Pious Dagestani-Russian mixed martial arts champion Khabib Nurmagomedov defended his 155-pound title this past Saturday, and promptly retired. The capstone on his career was another textbook grappling "smesh": a buttery-smooth wrestling takedown which led to his late father's favorite submission trap: a triangle choke that put the heavy-hitting Justin Gaethje to sleep. Journalist Karim Zidan writes eloquently about the popular Muslim athlete's mixed legacy.
posted to MetaFilter by daveliepmann at 4:09 AM on October 28, 2020 (25 comments)

The “Syllabus for White People to Educate Themselves” is the perfect thing to send both white allies genuinely interested in learning more, and that special Facebook commenter who loves playing “Devil’s Advocate.” Whenever anyone asks you for stats, “proof,” or info no one who has an actual human schedule has the kind of time to provide, you can send them here. [Google Docs link via Teresa Jusino at The Mary Sue]
posted to MetaFilter by cgc373 at 6:57 PM on August 21, 2017 (17 comments)

Big news: a few days ago Matt Haughey and I signed paperwork to transfer ownership of MetaFilter from him to me. This is sorta huge and sorta not a big deal at the same time: things are fine and basically nothing is changing on the site as a result, we’re just keeping on as before. I’ll talk about the whole thing below the fold.
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 9:04 AM on July 31, 2017 (339 comments)

Behold. Erowid Sarah Palin, a twitterbot with a mission to do Markov mashups between Sarah Palin quotes and "trip reports" from the Experience Vault at Erowid.
posted to MetaFilter by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:49 PM on February 1, 2016 (39 comments)

Lately we have been cooking a bunch of things on Sunday or Monday that can be assembled mix-and-match style during the week, and it has been awesome. We're getting a bit tired of what we've been making, though, so I'm looking for additional ideas that we may not have thought of. If you do meal prep to get you through the week, what do you make?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by stellaluna at 4:07 PM on September 3, 2015 (20 comments)

So griphus and I were watching 1973 cult classic The Wicker Man and my brain got thinking about Rocket Man and, well, here we are.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 11:30 AM on March 30, 2015 (8 comments)

I really like the combination of ominous sound and surf guitar influence in East Bay Ray's work with the Dead Kennedys. (Examples would be "Police Truck" and "Too Drunk to Fuck".) Are there other bands who do a similar sort of evil surf sound?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Pope Guilty at 7:46 PM on February 9, 2015 (16 comments)

A special encore performance by Christopher Walken and the Lounge Fellas.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 1:18 PM on December 21, 2010 (3 comments)

One of my favorite little and silly gifts to give people is adopting a lobster from the UK's National Lobster Hatchery. What are other similar inexpensive and slightly silly -- but ideally also socially/environmentally conscious -- gifts you like to give people? Ideally it's a similar deal where they don't actually get more stuff to deal with, or if they do it's some sort of small acknowledgement that they won't feel bad about throwing out or recycling.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by naturalog at 12:10 PM on December 16, 2014 (17 comments)

I apologize to basically everyone.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 4:20 PM on November 6, 2014 (25 comments)

A relationship with a friend has spiraled out of control. I have to bring it to an end, and I'm not sure how to go about it. I need advice. Details inside.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Anonymous at 12:11 AM on August 23, 2014 (46 comments)

On July 21th, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin waited within paper thin walls on the surface of the Moon. Hours ago they had made history by being the first humans to land and walk on its surface. Now the only thing left to do was take off. All that entailed was performing the final test of the Lunar Module: launching from the lunar surface with no on-site support or possibility of fixes if something failed.
posted to MetaFilter by Brandon Blatcher at 2:57 PM on July 21, 2014 (67 comments)

Why do we love repetition in music? Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis explains how repetition and musicality work in our minds.
posted to MetaFilter by gladly at 7:38 PM on July 9, 2014 (31 comments)

