Best Of MetaFilter

Posts from August 2021

"Are you perhaps in your 40s or maybe 50s?"

0xF80xF8 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

08/30/21
by taz

"but we are going astray"

coat of arms with an upright beaver holding a bishop's crozier staffCoat 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.

08/24/21
by taz

Please Don't Stop The Music

Music ExpandsMusic 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.

08/23/21
by taz

"something disturbing to raise your spirits"

LeftoversLeftovers 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! πŸ‘Ύ

08/21/21
by taz

How do I love thee in the aughts and beyond?

Nothing Beats a Fountain PenNothing 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.

08/19/21
by taz

Goo Dreads

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

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

08/18/21
by taz

Housekeeping

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

Oh, look, the new Mefi newsletter has a name! And a second edition! Whee! πŸ“°

Also, the latest Metatalktail Hour asks members to tell the least plausible story about yourself, and it's so, so great. πŸ•΄πŸΌ

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." 🍭

08/17/21
by taz

Sweet Art, I really love you!

Yale Art Gallery - HeartYale 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. πŸ’–

08/16/21
by taz

Bookfilter: Magical Economies

colorful stock exchange board with dancing flame in front of it

In Ask Metafilter, miles per flower asks, "I've recently enjoyed a couple books that dive deep on what magic costs β€” Sanjena Sathian's Gold Diggers and Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education β€” 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?"

08/15/21
by taz

Not So Paleo, Actually

Wild grainWild 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."

08/14/21
by taz

YAMDWS

building in a glass of waterbuilding 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...

08/13/21
by taz

A specialist occupation?

Hotpoint  All Pink Kitchen, 1961Hotpoint 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.

08/12/21
by taz

"all killer, no filler"

colorful psychedelic style collage art of a woman's face with large round sunglassesdetail 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.

08/11/21
by taz

Ore You Going to Eat That?

Theme Week

Title art from the 1985 film Weird Science

πŸ“ˆπŸš€πŸ”¬πŸ‘©πŸ½β€πŸ”¬πŸ‘€β‰οΈ We're having theme weeks as part of our fundraising month, and the theme for this week is WEIRD SCIENCE! Also currently in Metatalk, Show Us Your View!

08/09/21
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.

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