MetaFilter

At the end of the nineties, technology and the Internet were a playground for young engineers and ‘hackers’. Some of them regularly gathered in the w00w00 IRC chatroom on the EFnet network. This tech-think-tank had many notable members, including WhatsApp founder Jan Koum and Shawn Fanning, who logged on with the nickname Napster. In 1998, 17-year-old Fanning shared an idea with the group. ‘Napster’ wanted to create a network of computers that could share files with each other. More specifically, a central music database that everyone in the world could access. This idea never left the mind of the young developer. Fanning stopped going to school and flanked by his friend Sean Parker, devoted the following months to making his vision a reality. That moment came on June 1, 1999, when the first public release of Napster was released online. Soon after, the software went viral.

Napster Sparked a File-Sharing Revolution 25 Years Ago [TorrentFreak] [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 9:59 PM - 0 comments

Major League Baseball has incorporated the statistics of former Negro Leagues players into its historical records on its website, meaning legendary leaders in some categories like Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb have now been replaced in the record books by players who were not allowed to play on the same fields as them during segregation. Josh Gibson, one of the greatest sluggers in the history of the Negro Leagues, is now listed as MLB’s new all-time career leader in batting average at .372, moving ahead of Ty Cobb at .367. The MLB website shows Gibson also overtaking Babe Ruth in career slugging percentage. [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 11:59 AM - 30 comments

Many authors have written stories or novels inspired by RPG campaigns. There is debate about whether or not tabletop RPGs should be used as writing tools. Plenty of folks give the idea a thumbs-down, but save some room in your heart for the LitRPG. B&N has you covered with, of course, a list of novels that started life as RPGs. [more inside]
posted by cupcakeninja at 11:55 AM - 32 comments

This is the story of how a low-budget Australian film – The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – changed the course of history, loudly and proudly bringing a celebration of gay culture to the world that continues to resonate 20 years on. Narrated by Terence Stamp, Between a Frock and a Hard Place [57m] is also a social history of gay culture in Australia, drawing on footage from the famous movie as well as Sydney in the 80s. [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 8:48 AM - 14 comments

Once extinct in central Australia, this little kangaroo-looking marsupial is now thriving in a remote desert safe haven. The number of brush-tailed bettongs and burrowing bettongs surveyed at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary in central Australia has nearly doubled since last year.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 6:42 AM - 8 comments

“Me and monotropism : a unified theory of autism,” suggests that attentional differences explain not only the diagnostic criteria for autism, but better yet, they explain the internal phenomenology: inertia, sensory and social overload and insensitivity, stimming, and particularly hyperfocus and intense interest.

Test yourself here.
posted by anotherpanacea at 5:52 AM - 100 comments

This gown, from one of Kahlo’s long hospital stays, is stained with both paint and [content note:] blood. It is a garment that portrays a very different image than the technicolor Tehuantepec dresses that were the artist’s signature style in public. [getty.edu] [more inside]
posted by HearHere at 5:46 AM - 3 comments

Intelligence analysis is a notoriously difficult craft. Practitioners have to make predictions and assessments with limited information, under huge time pressure, on issues where the stakes involve millions of lives and the fates of nations. If this small bureau tucked in the State Department’s Foggy Bottom headquarters has figured out some tricks for doing it better, those insights may not just matter for intelligence, but for any job that requires making hard decisions under uncertainty. from The obscure federal intelligence bureau that got Vietnam, Iraq, and Ukraine right [Vox]
posted by chavenet at 12:53 AM - 14 comments

Watch how this twelve year old wins the $50,000 2024 US National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling, among many other insanely difficult words, ‘aposiopesis’. When they interview his father he says, ‘I have no words’ but then, instead of an ellipsis or an em-dash, produces a veritable flood of them.
posted by toycamera at 10:10 PM - 12 comments

"Machinery will tend to lose its sensational glamour and appear in its true subsidiary order in human life as use and continual poetical allusion subdue its novelty. For, contrary to general prejudice, the wonderment experienced in watching nose dives is of less immediate creative promise to poetry than the familiar gesture of a motorist in the modest act of shifting gears." 'Hart Crane and the Machine Age'. 1933.
posted by clavdivs at 7:05 PM - 7 comments

Extinct mountain jewel plant returned to wild in secret location. (BBC) A plant picked for its beautiful flowers then wiped out in the UK mainland makes a return.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:03 PM - 4 comments

States that passed unilateral divorce laws saw total female suicide decline by around 20 percent in the long run. Study.
posted by clawsoon at 3:37 PM - 15 comments

The Garden of Time is a 1962 short story by J. G. Ballard [archive] which was the theme of this year’s Met Gala. Partly because of that incongruous fact, Thomas Jones, who wrote about Ballard back in 2008 [archive], and Edmund Gordon, whose piece on Ballard appeared last week [archive], had a discussion about Ballard on the London Review of Books podcast.
posted by Kattullus at 2:22 PM - 16 comments

