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Articles asking us to feel sympathy for families barely scraping by on healthy six-figure incomes may be staples of the financial press, but it’s rare that they come packaged as real-world case studies attached to flesh-and-blood individuals. But that’s what happened just before Christmas... Clarence Thomas and the bottomless self-pity of the upper classes
posted by Artw at 9:42 PM PST - 72 comments

Sydney funnel-web spider Hercules sets record for largest specimen collected in Australia. With fangs that could pierce a human fingernail, the largest male specimen of the world's most venomous arachnid has found a new home at the Australian Reptile Park where it will be milked for venom to make antivenom. Since the inception of the antivenom program in 1981, there has not been a fatality in Australia from a funnel-web spider bite.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:34 PM PST - 15 comments

The magnificent, minimalist avant-garde composer and filmmaker Phill Niblock, who explored microtones like nobody else, died a few days ago at age 90. (Pitchfork obit/The Quietus obit.) Niblock's austere yet playful compositions, which he preferred to have performed at high volumes, are truly felt as much as heard. To honor his legacy, The Wire has made a 2006 article on him free for 30 days. [more inside]
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:55 PM PST - 13 comments

Terry Bisson, award winning SFF author of short stories such as Bears Discover Fire and They're Made Out of Meat (video) has passed away. [more inside]
posted by Hactar at 3:17 PM PST - 57 comments

Invisible Ink: At the CIA’s Creative Writing Group A mildly-interesting piece by Johannes Lichtman in the well-known CIA cutout, The Paris Review.
posted by slogger at 1:46 PM PST - 14 comments

"David Lynch’s 1984 sci-fi epic Dune is—in many ways—a misbegotten botch job. Still, as with more than a few ineffectively ambitious films before it, the artistic flourishes Lynch grafted onto Frank Herbert’s sprawling Machiavellian narrative of warring space dynasties have earned it true cult classic status. Today, fans of the film, which earned a paltry $30 million at the box office and truly bruising reviews upon its release, still wonder what Lynch would have done if given the opportunity to adapt the next two novels in Herbert’s cycle: Dune Messiah and Children of Dune."
posted by brundlefly at 11:50 AM PST - 67 comments

Community science helps us unlock some pretty quirky aspects of the natural world, and those discoveries often come from unlikely places. Take year 3 student Emma Glenfield, who started with a simple question about magpies and wound up conducting some cutting-edge research almost by accident. 8-year-old Emma wanted to know: is there anything about people's appearance that connects people most often swooped on by Australian magpies defending their nests? When 30,000 people answered her question online, she found that people with thinning hair or no hair at all are much more likely to have been swooped on. (She also found out that Australians in her survey really love magpies, despite the swooping.) [more inside]
posted by sciatrix at 11:12 AM PST - 35 comments

The Monsters Know What They're Doing is a blog that examines all of the D&D 5th Edition monsters, according to their rulebook stats and descriptions, and offers strategy ideas for the interested DM.
posted by JHarris at 9:37 AM PST - 30 comments

Rebecca Heineman on Blue Sky today: "Until we meet again… Jennell Jaquays 10/14/1956 - 01/10/2024." Intro to a 2022 interview: "an accomplished artist whose works were published in many D&D and other products; her adventures the Dark Tower and Caverns of Thracia are held up to this day as examples of the best in dungeon design, and after working in the tabletop industry moved over to computer gaming where she worked on the Quake franchise." In 2017, she was inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame. RPGGeek entry listing her many publications. Memorial threads at EN World, r/RPG, and r/OSR.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:34 AM PST - 27 comments

From 2008 to 2012 Bob Skelding drove a team hauling a caravan 9000 miles through the United States and published tales to his blog and published a free ebook on everything you need to go wagoneering. His only goal:

to see new places, meet plenty of nice people like yourself, and to enjoy this great country of ours like it’s meant to be enjoyed, but I found out that my travels and the horses positively affected the lives of countless people

posted by Mitheral at 7:31 AM PST - 16 comments

Scientists creating dictionary of saltwater croc sounds capture reptilian love song on tape. Spouting water, hissing and blowing bubbles might not work for humans on the dating scene, but according to Sunshine Coast researchers, for saltwater crocodiles it's a different story.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 6:50 AM PST - 5 comments

How Not to Speak to Someone With ADHD If you, your child, or your spouse/partner has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), you may encounter naysayers who simply do not understand the condition and its impact on everyday life. [more inside]
posted by Faintdreams at 6:16 AM PST - 141 comments

“Where the summers are warm and moist, it grows with great luxuriance.”
posted by Kitteh at 5:25 AM PST - 7 comments

The British Library is running an exhibition entitled Fantasy: Realms of the Imagination. Featured items include everything from Earthseaa drafts to Buffy clips to a playable Fallen London mini-game. The associated talks that are being streamed online look like something special, including Susanna Clarke and Alan Moore in conversation tomorrow (11 January at 19.30), and more yet to come, including Queer Fantasy, Black to the Future, and Goblin Market and Other Poems, among others.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:17 AM PST - 3 comments

If we must have road-haulage, let it be efficient. One tractor with two trailers is more planet-kind than two tractors with one trailer each. Simple enough if the rig is going forward. Not so easy reversing a B-train round a corner into a narrow dock. This is the moment I knew it would work [8m50s]. [more inside]
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:11 AM PST - 30 comments

All those iterations yielded a total game changer, not only replacing the company’s unwieldy 1.8-liter jugs with a handheld design that would work for home consumers, but establishing the soy sauce bottle as a cultural touchstone. The company, well aware of the intense affection its specialty bottles have generated ever since, has fully cashed in on collectors’ enthusiasm. from The Kikkoman Soy Sauce Bottle Is Priceless
posted by chavenet at 1:11 AM PST - 19 comments