Best of the Best of the Best, Sir! With Honors, Sir!

April 13, 2017 9:09 AM

Click on "My Profile". Click on the number to the right of "Favorited by others:". Just to the right of the phrase "Show Favorites Activity", click on the word "Popular". Copy and paste the top result into this MeTa thread (with hyperlink).
posted by WCityMike to MetaFilter-Related at 9:09 AM (306 comments total)

Sometimes I think the Scandinavian countries are just a fiction designed to make me feel bad about being an American. [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 188 times
posted by Rock Steady at 9:14 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Web 2.0 Vaudeville
MeFi post - favorited 214 times
posted by beerperson at 9:17 AM on April 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

not the usual bhaji
MeFi post - favorited 170 times
posted by infini at 9:23 AM on April 13, 2017

I can live with that, precious loss is my own favourite though - it's a close second.
posted by infini at 9:24 AM on April 13, 2017

I got an unidentified Chicago-area phone number on my work phone yesterday, but I had time to kill so I answered it. It was Pew Research! "Did I have time to share my thoughts about how America--" OH, YES, I DO!....

favorited 114 times

Pretty proud of the fave count, but also at having bothered to answer a political survey. I did one again this week, too.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:26 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wait, posts or comments? Or either?
posted by wenestvedt at 9:27 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wait, posts or comments? Or either?

Favorited by others combines both, so according to WCityMike's rules, it's just whatever comes first.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:32 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

People were pretty happy about marriage equality and about me abusing mod privileges to stick a rainbow flag in the thread.
posted by cortex (staff) at 9:32 AM on April 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

the fierce eloquence of Muhammad Ali
posted by philip-random at 9:42 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Some say I am still bats.

Hint: the answer is true.
posted by Tevin at 9:44 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

My dad asked recently, "Don't you love how mango makes your mouth kind of numb and tingly?" He was surprised to learn that this is not a universal experience, and that he is probably allergic to mango.
MeFi post - favorited 143 times
posted by coppermoss at 9:44 AM on April 13, 2017 [13 favorites]

plucking this low-hanging fruit is apparently my finest moment here
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:45 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oh how I love this: Pregerson: And you're a great lawyer. Voelker: I appreciate you saying that, Your Honor. Pregerson: I mean, it says so, right there on your web site.... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 93 times
posted by not_the_water at 9:45 AM on April 13, 2017

Orbital, 23 years after Chime
MeFi post - favorited 224 times

Any excuse to listen to Orbital is good by me (btw, they re-made their single Kinetic this year, and called it Kinetic 2017 [YT, official video] -- also, they're apparently back in the studio, making a new album).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:49 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

I find this video pretty distasteful (and that's aside from the link between cacao plantations in Cote d'Ivoire and child slavery). I work in southwestern Cote d'Ivoire, just on the border of Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia. The men I employ are largely cocoa farmers, when they're not in the forest taking complex observational data on primate behavior and ecology...
posted by ChuraChura at 10:09 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

She’s actually really lazy
MeFi post - favorited 93 times

[note--TFA is behind an adblock wall]
posted by mama casserole at 10:11 AM on April 13, 2017

Curious that today is the 1-year anniversary of Cheap, Easy, Good. Also, in 2 days it will be the 1-year anniversary of discovering ExMrDrLith's final-straw sobriety relapse when I went to review his credit card statements looking for last minute tax-deductible donations, so just fuck him and the no-sugar/no-grains/5-2 fasting horse he rode out on.

AskMe post - favorited 117 times
posted by drlith at 10:13 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

...there seems to be a narrative emerging that abortion should be legal and accessible because the women who seek abortions are of high enough moral standards to deserve them. Which shouldn't be the argument. That's like saying black teenagers shouldn't be shot because they're good kids and all they're doing is getting Skittles and tea. No. Black teenagers shouldn't be shot even if they aren't good kids, even if they're sullen and stoned and shoplifting. And abortion should be legal even if the women who seek them are sluts and single and they already had an abortion last year.
[186 favorites +]

I think I'm going to go back and favorite that myself!
posted by headnsouth at 10:15 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

And, notably, he keeps getting up and back at it.

(+44 -- I'm a newb to posting but proud.)
posted by knownassociate at 10:16 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

I love seeing how he has framed himself as 'professionally' as possible (I mean, everyone does this) with a map on the wall and books all around – clearly an expert in global affairs! And then the whole illusion begins to fail. The first kid ... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 152 times

(I love those BBC-interview-crashing kids, but I am a little sad that that comment knocked my anecdote about my Dad out of top spot in my favorites.)
posted by Kabanos at 10:21 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Thank god the conservative right finally cares about a woman's health...
posted by cooker girl at 9:42 AM on September 12, 2016 [228 favorites +] [!]
posted by cooker girl at 10:22 AM on April 13, 2017

Olivia.
she just finished her 2nd year of University!
posted by chococat at 10:24 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

What Have You Done For A Friend Today?
MeFi post - favorited 125 times

As fas as I know, that FPP also represents my only mention on the podcast.
posted by COD at 10:26 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is a critical shifting of terms that confuses Establishment Clause disputes to no end.... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 105 times
posted by audi alteram partem at 10:26 AM on April 13, 2017

As someone who works in both the wholesale and retail side of wine, let me reassure you: if you like what you're drinking then you're drinking the right wine.... [more]
posted by komara at 10:27 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Forty-three Werner Herzog films that can be streamed
posted by Going To Maine at 10:33 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I went up to the memorial and left a message from MetaFilter. I grabbed the contents of this thread as of 8PM, stripped out the bylines and blank lines, and printed it on one piece of paper front and back. The printing was done at 1 point font and... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 187 times

Really I just live down the road from Prince more than actually doing or saying anything terribly great.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 10:49 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

It is time now to talk about The Wheel. Growing up, my parents had obviously read all the studies about praise and punishment and their effect on a developing child. My father came from a distant, reserved family and was the middle of three...
MeFi comment - favorited 991 times
posted by robocop is bleeding at 10:51 AM on April 13, 2017 [29 favorites]

Dear reader, many have asked why it is that I, redsparkler, am blessed among the bra-wearers.
The story goes as told: Once upon a time...[more]

MeFi comment - 133 favorites
posted by redsparkler at 11:02 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

As soon as I saw this I ran into the dining room and played it for my husband. "Fucking Metafilter", he says, "those guys are awesome." HOLIDAY TRADITION UPGRADE.... [more]
MetaTalk comment - favorited 18 times
posted by okayokayigive at 11:04 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hoder has been released from Iranian prison
MetaTalk post - favorited 145 times
posted by sevenyearlurk at 11:05 AM on April 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Nigella Lawson's Coffee Ice Cream: 4 ingredients. 1 step. No cooking. No churning. One of Food52's Genius Recipes.

MeFi post - favorited 151 times

This is a great idea because I somehow manage to miss really popular stuff around here, thanks!
posted by Room 641-A at 11:18 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

ok but The Wheel is one of the best comments of ALL TIME.

Sorry. Here's my #2:

Really, how hard could this be? CHASE: House, we need to cure this patient. He is very sick. HOUSE: Did you try the medicine drug? CHASE: I did try the medicine drug. HOUSE: Only stupid people try the medicine drug. You are stupid. PATIENT: I...
MeFi comment - favorited 632 times
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:20 AM on April 13, 2017 [18 favorites]

Am not even going to look but I just know it'll be something about cheese, as MeFites seem weirdly obsessed with it.
posted by Wordshore at 11:21 AM on April 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Honestly, when you frame the question with especially since these days people tend to overreact and cry out racism all the time I stopped reading and assumed whatever you said next was going to be racist.
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 127 times

Ugh, I kind of feel bad that my top four are all some sort of side-eye to the Ask Mefi OP. That's what people like to [+] I guess.

I am pleased that this one is now sitting at #5 though:

Minor point that I'll drop in because Metafilter, as a community, tends to be interested in these sorts of things: those in the suicide prevention community are tending to move away from the verb "commit" related to suicide, and instead use "die by suicide" or refer to "fatal/non fatal suicide attempt". (A lot of articles/opinion pieces related to this have a much more scoldy tone, which I'm intentionally avoiding; most folks just aren't aware, like I wasn't until relatively recently.)
posted by supercres at 4:34 PM on March 27
posted by supercres at 11:22 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

[tl;dr:] Seriously, nobody is coming to take your house, car, and guns away.
posted by languagehat at 8:50 PM on October 11, 2016 [150 favorites +]
posted by languagehat at 11:28 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Will she still be around? Absolutely. I'll write up a longer personal thing a bit later but this is literally just "I am moving on in my professional life." MetaFilter remains my online home....
MetaTalk comment - favorited 496 times

For folks who do better with URLs, stick your usernumber in this one

http://www.metafilter.com/activity/#####/favorited/popular
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 11:28 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Original Thread: Leia Ambivalence

My comment:

Brandon Blatcher : you did not just diss the Lei buns. Oh. No. ::rolls up sleeves and prepares for a fight:: Favorited 48 times
posted by Faintdreams at 11:30 AM on April 13, 2017

Where are these hypothetical "better jobs" people keep telling us to find?...
posted by Karmakaze at 11:33 AM on April 13, 2017

Really, how hard could this be? CHASE: House, we need to cure this patient. He is very sick. HOUSE: Did you try the medicine drug? CHASE: I did try the medicine drug. HOUSE: Only stupid people try the medicine drug. You are stupid. PATIENT: I...
MeFi comment - favorited 632 times
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:20 AM on April 13

633, because sometimes I forget to favorite things.
posted by Room 641-A at 11:35 AM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Comfort me with novels
Ask MeFi post - favorited 169 times
posted by holborne at 11:36 AM on April 13, 2017

So I am driving on 95 South near DC a few weeks ago with my two teenage boys in the car. Daughter stayed home. Large sign above the highway saying Report Suspicious Activity to 888-555-1234. I think nothing of it. About two minutes later I hear... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 200 times

It has all the elements of a good comment. Farts. Teenage boys being, well, teenage boys. Lady at national hotline number with a sense of humor.
posted by AugustWest at 11:43 AM on April 13, 2017

Sometimes a post opens a door:

(Hyperlink? Maybe. Dunno.)

http://www.metafilter.com/153348/Stanislav-Petrov-Day#6223048
posted by mule98J at 11:44 AM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

There would not be enough marijuana on the planet for everyone to get as high as you are right now. [more]
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 94 times
posted by emelenjr at 11:48 AM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

As a counterpoint to the speculation upthread that a bunch of "people" (meaning, I suspect, "men") would have commented in that thread, but didn't, because of the risk of being labelled sexist: Hi! I am a man. I would... [more]
MetaTalk comment - favorited 226 times
posted by Ipsifendus at 11:51 AM on April 13, 2017

That makes me think we should have another thread about the best zingers that got in before a post got deleted.
posted by Kabanos at 11:51 AM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

HEAVY METAL, a post.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:51 AM on April 13, 2017

Breakups are hard.
posted by curious nu at 11:52 AM on April 13, 2017

In 1993, I was in my second year of university in Toronto, living in the Ryerson residence on the 10th floor; one of those apartment-style spaces where five bedrooms shared a kitchenette, two bathrooms, and a living space. There was a federal election going on at the time, and one day there's a knock at the door and I answer it and it's a kid -- well, somebody around my age, so a "kid" from my perspective now -- asking how I'm going to vote.

So I tell him I don't know and he asks if I've considered voting NDP and I say not really, and he says I should, and we have a short conversation, and I wind up asking him I-don't-remember-what. I was being an ass at the time, I'm pretty damn sure, and probably just trying to stump this person for the sake of stumping them.

Whatever it was, I stumped him. And he says "hang on a minute, I'll go get Jack." And he leaves.

Five minutes later, another knock on the door, and it's Jack Layton. He introduces himself and I invite him into my shitty residence common space and he comes in and sits down and we have a ten-minute conversation. I'm 20, I'm a shitty kid that doesn't know anything about anything, and he comes in and sits down and treats me as seriously as a Fortune 500 CEO or a labour leader or whoever the hell.

On the way out, he gives me a tea towel with his picture printed on it, riding information, all that. I'm a bit baffled, and he says "I was thinking before the election of how wasteful all those posters are, and thought it might be a good idea if I gave people something useful for a change."

I ask him if he's aware -- this I do remember -- that people all over the riding are going to be wiping dishes with his face. He laughs and says that's a risk he's willing to take.

I voted for Jack. I've been voting NDP ever since that day.

And now I live in a riding with the youngest MP in the history of the nation, a 19-year-old that never expected to get elected and who is, I imagine, more than a little overwhelmed and probably a bit scared and was probably relying on Jack to give him good advice and sound counsel.

