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calibre is one of the preeminent pieces of open-source software of our time, and it just reached Version 8, so I thought I would make a post about it.
posted by Lemkin to MetaFilter on Mar 22 at 7:25 AM
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"SomaFM is an independent Internet-only streaming multi-channel radio station, supported entirely with donations from listeners. SomaFM originally started broadcasting out of founder Rusty Hodge's basement garage in the Bernal Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, as a micropower radio station broadcast at the Burning Man festival in 1999. The response to the project was sufficiently positive that Rusty Hodge launched it as a full-time internet radio station in February 2000."*
posted by Lemkin to MetaFilter on Mar 22 at 7:59 PM
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The AT&T Tech Channel on YouTube posts videos from the telecom giant's century-old archives, including some legitimately interesting documentaries. Reconnecting 170,000 Phone Customers in NYC After a Major Fire (1975) and The Life of a Telephone Operator in 1969 are both fascinating time capsules of corporate America. A wide variety of other videos, from interviews with famous Bell Labs alumni to advertisements and trainings, are scattered across the channel's uploads.
posted by redct to MetaFilter on Mar 20 at 6:27 PM
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For more than 20 years, Turkey has experienced steady democratic backsliding under the rule of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) founded on the ideals of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has remained fierce. Following the failed 2016 coup attempt that Erdoğan leveraged to push through a constitutional overhaul centralizing power, social democrat Ekrem İmamoğlu emerged as the opposition's brightest star, winning a 2019 Istanbul mayoral race that authorities first nullified, then watched him win again by an even larger margin. Further gains for the CHP in municipal contests last year amid lingering economic dysfunction gave renewed hope that Erdogan could finally be ousted. That hope faded this week as the government launched an unprecedented crackdown, pressuring the cancellation of İmamoğlu's (required) college diploma, jailing him on corruption charges, and investigating over a hundred others. The shock move, which has sparked mass protests in the streets and widespread censorship, threatens to move Turkey firmly from a "competitive authoritarian" system (where the political landscape is merely biased) towards outright autocracy.
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter on Mar 23 at 2:17 PM
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Someone got me a cook book recently and I just tried this recipe for chicken thighs cooked with rice and coconut milk in a Dutch oven. It was awesome! Super tasty, super easy. I've never really cooked with a Dutch oven before. What else can I make along the lines of protein + starch + veggies = low effort deliciousness using my Dutch oven. Particularly interested in vegetarian recipes.
posted by forkisbetter to Ask MetaFilter on Mar 20 at 3:42 PM
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An excerpt from Sarah Jones' book, Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass.
posted by Kitteh to MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 9:44 AM
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"You can’t put your finger on it, but after you leave, you have the feeling that your perception of things has been skewed slightly. Anderson is saying: We’re surrounded by bankrupt images and music that is fascist noise, and they’re pounding away at us, trying to break us down, to kill the spark, but if we keep two things we will be able to survive. Those two things are a sense of wonder and the ability to laugh back." - Roger Ebert (previously)
posted by Lemkin to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 6:02 AM
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John McPhee describes the effect of blending saffron into a mixture as changing its color from “flax to jonquil to canary to high lemon chrome”. How can I acquire a color vocabulary like that?
posted by Lemkin to Ask MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 11:03 AM
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"Yet, compared with others, I am lucky." (slTheGuardian)
posted by Kitteh to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 5:05 AM
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I like this advice to architects e.g.

• 23. How to turn a corner.
• 24. How to design a corner.
• 25. How to sit in a corner.

posted by vincebowdren to MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 10:42 AM
29 users marked this as a favorite

Ethiopian wolves may be pollinating Ethiopian red hot poker plants. The wolves have been observed moving[YT] from plant to plant licking nectar and coincidentally getting a muzzle full of pollen. If the wolves are confirmed to be pollinating these flowers they'd be the largest carnivorous mammals to act as pollinators by far.
posted by Mitheral to MetaFilter on Mar 20 at 10:53 PM
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Shannon Appelcline (Designers & Dragons, 3/10/2025), "Is the OGL Era Over?": "what are the continuing effects of the attack on the OGL, both on Wizards itself and on the rest of the industry?" "Dreams for Sale" has alternatives. More RPG news in review: Appelcline's "2024: The Year in Roleplaying"; Bloggies 2024 winners; Origins Award nominees; and today, nominees for the 2024 Indie Groundbreaker Awards. See also roundups of 2024 at "The Indie Game Reading Club," the "Indie RPG Newsletter," and the "Yes, Indie'd" podcast. Other recent RPG fun: Designing Dungeons Course. Either/Orc. Fifty Foot Gnome. Fight or Flight. Helvetia. Les Chroniques de Sainte Clervie. Planet of the Week. Squishy Space (by Mefi's Own Skerples). Utopia on the Tabletop. The World We Left Behind and its associated ballet! (review). Worldwizard (review).
posted by Wobbuffet to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 8:05 PM
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I am looking for the "Yoga with Adrienne" of kettle bell / dumbbell / resistance band exercises. By that I mean, a creator who is well liked and popular and creates usable, friendly videos. The only one I have found that I really like is "Working Out with Roxanne." Beginner level, shows you how to do the exercise, and isn't patronizing. If they have vocal instruction along with visual instruction, that's ideal.
posted by misanthropicsarah to Ask MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 10:27 AM
24 users marked this as a favorite

