You should read this for 1/27/2018:
Books, Writing, and Language
Ursula K. Le Guin, the spiritual mother of generations of writers; John Scalzi pays tribute
The speaking of her name and of her words goes on, and will go on, today and tomorrow and for a very long time now. As it should. She was the mother of so many of us, and you should take time to mourn your mother.
Do read Jo Walton’s Bright the Hawk’s Flight on the Empty Sky: Ursula K. Le Guin.
Apple’s Getting Back Into the E-Books Fight Against Amazon
Food and Drink
Via Simply Recipes: Tater Tot Breakfast Casserole Eggs, cheese, breakfast sausage, and tater tots cooked in the oven in a cast iron pan.
Also from Simply Recipes: 9 Great Chili Recipes
History and Archaeology
Dogs & Their Collars in Ancient Mesopotamia
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
Dean Allen is gone. John Gruber, Jason Kottke and Om Malik remember Dean, and Dean remembers his mom
Apple CEO Tim Cook on Malala Fund partnership: “Our values align”
One, equality is at the core of our belief and values and, two, that education is the great equalizer of people. If you believe both of those, it’s not an extension at all to say, “how do we help Malala achieve her vision of educating 130-million young girls around the world?”
Education is key in terms of making the world better, and that means all sorts of education, both practical and academic.
Science and Technology
Horace Dediu from ASYMCO: The Apple Cash FAQ Best read in conjunction with Rene Ritchie’s Understanding Apple and its huge pile of cash.
Red handfish “needle in haystack” population found at second Tasmanian location.
Society
Sally Yates, former U. S. Acting Attorney General: Who are we as a country? Time to decide: Sally Yates
We are not living in ordinary times, and it is not enough for us to admire our nation’s core values from afar. Our country’s history is littered with individuals and factions who have tried to exploit our imperfections, but it is more powerfully marked by those whose vigilance toward a more perfect union has prevailed.
So stand up. Speak out. Our country needs all of us to raise our collective voices in support of our democratic ideals and institutions. That is what we stand for. That is who we are. And with a shared commitment to our founding principles, that is who we will remain.
The Dutch intelligence agency AIVD provide crucial intel about Russia’s interference in US-elections
The Dutch infiltrated Cozy Bear’s network, even hacking the security cameras outside the building the Russian hackers worked in— allowing the Russian hackers to be identified and compared to known Russian spies.
The Dutch access provides crucial evidence of the Russian involvement in the hacking of the Democratic Party, according to six American and Dutch sources who are familiar with the material, but wish to remain anonymous. It’s also grounds for the FBI to start an investigation into the influence of the Russian interference on the election race between the Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and the Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Women’s Work
Lindy West via The New York Times: Why Is Fixing Sexism Women’s Work?
Sexism is a male invention. White supremacy is a white invention. Transphobia is a cisgender invention. So far, men have treated #MeToo like a bumbling dad in a detergent commercial: well-intentioned but floundering, as though they are not the experts. They have a chance to do better by Time’s Up
GOP candidate says feminists have ‘snake-filled heads,’ hopes daughters don’t become ‘she devils’ Republican Senate candidate Courtland Sykes (Mo.)
I want to come home to a home cooked dinner at six every night, one that she fixes and one that I expect one day to have my daughters learn to fix after they become traditional homemakers and family wives
As The Washington Post notes:
The candidate, Courtland Sykes, wrote that “radical feminism” has a “crazed definition of modern womanhood.”
“They made it up to suit their own nasty, snake-filled heads,” he said. “Men and women are different and gender-bending word games by a goofy nest of drugstore academics aren’t going to change anything — except the fantasy life of those confused people in ivory towers.”
