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Linkdump 05-09-2018
Wed, Sep. 5th, 2018 10:00- weekly_food_challenge | Challenj #51: Tofu
via Weekly Food Challenge http://bit.ly/2MEAn8t
Happy birthday, Hugh
Fri, Aug. 31st, 2018 22:17Yesterday was machinimaguruhughhancock's 41st birthday. Unfortunately, we've been unable to celebrate properly, since Hugh dropped dead suddenly in early February this year.
Typical Hugh, defying norms, always one step ahead of everyone else.
I've worked with Hugh on countless projects since 2004 and I was proud to call him a colleague as well as a friend. When we first met, at the auditions for Bloodspell, he was running around trying to develop the techniques that would allow one to make a full-length feature film in one's basement. He still took the time out to teach me method acting, which I didn't believe in at the time, but it sounded like fun, as it always did. I've since developed those skills professionally and I use them to this day.
We last met in person at the launch party for Left Hand Path, a project with which he'd revolutionized the field of roomscale VR. I'd been privileged to play the Angel of Death in the Samael section, which had been a great deal of fun, as it always was. At the party, we talked about his next big project. He was going to bring the concept of manipulable objects with weight and heft into the VR world, and I was going to help him with the runes. All unpaid of course, but it would have been fun, as it always was.
A few weeks after that, we'd agreed to meet up, get drunk, and talk about technomagick. I wanted to hear his argument about the potential for pushing back the boundaries of Clarke's Third Law. And he had a gig lined up for me. He was going to pass me the client's details when we met up. It sounded like fun, as it always did. A few days after that, he was at a conference in London and randomly dropped dead.
A few weeks after that was the funeral, held in Bournemouth, and a few weeks after that we held a memorial event in Edinburgh. At the event, I got drunker than I'd expected and realized that Hugh's death had affected me in ways I hadn't acknowledged. I still managed to give a memorial speech that wasn't completely terrible, but I didn't get to say ten per cent of the things I wanted to say. I suspect I'll never get to say all of the things I wanted to say about Hugh.
In lieu of words, the irrepressible Johnnie Ingram has released this video, which pays tribute to just a few of the remarkable aspects of Hugh's career. It's worth watching. I'm not even in it and it's still worth watching.
At the end of the funeral, in Bournemouth, as we all filed out of the chapel, I laid one hand on the coffin and said: Hugh, I know this isn't the last time you're going to surprise me.
It hasn't been. He continues to surprise me and he will continue to do so for a long time yet.
- We’ve Lost One Of Our Own: Hugh Hancock (Rest In Peace)
- Obituary: Hugh Russell Paul Hancock, "Machinima" founder and Virtual Reality pioneer
- https://www.pcinvasion.com/machinima-strange-company-founder-hugh-hancock-passes-away/
It's traditional at times like this to say requiescat in pacem, but I'm not going to. Hugh, wherever you are right now, I hope that there are paradigms in dire need of subversion, and I know you will be subverting them with glee. And I hope it's fun, because with you involved, it always is.
Happy birthday, old friend.
Linkdump 30-08-2018
Thu, Aug. 30th, 2018 10:00- If you want to save the world, veganism isn’t the answer | Isabella Tree | Guardian
Veganism is rarely the answer unless the question is "how can I be more miserable and sanctimonious".
- Recent Study Found Plant-Based Diet Decreases Environmental Impact By 42 to 84 Percent! | One Green Planet
And here, should you care for them, are the alternative facts.
- Near Miss: The Solar Superstorm of July 2012 | NASA
TIL the Carrington Event very nearly happened again, but we missed it by a week.
Linkdump 29-08-2018
Wed, Aug. 29th, 2018 10:00- weekly_food_challenge | Challenj #50: Something home grown
via Weekly Food Challenge http://bit.ly/2MEAn8t
Linkdump 24-08-2018
Fri, Aug. 24th, 2018 10:00- EUROPEAN CITIZENS' INITIATIVE | Permanent European Union Citizenship
"Noting the ECJ’s view of Union citizenship as a ‘fundamental status’ of nationals of Member States, and that Brexit will strip millions of EU citizens of this status and their vote in European elections, requests the Commission propose means to avoid risk of collective loss of EU citizenship and rights, and assure all EU citizens that, once attained, such status is permanent and their rights acquired." There's been talk of this before---there being no mechanism to strip a citizen of their rights---but this is, to my knowledge, the first effort to formalize it, and it's worth a shot.
- [ICYMI] On culinary appropriation | gominokouhai
In which there is fucking Jamie, again.
