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It started with a simple question on Twitter: "Who would win in a staff battle between @sciencemuseum (The Science Museum) and @NHM_London (Natural History Museum) what exhibits/items would help you be victorious? #askacurator"

The Natural History Museum was the first to weigh in: "We have dinosaurs. No contest."
The Science Museum was quick to respond: "@NHM_London is full of old fossils, but we have robots, a Spitfire and ancient poisons. Boom!"

What followed was a donnybrook for the ages. (Or for the Twitter-averse, a recap via the London Evening Standard.)
comment posted at 5:15 PM on Sep-14-17

What do the rich think of the world? "When I used the word “affluent” in an email to a stay-at-home mom with a $2.5 million household income, a house in the Hamptons and a child in private school, she almost canceled the interview, she told me later. Real affluence, she said, belonged to her friends who traveled on a private plane." What The Rich Won't Tell You - how the wealthy view themselves by Rachel Sherman (NYT). Meanwhile, "Dream Hoarders", a new book by Richard Reeves making the lofty claim that the real drivers of inequality are the upper middle class, is being savaged by critics.
comment posted at 9:09 PM on Sep-12-17
comment posted at 9:36 PM on Sep-12-17

Wes Siler, Outside magazine's lifestyle columnist, writes about what it takes to be a good owner:

People love to tell me how lucky I am to have a good dog like Wiley. But they’re dead wrong—there was no luck involved. Wiley’s good behavior and good temperament are products of four years of hard work, nothing else. The more people who understand this, the more people there will be who have "good" dogs too.

comment posted at 3:52 PM on Sep-1-17

The Famous Five turn 75
comment posted at 7:51 PM on Jul-16-17

The Bestest in the World. Every city has its beloved local bakeries—places that reliably turn out aromatic loaves of baguette or pumpernickel, small cafes that bake a pie, cupcake, or cookie that you crave daily.
comment posted at 3:39 AM on Jun-27-17

A question posed to the married men of Reddit: what moment with your future wife made you think "Yup, I'm asking this girl to marry me."? (SLReddit) Although the one-sidedness of the question is not ideal (how about "married women, when did you know you wanted to marry your husband"), there are some great stories in here, from the touching to the silly.
comment posted at 10:18 PM on Jun-23-17

The American woman is told she can do anything and then is knocked down the moment she proves it. Paulina Porizkova's 850-word NYT opinion piece. via kottke.org
comment posted at 6:00 PM on Jun-13-17

Mental Load: why women still do most of the work at home.
comment posted at 6:54 PM on May-22-17

In the latest installment of old/rich people blame millenials for everything, a multi-millionaire property dealer (who inherited wealth) suggests they cut back on the avocado toast so they can buy property. The New York Time fact-checks his "claim", as does SFgate (post title from this), LA Times and CNBC, while social media is wtf, emoji, nope, singing. Elsewhere, gadgets to help you make avocado toast, or consider moving to Ireland.
comment posted at 5:32 PM on May-19-17

'World's happiest animal', the quokka, becomes the most popular tourist attraction at Australia's Rottnest Island
comment posted at 11:49 PM on May-15-17

Mr. Gonzalez started at a little over $10 an hour in a job he described as “pretty much shoveling dirt.” Nevertheless, he signed an employment contract that included a noncompete clause, enforceable for three years within 350 miles of [Singley Construction’s] base in Columbia, Mississippi.
Conor Dougherty writes about about the increasing pervasiveness of non-compete clauses in contracts for The New York Times.
comment posted at 11:03 PM on May-14-17

The Internet is Roasting Bow Wow for Pretending to Fly on a Private Jet to New York and It’s Amazing
comment posted at 5:21 PM on May-11-17

Often called the Iceman, he is the world’s most perfectly preserved mummy, a Copper Age fellow who had been frozen inside a glacier along the northern Italian border with Austria until warming global temperatures melted the ice and two hikers discovered him in 1991. Now clues emerge about his death.
comment posted at 12:08 PM on Apr-28-17

Living with an Eye Patch in a Big City This week alone, two complete strangers have asked me outright, “What happened to your eye?” This happens to me all the time; sometimes, I get a “Hello!” first. For years, this constant questioning made me really mad. I felt like I could never hide. I didn't understand why strangers would ask such a personal question. After fielding this question hundreds of times, though, I have learned that most people are not trying to make me feel bad. Usually the opposite is true.
comment posted at 9:21 PM on Apr-23-17

John Clarke, celebrated Australian/New Zealander actor, satirist, and comedian, died of natural causes while hiking in Victoria’s Grampians National Park at the weekend. Obituaries: ABC, Guardian, Radio NZ.
comment posted at 2:17 AM on Apr-10-17

