MeFites' Choice Awards December 31, 2011 10:59 AM   Subscribe

So I suggested it in the original contest post and now I am taking the initiative -- let's have a MeFites' Choice Awards segment of the December Best Post contest.

I have nothing to award but bragging rights and possibly an adorable picture of my dog with your username.

...also, I haven't actually figure out a way to do this, so if anyone has any ideas, I am all ears.
posted by griphus to Feature Requests at 10:59 AM (103 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

With all of the really great posts this month I think Matt is going to have to outsource judging to a team of 10 guys from Bangalore because I don't believe four people could read all of them.
posted by bukvich at 11:41 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


ok i have an Awesome Plan of Awesomeness. it involves bacon and puppies and science.

01. one strip of bacon per december post
02. arrange strips in a large open space such that they are all equidistant from your doggy
03. RELEASE THE HOUND
04. whichever strip is nommed first IS WINAR OF CONTEST
posted by elizardbits at 11:55 AM on December 31, 2011 [3 favorites]


Oh no no no. She is already getting chubby. In the six months since we rescued her, she went from 19 lbs to 24 lbs.

(Also, she is only half-hound. The other half is pug.)
posted by griphus at 11:59 AM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]


I believe the Sexiest MeFites should gather our powers together to co-judge a surprise category. Problem is, I'm not speaking to Meatbomb (though I bet he hasn't even noticed!) because of how he dissed me and by extension all LM Montgomery fans in his little "acceptance speech" in the last issue of MeFi Mag.
posted by brina at 11:59 AM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


(But seriously, I think a voter's choice category is a great idea. There must be tons of polling services that would work for this, right?)
posted by brina at 12:01 PM on December 31, 2011


yeah, i wasn't really sure how to stop her from eating the rest of the bacon, tbh. it would prolly have to involve some kind of tranquilizer gun. or spiderman.
posted by elizardbits at 12:02 PM on December 31, 2011


she is only half-hound. The other half is pug.

Note: Everyone needs a hug.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 12:04 PM on December 31, 2011 [3 favorites]


Note: Everyone needs a pug.
posted by MonkeyToes at 12:13 PM on December 31, 2011 [3 favorites]


Note, this should be done just for fun. Perhaps all a winner gets is bragging rights and whatever tiara they want to wear in the privacy of their own home. Treating as a Real and Serious competition could stir up a lot of negative feelings.

Anyway....
Here are the December 2011 posts, except for those made today.

Ideally, there should be a form, with the title of each post and a link to it and check box next to each line, for a person to vote. Users get to choose one post in each category. All the results should be open to the public for viewing.

Once you have that form, you can duplicate it for each category. What should the categories be? Here are a few suggestions:

The Awesomest Overall Post
Most Awesome Political Post
Totally Awesome Single Link Post
OMG Mega Post (10-25 links)
OMG, Do You Have A Life, Super Mega Post (26 or more links)
Best "Awwww, So Damn Cute" Post
Totally Wicked Awesome Art Post
Enlighteningly Informative Post
Sweet Ass Music Post

Those who are interested in making this happen should look to A) see what polling software handles the above, B) seek out volunteers to enter the information on the ballot and then C) organize said volunteers to enter the information on said ballot (i.e. person X will do Dec 5th, person Y will do December 6th, etc.)

Feel free to poke holes in this idea/methodology and do whatever works for whoever.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:32 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


I would like to suggest a "Best Deleted FPP" category.
posted by tomswift at 1:01 PM on December 31, 2011 [6 favorites]


[...] B) seek out volunteers to enter the information on the ballot and then C) organize said volunteers to enter the information on said ballot (i.e. person X will do Dec 5th, person Y will do December 6th, etc.)

If there's polling software that would allow the post information to be imported, it'd be relatively easy to generate a file with post title and URL in it for every December FPP. They'll all be in there once the infodump is refreshed on January 8th.
posted by FishBike at 1:01 PM on December 31, 2011


All the posts were the best, and all shall have prizes!
posted by Meatbomb at 1:05 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


Why not keep this simple? A form somewhere where MeFites can enter up to five URLs with the posts they like the most. Picking a top five was relatively easy for me, and I'm not all that good at winnowing down. Each entry would count as one vote.

