Ask MetaFilter

I want to focus on the things that I can do to make our world a tiny bit better. So with the idea of gathering inspiration from everyone: what do you do? [more inside]
posted by sugarbomb at 9:31 AM - 19 answers

I'm looking for online resources for self-care that would specifically address the anxiety I have about political climate of the coming 4 years in the United States. [more inside]
posted by QuakerMel at 10:20 AM - 7 answers

What memorial in Washington, DC has a chicken sort of hidden at the back or side of the main statue? Am I misremembering one of the funniest details from my 8th grade DC trip? [more inside]
posted by vrakatar at 7:12 PM - 7 answers

I am a relatively new sports fan. We’ve gone to 3 NHL games in the last 18 months and I have an ESPN+ subscription. I am also generally fond of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [more inside]
posted by Lawn Beaver at 6:32 PM - 9 answers

I have a small group of teens asking me questions and while I'm covered for books on lgbtq, disability, racism and feminism, I'm struggling to find books explaining concepts like class mobility, capitalism, predatory finance etc. Graphic novels are strongly favoured, or at least books with a lot of visuals and aimed at confident teen readers, rather than adults with pre-existing knowledge.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 12:59 AM - 14 answers

My 21 year old daughter may have an interview soon for a software engineering internship and she wants to know what she should do with her hair. Her hair is buzzed very short (1/8 inch) and she likes to dye it in bright colors or patterns, but she's wondering if bright dyed hair will come across as too unprofessional. [more inside]
posted by Redstart at 7:30 AM - 29 answers

The UNESCO lists of world heritage intangibles include all manner of things including dance, glassblowing, and even seasons. I would like help identifying ones that specifically relate to ritualised "do it together" or similar collective creativity, where a group of people create a tangible object together, or create their own "one" of something together. [more inside]
posted by J.R. Hartley at 2:27 PM - 0 answers

I asked this same question in 2022 and received some really wonderful answers. It feels like a lot has changed in the three-ish years since, some good and some bad. As scary as things may get, it’s worth finding the glimmers to hang onto. What’s giving you hope these days?
posted by summerteeth at 3:25 PM - 17 answers

I have paused my Audible account for Amazon reasons and want to spend my FIVE Audible credits before canceling. Difficulty level: non-fiction and non-depressing. [more inside]
posted by M. at 12:11 PM - 15 answers

The Interim Board of The MetaFilter Community Foundation has moved ahead with creating a moderation oversight committee. Here's more information and how to get involved. If this is not your jam, no worries, there will be additional opportunities to get involved and support MetaFilter. That's it, that's the cross-post.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:46 AM - 2 answers

I want to get a new tattoo on my trip to Mexico city later this month. I'd like something meaningful to commemorate my trip. I've tried searching for images but can't find a comprehensive resource that includes meanings for the symbols.
posted by Rivvo at 8:03 PM - 9 answers

The book was probably a popular financial history/memoir book, like My Life as a Quant, Big Short, Snowball, or even Jim Cramer's bio, but Googling does not resolve it to be those. [more inside]
posted by mnemonic at 4:30 PM - 3 answers

There are some experiences that are described in a rosy light by the media, movies, and insiders. Parenthood is one example. Wealth and fame are another. Outsiders go into them with an over-optimistic expectation and only discover the extent of the challenges when it's too late to back out. Which life experiences proved harder than you anticipated, because there's a tendency to downplay the challenges? I'd like to reduce the blind spots that I have. [more inside]
posted by vienna at 5:18 AM - 45 answers

Human-Search-Enginefilter: I've been thinking a lot about theater that spills outside the context of the specific performance. For example "In and Of Itself", Derek DelGaudio makes a brick disappear and has it reappear at an intersection named by an audience member. Or, extreme haunted houses might give participants a tattoo during the performance. What are some other examples of this? I'm particularly interested in examples where the stage component is a 10-15 minute self-contained piece that teases the much larger context, rather than e.g. a 3-hour show that starts before the showtime or ends after the curtain call.
posted by LSK at 1:49 PM - 11 answers

I have donated to DonorsChoose website, which connect you to classroom teachers all over the country and their unique little projects for students. But there are practices of the website that I don't know if it's best. Looking for other perspectives and other similar charity organizations. [more inside]
posted by Pantalaimon at 11:06 AM - 9 answers

Are there any notable figures from the fictional world who were actually decent people AND very much in charge of finances? [more inside]
posted by rabia.elizabeth at 6:34 AM - 18 answers

On NPR, there was a story about the organ reawakening ceremony. The organist said that the archbishop would say something like "Organ, holy instrument get up! Awake!" repeated 8 times. I can't find a recording that includes this. Do you know whether or not the imperative came in the tu form or the vous form?
posted by plinth at 7:25 AM - 8 answers

I'm having trouble finding English-language histories of Japan covering the Sixties and onward. I have 1964: The Greatest Year In The History Of Japan and Dissenting Japan: A History of Japanese Radicalism and Counterculture from 1945 to Fukushima in my reading list but am also looking for a broader overview. Something like the Japanese history equivalent of Dominic Sandbrook or David Kynaston's histories of Britain. My preference is for social/cultural history rather than, say, cabinet politicking but I'll take what I can get.
posted by kaisemic at 2:14 PM - 1 answers

I've had a thought in the back of my mind for a long time that we (the US at least) are moving back towards the Gilded Age, and possibly even Victorian England, in terms of levels of inequality and economic stratification coupled with legal oppression of certain groups (in the past, perhaps Catholics; today, perhaps.... a long list of other identities). Has anyone written a kind of "here's what works" retrospective on surviving and thriving in those contexts, with an aim towards guiding people today based on what we know about the past? [more inside]
posted by Number Used Once at 12:10 PM - 7 answers

I'm looking for a nonfiction biography or history book that covers the life of Gracia Mendes Nasi, also known as Beatriz or Beatrice de Luna Miques, a Portuguese Jewish philanthropist and businesswoman in the sixteenth century. [more inside]
posted by gentlyepigrams at 10:44 PM - 2 answers