Favorites from nicolin
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Drone operator films cownose rays in rare mass migration
Drone operator films cownose rays that looked like glitter in rare mass migration off NSW coast. Daniel Lukic's spectacular vision of a massive fever of rays off a Forster beach has caught the attention of a researcher, who says it may contribute to ongoing research about the species.
Storm in a Teacup
Yesterday, the UK press were astir over the prescription of an American chemistry professor (or "egghead", as UK journalists know them) for the perfect cup of tea, to which she recommended adding salt, of all things. The outrage! Ridiculous! Etc. The US embassy issued a tongue-in-cheek press release about how this didn't represent official US policy, and how they would “continue to make tea in the proper way—by microwaving it.” This, in turn, was an excellent excuse for the UK press to keep the story going (warning: Daily Mail) by pretending to take them literally.
Exhibiting Forgiveness
'Exhibiting Forgiveness', directed by artist Titus Kaphar, premiered at Sundance last weeekend (Variety review by Owen Gleiberman, Q&A at ABCNews by Lindsay Bahr). This is the artist's second film to appear at Sundance, after last year's documentary 'Shut Up And Paint' (Oscar Contender ‘Shut Up And Paint’ Reveals Dilemma Of Artist Titus Kaphar, Whose Work Is Valued, But His Message Not, Matthew Carey in Deadline).
Faircamp: Like bandcamp but Free
A beautiful and free platform for Musicians.
In the aftermath of Epic selling Bandcamp to Songtradr, Bandcamp has found itself in a place of instability. Half of the company’s employees were laid off post-acquisition, leading many to speculate over the beloved platform’s future. Most importantly, many artists who depended on the service are left looking for alternatives.
Defunding liberal arts is dangerous for health care
While liberal arts have been declining on college campuses, medical education is moving in the opposite direction, using the arts and humanities as teaching modalities within the traditional basic and applied sciences coursework that dominates medical school curricula. Through literature, poetry, theater, and visual arts, students acquire important professional capacities, such as tolerance of ambiguity, skillful clinical communication, and sensitivity in listening to and learning from patient stories.
Enough about you
NEW LIGHT ON THE GROUP PORTRAIT OF ELIHU YALE, HIS FAMILY, AND AN ENSLAVED CHILD (Yale Center for British Art): “ What follows is an explanation of why this change was made and a description of the ongoing research into the picture previously titled Elihu Yale; William Cavendish, the second Duke of Devonshire; Lord James Cavendish; Mr. Tunstal; and an Enslaved Servant, referred to here by its accession number, B1970.1.”
Lisbon "Non Touristy" recs
Going to Lisbon a couple weeks and would here and there enjoy some things that are non touristy, i.e something a tourist never really goes to, but you stumbled upon on your trip or when you lived there. Ideally Tram/Metro accessible (Things like neighborhoods where expats, or middle class, or super rich live, supermarkets, target equivalents, parks not in touristy areas, public transit/ferrries, libraries etc)
Getting in gear first thing
The perfect time for me to do yoga, stretch, breathe, and approach the day is available to me. How to make myself actually DO it?
A Legal Terrorist
Michael Kruse, writing in Politico, ‘This to Him Is the Grand Finale’: Donald Trump’s 50-Year Mission to Discredit the Justice System, is a VERY long read that begins with the Trumps being sued for racist rental properties in the early Seventies and being defended by Roy Cohn, and moves forward decade by decade and provides a LOT of really interesting and necessary context for what we will be seeing happen this year in various courts around the country.
accounts and accountability...
In her in-the-making series of four episodes, Shocking, Heartbreaking, Transformative, audio-documentarian Jess Shane investigates ethics and power in non-fiction storytelling: here's an introductory 27-minute commentary-less edit, otherwise ep 1 and ep2, and its rss feed.
A clinical psychologist tries BetterHelp as a patient and as a therapist
I suspect BetterHelp therapists feel pressure to help quickly—
in order keep up their caseload and avoid being ghosted on a platform where patients are encouraged to provide a star rating for each session.