I recently graduated, but I'm already feeling pressure to find a job now or else be bombarded with my mom's criticism. How should I deal with this until I get work?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by bluekazoo at 12:43 AM on June 18, 2014 (22 comments)

The Sad, Century-Long History of Terrible Wizard of Oz Movies. Would you like an exhaustive list? Sure you would...
posted to MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 12:26 PM on June 9, 2014 (75 comments)

Wanted to let people know that while I'll continue to be hanging around here like I've always been, I'll be taking a (small) job at the Internet Archive being the support person and the user/tech liaison for Open Library.
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 7:41 AM on May 20, 2014 (254 comments)

It is the mid 80's. You are a superfan of old fashioned southern style wrasslin. You are a loyal viewer of NWA World Champtionship Wrestling on TBS Superstation to the point where you curse the Braves for interrupting your treasured NWA stars on the mat. You HATE WWF, with all its glitter and glamour and Hollywood aspirations. That hatred is personified in Vince McMahon Jr., a smarmy troll of a man who is pushing his WWF promotion ever eastward, westward, and worldwide. Imagine your horror when you turn on your television and tune to TBS on Saturday, July 14th and see this.
posted to MetaFilter by mediocre at 4:15 PM on April 24, 2014 (60 comments)

Has pop music criticism really devolved into lifestyle reporting as alleged by this Daily Beast article? The response by Slate reviewing Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream".
posted to MetaFilter by lizarrd at 10:48 PM on March 25, 2014 (66 comments)

From World War to Star Wars: The Millennium Falcon
posted to MetaFilter by valkane at 7:15 AM on February 19, 2014 (38 comments)

On February 2, 1981, an experimental New Romantic band from Birmingham released their first single. It was the beginning of the still-continuing, at times tumultuous, hugely successful tenure of Duran Duran. From 33 years ago: Planet Earth. B-side for the single was Late Bar, or in the US was To The Shore. Plus the Planet Earth (Night Version) extended remake.
This was the first of many, many singles from Duran Duran.
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:35 PM on February 2, 2014 (63 comments)

The Cinco Family/Corporation is a fictional corporation which spans the television and internet works of comedian Bob Odenkirk. From 2007 to 2010, the comedy television program Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, served as an outlet for Cinco Products skits. The commercials and infomercials use green screen and special effects with the intent of mimicking the standard format of infomercials from the late 1980s and early 1990s, often lampooning technology from the same era (such as the Cinco MIDI Organizer). Generally, the goods and services sold by Cinco companies are a bizarre assortment of useless, pointless and/or physically harmful products, at least three of which require the removal of all of the user's teeth. [NSFW]
posted to MetaFilter by Room 641-A at 8:50 PM on December 7, 2013 (48 comments)

"Very often, black people work to make white people at ease by layering away any unease we ourselves may feel. It is hard work to translate yourself daily to someone else who most likely lives life without ever being fully aware of how their very existence has been the basis for determining what is 'normal' in America and much of the world. And yet this painful and ongoing work of translation is second nature to those of us who have always had to figure out ways to be seen and understood in a world where the white experience is assumed to be the default."
posted to MetaFilter by rcraniac at 9:11 PM on November 28, 2013 (180 comments)

"We pressed up Infinite. We might have pressed up maybe five hundred, a thousand records tops. We couldn’t give them away. Nobody was feeling it. We don't know why. Then Marshall, I think he was sitting on the toilet making a poop, and he came up with the alter ego. He came into the studio, talking about this alter ego that he has now."
An interview with Jeff Bass, who, along with his brother Mark, produced and co-wrote Eminem's first two albums (plus Lose Yourself from the 8 Mile soundtrack).

posted to MetaFilter by mannequito at 8:50 PM on November 6, 2013 (25 comments)

What are your favorite affordable drawing supplies - especially pens?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by kristi at 9:35 AM on October 2, 2012 (22 comments)

Well folks, Sept 1 has arrived. Here's a summary of our summertime Bowie Challenge.
posted to MeFi Music by dubold at 2:20 AM on September 1, 2013 (15 comments)

