https://www.metafilter.com/ The past 24 hours of MetaFilter Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:45:22 GMT Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:45:22 GMT en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60 Interactive Fiction competition is accepting IF games. Authors have until August 1 to register their intent to enter. These can be Parser IF, CYOA, or Hyptertext IF styles. (The IFComp previously in 2025, 2018, 2015, 2011, 2009, 2007, 2006.)

For 2026, IFComp has introduced a new rule on the use of generative AI. All player-facing content must be created by humans, with limited generative AI tool use permitted during development.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213754/2026-Interactive-Fiction-Competition-accepting-submissions tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213754 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:45:22 GMT AlSweigart art competitions FreeGames GameCompetitions games IF IFComp InteractiveFiction stories TextAdventures https://www.metafilter.com/213754/2026-Interactive-Fiction-Competition-accepting-submissions/rss finances and party incomes. In an attempt to control the narrative, Farage will fight for his now-vacated seat in the forthcoming by-election. All the main political parties have refused to participate and stand candidates, seemingly giving Farage an easy and pointless re-election. However ... enter Count Binface, who may stand and is picking up support.

This is just a normal day in British politics, which will soon have its seventh Prime Minister in the decade or so since the shooting-yourself-in-the-foot act of Brexit.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213753/Binface-vs-Fascist-dumpster-fire-it-is-on tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213753 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:25:29 GMT Wordshore UK UKPolitics https://www.metafilter.com/213753/Binface-vs-Fascist-dumpster-fire-it-is-on/rss Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized for three weeks, and aides won't say why. The Senator's social media accounts have also been silent since he was found unconscious at his home, leading some to wonder if there is a Weekend at Bernie's situation to delay until the upcoming special election deadline.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213752/Weekend-at-McConnells tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213752 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 14:16:01 GMT autopilot gerontocracy McConnell Mitch senate Uspolitics https://www.metafilter.com/213752/Weekend-at-McConnells/rss Surprising cryptic cavefish diversity in a long-studied karst cave ecosystem of northern Alabama: "Notably, D. arcanus occurs in syntopy with the Southern Cavefish (Typhlichthys subterraneus) despite lacking a close phylogenetic relationship, providing evidence for multiple independent evolutionary origins of cave adaptation within a single groundwater system. This discovery highlights persistent detection bias in groundwater ecosystems and demonstrates that cryptic vertebrate diversity can persist even in well-characterized environments. Extreme endemism and restriction to a single cave–aquifer system further underscore the vulnerability of subterranean biodiversity and the importance of integrating evolutionary and conservation perspectives."]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213751/The-roll-it-was-a-seven-The-Demogorgonichthys-it-got-me tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213751 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 13:08:10 GMT brundlefly Biology CaveFish Demogorgon Demogorgonichthys DungeonsAndDragons Ichthyology Science StrangerThings https://www.metafilter.com/213751/The-roll-it-was-a-seven-The-Demogorgonichthys-it-got-me/rss baseball has become something of a sacred pageant for the country, providing us a picture of what we could and should be as a people.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213750/The-game-is-notionally-boundless-in-its-dimensions tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213750 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 11:16:37 GMT chavenet America Baseball Faith GoGiants History Military Pastoral Religion https://www.metafilter.com/213750/The-game-is-notionally-boundless-in-its-dimensions/rss Have you always wanted to go on a rampage but don't want to deal with the consequences? Live out your antisocial fantasies in this fun browser game that lets you take Neal on journey through Battery Point doing the things that Neal does. Note: works on mobile but seems more suited for desktop.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213749/Neal-the-Seal-The-Public-Nuisance-The-Game tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213749 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 10:00:14 GMT tommasz browser fun game NealTheSeal https://www.metafilter.com/213749/Neal-the-Seal-The-Public-Nuisance-The-Game/rss The Anti-Amazon Costco's model and the future of retail]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213748/Gimme-the-Zohran-212-halal-wrap tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213748 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 09:12:55 GMT Ten Cold Hot Dogs amazon costco hotdogs labor logistics nyc retail shopping https://www.metafilter.com/213748/Gimme-the-Zohran-212-halal-wrap/rss The New South Wales Cultural Fire Strategy has set a clear timeline to better resource and support Indigenous-led cultural burning.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213747/Strategy-to-remove-red-tape-that-hinders-Aboriginal-cultural-burning tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213747 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 07:00:38 GMT chariot pulled by cassowaries AboriginalCulturalBurning CulturalBurning IndigenousLedCulturalBurning https://www.metafilter.com/213747/Strategy-to-remove-red-tape-that-hinders-Aboriginal-cultural-burning/rss Democrats now have an opportunity to nominate someone less troubled who polls better. Will they waste it? And from Common Dreams:"If Graham's stepping away, I am very, very interested and think I'm the best person to replace him," said Troy Jackson, the former Maine Senate president.

