February 2019 Archives (all archives)
February 27
MetaOops
Based on this recent post about the rat stuck in a manhole, I'm wondering what are some of your own embarrassing moments that you've been caught in. Maybe you slipped/tripped and fell, or got your leg caught in something, or ran into a door, or fell into a pond or some such thing. We all have these moments, feel free to share yours with the rest of the community to lighten the mood. As always, be kind to yourself and others. Cheers.
February 26
Longest time from comment to first like
I just noticed today that this comment that I left on an Ask MeFi post on 1/10/2010 got it's first like on 2/23/2019. That's over 9 years from comment to its first like.
Surely that isn't the record.
February 24
Pony: Videogame category/threads in Fanfare
Title says it all. I'd love for fanfare to have official support for videogame threads. It has at least one club for them (Narrative Games) but the discoverability is so bad that I had to look for a thread I knew existed and work backwards. An official sidebar category would really help with that problem.
February 23
Metatalktail Hour: Family Traditions!
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! After topic bankruptcy, my list is short and full of only good topics! So this week, If only I had a penguin... wants to know about your home-made family traditions: "By which I mean traditions started either deliberately or accidentally but that serve the function of giving families and especially kids a sense of tradition/continuity etc. Could be anything from "we always eat fish and chips after going to the dentist and chicken after haircuts" (one my family started accidentally because there's a fish and chips place near the dentist and a Mary Brown's chicken besides where we cut our hair) to one I've heard mentioned where you can open one gift Christmas eve and if it's a book you can stay up and read it." [more inside]
February 22
50,000
I'd like to thank Fig for bestowing upon me my 50,000th Favorited.
That's all.
Happy weekend!
February 21
Help Me Get My Smile Back?
A strange man screamed at me for no reason today, now I find I need something to help me shake that encounter off, and feel happy again. Details below. [more inside]
Nintendo Switch: The Enfriendening
I finally broke down and bought a Switch. It looks like the last round of friend code swapping was in 2014 for the WiiU and 3DS / 2DS. So, whaddya say? Let's swap friend codes! [more inside]
AskMe question about writing email
Can you please help me find a thread on the green that was about how to write emails that have the best chance of eliciting the desired action/response? I'm thinking someone submitted their proposed email phrasing and people responded with critiques and also little hints about how to structure emails. Thank you for the help.
February 19
Looking for a AskMe post about website design for an author
As far as I can remember, the Asker was an author/writer/journalist type who was wanting feedback on whether or not their site was working from a design perspective. One of the responses was an example of three different links that showed how other individual authors presented their work on their personal site and outlined the design elements that made these websites so good. There may have been mild critiques on what the OP could do to tweak their layout. The post was fairly recent, as in less than a year ago. I just can't find it!
Look on these works, ye mighty, and rejoice
Judging by the brilliance of comments Mefites are amazing writers, and I for one would love to read your fanfic! [more inside]
MetaSkills
It's still early in the week but I'm already overwhelmed with politics and awful news. Let's lighten the mood and talk about something else. If time wasn’t an issue and you had forever to master a skill, what skill would you master? Sword-making, basket-weaving, knitting, quilting, embroidery, carpentry, coding/programming, languages, pottery, cooking, leather-work, tattooing, brewing, hunting, etc? Think like you're inside of a video-game and you have unlimited skill-points to invest in, what skill(s) are you leveling up? Also, be kind to yourself and to others. Cheers.
February 18
How many towels do MeFites own?
Because of this and similar towel counting, I suddenly have towel-ownership issues. How many do you own, or think you should own? How does it break down e.g. beach towel, bath towel, hand towel, toilet towel, face towel? And are there mitigating (and not private) factors that affect this number e.g. large family, pets, run a hotel, your job requires lots of towels? (note that if this is a security question for any account you should of course not answer)
Why no meetup photos?
I used to love looking at meetup photos and putting faces with names, but it doesn't seem like anyone posts them anymore. Is this because people are more worried about privacy, or is it because Flickr is completely terrible now, or a combination? Or is it just because pictures are so easy/ubiquitous that no one really takes them anymore?
I don't know what the answer is (and I won't be contributing because I am WAY too shy to ever go to a meetup) but I would love it if people got into the habit again. Would allowing photos in IRL posts be a pony too far?
February 17
2 Hyuck 2 Hyucking
So our first experimental Hyucking Hyuck thread worked out pretty well, and then a month went by and it closed. So: here we are with round two! This is a dedicated space for riffing and jokes, designed in particular to take some strain of the overcrowded US politics catch-all threads. [more inside]
February 16
Metatalktail Hour: Open Thread!
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, open thread! And also, my list of suggested topics has turned into such a ridiculous mess that I'm declaring topic bankruptcy and starting over, so send me your ideas! [more inside]
Brimming With Valentine Exchange Warm Fuzzies
Thank you to mochapickle for organizing such a fun Valentine Exchange for the second year in a row! My mailbox has been full of fun/funny/charming/creative valentines all month. This thread is to oooh, aahh and otherwise chortle about the fun cards (and if Fig's card exchange brought you V-Day goodness, or if you sent/received Valentines in other capacities, please do share here)! [more inside]
February 15
Strike that, reverse it?
