May 4, 2016

Ancient ink

Norwegian artist Esther van Hulsen draws a picture of an ancient octopus, using 95 million year old octopus ink (link to original article in Norwegian).
posted by Harald74 at 11:20 PM PST - 13 comments

"CARP-AGGEDON"

Australia plans to release a strain of herpes that targets invasive carp into the Murray River. "Suddenly, there will be literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of tonnes of carp that will be dead in the River Murray."
This can't possibly go wrong, amirite?
posted by yeahlikethat at 10:21 PM PST - 59 comments

Chronic pain management, opioids and addiction

We should seek an understanding of the drugs of concern: how they work to relieve pain, how they kill in overdose, how deaths might be prevented & how we should respond as a society. A professor of pharmacology and therapeutics writes in Slate about the undertreatment of pain, discussing how to manage the conflicting risks of inadequate pain relief, physical dependency, overdose and addiction. (Written in response to Prince's suspected overdose before his death, but covers the known facts with respect.)
posted by ambrosen at 8:40 PM PST - 67 comments

“The business of being Britney Spears is booming.”

Is Britney Spears Ready To Stand On Her Own? by Serge F. Kovaleski and Joe Coscarelli [The New York Times] For years, the life of one of the world’s most successful pop stars has been controlled by a court-approved conservatorship, designed for people who cannot take care of themselves. [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 8:29 PM PST - 23 comments

400 tons and 150 feet or so later...

they moved the lighthouse. The Gay Head lighthouse dates to 1796, has been the scene of horrific wrecks, and is in the major motion picture Jaws.
posted by vrakatar at 8:19 PM PST - 12 comments

Hello!

"There is no reason on earth why Prince Charming cannot walk through our front door!"
[more inside]
posted by not_on_display at 6:11 PM PST - 16 comments

S ~ P ~ L ~ O ~ S ~ H

Gore, Guts, & the Grotesque :: The Acid Trip Art of Alex Jenkins [Some links NSFW]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:58 PM PST - 1 comments

The time has come

Midnight Oil have today confirmed they will reform for a series of shows both in Australia and overseas in 2017. This will be the band's first shows since 2009 and their first tour since breaking up in 2002. A refresher: Beds Are Burning - Power and the Passion - The Dead Heart - Bus to Bondi - When the Generals Talk
posted by misterbee at 5:07 PM PST - 43 comments

One Fish Two Fish Catfish You Fish

I told her I didn’t want to continue our date because she had been dishonest, and given that honesty is the foundation of any meaningful relationship, this was clearly not a good start. After a pause, thick with the tension between us, I took some of the hostility out of my voice. “Look, humor is really important to me, and you’re funny,” I told her. “Be honest next time, and you will find you the right guy. It’s not me.” I told her I was going to leave and got up from the table.

That’s when the cameras came out. In front of them, a shiny-faced man dressed in a suit approached me with an extended microphone. It was John Quiñones, and he told me that I was on ABC’s What Would You Do?
posted by Atom Eyes at 4:25 PM PST - 139 comments

It's never too early to start thinking about your own death

It is never too early to start thinking about your own death and the deaths of those you love. I don't mean thinking about death in obsessive loops, fretting that your husband has been crushed in a horrific car accident, or that your plane will catch fire and plummet from the sky. But rational interaction, that ends with you realizing that you will survive the worst, whatever the worst may be. Accepting death doesn't mean that you won't be devastated when someone you love dies. It means you will be able to focus on your grief, unburdened by bigger existential questions like "Why do people die?" and "Why is this happening to me?" Death isn't happening to you. Death is happening to us all.
It's never too early to start thinking about your own death
posted by y2karl at 4:22 PM PST - 47 comments

"Beautiful country burn again."

"This is not about Patricia Hearst. It is about me and the peculiar vacuum in which I grew up, a vacuum in which the Hearsts could be quite literally king of the hill." Joan Didion's notes for a never written story about the Patricia Hearst trial.
posted by Kattullus at 4:04 PM PST - 4 comments

Dubstep and animals pooping

Dubstep and animals pooping (SLYT)
posted by clorox at 3:50 PM PST - 22 comments

Consider The Wasp

***links contain pictures of wasps and bees*** "Despite the fear they sometimes evoke, wasps are extremely beneficial to humans. Nearly every pest insect on Earth is preyed upon by a wasp species, either for food or as a host for its parasitic larvae. Wasps are so adept at controlling pest populations that the agriculture industry now regularly deploys them to protect crops." [more inside]
posted by WalkerWestridge at 3:02 PM PST - 34 comments

Chicken Police?

