String Theory Inspires a Brilliant, Baffling New Math Proof
Dec. 13th, 2025 11:40 am
Giant structure discovered deep beneath Bermuda is unlike anything else on Earth
Dec. 13th, 2025 11:28 am
Fighting rages on Thai-Cambodian border despite Trump's ceasefire claim
Dec. 13th, 2025 12:12 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
cbc_topnews_feed
Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire.
Belarus frees Nobel winner, top opposition figures as U.S. lifts more sanctions
Dec. 13th, 2025 11:34 amcbc_topnews_feed
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava, after two days of talks with an envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, an American statement said.
5 best movies of 2025
Dec. 13th, 2025 09:00 amcbc_topnews_feed
CBC’s Jackson Weaver is a lucky guy — he gets to watch hundreds of movies every year. And now he’s ranked his top five picks of 2025.
IN PHOTOS | This week's most compelling images
Dec. 13th, 2025 04:00 amcbc_topnews_feed
Photographers from CBC News, The Canadian Press, Reuters and others document our changing world every day. Here's a selection of the week's top images.
Thorold, Ont., city hall lobby filled as vigil mourns teen denied traditional Muslim burial
Dec. 12th, 2025 02:56 pmcbc_topnews_feed
About a hundred people joined a vigil held in front of City Hall in Thorold, Ont., to honour an 18-year-old woman who died in a car crash. The city denied her family's request for Muslim burial accommodations at a public cemetery.
What, to absolutely EVERYONE???
Dec. 13th, 2025 04:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oursinI think this is an absolutely terrible idea, and that they should be giving book tokens, and, okay, maybe recommendations, but letting people choose their books:
30 authors on the books they give to everyone
I am in particular stunned by the choices of Some People, e.g. Colm Tóibín's Christmas Downer:
There is a book I buy as a present that never goes out of fashion. It is The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.... the extraordinary plot creeps up and bites you before you know where you are. The narrative curls and twists; the narrator knows too much or too little. But at some point the appalling and ingenious nature of the treachery – what is called “cheating” nowadays – becomes apparent and you feel that you have been let in on some intriguing and explosive secret. It is perfect, thus, for Christmas.
I am also beswozzled by what Tessa Hadley considers comfort reading: Rumer Godden??? Okay, some of her works fall into that category, but on the whole I would not consider the ones she does name - The River in particular - exactly comforting.
Much as I love them, I would not press into anyone's hands Middlemarch, The Fountain Overflows, Cold Comfort Farm or The Pursuit of Love, urging that they they must read this.
I am reminded of GB Shaw's rewrite of the Golden Rule, about not doing to others as you would be done by, as tastes differ.
Take it away, Sly and the Family Stone!
2025.12.13
Dec. 13th, 2025 08:47 amlsandersonThe great outdoor freezer has roared back to life! Stay warm!
Subzero temperatures are on their way to the Twin Cities this weekend, and it could be the coldest December day in decades. If “the temperature drops to -11 or colder Saturday night, that will be the earliest we’ve seen that kind of reading or colder since 1996. If we can slip to -12 or colder, that bar is even farther back, 1989,” according to Bring Me The News. And while that’s cold, it’s also worth noting that we had much colder Decembers in decades past: “December as a whole has warmed an eye-popping 5.5 degrees in just 50 years, our fastest warming winter month.”
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-weather/deep-freeze-could-bring-cold-the-twin-cities-hasnt-felt-this-early-in-30-years
There’s finally a plan for George Floyd Square. The Minneapolis City Council approved the “flexible-open” option for the intersection of 38th and Chicago, KSTP reports. This option “will keep Chicago Avenue open to traffic — including buses — but will allow for temporary closures for special events.”
