MetaFilter

What the world can learn from childcare in Finland [yt] - "Finland is a world leader when it comes to early years education. Childcare is affordable and nursery places are universally available in a system that puts children's rights at the centre of decision-making. Now the country is applying the same child-first thinking to paternity-leave policies in an attempt to tackle gender inequality in parenting."[1,2,3] [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 10:49 PM PST - 42 comments

"Every square inch is covered in life": the ageing oil rigs that became marine oases. [more inside]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:46 PM PST - 10 comments

WaPo: Ukrainian military officer coordinated Nord Stream pipeline attack that shocked and mystified the West [archive.is]

Roman Chervinsky, a decorated 48-year-old colonel who served in Ukraine’s special operations forces, was the “coordinator” of the Nord Stream operation, people familiar with his role said, managing logistics and support for a six-person team that rented a sailboat under false identities and used deep-sea diving equipment to place explosive charges on the gas pipelines.[...] Chervinsky did not act alone, and he did not plan the operation, according to the people familiar with his role, which has not been previously reported. The officer took orders from more senior Ukrainian officials, who ultimately reported to Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s highest-ranking military officer, said people familiar with how the operation was carried out. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details about the bombing, which has strained diplomatic relations with Ukraine and drawn objections from U.S. officials.

Notably claims that President Zelensky was kept out of the loop, especially since Chervinsky is currently behind bars for an unrelated rogue operation. As with any anonymously-sourced story, to be taken with a grain of salt, though the Washington Post is somewhat more reliable than Seymour Hersh's Substack theorizing [previously].
posted by Rhaomi at 6:26 PM PST - 41 comments

A meta-analysis of stability and change in gender discrimination over time. How widespread is gender discrimination in hiring and selection, and have at least some human societies experienced meaningful change towards greater equality of opportunity? These intertwined questions represent two of the most theoretically rich, practically important, and politically controversial scientific issues of our time.
posted by Sebmojo at 11:23 AM PST - 19 comments

CW: Suicide
Texas Monthly brings you a story of human tragedy, turtle smuggling, and one U. S. Fish and Wildlife special agent trying to bring down a poaching dynasty.
posted by Hypatia at 6:12 AM PST - 8 comments

Do sentiment analysis on all the words in a novel, poem or play and plot the results against time, and it’s possible to see how the mood changes over the course of the text, revealing a kind of emotional narrative. While not a perfect tool – it looks at words in isolation, ignoring context – it can be surprisingly insightful when applied to larger chunks of text... from Every story in the world has one of these six basic plots [BBC] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:43 AM PST - 95 comments

Welcome, new grill trainee, to the Waffle House family! Today in this training video, recorded by Area Vice President Greg Hall, you will be introduced to the "Magic Marker System," the only approved method of "marking" orders at Waffle House, and is absolutely used in all of its restaurants really honest. It isn't at all what those heathens at Huddle House and IHOP would call "batshit insane." Ready? Let's begin! [more inside]
posted by JHarris at 12:41 AM PST - 151 comments