Internet Wading for June 2019

Pop music and culture, history, interesting (or just odd) stories in the news, science, art—those are the things that get into these Internet Wading posts. And since I share a lot of pop music, why not start there?

“Hit Charade”, a 2016 story from The Atlantic talks about “the bald Norwegians and other unknowns who actually create the songs that top the charts”. The article says: “ If you flip on the radio, odds are that you will hear one of their songs.” And most of us would never know that.

When Dr. John (the stage name of Malcolm John “Mac” Rebennack died earlier this month, I read the obituary on the NBC News site and was surprised to learn that he sang the Popeyes Chicken jingle ("Love That Chicken From Popeyes"). That was one of those things I never knew, but also something that was so obvious once I knew. But, then, I seldom pay attention to music used in commercials, unless it’s a current pop song, so there’s that. Like most people, I probably know him best for his biggest hit, “Right Place, Wrong Time” [Listen to the official audio on YouTube], a 1973 song that seemed impossible to avoid—or bop along to—in its day.

What about Movies? “Remake My Day” compares movies with their remake(s). There are many ways of looking at it: What critics thought, what audiences thought, and their profitability. They also compare rankings and then divergence in opinions.

On to history! Runner’s World (appropriately enough…) published “The Surprising History of Streaking (Yes, the Naked Kind)". Because we should know our history, right?

Similarly little known history is that of Joan Jett Blakk, the story of a performer and activist who ran for Chicago Mayor and US President. A new play, Ms. Blakk for President, has opened in Chicago and tells one of the many LGBT+ stories not often remembered these days—though I do because I was still in Chicago during the first two campaigns. As the Windy City Times review puts it:

“Whether the effort was performative or real, Chicago witnessed history in the early 1990s when Joan Jett Blakk, an African American drag queen who was the creation of activist Terence Smith, ran not just for Chicago Mayor, but in 1992 ran for president of the United States.”

“The Extraordinary ‘Cookbooks’ Left Behind by Prisoners of War and Concentration Camp Victims” is about what the title suggests. It’s also fascinating.

Similarly interesting is "40 Years of New York City Captured Through a Taxi Driver's Photos”, which combines history and photography. Can’t go wrong with that.

Interesting, sure, but also kind of alarming is “When 20,000 American Nazis Descended Upon New York City”, a 2017 story from The Atlantic, about a short film (up top), about that evening. I knew about that night, and about the American “bundists”, but it’s still disturbing to see so many Americans gleefully embracing Nazism. These days it seems it could happen again.

Some science, history, and pop culture all in one! “The English Word That Hasn’t Changed in Sound or Meaning in 8,000 Years", which is both not what I expected, and fascinating all at the same time. Obscure history, science, and pop culture all rolled into one—what’s not to like?

Speaking of pop culture and history, The Atlantic’s 2016 story, “The Hot New Millennial Housing Trend Is a Repeat of the Middle Ages”, seems likely to have overstated its case a bit, but there are millennials who do similar things—just most don’t not necessarily due it to the extent or in precisely the way the article suggests. On the other hand, it’s been suggested as something that would be good for senior citizens. They might actually be more likely to embrace it.

About older people, sort of, how about ”The rise of granny panties”? “High-waisted underpants made a huge comeback”. We all needed to know that.

“Forget fast fashion: slow style pioneers on the clothes they've worn for decades” from The Guardian. There was even a Kiwi in the mix. There’s nothing I’ve had for decades (apart from a couple things from my childhood that I keep for sentimental reasons), but I do have some shirts I’ve had for maybe 15 years. They’ve lasted because they’re seasonal (I only wear them over the course of a few months), and because I take care of them. There’s an advantage in this: Clothes that one buys from a big retailer are everywhere when first purchased, but unique a year or two later when everyone else has moved on to The Next Fad. Being thrifty has fashion advantages, it turns out.

Fads are something that come and go all over the place, including, these days, in health and food. “There’s no such thing as ‘bad food.’ Four terms that make dietitians cringe”. This Washington Post story covers terms that I can’t stand, either. Don’t be get started on “detox”!

Technology is sometimes hard for people to wrap their heads around, especially if science isn't their "thing". Lately I’ve seen a lot of utter nonsense about the upcoming 5G cellphone spectrum and its supposed harm to people. Yeah, social media helping to spread disinformation and misinformation yet again. Surprise! Well, it turns out that there was one story that was actually worth reading: “Debate rages over 5G impact on US weather forecasting” from Physics World.

On another technological note, “The Catch-22 That Broke The Internet” from Wired. In early June, “Google couldn’t fix its cloud, because Google’s cloud was broken.” Oops.

Space’s final frontier—madness! I always thought it was a joke, often perpetuated by satirists, but apparently believers in “lizard people aliens” are real: “It looked like a simple domestic murder. Then police learned about the alien reptile cult.” It's from The Washington Post, so it’s apparently for real—though for a story like that, I wish it was real “fake news”. It’s kind of disturbing to know that people who believe in that are real and walking among us.

Well, maybe a real story about actual space instead: “Views From Above: The Past Eight Months in Orbit”. Earth is pretty awesome, really.

• • •

That’s it for this wading adventure. Time to get back to winter and hibernating—I mean, um, wading around.

Internet Wading for May 2019

I may not have as many things to share this month, but they were still interesting. Well, to me, anyway.

In last month’s Internet Wading post, I shared a story about a “trash shopping mall”, and a New Zealand version of sorts. This month, I have a similar two-for: “The zero-waste revolution: how a new wave of shops could end excess packaging” talks about shops in the UK where things can be bought in bulk, like in grocery shops of maybe a century ago. Here in New Zealand, there’s a chain of locally-owned shops, Bin-Inn, that sell a portion of their offerings in bulk—but not everything. They do allow customers to bring in their own containers, though, as the UK shops do. Another chain called Commonsense Organics also sells some products in bulk. Recently, mainstream NZ-owned supermarket cooperative company Foodstuffs NZ has announced that it will allow customers to bring their own containers areas to staff-run counters (like the deli), mainly for food safety reasons, as well as to make sure people aren’t charged for the weight of the container. One of the few shops similar to the UK ones that I could find in New Zealand is called GoodFor Wholefoods Refillery, with three locations in upmarket Auckland suburbs (“neighbourhoods” in Americanese). Of course, I already use my own bags.

Speaking of buying things, Vox published “How brands get their names, explained by a professional namer”. Some names are definitely dumb, though (“Dunkin”? Seriously?!).

Time for some art: The oldest painting of New Zealand in Te Papa’s collection is going on display at the museum in Wellington. Painted in 1776, it depicts a landing Captain James Cook made at Dusky Sound in 1773 during his second Pacific voyage. A piece called “Unbelievable 3D Sculptures Show How Historical Figures Actually Looked!” is partly interesting—partly because some of the “unbelievable!” images are actually extrapolations based on things like busts. The ones based on skulls, though, are fascinating.

There’s always time for pop music: “100 Obscure and Remarkable CD Covers". I have (or had) several of them.

“10 Emoji Meanings That Don't Mean What You Think”. Unless, of course, they do. For the most part, I thought the meanings were obvious, or else I’ve never seen them used.

An article in The Atlantic, “The J. R. R. Tolkien Story That Makes the Case for Fantasy Fiction”, makes the case that Tolkien’s “tale about a painter that elegantly argues for the value of escapism in literature”. Given the increasing success of fantasy literature, TV shows, and films, maybe he was on to something.

