"It’s a simple idea, but the sex menu is pretty revolutionary. When was the last time you did a thorough inventory of all your kinks and desires, all really focused on the kind of sex you’d like to be having? We routinely evaluate our feelings and goals relating to say, work or physical fitness, but rarely afford the same level of analysis to our sex lives. Writing a sex menu gives your desires the headspace they deserve, and puts the emphasis firmly on what actually works for you." Refinery29
>>><<<
This was a misconception of mine...
"Today’s Oxford Street was once the main Roman road leading westwards out of London (the via Trinovantica), and was indeed the way to Oxford – but that isn’t why it’s called Oxford Street now. Up until the early 18th century, Tyburn Road still marked the northernmost edge of London, with open fields to the north leading towards the village of Mary le Bone. These fields belonged to Edward Harley, the earl of Oxford, and it was for him the street was renamed in 1739" Guardian
>>><<<
"After the unexpected death of a rock-star scientist, their frequent collaborators — the junior researchers who authored papers with them — suddenly see a drop in publication. At the same time, there is a marked increase in published work by other newcomers to the field... The new articles represent substantial contributions, at least as measured by long-run citation impact. Together, these results paint a picture of scientific fields as scholarly guilds to which elite scientists can regulate access, providing them with outsized opportunities to shape the direction of scientific advance in that space." Vox
>>><<<
"Multiple headlines Tuesday suggested that a new study determined vegetarianism to be more harmful to the environment than eating meat, flying in the face previous research. But the researchers behind this new study say that’s a total mischaracterization of what they found." Huff Post
>>><<<
"If gender neutral clothes are only made for and marketed to the parents of little girls, it is less a sign of gender equality and more an indication of the misogyny that is so ambient in our culture. There is such a devaluing of anything traditionally feminine that we’d rather chuck it out triumphantly than ever demean our boys with it." National Post
>>><<<
An interview with the inventor of the first spreadsheet software
"Early adopters of the spreadsheet program seemed to possess “magic powers,”"
>>><<<
"Hill farming not only makes a wildly disproportionate contribution to climate change; it also trashes our watersheds, increasing the chances of dangerous floods, and destroys what would otherwise be our wildlife refuges: the great empty uplands, in which economic activity is sustained only through lavish farm subsidies. It is hard to think of any human activity with a higher ratio of destruction to economic product." Guardian
>>><<<
"In a complex society, where there’s so much interdependency, the amount of suffering that gets unleashed by an effort at rupture makes it unsustainable under democratic conditions. Under non-democratic conditions, the problem is that authoritarian transitions don’t result in democratic and participatory destinations. I am not prepared to formally proclaim an impossibility theorem. That’s too strong. There are too many contingencies, but my intuition is that a system-level ruptural transformation of capitalism is impossible.
...
I don’t think it’s plausible that the anarchist strategy of just getting on with the business of building the world you want in the world that exists is likely to succeed in transforming the world as a whole. But I do think if [this strategy] is combined with new ways of thinking about taming capitalism, then it might be possible to create a long-term political strategy which combines the best of the progressive side of social democracy with the most constructive versions of anarchist community activism and bottom-up creativity." Jacobin
>>><<<
:D :D
“I took LSD when I was working on return of the Jedi,” said the Star Wars animator Phil Tippet, in a new video profile with Vice. “And it was fine.”
“Then I decided to go back to work, and I walked into the blue screen stage, and it was like ‘ahhh…’” he adds. “I’d taken way too much.”
>>><<<
Currently the UK and EU governments actively subsidise farmers to use land in ways that are both economically pointless and result in flooding.
>>><<<
"I certainly have, along the way, slept with a nerd. But I don’t think I ever got anything out of it except the sex. It was probably good. Nerds will surprise you. They’re way more enthusiastic. More bang with your buck," Metro
>>><<<
This is mind-blowing. The financial crisis of 2008 was essentially set off by he panicked sale of 'mortgage-backed securities'. Although AAA-rated, many investors started to doubt that these securities would pay out, which triggered mass sell-offs and rapid price decreases, bankrupting institutions which held these assets. As it turns out, however, these assets in fact *were* extremely safe. The problem wasn't actual losses, but simply the *fear* of loss.
