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'Glow' Star Betty Gilpin: What It's Like to Have Pea-Sized Confidence With Watermelon-Sized Boobs. An essay touching on struggles many women face, and how the entertainment industry can also intensify them.
posted by smoke at 10:08 PM PST - 20 comments

An island colony of swimming wolves, genetically distinct from the mainland variety, is something that delights me.
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:40 PM PST - 10 comments

The Spring 2017 issue of Big Echo features five literary responses to the short fiction of Arthur C. Clarke. Among them is Vajra Chandrasekera's short story "The Negation of the Negation of the Negation," which builds on the events of Clarke's well-known story "The Nine Billion Names of God" (HTML; PDF).
posted by Wobbuffet at 7:29 PM PST - 12 comments

"Don't speed"... "Don't drink and drive" ... what do they know about me and my body? Toby Morris (previously) explains the cognition of denial.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 6:58 PM PST - 29 comments

Jay-Z Releases His Personal and Political Album ‘4:44’ on Tidal [The New York Times] “Jay-Z is back, and he is vulnerable. But for now, his secrets are digital exclusive . This veteran Brooklyn rapper, 47, ended weeks of speculation near midnight on Thursday, releasing “4:44,” his 13th studio album, as a digital exclusive on that streaming service, which he bought in 2015. The album — Jay-Z’s first since “Magna Carta ... Holy Grail” in 2013 — features 10 intensely personal and provocative tracks that, yes, include a few references to the marriage-baring “Lemonade” album by his wife, Beyoncé, and the recent birth of their twins.”
posted by Fizz at 5:55 PM PST - 19 comments

Rolling Stone recently released their list of the top 100 metal albums of all time, and it is perhaps the least horrifyingly wrong top-whatever list ever created. [more inside]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 4:17 PM PST - 127 comments

Meet Purrli. Previously seen on the blue, the new Internet Cat has much more customization. From the creator of MyNoise. Now you can get all the benefits of a purring cat, without the drawbacks... until he adds a 'hacking up a hairball' slider, at any rate.
posted by The otter lady at 3:32 PM PST - 10 comments

RIP Gary DeCarlo, who sang the lead vocals on the stadium classic Kiss Him Goodbye (1969). Billboard obit; No no no Newt (1996) (one of a zillion parodies)
posted by Melismata at 2:03 PM PST - 6 comments

One great way to get ready for the Animaniacs reboot is to listen to "Yakko's World"... sung by the movies.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:59 PM PST - 15 comments

Darwin is a city in Meeker County, Minnesota, United States. The population
was 350 at the 2010 census. It is one of several places claiming to be home of the
largest ball of twine in the world.

You can go west (Darwin Township, Meeker County, Minnesota).

>_
posted by nebulawindphone at 1:53 PM PST - 25 comments

Never-Before-Published Hannah Arendt on What Freedom and Revolution Really Mean.
posted by sapagan at 12:51 PM PST - 3 comments

A new geopolitics based on emerging tech. After sharing some commonplaces about AI, Kai-Fu Lee (Carnegie Mellon, Microsoft, Google China, now venture capital) offers an intriguing idea. Maybe China and the United States will evolve into new forms of planetary hegemons thanks to their AI supremacy. [more inside]
posted by doctornemo at 12:10 PM PST - 20 comments

The end of the Long 90s For the last 30 years, what David Goodhart called “the two liberalisms” have prevailed, the economic liberalism of the right and the social liberalism of the left, “Margaret Thatcher tempered by Roy Jenkins.” The Conservatives concentrated on deregulation, union busting and privatisation, while talking tough, but avoiding any action on, on immigration, political correctness and traditional values. Meanwhile, Labour focused on a socially liberal agenda without attempting to roll back the economic gains of the right. It was almost as though a tacit deal had been struck; you can have diversity, minority rights and discrimination laws if we can have privatisation, deregulation and tax cuts. The effect was to take policies that were popular with the public off the agenda on the grounds that they were publicly unacceptable.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:02 PM PST - 17 comments

Lin-Manuel Miranda gets together with ?uestlove and Black Thought to announce the release of The Hamilton Instrumentals, and to freestyle a bit. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:58 AM PST - 7 comments

In February 2017, a scared and badly injured stray cat walked up to Anelida, the compassionate human belonging to Santi the angora cat and Walter the golden retriever. The vocal feline then let out a series of plaintive meows that indicated he was in a great deal of pain and needed help (cw: fresh cat injury). Don't miss the forty-day-update video at the bottom. [h/t Miss Cellania]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:39 AM PST - 24 comments

In which a Swedish golfer is interrupted by a playful elk (SLFacebook video). When the young elk started chasing him, he ran, all while his friends laughed at him.
posted by orrnyereg at 9:28 AM PST - 27 comments

The Cyberspace we Forgot - the Neuromancer computer game.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:18 AM PST - 40 comments

Kelan Phil Cohran has died. The pioneering jazz musician was a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra, a cofounder of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, a teacher, and the father of lots of equally talented children. Haven’t heard his music and unsure where to start? Here’s a primer from Zaid Mudhaffer, or just jump into this huge Youtube playlist. (previously)
posted by goatdog at 9:12 AM PST - 9 comments

Even within America’s imperfect health system, death in childbirth is not an inevitability. The American maternal mortality rate has been increasing. But thanks to Stanford's California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC), it's dropping in California -- now at 7.3 deaths per 100,000, half of what it was in 2006. Why is it so high in the rest of America? And what is California doing to make childbirth safer for women?
posted by Hypatia at 8:19 AM PST - 17 comments

CBO released their review of the Senate's version of Trumpcare, titled Better Care Reconciliation Act, forecasting 22 million people without insurance in 2026, and Medicaid spending 35% lower in 2036. Just 12% of Americans support the Senate Republican health care plan, and the Senate is taking a break, delaying the vote and regrouping, while Trump teases that there's a "big surprise" in store, which may be the plan to bypass the congressional conference committee and ram the revised Senate plan through the House. But we haven't even gotten to Trump's latest inflammatory tweets, or the already contested plan to implement the newly semi-approved travel ban. What the f**k just happened today?
posted by filthy light thief at 8:00 AM PST - 2890 comments

In the Ardmaddy Wishing-Tree Project folklorist Ceri Houlbrook details her excavation of 700 coins which had fallen out of a coin or "wishing" tree near Ardmaddy Castle in Scotland. In addition to documenting these coin encrusted trees, Houlbrook has a larger project The Concealed Reveal which focuses on things deliberately hidden and then found. (prev.)
posted by jessamyn at 7:52 AM PST - 3 comments

Rick & Morty season 3 is finally announced! (7/30) [slyt]
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:18 AM PST - 28 comments

Which word begins with “y” and looks like an axe in this picture? ... the english stackexchange investigate (via)
posted by motdiem2 at 7:00 AM PST - 30 comments

Haren mixes, combines, collaborates, composes lo-fi and chill tunes for your ears (slsc) [more inside]
posted by rebent at 5:50 AM PST - 9 comments

Thore Haugstad writes about the early life and career of Alex Ferguson before he took up the managerial role at Manchester United that he became most famous for. [more inside]
posted by Dim Siawns at 1:23 AM PST - 4 comments

The purpose of the thought leader is to mirror, systematize, and popularize the delusions of the superrich: that they have earned their fortunes on merit, that social protections need to be further eviscerated to make everyone more flexible for “the future,” and that local attachments and alternative ways of living should be replaced by an aspirational consumerism. The thought leader aggregates these fundamental convictions into a great humanitarian mission. David Sessions writes 3000 words for The New Republic.
posted by cgc373 at 11:46 PM PST - 58 comments

Self-driving potato (SLYT, via hackaday)
posted by ckape at 8:18 PM PST - 23 comments

The Tearoom as a record of risky business (NSFW) The Tearoom is a historical public bathroom simulator about anxiety, police surveillance, and sucking off other dudes' guns. In it, you basically cruise other willing strangers for sex, and try to have some fun without getting caught by undercover police. It's heavily inspired by Laud Humphreys' epic Tearoom Trade (1970), a meticulous 180 page sociological study of men who have quick anonymous sex with men in public bathrooms ("tearooms" in US, "cottages" in UK), along with interviews, diagrams, and derived "rules" for participating in the tearoom trade. [more inside]
posted by CrystalDave at 6:14 PM PST - 15 comments

Anita Sarkeesian's astounding 'garbage human' moment. [Polygon] “The panel's first question drops. It’s about why feminism — online and in games — is an issue worthy of discussion. Sarkeesian notes Benjamin's presence and begins speaking. "If you Google my name on YouTube you get shitheads like this dude who are making these dumb-assed videos," she says. "They just say the same shit over and over again. I hate to give you attention because you're a garbage human. These dudes just making endless videos that go after every feminist over and over again is a part of the issue of why we have to have these conversations." The crowd gives her a positive response, with some whoops and cheers.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 4:31 PM PST - 135 comments

Washington Post: "I’m a young, female doctor. Calling me ‘sweetie’ won’t help me save your life." [more inside]
posted by jazzbaby at 4:22 PM PST - 18 comments

Emma Watson has been hiding copies of Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale around Paris, with a handwritten note inside each one. This is a continuation of Watson's previous work with Book Fairies, an international organization that leaves books in public places in 100 different countries for people to find, read, and then pass along to someone else. On International Women's Day this year, in collaboration with Book Fairies, Watson hid copies of feminist books at historical sites around New York City. It also dovetails with Watson's general interest in reading and promoting feminist literature: in January 2016, she launched a public feminist book club called Our Shared Shelf; here is her full list of books for 2016. [more inside]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:18 PM PST - 44 comments

Designers et al hate Comic Sans but regular folk like it—so here's a new font for everybody.
posted by MovableBookLady at 1:13 PM PST - 58 comments

A beautiful data animation shows the unprecedented development of China’s rail system. (Scroll down past the bar graph). [more inside]
posted by storybored at 12:11 PM PST - 10 comments

A Big Dumb Button.
posted by loquacious at 10:58 AM PST - 34 comments

Kito Fujio takes pictures of Japanese playgrounds.
posted by jenkinsEar at 10:40 AM PST - 18 comments

It's possible with lambs. Are people next? Where will science and bioethics take us in the near future?
posted by OneSmartMonkey at 10:28 AM PST - 19 comments

All the "wellness" products Americans love to buy that are sold on both Infowars and Goop.
posted by Cash4Lead at 9:13 AM PST - 98 comments

Then it stumbles through the broken streets of all your hopes and piddles on your foot
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:02 AM PST - 135 comments

What happened when a peaceable, devout community in 19th century rural south-west Wales was pushed too far by falling wages, rapacious rentierism, unfair taxation, draconian poverty laws, and official disdain? "The 1840s agricultural unrest known as the Rebecca riots is remembered as having been an unqualified success and, most famously, as having been carried out on horseback at night by men dressed, for some reason, like our grandmothers."
posted by Devonian at 7:29 AM PST - 4 comments

In the middle of the night, a group of Indigenous people and supporters erected a tipi on Ottawa's Parliament Hill, despite police efforts to stop them, immediately before celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Canada's confederation are to begin. [more inside]
posted by ITheCosmos at 7:18 AM PST - 4 comments

Bouncy castle boss used firebombing campaign to get jump on rivals, court told
posted by jlittlew at 6:47 AM PST - 25 comments

National Geographic's Travel Photographer of the Year contest ends Friday. The Atlantic has samples here and here. For the rest of the photos, visit the galleries.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:58 PM PST - 6 comments

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg talks about returning to work after her husband’s death and the research about resilience with psychology professor Adam Grant. Insightful thoughts for when we grieve, and when people we are care for are grieving.
posted by smoke at 8:17 PM PST - 3 comments

With the (mostly) successful launch of the game's second major expansion, Stormblood and a player population second only to reigning genre king World of Warcraft, it is easy now to say that Final Fantasy XIV is a well executed and successful MMO. But the game reaching this level of success is an amazing story of how a game that was panned and derided at its original launch in 2010 was brought back and remade into the title we see today through an incredible multiyear process built on the dedication of the development team. To showcase what that effort took, crowdfunded documentary team NoClip went to Japan to speak with key members of the FFXIV development staff in their three part documentary on the game's fall, death, and subsequent rebirth. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:32 PM PST - 16 comments

What's with all the bunnies? The timid rabbit occasionally nibbles plants in the garden but usually lives unnoticed on the fringes of our yards. Mowing and raking yards can disturb rabbit nests. Cats and other animals catch and injure small rabbits. Sometimes people see newly independent young rabbits and think that such small creatures can't possibly get along without their mothers. ***squee trigger warning*** [more inside]
posted by shockingbluamp at 4:01 PM PST - 45 comments

From the Hamilton Mixtape: the music video for Immigrants (We Get the Job Done) by K'naan featuring Residente, Riz MC & Snow Tha Product. Directed by Tomás Whitmore.
posted by yasaman at 3:34 PM PST - 42 comments

Diablo III's Necromancer Is The Best Spellcaster Yet [Kotaku] “The Necromancer [YouTube] [Trailer], which launched yesterday as a standalone purchasable class for $15, is an avatar of Diablo 3’s signature darkness. The dungeon-crawler’s gore and corruption are assets of the 20-year-old franchise that, when you’re grinding for levels on end, can fade into the background. After a few hours on Diablo 3, I’ve gone into unthinking destruction mode, killing monster upon monster as if I were a kid stomping on anthills. Diablo 3’s Necromancer lets you embody and manipulate D3’s darkness, and by becoming a part of D3’s morbid world, I felt more connected to it.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 2:43 PM PST - 19 comments

David Kawai makes tiny hand-folded origami cranes. More on his instagram, twitter.
posted by growabrain at 2:29 PM PST - 9 comments

Rumor has it that if an NES Classic touches a mushroom, it grows into a regular-sized NES. If it touches a flower, it might transform into a SNES Classic Edition... or maybe shoot fireballs? Although untested, this method is probably more reliable than attempting to preorder an SNES Classic (which will include Star Fox 2, but not Chrono Trigger). [more inside]
posted by oulipian at 2:22 PM PST - 51 comments

NPR Music's Essential Songs, Albums, Performances And Videos Of 2017 (So Far) isn't going to rank anything. It's just going to explain why. And you'll be glad for it. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 2:20 PM PST - 10 comments

Michael Bond, creator of Paddington Bear, has died aged 91. Paddington, Bond's most famous creation, was immortalised in statue and on film. [more inside]
posted by threetwentytwo at 12:53 PM PST - 43 comments

The Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution "The outburst of the uprising against oppression and tyranny brought on a surge of these remarkable, latent energies, the spontaneous and the organized, in a way never before seen in all of Syria’s years marked by repression and injustice. History relays similar experiences. This project aims to archive all the intellectual and artistic expressions in the age of revolution; it is writing, recording, and collecting stories of the Syrian people, and those experiences through which they have regained meaning of their social, political and cultural lives." [more inside]
posted by mareli at 11:05 AM PST - 4 comments

The Bridge 2017 is a transatlantic race featuring four trimarans and the RMS Queen Mary 2. [more inside]
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:55 AM PST - 3 comments

The ButHows are the bane of my career. "But how could they be lesbians if, but how could they be accepted, but how could they take the risk, but how if there are no hormones, but how if the first surgery was in the '60s, but how if she's never—" Shush. Just shush. She's not going to date you. Stop.

Marguerite Bennett talks about her experiences writing a rather queer comic series based on a line of DC Comics 1940ties themed superheroine statues.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:19 AM PST - 10 comments

Blogger Kate Wagner, known for McMansion Hell which educates and critiques McMansion architecture, was served with a cease and desist from Zillow, just as the McMansion is coming back into style. Thanks to efforts from the EFF, the blog is back up. McMansion Hell, previously, previouslier.
posted by k5.user at 9:45 AM PST - 50 comments

Caravaggio's Fruit is a paper by horticulturist Jules Janick, originally published in Chronica Horticulturae, that examines we can tell about the fruit seen in 11 different paintings of Caravaggio. It includes a discussion of the fruits themselves, even exploring the different cultivars available in late 16th century Italy, and explains many of the fungal, insect, and nutritional causes for the blemishes Caravaggio famously depicted. [more inside]
posted by Copronymus at 8:41 AM PST - 11 comments

So, if Google News is your homepage you got a rather different look the last time you went to it. After seven years, Google has pushed out a redesign "to make news more accessible and easier to navigate". [more inside]
posted by yhbc at 8:34 AM PST - 61 comments

The fourth series of the fabulously otherworldly collaborative fiction project SCP Foundation was opened to submissions in April of this year. From here comes this tale of A Perfectly Normal, Regular Old IKEA. Readers unfamiliar with SCP format may want to just skip to the journal transcript near the bottom
posted by es_de_bah at 8:20 AM PST - 41 comments

US - led attacks in Syria 'kill 472 civilians in a month' The past month saw the highest civilian death toll in US-led coalition air raids since they began, says war monitor.
....as the US enforces its No Fly Zone over Rojava. Just the continuation of six years of genocidal war as Assad, Russia and the US pulverize Syria.
Seven decades, seven facts: US policy on Syria in brief.
What Is Trump's Syria Policy?
posted by adamvasco at 7:59 AM PST - 15 comments

Then Jessica, our server, stops by. She asks if she can get us started with any drinks or appetizers. There’s an awkward pause, like when an acquaintance asks after a recent ex. Waving toward the tablet, I explain we’ve already ordered. I feel guilty that the device could steal her job, but she doesn’t seem to mind.
posted by BekahVee at 7:47 AM PST - 82 comments

Julia Angwin at ProPublica reports on internal documents Facebook uses to train its thousands of human moderators. They contain broad rules for determining who is in a protected class and who is not. [more inside]
posted by ignignokt at 6:09 AM PST - 106 comments

Meredith Gran's webcomic Octopus Pie ended its 10 year run on June 5, 2017. The comic focused on the life of Everest 'Eve' Ning and her other twenty-something friends living in Brooklyn, NY. The comic is known for its emotional reality and experimentation with structure. [more inside]
posted by Quonab at 3:06 AM PST - 29 comments

The Apprehension Engine expresses the emotions that cannot be expressed in other ways, triggering fear with intense sonic methods.[via]
posted by dhruva at 11:59 PM PST - 6 comments

Moneyness is an interesting blog about all things money. Interesting articles:

• When "currency" was an adjective
• How checks work without any banks
• Zimbabwe's three-tier pricing system

posted by Chrysostom at 9:05 PM PST - 20 comments

Going to Orlando? With 29 of your favorite friends? And looking for a place to stay? Why not rent The Captain's Quarters III? You might never even make it to DisneyWorld.
posted by Mchelly at 7:47 PM PST - 94 comments

"...after watching the Washington Nationals relief pitchers blow yet another lead"
posted by dfm500 at 7:45 PM PST - 23 comments

Over at Mathoverflow, user Erin Carmody asked the question "If I exchange infinitely many digits of π and e, are the two resulting numbers transcendental?" The answers given were great, and PBS Infinite Studios made this video about it.
posted by klausman at 5:47 PM PST - 19 comments

mostly dogs mostly showcases the silly, the adorable, the happy and the skillful.
mostly cats, mostly showcases the teensy, the tender, the annoyed and the weird.

Bonus comic: Dogs vs. Cats
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:53 PM PST - 3 comments

Busy each day with thousands or tens of thousands of people, a military base is a mini-city. It has its own police, fire, and recreation departments, and even a “mayor” (the base commander). It has traffic, crime, and pollution, just like a regular city. And its residents are dealing with a major public health concern—obesity. Now the U.S. Department of Defense is looking to the environment of the base itself to get its forces into shape.

posted by Etrigan at 4:28 PM PST - 26 comments

Early American natural historians struggled to establish the validity of their discipline . Europeans such as Count George-Louis Leclerc Buffon, curator of the King’s Natural History Cabinet in France, opined that American species were inherently degenerate and inferior. Thomas Jefferson attempted to change Buffon’s mind by sending him the remains of a large moose. Then, in 1801, the remains of an enormous animal were unearthed on a farm in New York state. It was the Incognitum. [more inside]
posted by carter at 4:22 PM PST - 10 comments

They hit the ground running, toward each other. And there, in the moonlight, they aligned passionately, on the mouth.
posted by ApathyGirl at 4:02 PM PST - 18 comments

All the Marvel Superheroes Who Should Die in Avengers: Infinity War [Nerdist] “Time to kill some superheroes! Marvel boss Kevin Feige confirmed to JoBlo that Avengers: Infinity War [YouTube] [Extended First Look] will be the last appearance for some central figures of the MCU [wiki], which means they might shuffle off their mortal capes or retire to their secret, woodsy homes… or alien planets or state-of-the-art mansion towers. But hopefully a bunch will get killed. Don’t look at me like that! Marvel needs to show some stakes, especially if the long-promised fight against Thanos is going to live up to the hype as something on a scale we’ve never seen before. Considering their longevity, significance, and power, here are the heroes of Infinity War, ranked by killability.”
posted by Fizz at 1:48 PM PST - 96 comments

Frances Goldin, a 93-year-old mother of two lesbians, has been attending the New York City Pride march for nearly 50 years. And each year, she waves the same sign. [more inside]
posted by roger ackroyd at 1:08 PM PST - 11 comments

A quickly spreading ransomware attack is hitting countries across the world including Ukraine, Russia, Spain, France and the United States, just weeks after a ransomware attack known as “WannaCry.” [more inside]
posted by roolya_boolya at 12:32 PM PST - 97 comments

After being knocked unconscious at a soccer game earlier this year, Vancouver's Canuck the Crow (previously here, Facebook page here) is back in action: Canada Post has suspended mail delivery to three addresses after Canuck repeatedly attacked a mail carrier. On one occasion, the carrier was left bleeding. Earlier this week, he caused a flap at a local McDonald's.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:24 PM PST - 25 comments

I feel love: Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder created the template for dance music as we know it
posted by Artw at 12:12 PM PST - 33 comments

Native Land is a resource to help North Americans learn more about their local history. Search a North American address to learn more about native territories, languages, and treaties.
posted by Capt. Renault at 9:26 AM PST - 16 comments

a mere suggestion.... anakin's volcano fight scene w/ obi wan + fireball by pitbull (SLT) [more inside]
posted by AirExplosive at 8:31 AM PST - 41 comments

Ben Folds Composes a New Song Live at the Kennedy Center, w/ Orchestra, in 10 minutes
posted by Navelgazer at 7:49 AM PST - 14 comments

The numerous incarnations of "Turkey in the Straw" (previously) over the course of the song's American history have usually focused either on the rural feel of its folk roots or the silly, irreverent and sometimes offensive lyrics. Yet in post-war Japan, the song began another life where it became known as "Oklahoma Mixer," or オクラホマミキサー, by serving as the musical accompaniment for a line-dancing event in school sports days around the nation for decades. More recently, it even provided the basis for a 2016 hit single. [more inside]
posted by p3t3 at 7:28 AM PST - 16 comments

GreenPiThumb: A Raspberry Pi Gardening Bot
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 6:04 AM PST - 11 comments

Like enormous Victorian steam engines? From pants and coins to beer and paper, goofball Mark Williams gives us a running (sometimes literally running) tour around the UK’s industrial past. After that, we puff on over to the continent with Ronald Top. For your summer binge-ing pleasure, enjoy many hours of Industrial Revelations on YouTube.
posted by functionequalsform at 5:51 AM PST - 12 comments

Under May / there is a gulf that separates us and it seems to gape a little wider every day. / Now watch her pray on every tragedy. / Divide divide and frenzy up the nastiness / The them and us, the human cost / the rising threat / we must be watched / clocked and kept and screamed and blocked. / If this is strength then we’re all fucked / But give them an inch and they’ll set up shop. / I want to create a truly hostile environment. / Her words, not mine. [more inside]
posted by Thella at 4:38 AM PST - 14 comments

The African solar power revolution. [SLNewYorker]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:40 PM PST - 54 comments

Venerable Canadian comedy troupe The Frantics have pored over their entire CBC radio archive for a (planned) 50-part Best Of Frantic Times podcast. Perhaps better known outside Canada for their relatively short-lived TV sketch show Four On The Floor, The Frantics were a four-man comedy troupe most famous for Mister Canoehead, the ubiquitous-for-Doctor-Demento sketch and song Ti Kwan Leep and Boot to the Head, and a fairly well-received Star Trek sketch in the early days of the Just For Laughs comedy festival. Some of the material is... anachronistic is the charitable description; "sexist as hell" is the more accurate label. But for Canadians of a Certain Age, this was the cornerstone of our pre-KiTH comedic development.
posted by Shepherd at 5:39 PM PST - 33 comments

The Bestest in the World. Every city has its beloved local bakeries—places that reliably turn out aromatic loaves of baguette or pumpernickel, small cafes that bake a pie, cupcake, or cookie that you crave daily. [more inside]
posted by shockingbluamp at 4:52 PM PST - 44 comments

[surreal]
posted by adept256 at 4:09 PM PST - 32 comments

"Watching The Motel, a 2005 indie film about a Chinese-American family who own a motel in the middle of nowhere, was a revelation to me. I’ll always come back to the scene in which the mom, as a special dinnertime treat, buys McDonald’s for her family. She carefully unwraps the burgers and cuts them in half, placing each half on top of a bowl of white rice. I have never felt so understood by a movie." Let's Call it Assimilation Food, by Soleil Ho
posted by everybody had matching towels at 3:28 PM PST - 19 comments

Surprisingly cute baby animals (baby stingrays previously). (Sidebar may have NSFW pics)

That is all.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:41 PM PST - 15 comments

Ready for an uncanny tea party? Check out Sarah Duyer's tea sets on arachnid legs. [more inside]
posted by carrioncomfort at 2:23 PM PST - 12 comments

Research has increasingly shown that emotions are contagious. Emotional or affective contagion has been found between mothers and infants [pdf]; in social networks, where moral outrage increases the spread of ideas by 20%; and especially at work. The emotions of a team member can impact the entire team, changing both attitudes and performance. Do you have negative people around you? Two methods to stop negative contagion that seem to work: be calm, as serenity is one of the most contagious emotions, or else ignore them, as attention is critical to the spread of emotions.
posted by blahblahblah at 12:48 PM PST - 26 comments

Kentucky-based Appalachian Mountain Wrestling has graced the world with the presence of “Progressive Liberal” Dan Richards. He definitely isn’t a face. Make sure to check out the Youtube clip linked in the article.
posted by cnanderson at 12:48 PM PST - 38 comments

Grab your robot friends. The Mystery Science Theater 3000 marathon starts now! [Twitch] From June 26 through July 2, you’ll be the subject of a 38-episode experiment to see how long it can take for the human spirit to break after suffering the type of DEEP HURTING that only the worst movies on the planet can provide. We’re even going to pile on the pain with an assortment of vintage educational shorts and other bonus content in between each episode. A running order with the full list of episodes can be found here.
posted by Fizz at 12:23 PM PST - 24 comments

In an ice age, a couple ice ages ago, a forest of cypress trees was lost under the waves of the Gulf of Mexico. Amazingly, the wood is still intact, and can tell scientists about ancient forests, and how rising sea levels might affect modern forests. This short documentary will introduce you to the hurricane that allowed for the discovery, the process of diving for samples and studying them, and what we can learn from this amazing find. [more inside]
posted by HakaiMagazine at 11:14 AM PST - 10 comments

How Does An Old Blasting Machine Work? Cody's Lab previously.
posted by Bee'sWing at 10:15 AM PST - 11 comments

At this past Saturday's Chicago Dyke March, controversy ensued when 3 women displaying Jewish Pride flags (a Star of David superimposed onto a rainbow flag) were asked to leave the event for making others feel "unsafe". [more inside]
posted by The Gooch at 10:14 AM PST - 423 comments

Entertainment Weekly reports that the studio felt Rimes’s version lacked the emotional weight needed for the film. One more time, in case you glossed over that: The song lacked the emotional weight needed for a film about Nicolas Cage fighting convicts on an airplane...

Jason Gallagher uses The Ringer's Good Bad Movies Week to tell us about that time that the Grammys nominated two versions of the same song for the same award in "Remembering the 'Con Air' Soundtrack War".
posted by Etrigan at 9:59 AM PST - 23 comments

Long Way Home: The circumnavigations of Henk De Velde and his search for that place behind the horizon.
posted by zarq at 8:27 AM PST - 6 comments

"It is often presumed that intellectuals have little or no political power. Perched in a privileged ivory tower, disconnected from the real world, embroiled in meaningless academic debates over specialized minutia, or floating in the abstruse clouds of high-minded theory, intellectuals are frequently portrayed as not only cut off from political reality but as incapable of having any meaningful impact on it. The Central Intelligence Agency thinks otherwise." [more inside]
posted by Pyrogenesis at 7:49 AM PST - 39 comments

Do you like long tracking shots? How about Eastern European influenced pop balladry? You might also enjoy Cheap Magic Inside a film by Beruit and Vincent Moon to start off your week. [SLYT, etc...]
posted by 1f2frfbf at 7:24 AM PST - 1 comment

Government has been formed with the Tories striking a deal with the DUP. The big part of the deal? £1 billion is headed towards Northern Ireland.
posted by Talez at 6:38 AM PST - 107 comments

Math Has No God Particle - "'Mathematicians are extremely reluctant to publicize what they do', Adams said. 'The immediate reaction from 90 percent of mathematicians is, 'It's too hard, there's no point in trying to write about this in the popular press.'' (Yet here we are.) ... About two months ago — 15 years after it began — the project was finally completed. Adams and his colleagues released Version 1.0 of their atlas software... Adams and his team haven't trumpeted this latest accomplishment at all. When I reached him at his home, he summarized the milestone plainly, but proudly, in the jargon of his field: 'We can now compute the Hermitian form on any irreducible representation.'"
posted by kliuless at 5:55 AM PST - 24 comments

China's Mistress Dispellers - Jiayang Fan writes in the New Yorker about 'mistress dispellers', a cross between private detective and blackmailer, paid by wealthy Chinese women to chase off their husbands' mistresses. Fan writes that wealth, divorce law and unequal gender expectations have created a niche for a new profession.
posted by Dim Siawns at 1:08 AM PST - 12 comments

Nigerian American writer Teju Cole also takes vivid photographs which, in his latest book, Blind Spot, he matches with passages of allusive prose. [more inside]
posted by standardasparagus at 6:42 PM PST - 7 comments

Redditor calculates which NFL teams have fewer fans than whatever animal/occupation/mythological creature after which the team is named.
posted by chaoticgood at 4:36 PM PST - 34 comments

Sherman Alexie (his website) speaks about his mother and the world. [more inside]
posted by Deoridhe at 4:24 PM PST - 22 comments

This and many more shitty pickup lines are the work of an something something AI. [more inside]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:07 PM PST - 66 comments

Rear Admiral John Henry Godfrey, the Director of the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty, suggested that they establish at Gibraltar a covert observation post which would remain operational even if Gibraltar fell into enemy hands. This observation post would be located in a hidden chamber within the Rock of Gibraltar with two small openings to watch for movements on the harbor. Six men were selected to be sealed inside the cave, and while there were enough supplies to last one year, there was to be no way out of the chamber, and if any men were to die they were to be embalmed and cemented into the brick floor. [via Nelson]
posted by Chrysostom at 2:40 PM PST - 30 comments

That's the "total asset value" according to a new Deloitte Access Economics report that calculates the World Heritage site's full economic, social and iconic brand value for the first time.
posted by adept256 at 2:33 PM PST - 33 comments

These photographs prove that dogs are weird. There's video evidence, too [ambient noise with music]. Sometimes they're weird and jerky to cats.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:28 PM PST - 10 comments

Red versus blue. Richard Florida calls for devolving American federal power to the cities, so that progressive and conservative urban areas can do their own thing. [more inside]
posted by doctornemo at 12:54 PM PST - 66 comments

"One of the biggest things I can think of off the top of my head is when my grandfather died. It was a Thursday in winter. I was living at school at the time. When I got the phone call, I needed to be alone at first, so I went home and cried. It sounds weird, but after that I needed to hear people talking. So I logged onto the voice chat here, and just sat in and listed to the banter and bickering. I logged in and did a run or two with some friends. And by the end of the night when I went to sleep, I was feeling much better." | Wes Fenlon writes about Phantasy Star Online and the people still playing SEGA's first MMO nearly 17 years later. [more inside]
posted by byanyothername at 12:42 PM PST - 7 comments

'Shadows: The Val Lewton Story' - part one of a series in which the The Secret History of Hollywood podcasts tells the story of film producer and screenplay writer Val Lewton, with prologues by Mark Gatiss.
posted by Artw at 12:09 PM PST - 9 comments

Fictitious or fake entries are deliberately fabricated items and listings in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and other directories. There are terms for specific types of entry, such as trap or paper streets, paper towns and phantom settlements, phantom islands, ghost words (nihilartikel), and specifically, (Lillian Virginia) Mountweazel. Fictitious entries are included either as a humorous hoax or as a copyright trap to reveal subsequent plagiarism or copyright infringement, unlike intentional forgeries or unintentional mistakes. Except, sometimes those fake things are real, in a way. For example, Londonist found some "real" trap streets, and Urban Ghosts Media identified two almost-real phantom settlements.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:55 AM PST - 10 comments

The Alt-Right are complaining about Nazis being killed in video games [New Statesman] “The he use of minorities as stock villains is something that has plagued entertainment media for years. Now that political correctness has gone thankfully mad, it has become less acceptable to lean on generic brown terrorists, effeminate criminal masterminds or scheming mandarins when finding adversaries for an action hero to plow through. Video games may have lagged behind somewhat but many developers do at least make some effort to to avoid stereotyping. There is one notable exception, however. One beleaguered minority that seemingly has no voice in wider society. Nobody to stand up and say, "Enough. Leave these poor people alone, you MONSTERS." I'm talking, of course, about Nazis.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 11:49 AM PST - 74 comments

'in the midst of the decline of religious affiliation in America, and the rise of isolation and loneliness, many ostensibly non-religious communities are “functioning in ways that look a little bit religious,”' [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:17 AM PST - 27 comments

What if one series of writing assignments during one year of school could significantly improve the chances of students of color succeeding academically and attending a selective college? [more inside]
posted by Huck500 at 8:42 AM PST - 11 comments

Last week in Berlin, in a rented room at the Protestant Johanniskirche, Seyran Ateş, a 54-year old lawyer, women's rights campaigner and imam-in-training, opened Germany's first inclusive place of worship for liberal muslims, the Ibn-Rushd-Goethe Mosque. [more inside]
posted by progosk at 7:43 AM PST - 5 comments

Remembering the Murder You Didn't Commit Relating a horrifying tale of psychological manipulation and miscarriage of justice, writer Rachel Aviv recounts the manipulation of suspects and creation of false memories in the case of the Beatrice Six, all convicted for the murder of an older woman, prior to their exoneration on DNA evidence in 2008. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 7:32 AM PST - 12 comments

Six convicts are getting their sentences shortened after saving a guard who collapsed on duty last Monday in Polk County, Georgia. "As soon as the officer dropped, the six inmates he was overseeing came to his aid. They removed the officer's outer bulletproof vest to help cool him off and took his phone to call 911, according to a statement released by the Polk County Sheriff's Office on Friday"
posted by grobertson at 6:50 AM PST - 24 comments

"Why didn't great painters of the past reach the level of photorealism achieved by many artists today?" asks a curious Ouora user. An insightful answerer explains what the Masters saw that photographs don't show.
posted by chrchr at 11:10 PM PST - 67 comments

Night Project, a collection of photographs of China at night by French photographer Marilyn Mugot.
Many more on her instagram.
Press coverage at Hunger TV, WIRED, and The Guardian
posted by Going To Maine at 8:47 PM PST - 6 comments

"For the cabbage white [butterfly], sex involves sperm packages of ungodly size, genitals that double as a souped-up stomach, and an unexpected set of chewing jaws."
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:37 PM PST - 17 comments

Theresa May and the Holy Grail
posted by KirkpatrickMac at 8:09 PM PST - 13 comments

Tanya Gold is a British freelance journalist. Alcoholism continues long after you stop drinking': my 15 years sober.
Thirteen years ago she discribed her horror of Group therapy: I still howl at the memory'.
posted by adamvasco at 6:36 PM PST - 25 comments

Why was that Russian billionaire in Charlotte? He was looking in on his investment. Alevo, a high tech battery company, brings major intrigue, a Russian oligarch, and President Trump to a small town outside Charlotte NC. From the Charlotte Observer. Adam Kahn outlines it all. Tracking the Yachts and Jets of the Mega-Rich.
posted by racersix6 at 5:52 PM PST - 6 comments

Barry Humphries reviews the second edition of the Australian National Dictionary. "The reader should be warned that there are one or two colloquialisms in this review."
posted by Bigbrowncow at 3:11 PM PST - 6 comments

Amazon's vision for the future are these gigantic drone beehives that look like they are trapping humans in buildings like in a old school platformer. For a 10x horror multiplier, check out the plant-like fronds on the drones.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:47 PM PST - 47 comments

Zola is a 380-pound Silverback gorilla living in the South gorilla habitat at the Dallas Zoo. He loves his pool [ambient sound]. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:27 PM PST - 25 comments

An ongoing critical take on movie violence, starting with "Bullitt" Back in January 2016, Tom Breihan began choosing the important and importantly violent movie of the year and discussing why and how it had an impact. He also mentions others of that year in a postscript. His latest post (16 June 2017) is on "Kill Bill." I've set the link to page 2 so you can start at the beginning; there's 30+ posts.
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:12 AM PST - 18 comments

Magnet fishing is simple - get a strong magnet, an even stronger rope and a body of water. Throw in the magnet and see what you find!
posted by Stark at 8:22 AM PST - 28 comments

They died as fighters, but they died as fools. Pity should be reserved for the people they once lived among, who were abused and killed as the young men sacrificed all around them, for their caliphate.

The secret lives of IS fighters. Trigger warning: some descriptions of killed people.
posted by MartinWisse at 4:41 AM PST - 16 comments

Renegade Soundwave (RSW) were one of those musical act that didn't sell as many records or gain as much fame as their influence would suggest (certainly not in America). From the fertile time that gave us MARRS, Pop Will Eat Itself, KLF, Meat Beat Manifesto, 808 State, etc. they mixed Hip Hop beats, Dance tracks and Dub in a way that heavily influenced the Big Beat and Electronica of the 90's and more. [more inside]
posted by bongo_x at 10:59 PM PST - 13 comments

Rock & roll legend. World-class guitarist. Record-setting angler? Guitar god Eric Clapton went to Iceland to learn how to fish for salmon. I think he got it. He also got the biggest salmon caught in Iceland this year, a 42 1/2 inch monster weighing 28 pounds.
posted by scalefree at 10:36 PM PST - 33 comments

OC ReMix Presents Speeding Towards Adventures: 25 Years of Sonic the Hedgehog! [Overclocked Remix] On the final day of Sonic's 25th anniversary year (gotta go fast!), OverClocked ReMix today released its 62nd free community arrangement album, Speeding Towards Adventures: 25 Years of Sonic the Hedgehog. Featuring 23 tracks from 30 artists, Speeding Towards Adventures pays tribute to numerous titles from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and is co-directed by Russian community member Stepan "Black_Doom" Sudilovsky & Dutch musician Jorrith "Jorito" Schaap. The album is available for free download. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 9:40 PM PST - 5 comments

The Batman Complex
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:46 PM PST - 20 comments

"What they're basically saying is: 'In America, it is officially reasonable to be afraid of a person just because they are black'." Trevor Noah's June 21 address to camera on the Philando Castile verdict was stark, heartfelt and undeniable in its hard truth. It matches the very best of what Jon Stewart was able to achieve with the show.
posted by Paul Slade at 5:02 PM PST - 155 comments

I have decided that I want to learn to hunt deer. Unfortunately, this involves firearms. I am a liberal. I am a liberal to the nth degree. Also, I'm a little scared of my Dremel, for god's sake. Okay. Well, I have always said that I had no problem with people using guns to hunt. Let's see if I was telling the truth or not. Ursula Vernon [perennially beloved of mefi] learns something new and manages to only slightly traumatize the owner of the local gun shop in the process.
posted by sciatrix at 3:03 PM PST - 90 comments

Girls and Boys Alone. Channel 4 Special! oh, oh... Childcare experts and politicians feared that the series, which saw eight-to-11-year-olds fend for themselves for two weeks, would degenerate into "voyeuristic and low-grade entertainment" and what happened -- -pretty much panned out as thought.
***Parent Trigger Warning*** [more inside]
posted by shockingbluamp at 2:54 PM PST - 32 comments

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has announced its 2018 selections for additions to the Hollywood Walk of Fame and it's a group containing a lot of Nerd Icons and Internet Meme Victims. [more inside]
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:50 PM PST - 14 comments

Robert Seigel, Melissa Block, Ari Shapiro, Nina Totenberg, Scott Simon, David Greene, Susan Stamberg, Audie Cornish, Rachel Martin, Bob Mondello and Guy Raz all participate in a dramatic reading of Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe.
posted by hippybear at 12:42 PM PST - 19 comments

The "Dog Photographer Of The Year" competition, an annual contest organized by the UK-based animal welfare organization The Kennel Club, has announced its winners, and unsurprisingly the winning photos are chock full of very good dogs.

[more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:19 PM PST - 19 comments

In three separate cases, dead owners were eaten to the point of decapitation, and they all involved German shepherds. Still, for all we know, a Pomeranian or Chihuahua would tear a head off if it could. ... Even hamsters and birds have been known to scavenge on occasion. (SL National Geographic)
posted by Bella Donna at 12:02 PM PST - 81 comments

"Redneck Revolt’s anti-racist, anti-capitalist message seems to be taking hold in communities across the United States. The organization had just 13 chapters in January but has nearly tripled its chapters nationally in the last 6 months. The group now has 34 different branches, 26 of which are in states that voted for Trump. Multiple chapters have over fifty members." Redneck Revolt pushes against the KKK and other reactionary moviements in white, working class spaces.
posted by The Whelk at 11:52 AM PST - 54 comments

An Atlas of Cyberspaces: Historical Maps of Computer Networks A vintage Web 1.0-style webpage with "a range of the historical maps of ARPANET, the Internet, Usenet, and other computer networks, tracing how these pioneering networks grew and developed." See also: ARPANET Maps from December 1969 to July 1977, plus a logical map from March 1977, and a collection of ARPAnet Logical maps for 1969-1979. A number of these maps were pulled from the 1981 ARPANET Completion Report (scanned PDF with OCR).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:25 AM PST - 5 comments

After PBS found success airing Monty Python's Flying Circus in the 1970s, ABC bought the rights to six episodes to air them as special presentations. But they didn't air the episodes intact, which led to the Pythons suing ABC, as editing the episodes was a breach of their contract with the BBC. The suit was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing ABC from editing the episodes, but a separate settlement resulted in the troupe getting full copyright to all 45 episodes of the series.
posted by Etrigan at 9:05 AM PST - 43 comments

What Duck Sex Reveals about Human Nature. An interview with Dr. Richard O. Prum, ornithologist and curator at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University. Possibly NSFW: article includes a drawing of an aroused duck. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 8:56 AM PST - 29 comments

"Suppose you could build a worm that jumps directly from one lamp to another using their ZigBee wireless connectivity and their physical proximity. If the install base of lamps in a city is sufficiently dense, you could take them all over in no time, with the worm spreading like a physical virus."

