What is the "best" consumer-accessible solution to extract a text message (SMS/MMS) (or series of text messages) from an iPhone?
posted to Ask Metafilter by QuantumMeruit at 12:01 PM on May 14, 2013 (3 comments)

Don't make fun of renowned author Dan Brown. "Renowned author Dan Brown hated the critics. Ever since he had become one of the world’s top renowned authors they had made fun of him. They had mocked bestselling book The Da Vinci Code, successful novel Digital Fortress, popular tome Deception Point, money-spinning volume Angels & Demons and chart-topping work of narrative fiction The Lost Symbol."
posted to MetaFilter by zoo at 5:22 AM on May 11, 2013 (175 comments)

For all of you time crunched people: you can get fit doing these scientifically studied exercises (NYT). All you need are yourself, a floor, a chair, and time to do a 7 minute set 2 to 3 times. Caveat: it's a painful 7 minutes, and some say that you should already be at a decent fitness level, and may need to warm-up beforehand. Here's the academic journal article.
posted to MetaFilter by JiffyQ at 2:04 PM on May 9, 2013 (66 comments)

In 1965 guitar legend Jimi Hendrix was doing the chitlin circuit with R&B acts, where he honed some of the guitar artistry as well as the showman skills that would soon set the world on fire. Here's a taste of that pre-rock star Jimi, as a member of the Buddy and Stacy revue, doing the Junior Walker classic Shotgun. If you want more pre-rock star Jimi, well, there's...
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:27 PM on May 6, 2013 (38 comments)

Bohemian Rhapsody/Rhapsody in Blue mash-up done by a pretty good piano player.
posted to MetaFilter by Seekerofsplendor at 5:03 PM on May 3, 2013 (12 comments)

I'm working on a project designed to help people build confidence and overcome fear. As part of that, I'm trying to build a library of resources -- books, quotes, websites, video clips, etc. -- that explore what it's like to face fear and build courage. I have lots of material already, but I'm looking for more. What are some of your favorite bits about developing confidence and/or destroying fear?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jdroth at 11:00 AM on April 26, 2013 (10 comments)

If you were to consult the official play-by-play scoring for Friday's game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Chicago Cubs, you would find nothing unremarkable about the bottom of the 8th inning. As the scoring tells it, Jean Segura of the Brewers hit an infield single, then stole second base. Ryan Braun walked and was thrown out on an attempted steal of second, Rickie Weeks struck out, and the inning ended when Segura was thrown out attempting to steal third base.
posted to MetaFilter by ubernostrum at 10:52 PM on April 20, 2013 (64 comments)

Conan O'Brien recently reunited with some of the other writers of The Simpsons who he worked with during his tenure on the show. The panel touches on "... how Jub-Jub became the name of Selma's iguana, how Tracy Ullman always hated the cartoon, and how Conan was the only person in the show's history to have three episode ideas accepted in one story idea day."
posted to MetaFilter by codacorolla at 12:00 PM on April 18, 2013 (20 comments)

What are some subtle markers of quality? I'm interested in the opposite of the sort of shibboleths mentioned here. Though not specifically with regards to people so much as in general. I find these really interesting and also sometimes practically applicable.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pdq at 1:15 PM on April 16, 2013 (33 comments)

Listening Guide to West End Blues by Louis Armstrong - Listening Guide to Backwater Blues by Bessie Smith - Listening Guide to Salt Peanuts by Dizzy Gillespie and His All Stars
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 6:53 AM on April 11, 2013 (6 comments)

The World According to John Coltrane is a one-hour documentary, featuring lots of music footage and interviews with prominent jazz musicians such as Wayne Shorter, Tommy Flanagan and many others. It's an excellent primer on the enormously influential saxophonist's life and music.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 1:28 AM on April 6, 2013 (12 comments)

Extracting Audio from Pictures
posted to MetaFilter by JeffL at 8:11 PM on April 5, 2013 (14 comments)

