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I’ve known since I was 11 who these people, this Eyebrows McGee and this languagehat, are. After graduating from college, I still thought of Metafilter as a rarified club of experts that I’d somehow snuck into. I also thought of Metafilter as a perfect window onto the world. I was sure I could better understand different life experiences because I read strangers’ thoughts, freed by anonymity to be honest. I knew I lived in a tiny bubble, and Metafilter seemed my best defense against that insularity.
comment posted at 12:22 PM on Oct-24-23

Sidney Powell Pleads Guilty in Georgia Trump Case (NYT gift, WaPo gift, The Atlantic gift, AP, Reuters)
comment posted at 4:16 AM on Oct-20-23

“What they’re trying to do offends me at the root of who I am and what I’m about.” - LeVar Burton Wants You to Read Banned Books
comment posted at 4:00 AM on Oct-14-23

Rising mortgage rates have made it even more unaffordable for many people to buy homes.
comment posted at 3:53 AM on Oct-14-23

“We went from two women senators when I ran for office in 1992 to 24 today – and I know that number will keep climbing.” Dianne Feinstein, whose three decades in the Senate made her the longest-serving female US senator in history, has died. [CNN]
comment posted at 4:55 AM on Sep-30-23

A farmer set a trap to catch whatever was killing his chooks. He caught a tiger quoll (marsupial carnivore that reaches up to 3.5 kilograms/7.7 pounds) that had been thought to be extinct in South Australia for 130 years. When farmer Pao Ling Tsai set a trap to catch the predator that had been killing his chooks, he expected to catch a feral cat or fox. Instead, he caught a species that was thought extinct in South Australia more than 130 years ago. The quoll has now been vet checked, had DNA samples taken, treated for mange, and will be released into the wild.
comment posted at 3:11 AM on Sep-29-23

Again and again, we search for the moderate streak in the extremist, tell ourselves we can find common ground with people who are explicit in their desire to do us harm.
comment posted at 3:06 PM on Sep-28-23

A private US citizen was responsible for rescuing thousands of women from the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan.
comment posted at 3:16 AM on Sep-26-23

'Poetic Justice' at 30: Reflecting on the Film and its Impact on the Black Community [ONE37] “On July 23, 1993 music icons Tupac and Janet Jackson came out with a movie that will forever remain a cult classic—Poetic Justice. It's hard to believe that so much time has passed since its original release as Poetic Justice has seemed to be the gift that keeps on giving in the Black community. For us millennials, the film is one of those "right-of-passage" must-see ones that was shown to you by your parents when you were a kid/teenager, and in turn, you are supposed to pass it down to your children and younger siblings/relatives. And don't get us started on Halloween—you can't go a Halloween season without seeing loads of girls dressed as Poetic Justice Janet (and their S/Os as Tupac when they want to team up), and "Janet Jackson braids" are very much a real thing and a real requested hair style. With it being the films 30th anniversary, we figured it would be a good time to take a look back at the impact the movie had at the time of its release, and the impact it continues to have today.” [Poetic Justice (1993) | Film Trailer]
comment posted at 11:39 AM on Sep-23-23

Tim Scott's Girlfriend (slWaPo)
comment posted at 4:22 AM on Sep-13-23

Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That?
comment posted at 4:53 AM on Sep-12-23

Coercion versus care. The problems that always develop when an organization deliberately deprives their employees of the ability to make things right in favour of funding the ways to enforce compliance with the policies as written, or as predatorily enforced.
comment posted at 4:55 AM on Sep-7-23

A semester inside the siege: New College professor defends her progressive haven from DeSantis’ conservative coup. “If I just walk away,” she thought, “who will stand up for this place? ... I want to try to preserve the things that make New College unique and wonderful." Amy Reid, a professor of French language and the director of the gender studies program, has worked at New College of Florida her whole career — nearly half her life.
comment posted at 2:13 PM on Aug-22-23

"Saudi border guards have killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum seekers who tried to cross the Yemen-Saudi border between March 2022 and June 2023. Human Rights Watch research indicates that, at time of writing, the killings are continuing. Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons and shot people at close range, including women and children, in a pattern that is widespread and systematic." Saudi Arabian Mass Killings of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen-Saudi Border (HRW report) (One of the many consequences of the Tigray War where it's "estimated 162,000–⁠600,000 people were killed" between 2020 and 2022)
comment posted at 3:51 PM on Aug-23-23

In a nearby town square, a skinny child in a Steph Curry T-shirt climbs a tree. A few blocks away, a three-wheeled mototaxi whizzes by, a San Francisco Giants sticker affixed to its bumper ... More extravagant emblems of San Francisco appear unexpectedly and often, alongside crumbling adobe huts, stray roosters and heaps of singed garbage. Handsome new homes, some mansions by local standards, some mansions by any standard, rise behind customized iron gates emblazoned with San Francisco 49ers or Golden State Warriors logos. from This is the Hometown of San Francisco’s Drug Dealers [SF Chronicle]
comment posted at 5:01 AM on Aug-16-23

