Displaying post 1 to 50 of 86
Miss Neddy's tea blog
— all about tea. Insightful and pleasant tea commentary from Singapore.
posted to MetaFilter by Wolof
at 4:08 AM on June 29, 2008
(13 comments)
Philip Pullman interviewed about the ideas behind "His Dark Materials" [YT,1 hour, South Bank Show,parts
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7]. Inside, and hidden from those who don't want spoilers, are links relating to the ideas raised and about the books generally.
posted to MetaFilter by rongorongo
at 4:40 PM on June 23, 2008
(85 comments)
NURSE CHILD WANTED, OR TO ADOPT -- The Advertiser, a Widow with a little family of her own, and moderate allowance from her late husband's friends, would be glad to accept the charge of a young child. Age no object. If sickly would receive a parent's care. Terms, Fifteen Shillings a month; or would adopt entirely if under two months for the small sum of Twelve pounds. This kindly nineteenth-century advertisement had a hidden meaning. If a woman paid her adoption fee to a
baby farmer and handed over her infant, no one ever had to worry about that baby, ever again.
posted to MetaFilter by Countess Elena
at 4:23 PM on June 7, 2008
(38 comments)
If you can make it through the glacially paced intro and can put up with the typically clunky, often laughable and jingoistic fifties-style narration, this 1958 film from Chevrolet,
The American Look is worth viewing. Chock full of futuristic telephones, toasters, blenders, office machines, architecture and more, it's a mid-century design lover's dream. The film is visually striking and elegant, and presented in widescreen format. Here's part
2 and part
3. Or see it here in its
entirety.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite
at 2:56 AM on May 12, 2008
(15 comments)
I love Cauliflower! It's healthy and delicious! Help me find good ways to eat it! Right now, I've got one white and one golden head just waiting for adventure! Recipe suggestions?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ambrosia Voyeur
at 2:11 PM on February 7, 2008
(47 comments)
Author Paulo Coelho
talks about how creating
The Pirate Coelho, a site with links to torrents of his own books, leads to a massive increase in sales.
posted to MetaFilter by dobbs
at 11:16 AM on January 25, 2008
(9 comments)
My husband and I are due to have our first child in May. We're thrilled, but starting to realize how much our lives will change once the kid arrives. We'd like to do a few things in these next few months that we won't be able to do once we have the baby. Any ideas?
posted to Ask Metafilter by christinetheslp
at 4:10 PM on January 16, 2008
(34 comments)
I have a web site. I want to write a book based on the topic. I have publishers/agents asking to talk to me, but I don't know if I'm ready. For one thing, I'm not convinced traditional publication is best — I'm intrigued by self-publishing and e-books. I'm looking for general advice: What are the pros and cons of each method? It seems that unless I'm lucky, traditional publishing offers the lowest dollar return. But are there other, intangible benefits I'm missing? Exposure? Having somebody who knows what they're doing guide me along? And how do I approach a discussion with agents/publishers so as to get the best deal?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jdroth
at 12:56 PM on January 7, 2008
(13 comments)
I need suggestions for an application (or database) to help my employer keep better track of live-trivia scorekeeping results. They are currently doing it all in various separate Excel spreadsheets, and this is (almost) 2008, so I'm sure there must be a better way.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jmnugent
at 3:00 PM on December 24, 2007
(3 comments)
My 6 yr. old son just lost his first tooth. He now expects a "tooth fairy" because his Brittish dad told him. I'm Dutch and have no idea. Help me out to answer some of his questions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by kudzu
at 11:25 AM on December 10, 2007
(67 comments)
"Dear Miss Breed..." the letters begin.
Clara Estelle Breed was the children's librarian at the San Diego Public Library from 1929 to 1945. When her young Japanese American patrons and their families were forced into relocation camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1942, Miss Breed became their penpal and their lifeline, sending them books and supplies, assisting with various requests, and "serving as a reminder of the possibility for decency and justice in a troubled world."
posted to MetaFilter by amyms
at 1:03 AM on December 1, 2007
(10 comments)
DIY activists have been using
human hair mats to soak up the carcinogenic bunker oil that's been washing onto Bay Area beaches since the
spill. Now they're inoculating the oil-soaked mats with
mushrooms that will break down the oil into harmless compost.
See also: fungi
breaking down plastics,
synthetic dyes and
organopollutants generally.
A bit more from mushroom guru Paul Stamets.
