Best Of MetaFilter

Shoe repair by knapjack (cc by)

Bella Donna's post about France offering subsidies for clothing repairs has spawned an excellent collection of tips on clothing and shoe repair!

1978 Citroën 2CV 6 Charleston by Rutger van der Maar (cc by)

Oh, mon dieu! Sonascope has posted 75 years on four wheels and an umbrella, an absolutely magnifique megapost on Citroen's iconic 2CV.

image via Miss T.Horn

My great-uncle was in a cell in the French Resistance during WWII ... An intriguing question about a 50-year old mystery photo location from Miss T.Horn, and a fabulous answer 37 minutes later by essexjan.

"What's in a name?" by jack dorsey (cc by)

as someone who studies gender, the evolution of nonbinary / trans communities, and cultural ideas about androgyny, I'd categorize "Bixby" as in the name group moving pretty rapidly from a prior masculine-of-center position, to a current "gender neutral" position, and possibly soon to be in the feminine-of-center position. Some Interesting observations from DrMew on ambiguous, androgynous, gender neutral, and unisex naming trends in the We need to talk about Kévin thread.

Night Vision by Tracy O (cc by-sa)

The Underpants Monster tells a gravediggin' story; Stanczyk tells a tale of paper and love beyond the grave; elgilito talks about the death of French rural disco

Plate with sliced peaches by wuestenigel (cc by)

Pull up a chair and sit down, as EmpressCallipygos 'splains what to do with millions of peaches (or other produce)

Elsewhere on our plate:

Salad Fight! | 1,500 year old New Mexican beans | An Alphabet of international bread recipes | Reclaiming Canadian indigenous cuisine | As Muslim-American as bean pie | We all scream for ... mayo ice cream? | Sugartime by Ruby Tandoh | Forgotten Southern Recipes | An illustrated compendium of Chinese baos | Verbing the taco | The story of Chop Ayam

And finally, for those of us less culinarily evolved, have we even been opening our cans the wrong way?

Reflections, windows, mirror by Mind on Fire Photography (cc by-sa)

Tornado sirens, weird traffic signals, and more... What are some locally-normal things unique to your home area, that you thought were universal 'til you left home?

fraula and others describe food culture in France

beagle explains some of the appeal of Dutch carbide shooting - "perhaps the pinnacle of cultural achievement in a nation of soccer-playing, bicycle-riding dairy farmers with long winter nights"

Want to be recognized as an independent nation-state? First, get a national football (soccer) team -- diplomacy by sport in occupied Western Sahara.

"Even outlaws have to grow old" -- the story of a legendary Florida marijuana bust in 1973

Take it from a tv person, these two reporters "are the gold standard of TV news feature journalists." -- Minnesota stories

Get to know tiny Hans island, center of a genteel Canada vs. Denmark conflict -- with booze.

WC [toilet facilities] by State Records NSW

History pals!

Enjoy some newly-animated historical city photos, plus barnacles on the history of Australian public bathrooms "in case you're the sort of person that wants to see 115-year old survey sketches of toilets and urinal blocks".

Or listen to the meticulously recreated ambient sounds of 1700s Paris.

How about Marie Duval, 19th century woman cartoonist called 'one of the forgotten wonders of nineteenth-century art .. the bizarre dreamlike distortions of her comic world look like some steampunk 21st-century version of Victorian London."

Or the re-discovered ancient Chinese texts that rewrite the early history of Taoism and Confucianism.

Speaking of, what are some examples of historical events that are commonly misunderstood?

Did you catch teponaztli transcribing some diary pages from 1799-1804 New York City? "The most I've seen her write about anything was how much she hates games, which I love for its being an angry rant from 200+ years ago."

Or enjoy the brief video on the baseball fan Wild Bill Hagy, which is a time capsule of 1979 Baltimore.

Harking back to 1979, share some sense-memories in what was it like when everybody smoked?

Or looking further back - what was sugar like in 1631?

Finally, what are the best history nerds on Youtube?