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At Quonsar Motors,
your quon's your credit
At Quonsar Motors,
your quon's your credit
owls, lobsters, weasels, squirrels, and mini bears,
Over 380 givers and getters, are you quonsing, man?
Let Quonsar Motors
Put your gift in the mail today!
Let Quonsar Motors
Parcel post it all the way!
posted to MetaTalk by drlith at 8:48 PM on December 11, 2017

Also, more comprehensively (I think): Hitler's Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall by Jeremy Bernstein.
posted to MetaFilter by Ivan Fyodorovich at 8:46 PM on September 24, 2016

Anyone interested in the Allies' systematic bugging of Axis POWs' conversations and what they reveal about the war should read Sonke Neitzel's Soldaten - On Fighting, Killing and Dying: The Secret Second World War Tapes of German POWs (2012). It's by no means a perfect book: academic reviews have picked holes in its analyses and pointed out that Neitzel relies heavily on Luftwaffe and U-boat POWs for some of the more sensational testimony of German armed forces' complicity in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Sonny Jim at 7:03 AM on September 25, 2016

Bonus link: The songs of NewsRadio's Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman) (yt link of some of them), many of them about various 90s Clinton sandals.
posted to MetaFilter by zachlipton at 12:23 PM on May 25, 2016

Mel Gordon's book "Voluptuous Panic: The Erotic World of Weimar Berlin" has a section devoted to Berlin Lesbian Culture which includes a rundown of the various titles applied to the groups. (Also the clubs that they went to. If you're interested in Weimar Berlin, it's a great read.) One thing that's noted by Gordon in his book is that the subcultures, clubs and scenes come and go so quickly sometimes that recording all of the slang and even the details can be an extremely difficult... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Zack_Replica at 2:45 PM on December 15, 2015

YAY GAVLE GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAT!

I don't know whether or not to root for survival or a creative death, honestly.

I'm so obsessed with the Gavle Goat that I did this. And this.
posted to MetaFilter by jenfullmoon at 9:28 AM on November 26, 2015

desjardins: I hope someone more talented than me does a travel poster for Crone Island.

M A R G A R I T A S | T A C O S | S I S T E R H O O D
posted to MetaFilter by ocherdraco at 1:42 PM on July 22, 2015

I guess the WSJ has a series of these and they're quite good.

Joni Mitchell on the Muse Behind ‘Carey’
posted to MetaFilter by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:58 AM on July 9, 2015

As someone who has spoken here before about their own personal appearance and racial issues when facing others, I have to say that I'm glad this topic hasn't become a thread-naught nightmare of moderation because it is a very, very complex thing that I have no interest in seeing devolve into some potentially, at the least, stuff that's a huge PITA to moderate for intent vs. content or vice versa or what have you.

Seriously, if it somehow became a media event that my... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by RolandOfEld at 8:33 AM on June 15, 2015

julen: "egg-shaped chatelaine"

eBay has a pretty brisk trade in chatelaines and etuis (you're after an "etui"). Not a large volume, but the stock turns over reasonably quickly. If you bought an antique one, you might have to replace the "soft" parts of it, which isn't too difficult. (Lots of those egg etuis have the case intact, but are missing the insert because those would have degraded.)

I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Eyebrows McGee at 2:47 PM on April 17, 2015

This video on taxation has a more negative perspective.
posted to MetaFilter by Mr. Justice at 7:14 AM on April 15, 2015

I haven't been on for several days, but just came here to post this, and LobsterMitten suggested I pop it in here:

"Franz Anton Mesmer arrives in Paris to present a revolutionary theory to the French Academy of Sciences. He claims he has harnessed a universal life-force called ‘animal magnetism’ that can cure all disease." Interactive digital storytelling on an odd but influential episode in medical history from the Wellcome Collection. It's, well, mesmerizing.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 9:52 AM on March 31, 2015

Er um Trillin.
posted to MetaFilter by stevil at 8:21 PM on March 20, 2015

Oh my goodness, yes. I love sites about this, and you've just made my day with this one.

