August 25
Tim Carmody on what Amazon is allowed and not allowed to do with their Lord of the Rings prequel series. "Amazon's series will have to be consistent with the Tolkien canon, while...drawing on the vaguest, least detailed portion of it".
Teen saves bumblebee, who becomes her friend. "She's so fluffy and I love our friendship."
My COVID Parenting Has Reached Peak Inconsistency. "Honestly, I have no idea what I'm OK letting my kids do anymore." Same same. And it's not just Covid precautions – it's devices, bedtimes, food, sports practices, schoolwork...
Textile Artists File Their Nails in Tiny Grooves for Traditional Japanese Weaving Technique. Functional body mods.
August 24
An interview with Philip Glass about original compositions that were generated by an AI trained on a corpus of his music. "I think this is not a disaster. It's the beginning of something. It's the beginning of something."
The theory of evolution is now accepted by a majority of Americans. Over the decade ending in 2019, the number increased from 40% to 54%. (GOP: 34%, Dem: 83%)
August 23
Hospitals and Insurers Didn't Want You to See These Prices. Here's Why. "Hospitals are charging patients wildly different amounts for the same basic services: procedures as simple as an X-ray or a pregnancy test."
Great question: which died-too-young artist would you grant 50 more productive years to? Basquiat? Aaliyah? Mozart? Robert Johnson? Janis Joplin? River Phoenix? Selena? Notorious BIG? James Dean?
Trailer for Foundation (Apple+ series). "Based on the award-winning novels by Isaac Asimov, Foundation chronicles a band of exiles on their monumental journey to save humanity and rebuild civilization amid the fall of the Galactic Empire."
The remains of Josephine Baker will be reinterred at the Pantheon in Paris, the final resting place of many French luminaries. She'll be the first Black woman to be so honored.
Which players carried their teams the most during the NBA Finals? (Do you even need to guess it's LeBron?)
Zeynep Tufekci is joining the NY Times as an opinion columnist. Her pandemic coverage has been essential.
August 19
An Oral History of Adam Sandler, Pickup Basketball Legend. "Literally, it looked like he had them clothes since the 1990s, like literally the 1990s."
This new astronomy museum in Shanghai looks spectacular. "The museum features stunning projections and display work, and a starry sky interior that makes you feel like you're floating in space."
A visualization of dialup modem sounds. (Did anyone else lip sync along with the modem when connecting back in the day? I...often did.)
What I Learned While Eavesdropping on the Taliban. "I spent 600 hours listening in on the people who now run Afghanistan. It wasn't until the end of my tour that I understood what they were telling me."
Delta's rise is fuelled by rampant spread from people who feel fine. "People infected with the Delta variant generally do not have COVID-19 symptoms until two days after they start shedding the coronavirus."
Legendary actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba has died of complications from Covid-19. He was 82 years old.
Fun online quiz series from the New Yorker: Name Drop. "Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer?"
The Highbrow Neanderthal. "Long before we arrived on the scene, Neanderthals were making artworks, developing elaborate rituals, and having adventurous sex."
It appears as though the Coen brothers are done making movies together, at least for now. "If these films were the product of a true, across-the-board collaboration, what essential element will be lost when Ethan is gone?"
August 18
Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses, as E-mailed by Your Passive-Aggressive Co-Worker. "Just circling back to suggest that you maybe take a few minutes to ask yourself if you're a part of the problem?"
Parents in Mask-Free School Districts Are Freaking Out. A working single-parent friend is homeschooling her under-12 kid to start the year because her community is relatively low-vax and anti-mask (and school is unconcerned). Total shitshow.
This Is Not the Taliban 2.0. "Those who wish to avoid being force-fed their own testicles should probably not read too much into the kinder, gentler Taliban initiatives currently being implemented in Kabul."
August 17
The Living Wage Calculator from MIT. "We developed a living wage calculator to estimate the cost of living in your community or region based on typical expenses."
