Displaying post 1 to 50 of 258
I want to indicate that something is close enough to smell, but I want to do so in a way that matches these examples: "in sight" for close enough to see, "in reach" for close enough to touch, and "in earshot" for close enough to hear. I keep thinking there must be a simple and obvious way to phrase it, but right now I'm drawing a blank.
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 5:35 AM on December 20, 2011
(29 comments)
Are laptop keyboards really as easy to replace as the do-it-yourself articles make it sound?
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 3:27 PM on March 8, 2011
(15 comments)
"I couldn't care less" vs. "I could care less"... A
letter to Ann Landers in October 1960 is credited with starting the debate over "one of the great language peeves of our time."
Via.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:15 AM on October 31, 2010
(167 comments)
Soldier-Artists in Vietnam.
Flack jackets, pistols, iodine pills, insect lotion, sketch pads wrapped in plastic bags...
Jim Pollock was a member of the
Vietnam Combat Artist Program and this is his story (click through the links within the links to learn more).
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:24 AM on September 25, 2010
(7 comments)
The old lady always called me her boy... and she kept me in her room from the time that I was born until her death, then willed me to her son Samuel. When she was dying she called me to her bedside... Taking my hand in hers she told me to be a good boy and stay with Samuel. To Samuel she said, "Keep my boy as long as you live to remember me by." Larry Lapsley began life as someone else's property, but he managed to break free from his mistress' dying wish by way of a remarkable journey that would lead him to becoming the first black homesteader in Saline County, Kansas:
When I came to Salina I was twenty-five years old and was without schooling. I had never gone to school a day in my life and I haven't any education yet but there is one thing I have, a good home and plenty of friends.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:02 AM on September 18, 2010
(22 comments)
Though her nomination was a joke, instigated by a group of men hoping to inhibit the local activities of the Women's Christian Temperance Union by embarrassing female voters,
Susanna Madora "Dora" Kinsey Salter surprised the pranksters by winning two-thirds of the vote in the mayoral election of 1887 in tiny Argonia, Kansas, becoming not only America's first female mayor, but also earning the distinction of being the first woman elected to
any political office in the United States. Her official notice of election read:
Madam, You are hereby notified that at an election held in the city of Argonia on Monday April 4/87, for the purpose of electing city officers, you were duly elected to the office of Mayor of said city. You will take due notice thereof and govern yourself accordingly. Though she only served one term and had no further political ambitions, she became a hero of the early women's suffrage movement.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 10:45 AM on September 1, 2010
(28 comments)
The Gender-Neutral Pronoun: 150 Years Later, Still an Epic Fail.
Wordsmiths have been coining gender-neutral pronouns for a century and a half, all to no avail. Coiners of these new words insist that the gender-neutral pronoun is indispensable, but users of English stalwartly reject, ridicule, or just ignore their proposals. [Via].
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:19 AM on August 28, 2010
(122 comments)
What kinds of pranks and/or practical jokes could a time traveller pull on people from the past without changing history?
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 2:14 AM on August 8, 2010
(22 comments)
How many popular singers and musicians became preachers (or other religious/spiritual equivalents) later in life?
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 1:43 PM on June 5, 2010
(13 comments)
Do/did people have Alices? I'm referring to
The Brady Bunch's Alice -- a combination maid/cook/nanny who lived on site and was treated as a much-loved member of the family (with no outside life of her own aside from a mostly chaste relationship with Sam the butcher) while doing almost all of the real work of maintaining the household. Does/did this kind of role really exist in real life?
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 12:13 AM on May 29, 2010
(52 comments)
Wild Film History is a guide to over 100 years of wildlife filmmaking, highlighting landmark films (1959's
Serengeti Darf Nicht Sterben, aka Serengeti Shall Not Die -
Clip 1,
Clip 2) as well as historical relics (1910's
The Birth of a Flower -
Clip). Check out the links on the
Key Events page for an overview of how the genre developed. The site also features
biographies and
oral history interviews with pioneers (mostly U.K.-based) in the industry. A project of
Wildscreen.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:46 AM on May 1, 2010
(6 comments)
"For the month of March 2010, the city of Topeka will be known as
Google, Kansas." Mayor Bill Bunten says the proclamation is an attempt to
stand out from the crowd, as cities around the United States have until March 26 to tell Google they're interested in participating in the
Fiber for Communities program, part of the company's recently announced plans to build a series of superfast broadband networks across the country [
previously on MetaFilter]. Other cities are trying to get Google's attention, but Duluth, Minnesota, has
upped the ante by pledging to name its firstborn sons "Google Fiber" and its firstborn daughters "Googlette Fiber" in a
video [YouTube, 3:34] spoofing Topeka's efforts.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 7:13 PM on March 4, 2010
(47 comments)
Is it a bad thing to call oneself a "gringa" (if one is indeed a caucasian American female) when speaking with Latinos? (context inside)
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 6:57 PM on January 20, 2010
(27 comments)
Card Throwing. Can ordinary playing cards be used as
deadly weapons? Well, no, that myth was already
busted in 2004 (but it inspired some self-confessed nerds to
build their own card-throwing machines and
stage a contest). Even though it's not lethal, card throwing (also known as
card shooting and card scaling) is still an interesting and multifaceted skill. Check out some YouTube videos of card throwing champs
Ricky Jay and
Rick Smith Jr., as well as
other efforts.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:26 PM on January 15, 2010
(17 comments)
Audiophoolery: Pseudoscience in Consumer Audio.
You might think that a science-based field like audio engineering would be immune to the kind of magical thinking we see in other fields. Unfortunately, you would be wrong [...] As a consumerist, it galls me to see people pay thousands of dollars for fancy-looking wire that’s no better than the heavy lamp cord they can buy at any hardware store. Or magic isolation pads and little discs made from exotic hardwood that purport to “improve clarity and reduce listening fatigue,” among other surprising claims. The number of scams based on ignorance of basic audio science grows every day. Via.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:13 PM on January 11, 2010
(209 comments)
I need a list of things that are safe/not safe to do online in a public wifi environment.
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 10:20 PM on December 23, 2009
(35 comments)
Bogus! Why do fakes get made? Why do people fall for hoaxes? Greed, pride, revenge, nationalism, pranks, and gullibility mix in an archaeological setting. Archaeology Magazine examines eight classic cases, and more.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 9:25 PM on December 23, 2009
(6 comments)
In their heyday in the 1960s and '70s, "spaghetti westerns" redefined a genre.
The Spaghetti Western Database has a
Beginner's Guide to the Spaghetti Western, a tribute to
Sergio Leone, and
Top 20 viewing lists, including Quentin Tarantino's
favorites.
A Fistful of Pasta has its own
Essential Top 20 and an article about
Spaghetti Westerns and Politics.
Shobary's Spaghetti Westerns has
trailers and
bloopers.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 8:01 AM on October 24, 2009
(24 comments)
Tell me some scary and/or mysterious things that are local to your area, but not necessarily well-known to the rest of the world.
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 8:11 PM on September 30, 2009
(65 comments)
Symbolic Gestures.
How, exactly, does a simple picture go about telling you, "Be careful here. It's cold, and sometimes ice forms on the roof, and it can fall off, and it can be sharp, and that can hurt you"? Inspired by the upcoming Ken Burns documentary,
The National Parks: America's Best Idea, Jesse Smith of The Smart Set examines the pictograph designs that convey important information to park visitors.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 9:12 AM on July 31, 2009
(35 comments)
Just released:
Saddam Hussein Talks to the FBI.
FBI special agents carried out 20 formal interviews and at least 5 "casual conversations" with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after his capture by U.S. troops in December 2003, according to secret FBI reports released as the result of Freedom of Information Act requests by the National Security Archive. Via
this Washington Post article.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 8:38 AM on July 2, 2009
(25 comments)
Here's something interesting you can do with those clear plastic buffer discs that come in stacks of blank CDs:
Blow a looooong bubble that looks like a condom. Here's
another example. Here's a doubter
trying it for himself. Apparently you can do it with actual CDs too, at least
according to this post at English Russia. There are
lots more videos of CD bubbles on YouTube, showing varying levels of success.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:00 AM on June 30, 2009
(21 comments)
Dreaming of Nonsense: The Evolutionary Enigma of Dream Content.
Why on earth do our minds conjure up such ridiculous imagery, such inane thoughts, such spectacularly vivid and surreal landscapes, intense emotions—such narrative trash?
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:18 PM on June 26, 2009
(14 comments)
Are multi-dog leashes easier than separate leashes? Please give me your thoughts on, and/or recommendations for, multi-dog leashes. [personal specs, and probably too much information, inside]
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 2:09 PM on June 10, 2009
(12 comments)
This
question was deleted (and we all figured it would be), but I'm curious: What if it was for real? Did the mods contact the asker? Did he confess to it being a joke? If he said it was a joke, did you believe him? What if he really does have a dead body in his apartment? Do we just say "Oh well" or do the mods try to contact the authorities?
posted to MetaTalk by amyms
at 6:13 PM on May 30, 2009
(91 comments)
The Problem With Young People Today Is... Self-described "crabby old fart"
Donald Mills has some colorful opinions about "God damned teenagers."
