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Why watch heads never set the time on their watches.
comment posted at 7:33 AM on Jan-13-24
comment posted at 7:53 AM on Jan-13-24
comment posted at 1:33 AM on Jan-14-24

Comics I Loved In 2023 by Ritesh Babu
comment posted at 9:12 AM on Jan-11-24
comment posted at 3:02 AM on Jan-18-24

No lie. This Guardian story has a link to his footage.
comment posted at 3:43 AM on Jan-8-24

The Internet Is About to Get Weird Again // Anil Dash on how the new year offers many of the promises of an online moment we haven’t seen in a quarter-century [archive]
comment posted at 5:42 AM on Dec-31-23

It is a species so endangered that just five years ago only 20 birds returned from the species' annual migration. But 81 orange-bellied parrots have returned to Melaleuca in Tasmania's remote south-west from the mainland to breed, the largest number seen in 15 years. The orange-bellied parrot is one of the most endangered birds in the world, and the program saving it from extinction is starting to focus on the next phase of the birds' survival plan.
comment posted at 3:26 AM on Dec-24-23

After the Atlantic's expose Substack has a Nazi Problem, several hundred authors signed an open letter Substackers against Nazis (previously). In response, co-founder Hamish McKenzie says that Substack is ok with hosting supremacist content (as well as transphobic and anti-vax authors) and that they will continue to profit from it.
comment posted at 3:32 AM on Dec-23-23
comment posted at 4:48 AM on Dec-23-23

"The only artist in the world to embed gold leaves in glass, Kirikane." Yamamoto Akane: 'Making Beauty'. (slyt) [via The British museum]
comment posted at 2:11 AM on Dec-23-23
comment posted at 2:18 AM on Dec-26-23

Announced today, the American company founded in 1901 by some of the original American oligarchs -- Charles Schwab, Andrew Carnegie, and J. P. Morgan among them -- intends to sell itself to the Japanese company for $14.9 billion including the assumption of debt.
comment posted at 8:55 AM on Dec-18-23

While we shove tartes of flesh into our mouths and read seasonal food reviews, we note that a week today 'twil be the birthdays of Humphrey Bogart (1899), Annie Lennox (1954) and Chef (1984). While invaluable goods continue to disappear, a new etiquette divider is those who ladle their gravy verses those who pour it from the boat, and the best peanut spread is Pindakaas, the question remains: what are you buying or making or planning to eat? Or ... just write about anything, because this is your Free Thread.
comment posted at 5:21 AM on Dec-18-23
comment posted at 12:54 AM on Dec-19-23

Honest Government Ad: Visit the UK! (2024 election). (Political satire.)
comment posted at 6:49 AM on Dec-18-23
comment posted at 7:28 AM on Dec-18-23
comment posted at 7:36 AM on Dec-18-23
comment posted at 8:04 AM on Dec-18-23

Today, December 14, 2023, a group of Substack publishers (also known as creators or writers) sent an open letter to the founders of Substack by publishing it in their individual newsletters. After salutations, the letter begins, "According to a piece written by Substack publisher Jonathan M. Katz and published by The Atlantic on November 28, this platform has a Nazi problem. ... We, your publishers, want to hear from you on the official Substack newsletter. Is platforming Nazis part of your vision of success? Let us know—from there we can each decide if this is still where we want to be. Signed, Substackers Against Nazis."
comment posted at 5:51 AM on Dec-25-23

Justice by Means of Democracy [archive|transcript] - "[T]he work of democracy is to continuously resist capture. There is no end of history. There is no state of rest for democracy. Democracy is the work of resisting capture by powerful interests and restoring power-sharing just over and over and over again. So we have to do work to introduce new governance mechanisms in the place of those that are not working."[1,2; link-heavy post!]
comment posted at 1:11 AM on Dec-12-23

Army employee indicted for stealing $100 million from military youth program.
comment posted at 3:45 AM on Dec-8-23

Twenty-one critically endangered red handfish hatched in successful Tasmanian conservation breeding program. A lot is riding on this group of tiny baby fish — so much so, they'll be put through school to get them street smart before release into the wild in Tasmania.
comment posted at 3:51 AM on Dec-8-23
comment posted at 6:18 PM on Dec-8-23

