"When Ms. Jones began her career in publishing in the 1950s, cookbooks and food writing in general weren't taken seriously, often lumped in with technical manuals and textbooks. Their editing focused on the recipe instructions, without thought to point of view, cultural context or the beauty of language." [Archive]

Ilid Kaolo is a singer-songwriter and Outlet Drift is a three piece rock band. Both acts draw on their roots as Indigenous Taiwanese people to create wonderful fusions.

Indigenous Taiwanese people belong to the family of austronesian peoples. Even if you don't know much about the Indigenous Taiwanese, there's a good chance you've listened to a traditional melody of the Amis tribe. In 1994, German electronic group Enigma sampled a recording of a traditional chant in their song Return to Innocence (the original performers, Difang and Igay Duana sued Enigma and Virgen records for unauthorized use, and the case was settled out of court). Ilid Kaolo writes in both Chinese and the Amis language, and is influenced by bossa nova and jazz music. I'm fascinated by the songs that blend Amis melodies with jazz-influenced arrangements. (The post title is the name of a song on Ilid's album My Carefree life.)

• My Carefree Life
• 以莉高露 Ilid Kaolo《尋找你 Longing》-女人島 (客廳音樂會Live)
• 餵奶歌 —以莉高露教你唱(feat. Stacey Wei) ｜2018台北演唱會即將開演

Outlet Drift is a grunge-influenced rock band. With their last album, Lady of the Ocean, they say they wanted to use their music to express the breath and power of the Ami marine culture.

• 搭寮 Patireg to Talo'an｜漂流出口 Outlet Drift x 蔡子安 TZU-AN, TSAI｜LUC UP ! 10 x 10 [合拍]
• 漂流出口(Outlet Drift)海女(Lady of the Ocean)
• # 漂流出口 Outlet Drift – 仙人掌的花 Cactus Flower (Live from YuChen Studio)

I originally learned of both of these acts via the Taiwan Beats article 5 Taiwanese Indigenous Artists that You Should Know. These were my favorites from the article, but maybe you'll vibe more with one of the other groups mentioned.

On any reasonably sunny day, the pool would by then be echoing with the names of well-known people being called to the phone, as well as with the names of unknown people being called to the phone by themselves in the forlorn hope that one day this would help them become well known, too. From his vantage in front of his cabana, Irving could not only watch the parade go by but get the parade to sit down with him and play cards. from The Man Who Spent Forty-two Years at the Beverly Hills Hotel Pool [The New Yorker, 1993; ungated]

Irving Link, 90210 [LA Times, 1996] Irving Link obituary [Legacy, 2007] The Beverly Hills Hotel [Wikipedia]

Columbia Journalism Review on The New Old Liberals Neoliberalism had become a slur. A group of very online young politicos set out to change that.

A Single Mutation Gave These Fish a Sense of Curiosity And Opened Up Their World.

The just-before or the just-after tell a story; whether of becoming, or of letting go. For over 12 years, Mary Jo Hoffman has been taking a daily image of a gathered natural object (usually plants, sometimes dead birds and in one case, a live toad). Click on "details" at the bottom right of each object for, well, details. Hoffman on technique: "I spend a lot of time waiting for the sun to go behind a cloud so I can get softer lighting."

George Boole tried to "create a calculus to reduce all logical syllogisms, deductions, and inferences to the manipulation of mathematical symbols, and to cast a precise foundation for the theory of probability. This resulted in his greatest work: An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, [on which are founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities. (Gutenberg, pdf)] a book that laid out the rules of his new symbolic logic and also outlined, in the opening chapter, his grand intention to capture, with mathematics, the language of that ghost that whispers within the tortuous pathways of our minds." [Harper's]

Fifteen-year-old Darlene hadn't been in a classroom since fourth grade. She worked 11-hour days at a chicken restaurant, a step up from the slaughterhouse where she'd worked when she was younger. Every paycheck went to her parents who turned it over to the prophet. Everything the hardworking people did was in service to the prophet and to build up the church. Darlene's future was determined for her: She'd be a wife and mother, and serve the church and her husband. from This Is Not an Escape Story [Runner's World; ungated]

www.queensongs.info is your comprehensive guide to the music of Queen.

Start with the Discography. Then dive a little deeper on the Studio Info Page with track-by-track analysis of the recordings, including all kinds of detailed info about the studio recording process like who did what on each track with what instrument. Why not listen along to some MIDI Tracks while you read what the band was up to On This Day in History? Want to play along? Start with the Sheet Music and Tablature organized by album. And when you're ready, take the plunge into the 600 page Form and Analysis of every Queen song ever

Invasive species are well known to be a threat to the native ecosystem (usgs.gov pdf titled Wild Sheep and Deer in Hawai`i—a Threat to Fragile Ecosystems). Axis deer are particularly damaging, running rampant on Maui. They were introduced to the Big Island in 2009 and it took 5 years of government sponsored effort to successfully eradicate them. One of those involved in that project, Jack Muise (long interview on the podcast The Drive with the story of his life and how he got started) has started a business humanely hunting axis deer for commercial resale. The Struggle to Contain, and Eat, the Invasive Deer Taking over Hawaii. Axis deer were first brought to the islands in the 1860s. Now they number in the tens of thousands. (Modern Farmer). How Hawaii Became the Source of a Rare and Tasty Breed of Venison (By Evan Bleier for Inside Hook) "Harvested at night across 250,000 acres from 50 to 75 yards away using surveillance drones, UTVs and long-range rifles equipped with infrared scopes, Maui Nui's deer are killed under the watchful eyes of a USDA inspector in a manner that is designed to make the deer unaware they are being hunted."

