What $10-$20 item improved your lifestyle?
posted by HeyAllie to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-1-09 at 10:12 AM
285 users marked this as a favorite

Why movies cost so much. (MLYT!) Let us pause, in our respective busy days, to celebrate the gag reel. Are you ready? House season 2 and 3 (and bonus valley girl take); Grey's Anatomy seasons 3 and4, Back to the Future, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek (1969), Star Trek (IV), Star Trek (TNG), Star Wars (original), Star Wars ("1"), Star Wars ("2"), Star Wars ("3"), Step Brothers, Men in Black, LOTR, POTC, POTC 2, POTC 3, Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Hot Fuzz, Yes Man, Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, and many others.
posted by e.e. coli to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 9:33 AM
180 users marked this as a favorite

TheSmartAss.info's suite of Java emulators allows smooth, in-browser playback of literally thousands of old-school video games: 517 Atari titles, 148 for DOS, 636 Game Boy games (and 410 for Game Boy Color), 2,019 (!) NES titles, 238 GameGear games, 802 Sega Genesis titles, and 284 for the Sega Master System. Highlights include Space Invaders, Frogger, Galaga, Pitfall!, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, SimCity, Zero Wing, Duke Nukem, Sonic the Hedgehog, Aladdin, Earthworm Jim, Pokemon, and Metal Gear Solid. Use the search function to find your favorites! You can also register an account to save games on emulators that support it. Make sure to check the purple bar below each game for control info and links to alternate emulators in case the default one is buggy or slow.
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 11:12 AM
172 users marked this as a favorite

Optimizing Your Brain at Work is a pretty fascinating talk at Google by David Rock about managing your brain's internal states and attention, as well as threat responses with the goal of optimizing information processing. It is a Youtube link, and fairly long (~55min). He also mentions The Neuroscience of Mindfulness during the talk, so here is a convenient link to that.
posted by Vulpyne to MetaFilter at Dec-3-09 at 11:26 AM
101 users marked this as a favorite

Creep me out! Lately I've been on an "unsettling stuff" kick -- I like feeling unsettled and I find it creatively inspiring -- but I'm running low on things to explore.
posted by Nattie to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-3-09 at 2:44 PM
92 users marked this as a favorite

Everything you never wanted to know about the American prison-industrial complex. Part 2: Prison Nation.
posted by Optimus Chyme to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 9:32 PM
89 users marked this as a favorite

I like foods with strong flavors: lime juice, chili peppers, vinegar, red onions, whiskey, onion salt, cilantro, and so forth. I recently figured out that grains were the culprits that make me really sleepy and unfocused. I'm switching to a lean meat, veg-heavy diet. Can you recommend decently healthy, low-carb recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner that have LOTS of flavor?
posted by Hwaet to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-2-09 at 12:38 PM
79 users marked this as a favorite

Please tell me about the coziest, softest, and most comfortable things in your home.
posted by lalex to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-3-09 at 10:55 PM
76 users marked this as a favorite

How to Talk to a Climate Sceptic: "...a handy one-stop shop for all the material you should need to rebut the more common anti-global warming science arguments constantly echoed across the internet."
posted by Neilopolis to MetaFilter at Dec-5-09 at 12:55 PM
74 users marked this as a favorite

What are some cool math and number facts that would blow the mind of a seven year old?
posted by bondcliff to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-1-09 at 7:14 AM
68 users marked this as a favorite

The story starts in 1992 or so, when the 14 year old Brit, Dominic Stanton, bought turntables and started spinning early drum'n'bass. He transitioned from DJ to producer, made demo tracks, and got signed by age 17. He went on to produce broken beat* and jazzy downtempo*, even into the realm of disco edits. Then about two weeks ago, the 31 year old musician called it quits.

The point is that I am no longer Domu. He is a character, always has been, and as of Friday 13th November 2009, he no longer exists. Neither does Umod, Sonar Circle, Bakura, Yotoko, Rima, Zoltar, Blue Monkeys, Realside or any of the other names I put out music under. I am cancelling all my gigs and not taking any more. My hotmail is closed, my Twitter is closed and my Facebook is closed.

