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They are called P A Y P H O N E S

Are you ... how shall we say? Of a certain age? For the over 50s, what used to be but is no more? People are sharing all the things in Ask Metafilter!

"I'm a millennial and I didn't quite "get" what kind of show this was ..." fire, water, earth, air has questions – many, many questions – about The Muppet Show: Tell me everything you know about The Muppet Show!

Photo by Ellen Klages This is a sort of follow up to the post about how people are handling possessions in their twilight years. But this post is about a single possession, a ham. It had been hanging in a basement for 20 years and with the passing of the "owner", decisions had to be made what to do with it, as seen in this post by davidmsc. Fair warning, there are photos of the "scary ham"!

72 years ago in Iowa, a worker named Mary Foss wrote a message onto an egg. She put the egg into a carton and sent the carton out for distribution. Last month, someone responded

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.

Joy of Rain by Bindaas Madhavi (cc by-nc-nd)

carlypennylane is looking for captivating contemporary instrumental music that strongly captures a mood or a moment

Mefites recall: What's a weird thing your family did that you thought was normal until you moved out?

Carinderia (Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya) by ~MVI~ (warped) (cc by)

It had been over a decade since I'd eaten a proper lechon, but god, I remember the first pork sandwich that I had at that place, and it was like all of the old memories had reawakened. With the flourescents, the heat, the prevalence of trucker caps, and the plastic tablecloths, this place wasn't all that different from the karihans that I remembered...

bl1nk on finding echoes of the Philippines in the American South.

Waterbed for the backyard by Clintus McGintus (cc by-sa)

Hedonism time! Share your waterbed stories, and learn the secrets of making your own granulated caramel for baking.

NYC Subway 80s by Olivier Nade (cc by-nc)

What was it like to be alive on September 15, 1985? "from the mundane to the profound, what do you remember about that time?"

Let's dance Mommy by W. Visser

Mefites share memories of moms and their music in the current "What is Mom Rock?" thread.

Robin Williams (21 de Julio de 1951 - 11 de Agosto de 2014) -"Prefiero morir como hombre, a vivir una eternidad como una maquina". -"Como el gran Andrew Martin solía decir, UNO se alegra de haberlo conocido". El Hombre Bicentenario #robinwilliams by BlackAdegan (cc by)

Among many stories and reminiscences, some members recall their IRL experiences with Robin Williams, "mensch, great talent... genuine soul"¹:

PareidoliaticBoy: "I drove Robin Williams from Whistler to Vancouver in my limo days , and can testify to the man's utterly non-stop manic creativity. This happened on a day when the entire infrastructure of the ski-tourism transport-business, continent-wide, had been struck a massive blow; with a snow-storm which had closed airports from Denver to New York for most of the day, with the resulting missed connections, and badly-snarled plans of anyone unlucky enough to be attempting to travel that day. ...Where other celebrities might have pulled a fit, Robin Williams made everyone he encountered on that chaotic day happy just to be alive in that place, at the time."

kanata: "He came up to us to play the "what breed are your dogs" game that everyone plays with rescue mutts. He came across as such a down to earth guy and later went out of his way to sign autographs for people at the nearby coffee shop."

Malla: "My husband was making a little video for a coworker goodbye party ... Williams not only agreed to be in the goodbye video, he was hilarious and sincere and very charming. A true gent."

Durhey: "my first job in the gaming industry was as phone tech support for EA ... After the executives told us about the plans for the coming year, they brought out a surprise special guest, none other than Robin Williams. He came out and just went off on a long improvised comedy routine about playing Medal of Honor, cocaine, and maybe hundreds of other topics. It was a real treat after talking to irate customers on the phone all day..."

Oneswellfoop: "Pointing straight at me, he said, in his most formal announcer's voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, Bill Tilden!" It wasn't the biggest laugh of the evening, not a familiar enough cultural reference, but I made sure to laugh, then I whispered to my date, who'd laughed like she got the joke, "Who's Bill Tilden?""

goofyfoot: "The club was right next to my bus stop and had plate glass windows. I could watch, but not hear. One night he faced me and made an aside to the audience, then gave me an exaggerated wave while the audience busted up. I curtsied, and have always wondered what he said."

essexjan: "Weirdly, today at around noon I was driving through Pennsylvania on my way back from Boston to Ohio when I thought of him. We were driving near the town where a friend of mine used to live before he moved to Virginia. A few years ago a movie had been made about my friend's life and Robin Williams played my friend in that movie."

too bad you're not me: "Someone at the hospital where my brother was being treated got us in touch with the Make A Wish foundation. My brother's wish? To meet Robin Williams. ... During lunch, I remember how nice Robin was to my brother, and to my parents. He didn't treat my brother like a sick kid--that's what sticks out to me the most. That, and how unimpressive the on-set catering was. But hey, I was ten, and I think I expected caviar and frog legs or something."

macrael: "The house we ended up moving to was in the Castro, it's previous tenant: one Robin Williams. ... In the yard, there was a little play house that I went over to and he immediately came up to the window and started pretending like he was a city health inspector and that I was selling bad burgers. Or something. I don't know any of the details but my parents remember him being just hilarious, doing a little bit at the drop of a hat, joking with a 2 year old about health code violations."

psoas: "... on the day I decided I first wanted to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge I either didn't bother asking anyone to join me or couldn't find any takers. I was about halfway across when a large sky-blue blur whizzed past me and I felt myself almost lose my balance..."

kinetic: "she said, 'Robin Williams is here and he's hanging out and I don't know, maybe he's gonna go on.' So I tore down to The Improv and sat with my sister and her friends as a few hacks got up there and did their bits. ... And then Robin Williams ran onto the stage and I HAVE NO WORDS..."

Many of our members and their families and loved ones deal with depression, or have done so in the past. If you are suffering too, please remember that you are not alone, please don't be afraid to reach out, and please also visit our There Is Help page on the Mefi Wiki.

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.

Beef stew with small potato dumplings and carrots by vauvau (cc by)

In the thread about the six minutes of slow-mo stupidity, user Blasdelb remembers when a college friend tried to cook a can of beef stew on an electric cooktop like the video, and the aftermath:

Then the absolutely predictable happened. The can went off like a beef cannon, it detonated with aspects of the stew projectile breaking the sound barrier and everything.