The interviewer said I could start seeing patients once I completed a background check by a third-party service and completed a quiz I would receive shortly by email. The quiz included six easy multiple choice questions about psychotherapy, followed by a prompt to write a response to a female patient’s initial written request for therapy. The interviewer said no one she screened had ever failed it. The background check was completed quickly.
The interviewer said I could start seeing patients once I completed a background check by a third-party service and completed a quiz I would receive shortly by email. The quiz included six easy multiple choice questions about psychotherapy, followed by a prompt to write a response to a female patient’s initial written request for therapy. The interviewer said no one she screened had ever failed it. The background check was completed quickly.
Glitter And Doom
Back in 2008, Tom Waits went out on a tour [Wikipedia]. Not related to an album, this was a tour all about the atmosphere. "Tom Waits - Glitter And Doom Concert Experience [1h46m] is a compilation of professional footage and fan films to reconstruct an entire Tom Waits concert from his "Glitter and Doom Tour" of 2008. I used all the released soundboard audio that had footage to accompany it to make a concert film that should make a good experience of what it would have been like being in the audience." Set list in video description.
The games MeFites play - it's your weekly free thread
Dungeons and Dragons? Scrabble? Wordle? Animal Crossing? Tabletop Role Playing Games? Board games? Chess? Go? Some other game of any kind? Or a game you've made, on your own or in a team, for work, fun or personal satisfaction? Or talk about anything and everything in your life and your world as this is your free thread.
A slow civil war
The Trump movement is turning America fascist w/Jeff Sharlet
The Chris Hedges Report on The Real News Network
An interview based on Jeff Sharlet's new book: Undertow; Scenes From a Slow Civil War.
Tips and tricks for becoming a tiger mom
So, it's become clear that I need to be way more involved in my 6th grade son's academics than I have been. (Read through my past AskMes for background!) I come from a Gen X background where my parents were not at all involved in academics, so it all feels very unfamiliar to me. My son has a lengthy IEP but his behavioral issues have always taken precedence over academics in terms of my energy and financial resources. Now in middle school I can't continue to ignore academics.
The Blazing World
Margaret Cavendish's multiverse science fiction from 1666 predates Mary Shelly, Jules Verne and Marvel by more than a century. She also published books of poetry under her own name, discussed her science research at the Royal Society, and designed gender neutral clothing that she wore at Queen Mary's court. Samuel Pepy's mentioned her a few times, although he was not a fan.
The foremost classical music satirist of all time
Peter Schickele, aka Professor Schickele, Head of the Department of Musical Pathology at the University of Southern North Dakota at Hoople, sometimes performing as P.D.Q. Bach, the "pimple on the face of music," longtime host of the public radio show Schickele Mix, died yesterday at his home in Bearsville, NY. He was 88.
The Insurance Apocalypse
"Should everyone in America pay to subsidize the ability of a segment of our population to live in places that are, objectively speaking, stupid to live in, because they are very likely to be burned up or washed away or underwater in the near future?” Hamilton Nolan, The Insurance Apocalypse Conversation America Won't Have.
Howard Waldrop 1946-2024
Howard Waldrop, award winning speculative fiction author of stories such as The Ugly Chickens and Night of the Cooters died on 14 January age 77.
Waldrop was a true original and wrote many short stories that often played with alternative history or remixes of other SF and fantasy stories by drawing on a large and eclectic knowledge of history and genre. He never achieved wide popularity but he was well known and appreciated within the SFF community.
An image of Hercules, standing alone, carrying his club above his head
Steven Morris (The Guardian, 01/01/2024), "Cerne Abbas giant is Hercules and was army meeting point, say historians" (archive.org). Thomas Morcom and Helen Gittos (Speculum, Jan. 2024), "The Cerne Giant in Its Early Medieval Context" (PDF): "This huge, naked figure was cut into a Dorset hillside not, as many have supposed, in prehistory, nor in the early modern period, but in the early Middle Ages ... In this article, we propose an explanation for when and why he was originally cut as an image of Hercules." Hercules in the Old English Liber Monstrorum. Hercules in an Old English dream book. Hercules in Ælfric's Lives of Saints. Previouslies: 2021. 2019, 2007, and also 2007.
