Small acts of rebellion

M. — Mon, 25 May 2026 08:29:58 GMT

Looking for examples of small everyday acts of rebellion/non-compliance. I came across the idea in a recent Ask a Manager open thread (where examples ranged from ditching Amazon to flicking off street cameras to refusing to be responsible for holiday cards by default to sitting next to men on public transport rather than always sitting next to women thus unconsciously giving men more space). There were some good ideas there but I need more. What small quiet acts of rebellion can I implement in my daily life?

I am not so much looking for ways to make a meaningful difference but rather give myself a little boost and the satisfaction of standing by something while occasionally giving the capitalist system/tech bros/misogynists the finger, even if only in my own head (they do not need to be all adversarial of course). Anything folks here have done that gave you the little boost?

Brooklyn urban spelunking mystery - what did I find?

greta simone — Thu, 14 May 2026 02:09:52 GMT

Years ago in Brooklyn, a wine-fueled Friendsgiving led to discovering a mysterious secret cavern underneath a Brooklyn Heights historic mansion. What did I find? No, it's not the Atlantic Avenue tunnel. Looking for actual records, not speculation.

Many years ago, my friend lived in the garden/ground level apartment at 150 Columbia Heights, right up against the Brooklyn Promenade in Brooklyn Heights.

The door to enter her apartment shared a small vestibule with a different door that we assumed was just used for maintenance. Being the weirdo I am, I saw it was unlocked and encouraged my friends to check it out with me. It opened into another small room, with another unlocked door. I opened that door and it let to a very narrow, very steep stairway that led very far down. I was hyped. Our small group decided that it would be a great idea to go down those stairs to see what else would be down there. Was it wise? Prob not. Was it a great idea after a few glasses of wine and a lifetime of horror movie tropes? Definitely.

At the bottom of the long, low-ceiling stairway, there was another small vestibule with three doors leading off of it. If I recall, one was a small empty room, one was a closet, but the third opened into a small office-sized room with only a dirt floor that was about two feet lower than than the door opening (had to hop down), with some very old pipes leading through it.

About ten feet across that room on the wall opposite the door we had just entered, was a maybe 3x2 foot hole that had been punched through brick at about waist high. It was a rough hole, definitely not regularly shaped or sized like any sort of window or door. Me being curious and tipsy, I was like 'yep, I'm definitely crawling through that hole'.

Through that hole was a HUGE vault-like room, like two rooms really. Arched stone or brick ceilings that were at least 25 feet high. Dirt floor that dropped off precipitously at the far end of the space, also probably at least another 25 feet across. Acoustics were stunning. We found some old random shit like beer cans that were pre-pull tab (punched opened with church key), a Patio Diet Cola glass bottle, and stalactites several feet long from parts of the vaulted ceiling.

Having researched and dated the advent of beer pull tabs and the existence of Patio Cola, whoever left those items left them there in 1963. This timing is toward the end of the construction of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway that I'm fairly sure we were under or right next to, though that section of the highway was completed ten-ish years prior.

I would just potentially leave it at 'oh it's some BQE remnant' but why would it be only accessible from the inside of a private apartment building that was built in the 1850s by Edward Squibb (of Bristol Myers Squibb fame)? I had read randomly somewhere, that when the original homes were built on the bluffs above the river, that some of the landowners had private stairwells down to the river/docks, but I don't know where I read that. I found this article that suggests these were 1850s warehouse storage "arched brick chambers extended into the bluffs", which sounds like exactly what I found. The article mentions, though, that these were all destroyed in the construction of the BQE. That article has no real sources, and I see no evidence that these would have been connected to private homes of the time either.

SO. I would love some legitimate sources to further my research into my drunken discovery, especially considering the space may end up truly destroyed in the maybe middle-future BQE update construction. Prefer public, free sources that I don't need to pay to access.

Thanks for helping me solve this mystery!

Help me get deeper into punk music!

anoldfriend6 — Sun, 31 May 2026 00:20:27 GMT

There's bubble gum punk such as Green Day and Blink 182. Then there's classics such as the Ramones or the Sex Pistols. I wanna go a little further from the beaten path. To appreciate more punk, where do I branch off from those bands? Punk adjacent bands (like the Pixies) are welcome too!

How To Become Inconvenienced?

glorybe — Wed, 20 May 2026 15:31:45 GMT

The quote about "the price of being part of community is inconvenience" is something I want to embrace. The problem is that it's very rare for anyone to ask me for anything, inconvenient or otherwise. How do I change this?

