I love that they have a section specifically for "doll transport."
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:47 AM on July 19, 2008

The soundtrack to that video was ridiculous. I love watching glassblowers work. For a while some years ago, PBS showed a documentary about Dale Chihuly's workshop, like twice a day. I would watch it anytime it happened to be on, over and over. There's something about it looking so fluid, then cooling for like a minute, and all of a sudden, they break a piece off. It's awesome.

Evidently, it was hard to get the slide tubes parallel and even, as you can hear... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:49 AM on July 12, 2008

I've seen people recommend this tool for downloading all of your photos. It doesn't look like it's been updated recently, so I'm not sure how it will handle any videos you might have. Also, I think it might just be for Windows. There's also this flickredit.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 5:36 AM on June 19, 2008

quotheraven, thanks so much for the link to that documentary! I'll be watching it tonight. It looks amazing. I love watching clothes being made. (I actually like watching anything being made -- I loved those videos from Sesame Street and Mr. Roger's where they would show crayons or ice cream or whatever being made).
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 5:38 AM on June 18, 2008

Isabella Rosellini is an obvious freak. And I hate to tell you, but she is not hot anymore.

I hope I'm just as freaky as she is at her age. Also, she might not be hot, but I think she's just so beautiful. I like that she's still doing really experimental, creative things. She's awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 1:24 PM on May 9, 2008

My favorite moment in the trailer is the Grace Lee that says she and her brother were never told they were adopted; they just always knew it. The picture of her family is really hilarious.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:27 PM on April 17, 2008

I'm sure no one is reading this thread anymore, but Locative, the gag is that her family looks nothing like her. They are all white people. The picture itself and the way she says it is just funny.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 1:10 PM on May 8, 2008

Man, what a well-written story. I think the whole race/guilt thing is so true. I have to say I've always been a bit cavalier with my personal safety. In college, I would walk alone at night all the time; I didn't have a boyfriend, or anyone else to walk me home, and I wasn't going to stay home on a weekend night. I also like to strike up conversations with strangers. I probably would have checked out the lights with DAVE. After reading this, I feel I should probably be a little more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:06 PM on May 6, 2008

The fugu is also a model organism for researchers. It's genome is about an eighth of the size of the human genome, but it contains a similar number of genes to the number we have. It's DNA is also rather nonrepetitive which makes ideal for study. More here. Fugu (fugus? what's the plural?) are cool.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 8:18 AM on April 30, 2008

Besides, we don't say "trouts" or "salmons" or "sturgeons", so my speculation aobut the influence of the lack of a Japanese plural suffix probably isn't even the key thing!

Yeah, I thought about carp and tuna after I posted. Maybe it's a fish thing.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 1:49 PM on April 30, 2008

Here's more information on the neurotoxin. It seems that the fugu might not actually have a gene which codes for a pathway to produce the poison. Evidence suggests that bacteria that live inside the fish produces it. Maybe this is why fugu bred in captivity don't have as much of the toxin because they don't eat/come into contact with this bacteria.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 6:14 PM on April 30, 2008

Some departments stores will do this for you. I once bought some shoes at a Nordstroms. The left shoe was a 7N and the right was a 7M. The clerk was really nice in letting me mismatch them. I joked about what he would do if I had a size 8 left foot instead, and he seriously said that he gets 1-2 customers a year who need completely different sizes of shoes for each foot, and the store tries to accommodate them. I guess if it's only 1-2 people per year, it's not that bad. I don't know what... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 3:15 PM on April 13, 2008

I like that bubble one timb.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 9:46 AM on January 13, 2008

I wonder if they were the inspiration for the maiden aunts on Pushing Daisies (the TV show). I think it's sad that they never extended their family by getting married and/or having kids. I'll send a card.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 10:02 AM on December 9, 2007

I'm sad a Sarah Caudwell mystery didn't make the list. I think at least one of her novels them made the New York Times Notable books list. They were at least as cleverly written as Agatha Christie's books. She had such snappy dialogue. She died a few years ago.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 9:14 AM on December 3, 2007

Oh, well I see Caudwell made the list taz linked to, so that makes me feel better (and shows how arbitrary these things are -- but still fun!)
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 9:22 AM on December 3, 2007

I kind of agree with Queenan. Although, I don't think Knocked Up is that bad, mainly because Seth Rogen is a little bit endearing and very young; and for the reasons MattD stated. Worse is the movie Sideways. I found the Paul Giamatti character utterly repellent. It seemed completely unrealistic for someone as bodacious as Virginia Madsen's character to go for him. She was beautiful and kind and was working on becoming a sommelier, so she had a future. Miles was just a jackass and a whiny... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 2:34 PM on October 7, 2007

