~metafilter | Bookmarks (940)

Transnistria (previously), a tiny breakaway region of Moldova beside Ukraine, has for more than 30 years stood apart, with support from Russian troops. As of January 1, Russia cut off natural gas passing through Ukraine to the West, affecting Transnistria, dependent on the Russian gas: Gas Cutoff Sends Shivers Through a Russian-Backed Breakaway Region (NYTimes gift link). Slava Malamud, originally from Transnistria, writes about...

On May 25, 1985, a hometown girl returned to Detroit to put on a show."I went to New York. I had a dream. I wanted to be a big star, I didn't know anybody, I wanted to dance, I wanted to sing, I wanted to do all those things, I wanted to make people happy, I wanted to be famous, I wanted everybody to...

Each year, we ask some of the smartest people in journalism and media what they think is coming in the next 12 months. At the end of a trying 2024, here's what they had to say: Predictions for Journalism, 2025. [Nieman Lab]

Moonlight on Roseville Beach is a roleplaying game about a very specific time and a very specific place, but that specificity makes it extremely relevant to the modern world, and the time in which it has been published. The game is set in a resort town with a primarily LGBTQIA+ population, in a region that is deeply enmeshed with the supernatural. When supernatural effects...

Even in the few months Kelly has used the app, she's noticed an increase in straight men who don't seem to be interested in actual kink and are just there because they think it's a place to find easy sex: "I saw a man's profile once that said, 'Here when my libido requires it, otherwise happy on [members-only dating app] Raya.'" To try and...

"Even if we have things in common — and we often have — we rarely communicate directly. Over time we're gaslighted into believing these shared elements aren't that important, maybe they don't even exist... our common history is erased as we submit to the default, US-centric one. There are many examples of this — one of the most common is how Europe's home computer...

Biocubes.net is an interactive visualization of the world's biomass and humanity's "technomass" (i.e. everything we've ever built) (via kottke)

You've probably heard of the Royal Game of Ur, but have you played the Game of Twenty?Both are backgammon-like games played on a board with twenty squares -- and they're both still fun to play, millennia later. Sets and pieces for these and similar games have been found at sites around the Mediterranean, dating as far back as 2600 BCE. Researchers at the Sharh-i-Sokhta...

Reviewing books by two of the world's leading psychoanalytic writers, Christian R. Gelder explores the challenge that psychoanalysis poses not only to conventional understandings of self and sex, but also to the prevailing therapeutic culture.

As of last month, the United States Government Printing Office has soft-launched a new search tool and seeks feedback: DiscoverGov, which "provides simple, one-stop searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases". This includes what's currently available in GovInfo plus the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP). Sample search: "dragon". (Other resources include the United States Code, which one can browse and download.)

Say Goodbye to Outdated Footer Years, Forever. Every January 1st, millions of developers face the same crisis: outdated footer years. It's 2025, and we're still updating copyright years manually like we're in 1999. It's time for a change.

An archive puts Indigenous punks in the spotlight. You can also find the Indigenous Punks Archive Instagram here.Posted because I thought this Unreserved episode and article was really cool! It reminds me of the Latino punks in the Hernandez Bros Love & Rockets.

Author and critic David Lodge, best known for his Booker Prize-nominated comic campus novels Small World and Nice Work, has died at the age of 89.

Requiring a driver's license for employment is now prohibited in California if driving is not reasonably expected to be part of the job duties. This is great - requiring a driver's licence for jobs that involve zero driving is used to discriminate against Disabled people including wheelchair users; Blind/Low Vision people; many people with Autism; many people with Anxiety.Also people who grew up in...

"From that period, Hutter has been exhibiting in numerous art galleries both in Germany and abroad. In his abysmal, detailed works, he focuses on eroticism, religion and the cosmic horror. His passion and commitment for art resulted in remarkable surreal and magical pieces." Hutter's official site and Instagram. A little writeup over on John Coulthart's website.

These are my modern English translations of jisei or Japanese death poems. Many such poems fall into a category called Zen Death Haiku. However, not all the poems here are haiku: some are tanka or waka. And not all the poems have to do with Zen as I apprehend it: some of the poets seem to be seeking enlightenment and a few, perhaps, to...

In the vast majority of cases the research group believes these non-summits are due to honest mistakes or justifiable ignorance, rather than willful dishonesty. Above 8,000 meters, climbers are physically and mentally extended, in no state to be conducting accurate topographical surveys or historical comparisons. Poor visibility, bad weather, fear about the descent, and concern for partners exacerbate the difficulties. The group does not...

"Even quite simple Newtonian systems can harbor uncaused events and ones for which the theory cannot even supply probabilities. Because of such systems, ordinary Newtonian mechanics cannot license a principle or law of causality. Here is an example of such a system fully in accord with Newtonian mechanics. It is a mass that remains at rest in a physical environment that is completely unchanging...

"It was so surreal: UK quarry worker uncovers 150-metre dinosaur highway. Researchers say the 166-million-year-old fossilised footprints could be one of the world's biggest dinosaur track sites.

The portable crop that renters can take with them: crocus. [gift link] In case you'd like 2025 to be your year of living deliciously, growing your own crocus could be a lovely way to start...There's a cake recipe which sounds incredible: Gers Ogaily from Kuwait, a fragrant saffron and cardamom cake that's as beautiful as it is delicious. https://www.iccadubai.ae/stockpot/saffron-cake-with-rose-mahalabia

"While I typically prefer my fantasy art to look like the surreal and colorful Paul Lehr, McBride's moody, detail-rich artwork always pulls me in. Take a moment to soak in "Ambusher 2," his 1987 cover to MERP's Assassins of Dol Amroth. The ornate cloak. The two lizards with sinister expressions. The bats. The hazy blue reflection of a distant town in a lake. That...