Columnist and conservative speechwriter William Safire died yesterday at age 79. Here is the speech he drafted for president Nixon to read in the event that Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong found themselves stranded to die on the moon. I am happy to note that Messrs. Aldrin and Armstrong are all still alive (as is Michael Collins, who orbited the moon while his colleagues walked on her surface). William Safire's Finest Speech. (Gawker, via Scott Beale)
The speech Safire wrote for Nixon if Apollo 11 astronauts were stranded on the moon.
Here is a brief history of toilets
Who gives a crap about the history of toilets? Francis de los Reyes does. He's a professor of civil engineering at North Carolina State University whose research focuses on "wastewater treatment plant design, environmental biotechnology and microbiology, fundamentals of environmental engineering, and water and sanitation for developing countries." In this TED-Ed video, de los Reyes… READ THE REST
Crap gadgets reborn as "Dead Startup Toys"
Dead Startup Toys is selection of classic crap gadgets recreated in nonfunctional funsize form. There are adorable Juiceros and Jibos, internet-of-things drink coolers, the well-meaning but hell-bent One Laptop Per Child, and of course the greatest of them all, the Theranos blood assay Minilab that raised nearly a billion dollars and was for all intents… READ THE REST
Prager University: "Anti-racist" rhetoric is "fighting America itself"
On Sunday afternoon, right-wing "university" PragerU (i.e. conservative radio host Dennis Prager's YouTube channel) tweeted something that cut closer to the bone than it perhaps intended. An excellent introduction to the moral panic over "Critical Race Theory"—and why it panics conservatives in the first place. READ THE REST
In defense of the mushroom: here's why all your fungi fears are actually wrong
Mushrooms may be among the most misunderstood living organisms on planet Earth. That's partially due to their exotic, almost alien-like look. It's also partially due to their age-old connection to mysticism and folklore from centuries past. Yet another reason is much more firmly grounded in today, as some mushrooms can be poisonous, while others have… READ THE REST
Pawp combines vet telemedicine and emergency vet funds into a new pet insurance alternative
No one needs to tell you the pace of life is increasing. Whether you're a baby boomer, a Gen Xer, a millennial, or even a Gen Zer, you can feel it. Whether you grew up in the '50s, the '80s, or the 2000s, the world you experienced as a kid was a much slower pace… READ THE REST
Need to learn CompTIA, AWS, Cisco, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud? This training can help.
When you're training in the fine arts of IT disciplines, there are many different masters to serve. You could load up on CompTIA certifications. As the world leader in IT preparedness testing, an armload of their credentials is impressive on any resume. However, many of tech's glitterati have their own premium proprietary testing standards to… READ THE REST
