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Much has been made of the impending "great wealth transfer" as baby boomers and the Silent Generation pass on a combined $84.4 trillion in wealth to younger generations. Getting less attention is the "great stuff transfer," where everybody has to decipher what to do with the older generations' things. "What we're finding unilaterally across the board, pretty much without exception — you'll get a random exception — but the millennials are saying, 'No, I don't want your stuff. I barely want my stuff.'" [...] In short, boomers love stuff, and not just their stuff. They held on to their parents' stuff when they inherited it, and a lot of them are sitting with their kids' stuff in their attics now, too. [...] "The children are looking around at this volume of possessions and are completely overwhelmed," Godding said. "Their parents are also overwhelmed by the stuff, and it's almost like an avoidance strategy of like, 'Oh, I'll just have my kids deal with it.' Nobody wants to take this on."

The Boomer Stuff Avalanche [Business Insider, un-gated]
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 8:00 AM
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A surprisingly potent technique can boost your short and long-term recall – and it appears to help everyone from students to Alzheimer’s patients. When trying to memorise new material, it’s easy to assume that the more work you put in, the better you will perform. Yet taking the occasional down time – to do literally nothing – may be exactly what you need. Just dim the lights, sit back, and enjoy 10-15 minutes of quiet contemplation, and you’ll find that your memory of the facts you have just learnt is far better than if you had attempted to use that moment more productively.
posted by dancestoblue to MetaFilter on Oct 24 at 7:51 PM
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Yesterday the LA Times announced it would not make an endorsement for President because the billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong refused to allow it, leading the editor the resign. Today the Washington Post announced it will not endorse a candiate either, reportedly because the billionaire owner Jeff Bezos refused to allow it. Meanwhile, the Onion's new owners just made a timely endorsement of Joe Biden.
posted by autopilot to MetaFilter on Oct 25 at 12:46 PM
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Dalla Ragione has spent more than a decade scouring the masterpieces of 15th- and 16th-century art for answers to one of the great questions of Italian agriculture: Whatever happened to the boisterous selection of fruits that, for centuries, were a celebrated part of Italian cuisine and culture? Slowly and indefatigably, she has been rediscovering those fruits, first in archives and paintings and then, incredibly, in small forgotten plots across Italy. from Meet the Italian ‘Fruit Detective’ Who Investigates Centuries-Old Paintings for Clues About Produce That Has Disappeared From the Kitchen Table [Smithsonian]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Oct 28 at 1:17 AM
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To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, cartoonist Chris Ware pens an appreciation of the great Richard Scarry
posted by Alvy Ampersand to MetaFilter on Oct 24 at 9:44 AM
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Trump's recent statements about using the military against the "enemy within" (e.g, the left, anyone who would have power over him, etc.) have prompted John Kelly, his chief of staff for much of his term, to say Trump repeatedly wanted to use the military against Americans when he was president, but lacked generals sufficiently loyal to him.
posted by nightcoast to MetaFilter on Oct 24 at 11:31 PM
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In a new peer-reviewed study, Ne'Kiya Jackson and Calcea Johnson outlined 10 ways to solve the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry, including a proof they discovered in high school. As published in American Mathematical Monthly: "We present five trigonometric proofs of the Pythagorean theorem, and our method for finding proofs (Section 5) yields at least five more."
posted by ShooBoo to MetaFilter on Oct 28 at 8:12 PM
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Bad Bunny [:] “I will never forget what Donald Trump did, and what he did not do, when Puerto Rico needed a caring and a competent leader. He abandoned the island, tried to block aid after back-to-back devastating hurricanes and offered nothing more than paper towels and insults.” [hollywoodreporter]
posted by HearHere to MetaFilter on Oct 28 at 2:21 PM
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Chinese people, even the well-educated, are forgetting how to write common characters. What is the explanation for this peculiar problem?
posted by Fiasco da Gama to MetaFilter on Oct 25 at 3:03 AM
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Chinook salmon have returned to the Klamath Basin in Oregon, following the removal of four dams. The dam removal project, started in 2023, follows decades of advocacy from tribes including the Yurok, Karuk, Shasta, Klamath and Hoopa Valley, as well as conservation organizations.