I have to say for a prescription as high as mine, that $39 place isn't that cheap. I think it's an additional $70 to get thinner lenses (with some sort of "surfacing"). My last pair was $150 from Pearle. I got a pair that are far more stylish than the ones on that site, I got to try them on before buying them, and the optician fit them to my face. Plus, they came in 3 days.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 11:41 AM on September 21, 2007

The New York Times put out a book of their obituaries as well; I think it was called "The Last Word." They also had a recent Q&A with their obits writers. I had no idea those sections of newspapers were so popular. I've never been one to read obituaries, but after looking at this link, I think I might start.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 5:10 PM on July 27, 2007

So are they advertising for Uniqlo? (as someone linked above). Although when I clicked on the dry polo shirts, it didn't take me to a place I could buy them. I assumed they were advertising for the shirts because the girl could dance in it without getting sweaty.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:54 PM on July 27, 2007

There's a lot of information left out of the blog entry. Which software is being used?

There's more info in this comment (including the music choice).
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:15 PM on June 13, 2007

That Jimmy Kimmel interview is really painful. I can't believe they didn't jump in to help him out (although Guillermo did give him a hug at the end, but that didn't seem to mollify him). It's interesting to contrast that with the interview he did with the Scrabble team champs. Those kids don't seem "media savvy," per se, just normal and having fun.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:48 PM on June 8, 2007

This is fantastic. Like that good night mr. snoozleberg but really pretty.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:52 AM on May 25, 2007

In Jeff Adams' defense: he's a guy who thinks math is really cool, and he just completed a project that people in the world of math thought was really difficult, maybe impossible. I think he was just trying to convey the enormity and excitement of what he had done.

The Good Math, Bad Math link and the AIM press release both say that this result will have implications in quantum physics including string theory and supergravity. So it does have some usefulness in that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 7:25 PM on March 19, 2007

Yeah, XQUZYPHYR, it seemed weird that the last guy didn't bet more. In fact it seemed a bit pat, as if he bet $2600 just in case the others bet everything and won, so there would be a three-way tie. That was probably a good guess since they were both tied for second, and game theory suggests you should bet it all in that situation. I was also underwhelmed by Alex's reaction, but they do wrap the show up rather quickly. Maybe before the next show on Monday, he'll be a bit more excited.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 6:23 AM on March 17, 2007

He is only the third politician on the show in recent years - first ladies Barbara Bush and Hillary Clinton have also appeared.

I seem to recall Ralph Nader coming on the show (if you consider him a politician). He was one of the "people in your neighborhood." It was kind of funny because they went from singing a "fireman is a person in your neighborhood" to a "consumer advocate is a person in your neighborhood." I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 5:55 AM on December 14, 2001

The McDonald's near my university has faux marble floors and a sort of art deco interior. It has all these silk plants around as well. I always feel odd going there because you would expect to get a quality sandwich or tea, and you're left with Chicken nuggets. It is also losing out to the pretty standard Burger King down the street that is open 24 hours.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 6:06 AM on December 7, 2001

I actually went to the exhibit at the National Gallery in London. The painting they were tracking was one of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. It was really interesting that most people's glances followed a set pattern starting with the middle flower 3/4 of the way up. But there were also lots of people whose gaze went straight to the artist's name to make sure it was something famous enough to be worth their while, which is kind of sad. There was also a huge screen with a movie of an eye blinking on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 6:56 PM on October 24, 2001

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH was always really cool.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 9:13 AM on October 8, 2001

Oops! Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 9:15 AM on October 8, 2001

I am always struck by the differences between the New York City subway and the London Underground. I have always felt the transit systems are an accurate reflection of the Americans and the British respectively. I have seen lots of tourists wearing T-Shirts with a British flag and the words "Mind the Gap" on them, which is what is written on the platform in the Underground. But even more apropos (and hiliarious) would be a New Yorker wearing a shirt with an American flag and the words "Step... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 10:30 AM on August 23, 2001

I know it's for kids, but I always kill time with Goodnight Mr. Snoozleberg.
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 10:21 AM on June 26, 2001

Actually the joke message on the Joke A Day website contains phrases such as

"failure to remove this file will keep your "upper memory management" module of your intelligence quotient (IQ over 85) blocked. deleting aol.exe will free your IQ to go above 85!!! "
and
"deleting this file will allow you to spell correctly and use the english language properly. "

I would think that even a computer novice would sense the sarcasm... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:40 PM on June 11, 2001