MetaFilter posts tagged with Great

Our pet chimpanzee ruined my life, claims stepdaughter of French singer

unSane — Wed, 22 May 2013 05:48:45 -0800

"Soon, however, with the strength of eight men, Pépée became an uncontrollable tyrant who would strip guests – including once a government prefect and wife – of their clothes and valuables, bite others who failed to accede to its whims and once stole a baby, which it took to the roof despite Leo waving a toy pistol at it and shouting: "Daddy's not happy. Daddy's going to shoot."

Great supine protoplasmic invertebrate jellies!

MuffinMan — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:50:49 -0800

Today the London Assembly Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green Party members all voted to bypass the session in which Mayor Boris Johnson would answer questions about his controversial £16.5bn budget cuts. Accordingly, Assembly chair Jennette Arnold asked Mr Johnson to leave the session. Hilarity ensues .

Always wondered if Tom went on to work in banking.

Miko — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:10:04 -0800

John D. Fitzgerald had written three fictionalized memoirs of his family's life in the late 19th-century Utah west before the night he happened to regale a group of friends with childhood stories of his money-crazed brother, Tom. At their urging, he crafted a funny and clever series of children's books chronicling the adventures of The Great Brain. Like countless other readers, the blogger and researcher behind Finding Fitzgerald (and its companion blog and Facebook page) has been fascinated with discovering the real settings and stories behind the books. And the truly committed can even watch Jimmy Osmond in the 1978 film adaptation.

A pong traffic light in Germany

adrianspiegel — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:20:03 -0800

A pong traffic light in Germany

You think you can keep up with me, world? Well you can't. Because I'm too damn FANTASTIC.

Rory Marinich — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 13:07:38 -0800

From Ryan Armand, author of the beautiful watercolor comic Minus, comes the story of a man who decides one day to be GREAT. Involves ramen, romance, gang warfare. Highly recommended.

Dallas' Best Kept Secret?

punkfloyd — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:12:58 -0800

Proving that Dallas is slightly more than concrete, SUVs and bad air quality, the Great Trinity Forest is home to birds, deer, bobcats, badgers, alligators and even a seven foot nine inch, 200 pound alligator gar named Garzilla as documented in the excellent blog Dallas Trinity Trails. The forest is also home to one of the last flowing natural springs in north Texas, producing water that nourished Sam Houston and countless Native Americans throughout the centuries. So you want to go to there? You might want to read the Dallas Observer article, Great Trinity Forest Ain't So Great first. Related Reading: Living with the Trinity Trinity River Authority Trinity River Audubon Center The River and Why We Are Here Attempts to make the Trinity a navigable waterway from Fort Worth to the Gulf of Mexico Trinity River History DFW Urban Wildlife documenting the diverse wildlife that calls north central Texas home including the which is so badass it adapted to live in burrows in open fields well away from standing water.

Greater Depression?

beukeboom — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 17:43:08 -0800

Joseph E. Stiglitz "argues that the U.S. is now facing and must manage a similar shift in the 'real' economy, from industry to service, or risk a tragic replay of 80 years ago."

C.G.P. Grey

Blasdelb — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:00:24 -0800

Here is Coffee: The Greatest Addiction Ever and other neat videos by C.G.P. Grey who explains non-obvious aspects of science, history, geography, elections, and economics in entertaining and clear ways. The Difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and England Explained, starting with what should be obvious and quickly moving to expand an ever increasingly large venn diagram of political and geographical relationships that somehow manages to keep from getting confusing. Also wonderful, How Scotland Joined Great Britain, The True Cost of the Royal Family Explained - (Rebuttal), and the History of the Union Jack Copyright: Forever Less One Day How the Electoral College Works and The Trouble with the Electoral College or how to win the Presidency with only 21.9% of the popular vote. Also, The Alternative Vote Explained, Gerrymandering Explained, and Mixed-Member Proportional Representation Explained Death to Pennies What are Continents? Daylight Saving Time Explained More neat things: Ayn Rand loves torture (Tag cloud of Atlas Shrugged made with wordle. Word size is proportional to frequency.) Where Should State Capitals Be? Googlemaps awesomeness United States Median Household Income by State United States Population Growth Passport Ownership by State

Whaleback Ships of the Great Lakes

Confess, Fletch — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:41:12 -0800

The SS Christopher Columbus was the only Whaleback ship ever built for passenger service. A total of fourty-three whalebacks where built between 1887-1898. One, the SS City of Everett was the first American Steamship to Travel through the Suez Canal. Another, the only British built, one was sunk by a U-boat in 1917. The majority of them where unpowered barges meant to reduce drag when being towed, but eighteen where powered and mostly used to tow the barges. Unfortunately their low profile made them hard to see and many were damaged or sunk in collisions. Also their curved profile made their hatches hard to seal properly. You can read more about Captain Alexander McDougall's innovative ships in "McDougall's Great Lakes Whalebacks" or take a tour of the last surviving one at the SS Meteor Whaleback Ship Museum in Superior Wisconsin.

The limits of adhesion

pjern — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 22:53:57 -0800

The Hunter Valley Steamfest in New South Wales, Australia holds a Great Steam Train race every so often. In 2010, it was particularly spectacular, with not two, but three evenly matched train sets taking the challenge. Watch it from the footplate of the locomotive on the center track, or from the point of view of a passenger on one of the trains.

Jackanory time

unliteral — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 18:53:24 -0800

Web of stories - "There are few things more interesting or more pleasurable than to watch someone tell a good story. And one story always leads to another."

