MeFi Posts for "Sale"

October 28, 2022 1:54 PM

We're all pitching in for Fundraising Month. Ever wanted to see a post on a topic, but didn't want to write it yourself for whatever reason? Let us do it for you.

Pledge a donation of $50 to MetaFilter and I'll make a MeFi post on a topic of your choosing.

The small print for me: One post per day. Post a link or a topic, in this thread, to be eligible (no MeMail or email, too hard to keep track of). No politics, current events, or big fighty topics. You're more than welcome to pool donations with others.

That's me. SC member Rhaomi has a different offer:

Hello, MeFites! For fundraising month, my New Post page (like the future of the site) is in your hands. Start a recurring donation and I will write a post on the topic of your choice! Going rate is a penny per character, so roughly $3-5 for a one-liner, $10 for a multi-link paragraph, $50 for a multi-paragraph deep dive, or $100+ for a bona-fide megapost. Clever title and exhaustive tag list included free of charge! I'll strive for at least one post per week in the order received, starting from the first recurring donation. Max of 30 slots, so claim one while you can!

Eyebrows is offering to post one or two posts a weekend (so like 8 total) on whatever Eyebrows hobbyhorse topic you want to hear about, particularly religion, theology, weird Illinois stuff, Anne of Green Gables, traditionally feminine craft fiber arts, and anything else that she's (I'm) always on about. She doesn't have a TON of free time right now so you get it at the bargain price of $25, 30-60 minutes of her scarce weekend free time, and possibly commentary from her children reading over her shoulder and saying, "MOM. MOM. MOM. MOM. When's dinner?" (Has to be a hobbyhorse because I don't have a ton of time to devote to research. :) )


We will not prank you with our posts, please do not prank us with your topics. People who have already donated can also sponsor posts if they want since this is all coming a little later than it should.

posted by jessamyn (staff) to MetaFilter-Related at 1:54 PM (110 comments total)

I was just about to post an obituary post for Hannah Pick-Goslar, the childhood friend of Anne Frank, but I will donate $50 for someone else to do it! How do I send the money?
posted by Melismata at 2:29 PM on October 28, 2022 [4 favorites]

I will pay you $50 to make a multi-paragraph sub-megapost post introducing the related mathematical notions of the Cantor Set, the Sierpinski carpet, and the Menger sponge. Both so I can hang out in the resulting thread and so we can talk about it in a future podcast in a more equitable way.
posted by cortex (retired) at 2:52 PM on October 28, 2022 [7 favorites]

No politics, current events, or big fighty topics.

I will absolutely sponsor a post about the history of creamy vs crunchy butter, how their popularity has changed over time, what studies been done to induce which is better for the environment.

Am open to different facets I haven’t mentioned, let me know!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:04 PM on October 28, 2022 [9 favorites]

I cannot believe that the site owner has sold out the front page to Big MeFite so quickly. Really questioning my participation in this charade rn. /s

(Also note that my fine print is for a recurring contribution -- trying to encourage more sustainable funding!)
posted by Rhaomi at 3:11 PM on October 28, 2022 [10 favorites]

I will donate $50 for someone else to do it! How do I send the money?

Just go the Funding Page, donate and I'll do it! We're pretty honor system here for this part of the Fundraising Month. ETA: post is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:41 PM on October 28, 2022

This is a request for a jessamyn post, please. I have a very small starting point link collection if you want them. I would like a post on language justice that covers:

- the basics
- and border towns
- and different international communities
- the impact of new technologies on

Please address irl & virtual language justice (with an emphasis on virtual).

The check will be in the mail in exactly one week from acceptance of proposal. That way there's time for if someone wants to pool with me, which would be awesome, this is outside my budget.
posted by aniola at 6:13 PM on October 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

By "recurring donation" -- does that mean to recur every month or every year?

If I can do $20 every year, I would sponsor a post on adaptive PE or other adaptive physical activities for autistic people. I don't even know if there is such a thing, but there should be.
posted by NotLost at 7:29 PM on October 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh, I was reading too fast. I will just make one $50 donation, please.
posted by NotLost at 7:33 PM on October 28, 2022

NotLost: "By "recurring donation" -- does that mean to recur every month or every year?"