"As of late 2014, the realized principal loss on the AAA-rated tranches was just a fifth of a cent on the dollar. But during the panic, they were not perceived to be safe, and their prices ... plunged." - From 'Foolproof', by Greg Ip
>>><<<
This was a misconception of mine...
"Today’s Oxford Street was once the main Roman road leading westwards out of London (the via Trinovantica), and was indeed the way to Oxford – but that isn’t why it’s called Oxford Street now. Up until the early 18th century, Tyburn Road still marked the northernmost edge of London, with open fields to the north leading towards the village of Mary le Bone. These fields belonged to Edward Harley, the earl of Oxford, and it was for him the street was renamed in 1739" Guardian
>>><<<
"After the unexpected death of a rock-star scientist, their frequent collaborators — the junior researchers who authored papers with them — suddenly see a drop in publication. At the same time, there is a marked increase in published work by other newcomers to the field... The new articles represent substantial contributions, at least as measured by long-run citation impact. Together, these results paint a picture of scientific fields as scholarly guilds to which elite scientists can regulate access, providing them with outsized opportunities to shape the direction of scientific advance in that space." Vox
>>><<<
"Multiple headlines Tuesday suggested that a new study determined vegetarianism to be more harmful to the environment than eating meat, flying in the face previous research. But the researchers behind this new study say that’s a total mischaracterization of what they found." Huff Post
>>><<<
"If gender neutral clothes are only made for and marketed to the parents of little girls, it is less a sign of gender equality and more an indication of the misogyny that is so ambient in our culture. There is such a devaluing of anything traditionally feminine that we’d rather chuck it out triumphantly than ever demean our boys with it." National Post
>>><<<
An interview with the inventor of the first spreadsheet software
"Early adopters of the spreadsheet program seemed to possess “magic powers,”"
>>><<<
"Hill farming not only makes a wildly disproportionate contribution to climate change; it also trashes our watersheds, increasing the chances of dangerous floods, and destroys what would otherwise be our wildlife refuges: the great empty uplands, in which economic activity is sustained only through lavish farm subsidies. It is hard to think of any human activity with a higher ratio of destruction to economic product." Guardian
>>><<<
"In a complex society, where there’s so much interdependency, the amount of suffering that gets unleashed by an effort at rupture makes it unsustainable under democratic conditions. Under non-democratic conditions, the problem is that authoritarian transitions don’t result in democratic and participatory destinations. I am not prepared to formally proclaim an impossibility theorem. That’s too strong. There are too many contingencies, but my intuition is that a system-level ruptural transformation of capitalism is impossible.
...
I don’t think it’s plausible that the anarchist strategy of just getting on with the business of building the world you want in the world that exists is likely to succeed in transforming the world as a whole. But I do think if [this strategy] is combined with new ways of thinking about taming capitalism, then it might be possible to create a long-term political strategy which combines the best of the progressive side of social democracy with the most constructive versions of anarchist community activism and bottom-up creativity." Jacobin
>>><<<
:D :D
“I took LSD when I was working on return of the Jedi,” said the Star Wars animator Phil Tippet, in a new video profile with Vice. “And it was fine.”
“Then I decided to go back to work, and I walked into the blue screen stage, and it was like ‘ahhh…’” he adds. “I’d taken way too much.”
>>><<<
Currently the UK and EU governments actively subsidise farmers to use land in ways that are both economically pointless and result in flooding.
>>><<<
"I certainly have, along the way, slept with a nerd. But I don’t think I ever got anything out of it except the sex. It was probably good. Nerds will surprise you. They’re way more enthusiastic. More bang with your buck," Metro
>>><<<
This is mind-blowing. The financial crisis of 2008 was essentially set off by he panicked sale of 'mortgage-backed securities'. Although AAA-rated, many investors started to doubt that these securities would pay out, which triggered mass sell-offs and rapid price decreases, bankrupting institutions which held these assets. As it turns out, however, these assets in fact *were* extremely safe. The problem wasn't actual losses, but simply the *fear* of loss.
"As of late 2014, the realized principal loss on the AAA-rated tranches was just a fifth of a cent on the dollar. But during the panic, they were not perceived to be safe, and their prices ... plunged." - From 'Foolproof', by Greg Ip