Furthermore, his website is closed and the original post of his farewell message is lost, though you can still view the cached version or find it copied elsewhere. Domu's website now simply states This really is The End . . . Step inside for an abbreviated journey.
posted by filthy light thief to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 9:46 AM
62 users marked this as a favorite

The Moral Dimensions of Ditching a Mortgage: University of Arizona law professor Brent T. White has written a provocative new paper (pdf) that urges homeowners with "underwater" mortgages" to walk away by strategically defaulting on their mortgage debts.
posted by jonp72 to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 6:05 PM
59 users marked this as a favorite

recommend me fantastic fantasy novels or epics with strong female protagonists or characters!
posted by raw sugar to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-1-09 at 10:35 AM
54 users marked this as a favorite

I really, really want to write creatively but I hate writing creatively. WTF?
posted by Anonymous to Ask MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 9:21 PM
52 users marked this as a favorite

Beer Calculus is a freely available homebrewing recipe generator, which allows you to easily create, save and share your own beer recipe(s). The calculator includes hundreds of malt, hop and yeast varieties, adjuncts and other ingredients, different mash processes, and fermentation and storage variables, and can toggle between US and metric units. Also, if you associate your recipe with a BJCP-recognized style, the calculator will give you guidance regarding your recipe's adherence to the style's guidelines. Homebrewers, have at it!
posted by cog_nate to MetaFilter at Dec-4-09 at 12:26 PM
52 users marked this as a favorite

To celebrate the start of its 350th year, the Royal Society has put online 60 of its most memorable scientific papers.
posted by Electric Dragon to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 3:05 AM
52 users marked this as a favorite

Google Wave. Is there anyone here who is using this regularly who can explain to me why I should too?
posted by availablelight to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-5-09 at 6:36 PM
52 users marked this as a favorite

Lev Grossman (wiki) has picked the six greatest fantasy novels of all time to This Weeks "Best Books...chosen by" series. Grossman blogs that each one"absolute indisputable classic" that "completely changed the game."
posted by shothotbot to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 9:09 PM
50 users marked this as a favorite

Hors d'oeuvre! I've got a few tried and true recipes but for the upcoming holidays need more. Can you help?
posted by Mutant to Ask MetaFilter at Dec-4-09 at 9:18 AM
49 users marked this as a favorite

The Soldier in later Medieval England is a historical research project that seeks to 'challenge assumptions about the emergence of professional soldiery between 1369 and 1453'. They've compiled impressive databases of tens of thousands of service records. These are perhaps of interest only to specialists; but the general reader may enjoy the profiles of individual military men: these run the gamut from regional non-entities like John Fort esquire of Llanstephan ("in many ways a humdrum figure" though once accused of harbouring a hostile Spaniard!) to more familiar figures such as rebel Welsh prince Owain Glyndŵr, who began his soldiering, as did many compatriots, in the service of the English king. Between such extremes of high and low we find, for example, Reginald Cobham, who made 6,500 florins ransoming a prisoner taken at Poitiers and rests eternal in a splendid tomb; and various men loyal and rebel who fought at the bloody Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403.
posted by Abiezer to MetaFilter at Dec-5-09 at 10:41 AM
49 users marked this as a favorite

My girlfriend and I have a shed. I mean, not an actual shed, since we don't even live in the same state yet, much less the same house. It's more of a rhetorical device at the moment. But let's say I called her up and said, "Hey babe! You know what would be awesome? This guy on the internet is writing about cutting a pig skull in half ...
posted by nebulawindphone to MetaFilter at Dec-5-09 at 8:11 AM
108 users marked this as a favorite

Being male was easier. Externally, anyways. When I decided to transition, I was the public face of an online game with a tight-knit community. I was in charge of the community and in charge of the game's continuing development -- when the company I worked for was going to close the game, I bought it from them to keep it going. Then "BSR ...
posted by andreaazure to MetaFilter at Nov-29-09 at 7:45 PM
103 users marked this as a favorite

As we keep looking at buying a home, my partner and I have been talking about this, with respect not only to house purchases but all economic behavior made by individuals: Kroft observes to real estate agent Kevin Moran. "There was a time, I think, when people felt really bad about not paying off a debt." "Yeah, I think in thos...
posted by Blazecock Pileon to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 6:28 PM
90 users marked this as a favorite

I am shaken by Parker's list of the rights that the current law denies to same-sex couples. And this is just a partial list of the rights and benefits of "marriage""Filing joint income tax returns with the IRS and state taxing authorities. Creating a 'family partnership' under federal tax laws, which allows you to divide busin...
posted by ericb to MetaFilter at Dec-2-09 at 10:31 AM
80 users marked this as a favorite

Rick Warren refuses to "oppose" the law, claiming that as a preacher, it's not his place to tell countries what laws they should enact. Of course it didn't stop him from endorsing and fighting for prop 8.
posted by delmoi to MetaFilter at Dec-2-09 at 2:07 AM
75 users marked this as a favorite

