MetaFilter

The mountains of Appalachia, in an alternative timeline, were never meant to be inhabited, but served as the prison for eldritch horrors from a time before memory. However, as stone gives way to eons and elements, darkness leaks, and a conflict resumes between the Old Gods of Appalachia, with humanity caught in the middle. [more inside]
posted by Atreides on Oct 15 at 1:06 PM - 20 comments

Hough’s first step was technological: he patented a machine capable of cutting razor-thin wood veneers in three directions: transverse, radial, and tangential. His initial impulse was commercial. The wooden cards were so thin that they could be used as projection slides in Magic Lanterns. (One imagines that this was the height of at-home entertainment at the time.) Moreover, the tranverse sections were so strong that they could also be used as business and greeting cards. For just 10 cents ($1.00 today), customers could buy individual wooden cards to use for whatever purpose they wished. Hough’s innovation in veneer-cutting proved a massive commercial success. Fortunately for the world of book collecting, Hough was not prepared to stop there. from Romeyn Hough’s American Woods [Bauman Rare Books] [more inside]
posted by chavenet on Oct 15 at 12:04 PM - 4 comments

Literally just a video of the 1985 Chicago Bears performing The Super Bowl Shuffle.
posted by Sperry Topsider on Oct 15 at 10:52 AM - 28 comments

The successful launch and recovery of the Heavy Booster (with a subsequent planned water landing of Starship) has provided SpaceX with very positive press and enthusiasm from the public. What remains, however, are significant issues that undermine the credibility of not just the Heavy Booster development program but SpaceX as a credible launch provider more widely. Last month, the FAA, the controlling authority on commercial spaceflight, recently hit SpaceX with a potential fine, focusing on improper control room procedures, and perhaps more concerning, insufficient handling of explosives (note that the Super Heavy is the largest spacecraft launched to date with twice the thrust of a Saturn V. [more inside]
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch on Oct 15 at 10:09 AM - 46 comments

A sanctuary for one of Australia's rarest birds was a 98yo farmer's last gift. When George Cullinan discovered the plains-wanderer, a small, shy and critically endangered bird with a moo-like call, on his farm in Victoria's Mallee he went about creating a sanctuary to protect it.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Oct 15 at 8:39 AM - 9 comments

Trump sways and bops to music for 39 minutes (WaPo) in odd town hall detour (NYT) [more inside]
posted by box on Oct 15 at 7:51 AM - 211 comments

Two short speculative stories in which characters deal with medical gatekeeping. “This Week in Clinical Dance: Urgent Care at the Hastings Center” by Lauren Ring (published June 2024): "Brigitte Cole presents with lower abdominal pain, nausea, and a long-sleeved black leotard." Bitter satire that "draws upon my own experiences as a disabled woman navigating the US healthcare system." "It’s in the Blood" by Susan Kaye Quinn (published July 2024): "Full disclosure. More than you’d get in a clinical trial, which this was, only the illegal kind." A rebel activist struggles with disability and with the promise she's created.
posted by brainwane on Oct 15 at 7:37 AM - 2 comments

Founder Mode. Somewhere someone said something and a meme was born. David Gerrells is a better developer than me. He flipped the switch on founder-mode /s and built a web-crawler-data-parser using Python(!) and SQLite(!!) to provide free* backlink analysis as an elaborate, yet philosophical middle finger to SEO marketing companies like Ahref and Semrush because "backlinks are the digital road signs for the public and they should be freely and EASILY searchable by anyone." * You can "pay" to unlock AI generated analytics reports, Stripe is configured to auto-refund your payment. Clicking the payment button is enough to fake it out. It's for fun! not profit [more inside]
posted by device55 on Oct 15 at 6:28 AM - 7 comments

Once again (previously, previouslier, previousliest) the Spanish band Broken Peach has released a Halloween Video in their classic style.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker on Oct 15 at 6:05 AM - 3 comments

"While many tombs uncovered within Petra are found empty or disturbed, the chamber was filled with complete skeletal remains and grave goods made from bronze, iron and ceramic." [more inside]
posted by cupcakeninja on Oct 15 at 4:41 AM - 10 comments