- For some, experiencing trauma may act as a form of cognitive training that increases their mental control | BPS Research Digest
I still wouldn't recommend it as a self-development mechanism.
- The Utter Uselessness of Job Interviews | The New York Times
It's okay, HR people. As long as you're aware that your entire profession is based solely on lies and false assumptions, you just go right on doing what you're doing.
On culinary appropriation
Thu, Aug. 23rd, 2018 23:47There's plenty of scope in current events for a constructive and far-reaching debate about cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation, but naturally I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about how much of a dickhead Jamie Oliver is.
TL;DR: it's a lot.
It's fair enough to say that all cuisine is stolen from somewhere. We've been cooking for at least 1.8 million years and pretty much everything has been done before by someone somewhere. This is especially true in GB, where our native produce consists entirely of watercress and mammoth meat with absolutely everything else having been imported from somewhere. Apples come from China, dormice came over with the Romans, fish & chips are Jewish. There's no such thing as authentic British cuisine, and we like it that way. The cultural appropriation is the bit that makes it delicious.
There are considerations to bear in mind, though. Nobody seems to mind cultural appropriation when it's done with a modicum of respect for the source culture, and/or if it's done well, and that's what's lacking on this occasion.
This latest flap involving the fat-tongued mockney twat is amusing precisely because it's so clear-cut. Jamie's punchy jerk rice
is not jerk, and it's barely even rice
. Jerk is a meat marinade based on citrus juice, allspice, and scotch bonnets, none of which appear in this travesty. What Jamie has done, as is his wont, is whack a bit of this in and a slosh of that, and probably a luvverly good glug of olive oil because it's Jamie and he can't help himself, all without the remotest concern for the people he's ripping off. And then he calls it jerk
not out of any respect for the culture that served as his inspiration, but because putting words on things sells units.
Crucially, apparently the result is disgusting, because amongst all of his myriad other faults, Jamie is a terrible cook.
As we all know, he's not only a terrible cook but also a terrible human being. This is clearly evidenced by every action he has ever taken in his worthless life, not least the smug, sanctimonious attitude, the arrogance, the hypocrisy, the poverty-shaming, the fat-shaming, and the constant moral crusades against anyone who's insufficiently upper-middle-class for his Winchester-addled tastes. But the specific example of his odious nature which is most pertinent right now is his cluelessness. Faced with the prospect that he might have made a teensy social misstep, backed with the weight of plenty of evidence and the outrage of the British Afro-Caribbean community, Jamie's only response is to double down, and call his detractors mad
. So now we can add mental-health-shaming to the list.
Far be it from me to encourage Britons of Jamaican origin to take up the torches and pitchforks and show Jamie what a real barbecue looks like, from the inside. But if you all would choose to do so, I'd consider it an added bonus.
If like me, this whole controversy has just left you craving proper jerk, the Irish Times has a recipe.
Linkdump 22-08-2018
Wed, Aug. 22nd, 2018 10:00- LET'S VISIT SCARBOROUGH! courtesy of the Tripe Marketing Board | Wakelet
On second thought, let's not. Scarborough is just as terrifying as I remember.
- Nightcore - Russian Rock Anthem | YouTube
*Soyuz nerushimiy* "And the singing?" "Let them shing."
- Jamie Oliver accused of cultural appropriation for 'jerk' rice | Metro News
On the plus side, this means that there's a product out there that has the word "PUNCHY" right next to a picture of his gurning fat-tongued mockney twat face.
- weekly_food_challenge | Challenj #48: Bulgar wheat s*l*d
- weekly_food_challenge | Challenj #49: Berries
via Weekly Food Challenge http://bit.ly/2MEAn8t
Linkdump 21-08-2018
Tue, Aug. 21st, 2018 10:00- Iron age logboat | Flickr
The School of Ancient Crafts in collaboration with Granton:Hub, a lot of choppin, and a log the size of a house
- Armageddon vs. Deep Impact: 20 Years Later | IGN
I'd have to watch it again to be certain, which I have no inclination to do, but I recall DEEP IMPACT being dreadful mawkish bullshit. ARMAGEDDON, though flawed, at least was fun.
- On the trail of George Orwell’s outcasts | BBC News
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
- Keep calm and stockpile: An Irish parcel for Brexit Britain | Irish Times
"[A]dvances in vacuum packaging means rationing can be a far jollier affair than it was in [our] grandparents’ day". This is what we look like to the rest of the world.
- How slavery shaped Edinburgh's New Town | Herald Scotland
Henry Dundas strikes again.
Catching up
Sat, Aug. 11th, 2018 09:44Finally got around to watching STAR TREK BEYOND. The last few years have been somewhat disrupted, and I'm regretting that I didn't have the opportunity to watch this one on the big screen. Zooooom! Pow! Blam! Pewpewpewpew EEEEEOWWWWWdooj. (I hope that last one wasn't a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.)
Spectacular, certainly, but what I'm really enjoying about the JJverse movies is the characterization. By this point in the Kelvin timeline, these people are very different to the prime universe counterparts that we know, but I love them anyway. INtO dArKNeSS was a trash film, but it was totally redeemed by performances and dialogue. I would quite happily watch hours and hours of a hypothetical Zac And Zoe Bicker At Each Other Show. Any issues with canonicity of the film's plot can be fixed quite handily, and anything that gives Z&Z more screen time together deserves to be massaged into canon, even if it takes a bit of a stretch. Especially if we get the added bonus of Alice Eve in her space underwear.
BEYOND is like that but more betterer, plus there are none of those tricky issues with continuity. I really like the way they tied in the history of the Federation as established in ENTERPRISE, and somehow managed to make it make sense. The conflict between lofty Federation values and the grittier, more brutal mindset of old pre-unification Earth was beautifully handled, dashed off economically in a handful of lines during an epic fistfight between two top-flight actors. You can tell that the writers of this instalment have a genuine love for the franchise.
And the tribute to Spock Prime and Leonard Nimoy was wonderful. Even if they had to use a still from STV to do it.
Plus, there were splosions.
I've been enjoying DISCOVERY as well. It has its flaws, as does any first season, but it's just so damn pretty. On those occasions when it feels a little too gritty to be Star Trek, I can just watch an episode of THE ORVILLE to detox. Between the two of them, they make one complete expression of where Star Trek should be in the 21st century.
Now if we can just find a way to transport Alara Kitan into the prime universe, I'll be a happy boy.
Linkdump 31-07-2018
Tue, Jul. 31st, 2018 10:00- Brexit provides the perfect ingredients for a national food crisis | Guardian
This is an excellent precis of the situation in which we find ourselves, with only one problem that I can see. The last sentence of the article is four words too long.
- Edinburgh art festival review – a plodding, poor relation of the fringe | Guardian
"Ethical hand-wringing is not art". And hectoring, gatekeeping lectures about what is and isn't art aren't journalism, but what would I know. Good to see Summerhall get a positive shoutout though, and there are a couple of things on (fortunately, ones that Jonathan Jones considers 'art') that I'd like to see.
- Toblerone: Bar to revert to original shape | BBC News
At last, all's right with the world.
- American Society Would Collapse If It Weren’t for These 8 Myths | Truthdig
Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart, the listicle edition. (And yes, it hurt to type that apostrophe.)
- Mass gathering of golden retrievers in Highlands | BBC News
After all that, you deserve a dose of cute.
Linkdump 21-07-2018
Sat, Jul. 21st, 2018 10:00- @CaptainKim on HMG's inhumanity to man | Wakelet
CW for pretty much everything.
- The Prisoner 001 (2018) | View Comic
Yes folks, it's a modern sequel/revival! (Although I think they have the chessboard in the wrong part of the Village, but perhaps they've relandscaped the lawn in the 52 years since we last saw it.) It's being released one episode per month, with #2 already available. Be seeing you.
- Egypt’s Huge Sarcophagus Yields Three Possible Warriors | Archaeology Magazine
I'm not entirely sure what we were all expecting to find innan Ominous Black Sarcophagus. Although, given how much it looks like a photon torpedo casing, I thought it would be more likely to find someone's neatly folded robes than an actual corpse.
- Spoof poster telling parents to shoot their kids if they had rabies was included in an official government magazine | Mirror Online
It is entirely unsurprising to me that the Cabinet Office thought that Scarfolk Council was one of their own. For more information, reread this article.
Linkdump 19-07-2018
Thu, Jul. 19th, 2018 10:00- Archaeologists prepare to open huge granite sarcophagus in Egypt | The Guardian
They have Top Men working on it now.
- Trump can't recall saying he has one of the world's best memories | The Hill
Very good example of Poe's Law, the best. Everyone says so.
- Giant statue of sexy Jeff Goldblum from Jurassic Park unveiled to mark film’s 25th anniversary | Pink News
Your sculptors were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
- The Trump Protest in Pictures | Broughton Spurtle
"Irony and understatement were the order of the day." Contains pictures of friends of mine.
- The Neural Net Tank Urban Legend | Gwern.net
It's like Snopes but for tech folklore! It was Sweeedish tanks in the version I was taught at university. Rule #55 applies here: it doesn't matter if it's true, it's a teachable moment.
