Interesting Links for 03-05-2024

[andrewducker]

1. Farmers killed their normal food, forcing chimps to eat bat feces, filled with all sorts of horrible viruses

(tags:disease bats chimpanzees farming )

2. Why UFO footage looks like that

(tags:ufo photos )

3. Boris Johnson turned away from voting station after not bringing correct form of photo ID

(tags:IDCards UK voting BorisJohnson )

4. Where Western Music Comes From

(tags:music history society )

5. Object personification in autism: This paper will be very sad if you don't read it

(tags:autism headline psychology personality )

Comments

[mountainkiss]

Do you experience object personification, Andy?

[andrewducker]

Only on people and dogs.

I kid slightly. But I am always slightly baffled when people name cars and the like.

And I love this advert very much https://youtu.be/ZdIJOE9jNcM

[mountainkiss]

It seemed very unlikely, which is why I was quite surprised that the article made it onto the list.

[andrewducker]

I find other people's brains nearly as interesting as my own. Sometimes moreso, if they are being particularly surprising.

[doug]

Have to say, although I can see the joke they were trying for, that subtitle on the object personification paper seems a bit of a manipulative dick move if its thesis is correct.

Small self-selecting online sample (N = 416, "The survey was advertised on social media and through the researchers’ own networks.") so a degree of caution.

The paper being paywalled made me sad, although Sci-Hub made me happy.

[cmcmck]

The rules don't apply to Bojo as we all know.........

[calimac]

4) I reviewed Gioia's book here.

[mountainkiss]

I liked your review, thank you! I did think that a surprisingly large proportion of the Gioia article was about how marvellous Gioia is.

[calimac]

Yeah. He isn't as original as he thinks he is: much of what he says is standard knowledge in music history.

[andrewducker]

Thank you, interesting!

[doubtingmichael]

I am moderately familiar with ancient Greek culture, and this is the first I've heard that Lesbos was particularly multicultural in Sappho's day. That feels a reach, particularly when he bolsters the idea by referencing present-day immigration patterns.

Also: "It’s no coincidence that Greece —which has the largest coastline of any country in the entire Mediterranean region— was the epicenter of innovation in the classical world. Those 8,500 miles of shore land are a measure of Greece’s openness to the outside world." Really? That certainly seems a coincidence to me.

[calimac]

I don't recall anything quite so batty in the book, though it's been a while.