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The story of labor organizer Larry Itliong and Stockton's Little Manila (Youtube link). Filipino farmworkers were the first to walk out off vineyards in 1965, prompting the Delano Grape Strike and, ultimately, the formation of the United Farm Workers. [more inside]
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:39 PM PST - 4 comments

Not all hope is lost for caterpillar fungus cultivation. The interdependent life of the fungus points to a new means to farm it. Breeding centers can’t be industrial sow-and-reap operations. They must consider ecological and evolutionary factors. Breeding must be situated where the fungus naturally grows—on undisturbed, high-elevation, microbe-laden soil. Yield will boil down to the land’s carrying capacity, to how many caterpillars nature can support, without breaking the equilibrium among plants, insects, and fungi. Breeding centers would look more like conservation land than industrial farms or scientific laboratories. The future of the caterpillar-fungus harvest—a feature of Tibetan culture for five centuries—should look much more like the past. from The Last of the Fungus
posted by chavenet at 5:52 PM PST - 9 comments

I’ve known since I was 11 who these people, this Eyebrows McGee and this languagehat, are. After graduating from college, I still thought of Metafilter as a rarified club of experts that I’d somehow snuck into. I also thought of Metafilter as a perfect window onto the world. I was sure I could better understand different life experiences because I read strangers’ thoughts, freed by anonymity to be honest. I knew I lived in a tiny bubble, and Metafilter seemed my best defense against that insularity. [more inside]
posted by mecran01 at 5:15 PM PST - 238 comments

Martin Scorsese interviewed by Edgar Wright at the BFI London Film Festival - (single link YouTube, 1h35m)
posted by Artw at 4:13 PM PST - 3 comments

The Cambodian myth of Lightning, Thunder and Rain. (slyt)
posted by clavdivs at 3:06 PM PST - 1 comments

Five years ago we learned of one man's struggle to avoid the news, in a NY Times article, The Man Who Knew Too Little. (Archive link, and previously.) He called it The Blockade, or a DIY version of moving to Canada. Inside Hook has an update, an even more radical approach: Could "News Sobriety" Save Your Mental Health? [more inside]
posted by Rash at 9:09 AM PST - 90 comments

Painting with LEGO: Instagram YouTube Making of: Part 1, Part 2
posted by jacquilynne at 8:50 AM PST - 6 comments

The winds of fate have led us back to the little mountain village of Yesterday's Promise for The Creatures of Yes Variety Hour, also known to students of Yessian lore as Gay Pride Part 20. It's the latest video in the 1970's-style puppet series that uses period equipment, now with more returning characters than the previous season. (Pre-vi-yes-ly.)
posted by BiggerJ at 3:31 AM PST - 2 comments

Skeletons belonging to a gigantic, three-tonne [6613 pounds] relative of Australia's modern-day wombats have been unearthed by scientists in Western Australia's north, shedding light on the state's rich natural history. Related to the modern-day wombat and koala, the diprotodon is the largest known marsupial to have ever lived, growing up to four metres (13 feet) in length and 1.7 metres (5.5 feet) tall, and reaching weights of almost three tonnes.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 1:53 AM PST - 25 comments