Joy, absurdity, and irreverence have long been in the DNA of the Tiptree Award. What other award crowns the winner with a tiara, raises money with bake sales, and serenades the winner? Now, our community has spoken and said: there is too much discomfort over this history for many of us to feel joyous about this name.

The Tiptree Motherboard has renamed the Tiptree to the Otherwise Award.
posted to MetaFilter by MartinWisse at 9:51 AM on October 15, 2019 (29 comments)

In response to the revelation that the Trump administration had used government aid to Ukraine to attempt to force the nation to provide opposition materials against Joe Biden with regards to his son Hunter, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has formally announced the creation of an inquiry to investigate and pursue articles of impeachment against the President. (SLWaPo)
posted to MetaFilter by NoxAeternum at 2:59 PM on September 24, 2019 (1778 comments)

Veijo Rönkkönen was a recluse who spent his days between the paper mill where he worked for 41 years, and his farm, tucked away in a Finnish forest. By all accounts, he didn’t like to talk to people, and he never took an art lesson in his life. But by the time of his death in 2010, Rönkkönen had covered his land with around 550 sculptures. Nearly all of them depicted human figures: people of all ages and ethnicities, frozen in moments of play, athleticism, and even agony.
posted to MetaFilter by cardioid at 3:28 PM on September 22, 2019 (27 comments)

Best known for playing Nog in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, actor Aron Eisenberg passed away at the age of 50.
posted to MetaFilter by KTamas at 7:53 AM on September 22, 2019 (79 comments)

Derry Girls is a Channel 4 comedy following secondary school students at an (almost) all-girls Catholic school in the Northen Irish town of Derry. The finale of the six-episode first season aired this week. Trailer.
posted to FanFare by Iteki at 1:10 PM on February 10, 2018 (15 comments)

For a long time, if you asked me if I like Country music I would have just said, "well, I like Johnny Cash..." But the comments on this recent FPP sort of blew the doors off that facet of my musical taste. Can you recommend more music along these lines? I'm particularly interested in the raw-er sounding stuff.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Ragged Richard at 11:50 AM on September 13, 2019 (49 comments)

A full minute of Alex Trebek saying "genre", assembled by Jeopardy! champion Alex Jacob, because he hates everything and everyone.
posted to MetaFilter by Etrigan at 11:47 AM on September 13, 2019 (57 comments)

Like “The Office” if it were set in an abortion clinic: Actors Roni Geva and Margaret Katch created the web series Ctrl Alt Delete—now in its second season and with two Emmy nominations under its belt—after reflecting on their own abortion experiences years earlier. Now, the show has support from veteran actors Ed Begley Jr. (who plays an abortion doctor in the second season) and consulting producer Amy Brenneman. “Most women we talked to had zero guilt or shame and if they did, it was because other people made them feel that way,” says Katch. “Most women feel relief. That is really something we wanted to bring to light.” All episodes of seasons one and two are available on Vimeo.
posted to MetaFilter by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:25 AM on September 9, 2019 (21 comments)

When an aspiring tech entrepreneur met a self-styled crypto guru online his search for funding would end up underneath a suburban Maryland home. How 4chan-fuelled paranoia and a homemade nuclear bunker lead to tragedy. (CW: graphic description of death by fire).
posted to MetaFilter by Gin and Broadband at 11:59 PM on September 9, 2019 (25 comments)

An incredible story by ProPublica and The Marshall Project. What happens when police believe rape victims? What happens when they don't?
posted to MetaFilter by trillian at 6:55 AM on December 16, 2015 (42 comments)

How A Colorblind Artist Makes Magic Cards & Video Games [Kotaku] “Paul Scott Canavan is one of the best artists working in entertainment today, with a list of clients and employers ranging from Wizards of the Coast to Valve to Games Workshop. He also used to be an art director at Axis Animation, a company responsible for cinematic video game trailers and intros. So if you’ve ever played Magic, or Destiny, or League of Legends, you’ll likely have seen something he’s worked on. Canavan is also colorblind, and shared the news of his condition recently on Twitter, to the shock and amazement of peers who had no idea. Which was kind of the point; he’d decided that it was time to show that, hey, despite whatever superficial hangups others might have about a colorblind person working as an artist, it actually wasn’t an obstacle to pursuing a successful career in the field.”
posted to MetaFilter by Fizz at 5:36 AM on September 5, 2019 (10 comments)