Nick Soulsby: The soundtrack to Blade Runner remains a singular achievement; a soundtrack that invoked the past and the future, that remained suspended like Schrödinger’s cat in a state of unresolved being, that plays ancestor to an impressive clutch of modern musical forms while simultaneously sounding like a product of the modern age, or the first fruit of music yet to come.
posted by Lemkin to MetaFilter on Mar 20 at 5:46 PM
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While women still shoulder the bulk of domestic work, men's participation in "feminine" labor increased during the pandemic--and men have kept up the work.
posted by brook horse to MetaFilter on Mar 17 at 5:44 PM
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“It was a matter of some consternation to Danny’s friends and family that he seemed to be enjoying life so much at the end,” says a friend. “‘Why stop now?’ we begged him. And though I still wish he had given us more time, it is the case that in following this carefully thought-out plan, Danny was able to create a happy ending to a 90-year life, in keeping with his peak-end rule. He could not have achieved this if he had let nature take its course.” from The Last Decision by the World’s Leading Thinker on Decisions [WSJ; ungated] [CW: suicide, assisted suicide]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 1:55 AM
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My Dinners With Harold: How a shy Ph.D. in English literature revolutionized the science of cooking and became revered in the most famous kitchens in the world
posted by Lemkin to MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 3:36 PM
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"The Sampler Archive database has been designed to share detailed information and high-resolution images of American girlhood samplers and pictorial embroideries from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries."
posted by jedicus to MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 7:09 AM
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On a sunny July day in 2005, a frog jumped out of a rain gutter to see an unexpected sight: an avalanche of thousands of colorful bouncy balls careening down a San Francisco street. Although San Francisco has been the setting for plenty of cinematic chase scenes, there had never been any quite like this. Filmed as a British commercial for Sony Bravia TV sets, 250,000 bouncy balls were launched down San Francisco hills in one of the most surreal weeks in the city’s history, resulting in a short film that swept the advertising awards circuit and racked up a cumulative 5 million YouTube views. from 'It was chaos': The history of San Francisco's most unforgettable TV ad [SF Gate]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 12:42 PM
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Over the years of designing and printing business cards and calling cards, there is one famous card that is referenced time and time again. This card’s celebrity status comes from a three-minute movie scene and is visible for about four seconds, yet it has become one of our most requested cards. The card we’re referencing is, of course, Paul Allen’s Pierce & Pierce business card from the 2000 horror/thriller film, American Psycho. We’re going to take a closer look at the design of this simple business card, along with the other four cards featured in the film, and try to distill why it remains such a popular and beloved card. from The Business Cards of American Psycho [Hoban Cards]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Mar 20 at 12:51 PM
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Back in ye olden times the rich people figured out how to live forever by doing massive philanthropy projects for their personal PR. Who gives a shit about Standard Oil, Rockefeller will live forever in Spelman College, University of Chicago, and several dozen places around New York. Steel, schmeel, Carnegie gave us 150 years of beautiful music,... [more]
posted by phunniemee to MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 2:09 PM
74 users marked this as a favorite

I once turned up precisely a year late for a wedding. I didn't know the couple getting married - Kevin and Nikki - very well and didn't keep in contact with them much. Or hardly ever. Their wedding invite was attached to my fridge door for a long time. Crucially, the date on it stated only the time and day and month, not the year. Davina, my... [more]
posted by Wordshore to MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 2:26 PM
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"That's not the kind of relationship we have." is a nice way to say, "I don't pitch more work to Sage for other people because it messes up our relationship." [view]
posted by advicepig to Ask MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 9:45 AM
54 users marked this as a favorite

Pigs require a sturdier pen than the typical goats and donkeys The pigpen is mightier than the sward [view]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 11:22 AM
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This. This is why you cast Gwendoline Christie in a small part. Pretty sure it was Chekhov who wrote that if you cast Gwendoline Christie in the first act, you have to let her beat a man halfway to death with her bare hands in the third act. [view]
posted by gauche to FanFare on Mar 21 at 6:50 AM
53 users marked this as a favorite

