video screenshot via abc.net.au
Recently besieged by dry weather and Crazy Ants, Christmas Island's Red Crabs are Back, baby. Chariot pulled by cassowaries has posted about their 100 million march to the ocean (and incidental occupation of roads, school grounds, living rooms, toilet drains, and Metafilter threads).
Black-anther Flax-lily is one of the many indigenous species planted by ReSource RICA. Photo by Geoff Nowak on Flickr
"There were four living trees on it, lots of erosion and it was an eyesore ..." chariot pulled by cassowaries posts the wonderfully inspiring story of a group of friends who, over a period of 20 years, rehabilitated "the most degraded, clapped-out piece of farmland they could find."
photo by Steve Wilson on Flickr
Are you drawn to any combination of interesting tidbits about Australia, fascinating flora and fauna, natural history, and huge, fierce, flightless birds with blingy plummage, funky headgear, deadly talons, and an hypnotic stare? If yes, may I refer you to chariot pulled by cassowaries' entire body of work? Today we have the felicitous birth of a VIP (Very Important Puggle).
Magpie female by Jean and Fred Hort, via Flickr
8-year-old Emma had a question about Australian magpies. 30,000 people (not a typo) responded. Oh the results are interesting, in this community science centered post created by sciatrix!
'Luna' (1997) by Quint Buchholz by Plum leaves (cc by)
For the bookishly inclined ...
From Mefi: Sue Halpern writes In Praise of Public Libraries for The New York Review of Books | Extraordinary 500-year-old library catalogue discovered | When Zora and Langston Took a Road Trip | Lost-children stories and Australia's uneasy mythology
On Fanfare: Hugo Nominated Short Stories, and 2019 Hugo Nominee for Best Graphic Story, On a Sunbeam, (more Hugo awards discussion here)
Popular on Ask Me: Looking for mystery and crime fiction that feature an Asian protagonist or a predominantly Asian cast of characters | Looking for post-post-collapse fiction | What to read after The Goblin Emperor? | What's next after Middlemarch? | Where to start with Lois McMaster Bujold?
I hear you by Gustav Klim (cc by)
Warrnambool's wombat; NESS not NEZ; Commensalist Lorax; HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER!; Beano of Dundee; Painswick nibbles, pub butty & more; Fox Amoore Stitches; Feierabend, et al; Chicken Diapers; Dada à la Dupré; Epithelial Scutoids; Imperiled Achoques.
IMG_1697 by FrancescaV.com (cc by)
Recently on Mefi, people and places around the world, enchanting, mysterious and magnetic:
40 years of Shenzhen, from market village to SEZ
Breaking the Ice, rare Icelandic funk- and soul-inspired music
Central Station, stories from cattle stations in the Australian outback
Georgia Has a Coast? Photos by drone of the Georgia coast that fills his soul
Women's Worlds in Qajar Iran: looking at the lives of women during the Qajar dynasty (1796-1925)
La Scarzuola: deep in Italy, one man’s surrealist mini-city sleeps
Arundhati Roy on the politics of language and translation in India
Beyond 'Florida Man': The problem with writing about Florida
Figures In The Stars: comparing 28 different sky cultures
yes by brinypickle2012 (cc by)
Australia's electorate overwhelmingly supports same sex marriage: Mefi discussion here!
#burger with the lot #food by williamli1983 (cc by-nc-nd)
on a burger the side of a toddler's head, a single pineapple ring doesn't overwhelm
Jilder gives the definitive eye-opening answer to the pressing question "Wtf is an Australian Burger?"
Connected by hosszuka (cc by-sa)
Following the news from around the world -- threads worth digging into, as Mefites share their insights on:
- the forthcoming Catalan independence referendum in Spain
- the just-completed election in New Zealand
- the "most ridiculous constitutional crisis" in Australia, and
- the scandal leading to the collapse of the government in Iceland.
Harvesting Palm Sugar by edbrambley (cc by-sa)
Join Mefites for a deep dive on some arts and culture from outside the west:
Catchy song and an intro to Kriol language and culture from an Indigenous Australian singer
A new movie provides a window into the unique culture, language, and politics of multigenerational Tamil-Malaysians
Classic short story from "one of Bengal's greatest writers"
Men's fashion from a prizewinning Indian designer
Regional politics, arts and music from Sudanese and South Sudanese journalists
Lada Niva by Hugo90- (cc by)
daniel_charms tells the story of how my father bought a car when he was a farm worker in the USSR, others share memories of their own Ladas, and languagehat offers some more detail on the process in the Soviet car-buying thread.
It's so hot the railroad tracks are buckling! But not everywhere... vacapinta asks, why are railroad tracks okay in the heat in some places but not others?
oog and others remember driving the Nullarbor Plain (including the longest straight road in Australia): "I did this mind-numbing drive in March of 2005, alone. ... I thought I was prepared..."
Sentiment Analysis for C-of-the-ACM by tsevis (cc by-nc-nd)
Recent comments from Mefites that go behind the scenes or look a little deeper:
pinback on using Google Mobilizer as a proxy to render encrypted and obfuscated TV listings to create electronic program guides "back in the dark early days of digital television in Australia"
Eyebrows McGee on the complicated manipulations and confusion of special taxing districts
allkindsoftime on the hair-raising dangers and machinations of Nairobi's "matatu" minibus transit chaos
yankeefog on the concept of "convening an electoral college" as One Weird Trick for negotiating disputes or decisions in a healthy marriage
a fiendish thingy on resumes and job search etiquette, and why "creative" at this stage is more likely to read as "confusing" and "non-functional"
Frowner on the various considerations of navigating content/trigger warnings or disturbing material in an academic setting
MetaFilter started as a community weblog in 1999, later added question and answers, then music by members, jobs, projects by members, a podcast, and finally an area dedicated to meetups.