Territorial hawks in a South Austin neighborhood are attacking residents and mail carriers Eric Klein has positioned himself as a vigilante of sorts in his Austin, Texas neighborhood. He caught an attack on camera, and he’s actively plotting methods to keep himself and his neighbors safe. But Klein isn’t fighting a person. His ire is drawn by a group of swift, winged perpetrators who have made their homes in the trees high above his. Klein said he’s heard of at least six people who were attacked. He and his neighbors have taken to using umbrellas and colorful streamers to deter the birds. Del Barrio said he believes the hawks don’t attack people walking in groups or with dogs.
comment posted at 11:38 AM on Jul-18-23

Mark Zuckerberg is ready to fight Elon Musk in a cage match [The Verge] Here we go. After Elon Musk recently tweeted that he would be “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO shot back by posting a screenshot of Musk’s tweet with the caption “send me location.” I’ve confirmed that Zuckerberg’s post on his Instagram account is, in fact, not a joke, which means the ball is now in Musk’s court. “The story speaks for itself,” Meta spokesperson Iska Saric told me. After this story was published, Musk responded with two words: “Vegas Octagon.”
comment posted at 5:15 AM on Jun-24-23

Cormac McCarthy, a critically acclaimed author with a singular voice, has died. McCarthy was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for The Road.
comment posted at 6:25 AM on Jun-15-23

Silvio Berlusconi è morto, aveva 86 anni: domani la camera ardente a Mediaset [Corriere della Sera]
comment posted at 6:30 AM on Jun-15-23

If you’re not using ChatGPT for your writing, you’re probably making a mistake. About 10 minutes into my interview with Ethan Mollick, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school who has become a prominent evangelist for AI tools, it became clear that he was going to use Bing to interview me. He started by asking the Microsoft search engine, newly infused with a generative AI model from OpenAI, “Can you look at the work of Dylan Matthews of Vox and tell me some common themes, as well as any strengths or weaknesses.” In a couple seconds, Bing had an answer: “Dylan Matthews is one of the senior correspondents at Vox. He covers topics such as effective altruism, philanthropy, global health, and social justice.” (So far, so good.)
comment posted at 4:00 AM on May-25-23

Technologists warn about the dangers of the so-called singularity. But can anything actually be done to prevent it? [New Yorker]
comment posted at 5:31 AM on May-18-23

If there is one thing that I want you to take away from this article, it’s that venture capital firms and other heavily invested players in the crypto space should not be trusted to give us the facts on the industry they desperately need to promote. They will produce superficially objective-looking reports full of numbers and charts, but a critical reading shows just how blatantly they are manipulating numbers to arrive at the conclusions that fit their narratives. from Andreessen Horowitz's State of Crypto report: Narrative over numbers by Molly White
comment posted at 5:02 AM on May-10-23

Pod Save The UK is an American-style political chat and humor show that just launched. Hosted by comedian Nish Kumar and journalist Coco Khan, their premiere episode Is the UK Ready to Ditch the Monarchy? [1h2m] brings in Amelia Hadfield from Surry University and Labour MP Clive Lewis to discuss the role of the monarchy in the UK in the 21st Century and how, if at all possible, they might get rid of the crown.
comment posted at 5:06 PM on May-8-23

The real reason for the Supreme Court's corruption crisis - "Roberts's 2011 report and the Court's more recent statement on ethics portray the Supreme Court as a unique institution that cannot be constrained by the same ethical rules that apply to less powerful judges, especially when it comes to recusals." (previously)
comment posted at 4:11 AM on May-6-23

Belgium crushes 2,000 cans of Miller High Life over ‘champagne of beers’ slogan
comment posted at 6:01 AM on Apr-23-23

A ProPublica news piece has just dropped examining the relationship between Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Texas Real Estate Developer Harlan Crow, and the frequent travel-related gifts Crow has showered on Thomas for 20 years - all of which Thomas has failed to disclose.
comment posted at 4:34 AM on Apr-6-23

The Texas Observer, a liberal newsmagazine in a state that has grown increasingly hostile to its point of view since its founding in 1954, is closing. The news apparently came as a surprise to Observer staff, but the well-researched story in the Texas Tribune about the closure, like an obituary written before a person's death, suggests that perhaps it shouldn't have.
comment posted at 5:24 AM on Mar-28-23

Abortion pill mifepristone ruling in Texas case could hinge on 1873 Comstock Act - "A federal judge in Texas may try to invoke an obscure 19th-century law called the Comstock Act to roll back mail delivery of the abortion pill mifepristone." (previously)
comment posted at 4:01 AM on Mar-22-23

