February 8, 2017

Fascinating stuff: Hackers were able to reverse-engineer the factors that went into slot machines’ pseudorandom algorithms by taping results on their phones. / Wired

“One of the most attractive features of cats is that contentment is their default state. They are comfortable with themselves and their lives, and remain in that condition for as long as they are not threatened. When they are not eating or sleeping, they pass the time exploring and playing, never asking for reasons to live.” A new book by Abigail Tucker makes the case for cats. We suspect even cat haters will enjoy the history lessons. / New Statesman

For your Wednesday morning escapist travel, a very quick trip through Rome from filmmaker Alex Soloviev. / Vimeo

We previously noted how the Netherlands claimed dibs, but now it it’s a trend: European countries, or at least their satirist TV shows, are clamoring to be in second place. / The New York Times

You’re working your way through the shortlist. / docs.google.com

“It’s like you’re in jail, but you’re earning money.” Filipinos make up a third of all ship hands. The job brings decent income and rampant exploitation, particularly by manipulation of timesheets. / California Sunday

In case you missed it, after she read negative quotes from Sen. Ted Kennedy and Coretta Scott King about Jeff Sessions, Republicans in the Senate voted along party lines to officially block Elizabeth Warren from commenting at all during the rest of Sessions’ hearings (see video here). / c-span.org

Rule XIX, the obscure Senate parliamentary provision used by Mitch McConnell and fellow Republicans to silence Elizabeth Warren’s criticism of Jeff(erson Beauregard) Sessions, was implemented at the turn of the 20th century, after South Carolina’s two senators got into a public spat over party influence that culminated in a fistfight on the Senate floor. / Library of Congress

The Heritage Foundation, that cesspool of conservative ideas that is still hanging on, published a primer last month explaining how the Senate majority—Republicans—can silence any dissent from the minority—Democrats—by “strictly enforcing” Rule XIX. / heritage.org

Senate Rule XIX is invoked so rarely that the last time reporters on Twitter were able to find it used was in 1979, when one old white man called another an “idiot.” / Twitter

“I believe his confirmation would have a devastating effect on not only the judicial system in Alabama, but also on the progress we have made everywhere toward fulfilling my husband’s dream that he envisioned over twenty years ago.” Since McConnell was so opposed to quotations from Coretta Scott King’s (admirably restrained) letter to then-Sen. Strom Thurmond on Jeff Sessions’ potential nomination to a federal judgeship, here is that letter in full. / NPR

Energy Transfer Partners told the mayor of San Elizario, concerned about an explosion at one of their projects nearby, that their pipeline wouldn’t go through city limits. / marfapublicradio.org

Nara Dreamland, opened in 1961, was intended to be Japan’s answer to Disneyland. It closed in 2006, but sat deserted for more than a decade. French photographer Romain Veillon snuck in before it was demolished. / romainveillon.com

“Long before he was the kind of international celebrity who gets chased by fans through the airport in Singapore, Bourdain knew how to arrange his grasshopper limbs into a good pose, and from the beginning he had a talent for badassery.” Anthony Bourdain finally gets his New Yorker profile, and it’s a good one. / The New Yorker

In case you’re having a hard time withstanding the noise of the White House being destroyed from the inside out, here are two stories to test your opposition to some recent policy initiatives. “Churches Break Politics Rule All the Time. So End It.” Noah Feldman, Bloomberg View. / Bloomberg