Graham Platner previously on metafilter: https://www.metafilter.com/213499/Graham-Platner-and-the-Class-Politics-of-Impunity https://www.metafilter.com/212662/Graham-Platner-Receipts]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213745/Graham-Platner-is-a-bad-dude-and-data-shows-hes-a-bad-candidate-too tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213745 Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:35:42 GMT subdee grahamplatner Maine Senate uspolitics https://www.metafilter.com/213745/Graham-Platner-is-a-bad-dude-and-data-shows-hes-a-bad-candidate-too/rss Dr.Seuss At the Mountains of Madness read-along on YouTube [22m]. Unearthly horror for children. BONUS: H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu for Beginner Readers [14m].]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213744/DrSeuss-At-the-Mountains-of-Madness tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213744 Tue, 07 Jul 2026 22:37:02 GMT Dawn Trask-Dontell Cthulhu KidLit Lovecraft OldOnes Seuss https://www.metafilter.com/213744/DrSeuss-At-the-Mountains-of-Madness/rss Val and Isaac by Tred is an ongoing space comedy webcomic about the titular space commando and wizard. Also cyborg engineer Minnow, shapeshifting assassin Space Dread and their friends. Mostly standalone gag strips or very short arcs. Tumblr-hosted so forgive some oddities with strip navigation.

Main strip link goes to a point where it's mostly settled into its current rhythm. Skip back to the start for the completionist experience punctuated by lots of character art.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213743/Mildly-perilous-space-adventures tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213743 Tue, 07 Jul 2026 19:00:15 GMT Lorc ButWithWizardsToo comic comics ScienceFiction scifi Tred Tredlocity ValAndIsaac webcomic webcomics https://www.metafilter.com/213743/Mildly-perilous-space-adventures/rss The University of Bologna has opened the Biblioteca Eco , a new public library housing the personal book collection of writer and semiotician Umberto Eco, a decade after his death. The collection, comprising more than 32,000 volumes from Eco's study in Milan, has found a permanent home in the 20th-century wing of Palazzo Poggi, with its entrance on Piazza Puntoni.

The collection was donated to the Italian state by Eco's heirs in 2020, on condition that it be placed on permanent loan to the University of Bologna. Before the move, the library was surveyed shelf by shelf in Milan, with the position of every volume, thematic groupings and connections between authors and disciplines carefully documented, so that the new premises in Bologna could reproduce Eco's original arrangement exactly, down to which books he kept lying flat and which stood upright. That arrangement follows the "good neighbour" principle developed by art historian Aby Warburg, which Eco adopted for his own shelving: placing seemingly unrelated texts side by side so that unexpected connections between them could emerge. The library's themed rooms, covering subjects from mediaeval philosophy to popular fiction, comic books and occultism, allow visitors to trace the same interdisciplinary connections that shaped Eco's own research and writing. Among the holdings are more than 2,000 editions and translations of Eco's own works, around 600 volumes about him and his work, and a complete run of the magazine Linus, which he co-founded in 1965. Many Eco previouslies.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213742/The-Masters-Study tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213742 Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:54:11 GMT Smedly, Butlerian jihadi Italy Knowlege Libraries Library Semiotics UmbertoEco https://www.metafilter.com/213742/The-Masters-Study/rss Researchers have catalogued dozens of new marine species found in the depths of Australia's most remote waters. The result is a window into a rarely glimpsed world.]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213741/New-species-found-in-Australias-most-pristine-marine-parks tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213741 Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:39:08 GMT chariot pulled by cassowaries ChristmasIsland CocosKeelingIsland NewMarineSpecies https://www.metafilter.com/213741/New-species-found-in-Australias-most-pristine-marine-parks/rss A Love Letter to Handsome John, a loose, 54-minute documentary streaming free on YouTube. The film is a ramshackle tribute to John Prine, told almost entirely through the chaotic, affectionate memories of Todd Snider. But with Snider's recent passing, the project has taken on an incredibly bittersweet weight. What began as an intimate thank-you note to Prine has unexpectedly morphed into a final, heartbreaking monument to both of these singular Americana icons. It is loose, imperfect, and essential viewing for the folks who love these weirdos.

Gibbs made a post on his site introducing the movie as free to watch on YouTube, as of July 4th. Check out the trailer. Todd Snider's official site. A complete (and excellent) recording of a show from late in Todd's career (but pre-health issues). The music video for Todd's final single: High, Lonesome, and then Some. MeFi obit post for Snider. And the obit post for Prine. Todd and John singing "Illegal Smile."]]> https://www.metafilter.com/213740/A-Love-Letter-to-Handsome-John-and-Todd-Snider-too tag:metafilter.com,2026:site.213740 Tue, 07 Jul 2026 17:22:29 GMT DirtyOldTown americana documentary JohnPrine music OtisGibbs ToddSnider https://www.metafilter.com/213740/A-Love-Letter-to-Handsome-John-and-Todd-Snider-too/rss