tingilinde

sleuthing out a mystery of marie antoinette's letters

A scientific approach reveals who censored them and adds information.

 

color vocabulary

What impacts words for colors?  Why don't some people separate blue and green?

smo[

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Color is a spectrum: Red fades from orange to yellow, whereas green merges to turquoise, then blue. Languages treat this spectrum in different ways: Some have separate words for “green” and “blue,” others lump the two together. Some barely bother with color terms at all.

“The question is, why?” says Dan Dediu, an evolutionary linguist at Lumière University Lyon 2. Now, he and his colleagues have found evidence for an unexpected answer: People with more exposure to sunlight are more likely to speak languages that lump green and blue together, under a term that linguists dub “grue.” That’s because of the effects of a lifetime of light exposure, the team speculates: Lots of Sun causes a condition called “lens brunescence” that makes it harder to distinguish the two hues.

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the trillion dollar coin

Paul Krugman offers some curious suggestions to buy time dealing with Republican intrangigence 

 

on finding good masks

A piece from Scientific American

and a link to Aaron Collins' videos

 

 

transgender women in sport policy

Ross Tucker goes through some recent developments in a policy document. The issue is extremely polarized with some claiming it is possible to achieve fairness, safety, and inclusivity by allowing transgender women to play with biological females. (no one worries about transgender men playing with biological males).  There is increasingly solid evidence that the physical advantage of being born male stays with a person after they've transitioned .. that hormone therapy doesn't work.     

The Guardian offers a high level summary Ross's podcast goes into more detail - he's an expert on the subject.

 

what goes on in the icu

A thread by Dr Darren Markland and a must read.

snip

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That is why none of the antiviral therapies work in the ICU. We are battling uncontrolled inflammation. You know when you bang your arm and it hurts way more the next day? Like that, but because COVID targets blood vessels it’s like banging every part of your body

...

a tip of the hat to Dewayne

 

 

c.t.e. and the sliding sports

The brain of these folks gets bounced around.  Some have not done well.

 

 

anti-robocall restrictions

Now in effect, but was too many loopholes.

learn about STIR/SHAKEN  (a well-forced acronym)

 

 

topological quantum computing

It's been a hot topic, but there are (and always have been) clouds on the horizon.  Quanta has a good overview that, although a bit technical, doesn't require a background in quantum mechanics or a deep understanding of quantum computing.   If you've read a few piece on quantum computing you should be good to go. Otherwise, perhaps not.

 

 

 

truth and reconciliation

Canada and the US have a horrific record on the treatment of native/indigenous peoples.  Canada is working towards telling the trust and ultimately doing right by recognizing a truth and reconciliation day..  a small step, but lightyears ahead of the US.

I first learned of Michael Linklater through a friend who works on getting real network connections to indigenous people in North American.  Linklater is a professional basketball player who uses his background to support young people and raise pride.    A few years later Sarah recommended a podcast episode on Player's Own Voice.   This link gives a bit of background and has a link to the podcast.