Arduinna

Posted by adamvasco

https://www.metafilter.com/210984/May-their-names-live-for-ever-but-only-if-they-are-white

With Veterans day approaching; The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg.
All of the approximately 10,000 service members honored at what is now known as the Netherlands American Cemetery—8,291 have been adopted by local families
The Trump Administration's War on African-American History is a Lost Cause.
Via Bluesky - full post inside.

The removal of this specific memorial in the Netherlands stands in sharp contrast with the Trump administration's recent order to return a massive Confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetery, which celebrates the mythical "loyal slave" narrative with the images of the "loyal mammy" and body servant marching off to war with Confederate soldiers. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission The Dutch newspaper reports that two memorial panels installed at the NAC were removed some time earlier this year. They commemorated African-American soldiers who helped liberate Europe from German occupation during World War II. One of the two panels described how a million African-Americans volunteered for service during World War II, but had to fight against both the enemy and racism on their own side, including segregation within the army itself that confined many to supporting roles. One of those roles was burying the dead, a highly traumatic duty as many of the bodies were severely mutilated. The cemetery was constructed by the 960th Quartermaster Service Company, an all-Black unit of 260 men under the command of a White officer (as was usual). The site of the cemetery was established by Captain Joseph Shomon, the head of the 611th Graves Registration Company, while the task of digging it and burying the bodies was given to the 960th QMSC during September-November 1944. First Sergeant Jefferson Wiggins oversaw the work. He later recalled that when the men arrived, they were confronted with the sight of thousands of dead bodies lying on a tarp. There were no coffins, so the bodies had to be tied up in mattress covers where the men dug graves. The diggers had to cope with the smell of decomposing bodies, rain, snow, wind, mud and flooding. The ground was so sodden that machinery couldn't be used. Wiggins says that the gravedigging was so traumatising that no one talked during the day, except for the few who would pray over the graves and some who quietly cried. "So, there we were. A group of Black Americans confronted with all these dead white Americans... When they were alive, we couldn't sit in the same room." A second panel was dedicated to telephone engineer George H. Pruitt, who died on June 10, 1945, while trying to save a comrade who had fallen into a river. Dutch researchers and historians say that they are shocked and outraged by the move. Theo Bovens, the chairman of the Black Liberators in the Netherlands foundation and also leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Appeal party, says that he intends to raise the removal with the new US Ambassador to the Netherlands, Joe Popolo. (credit: ChrisO - Bluesky)

https://www.metafilter.com/210984/May-their-names-live-for-ever-but-only-if-they-are-white

Posted by chavenet

https://www.metafilter.com/210983/Fun-is-basically-about-making-progress-on-prediction

There are a lot of things people call "fun." But most of them are not useful for getting better at making games, which is usually why people read articles like this. The fun of a bit of confetti exploding in front of you, and the fun of excruciating pain and risk to life and limb as you free climb a cliff are just not usefully paired together. from Game design is simple, actually [Raph Koster]

https://www.metafilter.com/210983/Fun-is-basically-about-making-progress-on-prediction

Posted by clew

https://www.metafilter.com/210981/Archaeology-of-Kuikuro-cities

With, not about. "A turning point came in 2003, when Heckenberger's team published a Science paper describing the evidence that the Upper Xingu was once home to dense, complex human societies—and included Afukaká and his brother as co-authors. The study attracted international media attention, and the visibility led more Kuikuro people to recognize the value of the archaeological work."

https://www.metafilter.com/210981/Archaeology-of-Kuikuro-cities

Posted by signal

https://www.metafilter.com/210979/-Death-Metal-Beauty-Pageant-

Ignacia Fernández, semi-finalist for Chile's Miss World beauty pageant, delivers a slightly different take on the talent part of the competition. (spoiler: it's death metal)

Article in English. She fronts a Chilean progressive death metal band, Decessus. Some tracks: Traitor Dark Flames My War of Pain She went through to the final, which will be this Tuesday This timeline just got marginally less bad.

https://www.metafilter.com/210979/-Death-Metal-Beauty-Pageant-

Posted by chavenet

https://www.metafilter.com/210977/A-groundbreaking-critique-of-classical-Hollywood-cinema

"The male gaze projects its phantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly [...] Women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness." Laura Mulvey, quoted in Half a century of the 'male gaze': why Laura Mulvey's pioneering theory still resonates today [The Conversation]

Visual pleasure and narrative cinema [pdf]

https://www.metafilter.com/210977/A-groundbreaking-critique-of-classical-Hollywood-cinema

Posted by kliuless

https://www.metafilter.com/210975/Ella-ser-tu-reliquia

ROSALÍA - LUX (Premature Evaluation; Radical and riveting; On 'Lux,' Rosalía pulls the entire world into her symphony; Popcast Interview; The Zane Lowe Interview)[1,2,3]

https://www.metafilter.com/210975/Ella-ser-tu-reliquia

Posted by glonous keming

https://www.metafilter.com/210972/We-can-smell-the-brains-again

Sometime in 2001, Mata Haggis-Burridge had a nightmare about zombies. When he woke up, he thought it would be funny if the zombies were replaced by kittens. He made an Shockwave Flash animation featuring two cats, Mittens and Snowdrop, that went on to early viral fame despite it's lack of any audio (which resulted in relatively quick loading time over then-prevalent dial-up internet access). It was posted to MetaFilter at least twice: in 2002 and 2004 In November 2023 Haggis-Burridge reposted the animation to youtube, so we can now watch it again (with the original audio) and think back to a simpler time: Mittens & Snowdrop: episode 1, 'I can smell your brains'

