Our dear longtime member Bradlands is gone. Delightful SXSW party host, coiner of the word "blogosphere", all-around bon vivant & damn fine friend. Not much news yet, but here's a placeholder for news to come & remembrances. He will be so greatly missed.
posted to MetaTalk by judith at 3:00 PM on January 4, 2010 (419 comments)

In 1996, a family of German tourists went on vacation in the desert Southwest of the US. They disappeared in Death Valley sometime late July of that year, and despite repeated searches, their remains were not found until 2009. Tom Mahood details how that happened.
posted to MetaFilter by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 11:23 AM on January 3, 2013 (162 comments)

A thank you song for an epic quonsar.
posted to MeFi Music by rouftop at 10:08 PM on December 23, 2012 (11 comments)

Child's Play Charity collects money, toys, and video games to improve the lives of the young patients in children's hospitals across the world. Over at MefightClub we've just started our third annual annual donation drive. [previously] [previouslier] If you'd like to donate too, we'd love for you to do so under the MefightClub as MeFi-offshoot banner, but donation any which way would be a fine thing for you to do. It is a Good Cause.
posted to MetaTalk by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:19 PM on December 3, 2012 (20 comments)

Fire whirls, aka fire tornadoes, aka fire devils, aka firenados, are frequently photographed but have only recently been scientifically validated based on data from the 2003 Canberra fires in Queensland, Australia. Although rare, the physics behind firenados is straightforward enough to create your own. The most devastating fire tornado was the "dragon twist" that devastated Tokyo immediately following the great Japan quake of 1923.
posted to MetaFilter by Chinese Jet Pilot at 5:05 PM on November 19, 2012 (25 comments)

Terrorism as art: Mark Pauline's dangerous machines. Robots, rebellion, and the post-apocalyptic performance art of Survival Research Labs.
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 3:54 PM on October 9, 2012 (28 comments)

Is there any place on Earth that gets the most moonlight?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by zinful at 3:49 PM on October 6, 2012 (7 comments)

In 1952, a gray male tabby cat appeared at the door of Room 8 at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park. He stayed throughout the school year, left at summer vacation -- and came back on the first day of class in September. He became the school's cat, and his name was Room 8. Room 8 was featured in LOOK Magazine and the Weekly Reader, had a children's book written about him, and lived until 1968. One former student said, "I never liked Room 8 because he sat on my homework." The Wikipedia entry. Room 8's grave. The Room 8 Memorial Cat Foundation (a no-kill shelter).
posted to MetaFilter by sdn at 2:32 PM on September 10, 2012 (61 comments)

Tell me about the history of identity. Today it's pretty easy (though not foolproof) to find out if someone was who they said they were, or to verify a communication is from who it's claimed. But what about 200-2000 years ago?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Ookseer at 2:28 PM on September 8, 2012 (27 comments)

Tell me of the most beautifully designed, paper-based gtd / organizers / planners in the land! I want nice typography, attractive materials and maximum usability in one package. Is this possible?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by 100kb at 1:22 PM on August 30, 2012 (11 comments)

Researchers in the Earth Sciences and Art departments at Syracuse University melt basalt and make their own lava flows for science and art! Here's the project's homepage, including videos. via make blog
posted to MetaFilter by moonmilk at 7:03 AM on August 22, 2012 (8 comments)

Admiral Byrd took 2 1/2 tons of NECCO Wafers to Antarctica? Citation needed. Can you help?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by RevRob330 at 10:13 AM on August 23, 2012 (29 comments)

Throughout the west, prospectors and settlers clashed with native people, diminishing the populations of tribes greatly reduced by disease. By the 1850s, it was believed that all Native Americans were "civilized," before those in the young field of anthropology were able to record first-hand accounts of native people in their own elements. In 1853, a lone native woman was found on a remote island off the coast of southern California, but she contracted dysentery and died after she had been on the mainland for only seven weeks. Then in 1911, a bedragled native man was found in a farmer's slaughter house corral in rural Northern California. He was the last of his people, and he lived to share a glimpse of an ancient way of life, in his five years spent living amongst anthropologists, doctors, and linguists. He was Ishi, the last Yahi (Snagfilm; also on Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Instant).
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 12:27 PM on August 8, 2012 (20 comments)

Moving to Salem, OR in about a week. Big "getting-there" stuff is covered; now looking for any and all tips to make this the initial move-in and adjustment period as painless as possible -- give me your new-to-Salem-fu, please!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by genehack at 9:11 PM on July 31, 2012 (4 comments)

