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Best of the Web: the MetaFilter Podcast

Best of the Web: the MetaFilter Podcast

Matthew Haughey, Jessamyn West, and Josh Millard

The best bits from MetaFilter, recapped by Matt Haughey, Jessamyn West, and Josh Millard.

  • 194: Wait, are we going to be on camera?
    Hey hey it's the podcast again. Loup and I talk about the Ask the Mods Anything questions and reveal the winners of the Halloween Costume Contest. Thank you not_on_display for the mixing.

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    Other mentioned links

    Kid ballots
    Neighborhood costumes in Vermont
    Dark Matter on FanFare
    Mr. Crocket movie on FanFare
    MeFi 25th in Cambridge
    Jessamyn on Wikipedia
    Mastodon post about "Hey that's my grandmother" on Flickr
    Wikiproject LGBTQ+ Studies and policies on pronouns and gender identity
    The Cooter Clock origin story
    MLTSHP community
    Yarnify community
    StumbleUpon still exists!
    Halloween Costumes

    13 November 2024, 5:46 pm
  • 193: What was previously my discretionary time
    cortex has a new job and was hard to track down and we had a few months of missing each other. We found some time on August 14th and tried to play catch-up. Runs about 97 minutes.

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    not_on_display did the mixing on this one and I think it hopefully sounds better than last time?

    Preroll
    Heat pumps!
    BestofMeFi on Facebook

    Jobs
    Flickr Commons and Jessamyn's new part-timey job
    Federal Gov't Administrative Support Specialist by kinsey

    Projects
    We built a giant eagle pupper for Iceland's national day by Nothing
    Have You Played? by adrianhon
    adrianhon on peglin
    Our Backyard by joannemerriam
    Banned Book Book Club by bwerdmuller (MeFi Post by Paul Slade)
    Jessamyn's tips for dealing with haters
    FLW inspired Bird Feeder by Marky
    Infinite LP records from the Boston Public Library via archive.org by metatuesday
    Today in Tabs

    Meta MeFi
    Site Update by jessamyn
    Happy birthday, Metafilter! by Melismata
    MeFi24 in 2023 by jessamyn

    MeFi
    Jeopardy! contestants weigh 2nd shot at glory vs. crossing picket line by Etrigan
    The Greatest Animated Series in the Surreal Sci-Fi Toilet Horror Genre by AlSweigart
    Police Log: "Misdemeanors: blahblahblhablahb" by not_on_display
    "For me, being an artist means being in community with others." by jessamyn
    To be more specific, he's a surgeon. by Fizz
    when you get your ass handed to you, just hand it right back by cortex
    "A counterexample to established techno-utopian histories" by box
    Design notes on the 2023 Wikipedia redesign by Etrigan
    Writing to possible or impossible audiences by brainwane
    WAH WAH WAH! [wah wah wah wah waaaaaaah] by cortex
    a comment by unearthed
    a comment by dephlogisticated
    Redditors, in defense of Reddit, destroy Reddit by Rhaomi
    a comment by sdrawkcab
    What Should We Learn from Reddit? by Bottlecap
    Room Temperature Superconductivity? by ZakDaddy
    The Unreality of Pro Wrestling by Pachylad
    "Don't rub it too high or someone will cry, and steal your homerun away" by The Pluto Gangsta
    Iocaine Powder by clawsoon

    AskMe
    Memory Filter: what is the name of this design thinking author/blogger? by mecran01
    Rhinos named Clara by johngoren
    What does " T—S.T.D.—B" mean in a book? by whitewall
    Best "I quit Twitter and my life is richer for it" story? by Jon44
    Recommend me brilliant biographies about brilliant women by underclocked
    I bought a dremel. Tell me everything! by cortex

    MeTa
    2023 MeFi Fundraising Month by loup

    FanFare
    The Afterparty
    Peacemaker
    Mrs. Davis
    Silo
    TV Shows Not Set in the US or England
    Forged in Fore

    More MeTa
    A Memorial Day
    shoesfullofdust passed away

    14 August 2023, 8:05 pm
  • 192: The week between last week and this week
    A nerdy debate about the relative term "this week" and "last week" and that mystery week in between them. We got together on March 4th and tried not to talk about the weather too much. Runs about 105 minutes.