Outports begone
The government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been pursuing a Resettlement policy of drawing in the tentacles of its reach, so the limited tax bucks can get better bangs - as defined by levelling payment per tax-payer. Recent case in point is Gaultois; a tiny settlement on a biggish (½ the size of Nantucket) island off the South coast of Newfoundland. In Spring 2023, a 64% majority of the stake-holders voted to accept an offer of ~$250,000 CAD each to leave their home. Not reaching the threshold of 75% meant that nobody could claim the resettlement grant.
About Science (1966-1968)
The About Science Series Collection is made up of 75 radio interviews focused on the advancements of science. Produced by the California Institute of Technology, the series aired on KPPC* in Pasadena from 1966 to 1968 ... Each half-hour episode introduced one or more experts who examined a specific area of interest. Episodes like “About lead in the atmosphere” and “About developments in family planning” provide a unique lens into the technological, political, social, and environmental concerns of the time. Many episodes shed light on advancements that have only become more relevant today, such as “About computer languages,” “About international cooperation in space,” and “About ocean pollution.”
Your Cells Can Think
"It turns out that regular cells—not just highly specialized brain cells such as neurons—have the ability to store information and act on it.
Now Levin has shown that the cells do so by using subtle changes in electric fields as a type of memory. These revelations have put the biologist at the vanguard of a new field called basal cognition. Researchers in this burgeoning area have spotted hallmarks of intelligence—learning, memory, problem-solving—outside brains as well as within them."
perfectly coordinated aerial turns (SLYT)
U dance team 'elated' after 22nd national championship and online attention
A sequence in the choreography took the dancers through a long series of one-legged spins, ending with all 20 dancers flipping an aerial turn in unison.
"That's a hard skill to get on, with 20 people on the floor," Tumbleson said. The dancers and coaches initially planned that only a few dancers would execute the aerial, but the team decided to choreograph the routine with all the dancers making the flying turns. Story here
That time David Hume tried to attack Quebec but invaded France instead.
"Sail with the first fair wind, approach the unknown coast, march through the unknown country, and attack the unknown cities of the most potent nation of the universe”.
You may remember David Hume from your Philosophy 101 class, (or perhaps Bruce's Philosopher Song)
but did you know about his military career?
The earth-science equivalent of an urban legend
This is not to say that there is no climatological mystery to be explained. The countries of northern Europe do indeed have curiously mild climates, a phenomenon I didn't really appreciate until I moved from Liverpool to New York. I arrived in the Big Apple just before a late-summer heat wave, at a time when the temperature soared to around 35 degrees Celsius. I had never endured such blistering temperatures. And just a few months later I was awestruck by the sensation of my nostrils freezing when I went outside. Nothing like that happens in England, where the average January is 15 to 20 degrees warmer than what prevails at the same latitude in eastern North America. So what keeps my former home so balmy in the winter? And why do so many people credit the Gulf Stream? from The Source of Europe's Mild Climate
World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship 2023
Karen Puzzles
is a delightful Youtube channel about puzzles and competitive puzzling, including participating and commentating on the 2023 World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship.
"Something is happening in our world."
Dr. King's "I have been to the mountaintop speech." 'The Journey Of A Civil Rights Icon: Rare Photos Of Martin Luther King Jr.'
Do Like This
Favorite Dance Moves.
Ed People gets people to show their favorite dance moves from all around the world.
It came from the grass roots
How Trump went from disgraced insurrectionist to Iowa caucus winner
- "By most accounts, the Republican old guard has no great fondness for the man who executed a hostile takeover of their party, saddled them with daily political headaches during his time in office, and then instigated an insurrection that nearly got some GOP leaders pummeled, if not killed. Yet McConnell and his allies have proven incapable of steering their party in another direction." (via)
From Awful to Awesome
Are there any stories of people notable/talented/successful in their field who started out being completely crap?
Taskmaster's season 17 line-up ...
... has now been announced.
The series itself is promised "soon". In the past few weeks Britain's Channel 4 has also aired the latest New Year Treat and Champion of Champions specials. If you're outside the UK, I'm sure you can find them somewhere online, but I don't know where.