Also, if possible, it would be cool if ballots could be public. I'd be interested in seeing what other individuals picked.
posted by Kattullus at 1:08 PM on December 31, 2011 [5 favorites]


My December post had Yo-Yo Ma and a wombat. Beat that!
posted by cjorgensen at 1:12 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


I am sort of looking forwards to the return of normal Mefi.
posted by Artw at 1:24 PM on December 31, 2011 [2 favorites]


what about the Plato Beans Lifetime Achievement Award?
posted by mannequito at 1:27 PM on December 31, 2011


massive linkdump posts

Whether or not one thinks it a good thing, I don't think one can deny we get a lot of those in December.

It might encourage balance to disqualify posts with more than X number of links for eligibility in any but its own special linkdump category.
posted by Trurl at 1:30 PM on December 31, 2011


January is when MeFi resolves to dump the bloated posts.
posted by pracowity at 1:33 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


sheesh, Burhanistan, I hope the new year brings you some cheer, and peace, and a puppy, and a Bud Lite.
posted by tomswift at 1:46 PM on December 31, 2011


All the posts were the best, and all shall have prizes!

Mr. Incredible loathes this idea.
posted by Ghidorah at 1:47 PM on December 31, 2011


*counts beans on plate*
posted by infini at 1:58 PM on December 31, 2011


All the posts were the best, and all shall have prizes!

COMMUNIST
posted by elizardbits at 2:06 PM on December 31, 2011


I'm not ashamed to say that I do massive linkdump posts any time they're ready, and never pay attention to whether it's December or not.

Y'all might as well start trembling now in awe of the AON post I'm creating. I'm hoping it will go up sometime in the next couple of weeks.
posted by hippybear at 2:20 PM on December 31, 2011


What you want to do is wait for Gondar
posted by infini at 2:23 PM on December 31, 2011




Best FPP I spent all day giggling at
posted by The Whelk at 2:33 PM on December 31, 2011


Oh go on, make me feel bad...

(I actually quite like Megapost December when it first starts, but like Christmas by the end of it I am very ready to get back to normal)
posted by Artw at 2:36 PM on December 31, 2011




Oh no I agree, it'll be nice to ignore the front page for afew days without feeling like I'm missing something awesome.

The problem is you people are too good at this.m
posted by The Whelk at 2:38 PM on December 31, 2011


To clarify when I said "beat that!" above I most emphatically did not mean the wombat.
posted by cjorgensen at 3:16 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'd probably nominate this for a bunch of categories, and I'm pretty sure it would have gotten posted any month of the year (maybe not with the same title) - hell, the main link probably doesn;t work anymore, I'll still nominate it.
posted by Artw at 3:19 PM on December 31, 2011


(I actually quite like Megapost December when it first starts, but like Christmas by the end of it I am very ready to get back to normal)

I am actually curious about what people think is the discernible effect of the contest on metafilter. Is it just people trying too hard that you don't like, or too many posts?
posted by SpacemanStix at 3:33 PM on December 31, 2011


The volume goes up and everyone brings thier A game, it can be intimidating.
posted by The Whelk at 3:34 PM on December 31, 2011


I'm pretty shy about making FPPs during non-December months. When I see posts like the O Brother soundtrack post, I get a little further away from making my own post.

Not that MetaFilter is harmed in any way by this. I'd rather have the awesome posts to look at rather than posting some silly single link flash game I found.
posted by Ghidorah at 3:57 PM on December 31, 2011


I'd rather have the awesome posts to look at rather than posting some silly single link flash game I found.

Personally? I enjoy a single-link flash game a lot more than I enjoy a giant, well put-together post with a thousand links that I will never, ever have to to get through.

Not that I do not appreciate (and encourage) making those, but please don't let that discourage you from posting something I'll actually end up seeing.
posted by griphus at 4:30 PM on December 31, 2011 [3 favorites]


Uh, "have time to get through." No one forces me to read FPPs.

