A collection of baseball writers have gotten together for a different kind of fantasy draft. All the players are fictional, although some players are more fictional than others.
posted to MetaFilter by ursus_comiter at 11:54 AM on March 29, 2013 (13 comments)

Recently, a friend took me to banyasf.com - Russian coed nude bathhouse where you can get flogged with hot reeds. It got me to thinking - what other obscure experiences should I have and don't yet know of that would maybe be described as crazy/creative/unexpected? Things I've liked, for example: the Hitchcock Vertigo tour, Armory Kink.com tour, the Wave Organ. Any thoughts? Open to things around SF bay area, as well - 1.5 hour radius?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by namesarehard at 10:46 AM on April 1, 2013 (11 comments)

I have a new commute that is a 25 minute walk from door to door. I'd like to find some podcasts to fill this time.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by greta simone at 4:33 PM on March 29, 2013 (28 comments)

How Ellen DeGeneres Helped Change The Conversation About Gays

"Ellen DeGeneres is ... almost a litmus test of where we have been as a society," [Dietram Scheufele, a communications professor at the University of Wisconsin] says. "When she first came out and really put the issue of same-sex partnerships on people's agendas, and I mean people who really wouldn't have thought about it, I think the country was still in a very different state."

From her first stand-up performance on national TV in the US in 1986, the same year that the Supreme Court ruled that states have right to enforce code of sexual behavior, to 2008, when Ellen married Portia de Rossi, after California's Supreme Court ruled a previous ban on gay marriage to be unconstitutional, Ellen's public life has mirrored the broader shift towards accepting homosexuality.
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 8:57 PM on March 26, 2013 (107 comments)

I like science fiction books that are placed in the general fiction section - but for me they are hard to find on Amazon or in libraries. Examples of these kinds of books are The Sparrow, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Oryx and Crake, Cloud Atlas and The Dog Stars ... but I need more new stuff - any suggestions?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Dag Maggot at 3:03 AM on January 29, 2013 (46 comments)

Though it was discussed before in beta, If This Then That lets you do amazing things by connecting web services together. There is a good Lifehacker guide to getting started, but then you can create your own "recipes:" automate job searches, download torrents by sending emails from your phone, text to escape awkward situations and much more
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah at 8:41 PM on February 11, 2013 (56 comments)

Episode 77 of the MetaFilter podcast runs about 1hr 40min and was recorded yesterday afternoon with jessamyn and cortex. It features a run-down of our favorite posts from across the sites for January 2013.
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 1:51 PM on January 29, 2013 (41 comments)

This is a brand new track I just finished with Tiger La, an awesome singer from London. Dig it!
posted to MeFi Music by BobbyGreenMusic at 11:50 PM on December 29, 2012 (4 comments)

PARKING LOT PIMPIN IS A TRAPPY SONG FROM SPACE AGE FAMILY RAINING BRICKS CD.
posted to MeFi Music by Priesosa at 7:29 AM on August 7, 2012 (4 comments)

On December 14, 2012, DJ Shadow, best-known for his genre-breaking Endtroducing... was booted off the stage in the middle of his set, later tweeting about the incident and his fit there. The venue, Mansion has since issued an an apology, but already has a bit of a reputation for kicking DJs off the stage, having done it to DJ Dennis Ferrer.

So what did Shadow get booted for? Well, why not give it a listen for yourself?
posted to MetaFilter by TheNewWazoo at 5:49 PM on January 19, 2013 (106 comments)

High maintenance: a nameless cannabis delivery guy delivers his much-needed medication to stressed-out New Yorkers in this character-driven web series.
posted to MetaFilter by matthewr at 6:46 AM on January 13, 2013 (46 comments)

Last summer I finally finished Infinite Jest, and looking back on it changed my life in a good way. Recently, I bought a George Saunders collection after reading this glowing NYT profile of his work and it is starting to do the same thing in many ways. Can you suggest other authors in a similar vein whose fiction speaks to the reality of contemporary experience in a way that is both profound and suffused with kindness? I was recommended Richard Powers, and enjoyed the book of his that I read, but didn't make the same emotional connection that I did with Saunders & Wallace.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 8:03 AM on January 14, 2013 (20 comments)

