You should read this for 8/16/2020:
Art, Music, and Film
Letters reveal British objections to plot of Bridge on the River Kwai
Books, Libraries, Writing, and Language
How Scholars Finally Deciphered Linear B, the Oldest Preserved Form of Ancient Greek Writing
Coronavirus | COVID-19
Education
If you can punish a teenage girl for spaghetti straps, you can enforce a mask mandate
Thanks to coronavirus and Zoom, we’re looking at the end stages of college as a commodity
Food and Drink
Medieval ‘wine windows’ are reopening, reviving Italian plague tradition
Thus, the “wine windows,” or buchette del vino, of Tuscany. They are just as they sound: pint-size hatches, carved into the concrete walls of urban wineries and shops, where beverage merchants would serve sips at a safe social distance.
First introduced in the 1600s, their true purpose went untapped for centuries after the plague — that is, until a new one came along this year.
See also: The Wine Windows of Renaissance Florence Dispense Wine Safely Again During COVID-19 And: Wine windows: why the historic plague-inspired booze holes are back
Poach Your Corn in a Buttery Milk Bath The next time I cook corn on the cob for more than two people, I’m poaching the corn in a butter and milk bath. Cooking corn in butter and milk makes amazing corn on the cob.
How to Properly Clean Your Dishwasher
Escabeche (Pickled Jalapeños)
Dessert Recipes of Iconic Thinkers: Emily Dickinson’s Coconut Cake, George Orwell’s Christmas Pudding, Alice B. Toklas’ Hashish Fudge & More
Why You Should Freeze Tomatoes Without Peeling Them First
History and Archaeology
Science and Nature
Martian Features Were Carved by Glaciers, not Flowing Rivers This is the conclusion of a single research paper, so it’s still a theory, but nontheless, an interesting theory.
Large blue butterfly returns to Cotswolds site for first time in 150 years
Image: PJC&Co Wikimedia
Years of painstaking work by Prof Jeremy Thomas and David Simcox led to the butterfly being successfully reintroduced to sites in Somerset and more recently Gloucestershire.
To do so, they first had to understand its unique lifecycle, with tiny caterpillars dropping off wild thyme and being taken underground by the red ant, Myrmica sabuleti, which is duped into believing that the parasitic larva is one of their own.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_blue#/media/File:Maculinea_arion_Large_Blue_Upperside_SFrance_2009-07-18.jpg
Society
Body camera footage shows struggle leading to George Floyd’s fatal police encounter The headline is misleading. This was murder. No question. BLACK LIVES MATTER.
Voting during 2020 election: What you need to know about mail-in votes, online ballots, polling places
Taxes VPNs and Office Hours the Ultimate Forbes Guide to Working From Home
Technology
Via Twitter @jonasdowneyTHREAD: Here’s a little tale about what it’s like to be an indie iOS developer working under Apple’s 800lb gorilla rule…
Facebook Fired An Employee Who Collected Evidence Of Right-Wing Pages Getting Preferential Treatment. ANd see: Yes, Facebook Treats Trump Fans Differently: It Has Relaxed The Rules To Give Them More Leeway
Silicon Valley Has a Caste Discrimination Problem
Malicious party hijacks 24% of Tor network
Women’s Work
This is how the media should confront Trump and his cronies
. . . CBS’s Paula Reid, who challenged a lie President Trump has told about 150 times, namely that he signed the Veterans Choice Act. President Barack Obama did . . . (I will note that by and large in the White House news conferences, it has been women who have rattled Trump: Yamiche Alcindor, Weijia Jiang, April Ryan and Abby Phillip. One need look no further for evidence that Trump cannot deal with non-docile women.)
The girl who picked up an AK-47 to defend her famil
She was hailed as a hero. But the story behind what happened that night was more complicated.
Did Nooria shoot Taliban attackers, or her husband? Or both?
💩🔥💰 Trumpery 💩🔥💰
Calling it a ‘peaceful protest,’ 🤥🤥👖🔥 flouts coronavirus guidelines with golf club gathering
The happy-hour scene just steps from the golf course was orchestrated by 💩🔥💰, who decided late Friday to hold an impromptu news conference and invite his club members to gather indoors in defiance of state restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
With coronavirus cases nearing 5 million in the United States and average daily deaths topping 1,000, 🤥🤥👖🔥‘s retreat to the confines of his private club offered him an opportunity to create a kind of alternate reality in which his presidency is not being beset by numerous crises.
Seth Meyers explains exactly how Republicans sabotaged the U.S. Postal Service
Trump’s efforts include a massive restructuring of the United States Postal Service which centers power around Postmaster General and Trump fanboy Louis DeJoy. A man who, as Meyers notes, has up to $75 million invested in the post office’s competitors.
Postal Workers Decry Changes And Cost-Cutting Measures
As a result of the recent changes, Karol told NPR’s Noel King on Morning Edition, a mail processing machine was removed from her facility in Waterloo and others have been removed across Iowa.
Of the policy to leave some letters behind for the following day, another postal worker told NPR last month: “I am sick to my stomach,” knowing that means medication could be delayed in getting to recipients.
Amber Ruffin lists all the things 🤥🤥👖🔥 has done for Black Americans
🤥🤥👖🔥 Admits To Opposing Funding For Postal Service To Block More Voting By Mail
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
🤥🤥👖🔥 sent agents to quell unrest. But protest is what Portland does best.
The US Mail Not for Sale is a worker-led campaign sponsored by the American Postal Workers Union and the National Association of Letter Carriers. They have some ideas for ways Americans can save our Constitutionally mandated USPS. Save the Post Office You can follow APWU on Twitter.
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Something Wonderful
H/T Lymond: Zw Frank True Facts: The Hummingbird Warrior
