~metafilter | Bookmarks (1009)

These days, he sets a light by his garage and photographs whatever moths show up, as many as seventy species and thousands of individuals in a single night. He's now counted 550 species at his own home.Eckerman posted his first moth images to iNaturalist ten years ago, and other users coached him on how to take better photos to make identification easier.

When we look at the Northeast, we see familiar places: New York, Philadelphia, Syracuse, Rome, Lancaster, York. All of these names are imports: New York designated the dominion given to the Duke of York, others recalled the powerful ruling families of England, or were echoes of the classical world. Yet beneath these names sites an older and very different cultural landscape. Some Indigenous place...

Dog walker bluff charged by pack of territorial emus in startling confrontation. Ruby Buchanan was getting ready to take her dogs for a walk when she and a friend were "fully charged" by four emus outside Broken Hill. A ranger says the large flightless birds can attack around June as chicks mature. It is worth noting that emus will often do bluff, no-physical-contact charges...

Exactly how fully this event defines either book is something that the authors at times fiercely dispute — an argument that will seem sometimes to be about writing, sometimes about the contested debris of past relationships. But let's use a term that both books employ in different contexts: the "inciting incident." At the very least, these two books share the same inciting incident. And...

RFK Jr to weigh dropping US presidential bid to join forces with Trump (Reuters)RFK's running mate suggests they can't win in November (Politico) RFK running mate says they're considering endorsing Trump (CNN)

Gisnep (Gisnep?) is a new daily word puzzle from MetaFilter's own ironicsans.Nitpickers' notes: the site is still in beta, and I've seen a couple of quotes that are probably not reliably attributed. Neither has affected my enjoyment of the game. Well, the misattributions a little, but I got over it.

Corporate security work has long elevated routine business worries—like shoplifting, loitering, and homelessness—into urgent criminal problems. (slHarpers)

Where do Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) actually live? Where do bin chickens go when they leave the bin? It turns out, pretty far away! This is a 5 minute video from the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds.Historically rare in urban areas, the Australian white ibis has established in urban areas of the east coast in increasing numbers since...

Even Lee's washing machine collection began with his wife. As he often tells the story, the couple bought an RV when Lee retired in 1985, and they planned a road trip from Colorado to Maine. Somewhere in Iowa, they stopped at a farmer's estate sale. There, among the implements and tools, Lee spied a 1907 Maytag Model 44. He loved the machine's beauty and...

"I set out to read 26 traditional epics about woman heroes, and so far I have found 32."

The contest to write the worst opening lines to non-existent novels have been announced. The grand prize winner is Lawrence Person of Austin, TX: "She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck."

Just in case you missed this absolute bop during this year's Eurovision, 5MIINUST, Puuluup - (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi.Eurovision finale video. Translated lyrics.

Maybe you're the sort of person who likes to start the day with the New York Times Mini Crossword, but perhaps you're looking for a new sort of challenge. Minute Cryptic is a new website that features one UK-style cryptic crossword clue to solve each day, with hints available. New to cryptic crosswords? Here's an explainer video from the New Yorker that covers the...

In both social media and his column (archive link), New York Times columnist and pundit Jamelle Bouie discusses the lack of Civil War movies that honestly grapple with the conflict and slavery as its driving force, and how the Lost Cause movement is to blame.Over at Lawyers, Guns, & Money, they extend the discussion to Civil War art and media in general.

A transgender woman examines "the trans episode" of the Nikolodeon live action show Danger Force.The first interview with actor Michael D. Cohen mentioned is in People. The second is actually in Variety. Lily Simpson has a YouTube channel full of videos examining the trans or trans-adjacent episodes of (mostly) television shows, from The Trans Positivity of The Love Boat to The Worst Moment in...

This was supposed to be a competition where precision, rhythm and cultural resonance are key. Gunn's claim to creativity rings hollow because it was a desperate attempt to reframe her performance, to shift the narrative from cringe-worthy failure to uniqueness. In doing so, she not only disrespected breakdancing, but revealed her disconnect from the very culture she was trying—and failing—to represent. from The Privilege...

She's the Oldest Common Loon in the World. She Just Had Her 42nd Chick. A bit more history about her and her previous longtime mate from Audubon.

"In the heart of the country, Great Plains farmers and ranchers produce a quarter of all U.S. crops and 40 percent of our beef. But they rely on a resource that has been slowly drying up, water." 'Depletion of major groundwater source threatens Great Plains farming' Jun 24, 2024. (PBS video/audio.)"They had been on the road for six days, a clan of five bouncing...

Alain Delon, Smoldering French Film Star, Dies at 88Alain Delon, angel-faced tough guy of international cinema, dies at 88 Alain Delon: a life in pictures Delon starred in a series of memorable thrillers and historical pictures, including Plein Soleil (aka Purple Noon, the first film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley), the mesmerizing Le Samouraï directed by Jean-Pierre Melville (and the lesser but still...

The 2024 Democratic National Convention starts tomorrow in Chicago.Speakers, schedule, and how to watch (WaPo), what you need to know (NPR), roll call (Chicago Sun-Times), who's speaking (Axios). Protests are planned (reproductive rights, pro-Palestine), as well as free abortions and vasectomies. The Chicago Police Department says 'it's not 1968.' Previously in the Harris campaign: "This is preaching to the choir, but the choir needs...

Hakai Magazine: Then in 1976, a 27-year-old American anthropological archaeologist named Tom Dillehay uncovered the campsite, now called Monte Verde, and found that the small group had made it nearly to the bottom of South America 14,500 years ago. This was 1,500 years too early: established archaeologists thought people didn't even arrive in North America, up in Alaska, until around 13,000 years ago. The...

Run-of-the-mill drunk in a dive bar. I was one once. I'd wake up determined to have just two or three drinks, then have many, many more than two or three. As with playing Scrabble, doing otherwise felt impossible. In Alcoholics Anonymous, we're told that it's common to substitute one addiction for another. Surely, I tell myself, this new unmanageability is preferable to the old...

Seeing the incredibly rare orange-bellied parrot. Nature journalist Dr Ann Jones and BirdLife's Sean Dooley find one of Australia's rarest bids on the edge of Melbourne - the orange-bellied parrot. This is a 7 minute video from the Australian documentary series, The Secret Lives Of Our Urban Birds.

Liam Rātana writes a beautiful piece about The mana of digging a grave. Some useful Māori words referenced in the article, although you can work out most of it from the surrounding context - mana, tangi, marae, Tāmaki Makaurau, nehu, whānau, kāuta, urupā, punga, karanga, karakia, kai.