December 5, 2016

“No te quiero ilusionar,” she’d say.

Whoever he’d been before, whoever he still was inside, to the world around him, he was now a human riddle, a blank slate on which to write a thousand possible names and stories. He needed a name for the forms and the charts and the billing, and so he was assigned one — a strange name whose origins have been lost in the nearly 17 years since the accident. It might have come from an auto shop to which the truck was taken or near where the accident occurred; some people heard it came from the truck’s route, or it was simply random. However it happened, legally he became Sixty-Six Garage.
posted by Chrysostom at 10:21 PM PST - 4 comments

An apple a day keeps the doctor away, but 4500 apples...

Creating a clone army of apple trees. A tiny non-profit in Molalla, Oregon, is working to save a private collection of 4,500 rare apples.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:11 PM PST - 24 comments

LiartownUSA: When in doubt, go for the dick joke.

Pottery:
Birds with Human Penises Collector Plates, 2016 (Rock Pigeon, Cedar Waxwing)
Books:
Selections from New York Dick Pics and Classic Dick Pics
Dick Sleeves No.17
The Occult Art of Dildomancy by Purina Blackthorne
Unwanted Thoughts (1981)
The What? How? Wonder Book of Dicks of the Great Explorers
[more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 9:17 PM PST - 22 comments

Luis Carlos Montalvan

Capt. Luis Carlos Montalván, an Army veteran and advocate for veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI), died Friday night. After serving in Iraq and suffering a TBI, Montalvan was paired with a service dog, Tuesday. He and Tuesday crossed the country over the past few years, advocating for the use of service dogs for injured vets. Capt. Montalván was 43. [more inside]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 5:36 PM PST - 25 comments

"...and we'll have a burial for him tomorrow.”

William Callagan was captain of the USS Missouri, when she was hit by a kamikaze pilot. The only casualty was the pilot. Callaghan buried the pilot at sea. With dignity.
posted by dfm500 at 5:27 PM PST - 11 comments

Feature design versus trolling

“Harassers are very clever. They take advantage of tools that are very innocuous and use them as vectors for abuse,” Ehmke told me. “If you’re creating products and not thinking about how it could be used for abuse, you are not doing your job.” - How Github is dealing with its troll problem.
posted by Artw at 2:22 PM PST - 53 comments

The Real U.S. Embassy in Accra is White, not Pink

Mobsters ran a fake U.S. Embassy in Ghana for 10 years, flying the flag and issuing visas for $6,000 [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 1:37 PM PST - 8 comments

gtfo

Amazon has opened a corner store where customers can pick up their groceries and just walk out without having to queue up and pay at the checkout. [more inside]
posted by standardasparagus at 1:27 PM PST - 171 comments

I'm sending in more trains!

This morning in Montréal. (SLYT 1:47)
posted by bonehead at 1:19 PM PST - 74 comments

Here comes the Santa Claus (Ladies and gentlemen!)

Hamildolph (An American Christmas Story) An a capella re-singing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in the style of Hamilton, by Eclipse 6. (The antlers are the perfect icing on the cake.)
posted by current resident at 12:51 PM PST - 10 comments

At least 30 dead in Oakland warehouse fire

A warehouse, artists colony and music venue known as the "Oakland Ghost Ship" went up in flames Friday night during a concert promoted by the house music record label 100% Silk, featuring several musicians from its roster. "People who previously lived there recalled a building that lacked fire sprinklers and had a staircase partly made of wooden pallets. Partygoers recalled a rabbit warren of rooms crammed with belongings — pianos, organs, antique furniture, doors and half-finished sculptures" (L.A. Times). A Reddit user who identified himself as a survivor of the fire posted about his escape from the inferno. The whereabouts of Ghost Ship owner Derick Ion Almena, who apparently lived in the building with his wife and children, are unknown.
posted by Clustercuss at 11:41 AM PST - 239 comments

The Persistence of Memory (lots of copies keep stuff safe)

"The history of libraries is one of loss." After receiving a second National Security Letter, the Internet Archive, already concerned by some of Donald Trump's statements on the campaign trail have announced plans to build a copy of the archive in Canada, so that "no one will ever be able to change the past just because there is no digital record of it. The Web needs a memory, the ability to look back." [more inside]
posted by TwoToneRow at 11:39 AM PST - 8 comments

This is the Injustice Boycott.

