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“[T]hrough some mistranslation or misapprehension of its Mexican namesake, the French tacos is always plural, even when there’s only one, pronounced with a voiced ‘S.’ … [A] flour tortilla, slathered with condiments, piled with meat (usually halal) and other things (usually French fries), doused in cheese sauce, folded into a rectangular packet, and then toasted on a grill.”
In The New Yorker, Lauren Collins tells a complicated story of “France’s own junk food”: “The Unlikely Rise of the French Tacos”
Still hungry? Try the documentary Tacos Origins: Phénomène; Révolution; Génération
Want to see them in action? See this French YouTuber eat two five pound gigatacos from O’Tacos.
Previously, in 2019
posted by Going To Maine at 10:22 PM - 11 comments

Meow meow meow meow. One of the best known songs ever has gotten updated for the Now with Meow ReMix, an LP of 5 songs from feline artists such as Lupa [Meow], Gatocito [Meow], Sweet Teddy Pepperpaw [Meow], Hearts & Paws [Meow], and Endless Hiss [Meow]. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:02 PM - 12 comments

"Ships so big they get stuck in the Suez Canal literally define 'chokepoint' but other waterways will play much more serious roles as the rivalry between China and the U.S. heats up." A Twitter thread by David Fickling of Bloomberg on the strategic importance of ocean straits throughout history, including the Trojan War, the British Empire, and China's Belt and Road Initiative. Article by Fickling and Anjani Trivedi. [more inside]
posted by russilwvong at 7:53 AM - 29 comments

Abir Haronni, newcomer to the international scene has since 2018 made, quietly, nine great clips (YT playlist). Her latest, Yacht (YT) is an auto-fetishist fantasy. She was signed to Atlantic in '18 and is just getting started in what seems to be a very promising music career, if you count youtube statistics (all slyt).
posted by kfholy at 7:44 AM - 2 comments

"One could make a case that some of the very earliest Enlightenment salons were held not in Europe but in Montreal, during the 1690s. It was there that an indigenous statesman called Kandiaronk, acting as liaison between the Wendat (“Huron”) confederation and the regime of Louis XIV, sat down regularly with the French governor-general, the comte de Frontenac et de Palluau, and his deputies—including a certain Baron de Lahontan—to debate issues such as economic morality, law, sexual mores, and revealed religion." [more inside]
posted by clawsoon at 5:42 AM - 10 comments

Kiran Sidhu talks to Wilf Davies, a Welsh farmer who’s had the same supper for 10 years and only left Wales to visit a farm in England 30 years ago (The Guardian). “People might think I’m not experiencing new things, but I think the secret to a good life is to enjoy your work. I could never stay indoors and watch TV. I hear London is a place best avoided. I think living in a city would be terrible – people living on top of one another in great tower blocks. I could never do it. Walking around the farm fills me with wonder.”
posted by adrianhon at 5:23 AM - 48 comments

"What I can tell you is Amazon is going to spend about $650 million in season one alone," Stuart Nash, New Zealand minister for economic development and tourism, told Morning Report. Amazon's spending will trigger a tax rebate of NZ$160 million ($114 million U.S). This is somewhat controversial in New Zealand as the government could end up on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to help subsidize Amazon's elves-and-hobbits drama series. Stuff reported that the country's treasury has labeled the show a "significant fiscal risk" given there is no capped upside to how much Amazon — and therefore the government — might spend. But others point out that the boost in local spending by the production plus the potential tourism surge from Lord of the Rings fans far outweighs the taxpayer-funded kickbacks.
posted by folklore724 at 3:08 AM - 69 comments

Hathi: a token gift from India of a baby elephant for the Kabul Zoo "It was the latest expression of the centuries-old cultural and historical ties between the two nations... The diplomatic relationship was built on a bedrock of shared culture, and the gift of Hathi was an act in which history, regional bonhomie, pop culture and diplomacy merrily coalesced."
posted by dhruva at 6:08 PM - 2 comments

How Cold Water Swimming Cured my Broken Heart. "When I am in the sea I am a mystery to myself. I have no idea how I got here, or why or what I am doing. I am only swimming and I am amazed." After a breakup and the death of her father a writer ended up living on the coast of Brittany in winter where she went for a daily swim in the icy sea.
posted by storybored at 6:04 PM - 25 comments

