Bookmarks (955)

The signal (and apparently extemporary - almost certainly not) Vatican meeting between Zelensky and Trump is producing a wide range of analysis seeking what was going or or alluded to. Women's Wear Daily / WWD delves into Zelensky's wardrobe and it reads like a retelling of William Gibson's Pattern Recognition / PR [coffeeandflapjacks blog a book review blog].History has definitely returned [.pdf @ C21...

A group of Indonesian and French (among others) researchers has, for the first time filmed a living Indonesian coelacanth in the wild, at a depth of 145 m. In addition to the various PR buzz, they've also published a scientific paper on the sighting.Often called a "living fossil"* (a term I, as an evolutionary biologist, don't especially like, but it's used all the time)...

For more than a decade, O'Brien kept a meticulous log of mixed metaphors and malaprops uttered in Ford meetings, from companywide gatherings to side conversations. It documents 2,229 linguistic breaches, including the exact quote, context, name of the perpetrator and color commentary. from The Ford Executive Who Kept Score of Colleagues' Verbal Flubs [WSJ; ungated]

Wes Anderson has had many creative partners. But have any stimulated the juices of anticipation more than his most recent? Richard Ayoade will feature in The Phoenician Scheme (also Hanks, Del Toro, Ahmed, Johansson, Cumberbatch etc.). This is the trailer.A bit more on what it's about.

Under the fold, a small press roundup for Canadian presses Above/Ground Press, Figure 1 Publishing, and Inhabit Media. (Small press previouslies.)In honour of Canada's federal election on Monday (discussion here), I put together a big post of over 60 Canadian small presses. But it was so long I felt like most of it would end up getting glossed over. So instead here's three (and...

Pat Finnerty is boycotting Chevrolet over the crappy interpolations in its commercials and the lack of Bob Seger. It seems to be going okay, so far.

The Identification of Non-binary Gender in Prehistoric Burials in Central Europe A new paper from Cambridge University Press on evidence of non-binary people in prehistoric Europe.There is some reason to believe that much evidence of the existence of non-binary people was intentionally erased [reddit] by Western colonizing nations over the last few centuries. The work of re-claiming this history, and restoring these cultural realities...

Do you like writing instruments? Do you like being able to stab people if necessary? Have I got something for you.instructional video

A new reality show featuring the talented and emotional judge from The Great Pottery Throw Down (highly recommend), Keith Brymer Jones, and his partner Marj Hogarth, actor and self-taught textile designer, as they renovate a new home and studio: Our Welsh Chapel DreamFrom Channel 4's website: Keith Brymer Jones and his partner Marj throw themselves into the restoration of a derelict Welsh chapel, as...

Natural caves, just like artificial mining shafts, occur in rocks that are made up of minerals. In these environments, the phenomenon of luminescence can be observed on a much larger scale... My photos, taken under ultraviolet light, reveal a side of familiar places that likely no one has seen before. Gray walls shine like starry skies or glow in rainbow colors.

Repetition at a mass scale. Ghibli. Ghibli. Ghibli. Repetition close enough in concept space. Ghibli. Ghibli. Doesn't have to be a perfect copy to trigger the effect. Ghebli. Ghebli. Ghebli. Ghibli. Ghebli. Ghibli. And so art—all of it, I mean, the entire human artistic endeavor—becomes a thing satiated, stripped of meaning, pure syntax. from Welcome to the semantic apocalypse by Erik Hoel

'I'd like to go up in space as a very old lady and just be pushed out'. Guardian Australia, part of the 10 Chaotic Questions series. Warning for mention of rabbit death. Previously on the book burning she mentions.

Henry Wadsworth's Hiawatha, with the Kalevala's trochees (viz. trochaic tetrameter), instantly inspired jokesters to lampoon its rhythmic style. One short passage, more than others, gained especial notoriety. Generations worked together to compose a mitten manual. Underneath the cut I've gathered two recordings of this passage, emphasizing the good humor of Longfellow's repetition.Hiawatha, 1850's: He had mittens, Minjekahwun, Magic mittens made of deer-skin; When upon...

Two teens plead guilty to trafficking $1 million worth of giant ants in Kenya. The haul of Giant African harvester ants could have been worth more than $1 million, and has drawn attention to wildlife trafficking of smaller animals.

A century before publishers started marketing novels as "essential sad girl literature" and newspapers ran headlines about the "cult of the literary sad woman", Mary MacLane confessed all, at the age of nineteen, and became the enfant terrible of American letters, seemingly overnight. "This is not a diary. It is a Portrayal. It is my inner life shown in its nakedness. I am trying...