Merriam-Webster: “We Added New Words to the Dictionary in April 2019”.

An article, “Taking Sides: When left- or right-handedness is a matter of life and death” isn’t about politics—it’s about science.

That's it for this short wade; it's autumn and a bit chilly.

Internet Wading for April 2019

President William Henry Harrison (ca 1841)

So, after an unplanned break, and some not-very-interesting technical problems, Internet Wading is back, and it’s a mixed bag, as usual. First up, some pop music.

A piece in The Guardian, “Giorgio Moroder – his 20 greatest songs, ranked” has pretty obvious subject. I don’t actually know a lot of the songs the article talks about, and I think that calling the soundtrack to Metropolis “overblown” is somewhat unfair, but “Arthur’s Law”, and all that.

Another article talking about music that was more peripheral for me was “Deciphering the Mystery of Joy Division” in The Atlantic. I had only one Joy Division song, on a compilation of songs from MTV’s 120 Minutes, which was one of my favourite TV shows back in the 1980s. The song was “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, which was released in June 1980. Wikipedia describes it very matter of factly: “Its lyrics were inspired by lead singer Ian Curtis's marriage problems and frame of mind before his suicide in May 1980.”

I was much more familiar with, and a fan of, Joy Division’s successor band, New Order. I bought several of their albums—and later re-bought them through iTunes.

Speaking of pop culture, and consumerism, I was intrigued by “Welcome to my high-fashion, trash shopping mall”, a story about “a stylish shopping mall in Sweden, where everything is second-hand.” That concept is intriguing—and a way to close the final loop in reusing stuff rather than burying it in a landfill. Here in New Zealand, we have much lower-key shops around the country located at a few tips (“dumps” in Americanese), and technically called “waste transfer stations”. One such example is “Tipping Point”, the shop at Waitakere (West Auckland). It was only re-named that last year, and is a pun. It’s also a good example of what can be done.

Language and food? Why not? “Foreign Foods You Might Be Pronouncing Wrong”. And, just by the way, mostly I’m not. Well, not the ones I know, anyway, but maybe a couple others that have different local pronunciation here.

Speaking of language, “Did German almost become America’s official language in 1795?” I couldn’t possibly spoil the story, but we all know what language “won”.

Speaking of US history, “’His Accidency’: The first president to die in office and the Constitutional confusion that followed” tells the story of President William Henry Harrison, the ninth president, who died a month after his inauguration, and the man who succeed him,Vice President John Tyler. I grew up hearing my mother talking about their 1840 presidential campaign slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler, too”, so I was pre-disposed to learn the story. These days I bet most Americans don’t know it.

And finally, a little science: “Snapshot of extinction: Fossils show day of killer asteroid”, though we all know that, er, um, certain people will dismiss this story out of hand. Doesn’t mean it’s not true, of course. And, sharing stuff that certain people will dismiss out of hand is just part of the service I provide. You're welcome.

That's enough wading for now. Water's getting cold.

The photo of President William Henry Harrison is by Albert Sands Southworth (American, 1811–1894) and Josiah Johnson Hawes (American, 1808–1901). Edited by: Fallschirmjäger [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Internet Wading: Mind things

Much Internet has been waded since the last Internet Wading post in November. I skipped December because of Christmas, mainly, and January because of my birthday. I was busy a busy boy around those times. Even so, I still ran across interesting things. A couple of them are even in this Internet Wading post.

First up, Mockingbird Lane is a site at which 3D designer Marina Coates produces 3D versions of famous TV sitcom homes, replacing the fourth wall with an actual wall so they’re like real houses. She also often imagines what they might look like if they’d been remodelled. However, with the Brady Bunch house (video above), she realised that the exterior doesn’t make sense for the interior shown on the show. Still, making something more or less real out of something fake is interesting in itself.

Speaking of creative work, “Photographer Tracks Down People He Snapped In His Hometown Almost 40 Years Ago To Recreate The Remarkable Images”. Many of the images really are pretty remarkable.

A professional photographer tells us “Why I Deleted All of My Social Media and 60,000 Followers”. It’s got to do with the creative process itself. Does that means those with low engagement on social media are more authentic in what they create? Asking for a friend.

Which is a good point to talk about technology, starting with an easy one: “230 New Emojis in Final List for 2019”. I’m a big fan of emojis, actually. Emojipedia made a video about them, too:



Speaking of technology, “While we rage against the evils of media, Silicon Valley’s titans pollute our lives”. It offers some strategies (and reasons) for stepping back from social media.

But it’s not that easy for most people to quit social media. The folks at Digg put together, “The Bad Tech Companies We're Quitting In 2019 — And The Ones We Can't”. Quitting all tech companies/social media really isn’t an option for everyone.

Because we can’t resist all social media or tech companies, maybe it’s true that, “We need an ‘AI sidekick’ to fight malicious AI”.

Speaking of things most of us can’t do: “Don’t Reply to Your Emails”. Okay, than.

Back in things human, it turns out that “A Leaky Memory May Be a Good Thing”. However, there are memories we want to keep—or restore. A study has found that “Memories of music cannot be lost to Alzheimer's and dementia”. It says that, “The part of your brain responsible for ASMR catalogs music, and appears to be a stronghold against Alzheimer's and dementia.” It’s not a new article, but it’s interesting all the same.

Speaking of brains that don’t work correctly, a study has found a “Link between brain damage and religious fundamentalism established by scientists”. It’s safe to say that to some of us that may seem rather self-evident.

A more political story actually may be related: “Virginia Study Finds Increased School Bullying In Areas That Voted For Trump”. This is also not surprising. But maybe something else political is: “Eight Marxist Claims That May Surprise You”.

A local issue, though the article isn’t about New Zealand, looks at a question that sometimes comes up about this country is, why people choose to live near active volcanoes. Only a few volcanoes erupt at any time, and a volcano that’s technically active may by dormant for hundreds or thousands of years. Besides, as the article points out, referring to remarks from Jenni Barclay, a volcanologist at the University of East Anglia, “that the question of why people live near volcanoes could just as easily be posed to city dwellers, who face more crime and often, worse pollution. In both cases, residents are likely to respond that the benefits outweigh the risks.”

That’s it for this Wading in the Internet. Safer than volcanoes, it was.

Internet Wading: Numbers, words, food, and art

Another month has passed, and the links to random, interesting, and randomly interesting things have piled up. The list is varied, as always, with numbers, words, food, and art. And history, of course. Gotta have some of that.

I’ve often said that these posts are the catch-all for things I see on the Internet over a month that will never make it into their own post, but I realised recently that making a list of such things may imply something about me, and it does: I’m as random in what I find interesting as this list is.

But sometimes I find things interesting that I don’t even fully understand, like the video above, or the article, “Numberphile Explains the World's Most Evil Number Named After One of Hell's Princes”. What I don’t understand is anyone thinking numbers are creepy, or the whole devil thing. Maybe one has to believe in hell and satan and all that to see creepiness in the numbers.

Well, maybe some numbers we can all hate: Time. “A brief history of (New Zealand Standard) time” tells the story of how New Zealand was the first to adopt a universal time for the entire country. New Zealand has always been ahead of time. You’re welcome.