Linkdump 13-07-2018
Fri, Jul. 13th, 2018 10:00- A no-deal Brexit survival guide: what food to stockpile | Graun
Better stock up on bondage gear and dune buggies while we're at it.
- A denunciation of Donald Trump | The Scotsman
Tough talk for the Hootsmon. Nothing here we don't already know, but perhaps it's nice to have it all set out plainly in the MSM.
- Who Is Reality Winner? | NYMag
"The World’s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread"
- Forensic Lip-Reader Recovers the Words of Those Who Fought at The Somme | YouTube
Spooky.
- Female dragonflies fake sudden death to avoid male advances | New Scientist
Yes, I think we all know that feeling.
- How the BBC Lost the Plot on Brexit | The New York Review of Books
"What is the point of the BBC if it cannot tackle issues of national importance? What is the point of a news organization that is frightened of journalism?"
Linkdump 12-07-2018
Thu, Jul. 12th, 2018 10:00- Blondie & Philip Glass - 'Heart of Glass (Crabtree Remix)' | daftbeatles - mashups
Yes, it's the one featured on The Handmaid's Tale (s01e03). This is marvellous. Debbie Harry's vocals have never been so haunting, and the relentless textures of Glass' concerto layer against them sumptuously. Best served with a side of slomo splosions and shattering windowpanes, but then so many things are.
- These Atomic Shelters Serve As Housing for Many in Beijing | National Geographic
"Many of the residents are aspiring youth who believe that underground dwelling is just a transitional phase of their life until they gain the financial means for a room with windows and sunlight."
- A Massive, Black Sarcophagus Has Been Unearthed in Egypt, And Nobody Knows Who's Inside | Science Alert
"It could almost be the start of a new Indiana Jones film." Or the apocalypse. Here's hoping.
- Do lesbians have better sex than straight women? | The Guardian
Well, duh.
- Century's longest lunar eclipse July 27 | EarthSky
In Edinburgh moonrise will happen at the same time as the moment of greatest eclipse, 2122 BST. Totality ends at 2213. Best find a high vantage point.
- JUGGALOS | Federal Bureau of Investigation [PDF]
53 tantalizing pages have been redacted from the FBI report on the Safe Streets/Gang Unit's investigation into Juggalos. Of the bits that aren't classified, there's this burn: "Insane Clown Posse can't get its music on the radio, but claim to have 1 million devoted fans".
- Nobody knows what’s inside the newly found massive Egyptian sarcophagus | The Verge
26 Reasons For And Against Opening The Ominous Ancient Black Sarcopahgus. It took about four hours for this fascinating titbit of archaeological news to be turned into a listicle, which is a modern-day curse the Pharaohs could never have imagined. Contains more references to RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK than you're likely to find in the Journal of Archaeological Science, but one can always hold out hope.
Linkdump 04-07-2018
Wed, Jul. 4th, 2018 10:00- Exposure - The cryptocurrency for creative professionals
Finally, when someone offers you an opportunity to do it for the exposure, you can say, "how many Exposure™®?"
- The Rise and Fall of the English Sentence | Nautilus
The cheese the mouse the cat the dog chased chased ate... fell
- Forty years and still going strong | Astronomy.com
TIL that Voyager 1 and 2 come equipped with 8-tracks.
- Sausage roll row: US 'invents' new summer snack | BBC News
Sigh.
- Are these dots purple or blue? Your answer might not be as reliable as you think | AAAS
"When threatening faces or unethical research proposals became less common, people started to consider previously benign examples as posing a threat or being unethical."
Linkdump 29-06-2018
Fri, Jun. 29th, 2018 10:00- Harlan Ellison dies at 84 | Eye for Film
RIP.
- Orion Classics Is Back With Exclusive Clip from 'The Domestics' | Film School Rejects
Ooh. Now this is relevant to my interests. More like this please.
- People kicking these food delivery robots is an early insight into how cruel humans could be to robots | SFGate
Why can't we all just get along?
- Mars Retrograde 2018: What You Need to Know | Teen Vogue
TIL that TEEN VOGUE has a surprisingly good astrology section. If everything's gone catastrophically weird the last couple of days, this is why.
- SMORGASBORD OF MYTHOLOGY! | Myths RETOLD
Now this is how you tell a story. These days. Apparently.
Linkdump 14-06-2018
Thu, Jun. 14th, 2018 10:00- 'You're probably doing business with aliens now': 50yo communist time capsule opened in Siberia | RT World News
"'We have built communism, and you are living under communism,' they wrote optimistically".