In case the news cycle has anyone wondering when the side of the angels will win - George Santos has been sentenced to over seven years in prison.Three years ago (previously), George Santos was elected to Congress, but rumors started circulating that most of his background was made up out of whole cloth. There was also evidence he had involved himself with a Ponzi...

The Fable of Complexity A video in which a .... medieval?... office worker gets overloaded, asks for help, gets help, and then things get worse and worse and more and more complicated.While I was out yesterday, my work team was told to watch this video, which I gather has been passed down from a higher-up and has been passed around. A recap: Abby the...

milwaukee judge hannah dugan is accused of helping a man evade immigration agents dugan is charged with "concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest" and obstructing or impeding a proceeding. she's accused of escorting the man, eduardo flores-ruiz, and his lawyer out of the courtroom through the jury door on april 18 as a way to help avert his arrest, according to...

Lena Moses-Schmitt and Martha Park (LitHub, 04/25/2025), "Art and Craft: An Illustrated Conversation": "How does it feel to move between writing and art, for you? Do they overlap?" Lena Moses-Schmitt's website links to more of her work, e.g. "The Matrilineal Pleasures of 'A Life of One's Own'," "Drawing Cars," "Indoor Feeling," "Skating Costumes I Have Known," and "Blue Mountain." Martha Park's website links to...

Maybe you'd meet somebody out, remotely checking the answering machine plugged into your landline for messages. Maybe you'd go home to make dinner and catch the news on TV or NPR. Then, if you were into computers, you might turn on the one you had at home and dial in to the baby internet via modem and read funny things or post on message...

For Charlotte Proudman, only one opinion matters: that of the women and children she defends in the family courts. It is 15 years since Proudman qualified as a barrister, but she still feels a sense of alienation when she walks into the formal dining halls. "It's largely a sea of male, pale, stale figures sitting there, all in their suits. They all look identical,...

After 529 days on the loose in Australia's Kangaroo Island, Valerie has been found! Previously on the blue: Well sometimes I go out by myself.

How JD Vance Became a Flashpoint in An Election in Durham, Ontario (TheLocal - support independent Canadian media!)

The common belief about cats, ferals in particular, is that tomcats are not fond of kittens (being obstacles in the way of mating again) and that raising them is the mother's burden. But, as is often the case, Shelly Roche's TinyKittens is both educational and full of surprises.TinyKittens is an ongoing Trap-Neuter-Release project in Fort Langley, British Columbia (Previously, Also Previously, Previouslyer, Previouslyest), celebrating...

Give me the boxy, modest Polaroid, if only for its defiance, even of its creator. While poor Edwin Land was fixated on creating "the realization of an impulse," something that could be "an adjunct to your memory," what he couldn't know, as the future unfolded beyond him, was that his creation's enduring value would prove to be its relationship to every time but the...

Coffin weavers create a loving last goodbye using invasive vine. Coffin weaving workshops teach people how to make an alternative to traditional wooden caskets to suit their loved ones while helping the environment at the same time.

Mahjong Solitaire (also known as Shanghai) has been popular on computers since the 1980s, and it was particularly popular in the 90s when a version by Microsoft was released. For those that don't know, it is a tile matching game that (typically) uses Mahjong tiles; aside from these tiles it shares nothing with Mahjong. Even then, the tiles are mostly an aesthetic choice; when...

Half an hour of fascinating rhythmical nerdery: Analyzing RADIOHEAD's Rhythms - A Deep Dive into their Electronic Beats. (SLYT) From Captain Pikant, wherein you will find similar dives into Bjork, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk and many others.

Grinning mischievously, Juanjo Albizu dons a baseball cap, tucks his T-shirt neatly into his sweatpants and adjusts the velcro straps on his elbow pads before positioning his skateboard on the bowl's edge, ready for the "drop". Albizu's attempt at a gnarly trick draws stares because the athlete is a sight to behold, wheeling around the unassuming skate park in northern Spain having just turned...

"Wizards of the Coast has released the System Reference Document, the heart of the three core rule books that constitute Dungeons & Dragons' 2024 gameplay, under a Creative Commons license. This means the company cannot alter the deal further, like it almost did in early 2023, leading to considerable pushback and, eventually, a retreat. It was a long quest, but the lawful good party...

And now, news for, of, and about the LGBTQIA+ community. A lot of it is transgender-centric right now, but that's because of things going on in politics. I do promise more when it happens. In this week's post: More fallout from the UK Supreme Court, the (Un)Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, crabs and cinnamon rolls ("Dog on Fire", the Daily Show theme, plays.)The Bad News...

