Best Of MetaFilter

What was your first job? weirdest job?

As we wave goodbye to pb, we also say hello to MetaFilter's new tech person, long-time community member frimble!

publishing by sam_churchill (cc by)

garius on starting a print magazine that earns its keep: "We found a small local printer who'd run us up a limited run of 100 copies, which I paid for out of my own pocket, and then we started anonymously leaving copies on the magazine / leaflet table in the Rose and Crown Pub in Walthamstow, London."

yankeefog on attendance policies when producing a live tv show and working for Dennis Miller: "you would be surprised at how much of an art teleprompting is."

A couple weeks ago, we said we're hiring; now, we've hired! Long-time contributor and community member Eyebrows McGee will be joining the MetaFilter moderation team starting in the new year.

Exciting news: we're looking to hire an additional part-time moderator to join the MetaFilter team. If you're a site member with a cool head and an interest in community management, take a look at the job listing and consider submitting an application.

For more info and general discussion, drop by the MetaTalk thread about the announcement.

Projection Booth by limecools (cc by-nc-sa)

"I set Anchorman on fire": Tales from Mefite film projectionists.

To make that sparkly tv logo without computers, the artists "stayed up all night doing drugs." - How they made animated graphics for tv before CGI.

Betamax nostalgia here - Plus how videotape and adhesive tape are made on the same machines.

Remember those 1-800- commercials from late-night tv? - I made those ads, and I worked in a call center, and we could tell when the ads aired.

Stock trader tech - lots of love for the bottomless Bloomberg terminal (internal Craigslist! extra emoji!), history of some alternatives to Bloomberg in the early 1980s, and extra tough phone equipment to survive frustrated smashing by floor traders.

Electronic medical records - A harder problem than it seems, how it's a pain for doctors, and why a lot of medical info systems still rely on fax or modem.

Sentiment Analysis for C-of-the-ACM by tsevis (cc by-nc-nd)

Recent comments from Mefites that go behind the scenes or look a little deeper:

pinback on using Google Mobilizer as a proxy to render encrypted and obfuscated TV listings to create electronic program guides "back in the dark early days of digital television in Australia"

Eyebrows McGee on the complicated manipulations and confusion of special taxing districts

allkindsoftime on the hair-raising dangers and machinations of Nairobi's "matatu" minibus transit chaos

yankeefog on the concept of "convening an electoral college" as One Weird Trick for negotiating disputes or decisions in a healthy marriage

a fiendish thingy on resumes and job search etiquette, and why "creative" at this stage is more likely to read as "confusing" and "non-functional"

Frowner on the various considerations of navigating content/trigger warnings or disturbing material in an academic setting

Hard Hat Area by jasoneppink (cc by)

I've applied for, been accepted to, and am halfway finished with a pre-apprenticeship training program for women. And I'm doing pretty well. So the idea of my becoming a carpenter has gone from a total pipe dream to an actual possibility...

showbiz_liz asks about what to expect when moving from white collar to blue collar work as a woman.

Le Stryge, Tour St. Jacques, and Sacre-Coeur by john weiss (cc by-nc-nd)

Fuego asks:

I have a weird workplace fantasy of having a job that would essentially pay me to do nothing. "Nothing" meaning surfing the internet, watching TV or movies, or reading books and magazines. Maybe occasionally there would be someone to help or some button to push, but 90% of the job time would be downtime. You wouldn't even have to look busy, just as long as whatever the job is gets done. Do such jobs even exist?

Little People 1 by bdebaca (cc by)

"I am really good at sexing small mammals." and many other job-related superpowers that MeFites have obtained.

A Light in the Night by Zach Dischner (cc by)

MeFite Homeboy Trouble did some census data analysis of the American Community Survey to see what people were doing when they were working the afternoon/night shift.

Most of these are low paying jobs (19 of the top 20 are in the lowest quintile for wages). The top 10 occupations that are in the upper 60% for wages, by likelihood to arrive at work between 2-6 PM:
Athletes, coaches, umpires and related workers
Extruding and drawing machine setters, operators and tenders, metal and plastic
Dancers and choreographers
Gaming managers
Mail sorters, processors and processing machine operators
Gaming services workers
Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers, all other
Metal furnace and kiln operators and tenders
Other teachers and instructors
Tire builders