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Are you shitting me?

Literaryhero — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 07:47:11 GMT

Chinese carmaker Seres has been granted a patent for what it calls an "in-vehicle toilet" that slides under a passenger's seat for visits to the loo while on the road.

World-famous Bibbulmun Track considered for heritage list

chariot pulled by cassowaries — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 04:49:29 GMT

World-famous Bibbulmun Track considered for heritage list. Councils support moves for the Bibbulmun Track to be declared a heritage-listed site, which conservationists hope could protect the track from future mining expansions.

Scientific datasets are riddled with copy-paste errors

pwnguin — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 02:53:47 GMT

Markus Englund wrote copy-paste-detective to scan open science datasets for copy-paste errors. After scanning 600 datasets, the tool found 18 instances of highly improbable preserved sequences.

This work was funded by Astral Codex Ten's grant program. Markus highlights 3 papers with dubious datasets:

But this is hardly the bottom of this particular well:

Next up is to scan through the rest of the ~24,000 datasets with Excel files available on Dryad. It will be interesting to see what other treasures we can dig up there! If the 3% error rate holds, we'd expect to see ~700 more cases in that sample alone.

Math as Beautiful/Exciting/Useful: 109; Math as Cold/Dry/Useless: 61

polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 23:55:32 GMT

"Of the many works of fiction that are published, very few involve mathematics or mathematicians. However, people who like mathematics (or are mathematicians ourselves) may especially enjoy reading those few that do. Moreover, as I argue in an article in the AMS Notices, mathematicians should be interested in these works of "mathematical fiction" even if we do not enjoy them because they both affect and reflect the non-mathematician's view of this subject." "At the moment, there are 1726 works of mathematical fiction listed in this database. This is much more than I expected when I started, and I have every reason to think that it will continue to grow as I learn of new works to list here."

The Mathematical Fiction Homepage is Alex Kasman's attempt to collect information about all significant references to mathematics in fiction. You can see the entire list (sorted by author, title or publication date). You can browse through the database to find your favorite genre, topic, motif or medium. If you've got more specific criteria in mind, try the search page. If you've been there before and just want to see what's been added recently, look at the listing of new/recently modified entries. For a more curated list, you can also check out Kasman's personal recommendations. Articles about mathematical fiction can be found on the resources page. The same page also makes note of other websites listing maths in the movies. There is some overlap between these sites and Kasman's database, but differences in criteria ensure they're not the same: The Mathematical Movie Database at QEDCat.com (With transcripts! Also a book) and their must-see list Oliver Knill's Mathematics in Movies page (With clips! And a 2006 povray gif?) Arnold G. Reinhold's The Math in the Movies page Brian Harbourne's Math Movie Picks Bonus: Wikipedia delves into the topic; so does TVTropes (pre-anti-adblock archive) (previously in 2009)

Into a world that did not ask them, and yet.

chavenet — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:58:56 GMT

Every figure here comes from a real source. A few come with honest footnotes. We owe you both.

The Music Video Is Dead, Long Live The Music Video

Dawn Trask-Dontell — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 20:59:24 GMT

In The Music Video Is Dead, Long Live The Music Video, Patrick (H) Willems explores the history of music videos, how important they were both to culture and to film, and performs a bit of a eulogy to an art form which used to command millions of dollars and today continues is a greatly diminished form. ~1hour

Simulating Playing Cards with Playing Cards, Again

ChurchHatesTucker — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 18:02:04 GMT

Stood up by Mr. Swiveller* and the Marchioness? Cole from Gather Together Games shows how to play Cribbage Solitaire [YT 3 min.] The "Solitaire E-Man" has a longer demonstration. [~12 min.] if you're not into that whole "brevity" thing.

* A detail I had forgotten is that Swiveller also played Cribbage solitaire before he was able to procure a partner, although his was the standard game played against himself. This is the oldest version of solitaire Cribbage. The earliest mention I could find is in Hoyle's Games (1914 NYC). It calls it a game for one or two players, and describes it mostly as a two player game, with the players essentially playing simultaneous solitaire and keeping score on the same board. (Why not just play Cribbage at that point?) It also omits an important detail that must have frustrated people wondering why they came up short on cards. Culbertson's Card Games Complete (1917 UK ed.) has a much better description. In Cribbage terms, you're always the dealer and there is no pegging your hand (which makes the traditional board even more optional.) Cribbage Solitaire I (AKA Cribbage Patience) Rules Summary:

Uses a standard deck of cards (no Jokers)
Deal six cards to yourself and two face-down to the crib
Discard two of your cards to complete the crib
Turn the pull-up card
- Score your hand, then score the crib
- Place the pull-up card at the back of the deck
After six hands there will be four cards left. Score these by themselves.

If you need a reminder on the basics of Cribbage scoring:

  * Face cards are valued at ten, pip cards as their rank.
  * Cards totaling 15 ........................ 2 pts
  * Run of 3+ cards ......................... 3+ pts
  * 2/3/4 of a kind ..................... 2/6/12 pts
    - i.e., 2 pts for every pair that can be formed
  * 4 card Flush (not including starter) ..... 4 pts 
  * 5 card Flush ............................. 5 pts
    - crib hand can ONLY do 5 card flush
  * His Heels (Starter is a Jack) ............. 2pts
  * His Nobs (a Jack matches starter's suit) .. 1 pt