Well, maybe some art: “The Myth of Whiteness in Classical Sculpture” talks about what it sounds like, and I’d heard all this before, the pictures were helpful.

Talking about the real colour of Greek sculpture is moving into science, so may as well talk about real science, what archaeologists have been up to. For instance, “Archeologist Discovered Evidence Of Ancient Chemical Warfare”. People being cruel in warfare is nothing new, apparently. And speaking of warfare, “Archaeologists Discovered vast medieval Buildings buried under prehistoric fortress at Old Sarum, England”. It may have been built by Henry I.

Food—or, food history: “Great Depression Grub – 5 Makeshift Meals People Made when Food was Scarce”. My mother made the first one all the time. It was okay. She also made green bean casserole: “Dorcas Reilly, 92, New Jersey woman who invented green bean casserole, is dead”.

More specifically contemporary history also came my way this past month. For example, “They were a gay, interracial couple in an age of relentless bigotry. The two Harolds didn’t flinch.”. This was a nice story of a sort not told often enough.

Contemporary life also features a lot in posts that I find. For example, “How to write the perfect sentence”, which looks at what famous writers thought about sentences. Probably interesting mostly to the writer hidden inside me somewhere or other. The blogger in me found this list interesting when I was double-checking a quote: “The Top 10: Misattributed Quotations”.

Recently, anthropologist David Graeber spoke to Radio New Zealand on “Why bullshit jobs are booming”. There’s audio at the link, but the article is pretty thorough.

Finally, a problem we don’t have in New Zealand: “Discarding Halloween pumpkins adds to greenhouse effect, so take advantage of drop-off site or a Pumpkin Smash”. I applaud the effort—and it’s certainly not something anyone worried about when I was a kid, though clearly we should have. New Zealand doesn’t have the orange pumpkins, and what they apply that name to are what Americans call squash. The remains are are usually put in home compost, and the stereotype is the plants growing out of some gardener’s compost heap. I should add, I don’t now how common that really is. We’ve certainly never had that happen, but, we’ve always had bins, not heaps.

Well, that’s it, so it’s time to pumpkin catapult this month’s Internet Wading post.

Internet Wading: A bit of it

I missed sharing links last month, for whatever reason, but the links keep piling up no matter what. So, time to share the things I’ve been paying attention to over the past couple months.

First up, the video above, “Why we say ‘OK’”. Because, really, who doesn’t want to know why we say okay?!

Another topic I like, but seldom (?) share on this blog, is photography. There have been a couple things I saw recently that captured my attention. First, “Jack Delano's Color Photos of Chicago's Rail Yards in the 1940s”. The photos are amazing as art, but even more so as a record of a city/state/country that is long gone.

Photography, like all art, can make us look at things in new ways, and one way to do that is to reimagine things. A good example is “Male Photographer Reverses Gender Roles In Sexist Vintage Ads, And Some Men Don’t Like Them”. I thought this was a really good effort, though it was far too challenging for some people. As always.

And then, just recently, we saw “Trump Hangs ‘Tacky’ Fantasy Painting of Himself With GOP Presidents in White House” and the comments have been fierce and partisan. The painter is Australian-born, and has made similar paintings of Democrats. Indeed, his work is clearly bi-partisan, and his motivation, if it can be called that, seems to be to make money. Is that not The American Way™? I think the painting is nauseating, but I’d actually say that for all his works. Despite that, I can admire his focusing his work on what would sell to the USA’s hyperpartisan market. Yes, the picture is utter crap, but full credit to the creator for working out how to market to, and take advantage of, the USA’s hyperpartisan reality.

Mind you, not everyone is happy about that hyperpartisan reality: “I’m Convinced There’s No Hope for America. Please Talk Me Out of It,” by Paul Fidalgo. I can’t contradict him.

Of course—as we all know—part of the reason the USA is so hopeless and helpless is social media, the place without rationality or reason, where discourse goes to die. And, we’re ALL things to be bought and sold, whether we know it—or agree to it—or not. For example: “Anti-social media: Facebook and surveillance capitalism”. True, dat.

Well, screw reality!! How about what we really care about?!! “WishbookWeb Catalog” has various US catalogues from days gone by (are any of them still alive?), and they’re the stuff of my younger days. The men’s underwear ads. Nuff said.

Screw politics, too, and all that junk, let’s—well, not do that. How about we consider: “Sail Away: How Enya’s ‘Orinoco Flow’ Went From a Hit to a Punch Line to a Pop Culture Anthem”. Back in the “New Age” era, I was living in Chicago, and I really did listen to a radio station, WNUA, that had as its tagline, “Music for a New Age”. One of my favourite albums from that time was a “New Age” Christmas album, and though I haven’t heard it for more than 20 years, I still remember how it made me feel. Enya, well, maybe not so much, but sometimes, sure.

And that’s it for this month’s (or is it months’?) Internet Wading. More—well, next time.

Internet wading: Lost and found

Every month the Internet shows me things I didn’t already know, as well as some I’ve seen and forgotten about. These “Internet Wading” posts are my way to share that sort of stuff, most of which wouldn’t make it into a blog post otherwise. But this month begins with something I thought I’d blogged about, but didn’t.

The video above, “How gay men used to speak – A short film in Polari” is a fascinating look at the coded language gay men used in England when homosexuality was still illegal. The langauge is largely dead now, but still exists in some pockets (see also: “This Secret Language Allowed Gay Men To Communicate When Homosexuality Was Illegal”).

The piece, “A brief history of George Washington Carver: the greatest 'bisexual' black scientist of his time”, was talking about another person who was bi or even gay, though most people these days still don’t know that. As I said last month when talking about Baron Von Steuben and other famous dead gay people:

What all these people have in common is the need that some heterosexual scholars have to “de-gay” people in the past. It denies LGBT+ people our history and our culture, but, worse, by erasing us from history, it also perpetuates the political myth that LGBT+ people are something new, and it’s some sort of fad.

Besides, where do those scholars get off acting like there would be something BAD about someone having been gay?!

Speaking of history: “Nina Simone’s Childhood Home Gets ‘National Treasure’ Designation”, a story that made me happier than it probably reasonably could be expected to have done.

Maybe some more of the past being encountered in the present: “Out of the wreckage”. “Last year, a Yukon couple investigated a crashed plane in the B.C. mountains near Alaska. What they uncovered solved another family's 50-year-old mystery.” It’s a fascinating story, and a very human one.

It wouldn’t be one of my Internet Wading posts if some pop culture didn’t sneak in: “‘Babylon 5’ is great, so why does it look so bad?”. Sure this answers a question I didn’t know that I wanted an answer to, but it turns out to be a really interesting subject. I was a fan of the show back in the day, and its multi-year story arc (something Star Trek: Deep Space Nine also did really well).

Maybe some personal improvement? “Miserable in your 40s? Don’t panic, it’s perfectly normal”. Well, I certainly wasn’t miserable in my 40s, and that’s coming up on decadeS (plural) ago, but it’s interesting all the same to learn about the commonality of human experiences.

Something unexpected: “The Best Way to Wipe Your Butt, According to the Experts”. Who doesn’t want to be clean and tidy downunder? Based on the title, I thought this article might be a bit tongue in cheeks, so to speak, but it’s actually serious. I suppose someone had to be.

