With control of the US Senate and hanging in the balance, two runoff Senatorial elections in the US state of Georgia with major national consequences draw to a close this evening. With 97% of the vote tallies, Decision Desk HQ (Twitter) has called one of the races for Democrat Raphael Warnock. Warnock, the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached a gospel of social justice, will be the first Black Senator elected by Georgia.
posted to MetaFilter by darkstar at 9:25 PM on January 5, 2021 (516 comments)

Introducing Joe Biden, The 46th President of the United States MSNBC Says Biden is President Elect Saturday morning
NYTimes calls it for Biden
posted to MetaFilter by MiltonRandKalman at 8:40 AM on November 7, 2020 (1366 comments)

Hey. It's cortex. We don't usually do this sort of thing, but: this US election is a couple weeks away and is really important for the future of the US and for the world. We're four years into creeping authoritarianism and outright regressive bigotry from the President and the GOP. If you're in the US, it's really important that you vote Biden/Harris and get Trump the hell out of office. Vote early if you can. There's state-by-state voting information available from vote411 and Ballotpedia.
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 2:23 PM on October 20, 2020 (302 comments)

15 Dead in Canadian Bus Crash Involving Humboldt Broncos Junior Hockey Team [CBC.ca] “The death toll from the bus crash involving a Saskatchewan junior hockey team bus has risen to 15, a day after the tragedy impacting players, personnel and others with the Humboldt Broncos. The RCMP said the 15th person died Saturday after the crash involving the bus, which was carrying 29 people including the driver, and a semi-trailer. Another 14 people were injured — some critically — in the collision about 30 kilometres north of Tisdale, Sask. ”
posted to MetaFilter by Fizz at 9:20 PM on April 9, 2018 (50 comments)

Promise me, promise me,
They bury me some place I don't want to be,
You'll dig me up and transport me, unceremoniously,
Away from the swollen city-breeze, garbage bag trees,
Whispers of disease and the acts of enormity
And lower me slowly, sadly and properly
Get Ry Cooder to sing my eulogy

Gord Downie, lead singer of the Tragically Hip, has died.
posted to MetaFilter by GuyZero at 7:10 AM on October 18, 2017 (157 comments)

In 1973, at the age of six, Phyllis Webstad was separated from her family and sent to what was called "Indian residential school." There, the new orange shirt her grandmother had saved up to buy her was stripped off her body and never returned. Today is Orange Shirt Day in Canada, when First Nations, Inuit and Metis people and their allies put on orange shirts to honour residential school survivors and to remember those who did not survive. You can read Phyllis' complete story here and learn why, for her, the colour orange is an important symbol for her experience in residential school: "The color orange has always reminded me of that [first day] and how my feelings didn’t matter, how no one cared and how I felt like I was worth nothing. All of us little children were crying and no one cared."
posted to MetaFilter by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:48 PM on September 29, 2017 (10 comments)

The Tragically Hip are the most Canadian rock band. They have a new album coming out next month. They're going on tour. And today they announced lead singer Gord Downie has terminal brain cancer.
posted to MetaFilter by GhostintheMachine at 3:56 AM on May 24, 2016 (90 comments)

Streaming service Rdio is filing for bankruptcy, and Pandora is set to buy its assets for $75 million. Never heard of Rdio? The service was a lesser-known competitor to the likes of Spotify and Apple Music, and did a lot of things right in a low-key way. Its userbase is savvy and fiercely loyal. The service is set to wind down over the next few weeks. The Atlantic: A Eulogy For Rdio. David Greenwald: What Spotify and the rest could learn from Rdio. The Verge: Streaming music has an economics problem.
posted to MetaFilter by naju at 12:26 PM on November 17, 2015 (109 comments)

