Cowboy Who?

The Black Death was one of the worst catastrophes to ever hit humanity. But it also helped upend feudal hierarchies, redistribute wealth, and make daily life better for a lot of medieval Europeans.

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I'm always surprised genie movies aren't just 2 hours of working over possible loopholes.

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A Springer Nature journal waited eight months to retract a paper flagged by the Office of Research Integrity for containing fabricated data — a delay the publisher blames on “staff changes and human error.” The 2014 article in Neuropsychopharmacology by Alexander Neumeister included “falsified and/or fabricated research methods and results,” according to the findings of … Continue reading Springer Nature journal takes eight months to retract paper after US government misconduct finding

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg struck and killed a 55-year-old man on a rural stretch of road Saturday night. State authorities are investigating.

(Image credit: Dirk Lammers/AP)

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

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The good news is comics are also fake.

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Also known as VD for Venereans Detected!

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There's one sure-fire way to make the world less depressing, and that's to fully reject objective reality.

New comic!
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If you wanted to live, you should have hired a tutor.

Despite rumors circulating on social media, law enforcement officials say they have seen no evidence of people affiliated with antifa or other political groups starting fires.

(Image credit: Kathryn Elsesser/AFP via Getty Images)

Q: Hi! My husband and I are contemplating a move to Texas, maybe just outside of San Antonio. Our plan was to buy some land and start a business there when we retired, but, well, I’ve been hearing some rather disconcerting things about the attitude toward Albertans from native Texans and it really breaks my heart. I’ve heard that Albertans are not being welcomed and are in fact being given the cold shoulder when they decide to visit. Out of all the regions in Canada, northern Alberta is most like Texas in both attitude and friendliness, which is why we chose Texas as our retirement state of choice. Is what I’m hearing true or are these perhaps just nasty rumors? Chris S., Whitecourt, Alberta, Canada…View Original Post

The post The Texanist: Do Texans Have a Beef With Alberta, Canada? appeared first on Texas Monthly.

Console Wars, the documentary based on the 2014 non-fiction novel of the same name, will premiere on CBS All Access on September 23rd, CBS Interactive announced on Friday. The company also shared a new trailer for the doc.

Console Wars details the battle between Nintendo and Sega in the 90s, focusing mostly on the Genesis and SNES era. The source material is somewhat controversial for including fictionalized dialogue — albeit between people who took part in the events the book recounts. Judging from the trailer, that's something the documentary improves on with many of the same individuals — including former Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske — who feature prominently in the book giving on-the-record interviews. Blake J. Harris, the author of Console Wars, helped co-direct the documentary, with Seth Rogen serving as one of its executive producers. 

Console Wars is the first feature-length documentary CBS Interactive has made for CBS All Access. It’s also just one of the adaptations it plans to make based on the source material as it looks to expand its streaming library. In 2019, it said it was developing a series based on the novel as well — though it doesn’t have a release date yet.   

The relatively small private rocket industry just got a little larger, if not quite in the way its new entrant hoped. The American startup Astra conducted a brief first orbital launch attempt (via TechCrunch) late on September 11th, with a successful liftoff but quickly losing its Rocket 3.1 test machine during the first-stage engine burn. The guidance system induced “slight oscillation,” Astra said, leading the team to cut the engines during the first-stage burn.

The result was somewhat dramatic, as you can see in the video from Jennifer Culton below. The rocket slammed into the ground not very far from its launchpad near Kodiak, Alaska.

Astra stressed that it didn’t expect to reach orbit with its first rocket. It anticipated three flights before reaching that milestone. The mission still ended sooner than expected, though, and the company positioned the premature end as a chance to collect “valuable experience” and flight data. It remained confident that could can reach orbit as planned.

The follow-up Rocket 3.2 vehicle is already complete, and you should see a launch sometime after Astra spends “several weeks” poring over flight data.

The Alameda-based firm is effectively a competitor to Rocket Lab, with a similar goal of launching payloads into orbit at less cost than usual. To some extent, it’s already successful — Rocket 3.1 took off with a launch system deployed by just six people in under a week. While that won’t necessarily be true of future launches, it shows that you don’t always need extensive ground crews.

pic.twitter.com/PGYv26ZqrF

— Jennifer Culton (@CultonJennifer) September 12, 2020

Recycling plastic has never worked very well. So who convinced us this was a good idea? In this episode, we might have the answer. | Subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.