To treat him seriously.

I need to get out there and volunteer for this kid; to try to figure out how I can help make politics in this country better.

Godspeed, Jack Layton. Thanks for everything.
posted by Shepherd at 9:24 AM on August 22, 2011 [321 favorites +] [!]
posted by Shepherd at 11:58 AM on April 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

I can't feel overly proud of my most favorited comment because it was just a repetition of someone else's words - at an apt moment, perhaps, but still not original. I'm happier with my second-most favorited comment, which can more or less stand on its own:

Should I start drinking jock itch ointment? I imagine that would prevent you from getting Alzheimer's, but probably not in the way you'd hoped....
MeFi comment - favorited 93 times
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:00 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Bowl of fruit, yo.
Favorited 658 (!!???!?!!!) times.
posted by phunniemee at 12:03 PM on April 13, 2017 [8 favorites]

My entire "popular" page is full of comments about abusive relationships and emotional labor. This is a bit depressing, except that now I have a boyfriend who brings me flowers (which I garnered 345 favorites for complaining about almost two years ago).
posted by sockermom at 12:06 PM on April 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Aha, I get what happened. Don't click on my profile. Click on the link in the header that says "My Profile".

just drag me out of here now please before I lose it inthread
posted by infini at 12:10 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

griphus: "Also, I really hope someone is writing a history of MeFi 2007-2012 in the style of "We Didn't Start The Fire."" Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray, South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe... [more]
MetaTalk comment - favorited 173 times
posted by Chrysostom at 12:12 PM on April 13, 2017

I am only paraphrasing mildly, but speaking on the floor, Senator Franken just called Gorsuch a liar regarding the answer Gorsuch gave to Franken's question about what he would have done in the freezing truck driver's shoes.
posted by monopas at 7:10 PM on April 5 2017 [51 favorites +]
posted by monopas at 12:13 PM on April 13, 2017

It was explained to me once that gangs are a political construct because they occur when children and young adults are left directionless because their family unit is dysfunctional and they're searching for a place to belong and create their own families. That the reason the family is dysfunctional is because low income parents in order to meet the cost of living work over time and more than one job, and often the family is split because of issues caused by lack of money or another parent in jail. That in order to fix the dysfunctional family the minimum wage needs to be brought up to meet the cost of living. But that politicians avoid that because then they have bodies for the profit prisons and corporations using inmate labor (effectively a slave labor class), the working class remain so exhausted and busy they don't fight the system, and the violence allows politicians to point to it and say - look! You need us to save you from that. Then push through laws that disenfranchise the working class further while pushing power imbalances.

If Chicago really wanted to respond to their violence problem, they would first work on their poverty problem.

MeFi comment - favorited 173 times

My second most popular with 129 faves is the pooplosion story.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:13 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

What should I do if a close family member neglected to acknowledge my kid's birthday? Nothing. [more]
posted by grouse at 12:14 PM on April 13, 2017

Uh, yeah. No way.
posted by heyho at 12:21 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

While glancing through my popular ones I saw a comment I would quick update. If you favorited this comment about my son the junior Special Olympic bowler winning gold and headed for the state level? He won gold in the NJ 2017 Spring Games and now has a shot at the national training levels!
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:25 PM on April 13, 2017 [27 favorites]

The instant I saw the surprised expression of the MeFite as he bounced off the bonnet of my car, I just knew that my first IRL meetup would be forever talked about for the wrong reasons ... [more] - favorited 361 times
posted by Wordshore at 12:25 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

My most favorited comment was a downer, so I'll not link to it.

My second most favorited item was a question:
Fresh homegrown tomatoes + ? = _____
Ask MeFi post - favorited 33 times

My most second most favorited comment:
One of my favorite kitties (heck, they were/are ALL favoites) named herself Chatter because she was totally bilingual (human-cat fluent.) She even taught me how to roll my rrrrrr's. She had WORDS for everything. Wake-up time was a loud yell in my... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 26 times



[SEE?! I just cannot do well on multiple choice tests. ]
posted by mightshould at 12:25 PM on April 13, 2017

She's reading! Let her read anything and everything she can. [more]
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 175 times

(gotta admit coming from a generally quit high snark ratio I'm pleased with this comment's reception)
posted by sammyo at 12:27 PM on April 13, 2017

my name is Cats how are you guys you have no time now you all dies you scramble zig i counter thus now all your base belong to us [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 69 times

i wrote this verse
three months ago
and i am pleased
you liked it so

it could have been
this post instead
but no, of course,
it's lik the bread.
posted by wanderingmind at 12:28 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Hey! Let's wear food service hairnets to an art gallery opening!! Just in time for me to review it.
posted by Stewriffic at 12:41 PM on April 13, 2017

I think at this point, everyone typing the word "email" in this thread should be required to attest that they have already read the following: [More].

(But her emails!)

I'm much prouder of my side-barred comment about the amazing Gaia mission:

It's not just high res pics of stars, though. The key thing that Gaia will do is astrometry, where they measure the positions of a billion (many millions) of stars. And that stupidly simple-sounding thing turns out to be pretty profound ... [More].

But nothing compares to my unrecognized role in the innovation of [real] and [fake] tags. It was the best, believe me.

I complained about this in the last thread - we need [Fake] tags. [More]

(Only 5 favorites, but little did we know, in those innocent days.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:46 PM on April 13, 2017

I have no memory at all of posting this, and had to click on the link to even see what it was about. And still don't remember posting it.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 12:55 PM on April 13, 2017

'The Rosa Parks of our time' is maybe a bit much. Have you been watching the news? African-Americans are being murdered in the street for the crime of being, and this woman climbed a fucking flagpole to commit an act... [more]
posted by Etrigan at 1:02 PM on April 13, 2017

my partner shared a family story on Facebook that I really needed today:

my great-grandfather had to leave italy in the 20′s because he hit a fascist with a tuba, so if you think I am going to take this sitting down you are going to have to catch these hands and also this tuba

MeFi comment - favorited 120 times
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 1:03 PM on April 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

My number one contribution to Metafilter is a meta MeTa testicle joke:

"Also, if your testicles are such infernos, maybe you should stop shrinking your jeans."

favorited 349 times
posted by 256 at 1:18 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Play Your Ukulele
MeFi post - favorited 151 times
posted by Shmuel510 at 1:20 PM on April 13, 2017

This is so perfect, our anniversary is in a few days:

I just became legally married in every state. We will now embark on a U.S. tour and make everyone call me Mrs.
MeFi comment - favorited 210 times
posted by donnagirl at 1:23 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Days until achieving MAJORITY disapproval from @Gallup
Reagan: 727
Bush I: 1336
Clinton: 573
Bush II: 1205
Obama: 936
Trump: 8. days.
favorited 105 times
posted by porn in the woods at 1:24 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

All of my top few are about politics, which isn't something I'm thrilled with. So, the first one that isn't at all political and that doesn't make me feel kind of gross just reading it because of associations with something that makes me unhappy...

I used to think I wanted to go to Burning Man, and then I realized I probably just wished I had the sort of friends who wanted to go camping. [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 121 times

posted by Sequence at 1:28 PM on April 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

People liked it when I told some guy to shove something up his ass. I may have gotten bonus points for working Kool-aid into the comment, I dunno.
posted by the webmistress at 1:33 PM on April 13, 2017

Look, you can ignore the email , but some kind of message has to get back to her via her fiancé. Your husband should consult a couple of trusted people at work and get feedback on the best way to do that, given whatever the dynamics of the firm are.... [more]
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 99 times

This was an AskMe comment back in 2010. Interestingly it still gets favorited from time to time, so somebody really goes back and reads those comments down there.
posted by beagle at 1:35 PM on April 13, 2017

I agree with the part about not assuming everyone is from the U.S. This especially rankles when discussing military action, as in "we should drop a nuclear weapon," as even fellow citizens may not want to be included in that... [more]
MetaTalk comment - favorited 61 times

This is not anywhere close to being my favorite of my highly favorited comments.
posted by Jahaza at 1:36 PM on April 13, 2017

Wow, my most favorited comment was just made yesterday!
posted by Daily Alice at 1:43 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

posted by Oyéah at 2:56 PM on October 11, 2016 No Social Security, what does that mean? To my grandmother it meant that after raising 10 children on a farm in Alabama, she became a cafeteria lunchroom lady, until she was too weak to do that, and as a widow, spent her last days on her grand daughter's couch. Little security except for family, freedom to work until death, for minimum wages. So anyone who threatens that is my enemy.
posted by Oyéah at 2:56 PM on October 11, 2016 144 Favorites !
posted by Oyéah at 2:04 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

I don't think it's just that men don't develop emotional self-regulation because they aren't required to, I think that in lots of settings men are actively discouraged from improving their emotional self-regulation. Even acknowledging the existence of most strong emotions is a profoundly dangerous act in lots of male-dominated spaces. (I'm reminded of the time my [loving, thoughtful, kind] father's reaction to the fact that I cried in response to losing the Little League championships was to angrily yell at me that I didn't have anything to cry about). In these male homo-social spaces, righteous anger is literally the only strong emotion that it is acceptable to express, so it's little wonder that men who spend much of their formative years in these spaces express all their negative emotions as self-aggrandizing anger. It's hard to develop emotional self-knowledge when displaying any evidence of emotion is literally and figuratively going to get you beaten up on the playground.
posted by firechicago at 4:58 PM on December 3, 2016 [87 favorites +]

Actually, writing that comment was a bit of a revelation to me. It finally put a common thread through a whole bunch of traumatic experiences from my childhood, and made a lot of sense of why people in my young life (both authority figures and other children) would become downright cruel whenever I expressed extreme happiness or sadness, and why I have such a hard time with certain emotions to this day.

A month or two ago, my partner asked me what sparked joy for me, and I found myself completely unable to answer. But thinking back on this comment and the soul-searching that went into it, at least I'm beginning to see why that's such an impossibly hard question for me.
posted by firechicago at 2:08 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Me wanting a UBI as usual. (Warning: election thread. From November 2, when most of us were optimistic. Sob.)
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 2:10 PM on April 13, 2017

You can't just drop that on us and not explain.

OK, since you asked:
MeFi comment - favorited 529 times
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:18 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

My most favorited comment was about women voting for Hillary in Kansas. Oh to be that optimistic again.
posted by galvanized unicorn at 2:26 PM on April 13, 2017

And when he died, I suddenly realized I wasn’t crying for him at all, but for the things he did. I cried because he would never do them again, he would never carve another piece of wood or help us raise doves and pigeons in the backyard or play the... [more]
posted by Elly Vortex at 2:28 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I posted Rorschach's Pagliacci story from Watchmen in the Robin Williams obit thread. 219 favorites. It was fitting, I suppose, but I'm not that proud of it — seems like kind of low-hanging fruit, and they're someone else's words, not mine.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:45 PM on April 13, 2017

If Congress stalls too long, Clinton or Sanders could appoint Obama to the Supreme Court. At the moment, I'm very much enjoying the mental vision of Congress losing its shit over THAT turn of events.
MeFi comment - favorited 289 times

Hey, thanks for getting me to look that up. Maybe next you'd like me to give myself a papercut and pour some lemon juice over it.
posted by orange swan at 2:47 PM on April 13, 2017 [10 favorites]

Nope. I refuse to say his name, and I really reject that "liberals" have been "showing our true colors" since 2010. What a load of absolute horseshit.
MetaTalk comment - favorited 91 times
posted by bibliogrrl at 3:00 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

i hate 2016 so much
(favorited 77 times)

what sweet summer children we all were
posted by burgerrr at 3:05 PM on April 13, 2017 [9 favorites]

All right. This is going to be long and I'll try to summarize it all at the end. Basically, I'm gonna give you the best advice for Vegas you will hear, ever, because if you follow my advice, you will: - Always leave Vegas a winner - Make many... [more]
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 675 times
posted by herrdoktor at 3:10 PM on April 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Click on the link in the header that says "My Profile". In other words, your profile, Beerperson.

I don't understand. You and I have different profiles.

???
posted by beerperson at 3:11 PM on April 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

"This is a surprisingly comfortable bondage suit." That may, in fact, be a negative review.

Favorited 126 times
posted by briank at 3:14 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Holy crap there are a lot of great comments here! Thanks for corralling these together, WCityMike!
posted by herrdoktor at 3:24 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

I know this is all meant in fun, but a warning that your most favorited comment might be emotionally intense and even triggering. Be cautious if that could potentially apply to you.
posted by naju at 3:30 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

You're god damned right I am going to be eating all the ice cream I want.