Whoops, probably should have been more specific! You can set up a recurring contribution using the main Fund MetaFilter link at the bottom of every page. For these purposes I'm thinking a monthly recurrence, but there are also options for quarterly and yearly if that works better.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:36 PM on October 28, 2022

if it wasn't out of my budget I'd be so tempted for someone else to find out and prove the exchange rate between latinum and Starfleet credits on DS9. Alas, not to be. this is a fabulous idea and I'm encouraged at all the work being done to change this place. really impressed at the changes and attitude shift since I left previously.
posted by Bemused Recluse at 11:09 PM on October 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have a very small starting point link collection if you want them.

Yes I would, emailed to my email address (not memail). I'll do the best I can.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:13 AM on October 29, 2022

I just donated $50, and I would like to sponsor someone else to pick a post they'd like jessamyn to make, first-come, first-served.
posted by box at 7:47 AM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

I'm in for $100, and inspired by box I'd like to make it a buy-one-give-one. (But in the spirit of fundraising please consider my suggested topic as wholly optional and feel free to adapt or replace as you see fit!)

For mine, I have had a draft post forever about supermarkets as shorthand for the american dream. This link from the Smithsonian and this one from the Houston Chronicle were my starting points, along with a half-remembered story about Nikita Khrushchev asking to visit a supermarket and thinking it was a potemkin village and a quarter-remembered scene from an '80s movie-of-the-week about new immigrants being amazed by pineapples and filling their cart with them.

For the give-one, I am happy to make it first come first served.

Thanks to each of you for your creativity and your contributions to this community.
posted by AgentRocket at 9:55 AM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

Ok, would it be OK to request a sorta chatfiltery topic? I'd really really like to ask other Mefites:

What's a part of your job that you actually like?

What task or part of your work day, other than lunch, do you really enjoy, to the point of thinking, yeah, this is it, this is where I fit?

I know I can ask on Metatalk but I'd always wanted to ask the Green.

Anyways, if this topic won't fly then something on the Blue that could prompt a similar discussion?

100 bucks a few days ago and 50 bucks today, hope I'm reading the terms right.
posted by M. at 10:24 AM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

Peanut butter post is up. Working AskMe is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:53 AM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Tags on posts could include "sponsored" so we can look back on how many occur....?

Also...the possibility of chatty AskMes that are sponsored is cool!
posted by tiny frying pan at 11:55 AM on October 29, 2022 [8 favorites]

Good point, I'll add that tag.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:01 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

[Thank you Jessamyn, for posting my question. The wording in the [more inside] is actually quite different than what I had in mind, to be quite honest - I didn't really mean to ask what people like about their jobs in general but what particular tasks they like. I wanted to know, for example, what task or part of day will make a librarian think, this, this is the good part, this is actually something that feels fun to do.
posted by M. at 1:12 PM on October 29, 2022

I added my post offer to the post! I'm very busy at my main job right now and it's crazy kid activity season BUT for $25 you can have an hour of my weekend for any weird Eyebrows hobbyhorse topic you've always been curious about! I am doing shorter posts and only things I already kinda know about, hence the lower price point. :) One per weekend day!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 1:57 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

"I would sponsor a post on adaptive PE or other adaptive physical activities for autistic people. I don't even know if there is such a thing"

OH THERE DEFINITELY IS. Tons and tons of it! "Ninja Warrior" communities are surprisingly great resources, there are occupational therapists who teach adaptive gymnastics, there are canoe and kayak communities aimed at autistic people, and there's tons of adaptive PE -- like, pool noodle tag is a popular adaptive version of tag where the kids whack at each other with pool noodles to tag, because nobody gets hurt or hit and nobody gets close enough to shove each other, which can be an issue with kids who get overexcited and don't have great large motor control. (And everyone who gets bored with tag can just play light sabre battle.) It migrated to traditional PE classes during stricter Covid restrictions when the kids had to stay three feet apart!

That is just stuff my own family has done, I hear about lots more from the community.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:05 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'm in for two!

1. I'd love a jessamyn post on sculpture parks and/or botanical gardens, especially outside of the US.

2. And following box's example, I'll sponsor one other jessamyn post -- first come first served. Pandering to my interests is extremely optional.
posted by janell at 2:12 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]

If one of y'all folks inspired by box wants to go in on or cover the language justice post, I will say 🎉*


*(party poppers --> celebrate)
posted by aniola at 3:09 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

A short time ago, I used my bank's bill pay to send a contribution by check (>$50). Instead of a post, I'd LOVE a real librarian to look at the Ask question I just posted!

(I started to formulate it as a request for a MeFi post, then realized it was just a normal question -- but maybe a hard one.)
posted by amtho at 3:16 PM on October 29, 2022

The wording in the [more inside] is actually quite different than what I had in mind

Whoops sorry if I put the wrong slant on it. I added a short update but I guess I had just understood incorrectly what you were looking for.