Human hair and unwanted wool could be turned into a vital component for lithium batteries, researchers say. Charles Sturt University researchers say synthetic graphite made from hair and wool offcuts could help meet growing demand for the mineral, which is used to make lithium-ion batteries.

Made possible by an endowment offered through the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Sikivu Hutchinson has become "the first Black woman to teach a course on African American humanism," which was held at Pitzer College.

The Pitzer College Secular Studies program was founded in 2011 by sociology professor Phil Zuckerman. It offers a rare space in higher education dedicated to the academic study of nonreligion. In an interview published at Psychology Today, Hutchinson describes the motivating force behind her secular work:

Because people of color are disproportionately poor, segregated, demonized as racial others, over-incarcerated and denied equitable access to education we don't have the luxury and the privilege to be secular or pursue a secularist agenda that isn't steeped in economic and social justice.

Crossposted from the Black Skeptics Los Angeles website, the American Humanist Association has published a series of articles written by students enrolled in the course: "Ruminating on African American Humanism: My Experience and Skepticism" by Corrie Waters:

African American Humanism deals with issues like police brutality, systemic racism, discrimination in healthcare, and expanding access to healthcare, contraceptives, and safe-sex awareness, which all disproportionately affect Black women.

"Intersecting Identities within African American Humanism" by Reese Rutherford:

When identifying ways different types of people react to experiences, it is important to recognize the combined identity one experiences when less 'socially acceptable' identities overlap, creating an identity that affects one's experience differently than someone without the same overlapping identities.

"What Would My Momma Think? Humanist Reflections of a Radical Black Femme" by Ramya Herman:

Our world is in a state of rapid decline that suggests a potential end to our society, as well as an end to the American empire as it has stood for the last couple of centuries. As the individuals who are inheriting the crumbled pieces of humanity, it is critical that we sustain and rebuild our society so that it is one where all humans are recognized and treated as such. Hopefully, one day we will reach a point, both within the Black community, and throughout our society, where it is not demonized to be human in any form. I believe African American Humanist thought, and classes that provide a platform for educating youth about it, will be the groundwork and guiding force for that transition.

"A Meditation on African-American Humanism: Through the Lens of a Black Disabled Feminist Skeptic from Gen-Z" by Adia Gardner:

The myth that irreligiosity is always synonymous with immorality not only limits the space to be non-religious but is also inaccurate when you put history under a microscope and unearth the fact that Black freethinkers have long aligned themselves with the pursuit of freedom for the socioeconomically disenfranchised.

Nearly a year and a half ago, Joseph Newton did an excellent video about Cursed units. Now he's back with Cursed Units 2: Curseder Units! From fuel efficiency in square millimetres to the barrer, the definition of which has cm appear no less than four times, you're sure to encounter some weird (metric) units you'd not heard of. [2LYT]

Rebekah Peppler on Julia Child and cooking in the south of France: "The kitchen remains as one imagines it did when Julia Child built it. Tart rings, copper pots, measuring spoons, and whisks line the four walls, with outlines marking a designated spot for every single item. Market baskets pile high in a corner; the screened door bangs shut in a way that feels like many have entered through it. And many have."

Julia previously, previously, previously, and so on.

That's Gender Dysphoria This experience of discontinuity between the societal presumed gender and the internal sense of self is what we describe as Gender Dysphoria, and is common among nearly all trans individuals, regardless of their position within or outside of the gender binary. This has at times been something of a political topic within trans communities, as different groups have their own ideas of what Gender Dysphoria is, how it manifests itself, and what qualifies a person as being trans.

So as not to get lost in that topic, this site will define Gender Dysphoria in broad terms of incongruence with sex assigned at birth. If you experience gender identity in a way that does not match what was assigned to you at birth, your claim to the transgender identity is valid, no matter how that incongruence manifests for you. How to Support A Friend or Partner Who's Dealing With Gender Dysphoria If your friend or partner wants to talk to you about their gender dysphoria, listen to what they have to say. Don't offer advice unless they ask for it. Instead, validate their feelings—like by reflecting what they have said back to them in a way that lets them know you really heard or saw them, or by letting them know you agree their feelings are right and real—and ask questions.