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/minneapolis-city-council-finalizes-plan-for-george-floyd-square-that-allows-through-traffic/
If you’re willing to brave the cold, Racket offered their weekly compendium of free things to do this weekend. You’ll find plenty of holiday-related activities to do gratis. Via MinnPost
https://racketmn.com/freeloader-friday-163-free-things-to-do-this-weekend
The level of disfunction in Twin Lakes has grown such that many townsfolk are calling for the city government to be dissolved, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. “The shouting, threats and sarcastic barbs have been flying for months at city meetings in this town of 130 near the Iowa border. There are complaints about tap water running black, fights over city hiring and multiple allegations of misdeeds. … In a small-town smackdown, 34 residents have signed a petition to take Twin Lakes off the map by dissolving the city government.” This piece reads with all the intrigue and tension of a reality TV drama. Via MinnPost
https://www.startribune.com/twin-lakes-minnesota-dissolve-city-township/601536850?utm_source=gift
Counterpoint: Ranked-choice voting didn’t fail Minneapolis
RCV has ensured majority winners, given voters more meaningful choices, eliminated low-turnout primaries and opened the political process to a broader, more diverse field of candidates.
by Michael Minta
https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2025/12/counterpoint-ranked-choice-voting-didnt-fail-minneapolis/
Trump attacks old foe Biden – but presidential parallels hard to avoid
US president finds himself shouldering same burdens of affordability crisis and the inexorable march of time
David Smith in Washington
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/13/trump-biden-rivals
Epstein Pr0n
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2025/dec/12/jeffrey-epstein-released-photos
Our 25 favourite European travel discoveries of 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/dec/13/travel-writers-top-25-favourite-travel-discoveries-europe-2025
Not automagical and quite hard:
Dorothy Parker ‘fwowed up’ in a 1928 review of which children’s classic? The Saturday quiz
From demon, equal and encyclopedia to The Tour of Life and Before the Dawn, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
Thomas Eaton
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/13/dorothy-parker-fwowed-1928-childrens-classic-book-review-saturday-quiz
A Quiz for the Rest o' Us
Why do moths eat clothes and how old is the universe? The kids’ quiz
Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/13/why-moths-eat-clothes-how-old-universe-kids-quiz
Automagical Quiz and hard:
Weekly quiz: Which countries said they would boycott Eurovision?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j9867wppxo
Subzero temperatures are on their way to the Twin Cities this weekend, and it could be the coldest December day in decades. If “the temperature drops to -11 or colder Saturday night, that will be the earliest we’ve seen that kind of reading or colder since 1996. If we can slip to -12 or colder, that bar is even farther back, 1989,” according to Bring Me The News. And while that’s cold, it’s also worth noting that we had much colder Decembers in decades past: “December as a whole has warmed an eye-popping 5.5 degrees in just 50 years, our fastest warming winter month.”
https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-weather/deep-freeze-could-bring-cold-the-twin-cities-hasnt-felt-this-early-in-30-years
There’s finally a plan for George Floyd Square. The Minneapolis City Council approved the “flexible-open” option for the intersection of 38th and Chicago, KSTP reports. This option “will keep Chicago Avenue open to traffic — including buses — but will allow for temporary closures for special events.”
https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/minneapolis-city-council-finalizes-plan-for-george-floyd-square-that-allows-through-traffic/
If you’re willing to brave the cold, Racket offered their weekly compendium of free things to do this weekend. You’ll find plenty of holiday-related activities to do gratis. Via MinnPost
https://racketmn.com/freeloader-friday-163-free-things-to-do-this-weekend
The level of disfunction in Twin Lakes has grown such that many townsfolk are calling for the city government to be dissolved, the Minnesota Star Tribune reports. “The shouting, threats and sarcastic barbs have been flying for months at city meetings in this town of 130 near the Iowa border. There are complaints about tap water running black, fights over city hiring and multiple allegations of misdeeds. … In a small-town smackdown, 34 residents have signed a petition to take Twin Lakes off the map by dissolving the city government.” This piece reads with all the intrigue and tension of a reality TV drama. Via MinnPost
https://www.startribune.com/twin-lakes-minnesota-dissolve-city-township/601536850?utm_source=gift
Counterpoint: Ranked-choice voting didn’t fail Minneapolis
RCV has ensured majority winners, given voters more meaningful choices, eliminated low-turnout primaries and opened the political process to a broader, more diverse field of candidates.