"We’re now in the home stretch of Canada’s federal election campaign — at seventy-eight days, the longest in modern Canadian history and the most important since 1988, when free trade with the United States was the defining issue. For the first time in Canadian history, it is a close three-way race between the ruling Conservatives, the centrist Liberals, and the social-democratic New Democratic Party (NDP)."
posted to MetaFilter by flex at 11:36 AM on October 18, 2015 (1416 comments)

Scientist Jennifer Raff has put together an extremely comprehensive look, with loads of examples and citations, at all the reasons that the anti-vaccination movement is wrong. [previously]
posted to MetaFilter by quin at 1:44 PM on June 1, 2014 (129 comments)

My kids (a boy and a girl) are now five years old, and my wife or I read to them every night before bed. I'd like to start reading larger books to them which we can stretch out throughout a week or more, by reading them a chapter a night. Please help me put together a great reading list of age-appropriate books that will capture their imaginations and inspire happy dreams.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by zarq at 2:06 PM on April 2, 2013 (61 comments)

I would like to start a Christmas tradition with my little niece and nephew, but I'm coming up short on ideas. Hope me?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sabotagerabbit at 11:03 AM on November 20, 2012 (21 comments)

Does your profession or hobby have a pithy saying that encapsulates the work or its ethics? For example, "Make no little plans" (Daniel Burnham) resonates with city planners. Perhaps "First do no harm" (or Primum non nocere) might be an example related to physicians and other health care workers... or is it just outsiders who think so? What about "Serve and protect" for law enforcement? The quotes can be funny, ironic or sincere... it doesn't matter so long as they are short (think something that could be engraved on a charm) and people in the profession recognize the phrase as somehow emblematic of their work. Thanks in advance!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by carmicha at 9:23 AM on December 29, 2011 (134 comments)

I am looking for Christmas music that is mostly melancholy, and often about loss or abandonment. Think Joni Mitchell's the River or Tom Waite's Christmas Card from A Hooker in Minneapolis. Any suggestions?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by PinkMoose at 9:23 AM on November 18, 2010 (65 comments)

What is a good age for a child to watch Star Wars for the first time?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Artw at 8:04 AM on January 7, 2011 (47 comments)

R.E.M. call it a day. "... as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band."
posted to MetaFilter by danwalker at 10:57 AM on September 21, 2011 (328 comments)

Where did the online message board (like phpbb) convention of having a "totally off topic" section with subforums for stuff "Politics and Current Event" and "Family" come from?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lalalana at 5:15 PM on September 10, 2011 (9 comments)

Plane crashes in to the word trade center. Apologies for not linking to anything besides the main CNN page but there are no full stories on this yet. The plane crashed into the building about six minutes ago, from what the TV is saying. We are about sixty blocks north and we can see the smoke over the skyline.
posted to MetaFilter by karen at 5:58 AM on September 11, 2001 (491 comments)

Daddy-daughter advice, or what can you tell me that you've learned?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by fijiwriter at 7:54 AM on October 19, 2006 (73 comments)

I'm looking for snippets of song lyrics that reference authors, books, or reading, and I'm looking for ones that can (more or less) stand on their own outside the context of the song.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by redsparkler at 12:05 PM on November 17, 2010 (60 comments)

Can you please recommend some children's book titles featuring father/child interaction instead of mother/child interaction?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sciurus at 3:00 PM on January 18, 2011 (45 comments)

Give me some suggestions for good books about professional wrestling.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by AlexanderPetros at 7:01 AM on December 26, 2010 (10 comments)

'No Belgian church escaped sex abuse', finds investigation. It reveals that abuse was so extensive that it was going on in almost every diocese and at every Church-run boarding school: "We can say that no congregation escapes sexual abuse of minors by one or several of its members," the commission concluded." 'Hundreds of sex abuse victims have come forward in Belgium with harrowing accounts of molestation by Catholic clergy that reportedly led to at least 13 suicides and affected children as young as two, an independent Belgian commission said Friday.' 'Friday's report lists 507 witnesses who came forward with stories of molestation at the hands of clergy over the past decades. It says those abused included children who were two, four, five and six years old.'
posted to MetaFilter by VikingSword at 9:33 AM on September 10, 2010 (133 comments)