Most of my friends have partners and families and siblings and kids and BFFs, or they pay professionals when they need help. As a single, introverted person, without significant financial means, I have had to become comfortable reaching out and relying on my friends in times of crisis or when I just need an extra set of hands to help with a task. They always show up when I need them. I want to reciprocate; I am capable of helping with things, I have useful skills, I have some resources.

How can I show up for people if I don't know what they need or even when they need it? Where do I start?

What are the most insightful pieces you've read about AI?

johnasdf — Mon, 11 May 2026 14:34:33 GMT

I'm thinking about writing a somewhat political theory-oriented essay about AI, humanism, and techno-oligarchy, and I'm curious what journalism, essays, books, reports, etc., you've read about AI that struck you as the most insightful or surprising? Please note my particular interest areas below!

Obviously, there have been a million things written about AI and it's a bit hard to keep up, even with the proliferation of Metafilter threads about it. I think I've read the pieces that often cycle back on Metafilter, such as "AI as Normal Technology." I'm less interested in AI utopianism (unless as a kind of primary text) or skepticism/doomerism (which with I already agree). I probably won't understand the science (and have categorized this under society & culture) and am less interested in coding news updates. I have seen the previous AskMefi threads, but they are a few years old and a lot has changed!

Here are some topic areas I'd like to learn more about:

-- The political economy of AI: have there been comprehensive pieces written about the funding machinations and debt/business side of AI? How are the different players related? What is the link between tech, finance, and manufacturing? I'm sure there's been good pieces in the business press about this.

-- Techno-oligarchy, the state, and military applications: I've got the Marc Andreeson and Palantir manifestos, as well as reporting about Lavender's use by the military. What else should I read?

-- Actual AI adoption, social relations & labor: While I think we are often scandalized by uses of AI to, say, create artworks or write student papers, I feel like I've read pieces arguing surprising things about AI adoption--for example, that most of the use is social/therapeutic, not business-related. What have you read about how people actually use AI that's been surprising or changed how you thought? Have there been pieces about AI psychosis or AI romance that go beyond a kind of moral panic? I'm curious if there have been insightful pieces comparing the present moment to the Industrial Revolution or relating it to the global labor excess (I've read Aaron Benanvav's book on this!). (Also curious about reporting about on-the-ground organizing against data centers...)

-- Consciousness/Theory of Mind: This is of course super interesting, but this category seems over-represented. Have there been things written that offer a more surprising take, other than Augmented General Intelligence has already arrived or that it will never arrive?

Interesting Quiet/Lesser Known Places To Go In Europe

eternalhedgehog — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 05:57:07 GMT

Our plans for the summer just changed unexpectedly (thought I was going to be moving jobs, but decided to stay) and now looking for somewhere interesting but quiet to go on holiday, having not booked anywhere yet. Can travel pretty much any time between early July and mid-late August; aiming to stay for between 5 and 12 nights, depending on cost/how much there is to do there.

We're based in Morocco, so France/Spain/Portugal are the most easily accessible for us, but happy to take connecting flights and be on a couple of fairly long flights if they get us to somewhere really great. We've been to Lisbon, Madrid, and Marseille so far this year and loved all of them in different ways, but hoping for somewhere significantly quieter this time.

Open to most of Europe, although ideally it'd be within 2-3 hours by train or an hour or 2 by taxi from a major airport. (Can get to most airports, happy to take connecting flights.)

Most important things for us are quiet and relaxing, good scenery, delicious food. (I love meat, especially beef/pork, my wife loves a wider variety but is kind of bored of Moroccan cuisine at the moment and wants a real change. Neither of us are big on seafood. Neither of us drink more than very occasionally.) Interesting historical sites or museums nearby are a definite plus, as are beaches, but aren't actually necessary.

Anyone got any recommendations for places that we might not have heard much about/considered?

Tell Me Your Favorite ***** of the Day Websites

ALeaflikeStructure — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 18:43:38 GMT

I regularly check several websites that post interesting information daily, including NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, Wikipedia Article of the Day, and the Linda Hall Library's Scientist of the Day. (I also check the OED's Word of the Day, but even though I have no trouble accessing the website, I cannot post the link.) I'm sure there are more. Please share your favorites with me.

Can I get better at audio processing somehow?

nebulawindphone — Sat, 23 May 2026 20:41:35 GMT

I'm autistic and I find sound exhausting. The problem isn't loud sounds, though. It's complicated sounds. Overlapping conversations make me want to die. A crowded train leaves me overwhelmed and unable to function. (Earplugs etc don't help unless they're so powerful I can't hear anything at all — and that's not safe: I can't hear cars or people approaching or important announcements.) Do you know of anything that helps with this?

