72: Best Post Contest Results

The results of the August Best Post Contest are finally here, in this 1:15 long podcast where we recap our favorites

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All posts on MeFi for August, sorted by top favorites

Olympics stuff

Jessamyn's guide to watching the Olympics

What Olympic athlete are you most like physically?

The story of the Speedo Swimsuit technology

WIRED magazine looks at the science of Olympic sports

What if every sport was photographed like the Olympics?

CLOP/QWOP unicorn game (also QWOP cosplay)

YouTube posts

Malt whisky reviews from Ralfy

The Games We Play

Supercuts: Baby Got Back sung by movies, Breaking Bad Remix

Gotye mashup/remix

MeFi Projects

Ms. Attribution (posted on MeFi)

Shrinp.com (cortex Jessamyn mathowie)

More favorites

Syracuse University's Earth Science videos

On the verb "fart"

Dogshaming (boyfriendshaming)

The Library of the Abbey of St. Gall
(codice example Codex Seraphinianus Voynich manuscript Toynbee tiles)

The LoseThos OS

Facial recognition looping (the creator showed up)

We put a car on Mars! and the Mars Science Laboratory

Images from past SciFi conventions (examples: 1, 2, 3, 4)

An actually good Vice President pick post

Super Mario on 2600

The wunnerful women of the Lawrence Welk Show

The Powerball simulator shows how much you can lose playing the lottery

The Great Big Sea megapost

The Giant Beer mega post

Camel Corps post

Ishi, the last of the Yahi

High Weirdness by Mail

taz's favorite: Divine Lorraine

Empire of Stars: the British Space Program

WINNERS!!!

3rd place: The Games We Play by Christ, what an asshole

2nd place: Camel Corps post/Ishi, the last of the Yahi by filthy light thief

1st place: High Weirdness by Mail by JHarris

posted by mathowie to MeFi Podcast at 12:53 PM (131 comments total)

YAY!!!! AWESOME! Congratulations JHarris! It's well deserved.
posted by zarq at 1:02 PM on September 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

I'm glad a SLYT one at least made the podium.
posted by Curious Artificer at 1:02 PM on September 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

:) Congrats, all.
posted by tilde at 1:05 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Thus began SEVERAL HOURS OF SLACK.

That was an amazing post, JHarris.
posted by mintcake! at 1:11 PM on September 6, 2012

Yes! JHarris' post was fucking unstoppable. Epic, epic slack. Well earned! Way to go, all!
posted by absalom at 1:11 PM on September 6, 2012

Congrats all!
posted by Artw at 1:20 PM on September 6, 2012

The creator (memorably) showed up in the LoseThos OS post too.
posted by Egg Shen at 1:20 PM on September 6, 2012

We discuss that.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 1:33 PM on September 6, 2012

Congratulations everyone! Double-exrta congratulations to the winners! Inverted triple-axle congratulations to JHarris!
posted by griphus at 1:36 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I had totally missed the GBS megapost (I think it came out while I was sick) so I am delighted to see it happened and get a chance to look through it. Congrats to the winners!
posted by immlass at 2:00 PM on September 6, 2012

Damn, I thought for sure I was in after this comment.

Congrats, peeps! And thanks for your effort in putting the posts together!
posted by Greg Nog at 2:02 PM on September 6, 2012

I'd be willing to give this a shot next year if we can start including MetaTalk posts in the competition.
posted by gman at 2:06 PM on September 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

And thanks very much for everyone who made this month of posts really worth paying attention to and helped keep August much less doldrum-y. There were so many really great posts and I realize it sounds like a terrible cliche but it honestly was difficult to choose.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:11 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

The first link in the winning post is dead. Linkrot is why we can't have nice things.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:14 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

AUGUST is the raddest month, breeding
Postings out of the internet, mixing
megaposts and mashups, stirring
Bored mods with MeTas.
posted by griphus at 2:18 PM on September 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

I'm not sure why y'all hate corgis so much, but this post clearly should have taken 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. kmz was robbed. ROBBED.
posted by phunniemee at 2:26 PM on September 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

Congratulations to JHarris. That post was one of the most awesome posts of all time, let alone August 2012.
posted by bukvich at 2:32 PM on September 6, 2012

Haha, awesome work JHarris! You killed it, buddy.
posted by laconic skeuomorph at 2:33 PM on September 6, 2012

Have a sour poffin JHarris!
posted by The Whelk at 2:42 PM on September 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

So! My official honorable mention goes to divabat's "WE’RE YOUR BEST GIRLFRIEND AND YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE", a post about Femmecon as well as femme issues within queer culture generally. This was definitely one of those "How did I not know this con existed?" posts for me as well as a thread that, while bumpy, had some great anecdotes from a bunch of people about being queer and femme.

