Trent Reznor releases a new Nine Inch Nails album out of the fucking blue called Ghosts. The first 9 tracks are free, and it's on The Pirate Bay. The whole thing is $5 (with a slew of other order options) which you can get on their website (which is getting hammered right now), or on Amazon. The digital downloads are 320kbps MP3/FLAC/Apple Lossless. All DRM-free.
posted to MetaFilter by booticon at 9:37 PM on March 2, 2008 (88 comments)

Does Torchwood get any better?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mojohand at 3:40 PM on February 19, 2008 (44 comments)

What are some good, somewhat dirty jokes suitable for telling to my Grandma?
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:52 PM on June 26, 2007 (54 comments)

Announcing: mobile.metafilter.com
It's a new version of the sites designed for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Try it out on the device, songs from MeFi Music even play in the device (works best on wifi of course). A short video if it in action is inside.
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 5:35 PM on January 24, 2008 (92 comments)

Basic Concepts in Science: A List A regularly updated list of blog entries explaining the basics of science and mathematics.
posted to MetaFilter by LeeJay at 1:27 PM on January 25, 2008 (16 comments)

Ubuntu has quickly become the number one Linux distro for the desktop. Not only is it free, but it has also made Linux easier to use than ever. Now, Wubi enables Windows users to install Ubuntu just like any other application, so you no longer have to mess around with partitions, burning CDs, etc.
posted to MetaFilter by Foci for Analysis at 8:09 AM on January 21, 2008 (82 comments)

I want to teach myself computer science. I know that teaching myself is far from a university education on the subject, but I'd like to try. How can I teach myself? What are books/lectures/tools/websites/anything that I could use to do this? Covering everything from the programming languages themselves, to algorithms, software development, and the mathematics background necessary for this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by petah at 6:41 PM on January 12, 2008 (22 comments)

Nearly 60,000* American children (mostly girls) are abducted by strangers each year. After seeing a security video documenting a young girl's abduction, 15-year-old Dallas Jessup convinced her Filipino street fighting instructor to work with her on a school project and together they developed a method intended to teach young girls how to avoid Carla Brucia's fate. The resulting 47 minute video, Just Yell Fire, is viewable free of charge and teaches easy self defense moves created to help a potential victim avoid abduction or date rape. If there's a girl you love and want to protect from harm, the tips in this video may just save her life someday.
posted to MetaFilter by miss lynnster at 10:17 PM on January 7, 2008 (177 comments)

Is This Transparency? OP with very slim, one-year posting history asks a question about finding a good charity in AskMe, just prior to year-end tax-decision time. Newly registered responder posts a newly formed charity-aggregator/evaluator organization, without mentioning that he is, apparently, one of the two founders. Self-promotional setup leading to self-link? Or am I being too cynical?

[update, 1/3/08: a summary of events is being developed on the wiki. --cortex]
posted to MetaTalk by Miko at 10:44 AM on December 31, 2007 (1426 comments)

io9 is a sci-fi blog that went live yesterday, edited by Annalee Newitz and friends. Newitz is an AlterNet Columnist and a founder of Bad Subjects, which is a major achievement considering she used to be afraid of blogs!
posted to MetaFilter by anotherpanacea at 6:09 PM on January 3, 2008 (27 comments)

Still aren't sure if the Wii is worth the wait in line? That's okay, the Wiimote is all you need for: Low-Cost Multi-point Interactive Whiteboards Using the Wiimote, Tracking Your Fingers with the Wiimote, and the latest: Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the Wii Remote (extremely cool and the easiest to implement). From the maker of the $14 steady-cam [prev. here], Johnny Chung Lee is taking Wiimote hacking to a whole new level, and giving away all necessary software and instructions for free. Wii games are about to get a whole lot cooler.
posted to MetaFilter by TimeTravelSpeed at 4:36 PM on December 22, 2007 (46 comments)

