Long-distance-relationship with a boyfriend who is more clingy than me, while I need more personal space. We're crazy about each other, but his desires to spend more and more time talking are making us both rather miserable, and I have no idea how to handle this. In my previous relationship, I wasn't getting enough attention from my partner. Now I have a bit too much, and somehow this needs to work out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 8:12 AM on July 21, 2008 (17 comments)

Tiled Background Designer is just a small, useful tool to create patterns. Experiment with pictures, colors, textures and transparency to get best result.
posted to MetaFilter by Dave Faris at 1:38 AM on July 17, 2008 (37 comments)

Remember They Rule, the now-stale site from 2004 that mapped connections between executives and corporate boards? OK, now remember NNDB, the constantly updated collection of unsubstantiated dossiers on "Notable Names" of all sorts? Behold the NNDB Mapper; a They Rule-like visualization tool that integrates the entire database of people and connections. It's fun for conspiracy theorists, gossip hounds and political junkies alike.
posted to MetaFilter by contraption at 3:27 PM on June 29, 2008 (6 comments)

My girlfriend and I have been living together for about a year, and her conservative Asian parents don't know. How do we break the news to them?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 5:52 PM on June 25, 2008 (20 comments)

TraumaFilter: what worked for you in overcoming PTSD, anxiety, depression?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 12:00 PM on June 23, 2008 (23 comments)

Who else felt this morning's 5.4-magnitude Illinois earthquake?
posted to MetaTalk by limeonaire at 3:21 AM on April 18, 2008 (81 comments)

Moving to New York City. Give me some advice you wish you had been given!
posted to Ask Metafilter by cklennon at 5:31 AM on June 6, 2008 (30 comments)

I'm a grad student. I like the subject(s) I'm studying, I like research, and I know I'm capable of doing the work... except when I sit down to actually do it, I choke. I know I'm not the only one suffering from both imposter syndrome and perfectionism - how do you manage to get your brain to stop spinning its wheels and get to work?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 5:38 PM on January 31, 2008 (33 comments)

Where can I buy an awesome, folding, secretary-style desk with a closeable writing surface?
posted to Ask Metafilter by raygan at 6:40 AM on May 1, 2008 (6 comments)

On the profile page, the box next to "gender" says "(this is free-form, go nuts)".
posted to MetaTalk by null terminated at 1:58 AM on April 26, 2008 (122 comments)

from ACT I SCENE 4

J: Your pardon; did I break thy concentration?
Continue! Ah, but now thy tongue is still.
Allow me then to offer a response.
Describe Marsellus Wallace to me, pray.
posted to MetaFilter by 2or3whiskeysodas at 6:48 AM on April 20, 2008 (170 comments)

I wanted to call out a post I like from misteraitch, circa 2003. I just ran across the site (specifically), and would have posted it myself had it not already found its way here five years ago.
posted to MetaTalk by owhydididoit at 7:19 PM on April 21, 2008 (28 comments)

Self-Illustrating Phenomena. Slides from a 2005 talk by Pat Hanrahan. Scroll down his page for more talks.
posted to MetaFilter by Taksi Putra at 1:54 AM on April 7, 2008 (12 comments)

Jessamyn spoke at the SxSW panel on User Revolts today. Here are her notes on The Day They Tested the Manifesto, as was shown during the panel. Most of you MeTa types are infovores, so I thought I'd share. Obv, she rocked the house.
posted to MetaTalk by Argyle at 5:21 PM on March 8, 2008 (105 comments)

Dozens of the web's best visualization tools. Neat choices include TuneGlue's music map using data from Amazon and last.fm, Packetgarden's weird world grown from your websurfing habits, Akamai's real-time network visualization, the many widgets of last.fm, the hypnotic maps of the mood of blogs from We Feel Fine, the beautiful galleries of Visual Complexity, and a neat list of tools for drawing diagrams. [some prev]
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah at 8:45 AM on March 14, 2008 (8 comments)

Without sounding conspiratorial... I'm wondering how much arm twisting it took by political/economic elites to get the Fed to adopt its current Liquidity Plan. Will Carlyle Capital directly benefit from it? A couple of days ago I read this story about their recent notice of default on a margin call.
posted to Ask Metafilter by purenitrous at 5:29 PM on March 12, 2008 (10 comments)

Metachat is down. Can I post pictures of my cats here?
posted to MetaTalk by weretable and the undead chairs at 9:33 PM on March 22, 2006 (18 comments)

It's never a happy occasion when a 130 year old brick building goes up in flames. But when the fire crews have to spray down the building (and the surrounding city block) in sub-zero temperatures, the end result looks stunning.
posted to MetaFilter by baphomet at 9:48 AM on February 21, 2008 (52 comments)

