MetaFilter posts by anastasiav.
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The best minds of my generation are thinking about how to make people click on ads.
posted on Nov-14-19 at 9:08 AM
Orcs, Britons, And The Martial Race Myth Part I - Part II :: We say Tolkien invented orcs as we know them today. More precisely, he synthesized their nature from various traditional characterizations—not of mythical beings, but of real-life humans. Some of those characterizations came from popular European conceptions of the greatest threats to Western civilization. Others came from pseudoscientific frameworks of racism, some of which Tolkien would have encountered in his academic training. But Tolkien would meet the most germane theory to his orcs in his military service with the British Army: the fallacy of the martial race. content warnings: racism, colonialism/imperialism, examples of racist images, cultural conflation, sexism, sexual violence
posted on Jul-1-19 at 9:56 AM
...in the realm of Fortnite, there is nothing worse that having a standard character, otherwise known as a “default.”
posted on May-7-19 at 1:01 PM
The Million Dollar Drug :: Glybera is a miracle cure for people born with a genetic mutation that causes lipoprotein lipase disorder (LPLD), but at a cost of one million dollars per dose, it is a cure nobody can afford. The drug works. It is safe. But it's no longer available anywhere in the world.
posted on Nov-19-18 at 10:31 AM
Whether you want to browse some vintage recipies, get a feel for what was popular in a particular decade, or maybe revisit the top trends from your graduation year, ClickAmericana is an extensive online archive of vintage ads, magazine articles, and popular culture spanning a surprisingly large swath of American history.
posted on Aug-21-18 at 11:03 AM
"Between 2006-2016, of the films produced in the UK, 59% did not have any black actors in a named character role, and 80% of historical dramas in this 10-year period featured not one single black actor. The problem is not isolated to the United Kingdom by any means." Race and Roles in Historical Costume Dramas
posted on Apr-12-17 at 5:34 AM
56 years ago today, 6 year old Ruby Bridges walked up the steps of the William Frantz Elementary School and into history, on the first day of integrated schools in New Orleans.
posted on Nov-14-16 at 11:59 AM
Space 1970 :: Journey with us back to the days when special effects were created by skillful hands and spaceships were detailed models, when robots were obligatory comedy relief, when square-jawed heroes and cloaked villains battled among the stars -- and the future was fun!
posted on Jan-7-16 at 12:51 PM
Christopher Kimball, the 'kitchen stickler' behind the beloved Cook's Illustrated magazine and PBS' highly-rated America's Test Kitchen show, is leaving the kitchen amidst a leadership shakeup at the company he founded. The last letter from Vermont has not yet been published. Previously
posted on Nov-17-15 at 9:22 AM
Our books lived, were killed, and reborn, and released. They were donated, organized, cataloged, seized, destroyed, saved, and became testimony, evidence, burden, and discarded. The Dregs of the Library: Trashing the Occupy Wall Street Library
posted on Aug-31-15 at 9:00 AM
"The twins’ mother, Sandra King, held her sons tightly, then returned to her post at the Grant Aviation ticket counter. She said she’d be joining them in California later. The rest of the family went out to the tarmac. Kremer was left leaning against an educational display detailing the natural wonders of the Izembek Lagoon. “Well,” he said. “I guess I’m the last kid in Cold Bay.”
posted on Aug-10-15 at 1:46 PM
Sizzler and the Search for the American Dream :: Inside the paper was another brick, bright yellow-orange and vacuum-sealed in plastic. We had never seen food that color before. We had never eaten anything that perfectly geometric. It sat in our fridge for days, like an unwelcome guest that never said anything. It just sat there without a word of explanation. We had staring contests every day. The cheese always won. I always had to blink.
posted on Jul-22-15 at 4:16 PM
Tomorrow night, the Temple will burn.
Partially funded through a kickstarter campaign, scuplptor David Best has built an intricate, 75-foot wooden temple in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland, where the events of Bloody Sunday took place. The project has a lofty goal of creating a ritual which is "a celebration and ... a healing and understanding". Visitors are encouraged to leave messages and mementos in the structure. Can't visit in person? You can also visit (and leave messages in) a virtual model of the temple in Minecraft.
posted on Mar-20-15 at 7:37 AM
What It’s Like Living In Boston Right Now
posted on Feb-12-15 at 11:46 AM
Medieval Japanese Poetry and Minecraft
"Tanka poems place emphasis on the environment and emotions – a natural bridge to connect poetic verse and model landscapes in Minecraft."
