MetaFilter

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 by jessamyn to MetaFilter on Jul 14 at 8:48 AM
178 users marked this as a favorite

Wired's Steven Levy writes about MF in his newsletter (archived): This month, the venerated site celebrates its 25th anniversary. It’s amazing it has lasted that long; it made it this far in great part thanks to West, who helped stabilize it after a near-death spiral. You could say it’s the site that time forgot—certainly I’d forgotten about it until I decided to mark its big birthday. Metafilter is a kind of digital Brigadoon; visiting it is like a form of time travel. To people who have been around a while, Metafilter seems to preserve in amber the spirit of what online used to be like. The feed is strictly chronological. It’s still text-only. Some members may be influential on Metafilter, but they don’t call themselves influencers, and they don’t sell personally branded cosmetics or garments. As founder Matt Haughey, who stepped down in 2017, says, "It's a weird throwback thing—like a cockroach that survived.”
posted by Bella Donna to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 8:47 AM
130 users marked this as a favorite

This Might Hurt is a documentary about a revolution in the understanding and treatment of chronic pain that has been quietly brewing over the last few decades. We know that millions of people around the world suffer from chronic pain and other debilitating bodily symptoms. Medication (such as opioids) don't often help, or carry intolerable side effects, and traditional cognitive-based psychotherapy doesn't seem to fare well either. Can we do better? Increasing evidence accumulated over the last few decades suggests that focusing on hidden powerful emotions may make all the difference, at least for some people. It all dates back to an iconoclastic New York City physician named John Sarno, (NYT link, archive.today version here) whose mission to rid the world of back pain inspired a legacy of controversy and devotion.
posted by greatgefilte to MetaFilter on Jul 16 at 8:56 PM
49 users marked this as a favorite

Anti-MAGA spice company Penzey's is hoping their special deal - just $35 for a $50 Choose Love gift card - and their free Twilight Revolution sample bags and January 6 gift boxes - "keep hope alive and vote (and cook)" - will help spread their message about the importance of stopping the right-wing Republican agenda.
posted by kristi to MetaFilter on Jul 13 at 4:01 PM
48 users marked this as a favorite

Molly White, independent journalist, maintainer of the site Web 3 is Going Great and the newsletter and podcast Citation Needed (not the podcast about Wikipedia), has a new project called Follow the Crypto. In 2024, the cryptocurrency industry has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to influence races across the US, more than the health or energy sectors despite being a much smaller fraction of the economy. Follow the Crypto reveals what's been learned about their enormous pile of lucre and the ways it is being wielded to distort the United States' political processes, by organizations like FairShake, "Defend American Jobs," and "Protect Progress."
posted by JHarris to MetaFilter on Jul 14 at 1:59 PM
46 users marked this as a favorite

A New Map Of Medieval London Matt Brown for Londonist writes about work by the Historic Towns Trust. “Today, I’d like to share with you a newly created map of medieval London that is, quite frankly, astonishing in its detail.”
posted by bq to MetaFilter on Jul 15 at 7:57 AM
44 users marked this as a favorite

Adrienne Westenfeld at Esquire enumerates the 75 best sci-fi books of all time. Metafilter's own™ jscalzi says "well this doesn't suck" and that it's "not a bad list to be on".
posted by autopilot to MetaFilter on Jul 13 at 10:50 AM
42 users marked this as a favorite

NYT Live: Former President Donald J. Trump was escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents and into his motorcade just minutes into his rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, after a series of pops that sounded like gunshots rang out. The exact source of the noises was unclear, but Mr. Trump’s ear appeared to be bleeding heavily as he was rushed off the stage. Mr. Trump ducked quickly after the noises began, with the sound coming from the bleachers to the left of where he was standing. As members of the crowd began screaming, Mr. Trump was tackled by Secret Service. Officials shouted for the crowd to duck and cover, whisking members of the news media off the press riser where they had been watching Mr. Trump’s speech. After a brief pause, Mr. Trump rose, surrounded by a group of uniformed Secret Service members. He pumped his fist to the crowd, and then was rushed off the stage and ushered into his motorcade, which quickly left the venue, the Butler Farm Show.
posted by Rhaomi to MetaFilter on Jul 13 at 3:46 PM
42 users marked this as a favorite

Thirty-one freaking summers ago, U2 released the debut single from their album Zooropa. Numb (yt) was a strange, uncharacteristically dark and despairing track for the band, featuring guitarist the Edge on lead vocals with Bono's falsetto backing vocals credited to "the Fat Lady."
posted by Ursula Hitler to MetaFilter on Jul 15 at 4:27 PM
41 users marked this as a favorite

"...on every call, in every meeting, in every action, women constitute 90% of the grassroots volunteer movement. If grassroots groups are the secret weapon of democracy, women are the not-so-secret weapon of grassroots groups." Why I remain hopeful about 2024.
posted by kristi to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 8:29 AM
40 users marked this as a favorite

