Arctic records its hottest temperature ever
Alarming heat scorched Siberia on Saturday as the small town of Verkhoyansk (67.5°N latitude) reached 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 32 degrees above the normal high temperature. If verified, this is likely the hottest temperature ever recorded in Siberia and also the hottest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle, which begins at 66.5°N.
CBS News
I’m not going to regurgitate what’s already been said…
I’m not going to regurgitate what’s already been said, because that just isn’t my style. If you know me at all, you know I prefer to instead fill noticeable vacuums, and there is indeed a vacuum I’m noticing in the dominant narratives that formulate the current Twitterstorm in regards to the subject at hand.
Ganzeer's thoughts on the Warren Ellis situation, via Ganzeer.Today
The Milky Way Contains 36 Contactable Alien Civilizations, Scientists Estimate
Scientists estimated how many alien societies in the Milky Way can send interstellar messages. But just because they can talk does not mean we will hear them.
Motherboard
NASA Explains Moon Return Plans in Stunning Animated Short
NASA intends to return to the moon to stay. The infrastructure needed to make it possible is explained. Narrated by 'Star Wars' actress Kelly Marie Tran.
Credit: NASA / via VideoFromSpace YouTube
Trump fled to bunker as protests over George Floyd raged outside White House
“If they had [breached the fence],” the president continued, “they would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen.”
The Guardian
Russia to test ‘Doomsday Drone’ in high Arctic
Launched from a submarine, the Poseidon drone is shaped like a giant torpedo and nicknamed the “Doomsday Drone.” The weapon is designed to send a deadly tsunami wave into populated coastlines — it carries a nuclear warhead weighing up to two megatons and can autonomously cross the North Atlantic.
Asia Times
New Book: The Worm
The Worm showcases over 300 images from NASA’s archives chosen with one simple criteria: each photograph must feature ‘the worm’.
Standards Manual
Trump administration discussed conducting first U.S. nuclear test in decades
The Trump administration has discussed whether to conduct the first U.S. nuclear test explosion since 1992 in a move that would have far-reaching consequences for relations with other nuclear powers and reverse a decades-long moratorium on such actions.
The Washington Post
Reopening the Economy Will Send Us to Hell
People desperately need to go back to work and save what they can of their lives. But Mike Davis argues that a rapid reopening of the economy would only result in unspeakable tragedy for millions.
Mike Davis | Jacobin
Is going to space truly essential during a pandemic?
In some ways, space isn’t so much essential as it is inertial.
Ingrid Burrington | Engadget
Rambling thoughts about cyborgs and emotions
Hey so here’s the paper Cyborgs and Space (1960) by Clynes and Kline in which the word cyborg was first introduced. It’s short. Here’s the first line:
"Space travel challenges mankind not only technologically but also spiritually, in that it invites man to take an active part in his own biological evolution."
Our geological era, the Anthropocene, in which human activity is the dominant agent of change in our ecosystems, is pretty fraught. That line makes me wonder…
Matt Webb | Interconnected
Farewell to Beyond the Beyond
"So, the blog is formally ending this month, May MMXX.
My weblog is a collateral victim of Covid19, which has become a great worldwide excuse to stop whatever you were doing."
Bruce Sterling | Beyond the Beyond
In Search of Tomorrow Ultimate ’80s Sci-Fi Movie Documentary (Final Trailer)
For the final push we’re turning the Sci-Fi spotlight on the epic, Ultimate ’80s Sci-Fi Movie Mashup!
via HyperDrive YouTube Channel
Furiosa’s Back: George Miller Discusses the Next ‘Mad Max’ Movie
It’s been five years since Mad Max: Fury Road came out in theaters, but if the director George Miller has his way, Furiosa will soon ride again. The film is a prequel centered on a young Furiosa, and Miller is searching for an actress in her 20s to take over the role.
Movies | The New York Times
We Are the Mutants
We Are the Mutants is a weekly updated magazine focusing on the history and analysis of Cold War-era popular and outsider culture, with a strong emphasis on speculative (sci-fi, fantasy, horror), genre, pulp, cult, occult, subculture, and anti-establishment media.
The title of the magazine is taken from graffiti seen at the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1960s: “The bomb has already dropped, and we are the mutants.”
Publish Something Online
Self-publishing on the internet is a rewarding and powerful experience – you can very quickly produce work that is accessible to billions of people for very low cost.
This library will introduce you not just to code resources, but also to examples of alternative forms of screen-based interaction and the technologies they are based on.
by Jake Dow-Smith
Thirty-six Thousand Feet Under the Sea
The explorers who set one of the last meaningful records on earth.
The New Yorker
Kim Stanley Robinson on His Next Novel, The Ministry for the Future
Kim Stanley Robinson will publish his next novel in October: The Ministry for the Future. As with many of his recent novels, like New York 2140, 2312, or Aurora, his focus is firmly on the state of the Earth, and the effect that climate change has on human civilization.
Tor.com