Instead of a post, I'd LOVE a real librarian to look at the Ask question I just posted!

Next on my list.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:21 PM on October 29, 2022

I talked with jessamyn about applying my donation to cover aniola's post, and I'm excited to see what comes of it. It sounds like a pretty great post, and something I don't really know enough about. Let the language post celebrations commence.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:43 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

I've increased my monthly subscription by 15 dollars. I would like a Rhaomi post on nacreous clouds, ideally with some links to pretty pictures.

Thanks for the initiative!
posted by roolya_boolya at 4:46 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

Thanks for doing these (both the posters and the funders). I wondered if it would be useful to have a link back to here from these posts - to draw more people to the funding discussion and perhaps encourage donations.
posted by paduasoy at 4:46 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]

🎉
posted by aniola at 5:29 PM on October 29, 2022

In order to not take up every dang slot of Jessamyn's time, I'd like a portion of my recent donation to sponsor three posts on the intersection of technology and culture proposed by others. Please submit proposals, because I am bad at posts, post ideas, or even having a vague idea of what people will enjoy and find interesting.
posted by majick at 6:21 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

I don't think Judy Tenuta, Tony Dow, or Anne Hesche got an obituary thread. I'll pledge $50 for any (or all) of them. If I could pick only one it would be Judy. It could happen. Pigs.
posted by bondcliff at 7:07 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'm really enjoying these, but yeah, I think a visible tag would help not only explain the idea, but also get more people into these. As seen in the fundraising post, some folks chimed in about not having seen it until the banner went up across the site, as not everyone stops in to MeTa.

Would it be possible to have a similar tag to the STAFF tag in the title that says "SPONSORED BY DONATION" where the tag is a link to this thread? It's a bit clunky, but I imagine just "SPONSORED" might go over poorly.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:49 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]

Thank you Jessamyn! I feel info-sated and very happy.
posted by amtho at 8:25 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks Jessamyn! Though the news that 60% of people prefer creamy peanut butter was terrible blow, the comments in the post have been absolutely fantastic.

Take heart, my crunchy tribe, our time will come!

The check is in the intertubes
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 7:37 AM on October 30, 2022 [11 favorites]

Math post is up. I tried to take something complex and simplify it. Apologies if it's too simple.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:32 AM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

I liked it. It felt like when I used to hang out with the math grads and they would explain complex mathematical concepts in simple ways so I could understand them. It was so much fun. I still think combinatorics should be offered as an elementary school math class.
posted by aniola at 10:30 AM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

I had another idea for trying to boost the visibility of these, and I wanted to check, is posting ideas here helpful? Should I be posting them in the overall fundraising thread? Memailing/emailing? What would be most helpful?

What I was thinking was putting sponsored posts in at the top of the sidebar. "(poster name) wrote a post on (topic) sponsored by (username)" Honestly, I don't know if making a change like that involves scheduling Frimble-time or not, but I'm enjoying the sponsored posts, and I'd like to see them become a more visible, helpful chunk of the site.

Past that, then, is the lack of sidebar visibility on mobile. Is there a direct link to the sidebar when on mobile? If not, can there be?
posted by Ghidorah at 6:15 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

taz could put them in the "best of" blog and "new and noteworthy" section on the front page without us having to change anything -- I will bring this up in the staff slack.

(Honestly any of us can do that but taz is the best at it.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:07 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

Can you consider making "Best of" more prominent as well? I keep forgetting it exists...thanks!
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:26 PM on October 30, 2022

For Eyebrows McGee: could you give a quick update on the Catholic Church? Francis' efforts to modernize the Church seem to have been stymied. Is this because such change will always be slow given the international nature of the Church or is the Church as a whole really that much against modernization? The balance of conservatives vs liberals in the hierarchy? Is having both a pope and an immediate past pope leading to behind the scenes issues? If Francis' health + age led to 2 retired popes + an active pope, could this be the start of new era in the papacy? (prompted in part by my parents saying they primarily view Mass on TV these days given the decreasing number of local masses due to fewer local priests plus the recent death of my favorite nun)
posted by beaning at 8:46 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]

Ghidorah, I was already planning to do that! I started to do a roundup of posts so far, but there were only two on the front page at that point, so a "list" seemed weird. But I can include them one by one. I did put one Ask Me up already.
posted by taz (staff) at 2:11 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh, and I made a "timely alert" reminder for several things: Best Of (which also appears on the sidebar), Twitter.
posted by taz (staff) at 2:14 AM on October 31, 2022

