Thursday, June 21, 2018
Brazil's Geography Problem
Brazil is a big country, with a lot of people, so why isn't it a world power? The answers lie in the very things that make Brazil unique. The land that it covers is very different from smaller nations. Wendover productions looks at Brazil and its geography. (via Digg)
Miss Cellania's Links
The Forgotten Chefs Who Made Chili Con Carne a Tex-Mex Standard. Women running their own businesses gave us an entirely new cuisine.
You Would Never Expect Killer Whales to Appear Here. Arctic Ocean prey that once fed polar bears is fair game for orcas.
Brooklyn's Defunct Domino Sugar Plant Opens as Domino Park. Pictures show how an old factory can become a community park and still retain its history.
First Impressions. Tom Comitta took the first sentence from 268 New Yorker short stories, sorted them, and combined them into one surprisingly cohesive tale.
Sneaky Ways Restaurants Are Hacking Your Brain. Check out 25 subtle tricks that make you spend more.
Economist Austan Goolsbee explains tariffs with a story about plumbing gone wrong. I recommend listening to it instead of reading the transcript.
Political Section
Trump's executive order doesn't mean the end of zero tolerance arrests, and it might not even keep families together. It doesn't do a thing for kids already taken.
Here’s How You Can Help Fight Family Separation at the Border. A list of resources and organizations that need your skills, time, or money.
Trump’s catch-and-detain policy snares many who have long called U.S. home.
Here's how asylum seekers at the border were treated before this summer.
An Immigration Attorney on What It’s Like to Represent Small Children Taken from Their Parents.
Top Ten Reasons We Take Kids From Their Parents At The Border.
And Finally
A blast from the past (2014): The Day the Mountain of Fire Was Born.
An Honest Trailer for Jurassic Park III
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom officially opens Friday, although you can attend previews today. This will be the fifth movie in the Jurassic Park franchise, which began in 1993. However, the sequels came to a screeching halt in 2001 when Jurassic Park III came out. It was the first of the movies not to be directed by Steven Spielberg, and the first that wasn't based on a book. It made money, but was not well received. Screen Junkies explains why in an Honest Trailer for Jurassic Park III. Fourteen years went by before producers were healed enough to bring us Jurassic World. (via Geeks Are Sexy)
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
All Cats Go to Heaven
Bruce and Terry Jenkins have led an interesting life. Now that they are retired, they spend their time running a private shelter called Cat's Cradle. They have 30 cats, all of them rescues, elderly cats who have outlived their original owner, and spend their sunset years being loved and fussed over by the Jenkins. They are awesome people. Stay for the credits, where we get to see the finished butterfly garden. (via The Atlantic)
French Bulldog Fosters Kittens for the ASPCA
You know how you name a dog, and then he ends up answering to "No! No!" because that's what he hears most? We don't know whether that applies to the French bulldog Nono, or if they just skipped the first part to make things easier. But his name is Nono, and he's a Very Good Dog. Nono's human Megan Noes (which seriously makes his name Nono Noes) works at the New York City ASPCA’s Kitten Nursery, and brings home kittens to foster. Nono provides the kittens with warm, fluffy love and supervision, and helps them get used to dogs before they are adopted. Read more about Nono at Gothamist. (via Metafilter)
Cirque du Soufflé
What else would you expect from a joint named Le Maison Pretentieuse? That doesn't even make sense in French. This comic is from Tree Lobsters.
Worlds Worst Sheepdog
Nelson, a terrier mix, is not rounding up the sheep. It's more like the sheep are rounding him up! Or maybe he's a born leader, as they do follow him. But he's not leading them anywhere but in circles. From the sound of his voice, owner James Bell does not expect any more of him. There are more videos of the world's worst sheepdog at YouTube. (via Tastefully Offensive)
Miss Cellania's Links
That Time the U.S. Postal Service Tried Delivering Mail By Missile. It saved neither time nor money, but that wasn't the point.
In America, Naturalized Citizens No Longer Have an Assumption of Permanence.
Why You Should Slack Off to Get Some Work Done. The world's most productive scientists and engineers worked only 10 to 20 hours a week.
Postcards From the Honeymoon Capital Of The World. For many couples, the Poconos was where the Baby Boom began.
The Dark Side of ‘Service With a Smile.’ Putting on a happy face when you're not feeling it can lead to mental and physical problems.
A Horror Story About a Shower Curtain. Or it could be a comedy; either way, it needs to be filmed.
What Do Morticians Do With the Blood They Take Out of Dead Bodies?
More Than 600 Members Of Jeff Sessions’ Church Have Filed A Formal Complaint Against Him Over Immigrant Family Separations.
How Volcanoes Work. The U.S. has 169 "potentially active" volcanoes, but they're not all alike.
A blast from the past (2012): The Bell Witch of Tennessee.
Dancing in Movies
Tweet of the Day
What a beautiful ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet. I wonder what ageless wisdom it conveys? pic.twitter.com/FPUmAZ4AOH— Helen Ingram (@drhingram) June 15, 2018
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
Freezing 200,000 Tons of Lethal Arsenic Dust
Giant Mine near Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories, extracted a lot of gold in its time. Then the gold ran out, and the company went bankrupt in 2004. They left behind 237,000 metric tons of arsenic trioxide as a side effect of the mining operation, although that amount does not include the arsenic that has escaped into the environment. You can read more about Giant Mine's history here. The Canadian government was left to deal with the arsenic. Tom Scott introduces us to the technology that won't destroy the arsenic, but will keep the dust from seeping into the air and water. Read more about the Giant Mine Remediation Project at its website. (via Digg)
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