THE church elder’s reaction was one of utter disbelief. Shaking his head emphatically, he couldn’t take in what the distinguished professor from Yale University was telling him. "No," insisted Jim McRae, an elder of the small congregation of Clearwater in Florida. "This way of worshipping comes from our slave past. It grew out of the slave experience, when we came from Africa." But Willie Ruff, an Afro-American professor of music at Yale, was adamant - he had traced the origins of gospel music to Scotland.
posted to MetaFilter by brautigan at 6:08 AM on January 11, 2008 (96 comments)

Looking for excellent indie ambient music.
posted to Ask Metafilter by crickets at 8:49 AM on January 7, 2008 (32 comments)

Every Bachelor Pad must have a ?????? Moving into my own apartment after a few years of living with a roommate. What things do I need to make sure to have the coolest, most comfortable, awesome bachelor pad ever?
posted to Ask Metafilter by boyinmiami at 11:08 AM on January 7, 2008 (52 comments)

I am looking for a Japanese blog about a woman who left passive aggressive notes for her husband and son as part of the food in the bentos she made them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by duckierose at 4:44 PM on January 5, 2008 (10 comments)

Why are films from the 70s so grainy?
posted to Ask Metafilter by eschatfische at 1:24 PM on January 5, 2008 (7 comments)

I'd like to make a little pocket money off selling books on half.com. What should I know?
posted to Ask Metafilter by santojulieta at 10:00 AM on January 5, 2008 (8 comments)

The solution to the Mystery of the Face on the Cake (via BoingBoing).
posted to MetaFilter by cerebus19 at 8:05 PM on January 3, 2008 (36 comments)

This may be the coolest flash game ever. Although it's graphics are nothing to write home about, the game play (which I will wisely follow kotaku's example in not spoiling for you) is quite simply incredible. It's a unique and quick little work break for you via kotaku.
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 3:21 PM on January 3, 2008 (92 comments)

Enjoy a heaping helping of old time radio with classic Christmas specials from The Jack Benny Show.
posted to MetaFilter by dhammond at 10:02 PM on December 23, 2007 (7 comments)

Send messages to friends with fun, bureaucratic fill-in forms! Bureau of Communication has funny faux-bureaucratic forms that you can send to your friends. Whether you need to communicate a problem, send an invitation to an event, or simply apologize for a transgression, our easy-to-use forms will ensure that your message is clearly conveyed.
posted to MetaFilter by lsemel at 9:24 AM on December 21, 2007 (30 comments)

Peripatetic, endearingly-awkward geek seeks amazing advice for casual sex shenanigans.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 1:11 PM on December 18, 2007 (113 comments)

There are gay bars, lesbian bars, and leather bars. Are there "geek bars"? In geek culture, what institution, meeting, or whatever serves the purpose that "meat market" single bars do amongst the non-geeky populace?
posted to Ask Metafilter by WCityMike at 11:23 AM on December 17, 2007 (50 comments)

Hitchcock on Hitchcock: Alfred Hitchcock reflects on his career in movies, discussing among other things, the origin of the term "MacGuffin", his creative process and what his earliest fear was.
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 10:48 PM on December 17, 2007 (7 comments)

Duelity - the beginning in two parts The Vancover Film School does a really cool visual retelling of creation. The 'biblical' version with a science edge. The 'evolution' version with a biblical edge. And you can watch them both at the same time!
posted to MetaFilter by filmgeek at 4:07 AM on December 14, 2007 (34 comments)

Essential Video Resources - primers, guides and links for the video editor and technician
posted to MetaFilter by Gyan at 12:25 AM on December 14, 2007 (6 comments)

Help me to find the perfect passive-aggressive gift for the holidays. Long story follows.
posted to Ask Metafilter by InnocentBystander at 6:31 PM on December 8, 2007 (97 comments)

Some dolphins are easy and some are murderous rapists, but all of them are into the nookie. Amazon River Dolphins are the casanovas of the cetacean order, practised in selecting the finest mud glops or algae for that special cow.
posted to MetaFilter by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:11 PM on December 5, 2007 (14 comments)

I'm trying to identify an episode of The Twilight Zone (B&W original series, though I suppose it could have been an Alfred Hitchcock Presents ep?)...
posted to Ask Metafilter by maya at 10:33 PM on December 4, 2007 (4 comments)

