Best Of MetaFilter

Dave Matthews: You may have opinions. You may have *strong* opinions. You may have prejudices or fond memories. But only Floydd has the Dave Matthews Toe.

It's like the only one of my stupid schemes that I rolled a 20 on. outgrown_hobnail shares their secret for a surefire thesis defense strategy.

Drawing of a Butterfly - Dibujo de una Mariposa by Marcos Telias (cc by-nc-nd)

Larva Pupa Imago by Eric Schwitzgebel is a short story about love, personhood, and transformation. It's also about erotica for uplifted butterflies.

detail of painting by Jan Davidsz de Heem, Vase with Flowers, circa 1670

A touching reminder that sometimes people are really grand, actually.

Warren G. Harding by Forever Wiser (cc by)

In 2001 I was both stage manager and historic researcher for a play from 1911 about congressional sex scandals: EmpressCallipygos shares inhuman ecstatic shrieking and some hot goss on Warren G. Harding.

13 - Foggy tracks by m_arty_c (cc by)

"... observed from a little yellow room hanging inexplicably alone in the atmosphere of Neptune." The only thing better than reading this warm, evocative (and sometimes shocking!) reminiscence by sonascope of falling in love with audio stories would be to hear the tale told in sonascope's own voice.

Hands in the sky by ohhhbetty (cc by)

In Ask Metafilter, I'm writing a short story where the main character uses a signed language that developed on a space station: A very interesting question and some great answers on signal's request for cultural and linguistic introduction to signed languages for background.

A bold face: 266 West 11th Street (1887), Greenwich Village, New York by Spencer Means (cc by-sa)

In Ask Metafilter, Fiasco da Gama has an illuminating answer for jolenex4's investigation into the mystery of Miss Strange and the fanlight over the door.

cake house by masha_k_sh (cc by-nc-nd)

Oh, look, the new Mefi newsletter has a name! And a second edition! Whee! 📰

Also, the latest Metatalktail Hour asks members to tell the least plausible story about yourself, and it's so, so great. 🕴🏼

Also, also, don't forget, it's the second theme week of August fundraising month, and this time around, we want to see some sweet, sweet art (any interesting art find that you like, in any medium). Search tags for "sweetart" to see what people are posting, and/or tag your art-themed post with "sweetart." 🍭

garden posy by penelope waits (cc by)

Last summer I made a long-held dream of mine come true and started a free garden with herbs and tomatoes and beans and a painted rock saying "help yourself" in my front yard... RobinofFrocksley, in the Celebrate the Carers Metatalk thread.

Chirin’s Bell is like if, instead of Bambi being raised by his father after the death of his mother, he sought out the hunters who killed his mother and insisted they teach him how to use a gun: interesting post from J.K. Seazer on an unusual children's book (and film), plus a great analysis of the work.

If You Have A Bee In Your Hand by thedailyenglishshow (cc by)

Mefite colossal tells a touching tale of bees, and a boy, and a bedroom, and a plan gone very, very wrong in Johnny Wallflower's post The charming habits of bees. (Fair warning: Sometimes our Johnny shares such sweet stories of apian inclinations. This is not one of those times.)

Fantastic by Matt From London (cc by)

Recent member comments flagged as fantastic:

flabdablet on the question of whether you really need to properly eject that USB drive

darkstar on glue slime and fiery chemistry demos (you know, for kids)

DoctorFedora on ninja fashion trivia

mr. remy on a true-life spooky story

MonkeyToes on the transformative experience of a proper bra fitting (and nun management)

brookeduckart_Raccoons-Red-Records by brookeduckart (cc by-nc-nd)

[insert clever name here] tells a great raccoon tail tale.

from Y2K Aesthetic

Y2K Futurism - "An investigation into the futurism/aesthetic of the period 1996-02" on imgur

and from the turn of the previous century, afrofuturism from the past – "The Princess Steel," W. E. B. Du Bois's recently-discovered SF story.