- IoT goes nuclear: creating a ZigBee chain reaction
posted by jenkinsEar at 7:09 AM PST - 71 comments

“You don’t look Mexican!” they cheerfully state. Their tone implies it’s meant to be construed as a compliment – as though I should be proud not to have the indigenous features that come with “looking Mexican.” I never tell them how offensive this is, perhaps because I’m afraid. Afraid of being told, “Oh come on, I didn’t mean that, I love Mexicans,”
posted by sammyo at 6:31 AM PST - 35 comments

A social enterprise is turning the hackers behind one of the internet’s longest-running scams into tech entrepreneurs
posted by infini at 6:20 AM PST - 14 comments

"we designed a chatbot, a smart computer program that deployed an adaptable script. In the two days ahead of the election earlier this month, the chatbot struck up conversations with thousands of young people between 18 and 25 years old on Tinder. The chatbot talked about politics, with the aim of getting voters to help oust the Conservative government."
posted by roolya_boolya at 2:04 AM PST - 29 comments

"But what makes a Trump impersonation so fascinating is that Trump’s surface, carefully crafted, is all we have of the man. A superficial rendition of his gestures is as faithful a portrayal as any. Conversely, the challenge of playing Trump is that Trump has always been impersonating Trump." [SLGuardianLongRead]
posted by runcifex at 1:11 AM PST - 16 comments

All Over the Map is a neat blog from the folks at National Geographic. Some recent interesting posts:

• Street mapping London
• How Boston increased its landmass
• The ships buried beneath San Francisco
• Making maps with gunpowder

posted by Chrysostom at 12:57 AM PST - 6 comments

Guns and (Shea) Butter: An Oral History of 'Predator'
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:47 AM PST - 20 comments

Steam Calculator: Calculate the value of your Steam account.
posted by Fizz at 8:53 PM PST - 77 comments

A question posed to the married men of Reddit: what moment with your future wife made you think "Yup, I'm asking this girl to marry me."? (SLReddit) Although the one-sidedness of the question is not ideal (how about "married women, when did you know you wanted to marry your husband"), there are some great stories in here, from the touching to the silly. [more inside]
posted by millipede at 3:52 PM PST - 79 comments

The latest from exurb1a (previously) is a list of pithy Instructions for a Happy Life [voiceover, captions, loud music during credits].
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:42 AM PST - 22 comments

The Heart and the Bottle. A Tender Illustrated Fable of What Happens When We Deny Our Difficult Emotions.
posted by storybored at 11:24 AM PST - 15 comments

When people ask this question, what they mean is, “YOU" are being a problem. Gyasi Ross on flying while “being a big Indian” and the powerlessness of being asked that question.
posted by shoesietart at 10:11 AM PST - 95 comments

By a unanimous vote, Afghanistan and Ireland join ten other countries in having full ICC membership and Test status. This allows the nations to play the longer (five days per match) form of cricket. Ireland, currently champions of the World Cricket League, are understandably happy, as are Afghanistan who have played international cricket for only 13 years. While their next International fixtures are some way off - Ireland vs The Netherlands in August and Afghanistan vs Hong Kong in October, it is hoped Test series against the top sides will now be arranged quickly (by cricketing standards). The trailer to the acclaimed documentary "Out Of The Ashes" about Afghanistan's cricket journey, and a related documentary. Ireland defeating Pakistan in 2007.
posted by Wordshore at 10:09 AM PST - 12 comments

How Alan Eustace, a Google engineer on the edge of retirement, broke the world record for high-altitude jumping. [more inside]
posted by Nelson at 10:07 AM PST - 9 comments

*movie trailer voice* The floppy naked CGI guy is back, and this time...he's brought some friends.

time for sushi [more inside]
posted by cortex at 9:35 AM PST - 36 comments

Netflix has released the first trailer for "Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later," the sequel to the 2001 movie and the 2015 prequel series "Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp." Returning cast members include Amy Poehler, Chris Meloni, David Hyde Pierce, David Wain, Elizabeth Banks, H. Jon Benjamin, Janeane Garofalo, Jason Schwartzman, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, Kristen Wiig, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Molly Shannon and Paul Rudd; among the new cast members are Samm Levine, Marlo Thomas, Dax Shepard, Alyssa Milano​ and Adam Scott.
posted by Clustercuss at 9:32 AM PST - 38 comments

Finding Meaning in The Book of Henry, the Best Worst Movie of the Year. FULL SPOILERS WITHIN. Dave Holmes delightfully reviews/recaps Colin Trevorrow's bonkers project between Jurassic World and Star Wars Episode IX.
posted by kmz at 9:13 AM PST - 45 comments

Lord and Miller shot first, but Ron Howard shoots last. [more inside]
posted by entropicamericana at 9:13 AM PST - 58 comments

The first time I consult Dad I’m eight. My mom’s dating this guy. He worked with Dad, and I guess he’s a nice enough. But I don’t like it. I go to the library. On the second to bottom shelf, they’re lined up. All twenty-eight volumes of him. He’s there so that at any age I can find him.

[more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 8:44 AM PST - 26 comments

"The multibillion-dollar college sports industry exploits African-American athletes and has left historically black schools behind. Some people think there's a better way."
posted by goatdog at 8:20 AM PST - 24 comments

One third of all freight traffic in the US goes through Chicago, a train shipment spends an average of 30 hours traversing the Chicago region. To put that into context, freight often takes 48 hours to get from Los Angeles to Chicago.

If there was one bit of America’s infrastructure that you should choose to upgrade, this is it.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 7:27 AM PST - 34 comments

Today's web toy. Google celebrates animator and filmmaker Oskar Wilhelm Fischinger (1900-1967) with a front page doodle. [more inside]
posted by doctornemo at 5:47 AM PST - 16 comments

ロボット相撲 (slyt) "It's like watching typewriters fight."
posted by Roger Dodger at 9:47 PM PST - 39 comments

"Amish dress practices are slow to change because they are viewed as religious precepts. But change they do, and not only for utilitarian reasons. Amish fashion – change for the sake of change – exists, but it is subtle, slow, and miniscule. [...] Individual signs of rebellion or boundary testing include, for women, wearing prayer kapps that are smaller and thus expose more of the ear, kapps with untied strings, kapps with pronounced heart-shaped designs on the back, dresses in brighter colours, decorative pins on jacket lapels, and small frills and ruffles on sleeves." [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:24 PM PST - 31 comments

Which Video Game Character Would Make The Best Roommate? [YouTube] [via: Kotaku]
posted by Fizz at 2:51 PM PST - 101 comments

Gothamist: New York City's pension fund is the first in the nation to fully divest from private prisons, according to Comptroller Scott Stringer. Trustees of the city's pension fund voted unanimously to divest in mid-May, and have since pulled $48 million of stocks and bonds from three companies: GEO Group, CoreCivic, and G4S. [more inside]
posted by jazzbaby at 2:41 PM PST - 17 comments

You know what's kinda relaxing? Watching smart people give advice about their field of expertise. When they happen to also be talented comedic actors, it's even better. So please enjoy "Wood Support" with Nick Offerman and "Doc Support" with Ken Jeong (Part of Wired's "Tech Support" series).
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 2:25 PM PST - 9 comments

Rainbow Gathering photographs by Kate Harnedy.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:01 PM PST - 27 comments

Traditional flush toilets aren’t an option in many parts of the world, but neither is leaving people with unsafe and unhygenic choices. Now, one company is piloting a new loo that's waterless, off-grid and able to charge your phone.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:47 PM PST - 17 comments

Freakishly fast dog runs around 2000 feet in Mexico city traffic, with a biker trying to catch up. They cross at least 5 big intersections. Amazingly, the dog gets caught and no one gets run over. (Warning: dog goes under a car at the beginning but seems to not get hit. ) (SLTwitter) [more inside]
posted by CrazyLemonade at 1:16 PM PST - 34 comments

Getting harder and harder to find, a foremost collector discusses these sets.
posted by MovableBookLady at 1:01 PM PST - 4 comments

High-end cocktails at 60km/ hr. Luxury trains are special trains designed specifically to offer an elegant train ride, and evoke a strong sense of association as in history, heritage and decadence of a leisurely ride.
Maharajas' Express
[more inside]
posted by shockingbluamp at 12:47 PM PST - 18 comments

MeFite hanzoschmanzo made a comic about a dog. That dog is a knight. His name is Sir Biscuits, the Bone of Treat-Cadia, and as a warning, he might have an anger problem. If you like this, you can see more at Spencer Ranch (and on Wordpress), and Behance. [via mefi projects]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:14 AM PST - 6 comments

In honor of eight-day-long Cephalopod Week, here are eight fantastic facts about octopuses and their ilk. For example: the Humboldt squid can turn itself blood-red and effectively become invisible in their usual depths, where they exhibit the behavior that earned them the nickname "red devils."
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:48 AM PST - 16 comments

How The Guardian Lost America (Steven Perlberg/Buzzfeed News) -

"The Guardian’s US newsroom didn’t become the voice of the Bernie left during the election. It didn’t break huge campaign scoops. Years after winning a Pulitzer for the Edward Snowden story, Guardian US has slashed costs, leaving employees stewing about mismanagement, infighting, a sexual harassment allegation, and unrealistic business expectations."

posted by ZeusHumms at 7:19 AM PST - 67 comments

When the Village People released their hit in 1978, the American branch of the Christian-centric organisation YMCA threatened to sue them. About 40 years later, the Australian YMCA has decided to embrace the song - partnering with Boy George to record a cover for their new youth-focused initiative Why Not? - highlighting marriage equality, youth unemployment, and mental health.
posted by divabat at 5:05 AM PST - 31 comments

On Tuesday, Mattel unveiled a new line of diverse Ken dolls to accompany the now diverse Barbie (previously). But who are all these Kens? R. Eric Thomas of ELLE Magazine describes All the Ken Dolls You Will Meet in Your Lifetime.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:32 AM PST - 123 comments

Against The Clock is a YouTube series from British music portal FACT where electronic musicians of various predispositions lay down a track in their studios. Some use just Ableton or Logic on a laptop and a MIDI controller, others go full hardware and Eurorack, while some explain their process and others are silent throughout the video, but all of them have just 10 minutes to build that track from scratch. [more inside]
posted by lmfsilva at 2:53 AM PST - 15 comments

Enjoy a fascinating lecture on the Scots language, given IN the Scots language (which it turns out you can understand just fine).
posted by DoctorFedora at 11:03 PM PST - 69 comments

Did you once love a kids' book that no one else remembers? Are you looking for something unique to read at bedtime? Readers of Atlas Obscura share their favorite obscure childhood treasures.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 9:40 PM PST - 171 comments

Cat remains unimpressed as man sharpens rusty knife.
posted by Lexica at 8:45 PM PST - 41 comments

What happens when the Portland Guinea Pig Rescue asks Janelle Shane (previously 1, 2) the question, "Have you ever trained a neural network to generate guinea pig names?” (Bonus: What guinea pig sounds mean)
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:16 PM PST - 9 comments

Alaska fishermen are losing the battle against hungry orcas.
posted by clawsoon at 6:53 PM PST - 31 comments

Former tackle for the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs Ryan O'Callaghan, who grew up believing there was absolutely no way he could live as an openly gay man, came out today in a feature article by OutSports. (tw: in-depth discussion of suicide) [more inside]
posted by Errant at 4:29 PM PST - 28 comments

Tonight, the much anticipated results of the GA-06 Special Election will be known. Recent polling has shown Ossoff and Handel to be in a virtual statistical tie. Pro-Ossoff dinosaurs have been seen campaigning around the district and have made campaign signs into glitter bombs (Joan Walsh, The Nation! Here are 6 key things to watch for (Caitlin MacNeal, Talking Points Memo) as the results come in. Here are some resources (courtesy of Chrysostom) for following the results. [more inside]
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 3:54 PM PST - 2952 comments

The toe has gone missing before, after being swallowed by a patron, prompting the hotel to ask donors to step up (previously). But this time, Dawson City, Yukon's Downtown Hotel has reported that the key ingredient in its sourtoe cocktail (also previously) has been stolen. According to the Times Colonist: "Hotel manager Geri Colbourne says a couple came in late that night and requested the unique drink but the waitress was called away after pouring two shots. The toe was gone when she returned."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:36 PM PST - 59 comments

The Forgotten Trains of India, photo essay.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:44 PM PST - 6 comments

Dr. Mary Austin is a pediatric surgeon in Texas who sometimes performs fetal surgery to correct a birth defect that she herself has.
posted by stillmoving at 1:10 PM PST - 13 comments

Rapper Prodigy of Mobb Deep was reported dead today at the age of 42 from complications of sickle-cell anemia.
posted by lkc at 12:24 PM PST - 35 comments

Public domain ebooks with modern typography, full proofing, complete metadata, and version control. Ebook projects like Project Gutenberg transcribe ebooks and make them available for the widest number of reading devices. Standard Ebooks takes ebooks from sources like Project Gutenberg, formats and typesets them using a carefully designed and professional-grade style guide, lightly modernizes them, fully proofreads and corrects them, and then builds them to take advantage of state-of-the-art ereader and browser technology.
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:51 AM PST - 85 comments

Smaller, and Smaller, and Smaller. by Marlon James [Facebook Post] A Brief History of Seven Killings author Marlon James writes an essay on Facebook about being big, close, and black in the United States of America.
posted by Fizz at 11:42 AM PST - 5 comments

Ben Thompson at Stratechery argues that Amazon's recent acquisition of Whole Foods (previously) is all about buying a new "first and best" customer for its logistics ambitions: "Unlike Whole Foods, Amazon has no desire to be a grocer, and contrary to conventional wisdom the company is not even a retailer. At its core Amazon is a services provider enabled — and protected — by scale." In a few years we'll probably be calling this article prescient.
posted by RedOrGreen at 11:40 AM PST - 56 comments

University of Leuven geneticist Claudio Ottoni worked with an international team of almost 30 researchers to analyze the mitochondrial DNA of more than 200 ancient and modern cats, going back 9,000 years, to document the palaeogenetics of cat dispersal in the ancient world (full study on Nature) and the result is what many cat lovers have said for quite a while: cats are still close to their wild relatives. As reported on Ars Technica by Annalee Newitz, cats are an extreme outlier among domestic animals, noting that "humans have been intermittently guiding cat breeding for less than 1,000 years," unlike other domestic animals, like dogs and goats. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:12 AM PST - 16 comments

Because of climate change, there will be less coffee in the future, and it will taste worse and cost more.
posted by goatdog at 10:55 AM PST - 45 comments

CURVE: Clinging to a smooth, curved surface high above a sentient abyss, a girl tries to cover the few feet back to safety without losing purchase and falling to her death.
posted by brundlefly at 9:55 AM PST - 47 comments

Zeal & Ardor (previously) has released a live-in-the-studio video of "Blood In The River" [THIS IS LOUD]. Good mood music. Loudwire has more about Z&A.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:49 AM PST - 17 comments

The New York Public Library is creating a "digital time-travel service for New York City with historical maps, collections rich in geospatial data, and the public's help." Meet the NYC Space/Time Directory, a searchable atlas of New York City's past, which includes an interactive, digitized collection of maps and photographs dating back to the mid-19th century. Space/Time comes from NYPL Labs' ongoing Remix project, previously highlighted on MeFi in Room 641-A's post, "We're gonna need a bigger hard drive." [more inside]
posted by zarq at 8:51 AM PST - 3 comments

The Guardian: "Eratosthenes of Cyrene was the chief librarian at the great library of Alexandria in the third century BC. So the story goes, he read in one of the library’s many manuscripts an account of the sun being directly overhead on the summer solstice as seen from Syene (now Aswan, Egypt). This was known because the shadows disappeared at noon, when the sun was directly overhead. This sparked his curiosity and he set out to make the same observation in Alexandria. On the next solstice, he watched as the shadows grew small – but did not disappear, even at noon..."
posted by Wordshore at 6:11 AM PST - 45 comments

This summer’s highly anticipated total solar eclipse, on August 21, is still more than two months away. But on Tuesday—one day before the summer solstice, or the first official day of summer—the U.S. Postal Service will release a tiny tribute of its own to the rare celestial event. Its new stamps celebrating the eclipse are the first ever to use thermochromic ink that changes the image on the stamp at the touch of a warm finger. [SLNewsweek]
posted by hippybear at 2:40 AM PST - 16 comments

The 50 Best Good Bad Movies [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:15 PM PST - 261 comments

Inside the annual Oxford-Cambridge wine tasting contest.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:04 PM PST - 22 comments

Tired of carrying around your transit agency's contactless smart card? (for instance, in the San Francisco Bay Area, several transit agencies use Clipper Cards) Stephen Cognetta figured out how to convert it into a wearable by dissolving it in acetone, and has provided step-by step instructions and suggestions of different ways to wear the extracted chip.
posted by larrybob at 2:40 PM PST - 75 comments

In Béisbol Experience: The 50 Man Interview, ESPN has collected some intimate details of the lived experiences of Latino Major League Baseball players, focusing on family, learning English, food, money, ballpark culture, and identity. [more inside]
posted by tonycpsu at 2:31 PM PST - 7 comments

Free Legal Answers "is a virtual legal advice clinic. Qualifying users [in some US states who meet income guidelines] post their civil [i.e. not criminal] legal question to their state's website [up to three times per year]. Attorney volunteers, who must be authorized to provide pro bono assistance in their state, log in to the website, select questions to answer, and provide legal information and advice."
posted by jedicus at 1:22 PM PST - 13 comments

Every year, thousands of drowned wildebeest feed this African ecosystem. These mass drownings occur when an estimated 1.2 million wildebeest migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania. Their ecologically important migration is under increasing threat. Ecologist Amanda Subalusky describes the aftermath and importance of a recent mass wildebeest drowning in the Mara River, where she conducts ecosystem research with the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. According to her co-author, Emma Rosi, "To put this in perspective, it's the equivalent of adding ten blue whale carcasses to the moderately-sized Mara River each year."
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:01 PM PST - 17 comments

What if companies interviewed translators the way they interview coders?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:23 AM PST - 88 comments

John Fea, Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, documents his experience with the Returning to the Roots of the Civil Rights Tour on his blog, The Way of Improvement Leads Home. [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes at 10:53 AM PST - 3 comments

The Paris Air Show starts today, and features a list of known names showing off their newest aircraft, but there will also be some serious attempts to present flying cars. UK-based Neva Aerospace is promoting its AirQuadOne concept (PDF, press release), while the better-known Airbus has their Vahana concept, which is being pitched as on-demand aviation, in line with Uber's near-future goal of low-cost air taxis in Dubai and Dallas, TX by 2020. Not to be left out, Larry Page is backing the Kitty Hawk Flyer, less flying car, and more more human-sized drone that can only land on water. Looping back to the Paris Air Show and flying cars, AeroMobil, the sleek car-with-wings from Slovakia is back to the Air Show, after a serious crash in 2015.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:52 AM PST - 40 comments

‘Fiction takes its time’: Arundhati Roy on why it took 20 years to write her second novel [The Guardian] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 10:49 AM PST - 4 comments

The best places to cry in New York, mapped. Most of them are even free.
posted by Mchelly at 10:47 AM PST - 31 comments

Less than a decade ago, peak oil was a constant source of anxiety on MeFi (and around the world), but now the world faces an oil price anchored around $55/barrel. The reason is the swarm - US shale producers that can clamber into the market profitably at that price, and which are getting ever more competitive post recent fracking-bust as they drive down costs (and eliminate jobs, which are increasingly in renewables). Though the future is never certain, almost every major OPEC nation needs prices above $55 to balance their budget. While increased fossil fuel use can be very bad for climate change, the fracking boom is leading to the rapid replacement of coal with natural gas, which is generally a good thing for CO2 emissions, though leaking methane mitigates the benefit to an unceratin extent.
posted by blahblahblah at 10:36 AM PST - 50 comments

Gaudy? No, it's just Gaudi and his first house, now open to the public. His works always make me smile. I'm not so sure I'd want to actually live in them, but maybe I would.
posted by MovableBookLady at 10:33 AM PST - 16 comments

Hope you managed to cash out of your Pokemon Go gyms this morning, because they've been disabled in preparation for a major overhaul of the game. [more inside]
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 10:26 AM PST - 45 comments

This will reinstate trademark protections for an NFL team and a rock band with racial slurs as names.
posted by koavf at 10:08 AM PST - 39 comments

Over the years, the heat from the trains soaked into the clay to the point where it can no longer absorb any more heat. Tunnels that were a mere 14 degrees Celsius in the 1900s can now have air temperatures as high as 30 degrees Celsius on parts of the tube network.