Not if I have anything to say about it.

Favorited 173 times
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:31 PM on April 13, 2017 [7 favorites]

Or, you could tell your wife, and keep that information from your parents. [more]
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 93 times

I am all about spousal solidarity.
posted by blurker at 3:32 PM on April 13, 2017

It's not cold outside; you just don't know how to dress
posted by AFABulous at 3:34 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

People were pretty happy about marriage equality and about me abusing mod privileges to stick a rainbow flag in the thread.

That was at 999 favorites, so I did what I had to do.
posted by AFABulous at 3:36 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

All my best comments are under my old identity, sadly.
It's all about quality favourites these days.
posted by pipeski at 3:38 PM on April 13, 2017

@JimCarrey
California Gov says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum in manditory vaccines. This corporate fascist must be stopped.

Remember when it used to be funny when Jim Carrey talked out of his ass?
MeFi comment - favorited 163 times
posted by Atom Eyes at 3:39 PM on April 13, 2017

No surprise here --

"Right. I was an ugly-duckling kind of kid when I was a freshman in high school...."
favorited 371 times at last count
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 3:45 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

It shouldn't really surprise me but this thread serves to remind me of the time I was almost stick inside NASA's Mission Control overnight with Werner Herzog and, of all people, Elizabeth Banks. So, a few years ago, [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 980 times
posted by beerperson at 3:49 PM on April 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

Thanks Mrs. Pterodactyl!
He still has them, and loves them!
posted by lyssabee at 3:54 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

*standing in line at Starbucks* STARBUCKS BARISTA: How can I help you? *me not paying attention because its 8pm and I just finished a grueling work shift* STARBUCKS BARISTA: Yes...can I help you? ME: Oh hey, how can I help you? STARBUCKS... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 184 times

Yup, my most awkward moment.
posted by Fizz at 3:57 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

This is very serendipitous for me, because I have only been on MetaFilter as "Orlop" for six months, and I've cut way back on commenting from my old, very active username, yet Orlop already has a comment with 440 favorites whereas PreviousUserName toiled here for a decade and only managed one comment with anything like that popularity (a hair over 500 favorites). I have sincerely been wondering, "What's so great about that comment that so many people favorited it?" I will explore this question by looking at other people's most-favorited comments.
posted by Orlop at 4:06 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Everybody needs to take a shit in Dan Brown's mailbox.
posted by adamrice at 4:19 PM on April 13, 2017

This is the kind of thing that makes me want to be a bored billionaire, just so I could I buy up the defunct rail company and reactivate a _very_ short-haul railway.
Maybe one that ferries bicyclists from the end of the trail at their property to the continuation on the other side.

Complete with signaling train horn.
For safety, of course.
posted by madajb at 12:49 PM on March 10, 2014 [114 favorites]

I still have not achieved bored billionaire status, but this is still up there on the list of petty shit I would do if I were rich.
posted by madajb at 4:27 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I came out of Ghostbusters wanting to see a remake of Real Genius with Kate McKinnon in the Val Kilmer role, possibly followed by remakes of all other Val Kilmer comedies with Kate McKinnon in the Val Kilmer role.

Now that makes me want a gender-swapped Tombstone.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 4:36 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'd love to hear about these people that aren't dependent on the federal government. Do they have their own standing military? Do they hire out someone to test all their medications before they take them? Certainly they use private aircraft... [more]

MeFi comment - favorited 416 times

God I miss the 2012 election :( Funnier jokes, better candidates, easier favorites, and way less threat of nuclear annihilation.
posted by 0xFCAF at 4:37 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Raise your hand if you knew someone was going to start a meta about this question.
posted by msali at 8:08 PM on August 19, 2013 [58 favorites +] [!]


Pretty weak snark.
posted by msali at 4:40 PM on April 13, 2017

My top three are miserable in one way or another so I'll take the liberty of picking number 4...

Thank you for taking the time to mark this as resolved!
[108 favourites] - more
posted by billiebee at 4:41 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

how close are you to typing 'misandry'
asking for a friend

MeFi comment - favorited 174 times
posted by Kitteh at 4:46 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

McKinnon is too old for the Chris Knight role - she's 33 (Kilmer was 25).
posted by Chrysostom at 4:51 PM on April 13, 2017

Well, that was unhappy. My first ten comments are all politics-related. I can't even look at the politics threads since December, unless I'm feeling unusually strong.

#11 is my theory that adept256 is basically Nightcrawler. [55 favorites]
posted by Spathe Cadet at 4:54 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

but science fiction, at least in the pre-Star Wars age, was for both readers and writers almost entirely the province of socially marginal, introverted boys Look at all these socially marginalized, introverted boys! 1666 Margaret... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 181 times


...it had to be the feminist snark, didn't it?
posted by Deoridhe at 5:15 PM on April 13, 2017

The effing voter suppression should be a felony. [more]
posted by gt2 at 5:19 PM on April 13, 2017

I don't know what voodoo they did, but I can't explain to myself how she managed to make it super progressive and yet somehow very much appealing to conservatives, I mean how did she do that? It was masterful.

My take on this was that the entire convention took the progressive idea of intersectionality and made it a two-party concept.

Typical discussions of intersectionality are about privilege or the ways that bias is leveraged against people along multiple axes. So all of the lady Ghostbusters were dragged by internet misogyny, but Leslie Jones had it worse because she also got the internet’s vile racism.

But Clinton has basically taken intersectionality and used it to point out that it crosses political lines. So you have a sheriff in uniform talking about hard working cops— but she’s a Hispanic lesbian. You have the family of a military hero who died saving his comrades in battle and pledging their love to the US Constitution— but they are Muslim. You have the mother of a gay man killed in the Orlando shooting talking about gun control and LGBT rights— but she’s a former state trooper.

At every point, this convention’s new intersectionality was saying: those “buts” don’t have to be there. Each one can be an “and” in the new Democratic Party. This party can contain multitudes. There are a lot of people who care about issues that don’t break down by party lines. You can oppose Tom Delay as a Republican operative AND respect him as an adoptive father. You can dislike certain Democratic Party actions AND join them to make a difference. You can be a Bernie supporter AND help Hillary Clinton stump for downticket races to elect more progressive local candidates. You can reject Bloomberg’s perspective on educational policy AND welcome his support in attempting to woo reluctant Republicans. You can be skeeved out by Bill Clinton’s past behavior AND be impressed that he’s embracing the FLOTUS role with such care and disruption of gender roles. You can be repulsed by Hillary Clinton’s mention of drones AND be impressed by her work on disability rights.

In a way, this vision of intersectionality is a complete rebuttal of ad hominem attacks. You can disagree and still coordinate, you can oppose someone while also looking out for their best interests, you can clash but still view one another as human. It is an explosion of partisan philosophies.

I love it. I want more of it. It is a wonk’s philosophy of “what do we have to do to make this work” made enormous and beautiful.

MeFi comment - favorited 262 times





:(
posted by a fiendish thingy at 5:19 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Please don't do this Why not? or were Trump's speeches just chit chat with friends in the locker room? [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 40 times
posted by 922257033c4a0f3cecdbd819a46d626999d1af4a at 5:43 PM on April 13, 2017

I was all like WTF Fuller House!? That is clearly not a geodesic dome. Or even a dymaxion...
Favourited 69 times
posted by rodlymight at 6:17 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

This is a little story that Kevin Smith likes to tell about how putting the fear of Rickman into his friend Jason Mews inspired him to be a better actor.
favorited 191 times
posted by radwolf76 at 6:27 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

This is like a progressive version of People of Walmart where no one realizes they are punching down.

He appears to be a cis-het, educated, mid-upper class, able-bodied white dude, and he deliberately chose to express his privilege on HuffPo with a total lack of self-awareness. Unless you're contending that this level of narcissism is a diagnosable mental illness, in what way can this possibly be construed as punching down?

Clueless White Guy is not an oppressed class.
posted by jacquilynne at 2:37 AM on June 29, 2016 [212 favorites]

Why yes, I did take the opportunity to correct the grammar error in the last sentence before I reposted this here in MetaTalk. Because it will never not goddamn annoy me that my most favourited post has an a/an error in it.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:29 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Delicious Vegetarian Sandwiches
Ask MeFi post - favorited 125 times

Not super exciting, but useful I suppose
posted by exceptinsects at 6:30 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Her ribs were a niche, an alcove, an apse. The author owns a thesaurus, a book of synonyms, a compendium of words that kind of mean the same thing.... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 84 times

I remember this thread well and it is a LAFF RIOT
posted by scratch at 6:42 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

Truck financed in your name? That's a truck you can get rid of in your name.
posted by scruss at 20:44 on April 9, 2015 [131 favorites ]
posted by scruss at 7:15 PM on April 13, 2017

My top position is MeTa griping, so I won't post that here. #2:

I actually run redtube at my office computer in a dozen different tabs 24/7. It is kind of like an anti SETI project. So I skew the sampling a bit due to the fact that roughly 3600% of my work time is spent watching porn.... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 98 times

Well that is almost embarrassing.
posted by Literaryhero at 7:24 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

4 years, 10 months, 29 days.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 7:29 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Most favorited: Wringing our collective hands over who makes a perfect messenger for the cause of living wages is, ironically, distracting from the problem of wages creeping down or stagnating around us every day.

Personal favorite among my top ten, because I will never get tired of throwing shade at my old home city: It just felt ironic to me, how people could spend so much time seeking out "authenticity" in international destinations and then shy away learning anything about the oldest communities in their own city.

Comment in my top ten that is most representative of my biggest personal pet peeve/hobby horse: It still pisses me off to no end that "awkward" men, autistic or not, will never feel pressured to work on their empathy the way I did.
posted by ActionPopulated at 7:41 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

I stuck up for the mods.
posted by bondcliff at 7:49 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

My aerodynamic turkeys made people laugh. Update, many years later: As I type this, three turkey hens are sitting on somewhere north of 36 eggs. There's one hen running around, keeping the the big tom company, but he is a protective daddy when it comes to his ladies and future progeny. When they ran out of food the other day, I was in the coop with a 50-lb. bag of crumbles in one hand and the plastic lid of the feeder in the other, fending off the attack tom, who came at me feet first, flying at my face. I blocked him with my improvised shield while telling him "Fuck OFF, bird!" every time he tried to flog me. It's like, I BRING YOU FOOD, WHY DO YOU RUSH ME, I WILL *EAT* YOU.

Just now, my husband told me that his buddy wants to gift his brother-in-law two live turkeys, a male and a female, and maybe could we give him the tom and hen in the coop now? I must have made a face because he then said "I have not yet had the conversation with him about why this is not a good idea." No. Just--no surprise turkeys. This is a significantly worse idea than surprise bunnies or chicks or ducklings, and those are usually bad ideas to start with.

Anyway, I'm watching the eggs with interest and a long plastic kids' sled to protect me from the tom, because turkeys, I must have them!
posted by MonkeyToes at 7:54 PM on April 13, 2017 [6 favorites]

Oh man, I don't know how I missed the post and resulting discussion that scratch referred to above! Henceforward I shall be replacing the bogus name I've used for years when I want to be anonymous online with "Thud Mollockle" in honor of that epic thread.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:57 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

...this is why it's good to talk about the _benefits_ of emotional labor instead of just the _costs_. [more]
posted by amtho at 8:01 PM on April 13, 2017

[Clicks on "WCityMike's" profile, page, follows steps]

Impressive, but this feels sort of braggy, dude.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:09 PM on April 13, 2017 [4 favorites]

Speaking of emotional labor:

Better: "I'm not done." And then, "Just hang on" as a follow-up, and "I'm not done explaining" and/or "Just listen" if they still don't get it. That's what I just used, like a minute ago, with my husband.

I feel like "I'm not done" gets the point across, without giving the person who's interrupting anywhere to hang an argument. If you say "Stop interrupting me," they can just say, "I'm not interrupting you." And then you're derailed. But if you say "I'm not done," well, who are they to say whether you're done? And if they say, "Oh, you're done," then they're quite obviously the jerk.

MeFi comment - Favorited 87 times

posted by limeonaire at 8:33 PM on April 13, 2017

Free speech is only as strong as the weakest link
MeFi post - favorited 37 times
posted by rjs at 8:38 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

A discussion of Trump as an OBVIOUS creeper. Favorited 83 times.
posted by suelac at 9:02 PM on April 13, 2017

Embarassingly it's a quote of someone else's dwarf fortress story. I think it's a great story though, and 134 people agree with me.
posted by Sebmojo at 9:23 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

The highest original comment is this:

MeFites can always find something to complain about.