Telepathy might initially seem a much softer, psychological proposition, tainted with a sense of the supernatural. Yet both Campbell and Clarke were lifelong advocates of the view that telepathy was highly probable, the scientific proof of its existence likely just around the corner. The promise of telepathy – soon to be achieved, not far off, only a few test subjects away – feels very familiar when reading Musk's boosterish announcements on Neuralink's latest breakthroughs. The promise that telepathy is just about to be realised is not confined to entrepreneurs and science-fiction writers alone. For more than a century, there have consistently been figures in the scientific establishment who have entertained similar hopes that telepathy would soon reach the threshold of proof, promising everything from opening a new evolutionary phase of human development to a new psychic front in the global arms race. from Tomorrow People [Aeon; ungated]

'Tis the week of midsummer and the solstice, when people gather for early sunrises, and late sunsets (northern hemisphere edition) impress. Bonfires are lit, and rituals to cleanse abound, in many places (anywhere you want) and not just overcrowded Stonehenge. But what was your "longest day" (and interpret that in any you see fit)? Happy, sad, epic, life-changing, life-affirming? On your own, with a loved one, a friend, or a crowd? Or just write about whatever is on your mind, in your heart, or on your plate, because this is your weekly free thread. Happy midsummer, MeFites!

Punch Punch Forever is (currently) a two episode cartoon parody of both fighting tournament anime and fandom subbing culture, arising from out of Newgrounds (remember them?) and made by animator speedoru. It presents itself as a lost anime series from the 90s; it also goes by at 90 miles an hour. It's in Japanese with subtitles. So far there's the pilot (8 minutes) and the second episode, My Little Slasher (12 minutes). CW: juvenile humor, cartoon violence and gore. It's very silly.

The premise: Indestructible 11 year old martial arts prodigy Gogo faces off against laughably overpowered demon opponents in a VHS kind of world, supported by her mother Mama, her half-demon sister Nono, and her pet frog Coolfrog. She fights in a tournament run by Demon Emperor Koro, who seems to have some connection with Mama. The outer premise: These episodes were "found" on videotape in a box in speedoru's dad's basement. Ostensibly taped off of Japanese television there's bits of commercials and other programming as framing material. They're subbed by "xX_geocitiesSUBCREW95_Xx" and their virtue jealously guarded by DarkGod87. It isn't for everyone. If you've watched a ton of Dragonball Z then you might really enjoy, but if your brain has never marinated in the sweaty brine of 90s Western anime fandom you might not get it. Or maybe you would anyway? It really is very silly. Please don't take it too seriously. About the links: although this is a Newgrounds presentation, they've been officially posted to Youtube as well, and that's where I've linked them. Newgrounds certainly has its problematic elements, but this bit of it is pure, at least as pure as something involving cartoony child endangerment can be.

A linguist shares the story of his study with the last remaining speaker of South Tsimshian As shared to r/linguistics in 2013: "Today, Violet Neasloss, aka Nanny Violet, passed away. she was the oldest resident of Klemtu BC, 99 years old, and also one of the happiest, quickest, and most caring. With her death, the South Tsimshian, or SgüüXs language is now sleeping, but because of her, and the hundreds of hours of exhausting mental work she committed to over those months, at some point in the future, members of her community will have the option to wake it up again, and some have already started.

here is a video link of us recording - she upbraids me for my lack of knowledge about the kitchen, and finishes by showing the care she took over what knowledge she shared with the recordings, always careful that never a bad word was said about anybody, though she wasn't so careful when talking about things she felt were hurting her community"

This team went guerilla-style into the British Museum to create exact replicas of the Parthenon marbles. This archaeologist and his team had a simple plan — take 3D scans of the Parthenon marbles and recreate them for the British Museum so the originals could be returned to Greece. When the museum said no, they went in anyway, guerilla-style.

To most people, pulling into a highway rest stop is a profoundly mundane experience. But not to neuroscientist Rita Valentino, who has studied how the brain senses, interprets and acts on the bladder's signals. She's fascinated by the brain's ability to take in sensations from the bladder, combine them with signals from outside of the body, like the sights and sounds of the road, then use that information to act—in this scenario, to find a safe, socially appropriate place to pee. "To me, it's really an example of one of the beautiful things that the brain does," she says. from How Do We Know When to Pee? [Smithsonian; ungated]

The Lonely, Resolute Path of Oklahoma Lesiglator Mauree Turner (slWaPo) "Being the nation's first Black, Muslim, nonbinary state lawmaker, let alone the first in Oklahoma, was never going to be easy."

Probabilistic Tic-Tac-Toe – The rules are the same as normal tic-tac-toe, but each square has a different probability of a good (smiley face), neutral (meh face), or bad (frowny face) event happening when selected.

Discussion of the optimal play algorithm

13 year old Lucas Jemeljanova becomes first person to be cured of DIPG, a mostly fatal pediatric brain cancer, after traveling to France to participate in a study on the effectiveness of 3 cancer drugs. The same mRNA technology that brought us the COVID-19 vaccine could also be used to create a vaccine for cancer. Microrobots made of algae can carry chemo directly to lung tumors, improving cancer treatment. The American Society of Clinical Oncology met this year to share their latest findings on ways to treat cancer: from "melting away" tumors, to more accurate cancer screenings, and clinical trials for promising cancer vaccines.