There is a really interesting and well written history book out there called Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America, by Lauren Shapiro. For those of you who are interested in learning how food got so processed and recipe-making during the 50s and 60s got so strange (and Jello-filled!), it might be a cool read. There's a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sciatrix at 7:47 AM on March 17, 2015

A fictionalized version of this is one of the plotlines of Sam Fuller's Park Row.
posted to MetaFilter by brujita at 7:35 AM on March 3, 2015

Make a FPP on the WEIRDEST niche interest you have that people not specifically involved in that community/hobby/craft/interest will not know about.

*begins assembling links for a post on my favorite late 20th/early 21st century Estonian choral composer*
posted to MetaTalk by KathrynT at 7:59 PM on February 24, 2015

why did it take so long for us to figure out two-blades-on-an-axle scissors vs. squeeze-real-hard scissors? Is it just difficult to do the metalworking necessary for the modern type of scissors?

It didn't take long to figure pivoted scissors out. From the Encyclopedia Britannica: "Pivoted scissors of bronze and iron were used in ancient Rome and in China, Japan, and Korea."

From Mary Carolyn Beaudry,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jedicus at 10:17 AM on August 8, 2014

In addition to the cookbook cited by julen and JKTB, there's this oddity, available in PDF: Too Many Cooks Recipe Box
posted to MetaFilter by tyllwin at 7:28 AM on July 25, 2014

Ok that form was totally worth the hours I spent making it. Watching responses pile up without the stress of my inbox overfilling is glorious. GLORIOUS I tell you!
posted to MetaTalk by carsonb at 12:15 PM on March 31, 2014

You can listen to programs from the Golden Age of radio, including most of those described above, every Sunday night at 8 on WAMU FM's The Big Broadcast, whose current host, Ed Walker, is featured tonight on NPR's All Things Considered.

The previous week's episode is archived on the site in case you missed it. Episodes of The Whistler and The Shadow have not been broadcast recently but they show up from time to time; you can check upcoming playlists on the station's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by apartment dweller at 1:43 PM on March 6, 2014

Here's the actual scholarly article (pdf.)

I think it's interesting that the researchers try and address many of the criticisms of the NatGeo article mentioned in this thread. The author states up front that they're not saying anything about gender but only about sex - because gender is a cultural construct which for the most part can't be recovered from archaeological data.

All the study really seeks to do is investigate the whether we can make... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by elephantday at 11:03 PM on October 8, 2013

Also blow posters up to any size with Rasterbator.
posted to MetaFilter by yoHighness at 2:31 PM on October 7, 2013

Don't get too excited about printing them, a random sampling of 2 images has one at 1000 x 2000 px and another was 300x400 px. The larger is suitable for posters of up to 5"x10", otherwise known as a post card. A lot of these images are available at much higher resolution at the Library of Congress website.
posted to MetaFilter by doctor_negative at 2:11 PM on October 7, 2013

I love that someone did academic writing on Sunset magazine. And that's so true about "defensive" masculine cookery writing. The whole "move over, ladies! Time to let the menz make steak with a dry rub!" thing is a very real editorial trope.

That book looks awesome for what I'm working on right now, too - grabbing that citation!

I also got a lot out of Susan Strasser's Never Done: A History of American... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Miko at 2:23 PM on August 21, 2013

I was reminded of this exhibit of the hidden history of women in printing when looking at all the photos showing women doing so much of the work.
posted to MetaFilter by newrambler at 11:19 AM on August 6, 2013

Social Change: Suffragettes and Workers On Bikes
posted to MetaFilter by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:09 AM on June 21, 2013

My mother-in-laws second husband is Ana Montes' father. My wife spent a sizable percentage of her childhood growing up with Ana and her siblings. Two of Ana's sibling currently work for the FBI and one of them gave up being a priest to work for them. Soon after Ana's arrest my wife had a 'interesting' conversation with the FBI. My wife was initially quite shocked by Ana's arrest but after a little reflection she wasn't all that surprised by it, it explained a lot of Ana's odd behavior.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Confess, Fletch at 7:11 PM on June 4, 2013

Okay comedy of ethics theory go! (Take 4 I think. Grab yourself a stiff drink.)

