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Wirecutter reviews string trimmers for your lawn....and also a scythe. "If your trimming needs include taking down a large grassy area, like an LA hillside or maybe a spot that’s not quite lawn, but also not quite woods, consider bringing a scythe into your life, specifically, the Lee Valley Traditional Austrian Scythe Set. The scythe is an ancient tool, discarded by our modern culture, yet wildly effective at cutting grass. In addition to its cutting abilities, it offers a tranquil mental and physical experience, accompanied only by the whooshing swish of the blade against the grass. In a lot of ways, it’s the anti-string trimmer. " [more inside]
posted by storybored at 7:36 PM PST - 97 comments

I made another weird little comic thing, hopeful and a little bittersweet, about conservation after the apocalypse. A topic near and dear to my heart, Lord knows.

Your favourite and mine Wombat/Kingfisher Ursula Vernon has released a short comic about the post-apocalypse on Twitter, using AI generated art.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:47 PM PST - 21 comments

The FBI kept files on the Monkees—and Mickey Dolenz wants to see them. The band’s last surviving member is suing the FBI, which monitored the group in the 1960s. “We know the mid-to-late 1960s saw the FBI surveil Hollywood anti-war advocates, and the Monkees were in the thick of things,” Dolenz’s attorney, Mark Zaid, tells BBC News. “This lawsuit seeks to expose why the FBI was monitoring the Monkees and its individual members.”
posted by kitten kaboodle at 12:00 PM PST - 70 comments

The Magic Yarn Project - I was really moved by this, and feel the good people of MetaFilter would appreciate these people, and the work they're doing. Here's a short video and this is their Facebook page.
posted by racersix6 at 11:44 AM PST - 7 comments

Peter Straub, 1943 - 2022. A leading American horror writer, Straub was well known for his 1979 novel Ghost Story, which was turned into a 1981 movie. He published 17 novels and numerous short stories. [more inside]
posted by doctornemo at 11:32 AM PST - 38 comments

"During August I challenged 3D artists to create their best work from a simple, barebones template file." These are the top 100 from the 3,600 entries. [more inside]
posted by Gyan at 9:09 AM PST - 14 comments

"The assistant’s once-grating command bubble and syntax is basically Mad Libs for passive aggressive memes, including those aimed at the sort of existential conundrums posed by tech today. 'It looks like you’re writing unsubstantiated nonsense,' a popular one begins. 'Would you like to turn on all-caps?'" Seattle Met discusses the Twisted Life of Clippy. [via]
posted by jessamyn at 9:02 AM PST - 30 comments

The students thought their teacher at Davisville Middle School was a creep. They saw him leering at some girls, singling them out with pet nicknames, encouraging them to dance for him. The teacher said he’d weathered parents’ complaints for nearly 30 years, and there was nothing anyone could do to him. On Jan. 5, 2021, a small group of seventh-grade boys decided to stick up for the girls. They set up a subchannel on Discord, named it after the teacher, and called it the “Pedo Database.” “Post the [teacher’s] pedo moments and quotes here so we can get evidence,” one boy wrote. In April 2022, the teacher was escorted from the school. (Archive)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:11 AM PST - 60 comments