NOTICE OF ARBITRATION AGREEMENT:
posted to MetaFilter by bigmusic at 11:49 PM on November 27, 2007 (98 comments)

Untergunther, a chapter of the Parisian cultural guerilla organisation UX (most memorably responsible for setting up a secret theatre in the catacombs under the Seine in 2004), unveil their latest project - a clock-restoration workshop hidden in the Pantheon dome! The group's own report and pictures here.
posted to MetaFilter by nicolas léonard sadi carnot at 3:27 AM on November 27, 2007 (25 comments)

"This is the story of when I re-wrote the Lotus Notes Formula Engine.... So here was I was, offered this position that I clearly wasn't qualified for. I had no experience with language runtimes or compilers, I knew very little about C and didn't know anything about C++, I had never dealt with platform byte ordering and packing and all the other issues associated with writing something for eight different operating systems, I had never even used proper version control. But none of that mattered to me. It seemed to me like an amazing opportunity and I would be doing exactly the kind of stuff I enjoy most..."
posted to MetaFilter by grumblebee at 10:00 AM on November 24, 2007 (64 comments)

Free Stuff for Lazy Designers. Dezignus surf the web to give you the best design source links! Icons, brushes and shapes, tutorials and books, vectors and other stuff.
posted to MetaFilter by psmealey at 3:06 AM on November 20, 2007 (17 comments)

Scent of a Führer - The dictator who smelt it, dealt it. Hitler wanted to control the world. But he couldn't even control his flatulence. (Via)
posted to MetaFilter by growabrain at 9:00 AM on November 3, 2007 (56 comments)

What is the "man-overboard" or "we just spotted a stick-thin and hairy Tom Hanks on a makeshift raft" scenario for very large and heavy ships, like container ships? It's not practical to stop them and it can't be done in any reasonable amount of time or distance, and I assume they don't keep a helicopter on board. Do they drop a speedboat to go and pick the guy up, which then catches up with the ship?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by George_Spiggott at 12:39 PM on October 31, 2007 (21 comments)

How can I be sure that my childhood actually happened?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Avenger at 1:59 AM on October 23, 2007 (41 comments)

Physics: Suppose I have a 10million gallon tank of H2O and I drill a 0.5mm hole near the bottom...
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ian1977 at 6:13 AM on October 17, 2007 (43 comments)

Georgia's going dry -- and we're not talking liquor stores. Record temperatures in Georgia and a long drought have left many Georgia cities wondering when the taps will run dry. Some towns have only a few weeks of water left, while rivers near Athens have nearly dried up. A broken water main hasn't helped the problem, and some fear that the University of Georgia campus there may shut down for lack of water. What's more, Atlanta itself is already feeling the pressure, as Lake Lanier, a water source for 3 million residents, falls by 1.5 feet per week and has only a three month supply remaining. While there have been more severe (pdf) droughts in Georgia's history, rising population numbers have increased demand to now unsustainable levels.
posted to MetaFilter by InnocentBystander at 10:37 PM on October 13, 2007 (75 comments)

Margaret Talbot's wonderful profile of David Simon, the creator of "The Wire." Simon said, he and his colleagues had “ripped off the Greeks: Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides. Not funny boy—not Aristophanes. We’ve basically taken the idea of Greek tragedy and applied it to the modern city-state.” He went on, “What we were trying to do was take the notion of Greek tragedy, of fated and doomed people, and instead of these Olympian gods, indifferent, venal, selfish, hurling lightning bolts and hitting people in the ass for no reason—instead of those guys whipping it on Oedipus or Achilles, it’s the postmodern institutions . . . those are the indifferent gods.”
posted to MetaFilter by geoff. at 10:50 AM on October 15, 2007 (34 comments)

I recently read on The Blue that microwave popcorn could be bad for you, and would like to go back to more a traditional method of making it. What are your air popper / popcorn maker suggestions (UK)?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by chuckdarwin at 3:23 AM on October 8, 2007 (32 comments)

