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Trump eyes privatizing U.S. Postal Service, citing financial losses - "Told of the mail agency's annual financial losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization, the people said. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private conversations." [link-heavy FPP]
posted by kliuless to MetaFilter on Dec 17 at 1:49 AM
74 users marked this as a favorite

@edithcharles.bsky.social‬ asked “What bizarre shit are they finding in your manifesto after you're finally apprehended?” Responses included “Mostly an exhaustive list of how to behave and move correctly in a supermarket” and “Stop bunting” and “5-page digression about how LED headlights are too fucking bright” and “Pics of my cats and 'I did it for them'” and “First of all, IT’S A MISSION STATEMENT”. But what's in your manifesto? Some more responses...
posted by Wordshore to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:32 AM
42 users marked this as a favorite

New York Times Opinon columnist Bret Stephens [archive.org]: "One of the more moving stories in The Times [archive.org] this week is an account of the life of Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare chief executive who was gunned down on Dec. 4 outside of a Midtown Manhattan hotel. [...] 'He was just a farm kid living out in rural Iowa,' said [childhood friend]. 'Everybody got along with him and he got along with everybody else. He was just a great, silly, funny, smart guy to be around all through the years that I have known him.' [...] [Luigi Mangione] is the scion of a wealthy and prominent Maryland family, was educated at an elite private school and the University of Pennsylvania and worked remotely from a nice apartment in Hawaii."
posted by AlSweigart to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:11 PM
41 users marked this as a favorite

You have a massive collection of e-books, music, video games, software, and movies that you bought as a digital download, and you probably think you own them, like you own a physical book or a DVD. Think again. from Do I really own the digital media I bought?
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Dec 15 at 1:34 PM
34 users marked this as a favorite

The Invisible Hand: How Dark Money Is Inventing Prestige for Right-Wing Academics

The [American Academy of Sciences and Letters] website features an impressive picture of the Library of Congress, a Board of Trustees hailing from elite academic institutions, and almost nothing about the organization or its origins. That’s because, despite its name suggesting a long, storied history—echoing esteemed institutions such as the National Academy of Sciences,the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters—the AASL did not exist until 2022.

posted by Why Is The World In Love Again? to MetaFilter on Dec 16 at 11:54 AM
33 users marked this as a favorite

"You are the victim of a con — one so pernicious that you’ve likely tuned it out despite the fact it’s part of almost every part of your life. It hurts everybody you know in different ways, and it hurts people more based on their socioeconomic status. It pokes and prods and twists millions of little parts of your life, and it’s everywhere, so you have to ignore it, because complaining about it feels futile, like complaining about the weather." Ed Zitron with a magisterial manifesto / mission statement / year in review / cri de coeur: Never Forgive Them.
posted by mittens to MetaFilter on Dec 18 at 7:24 AM
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...there is a possibility that some mangos are not mangos at all.
posted by agentofselection to MetaFilter on Dec 14 at 11:28 PM
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Statistics suggest that the “average” American reads something like twelve books a year. Upon a moment’s reflection it should be obvious that this statistic is useless. Millions of people finish school and never read another book in their lives: not long ago I spoke to a recent high school graduate (his grade point average was just below perfect) who had not read a book since elementary school. Twelve books a year is, I suspect, the kind of figure we arrive at because some people read nothing and others read several books a week. As it stands, enormous numbers of Americans say they wish they read more than they do, if only they could figure out how. It is to such persons that the following is addressed: The One Hundred Pages Strategy [The Lamp]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Dec 15 at 2:32 AM
27 users marked this as a favorite

Jamey Perry is a tv writer, actor, and athlete who uses a wheelchair. She has recently partnered with JC Penney on an adaptive clothing line, "elevating adaptive fashion with an exclusive collection for women in wheelchairs." Adaptive clothing "makes getting dressed and functioning within clothes more accessible to people with a wide variety of needs." Good Housekeeping chooses their eleven favorite accessible fashion brands.
posted by jessamyn to MetaFilter on Dec 14 at 10:19 AM
24 users marked this as a favorite

When I first heard about the killing of United Health Care CEO Brian Thompson, I immediately thought about a story in Cory Doctorow's collection Radicalized. Doctorow posted his reflections on the similarities and writing process a few days ago. You can also read the short story for free.
posted by chiefthe to MetaFilter on Dec 17 at 5:38 PM
24 users marked this as a favorite

Daniel Immerwahr (03/2024), "All That Is Solid Bursts into Flame: Capitalism and Fire in the Nineteenth-Century United States": "The hot capitalism story is one of speculation, calamities, collapses, deadbeats, dubious currencies, get-rich-quick schemes, manias, frauds and panics ... In the combustible United States, fire was a conspicuous sign of economic volatility." Related: "The American Museum in Ruins" by P.T. Barnum. "An oral history of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871." Steam fire engines (1893). Chicago's Awful Theater Horror (1904). Recollections of a Fire Insurance Man (1909). And a history of the National Board of Fire Underwriters (1916). Previouslies: Sanborn Maps. Disaster Capitalism. And Immerwahr. Tangents: Black firefighters. "The Great Chelsea Fire of 1973," in which two fires are explained in economic and 19th C. history terms. And "A Political Economy of Wildfire in the Western United States" [PDF].
posted by Wobbuffet to MetaFilter on Dec 12 at 10:29 AM
23 users marked this as a favorite

