Free thread!
January 3, 2022 9:19 AM   Subscribe

Free thread! No link, no topic. This is an experiment for the new year, a place on the front page to chatter about the stuff that there's no post for or that doesn't really feel like it needs a dedicated post. Come on in and say howdy to other MetaFilter members, share a link, talk about web stuff, etc.

The standard MetaFilter community expectation of fairly focused, on-topic discussion in posts works great for a lot of things, but it does mean there's not always a space to talk about x, y, and/or z without it being a derail. We're hoping this sort of free thread can provide a home for a lot of the everything-else that folks might want to chat about or share small links to. (And, hey, you might even get a post idea or two from it!)

The goal: a no-structure, low-heat, low-stakes conversation space. There are lots of opportunities on MetaFilter for pretty serious and difficult discussions; this isn't meant to be one of 'em. In here, aim for friendly chatter, wierd facts, obscure expertise, odd snippets of Internet Stuff, that sort of thing. Leave angry-making politics updates, doomscroll fodder, and hot-button stuff for elsewhere. Moderators will keep an eye out for flags in here just like anywhere else, but ideally it won't be necessary to do much active moderation in this kind of thread.

For now this is pure tire-kicking stuff: we don't know how often these'll be posted and we're playing around with ideas for variations and presentation, so we'll see how it goes and adjust from there. But, hey, here we go! Hi, how are ya?
posted by cortex (484 comments total) 61 users marked this as a favorite
 
Also, if you're a regular reader of MetaTalk, you might be wondering whether and how this relates to the ongoing MetaTalkTails threads and other friendly chatty stuff folks can post over there. Not much, other than this being in the same spirit of letting folks talk to each other more outside of either a strict topic or a community issue/problem/concern. These'll be a supplement to that stuff, not a replacement, on a part of the site where that stuff is not necessarily visible to the majority of site readers.
posted by cortex at 9:22 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Also hi. I know this could go in metatalk but lemme just say thanks to everyone at metafilter -- the mods, the posters, the commenters, the lurkers -- for making a nice little mostly-sane corner in a nutso world. Love you all.
posted by nushustu at 9:23 AM on January 3, 2022 [71 favorites]


THIIIIIIIIIIIIRD day of the new year that is. I'm doing a lot better than I was a year ago which is nuts. Thanks for asking.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 9:24 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


My gender: tired. My pronouns: sigh/ugh. My crest: sable a teddy bear dormant tanne
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:24 AM on January 3, 2022 [24 favorites]


FLAGGED AS CHATFILTER

Jk jk interested to see how this goes
posted by potrzebie at 9:25 AM on January 3, 2022 [13 favorites]


Hey buds.
posted by Evstar at 9:25 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


How's the snow in the mid-Atlantic region?

I'm a little disappointed that here in southern New England we haven't had any snow this season and the District of Columbia--which is considerably south of here--is getting so much today. It doesn't seem fair in a way, and yet I can think of so many winters where this has been the case. (I know, I know, local climate conditions, proximity to the ocean, etc)

I'm hoping we get some snow because I'd really like to go cross country skiing.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:26 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


MetaFilter is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their chats wedged into the front page, or why.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 9:26 AM on January 3, 2022 [72 favorites]


I impulsively bought myself an $11 ballpoint pen and I am really enjoying it. The description of the pen-retraction mechanism as a "very satisfying push button action" is, if anything, an understatement.
posted by escabeche at 9:26 AM on January 3, 2022 [52 favorites]


January feels like it is going to be... challenging. Glad to have Metafilter to horse around in.
posted by gwint at 9:27 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I've got a bold idea for you all. One that could shift your entire afternoon (when you next reach afternoon).

Ready? One word. Otters.

People like to malign them because they saw one article about sea otters, but there's lots of other kinds of otter out there. Some of them have names. And stories. And you can watch them. I've followed the story of one otter teaching another otter to love again after mistreatment, and it's been adorable.

So that's my suggestion. Watch daily otter updates. It's good for what ails you.
posted by CrystalDave at 9:27 AM on January 3, 2022 [21 favorites]


I bought the pen at this very fun stationery and notions store in Philadelphia.
posted by escabeche at 9:28 AM on January 3, 2022 [12 favorites]


RIVER OTTERS ARE SO GREAT I CANNOT EVEN.
posted by sciatrix at 9:29 AM on January 3, 2022 [18 favorites]


did someone say FREE THREAD?
posted by lalochezia at 9:30 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


hi everybody. still reading with interest.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:30 AM on January 3, 2022 [17 favorites]


they're giving away threads nowadays. what will they do next?
posted by Typhoon Jim at 9:30 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


I've been enjoying playing Wordle most days since it was posted here a few days ago.

I just moments ago made a Signal group for sharing scores and chatting about it, if anyone here's interested :)

(I might change that link in a day or two, MeMail me if you see it after I do and still want to join)
posted by wesleyac at 9:30 AM on January 3, 2022 [19 favorites]


My cat died on Christmas afternoon--it was kind of expected, as she was very old and ill--and I've spent the past week playing dozens of hours of Spiritfarer, a game where you take dead animals to Heaven, after they spend some time bossing you around and demanding food and fancy bedrooms. It seemed like the best way to honor a cat who was neither bossy nor demanding.
posted by mittens at 9:31 AM on January 3, 2022 [116 favorites]


The Mid-Atlantic snow is quite lovely, thanks!

My toddler built a snowman (and bashed its head in), and now we're watching cartoons.

A little later I'll have to figure out something to do with a pound of pork belly. It will need to be easy and stovetop, in case the power conks out on us.
posted by champers at 9:32 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


FREE THREAD*

*with purchase of second thread of equal or greater value, some restrictions apply)
posted by briank at 9:32 AM on January 3, 2022 [15 favorites]


*with purchase of second thread of equal or greater value, some restrictions apply

BOGO: Blog (Own), Get One
posted by cortex at 9:33 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I bought a kinderboard recently as a body-fidget and it's great for my endless WFH meetings where I need to move around a bit.

I should probably get a treadmill down here too.
posted by curious nu at 9:34 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I would like to object to this level of freedom. It's dangerous for me to have this lack of structure. Next thing you know I'll be making bad puns or weird jokes that only I and maybe one other person thinks is funny...

Actually, that's me in any thread.

Carry on.
posted by nubs at 9:35 AM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


I want to say thanks to Word_Salad, who posted an obituary thread for Eve Babitz a few days ago. I had started one, but my brain just. crapped out on me. once I had the "New Post" box open. I loved her writing, found it through the NYRB reprints, and wish I had known her. Honestly, I don't get like that about writers I don't know very often. Everyone go read Eve Babitz in 2022!
posted by Lawn Beaver at 9:36 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


does anyone read the posts down here?
posted by jozxyqk at 9:38 AM on January 3, 2022 [13 favorites]


How common was High Church Protestantism in the 1960s?

I'm watching The Queen's Gambit and there's an orphanage there with a very High Church feel (choir with Latin hymns and etc) but no denomination is listed and I don't think they're supposed to be Catholic. Is/was this a normal thing in the US at that time? Is it supposed to be Anglican?
posted by Easy problem of consciousness at 9:38 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Did I miss my chance to buy this thread as an NFT?
posted by deadaluspark at 9:38 AM on January 3, 2022 [12 favorites]


* cries *
posted by baby_jessamyn at 9:39 AM on January 3, 2022 [20 favorites]


snow in philly did not stick to roads or sidewalks, but there's still a few clumpy blotches on plants and cars. disappointing.
posted by Clowder of bats at 9:40 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Is this line reading from the new Matrix movie:

1. Terrible
2. Great
3. Intentionally incomprehensible, and thus great, because of some point it's making
4. HELLO
5. Good morning
posted by fedward at 9:40 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


It is technically too late for people to do the "black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck" thing, but I did my part (using the special "guaranteed extra lucky" peas we all got from Rancho Gordo's bean club for good measure), and can report that this is the recipe you want to use, to the point that I would even say "screw whether it's a lucky New Year's Day thing and just make it for dinner".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:40 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Mrs. Mosley and I are staying in with the sniffles and such today. I'm putting in some work on an Instagram I started in October celebrating works in Public Domain (Public Domain Day was this past Saturday, so this is an exciting week). That might be better suited for Metafilter Projects, but what the hell, a Free Thread demands a link to Free Stuff.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 9:41 AM on January 3, 2022 [12 favorites]


I have worked out 1 consecutive days this year. Updates as events warrant.
posted by COD at 9:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [22 favorites]


I'm a little disappointed that here in southern New England

It's been nice up here in Northern New England. It snowed on Christmas leading to dicey roads that people shouldn't have been out on anyhow. I've been a lot more superstitious lately and was pleased that it and New Years passed without major incident.
posted by jessamyn at 9:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Did I miss my chance to buy this thread as an NFT?


jolene. jolene. jolene. don’t take my thread just because you can

(h/t @cd_hooks)
posted by lalochezia at 9:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I've also been doing Wordle and enjoying it as a not-very-challenging daily challenge.

This might be the hardest day of the year to return to work. I am blessed with a prolonged winter break that has been perfect for recharging my battery, but it's still hard to feel energized by commuting in heavy snow and then spending the day looking forward to doing it all again after work instead of just sitting at home watching it fall.
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:43 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Also, the kids and I watched a bunch of Spider-Man movies over the break, and I noticed that both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield sketch out their costume designs in the same kind of green-tinted quadrille paper notebooks I like doing math in (and a new one of which I bought at the Philadelphia notions store) and now I think I may be a character in Spider-Man: Into The Stationeryverse.
posted by escabeche at 9:43 AM on January 3, 2022 [12 favorites]


Thanks, cortex! I read about Apartment Therapy's 20-day tidy thing (dunno where, maybe here?) and signed up for it last week. Today my first task (challenge, mission, goal) was to clean out a single drawer. I reorganised all five small drawers in my tiny utility closet. Now all my tape rolls are in a single drawer, so delightful! Also unexpected but I guess my ADHD was all, focus on this thing instead of your to-do list of zillions of things.

On the way to the shopping center (I needed to buy apples and also needed exercise, so I adopted orange swan's excellent advice by combining those two things), I met a person wearing a fabulous fabric tie-died mask and complemented them on it (which is an aggressive thing to do in Sweden).

Also, I have been watching Inspector Koo on Netflix. I've about halfway through the 6 episodes. I have never seen anything like it. I both enjoy it and am worried something terrible will happen. My houseguest has gone home and that is awesome. Hugs to anyone who wants 'em.
posted by Bella Donna at 9:43 AM on January 3, 2022 [18 favorites]


My cat can’t decide whether he wants to be in the bedroom or out of the bedroom and he’s too dumb to learn how to open the door from the inside, where he had to pull instead of just stand up to push.
posted by holborne at 9:43 AM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


How's the snow in the mid-Atlantic region?

It's a pretty mess! The snow is wet and heavy, there are tree limbs down everywhere, and I'm worried about our serviceberry. The neighbors' kids are having a blast, though.
posted by fedward at 9:44 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I thought this was about embroidery thread. I really want some free embroidery thread.
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 9:46 AM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


Serviceberry? Sorry, just gotta ask.
posted by Bella Donna at 9:46 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Someone tell me a story.
posted by bondcliff at 9:47 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I was trying to figure out how to make a FPP about The 7th International Wrestling Festival (NSFW) , but it would take so much work to explain what's going on in the video that I figured it's best to just leave it alone.
posted by Philipschall at 9:47 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I don't post much, and when I do, it's not very informative.
posted by hexatron at 9:47 AM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


There are three sisters with bunny eared hats in front of me on the bus. They are very cute
posted by thegirlwiththehat at 9:48 AM on January 3, 2022 [21 favorites]


I’m spending the day sorting, filing, and shredding a year’s paperwork. For some reason, my mom cat decided she had not had enough breakfast and decided to protest by laying in piles of papers, staring at me soulfully, and occasionally crying. She finally went to take a nap. Then kid cat decided that it was surely time for dinner, and has been pestering me relentlessly. What a day….
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:48 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


How common was High Church Protestantism in the 1960s?

I'm watching The Queen's Gambit and there's an orphanage there with a very High Church feel (choir with Latin hymns and etc) but no denomination is listed and I don't think they're supposed to be Catholic. Is/was this a normal thing in the US at that time? Is it supposed to be Anglican?

posted by Easy problem of consciousness

Probably High Church Episcopalian and a diocese that was digging in their heels against modernization such the revolutionary changes in the 1950's allowing nuns to wear short skirts and short veils. They would have been out of mainstream but, I think, not revisionist, just losing young adherents the moment they got old enough to not be taken to church by their parents. My aunt was in such an order until the mid-sixties, with the full habit, working in institutions for children, although I believe hers was a day school.
posted by Jane the Brown at 9:49 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Serviceberry?

Shadbush
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 9:49 AM on January 3, 2022


We were supposed to get 8-12 inches of snow in Milwaukee over the weekend and only officially got 4, and I suspect that's because of lake effect snow at the airport, so I'm jealous of the mid-Atlantic storm.
posted by Kyol at 9:49 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Next thing you know I'll be making bad puns or weird jokes that only I and maybe one other person thinks is funny...

I feel called out....
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:49 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


the "black eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck" thing

Since I do a standing rib roast for Christmas dinner instead of a ham, I use the rib bones in my black eyed peas. This year a friend of ours made a bunch to share, though, which was awesome but also robbed me of my leftovers. So yesterday I made some anyway.
posted by fedward at 9:49 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


My wife threw a Taskmaster party, based off of Taskmaster: 200 Extraordinary Tasks for Ordinary People Paperback (amazon link, because I couldn't get it to come back on bookshop.org)

Joy is watching a bunch of olds try and make the longest continuous noise with their body.
posted by DigDoug at 9:51 AM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


escabeche i have the same pen bought from the same store!!! Love the super fine tip i have on it. Love that it’s metal, love it!!!!
posted by bxvr at 9:51 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I have been admiring the snow in Skykomish, WA.
posted by JanetLand at 9:51 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


The power has blinked off twice so far today, interrupting (not really complaining though) work. My area of Virginia is still under a winter storm warning until 4 pm, but we've only got about an inch and a half of snow and it's already starting to die down. Tonight, it's meant to dip into the 20s, though, so the roads everyone has been driving on will probably get more dangerous.

Time to eat another brownie.
posted by emelenjr at 9:51 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Guesss you could say we’re pen pals ha ha ha ha
posted by bxvr at 9:52 AM on January 3, 2022 [15 favorites]


75 today... Lived thru NYC in the late 70s and 80s...Most of my chums passed from the virus in their late 40s or 50s...so many. On a cheerier note I bought birthday cupcakes and am having beef on deck sammich tonight with brother...
posted by Czjewel at 9:53 AM on January 3, 2022 [50 favorites]


How common was High Church Protestantism in the 1960s?

I'm watching The Queen's Gambit and there's an orphanage there with a very High Church feel (choir with Latin hymns and etc) but no denomination is listed and I don't think they're supposed to be Catholic. Is/was this a normal thing in the US at that time? Is it supposed to be Anglican?

Yes, I think so. I'm Anglo-Catholic and while I did watch a few episodes of the Queen's Gambit I don't remember specifically that, possibly those scenes happened in an episode I haven't seen.

But particularly in the Midwest, Episcopal churches tend to be fairly high-church, and chanting, Latin anthems / parts of the Mass and smells & bells are not uncommon, especially in flagship Anglo-Catholic parishes and in cathedrals. I think it can be a bit jarring especially for Roman Catholics visiting, since in the RCC that sort of liturgical style has a lot of connotations with far-right theological/political views, basically people who want to roll back the clock to before Vatican II.

There was a little of that within Anglicanism but for the most part the conservative wing of the high church / Anglo-Catholic movement either went over to the RCC or left to start their own denomination(s) after women's ordination and then gay marriage. Anglo-Catholicism in North America is now pretty much progressive on social issues (and has always had a strong emphasis on social justice / anti-poverty work, going back to the mid-19th century when the movement was strongly discouraged in England and priests identifying as Anglo-Catholic were basically sent by their bishop to the poorest parishes in the urban slums of London etc.
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:53 AM on January 3, 2022 [14 favorites]


that is probably a longer answer than you were looking for
posted by tivalasvegas at 9:53 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I am busy being upset by the existence of prairie crayfish, a thing I went 40 years without knowing existed, that I learned about early in quarantine and have been low-key upset about ever since. But last night I was watching a movie that for SOME GODFORSAKEN REASON mentioned them so I'm in full-on shudder mode.

It's not enough that they're creepy lobsters; they live on LAND. In GRASS. You're out for a nice evening walk in the prairie preserve and -- SURPRISE! -- horrifying land lobster!

I do not live on the midcontinental craton because I want to be near creepy ocean things with carapaces. I feel doubly betrayed because not only are there crustaceans here, but they WALK AROUND IN THE PRAIRIE. Whyyyyyyy.

Please do not tell me about other secret land crustaceans, I'm not sure I can handle the truth.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:55 AM on January 3, 2022 [43 favorites]


Due to a weird thing with my employer, today is my New Years Day holiday so I'm off work. I'm contemplating some kind of potato/chicken/green chile soup for dinner. We've had a lot of snow so far this year and it's in the forecast for every day this week, too. Coming down right now. Yay. :|
posted by hippybear at 9:56 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


The Apartment Therapy January Cure Day 1 task has arrived and it's cleaning out a single drawer. I like it. That's doable. I think a few other folks have signed up for that, so if you want a sort of loose-gripped accountability person, email me. If we have several interested, we can take it to gmail or maybe start an IRL post here?

Also, I'm officially looking for remote freelance writing/editing gigs after a six-year hiatus from working, and I'm excited and also a little nervous as both my world and the world around me have been forever changed. Wish me luck!
posted by mochapickle at 9:56 AM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


Next thing you know I'll be making bad puns or weird jokes that only I and maybe one other person thinks is funny...

If you want to destroy this filter, read this thread as I walk awayyy...
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:56 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Here's a video of a Simpons-based dance number from a high-school competition in Australia in 1997 that I can't stop watching but can't be bothered to make a post about.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 9:57 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I've spent the past week playing dozens of hours of Spiritfarer, a game where you take dead animals to Heaven, after they spend some time bossing you around and demanding food and fancy bedrooms.

I'm sorry for your loss Mittens. I've been playing Cozy Grove on my Switch for a few months, and it's kind of similar. You're a "spirit scout" on an island with a bunch of bears who have yet to move onto the afterlife. You have to help them with tasks that help them restore their memories. I think it's pretty great, but now that the bears are starting to ascend, it's gotten dark. (A murder suicide so far, and a house fire...) Regardless, I'd recommend if someone is looking for something less time consuming than Animal Crossing.
posted by librarianamy at 9:57 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


Is it within cortex's awesome power to turn images and blink tag back on for the free thread and the free thread only?
posted by escabeche at 9:57 AM on January 3, 2022 [18 favorites]


Serviceberry: Amelanchier × grandiflora, known for its spring flowers and fall colors. The berries are edible (some may say … serviceable) although ours is still pretty young and 2020 was the first year it fruited more than the birds could eat. It can be trained and pruned into tree shape, but will become shrubby if left on its own. We got ours from the local urban forestry people through a subsidy program, and I believe it's actually a graft onto a rootball from a different varietal.
posted by fedward at 9:59 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


I've been watching this a lot and wheezelaughing.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:59 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


This thread's existence suddenly makes me feel that LOTS of people are using Metafilter, and I LOVE that feeling of community. Thank you! ❤
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:01 AM on January 3, 2022 [54 favorites]


just saying Hi, and hope everyone has a good start to the year!

As an Episcopalian, I definitely remember tiny parts of the Eucharistic being in Latin, but mainly just tiny little bits. I would definitely consider the small city Episcopal church I grew up in as high church. Lots of varnished wood, incense, acolytes, giant organ and choir, dressing up for Sunday service. We also had "folk mass" which was, well, more contemporary, but that didn't happen nearly as often, and was given with lots of warning so folks who "weren't into that kind of thing" could stay far away.
posted by nolabasashi at 10:01 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Someone tell me a story.

posted by bondcliff

Once upon a time there was a family that lived in the woods. There was Great-grandpapa, Great-grandmama, Grandpapa, Grandmama, Pa, Ma, Paul, Little Lulu and Horace. Horace was a bear.

One day Pa went hunting and when he came home there stood Great-grandmama, Grandpapa, Grandmama, Ma, Paul, Little Lulu and Horace.

They said, "What do you think has happened!"

Pa said, "What has happened?"

They said, "Horace has eaten Great-grandpapa!"

