~metafilter | Bookmarks (1013)

However, the calculator differs from the personal computer in one very significant way: calculators slid directly down the market from pricey machines owned by organizations to birthday gifts handed out by middle-class parents. At incredible speed (far faster than computers) calculators became as commonplace as wristwatches; indeed, it wasn't long before manufacturers put calculators in wristwatches. Though the market leaders changed rapidly as the...

TALKING SMALL.[slyt]if it's not small talk, best not talk at all." A small Brian David Gilbert sings about small talk

World is watching as endangered turtles are moved to new home outside natural habitat. A rare Western Australian turtle species will be introduced to a new habitat in the state's South West, in a last-ditch effort to bring the reptiles back from the brink of extinction.A rare Western Australian turtle species in dire straits is set to be introduced to a new habitat in...

The change will be the equivalent of going from navigating a library with the Dewey decimal system, and thus encountering related books on adjacent shelves, to requesting books for pickup through a digital catalog. It could completely reorient our relationship to knowledge, prioritizing rapid, detailed, abridged answers over a deep understanding and the consideration of varied sources and viewpoints. Much of what's beautiful about...

Why creativity is the new currency of success As AI gets better at handling traditional productivity tasks, human creativity - not efficiency - will become the real differentiator. The piece suggests we're moving from an era where "doing more, faster" was the key to success, to one where making original, emotionally resonant work matters most. Maybe the tendency to think differently, make unique connections,...

An Argentinian ghost story, climate fiction for a better future, guidance on writing and the writing life, a satellite murder mystery, a resource for parents of children undergoing gender affirming care, the 2024 GG's, and more: a roundup of more than 50 new and forthcoming small press books (previously).NEW: The Articulations / Amouroboros by Elizabeth K. Switaj & Amelia K. (Kernpunkt Press, 12 Nov...

"The idea of calling our music 'alt K-pop' also started as satire. 'We're not K-pop idols, but let's make some K-pop anyway,' that idea. But as you do it more, you kinda become more aligned with it and believe in it. Even though it started as a joke, it became our reality." Balming Tiger Is Re-Writing the Rules of K-PopBrighten your day with and...

R.U. Sirius interviews Jeremy Braddock about his new book Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as told in Nine Comedy Albums and the place of the seminal comedy group The Firesign Theatre in 20th century technoculture.LARB review by MetaFilter's own Colin Marshall

Some fantastic and eminently quotable quotes from this ABC piece - Australia's Cassowaries EXPOSED: The Truth Behind the World's Most Dangerous Bird - Dr Ann Jones. A quick sample - "Just give it your sandwich", "That white bread'll probably make him constipated; just sayin'", "I mean you no harm", "Look at those wattles, they're like testicles..."From Wikipedia Cassowaries (Indonesian: kasuari, Biak: man suar 'bird...

Let's talk board games! What do you like that's new? What do you like that's old? What games get better if you start selectively ignoring the rules? Or ignore that suggestion, and treat this post as a #freethread! Link unrelated.

The 100 Greatest Movie Musicals of All Time ...just what it says on the tin.Before we're awash in year end top ten lists here's another solid top 100 for your palaver pleasure.

An international team of scientists using observations from NASA-German satellites found evidence that Earth's total amount of freshwater dropped abruptly starting in May 2014 and has remained low ever since.

For those who suffer from recurrent UTIs, there's a vaccine. Urinary tract infections can be extremely painful and some women experience them frequently. Now there is a vaccine to help prevent UTIs.

"Walking amid a tangle of ancient Sitka spruces and cedars on the island of Gwaii Haanas in British Columbia, Robert Moor wonders how being in the presence of old-growth trees can help us feel, rather than intellectualize, not only the deep past, but also our responsibility to the future."

I don't know if it was the lack of tourists or the subdued surroundings, but when we hit the Ocklawaha, time seemed to dilate, to spread out along the edges, to submerge into the river's unseen depths. More or less, it came to a creeping halt. As we floated up through central Florida along the Ocklawaha's surface, I imagined something about the river led...

I had one cultural advantage. I owned a 1955 Ford Fairlane, which I had bought for $100. Gas was twenty cents a gallon. Jim and I drove all over Southern California, which is admittedly something teenage boys don't mind doing, to attend free concerts and performances. It was the age of high print-culture, each Sunday the Los Angeles Times listed every forthcoming concert in...

Valve has just updated and rereleased Half-Life 2 in honor of it's 20th anniversary. Included are the add-ons Episodes One and Two, many bugfixes, developer commentary and much more. There's also a 2 hour documentary. And it's free on Steam.

Wildlife rescuers say virtual fence saving hundreds of kangaroos on Victoria's Surf Coast. Removing wildlife carcasses from the road is a usual morning for Jason Cichocki but he says a new technology has more than halved the number of animals colliding with vehicles.

"we opened a portal and were blessed, and on that journey we received the name 'two-spirit.' A lot of people think it refers to sexuality or gender, but over 34 years now, it's more than that. For me, my community's knowledge about history, tradition, language, and philosophy is [one] spirit. The second spirit is about love: nurturing for my siblings, my parents, my grandparents,...

An enterprising MFA student at East Tennessee State University created a Baba Yaga "collectible figurine" as a thesis project. Ariel Adams' project involved designing the character, building it, and painting it, using a variety of analogue and digital tools. Her style and interpretation of the figure are interesting, not a 1:1 with the conventional depictions we most often see of Baba Yaga, and her...

Violet said that those first sessions in the library at Pakenham Hall marked the start of a conversation that lasted for the rest of their lives. They had spent roughly three weeks together when they decided to get married, which they did shortly afterwards with minimal fuss, throwing a boozy party for their many friends the night before. Parties were Violet's natural element. from...

Having an extra thumb on one hand may massively boost your manual dexterity, but wouldn't it be hard to learn to use? Not according to a new study, which found that the majority of a wide variety of people got the hang of the thing in just one minute. Study in Science: Evaluating initial usability of a hand augmentation device across a large and...

For a young couple at risk of homelessness, a community garden is helping hope bloom. Residents at an affordable apartment complex in Adelaide are taking part in a greening project intended to improve the wellbeing of young people who have spent time in state care, and reduce the amount of heat trapped in urban spaces.

As weed resistance to herbicides is becoming widespread, there is an urgent effort to find new solutions. [MIT Lab Review] These could range from high tech methods like using AI and lasers to more traditional ways of working with nature.