In the big contest of this autumn, Kelci Banschbach, originally from Indianapolis, Indiana, won all her matches to become both Queen Conker and overall winner of the World Conker Championships. Overseas competitors also took home the team title, as ‘The Skuumkoppers’ from the Netherlands won the trophy. However, one competitor thought it suspicious Mr Jakins had "obliterated opponents’ nuts in one hit". St John Burkett, a spokesperson for the World Conker Championships, said the cheating claims were being investigated. Elsewhere: footage from Peckham.
posted by Wordshore on Oct 15 at 2:58 AM - 14 comments

Fifty-six agencies provided records in which adults alleged that sexually explicit photos and videos had been posted to OnlyFans without their consent. Fifty agencies declined to provide records, citing privacy laws, technical limitations and other factors. Others did not respond, said they had no relevant records or provided records that were not relevant to this story. Using the law enforcement files, along with some state and federal court cases, reporters identified 128 cases of women and men who complained to police that sexually explicit images or videos of themselves had been posted on OnlyFans without their permission. Reporters conducted detailed interviews with nine people who made those allegations. from Behind the OnlyFans porn boom: allegations of rape, abuse and betrayal [Reuters] [CW: Rape, CSA, sexual content, NSFW text] [more inside]
posted by chavenet on Oct 15 at 12:32 AM - 16 comments

Holograms are way more complex and fascinating than I ever realized. Not only are they capturing the 3D form of an object from multiple angles, but also the way that light reacts to objects, from reflection to distortion and refraction. A laser shines on a 2D image, and, as the viewer moves around it, the hologram gives the illusion of light bending and reflecting off of glass and metal and plastic that isn't there. [more inside]
posted by ishmael on Oct 14 at 9:21 PM - 17 comments

Ludovico Einaudi. 'Ascolta' (slyt, 4:51) [more inside]
posted by clavdivs on Oct 14 at 8:42 PM - 3 comments

“I had no brakes, no morals, no inhibitions. There was no Jiminy Cricket sitting on my shoulder saying, ‘Vicki, no, don’t do that.’ ” A medication prescribed for Parkinson’s and other diseases can transform a patient’s personality, unleashing heroic bouts of creativity or a torrent of shocking, even criminal behavior. A look at dopamine agonists.
posted by capnsue on Oct 14 at 7:51 PM - 61 comments

AI retinal scanner can better and faster diagnose blindness than eye specialists. The Lions Eye Institute has won $5 million in state funding for an Australian-first invention to improve eye care in Western Australia's isolated and remote communities. (The Lions Eye Institute is a not-for-profit centre of excellence that combines an ophthalmic clinic with scientific discovery developing techniques for the prevention of blindness and the reduction of pain from blinding eye conditions.)
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Oct 14 at 7:46 PM - 7 comments

When it comes to biological superlatives, we typically focus on individuals: The largest tree in a forest, the oldest organism on the planet. After visiting the Hoh Rainforest, however, I began to wonder about superlative communities. What are the oldest existing ecosystems on Earth, and what can we learn from them? [nautilis] (previously)
posted by HearHere on Oct 14 at 4:11 PM - 6 comments

For years, the typical story about governments, politicians, or public figures showing up on Reddit focused on the unlikeliness of that match. Reddit was rowdy, weird, or nerdy, and it was sort of interesting or fun or strange for people with big platforms to show up there. In recent years, Reddit has grown from a large cluster of online communities into a sort of last refuge semi-protected habitat for online communities in general — that is, spaces where actual people gather to discuss or find information about certain topics or interests, organized and moderated by other actual people. Now, nobody is deigning to post on Reddit. They’re just hoping it might add to their audience a bit. from Is Reddit the Future of Crisis Comms? [Intelligencer; ungated] [more inside]
posted by chavenet on Oct 14 at 11:52 AM - 52 comments

Hint: All you'll need is a public library card or an university email. Create a Kanopy account. Check out all the movies offered. Be happy. [more inside]
posted by dancestoblue on Oct 14 at 8:32 AM - 47 comments

Most of us could name a favorite book, movie, or album and talk for ages about why we love them so much. But how did you come to find these things in the first place? Is there a special person who introduced you to your favorite band, or did you happen upon your favorite TV show through pure chance? Maybe a MetaFilter thread clued you into a favorite app or video game. And do you find it true that your favorites were mostly encountered during a formative, nostalgic period in life, or is your top tier more wide-ranging? (Or in other words, what's a more recent all-time fave you've discovered?) Discuss this and more in your weekly free thread!
posted by Rhaomi on Oct 14 at 8:27 AM - 64 comments