MetaFilter

Euripides Unbound is an account of the recent discovery by archeologist Heba Adly of a papyrus containing 97 lines from Polyidus and Ino, lost plays by Euripides, written by Robert Cioffi who participated in the dig led by Basem Gehad. The fragment was deciphered by classicists Yvona Trnka-Amrhein and John Gibert, who have been interviewed about it by Johanna Hanink on the Lesche Podcast. Bill Allan wrote a short essay about the fragment for the Times Literary Supplement, which led Mary Beard to discuss it on the TLS Podcast.
posted by Kattullus at 11:02 AM - 0 comments

"It is not often that one in the process of learning of, or reading, a book develops three different opinions about the book. I have heard of Lea Ypi’s Free after it became an international bestseller. I was even then somewhat intrigued by the topic, an autobiographical story of growing up in Albania at “the end of history”, given that Albania was somewhat of a black box (because of the isolationist policies followed by its long-time president Enver Hoxha). Yet since I had a uniform negative view about any personal reminiscences coming out of Eastern Europe, I was almost sure not to read the book? Why such mistrust?" Branko Milanovic with a thoughtful review of Lea Ypi's awardwinning Free: Coming of Age at the End of History.
posted by mittens at 10:51 AM - 0 comments

A few short, brisk fantasy stories, published this year, involving peril and rescue. "The Dragon Shepherd" by George S. Walker, in Electric Spec: a young girl challenges complacent dragonslayers. "The Doomsday Book of Labyrinths" by LM Zaerr, in Uncharted Magazine: a tax assessor (who doesn't care to look too closely at his own emotions) needs to figure out why a scared kid is running a shop. "Labyrinths for Wayward Teens", also by Zaerr (and, like "Doomsday Book", ending abruptly), in Electric Spec: an exploited hero-for-hire, paid to rescue thrillseeking customers from magical escape rooms, faces (mostly gratuitous) danger when his own daughter gets trapped.
posted by brainwane at 9:47 AM - 0 comments

How to be a butler to the super rich. (archive link here) [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 8:52 AM - 6 comments

All large planets in our Solar System have rings, and it has been suggested that Mars may have had a ring in the past. This raises the question of whether Earth also had a ring in the past.
posted by bq at 8:14 AM - 9 comments

Ring of Gyges: A shepherd named Gyges discovers a magical ring that grants him the power of invisibility when he twists the ring on his finger. With this newfound power, Gyges seduces the queen, kills the king, and takes over the kingdom. The Ring of Gyges is a dialogue featured in The Republic by Plato. The story raises a moral question: would people still act justly if they could act unjustly without fear of being caught or punished? [more inside]
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 7:45 AM - 42 comments

For the second time ever (the first was in 2020), Scientific American endorses a presidential candidate. For the first time since 1996, the Teamsters union does not. [more inside]
posted by box at 5:56 AM - 31 comments

BatCam offers glimpse into secret life of threatened flying fox species. A live-streaming camera is offering insights into a grey-headed flying fox colony in northern New South Wales, aiming to change public perception that the animals are pests, and guide conservation work. [more inside]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 3:56 AM - 3 comments

Everyone was bereft and unnerved at the loss of this soft-spoken person they had been tending to near constantly for months. “I couldn’t believe it,” Cheatham says. “I was so sad that he died. They were telling me that they were hoping he would get over the spell that he was in.” But that day, Flores and Moore also managed to spend $7,017.73 at Ted Baker, $289.85 at Erewhon, $220.50 at Tory Burch, $992.25 at Coach, and $2,477.90 at the Apple Store. They dined at Nobu, too. from The Parasites of Malibu [The Cut; ungated]
posted by chavenet at 12:55 AM - 7 comments

She was literally the biggest story on the planet in 1952. Her story knocked the story of testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific off the front page. It blew Queen Elizabeth's coronation off the front page. A former GI, who knew from childhood that she was in the wrong body, went to Copenhagen and became Christine, who she really was all along. [more inside]
posted by dancestoblue at 10:05 PM - 13 comments

Jiang Zemin meets the press, candidly. (slyt)
posted by clavdivs at 8:09 PM - 4 comments

UN General Assembly overwhelmingly calls for end of Israeli occupation The UNGA demanded that “Israel brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which constitutes a wrongful act of a continuing character entailing its international responsibility, and do so no later than 12 months”. || previously [more inside]
posted by cendawanita at 7:31 PM - 11 comments

Ever Tried Nacho-Doms? Crispy popadoms, spicy keema, melted cheese, salsa & dips as created by Latifs Inspired. UMAMI-BOMB! Bismillah.
posted by NoMich at 5:24 PM - 19 comments

An esoteric branch of math called fraction theory may hold the answers to science’s deepest mysteries. You may think you know what numbers are. Chances are, you learned to count before you entered kindergarten, and number-names like “one”, “two”, and “three” were among the first words you learned...
posted by Wolfdog at 5:23 PM - 19 comments

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 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 at 3:58 PM - 30 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 at 1:56 PM - 12 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 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 at 8:16 AM - 75 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 at 7:34 AM - 83 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 at 6:19 AM - 41 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 at 4:43 AM - 30 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 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 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 at 10:36 PM - 54 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 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 at 4:04 PM - 414 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 at 2:43 PM - 82 comments

Behold, the Great Ball Contraption, from Japan BrickFest 2024.
posted by aubilenon 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 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 at 11:48 AM - 34 comments

Calculating the ideal “Sex and the City” polycule! (youtube) [more inside]
posted by ursus_comiter 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 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 at 8:18 AM - 7 comments

"But what if brains don’t have dedicated circuits for fighting and fleeing? People clearly experience threats, but is threat detection really a primary mode of the brain with its own neural circuitry? A body of recent evidence from my lab and elsewhere suggests that we don’t go through life constantly detecting threats and reacting with flight-or-fight circuits. Rather brains operate mainly by prediction, not reaction. All brains constantly anticipate the needs of the body and attempt to meet those needs before they arise. They seek to reduce uncertainty to survive and thrive in circumstances that are only partially predictable." The ‘Fight or Flight’ Idea Misses the Beauty of What the Brain Really Does -- an essay in SciAm by Lisa Feldman Barrett (author of the amazing How Emotions Are Made).
posted by mittens at 6:03 AM - 36 comments

Though Gottfried Mind is seldom discussed today, his story unites several concerns that preoccupied Europe in the early nineteenth century: the swiftly evolving nature of art and of artists; the increasingly examined relationship between humans and animals; and, more distinctively, a popular and intellectual fascination with the Swiss Alps and the supposed Alpine phenomenon of “cretin imbecility”. ... A modern reassessment of his life and work therefore offers a fresh perspective on Mind’s turn-of-the-century context, as well as his art. from Gottfried Mind, The Raphael of Cats [Public Domain Review]
posted by chavenet at 12:48 AM - 3 comments

Scientists mapped what pregnancy really does to a mom's brain - "The research shows how pregnancy remodels the brain in unprecedented detail and opens a new window into matrescence -- the transition to becoming a mother."[1] (AP, CNN, NYT, BBC) [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 11:26 PM - 18 comments

Since nobody's posted a new free thread yet today, at the tail end of the evening I figured what the hell. Ruminate on the topic, go free form, whatever - this is Liberty Hall; you can spit on the mat and call the cat a bastard! (h/t languagehat). But no politics, please!
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:06 PM - 82 comments

12,000 tons of food waste transformed a barren landscape in Costa Rica into something surprising. [more inside]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:54 PM - 23 comments

Our reactions to prostitution are steeped in what Melissa Gira Grant calls “the prostitute imaginary.” They may feel visceral, rooted in some primal disgust reflex, but often derive from a combination of American puritanism and second-wave feminist rhetoric. Increasingly, we project our helplessness in the face of capitalist exploitation onto the sex worker, using her to signify human commodification distilled to its basest form. This collective psychic baggage primes us to see certain stories as more satisfying, more palatable, and more true. from Happy Ending by Sascha Cohen [The Baffler; ungated]
posted by chavenet at 12:35 PM - 16 comments

Stuck in a World of Twin Languages and 600 Pronouns tells the story of a dimension-hopping linguist trying to understand and survive a language spoken by intelligent and/or cybernetic palm trees. Each chapter brings new orthographic and societal horrors. And yes, there's a tonal variant, since creator ZeWei has experience making songs with conlangs. [more inside]
posted by persona at 10:57 AM - 8 comments

To the sigmas of Australia, I say that this goofy ahh government have been capping, not just now but for a long time. A few of you may remember when they said "there'll be no Fanum Tax under the government I lead…" .Western Australian senator Fatima Payman delivers a speech.
posted by signal at 10:54 AM - 13 comments

With few exceptions, it is more accurate to divide most politicians into two broad categories: Enemies, and Cowards. (Hamilton Nolan's 'How Things Work' substack)
posted by box at 10:07 AM - 70 comments

27 years on, having been adopted by business woman Prue Leith, Li-Da Kruger returns to Cambodia in search of her biological parents (2001). Made by The Cambodian Film Company/FulcrumTV and directed by Tamara Gordon. This is a 12 minute short video Li-Da Kruger, the adopted daughter of British Baking Show judge Prue Leith. A full documentary chronicling her search for her birth family was released a few years ago. (article in The Guardian).
posted by bq at 9:15 AM - 2 comments

Canada is in the midst of the greatest wealth transfer of all time, as some $1 trillion passes from boomers to their millennial kids. How an inheritance-based economy will transform the country. (slMacleans) [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 8:50 AM - 47 comments

Tumblr user baddywronglegs:

I've asked this question before and been surprised by the results, now I have access to more weirdos it's your problem:

It is the middle of a Sunday afternoon. You have nothing on, and aren't expecting visitors, deliveries or post.

Unexpectedly, there is a knock at the door.

Which of these would surprise you more to find on the doorstep? Fairy or Walrus?

Followed by bewilderment that 80% of the site apparently chose the latter. (see title) OP would later try to frame the question as 'The most reasonable impossible thing, or the most unreasonable possible thing' [more inside]
posted by Pachylad at 8:14 AM - 113 comments

Michaela Mabinty DePrince died September 10 (gift link, NYT). [more inside]
posted by BibiRose at 7:22 AM - 18 comments

Dampier island's transfer to traditional owners to support World Heritage bid, further its protection. Less than 10 kilometres from the Burrup and its billions of dollars of industry, West Intercourse Island will join Murujuga National Park to protect it from future industrial development. [more inside]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:14 AM - 3 comments

Here are 7 translations and 7 interviews with the Lebanese author of the novel Gate of the Sun, which portrayed the lives of Palestinian refugees.
posted by toastyk at 6:25 AM - 4 comments

Motors and specially designed legs-- it brings your snacks to you. How it was designed and made
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 5:52 AM - 21 comments