April 2

AO3, data, and changes in fandom

Article by Allegra Rosenberg about AO3 statistics and what they show about changes on the site: "The data collected by statistically minded fans is hugely helpful in visualizing the shifts brought about by successive fan generations". Via Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.
posted by paduasoy at 9:30 PM - 0 comments

Locas Heroes

Jaime Hernandez: A Master Cartoonist Ages Alongside His Heroine. A colorful tribute to Love and Rockets, a long-runnng ground-breaking comic that began in 1982. ungated [more inside]
posted by storybored at 9:24 PM - 1 comment

Scoreboard Pressure

Scoreboard Pressure is a blog dedicated to both kinds of scoreboards, Australian Rules Football and cricket. Adelaide Oval. Warramiyunga Oval, Bathurst Island. Henson Park, Marrickville. West Wyalong vs. Lake Cargelligo. Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Donnybrook, WA.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 7:07 PM - 4 comments

Start Spreading the Cheese

Cheese is one of those food markers that demonstrates the power of processing to preserve and transform a vulnerable food source. The amount of cheese, cheese products, cheese dishes and cheese culture (even sport) is incalculable. Today - we're here not to cut through the world's cheeses, but instead to spread the love of the cheese spread [more inside]
posted by drewbage1847 at 12:40 PM - 28 comments

One has diamonds in his pockets / This one wants to buy you rockets

The president remains pleased with Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency initiative, but both men have decided in recent days that it will soon be time for Musk to return to his businesses and take on a supporting role, according to three Trump insiders who were granted anonymity to describe the evolving relationship. from Trump Tells Inner Circle That Musk Will Leave Soon [Politico]
posted by chavenet at 11:13 AM - 51 comments

Work Like the Nineties

Why You Should Work Like It's the Nineties (archive.org link) looks at how work/life boundaries have shifted in the SmartPhone era, and recommends a shift back.
posted by MrGuilt at 10:38 AM - 33 comments

NaNoWriMo NoMo

On Monday night, NaNoWriMo—the organization behind the annual National Novel Writing Month, which takes place each November—sent an email to its community that began, “We come to you today with sad news. After six years of struggling to sustain itself financially, NaNoWriMo (the nonprofit) will begin the process of shutting down.” (h/t jenfullmoon) [more inside]
posted by Lemkin at 10:11 AM - 30 comments

The art of the protest sign

The art of the deal protest sign. You want to make a protest sign but you’ve hit a brick wall for ideas. That’s okay! Inspiration is as easy as a google image search. But if you want to get into it a little bit more, Iranian-born Canadian artist Guity Novin can help you out. So can Reuters. If you need more, take a look at An Emergency Guide to Writing Protest Signs. Maybe invent your own font. Here’s a handy pdf that talks about design elements. For some final thoughts, Vice has some advice.
posted by ashbury at 8:21 AM - 23 comments

Mario Kart + Moo Moo Cow

With the Nintendo Switch 2 launching on June 5th 2025, one of the day one titles is Mario Kart World, where you can play as a cow. There's also an Elden Ring game, some GameCube ports e.g. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (and the GameCube controller), a 3D Donkey Kong, a wheelchair basketball game, and a bundle of other titles, new and refreshed and ported. There's no word on the price, or a price adjustment for the original Switch for which new games include Tomodachi Life (the last 20 seconds is intriguing) in 2026.
posted by Wordshore at 7:20 AM - 34 comments

"The ice is not freezing as it should."

In the time of climate change, the fragile ice roads that link Northern communities are under threat. (slTheGuardian) [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 7:14 AM - 6 comments

That's some strong cheddar

Susan Crawford wins Wisconsin Supreme Court election by a decisive margin, defeating Elon Musk-backed candidate Brad Schimel. [more inside]
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:15 AM - 60 comments

ssa_final2_reallyfinal_v03_final.py

The so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is starting to put together a team to migrate the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) computer systems entirely off one of its oldest programming languages in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which tens of millions of Americans rely—at risk. DOGE would likely need to employ some form of generative artificial intelligence to help translate the millions of lines of code. (Wired, archive) [more inside]
posted by mittens at 5:06 AM - 93 comments

The Black Panther cubs

“You are told you were born for revolution. So what do you do with your life when the revolution doesn’t come?”
posted by goo at 12:12 AM - 11 comments