Terry Carmen has been diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. Before he goes, he wants to share his favourite recipes with the world. You can find Terry's recipes on his website, as well as some thoughts about life and photos of his pets. Add the recipes to your bookmarks and, as Terry says: "Go home make yummy food and have your friends and family over. Actual happy memories are all that matters, money, power, status, everything else is mostly all nonsense."
posted by fight or flight to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:23 AM
23 users marked this as a favorite

We were told by our English teacher at school that we would remember it for the rest of our lives. Almost 50 years on, I can still recall it vividly. The play was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The production was Peter Brook’s groundbreaking staging, which premiered at Stratford-upon-Avon in August 1970 and transferred to London’s West End, where I saw a matinee performance as a 16-year-old. It remains one of the defining postwar productions of Shakespeare in Britain. Brook and his designer Sally Jacobs stripped away the historical traditions of presentation and conjured a production that felt contemporary, illuminating and joyous. - John Wyver
posted by Lemkin to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 6:29 AM
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Pam Mason at the Barbican Launderette puts up handwritten notices, which are appreciated by the graphic designer David McKendrick. The Instagram account set up by David for Pam. 2019 article from It's Nice That.
posted by paduasoy to MetaFilter on Dec 14 at 8:03 AM
22 users marked this as a favorite

Simon Willmetts (Diplomatic History, 08/19/2024), "The CIA and Time Magazine: Journalistic Ethics and Newsroom Dissent": "This article provides evidence for the first time of a systematic policy of direct collusion between the Time Inc. media empire and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency" ca. 1945-1965, adding much to stories like Carl Bernstein's "The CIA and the Media," published in Rolling Stone in 1977. Related: Matthew Jones (History, 2015), "Journalism, intelligence and The New York Times: Cyrus L. Sulzberger, Harrison E. Salisbury and the CIA" [PDF].
posted by Wobbuffet to MetaFilter on Dec 12 at 11:00 PM
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I'm like, ma'am, this is a map store. Half my customers are on the spectrum. I have a trains and transit section. You're among friends.

Andrew Middleton is a GIS specialist and map nerd who last year won ownership of New England's oldest map store. (Content warning: Mercator projection map.)
posted by MartinWisse to MetaFilter on Dec 18 at 2:25 AM
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"In the vastness of empty space surrounding Earth, the Moon is our closest celestial neighbor. Its face, periodically filled with light and devoured by darkness, has an ever-changing, but dependable presence in our skies." Learn about the Moon and its path around our planet in this highly interactive essay from Bartosz Ciechanowski.
posted by AndrewStephens to MetaFilter on Dec 17 at 7:12 PM
21 users marked this as a favorite

Jingle-Rock-Bell: The worst and best holiday song ever As another year draws to a close, and some face the future with worry, one thing remains a constant in our lives: the instinctive, full-body flinch when you hear Jingle-Rock-Bell.
posted by wenestvedt to MetaFilter on Dec 18 at 8:45 AM
20 users marked this as a favorite

"Unless compelling evidence emerges that mirror life would not pose extraordinary dangers, we believe that mirror bacteria and other mirror organisms, even those with engineered biocontainment measures, should not be created."
posted by They sucked his brains out! to MetaFilter on Dec 16 at 1:21 PM
20 users marked this as a favorite

How To Sound Design Ecosystems [YouTube, 31 minutes] - Biota is a completely synthesized, procedural / generative alien soundscape that I sound designed in Ableton Live. In this video I'll break down how I created various geophysical and wildlife sounds generatively, and discuss other factors that go into creating a soundscape.
posted by Wolfdog to MetaFilter on Dec 12 at 6:02 AM
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[more posts]

The American Dream is that any boy or girl, no matter how humble their origins, can grow up one day to bankrupt and brutalize their fellow citizens with the impunity of a god and the conscience of a sociopath. [view]
posted by Horace Rumpole to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:24 PM
188 users marked this as a favorite

I would say this is a new low for the NYTimes, but that was probably when they interviewed neo-Nazis about their ice cream preferences and called it journalism. This is just trolling. And I know NYTimes journalists are here on this site, and you should all be ashamed of yourselves: each and every last one of you, for being a willing participant in... [more]
posted by They sucked his brains out! to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:45 PM
127 users marked this as a favorite

Nobody is spending "taxpayers' money." Stop talking about "taxpayers' money." It is not "taxpayers' money." Once the money is paid it is "public funds" or "public money" or "public spending" or you can call it "the people's money" if you want or "government funds" or... [more]
posted by If only I had a penguin... to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 5:40 AM
105 users marked this as a favorite