Consider that none of this is new. That some of those women in the "nice" detention center had been there well before Trump returned to office. That these have been the policies of the United States since the Obama Administration. That we are reacting to this story because it is about a privileged white Canadian woman, and not the... [more]
posted by briank to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 6:49 AM
51 users marked this as a favorite

Feel free to bail on my judging, but I have little time for people who claim they cannot do these things. They are not hard. They're not hard if you know how to do them. If you don't they are. There is a lot of stuff you don't think about that you just "know," but you had to be taught that. My partner learned this over and... [more]
posted by brook horse to MetaFilter on Mar 17 at 7:00 PM
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From vacapinta's link: "I don’t think most Americans understand how dangerous things are. That no one is safe. That norms and guardrails are gone. That’s the way authoritarian rule works." Aside from folks here on MeFi and other places who see this happening, I agree with this. The US isn't becoming an authoritarian state; it... [more]
posted by Kitteh to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 6:39 AM
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You actually don't want to be too tactful here. People are overstepping and it does them more harm than good to pretend they're not. And going into a long delicate speech is going to make people way more uncomfortable than a brisk "Oh, I'm not the right person to talk to about that, you'll need to get in touch with her via [correct... [more]
posted by restless_nomad to Ask MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 9:49 AM
44 users marked this as a favorite

IHow someone can be filled with rage over a worker fighting for $15/hr while that same person's CEO boss is probably making $1,000/hr will never cease to boggle my mind. There's an excellent quote in one of the DOGE articles, I can't find the exact quote now but it was from a fired EPA worker and basically said (to paraphrase)... [more]
posted by photo guy to MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 11:32 AM
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I remember when he was taking "non-feminizing" doses of estrogen as part of his life-extension thing and all I can think of is when a techbro takes estrogen, it's "bio-hacking" but when I, a transgender woman, do it, it's "an affront to God." [view]
posted by SansPoint to MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 7:15 PM
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I remember telling a friend nine months ago that, much as I would love to visit Russia as I have a longstanding fascination with Russia, it wouldn't be safe or responsible to do so as the current regime can't be trusted not to plant drugs in my luggage, throw my Canadian ass in a gulag, then use me as leverage to get the Canadian government to do... [more]
posted by orange swan to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 5:56 AM
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Call her in. Have her sit down. It would be best if these were two chairs at 45/90 degrees to each other, or seats next to each other at a small round table. Don't sit across a desk from each other. You want someone to be able to break eye contact naturally without making them feel like they're avoiding the person sitting directly across... [more]
posted by NotMyselfRightNow to Ask MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 6:22 PM
39 users marked this as a favorite

“His friends and family say that Kahneman’s choice was purely personal; he didn’t endorse assisted suicide for anyone else and never wished to be viewed as advocating it for others.” I have been thinking about this subject because an acquaintance told me she too is arranging for assisted death in Switzerland and she too framed it as a personal... [more]
posted by Peach to MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 5:13 AM
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With Calibre your ebooks are no longer tied to the vendor. That's true if you can get them into calibre and if their DRM can be removed. Amazon's recently made it much harder to actually get books onto your computer in the first place, and the latest version of its DRM is not 100% cracked. I have a Kindle I bought in 2016 and I'm... [more]
posted by trig to MetaFilter on Mar 22 at 12:46 PM
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Teen Vogue still out here doing the Lord's work, more so than most mainstream publications. [view]
posted by Kitteh to MetaFilter on Mar 18 at 9:47 AM
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I may have shared this here before, but in college (late '90s/early '00s for me), a guy who had a crush on me decided to try the "neg" thing (that wasn't even a thing then) by looking at my CDs (I was baby music journalist so I had a lot -- the ones I brought with me to school wasn't even all of them) and said, mockingly, "You have... [more]
posted by edencosmic to MetaFilter on Mar 23 at 5:11 PM
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I legitimately don’t know what is satire any more [view]
posted by St. Peepsburg to MetaFilter on Mar 19 at 4:53 PM
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Did not find the words "bathroom" or "toilet" in 250 items. Can therefore confirm that an architect wrote this. [view]
posted by PresidentOfDinosaurs to MetaFilter on Mar 21 at 10:53 AM
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Milchick absolutely booking it out of the room for Dylan to read his outie’s response was hilarious. [view]
posted by potent_cyprus to FanFare on Mar 20 at 6:42 PM
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[more comments]