Russian Sledges

doctor who fabrics

#Solidarity4Wilmot prevails. Thank you! Charges dropped against Kiera Wilmot. Yes! And YES!! Anyone else doing backflips? This news, combined with her full expulsion from school (for next year) being...

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Thank you, thank you, thank you for reaching out and speaking up for #KieraWilmot and showing #Solidarity4Wilmot.  I teared up as I read all of the offers of support to assist Kiera and other...

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“One of the most remarkable characteristics of Sherlock Holmes was his power of throwing his brain out of action and switching all his thoughts onto lighter things whenever he had convinced himself that he could no longer work to advantage.”

-

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, His Last Bow (via polymnia)

…And this is something that so often gets dropped out by those who don’t know canon. The moments when Sherlock says (paraphrasing here, but the cites are easily produced) “Screw this, Watson, let’s go out to Romano’s and have a big splurgey dinner!”, or “Come on, let’s get the hell out of here, Tchaikovsky’s conducting at Covent Garden tonight!” Canonical!Holmes is ascetic by choice only: he kicks his transport to the kerb when he’s working (or having trouble working). The rest of the time he doesn’t mind indulging the body’s and mind’s love of food and music and other arts. Just think about “A Dinner With Sherlock”, and the concert after.. :)

An anonymous reader writes "If an imposing 2300-year old Mayan temple situated at the Nohmul complex in northern Belize was on your list of things to see before you die, you're too late. The monument was essentially destroyed by a construction crew in order to provide gravel for road construction. Archaeologists expressed shock, as Nohmul (the "great mound") was a major Mayan religious center in its day. While the pyramid was situated on private property, such historical sites are supposedly protected by ordinance, and officials may file criminal charges."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Newly discovered water trapped more than a mile below ground in Canada could be billions of years old — and could hold clues both to Earth’s past climate and possible habitats for life on Mars. A research team reporting today in Nature has found pockets of subterranean water that could be as old as 2.64 billion years. The fluids are located 1.5 miles underground in a mine near Timmins, Ontario, in rock that is part of Canada’s Precambrian Shield, the oldest part of North America’s crust.

astudyinawesome:

Sarah Jane Smith in Genesis of the Daleks

Andrew Sullivan and Freddie Deboer have two pieces up worth checking out. I disagree with Andrew's (though I detect some movement in his position.) Freddie's piece is entitled "Precisely How Not to Argue About Race and IQ." He writes:

The problem with people who argue for inherent racial inferiority is not that they lie about the results of IQ tests, but that they are credulous about those tests and others like them when they shouldn't be; that they misunderstand the implications of what those tests would indicate even if they were credible; and that they fail to find the moral, analytic, and political response to questions of race and intelligence.

I think this is a good point, but I want to expand it. Most of the honest writing I've seen on "race and intelligence" focuses on critiquing the idea of "intelligence." So there's lot of good literature on whether it can be measured, its relevance in modern society, whether intelligence changes across generations, whether it changes with environment, and what we mean when we say IQ. As Freddie mentions here, I had a mathematician stop past to tell me I needed to stop studying French, and immediately start studying statistics -- otherwise I can't possibly understand this debate.

It's a fair critique. My response is that he should stop studying math and start studying history.

I am not being flip or coy. If you tell me that you plan to study "race and intelligence" then it is only fair that I ask you, "What do you mean by race?" It's true I don't always do math so well, but I understand the need to define the terms of your study. If you're a math guy, perhaps your instinct is to point out the problems in the interpretation of the data. My instinct is to point out that your entire experiment proceeds from a basic flaw -- no coherent, fixed definition of race actually exists.

The history bears this out. In 1856, Ralph Waldo Emerson delineated the significance of race:

It is race, is it not, that puts the hundred millions of India under the dominion of a remote island in the north of Europe. Race avails much, if that be true, which is alleged, that all Celts are Catholics, and all Saxons are Protestants; that Celts love unity of power, and Saxons the representative principle. Race is a controlling influence in the Jew, who, for two millenniums, under every climate, has preserved the same character and employments. Race in the negro is of appalling importance. The French in Canada, cut off from all intercourse with the parent people, have held their national traits. I chanced to read Tacitus "on the Manners of the Germans," not long since, in Missouri, and the heart of Illinois, and I found abundant points of resemblance between the Germans of the Hercynian forest, and our Hoosiers, Suckers, and Badgers of the American woods.