Tended to be studied only as the background condition of other phenomena

“Yes!” Ward said, banging her hand on a desk. “Because this shit happens over and over and over, with every generation. Every generation of women has their epiphanic moment where they realize this shit is not worth it. Every generation of women has the icon who burns all the man’s stuff. And so part of the tragedy is we don’t learn.” from If Hetero Relationships Are So Bad, Why Do Women Go Back for More? [The Cut; ungated]
posted by chavenet at 12:11 AM - 46 comments

April 1

John Green: Everything Is Tuberculosis

He's Best Known for The Fault in Our Stars. That His Latest Book Is About the World's Deadliest Disease Actually Makes Perfect Sense. [ungated] - "'People should understand that tuberculosis is not just a disease of the past,' [Henry] Reider told me. 'It is still affecting millions of people today, but it is preventable, treatable, and also curable.'" [more inside]
posted by kliuless at 11:42 PM - 11 comments

Feeding wild cassowaries leads to aggressive behaviour

Warnings after backyard cassowary attack puts senior in hospital. Experts are urging caution after a cassowary exhibiting bold behaviour slashed a man's leg in a backyard confrontation. A Queensland Ambulance Service crew took the man to Tully Hospital for treatment to a wound several centimetres long on the back of a thigh. Cairns Hospital and Hinterland Health Service say the man was discharged that evening. [more inside]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:36 PM - 10 comments

Fair Winds and Following Seas, Iceman

Movie actor and star Val Kilmer, known for his roles in films such as Top Gun, Willow, and Heat, among others in an eclectic career, has passed away at 65. (SLNYT)
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:12 PM - 89 comments

United we stand, divided we fall

Victoria Uber Workers Could Be First in Canada to Unionize. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has held a certification vote ordered by the BC Labour Relations Board after Uber disputed whether 500 drivers signing union cards represented more than 55% of the workforce. UFCW estimates Uber in Victoria has ~600 drivers. In BC certification is automatically granted if 55% of workers sign with a union. This follows on UFCW's previous agreement with Uber to represent over 100,000 working for the ride hailing service. [more inside]
posted by Mitheral at 6:41 PM - 3 comments

The women who translated the Quran

How Three American Women Translated One of the World’s Most Popular Qurans (inspired by chavenet's recent post) [more inside]
posted by Lemkin at 4:29 PM - 3 comments

"The biggest deepest iceberg of gaming history I've gone down so far"

Super Bunnyhop (03/28/2025), "Kriegsspiel! How Napoleon Accidentally Invented Strategy Games": "Napoleon's contribution to game history means getting into gaming's ideological history ... Strategy games are the most immediately obvious example of how games are political." Related: Play Ludus Latrunculorum online. Browse the International Kriegsspiel Society's collection of rules, videos, Tabletop Simulator modules, inclusiveness info, and Discord info. Consider other meanings of miniatures games in Tristram Shandy [PDF]. Discern "The Invisible Men and Women behind H.G. Wells' Little Wars and Floor Games," e.g. novelists Jerome K. Jerome and George Gissing or short story author Catherine Wells. Or try "Getting Started with Original Dungeons & Dragons."
posted by Wobbuffet at 3:35 PM - 6 comments

It Could Be Much, Much Worse

Last month was the 15-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act being signed into law. Which means that anyone born this century probably has no idea what life was like for anyone with a body before the ACA. So let me tell you!
posted by gottabefunky at 3:01 PM - 26 comments

You'd be a Fool not to share those links

LinkMe, April '25: Come across an interesting link recently that you'd like to share, but don't want to work it up into a full post? Share it here for our perusal, nbd. And if you'd like to post something but need some inspiration, check out the links here to see what other members have found interesting and would like to read more about! Just tag the resulting post "LinkMe" and include a nod back to the original suggestion. No self-linking and usual site rules apply, but otherwise feel free to post whatever you like! Look inside for a round-up from last month. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 12:35 PM - 21 comments

"It is not down on any map: true places never are"

The annual 'Great Lakes Whale Migration 2025 Begins on the Old Mission Peninsula' has begun. [more inside]
posted by clavdivs at 11:57 AM - 11 comments

Without further ado, let’s enter the Stathamverse

A Working Man left me thinking: Where would Statham single-handedly taking down a human trafficking operation fall on the list of his greatest accomplishments? Obviously, the only way to get to the bottom of this mystery is to blog through it. Join me for a thought exercise that has plagued scientists since the aughts: What is the most impressive thing Jason Statham has ever done? A Quantitative Analysis.
posted by chavenet at 11:55 AM - 23 comments

18 Hours And Counting

Livestream of Senator Cory Booker's Filibuster on the Senate Floor [more inside]
posted by subdee at 11:07 AM - 78 comments

They might even be Dr. Spock’s backup band!

