The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness , signed by 88 researchers, asks us to consider more non-human creatures as capable of subjective experiences.
posted to MetaFilter by doctornemo at 4:42 PM on April 25, 2024 (33 comments)

I'd like to expand my pantry recipe options aka food I can make from mostly shelf stable ingredients (goes to 2024 "best of" list from Self.com) with maybe eggs or one fresh veggie added in. I was intrigued by the Heyday Canning recipes for their line of super savory beans. Plates of beans welcome!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by spamandkimchi at 12:42 PM on April 4, 2024 (15 comments)

I'm looking for golden age or other older mysteries to catch up on. I really only started reading mysteries recently so "older" could even mean almost current. I've been reading the Mrs. Pollifax ones and enjoying those, and I've read Mrs. Marple and Dorothy Sayers too. What other mysteries hold up to the test of time that I might find enjoyable to dive into?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by azalea_chant at 9:28 AM on March 22, 2024 (32 comments)

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has announced the finalists for the Nebula Awards.
posted to MetaFilter by Wobbuffet at 9:19 PM on March 14, 2024 (41 comments)

"Abarat IV and V are amongst the books at my feet. So is the Third and final book of The Art and the sequel to The Thief of Always. There are also return visits to characters and mythologies you may have thought I would never return to. I hope I am still able to surprise you in the decades ahead." Legendary horror author Clive Barker announces plans to end convention appearances, having decided it is time for him to direct his focus fully back to writing.
posted to MetaFilter by cupcakeninja at 5:27 AM on March 9, 2024 (28 comments)

I've been enjoying the Dollar Country podcast for a while. It's basically a highly curated DJ set of esoteric old time country songs with a theme. Can anyone recommend other podcasts in a similar vein for other genres of music? Thanks!!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by steinwald at 6:07 AM on March 8, 2024 (6 comments)

Until the mid 1800s, pawpaws were strictly a foraged food due to their woodland abundance. Indigenous people and enslaved Africans ate them as part of their seasonal diets, and the recorded anecdotes of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and Daniel Boone describe subsisting on the native fruits during their journeys through the wilderness. Eventually, pawpaws, or custard apples as they were sometimes called, were sold at market. Though cultivated by Indigenous tribes like the Shawnee, the pawpaw was relegated to a wild folk food eaten by impoverished rural people, earning nicknames like the “poor man’s banana” and the “hillbilly banana.” from Consider the Pawpaw [Belt]
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 12:53 AM on February 23, 2024 (50 comments)

Bucks County, Pa.: Home to new money and old evil. Amid the McMansions, a small farmer struggles to keep his homestead along the Delaware River. Dan Paxson has started a small orchard in hopes that his new crop--a formerly-lost apple he calls Ruby Slipper--will save him and his daughter, Calla. But despite its heavenly taste, this is a very bad apple indeed, as the townspeople will soon discover. Chuck Wendig's Black River Orchard is fast-moving horror that, well, grows on you. Do not eat apples while reading!
posted to FanFare by MonkeyToes at 2:40 PM on January 9, 2024 (5 comments)

I want to suck less at cooking. I want to try simple, cheap, easy meals for 1 more regularly. I'd like a cookbook or one or two websites I can have as go-to resources. Please help.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by greta simone at 12:01 PM on January 4, 2024 (68 comments)

In North America, nearly all songbirds feed insects to their young. But since 1970, the number of birds in the United States and Canada has fallen by 29%, or roughly 2.9 billion, which scientists theorize is tied to having fewer insects in the world. Some research also has linked insecticide use with declines in barn swallows, house martins, and swifts .... “Nature is just eroding away very slowly,” Wagner said. As insects disappear, “we’re losing the limbs and the twigs of the tree of life. We’re tearing it apart. And we’re leaving behind a very simplified and ugly tree.” from The collapse of insects
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 1:02 AM on November 17, 2023 (36 comments)

