On April 21st, my band Tangemeenie is issuing a small limited CD release of "The Gilded Age," our first full-length since our only previous full-length debuted way back in 2002 on the tiny but mighty indie label Animal World Recordings. Since the MeFi music community played such a key role in helping me to complete this project (by providing feedback on rough mixes and helpful advice on the nuts and bolts of different stages of the production process), I'd like to invite everyone here to help themselves to free downloads of the final, mixed, mastered and officially-certified finished product over here before we release it in the usual way.
posted to MeFi Music by saulgoodman at 10:59 AM on April 3, 2009 (4 comments)

For the April "write a song with only two chords" Music Challenge. Brought to you by the chords E and A.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 2:52 PM on April 3, 2009 (13 comments)

Good grief! Described as "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being", the entire run -- just shy of 50 years -- of Charles Schulz's Peanuts can now, legally, be read online.
posted to MetaFilter by evilcolonel at 11:14 PM on March 11, 2009 (100 comments)

A cover of ABBA's S.O.S by me (Brad Sucks) and my pal TheHipCola for an ABBA Fight we were involved in.
posted to MeFi Music by frenetic at 11:18 AM on June 30, 2006 (15 comments)

We're going to be experimenting with some gentle scaling back of Metafilter's scope and services.
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 8:00 AM on April 1, 2009 (476 comments)

My parents are both well into their eighties now with health failing just a little bit more each year. How do I prepare myself for their eventual death?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by netbros at 5:59 PM on May 28, 2008 (11 comments)

Monopoly killer - how The Settlers of Catan redefined board games.
posted to MetaFilter by Artw at 10:47 PM on March 29, 2009 (159 comments)

Dutch author Tim Krabbé, also an expert chess player, catalogues the unusual and sublime in chess: Tim Krabbé's Chess Curiosities.

Chess Records. The 110 greatest moves ever. Underpromotion in serious games. A poignant encounter with Garry Kasparov after a loss. Or you could just start at his Open Chess Diary and work your way back.
posted to MetaFilter by shadow vector at 3:58 PM on July 12, 2008 (20 comments)

it's a song about dirt and also bags
posted to MeFi Music by frenetic at 8:13 PM on June 29, 2006 (46 comments)

I wrote this for a buddy who proposed to his girlfriend via Songfight this past weekend. I couldn't write anything serious so I wrote this instead.
posted to MeFi Music by frenetic at 1:10 PM on March 17, 2009 (21 comments)

The Morning Glory might be the coolest cloud on the planet.
posted to MetaFilter by rtha at 1:17 PM on February 18, 2009 (25 comments)

Idi Amin close to death The former big man of Uganda, self-proclaimed Conqueror of the British Empire, scorn of satirists and subject of a 1974 Barbet Schroeder documentary is near death. His overt support of the infamous Entebbe hijacking, intended as his show of strength and global defiance, led (in)directly to his overthrow. (More inside.)
posted to MetaFilter by philfromhavelock at 8:31 PM on July 20, 2003 (24 comments)

Pulling girls in bars: how do you do it? I don't think I know how. The two or three times I have they've kissed me first. I'm more used to getting into relationships - sometimes even just asking "can I kiss you? I think you're lovely" after a date - but want some of the late-night stranger-kissing that all the bar guys get. How do you turn cheery bar conversation into cheery bar smooching?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Anonymous at 7:55 PM on November 18, 2004 (19 comments)

Antarctica travel blog, done Big Picture style. Kevin Fox, formerly a designer at Yahoo and Google (who wrote a great response to Doug Bowman's design-by-metrics post) took a trip to Antarctica a couple months back and has been slowly updating a mini-site, exhaustively describing and showing photos from each part of each day he was down there. There are icebergs. There are penguins. There is swimming. There is drinking. It's all done in a wonderful large image Big Picture style that makes me drop everything whenever the feed updates. Start at the top and read the whole way through.
posted to MetaFilter by mathowie at 8:47 PM on March 23, 2009 (23 comments)

Everything you ever wanted to read about left-wing political theory but were afraid to look up.
posted to MetaFilter by cthuljew at 8:55 AM on March 23, 2009 (67 comments)

When i kill and restart explorer.exe, what processes and files does it execute?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lockle at 10:33 PM on March 18, 2009 (10 comments)

On October 1, 1993, Bill Hicks was scheduled to appear on The Late Show with David Letterman for the twelfth time, but his entire performance was removed from the broadcast -- the only occasion, up to that point, in which a comedian's entire routine had been cut after taping. It will be shown for the very first time on David Letterman tonight and Bill Hicks' mother will be the guest. Derbs. Your question has an answer.
posted to MetaFilter by KevinSkomsvold at 6:51 PM on January 30, 2009 (162 comments)

I thought I'd gather together some follow-up links for various things I thought were worth following up on since they were originally posted to the blue. Some things worth checking out, but not individually meaty enough for a whole new FPP.
posted to MetaTalk by churl at 1:11 AM on March 17, 2009 (39 comments)

Vizualizations and infographics to help you understand the financial crisis
posted to MetaFilter by desjardins at 4:06 PM on March 14, 2009 (14 comments)

An interview with Elmo and Ricky Gervais. (SLYT)
posted to MetaFilter by hifiparasol at 9:27 AM on March 12, 2009 (28 comments)

On June 8, 1783, the volcano Laki in south Iceland tore open a 16-mile fissure that erupted over nine cubic miles of lava. Not only would this eruption kill over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, leading to famine which killed approximately 25% of the population; its effects were felt the world over, with flourine, sulfur dioxide, ash, sand and drastically cooled tempertaures from the blotted-out sun reaching as far afield as North America and Africa. The eruption lasted for nearly eight months. And from the day the eruption began, a humble priest named Jón Steingrímsson would make his mark in history.
posted to MetaFilter by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:38 PM on March 11, 2009 (24 comments)

Tetris HD
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 4:26 PM on March 11, 2009 (69 comments)

Jizz in my Pants is the newest (nsfpants) SNL Digital Short from The Lonely Island, featuring Justin Timberlake (ads, sorry) and Jamie Lynn Sigler. The Lonely Island first earned attention for things like Nintendo Cartoon Hour and Bing Bong Brothers, and have gained notoriety for things like Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box.
posted to MetaFilter by hypersloth at 6:12 AM on December 7, 2008 (65 comments)

I am looking for conversational topics/ questions that are relatively easy to answer, on topics that aren't too personal...help me come up with some!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by gilsonal at 11:01 PM on February 18, 2009 (31 comments)

Can you help me learn to like (maybe even love!) exercising?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by katala at 3:53 AM on March 3, 2008 (51 comments)

"He was sentenced to death after the military coup in 1980, a few months later he was pardoned but put under house arrest. While under arrest, he began to write a collection of poems; the aim of which was to create portraits of all the people he had ever met in his life" [Maninbo, or Ten Thousand Lives]. To date, 26 volumes from the ongoing collection have been published. Meet Ko Un. Ex-Buddhist Monk and one of South Korea's greatest poets.
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 8:17 AM on February 25, 2009 (6 comments)

Most Spaniards over 35 remember exactly where they were in the evening of February 23, 1981, best remembered as "23-F". It was the day of the last big stress test of Spain's then young democracy, when a group of conspirators tried to seize power by force. When armed policemen assaulted Parliament, and started shooting their machineguns to intimidate the lawmakers, on the benches, only three very different men refused to take cover.
posted to MetaFilter by Skeptic at 3:40 PM on February 23, 2009 (20 comments)

Classic Poetry Aloud: free recordings of 427 public domain poems.
posted to MetaFilter by Iridic at 10:39 AM on February 16, 2009 (8 comments)

An ongoing translation of the late 14th century anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into Modern English, for the amusement of Arthurians and anyone who likes a good story.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by Pallas Athena at 8:47 AM on February 8, 2009 (3 comments)

Here's an attempt to cover O Superman without copying it; no synths, no vocoders, no sampling or looping.
posted to MeFi Music by cortex at 4:06 PM on February 11, 2009 (24 comments)

I've been having some problems while trying to keep conversation going with people, even when I know them quite well. For some reason I really can't think of anything to say, and when I do I always think of myself as being quite a bore. Also, even though I love to laugh, it's very hard for me to come up with some decent jokes, puns or teases. Any advice on how to improve matters a bit? Thanks a lot in advance!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by koenie at 8:49 AM on May 6, 2005 (15 comments)

If you do a google image search for Stevie Wonder, no images are found. Any idea why? I have never searched for something and found nothing.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by rollo tomassi at 6:34 PM on February 6, 2009 (48 comments)

I want to learn to play chess. Anybody know of a good computer program to help me learn? More inside.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by LittleMissCranky at 10:51 PM on May 14, 2004 (10 comments)

