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May 10, 2007

How to hop a freight train

Popular_board_game How to hop a freight train (with photos)

6 foot Bjork. (From Matt’s recumbent bike flickr pool)

Ask Metafilter April 1st, 2007 fake page

What's the deal with your nickname? How did you get it? If your nickname is self-explanatory, then tell everyone when you first started using the internet, and what was the first thing that made you say "wow, this isn't just a place for freaks after all?" Go on, spill it

On May 1st, during the user revolt at Digg over the AACS censorship key, a new member joined Metafilter, and added an hilarious comment

The Isle of Meta. (With apologies to xkcd's online communities)

Best deletion explanations

(Board game above from Scott Andrews)

Breaking news: Cheney Returns To U.S. from his surprise trip to Iraq

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March 27, 2007

Canned butter

Canned_butter "Help me figure out the name of the brand of canned butter my mother loved as a child growing up in Taiwan"

"Some things gain value over time, like wine or rare books. But they lose value by being used -- and so many collections are dedicated to preserving objects in pristine condition. There are a few things that actually become more valuable, or even more useful, the more they are used. I can only think of two examples: the cast iron skillet (the nonstick seasoned surface gets better with each use) and the Yixing teapot. What other objects gain value through use and time?"

Snappy songs about telephones

"How do I develop a friendship with my favorite writer?"

88 Lines About 44 Mefites

MeFi User Sites

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March 27, 2007 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 11, 2007

Up all night chopping broccoli

Chopping_broccoli Matt Haughey look-a-like in Geek Monthly

“I am about to receive a huge crate of broccoli. Please send me your best vegetarian broccoli recipes! (Preferably those that use a lot of broccoli”…)

Special effects expert, Adam Savage, of MythBusters fame, who calls himself “MeFi's own Adam Savage” when participating in Mefi banter, is asking for "Old West" related ideas for the show

Benchmarks: Over 1500 questions by one of Metafilter’s most troubled users, Anonymous. Coming soon from anonymous

Over 3000 answers contributed by ikkyu2: The man is an answering machine

Two of the most favorited comments ever: When Steve Wozniak popped in to pipe in a discussion about him (253), and Stavros, the wonder chicken’s Music Video Dump (278)

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January 21, 2007

Metafilter Shmetafilter

Tom_cruise_scientology A Well-Linked Obituary for a guy you may never heard of

A New Site Design for MetaChat!

Posted on December 29, 2006: How many MeFites were waiting to be The First to post that Hussein is dead?

The need to know: Will squirrel spit kill me?

Nice job of sleuthing by Plutor uncovering the astroturfing of Preacher Tom

Reasons for Deleted Posts on Metafilter:

4585 deleted threads (with a reason)
349 contain 'previously'
192 contain 'double'
106 contain 'self' and 'link'
(Previously)

The Big MetaFilter User Survey (As an answer to a question that is often asked about the demographics of MeFi users)

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January 21, 2007 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 14, 2006

Metafilter: as crazy as trousers full of ferrets

Mefi_comp Metafilter Compilation Album is a new collection of musical recordings by members of Metafilter. You can listen to MP3 samples here

“Metafilter: BF Skinner would be proud”: The complete undefinitive, inaccurate, most comprehensive list of Metafilter taglines in the history of all that is, and all that will ever be

Dan Ferrante (machfive) (Slide the speed handle on top to 1 second) who put the collection together, explains the tech involved

“There have been 123 new questions and 818 answers posted since your last visit”. Anil Dash explains why AskMetafilter thrives while GoogleAnswers didn’t, (with a little extra about Best Answer feature)

A comment by user kfx: “There were two trains running, that night. One was marked hope, and the other peace; and beside them both was a conductor whose rusted face held judgment and truth -- I had a ticket for neither, and his smirk told me I was to wait forever in that tired, wet, dripping and sick train station for the rest of my days…” (Another Comment Fable)

Logan Ingalls (“plutor”)’s game Who Wrote This Metafilter Comment? Inspired by the thread “Which MetaFilter members can you identify by their writing style/content combination alone?”

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December 14, 2006 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 07, 2006

Down memory lane

Murder_confession How does a Protestant minister handle a confession of murder? A murder was confessed to me. I am a minister. What is my legal obligation: to report the crime to the authorities, or to maintain the confidentiality of the confession? This is not hypothetical

Is there a name for the gesture/vocalization that consists of flapping your finger up and down between your lips while making sound with your vocal cords? It comes out as something like "wawawawawawa" or "bababababa" and is often done by people as a way to entertain/communicate with babies

How to behave at a state dinner with the King of Sweden?.... (An old, delicious question by the same user: What to serve at an apple tasting party?)

