Best Of MetaFilter

Photo by shellac on Flickr

In Ask Metafilter bluloo is looking for deeply engrossing beach reads, 168 would like recs for really good book blogs, and WithWildAbandon seeks what seems to be a unicorn — "a comprehensive, continually updated list of celebrity book clubs with ALL of their monthly picks," but no answers so far. (hey, hey, anyone looking for a niche blog focus?)

Hello, Bob.

"it's like a cross between an aquarium and a reality show," observes MrVisible in nobody's meow.camera post about Hello Street Cat's video network of cute human decorated cat feeders set up throughout China to feed and track strays ... plus entertain the folks at home!

Detail from Thomas Dolby album The Golden Age of Wireless

She BLINDED me, with one of these several distinct, though interrelated, things! biogeo breaks down what we mean when we say "science."

How are crayons made? Let Mr. Rogers explain it to you in his soothing voice as we marvel at the mixing, melting, and metamorphosis of these magical makers of mental movies. Thanks to bq for this colorful post!

One of many creations made with The Incredible Machine

XKCD made a machine and Rhamoi made a post about it! There are balls involved, along with a fan, gears, an anvil and other stuff to direct the things in various ways. This is all about having fun, so come on in, the water's fine!

Crested Tit, by Roy Scholten, from his 50 birds project.

Screenshot from video!

Ok, say you want to make a film about a clown, complete with colorful hair and attire, on the red sands of Mars. That would be incredibly complicated to do with modern green screen techniques. But what if this technology has been developed decades ago and then lost? Well, AlonzoMosleyFBI made a post about the Creative Corridor's journey to recreate this "lost" process so they could do a screen test of, you guessed it, a clown, complete with colorful hair and attire, on the red sands of Mars!

"The first Eyewitness News theme was literally lifted from the 007 James Bond movie theme" ... Wow! flug has a fantastic, chewy answer full of background and context for nouvelle-personne's fascinating question, "Tell me more about news music. What is it doing to me?"

oneirodynia asked about their persistent, shifty, Mystery House Smell, and answerers have offered an alarming number odorific tips, including sol's experiences with sewer or waste water/drain pipes and a great link to a related article (see the Metafilter post on Man Called Fran, the best article on forensic plumbing you ever likely to read), and samthemander's link to their own successful obnoxious odor outcome. Our noses await new news on this one!

Black-anther Flax-lily is one of the many indigenous species planted by ReSource RICA. Photo by Geoff Nowak on Flickr

"There were four living trees on it, lots of erosion and it was an eyesore ..." chariot pulled by cassowaries posts the wonderfully inspiring story of a group of friends who, over a period of 20 years, rehabilitated "the most degraded, clapped-out piece of farmland they could find."

🐈 In MetaTalk, kensington314 has a fun idea for a collaborative mixtape!

Image of the F5 Sayler Park/Bridgetown tornado taken near Bridgetown Ohio, just west of Cincinnati, on April 3, 1974.

On April 3 and 4, 1974, thunderstorms spawned more than 100 tornadoes, killing more than 300 and injuring another 6000: backwoods has spun up a whopping megapost on the 1974 Super Outbreak, the most violent tornado outbreak in recorded history, and the changes it wrought.

Photo by Kevin Gale via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gale_house/)

Here’s a roundup of recent recommendations over in Ask MetaFilter: Toucan is searching for pleasant sensations to help themselves feel physically good every day and the suggestions are great!()

Caxton1476 is looking for advice on music education for the middle-aged, because it's never to late to get your groove on!

Finally, lizard2590 would like recommendations for podcasts on past pop culture.

Bust of Napolean from 'The Six Napoleans' in The Sherlock Holmes Museum by Gail Frederick

A hat is defined as a shaped covering for the head worn for warmth, as a fashion item, or as part of a uniform. So yes, there have been a lot of hats throughout history, as chronicled by the HatHistorian, in this post by ChurchHatesTucker. Click to check it out and discover the history of that oddly shaped hat worn by Napoleon!

Screenshot from video Rapper Lil Jon is famous for bringing crunk to the foreground in the early 2000s. He's also down with the benefits of meditation, as pointed out in this post by Shepard.