Interesting articles thread

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 04-29-2014, 12:13 PM

I don't mean "the" etc. ...post illuminating internet articles of note to this thread for my our fine consumption.

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 04-29-2014, 12:15 PM

http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2014/...istanbul-derby

The Istanbul Derby
Soccer, fire and a game at the world's crossroads

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 04-29-2014, 12:32 PM

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/02/23/...30_114153.html

Four centuries after Spain's literary giant Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra died in poverty, Madrid officials will soon embark on an exhaustive search for his grave.

The regional government has given the go-ahead for City Hall to hire a team of experts who will exhume the bones of an adult male buried inside the Trinitarias convent, in the capital's Las Letras neighborhood. The novelist was buried somewhere inside the convent on April 23, 1616.

(from wikipedia):

While 23 April 1616 was recorded as his date of death in some references, and the date on which his death was widely celebrated, he in fact died in Madrid the previous day, 22 April.[21] He was buried on 23 April.[22]

William Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616. To honor this, UNESCO established 23 April as the International Day of the Book.[23] However, these dates refer to different days: Spain had adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582, but England was still using the Julian calendar. Shakespeare's death on 23 April 1616 (Julian) was equivalent to 3 May 1616 (Gregorian). This was 10 days after Cervantes was buried and 11 days after he died.

**ashlesha** · 04-29-2014, 03:33 PM

a really old (2003) opinion piece i just came across about leftist intellectuals who support israel.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/623/op33.htm

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-01-2014, 03:29 AM

Do you long to become a "thought leader", thinkfluencing your way from TED talk to tech conference, lauded for your insights? I hope not. But if so, you could do worse than consult a paper published in 1971 by the maverick sociologist Murray Davis, entitled "That's Interesting!" (I found it via Adam Grant.) What is it, Davis asks, that makes certain thinkers – Marx, Freud, Nietzsche – legendary? "It has long been thought that a theorist is considered great because his theories are true," he writes, "but this is false. A theorist is considered great, not because his theories are true, but because they are interesting." Even in the world of academia, most people aren't motivated by the truth. What they want, above all, is not to be bored.

http://www.oliverburkeman.com/blog/p...an-interesting

interesting, but is he right?

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-01-2014, 03:30 AM

A neighbor famously called Robert Frost the laziest man in the world, not just because he sat on the porch all day staring at nature like it was television, but also because he was constantly falling asleep in snowdrifts in the woods and letting hired men die poetically on his hearth instead of calling an ambulance to come pick them up. “He was really, really lazy,” the neighbor then reiterated. “I’m the one who put up that wall, and I did it because I hated him. Sometimes he just stood motionless for hours in the yard, repeating the words ‘New England’ under his breath. He had a little heifer named Segway and he rode it everywhere he went because he was too lazy to walk. Oh my God, that guy.” He had a point, or did he?

Maybe not. Because whenever Robert Frost looked like he was being lazy, he was actually writing poetry.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harr...04/is-it-work/

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-01-2014, 03:33 AM

VADUZ, Liechtenstein—Liechtenstein, the tiny principality wedged into eastern Switzerland, just got tinier. No one seems to mind.

Last month, Liechtenstein's government said it altered its official map, part of a move to a more precise, satellite-based surveying system. The result: Bits and pieces amounting to about a quarter of an acre disappeared.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...889472694.html

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-01-2014, 03:33 AM

One of my favorite Dilbert cartoons features a lizardlike creature that’s billed as a “random number generator,” but that only ever seems to spit out the number nine. Dilbert asks his guide, “Are you sure that’s random?” The guide replies, “That’s the problem with randomness. You can never be sure.”

It’s funny (at least to me), but is it true? Can you ever be reasonably sure that something is random, in the same sense you can be reasonably sure something is not random (for example, because it consists of endless nines)? Even if a sequence looked random, how could you ever rule out the possibility that it had a hidden deterministic pattern? And what exactly do we mean by “random,” anyway?

http://www.americanscientist.org/iss...int/issue.aspx

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-01-2014, 03:36 AM

Nobody goes to Timbuktu, right? Patrick Symmes did, to discover what happened when jihadi rebels set out to burn one of the world’s finest collections of ancient manuscripts. Bouncing around by truck, boat, and boots, he got an intimate look at West *Africa’s most mythic locale.