(And thank you for putting up with my zombiness. Worldcon was great! Worldcon ran from 9am-10pm for four solid days, and that doesn't count the parties!)
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 2:44 PM on September 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Is it slack, though, to win first prize? Would slack be more thoroughly embodied by the post that doesn't compete, but simply knows it is superior to all those who did enter?

no really, it was a great post and it made me wonder where all my old books disappeared to
posted by Ghidorah at 2:51 PM on September 6, 2012

The Whelk Art History Post Award goes to kirkaracha for The Raft Of The Medusa
posted by The Whelk at 2:52 PM on September 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

The Never Leaving Your Room Comics Writi Award goes to ArtW
posted by The Whelk at 2:55 PM on September 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

And finally, The Sarah Siddons Statue Of Primary Source History Posts goes to Miko.
posted by The Whelk at 2:57 PM on September 6, 2012

Yay!
posted by veryape at 3:37 PM on September 6, 2012

Is it slack, though, to win first prize?

It is slack to spend that time putting together a labor of love instead of pulling a double shift at the cube farm to pay for some extra vanity commodities down at the Human Store, see.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:54 PM on September 6, 2012 [6 favorites]

I totally leave my room all the time.
posted by Artw at 4:07 PM on September 6, 2012

They do things differently outside my room. I don't like it there.
posted by The Whelk at 4:11 PM on September 6, 2012

I actually do all my writing here, about a block away from where the last meetup I went to was (also a block away from the ensuing post-midnight karaoke).
posted by Artw at 4:14 PM on September 6, 2012

How do you write in public? I need to be like strapped to the chair and have headphones blasting white noise on a loop. All those people and sounds and smells! So distracting!
posted by The Whelk at 4:17 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I've been behind on reading the blue all last month, so this contest has turned out to be a boon for catching up on the good stuff. Congratulations all around, especially JHarris who only got one category nod last time around despite literally making a placeworthy post every single day.

re:Paul Ryan thread, I'm just sad no one saw what I did there.
posted by Rhaomi at 4:19 PM on September 6, 2012 [4 favorites]

It turns out that while I'm super sensitive about writing around people I know, a room full of strangers is actually functionally equivalent to no people at all to me.

There's usually a row of other people doing the same thing - the have good power sockets.

(always tip well)
posted by Artw at 4:20 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

I'm just sad no one saw what I did there.

OMG I love it so much more now even...!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:21 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Most popular post that we didn't mention award goes to crunchland. Seriously was a great post but was nichey and didn't ping any of our radars specifically. flex also had two awesome posts but was ineligible to win.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:25 PM on September 6, 2012

Thanks for the congratulations everyone. I don't think I agree that the High Weirdness post is the best this month, but I've come in second place enough times that I won't argue the point too strongly, heh.
posted by JHarris at 4:30 PM on September 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

It's okay I'll keep quiet about your passion for Foul Bachelor Goons
posted by The Whelk at 4:39 PM on September 6, 2012

I'm just sad no one saw what I did there.

I actually meant to call out the cheeky parallelism! It was to lol! But once we start rolling on a podcast everything kind of goes out the window.
posted by cortex (staff) at 4:42 PM on September 6, 2012

something something math and rouge likes
posted by The Whelk at 4:42 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

JHarris, I didn't even notice that post until now. Wow, nice job!

My scrolling finger even got tired and I was giving it a quick look-over before jumping in.

Okay, this thing has to end any time now. Okay NOW. No, NOW. Dang, still goin'...
posted by SpacemanStix at 4:53 PM on September 6, 2012

I've started on a fair chunk of the transcription, and Pronoiac will be setting up Fanscribed for it later for anyone who would like to chip in (as he did for the last few episodes)!
posted by beryllium at 5:01 PM on September 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

Ass Metafilter??

Also, is this audio "sped up"? Everyone's voice sounds a bit pitched up...
posted by grog at 5:03 PM on September 6, 2012

Congratulations, winners!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:09 PM on September 6, 2012

All the mods are on whippets.
posted by The Whelk at 5:11 PM on September 6, 2012

in this 1:15 long podcast where we recap our favorites

Oh man, transcribing these 75 seconds is going to be really hard.
posted by ceribus peribus at 5:12 PM on September 6, 2012 [3 favorites]

jessamyn: Most popular post that we didn't mention award goes to crunchland.

