So, what did I miss?

October 30, 2014 7:20 AM

I've been off the site for a while, and now that I'm back my FOMO is kicking in. I have lots of lovely new-found free time to waste use productively reading posts I've missed out on, but I don't know where to start. If you had to recommend one thread from the past two months that I simply MUST read or be doomed to a life of joyless ignorance (either because it was informative or hilarious or both) what would it be?
posted by billiebee to MetaFilter-Related at 7:20 AM (38 comments total)

http://bestof.metafilter.com
posted by cjorgensen at 8:10 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Cheers for that. Only about ten on that that I missed but its a start. Just remembered the podcast threads too...
posted by billiebee at 8:24 AM on October 30, 2014

Of course what you won't see there is the classic 36-hour pile-on over reheating vegetarian cassoulet in the course of which so many long-standing members flamed out and which was sensationally deleted in its entirety on technical grounds just yesterday.
posted by Segundus at 8:43 AM on October 30, 2014 [28 favorites]

Do NOT talk about #cassouletgate. It's TOO SOON, okay?
posted by Wordshore at 8:56 AM on October 30, 2014 [8 favorites]

Besides, I still say a 'vegetarian cassoulet' is just a vegetable stew, or even a succotash with beans. Proper cassoulet involves meat, preferably sausage.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:59 AM on October 30, 2014

Just sausage? If you're a peasant, maybe. You have to balance the spice of the sausage with the richness of the duck and mutton, or you might as well be making chili.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:11 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Mutton's gamey flavor overwhelms the rest of the dish; people who put mutton in their cassoulet are terrible people.
posted by rtha at 9:13 AM on October 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Also, I really liked this post about polyphonic overtone singing.
posted by rtha at 9:16 AM on October 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Actually, it's about ethics in vegetarian cassoulet journalism.
posted by Wordshore at 10:10 AM on October 30, 2014 [29 favorites]

So you know that old sitcom where in the opening credits, there's a bit where one character is painting a wall or a door, and another character opens the door, and the first character rolls the paint roller over the other person's face?

Yeah, well.
posted by Kabanos at 10:22 AM on October 30, 2014 [22 favorites]

Oh, I didn't see that post about overtone singing -- I did see the Language Log post about it, which had a frequency analysis and some good discussion in the comments about the physiology of it.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:27 AM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Please, let's not rehash the cassoulet.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:47 AM on October 30, 2014 [6 favorites]

That paintroller thread makes me think that somehow someone has managed to incept everyone of a certain age with that vaguely recalled scene. It doesn't actually exist, but dammit, we remember.
posted by Think_Long at 11:02 AM on October 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

the classic 36-hour pile-on over reheating vegetarian cassoulet in the course of which so many long-standing members flamed out and which was sensationally deleted in its entirety on technical grounds just yesterday

So it's been at least 10 minutes and NONE of the #cassoulet comments have been deleted - but just mentioning VEGAN cassoulet in that reheating vegetarian cassoulet thread resulted in my getting threatened with a "time out" - ??? Screw you, MetaFilter - mods, please close this account and enjoy your so-called "vegetarian" enslavement of animals.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 11:11 AM on October 30, 2014 [15 favorites]

If you link to any users, check out their favorites or where they've been favorited.

Those would likely be threads of interest to you.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 11:33 AM on October 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Welcome back, billiebee!

A few of my personal favorites from the last couple of months:
1) informative/depressing/heavy-duty - sex work: fantasies as commodities, consent, and emotional labor
2) hilarious/sweet/perfect - KLM's new Lost and Found Beagle
3) happy/uplifting/schmoopy - Thanks Mrs. Pterodactyl!

Many, many congratulations on finishing your dissertation. Lovely to see you again!
posted by divined by radio at 12:01 PM on October 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Also, I'm not sure if you've logged out recently, but we redecorated while you were out.
posted by Kabanos at 12:28 PM on October 30, 2014 [7 favorites]

The great Waverly Root, from The Food of France:

The one thing that does not change is the beans. Nevertheless, you can work up a hot argument among cassoulet-fanciers at any time about the ingredients of real cassoulet. It is a subject as touchy as the correct composition of a mint julep in certain regions of the American South.

