October 20
Super-Saturn isn’t real, it can’t hurt you.
Why did everyone fall for the J1407b myth? is 12 minute video essay that starts off as discussion about a cool astronomical mystery but becomes a measured, well-argued rant about knowledge in the age of Google and LLMs. It is by YouTuber Kyplanet who makes weekly videos about cool astronomical things, mostly exoplanets.
Amateur historian discovers lost Stoker short story
"I read the words Gibbet Hill and I knew that wasn't a Bram Stoker story that I had ever heard of in any of the biographies or bibliographies." [more inside]
A bizarre and obscene sense of humour
The human body is almost always at the centre of artist Joyce Lee’s work, often transformed into psychedelic penis-shaped mushrooms or vulvic flowers exuding sticky pearls. These surreal metamorphoses move the viewer away from reality and into imaginary spaces, where desire and the body’s experience of pleasure are the main focus. Over-the-top sexuality is combined with visual gags to lend the images a bizarre and obscene sense of humour. The exaggerated campness of Lee’s work is joyful, mixing comedy with sex and working against the idea that art has to be serious. from Erotic nuns and pubic plaits: Inside Joyce Lee’s surreal, sensual world
[Dazed] [Images & text NSFW] [more inside]
October 19
"This is the strangers’ case/And this your mountainish inhumanity."
William Shakespeare on mass deportation, performed by Ian McKellan On May 1, 1517 — now referred to as Evil May Day — riots broke out in London as a response to an influx of immigrant workers. A young Sir Thomas More spoke to the crowd, and Shakespeare (a few decades later) wrote his version of that speech. [more inside]
The Facebook of Margery Kempe
MIT Researchers Build Solar-Powered Low-Cost Desalination
Without Battery storage (by way of slashdot):
MIT engineers have built a solar-powered desalination system that "ramps up its desalting process and automatically adjusts to any sudden variation in sunlight" [more inside]
Larger datasets may reveal more nuance
Despite the huge variation in how autistic people experience the condition, they can be divided into just four subgroups, according to a preprint. The people in these groups—who share similar traits and life outcomes—carry gene variants that implicate distinct biological pathways, the researchers found. from Untangling biological threads from autism’s phenotypic patchwork reveals four core subtypes
There's a first time for everything
First time my baby hears Clair de Lune
- violin
- viola
- guitar
- drums
- fiddle
- Moonlight Sonata
- Hans Zimmer
- Pavarotti
- headphones
- reggaeton
- Johnny Cash
- harp and violin
- a storybook
- opera singing
- string quartet
- Backstreet Boys
- Elvis
- Beat It
- Guns N' Roses
- the bassoon
- the paper towel dispenser
- bubble wrap
Falcon chicks seen hatching in real-time
A big day for bird nerds as falcon chicks seen hatching in real-time. Melbourne's famous peregrine falcons are giving their live stream followers something to squawk about, with two tiny chicks hatching and another on the way.
Entropy increase would still get us eventually
Q: Are we immortal? A. If you trust the mathematics, yes. But it is not an immortality in the sense that after death you will wake up sitting in hell or heaven, both of which – let’s be honest – are very earthly ideas. It is more that, since the information about you cannot be destroyed, it is in principle possible that a higher being someday, somehow re-assembles you and brings you back to life. And since you would have no memory of the time passing in between – which could be 10¹⁰⁰ billion years! – you would just find yourself in the very far future. from Sabine Hossenfelder, physicist: ‘If you trust the mathematics, we are immortal’
[El Pais] [more inside]
October 18
Pinnacles are 100,000 years old, study suggests
They may look like ant hills, but Western Australia's Pinnacles are 100,000 years old, study suggests. Western science has long debated when the towering pillars of the Pinnacles came to be. A new study suggests most of the spires formed when a particularly wet period dissolved the surrounding rock.
BC Election
British Columbia goes to the polls [Global]. A rather complicated situation in BC: the old opposition party, BC United, quit (or at least its leader did)[CBC], and handed things over to the Conservatives. A bunch of BC United's candidates are running as independents [CBC]-- this includes five incumbents. So the Right-wing vote is split. Meanwhile, the Green Party seems to be doing okay (14% in the polls, leader doing well in her riding [Pollara]). The governing party right now is the New Democratic Party, which is social democratic. [more inside]
The greatest British newspaper strip cartoonist of the 20th Century
“Andy Capp is often dismissed as nothing but the exploits of a wife-beating drunk,” Paul Slade says. “It deserves better." ... The Redemption of Andy Capp is an appreciation of Andy Capp’s creator, Reg Smythe and his skills as a world-class cartoonist. There was far more to the strip than people realise today.” [via mefi projects]
It has redoubled its efforts, testing the future of an embattled ideal
On the University of Michigan's DEI initiative. Nicholas Confessore (previously) reports on UM's diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy.
