Best Of MetaFilter

Can I kill somebody with a sock and a hockey ball? She would prefer to disable, not to kill, but she's pretty ruthless.

Dr. Stapler by rkelland (cc by-sa)

KathrynT asks, "What should I do with all these googly eyes?"

To Do public art in Dumbo by @superamit (cc by-nc)

forza asks, What kinds of not-regular-but-important things for lifestyle maintenance should I, as a theoretically-responsible adult, be tracking?: Adults just know these things, I guess

P1040844 by mlinksva

Too-Ticky has the answer to une_heure_pleine's mystery object Ask Me post, wherein we learn that "treen" is the "generic name for small handmade functional household objects made of wood"

medieval beekeeper by hans s (cc by-nd)

Another thing to consider is how dark homes were in the Medieval period. There was not a lot of window glass. Homes were often very smokey and the various sources of light were inadequate. Clutter seems to have become prevalent during the late Georgian/early Victorian era as the lighting improved and manufacturing made extraneous possessions affordable. Until then you did a lot of groping around in the dark. Kitchens were often not part of the main house, as were workshops, weaving galleries and cloisters, places where work could be done outside where there was sufficient light to do it. This probably discouraged them from having a whole lot of stuff on display inside.

Jane the Brown offers a great overview of possibilities, conditions and practicalities surrounding xarnop's question, "Are there any surviving evidence of household decorations from medieval times in Europe?"

The Old Room of Macabre Detritus by Stuck in Customs (cc by-nc-sa)

I want to know more about the material culture of a large English country house or great house in the Victorian era. ...if a house like this somehow got frozen in time, and you came along a century later and could wander around inside, what would you find?

Among the answers, Jane the Brown offers a very nice overview of the state of the estate.