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    No Jobs Except Cortex's New One

    Projects
    Lirdle - Like Wordle, but with one lie per answer by morspin (MeFi Post)
    Word Searches for Dad (and special meta one) by jasondigitized
    bondcliff's creation
    My portrait of COVID Toronto in maps by sindark (MeFi Post)
    Jessamyn's Zipper Epiphany

    MeFi
    Penta, Mariya: Rejected by shino-boy
    The Genetics of Chernobyl's Dogs by bryon
    Could you live without a cellphone? by SituationNormal
    Kill Six Billion Demons by curious nu
    I've heard it too many times to ignore it by DigDoug
    Nice social media account, shame if something were to happen to it... by gwint
    The thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts by gwint
    The natural destination of poor editorial judgment is the court of law. by curious nu
    What went wrong at the New York Times? by DarlingBri
    Playdough surgery by gottabefunky
    Lightning Crashes by Etrigan
    All The Malevolence Of A Grade School Music Class In A Box by NoxAeternum
    Infinite Mac by Fiasco da Gama
    Into the rest of the 20st century by gwint
    playing a 2x4 through a tacklebox head into a foamcore cabinet by cortex

    AskMe
    Tell me about your adventures with pre-internet physical bulletin boards by wowenthusiast
    Unsmooth the motion on a hotel tv by quintessence
    Help me find the blowup doll of my youth by queensissy
    a comment by Larry David Syndrome
    a comment by BlueHorse
    How do I make a cake when my resources are depleted? by toucan
    Please Tell Me about Pre-internet Personals Ads by wowenthusiast

    FanFare
    Kaleidoscope: Kaleidoscope (miniseries, all episodes) by adamrice
    Physical: 100: Physical: 100 by autopilot

    MetaTalk
    Open Gaming Thread: What are you playing right now? by Fizz
    Best of the Web anniversaries and transcripts by Pronoiac
    New Moderation Team Member by loup
    ChatGPT-filter by EndsOfInvention
    March is Steering Committee election season by Rhaomi
    Snow sounds from Directory Audio

    5 March 2023, 5:20 pm
  • 191: Thoroughly insinuated into the normalcy of our life
    More or less on time! New theme song! We talk about heating up water and heating up ourselves. cortex read a lot of MetaFilter this month, Jessamyn's still reading old FanFare threads. Runs about 82 minutes.

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    Job
    Lead Product Designer by jchan

    Projects
    Mondrian's Toothpicks by cortex
    The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences®
    The Real Problem With the New Dungeons and Dragons License is Capitalism by overglow
    Isle of Beasts by Zarkonnen
    Dither All the Things - Atkinson Dithering for the Web by AndrewStephens
    Rock Scissor Paper Machine by Literaryhero

    MeFi
    Snail Mail Security by cardioid
    A new kind of smartwatch with a special living component by tiny frying pan
    10 PRINT "YADA YADA YADA" / 20 GOTO 10 / RUN by Atom Eyes
    AV Club: AI Seinfeld show has been given a Twitch suspension
    "one of many years of Scrabble that I hold dear" by jessamyn
    "...mourning the loss of yet more games that will soon be lost to time," by Fizz
    On this website, everyone knows you're a dog by not_on_display
    Vacuum Cleaner Defense League
    Knolling for fun and profit by Bella Donna
    MLTSHP: Dutch emergency services have a gear knolling meme going
    The Met: Studley Tool Chest
    Instagram: HAIRCUT
    Fresh and Full of Life by May Kasahara
    The Stink A by Etrigan
    Some Days, the Viewing Felt Like a Curse by logicpunk
    The Quizzing Equivalent of Holey Moley by Etrigan
    Remember Y2K? A similar issue will happen in the year 2038. by buffy12
    The Mystery of the Dune Font by cgc373
    Making Math into Art by duien

    AskMe
    ELI5 "Perpetual fireplace" videos by jackbishop
    Parents: how do you handle non-negotiable extracurriculars? by malhouse
    a comment by Alensin
    IRS How? by Alensin
    "Ingredients people" citation? by shadygrove
    Another Thing For the Book Of Conflicts by EmpressCallipygos
    Looking for a sci fi technobabble parody by cheesegrater
    What is the musical interval/harmony in this song? by unknowncommand

    FanFare
    Special Event: The Return of Blaseball by valrus

    11 February 2023, 10:45 pm
  • 190: New Year, New Me... Fi
    Back on track this year. We resolve to get these out on time. More or less. Maybe. Cortex and I talked on January 3rd about our usual nonsense for a tight 87 minutes. Thanks for listening.

