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When you think about government surveillance in the United States, you likely think of the National Security Agency or the FBI. You might even think of a powerful police agency, such as the New York Police Department. But unless you or someone you love has been targeted for deportation, you probably don’t immediately think of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This report argues that you should. [more inside]
posted by aniola at 8:30 PM PST - 14 comments

"Though Pac-Man doesn’t know it, he’s got a very important job to do: manage the pigeon population at the above ground BART station." More about the falconry, Falcon Force and "the staff." Just want to dish on some dumb pigeons? Check out @BadNests.
posted by jessamyn at 8:12 PM PST - 12 comments

Potato physics with a knife is one of many videos made by Texas A&M University, featuring Prof. Tatiana Erukhimova, to have gone viral on TikTok. You can also find videos of Erukhimova on the Texas A&M physics and astronomy department’s YouTube channel, including such gems as Break a Ruler With Atmospheric Pressure, Pulling a Tablecloth with Inertia Physics and Will It Break? Egg Drop.
posted by Kattullus at 3:54 PM PST - 10 comments

Suppose your story situation is this. Character A is telling a story, but it's a lie. Character B realizes it's a lie, but doesn't signal that recognition. This is really two problems in one: How do you tell the audience A is lying? And how do you convey that B knows but doesn't reveal that knowledge? [more inside]
posted by smcg at 1:55 PM PST - 12 comments

Lush, "Sunbathing," 1990 * The Sundays, "Summertime," 1997 * Camera Obscura, "Swimming Pool," 2001 * Florence + the Machine, "Swimming," 2009 * Wye Oak, "Hot as Day," 2011 * The Jezebels, "Endless Summer," 2011 * Yeah Yeah Yeahs, "Mosquito," 2013 * Courtney Barnett, "Avant Gardener," 2013 * Snail Mail, "Heat Wave," 2018 * Lanterns on the Lake, "Swimming Lessons," 2020 * Wolf Alice, "The Beach," 2021
posted by rikschell at 1:25 PM PST - 46 comments

45 years ago, some people invented the future. In the summer of 1977, Donna Summer (an American), Giorgio Moroder (an Italian) and Pete Bellotte (a Brit) were all living and working in Germany. Alongside engineer Robbie Wedel (an actual German) and a pile of Moog kit, they managed for the first time to sync up all the music tracks to a steady pulse, adding sinuous, ecstatic vocals to a robotic bassline. [more inside]
posted by YoungStencil at 11:41 AM PST - 50 comments

Jean Garnett writes about opening up a relationship. [more inside]
posted by ominous_paws at 9:58 AM PST - 41 comments

A free "workbook on the kind of bullshit you need to do when someone you love dies", available as a "version with lots of swearing at the useless, shitty situation you're in" or a "version with a fair amount of black humor but no cursewords". Including "Prepare to spend a long and miserable time on the phone," "Depressing Mad Libs" (obituary templates), "So You Suddenly Have To Become Some Kind of Hacker," and "How to plan a non-religious death party". Published 2019.
posted by brainwane at 9:37 AM PST - 30 comments

The United States' 2018 Farm Bill legalized the production of hemp and the extraction of cannabidiol (CBD) from hemp. In May, the 9th Circuit ruled that other hemp-derived cannabinoids, like delta-8 THC, are also federally legal under the Farm Bill. In an effort to regulate the sale of intoxicating delta-8 products, the Minnesota legislature amended state law to limit the level of hemp-derived THC in products and, perhaps inadvertently, explicitly legalized hemp-derived delta-9 THC edible products in the state, beginning today. [more inside]
posted by uncleozzy at 9:10 AM PST - 33 comments

The Ancient Art of Falconry on the Jersey Shore (archive.org link) Devin Oktar Yalkin for The New York Times
posted by bq at 9:10 AM PST - 5 comments

Introduce yourself with the wildest feedback you’ve ever received, a thread. Featuring all the greatest hits, including such gems as, "Hi, I'm Mary. I should go to trade school and learn how to become a receptionist." -- Mary L. Trump
posted by BeBoth at 8:39 AM PST - 142 comments

It's July and, like every year, Spanish speakers are spreading memes punning on Julio Iglesias and the Spanish word for July.
posted by signal at 7:48 AM PST - 7 comments

The Big Ten Conference started as a Midwestern group of colleges. It grew beyond its original number in the 1990s by adding Penn State, then in the 2010s by poaching Nebraska from the Big 12, then Maryland from the ACC and Rutgers from the Big East. And now it's made its biggest expansion yet in both prestige and geography, stretching the B1G footprint all the way to Los Angeles with the addition of USC and UCLA. [more inside]
posted by Etrigan at 7:08 AM PST - 19 comments

Two Megacities, Los Angeles and Mumbai, have large felines that breed, hunt, and maintain territory within urban boundaries.
posted by box at 4:36 AM PST - 19 comments