June 3, 2016

Who broke the cat?

What an interesting box

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JUNE 3RD- HUTCHINSON’S DEMISE

This Day In History: June 3, 1780

Born on September 9, 1711, Thomas Hutchinson was the fifth generation of his family to live in New England. He was the great-great grandson of the infamous Anne Hutchinson, who had been expelled from the city of Boston for her radical religious views. Aside from his outspoken great-great grandma, his family had done very well in the colonies.

Hutchinson received his education at Harvard, and his exceptional intelligence enabled him to enroll at age 12 and earn a master’s degree by age 19. He entered the political arena in 1737, the year he was chosen to serve in the colonial assembly representing Boston, and as a town selectman.

As the years passed, Hutchinson’s political star continued to rise in Massachusetts. He was the speaker for three terms and sent to England to represent Massachusetts’ interests in a border dispute with New Hampshire. His mission was not successful, but he made many useful allies. …

With His Finger on the Trigger

^{The insane risks of Donald Trump’s stance on nuclear weapons}

In her foreign-policy speech on Thursday, the Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton began to make the nuclear case against Donald Trump. It isn’t just the frightening prospect of a man with “very thin skin” having his finger on the nuclear trigger, she warned: Trump wants to “withdraw [America’s] military support for Japan, encourage them to get nuclear weapons.” She quoted from his remarks in April on a possible confrontation between a nuclear-armed North Korea and Japan: “If they do, they do. Good luck, enjoy yourself, folks.” Then she mused: “I wonder if he even realizes he’s talking about nuclear war.”

A nuclear-armed Trump is indeed a scary thought. But his apparent comfort with encouraging other countries to develop their own nuclear stockpiles is just as scary, if not more so. For 70 years, American presidents of both parties have understood the simple arithmetic involved—that the more countries have nuclear weapons, the more opportunities there are for nuclear war to break out, whether by design or by accident.

Yet the Republican nominee is effectively advocating the spread of arms so destructive they haven’t been used since their horrifying debut over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. …

Who Does Donald Trump Exclude From the American ‘We’?

Part of Trump’s rhetorical power is his supercharged use of “we”—a method that persuades people across the country that they are part of a larger movement. But it’s very clear who’s in the “we”: the white working class. It’s even clearer who’s left out: Hispanics, African Americans, Muslims, and everyone else that wouldn’t have thrived in the “great” vision of America he wants to bring back. Atlantic staff writer David Graham explores how Trump’s preferred way of talking to, and about, minorities is incredibly telling.

10 Facts About The English Language You Probably Didn’t Know

English is a pretty important language, and it’s spoken pretty much around the world. Have you ever traveled to Europe, and found it difficult to find someone who didn’t have at least some English conversational skills? It’s a pretty hard thing to do. Despite English’s significant role around the world, there’s a lot of interesting facts about the language that most people don’t know about.

10. English Is A Lingua Franca

English is considered the lingua franca of the world. That means it’s the language used as a form of communication between people who speak different languages. For example, a German and Swede might not know each other’s languages, but there’s a good chance they will know English. Both of them can use English in order to communicate to one another. This is exactly how a lingua franca works.

Most speakers of English are non-native speakers. In other words, they weren’t born and raised in places where English is considered a native tongue. It’s also a common second language to learn. According to certain studies, 77 percent of Europeans learn English as a foreign language which is more than any other language taught in school. …

Queer and going to the mosque: ‘I’ve never felt more Muslim than I do now’

^{After years of shame affecting her relationship with faith, Samra Habib found Unity mosque, a nonjudgmental spiritual community to meet others like herself}

Friday, 27 December 2013, at 2.45pm. That’s when my life transformed.

I was emotionally and physically exhausted after being the primary caregiver of my ex-partner, who was in chemo and working long hours as an editor at a magazine. I was desperately seeking comfort, support, spiritual guidance and community.

This perfect storm brought me to Unity mosque in downtown Toronto, one of a handful of prayer spaces in the world open to queer Muslims like myself.

Growing up in Pakistan, faith was a huge part of my upbringing. Some of my most treasured childhood memories are of Islamic traditions that brought me closer to my family, such as breaking a light fast with cousins in Lahore – fasting for just part of the day so you feel a sense of camaraderie with the grownups who fast until after sunset during Ramadan. Even now, nothing makes me feel more centered than listening to a beautiful recitation of the Adhaan (the call to prayer) whether I’m in my Toronto apartment or the crowded streets of Cihangir.