Biden keeps Trump’s record-low cap on refugees — President Joe Biden on Friday stuck with his predecessor’s historically low cap of 15,000 refugees for this year and instead moved to accelerate admissions, triggering an outcry from resettlement agencies and even Biden allies that he was backpedaling on a key promise. [more inside]
posted by tonycpsu at 2:10 PM - 44 comments

Conservative commentator David Brooks is the latest to make this declaration. He was proceeded in recent times by people like Howard Jacobson and Schmuley Boteach. Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler have even published The Jewish Annotated New Testament. The roots of this discussion are, however, fraught. [more inside]
posted by No Robots at 12:30 PM - 125 comments

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a contemporary visual artist that bridges Haida, Asian, and Canadian cultures and identities with his art. In this video interview [YT] he discusses his mural, Orcinus Orca SKAAnaa. The mural is part of a new exhibition from the Royal BC Museum called Orcas: Our Shared Future. [more inside]
posted by forbiddencabinet at 12:08 PM - 3 comments

Mind the Gap, a handbook of clinical signs and symptoms in black and brown skin, is available to be downloaded online at no cost. [more inside]
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:50 AM - 4 comments

The “Red Ibérica en Defensa del Patrimonio Gráfico” is a Spanish/Portuguese collective that collects images of commercial signs as well as physical examples. Their site has a treasure trove of links to related Instagram accounts. [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 11:31 AM - 4 comments

Just posting some blue on the blue, as you do "That's the surreal hue of Indonesia's Kawah Ijen Volcano, which glows with an otherworldly 'blue lava' at night. The mountain contains large amounts of pure sulfur, which emits an icy violet color as it burns, turning the rocky slopes into a hot (at least 239 degrees Fahrenheit), highly toxic environment." Some pretty stunning photos here!
posted by CarrotAdventure at 9:30 AM - 24 comments

Julia Evans (previously) is making interactive in-browser text puzzles to help people learn how to debug computer networking issues, and asking for feedback as she tries stuff out. "The Case of the Slow Websites" and "The Case of the Connection Timeout" are already up (source code using Twine), and she's thinking of making several more. "I'd love to know what folks think of this approach to learning debugging! One of my favourite ways to learn is by debugging weird problems, so my idea with this style of game is to sort of share the experience of past bugs I've run into so that other people can learn from them too." [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 8:53 AM - 22 comments

Craig Murray ex British Ambassador to Uzbekistan 2002 - 2004 : The real story of the occupation of Afghanistan has hardly been aired in the mainstream media.
Caitlin Johnstone: US Intelligence Warns Withdrawal Could Lead To Afghanistan Being Controlled By Afghans.
Juan Cole: No, Biden ending the Afghanistan War isn’t a Disaster: The disaster was Dropping 7,400 Bombs on the Country Annually and Biden: ''Our reasons for remaining in Afghanistan have become increasingly unclear.'' As the US plans its Afghan troop withdrawal, what was it all for?
A view from the India and from Pakistan.
The withdrawal is only the solution to America's problem. The Taliban have different ideas.
With 18,000 contractors currently in the country is this just moving from Endless War to Endless Operations?
China sees an opportunity. Afghanistan previously on Metafilter.
posted by adamvasco at 6:49 AM - 69 comments

Mystery tree beast turns out to be croissant. BBC News has the story from the Krakow Animal Welfare Society: "People aren't opening their windows because they're afraid it will go into their house," the woman reportedly said. [more inside]
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 6:02 AM - 22 comments

In her quest to master a quintessential cool-kid trick, Outside contributor Kim Cross found the sweet spot at the crossroads of work and play. A wheelie is the bicycling equivalent of hanging ten on a surfboard or spinning a basketball on your finger—a skill as profoundly cool as it is functionally irrelevant. [Outside Online]
posted by ellieBOA at 3:29 AM - 23 comments

The Penobscot language was spoken by almost no one when Frank Siebert set about trying to preserve it. The people of Indian Island are still reckoning with his legacy (Alice Gregory, The New Yorker)
posted by adrianhon at 2:00 AM - 8 comments

