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When mostly men went to college? Prestigious. Aspirational. Important. Now that mostly women go to college? Unnecessary. De-valued. A bad choice. from Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? [Matriarchal Blessing]
posted by chavenet at 12:17 AM - 9 comments

Elders bring home sacred Indigenous artefacts held in UK museum for 120 years. Warumungu artefacts, including a famous boomerang, are being returned to country in Central Australia in an emotional milestone for the community.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:38 PM - 1 comment

blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara Desert, nourishing some of its most drought-stricken regions with more water than many had seen in decades [aljazeera]
posted by HearHere at 11:32 PM - 0 comments

Watch game reviewer Raptor be endlessly delighted by the simple, elegant building game Tiny Glade. [more inside]
posted by ishmael at 9:55 PM - 3 comments

Old cigarette lighters are more than just lighters. A one minute video showing the imaginative design and function of cigarette lighters from the last century. No smoking involved.
posted by storybored at 9:04 PM - 9 comments

Government highway agencies have enabled the blatant falsification of traffic model results. As a result, the United States wastes billions on road expansions that fail to cure congestion and make it harder to get around without a car.
posted by ursus_comiter at 8:18 PM - 10 comments

Young Marble Giants Live at the Western Front November 6, 1980

What it says on the tin
posted by y2karl at 4:24 PM - 10 comments

On October 3, Judge Elizabeth Riles of the Superior Court of Alameda County (Calif.) granted, with a few caveats, Small Press Distribution’s motion to consolidate all claims in their dissolution, totaling $316,000 owed to 163 publishers, most of whom are unlikely to receive much of what is owed them (previously). Under the fold, a roundup of 25 new books by former SPD presses. [more inside]
posted by joannemerriam at 3:27 PM - 2 comments

Altruism, or doing nice things for others, is “something very deeply ingrained in our psyche,” says Ghodsee. “But the minute you introduce economics into it, you actually diminish the experience of that friendship,” she says. According to her, the expectation of ‘reciprocity’ can do more harm than good. “You do favours so at some future moment when you’re in need, that person will return the favour, right? This is the reason we call friends ‘toxic’, because there are some people who take, take, take, and then never give back,” she explains. While of course it’s fair (and sensible) to take a step back from a relationship if you feel as if it’s draining you, it’s generally a good idea to resist the temptation to ‘keep score’ with your closest friends. from Is frugality ruining our friendships? [Dazed]
posted by chavenet at 12:22 PM - 34 comments

FAKE DOCUMENTARY Q is a subtle, slow-burn psychological horror mockumentary series from Japan, consisting of a series of 22 standalone episodes "sourced" from old VHS tapes, security camera footage, answering machine messages, and more, all forming a loosely-linked narrative which can be watched in any order: CURSED VIDEO - BASEMENT - THE PORTRAIT - INFERNO - NO FICTION - THE VISIT - SANCTUARY - STRANGE MESSAGES - HOUSE OF MIRRORS - EXORCISM - HIDDEN LINK - LAST COUNTDOWN - PASSENGERS - WHAT THE DECEASED LEFT BEHIND - FLOWER OFFERING - OBSCURE - PLAN C - BIVOUAC - TAKE100 - MINDSEEKER - MOTHER - LIVESTREAM. English subtitles are available for all entries. More: Fake Documentary Q: Gateway into Modern Japanese Horror
posted by Rhaomi at 11:24 AM - 2 comments

Wednesday: I apply to, interview for, and begin an apprenticeship as an electrician. ...I then whittle the fallen log into a tasteful mid-century modern footstool... Friday: I wake up blindfolded and handcuffed to what feels like the mast of a ship [pointsincase]
posted by HearHere at 8:55 AM - 28 comments

"At the beginning of the process, Ruby provided a few insights that guided my image research and initial concepts. She envisioned the cover with a comet as the central motif, and also suggested evoking old newspaper headlines from historical comets and cosmic events, wanting to evoke a feeling of mystery, even a kind of haunting. So off I went to scour the internet for paintings, etchings, and illustrations of celestial events, mining the cultural history of comets, as well as contemporary paintings, photographs, and scientific diagrams to see where inspiration would strike."
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:42 AM - 6 comments

It takes quite a lot to re-wire the brain from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset. You're basically biologically wired to be afraid of running out of resources (and for good historical reason) - so it's pretty hard to recognize the massive abundance you live in, were you to be fortunate enough to be in the spot I illustrated. from Net Worth Order Book [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:13 AM - 20 comments

Heritage-listed, 120-hectare (296 acres) private property handed back to traditional owners. The Walbunja people of the New South Wales far south coast have been handed back an important piece of their culture, once owned by the late environmental activist, academic and philosopher Val Plumwood.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:24 PM - 3 comments

Interview with Neurologist Warren McCulloch. (slyt)
posted by clavdivs at 6:43 PM - 5 comments

