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What happens when a robot that was specifically designed to make its owners love it shuts down?

Jibo is dying.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:24 PM PST - 72 comments

Despite the fact that the kudzu-like Phytolacca americana (Wikipedia) sprouts up all across North America, poke sallet, a dish made from the plant’s slightly-less-toxic leaves, is a regional thing, popular only to Appalachia and the American South. The leaves must be boiled in water three times to cook out their toxins, and, as aficionados will tell you, it’s well worth the extra effort. But if pokeweed is so toxic (DoveMed), why did people start eating it in the first place? In a word, poke sallet is survival food. (Saveur) [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 9:36 PM PST - 22 comments

We all know that seagulls are one of the two types of birds. But how much do we really know about gulls? The Seattle Times’ Sandi Doughton takes an in-depth look at gulls and the experts who study them. [more inside]
posted by mbrubeck at 7:39 PM PST - 22 comments

Trump Writes Unhinged ‘Legal’ Letter Demanding That CNN Pay Him Money (New York magazine) [more inside]
posted by box at 10:29 AM PST - 48 comments

But their protest came at a price: A girls’ high school soccer team in Vermont made a statement in favor of equal pay for men and women in sports during a game on Friday...
posted by dfm500 at 8:31 AM PST - 11 comments

"One way that mass strikes, and even things that look a lot like general strikes, have happened in recent memory is basically a mass wildcat. People get upset and walk off the job, i.e. they vote with their feet. Some union officials may become de facto leaders and be put in a position to negotiate terms (provided the leadership did not oppose the strike action and lose legitimacy in the eyes of the strikers)". A Blueprint toward a general Strike . What is a general strike?
posted by The Whelk at 1:49 AM PST - 16 comments