And Pa was wild! He said, "I shall kill that bear!" But they all took on so he hadn't the heart to do it.

The next day Pa went hunting and when he came home there stood Grandpapa, Grandmama, Ma, Paul, Little Lulu and Horace.

They said, "What do you think has happened!"

Pa said, "What has happened?"

They said, "Horace has eaten Great-grandmama!"

And Pa was wild! He said, "I shall kill that bear!" But they all took on so he hadn't the heart to do it.

The next day Pa went hunting and when he came home there stood Grandmama, Ma, Paul, Little Lulu and Horace.

They said, "What do you think has happened!"

Pa said, "What has happened?"

They said, "Horace has eaten Grandpapa!"

And Pa was wild! He said, "I shall kill that bear!" But they all took on so he hadn't the heart to do it.

The next day Pa went hunting and when he came home there stood Ma, Paul, Little Lulu and Horace.

They said, "What do you think has happened!"

Pa said, "What has happened?"

They said, "Horace has eaten Grandmama!"

And Pa was wild! He said, "I shall kill that bear!" But they all took on so he hadn't the heart to do it.

The next day Pa went hunting and when he came home there stood Paul, Little Lulu and Horace.

They said, "What do you think has happened!"

Pa said, "What has happened?"

They said, "Horace has eaten Ma!"

And Pa was wild! He said, "I shall kill that bear!" But they both took on so he hadn't the heart to do it.

The next day Pa went hunting and when he came home there stood Little Lulu and Horace.

She said, "What do you think has happened!"

Pa said, "What has happened?"

She said, "Horace has eaten Paul!"

And Pa was wild! He said, "I shall kill that bear!" But Little Lulu took on so he hadn't the heart to do it.

The next day Pa went hunting and when he came home there stood Horace.

Horace said, "What do you think has happened!"

Pa said, "What has happened?"

Horace said, "I have eaten Little Lulu!"

And Pa was wild! He said, "I shall kill you, Horace!" But Horace took on so he hadn't the heart to do it.

The next day Horace went hunting.
posted by Jane the Brown at 10:01 AM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


Is it within cortex's awesome power to turn images and blink tag back on for the free thread and the free thread only?

The blink tag still works, it's the web browsers that stopped believing in it. As for images, I would prefer not to.
posted by cortex at 10:01 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


I'd love to see some snow this winter. We just ended about two weeks of rain but not a flake of snow.
posted by octothorpe at 10:04 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Is this the thread where I blame Cortex for introducing me to FarmRPG?
posted by jacquilynne at 10:04 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


As for images, I would prefer not to.

Cortelby, the Moderator.
posted by The Bellman at 10:07 AM on January 3, 2022 [53 favorites]


Oh man, everybody stop it already with the friggin' politics
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 10:08 AM on January 3, 2022


People like to malign them because they saw one article about sea otters, but there's lots of other kinds of otter out there. Some of them have names. And stories. And you can watch them.

You otter watch this video.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:09 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


After this thread on (among other things) gentle/progressive resource-management computer games, I was reminded that I wanted to try out Timberborn, the city-building simulator where you're post-apocalyptic beavers.

After a couple of rounds of watching all my beavers die of hunger or thirst, I now have a little city with a gear workshop, several grills making grilled potatoes and roasted chestnuts, and a bakery making maple pastries and cattail crackers. Now I need to figure out more about irrigation/terraforming/dam-building, and research mining so I can build enough metal plates for a carousel. I am delighted by the idea of putting my beavers on a carousel.

In celebration of this free thread, have some expensive thread.
posted by Jeanne at 10:10 AM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


As for images, I would prefer not to.

Won't someone think of the people with dank Bartleby memes they need to post here?
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:11 AM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Ooh! Is this where we talk about the weather?

I’m visiting my parents in Iceland with my wife and kids. My wife was working today so I’ve been outside a lot with the kids, especially the younger one.

There’s not much sunlight this time of year in Reykjavík, and today it was about five degrees below freezing, so it was brisk out. But it was a still, clear day, so it was fun, and what sunlight there was on offer wasn’t hidden behind clouds.

This far up north in the dead of winter, time feels very taut, like the skin of a drum. The smallest tap reverberates.

My daughter, who’s two, met with a girl of the same age who lives next door to my parents. They got on really well. Who knows, they might become friends. Her father and I decided we’d try to have them meet up at least once before we go back to Finland.

But the forecast is atrocious, cold and rainy for the rest of time we’re here, so unless it changes, playing outside won’t be an option at all. So here’s hoping the weather will turn for the better.
posted by Kattullus at 10:12 AM on January 3, 2022 [24 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (1/?): "Ask Colette"

Selections from Colette's advice column in Marie Claire, ca. 1939-1940: "From Denise in Despair" ("If he liked you as someone to love, he might have signed his letter, 'Your worst enemy who adores you, Jean'"); "Colette on Love" ("So many victories, madame, await you late in the day"); and "From a Tormented Heart" ("Couldn't you try, using such efficient means, to forget him 'a lot'?"). Gallica has more background in French in "Colette journaliste," plus originals (e.g. 1 2 3 4 5 6) in all 52 issues of Marie Claire from 1939. But Colette is known more for fiction, and some of her short stories are available online in English, e.g. "The Other Wife," "The Hand" [PDF], and "Gone Fishin'" [PDF]. See also Heather Hogan in Autostraddle, "8 Fascinating Facts About Bisexual Legend Colette." Previously.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:16 AM on January 3, 2022 [22 favorites]


It is 1:15 pm and it is just cloudy and gray here in NYC, no snow.

I was promised snow today and I feel cheated.

But I came back from vacation with this enormous hoodie that is fuzzy and baggy and floopy and the freak warm spell we've had in NYC for the past couple days rendered it "too hot" so the cold snap means I can wear it and YAY
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:17 AM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#2): "I didn't have the faintest idea of what I was supposed to do."

Kōda Aya, "Hatchet": "In the first place, I was already scared of waving sharp-edged tools about and it upset me to think of things undergoing sudden changes in shape." Further autobiographical stories about Kōda as a girl, learning from her father a century ago, include "Fingers Crossed!" "Water," "Paternal Instinct," "Animal Notebook: Being a Dog Lover" [PDF], and "Weeds" [PDF]. More about her life [PDF].
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:17 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I have been dealing with gastric reflux for a while now, and it occurred to me that I could try sleeping with my head elevated, which is a commonly successful non medical intervention.

I started reading up on wedge pillows, and then realized that a heretofore disregarded and unused feature of the IKEA bed frame I had bought over two years ago is that the frame supports top and bottom elevation natively. I gave it a try.

I woke up with a sore back this morning, but whoops, I also did a bunch of snow shoveling yesterday so I have to think that has something to do with it. Confounding variable.

Also started another course of Prilosec and I’m being more aggressive with antacids. It’s unwise to overdo either of those, but I think if I can get a good couple of weeks of recovery I will be able to taper them off.
posted by notoriety public at 10:19 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#3): "There were blossoms everywhere and I was puzzled"

Dorthe Nors (LitHub, 6/22/2016), "On the Invisibility of Middle-Aged Women": "She also sighed and said: I'm so glad that you write about middle-aged women without children. I asked her why, and she said: Because there are so many of us, and because it quite often feels as if we're not really here." Also in Catapult (6/23/2016), "New York Taught Me to Be a Better Listener": "One day on the subway, a strange thing happened. It was a small, hardly visible thing, and yet it changed the course of my writing." Selected stories online by Dorthe Nors: "The Winter Garden," "The Wadden Sea," and "The Heron." Interview with the author.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:19 AM on January 3, 2022 [21 favorites]


Free thread ? Nah... I'm good....
posted by Pendragon at 10:19 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


dkos does this regularly with 'open thread for night owls'. fun experiment. hope it doesn't entice folks into not crafting that one great fpp. more great fpps are better mefi.
posted by j_curiouser at 10:20 AM on January 3, 2022


My cat died on Christmas afternoon...

First, I'm sorry for your loss. Second, coincidentally, we lost one of our cats at 10:30a on Christmas Day. Our cat Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds was living with my estranged wife and had been fighting cancer. He passed away in my wife's arms, calmly and without stress. The timing was unexpected, as he had been responding to treatment, but apparently knew his time was done.

It brought our family together in a way we hadn't been since our separation began. I brought our adult kids who are living with me to the apartment, where my wife and youngest live. We celebrated the brief life (eight years) of Mal by taking turns sharing our memories, holding and petting him one last time, whispering our goodbyes.

He was a jerk: swatting glasses off of counters, begging for pets then lightly nipping at us, insisting on specific foods, sharpening his claws on everything, living life on his own terms, then leaving on those same terms. He was a jerk but one we loved quite deeply and we're grieving his passing.
posted by bacalao_y_betun at 10:20 AM on January 3, 2022 [40 favorites]


Okay. Hi. Um.

So I've invented a new type of musical instrument which makes playing music much, much easier. Like, ridiculously easy. And, due to my physical limitations, I could really use some help turning the prototypes I've developed into actual products and getting them to market. If you happen to know someone who'd be really good at running a business, and would consider things like employee-owned and open-source, please send them my way.

Or if you just want to talk about the future of music, please send me a message; I'm ridiculously excited about the implications of all this.
posted by MrVisible at 10:21 AM on January 3, 2022 [26 favorites]


Accidental megathread? bring it!
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:21 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


How's the snow in the mid-Atlantic region?

We got about eight inches in the yard; you're welcome to come by and pick up as much as you'd like.
posted by General Malaise at 10:21 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I just want to point out that we're all going to die, not of anything in particular, just ... nature or whatever. But that's okay, we're all going to heaven because we've already been through hell. Also something to do with a King Kong reggae.

It's a Todd Rundgren song. It's good in a noisy and wild sort of way.
posted by philip-random at 10:21 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


A week before Christmas a kitten came howling out of the woods behind my mom's house and after a bit of wrangling I managed to trap him and guess what his name is Frank and he is perfect.
posted by saladin at 10:23 AM on January 3, 2022 [44 favorites]


It's an old song, but Alone and Stoned has been pretty much my theme music through the whole pandemic, and the theme music for plenty of other folks I know, too.

Lockdown life ain't too bad when you're alone and stoned.
posted by deadaluspark at 10:23 AM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


This is fun. I like the structure of metafilter. I like departures from it. I'm looking forward to this thread.

Yesterday, I scheduled my vascetomy followup verification appointment. Four days ago my mother asked about grandchildren for the first time in a decade. I was not entirely honest when responding, but didn't actually lie. I don't think anyone will be harmed by that. To her credit, the idea she specifically proposed after some prevarication was that I could be a donor for some of my queer, partnered friends who lack suitable organs, which isn't an entirely crazy idea and shows a real understanding of the life I've chosen. But, I'm sure they have plenty of other options and don't need me, so nodding and smiling silently is a response I feel good about.

This morning I started again playing a silly game that I came up with a few years ago and haven't kept up with since the pandemic started: while in the elevator, you try to think of 3 questions that almost certainly have known answers but that you don't know the answer to. (Where did liquorice originate? Why does it hurt to splash alcohol into your eyes? Why is the contemporary, western middle-C 440 Hz?) Then you try to find answers online while riding the bus to work. It's goofy and self-indulgent, but also quite a lot of fun. I started with 5 questions, but always failed. 3 is just barely possible in 11 floors. 2 might be a better choice.

Happy new year, you lovely, thoughtful, sometimes frustrating people.
posted by eotvos at 10:24 AM on January 3, 2022 [18 favorites]


Hey guys, I got some chocolate babka for my upcoming birthday, and you know what? Where has this been all my life. Actually, I know the answer to this: it was in the store. I have passed it by every time I noticed it because I figured I didn't need something like that, even if I wasn't on a diet. But now I have it and it just is amazing how rich it is, how it comes apart into so many thin, silky pieces which are all equally as delicious as a bigger bite.

I guess what I'm saying is, try the babka. Or try whatever else it is that you could always have tried but never let yourself.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:25 AM on January 3, 2022 [25 favorites]


I know one joke about ceilings. But it's probably over your head.
posted by SPrintF at 10:28 AM on January 3, 2022 [14 favorites]


You otter watch this video.

There should be a series of otter facts videos hosted by Alanis Morissette called "You Otter Know"

(Ok, doing a Google check before posting and it seems someone already leapt on this pun but it has no Alanis and is, for some reason, done as a rap )
posted by filmgoerjuan at 10:32 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Our temperature this morning was 70 F and it's currently howling its way down to 30F overnight. The winds are intense. The skys are grey and with occasional sprinkles of rain. And no snow. But staying indoors is a grand idea.

And, this is a friendly reminder that weather is a great excuse/prod to actually phone distant friends and have a chat rather than text. I spoke with a friend and his husband and it was a lovely interlude.
posted by mightshould at 10:33 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


A daily open chat thread is nice, and should allow for regular community interpersonal interactions that have been missing here.
posted by jeremy123 at 10:35 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


One Hundred and Fourth!
posted by sammyo at 10:36 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


I get very excited when random glass jars - for instance used jam jars - turn out to be mason-jar-lid-compatible. So you can have a bunch of jars in your cupboard that all take the same lids and you don't have to worry about matching lid to jar. In my utopia, *all* food jars would be mason-jar-lid-compatible.
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:36 AM on January 3, 2022 [21 favorites]


posting in epic thread.
posted by wmo at 10:36 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Prairie crayfish were put here to help us answer the question, "If lobsters lived on land, would we eat them?"

> Please do not tell me about other secret land crustaceans, I'm not sure I can handle the truth.

If it helps, pillbugs are crustaceans. But not pill millipedes. (They're millipedes.) So if you want to know whether or not you should be creeped out by a particular beastie, just count the body segments.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:37 AM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Happy March 673rd, 2020.
posted by msbutah at 10:39 AM on January 3, 2022 [44 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#4): "Women traveling in North America, 1704-1933"

"Swedish? A forerunner [... to the] Brontë sisters? ... When she arrived in New York in 1849, people were virtually queuing up at her hotel to shake her hand ... Her readers were often women. They understood that she depicted women's lives, pains and joys as no one had done before ... [She] did not make the journey to America in order to be looked at or to answer questions from interviewers ... She wanted to scrutinize the American utopia": an introduction to Fredrika Bremer--one of the most well-known women whose travel writing about North America is available in digital archives (The Homes of the New World: Impressions of America, v. 1, v. 2, v. 3). Of course, there are many others.

Some appreciations of Fredrika Bremer:
  • Sara H. Browne (1849), "A Salutation to Fredrika Bremer": "When America bids you welcome, sweet lady of the Norseland, it is not as a stranger."
  • The New York Herald (Oct. 18, 1849), "Fashionable Intelligence": "But the codfish nobility and the knights of the pen were all destined to meet with disappointment. Miss Bremer did not receive calls that day!"
  • Anne C. Lynch (1850), "Fredrika Bremer": "When it was announced, a few months since, that Fredrika Bremer had landed upon our shores, the intelligence was received by the thousands who have read her works, with an interest that admiration of literary genius or talent alone could never have inspired."
  • Anka Ryall (1992), "Domesticating Geographical Exploration: Fredrika Bremer's American Travel Narrative": "By giving primacy to the woman's sphere of homes Bremer's title tells us that she self-consciously bases her authority as an observer and a social critic on the area of expertise culturally allocated to women. At the same time, her project involves the textual appropriation of an entire continent"
  • At the website for The History of Nordic Women's Literature, Birgitta Holm (2011), "A World-Encompassing Scheme of Emancipation": "As one of very few in world literature, Fredrika Bremer can claim to have created system-breaking literature. Her novels are parts, fragments, of a labyrinthine 'scheme of emancipation.'"
  • Andrea Gibbons (2016), "Fredrika Bremer: Sketches of Sweden and its Aristocracy": "I love these descriptions of nature, and pearls! ... This is ongoing — glittering balls in glittering palaces and a parade of notables in beautiful dresses."
Some additional works by Fredrika Bremer available online (besides those available in Swedish): Some additional women's travel writing about North America available online, organized by how its region would be described today and by the first date covered in the text (or sometimes publication date, when it's unclear):

Canada Mexico & Central America The Caribbean The United States Note: sources largely discovered via Wayward Women: A Guide to Women Travellers by Jane Robinson, Magical Sites: Women Travelers in 19th Century Latin America edited by Marjorie Agosín and Julie H. Levison, "Trains Through The Plains: The Great Plains Landscape Of Victorian Women Travelers" by Karen M. Morin, and the Making of America digital library.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:39 AM on January 3, 2022 [59 favorites]


No true millipede. Well, there’s that one true millipede now.
posted by zoinks at 10:40 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


splitpeasoup - Most (but for some reason not all?) Green Mountain Gringo Salsa jars (if you can get it where you are), are Mason compatible, which is great because Green Mountain also makes the best supermarket salsa.
posted by General Malaise at 10:41 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


A weekly & open Shadblow thread (and the various names thereof) would also be good for morale one would think
posted by Press Butt.on to Check at 10:41 AM on January 3, 2022


I've been trying to put together an FPP for Dr. Glaucomflecken, an opthamologist/comedian but it's just a TikTok channel of one minute clips and seems time-consuming to organize. Here's some of his stuff:

Explaining the US healthcare system
When it's snowing and your neighbor is an emergency physician
How to ace your opthamology interview
posted by meowzilla at 10:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [18 favorites]


These are great, Wobbuffet. Wholly endorse tossing 'em up as whole-ass front page posts of their own at some point if you get to feeling like it.
posted by cortex at 10:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


I just do not know what to think about some Mifians having more unposted FPP's than the number of FPP's that I'll ever post.
posted by sammyo at 10:46 AM on January 3, 2022 [23 favorites]


I am jealous of all the snow south of us because I had two goals this winter, 1) go ice fishing and 2) finally fly to the ice runway at Alton Bay and it has not been nearly cold enough to do either of these things.

In the six weeks that between "return to the office" and "oops we made a mistake everyone go home again" there was exactly one day that the city decided to salt the roads and it absolutely destroyed the drivetrain on my bicycle. If that's all I have to show for this winter I'm going to be pissed.
posted by backseatpilot at 10:46 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


Trying to read to the bottom of this thread before posting is an exercise in doomscrolling.
posted by theoriginalkdawson at 10:47 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I never really watched Instagram reels but suddenly yesterday my recommended ones were just 3 chinchilla videos in a row and I couldn't resist and now the Great Algorithm knows I've got a chinchilla weakness and I can't help but feel just a little more vulnerable you know?

But also there was this one? where a person put chopsticks under a chinchillas little chinchilla hands and made them do like a shimmy dance? Transcendent.

So that's what's going on with me. Here's a link to a compilation of chinchilla tiktoks.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 10:48 AM on January 3, 2022 [12 favorites]


I’m craving Chinese food.
posted by Melismata at 10:48 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#5): "The Mystery of the Unfinished FPP"

Matthew Redmond (Lit Hub, 1/21/2021), "Why Should We Read Unfinished Novels?": "Twice in the last three years I have taught an undergraduate course at Stanford called 'Unfinished Novels' ... Three novels always make the cut. Jane Austen's Sanditon ... Edgar Allan Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket ... Charles Dickens' The Mystery of Edwin Drood." Other unfinished novels of interest include ...
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:54 AM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


Since the pandemic, I've been keeping track of everything I watch and read and play in my notes app, and I give everything a (cursory) letter grade. Here's my whole 2021.
posted by Rinku at 10:58 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Please do not tell me about other secret land crustaceans

Incidentally, Secret Land Crustaceans is the name of my new band. Our first album is "Shells Bells".

I play clawhammer banjo.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:58 AM on January 3, 2022 [26 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#6): "Awesome pets"

[Honestly still just a notional hodgepodge, including stuff that felt well-known and maybe already posted somewhere]

Aaron Corwin (2013), "Brimstone and Marmalade": "Mathilde didn’t want a demon. She wanted a pony." James H. Schmitz (1962), "Novice": "There was, Telzey Amberdon thought, someone besides TT and herself in the garden." Ted Chiang (2012), "The Lifecycle of Software Objects": "The onscreen annotations identify them as digients, digital organisms that live in environments like Data Earth ..." Flannery O'Connor (1961), "Living with a Peacock": "My quest, whatever it was actually for, ended with peacocks. Instinct, not knowledge, led me to them. I had never seen or heard one."
posted by Wobbuffet at 11:02 AM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Probably High Church Episcopalian and a diocese that was digging in their heels against modernization such the revolutionary changes in the 1950's allowing nuns to wear short skirts and short veils. They would have been out of mainstream but, I think, not revisionist, just losing young adherents the moment they got old enough to not be taken to church by their parents. My aunt was in such an order until the mid-sixties, with the full habit, working in institutions for children, although I believe hers was a day school.