I have a mental benchmark of 8 +/- 2 posts before someone shits on the kitten that just learned to surf because it's not curing world hunger or whatever.
posted by Sebmojo at 6:26 PM on April 13, 2015 [111 favorites +] [!]
posted by Sebmojo at 9:24 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Ideas for "laugh therapy
posted by bunderful at 9:27 PM on April 13, 2017

I am just delighted to see this. I don't see any way to get the American church back on track until it is forced to give up any hope of imposing its will through political power. We (in the Christian world) desperately need this cultural shift--the... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 406 times
posted by Pater Aletheias at 9:39 PM on April 13, 2017

Holy god, minecraft is following me. For the last week, ever since I rediscovered this game and purchased it, everywhere I turn is minecraft. Long hours of play and short hours of minecraft filled dreams become stranger when I suddenly am seeing it... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 75 times



...apparently my top comment involves me (possibly) getting a ton of people to try minecraft. It certainly would have gotten ME to try it.

I wish I could play again for the first time.
posted by Stunt at 9:42 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh boy it's some righteous indignation in a criminal justice thread!

No one in power ever says "we can't afford to arrest all these people." Or "we can't afford to try all these people." Or "we can't afford to detain and imprison all these people."

But when it comes to defense lawyers - who are, theoretically, a critical part of our 'adversarial system' for trials - all of a sudden, everyone gets real real fucking budget-conscious.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:51 PM on April 13, 2017 [3 favorites]

*follows instructions*

Well, that was depressing. I'll just read the thread instead, enjoy the celebrations of others.
posted by gadge emeritus at 10:07 PM on April 13, 2017 [5 favorites]

[joke about a Force Awakens spoiler and I know you've already seen the movie but it would just feel off to not redact it]
FanFare comment - favorited 69 times
posted by knuckle tattoos at 10:13 PM on April 13, 2017

When the kitty goes to sleep, place ziti all over kitty and post the pic here. [25 favorites ]
posted by soakimbo at 10:18 PM on April 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Skipping over a comment from one of the DNC threads (seems like cheating given all the favorites flying around there), I have a pun from the tronc thread:

How they monetize content: as a nonsubscriber, once you are over your 10 free articles each month, you will only have access to troncated versions.
posted by egregious theorem at 10:21 PM on April 13, 2017

My first and second are pretty boring, but number three is probably one of the best things I've seen on the internet, much less posted on Metafilter. It's my go-to happy place.

What is was like to fall asleep in your car at night as a child.
MeFi post - favorited 169 times
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:44 PM on April 13, 2017 [2 favorites]

Allez Cuisine!
MeFi post - favorited 427 times
posted by zarq at 10:50 PM on April 13, 2017

My ode to poverty:

Please don't do this. Don't give a gift that comes with a lecture attached. People who tell you not to place too much value on material goods have always had enough material goods. Or to put it another way, contrary to popular opinion, money... [more]
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 165 times
posted by MexicanYenta at 11:11 PM on April 13, 2017

String Quartets
MeFi post - favorited 129 times
posted by misteraitch at 12:18 AM on April 14, 2017

Let it go and consider it a gift.

Don't worry, close second is great advice on getting farts out of your body.
posted by Crystalinne at 2:26 AM on April 14, 2017

Men are too emotional to be in STEM

But for a long time it was OH HEY I GOT MARRIED

(Only shit I've been married for six years?)
posted by The Whelk at 3:24 AM on April 14, 2017

my dad once tried this a long time ago - he showed a boyfriend of mine his sword collection, and then asked "so are your intentions with my daughter honourable?" The effect was sort of spoiled, though, because in the awkward silence following it, everyone heard me mutter "god I hope not"
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 5:31 AM on December 3, 2010 [67 favorites +] [!]
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 3:31 AM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

Let it go and consider it a gift.

Don't worry, close second is great advice on getting farts out of your body.

Maybe I am wrong, but the first one sounds like great farting advice, too.
posted by Literaryhero at 4:22 AM on April 14, 2017 [7 favorites]

“Trump said to watch you precincts. I’m going to go, for sure,” said Steve Webb, a 61-year-old carpenter from Fairfield, Ohio.

“I’ll look for . . . well, it’s called racial profiling. Mexicans. Syrians. People who can’t speak American,” he said. “I’m going to go right up behind them. I’ll do everything legally. I want to see if they are accountable. I’m not going to do anything illegal. I’m going to make them a little bit nervous.”

I think we all know who's not speaking American here, Steve.
October 15, 2016 [125 favorites +]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:43 AM on April 14, 2017

I'm going with the second place spot because I just don't want to repost a long ass comment from a politics megathread. I just can't. But this second place one is good! It's a post! And the link is still alive!

Hi. Here's Stephen Colbert (out of character) and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson having an 85 minute conversation about science, physics, and the universe.
posted by lazaruslong at 5:32 AM on April 14, 2017

...it is just my guy feeling. Dr. Freud to the white courtesy phone, please.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:53 AM on April 14, 2017

Mr.Thomas was the greatest middle school earth science teacher ever. He opened the class by drawing a perfect circle on the chalkboard (an amazing feat in and of itself). He put a dot in the middle and labeled it, "Pleasant Hill, Ohio". He... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 162 times
posted by charred husk at 6:17 AM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

Awfully cocky to somebody who works for a newspaper to talk about a media downfall in such absolute terms.
MeFi comment - favorited 244 times

(That my most popular MetaFilter comment was snark defending MetaFilter is pretty awesome (and fairly meta and Meta, if you know what I mean))
posted by MCMikeNamara at 6:30 AM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

There can be more than one victim.
MeFi comment - favorited 87 times

This makes it sound like I'm threatening people into giving me favorites.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:42 AM on April 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

Turn one switch on for a bit, then turn it off. Turn the 2nd switch on and go to the attic. If the bulb is warm and off, it was the first switch. If its on, its the 2nd, and if its off and cold, its the third.
posted by hwyengr at 7:02 AM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

My incessant nagging about gender inequality gave me 208 favorites in the thread about Elliot Rodger. For fear of literally triggering my PTSD, I'm going to ignore that and just small talk about how I've finally gotten around to drawing this harpy character I've had in my head and its turning out better than I thought it would, so I'm really happy about that. She's in a girl gang. She rides skateboards.
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:24 AM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

My most-favorited is me sniping at someone else here. While I still agree with the gist of my post I could've been less of an ass about it. So, instead, here's my second-most-favorited:

.

Slightly morbid, but maybe helpful: if you're ever near an industrial accident (fire, spill, etc.) and wonder if you should observe/film it from where you are, a good rule of thumb from the hazmat industry: hold your hand out at arm's length and try to cover up the scene with your thumb. If you can't obscure the whole thing, keep running. (It works out to almost exactly one degree, so about 60m distance per 1m width of scene.)

posted by introp at 11:09 on August 13, 2015 [50 favorites +] [!]

posted by introp at 7:25 AM on April 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

38 Saint Bernards breathing.
posted by minsies at 7:54 AM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Nobody expects the GOP! Our chief weapon is gerrymandering. Gerrymandering and voter suppression. Our two weapons are gerrymandering and voter suppression. And James Comey. Our three weapons are gerrymandering and voter suppression and James Comey and an almost fanatical disregard for the truth. Our four, no, amongst our weaponry are such elements as gerrymandering, voter suppression... I'll come in again.

Nobody expects the GOP! Amongst our weaponry are such elements as gerrymandering, voter suppression, James Comey, an almost fanatical disregard for the truth, and Russian hackers.

posted by tobascodagama at 10:21 on February 6 [244 favorites +] [!]

(Of course it'd be from one of those godsbedamned politics threads. Of double course it'd be a lousy Python gag.)
posted by tobascodagama at 8:03 AM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

You caused me to go back in time and review some of the conversations I participated in (EU and disagreeing with those defending big soda brands selling tap water, and their labelling regarding dehydration, debtors prisons as ADD/ADHD sites for time travelling historians to study, prepare for an indigenous resurgence in Canada, Jar Jar was a brilliant character, among others). A lot sure got worse in the world since I frequently posted and interacted. Also I note that I had a great deal more 'free' time. I notice most of the things on that "popular" page are posts, I guess my comments were mostly artisanal, handcrafted wicker spun out for one or a very few, with odd linguistic jokes embedded. Mostly. I was a funny (haha, peculiar) kid. There're like 4 lifeguarding comments high on that list (I made them one day after I had been away for a while), had I known at the start that 'I was a lifeguard' comments would end up so high on my favorited list, sadly that probably would have shaped my whole site participation ; )

Post: Tarkovsky on Tarkovsky
MeFi post - favorited 76 times

Comment: Folks bringing a PFD (personal floatation device) into an area with 1. deeper dropoff 2. landing zone of a slide or high/low board is absolutely one of the top things a guard is vigilant for. In a 'traditional' pool this is usually 'easier', as there... [more]
MeFi comment - favourited 56 times
posted by infinite intimation at 8:09 AM on April 14, 2017

Favorite comment (#3 of all favorites):

But they are not. Stewart has his thing going on, Oliver has his. They compliment each other, and it shows that there is probably room for several other such shows that would also find their own voice and purpose.

Jon Stewart really deserves a lot of credit for surrounding himself with great talent, nurturing that talent, always giving credit to that talent, and then setting the stage for those people to take off and become great themselves, in their own way. In any industry this would be remarkable, but I think it's especially true in entertainment, where egos are fragile and everyone is seen as competition or a threat. I had a boss like this once, and he was by far the best boss (and mentor) I've ever had.
posted by Room 641-A at 4:05 PM on August 16, 2014 [122 favorites +] [!]

I was happy to see this because that old boss of mine was such a great mentor and I think it spoke to Stewart's character.

I was also happy to see that #6 on the list was my Tim & Eric-related post about Cinco products.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:15 AM on April 14, 2017

My top-rated comment is about some results of the 2015 US Trans Survey and what they imply for trans people in the USA in 2017. I've re-posted the whole comment because the issue is super important (to me).

Recently we had a FPP on the US Transgender Survey. Our community already face extremely high rates of attempted/completed suicide; endemic poverty, unemployment, and instability; extraordinary levels of harassment and discrimination; and the list never really stops.

Here's something I'd really like you to think about. On page 48 of the full report, there is a graph of years since people transitioned. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of respondents transitioned in the last 6 years. Thirteen percent (13%) transitioned 6-9 years ago, while 18% transitioned 10+ years ago.

Basically, the vast majority of people who responded to the survey came out in the Obama Administration, while less than 1-in-5 transitioned during the Bush Administration. This survey suggests that most trans people who are out, came out once an Administration would go to bat for us. How many of us won't feel safe to truly be ourselves because of this disaster?

Please read this article (Obama Opened a Window: We're Terrified [that man] will shut it). Little kids have their identities recognized now in a way I could only dream of as a child. I had hoped they would never know a President who held them in such contempt.

I knew what I was getting into when I came out, and the start of the Obama administration was really a breath of fresh air. Things really seemed to be improving. Now, though...

I am begging you: Please, please, please stand up for your trans friends and relatives. We are few, but willful. Please stand with us. Please don't let them kill more of us. We just want to live our lives.
posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 7:20 on January 14 [191 favorites +] [!]

posted by Excommunicated Cardinal at 8:27 AM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

Mine was something about how nothing ever happens in Sweden. I guess reality overtook me here...
posted by Namlit at 8:41 AM on April 14, 2017

So instead, I'll enter here: Yeah run. Five favorites for every character.
posted by Namlit at 8:45 AM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

Washington Post: Fidel Castro, Cuban dictator, dies at 90
By Kevin Sullivan and J.Y. Smith

J.Y. Smith, 74; Raised Standards for Post Obituaries
Thursday, January 19, 2006

This is how far in advance obituaries for the famous get written. The guy who wrote Castro's obit himself died over 10 years ago.
152 favorites
posted by scalefree at 9:19 AM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Wonderland 1977
56 users marked this as a favorite
posted by scalefree at 9:22 AM on April 14, 2017

Mine is a bit of a novel I wrote about how (some) men make it to adulthood without reciprocal relationships while women navigate the minefield in adolescence: "People like to joke that adolescent girls are emotional terrorists, which they kind-of are, but they're emotional terrorists within the controlled constraints of childhood, and they (most of them) learn the skills to quit being emotional terrorists by the time they're off to college. The only way out is through; emotional reciprocity in relationships is HELLA HARD TO LEARN and understandable adolescent girls are therefore AWFUL while in the throes of learning it. But these Peter Pan men who reach 23 and require their girlfriends to manage their emotional lives? They're sleeper agent emotional terrorists who need to go through the same painful, awkward, everyone-hates-being-around-you growth process ... but as grown-ass adults instead of adolescents. And they're going to inflict the same sort of pain on everyone around them. And they're going to be horrible, manipulative, passive-aggressive, aggressive-aggressive, drama magnets while they do it."