Here is a link to poems written by the students as part of this project.
posted on Jan-9-15 at 1:29 PM
Mitch Hedberg and GIS Disproving “La Quinta” is Spanish for “next to Denny’s.”
posted on Jan-8-15 at 11:21 AM
The Most Punctual Man in India
posted on Jan-7-15 at 6:52 AM
The Secret History of Women in the Senate
posted on Jan-6-15 at 6:47 AM
The Minimum Wage Worker Strikes Back - She notes that her hourly wage of $7.50 is less than a Wendy’s combo meal: “I make less than the Baconator.”
posted on Apr-17-14 at 6:45 AM
Six Miles Out
posted on Mar-7-14 at 7:59 AM
One hundred years ago today, General Joshua L. Chamberlain - the "lion of the union" - linguist, professor, mason, soldier, Medal of Honor winner, public servant, and author -- died at the age of 85, from the lingering wounds he had suffered at the Siege of Petersburg, fifty years earlier.
posted on Feb-24-14 at 8:56 AM
"700 years ago, a monk needed parchment for a new prayer book. He pulled the copy of Archimedes' book off the shelf, cut the pages in half, rotated them 90 degrees, and scraped the surface to remove the ink, creating a palimpsest—fresh writing material made by clearing away older text. Then he wrote his prayers on the nearly-clean pages." - A Prayer for Archimedes
posted on Jan-3-14 at 3:45 PM
There are a few ways to end up on Hart Island. One third of its inhabitants are infants—some parents couldn’t afford a burial, others didn’t realize what a “city burial” meant when they checked it on the form. Many of the dead here were homeless, while others were simply unclaimed; if your body remains at the city morgue for more than two weeks, you, too, will be sent for burial by a team of prisoners on Hart Island.
posted on Nov-8-13 at 9:26 AM
As has been widely reported, today, May 1, Netflix is letting thousands of titles expire (link down due to heavy traffic) mostly licensed from Warner Bros, Universal, and MGM. Some will possibly to move to the new streaming service offered by Warner Bros itself. (Warner Archive denies that they are "taking" content from Netflix.) Less widely reported is the fact that Netflix has also let their deal with Viacom expire this month, removing large swaths of children's favorites (including Dora, Thomas, Bob the Builder, and Backyardigans) from the service. Despite forecasts that this could be the end for Netflix (again) The company maintains that they are headed in the direction they want to go.
posted on May-1-13 at 7:49 AM
Parenting. Illustrated with crappy pictures.
posted on Jul-21-11 at 10:13 AM
An 'armchair astronomer' named David Martines has found something on Google Mars which he believes is some kind of space station. Allegedly, NASA is investigating the image. Another theory says that what he sees is a "linear streak artifact produced by a cosmic ray".
posted on Jun-6-11 at 6:18 PM
What the f#ck has Obama done so far?
posted on Nov-1-10 at 8:13 PM
"Then the powers that had built the site abandoned it. But the glass endured — a splotchy green circle 200 feet in diameter, dull by night, bright by day, a monument to man's inhumanity to man. This monument was surrounded by a high fence, tight strands of barbed wire, and multilingual warning signs. The gate in the fence was chained with three padlocks — two put there by government agencies — serving as links in the chain. If you got through any of the three, you could gain admission to Trinity Site. And that's what I did. In July, 1951, I entered the site, and I took the glass. Let me explain.
posted on Oct-20-10 at 8:31 AM
The art of Clue suspect cards through the years, courtesy of The Art of Murder, a comprehensive Clue fan site.
posted on Oct-11-10 at 5:33 AM
December 9, 2001, at a singular event called Muppet Fest, Muppet performers and special guests came together to perform a very special edition of The Muppet Show - a live performance. Until now, those of us who could not attend were only able to read the script, but recently a (slightly edited) video of this unique performance has turned up on YouTube: Part 1
posted on Apr-15-10 at 7:22 AM
Foods That Will Win The War (and how to cook them)
posted on Mar-4-10 at 8:16 AM
Life Before Your Eyes
posted on Jan-14-10 at 1:48 PM
Doll Kind :: Dolls of the 20th Century - A Celebration in Pictures and Histories
posted on Nov-16-09 at 1:31 PM
Do I have the right to refuse this search?
posted on Oct-30-09 at 9:38 AM
The Ever So Strange Animal Almanac
posted on Sep-9-09 at 12:23 PM
Dan's Topical Stamps
posted on Jun-3-09 at 5:57 AM
Metafilter's Own Sean Tevis ran for the Kansas State Legislature using the web as his main fund raising tool. His fund raising was spectacularly successful, raising in excess of $100,000 -- over 70% of which was in amounts lower than $50.00. The Republicans criticized this tactics, and he lost. Although he took no PAC or Lobbyist contributions, some in Kansas politics feel that he's not been transparent enough about who gave to him, so Republican Scott Schwab has introduced LD 2244 (.pdf) - informally known as the Sean Tevis Bill.