In the 1980s, the BBC explored the world of computing in The Computer Literacy Project. They commissioned a home computer... and taught viewers how to program. The Computer Literacy Project chronicled a decade of information technology and was a milestone in the history of computing in Britain, helping to inspire a generation of coders. This site contains all 146 of the original Computer Literacy Project programmes plus 121 related programmes, broken down into 2,509 categorised, searchable clips.
posted by jessamyn to MetaFilter on Jul 13 at 12:53 PM
36 users marked this as a favorite

Plan is for term limits and amendment to overturn immunity ruling
posted by NotLost to MetaFilter on Jul 16 at 6:48 PM
34 users marked this as a favorite

What if in addition to a traditional "Get Out the Vote" campaign, your work also created a stronger community? What if you could turn a bunch of stolen corrugated signs into a block party? In "How to Build a New World Locally", organizer Madeline Talbott describes a strategy of using dedicated volunteer precinct captains to GOTV for progressive candidates in Chicago. She provides an optimistic path for fighting fascism by working very locally.
posted by tofu_crouton to MetaFilter on Jul 18 at 6:00 AM
33 users marked this as a favorite

This week, the Biden-Harris administration announced the largest federal investment in Registered Apprenticeships in the history of the United States, with new policies "to ensure all workers – including women, people of color, veterans, and those that have been historically left behind – have equitable access to good-paying jobs".
posted by kristi to MetaFilter on Jul 17 at 8:52 AM
31 users marked this as a favorite

Pee Wee Herman: The Documentary

Need I say more?
posted by y2karl to MetaFilter on Jul 15 at 11:34 AM
30 users marked this as a favorite

100 of the Greatest Posters of Celebrities Urging You to Read [LitHub]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Jul 18 at 11:26 AM
28 users marked this as a favorite

Dr. Justin Sledge, of the YouTube channel "Esoterica", has just released the first lecture in a crowdsourced and freely available course on the philosophy of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, author of the "Three Books of Occult Philosophy", a foundational text for Western ceremonial magic.
posted by Ipsifendus to MetaFilter on Jul 16 at 2:23 PM
28 users marked this as a favorite

Fascinating short videos from Wired. They are a series of videos presented by experts in different fields who answer questions from the internet.

• Dr. Kory Evans Answers Fish Questions from Twitter
• Dr. Ed Barnhart Answers Questions on the Maya
• Jonna Mendez, Former CIA Chief of Disguise Answers Spy Questions
• Dr. Dorsay Armstrong Answers Questions on the Middle Ages
• Dr. Laurel Bestock answers Questions on Ancient Egypt
• Dr. Lauren Ginsburg answers Questions on Ancient Rome

There are many others out there. I just included the ones that I have seen. Happy viewing!
posted by dfm500 to MetaFilter on Jul 11 at 5:11 PM
28 users marked this as a favorite

Making Hitler funny may be a break with the reverence Hitler demanded at gunpoint. But it also ends up being a way to give Hitler back his aesthetics and part of his glamor. When Downfall Hitler launches into an attack on road construction, it’s incongruous and absurd. But it’s also Hitler getting you to cheer along as he attacks the incompetence and inconvenience of a sclerotic democratic bureaucracy—and attacking sclerotic democratic bureaucracy is a thing that the real Hitler actually did. A dollop of humor makes the anti-establishment rage go down easy, not least because it distracts you from the fact that the “establishment” in question is just anyone the fascists decide to target. As the political scientist Jonathan Bernstein explains, “drain the swamp” is a successful slogan precisely because it’s a catchier way to say “liquidate our enemies.” from Fascists Know How to Turn Mockery Into Power [Foreign Policy, from 2020; ungated]
posted by chavenet to MetaFilter on Jul 17 at 11:23 AM
27 users marked this as a favorite

"To those who designed this system, I say: Shame. Have fun refactoring your ticket verification system." Brilliant and quite simple reverse engineering of the infamous TicketMaster's Rotating Barcodes. Only need a web inspector, some python script and a shell to break the pseudo secure system.
posted by verylazyminer to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 1:46 AM
26 users marked this as a favorite

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Knowing I'll never be faster than a motorcycle is exactly why I refuse to do cardio. [view]
posted by phunniemee to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 9:45 AM
80 users marked this as a favorite

Yeah, I guess the Big Story is how little MetaFilter has changed in 25 years. But really? It's changed a fucking lot! Whenever someone posts a link to a thread from 20 years ago I wince. Those of us who were here for the Quonsar Years remember. Yes, it was snarky and chaotic and "fun" but it was boyzone as hell and casual slurs were... [more]
posted by rikschell to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 11:08 AM
72 users marked this as a favorite

Heh, it's a slim word count; eliding a lot of the gooey middle part and keeping the cast of characters to a minimum is a pretty reasonable call. I'm proud of all the work I did here over the years but it has been a tremendous boon to me to not be doing it anymore, and I appreciate Jessamyn being willing to say yes to my unreasonable request to... [more]
posted by cortex to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 2:47 PM
70 users marked this as a favorite

