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Posts from August 2012

The differences between Bond and Bourne

James Bond 007James Bond 007 by Dave McLear (cc by)

If you're on the younger side and wonder what the appeal is of old James Bond movies, or if you're older and wondering why everyone loves the Jason Bourne movies, this insightful comment from wuwei dating back to a couple summers ago still rings true:

In today's world, that organization man who looked up to James Bond as a kind of avatar of his hopes and dreams, no longer exists.

08/27/12
by mathowie

with special emphasis on pie...

inside the freezerinside the freezer by serenejournal (cc by)

Help me fill my chest freezer with delicious food for later.

08/27/12
by jessamyn

Not just a small step for (a) man

Apollo 11 BootprintApollo 11 Bootprint by NASA on The Commons

On the occasion of Neil Armstrong's passing, MetaFilter member liza recounts how profound the moonwalk was to her and her family:

supposedly 500 million people saw that Lunar landing worldwide. beside the bouncing images of Armstrong on our little black & white TV, the most important memory i have of that day is that the sky, the Moon and space were only the limits to the opportunities i could have.

08/26/12
by mathowie

[citation needed]

Necco resistorNecco resistor by oskay (cc by)

Can anyone verify that Byrd took NECCO Wafers on his expedition?

08/25/12
by jessamyn

It started with cupcake trucks and twitter, and now has expanded into formal service offerings.
"Shameless plug, I founded a company ten weeks ago dedicated to food trucks, pop-up shops, and other 'ephemeral retail' in part based on this [pop-up] trend."

08/25/12
by jessamyn

You will probably have a yoga ball or three, rolling stupidly into everyone's way all the goddamn time
"I am a female tech-type who currently works at a startup.... Here is a very small slice of 5 years of startup life. "

08/24/12
by jessamyn

I'm really worried about that poor crane

At the risk of possible derail, I have a story
"But if I ever got to meet Mr. [Leonard] Cohen, I would ask him about this, and how he defused this potentially bad situation, and how he, counter-intuitively, met this guy's anger and confusion with love."

08/23/12
by jessamyn

Right place, right time

IMG_1536IMG_1536 by JohnnyO1000

At the third perfect game thrown in Major League Baseball this season, MetaFilter member Slarty Bartfast brought his 3 year old son to see his first game and it sounds like not only the perfect day but you find out the coincidences don't stop there:

At the last called strike, the crowd goes wild and the team is jumping up and down, giving each other hugs not 10 yards in front of us. My boy is getting high fives from all the people around us including the Mariners Moose and the people sitting in the row behind us who tell me my kid is the cutest, luckiest kid ever. Perfect game, indeed.

08/16/12
by mathowie

"Your priorities change when you've lived through soul-crushing experiences"

NRCSDC01017NRCSDC01017 by USDAgov (cc by)

MetaFilter member fraula tells the story of her amazing great-grandmother and how she struggled, yet supported not only her immediate and extended family, but the entire neighborhood as well:

My great-grandma always said she did it because we were all in it together. Maybe it's easier to understand when you know the crushing poverty, abandonment, violence, and terror of a tall, strong drunkard of a husband she had, while trying to raise eight children. Alone and sabotaged by abuse.

08/14/12
by mathowie

We are particular about our cocktails

very dryvery dry by jenny downing (cc by)

My favorite nonsense is the "vodka martini," without gin and "ultra dry," without vermouth. What you are drinking is a chilled shot of vodka with water. If that's what you want, that's what you ask for. If I were serving and you did that, I would probably comp you the first one, because you are a fine upstanding drinker who likes cold wet vodka and isn't afraid to say so -- unlike the heathens who are apparently ashamed of cold wet vodka and try to dress it up as an "ultra-dry vodka martini."

08/14/12
by jessamyn

I've got way too many of these Snorlax....
Explaining what Goldman Sachs did, in Pokemon terms people can understand.

08/12/12
by jessamyn

How do archaeologists know where to dig?
"One day, we ended up in the Miocene (only about 10-8 million years) by accident, and started finding totally weird fossils, like pig teeth. So we moved on."

08/09/12
by jessamyn

What do we know about the stability of the ocean biome in the face of climate change?

Stirring Up a Bloom off PatagoniaStirring Up a Bloom off Patagonia by NASA Goddard Photo and Video (cc by)

Will it snowball? Arguable. There are plentiful arguments about the mode of evolution and lots of controversy. There's one school that says ecologies are robust within certain limits - past those limits and things fall apart. There are others that argue for a more dynamic view, where is set off-balance the system could rapidly change until it finds a new equilibria.

08/08/12
by jessamyn

Lovely trick!
"Whenever you see anything move or change (like this) it almost certainly isn't magnets." Here's why.

08/05/12
by jessamyn

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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.

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