He's asked me to accept the award on his behalf and donate all his past and future favourites to the less fortunate and more covetous members of this community.
posted by gman at 5:13 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

(I think I will stop at the 30-minute mark until the Fanscribed properly goes up, so if anyone else is experiencing excessive transcription enthusiasm and is trying to start now, after that point might be a good place to do so!)
posted by beryllium at 5:18 PM on September 6, 2012

Hey beryllium! Pronoiac may be working on the fanscribed page right now. Looks like #66just broke. Herm.

Congrats JHarris! Woo!
posted by TangerineGurl at 5:25 PM on September 6, 2012

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
posted by crunchland at 5:44 PM on September 6, 2012

There's worse things in this world than looking good in seafoam.
posted by cog_nate at 6:59 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

TangerineGurl: "Congrats JHarris! Woo!"

Woo indeed! Congrats to all. Shocked I missed Corgi cam.
posted by arcticseal at 7:04 PM on September 6, 2012

"Hey! You live in anonymous proxy too!? Wanna Hang out? reply now"
-Alexander Graham Bell
posted by vozworth at 7:16 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hey all. The server crashed, and I had to manually do some work after it rebooted. I'll let beryllium post the link, to avoid duplicating work.

OMG CorgiCam <3 <3 <3 it's like weaponized cuteness
posted by Pronoiac at 7:22 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

All the mods are on whippets.

You misspelled corgis.
posted by phunniemee at 7:35 PM on September 6, 2012

Would it be possible to change the wording of the "Are you sure you want to leave this page?" popup to say "Yo, dipshit, you're listening to the podcast and if you hit F5 to see the new comments you'll get bounced back to the beginning with no way to fast-forward to where you were"?

Just wondering.
posted by Lexica at 8:08 PM on September 6, 2012

And here's the link to help transcribe this episode, #72! Thanks to Pronoiac for setting this up, and please come join in on the transcription!

It's lots of fun, and this episode looks to be another great one.
posted by beryllium at 8:10 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

O Yay! Congratulations to all, especially JHarris!!

How much fun is that to wake up to this announcement *just* as I have to prepare to leave for a dental specialist's appointment?
posted by infini at 8:33 PM on September 6, 2012

though is it alright to confess I liked filthy light thief's post better (but just because I'm into history)
posted by infini at 8:42 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Regarding codex and codices: why, cortex, did you list those other words with the -ex / -ices pattern, but not cortex and cortices?!
posted by ocherdraco at 9:35 PM on September 6, 2012

(That's mock outrage, btw. Just to be clear.)
posted by ocherdraco at 9:36 PM on September 6, 2012

Look, ever since I managed to off the one without the goatee I've just preferred not to even discuss the idea of there being two of us.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:43 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

he's been like this since the haircut I tell you!
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:47 PM on September 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

it's like the story of samson
posted by The Whelk at 9:50 PM on September 6, 2012

Holy cow - epic congratulations to JHarris (my birthday twin!)
posted by hapax_legomenon at 9:59 PM on September 6, 2012

And when he's going to a formal event he wears a cortux.
posted by boo_radley at 10:48 PM on September 6, 2012

Great work JHarris and filthy light thief - where can I go to cash in the exacta box?
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:48 PM on September 6, 2012 [1 favorite]

Congrats everyone, well deserved!
posted by carter at 3:34 AM on September 7, 2012

I checked all of August's posts hoping that infini had made one of the non-winning ones, because it would have been excellent motivation for future contest participants: first place is an iPad, second and third are cash money donations, but last place means you're fired a Special Dentist Appointment.
posted by ceribus peribus at 3:40 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

*OUCH*

Two more coming up, I've never had a root canal before, what shall I expect next week and how can I be the best root canal patient ever?
posted by infini at 4:11 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ha!

I mainly did that British Space Programme post because we'd had a whole bunch of excellent space ones in and around Neil Armstrong's death, and that reminded me that I'd been meaning to do a post on Britain in space for a while - not least because I love how 1998 all the websites about it are in design terms.