Twenty-five years ago, the still-nascent Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency planned a cute little April Fool's Day prank (previously) with a family from Massachusetts (remember, dear reader, these were simpler times!). Then things swerved. (previously)For those who were there, parsing out the differences and motivations behind mcsweeneys: the .com, the .net, and the .org was perhaps the first ARG. Was there anything more Eggersian than...

Trump 'Alarmists' Were Right. We Should Say So. Toby Buckle at LiberalCurrents on the need to keep saying "told you so": I propose we promote a simple rule for these uncertain times: Those who saw the danger coming should be listened to, those who dismissed us should be dismissed. ... People just starting to pay attention now will not have the bandwidth to parse...

The story of Howard Smith is about boundaries and a figure who continually transgressed them. It's also a story about life and art being inextricable. Smith loved fashion and dancing and Mozart. "The happiness and also the sadness in his music," says Aaltonen, "[Howard] just loved." He was also an inveterate collector of objects that he liked to arrange in his living spaces: African...

How to support your friend who lives with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or long COVID to stay connected.

Patrick (H) Willems explains why The Wachowskis' Speed Racer (2008) is The Most Important Movie of the 21st CenturyWillems (previously and previouslier) is a video essayist (and, recently, filmmaker) who releases on Nebula and YouTube. He also sells Authentic YouTube Props (a real store.)

There is a strange irony behind the Big Dig: the most expensive highway project ever built in America began with a man who hated highways. From WGBH, a nine-part audio history of one of the biggest infrastructure projects in U.S. history, starting with its roots in neighborhood activism, through its many controversies and several major leadership changes, to its aftermath for Boston in particular...

Many of us are familiar with Edouard de Pomiane and his book French Cooking in Ten Minutes. You may not know that in 1995, the BBC made it into a six part TV series starring Christopher Rozycki as de Pomiane and Marilyn Taylerson as the mysterious Madame X. You can watch them all here.Poster's Log: Hat tip to mumimor who mentioned this series in...

"One consequence of this series of coinages and definitional shifts is that the cisgender/transgender binary has a gaping hole in its middle. If, in the past, gender variance—epitomized by the queen—was the definitional center of homosexuality, now, in a historically shocking reversal, homosexuality has become gender-typical by default. [...] So what has happened to all the gender variants who do not desire transition? Put...

On April 17, Christopher Bing and Avi Asher-Schapiro of ProPublica reported that the administration is looking to replace the federal government's $700 billion internal expense card program, known as SmartPay, with a contract awarded to the private company Ramp. Ramp is backed by investment firms tied to Trump and Musk.While administration officials insist that SmartPay is wasteful, both Republican and Democratic budget experts say...

Another incredibly detailed 3D walkthrough from Animagraffs. From the description of the video: Explore the incredible Hoover Dam in 3D x-ray vision, including its construction and functionality, from overviews down to the fine details.I love this sort of long-form content where it's just pure education, done on a massive scale but explained in a very calm and digestible pace.

Exhilarating day as library reopens after floods destroyed 29,000 books. When floods decimated the Lismore City Library in 2022, photos of the damage sparked a national outpouring of donations. At last, the space has reopened to the public.

[WEEKLY FREE THREAD] Anyone else use this? I just wanted to hear the usual suspects check in.

Screen Rant looks at that shot in Ryan Coogler's Sinners [SPOILER ALERT: Even the title of the article semi-spoils what was, experienced blind, one of the most amazing movie moments I've ever witnessed. So I urge you not to hover over the link or open the thread unless you've seen the movie]

"Rather than being readmitted to the U.S., she was instead turned over to U.S. border officials, who subsequently took Burke's statement, classed her as an illegal alien, and informed her that she would be briefly detained before being returned home to the U.K. Fingerprinted, shackled, and placed on a bus to a detention facility, Burke would be incarcerated by immigration authorities for the next...

Kari types in the code for "Frogger" (and other games) from a mid 80s computer magazine. Progress is...gradual. She shared her typed in code either the original scanned PDFs or the a working version - assuming you have an emulator.

AOC seizes the moment as Dems seek a new identity - "Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is drawing tens of thousands of people to her rallies with Sanders — even in red states. She's breaking her own fundraising records, and surging in early polling of potential 2028 presidential candidates. It feels to many top Democrats like she's grabbing Sanders' torch as a progressive leader — and that...