When you first hear of a shrimp breaking out of it's tank, the prospect isn't really frightening. But when you learn that the mantis shrimp has punched through the glass container, it becomes a little more serious.
posted to MetaFilter by thatbrunette at 9:56 PM on July 20, 2008 (68 comments)

A tasty chocolate cake you can make from scratch in five minutes. In the microwave. In a mug. Other 5-minute variations include peanut butter chocolate cake (picture), jello cake (picture), and spice cake
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah at 9:15 AM on July 21, 2008 (79 comments)

Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 came out in 2004, and was received with mixed reviews. Four years later, hobbyists of the game continue to take it to a whole other level. You may have already seen links to the creative ways to devastate in RCT3. A whole other group of fans, however, have gone on to create highly detailed parks and ride recreations. They use customized textures and mods to create massive architectural works that require hundreds--sometimes over thousands--of hours of work.
posted to MetaFilter by The ____ of Justice at 3:29 PM on July 21, 2008 (41 comments)

"Meat Vision" allows Bacon Boy to propel sausages and corn dogs out of his eye sockets - A young man's art therapy produced a hero, Bacon Boy, and has been chosen by the Tacoma Museum of Glass as part of a traveling exhibit, "Kids Design Glass".
posted to MetaFilter by nomisxid at 1:49 PM on June 30, 2008 (15 comments)

I am looking to get a mixer for my podcast, 300 bucks or less. I would like to get the Alesis IMULTIMIX8USB but I'm not sure if the recording to ipod is worth the extra 100 bucks. Can someone recommend a good usb or firewire mixer?
posted to Ask Metafilter by clockworkjoe at 11:28 AM on January 1, 2008 (5 comments)

Wherever you go in the United States, Chinese restaurants are suspiciously similar. What's the deal?
posted to Ask Metafilter by greenie2600 at 12:36 PM on July 11, 2008 (35 comments)

Bacon is dead! Long live bacon! is the title of a Salon.com article on the current wave of popularity the pork product is now surfing. Featuring a killer doughnut photo on the first page.
posted to MetaFilter by zardoz at 10:04 PM on July 9, 2008 (51 comments)

This is the city, Los Angeles California. I work Here. I carry a badge. My name's Friday.
posted to MetaFilter by tylerfulltilt at 10:40 PM on July 9, 2008 (49 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)

"The drug's effectiveness inspired an elegant theory, known as the chemical hypothesis: Sadness is simply a lack of chemical happiness. The little blue pills cheer us up because they give the brain what it has been missing. There's only one problem with this theory of depression: it's almost certainly wrong, or at the very least woefully incomplete."

How Prozac sent the science of depression in the wrong direction, from the Boston Globe.
posted to MetaFilter by zardoz at 7:53 PM on July 6, 2008 (56 comments)

2 July 1863, second day of Gettysburg. Sickles has pulled his III Corps -- without orders -- off of Cemetery Ridge and positioned it a half mile in front of the rest of the Union lines. Longstreet smashes the hapless III Corps and its men are in full flight. Hancock rides back and forth inside the gaping hole left by Sickles. Below him, almost 2000 men of Wilcox's brigade are charging up the slope. They will gain a foothold on the ridge and be reinforced by Lee. As Longstreet pins down the Union left, Lee will roll up the center and right of the Northern army and chase them from the field. He will then march on and take Washington before turning north along the eastern seaboard. Lee will capture and burn Philadelphia and Boston in his March Along the Sea, chasing the Northern government from city to city until Lincoln finally sues for peace and the union is no more. Suddenly, a line of blue-coated soldiers comes into Hancock's view. "My God, is this all the men here? Who are you?" "1st Minnesota, sir." "See those colors?", says Hancock, pointing at the flags of the oncoming Confederates, "Take them."
posted to MetaFilter by forrest at 5:45 AM on July 2, 2008 (82 comments)

I'm researching viral marketing campaigns, and I'm looking for some of the best and worst examples out there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Prevailing Southwest at 1:49 PM on April 3, 2008 (23 comments)

Metafilter vs. the BoingBoing Problem -- lessons learned, actions to be taken?
posted to MetaTalk by felix at 11:58 AM on July 2, 2008 (205 comments)

Did a 'dream team' of biblical scholars mislead millions? [Chronicle of Higher Education] You may recall the curfuffle over the gnostic "Gospel of Judas" (previously). The National Geographic's documentary premiere "attracted four million viewers, making it the second-highest-rated program in the channel's history, behind only a documentary on September 11. . . . However, it's a perfect example, critics argue, of what can happen when commercial considerations are allowed to ride roughshod over careful research. What's more, the controversy has strained friendships in this small community of religion scholars — causing some on both sides of the argument to feel, in a word, betrayed."
posted to MetaFilter by spock at 7:48 AM on June 30, 2008 (142 comments)

What is the formal Latin name of this rhetorical device?
posted to Ask Metafilter by whir at 6:18 PM on August 20, 2007 (12 comments)

Blessed be Baconhenge.... (via)
posted to MetaFilter by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:25 AM on June 17, 2008 (15 comments)