Tuscany's wine windows, each 12 inches high and 8 inches wide, were indispensable during a 17th century plague. They've became useful again during the coronavirus pandemic — even after lockdown ended.

(Image credit: Tiziana Fabi/AFP/Getty Images)

Before we present this week’s Weekend Reads, a question: Do you enjoy our weekly roundup? If so, we could really use your help. Would you consider a tax-deductible donation to support Weekend Reads, and our daily work? Thanks in advance. The week at Retraction Watch featured: An Elsevier book chapter that claims COVID-19 came from space; … Continue reading Weekend reads: Questions about Russian COVID-19 vaccine data; a p-value pledge; why one author removed her name from a paper

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Coming in 2032, the new SMBC book consisting entirely of jokes where a pickup line reveals deep psychological pain.

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AT LINCOLN MIDDLE,
WE’RE SELF-ESTEEM
SUPER SPREADERS!

SOMEONE CALL THE CDC:
WE HAVE AN EPIDEMIC OF POTENTIAL
ON OUR HANDS!

LET’S MAKE 2020 THE YEAR OF THE WAP!
- WASH YOUR HANDS
- APPLY HAND SANITIZER
- PUT ON YOUR MASK

WELCOME BACK
TO LINCOLN MIDDLE SCHOOL
FROM MS. WASHINGTON!
I’M AN 8TH GRADE ENGLISH TEACHER,
HALLWAY DECOR EXTRAORDINAIRE,
AND MODERATE ASTHMATIC!
GO BUCKS!

LET’S RIDE THE SECOND WAVE
ALL THE WAY TO PROFICIENT TEST SCORES!

IT GO:
RIGHT FOOT UP,
LEFT FOOT SLIDE,
STAY SIX FEET FROM OTHERS
SO GRANDMA CAN SURVIVE!

WHAT IF I TOLD YOU BILLIE EILISH
WANTS YOU TO SOCIALLY DISTANCE?
WOULD THAT WORK?

YOU MISS 100% OF THE VACCINE SHOTS YOU DON’T TAKE!

SCIENCE: WE TOLD YOU IT WAS IMPORTANT

QUARANTINE-WORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!
IF YOU CAME IN CONTACT
WITH MACKENZIE H. OR BRYSON D.,
GO TO THE MAIN OFFICE
AND CLAIM YOUR PRIZE:
2 WEEKS OF NETFLIX & CHILL!

IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED,
PLEASE DON’T BANG THE PLEXIGLASS IN FRUSTRATION

IN THIS SCHOOL,
WE ARE LEADERS,
ACHIEVERS, AND
HOPEFULLY
FEVER-BEATERS!

ANYONE KNOW A GOOD WILLS ATTORNEY
WILLING TO BE PAID IN GLUE STICKS?
ALSO, IF YOU CAME IN CONTACT WITH
MCKENSY F., HERMIONE B., OR LEGOLAS K.,
PLEASE LOCK YOURSELF IN THE NEAREST ROOM
UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

SHOOT FOR THE MOON!
EVEN IF YOU MISS, YOU’LL MAYBE LAND
IN NEW ZEALAND!

NOBODY’S PERFECT!
THAT’S WHY PENCILS HAVE ERASERS
AND WHY THE SCHOOL BOARD THOUGHT
A BUILDING WITH SOVIET-ERA VENTILATION DUCTS
WAS PREPARED FOR IN-PERSON LEARNING!

LINCOLN MIDDLE SCHOOL:
HOME OF THE WORST SUPER SPREADER
EVENT SINCE TRUMP’S TULSA RALLY!
SEE YOU ALL ON ZOOM.
GO BUCKS!

Baby Steps



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Why don't philosophers ever see all these things that are obvious to children?

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In May, mining giant Rio Tinto blasted through two ancient rock shelters in Western Australia in order to mine iron ore. The company has been under rising pressure to hold executives accountable.

(Image credit: Richard Wainwright/AP)

"You don't get to shoot somebody 21 times," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said of the deadly encounter in April. "I cannot defend that."

(Image credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP)

Revelations in Rage lead global health specialists to charge that Trump is scapegoating the World Health Organization.

(Image credit: Frabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images; Doug Mills/The New York Times via Getty Images)