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. Do you have a link you want to see featured in next week’s Walk? Comment on the Walk post at the Place to Be Nation Facebook page, or find Glenn on the social media platform of your choice!
- In Montana, Neo-Nazis were recently planning to march against Jews in the town of Whitefish; last week, the town rallied around its Jewish community and the Nazis didn’t show up. A small lesson for these troubled times: gather around the marginalized and the singled-out, and outnumber cowardly fascists. Oh, and if the opportunity ever presents itself, please punch a Nazi. Or worse! You do you. (This is one of those times when morality makes different demands than the law.)
- Apparently some libraries not only use data on which books are being checked out to help decide which ones to keep and which to cycle out, but rely on that data exclusively, forcing knowledgeable librarians to fake some data to save books libraries will need later.
- The tunnel tree is dead.
- This Week in Living in the Future: We can send artificial tumbleweeds out to set off landmines.
- Some vampire bats are adapting to the taste of human blood, so that’s just a great sign.
- Statistics about those killed in the custody of cops can be instructive, but sometimes they detract from the real human stories of the real human lives lost.
- This Week in Infrastructure: Tactile paving is used to help signpost road crossings and other dangers for the hard-of-sight.
- We now know that Earth-sized planets are pretty common; what’s more difficult is finding Earth-like planets that might be habitable.
- Pointing a laser pointer at a helicopter, no matter how weak a laser pointer and for how short a time, could get you in a world of trouble and you should not do it. Call it a Wednesday Walk Top Tip.
- Now that actors can be brought back through the wonders of CGI to a greater extent than ever before, the legalities of posthumous likeness rights have to be hammered out.
- You usually don’t design a product to be annoying, except for alarms.
- In at least five states, Republicans are trying to criminalize protests. Particularly distressing is the North Dakota bill allowing drivers to run into demonstrators as a direct reaction to the DAPL protests. Their land and their lives are more important than someone’s commute, full fucking stop.
- Speaking of, the Women’s March happened last Saturday across the US and across the world, and it rocked pretty hard.
- The Roommate brings the news that Queer Eye for the Straight Guy is coming back! Obviously Ted Allen can’t come back because he’s scheduled to film a thousand more episodes of Chopped and its derivatives this year, and I suppose Carson Kressley is currently busy with the president’s reality show (the one that’s just on NBC), but I suspect Jai and Kyan could carve out some room in their schedules. (Hot take: forget Thom.)
- This Week in Relaxation Aids: Clear your mind, breathe deeply and slowly, and watch spirograph videos. Quite relaxing, quite satisfying. (And of course, as with all other things, there’s a browser game.)
