June 17, 2019

Because Australia, that's why

Pygmy possums usually aren’t on the menu for huntsman spiders. But an Australian man from Tasmania has captured the rare moment a huntsman attempted to devour a tiny possum at a lodge in the Mount Field national park, 64 km north-west of Hobart. CW: PICS OF A SPIDER EATING A MAMMAL (Possum-eating spider previously)
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:26 PM PST - 38 comments

"Fasten, then zip. You?" "Fasten, zip."

Babylon 5 Is the Greatest, Most Terrible SF Series. Jennifer Giesbrecht takes an extended look at the best and worst aspects of this pathbreaking TV program 26 years after it first aired. Spoilerrific, of course.
posted by grouse at 3:45 PM PST - 112 comments

Amazon's union busting training video

Actual clips from Amazon's union-busting training video that was sent to Whole Foods management in 2018. It was then leaked by Whole Worker to the media.
posted by adept256 at 2:27 PM PST - 57 comments

A spanner in the wercs

Mr Olds' Remarkable Elevator - Tom Scott explores a (recently discovered) counterintuitive engineering solution that had been hiding in plain sight
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 12:50 PM PST - 37 comments

A comedy podcast that exists in the universe of bicycling

Yardsley. Or she may possibly have punctured her tire—that would delay her fifteen or twenty minutes. Don’t worry, my dear boy. I showed her how to fix a punctured tire all right. It’s simple enough—you take the rubber thing they give you and fasten it in that metal thingumbob, glue it up, poke it in, pull it out, pump her up, and there you are.

Bradley (with a mock sigh of relief). You don’t know what a load you’ve taken off my mind.
For its 40th episode, The Wheel Friends (FB, Patreon)recreates The Bicyclers, the epitome of bicycle based comedy in 1896
posted by rebent at 12:30 PM PST - 1 comments

mh370: where is it?

from the atlantic, more about where mh370 may have gone, and an american lawyer looking for the debris, over five years later.
posted by koroshiya at 12:26 PM PST - 35 comments

Ugliness is a gatekeeper to being worthy of love

At the first annual Ugly Conference, attendees aren't trying to "reclaim" anything. They're just trying to be seen as they are. A Vice reporter recounts their experience at Oakland's first annual Ugly Conference, which was organized by Vanessa Rochelle Lewis after her picture made the rounds on the internet when a party promoter used it in a meme. Lewis hopes the conference is the "first in a series of gatherings designed to combat image-based prejudice and abuse." [more inside]
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 12:18 PM PST - 11 comments

The Case Against Quantum Computing

The proposed strategy relies on manipulating with high precision an unimaginably huge number of variables
posted by hugbucket at 11:22 AM PST - 28 comments

Local production, reliability, easy repair, and low embodied energy

Low-tech Magazine does small wooden wind turbines.
posted by clawsoon at 9:44 AM PST - 31 comments

The Bread-Roll’s Path into Socialism

The LA Review of Books revisits the life and writing of Ronald M. Schernikau
i am afraid. am female, am male, double. feel my body departing from my body, see my white hands, my eyes in the mirror, i don’t want to be double who am I? want to be me, male, female, see only white. i am facing myself, want to reach myself, stretch my arms out towards myself where am i? i see, kiss, hug and intermingle. at some point lea appears, then reappears, and at last he is aware of her. b. senses: he’s lying in bed, it’s morning, his room is blurry, he tries to take it in, feels the movement of his head, doesn’t try to steer it. no hope for a good day today, fuckingettingup, fuckingschool, fuckinglife.
posted by frimble at 8:45 AM PST - 1 comments

At-home medical tests are an awful lot like astrology.

Mail-in diagnostic testing lacks the rigor and accuracy of actual medical testing. The results can be inaccurate and misleading even when true, as they lack context. Science and astrology are often seen as opposite poles... The implication is that anything making a scientific claim, like a medical test, should not be as squishy as astrology. Yet the same thing that drives some people toward astrology drives others toward mail-in test kits: People want to learn more about themselves and make sense of why they are the way they are. Your life might be fine, but perhaps it could be better if you understand yourself on a deeper level. [more inside]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 7:46 AM PST - 35 comments

The 2020 census is coming.

Will Native Americans be counted? [more inside]
posted by poffin boffin at 5:50 AM PST - 4 comments

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