On 8th June 1924 British mountaineers George Mallory and Sandy Irvine were seen ‘going strong for the top’ of Mt Everest. They were never seen alive again and it's been a hot button in climbing circles whether they died before or after reaching the summit: 29 years before Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary definitely stood on top of the world. Mallory's body was discovered in 1999. Sandy Irvine's foot has just been found melting out of a glacier. [more inside]
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:54 PM - 29 comments

Ed Yong gives a more personal talk than his usual fare, describing the overall arc of his journalism on COVID, the principles he follows, and where he goes from here. Previously, previously, previously.
posted by toastyk at 1:20 PM - 5 comments

“What the FBI uncovered in this case is essentially a new twist to old-school financial crime,” Jodi Cohen, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said in a statement. “What we uncovered has resulted in charges against the leadership of four cryptocurrency companies, and four crypto ‘market makers’ and their employees who are accused of spearheading a sophisticated trading scheme that allegedly bilked honest investors out of millions of dollars.”
posted by chavenet at 12:14 PM - 26 comments

Writing for Ars Technica, automotive editor Jonathan Gitlin covers Tesla's "We, Robot" event in which the car maker revealed their Cybercab prototypes, as well as their autonomous "Robovan" minibus concept. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:55 AM - 55 comments

These native species were locally extinct but are now reclaiming their desert homeland. A number of native animals, extinct in New South Wales for more than 100 years, are reclaiming the desert in Sturt National Park and scientists are trying to teach them how to survive predators like feral cats.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:15 AM - 4 comments

"I’m Blake Watson. I’ve been building websites since the early 2000s. Though I work professionally in the field, I feel strongly that anyone should be able to make a website with HTML if they want. This (free web) book will teach you how to do just that. It doesn’t require any previous experience making websites or coding. I will cover everything you need to know to get started in an approachable and friendly way. Ready? Let’s do it!" [more inside]
posted by JHarris at 2:16 AM - 61 comments

Formally, Ghana prohibits the import of many forms of hazardous e-waste material. But the team found that a well-placed bribe can get port officials to look the other way. As a result, informal e-waste sites are growing across Ghana’s coast. There, both functional and non-functional e-waste get dumped into vast piles that are encroaching on residential areas. Thousands of “pickers” come to these sites, picking through the rubbish to separate items that might be repaired from waste that could contain valuable minerals. from Stunning photos of a vast e-waste dumping ground — and those who make a living off it [NPR] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:13 AM - 4 comments

The queen of suspense: how Ann Radcliffe inspired Dickens and Austen – then got written out of the canon - "She was all but forgotten. Now the 18th-century author's republished novels reveal why she made such an extraordinary contribution to literature." [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 10:49 PM - 20 comments

An Enormous Photo of the Moon Zooms in on the Cratered Lunar Topography in Incredible Detail From Colossal: Following four days of continuous observation, Darya Kawa Mirza captured the moon and its rugged surface in exceptional detail. The self-taught Kurdish astrophotographer amassed 81,000 images, which he stitched into a 708-gigabyte composite revealing the intricacies of the lunar topography in stunningly high resolution.
posted by aleph at 9:53 PM - 10 comments

There are birds that vomit on anything that threatens their nest. Faking injuries and vomit attacks are on the list of defences birds use against predators during nesting season.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:02 PM - 9 comments

Miss USA, an Army Officer, Has a New Mission: The Chicago Marathon West Point alum and current Stanford University student pursuing a master's in data science, Alma Cooper will compete in Miss Universe next month—but first, she’ll run 26.2 miles to raise money to end gender-based violence. [more inside]
posted by hydropsyche at 6:03 PM - 11 comments

We deserve better than an AI-powered future.
posted by signal at 4:52 PM - 39 comments

"My name is Danny Pennington, I'm 48 years old, and between 1988 and 1995 I was a ninja in the Foot Clan."
posted by mhoye at 2:27 PM - 17 comments

The Price: America is Updating Its Nuclear Weapons Systems (slNYT) (Archive) Part of the Series: The Brink (archive)
posted by lalochezia at 11:01 AM - 45 comments

Sea sawdust clue in controlling crown-of-thorns starfish. The Coral Sea off Mackay in north Queensland has turned shades of brown, green and pink with bacteria dubbed sea sawdust. It could hold the key to cracking the puzzle of crown-of-thorns starfish outbreaks on the Great Barrier Reef.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:49 AM - 5 comments

T. S. Eliot’s Classic Modernist Poem The Waste Land Gets Adapted into Comic-Book Form
posted by y2karl at 9:41 AM - 16 comments

Here are the Internet forums that are still alive and kicking and full of information and interesting people. [more inside]
posted by jessamyn at 9:33 AM - 65 comments

