MetaFilter

Otters see the first snow of the year. Happy otters enjoy playing with snow, and swimming in a warm outdoor tub and a cold outdoor pool.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:30 PM PST - 11 comments

Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel (1565) (youtube) . Learn more about drolleries(youtube). Look at the book.
posted by rebent at 6:35 PM PST - 9 comments

Here, have 2 heartwrenching short speculative fiction stories where parents, trying their best, say or do terrible yet ordinary things; their children eventually find imperfect ways to cope or heal. "Coming Through in Waves" by Samantha Murray -- content notes at the top -- "[My mother's] sentences all sound … reasonable on the surface. She’s pulling any immediate clues from the environment, from my expression, from words that knit well together, to cover the gaping wound which is her mind.". Summary of "Sand" by Jasmin Kirkbride: When Suzy was born, her parents filled her mouth with sand. But this is normal and natural and the way things are always done. And if she finds it uncomfortable to keep it there, to eat with it there, to talk with it there, she’s just going to have to learn to live with it.
posted by brainwane at 5:36 PM PST - 4 comments

There's a code of conduct and a dress code—for real! Fascinating and funny writeup by a "adult entertainment industry" journalist looking at how, over the past two decades, porn industry conventions have gotten mainstream and sanitized.
posted by AnneK at 2:01 PM PST - 33 comments

Approximately the last 40 seconds of Wire's "Ex Lion Tamer" looping for an hour and a half. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. Stay glued to your TV set. STAY GLUED TO YOUR TV SET.
posted by scratch at 12:11 PM PST - 15 comments

What happens when no one can call a villain a villain
posted by Etrigan at 10:47 AM PST - 125 comments

Ingels played around with designing a house that could be entirely printed, including the roof. “You get forms that look incredibly fresh,” he told me. “These mixes of squares and domes, these ‘squomes.’ ” Can 3-D Printing Help Solve the Housing Crisis? [New Yorker] (archive link) Or at least make housing less uniform? A look inside ICON House Zero. [more inside]
posted by Mchelly at 8:41 AM PST - 36 comments

Recently, it came out that a male Twitch streamer had found and viewed pornographic deepfake videos of a number of notable female streamers created without their consent, being released on an OnlyFans style website where the creator was receiving payment for the videos. In a follow-up piece, several of the the women involved discuss how these deepfakes not only harm their public image, but also threaten their safety.
posted by NoxAeternum at 8:23 AM PST - 33 comments

Plug Two of the iconic hip-hop group De La Soul, Dave "Trugoy" Jolicoeur has died at the age of 54. No cause of death has been announced, but Jolicoeur had been suffering from congestive heart failure in recent years.
posted by 40 Watt at 7:58 AM PST - 59 comments

For this almost very special day (yes, it's Monday!), I give you this special topical quiz: What is the best kind of love? a) Free b) Pete Davidson c) Brotherly d) This thread. [more inside]
posted by taz at 2:56 AM PST - 88 comments

Unenforceable sex contracts hearken back to a core of sensual and intellectual pleasure that might even power enforceable, non-meretricious contracts, like the standard form contract at AT&T or Verizon. Such a modern “form contract” eschews negotiation and “dickering” altogether, requiring total submission to predetermined terms: they certainly feel sadistic. from The Sadomasochistic Cenote and Its Legal Upwellings [language, theme may be NSFW]
posted by chavenet at 1:50 AM PST - 5 comments

After the downing of Big Balloon off the eastern seaboard following monitoring and riffing, the USA air force has been busy shooting down an array of [redacted] over several locations. 10th February, off north Alaska. 11th February, over the Yukon territory. 12th February, near Lake Huron. There is much uncertainty. New York Times: U.S. Destroys U.F.O.s. BBC: "'I will let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out,' Gen VanHerck said when asked if it was possible the objects are aliens or extra-terrestrials. 'I haven't ruled out anything at this point.' NPR: "'We did not assess it to be a kinetic military threat to anything on the ground...'"The UK will apparently shoot down [redacted] over its airspace, though hopefully not all.
posted by Wordshore at 1:47 AM PST - 135 comments