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My mother had green eyes. Black hair. Her name was Marie Augustine Adeline Legrand. She was born a peasant, daughter of farmers, near Dunkirk. She had one sister and seven brothers. She went to teachers college, on a scholarship, and she taught in Dunkirk. The day after an inspection, the inspector who had visited her class asked for her hand in marriage. Love at first sight. [more inside]
posted by flug at 11:49 PM PST - 6 comments

That’s it. That’s the thread. Like The Whelk ranking menswear, but government buildings. [SLTT, and wonderful]
posted by ersatzkat at 9:54 PM PST - 45 comments

There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition. Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family. Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying. Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:49 PM PST - 27 comments

My heart jumped when I saw the kids — they reminded me of my cousins. It was a strange feeling because the pictures also reminded me of aid campaigns for Africa

Kiwi-Tongan poet Simone Kaho writes on the politics, ethics and impact of her time with The Floating Foundation which provided volotourism medical training in Tonga, closed over kidnapping and rape charges against the founder Craig Koning. (Note: palangi is Samoan usually used for foreigner/white, akin to pakeha in NZ)
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:57 PM PST - 9 comments

Summer part two has come to most of Alabama, which like the rest of the Southeast US, has mostly escaped global warming until now. The current heat wave has gone on for several weeks, and is setting records at quite a pace. Echos of the European heat waves in June and July. So far, 2019 is neck and neck with 2016 for hottest year ever.
posted by Maxwell's demon at 8:35 PM PST - 46 comments

October Baseball is here for 10 lucky teams. The wildcard games start tonight, 10/1 at 5:08 pm pacific time between the Milwaukee Brewers at the Washington Nationals, followed by tomorrow's game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Oakland Athletics. [more inside]
posted by Carillon at 2:28 PM PST - 92 comments

What the Golf [YouTube][Launch Trailer] “What The Golf? is self-admittedly a game for people who hate golf. It takes a very simple concept: whack a ball, into a hole, with a club – and goes absolutely wild with it. [...] What The Golf? is excessive nonsense. At every turn, it questions what a ball, hole or course could even look like. Golf arenas become cities, wars, racetracks and guitar fretboards. What The Golf? asks the important questions only games can answer. Can golf be football? Can golf be cars? Can golf be love? Can golf be Super Hot?” [via: Rock Paper Shotgun] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 1:31 PM PST - 28 comments

HighwayWiki is a work-in-progress collection of "facts and pictures about each and every known traffic signal and accessory, including their respective companies, dates produced, and related brands and models."
posted by cortex at 12:50 PM PST - 10 comments

A Mouse is on the Loose in the White House, and the Press Corps Scrambles to Chase it Down (Charlie Nash, Mediaite)
posted by ZeusHumms at 12:29 PM PST - 44 comments

Groupthink and Other Painful Reflections on ​Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth "The current conversation, a slow-burn hagiography through and through, frames TOPY as a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware "anti-cult"—half esoteric art project, half culture-jamming prankster pagans who struck fear in the hearts of the Thatcher and Reagan regimes through parody of a radical youth crusade. But the primary sources—many long available for those willing to look, and others just now surfacing—reveal Thee Temple to have been far from puckish liberators. TOPY and P-Orridge's knowing adoption of cult iconography and organizing principles quickly slid from satiric emulation to full embrace, and many Temple apostates describe years of escalating exploitation: a guru with a sycophantic following; the systematic breakdown of individuality and autonomy; rigid hierarchies, disciplinary regimens, and incessant bullying; preying on the suggestible and vulnerable; explosive, tyrannical outbursts; and the appropriation of others' creative voices and ideas." [more inside]
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 12:00 PM PST - 24 comments

If you were a kid in New York City's broadcast area during the late 80s and early 90s, you may recall WPIX, or simply "Channel 11". A subsidiary of Tribune Media (which also owned the New York Daily News) since it's founding in the late 40s, WPIX resisted joining the major networks for a while and instead positioned itself as a home for local programming and movies shown during primetime nearly every night. Many years later, the network -- now Warner-Brothers-affiliated and called Pix11 -- were constantly fielding requests for one single movie promo... [more inside]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:50 AM PST - 30 comments

