MetaTalk

Good Saturday Evening, MetaFilter! This week, I thought we could play a nerd game: Retitle your favorite novel as if it were a (not very good) academic paper, and we'll try to guess the novel. For example, "High-Wealth Men Seeking Partners in Regency England: Two Case Studies" could be Pride and Prejudice.
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on May 23 at 5:36 PM
11 users marked this as a favorite

I've noticed more and more posts that make use of Unicode characters to simulate fancy fonts in FPPs. This breaks screen readers, often in very annoying ways. For example, “𝒎” is read out by my screen reader as "mathematical bold italic small m". So whole words or sentences of this makes a post impossible to understand. Please avoid.
posted by Space Coyote to MetaTalk on May 19 at 8:08 AM
10 users marked this as a favorite

May 22nd is my metafilter 20 year anniversary. I can remember signing up from my little cinder block office in graduate school at the University of Louisville. I thought I'd post now so I don't forget. It's kind of amazing that this community still exists, and wanted to thank everyone for their contributions. Since joining Metafilter I've finished grad school, had three more kids, gotten a full time job and of course gotten older. Thanks all for your many links, comments and useful solutions over the years.
posted by mecran01 to MetaTalk on May 19 at 6:23 PM
9 users marked this as a favorite

If anyone in the Seattle area needs a well-established Sourdough starter and is willing to come pick it up in the Southwest, me mail me and I’ll arrange to leave a container on my porch for you. This is a thread for anyone who has too much of something to offer to give it away and too little of something to make requests.
posted by bq to MetaTalk on May 20 at 5:18 PM
3 users marked this as a favorite

I thought I saw an AskMe about how to set up a sewing table to minimize back pain, but I can't find it now. Can anyone point me towards it? I've seen this AskMe about lino cutting, but that's not the same.
posted by The corpse in the library to MetaTalk on May 24 at 11:23 AM
3 users marked this as a favorite

Recently, I've seen several AskMe posts where posters have felt the need to engage in harsh critique of self or others in order to fend off AskMe judgment concerning their taking actions during the pandemic that are clearly driven by need (even potential life-or-death emergencies) and not frivolous. This troubles and saddens me.
posted by praemunire to MetaTalk on May 17 at 3:06 PM
2 users marked this as a favorite

Three rings for the elves, full of might;
Dwarves seven, men nine - that sounds right!
And one for their Lord? Sure!
He lives down in Mordor -
Where the shadows (and weather) are shite.

Our very own elected #1 the quidnunc kid has retold the entirety of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit in limerick form and posted it on his profile page. Includes footnotes, also in limerick form. Rumors abound of an audiobook version.
posted by Kattullus to MetaTalk on Aug 8, 2016 at 3:35 PM
1 user marked this as a favorite

Many mefites play MMO/MMORPGs and I thought it might be nice to create a space to share our contacts with one another so we can go on some raids together. Whether it's World of Warcraft (WoW), Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), Black Desert Online (BDO), Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV), Phantasy Star Online 2 (PSO2), Eve Online (EO), Star Wars The Old Republic (SWTOR), Guild Wars 2 (GW2), Runescape, Star Trek Online (STO), whatever MMO you play, let us share our gamer tags/contacts/character names and join in a virtual space of our choosing to get our game on.
posted by Fizz to MetaTalk on May 25 at 10:46 AM
1 user marked this as a favorite

The code for Freefilter, an open source clone of Metafilter is now available. Mefi's structure as a posting and discussion board is unlike most other's available. It's fluid and user friendly and it was only a matter of time before someone coded their own version especially considering the success of Whedonesque and Sportsfilter. This isn't the first time an attempt has been made of course. This version isn't 'out of the box' yet though -- as the readme.txt says, you'll need:"A Web server, preferably Loonix, MySQL, an, er, recentish version, Perl, DBI and CGI modules for Perl, these should come as standard with most Perl installations, a sense of humor to read my source code..."
posted by feelinglistless to MetaTalk on Feb 14, 2003 at 4:33 PM
1 user marked this as a favorite