*climbs atop soapbox, clears throat* The All Digital Everything Future harms so many public library users specifically. A LOT of the people who visit my rural Oregon library system use our DVD catalog as if it was [Popular Streaming Service]. They have either spotty internet or none at all, so grabbing a stack of movies and TV seasons sets them... [more]
posted by The demon that lives in the air to MetaFilter on Dec 15 at 2:28 PM
81 users marked this as a favorite

the constellation Orion Meh, Orion's Belt is a complete waist of space. Three stars. [view]
posted by Greg_Ace to MetaFilter on Dec 17 at 9:51 AM
72 users marked this as a favorite

If Bsky makes it easy to block them, that's about all you can do. I mean, you can also ban them. Ask me how. [view]
posted by cortex to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 2:24 PM
70 users marked this as a favorite

He became chief executive of the insurance division, UnitedHealthcare, in April 2021, leading a unit that employs about 140,000 people and reported $281 billion in revenue last year. Under his leadership, the company’s profits rose to more than $16 billion last year from $12 billion in 2021. How can anyone wish him ill will? He was a... [more]
posted by AlSweigart to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:39 PM
69 users marked this as a favorite

Honestly there ought to be some standard about banning people who have a history of Libs of Tik-Tok style harassment. I understand that people with experience in moderating would need to write it and it might not capture every instance because capturing every instance would require overreach, but frankly if BlueSky turns into a new venue for... [more]
posted by Frowner to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 1:16 PM
68 users marked this as a favorite

The idea that those companies represent a unique evil in American life is divorced from the experience of most of their customers. wat [view]
posted by lock robster to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:37 PM
68 users marked this as a favorite

I wonder what would happen if they sliced by experience of living outside of the US. Yes. What most Americans describe when they say they have good health care is horrific. ""I have good healthcare. It costs a $1000 a month, my co-pay is $50 ($100 if it's emergency care), and my annual deductible is only several thousand... [more]
posted by Mitheral to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 5:34 PM
67 users marked this as a favorite

Okay, on SPIDER HYPHEN MAN . . . as an entomologist if it is part of a group, e.g., a bee, fly, beetle, true bug (Hemiptera), then the common name it is always two words and if it is not part of that group the common name is one word: honey bee not honeybee (they are bees), house fly not housefly (they are flies), and also dragonfly, not dragon... [more]
posted by fimbulvetr to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 5:56 AM
63 users marked this as a favorite

One of the top comments from the article " You are an extractive industry with no purpose other than to take money from people and put up barriers to care. You serve no purpose other than to create value for shareholders and executives at the direct expense of suffering people. Your entire industry should be banished, after paying... [more]
posted by lalochezia to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 5:54 PM
59 users marked this as a favorite

i know more about truss connector plates than you can possibly imagine. i was a industrial carpenter for almost a decade, assembling the component pieces of southern yellow pine in a jig, hammering them together with nails and truss plates before running over the assembly with a big dangerous roller before sending out through a finish roller in... [more]
posted by glonous keming to MetaFilter on Dec 18 at 1:09 PM
58 users marked this as a favorite

This guy made so, so many choices that were mistakes. I know people who are like this, too, and yeah they're kind of doofuses. They're often very nice and gentle doofuses who are just chill and fine with being out in nature, until they aren't. Heck, I may even be that doofus but I've never even come close to having a search and rescue team... [more]
posted by loquacious to MetaFilter on Sep 23 at 1:32 AM
58 users marked this as a favorite

So fuckin sickening see the media try to spin this shit around. The world cannot be good while rich people are permitted to exist. Nobody has to be rich, all rich people can immediately cease being rich as soon as they decide to be good people and give the money they stole from everyone back. We know they won't and to take it back we will need more... [more]
posted by GoblinHoney to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 3:40 PM
55 users marked this as a favorite

As one of the trans Bluesky users in the spotlight here, I really can't stress enough the danger and harm Singal has caused and is causing. I mean, for shit's sake he's shined a spotlight on actual, real life friends of mine, and let his flying monkeys have at it. People in my cluster, people I've formed relationships with online and offline alike,... [more]
posted by SansPoint to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 6:54 PM
51 users marked this as a favorite

That the FAA is nonplussed tells me all I need to know. I, for one, admire the intelligence of the aliens and how they infiltrated the FAA first. [view]
posted by Brandon Blatcher to MetaFilter on Dec 17 at 9:20 AM
49 users marked this as a favorite

“Food products will be two words max. No more "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" etc.” It's not my place to judge a manifesto before the revolution but what would you call it with only two words?! (Inconceivable Butter?) [view]
posted by mittens to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 5:04 AM
47 users marked this as a favorite

Insurance companies make below-average profits compared to other sectors. If it's not less than zero, it's still an abomination. This is a part of the process that does not need to extract money. It's like if I stole 5% of every paycheck you earned. It's only 5%! But I shouldn't be involved or taking any money, so 5% is a moral... [more]
posted by Dysk to MetaFilter on Dec 13 at 11:22 PM
46 users marked this as a favorite

As a federal public servant, the Values and Ethics guidelines advise me not to comment publicly on political matters. I am not commenting so hard right now. I am not sure I have never so emphatically not commented on anything in my life. [view]
posted by jacquilynne to MetaFilter on Dec 16 at 10:59 AM
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[more comments]