I want to make lots of neat little gifts to give friends for Christmas. I'd like these gifts to be useable, elegant, consumable, and grown-up (not decorative, artsy-fartsy crafty crap). My recipients are Pragmatic New Englanders, and would be irked receiving potpourri, eye pillows, embroidered towels, door-hangings, pine-cone-bird feeders, or anything of that ilk. Hence: consumables. In the past I've had past successes making figgy pudding with brandy butter and a collection of homemade ketchups, relishes, mustards, and chutneys, but this year I want to move out of the kitchen. Blow me away with millions of amazing little home-made gift suggestions.
posted by mr. remy to Ask MetaFilter at Nov-6-09 at 5:07 AM
87 users marked this as a favorite
In
How to Write a Great Novel authors such as Edwidge Danticat, Hilary Mantel, Orhan Pamuk, Junot Díaz and Margaret Atwood speak about their writing process. If you want your thoughts on writing in a longer format, you could do a lot worse than The New York Times'
Writers on Writing series, which features short essays by, for example,
Kurt Vonnegut,
Saul Bellow,
Louise Erdrich and
Annie Proulx. Should you thirst for meditations longer yet,
Barbara Demarco-Barrett has on her
Writers on Writing radio show interviewed a
boatload of authors and it is available as a
podcast [iTunes link]
posted by Kattullus to MetaFilter at Nov-11-09 at 8:09 PM
69 users marked this as a favorite
The Mandelbulb "The original
Mandelbrot is an amazing object that has captured the public's imagination for 30 years. It's found by following a relatively simple math formula. But in the end, it's still only 2D and flat - there's no depth, shadows, perspective, or light sourcing. What we have featured in this article is a potential 3D version of the same fractal."
posted by dhruva to MetaFilter at Nov-12-09 at 10:06 AM
56 users marked this as a favorite
Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics. Such a lovely display of civility and goodness. We can all be proud of our Republican brethren. And now we have a mandated insurance system that will pay for viagra, but not birth control, just like most insurance policies. And women...well, you better hope you w...
posted by dejah420 to MetaFilter at Nov-7-09 at 9:40 PM
105 users marked this as a favorite
Your response did not answer the question; therefore, it was deleted. You are not the first person nor will you be the last to have answers deleted for not answering the question but rather offering up an irrelevant opinion. You need to stop posting and lurk more, as it is clear you do not understand MetaFilter's protocols.
Also, saying &quo...
posted by Optimus Chyme to MetaTalk at Nov-11-09 at 9:38 AM
75 users marked this as a favorite
Hey great another thread where a half-dozen unbalanced losers do a disservice to all men.
I'd like to say this to you, if you can understand it, which you won't, or can't: you are the problem. You know how you are whining about how "oh boo hoo not all men are bad and it's wrong for women to assume I am dangerous it is so hard to be a dude ...
posted by Optimus Chyme to MetaTalk at Nov-9-09 at 7:03 AM
69 users marked this as a favorite
Generally speaking, I behave fantastically well in public and display wonderful etiquette and manners. This is the likely result of growing up in a family and neighborhood where such things were expected. I tend to expect it from others; especially those who, in some way or another have connections to me, or act as my representative some way. Th...
posted by Dee Xtrovert to MetaFilter at Nov-5-09 at 5:14 PM
67 users marked this as a favorite
Don't let your babysitter have sex with your baby! Transfusions are right out! Breastfeeding is questionable.
Otherwise, give your babysitter the love and support she needs. She's not a pariah, she's just got an autoimmune disorder.
posted by Pollomacho to Ask MetaFilter at Nov-12-09 at 4:15 AM
63 users marked this as a favorite
My God. I just read that thread and this one for the first time. I had no idea women thought like this. I feel horrible. I'm a big mean looking guy. I'm around 6'-4" 250lbs and I can't fathom what it would be like to have to think like this all the time. I can barely string words together right now to make this comment, that's how much i...
posted by chugg to MetaTalk at Nov-9-09 at 9:59 AM
62 users marked this as a favorite
I really have come to the conclusion that most of humanity is about three beers and two shots of tequila away from having sex with the rest of humanity, regardless of gender, nationality, age, or religion, and so, when people say things like "No homo" after saying something suggestively homoerotic, all they're saying is "Buy me a few...
posted by Astro Zombie to MetaFilter at Nov-10-09 at 11:52 AM
59 users marked this as a favorite
that men take it as their right to comment on our bodies, to use our bodies for their gratification, and that if we object to it then we are bitches, or....sexist.
Part of me wants to change that 'some men' in there - and that's part of the problem, and I think where gjc is coming from.
But saying that it's OK to fear strange men more than t...
posted by ArkhanJG to MetaTalk at Nov-8-09 at 4:02 PM
59 users marked this as a favorite
I'm not sure how this adds, but here it is. I see how people sometimes view my brother as he walks down the street.
A large African American male, I sometimes see non-blacks view him warily as he walks down the street (in the US), and I think - aargh, you don't even know him! How can you judge him negatively based on your previous experience/you...
posted by anitanita to MetaTalk at Nov-8-09 at 7:33 PM
54 users marked this as a favorite
Hi, pamspanda:
You say,
I am a a little confused by some of the comments about overreacting
Maybe I can help.
When a post starts with "DESPERATE!" and asks "What next????" with four question marks then concludes with "I need information and help before I jump out of my skin!!!!," ending in four exclamation ...
posted by Pater Aletheias to Ask MetaFilter at Nov-12-09 at 6:10 AM
53 users marked this as a favorite
But Jon Stewart for Samuel Langhorne Clemens is quite another. What next? Stephen Colbert for Zola? Al Franken for Swift?
Tripe. The Christopher Hitchens of 1885 would cattily dismiss the undue popularity of Huckleberry Finn.
"One feels that a lighter touch was in order for such grotesques as the King, the Duke and 'Pap' (whose name is a...
posted by Iridic to MetaFilter at Nov-6-09 at 12:21 AM
50 users marked this as a favorite
and comments 