US District Judge permits copyright suit to continue in the case that alleges the beat that largely defines the Raggaeton genre has been used by 100s in infringement of copyright.
posted by rubatan at 1:00 PM - 17 comments

given the current discussions around ai and its impact on artistry and authorship, creating a film reliant on the technology is a controversial but inevitable move. however, the software that hustwit and dawes have built may just hit the sweet spot where human meets machine; where the algorithm works to respect the material and facilitate an artistic vision. from B–1 and the first generative feature film. [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 12:33 PM - 9 comments

Leaked Documents Reveal How Google Search Gatekeeps the Internet This week, a 2,500-page leak, first reported by search engine optimization (SEO) veteran Rand Fishkin, gave the world an insight into the 26-year-old mystery of Google Search.
posted by heyitsgogi at 11:43 AM - 26 comments

One of those rare videos from The Dodo that isn't unapologetically sappy. This one is more Far Side, I think. Watch This Fish "Drive" To His Mom To Get Treats [3m] is about university researchers who have set goldfish free to drive on land.
posted by hippybear at 11:39 AM - 13 comments

In the summer of 2023, Ursula Vernon (aka T. Kingfisher, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously) was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thus began The Saga of Cancer Bob. [more inside]
posted by cosmic owl at 11:15 AM - 6 comments

Magnolia wood is great for building, as it resists splitting and glues well. It's so good that Japan built the LignoSat probe out of the wood, which will be better for Earth when the satellite inevitably reenters the atmosphere.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:12 AM - 36 comments

Could my desire to be rag-dolled by a big, strong man be a symptom of some sort of patriarchal Disney brain virus contracted during childhood? Do I want to be romantically rescued by a man? Saved by love? Yeah, unfortunately. Like honestly, that sounds fucking great. Is that gross? Sure. Okay, let’s sit with that for a minute. It’s not like I want to be a trad wife or anything, but there’s a reason a bunch 20-something TikTokers are singing the virtues of baking all day. Life is hard. Jobs are hard. I could never give up my sense of self-worth for the trade-off of being a large adult dependent, but maybe that’s what the fantasy is really about — having a brief moment where someone else is responsible for me again. from Pick Me Up by Lauren Bans [The Cut; ungated] [via The Morning News]
posted by chavenet at 1:32 AM - 57 comments

They were Black veterans of World War II and Korea who had fought for freedoms abroad that they were denied at home. They were champions for LGBTQ rights at a time when each of those initials stood for moral corruption and political subversion. They were feminist activists in the left wing, some in the U.S. Communist Party, who confronted sexism, racism, and class prejudice as inseparable wrongs and barriers to solidarity, which prepared the way for a feminism beyond the Second Wave. And there were scientists prepared to denounce their colleagues’ ingenious new biological, chemical, and military technologies as potential threats to the natural world, including humanity itself. [James R. Gaines, The Fifties] [more inside]
posted by HearHere at 1:06 AM - 4 comments

More than a dozen locations bear this racist term and relic of colonial oppression. It's time to change the place names. There is a small sign in Western Victoria — one of 15 locations around the country, from creeks and waterholes to bores and mountains — that is a racist slur in plain sight.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:21 PM - 27 comments

Last summer, the California coast had an unusual threat for surfers in the form of Otter 841, who had a passion for stealing surfboards while evading the authorities. With the start of the 2024 season, Otter 841 is back, and just as ready to cause havok as she was last year.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:19 PM - 21 comments

The 24 Universal Melodic Figures [of Western music] "Have you ever found yourself humming along to a song that you’d never heard before? How is this even possible? Could it be that you possess some musical superpower? You may indeed be an extraordinary person, but this particular skill is unexceptional. Every melody you know—plus every melody you don’t yet know—draws from just 24 melodic patterns or “figures.” You see, there are just so many ways to arrange the notes in a major or minor key into patterns that “make sense”—that “sound like music.”"
posted by storybored at 9:20 PM - 12 comments

Australian scientists have developed a method of brewing coffee by blasting ground beans with sound waves – and it produces a powerful cup "The ultrasonic method sends lots of tiny bubbles into the water and coffee. When they implode, they make mini shockwaves that can pierce the inside of the coffee grinds in a phenomenon called acoustic cavitation. According to Trujillo’s 2020 research, this method extracts more flavour and caffeine from the coffee." [more inside]
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:45 PM - 35 comments

Hundreds of Beavers is an indie film made in six weeks for $150,000. It's like a modern combination of 20s and 30s slapstick films and live-action Looney Tunes. It's currently available on Apple and Amazon streaming platforms. A 19th century trapper battles nature and wildlife (depicted by people wearing mascot costumes) to win the hand of a furrier's daughter. It's filled with hundreds of gags. Here's the trailer, the opening, and a clip showing the costumes.
posted by JHarris at 4:31 PM - 22 comments

The jury has reached a verdict and is currently filling out paperwork until about 5:15 Eastern. Trump was looking cheerful and relaxed, sharing smiles and laughs with his lawyers, as they prepared to leave for the day. As soon as the judge announced that instead we had a verdict, his demeanor changes dramatically. He crossed his arms and knitted his brows. He continued to whisper with attorney Todd Blanche, but no longer cheerfully. [more inside]
posted by kensington314 at 1:52 PM - 571 comments

If you're not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms, where it's nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in. God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you.