The violence is occurring daily while Derek Chauvin’s trial tries to convince us that we did not see what we saw. Veterans of color say video of police pepper-spraying a Black Army officer shows that not even a military uniform is protection from police violence. Meanwhile, mass shootings are happening as frequently as ever. [more inside]
posted by ichomp at 12:51 AM - 59 comments

Sentinel Playground - a massive resource for anyone interested in Earth’s changing surface, natural or manmade
posted by Gyan at 11:31 PM - 0 comments

A few weeks ago, Lindsay Ellis got canceled for making a tweet comparing two similar movies. Here's her very long response to pissing people off on this level. Brief recaps of the topics covered in it (after I watched the whole thing) are below. There's also a discussion of the video over here. [more inside]
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:35 PM - 142 comments

The NYT reports on the current global semiconductor shortage.
posted by Catblack at 8:21 PM - 14 comments

Horn Honk Depot: these honks will change your life.
One of 21 absurd comedy sketches by Joe Kwaczala, formerly of Clickhole and the Onion, posted to Youtube in a single day to raise money for East Hollywood Mutual Aid. (general strong-language cw for the sketches) [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena at 7:09 PM - 2 comments

The 2002 publication of The Dark Triad of Personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy introduced a new, definitive taxonomy of "socially aversive" or "dark" personality traits common to all people. The idea of a "Dark Triad" was well-met and provocative, spawning hundreds of research papers in the ensuing decade, as summarized in The Dark Triad of Personality: A 10 Year Review. See for yourself how you measure up when it comes to narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy via the Dark Triad Personality Test as well as The Dirty Dozen: A Concise Measure of the Dark Triad
posted by BadgerDoctor at 4:58 PM - 43 comments

50-ish words you can use to show that you care without incriminating yourself. AI researchers often say good machine learning is really more art than science. The same could be said for effective public relations. Selecting the right words to strike a positive tone or reframe the conversation about AI is a delicate task: done well, it can strengthen one’s brand image, but done poorly, it can trigger an even greater backlash.
posted by StarkRoads at 3:35 PM - 6 comments

Vosto is a Romanian musician making excellent synthwave. [more inside]
posted by ropeladder at 2:59 PM - 6 comments

A Forgotten Chapter in U.S. History: When Women Had To Choose Between Mortgages and Motherhood By Clare Trapasso for Realtor.com
posted by jacquilynne at 1:33 PM - 15 comments

On April 23rd, 1974, DEVO performed their second ever concert at the 2nd Kent State Creative Arts festival. DEVO Co-Founder Bob Lewis has uploaded the (almost) complete audio recording to YouTube. [more inside]
posted by SansPoint at 1:17 PM - 7 comments

Fix the lead pipes. Matthew Yglesias on Biden's $45 billion plan to replace all the lead pipes in the United States.
posted by russilwvong at 12:40 PM - 36 comments

Tarik Khan has 10 vials of leftover COVID vaccine and six hours before they expire. Can he get them all to his list of homebound residents while crisscrossing Philadelphia, dodging rush hour traffic, and observing them for 15 minutes each before returning home to his cat Theodore? Text, photo, and video from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
posted by Hypatia at 11:37 AM - 10 comments

This body of songwriters will not give publishing or songwriting credit to anyone who did not create or change the lyric or melody or otherwise contribute to the composition without a reasonably equivalent/meaningful exchange for all the writers on the song. Meet the songwriters who told pop stars: 'Don't steal from us' [BBC] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 11:18 AM - 11 comments

White nationalists sure don't think Tucker Carlson's "replacement" segment is about voting rights. Nick Fuentes, a Holocaust denier and popular media personality among young white extremists, responded to Carlson’s Monday night segment by tweeting, “This week Tucker redpilled 4 million people and there is nothing liberals can do about it.” He then listed the white nationalist talking points he believes Carlson got right: “Demographic replacement, ADL, Israel, it’s all there... a full redpill. On primetime Fox News for 4 million mainstream conservatives,” he wrote. “Can you feel it? We are inevitable.” CW: ugly hate speech, anti-semitism, stupidity [more inside]
posted by mecran01 at 8:51 AM - 83 comments