This week's female-fronted metalcore post starts out strong with SeeYouSpaceCowboy "Lubricant Like Kerosene" (ft. Kim Dracula) (might be mildly NSFW) . [more inside]
posted by signal at 5:48 AM - 3 comments

Han Kang is this year's Nobel laureate in literature. She is best known internationally for her novel The Vegetarian, which won the International Booker in Deborah Smith's translation, but she has published steadily since 1993. You can read one of her short stories in The New Yorker, as well as a short interview with her about it, and another story in Granta. She was interviewed a few years ago in the White Review, when Human Acts was published. Her latest novel is Greek Lessons, which has been called a departure from her otherwise transgressive, intense novels, reaching for something unspeakable. For news updates, the Literary Saloon will expand its blogpost throughout the day.
posted by Kattullus at 4:22 AM - 11 comments

India's version of The Onion. WARNING: Its spicy!. [more inside]
posted by rubatan at 4:20 AM - 8 comments

To many, the Internet Archive is its own kind of sanctuary — a vestige of a bygone internet built on openness and access, a Silicon Valley standout interested not in series funding or shareholder value, but the preservation of any piece of the cultural record it can get. But to the corporations and people that own the copyrights to large swaths of that record, the Internet Archive is like a pirate ship stuffed with digital plunder. Two lawsuits have brought these long-simmering tensions to the courts and public consciousness, with financial repercussions in the hundreds of millions that could bring down the internet’s greatest library. from Inside the $621 Million Legal Battle for the ‘Soul of the Internet’ [Rolling Stone; ungated] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 12:40 AM - 67 comments

"Entire ecosystem" of fossils 8.7m years old found under Los Angeles high school. Researchers find two sites with fossils including saber-toothed salmon and megalodon, the huge prehistoric shark.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:07 PM - 13 comments

An intelligent digital agent could be a companion for life—and other predictions for the next 125 years
posted by blue_beetle at 7:41 PM - 35 comments

65 Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics: What We Saw in Gaza (NYT). I thought I was numb to this sort of news, but apparently not.
posted by brendano at 6:52 PM - 19 comments

The 2024 Nobel physics prize has gone to two pioneers in machine learning. US scientist John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday, October 8, for discoveries and inventions in machine learning that paved the way for the artificial intelligence boom [Reuters]. Their work was begun in the 1980s. The Atlantic's take: Of course AI just got a Nobel Prize. [archive.org] [more inside]
posted by acridrabbit at 5:51 PM - 42 comments

Holy cow! 40 years ago today: I ate the 72 oz steak at the Big Texan in Amarillo, Texas "First, as time passed, the steak was getting cold and the juices started to solidify. Second, my jaw was getting really tired and chewing became more difficult. I started cutting the remainder of the steak into 1 inch by 1-inch chunks. I starting chewing them, taking a swig of beer to quickly wash it down, but I was running out of time..." [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 1:51 PM - 59 comments

"The decision to transfer the [Chagos I]slands to their new owner will result in the loss of one of the tech and gaming industry’s preferred top-level domains: .io." [more inside]
posted by hanov3r at 1:06 PM - 27 comments

Didn't vote in 2020? Get paid up to $100 right now if you apologize to America and make your voting plan. If you didn't vote in 2020, Cards Against Humanity will PAY you to apologize, make a voting plan, and publicly post "Donald Trump is a human toilet"—up to $100 if you live in a swing state and lean blue. [more inside]
posted by mecran01 at 12:29 PM - 34 comments

Corn sweat is real. Corn draws in water, then releases it into the air through evaporation. And all that moisture produced by more than 90 million acres of corn nationwide can make it more humid.
posted by cupcakeninja at 12:29 PM - 26 comments

To further commemorate the 30th anniversary of their 40x Platinum-certified album Dookie, Green Day has announced the launch of their new project “Dookie Demastered”—re-releasing the album into 15 “obscure, obsolete or bizarre formats”. [more inside]
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:20 PM - 24 comments

'Buffalo' is a new music video by Hurray for the Riff Raff (SLYT).
posted by box at 11:28 AM - 5 comments

"MyLifeElsewhere is a collaborative community that allows you to compare the country you live in with other countries around the world. We'll show you various statistics that differentiate your country from others, including cost of living, geographic size, and more." [more inside]
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:57 AM - 9 comments

Enjoy the Library of Congress' Magazine back issues for free. See for example, Great Photographs. And Brilliant Broadway. Or A Century of Fashion. The task of Saving the Sounds. Perhaps Secrets Revealed. [more inside]
posted by storybored at 10:46 AM - 6 comments

Ugly Nasty Commie Bitch
Rich People
Be Good
Backbone
[more inside]
posted by y2karl at 9:48 AM - 23 comments

Two teens got caught up in a system unprepared to handle kids on either side of the drug trade. (slProPublica) - CW: teenage death, drug use
posted by Kitteh at 7:12 AM - 10 comments