Authentic Regional Mexican food in San Diego. Where "regional" ≠ Tijuana/TexMex.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ragma at 9:20 AM on July 1, 2008 (8 comments)

Without explanation, all of Violet Blue's posts have been removed from Boing Boing, raising serious questions about ethics and revisionism that run contra to the thoughtful declarations of blogging pioneers. Is this hypocritical in light of BB's own public bouts with censorship? Or does this reflect an altogether different loss of control?
posted to MetaFilter by ed at 9:58 AM on June 30, 2008 (2338 comments)

How would I drill a hole through an extracted human tooth without shattering it?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mediocre at 2:40 PM on June 16, 2008 (11 comments)

Help me find real-world magic items.
posted to Ask Metafilter by MrVisible at 12:34 PM on June 17, 2008 (47 comments)

Who would win in a fight: A minotaur with a trident or a centaur with a crossbow? Surely one of the great questions of of our time. Luckily the cast of Battlestar Galactica is on hand to answer. Basic cable scifi show not credible? Ask the cast of The Wire instead.
posted to MetaFilter by robocop is bleeding at 2:33 PM on March 21, 2008 (94 comments)

Do you believe in ghosts on film? The history and controversy of spirit photography.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms at 8:10 PM on March 21, 2008 (41 comments)

Brilliant Women: The Blue Stocking Circle was a group of intellectuals with a strong desire to discuss, analyze, and examine the social, political, and educational problems of the day Mostly female intellectuals, but they included many prominent men as well. They assembled in the London homes of literary hostesses such as Elizabeth Montagu, Frances Boscawen and Elizabeth Vesey in the 1750s form the nucleus of the exhibition. .... At first, all the party-goers were nicknamed blues, but from the 1770s, the "bluestocking" tag was applied to the women members in particular. By the time of Montagu's death in 1800, any female intellectual might be labelled a bluestocking, whether or not she could claim a link to the original circle.
posted to MetaFilter by caddis at 8:25 PM on March 21, 2008 (10 comments)

How do you do this in css? Meaning, specifically, the plotting of pictures in specific spots like that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by By The Grace of God at 2:48 PM on March 18, 2008 (11 comments)

Behold, a tribute to the early work of Tom Hanks... Scene 1: OMG Minotaur! Scene 2: Attack of the Michael Jackson video dudes! Scene 3: Unintentionally poignant! Scene 4: OMG lost in NYC! Scene 5: Far out!
posted to MetaFilter by Mister_A at 2:27 PM on July 6, 2007 (25 comments)

Coverville is a wonderful, podcast which collects covers grouped by various themes.
posted to MetaFilter by shothotbot at 9:35 AM on March 6, 2008 (14 comments)

It's a bigger business. than you knew. International even. So big that there’s a secondary market of replicas of originals. Some are big, but some are tiny yet very ambitious about collecting. Many choose to build their own, and often they painstakingly document the process. And yes, there is a main watering hole where they ALL gather.
posted to MetaFilter by asavage at 9:56 PM on December 18, 2007 (40 comments)

An ode to some of the more vibrant personas and memorable events in Metafilter history -- and an homage to the classic tune by The Nails. Lyrics with tremendous amounts of annotation inside.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 10:47 PM on February 14, 2007 (91 comments)

"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed." A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling memoir and that she did not trek 1,900 miles as a child across Europe with a pack of wolves in search of her deported parents during World War II. More at Slate. Here's an excellent portal about feral children.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu at 5:45 AM on March 2, 2008 (63 comments)

Need some barbarian repellent ? How about some leeches? You can get it all at the Echo Park Time Travel Mart. They travel time so you don't have to.
posted to MetaFilter by Doohickie at 10:52 AM on February 29, 2008 (22 comments)

The novel American Gods by Neil Gaiman is being offered for free in its entirety at the Harper Collins website (only viewable using HarperCollins' BrowseInside system). It was put up in celebration of the seventh birthday of Neil Gaiman's blog. Which is appropriate since Neil Gaiman started his blog to chronicle the process of turning the text of American Gods into a physical book. [via the man himself, natch]
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 10:25 AM on February 29, 2008 (25 comments)

Papier mache. Arts or crafts? Does it matter?
posted to MetaFilter by deathofme at 7:47 AM on July 2, 2004 (4 comments)

Can you point me toward the best Horror/movie blogs?
posted to Ask Metafilter by hermitosis at 11:48 AM on February 28, 2008 (6 comments)

To The Best Of Our Knowledge is one of the most wide-ranging and literate public radio shows in the US, a two-hour "radio salon" featuring leisurely exploration of weekly themes like No Smoking, Identity Crisis, Weekend, and The Mind, Music, and Math. Host Jim Fleming approaches these big ideas through the works of authors - journalists of all stripes, memoirists, poets, fiction writers, essayists. Five years' worth of shows are available on audio archives; you can also search the impressive list of authors by name, or subscribe to the podcast.
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 9:13 AM on February 27, 2008 (17 comments)