Listen to live air traffic control radio mixed with lofi hip hop
posted to MetaFilter by thatwhichfalls at 11:07 AM on July 12, 2023 (27 comments)

I recently finished Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis, Melmoth by Sarah Perry, and The Vegetarian by Han Kang. I'm finding a lot of catharsis and introspection reading books that address the monstrous while being written from a female perspective, and I'm now seeking more recommendations for my reading list.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Pemberly at 11:38 AM on July 8, 2023 (46 comments)

I got to know a man willing to discuss nearly anything but his own literary significance. Openly sharing the most intimate minutiae of his life—finances, hookup apps, Depends—he recoiled with Victorian modesty whenever I asked why he’d written his books or what they meant to his readers. “I write, I don’t speculate about what I’m writing,” he reminded me a bit sharply after an interpretative question. For Delany, decency entails remembering that the author is dead even when he’s sitting across the table.

–How Samuel R. Delany Reimagined Sci-Fi, Sex, and the City by Julian Lucas.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 1:31 AM on July 4, 2023 (40 comments)

I’m having trouble figuring out what are good fish to eat weekly (sustainability, less mercury, etc). Also what are good recipes aside from just pan searing?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by inevitability at 11:48 AM on June 27, 2023 (36 comments)

At the bottom of an ancient crater, in a city with buildings made of diamond, German archæologists have discovered a 3000 year old sword so perfectly preserved it 'almost shines.'
posted to MetaFilter by logicpunk at 7:02 PM on June 17, 2023 (16 comments)

What are some of your favourite and best 1930s films? I have seen My Man Godfrey and City Lights, Showboat, which are probably some of the best and the Thin Man Series as well. I am open to comedy, drama, mystery, and all kinds as long as it is well done. I hear Greta Garbo is great too but I have only seen one of her films.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by RearWindow at 5:15 PM on April 7, 2023 (41 comments)

I want it to default to recording 'check' rather than 'cheque' when I say that word.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Cantdosleepy at 5:21 AM on March 15, 2023 (8 comments)

Before deciding whether to seek formal diagnosis, I’ve been listing my outlier traits, reading up, taking self-assessments online, and looking at diagnosis Venn diagrams like these. That process has led me to skepticism about the diagnoses themselves. How scientifically well-founded are they?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by daisyace at 4:58 AM on March 15, 2023 (19 comments)

Stand up comedian Fern Brady was told she couldn't be autistic because she's had loads of boyfriends and is good at eye contact. This is a story of how being female can get in the way of being autistic and how being autistic gets in the way of being the 'right kind' of woman.
posted to FanFare by ellieBOA at 11:30 AM on February 23, 2023 (4 comments)

Enjoy reading and recommending science fiction and fantasy prose, art, TV, film, and more published in 2022 with a crowdsourced list of Hugo Award-eligible works, people, magazines, etc. It currently lists 164 short stories and 29 novelettes, most of which you can read for free online, along with more than 130 novels, 19 graphic stories, and dozens of magazines and podcasts. This collaborative spreadsheet is administered by the fans who run the group blog Lady Business. If something you loved isn't in the sheet, please add it!
posted to MetaFilter by brainwane at 8:40 AM on December 25, 2022 (3 comments)

Last month Tom Lehrer put all his songs online for free streaming or downloading, and relinquished all rights to them. You can browse them by album, title or category, and also download the sheet music for each song. But get those songs fast, because the website is only staying up for a limited time yet.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 3:20 PM on December 16, 2022 (50 comments)

Once a decade, the British Film Institute polls thousands of critics and directors to determine the best film of all time. Here is the newly-released critics list from 2022. The greatest film of all time? Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles No other film made by a woman has ever reached the top 10.
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 5:35 AM on December 2, 2022 (103 comments)