The Great Showdowns of Film History

carsonb — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:38:19 -0800

"Since the beginning of time, there has been struggle. The epic clash of being against being. Tyrannosaurus Rex vs. Triceratops. Giant Squid vs. the Sperm Whale. The Circle vs. the Square. The struggle is forever. It makes the world turn around... This is a chronicling of some of the greatest confrontations in FILM HISTORY. The greatest moments of melee. These are the GREAT SHOWDOWNS. And they sort of enjoy that they are the great showdowns." :)

Motivational Posters for Black History Month

jefficator — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:25:59 -0800

"Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better." -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Motivational poster for Black History Month

Great Lakes to be filter-fed to carp

anthill — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:57:21 -0800

Asian Carp update: since 2003(previously), the inexorable advance of Asian Carp up the Mississippi delta has brought them to within 6 miles of Lake Michigan. These invasive "100-pound Zebra Mussels" suck rivers clean and starve native fish. Asian Carp are now 97% of the fish biomass in the Mississippi delta. The "electric fence" across the canal didn't stop them. The poisoning of the canal won't stop them. Closing the Chicago sewage canal locks is the only way to be sure. But the Army Corps of Engineers have the jurisdiction. Feel safe? If you are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania or New York, take a minute to write your Federal representative. If the Asian Carp get into the Great Lakes, it's bye-bye Trout, Bass, Coho, Steelhead, and every fish in the $7 billion fishing industry. Now or never.

Great Circle

yegga — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:45:29 -0800

A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD DESIGN
THE PREHISTORIC ALIGNMENT OF WORLD WONDERS

She Certainly Leaves an Impression

Alex404 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 22:34:28 -0800

Great Moments in Movie History. Scenes in a film taken out of context can be very funny. Though sometimes they were just funny anyway. Highlights Involve: Miscommunication, Painful Loss (NSFW), Astute Observation, Dubious Strategy, and Thrilling Combat.

Great, plain, still emptying

dersins — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:15:04 -0800

Faded Dreams, Emptied in Emmons County and Memories in McIntosh County. Three flickr photo sets of (mostly) abandoned, crumbling farms, businesses and homes in rural North Dakota. [previously] [via]

The Big Ol' Picture

Happy Dave — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 08:36:16 -0800

14 large color photos from the Farm Security Administration. "The 1600 color photographs of the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Collection include scenes of rural and small-town life, migrant labor, and the effects of the Great Depression. A significant number of the color photographs concern the mobilization effort for World War II and portray aircraft manufacturing, military training, and the nation's railroads. Browse by subject, photographer or geographic location. (Previously)

the ultimate chaser

parmanparman — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:30:28 -0800

The gift every adult will want. (via log_070329 [NSFW])

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 10 May 2008 23:56:25 -0800

Songs that clearly and directly address or reference economic hardships and injustice in America, not to mention that do so in a bitter, regretful tone, don't often become enormous hits. Matter of fact, it's such a rare phenomenon that you could count such songs on... um, one finger? Yes, Yip Harburg and Jay Gorney's iconic Brother Can You Spare a Dime is that song. Covered by a surprisingly wide range of singers through the years, the song still resonates. You can hear a partial clip of the Rudy Valee version at a link from this page from the "GCSE page" link. Once again this clip, like most of the YouTube clips linked in the FPP, is comprised of Depression-era images. There's a partial clip of the Bing Crosby version at this PBS page, just scroll down below the feature on "Strange Fruit" (another song with unlikely subject matter, that is lynching) for the link. Here's the chords, although they've left the entire intro out...

Noublions Jamais L'Australie

mattoxic — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:10:39 -0800

Today is ANZAC day in Australia and New Zealand, the commemorating the abortive Gallipoli landings of 1915. It is a solemn day, marked by a dawn service and parade in every town across the two countries. Some ANZAC day traditions include ANZAC Biscuits, and playing the game of two-up. A drive through the countryside in Australia demonstrates just how devastating the Great War was to a country of just over five million people. Today also marks another Great War anniversary, the retaking of the French town of Villiers Bretonneux by the Australian AIF after the Germans took the town during their massive all-or-nothing offensive of 1918. The Australian commanding officer, Harold “Pompey” Elliot, was a brilliant, if flawed leader who cared passionately about his men, and suffered bouts of depression that would later claim his life. Lest we forget

The tantriks chanted their “Om lingalingalingalinga, kilikilikili….”

Burhanistan — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:30:18 -0800

The Great Tantra Challenge - "On 3 March 2008, in a popular TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged India’s most “powerful” tantrik (black magician) to demonstrate his powers on him. That was the beginning of an unprecedented experiment."

Great, plain, empty.

dersins — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 12:21:35 -0800

"The Emptied Prairie," a National Geographic article on North Dakota's ghost towns and the decline of the Great Plains. Typically amazing National Geographic photos here. Reminds me of a similar series that ran in the New York Times several years ago, which included this fascinating article by Timothy Egan.

Great, not-so-plain

dersins — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 09:43:25 -0800

The Nebraska Sandhills [wiki] make up the largest vegetated sand dune in the Western Hemisphere-- almost 20,000 square miles of rolling dunes covered with prairie grass. The region is sparsely populated-- dotted with tiny towns, and contains the only man-made National Forest in the US and one of the best golf courses in the world. All told, the area's pretty damn photogenic. Just ask NASA.

Sharks 4. Humans 165,000,000.

humannaire — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:33:13 -0800

Rethink. The. Shark. [YouTube] The Save Our Seas Foundation [small Flash], a Swiss-based non-profit, joins the growing ranks of a world-wide movement to undo the damage caused by popular reports and gross misrepresentation by Hollywood of sharks as human-savoring sea monsters/killing machines. The fact of the matter is that the opposite is true: Current estimates give between 65 million to 165 million sharks being killed worldwide annually via unregulated catch - including 38 million to 70 million [PDF] for their fin alone, with untold numbers of butchered and bleeding-to-death sharks being cast back into the oceans to die slow and gruesome deaths. [more inside]