In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle after the salmon observation in Oregon, Frankie Myers, vice chairman of the Yurok Tribe, said “the salmon remember” where they came from.

posted by Jeanne to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 9:25 PM
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In 1877 the Brits were holding a celebration of “400 years of printing” to commemorate William Caxton’s introduction of the first printing press to the Isles. At that event, the British public was invited to see examples of domestic and foreign printing. It wasn’t pretty: British printing was visibly behind that of the Austrians. Tuer and Hailing decided to elevate British printing through a fresh scheme called the Printer’s International Specimen Exchange: a compilation of the finest printing examples from around the world. This is the biggest collection of scans from the Printers’ International Specimen Exchange.
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 1:47 AM
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Half a dozen exceptional One Minute Films. Also, from reddit, half a dozen exceptional Five Minute films. (Five minutes or less, that is). Seven minute limit. Finally, ten good shorts under ten minutes.
posted by storybored to MetaFilter on Oct 26 at 9:49 PM
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In a kind of a zen way, those born ultra-rich live perpetually in the moment. Since they understand very little about causality, they do not understand how events happen or things get made. They can be filled with mystical wonderment at the spontaneous generation of material reality. They can also be blind to social realities that sit outside their lived knowledge, which is terrifyingly narrow. from Plutocrat Archipelagos [MacGuffin Magazine]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Oct 25 at 12:24 AM
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Bernie: The Podcast | Episode 6 - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - "So you decided to take on a guy who was going to become the Speaker of the House and the leader of the Queens Democratic party." (via via) [spoiler alert?]
posted by kliuless to MetaFilter on Oct 26 at 1:49 AM
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BBC: Hundreds of truckles of cheddar worth more than £300,000 have been stolen from London cheese specialist Neal’s Yard Dairy. Hundreds of truckles of cheddar worth more than £300,000 have been stolen from London cheese specialist Neal’s Yard Dairy. Guardian: The 950 stolen cheeses were Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar, and Pitchfork cheddar, which have won a number of awards and are among “the most sought-after artisan cheeses in the UK”, Neal’s Yard Dairy said.
posted by Wordshore to MetaFilter on Oct 25 at 11:41 AM
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MONSTER FACTORY is a long-running, beloved comedy video series that is a strong contender for one of the funniest goddamn things ever published on the internet. Each episode features brothers Griffin and Justin McElroy (of MBMBAM fame) diving headlong into the character creator of a random game -- Griffin controlling the sliders, Justin providing color commentary. Over the next half-hour or so of relentlessly quotable banter, strange noises, and *painfully* hilarious shenanigans, they sculpt weirdly beautiful creatures of bizarre and improbable proportions, inventing a rich (and loving) backstory along the way. (Some personal favorites: The Final Pam [Fallout 4] - Truck Shepard [Mass Effect 2] - Knife Dad [Champions Online] - Trüllbus the Crime Eater [Saints Row 3] - Super Saiyan Dennis Farina [Tiger Woods '08] - Dr. Sexgun [SoulCalibur VI] - jIM jELLY [Pro Gymnast Simulator] - Snack Braff [WWE 2K20] - Pismokio [Woodworking Simulator] - Count Beetlejuice-Beetlejuice Beetlejuice [Crusader Kings 3] - the phenomenal "Boy-Mayor of Second Life" saga). The series inspired a wave of animations, supercuts, think pieces, and art from adoring fans. Sadly, production slowed after the brothers left original host Polygon, with only the occasional new entry once or twice a year... until now. Prepare for eight straight weeks of new Monster Factory episodes every Wednesday across three different games, starting with a livestream edition played earlier today on the latest McElroy Family Clubhouse.
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter on Oct 22 at 1:24 PM
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President Biden issues ‘formal apology’ on behalf of Indian Boarding School Policy

