The fourth? Is this one of those things you have to American to understand?

All the holidays are being pushed early to make more time for the Christmas shopping season.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:33 PM on July 3, 2008

I'll be taking that cupcake, now.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 8:31 PM on July 3, 2008

Because there are people, even after he marked best answer, that are telling the guy to go ahead and fix her computer secretly. Drowning them out seems like an effective way to make sure the guy doesn't change his mind.
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 12:29 AM on July 1, 2008

1) Yes, using Handbrake. It also has an SD card slot if you have one of those. Then it won't stick out the side like a USB drive.

4) I'd recommend going with eeeXubuntu over the default Linux configuration if you decide to go that way. I had a much easier time finding and installing software once I had access to the Ubuntu repositories.

vlc will play pretty much any movie format and runs on both Linux and XP (and more).... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gary at 1:53 PM on June 27, 2008

Yelling "viral!" seems to be the new knee-jerk to anything that defies comprehension, which is pretty stupid considering how avant-garde most postmodern artforms are.

Because we're sick and tired of everything cool, interesting or just plain bizarre turning out to be an ad.

"It was crazy! I was walking home and saw a giraffe in the middle of the street smoking a joint while blind hobos danced the jitterbug... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 10:53 AM on June 27, 2008

Mario Party. This is a better choice if he knows other kids around his age with DSes. But my niece plays it against the computer players and still has fun.

Seconding Nintendogs as well.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gary at 7:12 PM on June 25, 2008

I think the video game side hurts itself in this debate because they keep pointing towards pretty graphics or cut scene driven narrative as their defense. If that's all it took then I'd make a breakout clone that played Casablanca during the end credits and call that great art.

Honestly, I'm not even sure video games should aspire to be art in the sense that Roger Ebert means. Using a video game to tell a story puts huge restrains on the interactivity of the whole thing.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 12:27 AM on June 24, 2008

Is it me, or is the degree to which farting helps you gain altitude really inconsistent?

You can't just rip one long one after another. You have to pause and let him save it up. They really should reflect this in his look somehow.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 10:50 PM on June 19, 2008

The dream sequence in Papillon, where he is judged to have lived a wasted life.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gary at 11:26 AM on June 19, 2008

B
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 5:01 PM on June 17, 2008

I'd rather have them listed from most popular to least, actually. If I were looking for "cars" then I would use ctrl-f to find it on the page. Arranging them alphabetically doesn't offer any useful information.
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 7:15 PM on June 17, 2008

So, how are we going to tally it?

Each person receives one vote multiplied by the number of favorites they've earned and divided by their user number. These are then summed for each district in order to choose an elector. The elector will represent you at a meet up in August where a scheme is chosen.
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 7:55 PM on June 17, 2008

The new del.icio.us extension is so intrusive I may finally stop using the site entirely. (They offer a classic mode, but last time they had an update it reverted back to take-over-your-browser mode).

The new version of Tab Mix Plus is here and not on the main page. It's less necessary these days, but I'm still used to the old Ctrl+F12 "undo tab" and some other features.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 12:53 PM on June 17, 2008

I think the world record thing is kind of clever.

I don't know, it's kind of a lame record. If they had the world's fattest twins download it while riding the tallest unicycle while wearing the largest beard of bees, then that would be a record I could get excited about.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 1:05 PM on June 17, 2008

The download counter. If they reach two million before midnight they save the orphanage from Old Man Ballmer.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 2:22 PM on June 17, 2008

Oops, Tapeguy already posted it.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 2:27 PM on June 17, 2008

The Cybermen were laughable and very suck.

But they get a pass because they provided the best Dalek lines of the series (starting at 3:00).

I liked Billie Piper as Rose. But Tate is my favorite because we finally have a companion in the new series who won't fall in love and constantly be making doe eyes at the Doctor. (See also: every character falling in love with every other character in Torchwood).
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 2:37 PM on May 21, 2008

Even Hitler hates Torchwood... (massive spoilers for end of season 2)

I thought the source for that video was a haunting, brilliant movie. Maybe that's why I still find every one of these goofy videos hilarious.

