Don Hodges writes scholarly (but readable) articles on the mathematics and logic of classic video games - with a special emphasis on kill screens, such as "Stage Zero" in Galaga, Level 22 in Donkey Kong, and the legendary split screen at the end of Pac-Man. More here.
posted to MetaFilter by jbickers at 10:58 AM on July 30, 2008 (30 comments)

What item do you use all the time and wonder how you ever lived with without it?
posted to Ask Metafilter by HotPatatta at 1:51 PM on August 4, 2008 (102 comments)

Zeno of Elea, Socrates and Jesus, Weev said, are his all-time favorite trolls. He also identifies with Coyote and Loki, the trickster gods, and especially with Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. “Loki was a hacker. The other gods feared him, but they needed his tools.” The New York Times investigates the ever-evolving, LOL-corrupting, epileptic-seizuring, iPod-leaving-on-gravestone-ing phenomenon of major Internet trolling, featuring interviews with Jason Fortuny, Weev, and a gentleman named Christopher Poole (prev).
posted to MetaFilter by Sticherbeast at 9:44 PM on July 31, 2008 (94 comments)

Is there anyone (especially online) who's collected reasonably well-informed stock picks from, say, 2, 5, or 15 years ago and explained why the recommendations did or did not work out?
posted to Ask Metafilter by ibmcginty at 7:10 AM on July 21, 2008 (5 comments)

Sean Tevis Takes On Intelligent Designer with Some Intelligent Design of His Own... Sean Tevis is running for State Representative in Kansas, against an opponent he describes as a proponent of intelligent design. Short on name recognition (and campaign funds) he took it upon himself to use his skills as an information designer to connect to his "constituents" - could he be the first true candidate for a generation that grew up on the Internet? Very clever xkcd-style infographic deployed against the agents of doom... (I donated, couldn't help myself) via BoingBoing
posted to MetaFilter by piedrasyluz at 4:31 PM on July 16, 2008 (244 comments)

What was the one thing - gadget, gizmo, piece of clothing, etc. - that made your travels that much more enjoyable?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Planet F at 5:30 PM on July 10, 2008 (64 comments)

Help with a Valentine's Gift.
posted to Ask Metafilter by CwgrlUp at 10:14 AM on February 5, 2008 (13 comments)

What is a good open-source project to get involved in?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Who_Am_I at 12:09 PM on July 3, 2008 (12 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)

Help me help my friends sell their Palestinian olive wood carvings from Bethlehem, West Bank, via the internet.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Baby_Balrog at 6:44 AM on June 25, 2008 (5 comments)

The black backs by and on which the fortunes of the New South were built:

On March 30, 1908, Green Cottenham was arrested by the sheriff of Shelby County, Alabama, and charged with “vagrancy.”... Cottenham’s offense was blackness.... [After a brief trial] Cottenham... was sold. Under a standing arrangement between the county and a vast subsidiary of the industrial titan of the North — U.S. Steel Corporation — the sheriff turned the young man over to the company for the duration of his sentence.... he was chained inside a long wooden barrack at night and required to spend nearly every waking hour digging and loading coal. His required daily “task” was to remove eight tons of coal from the mine. Cottenham was subject to the whip for failure to dig the requisite amount, at risk of physical torture for disobedience, and vulnerable to the sexual predations of other miners.... Forty-five years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freeing American slaves, Green Cottenham and more than a thousand other black men toiled under the lash at Slope 12.

— from the Introduction to Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black People in America from the Civil War to World War II. The book's website includes reviews of the book, an excerpt of the Introduction, and an extensive photo gallery that includes disturbing images of enslaved and tortured prisoners.
posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 1:12 AM on June 21, 2008 (99 comments)

How much sleep do you really need? Six and a half to seven and a half hours. People who sleep eight hours a night are 12% more likely to die in a six-year period than those who sleep less. If your new lack of sleep means you get tired mid-afternoon, recent research says the solution is, shockingly, to nap. And if you can't nap, at least learn the optimal way to dose yourself with caffeine.
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah at 9:59 AM on June 11, 2008 (66 comments)

TIME FOR SOME STORIES (warning: contains heavy amounts of all-caps and awesome)
posted to MetaFilter by XQUZYPHYR at 9:50 AM on January 21, 2008 (98 comments)

