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DeathSucks.pdf (also known as SayingGoodbye.pdf)
A free "workbook on the kind of bullshit you need to do when someone you love dies", available as a "version with lots of swearing at the useless, shitty situation you're in" or a "version with a fair amount of black humor but no cursewords". Including "Prepare to spend a long and miserable time on the phone," "Depressing Mad Libs" (obituary templates), "So You Suddenly Have To Become Some Kind of Hacker," and "How to plan a non-religious death party". Published 2019.
The premise of the paper proves itself
Aztec Gods
Precision: The Measure Of All Things
2013 BBC series Precision: The Measure Of All Things has three hours, one on each of three topics of measurement, and how they were developed: Time And Distance; Mass And Moles; Heat, Light, And Electricity. I enjoyed the sort of James Burke / Connections feel of these episodes quite a bit.
"Frogs flailing in air, in space"
Why is this tiny frog so awful at jumping? "The moment the pumpkin toadlet leaps into the air, anything seems possible. The tiny frog, which is about the size of a honeybee and the color of a cloudberry, has no problem launching itself high off the ground. But when the pumpkin toadlet begins to soar, something goes awry."
"What's it like to be a girl in a band?"
The Women Who Built Grunge Artists mentioned include L7, 7 Year Bitch, Babes in Toyland, Maxi Badd, Hammerbox, Fastbacks, Lazy Susan, Bam Bam, Heavens to Betsy, Sleater-Kinney, Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, Sonic Youth, The Slits, Chalk Circle, Shonen Knife, The Breeders, and The Gits. [more inside]
scientific enterprise is biased even if scientific method is impartial
Responses to 10 common criticisms of anti-racism action in science, technology, engineering, math and medicine.
Criticism #4: “I only hire/award/cite based on merit. I do not need to consider race." It should be noted that the concept of “meritocracy” was introduced as satire by novelist Michael Dunlop Young, who believed that a society structured as a meritocracy would appear equitable, but ultimately serve to reinforce and perpetuate preexisting inequality. [more inside]
Criticism #4: “I only hire/award/cite based on merit. I do not need to consider race." It should be noted that the concept of “meritocracy” was introduced as satire by novelist Michael Dunlop Young, who believed that a society structured as a meritocracy would appear equitable, but ultimately serve to reinforce and perpetuate preexisting inequality. [more inside]
Don't Mistake the Waves for the Ocean
How To Cope With Big Feelings. Liz Fosslien on the myths of Big Feelings: Myths about uncertainty. Tools to help cope with perfectionism. Emotions as a response to stimuli we’re taking in and a result of our brain chemistry. How to stop “anxious fixing.” The helpful phrase “I’m a person learning to….”
How extreme language produces extreme emotions. Naming your inner perfectionist. Finding a non-perfectionist role model. The red flag of thinking “I’ll be happy when…” How envy can reveal what you value, and then thinking about your willingness to live the life that leads to that. Why 'approach' goals are better than 'avoidance' goals. How to just make it through when you’re in the worst of it in life.
Take care of your bacteria & they'll take care of you
Rethinking healthy eating in light of the gut microbiome was just published yesterday in the open access journal "Cell, Host, and Microbe". It's is a long and enlightening review article about what we know about the human microbiome and nutrition. It's increasingly looking like we can't understand nutrition science at all without understanding the bacteria who help us digest our food. [more inside]
Oooooooooooooooooooooooh
45 years ago, some people invented the future. In the summer of 1977, Donna Summer (an American), Giorgio Moroder (an Italian) and Pete Bellotte (a Brit) were all living and working in Germany. Alongside engineer Robbie Wedel (an actual German) and a pile of Moog kit, they managed for the first time to sync up all the music tracks to a steady pulse, adding sinuous, ecstatic vocals to a robotic bassline. [more inside]
Minority rule*
'It's going to be an army': Tapes reveal GOP plan to contest elections - "Placing operatives as poll workers and building a 'hotline' to friendly attorneys are among the strategies to be deployed in Michigan and other swing states."* [more inside]
unthinkably slim
On Twitter, Isle McElroy asks, "can anyone recommend a good slim novel? Looking for something very good--impossible to put down--and unthinkably slim, like zero to zero pages or so." [more inside]
"How Do I Accommodate This Person?" Ask JAN
A couple years ago, through Ask a Manager comment threads (previously), I learned about the Job Accommodation Network which has a giant organized list of accommodations an employer could make, sorted "by disability, by limitation, by work-related function, by topic, and by accommodation". It's also a useful source of ideas if you're interested in better accommodating yourself as a self-employed freelancer, or supporting your family, friends, or volunteers. [more inside]
our bodies our choice
The Supreme Court has overturned Roe vs. Wade. The opinion: "The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives. " Information about abortion funds in different states.
The Sunflower Movements: Useful Fictions and Consensus Reality
corporate libertarianism v synthetic technocracy v digital democracy: "Yes I think the defining political divides of the 21st century will be roughly captured in the terms laid out by Civilization VI: Gathering Storm Expansion... Current crisis is largely transition from the 20th century mode of fascism v communism v democracy to this." [more inside]
Daily puzzles in art, geography, and more
Enjoy several daily free-to-play web puzzles or trivia games, playing with math, subway routes, film stills, and more. This list attempts to be comprehensive with (as of this post) 770 games that are in some way like Wordle. Artle: guess the painter/photographer/sculptor. Tradle: guess the country based on its chief exports. Sociolinguist Jessi Grieser is "nominating -le as a combining form meaning ‘internet game that has one solution per day and can share nonspecific results on social media’" for the 2022 Word Of The Year.
I dunno man, I'm listenin' to Zuma
Now hear me out. What makes this song stink: Beverly Hills.
I'm not big on harshing anyone's buzz but that's not what's going on here at all. This video is a journey.
Why budget culture fails Americans
The budget culture blueprint has been copied over and over by financial experts who think they’ve pinpointed the problem keeping us all poor, from lattes to avocado toast to mindset mistakes. But they all really have just one secret to getting rich quickly: aggressive investing. And you can invest as aggressively as you want with $1 or $5 at a time — tons of apps will help you do it! — but you won’t quit your day job that way. The only sure way to make money is to have money, but no personal finance expert wants to admit their wealth is built on anything other than a solid foundation of hard work and self-control — not their degrees in finance, Ivy League educations, middle class upbringings… or their ability to sell you a fantasy. Dana Miranda writes in Anne Helen Petersen's Culture Study on why budget culture fails so many Americans.
Hearings on 1/6 Capitol Attack Begin
"Starting Thursday, lawmakers will begin to lay out findings from their nearly yearlong investigation into the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol." A short primer, with links to live coverage, from PBS's NewsHour. [more inside]
You Gotta Know when to Fool 'em
10 Levels of Sleight of Hand - Cheating at Poker. (YT) "Level 1: this demonstration is based on a routine by Jim Swain, explained on his Miracles DVD set.
Level 2: I use a shuffle sequence created by Rod the Hop in this phase and throughout the video. It is explained in Steve Forte's books, Gambling Sleight of Hand Vols. 1 and 2.
Levels 3 & 4: these demonstrations are based off of Harry Lorayne's routine Numero Uno, released on Vol. 1 of his "Best Ever" DVD set.
Level 5: while different in method, this level is based off of ideas found throughout Jim Swain's act on the first DVD of his Miracles DVD set.
Levels 6, 7, & 8: these levels are comprised of a slight variation of Darwin Ortiz's routine Positively Fifth Street, found in his book Lessons in Card Mastery.
Levels 9 & 10: this demonstration is a (very) slight variation of the Dai Vernon Poker Demonstration, published in the Dai Vernon Book of Magic." [more inside]