January 14, 2021

When you don't notice there aren't bugs on your windshield anymore

Insect populations suffering death by 1,000 cuts, say scientists - "'Frightening' global decline is 'tearing apart tapestry of life', with climate crisis a critical concern."[1,2] [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 10:04 PM PST - 31 comments

ignorance of history serves many ends

There was no single moment when I began to sense the long shadow that Cecil John Rhodes has cast over my life, or over the university where I am a professor, or over the ways of seeing the world shared by so many of us still living in the ruins of the British empire. But, looking back, it is clear that long before I arrived at Oxford as a student, long before I helped found the university’s Rhodes Must Fall movement, long before I even left Zimbabwe as a teenager, this man and everything he embodied had shaped the worlds through which I moved. Oxford professor Simukai Chigudu gives a personal account of colonialism and decolonialism. [Audio link.]
posted by ChuraChura at 5:14 PM PST - 10 comments

High Frequency Trading on Shortwave Radio

KA7OEI discovered a massive 'intruder' signal, interfering with other transmissions, at the top of the 20m band. It's high frequency trading over shortwave radio, a growing field. [more inside]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 4:52 PM PST - 29 comments

The knights alone can account for as much as 50% of the cost of a set

What Are You Paying For in a $300 Chess Set? Mostly the Knights (NY Times): The horses in higher-end wooden sets must be hand-carved, a long, specialized process to make sure all four are exactly the same. How Are Hand-Made Chess Pieces Made? -- Making a Giant Chess Set episode 5A: Carving a Knight -- Woodturning a Chess Set - The Knights -- Chess Set Project Making the Knight -- Construction of a wooden horse chess piece using a 4-axis TORGOS CNC machine -- How To Whittle Chess Horse - "The Knight" (Youtube). Related: How the Chess Set Got Its Look and Feel (Smithsonian)
posted by not_the_water at 4:11 PM PST - 29 comments

YourKoreanDad is wholesomeness personified

Meet Nick Cho, an endearingly wholesome internet father figure. Cho is the person behind the 1.8 million-follower YourKoreanDad TikTok account, where he posts videos of himself doing various lighthearted activities with an off-camera child: learning how to longboard, making a gingerbread house, and preparing meals. He also talks openly about how it's okay to express feelings, and that it takes courage to ask for help when you need it. In an interview with Inside Edition Digital, Cho discusses his experiences growing up with racism as a Korean-American, his nurturing and inclusive approach to parenting and relationships, and the surprisingly emotional responses he has received from viewers. [h/t MeFi user DirtyOldTown]
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 4:00 PM PST - 16 comments

Whosever pulleth this splinter from this pebble

BobbyDuke makes a very small sword out of an old rusty nail.
posted by cortex at 1:59 PM PST - 13 comments

Are You Still Scared of Clowns?

A trailer for The Nothing.
posted by chavenet at 1:48 PM PST - 21 comments

Through a Screen, Dully

Oma Keeling deems No Man’s Sky the most boring and inconsequential piece of sci-fi media I’ve ever interacted with … it lives in its own state of self-splitting, believing it is a continuation of the works of authors like Dick, while constantly telling on itself by providing the same types of addictive, capitalist, colonialist play those self-same authors warned of, with a cheeky wink to their corpses.” (Glitchout). Previously. [Link removed upon OP's request. - loup ]
posted by adrianhon at 1:46 AM PST - 73 comments

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