Google Maps vs OpenStreetMap vs others: the article and the tool (via)
posted to MetaFilter by DU at 5:54 AM on April 9, 2012 (63 comments)

Olivier DE SAGAZAN usually puts paint and clay on himself, and sometimes hardly seems human. Often monstrous, sometimes disturbing, you may find it beautiful.
posted to MetaFilter by idiopath at 8:06 PM on April 7, 2012 (26 comments)

Has anyone rebooted their Facebook account? Do high school and college students delete, then restart, their Facebook accounts when they start looking for jobs?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by aoleary at 12:59 PM on March 28, 2012 (17 comments)

WebGL, the 3D technology that's associated with HTML5, continues to make giant strides in diverse areas:

Exploration of human anatomy: Zygote Body, released yesterday, and BioDigital Human, the successors to Google Body (previously)

World Visualisation: WebGL Earth, Nokia's 3D Map of the entire earth (previously). WorldWeather and The WebGL Globe, a Google project that displays all kinds of data. Also: Where Does My Tweet Go?

Games: browser ports of Team Fortess 2, Quake 3 and Rage (a developer’s diary). SkidRacer, an entire game in WebGL. Mini Mass Effect (not yet playable, sadly).

Musicals: Lights.

Tools: 3Notes.js, a visual scene editor. Developer documentation. More resources.

posted to MetaFilter by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 12:41 PM on March 28, 2012 (27 comments)

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
posted to MetaFilter by chunking express at 12:38 PM on March 22, 2012 (83 comments)

The Jimmy McNulty Gambit: Joseph Kony, Foxconn, and "The Wire"
posted to MetaFilter by OverlappingElvis at 3:26 PM on March 20, 2012 (46 comments)

Take Wikipedia: 87% of its contributors are male; a bigger discrepancy than Pinterest by any count. However, when discussing Wikipedia, it certainly is not the norm to go on and on about how male the site is. Instead, it is far more common for the site to be praised for its “neutral point of view.” Pinterest as a tool for analyzing difference vs. dominance feminism. Via The Beheld.
posted to MetaFilter by latkes at 8:48 PM on March 9, 2012 (125 comments)

Has anyone ever tried to sit in an empty First Class seat on a flight when their actual seat is in economy?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by zain at 10:59 AM on February 18, 2012 (18 comments)

The United States of 2012 : Esquire Magazine pulls together five maps that they believe reflect the zeitgeist of the current era. Of special interest is the "Where's Waldo"-like fourth map, which illustrates how minorities and the poor are either included in or excluded from American communities. (2805 x 1813 px version) Also, the aforementioned Eric Fischer's Flickr photostream is excellent collection of his maps.
posted to MetaFilter by desjardins at 7:36 AM on February 10, 2012 (12 comments)

Google is quietly launching a new program called Screenwise aimed at collected more data from users than is possible from monitoring activity across Google-owned sites. The program comes in two flavors: a browser-based extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them, and a Cisco-made, Knowledge Networks-managed "black box" installed on your home network to measure Internet use. The first program pays users up to $25 in Amazon gift cards, the second pays $100 for signing up, and an additional $20 every month the device is installed up to a maximum of one year. To be eligible for the programs users must have a Google account, install and use Chrome, and be 13 or older. Ars Technica has excerpts from leaked sign up process documents:

According to legal agreements displayed during signup, Google will share the aggregated data with third parties, including "academic institutions, advertisers, publishers, and programming networks." The agreement notes that the data collected will be personally identifiable, with some exceptions: https addresses and private browsing windows of people using the router will not be tracked. The browser extension, however, will track private or incognito browsing, though the data will not be personally identifiable. For all other collected data, Google will "attempt" to remove that identifiable info before sharing it—no guarantees, though.

posted to MetaFilter by 2bucksplus at 6:05 PM on February 8, 2012 (84 comments)

As a tutor, how do I communicate with underprivileged, urban high school students?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by efsrous at 8:39 PM on January 15, 2012 (15 comments)

When I speak in front of an audiance I feel breathless and I take long pauses to catch my breath; my throat gets dry. While know it is due to mental anxity, I don't know how to fix it. I feel as if nothing is coming out of my throat, no matter how much I have practiced the speech before. I have tried chewing lozenges and breathing before the start of every sentence or clause. Thanks.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by musicgold at 8:01 PM on January 11, 2012 (18 comments)