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    FanFare
    Letterkenny: Entire Season by fizzix
    Leverage Rdemption

    Projects
    Face To Face: Portraits of People of Color Before Photography by Horace Rumpole
    jamstats: data analytics for roller derby games by gurple
    lowercase t: A Very 8-Bit Christmas by ShawnStruck (MeFi Post)
    The Library Workers' Field Guide to Designing and Discovering Restorative Environments by 10ch
    Everybody Wins, the greatest board games ever made by Hogshead
    Psychedelic Drug Legislative Reform and Legalization in the US by jedicus

    MeFi
    "Epic put children and teens at risk" by jessamyn
    It's a book! It's a great wheel! It's a Book Charkha! by janell
    "We're all the same piece of little stardust energy..." by Ten Cold Hot Dogs
    They say of the Acropolis, where the Parthenon is... by Etrigan
    Ana de Armas Fans' Lawsuit Puts Studios at Risk Over Deceptive Trailers by Etrigan
    The inspiration and raw material to create something new by biogeo
    "Let me guess. Somebody stole your sweetroll." by Fizz
    Ah, yes, the [complex plane coordinates] genders by cortex
    "You don't want little children questioning their budding little bodies" by box
    "The common good stands as a menace to the status quo." by box
    Advent Incremental by juv3nal
    a funny comment by phooky
    a funny comment by house-goblin

    AskMe
    Favorite Internet Radio Stations? by COD
    Why is it called a "countersink"? by ignignokt
    (Fewer) papers please by happyfrog
    Keep me off the streets this winter by escape from the potato planet
    Looking for books and media with positive neurodivergent representation! by daikaisho
    Please recommend a book about writing non-fiction books by nezlamnyy
    Voracious reader of fanfic seeks help by sequel
    Please help me figure out which edition of a library book I read by Ceridwen

    MeTa
    Appreciate your MeFi Holiday Cards here! by HotToddy
    6th Annual Mefi Valentine Mail Exchange by SunPower
    The Ongoing Modern Pen Pal Project by chiefthe
    Lèse-majesté by y2karl

    Music is from ccMixter and is Dolorem Ipsum by economix

    9 January 2023, 2:27 am
  • 189: Snowperson Trauma
    Cortex and I decided to make up for lost time after the delayed previous episode by knocking out another one quick-like, and here it is! Catching up on what we can of the last couple of months of MeFi, and also ranting and philosophizing a little bit about recent seismic changes in the social media sphere and also about design skeuomorphism and the semiotics of interfaces? That last bit is probably overselling it a little? Anyway, runs about 90 minutes.

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    Misc
    - Do some last minute holiday shopping at The MeFi Mall
    - Jessamyn's hone game memory was Kubrix

    Jobs
    - Setting up and moderating a Mastodon instance (but not hosting) by Shepherd
    - Business Process Automation Specialist by chiefthe
    - Software development guru by Dansaman

    Projects
    - Daily MRRP! by ignignokt
    - Finishing my grandfather's work: stained glass menorah by cortex (MeFi Post)
    - Part I of my graphic memoir "Growing In My Gray" by DMelanogaster (MeFi Post)
    - Get Blogging! by bwerdmuller (MeFi Post)
    - You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All by adrianhon
    - More "More Info" for Netflix (desktop web) by staggernation

    MetaFilter
    - Dear Twitter Advertisers by autopilot
    - Subterranean birdsite blues by nthdegx
    - a comment by mark k
    - Cohost, a new social media site by brainwane
    - Mastodon is having its moment in the sun by toastyk
    - Sick of Musk? by dobbs
    - PSA: do not use services that hate the internet by mecran01
    - We knew this was coming by May Kasahara
    - Advent Incremental by juv3nal
    - No, that can't be done.... WHAM!!! by Pendragon
    - To a Nacreon in Heaven by Rhaomi
    - Yummy: Spammer on Toast! by rcade
    - Colonel Mustardle in the Yardle with a Petardle by taz
    - The Great Purpling by Etrigan
    - Explore Quasi-Periodic Tiling by gwint
    - Everything in Conway's Game of Life can be constructed from 15 gliders by automatronic
    - "we were, in effect, rewriting our own childhoods" by jessamyn
    - The State of Ketchup in 2022 by Fizz