Somehow, inexplicably, American Thanksgiving is here again, and so it's once again time for our five bold visionaries to view and discuss Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2. But make no mistake - this year, things are different. This year, there is a mole. One of the five was chosen at random to watch Here Comes the Boom instead of PBMC2. The vibes get weird. Dig in.
posted to FanFare by EndsOfInvention at 4:03 AM on November 24, 2022 (14 comments)

Lula defeats Bolsonaro to again become Brazil’s president. "Twenty years after first winning the Brazilian presidency, the leftist defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro Sunday in an extremely tight election that marks an about-face for the country after four years of far-right politics." Background on Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva: 'Our phoenix': Lula's ups and downs in Brazil defy belief; background on the election: All you need to know about most divisive vote in Brazil’s history.
posted to MetaFilter by taz at 12:57 AM on October 31, 2022 (39 comments)

In December of 2021, professionals in the print and design industries were disappointed to learn that because of a breakdown in licensing talks, Adobe would remove Pantone Color Libraries from future versions of its Creative Cloud products. The reality turned out to be more disappointingly late-stage-capitalist-rent-seeking, when Adobe decided that any Photoshop file with a Pantone color would be replaced by black squares when the PSD file was loaded, unless the user pays an additional $21 per month.
posted to MetaFilter by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:55 PM on October 30, 2022 (46 comments)

Traveling to Detroit for a job interview, Tess (Georgina Campbell) books a rental home. But when she arrives late at night, she discovers that the house is double booked and a strange man (Bill Skarsgård) is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to spend the evening, but soon discovers that there's a lot more to fear than just an unexpected house guest.
posted to FanFare by DirtyOldTown at 12:39 PM on September 10, 2022 (22 comments)

"He's only targeting political enemies." LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, scandal-plagued chief of a department run by gangs, has been in a Trumpy, ongoing battle with everyone he identifies as political enemies: a local oversight committee, Black people, the County Board of Supervisors, anyone to his left. Today his deputies searched the homes of an elected County official and a member of the Sheriff's Civilian Oversight Commission.
posted to MetaFilter by kensington314 at 12:38 PM on September 14, 2022 (19 comments)

Rob McElhenney (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) navigate running the 3rd oldest professional football club in the world. Welcome to Wrexham is a docuseries tracking the dreams and worries of Wrexham, a working-class town in North Wales, UK, as two Hollywood stars take ownership of the town’s historic yet struggling football club.
posted to FanFare by BlahLaLa at 12:24 PM on August 31, 2022 (33 comments)

Mike Salcedo decided to try and animate one thing a day. So he chose the alphabet. It got somewhat out of hand.
posted to MetaFilter by Lorc at 5:07 AM on August 27, 2022 (23 comments)

How long has it been since we had a Flash Friday?
The Mellow Mushroom is a chain of pizza restaurants based and primarily set in the U.S. state of Georgia. What else is owned and operated in Georgia? Homestar Runner! Back in 2001 these two semiagrarian planets shared an orbit for a time: the Brothers Chaps made a website for Mellow Mushroom that will look and sound very familiar to fans of Strong Bad and friends. The site changed design in 2007, but the Chaps' version is still hosted on the company's website, and although Flash is dead, if you install the Ruffle browser extension you can see the site largely as it existed back when it was active. More information is on the Homestar Runner Wiki.
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 2:41 PM on August 26, 2022 (25 comments)

With the release of Nona the Ninth less than a month away, it's time to revisit Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth. Given Muir's heady blend of mystery, lore, humor, teenage queerness, memes, horror, romance, oblique references to Homestuck, and baroque science fiction, you might need some help (note: many spoilers).
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 3:45 PM on August 24, 2022 (114 comments)

I had a great day at work, felt fine, and immediately as soon as I got home I feel bone-tired and my face feels flushed. This happens 2-3 days a week. Tried to nap, can’t fall asleep. I stopped drinking recently, if that might be related. Does anyone have this or know why it might be happening or how to fix it? It’s killing my house-chores productivity. Thanks in advance!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ftm at 2:35 PM on August 18, 2022 (20 comments)

