Monday Links from the Barnyard vol. CCXXVIII

[NickFitz]

Should have been from the bench again this week, but EndClientCo have been a bit tardy signing off on things, so I'm out in the country, invoicing, for another day or two

• The Day I Started Lying to Ruth - Ruth Bach's husband Peter is an oncologist; when she was diagnosed with cancer, he had a better understanding than many of what was to come: "People crowded the sidewalks, returning from work, stopping for dinner. All the everyday stuff that fills our lives, neither adding particular meaning or taking it away. We pulled into the garage with the narrow entrance; our tires squeaked on the newly painted floor. Ruth was silent. I was silent. I knew. She didn’t.
  
  Actually, she probably did."
  
  
• Programming Sucks - A glorious rant: "It's certainly more physically taxing to dig a tunnel than poke at a keyboard unless you're an ant. But, for the sake of the argument, can we agree that stress and insanity are bad things? Awesome. Welcome to programming."
  
  
• The Internet bought my vagina - Transgender woman Samantha Allen crowdsourced funding for her gender reassignment surgery: "For me, having a penis was a source of suffocating shame and self-loathing... I watched crowdfunding efforts from afar, eyeing my chances, dreaming of the future. Then one day my friend successfully raised $1,000 overnight for his cat’s veterinary bills and I thought, “If he can get $1,000 for his pussy, then I can get $8,000 for mine!”"
  
  
• All of Bach - "Every friday, you will find a new recording here of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s 1080 works, performed by the Netherlands Bach Society and many guest musicians." New project, which should be complete in about 20 years
  
  
• Spurious Correlations - Interesting project that finds completely meaningless correlations in public datasets, such as: "Per capita consumption of cheese (US) correlates with Number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bedsheets":
  
  
  
  
  (HT to SimonMac for encouraging me to include this by tweeting a link at me )
  
  
• The Return To Finding Out Ice Cube’s Good Day - "January 27th 2012 I made a post on the internet. Its popularity had a chain reaction that eventually brought it to life 7 days shy of 2 years later... I got an email from Goodyear Blimps PR manager with a phone number to which after calling I would be sitting there trying to comprehend that I was just invited by Goodyear to their Blimps airport base so I could see the blimp take flight over Los Angeles celebrating Ice Cubes “Good day day” with my own eyes." I linked to this guy's original post identifying the date in the rap song back in January 2012. Here's how the story turned out for him
  
  
• Surviving the Black Death - "The medieval Black Death, that struck Europe from 1347-1351 CE, has been considered one of the most devastating epidemics in human history. Europe’s populations dwindled as tens of millions of its people died... Who were the people that survived this disaster? Were they stronger and healthier because of the loss of those with weaker immunities?" Good overview of a recent study; here's the original research.
  
  
• The Distance - "Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Distance, a new publication dedicated to telling the stories of long-lasting businesses. Each month, we will publish a story about a privately held company that has been operating for at least 25 years. Our first story features Horween Leather Company, a family-owned tannery in Chicago founded in 1905." There would be a certain delicious irony if this site died after a couple of issues, but hopefully it'll continue as long as its subjects, because it seems like an interesting topic
  
  
• Saving the Feynman van - "In 1975, Feynman and his wife, Gweneth Howarth, bought a Dodge Tradesman Maxivan and had it painted with Feynman diagrams, symbols Feynman had invented to express complicated particle interactions through simple lines and loops." The van was getting pretty decrepit; now a group of Feynman enthusiasts have restored it.
  
  
• Chalkboard Art By Dangerdust - A couple of students create these works overnight at their university in the USA, just for the love of it:
  
  
  

Happy invoicing!

[vetran]

Poor man, Poor Ruth. very moving.

[doodab]

I had to stop reading that one.

[mudskipper]

I had to stop reading that one.

[NickFitz]

I had to stop reading that one.

WMSS

[Sysman]

• Then one day my friend successfully raised $1,000 overnight for his cat’s veterinary bills and I thought, “If he can get $1,000 for his pussy, then I can get $8,000 for mine!”"

That line is worthy of Mrs Slocombe!

[d000hg]

The chalk one is pretty ace, seen that doing the rounds on Facebook this week already.

[OwlHoot]

Spurious Correlations - Interesting project that finds completely meaningless correlations in public datasets, such as: "Per capita consumption of cheese (US) correlates with Number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bedsheets" ...

How in God's name can someone die from becoming tangled in their bedsheet?! It's like saying someone died after tripping over an ant.

One would be amazing enough, but several hundred each year??!

A year old toddler perhaps, if they're sleeping in the same bed as their parents, who weigh 30 stone each. But otherwise it's ridiculous.

I smell ZeroHedge style junk statistics.

[hyperD]

How in God's name can someone die from becoming tangled in their bedsheet?! It's like saying someone died after tripping over an ant.

Have you seen a cat try and get out a bedsheet? One of the hyperMogs spent 5 minutes scrabbling to get out then sat there motionless. I thought he'd suffocated so I went to help him and he shot out. It must have been a ruse.

But I suspect the figures, if true, are to do with babies suffocating, old people suffocating, obese people suffocating, claustrophobics waking up then having a heart attack, Tory MPs trying to locate their orange and stockings etc

[OwlHoot]

... Tory MPs trying to locate their orange and stockings etc

Of course, yes, that must account for most of them