Most Favorited Questions in the Past 30 Days (24 hours, 7 days, 12 months, all time)
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Recipes with high return on investment
I'm looking for dishes where the taste, appearance or "wow factor" is much more than the effort, time or money put into the dish. For the purposes of this question, there are no other restrictions.
Your magic work phrase
Someone told me if you are late to a meeting, say “Thanks for your patience”. I liked that and use it often. A Mefi whose name escapes me, when put in the spot. suggested saying “I don’t want to give you my first answer, I want to give you the right answer, let me get back to you”. I also liked that and use it often. What are the phrases you use at work that help better communicate / frame / set expectations / lead / work with your colleagues?
Where's the new The Good Place??
I'm pretty sure nothing else like it exists, but if it does I feel like MetaFilter people are my best bet to find it! [more inside]
Mystery books with something extra
I love books that might be described as "mystery plus." That is, they work as clever, well-constructed, and fair mysteries... but they have a distinctive additional attraction on top of the mystery. For example, The Tuesday Murder Club is a mystery + unusually charming characters and humor. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is mystery + {SPOILER REDACTED}. Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone and West Heart Kill are mystery + narrative self awareness. Can you recommend other examples? [more inside]
Where do you go for inspiration?
My laptop crashed and, with it, my entire RSS reader's links directory, which I had been lovingly cultivating for 10 years. As I rebuild it from scratch, I figured I'd ask this community for some recos. [more inside]
House cleaning routines
Do you have house cleaning routines (kitchen, bathroom, living spaces, bedrooms) that you practice habitually, almost without thinking? Dedicated days for certain tasks? Routines that you have found that you are able to stick to?
How did you get from "clean infrequently when it gets bad enough" to "clean more frequently so it never gets bad"?
What tech has upgraded your life even though you are not techy?
I am not a techy person. Puzzling through buttons and menus does not come naturally to me. I don’t hunger for new devices and when forced to use new devices I often get anxious and irritated. But if something is genuinely useful and labor saving and not too hard to learn, I will get the hang of it and then wonder how I ever lived without it. [more inside]
Really good book blogs?
Are there blogs like Smart Bitches Trashy Books, but for other genres? [more inside]
More books like these, please
Four books have really opened my eyes to the details of exactly how capitalism and imperialism transformed parts of the world for the worse: Sweetness and Power, Coffeeland, Late Victorian Holocausts, and The Making of the English Working Class. What I appreciated about them was that they told a historical story about a specific place with lots of detail, but also tied it to larger actions being taken to transform the world economy. What should I add to that part of my bookshelf? [more inside]
Bookfilter: Non-dystopian, re-imagining the present or near future
Sometimes the state of the world gets me down. I'd like help imagining a better future that we can work towards. Does anyone know of any good near- future or present fiction that imagines that we did things differently and better? Bonus points for Indigenous, Black, or People of Colour authors.
I want to Excel at Meal Planning
I want to eat out less. Making food requires so many decisions. I'd like to create am excel or googlesheets database of favourite recipes, be able to select what I want to eat for the week, and have it generate a grocery list of items. (I don't need it to track my inventory, I will never keep that up to date.) I feel like this should be a done thing but my googling is just giving me Aesthetic Templates that would work just as well printed as on the computer and isn't giving the interconnectedness that I'm looking for.
Also open to any systems to help my probably-adhd-self plan food better.
Forgotten but good novels before about 1960
I have a book group. Members have some pretty specific preferences and are unfortunately well-read. I'm looking for lesser known classics that meet certain criteria: [more inside]
Help me make girl dinner
The name may be controversial, but the meal, which is made out of a variety of convenient things, is popular with everyone in my house – especially those of us who do the cooking. I'm happy to do some meal prep, though, so that's what I'm looking for ideas about. What could I make ahead of time that keeps well and would be easy and delicious to add to a plate of different things? [more inside]
Movies with very competent protagonists - difficulty level: no violence.
I am in the mood for a movie or series with an ultra-competent, good-at-their-job protagonist. Difficulty level: no violence, gore, or grave injustice (not even injustice that's overcome in the end).
I have seen this question but I'm looking for more and slightly different examples. [more inside]
Lost in Color Space? Help me re-find an explanation of color.
A while ago, and I think this was on metafilter, someone linked an invective filled and thorough explanation of how color and perception worked especially with regard to computer displays and graphics, including all the different color models and spaces that had been invented over the years. It was very informative and now I can't for the life of me find it. [more inside]
Campy late 20th century movies with strong female characters
I’ve been on a campy movie kick (see also: FanFare). I’m realizing that I tend to prefer movies with women in leading roles - although I suspect it’s not about gender and is more about relational perspective.
Anyway, favorites include Heathers, But I’m A Cheerleader, Saved, and Earth Girls are Easy. Mars Attacks! was pretty good too.
I would very much appreciate your recommendations.
What is the best process to print digital photos?
I would like to print, frame and hang some digital photos that I have taken (DSLR and iPhone). I would like to have 5 photos printed larger than 8"x10" and 5-10 photos printed between 4"x6" and 8"x10". What are the best practices for preparing and printing digital photos (cost effectively)? [more inside]
How to *think*
If I really want to think about stuff, my modus is, I go to a bar that is 5 minutes away, there usually is a seat at the counter, I sit there, stare at the bottles, drink a beer or three and ponder whatever is troubling me at the moment. There is music, it's lively, and I just let my mind do its thing. I can not do this at home, if I just sit down on the kitchen table, or on the couch I just can't get in the mindset and I feel kind of stupid, you know, just sitting there and staring in the void. I can do it when I am lying down before sleep, but if it's 20:00 this also feels strange. Listening to music does not make it better. I think it is the stimulus rich environment that is conductive to the process. I can think of other venues to do this but they are not dependably available, or near, when the need arises (usually after kid and wife are in bed or otherwise occupied). I guess most people do some mindless task or art or something, but I find I get easily absorbed in such activities . I don't know if walking around would work. So where and how do you *think*?
Best of ‘Included in your (Audible) subscription’?
What is the best content on audible that is included with a standard subscription? So far, for example, I have found the complete Sherlock Holmes read by Stephen Fry, and a handful of shorts set in METAtropolis by some of my favorite authors, a couple Scalzis, the first Murderbot. What else should I look at (har har). Outstanding reader and outstanding content both welcome.
Action/comedy where ordinary woman is swept into adventure
Lately I’ve enjoyed the movies Argylle, Spy, and The Lost City. I think part of what I like is that they’re witty action/comedies that involve ordinary, likeable women going about their routine lives who are then suddenly swept into espionage or adventure. Can you recommend similar non-sexist action/comedies that I might like? [more inside]