posted on Feb-12-09 at 5:40 AM
Toons at War
posted on Dec-9-08 at 9:05 AM
The Neglected Books Page
posted on Dec-5-08 at 10:13 AM
The Art of the Title Sequence
posted on Dec-3-08 at 8:11 AM
Book of Short Stories :: Short stories written by New York State 5th graders in 1931. (Be sure to read the About page to get a sense of the setting of the times.) (via Thingamababy)
posted on Sep-22-08 at 8:30 AM
The Pram Museum
posted on Jul-18-08 at 12:57 PM
The Heritage of the Great War
posted on May-8-08 at 6:27 AM
Atomic Platters :: Cold War Music from the Golden Age of Homeland Security
posted on Feb-15-08 at 8:17 AM
The Secret Museum of Mankind :: "Published in 1935, the Secret Museum is a mystery book. It has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers, no index ... The tone of the commentary is dated, and uniformly racist in the extreme, often hilariously so. It reads like the patter of a carnival sideshow barker, from a time when the world was divided between "modern" Europeans and "savages" ... Presented here is the Secret Museum in its entirety, all 564 pages scanned and transcribed-- nothing is omitted or censored ... Treat it as entertainment instead of education (don't take it seriously and don't believe a word it says!), adjust for the blatant racial bias of the time, and enjoy."
posted on Feb-14-08 at 7:41 AM
British Movietone News - Digital Archives :: Apparently complete archives of the UK Movietone Newsreels from 1929 - 1979. Free registration required. Uses Quicktime. Beware of many lost hours ahead. Via DaddyTypes
posted on Feb-12-08 at 8:57 AM
Skip The Tuition: 100 Free Podcasts from the Best Colleges in the World
posted on Jan-29-08 at 5:00 AM
How The Edwardians Spoke :: BBC documentary via Google Video, about an hour
posted on Oct-19-07 at 9:39 PM
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
posted on Sep-18-07 at 7:08 AM
The History of The Discovery of Cinematography
posted on Aug-23-07 at 4:21 PM
posted on Nov-14-19 at 9:08 AM
Orcs, Britons, And The Martial Race Myth Part I - Part II :: We say Tolkien invented orcs as we know them today. More precisely, he synthesized their nature from various traditional characterizations—not of mythical beings, but of real-life humans. Some of those characterizations came from popular European conceptions of the greatest threats to Western civilization. Others came from pseudoscientific frameworks of racism, some of which Tolkien would have encountered in his academic training. But Tolkien would meet the most germane theory to his orcs in his military service with the British Army: the fallacy of the martial race. content warnings: racism, colonialism/imperialism, examples of racist images, cultural conflation, sexism, sexual violence
posted on Jul-1-19 at 9:56 AM
...in the realm of Fortnite, there is nothing worse that having a standard character, otherwise known as a “default.”
posted on May-7-19 at 1:01 PM
The Million Dollar Drug :: Glybera is a miracle cure for people born with a genetic mutation that causes lipoprotein lipase disorder (LPLD), but at a cost of one million dollars per dose, it is a cure nobody can afford. The drug works. It is safe. But it's no longer available anywhere in the world.
posted on Nov-19-18 at 10:31 AM
Whether you want to browse some vintage recipies, get a feel for what was popular in a particular decade, or maybe revisit the top trends from your graduation year, ClickAmericana is an extensive online archive of vintage ads, magazine articles, and popular culture spanning a surprisingly large swath of American history.
posted on Aug-21-18 at 11:03 AM
"Between 2006-2016, of the films produced in the UK, 59% did not have any black actors in a named character role, and 80% of historical dramas in this 10-year period featured not one single black actor. The problem is not isolated to the United Kingdom by any means." Race and Roles in Historical Costume Dramas
posted on Apr-12-17 at 5:34 AM
56 years ago today, 6 year old Ruby Bridges walked up the steps of the William Frantz Elementary School and into history, on the first day of integrated schools in New Orleans.
posted on Nov-14-16 at 11:59 AM
Space 1970 :: Journey with us back to the days when special effects were created by skillful hands and spaceships were detailed models, when robots were obligatory comedy relief, when square-jawed heroes and cloaked villains battled among the stars -- and the future was fun!
posted on Jan-7-16 at 12:51 PM
Christopher Kimball, the 'kitchen stickler' behind the beloved Cook's Illustrated magazine and PBS' highly-rated America's Test Kitchen show, is leaving the kitchen amidst a leadership shakeup at the company he founded. The last letter from Vermont has not yet been published. Previously
posted on Nov-17-15 at 9:22 AM
Our books lived, were killed, and reborn, and released. They were donated, organized, cataloged, seized, destroyed, saved, and became testimony, evidence, burden, and discarded. The Dregs of the Library: Trashing the Occupy Wall Street Library
posted on Aug-31-15 at 9:00 AM
"The twins’ mother, Sandra King, held her sons tightly, then returned to her post at the Grant Aviation ticket counter. She said she’d be joining them in California later. The rest of the family went out to the tarmac. Kremer was left leaning against an educational display detailing the natural wonders of the Izembek Lagoon. “Well,” he said. “I guess I’m the last kid in Cold Bay.”
posted on Aug-10-15 at 1:46 PM
Sizzler and the Search for the American Dream :: Inside the paper was another brick, bright yellow-orange and vacuum-sealed in plastic. We had never seen food that color before. We had never eaten anything that perfectly geometric. It sat in our fridge for days, like an unwelcome guest that never said anything. It just sat there without a word of explanation. We had staring contests every day. The cheese always won. I always had to blink.
posted on Jul-22-15 at 4:16 PM
Tomorrow night, the Temple will burn.
Partially funded through a kickstarter campaign, scuplptor David Best has built an intricate, 75-foot wooden temple in the city of Derry, Northern Ireland, where the events of Bloody Sunday took place. The project has a lofty goal of creating a ritual which is "a celebration and ... a healing and understanding". Visitors are encouraged to leave messages and mementos in the structure. Can't visit in person? You can also visit (and leave messages in) a virtual model of the temple in Minecraft.
posted on Mar-20-15 at 7:37 AM
What It’s Like Living In Boston Right Now
posted on Feb-12-15 at 11:46 AM
Medieval Japanese Poetry and Minecraft
"Tanka poems place emphasis on the environment and emotions – a natural bridge to connect poetic verse and model landscapes in Minecraft."
Here is a link to poems written by the students as part of this project.
posted on Jan-9-15 at 1:29 PM
Mitch Hedberg and GIS Disproving “La Quinta” is Spanish for “next to Denny’s.”
posted on Jan-8-15 at 11:21 AM
The Most Punctual Man in India
posted on Jan-7-15 at 6:52 AM
The Secret History of Women in the Senate
posted on Jan-6-15 at 6:47 AM
The Minimum Wage Worker Strikes Back - She notes that her hourly wage of $7.50 is less than a Wendy’s combo meal: “I make less than the Baconator.”
posted on Apr-17-14 at 6:45 AM
Six Miles Out
posted on Mar-7-14 at 7:59 AM
One hundred years ago today, General Joshua L. Chamberlain - the "lion of the union" - linguist, professor, mason, soldier, Medal of Honor winner, public servant, and author -- died at the age of 85, from the lingering wounds he had suffered at the Siege of Petersburg, fifty years earlier.
posted on Feb-24-14 at 8:56 AM
"700 years ago, a monk needed parchment for a new prayer book. He pulled the copy of Archimedes' book off the shelf, cut the pages in half, rotated them 90 degrees, and scraped the surface to remove the ink, creating a palimpsest—fresh writing material made by clearing away older text. Then he wrote his prayers on the nearly-clean pages." - A Prayer for Archimedes
posted on Jan-3-14 at 3:45 PM
There are a few ways to end up on Hart Island. One third of its inhabitants are infants—some parents couldn’t afford a burial, others didn’t realize what a “city burial” meant when they checked it on the form. Many of the dead here were homeless, while others were simply unclaimed; if your body remains at the city morgue for more than two weeks, you, too, will be sent for burial by a team of prisoners on Hart Island.
posted on Nov-8-13 at 9:26 AM
As has been widely reported, today, May 1, Netflix is letting thousands of titles expire (link down due to heavy traffic) mostly licensed from Warner Bros, Universal, and MGM. Some will possibly to move to the new streaming service offered by Warner Bros itself. (Warner Archive denies that they are "taking" content from Netflix.) Less widely reported is the fact that Netflix has also let their deal with Viacom expire this month, removing large swaths of children's favorites (including Dora, Thomas, Bob the Builder, and Backyardigans) from the service. Despite forecasts that this could be the end for Netflix (again) The company maintains that they are headed in the direction they want to go.
posted on May-1-13 at 7:49 AM
Parenting. Illustrated with crappy pictures.