What is the philosophy of measurement?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by StoneSpace at 2:38 PM on November 23, 2011 (26 comments)

Trevor Paglen (aka Agent Plorver) has work featured in Belgium's z33 House for Contemporary Art's current exhibit, Architecture of Fear. Paglen's work includes tracking and photographing 189 classified American satellites in orbit around Earth as well as locating and photographing US-run 'black sites' in Afghanistan. We Make Money Not Art (previously w/r/t Architecture of Fear) sits down with Paglen over Skype for an interview.
posted to MetaFilter by shakespeherian at 9:36 AM on November 21, 2011 (4 comments)

Dog chasing mountain bike. That is all.
posted to MetaFilter by allkindsoftime at 10:23 PM on November 20, 2011 (56 comments)

For weeks, Occupy Oakland had been developing into a miniature city in Frank Ogawa Plaza—renamed Oscar Grant (previously) Plaza by the occupiers—in front of City Hall:

Still, seven days into the protest and there is no longer any room for tents on the plaza’s large lawn. Tents are squeezed together so tightly that in many areas there is no room to move in between them, for me in my wheelchair or for someone who walks. There is more access to the community tents. There is a free school, an art station, a Sukkot tent, a medical tent, a children’s area, a people of color tent, and a quite remarkable food station, where huge batches of soups and beans are made, and tea, coffee, and healthy snacks seem to be abundant. The various projects the camp is working on include installing solar panels, and reclaiming parts of the park as a community garden.
—Sunaura Taylor writing in the excellent Occupy! An OWS-Inspired Gazette from n+1 magazine (PDF, quote from page 21)

Early yesterday morning the occupation was forcibly evicted by Oakland police. Last night, occupiers marched to reclaim the plaza and were again attacked by police using tear gas, flash grenades, bean bag rounds, and possibly rubber bullets.
posted to MetaFilter by enn at 7:09 AM on October 26, 2011 (332 comments)

How does it feel to fly over planet Earth from the perspective of the ISS? A timelapse movie by James Drake, compiled from pictures drawn from the incredible Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. Place the video in HD and fullscreen for the full effect. via
posted to MetaFilter by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 11:38 PM on September 17, 2011 (27 comments)

How do countries compensate each other for international mail?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cdenman at 1:56 PM on July 22, 2011 (6 comments)

The father of packet switching - Mr. Baran’s invention was so far ahead of its time that in the mid-1960s, when he approached AT&T with the idea to build his proposed network, the company insisted it would not work and refused.
posted to MetaFilter by BigHeartedGuy at 10:24 AM on March 28, 2011 (24 comments)

Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Music Dance Culture is the first peer-reviewed scholarly journal for promulgating interdisciplinary research concerning all aspects of electronic dance music culture.
posted to MetaFilter by Unicorn on the cob at 10:11 PM on March 23, 2011 (16 comments)

Oakland's Turf Feinz (previously) dance in memorial for Oscar Grant (previously). While the riots in Oakland received more media coverage (previously, previously), there's been several memorial murals painted across Oakland and numerous songs channeling local anger, outrage, observations, lamentations, reflections, and frustration. The news gave the nation broken windows and burning cars, while the town continues peaceful protest, 2 years later.
posted to MetaFilter by yeloson at 2:17 PM on January 1, 2011 (11 comments)

What's a good way to organize my PhD application process?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lunasol at 5:26 PM on June 21, 2010 (15 comments)

Scraper bikes (previously) are featured in a new 7 min 32 s documentary.
posted to MetaFilter by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 4:05 PM on May 22, 2010 (12 comments)

Inspired by Ask MeFi's most popular thread ever, what are the best essays you can recommend?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Lifeson at 9:00 AM on December 17, 2009 (37 comments)

How to make a newspaper out of blog entries. Ben Terrett and Russell Davies explain how they turned their friends’ (and strangers’) blog posts, Twits, and Flickr photos into the thousand-copy broadsheet Things Our Friends Have Written on the Internet 2008.
posted to MetaFilter by joeclark at 10:03 AM on January 14, 2009 (23 comments)

Missed Connections by state A map showing missed connections for Craigslist, by state and gender breakdown, for approximately the last two weeks by Very Small Array.
posted to MetaFilter by ugf at 12:29 PM on January 9, 2009 (57 comments)