Indeed, Emerson in 1835, saw race as central to American greatness:

The inhabitants of the United States, especially of the Northern portion, are descended from the people of England and have inherited the trais of their national character...It is common with the Franks to break their faith and laugh at it The race of Franks is faithless.

Emerson was not alone, as historian James McPherson points out, Southerners not only thought of themselves as a race separate from blacks, but as a race apart from Northern whites:

The South's leading writer on political economy, James B. D. De Bow, subscribed to this Norman-Cavalier thesis and helped to popularize it in De Bow's Review. As the lower-South states seceded one after another during the winter of 1860-61, this influential journal carried several long articles justifying secession on the grounds of irreconcilable ethnic differences between Southern and Northern whites. "The Cavaliers, Jacobites, and Huguenots, who settled the South, naturally hate, contemn, and despise the Puritans who settled the North," proclaimed one of these articles. "The former are a master-race; the latter a slave race, the descendants of Saxon serfs." The South was now achieving its "independent destiny" by repudiating the failed experiment of civic nationalism that had foolishly tried in 1789 to "erect one nation out of two irreconcilable peoples."

Similarly, in 1899 William Z. Ripley wrote The Races of Europe, which sought to delineate racial difference through head-type:

The shape of the human head by which we mean the general proportions of length, breadth, and height, irrespective of the " bumps " of the phrenologist is one of the best available tests of race known. Its value is, at the same time, but imperfectly appreciated beyond the inner circle of professional anthropology. Yet it is so simple a phenomenon, both in principle and in practical application, that it may readily be of use to the traveller and the not too superficial observer of men.

To be sure, widespread and constant peculiarities of head form are less noticeable in America, because of the extreme variability of our population, compounded as it is of all the races of Europe; they seem also to be less fundamental among the American aborigines. But in the Old World the observant traveller may with a little attention often detect the racial affinity of a people by this means.

Two years later, Edward A. Ross sought to apprehend "The Causes of Race Superiority." He saw the differences between the Arab "race" and the Jewish "race" as a central illustration:

It is certain that races differ in their attitude toward past and future. M. Lapie has drawn a contrast between the Arab and the Jew. The Arab remembers; he is mindful of past favors and past injuries. He harbors his vengeance and cherishes his gratitude. He accepts everything on the authority of tradition, loves the ways of his ancestors, forms strong local attachments, and migrates little. The Jew, on the other hand, turns his face toward the future. He is thrifty and always ready for a good stroke of business, will, indeed, join with his worst enemy if it pays. He is calculating, enterprising, migrant and ambitious

You can see more of this here.

Our notion of what constitutes "white" and what constitutes "black" is a product of social context. It is utterly impossible to look at the delineation of a "Southern race" and not see the Civil War, the creation of an "Irish race" and not think of Cromwell's ethnic cleansing, the creation of a "Jewish race" and not see anti-Semitism. There is no fixed sense of "whiteness" or "blackness," not even today. It is quite common for whites to point out that Barack Obama isn't really "black" but "half-white." One wonders if they would say this if Barack Obama were a notorious drug-lord.

When the liberal says "race is a social construct," he is not being a soft-headed dolt; he is speaking an historical truth. We do not go around testing the "Irish race" for intelligence or the "Southern race" for "hot-headedness." These reasons are social. It is no more legitimate to ask "Is the black race dumber than then white race?" than it is to ask "Is the Jewish race thriftier than the Arab race?"

The strongest argument for "race" is that people who trace their ancestry back to Europe, and people who trace most of their ancestry back to sub-Saharan Africa, and people who trace most of their ancestry back to Asia, and people who trace their ancestry back to the early Americas, lived isolated from each other for long periods and have evolved different physical traits (curly hair, lighter skin, etc.)

But this theoretical definition (already fuzzy) wilts under human agency, in a real world where Kevin Garnett, Harold Ford, and Halle Berry all check "black" on the census. (Same deal for "Hispanic.") The reasons for that take us right back to fact of race as a social construct. And an American-centered social construct. Are the Ainu of Japan a race? Should we delineate darker South Asians from lighter South Asians on the basis of race? Did the Japanese who invaded China consider the Chinese the same "race?"

