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all the James Somerton plagiarism stuff is leading me to re-read this Kei Miller essay, the best piece of writing I know about plagiarism and also one of the best meditations I know on what it means to write about place https://underthesaltireflag.com/2015/05/15/plagiarism-in-poetry-looting-in-laventille-carelessness-in-the-caribbean/
Why we shouldn’t hold referendums
Citizens of democracies can be ill-informed and inconsistent, and this often feels like a tragedy or even a crisis. Occasionally, however, one reads something so absurd that it would take a heart of stone not to laugh. Consider a recent survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research (AP-NORC), which finds that 60 per cent of Am
https://timharford.com/2023/05/why-we-shouldnt-hold-referendums/
and last night I felt together enough to set a deeply miserable country song about terminal illness and grief.
still feels like magic, the way you can start with some words, get a guitar and plinky-plonk around, and do some humming over the plinky-plonking for a bit, and then you blink and there is a song.
if i had known songwriting was like this i would have started years ago!
so my project to write or adapt 52 songs this year took a pause because i have been Not Well, but I did the numbers and I have written or adapted enough songs to last me until June?!?! and that just feels like a lovely thing. I am nearly halfway. I will probably meet the goal, even if this bout of Being Not Well drags on.
What an amazing study: "Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma when jumping from aircraft: randomized controlled trial"
"Results Parachute use did not significantly reduce death or major injury"
a) definitely read this, it's hilarious
b) it's poking pretty hard at the stance that medical trials require a stance of equipoise -- genuine uncertainty about which option is better
https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094
h/t to @riana
Objective To determine if using a parachute prevents death or major traumatic injury when jumping from an aircraft. Design Randomized controlled trial. Setting Private or commercial aircraft between September 2017 and August 2018. Participants 92 aircraft passengers aged 18 and over were screened for participation. 23 agreed to be enrolled and were randomized. Intervention Jumping from an aircraft (airplane or helicopter) with a parachute versus an empty backpack (unblinded). Main outcome measures Composite of death or major traumatic injury (defined by an Injury Severity Score over 15) upon impact with the ground measured immediately after landing. Results Parachute use did not significantly reduce death or major injury (0% for parachute v 0% for control; P>0.9). This finding was consistent across multiple subgroups. Compared with individuals screened but not enrolled, participants included in the study were on aircraft at significantly lower altitude (mean of 0.6 m for participants v mean of 9146 m for non-participants; P<0.001) and lower velocity (mean of 0 km/h v mean of 800 km/h; P<0.001). Conclusions Parachute use did not reduce death or major traumatic injury when jumping from aircraft in the first randomized evaluation of this intervention. However, the trial was only able to enroll participants on small stationary aircraft on the ground, suggesting cautious extrapolation to high altitude jumps. When beliefs regarding the effectiveness of an intervention exist in the community, randomized trials might selectively enroll individuals with a lower perceived likelihood of benefit, thus diminishing the applicability of the results to clinical practice.
i can't believe we missed the 25th anniversary of this early-Internet delight. kids, read and learn - it could save your life (if you are a world conquering maniac)
there is something uniquely stressful about re-reading a thriller in which lots of bad things happen, because this time you know exactly what is coming, and there is NOTHING you can do about it.
anyway the Silo series by Hugh Howey remains one of my favourite bits of world-building, just, WHAT a great set-up.
we don't seem to do selfies here so much but did some fairly ridiculous makeup, feeling pretty good about it
I speak Chinese to the mirror
A park has its own winter
I put on music
Winter has no flies
I leisurely make coffee
Flies don’t know what is a homeland
I add a bit of sugar
A homeland is a native accent
I am on the other end of a phone line
And I hear my fear
Bei Dao 北島
on the solace of conversing in a native tongue, even if only with oneself, mirrored —
(hint: read every other line)
revisited this favorite poem in my translation seminar so this evening’s #everynightapoem
#chinese #translation
Tim Harford 
LeaKissner
nerdybutcute
eileen chengyin chow