Fast forward to 2022; my husband is an Anglican Dominican friar in Louisiana.

To my knowledge, he does not wear short skirts however.
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:02 AM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#7): "They're doing all this with bells on."

This week, Ursula Vernon live-tweeted reading medieval-themed romance novels (Thread Reader): "Back in another life, when I worked for a tiny game company, we had the Time To Crate measurement. How long am I playing before I will be required to push a crate somewhere? Thinking these novels need a Time To Stallion index." At Tor.com today, Liz Bourke's review of Vernon's Swordheart (set in the same world as The Clocktaur War) is up along with a review of Melissa Scott's Finders (author interview)--two books that "share an interest in relationships and in consequences, and in a certain underpinning of kindness."
posted by Wobbuffet at 11:03 AM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


To my knowledge, he does not wear short skirts however.

It being 2022, however, he can if he wants.
posted by hippybear at 11:05 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#8): "Hiking with Rappers"

Grayson Haver Currin (Outside 10/28/2021), "Why We Love 'Hiking with Rappers'": "Lil' Kim has had it with hiking ... faced with another ascent, she deadpans, 'The only hill I respect is Lauryn Hill.' This is the fourth episode of Hiking with Rappers, a new web series from the hip-hop-and-style journal Complex," featuring Coi Leray, Rick Ross, Quavo, Lil' Kim, Big Sean, and Fat Joe.
posted by Wobbuffet at 11:05 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Incoming dad joke alert:

Q: How does Good King Wenceslaus prefer his pizza?

A: Deep pan, crisp and even.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 11:07 AM on January 3, 2022 [41 favorites]


Today I learned Heavy Metal Knitting is a contest in Finland, because of course it is. I'm not a knitter or a metalhead but am utterly entranced, and this further convinces me I have to visit Finland someday hopefully soon.

Happy New Year! Thank you all for being here! ((((MeFites))))
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 11:10 AM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


What a delightful thread. Thank you cortex.

So I've been thinking for a while that I want to create a sort of sacred space in my home, and have been planning to buy a statue of my patron saint, but I can't decide between nine inch and eleven inch (which are weirdly the sizes of my 60s Skipper and Barbie dolls that I literally have on display and I'm still having trouble visualizing these as carved statues in my head). I've been going around my house measuring things for weeks.

And then the NYT had this gorgeous article showing sacred spaces in people's homes, and I so so want to do this.

FYI, I don't think sacred spaces have to be religious, but these are.

(In other news, I didn't realize I had today off of work until about ten this morning, when I started wondering why nobody was showing up on Slack.)
posted by FencingGal at 11:10 AM on January 3, 2022 [16 favorites]


I failed at Wordle for the first time today! I have been playing daily and my streak is now tarnished. Grrrr.
posted by janell at 11:10 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#9): "Notable Scottish Trials / Notable English Trials" [I thought I'd skim these and post the most interesting, but I didn't get very far]
  1. Trial of Madeleine Smith: The 1857 trial of a woman accused of poisoning a man who had threatend to expose their former relationship
  2. Trial of the City of Glasgow Bank Directors: The 1879 trial of seven bank directors accused of falsifying the bank's balance sheets
  3. Trial of Dr. Pritchard: The 1865 trial of a man accused of poisoning his wife and mother-in-law
  4. Trial of Eugène Marie Chantrelle: The 1878 trial of a man--possibly the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll--accused of murdering his wife
  5. Trial of Deacon Brodie: The 1788 trial of a man accused of theft, house-breaking, and evasion
  6. Trial of James Stewart (The Appin Murder): The 1752 trial--inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped--of a man accused of aiding and abetting the murder of a government-appointed official
  7. Trial of A. J. Monson (1893); The Douglas Cause (1761-1769); Trial of Captain Porteous (1736); Trial of Oscar Slater (1909-1928); Trial of the Stauntons (1877); Trial of Mrs M'Lachlan (1862); Trial of Franz Müller (1864); Trial of Simon, Lord Lovat of the '45 (1747); Trial of William Palmer (1856); The Annesley Case (1743); Trial of Mrs. Maybrick (1889); Trial of George Henry Lamson (1882); Eugene Aram: His Life and Trial (1759); Trial of the Seddons (1912); Trial of John Alexander Dickman (1910); Trial of Mary Blandy (1752); Trial of Sir Roger Casement (1916); Trial of Hawley Harvey Crippen (1910); Trial of the Wainwrights (1875); Trial of Thurtell and Hunt (1824); Burke and Hare (1828); Trial of Steinie Morrison (1911); Trial of George Joseph Smith (1915); Trial of Mary Queen of Scots (1586), 2nd. ed. by checkout only; Trial of Thomas Neill Cream (1892); Trial of Frederick Bywaters and Edith Thompson (1922); Adolf Beck (1877-1904) (1904); Trial of Henry Fauntleroy and Other Famous Trials for Forgery (1824); Kate Webster (1879); Trial of Ronald True (1922); Trial of Abraham Thornton (1817)
posted by Wobbuffet at 11:11 AM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


FPPs I never posted (#10): "Gothic Ghosts, Theologies of the Supernatural, and the 'Witch' of Endor"

Sam Hirst (RomGothSam, 11/10/2021), "The 'Imaginary Transaction' of Endor: Gothic Ghosts, Theologies of the Supernatural and the 'Witch' that Never Was": "Essentially what I'm going to be doing is having a look at Gothic ghosts through the lens of the theological debates around the supernatural in the 18th Century, using the 'Witch' of Endor and the debates surrounding the 'Witch' of Endor as a sort of guide to some of the key concerns, themes, and ideas." For the past year and a half, Sam Hirst has been running Romancing the Gothic, featuring classes, guest lectures, and other material on Gothic literature, now amounting to over 250 videos. Her most recent lecture took up the topic of 1 Samuel 28--the "Witch" of Endor ...
posted by Wobbuffet at 11:13 AM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


ricochet biscuit, go to your room.
posted by holborne at 11:14 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


I’m craving Chinese food.

I wasn't until I read that, but now . . . .
posted by JanetLand at 11:16 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I think that's all the 'done or nearly done' FPPs I can find. I keep a bookmark folder of post ideas, though, and here are a couple of recent links I enjoyed but decided not to work up into posts: posted by Wobbuffet at 11:17 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


TIL that Wobbuffet has been withholding greatly in our relationship and I'm a bit angry with them about not sharing appropriately to keep the magic alive.
posted by hippybear at 11:22 AM on January 3, 2022 [25 favorites]


T̐̈h̐̈r̐̈e̐̈a̐̈d̐̈?̐̈ ̐̈T̐̈h̐̈r̐̈e̐̈a̐̈d̐̈!̐̈ ̐̈T̐̈h̐̈r̐̈e̐̈e̐̈e̐̈e̐̈e̐̈e̐̈e̐̈a̐̈a̐̈a̐̈a̐̈a̐̈a̐̈d̐̈d̐̈d̐̈d̐̈d̐̈.̐̈.̐̈.̐̈.̐̈.̐̈.̐̈
posted by lalochezia at 11:24 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


I learned about Wordle today because of the NYT. I'm on a one-game streak!
posted by fedward at 11:26 AM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


To my knowledge, he does not wear short skirts however.

More importantly, if he has 12 to 13 body segments and about 18 pairs of legs, he's probably a Anglican Dominican friar millipede as opposed to the co-evolved Anglican Dominican friar.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:27 AM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Is there where I can point out that Taylor Swift's ‘tis the damn season is basically a fully realized rom-com in audio that lasts 3 minutes and 55 seconds?
posted by signal at 11:28 AM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


> "Novice": "There was, Telzey Amberdon thought, someone besides TT and herself in the garden."

Whelp, time to binge-read my stack of James H. Schmitz books again.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:28 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Orange Dinosaur Slide: Today I learned Heavy Metal Knitting is a contest in Finland

Hah. Awesome. And looks like the whole livestream of the 2021 competition is up on YouTube, and the list of competitors is pretty great:

Artists competing from the title are (in performing order):
1. Rock Vandal, Canada
2. Crafts with Ellen, Germany
3. Venomwool, United Kingdom
4. Cyndi Yoshieda, Japan
5. The Knitwitches, Finland
6. Resurrection of the Knitting Witch, Netherlands
7. Shveiia, Russia
8. StrangeKnits, United States
9. Maija-Mummo, Germany
10. KnitiotSavant, United States
11. Nozomi, Japan
12. Short Arms, Long Needles, United States
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 11:31 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


On the one hand: I am back at work today, which sucks and I am already back to my usual "I feel like shit, I've already gotten reported for doing something wrong by 10:30 a.m." brain mode. Over 100+ emails in one box and I didn't even count the group box, but that's usually even worse.

On the other hand, thanks to omicron I don't have to physically go into the office or leave my house in the cold, cold morning this week, so that's something. And SUPPOSEDLY we have enough staffing so I don't have to answer the phones all week, though we'll see if that lasts.

I like the idea of having a random chat thread, I could use it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:33 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


More importantly, if he has 12 to 13 body segments and about 18 pairs of legs, he's probably a Anglican Dominican friar millipede as opposed to the co-evolved Anglican Dominican friar.

thanks, i was worried that i would sleep too well tonight
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:33 AM on January 3, 2022 [14 favorites]


This seems like the place to say how much I appreciated bondcliff's Into the Pit project, in which our proxy amassed a bunch of shitty stuff we wanted to let go of and shoved it into the pit. Symbolic goodbye at the end of the old year--and strangely, wonderfully cathartic. Thanks, bondcliff!
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:34 AM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


I had to go in to the office this morning for an hour to deal with some year-end accounting related paperwork. I quite enjoy going in while everyone else is off because I can put on music and speak sternly out loud to my email inbox without anyone around. I then went to the gym, which now looks like it might be the last time I get to do that for awhile as Ontario is going back into lockdown again, urgh. But the sun is shining, the cats are happy, and I have leftover pizza in the fridge. I am still waiting to hear back about my application for that internal position. I have done my very best to be cool and patient over the last few weeks while the world was taking a holiday, but ohhkay I am ready now to find out if I am moving across the country or if y'all here in Hamilton are stuck with me.
posted by janepanic at 11:38 AM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


I want to know who decides the words for new inventions in “dead” languages like Latin. I saw a meme that says “transit” is Latin for “car”. Who decided that, or is it just a generic word for vehicle?
posted by soelo at 11:41 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thanks, Monkeytoes! Fun fact: The little photographer figure in the opening shot was a Secret Quonsar gift from ourobouros, sent to me back in 2015 when I made my first (aborted) attempt at a train layout.
posted by bondcliff at 11:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Wobbuffet, you are a wonder.
posted by Bella Donna at 11:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


I miss ceiling cat.
posted by bouvin at 11:42 AM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Maybe the Vatican decides? They seem to be a stakeholder, at least.
posted by thelonius at 11:43 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


just like any other language, words mean what we want them to mean, neither more nor less
posted by tivalasvegas at 11:43 AM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I miss ceiling cat.

I miss Serious Cat.
posted by thelonius at 11:44 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Keyboard Cat forever!
posted by hippybear at 11:45 AM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


I miss ceiling cat.

You know . . . you know you can do that thing ceiling cat was watching you do, anyway, right? Even without ceiling cat? I mean, it might not be as good for you, which is okay too, but you still can and it might be even better. You should try it. Trust me.
posted by The Bellman at 11:51 AM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


"I want to know who decides the words for new inventions in “dead” languages like Latin. "

Ooh! Oooh! An area in which I have weird specific knowledge to drop! In the case of Latin specifically, mostly the Vatican, who continually publish a "lexicon of recent Latin" which includes words they've had to come up with for church documents and/or that Latin scholars are using.

Wikipedia highlights a couple of the more interesting additions, including "hot pants" (brevissimae bracae femineae), but you can find parts of the lexicon here and there online and learn how to say basketball (follis canistraque ludus) and a ton of other modern words, sometimes useful, sometimes only of interest to people writing legal documents under the Code of Canon Law (1983).
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:56 AM on January 3, 2022 [28 favorites]


FAO Fedward: a single green letter can mean that that letter is used two or more times in the answer as well as just once. Hope this saves you the agony I suffered.
posted by ominous_paws at 12:01 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Thanks, Monkeytoes! Fun fact: The little photographer figure in the opening shot was a Secret Quonsar gift from ourobouros, sent to me back in 2015 when I made my first (aborted) attempt at a train layout.

That train layout looks amazing.

Your sense of humor also reminds me of a train layout we used to visit when I was a little kid. It was the (now closed I think?) Kickety-Klack Railroad in Wolfboro, NH. The whole layout had lots of little gags to spot (and also buttons to push), and I'll always remember a little concrete swimming pool diorama with a little figure standing at the very bottom having painted themselves there along with another figure at kneeling at the end of the (also painted) diving board. There was a truck in the yard labeled "Moe & Ron's Swimming Pools" and the little descriptive card said "these two painters are a couple of ........"
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:01 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I briefly weighed attempting an FPP built around online resources or other things related to Greek mythology. As one might imagine, that turned out to be too vague for me personally to follow through on. But that's ok, because what I really wanted to talk about is that Stephen Fry has somehow written three whole books retelling the stories from the Greek myths without me having heard about it. I'm about a hundred pages in the first volume, and it's awesome.

I bought those in e-book form with a Barnes & Noble giftcard I got from my mother-in-law, along with a complete set of the "Murderbot Diaries" series, which I'm looking forward to based on how much people here on mefi seem to enjoy them, as well as a couple of collections of Octavia Butler novels. I'm real excited about leisure reading for the next little bit, and I've had trouble with that lately, so I'm grateful.
posted by Ipsifendus at 12:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Here in the northeastern bit of Virginia folks are going wild for the snow.
Except the cats, who sighed with deep, well learned resignation at humanity's persistent failure to craft an environment to their liking.
posted by doctornemo at 12:06 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Free thread?

Remember people: If you're not paying for the thread, you are the thread.
posted by Ickster at 12:08 PM on January 3, 2022 [51 favorites]


Adding on to the weather reports: it is grey here in NJ. We're supposed to get a little bit of snow today, but we'll see. It's cold enough to snow, for a change; I don't think it's been this cold since around Christmas Eve.

Also, and despite owning way too much cute stationery already, I want to visit that shop escabeche mentioned next time I'm in Philly. Thanks for the info!

I had an idea awhile ago to put together an FPP about freestyle music (aka Latin freestyle), but haven't had the time to do proper research and link collecting. This seems like a good place to post a few relevant links instead:

- The Freestyle Radio - lots of newer stuff. I didn't know freestyle was still alive like this until stumbling upon this station.
- DJ Laz Power 96 Mix circa 1995-96 - I listened to a ton of Power 96 in the late 80s and early 90s, so this brought back memories. DJ Laz left the station in 2012.
posted by May Kasahara at 12:09 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


a single green letter can mean that that letter is used two or more times in the answer

I guessed that might be possible after my third word today. I also held myself to hard mode rules without even knowing that was a thing.
posted by fedward at 12:10 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


I've just discovered Eugen Cicero, a jazz pianist who covered classical pieces in West Berlin. He was nicknamed Mr Golden Hands. Caution: very jazzy.
posted by panhopticon at 12:11 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


It's just not fair when Northeastern Virginia gets snow before Eastern Massachusetts.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 12:13 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


here's a context free musical performance: Jugni by the Nooran sisters, that I never got around to posting
posted by dhruva at 12:13 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


The cat I raised from 4 weeks old to 12 years died a year ago today. I have a lot of blame in my heart for that, especially how I couldn't hold her or see her before she died at the emergency vet for a few days.

It's crazy to think how much time has passed. 2021 was really a garbage year, but my life has never been better. I ended up raising 4 kittens from the moment they were born until we could adopt out 3 of the 4 which was a really rewarding experience.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 12:15 PM on January 3, 2022 [30 favorites]


For those wanting snow…..may I present a full ninja turtle suit plow of our driveway at 3:18am in 10F last week. We are expecting to get another 15-20 inches over the next three days in Park City (much more higher on the mountain). I think the season total at our house is approaching 70 inches - so respectable for the moment. Not Tahoe levels of crazy……but more to come.
posted by inflatablekiwi at 12:24 PM on January 3, 2022 [31 favorites]


MetaFilter: did not stick to roads or sidewalks, but there's still a few clumpy blotches on plants and cars.
posted by Splunge at 12:26 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


may I present a full ninja turtle suit plow of our driveway at 3:18am in 10F last week.

I came here to have a snide response to this, but I watched, and... I don't.
posted by hippybear at 12:28 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


This is an absolutely delightful thread.

I have some lovely sliced bananas sitting on my desk which I am about to eat with a nice cup of tea.

Also I now want some chocolate babka.

Also, apparently I am a dad, because I love dad jokes. (Narrator: not actually a dad.)

But again: this is an absolutely delightful thread. Thank you, cortex, and thanks to everyone who's posted in it!
posted by kristi at 12:34 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


I might be becoming sexually attracted to noses now that they’re covered up all the time. I’m currently at the airport and someone had their nose hanging out of their mask and a little part of the back of my brain went, oh la la
posted by Rinku at 12:36 PM on January 3, 2022 [17 favorites]


In my effort to cut back on sugar, I made banana walnut "nice cream" today (frozen bananas, walnuts, soy milk). I liked the taste, but it was a bit crystallized. And it was harder to make with my Blendtec than I thought it would be. I think I need to do more research, but this is definitely something I'll keep experimenting with.
posted by FencingGal at 12:36 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


Speaking of spun fibres, update from the Heavy Metal Knitting contest that Orange Dinosaur Slide posted upthread: At 17:07, "Crafts with Ellen" from Germany begins by spinning some wool for the competition...using steel wool.

Very metal.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:39 PM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


Don't mind me, just heating meltwater on the wood stove for a bath later.
posted by joeyh at 12:44 PM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


We hosted a dachshund for holiday week, and on New Year's Eve, we hosted TWO dachshunds!
posted by AJaffe at 12:44 PM on January 3, 2022 [15 favorites]


But how many more will you need until you host a millishund?
posted by hippybear at 12:48 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I might be becoming sexually attracted to noses now that they’re covered up all the time. I’m currently at the airport and someone had their nose hanging out of their mask and a little part of the back of my brain went, oh la la

Rinku, perhaps Tristam Shandy can be of aid:

O Slawkenbergius! thou faithful analyzer of my Disgrazias—thou sad foreteller of so many of the whips and short turns which in one stage or other of my life have come slap upon me from the shortness of my nose, and no other cause, that I am conscious of.—Tell me, Slawkenbergius! what secret impulse was it? what intonation of voice? whence came it? how did it sound in thy ears?——art thou sure thou heard’st it?——which first cried out to thee———go———go, Slawkenbergius! dedicate the labours of thy life——neglect thy pastimes———call forth all the powers and faculties of thy nature——macerate thyself in the service of mankind, and write a grand folio for them, upon the subject of their noses.
posted by doctornemo at 12:48 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


We hosted a dachshund for holiday week, and on New Year's Eve, we hosted TWO dachshunds!

Is this what they mean by "getting dachsed?"

Yes, I'll show myself out.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 12:51 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


Likewise, perhaps Firesign Theatre:

What has happened to your nose?

I've just returned from Rome!
posted by hippybear at 12:52 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Q: How does Good King Wenceslaus prefer his pizza?
A: Deep pan, crisp and even.

With lots of snoo around it.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:57 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


I've been on break from work for the past week and a half (used to hate the year-end curtailment, but now I love that we all have to take at least a week off) and have been loving being off the clock. Been sleeping in (as much as the cat will allow), getting out of the apartment with my spouse (takeout food + park = bliss), and trying to catch up on both my Korean language studies and my watchlist.

As far as things we've been watching, Jirisan is wonderful. And we've both been surprised by how good the Netflix Lost In Space series is. My online Kdrama group watched My Holo Love in December (very good, I'm still feeling melancholic about the ending). I also loved the Kpop survival/debut reality show Extreme Debut: Wild Idol, and am really liking the (ongoing) series Let Me Be Your Knight.

On the music front, while I love Kpop and many other genres of Korean music (K-indie, K-hiphop, K-RnB, etc.) I did not appreciate (*cough* thought it was all Lawrence Welk-style stuff) trot as a genre until recently. It was kind of a one-two punch: first Park Koon's song "Do Not U-Turn" and then very shortly after, BTS Jin's "Super Tuna".
posted by Lexica at 1:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


Free thread!