Can we stop referring to "The Guardian" UK newspaper as "The Grauniad" or"slGrauniad"?
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome to MetaTalk on Oct 14, 2015 at 10:51 AM
1 user marked this as a favorite

How are you doing? Are you ok? Just wanted to check-in. Be kind. Stay safe.
posted by Fizz to MetaTalk on May 18 at 10:18 AM
1 user marked this as a favorite

It is May 8th and time for the latest check-in thread. As previously ([4][3][2][1])) this is for actual news, updates, personal experiences, and more mutual support from and to people dealing with this virus in their daily lives. All hail the mods for continuing to provide this sanctuary for us, and good health to readers and commenters alike. How is one doing?
posted by Windopaene to MetaTalk on May 8 at 3:49 PM
1 user marked this as a favorite

[more posts]

Coronavirus Hack! I was driving myself mad with obsessive doomscrolling all day every day and while discussing this with a beloved friend having the same problem, I proposed the following plan: Tomorrow I monitor the news and tell you only what will actually affect your life. Not what an informed person "should" know--only news that is... [more]
posted by HotToddy to MetaTalk on May 25 at 5:11 PM
39 users marked this as a favorite

As if my bipolar cycling needed *another* trigger. At least this was an up-swing! I FOUND A JOB!!!!!!!!!! While it does mean going into an office well before I think my local has this pandemic under control, I'm not super worried about it. It's a HUGE building that's currently under renovation. Only 4 employees on site right now (I'll be... [more]
posted by MuChao to MetaTalk on May 23 at 10:07 AM
33 users marked this as a favorite

My kid was in a car accident today. She was rear-ended in a fucking hit and run. Thankfully, she only has whiplash, which I am really so grateful for because my car was totaled. It could have been so much worse. So, so much worse. My car is just a thing that can eventually be replaced. My baby is irreplaceable. On the outside, I'm mom in... [more]
posted by Ruki to MetaTalk on May 26 at 3:55 PM
28 users marked this as a favorite

A Multi-Perspective Analysis Of The Impact Of Charismatic Religious Movements On Long-Term Climate Change: Herbert, Frank, 1965 [view]
posted by cortex to MetaTalk on May 23 at 5:46 PM
27 users marked this as a favorite

I keep thinking I'm doing fine. My job was remote before all of this started, my company is doing just fine financially, and I don't have kids, so my daily routine has hardly changed at all other than masking up for grocery store trips. But I had a plan for this summer. I've been figuring out my whole gender situation for a few years now and... [more]
posted by Basil Stag Hare to MetaTalk on May 22 at 12:28 PM
22 users marked this as a favorite

The Stanford Marshmallow Test Re-examined Using Mechanically Chilled Stone Fruit [view]
posted by Gorgik to MetaTalk on May 24 at 7:53 AM
22 users marked this as a favorite

An Interstellar Movement Contingency Field Manual for Trustees of Absorbent Textiles [view]
posted by Greg_Ace to MetaTalk on May 23 at 6:33 PM
21 users marked this as a favorite

But there is a BIG difference with coronavirus, and that is that this time shit really is personal. Every — literally every — risk someone takes may kill me or someone I love. It just takes one person to keep coronavirus on the move; we’ve all seen the evidence for how fast and how far it spreads. I wanted to highlight this comment... [more]
posted by biogeo to MetaTalk on May 18 at 12:09 PM
21 users marked this as a favorite

Interspecies Group Dynamics and the Effects of Transporting Precious Artifacts Over Vast Distances: a Study, by J. Tolkien [view]
posted by Ghidorah to MetaTalk on May 23 at 6:47 PM
20 users marked this as a favorite

I'm frankly astonished that people have neighbors who know their birthday. I'm not that close to any of my neighbors, even the ones that I "know". And I'm living in sort of a prototypical "American small town" of like 10K people and we should all be close knit and like the town in The Music Man or something. It's great and... [more]
posted by hippybear to MetaTalk on May 25 at 4:38 AM
19 users marked this as a favorite