"I feel like any job, any creative enterprise, that’s the thing you do after the "chore”—you know there’s the thing that’s paying the rent and there’s the thing that just for kicks —those kinds of jobs always have a spirit to them that’s ineffable. It’s just a great, spirited way to work, and you’re just having fun. You can sense it."
John Flansburgh and John Linnell of They Might Be Giants discuss highlights of their discography from "small town wierdo music" (part 1) to the Mickey Mouse Club and beyond (part 2) in an AV Club Set List interview. [more inside]
posted by polymath at 10:24 AM - 37 comments

Welcome to the worst day on the Internet!

"brands and a holiday dedicated to hoaxes are rarely a winning combo." Starting a post to collect "real or not real," well done prank websites, and possible confirmation of what's actually really happening today (sigh). [more inside]
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:57 AM - 46 comments

Netherlands Bach Society

This beautiful filming of a performance of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 would be worth watching even with the sound off. But it also features superlative playing by Lucia Swarts of the Netherlands Bach Society. [more inside]
posted by Lemkin at 5:24 AM - 5 comments

Détournement de fonds, farewell

Marine Le Pen, populist leader of France's National Rally (RN, formerly the National Front or FN), was found guilty on Monday of embezzlement of EU funds and barred from standing for office pending appeal, making it unlikely that she will be able to run for president in 2027. Le Pen was sentenced to a €100,000 fine and four years in prison, with two suspended and two in an electronic bracelet. [more inside]
posted by rory at 2:27 AM - 31 comments

“Best purchase I’ve made in my life.”

Behind every sockpuppet is a person trying to hide
posted by chavenet at 12:52 AM - 19 comments

The King’s English

Following the Executive Order of 1 March, President Trump announced today that the English language is to be officially renamed “American”. “America is a very popular country,” the President said, “when people understand that this is our language, I think you’re going to find a lot more of them are going to want to speak it. A lot.” [more inside]
posted by Phanx at 12:14 AM - 43 comments

March 31

"The largest analysis of kidney health in spaceflight so far"

Eric Ralls (3/30/2025) on "Space missions and human kidneys": "These important organs could face more trouble than previously assumed, including a higher risk of stones and lasting damage." Keith Siew et al. (6/11/2024), "Cosmic kidney disease": "spaceflight associated changes in urinary biochemistry favour kidney stone formation" (also, "the kidney is an exquisitely radiation sensitive organ"). Citations. Wikipedia's list of notable stone passers, e.g. Montaigne, cites older work on prevention and possible causes of stone formation in space. Info for the Earth-bound: Calyani Ganesan (7/02/2024), "This Too Shall Pass," on "the pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of kidney stones." Brief study guide. Chattier intro. r/KidneyStones. Previously: Life on Mars; and Scientist carbon dates his own kidney stone. Via File770.
posted by Wobbuffet at 8:14 PM - 2 comments

Frozen penguin among millions of specimens moved to new home at CSIRO

Frozen penguin among millions of specimens moved to new home at CSIRO's National Collections Building. The collections include 99 per cent of Australia's native birds as well as exotic bird species, skeletons, mammals, reptiles stored in ethanol, eggs and frozen tissue. (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:53 PM - 4 comments

I would prefer not to... write with anything else!

10 reasons to write your next novel in Scrivener [more inside]
posted by Lemkin at 5:27 PM - 33 comments

Two $%$# homeruns by %^@# Steve Jeltz!

One of the best baseball videos our friends Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein (of Secret Base) ever made is "How to Score 10 Runs in the First Inning and Lose". It explores what happens when a team gets blown out in the first inning but pulls out a commanding win via their (arguably) worst player having the game of his life. [more inside]
posted by maxwelton at 3:56 PM - 7 comments

Damn the Yankee Torpedoes!

The bats look funny. And they definitely look weird. In fact, some players didn't even think that they were real, at least on first glance.
posted by chavenet at 12:19 PM - 48 comments

"So... You are a musican?"

When Patrick Stewart met Sting (SLYT) This is short. Happy Monday, everyone!
posted by dfm500 at 9:39 AM - 22 comments

"I always hated 'realistic' fiction."

Anton Solomonik (LitHub, 03/21/2025), "Realistic Fiction": "What I mean is slice-of-life type writing in which it's just people's feelings and observations and no one does anything, there's no plot, no conflict ... My father was a scientist ... he liked to read police and spy novels." And in the Evergreen Review (Spring / Summer 2025), "The Most Dangerous Game": "Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game with attractive, fantasy-themed cards and a complex, evolving framework of rules." Solomonik is also co-host of "a panel discussion and open mic for trans writers" with past presentations on Twitch and more info at t4t.club.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:08 AM - 9 comments

Quantum Idealist? Historical Catastrophist? Pragmatic Instrumentalist?

