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Echidnas recorded communicating for the first time. Some of the most elusive sounds in nature — echidnas talking to each other — have been recorded for the first time. Researchers believe it is likely that they are the sounds of echidnas flirting, as the spiky creatures only seem to vocalise during breeding season. In what is believed to be a scientific first, researchers from Curtin University have obtained recordings of short-beaked echidnas producing a range of sounds including cooing, grunting, and wheezing.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:44 PM PST - 14 comments

Game designer James Ernest plays and makes games of many kinds, including tabletop games and casino/gambling games. In "Black Box Mechanics And the Ethics of Gambling in Games", published on January 12th, 2021, he writes, 'Are gambling games ethical at all? That's the root question here and of course the answer is complicated. In theory? Yes. In practice? Not always.....I often see folks in computer games decrying the use of “gambling mechanics” in games, but I think we need to be a little more specific.' I learned from his comparisons of laws, practices, and intuitions surrounding swimming pools and casinos, and "Context Part 2" on what's particularly pernicious about "black box mechanics [being] dicey outside of the casino," as well as his definition of an ethical payout. [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 6:26 PM PST - 10 comments

Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has become acting Speaker of the House after Kevin McCarthy, rocked by a series of failed budget votes (and a last-minute agreement with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown), was ousted by Matt Gaetz and other far-right members of the House Freedom Caucus in an unprecedented vote. McCarthy, while likely to run for the speakership again, is no shoo-in given the 15 ballots it took him to secure the gavel just nine months ago (previously).
posted by Rhaomi at 3:28 PM PST - 610 comments

Oh, the schadenfreude! -- On Amanpour, David Cay Johnson talks to Hari Sreenivasan about the coming just desserts of TFG. Warning: Viewing and/or just listening to this is relentlessly entertaining and uplifting. To and for you! Or so I hope.

See also John Kelly, a Former White House Chief of Staff, Confirms Trump's Disparaging of Veterans and consider the source. The ice dams are collapsing -- watch out for flash floods!
posted by y2karl at 12:31 PM PST - 52 comments

“The excitement I feel looking at the 1960s architecture of Kenzo Tange is rooted in the excitement I felt as a six-year-old boy looking at the animated Autobot City.” Owen Hatherley looks at the Transformers franchise through a New Socialist lens.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:05 PM PST - 8 comments

Pity the Landlord: How "Oppressed" landlords have taken up the language of social justice in their fight against rent regulations: "But Eccles takes it a step further. Oppression of landlords, he argues, is a racial justice issue...Eccles’s widespread media presence is no accident. In 2019, he became one of the public faces of Responsible Rent Reform—a faux-grassroots group backed by the Rent Stabilization Association (RSA), the largest landlord organization in the state—which has set about weaponizing the stories of a dozen 'mom-and-pop' landlords to undermine rent regulations" [more inside]
posted by windbox at 11:22 AM PST - 78 comments

In major news in the fight against malaria, the World Health Organization has approved the R21 vaccine - which can be produced cheaply at scale. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:17 AM PST - 17 comments

Cory Doctorow writes: "Right now, Google's on trial for its sins against antitrust law. To secure a win, the prosecutors at the DoJ Antitrust Division are going to have to prove what was going on in Google execs' minds when the took the actions that led to the company's dominance. They're going to have to show that the company deliberately undertook to harm its users and customers. Of course, it helps that Google put it all in writing." [more inside]
posted by AlSweigart at 9:01 AM PST - 63 comments

In previous years, Moore might have sent out a text to family and friends seeking donations for the uniform. She might have asked the school if she could pay in installments. But this year, for the first time, she can cover it all herself. That’s because she has an extra $500 a month coming in — not from a third job or a side hustle but from the City of Chicago, which gives her the money to spend or save as she chooses. It’s part of an audacious new philosophy of government aid, an experiment of sorts that seeks to find out whether infusions of no-strings-attached cash can begin to break the cycle of poverty. from What $500 Means to Zinida Moore
posted by chavenet at 6:15 AM PST - 37 comments

"We've changed the culture by any measure conceivable. And yet things are the worst they've been in my entire life. And they don't seem to be getting better." Lily Alexandre reflects on the feminism of her high school years and what it did - and didn't - change. [SLYT] [Sources]
posted by clawsoon at 5:50 AM PST - 3 comments