Back on topic, they're going to add Mickey? That really is the stupidest idea ever.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 3:15 PM on May 25, 2008

And the previews for next week hint that they're bringing Rose Tyler back. Dammit. I hate Rose Tyler. I adore Donna Noble.

Ergh. I'm mad at myself for actually starting to watch that instead of turning it off early. The BBC has no idea how to do a preview properly and always seems to give away key plot twists or surprises.

They need to learn a lesson from the Sopranos or Lost. They could both deliver a preview that both (a)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 1:11 PM on June 17, 2008

The thing that reaaaalllyyyy bugged me about Season 4 was Jack and Kate's insistance on calling him "The Baby".

That really annoyed me, at first. Until it became downright comical to watch them do that when Aaron was walking around and played by a reasonably large toddler. How old does that kid have to be before you stop calling him "the baby"?
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:31 PM on June 14, 2008

For those of you saying you hate character X cuz they're whiny or indecisive or whatever, will you please step back away from the narrow minded view and look at the big picture here?

Still, they should ditch the whiny folk for one of the background extras. Those guys will put up with anything. How many funerals do you have to attend before you say "Hmm, maybe I don't want to get on a dinghy with a crazy scientist I've never seen before".
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:43 PM on June 14, 2008

Those of us fully indoctrinated into the cult (you heard me) got like NINE MONTHS to rehash it amongst ourselves while we wait for season five

HBO and the BBC have convinced me that Lost is finally getting it right. I would much rather wait 9 months for 13 well written episodes than get 22 episodes where Shannon & Boone have the exact same fight in 7 of them. Actually, I guess it's still 16 episodes in Lost's case, but I'm sure they could still... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:52 PM on June 15, 2008

Nothing stops you from adding links and background information in the comments, mediareport.

I agree it would be nice if Metafilter showed restraint and waited for a fleshed out post for any news items (including obit posts). But deleting them until something "good enough" is posted turns the moderators into a panel of judges, which appears to be a job they don't want.
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 4:38 PM on June 13, 2008

In my case, "Government of Canada" in the present regime is actually not too far off.

Explain to them that if Canadians can't view any of the copyright material on YouTube, this is all we have left. That should kill Bill C-61 pretty quick.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 1:05 PM on June 13, 2008

Oh, and Dave's link is supposed to go here.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 1:06 PM on June 13, 2008

I can't wait until Obama makes the rapture come!

If the current president couldn't make Armageddon happen, I don't think Obama has a chance.
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 1:20 PM on June 10, 2008

I like it, and noticed it right away (but in a good way).
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 1:28 PM on June 4, 2008

Improv Everywhere is running out of ideas.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 6:19 PM on June 3, 2008

wfrgms: ... but rather by a boardroom full of suits who look at every episode's metrics and then dictate design by committee tweaks to the show.

We should be so lucky. You think they actually use math to make their decisions? Here's a summary of every DVD commentary I've ever listened to: "The notes from the network asked for 'sexy dames and wacky weddings', we ignored them and tried to make something decent instead".... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 1:41 PM on June 2, 2008

Spoiler? It aired 4 days ago. We can't all wait until you buy the dvd set this fall.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 5:43 PM on June 2, 2008

However, it should be replaced next season by the Ben Show. I love that damn character.

Is that pretty much what's happening already? Not that I'm complaining, that guy is fantastic. On the one hand, I'm glad the show is ending so that they can start answering questions instead of writing in circles. But it's going to be sad watching these actors fade away into bit parts and dissapointing movies (see also: Deadwood).

If they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 11:24 PM on June 2, 2008

10am because you're going to be finished today. So a one time occurrence can be apologized for and forgotten if you do ruin anyone's morning.

If it were an ongoing thing, being extra considerate and waiting until noon would be advised.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gary at 2:21 PM on June 1, 2008

I'm surprised by how many people seem to have absolutely hated that part.