So stated an anonymous 2019 thread on 4chan's /x/ imageboard -- a potent encapsulation of liminal-space horror that gave rise to a complex mythos, exploratory video games, and an acclaimed web series (previously; soon to become a major motion picture from A24!). In the five years since, the evolving "Backrooms" fandom has canonized a number of other dreamlike settings, from CGI creations like The Poolrooms and a darkened suburb with wrong stars to real places like the interior atrium of Heathrow's Terminal 4 Holliday Inn and a shuttered Borders bookstore. But the image that inspired the founding text -- an anonymous photo of a vaguely unnerving yellow room -- remained a mystery... until now. [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 1:30 PM - 18 comments

Atlanta police surveil people opposing Cop City. Police have been carrying out continuous surveillance and harassment of protestors, their families, and neighborhoods for months now.
posted by The Manwich Horror at 1:08 PM - 16 comments

The IRS announces that "Direct File will be a permanent, free tax filing option." Despite years of lobbying from the likes of Intuit and H&R Block, the IRS ran a successful pilot program of its Direct File program with 12 states. Today, they announced that the program will be permanent and invited all states to participate.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 1:04 PM - 22 comments

The FBI and Interpol announce Operation Endgame, the "largest ever operation against botnets". And they made some animated videos to go with it!
posted by chavenet at 12:27 PM - 11 comments

Regional property owners turning unusable land into money through solar energy leases. With upheavals in the agriculture industry making some farms unviable, a landowner in South Australia is encouraging others to consider repurposing their properties for renewable energy projects.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 12:04 PM - 4 comments

The 20 country, 55 match tournament is hosted through June 2024 by the West Indies and the USA. Guardian: “Khan’s first delivery back bowled Shakib off his inside edge. His fourth was a yorker, which pinned the new batsman lbw. His 10th, delivered in the final over, was edged and caught by the wicketkeeper. The three wickets cost 11 runs and USA won the game by six. “It was a big achievement to take down a top ten T20 side,” Khan says, two days later. But he believes there are even bigger ones ahead. The T20 World Cup starts with their [USA] opening match against Canada in Grand Prairie, Texas, this Saturday.” Official World Cup website, Wikipedia page. Scorecard for USA vs Canada from 23rd September 1844.
posted by Wordshore at 11:40 AM - 11 comments

The Bobcat Comics series features collaborations between artists and UC Merced scholars. The comics explore research on colonial Alta California, how Latinas use "journey" rather than "war" metaphors when talking about breast cancer, unruly patriarchs and failed women and more. One stand-out is How to Read an Aztec "Comic": Indigenous Knowledge, Mothers' Bodies, and Tamales in the Pot, a collaboration by artist Jordan Collver and Chicana Studies scholar Felicia Rhapsody Lopez about women's representation in the ancient Mesoamerican text, Codex Borgia/Yoalli Ehēcatl. [more inside]
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:09 AM - 1 comment

James loves working on vehicles but hates spending money. Watch him repair, resurrect, and reimagine old vehicles and machinery with a delightful combination of dry wit, patience, and an impressive collection of junk. Welcome to Low-Buck Garage.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:47 AM - 3 comments

(2014) WaPo (archive) article about Gregg Deal's performance art piece in which he dresses up in stereotypical costume in public. Last spring, Deal came up with his own performance concept in which he’d dress up in a brash getup to physically embody what he believes many non-indigenous people envision when they think of a Native American. The mostly prefabricated outfit is a costume, not authentic regalia; is intentionally over-the-top; and holds no personal significance for Deal. (...) Suspicion is (...) displayed by a security officer at Potomac Mills mall who demands to know what Deal is doing (Deal’s response of “Shopping” irking the officer all the more). [more inside]
posted by bq at 10:47 AM - 13 comments

Bill Pruitt's NDA, that is, from his time 20 years ago creating the entertainment show featuring Donald Trump, known as The Apprentice. Pruitt explains what he saw and what he let happen in a piece for Slate.
posted by k3ninho at 7:50 AM - 45 comments