Look at This Cat! Not to be confused with look at this dog, look at this muppet (wat a donut...), robots and donuts, monkeys and robots, monkeys on stilts, twin monkeys, koala twins, or celebrities without makeup. [via mefi projects]
posted to MetaFilter by ooga_booga at 7:29 PM on February 3, 2009 (73 comments)

It is the central, most eyecatching feature of the modern Oval Office. But for over a year, abandoned by a captain said to be harsh and venereal, it drifted slowly, its huge frame creaking, locked in ice, in the land of endless night.
posted to MetaFilter by felix at 9:56 AM on January 27, 2009 (122 comments)

What do women want? A post-feminist look at female desire.
posted to MetaFilter by desjardins at 1:37 PM on January 23, 2009 (148 comments)

How I Made a 1,474-Megapixel Photo During President Obama’s Inaugural Address.
posted to MetaFilter by googly at 1:48 PM on January 23, 2009 (120 comments)

President Barack Obama The text of the Inaugural speech will be posted after it's completed. Change.gov is closing up shop; Change has come to Whitehouse.gov.
posted to MetaFilter by theora55 at 9:19 AM on January 20, 2009 (651 comments)

Have you ever wondered how Samus got all her powers? I mean, really, how does a simple back-planet girl learn to use this mysterious Chozo technology?
posted to MetaFilter by cthuljew at 1:39 PM on January 18, 2009 (21 comments)

Is my husband trying to kill me?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Anonymous at 7:31 PM on January 17, 2009 (146 comments)

Bush, by a technicality. They've run out the clock. Oh dear. This could be messy.
posted to MetaFilter by holgate at 7:45 PM on December 12, 2000 (33 comments)

A collection of sketches drawn on an iPhone using only fingers, by Stef Kardos, an art director for Disney. Rough, jewel-bright, entrancing, could induce further desire for an iPhone.
posted to MetaFilter by po at 11:34 PM on January 6, 2009 (34 comments)

I'm going to be moving out on my own soon. What kinds of tools do I need to keep on hand for basic repairs around the house?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by JDHarper at 8:41 PM on October 10, 2006 (25 comments)

ToolFilter: I'm outfitting a new tool chest and looking to upgrade my sorry, incomplete tool sets. Any particular recommendations (e.g., brands) out there for the basic things -- screwdrivers, wrenches, etc. Anything you can't live without in your tool chest?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jgballard at 8:30 AM on May 30, 2007 (35 comments)

Am I tipping correctly?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by -harlequin- at 10:53 AM on January 3, 2009 (35 comments)

The gaming news/discussion site for video gamers who want more than Match Three In-A-Row, but less than a 70-hour romp through Liberty City. Staff writers include MeFi's own Cortex and nthdegx!
posted to MetaFilter Projects by jbickers at 9:27 AM on December 31, 2008 (7 comments)

One Two Fiver is a simple tool for warming up your writing muscles. It is based on a strategy I developed to overcome my own writing inertia. It relies on a progressively increasing word count that helps you make the transition from staring at the screen to writing. The interface is inspired by feature-free text-editors such as Q10 and WriteRoom, and is designed to be non-distracting. You will need javascript turned on to get the full effect.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by hifimofo at 10:47 PM on December 20, 2008 (14 comments)

I'm ashamed but this one wrote itself.
posted to MeFi Music by jtoth at 3:05 AM on December 26, 2008 (10 comments)

What is the best Windows based contact management program for the iPhone? I am looking for a fully functional program to load on my PC that syncs well with my iPhone. Do not want to spend much money. Have used Outlook in the past but was too clunky. Apple has Me.com but is a Saas model and I have to repay every year for usage. Desired features are calender, email, contacts, etc. I am also using 1st gen iPhone. All help appreciated.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by wts111 at 3:09 PM on December 26, 2008 (3 comments)

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas. It may be your last." "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" has had several rewrites since Hugh Martin wrote the original lyrics for 1944's Meet Me in St. Louis. Judy Garland thought the song was "awfully dark" and Martin rewrote the lyrics for her performance in the movie. The penultimate line was "Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow." Frank Sinatra called Martin in 1957 and said, "The name of my album is A Jolly Christmas. Do you think you could jolly up that line for me?' Sinatra's version, with its peppier lyrics, became a holiday standard. [more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by kirkaracha at 6:56 AM on December 21, 2006 (32 comments)