And now I've added the tag "sponsoredpost2022" to the newer sponsored posts to distinguish them from the ones from 2020; this way I can highlight a sponsored post and also link to the tag to see the rest from this fundraising period. Here's what I have so far, am I missing anything?:

https://www.metafilter.com/tags/sponsoredpost2022

https://ask.metafilter.com/tags/sponsoredpost2022
posted by taz (staff) at 2:32 AM on October 31, 2022 [4 favorites]

Language justice post is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:26 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]

I just raised my recurring donation (almost doubled it) and would be grateful for a Rhaomi post on an aspect of natural history or weird plant or animal biology.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 12:06 PM on October 31, 2022

No seriously someone please propose something like: "culture that got warped by technology" "culture that got drastically improved by technology" "technology that had unintended cultural consequences" "culture that adopted technology and made it its own" or something. Humans using tech. Relationships evolving, good or bad. Tech evolving to fit people, people affected by other people doing things with tech. People fighting back against horrors with their technology. Something.

I'll pay. You write the post spec.
posted by majick at 1:00 PM on October 31, 2022

A few miscellaneous thoughts off the top of my head (but not post specs) for the post majick wants, in case any of them help spark something for someone:

- What happens to oral history when written language is introduced?
- The loss of human-scale connection to food with the introductions of industrial food and transportation
- The change in how people connect with the outdoors with the introduction of modern shelter, food, and transportation technologies.
- The evolution of new online communities that previously may have been too niche to be supported by in-person communities.
- Scissors. Tell me about scissors. Why were scissors invented? How has their use changed over time? The history of scissors. The history of left-handed scissors. What are the consequences of scissors in our lives?
- the arab spring and social media, the french revolution and media, other less famous things and social/media
- the impact of books on vision
- early looms, modern looms, early computers, modern computers. jacquard loom, punch card computers. when does a loom stop being a loom and start being a computer? How is clothing related to the words on this page?
- hand tool vs power tool - you can do a lot more a lot faster (both good and bad) with a power tool. if the internet is the power tool, what's the hand tool?
- the impact of exposure to mass media on emotions (vs human-scale spread of information)
- open source seeds
- the impact of widespread access to so many bright colors and dyes on our relationships with nature
- what happens when a free public library comes to town?
- differences in cultures large or small that think about numbers or time differently
- world statistics maps and their gaps
- externalized hidden negative impacts: covid deaths, cafos, slave labor (eg for chocolate, clothes, computers, etc)
- the ability to just sort of go online and learn from all sorts of people
- information literacy
- positive and negative impacts of the introduction of smartphones on interaction with strangers
- positive and negative impacts of flush toilets
posted by aniola at 1:54 PM on October 31, 2022 [7 favorites]

Aniola you're blowing my mind!
posted by probably not that Karen Blair at 2:37 PM on October 31, 2022

A book I would like to read some day is The Social History of the Telephone. It was written well before smartphones.
posted by NotLost at 2:52 PM on October 31, 2022

I tried to think of a topic but instead just decided to send $50 as retroactive appreciation for a post that already exists but that I can't identify.

I've had a suboptimal few months, alleviated by some enjoyable binge reading: Mick Herron's spy books. I know I first heard of them here. Not sure what exactly I read about them, how long ago, or from whom; and I wouldn't have predicted it, but they turned out to be perfect for my state of mind. So rather than put someone to work on a new post, thanks for an old one.
posted by tangerine at 9:35 PM on October 31, 2022 [4 favorites]

I know I first heard of them here.

The vast bulk of my cultural input is like that these days. My wife asks me why we are watching some obscure movie... "I am not sure but I suppose Metafilter told me to."
posted by Meatbomb at 10:25 PM on October 31, 2022 [4 favorites]

Reacting to majick and aniola's ideas above, they made me think of Kranzberg's first law ' technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral'. He's an interesting thinker in this space.
posted by roolya_boolya at 4:19 AM on November 1, 2022

externalized hidden negative impacts

If I were a more coherent, rigorous thinker, I might have a chance at putting together a thesis that some very large fraction of all human activity is one form or another of cost hiding. As it stands, I just have a vague gut and a sort of squinty look about me.
posted by majick at 5:55 AM on November 1, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have one that I'd love to see Rhaomi tackle, as it's along the lines of one their mega-music-posts. Would rather not post the topic right here, but would be happy to spell it out in a MeMail if you'd contact me. It's one I've tried to write in the past, more than once, but it hits me so hard in the feels that I never feel like I can do it justice.

