~metafilter | Bookmarks (957)

Scientists and fishers collaborate to save this peculiar-looking, elusive ray. Sawfish have a shark-like body behind an extended nose resembling a saw. A study collecting fishers' knowledge hopes to discover more about the endangered species.

It's been ten years, almost to the day, since payment processor Digital River got acquired by private equity. As of a few months ago it has stopped paying the vendors it purports to represent even though it's still been billing their customers. If you have any recurring subscriptions via that platform, now would be a good time to cancel them.

MONSTER FACTORY is a long-running, beloved comedy video series that is a strong contender for one of the funniest goddamn things ever published on the internet. Each episode features brothers Griffin and Justin McElroy (of MBMBAM fame) diving headlong into the character creator of a random game -- Griffin controlling the sliders, Justin providing color commentary. Over the next half-hour or so of relentlessly...

17th Century Death Roulette ☠️. What it says on the tin. Click twice to find out how you died. The death options are taken from the reports of deaths London in the 1600.

Mike Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, has been indicted on 16 federal counts of sex trafficking and international prostitution in New York, and is accused of leveraging "a network of employees, contractors and security professionals" while he led the retailer.Mike Jeffries previously 1, previously 2, previously 3.

"All nonfiction writers can end up writing incorrect or controversial things, but why does every Gladwell book push half-formed and inaccurate theories?" A modest proposal: Forget Gladwell. [W. David Marx in Culture: An Owner's Manual]Especially valuable for the rundown of critiques of all of Malcolm Gladwell's books. (An early favorite is Isaac Chotiner's takedown of Gladwell's Outliers, Mister Lucky: "And didn't Salieri also have...

A Queensland-first solar panel recycling plant to stop 240,000 panels going into landfill annually. The Pan Pacific plant on Brisbane's southern fringe is expected to take apart the panels, recycling each individual element, which is essential to the future of renewable energy in Australia.

Who's that standing on my lawn? Who's that fellow with the LCD eyes? A 12-foot Home Depot Skeleton! (A song from Louie Zong and Kitsch Club.)I can't find room in my budget, I can't find room in my home. But I got so much room in my heart, and I want those bones for my own! Home Depot 12-foot skeleton (12-foot skeleton) Thousands of...

Shelved by Genre is a podcast [Apple link and RSS feed] where Cameron Kunzelman, Michael Lutz and Austin Walker discuss science fiction, fantasy and horror fiction books (and the occasional movie), in great detail. The first season was on Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun, the second on Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle, followed by a season on Junji Itō, and they...

Start off strong with Sixth Wonder - BRUTAS, then get a little more melodic with HURANOVA - TAKE ME FIRST and REEBZ - "Hallucination", bump up the intensity with THE HELLFREAKS - Weeping Willow, and end with an oldie that really should have gotten more traction: Straight Line Stitch "Remission".

Every Friday morning, dozens of children ride their bikes to school as one large, highly organized group. They call it the bike bus and it's been a huge hit for kids, parents and teachers. Kids ride to school in the fresh air in NYC, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, Fairhaven, MA, and...maybe your school district?Make Way for the Bike Bus [NYT]. Want your kids to...

At first, zero caused confusion. "Its ability to represent 'nothing' and enable complex mathematical operations challenged deeply ingrained theological and philosophical ideas," Nieder said. Particularly due to the influence of the church, philosophers and theologians associated "nothing" with chaos and disorder and were disinclined to accept it. Many even feared it, considering it "the devil's number," Barnett said. from How the Human Brain Contends...

OCTOBER 22 IS INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY!!! EVERY YEAR WE GET TOGETHER AND MAKE SALMON FOR TOAST, EVERY YEAR WE GET A CROCKETY BLOAT, EVERY YEAR WE GET DRUNK ON THE DOCKS, AND EVERY YEAR WE HAVE SEX WITH OUR CAPS LOCKS!11!!

A study, a scare and a long silence. How menopause became a health crisis for Canadian women. Women in their 40s and 50s are suddenly being hit by menopause symptoms at the peak of their careers — and finding little help in the health system.

Have A Cigar as performed by the most excellent LA funk band The Main Squeeze.Lots more covers and originals on the Main Squeeze YT channel.

Rookie washashore wins historic derby prize! The annual derby always has great memories......but the boat used to be bigger.

This had to mean something. I thought about the prophecies of ruined cities in the Bible. Nineveh and Babylon, empty of human life, inhabited only by birds: "The cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the lintels; their voice shall be at the windows; desolation shall be at the threshold." Ruined granaries where a few sparrows still peck for the last wedged-in flecks of...

At the 2024 World Crokinole Championship Series, Justin Slater (fresh off his win in the World Crokinole Doubles Division) and Connor Reinman (the defending World Crokinole Champion) met in the semi-finals and managed a double perfect game. Confused? The Pudding has an interactive explainer.The Pudding mentions 'the one-cheek rule,' but doesn't elaborate. Tracey Boards explains. Crokinole previously and previouslier.

Toilet lines are longer for women than men, but simple changes could reduce loo queues. Queuing is never a pleasant experience, especially if you're desperate to go — and while new research has revealed it's an issue that disproportionately affects women, experts say that tweaks to building codes could help reduce the problem.

+++ATH0: Ward Christensen, co-inventor of the computer bulletin board system (BBS), has died at the age of 78. Christensen, along with Randy Suess, created the first BBS in Chicago in 1978, leading to an important cultural era of digital community-building that presaged much of our online world today.Christensen and Suess developed the software behind CBBS to allow Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange (CACHE) members...

Why did everyone fall for the J1407b myth? is 12 minute video essay that starts off as discussion about a cool astronomical mystery but becomes a measured, well-argued rant about knowledge in the age of Google and LLMs. It is by YouTuber Kyplanet who makes weekly videos about cool astronomical things, mostly exoplanets.

"I read the words Gibbet Hill and I knew that wasn't a Bram Stoker story that I had ever heard of in any of the biographies or bibliographies." Wikipedia entry.