MetaFilter

Election Day is finally here. (*gulp*) Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, after replacing a Biden campaign killed by an abysmal June debate, has run a historic sprint to the finish, promising (with Coach Tim Walz) "A New Way Forward" focused on reproductive rights, middle class economics, and protecting American democracy. Former President Donald Trump, saddled with myriad felonies, a historically unpopular running mate, and a platform that ranges from fascistic to incoherent, leads a darkly authoritarian counterculture that tried once to subvert the popular will and aims to do so again. Dozens of key House and Senate and ballot races hang in the balance, and the outcome has titanic implications for human rights, climate change, the international order, and the future of liberal democracy around the world. But despite the stark contrast, a lingering economic malaise (and suspiciously close polling) make this look like the closest contest in modern history. So let's give it a push in the right direction, yeah? Voting resources: 🪪 Check your registration - 🗳️ Find your polling place - 💭 Make your plan - 📆 States with same-day registration - 🗹 See what's on your ballot - 🏛️USA.gov voting guide - Volunteer to get out the vote: 🚪Knock on doors - 📞 Phonebank - 📱Textbank - 🚗 Carpool - 👋 Neighbor2Neighbor - ❤️‍🩹Help cure ballots - Follow the returns: ⌚ Poll closing times - 🚨DecisionDeskHQ results - 📈 538 benchmarks - 📺 Live coverage - 📰 Politico Liveblog - 🐀Preparing for post-election subversion - ⌛Timeline through Inauguration Day
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter on Nov 5 at 3:10 AM
157 users marked this as a favorite

Trumpism Has Deep Roots in American History, and It Will Outlast Trump [ungated] - "He's said he wants the Justice Department to target people and institutions he regards as opponents, and would unleash the military to round up American citizens he's labeled as the 'enemy from within.' He wants to deport more than 10 million immigrants. He plans to lock down trade channels with massive tariffs and turn his back on European and Asian allies. He's prepared to continue stocking the courts with jurists who allow legal precedent to be voided — at the expense of women's health and autonomy — and make presidents largely immune from the rule of law. He has called for the 'termination' of the Constitution to overturn election results that don't satisfy him (and has already fomented one insurrection). Some of this is cultural, economic and diplomatic warfare. Much of it — as many voters, historians, analysts, Republicans, former Trump White House advisers and military leaders like John Kelly and Mark Milley have noted — is fascism. All of it, collectively, is Trumpism."
posted by kliuless to MetaFilter on Nov 1 at 11:59 PM
84 users marked this as a favorite

Japan’s clutter tells a different story. It’s one that reveals a far more complex and nuanced relationship with stuff, one that suggests minimalism and clutter aren’t opposites, but two sides of the same coin. For the nation of Japan is filled with spaces that are as meticulously cluttered as minimalist ones are meticulously simplified. These packed places, which are every bit as charming as the emptied ones, force us to question our assumptions and worldviews. What if we’ve all been wrong about clutter? from The joy of clutter [Aeon; ungated]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 2:36 AM
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A collection of one-off actions that improve your life continuously — however marginally.
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Nov 3 at 1:35 PM
46 users marked this as a favorite

Between 1980 and 2021, Cinefex magazine was the quarterly journal of the visual effects industry covering mostly big budget movies, but also TV shows, commercials and even interactive experiences. It ended publication in 2021 due to the effect of the pandemic on film production, however the content remained available through their iOS app... until iOS 17 killed it... or did it?. Regardless, Don Shay, original editor of the periodical, has made the entire back catalogue available on archive.org
posted by Molesome to MetaFilter on Nov 4 at 9:53 AM
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A very silly 0:59 compilation of cats interrupting reporters. (From Glinn)
posted by JHarris to MetaFilter on Nov 1 at 11:44 AM
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A few short fantasy stories about strangers joining forces to save each other, win vengeance, and discover tenderness. A dragon who wants to be left alone has to cope with the maiden "sacrificed" at his door. The rogue in an adventuring party keeps stealing a handkerchief she gave you (by bixbythemartian - previously). An old woman considers a request to turn a housewife into a swan. Story ideas for "a heist film where a group of vampires band together to steal back their old stuff from museums". And a baker in the aftermath of war meets a decommissioned military robot - "When There is Sugar" by Leonard Richardson.
posted by brainwane to MetaFilter on Nov 5 at 8:37 AM
37 users marked this as a favorite

The Crash of the Hammer by Mira Ptacin is a long article about how a handful of Mainers shone the light on a noxious Nazi who’d bought property in their state, and ran him out of town, focusing on anti-fascist podcaster Crash Barry. That wasn’t an isolated incident because, as reported last year by Eric Russell and John Terhune for the Portland Press-Herald, he wasn’t the only fascist to move recently to the Pine Tree State.
posted by Kattullus to MetaFilter on Nov 3 at 2:10 PM
36 users marked this as a favorite