    Ask MetaFilter
    - What's your Check Please hand signal, and what does it signify? by cortex
    - Help me give myself the gift of freedom by rebent
    - MeFiGiftGuide2022 - The Metafilter Gift Guide by rebent
    - Comparing apples and oranges by Just this guy, y'know
    - What is up with these old french cars? by selenized
    - Sci-fi Survey Course by darchildre
    - Carnivorous Lamp by Just this guy, y'know

    MetaTalk
    - Mefi Mastodon server? by Pronoiac
    - MeFi Posts for "Sale" by jessamyn
    - What The MeFi BIPOC Board Does by brainwane

    MeFi Music
    Snippest of tracks this episode, at the beginning and end respectively:
    - Death Scene Music for an Imaginary, Low-Budget Cyberpunk Movie by thatwhichfalls
    - 73 Keep It Beautiful by chococat

    11 December 2022, 9:53 pm
  • 188: Big Stride Moonshot
    Some difficulties hitting escape velocity with this one. We recorded it in October 5th and, well, here it is now.

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    Misc
    Jessamyn's Weird Bathroom
    Damn Bitch, You Live Like This?
    Buttplug.io

    MeFi
    Lumper or Splitter, Tag Yourself
    Elon Musk Says Fuck It
    The Deaf Child in Area is Now an Adult and He's Hot
    The Chess Drama is Over
    20 Years of Languagehat
    History is Freaking Cool You Guys
    This Post Brought to You by A SYNC
    I don't Have 1 Billion in the Bank, I Don't Drive Lexuses
    Oh Bother
    If You Find A Strange Puzzle Box No Touchy
    This Isn't How Grief Goes
    Evil Across Millenia
    A lumpy toaster a goat exoskeleton and a harmless car walk into a bar
    Do You Remember
    I Pray the Tomb Is Shut Forever I Pray the Rock Is Never Rolled Away
    The Captain and Tenebrous Spiels

    AskMe
    What is your favorite song covered by another band
    Best Video About X Is Y
    Slowly the west reaches for clothes of new colors
    Autumn Wedding Poems Please
    How to Ensure A Happy Old Age
    Field Specific Terms for We Don't Know

    MeTa
    We are Healthy and Vibrant and Remarkably Long Running
    Have You Read TFA
    Steering Committee Check In October 2022
    Why Does a Librarian Own a Social Media Site Thats Been Around for Long

    Music
    Twitter Blues by lipsum

    5 December 2022, 4:55 pm
  • 187: Man, It's A Hot One
    Belated podcast for August, American summer is just like that. No idea what we talked about, but I know we had a good time.

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    Jobs

    Transfering faculty profiles (~150) into a new format by Shepherd
    UX/UI Design Intern (Sep-Dec 2022) by jchan

    Projects

    Woefully Neglected by Devils Rancher
    Nelson's Linkblog by Nelson
    IUDs for All by thandal
    Making a watermlon chair from green wood by twirlypen
    Every Diner in Whatcom County, WA by cidrab
    Latent Space Netsuke by gwint
    AUTOEXEC.CAT by oulipian
    I... HAVE... THE POWER ️ by Rhaomi
    The Kubrick Times by malevolent

    Metafilter

    "with this sign for beautiful, there is no objection" by jessamyn
    You really should watch a manhole entrance get replaced by majick
    Nice threads by janell
    "Have you ever wondered what happens to the things you leave behind?" by Kattullus
    The word on the Bird by storybored
    I AM IN SO INTO YOU by MollyRealized
    There was good money to be made as a beatnik by wesleyac
    Ten Million Power by ThePinkSuperhero
    "What's it like to be a girl in a band?" by box

    Ask Metafilter

    My friends are struggling but I am also struggling. How to balance? by anonymous
    When did cars stalling fall off as a movie/TV trope (and in...reality?) by cortex
    Out of Sync by invincible summer
    Your favorite stars-with-fans videos? by wenestvedt
    How do I maintain a happy little kitchen? by pleasebekind
    Tell me your one weird trick for loved one caretaking/advocacy by rednikki
    Comedy Suggestions to Watch with my 70-year old Mother by pdxhiker
    Does anyone else mishear the chorus in "Institutionalized"? by Boxenmacher

