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There is no way of living in direct contact with reality
Almost everyone I’ve met would be well-served thinking more about what to focus on.
Building mental models, figuring out the explore vs exploit trade-off, and more.
At the time he was alive and well and singing in Amsterdam.
Here's Jacques Brel on the Dutch television program Club Domino in the early Sixties. [50m] The songs are in French and the host speaks Dutch, but wow, he does a thing with his song delivery, reminds me a bit of Sinatra or Dylan with how he's living the moment.
How did poetry manage to fall down the stairs of relevance?
Fast-forwarding to today, it seems that poetry no longer garners the attention that it used to. In the whirlwind of today’s society, poetry has found itself fighting for attention against newer art forms such as film and music. Movies and music have seamlessly captured the raw emotions and societal complexities that once danced within the lines of poems and they have done so in a manner that is outwardly more entertaining and approachable. All the while, poetry has taken a dramatic shift and evolved into an art form that is highly confessional and often accompanied by illustrations and other visuals. It is certainly possible that this increasingly personal style of poetry has not appealed to all enthusiasts of this genre and this may attribute to a decline in readership. from Should Modern Newspapers Publish Poetry? [The Artifice]
Mapo Tofu Recipe: The Real Deal
I was parked in my parents’ bedroom, flipping through the channels of countless historical dramas (you can literally go through ten straight channels, and each time the screen changes, you’ll see actresses in traditional dress, fighting back tears in disturbingly clear HD), Chinese nature documentaries (run little deer, ruuuun!), and mindless extended infomercials for the best Chinese dried dates you’ll ever taste, or your money back guaranteed (…or not). Anyways, I was knocked out of my stupor when my limited Chinese vocabulary was able to detect that the latest cooking program I had settled on was featuring a professional chef explaining how to make Mapo Tofu the right way.
A new emergency procedure for cardiac arrests aims to save more lives
A new emergency procedure for cardiac arrests aims to save more lives – here’s how it works. New Zealand is just the second country to approve a novel defibrillation procedure for some patients. With current survival rates very low, it is hoped the new method will save many more lives.
"I wake up later and I can’t pretend anymore."
Maureen F. McHugh (previously) wrote two short scifi stories recently in which folks navigate modern uncertainty with a fantastical twist. In "The Goldfish Man" (2022), "Before everything went to hell I was making double vases." In "Liminal Spaces" (2024) (which feels in conversation with Ursula K. Le Guin's Changing Planes), "There was a broad corridor going off to the left that she definitely didn’t remember. It shook her out of her ruminations."
Not every prediction came true
The top thinkers of 1974 were gathered together in the pages of “Saturday Review,” for a special issue celebrating that magazine’s 50th anniversary. In a series of essays, each one tried to imagine their world 50 more years into the future, in the far-away year of 2024 ... The future they’d hoped for — or feared for — is detailed and debated, offering readers of today a surprisingly clear picture of the future they’d expected in 1974. from 50 Years Later: Remembering How the Future Looked in 1974 [The New Stack]
Barney the Tv Border Collie watches Jurassic Park 'n Stuff
On YouTube, Barney the Tv Border Collie wants to save Bella from the werewolves in Twilight.*
*My God, what is this doing to Barney's brain!?
See also, Barney the Tv Border Collie watches Dances with Wolves
same * as above
And don't get me started on skateboarding Frenchies in China
Seriously, what hath Dog Named Stella Wrought!?
*My God, what is this doing to Barney's brain!?
See also, Barney the Tv Border Collie watches Dances with Wolves
same * as above
And don't get me started on skateboarding Frenchies in China
Seriously, what hath Dog Named Stella Wrought!?
Donald Trump's Rhetoric
The Unique Rhetoric of Donald Trump [20m] Dr. Jennifer Mercieca, professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at Texas A&M University, discusses the unprecedented rhetorical devices Donald Trump has used to build a cult-like following, capture the attention economy, and allowed him to avoid accountability despite major political controversies and legal challenges.
The changing political cleavage structures of Western democracies
The causes of populism are at the heart of the most significant political and social science debates. One narrative contends that economic globalization resulted in real suffering among less-educated working-class voters, catalyzing populism. Another narrative contends that populism is an adverse reaction to cultural progressivism and that economic factors are not relevant or only relevant symbolically through perceptions of loss of cultural status. Even though the evidence suggests that the generational change argument suggested by the canonical book of Norris and Inglehart does not hold empirically, the cultural narrative nevertheless seems to be particularly influential. from The Populist Backlash Against Globalization: A Meta-Analysis of the Causal Evidence [Cambridge University]
Those seams we are seduced into not seeing
Let me offer a couple examples of how the arts challenge AI. First, many have pointed out that storytelling is always needed to make meaning out of data, and that is why humanistic inquiry and AI are necessarily wed. Yet, as N. Katherine Hayles (2021: 1605) writes, interdependent though they may be, database and narrative are “different species, like bird and water buffalo.” One of the reasons, she notes, is the distinguishing example of indeterminacy. Narratives “gesture toward the inexplicable, the unspeakable, the ineffable” and embrace the ambiguity, while “databases find it difficult to tolerate”. from Poetry Will Not Optimize; or, What Is Literature to AI?
A new modified clay from Western Australia could help stop algal blooms
A new modified clay from Western Australia could help stop algal blooms. Modified clay helping reduce algal blooms by binding to phosphorus which causes phenomenon. Large-scale fish deaths caused by harmful algal blooms could be a thing of the past if positive trials of a specially developed clay that absorbs phosphorus are anything to go by.
Developed by Western Australian environmental scientists, the treatment is sprayed, in a slurry form, from a boat onto the surface of estuaries, lakes and other water bodies, sinking down and taking the phosphorus with it.
Even though phosphorus is a natural plant nutrient required by plants to grow, an excess of it fuels extensive algal blooms which can lead to low oxygen concentrations in the water that can harm fish and other species.
Amazing list of curmudgeonly websites
There was an askme (I think) not too long ago, about websites that are amazingly specific, usually maintained by a cranky crank. It's where I found the sauce packet database for example... So many amazing links. Maybe even a link to a big website of other links. Somehow I seem to have lost it and I'm sad. Anyone remember and able to point me to the thread?
The New Tabletop Games Journalism
Rascal News
is a new venture in tabletop games journalism. Building on the 00s' New Games Journalism for videogames, the editors/authors are Lin Codega, Rowan Zeoli, and Chase Carter. A recent interview with Kimi Hughes discusses "How Has Actual Play Changed Game Design?"
It's award season
Are there works that mefites have published/created in 2023 that are eligible for awards? Hugo nominations should open soon and I'm sure there are other awards I don't know about. Please share your work here.
Blue Beat Baby: The Untold Story of Brigitte
Who was the woman who inspired ska's ubiquitous Beat Girl logo?
Joanna Wallace found a picture of the woman who inspired Hunt Emerson's iconic logo, and it led her to start digging into the history and career of Brigitte Bond.
Five years of membership
Walking man, Craig Mod, writes a yearly breakdown of his membership program.
2023 was amazing, bewildering, inspiring, gnomic, exhausting, bacterial, and mostly, fun. I mean — by the end of the year I was but a swollen forearm fighting for my life (OK, maybe not quite that bad), but wow … WOW. 2023: Easily the most monumental and generative year of my life. I owe that fullness to SPECIAL PROJECTS, my membership program. Now, a somewhat unbelievable five years old. Here is everything I learned last year.
The underlying technocratic philosophy of inevitability
Silicon Valley still attracts many immensely talented people who strive to do good, and who are working to realize the best possible version of a more connected, data-rich global society. Even the most deleterious companies have built some wonderful tools. But these tools, at scale, are also systems of manipulation and control. They promise community but sow division; claim to champion truth but spread lies; wrap themselves in concepts such as empowerment and liberty but surveil us relentlessly. The values that win out tend to be the ones that rob us of agency and keep us addicted to our feeds. from The Rise of Techno-Authoritarianism by Adrienne LaFrance [The Atlantic; ungated]
I’m a Frayed Knot
"Informant’s dad told it to her. She found it so funny. She likes that it’s punny and unexpected. Her dad would tell it to her over and over again. His dad told it too." An entry from the USC Digital Folklore Archives. The International Society for Folk Narrative Research points to it as one of many digital folklore archives [PDF]. If you don't have time to visit digital archives, a dad joke generator may be more your speed.
Crypto PAC Jumps Into Senate Race, Opposing Katie Porter in California
From NYT (ungated and nytimes.com): Fairshake revealed two weeks ago in federal filings that it and two affiliated super PACs had amassed a combined roughly $80 million in 2023, with most of the money coming from three major cryptocurrency players: Coinbase, Ripple Labs, and Andreessen Horowitz. It is not exactly clear what about Ms. Porter has drawn the crypto industry’s ire other than her record as a progressive who favored regulating the industry to better favor consumers and made the grilling of a financial chief executive a viral moment a few years ago.
I wonder if it has a goatee.
The invisible substance called dark matter remains one of the biggest mysteries in cosmology. Perhaps, a new study suggests, this strange substance arises from a 'dark mirror universe' that's been linked to ours since the dawn of time.
Those Nerdy Girls on aging
I lost my keys again! Do I have dementia?
Normal Aging: Having the feeling that a word is on the tip of your tongue but remembering it later.
Signs of Dementia: Mispronouncing words frequently or not understanding words that people are saying.
See also:
Are Alzheimer’s disease and dementia the same thing?
When is it time to stop driving?
Normal Aging: Having the feeling that a word is on the tip of your tongue but remembering it later.
Signs of Dementia: Mispronouncing words frequently or not understanding words that people are saying.
See also:
Are Alzheimer’s disease and dementia the same thing?
When is it time to stop driving?
Kids? They're alright
Eoin Reardon is a 20-something woodworker from Crossbarry Co Cork, who makes [eg a new axe-handle] with trad hand tools for a million+ @pintofplane TikTok followers . He laments the stigma of trades in schools.
Mise-en-scène
'Kid Auto Races at Venice' is a 1914 silent film with Charlie Chaplin appearing for the first time as 'The Little Tramp.' Here is a colorized version. (slyt. 6:51) Previous megathread
Russia Without Navalny
Alexei Navalny is dead at 47, say Russian prison authorities. The crusading pro-democracy activist was a constant thorn in the side of Vladimir Putin, financing documentaries exposing Kremlin corruption and rallying support as a popular opposition leader; a documentary on his own life won an Oscar and global acclaim last year. Long persecuted by the state, he was poisoned by the notorious nerve agent Novichok in 2020 and returned the following year to face imprisonment under an increasingly authoritarian regime. While the collective West condemns the unsubtle murder of a political prisoner, liberal Russians are left without any clear successor -- though Navalny himself even in death endeavored to tell supporters "You're not allowed to give up."
Smartphone Pepper's Ghost
The YouTube channel Creative fest has a bunch of simple kitchen table projects, some of them little science things, some of them just fun. I was struck by their "hologram projector" projects using easy to find plastic and cell phones. The original: How To Make 3D Hologram Display with CD Cover [9m], How to make 3d Hologram Box Screen | 3d Hologram Transparent Projector [12m], More simple Way to make 3d hologram box screen [8m], How to make Transparent Hologram Screen | Hologram Projector | Easy Science Project [5m], Make a hologram projector with plastic glass cap || DIY 3D Hologram
Mary Reynolds: The Other Ark -- Acts of Restorative Kindness
She won the biggest awards in Landscape Gardening, a movie made about her, commissioned for some of the boldest landscaping projects in Ireland. She stopped being a gardener. What happened?
“It’s very simple. I looked out onto my garden. A fox ran across, it was probably winter/spring last year, which isn’t that unusual. Then a couple of hares ran after him, and I thought, well that is unusual. And then a family of hedgehogs. Now, they are nocturnal, so I knew something was going on. I went for a wander and it turns out a digger had gone in across the road. It used to be an acre of gorse, bramble, hawthorn, blackthorn, but someone had cleaned out the whole field to replace it with a garden. I stood there in horror – and realized I’d done this many times in my career."
Burrowed out in ancient times by the slithering of a giant worm
Many an ancient road is a sunken road. They are formed by the passage of people, animals, and vehicles over time. Things of beauty, they are found hither and yon, including in Middle Earth. They should be considered as critical sites of the Anthropocene, signature human impacts on the land that are important, perhaps vital, and still not wholly understood. Also known as holloways, they have inspired literary and artistic reflection, conjuring images of fantastic landscapes. Note that, per Wikipedia, a holloway is not the same thing as a tree tunnel, an excavated road, or a gully.
A financial-advice columnist falls for an elaborate scam
The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger
The man on the phone knew my home address, my Social Security number, the names of my family members, and that my 2-year-old son was playing in our living room. He told me my home was being watched, my laptop had been hacked, and we were in imminent danger. “I can help you, but only if you cooperate,” he said. His first orders: I could not tell anyone about our conversation, not even my spouse, or talk to the police or a lawyer.
THE GREAT PRETENDERS
Karima Manji wanted it all for her twin daughters, Amira and Nadya. And she found a way to help them get it: financial aid earmarked for Indigenous kids. The fact that they weren’t remotely Indigenous wasn’t going to stop her
Notation Must Die!
Notation Must Die: The Battle For How We Read Music [1h15m] has had me fascinated and thrilled with new information since I started watching it. Even if you know nothing about musical notation, you might also find this history and evolution and dissection of those weird 🎶 fascinating.
