雨

We were quite enamoured (longingly) with this short list of Japanese terms for rain (above ame or in Kana あめfor plain old rain) and were curious to know if there were more poetic possibilities. It turns out that there are more than fifty turns of phrases and some of our favourites—which caused us to reflect on others ways we might express the weather in our own language—included, by intensity, in combination with or transforming, type and duration:

小糠雨 / こぬかあめ Konukāme Fine Rain
細雨 / さいう Saiu Drizzle
吹き降り/ ふきぶり Fukiburi Driven Rain
風雨 / ふう Fūu Wind and Rain
十雨 / じゅうう Jūu Refreshing Rain Once in Ten Days
天泣 / てんきゅうTenkyūu Rain from a Cloudless Sky
夕立 / ゆうだちYūudachi Sudden Evening Rain

The image is from an earlier Present /&/ Correct post on rain in anime. We do not speak or read Japanese, so as a universal disclaimer that should probably apply to most things one finds on the internet, so please do not use this as a basis for a tattoo or any sort of permanent commitment.

public law 89-110

On this day in 1965, during the height of the civil rights movement President Lyndon B Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, drafted and subsequently amended on five occasions to expand its protection to enforce the spirit of the fourteenth (abused as it was) and fifteenth amendments to the US constitution.
The previous summer saw LBJ sign legislation that outlawed discrimination of protected classes (then race, colour, sex or national origin) in employment practises and public accommodations, nullifying local laws to the contrary. Juxtaposed to current efforts to add a citizenship question to the US census, travel bans, purging inactive voters from rolls and shameless gerrymandering, scholars and lawmakers consider the VRA one of the most effective pieces of legislation ever passed. Among the provisions included in the Act requires that jurisdictions privilege no language over another nor impose literacy tests—infamously used to discriminate and disenfranchise minorities and the poor.

7x7

paying it forward: a comprehensive and inspiring look at the “I Promise” school of Lebron James

archival quality: an object lesson on the durability of microfilm, via Slashdot

mercator-projection: Google Maps shifts to depict the Earth as a globe, helping to ameliorate geographic perspectives (previously)

achoque: a convent near Lake Pátzcuaro is saving an endangered salamander from extinction—the nuns producing a cough syrup from its skin, via Kottke’s Quick Links

jingfen: a Finnish comic about social anxieties finds resonance with millions of Chinese people

lossless compression: organisms seem pretty indifferent to the effects of squeezing their whole genome into a single DNA molecule

the oxygen of amplification: exploring the conundrum of covering tabloid politics and some advice for journalists on how to not fall into the manipulative traps 

7x7

zoëtrope: a group of humans on a merry-go-round create an astounding animated effect—previously

estate sale: mystery surrounds the discovery of a priceless Willem de Kooning painting among the effects of an unassuming couple who recently passed away

in-flight entertainment: LEGO Minifigs present the pre-takeoff safety video for Turkish Airlines

streptomyces grisus: New Jersey poised to become only the second state in the union to designate an official bacterium, the first significant antibiotic strain discovered there since penicillin was isolated

䷩: the I Ching is as much about divination as it is about keeping an open mind and being receptive to new angles

gratulera: IKEA celebrates its seventy-fifth anniversary by re-issuing some vintage lines

we’re here all week, folks: Ordinance Survey Maps Fan Club performs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival