June 8

“What do you want from the Artist?”

The encounter, and much of the text of Working Girl, suggests the appeal or even the revolutionary potential of relating in such an upfront, contractual manner: that there might even be a cleansing element to addressing things in such blatant terms, equity in considering one’s time worth good money, and asking for it, especially in the contexts of the art world and sex industry, when participants often harbor vast wealth. from Working It by Kate Wolf [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 7:57 AM - 0 comments

Killing an ecosystem for hay

Agriculture slurps 80% of the Colorado River in the U.S. each year, and a single forage crop, alfalfa hay, is responsible for over a third of that drain. You've probably read about the drought in the southwestern US and how Lake Powell hit historic lows (though this winter has improved things somewhat). But the real problem is not the drought, but overuse. The classic analysis, Cadillac Desert, first published in 1986, is no less true now than it was 40 years ago. [more inside]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:49 AM - 3 comments

Joan Didion, the Death of R.F.K. and a Mystery Solved

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live” "In the past, moments of national trauma had provided an opportunity for unity and cohesion. But Ms. Didion found herself confronted with a fractured version of America that’s not too different from the one we’ve come to recognize today. " Fascinating thought piece (NYT) about Joan Didion and Gregory Dunne's reaction to RFK's assasination while in Hawaii.
posted by j810c at 7:38 AM - 0 comments

DreamBerd is a perfect programming language

Some languages start arrays at 0, which can be unintuitive for beginners. Some languages start arrays at 1, which isn't representative of how the code actually works. DreamBerd does the best of both worlds: Arrays start at -1.
posted by MetaFilter World Peace at 5:25 AM - 16 comments

My mother also loved Whitney Houston

Happy Pride Month! Liniker [Wikipedia] is changing the way trans people are seen in Brazil [Paper, 2018]. Agnes Nunes visited with her for conversation and a duet. [Portuguese with optional English captions] For the 2022 Rock In Rio festival, Liniker was joined by Luedji Luna for an hour-long set. Thank you to umbú for suggesting her! [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:14 AM - 0 comments

I will fucking miss the shit out of everything

Arnold Schwarzenegger sits down with Danny DeVito for a conversation about life and death. [more inside]
posted by uncleozzy at 4:46 AM - 9 comments

Astrud Gilberto 1940 - 2023

The Girl From Ipanema. Astrud Giberto, best known as the voice of Bossa Nova, died June 5th at her home in Philadelphia, PA. [more inside]
posted by From Bklyn at 2:24 AM - 25 comments

June 7

Female crocodile that lived alone for 16 years had a virgin birth

Female crocodile that lived alone for 16 years had a virgin birth. An American crocodile managed to reproduce by herself, in a process scientists call parthenogenesis, or virgin birth, DNA reveals. Scientists say the discovery suggests the phenomenon may have also occurred in extinct reptiles like dinosaurs.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:14 PM - 23 comments

Face-eating leopard eats own face, burps.

Revenge served ice cold. Top L.A. law firm outs former partners’ racist, sexist emails. Last month, Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard and Smith, one of the nation’s largest law firms, was rocked by the announcement that two top partners who ran their labor and employment practice, defending corporations against harassment and discrimination lawsuits, were starting their own boutique practice and taking as many as 140 colleagues with them. The shock inside the’ downtown Los Angeles headquarters soon gave way to anger as the recently departed partners embarked on a press campaign that portrayed their former employer as a profit-focused legal mill that ground down the aspirations of its lawyers. In an extraordinary move, the law firm's management team directed the release of scores of emails in which Barber and Ranen used vile terms for women, Black people, Armenians, Persians, and gay men and traded in offensive stereotypes of Jews and Asians. [more inside]
posted by Toddles at 8:09 PM - 30 comments

And all the kings horses and all the kings horses penises

Kingly is a webcomic abougt a very sweet king. if Prince Valient met Hagar the Horrible but was actually funny and with more genitals.
posted by Grandysaur at 6:26 PM - 14 comments

100+ Years of Yuri

Okazu is the internet's longest-running blog devoted to the study and review of yuri, a genre of manga and anime featuring romances between women and girls. Run by noted yuri expert and historian Erica Friedman, Okazu features loads of reviews ranging from recent series to untranslated classics. There are also essays galore. And if you're new to yuri, you can also find recommendations on where to start.
posted by May Kasahara at 3:36 PM - 7 comments

It's a webcomic about ice hockey, not waiting tables.

Today is the tenth anniversary of Check, Please!, a completed webcomic by Ngozi Ukazu about Canadian university ice hockey, friendship, anxiety, love and pie. Available in print thanks to a series of wildly successful kickstarter campaigns, it nevertheless remains fully readable online for readers who like joy. [more inside]
posted by Lorc at 1:42 PM - 4 comments

"A counterexample to established techno-utopian histories"

The 1970s Librarians Who Revolutionized the Challenge of Search
posted by box at 10:28 AM - 7 comments

RESPECT THE LEGEND FOREVER

Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, a.k.a. The Iron Sheik, one of the most hated villains in professional wrestling history, has died at the age of 81 according to his official Twitter account, where he had enjoyed a second career of rants and insults. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 9:40 AM - 44 comments

Stay inside and reduce your exposure.

What to know about the Canadian wildfires affecting parts of the U.S. [The Washington Post] [Gift article] “Uncontrollable flames are ravaging swaths of Canadian forest in what authorities described as a “devastating” wildfire season that could become the worst the country has ever seen. The United States’ northern neighbor is home to some of the world’s densest forests, and it experiences wildfires every year. But this year, the fires have been particularly widespread, numerous and intense, burning through more than 3.7 million acres in Canada. Canada’s government expects “higher-than-normal fire activity” to continue throughout the wildfire season — which typically lasts between April and September — due to a combination of ongoing drought conditions and hot temperature forecasts. Smoke and haze from the Canadian wildfires has also affected the United States, leading authorities from New York to Minnesota to issue public health alerts and urge people to stay indoors and wear masks to protect themselves from potentially toxic fine particles in the air.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 8:37 AM - 150 comments

Ice Land

By the 1820s, the cubes that clinked in glasses of iced tea in Charleston, the ice that cooled hospitalized patients in Savannah; the ice that formed ice cream in the White House during the hottest months of summer—all of it from New England. Ice was so unusual (and expensive) in the South that locals called it “white gold" ... Ice continued to obsess America. from Is Ice America’s Most Literary Element? by Amy Brady [LitHub] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 7:51 AM - 8 comments

George Winston 1950-2023

Noted "New Age" pianist George Winston passed away this week after fighting cancer for many years. Winston came to prominence in the 1980s as one of the artists recording for the "New Age" Windham Hill label along with performers such as Liz Story, Will Ackerman, and Shadowfax. His albums "Autumn" and "December" were his most popular, and he won Grammys in 1996 and 2004. [more inside]
posted by briank at 5:45 AM - 51 comments

I was performing at a bar for 15 people and my video hits 500,000 views

Happy Pride Month! I can't say I was familiar with Hayley Kiyoko before the primroses were over mentioned her name, but apparently everyone else knows about her. If, like me, you need a primer, Hayley summarizes her career [15m] for them, with an accompanying article. If you want to get a bit deeper and less formal, Quitters Podcast spent over an hour talking to her about her career and her life and outlook. But the real news is, she just published her first book [Publishers Weekly]! [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:13 AM - 4 comments

The duet that sort of broke TikTok

Oh what a world it is, that has such musicians in it! There was a piano in a London tube station, so Aurélien Froissart decided to kill time by playing classical music. As one does. But then something amazing - another musician who was passing through asked if she could jump in. What followed was an incredible and virtually flawless impromptu duet - between strangers, with no planning, no rehearsal, no sheet music. Astonishing.
posted by Mogur at 4:34 AM - 30 comments

June 6

Keep Whippin’ that Llama’s Ass

We mentioned the Winamp Skin Museum at skins.webamp.org three years ago.
But we didn’t mention the interactive, browser-based version of Winamp.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:52 PM - 10 comments

Less a Climate Warning, More a Prediction

A ProPublica piece that looks at an article from Nature Sustainability Quantifying the human cost of global warming that dares to ask what if the human cost was the lens that we used to evaluate climate change impacts?
posted by Ignorantsavage at 7:07 PM - 4 comments

"PGA Tour's goodwill is substantially connected to human rights issues."

The PGA has announced a merger (PGA site, NYT) with Saudi-backed LIV Golf. [more inside]
posted by box at 10:20 AM - 78 comments

Overlooked! A detail in The Shining that you’ve never seen...

Stanley Kubrick scholar Filippo Ulivieri shares a hidden, almost subliminal aspect of Jack Nicholson's performance in The Shining: quick, unsettling glances that break the fourth wall. (SLYT)
posted by swift at 10:07 AM - 63 comments

Free + Food + Work = Bedlam

Once again, Ask A Manager's Alison Green has asked her readers for their crazy work stories - this time regarding free food at work, and what it does to people's minds. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:33 AM - 105 comments

Happy birthday, Sweden

Happy birthday, Sweden, which is celebrating 500 years as a nation today on June 6, which became National Day in 1983 and an official public holiday in 2004. One reason the date of 6 June was chosen because it is the day in 1523 when Sweden became independent of the Union of Kalmar, which had formerly united Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It was a genuine new start for Sweden, and it was the occasion of their electing Gustav Vasa as their king and adopting their own flag. The second reason for choosing 6 June is that, in 1809, Sweden adopted a new constitution on that date. The tradition of celebrating 6 June as Flag Day began in the 1890s, when Artur Hazelius held such celebrations at his Stockholm-based open-air museum named “Skansen.” [more inside]
posted by Bella Donna at 8:42 AM - 23 comments

Eventually even the worst stuff crosses the US-Canada border

Inside the fundamentalist Christian movement that wants to remake Canadian politics. TW: anti-trans comments, suicide [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 8:27 AM - 38 comments

“Try feet, but...?”

The Many Feet of The Lands Between: A collection of the many feet you'll encounter on your journey through the Lands Between. [Steam Community][SFW] “Elden Ring is full of hard bosses, esoteric secrets, and weird exploits, but the current top guide on the game’s Steam page isn’t about any of that. It’s about feet. The fleshy pads come in all different shapes and sizes, and Elden Ring, like the Souls games before it, is full of them. So of course someone decided to document each pair, and now Steam users can’t get enough of them. “The Many Feet of The Lands Between,” reads the title of the current most popular guide. The collection, curated by Steam user Mister B, has over 70 entries, from Fia’s long narrow tootsies to the Mad Pumpkin Head’s gnarly arches. There are zero descriptions; it’s all just names and images, and it keeps getting updated with new content. The guide has a perfect five out of five stars and over 500 ratings.” [via: Kotaku]
posted by Fizz at 8:26 AM - 10 comments

I Want to be an It Girl. It Girls Are Startups, & Startups Need Funding

"Listen, if you’ve never had any scandals, my advice would be to continue to have none. But if you’ve had one, have as many more as you can. It’s the Kardashian, Trumpian information overload fatigue. There’s a point where people can’t retain enough information to remember every little scandal. Whereas if you have one scandal, people remember, and it defines you.” from Caroline Calloway Survived Cancellation. Now She’s Doubling Down by Lili Anolik [Vanity Fair; ungated] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 7:35 AM - 39 comments

I like that I am heard before I am seen.

Happy Pride Month! So, another artist suggested by wowenthusiast is anonymous Brooklyn rapper Leikeli47 [Wikipedia]. She recently completed her Beauty trilogy with the album Shape Up [YT playlist, Pitchfork review]. Leikeli spoke with NPR's Sidney Madden [44m] about the new album, her outlook and philosophy, and her struggles for authenticity. She did a set for NPR Music's 15h Anniversary [23m] that was so fire that Uproxx had to write about it. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:10 AM - 5 comments

Rest in Violence

Blaseball is shutting down after The Game Band concluded that it wasn't sustainable. They had been tooling up for its third age, titled the "Coronation Era," and had planned mobile apps as part of the experience. They even came out of siesta for a brief time, only to go right back into hiatus after deeming their effort not up to the quality they were aiming for. Laid off staff are being given severance pay, extended health care and help in finding work. The news on: Destructoid, Rock Paper Shotgun, Gamespot, The Verge.
posted by JHarris at 12:05 AM - 22 comments

Spatial Facial

Apple Vision Pro: I Tried the New Mixed-Reality Headset [ungated] - "At the end of the demo, I took off the headset and felt two things: 1) Wow. Very cool. 2) Did I just do drugs?" [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 12:00 AM - 208 comments

June 5

I want to believe

Intelligence Officials Say U.S. Has Retrieved Craft of Non-Human Origin (The Debrief, Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal*)

* Two former NYTimes reporters on the UFO beat. [more inside]
posted by pjenks at 8:04 PM - 210 comments

"The bats have left the bell tower"

Former F.B.I agent turned spy Robert Hanssen has died. [more inside]
posted by clavdivs at 4:17 PM - 19 comments

“You're all corrupt, you're all depraved...”

Einstein a Go-Go (alternative link) was a 1981 UK #5 song by Landscape (formed in 1975). A live performance, some background in this post and comments, and a 1979 feature on Tomorrows World. The extended mix. Also by Landscape: (My name is) Norman Bates.
posted by Wordshore at 2:04 PM - 9 comments

"Women, millennials, and “dudes with beards and tattoos.” W, M, D."

Millennials just keep voting (NYT gift). But will they move to the right (NYT gift)? Maybe (WaPo gift), maybe not (New York).
posted by box at 10:03 AM - 55 comments

One of these days...

Here's our uncreatively framed Monday free thread. One of these days I'll get it together.
posted by Gorgik at 8:48 AM - 61 comments

I love electric vehicles[...] But increasingly I feel duped.

Gifted comedian, actor, car lover, and .... electrical engineer? [more inside]
posted by ZakDaddy at 8:25 AM - 92 comments

Space hack

Assuming the weather and engineering gods cooperate, a US government-funded satellite Moonlighter will launch [today], hitching a ride on a SpaceX rocket. And in roughly two months, five teams of DEF CON hackers will do their best to successfully remotely infiltrate and hijack the satellite while it's in space. The idea being to try out offensive and defensive techniques and methods on actual in-orbit hardware and software, which we imagine could help improve our space systems. [more inside]
posted by sardonyx at 7:29 AM - 10 comments

it's never been easy but societal growth and progress can and does occur

Being a Gay Game Developer [YouTube] “To all of my fellow members of the LGBTQ+ community, happy Pride. Being queer these days is a whirlwind of emotions, some very positive and hopeful, and others not so much. Our history is one of courage and struggle, a struggle that continues today. And in this fight, it’s essential to learn from the experiences of our queer elders, both to learn what has changed, and what work remains. One such elder is legendary game designer Tim Cain, who has recently published a video discussing his many years in the game industry as a gay man, and his journey from closeted life to being out to the world. Perhaps best known as the creator of the original Fallout games in the 1990s, Tim Cain has had a storied career in the games industry. [...] Though he knew from a young age that he was gay, Cain stayed in the closet for many years, only coming out in the 2000s after The Temple of Elemental Evil. In a recent YouTube video, he documented that journey from closeted to visible.” [via: Kotaku]
posted by Fizz at 6:49 AM - 3 comments

Fantastically Disruptive, But Extremely Difficult to Copy

Paying employees equally no matter where they live is a reflection of today’s internet labor market—a global landscape of suppliers and buyers who connect as if they were on the same street. “There’s a lively debate in big companies about flat salaries across geography, and, of course, I think everyone should do it,” says Rasch. “People often counter the policy with points about the different costs of living, but put simply, is it fair to pay someone who lives in a poorer part of town a lower salary? No.” from The Company Where Every Employee Earns the Same [Wired; ungated]
posted by chavenet at 6:08 AM - 55 comments

In American Indie Wrestling, Bodies Are Cheap And Healthcare Is Not

This is the gamble every wrestler makes: that someday he or she might be the one flat on their back watching the world collapse upon them. Everyone knows this. Everyone’s seen it. Nobody stops working. (archive.today link)
posted by Etrigan at 5:59 AM - 3 comments

F*ck 7th Grade

Happy Pride Month! wowenthusiast reminded me that Jill Sobule [Wikipedia] kissed a girl way back in 1995 and everybody noticed. It's been too many years since then for this post, but what is she up to today? She's written an off-Broadway play! [Playbill] It was really well-reviewed, enough for multiple extensions in 2022 and even a brief revival earlier this year [Off-off review]. Here she talks to GLAAD about the show and her career [15m, annoying musical bed]. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:07 AM - 4 comments

Swinemeeper

Do your part and help set up a game of Minesweeper [flash friday]
posted by DoctorFedora at 1:07 AM - 12 comments

June 4

"Scent back in time: how ancient odours can bring the past to life"

Article from Current Archaeology about Aroma Prime, a company which creates historical smells for museums, theme parks and care homes. Their products include the smells of dinosaurs, dodos, mummification, candlemakers, ether, vintage sweets and the Wicker Man.
posted by paduasoy at 11:57 PM - 20 comments

Maybe it isn’t Picasso

“You know, everybody’s taste in art is different. But that’s not the point.” When the Neighbors Don’t Share Your Vision (And Your Vision Includes Giant Transformer Statues). [NYT gift link]
posted by Mchelly at 9:23 PM - 41 comments

Irritator challengeri fossils may have been illegally removed

A large predatory dinosaur related to Spinosaurus may have scooped up prey "like a pelican" by extending its lower jaw, European researchers propose in a new study. But the findings have upset some paleontologists who contest that the fossils were illegally taken from Brazil and should be returned to their country of origin. [more inside]
posted by brundlefly at 5:38 PM - 8 comments

Bored in the pandemic, she made art by bruising bananas.

Amazing what you can do with a banana, a pin, and a comb. Samples and Galleries
posted by BWA at 8:01 AM - 15 comments

“That not beginner’s luck then?”

A delightful thread by a serious amateur cricketer who found themself unexpectedly drafted in to make up the numbers in a village cricket match (Twitter).
posted by tomcooke at 7:16 AM - 37 comments

Rizz-ible

A word survives and thrives because it continues to quench an explanatory thirst; it meets a need or desire. And any word carefully examined will reveal itself to be a wormhole — an ongoing exchange between the past and the present. The prevalence of charisma implies a widespread belief in the power of it, and also in the ability of extraordinary individuals to change history. Weber’s terms still echo: Something magical and dangerous, something unfathomable, is afoot when charisma is present. “The pertinent question,” pondered the cultural theorist John Potts, “is not whether charisma actually exists, but why it exists.” from The Secret History And Strange Future Of Charisma by Joe Zadeh
posted by chavenet at 6:05 AM - 9 comments

The Archandroid Is Back With New Programming

Happy Pride Month! Longtime MeFi favorite Janelle Monáe has been in process for years. Their newest singles Lipstick Lover [3m26s, possibly age restricted, clean version] and Float continue the unpeeling, unveiling of her current incarnation, a goddess of Pleasure. Janelle sits with Angie Martinez to talk [55m] about where they are now, how they got here, and what they're thinking about with the new album [Jun 9!] and tour. Similarly, here is a print interview with OUT Magazine about this new phase in their presentation. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:06 AM - 13 comments

« Older posts