But for most of my 20s, Islam felt like a parent dishing out conditional love: I had no right to call myself Muslim because I’m queer and didn’t wear the hijab. There was no denying that the sense of shame I carried deeply impacted my relationship with my faith. …

Study: Same-sex experiences are on the rise, and Americans are increasingly chill about it

A rise in bisexuality is driving a sharp increase in same-sex experiences in the United States, according to a new study — and Americans are increasingly open to the shift.

Using data from the General Social Survey (GSS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults conducted since 1972 including a total of 33,728 participants, a team of social scientists found that the percentage of men reporting male sexual partners had nearly doubled from 1990 to 2014, and the percentage of women reporting same-sex experiences had more than doubled during the same period. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior, also shows a dramatic increase in the percentage of Americans who find these sexual interactions acceptable.

“The acceptance of gays and lesbians has really been the civil rights issue of the last few decades,” said study co-author Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of the book “Generation Me.” Twenge, who studies the way social behavior changes over time, considers the acceptance of LGBTQ individuals to be the best example of such a change in recent history. “It’s been a social change that’s happened relatively quickly,” she said. …

10 Unique Cultural Traditions That May Soon Disappear

Cultural traditions are beliefs, behaviors, customs, rituals, events, and practices passed down from one generation to another. Some traditions have symbolic meanings or special significance, while others have been created to serve a political or cultural purpose. Cultural traditions evolve over time; some manage to survive, but others fade and die.

10. Kalinga’s Traditional Tattoos

Apo Whang Od, a 93-year-old woman from the mountains of Kalinga, is considered to be the last traditional tattoo artist of the Philippines. During her younger years, she marked many fearless tribal warriors with symbolic tattoos using only two bamboo sticks and a small citrus fruit locally known as calamansi.

Also known as batuk, these traditional tattoos were more than just a visual decoration for the Kalinga tribe. They signified pride, honor, and dignity; they were markers that elevated courageous warriors from ordinary members of the society. Men were awarded these traditional tattoos only if they were able to cut off an enemy’s head and bring it back to the village.

For their tattoos, the Kalinga people drew inspiration from animals. In the past, it was common for warriors to get a tattoo of a centipede on their arms for protection and a python on their shoulders for strength. An eagle on the chest and the back was also common, but it was only reserved for the most courageous warriors. …

“Coincidence Detector”: The Google Chrome Extension White Supremacists Use to Track Jews

A Google Chrome plugin with the seemingly innocent name of “Coincidence Detector” has one sole purpose: compiling and exposing the identities of Jews and others who are perceived as “anti-white.” Drawing from a user-generated list of Jewish names, the extension works in the background while users browse the web and encases the names in three sets of parentheses — for example, (((Fleishman))) — on web pages.

As Mic detailed in a story earlier this week, white supremacists have begun using the construction, called an “(((echo))),” to single out Jewish figures in media and entertainment for harassment online, particularly on Twitter.

For instance, using the extension and then navigating to one of our bios yields the following:

…

Boulder councilman targets beer pong tables in front yards

^{Andrew Shoemaker calls re-rack on storage rules}

They idle on lawns, caked in layers of spilt Rolling Rock, limbs partially concealed by unmown grass.

If you live in a certain part of town, chances are you pass by them often. And if you’re at a certain point in life, their mere visage may evoke a keen sense of longing for a simpler time, when love was new, exams were over and Beta was hosting a tailgate at noon.

They may be filthy, but, like raccoons, they are your neighbors whether you like it or not.

They are the front-yard beer pong tables of University Hill. And it might just be time for them to go inside.

At least, that’s the thought being pitched by City Councilman and Hill resident Andrew Shoemaker. …

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JUNE 3RD- “AFTER I AM DEAD, THE BOY WILL RUIN HIMSELF IN TWELVE MONTHS”

This Day In History: June 3, 1937

June 3, 1937 was the day that the British Royal family had desperately hoped would never come. For it was on that day that the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, took Wallis Warfield Simpson as his wife during a private civil ceremony in France.

Prince Edward, or David as the Duke was called by family and close friends, was blessed with the “common touch” that made him wildly popular with the British people. The notion of being placed above others made him very uneasy, which was obviously problematic for someone in his position. Even as a young boy, David would squirm if his inevitable destiny as the future king came up and he’d desperately try to change the subject.

Things only became worse as David grew into adulthood. As his brothers and sister settled into domestic life and began families, David preferred to have serial affairs with married women. …

The End of All Things Considered

^{How voice-recognition technology will change the way we listen to radio.}

On the March 31 episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons asked Keith Olbermann how he would fix SportsCenter. The show’s ratings have been falling steadily, leaving ESPN scrambling to save its stalwart franchise. “All the attempts to modify [SportsCenter] are predicated on the idea that it can be what it was two years ago, five years ago, 20 years ago, and it can’t,” Olbermann said. “There is no motivation except for old-time guys, who are our ages or even older, who want that sort of leisurely, well-done, paced kind of stroll through all the sports news. But we’re dying off. Generations have come behind us who say, ‘I just want to know who’s the leading candidate to be the Browns quarterback next year,’ and that’s it.”