Middlesex - and the UK as a whole - is home to thriving leagues and park teams that exist with little support from official bodies. This has led to a farcical situation in which some traditional, predominantly white clubs complain about a lack of new players, while oversubscribed Asian teams struggle to find grounds. It might seem obvious for the former to hire out their pitches, or follow the example of Crouch End (and other clubs such as East Lancashire) by involving Asian players in their organisation and outreach. However, Ankit Shah, co-chair of Middlesex's equality, diversity and inclusion committee, told me he does not see this happening. "This conservatism, protectionism, whatever you want to call it, is out there," he said. "It's not just the clubs - it's the private schools, too. They often have three or four pitches that aren't used from July to September. And you're talking about some of the best facilities in the country."
posted to MetaFilter by smcg at 5:01 AM on August 1, 2022 (20 comments)

I have several laptops ranging from ancient (20 years old?) to fairly current. All are broken past the point of utility, and all have stuff on them I am resistant to losing forever (pictures, correspondence, etc.). I've been hauling them around with me this long because while I don't want to lose what's on them, I have no idea how to access and store it (or even if I can), and thinking about it makes me anxious. Just throwing them away might be liberating in a way, but I have privacy/security concerns. Is there a place where I can just take these to get them cleaned off (hopefully in a way where I can retrieve and store what's on them) and disposed of?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Otis the Lion at 9:42 AM on July 31, 2022 (13 comments)

My favorite historical "discoveries" are ones male anthropologists/historians just *can't* figure out for YEARS that are swiftly answered by a woman when one is finally given access. "But what could this ancient tablet of instructions even MEAN!" Woman: "it's a recipe". (short Twitter thread with many replies of similar "discoveries")
posted to MetaFilter by Etrigan at 6:29 AM on July 30, 2022 (36 comments)

It's May 3rd, the date of Johnathan Harker's first diary entry, which means Dracula Daily starts today! Sign up and every day somebody writes a letter or a diary entry, through the ending on November 7, you'll get that day's segment of the classic epistolary novel in your email.
posted to MetaFilter by Pope Guilty at 7:43 AM on May 3, 2022 (51 comments)

What Democrats Don’t Understand About Rural America. Chloe Maxmin is a state senator (D) in Maine. Canyon Woodward was her campaign manager in 2018 and 2020. "As two young progressives raised in the country, we were dismayed as small towns like ours swung to the right. But we believed that Democrats could still win conservative rural districts if they took the time to drive down the long dirt roads where we grew up, have face-to-face conversations with moderate Republican and independent voters and speak a different language, one rooted in values rather than policy."
posted to MetaFilter by storybored at 9:06 PM on May 3, 2022 (128 comments)

My personal recipe catalog is sorely lacking in salads. The one problem: I don't like lettuce/arugula/whatever spring mix is/kale/etc. Creamy potato salads? Love it! Tangy pasta salads? Absolutely! Fresh veggie salads? You know it! Sweet fruit salads? Sounds great! A delicious caesar salad? Sorry, not for me. If you can call it a salad and the main ingredient isn't a leafy green, I want to try it. So if you have a favorite greens-free salad recipe you can share, I'd love to try it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by noneuclidean at 4:24 PM on April 30, 2022 (55 comments)

Marjory Fleming died in 1811 from complications of measles. She was not quite nine years old. Yet, over fifty years later, the little Scottish girl became a famous author. She was celebrated for the naughtiness and sharp observations in her diaries, published here, which read a bit like an Eloise of Regency Scotland.
In the love novels all the heroins are very desperate Isabella will not allow me to speak about lovers & heroins and tiss too refined for my taste ... A sailor called here to say farewell, it must be dreadful to leave his native country where he might get a wife or perhaps me, for I love him very much & with all my heart, but O I forgot Isabella forbid me to speak about love
... I am now going to tell you about the horible and wretched plaege that my multiplication gives me you cant concieve it — the most Devilish thing is 8 times 8 & 7 times 7 it is what nature itselfe cant endure
posted to MetaFilter by Countess Elena at 2:11 PM on March 21, 2022 (6 comments)