Bad bun, bad bun, whatchoo gonna do?
posted by ApathyGirl at 2:05 PM PST - 10 comments

Tasting All These Years

For some people, the answer to "Should I eat that?" is always yes. [more inside]
posted by Kevin Street at 1:57 PM PST - 17 comments

The Beauty Of No Borders

The non-enforced borders between European nations are a feast for the eye and a testament of hope for a united, peaceful, border-free world.
posted by blankdawn at 1:46 PM PST - 24 comments

CRUNCH nom nom nom

Compilation of hippos eating whole watermelons
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:21 PM PST - 30 comments

Cyndi Lauper takes a Detour...into country music

Cyndi Lauper has gone country with her new album, Detour. "My main concern was not making things clinical,...I wanted the beat to be dirty and sexy. It was supposed to be a mix of R&B and country." [more inside]
posted by Beti at 12:54 PM PST - 11 comments

You can, of course, support it on Patreon

Graphtreon is a website that visualizes how much different creators are earning on Patreon.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:36 PM PST - 46 comments

The plural of series is series

I Love Serial Entertainment And So Can You - We don’t binge on television because we like it, we like television because we can binge on it.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:31 PM PST - 28 comments

Mount Shasta Octave Spa

Live at the Necropolis: Lords of Synth
posted by naju at 11:05 AM PST - 16 comments

Ok. Did you turn it off and then on again?

To the immense relief of technical support staff everywhere as well as your Aunt Helen, you can now buy a smartplug for power-cycling your internet router. It seems like router makers are aware you might need this.
posted by selfnoise at 10:04 AM PST - 79 comments

We're obviously open minded... obviously.

Unfortunately, this is not the type of space for about 80-90+% of the unnecessary human-animal population on the planet.
posted by jillithd at 9:59 AM PST - 58 comments

'Find lawmakers, votes and bills'

ProPublica has relaunched Represent, which " provides information on lawmakers, the bills they consider and the votes they take (and miss). You can browse the latest votes and bills, see how often lawmakers vote against their parties and compare voting records." This applies to federal representatives in the United States.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:18 AM PST - 2 comments

There’s a heart container and a 300 rupee chest up there

My hotel has a sitting area with no possible way to access it
posted by griphus at 9:09 AM PST - 56 comments

I like my frog well boiled

For centuries, Peruvian locals have talked about a river in the Amazon that burns so hot it can kill.
Peru’s mysterious ‘boiling river’ that burns animals to death.
Peruvian geoscientist Andres Ruzo found a river up to 25 metres wide and six metres deep, that runs burning hot for an incredible 6.24 km.
Legends of the Boiling River.
posted by adamvasco at 9:08 AM PST - 16 comments

Starter D'ough!

Back in March, Sam Sifton wrote an aspirational story about sourdough starters (previously) for The New York Times. On behalf of those of us who aspire, Sarah Jampel responds with "How My Soudough Starter Took Over My Life.".
posted by Room 641-A at 8:40 AM PST - 31 comments

He's holding a little kitten, and you almost said no.

Amy Schumer hijacks your tinder prof.
posted by phunniemee at 8:21 AM PST - 32 comments

bad flags

bad flags. bad flags previously. the worst (and best, I guess) city flags in the US. or also this one. THESE CITIES HAVE HAD IT WITH THEIR BAD FLAGS [more inside]
posted by beerperson at 8:16 AM PST - 39 comments

The Savior of the Great American City

If New York City were Middle Earth, Sauron would doubtless be portrayed by Robert Moses, destroying neighborhood after neighborhood in his own endless quest for greater power and a lifeless personal vision of the city that had no thoughts of its inhabitants. But when he set his eyes on leveling SoHo and Little Italy for a ten-lane expressway across Lower Manhattan, he ran up against an unlikely Frodo. Jane Jacobs would have been 100 years old today.
posted by Navelgazer at 7:56 AM PST - 9 comments

Why European Children Are So Much Quieter Than Yours

The playgrounds weren’t just beautiful. They were quiet. That was what struck me when I first moved to Vienna, Austria. Children there played and laughed, but rarely yelled across the park.
posted by veedubya at 6:50 AM PST - 136 comments

May today be with you

The Asteroid Field, covered by Evil Genius Orchestra. Appropriate for the date. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 2:37 AM PST - 10 comments

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