How do you develop focus, drive, and personal discipline?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Saxon Kane at 8:26 PM on May 11, 2008 (28 comments)

Best episode to introduce someone to This American Life?
posted to Ask Metafilter by exhilaration at 1:49 PM on May 4, 2008 (44 comments)

Oil's got one. So does cocaine. There used to be one for light bulbs and another for uranium. While we know one currently exists for diamonds, some folks think the music industry has one.
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 6:55 AM on May 5, 2008 (21 comments)

When Brad and Amy got married, Amy's "Man of Honor" got up to give his toast -- a musical toast. Other friends and family joined in, much to Amy's surprise, and the result, captured here on video, is pretty darned delightful.
posted to MetaFilter by houseofdanie at 12:51 PM on May 4, 2008 (109 comments)

Help me be a better graduate student.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 8:43 PM on April 17, 2008 (18 comments)

I'm looking for places to sit and write in New York City. Fussy constraints within.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Bookhouse at 12:39 PM on April 18, 2008 (25 comments)

Feel good hit of the year; Discovery Channel's 'I Love the Whole World' ad
posted to MetaFilter by oxford blue at 5:10 AM on April 19, 2008 (103 comments)

Help me to figure out a budget for some fairly extravagant backpacking travel.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Planet F at 9:35 PM on April 6, 2008 (8 comments)

An open letter from Nickyskye This is single page put together for another Metafilter member. It's designed simply to update friends on her medical status and request a bit of help.
posted to Projects by Brandon Blatcher at 6:03 PM on March 11, 2008

Best Story Ever is a series of clips featuring various celebrities -- Henry Rollins, Lewis Black, Dee Snider, Chuck D, Ron Jeremy, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and many more -- telling their best stories. Some are lame, some are funny. But hey, what's your best story ever? (It can't be lamer than Alan Thicke's, can it?)
posted to MetaFilter by cog_nate at 7:58 AM on March 31, 2008 (64 comments)

Which is the best thread/comment related to depression on AskMe?
posted to MetaTalk by PinkButterfly at 4:15 PM on March 24, 2008 (34 comments)

Has one of your long-held opinions/beliefs ever been swayed by a Mefi post or comment? I don't mean a mundane opinion like "I prefer mashed potatoes to french fries," but a really important opinion, like a major cultural/political stance (i.e. a long-held belief regarding religion, abortion, homosexuality, vegetarianism, conservative vs. liberal, etc.). If so, what thread and/or comment was the turning point for you? And how did you feel about thinking differently?
posted to MetaTalk by amyms at 12:20 AM on March 23, 2008 (188 comments)

How did you turn your life around? I'm looking for inspiring stories and general patterns. Be as philosophical or as specific as you like.
posted to Ask Metafilter by DarkForest at 7:55 PM on May 13, 2007 (27 comments)

I would like to read books by more MeFi writers. I have therefore made a list of who they are and their books.
posted to MetaTalk by paduasoy at 5:03 AM on February 23, 2008 (102 comments)

What words should English steal from other languages?
posted to Ask Metafilter by unSane at 5:12 AM on February 18, 2008 (91 comments)

The best week long backpacking trip in the United States?
posted to Ask Metafilter by sophist at 9:58 PM on February 21, 2008 (20 comments)

What is the most useful book you own?
posted to Ask Metafilter by shotgunbooty at 10:01 AM on February 16, 2008 (104 comments)

If you were showing the MetaFilter Universe (including the main page, Ask, Talk, Projects, Music, everything) to someone for the first time, what threads would you choose as examples of MeFi at its best and at its worst?
posted to MetaTalk by amyms at 12:10 AM on February 17, 2008 (60 comments)

What are some movies that have either drastically changed the way you view the world or changed the way you live your life?
posted to Ask Metafilter by MaryDellamorte at 5:09 PM on February 12, 2008 (150 comments)

What little things do great friends do that sets them apart from others?
posted to Ask Metafilter by PFL at 7:49 AM on February 12, 2008 (29 comments)

Kiuchi Nobuo - a Japanese airman in World War II, was captured and sent to a prison camp in the Ukraine. He tells his story with drawings.
posted to MetaFilter by tellurian at 7:54 PM on February 5, 2008 (23 comments)