English Heritage's Properties Curator, Win Scutt said: "These finds reveal a fascinating insight into the lives of those at Tintagel Castle more than 1,500 years ago. It is easy to assume that the fall of the Roman Empire threw Britain into obscurity, but here on this dramatic Cornish cliff top they built substantial stone buildings, used fine table wares from Turkey, drank from decorated Spanish glassware and feasted on pork, fish and oysters." 2016 excavations report. Guardian article about a truly extraordinary window ledge inscription from the 7th century. More about Tintagel for folks who've never heard of it.

This post brought to you courtesy of the Secrets of the Dead 2019 episode on 5th-7th century Britain. Arthur previously.

Dentist Discovers Human-Like Jawbone and Teeth in a Floor Tile at His Parents' Home. Scientists are planning to study the specimen, embedded in travertine from western Turkey, in hopes of dating and identifying it. He found the jawbone in a tile made of travertine, a type of limestone that typically forms near hot springs. This specific tile came from a quarry in the Denizli Basin of western Turkey. The travertine excavated there formed between 0.7 million and 1.8 million years ago, which suggests the mandible did not come from a person who died recently.

In our technological age people are often caught between two worlds, forced to choose between what is pleasurable and what is beyond pleasurable. Activity A may be a genuinely enjoyable activity, but as an ordinary pleasure it comes with certain discomforts and limitations. Activity B, on the other hand, promises to move past those limitations, satiating our desire for maximal pleasure. Who wouldn't want to choose Activity B, then, when the option is presented so readily? from The Rise of Hyperpleasures by Samuel C. Heard (Mere Orthodoxy; ungated)

This volume thus builds upon growing art historical, anthropological, and historical literature that argues that "art" is far from a natural category of human endeavor, but instead represents a historically specific idea and practice emerging in Europe from the Enlightenment and its aftermath [:] the radical and unprecedented bifrucation of the artist, as the genius who produces things of beauty, from the skilled artisan or crafts[person] who produces useful objects. [what's the use of art?]

"The ways in which decoration and ornament are defined and used vary in different cultures and periods. The Renaissance in Western Europe elevated to supreme status the 'fine arts', demoting handicraft and ornament, and beginning a process whereby these latter were relegated to the status of 'applied arts'... Centuries later in Britain, William Morris (1834-96) criticized the separation of art and craft from daily life and helped to promote a limited revival of medieval handicraft. More recently, a re-evaluation of ornament in art history has begun. In The Meditation of Ornament, [gbooks] the historian of Islamic art Oleg Grabar discusses ornament in the art of Islam within a broad world-view, ranging from Chinese calligraphy to contemporary art. Grabar proposes that ornament functions as an intermediary, enabling a direct encounter between the object it adorns and the viewer. He provides examples from different cultures, and suggests how terminology expresses the concept in different languages. For example, he notes that there is a Sanskrit word bhusati, which means 'to adorn'. It implies the successful completion of an act, object or state of mind. Grabar comes to the conclusion that 'in several highly literate and articulate societies, [there is agreement] on the existence of an action that completes something, that makes it perfect. That action is to decorate and the medium of its effectiveness is ornament.'" [Kazari: Internet Archive] previously: Egypt, repatriation, repair, I love how worked-over the first page of Nineteen Eighty-Four is, secret, ways of seeing, lists, equally an observer and an experimentalist, the only enslaved artist working in colonial America whose paintings are known to have survived, a Soviet nonconformist artist, exotic birds — including parrots, a recurring symbol in historical painting — and gigantic butterflies, tap, Very weird framing on this, it's a mix of science [laminar flow, Bernoulli] and woo [humidity, cloud-cover], the evolution of word balloons, care bears forever, suggesting that video games should incorporate more poetry, Art making is just one way of many through which we can transmute the unimaginable weight of loss into other forms, transformer architecture, wrappers delight, thousands of pieces of delicate glass created by a First Nations artist, Yhonnie Scarce, to tell significant stories, "poorly" animated juggling, esoteric phenomena, works "in the style of", Folly Cove, sketchbook hoboes, the child in the foreground is shown at work, erasure in portraiture, obsessions, art colonies, Tolkien, Botticelli, celebrities, serious work attempting to convey a sentiment, Charlemagne, skull trumpet, game as argument, videogames might be art but can they be literature, a testament to the power of vision, determination, and the belief that African stories could shine on the global stage, to combine colors as in a painting, juxtapositions when you put his pieces side-by-side can be as strange as the items he's composing together in the individual pieces, rainbow rice seedlings depicting sleeping cats, whiteness (which he describes as the way we organize and are organized), twined cattail leaves, web vibrations to interpret worldly signals, no viewer should be aware that any art project was happening, Software Piracy Birthed an Underground Art Scene, one foot in reality and the other in fantasy, micro-details of things, sand drawings of Vanuatu follow principles from a branch of math, leaf art, an impresario of the experimental in a city, Art + Climate, chef, vaporous worlds, this lost copywriting art, MAiZE, "influencer artist", the radical story of Palestinian embroidery, artists add invisible changes to the pixels in their art before they upload it online so that if it's scraped into an AI training set, it can cause the resulting model to break in chaotic and unpredictable ways, it's possible to believe in a happily ever after for us, most stylish older people don't follow rules, recipes knit our past with our present, hold on, a canvas for the art of living simply, craftivism, ornithological art, a time when children are living in peace, documentary, the most successful flop of all time, The "fuss" is that all of this AI art is built on the backs of people who remain uncompensated., somewhat gothic art direction, painting transmits rhythm, Ady Fidelin, the oldest known depiction of the bee in art is The man (or woman) of bicorp an (at least) 8000 year old cave painting in the Coves de l'Aranya, cozy game, stained glass sundials, Queer independent wrestling is where it is at, dematerializing, imaginary worlds and fantastical creatures, accessibility, Soteriology—that is the branch of theology that concerns itself with salvation—, lunar codex, retired playground animals, wombat — that "most beautiful of God's creatures", Clone-a Lisa, Ismail al-Jazari, the "father of robotics", done with comics but never art or the revolution, MLB players develop their autographs, say gay, not doing their art was costing them time", a world-class destination for art, but now we're so much more, an incredibly ambitious title to pursue when many video games do not try to engage with having cultures or identities outside of the white/western represented, a sound collage, Uplifting neurodivergent joy and caregiving are important acts of resistance , Chief Hacking Officer, art exists everywhere, the new searchable (and playable!) web frontend, all sorts of angles on how games and fashion converge, one player will make it to The Center, art helps, strategic use of nonviolent disruptive tactics, "moments of being," "vigorous compression", enjoying music, an archivist's dream... a while until the end of the blues (400+ pages to go) yet i feel comfortable saying: art means many things to many people