Biden called the 150-year boarding school era “one of the most horrific chapters in American history” and is the first U.S. President to issue an apology. “After 150 years the United States government eventually stopped the program, but the federal government has never, never formally apologized for what happened until today. I formally apologize as President of the United States of America for what we did. I formally apologize. That’s long overdue,” Biden said. “Quite frankly there’s no excuse for this apology that took 150 years to make. The federal Indian Boarding School policy, the pain it has caused, will always be a significant mark of shame, a blot, on American history.”

posted by brook horse to MetaFilter on Oct 29 at 12:48 PM
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"The cozy fantasy genre encompasses a wide range of different types of fantasy books, but there’s a surprisingly high proportion of cozy historical fantasy books among them. Maybe this is because fantasy often draws on the past to imagine what a society more reliant on magic than technology might look like. But I’m particularly interested in the fantasy books that really lean into the historical elements, creating a true melding of historical fiction and fantasy. I want the fantasy books where the time period the story is set in isn’t incidental. Give me gaslamp fantasy and Edwardian fantasy and 1920s fantasy where cars run right alongside enchantments."
posted by cupcakeninja to MetaFilter on Oct 25 at 5:08 AM
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For some, though, the delight of daydreaming can turn into a curse: The fantasies become such a successful form of escape that they take over the mind, becoming compulsive and preventing the dreamer from paying attention to important facets of reality—work, school, other people. from The Strange Rise of Daydreaming [Nautilus; ungated]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 12:49 PM
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In early September 2020, wildfires tore through eastern Washington state, obliterating tens of millions of dollars of property, displacing hundreds of rural residents and killing a 1-year-old boy. But then-President Donald Trump refused to act on Gov. Jay Inslee’s request for $37 million in federal disaster aid because of a bitter personal dispute with the Democratic governor.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll to MetaFilter on Oct 24 at 6:36 PM
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[more posts]

There is no justifiable reason to root for the Yankees. [view]
posted by NoxAeternum to MetaFilter on Oct 23 at 12:25 PM
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Just for the sake of this thread, I asked ChatGPT: how do I refrobulate a chaemonostat with less than fifty rejuvs? ChatGPT said: "Refrobulating a chaemonostat can be tricky, especially with limited rejuvs. Start by ensuring all connections are secure and check for any misalignments in the components. If you can, prioritize the... [more]
posted by mhoye to MetaFilter on Oct 24 at 2:41 PM
63 users marked this as a favorite

I got Lily Allen and Lily Tomlin mixed up as I read this, and boy that was a surreal couple seconds. [view]
posted by pattern juggler to MetaFilter on Oct 28 at 11:42 AM
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maybe private equity firms can buy up and consolidate thrift shops and swap meets, and siphon off a significant percentage of our boomers' junk the way they've done with healthcare and nursing homes. [view]
posted by Jon_Evil to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 8:52 AM
58 users marked this as a favorite

I knew this was going to have a lot to do with dinnerware. I am also going to get more than I or the market can handle, but what I really want—my grandmother’s Tupperware, heavy tumblers, and old Pyrex dishes—was donated or thrown out long ago. It was useful, after all, so it got used up or passed on. The article really elides some problems by... [more]
posted by Countess Elena to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 8:18 AM
56 users marked this as a favorite