I can accurately imagine sounds of 440hz. I can imagine sounds of 880hz, 1760hz, and so on, and accurately identify octave intervals. Why can't I keep imagining sounds an octave up, until I am imagining beyond the limits of my hearing?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Jon Mitchell at 12:14 AM on April 4, 2013 (12 comments)

Marcello Carlin and Lena Friesen review every UK number one album so that you might want to hear it, starting in July 1956 with Frank Sinatra's Songs For Swingin' Lovers (reviewed August 2008) and so far ending up in September 1981 with Genesis' Abacab (March 2013).
posted to MetaFilter by MartinWisse at 3:43 AM on April 2, 2013 (7 comments)

interesting insight into the creative process
posted to MeFi Music by Hoops McCann at 12:38 PM on March 19, 2013 (5 comments)

Forward by Messe Kopp is a clever one shot video filmed then reversed to a very neat effect. [via]
posted to MetaFilter by quin at 7:49 AM on March 20, 2013 (17 comments)

What are some free and/or cheap date ideas? We like being social, being alone, art, music, outdoors, sexy stuff, weird stuff, books, etc. We're fairly adventurous, but also happy being mellow and watching a movie. We're queer and in the SF Bay Area if you have specific suggestions for us and for around here, but more general ideas welcome.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 7:25 AM on March 15, 2013 (13 comments)

Ever since the DVD age began, I've noticed that music and sound effects in movies are always WAY louder than the dialogue. It's really annoying. Will a properly configured surround sound system fix this? What is the right way to set up surround sound speakers? Are sound bars any good?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Afroblanco at 1:17 PM on March 11, 2013 (12 comments)

Music Timeline: A chronology of music from prehistory to the present day
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 4:18 AM on March 4, 2013 (11 comments)

“Dust My Broom”: The Story of a Song
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 11:02 PM on March 2, 2013 (13 comments)

I am starting a new corporate job in the city next week after working in a casual semi-rural office for the past 2 years, where I could make toast for breakfast whenever I felt like it. I can't eat within the first hour of waking up so am looking for some great breakfast smoothies/drinks I can make that I can drink on the train to work that will actually fill me up until lunch time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sunshine arakhan at 4:24 PM on February 25, 2013 (13 comments)

Mother Jones reports on the damage done to Florida by two years of tea party governance, and on the difficulty of repairing it.
posted to MetaFilter by Pope Guilty at 3:41 AM on February 21, 2013 (75 comments)

Percussive maintenance is hitting an electronic or mechanical device to get it to work. I'd love to hear about any movies, tv shows, games or commercials where you've seen a character do this (not necessarily successfully). TV Tropes of course covers this pretty well but the more examples I can get, the better. It's for a supercut project.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dunk at 9:35 AM on February 20, 2013 (21 comments)

On that scroll that runs on your left-hand side of your Facebook page, you see that a friend has made a comment on a post. The first few words of their comment are visible, but unless you can find the actual full comment they posted, you can''t figure out what they said, and you don't want to scroll through 1,894 comments looking for that one person's thoughts. There must be a simple way to get to their posting, right?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mmf at 9:29 AM on February 20, 2013 (7 comments)

Grantland's Steven Hyden writes the winner's history of rock and roll, in four parts (so far), and charts the death of rock music as a major pop-cultural force in the 21st century by looking at some (not necessarily well-loved) bands that helped to transform it into a Big Business: Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith (and coming up in the next installment, Metallica). Rock isn't dead, by any means. But for better or worse, it ain't what it used to be.
posted to MetaFilter by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:40 PM on January 31, 2013 (82 comments)

Hello and welcome to Links to the Damn Paper, an open discussion community showcasing the best in freely-available biology research. If you’ve ever tried to have a discussion about science on the Web and been stymied and frustrated by inaccessible articles, misrepresentation of research in science journalism, or a community that seems uninterested in digging into the actual research behind a topic, then welcome: you are our people. If you’ve ever wished for a place to talk about the Science of Life where you could be sure that the actual articles were available, where compelling research was presented in a way that allowed it to speak for itself, and where you could discuss science with actual scientists and with other people who are passionate about science for its own sake, then you have found your haven.