(Gift link; X/Twitter thread introduction) [more inside]
Walk Like An Egyptian... Dog
Earlier this week, Paramotorist Alex Lang was flying around the Giza plateau when he spotted an unexpected sight - a dog frolicking on of the Great Pyramid barking at birds.
Don't worry, the dog proved they knew what they were doing!
Future-proofing Victoria's forests could help save an icon
How future-proofing Victoria's forests could help save the state's iconic emblem. A Victorian emblem — the lowland Leadbeater's possum — is dangerously close to extinction, with only a few dozen left in the wild in a small forest patch in the Yarra Ranges.
Mitzi Gaynor, song-and-dance queen with razzle-dazzle flair, dies at 93
clear
The update offered some improvements! I appreciated the vertical orientation of its scientific mode, because turning your phone sideways is so 2009; the continuing display of each operation (e.g., 217 ÷ 4 + 8) on the screen until I asked for the result; the unit-conversion mode, because I will never know what a centimeter is. But there also was a startling omission: The calculator’s “C” button—the one that clears input—was gone. The “C” itself had been cleared [atlantic]
I Am the Sickle, and I Am the Wheat
A Blood Moon (YT 16:29) - A Legend of Zelda short film about the war from the point of view of a bokoblin soldier, by Dan Weller. [trailer (YT 1:54)]
Henslowe deals the cards
What happens when a 16thC manuscript page from the diary of Philip Henslowe (~1550 – 1616) is pushed in front of a math-wonk who a) recognises a problem in modulo arithmetic b) finds an error in the protocol? A card trick that stitches together Arts, STEM and edutainment. [more inside]
“Wait, we don’t want a song by the drummer!”
The History of Red Hot, the Pioneering Social Change Organization, in 8 Great Songs Ahead of Transa, a new project for trans charities featuring Sade and André 3000, Red Hot founder John Carlin talks about wrangling Nirvana through Kurt Cobain’s babysitter and accidentally releasing the first-ever Wilco song.
What's your vote worth? Is it $200?
Ontario premier Doug Ford--who is really just a series of corporations in a skin suit--to send out $200 cheques to ALL Ontarians. The issue? Looks like he's planning to call an early provincial election not long after the cheques are sent out. [more inside]
The term Saize guy has become a hotly debated topic
Was Saizeriya really designed by a lost Italian who got trapped in a Japanese convenience store for days, subsisted on a highly modified Italian diet, then came out the other side with low cost yet tasty Italian food? Sadly the truth is much more mundane. from Saizeriya's Secret to Survival [Hidden Japan] [more inside]
October 17
[a] scientific interest evolved into a full-fledged obsession…
Doctor Fukushi Masaichi And The Art Of Preserving Tattooed Skin. Tattoos have different meanings across cultures, ranging from sacred symbols to marks of rebellion. In Japan, tattoos are part of a broader subculture called irezumi, an intricate form of body art with its own set of unique designs, imagery, and symbolism.
Queensland to trial koala doggy doors to reduce roadkill rates
Queensland to trial koala doggy doors to reduce roadkill rates. A unique collaboration in south-east Queensland will introduce one-way escape hatches so the marsupials can travel to their breeding spots without doubling back into traffic.
It's Legal to Execute Innocent People in the US
Robert Roberson Will be Executed Because It's Legal to Execute Innocent People in the U.S. Tonight, Texas was scheduled to execute Robert Roberson, who would have been (will be?) the first person executed based on the shaken baby syndrome hypothesis. [more inside]
Drone Sweet Drone
Simon Stålenhag is a Swedish visual artist renowned for his beautiful, unsettling works combining pastoral landscapes and neglected, nostalgic locales with the striking presence of massive retro-futuristic technology. While most of his works come in the form of concept art, vignette series like Tales From the Loop (adapted into an underrated Amazon Prime anthology), and the occasional music video [previously], his most narratively compelling title is surely The Electric State -- a melancholy, apocalyptic vision of an alternate-history 1990s California Pacifica littered with spaceship hulks and rotting androids, in which a young girl searching for her brother journeys with her mute robot across a rapidly disintegrating society consumed from within by an addictive neural-VR craze that's birthing a race of ominous Lovecraftian machines. The tale inspired video essays, animations, and even roleplaying games, and fans took note when Netflix optioned the book for a big-budget adaptation. But though the project nails the imagery and has a stacked cast, the first look and teaser trailer suggests the Russo-directed blockbuster may be more in the vein of "Fallout + Marvel with an endearing team of ragtag robots" than "unspeakable horrors slithering through your headset."
