Pat Kahnke on Culture, Faith, and Politics - "I used to believe what Charlie Kirk believes. And that's why I need to speak out now."
posted by kliuless to MetaFilter on Sep 28 at 2:22 AM
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Ordinary people and local groups in the US can research candidates for local elections and make endorsements. For example, Kelly Jensen explains how to build a voter's guide for public library board elections, and Frank Strong does similarly for school board elections (more details in the introduction to this Google Doc, "The Book-Loving Texan¡¯s Guide to the May 2025 School Board Elections"). Naomi Kritzer has written several useful guides as well (below), having researched and published endorsements in Minnesota for decades.
posted by brainwane to MetaFilter on Sep 25 at 9:32 AM
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Dear Mr. Borges, which translation should I read?
posted by infinitewindow to MetaFilter on Sep 28 at 4:15 PM
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Blort is old.
posted by growabrain to MetaFilter on Sep 25 at 10:29 PM
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address at the 80th UN General Assembly - "If a nation wants peace, it still has to work on weapons. It's sick, but that's the reality. Not international law, not cooperation -- weapons decide who survives."
posted by kliuless to MetaFilter on Sep 26 at 11:26 PM
35 users marked this as a favorite

Angela Collier on how the rise of pop science conspiracy is fueled by the audience. It's a long watch, but she breaks down how the audience responds to science content and how the media fuels bad faith arguments and the actors that capitalize on them.
posted by finalbroadcast to MetaFilter on Sep 30 at 7:46 PM
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"No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them." On 25 September, Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, died aged 78 in Havana, Cuba (Guardian) There's a great in-depth discussion of her legacy in this Millennials Are Killing Capitalism discussion stream. "Assata Shakur lived free, Assata Shakur left this earth a free woman. And the state couldn't get her - they couldn't defeat her. In the end Assata Shakur still won." Assata Shakur in her own words:
posted by Space Coyote to MetaFilter on Sep 26 at 1:37 PM
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Being the change I want to see per my comment in this thread, here are some ways you can protect vulnerable people in your community right now. Let's help each other get involved.
posted by brook horse to MetaTalk on Sep 26 at 7:19 PM
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Lil' Saturday Web Game: You're a messenger on a tiny 3D planet.
posted by slater to MetaFilter on Sep 27 at 8:21 AM
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"Beowulf" (2025), adapted and performed by Jess of the Shire, other puppeteers, and the insects attracted to the projector. Twelve years ago, a video featuring Mary Robinette Kowal gave some context for this medium and presented a brief example from the 18th Century: "Shadow puppets!"
posted by Wobbuffet to MetaFilter on Sep 25 at 11:14 PM
27 users marked this as a favorite

Golden retriever takes baby koala for a joy ride. When Steve Lamplough heard a commotion outside his south-west Victorian home, the last thing he expected to see was a joey koala riding his dog like a racehorse.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries to MetaFilter on Sep 27 at 4:50 PM
25 users marked this as a favorite