1,780 Cult Movies Online ~ A huge repository of online movies described as cult classics.
posted to MetaFilter by Dave Faris at 5:51 AM on February 10, 2008 (35 comments)

In your opinion, who are the best female science fiction authors? What are the best scifi books written by women?
posted to Ask Metafilter by taz at 4:52 AM on February 8, 2008 (106 comments)

Leonard Pierce aka the Ludic Kid is going undercover at CPAC for Sadly, No. While some may know him best for his Geek Index, his current work reporting from the frontlines of the culture wars is all the more hilarious (and chilling) for its basis in reality: parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
posted to MetaFilter by jtron at 9:46 AM on February 8, 2008 (16 comments)

Why do the poor commit more crime? Is it because they are irrational? (via marginal revolution)
posted to MetaFilter by wittgenstein at 5:56 AM on January 24, 2008 (106 comments)

The post from a couple of days ago is great, but really made me wonder where the MeFites make their magic.
posted to MetaTalk by absalom at 2:55 PM on January 15, 2008 (211 comments)

Nitroeconomics (if you want to sound more scientific you can call it synthetic economics) is different. It is set in the virtual world of Nitropia, which doesn't exist but easily could.... We can use nitroeconomics to understand real situations in the real world, such as the subprime crisis, with a simple three-step process.... The first cool thing about Nitropia is that it has no financial system at all. Unlike other, inferior virtual economies, it does not distinguish between "money" and other virtual objects. A monetary token in Nitropia is an object like any other - a magic sword, an inflatable penis, or whatever. A player in Nitropia who has a lot of money just owns a lot of these tokens. There is no special, separate "bank balance."

A[n Austrian-school] straightforward explanation of the present financial crisis (part 1)
posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 12:30 AM on January 17, 2008 (28 comments)

I have a moderately-sized pile of papers (say, several dozen) in front of me. What's a quick way of getting them thoroughly shuffled by hand? I am familiar with lots of shuffling algorithms, but they don't work well by hand, and techniques like riffle shuffle that work well with small, stiff cards don't work well with standard sheets of paper.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wolfdog at 6:54 AM on January 16, 2008 (13 comments)

ResetDOC asks: "What is democracy?"
posted to MetaFilter by anotherpanacea at 6:34 AM on January 16, 2008 (8 comments)

B is for Beaner. ironic t shirts are cross cultural. [via tex[t]-mex]
posted to MetaFilter by Stynxno at 8:33 AM on January 15, 2008 (19 comments)

"The Gerald Warner Taiwan Image Collection is a photographic record of a US consul's impressions of urban and rural life in Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule. Totaling 340 photographs and postcards gathered by Warner between August 26, 1937 and March 8, 1941, these images provide a snapshot of Taiwan's hybrid culture of Chinese, Taiwanese, Austronesian, and Japanese influences." [Via]
posted to MetaFilter by Abiezer at 9:40 AM on January 12, 2008 (12 comments)

I am looking for a new academic planner, but I have some picky requirements. Can anyone help?
posted to Ask Metafilter by internet!Hannah at 4:13 PM on January 1, 2008 (14 comments)

2007 has come to a close and so we now conclude our broadcast day.
posted to MetaFilter by dhammond at 11:59 PM on December 31, 2007 (31 comments)

RIP Netscape browser, 1994-2007. AOL, who acquired the groundbreaking browser as part of a $4.2 billion deal in 1998, announced the end today. Good-bye or good riddance?
posted to MetaFilter by Chinese Jet Pilot at 2:47 PM on December 28, 2007 (99 comments)

"23 days, 12 states, five Canadian provinces, and 10,923 miles. We came within a hundred miles of the Arctic Circle and 500 miles of Russia. And we saw the most beautiful place that can be imagined." In June of last year, Clint and Robin drove from Chicago to Alaska and back again. Last August they headed into the great American west. Along the way they took some beautiful photos and made some inspired observations. If you've got some time on your hands, and some wanderlust in your heart, read along.
posted to MetaFilter by Roman Graves at 12:19 AM on December 26, 2007 (15 comments)

TheDataWeb - a network of online data libraries on topics including census data, economic data, health data, income and unemployment data, population data, labor data, cancer data, crime and transportation data, family dynamics, vital statistics data
posted to MetaFilter by Gyan at 7:03 AM on December 26, 2007 (10 comments)

Has anyone had success doing an academic lit review of business topics, particularly marketing? I am asking if such things lend themselves to learning and staying competitive along the lines of a bioresearcher subscribing to Journal of Biology. Are top executives and consultants going through graduate-level text?
posted to Ask Metafilter by geoff. at 12:55 PM on December 10, 2007 (2 comments)

Top 10 Most Disturbing Movies of All Time.
posted to MetaFilter by KevinSkomsvold at 7:56 AM on November 7, 2007 (216 comments)