Not since I paid cortex back.
posted by griphus at 4:31 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]




If Burhanistan doesn't want his puppy, can I have it?
posted by arcticseal at 4:59 PM on December 31, 2011


I'll take the beer then.
posted by arcticseal at 6:32 PM on December 31, 2011


OMG, how did I miss On Lonny the first time? That's HILARIOUS.

(Now I feel sort-of guilty I put a lot of links in my post! I just like very linky posts with a lot of narrative.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:02 PM on December 31, 2011


Burhanistan pretty much turned down the puppy AND the beer... they are both up for grabs...
posted by tomswift at 8:19 PM on December 31, 2011


I think the post contests bring out the worst in the massive linkdump and posting-for-the-sake-of-posting posts.

I definitely haven't helped things in the first class. New Years Resolution: pare down the length of my posts, and only include the most valuable of links, instead of writing MetaFilter research papers with sources cited.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:23 PM on December 31, 2011


SpacemanStix: I am actually curious about what people think is the discernible effect of the contest on metafilter.

Well, for me there are a lot of mega-link posts, which rarely rock my boat. I tend to like posts that are more selective. Aside from that, I think that posts that big involve a lot of links that few people will click on. Not that links-to-things-on-the-internet are a non-renewable resource or anything like that, but I don't like it when perfectly good links are buried and few people will ever see them. I much prefer posts with a few links than posts that try to exhaust a subject. But I do realize this is a personal preference, and not some sort of rule.
posted by Kattullus at 8:41 PM on December 31, 2011


I don't like it when perfectly good links are buried and few people will ever see them.

Case in point.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 8:48 PM on December 31, 2011


I definitely haven't helped things in the first class. New Years Resolution: pare down the length of my posts, and only include the most valuable of links, instead of writing MetaFilter research papers with sources cited.

NOOOOOO!!!!! :)

There were some fantastic posts this month. I'd love to participate in a mefite's choice awards poll!
posted by zarq at 9:29 PM on December 31, 2011


I'm full of champagne! Everyone is a winner!
posted by The Whelk at 9:41 PM on December 31, 2011


what about the Plato Beans Lifetime Achievement Award?

Suggest renaming this the "Dana Plato Beans Lifetime Achievement Award."
posted by octobersurprise at 9:47 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm full on sushi, shampagne .... er, champagne, and some other sweet wine. And chocolate truffles. And almonds. I'm a friggin' piñata of joyous foodstuffs.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:49 PM on December 31, 2011


OK, I now love my slightly inebriated mis-spelling that I decided to keep on a lark. See, the term "Champagne" is used to refer to wine produced exclusively within the Champagne region of France, from which it takes its name. But other people make bubbly wine in the style of champagne, thus shampagne. Hah! Drunken gold.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:51 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


We all know there's no film in this camera!
posted by The Whelk at 9:55 PM on December 31, 2011


Of course not, it's digital, silly. What year are you living in?
posted by filthy light thief at 9:57 PM on December 31, 2011


Oh, and back on topic: sure, there have been some lackluster posts and needless linkdumps, but some people have made a number of fantastic posts. I'd say this month has had a better meh:awesome ratio, from my view. Sure, there's a whole gradation between meh and awesome, but there have been more fantastic posts than lackluster posts. Anyway, I think there were so many good posts that it would be silly to think you could toss together a linkdump or post something new every day and hope that one would be a Best Post winner. The Apollo 15 Stamp Fiasco post was made on December 2nd, setting the bar pretty friggin' high from the get-go.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:58 PM on December 31, 2011


Quick, while there's still time (that is, while it's still not midnight in the Pacific time zone), let's have a last post competition. The rules will be simple: the person to post the last FPP of 2011 wins.
posted by daniel_charms at 10:31 PM on December 31, 2011


What do they win?
posted by The Whelk at 10:36 PM on December 31, 2011


Bragging rights, mostly.
posted by daniel_charms at 10:40 PM on December 31, 2011


But also a fuzzy warm feeling in the tummy.
posted by daniel_charms at 10:42 PM on December 31, 2011


No that's heartburn
posted by The Whelk at 10:51 PM on December 31, 2011


No, heartburn's the consolation prize.
posted by daniel_charms at 10:54 PM on December 31, 2011


The only prize is heartbreak.

