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Needybot roams the corridors of Wieden+Kennedy, forever seeking help, forever getting stuck, forever searching for a friend.
posted by gottabefunky at 10:34 PM PST - 50 comments

Summary of six NACTO policy recommendations for self-driving cars. (pdf)
posted by aniola at 9:47 PM PST - 107 comments

RIP Bud Spencer (born Carlo Pedersoli, 31 October 1929 – 27 June 2016). Italian actor, swimmer, and politician, he rose to international fame playing Trinity's portly half-brother in 1970s spaghetti westerns "They Call me Trinity" and "Trinity is Still my Name", setting off a multi-decade film career with his frequent co-conspirator, Terence Hill.
posted by slater at 8:25 PM PST - 20 comments

The Westminster Detective Library plans to "to catalog and make available online all the short fiction dealing with detectives and detection published in the United States before Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 'A Scandal in Bohemia' (1891)." (This includes fiction originally published in the UK and Europe but reprinted in the USA.) Title, author, date, and full-text searches are all available. At present, the earliest tale available is from 1824. [more inside]
posted by thomas j wise at 7:51 PM PST - 8 comments

What do you get when you set a pile of offal and other assorted body parts in a private game reserve in South Africa? An exclusive dining area for the region's vultures (one photo depicts the menu). Keith L. Bildstein, Ph.D., the Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, blogs about his adventures at The Vulture Chronicles. [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:46 PM PST - 6 comments

Auctioneer Beats smoothly slides beats under auctioneers, cuts nice loops, and puts them on Vine so you can be mesmerized.
posted by ignignokt at 5:25 PM PST - 25 comments

"Jack assures me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency should he be confirmed as secretary of the Treasury" How Treasury Secretary Jack Lew changed his signature from something cuddly that looked like "Oooooooo" to something that looks like "Paul J Fes." Geithner also had to undergo some signature modification, back in the day. Other US money signatures, for comparison.
posted by jessamyn at 3:11 PM PST - 34 comments

The Minnesota State Fair has announced the new foods available for 2016. (Prev.)
posted by griphus at 1:27 PM PST - 196 comments

This Twinkie is 40 years old. What it says on the tin, or in this case the glass box.
posted by Melismata at 12:16 PM PST - 28 comments

The Reluctant Memoirist: Suki Kim, the journalist who spent 6 months undercover in North Korea and wrote Without You, There is No Us talks about the implications of marketing her book as a memoir: I immediately emailed my editor. “I really do not feel comfortable with my book being called a memoir,” I told her. “I think calling it a memoir trivializes my reporting.” Memoir, after all, suggests memories—the unresolved issues of the past, examined through the author’s own experiences. My work, though literary and at times personal, was a narrative account of investigative reporting. I wasn’t simply trying to convey how I saw the world; I was reporting how it was seen and lived by others.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:05 PM PST - 15 comments

The first-ever YIMBY conference took place in Boulder, CO, and drew many attendees who are dedicated to building better cities and more housing (both market-rate and affordable). Those who support the YIMBY movement believe that Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) influence pushes housing costs higher and creates more displacement in cities. While the housing shortage is well-documented in places like San Francisco and Seattle, many other cities around the globe are feeling upward pressure on housing costs as more residents move from suburban areas to cities. [more inside]
posted by antonymous at 11:58 AM PST - 37 comments

Stoya on James Deen and Fixing the Porn Industry. "She was one-half of porn’s power couple before she accused her ex-boyfriend James Deen of rape. Now she’s trying to fix the industry from the inside."
posted by chunking express at 11:35 AM PST - 17 comments

Last week, Lael Wilcox demolished the field at the Trans Am Bike Race, a 4400-mile unsupported trek from Oregon to Virginia ("unsupported" means she had to carry all of her own supplies). Wilcox shattered the old women's record by three days and became the first woman and first American to win the race. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 11:32 AM PST - 35 comments

Brexit: why Britain left the EU, explained with a simple cartoon [Vox] // UK appeals for calm as markets drop, EU leaders huddle [AP] // David Cameron resigns after UK votes to leave European Union [Guardian], Brexit: David Cameron rules out second EU referendum [Independent] // Brexit: Six key questions after Britain's vote to exit the EU [BBC] // Brexit loophole? MPs must still vote in order for Britain to leave the EU, top lawyers say [Independent] // Brexit: Germany rules out informal negotiations [BBC] [more inside]
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:13 AM PST - 2131 comments

Supreme Court Strikes Down Texas Abortion Restrictions. In a 5-3 decision the Supreme Court has held that the two restrictions placed on abortion clinics, namely the requirement that all clinics in the state to meet the standards for ambulatory surgical centers, including regulations concerning buildings, equipment and, staffing and also requiring doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital "places a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, each constitutes an undue burden on abortion access, and each violates the Federal Constitution". The decision was authored by Breyer and was joined by Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor Elena Kagan. Roberts, Thomas, and Alito dissented. [more inside]
posted by Talez at 7:57 AM PST - 179 comments

It is a big part of moral behavior in ordinary situations not to kill people. Yet the morally healthy inhibition against killing people has to be lost, of necessity, in war—even in a morally justified war. It is a big part of politeness—not in the sense of using the right fork, but in the sense of civility—in ordinary situations not to tell another person that she is wrong and misguided about something she cares a lot about, or that she cares about being right about. For brevity’s sake, let’s just say it’s a big part of politeness or civility not to correct people. Yet the civilized inhibition against correcting people has to be lost, of necessity, in a philosophical argument.

Is Polite Philosophical Discussion Possible?
posted by y2karl at 7:53 AM PST - 55 comments

Jesse Williams (Grey's Anatomy) made a powerful acceptance speech at the BET awards, supporting Black Lives Matter and denouncing racism, inaction, and pushback. Full text here for US readers.
posted by ellieBOA at 7:33 AM PST - 30 comments

Caltech glassblower's retirement has scientists sighing (LATimes) “He’s a somewhat dying breed,” said Sarah Reisman, who relied on Gerhart to create 20 maze-like contraptions for her synthetic organic chemistry lab. “There just aren't as many scientific glassblowers anymore, and certainly not ones that have Rick’s level of experience. Even a fraction of that experience, I think, just isn't out there.”
posted by CrystalDave at 2:28 AM PST - 71 comments