I'd actually forgotten about the August contest until someone in the comments mentioned it, so I'm rather chuffed that it got a mention here!
posted by garius at 4:30 AM on September 7, 2012

it's like the story of samson

now i am imagining cortex as a sassy pomeranian
posted by elizardbits at 4:45 AM on September 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

I'd been meaning to do a post on Britain in space for a while - not least because I love how 1998 all the websites about it are in design terms.

That would be because the 1999 Moon Disaster brought all progress to a halt.
posted by Artw at 5:12 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

I got mentioned for the first time on the podcast! So I'm pretty pleased with that.
posted by Chrysostom at 5:48 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

That would be because the 1999 Moon Disaster brought all progress to a halt.

We design websites like we build our rockets - we only use ten year old tech as its rock solid, cheap and works.

Just realised I should probably de-British the sentiments in my first post above as well (is "chuffed" even a word in that strange stepchild of English found across the pond?):

I'm happy to admit that I'm totally "a back seat driver" on here (think I've done about ten posts, across all the subsites, ever) and Filthy Light Thief is a bit of a posting hero as far as I'm concerned (That Yahi post is easily my favourite post so far this year).

With JHarris's post being amazing, and all the other great posters mentioned as well, today I feel a bit like an Indie flick director who's shocked to discover he got nominated for an Oscar.

There may be some kind of award ceremony going on at the front, and at some point later in the evening I'll probably drunkenly ask Thief for an autograph or accidentally spill beer down Jessamyn's dress, but who cares? Right now I'm just gonna sit back here at the bar in my rented tusk and bask in the glory of the company I've found myself in.

Plus... seriously guys... you should see what they put in the goody bags for this thing! The signed photo of Cortex in a mankini is a bit wierd, but the Magic 8-Ball that generates titles for AskMe romance threads is kinda cool.
posted by garius at 5:58 AM on September 7, 2012 [5 favorites]

Or even *tux*
posted by garius at 6:00 AM on September 7, 2012

My favourite British rocketry invention was one of the nuclear missiles - Blue Steel maybe? - that had a little hatch for the bomb to drop out of, because clearly having a nuclear explosion go off inside your missile rather than next to it would be a bad thing.
posted by Artw at 6:03 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

If I remember, that was indeed Blue Steel. The missile that was only allowed fuel or a warhead, but not both (for safety reasons).

_{And now i'll go back to the bar and stop hogging/derailing the thread.}
posted by garius at 6:15 AM on September 7, 2012

Or even *tux*

I sort of liked the first image.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:29 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is only tangentially related, but how did 31d1's (of shrinp fame) profile get so pink?
posted by capricorn at 7:53 AM on September 7, 2012

They have a MetaFilter VIP account. You can change your profile background color, use inline images in threads (visible only to other VIP users,) access to a private chatroom that has internet celebrities dropping by occasionally, and you can call cortex just to say 'hey' whenever you want. It's a little expensive, but definitely worth it.
posted by griphus at 8:01 AM on September 7, 2012 [3 favorites]

Wait, you have JUST a VIP account?

Well well well
posted by The Whelk at 8:11 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Dude we don't talk about Cabal+ in the open.
posted by griphus at 8:15 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

(is "chuffed" even a word in that strange stepchild of English found across the pond?)

Not really! Or to the extent it is, it's as a self-conscious Britishism. And the best part is that a lot of people for whatever interesting bit of phonetic/morphological priming reasons tend to misanalyze it as meaning "angry/bummed/disappointed" rather than "happy/thrilled/delighted". So you've got a dude from e.g. London being like "I can't believe that happened, I'm totally chuffed!" and someone from Boston is like "oh I'm so sorry what happened?".

I think it's compounded by encountering it in text, too, since you can't read intonation into it nearly so easily. But yes!

The signed photo of Cortex in a mankini is a bit wierd

Don't ask me how I held the pen.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:16 AM on September 7, 2012

Genetic Programming: Evolution of Mona Lisa and the MetaFilter post that mentions it
posted by Rhomboid at 8:31 AM on September 7, 2012

You are a hero, Rhomboid.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:40 AM on September 7, 2012

Congrats to the winners.... y'all did good!
posted by HuronBob at 8:42 AM on September 7, 2012

And congratulations to the secret winners..... you know who you are.
posted by The Whelk at 8:43 AM on September 7, 2012

It was the first hit for the first thing that I typed into google, which was [mona lisa genetic evolution], so all credit should go to google. Now if only they would punish all these jackasses that put up fake pages that come up when you try to find the tab for a song that hasn't been tabbed yet...
posted by Rhomboid at 9:00 AM on September 7, 2012

Codex Seraphinianus: posted previously thrice, but all links are wonky or dead. You can still see one here on Flickr. As shii mentioned, it is commercially available (I think shii was one of the people who has scanned the book and posted it online, possibly the source of the now-dead Archive.org version of the book). While it probably shouldn't be on Archive.org, I'm sad that the searchable text version is offline.