The mere fact that MetaFilter hates hipsters in equal proportion to its love of fonts, Apple products, obscure music, David Foster Wallace, liberal politics, and overanalyzing everything from schizophrenic subtext in 80s comedies to interpersonal dynamics intrinsic to word choice in website GUIs leads to one overwhelmingly glaringly obvious conclus...
posted by shakespeherian to MetaFilter at Dec-4-09 at 11:04 AM
73 users marked this as a favorite

How DARE he do what he said he would do a million times during the campaign.
posted by furiousxgeorge to MetaFilter at Dec-1-09 at 3:48 PM
71 users marked this as a favorite

Because my father proudly refused bankruptcy when his business tanked -- probably the last American to do so -- there was no money in our household as I was growing up; it all went to paying off every last dime he owed. That was laudable, and grand, and great, and good, get out the American flag and some apple pie and lets all celebrate, right, hi...
posted by dancestoblue to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 7:56 PM
71 users marked this as a favorite

TATERS, goddamnit. I want to know what the fuck hardcore and softcore taters are.
posted by little e to MetaTalk at Dec-2-09 at 12:34 PM
70 users marked this as a favorite

I have noticed it in what I have read, and in what I have contributed since the introduction of favorites. More jokey stuff. More fark-esque stuff. More stuff just to get favorites rather than actually contributing to a thread. I could not disagree with this more if it had a racial slur and goatse embedded in it. MeFi in the 2003-2006 era was...
posted by Optimus Chyme to MetaTalk at Dec-1-09 at 1:26 PM
61 users marked this as a favorite

This is heartbreaking stuff. To anyone reading who is transgendered I just wanted you to know, some guy on the internet is proud of you for being brave enough to be you. Don't let the bastards get you down.
posted by nola to MetaFilter at Nov-29-09 at 7:01 PM
61 users marked this as a favorite

I had an argument about prisons and punishments today in school. One of my (intelligent, college-educated) classmates put forth the idea that drug dealers "should simply be shot in the head" without benefit of a trial. She speculated that this would greatly reduce the amount of drug dealing going on, since it would serve as a huge deterre...
posted by Avenger to MetaFilter at Nov-30-09 at 9:58 PM
58 users marked this as a favorite

I'm irrationally angry about this. Maybe we need to set up a non-profit Friends of MetaFilter group so that we can occasionally do the odd good work here and there?
posted by jessamyn to MetaTalk at Dec-3-09 at 7:50 PM
56 users marked this as a favorite

In a recent conversation, it was stated that none of the younger artists are writing truly meaningful great songs that will stand the test of time. I am confident that this has been said by every aging generation since the first hominid banged a hollow log with a rock.
posted by BitterOldPunk to Ask MetaFilter at Nov-29-09 at 9:17 PM
53 users marked this as a favorite

I'd rather that they learn that there are consequences to their actions, and they need to put thought into how they live their lives. I'm not going to teach them that the world is against them -- rather I'm going to teach them to live their lives regardless of whether or not their peers and teachers suck. The consequences of Hope sending out a n...
posted by hurdy gurdy girl to MetaFilter at Dec-4-09 at 8:35 AM
51 users marked this as a favorite

Frankly, if these kinds of stories can keep my daughters from acting in a way I would be upset over (including but not limited to sending out naughty pictures via cell phone during their teenage years), than perhaps some good can come of this. I feel very, very sorry for your daughters.
posted by freshwater_pr0n to MetaFilter at Dec-4-09 at 8:27 AM
50 users marked this as a favorite

Nobel Peace Prize my ass.
posted by gman to MetaFilter at Dec-1-09 at 3:40 PM
49 users marked this as a favorite

No, the money is not in Social Security and Medicare. It's in military spending. Cut the military budget by 50% and then we'll talk about everything else.
posted by vibrotronica to MetaFilter at Dec-4-09 at 9:04 AM
49 users marked this as a favorite

The extended version... "Now lookie here, turkey," said the boat driver with a quixotic turn of his eyebrow. "You ordered yerself some coals. Now I got yer coals. And I'm gonna deliver yer dadgum coals! What kinda crap are you tryin' ta pull here? You ain't even GOT a wharf! We had to park the boat in a handicapped space!" ...
posted by katillathehun to MetaFilter at Dec-3-09 at 11:21 PM
48 users marked this as a favorite

Folks that are "done with Obama" now, it's okay. I suspect you'll feel differently if, in three years, we're substantially out of Iraq and out of Afghanistan with the exception of some residual forces. If that's the situation on the ground as we head into 2012, folks will be singing Obama's praises from the rooftops, particularly given t...
posted by darkstar to MetaFilter at Dec-1-09 at 4:13 PM
47 users marked this as a favorite