Something we all need: “10 Science-Backed Tips for Getting a Cat to Like You”. Personally, I don’t think it’s that difficult.

Did you know that “Our homes don’t need formal spaces”? well, sure, we probably all DO know this. Maybe it’s why I’m so utterly fascinated with tiny houses, even though I could never live in one.

Back to some things I meant to share at some earlier point, like this article from 2012: “Jesus wept … oh, it's bad plumbing. Indian rationalist targets 'miracles'”. At the time I saw it, it made me chuckle—until I found out that those revealing the truth were facing jail time for having done so. Sheesh, some people need to relax!

Another article from 2012, “’Can I Use This?’ How Museum and Library Image Policies Undermine Education”, talks about how museums and libraries are missing out on the digital age, partly for lack of appropriate use of technology, through to inappropriate use of copyright, and forms of harm these policies cause.

From the (2013) news files: “Gavin Newsom: We put a human face on same-sex marriage debate” from Salon. The article takes on the charge that Newsom’s actions helped re-elect Bush the Second.

That same year, TruthOut published a piece, “FCC Poised to Open the Door for Unbridled Expansion of Media Empires”. This seems so quaint now, with the FCC now under control of more radical rightwingers, the end of Net Neutrality, and the growing influence of far-right media outlets, many of them outside traditional media structures.

These old articles were “lost” to me because I’d saved links to them on a page of an Apple program called “Notes” on my desktop computer and laptop. There are equivalent Apps available on all iOS devices, like my iPhone and iPad, as well, and they all sync with each other using the cloud. Some years back, when I saw an interesting article, I’d put those links on a Notes document—and forgot about them. I also tried a Google Doc for the same purpose, and created one of these posts from it. However, it was much more cumbersome than Notes. Later, I started emailing links to myself, something I still do, in fact.

However, I've realised that having one place where everything is accessible from all my devices is incredibly useful, and starting this month I resumed using Notes. And that’s how I came across those old articles (I saw the video up top about Polari when it was new, back in 2015).

Now that all ye olde links are out of the way, I’ll clear the file so I can use it for next month’s post, and so on. I finally have a system to ensure I keep doing these posts regularly.

Which goes to show that I can learn something because of Internet Wading posts, too.

Internet Wading: Devices, aliens, and a birth

Time to wade into the wonderful warm waters of the Internet for some more interesting, quirky, or annoying things I ran across this month, things that would never make a blog post of their own. If, you know, I was actually blogging regularly. Still, here we go with anotgehr outbreak of worryitis.

There was a lot of hoopla in the news in NZ recently, as there is from time to time, about device addiction. Much of it comes across as the news media obsessing about some health condition they just heard about (or, maybe, made up?) or sinply forgot they already obsessed about that same topic many times before. The graphic up top about “America’s device addiction” clearly represents survey data, but it also nevertheless carries the feeling of the original survey’s silent handwringing and pearl-clutching, the sort of thing the newsmedia feeds off of.

The NZ Herald held up a moral champion in a story “Teen's smartphone addiction: 'I only slept three hours a night'”. The Herald gives us a warm, fuzzy anti-device ending to the story. Whew! But hey, we mustn’t worry about phones and tablets alone! “Gaming addiction declared a mental disorder”. The bottom line, though, is that some people do, indeed, struggle with over-dependence on electronic devices and technology of one sort or another. But the newsmedia seems incapable of separating them from people who may use technology “too much”, but who can just as easily move on. An honest discussion of the issues is good, moral panics are not, and neither is demonising people because someone somewhere thinks they use their electronic device “too much”.

Now on to some real science: “New Scientific Theory For Origin Of Octopuses: They’re Aliens”. Well, of course they are. Duh! Or, how about “NASA Releases 4K Video Of The Moon Ending The Moon Landing Conspiracy”, because nothing stops a conspiracy theory as effectively as facts and evidence, right?

On to the Arts! “21 Books You’ve Been Meaning To Read”, because who doesn’t need to feel inadequate about something else in their lives? On the other hand, “Ivan Albright’s meticulous attention to the human body continues to be an inspiration to young artists” talking about a painter and his works. Fascinating, even though I’d personally never heard of him before.

This one defies categories, really. It’s just kinda interesting-ish: “27 Perfect Coincidences That Were Luckily Captured on Camera”.

June is LGBT+ Pride Month in the Northern Hemisphere, with all the related talk about history and culture, such as this article about Baron Von Steuben: “The American Revolution’s Greatest Leader Was Openly Gay”. What fascinates me about such stories is the extent to which historians will work hard to downplay the reality of historic figures’ lives and the reality—or even possibility—of their homosexuality. I first became aware of that when I was reading about Walt Whitman and saw that historians denied the obvious homoeroticism in his poetry, or the evidence about Whitman’s sexuality.

There were others, too. For example, many years ago I saw a workshop of a play about England’s King Edward II and his relationship with Piers Gaveston. It was the first time I’d ever heard of any gay kings. Since then, I’ve read about King William II, King James I (who was also James VI of Scotland), and others. Related: “The secret history of the gay Kings and Queens of England”.

What all these people have in common is the need that some heterosexual scholars have to “de-gay” people in the past. It denies LGBT+ people our history and our culture, but, worse, by erasing us from history, it also perpetuates the political myth that LGBT+ people are something new, and it’s some sort of fad.

Some politicians clearly don’t get it. In New Zealand, Judith Collins, widely expected to challenge Simon Bridges for the leadership of the National Party sooner or later, got in trouble for “liking” a Tweet that mentioned gays as a negative thing: “Judith Collins apologises for liking 'hugely disappointing' tweet about Labour's 'gays'”. Thing is, Judith has a history: She voted in favour of marriage equality, but she also voted against all three readings of the Civil Unions Act in 2004. In March, 2005, she voted to re-legalise discrimination against LGBT+ New Zealanders. In December of that year, she voted to define marriage as being one man/one woman (I talked about the 2004/5 votes in a post in 2011). She appears to have evolved in recent years, which is great—sincerely. But this incident suggests she’s not all the way there yet.

But forget all that, the biggest news of the month (Year? Millennium?) is that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has had her baby! “'Welcome to our village wee one': PM Jacinda Ardern gives birth to a baby girl”. The way things are going in the world, and especially certain parts of it, it’s nice to have something nice to focus on, if only for a moment. [See also: “Birth of PM's baby makes international headlines”].

So, with the Prime Minster’s (and New Zealand’s) waiting over, that’s enough wading, too.

The graphic up top is a "Chart of the Day" infographic from Statista.

Internet Wading: Think for ourselves

Now that I’m resuming Internet Wading posts, why not return to the original day, my “month day” as I set out to do four years ago? This edition has it all: Critical economic analysis, royalty, and interior decor.

The video above is the latest from Newsbroke, a product of AJ+, the digital arm of Al Jazeera Media Network. The host, Francesca Fiorentini, debunks the many rightwing myths about socialism, and in so doing exposes a truth about them: They’re mere propaganda talking points, not coherent arguments.

One of her best points is also one of the shortest: She mentions the rightwing talking point that the socialist stars among the world’s nations are small, so, therefore, socialism “can’t work” in the USA, and she points out that they’re essentially arguing that Americans can’t do “scaling up”. It was delivered in a mostly joking way—as truth often is.