Via.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:29 AM on May 24, 2009
(70 comments)
"In Massachusetts, a young woman makes genetically modified E. coli in a closet she converted into a home lab. A part-time DJ in Berkeley, Calif., works in his attic to cultivate viruses extracted from sewage. In Seattle, a grad-school dropout wants to breed algae in a personal biology lab.
These hobbyists represent a growing strain of geekdom known as biohacking, in which do-it-yourselfers tinker with the building blocks of life in the comfort of their own homes." They might be discovering cures for diseases or developing new biofuels, but are their experiments too risky?
Via.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:23 AM on May 19, 2009
(101 comments)
There are times when having a fully developed brain can almost seem like an impediment. Are babies more aware of the world around them than adults are? Can "thinking like a baby" lead us to be more in tune with our creativity and our ability to learn? Scientists have taken a new look inside the baby mind, which is "unfocused, random, and extremely good at what it does."
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:47 PM on May 1, 2009
(38 comments)
Why do mummies scream? Are screaming mummies really testaments to horrific deaths? Or are they the result of natural processes, botched or ad hoc mummification jobs, or the depredations of tomb robbers? Archaeology Online examines the science and history behind the gape-mouthed "masks of agony" seen on some mummies, and explores their portrayal in entertainment and pop culture. The article includes lots of interesting and informative additional links.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 5:26 PM on March 30, 2009
(33 comments)
I need some fun and creative euphemisms for telling someone his/her fly is open.
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 2:35 AM on March 26, 2009
(39 comments)
Once dubbed the Picture of the Century, the first
Earthrise, photographed in 1966 by NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1, presented "a stunning juxtaposition of planet and moon that no earthling had ever seen before." After initially inspiring awe, the original image was almost destroyed. In the mad rush of the space race, the pictures and data from early missions were warehoused and forgotten. Many at NASA believed that the original high-resolution images, stored on fragile tapes that could only be read by obsolete equipment, would be nearly impossible to retrieve, but
one woman was determined to see them restored.
Via.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:20 AM on March 26, 2009
(37 comments)
The bumping off of a famous person is the
sort of oyster that any detective delights to open, so you can just bet the
family jewels that I was pretty much elated when my Chief, the late Thomas
Lee Woolwine, District Attorney of Los Angeles County, called me into his
private office on the morning of February 3rd, 1922, and assigned me to
represent his office in the investigation of this greatest of all murder
mysteries. -- Excerpted from an article archived at
Taylorology, a site exploring the life and death of William Desmond Taylor, a silent movie actor and director whose unsolved murder was among the earliest Hollywood true crime scandals. Researcher
Bruce Long first published his accumulated information about the case as a small fanzine which evolved into a monthly electronic newsletter and is now a vast archive of articles and interviews, official documents, photos, and more. Although the Taylor case is the main focus, there's also a wealth of supplemental information about the silent film industry and its stars.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:58 AM on February 22, 2009
(7 comments)
Jim, The Wonder Dog. During the height of the Great Depression, a "plain black and white setter" entertained and mystified the citizens of Missouri with his "extraordinary cleverness" and his seemingly inexplicable ability to foretell the future.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:41 AM on February 21, 2009
(5 comments)
I regard myself as a woman who has seen much of life. Belle Starr, also known as the
Bandit Queen, was a well-educated "
spoiled, rich girl" who grew up to prefer the
company of outlaws. Her unconventional life inspired song lyrics [
1,
2,
3,
4], movies [
1,
2,
3], even manga [
1,
2].
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:51 AM on December 27, 2008
(9 comments)
GUILTY! This word, so replete with sadness and sorrow, fell on my ear on that blackest of all black Fridays, October 14, 1887. And so begins John N. Reynolds'
The Twin Hells: A Thrilling Narrative of Life in the Kansas and Missouri Penitentiaries, a very detailed and eventful memoir originally published in 1890, archived online in its entirety (including illustrations).
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:56 AM on December 14, 2008
(11 comments)
Computer Diagnostic Help and Interpretation, Please: My son inherited an 8-year-old Dell Dimension L933r from his grandpa. It had been upgraded to Windows XP and had an additional hard drive installed. It was working smoothly for us for almost a year, but recently it went into an infinite reboot loop (which we couldn't resolve ourselves) and we took it to an independent computer repair guy (details and questions inside).
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 2:39 PM on December 13, 2008
(16 comments)
The stuff of legend, Van Halen's "No brown M&Ms" concert rider (most recently mentioned on MetaFilter
here) has made the rounds by word of mouth, and word of internet, for years. Now, the Van Halen 1982 World Tour backstage rider has been found. It consists of 53 typewritten pages and contains the M&Ms prohibition - which actually says
M & M's (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES) - as well as other interesting demands, excerpted at The Smoking Gun.