As it's a nice, balmy 31 degrees in London at the moment, have a refreshing article about cooling off the Underground.
posted by MartinWisse at 9:13 AM PST - 41 comments

Algiers - "The Underside of Power" (video). "On June 23, Matador Records will release [Algiers'] second album, The Underside of Power, a work of political critique that draws on and repurposes aggressive '80s punk, Italian horror soundtracks, modern-day hip-hop and R&B, film, literature, current events and continuing tragedies, all conceived as national politics on both sides of the Atlantic were boiling over. If there's anything in their history that the members do agree on, it's that the group — named for The Battle of Algiers, the 1960s film about an anti-colonial uprising — has always prized a collective instinct, where no one vision is definitive." Ned Raggett for NPR, on the band Algiers and their stunning new album.
posted by naju at 7:15 AM PST - 18 comments

Some makeup bloggers are a little more... intense than others. Jezebel takes a look at "The Rising Gore Girls of Instagram". (Content Warning: fake but convincing blood and guts)
posted by Etrigan at 6:30 AM PST - 19 comments

From Garching to Innsbruck in 7 days [via mefi projects] "Hello, dear reader! I’m Michael, a 25-year-old recent graduate of computer science at TUM. This is the public diary of my hiking trip which will take me from the FMI building in Garching, Germany, where I studied for my master’s degree, to Innsbruck, Austria, where I spent the first 23 years of my life." [more inside]
posted by mdonley at 4:38 AM PST - 4 comments

Because we clearly needed yet another version, Nick Page has animated the first episode of the Hitchhiker's Guide Radio Series.
posted by Sparx at 9:42 PM PST - 45 comments

How genetics is settling the Aryan migration debate "The thorniest, most fought-over question in Indian history is slowly but surely getting answered: did Indo-European language speakers, who called themselves Aryans, stream into India sometime around 2,000 BC – 1,500 BC when the Indus Valley civilisation came to an end, bringing with them Sanskrit and a distinctive set of cultural practices? Genetic research based on an avalanche of new DNA evidence is making scientists around the world converge on an unambiguous answer: yes, they did."
posted by dhruva at 9:18 PM PST - 12 comments

Jason Headley (previously) offers a mantra for our times with this honest meditation.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:03 PM PST - 11 comments

The Difficult, Adventurous, Happy Life Of Rosalie Sorrels
posted by falsedmitri at 7:24 PM PST - 6 comments

The Corsairs Project - by photographer Samuka Marinho. An imagining of a 24-hour period set in the Golden Age of Piracy. Act I Act II Act III Act IV Act V Act VI Act VII Act VIII Act IX Act X
posted by unliteral at 6:15 PM PST - 5 comments

... nothing mattered more to Jeanie Buss than the family business — than her father’s legacy. [...] She is the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, as her late father wished. Four months ago, she fired her brother and also the team’s 17-year general manager on the same day, and installed trusted friend Earvin “Magic” Johnson as president of basketball operations. Then she prevailed in an ugly court battle with her two older brothers that confirmed she will run the Lakers for the rest of her life. ~ From roller hockey to the Lakers: How Jeanie Buss became the most powerful woman in sports By Tania Ganguli, LA Times
posted by Room 641-A at 3:44 PM PST - 8 comments

Stephen Furst, best known as Flounder in the classic comedy Animal House has shuffled off this mortal coil.
posted by jonmc at 2:43 PM PST - 80 comments

A Sociology of the Smartphone, 10 years after the launch of the iPhone. Interesting longread by Adam Greenfield. Via VersoBooks.
posted by growabrain at 2:21 PM PST - 32 comments

Ethereum is a blockchain, a "decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference." In a phrase, use algorithms to replace contracts, or "code is law." But what if there was a bug that let let someone extract $53 million and walk out with it?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:57 PM PST - 60 comments

"The writing of textbooks and making them freely available on the web is an idea whose time has arrived. Most college mathematics textbooks attempt to be all things to all people and, as a result, are much too big and expensive. This perhaps made some sense when these books were rather expensive to produce and distribute--but this time has passed."
posted by jenkinsEar at 10:09 AM PST - 33 comments

The influential, instructional illustrator Ed Emberley is in his 80s and still drawing. He has a range of styles, from the Caldecott Medal-winning Drummer Hoff (1967) to his creatively die-cut Go Away, Big Green Monster (1992), and perhaps most memorably a whole range of drawing books, which generally start with the reminder that if you can draw these things → · U D Δ □ ⇝ you can draw all kinds of things. If you can't find his books, the EMBR Group has a blog of Ed Emberley's Drawing Pages, and his website has more activities to print and use for non-commercial purposes (full terms of use). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:47 AM PST - 14 comments

Two sets of work from artist Grégory Chiha:
- Têtes brûlées, books carefully burnt to create images of heads and faces.
- Fantômes, paintings with warped/strange/half-there subjects.
posted by cortex at 9:00 AM PST - 3 comments

Google has had thousands of bird sounds visualized using AI. Background.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 6:09 AM PST - 23 comments

“It’s in our genes,” he said. “Water managers were the first rulers of the land. Designing the city to deal with water was the first task of survival here and it remains our defining job. It’s a process, a movement. “It is not just a bunch of dikes and dams, but a way of life.”

How the Dutch are Hansje Brinker proofing their cities.
posted by MartinWisse at 4:46 AM PST - 14 comments

At least 57 people have been killed by huge forest fires in central Portugal, with many dying in their cars as they tried to flee the flames, the government said on Sunday. Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, described the blazes – which have injured dozens more people – as “the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires”, and warned the death toll could rise. [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 3:12 AM PST - 21 comments

Fotos Frei Schnauze is a gallery of puppies in motion and at rest, frequently on the verge of catching treats.
posted by Fish, fish, are you doing your duty? at 11:58 PM PST - 9 comments

With gold fixed at $35/ounce, mining for it had become unprofitable by the mid-60s. Time for the U.S. government to look elsewhere for gold: seawater, meteorites, plants, even deer antlers.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:00 PM PST - 8 comments

Comedian Iliza Shlesinger causes a stir when she makes some comments about the subject matter of fellow female comedians' acts: "I could walk into The Improv, close my eyes, and I can’t tell one girl’s act apart from another. That’s not saying that 30-something white guys don’t all sound the same sometimes, but I’m banging my head against the wall because women want to be treated as equals, and we want feminism to be a thing, but it’s really difficult when every woman makes the same point about her vagina, over and over. I think I’m the only woman out there that has a joke about World War II in my set." Summary on Splitsider, including some now-deleted tweets. Shlesinger also has declared herself finished with the debate: "Anyway, I'm done here. Enjoy your life" (Twitter)
posted by anothermug at 7:37 PM PST - 82 comments

Edgardo is a rancher from Loncopué, Argentina, who found an injured condor chick and nursed him back to health. He shared a video [cooing in Spanish] with his family and it promptly went viral (Google translation here). "Condorito" is being monitored by staff from Ecoparque de Buenos Aires and should be able to return to his nearby habitat soon.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:28 PM PST - 6 comments

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs Conor McGregor [Deadspin] “It’s really happening. McGregor vs. Mayweather is actually a reality. The fight is like a nightmare emerging from a fever dream where the walls are papered with $100 bills, the carpet is made of the finest chinchilla fur, and you wake yourself up by stepping painfully on a discarded diamond ring instead of one of your kid’s discarded Legos. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Does McGregor, who hasn’t had an actual boxing match since he was a teenager, have a shot at beating a past-his-prime great? Yes, he has a shot. McGregor hits really, really hard, and chins don’t get better with age.”
posted by Fizz at 4:25 PM PST - 36 comments

The Balanced Ternary Machines of The Soviet Union [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 12:40 PM PST - 50 comments

National and global events all happened somewhere, and historical markers mark the place where many occurred. But the richness of history is in its local details, details that can be insignificant on the global stage: the home of an individual who made a difference; a natural feature, building, byway; or just something interesting that happened nearby. History is not just about the high and mighty.

As we travel around, we may pass right by these roadside historical markers. That's where the Historical Marker Database comes in. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:24 AM PST - 14 comments

And it is as adorable as you think it is.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:35 AM PST - 21 comments

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya created 35 posters celebrating women scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. [more inside]
posted by minsies at 8:06 PM PST - 22 comments

Meow. Meow! Meow!? Mrrrr.
posted by slater at 4:54 PM PST - 35 comments

Why The Elder Scrolls Online Is Worth Playing In 2017 [MMOS World] “Today, The Elder Scrolls Online is almost a different game. Majority of the complaints from launch have been addressed. Fan favorite Elder Scrolls guilds like the Thieves Guild and The Dark Brotherhood have been added. The game is now on consoles, reaching a wider audience for revenue benefits. Level gated mechanics have been removed with the One Tamriel update, and gone are the days of player limitations. Level scaling arrived as well. On top of all that in the past year and a half, regular developer updates have hinted at things to come and they are worth the wait too. So why should players get excited for 2017? The answer is because the developers aren’t stopping with the good news.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 3:34 PM PST - 39 comments

Social Cooling describes the long-term negative side effects of living in a big-data-driven reputation economy. Data brokers derive thousands of scores from personal data; these form a “digital reputation”, and have the potential to affect their subjects' lives and opportunities. The long-term effects of this are a culture of conformity, self-censorship, risk aversion and social rigidity.
posted by acb at 2:34 PM PST - 54 comments

Pinterest wearing thin? Self help falling short? Enter inspirobot.
posted by gennessee at 12:59 PM PST - 77 comments

The Handman's Tale [slvideo]
posted by phunniemee at 12:36 PM PST - 14 comments

If you've ever tried to walk from one subway station to another based on the nicely squared-off map of the routes, you may know that they don't correspond perfectly to actual geography (nor are they supposed to). Here's a series of animated illustrations that show you exactly how far off the transit map is from the real world. Pay particular attention to Austin's.
posted by Etrigan at 11:48 AM PST - 25 comments

A yearlong investigation by the USA TODAY Network found that port trucking companies in southern California have spent the past decade forcing drivers to finance their own trucks by taking on debt they could not afford. Companies then used that debt as leverage to extract forced labor and trap drivers in jobs that left them destitute. (SL USA TODAY) [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:03 AM PST - 43 comments

"It can enforce contracts, prevent double spending, and cap the size of the money pool all without participants having to cede power to any particular third party who might abuse the power. No rent-seeking, no abuses of power, no politics — blockchain technologies can be used to create “math-based money” and “unstoppable” contracts that are enforced with the impartiality of a machine instead of the imperfect and capricious human bureaucracy of a state or a bank. ... Unfortunately this turns out to be a naive understanding of blockchain."
posted by clawsoon at 10:18 AM PST - 93 comments

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now (Mama Cass Show 1969) Mama Cass, Mary Travers, & Joni Mitchell - I Shall Be Released (ibid.)
posted by OmieWise at 10:16 AM PST - 16 comments

Starting July 3rd, Oregon will become the first state in the US to issue driver's licenses and state IDs with three gender abbreviations: M, F, and X. [more inside]
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 9:16 AM PST - 38 comments

Haint blue is a shade of blue popular for keeping spirits away in the South. The shade itself is a faint robin's egg blue, and it's used to simulate the water that spirits called haints, hate. A haint can't cross water, just like the headless horseman, so you paint your porch to look like water, and you have no problems with haintings!
posted by HakaiMagazine at 9:05 AM PST - 35 comments

The Fish Hammer is a goldfish-controlled device that smashes tiny furniture. Of course. It was made by artist Neil Mendoza (check out his other work), who posted instructions for making your own Fish Hammer!
posted by moonmilk at 9:03 AM PST - 12 comments

More brick-and-mortar for Amazon. SL NYT
posted by Bee'sWing at 7:53 AM PST - 162 comments

Tom Keating was a notorious art forger. A cockney, he claimed to have painted more than 2000 'Sexton Blakes'. He was a socialist and hated the gallery system, creating forgeries to undermine it. A couple of years before he died he made the television series Tom Keating on Painters, talking about painting and demonstrating his technique. [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 6:39 AM PST - 2 comments

The New Yorker - The Persistence of Prog Rock "Even more than most musicians, the prog rockers aimed for immortality. “We want our albums to last,” Robert Fripp, the austere guitar scientist behind King Crimson, said. In a literal sense, he got his wish: although the progressive-rock boom was effectively over by the end of the seventies, it left behind a vast quantity of surplus LPs, which filled the bins in used-record stores for decades."
posted by GamblingBlues at 6:27 AM PST - 140 comments

HCW Championship Wrestling, 'which has often been called , quite correctly, the worst wrestling ever seen on anyone's TV screen'. To balance that out, lots of great podcasts, starting with Jim Smallman's Tuesday Night Jaw, popular and well liked wrestling podcast on the Distraction Pieces network. [more inside]
posted by asok at 4:30 AM PST - 5 comments

Any patzer can blunder a winning position into a loss. But turning what looks like certain defeat into chess victory? That takes a swindler. [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:35 PM PST - 16 comments

Jody Wilson-Raybould, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada: “Our Government is very pleased that Bill C-16 was passed by the Senate today, bringing us one step closer to strengthening laws against discrimination, hate propaganda, and hate crime based on gender identity and gender expression. In Canada we celebrate inclusion and diversity, and all Canadians should feel safe to be themselves. Trans and gender diverse persons must be granted equal status in Canadian society, and this Bill makes that status explicit in Canadian law. [more inside]
posted by Pong74LS at 10:32 PM PST - 26 comments

Video Camera Demo Tape Behold some wonderful femullet, epic unibrow, terrific 90s coat collection, the hair, the Cosby sweaters, CD longboxes, and early selfie culture. [more inside]
posted by linear_arborescent_thought at 10:21 PM PST - 30 comments

At the intersection of #yolo and #youdidnotsleepthere is Flaviu Cernescu and Dina Zaur's climb 833 feet (254m) up a janky Romanian industrial chimney to set up camp. Don't grab anything slick for a while 'cos you're gonna have some sweaty palms. Though it ends charmingly (all hugs!) this one gets worse for a long, long time. [more inside]
posted by Ogre Lawless at 9:59 PM PST - 20 comments

We used the public database from Google’s “Quick, Draw!” to compare how people draw basic shapes around the world. Our analysis suggests that the way you draw a simple circle is linked to geography and cultural upbringing, deep-rooted in hundreds of years of written language, and significant in developmental psychology and trends in education today.
Thu-Huong Ha and Nikhil Sonnad wrote an article for Quartz about how people draw circles and other things.
posted by Going To Maine at 9:52 PM PST - 40 comments

Shiva Ayyadurai didn't invent email. But he's suing everyone who says otherwise.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:35 PM PST - 26 comments

Artist Dana Brodsky, wandering NYC with her 18-month-old, began to paint miniatures of the birds she saw, eventually creating the project Bird by Bird.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:29 PM PST - 4 comments

A Mexican Town Is Giving Americans Something Donald Trump Can’t: Affordable Dental Care Trump’s anti-Mexican rhetoric doesn’t worry the 600 dentists in Los Algodones or the US “dental refugees” they treat, many of whom voted for Trump. “We’re helping the United States take care of the people they are not able to.”, John Stanton/BuzzFeed News (previously: 1, 2)
posted by Room 641-A at 5:56 PM PST - 26 comments

Showing data in physical form from ancient times to the present. One thing not on this seemingly comprehensive list are the Inuit wooden tactile maps. There's lots to chew on in the main list.
posted by MovableBookLady at 5:51 PM PST - 5 comments

Marvel has historically demonstrated an inability to convert its booming box-office success into comic sales. Why is that? Because of poor marketing and a lack of understanding of their audience. From Swapna Krishna, 900 words for SyFyWire on comics publishing missteps.
posted by cgc373 at 4:42 PM PST - 56 comments

Now ole' Eric was just a mountain boy from the holler, but that mountain boy had a dream, a dream of bein' a mountain lawyer and helpin' the good ole' folk of coal country get on Social Security Disability. Maybe if he'd stick to it I reckon thatd'en done been the story, but Eric's dream kept a-growin', and more and more a'the good people kept gettin' swept up in the rise an' fall of Mr. Social Security. [more inside]
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:30 PM PST - 16 comments

Beneath the calm surface of Sydney Harbour lurks another world, a world of…calm sea creatures. Nature is not red in tooth and claw in these videos by Chris Miller—it's a chill world with soothing background music.

Harbour Days
Chowder Bay: The Winter Months
It's The Little Things

More can be found (not all so relaxing) on his Vimeo channel.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:42 PM PST - 2 comments

In response to the announcement by the staff of major anime convention Anime Expo that they were looking for "volunteer translators", AnimeFeminist has a longform editorial on the fandom's cultural devaluation of technical skills and how it serves as exploitation, and how to push back to get labor credited - and paid - as such.
posted by NoxAeternum at 1:29 PM PST - 52 comments

"the digital tsunami poised to engulf us, as machine intelligence and a rising tech elite radically restructure life as we know it"
posted by infini at 12:51 PM PST - 42 comments

WoodSwimmer: A music video made entirely from sanding wood. "The sequences are cross-sectional photographic scans of pieces of hardwood, burls and branches."
posted by bondcliff at 12:38 PM PST - 21 comments

Life is Strange: Before the Storm: Life sucks when you’re a teenager, man [Ars Technica] “Following the surprise success of 2015's Life Is Strange—Dontnod's episodic tale of teenage rebellion—we expected publisher Square Enix to return with a sequel. Less expected, though, was the E3 2017 reveal of Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, a prequel that tells the story of series star Chloe Price during her formative years. Dontnod isn't behind the prequel, with development duties instead handed off to Deck Nine Games. While the cynics out there may call this a cash-in, Before the Storm has its moments—at least if the E3 demo is anything to go by. The biggest change—aside from a range of new locations alongside familiar ones—is that Before the Storm ditches the time travel mechanic of the original and lays the teenage melodrama on thick. The strength of Life Is Strange was always in its writing, where it masterfully touched on complex topics like addiction, cyberbullying, and suicide. Before the Storm deals with its own difficult themes.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 12:37 PM PST - 19 comments

Phone unlocking fees are now banned in Canada.
posted by Shepherd at 12:19 PM PST - 8 comments

"So… this is certainly a surprising result, one that I didn’t expect to find when I started exploring the data. And it is impressively robust even when controlling for many confounding factors. As an exercise I tried controlling for many other confounding factors within the survey data beyond those mentioned here, but it was difficult to make the effect shrink and basically impossible to make it disappear."
posted by jenkinsEar at 11:50 AM PST - 115 comments

An Illustrated Guide to the Best Works of Frank Lloyd Wright. [more inside]
posted by storybored at 11:38 AM PST - 22 comments

Tracy K. Smith has been appointed the U.S. Poet Laureate (technically, the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress). Smith won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for Life on Mars, "A collection of bold, skillful poems, taking readers into the universe and moving them to an authentic mix of joy and pain."
posted by Etrigan at 11:07 AM PST - 7 comments

"For the first time, a generation of players is playing in low-tops. ... Today's highest-tech, most forward-thinking basketball sneakers don't look like basketball sneakers. And the sneakerheads who love the rich history of the high-top basketball silhouette have had to look beyond the basketball court for inspiration." (sl Esquire)
posted by goatdog at 9:26 AM PST - 43 comments

Author Seanan McGuire is the author of the Hugo nominated novella Every Heart a Doorway, October Day series, the InCryptid series, and the stand-alone ghost story Sparrow Hill Road. She is also good with singalongs...
posted by happyroach at 9:01 AM PST - 27 comments

The Universal Phenomenon of Men Interrupting Women by Susan Chira in the New York Times.
posted by bile and syntax at 7:51 AM PST - 71 comments

Sonam Wangchuk is an engineer who has come up with an innovative way to provide fresh water to villages in Ladakh, one of the high-altitude deserts in the world located in the Himalayas. Wangchuk sources water from streams and uses it to create artificial glaciers, which store fresh water until it's needed in springtime. [Mashable Video]
posted by ellieBOA at 7:43 AM PST - 14 comments

Summer is here again, and with it the dulcet tones of the Mister Softee jingle (previously) you know and love. What you probably didn't know (but will love) was that someone made a movie starring an anthropomorphic ice cream cone based on the Softee brand. It also features David Caruso. [more inside]
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:29 AM PST - 10 comments

Last night, the Dallas Street Choir made their Carnegie Hall debut. The choir is made up of Dallas residents who are homeless, including some with mental illness and addiction issues. They are currently on an East Coast tour. They were joined last night by 17 New Yorkers who currently live in Manhattan shelters. Last April, they produced the music video Homeless, Not Voiceless. Over 1,200 individuals have attended at least one of their weekly rehearsals, since October 2014.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:54 AM PST - 4 comments

Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror is an interactive experience created by the Equal Justice Initiative and launched with support from Google. Includes interactive map exploring the geography of lynching, plus audio stories and video. The (PDF) original report this project was based on was discussed here previously.
posted by beagle at 6:29 AM PST - 12 comments

Taika Waititi, New Zealander of the Year, calls on everyone to support a very important cause. The embodiment of everything that's good in the world asks you to have a little think about your contribution to this.
posted by h00py at 5:47 AM PST - 19 comments

Have a round-up of the thrilling musical performances (with some introductions) from the 2017 Tony Awards [in no particular order]: Bandstand -- "Nobody", Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 -- "Dust And Ashes" "The Abduction" (Medley), Dear Even Hansen -- "Waving Through A window", Come From Away -- "Welcome To The Rock", Miss Saigon -- Medley ("This Is The Hour", "I'd Give My Life For You"), Hello Dolly! -- "Penny In My Pocket", Groundhog Day -- "Seeing You", Falsettos -- "A Day In Falsettoland", Warpaint -- "Face To Face" [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 4:21 AM PST - 14 comments

The author of A Big Bang in a Little Room: The Quest to Create New Universes explains (partially) how it may be possible to create new universes in the lab (without destroying the lab and the universe you're in). Hint: it involves passing through a tiny black hole. But some physicists really don't want to talk about it since they'd be seen as 'playing God', and at least one scientific journal really didn't want to be seen as encouraging this 'dirty joke' about 'physicist hackers'.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:45 AM PST - 56 comments

Agata's Machine and Waxy are short stories by the Canadian writer Camilla Grudova (tumblr), whose debut collection The Doll's Alphabet has been likened to David Lynch, Margaret Atwood and Angela Carter.
posted by misteraitch at 2:00 AM PST - 5 comments

There was once a pregnant gorilla.... (SLAtlantic)
posted by hleehowon at 1:38 AM PST - 11 comments

Oats Studios is Neill Blomkamp's latest project. They have just released their first short film, the violent horror sf: Volume 1 - Rakka (possibly NSFW) [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 1:25 AM PST - 17 comments

I Feel It Is My Duty to Speak Out [more inside]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 11:41 PM PST - 33 comments

… And that’s why I’ve written Love Is a Rhythmical Art: a translation of Ovid’s entire Ars amatoria into limericks. As far as I can tell, it is the world’s first true limerepic — nearly 1,000 limericks in a row — as well as a faithful rendition of Ovid’s ancient advice for the modern world.