Andrew writes that liberals should stop saying "truly stupid things like race has no biological element." I agree. Race clearly has a biological element -- because we have awarded it one. Race is no more dependent on skin color today than it was on "Frankishness" in Emerson's day. Over history of race has taken geography, language, and vague impressions as its basis.

"Race," writes the great historian Nell Irvin Painter, "is an idea, not a fact." Indeed. Race does not need biology. Race only requires some good guys with big guns looking for a reason.

"The graph becomes more and more powerful each day.":

“Starting today, we will anticipate your next question, and not only will we give you your answer along with a trend line.”

“Sometimes the answer you’re looking for is a song or video your friend sent you, or an upcoming meal or flight… you should simply be able to ask Google.”

“You can ask Google like you would ask a friend.”

11:02:48 AM PDT

“We will be bringing conversational search and ‘hot wording’ — as I call it, ‘no interface.’” Can simply say “okay Google” and have Google speak back the answer.

That sounds like Google is always listening to you. Is that cool?

The Old Reader has its own registration system now:

My lawyer, Dan Booth of Booth Sweet LLP in Cambridge, sent this 18-page letter to Jonathan Monsarrat's lawyers this afternoon. The letter details all the reasons that he considers the lawsuit against me to be groundless, and demands that Monsarrat's lawyers dismiss the case with prejudice by the end of business on Thursday.

If they don't voluntarily drop the case (which they probably won't), Dan Booth will file a motion for dismissal on Monday, using mostly the same arguments that are in this letter. He may also move for sanctions against Monsarrat's lawyers "for bringing bad faith claims."

He gave me full permission to put this letter online and to distribute it in whatever way I see fit. Feel free to point other people at it or to distribute it further.

Perfect.

History has been made in Brazil today, as the National Council of Justice has voted 14-1 to support a resolution stipulating that same-sex couples should be able to receive marriage licenses throughout the entire country. In 2011, the Brazilian Supreme Court had ruled that it was unconstitutional to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, but up to this point, local jurisdictions could decide whether to offer the freedom to marry — 12 states and the federal district had already started doing so.

The council’s decision, which will be published sometime in the coming days, advises that no notary can refuse to perform a same-sex marriage. The ruling could, however, be appealed to the Supreme Court. Previous guidance had suggested that Congress needed to pass a marriage equality law, which it is considering, but Minister Joaquim Barbosa suggested this was “nonsense.”

Pending the implementation of this ruling, Brazil will become the 15th country to offer nationwide marriage equality, joining Uruguay and France, who passed laws just last month.

This remarkable chandelier from Hilden & Diaz projects a 360° shadow of trees and roots onto the walls surrounding it. Titled Forms in Nature the light was partly inspired by the drawings of Ernst Haeckel, the German biologist, naturalist, and philosopher (among other things) who is perhaps most famous for discovering thousands of new animal species and mapping them to a genealogical “tree of life”. Hilden & Diaz describe via their website that the shadows in their light are actually upside down:

Interestingly, the roots are those elements of the forest that are the most visible. Thereby the sculpture is not only mirrored, but also turned upside down in Hilden & Diaz’ artwork. [...] The shadows engulfs the room and transforms the walls into unruly shadows of branches, bushes and gnarled trees. Mirrorings are thrown out upon the walls and ceilings and provide weak Rorschach-like hints of faces, life and flow of consciousness. Dimming the lights transforms the installation and one senses a weak fire burning deep in the center of the forest.

It appears the light is just a concept right now, but feel free to join the chorus of people begging for the real thing. (via caoine.org)

Americans love their tech gurus, but the feeling isn’t mutual. The new ruling class is gaming the system and jerking the rest of us around.

Men In Black Tie Pet Cats.

Winston Churchill.

The Minoans, considered the first advanced civilization in Bronze Age Europe, left behind massive building complexes, stunning artwork and hieroglyphs---but few clues about their origins. Archaeologists first posited that the Minoans came to the Greek island of Crete from northern Africa, establishing themselves on the island about 5,000 years ago. Subsequent theories suggested Balkan or Middle Eastern origins for the civilization. But research published today in Nature Communications rev

I was knocking around on Ghurka’s website over the weekend and saw that they had an impressive collection of vintage bags. All stuff from the early years, when Marley Hodgson was still running the company.

