Just look at that head stabilisation! Male kestrel hunting at South Stack, Anglesey yesterday. pic.twitter.com/z1KKrvPR8S
— Anthony Roberts (@ZedAnthony) June 6, 2019
Month: June 2019
I want to recommend four posts from TYWKIWDBI
Minnesota Stan is probably one of my favorite bloggers. His site is a daily, multiple time visit for me. Here are a few links to stories I found worth checking out:
1. Divertimento #164
I live for these posts where Stan compiles and organizes videos and gifs into one post. It’s a fun way to spend 20 to 30 minutes. My favorite from this post, this compilation of Buster Keaton stunts (mind blowing).
_______________________________
2. Comma splice
Not only is this an amazing error … the comment thread of four responses is a laugh. A geeky laugh, but a laugh indeed.
3. Bernie Sanders explains “democratic socialism”
A snip:
In this regard, President Harry Truman was right when he said that: “Socialism is the epithet they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years…Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.”
I will indefinitely scratch my head over the demonization of the word socialism and the hypocrisy of those who ridicule it, whilst embracing its virtues. There’s not one conservative I know who doesn’t benefit by socialized services, but seemingly red-faced screams over the evils of socialism.
_______________________________
4. This is not a “feel-good story”
The post is about a little boy whose insurance won’t pay for a simple walker, so a group from Home Depot makes the boy a walker from instructions they found on the internet. Feels good right? Wrong. Why do we live in the richest country on earth and the goddamn insurance companies can’t help a family I feel like I notice this a lot, not just in media, but in life.
Be sure to read the insightful addendum to a compilation of these kinds of stories.
The feel-good story is prevalent not just in media, but in daily life. How many times do you hear the friend or family member tell how God has chosen to help the health of the story teller? How many times do you hear how this informs their unyielding faith? And yet that same feel good story is contrasted endlessly with stories of death and hurt that by the listener, that the listener is too kind to bring up as it would dash the positivity of the story teller?
_______________________________
Carry on, Stan, for all time. Love what that guy does and posts.
Will you rub my text neck?
From the BBC (hit this link for more)
Feeling that something might be up, Shahar decided to investigate. Together with his colleague, he analysed over a thousand X-rays of skulls from people ranging from 18 to 86 years old. They measured any spikes and noted what each participant’s posture was like.
What the scientists found was striking. The spike was far more prevalent than they had expected, and also a lot more common in the youngest age group: one in four people aged 18-30 had the growth. Why could this be? And should we be concerned?
Shahar thinks the spike explosion is down to modern technology, particularly our recent obsession with smartphones and tablets. As we hunch over them, we crane our necks and hold our heads forward. This is problematic, because the average head weighs around 10 pounds (4.5 kg) – about as much as a large watermelon.
Text neck
When we’re sitting upright, these hefty objects are balanced neatly on top of our spines. But as we lean forwards to pore over famous dogs on social media, our necks must strain to hold them in place. Doctors call the pain this can cause “text neck”. Shahar thinks the spikes form because the hunched posture creates extra pressure on the place where the neck muscles attach to the skull – and the body responds by laying down fresh layers of bone. These help the skull to cope with the extra stress, by spreading the weight over a wider area.
This twitter thread story was a standout moment for me … read till the end.
Click on the above tweet to read the thread. I love every second of this.
Replacing the T-rex in Jurassic Park with Pee-wee Herman is BRILLIANT …
Holy Alamo! you gotta watch this. It’s so funny and good!
That reminds me of my favorite scene:
Pee-wee : Some night, huh?
Large Marge : On this very night, ten years ago, along this same stretch of road in a dense fog just like this. I saw the worst accident I ever seen. There was this sound, like a garbage truck dropped off the Empire State Building…
[cut to a few minutes later]
Large Marge : And when they finally pulled the driver’s body from the twisted, burning wreck. It looked like this…!
[Turns to Pee-wee and makes grotesque face]
Pee-wee : Aaaaaahh!
Large Marge : Yes, Sir! The worst accident I ever seen.
Holy shit science! Brain-Eating Amoeba Can Be Found All Over The Place And We’re Not Okay
Aeon: “Rejection kills”
The brain makes no distinction between a broken bone and an aching heart. That’s why social exclusion needs a health warning
Still Ill: 25 Years of the Beastie Boys
Still Ill is a short documentary about the Beastie Boys’ career from approximately Paul’s Boutique to Ill Communication.
The Beasties were (and maybe still are) one of my favorite groups of all time. Their work, except for their first album, is some of my favorite music of all time.
This 15 minute doc is a good little tour down memory lane.
Le Café Wittypoots 