In May, the magazine Strange Horizons published a discussion on "the way religion is depicted in much of the genre" among Zen Cho, Aliette de Bodard, Ben Jeapes, Daniel Heath Justice, Liz Williams, Tajinder Hayer, Mimi Mondal, Michael A. Burstein, Ken MacLeod, and Farah Mendlesohn.
posted to MetaFilter by brainwane at 8:34 AM on August 30, 2019 (43 comments)

The third season of Netflix's GLOW was released on August 9, 2019.
posted to FanFare by box at 11:15 AM on August 10, 2019 (69 comments)

New York Magazine's "I Think About This A Lot" is dedicated to those little private fixations that play forever in our minds. In this case, about Dana Schwartz's fascination with that time Robert Pattinson made up a story on the Today show about watching a clown explode.
posted to MetaFilter by Navelgazer at 7:29 AM on August 20, 2019 (29 comments)

The Archive of Our Own wins the 2019 Hugo for Best Related Work. Naomi Novik, one of the original founders, accepted the award with several Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) staffers on behalf of all the fans who've helped build, maintain, pay for, and even more importantly use and enjoy the AO3 since its inception, asking for the lights to be raised and anyone in the audience who felt a part of the moment to stand up and be part of the acceptance.
posted to MetaFilter by current resident at 10:00 PM on August 18, 2019 (54 comments)

Canadian artist Micah Adams uses a jeweller’s saw to surgically disassemble coins into tiny clippings, collages and collections. More at designlines.
posted to MetaFilter by oulipian at 2:53 PM on August 14, 2019 (15 comments)

Nonprofit AF imagines the answers on grant proposals if non-profits were brutally honest with funders (Part 2, Part 3)
posted to MetaFilter by adrianhon at 2:37 PM on July 31, 2019 (17 comments)

Communities are creating food access, markets, and opportunity in the southeastern Appalachian foothills.
posted to MetaFilter by poffin boffin at 9:34 AM on July 30, 2019 (10 comments)

There are a fair number of climate-related posts coming up on the front page these days, especially as the shit hits the fan with heatwaves and wildfires. But a lot of these threads seem to be dominated by a sort of drive-by doom, e.g. the most recent one where the first comment is literally 'we are doomed'. The situation is unquestionably dire, but I wonder if there isn't a more substantive way to talk about it.
posted to MetaTalk by AllShoesNoSocks at 7:44 AM on July 29, 2019 (154 comments)

The 101 people, ideas and things changing how we work today (via Kottke)
posted to MetaFilter by Stark at 3:29 AM on July 25, 2019 (14 comments)

There are fascinators, and then there are fascinators. Maor Zabar makes hats that really stand out, from sea creatures to bugs to fast food. He also has a shop on Etsy - but the prices are high.
posted to MetaFilter by Mchelly at 9:51 AM on July 19, 2019 (8 comments)

Children have been crushed and killed by home elevators for decades. Regulators could reduce the danger but haven’t.
posted to MetaFilter by ContinuousWave at 9:09 PM on July 18, 2019 (10 comments)

Vinicunca or Winikunka (Wikpedia), also called Montaña de Siete Colores (Trip Advisor), Montaña de Colores or Rainbow Mountain (Atlas Obscura), is a naturally colorful mountain. The rise in average temperatures in the Andean region has caused the snow on mountain to melt away, exposing these sedimentary layers. Studies done on samples taken from the site indicate that the colors exhibited are due to diverse mineral composition (Rainbow Mountain Peru blog), leading to numerous Instagram visitors (Insta x2). Tourists have also shared their views via Google Streetview panoramas, allowing you to virtually hike along to the final vista, in (hypersaturated) sun or snow
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 2:14 PM on July 17, 2019 (1 comment)

She Caught Bullets with Her Bare Hands — and Made Magic’s Glass Ceiling Disappear: When her husband died and left her penniless, audacious Adelaide Hermann transformed from lowly assistant to "the Queen of Magic."
posted to MetaFilter by Etrigan at 8:55 AM on July 17, 2019 (4 comments)

60 carats of meteorite-made glass. Guillotine signet rings. Bejeweled fox heads. Victorian crystal pendants with "a Westie who apparently was just caught pooping in a shoe." All these and more in Dearest, a newsletter by Monica McLaughlin on unusual antique and estate jewelry.
posted to MetaFilter by joyceanmachine at 7:48 AM on July 17, 2019 (13 comments)

I almost blurt out that my daughter fills her heavy bags with books and printouts filled with bizarre words, setting off across the country like an itinerant salesman. That she's a pitiful girl who eats a meal in her tiny car after class, takes a cramped nap, and comes back home to immerse herself in books and writing again until she falls asleep. These unspoken words pound me in the chest like an assault. And now here she was, paying me a rent that was more of a bribe, having barged in with some strange girl and shaming her parents. The words are about to leak out of my mouth.
posted to MetaFilter by smcg at 2:15 PM on July 16, 2019 (14 comments)