Steven Karl Zoltan Brust, one of my two or three favorite authors of all time, has written a Firefly novel, called "My Own Kind of Freedom." As Joss Wheedon has decided that he does not want novels to be written based on the series. So instead of selling it as he had hoped, SKZB has declared it to be a fanfic, and released it to the general public under a Creative Commons license.
posted to MetaFilter by Aversion Therapy at 7:15 AM on February 5, 2008 (49 comments)

How does Facebook handle or simplify the presumably complicated DB queries involved so that me loading my page doesn't bring it to its knees?
posted to Ask Metafilter by bonaldi at 9:49 AM on February 4, 2008 (30 comments)

Craig Ferguson of The Late Late Show gives Britney Spears some advice. (12:30m YouTube. It's a monologue. And it's not really about Britney all that much.)
posted to MetaFilter by Cyrano at 10:57 AM on February 21, 2007 (131 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)

What are your favorite health/fitness/nutrition-related YouTube videos?
posted to Ask Metafilter by cameron.case at 2:44 AM on February 1, 2008 (6 comments)

What did you do to change from poor to rich?
posted to Ask Metafilter by markovich at 10:39 PM on January 22, 2008 (52 comments)

Real robot drama is happening on Mars today. Spirit, racing for her life to find shelter before winter, injured and underpowered after four years of hard labor, may have made her most significant find yet. The broken foot she's dragged behind her for the past two years unexpectedly uncovered evidence of a once-wet Mars with conditions theoretically hospitable for primitive life.
posted to MetaFilter by Chinese Jet Pilot at 11:08 AM on December 12, 2007 (89 comments)

Help me to find the perfect passive-aggressive gift for the holidays. Long story follows.
posted to Ask Metafilter by InnocentBystander at 6:31 PM on December 8, 2007 (98 comments)

Top ten point and click games based on graphics, difficulty level and overall enjoyable gaming experience. (via)
posted to MetaFilter by Ufez Jones at 12:39 PM on December 5, 2007 (15 comments)

Spacebar.not.functional?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Danf at 7:19 PM on December 3, 2007 (19 comments)

Where, in Canada, can I buy emergency/disaster kit items such as water rations?
posted to Ask Metafilter by acoutu at 8:57 PM on November 24, 2007 (33 comments)

"This is the story of when I re-wrote the Lotus Notes Formula Engine.... So here was I was, offered this position that I clearly wasn't qualified for. I had no experience with language runtimes or compilers, I knew very little about C and didn't know anything about C++, I had never dealt with platform byte ordering and packing and all the other issues associated with writing something for eight different operating systems, I had never even used proper version control. But none of that mattered to me. It seemed to me like an amazing opportunity and I would be doing exactly the kind of stuff I enjoy most..."
posted to MetaFilter by grumblebee at 10:00 AM on November 24, 2007 (64 comments)

I am craving slow-cooked goodness. Please share your favorite crock-pot recipes!
posted to Ask Metafilter by actionpact at 5:11 PM on November 19, 2007 (25 comments)

JokeFilter: Seeking a consultant joke heard about 5 years ago.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Miko at 7:19 AM on November 19, 2007 (5 comments)

An exceptionally simple theory of everything has been released by a snow and surfboarding physicist. String theorists are grumpy feeling it doesn't have enough dimensions to be a proper theory. Others question and discuss. In it's favour - it's pretty! 10 Mb Quicktime
posted to MetaFilter by Sparx at 6:42 AM on November 15, 2007 (113 comments)

I've always admired people who are just genuinely nice, warm folks and inspire everyone they talk to. I'd like to be one of those people when I grow up, but I don't know how to do it. Sometimes, when I do or say nice things, people get freaked out and think that I'm hitting on them, want something from them or am being insincere. That isn't the case, but every time it happens, I get a little more timid about doing nice things for people. It's easy to get by with a prickly Dorothy Parker routine, but that's not how I want to live my life. And I'm sick of not doing or saying nice things just because I'm not socially adept enough to pull it off. Being an asshole is easy, and no one ever questions your motives. How can I, as an introvert, act upon my nice impulses without freaking people out? What's the secret to being a mensch?
posted to Ask Metafilter by freshwater_pr0n at 6:58 PM on November 14, 2007 (28 comments)