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New study suggests previous estimates of ocean microplastics were off by 5 to 7 orders of magnitude:

We successfully developed and tested a new method for collecting and counting the smallest microplastic pieces in seawater and ingested inside the guts of salps, a planktonic species at the base of food webs and key to transport of carbon and particles from the sea surface to the deep sea. We determined that the true abundance of these tiniest microplastics far outnumber previously reported counts, and that every salp we examined had ingested plastic.

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posted by Not A Thing at 9:53 PM PST - 42 comments

So let's say you're interested in food security, Southeast Asian cuisine, agriculture minutae, economic justice, deep dives on how climate change/labor rights/international treaties/[insert variable] affects global and regional food chains, and you're interested in getting that information in a serial 45-minute episode news-food-travel-documentary form from a chef, from September 2019. Well For Food's Sake, you won't believe what I have for you. Through the lens of food security as it relates to Singapore, because of the 10% food price increase there in recent years. Each episode focuses on a specific food item or two. SSYP (Single Series YouTube Post) [more inside]
posted by saysthis at 2:10 PM PST - 11 comments

The parks were created by removing Indigenous people from the land. Thaidene Nëné begins to repair the damage. [more inside]
posted by poffin boffin at 12:29 PM PST - 4 comments

In 2007 John Beadle, digitized a cassette and uploaded MP3s of 'Mystery Somali Funk' (previously) to his Likembe blog. He had been given the tape twenty years earlier by a Somalian student, and Analog Africa founder Samy Ben Redjeb take the reverse path, heading to travel to in Mogadishu in November of 2016 to track down the original music. This lead to his meeting Dur-Dur and hearing the stories behind their fusion of traditional Somali music with whatever rhythms would make people dance (Bandcamp): funk, reggae, soul, disco and New Wave were mixed effortlessly with Banaadiri beats, Daantho and spiritual Saar music. Samy also went through the archives of Radio Muqdisho (Somali and English news), now compiled in Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu (Somalia 1972​-​1991) (Bandcamp). [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 12:04 PM PST - 7 comments

No Time To Die [YouTube][Official Trailer] “Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.”
posted by Fizz at 11:17 AM PST - 107 comments

Esther Eng had a lot more firsts than that though: first woman to direct a Chinese-language film in the US; first woman to direct a film in Hong Kong; first woman to film in color. Unfortunately, all her films are lost, but there is a documentary about her, Golden Gate Girls (review). [more inside]
posted by larrybob at 10:46 AM PST - 3 comments

More than eight hundred million chess games at ChessRoots.com depict opening moves and their responses in visual graphs.
posted by cgc373 at 9:57 AM PST - 11 comments

Brent Simmons Names It: "The Apple Curtain" Writing on his inessential blog, Brent Simmons notes a strange/sad set of events that happens when someone you know goes to work at Apple: "I’m always happy for a friend when they start a job at Apple — but I’m also sad when it means they have to stop their community activities: no more podcasting and blogging, developer meetup organizing, presenting at conferences, writing side-project apps, contributing to open source things."
posted by zooropa at 9:37 AM PST - 44 comments

“ She started the job in April 2018, and within two months, or nearly 100,000 items, the lifting had destroyed her back. An Amazon-approved doctor said she had bulging discs and diagnosed her with a back sprain, joint inflammation and chronic pain, determining that her injuries were 100% due to her job. She could no longer work at Amazon. Today, she can barely climb stairs. Walking her dog, doing the dishes, getting out of her chair – everything is painful. According to her medical records, her condition is unlikely to improve.” Amazon’s internal injury records expose the true toll of its relentless drive for speed (Reveal) "We already knew that the facility had serious problems with injuries, but what we now know is Amazon is fully aware of these problems” New Report Shows 'Shockingly High' Number Of Injuries At Amazon's Staten Island Warehouse (Gothamist) Amazon’s On-Site Emergency Care Harms Those It’s There To Protect (Intercept)
posted by The Whelk at 9:01 AM PST - 14 comments

NPR's Book Concierge is back with 350 reads in 33 categories that you can mix and match. If you're still not able to find the perfect book for your next read, you can also explore the books from the last seven years, or look at Metafilter discussions from 2017 or 2015.
posted by dinty_moore at 8:48 AM PST - 26 comments

Nothing says Christmas in Mexico like Atole and Buñuelos, (Atole is a corn meal/masa hot drink and buñuelos are fried dough, dipped in sugary syrup with cinnamon) prepared here by Doña Angela from De Mi Rancho a Tu Cocina. Doña Angela (Youtube, FB, Insta) is a star, She started her channel only a few months ago, showing viewers how to make traditional Mexican recipes from her rustic kitchen in Michoacan, Mexico. She has millions of viewers and is beloved by Mexican media for her unpretentious grandmotherly vibe. [more inside]
posted by vacapinta at 8:43 AM PST - 13 comments

People said that women had no place in the Grand Canyon and would likely die trying to run the Colorado river. In 1938, two female scientists set out to prove them wrong. [SL Atavist Long Read]
posted by ellieBOA at 6:46 AM PST - 7 comments

From 1984-2007, George Michael, not that one, or that one, hosted The George Michael Sports Machine (typical opening), a syndicated sports highlight television show that was noted for his enthusiasm and his wide range of sources, from high school sports to pro, from the major sports to dog racing. While many of his individual episodes are on-line, his best sports plays of the year episodes having many jaw-dropping moments. [more inside]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 5:55 AM PST - 16 comments

Yesterday, on a 2,500 comment AMA, Jimmy Wales announced the launch of a new social network concept, independent from Wikipedia or Wikia and an as outgrowth and continuation of the WikiTribune pilot project
posted by growabrain at 4:45 AM PST - 69 comments

Stuart "Ashens" Ashen (extra channel where most of these videos go), that beloved reviewer of gubbinses and tat, has an annual Christmas tradition, starting in 2012, of reviewing the contents of unusual advent calendars one day and door at a time. In 2015, this evolved into Ashens and fellow YouTuber Nerdcubed reviewing multiple calendars each year and comparing their contents. This year, there's an additional twist: each reviews a different calendar, and each day, whoever has the losing door-contents must partake of that day's edible - and spicy - offering from a dreaded forfeit calendar (to say nothing of the final punishment for being the Mega-Loser). Days One, Two and Three are already up. Links to the whole previous shebangs are after the jump. [more inside]
posted by BiggerJ at 12:55 AM PST - 6 comments