And pie.
posted by The Whelk at 10:59 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


Could I have some of that pie? Because it really breaks my hearth that I will never win at the Internets.
posted by daniel_charms at 11:05 PM on December 31, 2011


Stop taking the shovel to the fireplace and hug your mother for once.
posted by The Whelk at 11:06 PM on December 31, 2011


I like time zones, they let me wake up, sit here with my coffee and count down to midnight again :)
posted by infini at 11:46 PM on December 31, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wait ... it's 2010 here now? Is that supposed to happen? I knew something was up when I saw the sun set in the east this evening.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:47 PM on December 31, 2011


Last night felt totally like 1999, so it must be 2000 again around here.
posted by daniel_charms at 11:50 PM on December 31, 2011


Too late now.
posted by daniel_charms at 12:00 AM on January 1, 2012


Show's over, get back to 2012, everyone.
posted by daniel_charms at 12:02 AM on January 1, 2012


Happy New Year's, internet people.
posted by villanelles at dawn at 12:13 AM on January 1, 2012


Auld Lang Syne
posted by infini at 12:22 AM on January 1, 2012


The thing is, without the list narrowed down to at least 10 to choose from, it becomes a contest decided by a very small subset of MetaFilter who are invested in enough in the site to A) have been around most the month, B) read the blue regularly and C) absorb a LOT of content.

What if we used the fantastic flagging system to post the top 10 posts made in December and "flagged as fantastic" and posted them as individual comments in MetaTalk? Then set up this MeTa so that any MeFi member can favorite one and only one comment in the post. That way, we can have a viewers choice award, it's digestible accessible to everyone, it's narrowed down from a huge pool (and based on what people already think is fantastic) and voting is public and easy. Plus, it encourages using the flagging system and uses tools we already have implemented on the site.
posted by iamkimiam at 2:01 AM on January 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


Moar people should study mefi (flagged as fantastic)
posted by infini at 2:38 AM on January 1, 2012


Isn't all of this procedural debate kind of farts in the wind? Whatever system of selection is decided on, this is meaningless. The announcement of the contest included the criteria and process of selection (in January podcast, mods will select from a number of defined categories).

As this is totally unofficial, "the People's Choice", why not just have people here in thread call out their favs? The people so nominated can bask in the purely symbolic glory without any further ado...
posted by Meatbomb at 2:59 AM on January 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Matt is going to have to outsource judging to a team of 10 guys from Bangalore

See, I knew that, and that's why I slipped in at least one Indian music FPP in December! Now I'm a shoo-in!

The people so nominated can bask in the purely symbolic glory

All purely symbolic glory is purely symbolically fleeting.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:44 AM on January 1, 2012


Now I'm a shoo-in!

Did I ever mention I'd done my engineering from good old Bangalore U?
posted by infini at 4:29 AM on January 1, 2012


Bangalore U

You wanna what me?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:36 AM on January 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


I nominate this thread as the best of the interwebs. All of them.
posted by daniel_charms at 4:52 AM on January 1, 2012


Kattullus has the simplest idea that doesn't involve the mods or current flagging system.

Do we have any volunteers who would be able to create the form he described?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:47 AM on January 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


There's no argument that can't be solved with a good shouting match. Let's just start shouting about what we liked and the post with the most vocal support wins.
posted by daniel_charms at 7:02 AM on January 1, 2012


On second thought, I agree with BB.
posted by daniel_charms at 7:02 AM on January 1, 2012


Actually, it might be easier on people if you create the form in a way that shows Brandon's list of the December posts with a checkbox next to each post. Limit the selections to 5 and let the form tally up the results, like a Doodle poll.

(Because I really don't see myself tracking down and copying and pasting URLs into a form. Hell, I can't even remember ANY 5 posts from December and I read MeFi obsessively!* In sum, I love the idea of MeFi choice awards but wouldn't have time to really delve into the past too much to cast votes...I'd need an easy-to-digest-and-mark long list to choose from, or a shortlist of nominees. Make it quick and fun, almost like a mini-game – "What of this did you like best?", where I don't have to do research to find what I liked – and I'm loving it.)