IPCC 2023: All global modelled pathways that limit warming to 1.5°C (>50%) with no or limited overshoot, and those that limit warming to 2°C (>67%), involve rapid and deep and, in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors this decade. If you were born after the 80s, you will experience 1.5°C temperatures.
The Guardian: Scientists deliver ‘final warning’ on climate crisis: act now or it’s too late
The New York Times: Climate Change Is Speeding Toward Catastrophe. The Next Decade Is Crucial, U.N. Panel Says. Wired: Warnings About Humanity’s Future Don’t Get More Dire Than This
comment posted at 4:19 AM on Mar-22-23

Moooove over: How single-celled yeasts are doing the work of 1,500-pound cows "Dozens of companies have sprouted up in recent months to develop milk proteins made by yeasts or fungi. ... The companies’ products are already on store shelves in the form of yogurt, cheese and ice cream, often labeled 'animal-free.' The burgeoning industry, which calls itself 'precision fermentation,' has its own trade organization, and big-name food manufacturers such as Nestlé, Starbucks and General Mills have already signed on as customers."
comment posted at 12:31 PM on Mar-13-23

In 2016 Anthony Novak decided to create a Parma, Ohio Police Department parody page on Facebook. They tracked him down and jailed him for four days. The alleged crime was the "use of a computer to disrupt, interrupt, or impair police services.” He was acquitted at trial. Novak sued, and the district court eventually granted the officers qualified immunity. The Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal.
comment posted at 3:39 AM on Feb-23-23

Why does the South have such ugly credit scores? You may already know that airlines are really credit-card rewards companies with a side gig of flying planes. Economists S. Agarwal, A. Presbitero, A. Silva and C. Wix used credit card rewards programs to look more closely at the monetary redistribution that results from credit card rewards use: they showed that poorer users pay for those programs, while wealthier users benefit. Agarwal et al. also noted a geographical distribution of credit that roughly follows the Mason-Dixon line. Andrew Van Dam of the WaPo's Department of Data then took a deeper dive into credit, debt, and health.
comment posted at 4:27 AM on Feb-22-23

A plain-language primer on US health insurance billing terminology like "copay," "deductible," and "premium," and on coordinating benefits between multiple insurance policies. If your insurer has denied coverage for a test or treatment, a possible way to shame them into reversing their decision. And a public service announcement for US Medicaid members: "For the last three years – since the start of the pandemic – the federal government had the states stop checking the financial eligibility of Medicaid enrollees. They're going to resume doing that in April. This means, if you (or your kids) are on Medicaid, at some point in April or as soon as your state gets around to you, you're going to be required to do a bunch of paperwork to keep your Medicaid."
comment posted at 4:33 AM on Feb-22-23

After seven years, Joel Golby's VICE column London Rental Opportunity of the Week reaches an end; half polemic, half retrospective: 'Landlords Are a Scum Class': Everything I've Learnt About London Renting
comment posted at 4:42 AM on Feb-18-23

The Rezvani Vengeance is a quarter-million dollar SUV designed exclusively for idiots [Kotaku.com] “You know where you’re going wrong? After a long day indiscriminately firing your Beretta 1301 in the desert, you’re home chugging back your InfoWars Ultimate Bone Broth Plus, when you discover you’re all out of SSI Sight-Rite chamber cartridge laser bore sights. So you jump into your SUV to head to the nearest Dick’s Sporting Goods, right? Only, in that SUV? Is it bulletproof? Does it fire pepper spray out the wing mirrors? Does it even come with gas masks? No I don’t think it does. Which is why you want to get yourself a Rezvani Vengeance, designed by video game vehicle artist, Milen Ivanov. [...] This laughably silly vehicle, yours starting at $285,000, is made to order, and thanks to bizarre TikTok influencer videos, a demonstrably extant creation. Based on the Cadillac Escalade, your standard model comes with all the features you’d expect in your bog-standard quarter-million dollar car.”
comment posted at 2:23 PM on Jan-27-23

The little-known student loan middlemen who are threatening debt forgiveness (MarketWatch) For decades, lawmakers shaped policy to benefit entities that earned money from the federal student-loan system, sometimes to the detriment of borrowers. Now, they are at the center of legal efforts to stop Biden’s cancellation plans (currently on hold).
comment posted at 5:56 AM on Dec-6-22

It's official: The world's biggest 4-day workweek trial proves there's no reason to work five days a week [ungated] - "The pandemic has proven that our modern notions of how the office and our week should look are not as set in stone as we might think, exposing our ideas of what is needed to ensure productivity. Now that we've discovered that work can be done from home just as effectively, the next step is questioning how many working days are actually needed."[1,2]
comment posted at 4:09 AM on Dec-2-22

