3682 MetaFilter comments by thomcatspike (displaying 1 through 50)

Hurricane Milton is currently category 5 and 175 mph. The predicted center of its landfall is just north of Tampa, Florida, a worst case disaster scenario, with damage predicted in the hundreds of billions.
comment posted at 10:17 PM on Oct-7-24

Neuroscientist Dr. Eliezer Masliah was prolific, publishing around 800 papers on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. His work good enough for long enough that in 2016, he was appointed director of the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging.

Yesterday, Science published a report casting substantial credible doubt on 132 of those papers, and on Masliah specifically, as the sole common author among the papers cited.
comment posted at 5:38 PM on Sep-27-24
comment posted at 5:43 PM on Sep-27-24
comment posted at 12:51 AM on Sep-28-24

Meet Johnathan, the AI-powered camera, just one type of new technology saving the ocean's endangered animals. It is often said AI will take the jobs humans should be doing — but in this case, the human researchers are happy enough to pass on the job of scanning thousands of hours of recordings made deep in the Southern Ocean, freeing them up for the pursuit of scientific breakthroughs.
comment posted at 11:07 PM on Sep-25-24
comment posted at 11:14 PM on Sep-25-24
comment posted at 11:23 PM on Sep-25-24

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.
comment posted at 11:17 PM on Sep-13-24
comment posted at 4:09 AM on Sep-14-24
comment posted at 5:24 PM on Sep-14-24
comment posted at 5:49 PM on Sep-14-24
comment posted at 10:11 PM on Sep-14-24
comment posted at 11:19 PM on Sep-14-24


In Wakasa Bay, 200 miles west of Tokyo and 150 miles north of Taiji Bay, dolphins have attacked at least 47 people since 2022. Some marine experts think it might just be a single lonely and possibly horny cetacean.
comment posted at 12:42 PM on Aug-20-24


A recent paper on The Importance of Continents, Oceans, and Plate Tectonics for the Evolution of Complex Life (pdf) by Stern and Gerya, published in Nature, suggests that the rarity of planets with continents and plate tectonics might resolve the Fermi Paradox -- the problem of explaining why we haven't found intelligent, communicative, extraterrestrial life given that plausible models say such life should be abundant.
comment posted at 5:32 PM on Jul-20-24
comment posted at 7:11 PM on Jul-20-24
comment posted at 7:42 PM on Jul-20-24
comment posted at 3:04 AM on Jul-21-24

Cheng Pei-pei, ‘queen of martial arts’ movies, dead at 78 Actress Cheng Pei-pei, best known for her martial arts roles in films such as “Come Drink with Me” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” has died. She was 78. “It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the rumors are true. Our mother, Cheng Pei Pei, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones on July 17,” her family wrote in a statement posted on Facebook Friday.
comment posted at 6:00 PM on Jul-20-24

Happy Birthday, a 1981 song by Scottish band Altered Images, reached #2 in the UK singles chart. Altered Images also released "I could be happy", and "Don't talk to me about love", while lead singer Clare Grogan forged a career in film and TV, most notably in Gregory's Girl. Altered Images are still touring, playing in Worcestershire this summer alongside The Levellers, Holly Johnson, The Wurzels, David Essex, Bananarama and Jason Donovan.
comment posted at 12:34 AM on Jul-14-24
comment posted at 2:12 AM on Jul-14-24
comment posted at 2:47 AM on Jul-14-24
comment posted at 3:49 AM on Jul-14-24
comment posted at 4:32 AM on Jul-14-24

On July 1, the Biden administration's new rule extending overtime rules went into effect. President Biden said, "While Republicans side with big corporations and special interests on Park Avenue to try to deny workers these protections, I will always side with hardworking families like the ones I grew up with in Scranton." Another 3 million will get protection next year.
comment posted at 12:45 AM on Jul-8-24
comment posted at 1:07 AM on Jul-8-24
comment posted at 12:04 AM on Jul-11-24
comment posted at 12:21 AM on Jul-11-24

With the 2020 US Census underway, we are due to see a lot of redistricting in 2021, which determines who votes for which representatives at the state and national levels. With that in mind, let's take a look at the recent history of gerrymandering in the US, and what's going on in redistricting reform efforts...
comment posted at 9:53 PM on Aug-29-20


Gene Wilder has died at age 83. Gene Wilder, who regularly stole the show in such comedic gems as “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “Stir Crazy,” died Monday at his home in Stamford, Conn. His nephew Jordan Walker-Pearlman said he died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease.
comment posted at 8:57 PM on Aug-29-16
comment posted at 9:04 PM on Aug-29-16

"...the President is hereby authorized to invite each and all the States to provide and furnish statues..." Each state can send up to two statues to the collection, representing notable people from that state. The statues may be rendered in either marble or bronze.
comment posted at 6:20 PM on Jul-29-16
comment posted at 6:23 PM on Jul-29-16
comment posted at 6:44 PM on Jul-29-16

How Exhaustion Became a Status Symbol. "From sloth to burnout, each age remakes exhaustion in its own image."
comment posted at 3:23 PM on Jul-29-16


The Washington Post presents the top 5 quotes of 2007.
comment posted at 11:20 PM on Dec-31-07

Don't Fear Starbucks
Soon after declining Starbucks's buyout offer, Hyman received the expected news that the company was opening up next to one of his stores. But instead of panicking, he decided to call his friend Jim Stewart, founder of the Seattle's Best Coffee chain, to find out what really happens when a Starbucks opens nearby. "You're going to love it," Stewart reported. "They'll do all of your marketing for you, and your sales will soar".
Contrary to popular belief Starbucks, instead of destroying it, is promoting a thriving Mom & Pop coffee house industry. With the number of independent owned stores growing 40% between 2000 and 2005 and a less than 10% failure rate you might want to start looking for an empty storefront next to your local branch of Seattle's biggest export.
comment posted at 11:42 PM on Dec-30-07

The Big Ox. Power oxygen for real extreme athletes... available in a variety of flavors: Polar Rush, Tropical Breeze, Mountain Mint, and Citrus Blast. Is this The Next Big Thing?
comment posted at 10:41 AM on Dec-12-07

This cheesy 1979 promo film from the group, Blackjack, offers a glimpse into the hard rock past of balladeer Michael Bolton, which also includes a co-writing credit for a Top 40 hit by Kiss. Similarly, Bill Joel disavows the days when he posed in medieval armor next to slabs of raw beef on the cover of the self-titled album by Joel's heavy metal duo, Attila, although Julian Cope is a fan of the album and its Deep Purplish vibes (check out Holy Moses and Wonder Woman). To round out the trifecta, we have Tori Amos who got marketed as the metal-chick frontwoman of Y Kant Tori Read (check out the video for The Big Picture). On the other hand, metalheads have the opposite problem of hiding their pop past. Examples include the industrial metal band Ministry's early days as a new wave synth act and Tommy Iommi's brief tenure as a member of Jethro Tull before becoming lead guitarist of Black Sabbath. Meanwhile, Bon Scott, the late lead singer of AC/DC, is probably spinning in his grave over the YouTube footage of him as an Australian teen idol and a bearded hippie with a recorder.
comment posted at 8:29 PM on Nov-26-07


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