Barry Manilow is gay and has been in a relationship with his manager, Garry, for forty years. Citing his belief that he would "disappoint fans", Manilow has stayed in the closet until coming out publicly two days ago.
comment posted at 5:47 PM on Apr-6-17

This guy makes sweaters of places and then takes pictures of himself wearing the sweaters at those places. No more inside; that's it. Sweaters. Places. You know you want to click.
comment posted at 6:01 PM on Jan-8-17

Carrie Fisher passed away this morning after suffering a cardiac event on Dec. 23rd
comment posted at 2:39 PM on Dec-27-16

An in-depth retrospective of the troubled production of Alfonso Cuaron's bleak modern masterpiece of speculative fiction, Children of Men, a decade after it bombed in theaters.
comment posted at 12:40 PM on Dec-26-16

George Michael, dead at age 53
comment posted at 4:33 PM on Dec-25-16

"Obviously I read for the PC, which I found to be a little bit surprising, because at that point I was about to turn 35—I still considered myself to be a 24-year-old thin, cool person." An oral history of "Get A Mac." (via kottke.org).
comment posted at 6:42 PM on Dec-18-16

On November 28, Chapecoense, a small club from Santa Catarina in Brazil was boarding a flight headed to Medellín, where they would face Atlético Nacional in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana (the CONMEBOL second-tier club trophy). A few hours later, the day ended in tragedy as the plane crashed on the mountains outside the host city, killing 76 of the 81 on board. The flight included the squad and staff, but also 21 journalists covering the big game, and early reports claim it ran out of fuel on the approach and was facing electrical problems.
comment posted at 1:47 PM on Nov-30-16

The US Election night isn't over, but the server's capacity to serve tonight's original election thread is, so we're kicking open a new one right here. Hold on to your butts, folks, and be good to each other; see also a MetaTalk logistics thread, and you can hang out in Chat for more free-form chatter; let's try to keep this focused on updates about the national race.
comment posted at 10:42 PM on Nov-8-16

Average earners getting squeezed out of Sacramento region’s tight housing market Average wage earners in Sacramento, who can afford a roughly $250,000 house, are being excluded from the real estate market because of low resale inventory and a lack of new construction. Sacramento may be following the lead of the Bay Area, where only higher-earning families can own a home. And, just when that sounds bad, a more recent article, Study: Rents Rising, Incomes Declining offers more possible evidence of a worsening situation for real-estate consumers in the Sacramento area.
comment posted at 4:28 AM on Oct-29-16

The most helpful career advice article ever posted on LinkedIn: "So you think you can fake your own death?" by Elizabeth Greenwood, author of the new book Playing Dead.
comment posted at 4:32 PM on Sep-15-16

Worst of the McMansions If you love to hate the ugly houses that became ubiquitous before the bubble burst (1980s-2009) you've come to the right place. Highlights include: McMansions 101: What Makes a McMansion Bad?, and this brief opinionated history of the garage.
comment posted at 6:38 PM on Aug-12-16

Cancer is not a problem or an illness – it's a gift. Or so Barbara Ehrenreich was told repeatedly after her diagnosis. But the positive thinkers are wrong, she says: sugar-coating illnesses can exact a dreadful cost
comment posted at 11:05 PM on Aug-10-16

Since 1988, photographer Carol Highsmith has been donating many of her photographs to the Library of Congress for public use. But in December, she got a letter demanding $120 as compensation for copyright infringement... for hosting one of her own pictures on her website. Now she's suing Getty Images for USD $1 billion.
comment posted at 7:05 AM on Jul-28-16

During Bastille Day celebrations on the Promenade des Anglais, which runs along the Mediterranean, a truck driver plowed through crowds (FR) over a long distance, then exited and began shooting. At time of posting, 60 are feared dead, and many more injured. That it was a planned attack is being evoked by witnesses and police: “People were shouting ‘It’s a terrorist attack, it’s a terrorist attack’, it was clear that the driver was doing it deliberately,” said Maryam Violet, an Iranian journalist visiting Nice.
comment posted at 4:40 PM on Jul-14-16

Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
comment posted at 1:58 AM on Jul-15-16

Bill Cunningham, the street fashion photographer who rode his bike all over NYC in that functional blue smock, has died. If you haven't seen this 2011 documentary (previously) you've missed a gem. See also his video channel at the NYT and this New Yorker profile from 2009. His assistant posted this photo to Instagram 2 days ago, saying that Bill was under the weather, but some reports are saying that he was hospitalized after suffering a stroke recently.
comment posted at 3:59 PM on Jun-25-16