For those unfamiliar, Ghurka is an American bag company that started in the 1970s after a Connecticut man named Marley Hodgson attended an antiques auction. Hodgson had a particular fondness for history and leather goods, and on that day, he had his eyes set on some campaign gear made for Ghurka regimental officers stationed in India during the early-1900s. He lost the auction, unfortunately, but later came upon a bigger prize: an idea to start a line of American-made bags inspired by those Ghurka designs. 

The original stuff was all very tough and beautiful. They had a kind of old, foreign correspondent feel, were suitably casual for an American lifestyle, and were exceptionally well made. Hodgson liked to describe his customers as people with a “quiet confidence and adventurous spirit,” and you can kind of see that sensibility run through his work. Perhaps more importantly, his bags all aged beautifully, as you can see here.

In 2004, however, Hodgson sold his company and then went off to create Smith Fork Ranch. Whereas Ghurka under his tenure always manufactured everything in Connecticut and New York, the new owners shifted part of the production to Spain, Italy, and China (though some of it was retained here). Truth be told, I found many of their products during this period to be a bit underwhelming, especially for the price. It seemed without Marley Hodgson’s leadership, Ghurka was just becoming another luxury-end fashion brand. 

In 2011, however, the company was sold again - this time to Brightwork Brand Holdings. The company’s new CEO has made it a goal to bring Ghurka’s overseas production back home to the US. I’ve been told that this will take time, as there’s a shortage of skilled labor here (I assume in the quantities Ghurka needs). However, since the acquisition, 100% of their business bags are now made in Connecticut, and 50% of the travel goods are made in either Connecticut or New York.  The balance is then split up between Italy, Spain, Latin America, and China.

I actually don’t think having production done in China is necessarily a bad thing, as I don’t believe you can easily reduce a product’s quality down to its country of origin. I’ve seen some remarkable Chinese-made luxury goods in Beijing, and I’m sure good bags can be made there. The issue of shifting production to China, at least for me, is always whether or not it signals the company’s flagging commitment to quality. With the new owners’ efforts to bring production back to the US, however, who knows - maybe this means a return to the glory days. It might be worth stopping by one of their stores to take a look. 

Either way, the vintage pieces on their site look amazing. They have such a casual and romantic sensibility about them, and I imagine they’d look great with a Barbour jacket, Shetland sweater, and pair of chinos. Kind of reminds me of something I need to look for on eBay.  

Religion infused every part of Europeans’ lives. Europeans believed in one supreme deity, a father figure, who they believed was made of three parts, and they particularly worshiped the deity’s son. They claimed that their god had given humans domination over the earth.

unclewaldo:

dropdeadrainbowtime:

thescurfofworse:

The Potoo - Either the most unphotogenic or the most ridiculous looking bird in the world.

it’s got the kinda beauty that moves.

BABY I WANT HIM

me

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Senate voted moments ago to legalize same-sex marriage, the last legislative step before Gov. Mark Dayton's promised signature will make the state the 12th in the U.S. to do so.

Take the A51 autostrada out of Milan, and half an hour later you’ll arrive in the small town of Brugarolo. It’s home to one of Italy’s more unusual bike manufacturers, the Black Douglas Motorcycle Company.

Black Douglas makes vintage-style motorcycles with a distinctly English appearance, like the Sterling shown here. It doesn’t have electronically controlled suspension or switchable riding modes, but it’s not short of charm.

It’s the brainchild of Fabio Cardoni, who started Black Douglas two years ago. “I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 11,” he says, “but for the past five or six years, I simply didn’t enjoy riding any of my bikes. I came to the conclusion that I don’t like production motorcycles any more.”

The styling is certainly captivating, with angular lines straight out of the early twentieth century. “We wanted motorcycles that are beautiful to look at, and able to draw attention. Yes, at the age of 42 I still like it when people look at what I’m riding!” Fabio laughs. “But most of all, the bike had to be fun to ride—without the hassles of vintage motors.”

The Sterling is powered by a four-stroke 230cc single. It’s a replica of a Honda CG engine, built in China by Zongshen under Honda license. “Even though I was very skeptical at the beginning, after testing it thoroughly, I was absolutely astonished by the quality of this unit,” says Fabio. “It is built to Japanese production quality levels: sturdy, low maintenance, reliable, and offers over 85 mpg.” The bike weighs 100 kilos, so there isn’t too much weight to push around. Top speed is around 70 mph (110 kph).