What have you learned about managing a staff that took you years to realize and wish you had known on day 1?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by otters walk among us at 11:22 AM on August 12, 2010 (40 comments)

Mefite Jaltcoh sent me a MeMail the other day reminding me of this old comment in a thread about palindromes, where I say, “Gotta say, I’m a big fan of palindromes. My entire career, marriage and life might all be very different if not for palindromes. I’ll have to tell you about it sometime, say January 2, 2010.” In the MeMail, he asks, “It's now past January 2, 2010. What's the story?” Forgot about that old post. With that big of a buildup, I wish it were a better story, but here goes:
posted to MetaTalk by etc. at 12:46 PM on June 16, 2010 (137 comments)

The Human Animal - a brilliant BBC mini-series documentary by zoologist Desmond Morris that takes an extended look at the curious creatures known as Homo sapiens. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 on Google videos. Beautiful and fascinating.
posted to MetaFilter by grillcover at 7:44 PM on September 19, 2009 (38 comments)

I need arts and crafts ideas to do at home with young children.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sammyabdu at 10:32 PM on May 9, 2010 (18 comments)

A canonical list of Monopoly house rules.
posted to MetaFilter by Saucy Intruder at 2:50 PM on January 7, 2006 (36 comments)

"The first ten minutes of Up, with superior white goods": John Lewis' new ad, intended to show the whole life of a customer, is far more emotional than anything that's trying to sell you stuff ought to be. (MLYT)
posted to MetaFilter by mippy at 4:08 PM on April 27, 2010 (163 comments)

I am taking a brain-painful networking class (hint: it's all about the routers, baby!) and the studying is intense. It's hard, but I'm holding my own. I see questions here on AskMe that bring really cool answers from lots of folks, with a lot of repeat answerers, which leads me to ask, How Did You Learn What You Know About Computers/the Internet? Was it in school? Did you apprentice with someone who had m4d sk1lz? Did you teach yourself? Other?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Lynsey at 10:47 AM on October 11, 2004 (18 comments)

What are some good activity books and websites for fathers and sons?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by imabanana at 4:38 PM on March 11, 2010 (7 comments)

Sportsfilter: To what extent do various events go out of their way to support or eliminate home field advantage?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by effugas at 5:00 PM on February 14, 2010 (27 comments)

'It's optional if you want to remain anonymous, but what's the point anymore?' A new generation doesn't mind sharing every detail of their lives online. So familiar online companies increasingly don't bother letting you control privacy options from the start, and make it difficult to detach. Are the privacy-concerned folks mostly older individuals who don't see the benefits of connectedness? Or are the people who share just about everything lined up with a pro-corporate culture pushed by marketers?
posted to MetaFilter by cashman at 12:05 PM on February 16, 2010 (126 comments)

Popular: Every UK #1 single since 1952, reviewed in chronological order by Tom Ewing. He's up to 1987.
posted to MetaFilter by staggernation at 2:10 PM on February 10, 2010 (20 comments)

Tunes for toddlers: Help me find music that provides 'instant gratification' for my 2 year old
posted to Ask MetaFilter by dimon at 5:54 AM on November 27, 2009 (31 comments)

The Social History of the MP3.
posted to MetaFilter by chunking express at 8:03 AM on August 24, 2009 (75 comments)

The Brooklyn Public Library reshelves a children's book—behind locked steel doors
posted to MetaFilter by Toekneesan at 10:04 AM on August 20, 2009 (75 comments)

