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[CW: Suicide, exploitation] Cartoonist Ed Piskor, creator of Hip Hop Family Tree and co-host of comics YouTube channel Cartoonist Kayfabe, was accused last week of grooming by a cartoonist who posted screenshots of a conversation she had with Piskor when she was 17 and he was 38. Two women soon came forward with their own experiences. This morning Piskor posted a response on his Facebook (Currently unavailable) denying any ill intent and expressing suicidal feelings. Shortly after, his family confirmed that he was dead. Ed Piskor was 41. [more inside]
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 10:47 PM PST - 52 comments

Here’s why Americans under 40 are so disillusioned with capitalism Millennials have had such a tumultuous start in the workforce, they have been nicknamed the “unluckiest generation.” They are struggling to navigate the most unaffordable housing market since the early 1980s. And that’s before anyone talks about the larger challenges of climate change, wars and political partisanship and paralysis. [more inside]
posted by Toddles at 6:20 PM PST - 104 comments

'A Grand Day Out'. Landing on the Moon with Wallace & Gromit. (slyt. 2:52)
posted by clavdivs at 5:20 PM PST - 10 comments

Titan’s Massive Dunes May Be a Comet and Moon Graveyard From the Early Solar System. A new modeling study suggests the dark dunes on Saturn’s largest moon are made of tiny particles created by crashing comets and moonlets billions of years ago.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 4:46 PM PST - 4 comments

Rocketdyne is notable among the space exploration set for developing a number of NASA's workhorse chemical rocket engines, such as the main thrusters of the Shuttle. But during the Space Race, they created a monster of such an engine, built around a tripropellant mix of molten lithium, liquid hydrogen, and liquid fluorine - an engine where the safest component was the asbestos cladding. (SLYT) [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:18 PM PST - 26 comments

User Complaint About Existing Services Leads Google to Create Search-Based Webmail; Search is Number Two Online Activity – Email is Number One; "Heck, Yeah," Say Google Founders: Gmail's 20th anniversary: Technology's best April Fool's prank yet
posted by chavenet at 12:37 PM PST - 28 comments

Fingers and Toes: Spotting Deepfakes
posted by simmering octagon at 10:47 AM PST - 23 comments

Dr. Who Titles Prisoner Style (SLYT)
posted by wittgenstein at 9:15 AM PST - 19 comments

"I Made a Graph of Wikipedia... This Is What I Found." Learn about communities of articles, articles that are popular in other articles, orphans and dead ends, the 6 degrees of Wikipedia, the longest path on Wikipedia, and Fanta Cake.
posted by clawsoon at 7:11 AM PST - 9 comments

A yearlong investigation by The Insider, in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel, has uncovered evidence suggesting that unexplained anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana Syndrome, may have their origin in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of Russian GRU Unit 29155. Members of the Kremlin’s infamous military intelligence sabotage squad have been placed at the scene of suspected attacks on overseas U.S. government personnel and their family members, leading victims to question what Washington knows about the origins of Havana Syndrome, and what an appropriate Western response might entail.

Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on Americans, at home and abroad [more inside]
posted by Rhaomi at 6:30 AM PST - 88 comments

Large old trees are vital for Australian birds. Their long branches and hollows can’t be replaced by saplings.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 5:43 AM PST - 1 comments

FreeCell is a solitaire card game included with every release of Microsoft Windows since 1995 -- nearly 30 years. Unlike crosswords, sudoku and many other pastimes, solitaire is a game whose starting condition is purely random. Do you play games / solve puzzles to pass the time? Or talk about anything you like! It's your free thread!
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:16 AM PST - 114 comments

10 Major Awards for Fantasy Literature (2018) hits the SFF high points. There is, however, a long list of contenders for awards of varying sizes (2019). Another perspective (2016), from around the time of the last major Hugos fracas. If you haven't heard of them, maybe check out the Ignyte Awards, the Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (or see the overall database of Lambda winners), or the Prix Jacques Brossard. For more information, visit the Science Fiction Awards Database. [more inside]
posted by cupcakeninja at 4:42 AM PST - 10 comments

The mere notion of Madonna going on any talk show was rare. She didn’t need the publicity. The relentless tabloids took care of that for her. Nor did she have anything to promote. Someone of her magnitude would seldom go on without a reason. But on March 31st, 1994, she did it anyway. She went on David Letterman’s Late Show for her first visit with the host in 6 years. Everybody would be tuning in no matter what. But what we got was something so bizarre that we cannot help but marvel that it was ever really a thing 30 years later. from An Oral History of Madonna’s Infamous 1994 David Letterman Appearance [Latenighter]
posted by chavenet at 1:33 AM PST - 63 comments