RIP Toni Vaz
You're right, we don't know anything. It's just a dot, below this
Constructed entirely of archival footage, the short documentary Balloon Boy tracks the news story via the breathless hours of coverage news channels across the world gave to the peculiar spectacle, both during the flight and long after the balloon had landed. Directed by the US filmmakers Arlin Golden and Brian Gersten, and produced by the US filmmaker Nathan Truesdell, who is known for tragicomic archival documentaries tackling institutional dysfunction, the work forms a withering criticism of profit-driven news media. And, in the process of gawking at the surreal spectacle all over again, viewers may even find themselves a tad implicated in the systems of ‘news coverage’ that are rewarded for entertaining rather than informing. [Aeon]
equal pay for equal work
“She sparked a movement and changed the face of pay equity forever” [ap] rest in peace Lilly Ledbetter
Student in Bristol, Britain finds scorpion crawling inside Shein parcel
Student in Bristol, Britain finds scorpion crawling inside Shein parcel. Sofia Alonso-Mossinger found the creature in a bag of boots which she had ordered online.
Pooping back and forth forever
Bots placed in chat room invent meme religion! (SL YouTube) Thank God they chose one of the more auspicious memes, and yes, I mean goatse.
Serious ethical, financial and efficacy considerations with the approach
New weight-loss jabs could be given to unemployed people to help them get back into work, Wes Streeting has suggested. The health secretary said “widening waistbands” were placing a burden on the NHS. The latest generation of weight-loss medications, involving drugs such as semaglutide or tirzepatide, could be administered to people in order to get them back into employment, and to ease costs to the health service, he added. from Unemployed could be given weight-loss jabs to get back to work, says Wes Streeting [Grauniad] [more inside]
October 16
Teach the Children Well.
The most efficient ways of improving education in developing countries. "We find that while many interventions are not cost-effective, some of the most cost-effective interventions can deliver the equivalent of over three years of high-quality education (i.e., three years of learning in a high-performing country such as Singapore) for as little as $100 per child. This suggests that despite the huge challenges children and schools face in low- and middle- income countries, from poor health and nutrition of children to weakly performing teachers, the right investments can deliver huge returns, even against the benchmark of the best-performing systems. Some of the most consistently cost-effective approaches include..." [more inside]
Dungeons & Dragons moves from the dining table to the Sydney Opera House
Dungeons & Dragons moves from the dining table to the Sydney Opera House. Dungeons & Dragons games are being played live to packed theatre audiences, including at the Sydney Opera House, as the pastime becomes mainstream.
Clogging Cargo Crime
Bedrock Sandals was about to launch their new Mountain Clog. The shipment arrived at US shores, but disappeared on its way to their Montana location. As they tried to find them, they discovered their little sandal company had become one of many targets of an international crime ring. A factual article that reads like a good mystery story.
well, you don't need sunscreen at the hospital
From Best of Redditor Updates, a heartwarming and strangely hilarious (if also bloody) story of a 19 year old looking after his teenage sister while their parents are away.
Redditor asks r/AskDocs if he should take his younger sister to the ER for her period due to the excessive bleeding and clotting she's experiencing. (Spoiler alert: everyone is fine.) The good redditors of r/AskDocs tell him absolutely yes, and walk him through getting her to the ER, and he keeps everyone updated through the whole process, which includes such gems as the following: [more inside]
It's time to learn Geography (𝗡𝗢𝗪)
On October 15th, 2014, budding Korean-American YouTuber Paul "Barbs" Barbato uploaded a 6-minute guide to the country of Afghanistan. A longtime geography geek disappointed by the lack of country-by-country educational content on the platform, his Geography Now! series set the ambitious goal of making one in-depth episode for all 193 UN-recognized sovereign nations. Following a basic four-part structure (Physical and Political Geography, Demographics, and "The Friendzone" for foreign relations), these initially amateurish episodes slowly expanded in size and scope over time, incorporating motion graphics, increasingly absurd vexillological running gags, myriad side topics, faux-country April Fools, fan content from "Geograpeeps", special correspondents and history skits from eclectic friends from around the world, and even on-location specials in select countries -- deep dives into culture whose breezy humor revealed a deep love for the world and all the people in it. Now, ten years after it started, Barbs has released the final episode in the series: Zimbabwe. While he's implied the channel may evolve into a travel-focused one (perhaps modeled on his moving "Letter to..." series of travelogues), for now you can check out the completed A-Z playlist on YouTube to experience the impressive journey for yourself.
