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"Edie tilted her head to listen. It was catchy, full of bouncy rhythms. It made Edie think of sparkly outfits and dancing.....The name of the singer had been said so quickly, and besides that, all musicians gave themselves funny names. They’d done that even when Edie was young." In the short science fiction story "Always and Forever, Only You" by Iona Datt Sharma (previously on MetaFilter), a woman in "what the Sunshine Care Home called Independent Sheltered Living" experiences joy, heartbreak, and togetherness.
posted by brainwane at 5:47 PM PST - 4 comments

It has begun! PWC WAGNER'S owner Prigozhin has called Russians to unite behind him and bring justice and fairness to Russia! (SLYT to Inside Russia live stream) The situation is developing rapidly.
posted by Meatbomb at 4:04 PM PST - 1241 comments

Bobby Broccoli presents a story about the greatest failure in American physics: The Superconducting Super Collider. (warning: 3 hour Youtube video)
posted by Pendragon at 3:38 PM PST - 26 comments

In 1997, two composers made "The Most Unwanted Song" by sending out a survey and putting together all the annoying lyrics and music that most people said they didn't like. The song has a harp with an accordion, out-of-tune children singing about Christmas and Walmart, lots of high-pitched flutes with tubas and keyboard demos, someone yelling random political terms through a megaphone, and an operatic soprano rapping over cowboy music, bagpipes, and screaming. It's 22 minutes long. (Apologies in advance)
posted by Roverlaw at 12:54 PM PST - 44 comments

Hold Space to Fly Straight An addictive, one-button game. [more inside]
posted by swift at 12:51 PM PST - 15 comments

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, with assistance of Biden administration, obtains long sought after sick days for members at four American class 1 railroads (BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, and Union Pacific) in deal seperate from last year's legislative anti strike action.
posted by Mitheral at 12:23 PM PST - 9 comments

Largely, however, I think these theories are promoted by political journalists as a means of protecting their own hoary narratives of presidential politics. Here’s mine: It’s chaotic. It’s weird. Nobody knows anything. Thus, evaluating the candidates through the design & typography of their campaign websites is as valid a method as any. If you think otherwise, you’re a typographic spoiler. from TYPOGRAPHY 2024: FOR AMERICA! FOR AMERICA’S BEST [CW: U.S. politics]
posted by chavenet at 11:31 AM PST - 13 comments

In Central Park, there are four main types of benches: the Central Park settee, the World’s Fair, wood-and-concrete, and rustic benches. When [noted racist] Robert Moses became the Parks Commissioner in 1934, he wanted to put his stamp on the park and called for a new bench. This one was made of cast iron, with an Art Deco flair, but its basic shape harked back to the hoop arms of the turn of the century. About 8,000 were made for the 1939 New York World's Fair—and many are still in the park today.
posted by AlSweigart at 10:56 AM PST - 6 comments

Somewhere beneath southern Minnesota lie the remnants of about 40,000 board games once created and sold as an antiestablishment alternative to mega-selling Monopoly. Manufactured in Mankato, the game Anti-Monopoly found success in the mid-1970s amid America's rampant inflation and institutional distrust. Then, much like in Monopoly, the ownership class quashed the competition.
posted by Etrigan at 9:35 AM PST - 16 comments

Mark Zuckerberg is ready to fight Elon Musk in a cage match [The Verge] Here we go. After Elon Musk recently tweeted that he would be “up for a cage fight” with Zuckerberg, the Meta CEO shot back by posting a screenshot of Musk’s tweet with the caption “send me location.” I’ve confirmed that Zuckerberg’s post on his Instagram account is, in fact, not a joke, which means the ball is now in Musk’s court. “The story speaks for itself,” Meta spokesperson Iska Saric told me. After this story was published, Musk responded with two words: “Vegas Octagon.” [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 7:28 AM PST - 217 comments

Here we fondly remember Stanley Michael Harris, 3.3.23 - 22.2.93 Found on OpenBenches, a collaborative website collecting geolocations and metadata of memorial benches. [more inside]
posted by avapoet at 7:00 AM PST - 12 comments

Happy Pride Month! Troubled, incarcerated, discovered, acclaimed, forgotten, beloved, rediscovered. The life of early 70s musician Judee Sill [Wikipedia] is a complicated rollercoaster, expertly summarized by the BBC in The Lost Genius of Judee Sill [28m, audio, 2014, recommended]. The Guardian's 2022 profile coincided with the premiere of a new documentary [trailer], and the filmmakers did a great interview afterward [19m, w/ Shawn Colvin]. It's rare to have footage like this, but here is Judee at USC in 1973 [12m] [more inside]
posted by hippybear at 5:43 AM PST - 7 comments

I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers. To actually look closely at the stunning elegance of flowers is to see one of the most beautiful aspects of nature. The architecture of these botanical wonders is a testament to nature’s boundless creativity and ingenuity
posted by _benj at 5:08 AM PST - 5 comments