Sideblog Archive
February 28, 2023
Dexter Gordon was born 100 years ago today: oulipian posts in appreciation of the 6′6″ jazz saxophonist, band leader, and Academy Award winner popularly known as "Long Tall Dexter" and the "Sophisticated Giant".
February 27, 2023
US healthcare: terminology, appealing denial, and Medicaid eligibility — brainwane has assembled a great current resource on Medicaid ... including info on a pending / upcoming requirement for paperwork you may want to prepare for if you are among the affected.
February 26, 2023
Children of the Ice Age: "For more than 200 years, children have been neglected by archaeologists. It was part of a disciplinary bias towards adult men in archaeological interpretations. This began to change in the 1970s and ’80s with the rise of feminist archaeology and the archaeology of gender..." cgc373 posted Aeon Magazine's article "Children of the Ice Age" by April Nowell.
February 24, 2023
"It's one or three or ten centuries ago. Somebody's ancestors gather around a fire and pretty soon, spontaneous music breaks out, a few people start dancing, everybody winds up happy and breathless. But what I need to know is, if the songs aren't from the US, Canada, the UK or Ireland, or from Western Europe, what does the music sound like? I'm making a YouTube Music playlist to write a fun cozy fantasy novel to and I need help finding instrumental music from different traditions." Wintersweet asks about antique party tunes outside the Anglosphere / Western Europe.
February 22, 2023
"We probably don't go around thinking of Agatha Christie as leaving a 'residue of horror' except that is one of its pleasures, isn't it? These people live in a world even more dangerous than our own--piles of strychnine, whole truckloads of it, just lying about, waiting for you to slight the wrong person and wind up dead." Mittens has a great comment about crime fiction, crime writing, and crime writers in the Agatha Christie thread.
February 20, 2023
"Thank you, addictive zoom tree" — blue_beetle posted the Zoomable Tree of Life: All known species in one zoomable fractal.
February 19, 2023
Members are discussing BookRiot.com's list of 20 genre-defying sci-fi books that broke the mold.
February 18, 2023
"I want to make a list of films that evoke a strong sense of time (and possibly place). Through dialogue, sets, etc. they transport you to the era in which they're set." jdroth asks, What movies act as time capsules?
February 17, 2023
In Metatalk, the podcast has its 16th anniversary (and all episodes now have transcripts!), and Fizz posts an open gaming thread.
February 16, 2023
🎉 Woo! New Mod! "Hello Everyone! Please join me welcoming our newly-hired Moderator: Brandon Blatcher!"
February 14, 2023
❤️ Please help me satiate my love for crows: "I am looking for all sorts of information pertaining to those lovable but oft-maligned creatures we call crows. Do you have a fascination for crows? Maybe you can help."
February 13, 2023
Unclear... audience? logic? labels? spamandkimchi posted
How to Play "Diagram Critique Bingo" by Abby Covert.
February 12, 2023
In honor of Superb Owl Sunday, this gem from the past: Wordshore vs The Owl.
Metafilter podcast 191: Thoroughly insinuated into the normalcy of our life is up!
February 11, 2023
Please Tell Me about Pre-internet Personals Ads: "I've always been fascinated by the personal ads of the pre-internet times and I bet there are people here on Metafilter who could tell me more about what the practical experience of using them was actually like..."
February 9, 2023
Burning question of the day: In Ask Metafilter, "If Johnny Cash's character in Folsom Prison Blues shot a man in Reno, which is in Nevada, why was he serving time in Folsom Prison, which is in California?"
February 8, 2023
"The real collection of patterns is the physical collection. Envelopes are individually sleeved and kept safe in 3-ring Binders. This web page, the digital images of the patterns, are put in place so other people can enjoy these wonderful patterns": cardioid has posted abstractcollage.com's amazing collection of over 500 security envelope patterns — designs printed on the inside of envelopes to obscure the contents of snail mail.
February 7, 2023
11th Century Boy: gingerbeer points out Richard Thompson's "1000 Years of Popular Music" in this week's free thread. "Playboy asked a select group of musicians to choose their ten favorite songs of the past millennium. Richard Thompson, believing what Playboy REALLY wanted were only songs from the last 20 years, took them literally. He gave Playboy EXACTLY what they asked for. He chose the best songs of the last 1000 years. Thompson never heard from them again."
February 5, 2023
Smooth Criminal? Not A Thing is looking for skilful criminals criming skilfully: "Donald Westlake/Parker fans, what have you found that scratches a similar itch? I'm looking for something where a criminal is at the center of the story: no cops, wannabe cops or vigilantes. Like a police procedural, but for the other side."
There's a growing band of people digging through library stacks and second-hand bookshops in search of lost classics. I'm one of them. Wobbuffet posted Lucy Scholes' Meet the archive moles about editors surfacing worthy forgotten or overlooked books for reprint, with links to houses publishing recovered works.
February 3, 2023
Google Street View, curated: Having fun with Neal Agarwal's "Wonders of Street View."
February 1, 2023
Etrigan has posted The Side Eye: The Stink A, linking to The Spinoff's really well-done and fascinating infographic on "the glitchy macron" that highlights how font decisions and usage can have an outsized impact on non-Anglo populations.
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