~metafilter | Bookmarks (947)

He didn't tell people how to pronounce his surname, so he could study how people said it. I'm having trouble putting words together here, because Labov was one of my science heroes, so here are some cool things he did: Studied how social class affects pronunciation by going into a bunch of department stores in New York and observing how the staff said "fourth...

A short twenty years after GIMP 2, there is now GIMP 3."A Brief (and Ancient) History of GIMP" Historical GIMP logos

Squirrels Are Displaying 'Widespread Carnivorous Behavior' for the First Time in a California Park. The familiar rodents, known for eating nuts and seeds, have been spotted hunting, killing and consuming voles. Scientists say it might signal resiliency in face of future environmental pressures"This was shocking," study lead author Jennifer E. Smith, a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, says in a...

The place held by Action Comics #1 in comic book history is undeniable. And yet, its deep legacy goes even beyond comic books and superheroes. Action Comics #1 is also one of the greatest works of progressive, anti-fascist art ever made. [CBR]Superman, earlier this week

In 1989 Sony announced the biggest CRT TV ever sold, the 200 kg, 45 inch KX-45ED1. Only two non-promotional photos of it exist and there are no known examples. Until now.

In an unprecedented move (ProPublica), Ohio is funding the expansion of private, religious schools (WOSU). Nonprofit announces investigation (Columbus Dispatch).

Great Philosophers on Santa's Naughty and Nice Lists by Amanda Lehr. slMcSweeney'sDiogenes: Pluck the fattest chicken you can find, paint it red, glue cotton balls to its chin, and say, "Behold: Santa!" Thomas Hobbes: In the absence of the Elf on the Shelf, children are by nature naughty, brutish, and short. Friedrich Nietzsche: Whoever battles Naughtiness should see to it that in the process...

"How Whisky Is Made" is a charming 3D animation that helped me understand the process better than any written description had.

TIL there's a Japanese brand of tampon named for Anne Frank. The reason why is actually not as strange as you might think.

This was dissociative, diminutive work, and time passed vertiginously, minutes and seconds overlapping on my teammates' unsynchronized doomsday clocks until the day concluded with a final collective effort at preservation. All quality assurance analysts—not Cindy, for hierarchical reasons—would convene in the photocopy room to ensure that, come what may on December 31, 1999, the deliverables from our day's labor would be archived, in print,...

Inside the creation of a First Nations superhero universe. Gooniyandi man Scott Wilson grew up superhero-obsessed, but he never saw his own culture in the comic books he'd get lost in. So he decided to create his own.

Walking Around In Locations with Philomena Cunk returns to explain the meaning of life. Somehow, this will all make sense.I'm looking forward to her tripping on a stone, in Philomena fashion.

The story of Team Fortress 2 (as told through its comics) has been concluded in a really long comic titled "The Days Have Worn Away." You can read it online, or download the (3/4 of a gigabyte!) CBR.

Welcome to the human doom loop "Throughout the pandemic, the media focused on the idea of the "urban doom loop," in which remote work would kill downtowns, triggering a downward spiral of reduced services that would cause people to leave cities. What went overlooked has turned out to be the bigger and even more consequential story: the human doom loop, a cycle in which...

Classical KING FM 98.1 (playlist)Classical KING FM is presently playing Christmas music in their own eclectic way. Earlier it was vocal choirs in intricate murmurations, now it's punched up. It plays what John Fahey famously once called Western High Art. But the palette of their programing has broadened to emphasize women and composers and performers of color. It broadcasts this reach of music 24...

Today, Keith Richards turns 81. It's a hopeless cliche to talk about all the stuff that Richards has survived, so I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to say that Keith Richards is now 81 years old. He is one year younger than Joe Biden and three years older than Donald Trump. To celebrate Richards' big day, Susanna Hoffs and Elvis Costello...

Southern sea otters are an unexpected solution to invasive European Green Crabs that have been ravishing eco systems on the west coast of North America.

Commuting to work by bicycle in the winter can be a challenge - especially in the (arguably) coldest city in Canada. But that doesn't stop Daniel Perry, professional double bassist in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.Please note that I do not bike to work in the winter, although I'm finding this inspiring, and it is just fine not to.

At just a few millimetres in length, tiny handfish babies delight scientists. They may look a little like popcorn, but these baby red handfish are giving hope for the species' survival.

Netflix's movies don't have to abide by any of the norms established over the history of cinema: they don't have to be profitable, pretty, sexy, intelligent, funny, well-made, or anything else that pulls audiences into theater seats (sln+1)I did mention a long time ago that a friend of ours, an author, had a pitch meeting with Netflix. The executive told him point blank his...

Tasmanian tigers are extinct. Why do people keep seeing them?+ Maybe because they... aren't extinct? As well as searching for thylacines himself, Forrest Galante has been reviewing sightings of them for years. Tiger sightings have a long history in Tasmania and on the Australian mainland. Could it have been hiding out in New Guinea all along?Bonus 19th-century thylacine photographs. Colourised 1933 footage of the...

Beefsteak Charlie promised, "You're gonna get spoiled". Beefsteak Charlie promised, "I'll feed you like there's no tomorrow." And with unlimited shrimp - plus unlimited beer, wine, or sangria - there wouldn't be.The Washington Post, 1982: I stopped in at the Bethesda branch one cold Sunday with my daughter and her friend, a fellow shrimp fanatic. Exercising no restraint whatever, we polished off seven heaping...

First, an unelected businessman tanked the budget proposal that would keep the government's lights on a bit longer, prompting ecstatic talk of promotion to Speaker of the House. Next, a businessman who is not yet President made a budget proposal, but like most of his businesses, it fell through. Deep divisions are already beginning to show. Now the race is on: Can Congress come...