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Amanda Mull's Atlantic article traces the rise of an American class identity system by another name. The message that money can buy you status, which can all too easily be conflated with superiority or success, has long been reinforced in the U.S. when businesses and organizations offer exclusive access for a fee, special seating in a different class for a higher rate and gifts in exchange for higher value "membership." Customer service, client relationships, member experiences and the emphasis on consumers by both business and government alike gets increasingly ugly, however, in a pandemic-ravaged economy where nearly 80% of us work in the service sector, and rather than recognize that service workers are probably more like us than not — we throw a fit. [more inside]
posted by Violet Blue at 7:18 PM PST - 103 comments

A handy guide to the rocks and minerals of Minecraft. (SL labor of love from Jolyon Ralph of Mindat.org, "the world's largest open database of minerals, rocks, meteorites and the localities they come from.")
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:46 PM PST - 11 comments

Disney alum (slwiki) Olivia Holt has been hanging around the pop and dance charts, amassing a small collection (slyt) of decent-enough, non-cringe pop that sometimes gets you movin'. Her latest - Next - comes with a clip filmed (by Alex Nazari) around a mansion - and it's a delight! [more inside]
posted by kfholy at 12:59 PM PST - 2 comments

Paralympic Skateboarding seems to defy physics.
posted by jumanjinight at 3:57 AM PST - 7 comments

This week, Apple announced and then explained (pdf) the measures they're taking to protect children (so: trigger warning) from grooming and to stop abusers from storing images of child sexual abuse in iCloud Photo Storage. Daring Fireball's Jon Gruber seems to have a balanced unpacking of the situation. The change is coming to iOS 15, with opt-in parental controls on messaging within family accounts and for uploads to iCloud Photo Storage. It is restricted to the USA for now -- among the questions raised are whether another state could insist that other material to be flagged for "Thinks Different" content. [more inside]
posted by k3ninho at 3:28 AM PST - 95 comments

The woman who rifles through New York’s garbage – exposing the city’s excesses (The Guardian) – Anna Sacks documents her ‘trash walks’ on social media, shining a light on the everyday shame and indignity of producing and living with so much waste
posted by bitteschoen at 3:27 AM PST - 43 comments

Over 100 episodes broadcast between 2006 and 2009, Bob Dylan hosted "Theme Time Radio Hour". After a hiatus of 12 years ("I mean, does anybody even still have a radio? Some folks might even be listening on a smart toaster."), a new episode emerged in 2020: Whiskey (playlist). [more inside]
posted by rongorongo at 1:30 AM PST - 13 comments