On March 8, 2024, the Canadian National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) provided Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with the Special Report on Foreign Interference in Canada's Democratic Processes and Institutions (redacted pdf). On June 3, NSICOP tabled the report in Parliament. The document alleges that while "parliamentarians were unaware they were the target of foreign interference", others have been "wittingly assisting foreign state actors," though maybe not anybody currently in Parliament.

NSICOP is a cross-party group of MPs and Senators with the highest level of security clearance, chaired by Liberal MP David J. McGuinty and with members: 3 Senators (the Honourables Patricia Duncan, Marty Klyne, and Frances Lankin) and Bloc Québécois MP Stéphane Bergeron, NDP MP Don Davies, Liberal MP Patricia Lattanzio, Conservative MPs Rob Morrison and Alex Ruff, and two Liberal MPs who ceased membership on Sept 17, 2023, Iqra Khalid and James Maloney. Some background: In 2021 and 2022, the Conservative Party blamed Chinese influence campaigns for the defeat in the 2021 federal election of as many as 9 Conservative candidates, with another 4 also targeted who weren't in competitive ridings. Media reported on a vast, orchestrated disinformation campaign by the People's Republic of China which included funding some federal candidates. At the time, CSIS said they "saw attempts at foreign interference, but not enough to have met the threshold of impacting electoral integrity". In March 2023, the Prime Minister asked the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) to conduct a review. NSIRA submitted its Review of the dissemination of intelligence on People's Republic of China political foreign interference, 2018-2023 to the Prime Minister a year later on March 5, 2024 and released a declassified version April 26 (pdf). Also in March 2023, Trudeau appointed an independent special rapporteur, former governor general David Johnston, to investigate. In June 2023, opposition MPs teamed up to pass an NDP motion to remove Johnston because he recommended against holding a public inquiry. In September 2023, the Government of Canada announced a public inquiry centering on "China, Russia and other foreign states or nonstate actors" interfering in the 43rd and 44th general elections. Public hearings began in January 2024. In April 2024, media reported that the People's Republic of China allegedly clandestinely paid "threat actors" in late 2018 or early 2019, who targeted 7 Liberal Party candidates and 4 Conservative Party candidates, with some apparently willing to co-operate in foreign interference and others apparently unaware of it. Additionally, international students may have been coerced by the PRC to vote for Independent (formerly Liberal) MP Han Dong, possibly without Dong's knowledge. P. 31 of the NSICOP redacted report talks about "a CSIS assessment on the degree to which an individual was implicated in these activities" but is silent on Dong's knowledge of them. India allegedly interfered in one race for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada, and the People's Republic of China allegedly interfered in two. Details were redacted from the NSICOP report. Former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole believes interference played a role in his 2022 ouster as party leader. Trudeau told the inquiry that allegations that China would prefer a Liberal minority government is "very improbable," as Canada-China relations have soured due to the Huawei and Two Michaels incidents. Canada doesn't have a foreign influence registry, a tool used by the US to remove PRC "police stations" like the ones in Toronto and Vancouver. Trudeau wants to ensure such a registry not target diaspora groups. Bill C-70, dubbed the "Countering Foreign Interference Act," was introduced in early May, though universties say it could chill research partnerships. Back to the NSICOP report: The declassified, redacted version of the NSICOP Special Report mentions:

• "members of Parliament who worked to influence their colleagues on India's behalf and proactively provided confidential information to Indian officials." (p.24)
• a PRC "network had some contact with at least 11 candidates and 13 campaign staffers, some of whom appeared to be wittingly working for the PRC" (p. 26)
• "Member of Parliament wittingly provided information *** to a foreign state . . . a particularly concerning case of a then-member of Parliament maintaining a relationship with a foreign intelligence officer" (p.26)
• "an example of the PRC using intermediaries to provide funds likely to support candidates in the 2019 federal election, including two transfers of funds approximating $250,000 through a prominent community leader, a political staffer and then an Ontario member of Provincial Parliament. CSIS could not confirm that the funds reached any candidate." (pp.28-29).