I fucking hate this "LOLcat" shit. I want to LOLkick whoever started it in the groin.
posted to MetaTalk by Kickstart70 at 8:16 PM on November 2, 2007 (106 comments)

What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople?
posted to Ask Metafilter by limon at 5:40 PM on September 8, 2007 (239 comments)

Now you can check out what some Mefites are posting to Twitter thanks to the Recent Twitters by MeFites page.
posted to MetaTalk by pb at 5:27 PM on October 10, 2007 (62 comments)

Another Mefi shoutout from Jenny Diski. This time in the LRB. (previous)
posted to MetaTalk by Lezzles at 8:49 AM on October 10, 2007 (100 comments)

Classy behavior: What are some examples of classy behavior in everyday life? (And NOT in sports, please)
posted to Ask Metafilter by charris5005 at 8:53 AM on October 6, 2007 (67 comments)

NickCaveFilter: Fifty years ago this very day, Nicholas Edward Cave [previously] crawled from the womb and started to plot.  At 16 he formed his first band which evolved quickly into the Boys Next Door [Shivers].  This in turn mutated into the Birthday Party (1980) who terrorised the post-punk soundscape in Australia and the UK [Release the Bats | Nick the Stripper].  The Birthday Party relocated to England and in 1984 the band imploded in an orgy of drugs and booze.  Shortly after Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were born [The Ship Song - video & solo live | The Mercy Seat - video & live | Where the Wild Roses Grow], and 23 years and 11 studio albums later (not to mention a best selling book, a great screenplay, some acting and several soundtrack projects) he is still going strong.  But, instead of sitting on his musical laurels he decided to get back to basics and, in 2006, grew a huge moustache and formed Grinderman – a four piece with a primeval hybrid Birthday Party/Bad Seeds sound [No Pussy Blues | Honey Bee].  Fellow Mefites, I ask you to raise a glass to Mr. Cave… And, especially if you are not familiar to his work, don’t forget to “look inside” for my primer on the enigma that is Nick Cave, one of the finest song-writers on the face of this miserable planet.
posted to MetaFilter by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 4:59 PM on September 22, 2007 (98 comments)

In an effort to deflect the inevitable onslaught of NewsFilter/ElectionFilter posts on our beloved Blue, I humbly recommend Wonkosphere, "designed for all political writers and bloggers, media people in newspaper, TV, and radio, political workers, activists, and political junkies who need to stay on top of the 2008 Presidential race but can't spend all day searching for the hottest and most relevant material."
posted to MetaFilter by GrammarMoses at 5:56 AM on September 23, 2007 (26 comments)

Live in an underground dome home.
posted to MetaFilter by Burhanistan at 1:04 PM on August 15, 2007 (30 comments)

WeNeither WeNeither is an online dating site that matches people based on shared disinterest. Just launched this into a public beta, being unsatisfied with the way most dating services work. It might be buggy! Feedback appreciated!
posted to Projects by stance at 11:45 AM on July 18, 2007

What's Opera, Doc? (YouTube, approx. 7 mins.) The opera-parodying Merrie Melodies cartoon, which some consider to be Chuck Jones' career masterpiece, turned 50 years old this week. The short is also known as "Kill The Wabbit" in reference to the line sung by Elmer Fudd to the tune of "Ride Of The Valkyries," which is just one of many Wagner references in the piece.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms at 9:54 PM on July 8, 2007 (43 comments)

Were you psychologically damaged at a petting zoo?. The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation was created in 1982 by a small group that originally came together as an informal support group for problems that were the result of traumatic experiences at petting zoos as children. This group realized that there were many others out there who were afraid to come forward with their horrific stories and wanted to find some way to help as many people as they could. The Childhood Goat Trauma Foundation is the result of their dream.
posted to MetaFilter by amyms at 11:58 PM on July 30, 2007 (130 comments)

According to LA's Fox 11, Anonymous is epic evil and considered harmful.
posted to MetaFilter by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:13 AM on July 28, 2007 (155 comments)

"I’m going to draw a chart for her with lines and arrows". Diagramming web apps: ajaxSketch, bubbl.us, flowchart.com, mindmeister, gliffy and mindomo.
posted to MetaFilter by nthdegx at 11:37 AM on July 10, 2007 (19 comments)

Pirate myths debunked. Slate's Explainer attacks your favorite pirate stereotypes: walking the plank, saying "arrr." Not a myth: pirate republics. Pirates formed egalitarian mini-states based upon utopian values, a prime reason for their brutal suppression by European authorities.
posted to MetaFilter by nasreddin at 8:18 PM on June 5, 2007 (127 comments)

I'm about to live out of my car for about two months. What tips or tricks should I know before doing this?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mulkey at 1:15 PM on June 3, 2007 (23 comments)