Here in New Zealand, we also have rightwingers blustering loudly that “socialism doesn’t work”, etc., etc., which is absolutely hilarious considering they ALL have benefitted from and/or personally know people who have benefitted from New Zealand’s public education system, single payer national healthcare, the police, the fire service, the NZ Defence Force—I could go on and on and on, just like they do, but the facts are on my side, and they know it. They’re just spinning propaganda slogans just like the USA’s rightwing does, only maybe here there’s a less-gullible audience?

Maybe it’s just that the word socialism is too scary for Americans to even be willing to contemplate, let alone learn about or understand. Maybe they could look at the core problem.

“Are You Ready To Consider That Capitalism Is The Real Problem?” was published late last year by Fast Company. It points out the sorts of the flaws in modern capitalism (or corporatism, as I call it) that most of us know, at least instinctively, along with some measures to fix a broken system.

Of course the first superstar critic (though not really in his lifetime) of capitalism was Karl Marx, a name that all by itself strikes fear, loathing and revulsion into the gut of most Americans from the just Left of Centre to the Far Right. In a piece published by Vice, Oscar Rickett explains why “Karl Marx Has Never Been More Relevant”. It turns out that those problems with capitalisam that most us know, at least instinctively, were first described or predicted by Marx. And yet few conservatives, moderates, or even traditional liberals have ever read his work—I never have, either, actually. So how can we be so sure that his work is of no value? We can’t—and we need to find out for ourselves rather than allow polemicists of any stripe dictate truth to us.

Related: "The meaning of life in a world without work" from The Guardian.

Related to all this, Caleb Crain wrote a long book review published by The New Yorker, “Is Capitalism a Threat to Democracy?” (print edition title: “Merchants of Doom”), which takes a critical look at: “The idea that authoritarianism attracts workers harmed by the free market, which emerged when the Nazis were in power, has been making a comeback.” He has issues with the book, and some of the underlying ideas, but also reinforces some. Put another way, readers are required to think about the topic themselves—these days a far more radical proposition.

Enough with all this thinking about the economic perils in front of us, let’s instead breathe the rarified air of royalty: The Royal Wedding. Not surprisingly, it wasn’t popular about Leftists, even here in New Zealand, where Queen Elizabeth is Head of State:

i’m so glad black people have subverted this wedding, but i’ll never be able to summon affection for a family whose power rests on plundered colonies and exploited labour at home. the royals never honoured their compact with māori, and so anything royal-related is hard to stomach

— Morgan Godfery (@MorganGodfery) May 19, 2018

I’ve followed Morgan on Twitter for years, and have traded the occasional Tweet with him. Sometimes I disagree with him, most times I agree with him, at least in part. In this particular case, I thought he was a bit churlish, although, as another person I follow said in reply, “More than fair enough – but honestly, I've been muting folks who feel obliged to slide into my mentions to 'splain me about an institution whose flaws and abuses I'm perfectly well aware of. Thanks for not doing that.” Yeah, I suppose there’s that. To which Morgan replied, “Fair enough too. I mean, we all deserve some spectacles, and we can participate without being dupes about it,” which I thought was a better point than his original Tweet.

Another person (who I don’t follow, so no link) replied: “Yes, but the power of the symbolism – the mother descended from slaves watching her daughter marry the brother of the future king. Whatever the crimes of history, the message was in that moment.” And that, to me was the more balanced perspective.

A NZ Leftist said on Facebook, “Not watching the Royal wedding although I like them both and wish them well. I don't feel comfortable watching such extravagance (paid by the UK taxpayers I understand) while others live in poverty,” and adding later in a comment, “And if there weren't people living in poverty and important health and social services being cut by Tories the tax payers expense wouldn't bother me."

All of that suggests that some NZ Leftists hold more nuanced views on the event than it may sometimes seem. But there were things about the wedding that should cheer the Left’s bleeding hearts, not the least the American bishop preachifying to the staid royals and stiff upper lip upper class folks in attendance. But there were also smaller details, like this: “Why the electric Jaguar at the royal wedding was a symbolic step forward”. I actually had no idea that the Jag was electric: Our news evening bulletin yesterday didn’t mention it. But, I DO think it mattered.

Enough with Royal Weddings, royal arguments AND economics, time for something unimportant: “The Biggest Decor Trends The Year You Were Born,” which was published by Elle Decor in 2016. I just saw it today, when it showed up on my Facebook newsfeed, and after clicking through all the photos, I knew I wanted to share it. Economics? Sure. Politics? Of course. Current events? Yep. I like all those things. But I may like history—cultural and pop cultural history especially—just a little bit more. These days it’s a little less contentious, too—unless we argue over whether a particular look is awful or wonderful, but the “entire world” is already arguing over laurel v. yanny, so maybe we can skip decor arguments—this time.

Internet Wading: The return

It’s been a very long time since I shared some of the miscellany I run across on the Internet, and the first of the month is as good a time as any to resume. As it happens, Roger Green, from whom I stole borrowed this blogging idea, just posted his latest Rambling post. I’m still, um, internet wading through the links.

So, to start things out, how about “18 True Size Maps That Prove Maps Have Been Lying To You”? Naturally, I knew about these, or so I'm claiming.

Like a lot of other people, I’m excited that “A Landslide of Classic Art Is About to Enter the Public Domain”. It’s the first time in TWO DECADES that we’ve had such a trove enter the public domain, and there’ll probably be a lot of long-forgotten stuff in that, the result, in part, from stupidly-written copyright laws.

Or, maybe something more practical is in order. How about “Wiki Has Released Over 83,500 Vintage Sewing Patterns Online For Download”. Or, you can skip the talk about it and go directly to the Wiki and start sewing. I don’t sew, but my mother did, and used sewing patterns, so I’m familiar with the concept. Mainly, I think it’s fascinating to look at old designs and what people once thought looked good.

Photography has always fascinated me, as has painting and other visual arts. I’m not necessarily any good at any of that, but, for me, the trying is what I enjoy. I’m also fascinated by colour, and, specifically, how human skin tone is depicted. A few years ago I shared a video about how colour film was made for white people. Well, now I’ve seen something that drives this point even farther: “This Artist Took 4,000 Portraits to Show the Range of Human Skin Color—and the Results Exceeded the Pantone Library”. Pantone® is the colour-match standard used in printing, and it, or the CMYK equivalents, are used to make up every colour possible (which in this case means printable). What the project showed is that skin colour is far more varied that most people realise, and that means that race really is a social construct. But, then, all of you already knew that.

Okay, that’s enough for this outing. It’s been a long time, and I don’t want to burn myself out.

Colour Wheel illustration By László Németh [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons.

Internet Wading: Religion, poltiics, and photos

Circumstance—chiefly illness, in this case, kept me from a new Internet Wading post on Monday, despite my best intentions. Rather than waste it, better late than never. Besides, some of these are about old topics.

What about beginning with porn? Not literally—the word’s really just in the title of an article: “‘Ancient porn’ sheds new light on Bible verses”, which argues that one has to understand Roman culture, as preserved in the Pompeii, to understand what Paul was on about, and why modern, loving same-gender relationships are not, in fact, condemned by the Christian bible.

“The invention of ‘heterosexuality’” talks about how our modern concepts of sexuality came to be. Short version: It’s all made up.

In “I was the police officer who proposed at Pride – the hatred floored me”, Phil Adlem gives the rest of the story, the part beyond the feel-good social media shares.