In programming, as in life, you find those who's turn a mundane task and turns it into art. In the Ruby world one of those people goes by the psuedonym of why the lucky stiff or simply _why. _why's Poignant Guide To Ruby [PDF - large, and still worth a look] is an almost transcendent look at what a programming book can be, full of cartoon foxes and wizards and even a soundtrack. _why didn't really care about making a mint off of his work instead deciding he wanted to get kids excited about programming, in a way that they could understand, teaching them by "fated appointment only" [Vid Link, 30 mins and fun]. He created a whole framework designed to make it easy for kids to get into programming called Hackety Hack. Today for some reason _why's online presence, sites and code have disappeared from the inter tubes and nobody knows _why. Though some believe its because someone pierced the veil and found his real name but many wonder if he didn't get hacked
posted to MetaFilter by bitdamaged at 4:30 PM on August 19, 2009 (83 comments)

Slow Loris looking sad. Slow loris looking happy.
posted to MetaFilter by quin at 8:11 AM on August 17, 2009 (67 comments)

Tired of lame meals and fast food. Help me stock the larder...
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ecorrocio at 8:12 PM on July 30, 2009 (35 comments)

iPhoneInCanadaFilter: Help me decide whether or not I should get an iPhone. I'm interested in any and all experiences, good or bad, but especially those with a Canadian tilt.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgg at 8:27 AM on September 15, 2008 (25 comments)

Matthew Robson, aged 15 years & 7 months, was asked to describe how he and his friends consume media by the London research branch of Morgan Stanley, where he is a summer work intern. The teenager spent a day on the briefing note, after polling some friends by text message. His write-up impressed the right people (direct link to pdf report). "Without claiming representation or statistical accuracy, his piece provides one of the clearest and most thought provoking insights we have seen. So we published it." After being published, the note had generated five or six times more feedback than the team's usual reports. Lauded by professionals, his claims were met with disagreement from some peers. (via)
posted to MetaFilter by filthy light thief at 1:00 PM on July 14, 2009 (41 comments)

Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
posted to MetaFilter by anotherpanacea at 7:13 AM on July 14, 2009 (559 comments)

Home Movie Reconstructions 1974 / 2004 MeFi's own dziga takes family movies from 1974, revisits the locations 30 years later with the same people doing the same things. Amazing. [via mefi projects]
posted to MetaFilter by mathowie at 3:03 PM on July 9, 2009 (27 comments)

I've become bored of digg, slate and reddit. I'd like some substitutes (but not too close of substitutes that I get quickly bored again).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by survivorman at 2:05 PM on November 15, 2007 (20 comments)

One of the hardest things for people to understand about the universe is just how big it is. There are three approaches typically used in describing its size. The first, the song, was pioneered by Monty Python (NSFWish, wireframe of naked woman) and then done just as masterfully by the Animaniacs. The second, the zoom method has been featured twice before here on the blue. The third method is the comparison method (skip to 1:30, unless you like looking at a image of the solar system with terrible distorted orbits), yielding some truly beautiful videos (this one found via the fantastic Bad Astronomy blog). These videos go, at most, as far as looking at the local cluster or the Virgo Supercluster. There are two videos that attempt to show the size of the entire universe, one unsuccessfully (although with great music) and one successfully. (Warning, all links except the first one, are to YT videos).
posted to MetaFilter by Hactar at 2:06 PM on July 1, 2009 (70 comments)

Could activists for social causes (e.g. global warming) learn something from the Obama campaign in how to effectively engage and mobilize people?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by GIMG at 12:49 PM on January 22, 2009 (12 comments)

Michael Jackson, the undisputed King of Pop, has died of cardiac arrest in Los Angeles, California. He was 50 years old.
posted to MetaFilter by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:56 PM on June 25, 2009 (842 comments)

My son is graduating from high school in a week. I want to make him a Best of Ask Metafilter book with all the best advice from the hive mind.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by katyjack at 5:21 PM on May 17, 2009 (19 comments)

Pop Culture Blind Spots, Guilty Pleasures, Guilty Displeasures and Sacred Cows from The A.V. Club
posted to MetaFilter by Navelgazer at 1:06 PM on January 30, 2009 (42 comments)