Mittens & Snowdrop: episode 2, 'I can't even tell if you're a boy or a girl' Mittens & Snowdrop: episode 3, Mittens gets into organised crime Mittens & Snowdrop: episode 4, Snowdrop tells it like it is

https://www.metafilter.com/210972/We-can-smell-the-brains-again

Posted by freakazoid

https://www.metafilter.com/210970/The-Milky-Way-is-probably-full-of-dead-civilizations

Most of the alien civilizations that ever dotted our galaxy have probably killed themselves off already. That's the takeaway of a new study, published Dec. 14 to the arXiv database, which used modern astronomy and statistical modeling to map the emergence and death of intelligent life in time and space across the Milky Way.

https://www.metafilter.com/210970/The-Milky-Way-is-probably-full-of-dead-civilizations

Posted by doctornemo

https://www.metafilter.com/210968/Orbital-Doom-Venusian-lava-tubes-shutdowns-a-mysterious-visitor

"Humanity's last active mission at Venus is no more." What's the latest in humanity's exploration of space? Let's start with our sun and work outwards from there.

The Sun
Our star is offering some disturbed weather this week. The European Space Agency (ESA) held an exercise simulating a Carrington event. The Parker Space Probe captured images of the sun from the closest point ever while astronomers produced the most highly detailed image of a solar flare.

Venus The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) determined that its Venus orbiter Akatsuki was officially dead, ending for the moment all human direct observation of that planet. (previously) From Earth several researchers found evidence of lava tubes. On Earth's surface The African Space Agency (AfSA) was born. An electric company cut off power to Russia's Vostochny spaceport for nonpayment of bills. NASA and the White House are planning to move space shuttle Discovery from the Washington, DC area to Texas, possibly in pieces, and elicited protests. The American FAA temporarily blocked all daytime commercial rocket launches due to the government shutdown. From Earth's surface to orbit The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully "launched its heaviest communication satellite to date, CMS-03." ISRO and NASA launched a NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite. SpaceX launched a Starship for the tenth time. A cargo freighter resupplied the International Space Station (ISS) after overcoming some issues. Blue Origin will launch a Mars probe very soon. NASA announced ten new astronauts. The American Space Force stated it was preparing two ground-based weapons, named Meadowlands and the Remote Modular Terminal, designed to jam enemy satellites. Google announced Project Suncatcher, a plan to place generative AI in Earth orbit. In Earth orbit Astronauts on China's Tiangong space station celebrated a mid-autumn festival in orbit. NASA and SpaceX adjusted the ISS' orbit without Russian assistance. This month is the 10th year anniversary of the International Space Station Archaeological Project. A programmer got Doom running on an ESA satellite. Two Chinese satellites connected with each other 20,000 miles above Earth's surface, a human first. Back down to Earth Three astronauts in the Tiangong station delayed their return to Earth due to potential issues with their return craft, possibly damaged by space debris; the China National Space Administration (CNSA) reached out to NASA for collaboration. Australian company High Earth Orbit Robotics imaged the Chinese Xinjishu Yanzheng-7 satellite for the first time in public as it descended through the Earth's atmosphere. A European company lost track of a test vehicle as it returned to Earth. An old Soviet spacecraft burned up after more than 50 years in an accidental orbit. NASA announced it would deorbit the ISS in 2030. The American space agency also released its 2025 spinoff report, describing the many ways space exploration benefits humanity. Earth's Moon A Japanese astronomer captured two meteors impacting the lunar surface. NASA named its next Artemis moon mission Integrity. The Chinese government plans to launch a lunar-capable craft next year on a Long March rocket. Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian determined that the Apollo moon landings were faked. Inside the orbit of Mars 3I/ATLAS has been hurtling through the solar system, reaching its closest approach to the sun in late October. ESA probes ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Mars Express took photos of ATLAS, which later started showing an anti-tail. From Martian orbit China's Tianwen-1 probe imaged the object. NASA's ability to work on 3I is compromised by the government shutdown. The object is on its way out of the solar system now. Mars Earlier this year Curiosity took great photos of Martian skies and Europa Clipper zoomed past the red planet. To the asteroids Tiawen-2, which launched in May, was actually designed to sample a near-Earth asteroid. An American astronomer spotted a new asteroid previously hidden by the sun's light. NASA successfully tested laser communications with the Psyche probe, more than 210 million miles away. Jupiter NASA ordered the Juno probe to shut down, but the government also shut down and prevented confirmation. Before that happened, Juno found some impressive vulcanism on Io. Beyond Neptune Astronomers found a new trans-Neptunian object, 2020 VN40. Beyond the solar system Humanity has now discovered 6,000 exoplanets, according to NASA's Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI). An International Centre of Radio Astronomy Research team produced a gorgeous new image of our galaxy.

https://www.metafilter.com/210968/Orbital-Doom-Venusian-lava-tubes-shutdowns-a-mysterious-visitor

Posted by chavenet

https://www.metafilter.com/210966/Reaming-the-cube

The Rupert property appeared to be so widespread that mathematicians conjectured a general rule: Every convex polyhedron will have the Rupert property. No one could find one that didn't — until now. First Shape Found That Can't Pass Through Itself [Quanta]

https://www.metafilter.com/210966/Reaming-the-cube

Posted by HearHere

https://www.metafilter.com/210964/welcome-

this kind of bookbinding is rarely about just presenting the work nicely. It is also concerned with how the binder understands and reacts to the work. 'What 'I'm trying to do is distil the essence of the book, ' says James. 'By the time we get to the ceremony and the dinner, you know that most people there will have read each work on the shortlist, and what I hope is that they look at my version and think "that absolutely sums up the story." [wallpaper]

https://www.metafilter.com/210964/welcome-