Most of these great items come from my Twitter feed or Facebook news feed. Follow me on Twitter and on Facebook for more fascinating videos, articles, essays and criticism.
1. Mass Arrest: Jupiter’s Early Migration Could Explain Mars’s Small Size
By John Matson | Scientific American | June 6
“The wandering orbit of Jupiter at the dawn of the solar system may have had wide-ranging effects”
2. Orgasm Guaranteed
By Katherine Goldstein | Slate | June 6
“What I learned while freelancing at Cosmopolitan.”
3. Through the Ranks: Private First Class
By Colby Brown | Marines Blog | May 23
“On an average day, [Pfc. Clark Kirkley] wakes up between 4 to 6 a.m. He has an hour to eat, shave, shower and prepare his gear before standing post. After being relieved of his post, he has the afternoon to himself, which is usually comprised of a nap and food. After dinner, he has another post duty, after which he sleeps. Kirkley wakes a few hours later to start the process over again.”
4. Why Are There No Female Political Sex Scandals?
Guanabee | June 6
“The obvious answer here is that we live in a society with a double standard against women.”
5. The Adventures of Aladdin
The Brothers Grimm | The EServer Connection
“‘One day, as he was looking for wild figs in a grove some way from the town, Aladdin met a mysterious stranger. This smartly dressed dark-eyed man with a trim black beard and a splendid sapphire in his turban, asked Aladdin an unusual question: ‘Come here, boy,’ he ordered. ‘How would you like to earn a silver penny?’ ”
6. Humala won’t be a Chàvez — for now
By Andres Oppenheimer | Miami Herald | June 11
“There are many similarities between the two men, but also many differences. Let’s start with the resemblances: in addition to their personal histories, both started out sounding conciliatory and promising to serve just one term. … But there are also big differences in the circumstances that surrounded the two men’s climb to the presidency.”
7. After the Flood
By Arthur Rimbaud, translated by John Ashbery | The New York Review of Books | June 2011
“No sooner had the notion of the Flood regained its composure / Than a hare paused amid the gorse and trembling bellflowers and said its prayer to the rainbow through the spider’s web.”
8. The Ins And Outs Of Opening A Door For A Woman
By Brett and Kate McKay | Art Of Manliness | June 8
“Most men grasp basic etiquette but how do you cope with those tricky situations – revolving doors or doors that push in rather than pull out? Should you hold the door open for others after your date has exited?”
9. Probes Suggest Magnetic Bubbles at Solar System Edge
Jet Propulsion Laboratory | June 9
“Observations from NASA’s Voyager spacecraft, humanity’s farthest deep space sentinels, suggest the edge of our solar system may not be smooth, but filled with a turbulent sea of magnetic bubbles.”
10. ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ and its 25 contributions to pop culture lore
By Jen Chaney | Celebritology | June 10
“[A] writer for the Atlantic has suggested that we all need to ‘get over’ our Bueller obsession because, really, the beloved John Hughes comedy is just the story of an entitled kid who was nothing like any of us were in high school. … But this John Hughes movie — perhaps the best one the filmmaker ever made — has endured, rightfully, for a number of reasons.”
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Stillness of Heart 