In other words, according to Olbermann, the curated magazine show is dying. What Olbermann said about SportsCenter could also apply to the future of NPR. If people are talking about the demise of a once-dominant TV show like SportsCenter, we should probably be having that same discussion about audio giants Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

The same principles apply: The audience for those shows is aging and declining, and news of all kinds is available at a pace that was unthinkable even 10 years ago. And as Olbermann pointed out, the desire for the “leisurely, well-done” show is very much on the wane. There’s almost nothing more leisurely and well-done than an NPR news magazine. …

After secret Harvard meeting, scientists announce plans for synthetic human genomes

Three weeks ago, 130 scientists, entrepreneurs and policy leaders held an invitation-only, closed-door meeting at Harvard University to discuss an ambitious plan to create synthetic human genomes. Now, after a flurry of criticism over the secrecy of the effort, the participants have published their idea, declaring that they’re launching a project to radically reduce the cost of synthesizing genomes — a potentially revolutionary development in biotechnology that could enable technicians to grow human organs for transplantation.

The announcement, published Thursday in the journal Science, is the latest sign that biotechnology is going through a rapidly advancing but ethically fraught period. Scientists have been honing their techniques for manipulating the complex molecules that serve as the code for all life on the planet, and this same issue of the journal Science reports a breakthrough in editing RNA, a molecule that is the close cousin of DNA.

The promoters of synthetic genomes envision a project that would eventually be on the same scale as the Human Genome Project of the 1990s, which led to the sequencing of the first human genomes. The difference this time would be that, instead of “reading” genetic codes, which is what sequencing does, the scientists would be “writing” them. They have dubbed this the “Genome Project-write.” …

5 ‘Innocent’ Things We Do (Are Environmentally Catastrophic)

If you’re anything like us, you do your fair share to preserve this fragile planet of ours for future generations: You recycle your plastics, you take a carpool to work rather than driving your monster truck, and you enjoy black rhino steaks only on special occasions (such as a successful black rhino hunt from the window of your monster truck). But it turns out that even staunch conservationists like ourselves can be unknowingly dealing Mother Nature swift and repeated kicks to the shin, because the little things we do every day without so much as a second thought can have unbelievably massive effects on the environment. For instance …

#5. Your Video Game Console Wastes Energy When You’re Not Even Playing It

This one’s going to sting a bit, so let’s just grab the Band-Aid by the horns and rip that sumbitch clean off: By owning a video game console, you’re killing the planet. You will be remembered as one of history’s greatest monsters. And here’s the kicker: It doesn’t even matter if you use the damned thing.

The problem, as we’ve discussed before, has to do with vampire drain — basically, the tendency of modern appliances to slurp electricity even when you’re not using them. The newest round of game consoles are guilty of this, and in fact they take that shit to a whole new level, like some kind of super vampire. You know, like a video game boss.

^{“Why do you think the air looks like that?”}

Most appliances that suck up energy in this fashion do so because they’re never really turned off but rather in a constant sleep mode. Your video game console, on the other hand, sleeps with one eye open, listening to you. Always listening. …

A Complete List of Things the FCC Doesn’t Want You To See

The neat thing about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is that you can submit FOIA requests for FOIA requests. Why is this useful? It means that you can learn about documents that government agencies don’t want you to see—even if all you learn about them is the name of the document. Stick with me here…

I filed a FOIA request with the Federal Communications Commission for all FOIA requests submitted from January 2014 until the present that were “withheld in full.” Which is to say, all FOIA requests that the FCC determined shouldn’t be released at all, even with redactions.

Granted, many of the requests below don’t mean much to me. I’m certainly not an expert on FCC policy. But the list is pretty interesting, including requests for records on allegations that Hilton Hotels were jamming wifi (which they were), documents on Stingray cellphone spy devices used by law enforcement (which they are), and information about the absurdly high prices that prison inmates pay for phone calls (which is still obscene). …

A Med Student Decides To Be Upfront About Her Mental Issues

^{Giselle is pursuing a career in family medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. For her, hiding her problems with anxiety and depression was not an option.}

At first Giselle wasn’t sure what to put on her medical school application. She wanted to be a doctor, but she also wanted people to know about her own health: years of depression, anxiety and a suicide attempt. (We’re using only her first name in this story, out of concern for her future career.)

