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Post by Kapitan on Jan 11, 2022 17:17:27 GMT
A fossil an ichthyosaur--a prehistoric, water-based, predator reptile that looks like a giant dolphin--was found in a nature reserve east of Leicester, England. It is special because it is apparently both the largest and most complete such skeleton ever found in the UK.
The animal was about 33 feet long and is estimated to have lived about 180 million years ago. The creatures are colloquially (and aptly) referred to as "sea dragons."
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 27, 2022 13:36:03 GMT
Really interesting (and, like so many things science, mind-boggling): something is sending out massive bursts of radio waves every 20 minutes or so, "one of the brightest radio sources in the sky."
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 1, 2022 16:44:18 GMT
You could use this paragraph to summarize her point:
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 13, 2022 13:14:25 GMT
I read this morning that more than 100,000 Americans died of drug overdose in 2021, which is a total more than all vehicle crash deaths and all gun deaths combined. It's also twice what it was as recently as 2015. The increased popularity of opioids leading then into increased usage of heroin and then fentanyl is blamed.
Astounding and sad.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 10, 2022 21:15:06 GMT
Is the UN itself at risk (in part) over the Russia-Ukraine war? Here is an article in Foreign Affairs suggesting that might be the case. Very interesting reading.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 11, 2022 1:29:44 GMT
Is the UN itself at risk (in part) over the Russia-Ukraine war? Here is an article in Foreign Affairs suggesting that might be the case. Very interesting reading.
The USSR dissolved. Russia can reapply to the UN, like the other former Soviet republics, if it wants.
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Post by Kapitan on May 11, 2022 11:15:30 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on May 31, 2022 14:40:03 GMT
This is so cool! An ancient city believed to be from the Mittani Empire (ca. 1550-1350 BCE) has been discovered and partly mapped in a hasty archaeological excavation in modern-day Iraq. The site became visible because of drought that led to significant drainage of the Mosul reservoir.
While the site includes a palace, fortifications, and other large buildings, the most exciting part to me is the discovery of large ceramic pots containing 100 cuneiform tablets. Such tablets were used for both the literature of that part of the ancient world and daily transactions and correspondence, so we could learn a lot about this civilization through them, ranging from the prices of crops or wages for employees all the way to ancient myths or religious practices and beliefs.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 1, 2022 13:16:41 GMT
The more recent site (funny to say about something 2,100 years old) was apparently left fully in tact, indicating it was hastily abandoned. Initial suspicions are that the owners/residents might have left as the Hasmonean Empire expanded from the south into the Galilee (which is in northern Israel adjoining modern day Lebanon and Syria). The linked article says there had previously been no remains from this period in the Galilee, so it becomes a sample size of one.
As you can see from this and my previous post here, I love this stuff. These kinds of concrete finds that can shed light via direct evidence, rather than sometimes convoluted theories and wild speculation, are really exciting and valuable. My fingers are crossed every day for more!
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 5, 2022 13:01:01 GMT
The neighborhood they're talking about, called Cedar-Riverside here and officially but often known as the West Bank locally, after the West Bank campus of the U of MN (which is split by the Mississippi River, forming East and West Bank campuses). It has been an interesting neighborhood for a LONG time, and has been majority East African--and Muslim--as long as I've lived in the city, meaning back to about 1996.
The jumble of college kids and often strictly religious new immigrants has always made it a strange, fun environment. There are two bars mentioned in the story, one of which is adjacent to the primary mosque being discussed. That bar, Palmer's Bar, is more than 100 years old. My grandpa told a story that in the early '30s, when the mafia was heavily involved in politics in the Twin Cities (as they were given relative safe haven in fleeing Chicago), he at Palmer's for a workers' labor meeting discussing whether to organize into a union. It turned out management had some mobsters planted there, and as rhetoric heated up, there was shooting from both factions. (My grandpa was no dummy and got out of there.)
The specifics have changed, but the general vibe of the neighborhood remains. It's not Disney World...you can find whatever it might be you're looking for there. I used to hang out and play with an old band there and across the street at The Nomad. I can't tell you how many "devout" young Muslim men would pop in on the sly and have a drink with me, and we'd chat about their circumstances. There were misunderstandings and fights from time to time, but the good outweighs the bad in that neighborhood, in my opinion.
And that's how I feel about broadcasting the call to prayer. I'd find it annoying, just as I do when the organist at the Lutheran church down the block ascends to their belfry to play the carillon. But I also love the jumble of people and cultures in that neighborhood, and the city at large. Where I grew up, "diversity" meant Lutherans and Catholics, or Scandinavians and Poles. So for me, even after almost 30 years in the city, it's still a thrill to see, hear, smell, and eat things that are exotic to me ... even if it means some of them annoy me.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 20, 2022 12:33:15 GMT
I heard a story on NPR this morning in which the editor of a publication called The Black Agenda was complaining about the commercialization of Juneteenth. She said something like that when people were profiting on the holiday without really centering the meaning of it, that black people weren't truly liberated.