    Metatalk

    Metatalktail Hour: Life's Unwritten Rules by Taz

    Miscellaneous

    Ronni Solbert, Children's Book Illustrator, Dies at 96
    Sign for MA Route 187
    Wikipedia's entry on One Eighty Seven
    The Untold Story of the Zip Code
    zipmap.net
    WHAT IS THIS?
    Complexity 2022: Innovations in Weaving
    Sleater-Kinney (Three Interlinked Wireframe Cubes)

    30 August 2022, 3:50 pm
  • 186: Am I Being A User Right Now
    It's episode 186 of the MeFi podcast, with Jessamyn and I...and loup! Who joined us to talk a bit about their experiences with internet past and present and their last couple of years as they've been working here. The three of us have a long and winding conversation about community management, internet ethics, MeFi in particular, the recent transition process, etc. Runs about 90 minutes.

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    We were so busy just talking about Stuff that we did very little of the normal thread review this time, so the notes are real short. We mentioned in passing:

    - jessamyn's adventures with the filtering Facebook
    - the latest Transition Team update
    - goofy amazon reviews e.g. this old post

    Music

    - On The Blue (With Apologies to John Coulton, Valve, Et Al) by cortex
    - Make it Out Alive by Maaik
    - A Conversation by thatwhichfalls

    5 July 2022, 4:01 pm
  • 185a: V Rising and Severance
    Random podcast bonus content! Jessamyn and I decided to do a mid-month episode to just chat about a couple media things we liked. Is it a FanFare podcast? I dunno! Will we keep doing it? I dunno! But it was fun and so here it is. We talk about V Rising, a survive-o-craft vampire game I have been very much enjoying, and about Severance, a TV show that we have both enjoyed tremendously. Runs just about an hour.

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    - V Rising's homepage
    - Severance on FanFare
    - that's all for links, what do you want from me, I don't even work here

    15 June 2022, 12:52 am
  • 185: A very wearing my bathrobe all day day
    It's episode 185 of the MeFi Monthly Podcast, with Jessamyn and I talking for a good chunk up front about the whole process over the last couple months of figuring out transferring ownership of the site from me to her. We also talk about, like, good stuff from the site for most of it.

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    Once again I am gloriously doing almost no work in causing this post to be here; thanks again to eotvos who has once again done all the actually fiddly bits in turning Jess and I rambling on mic into an actual mix down and pile of text as seen below.

    Projects
    - I made Some Tools by bondcliff.
    - The Daily Brief -- News as Information by jkrobin.
    - ... a look back at your Amazon shopping history by ph00dz.
    - Every .horse domain by Shepherd.
    - Dark Patterns Now Available on Android and iOS by cosmic owl.

    Metafilter
    - Mechanical Watch by Devils Rancher.
    - blank blank in the blank of blankety blank, blank blank? by Ten Cold Hot Dogs.
    - The "FU" is how you answer the phone when the man tries to bring ya down by not_on_display.
    - The Uselessness of Phenylephrine by brainwane.
    - Something Went Very Wrong by cavenet.
    - Things that Make White People Uncomfortable by box.
    - The Mefi-wiki page about Givewell.
    - Now you know your A-B-Trees by secretdark.
    - You're welcome, Matt, by zenon.

    Ask Metafilter
    - Everything Everywhere All At When? (streaming) by fleecy socks.
    - How should I learn Linear Algebra? by cortex.
    - Expressing a line figure as a set of triangles by Tell Me No Lies.
    - Advice on Art Appraisals, by Saxon Kane.
    - Navigating complicated grief for alcoholic father by showeringsuns.
    - What happened to the squatters? by wesleyac.
    - Is saying "I'm proud of you" patronizing? by Dressed to Kill.
    - Is it wrong to use these antique postcards as postcards? by The corpse in the library.

    Metatalk
    - Paperwork & Bodywork: short virtual anti-procrastination calls by brainwane.
    - [MeFi Site Update] May 25th by loup and staff.
    - MetaFilter: A Utopia of Rules? by General Malaise.
    - A MetaFilter User Survey by curious nu and the transition team.

    Music clips
    - Bigass Pizza Blues by CarrotAdventure
    - Look At Me by transitional procedures.
    - One Month Dragon by srednivashtar
    - For Each One To Discover (AO) by q*ben.
    - End Credits by CarrotAventure.

    31 May 2022, 7:40 pm
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