The Global Sumud Flotilla (Novara Media coverage; previously) is now in the final stretch of its journey towards Gaza, with Israeli interception expected within the next 24¨C48 hours.
posted by flabdablet to MetaFilter on Sep 30 at 9:43 AM
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"The opposite of doomscrolling: Every two weeks (roughly) I [Clive Thompson] send you a collection of the best Internet reading I've found -- links to culture, technology, art and science that fascinated me. Full, free archives here."
posted by MonkeyToes to MetaFilter on Sep 24 at 11:03 AM
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"In my capacity as mayor, I am obligated to carry out the will of the people, and of course I will abide by whatever they decide this November." An epistolary horror story about ballot referenda and our conceptions of fairness: "Question 3" by Cliff (Pervocracy) (previously, previously), which reminds me of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" (1948). Content notes: politics, capital punishment. (Previously: four short scifi stories about voting and elections.)
posted by brainwane to MetaFilter on Sep 29 at 7:27 AM
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Most people - me among them - find looking at bodies of water relaxing and calming. What is the absolute minimum size of water you can look at to get this benefit? I recognize that this is an essentially nuts question, but I¡¯ve been wondering.
posted by mygothlaundry to Ask MetaFilter on Sep 26 at 2:39 PM
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Can you help me put together a checklist of things I should have available when making a will or trust?
posted by snsranch to Ask MetaFilter on Sep 24 at 5:43 PM
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Folk tales are historical documents. They have evolved over many centuries and have taken different turns in different cultural traditions. Far from expressing the unchanging operations of man¡¯s inner being, they suggest that mentalités themselves have changed. We can appreciate the distance between our mental world and that of our ancestors if we imagine lulling a child of our own to sleep with the primitive peasant version of ¡°Little Red Riding Hood.¡± from The Meaning of Mother Goose by Robert Darnton [NYRB; ungated]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Sep 29 at 11:03 AM
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Lately I feel strongly the desire to make new friendships with people I have more in common with. This is mostly complicated by living in Germany where I have only "okay" mastery of the language.
posted by SockAuthority to Ask MetaFilter on Sep 29 at 12:04 AM
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Evanescence - Fight Like A Girl (feat. K.Flay) , we are so back.
posted by signal to MetaFilter on Sep 25 at 4:18 PM
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Do Viruses Trigger Alzheimer's? "In the summer of 2024 several groups of scientists published a curious finding: people vaccinated against shingles were less likely to develop dementia than their unvaccinated peers. Two preprints came from the lab of Pascal Geldsetzer at Stanford University. Analysing medical records from Britain and Australia, the researchers concluded that around a fifth of dementia diagnoses could be averted through the original shingles vaccine, which contains live varicella-zoster virus. Two other studies, one by GSK, a pharmaceutical company, and another by a group of academics in Britain, also reported that a newer ¡°recombinant¡± vaccine, which is more effective at preventing shingles than the live version, appeared to confer even greater protection against dementia." ungated.
posted by storybored to MetaFilter on Oct 1 at 4:43 PM
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[more posts]

As a baker with a natural knack for the chemistry, my concern would be less about the smell and more about hydration. If you put something you want to turn out crispy like cookies with something that has a lot of water to boil off like lasagna or a casserole, it's probably going to make the cookies weirdly chewy and soft and less crispy. A... [more]
posted by loquacious to Ask MetaFilter on Sep 27 at 12:10 PM
101 users marked this as a favorite

Hey, friends. I have struggled with suicidal ideation. Please don¡¯t talk about people like me as ¡°not really wanting to be dead¡± because we haven¡¯t completed suicide - this is part of the stigma that surrounds suicide, that suicidal depression somehow isn¡¯t *real* until someone has actually killed themselves. ¡°She¡¯s just being dramatic - she... [more]
posted by rrrrrrrrrt to Ask MetaFilter on Oct 1 at 12:18 AM
72 users marked this as a favorite

It's almost as if Prosperity Gospel were the work of a conniving pack of lying, thieving sacks of shit the whole time. [view]
posted by flabdablet to MetaFilter on Sep 28 at 3:02 AM
70 users marked this as a favorite

My daughter learned about Jane Goodall when she was in second grade. She came home from school that day and announced that she wanted to be like Jane and work with animals. That started discussions about the ways in which she could work with animals: vet (no), researcher like Jane (maybe), etc. We happened to go to the Cincinnati Zoo that weekend... [more]
posted by cooker girl to MetaFilter on Oct 1 at 1:00 PM
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Your last comment suggests that people who are unhappy or nonproductive they have no value. If you have ever lost someone you loved to suicide, you would see how completely wrong that statement can be. People who suicide are often much loved and valued by people who care about them. Unfortunately just because other people see your value does... [more]
posted by metahawk to Ask MetaFilter on Sep 30 at 10:08 PM
48 users marked this as a favorite

There was a stabbing here on the London Tube a few years ago, the culprit claiming he was somehow doing this in the name of Islam. As police handcuffed the man, someone nearby who actually understood Islam's message of peace shouted "You ain't no Muslim, Bruv." This was captured on cellphone footage, and the remark won everyone's... [more]
posted by Paul Slade to MetaFilter on Sep 28 at 5:24 AM
45 users marked this as a favorite

Belief in God is just another flavor of authoritarianism. Okay, if we're trading pithy hot takes, I have one to contribute: "Grand generalizations about other groups is just another flavor of fascism." Did I win anything? [view]
posted by EmpressCallipygos to MetaFilter on Sep 28 at 5:56 AM
43 users marked this as a favorite