MeFi's own Blasdelb, ChuraChura, and Scientist have G(T)OB. And it is good. [via mefi projects]
posted to MetaFilter by you must supply a verb at 11:50 AM on February 19, 2013 (53 comments)

Tasteful rap recommendations (no "N" word)?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Eiwalker at 12:23 PM on March 7, 2012 (42 comments)

Real-time MRI study of human beatboxing, with lots of videos. See what snares, kick drum effects, cymbals and more look and sound like as they happen inside the head. Here's a BBC radio segment on the project.
posted to MetaFilter by iamkimiam at 8:30 AM on February 15, 2013 (7 comments)

In which Neil deGrasse Tyson is asked a simple interview question and responds with a powerful story of perseverance and epiphany in the face of institutional bias and the intra-racial pressures which once pushed him to abandon his dream of becoming an astrophysicist.
posted to MetaFilter by Scientist at 5:49 PM on February 14, 2013 (110 comments)

Curious about contemporary Dublin slang? C'mere to me and have a look at this YouTube video yoke. It's only massive!
posted to MetaFilter by DarlingBri at 4:58 AM on February 14, 2013 (36 comments)

Howlin' Wolf schools Eric Clapton and friends on "Little Red Rooster" (slyt)
posted to MetaFilter by e-man at 10:56 PM on February 12, 2013 (13 comments)

Bunnie Huang tours a USB Drive manufacturer.
posted to MetaFilter by boo_radley at 12:04 PM on February 12, 2013 (10 comments)

In which I attempt to take the insufferable happiness of this song down a peg.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 2:03 PM on February 6, 2013 (18 comments)

Let's say that certain phases of my life were already written in a book 70 - 100 years ago by someone, who was either a futurist of a scifi-writer. Let's also say that there are people, who want to make sure - for some yet unknown reason - that I live through those phases and that my personality gets developed similarly to some character's personality in that book. The book would have been written a long time before I was born. Now, what kind of search engines and what kind of search strategies I should use to become sure that there actually is such a book? There might exists traces of revitalizing of the book, if the original writer didn't make good enough guesses about the future.
posted to Ask Metafilter by spctrm at 2:41 PM on February 5, 2013 (13 comments)

I grew up in an atheist household and have never read the Bible. I would like to tackle that beast and start wandering through various branches of Christian theology, with my main goal to start in on Barth's complete works. Can you recommend a good Academic primer or companion to the Bible and general theology that doesn't try to convert me? I am interested in the topic in a scholarly/philosophic sense. I do have a good understanding of the Old World and its various empires and wars, but I am still in the shallow end as far as biblical knowledge is concerned.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Think_Long at 2:25 PM on February 4, 2013 (24 comments)

For the release of the Hobbit, Lindsay Ellis of the Nostalgia Chick (previously) has decided to look back at all the LOTR films in order to analyze how they changed genre film-making, expected movie length, extended cuts, the problems of adaptation, and why Eowyn and Merry are made for each other. (Fellowship Of The Ring, Two Towers, Return Of The King Part 1, Part 2) Still need more? Then why not watch Kerry Shawcross and Chris Demarais of Rooster Teeth (previously) try to walk the 120+ mile journey across New Zealand from the filming location of Hobbiton in Matamata to the filming location of Mount Doom, Mount Ngauruhoe in A Simple Walk Into Mordor.
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 8:20 AM on February 1, 2013 (29 comments)

Kieran Hebden recently released a 38 minute long collection of unreleased songs he recorded as Four Tet, between 1997 and 2001, called 0181, to stream or download from Soundcloud. If you like what you hear, in 2011 Hebden "leaked" his first Four Tet EP, which you can stream from Self-titled Magazine's website. If you want to hear and know more of Hebden, venture below the break.
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 8:24 AM on January 25, 2013 (23 comments)

Calling fellow hockey players, young and old, what specific gym or off-ice training will be the most beneficial in terms of keeping me in hockey shape for as long as humanly possible?
posted to Ask Metafilter by LongDrive at 4:06 AM on January 22, 2013 (6 comments)