[Newsfilter]: Fighting a recording industry lawsuit for file sharing saying "it wasn't me!" is probably a really, really bad idea. Jury awards recording companies $222,000 for willfully infringing the copyright on 24 songs in first-to-trial file sharing lawsuit.
posted to MetaFilter by Muddler at 4:01 PM on October 4, 2007 (205 comments)

I finally got a Wii! Any recommendations for killer "older" Wii games that end up selling for $20 now that they are off the top of the charts?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by The Deej at 10:16 PM on October 4, 2007 (49 comments)

It’s easy to talk about Adrian Frutiger in the past tense, since his most influential fonts – Univers, Egyptienne, and the eponymous Frutiger – are all at least thirty years old. But he is still alive, and in the summer of 2006, as he was presented with the Society for Typographic Aficionados’ annual Typography Award, type designer Mark Simonson gave a presentation on how Frutiger [pdf, 18 MB] affected, and continues to affect, him and all others who benefit from good typography.
posted to MetaFilter by tepidmonkey at 10:27 PM on October 3, 2007 (13 comments)

PVRFilter: Please save me from my VCR. I'm a DirecTV customer, wondering what my best option is. DirecTV PVR receiver? Tivo? Or something else?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by owen at 6:22 AM on October 3, 2007 (23 comments)

Now that Demonoid is dead, is there another great invite-only torrent site?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by four panels at 7:10 AM on September 27, 2007 (16 comments)

What single book is the best introduction to your field (or specialization within your field) for laypeople?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by limon at 5:40 PM on September 8, 2007 (237 comments)

Columbia Law grad is scammed, along with 78 other professionals, into working for free for weeks. Craigslist, some detective work, and the unusual motivation behind the scam all contribute to this interesting story of internets-related shenanigans.
posted to MetaFilter by crunchywelch at 10:09 AM on September 10, 2007 (63 comments)

How does one mingle effectively?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Effigy2000 at 9:32 PM on June 7, 2007 (25 comments)

Ever read a blog post, and think, "I wish I wrote that"? For all the Mefites with the many AskMe questions about "can I/should I/how should I learn to/ be a computer programmer", here's a pretty good explication of how good programing is done: Holding a Program in One's Head.
posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 2:55 AM on August 24, 2007 (43 comments)

Looking for advice on how to score invites to private BitTorrent sites- specificially Oink.cd.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hwickline at 7:31 AM on August 14, 2007 (19 comments)

Help me find a "safari grill" - the collapsible square metal box my parents used 50 years ago in Africa to grill food over burning newspaper.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by CunningLinguist at 8:58 AM on August 9, 2007 (14 comments)

I have finished reading Tim Ferriss' "The Four Hour Work Week" and I am curious, has anyone out there who has read the book actually implement the strategies mapped out in the book? I am in the process of creating a business that I can run from virtually anywhere on the planet and want to know if others have done it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by wisdom-seeker at 6:52 AM on August 2, 2007 (31 comments)

Hey all, long time listener, first time caller. So... um. Yea. Yesterday while at work I leaned back in my chair and stuck my foot up in the corner of the underside of my desk. I felt something funny and leaned down to check it out.... somebody installed a webcam pointed at my crotch. Yay.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hatchetjack at 8:20 AM on July 31, 2007 (60 comments)

What web technology/language should I learn to make simple online apps and just generally enhance my bare-bones knowledge of HTML?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Robot Johnny at 7:23 PM on December 10, 2006 (18 comments)

How long does it take to learn how to program for Mac OS X?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Ø at 12:44 AM on July 26, 2007 (14 comments)

I would like to learn to program for Mac OS X, and Cocoa seems to be the way to go. Considering most of the documentation and books I've picked up say things like, "since this book is about Cocoa, we assume you know Objective-C," and the Objective-C books assume I already know C... What's the best path for a beginner like myself to progress from knowing nothing, to actually programming using Cocoa on Mac OS X?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by mboszko at 4:05 PM on September 22, 2005 (23 comments)

