Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with amazing

How would you make the most of 1 full day without sleep in Bangkok?

gttommy — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:25:39 -0800

How would you make the most of 1 full day without sleep in Bangkok? My friends and I will have only 1 day in Bangkok but we want to see/do as much as possible. I want to organise something similar to the 'Amazing Race', rush from one place to another non-stop, except, not as crazy and the destinations should be all nearby (within Bangkok).

We decided not to even book for 1 night accommodation. Instead we will just stay up partying hopefully and have a nap afterwards at Bangkok airport before flying to Patong.

Who: 4 male adults
Interests: food, anything unique to Bangkok, socialising, nightlife
Time: day 1, arrive at airport 11:10 AM --- day 2 depart at 7:30 AM

What would you do?

Something similar to the below will be most helpful:
catch a taxi at xxx outside the airport
go to xxx
visit xxx
ride the xxx
eat at xxx
run to xxx
avoid xxx
drink/party at xxx
catch taxi at xxx to go back to airport

Otherwise, even simple suggestions will be appreciated, Thank you so much!

Help me find the blackberry delicousness, please.

lorrer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:23:12 -0800

Help me get Seattle-quality blackberries in the NYC area. Is there anywhere in Manhattan, the outer boroughs, or even Long Island where I can get really great blackberries? I have never found them, in the last ten years, at any store (not even Kirkland and Issaquah-based Costco!). Nothing has come close to the taste off the vine - not tart at all, almost overripe tasting compared to most fruits, somewhat sweet, and very rich & earthy.

I was back in Seattle a couple of months ago and gorged myself on them off the vine, and for the first time made pie with them on my own - and the pies were incredible. I'm hoping to find a source so that I can share the joy of ripe blackberries with my friends and family, and so that I can make delicious pies for fall and winter festivities.

What can "Das war ja toll!" mean?

kisch mokusch — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 20:58:14 -0800

Scientific History Filter / Native German Speaker Filter. What did Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard's 1985 exclamation, "Das war ja toll!" mean? Toll was the name given to one of the genes in Drosophila identified by Kathryn Anderson and (Nobel Laureate) Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard in the mid 1980s. According to this review (discovered through wikipedia, of all places), she saw a weird-looking fly larva, and her spontaneous comment was "Das war ja toll!" meaning "That was weird!"

But I can't find a further reference for this, and I thought the translation would be "that was amazing!" (unless spoken sarcastically, which I think can be ruled out) or "that was crazy!" Furthermore, the review says that she saw the fly in 1985, when the mutation was in fact published in 1984 (Nature. 311(5983):223-7), which makes me think the information is poorly sourced.

Does anybody know where this anecdote comes from? I've searched through the web (although not exhaustively), but to no avail :-(

Alternatively, does the "weird" translation for "toll" as quoted fit to any native speakers? Leo says no, but leo doesn't know everything.

Sayonara Cereal

Aghast. — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:48:13 -0800

I've been trying really hard to find this commercial for a long time with no luck. It is from the late nineties I think and it is most likely a cereal commercial. Description: A guy is eating cereal but his long hair keeps falling in the bowl, so he goes to the bathroom and bends over as if he's eating cereal. He cuts his hair so that it won't fall in bowl anymore. Then he goes back and eats cereal without hair in the way. The song playing in the background has lyrics that go: "The time has come for us to say 'sayonara.'" Anyone remember this? Have links to commercial or song? Any info would help.

I wish to have an Adventure. I'd like suggestions.

-harlequin- — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 04:05:44 -0800

I would like to have a Crazy (or Grand) Adventure, but it seems good adventures are harder to find than in the movies. Anyone know or can think of any good ideas? Difficulty: I'm aiming for a LOW likelihood of getting killed/arrested/maimed/sued, but a HIGH likelihood of Amazing Tales I can bore people with 50 years from now. A grand expedition and/or something totally half-assed. I guess movies are the best common language here so for half-assed plans, things like "Without a Paddle" or "The Motorcycle Diaries". For grand adventure, think "Indiana Jones", etc.

Location: I don't want to restrict things, so let's say anywhere in this world (or any other :-), but it would be a lot more doable a lot sooner for me the closer it is to Seattle. I have relatives in New Zealand, so stuff close to that end of the planet works better too.

I'm in my late 20's, fairly fit, healthy, have some basic survival skills, but I would take some time to learn the appropriate skills before tackling whatever incredibly stupid (or grand) undertaking(s) I settle on.

Money is currently a limiting factor, but don't let it limit your suggestions. (Something that involves significant investment in equipment, travel, or help, isn't impossible, just not possible in the near-term. There is no rush.) I don't expect to ever break out of the working/middle-class income range though, so ideas involving things like airships are unlikely to ever be feasible. :-)

I have some stout volunteers. (Indeed - stout enough to volunteer for an unknown adventure). So something we can tackle as a team is a plus.

Length: a few days to a few weeks in the field. (Time spent preparing beforehand can take as long as necessary).

Some adventure ideas that I'm already aware of, and not particularly interested in. (They all seem to be a bit of stretch to be described as An Adventure)

- The $1M reward for finding the Tasmanian Tiger. (reason: It's a race, and there is no way I could bootstrap my tracking skills to the level of those who have already spent years searching. And I wouldn't want to spend years on it. It also seems highly likely to prove fruitless).

- The hunt for the treaure trove of narcotics hidden underwater off the coast of Australia by a drug smuggler who is now dead. (reason: don't want to tangle with the drug trade. Underwater searches are costly. Not my forte)

- The hunt for a broken arrow ditched in a bay in the 50's. (reason: Everything will inevitably come down to "What the Airforce says, goes". Something where a small group can achieve something independantly would be better)

You might say that rejecting things like these is being picky, but I think while (mostly) noble endeviours, they're all a little sub-standard compared to the Hollywood-exagerated concept of adventure. So call me unrealistic instead :-)
Now that I think about it, I like mapping, so going and mapping unknown terratory as part of it would appeal to me, but the only unknown terratory I can think of is very very deep caves and undersea. I'm not so interested in re-mapping an area just so I can pretend to be mapping something :)

I thinking something that involves wilderness in some way is likely to be better than something urban. And... that's about it.

Focus the raw power of your pent-up creative energies on this problem. Melt it like butter in a blast furnace.
Much obliged.

Has anyone seen something so amazing they wanted to tell everyone about it, but by the time they could, the event had passed?

SpaceCadet — Wed, 13 Oct 2004 01:49:07 -0800

Has anyone seen something so amazing they wanted to tell everyone about it, but by the time they could, the event had passed? [MI] Two examples that happened to me:

i) back in the early '80s in Scotland, I sat in a classroom, looked out of the window and saw the space shuttle fly by at low altitude, piggyback on a Boeing like this:-

I thought I had imagined it. I didn't tell anyone because I thought nobody would believe me anyway. I later found out that another class had spent the afternoon out in the playing field looking for the space shuttle which was due to make a fly-by. I told everyone I had seen it THEN, but still nobody believed me!

ii) February 2001, I watched the sunset from my office window in Tokyo, right from where I normally sit. As the sun reached the horizon, I saw something take a bite out of it. It was Mt Fuji. The scene lasted about a minute. What made this more amazing was that Fuji wasn't visible that day because of the smog - so it really was an unexpected "partial eclipse".