One catch, I'm already a recurring donor, but I'd gladly go $100-plus or whatever you believe is fair. Thanks.
posted by martin q blank at 9:16 AM on November 1, 2022

Making the fact that a post was sponsored by another user prominent would help I think - I am here multiple times daily and missed this whole thing til just now. I don't check MeTa as often as the blue, I'll admit.

I'm in for another $25 on top of my existing contributions for an Eyebrows post about any aspect of how religion intersects with Russian invasion of Ukraine. You posted a comment about it that I found fascinating and if you wanted to turn that into a post with a few links added and any updates if applicable (I don't know, have any of the key players died?), then I personally would be super chuffed, plus maybe it wouldn't be as much work for you.
posted by joannemerriam at 1:19 PM on November 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Hi! I just donated $50 and I would love a post on the history of prepartum confinement in pregnancy. In Wolf Hall, where I first learned about this, Anne is confined to a bed in a dark room for ~month? before pregnancy. Wikipedia only has an article on postpartum confinement, with examples on that page mostly from Asia, and in the Europe section a link to an article on lying-in, which also only mentions postpartum confinement. I'd love to learn more about prepartum confinement -- was it mostly European? For nobles? etc.

If this takes more research than my donation is worth, I'm happy to donate more!
posted by watermelon at 2:13 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

NotLost, your post about adapted physical education (though most of the resources I found were for school age children) is now up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 2:27 PM on November 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

externalized hidden negative impacts

If I were a more coherent, rigorous thinker, I might have a chance at putting together a thesis that some very large fraction of all human activity is one form or another of cost hiding. As it stands, I just have a vague gut and a sort of squinty look about me.

It doesn't have to be this way.
posted by aniola at 2:27 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

beaning and joannemerriam, look forward to them this weekend!
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 4:25 PM on November 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

OK, hey, so this one has rattled around in my head for a couple years but never gets done (because life):

Tulsa has a Center of the Universe. Seattle has a Center of the Universe. And Wallace, Idaho, claims to have it.

What's with claiming the center of the universe? Why do we do it? What are some other physical places claimed? What does it even mean that something is the "center of the universe?"

and about right here is when my brain freezes
posted by dw at 4:41 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks, jessamyn! I have started to dig in to your post!
posted by NotLost at 7:19 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

roolya_boolya: "I've increased my monthly subscription by 15 dollars. I would like a Rhaomi post on nacreous clouds, ideally with some links to pretty pictures.

Thanks for the initiative!"

Nacreous clouds post is a go! Had some fun with this one. Thank you, roolya_boolya. 🌠

Lawn Beaver and martin q blank, I've memailed you for more details!
posted by Rhaomi at 12:13 PM on November 3, 2022 [4 favorites]

I recently made a significant one-time donation. Eyebrows, I know you are super busy. At your convenience, I would love to see a post from you about the most odd or surprising facts involving saints, popes, or whomever (singular or plural) in a religious context. OR: Your enthusiasm is always delicious. So if there’s something fun that you haven’t had an opportunity to write about involving religion or theology and that you have many opinions about, that would be fine post too. It is always fun to read your commentary on these and other topics.
posted by Bella Donna at 12:23 PM on November 3, 2022 [2 favorites]

I love Anne of Green Gables so I had to make a $25 donation to read EM's thoughts about Anne of Green Gables.
posted by later, paladudes at 8:47 PM on November 3, 2022 [3 favorites]

It doesn't have to be this way.

Hard agree. Super hard agree. As such:

jessamyn, my friend, would you please assist me? I'd like to tick off a point of whatever I've got banked for badly phrased post spec as follows:

Lay survey of interesting uses of technology in communitarian / cooperative / social anarchism (and adjacent) spaces. Not necessarily computing, although computing is great. Not necessarily current, although current is great. Emphasis enabling of success if things like that show up? If it's just one oh hey cool thing that worked out one hey cool way, that's great, too, rather than a broader survey! Spectacular failure probably fine if educational?

Should you choose to accept this mission, please prioritize appropriately given the vagueness of research scope and potential scantiness of literature coverage.
posted by majick at 6:09 AM on November 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

I recently increased my monthly giving but I also just made a one time contribution of $50, and I would like a post from Jessamyn about the many and varied places that people with library backgrounds can work. I have seen tantalizing glimpses of the possibilities on job listservs (ones from the past that stood out were ads for librarians at the Hugh Hefner collection and at the CIA) but I want more!
posted by eirias at 9:34 AM on November 6, 2022

Ralph Lauren and the Grateful Dead archive both employ librarians as well.