One of the important voices of modern Britain, Benjamin Zephaniah was not much like other poets teenagers get introduced to.
comment posted at 11:06 AM on Dec-7-23

Following on the recent Rolling Stone best albums of 2023 posting and with a few media outlets yet to weigh in, a few more best-of lists from the media jungle, compiled for your reference and enjoyment.
comment posted at 8:53 AM on Dec-8-23

The 100 Best Albums of 2023 [Rolling Stone, Archive] As a certified Old, I was pleased that I recognized more than just a handful of names, but still overwhelmed by how completely out of touch I truly am.
comment posted at 7:47 AM on Dec-5-23

Roger Langridge is a cartoonist. Every morning, he draws a four panel strip about whatever happens to be on his mind and posts it online. Some are about the everyday trials and delights of family life, some are about his dog and others simply rif on what the medium can do. I like them a lot.
comment posted at 5:59 AM on Nov-21-23

According to The Guardian's Steven Morris, "It began with a grumble from a retired teacher passionate about punctuation. He was dismayed to spot that an apostrophe had vanished from the road sign of a tree-lined lane in the Hampshire village of Twyford. The complaint led to intricate discussions at the local city council, during which the sometimes erratic punctuation of Jane Austen, the area’s most famous writer, was cited. But after a 12-month battle, the status quo ante was restored and an apostrophe has been added back in to the sign for St Mary’s Terrace, to the delight not only of villagers but to a growing number of enthusiasts battling against the loss of the punctuation mark across the UK."
comment posted at 8:07 AM on Nov-17-23
comment posted at 8:13 AM on Nov-17-23
comment posted at 8:36 AM on Nov-17-23

Tasmanian woman tells office she can't come in as 600 kilogram (1322 pounds) seal is blocking her car. (Text article, video, photographs. Cute, no seals or people were harmed.)
comment posted at 6:05 AM on Nov-15-23
comment posted at 6:11 AM on Nov-15-23

The Smile (the surprise pandemic side project of Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and drummer Tom Skinner) have announced a new album to follow last year's auspicious debut. The title: Wall of Eyes -- a name that echoes a mysterious chapter in Radiohead lore and with an album cover that features imagery straight out of Kid A-era "blips". While the album isn't due until January (with a tour in March), enjoy a sneak peek with the Paul Thomas Anderson-directed video for the eponymous lead single, along with the achingly beautiful track "Bending Hectic" that was released last year (lyrics, live version). See also: "Teleharmonic", "Read the Room", "Under Our Pillows", "Friend of a Friend"
comment posted at 6:18 AM on Nov-15-23

The Beatles have released their final single, Now And Then [4m]. With posthumous contributions from two departed members, the surviving duo got together with AI-based audio processing technology to bring out this final track from The Fab Four, only a few months shy of the 60th anniversary of their appearances on Ed Sullivan. Here's a short film from The Beatles about how this track was created. [12m30s] Previously.
comment posted at 2:30 AM on Nov-3-23
comment posted at 9:10 AM on Nov-3-23
comment posted at 3:33 PM on Nov-10-23

Space settlement advocates frequently argue that we will soon be able to settle humans in space. Surviving on Mars is clearly a pre-requisite to settlement, and much work has been done examining the engineering aspects of this endeavor. Much less work has been done, however, on questions related to how to arrange a society in space. Early settlements will be dangerous, isolated, and cramped, and picking a social arrangement that is likely to result in a vibrant and productive society will be critical. To Each According to Their Space-Need: Communes in Outer Space
comment posted at 7:08 AM on Oct-27-23
comment posted at 9:09 AM on Oct-27-23

Internet Artifacts: a thoroughly interactive multimedia timeline of the documents, technologies, and phenomena that defined the Internet in the pre-smartphone era. Come for the First Smiley (1983) and the First MP3 (1987), stay for the AOL Dial-Up handshake (1991) and the Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (2006). [Via Neal.fun]
comment posted at 4:21 AM on Oct-27-23