After two and a half years of negotiations, The New York Times Tech Guild has gone on strike (NYT Gift Link). "The guild said it was asking readers to honor its digital picket line by not playing Times Games products, such as Wordle, and not using the Cooking app." "Nearly 750 New York Times journalists and Times Guild members signed a new pledge pressing the Times’s management to bargain and reach a contract deal with the Times Tech Guild by Election Day." More coverage: The Verge, The Washington Post, NBC News.
posted by fedward to MetaFilter on Nov 4 at 11:14 AM
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Over the Garden Wall Tenth Anniversary stop-motion short
posted by 1970s Antihero to MetaFilter on Nov 3 at 10:15 AM
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The decline of the working musician. New Yorker article reviewing the book Band People. Ungated
posted by Ayn Marx to MetaFilter on Nov 1 at 6:13 AM
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Jeffrey Epstein described himself as Donald Trump’s “closest friend” and claimed intimate knowledge of his proclivity for sex, including cuckolding his best friends, according to recordings obtained exclusively by the Daily Beast. [...] Epstein spoke at length about Trump with the author Michael Wolff in August 2017, two years before being found dead in his jail cell. [...] On the tape Epstein can be heard saying, “He’s a horrible human being. He does nasty things to his best friends, best friends’ wives, anyone who he first tries to gain their trust and uses it to do bad things to them.” [...] Startlingly for a man who became one of the world’s most notorious sex offenders, Epstein on the tapes offers a damning judgment of Trump, telling Wollf, “The moral compass just does not exist.”

Listen To The Jeffrey Epstein Tapes [The Daily Beast]
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 9:05 PM
29 users marked this as a favorite

We are leaving Spooky Season 2024 and entering the Horrifying last days of the US Elections, so here’s another roundup of weird audio dramas! They may help distract you from the stress of the season (but please vote). Most of the series are audio dramas with paranormal elements, but anthologies, fantasy, science fiction, and the occasional thriller or mystery are included. I’m excoted because the second season of The Phosphene Catalogue has started!
posted by GenjiandProust to MetaFilter on Nov 3 at 4:12 PM
29 users marked this as a favorite

McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: Thank you for your email. This is an automated response to let you know that I will be away from my desk on Wednesday, November 6.
posted by AlSweigart to MetaFilter on Nov 4 at 9:23 AM
29 users marked this as a favorite

"This time there is no intention to allow the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes--" - according to Amichai Stein, from Israel's Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), reporting in English, a recent IDF announcement this morning: '🚨 The IDF announces: The division of the northern Gaza Strip into two parts has been completed, and we getting closer to the complete evacuation of the northern part from civilians and terrorists: "This time there is no intention to allow the residents of the northern Gaza Strip to return to their homes and that humanitarian aid will regularly enter the southern Gaza Strip - since there are no more civilians left north of Gaza City".'
posted by cendawanita to MetaFilter on Nov 5 at 11:32 PM
27 users marked this as a favorite

"Our hope was to to highlight books that resonate with readers, that may have been overlooked, and that reflect the inclusivity and imagination that speculative fiction is known for."
posted by cupcakeninja to MetaFilter on Oct 31 at 3:29 PM
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October was the 150th anniversary of Charles Ives's birth (in 1874). It's always a good time to reconsider him.
posted by acrasis to MetaFilter on Nov 6 at 6:21 PM
26 users marked this as a favorite

"PEN America today released new documentation of public school book bans for the full 2023-2024 school year, recording 10,046 instances of books banned nationwide, a dramatic 200 percent rise over the previous school year. Since 2021, the free expression organization has counted close to 16,000 instances of book bans in public schools."
posted by cupcakeninja to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 5:39 AM
24 users marked this as a favorite

The Cure live in London at Troxy, recorded November 1st, marking the release of the new album Songs Of A Lost World.
posted by ShooBoo to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 7:04 AM
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Lucas Pope, creator of Papers, Please and Return of the Obra Dinn, has just released Moida Mansion, a new game playable for free on itch.io. Moida Mansion, an ELECTRONIC LIQUID CRYSTAL GAME, throws back to handheld electronic games of yore.
posted by Rinku to MetaFilter on Nov 1 at 3:23 PM
24 users marked this as a favorite

[more posts]

Wolff has had this shit since 2017 [view]
posted by lalochezia to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 9:19 PM
118 users marked this as a favorite

The Vatican doesn't need an anime mascot, it needs a kaiju. I propose Friar-ra, a 80-foot tall, irradiated St. Thomas Aquinas created when a reliquary was accidentally left at a nuclear test site. He shoots beams from his eyes that can destroy schismatics and weaken anti-popes (or at least reverse their polarity). Aw, who am I kidding? If the... [more]
posted by PlusDistance to MetaFilter on Nov 1 at 5:09 AM
56 users marked this as a favorite