Finally the single most important fact... is hidden at the very bottom. Twelve little words which the audience would have had to wade through more than 100 to get to. If they even managed to keep reading to that point. Death by PowerPoint: the slide that killed seven people
posted to MetaFilter by meowzilla at 7:08 PM on March 10, 2022 (76 comments)

I followed a blogger in the early 2010s who posted fashion, design, and cooking (including molecular gastronomy). Who was it?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by quadrilaterals at 11:34 AM on March 3, 2022 (4 comments)

Eleven years ago Smithsonian Magazine published an in-depth examination[1] of the Finnish education system (and what the U.S. can learn from the Finns). Here's a quote: "Schools provide food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed. Student health care is free... Besides Finnish, math and science, the first graders take music, art, sports, religion and textile handcrafts. English begins in third grade, Swedish in fourth. By fifth grade the children have added biology, geography, history, physics and chemistry."
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 11:11 PM on February 22, 2022 (37 comments)

In January one of Jay Rayner's Observer reviews included a short news bite on a crowdfund to help a small London restaurant, Sugarcane, get back on its feet after a break in. This week, Jay reviewed the restaurant and seems to have caused an outbreak of emotion amongst readers.
posted to MetaFilter by ElasticParrot at 11:05 AM on February 13, 2022 (12 comments)

A new Instagram by NYC photographer Nicolas Heller showcases all the discarded and hastily taped signs that keep New York limping along: plaintive, brusque, vengeful, funny, and surprising.
The Pandemic has been hard on us all, but You Need To Stop.
YOU'RE BEING SCAMMED.
Is your grandpa Jewish, single and looking for love?
Staff Only!

posted to MetaFilter by Countess Elena at 6:10 AM on February 1, 2022 (31 comments)

Evolution of Horror is a podcast that explores the history of the horror genre by delving into particular sub-genres across multiple weeks. Each episode, host Mike Muncer is joined by a different guest: a critic, filmmaker or expert, to discuss a particular film in depth, to look at its place within a sub-genre and its impact and legacy on cinema history.
posted to MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 8:37 AM on February 1, 2022 (7 comments)

"The funnel-like device that is is shared by everyone using the urinal also proved not to be a popular feature. Because of those reasons, not more than 700 'She-inals' were sold before Urinette, the company that manufactured it, sold the manufacturing rights."

The Dairy Queen in Port Charlotte, FL. Thailand's Hat Noppharat Thara at Phi Phi Islands National Park. The Victorian fixtures at the pierhead at Rothesay, Isle of Bute. And the remaining Top Ten Urinals in the world.
posted to MetaFilter by youarenothere at 5:27 AM on February 1, 2022 (21 comments)

This webcomic made it okay to be sad online. Then its artist vanished. The author of ‘Pictures for Sad Children’ went AWOL after a 2014 Kickstarter drama. In an exclusive interview, she explains why she had to unplug from the internet.
posted to MetaFilter by meowzilla at 10:27 AM on November 23, 2021 (48 comments)

"This dress is pure sisterhood" The Red Dress is the culmination of a 12 year project spanning 28 countries and 244 embroiderers.
posted to MetaFilter by Martha My Dear Prudence at 3:53 AM on November 14, 2021 (7 comments)

Ride Like Hell.  Exploited by apps. Attacked by thieves. Unprotected by cops. 65,000 strong, with only themselves to count on. Revolt of the Delivery Workers. Reportage by NY Magazine.
posted to MetaFilter by lalochezia at 5:14 PM on September 19, 2021 (25 comments)

The Liberation of Paris From Cars Is Working - "The French capital is quickly cutting automobiles out of daily life. David Belliard is the deputy mayor behind it."[1,2] (previously)
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 11:11 PM on September 18, 2021 (44 comments)