"We have cameras thread."
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 1:06 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Yeah, someone I know got forced to shave recently and when I've seen him with his mask off to eat/drink I keep going, "You're so pretty. You're SO PRETTY."
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:08 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Hardly FPP material, and I don’t generally enjoy hate-watching, but yesterday I discovered this YouTuber who’s posted “top 10 worst hit songs” lists for various years, including 1987 and 1992 (part one) (part two), and they are both surprisingly thoughtful, avoiding lazy genre-based targets, and had me in tears laughing at e.g. how yes, even a few seconds of Peter Cetera is able to arouse just as much rage in me now as back then.
posted by mubba at 1:11 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Ah, yes, I've always enjoyed ToddInTheShadows.
posted by jenfullmoon at 1:14 PM on January 3, 2022


The Taylor Swift song linked above is good, although it reminded me more of River than a rom-com.

And then YouTube handed me BIG LADY SALSA, which is an amateur recording of two people casually dancing with everything I like about social dance and none of the stuff that usually pisses me off about salsa. May it bring you joy. BRB, gotta work on my wiggles.
posted by clew at 1:15 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


FYI, I don't think sacred spaces have to be religious, but these are.

Hell, a corner of one of my bookcases has become a sort of ad-hoc shrine to Anthony Bourdain (mainly because I have a couple of his books and one of those mock prayer candles, and they had to go together).

Also, the glow-in-the-dark mini plastic statue of St. Clare I picked up at a Voodoo shop in New Orleans is now sitting in front of the TV, which sort of thematically works as a shrine too.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:21 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


I like the idea of a free thread. I hope it is ok to use it to vent.

I’ve had a stressing 6 months. Immigration bullshit means I have to start my paper life from scratch for the second time in 15 years. New tax id, passports, credit score, bank accounts, etc… This led to a mental breakdown, somehow I managed to perform at work and not worry my family too much while feeling completely disassociated for weeks. It did feel like a very boring and never ending mushroom trip. I am doing better now, I saw a specialist and underwent a battery of tests. I was supposed to get results this week, but the specialist got COVID and won’t see me until the 17th at the earliest.

But someone at their office sent me the PDF with the results assuming I had already talked to the doctor. I did not know what it was and read a little before I realized and deleted the file. I know the dangers of trying to interpret this kind of stuff, “never self diagnose” is tattooed in my brain. But I can not unsee what I read, and it stirred some memories. I talked to my mother and turns out I was diagnosed when I was 7 and again at 13, but my mother did not believe in psychiatry and I never got treatment, I was just taught how to blend in and cope.

I am excited, I may not be thinking right, but I am really hoping for a label that will help me explain what is going on in my mind, and I am pretty sure mental medicine has advanced somewhat in the last 30 years.

One of the coping mechanisms I’ve learned to deal with an overwhelming reality is to take care of small and delicate life forms. Helps to keep me grounded. I built a little grow table in a corner of my home office and planted rare chili peppers, peyote seeds, and pieces of philodendron rhizome rescued from the trash. The Mulata Buena (this variety has an interesting origin story involving Horace Pippin, it has beautiful variegated leaves and very bright purple/magenta fruit) and Brujo chilies already have beautiful fruit. I got 90% germination on the peyote and they’re looking healthy. I made my own substrate by crushing local volcanic scoria and it is working great.

One of the philodendrons turned out to be a squamiferum, with very good looking red hairs all over. Another one is producing orange leaves that turn a deep chocolate red, could be a black cardinal.

I also started propagating ferns from spores. For some reason I’ve wanted to do it for years but never actually did it. Turns out they are my wife’s favorite type of plant, something I learned after 20 years of being together. I am looking forwards to a wall of ferns in a couple of years.

Now I just need to figure out a way to quit the tech world before it is to late and find a job or start a business or something so that I can spend my days taking care of living things. One of my uncles owns a greenhouse and nursery, makes a decent living and is thinking of retiring, but the idea of being responsible for a whole business terrifies and paralyzes me. Maybe I could talk about this in therapy.

Thanks for indulging me. I’ve been on MeFi for a long time.
posted by Dr. Curare at 1:22 PM on January 3, 2022 [51 favorites]


Yeah, Todd in the Shadows is generally pretty decent about his subjects, even his Trainwreckords series that cover albums that sunk a previously successful band, or his One Hit Wonders series about bands that only had one hit - he's not out to just drag them and mock them, he seems to come at it from a place of genuine curiosity.
posted by Kyol at 1:22 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Somehow my instagram feed is incredibly heavy on Turkish restaurant cooking videos. I guess maybe because I went to Turkey once? Anyhow, in 2021 it finally all became worth it. I have watched this video a bajillion times.
posted by snofoam at 1:27 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


I miss ceiling cat.

I miss Serious Cat.

Here you go.
posted by snofoam at 1:32 PM on January 3, 2022


I forgot to add the pictures, scroll down to see the beautiful chili pepper plant and one of the young peppers.

IMGUR Gallery
posted by Dr. Curare at 1:41 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Ferns from spores!

Maybe you and your uncle could work together for a couple years, Dr Curare? There are groups that work on making farm succession better for both parties, it’s a delicate problem but not unusual.
posted by clew at 1:59 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


"Wearing a mask is an act of love."
—Amy Goodman at https://www.democracynow.org/

The area where I live is now in the severe risk category.
posted by Scout405 at 2:00 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


For those wanting snow…..may I present a full ninja turtle suit plow of our driveway at 3:18am in 10F last week.

I have questions. I assumed "ninja turtle suit" was like a turtle-y looking suit but no! Is it... warm?
posted by jessamyn at 2:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


I was too late for the thread about the new Beatles documentary by Peter Jackson (which I presume happened), so here I can share what I learned over the festive season:
1) the Jackson version has 3 episodes and is around 8 hours long. I didn't know this before I started. There are no orcs, but there is a banshee called Yoko, who the director plainly doesn't like.
2) before embarking on this epic, watch "The Rutles" by Eric Idle from 1978 for a quick catchup. Really do this, you will enjoy the rest a whole lot more.
3) for the famous bit on the rooftop, you can just watch episode 3 without missing out much.
posted by illongruci at 2:07 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Also I now want some chocolate babka.

Drat! You just made me realize I didn't get babka in my grocery delivery order, and I ordered it. Argh! I must admit I've gotten annoyed enough by babka not being in my delivery during the pandemic that I've put in an order for nothing but babka to make sure I get it...
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 2:10 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Three of us took down a huge hog this morning. We have a scale that taps out at 500 lbs.

What was interesting was that our pretty tame bear told us the pig was down there messing up the fence and riled the dogs in that direction. Good bear.

I don't think she can have babies. 7 years she has been hanging around and never any cubs. So she has made a different life that includes us and we like that.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:13 PM on January 3, 2022 [22 favorites]


Oh golly Dr Curare, you posted that while I was writing, and I didn't mean to come across as ignoring your sharing. I kept myself sane last winter in solitary lockdown by learning to grow mushrooms from spores. It sounds like you have some cool projects on the go.
posted by illongruci at 2:15 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]



I miss ceiling cat.

That's all well and good, but I miss MeFi's own pancake bunny.

( It's been 16 long years....)
posted by BlueHorse at 2:19 PM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


The Old-Fashioned Cocktail
May 21, 2003 6:09 PM
posted by clavdivs at 2:21 PM on January 3, 2022


It might not be good to talk cocktails right now.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:28 PM on January 3, 2022


ooo, thanks, I like wordle! Does everybody know about Guess my word?
posted by Don Pepino at 2:35 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


I miss ceiling cat.

You know . . . you know you can do that thing ceiling cat was watching you do, anyway, right? Even without ceiling cat? I mean, it might not be as good for you, which is okay too, but you still can and it might be even better. You should try it. Trust me.

It's just not the same without the cat
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 2:48 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I love Guess My Word! My morning routine is now NYT Crossword, Spelling Bee, Guess My Word, Wordle. I just started playing Wordle when someone posted it here this week... it is challenging in a good way. It takes me a long time to get it, but I seem to consistently find the answer on my 4th try.
posted by Daily Alice at 2:49 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


clew, working with him for some time is a good idea that somehow never crossed my mind. I’ll see what he thinks.

It is not a farm, it is an suburban greenhouse, a couple thousand square meters. He grows seasonal plants. Poinsettias for the holidays, flowers for saint valentine, etc… This is the more industrial side of the business. The nursery is located on a nice shady street and there he sells houseplants that he buys from other greenhouses all over Mexico, and where he does small scale propagation of interesting plants. I am worried that I am just longing for the romantic idea of spending my days in a beautiful place taking care of plants, and I won’t be able to deal with the cutthroat reality of the decorative plant business.
posted by Dr. Curare at 2:55 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Anyone in here live in Andalucia? I'm headed there in 16 days, will be there a while!
posted by Sheydem-tants at 3:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Another person who's grateful for the wordle post. I especially like that it doesn't lead to a twenty-minute rabbit hole of trying to beat the game.
posted by FencingGal at 3:07 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


99.5% of the commenters so far are more interesting than me.

The other 0.5% is me.

But/and I'm still grateful for this thread.
posted by avapoet at 3:13 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Someone tell me a story.

Okay then.

For decades I thought I knew what my earliest memory was, but I was wrong: a few months ago I realized that my earliest memory was actually when I was still potty training and ran into the kitchen with a white plastic bowl of fresh poop shouting "Mommy, Daddy! Look!"

I think my mother's scream is the only reason this got fixed in my memory at all. She was at the oven and had my father take me back to the bathroom, where he explained to me that people generally didn't talk about poop, and they definitely don't take it outside the bathroom to show people.

If I ever had one wish, the sort of thing you might get from a bored genie with a Bad Janet personality--you know, "Make it malicious and mischievous, because that's what I'm in the mood for, and minor, because I cannot be bothered. Ask for anything else and you get nothing"--I'd wish for the Proud Boys logo to be a drawing of a young boy running to show his parents a bowl of poop. Because that right there? That was one proud boy.
posted by johnofjack at 3:14 PM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


Dr. Curare, have you considered growing native plants as a future niche business? I see more customers in the big box store requesting natives hereabouts.
posted by mightshould at 3:16 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Raise your hand if you think possums are totes adorbs.
posted by davidmsc at 3:18 PM on January 3, 2022 [16 favorites]


I have questions. I assumed "ninja turtle suit" was like a turtle-y looking suit but no! Is it... warm?

Surprisingly so! Honestly if anything I was overly hot in it. I did have thermals, track pants and a light vest on under it as well. If I can find the right inflatable suit with more visibility (I have an ask me on that very topic open) it may be my snow plowing attire of choice……
posted by inflatablekiwi at 3:20 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


I need your reddest pills
posted by curious nu at 3:22 PM on January 3, 2022


I love this thread. I power lurk almost every day, and rarely post, but I know that Metafilter is my people - this room feels like it's full of hugs.
This winter I got into some more elaborate Lithuanian crafts (I made sodas aka himmeli geometric straw ornament/chandelier constructions) and made sure that my Kūčios dinner was on point partly to do my Močiutė proud - she passed away earlier this year at the ripe age of 102. My grandparents' story of coming to America during WWII is pretty incredible, and one of these days I need to learn screenplay writing because it would be fantastic. But during the summer when my parents came to visit, I learned a pretty significant PLOT TWIST, a secret my grandma kept until she was about 98 - the man I knew as my Tetukas is not my biological grandfather.
And this is where I'm curious if you, lovely MeFites, might be able to help. All I know about this newly revealed biological relation is his first name (Charles), where he was employed in 1951, and 2 photos of him - one as a young man, and one as an older man. Initial attempts with his employer, and Google Image search have been fruitless. My mom did take a DNA test after she discovered this secret, and the closest relation on that side was a 5th cousin.
If you've got advice, I'd love to hear it, but mostly I'm just thankful for being a part of this quirky group of folx.
posted by ikahime at 3:26 PM on January 3, 2022 [19 favorites]


I have a memail from a source that I can't verify saying that, with subscriber number down, the cabal has openings for new caballists. I know there is no cabal, so feel free to flag/delete, but the message notes that candidates will be drawn from the pool of users who post in this thread using all their sock-puppet accounts.

My own offering: WordMaster if you want to practise Wordle.
posted by k3ninho at 3:30 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I think this thread is a great idea. I've been looking for a way to participate more with mefi and this will be the place
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 3:31 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


I made sodas aka himmeli geometric straw ornament/chandelier constructions

I'm impressed. I tried making those once and eventually gave up. And the last time I made mushroom cookies, I swore I'd never do it again - at least not without a crowd of competent helpers (Note to non-Lithuanians, they are shaped like mushrooms - they don't have mushrooms in them). So right now I'm just stalking the Etsy Lithuanians. Maybe when I retire, I'll try making stuff.

My family came to the US earlier - some great-grandparents in the 1800s and my grandfather in 1903.

I don't normally see Lithuanians I'm not related to, online or otherwise, so labas (hope I have that right - we only used a few Lithuanian words when I was growing up).
posted by FencingGal at 3:40 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


International Citrus Links
posted by clavdivs at 3:43 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thanks, Wobbuffet, for the link to Ursula Vernon's mediaeval romance tweeting. I would also like "Kindle [to have] a “you downloaded a sample and found it lacking” marker".
posted by paduasoy at 3:44 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


The Apartment Therapy January Cure 2022 follow-along thread is HERE!

Our floors are gonna shiiiiiine like the top of the Chrysler Building.
posted by mochapickle at 3:46 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


I was trying to get things done, but I sat down for a minute and immediately had a cat in my lap. Five minutes later, there were two cats in my lap, and now I am extremely trapped but have caught up on this thread, so hi all.
posted by mersen at 3:58 PM on January 3, 2022 [23 favorites]


I miss ceiling cat.

I miss Serious cat.

That's all well and good, but I miss MeFi's own pancake bunny.

How about a terrifying pancake cat?
posted by QuakerMel at 4:03 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


This is a great idea, btw
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 4:03 PM on January 3, 2022


Hi, we've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty!
posted by chillmost at 4:14 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Speaking of ballpoint pens, I love my papier tigre. It makes doing the crossword puzzle a chic adventure.

Dr. Curare, I used to be an assistant extension advisor for ornamental nurseries, happy to discuss plants with you.

First day back at work: four people out with COVID, all vaccinated.
posted by acrasis at 4:14 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Found a pleasant thing not immediately useful to me; an artist talking about having a studio notebook, like a sketchbook but lower pressure? and she winds up with ways to make Putting Marks in the New Pristine Notebook less scary. Very pleasant voice, pictures of watercolor sketches.

If anyone knows a way around Scissor Fear that isn't "three muslins one of them in a cheaper version of the real cloth", or if you know there is no other way around it, hmu.
posted by clew at 4:21 PM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


I also have the day off and really enjoying sleeping in and resting. I got my room cleaned up, then went outside for a walk with plenty of cold and snow. I've been watching various stuff I've been meaning to get to and came across one hour of the most beautiful rose garden you could imagine. Planning to make a nacho salad for dinner and hope I can sleep tonight while getting my game face on for work - always a challenge.
posted by blue shadows at 4:22 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


First day back at work. Second bicycle thief thwarted during this academic year.

GRARR! Do not try to steal bicycles from my university residence! There are many reasons I like going to work. Stopping bicycle thievery is in the top ten. Or twenty.
posted by shoesfullofdust at 4:39 PM on January 3, 2022 [12 favorites]


Howdy, fellow Mefites.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:40 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


I've just discovered Eugen Cicero, a jazz pianist who covered classical pieces in West Berlin. He was nicknamed Mr Golden Hands . Caution: very jazzy.

Panhopticon: 1) nice Foucault reference; 2) I love jazz and classical, I have never heard of Eugen Cicero, and that Solfeggio slaps SO GODDAMN HARD I feel a little stunned. Thank you.
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 4:46 PM on January 3, 2022


I watched The Worst Person in the World yesterday and it was really good. Highly recommend.
posted by Panthalassa at 4:52 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Can anyone tell me why Exit Wounds -- a 20 year old Steven Segal movie that I can't imagine even the Daddest of Dads wanting to watch right now, today -- is trending on Netflix? Is there some kind of meme that I've missed?
posted by jacquilynne at 4:56 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Well, work had me back to feeling like a total fuckup all the time again, making mistakes all over the place, and wishing for death. But at least I didn't get forced to answer the phones all day today, so AT LEAST THERE IS THAT. For once we had enough staff where I didn't have to be doing that today.

In other news, telling me TODAY that I need to buy an item of clothing FOR TODAY when you could have easily mentioned that I had to buy this WEEKS AGO when I had the free time cheeses me off. I'm doing tech week for a play and I do NOT HAVE TIME TO GO SHOPPING NOW, DAMMIT. Like there goes my dinner time, I have to go buy this instead, thanks!
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:57 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


I wonder whether the Otho branded pen linked in escabeche's comment has a spring loaded point because Otho is also the brand of one of the only two of hundreds of mechanical pencils made by dozens of manufacturers (the other is a single subtype of the Rotring 700 line) I happen to own and which have a spring loaded lead.

By spring loaded I mean when you press harder on the paper, the point retreats back into the pen or pencil as if there’s a spring attached to it instead gouging or scoring the paper. Those two pencils have a smoothness and ease of use which none of my other pencils can quite match.

I’ve noticed the same issue with ballpoints (which I don’t like and avoid using), and I haven’t understood why manufacturers of pens and pencils haven’t generally incorporated such a simple improvement.

And my other gripe about pencils is if 0.9 lead size mechanical pencils are now the most popular by far, as I’ve read many times, why is it that 3B and 4B leads are only available for 0.5 pencils, especially since the lower breaking strength of softer grades makes them much more practical for larger diameter leads?
posted by jamjam at 5:07 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Please do not tell me about other secret land crustaceans, I'm not sure I can handle the truth.

Guess nobody should mention Coconut/Robber Crabs then?
posted by dg at 5:09 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


I've managed four consecutive early morning wakeups early enough to do my dawn prayers, which is an incredible feat, never before repeated after boarding school (Ramadhan doesn't count since I'm awake before dawn anyway) but now I'm late to clock in to work (lol) because i was scrolling through this thread. But I think the mix of Orthodox Christians and Europeans in my org is really helping extend the holiday mood because they're still on their break and I've barely an email in my inbox.

In other accidental new year resolution stuff, I've apparently broke free of my commitment to efficiently use one A5 page a day for my bujo/planner/diary. I'm now doing daily 2-page spreads, it's great.

Ok, gotta properly shower now, have to be ready to send a family member to their booster shot appointment.
posted by cendawanita at 5:11 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Also known as the coconut crab, the robber crab is the world’s biggest land crustacean. It can weigh more than 4 kg and measure up to a metre across.

I'm beyond thrilled to have learned this exists. To the Landmaster!
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:13 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


exlotuseater > I've been watching this a lot and wheezelaughing.

HELP I CAN STOP NEITHER WATCHING NOR LAUGHING PLEASE HALPPP
posted by youarenothere at 5:18 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Since this is a free thread, I just want to take the opportunity to go:

O< QUACK QUACK QUACK
posted by JHarris at 5:19 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Hello, fellow mefites and happy new year!

Pretty stoked that the household is healthy (yay false alarm health scare) and that a good friend is coming to stay with us for like a month because their house is being repaired by self-declared-unvaccinated folks. It'll be weird having another person here, but also great!
posted by introp at 5:24 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


I just finished reading the surprisingly Socratic A Girl's Problems in Home Economics, 1936 edition (Here's the 1926 edition online.) It was lent by one of my mother's clubwomen when she learned I read things like this as social history texts (likewise old hygiene and housekeeping and etiquette manuals and cookbooks). It originally belonged to her aunt, a student when it was new.

From it I learned that I've read so many things like this over the years that I now apparently possess a completely useless clairvoyance that indicates when the ubiquitous prune whip is about to appear.

It is aimed at junior high girls but is notably more advanced in its expectations than the postwar volumes I've read. A great many questions are posed that are meant to be answered by direct experience rather than the text - the title containing "problems" is not an accident - and there's an expectation throughout that one will evaluate and critique one's own and others' work products.

It's not liberated by any means, but it definitely makes a point throughout of illuminating how much work is shouldered by their mothers (I feel for the motherless/fatherless girls who had to read it, laden with assumptions of a nuclear family as it is) and equipping them to meet some of it.
posted by jocelmeow at 5:33 PM on January 3, 2022 [15 favorites]


I’ve been waiting for another sighting of that bear in your comments, Mr. Yuck.
posted by jamjam at 5:33 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


FencingGal: (Note to non-Lithuanians, they are shaped like mushrooms - they don't have mushrooms in them).