And the tome is overwhelming in person, not just online. I can't actually get through the whole thing, and forgot where I started where I last "read" through the book. Some day, I will have nothing to do, and I will sit in a quiet room with good lighting, and absorb the codex. Some day. Until then, I rest comfortably, knowing that the codex is near by.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:10 AM on September 7, 2012

One of my Life Goals is to get to read at least some of that book in person.
posted by griphus at 9:11 AM on September 7, 2012

Congrats to everyone!
posted by bjgeiger at 9:22 AM on September 7, 2012

Amazon.it has the Codex Seraphinianus back in stock for about $100 USD, and it does ship to the US. There's also an Amazon.com reseller who sells stock from Italy, if you don't want to create an Amazon.it account.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:38 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

Wait, I thought logins worked across all Amazon.countries?
posted by elizardbits at 9:53 AM on September 7, 2012

Oh yay! Thanks for the love, taz. And congratulations, JHarris!
posted by jrossi4r at 9:53 AM on September 7, 2012

This thread has no continuity girl. I'm confused.

*meanwhile, back at the ranch, starts practicing for December iPad giveaway*
posted by infini at 10:01 AM on September 7, 2012

Never order from Amazon.uqbar
posted by griphus at 10:15 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

*meanwhile, back at the ranch, starts practicing for December iPad giveaway*

I'm actually suprised at how far up that sorted-by-faves list some of my posts are - I'm going to have to start stockpiling the good ones*.

* Has no idea which ones the good ones are.
posted by Artw at 10:18 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

* Has no idea which ones the good ones are.

I keep favourites turned off. I suppose that doesn't help the build.test.learn process
posted by infini at 10:20 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

capricorn: From approximately 12:43 AM to 12:55 PM (when mathowie realized it introduced security issues) on April 15, 2007, users were able to insert custom CSS into their profiles.

Users who modified their profiles during this time had their profiles grandfathered in, as long as they never made another change to their profiles. Thus, as mentioned in the podcast, 31d1 now uses a different account, [@I][:+:][@I], which apparently represents two turntables and a microphone.

(That would be a real stumper in the username spelling competition, which I still think is the most awesome idea.)

Also, griphus, how is your name properly pronounced?
posted by beryllium at 10:22 AM on September 7, 2012

I keep favourites turned off. I suppose that doesn't help the build.test.learn process

Looking at my popular favourited I should mainly just talk about CSS and insult people all the time. That sounds a bit to much like my day job TBH.
posted by Artw at 10:28 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

"Gri" like "grip," "fis" like "fist." Gri-fis.
posted by griphus at 10:30 AM on September 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

So they got your name right in the podcast, griphus. (Like griffins, but griffis, phonetically).

mathowie: show us the bikes!
posted by filthy light thief at 10:33 AM on September 7, 2012

That is incorrect. Your name is pronounced grye-fuss. Sorry to have to break it to you.
posted by phunniemee at 10:34 AM on September 7, 2012 [5 favorites]

No no no, its grip haus (and don't let it go when the levee breaks)
posted by infini at 10:37 AM on September 7, 2012

Or it could be gri fuss...
posted by infini at 10:37 AM on September 7, 2012

Ohh, it was the longest post contest.
posted by allseeingabstract at 10:38 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's pronounced throatwarbler mangrove
posted by The Whelk at 10:38 AM on September 7, 2012

Ahem ... Susan?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:41 AM on September 7, 2012

Hurray! Congrats to JHarris! More importantly...new podcast!!
posted by Phire at 10:49 AM on September 7, 2012

I actually have no idea how it's supposed to be pronounced. It's a Latin word I picked out of a dictionary, having not had a single day of Latin instruction in my life. I pronounce it the way I do because it shares a syllable with my last name.

I started listening to the podcast on the bus this morning and haven't gotten to the discussion of the pronunciation of my name. I think this happened last time I made the podcast, too!

No no no, its grip haus...

Well, I am mighty-mighty.
posted by griphus at 10:51 AM on September 7, 2012 [1 favorite]

... keeping it all held tight?

