How long can your digital life keep up the appearance of your actual life? A Michigan woman quit her job in 2008 and told her neighbors she was going abroad. Her bills were paid automatically and her neighbors mowed the lawn until her money ran out in 2013, when the bank foreclosed on her house. A mummified body believed to be hers was discovered in the garage, but authorities are struggling to definitively identify it. There's a Facebook page set up by her family dedicated to finding out what happened to Pia Farrenkopf.
posted to MetaFilter by immlass at 1:50 PM on March 27, 2014 (73 comments)

Future Islands' recent David Letterman appearance has me in a frenzy. I want to see more examples of dazzling showmanship and unstoppable catharsis -- raw, intimate, unfettered performances by artists at the top of their games. I'm talking pulsing veins, searching eyes, trembling throats and chest-pounding theatrics. Send me your best videos of rockers and riveters!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by fritillary at 12:08 PM on March 26, 2014 (50 comments)

Dreamworks animator Daniel Hashimoto turns his three-year-old into an action movie hero. (via)
posted to MetaFilter by quiet coyote at 7:41 AM on March 27, 2014 (13 comments)

Patatap might be the most fun you can have mashing a keyboard.
posted to MetaFilter by oulipian at 7:44 AM on March 26, 2014 (24 comments)

Time travel, Dunder Mifflin-style. Over the last 18 months, filmmaker and digital artist Joe Sabia indexed every cultural reference from The Office, over 1,300 mentions across all 190 episodes, and used Wikipedia to find their year of origin. With the help of programmer Aaron Rasmussen, he built the The Office Time Machine to navigate it all, year-by-year, in historical order.
posted to MetaFilter by waxpancake at 11:19 AM on March 24, 2014 (17 comments)

What 11-Year-Old Kareem Granton Saw During 5 Days Roaming New York City (Warning: Slideshow format, but with original artwork.)
posted to MetaFilter by Pfardentrott at 9:17 AM on March 24, 2014 (31 comments)

A while back, I was in Europe for an extended period of time, and there I ended up driving two very similar cars (what may have been a Renault Clio and a Citroën C4). They were 5-door manual diesels, and I really enjoyed driving them. What cars like this are sold in the USA?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by the man of twists and turns at 10:07 PM on March 20, 2014 (12 comments)

Paul Simon claimed that there must be fifty ways to leave your lover, but in his famous song he named far fewer than that. Egress Methods, a twitter bot, fulfills the promise that Mr. Simon could not—and then some—tweeting a randomly generated formula for lover-leaving every few hours, from now into eternity.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by aparrish at 3:38 PM on March 20, 2014 (5 comments)

TileArray is a web application that converts uploaded images into photo mosaics of up to 6400x6400 pixels. Users can create, preview, download, and personalize their creations, then share them through social networks and in a gallery at the site.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by quarantine at 9:53 AM on March 20, 2014 (3 comments)

An iPhone app that lets you make stories out of photos, videos and text, and then publish it and share it. And you can read other peoples stories.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by jeffamaphone at 11:08 PM on March 12, 2014 (5 comments)

Interviews with interesting people, pulled from Reddit, organized, and made prettier.
posted to MetaFilter by Renoroc at 10:51 AM on March 15, 2014 (54 comments)

A catalog of places that used to be a Pizza Hut. The iconic "Red Roof" design was the subject of a recent episode of 99% Invisible (previously).
posted to MetaFilter by Cash4Lead at 7:21 PM on March 9, 2014 (73 comments)

In San Francisco, a homeowner gave his house a Twitter account that posts an update when there is unanticipated movement on the first floor, and welcomes him home.
posted to MetaFilter by Kitteh at 9:40 AM on March 10, 2014 (47 comments)

I took the first few paragraphs from the first ten chapters of Finnegans Wake, printed them onto strips of paper, then punched out the vowels (always Y!) and ran the cards through a punchcard music box player mounted on the wall in my bathroom.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by stokast at 9:06 AM on March 10, 2014 (1 comment)

Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and musical guest Paloma Faith were recently on The Graham Norton Show. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. This may possibly be the best episode of this or any talk show that will ever exist.
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 9:09 PM on March 6, 2014 (51 comments)

Each week for a year, the folks in the special collections library at the University of St. Andrews are taking a how-to book from the collection and following its instructions for a project, in order to get a clearer sense of what life was like a century or two ago. Thus far in 52 Weeks of Historical How-Tos, they've learned how to make shoe polish like an 1825 footman, bake mince pie from 10 different recipes dating from 1710-1862, perform parlour tricks to amaze your friends, and take photographs via the wet collodion process.
posted to MetaFilter by Horace Rumpole at 6:57 AM on March 9, 2014 (10 comments)

