Best Of MetaFilter

You might have seen this video of Mad Men complete with lots of blocky video glitches, dubbed the "bittorrent edition" since you often find downloaded rips of shows and movies carry these sorts of problems. MeFi member Rhomboid breaks down in painstaking detail how bittorrent works, how video encoding works, and what really causes those weird blocks to appear:

Often you'll see a frame suddenly "jump" into full view with a background, which happens when the encoder gets a complete I-frame. This also explains why you'll sometimes see the foreground of the next scene overlaid on the background of the last scene, because again the I-frame that described the scene change was missing but some of the P-frames were recovered

At my desk by chrismear (cc by)

Long time user holgate paints a lovely picture of the weird spot MetaFilter existed in at its start, why it was different, and how it's different now:

the MeFi of 2000 was populated by people who gave a shit about the web as a distinct thing in itself, while the MeFi of 2012 quite rightly treats the web as something as pervasive and enveloping as the air we breathe.

Pedway to Illinois Center and Marshall Fields by juggernautco (cc by)

The "pedway" is an underground tunnel system below buildings in downtown Chicago, letting people walk throughout the city beneath the street surface. As shakespeherian found out, when they say it closes at six, they mean it closes at six, here's his story of being stuck in the pedway.

Perspective #2 by rubberpaw (cc by-sa)

A cool mention of MetaFilter's history showed up today on MediaShift, a PBS website devoted to the future of journalism. MetaFilter's history of debunking Kaycee Nicole collectively online gets a mention in the "peer production" section.

When user dancestoblue mentioned a friend sought privacy on planes by "putting a string up his nose" user cybercoitus interruptus asked "how does that work?" dancestoblue explained it in detail (with photos!)

"I believe we can now state, scientifically and unequivocally, that you can just by god knot you some heavy string up and poke it up your nose and get ready for even the jerkiest jerks to give you some space."

dancestoblue showed us it's easier than it sounds and after viewing what it looks like, I'd agree you'd probably be ignored for most air travel if you did it.

subway break by Runs With Scissors (cc by-nc-nd)

In a thread about fights on the NYC subway, davidjmcgee explains how he once broke up a fight. BY DANCING.

In a post about an unlikely party town found deep in the jungles of Laos, MeFi member gman surprises all by revealing his unique and unfortunate contribution to the story with a good bit of background on how it all happened.

Well, ain't that fuckin' depressing. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but I was a major factor in Vang Vieng becoming exactly the kind of place I despise.

Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers Game 2 2008 NBA Finals by Adam Pieniazek (cc by)

If it's been many years since you followed NBA basketball, or even if you're completely new to the sport, this long detailed guide to what teams to watch and what to watch for in the 2012 season by MeFi member cashman is totally amazing. It reminds me a lot of the annual "superbowl preview for non-sports fans" the Rumpus has done the past couple years.