~metafilter | Bookmarks (966)

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...