Redacted are specific names. The classified version has now been read by the Prime Minister, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who all have top security clearances. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is refusing to go through the security clearance process to view the unredacted report, apparently so he won't be bound by the Security of Information Act. Bloc Québécois MP Jean-Denis Garon Mirabel said in debate that, "Agreeing to this security briefing means getting the information and the names. However, those who obtain the names are not allowed to disclose them, not allowed to talk about it and not allowed to act on this information. We are effectively being shut down." May said she was "vastly relieved" not to see disloyalty from current MPs, while Singh called those involved "traitors to the country," though he wouldn't confirm if he was referring to serving MPs, and slammed Trudeau for being "slow to act" and Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre for ignoring claims of foreign interference within his party. Singh said the report named him as a target of interference, and that no NDP MPs are participants. Conservatives are calling for the names to be released but Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says that, in some cases, allegations are based on "uncorroborated or unverified" intelligence information. NSICOP chair McGuinty says the committee has revealed as much as they can without breaching the Security of Information Act, and it's the RCMP's responsibility to investigate the allegations. The Foreign Interference Commission public hearings will resume this autumn.

The search for the mysterious company behind a scheme to steal Elvis Presley's Graceland estate ended last week, not in Nigeria--where initial clues seemed to lead--but at the front door of "a grandmother in Branson, Missouri, a con woman with a decades long rap sheet of romance scams, forged checks and bank fraud totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, for which she did time in state and federal prison."

Scuba Diver handling Moray Eel, it enjoys it [SLYT]

Hey, no slapping!

A Washington Post investigation found hundreds of law enforcement officers in the United States have sexually exploited kids. Many avoid prison time. From the various LinkMe requests over here, because there are a lot of bad cop stories this week. Sigh.

WaPo: WaPo: "An officer sexually abused a teen in his police car. How will he be punished?" I think we all know the answer to this before even opening it, amirite? NYT: NYT: How an Officer's Social Media Posts About Work Harassment Led to Her Firing. Yeah, nothing happens to the harassers, of course. Phoenix section: Phoenix is a Vision of America's Future (The Atlantic gift) Phoenix police use excessive force and racially discriminate, Justice Dept. says (WaPo gift) DOJ: Phoenix police systematically used illegal excessive force. Reaction ranges from outrage to caution (Arizona Republic)

Justice Alito Caught on Tape Discussing How Battle for America 'Can't Be Compromised' [ungated] - "In a new, secret recording, the Supreme Court justice says he 'agrees' that the U.S. should return to a place of godliness."

The recording, which was provided exclusively to Rolling Stone, captures Windsor approaching Alito at the event and reminding him that they spoke at the same function the year before, when she asked him a question about political polarization. In the intervening year, she tells the justice, her views on the matter had changed. "I don't know that we can negotiate with the left in the way that needs to happen for the polarization to end," Windsor says. "I think that it's a matter of, like, winning." "I think you're probably right," Alito replies. "On one side or the other — one side or the other is going to win. I don't know. I mean, there can be a way of working — a way of living together peacefully, but it's difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can't be compromised. They really can't be compromised. So it's not like you are going to split the difference." Windsor goes on to tell Alito: "People in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that — to return our country to a place of godliness." "I agree with you. I agree with you," replies Alito, who authored the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision, which reversed five decades of settled law and ended a constitutional right to abortion.

Justice Alito questions possibility of political compromise in secret recording - "Martha-Ann Alito spoke to Windsor about her flags on another recording made at the dinner, according to an additional edited recording the filmmaker posted online. She said she wanted to fly a religious flag because 'I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month', an apparent reference to celebratory LGBTQ+ displays during Pride month in June." Supreme Court's Alito appears to back US return to 'godliness' in secret recording - "The 'Appeal to Heaven' flag has come to symbolize hopes by some conservative activists for a more Christian-centered U.S. government." Secret recording puts spotlight on Alito's strong conservative views on religious issues - "The justice has consistently backed religious Christian groups in Supreme Court cases and has often spoke about freedom of religion being under attack." Alito's 'Godliness' Comment Echoes a Broader Christian Movement - "Justice Samuel Alito's secretly recorded remarks come as many conservatives have openly embraced the view that American democracy must be grounded in a Christian worldview."