Sadly, the complete text is not there given, nor have I been able to discover it elsewhere. Perhaps you may be appeased by this Sexual Encounter, Narrated through Entries in the Index of Herbert Weir Smyth, (Ancient) Greek Grammar (1920).
posted by kenko at 8:36 PM PST - 7 comments

Cornell Lab of Ornithology Father's Day Photo Gallery. Check out some pictures of amazing bird dads with their young. As a bonus, here's Cornell's California Condor live cam, where you can see an adorable condor chick! All things bird can also be found on Cornell's main site. [more inside]
posted by FireFountain at 8:34 PM PST - 4 comments

Click that 'hood! is a geography game which tests your knowledge of city neighborhoods. To play Click that 'hood! you first need to select a city or town from the long list of locations available. You are then shown an interactive map of your chosen city. Your task is to correctly identify the location of twenty neighborhoods as quickly as possible by pointing them out on the map. If your town or city isn't already available to play on Click that 'hood! then you can add it yourself. If you have a shapefile of your local neighborhoods you can e-mail it to Code for America and they will add it to the game. Alternatively you can clone the game on GitHub and add the neighborhood data to your own instance of Click that 'hood. (Keir Clark/Maps Mania)
posted by Room 641-A at 5:26 PM PST - 41 comments

The New Yorker presents a split-screen tour of the same streets in New York City, from the nineteen-thirties and today. (slyt)
posted by fings at 4:31 PM PST - 14 comments

Relax with this wonderful unedited drone footage of (mostly) Arizona: Cardiff by the Sea, Winter in Flagstaff, Picacho Peak, San Xavier Mission, Flagstaff Snow Bowl. Madera Canyon, Marana Farmland, Mount Lemmon, Marana and Tucson Desert, Ironwood Forest, Between Sedona and Flagstaff, Flagstaff, Sedona Red Rock. Oh, and here's the dog chasing the drone. [more inside]
posted by tomcooke at 3:44 PM PST - 7 comments

How the world's first accountants counted on cuneiform
posted by bq at 2:58 PM PST - 10 comments

Contemporary eccentric full log sided custom home on 20+/- acres for the cat fancier! If you love cats this is the home for you! If not bring your sandblaster! Custom build, hardwood kitchen cabinets (Oak, Lacewood, and Bocote) artistically accented with river rock. Cat walkways and in great room Medieval cat castle with different levels (stone). All interior doors custom built (wood). Must see to believe it does exist!!! Once in a lifetime find extremely fun home!
posted by terooot at 2:39 PM PST - 56 comments

According to a report published Tuesday by researchers from antivirus provider Eset, a recently discovered backdoor Trojan used comments posted to Britney Spears's official Instagram account to locate the control server that sends instructions and offloads stolen data to and from infected computers. The innovation—by a so-called advanced persistent threat group known as Turla—makes the malware harder to detect because attacker-controlled servers are never directly referenced in either the malware or in the comment it accesses.
posted by Chrysostom at 1:50 PM PST - 21 comments

#TheRootTrip: From June 12-18, follow author Lawrence Ross on the blackest road trip ever: driving 3,000 miles from Los Angeles to "the tobacco farm where Booker T. Washington was enslaved in Roanoke, Va.," while patronizing as many black-owned businesses as possible along the way. "We’re also going black in time, and that means pulling out The Negro Motorist Green Book," 1957 edition.
posted by nicebookrack at 12:34 PM PST - 31 comments

Emily Larlham's loving nature and no-intimidation training methods helped these hard-luck dogs learn to dance and caper [Scottish jig music]. More on the Kikopup Youtube channel. (MeFites love Kikopup)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:28 PM PST - 8 comments

The last installment of the original “Choose Your Own Adventure” series came out in 1998, but since 2004, Chooseco, founded by one of the series’ original authors, R.A. Montgomery, has been republishing classic volumes, as well as new riffs on the form of interactive fiction that seemed ubiquitous in the 1980s and ’90s. The new editions also carry an additional feature—maps of the hidden structure of each book.

posted by Lexica at 12:02 PM PST - 25 comments

'And I Am Not Lying' - My first album of standup and storytelling [via mefi projects] by Metafilter's own chinese_fashion. [more inside]
posted by xingcat at 11:42 AM PST - 10 comments

Drive down any major interstate in the U.S., and you’ll see big blue signs decorated with business logos near most exits. Here’s who decides which businesses make it on the signs, and how much it all costs.

posted by Etrigan at 10:59 AM PST - 40 comments

The Strange Allure of Pan Books: Vintage Cult Film, TV Tie-In and Fab Fiction Book Covers [Dangerous Minds] “Everyone knows Penguin. They publish classic lit and high-end middle-class novels about those things people discuss over lattes. Pan books [wiki] were thrillers, pulp novels, movie and TV tie-ins, romances, some classics (Bronte, Trollope, Dickens), and best of all the dare to read alone horrors. Everyone read Pan. Because Pan books were always a guaranteed great read. [...] Pan Books was started by a former World War One flying ace, Alan Bott [wiki] in 1944. Bott believed in enjoyable reads available for all. He focussed on paperback books the public would enjoy which might bring them back to the brand for more.”
posted by Fizz at 9:41 AM PST - 19 comments

From photographer Julieanne Kost, three different excellent collections of work:
- streaked, blurred handheld pictures from a vehicle in Passenger Seat I and Passenger Seat II
- implausibly colored landscape abstracts in recent aerial photographs
- eerie photo manipulation collages in What I Dream
posted by cortex at 8:50 AM PST - 13 comments

Last year, a jaded Quebec hipster admitted that the burden of the secret I’ve been harbouring is growing too heavy for me to bear. By May of this year, MTV was on board. After her live performance at this year's Billboard Awards, it seems impossible to imagine that anyone ever hated her.
posted by clawsoon at 8:39 AM PST - 82 comments

Don't live somewhere along the path of totality for viewing the eclipse on 21 August, and are curious just what you might see from your location? Try the eclipse simulator.
posted by terrapin at 8:12 AM PST - 60 comments

Riot the Fox has a new tunnel in his backyard. His playmate Castiel the German Shepherd wants to catch him. The result is Pet Fox Gets A New Tunnel! [3m5s]. Literally a tutorial on why foxes are considered sly or wily. Watch to the end to see a great Animal Family Profile Portrait.
posted by hippybear at 3:26 AM PST - 18 comments

There has been a major fire at a residential tower block in London. As news outlets report casualties, it has emerged that residents have been warning the local authority about fire safety risks for several years.
posted by Catseye at 2:19 AM PST - 472 comments

An investigation into American writer Thomas Pynchon, who has never given an interview in his 54-year career by Brazilian journalist Natalie Portinari [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:46 AM PST - 24 comments

Lindsay Ellis tackles the satire paradox and the role of humor as a weapon against fascism. [CW: depictions of racism and homophobia]
posted by Deoridhe at 12:53 AM PST - 22 comments

Wrestling With the Culture of Drug Testing in Sports, Mark Hann
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:52 PM PST - 6 comments

'And so Young, a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, decided to do an experiment. He thought he’d try writing the most vapid, simplistic poetry he could and post it to Instagram to see what happened.' [more inside]
posted by The Toad at 9:40 PM PST - 72 comments

What Ozark vigilantes of the 1880s reveal about modern America.
posted by MovableBookLady at 7:35 PM PST - 10 comments

Here Is a List of 10 Extremely Good Goat Beards from Modern Farmer. See also, The 10 Best Horns In The Animal World: The Definitive List.
posted by gueneverey at 7:11 PM PST - 5 comments

Doggo following a Google Street View photographer. More Dogs On Street View. Street View Fun > Dogs. Bonus: explore Hiroshima, Japan, with Cat Street View.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:57 PM PST - 18 comments

The timeline of events that transpired to make Evergreen State College national news recently over racially charged protests is long and possibly still ongoing with the recent announcement that graduation this year will be held off campus for the first time in the college's history. [more inside]
posted by whorl at 3:17 PM PST - 101 comments

The American woman is told she can do anything and then is knocked down the moment she proves it. Paulina Porizkova's 850-word NYT opinion piece. via kottke.org
posted by cgc373 at 2:37 PM PST - 27 comments

When Americans think about the most innovative agency in the government, they think about the Pentagon or NASA. But throughout much of its history, that title could just as easily have fallen to the Post Office, which was a hotbed of new, interesting, sometimes crazy ideas as it sought to accomplish a seemingly simple task: deliver mail quickly and cheaply. The Post Office experimented with everything from stagecoaches to airplanes—even pondered sending mail cross-country on a missile. For decades, the agency integrated new technologies and adapted to changing environments, underpinning its ability to deliver billions of pieces of mail every year, from the beaches of Miami to the banks of Alaska, for just cents per letter. [more inside]
posted by kevinbelt at 2:18 PM PST - 46 comments

Real words that are also valid HEX colors. Via kottke.org.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 1:51 PM PST - 22 comments

Three father species, one hybrid species: The all-female Ambystoma salamander hybrid lineage (6 Ma and counting!) uses equal parts of the genetics from three different sexually-reproducing Ambystoma species. Each hybrid mates with (at least?) three fathers of the different species to gather sperm and has only female offspring.
posted by clew at 12:59 PM PST - 11 comments

"Well, I guess I was born a boy,” she replied. “But I like to dress like a girl. It’s for fun."
posted by dfm500 at 12:24 PM PST - 21 comments

Comedian Jamie Loftus celebrates one year of eating Infinite Jest.
posted by Alterity at 12:06 PM PST - 23 comments

A brief history of Mallory Ortberg and The Toast.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:19 AM PST - 21 comments

11 artists creating unexpected excellence in ceramics. [more inside]
posted by mattamatic at 11:09 AM PST - 16 comments

How a Pit Bull Mix Changed One Bay Area Man’s Life
posted by invisible ink at 10:52 AM PST - 3 comments

Every New Jersey Turnpike Rest Stop, Ranked.
posted by The Whelk at 10:34 AM PST - 37 comments

ProPublica/National Geographic: The inside story of a cartel’s deadly assault on a Mexican town near the Texas border — and the U.S. drug operation that sparked it. [en Español]
posted by noneuclidean at 10:03 AM PST - 15 comments

Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee currently have the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 list (for the fifth week in a row) with "Despacito" -- the first primarily non-English-language song to hit #1 since the Macarena in 1996. Having Justin Bieber on this remix helped push it to the top (a Biebsless version peaked at #44), but Spanish-language songs are getting more and more popular in the mainstream as the Latino audience grows.
posted by Etrigan at 9:35 AM PST - 21 comments

A Chicken Sandwich Hitches a Balloon Ride to the Stratosphere [The New York Times] [Pepsi KFC Blue] “An Arizona company, World View Enterprises, plans to send tourists on balloons into the stratosphere, high enough to see the curves of Earth and the blackness of space. But its initial passenger will be a tangy fried chicken sandwich. The company said on Tuesday that the first flight of a fully equipped high-flying balloon would take off as soon as June 21, with a payload of fast food. Perhaps you’ve seen the KFC television commercial where Colonel Sanders, (played by the actor Rob Lowe), riffs on John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “We choose to go to the moon” speech.”
posted by Fizz at 9:30 AM PST - 14 comments

At 2:30pm Eastern time today, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III will testify under oath before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence regarding his contacts with government officials of the Russian Federation prior to the January 20th inauguration, as well as his role in the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Many burning questions remain for Sessions. [more inside]
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:32 AM PST - 3041 comments

What thirty years of graffiti looks like, as taken from the walls of cultural centre Doornroosje (Dutch Wikipedia) in Nijmegen. Imgur album by Paul de Graaf.
posted by MartinWisse at 7:35 AM PST - 11 comments

An invasive slug is helping to spread a nasty parasite in Hawaii. There are things you can do to avoid it though.
posted by Bee'sWing at 4:39 AM PST - 14 comments

"The purpose of this trip is multifaceted. As an artist and anthropologist, I am interested in why humans create and how cultural identity informs creative process. I will explore different countries, create art, conduct research, try to learn languages, and collaborate with artists and communities. My primary goal is to learn…about everything. The research that I gather during this trip is in conjunction with my graduate school coursework for 2016-17 and what I learn will be used to inform future research and writing, including my doctoral dissertation." [more inside]
posted by mdonley at 1:50 AM PST - 2 comments

3 Generations of Tools, Photographed

I'm a third generation stagehand. My father and grandfather were both theatrical carpenters, and my father is also an antique tool collector. Many of the images are literally the drawers out of his roadbox and various tool chests at his home, others are some of my favorite pieces of his. I've been posting them with my recollections of a lifetime with these tools, or with stories from my father or grandfather.

A rather hypnotizing collection of photographs from MeFi's own nevercalm. [via mefi projects]
posted by Anonymous at 10:11 PM PST - 19 comments

How does Batman make all his money? - and other questions raised by Bruce Wayne being rich as hell.
posted by Artw at 4:04 PM PST - 67 comments

Unbound is a crowdfunding site specifically for writers/readers. They've successfully funded (ie published) numerous books and always have live projects seeking funding. Brought to you by the wonderful people behind the always-awesome Backlisted Podcast.
posted by dobbs at 4:03 PM PST - 10 comments

Pornhub Is the Kinsey Report of Our Time. 'The streaming sex empire may have done more to expand the sexual dreamscape than Helen Gurley Brown, Masters and Johnson, or Sigmund Freud.' Text article. Possibly NSFW
posted by zarq at 2:42 PM PST - 63 comments

The New York Times has published a longform interview of Chelsea Manning "In January 2017, after being locked up at five different facilities, in conditions a United Nations expert called “cruel” and “inhumane,” Manning had received a surprise commutation by President Barack Obama. Four months later, she was free, trying to adjust to life in a world she helped shape."
posted by indubitable at 2:20 PM PST - 22 comments

Last night, shortly before the Tony Awards, Delta Airlines and the Bank of America announced that they would withdraw sponsorship from the Public Theatre over a production of Julius Caesar currently being staged in Central Park, which has been in previews since May 23. The production makes direct references to the current administration in the White House. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:16 PM PST - 62 comments

New Zealand's Pink and White Terraces (Te Otukapuarangi in Maori) may not be lost after all. Hailed as breathtaking, the enormous silica sinter deposits were on either side of Lake Rotomahana. Assumed lost in the eruption of Mt. Tarawera in 1886, a geologist's long-overlooked diaries indicate they may be in a different location than was believed... and researchers say they may be simply covered in ashes and mud. An excavation is being planned.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:38 PM PST - 3 comments

From The Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour in 1970: "Chapter 6: In Which Eeyore Has a Birthday and Gets Two Presents" from A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh. (work-safe, family-safe, spoken-word only). [more inside]
posted by ardgedee at 11:54 AM PST - 7 comments

Cats massaging dogs is totally [ambient sound] a thing [peaceful music]. (Me, I think they're up to something [devious whispering].) (Previously)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:22 AM PST - 14 comments

In Tarceva, Genentech discovered that they had a perfectly-targeted drug: Only patients with specific mutations in their epidermal growth factor receptor gene responded to the cancer-controlling drug. But there was one big problem: They were already selling $150 million a year worth of the drug to cancer patients for whom it didn't work.
posted by clawsoon at 10:53 AM PST - 51 comments

Can't tell your "Purple Haze" from your "Purple Rain"? The DEA's tremendous drug slang dictionary is here to help, now with a handy quiz!
posted by chrchr at 10:40 AM PST - 34 comments

There are plenty of writing guides by the old guard, so how about a master class in writing narrative nonfiction with Susan Orlean, Isabel Wilkerson, Jacqui Banaszynski, Katherine Boo, Lillian Ross, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Sonia Nazario and many more women journalists. [more inside]
posted by not_the_water at 10:27 AM PST - 16 comments

This week marks the 50th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the landmark Supreme Court decision that invalidated state laws restricting interracial marriage. Recently, we asked readers to share their experiences about being in a mixed-race relationship. We received more than 2,000 stories in just a few days. Some wrote about the resistance they faced from family and society, while others celebrated the particular richness of their lives. Here are some of those stories.
posted by cynical pinnacle at 9:56 AM PST - 20 comments

In a land without mammals, giant insects filled in for small furry animals Now large hairless mammals are making heroic efforts to conserve one of the world's unloveliest beasties. The weta can weigh up to 70 grams and thrived until the mammals came.
posted by alloneword at 9:06 AM PST - 25 comments

"Why did whales get so enormous?" First, it's because of baleen, which allows efficient filtration of large quantities of small food (e.g., krill) from water. But then the start of the last great ice age 5 million years ago pushed nutrients into the sea, causing a leap in krill populations, which itself caused a gigantic leap of baleen whales' size. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 8:53 AM PST - 12 comments

I say Moo! You say Party! Script monologues and dialogues between ASCII-art cows. That's really it. Does there need to be more? [via mefi projects]
posted by veggieboy at 6:18 AM PST - 17 comments

2017 E3 Video Game Trailers. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 10:33 PM PST - 215 comments

recommendmeabook.com shows you the first page of a book. If you're curious, you can click to find out what it is.
posted by gwint at 8:38 PM PST - 31 comments

Paul Revere Williams designed over 3000 buildings in 1920s-30s Hollywood. The website for the Paul Revere Williams Project has researched many of these buildings and has an ongoing gallery thumbnails with links. Research is still underway and the project is still looking for info on his work.
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:09 PM PST - 8 comments

Juror removed for using secret knowledge from the Holy Ghost ("A higher being told me that Corinne Brown was not guilty on all charges, and I trust the Holy Ghost." 27:10-11) . Defendant convicted. Defendant appeals on the grounds that the Holy Spirit is not real but was actually just the Juror's judgment that one of the witnesses was lying. Welcome to Congresswoman Corinne Brown's very unusual appeal. [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:09 PM PST - 56 comments

In 1898, Puerto Rico became an unincorporated territory of the United States of America. In 1917, the people of Puerto Rico were granted US citizenship. Today, the voters of Puerto Rico have cast their vote to seek admission into the United States of America, and assume the rights, privileges, and duties of its 51st state. (NPR) People are tweeting with #Estado51 and #Plebiscito2017. But the results are contested, and ultimately, the referendum raises more questions than it answers. After more than fifty years of debate, it is still not over. Meanwhile, on the mainland, the Puerto Rico Day Parade took place today in NYC, and local radio stations are bumping Despacito for the occasion. [more inside]
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 5:51 PM PST - 45 comments

AI learns how to create human faces from scratch. Dr. Mike Tyka, a biophysicist working for Google, has been using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) to create images of human faces with a fair amount of success. The Dr. breaks his process down for us in his blog post Work in progress: Portraits of Imaginary people.
posted by scalefree at 3:04 PM PST - 38 comments

"[Nielsen Norman Group] conducted a survey with 452 adult respondents from the United States who were not employed in an IT- or marketing-related industry. In this survey, participants were shown 23 wireframes corresponding to different types of advertisements and rated how much they disliked them on a scale of 1 to 7."
posted by jenkinsEar at 3:02 PM PST - 47 comments

The catchily-named Multilevel Regression and Poststratification (MRP or Mr. P) is a newish technique for estimating opinion in states, cities, or legislative districts too numerous for there to be really solid sample sizes in every one of them. Yougov.uk recently used an MRP model to be among the first successfully predicting a hung parliament, getting about 93\% of constituencies right. Why do MRP? How does it work? [more inside]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 2:00 PM PST - 12 comments

For your viewing pleasure: time lapse video of a slug eating a dandelion. 30 minutes in 30 seconds, from Canadian photographer R. Jeanette Martin.
posted by jokeefe at 1:42 PM PST - 26 comments

Though the Wonder Woman movie has received almost universal critical and box office success, David Edelstein's review of it was less than glowing, musing that all the "gushing reviews of Wonder Woman suggest that people are grading on a big curve." His review prompted Gavia Baker-Whitelaw's acerbic response in The Daily Dot, a piece in Daily Kos calling it one of the most sexist movie reviews ever, and a satirical piece in Jezebel titled Gal Gadot Did Not Give Me a Hard Enough Boner. Feeling misunderstood, Edelstein then wrote a defense of his review, prompting Drew Magary to marvel at his "non-apology". Ultimately, Edelstein's review is a good reminder of the point raised previously by Emily McCarty: we need more female film critics.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:37 PM PST - 134 comments

The Martha Stewart of Marijuana Edibles, Lizzie Widdicombe/The New Yorker: It’s a category that used to begin and end with the bone-dry pot brownie, served in a college dorm room. Laurie Wolf is a leader in its gourmet revolution. ~ Female Chefs Are Leading the Cannabis Cuisine Revolution, Avital Norman Nathman/Vice Munchies: Legal cannabis is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country, and more of its leadership roles are held by women than in almost any other sector. [...] And when it comes to consumption, women are not only excelling in the cannabis kitchen, but leading as pioneers in this nascent field. ~ 91-Year-Old Nonna Marijuana Is the Queen of Weed Cuisine, David Bienenstock/Vice Munchies
posted by Room 641-A at 12:26 PM PST - 17 comments

Juniper is the happiest fox in the world. Directions: press ear for sounds. [more inside]
posted by lemonade at 10:42 AM PST - 23 comments

Sam Panopoulos, the man credited with inventing the Hawaiian pizza, has died aged 83. [more inside]
posted by Mister Bijou at 10:15 AM PST - 66 comments

The rise and fall of the CCRU (Cybernetic Culture Research Unit) at Warwick University in the 1990s and its philosophy of Accelerationism
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:30 AM PST - 25 comments

Stump the Bookseller is a blog run by Cleveland's Loganberry Books, in which the community helps people identify books they only vaguely remember, AskMe-style. Found thanks to Alice Gregory, in NYT Mag's Letter of Recommendation column. [more inside]
posted by Miko at 6:09 AM PST - 13 comments

The tramp chair was a strange bit of fin de siecle sadism that made its way to your vacation postcard. Featured in Popular Mechanics and an inspiration to escape artists, it was on display in 2015(video) and will be so again this year.
posted by selfnoise at 5:36 AM PST - 23 comments

The Norwegian who knew his tortoises so well that he changed the course of history What happened was, of course, not that simple. Nothing rules the world more than mere chance, and a long chain of events paved the ground for Darwin's groundbreaking discovery. One of these events was ‒ incredibly enough ‒ meeting a Norwegian along the way, a man who just like Darwin grew up not knowing what a tortoise was.
posted by CrystalDave at 1:44 AM PST - 7 comments

National Review honours its mailroom guy, Alex Batey, who passed away yesterday.
posted by clawsoon at 8:23 PM PST - 37 comments

Snuggle sacks for animals are totally a thing. They're easy to make. Or you could just use a pillowcase.

