You will not be surprised that that United States has no mandatory paid days off for workers. But you might be surprised that we are the ONLY nation with over a million people that does not mandate any paid days off for workers. Gig work doesn't have any paid time off at all. In radio, most stations I worked for gave you a week's vacation if you lasted a whole year. However, they always made you feel bad for taking it. And you had to work extra hours for anyone else who took one, so we paid for it during the year and management wasn't out any cash. The rest of the world doesn't expect everybody to work all the time forever.
A cat notices that humans are wearing black all the time now. What has happened to make us give up color? The cat has several theories, none of them good. Is it a statement of rebellion? Camouflage against the dark times? Maybe it's ennui, nihilism, or just plain exhaustion. Salem knows a thing or two about wearing black, but he can't change that, and he doesn't look at himself in the mirror anyway. But while the cat notices everything, he also has hope for the human species.
The ROV (remotely operated vehicle) Hercules was down 323 meters (1059 feet) in the Papahānaumokuākea National Marine Sanctuary west of Hawaii, looking around for researchers aboard the EV Nautilus. A small octopus was just doing octopus things when the ROV's measurement lights became clear on the ocean floor. What did the octopus do? It chased the lights, just like a cat would chase a laser toy, much to the delight of the scientists watching it.
That's only the first two minutes of this video. There are other clips of small octopi looking for hidey holes and changing their colors. And as usual, the most delightful part of Nautilus' videos are the remarks from the researchers, who do this all the time and still find wonder in watching deep sea creatures in a their natural habitat. (via Metafilter)
Click to the right to see how this story plays out. I've always said that just being a millionaire is a sin, because hoarding more money than you can possibly use while some people don't have enough to live is the worst thing you can do. In this story we finally convince people that excessive wealth is not good for them personally.
In the 1961 Willian Castle gothic horror film Mr. Sardonicus, physician Sir Robert Cargrave is summoned by his ex-girlfriend Maude to a spooky eastern European castle to treat her new husband, Baron Sardonicus. The Baron suffers from a face paralyzed into an evil grin that interferes with eating and speaking -a result of his grave robbing incident. He rules his roost with cruelty, and Dr. Cargrave is drawn into his plans to cure his malady with experimental procedures because he's afraid of what may happen to Maude. (Thanks, WTM!)
Greenwood (played by Matthew Needham) is a lonely typographer who suffers from a serious stutter, and it makes his life hard. He's found ways around it to some extent, but everyday tasks are a constant reminder of his disability, like trying to get through to a customer service representative on the phone. His thoughts, however, are fluid and even poetic. The bright spot is that he's built a long distance text relationship with a woman named Ellie. Greenwood's anxiety blows up to eleven when she has an opportunity to travel to London and meet him in person.
The short film Stutterer highlights the inner struggles of those who suffer from a condition most of us don't understand. The film won an Oscar in 2016 for Best Live Action Short Film, plus a slew of other awards, and is only now available for all of us to see. I highly recommend it. (via kottke)
Finding a job these days means candidates must jump through many layers of hoops, including at least one humiliating "interview" with an AI agent because the company hasn't got the time or personnel for redundant, drawn-out hiring tasks.
Graham Dot Zip doesn't need a job, but he goes through the process to highlight the idiocy of AI interviews. In this one, he calls himself Chick Bongo and makes up corporate jargon to match what the agent is giving him. AI, knowing no better, is annoyingly agreeable and downright gullible. Graham mentions the word "flintwhistle" enough that the agent eventually incorporates it and even lies about offering it, first as a corporate strategy, then as a real whistle.
The whole series of such interviews is at Graham's YouTube channel, including the newest one in which he brings his own AI agent to the interview. (via Boing Boing)