The Long and Winding Road to Eukaryotic Cells - "Despite recent advances in the study of eukaryogenesis, much remains unresolved about the origin and evolution of the most complex domain of life." (via)
comment posted at 5:58 AM on Nov-12-22

What we have here is what we call a non-repeating phantasm, or a class-5 free roaming thread, real nasty one too.
comment posted at 4:44 AM on Oct-31-22

After the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago on August 8th (previously), the DOJ released the search warrant and property receipt on August 12th, and a redacted search warrant affidavit on August 26th. On August 26th, the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines sent a letter to the House Intelligence and House Oversight committee chairs, saying the intelligence community and the DOJ are conducting a damage assessment of the recovered documents. An August 29th court filing by the DOJ said that a review of seized materials had already been completed. On August 30th, the DOJ filed a 36-page rebuttal to Trump's August 22nd motion requesting a special master, along with a detailed timeline of events leading up to the search. On September 1st, Judge Aileen Cannon said she would release her decision regarding appointing a special master "in due course", and ordered the DOJ to release the detailed property list, which the DOJ did on September 2nd.
comment posted at 9:44 AM on Sep-4-22

"You're expected to work 10 hours a day, seven days a week, all for a whopping 20 cents an hour. On top of this, there's an hourly quota of license plate tags that you're expected to reach. If you can do this adequately enough on a consistent basis, then you'll be eligible for a raise every six months. The raise is (drumroll, please) … a nickel. You can get a nickel raise every six months up until you reach the maximum threshold of 55 cents per hour. " The Marshall Project asked prisoners to track their earning and spending — and bartering and side hustles — for 30 days.
comment posted at 3:40 AM on Aug-6-22

Even tyrants would be foolish to pass down an iron law when a low-key change of norms would lead to the same results. And there is no question that changes of norms in Western countries since the beginning of the pandemic have given rise to a form of life plainly convergent with the Chinese model. Again, it might take more time to get there, and when we arrive, we might find that a subset of people are still enjoying themselves in a way they take to be an expression of freedom. But all this is spin, and what is occurring in both cases, the liberal-democratic and the overtly authoritarian alike, is the same: a transition to digitally and algorithmically calculated social credit, and the demise of most forms of community life outside the lens of the state and its corporate subcontractors. from Permanent Pandemic by Justin E.H. Smith [Harpers; Archive]
comment posted at 4:57 AM on May-31-22

(CW - rats) Dickens picked up on the qualities of HEROrats a while back, it seems. Magawa was a very fine fellow and even won a gold medal for being a fine stealthy and secret public servant. More about the organisation who trained Magawa. More about Magawa's folks.
comment posted at 12:31 PM on Jan-12-22

World's first living robots can now reproduce, scientists say. Bongard said they found that the xenobots, which were initially sphere-shaped and made from around 3,000 cells, could replicate. But it happened rarely and only in specific circumstances. The xenobots used "kinetic replication" -- a process that is known to occur at the molecular level but has never been observed before at the scale of whole cells or organisms.
comment posted at 4:18 PM on Nov-29-21

New York Times: Youngkin Wins Virginia Governor’s Race, Dealing Blow to Democrats on Telling Election Day. Politico: The Surprising Strategy Behind Youngkin’s Stunner - an interview with two of Youngkin's strategists.
comment posted at 3:47 PM on Nov-7-21

In a pop world ruled by Harry Styles, some hard rockers are going Trumpy. Politico spends a medium-length read examining the evolution of the image of men in the music world and what it might imply for politics. It's an interesting prism through which to view the present moment, certainly.
comment posted at 5:00 PM on Oct-31-21

The Story of Native American Metal Band Winterhawk. “The way we would get in the door at these boarding schools—and it would take some time for the faculty to grasp the idea—was [that] we used the tool of music, mainly heavy metal, because at the time, that was the music of choice,” Kolb continues. “Through that key, we opened the door to access the children to get them to open up to us. And [Nik] would tell me, ‘You’ve gotta be good at your stuff. You’ve gotta practice, because when we go there, they’re going to be amazed at the way you drum and the way I play guitar. That’s what’s gonna take down the walls, and they’re gonna wanna talk to us, and that’s when we’ll get to hear their problems, because no one else is listening to them.’”
comment posted at 2:21 PM on Oct-25-21

Are you lost in the world like me? CW: Images of Suicide
comment posted at 4:35 AM on Oct-19-21

And here is Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew
comment posted at 6:24 PM on Feb-15-21

Landmine detection rat Magawa receives the PDSA Gold Medal for his life-saving work in Cambodia as a HeroRat. Magawa is the first non-dog to receive this award.
comment posted at 4:53 PM on Sep-28-20