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Platypuses found in Sydney's Hills District for first time in 25 years. An ecologist says she's surprised the elusive monotremes are surviving so close to residents and urban development.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 11:48 PM PST - 14 comments

An experiment on coral reefs provides the first evidence that predators use other animals for motion camouflage to approach their prey without detection. "A new study provides the first experimental evidence that the trumpetfish, Aulostomus maculatus, can conceal itself by swimming closely behind another fish while hunting – and reduce the likelihood of being detected by its prey."
posted by dhruva at 7:10 PM PST - 5 comments

Paramount announced that, after the Justice Department successfully sued to block Penguin from purchasing Simon and Schuster late last year, that the have sold the publisher instead to KKR for $1.6 billion. Clearly everything is fine, and there is nothing to worry about... [more inside]
posted by Ghidorah at 6:15 PM PST - 34 comments

Skibidi Toilet [SLYT] is a series of so far 55 minute-long animated episodes featuring an invasion of roving heads-in-toilets taking over the world as they sing remixes of "Brr Skibidi Dop Dop Dop Dop Yes Yes Yes Yes" by Turkish music group Biser King. (CW: Mild jump scares) [more inside]
posted by AlSweigart at 5:46 PM PST - 25 comments

A doctor writes about the trauma of CPR - both for the patient and the doctor - and how few patients actually benefit from CPR. “The bioethicist Nancy Jecker has written that “reflexively using CPR” suggests a fear of failure, of “losing the war we wage against disease.” Over the years, patients and families have told me that CPR represents a human right, a decision to go down fighting, a show of advocacy for their loved one, and a sign that everything possible has been tried. For doctors, too, it’s a ritual, a talisman of care. I’ve seen colleagues not offer surgery to patients who are too sick to survive an operation; kidney specialists will stop dialysis for patients whose hearts can’t handle the side effects. Yet these same physicians struggle to recommend against resuscitation, despite knowing that death is certain and near.”
posted by Bottlecap at 5:32 PM PST - 37 comments

If you don't want any spoilers at all, here's the Steam link for There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension [$13]. This Guardian review has mild spoilers, and Wikipedia has even more spoilers. But I found real delight in watching these two nerds at Animators VS Gamers do a full play through [3h43m]. Their joy was infectious, and I solved some puzzles before they did which made me feel smart.
posted by hippybear at 3:52 PM PST - 12 comments

William Friedkin, director of 'The Exorcist' and 'The French Connection,' dies at 87. A Discussion with William Friedkin: ‘I See a Diminishing of All Art Forms These Days’
posted by clavdivs at 3:49 PM PST - 31 comments

Weird World of LLMs is a concise, true, and very funny rundown of the actual technology behind the latest Internet Gold Rush. (from Simon Willison)
posted by panglos at 3:48 PM PST - 21 comments

How to fit the keyboard onto an upright harpsichord. The oldest known surviving stringed keyboard instrument is a clavicytherium too. They don't all have soundboards as big as the case, which puzzles me but is very pretty. Tabletop version with singer; lautenwerk ("gut"-strung) version.
posted by clew at 2:50 PM PST - 7 comments

In a self-help-y/inspirational vein: "just as yeasts free-floating in the kitchen alight anew on resting dough long after the bread that brought those species there was baked and eaten", "Honestly, it's all single steps, right to the finish. And if you don't make it a thousand miles, you at least get a change of scenery." Sometimes, "not doing their art was costing them time, was draining it away, little by little, like a slow but steady leak". But also, "people want doing the right thing to be like pulling the correct lever at the correct time but actually usually doing the right thing is more like holding a moderate weight at arm’s length continuously for seventeen years".
posted by brainwane at 1:31 PM PST - 4 comments

Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971 I have not been this excited about a new collection of vintage blues and African-American music in years...And this is as good as it can get. [more inside]
posted by y2karl at 1:27 PM PST - 9 comments

Sir Lawrence Freedman, professor emeritus of war studies at King's College London and prolific writer on strategy, turns his analytical gaze to the Barbie movie and Ken's strategic dilemmas.
posted by Jakob at 10:20 AM PST - 22 comments

Who Owns the Most Land in the World?
posted by chavenet at 9:38 AM PST - 46 comments

The math around creating a fair and fun set of bingo cards is a lot more complicated than I thought. Anyway, here's your free thread for the week!
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:18 AM PST - 64 comments

. . . from this world to that which is to come. John "Camino" Brierley, copious writer of guide-books to the Caminos de Santiago, died on 2nd July in Dartmouth, England. Obits: The Camino Society and The Guardian. Himself talking about empty mind (YT-4½min). Sort of related: BBC essay about The Camino Inglés to Santiago from Reading to Southampton. Ultreïa? Sing it! [more inside]
posted by BobTheScientist at 7:42 AM PST - 7 comments