Today We Launch the Injustice Boycott in Standing Rock, San Francisco, and New York City

Intro: Here is how we will boycott injustice and police brutality in America
posted by andoatnp at 11:18 AM PST - 31 comments

Better far to live and die, under the brave black flag I fly

After placing third in the October election (previously), and following the failure of talks between other parties to form a coalition, the Pirate Party of Iceland has been invited to form government. [more inside]
posted by mrjohnmuller at 11:00 AM PST - 32 comments

Time keeps on slippin', drippin', meltin', into the future

As you look to the end 2016, you might think of New Years Eve celebrations, including the iconic Times Square Ball, "probably the greatest single moment of public timekeeping in the world." Digging in, you'll find that it's really just a glorified time ball, an antiquated tool for sea-farers to set their chronometers and discern their longitude by means of celestial navigation. The first time ball went into use 1829, pretty late in the time-keeping game, so let's re-fill the ol' water clock and take this way back. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 10:57 AM PST - 14 comments

The Great Animal Orchestra

The Great Animal Orchestra, an intense auditory exploration of the natural world. (Headphones recommended)
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 9:42 AM PST - 3 comments

A Critique of the Mindfulness Movement

"Actually, Let's not Be in the Moment" "Mindfulness is . . . a special circle of self-improvement hell, striving not just for a Pinterest-worthy home, but a Pinterest-worthy mind." Ruth Whippman, The New York Times, 11/26/16.
posted by A. Davey at 8:40 AM PST - 151 comments

To say rap is not work is ludicrous, whoever said it must be new to this

Adult Rappers is a documentary that chronicles the lives of 30 rappers stuck in between obscurity and making it, including battle rappers, retired legends, new blood, and many others from the U.S. and Canada who have achieved various levels of success, and explores what it means to chase your dream while simultaneously trying to earn enough just to get by. Trailer (Vimeo). Full documentary (also Vimeo). [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:09 AM PST - 11 comments

Stalking & harassment in the classic arcade gaming community

"I am now his designated excuse for every failure he’s ever had, past or present. I will become his everlasting excuse for the next four years. When he fails to obtain respect from the classic gaming community he desperately seeks adoration from, I am his reason for why that is so. When he fails to convince others to buy into his ludicrous delusions that playing the NES professionally is a skill worthy of being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for, I am the reason why that is not so. And when he fails to make national headlines for taking a world record on an NES game title, like Home Alone, Jaws or Duck Tales, his delusions of grandeur are never to blame. I am." -- When Harassment Becomes a Game
posted by Theta States at 7:58 AM PST - 26 comments

My lumps, my lumps, my Anglo-Saxon lumps

"Scientific analysis reveals origins of odd 'lumps' in Anglo-Saxon grave. How did bitumen from Syria wind up in a buried Anglo-Saxon boat?" [more inside]
posted by Celsius1414 at 7:43 AM PST - 11 comments

No recipes, just looking

Wikipedia's List of Cookies of the world. List of Cakes. List of Candies.
posted by Mchelly at 7:40 AM PST - 19 comments

Clickspring Chris has completed his clock

Clickspring Chris, mentioned several times previously on Metafilter (1 2 3), has posted his last clock build video. The final results are stunning. [more inside]
posted by carter at 5:19 AM PST - 35 comments

I identify with that feeling of wandering the seashore, looking baleful.

Kate Washington at LA Review of Books discusses her feelings as a caregiver prompted by Anne’s House of Dreams, the fifth book of L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables series.
posted by ellieBOA at 4:11 AM PST - 17 comments

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