Best Of MetaFilter

dancestoblue posts about a surprisingly potent technique to boost your short and long-term recall. Just lie back and think of ... nothing.

"there's 2 ways I usually remove movement from dead characters ..." Member 5_13_23_42_69_666 answers DirtyOldTown's Ask Mefi question about techniques used for hiding the breathing of "dead" characters on TV and film.

I hope I'm the only sideshow-school casualty out there. I spent a month or so in the hospital after my own act went horribly awry... in sword-swallowing, everyone gets hurt eventually. Transmissions From Vrillon shares first-person experience in the post on Sword Swallowing And Its Side Effects.

Hands up by vapour trail (cc by-nd)

The hardest (oddest?) part? You learn that a fairly likely outcome of your attempt to rescue a conscious non-swimmer is that you will be attacked, and so you have to learn underwater combat tactics, so that you won't be drowned the first time you try to carry out a rescue.

infinite intimation and other former lifeguards comment in the Spot the Drowning Child thread, while some survivors remember. Plus, Mefi's worst (imaginary) lifeguard, racial swimming disparity / swimming pool discrimination, dreaming underwater, and PS: Please don't throw babies in pools.

All Hail The Big Lebowski by cote (cc by)

I was a varsity bowling player in high school. *plays Springsteen's Glory Days* Practice and science can fix this... My coach told me to pick an arrow on the lane to aim for and to never change that spot. For me, that is still the center arrow. Before you do your run/hop/skip down the lane, note where you're standing. See the boards and dots on the ground? Those board and dots are the same in every alley. Remember where your feet are...

Kimberussell and other alley-savvy members roll out to help a fellow Mefite out of the gutter: "Over the weekend, my wife and I went bowing with her parents, and they destroyed us." Please help me trouble-shoot my bowling game.