Unrelated, but so damn cute: a fox getting scritches.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:11 PM PST - 23 comments

The Girl In The Yellow Dress, by David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson. (SLYT) Animation by Danny Madden. NPR interview.
posted by growabrain at 3:56 PM PST - 13 comments

Short attention span, let's just jump to the good stuff: Asteroids, with LASERS! The whole video is pretty good though. [more inside]
posted by Chuckles at 3:28 PM PST - 22 comments

In Cosby Trial, Treatment of Women by Powerful Men Has Its Day in Court [The New York Times] [Descriptions of Sexual Abuse/Assault] “It’s a familiar and discomforting spectacle: A woman who alleges sexual assault is also put on trial. She is grilled on the witness stand about why she continued to speak with a famous man she now charges with abuse, someone who had the power to shape her future. The man has to defend himself against the possibility of false accusations, and so it’s open season on a woman’s credibility. Andrea Constand’s two days at the center of the Bill Cosby trial captured the dynamics that make sexual assault cases so polarizing and so resonant. Her testimony, picked over by Mr. Cosby’s lawyers, occurred at a cultural moment when accusations of sexual assault or harassment have rocked a media empire, a presidential campaign, Silicon Valley start-ups and countless college campuses.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 12:07 PM PST - 33 comments

The Atlanta Braves have a between-innings promotion called "Beat the Freeze", where one lucky fan gets to race a costumed superhero called The Freeze around the outfield. The fan gets a 200 ft head start.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:59 AM PST - 40 comments

France's New president, Emmanuel Macron is inviting us to Make Our Planet Great Again. And he's doing it by offering to recruit Climate scientists, teachers, students, associations, and businesses to move to France, offering grants up to 1.5 million euros. This is in direct response to Donald Trump, and the website is also in English for ease of use.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:56 AM PST - 20 comments

Rollin' France is the latest animated short from Kyra Buschor & Constantin Päplow, and continues their hilarious series about a world where animals are round. Since their debut on the Blue back in 2012 they've filled a YouTube channel, Rollin' Wild, with many more shorts starring spherical animals.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:40 AM PST - 14 comments

Forgotten Corners is a gorgeous series of pairs of black and white line abstractions and reference photos of architecture and city environments, by artist Andrew G. Fisher. See also the more recent series, incorporating color elements, A Stolen Day on a Stolen Trip. [more inside]
posted by cortex at 11:00 AM PST - 4 comments

Are chronic pain and the absence of pain the same thing genetically?
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:15 AM PST - 7 comments

Adam West, the ardent actor who managed to keep his tongue in cheek while wearing the iconic cowl of the Caped Crusader on the classic 1960s series Batman, has died. He was 88. “Our dad always saw himself as The Bright Knight and aspired to make a positive impact on his fans' lives. He was and always will be our hero,” his family said in a statement.
posted by rewil at 9:00 AM PST - 165 comments

How to speak with an Icelandic accent, or at least one good enough to convince non-Icelanders. [more inside]
posted by acb at 4:58 AM PST - 15 comments

For an entire year, nearly everyone in Hollywood passed on adapting a film version of The Joy Luck Club. Even after Amy Tan’s debut novel became a best-seller, moving 275,000 copies upon its first publication, studio executives argued that no one would want to see a movie about Chinese-American women, especially since no stars were attached to it. Today, while Asian actors continue to be largely excluded from mainstream narratives — brushed aside and told that “non-white stars aren’t bankable” — The Joy Luck Club remains the only Hollywood film to have accomplished what most studios are still afraid to try. This is the story of how Asian-Americans pulled off a movie those in the industry never thought possible and proved Hollywood wrong.
posted by zarq at 12:49 AM PST - 21 comments

After every season of play, the players of online trivia site Learned League vote on various awards: best rookie, Best defensive performance, and Best Wrong Answer (mouseover for answers) [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 10:11 PM PST - 45 comments

The first trailer for the Black Panther movie has dropped
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:03 PM PST - 75 comments

$h!t People say to Handbag Lovers [SLYT]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 6:47 PM PST - 136 comments

Voice of Baceprot Voice of Baceprot inspirations include Slipknot, Rage Against the Machine and System of a Down. Of course, conservatives don't like metal. But these girls do.
posted by blob at 6:24 PM PST - 8 comments

Do you enjoy flipping through bridal magazines? How about hating on the ultra-rich? Why not do both with this article in Racked about the wedding planners to the 0.01%?
posted by jacquilynne at 5:59 PM PST - 30 comments

Redditors design worst volume sliders possible. [more inside]
posted by jeffamaphone at 5:15 PM PST - 35 comments

One challenge in human space exploration is what's for dinner. Soon astronauts will be able to enjoy freshly baked bread. [more inside]
posted by adept256 at 2:29 PM PST - 13 comments

DC comics hacks try to make Zero Hour look good in this most nineties of promo videos, as some poor sod cosplaying Parallax looks on and spouts mildly edgy one liners. (Zero Hour at Wikipedia.)
posted by MartinWisse at 2:23 PM PST - 7 comments

"Ever since two or more machines found themselves exchanging information on a network, they’ve needed a way to uniquely identify things."
posted by jenkinsEar at 2:03 PM PST - 18 comments

Benny has Tourette's. Benny does stand-up.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 1:25 PM PST - 9 comments

It's Alive! (YouTube playlist) A series from Bon Appetit with Test Kitchen Manager Brad and cameraman Vinny. Come for the questionable fermentation science, stay for the accents.
posted by backseatpilot at 12:47 PM PST - 6 comments

A collection of the many, many times people failed to send dog pics to the WeRateDogs twitter. [more inside]
posted by numaner at 12:41 PM PST - 27 comments

The Work You Do, The Person You Are The pleasure of being necessary to my parents was profound. I was not like the children in folktales: burdensome mouths to feed.
posted by strelitzia at 12:20 PM PST - 8 comments

Binky is an app that aims to rid you of the worst part of every social media platform: people. Binky is a ruse, a Potemkin-Village social network with no people, where the content is fake and feedback disappears into the void.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:13 PM PST - 22 comments

Steven Avery's Lawyer Claims Teresa Halbach Killed by Ex

On Wednesday, Kathleen Zellner, attorney for Making a Murderer subject Steven Avery, added one more twist to an already confusing case by pointing to Halbach's ex-boyfriend, Ryan Hillegas, as the murderer. In a 1,272-page motion [excerpt] filed to the state of Wisconsin, Zellner contends that her client deserves a new trial "in the interests of justice." Avery, who was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide in Halbach's 2005 death, is currently serving life in prison.

posted by kirkaracha at 11:55 AM PST - 7 comments

Techmoan is a YouTube channel about old, weird, obsolete, kitschy, expensive, cheap, bizarre, and charming technology.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 11:47 AM PST - 13 comments

Toward a Truly Feminist Blockbuster Cinema - improving upon the final extended action sequence of Wonder Woman and every other Superhero movie.
posted by Artw at 11:31 AM PST - 12 comments

Packaging Food With Food to Reduce Waste [The New York Times] “For the environmentally conscious eater, they are among the most inconvenient truths: Too much food goes to waste. Too much packaging comes with the food. And too much of the packaging is made to last for ages. Now there may be a single answer to all three problems: using excess food to make the packaging. A growing number of entrepreneurs and researchers are working to turn foods like mushrooms, kelp, milk and tomato peels into edible — if not always palatable — replacements for plastics, coatings and other packaging materials.”
posted by Fizz at 9:52 AM PST - 40 comments

The 25 best films of the 21st Century (so far). [SLNYT]
posted by cnanderson at 9:00 AM PST - 148 comments

The National Diet (Japan's legislature) has passed a law that would allow Emperor Akihito (and only Akihito) to resign the Chrysanthemum Throne due to his age. Lawmakers included a nonbinding resolution for the government to study reforms to the succession, such as allowing the line to pass through women or other changes that many say are crucial to the long-term future of the world's oldest continual hereditary monarchy.
posted by Etrigan at 7:33 AM PST - 42 comments

Yeah, sure, cellular automata are pretty great, whatever. Wait! Let's knit them on scarves! Yeah. Yeah, that's the--WAIT! I've got it! Let's plaster 'em all over a goddam train station!
posted by cortex at 7:22 AM PST - 12 comments

After over 15 years, the beloved series Dr. Katz has gotten revived thanks to Audible. Jonathan Katz and Laura Silverman reprise their roles and are joined by a cavalcade of your favorite comedy folks including Sarah Silverman, Dana Gould, Eddie Pepitone, Weird Al Yankovic, Maria Bamford, Emo Philips, Ron Funches, and much more in a possibly more addicting format as an audio series, Dr. Katz: The Audio Files. [h/t] (Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist previously 1, 2.) "For a limited time," the first three episodes of Dr. Katz: The Audio Files, featuring Andy Kindler, Ray Romano, and Sarah Silverman are free on audible.com. Prime members can also listen via a free 30-day Audible trial via Amazon. Bonus: SquiggleVision: An Animation Technique That Rocked the World [NSFW]
posted by Room 641-A at 4:38 AM PST - 17 comments

Eagle Teen Hunger Force! | Hatched in mid-March, they grew quickly and are well on their way to adulthood. This is glad news to nest fans, who were saddened last year when the first 2016 eaglet died a day after hatching and the second egg never hatched. [more inside]
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 4:33 AM PST - 15 comments

Runner and journalist Christopher McDougall writes about his latest adventures in running with his rescue donkey Sherman, and how Sherman found his herd with the local Amish running club [The New York Times]. [more inside]
posted by rawrberry at 4:24 AM PST - 14 comments

American Epic Sessions [Variety review] from PBS: In Jack White's recording studio lurks an ancient weight-driven direct-to-wax recording technology... Elton John is delivered never-seen lyrics from Bernie Taupin... Elton writes and arranges a song in the studio and the result is Two Fingers Of Whiskey. (The full feature length film [1h52m] shows the actual songwriting process; this video is just the recorded performance.) But there is also [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 3:16 AM PST - 10 comments

"It wasn't like I was fielding lots of calls about podcasts produced inside of prisons," Shapiro said. "I appreciated the creativity of that." Ear Hustle brings you the stories of life inside prison, shared and produced by those living it.
posted by bq at 10:43 PM PST - 7 comments

The Roman road system done up as a subway-style map. (via Kottke)
posted by Chrysostom at 10:13 PM PST - 21 comments

Trucks are useful, but tanks only kill. The recent announcement of the gargarntuan arms sales to Saudi Arabia have prompted some excellent analysis of Trump foreign policy. Of course, it's all about oil. And natural gas. And dollars.
posted by NeoRothbardian at 10:07 PM PST - 7 comments

Is it a hockey player or an Ikea product?
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:48 PM PST - 27 comments

Of course you do..
posted by bile and syntax at 7:06 PM PST - 29 comments

"On the Blind Panels podcast, we hold a Conversation in which a blind person and a sighted person talk about the same comic book that they’ve both read. These Conversations are fascinating and are often an excuse to delve into deeper things." a project from Comics Empower. Here's a short clip where you can hear what a described audio comic sounds like while Colleen from Blind Inspiration Cast listens in. Vice did an interview with Guy Hasson, the creator of the site, (via)
posted by jessamyn at 4:38 PM PST - 10 comments

Koda La Neige is a huskamute. Kaito the husky is a friend who doesn't like to share [huskies bitching and whining]. They do agree that their humans take too long to get to the dog park [huskies complaining].
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 4:38 PM PST - 9 comments

26 of the most disgusting words in the English language, as told by cute puppies. [more inside]
posted by mireille at 4:17 PM PST - 40 comments

Johnny received a very special present yesterday from his dad, who sadly passed away in April. Reddit pulled together to celebrate birthdays, missing parents, and the dedication to f***ing rock.
posted by endotoxin at 3:35 PM PST - 16 comments

Mandy Harvey, who lost her hearing at 18, performs on America's Got Talent, and proceeds to the next round.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:25 PM PST - 14 comments

False Knees is a webcomic mostly about birds. And raccoons. And rabbits. And trees. And bricks. And music criticism. And spring.
posted by Lexica at 1:48 PM PST - 10 comments

Katrina Onstad's The Weekend Effect looks at the history of the weekend and how it is being eroded by changing labour conditions and technology. But it's not just the fault of your corporate overlords and their digital leashes. Money has some suggestions on reclaiming your leisure time. Or maybe just learn from men, they seem to be better at ignoring obligations. [more inside]
posted by jacquilynne at 1:32 PM PST - 16 comments

Google Arts & Culture presents 400 stories from around the world covering the history, culture, and evolution of fashion.
posted by jenkinsEar at 10:04 AM PST - 5 comments

How Cold Brew Changed the Coffee Business [The New York Times] “There’s no way to rush cold brew. If you’re running a coffee shop, you need to anticipate demand. Every year, that demand is increasing: The United States is becoming a cold-brew nation. In the past, coffee sales lagged during the summer and rose sharply during the holiday season. But cold brew now drives a surge in demand during warmer months, too, far more so than other iced coffee drinks. Coffee sales spike when the mercury rises. Cold brew is also attracting an entirely new audience for coffee: millennials, many of whom are making it their drink of choice.”
posted by Fizz at 9:45 AM PST - 120 comments

Photographer Thibaud Poirier (on Instagram here, on Tumblr here), documents the interiors of European libraries in Palaces of self-discovery: A series on libraries.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:27 AM PST - 9 comments

The Seattle climate activist who turned off the North Dakota Keystone Pipeline gave up his livelihood, his family, and quite possibly—after the upcoming trial—his next two decades of freedom. What drives someone to risk it all?
posted by katie at 7:48 AM PST - 19 comments

"June is the month of Pride and the LGBTQ community has a new queer icon to celebrate: The Babadook."
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:41 AM PST - 30 comments

In 1965, there were some strange cars puttering along the track at Ford's Dearborn, MI, proving grounds. Among them were some that flirted with removing the automobile's time-tested fifth wheel and replacing it with two more smaller ones. This is wrist-twist driving.

posted by Etrigan at 7:07 AM PST - 31 comments

On May 15th, NPR launched their first podcast for kids: Wow in the World. Hosted by Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas, the show is aimed at kids ages 5-12 and explores the "wonders of science, technology, discovery and inventions." [more inside]
posted by zarq at 6:46 AM PST - 9 comments

Qatar in the Cross-Hairs - How Bad Can it get.
The extraordinary propaganda offensive against Qatar which has been raging in sections of the Arab media for the last couple of weeks shifted from words to deeds when Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in effect placed Qatar under siege.
For the Trump administration, the 'terrorist' label is little more than a foreign policy tool of the US and its allies.
Turkey sees an opportunity; Al-Jazeera has an update page [more inside]
posted by adamvasco at 5:12 AM PST - 48 comments

At the World Science Festival, last Saturday in NYC, about one hour into the panel discussion "Pondering the Imponderables: The Biggest Questions of Cosmology", moderator Jim Holt was interrupted while paraphrasing the work on string theory of panelist Veronika Hubeny, who had barely had a chance to participate, by a shout from the audience: "Let her speak, please!" [more inside]
posted by progosk at 3:09 AM PST - 51 comments

The Times crosswords, which have been edited by the famed crossword giant Will Shortz since 1993, are vexing for how outdated some of the clues and answers are, especially since in some cases the terms have been abandoned by the paper itself. The puzzle clearly isn’t seeking new talent or a new audience, and in its stodginess, it becomes clear that it is composed for a very particular reader with a very particular view of the world. The NYT Crossword is old and kind of racist by Adrianne Jeffries in The Outline [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 2:33 AM PST - 36 comments

20 years ago, the New York Times published an article titled Carving Green Out of Urban Gray, in which Richard B. Woodward elevates Frederick Law Olmsted's parks as well-aging works of art, with Central Park as "perhaps the finest public art ever created in North America". To expand the scope of what Olmsted accomplished, Olmsted's Trip appeared in The New Yorker, where Adam Gopnik laid out a slightly abbreviated story of how a very vocal and influential anti-slavery news reporter turned into one of the best known designers of public spaces, and tied the creation of Central Park as "a democratic playground, a liberal common, the ideal anti-plantation." [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 11:12 PM PST - 3 comments

The Ten Most Beautiful Ceilings in the World
posted by dfm500 at 9:34 PM PST - 19 comments

From Jo Freeman and Joanna Russ through today: several writers consider aspects of "call-out culture" or "pile-on culture" (as eviemath suggested we call it), especially in the context of how individuals and groups take or charge each other with responsibility and power within communities. [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 8:00 PM PST - 18 comments

Rice is an important ingredient in Southern cooking and part of its identity. All over the Southern lowlands, rice and its production has been vital since the 1700s. The main article discusses the resurgence of old types of rice, how important it used to be, how it was made, and who's making it now. Most of this article is discussing South Carolina rice fields. I've added some information on the rice plantations of North Carolina low country, around Wilmington NC rice in low-country NC
posted by MovableBookLady at 6:12 PM PST - 13 comments

"A kitten nursery saves tiny lives in a city aiming to become ‘no kill’" [WaPo link] [more inside]
posted by jazzbaby at 6:00 PM PST - 6 comments

The Sjoerd Koopman Collection houses approximately 1000 postcards of libraries in the United States. You can browse the collection here. Part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Digital Image Collections. [more inside]
posted by carter at 6:00 PM PST - 5 comments

Mr. Krabs is one thicc bih is just the tip of the upsettingly strange iceberg. [more inside]
posted by Frobenius Twist at 5:12 PM PST - 48 comments

After many leaflets of debatable accuracy, and many parties and 3,303 candidates (post title) of varying likelihood of winning, it's time for a nice cup of tea and another jolly splendid UK election (current map). There's been professional messaging, swearing at schoolchildren (related pitfalls), spaniel smelling, posters, demonstrations (nsfw), polling drama, Moomins and the return of Ed, chips, angry and warmongering and peaceful Brits, fake estate agents, stiff British humour, strong and stable, casual xenophobia and family canvassing. But it's now down to Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn or Nicola Sturgeon or Tim Farron or Mr Fish Finger for UK PM. Elsewhere, the Wessex Regionalists are standing in Devizes, while the Yorkshire Party are standing in 21 seats across t'county... [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 4:06 PM PST - 1612 comments

Whiskyanalysis.com has a substantial database of whiskys with flavor profiles and a metaanalysis of reviewers scores.
posted by pombe at 3:52 PM PST - 6 comments

Believe it or not, Polygon produces lots of great video content that don't feature any brothers. SEO Play is perhaps the greatest of these, where host Simone de Rochefort answers your pressing questions on today's hottest games. Please Retweet documents Polygon video producer Patrick Gill's Sisyphean effort to have Nintendo retweet a very good picture of Toad. A recent series has Russ Frushtick and Simone guide each other playing games blindfolded in Fold Yeller, leading to moments exciting, frustrating, and triumphant. [more inside]
posted by kmz at 3:06 PM PST - 17 comments

"Almost immediately, fans asked how this happened. Why was Andromeda so much worse than its predecessors? How could the revered RPG studio release such an underwhelming game? And, even if the problems were a little exaggerated by the internet’s strange passion for hating BioWare, how could Andromeda ship with so many animation issues? I’ve spent the past three months investigating the answers to those questions."
posted by brundlefly at 2:49 PM PST - 26 comments

Thursday, June 8th. 0500 PST: The Race to Alaska starts in Port Townsend, WA. There is one rule: no motors allowed. First place wins $10,000. Second place wins a set of steak knives. This year there is an additional prize: once you cross the finish line, you can sell your boat (no matter what your 'boat' is) for $10,000.
posted by mrzarquon at 2:40 PM PST - 68 comments

All 213 Beatles Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best
posted by kirkaracha at 2:37 PM PST - 92 comments

As the Trump-Russia scandal continues to unravel, no one blinked when former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, “It is in [the Russian people’s] genes to be opposed, diametrically opposed to US and western democracies.” Excuse me? I had no idea that my DNA depended on an outdated, racist clash of civilizations. Tell me, sir: as a Russian-American Jew, will medical tests show trace amounts of Fifth Column in my blood?

