Google my name on YouTube you get shitheads like this dude who are making these dumb-assed videos," she says. "They just say the same shit over and over again. I hate to give you attention because you're a garbage human. These dudes just making endless videos that go after every feminist over and over again is a part of the issue of why we have to have these conversations." The crowd gives her a positive response, with some whoops and cheers.”
I can see the attraction
Magnet fishing is simple - get a strong magnet, an even stronger rope and a body of water. Throw in the magnet and see what you find!
look, it says "floppy naked guy", I'm not going bother with a NSFW warni
*movie trailer voice* The floppy naked CGI guy is back, and this time...he's brought some friends.
time for sushi
time for sushi
The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques
"[Nielsen Norman Group] conducted a survey with 452 adult respondents from the United States who were not employed in an IT- or marketing-related industry. In this survey, participants were shown 23 wireframes corresponding to different types of advertisements and rated how much they disliked them on a scale of 1 to 7."
Who is Mister P?
The catchily-named Multilevel Regression and Poststratification (MRP or Mr. P) is a newish technique for estimating opinion in states, cities, or legislative districts too numerous for there to be really solid sample sizes in every one of them. Yougov.uk recently used an MRP model to be among the first successfully predicting a hung parliament, getting about 93\% of constituencies right. Why do MRP? How does it work?
What am I supposed to do? Rate the carpet? Fine, I will.
A collection of the many, many times people failed to send dog pics to the WeRateDogs twitter.
Does it go honk?
Believe it or not, Polygon produces lots of great video content that don't feature any brothers. SEO Play is perhaps the greatest of these, where host Simone de Rochefort answers your pressing questions on today's hottest games. Please Retweet documents Polygon video producer Patrick Gill's Sisyphean effort to have Nintendo retweet a very good picture of Toad. A recent series has Russ Frushtick and Simone guide each other playing games blindfolded in Fold Yeller, leading to moments exciting, frustrating, and triumphant.
You Aut to Try Minecraft
It has been multiply reported that open world building and exploration game Minecraft (Product Page | Wikipedia) is disproportionately popular among autistics (CDC | Wikipedia). Said to be the best-selling game of all time behind only Tetris, Minecraft’s appeal is obviously broad, but is there something special about it that scratches a highly specific itch for people on the spectrum?
Medieval fantasy city generator
This application generates a random medieval city layout of a requested size. The generation method is rather arbitrary, the goal is to produce a nice looking map, not an accurate model of a city.
Ask not what your wife can ask for you to do
Mental Load:
why women still do most of the work at home.
Laura Scudder, a woman before her time: Pioneer, Instigator, Doer
"Once a little old lady named Laura Scudder had a thing about potato chips" - an ad for Laura Scudder's Potato Chips, which really were made by Laura Scudder, a California entrepreneur who was the first to package potato chips in sealed bags to preserve their freshness, and was the first to add freshness dates to products. You can take the Laura Scudder Noise Abatement League Pledge, and view a short biographical recounting of Laura's life from Pauline Lemire, president of the Historical Society of Monterey Park.
WIZARDS
Did you know there are many kinds of wizards? There are at least a Hundred kinds. There are Camp wizards, Skateboard wizards, Impossible wizards, Pizza wizards, and Very Loud Wizards. Sometimes wizards have Bros. Sometimes they're even on a Team.
Notes from an Emergency
The lack of accountability isn’t just troubling from a philosophical perspective. It’s dangerous in a political climate where people are pushing back at the very idea of globalization. There's no industry more globalized than tech, and no industry more vulnerable to a potential backlash.
From a recent talk by Pinboard/Maciej Ceglowski
My family's slave
My family's slave:
"She lived with us for 56 years. She raised me and my siblings without pay. I was 11, a typical American kid, before I realized who she was."
Voice transcription by saxophone and drums
A classic scene from Willy Wonka
as performed by Gene Wilder, drums, and saxophone. There's a growing series of these, including takes on the USAs recent popular vote loser and random farm animals.
The Big Bang Theory but with Ricky Gervais as the whole studio audience.
The Big Bang Theory but with Ricky Gervais as the whole studio audience.
Just as terrible as you can imagine it is.
