Best Of MetaFilter

Plastered by splorp (cc by-nc-nd)

An absolutely immaculate pairing of poem and comic from brainwane.

Finally, it's settling down... :-) by Eirik Newth (cc by)

From wintersweet, in Ask Metafilter, What are your best tips / gadgets / purchases for preventing things in your household from needing to be cleaned / maintained as much or as often? I don't mean how to make the cleaning easier or faster, but how to reduce the amount of cleaning that has to be done in the first place.

You had one job! by jessamyn (cc by-nc-sa)

On BGS ("Big Green Sign" - yes that *is* actually the technical term for them) assemblies, usually the letters are made of reflective metal that is riveted onto the reflective green background. ... I'm guessing PennDOT Region Whatever awarded a contract to some company to fix this sign to replace letters which may have fallen off due to premature rivet failure or other reasons. And PennDOT is NOTORIOUS in the roadgeek world for being CHEAP. Likely, they awarded the contract to the lowest bidder, who subsequently paid no attention whatsoever to MUTCD regulations and now you have this odd mixed case.

Great answer from tckma (and our introduction to the world of roadgeekery) to cortex's question (about a photo by Jessamyn) How do highway signs get (incorrectly) made?, including some wonderful links to AARoads forum threads on "Erroneous Road Signs," "Signs With Design Errors," and "The Worst of Road Signs."

Ain Manawir (VII) by isawnyu (cc by)

JoeZydeco on how a vending machine knows what coin you've put in (and why the Mars candy company spun off an electronics company)

seasparrow on ancient underground water-distribution systems called "qanats"... including diagrams

codacorolla on their academic research on Minecraft players

The evolution of thimble technology, as seen in artifacts found scattered across England

A nice discussion of the importance of the skills needed to maintain old systems

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

January 8, 2011 by Jeremy Jenum (cc by)

MeFite spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints talks about what sort of routine maintenance your bicycle is likely to need.

the big takeaway is that you need to ask your shop to break down the individual items on the estimate and also tell you WHY things need to be done. We expect to get called out on every recommendation, so we don't just make shit up, ever. If we say your wheels need to be replaced because your braking surface is worn, then we will also be ready to break out the tool that indicates this. If your shop says something like that, by all means reply with "Ok, could you please show me why you think that needs to be done" and if they wave their hands in the air and give you woo woo or something, fuck 'em.