BC CULTURE
Saved by @CodyyyGardner

1/18 Looking back at some of the most notable books I've read in 2020. It's a pretty eclectic mix!
I don't keep track so I am sure I forgetting something, especially if it was in deadtree form. Also, omitting the ones I started and abandoned.

 2/18 The Supernova Era

I am a big, big fan of Cixin Liu- love his fiercely imaginative prose in the 3-body series and short stories... but I was bummed by this book.
The plot unfolds so preposterously that the large scale backdrops are grotesque. Pity. https://t.co/m8ZWRNJhx4
3/18 How the Internet Happened

Beautifully written chronicle describing key actors & events that led to the internet as we know it today (almost).
I was a freshman in computer science in '92, saw a lot of that 1sthand, yet there was so much I didn't know! https://t.co/H0QyB4KPkx
4/18 Agency

A @GreatDismal in great shape. Getting back to that universe was fascinating, tho remembering all the characters frm th 1st book was hard.
His view of the Jackpot is disturbingly plausible, I am sure every reader wondered whether we are in it.
https://t.co/AgmYFrChq5
5/18 The Case Against Reality

Fantastic book. Evolution optimizes for fitness, not truth (whatever that is), and this book does a much better job explaining it than I ever could, to myself and others.
Skip the last chapter, tho...

https://t.co/yvBkEfc4v7
6/18 Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy

I loved this book. The sheer joy of discovering the story of many mundane objects/concepts and above all to connect the dots that show their true significance. Easy to read in bites, too! Recommended

https://t.co/XsIIcEeJ08
7/18 Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art

Really interesting. Lots of stereotype-defying info, beautifully interwoven in the author's personal journey. Hoped it would be more directly actionable, it inspired me to learn & do more about breathing anyway.

https://t.co/FvSuX2tqxz
8/18 Atmosphæra Incognita

This was a nice, ultrashort pill of @nealstephenson - daring and plausible the way the Expanse world feels. No large number of exotic names to remember is a +, but 50+ pages aren't enough to weave his usual complex tapestry.

https://t.co/wH6GFXEcaG
9/18 AI Superpowers

I thought I knew something abt China tech after presenting there many times.. nope. Loved how this book describes the ruthless selectivity of their market n competitive threat. Less fond of his personal epiphany, didn't blend in IMO.

https://t.co/DdWRnOCeRa
10/18 The Intelligence Trap

Wonderful book on how sheer IQ isn't th inherently positive factor ppl think. Chock-full of concrete examples of failings n techniques 2 prevent them. The smarter u think u t, th more u need ths book.
Evidence based wisdom FTW

https://t.co/ayMB2l8kgl
11/18 The Saints of Salvation

A space opera triumph, pure @PeterFHamilton1 except for less sex scenes. Maybe easier resolution than I would have expected.
Grandiose finale of a saga whose universe deserves more exploration, a la "second chance at Eden"😉

https://t.co/UyGRsnmp6p
12/18 Into the Woods: A Five-Act Journey Into Story

Unusual book for me. Really made me reflect on storytelling, taught me many fundamental concepts I was only vaguely aware of. The author's obsession on 5-acts theory doesn't get in the way.. too much😛

https://t.co/maO2YwdEOf
13/18 The Gene: An Intimate History

Why did I wait so long to read this book? Absolutely fantastic retelling of the epic that lead humankind to discover its own source code (some of it anyway).
The author's personal history adds color. Great storyteller.

https://t.co/xk7MN0Lc2E
14/18 Concepts in the Brain: The View From Cross-linguistic Diversity

Incredible. An in-depth view of the conceptual differences between how languages describe th world.
Will change what you view as natural or fundamental.
Skip the physiology sections.

https://t.co/jKrvmBDFXD
15/18 Final Jeopardy!

