The Daily Populous

Monday September 25th, 2017 morning edition

image for J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' Still Matters 80 Years Later

It started, 80 years ago in a hobbit-hole, with Bilbo Baggins.

Nowadays, George R.R. Martin’s got the market cornered on heavily initialed fantasy writers, and his hand guides the field.

Characters like Martin’s mercenary Bronn of the Blackwater are expected to say “fuck.”

Heavenly beings are denuded of potency and purity; while the gods may not be dead, divinity certainly is.

Modern fantasy and its subgenres, as represented in Martin’s work, might be positioned as anti-art in relation to Tolkien.

… I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water.

Bilbo’s warrior-poetry is big and boastful enough to go toe-to-toe with Muhammad Ali. »

Airport Police Demanded an Activist’s Passwords. He Refused. Now He Faces Prison in the U.K.

Authored by theintercept.com

But on this occasion something was different — he was arrested, handcuffed, and hauled through London’s largest airport, then put into the back of a waiting police van.

As he arrived back at Heathrow, Rabbani was pulled aside by a police counterterrorism officer at the passport control desk.

The officers arrested and handcuffed him, then escorted him through the main concourse of the airport into the back of a police van. »

'Human computer’ Katherine Johnson opens Nasa research facility named in her honour

Authored by independent.co.uk

But, at the opening of the Katherine G Johnson Computational Research Facility in Hampton, Virginia, Ms Johnson didn’t seem to get what all the fuss was about.

5/30 Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa.

6/30 Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead — sharing pictures of black holes Nasa. »

How a Sexist Prank Elected America’s First Female Mayor

Authored by thedailybeast.com

WCTU women were often insulted and harassed, accused of being lesbians and doused with water or beer when they protested outside saloons.

This “Woman’s Uprising” inspired WCTU’s Argonia chapter to select a slate of prohibitionist men to run for mayor and city council.

Mischievously, surreptitiously, they nominated a WCTU officer to run for mayor, the only member eligible because she actually lived in town. »

iPhone 8 Is World's Fastest Phone (It's Not Even Close)

Authored by tomsguide.com

That's 54 percent faster than the score from Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 — currently the fastest Android phone.

The iPhone 8 scored an off-the-charts 62,212, and the iPhone 8 Plus managed an even higher 64,412.

Of course, there are lots of ways to measure performance, but based on our preliminary testing, the iPhone 8 is easily the fastest phone ever. »