One of my MLIS classmates is a librarian in a hospital.

Or, if you want to go the other way, my library system employs social workers, a tool librarian, a garden/food program coordinator, someone to coordinate after-school meal programs, someone to run our entrepreneurship/coworking space...
posted by box at 10:42 AM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

whitewall /box your post on limb lengthening is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:27 PM on November 6, 2022 [1 favorite]

A screaming migraine kept me out of contention this weekend, doing the bare minimum to keep the site running between naps. So expect those first two posts this week, and then I see I have a third post on deck!

I did try to write my first post while doped up on migraine medication, but it was very very drug addled. Tomorrow we begin again! I also may or may not have purchased a scooter while very stoned? I guess I'll find out if it shows up at my house?
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:26 PM on November 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

No worries, EM, glad you're feeling better. And actually, I expect your drug addled draft was fascinating!
posted by beaning at 9:07 PM on November 6, 2022

Eyebrows, please don't feel under any time pressure to do mine - feel better!
posted by joannemerriam at 7:40 AM on November 7, 2022

AgentRocket your supermarket post is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 8:16 AM on November 7, 2022

Are sponsored posts still going on? If so, I'd like Jessamyn to create a compare/contrast post on the recent news in the sports world of basketball's Kyrie Irving and his antisemitic remarks, hockey's Mitchell Miller release by the Bruins after public outcry on his history of bullying, and the World Series win this weekend by the Houston Astros who are still widely regarded as unpunished cheaters in their 2017 World Series win.

Optional to include impact of teammate/peer support and public outcry, and past history of why Pete Rose should/should not be in the Hall of Fame. No need to include non-sports people like Ye.

Let me know if this can be done and I'll do another donation.
posted by beaning at 1:50 PM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hey there -- I'm happy to do a post on most topics but I'm really staying away from big fighty topics (really anything where public outcry is an aspect) and for me personally I would prefer not to do a post on anything antisemitic. Feel free to make another suggestion however, sponsored posts are still going on.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:02 PM on November 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

Since I made a $50 donation (on 26 Oct) before the offer of the sponsored posts, can I still get in this requesting party? If so, as the husband of a wife that survived breast cancer in 2014 and colon cancer (starting in mid 2021 and just finished everything a couple of months ago), I would love a post about the recent news about possible cancer vaccines.
posted by CuJoe at 4:33 PM on November 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Ah, apologies, Jessamyn, I'd forgotten about the "no fighty topics" request.
posted by beaning at 5:16 PM on November 7, 2022

"And actually, I expect your drug addled draft was fascinating!"

It was definitely not! Taz got my drug-addled handoff, and I looked the next morning at my handoff notes, and I'd been typing one key off from the home keys. It was super-short sentences of utterly garbled nonsense! "tgus oist us bibsebse" (this post is nonsense) stuff. (Okay, it was not QUITE that bad, but it was still kinda garbled.) I was super-embarrassed! My post-composing attempt was basically like "I AM POPE. MODERN IS HAPPEN." except my right hand was on the wrong keys.

I'm sure very genius things were happening in my brain, but they were very definitely not outputting to the keyboard.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 7:32 PM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hmm, sounds like a fundraising opp via code cracking to me ;)

Place your bets on what EM meant in the following sentence: "tgus oist us bibsebse"
a. Something CATHOLIC
b. Something LEGAL
c. Something IOWA
d. Exactly what it says

Looking forward to the actual post!
posted by beaning at 8:23 AM on November 8, 2022

It's an abbreviated reference to the longer Latin phrase "de tgustibus non oist bibsebsandum", generally translated as "in matters of toast, there is no accounting for the Michelin tire guy"
posted by cortex (retired) at 8:46 AM on November 8, 2022

I’m here for all your big fighty topic posts. Israel/Palestine, declawing cats, iPhone versus Android, throwing soup at paintings, the Beatles are overrated, IDGAF.

