May 14, 2021

He’s a Dogecoin Millionaire. And He’s Not Selling.

Glauber Contessoto went looking for something that could change his fortunes overnight. He found it in a joke cryptocurrency. What explains Dogecoin’s durability, then? There’s no doubt that Dogecoin mania, like GameStop mania before it, is at least partly attributable to some combination of pandemic-era boredom and the eternal appeal of get-rich-quick schemes. But there may be more structural forces at work. Over the past few years, soaring housing costs, record student loan debt and historically low interest rates have made it harder for some young people to imagine achieving financial stability by slowly working their way up the career ladder and saving money paycheck by paycheck, the way their parents did. Instead of ladders, these people are looking for trampolines — risky, volatile investments that could either result in a life-changing windfall or send them right back to where they started.
posted by folklore724 at 5:39 PM PST - 55 comments

Some memorable days from the early ‘90s

Just some tik toks.
What it was like hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time in 1991
What it was like hearing Creep for the first time in 1992
What it was like hearing Cherub Rock for the first time in 1993
What it was like hearing Freedom by Rage Against The Machine in 1993
posted by Going To Maine at 3:42 PM PST - 92 comments

Mammals can breathe through their intestines?

Mammals can breathe through their intestines? We all know that some creatures have to poop through their mouths. But now researchers have shown that you can also flood a mouse's colon with oxygen-saturated perfluorocarbon and have them breathe through their large intestine. Which is presumably less stressful than flooding your lungs with it.
posted by GuyZero at 12:06 PM PST - 56 comments

B Girls

My deepest pleasures come from accounts of and by the original B girls. Those lucky few who, given the chance to create a school in their own image, rose to the occasion. Free to decide on their classes and lifestyles, these pioneers rejected dogma, prohibition, curfews, and dress codes, embraced annual non-resident work terms, and, as a decades-long study by sociologists proved, almost routinely turned their backs on the politics of their conservative daddies. From The Bennington Girl by Jill Eisenstadt
posted by chavenet at 10:07 AM PST - 21 comments

Misogyny And Accountability At Apple

Earlier this week, Apple employees petitioned the company for an investigation into the hiring of Antonio García Martínez, a former Facebook employee who had published Chaos Monkeys, in which he had made a number of blatantly misogynistic comments. Hours later, Apple had verified that García Martínez was fired. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:59 AM PST - 128 comments

"I asked myself what I most valued about teaching mathematics"

Mathematician Ursula Whitcher is an editor for a database of mathematical research. "Branch cuts: writing, editing, and ramified complexities" (9-page PDF) discusses reevaluating career priorities (especially after the University of Wisconsin redefined tenure), reflecting on gender and sexuality, and "bridging queer and mathematical communities". Whitcher has also written for the American Mathematical Society on predictive policing, research projects that a protagonist of a Courtney Milan romance novel might be interested in, and more. [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 7:52 AM PST - 13 comments

Revenge and World's First Female Pirates

The story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read, notorious gender bending pirates.
posted by ichimunki at 5:43 AM PST - 20 comments

It can't be that easy: group behind voter suppression laws

From Ari Berman and Nick Surgey in Mother Jones, a leaked video and investigation into Heritage Action and US voter suppression laws. In a private meeting last month with big-money donors, the head of a top conservative group boasted that her outfit had crafted the new voter suppression law in Georgia and was doing the same with similar bills for Republican state legislators across the country. “In some cases, we actually draft them for them,” she said, “or we have a sentinel on our behalf give them the model legislation so it has that grassroots, from-the-bottom-up type of vibe.” [more inside]
posted by Bella Donna at 1:25 AM PST - 32 comments

Did someone order a bard?

How D&D classes use a bow (SLTT).
posted by Alex404 at 1:18 AM PST - 37 comments

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