What is the cost of carbon?
Biden Administration Unleashes Powerful Regulatory Tool Aimed at Climate
The Biden administration’s crackdown on methane leaks from oil wells is based in part on a new powerful policy tool that could strengthen its legal authority to cut greenhouse gas emissions across the entire economy — including from cars, power plants, factories and oil refineries. ... [W]ithin the language of the methane rule, E.P.A. economists have tucked a controversial calculation that would give the government legal authority to aggressively limit climate-warming pollution from nearly every smokestack and tailpipe across the country.
"It is quite likely that you feel it yourself"
"With this desperation comes an openness to the idea that what we've done so far isn't enough."
An brutally honest interview of Andreas Malm* on how it feels when "the enemy has never ceased to be victorious – and it's more victorious than ever" in this stage of the climate crisis. Gift link to the NYTimes article.
*author of “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” and now co-author of “Overshoot: How the World Surrendered to Climate Breakdown.”
Surprisingly It's Not Muscular Fan Struggles With Water Bottle
Baseball And The Algorithm:
The MLB YouTube channel has posted 291,289 videos. If you had to guess what happens in the video with the very most views, what would you say?
The pixels will be with you, always.
Star Wars in one 123-meter long infographic
by Swiss graphic designer, author and illustrator Martin Panchaud.
Cheap, good, far away.
The Cheapest Places to Live in 2024.
"By moving from where you are to where you could be, it’s easy to cut your monthly rent in half (or double your apartment space), cut your healthcare costs drastically if you’re American, eat out more, and have more fun. You’ll probably discover some positive side effects like eating more fruit and vegetables (because they’re so cheap), getting more exercise (because many foreign cities are more suited to pedestrians), and dialing back your stress (because people aren’t in such a hurry all the time)."
Laser-sensor technology reveals ancient cities in Amazon rainforest
Laser-sensor technology reveals ancient cities in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. The settlements were occupied around 500 BC and 300 to 600 AD — a period roughly contemporaneous with the Roman Empire in Europe.
Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Barbie, BFI, Wow
I've watched a LOT of stuff related to Barbie. Panels and interviews and contrived videos... but I'm going to say that Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera on Barbie | BFI in conversation [40m] is the single most grounded, real-feeling conversation I've seen. Ryan and America seem to be sitting with a small group of friends talking about this experience they both went through, and it just feels so honest and bare and naked... Hard to describe, great to experience.
Obsessions
He spent his life building a $1 million stereo. The real cost was unfathomable. Ken Fritz turned his home into an audiophile’s dream — the world’s greatest hi-fi. What would it mean in the end?
Slowness is hard for most of us
You want tomorrow to be different than today, and it may seem the same, or worse, but next year will be different than this one, because those tiny increments added up. The tree today looks a lot like the tree yesterday, and so does the baby. A lot of change is undramatic growth, transformation, or decay, or rather its timescale means the drama might not be perceptible to the impatient. from Slow Change Can Be Radical Change by Rebecca Solnit
Shows like The Knick / Peaky Blinders
Looking for more shows like Peaky Blinders or the Knick that have dark, tortured, leading male characters, ideally in a moody period setting.
Baking question about lemon cake and curdling
Recently I made Nagi’s lemon cake and it was lovely, but the step where you add the heated milk to the lemon juice resulted in a curdled mess. Future me would like to avoid this, for aesthetic reasons.
Writing improvement?
My son likes to write stories. He's 18, in first year university, Chem major. He took a creative writing elective and was disappointed that it was more about how to write a story rather than actually writing.
I've asked two previous questions for him if you want to go look at those.
He asked me to help him find "websites to improve his grammar". He uses Grammarly now. But he says it doesn't help him to learn grammar, just shows him how to fix it.
Ideas on game/structures for conversation-prompt cards?
I’m getting a few people together in a bar to “play” askhole - a deck of high-stakes conversation-prompt cards. I’m looking for ways to structure this play, and maybe make it a bit more game-like than just “take turns answering the questions”. Anyone have any
ideas/experiences for how to do this? Have you done this with other conversation-prompt cards?