Machinima (muh-shin-eh-mah or ma-shin-i-ma) is a hybrid filmmaking technique where people utilize game engines and environments to create videos. At first, it was little more than screengrabs and screencasts of in-game action, but it has now grown to include sophisticated storylines independent of game action. Shows and entire series have been made from The Sims, Halo, The Movies, Quake, Half-Life, Unreal Tournament and Second Life to name just a few. Actually, some Team Fortress 2 machinima was recently mentioned (October 9th). Over the years, there have been some really amazing productions, such as the now legendary 100-episode Red vs Blue series (also previously mentioned) which was created with Halo 2. A lot of machinima can be found and viewed for free on machinima.com. The Internet Archive also maintains a machinima section. The recently-released BloodSpell, a "punk fantasy" from Strange Company, is believed to be the first feature-length movie released using the Neverwinter Nights game engine. (watch online free, free divx download - 847 MB, free quicktime download - 903 MB). Two of the people behind BloodSpell, Hugh Hancock and Johnnie Ingram have co-written the just-published "Machinima for Dummies".
posted to MetaFilter by TrinityB5 at 5:26 PM on December 2, 2007 (32 comments)

"In terms of language, it is also the most offensive official Major League baseball document that we have ever seen." An auction house obtains a one page letter sent to baseball players in 1898, outlining the league's new anti-cursing policy. Includes lots of examples of the kind of language that is not allowed. Nervous auctioneers not sure how to exhibit it. Purely of historical interest, naturally.
posted to MetaFilter by LobsterMitten at 4:17 PM on December 2, 2007 (86 comments)

Enjoy some silent film this week: Battleship Potemkin. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. The General. The Immigrant. Haxan. Intolerance (1, 2, 3). Nosferatu.
posted to MetaFilter by TrialByMedia at 8:33 PM on December 2, 2007 (27 comments)

I am looking for an flash or Javascript plug in that I can embed into a website to play Internet radio streams. Specifically, one that will play mp3, wma/mms, and Realplayer (pls) streams. Does anyone know of one?
posted to Ask Metafilter by wflanagan at 9:11 AM on December 1, 2007 (2 comments)

A virtually unlimited supply of randomly-generated logic puzzles, in a variety of sizes and difficulties: Nonograms. Slither Link. Nurikabe. Bridges. Light Up.
posted to MetaFilter by Upton O'Good at 9:52 PM on November 28, 2007 (18 comments)

Disappearing Car Door: Damn, this is cool. Everyone will want one. Until the inevitable car accident which renders it unopenable.
posted to MetaFilter by bwg at 3:13 PM on November 27, 2007 (60 comments)

Kimberly Miner's award-winning short documentary reveals a fascinating way to negate the effects of gravity. A variant of this effect was first revealed to the world by the wise Internet Oracle over 15 years ago. Also of interest, a discussion of potential problems with this arrangement, and the obligatory 'pedia entry.
posted to MetaFilter by CrunchyFrog at 7:16 PM on November 26, 2007 (10 comments)

My wife's WinXP laptop is now showing this error: UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME I've poked around the net to find a cure , but nothing works. Safe Mode just shows a string of entries and locks up, Normal Mode returns to the blue screen. I tried to re-install the OS , but although I can hear the disc spinning, it does not show up on the screen. What to do? ...and for bonus points, can I save the data on the HD? Thanks in advance.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lobstah at 9:18 AM on November 25, 2007 (17 comments)

What are the best essays, books, or scholarly articles regarding the social role of maps? Both pre- and post- web 2.0, google earth mash ups, and the like. I'm familiar with the Situationalist critique, but wonder where else to begin reading.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pinto at 1:17 PM on November 25, 2007 (5 comments)

What modernist classical music should I listen to? I am a big fan of Sigur Ros, especially Takk and (), and I'd like to listen to something similar. I also like Amnesiac by Radiohead quite a bit.
posted to Ask Metafilter by KokuRyu at 5:32 PM on November 25, 2007 (44 comments)

Help me find blogs about Hollywood -- BUT (and this is important) about the place, not the industry. I am looking for blogs by and for residents of downtown Hollywood, East Hollywood, Griffith Park, the Melrose district, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Astro Zombie at 5:06 PM on November 22, 2007 (9 comments)

Is there a program for Mac OS X (Tiger, if it makes a difference) which I can use to play a DVD video file AND scan through, using the arrow keys, in increments of a few seconds?
posted to Ask Metafilter by rhoticity at 12:54 PM on November 21, 2007 (11 comments)

Can you tell this photo was taken at 4:52pm, on either May 5^th or August 10^th? Forensic Genealogy uses historical records and small clues in pictures learn as much as they can about old photographs of unknown provenance. Want to try it yourself? Check out their weekly quiz. via GAMES
posted to MetaFilter by Upton O'Good at 9:10 PM on November 20, 2007 (44 comments)