Cello Fortress is a unique combination of a game and a live music performance. A cellist defends a fortress by improvising on his cello. Melodies control the guns, dissonant notes activate the flamethrowers. Players from the audience use game controllers to steer their tanks and attack the fortress. The cellist plays live music, while at the same time controlling the game to be a fun challenge for the players. Cello Fortress is an innovative experiment that blends concert and game.
posted to MetaFilter by boo_radley at 10:55 PM on January 16, 2013 (5 comments)

It’s 20 or 30 years ago. You’re working on a videogame. You don’t get any credit for your work, blogs don’t exist, there’s no internet and no fanboys. It’s just you, a crusty old terminal, and got a few spare bytes left in the ROM. What now?
posted to MetaFilter by Chrysostom at 3:13 PM on January 15, 2013 (28 comments)

Are you more honest than a banker? Under what circumstances would you lie, or cheat, and what effect does your deception have on society at large? Dan Ariely, bestselling author and professor of psychology and behavioural economics at Duke University visits the RSA to examine the mechanisms at work behind dishonest behaviour, and the implications this has for all aspects of our social and political lives. (28:46)

RSA Animation of excerpts of this lecture and related ones: The Truth About Dishonesty (11:08)

posted to MetaFilter by Blasdelb at 6:11 AM on January 12, 2013 (15 comments)

VexFlow is an open-source web-based music notation rendering API which utilises the VexTab open specification to render notation as a client-side canvas [githubs 1 2] [tutorials 1 2].
posted to MetaFilter by urbanwhaleshark at 12:40 PM on January 11, 2013 (11 comments)

Don't worry; it's just ESD! (SLYT)
posted to MetaFilter by ZenMasterThis at 2:05 PM on January 9, 2013 (16 comments)

Weddings for Dummies filter: We got engaged in July and are now slowly realizing that if we want to get married in, say, June we have to, like, do something about that. I want to be *married* but am sort of ambivalent about the wedding itself and am kind of dreading this project. What basic resources (checklists, books, etc.) would help make me feel a little more in control and organized at this point? How do people even begin this process? Bonus points for great wedding venue suggestions in Anchorage, Alaska.
posted to Ask Metafilter by charmedimsure at 2:19 AM on January 3, 2013 (35 comments)

The tale of Fairytale of New York: the story behind the Pogues' classic Christmas anthem (SL Guardian)
posted to MetaFilter by apricot at 3:58 PM on December 18, 2012 (40 comments)

Well, it was bound to happen eventually...
posted to MeFi Music by dubold at 3:54 AM on November 28, 2012 (7 comments)

Does just what it says on the box, and then some.
posted to MeFi Music by unSane at 8:27 AM on December 15, 2012 (4 comments)

Perhaps the greatest Irish band in history. They came from Liverpool, a city with an Irish population so large that it's known as "The Real Capitol of Ireland," and with an accent, "Scouse," that betrays its Irish influence. There were four in the band, and three were of Irish descent.
posted to MetaFilter by Bunny Ultramod at 2:24 AM on December 13, 2012 (126 comments)

What one book should an atheist recommend to a fundamentalist that will open their mind to atheism but is not focused on the debate about whether god exists?
posted to Ask Metafilter by underwater at 1:51 PM on December 10, 2012 (36 comments)

Whoever let the tape roll on at a Beatles recording session at Abbey Road studio, 47 years ago, deserves our gratitude for several reasons. For reminding us that these exalted and almost absurdly famous musicians could sound like rank amateurs trying to teach themselves their newest song. For giving non-musicians a window onto the utterly mundane reality of the recording process, i.e. the endless waiting around for the engineer to get the tape cued up into the right spot. For giving us an audio glimpse of Lennon and McCartney's continual nutty banter, which can be quite entertaining. All that and more to be heard in The Beatles in Studio - Rubber Soul (1965) and Rubber Soul (Think For Yourself) 1965 Session.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite at 3:39 AM on December 10, 2012 (49 comments)