Luminous glass artworks bring troubling histories into the light
The Art Gallery of WA has meticulously curated thousands of pieces of delicate glass created by a First Nations artist, Yhonnie Scarce, to tell significant stories.
Two floors of a Perth gallery have been filled with large-scale glass works that depict nuclear fallout from nuclear testing conducted at Woomera, South Australia in the 1950s, the impacts of uranium mining and intimate family history.
In the largest survey of work by Yhonnie Scarce, a Kokatha and Nukunu artist from South Australia, the Art Gallery of WA has brought together pieces that include two 2000-piece hanging glass works.
How Can I Learn About Rock Music Arrangements?
I write songs mostly using GarageBand for iOS. I would like to get better at making arrangements that follow rock (and pop) "protocols" or "standard practices." I've been listening to rock and pop music forever (since Jerry Lee Lewis and The Big Bopper, actually), but I have little idea of how a rock band arranges songs. I want to learn more!
Scotland with a friend: Edinburgh to Skye
MeFi has some fab posts on this topic, so for now limiting this request to ideas around a proposed Edinburgh to Skye route over, say, a 10-day period in a shoulder month like May or September. We are two open-minded active outdoorsy women who want a balance of quirk, adventure and comfort. Plenty of mindblowing scenery a must.
Hex Marks the Spot
"As is true throughout the history of innovation, whenever there is a problem, it usually turns out that multiple people arrive at similar inventive solutions. That was the case with the development of the hex as a basic unit of division in board games." Hex maps also have been noted to have problems. The internet is, of course, full of lists of favorite hex and counter wargames. (While a counter may be gorgeous, and may be found in your kitchen, it is not a kitchen counter, which can be dangerous.) Hexcrawls have been part of Dungeons & Dragons for a long time, though they have spread to other RPGs over time, though some people prefer pointcrawls to hexcrawls. It should be noted that hexes had ludic uses[SLPDF] prior to the modern era of board wargames and RPGs.
The Rise of Obituary Spam
AI generated obituaries turn real people into clickbait.
Searching for information on a deceased friend? Better check your sources carefully; there’s a whole shady online industry designed to profit off your loss.
'Ut Sementem Feceris, Ita Metes'
Overlooked No More: Voltairine de Cleyre, America’s ‘Greatest Woman Anarchist’ (NYT-archive link) de Cleyre was a poet of merit as told by Elizabeth King's essay on her poetry, 'Pearl of Anarchy. Voltairine de Cleyre’s radical poetry is more timely than ever.' The anarchist library has a collection of her poetry on-line
after a year of conversation, the concept of resilience hubs was born.
What does a third place designed not only for community-building, but also for climate resilience, look like?
"I think anything where we’re saying, ‘Here’s an individual kit, go be an individual and care for yourself, that’s missing out on the entire essence of what resilience is." Key aspects and examples of resilience hubs, also depicted in the winning story in Grist’s Imagine 2200 contest “To Labor for the Hive.”
Come for butterflies, stay for philosophize
Fr. Johannes Schwarz is a Catholic priest from Austria who went on pilgrimage to Santiago as a chap, and then obtained a PhD in Dogmatic Theology. After walking to Jerusalem and back, his bishop gave him a three year sabbatical to do a pilgrimage-in-place as a hermit. He found a small-holding with basic accommodation on the side of a mountain in Piedmont, Italy. He is releasing a series of 45m videos: one for each month of 2023. Intro [6½m]. Jan - Feb etc. - Aug should be released today (they're coming at one-a-week).
An interview with painter Lee Krasner
"Now then, this is what was happening to me: as I had worked so-called, from nature, that is, I am here and Nature is out there, whether it be in the form of a woman or an apple or anything else, the concept was broken and you faced a black canvas. Well, with the knowledge that I am nature and try to make something happen on that canvas, now this is the real transition that took place. And it took me some three years and what began to emerge in the first of these, which was around '46, were very small canvases, these things around here, what I refer to as the little image, were the first and as I gained confidence and strength, it expanded – it grew bolder in time." [Audio excerpt at link, with 45-page PDF transcript of interview]
A difficult year ahead for Ukraine
After a not very successful campaign in 2023 Ukraine is facing some difficult obstacles and tough choices in 2024. Inside is a collection of status reports and commentary on where the war is now.
A directory of healthy mobile games
and the dark patterns you should try to avoid.
From their description: A game review website devoted to helping you find mobile games that aren't riddled with in-app purchases, and don't use psychological tricks to manipulate you into becoming an addicted gamer. Learn about the dark patterns that game designers use to waste your precious time and money.