Generally 120 or 121 points is considered a win. You get seven deals, including the rump hand, which means you need to average just over 17 points per hand. Cole's suggestion of 90 points being a "good game" is quite reasonable. (YouTuber "One Player" gives 81 points as a win!) Peter Arnold included a variant in his 2002 Card Games for One (borrowable from archive.org.) For some reason, Wikipedia currently has it as the main entry for Cribbage Solitaire. The main difference is that two hands are dealt and scored at a time (all points going to the player.) Since 13 cards are used, four rounds will exactly use up the deck. He suggests lowering the win condition to 101, which he estimates gives a victory about one time in three. Cribbage Solitaire II (AKA Cribbage Squares) This one appears as a one paragraph "variant" in Culbertson's (above,) although it's completely different. "Solitaire E-Man" again provides an explanation and demonstration [~12 min.] Cribbage Solitaire II Rules Summary:

Uses a standard deck (no Jokers)
Deal sixteen cards, arranging them in a 4x4 grid
- Each card laid must be adjacent to another (diagonally is fine.)
Turn an additional card as the starter.
Score each row and column as a Cribbage hand.
61 is considered a win

One question that is seldom addressed is whether "His Heels" (a Jack drawn as the Starter card) scores any points. Basil Dalton, in 1967's The Complete Patience Book (borrowable from archive.org,) says no, which does seem to simplify things. This is very similar to Poker Patience (previously) and is also capable of scaling up to be massively multiplayer. Cribbage Solitaire III (AKA Bill Beers) The third version of solitaire for Cribbage was included by Morehead and Mott-Smith in 1949's The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games , and attributed to Bill Beers.

The late Bill Beers was an inmate of a mental asylum. He invented not only a great many worthwhile chess problems but also the excellent patience which we herein list as Cribbage Solitaire III. We suggest "Bill Beers" as an appropriate variant name.

Bill Beers Rules Summary:

Uses a standard deck (no Jokers)
Deal the cards singly in a line, looking for the following combinations:
- One Pair .... 2 pts.
- Three of a Kind .... 6 pts.
- Three of the Same Suit .... 3 pts.
- Three in Sequence .... 3 pts.
  - The sequences don't have to be draw in order, e.g. 7-5-6 counts.
- Three in Suit and in Sequence .... 6 pts.
- Two or Three Cards that Total 15 .... 2 pts.
Each must be scored as it appears except a pair can be deferred to see if the next card makes a triplet
After scoring, move one card involved onto another, trying for additional combinations.
- E.g., given 9-7-5-6 first score the 7-5-6 sequence, then move the six onto the seven (9-6-5) and score the 9-6 as totalling 15.
After running through the deck, a score of 61 is considered a win.

Once again, "Solitaire E-man" has a playthrough, but here he goes completely off the rails, effectively making up rules on the fly. He seems to want to make this a cribbage game when it's more of a cribbage-flavored version of Accordian (see previously for more games in that family.) That does give it the advantage of being the only Cribbage solitaire playable in-hand. Zachtronics Cribbage Solitaire Finally, there's the newest solitaire Cribbage that I know of. It was introduced as a minigame by Zachtronics sometime between 2016 and 2022, and is now part of their Solitaire Collection game package. They have a silent playthrough video and the rules are posted on their site (in a phone-friendly format.) Zachtronics Cribbage Solitaire Rules Summary:

Uses a standard deck (no Jokers)
Cards are dealt into a tableau of four columns of 13 cards
Unblocked cards are moved to your hand, scoring as you go.
- First card played to your hand is a Jack = 2 pts
- Value of your hand is 15 = 2 pts
- Value of your hand is 31 = 2 pts
- 2/3/4 of a kind = 2/6/12 pts
- 3 to 7 cards in sequence = 3-7 pts
If you can play a card, you must
If you cannot play a card, or your hand is exactly 31, discard your hand and start a new one
61 points is a win

Note that although you're scoring as you go, you only get the points of a completed sequence. E.g., a run of five cards earns five points, and not three, then four, then five. This is an interesting one that could end up being Cribbage Solitaire IV one day.

Perhaps they should've sent a poet.

Smedly, Butlerian jihadi — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 17:08:19 GMT

On the Poetics of Space Travel ...being able to see the activities of people 250,000 miles away in real time still feels completely science fiction. Every time I see them scrolling while floating, I experience that jolt of surprise: "But surely there's no 5G?" No: this is a literal Zero G environment.

What I realise is that the cameras on cellphones are now so advanced that they are not using the devices for real-time communication but primarily to take photos (for science) and video clips (for social media). Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins had no Instagram or TikTok to shoot for - lucky them. The only algorithms they had to bother with were the ones guiding the lander to touchdown. But this time around, space has been embedded in our social feeds, sitting alongside carefully-arranged latte art, holiday dumps, and gym selfies. The extraterrestrial has been made domestic. While the crew of the Apollo 11's task was to prove that a human could go to the moon, Artemis 2 perhaps had a different mission: to bring all the other human beings along with them on the journey. Instead of asking the question "can we do this?", Artemis 2 seems to ask: "how does it feel to do this?" (Substack)

What's New in Old Books

Horace Rumpole — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 14:56:27 GMT

Some highlights from special collections libraries' blogs this week.
The Weld-Grimké Quilt What can careful imaging tell us about a 19th century quilt and the women who made it?
Puzzle Vessels Master their secrets if you want to end up with wine in your mouth, not your lap.
Celebrated Pedestrians The golden age of feats of the feet.
Declarations: Printing a New Nation An online exhibition showcasing some of the earliest publications of the Declaration of Independence.

Study finds decades of intensive logging worsens bushfire risk

chariot pulled by cassowaries — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 11:00:01 GMT

Study finds decades of intensive logging worsens bushfire [forest fire] risk. Scientists have studied satellite images of a Tasmanian bushfire and found regrowth from extensive logging and recent bushfires has absolutely increased the risk of more severe bushfires.