People dress like kings and queens in the capital of Mali, even in the dirt streets on the far side of the river. The women walk down mud lanes wearing immaculate gowns with puffed shoulders, gold detailing, and beadwork. The dudes are natty, too, in safari suits, crisp office boy outfits, or the grand boubou, the national robing that makes any man walk like a giant. Only the heroic boys everywhere—young teens carrying loads, pushing groceries, directing trucks—go around in recycled jeans and T-shirts. In squalor the people must be regal.

http://www.outsideonline.com/adventu...umanities.html

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-01-2014, 03:37 AM

the unbearable lightness of being
the unbearable lite-ness of being
the unbearable blightness of being
the unbearable nice™ness of being
the unbearable “like”ness of being

Milan Kundera opposed using "the unbearable lightness of being" to title the English translation of his Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí, even though it is relatively close to the Czech original. “I realize that for you Americans the title will be a bit hard-going," Kundera states in Michael Heim's account,

“so we can try something else,” and he suggested one of the chapter titles: “Karenin’s Smile.” I protested. “We’re not children,” I told the editor. “If The Unbearable Lightness of Being is the title, so be it.” And so it stayed. [Adriana Babeţi, "A Happy Babel," Iowa Review]

Heim's translation, like a spot of dye, dropped into the flow of culture and altered the hue of English as it diffused downstream. A meme before memes, the breadth of this title's reach lets us see something we know is true but can rarely prove: translation choices transform our language and our experience of the world. The list in this essay is drawn from internet and library catalog searches of article, chapter, blog, and book titles for variations on the translation.

http://wordswithoutborders.org/dispa...st-with-notes1

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-01-2014, 06:06 PM

A Eulogy for Twitter
The beloved social publishing platform enters its twilight.

We've been trying to figure out the moment Twitter turned, retracing tweets to see whether there was something specific that soured the platform.

Something is wrong on Twitter. And people are noticing.

Or, at least, the kind of people we hang around with on Twitter are noticing. And it's maybe not a very important demographic, this very weird and specific kind of user: audience-obsessed, curious, newsy. Twitter's earnings last quarter, after all, were an improvement on the period before, and it added 14 million new users for a total of 255 million. The thing is: Its users are less active than they once were. Twitter says these changes reflect a more streamlined experience, but we have a different theory: Twitter is entering its twilight.

#mustbehkkmr'sfault

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...witter/361339/

**ashlesha** · 05-02-2014, 08:42 AM

too tired to read this right now but it seems interesting for later.

"Indeed. If the world actually did collectively go vegetarian or vegan over the course of a decade or two, it’s reasonable to think the economy would tank."

http://www.slate.com/articles/health...tibiotics.html

**ashlesha** · 05-02-2014, 06:31 PM

sharing a link that mfckr linked in the chatbox. because WHAT THE FUCK

http://reason.com/blog/2014/03/21/ha...ht-to-have-sex

"Cops insisted that they must be free not just to receive blowjobs and handjobs from prostitutes but also to engage in vaginal and anal intercourse with them. Evidently the police also need permission to engage in "flagellation or torture by or upon a person as an act of sexual stimulation or gratification" (Hawaii's definition of "sadomasochistic abuse"). Just in case."

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-03-2014, 10:41 PM

The Magazine
So You Want to Live Forever
Immortality through advanced technology and primitive diet

Aubrey de Grey, 51, is the man who insists that within a few decades technology will enable us human beings to beat death and live forever. Actually, he’s not the only one to make these assertions—that death is a problem to be solved, not a fate to be endured—but he is the only one I know of to give eternal life an exciting, just-around-the-corner timeline. “Someone is alive right now who is going to live to be 1,000 years old,” he told me when I interviewed him last fall at the SENS (for “Strategically Engineered Negligible Senescence”) Research Foundation headquarters, a well-worn 3,000-square-foot cement building in the Silicon Valley flatlands where de Grey holds the title of chief science officer. He has made this prophecy to a number of reporters—and this is what makes de Grey the most famous of a growing number of people who have staked their lifestyles and futures on the prospect of never dying. He is constantly interviewed by the press, has written a 2007 book, Ending Aging, and has given at least two of the TED talks that are a genius-certification ritual for public intellectuals these days.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articl...er_788982.html

Not convinced that the guy looks like he's in his 30s.

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-05-2014, 01:45 AM

Cuba has accused Britain of being anti-capitalist and threatening free trade with its plans introduce plain packaging on cigarettes and cigars.

The Communist country has complained to the World Trade Organisation over the UK Government plans to ban branding on smoking products to try and encourage people to give up the addictive habit.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ing-plans.html

**Park** · 05-05-2014, 02:49 AM

Anti-ageing compound set for human trials after turning clock back for mice

Two-year-old mice were given a compound over a week, moving back the key indicators of ageing to that of a six-month-old mouse. Researchers said this was the equivalent of making a 60-year-old person feel like a 20-year-old.