The unguarded moment added to calls for greater scrutiny by Democrats, many of whom are eager to open official investigations into outside influence at the Supreme Court. But the core of the idea expressed to Mr. Alito, that the country must fight the decline of Christianity in public life, goes beyond the questions of bias and influence at the nation's highest court. An array of conservatives, including antiabortion activists, church leaders and conservative state legislators, has openly embraced the idea that American democracy needs to be grounded in Christian values and guarded against the rise of secular culture. They are right-wing Catholics and evangelicals who oppose abortion, same-sex marriage, transgender rights and what they see as the dominance of liberal views in school curriculums. And they've become a crucial segment of former President Donald J. Trump's political coalition, intermingled with the MAGA movement that boosted him to the White House and that hopes to do so once again in November. The movement's rise has been evident across the country since Mr. Trump lost re-election in 2020. The National Association of Christian Lawmakers formed to advance Christian values and legislation among elected officials. This week in Indianapolis, delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in America, are voting on issues like restricting in vitro fertilization and further limiting women from pastoral positions. [US Southern Baptists effort to enshrine ban on women pastors falls short (earlier: Southern Baptists finalize expulsion of two churches with female pastors), US Southern Baptists condemn IVF procedure] And in Congress, Mike Johnson, a man with deep roots in this movement and the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group, is now speaker of the House. Now, Supreme Court justices have become caught up in the debate over whether America is a Christian nation. While Justice Alito is hardly openly championing these views, he is embracing language and symbolism that line up with a much broader movement pushing back against the declining power of Christianity as a majority religion in America. The country has grown more ethnically diverse and the share of American adults who describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated has risen steadily over the past decade. Still, a 2022 report from the Pew Research Center found that more than four in 10 adults believed America should be a "Christian nation." Justice Alito's agreement isn't the first time he has embraced Christian ways of talking about the law and his vision for the nation. Shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago, a ruling for which Justice Alito wrote the majority opinion, the justice flew to Rome and addressed a private summit on religious liberty hosted by the University of Notre Dame. His overarching concern was the decline of Christianity in public life, and he warned of what he saw as a "growing hostility to religion, or at least the traditional religious beliefs that are contrary to the new moral code that is ascendant." "We can't lightly assume that the religious liberty enjoyed today in the United States, in Europe and in many other places will always endure," he said, referencing Christians "torn apart by wild beasts" at the Colosseum before the fall of the Roman Empire... [T]he resonance of the Sacred Heart goes beyond simply an abstract religious concept, just as the Pride flag does. Each is notable for the vision of America that they symbolize, and the different visions of marriage, family and morality that they represent. For one slice of America that celebrates L.G.B.T.Q. rights, June is Pride Month. For another devout, traditional Catholic slice, June is a time to remember the Sacred Heart.

Justice Alito, in secretly recorded audio, apparently agrees nation needs to return to place of 'godliness' - "In the edited clips that were posted to X, Windsor approached Martha-Ann Alito at the event and seemingly expressed sympathy for 'everything that you're going through' and that it 'was not okay.' 'It's okay because if they come back to me, I'll get them,' Martha-Ann Alito said, referring to the news media. 'I'm gonna be liberated, and I'm gonna get them.' ... Windsor then turned the conversation to the stir caused by the 'Appeal to Heaven' flag, to which Martha-Ann Alito said the 'feminazis believe that [Justice Alito] should control me. So, they'll go to hell, he never controls me,' she added." In Secret Recordings, Alito Endorses Nation of 'Godliness.' Roberts Talks of Pluralism. - "The two justices were surreptitiously recorded at a Supreme Court gala last week by a woman posing as a Catholic conservative."

The justice's comments appeared to be in marked contrast to those of Chief Justice Roberts, who was also secretly recorded at the same event but who pushed back against Ms. Windsor's assertion that the court had an obligation to lead the country on a more "moral path." "Would you want me to be in charge of putting the nation on a more moral path?" the chief justice said. "That's for people we elect. That's not for lawyers." Ms. Windsor pressed the chief justice about religion, saying, "I believe that the founders were godly, like were Christians, and I think that we live in a Christian nation and that our Supreme Court should be guiding us in that path." Chief Justice Roberts quickly answered, "I don't know if that's true." He added: "I don't know that we live in a Christian nation. I know a lot of Jewish and Muslim friends who would say maybe not, and it's not our job to do that." The chief justice also said he did not think polarization in the country was irreparable, pointing out that the United States had managed crises as severe as the Civil War and the Vietnam War. When Ms. Windsor pressed him on whether he thought that there was "a role for the court" in "guiding us toward a more moral path," the chief justice's answer was immediate. "No, I think the role for the court is deciding the cases," he said.

There are a variety of "low-carbon" or "bandwidth-friendly" variants of news sites out there that load headlines with little styling and no images, such as CBC Lite, and much, much more.

With a huge hat tip to AskMe contributors, these include: News sites: CBC Lite (Canada) NPR Text (USA) CNN Lite (USA) PBS Lite (USA) Times Wire (thumbnail images; USA) ESPN Scoreboard (US sports, scores only) Christian Science Monitor Text (World) Neuters (text-only Reuters) News aggregators: brutalist.report (default is tech-focused) newsasfacts.com (global / politics) legiblenews.com (Condensed Wikipedia news) poandpo.com (starts with politics/global, scroll down for 'magazine' topics) 68k.news (text-only Google news) News Minimalist (ChatGPT generated list of stories with a 'significance score' over 5.5) Skimfeed (headline links from many newspapers, magazines) Other: United Nations COP28 website has a "low carbon" toggle Human Rights Watch Text (curated human rights headlines)

See how a translator carries a book from one language to another, line by line. Much like a crossword, a translation isn't finished until all the answers are present and correct, with each conditioning the others. But when it comes to literature, there is rarely ever just one solution, and my job is to test as many as possible. A word can be a perfect fit until something I try in the next clause introduces a clumsy repetition or infelicitous echo. Meaning, connotation and subtext all matter, but so does style. Below are two attempts to show the thought processes involved in the kind of translation I do. Sophie Hughes for the New York Times.

