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Schoolgirl's dinosaur footprint find on Vale of Glamorgan beach (on the south Wales coast.) Experts think 10-year-old Tegan uncovered prints of a huge herbivore from the late triassic period.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Sep 18 at 4:52 PM - 2 comments

Everyone who joins the US military, seeks a security clearance, or applies for some government jobs must, as part of the background check process, fill out Standard Form 86. Questions on this form require applicants to disclose if they're members of organizations that seek to overthrow the US government or deprive people of their civil rights. Lying on this form is a felony, a serious crime that can result in months in prison, but indictments involving lying on this form are quite rare. Molly Conger, host of the Cool Zone Media podcast Weird Little Guys, looks into why this is, and the history of its use, in the episode titled Liar, Liar (57 minutes).
posted by JHarris on Sep 18 at 3:58 PM - 32 comments

Combs (P Diddy) was denied bail and will remain in custody as he faces charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, [more inside]
posted by Sebmojo on Sep 18 at 1:56 PM - 16 comments

The Office, fittingly, is never going to let us go. We’re clearly always going to be tethered to a sitcom desk. And not just because we can’t stop watching old reruns. The franchise that started in the UK before making waves across the Atlantic is still going strong. An upcoming spinoff will return the show to U.S. airwaves (likely) in 2025. But before it does, we’ll have another way to get our fix of workplace comedy with a very different kind of boss. Well, not that different. Because while the new trailer from Prime Video’s Australia remake of The Office features the franchise’s first-ever woman boss, she reminds us a whole lot of David Brent and Michael Scott. from Australian Remake’s Trailer Gets Back to Work with Franchise’s First Female Boss [Nerdist] [more inside]
posted by chavenet on Sep 18 at 12:27 PM - 12 comments

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Tina Smith (D-MN): Our Solution to the Housing Crisis (NYT gift, archive.is)
posted by box on Sep 18 at 8:16 AM - 105 comments

Because people don't want to feel bad after watching a movie, here's some other alternate endings for you (slPolygon) [more inside]
posted by Kitteh on Sep 18 at 7:34 AM - 92 comments

A new Zelda game is reminding everyone to finish the last one [Polygon] There is so much any given player can do in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. You can become the architect of the world’s largest bridge, engineer crimes against Koroks, or, if you want, you can just turn the sloping hills of Hyrule into Link’s personal skate park. It’s a giant game with plenty to do, so I’d forgive any player who, I don’t know, just so happened to not have completed the game yet. But now, with the impending release of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, anyone still playing Nintendo’s last Zelda title might be rushing to beat the game before the next mainline Zelda game comes out. Bonus link: Zelda is going full horse girl in her next game.
posted by Fizz on Sep 18 at 6:19 AM - 43 comments

Moral outrage at the big lie, but also plenty about why many Haitians are there, the transition costs, and their good effects on Springfield. I thought there was a government program to move Haitians to Springfield. No. There was a government program to move businesses to Springfield, followed by figuring out that there was a shortage of people of working age, and Haitians moved into the vacuum to everyone's advantage. [more inside]
posted by Nancy Lebovitz on Sep 18 at 4:43 AM - 33 comments

Recognizing that "academic subjects are not eternal categories" and that words and concepts at once carry specialized meaning and more expansive valence, Williams explains that his Keywords is intended neither as dictionary nor glossary, but rather as "the record of an inquiry into a vocabulary: a shared body of words and meanings in our most general discussions, in English, of the practices and institutions which we group as culture and society." Reading such keywords not only helps us trace changing usages across time, it also challenges the very idea of a stable or "sacral" meaning, inviting improper, promiscuous, and audacious resonances and connections. from Keywords for Postcolonial Thought [P45] [more inside]
posted by chavenet on Sep 18 at 1:24 AM - 4 comments

Trailer for Bong Joon Ho's upcoming Mickey 17 - What's it feel like to die? [more inside]
posted by cendawanita on Sep 18 at 12:06 AM - 27 comments

Every time JD Vance tells a story, a sinkhole swallows 30 people (WashPo op ed, archive), a lesson on the reasons it's not good to tell false stories to rile people up.
posted by JHarris on Sep 17 at 10:36 PM - 62 comments

Archaeology Student Discovers Trove of Silver Viking Age Armbands in Denmark. The bangles, which date to around 800 C.E., are now on display at the Moesgaard Museum.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Sep 17 at 9:52 PM - 8 comments

Israel is suspected in a massive coordinated attack of exploding pagers that left at least 9 dead and 2800 casualties in Lebanon.
posted by rubatan on Sep 17 at 4:04 PM - 459 comments

Ed Zitron: "I hypothesize a kind of subprime AI crisis is brewing, where almost the entire tech industry has bought in on a technology sold at a vastly-discounted rate, heavily-centralized and subsidized by big tech. At some point, the incredible, toxic burn-rate of generative AI is going to catch up with them, which in turn will lead to price increases, or companies releasing new products and features with wildly onerous rates ... that will make even stalwart enterprise customers with budget to burn unable to justify the expense. What happens when the entire tech industry relies on the success of a kind of software that only loses money, and doesn’t create much value to begin with?"
posted by Gerald Bostock on Sep 17 at 2:43 PM - 82 comments

Behold, the Great Ball Contraption, from Japan BrickFest 2024.
posted by aubilenon on Sep 17 at 12:39 PM - 18 comments

10 Traditional Mid-Autumn Festival Foods. Mooncakes: to make at home, to protest oppression, to promote mental health care. 11 Recipes to Celebrate Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving).

But who makes all the food? Why do divorces go up after Chuseok? For many, Chuseok is the season of rage.
posted by spamandkimchi on Sep 17 at 12:14 PM - 15 comments

Is Trump’s power over the Republican Party waning, is Trumpism disintegrating? Let’s slow down a little bit. It’s important to note that almost all of these public defections are coming from relatively low-level and / or *former* Republican officials. Trumpism is still firmly in charge of the power centers of conservatism and dominates GOP politics. And yet, there was no comparable level of open dissent prior to the 2020 election; and in 2016, the opposite happened, as there was considerable hostility towards Trump among Republicans and leadings conservatives initially, right after Trump had come down the golden escalator to announce he was running for president – yet by the time of the election, almost all of them had united behind Trump as the undisputed leader of the Right. from Liz Cheney and the Problem of the Anti-Trump Republican [Democracy Americana]
posted by chavenet on Sep 17 at 11:48 AM - 35 comments

Calculating the ideal “Sex and the City” polycule! (youtube) [more inside]
posted by ursus_comiter on Sep 17 at 11:36 AM - 2 comments

"Scorched earth": Locals pushing for more power to help heal this vulnerable seagrass meadow in Shark Bay, Western Australia. In the wake of a devastating marine heatwave, seagrass restoration projects have shown great promise in this World Heritage-listed region. But the community-led teams behind the projects say pathways to obtaining state government permits are impeding progress.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Sep 17 at 8:21 AM - 2 comments

Tour Artist Mimi Lauter's Magical Los Angeles Garden “A lot of my work relates to my perception of color in the garden. Cultivating the land is a lot like making a painting. You begin by preparing the soil the way you prepare the surface of the picture. Once the ground is set you start to gather and orchestrate the color,” Lauter offers. There are, however, limits to the conceptual equation. “Paintings aren’t there to make you feel good, even though they can do that. Gardens are there to be a place of peace and sanctuary,” the artist muses. By Mayer Rus Photography by Jason Schmidt for Architectural Digest [more inside]
posted by bq on Sep 17 at 8:18 AM - 7 comments