"Holy grail" moment as small population of long-footed potoroos found for first time in New South Wales. The critically endangered species has never been sighted before in NSW, despite traces of hair and scat being discovered in forests 30 years ago.
comment posted at 3:38 AM on Oct-12-23

Anil Prasad's online music magazine Innerviews "delivers in-depth, uncompromising interviews that enable artists to speak at length about topics that matter to them." He's interviewed several hundred musicians over the years, including Tori Amos, Laurie Anderson, Adrian Belew, Björk, Ron Carter, Stanley Clarke, Keith Emerson, Béla Fleck, Robert Fripp (sort of), Jean-Michel Jarre, Kronos Quartet, Bill Laswell, Massive Attack, Public Enemy, Marc Ribot, Terry Riley, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Talking Heads (previously), Tanya Tagaq, and McCoy Tyner.
comment posted at 8:23 AM on Oct-6-23

So, it's possible that one of my favorite albums of this year is by... Dr. Noah Drake? All I can do is ask that you check out the newest album from 74-year-old Rick Springfield, Automatic [YT Playlist ~1h total]. He talked to American Songwriter about this album, which blends dance hooks with punk rock. Here's the first single, title track Automatic. But please check out the full album.
comment posted at 5:42 AM on Sep-19-23

Here's a couple examples. The present: A young woman walks down a street in Tehran, her hair uncovered, her jeans ripped, a bit of midriff exposed to the hot Iranian sun. An unmarried couple walk hand in hand. A woman holds her head high when asked by Iran's once-feared morality police to put a hijab on, and tells them: "Screw you!"
comment posted at 10:54 PM on Sep-15-23

How Scientists Working in Antarctica Inadvertently Developed a New Accent. A 2019 study of scientists over-wintering in Antarctica revealed subtle but measurable changes in the participants’ speech.
comment posted at 4:40 AM on Sep-16-23

"This is a gentle and slightly absurdist documentary about the Ardoteli family in the mountains of Georgia who discovered that a Chechen helicopter carrying cheese had crashed by their house. Dropped into the life of this family, a helicopter is gradually enfolded into their daily rhythms, transformed into something utterly unexpected. In this land free of electric cables, cows find a shelter and children set up their private playground in it. Patient observations through the rusted “eyes” of this helicopter unfold a story of a remote place exposed to just one piece of civilization." (22 mins, 2006)
comment posted at 10:30 PM on Sep-6-23

Badgers, or Badgers Badgers Badgers, or The Badger Song, is 20 years old. Developed by Jonti Picking (Mr Weebl) the animation consists of 12 cartoon badgers doing calisthenics, a mushroom in front of a tree, and a snake in the desert. Related: the sentence "Badger badgers Badger badgers badger badger Badger badgers" is grammatically valid. And as we close in on Christmas...
comment posted at 11:11 AM on Sep-2-23

The Lunar Codex Will Archive the Work of 30,000 Artists—on the Moon. A series of time capsules will honor and preserve contemporary art from around the globe. Among the works selected for the Lunar Codex are Ayana Ross’ painting New American Gothic, Pauline Aubey’s Lego portrait Emerald Girl and The Polaris Trilogy: Poems for the Moon, a commissioned poetry anthology with works from every continent, including Antarctica, per the Times. It also features pieces by the Ukrainian printmaker Olesya Dzhurayeva, who had to flee Kyiv last year in the wake of the Russian invasion, and Connie Karleta Sales, an artist with the autoimmune disease neuromyelitis optica who creates paintings using eye-gaze technology.
comment posted at 3:54 AM on Aug-27-23

Creators of the 2005 web series Yacht Rock and the subsequent podcast Beyond Yacht Rock, JD Ryznar, Hunter Stair, “Hollywood” Steve Huey, and David B. Lyons are returning Labor Day Weekend with two new podcasts: The Yacht or Nyacht Podcast, in which they'll pick up where they left off in the Yacht or Nyacht “minisodes” of BYR in 2019, rating songs on the Yachtski Scale, where songs 50 and above are yacht rock* and those below 50 are nyacht rock; and Billion Dollar Record Club, where they'll “listen to an underloved album every week and cause its value to soar”.
comment posted at 12:05 AM on Aug-27-23
comment posted at 8:36 AM on Aug-27-23