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The invention helping Cambodian villagers produce clean drinking water for free. A small sticker that uses UV light to indicate when contaminated water is safe for drinking is revolutionising life for villagers in South-East Asia.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 10:11 PM PST - 8 comments

On August 31, 1946 The New Yorker devoted an entire issue to a single 31,000 word article by John Hersey. The U.S. military had taken significant measures to suppress and censor reporting about the impact of the bombs dropped on Japan. General Groves even assured Congress that it was "a rather pleasant way to die." [more inside]
posted by bunderful at 9:11 PM PST - 29 comments

After her conservatorship ended, some of her fans latched onto a new theory. What if she had never been freed at all? (archive link)
posted by Kitteh at 5:35 PM PST - 20 comments

Donald Trump indicted again by DC Grand Jury. This time it's for his attempts to interfere with the electoral count on Jan 6, 2021. [more inside]
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 2:49 PM PST - 416 comments

The Australien Government made an ad about its bid to host the 2026 UN Climate Summit (COP31) with the Pacific, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.
posted by flabdablet at 12:16 PM PST - 6 comments

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? More like Earth’s Mightiest MENACES! It’s no secret that the Avengers cause a lot of collateral damage — so they have to prioritize who to save and when. Ever since Thor flew through the local Halal Guys, I’ve found myself thinking about which ones I can count on to have my back if they know I’m Muslim. Here’s my best guess, arranged in a neatly ranked list based on existing reports.
posted by Etrigan at 12:04 PM PST - 36 comments

Shutting Down Feminist Frequency [more inside]
posted by May Kasahara at 11:04 AM PST - 35 comments

TODAY: 99-year-old trucking company Yellow shuts down, putting 30,000 out of work, including 22,000 Teamsters. NPR reports that both the Teamsters and Yellow's management blame each other for the shutdown, with the freight company claiming that the threat of a strike induced volatility and crashed the stock price. What else is going on in organized labor in the U.S.? [more inside]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:01 AM PST - 22 comments

On the erosion of film criticism by influencers. Manuela Lazic laments the decline of film criticism's vitality.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 6:36 AM PST - 49 comments

Sleep is a liability for creatures as soft and tasty as humans. If humans have evolved into such a liability, there must be a benefit to balance the risk. There is evidence that sleep in general and dreaming specifically provides a state for association. In our dreams, we can revisit memories and make connections in ways not possible while consumed with the activity of consciousness. This would allow strengthening associations through repetition without having to repeat the physical event ... While computers are ideal for multitasking, they have performance differences in trying to develop associations as events unfold versus processing and pruning after the fact, once removed from the situation (like humans, robots benefit from hindsight even without rear-facing sensors). Despite the apparent benefits, when dividing human and machine tasks for optimization, one would expect resistance to signing robots up for nap time. from Why Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? [Modern War Institute] [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 6:25 AM PST - 19 comments

How To Get Into the Ever-Growing Yakuza Series [Game Informer] It's never been a better time to be a Yakuza fan – if only due to the sheer amount of Yakuza games there are. Across the mainline series, prequels, remakes, and spin-offs, developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has released 15+ Yakuza games since 2005. But with that kind of output, it can be a little confusing to know where to start and in what order you should play the games (spoiler: not in release order or chronological order!). [Yakuza (franchise) wiki] [more inside]
posted by Fizz at 6:09 AM PST - 26 comments

Hangzhou zoo insists animals are real after video of one standing on hind legs triggers online speculation

A zoo in eastern China has denied suggestions that some of its bears could be humans dressed in costumes, after video of one standing on its hind legs circulated online.

Video of a sun bear standing on its hind legs had circulated on social media, with people noting that its slender legs and folds of fur made it look like a human was acting the part of the bear.

But in an audio recording circulating on WeChat, a spokesperson for the zoo said the animal was real and that such deception would not happen at a state-run facility. He also noted that in the 40C (104F) summer temperature, a human in a fur bear suit “would not last more than a few minutes before collapsing”.

[more inside]
posted by Pachylad at 5:36 AM PST - 42 comments