May 9, 2017
“Purchase another, grander piano. Leave the two pianos in the same room, but only play the new piano. Clean it, polish it, tune it, give it all your attention.” When a random internet query reminds you what you like about Reddit: How best to destroy a piano. / Reddit
A Finnish refiner is turning the rendered fat from slaughterhouses into diesel fuel. / The Economist
“Not all Mexican-American cuisine is based on deep-fried meat sacks smothered in cheese.” Indeed! A brief history. / Roads and Kingdoms
Tourist mecca Venice bans any new kebab shops or fast-food outlets from opening to preserve local character. / The Guardian
“A knowledge of history is capable of giving to statesmanship, and to our daily thoughts, a breadth and scope unattainable by those whose view is limited to the present.” Worth revisiting, 10 times over, from 1904: Bertrand Russell’s “On History.” / The Independent Review
The AMC multiplex chain expects to sell 8 million pounds of popcorn this summer. / New York Times
“Born Sexy Yesterday” is a trope in TV and film where a “fish out of water” plot is used to frame an adult woman as an inexperienced child. Think “Leeloo Dallas Multipass.” / YouTube
See also: “The Five Lies Hollywood Tells Itself.” / The New York Times
In Pakistan, a critique of the Army is replaced with blank space in the local edition of the New York Times. / IndiaTV
Assistant US attorney Zainab Ahmad has prosecuted 13 international terrorist suspects without losing. / The New Yorker
Artist Arcmanoro Niles captures a hidden African-American experience of Washington, D.C. / Creators
US travelers may soon get their faces scanned at airport security. Accuracy remains a big challenge. / The Verge
“I think we can safely rest assured that even if intelligent alien species do exist in our galaxy, they are not about to appear in our skies with an invasion fleet to subjugate humanity and begin stripping our world.” An astrobiologist runs through a thought experiment on what reasons aliens might possibly have to visit Earth. / Lithub
California lawmakers approve a bill that would reverse a ban on communists having government jobs. / Associated Press
For your desktop wanderlust: Modernist homes currently for sale in France. / Wowhaus
“Officers allowed a canine to bite two unarmed seventeen-year-old boys who had broken into an elementary school.” A list of incidents since 2011 in which the use of force by Chicago police officers was deemed reasonable or justifiable by supervisors or the city’s Independent Police Review Authority. / Harper’s
Recent paintings by Japanese artist Yuka Sakuma. / Yuka Sakuma on Instagram