*Because of this, from me you'd end up with my picks skewed towards the recency effect. Also, culling through my favorites from December wouldn't work because I often favorite for different reasons than simply liking something (I sometimes figure that if I really liked a post, I'll want to refer back to it when I'm reminded of it for some reason, for which I use the "site:metafilter.com" search function).
posted by iamkimiam at 7:23 AM on January 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


Actually, it might be easier on people if you create the form in a way that shows Brandon's list of the December posts with a checkbox next to each post. Limit the selections to 5 and let the form tally up the results, like a Doodle poll.

Eh, then people have to click to see what the actual post was, which is kinda annoying for 31 days of posts.

You have a point about recency, but that's ok, IMO, 'cause this is just for fun and not a rigorously designed ballot for an important award or position.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:32 AM on January 1, 2012


But I have to click anyway to get the URL. And with the list way, I can recognize the posts that I liked and remember reading and just go, "Oh, yep, definitely that one!" Checkbox click, done.

I realize that this isn't that big of a deal, but it's good fun and so it's therefore important to make it easy for people to participate in. Sorry to be a pain about this, but I just know I'll never get around to participating if it's not spoon-fed (because my memory for this sort of thing is shit, I loathe cutting and pasting, but I want to participate!)
posted by iamkimiam at 8:05 AM on January 1, 2012


That's cool, do you or anyone else, know of free polling software that'll import the data? Fishbike hinted that it wouldn't be hard to get the list of December 2011 posts, so perhaps he could chime on how that's done once someone finds decent polling software.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:28 AM on January 1, 2012




iamkimiam: Actually, it might be easier on people if you create the form in a way that shows Brandon's list of the December posts with a checkbox next to each post.

To me the list of every post seems overwhelmingly cumbersome. If it would just be by post-title, I would find it hard to pair most of my favorite posts with their title. For example, daniel_charms' post about the Futurist opera Victory Over the Sun has the title Happy Solstice! which I didn't remember at all. If I hadn't looked it up just now I would never have paired the post with the title. I think it's better to have a blank field for URLs and a link to the archive for December. While it isn't the perfect overview, you can at least search by ctrl+f, which makes it reasonably easy to find half-remembered posts.
posted by Kattullus at 9:15 AM on January 1, 2012


Heh. It's funny that you can't favorite posts from that page. But I guess that it might mess up the order of things.
posted by iamkimiam at 9:16 AM on January 1, 2012


"To me the list of every post seems overwhelmingly cumbersome."

Oh, I totally agree. Which is why I think it'd be neat if there were something in between the two solutions, perhaps a "Quick! Pick 5 out of these Top 20* posts from December!"

*The Top 20 being the top 20 most favorited December posts, or some other available metric that says, "Hey, this post is fantastic!"

I'm starting to feel dizzy and so I think I'll go lie down.

posted by iamkimiam at 9:23 AM on January 1, 2012


iamkimiam: The Top 20 being the top 20 most favorited December posts, or some other available metric that says, "Hey, this post is fantastic!"

In which case we might as well just produce a list of the top 20 favorited posts and call it a day. My favorite posts of the month wouldn't feature on that list.
posted by Kattullus at 9:53 AM on January 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


First there should be some definitions around the metrics by which the posts will be evaluated. Number of favourites seems to imply popular (kittens! flash games! viral video et al) which may or may not be equivalent to December's best post per se. However since this is about Mefite's Choice Awards, then number of favourites may be apropos.
posted by infini at 10:57 AM on January 1, 2012


First there should be some definitions around the metrics by which the posts will be evaluated.

Any post made between 12:00am Dec 1st (pacific time) and 11:59pm on December 31st (pacific time) sounds like all the criteria that's needed.

Number of favourites seems to imply popular (kittens! flash games! viral video et al)

Currently, posts with the most favorites for December are about, in order:

1. The soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou?

2. Best of songs of 2011 Lists

3. Apollo 15 stamp affair

4. Best essays from 2011

5. Advanced Mathematics

6. Reference of web standards for developers

7. Tools for fixing infected Windows machines

8. An astounding physical feat, i.e. The Best Pole Dance Ever'

9. Recipe for NYC halal style Chicken and Rice

10. The Python programming language and why it's awesome

11. What humanity learned from landing on the moon

12 How doctors deal with death


No kittens, no Flash games, no viral videos, just a bunch of posts that touch on science, music, math, the web, food and humanity.