I’m half Lithuanian, and had never heard of mushroom cookies. Thanks!
posted by jon1270 at 5:46 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


She's a keeper. Best pic
posted by Mr. Yuck at 5:48 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


Hi
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [10 favorites]


I meant to post this when it happened but I'm always wary of people much more adept at writing these than I am already having something in train So I tend to hold off on it; but then nothing is posted and it all seems a little anti-climactic. Any-who - you may have missed out on Una Stubbs passing away in August of 2021. I knew her as 'Aunt Sally' from Worzel Gummidge. alongside Jon Pertwee. Younger audiences will have known her as Mrs Hudson in Sherlock, and older audiences will know her from 'Till Death Us Do Part'.
posted by phigmov at 6:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


Time for Sandburg!

'Old Timers'.

I am an ancient reluctant conscript.

On the soup wagons of Xerxes I was a cleaner of pans.
On the march of Miltiades' phalanx I had a haft and head;
I had a bristling gleaming spear-handle.

Red-headed Cæsar picked me for a teamster.
He said, "Go to work, you Tuscan bastard,
Rome calls for a man who can drive horses,.."
posted by clavdivs at 6:15 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Back when past-life regression was a big thing last, you never heard anyone discover that they cleaned stables in Lithuania in 1500......
posted by thelonius at 6:20 PM on January 3, 2022 [8 favorites]


QUACK QUACK QUACK

Who are Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, and Dr. Drew?
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:21 PM on January 3, 2022 [15 favorites]


What's the weather look like for Blue Mountains/Boise/Salt Lake City this week/end?
posted by Windopaene at 6:27 PM on January 3, 2022


A simple question... why are left-handed people so under-represented in the world - materially, socially, scientifically, commercially etc? This relates in particular to the lack of scientific research, products which continue to exclude (insert what people currently say is the percentage of lefties here - NB: it varies. A LOT!) of the population, and many other aspects of life. Looking at you Apple for one [yes I know they patented left-handed stuff] but....
posted by IndelibleUnderpants at 6:44 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Just saw that the second season of All Creatures Great and Small premieres on PBS this Sunday. This is exactly the winter content I need (she says, ignoring the 6 shows she's currently part way through watching because there is too much dang content).

Also, this seems a good place to mention that you can pop over to metatalk if you want in on the valentines swap.
posted by the primroses were over at 6:46 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


A simple question... why are left-handed people so under-represented in the world - materially, socially, scientifically, commercially etc?

My fencing teacher believes that left-handed people do disproportionately well in tournaments because they have a lot of experience fencing right-handed people, whereas right-handed people don't have that much experience fencing left-handed people. I'm right-handed, and every time I start to fence a left-handed person, I have a moment of feeling like I don't know what I'm doing. It is definitely harder for me to fence a left-handed person. The fencer in my club with the highest rating is left-handed.

I really, really miss fencing. I was fencing outside for a while with my doc's OK, but cold and omicron and chemo-induced leg cramps. Sigh.
posted by FencingGal at 7:00 PM on January 3, 2022 [11 favorites]


Oh, a free-form thread, where I could gripe a little bit about the culture of MetaFilter, instead of on MetaTalk;

- I miss some of our old members who have gone silent.

- The Mods are really great, and I want to thank them again for those times when I commented too late at night, and they helped me out when my comments were too obtuse.

- There have been times here when a difference of opinion here has been piled-upon, and they're not the best of times.
posted by ovvl at 7:06 PM on January 3, 2022 [13 favorites]


The fencer in my club with the highest rating

Do they use an Elo rating system, like chess? (maybe that's Glick rating now, there have been improvements since Elo's time).
posted by thelonius at 7:07 PM on January 3, 2022


Do they use an Elo rating system, like chess?

Looking quickly at Elo rating online, I don't really understand it, and I'm tired and should go to bed.

Fencers who participate in tournaments can be rated A through E or U (unrated). When I've helped out at a fencing tournament, the most common and unanswerable question is "do you know what this tournament is rated"? (tournament rating determines ratings of fencers in the tournament). No one knows until the tournament is over. This brief explanation looks decent.
posted by FencingGal at 7:20 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Did someone say OTTERS? Here's an adorable video of keepers at the Austin Aquarium teaching baby otters how to swim. There is so much squeaking and fussing before the triumphant conclusion!
posted by merriment at 7:25 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


G'day y'all.
That is all.
posted by Marticus at 7:32 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


Boop Beep Time to Sleep
posted by sharp pointy objects at 7:37 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


Someone tell me a story.

Alright, I’ve got a story for you. Let’s call it fictional.

What if I told you the U.S. government’s been in possession of probable extraterrestrial radio transmissions for over 35 years? Impossible, right? Why isn’t this public knowledge?

Because no one has any clue what they mean. The consensus is that they’re far too complex and intricately structured to be generated by natural sources. Beyond that, who fucking knows. Some really high-level linguists, mathematicians, semioticians, and cryptologists have been thrown at the problem over the years—decades now various people have quietly toiled away at this—with basically nothing to show for it. The government’s unofficial official position is that they can’t release something of this sensitivity and magnitude without knowing what it is first. But no can make heads or tails of it, so it just stays classified forever. Which means very few people can study it. Which means it will probably never get decoded. It’s your classic self-created bureaucratic paradox.

So where do these signals come from? Well, came from, first of all. They were recorded at the VLA back in the 80’s and haven’t been repeated since. The source is too far away to matter. Whatever distance you’re imagining is off by several orders of magnitude. Earth didn’t exist when these signals were sent, and it won’t exist by the time our own RF pollution gets there. Whatever sent them has gone extinct, or evolved into something entirely different by now. It’s an ancient artifact, like a scroll written in a dead language. There’s no meaningful way our civilizations will ever interact. At this point no one in the government with any decision-making authority considers it anything more than a curiosity. The project is on life support. There used to be a closet-sized basement cubicle devoted to it, but since covid started I think it’s been converted to storage.

So that’s your story, but you didn’t hear it from me. It’s not my job anymore to care about this stuff. I’m done with all the red tape bullshit. Life’s too short, you know?
posted by dephlogisticated at 7:41 PM on January 3, 2022 [39 favorites]


I really, really wish we could use an ELO rating for fencing. The letter ratings often don't give you much of a sense of a fencer's skill level. But changing it would be a hassle and I don't think USA Fencing will ever go for it.
posted by Hypocrite_Lecteur at 7:44 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thanks a lot guys, now I'm up past my bedtime looking at PEN REVIEWS. Which: I actually mean thanks a lot? Because you reminded me that I am allowing myself to buy a fancy pen for #reasons and now I am on that journey all properlike. But, like, a $20 fancy pen, not a *sorts by Price: Ascending* oh pens get expensive. so no, not a $700 pen. which has actually been marked down by a cool buck seventy-five. a much less fancy than that fancy pen fancy pen, please.

If you have any suggestions for an upgrade for someone whose loved-but-quotidian standby is the Pilot Precise V5 RT, do share!
posted by youarenothere at 7:46 PM on January 3, 2022 [7 favorites]


Sooooo, youarenothere, are you interested in fountain pens? There are a lot of cheapish fountain pens I like quite a lot - my off-the-cuff recommendation is a Pilot Kakuno, which is available in many colors. A bit more classy (rather than cute) is the Pilot Metropolitan.
posted by Jeanne at 7:53 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


As a joke I decided to read this special thread the day it was posted rather than days, weeks, or months later. Originally I tried to read it in real time but keeping up with a thread isn't exactly my forte. So now I'm up late reading comments at what to me feels like a feverish pace.

Anyway, we otter do this again.
posted by Tehhund at 7:57 PM on January 3, 2022 [40 favorites]


posted by Tehhund

I always feel honoured by a Tehhund favourite, whether it's six minutes, six weeks, or six months later. Thank you for being here.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:01 PM on January 3, 2022 [23 favorites]


I just realized my profile here is 20 years old and how the blue has shown me so much I wouldn't have seen otherwise. I just want to thank everyone.
posted by ig at 8:03 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Heh, 'related posts' at the bottom of this very page include this gem. Nobody will care, but it tickles my fancy.
posted by dg at 8:24 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Are we talking fountain pens? I like talking fountain pens. I gotta niiiiiice Moonman M2, lets me watch all the sloshy sparkly ink around....
posted by sciatrix at 8:27 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


I would find a talking fountain pen irritating, probably interrupting my train of thought while i was trying to write.
posted by hippybear at 8:30 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


In otter news, I just got back from three days in Moss Landing, CA - a tiny little town half way between Monterey and Santa Cruz. It has an estuary, Elkhorn Slough, which is home to 7% of the world's population of sea otters.

They're so easy to spot! We went out kayaking and otters popped up out if the water next to our boat. This morning we walked along the beach and on otter appeared and started joyfully eating crabs about 15 meters away from us - here's my photo.

I think Moss Landing may be California's best kept secret.
posted by simonw at 8:30 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


Great idea!

Thoughts and additions-

Snow and ice are dissipating quickly here, though there were some slick spots on the way home.

First day back in the office today since xmas, spent last week working from home due to snow, a broken vehicle, and exposure to someone who tested positive, and we're all back to WFH tomorrow due to someone in the office testing positive.

Chocolate Babka!!! I've got a gift box from Katz coming sometime this week, hope they ordered the babka again.

Thanks to all for making this a great place. Been lurking since the beginning, almost as long as I've been online. Lots of sites come and go, but I'll always be true to The Blue.
posted by calamari kid at 8:31 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Bongo is somewhat nifty
posted by jazon at 8:32 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


and then I saw
posted by shoesfullofdust at 8:47 PM on January 3, 2022


I would find a talking fountain pen irritating, probably interrupting my train of thought while i was trying to write.

I'm quite sure it would do nothing but criticize my penmanship.
posted by nubs at 8:49 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


meta
posted by clavdivs at 9:00 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


Sometime in April 2020 I lost the ability to read longform works. (A not-uncommon COVID-adjacent phenomenon, from what I understand.) It's been heartbreaking—I'm a voracious reader. In the ensuing months (hell, years) I started dozens of books. Classics, pulp, fiction, non-fiction, biographies, autobiographies, books I know and love, books I've never read. Lots from my local library. A few from Thriftbooks when the local library was under its own lockdown and my own bookshelf seemed uninspiring. I couldn't finish a single one. Graphic novels and comics didn't offer much solace, either. Of course, I kept trying. And just tonight I finished a novel I began less than two weeks ago. I am taking this as a harbinger and can't wait to start reading the next book on the pile.
posted by joseph_elmhurst at 9:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [35 favorites]


At last count, I currently have at least eleven books on the go in one way or another. I'm sure I'll finish at least one of them -- a Terry Pratchett gem that I somehow missed along the way.
posted by philip-random at 9:14 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


My daughter sent a NY gift box with chocolate babka this year! So chocolaty! I have turned into a cold baby. It seems so cold here, dank, and so forth, and yet it hasn't even frozen yet. It was t-shirt weather this afternoon, and I dried clothes on the line. I ran into two different people who had lost their cars in the parking lot at Winco. Frustrating for them. One of them was parked right beside me, as it turned out.

I spent so much time in text and on the phone with old friends this season, it was great! Anyway, I got that Dylan lyric in my head the other day, "He who is not busy being born, is busy dying." It is my new go-to description of what I am up to, if people want to press me about how I spend my time. Yeah, I'm busy dyin'. Ha ha ha, but I am more busy resurrecting the life I enjoy.

I want to hear that message from deep space.It probably says there is something better than physical transportation, we destroyed our world by pushing against it's natural rotation, we passed by here when you were space dust accumulating. Burma Shave.
posted by Oyéah at 9:33 PM on January 3, 2022 [5 favorites]


you never heard anyone discover that they cleaned stables in Lithuania in 1500......

I mean, I'm a pretty likely candidate...
posted by ikahime at 9:45 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


A simple question... why are left-handed people so under-represented in the world - materially, socially, scientifically, commercially etc?

Let's talk recent US Presidents:
38th Gerald Ford
40th Ronald Reagan
41st George H.W. Bush
42nd Bill Clinton
44th Barack Obama
The other three members of my immediate family were left-handed.
posted by jamjam at 9:59 PM on January 3, 2022 [2 favorites]


overheard earlier today.

"a day without cheese is like a morning without coffee"
posted by philip-random at 10:00 PM on January 3, 2022 [6 favorites]


"What's the weather look like for Blue Mountains?"

I was talking to mum and she's like all alright. mmm, yes. all alright
posted by shoesfullofdust at 10:02 PM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]


THOUGH THROUGH SPACE
YOU MAY BE ZOOMING
DO NOT NEGLECT
YOUR DAILY GROOMING
Burma-Shave
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:04 PM on January 3, 2022 [16 favorites]


Should I call out this week for mental health/burnout reset? (favorite means yes)
:/
*hugs to all*
posted by soakimbo at 10:09 PM on January 3, 2022 [24 favorites]


FencingGal's post about Lithuanian mushrooms made me very nostalgic for my Mom. My Mom is in care now after a very bad fall last year, which caused a broken hip as well as a serious concussion. My Mom no longer has short-term memory (although her long-term memory remains good, she recognizes everyone she knew before her fall). She no longer lives at home, and no longer bakes.

My Mom made mushrooms every Christmas. It's a Lithuanian tradition, and every year my Mom went all out - the gingerbread carefully shaped and baked, then preparing the icing: white sugar for the stems, and mixing in the dark chocolate for the mushroom heads, and adding little poppy seeds for the dirt at the bottom of the stems.

They were so pretty, and delicious. For years, nay decades, I would get a box every December to give away to friends, and also enjoy for myself.

But now, my Mom is in care and she no longer bakes. And there will no longer be any mushrooms arriving by mail, or waiting for me on a plate when I go visit. While going through her things in her house a few months ago, I found a little box, with two lonely mushrooms inside, intact, with the icing still on the gingerbread, the poppy seeds still on the bottom of the stems. I took a picture, then put them away.

I am so deeply sad.
posted by seawallrunner at 10:11 PM on January 3, 2022 [42 favorites]


Shoutout to Zoomcare (Portland, Oregon) for making healthcare work. My spouse needed an urgent care visit, so I set it up for him, all online. Appointment was for 6pm. He was home by 6:20 with a prescription already in hand. I was dumbfounded, and super-impressed. (and hopefully he's feeling better asap.) I'm still in awe.
posted by hydra77 at 10:46 PM on January 3, 2022 [4 favorites]


Today, instead of writing a cover letter, I wrote an incredibly silly and filthy short erotica satire story. I don't know what to do with it, but maybe this is the right crowd? anyway, enjoy (strongly NSFW).
posted by daisystomper at 10:52 PM on January 3, 2022 [9 favorites]


I have such a begrudging love of the Pilot Kakuno extra fine point, the aesthetics are only ok (It lacks the effortless aesthetic seduction of most fountain pens that are slightly more expensive) but the quality and fineness of it's strokes is something I've yet to find an equal for at this price point. I adore tiny tiny beautiful lines and it's the best I've found outside of a crowquill or a .25-.35 point gel pen.
posted by burntbook at 11:45 PM on January 3, 2022 [3 favorites]


Three things:
Oh, oh, oh, I have one of those Otho pens! They are absolutely worth every penny! I've had it about ten years and refilled it twice!

I'll have to look into the mechanical pencil. I have a frantic love for a Pentel (I can't put my hand on one right now, but I feared they were going to discontinue them and so I bought a box. They are particularly ... right, slim without being skinny.) but the lead is not 'sprung' and that sounds like a real nice quality.

Two:
The most devious quality of eBay is that you can throw a preposterous low bid into the fray, just to satisfy the "wouldn't it be a gas to own -x-?" and then get an email a week later, when you've forgotten about whatever it was, and realise you now have to organise transport to pick up your whim. (I've bought a sailboat (a dinghy, a 'H Jolle' which is a 6 meter (20 foot) long dinghy. 20 feet.) two Bandoneons, and five kilos of pencil erasers (among other things) this way.) (I luckily did not win the Ducati single-cylinder nor the Tjalk (Google 'Tjalk', take a minute to wonder ... ) though... the Tjalk...) Similarly, I've been down a rabbit-hole lately on the subject of aluminium built sailboats and found a 44 foot S&S/Swan in Connecticut that is available for a song. 8 foot (deep) fin keel, really light! She probably goes like stink - these boats have a stellar reputation as sailing boats, especially in open water, and the aluminium ones, for being lighter... are, just, faster. There was another crazy cool boat, a Dutch-built steel stunner that I would, given the money & time, take a serious close look at.

three:
You cats are the tops
posted by From Bklyn at 12:51 AM on January 4, 2022 [8 favorites]


but the quality and fineness of it's strokes is something I've yet to find an equal for at this price point.

That's the one thing i genuinely love about the Pilot pens. Lamys are too European to actually have such fine points but the F-nibs of the Chinese knockoffs scratches that itch... Even if the feed system is a crap shoot from pen to pen, but you didn't hear any of that from me. If you don't mind going up a little bit in price, I swear by my Pilot Preras. I don't buy any other fountain pens any more, well, until I found a shop that stocks Lamy EF nibs. I'm strictly in the budget market for fountain pens, i refuse to indulge beyond a certain threshold. Though it's got to be said, my current obsession is actually using those Japanese G-nibs, just cosplaying my way through a work day as a schoolgirl in Victorian times. The fine lines! The variable line depth! Very sexy.
posted by cendawanita at 1:33 AM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


It's TDC (too damn cold) here in Oklahoma. But we just finished the hottest December on record.
I had many lovely walks at the local Christmas at the Park, watching older people feed the ducks and geese at the pond, children run around at the playground, and friends and families take photos and videos amid the lights and decorations spanning across three interconnected parks.
Ice skaters in t-shirts spun around the rink, teens slid down Boot Hill on their makeshift cardboard sleds, and everyone enjoyed one last hurrah before the decorations were taken down until the next winter holiday season.
It couldn't last.
The high on December 31 was 67 F. The wind chill on January 1 was - 6 F.
Wind chills were in the single digits earlier this week. We had about an inch of snow on the ground, which took a good 48 hours to melt (crazy, I know). Weather forecasts are teetering between mid-60s and teens for the next ten days.

So, from the depths of my blankets and peering over a cup of steaming hot cocoa, I wish you all a glorious New Year. If you love the ice, may you have a frosty winter wonderland in your backyard. If you would rather have more temperate weather, may all that white stuff go the other way and leave you in your sunhat and shorts.
The mosquitos are dead. I'm ready for the greening of spring.
posted by TrishaU at 1:56 AM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


A detective is going to retrieve my stolen bass today. The buyer (a national chain) has ID of the seller.....hot, buttery justice is on the menu.
posted by thelonius at 3:28 AM on January 4, 2022 [26 favorites]


Long-time reader, first-time poster.

People of good will are trying hard to clear paths through and over the rubble. This is one such path. Thanks.

Onward.
posted by roasterboy at 4:17 AM on January 4, 2022 [31 favorites]


Now I want to up my pen game -- any Canadian pen sources that are good? The abovelinked look excellent and right in line pricewise but shipping is more than the pens in most cases.
posted by Shepherd at 4:24 AM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


A good friend who lives in a distant city just sent out a text that her spouse is in ICU after a car accident. No internal or head injuries, but major surgeries for broken/crushed legs are ongoing/future. Ribs broken. This is on a 60+ y.o. person who does finish carpentry for a living.

Reminder to all: to call your people, and say the things, and write the letters, and send the smile. It's never certain what is ahead.
posted by mightshould at 4:54 AM on January 4, 2022 [19 favorites]


Shepherd:

Wonder Pens is a very good Canadian fountain pen store, but the other thing I would look into is fountain pens shipped directly from China on eBay. There are some excellent mid-priced Chinese fountain pens (and some VERY cheap ones, though a $2 fountain pen is going to write like a $2 fountain pen), and if the shipping is as much as the pen - well, the total price is still a great value. See this Reddit write-up of Chinese fountain pens.
posted by Jeanne at 5:14 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


People of good will are trying hard to clear paths through and over the rubble. This is one such path. Thanks.

As a great man once remarked, in times of disaster, always look for the helpers.

Some helpers run back into burning buildings; others post ASCII art of Ceiling Cat. It takes all kinds to make a world.
posted by Mayor West at 5:15 AM on January 4, 2022 [7 favorites]


"Guess Who's a Mess" by (mefi's own) Brad Sucks just came up on my shuffle, and it reminds me that I tried for one whole afternoon to mashup up this video of penguins falling down with Making Me Nervous, wherein the penguin video loops (bc it's too short) with no sound. For some reason I couldn't get that very simple thing to happen on various online youtube mashup apps. But, It's The Perfect Combo. If you don't agree that listening to "Making Me Nervous" while watching penguins fall down is pretty much peak civilization / technology / art, I'm not sure we can be best friends. (Brad Sucks' Youtube Channel, btw; there's new stuff if you haven't checked it recently!)
posted by taz at 5:23 AM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]


I thought Brad Sucks was a band. Guess I'll not do so well at Millennium Edition Trivial Pursuit.....
posted by thelonius at 5:33 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


You penfolk speak in beautiful tongues.