Deflategate: Korea
Songdo, Korea has a new shopping mall called Triple Street, and to celebrate their grand opening they are having a Pokemon Festival. Unfortunately, not all Pikachu (Pikachii?) are created equal. (DLSYTV - Double Link Silly YouTube Videos)
SUBJECT-28
Original production art used in the creation of Katsuhiro Otomo's 'Akira' (1988). (single link Tumblr)
Wishing You Love, Peace, and Soul
"At any African-American gathering, it was like it was official, you had to close it out; there was a prayer, then there was a Soul Train line. You gotta give it up to Jesus, and then Don Cornelius." -Cedric The EntertainerSoul Train; The Hippest Trip In America
[slow, dramatic exhalation]: *hhhhhhhhhhh*
On April 23rd, 2017, the Pacific Order of Onomatopoeia Professionals held its First Annual Regional Terminology Summit at the Alaska Robotics “Comics Camp.” At this summit, The Order discussed onomatopoetic solutions to many sound-effects problems common to the sequential arts. The Order’s proceedings and conclusions have been recorded and summarized and are available in the document linked [here] (pdf).
"They are slaughtering us like animals"
“There is a new way of dying in the Philippines,” said Redentor C. Ulsano, the police superintendent in the Tondo district. He smiled and held his wrists together in front of him, pretending to be handcuffed. A photo essay by Daniel Derehulak documenting Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's horrific antidrug campaign which has left more than 7,000 people dead [CW: Graphic descriptions of violence].
0x100 bytes, no filler
A Mind Is Born is a C64 demo with a driving hypnotic soundtrack. The program is 256 bytes long. How it works: A Mind Is Born
10 quadrillion vulgar tongues
Vulgar is a constructed language (conlang) generator for fantasy fiction writing that creates unique and usable constructed languages in the click of a button. Vulgar’s output models the regularities, irregularities and quirks of real world languages; phonology, grammar, and a 2000 unique word vocabulary.
Squeeze me till I pop, yeah, squeeze me till you drop
Silicon Valley’s $400 Juicer May Be Feeling the Squeeze:
One of the most lavishly funded gadget startups in Silicon Valley last year was Juicero Inc. It makes a juice machine. The product was an unlikely pick for top technology investors, but they were drawn to the idea of an internet-connected device that transforms single-serving packets of chopped fruits and vegetables into a refreshing and healthy beverage.... But after the product hit the market, some investors were surprised to discover a much cheaper alternative: You can squeeze the Juicero bags with your bare hands.
DJ Sumirock: "She's got this energy that goes beyond age"
DJ Sumirock is a monthly fixture at DecabarZ, a club in Shinjuku, Tokyo. She always usually starts her sets with the theme to the 1960s Japanese anime series Astro Boy, then transitions to techno, rock, jazz, French chanson and classical music. She's been DJing for about a decade, which generally isn't too notable, except she started in her 70s, and she's now 82. Before this, she was running her family gyoza restaurant, where she has worked since she was 19, but when her husband died, she wanted to try something new.
Paper-Based Procrastination Project
Setting the Crease
is a long-running origami blog with an extensive archive you can dive into.
A legal alternative to academic publishing paywalls
Unpaywall is a web browser extension which finds free versions of paywalled or fee-to-view articles. Launched in early April, it provides an interface to a database of 86+ million digital object identifiers (DOIs). When an Unpaywall user lands on the page of a research article, the software scours thousands of institutional repositories, preprint servers, and websites like PubMed Central to see if an open-access copy of the article is available. If it is, users can click a small green tab on the side of the screen to view a PDF. The developers say Unpaywall doesn't ask for, track or store any personal information. Developed by Impactstory and funded by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Alternatives are available...
Aux urnes, Citoyens
Who will win the French presidential election? According to current polls, center-left outsider Emmanuel Macron is likely to become the next French President, winning 60-65% of the votes against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, but many things could happen between now and April 23.
French presidential elections used to be a simple thing, decided by a run-off between the candidates of the two major (socialist vs conservative) parties. The system was upset in 2002 when Le Pen's father trounced the socialist candidate in the first round, only to be crushed in the second round by Chirac. The situation was back to normal in 2007 and 2012 (with Sarkozy embracing far-right rhetorics), but in 2017 the two candidates most likely to win are outsiders unaffiliated to mainstream parties. A round-up of the main candidates below the fold.
Hi-Phi Nation
Hi-Phi Nation is a new podcast that uses narrative storytelling to explore ideas in philosophy, featuring thoughtful interviews with philosophers and nuanced storytelling, created by philosopher Barry Lam.