You should read this for 8/25/2018:
Art and Film
Via The British Library: A bumper crop of manuscripts part 1 and part 2. The British Library is doing stellar service both in terms of getting mss. digitized and presenting them to the public in ways that make them accessible to non-scholars.
Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Is Finally Being Made, Thanks to Apple I’m of two minds about this; first, The Foundation trilogy is a core part of “Old School” canon SF. Second, while I thought they were really interesting when I read the trilogy at ten, the two times I’ve tried since to re-read them, I just can’t. The second and third books, which prominently feature Bayata Darrell and her grandaughter Arkady Darell, grate on my nerves. There’s a reason that I started looking in my teens for SF written by women.
Books, Writing, and Language
Via NPR: Readers See Themselves In The Many Worlds Of Seanan McGuire
Part of how we learn empathy, part of how we learn to be human, is by reading and listening and viewing stories, and seeing people that don’t look like us.
Education
The Unsexy Truth About the Avital Ronell Scandal
It’s almost as if Reitman could have no life apart from her. Indeed, according to the complaint, when Reitman had visitors — a member of his family, a friend — Ronell protested their presence, seemingly annoyed that Reitman should attend to other people in his life, that he had other people in his life. That really is the harassment: the claims she thought she could make on him simply because he was her advisee.
Via Life Hacker: What College Freshmen Need to Know About Their Student Loans
Food and Drink
How to Make Ginger Switchel æThink of switchel as that refreshing summer drink you didn’t know you needed—there’s a reason farmers used to drink it after working in the fields all day. Made with fresh ginger, vinegar, water, and honey, it couldn’t be simpler to make!”
Kevin Pang: Learn to make Vietnamese beef pho in record time
Carrie Havranek for Simply Recipes: 21 Best Recipes With Ripe Summer Tomatoes Personally, I don’t think you can get any better than a Heirloom Tomato Basil Mozzarella Caprese Salad or classic BLT, but there are other options . . .
From Elise Bauer on Simply Recipes How to Make Corn Tortillas. I’m going to try making tortillas again, this time, with this step-by-step recipe.
History and Archaeology
Via Smithsonian: Drought Reveals Giant 4500-Year Old Irish Henge
An unusually high number of henges and ancient sites have been found over the decades along the River Boyne; together, they make up the Brú na Bóinne Unesco World Heritage site. But the size and layout of the new henge, located close to the valley’s 5,000-year-old Newgrange monument, makes it an important find.
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
Crayola ColorCycle: Recycle your markers Crayola ColorCycle will accept all brands of plastic markers, not just Crayola markers. That includes dry erase markers & highlighters. Collect the dead markers (ask your friends and local teachers and schools), Crayola ColorCycle will send you a free shipping label to ship them back to Crayola to be recycled. FAQs here
Science and Nature
Rehabilitation facilities at capacity, complicating unusual die-off of seals in New England “the number of dead or stranded harbor seals continues to climb in Maine and New Hampshire as marine scientists broaden their search for the cause.”
How to Get a Cat to Like You I generally succeed with cats, mostly, I think, because I’m quiet, non-threatening, and good at ignoring them.
Scientists Put Paint on Ants to Study How They Form Societies
“Even though we work with genetically identical individuals that are as homogeneous as you can get them, there still seems to be some variabliity between them in terms of their tendencies,” study corresponding author Daniel Kronauer from The Rockefeller University told Gizmodo. “Where do these differences come from?”
Society
The incoherent, divisive dogma of cultural appropriation outrage Cultural appropriation is damaging. But it’s also the way cultures collide; I think, for me, the bottom line is how the culture being appropriated responds and wants their cultural ways and objects treated. I’d rather err on the side of courtesy.
Technology
I didn’t become a physician to do data entry “in terms of creating a smooth workflow for physicians and in facilitating meaningful face to face encounters with our patients, all EHR systems have completely failed.” See also: Dont Let Patient Care Interfere With Documentation/ from Christopher Johnson, M.D.
Brent Simmons has left Twitter
Last night I deleted all my tweets going back to the beginning of Twitter time. (Except for a mysterious 49 tweets that apparently can’t be accessed?)
And I tried to make my profile info very clear about me not being there any more. Removed avatar and background image. Changed bio to “Finished with Twitter.” Changed display name to the name of this blog.
In his followup post Brent notes: “Twitter from the outside now looks like a massive world-wide frenzy for no reason. It’s the illusion of something valuable.”
I’m done with Twitter Matt Haughey has also left Twitter. “So long Twitter, I want to say it’s not you, it’s me, but it’s mostly you. Especially Jack.” I’m preparing my exit, from both Twitter and Facebook. Work stuff requires a presence on both, but I’m moving away personally. Currently checking out Mastodon. Not sure about my long-term plans.
Via NPR: Facebook Shuts 652 Iran-Backed Accounts Linked In Global Disinformation Campaign. And see: <a href=”https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/aug/23/russian-trolls-spread-vaccine-misinformation-on-twitter”>Russian trolls ‘spreading discord’ over vaccine safety online</a>. “Study discovered several accounts, now known to belong to the same Russian trolls who interfered in the US election, tweeting about vaccines.”<blockquote>The study discovered several accounts, now known to belong to the same Russian trolls who interfered in the US election, as well as marketing and malware bots, tweeting about vaccines.
Russian trolls played both sides, the researchers said, tweeting pro- and anti-vaccine content in a politically charged context.</blockquote>
Gita Jackson in Kotaku: We Can’t Fix The Internet
Women’s Work
How Often Do You Really Need a Pap Smear?
Google has awarded Fifteen grants to support computing research for undergraduate women
💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰
Sen. Claire McCaskill confirms unsuccessful Russian hacking attempt “Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri says Russian hackers tried unsuccessfully to infiltrate her Senate computer network, raising questions about the extent to which Russia will try to interfere in the 2018 elections.”
Microsoft: We found more Russian hacking tries ahead of U.S. midterms
Microsoft said Tuesday it has uncovered new Russian hacking attempts targeting U.S. political groups ahead of the midterm elections. The company said a hacking group tied to the Russian government created fake internet domains that appeared to spoof two American conservative organizations: the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute. Other fake domains were designed to look as if they belonged to the U.S. Senate.
