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On food & climate change: "We can still act and it won’t be too late" (The Long Read - The Guardian) If people feel as if they don’t have control over their lives, or that their children don’t have a good future, then they will resist efforts to deal with climate change because right now they’re concerned about feeding their child. It’s a luxury to worry about climate change; you have to have enough to eat before you start worrying about what’s going to happen to the planet 30 years from now. If we do not pay attention to increasing inequality – and the fact that technology and globalisation are accelerating – there will be a backlash.
by Barack Obama
posted by CrystalDave at 11:49 PM PST - 55 comments

The Australian Pokédex, by Paul Robertson [1-29][30-57][58-86][87-111][112-130][131-151] [more inside]
posted by grobstein at 9:02 PM PST - 18 comments

Olivia P. Judson in Nature: "Over the course of Earth history, the harnessing of free energy by organisms has had a dramatic impact on the planetary environment. Yet the variety of free-energy sources available to living organisms has expanded over time. These expansions are consequences of events in the evolution of life, and they have mediated the transformation of the planet from an anoxic world that could support only microbial life, to one that boasts the rich geology and diversity of life present today. Here, I review these energy expansions, discuss how they map onto the biological and geological development of Earth, and consider what this could mean for the trajectories of life–planet systems elsewhere." [more inside]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:58 PM PST - 11 comments

The National Gay Flag Football League (NGFFL) is a 501(c)(3) sports organization that "seeks to promote the positive social and athletic enjoyment of American Flag Football." It's next championship team will be crowned in Gay Bowl XVII, October 5-8, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. However, this year's Gay Bowl will be unique: for the first time, it will count among its sponsors an NFL team: the reigning Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
posted by 4ster at 6:29 PM PST - 4 comments

Apple designer Marc Newson made a $12,000 hourglass filled with nanoballs.
posted by klausman at 5:41 PM PST - 119 comments

Over the past 3 months, we have largely completed the rollout of Git/GVFS to the Windows team at Microsoft. [more inside]
posted by cgc373 at 3:42 PM PST - 50 comments

Joss Whedon, nerd icon, has a new video in support of Planned Parenthood. Joss Whedon, known throughout various demographics for Buffy, Dollhouse, The Avengers, Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog, and the immortal Firefly, recently released a three minute video made for Planned Parenthood exploring some of the consequences of clinics closing. Whedon is also known for support of Equality Now.
posted by Jacen at 3:31 PM PST - 26 comments

Spend an hour with New York City’s breathtaking, hilarious, inspiring burlesque diva, Fancy Feast, in this documentary from Leon Chase. Or just catch this quick 2 minute teaser. She’ll leave you hungry for more.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 11:43 AM PST - 7 comments

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets Official Trailer [YouTube] is an upcoming English-language French science fiction action-adventure film co-produced, written and directed by Luc Besson. [wiki]
posted by Fizz at 10:45 AM PST - 73 comments

Key Crazy: Inside the Wonderful World of Keyboard Fanatics A proud tradition of hackers going back decades gets another moment in the spotlight thanks to Gizmodo. If you're interested in building your own, you might be interested in Jesse Vincent's blog series from 2012,Building a Keyboard, or the venerable Key64 site.
posted by boo_radley at 10:31 AM PST - 39 comments

The Mexican Pago en Especie program allows artists to pay their taxes with art instead of money. It started informally in the 1950s and was codified in the 1970s. The program includes a jury system to ensure that the country is getting a good value and has amassed a collection of more than 7,000 pieces of art. It even survived a recent bout of tax reform.
posted by Etrigan at 8:13 AM PST - 19 comments

Imzy, the "kinder, gentler" Reddit alternative (previously), is shutting down on June 23rd. The site raised an $8 million Series A in October 2016, and opened its platform up to the public that same month. According to The Verge article on the shutdown, less-friendly Reddit clone Voat is also at risk of being shut down due to funding issues.
posted by SansPoint at 8:03 AM PST - 63 comments

How many ways can you destroy a piano? Piano smashing contests were a UK fad in the 1960s, eventually crossing over to the US. Teams used sledgehammers to destroy an upright piano to the point where pieces of the piano could be passed through a 9-inch diameter hole. Infrequent piano smashing contests have been held in recent years although Guinness World Records has retired the category from active competition. Using sledgehammers is one thing, but composer Annea Lockwood has several creative ways to dispose of pianos.
posted by achmorrison at 7:35 AM PST - 36 comments

The History of Porridge in Bantuphone Africa, with Words as Main Ingredients
posted by infini at 6:40 AM PST - 5 comments

How to make Maple Syrup (slyt) I really enjoyed this video of a modern maple syrup farm. Lot's of tubes and filters and pumps. [more inside]
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 6:05 AM PST - 29 comments

"The language repeatedly emphasizes consumer choice as particularly important. Residents “prefer to drive alone” and the car became “the option of choice.” But consumers can only choose among the options that are provided to them. The implication here is that people don’t want good public transit, they want GM cars." - Blight At The Museum, how corporate donations are taking control of American history at the Smithsonian.
posted by The Whelk at 4:53 AM PST - 35 comments

Renting in London in 2017 is grim. While the city is in the middle of a record construction boom, almost all of that is luxury apartments for overseas investors. “Golden postcodes” such as Kensington, Highgate and Notting Hill are the preserve of the international “alpha elite”, displacing the local wealthy, and setting off a chain reaction. As rents go up, people on above-average incomes find themselves in “middle-class poverty”, having to move repeatedly and to make do with smaller spaces. As there is no regulation, any house that is not a hazard to health is legal, and it makes economic sense for landlords to evict tenants rather than carrying out repairs. Meanwhile, in outer boroughs, poor workers live in bunks in cramped, shared rooms in houses and sheds, preyed on by chains of “rent to rent” entrepreneurs sometimes shading into human trafficking rings. [more inside]
posted by acb at 4:51 AM PST - 95 comments

Chicago Cubs' President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein's Class Day speech at this years's Yale graduation
posted by Mchelly at 4:26 AM PST - 1 comments

40 years ago. Star Wars. May 25, 1977. It only opened on 42 screens. Basically everyone who tells you they were there on opening day are lying to you. Five veteran distribution execs who were there when George Lucas' first installment of the space saga was set to premiere look back on the challenges that came with being part of movie history.
posted by hippybear at 3:10 AM PST - 84 comments