Best Of MetaFilter

🎶 “Peg, we need a woman’s song.” “F*** off, I’m doing the accounts.” In a delightful Q&A with The Guardian, folk legend Peggy Seeger reflects on her life, music, and activism. Click the link if you're into music history, feminist icons, or just love a good quote.

🧊 ICE Is Running Out of Space A sobering look at the U.S. immigration system’s mounting pressure: detention centers are overflowing, and ICE is turning to small towns and private prisons to manage the surge.

💡 Blink And You'll Miss It How a simple visual cue keeps us oriented in out digital spaces.

The final three episodes of the critically acclaimed and fan favorite show Andor have dropped and MeFites are chiming in with their thoughts:

📺 Episode 10: “Make It Stop” The ISB closes in. Luthen scrambles. Kleya delivers. It’s less pew-pew, more creeping dread—and it works brilliantly.

🤫 Episode 11: “Who Else Knows” Secrets are currency, and everyone’s cashing out, whether they want to or not. MeFi commenters highlight the show's espionage vibes and quietly devastating performances.

💎 Episode 12: “Jedha, Kyber, Erso” More of an epilogue as as everyone assesses their status after the last two episode. The MetaFilter crowd dives into theories, connections to Rogue One, and why Andor is the most grown-up Star Wars has ever been.

In a recent MetaTalk thread titled “Earliest musical memory?”, members are sharing their first memories of music, prompted by a WBUR radio segment featuring music historian George Hewitt, who recalls Patsy Cline as his earliest musical memory.

Come join in as people share personal anecdotes on the many ways that music has touched their lives from an early age!

🌈 MetaFilter] LGBTQIA+ News Roundup – May 12, 2025 A semi-regular overview of recent wins and setbacks from around the world in the LGBTQIA+ community. Compiled and share by mephron.

🌍💥 Caught on Camera: The First-Ever Clear Footage of a Fault Line Shifting If you’ve ever fallen down an earthquake video rabbit hole on YouTube, you’ve seen it all. But here’s something new: clear, real-time footage of a fault line visibly shifting the entire landscape. Not just shaking—moving! Shared by Rhaomi.

🧠🛠️🎬 Real-Life Wallace & Gromit Machine? Yes, Please! Joseph’s Machines is making your dreams come true (and then some). In his latest video, he creates a real-life Wallace & Gromit–style invention, and it’s pure, jam-covered joy. Shared by Pitachu.

🧛‍♂️ “I Have Dracula Merchandise” – A Delightfully Nerdy Film
Caleb is trapped in a video game, due to accidently getting caught up in a demonic spell (hey it happens). Can Frankie help him escape before the game timer ends? Possibly, with the help of a of song, Dracula merchandise, and assorted memes, in this charming animated short from CalArts film student Ben Knight. Posted by cortex on MetaFilter.

🌍 “Documenting the Damage” – 100 Alarms, 100 days: Trump's Second Term Blitz Brett Heinz catalogs 100 harmful policies enacted during the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, drawing a picture of rapid and radical transformation. Posted by subdee on MetaFilter.

🛏️ “The Most Comfortable Sheets in the World” – Are They Worth It? A simple but important question, especially after the previous post! This AskMetaFilter thread has real answers from real people, with the goal of helping you have the best sleep ever, and covers a range of options price-wise. Posted in AskMetaFilter by leafmealone.

Venus, which Kosmos 842 failed to reach some 50 years ago The People v. Donald Trump, Surely This Donald Trump doesn't want to spend money authorized by the US Congress. Is that legal? If so, is it right in terms of the checks and balances on the executive branch? People are talking about it in this thread!

Duck, A Space Probe is Heading Home A 50 year old space probe intended for Venus never quite made it there. It's lingered in Earth orbit for five decades and is now due to come crashing back to Earth, literally.

A Comedy Goldmine Sick of scrolling endlessly for something funny to watch? No problem, AskMetafilter has a crowdsourced list of comedy movie recommendations. Real people recommending and sharing real favorites—no AI nonsense here baby!

Photo by Bill Holsinger-Robinson, via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/billhr/) Here's a couple of good posts that were shared on MetaFilter recently:

Looking to show your love with the ultimate red sauce? This link might do it. It features a slow cooked Italian-American tomato sauce by J. Kenji López-Alt and it's a flavor loaded, all-day affair that delivers deep, rich nostalgic goodness. It'll leave your kitchen smelling like Nonna's, even if you don't have one, because it's a love letter to old-school Italian-American comfort food. Shared by Lemkin, from Serious Eats: https://www.metafilter.com/208699/Kenji-Lpez-Alts-All-Day-Red-Sauce

Historian Fraser Raeburn commemorated Victory in Europe Day by sharing his personal collection of anti-fascist posters from the Spanish Civil War in this this fantastic Bluesky thread. Shared by signal: https://www.metafilter.com/208696/Camarada

Puzzle by Alan E, via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/alaneng/)''No, you can not be the Pope, but you can at least pretend to go for the job, courtesy of missjenny's MeFi Project, White Smoke. It follows a sort of choose-your-own adventure structure as you navigate a Conclave as an ambitious Cardinal trying to secure enough Pope Points to claim the papacy. See how far you can get without sacrificing your virtual soul!

