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7 emotional blocks making it harder to declutter.
#1 My Stuff Keeps Me in the Past. Looking at these items may reinforce that your best days are behind you.
#2 My Stuff Tells Me Who I Am. Ask what am I looking to these things to tell me about myself?
#3 Stuff I'm Avoiding. (It me! It me!)
CBC interview with decluttering maven Tracy McCubbin (onTikTok). [more inside]
posted by spamandkimchi at 7:54 PM PST - 67 comments

10 of the world’s quirkiest forms of public transport. As the Philippines phases out its distinctive jeepney, we look at the more unusual ways travellers can get from A to B.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 7:51 PM PST - 34 comments

'Halloween' Theme. Medieval version (sylt)
posted by clavdivs at 5:43 PM PST - 4 comments

Guy Montgomery's Guy Mont-Spelling Bee in unhinged, and it is loosely based on a spelling bee: each episode, four comedians participate in a series of rounds, where the goal is almost always to spell words or names in rounds that are "designed to be infuriating to take part in and entertaining to watch".
posted by MonsieurPEB at 4:37 PM PST - 10 comments

The venerable Public Domain Review [PREVIOUSLY] is highlighting Hallowe'en Postcards, 1900-1920. Just don't stare too hard at "Mister Toad Turned Into A Pumpkin"!
posted by not_on_display at 2:45 PM PST - 13 comments

Patagonia fished plastic from the ocean to make the new Stormshadow Parka, its warmest-ever outerwear to date.
posted by folklore724 at 11:35 AM PST - 74 comments

Characterised today by the noise of banging, buzzers, and the cries of inmates, solitary confinement was originally developed from Quaker ideas about the redemptive power of silence, envisioned as a humane alternative to the punitive violence of late-18th century jails.

Solitary Confinement’s Unlikely Origins, by Jane Brox.
posted by Rumple at 11:31 AM PST - 13 comments

Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, marries Riley Hawk, son of Tony Hawk, in ceremony officiated by R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:15 AM PST - 61 comments

Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) remains acting Speaker of the House, an incredible three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was ousted by a group of far-right Republicans radicals. To recap the last fortnight and a half: McCarthy makes a surprise decision against running again; heir-apparent Steve "David Duke without the baggage" Scalise ekes out an internal vote against Fox News favorite Gym "Jim" Jordan only to be torpedoed by the Freedom Caucus; next Jordan seizes the nomination, but his ugly pressure campaign is repeatedly rejected by suddenly vertebrate GOP moderates; after three increasingly unsuccessful runs Jordan bows out to Tom Emmer, whose bid is summarily vaporized by Trump in a matter of hours. The latest rep in the barrel: Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson, who might actually have a shot at winning the gavel despite his extreme anti-choice (and anti-choice) stances. Can Johnson win the booby prize, or will the House GOP be forced to consider empowering McHenry (lol), implementing a power-sharing agreement with themselves (lmao), or *gasp* working with Democrats? The fate of the party and funding for Israel, Ukraine, and the federal government could hinge on today's noon vote. (liveblog)
posted by Rhaomi at 8:00 AM PST - 282 comments

The jungle gym turns 100 (NPR, Chigago Tribune, Winnetka (IL) Historical Society, Tom Scott on YouTube, Smithsonian Magazine).
posted by box at 5:52 AM PST - 18 comments

Things need to make sense, and the ! just doesn’t, subjective and subversive as it is, popping out from the uniform flow of words on the line. Since the triumphal conquering of smartphone technology and social media, the exclamation point finds fewer and fewer friends: We live in a digital village, chatting to one another from across the globe, and will use emotive social cues such as the exclamation point, and plenty of them. And because we just need to press down a thumbbbbbb to reproduce any character at nearly no cost, we’re more likely to flood the digital world with !!!!!!. No wonder we’re a little allergic to the poor !, stigmatizing its ubiquity as annoying and unnecessary. from How to Exclaim!
posted by chavenet at 4:00 AM PST - 33 comments