MetaFilter

Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the National Anthem as a protest against injustice inspired imitation across the United States. Those protests were matched by vehement opposition from fans and equivocation and denial by the NFL, where, to little surprise, Kaepernick remains unsigned. The NBA, however, has taken a decidedly different approach to the issue: “None of us operates in a vacuum. Critical issues that affect our society also impact you directly,” the letter reads. “Fortunately, you are not only the world's greatest basketball players — you have real power to make a difference in the world, and we want you know that the Players Association and the League are always available to help you figure out the most meaningful way to make that difference." [more inside]
posted by gusottertrout at 10:11 PM PST - 51 comments

Vulture lists 100 great dystopian novels.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:16 PM PST - 71 comments

38 Dog Bios That Will Definitely Remind You of Someone You Know
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:22 PM PST - 11 comments

Plants seem to have memory. And it seems more animal-like than I would have guessed. "In her first experiments with plant learning, Gagliano decided to test her new subjects the same way she would animals. She started with habituation, the simplest form of learning. If the plants encountered the same innocuous stimulus over and over again, would their response to it change?" Spoiler: It did
posted by aleph at 6:13 PM PST - 19 comments

Airman Our Pal is mostly the work of New Orleans musician Paul Marinaro, with cello by Heather Marinaro, who made one album (Soundcloud set) some years back, hopping between Pogo-like Disney editing in Shelter, medival music blended into modern instrumentals ... plus some Angelo Badalamenti? And Björk? Influenced by Amon Tobin, Brian Eno, DJ Shadow, and Four Tet, for further reference. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief at 5:18 PM PST - 0 comments - Post a Comment

During the First World war, Parisian shopkeepers taped their windows with elaborate and often stylish designs to prevent passersby from being hurt by flying glass splinters during Zeppelin bombings and Big Bertha shellings. [more inside]
posted by elgilito at 4:53 PM PST - 10 comments

“The first one I did was from my friend Matt, who told me about this time he was trying to romance this girl when he was at Villanova, and they drove to South Philly. He parked on the median, and they sat on the roof and ate pizza, and that was something he would always think about when he went to Broad and Snyder.”

plaque2thefuture is an art project by Lily Godspeed (via 99% invisible)
posted by rebent at 4:45 PM PST - 15 comments

"The Drone King" is a newly discovered short story by Kurt Vonnegut: While reading through Kurt Vonnegut’s papers in the Lilly Library, at Indiana University, as they worked on the first comprehensive edition of his short fiction, Vonnegut’s friend Dan Wakefield and Jerome Klinkowitz, a scholar of Vonnegut’s work, came across five previously unpublished stories. Klinkowitz dates “The Drone King,” one of those five, to the early 1950s, when Vonnegut hadn’t yet written a novel and was only beginning to publish short fiction. Complete Stories will be published this month by Seven Stories Press. Soundcloud audio version of "The Drone King" and "The Drone King:" An Animated Excerpt.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:58 PM PST - 9 comments

is a great animal control team. Deadspin rides along with San Francisco Animal Care & Control, of Officer Edith fame. Previously.
posted by Hypatia at 2:48 PM PST - 8 comments

Allegedly, it could do just about anything. You could eat its stalks. You could dry its sap and sprinkle it on food. You could make perfume from its blossoms. You could feed it to sheep and make their meat "delectably tender." It was a medicine; it was an aphrodisiac; it was birth control. And it no longer can be found. [more inside]
posted by Guy Smiley at 1:30 PM PST - 46 comments

In the words of The New Republic The feminist intellectual died on Wednesday at 82. Her unapologetic utopianism offers lessons for all of us.
NYT Obit
Wikipedia
New Yorker Postscript
posted by theora55 at 11:55 AM PST - 21 comments

"Salvation via the imposition of a sweeping, unified vision—whether grounded in religion, the promise of digital technology, or plain old unfettered capitalism—is easy to imagine from the distance of Silicon Valley, or France. But here in the Midwest small utopias are being envisioned and built—and deconstructed and rebuilt again—every day." - Utopia Parkway, on the various planned societies of the Rust Belt, both past and future - Martha Bayne , The Baffler.
posted by The Whelk at 9:23 AM PST - 8 comments

Feline Finds from the Archives of American Art. "This exhibition explores the myriad ways in which cats are represented in rare documents like sketches and drawings, letters, and photographs from the nineteenth century through early 2000s." Article about the exhibition: A cat is an artist's best friend. Smithsonian blog post about comparing staff cats with cats from the exhibition. [more inside]
posted by paduasoy at 9:18 AM PST - 4 comments

Criminals gained access to the private information held by Equifax on 143 million Americans from May through July 2017. The data includes names, birthdays, drivers license numbers, and social security numbers, sufficing to open new accounts in the victims names. Equifax hid this data breach for over a month while three executives dumped shares. Also, Equifax information site about the breach attempts to trick victims into giving up their rights to sue or to be part of a class action lawsuit and the information site looks extremely insecure itself.
posted by jeffburdges at 7:52 AM PST - 392 comments

Nova Victoria, a mixed use scheme in London has won the 2017 Carbuncle Cup. [more inside]
posted by lmfsilva at 6:31 AM PST - 33 comments

Voice-controlled assistants by Amazon, Apple and Google could be hijacked by ultrasonic audio commands, according to researchers in China and the US. Amazon and Google say they are reviewing the claims.
posted by clawsoon at 5:38 AM PST - 17 comments

The next time you cosplay at a con, don't be too surprised to suddenly hear your character's theme tune playing behind you.
posted by divabat at 3:48 AM PST - 16 comments