“A lot of people were like, you don’t say that at all,” she said. “Do not mention that you have any kind of weakness.”

Giselle remembers having her first intense suicidal thoughts when she was 10 years old. Her parents had split up and she had moved from the coast of Colombia to Chicago. She started having extreme mood swings and fighting with her mom.

And then, when she was 16 years old, she tried to kill herself. “Yeah, lots of pills.” …

10 Fascinating Secrets Found Hiding Under People’s Floorboards

Some people dream of finding fascinating treasures and long-lost relics that reveal hidden secrets of the past. They may even go to great lengths to locate these treasures, traveling the world or using elaborate archaeological equipment to search through ancient settlements. Sometimes, though, the most fascinating objects can be found in our very homes, hidden for decades or centuries under the very floorboards we walk on every day.

10. Demon Traps To Protect King James

King James I, who was king of England and Scotland, had such a strong interest in witchcraft that he passed a harsh law making certain acts of witchcraft punishable by death. Partially due to the king’s intense interest, witchcraft was near the height of its fame around the beginning of the 17th century. In 2014, an archaeological survey at the historic Knole House in southeast England discovered a relic deeply related to King James and witchcraft: secret carvings etched into the wood below the home’s floorboards.

The carvings were witchmarks, which were used to deter evil and prevent demonic possession. Researchers believe the marks were specifically made to protect King James during a proposed visit to the house in 1606. Analysis of the floorboards’ tree rings helped support this hypothesis by accurately dating the marks to that very year. Though the king never ultimately visited the house, witchmarks were nonetheless carefully placed in the bedchamber where the king would have slept, with some of the marks specifically arranged to trap demons under the fireplace. The demon trap was made because fireplaces, windows, and doors were considered particular weak spots against witches and demons. …

The Human Fear of Total Knowledge

^{Why infinite libraries are treated skeptically in the annals of science fiction and fantasy}

Libraries tend to occupy a sacred space in modern culture. People adore them. (Perhaps even more than that, people love the idea of them. A Pew survey last year found that while people report feeling strongly about the importance of public libraries, those same people are using libraries less and less.)

The grandest libraries, built like monstrous cathedrals, are particularly beloved. It ought to follow, then, that the ultimate library—an infinite library—would be revered as a utopia, especially in an age where data is seen as its own currency. But libraries have a dark side in the cultural imagination.

In The Book of Sand, Jorge Luis Borges tells the story of an unexpected visit from a Bible salesman, who has in his collection a most unusual object. “It can’t be, but it is,” the salesman says. “The number of pages in this book is no more or less than infinite. None is the first page, none is the last.”

The strange book is so engrossing as to be sinister. This is a theme that comes up repeatedly in Borges’s work. “Paradise is a library, not a garden,” he famously said. But libraries, he warned, can be hellish, too. …

Simpsonwave is the chill summer soundtrack you didn’t know you needed

^{The ‘it me’ of sub-genres}

Every fall, my music habits change. I ditch the faster pop-punk and rock for slower, more contemplative music. When spring rolls around, though, I stash the sappy crap and get right back into the fast stuff. The weird thing is, nothing changes when summer hits. Maybe it’s because most of the time it’s too hot to wear headphones, or because I no longer have a car to cruise around in, and the car is the perfect place for unbridled music consumption, especially during summer. (Stay back, audiophiles.)

Point being, I have no idea what makes something a good “song of the summer,” or “soundtrack of the summer” for that matter. So I asked Jamieson Cox, The Verge‘s entertainment reporter and resident expert on bangers. From Slack:

it should either make you feel some sunlight and humidity, like… the feeling of all the fans in the world not being able to cool you down. OR it should be crisp and refreshing. a tremendous relief. like a nestea or sprite commercial.

…

THE HISTORY OF SPOONS, FORKS, AND KNIVES

Mark asks: Who invented spoons and forks?

Spoons

Spoons are one of the oldest eating utensils on the planet. This isn’t particularly surprising if one considers that nearly as long as humans have needed food, they’ve required something to scoop it up with. Unlike knives and forks, that for the most part needed to be fashioned, natural spoons could be utilized by employing such things as seashells or conveniently shaped stones. Sure, the earliest known instances of these didn’t have handles yet, but from these humble beginnings, the spoon was born.

There is no definitive time period that can be attributed with the invention of the spoon. And by ‘invention’ I of course mean ‘adding a handle made from some dead animals bone.’ However, archaeological evidence suggests that spoons with handles were used for ancient Egyptian religious purposes as early as 1000 BC. Made from materials such as ivory, wood, flint and slate, these spoons were covered in ornate decorations and hieroglyphics. …