~metafilter | Bookmarks (947)

BuzzFeed Looks to Launch Its Own, More Positive Social Media Platform"[...] web publisher BuzzFeed, led by Jonah Peretti, is creating its own social network in order to counter the negative impacts of the current leading social apps, which are largely caused by AI-based algorithms that optimize for engagement above all else." The waitlist More on Jonah Peretti (Wikipedia) The role of AI?

I am pleased to report that after some amount of time as a dead link, it is again possible to press and drag to make wind. (The lion will surely appreciate.) (Previously)

In 133 BC, lands conquered by Rome were being taken over by vast slave-cultivated estates, pushing out the peasants who made a living there. In response, Tiberius Gracchus instituted a highly controversial empire-wide land reform. Such patterns of land appropriation, reform and rebellion have not yet stopped repeating themselves around the world...In 9 AD, famine caused many Chinese peasant farmers to sell their lands...

Congratulations. Your lowly pawn has reached the last rank and it's time to promote it to a mighty Queen. Now what are you going to do? Take the pawn off the board and replace it with your previously captured Queen, if there is one? Or with a rook placed upside down? Like an animal?

There is to be an opera about Margaret Thatcher's time as Prime Minister (1979 to 1990), Mrs T. The Times (archive link) says that the focus will be on Thatcher's relationship with Howe and his wife Elspeth Howe, who is described as a "Lady Macbeth figure". The composer, Joseph Phibbs, says that scenes will include Thatcher dancing with Reagan, and the opera will be...

How Oil Propaganda Sneaks Into TV Shows | Climate Town (YouTube, 31m13s)Includes a sponsorship slot for Ground News that's actually mildly entertaining, but if you'd rather skip it and you're not already using SponsorBlock, you can preload the resumption point in another tab.

Knowing unspoken rules, and following them without displaying that we're doing so, is a way to "legitimize our social identity". Kieran Healy: "Sui Generis". Reflecting on rules, and sometimes challenging them, helps us make sure we're actually acting according to our values. Foz Meadows: "Tools Not Rules: the importance of critical thinking". Vu Le: "'Doing the right thing' over 'doing things right,' a critical...

It is in the national interest to promote the extraordinary heritage of our Nation, so California will become New Denmark. Los Angeles? More like Løs Ångeles [denmarkification]

Over the past few months, several essays have been published in Spain that explore this desire (nostalgic or projected into the future) for a better internet and propose different collective solutions to escape this degraded internet in which the platforms have won the battle against users, where hatred has surpassed support networks, where data extraction and the desire for profit dirty every corner of...

Koalas are thriving in this hotspot but researchers aren't sure why. More than 60 endangered koalas have been discovered living in bushland around a dam in regional New South Wales. Ecologists and landowners are working to ensure the colony continues to thrive.

Suzanne Ciani: A Life in WavesSuzanne Ciani On Modular Synthesis & The Buchla 200e live performance, Stockholm, Sweden, January 27, 2017 Suzanne Ciani Creates The Soundtrack For A Pinball Machine (previously)

How anchovies, a fish that was once associated with the poor, reached the very heights of gastronomic greatness. How this little fish was once central to the cuisine in the Roman Empire.

It hasn't always been devoid of a marker, however. Until recently, Melville's visage graced a small plaza on Pearl St. between two skyscrapers by way of a bronze bust with a plaque informing visitors that "On this site, number 6 Pearl Street, HERMAN MELVILLE was born August 1, 1819." ... For many years, fellow water gazers from around the world came to this plaza...

"We've found as AIs get smarter, they develop their own coherent value systems. For example they value lives in Pakistan > India > China > US. These are not just random biases, but internally consistent values that shape their behavior, with many implications for AI alignment." (Dan Hendrycks via xcancel)Emergent-Values.ai Utility Engineering: Analyzing and Controlling Emergent Value Systems in AIs

The 75 Most Essential Books for Gen X Aaaand - GO! The list is of course somewhat ridiculous as are all these lists.Moving a discussion on formative Gen X books from the end of the Tom Robbins obit thread because it deserves its own space.

"Rural communities are dispersed across the American landscape. The buildings and streetscapes in these places are a repository for visual trends—historical, architectural, and social—that relate to aspects of commercial, municipal, and private life. Rural Indexing Project (RIP) documents these trends as they exist in the built environment."It looks like the project ran from 2010 through 2019. "Roughly 1,200 communities in 25 states have been...

Few things are more contentious among cohabitating adults than "The Big Light." [Slate / Archive] Like a millennial household, the Big Light has divided the Strategist staff and ignited vigorous debates. [Strategist / Archive]

Remember that video from Pixar, years ago, with that cute animated lamp? It appears that Apple research people have now made that lamp for real. Be prepared for wicked cuteness. The video is at the bottom of the link.

Andrew Krapivin turned to a common approach for storing data known as a hash table. But in the midst of his tinkering, Krapivin realized that he had invented a new kind of hash table, one that worked faster than expected — taking less time and fewer steps to find specific elements. Martín Farach-Colton, a co-author of the "Tiny Pointers" paper and Krapivin's former professor...

This video about maki-e fountain pens will make you sad that you don't own a maki-e fountain pen.These won't help either. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)

Matt Stoller and Paul Krugman on the dismantling of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The CFPB has a budget of 800 million but returned over 21 billion dollars to consumers since its creation in 2016. Project 2025 architect Russell Vought is the acting head of the CFPB and this is his first major action following his Senate confirmation. It is expected to be...

SOLSTICE - 5 (YT 10:36), a visually intricate short sci-fi film about resource extraction on another planet, and Forgotten Archives (11:11), a just released expansion of the world.Artist Paul Chadeisson has much more imagery from this and other works on ArtStation.