What are your beliefs about the nature of reality? Take this quiz to find out (It's a Substack post, so not the greatest format, but a good survey of possibilities)
posted by gwint at 8:25 AM - 67 comments

"You must try to swallow the world while it's on fire"

You Can't Post Your Way Out of Fascism
posted by Kitteh at 6:45 AM - 84 comments

It’s not science fiction that’s causing this kind of sociopathy.

China Miéville says we shouldn’t blame science fiction for its bad readers.
posted by signal at 4:43 AM - 33 comments

Victory of any human over nature is almost always a momentary illusion

The origins of many technologies have a somewhat spiritual dimension, and so it is with the Vermont-born industrialist Robert G. LeTourneau, who had the greatest impact on the development of the bulldozer. LeTourneau was an eccentric evangelical Christian who believed that he created his machines in collaboration with God. “God,” he declared, “is the chairman of my board.” A gifted engineer, he was responsible for hundreds of innovative advances in bulldozer design. from The Shrouded, Sinister History Of The Bulldozer [Noema]
posted by chavenet at 1:18 AM - 12 comments

Why tf is it still March? Your Free Thread in this endless winter.

There seems to be 3,187 days between Christmas and Easter holidays this year - but the calendar says there are just 116. Is the calendar wrong? Does time seem just ... the same? Or does it seem non-linear, stretched or compressed? Have there been instances in your life where your sense of time has become warped, unreal, never-ending or accelerated? Or talk about what's happening in your life (tho' perhaps leave the politics to the billion active political threads elsewhere on the blue). Alternate question: any good food recently, or in planning?
posted by Wordshore at 12:23 AM - 91 comments

March 30

Vulnerable bird builds ingenious nests to survive bushfires

Vulnerable bird builds ingenious nests to survive bushfires. A vulnerable population of ground-dwelling malleefowl survived bushfires that tore through one of its few remaining refuges in Victoria, but the remaining hatchlings now face a new challenge.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:25 PM - 3 comments

Elaine May's "Mikey and Nicky"

"Elaine May set out to use her genius and the overlapping brilliance of Cassavetes and Falk to articulate brutal, profound truths about the joy, horror, and complexities of human experience, as illuminated by the strange codes of a certain subset of insecure, violently overcompensating, crime-prone American men, and a tortured conception of friendship as a messy combination of hatred, love, and everything in between. She succeeded spectacularly, and Mikey and Nicky is an essential reminder that great, deeply personal art endures long after commercial considerations have been rightfully consigned to history." - Nathan Rabin, The Criterion Collection [more inside]
posted by Lemkin at 7:39 PM - 9 comments

MODERN MAGIC UNLOCKS MERLIN’S MEDIEVAL SECRETS

Fragments of a rare Merlin manuscript from c. 1300 have been discovered and digitised in a ground-breaking three-year project at Cambridge University Library. A fragile 13th century manuscript fragment, hidden in plain sight as the binding of a 16th-century archival register, has been discovered in Cambridge and revealed to contain rare medieval stories of Merlin and King Arthur.
posted by fubar at 7:19 PM - 5 comments

The Quran’s command to read has a direction

To command an unlettered man to Read unsettles the essential pillar that reading is largely, or exclusively, the one dimensional act of decoding printed symbols. The Arabic word, “Iqra,” often translated as to “read” contains a curious ambiguity — it simultaneously means “to read” and “to recite.” To recite is to engage in a primarily oral act, externally expressive. To read is to engage in something more private and solitary, internally reflective. from The Lost Art of Research as Leisure [Kasurian]
posted by chavenet at 2:16 PM - 19 comments

improvised and experimental, without pre-existent theories of any kind

An international regime being lowered into the ground, or rising anew like Lazarus? Perry Anderson (previously) ponders what happens next with neoliberalism.
posted by doctornemo at 9:21 AM - 10 comments

Richard Chamberlain of ‘Dr. Kildare,’ ‘Shogun’ dies

Richard Chamberlain, Shogun star, dies aged 90
posted by robbyrobs at 8:40 AM - 48 comments

Oscar Peterson

Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen: "Boogie Blues Study", Ronnie Scott's, London, 1974
posted by Lemkin at 8:21 AM - 5 comments

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