The thing is, I think that's the inevitable--or at least so far consistently realistic--outcome of a holiday being accepted in America. I think that sense of frustration is exactly what most deeply religious Christians feel at Easter and Christmas, or deeply patriotic Americans feel at Memorial Day or Independence Day.
As a country, I'd say we very rarely recognize holidays with reflection or reverence as to their original meanings. We usually enjoy the days off from work, get together with friends or families, eat and drink to excess, and often give and receive gifts. We buy holiday-themed clothing, decorations, and foods from holiday-themed displays and sales. Companies find new ways to make as much hay as they can on the celebrations.
That, it seems to me, is what it is for a holiday to become widely accepted in America. It's almost like when indie bands sign major label deals and then complain about the increased commercialization. While I understand the frustration from people who want to take things more seriously, I'd also say be careful what you ask for, and be ready to take the bad that comes with the good.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 21, 2022 18:02:23 GMT
Here is a short article in The Atlantic by David Frum (a Bush-era neocon turned never-Trumper centrist type with whom I haven't tended to agree on many things over the years, but who is an interesting writer) talking about an event I didn't realize happened: David Chappelle's old high school honoring his donations by naming its theater after him. But when his most recent special, The Closer, was released and controversy ensued, they postponed the ceremony until yesterday. The gist of the story is that to avoid ongoing controversy, Chappelle surprisingly announced that he'd requested that it at least temporary just be named the Theater for Artistic Freedom and Expression, only to be renamed later if and when the community wanted that. Classy move by Chappelle.
But something much more specific jumped out at me, and that is this:
I disagree with that--the bold part in particular--pretty strongly. In fact, I think that's buying into a myth about art, trying to nudge it toward inspiration, almost like faith, as opposed to craft. I think a great artist's craft can substitute for his or her belief. Think about all the powerful, successful love songs through the years: how many were written out of sincere emotion or belief, and how many were written by a committee of professionals churning out material? I suspect the results of that study would be disappointing to Mr. Frum.
Similarly, great comedians say things all the time that, if they truly believed, would make them absolute monsters. Now, maybe they are. But more likely, they're great craftsmen, exploring ways to find laughs in difficult or even awful premises. A great comedian might take a position other than his/her own just for the fun of pushing it, digging around in it. Louis CK had a joke where he said he not only supported abortion, but thought mothers should have the right to abort their already born children to some absurd age. (I forget what it was. Five or something.) Do we truly think he believes that? No, whatever Mr. CK's (well documented) personal flaws are, supporting the murder of toddlers isn't among them. It's a funny way to make people think about that difficult issue: What does it mean to support abortion rights up to the moment of birth? Why is that the endpoint? Are these rights absolutes one-way, or not?
No, I think I see what Frum is getting at. But I think it plays into tropes about artists that are better discarded.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 25, 2022 18:45:46 GMT
Very cool: archaeologists discovered a settlement dated to around 4500 BCE off the coast of modern Croatia. The site was on what had once been land connected to an island, since sunken into the sea, and includes a stone wall and tools.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 22, 2022 13:15:20 GMT
I thought this article by Kat Rosenfeld on "hotness" was interesting. In it, she argues that there is a contradiction in the feminist ideal of removing beauty as a standard of judgment with the reality of women still wanting to be identified as beautiful; she goes on to say this led to the current trend of expanding the definition of hotness to include self-affirmation, or a vibe/attitude, etc., which she says is more or less nonsensical. It culminates with:
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 27, 2022 11:52:37 GMT
The story is interesting from several angles: - Obviously politically things are tense between Russia and the other participants in the ISS (US, Canada, Europe, Japan). - But cooperation on these things can be the best diplomacy. - Several components of the ISS are Russian-made, leading to fears they may disable them prior to their departure, or even just that maintenance of them could be difficult for the other partners. - Russia may be unable afford to build a manned space program; in fact, it lost a significant amount of revenue when Elon Musk's SpaceX began transporting astronauts to and from the ISS; previously we paid Russia to bring them on Soyuz rockets. - So one thought is that it's a bluff intended to remove or reduce war-related sanctions.
I'm not knowledgeable enough about it to have a strong opinion, but generally speaking, I think collaboration is better than isolation. The Cold War may have been good for certain politicians and the military-industrial complex, but I don't think it was generally good for humanity, including the general populations of either the US or the then-USSR. (Not to mention it was dangerous, with both countries on a hair trigger to launch nuclear weapons. And people who fear climate change should think about nuclear weapons again, a much more sudden and serious risk.) So I hate to see our countries edging apart toward another one.
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