Best Of MetaFilter

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.

MeFi Mall!

It's that time of year, so I thought I'd help everyone's holiday shopping out by compiling a list of gift-related resources from MetaFilter.

Helping finding specific gifts is a popular request at Ask MetaFilter and here is a recent list:

• Ideas for workplace gifts on a budget
• Gifts for teens into gaming
• Gifts for a family of adults that enjoy board games and food
• Gift ideas for people you don't know very well
• The "gift" tag page at Ask MetaFilter has thousands more
• From the MeFi wiki: a giant list of previously mentioned online stores for buying gifts

If you're into giving books as gifts, the wiki also has one of the most exhaustive categorized lists of previous questions about books. Take a gander, pick a subject, and check out all the amazing old threads about the best books in any category.

Lastly, the fine folks of Ask MetaFilter also have compiled a list of all the best gift guides found online. And as always, we set aside a "mall" of all the MetaFilter members selling gifts online, sorted by category.

Rest in Peace, Dave by Pen Waggener (cc by)

Upon the occasion of his passing, MetaFilter member jbickers never forgot the day he spent with Dave Brubeck.

IMG_3477 by Micah Sittig (cc by)

In the wake of the NYC subway tragedy, MetaFilter members wondered why we couldn't have sealed subway platforms with trains stopping only at doors (like those pictured above, called platform edge doors - PEDs). Users sevenyearlurk breaks down the immense cost of retrofitting lines and garius explains the difficulties of getting them to work correctly:

Just to provide some kind of summary on the whole "platform doors" thing, it's always worth remembering that, when it comes to Metro systems, it's generally pretty easy (and cost effective) to do stuff as long as its done or planned for when the system is built. After that though you're pretty screwed.

Madison at Clark, in the Loop by heyho linda

MetaFilter member heyho shares why she chose to live in Chicago and all the bits of art and architecture that convinced her to stay there forever.

Playing Cards by ccarlstead (cc by)

IceCreamSocialist tells us a story about travel, drugs and a simple card trick.

What 51 stars could look like

You might have heard that Puerto Ricans recently voted in their elections to explore becoming the 51st state in the US. MetaFilter member verdeluz has a good overview of the somewhat confusing vote that took place that puts the possibility of statehood in a more realistic light.

Periodic Table of Font Elements 1.1 by FontShop (cc by)

"I always thought Garamond sounded like a weapon name."

Cucumbers by karenandbrademerson (cc by)

It's not greed at play here or lack of general desire to grow accessible local, quality, organic food for everyone. It's sheer economics both internally and externally. It's hard to convince someone that it's better to sell a cucumber for 50 cents when there is someone out there that will pay 2 dollars and if they grow polka dot cucumbers in the same space someone will pay 4 dollars for it. For many growers it's choice between having good food on their own tables and someone elses.

MeFite Jalliah on why being a farmer and wanting to provide food for low income folks is challenging.

Die Antwoord by FromSandToGlass (cc by)

South African MetaFilter member 00dimitri00 gives a bit of background, history, and insider perspective on the band Die Antwoord:

It's like we're all in on Waddy's Joke and it's a gas seeing the rest of the world trying to figure it out.