Had this book sitting on my shelf for years- sad recent events brought it back in focus.
It's the fascinating story of a difficult technical challenge and th people behind it. The tech being a bit stale doesn't detract from the plot

https://t.co/YTKHowBbqK
16/18 Crossing the Chasm

Read it decades ago, picked it back up x a book club.
The revised edition features FB and Tesla, feels as relevant as it was back in the day- with more proof points backing its theories. If you didn't read it yet, now's the time

https://t.co/F4l0w3QmLx
17/18 Exhalation: Stories

Smart, engaging, thought-provoking narrative. Delightful.
It's like a mix of Greg Egan and Stanislaw Lem, taking the absolute best from both.
No analogy is perfect, but it's to Black Mirror what Umberto Eco is to Dan Brown 😛

https://t.co/8nKMtaY55H
18/18 Post Corona: From Crisis to Opportunity

Still in progress. Obviously super relevant for the times, I love the "system thinking", no-nonsense approach @profgalloway brings to the discussion. The little charts interspersed between sections do help.

https://t.co/nhJZffGTOK
19/18 Bonus comment

When in-person events & associated flights disappeared, I worried I would not read at all in 2020 - butt in seat & droning engines is my main reading hall. I am grateful I did manage to read after all.
Best wishes for a 2021 full of books.. and more flights!

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John Moe
John Moe
@johnmoe
(a thread)
My favorite tv show is Adventure Time. I am here to argue that if you look at the show from an angle of mental health and managing it, Finn and Jake are not the lead characters. Princess Bubblegum is. 1


The most compelling character on the show, to me anyway, is Lemongrab. He was created by PB, the first of the candy people she created to “go wrong”. Lemongrab has devastating anxiety. He doesn’t know and can’t learn how to interact with the world. 2


When he’s lonely, he sneaks into the castle to stare at people while they sleep. PB tries to teach him to cuddle and play with a candy person but he can only poke and slap. He screams, he calls things “unacceptable”, he sentences folks to the dungeon. 3


When given a castle of his own and a clone to keep him company, everything gets donked up. He and his clone make living messed-up people out of their food, they eat each other, it’s a horrifying place. 4


Lemongrab just CAN’T with other people. The more he tries, the more frustrating it gets, so the more he screams.
For the purpose of this thread, Lemongrab represents ANXIETY. 5
CULTURE
dan spaceman
dan spaceman
@ohlaika
ugh i wanted to do a thread about the wars in Star Wars and how the two outlying wars (the clone wars in the prequels and the cold war/civil war in the sequels) are really weird but i don't feel like it any more.

my first argument is that the Clone Wars were a really complex morally gray moment in Star Wars canon in like, 5 different directions and I'd kind of like to know why Lucas did that.

especially with the direct line that's drawn in the OT with the allegory of WW2 and Vietnam with the rebels being the Vietnamese and the Empire being America. That...doesn't exist in the Clone Wars.

for starters: it's weird it's called the Clone Wars. I get why, because that's what Kenobi calls it in STAR WARS, but the clones are a small facet in the larger story of the war.

the clones basically only exist as a macguffin in AOTC that is...extremely confusing ultimately. Because if you accept that Sidious has this grand master plan to use this war to destabilize the Republic and form an Empire...it's way too complex.
CULTURE
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Piers Robinson
Piers Robinson
@PiersRobinson1
@bellingcat's attempt in their new book, published by
@BloomsburyBooks, to coverup the @OPCW #Douma controversy, promote US and UK gov. war narratives, and whitewash fraudulent conduct within the OPCW, is an exercise in deception through omission. @BloomsburyPub @Tim_Hayward_


1) 2000 words are devoted to the OPCW controversy regarding the alleged chemical weapon attack in #Douma, Syria in 2018 but critical material is omitted from the book. Reading it, one would never know the following:

2) That the controversy started when the original interim report, drafted and agreed by Douma inspection team members, was secretly modified by an unknown OPCW person who had manipulated the findings to suggest an attack had occurred. https://t.co/QtAAyH9WyX… @RobertF40396660


3) This act of attempted deception was only derailed because an inspector discovered the secret changes. The manipulations were reported by @ClarkeMicah
and can be readily observed in documents now available https://t.co/2BUNlD8ZUv….

