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The 2015 Swedish film Cirkeln (The Circle) wasn't well reviewed or received outside of its home country. But the story of six girls who discover witchery and bravery together was scored by none other than ABBA's Benny Andersson. Benny Andersson - Cirkeln is an hour of instrumental score with seasonally appropriate tones, and could be a welcome soundtrack during this season of haunting. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 9:29 PM PST - 3 comments

The Constitution Annotated: Analysis and Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution is a long-running project of the Congressional Research Service, now updated for the web, that "allows you to read about the Constitution in plain English…providing a comprehensive overview of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the United States Constitution." Until now, the Constitution Annotated "has primarily existed as a 3,000-page hardbound volume provided to Congressional members." If you're looking for a place to start browsing, here's a timely example. You can also browse by topic.
posted by Not A Thing at 9:01 PM PST - 8 comments

Death Discussions Some Alexandria Library patrons are browsing more than just books: these days they’re also checking out discussions about death.
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 8:25 PM PST - 7 comments

Be Kind Rewind is a fantastic youtube channel that features educational, entertaining, and perfectly paced video essays about the history of Hollywood, the Oscars, and a celebration of Best Actress winners. For example, about the only black woman to win Best Actress: "If we read the Oscars as a symbol of what Hollywood values, then Halle Berry's singular win says a lot about how much Hollywood values women of color generally." - #OscarsSoWhite and The Legacy of Halle Berry [more inside]
posted by BeginAgain at 4:36 PM PST - 5 comments

"In celebration of reaching 5,000 followers on Twitter (@No_Context_JTC) here are 50 images of sudden, horrible deaths in Chick Tracts."
Images 1-10 | Images 11-20 | Images 21-30 | Images 31-40 | Images 41-50
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:35 PM PST - 53 comments

When 69-year-old Marietta Jinde died in September 2016, police had already been called to her home several times because of reports of possible abuse. A detective described conditions at the woman’s home in Gardena as “horrendous.” She was so emaciated and frail that the hospital asked Los Angeles County adult protective services officials to look into her death. […] With permission from county officials and saying they did not know of the abuse allegations, employees from OneLegacy, a Southern California human tissue procurement company, had gained access to the body, taking parts that could have provided crucial evidence. [CW: descriptions of autopsies] [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 3:19 PM PST - 46 comments

On October 15, the Democrats meet for the fourth time, starting at 8 p.m. ET in Westerville, Ohio, for a debate hosted by CNN and The New York Times, on the most crowded debate stage of this election cycle so far. [more inside]
posted by katra at 3:17 PM PST - 206 comments

Tremble. "An abstract dining room is the setting for Scottish Ballet’s largest film yet. Tremble stars 26 Scottish Ballet dancers and has been co-choreographed and directed by Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple [of Jess and Morgs Films], set to Anna Meredith’s brassy track ‘Nautilus’ [previously]."
posted by homunculus at 3:15 PM PST - 14 comments

Solving Rubik’s Cube with a Robot Hand [YouTube] “We’ve trained a pair of neural networks to solve the Rubik’s Cube with a human-like robot hand. The neural networks are trained entirely in simulation, using the same reinforcement learning code as OpenAI Five paired with a new technique called Automatic Domain Randomization (ADR). The system can handle situations it never saw during training, such as being prodded by a stuffed giraffe. [...] Solving a Rubik’s Cube one-handed is a challenging task even for humans, and it takes children several years to gain the dexterity required to master it. Our robot still hasn’t perfected its technique though, as it solves the Rubik’s Cube 60% of the time (and only 20% of the time for a maximally difficult scramble).” [via: Open AI]
posted by Fizz at 2:03 PM PST - 8 comments

I’m Convinced We Found Evidence of Life on Mars in the 1970s The Labeled Release experiment on the Viking mission reported positive results, although most have dismissed them as inorganic chemical reactions.
posted by Bee'sWing at 1:07 PM PST - 13 comments

The 21 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Series Ever
posted by bq at 12:58 PM PST - 291 comments

Joy, absurdity, and irreverence have long been in the DNA of the Tiptree Award. What other award crowns the winner with a tiara, raises money with bake sales, and serenades the winner? Now, our community has spoken and said: there is too much discomfort over this history for many of us to feel joyous about this name.

The Tiptree Motherboard has renamed the Tiptree to the Otherwise Award. [more inside]
posted by MartinWisse at 9:51 AM PST - 32 comments

“This is the most ambitious plan on corporate ownership ever put out by a presidential candidate,” Peter Gowan, with the Democracy Collaborative, an economic inequality-focused research institution, said. “[This is] giving real bones to Sanders’ vision of democratic socialism.” Bernie Sanders’s plan to reshape corporate America, explained (Vox) [more inside]
posted by The Whelk at 9:33 AM PST - 23 comments

Eric Tabuchi lives and works in Paris, and captured abandoned clubs around France (Design You Trust) in Discothèques, 2016. [via MltShp] Tabuchi has additional collections of stark and sometimes decaying features: symmetry in Ville Nouvelle, barriers in Restricted Areas, upright elements in Éléments verticaux, concrete poetry in Infrasculpture, stairways to nowhere in particular in Architecture d'entraînement, and a surprisingly large collection of Vertical Pools.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:28 AM PST - 10 comments

ShibaInuPunchan is a youtuber whose videos feature Purin the shiba watching their master cook. There are currently two dozen low-key videos without dialogue, only the sound of cooking and the sight of a handsome shiba inu with their head and forepaws propped up on the counter, calmly watching their master. Dishes include fluffy cheesecake, spaghetti with meat sauce, and omurice (Purin gets their own serving of this one). [more inside]
posted by ardgedee at 7:00 AM PST - 21 comments

Starting from the current tax system, everyone can design their own tax plan: Wealth tax, individual income tax, corporate tax... Pick the rates, adjust enforcement, and taxjusticenow.org shows: 1. How much revenue would be generated; 2. How tax progressivity would change." [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 6:28 AM PST - 44 comments