B's Music Shop has announced the Meowdulator ($199.99) which is a guitar effects pedal that meows and purrs (0:24 Instagram video). [more inside]
posted by ShooBoo at 6:47 AM - 18 comments

After days of testimony and a marathon closing argument from the prosecution, the jury for the Trump hush-money trial begins its second day of deliberations. They have requested a replay of not only some of the crucial testimony, but at least a portion of the hour-long instructions Justice Merchan provided. The specific crime Trump is charged with turns out to be fairly complex, and Lawfare has an explainer.
posted by mittens at 5:15 AM - 145 comments

A list with descriptions of selected Native restaurants in the U.S.
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:57 AM - 21 comments

The Stasi files offer an astonishingly granular picture of life in a dictatorship—how ordinary people act under suspicious eyes. Nearly three hundred thousand East Germans were working for the Stasi by the time the Wall fell, in 1989, including some two hundred thousand inoffizielle Mitarbeiter, or unofficial collaborators, like Genin. In a population of sixteen million, that was one spy for every fifty to sixty people. In the years since the files were made public, their revelations have derailed political campaigns, tarnished artistic legacies, and exonerated countless citizens who were wrongly accused or imprisoned. Yet some of the files that the Stasi most wanted to hide were never released. In the weeks before the Wall fell, agents destroyed as many documents as they could. Many were pulped, shredded, or burned, and lost forever. But between forty and fifty-five million pages were just torn up, and later stuffed in paper sacks. from Piecing Together the Secrets of the Stasi [The New Yorker; ungated]
posted by chavenet at 1:19 AM - 21 comments

Vulcan loses planet status
posted by sardonyx at 7:33 PM - 27 comments

"In the life of a poet, of course, there is no Election Day to distinguish the visionaries from the also-rans. So Stevens’s response, when it came, trickled down in dribs and drabs. Scholars argue over this: some see him as returning, defensively, to conservatism, particularly since in a 1940 letter he declared that “Communism is just the new romanticism,” and referred to “my rightism.”" 'What Mitt Romney Might Learn From Wallace Stevens' [archive link]
posted by clavdivs at 6:14 PM - 4 comments

Good Samaritans joined by green sea turtle for unexpected outback road trip. After spotting a request for help on social media, Emily and Callum helped Squirt the turtle make the 600-kilometre (372.8 miles) journey from Port Hedland to Broome.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:32 PM - 4 comments

Analyzing my text messages with my ex-boyfriend by Teresa Ibarra
posted by chavenet at 1:10 PM - 21 comments

As reported previously on the Blue, the the Reykjanes peninsula had an eruption in the proximity of the town of Grindavík several months back, however the emergence had settled down after about a week of activity...until a new emergence opened up in the Sundhnuk crater. (SLYT live feed)
posted by NoxAeternum at 12:55 PM - 9 comments

The Town of McClellanville, South Carolina revolves around seafood: Shrimp, Fish, Oysters, Crabs, and Clams. Shrimp are the bread-and-butter of the industry. Each year they celebrate the Blessing of the Fleet, with it's own underground anthem referenced in the post title ([4m14s], Some NFSW Lyrics) Vimeo or YT. The industry is threatened by more than imported shrimp (previously, previously): the owner of the fish house is ready to retire, with no one in line to take over. [more inside]
posted by ElGuapo at 12:23 PM - 1 comment

Interview with Tracey Emin in the Guardian. Emin talks about art, social class, cancer, her philanthropy, love, her film Why I never became a dancer (previously), politics, her stoma and urostomy, the establishment's unacceptable treatment of her as a younger woman, her exhibition at the Xavier Hufkens in Brussels, her cat Teacup, her work being dismissed as "moaning", the different phases of her life ...
posted by paduasoy at 11:43 AM - 6 comments

[CW: So much penis] The Cut: As Bustamante injects five vials first into the sides of the shaft, then six more around the glans (if you’re picturing a mushroom as the head of a penis, that’s the glans, and he is injecting around the base rim of the dome), he sweeps the needle slightly from side to side, then uses his thumbs to massage out any filler lumps, sculpting through what he calls “transitional zones” like a potter smoothing an edge of clay. “It goes beyond just filling up a penis,” Bustamante says. “I really do think that there is an artistry to it, to making it look good: aesthetically pleasing, no lumps, smooth, consistent, looks natural, feels natural - all those things.” [Previously: post title] [more inside]
posted by Wordshore at 11:04 AM - 60 comments

Young voters despairing over US politics "49% agreed to some extent that elections in the country don’t represent people like them; 51% agreed to some extent that the political system in the US “doesn’t work for people like me;” and 64% backed the statement that “America is in decline.” A whopping 65% agreed either strongly or somewhat that “nearly all politicians are corrupt, and make money from their political power” — only 7% disagreed."
posted by mecran01 at 10:20 AM - 262 comments