After reading that list, I gotta say, you kids are damn annoying at times, but overall your'e alright. Would you like to get off my lawn and come inside?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:46 AM on January 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


Done. There's your list - Top 12 for 2012
posted by infini at 11:52 AM on January 1, 2012


There's your list - Top 12 for 2012

1. 2012 just stared.
2. Presuming you mean Top 12 for 2011, that list only includes posts from December, 2011.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:04 PM on January 1, 2012


Ya, okayyyy

How about the Top 12 from month 12? ;p
posted by infini at 12:17 PM on January 1, 2012


13. How to whistle loudly.
posted by daniel_charms at 1:14 PM on January 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


How about the Top 12 from month 12? ;p

Why 12 and not 11?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 1:28 PM on January 1, 2012


No wait guys, I got it...what about Top 14 for all the numbers in 2011 added together, plus 10?
posted by iamkimiam at 2:07 PM on January 1, 2012


Because for some reason you have the top 12 listed there instead of 10
posted by infini at 2:08 PM on January 1, 2012


You know, come to think of it, the favourites-based method isn't really that bad, at least not for a casual poll like this. Hell, we could even just match the posts with most favorites to the categories proposed above and call it a day.

And after we're done with that, we could try the shouting match method I proposed earlier.
posted by daniel_charms at 2:09 PM on January 1, 2012


I mean, people's ideas of what an awesome post is are so different and situational that you can't really expect to find a much better metric anyway.

Although to get more information out of this and more accurate results, it would still be better to pick, say, 10 most favorited posts for each category and have people vote for them. Otherwise, it may seem like people on MeFi really really like mega linkdump posts, whereas it might easily be that what they actually like is end of the year best-of lists and posts about O Brother Where Art Thou.
posted by daniel_charms at 2:19 PM on January 1, 2012


No wait guys, I got it...what about Top 14 for all the numbers in 2011 added together, plus 10?

I think counting the most popular numbers in 2011 is a bit much, we're just interested in the posts. Plus adding 10 to the final tally makes no sense, it should be a prime number.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 2:21 PM on January 1, 2012


1. 2012 just stared.

2ಠ_ಠ12
posted by SpacemanStix at 3:42 PM on January 1, 2012 [3 favorites]


Burhanistan: "I think the post contests bring out the worst in the massive linkdump and posting-for-the-sake-of-posting posts."

Oh absolutely. None of my crappy linkdumps would have even happened without the lure of sweet, sweet cash and prizes.
posted by Deathalicious at 11:38 AM on January 4, 2012 [2 favorites]


No activity in a long while; this is sort of different from the job this post set out, and I now realize that people dislike long posts a lot more than I thought (and my trains post sucked, and infini's was spectacular), so I will continue to alter what I post [it seems impossible to predict what people will like] attempting to upgrade readability, but anyway, I'd love to see people post their favorite OWN link of the month or year... it would be neat or interesting to see peoples self selected favorite (own) post.

Some people post often, and about varied topics, so seeing what really interested them, or what made them say "Woah!" would really interest me.

I hope this doesn't make people upset (I know that in past years, people got angry when someone posted their own comment in a "favorite comments this year" post). I just didn't think it was so different from this posts topic.

For me, it would be this blog by a young bone collector, who seems to be well on his way to great things... niche, but full of interesting side-topics.

What post did you make last year that you would love more people to see or read, what post did you make that most interested you?
posted by infinite intimation at 8:22 AM on January 8, 2012 [1 favorite]


I like posts that make me say "Whoa, I did not know anything about this ever in the 40 odd years since I learnt how to read and I kept getting gifts of those big coffee table books on "strange things" and "how things are made" etc ".

Here's a recent one on Libyan sand glass.
posted by infini at 8:57 AM on January 8, 2012 [2 favorites]


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