Best known for her YA novels, author Lois Duncan has died at the age of 82. A prolific writer, her books have thrilled multiple generations and have also been adapted into a few movies you may have heard of.
comment posted at 4:53 AM on Jun-18-16

Bretagne, believed to be the last surviving 9/11 Ground Zero search dog, was euthanized Monday.
comment posted at 4:36 PM on Jun-7-16

At thirteen, a neglectful foster system tore me from the only woman I ever wanted to call “Mom.” Decades later I tracked her down and finally got my happy ending.
comment posted at 5:34 AM on Jun-1-16

BECAUSE YOU REFUSE TO ALLOW YOURSELF TO FEEL ANGER AND INSTEAD SEARCH FOR A NEARBY REPLACEMENT EMOTION YOU DO NOT ACTUALLY FEEL BUT WOULD PREFER TO EXPERIENCE INSTEAD (Single Link The-Toast.net / Mallory Ortberg why are you spying on my unconscious)
comment posted at 6:47 AM on May-25-16

Grauniad: Women share flat-shoe photos in solidarity with dismissed receptionist - Women at work on Friday were snapping pictures of their flat shoes in a show of solidarity with a receptionist sent home from her temp job after she did not wear high heels. The Twitter trend was initiated by the Fawcett Society following a backlash against sexist dress codes imposed by some employers.
comment posted at 7:15 PM on May-13-16

Is Britney Spears Ready To Stand On Her Own? by Serge F. Kovaleski and Joe Coscarelli [The New York Times] For years, the life of one of the world’s most successful pop stars has been controlled by a court-approved conservatorship, designed for people who cannot take care of themselves.
comment posted at 10:51 PM on May-4-16

Amy Schumer hijacks your tinder prof.
comment posted at 3:59 PM on May-4-16

For years, foreign visitors to North Korea were only able to see two stops on the Pyongyang metro. Until now: for the first time ever, photos from all across Pyongyang's subway.
comment posted at 11:16 PM on Apr-21-16

"A hater can be anyone. A family member, a friend, a colleague, a teacher, a boss, or some random person you meet on the street or the Internet. People who were friends forever can suddenly be haters. You HAVE to have the tools to deal with it." The Ultimate Cheat Sheet for Dealing With Haters.
comment posted at 2:31 PM on Apr-3-16

Reddit has removed its warrant canary. One might take that to mean they've been subpoenaed.
comment posted at 8:11 PM on Apr-1-16

Watership Down: Parents left 'horrified' as Channel 5 airs 'traumatic' film on Easter Sunday
comment posted at 6:47 AM on Mar-28-16

Yes, my theory is that Friends may have triggered the downfall of western civilization.
comment posted at 1:52 AM on Mar-26-16

In Counterpunch, Franklin Lamb, an American academic living in Lebanon writes about his personal experiences with human trafficking of Syrian refugees
comment posted at 1:42 PM on Mar-25-16

Pay Women More! A new global study of women in their 30s found they don’t leave jobs because they’re worried about family obligations. They leave because employers won't pay and promote them. “Surprisingly,” reads the report, “young women identified finding a higher paying job, a lack of learning and development, and a shortage of interesting and meaningful work as the primary reasons why they may leave.”
comment posted at 5:55 PM on Mar-20-16

"That Seemingly Harmless Paper You Signed When You Were Hired Can Bite You in the Ass"

Stephanie Russell-Kraft talks about her experience with a non-compete agreement:

Legal experts have spent far too much time debating the enforceability of non-compete contracts, a line of questioning that inherently favors employers because it places the burden on individual employees to challenge their bosses in court. Jonathan Pollard estimates that only about 10-15 percent of the agreements he comes across in his practice are enforceable. But that doesn’t stop the rest from causing damage.

comment posted at 9:58 PM on Mar-2-16

The best link on wikipedia. Better on mobile. (non-mobile link here)
comment posted at 11:21 PM on Feb-28-16

Vincent has put his bedroom up on AirBNB.
comment posted at 3:15 PM on Feb-16-16

You see them everywhere—exhausted young women pouring all their spare energy into organising, encouraging and taking care of young men who resent them for doing it but resent them even harder when they don’t. You see them cringing for every crumb of affection before someone cracks and it all goes wrong and the grim cycle starts again. You can fritter away the whole of your youth that way. I know women who have. - Laurie Penny, Maybe you should just be single [SL NewStatesman]
comment posted at 5:50 AM on Feb-15-16