Purple fairy wrasse named Wakanda discovered on reef in twilight zone "Scuba divers have discovered a new fish – a vibrant purple fairy wrasse. They have named it Cirrhilabrus wakanda" [New Scientist]
posted to MetaFilter by readinghippo at 11:22 AM on July 16, 2019 (10 comments)

Teens Taking AP Exams Are Battling For Their Right To Meme
posted to MetaFilter by the man of twists and turns at 3:05 PM on July 13, 2019 (36 comments)

Many of the automobile’s social costs originate in the individual preferences of consumers, but an overlooked amount is encouraged—indeed enforced—by law. Yes, the U.S. is car-dependent by choice. But it is also car-dependent by law. Long article by Greg Shill on hidden subsidies for driving across every area of law, summarized by Angie Schmitt (Streetsblog USA).
posted to MetaFilter by asperity at 7:57 AM on March 8, 2019 (22 comments)

In America, the freedom of movement comes with an asterisk: the obligation to drive. It’s no secret that American public policy throughout the 20th century endorsed the car—for instance, by building a massive network of urban and interstate highways at public expense. Less well understood is how the legal framework governing American life enforces dependency upon the automobile. To begin with, mundane road regulations embed automobile supremacy into federal, state, and local law. But inequities in traffic regulation are only the beginning. Land-use law, criminal law, torts, insurance, vehicle safety regulations, even the tax code—all these sources of law provide rewards to cooperate with what has become the dominant transport mode, and punishment for those who defy it.
posted to MetaFilter by xingcat at 7:50 AM on July 9, 2019 (60 comments)

Ravelry, the eight-million-strong social network for knitters previously, has announced that it will ban its users from voicing support for the Trump administration on the grounds that doing so “is undeniably support for white supremacy”.
The language of the new policy has been adapted from a similar announcement by RPG.net last November.
Further coverage from: USA Today, The Guardian, Business Insider, The Hill, BuzzFeed, Inquisitr, The A.V. Club, and The Mary Sue.
(For a sense of scale: as of February, Twitter has 126 million daily users, Snap has 186 million, and Facebook has 1.56 billion.)
posted to MetaFilter by Going To Maine at 8:20 PM on June 23, 2019 (153 comments)

I am looking for PC games similar to Eastshade. (Think: Myst, but not nearly as challenging.) I have searched the Google Machine, Steam Machine, and YouTube Machine, and while the results are sorta-related, the search algorithms aren't really paying attention to what I am looking for...
posted to Ask MetaFilter by TinWhistle at 5:54 AM on June 19, 2019 (14 comments)

I must be searching for the wrong key words. What is it called when you have a list of tasks and permanently mark one complete?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by BeeDo at 12:32 PM on June 10, 2019 (5 comments)

In these nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
posted to FanFare by komara at 11:44 AM on May 20, 2019 (3 comments)

In a longform piece, Deadspin and GQ writer (and Chopped champion) Drew Magary discusses the brain bleed that almost killed him, his road to recovery, the impact of his injury on his family, friends, and coworkers, and his dealing with the effects of it all several months later. (SLDeadspin)
posted to MetaFilter by NoxAeternum at 9:41 AM on May 16, 2019 (22 comments)

... what is the taco capital of the US? What is the exact longitude where Chinese food eclipses tacos? What about regional preferences, such as the South‘s affinity for BBQ? We reached out to Google for answers, and they provided an anonymized dataset based on actual restaurant visits. A 2018 exploration from The Pudding, which includes a great interactive chart at the end that allows one to choose from a variety of foods (such as sandwiches vs. Japanese food) and view their relative geographic popularity across the US.
posted to MetaFilter by Bella Donna at 12:13 PM on May 14, 2019 (27 comments)

Hi! I'm 23 and looking to date. Something fun about me is, I like "The Office."
posted to MetaFilter by ChuraChura at 4:53 AM on May 12, 2019 (80 comments)

Specifically, it's been tested by grizzly bears. From Great Big Story, Montana's Bear and Wolf Discovery Center shows just what it means for a cooler or trash can to be bear-resistant.
posted to MetaFilter by Hypatia at 1:40 PM on May 9, 2019 (40 comments)