I've kind of started to implement htid's excellent advice regarding breaking depression-based habits, but I don't have a good way to keep track of my goals. So, what's a good way for me to keep track of how many times I've done multiple different tasks? Paper and pencil doesn't really work for me. Something I can do on my iPhone would be best.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by SugarAndSass at 11:41 AM on August 18, 2013 (9 comments)

What are history's most intriguing lost items, including film footage, photographs, books, or inventions?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by gregoryg at 7:40 PM on July 17, 2013 (52 comments)

Want to write a pulp novel full of two fisted tales of action and adventure in the mode of Doc Savage but don't know where to start? You need the Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot! "No yarn of mine written to the formula has yet failed to sell."
posted to MetaFilter by Artw at 9:58 AM on December 15, 2011 (37 comments)

I have what seem to be, for lack of a better descriptor, permanent whiteheads on my cheeks. What treatments might help me get rid of them?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Kitty Stardust at 6:53 AM on July 4, 2013 (17 comments)

You may know him as simply Paul F. Tompkins from Mr. Show with Bob and David or Best Week Ever but fans of now-defunct Comedy Death Ray Radio, Comedy Bang Bang: The Podcast, and the Comedy Bang! Bang! TV series know that there is more to him than meets the eye. Much, much more.
posted to MetaFilter by Room 641-A at 10:20 AM on June 15, 2013 (36 comments)

Photographer Arne Svenson has sparked a bit of controversy with his recent show "The Neighbors," about which he says, "I turned to the residents of a glass-walled apartment building across the street from my NYC studio. The Neighbors don’t know they are being photographed; I carefully shoot from the shadows of my home into theirs. I am not unlike the birder, quietly waiting for hours, watching for the flutter of a hand or the movement of a curtain as an indication that there is life within."
posted to MetaFilter by taz at 10:42 AM on May 17, 2013 (314 comments)

Chubby Checker, dubbed "King of the Twist" due to his hit song "The Twist" and assorted twist-related singles, went to Holland in 1971 and got psychedelic. He released a limited Europe-only album called Chequered! that included soul/psych track Goodbye Victoria ("Goodbye, Victoria. Everybody's going to the moon…"). The possibly drug-related departure may have been an attempt to reach stardom sans the novelty of "The Twist." The album was produced by known scam artist Ed Chalpin and recently remastered and reissued.
posted to MetaFilter by dayintoday at 3:56 PM on May 12, 2013 (36 comments)

I'm in a rut. Professionally and personally, I have long lists of projects that I need or want to get done and have made little to no progress on. I've made lists. I've made plans. I've made schedules. I've thought about why it is that I'm not doing what I know I should do. When I think about all the things I want to do and am not doing I feel ill.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by bunderful at 6:26 PM on October 12, 2011 (15 comments)

I'm an anxious gal who finds that reading books about anxiety, self-compassion, mindfulness and meditation really helps me set a plan for what to do and how to get better. But there are so many of these books, I don't know where to start. What books would you recommend?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by flibbertigibbet at 7:09 PM on June 26, 2011 (20 comments)

A Conversation With Stephen King (NSFW language, MLYT)
posted to MetaFilter by fearfulsymmetry at 8:23 AM on December 28, 2012 (23 comments)

Ultimate Drumming Technique: an instructional video (so very NSFW.)
posted to MetaFilter by griphus at 7:46 PM on October 16, 2012 (92 comments)

The Long, Strange Trip of Dock Ellis. ESPN's Outside the Lines has created a digital reading experience worthy of its subject matter.
posted to MetaFilter by whimsicalnymph at 9:41 AM on September 12, 2012 (17 comments)

Light and Matter has put together an excellent explanation of the Three Basics of Exposure and Photography using (mostly) eight bit graphics.
posted to MetaFilter by quin at 7:15 AM on May 25, 2012 (6 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 (1284 comments)

