October 15, 2020

Startup founders set up hacker homes to recreate Silicon Valley synergy.

'Everyone that was working in a WeWork is now working out of a house' Hacker homes, the newest iteration of remote work adaption, feels like a nostalgic attempt to recreate some of the synergies COVID-19 wiped out. Generally speaking, it’s a nod to the digital nomad lifestyle, but in some cases, hacker homes feel closer to Hype House, a TikTok mansion laden with sponsored indulgence and wealth.
posted by geoff. at 11:11 PM PST - 40 comments

NZ Election 2020

The 2020 New Zealand General Election will be held on Saturday 17 October. New Zealanders will also be voting in two referendums:
1) whether terminally ill people will have the option of assisted dying
2) whether the recreational use of cannabis should become legal.
[more inside]
posted by Start with Dessert at 9:45 PM PST - 84 comments

A Wim for Ice

How Iceman Wim Hof Uncovered the Secrets to Our Health. "Over the past decade, researchers from major universities have studied Hof and found solid evidence that when practicing his method, he can control his own body temperature, nervous system, and immune response—findings that are head-scratchers for medical science, because humans aren’t supposed to be able to do any of that. It’s now documented in peer-reviewed papers that, among other things, Hof may be able to turn on at will his body’s tap of opiates and cannabinoids—euphoria-inducing chemicals that provide natural pain relief and an overall sense of well-being. What’s more, Hof insists, if he can do this, so can the rest of us." [more inside]
posted by storybored at 9:37 PM PST - 36 comments

And boy, are its wings tired!

A bar-tailed godwit (previously) has been tracked flying more than 12,000km (7,500 miles) flying non-stop from Alaska to New Zealand over 11 days, setting a new world record for avian non-stop flight.
posted by ShooBoo at 9:33 PM PST - 6 comments

“You know that, right? You can do anything.”

Two scifi stories about the work we offload to robots. "Drones Don’t Kill People" by Annalee Newitz (a bunch of violence): "You learn a lot by seeing what people do when they think they’re in private. Most of it I found confusingly irrelevant to assassination." "Cleaning Lady" by J. Kyle Turner (no violence): "Her listing says All Cleaning Done By Hand so she makes a big show of unpacking her bag, laying out her tools, and rolling up her sleeves."
posted by brainwane at 5:44 PM PST - 6 comments

Say G’day to the New Hardboiled Sheriff in Town, Mate

The movie “Mystery Road” introduces us to Detective Jay Swan. Portrayed by Aaron Pederson (and written for him by director Ivan Sen), Detective Swan is an indigenous Australian cop who navigates not being fully trusted by his fellow servants of The Crown for being “a blackfella”, and not being fully trusted by the indigenous communities for being a cop and a servant of the Crown. Swan constantly code-switches between modes of speaking (or not) depending on who he’s talking to, and which community they are from. Over the course of season 1 and season 2 of the TV show “Mystery Road” followed by the movie “Goldstone”, we get a look at issues of race, money, history, resource exploitation, drugs, corruption, and life in sparsely populated small-town/rural Western Australia, the landscape of which is almost a character itself.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 4:43 PM PST - 31 comments

Good Margins, Small Volumes

Zachary Crockett investigates the economics of vending machines (The Hustle), including the world of vending machine entrepreneur YouTubers. [more inside]
posted by adrianhon at 4:16 PM PST - 20 comments

You want your freedom? Take it. That's what I'm counting on.

During the pandemic, The 8-Bit Big Band hasn't slowed down. Following on from Still Alive, they've brought back Benny Benack III and the gang for a swing version of Portal 2's Want You Gone.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 4:02 PM PST - 4 comments

Why are the noses broken?

Somewhat surprisingly, the difference between keeping or losing a head and/or a left arm might be explained by the difference in hairstyle between the two statues. Amunhotep’s long, thick hair, enveloping his neck and extending over the upper part of his shoulders, reinforced his neck and made it more difficult to remove his head. Djehuti’s short hair did not extend around his neck and down his back; iconoclasts therefore had much less work to do to when they removed Djehuti’s head.
Iconoclasm in Egypt: Why Are the Noses Broken on Egyptian Statues?
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:29 PM PST - 25 comments

Metal Drum Playthroughs Galore

What's that you say? You enjoy watching drumcam videos of metal and metal adjacent artists playing extremely technically demanding music? Well step inside and let's do this! [more inside]
posted by saladin at 11:51 AM PST - 32 comments

Lek like you mean it.

The Grouse podcast dives into the complicated project of protecting the Sage Grouse, via interviews and stories of biologists, ranchers and indigenous people. The Sage Grouse is threatened by oil extraction, overgrazing, ever-expanding wildfires, and cheatgrass, which crowds out the native sage grass. The podcast is also a fascinating reflection on the role of reporting on the environment in an age of catastrophes: The primary reporter, Ashley Ahearn, left Seattle for rural Washington after transformative experiences at Standing Rock. [more inside]
posted by kaibutsu at 11:28 AM PST - 3 comments

Who are we to decide that life is not fair?

Only God knows, he said, when America will return to normal: “And I sometimes think we’ve got Him scratching His head because this is a bunch of craziness.”
Appalachia in Southeast Ohio after the Great Society: A photo essay with words by Tim Sullivan and photos by Wong Maye-E. [more inside]
posted by Rumple at 11:01 AM PST - 21 comments

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