November 27, 2020

See how Adolf Hitler and the Nazis rise to power.

Rise of the Nazis [Ep. 1, 2, 3] - "In 1930 Germany was a liberal democracy. Just four years later democracy is dead, Germany's leader is a dictator and its government is in the hands of murderers. This series tells the story of how this happened. Leading historians and experts get inside the heads of some of the key players, whose political plotting, miscalculations and personal ambitions helped to destroy democracy and deliver control to Hitler." (via; BBC; previously)
posted by kliuless at 11:27 PM PST - 44 comments

Space Junk!

Since 1957, nearly 10,000 satellites have been put into earth orbit. The approximatley 2700 of them still functioning have been joined by another 26,000 catalogued pieces of space debris, along with countless pieces too small to track. There is an ever increasing risk of chain reaction collisions, especially with massive fleets of new communications satellites starting to be launched. (New Yorker) [more inside]
posted by blue shadows at 10:19 PM PST - 24 comments

♬ vibes ♬

Italian singer Adriano Celentano released a song in the 70s with nonsense lyrics meant to sound like American English, apparently to prove Italians would like any English song. It was a hit, and resulted in this: THE GREATEST VIDEO I HAVE EVER SEEN.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 7:23 PM PST - 79 comments

Today We're Going To Talk About Rice and Tea

Follow me down a Joyce Chen rabbit hole. Joyce Chen was born in 1917, a Beijing daughter of a high ranking official. She and her husband and children were on the second to last boat leaving Shanghai after the communist revolution. Chen found herself a housewife in the US, a huge change from her job as an insurance broker back in Beijing. But in time, she started to focus on creating a career from her cooking... [more inside]
posted by frumiousb at 6:52 PM PST - 9 comments

Animal Crossing IRL

Wildlife bridges — AKA animal crossings, animal passings, ecoducts, etc. — can be pricey (costing US$2-4 million each, but one crossing can save thousands of animals lives every year. Common in Europe since the 1950s, they have become much widespread around the world. [more inside]
posted by darkstar at 5:11 PM PST - 20 comments

Doonesbury Turns 50

Garry Trudeau, 72, launched ‘Doonesbury’ as a syndicated comic strip 50 years ago. [more inside]
posted by freakazoid at 5:07 PM PST - 41 comments

Show these ads their place

Banners Begone! is a clicker quest to purge banners from your homepage. Unlike others in the genre, there’s not much idling in this game – it’s a clicker to the core at a tight 1-2 hours in length.
posted by adrianhon at 2:57 PM PST - 14 comments

The real-life Queen's Gambit

How Georgia's Nona Gaprindashvili conquered the chess world (SL Calvert Journal). [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:56 AM PST - 10 comments

“A bath is not an alternative to a shower: it is a hot lie-down”

One in four Britons don’t shower every day: “A Shower is where you get completely into the shower and also wash your hair. A man shower is where you get your hair wet but don’t wash it. And a shower (lower case, no stated gender) is where you just stand at the sink, splashing yourself ... If you spray deodorant on and call that a shower, that’s a Sure-er (you have to say it, not spell it). If you spray deodorant on and spray dry shampoo into your hair, you’ve had a Febreze. If you can’t be bothered to shower and instead get into the sea because you are near it, you’ve had a Sea Febreze.”
posted by Wordshore at 8:07 AM PST - 157 comments

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