4) @bellingcat's book also makes no mention of the @couragefoundation panel, attended by the @opcw's first Director General, Jose Bustani, at which an OPCW official detailed key procedural irregularities and scientific flaws with the Final Douma Report:
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Dr. Leah Stokes
Dr. Leah Stokes
@leahstokes
For my book, I interviewed Texan Republicans, Democrats, oil guys + clean energy pioneers. Texas was once leading in wind energy, with GOP support. Now we get lies, from the Gov on down on renewables. What happened?

Lessons from Short Circuiting Policy https://t.co/KtxaBci5oC 🧵


Texas' challenges are not from "learning too many renewable energy lessons from California.” - Rep. Crenshaw

Texas passed its first renewable energy target in 1999, 3 years before California. The law was signed by, Gov. George W. Bush — you may recall he’s a Republican.

Gov. Bush was so proud of Texas’ leadership on wind energy, that he campaigned on it when running for President in 2000.

The "bill he signed in 1999 will make Texas the country’s largest market for renewable energy by 2009."
https://t.co/T4dKZ5qGnA


In 2005, Texas passed another big wind energy law, which included $7 billion for transmission.

It was sponsored by Republican state Senator Troy Fraser and signed by Republican Gov. Rick

With Gov. Abbott going on TV this week and lying, blaming the boogeyman “Green New Deal” and wind turbines for Texas’ current crisis, GOP leadership on renewables feels like ancient history.

What happened over the past 15
CULTURE
Dionysus v. 2.0.2.1.
Dionysus v. 2.0.2.1.
@VirtualDionysus
I don't often promote myself on here, but I should. I have done some things that I am proud of. So here is a thread of episodes from @OurTurnPodcast that I contributed a segment and/or co-hosted. #RPG #podcast

Here is one of my very first contributions, a segment about one of my favorite RPGs of all time: 13th Age. @13thAge I still love it, and I have hacked the system to run other genres (ex. Star Wars: The Old Republic). Give it a try

One the one-year anniversary of @OurTurnPodcast, I did a segment about Session Zero for RPGs. I love being a part of Session Zero in any #RPG, both as a GM and
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Anshul Pandey
Anshul Pandey
@Anshulspiritual
IMPORTANCE, ADVANTAGES AND CHARACTERISTICS OF BHAGWAT PURAN

It was Ved Vyas who edited the eighteen thousand shlokas of Bhagwat. This book destroys all your sins. It has twelve parts which are like kalpvraksh.

In the first skandh, the importance of Vedvyas


and characters of Pandavas are described by the dialogues between Suutji and Shaunakji. Then there is the story of Parikshit.
Next there is a Brahm Narad dialogue describing the avtaar of Bhagwan. Then the characteristics of Puraan are mentioned.

It also discusses the evolution of universe.( https://t.co/2aK1AZSC79 )

Next is the portrayal of Vidur and his dialogue with Maitreyji. Then there is a mention of Creation of universe by Brahma and the preachings of Sankhya by Kapil Muni.


In the next section we find the portrayal of Sati, Dhruv, Pruthu, and the story of ancient King, Bahirshi.
In the next section we find the character of King Priyavrat and his sons, different types of loks in this universe, and description of Narak. ( https://t.co/gmDTkLktKS )


In the sixth part we find the portrayal of Ajaamil ( https://t.co/LdVSSNspa2 ), Daksh and the birth of Marudgans( https://t.co/tecNidVckj )

In the seventh section we find the story of Prahlad and the description of Varnashram dharma. This section is based on karma vaasna.
RELIGION
foone
foone
@Foone
It is 2018 and this error message is a mistake from 1974.
This limitation, which is still found in the very latest Windows 10, dates back to BEFORE STAR WARS. This bug is as old as Watergate.


When this was developed, nothing had UPC codes yet because they'd just been invented.
Back when this mistake was made, There was only one Phone Company, because they hadn't been broken up yet. Ted Bundy was still on the loose. Babe Ruth's home run record was about to fall.

When this bug was developed, Wheel of Fortune hadn't yet aired. No one had seen Rocky Horror. Steven Spielberg was still a little-known directory of TV films and one box-office disappointment. SNL hadn't aired yet. The Edmund Fitzgerald was still hauling iron ore.

WHEN THIS STUPID MISFEATURE WAS INVENTED, THE GODFATHER PART II HAD JUST OPENED IN THEATERS.

So, why does this happen? So Unix (which was only 5 years old at this point) had the good idea of "everything is a file" which mean you could do things like write to sockets, pipes, the console, etc with the same commands and instructions.
TECH
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Robbie Andrew
Robbie Andrew
@robbie_andrew
I doubt there are many outside of Norway that know that the Norwegian pop group A-ha was critical in the introduction of electric car incentives in Norway. I certainly didn't. Read on...


In 1989, two members of the group, Morten Harket and Magne Furuholmen were in Switzerland with environmentalist Frederic Hauge, when they came across a hobby-converted Fiat Panda. Stated range: 45 km. They snapped it up and imported it to Norway.

Photo: In Switzerland (Bellona)


On arrival in Norway, the regs didn't accommodate the registration of electric cars so it couldn't legally be driven on the road. Since it had a propane-fuelled heater, just like a motorhome, they registered it as a motorhome.

Moreover, in contrast to petrol cars, diesel cars paid registration fees based on how far they were driven, and our heroes thought this should also apply to electric cars. So the two-seater Swiss-converted Fiat Panda was registered as a diesel motorhome in Norway.

They managed (somehow) to avoid paying the one-off registration fee in 1990, and ever since then electric cars have been exempted this now-substantial fee.
Source:
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Adam McKay
Adam McKay
@GhostPanther
1) My Stan Lee story happened when I was in 5th grade. I was visiting NYC with my Dad and had read the address for Marvel in the comics I read constantly. I begged my Dad to take me and to his credit he did. And guess what? It was just an office.

2) We were down in the lobby and I was kind of crushed. I don’t know what I expected, The Thing and the Yancy Street Gang to be sitting around smoking cigars? Anyway, my Dad was taking a beat to figure where we were going next and a guy came up to us.

3) He was wearing a white shirt and tie and said to Dad “Is he disappointed because. The Marvel offices were just offices?” My Dad said yes and then the guy who had gray around his temples and a mustache said “hold on a second” and opened one of those office mailboxes with a key.

4) He then handed me a thick stack of EVERY SINGLE MARVEL COMIC COMING OUT THE NEXT MONTH. “Here you go. Keep reading Marvel comics” he said and then walked off. I left in a daze and about 15 minutes later it hit me “Gray around the temples, mustache... That was Stan Lee!”

5) Later when I wrote on the Ant Man movie I told Kevin Feige the story, the year, look of the guy etc and Kevin said “That’s exactly the kind of thing Stan would do and he would have been there then. That was him.” Rest In Peace Stan Lee and thank you for the comics.
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𝕍𝕠𝕪𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕣...
@V0YAGERTWEETS
Ｇａｕ Ｍａｔａ Ｉｎ Ｖｅｄｉｃ
Ｃｕｌｔｕｒｅ

It is said that the one who bears the dust thrown from the hoof of Gaumata on his head, as if taking a bath in the water of the teerth sthalam and getting rid of all sins.


Ved and all other Hindu scriptures venerate the cow. The Vedic dictionary, Nighantu, gives amongst other synonyms of 'Gau' [ or cow] the words 'Aghnya', 'Ahi', and 'Aditi'.

Yaska the vedic decoder and commentator on Nighantu, defines these as-

Aghnya —— the one that ought not to be killed
Ahi —— the one that must not be slaughtered.
Aditi —— the one that ought not to be cut into pieces.

These three names of cow signify that this is an animal which should not to be put to tortures. These words appear frequently throughout the Veda in context of the cow.

But in due course the falsehood of killing cows spread far and wide and they became even more deep rooted when western scholars with their half baked knowledge of Sanskrit transliterated these interpretations of commentaries of Sayanacharya ,
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