posted on Jul-21-11 at 10:13 AM
An 'armchair astronomer' named David Martines has found something on Google Mars which he believes is some kind of space station. Allegedly, NASA is investigating the image. Another theory says that what he sees is a "linear streak artifact produced by a cosmic ray".
posted on Jun-6-11 at 6:18 PM
What the f#ck has Obama done so far?
posted on Nov-1-10 at 8:13 PM
"Then the powers that had built the site abandoned it. But the glass endured — a splotchy green circle 200 feet in diameter, dull by night, bright by day, a monument to man's inhumanity to man. This monument was surrounded by a high fence, tight strands of barbed wire, and multilingual warning signs. The gate in the fence was chained with three padlocks — two put there by government agencies — serving as links in the chain. If you got through any of the three, you could gain admission to Trinity Site. And that's what I did. In July, 1951, I entered the site, and I took the glass. Let me explain.
posted on Oct-20-10 at 8:31 AM
The art of Clue suspect cards through the years, courtesy of The Art of Murder, a comprehensive Clue fan site.
posted on Oct-11-10 at 5:33 AM
December 9, 2001, at a singular event called Muppet Fest, Muppet performers and special guests came together to perform a very special edition of The Muppet Show - a live performance. Until now, those of us who could not attend were only able to read the script, but recently a (slightly edited) video of this unique performance has turned up on YouTube: Part 1
posted on Apr-15-10 at 7:22 AM
Foods That Will Win The War (and how to cook them)
posted on Mar-4-10 at 8:16 AM
Life Before Your Eyes
posted on Jan-14-10 at 1:48 PM
Doll Kind :: Dolls of the 20th Century - A Celebration in Pictures and Histories
posted on Nov-16-09 at 1:31 PM
Do I have the right to refuse this search?
posted on Oct-30-09 at 9:38 AM
The Ever So Strange Animal Almanac
posted on Sep-9-09 at 12:23 PM
Dan's Topical Stamps
posted on Jun-3-09 at 5:57 AM
Metafilter's Own Sean Tevis ran for the Kansas State Legislature using the web as his main fund raising tool. His fund raising was spectacularly successful, raising in excess of $100,000 -- over 70% of which was in amounts lower than $50.00. The Republicans criticized this tactics, and he lost. Although he took no PAC or Lobbyist contributions, some in Kansas politics feel that he's not been transparent enough about who gave to him, so Republican Scott Schwab has introduced LD 2244 (.pdf) - informally known as the Sean Tevis Bill.
posted on Feb-12-09 at 5:40 AM
Toons at War
posted on Dec-9-08 at 9:05 AM
The Neglected Books Page
posted on Dec-5-08 at 10:13 AM
The Art of the Title Sequence
posted on Dec-3-08 at 8:11 AM
Book of Short Stories :: Short stories written by New York State 5th graders in 1931. (Be sure to read the About page to get a sense of the setting of the times.) (via Thingamababy)
posted on Sep-22-08 at 8:30 AM
The Pram Museum
posted on Jul-18-08 at 12:57 PM
The Heritage of the Great War
posted on May-8-08 at 6:27 AM
Atomic Platters :: Cold War Music from the Golden Age of Homeland Security
posted on Feb-15-08 at 8:17 AM
The Secret Museum of Mankind :: "Published in 1935, the Secret Museum is a mystery book. It has no author or credits, no copyright, no date, no page numbers, no index ... The tone of the commentary is dated, and uniformly racist in the extreme, often hilariously so. It reads like the patter of a carnival sideshow barker, from a time when the world was divided between "modern" Europeans and "savages" ... Presented here is the Secret Museum in its entirety, all 564 pages scanned and transcribed-- nothing is omitted or censored ... Treat it as entertainment instead of education (don't take it seriously and don't believe a word it says!), adjust for the blatant racial bias of the time, and enjoy."
posted on Feb-14-08 at 7:41 AM
British Movietone News - Digital Archives :: Apparently complete archives of the UK Movietone Newsreels from 1929 - 1979. Free registration required. Uses Quicktime. Beware of many lost hours ahead. Via DaddyTypes
posted on Feb-12-08 at 8:57 AM
Skip The Tuition: 100 Free Podcasts from the Best Colleges in the World
posted on Jan-29-08 at 5:00 AM
How The Edwardians Spoke :: BBC documentary via Google Video, about an hour
posted on Oct-19-07 at 9:39 PM
Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management
posted on Sep-18-07 at 7:08 AM
The History of The Discovery of Cinematography
posted on Aug-23-07 at 4:21 PM