(If you're so inclined, here's a link to donate to the non-profit that coordinated the hair mats.)
posted to MetaFilter by serazin
at 2:37 PM on November 30, 2007
(46 comments)
The
Australian Federal election is winding its
desultory way towards resolution on 24 November. So far, it has failed to catch much of the electorate’s imagination, and the centrist Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, retains his
comfortable lead in the polls, indicating a change in executive government after 11 years of John Howard’s big-government conservatism. Rudd’s
“me too” strategy suggests that
ideology is dead in Australia. (
Previously)
posted to MetaFilter by wilful
at 4:58 PM on November 11, 2007
(382 comments)
Jimbob said "
Yeah, keep this thread running. May it serve as an example to all the American politics nuts who insist on starting a new post every time Hillary takes a shit." And so that's just what we did. In an example of how I think Metafilter can do politics well, the
Australian Politics thread, which started on October 14 (the date the election was called, which is
not the first day of the campaign), ran for 30 days straight and (at time of writing) had amassed almost 600 comments. But as is the norm for an FPP after 30 days on the Blue, it's about to be closed so discussion has moved over to
Thread #2, by wilful, to get us through to election day. An index of the first thread is inside, as well as kudos for those involved (because I think they deserve it).
posted to MetaTalk by Effigy2000
at 5:12 PM on November 11, 2007
(66 comments)
Your Rights As A Photographer:
As most of us are no doubt aware, the right to take photographs in the United States is being challenged more than ever--people are being stopped, harassed, and even intimidated into handing over their personal property simply because they were taking photographs of subjects that made other people uncomfortable. Recent examples have included photographing industrial plants,
bridges, buildings,
trains, and bus stations. Print and carry this pamphlet in your wallet, pocket, or camera bag to give you quick access to your rights and obligations concerning confrontations over photography.
[via]
posted to MetaFilter by fandango_matt
at 10:46 AM on November 9, 2007
(82 comments)
My sister is seven months pregnant and has gained a healthy amount of baby weight (maybe slightly more than average - 30 to 40 pounds) ... problem is, a number of people - particularly coworkers - have come up to her and either asked if she's having twins or commented that she "looks a lot further along" than she is. I'm amazed by this rudeness, and it's really making my sister feel negative and self-conscious about her weight gain. I'd like to arm her with a good response or two to deflect the nosy/impolite questions and observations. Your very best comebacks (both snarky and polite but effective) are much appreciated!
posted to Ask Metafilter by roundrock
at 7:32 AM on November 9, 2007
(60 comments)
A Website about Corporate Identity.
A large archive of corporation logos with design credits, typeface identification (or, at least the typographic roots of the ID's.) and Pantone color information. Not at all complete, but it's a very nice start. Hopefully it will continue to expand.
via:
Grain Edit (design blog)
posted to MetaFilter by JBennett
at 12:16 PM on November 7, 2007
(11 comments)
And we're off! Prime Minister John Howard has set the date for the Australian Federal election as November 24th, meaning we're up for a long six-week campaign. With Kevin Rudd leading the PM by
between 16 to 18 points (depending on who you read) in recent opinion polls, this election seems the most likely to provide a change of Government since Howard was first elected 11 years ago. Antony Green's usual excellent election guide is
up and running here, along with an
excellent calculator which shows which seats are up for grabs dependent on a
2 party preferred swing. You might also want to check out the
Vote-O-Matic, a fun but entirely disposable quiz which aims to help you decide who you'll vote for.
posted to MetaFilter by Effigy2000
at 7:48 PM on October 13, 2007
(621 comments)
In 1995 a Japanese pop punk band called
The Blue Hearts wrote a song called "
Linda, Linda". In 2005 came the film
Linda, Linda, Linda, about a group of Japanese schoolgirls (plus one Korean) who have to master the song in time for their school's rock festival. Do they perform it triumphantly in an
awesome final scene? Not telling.
posted to MetaFilter by Bookhouse
at 12:09 AM on September 30, 2007
(20 comments)
It's hard to think of any music that's any more
fun than
The Ventures, and here they are, live in Japan, 1965, at the top of their game. This footage is
really good:
Walk Don't Run.
Wipe Out.
Apache.
House of the Rising Sun.
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.
Flight of the Bumblebee.
The Cruel Sea . . . But WAIT!
Opening for the Ventures on that steamy summer night was homegrown Ventures
cover band
The M-Ventures! Straight outta Tokyo! Check out their versions of
The Pink Panther Theme,
Surf Rider and
Yellowjacket. And in case you were wondering if the Ventures' influence is
still being felt in Japan, well, check out 9-year-old guitarist Chicchi's versions of
The Cruel Sea,
Penetration,
Walk Don't Run and
Pipeline.
