- All the Household Types in the U.S. | FlowingData
When you think of household types in the United States, the most common ones probably come to mind: single, married couple, married couple with a kid, or married couple with two kids. And that makes sense, since that covers about two-thirds of all households.
But I’ve been wondering about the remaining third of households. That’s when you start to see a lot of variation. - epicyclorama comments on Are there any earlier examples or origins of “lovecraftian” style of horrors in fiction or myths, earlier than Lovecraft himself?
Fascinerend. - Weird, Rare, and Everywhere | Hakai Magazine
In the bogs of Hecate Island, British Columbia, a writer and novice naturalist joins researchers for a glimpse of a multiyear biodiversity mission—and gets acquainted with some odd organisms. - Memory Allocation
In this post I’m going to introduce you to the basics of memory allocation. Allocators exist because it’s not enough to have memory available, you need to use it effectively. We will visually explore how simple allocators work. We’ll see some of the problems that they try to solve, and some of the techniques used to solve them. At the end of this post, you should know everything you need to know to write your own allocator. - American Hippopotamus – The Atavist Magazine
This is a story about hippopotamuses, as advertised, but it’s also a story about two very complicated and exceptional men. These men were spies. They were also bitter enemies. Each wanted to kill the other and fully expected to feel really good about himself afterward. Eccentric circumstances—circumstances having to do with hippopotamuses—would join these men together as allies and even dear friends. But then, eventually, they’d be driven into opposition again. - James Webb’s ’too massive’ galaxies may be even more massive
The first results from the James Webb Space Telescope have hinted at galaxies so early and so massive that they are in tension with our understanding of the formation of structure in the universe. Various explanations have been proposed that may alleviate this tension. But now a new study from the Cosmic Dawn Center suggests an effect which has never before been studied at such early epochs, indicating that the galaxies may be even more massive. - The obituaries guide that fills me with terror | The Spectator
The Times’s internal guide to writing its obituaries has fallen into my hands. It adds new terrors to death. Questing after interest (‘the quirkier the better’), it invites obituarists to ask unusual questions about the dead: ‘Were they cold-hearted bastards in the workplace?’ ‘Did they enjoy baiting their neighbour’s dog and teaching their grandchildren to smoke?’ It also advocates ‘the gentle saying of the opposite of what is meant… If, for example, we say that the wife of XXXXX [here it names… - The Ocean’s Largest Shark Has a Little Something to Say – Atlas Obscura
Here’s the thing about the sharks: as a general rule, they don’t make sounds. Across sharks’ 400-500 species, no one has ever found an organ even capable of making sound. (The closest is a New Zealand shark that “barks” by expelling water.) So after it was captured, the BBC team sent this video to be reviewed by multiple experts. None could tell them what exactly they were hearing. - Languages | UNESCO WAL
According to the World Atlas of Languages’ methodology, there are around 8324 languages, spoken or signed, documented by governments, public institutions and academic communities. Out of 8324, around 7000 languages are still in use.
Learn about the world’s languages and celebrate the global linguistic diversity by exploring the UNESCO World Atlas of Languages. - Seaflooding – by Tomas Pueyo – Uncharted Territories
Sea levels might rise by one to two meters by the end of the century.
What if I told you there was a way to mitigate that, while creating new habitats and more life, growing the economy, and making money along the way?
Let’s call it seaflooding. - How Much Is a Smidgen? | Lapham’s Quarterly
Error: 401.Smidgen, pinch, dollop, dash, and drop
These words, used casually in a recipe, fill novice cooks with fear. Most people recognize that they refer to a small amount of something, but just how small is left open to interpretation. When recipes first began to be written down they were recorded in the vernacular, rather than with a rigid list of exact measurements, meaning that many recipes are peppered with these inexact terms. - Lower Your Expectations | Lapham’s Quarterly
An essay on the benefits of lowering our expectations, in order to achieve happiness and contentment in life. - (1) It’s 1178 BCE and the Bronze Age Has Never Looked Stronger. No, I Won’t Lift My Eyes to the Horizon Right Now
It’s 1178 BCE and the sun never sets on the Ugaritic Empire/Kassite Federation/Old Babylonion Empire/Ugaritic trade network! And it’s all thanks to bronze, the hardest and most durable metal to ever come down the pike. Yes, whether you’re looking to smelt or cast, whether you need an ingot or a rhyton, a double-headed Cretan axe, some grave goods for your strongest grandmother, or a brazier-fitted statue of Kronos to give just the right finishing touch to your tophet, you simply can’t do better … - Long before modern humans existed, 100,000 years ago, Neanderthals built boats and went sailing
Although Middle Palaeolithic artifacts from the southern Ionian Islands indicate that humans have lived there since 110 ka BP, bathymetry, sea level variations, and Late Quaternary geology indicate that Kefallinia and Zakynthos were insular at the time. As a result, the presence of people on these islands suggests inter-island maritime activity. The Neanderthals were the first mariners, and it is likely that they began their voyages between 110 and 35 ka BP. - Ancient Earth globe
Explore ancient Earth through interactive map and see how continents have moved. Choose a time period and view climate, oceans, and more. - When M.I.T. Asked Dorian Abbot to Speak, It Invited Criticism – The New York Times
“This idea of intellectual debate and rigor as the pinnacle of intellectualism comes from a world in which white men dominated,” she replied. - The Socialist Calculation Debate | Lapham’s Quarterly
The socialist calculation debate highlighted the challenges of central planning. Government control of resources was inefficient and unsustainable. - Opinion | A Paper That Says Science Should Be Impartial Was Rejected by Major Journals. You Can’t Make This Up. – The New York Times
Is a gay Republican Latino more capable of conducting a physics experiment than a white progressive heterosexual woman? Would they come to different conclusions based on the same data because of their different backgrounds?
For most people, the suggestion isn’t just ludicrous; it’s offensive.
Yet this belief — that science is somehow subjective and should be practiced and judged accordingly — has recently taken hold in academic, governmental and medical settings. - cohost! – “The “baseline” scene was actually written by Ryan Gosling”
The baseline test was derived from an actors’ exercise as part of the movie production. We could imagine the baseline test was derived from the same actor’s exercise in the story continuity. But there’s a reading in which the baseline test is being used as an actor’s exercise in the movie, by K. The formal reason for the baseline test is to detect and purge emotion in replicants.
Tales of Drudgery & Boredom.