Via.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:38 PM on December 12, 2008
(91 comments)
Necessary Angels.
They are not doctors. They are not nurses. They are illiterate women from India's Untouchable castes. Yet as trained village health workers, they are delivering babies, curing disease, and saving lives—including their own. Photo Gallery.
Video.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 8:11 AM on December 11, 2008
(14 comments)
Martha "Sunny" von Bulow
died this weekend at a nursing home in New York City, nearly 28 years after being found unconscious at her
Rhode Island estate (and subsequently falling into an irreversible coma) in December 1980. Her husband Claus, who obviously became
a controversial figure, was found guilty of her attempted murder (the alleged method being an overdose of insulin), but his conviction was overturned on appeal and he received a second trial in which he was acquitted.
The sensational case, which featured testimony from many notables including Truman Capote, attracted worldwide publicity and rocked high society. It spawned numerous books, television shows and a 1990
movie.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:49 PM on December 6, 2008
(27 comments)
I need help with a pronoun issue. In the following sentences, what noun is the word
it replacing?
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 8:10 AM on December 5, 2008
(11 comments)
Never Say Die: Why We Can't Imagine Death.
Why do we wonder where our mind goes when the body is dead? Shouldn’t it be obvious that the mind is dead, too? Examining self-consciousness and mortality.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 10:07 PM on October 16, 2008
(219 comments)
Obviously we all love Metafilter or we wouldn't be here posting and reading day after day... But, if there was one thing you could change/modify about your Metafilter experience, what would it be?
posted to MetaTalk by amyms
at 11:16 PM on October 4, 2008
(260 comments)
When I was growing up, I did not dress up as a nun for Halloween. When I was a young, impressionable Catholic school girl, I did not secretly (or otherwise) pine for the veils, habits, odd religious names, and overall mystique of the nuns who taught me. The whole “nun” thing kind of snuck up on me when I wasn’t paying much attention. A Nun's Life is the eclectic personal blog of
Sister Julie, a
Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and a
Star Wars fangirl.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 8:37 PM on October 4, 2008
(18 comments)
I'm recovering from a bout of pneumonia for which I was prescribed a 5-day course of Azithromycin. I'm feeling much better, but I'm bothered by tinnitus. Googling has revealed that my antibiotic may have cause this. If so, will it go away eventually and/or is there anything specific I can do to help it go away? I really don't want to - and can't afford to - pay for another doctor visit if this is something that will go away on its own.
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 8:09 PM on October 2, 2008
(10 comments)
"We're having him do what our 13-year-olds do. But Bernie was doing things the rest of us shudder to imagine when he was 13." Holocaust survivor Bernie Marks is preparing for his bar mitzvah,
65 years late.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:13 AM on September 14, 2008
(13 comments)
I love you because you play awesome songs on the jukebox. Who are you? Come here, we can talk. That's Number
165 from
300 Love Letters (but there are really 400 and
here's why, and here's an
explanation of the project itself).
Asia Wong's other projects.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:51 AM on September 7, 2008
(26 comments)
Photo Tampering Through History. A regularly-updated collection, from 1860 to present, of examples of photo manipulation. Sometimes the changes are made for historical revisionism, sometimes for political maneuvering, and sometimes it's just a "wtf?" The page is part of a larger body of work by Dartmouth's
Hany Farid, who has some
other interesting
goodies online.
[Warning for the Pepsi Blue detectives: In some of his pages, he's shilling for his consulting services]
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:20 AM on August 30, 2008
(29 comments)
Long before people called themselves Muslims or Hindus, long before they fought and died over these or any labels... water dripped and froze inside the Amarnath Cave at the heart of Kashmir. Amarnath Cave
official site. Amarnath Cave
pilgrimage. Amarnath
virtual tour. Wikipedia's page on the
Amarnath land transfer.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 2:49 AM on August 16, 2008
(14 comments)
"On the clock striking twelve he appeared slightly agitated, but he soon recovered, walked twice or thrice along the coach house, stopped to bark, staggered, exclaimed 'Halloa old girl!' (his favorite expression) and died... The children seem rather glad of it. He bit their ankles, but that was play..." So wrote Charles Dickens, describing the death of his pet raven "Grip," in a letter to a friend.
Grip has an interesting legacy. Having served as an eponymous character in Dickens'
Barnaby Rudge [full text] and subsequently inspiring Edgar Allan Poe's
The Raven [full text], Grip has the distinction of being named a
literary landmark. His
taxidermied body is on display in the Rare Book Department at the Philadelphia Free Library.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 12:02 PM on August 13, 2008
(19 comments)
