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Not only knowing obscure words, but memorizing tiles and strategizing: why the simple looking 'tan' was a stunningly resourceful play. [YouTube]
posted by blue shadows at 6:38 PM PST - 19 comments

The Mayor of New York City tells a personal story that is compelling and often untruthful. With a thin list of accomplishments so far, can he address the city’s problems? [original link]
posted by Selena777 at 3:31 PM PST - 53 comments

How the news either ignores or distorts the actual substance of the ideas held by people challenging the status quo.
posted by ropeladder at 2:40 PM PST - 46 comments

395 years ago today, the warship Vasa sank in Stockholm harbor on her maiden voyage, after sailing just a short distance. Found in the late 1950s and raised in 1961 after 333 years, the ship now rests in the Vasa Museum. The museum has a series of videos showing the interior of the ship, answering questions such as why bowling shoes are the preferred footwear onboard Vasa, how the interior spaces are believed to have been used, and what the plans for the future is in order to preserve the ship.
posted by rpn at 1:26 PM PST - 29 comments

Women singing the songs that they wrote might seem like a trifling detail, but it actually suggests something more vital: you cannot talk about the history of music without talking about men actively limiting the musical activities that women were allowed to participate in, sometimes via physical or sexual violence ... How often has a top 5 hit been written only by women in the last 10 years? It’s likely rarer than you think.
posted by chavenet at 10:48 AM PST - 31 comments

Transportation journalist, radio personality and voice-over artist Bernie Wagenblast has been the iconic voice of the New York City transit system for over a decade. Last fall, at the age of 66, she presented herself publicly as a transgender woman.
posted by gottabefunky at 10:16 AM PST - 12 comments

4 hours of gentle wind and blowing grass in the mountains
posted by Fizz at 9:59 AM PST - 6 comments

“It’s honestly souring my opinion of Jeopardy! for putting us in this position, having to choose between supporting the strike and going back on the show that many of us have loved our whole lives,” says a season 38 champion.
posted by Etrigan at 7:36 AM PST - 33 comments

How Fanatics is Building a Weird Monopoly Over Sports Trading Cards (From Matt Stoller's BIG, a newsletter about monopolies)
posted by box at 4:53 AM PST - 8 comments

Tasmanian Quoll Joeys Engage in Really Cute Play-Fighting (Youtube video). While mum’s away hunting, her six little joeys engage in endless play-fighting, wrestling matches and general mischief. It’s a valuable training ground for when they grow up and must deal with other quolls.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 3:04 AM PST - 17 comments

‘I’ll never know where I’m from’: plight of the adopted children of Bangladesh’s Birangona women and "‘My mother spent her life trying to find me’: the children who say they were wrongly taken for adoption" - two excellent long reads from the Guardian today interviewing Bangladeshi adoptees with complex stories.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 12:13 AM PST - 6 comments