This outback property is home to 37 species found nowhere else in the world, many hiding in springs for millennia. Unique species of fish, snails, and crustaceans have existed on this isolated property in Western Queensland since the dinosaur age when it was deep under water as part of the Eromanga Sea.

We might now be on the cusp of a similar sea change, with American policymakers, especially Democrats and the broader center-Left, beginning to craft a new industrial policy and seeking to decouple economically from China. This decoupling is accompanied by an ersatz new Cold War with China—reminding us of how an earlier era of more activist liberal government required the Cold War to legitimate and underpin it. Whether such efforts will take hold is, for now, unclear. But understanding what these efforts are designed to overturn requires returning to the pivotal years of America in the 1990s. from What the 1990s Did to America [Public Books]

In which youtuber f4mi talks famiclones, bootleg software, and demake ports of popular games, long after the West had given up on the NES, with a focus on one very special demake in particular... [SLYT]

This volume thus builds upon growing art historical, anthropological, and historical literature that argues that "art" is far from a natural category of human endeavor, but instead represents a historically specific idea and practice emerging in Europe from the Enlightenment and its aftermath [:] the radical and unprecedented bifrucation of the artist, as the genius who produces things of beauty, from the skilled artisan or crafts[person] who produces useful objects [what's the use of art?]

[two hours, SLYT] From a talk presented at https://cackalackycon.org/, professional physical pentester Deviant Ollam explains fire codes and fire safety systems (such as fire doors and sprinkler systems).

A theme in the talk is looking and sounding like you belong somewhere you don't; however, there is plenty of interesting information about egress and exits, fire safety systems and fire codes. Previously on Metafilter, Elevators Other videos in the same vein from Deviant Ollam: Also elevators, and Keys, with Howard Payne, and Doors

Edward Hopper - Haskell's House - 1924. The house IRL. Haskell's House at Hopperhead. Haskell's House for the Hopper fan. Hopper previously.

But this isn't really about the software. It's about what software promises us—that it will help us become who we want to be, living the lives we find most meaningful and fulfilling. The idea of research as leisure activity has stayed with me because it seems to describe a kind of intellectual inquiry that comes from idiosyncratic passion and interest. It's not about the formal credentials. It's fundamentally about play. It seems to describe a life where it's just fun to be reading, learning, writing, and collaborating on ideas. from research as leisure activity by Celine Nguyen [Personal Canon]

GQ: "It's happening very fast," said Saurabh Netravalkar, the Team USA cricket player with the world-famous LinkedIn profile ... Several fans in attendance held up signs calling Kohli a god; one held up a sign asking Netravalkar for a job reference. Guardian: As it happened: USA beat Pakistan. The Athletic: So, for a son of Mumbai to inflict such a humiliating defeat on the old enemy was a case of Netravalkar - in the words of his younger sister Nidhi on social media - "making two countries happy". Times of India: Balancing his dual roles as a cricketer and a software engineer at Oracle, Netravalkar manages his demanding career alongside his sports commitments. Interviewed in cricbuzz: "I filed for a patent. It was an innovation algorithm that we had."

Cricinfo: After the Pakistan win, a screen grab of his Slack out-of-office message was all over social media. It said he would be away from work until June 17, when the group phase of the World Cup ends. Netravalkar is not thinking ahead to whether he might have to extend his leave of absence in case USA make it to the Super 8s... ...update on that: As of an hour ago, the USA have enough points so they can't be caught by Ireland, Canada or Pakistan in their group. This means the USA qualify, along with India, into the final group stage of the current World Cup: this also gives the USA automatic qualification for the same World Cup tournament in 2026, two years before cricket returns to the Olympics in Los Angeles. Saurabh is going to need to ask for an extension to WFWCM (Work From World Cup Matches).

An Ode to Luby's and the Southern Cafeteria (The Bitter Southerner)

Reuters: Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic 'The U.S. military launched a clandestine program [that started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden's presidency] amid the COVID crisis to discredit China's Sinovac inoculation – payback for Beijing's efforts to blame Washington for the pandemic. One target: the Filipino public. Health experts say the gambit was indefensible and put innocent lives at risk.' (ungated)

Romance Writers of America continues its slow crawl towards oblivion, filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, blaming 'disputes concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion issues between some members of a prior RWA board and others in the larger romance writing community'. Meanwhile author Courtney Milan continues to live her best life, organizing the next round of the Romancing the Vote fundraiser, self-publishing (extremely well reviewed) historical romances featuring diverse characters, and writing a chatty weekly newsletter about tea for her fans.

as summarized in a 2022 r/HobbyDrama post previously 2015, Nazi romance nominated for awards previously Dec 2019 the beginning of the scandal.