Dirty Pictures [1h30m] is a documentary (trailer [1m30s]) about Alexander Shulgin, his life, his family, the drugs he has developed, the people he has affected, the boundaries of experience he has explored, the effects he has had on society, and the understanding of the mind and the psychedelic experience which have resulted from his experiments and chemical creations.
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 10:15 PM on April 4, 2012 (23 comments)

French hospitals have rooms where medical students (internes) can rest, lunch and vent off steam between calls, but these salles de garde are not your usual staff room. They are brightly decorated with lively mural paintings showing the current internes, the doctors and other hospital staff engaging in very (very) explicit sex acts. The frescos are done by the students themselves or commissioned from local artists, and are replaced on a regular basis. Here are some choice examples (sorted by hospital): Ambroise Paré, Cochin, Widal, Louis Mourier, Saint-Louis, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Institut Gustave Roussy (ibid) (ibid), Lariboisière, Robert Debré, Saint-Cloud, Tenon. Many other images can be seen on the website of an association of former internes. [Totally NSFW unless you're a medical student training in France]
posted to MetaFilter by elgilito at 10:40 AM on March 19, 2012 (200 comments)

I have decided that I want to start doing some basic woodworking, but I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing. Where to get started?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by synecdoche at 7:30 PM on January 14, 2012 (26 comments)

Frank Zappa documentary: Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four; Part Five.
posted to MetaFilter by twoleftfeet at 3:20 AM on February 3, 2012 (21 comments)

"At my then-boyfriend’s house I opened a drawer to borrow a T-shirt. All the T-shirts were perfectly folded, as if ironed. I knew right then and there that I must run for my life." And other tales of romantic dead ends. capturing the exact moment you realize a relationship is doomed, doomed, doomed.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 9:24 AM on February 3, 2012 (672 comments)

William and Sly 2 is a gorgeous, ethereal fantasy exploration game wherein you play a nimble fox tasked with finding the scattered pages of your human friend's journal, while gathering mushrooms, finding keys to unlock mystery boxes, and freeing rune-bound spirits and pixies trapped in frost along the way.
posted to MetaFilter by taz at 1:32 AM on January 16, 2012 (14 comments)

Louis' Challenge: To Torrent or Not The Pirate Bay is discussing (under the link to down the torrent) of the thing Louis CK is asked: Please don't torrent this video. I paid for the whole thing with my own stupid money.
posted to MetaFilter by victors at 7:41 AM on December 11, 2011 (214 comments)

Mr. Data Converter takes CSV, Excel, or tab-delimited data and coverts it into web-friendly formats, including HTML tables, PHP arrays, JSON properties and MySQL tables. via
posted to MetaFilter by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 1:02 PM on November 30, 2011 (28 comments)

What if anyone in need of blood could find it anywhere? Based on this question, Hospital Albert Einstein created an innovative way to make people aware of the need for blood donations. They placed blood bags in refrigerators of several convenience stores throughout São Paulo. The customers were amazed to find them beside sodas and sandwiches. Their reactions were filmed.
posted to MetaFilter by twoleftfeet at 3:03 AM on November 30, 2011 (47 comments)

The term never event describes when something happens in a medical setting that should never occur. The list of never events (formally called "Serious Reportable Events) released by the NQF includes mistakes such as performing surgery on the wrong body part (or the wrong patient!), or patient suicide while under care. Despite their moniker, "never" events do happen.
posted to MetaFilter by Deathalicious at 7:02 AM on November 28, 2011 (53 comments)

"Tarantino is on record as saying that this movie is his “bunch-of- guys-on-a-mission film”—which would mean that it’s a version of the Dirty Dozen or The Guns of Navaron'e. Like almost everything else that Tarantino says in interviews, I think that sentence is a lie." -- The film within the film that is Inglorious Basterds.
posted to MetaFilter by Potomac Avenue at 6:12 AM on November 16, 2011 (181 comments)