"DVD sales are in free fall. Audiences are flocking to pornographic knockoffs of YouTube [NSFW], especially a secretive site called YouPorn [NSFW]. And the amateurs [NSFW]are taking over. What’s happening to the adult-entertainment industry is exactly what’s happening to its Hollywood counterpart—only worse."
posted to MetaFilter by bigmusic at 12:12 AM on November 30, 2007 (92 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 (238 comments)

Rowan Atkinson Multiple link YouTube post Some of Atkinson's greatest hits over the years: Amazing Jesus, Welcome to Hell, Conservative Conference, Smut, With Friends Like These, Fatal Beatings, a day in the life of the invisible man, Beekeeping (w/ John Cleese), Blackadder explains how the first Wold War started, Blackadder explains the Russian Revolution, Blackadder on a secret mission and a serious interview with Michael Parkinson.
posted to MetaFilter by psmealey at 7:54 AM on September 15, 2007 (66 comments)

"It so often happens that I receive mail - well-intended but totally useless - by amateur physicists who believe to have solved the world. They believe this, only because they understand totally nothing about the real way problems are solved in Modern Physics...It should be possible, these days, to collect all knowledge you need from the internet. Problem then is, there is so much junk on the internet... I know exactly what should be taught to the beginning student...I can tell you of my own experiences. It helped me all the way to earn a Nobel Prize. But I didn't have internet. I am going to try to be your teacher. It is a formidable task."
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 4:22 PM on August 29, 2007 (47 comments)

Garth Marenghi (previously), horror writer, director, and actor. Star of the popular 80's series Darkplace which chronicles the trials a hospital staff must endure when working on the gates of Hell, now available for your viewing pleasure. Or pain. Gripping. Terrifying. Bloody. With bits of sick. (See more episodes on Google )
posted to MetaFilter by kindle at 1:27 PM on July 28, 2007 (25 comments)

In 1997, the ABC gave John Safran, "Australia's most exciting guerilla filmmaker", his big break on Race Around The World. Although he came last in the competition, it's not too hard to fathom why he won the popular vote, with these submissions: Don't screw with the rules in Japan, The ambulance chaser (Mumbai), Anarchy in the Renault family hatchback (Bristol), The right to bare grudges (Cote d'Ivoire), Mum I'm not Jewish any more (Cote d'Ivoire), Father Pino vs the Devil (Sicily), Mohammad's guide to busting a move (Lebanon), Football's my religion (Jerusalem), The series of unfortunate events and The happiest place on earth, my butt (Disneyland). youtube; each ~6 minutes
posted to MetaFilter by goo at 2:53 AM on June 23, 2007 (16 comments)

A Field Guide to Chess Tactics. Chess tactics explained in plain English, with hundreds of examples. A great site for beginning to mid-level players. Includes a large library of positional problems, organized thematically, with the solutions explained and discussed. For example, learn about knight forks, then quiz yourself on the same topic.
posted to MetaFilter by Rumple at 9:53 PM on June 19, 2007 (76 comments)

I love to read ebooks (especially science fiction or fantasy) but I need some help finding good ones. The existing ebook sites like Fictionwise are terribly organized, and tend to have more obscure titles, rather than standard favorites. So, hive-mind, any good ebook sites you would suggest? Any good ebook finds in the science fiction and fantasy genre you would recommend?
posted to Ask Metafilter by blahblahblah at 7:36 AM on May 10, 2007 (17 comments)

Ruining science fiction: Not only are the science fiction cliches humorously skewered in the Tough Guide to the Known Galaxy, but the science itself is wrong. For example, despite the best efforts of SF writers, interstellar trade will never work, unless wine costs $11 billion a bottle. Slower-than-light travel is much harder than you think, and warp drives are far away. Space battles, if they happen, won't have fighters and dramatic dogfights, but instead involve vast distances and maneuvers lasting years. And you can ruin a whole lot more science fiction with real science (and wonderful examples) at Atomic Rocket. Don't follow the links if you want to read Heinlein or watch Battlestar Galactica with a light heart.
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah at 11:51 AM on May 8, 2007 (185 comments)