A note for the podcast: Legend: A Journey Through Iceland was the time-lapse video of Iceland, set to the music of Mono.

I actually felt like I could have posted more, but being a stay-at-home dad doesn't provide as much computer time as I thought it might. And my wife noted that any time I spent on MetaFilter was generally time I could have spent with my son, so he's getting the award.

I spent too much time on that Orbital post, but those were mostly evenings, when I could listen to music and not worry about little light thief eating rocks or cats.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:53 AM on September 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Amazon.it has the Codex Seraphinianus back in stock

I've got this edition, and it's probably the most physically beautiful book I own.
posted by Zed at 10:55 AM on September 7, 2012

That would probably be my personal Dave, on balance.

Sorry Griph, I am fickle.
posted by Artw at 10:56 AM on September 7, 2012

Actually, no, wait. I heard this one. It's pronounced fish, right?
posted by phunniemee at 10:56 AM on September 7, 2012

And Dave would be "fave"... Sigh.
posted by Artw at 10:56 AM on September 7, 2012

I think this happened last time I made the podcast, too!

We even discuss the possibility that that is so. This is a tarpit here, we're gonna die in a maze of metareference.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:58 AM on September 7, 2012

Never order from Amazon.uqbar

Amazon.tlön has a better selection and a shorter url!
posted by ersatz at 11:01 AM on September 7, 2012

This is a tarpit here, we're gonna die in a maze of metareference.

It is very dark. You are likely to be eaten by a meme.
posted by The Whelk at 11:04 AM on September 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

xyzzy

(Pronounced "gree-flux")
posted by griphus at 11:06 AM on September 7, 2012

Regarding "women standing around in bikinis at science fiction conventions" bit in the podcast: that's how Wendy Pini got her start, cosplaying Red Sonja before she started Elfquest.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:30 AM on September 7, 2012 [2 favorites]

Thanks beryllium. You've always been one of my favorite elements.
posted by capricorn at 11:50 AM on September 7, 2012

Although I've always had a penchant for Scorpios
posted by infini at 12:01 PM on September 7, 2012

> So! My official honorable mention goes to divabat's "WE’RE YOUR BEST GIRLFRIEND AND YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE", a post about Femmecon as well as femme issues within queer culture generally. This was definitely one of those "How did I not know this con existed?" posts for me as well as a thread that, while bumpy, had some great anecdotes from a bunch of people about being queer and femme.

Had no idea about this post, glad you mentioned it--it is AWESOME. I too had no idea there was a name now for that look/persona that gets me weak in the knees, tomboyfemme. Le sigh.
posted by ifjuly at 12:59 PM on September 7, 2012

The Whelk Art History Post Award goes to kirkaracha for The Raft Of The Medusa

That was amazing. I'm a huge fan of historical maritime disasters for some morbid reason -- I think perhaps I drowned in a shipwreck in a previous life or something -- but that one had escaped my attention, and the whole saga was utterly riveting.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:51 AM on September 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, cool - beryllium (& ceribus peribus) finished off the transcript yesterday afternoon! It's on the wiki now.
posted by Pronoiac at 4:31 PM on September 8, 2012

Chuffed is the perfect word. I am absolutely chuffed.
I tend towards little teeny posts that never generate discussion, so it's very nice to hear that someone liked That Neat Thing I Found On The Internet.
posted by Catch at 6:46 PM on September 8, 2012

I'm sorry I'm not getting around to it until now (start of the school year has been hectic) but howfar's August 30 post on Spasticus Autisticus and the Paralympics was a shining example of what MeFi exists for: Shit you didn't know anything about, and how it relates to other shit you didn't know anything about.
posted by etc. at 8:31 PM on September 8, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yay! Mentioned in a podcast, and there was not a single reference to what a terrible person I am! This is...unexpected; I had this whole great flameout speech planned, and now I don't get to use it. Ahh well, next time.

Congrats on a well deserved win JHarris.
posted by quin at 9:55 AM on September 9, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yup, some great posts through August, and special thanks to everyone who made great posts - all the more so for setting a high bar for JHarris to channel pre-web crazies. And Stang.
posted by davemee at 3:52 PM on September 9, 2012

So very, very many good posts!
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed!
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 5:27 PM on September 9, 2012

Wow, I didn't see that Somebodies link. What an incredible thing.
posted by Buckt at 11:48 AM on September 16, 2012

And I feel great that filthy light thief's post on the U.S. army Camel Corps made it in!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 6:24 AM on September 30, 2012