The thing that puts Arrested Development's sense of humor a notch above other fast-paced single-cam comedies, like 30 Rock or early Community, is that in those other shows characters recite jokes like they're, well, jokes. Even if a character's a butt of a punch line, the line is delivered as if the actor in question is telling a joke... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rory Marinich at 6:38 AM on May 29, 2013

This is highly relevant to my interests. If I may be so bold as to rant a little bit ...

Archaeology in Australia tends to be stuck in two mindsets. On the one hand, prehistoric archaeology mostly tries to push the original settlement of the continent back further and further in time. Partly because it's sexy for funding bodies, but also partly because understanding the depth of time that the place has been settled allows us to try to understand the archaeolog of the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles at 8:41 AM on May 28, 2013

For those of you of a mind to tinker with this on iOS, here is a list of natively supported fonts.

Here's an all-Helvetica Neue example, with big but Ultra Light titles:

iPhone
Body: HelveticaNeue-Light 24
Byline: HelveticaNeue-Light 11
Title: HelveticaNeue-UltraLight 32

iPad
Body: HelveticaNeue-Light 22
Byline: HelveticaNeue-Light 15
Title:... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by goodnewsfortheinsane at 5:41 PM on January 10, 2013

Great stuff. I love Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nanci Griffith.

Speaking of MCC, this video is pretty much my favorite thing ever.
posted to MetaFilter by Dismantled King at 3:40 PM on November 25, 2012

I was having trouble composing my guidance section (it's always impossible to answer gift questions when asked directly!) so I came up with a list of questions to ask myself. I am sharing them here in case anyone else finds them useful:


Do you like tchotchkes, geegaws, or knickknacks, or do you prefer things that are primarily functional?
Do you like to cook? Bake?
Favorite alcoholic beverage, coffee, tea, or other special beverage?... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by ocherdraco at 8:49 AM on November 12, 2012

The State Board Of Elections says it will not ask Virginia’s Attorney General to investigate the case of a Republican Party contract worker, accused of throwing voter registration forms in the trash.

This is infuriating. Virginia voters: Call the Virginia State Board of Elections at (800) 552-9745 and complain. It's the weekend, so leave a message. And call again tomorrow.
posted to MetaFilter by raztaj at 10:22 AM on October 21, 2012

On the cheap end of things, I recently got one of these to replace my many-years-old jansport messenger bag, and I LOVE it. It has a protective sleeve for my ipad, which is great, plus it's nice and casual without being all I AM A BAG FOR STUDENTS.

But, as you may have noticed, that is a lady bag. Something like this looks like it might be a rough dude-quivalent.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by phunniemee at 8:09 AM on August 21, 2012

In Nina Simone's autobiography "I Put a Spell On You," she recalls leaving her husband without telling him and fleeing to Barbados. She left her wedding ring on the nightstand.

After over a year of adventures and affairs in Barbados without contacting her husband, she returned to find that he'd legally divorced her and sold all their belongings. She was devastated because, as she claims in the book, she had never intended to stay away... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hermitosis at 10:34 AM on July 15, 2012

Time for a celebratory playing of the World News Polka!
posted by rewil at 11:36 AM on July 2


Damn straight! Hit it, Barry!

The World News Polka by Barry Mitchell


[Spoken]

Hey. News got you down? Come on, let's... POLKA!

[ABC News fanfare: Dah dah da-dah.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by magstheaxe at 8:55 AM on July 2, 2012

Omg, I'm on metafilter! I wrote that SFCB post!

I also did a post on Jill Sylvia, who netbros mentioned. (Also, Jill Sylvia works in San Francisco herself.)