I was near about to pull the morning trigger on a Pilot Kakuno but saw that the Metropolitan body--plain and all-black--is much more my style. Still ok? Was looking at the italic nib as I quite like the idea of the oft-mentioned flair and don't mind practicising.

thelonius > Guess I'll not do so well at Millennium Edition Trivial Pursuit

I had reason to play Millennial Edition Life in the not-too-distant past and I highly recommend staying away from all Millennial Edition games, even at your most openminded, unless you are in the mood to roast roughly and thoroughly, in which case, please, Millennial Edition away. Though perhaps Trivial Pursuit would avoid the worst of the decaying clichés.
posted by youarenothere at 5:50 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


The Pilot Metropolitan is a great pen. I have one in all black and it is classy and understated and the nib is perfect. Personally I have preferred Pilot's medium nibs to their fine nibs, but that's a preference you will have to work out for yourself. I believe -- but google this to make sure -- that the Kakuno uses the same nib size which might provide a more inexpensive replacement nib should you want to play with sizes. Pilot does not sell nibs on their own.
posted by gauche at 5:57 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


Also, I promised myself I would stop buying cheap pens a couple of years ago and I have mostly stuck to that promise but the Majohn (formerly Moonman) Q1 is an adorably chunky little pocket pen that I keep _almost_ pulling the trigger on. Moonman nibs are pretty well-regarded.
posted by gauche at 6:13 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


That $5 I sent into Metafilter? Best $5 I ever spent. I was a lurker for years before officially joining, and you can't put a price tag on what I've learned here. Discovering Metafilter was a life changing event: I was reading things I would have never considered reading, I was listening to things I hadn't been exposed to, and watching things that quite frankly blew me out of my seat on occasion.

Thank you Metafilter! Bless you all.
posted by james33 at 6:29 AM on January 4, 2022 [34 favorites]


seawallrunner, I am so, so sorry about your mom. What an act of love to make those cookies for you every year and what a testament to that love your post is.

(For others, it can be really hard to insert the stems into the caps without breaking the caps. And then frosting the tops and the undersides in different colors and adding poppy seeds. Mushroom cookies are a project. My Lithuanian grandmother was more into bread and rolls and kugelis, and she showed me how to make what I later learned were called rivels for soup, something she learned from her mother and said she'd never seen in a cookbook.)

This thread surely wins for most references to Lithuanians.
posted by FencingGal at 6:31 AM on January 4, 2022 [14 favorites]


Shepherd - I don't know what their online service is like but in person they are good people - Phidon in Cambridge Ontario.

Got a new puppy, that's been good for us. It's feeling a lot like having a furry toddler - he's teething so he's a bit bitey at the moment but we are managing by using welding gloves. He's been pretty good for letting us know his needs and acclimatising to other humans. We are still working on other animals though. He seems cool with my late night movie viewing which is good because I got plans for 2022... But he's a good dog.
posted by Ashwagandha at 6:49 AM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


I went for a walk recently to clear my head and it dawned on me that when asking for advice, rather than asking what the other person would do I should instead focus on what they would consider when making the decision.

And it feels pithy and life-changing at the same time and I didn't know where else to put it so I'm putting it here.
posted by Twicketface at 7:07 AM on January 4, 2022 [23 favorites]


Fondly remembering The Great Enspousenation, The Schmoopy, The Evening Where Everyone Got Their Own Star.

Also, how gracious Matt was when I made my way over to him during a Meetup at The Farmer's Market to thank him for creating this great web community. Hope you are doing really well, Mr. Math Owie.

Thanks to all the moderators for their hard work. I know the political thread were a pain, but they really helped many of us get through a really difficult time.
posted by effluvia at 7:07 AM on January 4, 2022 [12 favorites]


The politics megathreads are what finally got me to fork over my $5 after years of lurking. I miss them but I understand why they needed to go.

New year, new girlfriend, new job. Please be kind, 2022. The last two years have been difficult.

Joy and blessings to all mefites. The sheer amount of amazing things I've learned from this site are incalculable.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 7:28 AM on January 4, 2022 [12 favorites]


jocelmeow: the ubiquitous prune whip

Killer username up for grabs!
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 7:43 AM on January 4, 2022 [10 favorites]


For the first time in 3 years we got significant snow! It's pretty, which I especially appreciate since covid is rapidly rising here so we are venturing out only for walks and the occasional grocery store visit with masks. The pandas at the zoo are having fun with the snow too.

I'm appreciating this thread very much, and this site has been a lifeline for years, even pre-Covid. But, you all are making me crave chocolate babka, darn it! We always used to buy some to take home from Zabar's in NYC. Also, please don't hate the prune whip till you try it. Check out the sour cream version here.
posted by gudrun at 8:01 AM on January 4, 2022 [8 favorites]


There’s no meaningful way our civilizations will ever interact.

Life is disappointing. Thank you for sharing, though.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:05 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


New year, same job I started in June of 2021 and I'm already wanting to look for something else; it's a little too much of the same shit in a different pile.

Maybe it's time for a change in career.
posted by nubs at 8:15 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Did you know that Jesus smoked a pipe?
posted by deadaluspark at 8:27 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


seawallrunner, FencingGal, mushroom cookies are my absolute favorite. My mom picked the recipe up from With Love From Your Kitchen in the 1970s (we are 0% Lithuanian), and they are how I came to adore cardamom. There is a container of sugar mixed with orange and lemon peel sitting on my kitchen table right now in hopes I'll feel well enough to make a batch sometime soon.

I don't know if the recipe my mom and I use is as tasty as both of yours, but the caps don't fracture at all when the stems are inserted and the holes made in the caps stay pretty open through baking.
posted by jocelmeow at 8:29 AM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


and he was a surfer.

Jesus, that is. Explains the walking on water stuff.
posted by philip-random at 8:31 AM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


This seems as good a place as any to report that yesterday we received seven fresh vallhund puppies. Puppies and Alice the momma are doing fine so far, biscotti is doing... tired. I'll post a webcam link whenever we get around to setting that up, but right now they're just dumplings.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 8:43 AM on January 4, 2022 [11 favorites]


One of my friends just adopted a vallhund. My description: “what if wolf, but corgi?”
posted by notoriety public at 8:48 AM on January 4, 2022 [12 favorites]


Damn kids, get off my FPP with your chatty chat chat chat WHY BACK IN MY DAY you had to post uphill both ways in the snow and sometimes the mod would just delete your crap anyway
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 8:59 AM on January 4, 2022 [15 favorites]


There’s no meaningful way our civilizations will ever interact.

... but they are/will/could, in that this message/artefact is here and we are/could be trying to interact with it. It strikes me as the kind of thing an AI-bot-NeuralNet is perfectly designed to tackle... come to think of it isn't one tackling Linear A as we speak?

(In the 90's I was working as a plumber in NYC and I had a helper who had to be in a different part of the building and so to communicate I got some walky-talkies. They worked well enough for our purposes but the really crazy pay-off was all the random (deeply random) chatter that we intercepted - unintentionally: Old woman calling her nurse who is in the kitchen, guys on another construction site complaining about the crane operator, then the revelation that the operator's mother was sick then the further revelation that that was a lie because he (the crane operator) was a piece of shit, then some kid, probably around ten, twelve, whispering curse words "You are a shit. Fuck you, you. You're shit and smell like a fart" It was all oddly beautiful. Maybe that's what has been beamed out, once decrypted, some banal alien shit...)
posted by From Bklyn at 9:01 AM on January 4, 2022 [14 favorites]


I like this thread, do more please.
posted by winesong at 9:05 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


Seawallrunner, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. Like FencingGal, our family was much more into the savory food, and so didn't often make the Grybai cookies (we kids also favored the deep-fried and powdered sugar-sprinkled krustiai dough twists). I am definitely one of those in the tradition of "the best way to help is thru the kitchen," and so I hope my following recipe for grybai of another kind (we always serve it at Kucios) will provide a little bit of comfort.

Marinuotų Grybų aka Marinated Mushrooms from the kitchen of Marija Simonis
1 pound small button mushrooms
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup corn oil
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 tsp chervil
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 tablespoon dried mustard
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tablespoons dry white wine

Place all ingredients (except for mushrooms and wine) in a pot. Bring to a boil. Add whole mushrooms. Shake pot and stir to moisten all. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Rinse a glass quart jar with very hot water and drain. Spoon mushrooms into jar with slotted spoon. Allow to cool 1/2 hour. Add wine to cooled marinade liquid. Stir and pour into jar with mushrooms. Refrigerate. These are good almost immediately, but are better after a week.
posted by ikahime at 9:08 AM on January 4, 2022 [12 favorites]


Petty bitch: I ordered KN95's last week right after Christmas and while I have the order paid through PayPal and I have the email saying they received it, it doesn't look like they actually processed the damn order. Looking on their website on my account, it's not there. I wanted these things by Friday. GRRRRRRRRRRR. (I ordered through BonaFideMasks.com, which was fine the first few times I ordered through them, but now I'm having concerns...)
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:12 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Did you know that Jesus smoked a pipe?

Behind every good man there is a woman, and that woman was Mary Magdalene man, and everyday Jesus would come home, she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man, when he come in the door, man, she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man.
posted by thelonius at 9:13 AM on January 4, 2022 [7 favorites]


In the 90's I was working as a plumber in NYC and I had a helper who had to be in a different part of the building and so to communicate I got some walky-talkies. They worked well enough for our purposes but the really crazy pay-off was all the random (deeply random) chatter that we intercepted - unintentionally: Old woman calling her nurse who is in the kitchen, guys on another construction site complaining about the crane operator, then the revelation that the operator's mother was sick then the further revelation that that was a lie because he (the crane operator) was a piece of shit, then some kid, probably around ten, twelve, whispering curse words "You are a shit. Fuck you, you. You're shit and smell like a fart"....

YEARS and years ago, one of the theater companies I was working with tried out a similar walkie-talkie system to assist with backstage communication. The layout of the space was pretty weird - the bulk of the space was taken up by the theater room itself, with each of the offstage wings tucked in other rooms alongside either side of the theater room. However, the layout was such that if you were offstage left, the only way you could cross over to offstage right was if you actually walked THROUGH the theater room, and 95% of the time you couldn't do that during a show because you'd be walking across the stage itself. (Some set designers got smart and built things with false backdrops so people could sneak from one side to the other, but not all.) On top of that, the light/sound operation booth was only accessible by climbing a ladder up to a sort of crows-nest space overlooking the theater room. Once I climbed up there, I was generally stuck there during the entire run of each act, which made communication with the other side of the stage damn difficult.

We tried all kinds of different communication or signaling systems - code lights, baby monitors, etc. Anything sound-related generally was tricky because our space had a tin roof, and between that and all the metal pipes in the ceiling set up for light rigging, there was usually a lot of interference with any radio signals, especially if you had a cheaper set of walkie-talkies. But our artistic director was determined, and kept bringing in different things to try - asking me to help test things by heading up to the booth with one end of things while he withdrew to the office on the other side of the stage. These rarely worked, of course.

But the most spectacular fail was once when we were testing a pair of walkie-talkie headsets or something. I went to the booth, not expecting anything - and sure enough, I only heard static on my end, and when I tried hailing him, there was no answer. I gave it a couple tries, and then climbed down out of the booth, heading to the office to tell him we had no luck. But when I got to the office, the artistic director was standing there with the headphones on, listening in rapt attention to something - with an extremely confused look on his face. It took him a couple seconds to notice me, and he finally - and slowly - took the headphones off. "...Did you hear anything?" he asked.

"No, just static." I frowned. "But it looks like you heard something, yes?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't hear you...I don't know how, but I ended up hearing people talking about midget nuns in the Vatican."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:44 AM on January 4, 2022 [17 favorites]


Weee hooo! This is great!
posted by snsranch at 10:10 AM on January 4, 2022


You know what's a really great album, still, every time? A Night at the Opera. Just fuckin' hell they were a good band.
posted by cortex at 10:12 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


Hi-Diddly-Ho, neighbors!
posted by msconduct at 10:33 AM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


I've alluded to this story before on Mefi and never provided all the details. My fun fact about myself is that twice, I have walked into my own apartment and discovered a couch that wasn't there when I left that morning.

The year after college, I am living in a crappy apartment and saving up for grad school. This is a college-kid apartment, so we have like, a futon and some desk chairs and an air mattress. I go to work in the morning, come back, there is a hideous green couch in my living room. ?!?
One of my roommates' friends had this couch, was moving out of their place, needed a quick place to dump it/store it, and roommate took it because of course, free couch. This was before texting so I had no idea this was happening.

THE NEXT YEAR, across the country, new roommate, slightly better grad student apartment. I'm in my first few weeks of classes. I come home and... another mystery couch.
?!?!?!?

Same thing. Roommate happened to mention we still needed a couch, a friend of a friend had just bought a new one, within 8 hours, couch!

We do kind of need a new couch now actually. If my wife pulled off getting a new one in secret, it would be the best prank of all time.
posted by nakedmolerats at 10:42 AM on January 4, 2022 [12 favorites]


Also, here is a lovely bit of riso printing animation on card catalogue cards that, as a single tweet by itself falls just on the wrong side of my posting threshold this morning but is worth sharing.
posted by cortex at 10:51 AM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


I think I cracked the code. "Plastic Water Bottle and a Paper Towel ROLL" is the ending phrase to "Arkansas Traveler." I guess I can pull all the pins and strings and photos and sheet music down from the den now.
posted by mcrandello at 11:04 AM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]


I mean at least I can close that browser tab with it on repeat now.
posted by mcrandello at 11:05 AM on January 4, 2022


"No, just static." I frowned. "But it looks like you heard something, yes?"
When I was quite young, maybe 3rd or 4th grade, I had a lot of those old toy radios. The kind you get at Radio Shack for a couple of allowances and they operate on 47Mhz. Turns out that's the same frequency that the local theater troupe used for their wireless mics.

One summer my parents and some family friends, etc. dragged all us kids to the amphitheater at the park just outside of town for some grown up culture. After a while we kids broke away and were off into the park proper to play cowboys and spacemen or whatever. Along with the usual frisbees and soccer balls and other implements of mischief, I had brought my walkies, natch. So, right there in the middle of Hello, Dolly! my mom suddenly hears my voice coming over the loudspeakers, "Earth to Karl, Earth to Karl, come in Karl."

She says she just tried to melt through the blanket into the grass. I say, if you're going to use unlicensed spectrum for a public event then you get what you deserve.
posted by Horkus at 11:11 AM on January 4, 2022 [14 favorites]


You know what's a really great album, still, every time? A Night at the Opera.

I was going to make a joke based on the album's name, but then I found out the band actually did name it after the Marx Bros. movie. #TIL
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:22 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Hope this sort of thing is welcome in the thread...

Despite the abundant opportunity, I didn't listen to as much new music as I might have wished in 2021 (see also: books. I suspect this is a symptom of the pandemic on my life). That said, I thought I'd share two favourites - one you may know, one you may not... (All links slyt.)

First, the one you're more likely to know already. My Album of the Year was, by a country mile, Low's Hey What. As multiple reviews noted, its pretty rare to have a band 25 years in to their career still pushing boundaries, especially this hard. Part of that is down to producer BJ Burton (who also produced Bon Iver's game-changing 21, A Million, as well as the last two Low albums). Having read a lot of fascinating interviews with the band themselves in support of the album, I also enjoyed this interview with Burton.

The album has been supported by a whole raft of videos: Disappearing, Days Like These, More and, just today, I Can Wait

Next up, The Liminanas, a different long-time favourite guitar band with an extensive discography. Another husband and wife outfit, this time from France and doing a sort of Ye-Ye meets The Velvet Underground thing. I saw them live a few years back performing their excellent collaboration with Pascal Comelade, Traité de Guitarres Triolectriques and it was one of the best gigs of my life. Here's a video of that collaboration live (not the gig I saw but just as good).

In 2021 they released an "imaginary film score" in collaboration with DJ Laurent Garnier, De Película. It is well worth a listen.

Here's another live video of them performing tracks from the new album.

Other Albums of The Year upon request. What did you love listening to last year?
posted by deeker at 12:29 PM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]


This seems like just the sort of place to, at long last, leave a useless first comment.
posted by everdred at 12:47 PM on January 4, 2022 [35 favorites]


What did you love listening to last year?

I'm old now and my idea of a new band is Alabama Shakes
posted by thelonius at 12:50 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man

Watched all of True Detective S1 before I realized that the new fiesta at the moon tower is a flat circle
posted by thelonius at 12:52 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Sunshield Tensioning Complete
The Sunshield is Fully Deployed!

So great when good tech just works well!
posted by sammyo at 12:58 PM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]


Hope this sort of thing is welcome in the thread...
Idea for the next (quarterly?) free thread: mods choose a topic that is secretly not allowed. In addition to random chit-chat we all bring up random topics to discuss until we find the forbidden topic. The person who finds the forbidden topic earns plaudits and a one-day ban.
posted by Tehhund at 1:29 PM on January 4, 2022 [18 favorites]


It's obviously the Lambada.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:33 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Mimeographs: The Classroom Chore That Smelled So Good.
posted by clavdivs at 1:40 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


>>Q: How does Good King Wenceslaus prefer his pizza?
>>A: Deep pan, crisp and even.

>With lots of snoo around it.
>posted by Greg_Ace at 3:57 PM on January 3

For heaven's sake, is no one going to ask? What's snoo?
posted by oakroom at 1:42 PM on January 4, 2022 [15 favorites]


Not much, what's snoo with you?
(thanks, oakroom!!)
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:53 PM on January 4, 2022 [22 favorites]


I'll be here all week! Be sure to tip your server!
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:53 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


@Deeker: I discovered Low just a few weeks ago, and greatly enjoyed Hey What. I believe I found it on an NPR music list. Very interested to check out the Liminanas at your urging.

My favorite album, by far, was 1975 by No-No Boy. The Best God Damn Band in Wyoming sucked me in, and never let me go. I bought the album, and just listen to it over and over. I came for the catchy, folky tunes, and stayed for the interesting combination of history and nostalgia.
posted by hydra77 at 1:55 PM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


Not much, what's snoo with you?
(thanks, oakroom!!)

Well played sir!

I would have gone with "lots of spoo around it", for a deep nerd cut, but you went the more accessible route, which is most likely the better choice.

Anyways, I just wanted to share this other story from my local news: Local anti-vaxxer, disgraced former mayoral candidate, and general reprobate (see also the related stories) arrested in Montana today after crossing the US-Canada border on foot, following a Canada wide warrant being issued when he failed to attend the last weekend of his intermittent sentence for violating health orders. This guy just never stops being something. Anyways, wishing there was some way we could say to Montana "no thanks, we don't want him back".
posted by nubs at 2:23 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


What did you love listening to last year?

I fell into a deep deep L'Impératrice rabbit hole over the past year just in time for their new album, and it's bringing me back to a bunch of stuff I was sort of casually introduced to a few years ago by various world DJs, so it's been nice?
posted by Kyol at 2:32 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


The person who finds the forbidden topic earns plaudits and a one-day ban.

What do you despise? By this are you truly known.
posted by mubba at 2:35 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


A poem in the style of Metafilter Poet Laureate WC Williams

THIS IS JUST TO SAY TO THE VAX-NURSE

I have absorbed
the shingrix vax
that was in
the cold storage unit

and which
you were saving for me
cause I had
an appointment

Forgive me
you were friendly
but I am now aching
and so hot

BUT IT AIN'T SHINGLES
posted by not_on_display at 2:57 PM on January 4, 2022 [13 favorites]


Also, it's not quite the form, but from the Big House Numbers thread's article:

Metafilter: [Indistinct yelling from the background]
posted by Kyol at 3:04 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]



I am busy being upset by the existence of prairie crayfish, a thing I went 40 years without knowing existed, that I learned about early in quarantine and have been low-key upset about ever since.

