Displaying post 1 to 50 of 246
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
"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)
When Jamaican-born
Mary Seacole, an experienced nurse, volunteered her services to the British Army during the Crimean War, she was rejected. Undaunted, she travelled to Crimea at her own expense and built a "mess-table and comfortable quarters," which she called the "British Hotel," and began taking care of soldiers. Her work was snubbed by Florence Nightingale, who called Seacole "a woman of bad character" and insinuated that the convalescent hotel was little more than a bordello, but Mary was beloved by the men in her care who called her "Mother Seacole." Her autobiography,
Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands [link goes to full text and illustrations], was published a year after the war ended. Mary, who was feted by high-ranking military men and high-born civilians, went on to other nursing-related pursuits, including a stint as personal masseuse to Alexandra, Princess of Wales. Her work in Crimea was but one highlight in a very interesting life.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 10:05 AM on August 12, 2008
(11 comments)
Saving D'oh: How one blogger learned about "cheap, healthy eating" by watching
The Simpsons. The readers' comments are fun too.
Via.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 8:22 PM on August 10, 2008
(39 comments)
Anything but clear.
It is well known that panes of stained glass in old European churches are thicker at the bottom because glass is a slow-moving liquid that flows downward over centuries. Well known, yes, but long known to be
wrong. Scientists still disagree about the nature of glass, and researchers continue to try to understand its
dual personality .
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 3:57 PM on July 29, 2008
(15 comments)
Is (or
was, since it sounds quaint now) the phrase "the birds and the bees" mostly an American thing or is it also used in other english-speaking countries as a euphemism in reference to sex education. What other euphemisms or idioms are used around the world within the context of sex education (not formal sex education in a classroom setting, more along the lines of "The Talk" parents have with their kids). I'm interested in phrases used in other languages too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 1:24 AM on July 24, 2008
(25 comments)
Butch Cassidy wanted to call his gang The Train Robber's Syndicate, but the name never stuck. The gang's core members - most notable among them
The Sundance Kid - and a revolving cast of supporting outlaws were most commonly called The
Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and
The Wild Bunch, and their goal was to be the most successful train robbers in history. The
Butch and Sundance site is a comprehensive collection of "the hundreds, if not thousands, of theories, legends and folk tales" surrounding the gang, including an exhaustive
list of biographies of the members, their associates, the lawmen who pursued them and the women who loved them, an
archive of transcribed news articles dating from the 1880s (including a
letter to the editor from Sundance himself), a
picture gallery and more.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:39 PM on July 22, 2008
(26 comments)
In November 1943, the
village of Tyneham in Dorset, England, received an
unexpected letter from the War Department, informing residents that the area would soon be "cleared of all civilians" to make way for Army weapons training. A month later, the displaced villagers left a note on their church door:
Please treat the church and houses with care; we have given up our homes where many of us lived for generations to help win the war to keep men free. We shall return one day and thank you for treating the village kindly. Residents were told they would be allowed to reclaim their homes after the war, but that didn't happen, and Tyneham became a
ghost village. Though most of the cottages have been damaged or fallen into disrepair, the church and school have been preserved and restored. Photo galleries
1,
2,
3,
4. Panoramic
tour [Java required]. Video:
Death of a Village [YouTube, 9 mins.]
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:11 AM on July 10, 2008
(20 comments)
‘Even to this day the diary has a slight aroma of cocoa,’ says Steve Dickinson about a
diary kept by his uncle Robert Dickinson while a prisoner at
Servigliano, an Italian war camp, in the 1940s. The diary has a cover made of old cocoa tins (hence the smell) with a broadcast aerial design incorporating the title 'Servigliano Calling.' It begins with his capture by the Germans in November 1941, and finishes, about six months before his death, in September 1944. Via
The Diary Junction blog.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 8:54 PM on July 2, 2008
(14 comments)
Iced tea is my main summertime beverage. I usually drink it completely plain. I am not a fan of "sweet tea," but I'd like to experiment with adding different flavors, the more unusual the better. Any suggestions?
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms
at 1:04 AM on June 25, 2008
(30 comments)
The Great Moon Hoax of 1835. During the last week of August 1835, the
New York Sun published a six-part article about the discovery - purportedly by renowned astronomer Sir John Herschel - of fantastical life on the moon, including herds of bison, blue unicorns, "a primitive tribe of hut-dwelling, fire-wielding biped beavers, and a race of winged humans living in pastoral harmony around a mysterious, golden-roofed temple." The public's reaction was a mix of credulity and skepticism. Read the full text of the serialized articles:
Part 1,
Part 2,
Part 3,
Part 4,
Part 5,
Part 6.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 11:12 PM on June 24, 2008
(37 comments)
Baby Bust! After 200 years of exponential population growth, and just four decades after overpopulation doomsaying began filling the bestseller lists, the First World is suddenly gripped with underpopulation hysteria. The governments of the developed world have always maintained an interest in birthrates and procreation, but the reasons why are changing, and the ensuing demographic debates about gender, race and culture are "ideologically fraught and scientifically questionable."
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 10:42 AM on June 16, 2008
(120 comments)