Other paper artists I've written about on the blog: Stuart McLachlan; Sheung Yee Shing; Verena Sieber-Fuchs; Simone Lourenco; Mia Liu; and of course Su Blackwell. A

carsonb, I agree, the space is a huge part of why I find this compelling. I think the forms of the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fireflies at 2:04 PM on June 22, 2012

so i drive this route home a lot: i grew up in charleston and went to school in huntington.

here are some delicious restaurants to try along the I-64 corridor:

in huntington, which is right over the border, there's a fairly new place called black sheep burritos. it's pretty delicious. i ate there a few weeks ago when i was in huntington. there's also hillbilly hotdogs which is a little hokey but i don't even care because... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by kerning at 12:17 PM on June 20, 2012 marked best answer

Also, the favorite, posted by, and flag links are still too close together...

You might want to try out the swipe right to favorite test. Visit this thread on your iPad and then click this link:

enable swipe right test

You'll need to reload any threads you have open, but then you should be able to swipe right on a comment to add it as a favorite.

We're... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by pb at 9:04 AM on June 18, 2012

There's a series of "art mysteries" (novels) by Nicholas Kilmer that might interest those who like this.
posted to MetaFilter by Kirth Gerson at 6:25 AM on May 27, 2012

humans are really creepy and weird.
People are just the absolute worst.

Sometimes they can do really creepy and weird things, true, and they can bring out the worst in themselves and others. What holdkris99 did was sick, sad, and grotesque. But this reflects on his profound personal damage -- not on humanity as a whole.

Because as we saw unfold in real time, people also have the capacity... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by scody at 12:34 PM on May 22, 2012

Ugh, man talk about terrible timing. My Pro account just expired a week ago. I've been a member for 4 or 5 years and have barely used it in the last two.

I was planning on letting my account lapse but I didn't realize that they hold your photos hostage. My fault I suppose for not reading the fine print, but what a shitty user experience. I also agree that $24.95 is a laughable amount to charge for storage in the year 2012.

I also didn't realize... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jeremias at 1:15 PM on May 15, 2012

*stands beside stavros*
posted to MetaTalk by dg at 9:12 PM on May 14, 2012

Is there some secret 1940's thing that's supposed to let me know they were lovers?

I was all prepared to jump in with my factoid about how "gunsel" is Yiddish slang for a young man kept by an older man, until I realized that's actually from The Maltese Falcon.
posted to MetaFilter by Horace Rumpole at 6:03 PM on April 7, 2012

When I reread Harriet the Spy for the first time as an adult, I realized just how many, let's say, memes about the world that I carried with me had come from that book.

All of her books are good, but the other one that I quite enjoyed (I read the rest in my early 20s) was Nobody's Family Is Going To Change, which is devastating.
posted to MetaFilter by Casuistry at 7:04 PM on March 26, 2012

I remember Harriet the Spy as one of the favorites of my childhood, and had no idea there was a sequel (The Long Secret, $5.99 Kindle) actually written by Fitzhugh (there were others that weren't), so thanks for this. I'll be reading both this weekend.
posted to MetaFilter by Huck500 at 6:36 PM on March 26, 2012

I have been in this business since 1972. I can tell you, from the pictures you provided, you have some very valuable pieces here. The age and quality are apparent for most of what I've seen in the pics. If there are hundreds of pieces of similar quality, you are looking at multiple thousands of dollars worth. Remember, though that if you liquidate the collection it will likely be through someone who will have to resell it...you will get wholesale prices. The total will still be in the... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by txmon at 7:38 AM on December 29, 2011

It doesn't work for me. Probably because I have an Adblock Plus rule that prohibits third-party sites from interacting with Facebook. It's ||facebook.*$domain=~facebook.com|~127.0.0.1 if you're curious.
posted to MetaFilter by grouse at 2:23 PM on October 18, 2011

Well, y'all asked for it, so here's my long-ass treatise on Harry Potter, the books and films. Some of this is fairly objective, and a lot of it is my personal opinion, so, you know, grains of salt and all that.

The first thing we have to discuss is tone. There's been discussion above about the mythic qualities either present or lacking in the HP universe, and whether that makes the series fantasy or something else. Stephen King has often said that the series begins as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Navelgazer at 8:34 PM on July 20, 2011

Here ya go, adamdschneider!
posted to MetaFilter by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:30 PM on July 8, 2011