Succulent cupcakes that look like succulents. And how to make your own!
posted to MetaFilter by moonmilk at 7:08 AM on March 7, 2014 (25 comments)

So, what's it like to go to the Oscars with Jennifer Lawrence?
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 10:03 AM on March 8, 2014 (96 comments)

Ever since Rob Thomas’s beloved TV show Veronica Mars got canceled, he’s wanted to make it into a movie. Turns out all he needed was the help of 91,585 of his biggest fans.
posted to MetaFilter by zarq at 11:53 AM on March 6, 2014 (141 comments)

Going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans and finding yourself worried about bathroom options? Try AirPnP. Like Airbnb, but for bathrooms.
posted to MetaFilter by ColdChef at 8:12 PM on February 27, 2014 (32 comments)

Hello! UX Launchpad is a one day design course in Seattle. The event is built with non-designers in mind, and so far we've had a great blend of developers, PMs, fine artists, and interaction designers looking to learn more. Classes are designed to be small and hands-on.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by jragon at 7:09 PM on March 1, 2014

I listen to podcasts while driving and while cleaning. I currently have 3 on rotation: Welcome to Night Vale, Spilled Milk, and the Metafilter podcast. The latter two I like because I like listening to 2-3 people who get along well chatting conversationally about things I might be interested in, joking, etc. Night Vale I like because it's short enough to listen to in one go and it's a fun set of stories set in a consistent world that I enjoy. Please recommend me some more podcasts I can get on iTunes. Not interested in celebrity gossip, history, dry science, or story podcasts longer than 30 minutes per episode. Especially interested in cooking, parenting, self-improvement, and shows with big archives.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Night_owl at 10:27 AM on February 28, 2014 (26 comments)

I realize that it is only Monday. I also realize that it is still very much Winter in much of the Northern Hemisphere. But I also realized today that the word "Poptails" has never before been mentioned on the Blue. Time to change that: Booze + Popsicle Recipe = POPTAILS ! What's your poison? Dirty Pirate Popsicles, Corona Beer Popsicles, Three Musketeers Poptail, Bourbon Butterscotch Latte Popsicles & more, much more. Or just invent your own. (Keep in mind that if you use too much alcohol it won't freeze. (Worst case scenario: SLUSHIE!) Just how much alcohol to use for a poptail.
posted to MetaFilter by spock at 10:28 AM on February 24, 2014 (25 comments)

ShotKit, A Peek Inside the Camera Bags of Professional Photographers (Browse by subject, brand, or submit your own.)
posted to MetaFilter by ColdChef at 4:43 PM on February 20, 2014 (29 comments)

Photographer Qozop persuades the older and younger generations to swap clothes. Spoiler: everyone looks fabulous.
posted to MetaFilter by Erasmouse at 11:32 AM on February 19, 2014 (47 comments)

For the first time in five years, Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, has frozen enough to allow visitors from northern Wisconsin to walk across the lake to the ice caves of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.
posted to MetaFilter by computech_apolloniajames at 7:10 PM on February 18, 2014 (43 comments)

I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in October at age 44. I'm single and as I always have, want someone solid and good in my life, but am concerned that my terminal diagnosis would make any rational, loving man I meet run for the hills. I'm still learning how to live with this disease and have no idea how to approach my status with someone new in my life without scaring the shit out of them. MeFi community, would you be my Valentine tonight and hope me that yes, it's possible that I could find someone to spend the rest of my life with, no matter how long or short a period that might be?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by deliciae at 8:58 PM on February 14, 2014 (20 comments)

Who loves signage? I love signage. I also love constantly taking pictures of signs while traveling, and figured it'd be nice to start a tumblr of pleasant signs. Handsome signs, that's all.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by redsparkler at 10:59 AM on February 17, 2014 (2 comments)

Schwinn 1890's Lake Street Factory Photographs
posted to MetaFilter by Confess, Fletch at 5:10 PM on February 15, 2014 (26 comments)

@PicPedant (mefi's own) has attracted a loyal following in doing the Sisyphean work of calling out Twitter photo spammers and scraper accounts by tracking down, correcting and debunking images and giving attribution to the source. Twitter is awash in "interesting photo" accounts particularly since images started appearing in timelines -- some of the most successful of which may be the wildly popular @HistoryInPics and @EarthPix founded by 2 teenagers who allegedly earn $40,000+ a month. PicPedant's debunking can be vastly amusing. Here are a few greatest hits: no, not a baby panda but an Etsy doll; no, not Japanese cherry trees but an infrared scene from Stockholm; no, not a real moon, but a photo manipulation. He's even called out Madonna for lack of attribution on an image that went viral after her tweet. Keep on keepin' on, you crazy pedant.
posted to MetaFilter by madamjujujive at 6:16 PM on February 14, 2014 (30 comments)