Overcoming fear of success.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 11:09 PM on May 5, 2007 (15 comments)

Audits of the Conventional Wisdom "MIT's Center for International Studies tours the horizon of conventional wisdoms that animate U.S. foreign policy, and puts them to the test of data and history."
posted to MetaFilter by Abiezer at 10:58 PM on May 4, 2007 (11 comments)

Researchers are exploring the idea of scrapping the Internet and starting over with a Clean Slate. Stanford researchers say the 'Net could be a whole lot better, if it were rebuilt from the ground-up. They say that their research complements that of the National Science Foundation's Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) effort to build a better network research platform, as well as the Future Internet Network Design (FIND) program for developing new Internet architectures.
posted to MetaFilter by ericb at 5:02 PM on April 14, 2007 (68 comments)

Top websites for girls 9-14? Help me help my girlie tween find something fun online.
posted to Ask Metafilter by eatdonuts at 1:10 PM on April 11, 2007 (19 comments)

MeFites: Share with me your favorite math tricks, truisms and formulas that clarified and simplified math problems and made life easier in high school and college.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dropkick at 9:01 AM on February 24, 2007 (59 comments)

My laptop computer is reacting slower and slower to commands. I'm not sure what to call it, but I believe 'latency' is something I heard. Most commands--typing, clicking on links, etc.. takes much longer that it should. Rather than being able to instantly click/type, my computer takes about 3-10 seconds to react... like it's fubar on the Humboldt County chronic. The stickiest of the icky. I need it to sober up. Please help!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jkl345 at 10:15 PM on February 18, 2007 (21 comments)

So this is the year you are going to write that novel eh? You're going to need some tools, and a lot of help. [mi]
posted to MetaFilter by eurasian at 10:05 AM on January 26, 2007 (28 comments)

Do you love learning? I know you do. This might help keep you busy for a while.
posted to MetaFilter by loquacious at 10:44 PM on January 13, 2007 (44 comments)

How to make your writing simple, clear, and compelling. (And a little on getting published.)
posted to MetaFilter by serazin at 7:43 PM on January 10, 2007 (81 comments)

Warnock's Dilemma is the situation you face when people don't comment on your postings. The problem with no response is that there are five possible interpretations:

1. The post is correct, well-written information that needs no follow-up commentary. There's nothing more to say except "Yeah, what he said."
2. The post is complete and utter nonsense, and no one wants to waste the energy or bandwidth to even point this out.
3. No one read the post, for whatever reason.
4. No one understood the post, but won't ask for clarification, for whatever reason.
5. No one cares about the post, for whatever reason.

This perfectly captures my thoughts when I see an amazing post with only 2 or 3 comments (of course, I believe everyone else is thinking point 1 as well). This probably explains why we can't equate lots of comments nor low comments with the quality of a post, since it could be good or bad in five different ways, as described here.
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 2:39 PM on April 24, 2005 (42 comments)

SF writers only use six words. A collection of six word epics from the cream of contemporary SF writers. Can Mefi do better? I reckon!
posted to MetaFilter by Sparx at 8:45 PM on October 24, 2006 (400 comments)

"I hate grades.... [But] I am obliged to follow the rules set forth by my employer and the larger education industry in general. Consequently, I assign grades."
posted to MetaFilter by grumblebee at 10:52 AM on September 28, 2006 (99 comments)

What's the most exciting novel you've ever read? I mean this in the simplest sense: an exciting plot. I'm looking for page-turners. Novels that keep you on the edge of your seat and refuse to let you sleep until you finish them. I'm looking for genre novels -- but I don't care what genres: Mystery, thriller, sci-fi, etc. (though sci-fi/fantasy has been done-to-death here, so I'm really more interested in other genres.) Oh, I care about words. So no matter how exciting, I'll quit reading if the prose is crappy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by grumblebee at 2:41 PM on May 25, 2006 (148 comments)