Best Of MetaFilter

By ArtBrom from Seattle - Neil Peart's drum solo, CC BY-SA 2.0

I can connect my own life to music because of Peart, and because of Peart I can better understand the life stories of my family.

Lilac girl shares an eloquent memorial of the complex and multiform interior connection her family has had to Neil Peart and Rush.

danconcert by danf

I'm sad to report that long-time MetaFilter member and just genuinely good dude Danf passed away yesterday after a long illness. There's a MetaTalk thread about his passing, if you'd like to say something.

Dan was among other things a musician, and posted several recordings to MetaFilter Music over the years, from Fahey-esque guitar compositions to old-time spirituals.

He was a wonderful member of this community and will be dearly missed.

A note from Anitanola's son

During this year's "Secret Quonsar" gift exchange, mefite a fiendish thingy received a lovely package full of stationary, notebooks and other trinkets, as well as two notes: one from her gift-giver, and one from her gift-giver's son, breaking the news that his mother, long-time Metafilter member Anitanola, had passed away on December 1st before she was able to send the package herself.

Her son wrote:

...She so appreciated her community of online friends, as she was housebound with considerable mobility issues. Even as she was worsening, however, she was concerned that this reach you, and that I “round out” the package with some locally made artcraft magnets. So I send this as she wished, and on her behalf wish you a fond hello and happy holiday season.

The metatalk thread is full of fond memories from Metafilter members who knew her, corresponded with her over the years, or merely recall with fondness her thoughtful, kind, and incisive comments on the site; her son wrote a thoughtful followup note to a fiendish thingy expressing thanks from himself and from two of Anita's closest friends who had also read the memorial comments.