South Africa has named Oscar Pistorius and his running blades (Previously Previouslier Previousliest) to their 2012 Olympic track and field team in the 400 and 4x400 relay. He needed to run a 45.30 or better twice this year to qualify on his own merits, but he has done this only once this year (and at least once last year). The New York Times Magazine profiled him earlier this year. However, he will not be the first competitor to be named to both the olympics and paralympics in the same year:
posted to MetaFilter by persona at 5:08 PM on July 4, 2012 (99 comments)

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. If you were too busy looking forward to have time to appreciate a teacher, it's still not too late to appreciate the teachers behind the students.
posted to MetaFilter by twoleftfeet at 1:22 AM on May 16, 2012 (11 comments)

Kelly Beatty of Sky & Telescope magazine has introduced the first entirely new Moon globe in 40 years using high-resolution data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). You may know LROC as the satellite that showed us the remains of the Apollo missions (previously). One nice detail is that they got the Moon's asphalt-like color correct.
posted to MetaFilter by dirigibleman at 7:24 PM on June 16, 2012 (16 comments)

"Hi. Russia may well be associated with hard liquor like Водка, but in this video I will be talking about our traditional soft drinks and non-alcoholic beverages." Part 1 [mostly juices] and Part 2 [fizzy drinks].
posted to MetaFilter by Deathalicious at 7:25 PM on May 6, 2012 (32 comments)

TVAdSongs.com houses a library of 1,515 songs from TV and Radio ads, and that’s how my jingle earworm attached. Pretty soon I’d discovered that Barry Manilow used to include a bit he called "Our VSM" (short for our "Very Strange Medley" of songs he’s composed for commercials) in each of his concerts. (Weezer’s a big fan - previously). That’s where it struck me personally how insidously omnipresent these songs were (and are). Pretty soon, the earworm took over. So, I figure, what better way to get rid of a tune stuck in your head than to share it with the rest of the world? So, here goes — I am prepared for your curses. | "A" is for Apple, "J" is for Jacks • And They Call It... Charlie! • Break Me Off a Piece of that Kit Kat Bar ...
posted to MetaFilter by not_on_display at 7:37 PM on May 5, 2012 (29 comments)

On the evening of May 8th, exactly thirty-five years ago tonight, two remarkable things happened at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. A beautiful spring afternoon suddenly turned to dropping temperatures, and by nightfall a light snow was falling on the campus; meanwhile, in a campus auditorium, Barton Hall, one of the greatest improvisational rock bands in history was performing what would later come to be known as their greatest concert.
posted to MetaFilter by koeselitz at 6:20 PM on May 9, 2012 (96 comments)

You are in a healthy, happy relationship: What are your fights like with your significant other?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by 3491again at 6:34 PM on May 3, 2012 (53 comments)

In the main link in griphus' post this morning, there was this little aside: "In 1957...a physics student named Don Knuth built a program for the IBM 650 to help the 1958 Case Institute of Technology basketball team win the league championship." Yes, THAT Don Knuth. Here's a young Don with the team and the IBM 650 (capable of making 50,000 calculations a minute!), and here he is talking about it.
posted to MetaFilter by MtDewd at 7:09 PM on April 10, 2012 (16 comments)

Is dentist required to return a gold crown of extracted molar to patient?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by kartguy at 10:27 AM on April 5, 2012 (15 comments)

Give me your best ______ do it ______ jokes.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by nickhb at 12:13 PM on April 4, 2012 (117 comments)

After tens of thousands of games of pool, every time I rack the balls I seem to switch about half of them around. I know I'm wasting time. So, I want to know exactly how many balls I should normally expect to swap (the median), and what is the most I should ever have to swap. For those of you who aren't pool nerds like me, I've explained the 8-ball racking process inside.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by omnigut at 4:24 PM on April 4, 2012 (19 comments)

After reading the FPP on cephalophores, I found myself on Wikipedia reading a list of patron saints of ailments, illness and dangers. There are many such lists on Wikipedia and I'd like to find more of them. Can you suggest additional excellent lists for me to enjoy?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sciencegeek at 3:42 PM on March 10, 2012 (29 comments)

Craftsmen and women, some of them the last of their breed, making their art by hand and profiled in beautiful short-form videos: Knifemaker. Ornamental glass artist (previously). Master printer . Swordguard maker (previously). Beekeeper and honey maker. Stone lettercarvers. Carmaker. More, and related, at This Is Made By Hand, FolkStreams.net and (less related, but still wonderful) eGarage.
posted to MetaFilter by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 10:45 AM on February 27, 2012 (19 comments)