De La Soul will make their entire back catalogue available for free for a 25 hour period to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut record 3 Feet High and Rising. The catalog will be downloadable from De La Soul's website starting at 11am EST. This might just kickstart the D.A.I.S.Y. Age.
posted to MetaFilter by Kattullus at 4:22 AM on February 14, 2014 (113 comments)

V-Day cards for planners, architects, urban designers, landscape architects, transportation engineers, and those who love them.
posted to MetaFilter by parudox at 7:32 AM on February 14, 2014 (15 comments)

Just something I've always noticed on askme threads about pursuing a romantic interest - everyone's advocating the use of the word 'date,' and it somewhat surprises me.
posted to MetaTalk by namesarehard at 1:15 PM on February 13, 2014 (446 comments)

Just a simple app to store and organize notes. Still very beta. Uses the browser's localStorage or google drive for note storage so you don't have to sign up for anything, or remember another username/password. If you have a minute, take a look, and let me know if you find anything that didn't work like you'd expect it to, of it you have ideas about how to make it more useful.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by nihlton at 12:08 PM on February 13, 2014 (2 comments)

Two Men in a Pizza Place Perform A Great Cover of Toto's "Africa."
posted to MetaFilter by Joey Michaels at 11:21 AM on February 12, 2014 (74 comments)

You are a clever and talented person. You create beautiful designs, or perhaps you have architected a system that even my cat could use. Your peers adore you. Your clients love you. But, until now, you haven’t *&^#^! been able to make Git work. It makes you angry inside that you have to ask your co-worker, again, for that *&^#^! command to upload your work. It’s not you. It’s Git. Promise.
posted to MetaFilter by jenkinsEar at 5:35 PM on February 11, 2014 (96 comments)

Comedian, Mefi's own, and transgender woman Avery Edison is currently being held in a men's jail in Ontario on immigration charges, separated from the general population. Avery tweeted about her detention last night.
posted to MetaFilter by Apropos of Something at 12:45 PM on February 11, 2014 (283 comments)

How Iowa Flattened Literature

The Iowa Writers’ Workshop emerged in the 1930s and powerfully influenced the creative-writing programs that followed. More than half of the second-wave programs, about 50 of which appeared by 1970, were founded by Iowa graduates. Third- and fourth- and fifth-wave programs, also Iowa scions, have kept coming ever since. So the conventional wisdom that Iowa kicked off the boom in M.F.A. programs is true enough. [...] Over the past 40 years, creative writing’s small-is-beautiful approach has served it well, as measured by the discipline’s explosive growth while most of its humanities counterparts shrink and cower. The reasons for this could fill many essays. For one thing, creative writing has successfully embedded itself in the university by imitating other disciplines without treading on their ground. A pyramid resembles a pedagogy—it’s fungible, and easy to draw on the board. Introductory math and physics professors like to draw diagrams too, a welcome analogy for a discipline wishing both to establish itself as teachable and to lengthen its reach into the undergraduate curriculum, where a claim of pure writerly exceptionalism won’t cut it.

posted to MetaFilter by deathpanels at 6:53 PM on February 10, 2014 (35 comments)

What tools did the Vikings use to construct their ships? During the early years of the Song dynasty, while Sridhar Acharya's concept of "zero" was making it's way westward and a pair of anonymous Anglo-Saxon poets was committing the tale of Beowulf to animal skin, a Viking craftsman lost his tool chest. It is speculated that the chest fell overboard off a ship or through the ice into what was then a swamp on the modern island of Gotland, Sweden. The chest was unearthed in 1936 when a chain attached to the chest got caught on a farmer's plow. In it were the tools a Viking blacksmith/ship builder would need to ply his trade. Named the Mästermyr chest its discovery was a boon to archaeologists, historians, re-enactors, woodworkers and blacksmiths. The original tools (catalogue of the items) were restored and put on display. Numerous copies and tributes of the chest or selected tools have been made over the years including a complete replica of both the chest and contents made using period techniques as a 'net project of a blacksmiths and woodworkers.
posted to MetaFilter by Mitheral at 10:11 PM on February 9, 2014 (36 comments)

@Sweden is run by a different Swede each week. But what are the other @countries and @territories up to?
posted to MetaFilter by me3dia at 9:43 AM on January 20, 2014 (33 comments)

