Best Of MetaFilter

Iguana by CyboRoZ (cc by)

Good advice for helping keep your iguana warm if the power goes out.

notebook page 1 by rachelyra (cc by)

From the Ask Metafilter archives: holterbarbour wants to put together a notebook full of handy reference information and mental utilities.

I'm imagining the user would bust it out of his/her bag and use the knowledge within to solve a wide range of MacGyver/James Bond/bar bet problems. An intellectual "Swiss army knife", if you will.

Mefites oblige, suggesting everything from slide rules to star maps, alphabets and animal tracks.

dezemberscharmützel (13) by Querkropf (cc by)

Mefite sarastro's having a cat/flea situation, but in verse: "What remedies exist for a cat beflea'd?"

My most faithful feline associate
while I, at length, was absent
has, it seems, become woefully beset
by fleas or lice
or something that bites and leaves
her in a most agitated and sorry state.

And so on. And the answers follow suit, in large part. Cat question in, doggerel out.

Periodic Table of Font Elements 1.1 by FontShop (cc by)

"I always thought Garamond sounded like a weapon name."

Cucumbers by karenandbrademerson (cc by)

It's not greed at play here or lack of general desire to grow accessible local, quality, organic food for everyone. It's sheer economics both internally and externally. It's hard to convince someone that it's better to sell a cucumber for 50 cents when there is someone out there that will pay 2 dollars and if they grow polka dot cucumbers in the same space someone will pay 4 dollars for it. For many growers it's choice between having good food on their own tables and someone elses.

MeFite Jalliah on why being a farmer and wanting to provide food for low income folks is challenging.

When Obama was recently on The Daily Show, Why did he have a lid on his cup?

Die Antwoord by FromSandToGlass (cc by)

South African MetaFilter member 00dimitri00 gives a bit of background, history, and insider perspective on the band Die Antwoord:

It's like we're all in on Waddy's Joke and it's a gas seeing the rest of the world trying to figure it out.

Hammer and wood-working tools attributed to Thomas Lincoln A question about what people's jobs are like nets a lot of interesting responses.

blue_beetle "not the customer" shirt designed by Chris Piascik

We're happy to announce three new MetaFilter t-shirt designs for sale at TopatoCo. Check them out and order now in time for the holidays.

Webster, North Dakota by afiler (cc by-sa)

"Boring" is usually thrown around by people who can't perceive the fractal nature of landscape detail. Detail just keeps emerging as you look closer.

MeFite afiler visisted all 837 of NorthDakota's named towns and places (slidehow).

PA: Employee Free Choice Act Rally at State Democratic Convention by aflcio (cc by)

MetaFilter member oneironaut worked for recently deceased US Senator Arlen Specter as his advisor on climate, energy, and the environment. He remembers him fondly:

To me, he was good, funny, warm (for him), and it was a privilege to work with him. Yes, there is plenty to dislike about him, but the Senate would be much better off if there were more Arlen Specters.

Hanging Around by hellosputnik (cc by)

MetaFilter member Eyebrows McGee sits on a school expulsion board and has to face difficult decisions each day:

But fully half of the expulsions I processed in this batch read, "No one appeared on behalf of the student." Not ONE ADULT in the ENTIRE WORLD was willing to show up for an 11-year-old's expulsion hearing. No parents, no grandparent, no relative, no guardian, no pastor, no social worker, no employer or neighbor or coach. Not one adult for a 15-year-old on track to graduate who was in the first trouble of his career (the principal expelling him (properly, under the rules) asked us to give him a suspended sentence, which lets him stay at school as long as he doesn't screw up again, because he's a good kid).