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The Democratic National Convention has begun and all eyes are on the Vice-Presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, the first black woman and south asian to be in that role.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:54 PM PST - 725 comments

In 1929, the last sea otter in British Columbia was shot dead. In 1970, Canadian biologists transported otters from Alaskan waters and relocated them to Checleset Bay, near the remote northwest tip of Vancouver Island. What started as an experiment has become a significant conservation success story.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:24 PM PST - 8 comments

Yet another oral history, this time from MEL magazine: “An Oral History of ‘Steamed Hams,’ the Funniest ‘Simpsons’ Scene Ever Recorded”
(Previously, previouslier, previouslierer)
posted by Going To Maine at 6:32 PM PST - 17 comments

Need an ANSI Z535-compliant safety sign? Sure you do. Here's a convenient sign generator in case you need to let people know that something is dangerous.
posted by GuyZero at 2:51 PM PST - 133 comments

I repeat: Untitled Goose Game is getting a two-player mode on September 23. Also it's coming to Steam and itch.io.
posted by Cash4Lead at 2:19 PM PST - 23 comments

For all of you missing Halloween's spooky festivities, Kowagarasetai has you covered with a drive-in haunted house, where zombies will (safely!) attack your car for a set time period. [more inside]
posted by bile and syntax at 1:45 PM PST - 9 comments

Learn about the Atlatl (pronounced aht-laht (kinda)), a 30k-year-old handle used to throw a giant arrow. Listen to Angelo Robledo discuss Experimental Archeology on Ologies. Then watch Nikolaj Coster-Waldau's new movie "The Silencing." Excited? Make your own, and bring it to an Atlatl event. You can even recreate the ancient game/ceremony of Moche Toss (3 pages).
posted by rebent at 1:41 PM PST - 27 comments

A history of rock music in 500 songs Andrew Hickey makes an impeccably, exhaustively researched podcast covering the history and pre-history of rock music song-by-song in chronological order. So far he's up to 1961; this week's episode covers Ben E. King's "Stand By Me." Previously, previously
posted by feathermeat at 1:20 PM PST - 8 comments

“I have a special assignment for you. Your boss doesn’t know about it. You’ll help two engineers from the US Department of Energy build a special iPod. Report only to me.”
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 12:12 PM PST - 14 comments

Pandemic Cooking Isn’t About Hope. It’s About Practical Magic

Some days I have the privilege of fresh produce, other days I have the privilege of time, and other days I have neither. If it means that my ingredient base has become less local, and that I’m relying on more canned or frozen items from far away—even as I’m also making more things from scratch—I’m okay with that. The circumstances demand flexibility. It turns out that growing up in a household of displaced people has made me surprisingly comfortable with cooking this way.

By Zoe Yang.
posted by Lexica at 11:54 AM PST - 14 comments

If Founders Treated Their Investors The Same Way They Treated Their Employees
posted by w0mbat at 10:57 AM PST - 21 comments

All of James Sowerby’s illustrations from his compendium of knowledge about mineralogy arranged by color [more inside]
posted by chavenet at 10:44 AM PST - 4 comments

How do you fit 70,000 Chinese characters on a keyboard? Radiolab delves into the history of writing Chinese characters on computer, from Wang Yongmin’s pioneering Wubi method that breaks down Chinese characters into components mapping onto standard Latin keyboards, to the cloud-based predictive typing system used across China on PCs and smartphones today.
posted by adrianhon at 10:01 AM PST - 15 comments

The Decoder Ring podcast digs in to the history and mystery of the origin of the mullet. An linguistic detective story. [more inside]
posted by gkhan at 1:32 AM PST - 27 comments

(caution for pig fat) Lard, glorious lard! Twelve or sixteen pieces or round or a crown or after proving! Lardy bread (or lardy cake or lardey cake or lardy Johns), otherwise knows as dough cake or fourses cake and with close relatives such as the Cheltenham dripper and Yorkshire fatty cake, is one of the traditional breads and cakes of English counties and seaside towns. The original or first is debatable and lost in the ancient counties. Made with lard or lardo, flour and various fruits, sometimes sticky and with your mum or while being filmed, this is perhaps not the healthiest meal. Obviously best served with a nice cup of tea. Palate cleanser.
posted by Wordshore at 12:35 AM PST - 36 comments