I kind of wish it were high school is the world of Jane Austen, tho, because that's MY favorite of my comments! I keep swearing I'm going to turn it into an article and submit it to the Hairpin or something but lo I am lazy.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 9:24 AM on April 14, 2017 [5 favorites]

I am also really sick of the kind of comment centered around the bizarre idea that annoyance over something rude or annoying means you're destined to live an enraged-filled or frustrated life. It is a classic dismantling of women's legitimate complaints, and not needed, ever.
posted by agregoli at 2:32 PM on September 28, 2015
[171 favorites +] [!]
posted by agregoli at 9:33 AM on April 14, 2017

I want to call out anonymous for asking some of the best AskMe questions ever. Sometimes I feel like s/he is asking questions I would ask. Thanks anonymous, you rock!
posted by Rob Rockets at 9:47 AM on April 14, 2017

People apparently liked the story of that time my new employer gave me a Christmas bonus of letting me hold twenty bucks for eight hours. 232 people, in fact.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:55 AM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Personally, I am more fond of the second-place finisher, when I related that my dad had the chance to make The Donald disappear ten years ago but let the moment slip past him. Again, sorry everybody.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:59 AM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

I still haven't found the part in my Bible where Jesus died for a closely-held corporation's sins. [more]
posted by gauche at 10:35 AM on April 14, 2017

Eyebrows, I could literally kiss you for that comment because it just touches so many things I've seen but never been able to say. It also fills me with a new rage that we constantly shit on girls for being catty and emotional, when in reality those girls are just learning how to grow up and be emotionally mature humans. Girls are constantly shit on, even when what we're doing is for the better of everyone around us.
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:58 AM on April 14, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'll pass on my most-faved comment about Reddit's CEO shitshow (commenting first works people!) and post my second-most-faved thing, a post for all ages.

Comic Sans
MeFi post - favorited 144 times
posted by GuyZero at 11:01 AM on April 14, 2017

Also, this comment should really be Cortex's all-time favest:

Matt, you son of a bitch.
not actually posted by cortex at 4:47 PM on August 23, 2007 [48 favorites −] [!]
posted by GuyZero at 11:06 AM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

You didn't go with him to the grocery store to buy snacks. Your fiancé doesn't think there is any possible way for you to make up for the fact he didn't have moral support BUYING SNACKS AT THE GROCERY STORE. Yeah, the problem here isn't you... [more]
posted by CoffeeHikeNapWine at 11:15 AM on April 14, 2017

You cannot do any good for yourself in an exit interview. If the company wanted to change, they'd have either created an environment where you wanted to stay or they would have listened to the necessary changes and chosen not to sack you. All that you can do in an exit interview is decrease the likelihood that your now former company will give you a positive recommendation a few years from now, or attempt to deny you unemployment. No matter what - say nothing. Resist the urge to be honest. If your opinion mattered, you'd still work there.
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:12 PM on December 5, 2015 [127 favorites +] [!]
posted by Nanukthedog at 11:20 AM on April 14, 2017

What you should do is get a slightly less good bottle of tequila in a less interesting bottle and bring that to the party.
posted by General Malaise at 11:30 AM on April 14, 2017

Eh. The opposite of love is not hate but indifference. It's clear he's got issues, you've already declined the opportunity to have a front-row seat at his issuefest. Mild perplexity seems like just the right response. I think you're fine.
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 101 times
posted by selfmedicating at 11:55 AM on April 14, 2017

I'd give him some water, but he'd probably only turn it into wine. [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 230 times
posted by pracowity at 12:27 PM on April 14, 2017

Recommend me some mellow, non-electronic two-player strategy games.
Ask MeFi post - favorited 130 times

I still refer to this question!
posted by expialidocious at 12:44 PM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

My most favorited was snark because I'd been momentarily deceived and it wasn't April Fools Day. That's the only time I've had more than a hundred. I generally stay out of the huge threads because whatever I say will be lost like tears in rain.

I got 156 total for an askme about getting stuck on Beech Mtn.

My second was about how to negotiate with the bear who raids your trash when I totally bust a bear being a bear. I speak with bears bi-weekly now. Sometimes they look like people. Building my skills.

Not far down is this dog didn't do that to you?
posted by Mr. Yuck at 1:01 PM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Summer Blockbuster Wins Pulitzer!
Ask MeFi post - favorited 238 times

But my true pride and joy...

I Am Truly Fully Licensed Hairstylist
Music post - favorited 78 times
posted by Beardman at 2:06 PM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

From back in the heady days of the first week of November 2016:

I'm pretty sure I've told this story on Mefi, but it feels especially relevant today:

I lived in the Clintons' Arkansas from 1975-1980 and in elementary school was lucky enough to participate in one of the state's first gifted and talented programs. After reading so much lately about Hillary's dedication to education, I'm sure she was instrumental in starting my program.

One day all of us in the program were supposed to have lunch at the Governor's mansion and meet the Clintons. I refused to wear a dress and my mom wouldn't let me go.

Pantsuits forever!
posted by bendy at 5:56 PM on November 7, 2016 [112 favorites +] [!]
posted by bendy at 2:53 PM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

I'm not sure how I feed about the fact that my comment with the most favorites is just a link-and-paste of someone else's tweet. It's a brilliant tweet though, wish I'd actually said it.

'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party. [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 144 times
posted by octothorpe at 3:46 PM on April 14, 2017 [3 favorites]

I think it´s time for a recap of week one (from an FB journalist friend) * On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the DOJ’s Violence Against Women programs. * On January 19th, 2017, DT said that he would cut funding for the... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 157 times
posted by adamvasco at 3:51 PM on April 14, 2017

This comment is the first time I got more than about 20 favorites. I'm still a little proud of it.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:05 PM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

Pleased with this one:

Lord_Pall: "Scott Walker is like debating a potato."

No. Unlike Walker, a potato will feed a hungry child.
posted by stet at 7:09 PM on August 6, 2015 [142 favorites +] [!]

Still unclear why this one was so popular:

The ball feet are clearly because it is a racing mammoth.
posted by stet at 10:08 PM on August 17, 2015 [mark as best answer] [60 favorites +] [!]

This one confuses me because I basically wrote, "I read a cool thing that I am literally to lazy to link, but trust me, it was cool.":

I try to imagine what is so gross about police unions

There's an essay in Jacobin that I can't find right now that argues the fundamental difference between police unions and other unions is that police are bosses, not labor. Ms. stet says, "Interesting. Even if they're labor within their own organization they're bosses for the rest of us."

So yeah, I kind of think that's the fundamental difference.
posted by stet at 9:38 PM on October 29, 2016 [70 favorites +] [!]

This one kind of makes me sad:

Say it with me, people.

Surely, this, THIS, will be the thing that brings down the bush administration!
posted by stet at 6:53 PM on November 4, 2008 [63 favorites +] [!]

This is the one where I flushed out all the catalogers.:

Should I let children develop a taxonomy, or use an established set of descriptors?

If you don't talk to your children about Ranganathan, who will?
posted by stet at 6:38 PM on November 16, 2016 [21 favorites +] [!]
posted by stet at 5:35 PM on April 14, 2017

15 Reasons why Mr. Rogers was the best neighbor ever.
posted by oneirodynia at 5:38 PM on April 14, 2017

I don't want to post my most-favorited comment; last year was a bad year. Instead, I'll post my second most-favorited comment, which is far more in keeping with how I'd like to feel about my fellow Americans (and the subset "my fellow MeFites"):

"Back in October of last year, I made a comment in a thread that was either about, or had wandered into the subject of, food-stamp cuts. I wrote briefly about what it was like to fall into poverty, to have no health insurance for years on end, to be unemployed or undereployed, to be on food stamps, etc. Generally, I was trying to explain what the world looked and felt like to someone who, like so many others, wound up in dire straits in their middle age because The Economy. I was frustrated and depressed and Things Were Bad. My life looked like an obstacle course without a finish line, and I used that thread to vent my despair and bitterness.

A Mefite Who Shall Remain Nameless (because I don't know if this Mefite would care to be named) contacted me and said that they felt terrible that there wasn't really anything they could do about my situation, but offered to send me money -- nothing much, they said, just something for "a nice dinner." I was, frankly, loath to accept, because goddamn nobody likes to feel that way, but I was so desperate that I didn't really have room for pride or any of that crap, so I was gracious and thankful and glad and pleased (all of which were also true, as it happens), and offered up my PayPal address upon this Mefite's request.

So, okay. A nice dinner?

Means different things to different people.

Because of the generosity of a person whom I have never met, have never directly conversed with on the site that I can recall, and only wound up connecting to because we share that odd, weird sense of community that so many of us here have twined into our love of the site and all of the enrichment it brings into our lives, I was able to pay all of my bills and rent for a whole month, on time, for the first time in several years.

Since then, I have become gainfully employed. It's a job; I have it; it pays the bills and lets me go to the movies, and maybe I'll be able to afford a pet one day soon and it's more than I ever thought I would see. It's hardly big bucks, but it certainly affords me the ability to do this: I'm going to donate the "nice dinner" sum to MetaFilter, annually, for as long as I am employed, in honor of everything that this community has been and will be, and in honor of the Mefite who made this sarcastic, cynical woman cry tears of gratitude.

Oh, and by the way, a few days ago, I got my 10,000th favorite -- on my birthday.

Metafilter is the best."
posted by tzikeh at 10:44 PM on June 2, 2014 [241 favorites +] [!]

(The cruel fucking irony is that I've just been fired from that new job I got after 3.5 years there, and am now in the bureaucratic hellscape of reapplying for food stamps, plus Medicaid (denied on first go-round--currently appealing) and Unemployment benefits. Still, this is how I try to keep my hopes up. I'm even composing a MeTa about this site and how it's saved me over and over.)
posted by tzikeh at 6:07 PM on April 14, 2017 [13 favorites]

Wood, Leather, Steel, Blood Post favorited 181 times
posted by Mitheral at 6:29 PM on April 14, 2017

I love this thread so much! I've spent the last few hours laughing and crying at a bunch of the threads linked from here. I still have 17 open tabs left to read through.
posted by bendy at 6:43 PM on April 14, 2017

My top comment is me muttering about how Hats On Guys Are Bad Now.

That first article. Geeze. My takeaway from it is "any hat, no matter what it is, is a sign that a man is an asshole". Seriously is there any hat that person doesn't think is a sign of being a jerkwad on a man. Because fuck this hat hate.... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 72 times

I like my second best one a lot more. It's about how I'm an AWESOME DRAGON.

cribcage > I don't have a clear understanding of what furries mean when they describe themselves in animal terms. Okay, let me try to give you some of the shades of meaning this can have. I'm Peggy. I'm a dragon. This can unpack to some... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 58 times
posted by egypturnash at 7:00 PM on April 14, 2017

Seven years later, it's still the army ant story, by a nose, over the fart story.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:15 PM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

Orlop: " I have sincerely been wondering, "What's so great about that comment that so many people favorited it?""

Metafilter loves insider stories.
posted by Mitheral at 7:46 PM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

One amazing trick that turns liquor into a drink
posted by ersatzkat at 7:55 PM on April 14, 2017

It's amazing how many problems can be traced back to the phrase "...fan of the novelist Ayn Rand."
posted by Kevin Street at 5:17 PM on July 12, 2013 [183 favorites +] [!]
posted by Kevin Street at 9:35 PM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

The story of how I once accidentally made Beavis the New Face of C-Span [422 favorites at the time of this comment]
posted by chambers at 10:12 PM on April 14, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm going on. Sorry. That whole circuitous thinking thing probably, round and round I go, where I stop, nobody knows. Jesus. This thing has gotten way. too. long. so I'd best stop.

tl;dr -- go to the damn doctor; you're worth it

Have fun!
posted by dancestoblue at 3:53 AM on January 24, 2011 [754 favorites +] [!]
posted by dancestoblue at 10:22 PM on April 14, 2017 [2 favorites]

My judgier outraged moments on Ask appear to do well :/

It's not about "enabling helplessness". What he needs are people who can enable success.

That is an Amy Schumer sketch, not a relationship....

