Best Of MetaFilter

Deer Tick! by www.FrankBonilla.art (cc by-nc-nd)

Blasdelb offers a fantastic explainer in Too-Ticky's thread on "weaponized ticks."

Rusty iron cogs in Santurtzi harbour, Santurtzi, Spain by John Briody Photography (cc by)

I spent the first nine years of my legal career working with veterans who were seeking VA disability benefits ... bile and syntax offers an insider view of the shocking state of the US Veterans Administration in the US Army tweets “How has serving impacted you? thread.

Bunker Fuchsegg by Kecko (cc by)

One day, bored in the teenage manner, I was aimlessly poking around in the basement of our building, where our family's modest storage area was. I had noticed, mysteriously, that the stairs that led down to this lowest level appeared to continue down, but that the stairwell was not illuminated... — mwhybark

Cool post on fake Swiss chalets from Michele in California, with a lot of interesting comments, anecdotes, and links in the thread.

JOAX - February 2013 by Fort Bragg (cc by-nd)

How did those Humvees detach from their parachutes? mule98J shares some insight on rigging heavy equipment to be airdropped. "The howitzer hit Yomitan runway tube first..."

Nuclear Bomb by IndigoValley (cc by)

If you ever wondered what happens when a nuclear missle's blast radius exceeds the operating range of an aircraft or sea vessel that deploys it, member Dreadnought has a great explanation of the two (air & sea) scenarios and the great lengths and great luck required to survive them.