Best Of MetaFilter

0xF8 by 0x FF (cc by)

someone forgot to tell like 99% of the human race this is going to happen to them ... flug with some great information about presbyopia in the What is up with my glasses? Ask Metafilter thread

Coat of arms of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, via Wikipedia

Joe in Australia on why beavers are fish in this super fun thread on Defector's ranking of state flags, included mainly because the comment contains the phrase "born through supernaturally heteropaternative superfecundation," which, iirc, we are legally obligated to include on the sidebar should it ever appear on the site.

Music Expands by byzantiumbooks (cc by)

Algorithms are great *but* don’t go to any guilty pleasures or allow any other person to use your account, unless you want those choices feeding into it. I don’t know a way to come back from the pollution of one’s algorithm. (I found *great* new bands until I allowed this to happen) – cotton dress sock: Lots of interesting tips, recommendations, and suggestions on the How to find new music I like Ask Metafilter post.

Leftovers by JD Hancock (cc by)

GenjiandProust's Increasingly Strange Stories for an Increasingly Strange Year is another faboo roundup of weird audio dramas, again with tons of info and links to each one ... And for yet more weird and wonderful, PussKillian has posted NPR's excellent list of the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books of the last decade. Cheers! 👾

Nothing Beats a Fountain Pen by kartikay.sahay (cc by-nc)

In Ask Metafilter, pleasebekind asks "Can you recommend any contemporary love poems or poetry collections?" ... I would really like to read more works by women and queer poets, as well as poets of colour. I love when the ordinary life is being talked about, or when the poem doesn't make you think it's a love poem in the beginning. Interested to read how other poets write about the erotic, of the body, being a woman, being human. Or perhaps distances/geography. Or identity. Kink also okay or self-love.

Close up of a burning book by wuestenigel (cc by)

Speaking as an author here: I hate Goodreads and want it to die. — cstross in bitteschoen's post on Goodreads’ problem with extortion scams and review bombing

cake house by masha_k_sh (cc by-nc-nd)

Oh, look, the new Mefi newsletter has a name! And a second edition! Whee! 📰

Also, the latest Metatalktail Hour asks members to tell the least plausible story about yourself, and it's so, so great. 🕴🏼

Also, also, don't forget, it's the second theme week of August fundraising month, and this time around, we want to see some sweet, sweet art (any interesting art find that you like, in any medium). Search tags for "sweetart" to see what people are posting, and/or tag your art-themed post with "sweetart." 🍭

Yale Art Gallery - Heart by m01229 (cc by)

Weird Science theme week has ended (see all the excellent weird science posts here!), and for the second theme of our August fundraising month, Sweet Art week has begun! Please help us make a spectacle of ourselves by posting all your favorite arty sites, works, and stories. 💖

In Ask Metafilter, miles per flower asks, "I've recently enjoyed a couple books that dive deep on what magic costs — Sanjena Sathian's Gold Diggers and Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education — and I'm looking for more to read along those lines: detailed mechanics and economic systems, with magic as the currency and thoughtful attention to economic metaphors. Suggestions?"

Wild grain by ibm4381 (cc by)

clew's post Stones speak and ashes live explores recent archeological research and evidence that "shred the long-standing idea that early people subsisted mainly on meat."

building in a glass of water by Jeanne Menjoulet (cc by)

Water in my NYC apartment tastes funny. How to test it? I'm a drinking water scientist and this is what we suggest to customers having water quality issues...

Hotpoint All Pink Kitchen, 1961 by JoeInSouthernCA (cc by-nd)

I'll put it bluntly: modern cooking is a social dick-measuring contest: Kadin2048 has an intriguing comment about the "fixation on cooking at home as a moral good" in theora55's post on Ultraprocessed Foods.

detail from cover art from the book Electrical Banana: Masters of Psychedelic Art

Slinga has posted the perfectly wonderful 45 minutes of Funky Old Japanese Soundtracks to chill out to, and we love it.

Baby Starfish by A. Jarrett (cc by-nc-nd)

Today in Weird Science!: A handy guide to the rocks and minerals of Minecraft, teensy little cannibals who eat their own siblings for their own survival, and hot, hot, sweaty manikins.

(Hey, it's Weird Science theme week during our August fundraising drive on Mefi!)