$1,000 a post, let’s do this.
posted by box at 6:16 PM on November 8, 2022 [4 favorites]

I doubled my monthly payment (to $20), plus my previous month wasn't up yet, so I double-paid this month or something, I think.
If it's possible, I'd like a post on non-White/Male/Colonial/US-centric Science Fiction, especially contemporary examples.
If not, no worries.
Also, as my country-woman Mon Laferte says, Con todo, si no pa' qué! (With all we've got, if not, what for!)
posted by signal at 6:18 PM on November 8, 2022

For Eyebrows McGee: could you do a post on the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois, and I guess more generally the Dominican third order, their influence if any in Illinois and the midwest? I'd love to learn more about their histories, and how they both came to run a number of schools in the Chicago area! Let me know if that's within the wheel house of "religion, theology, weird Illinois stuff" enough! I'll donate the $25 regardless, but this is definitely something I'd love to find out more about.
posted by Carillon at 12:08 AM on November 9, 2022

I hope it's okay if I make my own offer up of posts people can sponsor? I just announced it in Fanfare, but I wanted add it here too....

So, I have this movie blog devoted to watching through all of the films ever mentioned in any of those 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die books (they update the list every year or so, so the full list is really at 1,245 films now). I've been watching them in chronological order and am up to 438 films now, stuff from classic Hollywood and the silent era up to 1964.

Here's the list of films; the things with a pink hyperlink are things I've seen. Make a donation and pick one of them, and I'll do a Fanfare post about it. (If you pick a film Fanfare has already covered, I'll let you pick again. And I'm saving a post about the films Judge Priest and The Ladies' Man for high donors only, because I hated those films.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:20 AM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hiya jessamyn,

I just sent in a one-time donation.

Could you make a post about the musician Jason Isbell? I keep meaning to do that and never seem to get around to it. If you're not overly familiar with him, he's a singer-songwriter sort of between Americana and rock.

He has songs about racism ("White Man's World"), trying to stay optimistic after TFG won in 2016 ("Hope the High Road"), understanding your privilege ("Relatively Easy") and other topics near and dear to MeFi hearts.

He's also known for:
-being hilarious on Twitter (the 30-40 feral hogs meme came from one of his interactions)
-being relentlessly supportive of female musicians (his residencies at the Ryman Auditorium feature exclusively women as opening acts; he's the guitar player for Americana supergroup The Highwomen)
-he's done fundraisers for Doug Jones in his home state of Alabama
-he did an entire album of covers of Georgia songs and donated the money to Stacy Abrams' GOTV group
-and these days, he's acting, including a role in the next Martin Scorsese movie

He seems, by all accounts to be a Good Person and I'm a big fan, but I wouldn't know where to start on a post about him... There's too much!
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:05 AM on November 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

Is there a way for these to be aggregated in one place, maybe even in the fundraising updates? I'd love to see and peruse and maybe even participate in the resulting posts.
posted by kensington314 at 12:21 PM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

God, I wish I had a spare $100/month lying around so I could think up some absolute nonsense for Rhaomi to write a megapost about. Maybe a deep dive into that unexplained murder in my family's past, the one that always puts a shadow 'cross Papa's face every time we mention it, or drive past the ole maple tree, still a-swain' in the breeze.

Hey, does somebody want to pay me $90/month to write a megapost about some arcane Internet bullshit? I chipped in for $10, so you'd only have to cover the other 90%. 😇
posted by Tom Hanks Cannot Be Trusted at 12:23 PM on November 9, 2022

I kicked in $100. I'd love a $50 post about women adventurers in the 1800s (or thereabouts). Dogsledding alone across Canada? Riding a bicycle from New York to Argentina just for the heck of it? Single-handedly making a major archaeological discovery in the jungle? Heck yeah! (I'm not interested in women who pretended to be men in order to have these adventures.)

If Eyebrows has time for multiple $25 posts, I'd vote for:
All things Weird & Wonderful - strangeness from the places you've lived: cryptids, weird inventions, or whatever sounds neat
or
The Lord God Made Them All - obscure & fascinating religious facts that you think we should know
posted by belladonna at 2:00 PM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Dear MetaFilter, please send me one (1) sponsored post about those really cool illustrated capital letters in medieval manuscripts. I've been making some on my university's laser cutter, but find it hard to look up good images, and would love to hear all about them without having to do the research myself. Bonus if you include those awesome little pictures in the margins.
posted by Soliloquy at 3:59 PM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have just donated $100 but I'm thinking that that some people wish that they could get a jessamyn post but may not have the cash. So if you fall into that category, there are two post slots, first come, first served, and claim them by referring to me or this post. Donation is already there and I'd love to see what other people want to hear about.

jessamyn, if it's all too much and you need a break, happy to just contribute the donation and wander back into the scrub. Thank you to everyone giving so generously of their time and money to support the Blue!
posted by nfalkner at 4:59 PM on November 9, 2022 [3 favorites]

I'd be happy to take you up on that, nfalkner. I can think of another way for me to make my own little contribution.
posted by Soliloquy at 7:10 PM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Donation of $100 made, I would like a jessamyn post please on Butterfly McQueen (born Thelma McQueen).

