Links for 2017-03-31

Bakeneko – Wikipedia

‘The bakeneko (???, “changed cat”) is a type of Japanese y?kai, or supernatural creature. According to its name, it is a cat that has changed into a y?kai. It is often confused with the nekomata, another cat-like y?kai,[2] and the distinction between the two can often be quite ambiguous.’ Reportedly, Totoro’s catbus is a bakeneko, as is the Maneki Neko good luck totem.

(tags: superstitions cats catbus totoro bakeneko yokai japan history)

Who Discovered Why The Challenger Exploded?

Everyone knows Richard Feynman’s famous televised demonstration that the Challenger had exploded because its O-rings got stiff when they were cold — but it wasn’t Feynman’s discovery. It was Sally Ride’s.’ (via Tony Finch)

(tags: richard-feynman sally-ride history space challenger o-rings science engineering nasa)

UW professor: The information war is real, and we’re losing it

Starbird sighed. “I used to be a techno-utopian. Now I can’t believe that I’m sitting here talking to you about all this.”

(tags: journalism media news fake-news infowars twitter facebook)

How Do We Defeat Online Trolls? – The Atlantic

Another challenge is that no matter what solutions people devise to fight trolls, the trolls will fight back. Even among those who are optimistic that the trolls can be beaten back, and that civic discourse will prevail online, there are myriad unknowns ahead. “Online discourse is new, relative to the history of communication,” said Ryan Sweeney, the director of analytics at Ignite Social Media, in his response to the survey. “Technological evolution has surpassed the evolution of civil discourse. We’ll catch up eventually. I hope. We are in a defining time.”

(tags: trolls trolling discourse online politics)