Best Of MetaFilter

United Airlines, 1976 by Alan Light (cc by)

Two MeFites (update: three!) who have worked on airline systems explain why the computer reservation system that airlines use seems so slow and outdated.

Changing even one character on a green screen could break dozens or hundreds of third party applications. It was like cement; it would take months of negotiation to orchestrate the change in layout on a green screen if you wanted to, say, make a field one character wider.

#Snowpocalypse Atlanta 2014 - traffic by William Brawley (cc by)

How a few inches of snow turned into an eight hour traffic jam.

Flood answers a question about long-lasting snowmen with an anecdote about the time Chile brought an iceberg to the World's Fair.

In 1992, I attended the World's Fair in Seville, Spain. I was living in Madrid at the time, and had friends in Seville, so I attended the fair at least 20 times through-out the course of that summer. It ran from April to October.

The country of Chile had one of the best exposition pavilions - partly because of the iceberg they brought to the fair. Yes, they brought an iceberg !!

Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial by cliff1066™ (cc by)

MeFi member arnicae shares what it was like during the aftermath of the Space Shuttle Columbia's crash 11 years ago in east Texas.

The response of the communities of deep east Texas, an area of the country with some very problematic and sad history is nothing short of phenomenal. Though the weather was cold and rainy throughout the days and weeks that followed the crash, searchers, many of them volunteers from throughout the South (and around the country) stayed out for twelve hour shifts.

zork 1 dos version by Opossed

February is Interactive Fiction Contest Month! With even easier IF-building options!