I have never heard of her but when browsing through DirtyOldTown's recent Fanfare spree of (problematic) movies I got to Gone With The Wind, I stopped scrolling coming across that beautiful name of Buttterfly McQueen. She was more than just a pretty name, she had a rich life experience and I think more people should be aware of. Just her wiki article made me smile, cheer and cry a bit at the end. To be honest, the atheist/free from religion part really touched me.
posted by mephisjo at 7:34 PM on November 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

janell, your botanic garden post is up now.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:35 AM on November 10, 2022 [2 favorites]

Lawn Beaver: "I just raised my recurring donation (almost doubled it) and would be grateful for a Rhaomi post on an aspect of natural history or weird plant or animal biology."

Please enjoy this post on the Okavango Delta! One of the coolest phenomena in nature. Thanks, Lawn Beaver. 🌠
posted by Rhaomi at 12:43 PM on November 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

Jessamyn, if my donation has made it through Venmo, I would like to request:

A post on Romania (meaning, Romanian, Moldavian, Aromanian people and culture). Anything involving these nations except for Dracula or Vlad Dracul.

A post on a nautical / maritime / oceanic topic.

A post on Northeastern India.
posted by the hot hot side of randy at 4:21 PM on November 11, 2022 [2 favorites]

bondcliff, your Judy Tenuta post is live.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:40 AM on November 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

Thank you! PayPal donation made. I didn't see anywhere to put a comment when making the payment.
posted by bondcliff at 1:44 PM on November 12, 2022 [2 favorites]

watermelon, that was a tricky topic to find information on, I hope what I came up with is interesting. Your post on prepartum confinement is live.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:05 AM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

This idea is putting really good stuff up on the front page! Obviously this is a lot of extra work for the writers, but my brainstorm is about how to make this some kind of ongoing / recurring thing. Maybe expand the team, there are people who seem good at the research and writing and lots of people with cool ideas. More content on the page makes a more attractive place for all including new members.
posted by Meatbomb at 9:20 PM on November 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

dw your center of the universe post is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:06 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thank you, jessamyn! It's a great post, and I'm excited to dig even further into the links and comments. I pre-emptively already made another contribution and increased my monthly.
posted by watermelon at 11:50 AM on November 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks jessamyn! Very deep and 10x better than what I'd probably scrawl down.
posted by dw at 9:51 PM on November 16, 2022

Can I "yes, and" Dirty Old Town's Jason Isbell post by offering Tressie McMillan Cottom's fantastic essay on the Black women who opened for his Nashville residency last year as a potential link?
posted by EvaDestruction at 9:15 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

Also, if Eyebrows still has an available slot, I would love a fiber arts post. I can never get enough creative mending/repair/alteration content, if it's helpful to narrow things down a bit, but I'm entirely up for anything that EM thinks would be interesting to share.
posted by EvaDestruction at 9:28 AM on November 17, 2022

That's a good link, EvaDestruction!

I also should have mentioned the YT vid where Isbell and George Saunders interview each other.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 9:36 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]

majick, I did my best with this one but it's very very abstruse. I think you've got two more? I'm slowly working my way down the thread.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:32 AM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

On fiber arts - I remember reading a detailed article once, that is now buried somewhere under clickbait. It talked about Viking needle binding and mentioned that archaeologists or whoever used to find these really tiny needles for needle binding that were so small at first they didn't even think they were actually needles. The article talked about how these clothes were made to be more durable than what we get mass-manufactured. I've been so curious ever since to know about the world's current and past fiber arts that make more durable clothing.
posted by aniola at 5:59 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]

eireias your library school jobs post is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:02 AM on November 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

CuJoe your cancer vaccine post is up.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:17 AM on November 22, 2022

I would love to see a post about this amazing thing that I somehow had never heard of until earlier this month. 200K-500K punch cards plus a jacquard loom to create a woven book. https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/silk-book-goes-exhibit
https://thewalters.org/exhibitions/silk-book/
https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=1549
posted by rmd1023 at 11:20 PM on November 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

rmd1023, clew has you covered with a post on that prayer book.
posted by janell at 10:42 AM on November 25, 2022

!!! I missed that when it was posted! Thank you for the pointer! Yay!
posted by rmd1023 at 11:02 AM on November 25, 2022 [1 favorite]