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite
at 6:27 AM on September 19, 2007
(36 comments)
Looking for advice, recommendations, and experiences using cloth diapers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bove
at 7:22 PM on September 18, 2007
(30 comments)
Wiki City Rome
- "
anyone with an Internet connection will be able to see a unique map of the Italian capital that shows the movements of crowds, event locations, the whereabouts of well-known Roman personalities, and the real-time position of city buses and trains."
posted to MetaFilter by Gyan
at 10:22 PM on September 7, 2007
(3 comments)
The proper way to deal with a KKK march
(Do not click link while drinking liquids) With all the doom and gloom in the news these days, I was beginning to think there was nothing to be done to make things better. I was proven wrong. By clowns.
posted to MetaFilter by Enron Hubbard
at 8:18 AM on August 30, 2007
(90 comments)
The Mensch of Malden Mills
There's supposedly an exception to every rule. If CEO greed is a rule, the exception is
Aaron Feuerstein. When his Malden
Mills
burned to the ground in December, 1995, he
took a $300,000,000 insurance payment and used much of it to pay his 3,000 workers ther wages and benefits while
he began to rebuild the factory. [more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by Kirth Gerson
at 8:00 AM on August 30, 2007
(56 comments)
Like the
US, the
UK, and
Canada before it, Australia has recently announced that, as part of its new citizenship guidelines, prospective citizens
must pass a test with
questions relating to Australian history, society, and culture. Not everyone is a
fan of the test, though, or the information on it, and today The Age has released
its own suggestions for a citizenship test. Could you pass it?
posted to MetaFilter by mosessis
at 7:31 PM on August 29, 2007
(70 comments)
The
Marquis de Condorcet and Admiral
Jean-Charles de Borda were two men of the French Enlightenment who struggled with how to design voting systems that accurately reflected voters' preferences. Condorcet favored a
method that required the winner in a multiparty election to win a series of head-to-head contests, but he also discovered that his method easily led to a
paradoxes that produced no clear winners. The
Borda method avoids the Condorcet paradox by requiring voters to rank choices numerically in order of preference, but this method is flawed because the withdrawal of a last-place candidate can reverse the
election results. Mathematicians in the 19th century attempted to design better voting systems, including
Lewis Carroll, who favored an early form of
proportional representation. Economist Kenneth Arrow argued that designing a perfect voting system was futile, because his
"impossibility theorem" proved that it's impossible to design a non-dictatorial voting system that fulfills
five basic criteria of fairness. (more inside)
posted to MetaFilter by jonp72
at 12:11 PM on August 27, 2007
(43 comments)
In August 1781, the case of
Brom and Bett vs. Ashley went to the jury. The year before, Mum Bett, a slave in the Ashley house since 1742, was struck by her mistress. Mum Bett left the house and refused to return. Bett had overheard conversations about the new Massachusetts constitution that included the clause, "All men are created equal" and argued that the clause applied to her. When the jury agreed, slavery was effectively abolished in the state of Massachusetts. Mum Bett took the name of Elizabeth Freeman and went to work in the employ of her lawyer. (More inside)
posted to MetaFilter by forrest
at 12:44 PM on August 10, 2007
(34 comments)
Even if you're one of those "I don't like jazz" folks, the iconoclastic multi-instrumentalist
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (1936-1977) is probably someone you can dig. For one thing, he wasn't afraid of using a fat
backbeat, more akin to soul/R&B than most of the jazz of his time. And how can you say no to a guy who passed out little flutes to his audience members, inviting them to join in, saying
"What about a blues in W, in the key of W". Or who played 3 or 4 horns at once, followed by a nose-flute solo? God bless you,
Rahsaan Roland Kirk. [more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by flapjax at midnite
at 4:30 AM on August 7, 2007
(50 comments)
Bitters.
This sharp-flavored, slightly medicinal liqueur, originally used as an
aperitif, remains one of the defining ingredients in many classic cocktails, including the
Manhattan, the
Pink Gin, the
Champagne Cocktail, and the
Sazerac. Some popular herbal liqueurs, such as
Campari and
Jägermeister, are essentially just big bottles of bitters. But bitters had fallen on hard times, with most bars stocking only one brand,
Angostura, or, if they were particularly sophisticated (or Southern), a second option,
Peychaud's.
Orange bitters, once an essential ingredient in the
Martini, were forgotten and impossible to purchase. Times have changed, with companies such as
Fee Brothers,
Regan's, the
Bitter Truth, and even
Angostura, releasing their own versions of the orange stuff. In fact, bitters in enjoying something of a renaissance, with bars experimenting with
making their own. Hobbyists, in the meanwhile, are
reviving lost recipes.
posted to MetaFilter by Astro Zombie
at 8:45 AM on August 1, 2007
(74 comments)
It is just over 10 years since
Billy Mackenzie committed suicide. As frontman of The Associates, Mackenzie was, even by rock star standards, an eccentric individual. There is a great
fansite with many articles on Mackenzie and his music which gives further info for those who want to know more. A Scottish TV documentary on Mackenzie and the Associates is here:
Part 1;
Part 2;
Part 3;
Part 4.
For those who want to get straight to the songs and that wonderful voice, many Top of the Pops performances are on youtube:
Party Fears Two;
Club Country;
18 Carat Love Affair (featuring Alan Rankine playing a chocolate guitar).
posted to MetaFilter by ClanvidHorse
at 4:36 AM on July 26, 2007
(9 comments)