Luna Iridia

Sometimes a MeFi member makes a comment or a statement, and nobody seems to pay attention

Metafilter history - walking down memory lane. Likewise, the first post for MetaTalk, March 3, 2000

How do I feel like I'm still 25 when I turn 50? Also, How do I go about feeling great?

Jessamyn West’ article in Library Journal about Metafilter

By the way, Happy St. Demetrius' day to all readers from Bosnia and Herzegovina!

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November 7, 2006 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

October 04, 2006

OMFG! Major nerd alert!

Steve_wozniak Steve Wozniak signed up for Metafilter to respond to a thread about him – Members are all aflutter

Metafilter bumper sticker seen on a Toyota SUV in Maryland, belonging to user No. 1915

Often times, questionable threads on Metafilter will turn into a animated gif pile-on for everybody’s delight, until they get shut off by the admin. The infamous Sketchzilla pile-on. They start nice, and end up crazy. Famous Quonsar’s elephant

Matt's Recumbent Bike. (From MetaChat’s Notable Threads)

Metachat collaborations Emcees by Taz

Tragic Magic Toys by artist Shan Michael Evans, who designed the Metachat Bunnyhead logo

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October 4, 2006 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 18, 2006

Tainted spinach! Or : The best of Ask Mefi

Intelligence_1 Has there ever been a thread on Metafilter in which every comment was posted in the form of a question? “Why do you ask?” And then it goes down from there

I need a good answer to the question “When Are you going to have children?

What are some good image metaphors for "intelligence"? Lightbulbs, brains, computers, networks.... etc...

Can anyone identify this implement?

Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar. Please help me name three church buildings and win a meal for two. Also, Name that Coffee Shop: Java, The Hut

Who is Kieron Jackson?

Some resources

Reasons for all deleted posts

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September 18, 2006 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 04, 2006

“Dude, have you ever been banned?”

Mathowies_community_weblog "This song is called mathowie's community weblog, and it's about mathowie, and the community weblog, but mathowie's community weblog is not the name of the community weblog, that's just the name of the song, and that's why I called the song mathowie's community weblog"

The complete text of You can get the best of the web at mathowie's community weblog

(Previously by cortex: Please stop your asshat comments)

What do Blind people find sexy?

Cleaning with used bath towels. Is it wrong to take a dirty bath towel from the dirty clothes hamper to clean the toilet bowel rim? I do put it back in the hamper

Metafilter on For Better or For Worse

KevinSkomsvold's signed MetaFilter Jersey

GroupThink – The political tendencies of many members are left / liberal (A 2003 thread)

Un-related: 'He was standing there naked and had breasts'

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September 4, 2006 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 08, 2006

The comment as short story

Sleep_comfortably "Please help me find a way to sleep comfortably in the same bed as my fiancée. She, at only five feet tall and under 100 pounds, is wreaking havoc on my life. I'm a nearly 6 foot tall, 200 lb man who has been reduced to less than five hours of sleep every night by cuddling..."

Skill with people: "I am a 49 year old man, and I have no close friends. Over the course of my life I’ve had a few friends at a time, but no close ones. The reasons are mysterious to me: I make a conscientious effort to be friendly and interested in others and to be trustworthy. Nonetheless, I am almost always on the the social periphery..."

BlogStop. Where the last word of an entry must be used as an acronym for the next entry. Simple. (By Jim Coudal)

“George Musser wiped the tears from his eyes as he stood before his New God…” One of the many comments in the form of short stories and fables

(What amazes me is the speed by which questions are often answered on AskMefi, for example here, 23 minutes. But there are way too many questions there nowadays, more than 100 per day on an average)

Notes from a lecture that Matt Haughey gave about blogging professionally. Matt’s view from the podium

Best Posts for August 2006. The Contest

Deleted Thread, a collection point for deleted threads from the front page of Metafilter

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July 23, 2006

Ice cream & potatoes

Potato_head What's funny about potatoes? I've been given the opportunity to draw a weekly strip for a magazine with a very limited audience: potato farmers…

What do tall people drive?

Is it possible to get a gallon or two of ice cream delivered on a specific day to an address in Los Angeles?

The Metafilter Skateboard

MetaFilter Music is a new sub-site for members to upload their own songs for others to enjoy and share

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June 28, 2006

Eleven sombreros

Eleven_sombreros I have eleven sombreros. Besides throwing a sombrero party, what are some useful, interesting or bizarre things to do with said sombreros?

