Kudos to the fans. One of the nominees for the Hugo Awards this year is Archive of Our Own, a fanfiction archive containing nearly 5 million fanworks—about the size of the English Wikipedia, and several years younger. It’s not just the fanfic, fanart, fanvids, and other fanworks, impressive as they are, that make Archive of Our Own worthy of one of the biggest honors in science fiction and fantasy. It’s also the architecture of the site itself.
At a time when we’re trying to figure out how to make the internet livable for humans, without exploiting other humans in the process, AO3 (AO3, to its friends) offers something the rest of tech could learn from.
Here’s a problem that AO3 users, like the rest of the internet, encounter every day: How do you find a particular thing you’re interested in, while filtering out all the other stuff you don’t care about? Most websites end up with tags of some sort. I might look through a medical journal database for articles tagged “cataracts,” search a stock photo site for pictures tagged “businesspeople,” or click on a social media hashtag to see what people are saying about the latest episode of #GameOfThrones.
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Archive of Our Own, the fanfiction database recently nominated for a Hugo, has perfected a system of tagging that the rest of the web could emulate.
After years in which efforts at resolving America’s longest war ambled slowly forward, if at all, they now appear to be galloping toward the finish line.
American and Taliban negotiators are thought to be close to a deal that would see the 14,000 American troops remaining in Afghanistan return home, after they lost more than 2,400 of their ranks and had thousands more maimed.
But the Trump administration’s rush to withdraw will leave Afghanistan at the mercy of an extremely ascetic Islamist movement that has done little to change its ways since the U.S. invaded nearly 18 years ago.
Peak District National Park is in central England.Steep limestone valleys like Dovedale, with its famed stepping stones, and Lathkill Dale characterise the park’s southern area, which is known as White Peak. North, the Dark Peak area has dramatic gritstone ridges and stark moorland plateaus like Kinder Scout, the park’s highest point. The nearby village of Edale marks one end of the iconic Pennine Way footpath.
The chatroom was populated by a motley crew of teens and young adults, spread out from California to Tennessee to Massachusetts. They didn’t know each other independently, but they were brought together by a single, unifying force: bright, effervescent 17-year-old Bianca Devins.
The teenager from Utica, New York, loved her cats and had a way of creating community. Her friends ― most of whom she’d never met in real life ― gathered on her server on Discord, a messaging app for gamers, to discuss true crime, talk about cryptozoology, play Minecraft and dish about their daily plans.
Bianca, who was tall and slender, could come across as shy in person, even a little awkward. At Thomas R. Proctor High School, she often retreated to the art room to work on projects during lunch. Albert Shaw, her teacher for three years, said she stood out as a naturally gifted artist. “Whatever she did, it was amazing,” he said. “It was always the best in the class.
Online, uninhibited by anxiety, her creativity shone. She sent her friends silly homemade videos set to music and posted artistic selfies with quirky compositions ― her face surrounded by skulls and bats, or paired with ironic text. She often switched up her look, experimenting with pink hair and dramatic makeup. She liked modeling but her long-term plan was to get a degree in psychology so she could help adolescents with mental illness, which she struggled with herself. She was set to attend Mohawk Valley Community College in the fall.
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Instagram: A photo Bianca Devins shared on her Instagram account.
Extreme heat is a leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States, resulting in an average 658 fatalities each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thousands more suffer from heat-related illnesses, including heat exhaustion and stroke. The elderly, children, poor people and people who have manual labor jobs outdoors are among the most vulnerable during heatwaves.
On Tuesday, as sweltering heat began to take hold of the central and eastern U.S., the Union of Concerned Scientists published a report saying that without swift action to rein in greenhouse gas emissions, the number of days per year in the U.S. when the heat index exceeds 100 degrees could more than double by 2050 and quadruple by the end of the century.
“Our analysis shows a hotter future that’s hard to imagine today,” Kristina Dahl, a senior climate scientist at UCS and a co-author of the report, said in a statement. “Nearly everywhere, people will experience more days of dangerous heat even in the next few decades.”
Rabbi in Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s district compares Trump rally to ‘Nazi Germany’ originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Faith leaders in Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home district are standing firmly behind her in the face of attacks from President Trump, despite disagreeing with some of her comments on Israel.
Rabbi Avi Olitzky of Beth El Synagogue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, called chants of “send her home” at the president’s rally Wednesday night in Greenville, North Carolina, “terrifying.”
In an interview on ABC News Live’s “The Briefing Room,” Rabbi Olitzky told MaryAlice Parks he can’t “sit or stand silently while our sitting president issues such racist rhetoric.”
We’re just about halfway through a year that has been packed so far with terrific movies. If you’ve seen major hits like “Avengers: Endgame” (returning to theaters on Friday) and “Us” (which can be found on streaming services), this is your chance to catch up on some overlooked gems that our chief critics, Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott, say are the best of the best: (check link below for list)
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Tom Burke, left, and Honor Swinton Byrne in “The Souvenir.”CreditCreditNicola Dove/A24
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Archive of Our Own, the fanfiction database recently nominated for a Hugo, has perfected a system of tagging that the rest of the web could emulate.
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An image of the Peak District England
To the moon
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