I think the best Richard Simmons moment ever had to be when he agreed to be on Howard Stern's radio show if Stern would go see Prince of Tides with him. But then once they got on the air, Stern said he wasn't doing it. ("But HOWARD. You PROMISED.") Years later, Howard Stern sent a young woman on his staff to cover a Richard... [more]
posted by orange swan to MetaFilter on Jul 13 at 3:25 PM
68 users marked this as a favorite

MF is one of the only places on the internet I trust. Not really to be accurate or true, it's not always. But MF is never trying to sell me something. People just say what they think unmediated by silly memes, commercial interests, algorithms and with some stellar moderation. And that's pretty rare. [view]
posted by Glibpaxman to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 10:20 AM
60 users marked this as a favorite

The day after Metafilter’s 25th will mark 22 years since I “hacked” my way in here (translation: bypassed the paper-thin blocker Matt installed on the signups page, not a for-realsies hacking). Mostly motivated by a desire to fight with amberglow about gun control policy; I was still emerging from an evangelical fundamentalist conservative mindset... [more]
posted by Ryvar to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 11:30 AM
57 users marked this as a favorite

So my sister was a model for BBW (Big Beautiful Woman) back in the day, and the dirty little secret of that magazine was that they didn't pay their models - which of course they could only get away with because the models were large women. My sister was once on a local TV show with Carole Shaw, who ran BBW, and Richard Simmons. Simmons asked... [more]
posted by FencingGal to MetaFilter on Jul 13 at 3:07 PM
54 users marked this as a favorite

My Facebook friends sometimes ask where I get all the cool stuff I link to there, and the answer is MetaFilter. I can't remember exactly how long I've been here; I was not that girl for a long time, which I think was the heyday of my MetaFilter life. I had to get rid of all my online presences when John Geddert of the Larry Nassar gymnastics sex... [more]
posted by Well I never to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 12:23 PM
52 users marked this as a favorite

If you want a picture of the future, imagine every new Net generation (that is, five years or so) rediscovering the legend of the Gros Michel — forever. [view]
posted by meehawl to MetaFilter on Jul 18 at 9:24 AM
46 users marked this as a favorite

Also: Seriously, Matt: Like a cockroach? I believe the phrase you're looking for is: WHAT. THE. FUCK. MATT? [view]
posted by briank to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 9:48 AM
44 users marked this as a favorite

I'm curious to watch this, and I wanted to share the central sensitization protocol that worked for me -- which may not work for your pain, of course -- only because I wish in the years I bounced from one physical therapist to another someone would have suggested it sooner or at least mentioned it so I could try it. Full credit to the... [more]
posted by antinomia to MetaFilter on Jul 17 at 1:00 AM
44 users marked this as a favorite

When I study how people were arrested in the 1960s civil rights movement, I realized that if you want to know what forms of protest are ineffective at creating change and easy to ignore, look at the forms of protest that are encouraged. If you want to know what forms of protest are effective at creating change... [more]
posted by AlSweigart to MetaFilter on Jul 18 at 9:05 AM
43 users marked this as a favorite

Hi, I live in Phoenix! AMA! More seriously: this is my home. I love it here. We're more liberal than people give us credit for; our food scene is extremely good (seriously, some of the best pizza in the world is here... And that's not even getting into the Mexican cuisine); everything is casual and open-air and bright all year long. I prefer the... [more]
posted by meese to MetaFilter on Jul 18 at 11:50 AM
42 users marked this as a favorite

Happy Birthday, MF! While I am in the very small non-lefty minority here at Mefi, I always come back because I appreciate people who can actually write complete sentences and rely on text to convey meaning. No memes, no outrage gifs, no strange layouts, etc. [view]
posted by davidmsc to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 9:02 AM
41 users marked this as a favorite

About now he's waking up in Heaven next to Suzanne Pleshette and saying "I just had the strangest dream..." [view]
posted by Greg_Ace to MetaFilter on Jul 18 at 1:51 PM
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You never see a paper called Machine Learning Predicts with Astonishing Accuracy Which Police Officers are Most Likely to Kill a Citizen. [view]
posted by hypnogogue to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 4:57 AM
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> You never see a paper called Machine Learning Predicts with Astonishing Accuracy Which Police Officers are Most Likely to Kill a Citizen. Greg Ridgway wrote something like this 15 years ago. Depending on what information you have, it’s just not that hard to predict which cops will plug which people. This is of a piece with Greg’s piece... [more]
posted by apathy to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 5:06 AM
39 users marked this as a favorite

Congrats Bella Donna if this was your pitch!!! Well done! Let’s welcome any newbies with style and grace. [view]
posted by warriorqueen to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 8:51 AM
38 users marked this as a favorite

Richard Simmons on "Whose Line Is It Anyway". One of the top TV sketches of all time. [view]
posted by blob to MetaFilter on Jul 13 at 2:35 PM
38 users marked this as a favorite

I'm a very recent join to the site, but I've lurked since this kind of site was the norm. (I was thinking about bare-bones front pages the other day. Google's front page is still relatively bare bones, though not as much as it was, but remember what Amazon looked like when it launched?) Interestingly, the closest I've found to the... [more]
posted by It is regrettable that to MetaFilter on Jul 12 at 8:59 AM
37 users marked this as a favorite

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