I've Got Another Puzzle for You: a case study in novel hiring practices for factory management The Stanford Marshmallow Test Re-examined Using Mechanically Chilled Stone Fruit I have guessed the title of the poem you were referencing and which we had all been awaiting in this MetaTalk Forgive me for this format so... [more]
posted by egregious theorem to MetaTalk on May 24 at 9:39 AM
19 users marked this as a favorite

That's Left Hand of Darkness -- Social Outcomes of Orphans Adopted as Farmstead Labor in 19th Century Prince Edward Island [view]
posted by Eyebrows McGee to MetaTalk on May 23 at 8:16 PM
18 users marked this as a favorite

Sorry to break the run of titles, but we acquired a kitten today and my kid named her Gooseberry. No cat tax, I don’t have an imgur and my insta is private, but please know that when you don’t let your preschooler sleep with the tiny ball of fluff (as yet unvaccinated, we have no proof she is housebroken, and she definitely weighs mere ounces)... [more]
posted by Lawn Beaver to MetaTalk on May 23 at 7:09 PM
18 users marked this as a favorite

Orange Dinosaur Slide: "Interspecies Intervention: The Impact of Internal Combustion Engines on Early 20th Century Rural Amphibian Psychology" the primroses were over: "The Wind in the Willows" also frogger [view]
posted by Rhaomi to MetaTalk on May 23 at 9:53 PM
18 users marked this as a favorite

I don't know if I'm allowed to post this, feel free to remove if it's not appropriate, but I feel like my friends are dropping like flies around me. One friend died (not of Covid) early on in the lockdown and another is in hospital asleep (again not with Covid). I'm losing people and can't do anything about it. I check in remotely every day with... [more]
posted by winterhill to MetaTalk on May 28 at 3:34 AM
15 users marked this as a favorite

I guess this is the place for this? I live in the neighborhood where George Flynn was killed, where police were tear gassing the fuck out of everyone last night (well, there and further east of me - it was admittedly worse at the 3rd precinct). And I guess in a week or two we'll see how tear gas and covid interact with each other. This is all to... [more]
posted by dinty_moore to MetaTalk on May 27 at 6:53 AM
15 users marked this as a favorite

Spouse's parents have lost their collective minds and have subjected spouse to a now week-long tantrum which included multiple, extended phone calls on how we are the crazy ones for not attending a weeknight pizza party in honor of spouse's nibling, who is missing walking in their graduation due to the current pandemic. We live an hour... [more]
posted by theBigRedKittyPurrs to MetaTalk on May 27 at 11:08 AM
14 users marked this as a favorite

We're coming up on the last week of school here, and as crazy and exhausting as things have been, I am deeply sad about not getting to see "my" kids again for a while and I wish I could tell each one's parents how special and awesome and unique their kid is, and how much I've enjoyed working with them. Going in to the year I didn't know a... [more]
posted by DingoMutt to MetaTalk on May 27 at 9:14 PM
14 users marked this as a favorite

Now, I can cook pretty well - but having some dishes that were prepared by professional chefs/cooks, featuring foods that I don't have at home, and cooking recipes for a cuisine that I'm not familiar with but have wanted to try for quite a while? It was absolutely, wonderfully, mind blowingly amazing. I've gotten about one takeout meal... [more]
posted by Dip Flash to MetaTalk on May 27 at 6:28 AM
14 users marked this as a favorite

I am not okay. I feel like I should be okayer than I am, because I can work from home and I live with a great partner, and so far (knock wood) we and those close to us have managed to keep clear of the virus. And we live in a place that is in less of a hurry to reopen. I am thankful for all of these things. But I hate my job and none of my... [more]
posted by Fish, fish, are you doing your duty? to MetaTalk on May 24 at 10:34 PM
12 users marked this as a favorite

[more comments]