Here is another example of why I’m fascinated by AskMeFi: It only took 13 minutes for someone to answer this question correctly…

How do Ouija boards work?

A photo of Mass wedding from an interesting discussion: Are we getting lonelier?

What is the most important thing your father ever taught you, either explicitly or through example?

I would like to stop faking orgasms. “Help me survive the break-up of a 5 year relationship.” How do I become a Chinese citizen again? “Did I inadvertently commit mail fraud?” A total of 1,000 Anonymous AskMeFi questions

“I'm thinking of killing my fat friend by running her over with an SUV full of meat while listening to Creed. When's the best time of day, do you think?” - If you wanted to post an Ask Metafilter question that would generate a lot of controversy, a flamewar, or just incredulity, what would you post?

My Dinner With Jack Abramoff, by Mefi member Mark Hemingway

Sombrero cookies above from “Diane's Cakes and More”. More of The Best of Metafilter Here /// Digg this post /// Add it to your del.icio.us

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June 14, 2006

A Coin Token Mystery Solved

One_child "I found a strange metal token and I'm wondering what it might be. While sorting through my laundry quarters earlier this week, I found a strange metal token mixed in with my quarters. It is almost the exact same size and weight as a quarter but it has smooth edges. On each side it says "NEW Tiger"... There is no image on the token. Just the text. Anyone have any clue what this is?..." Scroll down for surprising answer

A Nonsense Anthology:
“One fine day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight,
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other…”

Refi: Metafilter in Review is a blog about a blog—a look back at what has been said, and how, by whom, in the last seven-odd years of Metafilter. By Josh Millard. Here is his analysis of the first active thread, Number 19, the infamous "cat scan" thread

Lots of Q&A on AskMeFi in less than 3 years. Here is question Number 40,000 from the other day (and question number 30,000 from January). Here are some questions tagged with “Wedding”. My last question about China's One-Child policy. (Click on relevant photo above to enlarge)

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May 27, 2006

"Why did the Mefite cross the road?
Because someone on Boing Boing did earlier that day"

New_head


Self-linking is severely frowned upon by members of the MetaFilter community, and is an immediate cause of a pile-on. (Like the story of Amir Massoud Tofangsazan’s broken laptop he sold on eBay)

MetaFilter down;
Sad tidings of the morning.
What shall I read now?
Meta Haiku

How many MetaFilter Users does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Some classic & semi-classic AskMeFi threads: Porn in the woods. Did you, as a kid, find porn in the woods? I did, and I have noticed this is a worldwide phenomena. Why the porn in the woods? Where does the porn in the woods come from?

How can I measure the weight of my head without cutting it off? It's really important

What's it like to give birth?

If it feels good, do it. How long do people date before doing the deed these days?

Behind the scenes of The Star Wars MacBook clip

The MetaFilter Board Game

Metafilter as a paralell between blogs and memories

More of The Best of Metafilter Here

May 27, 2006 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 15, 2006

Ask Metafilter

Pepsi_blue_1

Need pick-up lines for human powered Laundromat. ... a friend of mine is starting a laundromat powered by stationary bicycles ... probably combined with coffeeshop, newstand, etc. It doesn't take much imagination to see how this combines many of the standard pick-up venues for urban 20-30-sumptin's. Rather than deny this, he's soliciting as many cheesy or not-so-cheesy pick-up lines that would play on the combination of suds and bikes ("Wanna go for a spin?"). Lame puns on tired cliches (eg. "looking for your Rinse Charming?") are welcome

Music for bondage

You are suspended in a large, hollow sphere. The inside of the sphere is perfectly mirrored. There is nothing else in the sphere, and all you carry is a flashlight. You turn the flashlight on. What do you see?

Mysteries of the Horizon with the Looney Tunes guys. (Note: As often happens there, the answer materializes 12 minutes later!)

Help me find the right sword to wear to my dad's wedding. Two things you should know about me:
1) I wear a kilt almost every day (for aesthetic reaons--I'm not especially Scottish)
2) My dad is getting married in a month, and I'm the best man

Arm wrestling and other obscure, pointless sports that actually has sponsors

Humming noises make me have to pee. Does this happen to anyone else?

I'm trying to sell my french horn. 'Somebody' compiled a list of random questions asked on January 10, 2006 to create a tiny web poem

Any other online resources like Ask.Metafilter, where one can post questions and expect answers of quality?

The Metafilter Compilation Album is a collection of musical recordings by members of Metafilter. The genre? A mix of
rock, pop, electronic, folk, blues, etc.

By the way, How did you discover MetaFilter?

More of The Best of Metafilter Here

May 15, 2006 in Best of Metafilter | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack