I am totally stunned to learn that Maryam Mirzakhani died today, aged 40, after a severe recurrence of the cancer she had been fighting for several years. I had planned to email her some wishes for a speedy recovery after learning about the relapse yesterday; I still can’t fully believe that she didn’t make it.
Category: Read
👓 She talks about working women. Her father says “buy American.” We go inside Ivanka Inc. | Washington Post
The first daughter talks about improving the lives of working women. Her father urges companies to “buy American.” But her fashion line’s practices collide with those principles – and are out of step with industry trends.
The global trade network is far more complicated than Donald Trump will admit, and so much so that even his own daughter can’t only not get around it, but she can’t do it with the level of ethical standard that most in her industry already mandate.
For those who are interested into a great “deep dive” on global trade and containerization, I highly recommend Alexis Madrigal’s recent podcast series Containers.
👓 Why Does Jared Kushner Still Have a Security Clearance? | Politico
Anyone else would have been fired long ago, if not worse.
👓 Talking to Boys the Way We Talk to Girls | New York Times
Stereotypically macho messages limit children’s understanding of what it means to be a father, a man and a boy, as well.
👓 No, You Can’t Use My Photos On Your Brand’s Instagram For Free | PetaPixel
Photography and Camera News, Reviews, and Inspiration
👓 Creating an archive of my online writing, from 2002-2017 | Richard MacManus
I’ve just spent an inordinate amount of time creating an archive of all my past online writing work, in particular of the tech blog I founded ReadWriteWeb. I thought I’d outline my reasons for doing this, and why I ended up relying heavily on the Internet Archive instead of the original website sources.
I’m sure it took a tremendous amount of work given his long history of writing, but he’s now got a great archive as well as a nearly complete online portfolio of his work. If you haven’t done this or have just started out, here are some potentially useful resources to guide your thoughts.
I’m curious how others are doing this type of online archive. Feel free to share your methods.
👓 A Photographer Captures the Unusual Way Sperm Whales Sleep | Colossal
Photographer Franco Banfi and a team of scuba divers were following a pod of sperm whales when suddenly the large creatures became motionless and began to take a synchronized vertical rest. This strange sleeping position was first discovered only in 2008, when a team of biologists from the UK and Japan drifted into their own group of non-active sperm whales. After studying tagged whales the team learned this collective slumber occurs for approximately 7 percent of the animal’s life, in short increments of just 6-24 minutes.
👓 Libraries and publishers | Krissedoff
A recent Chronicle piece on university libraries and what it describes as their pivot away from books has me thinking (with help from some friends on twitter) about the increase in library-reporting university presses. It’s a sensitive topic that doesn’t always, I think, receive a lot of attention or get treated with sufficient nuance.
👓 The W3C has overruled members’ objections and will publish its DRM for videos | Boing Boing
It's been nearly four months since the W3C held the most controversial vote in its decades-long history of standards-setting: a vote where accessibility groups, security experts, browser startups, public interest groups, human rights groups, archivists, research institutions and other worthies went up against trillions of dollars' worth of corporate muscle: the world's largest electronics, web, and content companies in a battle for the soul of the open web.
👓 I Found HanAssholeSolo’s anti-Semitic Posts. Then, the Death Threats Started. | Politico
This is what it’s like to report on extremism in the Trump era.
👓 The Pitch Drop Experiment | Atlas Obscura
Begun in 1927 by Professor Thomas Parnell, this experiment was meant to reveal the surprising properties of an everyday material: pitch. Pitch is the name of a number of hard tar-like substances and in this case, bitumen was used. Though at room temperature pitch appears to be a solid and can be shattered by a hammer, it is, in fact, a very high-viscosity liquid, and Professor Parnell wanted to prove it.
👓 Something New For Baby To Chew On: Rocket Science And Quantum Physics | NPR
The books introduce subjects like rocket science, quantum physics and general relativity — with bright colors, simple shapes and thick board pages perfect for teething toddlers. The books make up the Baby University series — and each one begins with the same sentence and picture — This is a ball — and then expands on the titular concept.
👓 Republican Lawmakers Buy Health Insurance Stocks as Repeal Effort Moves Forward | The Intercept
JUST AS THE HOUSE Republican bill to slash much of the Affordable Care Act moved forward, Rep. Mike Conaway, a Texas Republican and member of Speaker Paul Ryan’s leadership team, added a health insurance company to his portfolio.
👓 How to Talk to Famous Professors | The Chronicle
A cheat sheet for making a potential contact without gushing or embarrassing yourself.
👓 Carrie Fisher’s final assets revealed, Billie Lourd named beneficiary of the estate | Entertainment Weekly
The Star Wars actress’s assets, outlined in court documents obtained by PEOPLE, include several bank accounts, a 2016 Tesla S, full ownership of several LLCs, and a life insurance policy. Personal and household belongings like jewelry, artwork, and collectibles will also go to Lourd, Fisher’s only child from her relationship with talent executive Bryan Lourd.