Religion having a go at LGBT people is nothing new, but there is such a thing as senisble religion, and last April Jack Jenkins wrote an interesting piece for ThinkProgress, “The Religious Left isn’t what the media thinks it is”. It explains how the Religious Left is different from the Religious Right, and how they’re finding their voice. In July, Jenkins wrote, “The Religious Left is getting under right-wing media’s skin”.

My friend Roger Green recently shared Jenkins’ July piece on a recent “Rambling” post, and he also shared “How to Talk With Religious Conservatives About LGBT Rights”, which I thought was interesting and probably useful to people who want to do this. Quite frankly, I’m a bit over doing that.

Among those who are over religion generally, Alain de Botton spoke with Vox on “atheism 2.0”. I thought this was particularly interesting, not the least because I’ve been thinking many of the same things, especially about the conflict with some of the more agressive atheists.

An article about a secular religion, so to speak, “Eating Clean is Useless” by Michael Easter, suggests, "Clean eating? That's some rich white people shit." Anti-science quasi-politics of any sort drives me around the bend more often than not, and this is one of those things. I’ve always found this sort of fad elitist and the most fervent advocates blind to their own privilege—and how silly they sound.

My old friend Jason saw, and photographed rainbows over Washington, DC, but it made me wonder if DC had heavenly permission to have a rainbow? An Australian-born American religious crackpot lit up his “Ark Encounter” holy theme park, in rainbow light, then Tweeted that “Christians need to take back the rainbow as we do… God owns it…” Naturally, this didn’t go well with the folks on Twitter.

“The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the richest families in Florence”. Surprised? Well, “Putin’s Hackers Now Under Attack—From Microsoft" surprised me a little.

Maybe some more personal history: “Woman retakes Europe vacation photos in same spots 30 years later”. And, I do love photography, so: "Stunning Photos Showing NYC Subway Cars Being Dumped Into the Ocean” (all the photos are on the photographer’s website).

And that’s a good place to stop this Internet Wading—a post that’s just a drop in the blogging ocean itself.

Internet Wading: Pride in June

June was a surprisingly sparse month for Internet Wading, mostly because I just didn’t copy the links to sites that should have been included. Oops. Nevertheless, things demand to be shared, so on with the linkage.

June is LGBT Pride month, of course, and there was, um, interesting stuff this month. First, as I absolutely expected, Don failed to issue a presidential proclamation of LGBT Pride Month, as President Obama always did. Considering he slighted Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day and basically ignored Ramadan, this can be no surprise whatsoever. But, hey! At least Don found time to proclaim June and National Homeowners Month!

Writing in the Boston Globe, Renee Graham wonders, “Is LGBT Pride up to Trump’s challenge?” I’d say the jury’s out on that. There was also pushback: Don was slammed for not proclaiming Pride Month, and his daughter was slammed for a self-serving Tweet (runs in the family?). And, while support for marriage equality reached new highs in the USA, questions remained: “Are LGBTQ Rights Safe Under Trump?”

The thoroughly dreadful far-right christianist activist turned one of Don’s minions, Betsy DeVos, picked THIS month to declare that, “Discrimination on basis of sexual orientation 'unsettled' law". A leopard cannot change her spots. But Betsy’s boss one-upped her! Don decided Pride Month was a great time to praise the anti-LGBT bigots in the professional anti-gay industry who use every waking moment to make life worse for LGBT people.

Is it any wonder that Don’s deluded LGBT supporters may possibly have been excluded from Pride Parades? Well, writing for Newsweek, one rightwinger is outraged that LGBT pride parade committees should stand on principle. Cry me a river, then build a bridge and get over it. And no, it’s not even remotely similar to St. Patrick’s Day parade controversies.

Oh hell, Pride is all about celebrating and having a great time, and all this shade from Republicans is ruining the mood. Let’s leave all that unpleasantness behind for a little while, thanks to Time Out New York’s “The 50 best gay songs to celebrate Gay Pride” (most of which I'd concur with), which even includes a Spotify playlist at the very end. I’m sure that must be wonderful for Americans: Only three tracks avoid the rejection notice: “This track is currently not available in New Zealand. If you have the file on your computer you can import it.” Story of life outside the good ol’ U. S. of A.

Oh well, back to reading: Roger Green answers my question on “The intrinsic value of blogging”. I agree with him.

On to “Ancient Rome’s System of Roads Visualized in the Style of Modern Subway Maps”. Because you know you want to see ancient data in modern terms. I do.

And the weirdest story of the month: “Exploding cream dispenser kills French fitness blogger”. That’s certainly not the way I’d want to go—unless there was a cherry on top of my head, because the irony would be funny to me.

And finally, this week the NZ Electoral Commission started sending out packs confirming voter registration, and the commercial at the top of this post has been running in heavy rotation this week. The actual election is in September.

That’s it for this month. Maybe in July I’ll actually remember to copy the links.

Internet Wading: Winter’s call

Today is the last day of May, and that means it’s the last day of Autumn today. Winter begins tomorrow, and since that’s my least favourite season—well, the less said the better, right?

After a few false starts, maybe now I can resume regular blogging? Yeah, well, healthy sceptism is a good idea in this case. No, this post isn’t “Navel-gazing about blogging”, as Roger Green put it recently about his own challenges. But I reserve the right to gaze in that way in the future. Of course.

Instead, this is a round-up of things I’ve seen on the Internet this past month, including some I might have blogged about if I was blogging regularly—not that I’m talking about that this time…

First up, something I saw by chance: The chart up top was originally published by Statista back in February, but they sent it out again by email when Grumpy Don was on his Rainbow Tour and moaning endlessly about how “bad” NATO is. Specifically, Don bleated on about how other NATO Countries aren’t pulling their weight, but, as usual, he’s not exactly correct. Pesky thing, those facts. Maybe he’ll just talk it out over his non-secure, easily tapped cellphone.

New Zealand joined the Space Age when Rocket Lab, the California-based, Kiwi-infused company, launched a rocket from the Mahia Peninsula last week. The New Zealand Herald talked about that and the company’s enthusiastic CEO, Peter Beck. He, the company, and the New Zealand government all think there’s a market for a company to provide frequent launches of small payloads blasting off from New Zealand, something big companies charge too much to do. Mostly New Zealanders are kind of pleased with the idea of space rockets launching from New Zealand.

Speaking of New Zealand, the current government has released its 2017 Budget. Reaction has been mostly subdued, with pundits suggesting that this budget is just a start at catching up on what National has fallen behind on over the past nine years in government. I have to agree: National looks tired and complacent, and this budget does nothing to change that perception. New Zealand’s next elections on September 23.

“The British and Irish Lions have landed in New Zealand”: That’s about rugby, not animals, and is a very big deal to those who care about such things—or does it only look that way because it’s been endlessly and breathlessly hyped by the New Zealand media? The media makes it sound like this a very rare thing, but they were last here 12 years ago, so “rare” is a relative term.

Speaking of over-hyped stories, the America’s Cup is under way again. New Zealand is doing well. So far.

Those are a few things that caught my eye this month, none of which were significant enough to get a blog post. Actually, few things were, of course. But, then, I’m not talking about that. Not right now, anyway.

Internet Wading: Very recent stuff edition

Today is April 30, the last day of the month, which is as good a time as any to resume these Internet Wading posts. This is also the end of the titular US President’s first 100 days, which means we can stop hearing about that—after a few things about it that caught my eye this weekend.

Yahoo News had published a couple good things on the subject, starting with fact checking “The White House’s claims about Trump’s first 100 days”. Naturally, reality is somewhat different than the spin coming from Don and his regime. In a more chartiable mood (when writing the headline, at least), Yahoo News also published, “The 45th president’s norm-busting first 100 days”, which has bonus points for pointing out actual history.

Vox, meanwhile, checks the results of Don’s first 100 days against his promises, and ThinkProgress noted that Don “broke 80 promises in 100 days”.

The UK’s Independent looks at “How relations between White House and intelligence agencies crumbled in Donald Trump's first 100 days”, and in an editorial the paper concludes that “The evidence from his first 100 days in office is that he can be pushed around”.

Also this weekend, and related to Don, as Salon put it, “Another weekend, another protest: Thousands turn out for worldwide ‘Climate March’”. CNN said, “Climate protest takes on Trump's policies – and the heat – in DC march”, while Vox provided “10 of the best signs from the People’s Climate March”.

Speaking of marches, my nearly life-long friend Jason attended the March for Science and blogged about it, including LOTS of signs—great signs, some just fun, a lot with brainy jokes, but all of them with correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Of course. Side note: Posts about things like this are this are among my favourites that Jason does.

But enough of Don and his politics, eh? How about something much more serious? Roger Green has a system for “Systematically listening to the music” in his large CD collection. I’ll admit that his system was far too complicated for me, but it’s kind of interesting all the same. Our own CDs are all still boxed up after our recent move, and I’d actually like to leave them there: They’re a pain to dust all the time, and we don’t even have an easy means to play them. We have to keep them because we’ve digitised them all and when the New Zealand Parliament finally legalised format shifting, it required that people must keep the CDs they digitised so they could produce them on demand in the event of some sort of allegation that one’s digital music was illegal. Or, something (the reason never made much sense). Oddly enough, the last time I mentioned that was also in relation to something Roger posted.

And finally, how about one of the dumbest ideas ever? A new sports stadium has been proposed for Auckland’s waterfront, which isn’t unusual (many have been proposed over the years), but this one is a bit different: It would be submerged. Dubbed “The Crater”, most of the stadium would be below the water, with only the top above the water.

Building a stadium mostly under weather in an era that will see rising sea levels due to climate change doesn’t seem like the brightest idea ever. And imagine terrorists blasting a hole in one side—or even just structural failure—drowning everyone inside. Not a pleasant thought.

All that aside, Aucklanders turned out to protest the loss of their harbour when Ports of Auckland wanted to extend a wharf. What on earth makes anyone think that Aucklanders would accept a massive stadium taking up the harbour they fought to protect?!

And on that appropriate note, that’s enough for this Internet Wading, the very recent stuff edition.

The graphic accompanying this post is an Internet Meme making the rounds the past couple days. I have no idea who wrote it or who created this graphic. But it is so VERY true.

Internet Wading for November 2016 – Looking and listening

I like sharing things I find on the Internet that I think are interesting for whatever reason, and that’s the point of these Internet Wading posts. One might think that since I missed doing one of these posts last month, I’d have a whole lot of links to share this month. Turns out, that would be an incorrect assumption.

Still, what I have this month is a typically mixed bag—a small bag, but mixed, nevertheless, beginning with the video above from Wired: “The Psychology Behind the World's Most Recognizable Sounds”. The YouTube description sums it up well:

Two sonic branding experts explain the thinking behind some of the world's most recognizable sounds. Featuring: Andrew Stafford - Co-Founder & Director at Big Sync Music. Steve Milton - Founding Partner at Listen.

Well, that’s a bit of sound, about some vision? “17 stunning photos of black Victorians show how history really looked”. It says:

All too often, the movies and media and books that retell the stories of our past err on the side of all-white casting unless it's something that's explicitly about race. And all too often, they use "historical accuracy" as an excuse for that same whitewashing — regardless of the easy-to-find evidence presented above.

They say that "history is written by the winners." But I think it might be time to set the record straight.

I haven’t shared anything from Upworthy on this blog, I don’t think, and I stopped sharing anything on Facebook quite some time ago because it was all clickbait with no substance (typical headlines often ended with “…and you won’t believe what happened next”). But the site started to post more substantive things and began focusing on video. As part of that, not only were posts bylined, they were also dated—previously one of my pet peeves about the site. In any case, this post was interesting—maybe others will be, too.

How about something that crosses the Pacific? “Faith Fraud: the story of Arthur Worthington” tells the story of Arthur Worthington, who was “a con artist who travelled the USA, marrying rich women then abandoning them and stealing all their money.” He fled to New Zealand, started a religion, and when the law started to catch up with him again, caused a riot in New Zealand. The Radio New Zealand podcast available at the link asks not only why he did it, but also “Was he a common crook? Was he psychopathic? Was he a true believer?”

Part of the reason I didn’t do an Internet Wading post last month is that I was posting a lot about the election, including a series of posts that are similar in some ways to these posts—but a bit more serious and completely political. This posts are called “Political Notebook”, and I’ve decided to keep doing them, though I don’t know if they’ll be on any sort of schedule or not.

In any case, the election didn’t go well, and it took some time to decompress. Maybe something otherworldly would help? Roger Green tells us about being hypnotised and a realisation he just had about the experience. I have a small mention in that post; full disclosure and all that.

Maybe some pretty pictures would help. Jason shares fall colours and the last of summer flowers, which I appreciate even though it’s Spring here. It was another nice distraction from the election unpleasantness.

Okay that’s enough Internet Wading for this month. Even that short dip was making my skin pruney.

Internet Wading for September 2016

These Internet Wading posts are all about sharing: I share links to things that catch my eye in a given month, things that would almost certainly never end up in a blog post otherwise. They may be interesting, profound, silly, or even stupid, but they’re all unique enough for me to check them out, and then share them.

I’ve noticed that these Internet Wading posts have recurring themes, especially history, art and creativity, and pop culture, among other things. That’s probably because outside of politics and religion, they’re the topics I’m the most interested in. Obviously.

Let’s begin this month with something topical: “Battling billboards” talks about the billboards/signs used in Auckland’s local government elections, casting a critical eye over the design, layout, and even colours. I know the author in real life, and I think he does a good job critiquing the various efforts. I do the same thing less formally whenever I see the signs, and have had very similar conclusions.

I have to admit, titling an article, "Smooth": 7 questions about the song you were too embarrassed to ask” didn’t exactly draw me in. While I liked the song (video above), I wasn’t aware of having any questions about it, but, even if I had, I doubt I’d be embarrassed to ask them. Nevertheless, it turned out to be surprisingly interesting—not the first time that’s happened to me.

Was Oscar Wilde’s "De Profundis" “one of the greatest love letters ever written”?. Maybe, but the treatment of Wilde was certainly a sad tale.

Speaking of marginalised people, Rob Tannenbaum tells us a long form story of “The life and murder of Stella Walsh, Intersex Olympic Champion”. It’s certainly a story I’d never heard, and it's one that deserves to be known.

