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"Given that it’s currently National Library Week, there is no better time to visit (albeit virtually) some of the most impressive libraries in the world," via this House Beautiful listicle (with a crucial assist from Google Arts & Culture). [more inside]
posted by Iris Gambol at 4:27 PM PST - 23 comments

I’m going to preface this by saying I love dark mode. It started with my desktop Kindle app, and as soon as it was rolled out everywhere, I switched everything over to the soothing white-on-black aesthetic. My eyes rejoiced, and I too decried this mad blog calling dark mode a crutch for suckers.

But oh, I have now seen the light. (Victoria Song, Gizmodo)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:12 PM PST - 100 comments

Your Dinosaurs Are Wrong [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 2:18 PM PST - 26 comments

But things happened in that dark era [of the 1960s and 1970s] that were not dark. Choices made by groups and individuals would, half a century later, lead to a story about those island foxes (Wikipedia) and some humans who loved them, a story that would look small and sadly familiar at first. But in the end, the story of the foxes [...] are less like dead canaries [in a coalmine] and more like larks in the morning sun. The uplifting tale of these tiny island foxes, nearly wiped out by disaster (National Geographic) -- Earth Day began after a catastrophic oil spill off California (LA Times). Leadership and science restored nature—and hope—through years of despair and controversy (NPS.gov).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:22 AM PST - 4 comments

In what might be *the* pop culture moment of social distancing, Post Malone (yes, that Post Malone) and friends completely channeled Nirvana in a set live streamed from Malone's Salt Lake City rec room for COVID19 charity. This is great fun and his performance is uncanny. Krist and Courtney approved.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:54 AM PST - 41 comments

How Cornell Disguised Drivers to Gauge the Public's Reaction to Autonomous Vehicles — It may look and smell like a prank, but dressing someone up as a car seat is a serious endeavor. A team from Cornell Tech led a study in which a person was disguised as a car seat while driving through several international cities to gauge the public's reactions to driverless vehicles.
posted by cenoxo at 10:50 AM PST - 27 comments

Finally, you can build an entire “game” out of Super Mario Maker 2 levels [World Maker Update][Version 3.0.0] [Patch Notes] “When the original Super Mario Maker came out on the Wii U nearly five years ago, we lamented how disjointed it felt to just play individual levels without "any sense of continuity or progression." We longed for a Mario Maker that let us arrange individual levels as building blocks to create "a complete game, one that progresses gently from easy to hard, teaching you new tricks and throwing in clever twists on old themes along the way." Nintendo will finally be making those dreams a reality with what it's calling the final major update to Super Mario Maker 2 on the Switch. The new World Maker mode will let you play with "All your ideas that couldn't be contained in a single course and share them with people around the globe," as the announcement video puts it. Yes, that includes the ability to create a world map, complete with bridges, hills, customized course icons, background elements, and a variety of cosmetic themes.” [via: Ars Technica] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 9:00 AM PST - 7 comments

It's the swearingest Aussie YouTube cooking channel that we need in these difficult times. Nat's What I Reckon shows you how to make Quarantine Sauce, Carbo-Rona Sauce, Quarantine Spirit Risotto, End of Days Bolognese, Sin Bin Soup and the Crowd Goes Mild Curry. NSFWFH if you have kids or other sensitive humans around.
posted by rory at 7:02 AM PST - 23 comments

Remember Kutiman? His new #KutimanComeTogether Instagram micro-format features brief, subtly edited dream collaborations between musical greats. [more inside]
posted by progosk at 4:22 AM PST - 5 comments

Baron's latest full-page cartoon for the Times Literary Supplement incorporates 57 British figures of speech. I think I've identified about 45 of them (plus a few long-shot guesses), so don't venture below the fold if you want to avoid spoilers. [more inside]
posted by Paul Slade at 4:15 AM PST - 47 comments

The Yamaha TW200 is an on/off road motorcycle... The Yamaha TW200 is an on/off road motorcycle that has been produced largely unchanged for 30 years - it has a carburetor. It has a headlight and turn-signals. It has a very small single-cylinder air cooled motor, tuned for whatever the opposite of speed and power is. It has cartoonishly large tires. It will go anywhere you want it to. ANYWHERE. [more inside]
posted by Slap*Happy at 2:48 AM PST - 19 comments