FWIW, I have had my hearing extensively tested recently, and I do not need hearing aids.

What are these contraptions?

TDIpod — Mon, 18 May 2026 02:35:52 GMT

Posting for my brother: A friend was clearing out their grandfather's house, Mr. William Charles Frederick Brumder (1868-1929) of Milwaukee Wisconsin. He was a wealthy German immigrant who was a bank president, so, a man of means. In the basement there were several wooden boxes with many (dozens!) of small elaborate mechanical 'contraptions'. What could they be?

Most were in great disrepair, broken, rusty, in pieces. All are carefully made of brass and mounted on a wooden base with a date stamped on the bottom, typically something like 'December 19, 1912' or similar. My brother selected several that looked complete and in the best condition, and restored them as best he could to 'working order'(?). Some have dials or levers to change the motion of the device. Some seem to be iterations of the same basic operational motion. Any idea what these are or what they are for?? The family has no idea and cannot offer any clues, nor can I. Online searches of Mr. Brumder are of no help. All ideas are appreciated!
Here are some short videos of a few.

Modern Sewing Patterns 2026 edition

larthegreat — Tue, 19 May 2026 22:40:31 GMT

I just got a Vintage Singer 99k (1958!) rewired and working, and am ready to roll - I'm looking for intermediate to advanced modern patterns that are clear and have good instructions - what's good these days? We all buying off of Etsy? Draping our own patterns?

(The last such question was posted in 2013... and many links have rotted - I figure we're due for a refresh)

The Singer 99K is a straight stitch machine that does great on everything from chiffon to heavy denim, has no fancy stitches, and only one speed - fast. I've done some basic projects to get comfortable with it, but I'm itching for something that I could wear - I expect my initial projects will be in cotton poplin or linen until I get very comfortable with the machine. I've seen Seamwork and style arc but are there any other sites I should be prerusing?

I'm a sucker for minimal, modern, clever construction - would love to see what pattern companies are considered good out there these days. I'm also game to pick up a book or two on what the current standards in clothing construction or for any specific YouTuber recommendations (ex. I love Victoria Jin) - i already follow a few makers, but always happy to expand whom i watch. I'm comfortable hand finishing clothing, and inserting zippers, welt pockets etc. (heck I do all of my alterations by hand right now). I would love size inclusive patterns, both for myself and for others! I love supporting smaller makers - so if there's indie patterns that are currently hot do let me know.

(I'm so frustrated looking for patterns, I'm seriously considering just making my own off of a dress I have, but I figured that's probs a bit insane for the first project in decades.... I'm based in NYC, so I have access to fashion resources most do not, and while familiar with fabric and notion shops, I'm not familiar with where to source patterns - heck even being pointed in the right branch of a NYPL would be pretty sweet, and if you have any fave shops do let me know!)

Novels about fancy art and art dealers

Frowner — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:51:04 GMT

I am looking for escapism here, so I'm looking less for novels about, like, actual artists than for novels that are in one way or another frivolous. Robertson Davies's What's Bred In The Bone is about the right note.

Margery Allingham's mysteries featuring artists have great settings but the plots turn on racism and anti-semitism and this is supposed to be escapist and fun.

Rich people swanning about being patrons, maybe a Berenson figure, villas in Italy, a little Oxford and Cambridge - if Edith Wharton and Mary McCarthy and Nancy Mitford had all collaborated on a book that inexplicably had a a more or less happy ending that would be about right.

I do not wish to read about real artists or political artists or artists who suffered greatly or died tragically or made great sacrifices in the service of humanity. I have other books for that. I want to read about snooty people with cultural pretensions going to Italy.

SFF and mystery are okay as long as they meet the basic criteria - Italian villa in space, aristocratic sea chariot drawn by dragons, he's-society's-favorite-portrait-painter-and-together-he-fights-crime, all okay.

Seeking novel recommendations - my Libby "holds" list has dwindled!

sucre — Thu, 28 May 2026 04:21:50 GMT

I would love some book recommendations! I typically read and enjoy novels that are about families, relationships, and sometimes the occasional thriller or juicy drama. Bonus if descriptions of food are involved.

I'm not great at describing books, so here are some I've read recently that I've really enjoyed. Thanks for any suggestions you might have!