by Michael Minta
https://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2025/12/counterpoint-ranked-choice-voting-didnt-fail-minneapolis/
Trump attacks old foe Biden – but presidential parallels hard to avoid
US president finds himself shouldering same burdens of affordability crisis and the inexorable march of time
David Smith in Washington
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/13/trump-biden-rivals
Epstein Pr0n
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2025/dec/12/jeffrey-epstein-released-photos
Our 25 favourite European travel discoveries of 2025
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2025/dec/13/travel-writers-top-25-favourite-travel-discoveries-europe-2025
Not automagical and quite hard:
Dorothy Parker ‘fwowed up’ in a 1928 review of which children’s classic? The Saturday quiz
From demon, equal and encyclopedia to The Tour of Life and Before the Dawn, test your knowledge with the Saturday quiz
Thomas Eaton
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/13/dorothy-parker-fwowed-1928-childrens-classic-book-review-saturday-quiz
A Quiz for the Rest o' Us
Why do moths eat clothes and how old is the universe? The kids’ quiz
Five multiple-choice questions – set by children – to test your knowledge, and a chance to submit your own junior brainteasers for future quizzes
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/13/why-moths-eat-clothes-how-old-universe-kids-quiz
Automagical Quiz and hard:
Weekly quiz: Which countries said they would boycott Eurovision?
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1j9867wppxo
Mist and trees
Dec. 13th, 2025 04:30 pmheleninwalesWe're not yet quite half way through December, but I'm already starting to feel end-of-yearish. I've started working out my goals and plans for next year and I've just been through my photos and failed to find 10 that I felt were special enough to feature in a "Best of the Year" album. I could only find 6 which can be seen here...
Which brings me to yesterday's photo of trees silhouetted against mist. There was mist down where we live, but after doing the Co-op shop and driving up to see my friend M, I discovered that up where she lived was clear. If I'd had time and a better camera with me I could probably have got some really interesting shots, but I was already a few minutes late so could only trot quickly back down the hill a little way and grab a phone shot.
In other news...
I am still struggling with the video about the Quaker locations around town. To be honest, if I hadn't told so many people that I'm doing it, not to mention having done the walk and spent time shooting video, I'd just quietly forget all about it. However, I've cut the voice-over script drastically and will have another attempt at pulling the thing together, making it much shorter.
Which brings me to yesterday's photo of trees silhouetted against mist. There was mist down where we live, but after doing the Co-op shop and driving up to see my friend M, I discovered that up where she lived was clear. If I'd had time and a better camera with me I could probably have got some really interesting shots, but I was already a few minutes late so could only trot quickly back down the hill a little way and grab a phone shot.
In other news...
I am still struggling with the video about the Quaker locations around town. To be honest, if I hadn't told so many people that I'm doing it, not to mention having done the walk and spent time shooting video, I'd just quietly forget all about it. However, I've cut the voice-over script drastically and will have another attempt at pulling the thing together, making it much shorter.
A Volcanic Eruption May Have Led to the Black Death
Dec. 13th, 2025 06:36 amneatorama_feed
Black Death refers to a pandemic of bubonic plague that swept Europe in the mid 14th century, killing up to half the population. The disease, carried by fleas on rats, had been around for thousands of years, and the virulence of the pandemic of 1346-1353 is ascribed to high populations living in close confines during the medieval period. But how did it get to Europe?
