1. A wonderfully large argument for the importance of rhythmic rituals in improving the form of human consciousness that we experience.

"My claim is not so extreme: I simply argue that there are and have been many forms of human consciousness, varying in particular ways, that we retain the 'hardware' capability for many forms of consciousness, and that humans are constrained into particular mental states by their cultures, especially through group ritual (or lack thereof). In order to explore this claim, it is helpful to think about our own form of consciousness in detail – a form of consciousness that is novel, contagious, and perhaps detrimental to human flourishing compared with more evolutionarily tested forms of consciousness running on the same hardware."

2. What if there just was no East River because it had been megaengineered out of existence? Coulda happened.

"Just how much would Thomson's plan have transformed New York? Well, as it stands today, NYC encompasses 469 square miles. Thomson wanted to add a full 50 square miles to that by infilling huge sections of naturally water-bound New York. In the context of early modern New York, it wasn't all that crazy. After all, the boundaries of Manhattan had been aggressively expanded since the arrival of Dutch colonists. Ellis Island is built on landfill, as is Battery Park City. During World War II, American naval ships brought back thousands of tons of rubble from English cities that ended up in the East River, serving as infill for FDR Drive."

3. A thing for which there is literally no textual description.

You'll just have to trust me.

4. The first-ever academic Kraftwerk conference, Industrielle Volksmusik for the Twenty-First Century.

"For example, a critical appreciation of their conceptual art or the contextualisation of the band in the wider framework of German cultural history are needed. To do justice to the many-faceted aspects of their œuvre and their artistic ‘corporate identity’ as a group of “sound researchers”, a pronounced interdisciplinary approach will provide the methodological framework to the conference. Kraftwerk specialists from Britain, as well as Finland, Austria, the Netherlands and the US, will present papers dealing with the band's music and the impact it has had on other artists."

5. Meet Thorne-Żytkow objects: they're what you get when a red supergiant swallows a neutron star.

"TŻOs are thought to be formed by the interaction of two massive stars―a red supergiant and a neutron star formed during a supernova explosion―in a close binary system. While the exact mechanism is uncertain, the most commonly held theory suggests that, during the evolutionary interaction of the two stars, the much more massive red supergiant essentially swallows the neutron star, which spirals into the core of the red supergiant."

Today's 1957 American English Language Tip

dead line. Best spelled as two words. Orig. a line drawn around a (military) prison, beyond which a prisoner is liable to be shot. In printing, the time at which the forms of a newspaper are locked, after which no news can be added. Fig. (by extension) the final time for finishing anything.

Holy shit. DEADLINE. No wonder they feel the way they do. The Credits:  1. gizmodo.com / @jamesnbeaumont 2. ribbonfarm.com / @beaucronin 3. scrollslowlyhavefun.com / @erikhanberg  4. aston.ac.uk / @kelseydollaghan 5. colorado.edu / @andersen

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Kraftwerk Specialists from Britain, as Well as Finland