I feel like the Australian angle on this deserves its own FPP, rather than being lumped in with the nth tiresome discussion of USian politics. They're not the same. [view]
posted by fight or flight to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 5:34 AM
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Mother-in-law passed away 8 years ago and we're still staring at a tower of boxes in the garage.. and that was after a year of cleaning out the house where she lived and accumulated Things for fifty years. And she wasn't a hoarder by any means. And Hummel figurines. Don't get me started. MIL adored her collection but would always show... [more]
posted by JoeZydeco to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 9:16 AM
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I wrote the original x86 assembly language manual for Intel back in the late 70’s, early 80’s. It was for their ASM86 8086 assembler which I worked on. Dubious value? I was really surprised that it’s still floating around 40 years later. I lost touch with Intel processors when I left there for much greener pastures in 1980. My manual is still... [more]
posted by njohnson23 to MetaFilter on Oct 23 at 2:42 PM
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Primary care doc here with nearly half a million in med school debt and two more years before my PSLFP forgiveness kicks in, maybe. When I started school, I never questioned the old adage that physicians were natural advocates for the poor, but after working almost a decade in various FQHCs, nonprofits, and academic centers I've come to recognize... [more]
posted by Richard Saunders to MetaFilter on Oct 24 at 10:47 PM
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.....Okay, Wordshore, what has your friend Fred been up to lately? [view]
posted by EmpressCallipygos to MetaFilter on Oct 25 at 11:48 AM
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Great, another "blame immigrants" bit of bullshit. Immigrants aren't the problem, investors in general are the problem, and especially short term rentals are the problem. It's capitalism that needs to be checked, not immigration. [view]
posted by seanmpuckett to MetaFilter on Oct 25 at 8:20 AM
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Recently a carpenter doing some work at my house accidentally broke a pair of Waterford crystal candleholders I'd been given as a wedding present. He felt so bad, but I was grateful. I'd never had the courage to do it myself. [view]
posted by The corpse in the library to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 12:23 PM
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My problem is that I hang onto things because I imagine I will eventually find a use for them. And I do! Just two weeks ago, I dug some decades-old bamboo skewers out of the back of my kitchen junk drawer. I bought them decades ago, back when I used to barbecue a lot. Held on to them for no particular reason. Then recently, I had a need for some... [more]
posted by SPrintF to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 8:46 AM
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The urgency with which middle aged white dudes need to express how insignificant they consider a woman's criticism is a pretty good indicator of how much trouble she's causing. We've all heard the same defensive, dismissive "who cares" directed at Sacheen Littlefeather, Malala Yousafzai, Greta Thunberg, and a dozen others. As long as... [more]
posted by pattern juggler to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 9:22 AM
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I'm a Certified Professional organizer; I've been doing this for 23 years. angiep, above, is correct about all three of her main points, but it's hard to convince people of the second and third points (that their kids don't want their stuff and nobody else wants their stuff) because they're still struggling to embrace the first point: "you are... [more]
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 8:51 PM
40 users marked this as a favorite

We bought a church building three years ago for office space and were informed the house directly north of it would likely go on sale because the occupant was ailing. Indeed, it eventually went on the market. We toured it before we bought it -- she had been a hoarder and even with the kids going through the house and taking what they actually... [more]
posted by jscalzi to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 9:41 AM
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Making oaths to monarchs is embarrassing, although not quite as embarrassing as demanding them. [view]
posted by Kitten as a cat to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 8:39 AM
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As is often the case with this kind of reporting, the article wants to make this about the taste of Millennials (not that that isn’t also a factor) rather than the economic conditions of Millennials. I am pretty ruthlessly unsentimental about stuff and I don’t have any children. Our nephew can have whatever he wants when we go into a home, but... [more]
posted by Horace Rumpole to MetaFilter on Oct 27 at 8:36 AM
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You root for your league in the World Series if your team doesn’t make it. Always. And you always root against the Yankees. [view]
posted by NoxAeternum to MetaFilter on Oct 23 at 12:31 PM
36 users marked this as a favorite

Mr. Know-it-some, what would qualify someone to be an “informed amateur” in your book, on a topic as serious and impactful as development economics or international public health? Reading over Amodei’s literal plan to save the world using the technology that his company makes - a world in which only developing nations are described as corrupt,... [more]
posted by rrrrrrrrrt to MetaFilter on Oct 24 at 4:18 PM
33 users marked this as a favorite

[more comments]