This is a mystery meat post by growabrain, who wants you to know about Master Tingus. Yes, there's app that has the goose game and that's all we're going say about that.

Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey wants you to meet the Feral Historian, here's the introduction: Stories are cultural artifacts, whether it’s epics on clay tablets or big-budget films. Those artifacts can tell us a lot about the time and culture that made them if we take a few minutes to shake them and see what falls out. To that end, an independent scholar goes rogue from academic respectability, wanders out into the wild, and talks to the trees and rocks about science fiction and its place in historical study.

Image by vinodbahal, from their Flickr stream (https://www.flickr.com/photos/vinodbahal/)

Looking for friends? Perhaps they've closer than you think, you just have to shift your perspective. discovering true friends. At least according to this thoughtful link shared by storybored.

CMcG is asking for some kid friendly phone numbers for phone obsessed preteens, so what do you know? Even better come see what others have suggested! The New York City squirrel census hotline is particularly fun one.

Did you know that Harvard has a rare books library? If not (or even if you did), check out the FAQs about Harvard's Rare Books Library. It's where Horace Rumpole and their colleagues are posting videos that answer frequently asked questions about the collection!

Wise Old Fish by george chamoun, via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmoun1/)

Have you ever bought music based on the cover art alone? Be it cassette tape (what's that), records, or digital, album art is seen as a basic necessity for collection of music.

But it wasn't always that way, early music came in a plain brown wrapper. How we got from that to today's carefully designed record covers is the subject of this link shared by chavenet. Because yes, even album art had to be invented!

If you're an artist, check out this neat project by ifatfirstyoudontsucceed. It's a free service called Plentitude, where artists can exchange their artwork. If you don't have anything available to exchange, you can list examples for commissions.

Lastly, Mephron is back with a collection of LGBTQIA+ News for the week of May 6. Pull up a chair and make yourself comfortable, there's a lot of links here!

By NBC Radio - eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain

In the midst of watching past episodes of Abbot and Costello, delfin drops some observations on the Idiot and Asshole Trope. Those insights include other old time comedians, such as The Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers.

Singer/songwriter Jill Sobule ( "I Kissed a Girl") has passed away at the age of 66 and MeFites are sharing their memories of her career and work.

Mephron has done another of her semi-regular and fantastic LGBTQIA+ news posts. These posts include a variety of topics ranging from good, middle, and bad news, so grab your favorite drink and check it out.

Meanwhile, in posts with a lighter tone, BuddhaInABucket made one about the best books of the 21st Century (at least so far). Unsurprisingly, some members have different views and they're sharing them

Finally, while the world has been debating whether 100 men can beat 1 beat gorilla, changeling reminds us what the true threat is: ants

Finally, part 2: Rhaomi has a new LinkMe post up, for all those people who found an interesting link, but don't time to put it in a post. Just put the link in here for someone else to (maybe) turn it into a post!

Today we're highlighting some of the recent fantastic contributions from the community:

Frowner makes a great point about AI use in the creative arts, ishmael made a post about the private group chats where tech billionaires and right-wing pundits hash out their ideas, RobinofFrocksley wants their eardrums murdered with the music that frightened and irritated your elders, and elgilito gives a fantastic breakdown of our understanding of bird migration over the past millennia!

Photo by adikos via Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/adikos/)

Writing is a...well, a thing. Sometimes easy, sometimes maddening, often a mix of both of these things and more. Perhaps these slightly rude notes about writing will help you bridge that gap. Maybe not though, no promises, all you can do is check out dhruva's post!

What's your casual opinion about armpit hair on women? Tiny frying pan wants to know, but please the leave idea of concensus or argument at the door, thanks.

Episodes 4-6 of season 2 of Andor have dropped, come join in the viewing and discussion as we wait to see when Checkov's Cinta will appear next!

Episode 3 of season 2 of The Last of Us is out and we have Show Only and Videogame/Books included threads that have been posted for discussion.

What's new and good on MeFi you ask? Here's a few answers:

Rhamoi's post celebrating 20 years of YouTube a is a joyful look back at the site's roots and early history.

Looking for something a little dreamy and dark? Deadbilly made a post about The Nightly, "a web-based radio station for insomniac dreamers, wistful lonely hearts, and general appreciators of a sort of indescribable beautiful drearynes." I recommend putting on some background rain sounds to add ambience.

Want to see a brand new 75 year old plane? Then check out the post that dfm500 made!