American Russophobia is real — and it’s helping Putin.
posted by griphus at 2:35 PM PST - 31 comments

On May 31, the last public library in Oregon's Douglas County closed and locked the doors indefinitely. In November, voters rejected a tax measure – which would have cost the median home in the county a little less than $6 a month – to keep the libraries open. Smaller library branches shut down throughout the spring. This is the latest in a series of cuts to government services in the county fueled by residents who reject all taxes on principle. The sheriff's department no longer answers emergency calls 24 hours a day, and the county clerk is concerned about the county's ability to conduct elections.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 1:28 PM PST - 55 comments

Why? (SLNYT) Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, using the first comprehensive national estimates of lifetime risk of H.I.V. for several key populations, predicted that if current rates continue, one in two African-American gay and bisexual men will be infected with the virus. That compares with a lifetime risk of one in 99 for all Americans and one in 11 for white gay and bisexual men. To offer more perspective: Swaziland, a tiny African nation, has the world’s highest rate of H.I.V., at 28.8 percent of the population. If gay and bisexual African-American men made up a country, its rate would surpass that of this impoverished African nation — and all other nations.
posted by stillmoving at 1:13 PM PST - 25 comments

Today, the Armenian landscape is dotted with spectacular churches, the most notable of which date back to the medieval period... Today, many of these historic monasteries are still off the beaten path, perched overlooking vast gorges or hidden away in forested valleys. This is part of what the 360GreatArmenia VR app and website is trying to solve for by making virtual tours available from anywhere. ... the project has captured more that 300 virtual reality tours of ancient sites within modern Armenia.
posted by orrnyereg at 12:59 PM PST - 5 comments

Native lives matter - a movement emerges "No one knows why, but when he heard the sudden blare of sirens behind him, Daniel Covarrubias began running. The 37-year-old was walking home from the St. Clare hospital in Lakewood, Washington, on April 21, 2015, after getting treatment for side effects from his pain medications. His backpack full of beadwork, a craft that he had started a few years ago in an attempt to reconnect with his Native heritage, Covarrubias dashed into a nearby lumberyard, scaled a 25-foot-tall stack of wood and crouched, trying to hide."
posted by strelitzia at 12:49 PM PST - 3 comments

A seamless mashup of >150 songs by >100 artists into one seamless four-minute track: The Hood Internet - 40 YEARS OF HIP HOP [slYT]
posted by palindromic at 12:23 PM PST - 17 comments

John Oliver takes on Herbalife [more inside]
posted by beisny at 11:49 AM PST - 17 comments

The adventures of Antler Guy and Neighbor Steve

I have the feeling that the families get along great except for Steve. Like, the wives are baking (questionable) brownies together, the kids are playing together, Antler Guy occasionally takes Son and Timmy to school (no car, just carries them in huge swinging strides through a nexus of ungoldly sights in a swirling netherworld shortcut. Sometimes they stop for McDonalds). Hell-wife gave them a potted Audrey Jr., Steve’s wife (who I now christen Sharon) gave them a begonia. One time Steve tries throwing holy water but all Antler Guy does is thank him, saying that no, Antler Guy isn’t Catholic but it’s the thought that counts, he is so kind to water his creeping deathshade vines regardless.

posted by Lexica at 11:23 AM PST - 13 comments

Art's Titanic Model. The. Most. Amazing. Titanic. Model. To. Date.
posted by Laotic at 10:54 AM PST - 14 comments

As the country goes to hell in a handbasket, enjoy 17 Pictures That Prove Dogs Are Just Meant To Be Carried, Not Walked. Want more? How about The 50 Best Dogs In Bags On Instagram. (Dogs in bags on the subway previously)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:54 AM PST - 9 comments

A definitive ranking of Canada's best ketchup chips (s/l Chatelaine)
posted by Kitteh at 10:43 AM PST - 43 comments

Ocean Networks Canada is showing live footage of their two submersibles - Hercules and Argus , live all day. Let's explore the deep together!
posted by HakaiMagazine at 9:50 AM PST - 7 comments

The strangest part about the continued personality cult of Robert E. Lee is how few of the qualities his admirers profess to see in him he actually possessed.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:31 AM PST - 101 comments

"Rallies are fine. I’m not suggesting we retire the rally, but let’s remember what political theater actually does and does not accomplish: marches are for morale, protests are for pathos, but strikes? Strikes are for getting the goods, and that requires organizing workers. The hub of political power is not academia; it is not the internet; it is not the media, or comedy, or romance, or friendship, or art, or theory. It’s the workplace." All Worked Up And Nowhere To Go, Amber L'ee Frost on the limits of current protests and a path to an effective future.
posted by The Whelk at 9:11 AM PST - 65 comments

Poet on the Shore is an AI-empowered autonomous robot that roams on the beach. It enjoys watching the sea, listening to the sound of waves lapping on the beach, the murmurs of the winds, children’s conversing, and the incessant din of seabirds. Most of the time, it roams alone to listen and feel. Sometimes, it writes verses into the sand, and watches the waves wash them away.
posted by curious nu at 7:57 AM PST - 21 comments

IBM, remote-work pioneer, is calling thousands of employees back to the office [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 7:02 AM PST - 63 comments

The design of everyday life (it's a book!) by [mefi's own] Adam Greenfield - "Quite simply, we need to understand that creating an algorithm intended to guide the distribution of civic resources is itself a political act. And, at least for now, nowhere in the current smart-city literature is there any suggestion that either algorithms or their designers would be subject to the ordinary processes of democratic accountability." (via)
posted by kliuless at 6:42 AM PST - 2 comments

Title Drops, a supercut of characters saying the name of the film they're in.
posted by zamboni at 5:48 AM PST - 31 comments

Barbie talks about feeling blue in one of her vlogs. [more inside]
posted by Stark at 5:46 AM PST - 17 comments

Beaker Browser is an experimental decentralized browser that lets you create (and fork) websites whichl exist on a peer to peer network insteaqd of a traditional server. "It creates sites on demand, for free, and then shares them from the device. No servers required." Here's a video talking more about it.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 5:27 AM PST - 8 comments

Batman #24 just dropped what might be the biggest twist yet for Batman in DC Rebirth. [US Today] [Contains Spoilers] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 9:20 PM PST - 77 comments

he Revolutionary War ended in 1783 and photography was invented in the 1820s and 1830s, so most of the veterans of the war didn’t live long enough to have their portraits made. A handful of them did. In 1864, 81 years after the war, Reverend E. B. Hillard and two photographers embarked on a trip through New England to visit, photograph, and interview the six known surviving veterans, all of whom were over 100 years old. The glass plate photos were printed into a book titled The Last Men of the Revolution. [more inside]
posted by growabrain at 8:24 PM PST - 24 comments

Everything Carrie Ever Wondered About on Sex and the City
posted by Artw at 3:31 PM PST - 28 comments

Prototype Release: THQ’s unreleased Tetris DS. The Cutting Room Floor looks at a rom image for Tetris from THQ
posted by boo_radley at 3:25 PM PST - 5 comments

A young Wikipedia editor withstood a decade of online abuse. Now she’s fighting back — on Wikipedia itself.
Emily Temple-Wood's Women Scientists WikiProject. [WARNING: Violent, sexist, and homophobic language]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:10 PM PST - 70 comments

Microsoft's Xbox API reveals a wealth of data about users identified via Gamertag. ArsTechnica built a list of 74 million Gamertags and randomly sampled from them to reveal a wealth of information about online Xbox One and 360 users. [more inside]
posted by JHarris at 12:32 PM PST - 57 comments

100% Felt Bodega Opens In Meatpacking District, Selling 9,000 Essential Felt Deli Products
posted by lalochezia at 12:30 PM PST - 51 comments

Tomorrow, June 7, 2017, would have been Gwendolyn Brooks' 100th birthday, and the city of Chicago has declared BrooksDay in her honor. To prepare for the big day, here is a paper-cut puppetry, poetry, and music video featuring audio of Brooks reading and describing the inspiration behind her much-anthologized 1960 poem, We Real Cool. [more inside]
posted by palindromic at 12:04 PM PST - 4 comments

Spoiler alert: I don’t have a change of heart at the end of this essay. This is a story about not changing my mind and not having regret. To hives lady, the contractors and all the other bodega owners with cats: I am writing my final no-thank-you note.
posted by eotvos at 11:41 AM PST - 165 comments

"All right, it's time. 1 Like = 1 cool thing about the Star Wars prequels. Let's go." In a sprawling thread of 100+ tweets and counting, artist Glendon Mellow explores the mythology, politics, and design of the maligned Star Wars films.
posted by roll truck roll at 10:47 AM PST - 52 comments

Sam Kriss goes to Collision, "America’s fastest-growing tech expo", and writes about it. Learn to code? "Code what? To do what? And why?"
posted by Automocar at 10:47 AM PST - 123 comments

What can drugs-of-abuse teach us about discovering psychiatric drugs? "[The experience with ketamine and MDMA] suggests a new direction pharmaceutical companies might take: look for the chemicals that have the strongest and wackiest effects on the human mind. Then see if any of them also treat some disease. I think this is impossible with current incentives."
posted by alex1965 at 9:56 AM PST - 2 comments

What do you do if spiders rain from the ceiling in the astronomy department? SCIENCE! [more inside]
posted by tavella at 9:51 AM PST - 14 comments

Yes, possums are cute [teeny munching and LOUD ending], and generally not agressive [quiet talking]. They love food [jazzy piano]. Did I mention how cute [gentle music] they are? Here, watch some more [inoffensive music]. Wait, here's the cutest of all [voiceover and music]! And no possum post would be complete without dogs playing with a possum [ambient sounds] or adopting possum babies [voiceover and music]. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:37 AM PST - 22 comments

Being Gay Vs Being Southern: A False Choice By Brandon Taylor at LitHub
posted by The Whelk at 8:51 AM PST - 5 comments

Do you like diverse, joyous women of all sizes, lovingly filmed? Catchy, uplifting music you can sing along to that may just push everything else out of your head? Music videos produced and filmed on the streets of Bed-Stuy with locals? Well then, has the awesomely feminist Miss Eaves got a new video for you! Called by Jezebel the "feel-good video of the summer", the first track of Feminasty, 'Thunder Thighs' has been released unto the world. Warning: so many badass women you may find yourself watching it on repeat.
posted by corb at 8:38 AM PST - 18 comments

At Slate, Jason Zinoman does a deep dive into the title character in Broadway's Dear Evan Hansen, "not just a kind of hero but one whose story will stay with a generation of young theatergoers forever is testament to the power of skillfully crafted art to reframe, manipulate, and even obscure moral concerns." [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:26 AM PST - 15 comments

Night Court was the black sheep of NBC's sitcom dynasty [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 7:00 AM PST - 62 comments

Good morning! (and afternoon or evening!) fellow "fans" of U.S. politics! This week we wait in anticipation for the Thursday testimony of James Comey, a man who knows how to tell a story, and Wednesday's testimony of top intel officers like the NSA's Mike Rogers! Trump, against the advice of presumably every lawyer ever (hi George!!), spent the days after the London attacks rage tweeting about his TRAVEL BAN OH YES IT'S A TRAVEL BAN and insulting the mayor of London, who now rather sensibly supports canceling Trump's state visit. Also too! The Intercept got a major scoop about Russian election interference and their source, Reality Winner [real], was immediately arrested. More miscellaneous: Trump proposed privatizing air traffic control, sours on Sessions, and Congress wants to know if Kushner was seeking a Russian bailout for his hilariously-addressed building at 666 Fifth Avenue.
posted by Anonymous at 5:45 AM PST - 3019 comments

It's a fact that Vitamin A promotes good vision, among other benefits, so carrots are good for the health of your eyes. But the idea that carrots help you see at night is purely propaganda, and not from Big Vegetable, but Britain's Ministry of Information, an offshoot of a subterfuge campaign to hide a technology critical to an Allied victory. Sorry Jerry, the UK's secret weapon wasn't orange roots, it was actually Airborne Interception radar (AI). You can find this and so many other facts at the (virtual) carrot museum. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 8:47 PM PST - 16 comments

24 Animals Sleeping And Cuddling With Stuffed Animals 🐱 33 Animals With Stuffed Animals Of Themselves 🐶 Pets Who've Loved The Same Toy Since Forever
posted by Room 641-A at 6:41 PM PST - 18 comments

I'm a big fan of car racing and Italy and had never heard of this intrepid woman. She was most active in the 1920s, including in Australia, and even after retiring in her 50s, kept driving in Rome until her death. Brava!
posted by MovableBookLady at 6:08 PM PST - 4 comments

India, Pakistan and Something Deeper Than Cricket [The New York Times] “The Indian government’s stance illustrates how India-Pakistan cricket games have long been fraught with geopolitical tensions, stemming from the splitting of British India in 1947 into India and Pakistan and from ongoing conflict over disputed regions. The cricket rivalry is often regarded as the fiercest in any sport. When India and Pakistan have met on the cricket field, it has been fashionable to speak of “cricket diplomacy.” And on occasion — notably during India’s trip to Pakistan in 2004, its first in 14 years — the sport has helped thaw relations.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 5:31 PM PST - 3 comments

1967 was 50 years ago, and San Francisco is remembering the Summer of Love. The year actually kicked off well before it was summer, with the 50th anniversary of the Human Be-In in January. There are many exhibits and events in commemoration, including The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock & Roll at the de Young museum, which includes works by under-recognized photographer Elaine Mayes. [more inside]
posted by larrybob at 3:52 PM PST - 41 comments

This past weekend's Reno-based Biggest Little Fur Con just wrapped up with record attendance (5138, up 40% from last year) and with a mammoth photo of over 1000 fursuiters. If you want to see more details, you can scroll around the 5K super-high resolution version.
posted by hippybear at 3:39 PM PST - 27 comments

On 9/11, a tiny Canadian town opened its runways and heart to 7,000 stranded travelers.

Love this touching story of Gander; revel in it. Because every year, as Sept. 11 reminds America of the unfiltered evil in our world, it’s also necessary to remind ourselves of the human capacity for kindness, selflessness and generosity.

[more inside]
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 3:14 PM PST - 17 comments

If This Is A Man (American title: Survival In Auschwitz), Primo Levi's memoir of his internment in Auschwitz during World War II, turned 70 this year.
As part of the festivities, London's South Bank Centre produced a live performance of the entire book, read by a mix of humanitarians and actors and with interstitial music based on references in the text. You can hear the entire reading, split into five sections, in this playlist from SBC or this playlist of the episodes as re-upped by the The Times Literary Supplement [more inside]
posted by Going To Maine at 1:41 PM PST - 8 comments

Bob Dylan's Nobel Lecture is now online.

In a lot of ways, some of these same things have happened to you. You too have had drugs dropped into your wine. You too have shared a bed with the wrong woman. You too have been spellbound by magical voices, sweet voices with strange melodies. You too have come so far and have been so far blown back. And you’ve had close calls as well. You have angered people you should not have. And you too have rambled this country all around. And you’ve also felt that ill wind, the one that blows you no good. And that’s still not all of it.
posted by philip-random at 1:41 PM PST - 29 comments

Take a look at Singapore's forest of Supertrees in the Gardens by the Bay. Designed to mimic the functions of actual trees, these vertical gardens provide shade, collect rainwater, cool the surrounding area, generate energy and look amazing while doing it.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:07 AM PST - 20 comments

How Lego clicked: the super brand that reinvented itself
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:50 AM PST - 74 comments

Two days before he was scheduled to die, John Shields roused in his hospice bed with an unusual idea. He wanted to organize an Irish wake for himself. It would be old-fashioned with music and booze, except for one notable detail — he would be present...Mr. Shields believed that dying openly and without fear could be his most meaningful legacy — which was saying something. The man had packed five lifetimes of service into one: He had been a civil rights activist, a social worker for children, the head of British Columbia’s biggest union and, most recently, the savior of a floundering land trust that included 7,191 acres of protected wilderness and historic properties. At His Own Wake, Celebrating Life and the Gift of Death (Catherine Porter, NYT) [more inside]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:30 AM PST - 13 comments

I think there is a different story to tell — one that is better rooted in the actual facts of the projects and the real motivations of key parties. This is not an effort at alternative history — I have no idea what would have happened if these mistakes were not made but they certainly did not help Microsoft navigate this critical inflection point in the computing industry. -- How Microsoft Vista Failed
posted by Chrysostom at 10:06 AM PST - 49 comments

It was announced that with the increasing ship traffic through the Arctic, the World Wildlife Fund is being proactive by creating a nautical chart that identifies wildlife hazards as well as traditional hunting grounds (with a caveat to “be courteous of community boats and hunting parties”). Meanwhile, the people of Adak Island, in the Aleutians, are also being proactive as they position to be an Arctic deepwater port. They certainly have the infrastructure. The former US Navy base still has “houses for up to 6,000 people, a bowling alley, swimming pool, 400-seat theater, and even a disused McDonald’s restaurant.” But, it wasn't always this way. [more inside]
posted by HakaiMagazine at 9:57 AM PST - 5 comments

As long as you keep your curve exponential, all your sins will be forgotten at the exit. "There is no higher God in Silicon Valley than growth. No sacrifice too big for its craving altar. As long as you keep your curve exponential, all your sins will be forgotten at the exit." [more inside]
posted by mecran01 at 9:56 AM PST - 18 comments

Peter Sallis, famous as the voice of eccentric inventor Wallace in Wallace and Gromit, has died aged 96. A veteran of many TV roles, Sallis was for years best known to British viewers as Norman 'Cleggy' Clegg, the longest-serving cast member of the eccentric sitcom Last of the Summer Wine. But it was as the voice of Wallace, cheese-loving gadgeteer and partner ('owner' is hardly the right word) of long-suffering and silent but equally smart dog Gromit, that Sallis achieved global fame in Nick Park's series of clay animations - a series that won three Academy Awards and, perhaps equally prestigiously, three 100% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.
posted by Major Clanger at 9:49 AM PST - 69 comments

If you go to MoMA in New York, you can always take an audio tour about the artworks; they are offered in several languages as well as for kids and for the visually impaired. But through this summer, artist Nina Katchadourian has prepared an audio tour about the unwanted element in the museum's collection: the dust. [more inside]
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 9:41 AM PST - 2 comments

At Tabletop Whale, graphic designer and molecular biologist Eleanor Lutz showcases her scientific infographics, illustrations and drawings. Examples include virus trading cards, colorful butterflies of North America, immunology pop art and a user's guide to muscles. Additional content can be found at the Tabletop Whale tumblr. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 9:17 AM PST - 10 comments

By popular demand, here is the first in a series about disheveled animals. They're slimy when they first come out, but they lose their shevel pretty quickly and begin to display their sunny dispositions and other quirky behaviors. Humans notwithstanding, they seem to get along well with other animals (mostly goats, but a few dogs of course). [all videos are ambient noise punctuated by shrieks of laughter and/or disgust] (Llamas previously) [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:06 AM PST - 11 comments

In 1998, an obscure Welsh football team was teetering on the edge of losing their professional status and sold to a windshield replacement company for £100. This year they will be playing their seventh straight year in the Premier League. This all has at least something to do with a hooligan in a nine-foot bird costume. How Cyril the Swan Became the UK's Most Notorious Mascot
posted by Navelgazer at 6:30 AM PST - 18 comments

Two biologists in Georgia have discovered that the skeletal structure in a flamingo naturally "snaps" into place when balancing on one leg, making it more energy-efficient for them to balance that way than standing on both feet. Bonus educational nugget: flamingos' knees don't bend backward. Those are their ankles.
posted by Etrigan at 6:18 AM PST - 19 comments

The biggest change brought about by the Statcast data is illustrating the importance of an uppercut swing that results more often in fly balls and line drives rather than groundballs ... It appears that having a risk-free method of improvement available to all players has had an obvious effect: more players are hitting more home runs. The statistical revelation that has MLB hitters bombing more home runs than the steroid era [WaPo] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 6:11 AM PST - 57 comments

Love in the time of the Apocalypse.
posted by divabat at 3:56 AM PST - 14 comments

Carolina Eyck performs Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" (theme from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) on theremin and voice looper.
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:18 PM PST - 21 comments

One of the the missions of "No Bones" is to provide a more personal, public face for research and collections of the Invertebrate Zoology department at the US National Museum of Natural History. To this end they have shown lovely cross-sections of sliced stalked jellyfish, weird sea snail eyes, and, this librarian's favorite, the story of a 133 year overdue loan returned to the invertebrate zoology department. Also they have a twitter.
posted by jessamyn at 6:52 PM PST - 6 comments

Abduction is the latest comedy sketch from Chris & Jack. Other gems include In English Please and The Art Of The Heist.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:21 PM PST - 6 comments

Cabo de Gata, near Almeria in southeastern Spain, lies relatively unspoilt in Europe’s only true desert. Explore in the off-season and walk among giant aloes, get a glimpse or two of life there in the 1970s, or just chill with some flamingos. (1st, 3rd-5th links: videos with music)
posted by mdonley at 4:47 PM PST - 5 comments

Voldemort: Origins of the Heir [YouTube] [Teaser Trailer] “We wondered, ‘What made Tom Riddle become Voldemort? What happened in those years, and what really went down at Hogwarts when he came back?’”director Gianmaria Pezzato said. “There are some clues in the books which have not been transposed at all in the movies, but a lot goes unspoken. This is the story we want to tell: The rise of the Dark Lord before Harry Potter and his first demise.” [via: WeGotThisCovered] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 4:29 PM PST - 17 comments

if romcoms have taught us anything, it’s this: those crazy kids will get it together in the end. (Single link Guardian)
posted by Ziggy500 at 4:04 PM PST - 6 comments

The state of Arkansas was apparently originally known as the Territory of Arkansaw [sic]. Why would they have changed the spelling from Arkansaw to Arkansas despite the latter not resembling the name's pronunciation?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 3:05 PM PST - 58 comments

This is a song for a girl named Nancy who was a real girl—who went into the bathroom of her father’s house, took her brother’s shotgun and blew her head off. Age of 21. Maybe this is an arrogant thing to say, but maybe she did it because there weren’t enough people saying what I’ve been saying.* [more inside]
posted by Rust Moranis at 12:44 PM PST - 9 comments

CRISPR explained in 5 levels of complexity.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:49 AM PST - 20 comments

The line "a knife, a fork, a bottle and a cork" shows up in Dillinger's famous track, Cocaine In My Brain, which has been covered, sampled and reinterpreted by loads of people. It turns out the line originally comes from an early 20th century children's rhyme, which also contained the line “A chicken in the car and the car won’t go; that’s the way to spell Chicago"
posted by auntie-matter at 10:06 AM PST - 13 comments

The Ant and the Grasshopper, 2017 . An animated cautionary (?) tale.
posted by Mchelly at 9:23 AM PST - 7 comments

Before the advent of radar, acoustic mirror stations, like this one in Denge Marsh, were built on the southern and northeastern coastline of England between 1915 and 1935. Intended to provide early warning of incoming enemy aircraft, these structures were the result of research conducted by William Sansome Tucker. In 1935, an acoustic mirror station known as "Il Widna" ("The Ear") was built in Malta. [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:14 AM PST - 13 comments

LyricsTraining is a pretty fun site to practice listening comprehension and learn songs in about a dozen different languages. [more inside]
posted by Wolfdog at 4:16 AM PST - 9 comments

Monkeys are stealing tourist's things to barter for food. Clever things.
posted by threetwentytwo at 1:07 AM PST - 18 comments

Lithub carries a heartbreaking story about the poetry that has been coming out of the Chinese special economic zones where migrant workers flock in search of work. The poetry captures the pain behind Eric Fromm’s warning in 1965 that, “the danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that men may become robots.” These poets make time outside their 14 hour shifts to type poems out on their cell phones and post them online. You can find a huge collection at www.laborpoetry.com

