September 15, 2016

Both sides do it!

To anyone who has avoided the debate over “false balance,” apologies for disturbing your bliss. But it’s necessary, because those who haven’t heard this phrase are missing out on one of the more consequential debates to engage the media in years. [more inside]
posted by triggerfinger at 6:49 PM PST - 136 comments

To acknowledge the meaning of justice is always to be judged

What ‘SJW’ really means - Fred Clark This “SJW” business doesn’t involve an argument contrasting opposing views of the nature and meaning of social justice. It doesn’t involve some ideological dispute between competing visions of the proper role of the state, or of law, or markets, civil society, neighborliness, etc. It’s a wholesale rejection of the idea that social justice — in any form — is worthwhile. [more inside]
posted by CrystalDave at 6:46 PM PST - 88 comments

The Battle of Palmdale

The day the Red Menace came to Los Angeles
posted by pjern at 5:12 PM PST - 9 comments

“There were classic signs that should have been detected...”

Drama at an Elite High School by Suzy Khimm [New York Magazine] A beloved theater teacher, sexual-assault allegations, and the scandal that has rattled Chappaqua. A longtime Chappaqua theater teacher is accused of abusing students for years, until one told the police.
posted by Fizz at 4:56 PM PST - 36 comments

MMO Snake + Qix

splix is a game where you capture territory and avoid being touched by other players.
posted by Going To Maine at 4:15 PM PST - 42 comments

Moving The Window of Acceptability

How Morality Changes in a Foreign Language. Studies show that the way we think about moral questions is subtly influenced by the language we're using at the time. People using a non-native language tend to be more cerebral and less emotional. What does this say about the concept of the moral center, or "just knowing" what's right and what's wrong?
posted by Kevin Street at 4:02 PM PST - 12 comments

I love my dog.

He's my dog. If you don't love my dog, that's okay. I don't want you to. He's my dog. [more inside]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 2:32 PM PST - 40 comments

Typecast as Terrorist

To begin with, auditions taught me to get through airports. In the end, it was the other way around. [more inside]
posted by juv3nal at 2:11 PM PST - 16 comments

Jay Z: The War on Drugs Is an Epic Fail

"Why are white men poised to get rich doing the same thing African-Americans have been going to prison for?" An essay by Shawn Carter, AKA Jay Z, on racism and the War on Drugs. Illustrated by Molly Crabapple. [more inside]
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:53 PM PST - 28 comments

Attacks continued to become more frequent, persistent, and complex

Who is trying to see what it would take to shatter the internet's backbone? "Someone is extensively testing the core defensive capabilities of the companies that provide critical Internet services... [T]his is happening. And people should know. " (SLSchneier)
Previously.
Other Schneier on the blue in the past.
posted by doctornemo at 1:17 PM PST - 68 comments

Skating, surfing, shredding Sky Brown, youngest pro skater

8 year old Sky and her 4 year old brother Ocean skate, surf, slide and shred, as seen on Instagram and YouTube. Even more impressive, Sky is the youngest girl on the Vans US Open Pro Series. One word to she uses to describe herself: funny. Grind TV has links to other young lady boarders who are under 10 year old.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:20 PM PST - 23 comments

Xhurches

Churches, repurposed. [more inside]
posted by terooot at 11:34 AM PST - 53 comments

like Bruce Springsteen wearing a cape and plastic vampire teeth

The 13th Meat Loaf studio album comes out this weekend. The good news is that all the songs are by Jim Steinman, who wrote pretty much all of Meat Loaf's songs anyone likes, so Braver Than We Are sounds like it'll be exactly the kind of bombastic operatic rock that Meat Loaf and Steinman have struck gold with in the past, with the singer saying that he wanted to make it one super-long performance, but "iTunes wanted tracks." [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 10:57 AM PST - 56 comments

"using a rubric that views a whole population itself as problematic"

A CityLab analysis finds that some charter schools disproportionately suspend and expel students, especially in black neighborhoods.
posted by selfnoise at 10:32 AM PST - 24 comments

The Deadliness of an Atomized, Fragmented Society

In his new book, Tribe, uses PTSD rates among American veterans to illustrate how psychologically unhealthy modern American society is due to how distant it is from our evolutionary past: "In Canada and Britain, close to 10 percent of combat soldiers are diagnosed with PTSD. In Israel, a country in which military service is mandatory, the rates are roughly 1 percent. Among American troops, the rates are as high as 25 percent. This is especially remarkable in light of the fact that only 10 percent experience combat... On Junger’s view, life in America is hollow and atomized. Humans, he argues, evolved to live in small groups in which inter-reliance and cooperation were essential. In combat, soldiers function much like our tribal predecessors. They live, eat, sleep, and fight together. When they come home, that sense of solidarity disappears. The civilian world feels alien. It’s 'anti-human,' Junger told me."
posted by bookman117 at 9:39 AM PST - 34 comments

Living in the future of the past

There are about 60 remaining Futuro ("Flying Saucer") houses left in the world. Sometimes helicoptered into place, and with a groovy interior, these 1960s prefab homes were originally built for skiing (apparently you can still rent one in the Russian Caucus) and vacations. Now, some are abandoned, though one was recently restored and put on display.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:19 AM PST - 21 comments

I prefer the ketchup-flavoured Doritos myself

What Canadians understand about ketchup chips that Americans don’t (slAVClub) [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 9:07 AM PST - 187 comments

You don't punch a gift horse in the mouth

The University of New Hampshire has sparked criticism with the announcement of plans to spend $1 million from a $4 million bequest from an alumnus and long-time library employee on a scoreboard for the new football stadium that the school has already spent $25 million to construct.. [more inside]
posted by layceepee at 8:00 AM PST - 74 comments

First, be smart from the very beginning

The most helpful career advice article ever posted on LinkedIn: "So you think you can fake your own death?" by Elizabeth Greenwood, author of the new book Playing Dead.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:37 AM PST - 36 comments

Quiet Pine Trees Microfiction

Quiet Pine Trees is a twitter based stream of haunting and provocative micro-fiction by T.R. Darling. "Being brief isn’t enough. You can boil down a story to a sentence or two, but often you need context. If you need to convey a setting, like a fascist dystopia, or characterization, like a reluctant soldier, suddenly one or two sentences won’t fit. I often must resist the temptation to omit punctuation or fall back on abbreviation, like some kind of barbarian." Full Interview. [more inside]
posted by srboisvert at 6:19 AM PST - 6 comments

At whatever the cost

"It's impossible, says the Pride / It's risky, says the Experience / It's useless, says the Reason / Let's try, whispers the Heart." The short film, "L'heure du thé" (Tea Time), by Guillaume Blanchet. previously.
posted by cwest at 5:59 AM PST - 3 comments

Baptism of fire, fear and blood

"Rushed into battle by desperate generals with barely any testing, its debut was a messy experiment with questionable results. A select group of young men were the first to feel its terrible influence and have their lives changed by it." The Tank (Specifically, the British Mark I) made its battlefield debut 100 years ago this month.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 4:58 AM PST - 12 comments

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