Many (more) things

• Rihanna’s halftime show blew my mind. Not because of Ri-Ri

  ¹
  but because of the tech. Wired went behind the scenes to show you how it was done.

• This piece about going to sex clubs in the early 1980s as a reporter/sociologist reminded me that I wrote a story for Metro Pulse in the late 1990s about the BDSM scene there.

  ²
  It also reminded me that fantasy and reality vis a vis humans and sex are two entirely different things.

• If I may put on my local government hat for a moment: Otsego County’s Local Health Department is doing some interesting things with map technology.

• Today in machine transcription:

  

• I find this info about the U.S. murder rate really interesting but have no idea what it means.

• This 99% Invisible episode may not make you want to run the Comrades Ultra but you will understand better why people do.

  

• The Metropolitan Museum is one of my Top Five places in the world. I go every time I can. I went last Friday, in fact, mostly because I was in the city anyway for other reasons and needed some culture. Every time I visit, I see something that has clearly been there for years and I just failed to notice or didn’t walk down that hallway or it was blocked off for COVID or whatever. This time around, it was 18th century needlework samplers (above).

  ³
  I can’t say that working there as a guard would be for me — but I can’t wait to read this book.

• I had no idea this existed but now want to walk it.

• Make room for fun.

• Thanks to

  The Dumb Digest
  , I found myself sucked into this Believer story about D&D by the late Paul LaFarge. Because I was a girl during the first heyday of the “game,” I missed out on all of it and instead spent all of my time obsessed with Duran Duran. To this day, I’ve not played a round but have so, so, so may friends who do. The below quote, tho, seems accurate:

  

• Also found in my stumbling around in The Believer’s archives: this guide to knitting in literature.

  ⁴

• The Fug Girls now have a newsletter. This brings me joy.

  Like what you’re reading? Hate what you’re reading and want to make sure the people you don’t like have to read it, too?

1. That being said, she is very, very good at this.

2. Short summation (since my quick google didn’t find it online): it’s not about sex, it’s about power. Although I did find this and holy heck I want to punch that person in the mouth. Lord save us all from smart 28-year olds.

3. Citation:

4. It needs a good proofread, FYI, but the material is still solid.