Your Holiday Gatherings Should Have Vaccine Mandates. "Your unvaccinated relatives should not be invited to Thanksgiving."
An interview with Beyoncé, on the cusp of her 40th birthday. "I'm at a point where I no longer need to compete with myself. I have no interest in searching backwards. The past is the past."
An appreciation of the board game hit Wingspan. "The game has really tamped down my competitive drive. I've found that during the hour or so it takes to play, I rarely have any sense whether I'm winning or losing."
August 16
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Don't Be a Schmuck. Put on a Mask. "Many people told me that the Constitution gives them rights, but not responsibilities. They feel no duty to protect their fellow citizens."
Rio Ferdinand explains why Premier League players will be taking the knee before matches this season. "Racism never went away."
August 13
August 12
I've been watching episodes of the original Iron Chef on this Twitch channel. Allez Cuisine! (Are they available on streaming anywhere else?)
This is not-so-good news: the results of multiple studies indicate "waning immunity for mRNA vaccines vs Delta infections". There are caveats; read the thread for details.
Nestflix, a faux streaming service of fake movies and TV shows that only appear within other movies and TV shows. Like Angels with Filthy Souls (Home Alone), McBain (The Simpsons), and The Dirk Diggler Story (Boogie Nights).
August 11
So You Think You Can Dance, baseball edition. This is one of the smoothest athletic moves I've ever seen.
August 10
Ohio Court Sentences Black Woman to 18 Months in Prison the Day After Giving White Woman Probation for Same Crime. The white woman stole $238,000 and the Black woman $40,000.
August 9
Serious Eats' Halal Cart-Style Chicken and Rice With White Sauce. Might try this one of these days; I miss my occasional Rafiqi's meal.
In a recent comparison of the health care systems of 11 high-income countries, the US came in last "despite spending far more of its gross domestic product on health care". Embarrassing and deadly.
Take this divergent association test. "Please enter 10 words that are as different from each other as possible, in all meanings and uses of the words."
Fingerspelling – learn the signs for the ABCs in American Sign Language with the help of machine learning (it analyzes your hand shapes via webcam). This works really well!
What should be the next amendment to the Constitution? Removing the "punishment for crime" exception of the 13th Amendment would be a good start.
August 7
A panel of boomers answers questions from gen Z. "Do you think young people are overly sensitive and privileged?"
August 6
Taking some Italians to an NYC Olive Garden. "There is an Italian phrase," said Marco after we ordered our food. "'Li ti avvelenano,' which translates to 'there they will poison you.' This is my prediction for the night."
August 5
Epidemiologist Ellie Murray runs through the math to see how various interventions will fare in the US w/r/t to the delta variant of Covid-19. The much higher R0 for delta is the driving force here.
Why medieval city-builder video games are historically inaccurate. "Any gameplay loop that tells a story of linear settlement growth is incongruent with how a medieval economy worked."
Is the Viral "Red Dress" Music Video a Sociological Experiment? Performance Art? Or Something Else?
August 4
Kate Winslet Says 'Some Very Cool Ideas' Now Exist for 'Mare of Easttown' Season 2. Quoting Han Solo: "I got a bad feeling about this."
Juliette Kayyem: Flying is not a right and unvaccinated people should be on the no-fly list. "While flying, vaccinated people should no longer carry the burden for unvaccinated people."
There are three different types of fun. "Type 2 fun is miserable while it's happening, but fun in retrospect."
August 3
The diamond-water paradox in economics. We need water to live so it's more valuable but diamonds are more expensive. Why is that?
Here's where we're at with space elevators. "The Space Elevator has been a dream of scientists for centuries. A new design may finally make it a reality — at least, by the next century."
August 2
paint everything everywhere! This is a super-fun little game.
The new Tesla Plaid Model S is so so ridiculously fast. As my son would say, "it's OP".
New climate study: heatwaves are going to get more likely. "From 2051 to 2080, those prolonged, record-breaking events are expected to become three to 21 times more probable than they were in the past."
August 1