Best Of MetaFilter

March of the Baby Turtles by Clearly Ambiguous (cc by)

MetaFilter member Muddler studied sea turtles and came away with some important lessons:

So, there is a balance that can be reached to help save the turtles, but it takes some creativity and understanding of the predicament of both the turtles and the people who live near their beaches. Thankfully, the Olive Ridley population is doing relatively well, no doubt in part to the efforts at Ostional.

Cockpit of lil plane, flying to Veiques by innuendo (cc by)

In response to a popular news story about a security researcher claiming he could crash a plane remotely via smartphone, MeFi member backseatpilot explains why concerns over this may be overblown:

The airplane is designed to remain safe and functional even if the FMSs fail. Again, multiply redundant systems. Multiple MFDs can fail, multiple autopilots can fail, you could have a total electrical failure and still fly the airplane. Even the Dreamliner, the most electric airplane in the world, is designed to fly with a total electrical failure.

Framed Embroidery Kidney Anatomy Art. Hand Embroidered. by Hey Paul Studios (cc by)

In a question about organ transplants and what life is like after, MeFi member k8lin gives us an insider's view of life after a transplant.

I am both a researcher of the psychosocial aspects of chronic kidney disease and a two-time kidney transplant recipient myself, so I can shed a bit of light on the kidney side of things.

NASCAR by Pranavian (cc by)

While discussing Danica Patrick qualifying first in the upcoming Daytona 500, member dejah420 recounts the demands of car racing and what it's like moving up in the racing world as a young woman:

I am a woman. I drove my first drag race when I was barely big enough to reach the pedals. I won. A lot. The majority of that because the powerhouse I was holding on to was so insanely good; not because I was a prodigy. Drag racing is all about holding on to your ride. By 16 or so, I could hold my own on dirt tracks, and won regularly enough that someone was willing to chance me driving oval.

GRCA 20819 Powell Expedition Journal by Grand Canyon NPS (cc by)

I am no longer simply the kid who wrote those things, did those things. I am that person with years, layers of experience and judgement added to the mix. Something like looking into the mirror, but your image doesn't behave the way you'd like it to behave. Anyhow, my memory needed to be tweaked, and I'm glad I did it.

Several things stand out. I was shocked to see things (written there) that I thought I'd never forget, but had. Also, some of the memories I carried never happened to me--they were things someone else told me, and I had internalized them. More subtle slippage, in that sometimes I wrote several page of bullshit--not lies, just circumscriptions, soldierly evasions, using standard war-story phrases--while trying to say something, and that something never quite made the trip from my mind to the paper. Yet thirty years later I could see between the lines. I know what I couldn't say then. It it truly wierd how we are able to store little packets of reality without knowing it, and when the right stimulus comes along, all the little itches and aromas, textures and sensations waft up to command the senses, like a fugue, if you please.

Mostly, though, when I read that journal I was surprised, as if I were seeing the kid who wrote it in person for the first time. All these years I'd thought him to be an asshole, but looking back at him now, he wasn't all that bad, just young, and without much of a perspective with which to deal with the impossible things he was witnessing. Doing. He was better at his job than I remember.

Apollo 12 Pacific Recovery by NASA Goddard Photo and Video (cc by)

In a thread about the wonderful "writes upside down" spacepen, member eriko explains why pencils in space can be quite deadly and unsafe:

Realize that a piece of graphite between two conductors with enough current behind them becomes a light bulb. Briefly. This isn't good in sea level atmosphere, in a pure oxygen atmosphere, this is deadly. Gemini used mechanical pencils, which got rid of the wood, but left the graphite, and graphite+oxygen+spark=fire. Bad.

My 6th Grade Teacher: Mrs Grace by dok1 (cc by)

Seattle area MeFite femmegrrr gives us the inside scoop on why a school's teachers are boycotting a standardized test

This is not about school testing. This about an expensive, useless, misused test originally purchased under unethical circumstances. And about fabulous, heroic teachers doing their jobs -- standing up for their students.

Army Photography Contest - 2007 - FMWRC - Arts and Crafts - Death Valley by familymwr (cc by)

"Death Valley" isn't just a cute nickname. It's called Death Valley for a damn good reason. It's not a joke.

MeFite loquacious and others discuss their experiences in and around Death Valley.

seanmpuckett tells the story of how he wrote a BASIC program to play a Merlin-like game which made it into Compute! magazine and was later the subject of an article in Mathematics Magazine.

Trophies by terren in Virginia (cc by)

We've been running a casual best post contest for December on MetaFilter (using audience votes via the fantastic flag) and so far the first two weeks of winners have been decided:

Week 1
Games Designed by Women
Privilege checking and callout culture

Week 2
A mega-post about the BBC series Porridge
A mega-post covering loads of data about how humans die
a mega-post about Paul Frees (the voice of Toucan Sam, Morocco Mole and Burgermeister Meisterburger)

Check them all out and stay tuned for next week's winners.

Buenos Aires por la Paz by Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires (cc by)

This thread has many great reminiscences of Ravi Shankar including this lengthy explanation of the effect (or lack thereof) of religious tradition on Indian music.

India is a complex place, and it's easy to oversimplify its cultures. While partisans of both of its major religions may occasionally spin the musical history to emphasize their contributions to it over others', the rough truth is that both have contributed substantially, in the centuries since the Mughals arrived, to the synthesis that is the North Indian musical tradition.

A post about a child with a rare genetic skin condition called harlequin ichthyosis is filled with information from a longtime MeFite who runs a personal blog about another form of ichthyosis and then a comment from the child's mom.

Hand with shadows, father & daughter by Ctd 2005 (cc by)

A parent and child have a long talk about Victoria's Secret, thongs, peer pressure, and sexuality.

Instrument Of Evil? by greeblie (cc by)

Everything you ever wanted to know about the Magic 8-ball.