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Senay Boztas (The Art Newspaper, 09/03/2024), "Rijksmuseum acquires controversial early botanic book on Suriname" (ungated): "Maria Sibylla Merian's 1705 Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium [Latin, Dutch, Dutch counterproof] is considered a 'high point' of early printing ... More recently, the contemporary artist Patricia Kaersenhout superimposed images of prominent Carribbean-born people onto images from the book, and made a series responding to the 'erasure' of local people's names from the botanist's work." Intros to Merian: The British Museum, The Natural History Museum, The Royal Society, and the NYT (ungated). Overview of her books. Other works online. Intros to Kaersenhout: Kunstverein Braunschweig, AWARE, The Bonnefanten, and metropolis m. Other works and video online.
posted by Wobbuffet on Sep 14 at 12:14 PM - 6 comments

How a former content moderator thinks about the job. (SLWaPo gift) Content warning for animal abuse.
posted by box on Sep 14 at 10:03 AM - 24 comments

@HidingInPrivate's video "How the GOP Lies to Us: The Trump Economy" fact checks GOP claims in the 2024 platform, and found it with holes big enough you can probably drive a Star Destroyer through... Some examples to follow: [more inside]
posted by kschang on Sep 14 at 8:35 AM - 9 comments

We can’t live without air. We can’t live without water. And now we can’t live without our phones. Yet our digital information systems are failing us. Promises of unlimited connectivity and access have led to a fractionalization of reality and levels of noise that undermine our social cohesion. Without a common understanding and language about what we are facing, we put at risk our democratic elections, the resolution of conflicts, our health and the health of the planet. In order to move beyond just reacting to the next catastrophe, we can learn something from water. from Stop Drinking from the Toilet! [Coda] [more inside]
posted by chavenet on Sep 14 at 4:33 AM - 14 comments

The way teenage girls speak is often derided, but they are in fact our linguistic trailblazers. Teenage girls are the main accelerators of how language changes and evolves. It's a reminder that the most influential people in our society aren't always the most obvious.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Sep 13 at 7:15 PM - 64 comments

Bradbury and Huston met at Romanoff’s restaurant on Rodeo Drive, a posh midcentury Beverly Hills establishment frequented by Hollywood’s elite. There, Bradbury, never afraid to wear his fannish affections on his sleeve, professed his admiration for Huston and his oeuvre. Indeed, he went even further, boldly proclaiming to Huston that he believed they were destined to work together. He had carted copies of his books along that night—Dark Carnival and The Martian Chronicles, as well as a prepublication copy of his latest collection, The Illustrated Man. Sliding them across the table, he told Huston: “If you love my books half as much as I love you, give me a call.” from I … Am Herman Melville! by Sam Weller [LARB]
posted by chavenet on Sep 13 at 5:12 PM - 19 comments

Giant jewel encrusted fruit sculptures by Kathleen Ryan
posted by lucidium on Sep 13 at 4:55 PM - 8 comments

The 2024 Ig Nobel Prizes have been announced! This year's theme: Murphy's Law. Death by pigeon! Life imitating artificial life! Hair swirls! Improving placebos! Dead fish swimming! Reverse farting? Coin flip odds! Drunk earthworms! Old people and bad record keeping! Cows spewing milk! [more inside]
posted by Pronoiac on Sep 13 at 12:25 PM - 21 comments

It locks them into an e-book ecosystem designed to extract as much money as possible while harvesting (and reselling) reader data en masse. "This decision harms libraries. It locks them into an e-book ecosystem designed to extract as much money as possible while harvesting (and reselling) reader data en masse. " [more inside]
posted by mecran01 on Sep 13 at 11:02 AM - 25 comments

