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"To be sure, the worry is not that the AMOC is on the verge of a complete stop. The fear is that it will cross a pivotal threshold, and then begin a decline that is unstoppable. ... It follows, then, that you'd wonder how close we humans are to that threshold. Perhaps you'd heard about the AMOC's frailty; the shutdown threat; maybe even the...

As the 2024 Paris Olympics opens (with sabotage by unknown actors), it's time to look back at one of the biggest marketing missteps of the Olympics - the McDonald's "When the US Wins, You Win" campaign of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.The premise was simple: Get a card with an event on it If the US won a medal - you get a...

The Tour Divide is an unsupported race of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, a 2,745 mile/4,418 km route with over 200,000 feet/61,000 metres of climbing stretching from Banff, Alberta to Antelope Wells, New Mexico. This year 15 year-old Edyn Teitge became the youngest finisher ever completing it in 19 days, 13 hours, and 14 minutes.This isn't a race like the Tour de France...

Like many other filetypes (Office, OpenDocument, EPUB, JAR), WinAmp skins (WSZ) are secretly just ZIP files with specific contents and their own file extension. Jordan Eldredge, the creator and maintainer of the WinAmp Skin Museum (previously, again), investigated a variety of corrupt skins, and from there found a wide variety of interesting stuff, including text and audio files, images, a simple game, and other...

Senators Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Representatives Hank Johnson (GA-04), Jerry Nadler (NY-12), Cori Bush (MO-01), and Adam Schiff (CA-30) have cosponsored The Judiciary Act, not just calling for Supreme Court reform, but introducing (again and again, since 2021 if I'm reading this correctly) actual legislation to make it happen."The Judiciary Act would expand the United States...

In an interview with noted right wing figure and transphobe Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk attacked his estranged transgender daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson, proceeding to deadname her while calling her "dead" because she transitioned, and saying he was "tricked" into signing off on her gender affirming care. In response, Wilson has given an interview with NBC News in which she details how Musk was both...

In Japan, Turning the Tables on Rude Customers NYT: in Japan, there's a word, "kasuhara" that translates into "customer harassment." Customers harassing workers have gotten so extreme that now businesses are fighting back instead of kissing customer booty."Some employers have removed surnames from name tags to protect employees from doxxing on social media. SoftBank, the technology giant, is developing an "emotion canceling" voice alteration...

This short gen fic from a cat's point of view amused me: If Comfy, Warm, and My Size, Why No Sit: A Meta-analysis of Research into the Warm Flat Rectangle by Dr Fluffy Jones

Marsh Family Songs: "Didn't like the way this J.D. Vance bloke (newly picked as Trump's running mate) slagged off the UK lately. Looked into him. Not great. Made a parody song inspired by ABBA called "Vance VP""

Generating sudokus for fun and no profit – Once upon a time, I decided to create a complete Sudoku application as my grandma wanted to play some Sudokus on her computer, and I wasn't satisfied with the free offers available. The project went on for some years and finally led to sudoku.tn1ck.com - a free and open source Sudoku app without any tracking. While...

"France's easy-to-make yoghurt cake recipe relies on volume measures facilitated by the ubiquitous 125g terracotta yoghurt pot." Bringing Up Bébé's Yogurt Cake Recipe. Yogurt cakes seem to do well with citrus. Yogurt research continues[SLPDF], as does functional cake research. There is also cake research, of course, which is not to be confused with cake ingredient science.This post brought to you courtesy of Gateau: The...

Raising his paddles in every major auction, Philbrick became a constant presence at all of the stops in the "circus," as art collectors call it: the Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips auctions; Art Basel Miami and Switzerland; Frieze London; the New York art fairs; and beyond. He became the darling of what one observer calls "the new collecting class," to whom he offered something as...

The high court in the Buckeye State ruled 4-3 that bones are not a foreign substance and that the customer should have assumed a boneless chicken wing may still have bones. Justice Joseph Deters: "A diner reading 'boneless wings' on a menu would no more believe that the restaurant was warranting the absence of bones in the items than believe that the items were...

A (not-so) Quick and Dirty Guide for 4-Year Fans of Rhythmic Gymnastics Back in May, Reddit user freifraufischer posted a detailed look at the runup to the Olympics for rhythmic gymnastics, with dozens of links to gorgeous routines with the ball, hoops, ribbon and clubs, as well as info about RG's byzantine scoring system, recent judging scandal and years of domination by the horrifically...

In California's Central Valley, 2100 acres of farmland have been changed from farmland into rain-water catchment. It refills the aquifers and prevents floods. "In addition to these two functions, the restored swamp also sequesters an amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to that produced by thousands of gas-powered vehicles. It also provides a haven for migratory birds and other species that have faced the threat...

The Sentinel project is completed. The French artist Marine, aka moonovermarine, has recently completed a beautiful series of 14 embroideries inspired by the video game "The Sentinel" (1986), previously mentioned in MetaFilter. This work of over two years looks fantastic, with a luminous atmosphere and a magnificent rendering of pixels. The color palette is faithful to the game's chromatic range of the ZX Spectrum...

It is with heavy hearts that we bear the news that John Mayall passed away peacefully in his California home yesterday, July 22, 2024, surrounded by loving family. Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world's greatest road warriors. John Mayall gave us ninety years of tireless efforts to educate, inspire...

My family and other Nazis. An edited version of the Krzysztof Michalski Memorial Lecture, given at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna in June 2024 by Austrian writer Martin Pollack, author of The Dead Man in the Bunker.

With advocates on both sides framing their positions in terms of absolute right and wrong, it has become nearly impossible to have a nuanced conversation. (slMacLeans)

Scientists discover high levels of cocaine in Brazilian sharpnose sharks. Sharks off the coast of Rio de Janerio have tested positive for cocaine, but it is not known how it affects their behaviour.

As abortion pills cross state and federal borders, they also cross conceptual boundaries, shifting in status between legal and illegal. Any drug can acquire the label of a fake or falsified product, not because of problems in manufacturing but because of irregularities in packaging, distribution, regulatory authority, and mobility. Depending on its geography and the logistics of its journey, the same medicine can be...