I'm talking now to your dude. Dude. I hear you. But pick up a fucking vacuum cleaner.
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:02 AM on April 15, 2017

HI AMERICANS (and all mefites!) It's 4:45 pm on Wednesday here in Sydney, Australia as I type this comment and the world is still standing. I had the appointment with my therapist that I mentioned in the previous thread and he gave me some great... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 120 times
posted by Panthalassa at 12:15 AM on April 15, 2017

my biggest claim to fame among my friends is I had scurvy when I was 23.
posted by russm at 12:16 AM on April 15, 2017

I honestly don't know how you American MeFites are doing it. I'm paralysed with anxiety about Nutella winning and I'm all the way in Australia.

I planned to take the day off from work, but instead I'll be getting a gynecological examination at around the time the results will come through.
posted by daybeforetheday at 1:50 AM on April 15, 2017

The Bicycle Thief & Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 42 times
posted by obloquy at 1:57 AM on April 15, 2017

I can't canvass in my wheelchair so as my small part, I remind my co-workers and shoppers at the food co-op to vote and have helped a lot of them to find an early voting location. I was happy to have convinced one friend who wasn't going to vote at... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 148 times
posted by a humble nudibranch at 3:52 AM on April 15, 2017

I king the kings — favorited 101 times
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:56 AM on April 15, 2017

Hi. Whatcha reading? a.k.a. Schroedinger's Rapist.
posted by kimdog at 5:04 AM on April 15, 2017

I am not sure I can take credit for my most-favourited item, which is substantially due, I suspect, to having quoted Sydney Smith's prescriptions for low spirits, with 179 favourites. Ironically, my next most-favourited item, at 132 favourites, was my AskMe about how to deal with existential angst.
posted by Athanassiel at 5:49 AM on April 15, 2017

Have fun!
posted by dancestoblue

Let me just state for the record that I'm so, so glad you made it back because although I don't seem to be able to make the time to be as good a friend to you as I wish I could be, I love you a bunch and you've been such a huge inspiration to me in the limited time we've managed to carve out on this rock. Thanks for being a mentor to my old friend the graffiti artist, too. I love that kid & you've helped save his life. Keep living, keep helping. When thing get scary, we look for the helpers & you're one of them.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:33 AM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sociology of subculture recommendations, in which I learned the term "ethnography" from Jessamyn.
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:14 AM on April 15, 2017

I needed to read myself today, apparently.

"Your priorities change when you've lived through soul-crushing experiences, whatever they may be. You realize that the stories told to us that lead to stratification and hierarchization, of "value" and "objectives" and all those illusions narrated to keep us striving and thinking that generosity and altruism are "creepy", are chaff on the wind. That the true meaning of life is relationship. And that there will always be people who haven't yet understood that; whose need to believe in that grand, privileged value society has given them is more important than seeing the love around them."

Thanks for the faves, MeFi. Had no idea it had gotten so many.
posted by fraula at 7:26 AM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

in which I learned the term "ethnography" from Jessamyn.

I am a wizard! I did not comment in that thread!
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:28 AM on April 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

But do you have a monitor like the famous Kibo watching for references to "jessamyn" in posts?
posted by sammyo at 8:23 AM on April 15, 2017

My top comments are a 50/50 mix of in-depth comments and one-liner snark.
posted by ryanrs at 8:40 AM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: a 50/50 mix of in-depth comments and one-liner snark.
posted by ryanrs at 8:40 AM on April 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

My top two were snarks at other mefites, which I'm not proud of. My third was a thing I still think of often, almost daily. I wish I had made it more clear that my interpretation of that is exactly what Theodore Sturgeon intended, I just hadn't understood it (until I did).
posted by ctmf at 8:56 AM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

What if You Just Hate Making Dinner?
MeFi post - favorited 39 times
posted by Margalo Epps at 9:00 AM on April 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

And while I'm looking, I'm kind of baffled how popular this one was. It doesn't seem particularly insightful, I just happened to be the one to say it. Right place, right time I guess.
posted by ctmf at 9:03 AM on April 15, 2017

The shit lagoon and the festivities of manure spreader day.
posted by peeedro at 9:11 AM on April 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

This was from when I tore apart a phony lawsuit document sent to Matt and exposed it as fraud:

FWIW - here's what I found by looking in the PDF: The file was created by smallpdf.com using the package PDF Clown. It was created August 30th. It is nothing more than three pages with three images, nothing else. Each image is 24 bits per... [more]
MetaTalk comment - favorited 138 times


Second one is also PDF related, on the Xerox JBIG2 debacle:

This is a classic clash between providers and users of technology. In the PDF sphere, when images are stored within the PDF there are a number of compressions that are available: ASCIIHex ASCII85 None Run Length Encoding (aka, RLE, PackBits)... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 121 times

Number three is own Down syndrome:

Trisomy 21, General Information
MetaTalk post - favorited 79 times

And that pretty much sums up my adult life for the past 15 years: PDF and Down syndrome. Expertise on two subjects I had no intention of having at the outset yet they both dictated my life.
posted by plinth at 9:41 AM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

San Antonio TX police showing up in uniform to greet Trump on the tarmac wearing MAGA hats.

*shudder*

It's not hyperbole to say this is what fascism looks like.

MeFi comment - favorited 207 times

While I stand unreservedly by that hot take, this is indeed a dark timeline we find ourselves in.

I like this one better, because it's people helping:

Shit got real at the opera that night.

MeFi comment - favorited 116 times
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:45 AM on April 15, 2017

Guys. Guys. Today a film maker contacted my husband about a documentary he is making about Roger Ailes and the media. Mr. Freedom thought he was contacted because he is the theatre professor at the local university and the guy wanted some... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 231 times

tl;dr: We own Roger Ailes' house.
posted by chainsofreedom at 10:13 AM on April 15, 2017

Don’t Call it a Tramp Stamp
Ink's been here for years.
MeFi comment - favorited 88 times
posted by comealongpole at 10:24 AM on April 15, 2017

My top answer is a pun: http://www.metafilter.com/151495/Do-not-shoot-selfies-with-the-wildlife#6138890. My top 5 includes a comment on privilege, one defending support for abortion and a guide to the EU's institutions. I maybe need to visit other sites more.
posted by biffa at 11:15 AM on April 15, 2017

Mine is an Ozymandias/Trump joke in response to someone's earlier comment...

No, that would be challenging phrasing and allusion for a significant fraction of his base.
"Look... people... I have works! Great works. They're the best works. Mighty mighty works. I'm telling you, people. Totally. I mean, you should be so sad!"
posted by knapah at 8:17 PM on February 16 [102 favorites +] [!]

(Warning: it's in the middle of a 2,410 comment election thread)
posted by knapah at 11:36 AM on April 15, 2017

I am a wizard! I did not comment in that thread!

This is making my brain hurt, b/c I would've sworn on my dog's life that you commented that in the first place and I even replied something akin to "Oh thanks, I'll add that to the tags", neither of which are there.

Or maybe I'm just older and making shit up in my mind about the past. (More likely, tbh)
posted by Ufez Jones at 12:06 PM on April 15, 2017

The world-renowned fruit was grimly hanging low.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:23 AM on January 13, 2014 [102 favorites +] [!]
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:06 PM on April 15, 2017

Ufex: you and I both commented in this thread three years earlier, maybe that was ... something?
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 12:17 PM on April 15, 2017

So according to Mick Mulvaney, Meals on Wheels does not have a demonstrable result. Afterschool and school nutrition programs are not effective. Fuck you, Mick Mulvaney. People NOT STARVING is a demonstrable result.... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 44 times

Yep. Fuck you, Mick Mulvaney.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 12:40 PM on April 15, 2017

> This was from when I tore apart a phony lawsuit document sent to Matt and exposed it as fraud:

I'd forgotten how entertaining that thread was! The mefi posse saddling up and riding off after the bad guys!
posted by rtha at 12:59 PM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

I've had clients like you and I always tell them one of my favorite phrases from Wayne Dyer.
He said, "When you feel guilty, you're trying to change the past, and when you feel scared, you're trying to change the future. All you have is the present." (more) favorited 83 times.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 2:28 PM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

A good friend of mine was a party once and some dude from central Europe whipped out an old, authentic Nazi tank flag, showing it around and talking about how it was passed down from his great uncle or whatever. The guy was an asshole, had been a problem at the party, and was of the fascist persuasion.

When he got to my pal, my pal calmly reached into his pocket and proceeded to light it on fire, with a stars and stripes BIC lighter. It burned right up and the guy was like "THAT WAS A FAMILY HEIRLOOM I WILL FIGHT YOU RIGHT NOW!"

My friend fought him and kicked his ass. The moral? Sometimes you have to kick a Nazi's ass.
posted by vrakatar at 7:31 PM on January 20 [165 favorites +] [!]

How do I turn that into a hyperlink?
posted by vrakatar at 3:08 PM on April 15, 2017 [4 favorites]

How do I turn that into a hyperlink?

Open the comment and copy the timestamp at the bottom of it. Then highlight part of the text you've pasted into this thread, click the link button, and paste the copied timestamp into the field in the popup dialog.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:45 PM on April 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

We're off to a great start here at PedantFilter.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:01 PM on April 15, 2017

I do not understand how to keep the hyperlink active, not even with Kirth Gerson's plain explanation. But here's my most popular post.

Walking While Balancing Yourself
March 29, 2017 11:21 AM
Kenyan women routinely walk while balancing 60-80% of their body weight on their heads.
posted by MovableBookLady at 5:18 PM on April 15, 2017

vrakatar's popular comment.

MovableBookLady's
posted by Mitheral at 6:44 PM on April 15, 2017 [2 favorites]

You're a gem, Mitheral.
posted by vrakatar at 7:16 PM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

Seven years later, it's still the army ant story, by a nose, over the fart story.

Wow, that's a modern version of Plague of Ants by Bartolomé de las Casas (him, previously). Equally surreal and terrifying.

Your fart story is good too, we should all be so lucky.
posted by peeedro at 7:16 PM on April 15, 2017 [3 favorites]

Lucky fart story is name of my new band or blog or something real good.
posted by vrakatar at 7:33 PM on April 15, 2017 [1 favorite]

$8 tip on a $2 item.
posted by eamondaly at 7:56 PM on April 15, 2017

Here's hoping that today is the first concrete victory we've gotten since the depressing failure that was November 8. I want to remind us all of the MAJOR victory we succeeded in getting around the Muslim ban. We did that. We took to the... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 205 times
posted by Sophie1 at 8:08 PM on April 15, 2017

I used to work at Hooters.
posted by changeling at 8:22 PM on April 15, 2017

So y'know what, Sister Miriam Nugent? Fuck you.
posted by Lucinda at 4:20 AM on April 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I DID IT! I FINALLY GOT A CHANCE TO TELL MY TRAIN JOKE!!!! A man and a woman who had never met before but were both married to other people found themselves assigned to the same sleeping compartment on a trans-continental train...
posted by growabrain at 10:29 AM on April 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

:D

Sitters Vs. Standers – The Great Wipe Hope
MeFi post - favorited 115 times
posted by juliplease at 10:40 AM on April 16, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure I've ever told this story on MeFi before, which is weird, but here goes.

Five or so years ago I had a single day of work on some shoot in upstate New York. Not far upstate, just about an hour and a half away, just past the Tappan Zee bridge really. My job was to drive the Art Truck out there so that the production designer could get moving at the location.

(As an aside, I'm in another line of work now, and when people ask me as they often do what it was like workin in film and tv, I should really just respond that it involved a hell of a lot more truck-driving than you'd expect from a guy as tiny as me.)

Anyway, I get over the Tappan Zee and the directions have blown into the cube because I had the window open, so suddenly I have no idea where I'm going and I just need a place to pull over, which turns out not to be so easy around there. I exit onto one road after another, trying to keep track so that I can find my way back to the highway, until finally I find a spot which, far from ideal, at least had room for me to stop and look for my mapquest printout.

By "far from ideal" I mean that it was on a curvy, forested, uphill road with no homes or businesses in sight, but I pulled over on the outside of one of the curves to make sure people would at least see me there.

I grab the directions and find that they actually aren't helpful to me at all by this point anyway. As I'm sitting in the driver's seat, A guy passes by very slowly in an old Honda Civic, and we sort of look each other over. I know him from somewhere, and he's giving me the same sort of look, so I figure it's some dude from NYU that I can't quite place.

I put it out of my head and call up Len, the production designer, to help me figure out how to get to the place, but his party hasn't even gotten out of the city yet, so we're acting like a couple of fools trying to figure out where the hell I am and where the hell we're all going and getting nowhere but I've got a truck full of valuable artwork on the side of the road in West Nyack and then, oh god, the Civic just came back up the road and has pulled up and parked right ahead of me.