What does a person mean when they say they want to 'trade puzzles'?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by thelongcon at 5:04 AM on July 26, 2007 (39 comments)

Has anyone here worked in fast food? How common is it for cooks to "mess" with food? Was it more common than you wanted to see, or did nobody bother with such shenanigans? I emphasize this question is about fast food, not traditional restaurants, and I'm wondering how much stock to put in those stories that sometimes make the rounds.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by rolypolyman at 9:54 PM on June 27, 2007 (62 comments)

McDonald's UK goes Web 2.0 with a site answering user's questions. Apparently, all of them.
posted to MetaFilter by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 8:31 AM on June 15, 2007 (136 comments)

Lets just say that the U.S. decided to stop burning hydrocarbons (oil, coal, natural gas) completely for environmental reasons. Lets say that everything went electric. Cars, Power Plants, factories, everything. How many nuclear plants (using current technology) would we need to produce? Would there be one in every moderate sized town? Also, how long would the raw materials last before another energy crisis was imminent (peak uranium, I guess)?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by DarkForest at 3:13 PM on June 6, 2007 (50 comments)

What is the most interesting* thing you can buy for $30-$50? *(By my definition: non-consumable, long-lasting, functional.)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by archagon at 9:26 AM on May 18, 2007 (63 comments)

My interaction with an armed robber prevented a possible tragedy at a crowded shop, but my husband has yet to acknowledge that.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Anonymous at 9:20 AM on May 8, 2007 (54 comments)

Has anyone used the Beaches all-inclusive resorts? I'm specifically looking for feedback from people with families as to the quality and whether it compared favorably or unfavorably to a self-planned/self-directed vacation. If you have experience with alternatives (vacation outfitters that specifically cater to people with sprogs along), please do speak up.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by scrump at 8:12 AM on March 23, 2007 (9 comments)

"You're really smart!" Psychologist Carol Dweck says that praising a child for being smart only teaches the kid to avoid any effort that might fail. "When we praise children for their intelligence, we tell them that this is the name of the game: Look smart, don't risk making mistakes." Malcolm Gladwell chimes in with his thoughts on the importance of being a smart kid, "What a gifted child is, in many ways, is a gifted learner. And what a gifted adult is, is a gifted doer. And those are quite separate domains of achievement."
posted to MetaFilter by revgeorge at 7:15 AM on February 13, 2007 (216 comments)

A hefty chunk of Boston was paralyzed today in reaction to the discovery of numerous devices consisting of circuit boards attached to girders. The ones that have been found have been disabled. The subway is crippled; numerous lines have been shut down and been replaced by emergency bus service as authorities root out the remaining instances of what could be bombs! Here is a photo one of these nefarious devices in action.
posted to MetaFilter by mkb at 12:41 PM on January 31, 2007 (334 comments)

Help me get set up with a dSLR.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Mid at 2:44 PM on August 26, 2005 (21 comments)

Daughter (age six) perhaps to begin piano lessons. Considering a weighted response electronic keyboard as a piano substitute. Seeking advice in brands, models, retailers, price, durability, and indeed, overall wisdom of this route over standard piano. All views even slightly extraneous welcome. Thanks in advance.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by IndigoJones at 6:28 AM on January 16, 2007 (25 comments)

My girlfriend wants somewhere to, in her words, "detox" in the USA. But it's not drug or booze related. She wants somewhere go, chill, clear her head, be quiet for a while and concentrate on starting her life again. And she wants to do it for free. Any ideas?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by rileyray3000 at 5:34 PM on December 31, 2006 (37 comments)

Do you think a super strong person could yank off his own head?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by RockyChrysler at 6:56 PM on October 30, 2006 (35 comments)