It is that time of year again: Katmai National Park is hosting its 5th annual Fat Bear Tournament. [more inside]
posted by charmedimsure at 11:39 AM PST - 16 comments

After a slew of recent cases in the United States and Europe, the momentum toward a crackdown on illicit art and antiquities deals is growing. The legitimate art market is itself enormous—estimated at $67.4 billion worldwide at the end of 2018. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the underground art market, which includes thefts, fakes, illegal imports, and organized looting, may bring in as much as $6 billion annually. The portion attributed to money laundering and other financial crimes is in the $3 billion range. The Art of Money Laundering by Tom Mashberg for the IMF
posted by chavenet at 11:23 AM PST - 9 comments

“Solidarity is the opposite of bad vibes. It warms you up with the trust of those around you, and it can spread beyond your immediate community. Here, we have Haley Mlotek from the Freelance Media League; Dana Kopel of New Museum Union; Crystal Stella Becerril, member of the Freelance Media League and former community organizer for Study Hall and other community and labor efforts; and Kaitlyn Chandler from the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s newest union. Writers, artists, musicians, and filmmakers are constantly pitted against each other in the name of innovation and entertainment value. If we are able to come together regardless of the rapacious and manipulative practices of capitalism, then we will be able to set a precedent against the alienating forces of competition to build a new and engaging art.” So Many Secrets : A roundtable on cultural organizing in New York City Moderated by the hosts of the Arts And Labor Podcast.
posted by The Whelk at 8:42 AM PST - 1 comments

Grieving in the internet age is weird. Despite what many make out, millennials are actually reticent to get real on social media. Instead of being emotionally candid we’re perpetually sarcastic, self-deprecating and deliberately unpolished. Being “too online” or oversharing too readily is uncool. There’s a saying that you get one sincere online post a year; use it well. So then what do you do when someone has died? Grieving in the internet age: would posting photos of my dead friend look performative? (Katie Cunningham for The Guardian)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:28 AM PST - 51 comments

The motivation for using video review in sports is obvious: to get more calls right. This seems like an easy enough mission to fulfill, but anyone who has spent even a little time watching sports on TV can attest to the fact that the application of video review is not so simple. In most sports where it is applied, video review has actually created more confusion and less clarity. Why is this the case? Follow me into an examination of thousands of years of philosophical discourse, and we will find the answer together, my friends.
posted by Etrigan at 8:28 AM PST - 28 comments

Opera singer Jessye Norman dead at 74. Norman was celebrated many times over throughout her career, including receiving five Grammys and a Kennedy Center Honor. Among her most well known performances were the title roles in Aida and Ariadne auf Naxos, a rendition of "La Marseillaise" on the 200th anniversary of Bastille Day in France, and Strauss' Four Last Songs.
posted by Cash4Lead at 8:05 AM PST - 37 comments

Watching a sleeping octopus cycle through various camouflage colors, as she appears to dream of hunting, captured on video for the first time. From PBS Nature's Octopus: Making Contact, premiering tomorrow.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:23 AM PST - 25 comments

The Balloon Boy Hoax—Solved (?) "Ten years ago this month, the country was captivated by a bizarre spectacle in Fort Collins that was colloquially dubbed the Balloon Boy Hoax. Although Richard Heene, the so-called Balloon Boy’s father, pleaded guilty to charges related to the prank, it was never fully clear whether it was the scam that police made it out to be." [more inside]
posted by The Blue Olly at 5:53 AM PST - 37 comments

This game is deceptively simple: name as many US cities as you can. They show up on the blank map, and you also get a bunch of statistics to motivate you. Be warned: this WILL suck up many hours of your life and can be extremely addictive. Via Sasha Trubetskoy
posted by KTamas at 4:59 AM PST - 237 comments

Can a Burger Help Solve Climate Change? - "Eating meat creates huge environmental costs. Impossible Foods thinks it has a solution." [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 12:12 AM PST - 71 comments