Do y'all know how much harassment I got after that James Damore op-ed I wrote after y'all encouraged me to do it? I was worried, you know. I lived in the middle of Texas, and I was very publicly flipping off a big MRA contingent. I bought a home alarm system and everything, just in case. I got a couple of sad little twitter mentions, which I... [more]
posted by sciatrix to MetaTalk on Sep 26 at 1:28 PM
40 users marked this as a favorite

I guess it is time to move past sending letters by mail but at the same time I don't understand why a postal service needs to pay for itself. We don't ask our roads, hospitals, or schools to pay for themselves, they're simply services provided by the government, so why is mail any different? I still get most of my bills in the mail because when... [more]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm to MetaFilter on Sep 25 at 11:39 AM
38 users marked this as a favorite

I think more than ever users should be able to delete or at least hide their comments without going through a moderator to remove it from public view. Technical difficulties aside, the values-based arguments against it should stop immediately. very few people who frequent this site are at any direct risk I mean, I don¡¯t... [more]
posted by brook horse to MetaTalk on Sep 26 at 3:42 PM
38 users marked this as a favorite

I attend a Presbyterian church in a purplish city in Florida. The congregation has a lot of young blue families and some aging lefties, balanced almost evenly by a lot of deep red senior citizens who are the biggest financial donors. When he came here in mid-2022, our pastor, knowing this, walked a fine line. But since Gaza and then increasingly... [more]
posted by martin q blank to MetaFilter on Sep 28 at 10:56 AM
38 users marked this as a favorite

She said some wonderfully unafraid things about dying in recent years. I can't find the exact quote that stuck with me for its lovely clear-eyedness, but this is quite close: "My next great adventure, aged 90, is going to be dying. There¡¯s either nothing or something. If there¡¯s nothing there¡¯s nothing, that¡¯s it. If there¡¯s something I... [more]
posted by marlys to MetaFilter on Oct 1 at 12:46 PM
36 users marked this as a favorite

From Julie S. Lalonde, one of Canada's best and greatest modern activists: ""Canada Post is on track to lose money" Hum. Duh. It cost less than a toonie to send a letter across Canada. "Canada Post is a service and not a business" was common knowledge until late stage capitalism brain rotted most people into think if... [more]
posted by Kitteh to MetaFilter on Sep 25 at 12:06 PM
35 users marked this as a favorite

I think I'd go with something like "Orange Boy likes petting so much, I wondered if he'd like being brushed too! Turns out he loves it, so I left you his favorite brush - I had a spare. I'm happy to show you how I did it if you want." You can let his vet discuss the need to brush - if he's dematted now it's not a crisis. Some cats... [more]
posted by restless_nomad to Ask MetaFilter on Sep 27 at 5:51 PM
35 users marked this as a favorite

Big ups to joannemerriam for hustling herself all tf over MeFi for weeks to keep people engaged and informed!! [view]
posted by phunniemee to MetaTalk on Sep 30 at 12:13 PM
34 users marked this as a favorite

One thing I did when my second (and then my third) was born: I felt like I was constantly saying to the older one, "I can't right now, the baby needs XYZ" or "In a minute, after I do this for the baby" or whatever. So whenever I thought of it, I tried to switch it up. Like if the baby was crying waiting to be taken out of his... [more]
posted by wisekaren to Ask MetaFilter on Sep 29 at 11:40 AM
33 users marked this as a favorite

Oh god... child me would be BEGGING, PLEADING, PRAYING, CAJOLING, TANTRUMING to get one of these! "Well last Christmas we got you a thesaurus and we're STILL regretting it." [view]
posted by PlusDistance to MetaFilter on Sep 26 at 2:12 PM
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I had my epiphany standing inside the Mission San Juan Bautista in a small adobe courtyard that had a tiny, unremarkable sign that read: "In this ground lies the unmarked grave of 4,000 Indians". [view]
posted by effluvia to MetaFilter on Sep 28 at 3:50 AM
31 users marked this as a favorite

Further, from https://hoodcommunist.org/2024/03/07/an-open-letter-from-assata-shakur/ (apologies that I can't figure out a better way to display the quote) My name is Assata Shakur, and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and... [more]
posted by lizard music to MetaFilter on Sep 26 at 3:16 PM
30 users marked this as a favorite

:.....Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The... [more]
posted by lalochezia to MetaFilter on Sep 27 at 4:24 AM
29 users marked this as a favorite

[more comments]