Sokotei

DM and I recently made a donation together to the Elephant Orphans' Program through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, whose goal is to raise the elephants in such a way that they will be able to resume a life back in the wild when ready. We're sponsoring Sokotei, a one-year-old African elephant who was rescued in May in the Samburu National Reserve after holding vigil over his mother's body. Read more about the Elephant Orphans' Program over here / peep more photos of Sokotei over here / donate to the DSWT over here.

For Your Enjoyment #21

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Scientists estimate that in about 10 years, America will have only three dark patches of land where people will be able to clearly see the Milky Way and where they'll be able to do high-quality astronomy and nocturnal wilderness research.

- Light pollution is causing our dark skies to disappear (image above)

[H]ere’s the issue: There’s no regulation that stipulates presidents must salute the troops. In fact, for the first 192 years of our republic, it didn’t happen. None of the first 38 commanders in chief did it. And some of those dudes had some serious military experience.

- Sorry, the Presidential Salute Isn't A Real Thing

“Uber’s like an exploiting pimp,” said Arman, an Uber driver in LA who asked me to withhold his last name out of fear of retribution. “Uber takes 20 percent of my earnings, and they treat me like shit – they cut prices whenever they want. They can deactivate me whenever they feel like it, and if I complain, they tell me to fuck off.”

- Uber gets ugly

Didn’t he think it was, somehow and in some way, wrong to insinuate that Madewell today has any connection to my family’s company? Wasn’t that misleading and just a little bit gross? 

- Madewell: Authentic or Faux-thentic? (h/t CM) 

Using the knowledge gleaned from their “pet emergency pocket guides,” firefighters treated the injured hamsters with oxygen and other first aid equipment. 

- Washington firefighters rescue a family of hamsters

California’s Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday signed a law requiring all state colleges to adopt a policy of unambiguous, affirmative consent by students engaged in sexual activity, part of a nationwide effort to curb sexual assault on U.S. campuses. The state’s so-called "yes means yes" law will be the first in the nation to make affirmative consent language a central tenet of school sexual assault policies, proponents said.

- Consent is Sexy; California addresses sexual assault with its new affirmative consent law

Simply put, Twombly had taken on a role deemed acceptable for a gay but distasteful for a serious artist; he had come out as a decorator. Equally distressing perhaps, Twombly made no distinction between decoration and art.

- The secret history of Cy Twombly