The Sisters - Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Small Things Like This - Claire Keegan
Writers & Lovers - Lily King
The Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Testaments - Margaret Atwood
North Woods - Daniel Mason
Circe - Madeline Miller
The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
Martyr! - Kaveh Akbar
The Namesake - Jhumpa Lahiri
Heart the Lover - Lily King
All Adults Here - Emma Straub
Tom Lake - Ann Patchett

More Things to Do in Mexico City

kensington314 — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 20:14:11 GMT

I have just returned from a trip to Mexico City and it absolutely ruled. (I have been there a couple times previously, but more than a decade ago. Of course it ruled then as well.) I will go again, and I would love to have an entirely non-overlapping itinerary. Looking at the list of places I've gone, what ENTIRELY DIFFERENT THINGS should I do in the future?

Here's the list of places I've been, probably not comprehensive but it's what comes to mind:

Parks
Alameda Central in El Centro
Alameda de Santa María (and the Kiosko Morisco) in Santa Maria la Ribera
Chapultepec I & II (primarily the castle and the Cárcamo de Dolores)
Parque Mexico in Condesa
Zocalo in El Centro

Markets
Mercado la Merced
Mercado Martínez de la Torre
Mercado San Juan

Museums and Art
Casa Barragan
Monumento a la Revolución
Museo Casa de Leon Trotsky
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo
Museo del Juguete Antiguo Mexico (MUJAM)
Museo Jumex
Museo Nacional de Antropología
Museo Rufino Tamayo
Museo Soumaya
Palacio de Bellas Artes
Templo Mayor
UNAM's Museo Universitario del Chopo (this excellent exhibit)
Zona Arqueológica Tlatelolco

Misc Fun and Interesting Places
Basílica Santa María de Guadalupe
Biblioteca Vasconcelos
El Chopo
Hospital de Jesus
Lagunilla flea market
La Perla's excellent, most fun drag show
Lucha Libre (Arena Mexico)
Plaza de las Tres Culturas
Torre Latinoamericano
Xochimilco

Murals
Hospital de Jesus chapel (Orozco)
Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso (Orozco, et al)
Palacio Nacional (Rivera)
Bellas Artes (Orozco, Rivera, Tamayo, Siqueiros, et al)
Carcamo de Dolores (Rivera)
Secretaría de Educación Pública (Rivera, et al)

Food and Drink
Various pulquerias
Various Casa de Toño locations
El Cardenal
Various Salon Corona locations
Bar la Opera
Churrería El Moro

Transit
I hope to eventually use all of the city's several amazing systems.
Metro (primarily lines 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9)
MetroBus (primarily lines 1, 3, and 4)
CableBus (just line 3, but I'll definitely ride the others)

Neighborhoods
This is just a list of areas where I've walked around quite a bit or spent time, not comprehensive though.
Colonia Buenavista
Condesa
Doctores
El Centro
Guerrero
Roma Norte
Romo Sur
Santa María la Ribera
Tepito
Tlatelolco

NYC Neighborhoods to explore? Ferry access preferred!

DMelanogaster — Mon, 18 May 2026 12:29:08 GMT

I am a NYC resident but there are so many neighborhoods I haven't explored. I also love to take the ferries, but that's not necessary.Subways/Express buses fine.

I lived the first 17 years of my life in Sheepshead Bay. A few years after college, I came back and have lived in Manhattan (downtown) for the last ~50 years. I would like to explore more neighborhoods.

I also love to take the ferries but so far have only taken the ferry from 20th Street down to Wall Street and then to Far Rockaway. I LOVE that route! obviously, BEACH. But now that the weather is lovely, I'd like to explore other neighborhoods that might have something of interest.

Other places I already know, sort of: Park Slope (including Prospect Park); Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Sheepshead Bay (my "home town").

I'm particularly looking to explore places on weekday afternoons. Any places with weekday concerts? Also looking for events that are FREE or CHEAP (do those exist?).

Transportation: coming from my home in the East Village, subways and NYC buses available.

Cleaning up after yourself. How???

sucre — Fri, 22 May 2026 21:21:22 GMT

I'm realizing that my husband and I both could improve in the area of cleaning up after ourselves, in the moment. I'm talking piles of clothing, stacks of dishes, a cluttered bathroom counter. Send help.

I do big cleans (especially before having guests over; that is a huge motivation for me). But these little daily things have added up and it's driving me to the brink of losing my mind. An example is clothing - we switch into pajamas at night, leaving our clothes either strewn on top of a surface or on the floor. Dirty things go down the laundry chute, but those not-quite-dirty things? They turn into a pile.

Some nights we eat dinner on the later side. One of us will cook, we'll hang out and eat together, and then it's 9:30 pm and the kitchen is a mess. I'll tackle some of it, but rarely finish because I'm tired and want to relax. Then the next day I'm having to compensate for leaving the cleaning half done. I also think we're both a little scatterbrained, so when I clean, I often do part of a task (like wash and dry laundry and lay it flat on the couch) but don't complete it (fold and put away). I get overwhelmed and don't often know where to begin, or get hyper focused on one task (mopping the kitchen floor) but the rest of the house remains cluttered.