After over a year of testing frames, hubs and engines, Black Douglas got it right with the fourth Sterling prototype—which Fabio still rides to work every day. The bike shown here is the first full production model, which was sold a few days ago. The customer chose all the extras from the Black Douglas catalog right now, so it’s a ‘Deluxe’ version. That means an uprated 230cc engine, a Bosch replica light, a replica klaxon horn, a rack holder, two different types of handlebar, a wood basket, and more.

Black Douglas will have four more machines ready for sale in a month: three base models and a ‘racer’ which will be called the Sterling Brooklands. The price starts at €7,900 (US$10,200) plus taxes. There may even be a race series for the bikes in Italy soon: the Federazione Motociclista Italiana is toying with the idea of organizing a Sterling mini-championship of three events.

And if you fancy building your own vintage-style motorcycle, Black Douglas will soon be launching a DIY kit. It’ll be available with or without an engine, and the first 20 kits will sell for €4,900—around US$6,300. After that will come a sidecar version, with part of the design made of traditional wicker wood.

Tempted? Yearning for the simpler style of a bygone age? Contact the Black Douglas Motorcycle Co. via their website or Facebook page.

© Bike EXIF 2013. The world authority on custom motorcycles, brought to you by Icon 1000.

Mayor Defends Use Of Wartime Sex Slaves Sky News Women forced to work in Japanese military brothels during World War II served a 'necessary' purpose, says the mayor of Osaka. 8:24am UK, Tuesday 14 May 2013. Toru Hashimoto is co-leader of an emerging conservative political party. Taiwanese comfort ... and more »

[Photos: Chris Coe]

One of the biggest Boston area restaurant openings of the year is just two days away with the imminence that is Bronwyn, bound for Union Square on May 15. So what's the big deal? First off, this is the second restaurant for Tim and Bronwyn Wiechmann, who together run the back and front of the house, respectively, at the intimate Cambridge favorite T.W. Food. Second, Bronwyn is emblematic of the ongoing trend of high-technique chefs going more casual. On a related note, Tony Maws of Craigie on Main is doing something similar with the forthcoming The Kirkland Tap & Trotter. Both chefs started in Cambridge and have selected Somerville for their sophomore restaurants, which is further proof of Somerville's it-ness as a new restaurant hotbed. And that's not to mention the space or menu at Bronwyn, which both inspire high hopes. See here for some menu details, and click through the gallery above for a virtual tour. Can you believe this was once Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar?

· Tony Maws' New Restaurant: The Kirkland Tap & Trotter [~EBOS~]
· All Coverage of Bronwyn on Eater [~EBOS~]
· All Eater Inside coverage [~EBOS~]

There was never a real connection between my Ex and I,she never truly loved me for it was not through Jesus Christ it was out of lust,greed and ungodly things that since her leaving me I turned away from.I implore you my Ex to turn to Jesus Christ. W [...]

Although Univision uncharacteristically went a little over-the-top when it prematurely trumpeted its Spanish-language remake of Breaking Bad, luckily everything worked out just fine—just like on Breaking Bad. Sony has now officially confirmed that it’s partnered with Univision on the show that will be renamed Metástasis—Spanish for “metastasis,” which is a word meaning “the rapid transference of disease that leads you to dealing meth, because fuck it.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, Diego Trujillo, star of such series as El Capo and A Corazon Abierto, will take on the lead role of “Walter Blanco” (naturally). He’ll be assisted by Roberto Urbina in the role of “Jose Miguel Rosas”—presumably with all the exclamations of “¡Si, puta! ¡Sciencia!” one would demand—and together they’ll topple a criminal empire that’s being run by a bunch of nice Mormons in Salt Lake City or something.  

Read more

“

I am truly sick, at this late date, of people wanting to have it both ways: calling for protected bike lanes and a bike-share system, demanding that cops step up enforcement when it comes to cars, and then blithely salmoning up a major thoroughfare and expecting everyone look the other way.

It makes all of us look terrible and it’s a real hazard. Same goes for blowing through a stop sign or red light, or blocking the crosswalk when you’re impatiently waiting for the light to change. Not to mention shouting at pedestrians to get out of the way when they are crossing legally. I saw someone yell at an old lady the other day. Seriously?

”

- Sarah Goodyear, “Cyclists Aren’t ‘Special,’ And They Shouldn’t Play By Their Own Rules," The Atlantic 13 May 2013.