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-06-2014, 06:20 PM

As the scope of the NSA's bulk surveillance program becomes all too clear, less attention has been paid to the issues surrounding genetic information and surveillance. BioGenFutures, a new company-cum-art-project launched by information artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg, hopes to bring DNA surveillance back to the fore. The company just announced a product it calls "Invisible," which endeavors to make it harder for authorities to trace left-behind DNA evidence back to people. Not only is the product actually launching to consumers, but Dewey-Hagborg believes solutions of its kind will be commonplace within five years.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/2/567...na-untraceable

**Park** · 05-07-2014, 07:19 AM

Scientists can trace your ancestors to within 30 miles using DNA
http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/05/d...usaolp00000595

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-07-2014, 07:45 AM

ooh that would be awesome. Will certainly be getting my genome sequenced in the next few years.

**Park** · 05-07-2014, 07:26 PM

http://lifehacker.com/stop-trying-to...our-1572537899

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-08-2014, 09:39 PM

lifehacker is a good site

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-08-2014, 09:41 PM

Jun 28 2012

Forbidden Drink: Why Alcoholism Is Soaring in Officially Booze-Free Iran

They drink smuggled booze -- an estimated 60 to 80 million liters came over the border last year alone, mostly from Iraqi Kurdistan -- and they drink homemade booze, often the ouzo-meets-moonshine aragh saghi, made from raisins. They drink at home, drink at the corner shops that double as clandestine liquor stores, and apparently they drink behind the wheel: when Tehran police administered random alcohol tests to city drivers, a staggering 26 percent turned out to be drunk.

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...e-iran/259120/

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-16-2014, 03:03 AM

On How To Cook Eggs:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/t...iled-eggs.html

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-18-2014, 06:41 PM

Pope Francis has said that he would be willing to baptise aliens if they came to the Vatican, asking “who are we to close doors” to anyone - even Martians.

In a homily yesterday dedicated to the concepts of acceptance and inclusion, Francis recalled a Bible story about the conversion of the first pagans to Christianity, according to reports on Vatican Radio.

He said Catholicism was a church of “open doors”, and that it was up to Christians to accept the Holy Spirit however “unthinkable” and “unimaginable” it appeared.

Describing how, according to the Bible, Peter was criticised by the Christians of Jerusalem for making contact with a community of “unclean” pagans, Francis said that at the time that too was “unthinkable”.

“If, for example, tomorrow an expedition of Martians came to us here and one said ‘I want to be baptised!’, what would happen?”

Clarifying that he really was talking about aliens, the Pope said: “Martians, right? Green, with long noses and big ears, like in children’s drawings.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...s-9360632.html

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-25-2014, 01:04 AM

A few years ago friends and I were talking about the origins of written music. When the conversation turned to the origins of math symbols, I was surprised to learn that few people knew that almost all maths was written rhetorically before the 16th century, often in metered poetry. Most people think symbols for addition, subtraction or equality had been around long before Euclid wrote his Elements in the first century BCE. No! The original Elements is rhetorical. There are no symbols in Euclid’s works, aside from the letters marking the ends of lines and corners of geometric objects. There are no symbols in any early Arab algebra books. Nor do we find any in early European printed algebra books.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/a...s-joseph-mazur

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 05-25-2014, 01:05 AM

Let's imagine Daniel and Henry are vacationing in Yellowstone National Park, and set up camp in the 50 square miles of the park that are in Idaho (unlike most of the park, which is in Wyoming). They get into a fight and Daniel winds up killing Henry. But rather than bury the body and try to cover up the crime, Daniel freely admits to it and surrenders himself to the authorities.

At his trial, he invokes his right, under the Sixth Amendment, to a jury composed of people from the state where the murder was committed (Idaho) and from the federal district where it was committed. But here's the thing — the District of Wyoming has purview over all of Yellowstone, even the parts in Montana or Idaho. So Daniel has the right to a jury composed entirely of people living in both Idaho and the District of Wyoming — that is, people living in the Idaho part of Yellowstone. No one lives in the Idaho part of Yellowstone. A jury cannot be formed, and Daniel walks free.

http://www.vox.com/2014/5/22/5738756...-get-away-scot

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 06-04-2014, 05:20 PM

http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...6856_full.html

I thought these parts were particularly interesting:

In 1959, according to a Gallup poll, 60 percent of Americans favored banning handguns; that dropped to 41 percent by 1975 and 24 percent in 2012. By early 2008, according to Gallup, 73 percent of Americans believed the Second Amendment “guaranteed the rights of Americans to own guns” outside the militia.

Cue the National Rifle Association. We all know of the organization’s considerable power over the ballot box and legislation. Bill Clinton groused in 1994 after the Democrats lost their congressional majority, “The NRA is the reason the Republicans control the House.” Just last year, it managed to foster a successful filibuster of even a modest background-check proposal in the U.S. Senate, despite 90 percent public approval of the measure.

**Socionics Is A Cult** · 06-06-2014, 01:58 AM

Some article on Beethoven...probably not that great seeing as you read about him anywhere else without unnecessary supposition...

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articl...html?nopager=1