Hisham H. Muhammad writes "A love letter to bands, in music and code", reminiscing on the feeling of being in a team that is, or feels like, a band: "work done in a collective yields results of a different nature....When I’m in a collective environment — and by that I mean any setting where my work is presented to and discussed by others as it is developed — even when I’m doing work completely on my own, even before I’ve had my first piece of feedback, I feel a sort of mind game playing in my head where I 'play the part' of my peers and imagine what their feedback would be, be it consciously or subconsciously. I’m doing the work not only for myself, but for others too, whose opinions I care about."
posted by brainwane at 7:53 AM - 1 comment

Charles and Christopher are friends who review horror movies through a gay lens. [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 7:36 AM - 6 comments

It started with a dream and ended with a brand new pasta shape. Follow Dan Pashman of The Sporkful on his three-year journey documented in a five-part series, "Mission: ImPASTAble", as he tries to develop the perfect pasta. [more inside]
posted by stripesandplaid at 6:44 AM - 47 comments

Jonathan Jones reviews artist Rachel Whiteread's show Internal Objects in The Guardian. "This has been the strangest year for art. We have been physically closed off from it – and now have the ludicrous situation of such commercial galleries as the Gagosian reopening, while public museums must wait until at least 17 May. In the absence of art, we have argued about it, over public statues and what museums were left by previous generations. But what’s got lost is any sense of art as mystery, as poetry, as the inexplicable. Here it is. ...This, finally, is great lockdown art." [more inside]
posted by Bella Donna at 4:48 AM - 4 comments

An true and accurate analysis of one of Star Trek's most important pieces of technology.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:08 AM - 39 comments

The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the James Franco–Anne Hathaway Oscars Debacle
posted by sundaydriver at 2:52 AM - 53 comments

Best known of late by its TikTok remix -- upon further examination, research and algorithms lead to 2015 Jazz Roots - the Teachers Battle outro -- and thence to Vernacular Jazz Dance. Which was a wonder: who knew the span of the art form's complexity or the amount of scholarship devoted to its technique? Or that it has become so international a phenomenom? Not me. [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 12:57 AM - 14 comments

Glasgow Subway expansion animated 1896-2021
posted by clawsoon at 3:02 PM - 23 comments

In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi started printing playing cards in Kyoto and founded the company that would become Nintendo. This is the website for the Yamauchi No. 10 Family Office.
posted by Sokka shot first at 11:57 AM - 35 comments

Modern urban jazz + tap dance = RB Dance Company (France): Human (Rag’n’Bone Man); Don’t Stop Me Now (Queen); *I Will Survive (Gloria Gaynor); *Papaoutai (Stromae). RB Dance Company were *finalists on La France a un Incroyable Talent in 2018 and again in the show’s 2020 *battle of the judges. (Warning, videos with * feature flashing lights/flickering)
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 9:56 AM - 11 comments

"Good ol' Charlie B" is a sad-and-sweet, talky comic by Marina Kittaka taking place years after the events of Peanuts: "half essay, half tribute to visiting old friends". A text-only version is available. "Yeah. I've been having a hard time, just. Figuring out where to go from here. Trying to piece something together that actually... feels like a life." Kittaka has also written about art and community and co-option, noting, "to practice my philosophy I must learn to be okay with people not getting it, to stop fighting to stay legible and correct-feeling in everybody's mind."
posted by brainwane at 7:46 AM - 44 comments

Top Republicans Want to Rebrand GOP as Party of Working Class (slNPR, includes link to six-page memo from Rep. Jim Banks* (R-IN)) [more inside]
posted by box at 6:13 AM - 175 comments

A highlights reel from the 1978 disaster movie The Swarm.
posted by Iridic at 5:32 AM - 42 comments

In the summer of 2001, before the ruination of modern times had become apparent to most of us, Gillian Welch released her album Time (the Revelator). In addition to her breakout song "Everything is Free," it included two tracks about April 14. [more inside]
posted by rikschell at 5:30 AM - 36 comments

'Avril 14th' arranged for harp; for banjo; for pedal steel; for two vibraphones {MLYT}. [more inside]
posted by misteraitch at 4:08 AM - 19 comments

Kissinger Death Tontine “Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević.” — Anthony Bourdain [previous]
posted by - at 7:51 PM - 64 comments