Featured Links - July 2, 2024

Links to things I found interesting but didn't want to do a full blog post about.

Summer flowers

•  How to trim a video on Windows 11 or Windows 10. "Windows has a hidden video editor that will let you trim videos — no Clipchamp necessary." I didn't know the Photos app could edit video. 
• Pollution From Epic Ohio Train Wreck Put 110 Million Americans at Risk. "A new study found traces of hazardous chemicals from the East Palestine disaster in 16 U.S. states." And probably a lot of Ontario, too. 
• Study: Scribes in ancient Egypt had really poor posture as they worked. "There were degenerative joint changes in the spines, shoulders, knees, hips, and ankles."
• New study reveals comet airburst evidence from 12,800 years ago. "Researchers continue to expand the case for the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The idea proposes that a fragmented comet smashed into the Earth's atmosphere 12,800 years ago, causing a widespread climatic shift that, among other things, led to the abrupt reversal of the Earth's warming trend and into an anomalous near-glacial period called the Younger Dryas."
• The Insurance Apocalypse Conversation America Won't Have. "A predictable disaster unfolds apace."
• Last Dangerous Visions Table of Contents. As well as the TOC for the book to be published in October, the article shows which stories were in Ellison's planned version as of 1979. 
• Exploring the WordStar file format. "As an early entry in word processing, WordStar’s file format is quite simple." This article might be useful if you still have some WordStar files tucked away in the dark corners of your hard drive. It was the first word processor I used, but I switched to WordStar 2000 and then Microsoft Word for DOS. 
• What everyone gets wrong about the 2015 Ashley Madison scandal. "Nine years after hackers targeted Ashley Madison, the dating site for wannabe adulterers, many people still don't grasp what was truly chilling about the scandal, says Annalee Newitz." She reported on the original hack in 2015.
• Decades later, John Romero looks back at the birth of the first-person shooter. 'Id Software co-founder talks to Ars about everything from Catacomb 3-D to "boomer shooters."'
• To Ban or Not to Ban? When the Issue is Masks, There’s Really No Question. "Mask bans are ableist, racist, and likely unconstitutional. As enforced, they almost surely will violate the Americans with Disabilities Act on a regular basis; the text of the North Carolina ban bill that says, in effect, “not meaning to violate the ADA,” is ludicrous in the face of how the bill will surely be implemented."