Via [more inside]
posted by infini at 12:11 AM PST - 23 comments

Ever woke up to strange noises downstairs? Or heard a foreign meowing sound outside your window? Oh, it's just a cat. Wait, you're saying you don't have a cat? Well, guess what? Now you do.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:44 PM PST - 84 comments

What exactly is the story with the traditional Cleveland (and Pittsburgh) dish, city chicken?
posted by Chrysostom at 9:33 PM PST - 50 comments

The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) Online Reading Room offers streaming access within the United States to nearly 10,000 public television and radio programs from the past 60 years. Read their blog, view their curated exhibits or browse media by topic. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 8:04 PM PST - 9 comments

Cat cafes... dog cafes... Raccoon cafes? [captions] A more extensive, cuter look at the Seoul raccoon cafe [Korean audio, English subtitles] One more, because why not (bonus capybaras!)[music only]
posted by AFABulous at 6:23 PM PST - 21 comments

Alex Honnold (previously in the blue for his ascent of Half-Dome and his possibly-unusual neurology) has completed the first free-solo ascent of Yosemite's El Capitan this morning. [more inside]
posted by mhoye at 6:12 PM PST - 63 comments

Hilary Mantel: why I became a historical novelist. ‘Is this story true?’ readers inevitably ask.
In the first of her BBC Reith Lectures, the double Man Booker prize-winning author explores the complicated relationship between history, fact and fiction.
Hilary Mantel, writing in the Guardian and Previously.
posted by adamvasco at 4:57 PM PST - 9 comments

For the past 9 summers, FIGMENT, an annual celebration of participatory arts that takes place on Governors Island, New York, has produced an Artist-Designed Minigolf Course that is free and open to the public. This year’s theme is “New York City Has the Beat.” We are fortunate to live, work and play in one of the world’s most musically vibrant cities. This year’s minigolf holes relate to the sounds of the city or its music scene of the past, present or future. [more inside]
posted by Room 641-A at 4:50 PM PST - 7 comments

Some lovely short videos of cities around South East Asia by Pierre Ogeron Take some time to virtually travel through some of SEA: [more inside]
posted by troll on a pony at 4:31 PM PST - 1 comment

An interactive catalogue of over 20,000 worldwide archaeological sites under threat.
posted by MovableBookLady at 4:26 PM PST - 1 comment

Fortunately, r/cscareerquestions has their back. (reddit)
posted by chaoticgood at 3:37 PM PST - 75 comments

Jeffrey Conners' Bike Badges. (Flickr)
posted by dobbs at 2:07 PM PST - 9 comments

Facebook Wants Me to Dress Like ‘The Handmaid's Tale’ [Racked] ““What is this Serena Joy lewk?” I post incredulously, with a link to the ensemble from online retailer eShakti. The dress has an A-line silhouette and Virgin Mary hue that is close enough to the pious and domineering commander’s wife, Serena Joy, that I feel queasy. Within a week, Facebook pushes a garnet ruched-waist maxi dress that’s a dead ringer for the eye-catching, iconic Handmaid’s dress like that of the main character, Offred. The algorithms-that-be had decided that if I were in the company of headlines of compromised elections, missile tests, and thwarted government agencies, it was time I dressed for a dystopia.”
posted by Fizz at 1:35 PM PST - 18 comments

NeSpoon is a Polish urban artist who adds softness and delicacy to urban landscapes through the use of lace patterns. Treehugger offers a quick way to see a few works in her different styles. My personal favourites might be the ceramic enhancements to trees that form her Park Project. [more inside]
posted by jacquilynne at 1:19 PM PST - 4 comments

111 and going strong.... A veteran of World War II, who served with the United States Army and has been honored by U.S. President Barack Obama. He currently resides in Austin, Texas. Nat Geo did a short a few years ago as he was renewing his drivers license. [more inside]
posted by shockingbluamp at 12:38 PM PST - 5 comments

In June 1844, the Glaciarium, an artificial ice-skating rink, opened to the public in London. However, ice couldn't be manufactured in quantities sufficient for a skating rink at the time, so the proprietor naturally turned to pig fat and salts.
posted by Etrigan at 12:22 PM PST - 13 comments

The heartwarming story of Chloe the kitten's rather miraculous recovery You know you wanted good news and a kitten post, right? The Cut recounts the story of Kitten Lady, a lady who rescues kittens, and her rescue of Chloe, an abused kitten with rear-leg paralysis. The prognosis wasn't good, but her progressing recovery is incredible. Plus, there are pics of a cute princess kitten getting her own walker.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:36 AM PST - 7 comments

It's been a long, depressing week, kids. So let's start the weekend off on a positive note; Let's hear a story by The Most Interesting Man In The World.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 9:18 AM PST - 10 comments

“The Library” : Sherry Becker is a self-actualized woman living in the New York City suburbs. One day, out of the blue, an emotionally fifteen but physically thirtysomething man named Jerry, whom she kissed a couple of times in high school, asks her to come into the city for lunch. They reminisce about reading “Tropic of Capricorn,” a book that Sherry still loves and can quote, though she’s now more of an Anaïs Nin person. After Jerry suddenly rushes out of the diner, screaming, Sherry pays both their bills and spends a lovely afternoon at MOMA. [more inside]
posted by chainsofreedom at 8:43 AM PST - 44 comments

10 hours of walking around New York City wearing a romper
posted by Bee'sWing at 6:12 AM PST - 41 comments

Raymond Pfeifer died on May 28, at the age of 59. Ray was retired from the FDNY, where he had served for almost 28 years. After 9/11, Ray spent 8 months at Ground Zero, and, after being diagnosed with cancer resulting from that work, he spent years advocating for Congress to pass the Zadroga Act, which now provides that those exposed to the 9/11 disaster continue to receive monitoring and treatment services for 9/11-related health problems through at least 2090. He was remembered by his friend, Jon Stewart. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:35 AM PST - 38 comments

What are the odds? 840 times more likely for raw milk drinkers Based on statistics from the five-year period 2009-2014, people who drink unpasteurized, raw milk are 840 times more likely to contract a foodborne illness than those who drink pasteurized milk. [more inside]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:52 AM PST - 70 comments

JP the Beeman handles swarms, educates about bees, and films the removal of hives form unexpected places. [more inside]
posted by Deoridhe at 1:32 AM PST - 3 comments

Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part One – Understanding Uber’s Bleak Operating Economics , Hubert Horan, Naked Capitalism

Uber is currently the most highly valued private company in the world. Its primarily Silicon Valley-based investors have a achieved a venture capital valuation of $69 billion based on direct investment of over $13 billion. Uber hopes to earn billions in returns for those investors out of an urban car service industry that historically had razor-thin margins producing a commodity product. Although the industry has been competitively fragmented and structurally stable for over a century, Uber has been aggressively pursuing global industry dominance, in the belief that the industry has been radically transformed into a “winner-take-all” market. This is the first of a series of articles addressing the question of whether Uber’s pursuit of global industry dominance would actually improve the efficiency of the urban car service industry and improve overall economic welfare.

[more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:42 PM PST - 75 comments

When you hear the phrase "evil and angry" used to refer to pets, do you think of a) puppies, or b) kittens? In your heart of hearts, you know the answer.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:25 PM PST - 18 comments

Take three minutes and Flyby Jupiter.
posted by Rinku at 6:28 PM PST - 28 comments

underwear, crushed glass, tables.
This work is an elegiacal and haunting, primitivistic meditation on personal transformation consisting of wearable technology which is reminiscent of queer desire.
The work deploys feminist interrogating self-objectification as symbolizing artistic freedom of speech has been “won” at the cost of art’s irrelevance and powerlessness.
refresh [more inside]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:05 PM PST - 16 comments

The Ray Bradbury Theater was an anthology series that began on HBO from 1985 to 1986 and then moved to USA Network from 1988 to 1992. All 65 episodes were scripted by Bradbury and many were based on short stories or novels he had written and published, such as the classic “A Sound of Thunder.” [more inside]
posted by zarq at 4:02 PM PST - 14 comments

A trailer has been released for Fox's new film version of Murder on the Orient Express. Directed by, and starring as Hercule Poirot, is actor and director Kenneth Branagh, sporting what might be his most impressive moustache since the last time he rode on a train with a big accent. [more inside]
posted by monopas at 3:15 PM PST - 65 comments

New York Stories. The New York Times Magazine has given a number of stories from its Metro desk to cartoonists to illustrate/adapt. The cartoonists featured include Kevin Huizenga, Tom Gauld, and David Mazzucchelli. [more inside]
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:06 PM PST - 4 comments

What if you received a box filled with mysterious toys from a fourth spatial dimension? [Direct YouTube Link] [more inside]
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:42 PM PST - 42 comments

Maclean's magazine offers an assortment of quasi-first person perspectives on a variety of typical and not so typical Canadian experiences. [more inside]
posted by jacquilynne at 12:30 PM PST - 42 comments

Julia Wick, LAist: The Story Behind Los Angeles' Beautiful, Ephemeral Jacaranda Blooms: Like many things intrinsic to the city, jacarandas are not actually native to Los Angeles. The trees are indigenous to South America, originally found in the tropical and subtropical regions of Argentina and Brazil ~ In 1944, a scholar visiting from Chicago described “the immense clusters of violet blue flowers” in a scientific journal, explaining that an illustration of a Jacaranda mimosifolia flower on the facing page was “made from specimens collected in the environs of Los Angeles where this tree is widely grown for its beauty.” ~ Have you ever heard a more L.A. thing? One can only imagine what those weary midwesterners must have thought of us, we Californians, who grew things just for their beauty. It's not just about looks, though. Curbed LA's Alissa Walker thinks Jacarandas are LA’s future. [more inside]
posted by Room 641-A at 11:48 AM PST - 41 comments

On the 24th of April, 1185 AD, two powerful Samurai clans fought to the death on the Dan-no-ura bay of Japan’s Inland Sea, and created a story so powerful that it the monster it spawned would inhabit the nightmares of coastal fishermen for generations. [more inside]
posted by HakaiMagazine at 11:32 AM PST - 17 comments

Introducing the Strider Cup! The kids kick their bikes up to speeds that would make most adults uncomfortable, and carve through the course’s maze of sharp corners with tenacity and grace. [more inside]
posted by shockingbluamp at 11:08 AM PST - 7 comments

‘Kill them, kill them, kill them’: the volunteer army plotting to wipe out Britain’s grey squirrels
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 10:29 AM PST - 31 comments

The Government of Canada has been making preparations for Canada 150, this year's half-billion-dollar birthday party in recognition of 150 years since Confederation, but many First Nations people are pointing out that there is nothing for them to celebrate about 150 years of colonization. #Resistance150 is "a project intended to highlight the many ways Indigenous peoples have historically resisted, and continue to resist, what many see as discriminatory and assimilationist policies of the Canadian government, such as those regarding pipeline construction, access to drinking water and child welfare funding gaps. Perhaps most importantly, the Indian Act itself." [more inside]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:08 AM PST - 20 comments

FamilyTree is a photo collage project by artist Bobby Neel Adams, joining portraits of intergenerational family members together along a ragged border. [more inside]
posted by cortex at 10:02 AM PST - 4 comments

The Best Way to Cool Your Space [The New York Times] “Summer is nearly here, and your home will soon be heating up. But just the thought of looking for a new air-conditioner is enough to make you break out in a sweat. How do you know which one to buy, and how it will affect your energy bill? What if your apartment building doesn’t allow window units? Not to worry: We’ve done the research for you. The key to comfort and savings is finding the unit that fits your space. An air-conditioner that isn’t powerful enough won’t effectively cool your home and could end up inflating your power bill. One that is too powerful will work too quickly, shutting off before most of the humidity has been removed, leaving your place cool but clammy. And all that cycling on and off can stress the equipment and shorten its life span.”
posted by Fizz at 9:57 AM PST - 36 comments

Are your apps too cute and colorful? Do you hate buttons with pictures on them instead of words? Do curved corners make your eyes hurt? Good news: designer Pierre Buttin has taken popular smartphone apps and given them brutalist redesigns. Except Instagram, of which Buttin says, "I felt there was almost nothing I can do to make it look more brutal – so I did nothing". (via kottke.org)
posted by Etrigan at 9:27 AM PST - 68 comments

What would New-York City look like by rising waters? Menilmonde's latest project, Two °C – New-York, poses what Manhattan might look like after a 2-degree rise in global temperatures.
posted by endotoxin at 8:27 AM PST - 12 comments

Meteocam.gr is a collection of live video from Greece’s network of weather cameras, from the pretty ports of Skyros and Ydra to the pink-sand lagoon of Elafonisi to the urban clatter of Omonoia Square in Athens. [Some videos with sound, some video a bit choppy.]
posted by mdonley at 8:20 AM PST - 7 comments

Google AMP is the latest big push by Google to make the web faster. Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) which is a restricted set of HTML tags, no user defined JavaScript or analytics, and they cache the pages in their network. The public intent is to speed up the web by reducing web page bloat. Of course, some people have a problem with this such as Kill Google AMP before it KILLS the web. [more inside]
posted by KaizenSoze at 8:12 AM PST - 43 comments

Within days of each other, two television stars...mounted separate but similar redemption campaigns to revive dipping careers. At the heart of the issue with Bush and Fallon’s redemption tours is the fact that society allows the most privileged of white men to stumble over and over again, despite the gravity of their errors and the continued ignorance of their ways.
posted by Emmy Rae at 8:02 AM PST - 43 comments

Chaos in Flushing as beloved mascot Mr. Met is caught on video giving a rude gesture to a fan. Later reports indicated that Mr. Met had been cursed at and had the morals of his relatives questioned immediately prior. However, a more urgent question has arisen in the wake of this incident: Does Mr. Met even have a middle finger?
posted by Copronymus at 7:44 AM PST - 26 comments

Mary Meeker releases her latest internet trends report. Using ad revenue as her lens, Meeker looks into technology trends for mobile, gaming, media, and health care. There are sections devoted to China, India, and the United States.
posted by doctornemo at 7:13 AM PST - 12 comments

From Duran Duran's 2010 album comes what may possibly be one of the best art-pop-rock songs of all time, The Man Who Stole A Leopard [lyrics]. Apparently inspired by the title of a 1963 Italian film, the song features vocals by Kelis and a string quartet and a very dark and well-executed personal story of obsession. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 4:28 AM PST - 15 comments

Almost everything you need to know about 20th Century Russian art (slyt). Narrated by Brian Cox. [more inside]
posted by Foci for Analysis at 2:51 AM PST - 6 comments

The ever ongoing effort to reach equilibrium, or viscosity [more inside]
posted by Thella at 2:27 AM PST - 10 comments

Two male vultures have hatched a baby chick together. Congratulations to the happy couple!
posted by threetwentytwo at 11:59 PM PST - 26 comments

Pinboard has acquired Delicious.
posted by cgc373 at 9:52 PM PST - 49 comments

Remember the boxer who sent hint waves about pizza from yesterday's post? Her name is Lily and she has a whole YouTube channel! She's great at cleaning windows. She doesn't like to go to bed. She has ideas about acceptable eating arrangements. She loves playing with Josie.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:15 PM PST - 4 comments

Helen Marnie, previously of LadyTron, has released her latest album "Strange Words and Weird Wars"
posted by rebent at 9:00 PM PST - 5 comments

"What I found was kind of surprising. When men message women, women tend to respond most often to men around their own ages. But when women message men, they’re actually more likely to get a response from younger men than they are from older ones. A 40-year-old woman will have better luck messaging a 25-year-old man than a 55-year-old one, according to the data. And a 30-year-old man is more likely to respond to a message from a 50-year-old woman than a message from any other age group. When women make the first move, the age gap dating norm is reversed."
posted by clawsoon at 7:18 PM PST - 139 comments

Everyone knows the storied rock career of David Lynch, but did you know he writes, directs and sometimes even acts in television shows too? On his hot new series 'Twin Peaks', his character Gordon Cole appears alongside Special Agent Tamara "Tammy" Preston, played by actress/model/chanteuse Chrysta Bell. Chrysta and Lynch go back quite a ways as musical chums, and many of her own videos bear a Lynchian vibe to go with her smokey driving swing and sultry voice. Her newest album 'We Dissolve' comes out next Friday.
posted by FatherDagon at 6:54 PM PST - 2 comments

12-year-old singing ventriloquist gets golden buzzer on America's Got Talent. Darci Lynne Farmer used to be too shy to sing for her own dad. She's been studying ventriloquism for two years. [more inside]
posted by Lexica at 2:18 PM PST - 33 comments

A brand new color called YInMn Blue, discovered 2009 at OSU, made of yttrium, indium, and manganese too, late this year will make its debut, replacing the retiring Dandelion hue. Got a great name for a new blue? There's a contest running until June 2! [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:08 PM PST - 75 comments

How To Make A Flexi Fountain Pen (Using A Cheap Jinhao) [YouTube, 10:11] Easy, cheap way for fountain pen enthusiasts to find out if they enjoy the flex nib writing experience; minor tinkering required.
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 11:44 AM PST - 13 comments

Stephen Amell (Arrow) takes on the American Ninja Warrior course for Red Nose Day 2017. [more inside]
posted by zarq at 11:17 AM PST - 31 comments

Nephi Garcia is Designer Daddy. He creates elaborate costumes for clients and his family, usually based on Disney Princesses. For Mother's Day this year, he re-imagined those Princesses as Queens. [more inside]
posted by jacquilynne at 11:04 AM PST - 6 comments

The Soul of a Feminist (Marcia DeSanctis, Roads & Kingdoms) Some have appointments, a few are walk-ins, but all are there to see Dr. Juliette Faye, a Senegalese obstetrician/gynecologist who just turned 30 and is herself the mother of an 18-month-old boy. She is the center’s sole physician, its medical director, administrator, and round-the-clock caregiver to 600 patients and counting. She is also a devout Muslim, a committed feminist, and, most of all, a tireless advocate for gender equality and women’s reproductive health in Senegal.
posted by CrystalDave at 10:08 AM PST - 5 comments

These Mesmerizing, Satisfying Slime Videos Are the Internet’s New Obsession You can make your own (if you can find any glue). Or you can just watch- 1, 2, 3- “This may sound weird, but I think the difference is the control,” Donna tells me. “In a video, I can’t decide what they do, which kind of adds to the satisfaction of it.”
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:55 AM PST - 26 comments

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has spent the last six years working on a giant aircraft capable of launching rockets to space. It's not quite ready to fly, though. Over the next few days, each of the six fuel tanks will be filled independently to make sure that the tanks are properly sealed and that the fueling mechanisms work. How big is it? On a football field, the wingtips would extend beyond the goalposts by more than 12 feet on each side. Video of the rollout here.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:48 AM PST - 37 comments

Instagram account ken_shiba features two Shiba Inu siblings, one of which may secretly be a polar bear.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:36 AM PST - 12 comments

The South Faces a Summer With Fewer Peaches [The New York Times] “Peaches are such a part of Georgia’s identity that schools, streets and health care plans are named after them. Even the sticker you get when you vote is in the shape of the fruit. South Carolina, one state over, grows more peaches than Georgia. A giant statue of a peach is its most famous roadside attraction. For almost all Southerners, a summer without a seemingly endless supply of peaches is unthinkable. But growers say the unthinkable is about to happen in America’s cobbler belt. A double punch of unseasonably warm winter weather and an ill-timed freeze has devastated the peach crop.”
posted by Fizz at 9:35 AM PST - 34 comments

The Ringer has put together a fantastic Where's Wallace game, and all you need to do is find (nearly every) character from The Wire first.
posted by Ghidorah at 9:13 AM PST - 20 comments

The Beatles landmark Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album was released 50 years and a couple of days ago. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 9:03 AM PST - 76 comments

Last Sunday, Jinder Mahal won the WWE World Championship. This is of note not just because Mahal had never before won any championship in WWE, but mostly because he was considered to be "enhancement talent" (a wrestler who loses to more popular wrestlers) who was only being "pushed" to the top of the card because WWE wants a greater presence in the Indian market. And despite his being booked as a "heel", some say he "isn’t a wrestling villain to western millennials of colour". [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 8:50 AM PST - 24 comments

"To imbue race with an ontological meaning, to make it a reality all its own, is to drain it of its place in history and its indelible roots in discrete human action. To deny the role of life and people — of politics — is to also foreclose the possibility of liberation" - R.L. Stephens on Ta-Nehisi Coates and the Black Body.
posted by R.F.Simpson at 7:48 AM PST - 49 comments

It's time to hit the road! Feel like a quick #JuneJourney? Let's visit the travel albums of Dubai-based photographer Daniel Whitfield as he dives with whale sharks in Djibouti, pilots a Lada Niva through Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and treks through Nepal. Where to begin? You've got a long voyage ahead of you - over 100 countries to visit in just one post! Pack your bags, because there’s so much [more inside]
posted by mdonley at 7:31 AM PST - 3 comments

A lovely historical exposition of the first illustrated cookbook.
posted by MovableBookLady at 7:03 AM PST - 6 comments

MapSCII - A node.js based Vector Tile to Braille and ASCII renderer for xterm-compatible terminals. [more inside]
posted by zamboni at 6:08 AM PST - 6 comments

COMICS ARE MIRACULOUS!!! They are IMMUNE SYSTEMS! They are TRANSPORT SYSTEMS!!! They are TIME TRAVELING DEVICES!!
posted by anotherpanacea at 4:53 AM PST - 42 comments

Build an 8-Bit Computer from Scratch : "I built a programmable 8-bit computer from scratch on breadboards using only simple logic gates. I documented the whole project in a series of YouTube videos and on this web site." via
posted by Gyan at 4:40 AM PST - 20 comments

London native, Paris artist ALA.NI's album You & I came out in Europe about 18 months ago. Happily, it's finally being released here. Put Judy and Billie into a blender with Katie Melua, a generous dose of melancholy, and you get an album you can listen to as an NPR First Listen: ALA.NI - You & I.
posted by hippybear at 3:55 AM PST - 5 comments