So I don't know what people expected. Now, all I said was that the real, original cassoulet of Castelnaudary has fresh pork, ham, pork shoulder, sausage, and fresh pork cracklings. You want goose in there? Sure, throw some goose in; no sense in purism. But mutton? Only people from Carcassonne use mutton, and you can't spell Carcassonne without "ass." Go ahead, ban me, I don't care. NO MUTTON!
posted by languagehat at 12:32 PM on October 30, 2014 [10 favorites]

I want to know why the mods are opposed to reheating using the double boiler method even though it's clearly superior to any of the others.

I demand that they provide me with detailed documentation in accordance with ISO 10001:2007 with their detailed specifications for site management, including flow charts and attractively-hued graphs. Otherwise I will wail and gnash my teeth at this proof of the obvious link between their refusal to comply with my request and the faked moon landing.
posted by winna at 12:40 PM on October 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Welcome back! You're just in time for Secret Qunosar, if that's up your alley.

And I guess this is where I should admit I think of you every time I go to the farmers market and see this.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:08 PM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

NO DUCK CONFIT, NO CASSOULET!


I will stab a motherfucker (again).
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:16 PM on October 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

Also, that recipe I provided was for a vegan cassoulet. I just happened to beat up a goose while I was making it.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 1:19 PM on October 30, 2014

Metafilter cassoulet: The one thing that does not change is the beans.
posted by Kabanos at 1:28 PM on October 30, 2014 [8 favorites]

I had just forgotten about that paint roller AskMe, Kabanos. Damn you. I still say with 90% certainty it was Too Close For Comfort.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:38 PM on October 30, 2014

A Gilmore Girls post on the blue led to a group rewatch on Fanfare, though many of us find ourselves having watched an extra five or ten episodes here and there. I don't know if this is the one thing to read, but it's a lot of fun watching and talking together.
posted by Margalo Epps at 2:25 PM on October 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

Listen, god dammit, if you have to use seitan it's not "vegetarian" it's just "shitty non-meat version." "Vegetarian" implies using the myriad flavors that fruits, grains and vegetables can provide, not feigning fidelity to meat.

Brand new day my ass...
posted by Navelgazer at 2:30 PM on October 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

Devils, what dialect is "Seitan" supposed to be?
posted by Namlit at 4:19 PM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Go ahead, ban me, I don't care. NO MUTTON!

Bit prescriptivist...
posted by Pink Frost at 4:48 PM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Thanks, Obama.
posted by Wordshore at 5:12 PM on October 30, 2014

What does FOMO mean?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:17 PM on October 30, 2014

"Forgoing 'Orrible Meat = Orthobiosis!" - oh wait hang on I'm banned in this timeline ... sorry.

#darkestMeFitimeline
posted by the quidnunc kid at 5:49 PM on October 30, 2014 [4 favorites]

You should check out this ask:
I'd arrest you if you were five feet closer!

I think it's hilarious and a neat little slice of mefi culture. I flagged it as fantastic.
posted by Michele in California at 6:08 PM on October 30, 2014 [2 favorites]

The Infodumpster may help you to catch up. Its "now" is currently equal to Oct. 18, but here are the most favorited posts from Aug. 30 until now, most favorited comments from Aug. 30 until now, and longest threads from Aug. 30 until now.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 6:16 PM on October 30, 2014 [3 favorites]

I really enjoyed watching the old AT&T "You Will" commercials from 20 years ago. I haven't seen them since they aired, and I could recall everything that happened as I was rewatching. I was pretty mesmerized by the possible future technology at the time. A keen observation in the post is that the prediction factor was pretty high, but AT&T seems to have had way less to do with it than they thought that they would.
posted by SpacemanStix at 6:49 PM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

What does FOMO mean?

I believe it's "fear of missing out". I recognize it from these horrible commercials.
posted by Night_owl at 7:01 PM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

I was going to say the Hobby Lobby thread but that's too far outside of your time-frame; maybe a post by flex, such as objectification and its effects on women. Rhaomi did a fairly incredible one recently. It received 336 favorites *gasp of envy*.

Also this one. 😲
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome at 10:33 PM on October 30, 2014 [1 favorite]

Oh my god, did the vegetarian reheating question go full dairy?
posted by Yowser at 8:40 AM on October 31, 2014

Good to see you back, billiebee.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 2:56 AM on November 1, 2014 [1 favorite]