Best Of MetaFilter

Posts tagged with technology

'member this?

photograph of a young black man in a black t-shirt against a black background, leaning back and gazing up, with colorful illustrated daisy-like flowers in red, yellow, and blue floating up from his headDaydream by Maximilian Imran Faleel on Flickr

I have no recollection of how I used to waste time. ojocaliente asks how we used to space out and waste time, pre-internet.

02/27/24
by taz

Good things happen

Photo by Sam Churchill, from Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/samchurchill/14986641448/in/photolist-oQjsnN)

Did you dial the wrong number? That's ok, it's a good opportunity to make new connections! DirtyOldTown posted about how Maasai herders in Tanzania have been using misdials to forge new relationships, in personal and business ways! Check it out!

Stargate

Let's check in on humanity's solar system exploration before 2024 kicks in: doctornemo has made a fantastic post about the current state of developments in space, including asteroid bits, fast spaceships, JuMBOs, a space battle, and a space cat video .

12/23/23
by taz

Oil, societal change, and energy transition

A scene from The Black Gold Tapestry by Sandra SawatzkyScene from The Black Gold Tapestry Come view this breathtakingly beautiful embroidered story of oil in human history, created by Sandra Sawatzky, in this great post by 'They sucked his brains out!'

Big, colorful, and oh so much fun!

Williams OXO PlayfieldWilliams OXO Playfield by Ryan Somma (cc by)

Ever wondered how old pinball machines? Pendragon made a post that explains all the complexities that are going in these beautiful machines!

The gamification exploitation conversation

book cover with text YOU'VE BEEN PLAYED How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All ADRIAN HON, white lettering on purple background decorated with gold game coins

"This book is a critique of gamification by an actual game designer, games journalist, and former neuroscientist that 'goes far beyond the usual suspects like Fitbit and Duolingo to look at the historical roots of gamification'": Discussion of "You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All," by MetaFilter's own Adrian Hon.

11/06/22
by taz

What doesn't go viral

spymaster, one-handed drivingspymaster, one-handed driving by Nata Luna (cc by-nc)

Bella Donna posted Hacking an ableist world about the ingenious everyday accessibility innovations disabled folks are creating and sharing among themselves as opposed to the less useful (or vaporware) "disability dongles [that] generate feel-good content for brands." Very interesting!

08/16/22
by taz

An embarrassment of riches?

recipe herding

RecipesRecipes by pirate johnny (cc by-nc-nd)

"I have cookbooks. I have recipes printed out and shoved into cookbooks. I have recipes in Evernote. I have recipes pinned on Pinterest. How can I get all of my recipes in one spot and display them while I cook?"

08/10/20
by taz

It's Alimentary, My Dear Watson

Cooking & EatingCooking & Eating by ☼☼Jo Zimny Photos☼☼ (cc by-nc-nd)

A digest of recent food culture posts on Mefi:

The Food Timeline, evolution of foods dating back to before 17,000BC ⏳; Maria Orosa, Filipina food technologist, chemist, humanitarian, war hero 👩🏽‍🔬; The D.C. Region Doesn’t Have Full-Time Food Critics of Color. Why That Matters 📰; Archeology of Taste is a project about childhood memories 🍭; Consider the potato: How do you prefer yours? 🥔; The Food Flow Model, a web of connections across the continental U.S. 🚚; What Makes Good Comfort Food? A LitHub conversation 🍝; The most taxing work in the kitchen is brain work 🧠Iceland’s last McDonald’s burger simply won’t rot, even after 10 years 🍔.

11/10/19
by taz

More in Metatalk: The Mefi Mall is open, and you can add your shop now; MeFites for the Holidays is the spot for members who want to make connections for some seasonal bonhomie; Thinking About a Post is a thread for people to talk about posts they'd like to see or collaborate on; and finally, the current Metatalktail Hour's topic asking what obsolete technology members are skilled in is a lot of fun, if you haven't checked it out.

11/04/19
taz

AskMe Mysteries and Oddments

Teching the tech tech

Ain Manawir (VII)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

Vintage A/V and Legacy Tech Tales

Projection BoothProjection Booth by limecools (cc by-nc-sa)

"I set Anchorman on fire": Tales from Mefite film projectionists.

To make that sparkly tv logo without computers, the artists "stayed up all night doing drugs." - How they made animated graphics for tv before CGI.

Betamax nostalgia here - Plus how videotape and adhesive tape are made on the same machines.

Remember those 1-800- commercials from late-night tv? - I made those ads, and I worked in a call center, and we could tell when the ads aired.

Stock trader tech - lots of love for the bottomless Bloomberg terminal (internal Craigslist! extra emoji!), history of some alternatives to Bloomberg in the early 1980s, and extra tough phone equipment to survive frustrated smashing by floor traders.

Electronic medical records - A harder problem than it seems, how it's a pain for doctors, and why a lot of medical info systems still rely on fax or modem.

long time ago when we was fab

Mikel vinylMikel vinyl by aspitos4kids (cc by-nc)

Fun question in Ask Me: You spin me right round baby right round like a what? "I need songs with specific lyrics which I can play for my daughter which represent antiquated technology that she has no real understanding of."

09/19/15
by taz

Highlighting the best bits from the MetaFilter universe

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.

View Best Of Archive

feed  Subscribe to the Feed

twitter  Follow at Twitter

tumblr  Follow at Tumblr

facebook  Like at Facebook

Contributors

profile

taz

taz

profile

lobstermitten

lobstermitten

profile

Josh Millard

cortex

profile

Matt Haughey

mathowie