Nine experienced cross-country skiers hurriedly left their tent on a Urals slope in the middle of the night at around -30 degrees Celsius for no obvious reason, casting aside skis, food, boots and most of their clothes. Soon they would be dead, some with injuries more suited to car crash victims, and apparently dosed with radiation. Their deaths are still unexplained, 49 years later. The Mystery of the Dyatlov Pass Accident.
posted to MetaFilter by Henry C. Mabuse at 7:48 AM on February 22, 2008 (122 comments)

I have a website where I upload all of my photos and license them as public domain. Each photo is individually listed as public domain, each has a link to it's Creative Commons "license" as a work in the public domain, and the site is rather obviously all about photos in the public domain. The problem - Large companies are taking my photos and, without editing them, putting their copyright on them. Is this evil, and how nasty should I be about it?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ragma at 10:25 AM on February 27, 2008 (28 comments)

Soukous Radio is an online radio station that plays/streams this energizing, joyous, African fusion music, known for its bright guitar sound and rumba/salsa beat. The name, Soukous, is derived from the French word secouer, to shake. A popular, recent Soukous video by two Ivory Coast singers, DJ Eloh and DJ Mix, The Bobaraba (which means “big bottom” in the local Djoula language), celebrates booty shaking.
posted to MetaFilter by nickyskye at 11:40 AM on February 21, 2008 (25 comments)

My heartfelt thanks to loving MeFites: Brandon Blatcher, hadjiboy, Grammar Moses, madamjujujive, vronsky, hortense, It's Raining Florence Henderson, rtha and Hildegarde.
posted to MetaTalk by nickyskye at 5:13 PM on February 19, 2008 (133 comments)

Prominent blogger Derek Powazek, who left his JPG project under prickly conditions, started a new project called Pixish. Pixish allows users to create open calls for submissions from designers, photographers and other artists who then offer up their work for comparison. Voting on the work reveals a winner, who then receives a prize outlined in the initial post. Following a post by Adam Howell that claims Pixish is nothing more than a 2.0 portal for spec work, a debate has emerged online as to whether Powazek's latest foray is a formula for ill-will amongst the design community.
posted to MetaFilter by brittney at 5:30 PM on February 12, 2008 (137 comments)

The Mindscape of Alan Moore. Documentary featuring interview with comic book writer Alan Moore. More interviews. (previously)
posted to MetaFilter by MythMaker at 5:49 PM on February 1, 2008 (19 comments)

What do you do when you're a Panamanian golden frog and you need to let that certain special someone across the way know you're, um, interested? Sure, you could croak a few sweet nothings in her ear, but those rushing jungle streams can drown out even the most virile of frog voices. So, you... wave! Yeah, give her a little wave! A BBC film crew has captured footage of this rare (and, according to their article, now extinct) amphibian waving, fighting and mating. [NOTE: last link includes hot froggy ménage à trois. Surely NSFW!]
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 6:29 PM on February 1, 2008 (22 comments)

Mythbusters explores Do Pretty Girls Fart?
posted to MetaFilter by spec80 at 9:56 AM on January 1, 2008 (100 comments)

"I would be remiss if I did not mention one of Liefeld’s more brilliant creations, Forearm! His power is that he has FOUR ARMS." The 40 Worst Rob Liefeld Drawings.
posted to MetaFilter by beaucoupkevin at 6:37 AM on November 30, 2007 (102 comments)

Mythbusters Saves! "Recalling an episode of a reality TV show he recently watched, the driver waited for the cab to fill with water before lowering a window and swimming out, Mora said." (Mythbusters has been in the blue before, saving those lives through reality television). Hi, Adam!
posted to MetaFilter by thanotopsis at 10:34 AM on December 31, 2007 (93 comments)

The Bacon Cheese Baconburger
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 11:30 AM on December 26, 2007 (114 comments)

25 photos taken at just the right time.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_crash_davis at 7:39 PM on November 2, 2007 (83 comments)

Please help me find a cool pre-filled advent calendar to share with my husband.
posted to Ask Metafilter by librarianamy at 10:26 AM on November 2, 2007 (8 comments)

People think working in television is glamorous, but is it really? Is it, really? Is it? Really? Charlie Brooker on making TV (Youtube, NSFW). Selected bite-sized chunks: filming, watching your ideas take shape, being the talent.
posted to MetaFilter by tiny crocodile at 8:16 AM on November 1, 2007 (28 comments)

Gerbert D'Aurillac: mathemetician and engineer, Pope, ghost, and meddler with dark forces.
posted to MetaFilter by Iridic at 1:16 PM on November 1, 2007 (17 comments)

Looking for Halloween music, but want to avoid the cliché and overplayed Thriller and Monster Mash? (YouTube Links) Three Halloween "mix tapes" have been posted over at the AMG blog: 1, 2, 3. (Samples included.) Or, here's another option. (Halloween mixtapes were also discussed recently, on AskMefi).
posted to MetaFilter by zarq at 11:02 AM on October 31, 2007 (15 comments)