Tannenbaum himself, meanwhile, recently became the focus of social media attention when he published a series of Tweets  talking about shady dealings of the Trump Foundation, the first person to do so. Since then, journalists began taking an in depth look—as he'd urged in his Tweets.

Jonathan Shaw wrote in Harvard Magazine that human beings may have been “Born to Rest”. This could explain why do many people have trouble exercising regularly.

On the other hand, a “Study suggests exercise can offset perils of alcohol”, which is a pretty good reason to exercise. Once we’re done resting, of course. Or drinking alcohol.

We know that humans and Neandethal’s had sex, because their DNA is present in modern humans (my own DNA is about 2% Neanderthal). But the question some researchers are trying to work out is, “Was it for love?” Apparently, part of the answer may come from working out the direction that the genes were transferred. There’s even some conjecture about Neanderthal penises, something that I’d never actually wondered about.

In more “recent” history, scientists have been learning a lot about “Otzi”, the 5300 year old frozen mummy discovered in the Alps 25 years ago this past week. In a Daily Mail article reprinted by the NZ Herald, I found out several things I didn’t know, like the fact that an arrow was found in Otzi’s shoulder in 2001, and that’s likely what killed him, or that scientists hope that bacteria found in his stomach may help cure modern diseases.

• • •

That’s it for this month’s potpourri of stuff from the Internet.

Internet Wading for August 2016

This month’s collection is about language and pop culture, two of my favourite things that aren’t politics. At least, not usually. As usual, a little history, science and creativity makes the mix, too.

When we talk about the evolution of the English language, Latin is an important part of the story. The video above tells us “What Latin Sounded Like – and how we know”. Decoding the evolution of languages is always a bit of a detective story, and the story in this video is no different.

“Proportional Pie Chart of the World’s Most Spoken Languages” tells us a bit about the state of languages on the planet, while “20 misused English words that make smart people look silly” shows that even native speakers can mess up (fewer v. less is one of my own pet peeves). And, while we’re trying to fix that, “Can’t quit saying ‘um’ and ‘ah’? Just learn how to use them better”. Sounds reasonable.

Speaking of Rome, “Pompeii: Incredible images, unprecedented detail laying bare their bones and have perfect teeth” tells us about discoveries made in examining the remains of some of the victims. The story includes this:

“So far, only around 100 of the victims have been captured in plaster. The total number of bodies to be found is approximately 1,150, and that’s with a third of the city left untouched by archaeologists.”

Also from the distant past, “10 Insane Stories That Didn’t Make It Into The Bible” shares stories that I’d mostly heard. Mind you, many of the stories that did make it into the bible are pretty “insane”…

Not related, exactly, “21 Signs That Story You're About To Share Is Secretly B.S.” can help people avoid sharing so much nonsense on social media—and what a wonderful thing that would be.

“Jack Davis, 'MAD' Magazine Cartoonist, Dies at 91”. Davis, who died July 27, was one of my favourite artists at MAD. Roger Green included him in one of his July “Rambling” posts, which are remarkably similar to these Internet Wading posts, almost as if I stole borrowed the idea or something.

Speaking of Roger Green, he wrote about visiting the Lucy Desi Museum in Jamestown, New York. He and the family did not, however, get to visit the statue of “Scary Lucy”. And, of course, “Lucille Ball's 'Scary Lucy' replacement statue unveiled”. And in the comments people criticised the new statue, too. Of course.

And finally this month, for no particular reason except it’s related to my profession, “7 Graphic Design Documentary You Should Be Watching”. Even I haven’t gotten through all of them yet.

• • •

That’s some of what caught my eye over the past month, things that didn’t make it into blog posts—and most wouldn’t have, of course. But that doesn’t make them any less interesting to me.

Internet Wading - Delayed Miscellany

This collection of miscellany has been months in the making. I started it for March, added to it for April, and again for May, and again for June. Mainly, I kept forgetting about it. As time passed, I needed to check to make sure the links were still working, and that kept delaying things. I very nearly gave up.

The thing is, I run across all sorts of things on the Internet that I’d like to share. While I sometimes now share such things on the AmeriNZ Facebook Page, mostly I don’t. That’s a shame because there are a lot of good things about the Internet, like, for example, it can teach us all kinds of things, if we want it to, and it can be a tremendous resource. Other times, it’s just fun or interesting. And then other times…

In “I shower once a week. Here’s why you should too”, Donnachadh McCarthy tells us, “The daily bath or shower… is terrible for the environment and our bank balances.” He goes on:

“It is clear my daily shower habit resulted from falsely imposed cultural norms, rather than any legitimate health benefits. We do need to wash our hands frequently, for obvious hygiene reasons. But our skin has its own natural cleansing mechanism and it is generally only our armpits, feet and privates that produce any odours if unwashed.”

“So let’s ignore the advertising bullies and revert to the traditional weekly shower or bath, plus a daily sink-wash. Apart from anything else, think how much time we’ll save.”

A commenter added: “I have found life without washing hair is so much more pleasant. For showering, only as needed, determined by smell and/or feel. An minimum that is 1/week at max it is about 4 times a week, but even then soap is only used in the armpits.” Um, “determined by smell and/or feel”?!

Speaking of health, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre issued new nutritional dietary guidelines suggesting that people eat no more than two servings of meat per week. It seems the trend these days.

And for health things people obsess about, “An Engineered Protein Can Kill Cancer Cells in the Bloodstream”. And something helpful for the times in which we live: “How to change someone’s mind, according to science”.

Now, here’s some of that edumacation: “48 Hours of Joseph Campbell Lectures Free Online: The Power of Myth & Storytelling”. Originally posted August 31st, 2015, this is one of those things I stumbled across. The study of myth and storytelling is behind some of the great stories that millions enjoy, like Star Wars, for example.

“Metallic Ink Shines in Ancient Herculaneum Scrolls”. This could be huge.

And, let’s not forget about really important things: “Trash for Cash: An Oral History of Garbage Pail Kids”. I was too old for what they mocked, but the humour appealed to me. A lot.

But wait—there’s MORE free stuff! “The New York Public Library Just Unleashed 180,000 Free Images. We Can’t Stop Looking at Them”. As Mother Jones warns, “Say goodbye to your afternoon.”

And speaking of visual things, 3D printing is growing rapidly, and this sort of thing will become more popular: “Now You Can Have New York In The Palm Of Your Hand”.

And while we’re wasting using time looking at old photos (or random Intgernet sites…), it’s good to know that “Scientists May Have Just Figured Out Why Time Moves Forward, Not Backwards”.

Not everything can be serious, so maybe a look at “The 100 Jokes That Shaped Modern Comedy”. They say, “From the Marx Brothers to The Simpsons, Richard Pryor to Amy Schumer: 100 bits, sketches, and one-liners that changed humor forever.” Even I thought many were funny.

Speaking of funny (because I think I’m secretly still 13…): “If the 2016 Presidential Candidates Had Beards”. Mind you, I also have a beard, so that could be it.

Or, maybe “Ancient Greek sculptures dressed up in hipster clothing”. Just because.

“Here are 35 colorized photos that will completely change how you see history”. I’ve seen several of these before, but I’m always fascinated by them because they do tend to make the past seem more real than black and white images—no matter how beautifully done—can do. At least sometimes.

And speaking of photos, “Why people never smiled in old photos”:



That’s it for this month—well, these months, actually. Maybe I’ll remember to do this again next month—or eventually.