Friday links

Today is Flag Day and the birthday of the U.S. Army.

Sunscreen Prevents Cancer, Right? Well, It’s Complicated.

When Foster Care Meant Farm Labor.

“Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.” - A selection of parenting advice from Homer Simpson:  Related: one of my favorite Father's Day stories (NSFW- language).

Physics: on the physical (im)possibility of lightsabers". Direct link to the PDF.

The Literal Translation Of Every Country's Name, Mapped.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include urban and wilderness survival hacks, eating out in Victorian England, the photos on which classic pin-up girl paintings were based, and how Dr. Seuss changed education in America.

Defense News has a series of shocking stories about the F-35

Defense News:

The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unreported F-35 problems

Defense News exclusively obtained documents detailing the F-35 jet's most serious deficiencies.

Two F-35 partners threatened to quit the program. Here’s why they didn’t.

How serious were the problems? Serious enough that a couple countries threatened to pull out of the program, according to U.S. Defense Department documents.

 

Supersonic speeds could cause big problems for the F-35′s stealth coating

Supersonic flight at the edge of the F-35 jet's flight envelope could cause structural damage or degrade its stealth coating, warn documents

A fix is coming for a problem that left two F-35 pilots in ‘excruciating’ pain

Oxygen deprivation isn't the only issue known to cause physiological episodes among F-35 pilots.

When the F-35 blows a tire, it can set off a chain reaction of potential failures.

The problem has been fixed in the carrier variant, but why aren't the "A" and "B" models getting the same correction?

FAQ: Your guide to understanding how the military rates F-35 technical shortfalls

 

When US Navy and Marine F-35 pilots most need performance, the aircraft becomes erratic

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ F-35s become unpredictable to handle when executing the kind of extreme maneuvers a pilot would use in a dogfight or while avoiding a missile.

The Marine Corps’ ‘No. 1 priority’ for the F-35 involves a rough landing in hot environments

When it's a hot one, the F-35B might struggle to land safely. And that could be bad news for industry.

Monday links

On June 10, 1964, Democrats Filibustered the Civil Rights Act. Related - 1920's KKK application form.

This article on impotence trials of the 14th through 17th centuries contains an awe-inspiring collection of cheesy sexually-themed metaphors.

18 Urban and Wilderness Survival Hacks That Would Make MacGyver Proud.

Classic Pin-Up Girls Before and After Editing: The Real Women Behind Gil Elvgren's Paintings.

How Dr. Seuss Changed Education in America.

What it was like to eat out in Victorian England.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include how regulations make all cars look so much alike, why almost all city trees are male and produce so much pollen, and the anniversaries of D-Day and Dunkirk.

Here's a bit of Americana for you - the 1920's KKK Application Form

I wonder if someone has Robert Byrd's* KKK application somewhere - although since he was a recruiter, presumably he was one of those sending them out.

This application to join the Ku Klux Klan (wiki), printed by the Ku Klux Press, was mailed to people whose friends had identified them as good prospects for membership. The application starts with fairly anodyne questions about occupation and residence, moving on to ask whether the applicant believes in white supremacy and “the principles of a PURE Americanism.”

Click here to embiggen.

Larger version here

*West Virginia's Democratic United States Senator Robert C. Byrd was a recruiter for the Klan while in his 20s and 30s, rising to the title of Kleagle and Exalted Cyclops of his local chapter. After leaving the group, Byrd spoke in favor of the Klan during his early political career. Though he claimed to have left the organization in 1943, Byrd wrote a letter in 1946 to the group's Imperial Wizard stating "The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia." Byrd defended the Klan in his 1958 U.S. Senate campaign when he was 41 years old.

He was also the only Senator to vote against both African American U.S. Supreme Court nominees (liberal Thurgood Marshall and conservative Clarence Thomas) and filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964,

via Slate's history blog The Vault, and Rare Americana, each of which has more information. 

Related posts and links: 

On This Day in 1964, Democrats Filibustered the Civil Rights Act. 

Writing in 2012, Slate noted that the present-day preliminary application for KKK membership omits these 1920s questions about the applicant’s national origin and religion, focusing instead on questions about race.

Wednesday links

June 6 is the 75th anniversary of D-Day: quotes (Shakespeare, Eisenhower, Churchill), videos (footage, FDR's and Reagan's speeches, a Lego re-enactment), lots of links.

‘Botanical Sexism’ Could Be Behind Your Seasonal Allergies: Male trees dominate city plantings, and "they’re indiscriminate, spewing their gametes in every direction."

When Cyclists Made Up an Entire Political Bloc.

Earlier this week was the anniversary of the evacuation of Dunkirk by a flotilla of small boats.- the inspiration for Churchill's "We shall fight on the beaches...we shall never surrender" speech.

Design Regulations Helped Ruin American Cars. Related: A Design Engineer Explains Exactly Why Your Car Is So Boring

Well, that's handy, I guess: Butterflies Have an Extra Stomach Attached to Their Vaginas.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include the 1453 fall of Constantinople, differences between moths and butterflies, weight loss via tequila drinking, determining whether snails fart, and Kurt Vonnegut's letter home after imprisonment in an underground slaughterhouse (Slaughterhouse Five) during the Dresden bombing.