Discussion thread at the Whatcouldgowrong subreddit.
09 May 2020
06 May 2020
Divertimento #179 (gifs)
Crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt cheering Captain Crozier
A boy and his dog
Optical illusion
Farming on an industrial scale
Stitching a leaf pattern
Chocolate snake
Mountain goat freed from a tree
Nature and Science
Vampire squid
Head lice infestation
Siphonophore
Normal distribution demonstrated with a Galton board
Candle ice
A "probability of zero" does not mean something is impossible
Coronavirus
The Life of Brian skit discussing the pandemic
Animals
Bear fixes toppled traffic cone (??why)
Orangutan washing her hands
Blacknose sheep
Fish following a duck
Shoebill stork
Gull swallows a rabbit
Horse eats a chicken
Fails
Massive shelving collapse at a cheese warehouse (story and pix)
Don't have a saw? Just break the log
A suitcase full of crabs breaks open at an airport baggage carousel
The governor of Florida puts on a mask
Impressive or clever
Mime with a wine bottle
Paint job
Portrait of Audrey Hepburn carved into a leaf
A woman with hyperlactation syndrome
15,000 dominos fall
Secret room
Balancing a sewing machine
Sports and athleticism
Practicing golf in a hallway
Kayak and motorboat
Simone Biles takes her pants off
Humorous or cheerful
Soap dispenser
Baby flips a bottle
Stretching exercise
Girl with alopecia gets her first wig
The embedded images are love tokens retrieved from the Thames, from a gallery at Spitalfields Life.
05 May 2020
04 May 2020
Kent State audiotape analysis - updated and reposted
A 40-year-old audio recording of the moments just before Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on antiwar protesters at Kent State University will finally be professionally analyzed to try to determine if -- as some claim -- an order to shoot is audible.Further details at Cleveland.com. Iconic photo credit
The recording was made on May 4, 1970, by Terry Strubbe, a KSU communications student who set the microphone of his reel-to-reel tape recorder on his dorm room windowsill, turned on the machine, and went outside to watch the unfolding protest.
The chilling 30-minute tape is the only known audio that captured sounds before the shootings, the 13-second fusillade and its chaotic aftermath. Four students were killed and nine wounded in the incident, which spawned numerous inquiries and crystallized American sentiment about the unpopular Vietnam War.
The question of why 28 Guardsmen pivoted, raised their rifles, pistols and shotguns and fired 67 times at the students is the central mystery from that bloody Monday long ago.
Update: The analysis reveals that an order was given to fire:
"Guard!" says a male voice on the recording, which two forensic audio experts enhanced and evaluated at the request of The Plain Dealer. Several seconds pass. Then, "All right, prepare to fire!"Reposted from 2010.
"Get down!" someone shouts urgently, presumably in the crowd. Finally, "Guard! . . . " followed two seconds later by a long, booming volley of gunshots. The entire spoken sequence lasts 17 seconds...
The order indicates that the gunshots were not spontaneous, or in response to sniper fire, as some have suggested over the years...
"This is a real game-changer," Gordon said Saturday of the new analysis. "If the results can be verified, it means the Guardsmen perjured themselves extensively at the trials."
Nor can it reveal why the order was given. Guardsmen reported being pelted by rocks as they headed up Blanket Hill and some said they feared for their safety, but the closest person in the crowd was 60 feet away and there is nothing on the tape to indicate what prompted the soldiers to reverse course, and for the ready-to-shoot command to go out.
03 May 2020
"What fresh hell is this?"
"Murder hornets" have arrived in the U.S.
"With queens that can grow to two inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit — make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin.
In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States..."Details at The New York Times. Title quote from Dorothy Parker. Photo via Reddit.
Fishing for South Florida tree chickens
YouTube link, via The Atlantic
"At the same time, iguanas are growing in popularity for another reason—their taste. Iguana is a popular dish in Central America and the Caribbean, whose immigrants comprise some of the fastest-growing populations in the state."
01 May 2020
Toilet paper barcode
Image cropped for size from the original, where there is a comment thread about artistic barcodes vs. utilitarian ones.
A preview of the Republican playbook for the fall election: CHINA CHINA CHINA
As reported last week by Politico:
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has sent campaigns a detailed, 57-page memo authored by a top Republican strategist advising GOP candidates to address the coronavirus crisis by aggressively attacking China.
The memo includes advice on everything from how to tie Democratic candidates to the Chinese government to how to deal with accusations of racism. It stresses three main lines of assault: That China caused the virus “by covering it up,” that Democrats are “soft on China,” and that Republicans will “push for sanctions on China for its role in spreading this pandemic.”
The document urges candidates to stay relentlessly on message against the country when responding to any questions about the virus. When asked whether the spread of the coronavirus is Trump’s fault, candidates are advised to respond by pivoting to China.
“Don’t defend Trump, other than the China Travel Ban — attack China,” the memo states.
Republicans have indicated they plan to make China a centerpiece of the 2020 campaign. Trump’s reelection campaign recently released a web video painting Joe Biden as cozy with the authoritarian country. The pro-Trump super PAC America First Action has launched several TV commercials tying Biden to China.
Consider the situation in Russia right now...
Excerpts from an interesting article in Vox:
But few expected it to be this bad. As of April 28, Russia reported nearly 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 1,000 deaths. Those numbers make Russia the eighth-hardest-hit country in the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday admitted that the country had a shortage of critical personal protective equipment for health care workers, and warned that the worst the pandemic is yet to come...
Hospitals have become overrun with patients, leaving ambulances stuck idling in long lines outside hospitals just to deliver sick patients. At least one driver had to wait about 15 hours. Moscow might run out of intensive care unit beds before the end of this week. And nurses have quit en masse to protest poor working conditions and low pay...
Further, Russia generally is short of the equipment that goes with ventilators, like oxygen and anesthetic sedatives. And the country appears to be short of well-trained 24/7 intensive care nurses needed to care for patients on ventilators.More information, and relevant links at Vox. I'm wondering what's happening in African population centers like Nairobi and Lagos.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