Science communicator Rebecca Watson pointed out that what J D Vance and Donald Trump repeated and amplified about supposed Haitain Immigrants eating people's pets are not just lies... but historical Nazi "blood libel"... started by ACTUAL current Neo-Nazis in Springfield (at Anti-Haitian Rallies)... they've dragged grieving parents into the hate campaign as well. You can find the transcript of that Youtube episode here, but I'll summarize the points below... [more inside]
posted by kschang on Sep 13 at 10:27 AM - 97 comments

"An international team of geneticists has found evidence that this famous cautionary tale never actually happened. The true story of Rapa Nui (named Easter Island by colonial Europeans) is not one of self-inflicted population collapse, the new findings suggest, but of cultural resilience. In the 1600s, it seems that the ancient people of Rapa Nui were not utterly isolated on their island, and it is clear that they did not overexploit their resources to the point of 'ecocide'." Genetic Evidence Overrules Ecocide Theory of Easter Island Once And For All.
posted by mittens on Sep 13 at 8:58 AM - 48 comments

Help Fund Metafilter! In its typical low-key style, this middle-aged online community launched its annual fundraiser last month. You can contribute to a cookbook, set up a recurring contribution, or donate via GoFundMe. [more inside]
posted by Winnie the Proust on Sep 13 at 7:59 AM - 33 comments

Here is what we know about the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision curtailing race-based admissions at selective universities. And why many experts and administrators are baffled. By Anemona Hartocollis and Stephanie Saul (Gift link).
posted by bq on Sep 13 at 7:27 AM - 56 comments

If the Wind Tree is deemed tall and large to occupy an allotted space, Wind Palm may be an ideal alternative. It is made up of three to five steel trunks & branches with 18 to 30 rotating leaves[ ]with the option of adding the solar panels at the bottom of the leaves for extra energy generation [designboom] [more inside]
posted by HearHere on Sep 13 at 7:25 AM - 13 comments

SCROLLBARS – A guide on overriding native scroll behavior to provide your own objectively better experience. [more inside]
posted by Wolfdog on Sep 13 at 6:22 AM - 24 comments

Once destined for the tip, these low-grade blueberries are being turned into wine. A food recycling charity has taken blueberries destined for the tip to create a zero-alcohol wine alternative, which is now being served in restaurants and ultimately helping feed more people.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Sep 13 at 2:30 AM - 15 comments

Fire has been our primary source of energy for over a million years, providing the essential heat needed to survive. This reliance on fire made sense when our principal energy needs were purely for heat. However, today’s energy demands have evolved far beyond this primal necessity. Unlike in past millennia, we now require more work than heat: we desire mobility, motors, electrical appliances, and data processing in greater quantities than we do warmth. Despite this transformation over the past century from heat demand to work demand, our fundamental energy supply methods have not changed much, and are still mostly heat generation. This has led to incredible inefficiency.... We need energy sources fit for an era of work demand, not heat demand. Fortunately, thanks to the rapid growth and cost decline of solar, wind, and electrification, “firepower” faces inexorable decline. from Energy after Fire [Rocky Mountain Institute]
posted by chavenet on Sep 13 at 1:01 AM - 12 comments

“To hear Helen speak for herself is wild,” says Andrea Patterson, who plays Helen [getty] [more inside]
posted by HearHere on Sep 12 at 7:41 PM - 7 comments

Fracking ban takes effect in Queensland's Channel Country, protecting one of the most unique river systems in the world. It took 10 years, but Channel Country communities say they're relieved and overwhelmed as a promised ban to prevent future fracking projects in the precious river system becomes official.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries on Sep 12 at 3:25 PM - 2 comments

Meet DebunkBot: an AI chat bot that provides factual explanations and counter-evidence for these conspiratorial events. It's strength appears to be that the LLM is inexhaustible and will argue indefinitely. They found that the targeted dialogues resulted in a relatively durable 20% decrease in the misinformed beliefs, which is better than similar dialogues with humans. Science has published the paper, Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI as well as a perspective on this research. [more inside]
posted by zenon on Sep 12 at 1:50 PM - 32 comments