It starts to dawn on me as the man gets out of the car and heads over to my window, and I'm trying to keep concentrating on the phone conversation, but he's coming right up to my door, and opens it, and-

"Can I help you, brah?"

Len, on the other end of the line- "Is that the cops?"

Me, flustered- "No, it's the, uh... it's the Baldwins."

I get off the phone, and Stephen Baldwin tells me that I'm pulled over in a really unsafe place, and I tell him that yes, I know, but I'm lost and trying to get over to this place (which wasn't in Nyack or West Nyack) and he says, "Well, I don't know where that is exactly, but I can at least get you halfway there. Follow me."

And so Stephen Baldwin gets back in his car and leads me to the township I was heading for, wishes me well, and takes off for wherever he was heading before taking a half-hour out of his day to help a lost stranger.

This site is ridiculous, yes, but you know what? I like Stephen Baldwin. Partially for being awesome in The Usual Suspects, and partially because, while he may be Born Again, he at least walks the walk of it. That was kind.

(188 Favorites)
posted by Navelgazer at 10:53 AM on April 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

Forgotten?
The shadowy back alleys of MetaFilter...
MetaTalk post - favorited 287 times

That was nearly a decade ago. MetaFilter has undergone significant change in its understructure since then, so a good many of the links in that post are toast. And I don't know how long it's been since I've stayed up through the night to put something like that together; somewhere in the last ten years I learned to appreciate sleeping through the night. Also I don't really have anything off the top of my head to add to this, my relationship to the site has changed and I just don't follow the day-to-day here enough anymore to keep up with all the little wonks that still happen and stick around.

What are some new ones for the list?

And from the 'Forgotten?' post, here's the links that still work:
LoFi - The original PWB for MetaFilter.
100 random MeFite websites - Pulls 100 random results from the (website) field of your profile, reload for 100 more.
Google Earth KML file [direct download] - MeFite locations around the globe, but what opens .kml files anymore? (Apparently you can load it using Googles "My Maps" but I haven't tried it. )
MetaFilter taglines - cortex still pays the bills on the metafiltr.com research domain.
MeFite Social Explorer - Choose a service and see other MeFites that use it (and have linked their profile).
HOLY SHIT WHEN DID MARKOVFILTER GET TURNED ON AGAIN? It is not fast, which makes me wonder if it's a real strain on the server?
MeFiMall 2008
Parts of an early April Fools' joke remain - kottke header and footer
The Gift A MetaFilter Account Page where you can sign up your new significant other for the account they'll never use and/or officially link all your AskMe sockpuppets.
Direct PDF link to Capital and Stratification within Virtual Community: A Case Study of Metafilter.com (2005) by Quartermass
The Best Posts from August 2006 in case you're interested.
Donate via PayPal - this still exists, but I believe the Fund MetaFilter link at the bottom of every page is the current preferred avenue for giving moolah to MeFi.
In 2001 MeFi offered a scholarship.
MeFi Jabber server - Currently down, but back someday. !!!
Ancient stylesheets
Another AFJ: There is no spoon
dios vs rothko: THE FUNDRAISER
Text Ads are phased out as of 2005

Like that last one, lots of the dead links are not actually failures, which is great. If you go to the Recent Twitters page, it doesn't say 404 NOT FOUND nor is it some clever fail whale— it says MetaFilter is no longer aggregating Tweets. More info in MetaTalk: Social Apps Changes. I really love that.
posted by carsonb at 11:10 AM on April 16, 2017 [4 favorites]

I should mention that Shadowy Back Alleys grew into a much better (bigger, maintained) list on the Wiki.
posted by carsonb at 11:12 AM on April 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

90 of my top 100 or something are politics, and 80 those are bitter snark, but my top favorited ever is still about cover letters:.

Why yes, I will totally resort to flattery if that's what you would like, Mr. McAwesomesauce!
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:47 PM on April 16, 2017

If you want to be next level navelgazing, try the infodump and see where you rank.

I don't know how I feel about making the top 25, I don't feel like 2016 election post comments should count. It feels like cheating. And I don't feel good about how many of mine come from there now and for the last 18 months, but I can't stop commenting either. Hurray 2017?
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:52 PM on April 16, 2017

You didn't ask about the 1920s, but I think restaurant trends in the '20s were pretty interesting so I'm going to tell you about them anyway... [more]

I don't know whether I should be pleased or discouraged when I reread my own posts and feel like I've learned something new. Like, yay for my helpfulness, but also didn't I once know these things already?
posted by lilac girl at 7:57 PM on April 16, 2017 [3 favorites]

Thanks, Mitheral.
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:10 PM on April 16, 2017

In the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Trajan, my legions were attacked by the Calibri in the hills of Helvetica...
MeFi comment - favorited 699 times

I did not realize the extent of the vast untapped Font Joke market when I posted that.
posted by kyrademon at 5:19 AM on April 17, 2017 [5 favorites]

Wait, what?
I was, until this very moment, utterly and completely unaware that people were even anatomically capable of wiping their asses while standing up.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 1:35 PM on December 16, 2009 [117 favorites −] Favorite added! [!]
posted by drlith at 6:20 AM on April 17, 2017

I had a hillbilly neighbor once who didn't pay his electric bill. When they shut off his power he pulled his meter, did something, replaced his meter and restored his power. The power company shut off his power at the pole. He shimmied up the pole and re-set the breaker. The power company took his meter. He stole mine. I called the power company, they called the sheriff.
When he got out of jail he apologized and gave me a pig.
Maybe in a couple weeks you'll get a pig.
posted by Floydd at 1:44 AM on January 30, 2009 [222 favorites +]
posted by Floydd at 7:14 AM on April 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

Doesn't that mean that households with two moms are twice as awesome?

My nephew (age 5) has a classmate with two moms. My sister-in-law overheard the following conversation between the nephew and another classmate.

Classmate: Do you have a dad?
Nephew: Yeah. Do you?
Classmate: Yeah.
Classmate: Did you know that "Billy" has two moms?
Nephew: Really? How did that happen, do you think?
Classmate: He just got lucky, I guess.
Nephew: Yeah.
posted by Pax at 7:27 AM on April 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

> I don't know whether I should be pleased or discouraged when I reread my own posts and feel like I've learned something new. Like, yay for my helpfulness, but also didn't I once know these things already?

Wait till you get into your sixties; you'll just take it for granted that you probably once knew whatever it was. On the upside, you're never bored, because you're (re)learning all the time!
posted by languagehat at 7:39 AM on April 17, 2017 [6 favorites]

desjardins: I hope someone more talented than me does a travel poster for Crone Island. M A R G A R I T A S | T A C O S | S I S T E R H O O D [more]

WARNING: Link is to the massive Emotional Labor thread. (I'm still proud of that poster design.)
posted by ocherdraco at 9:09 AM on April 17, 2017 [4 favorites]

A response I made about unwed pregnancy
Favorited 68 times.
posted by dbmcd at 9:21 AM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

If you want to be next level navelgazing, try the infodump and see where you rank.

I'm pretty far down the list, but I've noticed that some of the top favees have favorited quite a few of my comments. Which is oddly gratifying in a way I can't explain.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:25 AM on April 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

Is the actual writing this bad? He mixes up transitive and intransitive verbs?

Yes, yes it is.

My comment in which I discuss how Dan Brown's writing and my in-laws conspired to make a terrible and stressful week even more terrible and stressful.
posted by Gygesringtone at 10:39 AM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I see a lot of people saying "she's not mad at the patriarchy, she's mad at these youthful choices she regrets", as though it weren't because of the patriarchy that those regrets exist. Would she regret her lower back tattoo if it weren't... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 214 times

I don't know if it's encouraging or depressing that of my top 20 most-favorited comments, half of them are from probably my worst MetaFilter experience (the rage yoga thread).
posted by Errant at 10:53 AM on April 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

worst, best, two sides of the same coin.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:49 AM on April 17, 2017

The daughter of a good friend of mine got a brain tumor and was successfully treated. Three years later, she got a second brain tumor and was again successfully treated (although she had brain damage after the second one). And then the daughter was... [more]
posted by OrangeDisk at 7:51 PM on April 17, 2017

hmm I wonder why we don't have enough diversity in STEM -

OH RIGHT

in a post about Ahmed Mohamed, the teen who got arrested for bringing a clock to school that people thought was a bomb
posted by divabat at 10:25 PM on April 17, 2017

You put a man on the moon, you can do this too. Dear U.S.A. You remember when Kennedy said "We do these things not because they are easy, but because they are hard"? You stopped doing that. Metric system? Too hard.... [more]
posted by HiroProtagonist at 10:44 PM on April 17, 2017

I went back to Lucinda's link and had a little moment between her and a few other users and myself of silently commiserating that we shared that unfortunate category of 'children who were blamed by their educators for their own bullying'.

And there's a lovely quote from one of Sandi Toksvig's guest appearances on QI, where she tells of overhearing her son describing his family situation to a friend:
"Having two mummies is marvelous, because when one's poorly you still have one to do for you."
posted by gadge emeritus at 11:02 PM on April 17, 2017

I'm sorry, what!! If you think a student has a bomb, then you evacuate the fucking school! If you do not think it's a bomb, you tell the kid to take the annoying beeping thing home. You do not keep the potential bomb in the same room as yourself and... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 235 times

It was a proud day for me.
posted by kjs4 at 11:12 PM on April 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

We parents absolutely should share that Common Core worksheet on Facebook. We just need to have different goals when we share it. Instead of pointing at it and saying "What is this shit?!?!", we should be sharing it with the intention of... [more]

Remember when we all had the free time to bicker about Common Core? Jpfed's comment history remembers. (I'm excluding a few other things above this because they're mostly jokes/ incremental-let's-remind-people-not-to-perpetuate-the-boyzone stuff.)
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 6:13 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

As I was looking at my Most Populars on a long drive over the weekend, I realized that the three different instances of this comment total 395 favorites, which would be my most-favorited comment by far.
posted by Etrigan at 6:54 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

They're all going to be confirmed. Every last one of them. I think pushing to block DeVos and Sessions might get some traction, but even then probably not. Not saying stop calling your senators about them, absolutely do that. Better to go down swinging. But the current radical right-wing in charge have been showing us for the last 8 years that they absolutely will not bend even a little or concede anything and so I think we can expect more of the same.

They don't care whether they represent their constituents.
They don't care if they do things that are illegal.
They don't care if they are antidemocratic.
They don't care if they have to blatantly lie.
They don't care if they do things that are unpopular.
They. don't. care.

All they care about is winning, and they will do whatever it takes. Literally our only recourse is to drive them out of positions of power. There is no compromise to be had with these people anywhere on anything, and we can make all the noise we want and they will ignore us. I don't want to be discouraging or fatalistic. I'm neither. I just think that the only possible thing to do with the current crop is strip them of power. They are political lunatics and reasoning with them while they try to punch us is just going to get us knocked out.

We need to field candidates for every possible elected position anywhere, and then we need to dedicate ourselves to overwhelming the opposition at the ballot-box to counteract the voter suppression and gerrymandering bullshit. That is all that will save us.
posted by supercrayon at 12:40 PM on January 24 [247 favorites +] [!]

I forgot about writing this comment. It does not feel good to have gotten it right. I would rather have eaten a cake. :(
posted by supercrayon at 7:47 AM on April 18, 2017 [3 favorites]

If I'm in a restaurant and someone drives their car inside it, I'm going to leave then, too. [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 155 times

That one remains my biggest hit. It's rooted in a bit more mean-spiritedness at the expense of the responsible parties for setting up its moment than maybe it ideally should have been, but given the context I feel no regrets.

Peter Parkour. In retrospect, this was obvious. [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 116 times

That horrible groaner of a pun, by contrast, I do feel sorry for!
posted by Drastic at 8:55 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

From Roberts dissent:

In his first American dic- tionary, Noah Webster defined marriage as “the legal union of a man and woman for life,”

Dude, really? When I was in high school debate & forensics, the "Webster's defines..." tactic was generally understood as cliche bullshit, and an obvious cover for "I got nuthin'..."

June 26, 2015 [119 favorites ]
posted by dnash at 10:17 AM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

Why are the democrats the one here expected to sacrifice their candidate? Shouldn't this be a call to arms for the republicans to support Hillary or Bernie?... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 236 times
posted by Carillon at 12:49 PM on April 18, 2017

If it hadn't been for Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" I still wouldn't understand how 5/4 time works. Thanks for that and all the great music, sir!
posted by Lynsey at 12:50 PM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

From an election thread :

Remind me not to get old.

We fight a lot of battles in MeFi over "-ist" language, and ageist barbs should not get a pass just...because.