While Adult Swim is generally regarded as the pioneer of irreverent short-form animation -- especially for 'toons that reimagine past hits -- it wasn't always the king. In fact, the late-night programming block arguably found its birth in a series of short toons and interstitials that ran in the heyday of its daytime alter ego, the venerable Cartoon Network. The brainchild of C.N. Creative Director Michael Ouweleen and Hanna-Barbera chief Fred Seibert, these cartoons reinterpreted the network's properties through stock footage, indie music, and original animation in a wide variety of styles, as well as introducing prototypes of characters that would become some of the most famous in the history of American animation. (warning: monster post inside)
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:50 AM on December 30, 2008 (80 comments)

"Commonwealth of Diverse Cultures: Poland's Heritage is an international educational exhibition which presents the history of tolerance and cohabitation of various ethnic groups in the territory of Polish-Lithuanian Commowealth and is addressed primarily to foreigners all around the world". This is achieved via a very beautiful flash site.
posted to MetaFilter by peacay at 9:12 PM on March 25, 2008 (11 comments)

Help me composite some regex. (That phrasing makes this question sound way less nerdy than it is)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ChasFile at 2:12 AM on December 28, 2007 (13 comments)

Help me compile the ultimate stoner playlist.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by koenie at 6:43 PM on November 25, 2007 (71 comments)

I need help identifying a television show from the '80s about a boy and his hot ghost.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Lownotes at 8:23 AM on October 21, 2007 (10 comments)

Few books have given me as much sheer joy as Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style". Tufte's "Visual Explanations" is also up there in terms of content and presentation. What other exceedingly well researched, written and designed non-fiction books would you recommend for somebody interested in Design, Architecture, Programming, Information Visualization, Maps, Math, Music and Science?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by signal at 11:46 AM on June 27, 2007 (34 comments)

The Library Of Unified Information Sources (LOUIS) is a beta-release project of the previously mentioned Sunlight Foundation, the goal of which is "to create a comprehensive, completely indexed and cross-referenced depository of federal documents from the executive and legislative branches of government." LOUIS currently contains searchable full text documents of Congressional Reports, the Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings, Presidential Documents, the Federal Register, GAO Reports and Bills & Resolutions, going back to 2001. Other interesting Sunlight Foundation projects include Visualizing Earmarks, 3 (non-satirical) Modest Proposals, The Congressional Family Business Project, and Congresspedia.
posted to MetaFilter by cog_nate at 12:01 PM on June 20, 2007 (2 comments)

In the Fall of 1991, MTV's 120 Minutes released two compilations (Amazon: one, two) of songs from the show. (Youtube: one, two)
posted to MetaFilter by nervousfritz at 6:05 PM on June 18, 2007 (45 comments)

Feeling nostalgic for those old school Soviet shindigs? Westerners are welcome to North Korea's Arirang Mass Games. Tickets are on sale now. Will tourist dollars/euros be the undoing of North Korea?
posted to MetaFilter by oneirodynia at 9:56 AM on April 12, 2007 (21 comments)

Aardman Studios' Purple and Brown. [YouTube]
posted to MetaFilter by oneirodynia at 1:37 PM on March 5, 2007 (16 comments)

What are some great super-simple flash games -- especially car games, but anything else fun works -- for a 5-year-old to play?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Malad at 7:44 PM on November 23, 2006 (11 comments)

I am interested in reading books that contain philosophical / intellectual critiques of science or scientism. I'm particularly interested in people whose critiques are based on exploring or defining the limits of science. I'm not at all interested in partisan / political critiques of science (i.e. George Bush - please skip this question). Can anyone recommend any books?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by extrabox at 8:47 PM on July 27, 2006 (35 comments)

I have a hard time preparing and eating three healthy meals a day. I 'm a great cook and I've taken college-level nutrition courses, but there's a big difference between knowing how to make one particular dish and being able to shop for, prepare and eat three meals a day, five or six days a week. I've tried many times to have a healthier diet. It's not that I crave fast-food or junk - I prefer foods that are good for me. But I just can't get to a point where I consistently eat good food on any sort of schedule. [mi]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by freshwater_pr0n at 9:00 PM on July 9, 2006 (27 comments)

Protein deformation and signal transduction in exponential cascades.
posted to MeFi Music by Blazecock Pileon at 1:09 PM on July 10, 2006 (1 comment)

it's a song about dirt and also bags
posted to MeFi Music by frenetic at 8:13 PM on June 29, 2006 (46 comments)