Venkatesh Rao
Conversational account. For work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian. IKEA builder.
Last synced from Twitter 85d ago
'Sleeping giant' Arctic methane deposits starting to release, scientists find
Exclusive: expedition discovers new source of greenhouse gas off East Siberian coast has been triggered
What to Do About Xinjiang
America can effectively push back on human rights abuses in China through tougher border enforcement, stronger sanctions, and a major diplomatic push.
Europeans turn back clocks, perhaps for last time
Germany, as well as the rest of the EU, has switched to winter time for perhaps the final time. The EU voted to abolish the practice of daylight saving time in 2021, but concrete plans on what comes next remain elusive.
Venkatesh Rao
Clockxit
87d
Mapping Agency Wants to ID Locations by Sound
If your technology can tell what city it's in just by listening, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency may have a prize for you.
Even If Trump Loses, Republicans’ Authoritarian Ambitions Will Live On
What an election can and can’t save.
Daniel Ellsberg on the Limits of Knowledge
Why the president doesn't necessarily know any more than you do.
Trump’s campaign made stops nationwide. Coronavirus cases surged in his wake in at least five places.
A USA TODAY analysis shows county COVID-19 cases grew at a faster rate after at least five of Trump's rallies across three states since mid-August.
Venkatesh Rao
Didn’t realize there was a literal surge stream following in his wake 🧐
Probably hard to untangle from the general fall wave taking off but seems suggestive.
89d
Enid Blyton - Wikipedia
Venkatesh Rao
‘Jean E. Sutcliffe of the BBC's schools broadcast department wrote of [Enid] Blyton's ability to churn out "mediocre material", noting that "her capacity to do so amounts to genius ... anyone else would have died of boredom long ago’
89d
This Startup Is Creating Mini Boston Dynamics-Style RoboPets
If you’re the type of person that looks at Boston Dynamics’ Robot Dogs and thinks ‘cute, I want one!’, then these new programmable pups should be right up your street. The palm-sized robotic dogs, called ‘Bittle’, look just like mini versions of the...
The Antarctic ozone hole is one of the largest and deepest in recent years
The ozone hole that typically grows over the Antarctic each September and October has become one of the largest and deepest in recent years -- just one year after scientists recorded its smallest size since it was discovered.
This diabolical ironclad super-beetle can survive being run over by a car — and help with engineering problems
Scientists developing new materials are studying an unlikely source of strength: a beetle that can withstand being run over by a car, even up to 39,000 times its body weight.
Wholeness in a Timeless Activity
There are some activities the wealthy occasionally lust after. But there is one they will never stop avoiding.
MJD 59,145
The terms public and private seem to form a balanced opposition, but they don’t really. In modern usage, private is a bounded and circumscribed domain, while public is an open-ended space def…
McConnell says 'no concerns' despite visible bandages and bruises
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not answer questions about his health Thursday, only saying there were "no concerns" after reporters asked him about what appeared to be bruises and bandages on his hands in recent days.
Venkatesh Rao
McConnell's hands remind me of @bruces example of Steve Jobs with his terminal illness as an example of gothic high tech. cnn.com/2020/10/22/pol… pic.twitter.com/l5qHOpNkqI
90d
Engineering a Conglomerate
Plus! Pretty Bad Privacy; Exercising the Whistleblower Option; Who Owns Streamed Games; Rebooting Transit; Rationalists and Thymos; More...
It's Official: Solar Is the Cheapest Electricity in History
Tough break for fossil fuels.
Toxic Internet Culture From East To West - NOEMA
What the digital worlds of Japan’s imageboards and America’s alt-right reveal about real-life precarity.