Wait until you hear about prairie oysters…
posted by Ahmad Khani at 3:13 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


...Like FencingGal, our family was much more into the savory food, and so didn't often make the Grybai cookies (we kids also favored the deep-fried and powdered sugar-sprinkled krustiai dough twists). I am definitely one of those in the tradition of "the best way to help is thru the kitchen," and so I hope my following recipe for grybai of another kind (we always serve it at Kucios) will provide a little bit of comfort.
posted by ikahime at 9:08 AM on January 4 [7 favorites +] [!]

ikahime,

If you're sharing recipes, would you mind sharing one for kursktiai--if you have one, that is. My mother has spent years trying to perfect her Ukrainian Khrustyky. I'm curious as to how similar the Lithuanian version is and if there is anything she can take away from it.
posted by sardonyx at 3:13 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


A weird discovery the other day was the presence in the King Arthur Cookie Companion of a recipe for chrusciki that was all, "these are Polish and they're just like this other Norwegian thing" but I only know them because my Italian sister-in-law makes them and calls them lies.

(I in fact have no reliably traceable heritage anywhere, but my father-in-law was Slovenian on one side and Slovakian on the other and if you've ever been the recipient of my cookies in the MeFi Christmas Cookie Swap you've had those family recipes, and I'm now always on the lookout for cookies I might enjoy baking).
posted by fedward at 3:26 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Prune Whip...When I was nine, I ended up babysitting in the afternoons after school, 'til my parents got home. So I embarked on a complicated dessert per day, to accompany dinner. Once I made a two layer, iced chocolate cake, so big I had to cover our checkerboard with foil to hold it. Then I made Prune Whip, and put it up in the family wine glasses, so it would be elegant. Soon the dessert era was over. I am sure my little brother and I did some elegance cosplay at the table. The sublimnal sarcasm of small children, heh, heh, heh.
posted by Oyéah at 3:28 PM on January 4, 2022 [8 favorites]


Although I rarely write things out by hand now, my favourite pen has to be the palker jotter stainless steel; so smooth and hefty and clicky. Combined with gel-ink ballpoint cartridge for buttery smooth non-smear writing.
posted by Marticus at 3:38 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


It's obviously the Lambada. This came out when I was religiously sheltered and 14 and I felt like such a rebel/guilty sinner buying it on cassingle. It was a Forbidden Dance! P sure I repented every time I listened to it.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 3:43 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


The person who finds the forbidden topic earns plaudits and a one-day ban.

Mmm. Forbidden topics.

It was a Forbidden Dance!

And forbidden dances. The tastiest of the dances.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:46 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


If you're sharing recipes, would you mind sharing one for kursktiai--if you have one, that is. My mother has spent years trying to perfect her Ukrainian Khrustyky.

Any chance this is krustai? Google didn't give me anything for kursktiaia, but I did search khrustyky. This is from "Popular Lithuanian Recipes":

Little Ears (Ausiukes, Krustai)

2 eggs
1 3/4 c pastry flour
3 tbsp. sweet cream
1 tbsp. sugar

Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar and cream. Add enough flour to make a dough which can be rolled very thin. Cut into diamond shapes. Slash the center of each diamond, twist one end through the hole to form a knot. Fry in hot deep fat until lightly browned. Drain on absorbent paper. Dust with powdered sugar.

My grandmother used Popular Lithuanian Recipes a lot. She grew up in dire poverty, and I'd guess there wasn't money for sweets when she was a child. Recipes are by Josephine J. Dauzvardis. The only time in her life Dauzvardis measured anything was when she was compiling this cookbook. The other cookie recipes in this book are sviesto sausainiai (butter cookies), sausainiai (cookie slices), Ausukes (also little ears), zagareliai (little twigs), and the previously discussed grybai.
posted by FencingGal at 3:46 PM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


Before reading this thread I had no idea a thing called a "prune whip" existed. I misconstrued jocelmeow's post and thought maybe it referred to some sort of barbed ridicule of callow youth by embittered older folk; the "prune" part referencing old people so often needing extra fiber in their diet (according to frequent stereotype) with "whip" being the metaphorical scourge of the opposing generation.

I swear this is absolutely true, no joke! I probably deserve to be prune whipped for my naive folly.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:55 PM on January 4, 2022 [9 favorites]


Oh man, my Polish-American roommates in college would bring chrusciki back from Cleveland and it was like powdered sugar heaven. But looks too complicated to make to try to recapture that particular madeleine.
posted by rikschell at 4:21 PM on January 4, 2022 [3 favorites]


Riffing on tehhund, metafilter open-thread topics might also make for a good bingo game.
posted by mersen at 4:28 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


FencingGal,
That's definitely them--or a version of them at least.

My mom's version doesn't add any liquid besides the eggs into the dough. Pretty much all of the recipes I've seen in cookbooks and online add some type of cream (or milk), likes yours does. I've tried a couple of those variants, but didn't have much luck with them.

My mom's, when they're at their best, are light and crispy and flaky. Sometimes, however, they come out a bit on the heavy side (although even when they're heavy, they're still so tasty). That's the problem she's been trying to address for decades--how to consistently get them to turn out the same way. But I guess that's the challenge with any baking. Some days everything works, and some days it doesn't.
posted by sardonyx at 4:35 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


Probably just a problem with the Kettle.
posted by Pot at 4:52 PM on January 4, 2022 [7 favorites]


Sardonyx, I noticed that the kugelis recipe I linked to said to beat the eggs with a hand mixer for 5 to 7 minutes and to time it in order to make the kugelis light and fluffy. As you may have noticed, the recipe for the Krustai is pretty vague on a lot of things - I wonder if she meant something like that when she said to beat the eggs until light and fluffy.

(I couldn't find my family's kugelis recipe online - I linked to that one because it had some other information too. As it noted, there are many, many variations of kugelis. My questions is, Who are these monsters adding farina?)

Maybe ikahime will drop in with better info. I don't have practical experience with making these - just the cookbook.
posted by FencingGal at 6:07 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


You know, I just hope after all this time, that Fred found a nice car.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:15 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


I was taught the secret to delicate, melt-in-your-mouth chrusciki is to roll them very very thin (no, thinner!) before carefully shaping as described by FencingGal. That, and having the right frying temperature and not over cooking. I don't deep fry things often enough to be good at this. Our family Polish-American dough recipe is
5 egg yolks
2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 tbsp powdered sugar
"enough flour to make a stiff dough"
beat the yolks very well before adding the other stuff

The best part about making them is using my mom's 1970's vintage Tupperware powdered sugar sifter on them at the end.
posted by Advanced_Waffler at 7:25 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


I've been taught the same thing about thin (no thinner). The "trick" that was also shared with me was to "punch" them as they were frying (i.e., giving them a light tap or two with the tongs), as that was supposed to encourage them to puff up. It does seem to help a bit.

Rolling the dough out is always a good workout, as my mom's (and her mom's before that) dough is always quite firm (as I said, no additional liquid). As a kid, my favourite part was always forming them--slipping the end through the slot.

Fingers crossed I find some time this week to make some before Orthodox Christmas. And fingers doubly crossed that they come out well.

Thanks everybody for sharing your recipes. I'd put my mom's up, but I'd have to get my hands on her recipe box (or mine, but mine is still packed away after my last move).
posted by sardonyx at 7:51 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


This is a wonderful thread and thank you everyone who has commented!
posted by curious nu at 8:09 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


No one, and I mean, no one, deserves prune whip. Picture right here, and recipe.
posted by Oyéah at 8:19 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


Minor moment of celebration for Canadian folks, Kevin J. Johnston got arrested by USCBP today.

...my god, CBP did something good? It's a Sign of the End Times! We're doomed, doomed I tells ya!
posted by aramaic at 8:20 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


No one, and I mean, no one, deserves prune whip. Picture right here, and recipe.

..Ah, so it is a sort of punishment, then.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:29 PM on January 4, 2022 [2 favorites]


I would just like to point out that THE SAME DAY that this Free Thread was posted, it seems that jessamyn herself was investigating thread anomalies on a different platform.
posted by hippybear at 8:33 PM on January 4, 2022 [4 favorites]


In addition to Popular Lithuanian Cookery, I also have Treasures of Lithuanian Cooking by Virginia Mikenas and Lithuanian Cookery by Izabele Sinkeviciute. The latter is a nightmare of indexing but contains no less than 15 different herring recipes.

My question - are krustiai and zagareliai the same thing? From the recipes, it sure looks like it to me!

LC has no proportions, but does have this set of instructions:
the dough should be beaten with the rolling pin, folding the dough toward the center, until blisters form on the dough. Then coold the dough to set. Also, for frying: Bring fat to a boil . Remove from heat and add one Tbsp of whiskey or a couple slices of raw potato (this will prevent the strips from burning.

TLC recipe looks similar to above but maybe heavier on the egg to flour ratio:
4 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c powdered sugar
2 Tbsp rum or brandy
1 1/4 cups flour

But if my ancestors live on thru me in any way, it is thru the glory that is kugelis. It is my specialty. When my mom visited this summer (to drop the big family tree bomb on me) she also revealed what I found to be an even greater shock - she had never made kugelis and asked me to teach her. I had to sit down for a moment. "Your Mociute would always make it," was her excuse.

So here is my Mociute's Kugelis.

10 large potatoes
3 eggs
2 tsps. salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup hot milk
1 onion
5 slices bacon or 5 Tablespoons oil
2 Tablespoons farina

Peel and grate [not shred, it's more of a zesting - you are making a raw potato meal, not shreds] potatoes (in my experience, she would make my Tetukas do this). Cut bacon in small pieces. Fry with chopped onion till crisp. Pour milk [into bacon mix] and boil. Pour [bacon/onion/milk mix] over potatoes. Stir in beaten eggs, farina, salt and pepper. Pour into greased tin or casserole. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, reduce to 350, bake 45 minutes longer. Serve hot with sour cream.
Skanaus apetito!
~ Močiutė
[tip: when laboring over grinding the potatoes, either squeeze a little lemon into the mix, or crush up a tablet of vitamin C so your ground potatoes don't turn off-colors]

I nearly always hurt myself eating too much of this, it's so good. Are you a gooey center square person, or a greedy crusty corner person?
posted by ikahime at 9:32 PM on January 4, 2022 [5 favorites]


Keyboard Cat forever!
posted by hippybear at 11:45 on January 3

YES! Keyboard Cat forever!!!

Also one night, when I was 12 years-old, four UFOs paused in the sky above our house.
posted by chance at 10:02 PM on January 4, 2022 [6 favorites]


I would just like to point out that THE SAME DAY that this Free Thread was posted, it seems that jessamyn herself was investigating thread anomalies on a different platform.

I'm seeing gold & white thread emojis /ducks
posted by mcrandello at 11:20 PM on January 4, 2022 [1 favorite]


Right below jessamyn's investigation, Twitter served me someone who calls themself aj boston and says "you cannot spell 'library' or 'librarian' without 'bra' because we are here to support and uplift you."

Clearly a librorian.
posted by jamjam at 3:22 AM on January 5, 2022 [5 favorites]


I haven't made a lot of kugelis because grating the potatoes is so hard, even more so now that I'm old and unwell. Thanks, ikahime, for the tip about lemon juice or vitamin C tablets. I don't know how my grandmother continued with it into old age (though I did once see her beat egg whites to stiff peaks using only a fork, so she was kind of Super Woman). I've lusted after Grandma Anne's $450 electric grater and thought about the $150 grater at Baltic Value. Any thoughts or ideas? I do have a Cuisinart food processor but I'm not in love with the grating attachment.

My family served kugelis with cottage cheese instead of sour cream - probably because it was cheaper.

If you are in the Chicago area and are wondering what all the fuss is about, you can step on over to Grand Duke's in Downers Grove for kugelis, also included in the Lithuanian combo.
posted by FencingGal at 3:40 AM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


Do your Kegel before kugelis.
posted by sammyo at 3:45 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


now we have to reset the clock.

you know which clock.
posted by not_on_display at 5:15 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


Aramaic, the story appears to be getting even more interesting from what I'm seeing on social media...KJJ had someone waiting to pick him up on the US side of the border. That person wound up phoning the border patrol because KJJ got lost and was ill-equipped to be outside in the current weather.
posted by nubs at 6:03 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


Just got my bloodtest results and the cancer is not returning. It has been five years since my tumor so it is now, statistically, unlikely to return.

Just wanted to share some good news.
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 7:01 AM on January 5, 2022 [60 favorites]


Congratulations, One Hand Slowclapping! That is excellent news and I'm thrilled for you. Yay!
posted by Bella Donna at 7:03 AM on January 5, 2022 [3 favorites]


the dough should be beaten with the rolling pin, folding the dough toward the center, until blisters form on the dough

Ooh, ikahime, that's precisely the instruction for the Southern U.S.'s beaten biscuit. Here is a recipe from Malinda Russell, a cook from Tennessee who penned the first cookbook written by a Black woman in the U.S.

Cold Water Biscuit.

To one pint cold water, a piece of lard the size of a teacup, one and a half teaspoons salt; work it lightly in the pastry bowl, turn out on the dough board, and knead and pound until it blisters. Mould into biscuit, and bake in a moderate oven.

If one had money in the American south, one could purchase a biscuit brake to make that task easier.
posted by jocelmeow at 7:29 AM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


Southern U.S.'s beaten biscuit

Yes! I am reading the Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty right now and just got to his entry for beaten biscuits.

It's interesting, I don't find grinding potatoes for kugelis as laborious as, say, beating the eggy dough until silky for Lašinėčiai (aka bacon buns), but it does definitely help to have someone on hand to split the labor.
posted by ikahime at 8:47 AM on January 5, 2022


Hi everyone, someone just introduced me to MetaFilter (and even gifted me this account!). It's made my day (and I've had a rough day today ;-; .)
posted by Yash RE at 9:01 AM on January 5, 2022 [44 favorites]


Welcome aboard!
posted by cortex at 9:01 AM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


Welcome YashRE!
posted by nubs at 9:07 AM on January 5, 2022


Petty bitch from yesterday: BonaFideMasks on their website that claims they ship within 5 days, it's been over 5 sine I last ordered (a week ago). I emailed the company, I emailed PayPal, no response from anyone on that topic other than PayPal saying "contact the company," which I already did. I never had issues with them previously--is anyone else having issues with them or is this just me being the only one with a problem again?
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:09 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


It's interesting, I don't find grinding potatoes for kugelis as laborious as, say, beating the eggy dough until silky for Lašinėčiai (aka bacon buns), but it does definitely help to have someone on hand to split the labor.

I guess I've always found it laborious, and I use a Kitchen Aid for dough, so I don't do that either, but I note that you're saying "grinding," not grating. I've used a box grater. Do you use something better?
posted by FencingGal at 9:12 AM on January 5, 2022


jenfullmoon- Just anecdotally, I've been following mask availability from KF94 vendors and right now is the worst I've seen it, every place is sold out and many have notes on their sites apologizing. Wouldn't surprise me if Bona Fide Masks is having the same issues as everyone who sells better-quality masks right now: huge demand, low stock, and probably they have a higher percentage of staff out sick like everyplace does.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:13 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


I've used a box grater.
No, I use a box grater also, but I use the zesting side (or as I call it, the finger-biting side), not the grating side(s).
posted by ikahime at 9:32 AM on January 5, 2022


jenfullmoon - We ordered from them on the 23rd, got the "your order has been shipped" message on the 31st, and the package didn't make it into UPS's hands until January 3. I think they're just slammed, especially because they were recommended by the Wirecutter.
posted by fedward at 9:44 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


Thanks. I suppose them being the ONLY, EXCLUSIVE source for those probably has something to do with it too. Kinda bummed because I wanted black masks for the show I'm in this weekend, but oh well :P My fault for not thinking this out weeks ahead.
In the meantime, I caved in and ordered a 50 box pack from Honeywell (off that Wirecutter article) and right after that, my office announced they were buying staff masks. :P
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:59 AM on January 5, 2022 [1 favorite]


We ordered KN95 masks with ear loops from BonaFideMasks on Jan 4th and they sent us a USPS tracking number today, but as @fedward points out that doesn't mean it's actually shipped. USPS.com says "Currently Awaiting Package". So I guess I'm grateful for the heads up that we might be waiting a while.
posted by Tehhund at 10:49 AM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


Ah, I knew recipes would show up sooner or later.

valkane’s Noodle Pie

1 pkg. ramen noodles/1/3 box thin spaghetti
1/2 cup diced sweet potato/potato
1 tbs. jalapeño/serrano pepper finely chopped
1 tbs. of onion/shallots
Handful of chopped ham/sausage/prosciutto or tofu
2 eggs
Splash of milk
3 tbs. Red sauce/red pepper salsa w/ pine nuts or hot sauce
Couple handfuls grated cheese and some shakes of parmesan
Sour cream
Butter (couple of tbs.)
Salt & Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Melt butter in an 8” cast iron skillet. Add potatoes (like a 1/4’ dice) and peppers and sauté. Salt and pepper well. Cook until almost soft then add onions/meat. Continue cooking on low heat until you get a nice crust on taters.

Meanwhile boil pasta according to directions on package. Drain. Add the cooked skillet ingredients, and mix.

Beat eggs, milk, some of your cheese, and your red sauce in a cup, then put the pasta mix back into the well-greased skillet and pour over egg mix, swirling pan to get even coverage.

Top the whole shebang with a handful of grated cheese, parmesan and some more ground black pepper.

Pop into a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes, then slice into pie wedges and top with sour cream.

Cook’s note: I learned this from a chef who would just use whatever leftovers there were in order to clean out the restaurant fridge. You can add any kind sauce/cheese/meat you like.

Fancy tip: Garnish with chopped scallions and sprinkle with Everything But The Bagel seasoning for Martha Stewart-level presentation purposes.

Top secret ingredient: Add 1/8 tsp. of anchovy paste to your egg mix, and watch them try to figure it out.

This recipe serves two, but you can up the ingredients (and skillet size) to serve more. Makes a fine breakfast/brunch. Goes good with a robust red wine.

Cheers.
posted by valkane at 10:58 AM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]


Cursing myself for not ordering a bunch of masks in early December, when the thought occurred to me. I could have been a contender!
posted by thelonius at 11:32 AM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


Yash RE: "Hi everyone, someone just introduced me to MetaFilter (and even gifted me this account!). It's made my day (and I've had a rough day today ;-; .)"

Welcome!
posted by signal at 11:49 AM on January 5, 2022


Yash RE: Hi everyone, someone just introduced me to MetaFilter (and even gifted me this account!).

*scowls* So where's the donuts? "New guy brings donuts," y'know -- same as everywhere else.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:34 PM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]


It's made my day (and I've had a rough day today ;-; .)

You made it! We've been waiting for you. Welcome.
posted by jessamyn at 12:37 PM on January 5, 2022 [16 favorites]


*scowls* So where's the donuts? "New guy brings donuts," y'know -- same as everywhere else.
$1.49 and disappointing. Same as in town. (Which is an insider joke that may not have been funny originally.)

Welcome Yash RE. I'm pretty sure the boss is supposed to buy the donuts. But, there isn't really a boss here, unless you're a moderator. I'll buy you a donut at the next IRL event we both attend.
posted by eotvos at 3:04 PM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


hello i am the little-read comment waaaay down the thread - if you ever get here stop by and say hi
posted by not_on_display at 4:28 PM on January 5, 2022 [20 favorites]


Does anyone read the comments down here?

which is also an in-joke
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:41 PM on January 5, 2022 [7 favorites]


I am because I'm still stuck at work and tired and brain dead and have no energy to keep processing work stuff for the next 18 minutes.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:43 PM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]


I am because I just posted a blog piece [ Suddenly at Home ] and I’m in that camp of “don’t much like writing but like having written” and it’s good to read something that is not about Covid.
posted by theoriginalkdawson at 4:53 PM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


Jokes? MADNESS LIES THIS WAY
But seriously, don't emulate that. It's a fond memory, but best to remember that in-joke than re-live it.
posted by not_on_display at 5:35 PM on January 5, 2022 [2 favorites]


This seems a little short for an FPP, but here you go: Staged returns for the holidays.
posted by jenfullmoon at 5:37 PM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]


I'm happy to report, the result of my noodling around on how to adapt my current fountain pen inks for dip pens went remarkably well: the usual advice is to add gum Arabic for viscosity but that brings up a question of the speed of drying (and I'm using it for my bujo so it's not for art and needs to set quickly). So i had a thought, what about acrylic mediums? Long story short, yes you can. But i'm also delighted i didn't have to spend any money, because in the first year of the lockdown i went nuts buying art supplies so i have some gesso primer/medium and it works just as well! Apply the ink on the nib like a gouache and now I'm just happily writing without having to refill too often. This is absolutely untenable when travelling tho (lol).
posted by cendawanita at 7:23 PM on January 5, 2022 [3 favorites]


what about acrylic mediums?