Give me your best easy, quick desserts for one person made with stuff I already have in my kitchen.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by treehorn+bunny at 7:44 PM on February 2, 2012 (48 comments)

Mike Kelley, Artist and Writer, has died in Los Angeles. Mike Kelley, Los Angeles Artist and student of John Baldessari worked in most mediums available, including drawings, paintings, video, photography and installations, most notably featuring sock monkeys and other stuffed animals. His best known work may be for the cover of Sonic Youth's . Dirty.
posted to MetaFilter by PinkMoose at 9:00 PM on February 1, 2012 (23 comments)

Help me win my office's Super Bowl snack contest.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Doleful Creature at 3:06 PM on January 26, 2012 (32 comments)

We are putting up a black interstitial about SOPA/PIPA for the next 24hrs or so. If you click away from it, you'll get a cookie stored so you won't see it again in the same browser, but what follows is my reasons for doing it.
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 9:06 PM on January 17, 2012 (560 comments)

Hugh Howey was a self-published novelist of no real success. Until WOOL, that is - a 15,000 word "little throwaway story" he uploaded to Amazon's Kindle Marketplace one day and promptly forget about. The story he didn't blog, didn't tweet, and didn't even sell on his site hit #2 on the Kindle SciFi Bestseller list and "changed the course of e-books."
posted to MetaFilter by DarlingBri at 9:27 PM on January 15, 2012 (130 comments)

The language of love stamps.
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 4:21 PM on January 14, 2012 (17 comments)

At the dinner table we were talking about code phrases to self identify belonging to a specific group that are used in public (cruise ships, bars etc...) such as "being friends with Bill W" or "friends of Dorothy" for members of AA and lgbt. Are there any more examples that you can think of?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by saradarlin at 9:10 PM on December 29, 2011 (79 comments)

Tricks for getting your violin on a plane, by Lara St. John.
How about an upright bass? A cello? A guitar? (previously) A trombone? A tuba (and other horns)? What about lutes, a djembe, a hurdy-gurdy, or bagpipes?
(Some general tips. More general tips - part 1, part 2.)
posted to MetaFilter by flex at 10:46 PM on December 27, 2011 (35 comments)

Charlie Chan is more than a fictional character created the author Earl Derr Biggers, or the star of 50 movies (played by 8 different actors). His origin goes beyond the illiterate Chinese-Hawaiian detective with a bull whip instead of a pistol (previously). Charlie Chan is more than racial stereotypes and yellow-face. A part of his far-reaching story is told inside.
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 2:17 PM on December 23, 2011 (19 comments)

A decade on, the Coen brothers' woefully underrated O Brother, Where Art Thou? [alt] is remembered for a lot of things: its sun-drenched, sepia-rich cinematography (a pioneer of digital color grading), its whimsical humor, fluid vernacular, and many subtle references to Homer's Odyssey. But one part of its legacy truly stands out: the music. Assembled by T-Bone Burnett, the soundtrack is a cornucopia of American folk music, exhibiting everything from cheery ballads and angelic hymns to wistful blues and chain-gang anthems. Woven into the plot of the film through radio and live performances, the songs lent the story a heartfelt, homespun feel that echoed its cultural heritage, a paean and uchronia of the Old South. Though the multiplatinum album was recently reissued, the movie's medley is best heard via famed documentarian D. A. Pennebaker's Down from the Mountain, an extraordinary yet intimate concert film focused on a night of live music by the soundtrack's stars (among them Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Chris Thomas King, bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley) and wryly hosted by John Hartford, an accomplished fiddler, riverboat captain, and raconteur whose struggle with terminal cancer made this his last major performance. The film is free in its entirety on Hulu and YouTube -- click inside for individual clips, song links, and breakdowns of the set list's fascinating history.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:35 AM on December 22, 2011 (107 comments)

The Library: [SLYT] A film by Sergey Stefanovich. A journey through Duncan Fallowell's library which has spilled over into every available space and become an art installation in its own right. With the writer talking.
posted to MetaFilter by Fizz at 8:36 AM on December 20, 2011 (8 comments)

Where does the ice at the hospital come from? In particularly Henrico Doctor's in Virginia.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by udon at 9:54 AM on December 8, 2011 (11 comments)

The Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana started as an open pit copper mine in 1955, and was closed in 1982. At that time, groundwater pumping ceased and the pit started to flood, leading to what is now one of the largest Superfund sites. The water body was considered uninhabitable, with high concentrations of copper, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum, manganese and zinc and of pH of 2.5 (as acidic as a lemon), but in 1995, a small clump of green slime was noticed floating on the water's surface. Since then, the algae blooms have been studied as a possible method of remediation for the toxic waters. That same year, a migratory flock of snow geese landed in the pit lake. Stormy weather kept the flock on the lake, and when the weather cleared, 342 birds were dead. A Migratory Bird Protection Plan was then put in place, to prevent such occurrences from happening again. In the spring of 1996, a surprising discovery was made: yeast, which shouldn't grown in those pH levels, was surviving, and absorbing eighty-seven percent of the metals in the water. Furthermore, Andrea and Donald Stierle, professors who have been studying the pit lake since 1995, have found 70 compounds that might be medically useful.
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 11:05 AM on December 6, 2011 (36 comments)

Submarine escape: A WWII survival tale. 'Seventy years ago, off the Greek island of Kefalonia, the British submarine HMS Perseus hit an Italian mine, sparking one of the greatest and most controversial survival stories of World War II.' 'Despite being awarded a medal for his escape, John Capes's story was so extraordinary that many people, both within and outside the Navy, doubted it.' He 'died in 1985 but it was not until 1997 that his story was finally verified.'
posted to MetaFilter by VikingSword at 2:37 PM on December 2, 2011 (9 comments)

I'm looking for Supreme Court created tests or rules.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Garm at 10:33 AM on November 7, 2011 (10 comments)

Wetten Dass..? (Wanna Bet..?) is a long running German language television show where ordinary people are challenged to perform incredible stunts. While a celebrity panel looks on, someone might climb up a tower using a back-hoe. Or maybe someone could carve a pumpkin into a boat and paddle it across a lake. Many of the challenges involve people identifying things in strange ways. This girl identifies Lego Star Wars minifigs using only her mouth. This guy identifies varieties of canned sausage by tasting the juice. Other tasks show off unique physical talents, like this guy, who changes his clothes while running backwards on a treadmill, or these amazing people, who change a tire on a motorcycle while popping a wheelie on the SAME motorcycle. They don't always succeed, but it's almost always entertaining, and thanks to the official Wetten Dass..? YouTube channel you can see even more people doing crazy stuff. 63 more clips under the fold.
posted to MetaFilter by arcolz at 7:42 AM on February 11, 2011 (42 comments)

University of Rochester's libraries curate a vast collection of AIDS education posters from around the world, with almost 1500 available to view online. (via)
posted to MetaFilter by ChuraChura at 9:58 AM on November 6, 2011 (14 comments)

Etiquettefilter: During karaoke, what's appropriate when a song contains, e.g., a racial slur? Should you sing the lyrics as written? Substitute some other term? Not sing anything? Does the answer change depending on context - i.e., out with friends in private room, friends in public room, etc.? Specific instances discussed inside.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by slide at 7:46 PM on November 6, 2011 (31 comments)

Looking for book recommendations. I enjoy novels where characters deal with some type of mystery from the past. Can be historical fiction (like People of the Book or Possession) or entirely fictional.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by imalaowai at 9:08 PM on November 2, 2011 (35 comments)

"We finally flew our first thermal camera flight yesterday afternoon. About 10 seconds after launch my co pilot looked at the screen and said something like, 'We now have our very own predator drone'" A rice farmer in Louisiana had a real problem, feral pigs were coming out of the woods at night, into the rice fields, tearing up his crops and causing thousands of dollars worth of damage. The only solution is to bring in hunters to shoot the pigs. Hunting feral pigs in waist high rice plants, in the dead of night, is very difficult. You have to be within 10 feet of them to shoot them and it can take hours to stalk them down. So the farmer calls his brother, an Electronic Warfare engineer who flies RC airplanes as a hobby. $5000 worth of electronics, including a $4500 infrared camera, are installed on a $80 model airplane, and the Dehogaflier is born!
posted to MetaFilter by smoothvirus at 12:28 PM on October 18, 2011 (51 comments)

The Midnight Sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months near the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, where the sun remains visible at the local midnight. This short, time lapse film was shot in June 2011 over 17 days and incorporates 38,000 images. The photographer/videographer traveled over 2,900 miles throughout Iceland. Midnight Sun (SL-vimeo, via)
posted to MetaFilter by zarq at 1:58 PM on October 18, 2011 (24 comments)

What are your favorite comedy films of the past 5 years?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by drlith at 12:45 PM on October 9, 2011 (62 comments)

Celebrating pornographers who go the extra mile when set dressing classroom porn and actually write something on the blackboard. What do they write, and is it correct? (NSFW? No screenshots contain nudity, but Justice Stewart would know it if he saw it)
posted to MetaFilter by Blasdelb at 9:16 AM on October 7, 2011 (39 comments)