MetaFilter posts tagged with 2009

qsr drive-thru service study

aerotive — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:31:39 -0800

Craving some speedy, accurately prepared, clearly enunciated junk food with a typographically proper menu? QSR has released their yearly Best Drive Thru rankings, with reports for speed of service, order accuracy, speaker clarity, and menuboard appearance. Overall description of the survey, survey questions and demographics, and Methodology (via the consumerist and chicago trib)

The Gernsback Continuum

Artw — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 22:58:08 -0800

The 2009 Hugo awards have been announced at Worldcon. Winners include Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book for best novel, Ted Chiang getting best short story and Elizabeth Bear getting best novelette. Best Related Book was snagged by MeFi's own jscalzi. The award for best semiprozine, which was to be scrapped, has been saved, this year being won by Weird Tales - a surprise upsets as it's main problem was that it had essentially become the Locus magazine award for best Locus Magazine. As well as the Hugos other awards such as the Prix Aurora award for best Canadian SF and the Chesley Awards for SF art have been announced, and Cory Doctorow accepted the Prometheus award for Libertarian SF. Convention reporter provides continuing coverage (the convention still has another day to run) and Starshipsofa spin-off Sofanauts has an excellent series of podcasts with regular Amy H. Sturgis and others reporting from the con.

A Song for Europe

Grrlscout — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:27:40 -0800

It's Eurovision week, everyone! The last of the semi-finals was last night, and the twenty-five entries are now set for this Saturday's extravaganza in Moscow, the most expensive and flashy yet. After last year's controversy over votes motivated by regional politics and entries that detracted from the, er, dignity of the event, the Eurovision voting mechanism has changed. Western countries in particular have brought in the heavy musical muscle, with Andrew Lloyd Webber writing the UK song, the amazing Patricia Kaas singing for France, and Dita von Teese performing on stage with the German entry. You can't vote from outside of Europe, and you might struggle to watch the contest live from outside Europe. But you can have your very own Mefi Eurovision experience right here! Get some snacks and lots of booze, settle in, view the twenty-five entries here, and decide for yourselves. (MLYT warning) Official videos for the pre-qualifiers: UK France Spain Russia Germany And the semi-final performances: Sweden Norway Iceland Finland Malta Portugal Israel Turkey Greece Lithuania Croatia Romania Armenia Bosnia-Herzegovina Moldova Estonia Denmark Albania Ukraine

Beautiful mutants I can hear in the distance - I think they're calling our name.

LSK — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:04:31 -0800

Famed band Devo (mostly famous in the outside world for Top 20 hit Whip It) has a new album, due fall 2009. The album is a follow-up to the success of their 2007 single Watch Us Work It, notably used in a Dell commercial. They're already started playing three of the songs from it live: Don't Shoot, I'm A Man Fresh What We Do Though some devotees say that Devo started to decline in quality after their third album, I wholeheartedly disagree. While their sixth and seventh albums (Shout and Total Devo, respectively) may have been mediocre (and even those had a few good cuts), their eighth album (Smooth Noodle Maps), featuring a cover of Morning Dew, is surprisingly overlooked. The new material most resembles songs from their eighth album. [While I fully endorse the practice of building links, I've removed some links to Wikipedia pages discussing the albums to keep this post from being just links.] [Further, a lot of the songs I wish to link to were not available on Youtube. If you want to follow along with this post, buy their albums or torrent them and set aside about six months of your life.]

If you're going to panic, panic constructively.

Doktor Zed — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 09:51:51 -0800

Bruce Sterling, fresh from his online State of the World 2008 discussion (previously), delivers his succinct prognosis for the new year: 2009 Will Be a Year of Panic. At least it's an opportunity to say good-bye to the 20th century at last. (via)

Calendars o' governments

cashman — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:48:48 -0800

2009 U.S. government wall calendar pdfs! We already hit the counterterrorism calendar, so let's look at the wall calendar pdfs for Biosecurity for Birds, Invasive Plants, Invasive Species, and Private Lands. We've got funky green and blue monochrome. There's a brief one from the CDC and one that overdoes it a tad from NOAA. Finally, one from the International Space Station and my favorite, the Overseas Security Advisory Council's A-OK Kids Safety Calendar (2.6 megs). A preview of March's drawing by 3rd grader Roxane Kokka with someone impaled on a tree will make sure you always ware your seat belt.

Deliberately Inaccurate 2009 Calendar

alby — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 09:37:36 -0800

Deliberately Inaccurate 2009 Calendar [via]

Peruvian toasted root beer and with persimmon!

twoleftfeet — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:02:15 -0800

2009 will be a whole new year for flavor. Expect toasted sesame and root beer, Peruvian food, beer, and persimmon.

The Economist: The World in 2009

goodnewsfortheinsane — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:00:30 -0800

In 2009, a remarkably gifted politician, confronting a remarkably difficult set of challenges, will have to learn to say "No we can't", Guantánamo will prove a moral minefield, economic recovery will be invisible to the naked eye, governments must prepare for the day they stop financial guarantees, we will judge our commitment to sustainability, scientists should research the causes of religion, we will all be potential online paparazzi, English will have more words than any other language (but it's meaningless), Afghanistan will see a surge of Western (read: American) troops, Iran will continue its nuclear quest while diplomacy lies in shambles, the sea floor is the new frontier, we should rethink aging, (non-)voters will continue to thwart the European project -- but cheap travel will continue to buoy it -- though it has some unfinished business to attend to, and a Nordic defence bond will blossom.

The Economist: The World in 2009. Previously: 2008, 2007. How did we do last time around? And what will we probably be wrong about this time? Guest contributions: President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seeks greater international cooperation and sees a growing global role for the larger emerging economies. Queen of Jordan Rania calls for education reform. Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd calls upon mid-size powers to be creative and effective with their influence. Prime Minister of Spain José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero emphasizes the importance of transparency and solidarity in Europe. Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, wedged between Russia and the EU, cites historical precedent. Former Secretary of State of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Henry Kissinger argues America will be less powerful, but will still be the essential nation in creating a new world order. Mayor Boris Johnson of London argues against over-regulation. Elections to watch: Brazil, Chile, European Parliament, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan. Also: Russia will enter its first real difficult years under Putin, Brown might not make it, we won't ban nukes but we can pretend, Ontario will receive economic help from other provinces, Australians will grow ever more thirsty, and Britain needs to make stuff again. World in 2009 blog.

Once in a lifetime

unSane — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:02:45 -0800

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile | And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife | And you may ask yourself... Well...How did I get here?

"Are we in the midst of a coup?"

homunculus — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 20:50:14 -0800

2009: A True Story. "My name is Sara Ford and I am 18 years old. I moved to California at the end of last year. Before the first attacks... before everything changed." [Via] On YouTube: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, Episode 8, Episode 9, Episode 10, Episode 11, Episode 12, Episode 13. NSFW.