The Oregon State University Open Source Lab has an immediate opening for a full-time systems architect. We're looking for someone to help us support some of the world's most well-known open source projects and to mentor the next generation of DevOps students. This position is responsible for the design and architecture, deployment, and maintenance of the infrastructure, which includes servers, workstations, and network equipment. The position involves planning for future growth, designing network and system architecture for driving the OSL forward over time, maintaining Linux servers, databases, backups, web sites, code repositories, and other development tools used by our hosted partners. You need to be comfortable in a mentoring role because you will oversee the efforts of student developers as you assist with system administration, documentation, and testing. Qualifications: - Proficient with at least one yum-based and one apt-based Linux distribution of the following listed: RHEL, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora - Familiar with relational database servers (MySQL or PostgreSQL especially), email administration, DNS, serving dynamic web applications (PHP, python or ruby especially), backups, network setup, performance scaling of websites and troubleshooting. - Effective communication and interpersonal skills, demonstrated success in independent problem-solving, self-direction, and the ability to manage multiple tasks. - Experience in mentoring students (or other coworkers) on system administration tasks, best practices and efficient work flow. Preferred Qualifications: - In-depth knowledge of open source software development / hosting practices and open source communities. - Experience with configuration management systems such as Puppet, Chef or CFEngine. Experience with source control systems such as git or svn. - Resourceful, with ability to work with limited resources. Past experience and involvement in one or more open source communities. Work experience in higher education. For more information or to apply, please use job posting #0011839 on OSU's job site.
posted to MetaFilter Jobs by pwnguin at 11:48 AM on January 21, 2014

It's what it sounds like -- a rap about Downton Abbey based on N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton." An animated music video of sorts, just for fun.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by edlundart at 9:03 AM on February 5, 2014 (4 comments)

In 2014, Bitcoin (BTC) has become established as increasingly "real" money with government regulatory interest, law enforcement, and growing acceptance in commerce, but also as the reserve cryptocurrency for hundreds of "altcoins," making them also convertible to legacy money. Foremost among these is Litecoin (LTC), which introduced the scrypt hashing algorithm to cryptocurrency, democratizing coin mining by being best suited to common GPUs rather than Bitcoin's dedicated mining equipment. Recently donated LTC paid for a forest in Madagascar. Peercoin (PPC), next in prominence, introduces "proof of stake" where less energy is spent mining and existing coins pay interest. Dogecoin (DOGE), a fork of Litecoin (previously covered on Metafilter), continues heading to the moon, with more transactions than all other coins combined, thriving markets in digital goods, tipbots, an upcoming party in NYC's Bitcoin Center on Wall Street, much charity, and the recent announcement that new Dogecoins will be generated indefinitely. A selection of other foremost and interesting cryptocurrencies is within.
posted to MetaFilter by save alive nothing that breatheth at 6:19 AM on February 5, 2014 (318 comments)

I work in maps but am generally frustrated with the way the field is taught: so this is my attempt at making educational materials that dial down the corporate tie-ins and talk about concept. I also write about the process of making it and am planning on illustrating & printing it for free/cheap for students.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by tmcw at 5:06 PM on January 9, 2014 (3 comments)

Personal injury lawyer Jamie Casino of Savannah, GA really went all out with his Metal as ___ Super Bowl ad (SLYT).
posted to MetaFilter by T.D. Strange at 8:21 AM on February 3, 2014 (59 comments)

Last night the Interwebs found a GE ad from the 1970s showing a girl and her cat thinking of space. This was part of a series of posters that our high-school algebra teacher put up in our classroom. The one I remember best is "So-and-so loves to look at the clouds. What kind of a job do you think that'll get him?" Any idea where I can see the whole set?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lukemeister at 11:20 AM on January 30, 2014 (2 comments)

Send me an email with your manuscript attached, and I'll print it out and mail it to your publisher for you.
posted to MetaFilter Projects by jsturgill at 6:24 PM on January 27, 2014 (5 comments)

In a move sure to delight MeFites everywhere, Ghent University in Belgium has created an online, almost arcade-game-like test of word knowledge which is almost BS-proof. Know the word? Press J. Don't? Press F. But don't lie! You will be punished.
posted to MetaFilter by grumpybear69 at 2:04 PM on January 29, 2014 (331 comments)

If I had only known how awesome you are I would have never moved in with you...
posted to Ask MetaFilter by bzzt at 2:28 PM on August 5, 2012 (59 comments)

Jack Conte at XOXO 2013. Conte, of Pomplamoose (previously), (previously) giving a VERY sharp talk on realistic financing models for artists and creators. Nataly Dawn's successful kickstarter, the creation (and madness) of Jack's 'Pedals' video, why Youtube doesn't work as a funding platform for him anymore and the creation of Patreon are all touched upon.
posted to MetaFilter by AAALASTAIR at 2:21 PM on January 28, 2014 (12 comments)