Best Of MetaFilter

Vote by H2Woah! (cc by-nc-nd)

lampshade has been collecting voter info resources for the US elections. Handy!

Okay, so I said I'd tell the full story of the perennially misbehaving student from the 18th-century. Here it is!

Catseye presents a provocative potboiler about a puckish pupil from the past.

My current job is reading novels and what's called "writing coverage" on them. (Coverage is the entertainment industry equivalent of a book report, wherein people like me read things so that more important people can pretend they read them.) I read 2-3 novels per week, mostly self-published genre novels.

Sara C. has an interesting job, and some good advice on context, details, sources and backgrounds for historical fiction, in answer to the question, "what were the details of everyday life in late 16th century Italy?"

All roads lead to Rome series by Nick Kenrick. (cc by)

But what's The Peutinger Map? Also known as Tabula Peutingeriana, it is a Medieval copy of highly stylized 4th Century map of the Roman road network, extending to India.

Kattullus invites us to explore the roads leading to Rome via "The Peutinger Map Reconsidered" with a variety of ways to view this ancient artifact, including overlays and lists of geographical features, while BWA offers What Latin Sounded Like and How We Know, and other linguistic treats from Nativlang.

Grace - Mirror by phil41dean (cc by)

Kid, champ, you, we: what do you call yourself when you're talking to yourself?

Humor, family history and linguistic innovation: some great Mefite stories about minority languages in threads on Yiddish and Chinese dialects

Rolling your tongue and using bright light to induce a sneeze: body tricks that not everybody can do

Seeing where it all starts: fun experiments on your toddler's amazing brain

Books@Leadenhall Market by Dave Pearce (London) (cc by-nc-nd)

I thought it would be interesting if mefites posted lists of what they plan to or have read, listened to, or watched this summer. I don't want to leave out people in the Southern Hemisphere, though, so feel free to post seasonal lists for whatever the season you may be experiencing!

ArbitraryAndCapricious asks Mefites to share their seasonal reading/ listening/ whatever list

No Way Out Inside My Head by Jeremy Brooks (cc by-nc)

I'm an anxious beanplater in desperate need of a positive distraction. I want to come up with a long list of activities I can refer to that will help me 'get out of my head' - in other words, the activities are so (manageably, safely) intense or consuming or absorbing that I don't have the time or mental space to waste on unimportant worries and anxieties that would otherwise eat me alive.

Ask Mefi helps nightrecordings out with some distraction action.

signaling (animated) by Genista (cc by-sa)

In fact, the proximate cause for posting this was so I could more effectively answer the question I frequently get from people I work with: "what should I learn next?"

If you didn't catch it, blahblahblah's post about Gabriel Weinberg's list of useful mental models is a good roadmap for exploring approaches to brainstorming, deciding, reasoning, negotiating, strategizing, managing, mitigating, and much more. Gray cells, activate!

SNAP00078 by froussecarton (cc by-nc)

pjsky's post I'm Buffy and You're History discusses the Slayer as a "role model for the modern feminist" (plus the show's intersection of feminism, pop culture and rock, and Buffy-inspired diy feminist queer pop band "The Potentials"). Mefites might have a few opinions.

RIO by Isaias Fernandes (cc by)

Come join us on FanFare to discuss the Olympics! Tonight the Olympic Opening Ceremonies. All athletic events will be in the Olympic all-sports thread, and specific sports will be listed on the Olympics page as the games go on.

There's a MetaTalk thread for giving feedback on this experiment.

Come listen along as cortex and jessamyn chatter about the last month of MeFi and take short breaks to (a) meditate and (b) make untranscribable mouth noises.

Reflections, windows, mirror by Mind on Fire Photography (cc by-sa)

Tornado sirens, weird traffic signals, and more... What are some locally-normal things unique to your home area, that you thought were universal 'til you left home?

fraula and others describe food culture in France

beagle explains some of the appeal of Dutch carbide shooting - "perhaps the pinnacle of cultural achievement in a nation of soccer-playing, bicycle-riding dairy farmers with long winter nights"

Want to be recognized as an independent nation-state? First, get a national football (soccer) team -- diplomacy by sport in occupied Western Sahara.

"Even outlaws have to grow old" -- the story of a legendary Florida marijuana bust in 1973

Take it from a tv person, these two reporters "are the gold standard of TV news feature journalists." -- Minnesota stories

Get to know tiny Hans island, center of a genteel Canada vs. Denmark conflict -- with booze.