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"We feel as if we've succeeded in poisoning ourselves, and the word is that we have. The word "toxic" hides in the midddle of intoxication, like a rat in a gift box." Mark Edmundson, English Professor at the University of Virginia, goes beyond just the gruesome hangovers from drinking, and considers hangovers of all sorts, the downsides of intoxications of all sorts. re The Hedgehog Review
posted by dancestoblue at 7:39 PM PST - 52 comments

Merlin Tuttle studies bats! You can read about his conservation efforts, or just browse his 2000+ image photo collection which encompasses 19 families, 125 genera, and 298 species from 38 countries. You can also listen to a two-part interview with him with Alie Ward on Ologies (or just read transcripts).
posted by curious nu at 7:20 PM PST - 11 comments

r/VintageObscura is a subreddit for crate diggers. Since Halloween 2014, u/kaptain_carbon has celebrated shocktober by compiling spooky obscurities and campy exotica submitted by fellow redditors into virtual HellPs, most of which are handily located in this youtube playlist. (Most recent reddit FPP). Consider putting one on before your next screaming of a Vincent Price film!
2014 ᄽὁȍ ̪ őὀᄿ 2015 (ᅇ) 2016 Side A, Side B (˼●̙̂ ̟ ̟̎ ̟ ̘●̂˻) 2017 (((༼•̫͡•༽))) 2018 ヘ(◕。◕ヘ) 2019 Side C ↜(͛ ꒪͒৫͏̈́꒪͒)͛⌰ 2020 Side A, Side B, Side C, Side D /╲/\ºo;88;oº/\╱\ 2021 Side A, Side B, Side C, Side D
posted by Going To Maine at 6:03 PM PST - 3 comments

The Ideological Battlefield of the "Mamasphere." Anne Helen Petersen interviews Kathryn Jezer-Morton - currently writing her PhD dissertation on the topic - about "momfluencers" and the rise, growth, and transmogrification of mommy-blogging. "I’m not a mom but I like to know what the moms are up to. You should too, regardless of your identity, because “the moms” — meaning, the moms embodying and directing ideals of femininity and domesticity and parenting — have a lot of power, and power demands attention." [more inside]
posted by soundguy99 at 4:34 PM PST - 29 comments

Meta? Horizon? Facebook Renaming Report Sparks Speculation [Bloomberg] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 3:05 PM PST - 142 comments

In 2018, tech blog The Verge posted How to Build a $2000 Gaming PC. The video; rife with terminology, editing, performance, and safety errors; was heavily criticized and mocked by other Youtubers and internet commenters and then eventually removed. Three years later, the original Verge host Stefan Etienne explains what went wrong and rebuilds the original PC with tech blogger LinusTechTips.
posted by meowzilla at 12:44 PM PST - 37 comments

On Youtube, animator David James Armsby has been creating the Dinosauria series (preview), extraordinary, quiet films about the daily struggles and rewards of the lives of dinosaurs. (cw: violent animal combat, death)
Our Frozen Past (6:36): In a bleak winter landscape, a mother troodon must use her wits to protect her chicks from nanuqsaurs.
Old Buck (4:29): An aging bull styracosaurus must defend his position from a rival or be left for dead among the scavengers.
An earlier dinosaur film, with narration: Sharp Teeth (3:21). Predators and prey, mothers and young. [more inside]
posted by Countess Elena at 10:08 AM PST - 9 comments

Three short, eerie fantasy stories about water and beasts. "Hokkaido Green" by by Aidan Doyle (2010) is bittersweet fantasy about emotions, grief, and tradeoffs. "Talisman" by Tracina Jackson-Adams (2002): Horses, a family feud, dark ceremonies in the wood, high stakes and slow-burn reveals. "Riverine" by Danielle Jorgensen Murray (March 2021): the river man, his bride, permission, respect and care. [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 9:53 AM PST - 5 comments

According to Clayton Crockett, postsecularism indicates the breakdown of the modern divide within liberalism that assigns religion to a private sphere of belief that is separate from political-civil reason. Postsecularism attends to the ways that what we call religion exceed their modern frames and become deprivatized and politicized. In this process, spiritual-political forces are liberated from the modern framework of religion. Recent movements called New Materialism and New Animism can be seen as attempts to conceptualize this development. [more inside]
posted by No Robots at 9:42 AM PST - 12 comments

How the American Right Fell in Love With Hungary Some U.S. conservatives are taking a cue from Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — how to use the power of the state to win the culture wars (NYT Magazine, October 19, 2021).
posted by box at 9:32 AM PST - 19 comments

[Spoilers in links] Squid Game is a popular Netflix series (really popular), themed around socio-economic inequality and nostalgia, where contestants play six (adapted) childhood games for money, there being somewhat negative consequences for the losers. Like Battle Royale, classical music is often used. Some criticism has been levelled, for the acting and the subtitles. In England, councils are urging parents to stop children watching and copying it. Why Squid Game? Comparisons are drawn with Battle Royale, the Hunger Games, Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, and erm Mario Party. Inevitably there are Halloween costumes, or play it in a cafe. [Squid Game on Fanfare]
posted by Wordshore at 9:12 AM PST - 85 comments

The Limits Of Dave Chappelle And Kyrie Irving’s Free-Thinking (Defector, alternate link from archive.org) [more inside]
posted by tonycpsu at 8:57 AM PST - 108 comments

There's something in the air, your food, your fuel, your lipstick... Most of this will not surprise many of you, but it is shocking that Colombia mandates patented corn and their agricultural institute has destroyed thousands of native seeds.
posted by kozad at 7:39 AM PST - 11 comments

Looking for non-Spotify/whatever other streaming service you use Halloween playlists? Let ole Jack Fear over at PopDose give you the trick AND treat of FOURTEEN downloadable mixtapes. [more inside]
posted by Kitteh at 7:11 AM PST - 10 comments

The website Electrek brings you news from the electric vehicle industry, but even if you aren't in the market for a new vehicle, you might just enjoy a closer look at the bizarre and at times deeply cursed world of electric vehicles available on Alibaba, including such favorites as a standing scooter with an alleged top speed of 60 MPH (100 km/h) or a racing motorcycle clearly designed by Dr. Seuss. [more inside]
posted by DoctorFedora at 3:59 AM PST - 33 comments