"Baseball is a sport rooted in rules and regulations. Everything in the game is standardized, planned, and coordinated, based on a guideline or precedent. Everything, that is, but the park itself: outfield sizes and wall heights vary across the entire league. There are 30 MLB stadiums. No two of them are alike."
posted to MetaFilter by Hey Dean Yeager! at 1:31 PM on May 9, 2019 (37 comments)

Dumb Ways To Die. What it says on the tin. Courtesy of Metro Australia.
posted to MetaFilter by PareidoliaticBoy at 6:00 AM on November 16, 2012 (70 comments)

Riot Games employees walk out over workplace harassment lawsuits [The Guardian] “Employees of Riot Games, makers of popular online battle video game League of Legends, staged a mass walkout on Monday to protest against the company’s handling of lawsuits brought against it alleging workplace sexism and misconduct. It is the largest such walkout in video game industry history. Around 150 workers at Riot’s Los Angeles headquarters participated in the protest,” [Previously. Previously. Previously.]
posted to MetaFilter by Fizz at 11:38 AM on May 9, 2019 (33 comments)

They gathered outside her home for one final goodbye. Tinney Davidson gave her neighborhood 12 years of warm hellos. And now that she is moving to an assisted living facility, they got together to give her the sweetest surprise goodbye. [Watch the short video for an even better "this is great" level boost!]
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 9:36 PM on May 8, 2019 (15 comments)

Aaron Gordon, transit journalist and author of the MTA-focused newsletter Signal Problems, has ended his newsletter to take a job at Jalopnik. All of the Signal Problems archive is now available
posted to MetaFilter by the man of twists and turns at 3:01 PM on May 4, 2019 (6 comments)

In cities around the world today, cyclists and transportation advocates are placing cups along the paint lines of unprotected bike lanes. This was a bit of flash activism spurred by the death last week of DC cycling activist Dave Salovesh. Check the FPP downstream to see why active transportation is making more vocal demands for specialized infrastructure.
posted to MetaFilter by SoundInhabitant at 10:42 AM on April 26, 2019 (36 comments)

I love love love post-apocalyptic fiction and found the suggestions in this previous Ask very wonderful, but I'm wondering about suggestions for post-apocalyptic fiction set decades or centuries later that focuses on the rebuilding of governments, societies, civilization.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Automocar at 12:28 PM on November 19, 2015 (38 comments)

And a triaxial fabric can support cross-stitch representations of symmetry groups that warp-and-weft fabric can't.
posted to MetaFilter by clew at 4:42 PM on April 2, 2019 (43 comments)

“It’s a very different, and more disquieting, achievement to create a high-rise district on a plinth so sealed-off and yachtlike that nobody need ever leave.” On March 15, after 12 years of planning and six of construction, the Related Companies (which is actually just one mammoth real-estate company) will open the gates to its new $25 billion enclave, Hudson Yards -an agglomeration of supertall office towers full of lawyers and hedge-funders, airborne eight-figure apartments, a 720,000-square-foot shopping zone, and a gaggle of star-chef restaurants. Live Blog of the first day of opening by The NYC Eater (start at the bottom) “It is always a little sad to see what the people rich enough to have everything actually want. ” Hudson Yards Is An Ultra-Capitalist Forbidden City “Unlike a real neighborhood, which implies some kind of social collaboration or collective expression of belonging, Hudson Yards is a contrived place that was never meant for us.” Hudson Yards Has $4.5 Billion In Taxpayer Money. Will We Ever See It Again?
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 10:16 AM on March 22, 2019 (84 comments)

“Just when all my childhood dreams seemed to have come true, I nearly lost my mind and then my life.” In a personal essay published in The New Yorker, Emilia Clarke recounts the two aneurysms she suffered while filming the Game of Thrones series.
posted to MetaFilter by New Frontier at 10:43 PM on March 21, 2019 (27 comments)

Today's Guardian has an excellent piece outlining the past excesses of Norway's black metal scene. If you love Spinal Tap and have a robustly dark sense of humour, I'm confident it'll be the most entertaining thing you read today. Meanwhile, here in East London, we're hosting the World Metal Congress. Here's a programme of events (Friday / Saturday) and the organisers' list of metal bands from around the world. This Syrian film they're showing on Saturday looks like it could be pretty amazing.
posted to MetaFilter by Paul Slade at 4:16 AM on March 22, 2019 (28 comments)

Can anyone recommend some good resources - DVDs, websites, or books - for learning clawhammer/old-time banjo? I don't live anywhere near a teacher, and am starting from scratch with essentially no musical background.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by pilibeen at 5:02 PM on September 20, 2010 (4 comments)