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An emerging new picture of animal consciousness
The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, signed by 88 researchers, asks us to consider more non-human creatures as capable of subjective experiences.
The Colorblind Campaign to Undo Civil Rights Progress
Colorblindness was the goal, color-consciousness the remedy. Nikole Hannah-Jones (previously) examines the historic and present-day use of colorblindness to oppose Black progress. (SLNYT)
Looking for a particular Orwell reflection on colonialism and economics
Can anyone find a passage in George Orwell's essays where he argues that Britain will have to get used to a lower standard of living following the end of its colonial empire?
The excellent AA recalled such a reflection in a thread on degrowth, but none of us have yet sourced it.
A better day after
Are we the product of some cosmic coincidence?
Rooster Teeth is shutting down. Warner Bros. Discovery is ending the Austin-based media enterprise after 21 years.
Moon landings, a wooden satellite, Tolkien on Mars, fiery descents
The Martian helicopter completed its final flight on Valinor Hills. "yeah it really could be an ocean moon" - Let's check in on humanity's exploration of space in early 2024.
The monster, shown.
RIP, David John Skal. The novelist, horror scholar, NPR interviewee, occasional movie writer and guest died at 71.
“I am today suspending my campaign"
Exit DeSantis. Florida governor Ron DeSantis ended his campaign and endorsed Trump just before the New Hampshire primary.
They are coming. And there's nothing you can do to stop them.
New Three Body Problem trailer appears. Netflix posted a longer trailer for their upcoming series, adapted from Liu Cixin's novel.
"more garments than we need or that the Earth can safely hold"
Clothes and fire in the desert. Julia Shipley & Muriel Alarcón investigate a vast dump of used clothes and what it might mean for fast fashion and the circular economy. (also in Spanish)
There are two named individuals known to live at the North Pole.
"Something’s off about this story." What's going on with Santa Claus and the northernmost tip of the Earth? Sam Kriss (previously) explores. (SLMedium)
Asteroid bits, fast spaceships, JuMBOs, a space battle, space cat video
December 2023 solstice from space. Let's check in on humanity's solar system exploration before 2024 kicks in.
"I wanted it all to go down."
The Machine Breaker. Christopher Ketcham profiles Stephen McRae, who briefly conducted a one-person campaign against industrial civilization.
(via)
We interrupt this broadcast
CBN, RBS, and not really the BBC Mockumentary or pseudodocumentary Nuclear Confrontation between Russia and NATO (2018) uses fake/semiplausible BBC news programs and archival footage to tell the story of how such a conflict might occur.
It's the latest example of the genre.
It's the latest example of the genre.
Looking for an older anime about a mad scientist and sharks
I'm trying to find an anime I started watching back in the 1990s, but can't identify now.
What I recall:
1) An opening scene involving a global crisis, the climax of which had a very sad mad scientist explaining why the world was doomed.
2) A shift to underwater scenes with relatively cheerful sharks.
Launches, landings, elements, and the fiery golden apples of the sun
NASA started work on this day in 1958. So let's mark the occasion by checking on the past month of humanity's exploration of space.
Feeling lunar gravity
Had ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the lunar surface. Let's check in on humanity's exploration of space as autumn 2023 draws nigh, starting with the Sun and working outwards from there.
Analyzing the groundwater crisis
"America has been slow to learn the lessons of overpumping." The New York Times offers a powerfully researched and visualized account of the building crisis in America's groundwater supply. (SLNYT)
Just a tiny little brute
"I'm the first to admit when I make a mistake. I simply never do." There is now a trailer for Napoleon (Apple TV+, fall 2023). Ridley Scott directs. Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby star. Dariusz Wolski does the cinematography.
To the other side of the Sun, to resurrect the last Great Observatory
Launches, satellites, deep space missions, images, and more. Let's check in on humanity's exploration of space for July 2023.
After the cyborg, a bestial revelation
Following the chimera out of the dead soil of the human will be an unnerving experience. "But that’s precisely how we’ll know we’re on the right path." Leo Kim asks us to think beyond Donna Haraway's cyborg, and towards a speculative monster better suited for our time.
Skulls of your enemies, but planted with succulents
What is cozy horror? At the Mary Sue Julia Glassman explains the subgenre and offers examples, notably Over the Garden Wall.
We therefore advocate a revolution against the industrial system.
Theodore John Kaczynski, 1942-2023. A/k/a the Unabomber, Kaczynski died in prison, within North Carolina's Federal Medical Center.
This is the most important thing to happen in the history of the world.
The Oppenheimer trailer is here. The film is directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Cillian Murphy as the title and historical character.
Hello from lunar orbit! 🌔
An eclipse, the heart of a supernova, rockets up and down the gravity well, and more missions. Here's a snapshot of humanity's exploration of space in April 2023.
Showing that you’re on the battlefield of education
Inside Hillsdale College. Emma Green (previously) explores an influential conservative campus, an inspiration for Florida governor DeSantis' takeover of New College. (SLNewYorker)
What is paltering?
When you say, "I finished my math homework," when in reality all you did was take 5 minutes to write “666” in all of the answer boxes. At Heated Emily Atkin (previously) explains one way fossil fuel companies lie about their actions.
Volcano on Venus
A Martian glacier, rockets, asteroid samples, moons, and more rockets. From the fiery Sun to the search for alien civilizations, here's an update on humanity's exploration of space.
Sol
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured video of an immense solar flare followed by a solar tornado.
Sol
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured video of an immense solar flare followed by a solar tornado.
Each turned out to be dangerous on an almost unimaginable scale
"A double delight is dichlorodifluoromethane, with its thirteen consonants and ten vowels." Steven Johnson explores two inventions of Thomas Midgley Jr., freon and leaded gas, each lauded at its time, and each subsequently proven to be disasters. (SLNYT) (previously)
Access to a certain inner experience of love
“We’ve often had the kind of stress and struggle of, like, is this working?” Rachel Aviv (previously) writes about professor Agnes Callard (previously) and how she integrates philosophy into her marriages.
“I view the humanities as very hobby-based,” she said.
It’s like thinking back to when Latin was the center of the world— Nathan Heller (previously) explores the decline of the English major in American higher education. (SLNY) (Archive.is copy)
Into the rest of the 21st century
Originally titled Gaia The trailer for Extrapolations, an upcoming Apple TV streaming series, appeared. It has an impressive cast.
Her career was being monitored, prodded and shaped by a group of spies
The worst literary agent? Bryan Denson begins the story by describing how journalist/literary agent Robert Eringer helped Earth Liberation Front spokesperson Craig Rosebraugh develop a book. Then things take a turn. (SLNYT)
An unusually close glimpse of black hole snacking on star.
The Moon doesn’t currently have an independent time. It's time for another look at humanity's exploration of space, from 2022's end to the start of 2023. There's a lot going on, especially between the Earth's surface and orbit.
The end of Frank.
The biggest bank in the country did something extraordinary: It said it had been conned. JPMorgan Chase is suing Frank Financial Aid (YouTube), a higher education financial aid company it bought for $175 million in 2021. The finance company now alleges that Frank massively misrepresented its work and assets, and paid a data science professor to create millions of fake accounts.
Robots posing with some butter
Whenever one of these models is upgraded, it becomes less good. Janelle Shane asks software to create novelty sock ideas. Various surreal designs result. ChatGPT appears to like alliteration.
Stills from a film made in a parallel timeline
David Cronenberg's Galaxy of Flesh (1985) Keith Schofield used AI art generator Midjourney to produce images from another movie which never existed. (CW Cronenberg body horror, obviously)
From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon
Helga, Zohar and Commander Moonikin Campos take a trip. It's time for another look at humanity's exploration of space, starting with the Sun.
The European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter glimpsed a "solar snake" racing across the face of the Sun.
The European Space Agency-led Solar Orbiter glimpsed a "solar snake" racing across the face of the Sun.
Exploring the quietest place on Earth
Opening the door to an industrial refrigerator that has been affixed to a Cubist sculpture of Fozzie Bear Caity Weaver visits what might be the most silent, anechoic human-built space on Earth. (gift link)
Gregory Dale Bear, 1951 - 2022.
R.I.P. an American science fiction writer. Winner of Hugo and Nebula awards, Bear wrote more than fifty books.
The face of the sun, a dying robot, meteor strikes, lovely moons
October 2022 in humanity's exploration of space. Let's start from the sun. The European Space Agency (ESA) Solar Orbiter zoomed very close to our star and captured great images of its corona.
gentle but firm hand to the students and those who pay the tuition bills
Not rehired at New York University. NYU decided not to hire adjunct professor Dr. Maitland Jones Jr. to teach another organic chemistry class after students circulated a petition against his teaching (unpaywalled link). Jones, lead author of a popular orgo textbook, tried to file a grievance, but was blocked. Some students charged Jones with being unnecessarily negative in grading and commentary, while he argued that students have been poorly prepared for the class.
Moon to Mars activities and asteroid crashing
NASA published its new strategic objectives. And a lot more is going on. Just past the fall equinox, we catch up with humanity's exploration of space.
Im Westen nichts Neues
A German film of _All Quiet on the Western Front_ The trailer for a new movie adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's 1929 novel All Quiet On The Western Front appeared.
Ghost Story
Peter Straub, 1943 - 2022. A leading American horror writer, Straub was well known for his 1979 novel Ghost Story, which was turned into a 1981 movie. He published 17 novels and numerous short stories.
Arguably the single most influential public intellectual alive today
The analysis and importance of Wang Huning. The New Yorker profiles Wang Huning (王沪宁), an influential Chinese political thinker, member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo's Standing Committee, and author of a 1991 book about America.
From the Earth to the Moon, to Venus, Mars, and more
A roundup of July and August 2022 in humanity's exploration of space. Humans and robots explored, rockets ascended and descended, various preparations are under way, and many plans were aired.
When it was working, it was a gift economy
Why is humanities scholarship struggling? Peer review in those fields is apparently slowing down and getting harder to accomplish. Maybe it's because of changing faculty attitudes.
Looking into the universe in June 2022
Today NASA published the first image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. That makes this a fine day to catch up on all of the other ways people and our machines are exploring space.
From Ukraine to deep space
April-June 2022 in humanity's exploration of space. Stand by for rocky passengers, glitches, amazing images, a very French rocket name, Earthly politics, and lots of asteroids.
On the Earth In the Himalayas, a liquid mirror telescope came online. France joined the Artemis accords for sustainable space exploration. BRICS nations announced a new space agreement: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
On the Earth In the Himalayas, a liquid mirror telescope came online. France joined the Artemis accords for sustainable space exploration. BRICS nations announced a new space agreement: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.