Do they speak to the Plastic Dead?
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:59 PM on January 5, 2022 [7 favorites]


what about acrylic mediums?

Maybe acrylic larges will work if you take up the bottom a bit and wear a belt?
posted by hippybear at 8:15 PM on January 5, 2022 [4 favorites]


a vinyl belt, of course
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:54 PM on January 5, 2022


wenestvedt: *scowls* So where's the donuts? "New guy brings donuts," y'know -- same as everywhere else.

I'm sorry for not knowing the tradition ;-; . I offer this recipe as an attempt at consolation.

Chia pudding
ingredients:
1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1/4 cup low fat milk.
Process:
Mix seeds and milk.
Let sit for a minute or so.
Mix again, this time thoroughly breaking any clumps of chia seeds.
Let sit for 2 hours, or overnight. End result should be gelatinous (ergo pudding).
posted by Yash RE at 9:01 PM on January 5, 2022 [6 favorites]


"Slow television": Jeopardy!, but every answer has to be written down like Final Jeopardy
posted by sylvanshine at 2:29 AM on January 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


Werner Herzog to do remakes of others' films, like he did with "Bad Lieutenent", for the rest of his career: Werner Herzog's "Star Wars", Werner Herzog's "On Golden Pond", anything.
posted by thelonius at 4:05 AM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]


“When my father died, it was like a whole Costco had burned down”
posted by thelonius at 4:08 AM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]


“The recommended number of wolves inside you is 0”
posted by thelonius at 4:09 AM on January 6, 2022 [5 favorites]


"A briefly-popular meme suggesting movies to be remade with the same cast but for one character replaced by their Fursona."
posted by k3ninho at 4:13 AM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]


Okay - I asked this question in another thread, but I think that thread is old and people may not be checking it, so let me ask here:

In the FPP about the We Rate Dogs "Dogs of 2021" thread, someone got excited that the video featured "a cameo from Sir Dougington".

Who IS Sir Dougington, aside from "a noble-looking German Shepard"?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:38 AM on January 6, 2022


He's the dog who belongs to Matt Nelson, the guy who runs the We Rate Dogs account/social media empire.
posted by Kat Allison at 7:54 AM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]


MetaFilter: End result should be gelatinous (ergo pudding).
posted by wenestvedt at 8:01 AM on January 6, 2022 [4 favorites]


Yash RE and anyone else here who's new, the wiki has an orientation page that links to a list of some in-jokes in case you see someone say something that doesn't make sense. However, wenestvedt completely made up the donut tradition which does not exist here.
posted by brainwane at 8:01 AM on January 6, 2022 [10 favorites]


in case you see someone say something that doesn't make sense

We're gonna need a bigger wiki.
posted by mochapickle at 8:14 AM on January 6, 2022 [12 favorites]


I note that while I still haven't heard from Bona Fide Masks AT ALL, the ones I ordered yesterday from Honeywell have already shipped. So, hmmmmm.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:19 AM on January 6, 2022


"When my father died, it was like a whole Costco had burned down"

Why did I just hear that in my head in Morgan Freeman's voice?
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:54 AM on January 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


"A briefly-popular meme suggesting movies to be remade with the same cast but for one character replaced by their Fursona."

I briefly read that as "A briefly-popular meme suggesting movies to be remade with the same cast but for one character replaced by Furiosa." And I thought, “I will subscribe to your Patreon.”
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:56 AM on January 6, 2022 [5 favorites]


I'd just like to say, here at the end of this thread, that yes, I am the one that put all of Firefly on fanfare. But it was way before we knew what a shitlord Joss Whedon is. I feel weird about it. Really weird.

I apologize. But I still like Firefly.

Probably because of folk like Drew Z. Greenberg.

The work is more than just one person. And I quote: "Yeah, but she's our witch."
posted by valkane at 10:03 AM on January 6, 2022 [7 favorites]


I don't even know what to do about the Whedon stuff I loved any more.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:24 AM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]


Here's an idea.

You know how when you go to take a (drug) piss-test, they turn off the faucet in the bathroom? I guess so you can't dilute the sample?

Anyway, If anyone wants to use this, I'm cool with 30% on the back end.

So, I'm thinking a dual thingy: it's an app on your phone that has three settings: steady stream, kitchen sink, and dishwasher.

Also, it's a box on the wall with a speaker and same three buttons.

I call it Ez Whizz. "your number one help when you need to go"
posted by valkane at 10:30 AM on January 6, 2022


I don't even know what to do about the Whedon stuff I loved any more.

I keep it right on a low dark shelf in the basement, next to JK Rowling and Margaret Atwood.
posted by mochapickle at 10:31 AM on January 6, 2022 [5 favorites]


I don't even know what to do about the Whedon stuff I loved any more.

Keep the stuff and throw Whedon himself out! Here's what I mean.

I was just getting rolling on my movie blog when the #MeToo movement started up - and it hit me that I was going to at some point be having to rewatch a lot of films featuring guys who were getting targeted. Deservedly targeted, I hasten to add.

However, I wasn't sure what to do about the films themselves - if I started leaving out films by problematic guys, I would have to throw out about 1/3 of the films I was going to be watching for my blog, and I wouldn't really have a point to my blog any more. But then I thought about an example of one such "cancellation" I watched go down in real time - a film that came out in 2016 about the Nat Turner slave rebellion called Birth Of A Nation. It got a lot of advance buzz from Sundance, it was getting a lot of good critical attention - but then it came out that the producer/director/star had a sex scandal from his past, a rape accusation from when he was in college that had gotten settled out of court. The film crashed and burned shortly thereafter.

The thing was, though, I knew one of the other actors in it, and the whole year leading up to the film's release he'd been talking about how excited he was for it to come out and how proud he was - and having to watch the whole film tank on him, because of something he didn't do himself, was heartbreaking. And the thing is - every one of those other projects by problematic guys has the same thing going on, where it's a whole team of people who were involved who get unfairly punished if we boycott the films because of one bad actor. In many cases, those other people involve were themselves victims.

So - I decided to just mentally excise the names of the bad dudes and focus on everyone else. So, like, in my head Annie Hall is "this brilliant film starring Diane Keaton" and The Usual Suspects is "this fabulous film with Gabriel Byrne in it". I've even made up a name, "Sid Meniscus", that I am going to use on my blog when I talk about these films so I can discuss the work of the problematic director/actor/writer/whoever without mentioning the real dude's name at all.

So - chuck Whedon out, and continue to enjoy this great Nathan Fillion TV series called Firefly. (I think it was created by this guy named Sid?)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:46 AM on January 6, 2022 [22 favorites]


Idle thought: we should have some sort of welcome thread, for new users. Not sure how it would work.
posted by signal at 10:55 AM on January 6, 2022 [6 favorites]


Could a welcome thread be perma-pinned to the front-page sidebar?
posted by mollweide at 11:17 AM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]


brainwane: However, wenestvedt completely made up the donut tradition which does not exist here.

Awww! Dammit, brainwane, I was trying to build something here -- something for all of us!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:23 PM on January 6, 2022 [5 favorites]


Too many holes in that design, wenestvedt.
posted by Kettle at 12:43 PM on January 6, 2022 [5 favorites]


Yeah, Kettle, you and your whole damn troop can just… can just…
posted by From Bklyn at 12:45 PM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]


If only there were something that would make these donuts even more delicious....
posted by jessamyn at 1:34 PM on January 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


Metafilter: A bigger Wiki!
posted by Oyéah at 2:08 PM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]


If only there were something that would make these donuts even more delicious....

You rang?
posted by Pot at 2:09 PM on January 6, 2022 [11 favorites]


Mod note: "Idle thought: we should have some sort of welcome thread, for new users. Not sure how it would work."

This is a thing staff is actively talking about and if you have ideas about how to make it work, hit us up in e-mail! (We may have a metatalk on it in the not-too-distant future.) We have a few ideas ourselves, but they're still marinating.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:12 PM on January 6, 2022 [4 favorites]


Something I just learned, browsing for info about this thread content. Lots of the old school houses in East Bakersfield, have wickets. I finally had to learn what a wicket is, because it sounds like wiki, and I have always heard the term, "That is a sticky wicket." So, a wicket is a small door inside a door. Like a little door, in the door, of a speakeasy, where you can speak safely, without opening your door. ALAS, I still don't get why a wicket would be sticky, and please don't explain it. The universe is witholding this from me for a reason.
posted by Oyéah at 2:17 PM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]


Sorry, I was immediately compelled to Google and the explanation seems to be cricket-related?
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:20 PM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]


That is one of the things and maybe it is sticky, because the shot is difficult at a certain angle to the wicket. I am gonna take a picture of this house's wicket to post elsewhere.
posted by Oyéah at 2:24 PM on January 6, 2022


The 1920s home in Sylmar I grew up in came with a full-time wicketkeeper. He lived in a little tin house next to ice delivery door at the kitchen. He did a good job at lubricating the wicket. But, nobody ever came to that door, and he was expensive to feed, so we had to turn him out. I hear he found a nice maiden over beyond the picket fences.
posted by eotvos at 2:49 PM on January 6, 2022 [6 favorites]


He did a good job at lubricating the wicket.

I'll bet he did, I'll bet he did, know what I mean, eh? Wink wink, nudge nudge, say n'more!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:54 PM on January 6, 2022 [5 favorites]


Welp, they just announced my work will continue to be closed to the public (not sure about my office specifically, but the org in general) until the end of January. Good job there. Hopefully my office won't insist on opening to the public if everything else isn't open.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:22 PM on January 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


I've been redoing the front yard—lots of sand, gravel, 20lb stones. I'm a little smarter than the rake, about the same smarts as the shovel, but the wheelbarrow is still the master. T-shirt weather here.

Oh...Don Juan's Burritos rule. Drive up and tell them what you want. Eat-in the parking lot. I'm not kidding.

Okay. I'm just killing time, waiting for the dump truck to get here with three more tons of sand. Being retired doesn't mean being tired again. Sometimes I have to have some help with my shoelaces, though.

Stay with me. I don't want to think about the midterms until I have to.
posted by mule98J at 3:24 PM on January 6, 2022 [5 favorites]


mule98J you had me a T-shirt weather...We've been in -25 Celsius or worse since Christmas. I'll come help with the yard for a bit.
posted by nubs at 3:32 PM on January 6, 2022


○○○○○○○
○○○○○○○
○, there, a baker's dozen.
posted by Oyéah at 5:23 PM on January 6, 2022 [4 favorites]


A 'sticky wicket' refers to cricket, as jenfullmoon suggested. Cricket is played on a grass surface that is rolled and compacted to be very hard. If it rains during a game, you'll see the groundskeepers rushing out with covers to protect that surface. When the rain gets to the surface anyway, it becomes kind of sticky and difficult to get the ball to bounce properly or predictably as its bowled. Hence, 'playing on a sticky wicket'.

The term is used much more commonly to refer to being in a difficult situation or one requiring some delicacy than being related to an actual sticky wicket.

Sorry, Oyéah - best you don't read this ;-)
posted by dg at 5:44 PM on January 6, 2022 [7 favorites]


They have wickets in croquet too! Those wire hoops out on the lawn. The last time I played croquet, there was a death.


(Just kidding!)
posted by Oyéah at 7:08 PM on January 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


So a violent, bloody death while playing croquet could also result in a sticky wicket is what you're saying?
posted by dg at 7:29 PM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]


Depends on how much blood got on the hoops...

and whether they're woody or tinny
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:07 PM on January 6, 2022 [2 favorites]


they also had a wicket in star wars, so it could be about him spilling honey on himself while setting up a like violent crushing log trap or something
posted by cortex at 8:11 PM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]


[screaming and running out of the room]
posted by not_on_display at 8:11 PM on January 6, 2022


So a violent, bloody death while playing croquet could also result in a sticky wicket is what you're saying?

In the book of The Shining, when Jack is really tracking his family around his hotel deep in his delusion, he's using an oversized croquet mallet from the oversize set the hotel had for use during the summer.

In the ABC mini-series (which has mixed reviews, but which I really really like), "watching" that mallet land is really quite visceral if you've bought into the ride.
posted by hippybear at 8:17 PM on January 6, 2022 [1 favorite]


So my current job is probably the easiest commute I've ever had - it is in my neighborhood, and even with my current bum knee, I could get there within about a half hour on foot. Ironically, though, my current job is also the most likely to declare snow days for people - and my boss is even more likely to give me snow days even when the office is open.

We got about 6 inches of snow here in New York, with the snow winding down at about 9 am. The skies are totally clear right now. But my boss said "just work from home today, it's a light day and the snow cleanup is gonna suck so screw it" and so I am happily sitting here with my work phone at the ready, sipping a cafe au lait and watching the birds in my bird feeder for just a few more moments before I go and start this slow cooker chicken recipe I can throw together for dinner without having to leave the house.

Life is good.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:34 AM on January 7, 2022 [12 favorites]


It is so very nice to see so many names here and in the meta that I haven't seen for so long.

Also, super cool to see new people!

Welcome!
Welcome Home!
Welcome Back!

What a truly wonderful thread.
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 7:12 AM on January 8, 2022 [4 favorites]


It's the most wonderful thread of the year.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 12:24 PM on January 8, 2022 [3 favorites]


If anyone knows a way around Scissor Fear that isn't "three muslins one of them in a cheaper version of the real cloth", or if you know there is no other way around it, hmu.

Just remember fabric can be substituted and it's a great way to make the project your own. Button-down shirts are the most difficult garments to make IMHO, but I found a fantastic cotton with green dinosaurs on it and bought as much as the shirt pattern required.

I spent an entire evening trying to get all the pattern pieces to fit on the dinosaur fabric but they just wouldn't and now I have a cool green dinosaur button-down whose inner collar band is black and white gingham.
posted by bendy at 5:52 PM on January 8, 2022 [5 favorites]


just wanted to share that it was a proud parent today whose child, playing nearby on their seventh birthday, selected only the word "motherfucker" to echo back at the tv from some program in which the dialog had been in german and french until one fantastically blue telephone conversation in english, heavy on the emphatic motherfucker. mother and i both did not react and kid went back to playing and soon enough mother selected a different program. someday i'll have to be, like, "think of the whole word and write down the sounds. you already know how to spell mother, right? so what's next?" and so on. not quite yet though. just the beaming silent pride for now.
dunno when i first learned or said it. first heard fuck (and recognized as forceful taboo language) from pop, on take-your-kid-to-work day, doing whatever quality management stuff he did, obviously very well, speaking on the phone with his feet up on his desk. (learned "shit" from sunday-school-bully... probably substantially earlier). what a magical time. but not motherfucker.

probably little lurk will report to friend at next playdate that, "yeah, i said it and my parents both just froze; no reaction at all. we'll have to get more data from the other kids."
posted by 20 year lurk at 10:25 PM on January 8, 2022 [6 favorites]


I was just carrying my phone tucked under my chin and flagged a comment as fantastic that I decidedly did not mean to flag!
posted by The Last Sockpuppet at 9:01 PM on January 9, 2022 [1 favorite]


I am in The Producers and we made it through a whole weekend without anyone getting sick from Covid! HUZZAH!!!!! *

* Three more weekends to go and I admit the odds are not good on that score for lasting through that. But at least I can say I've DONE the show, which is more than I can say for friends who still haven't managed to bring back the show that got canceled on opening night in March 2020.

Audiences are medium smallish to um, pretty smallish today--a lot of season tickets not being used, apparently--but what can you do. We have mask and vax requirements and HEPA filters and ah, plenty of spacing for people. Still going better than Broadway, I'm really glad we're not going barefaced for crowds thanks to the mask mandate.

I auditioned for another musical tonight, we'll see how it goes.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:40 PM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]


Alice's puppycam. It's up when it's up. They're still just fur dumplings and won't do anything very interesting for another week and a bit when they start stumbling around like drunks. Cute dumplings tho.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:55 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


Life was already good, life got even better -

Last month I was doing some extra double-duty at work (the CEO was between admins and I was covering him and my own boss while they looked for the new person). My friends and family all were asking if I'd get some kind of bonus or something as a result; I said I hadn't been promised one, but this job is so good I honestly wasn't fussed about it (and was satisfied with the increase in brownie points if that was all).

Today I just found out I'm getting a little more than just brownie points - they bumped my PTO allotment up effective immediately.

I LOVE THIS JOB AND THESE PEOPLE.

(NYC'ers - MeMail me if you are job hunting and curious, I cannot say enough good things about this company.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:03 AM on January 10, 2022 [4 favorites]


they bumped my PTO allotment up
Worth its weight in gold. Much like the jelly of the month club, it's the gift that keeps on giving.
posted by Tehhund at 8:16 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Worth its weight in gold.

Abso-freakin-lutely!

Incidentally, the jobs we have openings for are largely tech-oriented - software and IT management - and we have openings both here in NYC, and at our California office (in the Bay Area, but not in SF). So again let me know if you're on the hunt.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:52 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Fun reading for today: I got in trouble for wearing the same dress every day at Ask A Manager.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:00 AM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


David Byrne said, if you wear the same outfit every day, people will notice you more.
posted by thelonius at 9:09 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


The test of that would indicate that the response is gendered
posted by nubs at 9:43 AM on January 10, 2022


Yes, that's a lot of the responses as well is that it's gendered AF.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:46 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


You don't have to go home, and you are in fact allowed to stay here if you want, but letting y'all know there's also a new Free Thread.
posted by cortex at 11:06 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


Do we leave cookies and milk for Tehhund?
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 11:29 AM on January 10, 2022 [5 favorites]


Fun reading for today: I got in trouble for wearing the same dress every day at Ask A Manager.

I have a friend who was in that same dress challenge! To the best of my knowledge she did not have any trouble at work.
posted by jessamyn at 11:41 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


letting y'all know there's also a new Free Thread.
But we just got this one all wore in and comfortable like!
posted by dg at 1:43 PM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]


I got in trouble for wearing the same dress every day
I know I shouldn't be, but I still manage to be shocked by stupid shit like this.
posted by dg at 2:07 PM on January 10, 2022


The test of that would indicate that the response is gendered
I don't disagee with the broader point, because he didn't get in trouble for it, but

One (well-liked, competent, respected etc) member of a design team i worked with wore a white tee and black shorts to work every day. This was in london, so sometimes quite odd for the climate. This was defintely remarked on but not Remarked On, if you see what I mean. Until one fancy dress christmas party when his entire team came dressed as him. Quite sweet.
posted by ominous_paws at 11:09 PM on January 10, 2022 [2 favorites]


I don't think I've told this story yet.

In college, 2001-2002ish, I had a friend whose LiveJournal was always full of links to the coolest shit. Every couple days he'd post a link with a short explanation; just great, random websites.

One day I was in his room and saw his computer and asked what that blue page was. It turns out he was my MetaFilterFilter.

(Hi Alpha!)
posted by jermsplan at 6:14 PM on January 11, 2022 [3 favorites]


The test of that would indicate that the response is gendered
Undeniably true. But, as a cis het male grad student I got pulled aside by someone senior and told that if I wanted to be taken seriously as a scientist, I should stop dressing so fancy. Which meant wearing shirts with buttons, as far as I could tell. He's dead now. (I didn't kill him. I did silently attend his memorial.) Now I'm senior enough that nobody complains that I have 5 identical black short-sleeve shirts.
posted by eotvos at 6:48 PM on January 11, 2022 [3 favorites]


Does anyone read the posts down here?
posted by Eideteker at 9:21 PM on January 11, 2022 [2 favorites]


I did.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:15 PM on January 11, 2022 [3 favorites]


This is just to say
I have drunk
my urine
to cure
the Covid
and which
you probably thought
should be flushed
down the toilet
Forgive me
it's for the libs
so owned
and so triggered
posted by Jacqueline at 10:27 PM on January 11, 2022 [7 favorites]


(waves regally at the throngs amassed outside the gate, clamouring for relief from the pandemic)

Let them drink pee!

(... is maybe the most surreal moment in the last (ten minutes? Months? Years?) while. Will it become as popular as 'Ivermectin'? A nation anxiously waits and watches, eager to find out. (Or not because, Jesus Christ! They're talking about the prophylactic uses of drinking pee! WTF?!))
posted by From Bklyn at 5:59 AM on January 12, 2022 [2 favorites]


Who's in for starting a salt-lick COVID cure theory? The videos will be fun. Aside from all the dying that happens afterward.
posted by eotvos at 8:59 AM on January 12, 2022 [2 favorites]


hey late to the thread sorry but I just wanted to say I thoroughly agree with the person that said that thing a little ways upthread. kuuuUUuuUuuUUU-DOS
posted by not_on_display at 10:49 PM on January 14, 2022 [2 favorites]


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