This mind-boggling index won an award from the American Society of Indexers. Last year's winner was slightly less hard-core. As indexing blogger Seth Maislin says: "Scholarly indexing is WAY hard." And, as author Mary Beard (who indexed her own book) says, it's "Not remotely fun."
posted to MetaFilter by tombola at 4:18 PM on November 20, 2007 (19 comments)

How can I place a load of media materials (JPGs, TIFFs, PDFs, Video etc) online so that approved people can easily download the material?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Hartster at 9:10 AM on November 20, 2007 (11 comments)

James Fenton writes in the Guardian that the entire "flat" collection of the British Museum is going into a searchable online index. Currently there are about 265,000 objects in the database with about 100,00 images. The article says that high quality images, suitable for print reproduction, and free to academic users, are coming soon. The search page is here.
posted to MetaFilter by shothotbot at 3:32 AM on November 18, 2007 (12 comments)

I want to serve lots of different static HTML files out of a single compressed archive, to save disk space on the server. Is there a quick and easy solution for this?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Galvatron at 9:41 AM on November 17, 2007 (8 comments)

I am a librarian. I'm interested in social technologies, HCI, information architecture, and critical theories of these. Essentially, how information is used by people to create community and meaning. I enjoy using social technology, and advocating its use within my profession and actual job. But I want better technology know-how, skills, awareness. Where do I start?
posted to Ask Metafilter by unknowncommand at 8:49 AM on November 15, 2007 (7 comments)

How can I keep my ice-cold feet warm, or reheat them once they do get cold?
posted to Ask Metafilter by FortyT-wo at 7:17 PM on November 13, 2007 (40 comments)

What's it like to feel loved? I don't mean what does it feel like to be in love with someone - that I know. I'm asking for what makes you feel loved by someone else?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous at 7:04 PM on November 12, 2007 (70 comments)

How much free time do you get each day??
posted to Ask Metafilter by katala at 7:32 PM on November 10, 2007 (43 comments)

Darin Morgan wrote some of the most highly aclaimed TV scripts of the '90's. So the question is, "Where is he now?"
posted to MetaFilter by oh pollo! at 7:13 AM on November 10, 2007 (33 comments)

My gas fueled clothes dryer initially gets hot but soon after goes cold...hivemind help me debug the problem.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mmascolino at 10:34 AM on November 8, 2007 (13 comments)

I recently purchased several boxes of magazines at a garage sale, including copies of a German magazine called "Lisa." It's a typical "woman's magazine" (i.e. fashion, celebrity news, recipes, human interest stories). It's been fun to peruse through it since we don't get much exposure to "foreign" stuff here in the sticks, and one of the recipes caught my eye: Luftige Joghurt-Aprikosen-Torte.
posted to Ask Metafilter by amyms at 11:01 PM on November 7, 2007 (20 comments)

How long can a hard drive store data ?
posted to Ask Metafilter by sgt.serenity at 10:40 AM on September 7, 2007 (11 comments)

What's the best way of adding a Terabyte of reliable, contiguous, archive-quality storage to my system? By 'best' I mean Toyota Corolla as opposed to Hummer.
posted to Ask Metafilter by unSane at 12:04 PM on March 22, 2006 (48 comments)

Finally, the Ben Burrns history of the LOLcat.
posted to MetaFilter by ObscureReferenceMan at 11:26 AM on November 2, 2007 (37 comments)

The spy thread reminded me: It's been a year. maxpower, did your first anniversary go as planned?
posted to MetaTalk by GrammarMoses at 2:34 PM on October 30, 2007 (27 comments)

Brainbow. Using some very cool genetic tricks, Harvard scientists have found a way to make transgenic mice that express various mixtures of different coloured fluorescent proteins in their neurons. The result, individual brain cells with up to 90 distinct colours. Not surprisingly, this visually impressive work is in this month's issue of Nature.
posted to MetaFilter by kisch mokusch at 3:09 AM on November 1, 2007 (19 comments)

Baby porcupine eats a banana and has hiccups.
posted to MetaFilter by nickyskye at 8:35 AM on October 28, 2007 (56 comments)

Halloween Subway Where? Korea, of course!
posted to MetaFilter by Kirth Gerson at 7:48 AM on October 26, 2007 (20 comments)

During its run, Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed on over 50 short films. Almost all of them are now on YouTube or Google Video. See the list (shamelessly cribbed from here) inside for links.
posted to MetaFilter by cog_nate at 12:38 PM on October 24, 2007 (148 comments)