This isn't so much about balancing the labor, but more about small habits that both of us can try to implement. I ask myself sometimes, "Will this be easier to do now or later?" And that mentality helps. Also, some items just don't have a "home", and that overwhelms me when it comes to putting things away.

We are both self employed and work a lot, so household things sometimes get deprioritized. Our house is also fairly small, and we are "stuff" people (artist + vintage shop owner). I'm looking for advice on ways to make home maintenance just slightly smoother. Any tips?

AdBlock Fail

Hobgoblin — Thu, 14 May 2026 15:27:21 GMT

What is the point in having AdBlock? Most of the links to news stories and the like refuse to let me read the article unless I allow their ads. So, if I turn off AdBlock, I'm back where I started. If I don't disable it, I can't access the story. Is there a better way? I have seen raves for ad blockers but they must be better/different than the one I'm using.

Please recommend books I will like that aren't by cis white men

an octopus IRL — Fri, 15 May 2026 00:02:49 GMT

I would like to read more books that are not by cis white men. Unfortunately I am very picky about books! I often don't like things that are recommended but I'd really like to expand what I read and am hoping people will have suggestions.

My favorite books are Brideshead Revisited and A River Runs through It. Recently I have been reading a lot of Hemingway, which I have enjoyed, along with some Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. This is a lot of cis white men! What the hell! That said, I'm currently reading The Color Purple and it's excellent. What other books might I like? Unfortunately I have realized that I'm mostly not nuts about books in translation. Also, I started The Chosen and the Beautiful and I really disliked it so please don't recommend that. I'm happy to answer any other questions people might have about my particular literary tastes which I know are kind of pompous and irritating but I like what I like. Thank you so much for any suggestions you can provide!

What is this week's meal prep? Please share a recipe

runsrealgood — Sat, 16 May 2026 15:47:50 GMT

Looking for a recipe for a meal to make up to 4-6 servings and freeze. I tend to make soups and stews, mac & cheese, lasagne. Any variations on those are swell, but quite happy to try a new thing.

Skills: not clueless but sufficiently low-skill that I avoid new things (I will eat but rarely try to make)

Kitchen: sufficient for most needs. I have an Instant Pot (smallish) and massive electric roaster plus standard things otherwise

Thank you!

What kind of etymology reference books do I want?

SaltySalticid — Mon, 18 May 2026 16:10:36 GMT

Recommend me some books that I can turn to when I want to learn about word history and semantics!

I use Etymology Online on a nearly daily basis. It's great, but some entries are very brief. Also its coverage of word-parts is spotty and hard to use. I'd like to be able to get more info via physical books.

I own and use the lovely Dictionary of Root Words and Combining Forms (link goes to full text!). One limitation is it's very terse, more of a pocket manual, and it doesn't give examples of words that use these roots. So it's fine if you have a word and want to learn about what its parts (used to) mean, but less useful if you want to figure out "what English words use -strophe or -stalsis".

I'd think I'd like a Proto-Indo-European dictionary, and it may cover some of that. I have glanced at the preview of the American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. It seems to somewhat scratch that itch, but while some entries give example words that use those roots, some don't give any. Also while PIE is cool and I want to learn more about it, I'm not sure how much this type of book connects PIE roots to Greek or Latin or English roots.

So, are there any other dictionaries that are organized around root words and give plenty of examples of modern cognates? I'm primarily interested in English, but I wouldn't mind if the given cognates included Romance languages or Germanic languages etc.

I don't really know much about etymological dictionaries. I wouldn't mind having one of those too, but I don't know if they usually have entries for roots/morphemes or just the whole words. And I suspect they can get rather huge. I don't need a tiny book but I'm not sure if I want to invest in a multi-volume research-grade publication. It occurs to me that crossword dictionaries are geared toward partial-word searching, but I suspect they don't have much beyond words that include those strings.

Basically TLDR: I'd like suggestions for specific books or types of books I can grab when I want to look up something about the history or meaning of parts of words.

Thanks!

Brain Teasers For Kids

the webmistress — Mon, 25 May 2026 16:42:47 GMT

Can you show or describe some fun little logic puzzles and magic tricks and games I can play with a very smart 7 year old?

I saw this earlier and want more of these! Like....actual physical irl little puzzles, tricks, games. Not online or any app. Just two people and a table or floor. Any objects, could be cards, straws, balls, whatever. To entertain this whipsmart kid and have some fun!

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