I'm 53, don't know whether that qualifies as old to you or not, but I grew up with Nixon, and was a teenager and first time voter during the Reagan years. I've seen contentious elections before, and have heard both sides many times.
I'm happily, enthusiastically voting for Hillary and it absolutely has to do with my age, my experience and what i've lived through. if your father is an asshole, or you become as asshole as you get older that's on you, it has nothing to do with the aging process.
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:49 PM on October 8, 2016 [161 favorites +] [!]
posted by OHenryPacey at 12:56 PM on April 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

Somebody asked how to steal somebody else's girlfriend (214 favorites)
posted by Comrade_robot at 1:06 PM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

cotton dress sock: yeah, unleashing ones inner outrage on ask does seem to be a quick way to amass favourites. Being first helps quite a lot too. (I remain quite proud of that one.)
posted by pharm at 2:46 PM on April 18, 2017

I think I originally heard this one from Stephen Fry:

A hen goes into a library, goes up to the librarian and says "Buk!" The librarian hands it a book and away goes the hen with the book clutched under its wing. The next day, it comes in again and says "Buk buk!" The librarian gives it two books and away it goes with its two books. The third day, it comes in again and says "Buk buk buk!" The librarian gives it three books and it leaves again, but this time the librarian is curious and thinks, "I've never met a hen who could read so fast..."

So the librarian follows the hen out of the library and down the street, and sees the hen go into a little house. The librarian leans down and peers into the window, and sees the hen walk over to a bed, where a frog is lying with a thermometer in its mouth and a flannel on its head. One by one the hen hands each book over to the frog, and the frog says "Reddit... reddit... reddit..."

posted by AllShoesNoSocks at 7:46 PM on December 5, 2014 [13 favorites +] [!]
posted by AllShoesNoSocks at 2:47 PM on April 18, 2017 [1 favorite]

My jukebox story was evidently a hit. (343 favorites)

"nicely done!

Back in the day, (1965 or so), I used to make a weekly trip to a local business that leased pinball machines and juke boxes to bars. They had a small storefront where they had tables of 45's that had stopped producing revenue and had been replaced by vinyl that was more likely to bring in a few dimes.

I would spend an hour a week flipping though records and purchasing the ones I wanted for 25 cents each. Since they had only been handled by jukeboxes, they were typically in pretty good shape.

Over three or four years that I was buying 45's (before I left town to attend college) , I accumulated a couple of box fulls of classic rock and roll, and one of the prize finds was a copy of the Kingsmen's Louie Louie. I played it through high school and college, and eventually it ended up, with the rest of the 45's, in my Mom's basement.

Somewhere around 1982 someone donated a non-working 50's era Wurlitzer Jukebox to the nonprofit youth agency I was working for, it sat in a garage for 6 years or so and, eventually, my boss asked me to arrange to have it hauled off to the dump.

Really??? Absolutely not! That weekend my son Sean and I drove the old VW bus to the garage and, between the two of us, got it loaded in and took it home.

We lived in a small house, the only place to put it was in Sean's room. With the help of the wife and my youngest son, Wes, we got it out of the VW, lifted it up the three steps of the porch and got it in the door, through the living room and down the hall, to find that it was too wide to fit through the door.

We examined the situation and started taking the trim off the Wurlitzer, and took the door out of the frame, and, with a fraction of an inch to spare, we got it into Sean's room.

I really didn't have time to fool with the Wurlitzer, but Sean, who was in High School at the time, said that he wanted to try and get it working. With nothing to loose, I said "OK".

For the next few months Sean would spent a few hours a week taking it apart and cleaning, it was covered with dust, inside and out, the electronics were vacuum tubes and old fabric covered wire, everything was disintegrating and falling apart. He replaced wire, found an electronics store that could still test the vacuum tubes, and, generally, got it looking pretty good.

Eventually Sean came to me and said "We need a needle"... Lots of research later, we found a supplier that had needles and ordered a couple.

It was ready, I dug out my box of 45's and we loaded it up, hit the switch on the back and watched the lights come on. Sean punched two buttons, the mechanism started to work, picked up a 45, place it on the turntable, and we listened to that Wurlitzer spit out Louie Louie, a record I had purchased used over 20 years ago.

Sean kept the Wurlitzer in his room until he went to college. In 1990 Sean was killed in a motorcycle accident. The Wurlitzer sat in that room for another 10 years, I don't think it was ever turned on.

I sold the house about 2000, moving the Wurlitzer was a pain, but we got it to the new house and I stuck it in the barn, too many emotional triggers to bring it in the house. Five years later my youngest son, Wes, called and asked "Do you still have the jukebox?". He was living out in California and was doing well. "Yep, it's in the barn.".

"Get it ready to ship, I'm going to arrange to have it brought out here."

A week later a truck pulled up. They packed the Wurlitzer and moved it out to Pasadena, I packed up all the 45's, including Louie Louie, and UPS'ed them out to Wes.

He had to replace a tube or two, he loaded the records, hit the toggle switch, the lights came on, and Louie Louie, 40 years later, came out of the speakers of that old Wurlitzer."
posted by HuronBob at 7:29 PM on April 18, 2017 [10 favorites]

Quince's remarks about time made me recall a conversation I had with my grandmother when she was in her 80s. I asked her about the time thing, and said, "I know it's too much to wish for that it will slow back down, but does it ever plateau, at... [more]
Ask MeFi comment - favorited 192 times
posted by janey47 at 11:36 PM on April 18, 2017

HuronBob, thank you for sharing.
posted by infini at 8:10 AM on April 19, 2017 [2 favorites]

Foxes jump in a northeasterly direction (100 favourites)

Pretty pleased with this post still!
posted by Stark at 11:01 AM on April 19, 2017

Runnin' With The Songsmith 254 favorites, still shows up in my RA since Music threads never end.
posted by mrzarquon at 11:09 AM on April 20, 2017

Legit making money from home?
Ask MeFi post - favorited 145 times
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 1:46 PM on April 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: The shit lagoon and the festivities of manure --

Oh, never mind.
posted by scratch at 3:12 PM on April 20, 2017

OK, I haven't actually got any favourites but I'm working on this post, so I just skipped ahead to see how it'd turn out:

Hydrogen Town
Helium City
Lithium village
Beryllium Town
Boron (Territoire de Belfort)
(... skip a few ... )
URANIUM CITY!!!

.posted by ol' man quidnunc at 2:00 PM on April 21, 2075 [0.0000000023 bitfaves +] [!] [!!] [?] [#*??&!!1!]
posted by the quidnunc kid at 6:16 AM on April 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

O Black and Unknown Bards - Among Other Things, Regarding The White Invention of The Blues
posted by y2karl at 12:58 PM on April 21, 2017

Simon Jenkins on the media response:

"The blanket media coverage assured for any act of violence is reckless. The media must “report”, but it need not go berserk in revelling in the violence caused, as it manifestly has done to Islamic State brutality. More serious, the intention of the terrorist is clearly to shut down western society, to show liberal democracy to be a sham and to invoke the persecution of Muslims. Yet that is the invariable response of the security industry to these incidents. Convinced of its potency, it dare not admit there are some things against which it cannot protect us. So when incidents occur it jerks the knee and demands ever more money and ever more power. It must not be given them."
posted by progosk at 2:23 AM on March 22, 2016
[99 favorites +] [!]
posted by progosk at 4:18 PM on April 21, 2017

Everyone breathlessly warned me about Spain and Italy and it was laughable in comparison.
posted by poffin boffin

I have a cherished moment to share with you. My first husband was tall and slender, and at the time (1994) he had shoulder-length hair tied back in a ponytail. He and I were walking along the Via Appia in Rome when a guy rode up from behind us on a scooter, passed us and disappeared into a sidestreet. A few moments later as we approached the sidestreet the creeper stepped out of the alleyway, masturbating to orgasm. It was at that moment that he looked my husband in the eye and he figured out that he was jacking off to a dude. The horror on his face made the whole ordeal nearly worthwhile to me.

So yeah, Rome.

posted by workerant at 5:20 PM on October 28, 2014 [137 favorites +] [!]
posted by workerant at 9:41 AM on April 22, 2017

Yes, as history shows us, time and again, the best way to fight fascism, bigotry, and nationalism is to be very polite and respectful with hugs and unicorns and flowered bridges all around.

posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 10:50 AM on December 23, 2016 [158 favorites +] [!]
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 10:03 AM on April 22, 2017

I was at the game today...
[632 favorites +]
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:54 AM on April 22, 2017

This thread got so ugly i had to step away from my computer and take a walk. "nobody is entitled to a job that pays them enough to not be homeless, you crazy millennial" is ... I don't know what it is, but it's not representative of a place... [more]
MetaTalk comment - favorited 88 times
posted by softlord at 8:30 PM on April 22, 2017

Who is the most amazing woman who ever lived.
Ask MeFi post - favorited 254 times
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 11:40 AM on April 23, 2017

I've mentioned my hate for "derp" before. My son is 22 and severely intellectually disabled. Sometimes he makes sounds like "herp", "derp", etc. When I hear it casually used as a joke, it's like nails on a blackboard to me. You may say I'm going out of my way to be offended by a funny word. I say 22 years of changing diapers every day has given me a lot of time to reflect on what isn't funny.

Jason doesn't talk very well or very much. Of all the people in the world, he is among those least able to articulate any kind of defense for himself or to advocate for his own dignity. So I will do it for him. When you use words that mock the intellectually disabled, you are not only telling him is he unimportant and somehow a lesser person, but you think it's funny. If you feel like that is an unfair characterization of you and your attitude toward the intellectually disabled, I invite you to carefully consider what your words may unintentionally say about you.

posted by double block and bleed at 11:46 AM on April 23, 2017 [2 favorites]

I can't really have that much sympathy for Clinton since she's basically being handed the nomination and is still fucking it up. Yes, she's fucking it up because she made the dumb move of being Secretary of State when Benghazi happened,... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 162 times

But this is my top favorite comment of my own:

I bought the blonde a drink, even though she didn't drink. She never stopped smiling, either, although up close, even in a dark bar, her expression looked more than a little sad and desperate beneath the thin veneer of forced cheer. She was showing... [more]
MeFi comment - favorited 97 times

posted by Halloween Jack at 1:56 PM on April 24, 2017

There is no Pregnancy Jail.

No, but Texas is working on it.

MeFi comment - favorited 162 times

Evergreen.
posted by maryr at 2:18 PM on April 24, 2017

My second most favorited comment? Also evergreen.)
posted by maryr at 2:39 PM on April 24, 2017

"Sociobiologically speaking, in caveman days, if we could no longer bear children our use-value dropped sharply and inevitably." Actually (and we mostly didn't live in caves, thank you) older women in most societies, while perhaps not as desirable for sex, are the workers, the glue, the element that makes everything happen.

Yes, I have problems with sociobiological "caveman" explanations for stuff.
posted by Peach at 4:48 AM on April 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

Now we get censored on teh grey??
posted by infini at 12:17 PM on April 25, 2017

My most favorite'd post:

Ain't Misbehavin' - Louis Armstrong transfer from a master disc favorited 102 times

and comment:

In addition to cameras, I think police uniforms should include large, sports-jersey like names and numbers on the front and back. favorited 85 times
posted by fings at 8:33 PM on April 25, 2017

Mine's also feminist snark!

Hopefully the Clintons will go away forever now (SPOILER ALERT: They won't)

I think it's really cool how a woman can get shat on and slandered by a misogynistic press and public for decades of her life, keep going despite it, get within a handsbreadth of a historic feminist milestone, and then get shat on for failing to reach it because of how public perception was shaped by aforementioned misogyny.

It is super, super cool to see those who never supported her from the start and did their best to undermine her blame her loss entirely on her, as if she had the power to shape the social and media forces arranged against her success.

oh wait, no it's not

posted by schroedinger at 7:50 on November 10, 2016 [352 favorites +] [!]

I'm glad it's that one.
posted by Anonymous at 11:41 AM on April 29, 2017

Almost missed this thread! So much good stuff.

My top post: the amazing short science fiction stories of Ted Chiang. Most of the links in the original are broken, though I've tried to keep them updated in various comments. Also, since that post one of the stories -- "Story of Your Life," my personal favorite -- was turned into the legit great film Arrival. Here's hoping it's the first of many!

As for top comment: my inside view of the Digg Patriots scandal, which rocked the site for a grand total of about 20 days before Digg destroyed itself with its disastrous redesign. In retrospect, I see a lot of parallels with Reddit's The_Donald board, albeit on a much larger and more obnoxious scale.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:52 PM on May 12, 2017 [1 favorite]