Deleted posts can be flagged but not favorited. Shouldn't it be the other way around? [more inside]
February 13
Will Poo Month Never End???
Poop month was January! JANUARY! And yet Johnny Wallflower and his nefarious assistant Fizz are turning February into Poop month 2: The wrath of crap!
When. Will. It. Stop?
Subreddit recommendations
On a tangent from the MeFi post about Reddit, and specifically comments to the effect that, once you avoid the obvious trashfires and big mainstream forums, there are some quality subreddits: what are some subreddits that MeFites have found particularly worth following/getting involved in, especially ones that one might not stumble across on a casual visit to the site?
February 12
(MetaFilter's own) Telephone Pictionary - signups open!
OK, friends and neighbors -- signups for Telephone-Pictionary-by-mail are now OPEN! The signup form is here, and signups will be accepted through the end of February. I'll aim to assign groups and email folks with their group assignments in the first week of March. If you have questions, please feel free to send me a MeFi Mail or shoot an email to mailphonepictionary@gmail.com. Better yet, ask in the comments to this thread. Not sure what this is about? Details within! [more inside]
February 9
Metatalktails: Love
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter! This week, in honor of Valentine's Day, I want to hear about something you love! A book, a painting, a person, a crayon color, a smell, a TV show -- anything at all as long as you love it! [more inside]
February 8
MetaX
End of another week, let's talk about something else that is not related to politics. If you could have a super power, what super power would you choose? Flight, teleportation, superhuman strength, pyrokinesis, speed, telekinesis, telepathy, claws, a giant tongue or tail, etc. Here's a fun list of X-Men-like mutant powers. Do you think you'd be a hero or a villain? Would you team up and form a super-group or would you be solo? Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. Also, be kind to yourself and others.
February 6
149: IROC-Z FOMO
ARE YOU READY FOR SOME PODCAAAAAAAST because this is an episode of one. It's me and Jessamyn and a whole passel of Januarial content from MeFi, along with some youthful car stories and our belated discovery of the Spanish word for sock. Runs about 90 minutes. [more inside]
Searching for comment on two types of internal hires
Saw a comment earlier (ask, I think) about two types of internal job postings - one where every job was open and people had to apply for each promotion they got, and the other where job decisions were made by leaders behind closed doors and there wasn't much awareness about who was in line. Can you help me find it?
February 5
Is UNIX dead? The authors comment
The UNIX is dead post on Metafilter had two links, a talk by Benno Rice on "The Tragedy of systemd" and a meditation on "contempt culture" by Aurynn Shaw. Both of them showed up in the comments (2, 1). It's a good thread. [more inside]
Telephone Pictionary by mail: MetaFilter edition
This one's for all the mefites who like to send and receive snail-mail. (You know who you are!) Last month I authored a Projects post about the "correspondence edition" of Telephone Pictionary I developed. Briefly: Telephone Pictionary is a pen-and-paper party game that adds a visual (drawn) component to "telephone," that game where people sit in a circle and whisper a phrase to one another, usually corrupting the original phrase in the process. In Telephone Pictionary, players alternate between written descriptions and drawings, going back and forth until the big reveal at the end. The "correspondence version" of this is done via snail-mail, so it takes a few weeks. I am interested in facilitating correspondence games of Telephone Pictionary among mefites, and I'd like to know if folks on the site might be interested in taking part! [more inside]
February 4
Best Post Contest FINALE: winner, category winners, 1st & 2nd timers
The posts were bested! This month's contest has had some really great posts, including a ton of single-linkers, obscure subjects, the weird and the wonderful. In here we announce the overall winner, the first- and second-time posters, and Mefites announce their category winners. If you have a underappreciated post you'd like to highlight, feel free to bring it in here too -- there's chips and dip and sparkling beverages for everyone! [more inside]
February 3
Best Post Contest, Week 4 Winners!
Best Post Contest is wrapping up. Step in here for the Week 4 round-up and a big whack of great posts you may have missed! (Overall monthly round-up coming tomorrow.) [more inside]
February 2
Metatalktails: Movies!
Good Saturday evening, MetaFilter, and welcome to Eurotalktails! This week, EllieBOA wants to know what movies you've seen and enjoyed lately, which struck me as a particularly good topic since we're deep into movie award-show season. [more inside]
February 1
🎧🎚🎵
End of another week, let's talk about something else that is not related to politics. Let's talk about music. What are you listening to? How do you listen? On your phone on the bus? In the car on your way to work? At home with some high-end audio equipment? Are you strictly listening digital? Analog? Do you stream your music? Do you only listen to records? Are you a collector? Is there a certain genre you hate or avoid? Do you pirate your music or pay for it legally? Is there a single or an album that you've been listening to on repeat? Is there something you're looking forward to being released later this year? Let's turn the volume up. Stay safe and be kind to each other.
The Cat Came Back
Some heartwarming news from Ask Metafilter: justalisteningman's cat Fromage, who went missing on Wednesday, has been recovered safe and sound. All is well, you may breathe normally now. [more inside]