Your 4th weekly dose of female fronted metal:
This is kind of cheating: fan made remix of Aespa - Drama with a Djent backing, but the best K-Pop acts have always felt kind of metal, so it's cool. [more inside]
And for the next 11 months, it worked!
A 30-year-old carpenter from Vancouver approaches the Royal Bank of Canada and says, “I want to buy a house. Can I take a loan against my portfolio?” A representative from RBC’s Private Bank raises an eyebrow as he reviews a portfolio consisting of millions in Tesla call options, before shaking his hand, saying, “Of course!” and setting him up with a financial advisor. A few months later, this carpenter is calling his RBC-appointed financial advisor, instructing him to buy C$75 million in weekly Tesla call options. Of course the advisor complies: it’s the client’s money, after all! And those call options represent trading fees. Then Tesla tanked, and DeVocht took a C$20 million personal loan from his own LLC to try to “recoup the losses” by trading his personal account, which went about as well as you’d expect. from How a Canadian carpenter became an options trader, made $300 million, and then went bust [Sherwood]
a nested tale of gifts and repair
"I guess we were both hungry for company, what with the physical distancing and all, because she lingered and I lingered too." "The Fake Birdhouses of Springville" by Amy Johnson, published March 2024, is a short, sweet piece of fantasy fiction that starts "on a warm summer day of 2020.... a third of the way through my route delivering supplies to the elderly and other pandemic-homebound for our local mutual aid society". Worm, a woman who's "always had an affinity for small creatures", finds her kindness unexpectedly repaid.
Harvey Awards Winners to be Announced this Friday - Let's Speculate
"The Harvey Awards are an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the best & brightest, helping new readers, current fans, booksellers, retailers and librarians distinguish the best comics of the year as voted on by their peers.” And the nominees are... [more inside]
The Encampment Wars
Rather than migrants displaced by war or natural disaster, she likens Canada’s encampment residents to economic refugees, internally displaced by an acute cost-of-living crisis and a housing shortage. She also notes that refugee camps are supposed to be temporary. But of course they can last for years, as long as the emergency that creates them, and Canada’s affordability problems appear only to be worsening. [more inside]
Sharks smash sea urchins in discovery that could help
Sharks smash sea urchins in discovery that could help in battle with invasive pest. Researchers uncover unexpected findings after sharks munch far more voraciously on the spiky sea creatures left out "on a platter" for the invasive creature's known predators, lobsters.
Compliance and resilience
“There’s not going to be a fair (shoe), no one product that affects everyone the same,” says Yong. “Everyone’s biomechanics are different. Unfortunately, this is a part of the sport. If you really wanted to be fair, everyone should be running naked in bare feet. You don’t have any expensive clothes or shoes, but that’s obviously not where we’re at.” from How ‘shoe doping’ changed marathon times forever – in ways we still don’t fully understand [The Athletic; ungated] [more inside]
October 15
Fly Like an Eagle
Via Allan Rose Hill at boingboing.net and r/vintageobscura, the following musical performance
submitted for your approval... [more inside]
Photographers looking for Aurora Australis capture mysterious phenomenon
Photographers looking for Aurora Australis capture mysterious phenomenon Steve instead. People looking for the Aurora Australis have been surprised to see another phenomenon lighting up the night sky — and it goes by the name Steve.
"Look at the thing"
Talking about something completely different, Cabel Sasser wants you to look at this thing. Look at it I did, and I am still having the warm and fuzzy feelings. [more inside]
Choose Your Own Adornment
Choose your flourish carefully. For this band of material shall bind your fate. A fun little Halloween game from the delightful webcomic Crow Time by secondlina.
So Listener Discretion is Advised
The mountains of Appalachia, in an alternative timeline, were never meant to be inhabited, but served as the prison for eldritch horrors from a time before memory. However, as stone gives way to eons and elements, darkness leaks, and a conflict resumes between the Old Gods of Appalachia, with humanity caught in the middle. [more inside]