December 22, 2021

That Fun TikTok Video? It’s Actually an Ad.

Brands are flocking to the platform like never before, drawn by its more than 1 billion users and its algorithm, which can make an ad seem like just another video. In reports shared with advertisers and obtained by The New York Times, TikTok said Gen Z users, defined as 18- to 24-year-olds, watched an average of more than 233 TikToks a day
posted by folklore724 at 9:09 PM PST - 38 comments

Don't We Know Archaic Barrel

A Walt Kelly Christmas Carol as sung by the Walt Kelly Memorial Choir or Lambert, Hendricks & Ross [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 2:35 PM PST - 13 comments

you have been infected with the anti-coronavirus, COVID+19

Interpreting Rapid Test Results (SLXKCD)
posted by Quasirandom at 2:13 PM PST - 34 comments

Why do people despise critics?

The Question Dave Hickey Dared to Ask. What are critics good for? There’s certainly no lack of commentary today; if anything, the current online environment is a flowering of critical prose. On platforms like Twitter, the shorthand of “the discourse” (trickled down from Foucault, but never applied with so much seriousness as to seem uncool) is pervasive. We’re having a conversation out here, and it would behoove you to pay attention, subject aside—perhaps there is a much-hyped novel or a possibly offensive artwork you need to become aware of (or, just as often, something even more fleeting: an image, a meme). “Takes,” hot or cold, follow; if we’re analyzing television, where the real man-hours are spent consuming culture, “recaps” regurgitate screen time into the following day: Writers are hard at work extending, reiterating, dissenting, providing nuance and context.
posted by Ahmad Khani at 12:20 PM PST - 5 comments

FDA authorizes 1st antiviral pill for COVID

Finally some good covid news. "In a highly anticipated decision, the Food and Drug Administration authorized the first antiviral pill to treat COVID-19 at home. The pill, called Paxlovid, is made by Pfizer. [...] The results from a Pfizer study involving more than 2,200 people at high risk for developing serious COVID-19 found Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89%, compared with a placebo, when taken within three days of first symptoms of illness. When taken within five days, the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 88%."
posted by bbqturtle at 11:18 AM PST - 97 comments

41 million borrowers, $5 billion per month

Biden-Harris Administration Extends Student Loan Pause To May 1, 2022 [more inside]
posted by box at 10:54 AM PST - 78 comments

Um something has come up... HOOOOOLLLYYY SHIIIITTTTTTT

The Christmas Bird Count (which does not happen on Christmas) has been going on this week. Birders in Massachusetts were treated to a very rare view of a Steller’s sea eagle (whose habitat is the Eastern coast of Russia) which has been traipsing around the US and Canada and was seen, a huge muppet-ass looking bird, loitering in a tree with some plain old bald eagles. Please enjoy The Birdist's eight-tweet thread of waking up in Maine for a normal CBC, only to hustle down to Massachusetts to hope to glimpse this bird.
posted by jessamyn at 9:48 AM PST - 34 comments

"a drawing of a horse, an orchid, or in fact any related object"

"Mother, if I see another insipid line drawing of the wonders of Twinklebed Falls, I don't know what will happen, but I know it will be disgraceful." "The Watercolors of Elfland" by Marissa Lingen (previously) is a gentle comedy-of-manners fantasy story involving a party with light refreshments, a botanical discovery, and just-out-of-frame Sidhe. [more inside]
posted by brainwane at 8:24 AM PST - 2 comments

Indy Tabletop RPGs: Extremely Niche End-of-Year Lists

Table top roleplaying games are more popular than ever. A lot of interesting work is being done outside the confines of D&D. Polygon and Dicebreaker list their choices for the best games or supplements to have come out this year.
posted by Ipsifendus at 7:43 AM PST - 17 comments

What about us quitters?

Our culture fetishizes resilience. The people who persist. The people who persevere. Despite all the odds. Etc. Etc. But what about us quitters? The ones who stopped? The ones who cried uncle? The ones who had enough and just couldn’t anymore? The ones who walked away? Or were forced away and then refused to come back. I don’t think we like those stories because we want to see people triumph over the mess of our society as a roadmap for our own triumphs. But, also, I think our culture fetishizes triumph because it makes it easier to pretend our system isn’t broken. If that person can succeed, we reason, our society is not so bad. But it is so bad. Lyz Lenz on the year of breaking and mending in Men Yell at Me.
posted by Bella Donna at 7:14 AM PST - 71 comments

historical (fake ((fake news) news))

If you weren't reading Colorado papers in 1899, you might not have learned that a cabal of Chicago business leaders were secretly negotiating to dismantle the Great Wall of China and use the stone to build US roads. If you weren't reading the The National Review [paywalled] in 1939, you may not have learned that this was all a newspaper hoax. If you haven't been reading the right uncritical books about hoaxes, attending the right sermons, or listening to radio announcer Paul Harvey, you might not have realized that international outrage over this lead directly to the Boxer Rebellion. That's because it's almost entirely untrue. The Constant podcast presents a nice hour long audio summary. [more inside]
posted by eotvos at 5:38 AM PST - 7 comments

Not Your Everyday Pet

Keeping A Grocery Store Lobster As A Pet Brady Brandwood bought a live lobster from the grocery store to see what would happen if it was kept as a pet in a saltwater tank. Watch as Leon gets accustomed to a new home and new lease on life. [more inside]
posted by tommasz at 5:07 AM PST - 27 comments

Which came first, the theropod or the egg?

Meet 'Baby Yingliang': Exquisitely preserved dinosaur embryo is discovered inside a 72 million-year-old fossilised EGG in China., Ian Randall, Daily Mail, 21 December 2021 • Unearthed in Shahe Industrial Park in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province • Species of toothless, beaked theropod dinosaurs, or 'oviraptorosaurs' [WP] • One of the most complete dinosaur embryos known, 10.6 inches long • Posture is closer to embryonic modern-day birds than among dinosaurs • Tucking behaviour aids hatching, arose first in theropods. (The cutaway egg video and illustration are striking.)
posted by cenoxo at 2:38 AM PST - 10 comments

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