The video for "Gangnam Style" is the first to reach one billion views (short scale) on YouTube.
posted to MetaFilter by Wordshore at 7:52 AM on December 21, 2012 (137 comments)

Somewhere in Portland, there’s a very old building, and that very old building has a very, very old basement. An incredible basement, a video-game-level basement, a set-decorator’s dream basement.
posted to MetaFilter by samhyland at 6:59 AM on December 20, 2012 (44 comments)

Help Me Stay On Top of Great Literature in 2013!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Lipstick Thespian at 6:22 PM on December 18, 2012 (17 comments)

In 1990, the avenues of information we have today weren't around. So what was a baseball fan who wanted to know the score of a game elsewhere in the country to do? Compile a list of pay phone numbers at stadiums and get the score from passers by who picked up.
posted to MetaFilter by reenum at 4:49 PM on March 5, 2012 (45 comments)

"The experiences of women may not be easy to portray in the aggressive world of videogames. If such a game is made - and I hope it is - it will be because its creators demanded to be heard. It will be created because women made it." (Source)

While the vast majority of video game titles are designed primarily by men, women have been a part of video game development since the earliest arcades. Here are some of their games:
posted to MetaFilter by subject_verb_remainder at 12:55 PM on December 1, 2012 (39 comments)

Ariel Meadow Stallings (creator of Offbeat Mama and Offbeat Bride) on liberal bullying: "...what's the biggest challenge we deal with every day? The challenge that has my editors second-guessing every post and quaking in fear, just waiting for the awfulness to begin? It's attacks from our fellow progressives... Increasingly, I've started recognizing this kind of behavior for what it is: privilege-checking as a form of internet sport. It's a kind of trolling, with all the politics I agree with, but motivations and execution that turns my stomach. It's well-intended (SO well-intended), but when the motivations seem to be less about opening dialogue about the issues, and more about performance, righteousness, and intolerance for those who don't agree with you… well, I'm not on-board."
posted to MetaFilter by flex at 8:57 AM on December 2, 2012 (169 comments)

Instagram Web Profiles
posted to MetaTalk by dirtdirt at 8:49 AM on November 8, 2012 (58 comments)

A good naming scheme is scalable, unique, and easy to remember. The purpose of these naming schemes is to name networked servers, wireless access points or client computers, but it can also be used to name projects, products, variables, streets, pets, kids, or any other project where unique names and rememberable names are required.
posted to MetaFilter by TangerineGurl at 8:25 PM on October 24, 2012 (119 comments)

Can I Buy You a Coffee? "Harassment isn’t once. Harassment comes from a lifetime of dealing with people constantly doing things to you, whether you wanted them or not, at random intervals. You learn not to trust people. And what might have been pleasant, once, as an isolated incident, starts to feel pretty oppressive when it’s something you deal with on a weekly basis. It changes you, and then guys call you bitchy when you don’t feel like playing along and pretending this is just about the coffee."
posted to MetaFilter by sweetkid at 3:24 PM on October 23, 2012 (508 comments)

I'm currently loving Zadie Smith. For various reasons, I don't like most of the authors she tends to get compared to. (DeLillo and Pynchon give me hives. Rushdie and Nabokov are just okay. Etc.) Who else should I read?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by nebulawindphone at 11:28 AM on October 13, 2012 (35 comments)

What are your favorite non-American radio stations? Bonus points for stations that are available online, and mostly play music that I am unlikely to hear on American radio.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ocherdraco at 3:14 PM on September 28, 2012 (44 comments)

Bret Victor: We often think of a programming environment or language in terms of its features -- this one "has code folding", that one "has type inference". This is like thinking about a book in terms of its words -- this book has a "fortuitous", that one has a "munificent". What matters is not individual words, but how the words together convey a message. Likewise, a well-designed programing system is not simply a bag of features. A good system is designed to encourage particular ways of thinking, with all features carefully and cohesively designed around that purpose.
posted to MetaFilter by AceRock at 7:17 AM on September 27, 2012 (69 comments)

It's The Princess Bride's 25th anniversary! Little known facts about it. Fred Savage remembers. Why it's Jonathan Haynes's favorite film. Reunion. And don't worry, there's no remake in the works.
posted to MetaFilter by Artw at 3:11 PM on September 25, 2012 (160 comments)

Maciej (previously: 1, 2) tells the story of his girlfriend's struggle with disease and her friend Stephanie, before the entire story goes sideways.
posted to MetaFilter by mathowie at 10:10 PM on September 17, 2012 (76 comments)

What one book could pretty much give me a new, useful superpower if I follow it and put the methods inside into practice? In my life, I've come across a small handful of books that have really allowed me to learn to do some things that were previously unthinkable to me, and which I'm able to use all the time in my life. I'm most interested in a book that has actually worked to change your life, rather than one that seems like it would be good if you one day got around to following it. Thanks.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by surenoproblem at 7:54 AM on September 12, 2012 (77 comments)

Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, one of the NFL's few vocal advocates for legalization of gay marriage, donates two tickets to his team's season opener to a Marylanders for Marriage Equality fundraiser. Maryland state delegate Emmet C. Burns writes a letter asking Ravens management to silence Ayanbadejo. Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe responds with epic smackdown.
posted to MetaFilter by googly at 1:49 PM on September 7, 2012 (175 comments)

"Once universally praised for founder Brad Fitzpatrick’s open-source platform and commitment to a free userbase—he once vowed that LiveJournal would always have basic (non-paying or ad-supported) accounts—LiveJournal is known these days mostly for being popular in Russia (the Russian name for blogging is “LJ.”) and Singapore, and for housing gossip blog Oh No They Didn’t."

What happened?
posted to MetaFilter by rollick at 7:33 AM on September 7, 2012 (147 comments)

The UNIX™ System: Making Computers More Productive. A video from 1982 featuring Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Alfred Aho, and Lorinda Cherry discussing key features of UNIX. One of many videos available from the AT&T Archives. Warning: contains beards. Lots of beards.
posted to MetaFilter by grouse at 7:41 PM on September 5, 2012 (56 comments)

Quebec throws out Charest, elects PQ minority government Quebec has handed a minority government to the Parti Quebecois, a left-leaning separatist party who promised to freeze tuition, the subject of massive demonstrations discussion previously on the blue.
posted to MetaFilter by chapps at 8:06 PM on September 4, 2012 (85 comments)

"Little girls are AWED by a princess. A woman in a big, sparkly, puffy dress is a thing of power and glory to them. They will stand and stare, or scream themselves hoarse in excitement, or become paralyzed in wonder by A Princess. Some little girls start hyperventilating. Some just sit down on the floor, their knees giving out from under them. They run up to touch your dress with the same crazed look of a Twilight fan trying to touch that Edward Cullen guy at a movie premiere. It's so different from seeing a face character at Disney World because to them, Disney World is a far-off fantasy place full of strangeness and unreal scenes. But this is A Princess, in the real world, in their own home."
posted to MetaFilter by MartinWisse at 4:55 AM on August 31, 2012 (145 comments)

English that looks like Chinese. "At first glance, Square Word Calligraphy appears to be nothing more unusual than Chinese characters, but in fact it is a new way of rendering English words in the format of a square so they resemble Chinese characters. Chinese viewers expect to be able to read Square Word Calligraphy but cannot. Western viewers, however are surprised to find they can read it. Delight erupts when meaning is unexpectedly revealed." (Britta Erickson, The Art of Xu Bing.)
posted to MetaFilter by jef at 9:56 PM on August 27, 2012 (66 comments)

Do sad songs make us feel better? 100 saddest songs in list form. Listen on spotify.
posted to MetaFilter by morganannie at 10:01 AM on August 24, 2012 (226 comments)

How do they get cranes down from the top of skyscrapers when they've finished with them?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by caek at 3:54 AM on August 23, 2012 (8 comments)

Walk me through getting prescription glasses online, please.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by mygothlaundry at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2010 (25 comments)

Rebecca Solnit explains The Problem With Men Explaining Things.
posted to MetaFilter by Lou Stuells at 9:22 AM on August 21, 2012 (664 comments)

My husband is considering a job offer in Vancouver. His office would be in the Downtown Eastside. We have two kids who are entering Grade One and Senior Kindergarten. Which neighbourhoods should we look at that would allow us to live car-free with minimal commute time near good elementary schools?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by alicat at 9:36 PM on August 13, 2012 (16 comments)

"We worry. Nearly one in five Americans suffer from anxiety. For many, it is not a disorder, but a part of the human condition. This series explores how we navigate the worried mind, through essay, art and memoir." The New York Times is running a series of short memoirs written by sufferers of anxiety disorder. From the ways anxiety affects daily life to what happens when it's part of a marriage, many different angles are explored. (Previously)
posted to MetaFilter by deathpanels at 7:23 AM on August 13, 2012 (77 comments)

[NSFW, TW] Sex House is an Onion webseries about six sexy Americans locked in a house for a reality show about getting nasty, but by the end of the first night things start to get terrible. Think No Exit meets Black Mirror (previously), it's a scathing satire of American sexual attitudes that's also amazingly suspenseful.
posted to MetaFilter by The Devil Tesla at 8:48 PM on August 9, 2012 (93 comments)

"The arcade industry is dead in the United States—everyone knows it—done in by a combination of rapidly advancing home consoles and rapidly expanding suburbanization in the late '80s and early '90s. The only people not in on this bit of conventional wisdom are the ones who happen to be opening a surprising number of successful new arcades around the country."
posted to MetaFilter by SpacemanStix at 11:51 AM on August 7, 2012 (172 comments)

In "Friends of a Certain Age," the New York Times Style Section examines how life stages affect friendship, citing the college years as America's prime friendship-making time. Why? Because as we get older and "external conditions change, it becomes tougher to meet the three conditions that sociologists since the 1950s have considered crucial to making close friends: proximity; repeated, unplanned interactions; and a setting that encourages people to let their guard down and confide in each other."
posted to MetaFilter by Violet Blue at 1:44 AM on July 15, 2012 (67 comments)

How and why does meditation work? How does one do it properly (that is, in the way in which one may extract the most benefits)?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Anonymous at 11:28 AM on June 29, 2012 (26 comments)

Looking for inexpensive meals in Vancouver.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by asnider at 12:38 PM on June 14, 2012 (22 comments)

KEXP 90.3 FM is a Seattle, WA-based radio station, officially "a service of University of Washington," but it's more complex than that. The first University of Washington radio station started broadcasting in 1952. Five decades, a few station organizational shifts, plus three call letter and frequency changes later, KEXP was (re)born in 2001. Along the way, the station spread the sound of 1990s Seattle indie rock, started streaming "CD quality" MP3 audio of their broadcast in 2000, and they have an ever-growing collection of recordings of live in-station performances, including over 2,000 videos on YouTube.
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 1:10 PM on March 28, 2012 (35 comments)

Can you help me cultivate common sense? I am very book smart - gifted/high IQ, excel at work, etc. I am relatively street smart - no walking down dark alleys at night, etc. But I fail spectacularly at common sense, and I've given a few examples below.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Anonymous at 9:11 AM on June 1, 2012 (73 comments)

I wanted to follow up on the Russian human trafficking story that unfolded here in 2010.
posted to MetaTalk by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:33 AM on June 5, 2012 (234 comments)

So, we were lied to. The good news is that holdkris99 is fine, rather than dead. He's also banned, his wife's (?) account is banned, and they're not welcome back to Metafilter, ever.
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 12:03 PM on May 22, 2012 (1288 comments)

What's the most useful or beautiful keychain you've ever owned?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Apropos of Something at 11:50 AM on May 14, 2012 (59 comments)

I'm looking for mefi's recommendations for late night take-out, fast food or quick ethnic food in Vancouver BC.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by thewalrus at 2:22 AM on May 16, 2012 (4 comments)