The tl;dr is in this excellent pull-quote: Clutter isn’t really an East versus West thing,’ continues Tsuzuki. ‘It’s a rich versus poor thing. Wherever you go, anywhere in the world, the wealthy have the luxury of living in clean, minimal spaces, while the poor have to make do with small, cramped ones, without any way to hide their belongings.... [more]
posted by rum-soaked space hobo to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 3:41 AM
53 users marked this as a favorite

Yeah, I would have presumed Epstein was largely apolitical, and that his interests were confined to molesting children. Who knew that underneath it all this deep and multi-faceted man also hated trans people and loved fascism. I guess you never can tell. [view]
posted by kittens for breakfast to MetaFilter on Nov 3 at 4:09 AM
42 users marked this as a favorite

Apparently the Access Hollywood tape has been making the rounds on TikTok recently because a lot of young voters have never seen it. It came out eight years ago. [view]
posted by AlSweigart to MetaFilter on Nov 3 at 7:08 AM
36 users marked this as a favorite

There are clearly many, many problems with this film, but I want to heap another one on the pile: the woodworking tools are horribly anachronistic (maybe the time-traveling Viking went forward to the 18th or 19th century to pick up some tools before heading to Judea). Just from the trailer I see: 1. Chisels and gouges with ferrules. Roman-era... [more]
posted by jedicus to MetaFilter on Oct 31 at 11:41 AM
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I'm moving to Cozylandia under my duvet and I'm never coming out. [view]
posted by Capt. Renault to MetaFilter on Nov 7 at 12:03 PM
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This doesn't take "Will the destination country even accept you as an immigrant" into consideration. [view]
posted by Greg_Ace to MetaFilter on Nov 7 at 11:58 AM
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When Jeffrey Epstein thinks you are a scumbag... [more]
posted by Literaryhero to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 11:42 PM
34 users marked this as a favorite

Awoke this morning, saw news, actually threw up. Took a long walk in the rain sadly looking at lawn signs. Cycling in and out of nausea now. Cannot focus. Fear news of any kind. This is what shock and grief feel like. I’m just an isolated old childless cat lady. My heart goes out to those whose loved ones are even more profoundly affected. I... [more]
posted by kinnakeet to MetaFilter on Nov 6 at 5:47 AM
33 users marked this as a favorite

In real life I moved to Japan from the U.S. years ago. Didn't soften the blow of the election one whit. Wherever you go, there you are. [view]
posted by zardoz to MetaFilter on Nov 7 at 12:10 PM
30 users marked this as a favorite

My five year old daughter was totally jazzed about Halloween this year, excited to show off her “cat Mario” costume from the Super Mario Bros. movie. She barely cares about the candy, for her it's all about interacting with people and wearing fun clothes (and a big fuzzy Mario mustache). The morning of Halloween she woke up at 5am complaining of... [more]
posted by Hot Pastrami! to MetaFilter on Nov 4 at 9:53 AM
30 users marked this as a favorite

For such a long essay, written by someone who lives here, I was pretty disappointed that they left out/didn't consider one of the key reasons for clutter in Japanese homes. Getting rid of garbage here can be difficult. One of the standard tropes for any foreigner trying to get used to life in Japan is the complex systems for sorting garbage. Even... [more]
posted by Ghidorah to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 6:16 PM
30 users marked this as a favorite

The problem is much worse that just the NFL. In my neck of the woods, Tyler Hilinski a college football player took his own life a couple of years ago. His autopsy revealed "the brain of a 65-year-old, with signs of extensive brain damage." The thing was, Tyler was a first year student who had only played 8 college games. It was... [more]
posted by LarryC to MetaFilter on Nov 4 at 9:05 PM
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Highly suggest trying the game Gisnep by Metafilter's own ironicsans. [view]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln to MetaFilter on Nov 4 at 11:55 AM
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There's this lovely tweet I saw once where someone was talking about being on a Zoom meeting during Covid and then one person suddenly said something to her cat and everyone else demanded to be shown her cat, so she held it up to the screen - "And then everyone else did the same thing with THEIR cats and suddenly it was a zoom meeting of all... [more]
posted by EmpressCallipygos to MetaFilter on Nov 1 at 1:32 PM
29 users marked this as a favorite

this also makes me think about the extreme increase in the cost of housing in a lot of cities over the past two or three decades - a lot of cities where the arts used to flourish because there used to be cheap housing. Without that, it's a lot harder to piece together a music (or other art) career, with limited income but the ability to make rent... [more]
posted by entropone to MetaFilter on Nov 1 at 8:28 AM
28 users marked this as a favorite

I'm going to start referring to my wildly messy art studio/office/catch-all room as "Tokyo-style", which sounds way classier than "clusterfuck". [view]
posted by Serene Empress Dork to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 5:01 AM
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Minimalism is a scam by Big Small to sell more less. [view]
posted by ivan ivanych samovar to MetaFilter on Nov 2 at 10:31 AM
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Aw FUCK, I played my usual puzzles this morning and feel all scabby. Thanks for the solidarity alert. I'm off the games officially as of now. [view]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln to MetaFilter on Nov 4 at 11:21 AM
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[more comments]