New research shows that it was likely related to a volcanic eruption in 1345. We don't have historical records of such an eruption, but written accounts from Europe and Asia in the years following report dark clouds and crop failures. We know this can be caused by volcanic ash circling the earth. Also, Arctic and Antarctic ice cores have dated a layer of sulphur to around 1345. Tree ring data also shows the ash clouds' effect on climate in those years. The result was that Italy had to import massive amounts of grain from Central Asia to keep the population from starving, and that's where the Black Death began to flourish. Read how a volcanic eruption somewhere in the world led to the resetting of Europe at LiveScience. -via Strange Company
Saturday mishmash--household stuff, dyed hair [and work stuff], and a few links
Dec. 13th, 2025 12:12 pmumadoshiLuck was not with us in the first attempt at clementines this year. (The batch we got are far from inedible, at least, but...not very good.) They're such a gamble these years. :/
Our new freezer arrived a week ago, and the plan is to finally get it in place today oncescruloose gets back from a market run. That hasn't happened yet due to a combination of factors and timing, the biggest of which is the fact that it'll require shifting some things out of the garage onto the driveway to make room for us to work with two upright freezers in play. (scruloose is going to take a stab at moving the old one out of its place without emptying it, via a hand cart, but we have no idea how likely that is to actually work. It'd sure be convenient, though.)
My hair is dyed! It is. Um. Very dark. By which I mean it's not so much dark purple as "functionally black with some purple highlights that are probably some of my silver hair, but there's less of that than there is silver, so it's a little confusing". Oh, well. It looks fine, other than maybe making me look a bit washed out, and I don't much care about that.
(I might care more when I finally getscruloose to take a headshot of me to send HR at Dayjob so they can update my long-expired work pass. [Part of why I decided to finally just go ahead and dye my hair was in the name of having it done for this photo.] These days, the process involves just filling out a form and emailing that and a photo that meets their technical requirements to the department handling passes and also to my boss, presumably so the boss can look at the photo and confirm "yes, that is the employee in question". But this means we can make potentially-endless attempts at getting a photo I don't hate, and honestly, if I can live with the horror of my provincial ID photo, I can probably live with just about anything.)
A few links:
--mrissa's annual lussekatter posts are always good for my heart.
--Jenny Hamilton's "Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition" (covering ep. 1-2).
--"‘Pushing Daisies’ Season 3 In The Works, Says Creator Bryan Fuller".
Our new freezer arrived a week ago, and the plan is to finally get it in place today once
scruloose gets back from a market run. That hasn't happened yet due to a combination of factors and timing, the biggest of which is the fact that it'll require shifting some things out of the garage onto the driveway to make room for us to work with two upright freezers in play. (scruloose is going to take a stab at moving the old one out of its place without emptying it, via a hand cart, but we have no idea how likely that is to actually work. It'd sure be convenient, though.)My hair is dyed! It is. Um. Very dark. By which I mean it's not so much dark purple as "functionally black with some purple highlights that are probably some of my silver hair, but there's less of that than there is silver, so it's a little confusing". Oh, well. It looks fine, other than maybe making me look a bit washed out, and I don't much care about that.
(I might care more when I finally get
scruloose to take a headshot of me to send HR at Dayjob so they can update my long-expired work pass. [Part of why I decided to finally just go ahead and dye my hair was in the name of having it done for this photo.] These days, the process involves just filling out a form and emailing that and a photo that meets their technical requirements to the department handling passes and also to my boss, presumably so the boss can look at the photo and confirm "yes, that is the employee in question". But this means we can make potentially-endless attempts at getting a photo I don't hate, and honestly, if I can live with the horror of my provincial ID photo, I can probably live with just about anything.)A few links:
--
mrissa's annual lussekatter posts are always good for my heart.--Jenny Hamilton's "Anatomy of a Sex Scene: Heated Rivalry Edition" (covering ep. 1-2).
--"‘Pushing Daisies’ Season 3 In The Works, Says Creator Bryan Fuller".
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Organizer arrested after fans rip up seats, throw objects during Lionel Messi visit to India
Dec. 13th, 2025 09:48 amcbc_topnews_feed
Lionel Messi's tour of India kicked off chaotically on Saturday as fans threw objects, ripped up seats and invaded the pitch at Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium after the Argentine soccer great made only a brief appearance at a ticketed event.
cbc_topnews_feed
Heather Winterstein's family believes she didn't receive proper medical assessment or care at the St. Catharines, Ont., hospital because of systemic racism and biases. Niagara Health says it's committed to change.