Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with moment

A ladder left behind

Funmonkey1 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:55:24 -0800

[FearFilter]: 15 years ago I experienced an imminent death/serious injury moment that turned out ok. However, I still feel physical chills and tingly feelings even thinking about it. Am I the only one or is this common? Thoughts and stories appreciated. The science is a huge bonus. Short background. Many years ago some friends and I decided to put a ladder out the 3rd floor house in order to gain access to the roof.

I clearly recall the way back down the ladder and it is no mistake, balance was against me. That 1 second of fighting against of gravity while looking down is ingrained in my mind. The moment is etched forever in the brain and triggers immediate fear and physical response if I focus on it. WTF? After so long?

I can't be the only one that has such a memory that stirs such strong physical and emotion reaction. What is it called and how does one not be so jolted?

historic moment ?

sgt.serenity — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:28:45 -0800

has scotland finally featured as a country in drop down menus ? i stumbled upon this today - if you access the drop down menu, it actually features scotland rather than the uk, this is not something that i have ever noticed before - is this a new occurence or is it just a kind of two small countries helping each other out kind of thing ?

have we really seen a historic moment in the history of the internet ?
I've never seen scotland recognised as an independent country before, oh how it irked me.

a minute=60 sec; a moment = ?

hadjiboy — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:23:48 -0800

How long is a moment? I would like to know if a moment can be measured, and if it can, what would be the maximum length.

Proposing in Palm Springs

matthelm — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:08:32 -0800

Looking to propose while in Palm Springs this Thanksgiving. Any good romantic restaurants or locations that can be recommended?... We'll be spending the night at Sea Mountain Inn and I want to make this as special as possible...all ideas welcome...thanks

Meaning of 'moment of zen'?

chrismear — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 16:45:07 -0800

What is a 'moment of (something) zen'? I keep seeing this (on blogs in particular) and I don't know what it means. I must have missed the memo. On BoingBoing, Xeni Jardin seems to use it on practically every other post, but there are plenty of other examples. From the context, it usually just seems to mean 'a neat thing that happened' or 'a neat thing that I found'.

Is that really all it is? Is it actually anything to do with Zen? I've only ever seen it on the internets -- is it from somewhere else? It's really bugging me...

Anticipation..is making me wait...

jfuller — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:16:57 -0800

In Neverwhere Neil Gaiman describes a Christian abbot thusly: The abbot had known that this day would bring pilgrims. The knowledge was part of his dreams; it surrounded him, like the darkness. So the day became one of waiting, which was, he knew, a sin: moments were to be experienced; waiting was a sin against both the time that was still to come and the moments one was currently disregarding. Is anyone aware of any Christian teaching that anticipation is to be avoided? To modern ears Gaiman's passage sounds so be-here-now Buddhist. I am aware of the passage in Matthew where Jesus says "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself," which is pretty explicit, but has this notion ever been taken up and turned into formal doctrine by any branch of the church, or has any historically important theologian ever grabbed this particular ball and run with it?