- Nothing Compares 2 U: the secrets of Prince's original recording | The Guardian
Christ alive this is good.
- How bad could it be, really? | tigerfort
Better start stockpiling bondage gear and dune buggies.
- Two Norwegian Lawmakers Nominate Trump for Nobel Peace Prize | Bloomberg
OH FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK. I suppose nobody trolls better than a Norwegian. [Warning: infuriating autoplaying video]
- The Lifespan of a Lie | Medium
Changing perspectives on the Stanford Prison Experiment.
- Reality Check: Has the UK's devolution settlement been ripped up? | BBC News
TLDR: Yes. But it's hardly surprising. The powers were always Westminster's to take back whenever they felt like it. Otherwise, devo-max would have been an acceptable alternative to indy. The problem is not that Brexit has provided an excuse for WM to do what WM was always going to do---the problem is the naked contempt with which they've done it. The fact that the whole thing went almost completely unreported until the SNP pulled their little walkout stunt today only serves to underline that.
Linkdump 13-06-2018
Wed, Jun. 13th, 2018 10:00- WHY I WANT TO FUCK RONALD REAGAN
J G Ballard's classic 1968 demolition of the media-friendly politician. What a world it must have been, when this was a novelty deserving of commentary.
- Bare hill of the hind | Walkhighlands
This is why we need rewilding. Moar wolves pls.
- On the Risk of an Accidental or Unauthorized Nuclear Detonation | RAND Corporation, 1958
p. 24. "There are two delusional complexes frequently observed in paranoia or paranoid disorders which could bring forth the intent to cause an unauthorized nuclear detonation. One is the desire to seek fame[...] The other complex is the idea of having a special mission in history."
- On the Hunt for the Lost Wonders of Medieval Britain | Atlas Obscura
There is magic inherent in the land. Also: whirlyholes!
- The Doomed Mouse Utopia That Inspired the 'Rats of NIMH' | Atlas Obscura
In which the mice all started wearing leather bondage gear and driving dune buggies around. Science!
- Rat Park drug experiment comic about addiction | Stuart McMillen comics
For every scientific study there is an equal and opposite study. This utopia seems to conclude with much more optimism.
Linkdump 12-06-2018
Tue, Jun. 12th, 2018 10:00- Bad jobs can warp your sense of what’s normal | Slate
On toxic workplaces, and their similarity to any other form of dysfunctional relationship.
- "We’re America, Bitch:" White House Official Defines Trump Doctrine | The Atlantic
In the current climate, any scholarly political article that references Team America: World Police can only be a good thing.
- First, Let’s Fire All the Managers | Harvard Business Review
A company as red as the tomatoes they process. And they still make money. It can be done.
- The Pivot | Charlie's Diary
Meanwhile in Britain. Charlie recaps everything nicely. (I hadn't seen the news about Dacre, good riddance, but the other day I did have to blink and check what reality I was in when I saw an oddly anti-Brexit headline on the Daily Fail.)
- Carl Jung on Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini (1938) - Populism, Symbolism, Tyranny and "Poor White Trash" | The Shadowland Journal
Captivating analysis of three very different dictators, performed in real time.
- The Food Lab: The Road To Better Risotto | Serious Eats
Now this is how you do a cookery blog. And also how you do a risotto. Nom.
- Rai stones | Wikipedia
"Because these stones are too large to move, buying an item with one simply involves agreeing that the ownership has changed. As long as the transaction is recorded in the oral history, it will now be owned by the person it is passed on to and no physical movement of the stone is required." TIL that the Micronesian islanders invented the blockchain.
- Country crossings: a stile guide | Country Life
This guy stiles.
Linkdump 11-06-2018
Mon, Jun. 11th, 2018 10:00- 'Logan Noir' and A Brief History of the Black-and-White Cut | Film School Rejects
Beautiful shots.
- Scientists Reveal That Quantum Time Travel Exists | Perfect Edition
No they don't, but quantum computation might be possible along open timelike curves in addition to closed ones, which themselves might or might not exist.
- 'London Bridge is down': the secret plan for the days after the Queen’s death | The Guardian
"There may be corgis". And all nonessential work will stop for twelve days and the economy will tank. But there'll be a free bank holiday!
- To solve problems caused by sitting, learn to squat — Quartzy
It's a lost art.
- How the Manhattan Project's Nuclear Suburb Stayed Secret | Atlas Obscura
A charming slice of suburban 1940s Americana.
- The Queen's corgis are dead: long live the 'dorgis' | The Guardian
I stand corrected. There won't be corgis. She's letting them die off before she does. h/t @clanwilliam.
