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The 2022 American Sociology Association Conference has had some drama, between podium tipping, security calls for gang affiliation, and most notably, a presentation about The Paper. What is The Paper? Which to be precise was a 'Research Note'. Content note: masturbation, depictions of CSA in fiction, CSA and CSEM [more inside]
posted by geek anachronism at 7:01 PM PST - 28 comments

Wisconsin primary wins set up key fall confrontation over democracy

Who controls the election machinery in deeply polarized Wisconsin could help determine who wins the White House in 2024—Democratic President Joe Biden or a successor versus Republican predecessor Donald Trump or a clone—and in turn whether democracy nationwide survives Republican perversion and destruction.

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posted by brook horse at 6:47 PM PST - 13 comments

An old thing, but a good thing.
CommonMark [is a] strongly defined, highly compatible specification of Markdown[, …] a plain text format for writing structured documents, based on formatting conventions from email and usenet… the following sites and projects have adopted CommonMark: Discourse, GitHub, GitLab, Reddit, Qt, Stack Overflow / Stack Exchange, Swift (Markdown for MeFi)
Reference Card and Interactive Tutorial
posted by Going To Maine at 1:22 PM PST - 62 comments

Tom Cardy wants to make it clear: he doesn't work here (SLYT). Tom Cardy previously.
posted by fight or flight at 12:01 PM PST - 13 comments

I’ve been reluctant to admit that I have to move on from playing tennis. It’s like a taboo topic. It comes up, and I start to cry. I think the only person I’ve really gone there with is my therapist
posted by Etrigan at 10:32 AM PST - 13 comments

"Someone hears you work on films, so they ask you, 'What movie made you cry?' The artist will respond, 'In theaters or in the office?'" Linda Codega does a deep dive into how the visual effects industry has become a late-stage capitalist hellscape, as studios constantly underbid each other, cater to outlandish last-minute demands from production houses (especially Marvel), and put the squeeze on the VFX artists who are burning out on the front lines. [more inside]
posted by j.r at 9:52 AM PST - 45 comments

What this means is that the door a writer could step through to make a career 50 or even 20 years ago, the one opening onto a life where someone who works hard and does well could buy a house on the strength of that work alone, has been slammed shut. Defector's Kelsey McKinney writing about the uproar directed at Sydney Sweeney's interview with the Hollywood Reporter on how difficult it is to make a living as an actor (or musician, or model) without wealth, connections, or both. (DefectorFilter) [more inside]
posted by Ghidorah at 8:41 AM PST - 48 comments

HERE IS WHAT DOESN’T GO VIRAL: Ángel worked as a housepainter for decades but had a stroke three years ago that paralyzed the left side of his body. Now, his favorite spot is the recliner in his living room. From his perch, he can reach some essential items that he stores on a table to his right: a power screwdriver, painter’s tape, and a clipboard with paper and pen. ... Here is what does go viral: braille decoder rings, sign-language-translating gloves, “haptic footwear” for blind folks, stair-climbing wheelchairs. In other words, a preponderance of innovations, unveiled to great fanfare, that purport to solve disability-related problems. ... In contrast to what gets churned out in glossy promotional materials for corporations and tech start-ups, disabled people find creative ways to make their worlds accessible every day. Laura Mauldin writes on disability hacks for The Baffler.
posted by Bella Donna at 5:50 AM PST - 31 comments

Today marks the 90th anniversary of Danish toymaker Ole Kirk Kristiansen founding a small manufacturer that would, after the development of a system of interlocking plastic bricks, become an iconic brand shaping the childhoods of millions of people - LEGO. [more inside]
posted by NoxAeternum at 2:14 AM PST - 90 comments