Welcome to the Wednesday Walk Around the Web, where we weave & wind through weblinks weekly. Hopefully you will find the links on offer amusing, interesting, or, occasionally, profound. Views expressed in the Wednesday Walk do not necessarily reflect those of anyone but the writer.
- This Week in Public Service Announcements: The answer to your prayers has arrived – Gas Station TV can be muted. Note: your mileage may vary; I tried this when I got gas last night and no button could help me.
- The oldest human footprints in North America, thirteen thousand years old, were recently found in British Columbia where native historians said they’d be, based on oral traditions from thirteen thousand years ago.
- Sound is a very powerful thing, more powerful than we usually think. For example, you can do serious harm to your hearing while fixing your toilet.
- Anything can be fodder for different kinds of art, even the humble potato.
- Movie theater signs can also be great art.
- I know my podcast has fallen victim to some hardcore podfading, but if Microsoft gets serious about banning “offensive language” from Skype we might all be done.
- Carmen Sandiego isn’t just a role model vis-a-vis international educational crime, she’s also a fashion icon.
- This Week in Drug Wars: The opioid epidemic has apparently been greatly exaggerated, at least in terms of prescription overdose, much to the continued detriment of people with chronic pain conditions.
- There are absolutely real places in the world that could not pass muster as fictional fantasy geography.
- I wish I had this transcript of all the best business lingo when I had to make up my corporate goals a few weeks ago.
- This Week in Drops in the Ocean: Lots of companies have been mismanaging a whole lot of data that should be private lately, with consequences ranging from the personal to the geopolitical. We should probably stop using them on the principle that silence is complicity, but few people will (I haven’t, depending on my massive levers of privilege to help me out). Add to the pile Grindr sharing users’ HIV status with data analytics companies, as far as personal information goes.
- This Week in Recontextualization: Toto’s “Africa” playing in an empty mall evokes some strong emotions.
- Friends, I have found the best Twitter, and it is Black Metal Cats.