I liked those episodes too, but it really limited their fan base. It's was too grown up for kids, but still hung on to too many kids show elements to have a wide adult appeal. So it seemed like an odd direction to take when the ratings were already shaky.

Also, the uncanny valley starts WAY sooner when you're trying to portray sexy women.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 2:05 PM on May 30, 2008

I was more referring to how they made AndrAIa all grown up for the last season.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 3:05 PM on May 30, 2008

If you're going to sell it, it's a pretty good time to do so since they still seem to be sold out a lot of the time.

Nintendo just announced a Wario sidescroller. I'm also looking forward to Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. But those might not be your sort of games.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gary at 2:18 PM on May 29, 2008

Well, they tried self-linking to newscloud explicitly before and were called out about it. I guess this is SEO Spam 2.0?
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 10:37 AM on May 29, 2008

Cute. But e-mailing me the book would have been a lot easier and less conspicuous.

(Or hiding it in source code).
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 8:54 PM on May 28, 2008

Hmm, anyone who joined May 19, 2008 and is complaining about how we are no longer in the Golden Age of Metafilter is either an old user re-joined, a long time lurker or someone with a really odd sense of history.
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 3:28 PM on May 28, 2008

On my recent activity page, the links point to:

http://.metafilter.com/1511/Projects-has-public-comments#32

Which is missing the "projects" before the ".metafilter"
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 12:45 PM on May 27, 2008

So when are we supposed to favorite a project, and when are we supposed to vote for it? I smell a plate of beans waiting to be thought about.
posted to Projects by Gary at 11:52 AM on May 27, 2008

If SNL took 90 minutes of writing and produced a 20 minute show, they'd be golden.

On their good days, they still accomplish this by organizing their sketches properly. The funny sketches come first, then the musical guest, and then Weekend Update. After that is a no man's land of weird sketches and test characters hoping something is quirky enough to find an audience (Christopher Walken and the googly eyed plants, for instance). But if you don't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 11:38 PM on May 26, 2008

Bought, but not played yet. I'm having the recurrent Linux sound driver issue that's mentioned all over the forums, and none of the fixes work ...

I was debating getting the Linux version (to support that kind of thing) or the XBox version. I still might try the demo on Linux, but I've already suffered through the era of dos boot disks and config.sys files in the late 80s. These days I just want to have the game work.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 10:21 AM on May 22, 2008

All the Ubuntu kids, with their nice haircuts and their shiny shoes, generally seem to be able to play the game with a minimum of fuss.

I'll give it a try, then. I had to completely re-install Ubuntu 8.04 to get wifi working on my laptop. So there shouldn't be too many config surprises to get in the way.

The worst case is having to buy a second copy. But it's Penny Arcade and some local Vancouver developers, so that's not so... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:47 PM on May 22, 2008

Is there a big Ted Kennedy Presidential push I'm not aware of, shakespeherian? If a senator falls ill, he can step down or just vote the party line and not cause a huge scene. A president stepping down is a much bigger deal. (Especially if he ends up picking a Romney or Huckabee as his vice president to make the GOP happy.)
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 2:30 PM on May 17, 2008

In the general election, that doesn't seem so far fetched, shakespherian. I don't think they say "he probably has dementia", but I do think his party affiliation outweighs any potential risk. With the senate so tight, if you're a Democrat you might easily prefer a health risk who will vote for your party than a eager young senator who will keep casting the tie-breaking vote in favor of the Republicans.

So the real place this should come up is in the primaries... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Gary at 1:18 PM on May 18, 2008

I'm surprised there is no Warcraft LARPing yet. Although I imagine it would be less like LARPng and more like Civil War Reenactment. Except in Azeroth. Maybe it's taking too long to recreate the Dark Portal.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 12:57 PM on May 15, 2008

According to the various censuses, only about half of WoW players have even one 70.

Do you have any links? I'd much rather see actual data than this battle of anecdotes. (I'm not being snarky, honest. The surveys would be interesting.)

The closest I could find was this sampling from 2005 that put the average at 10 hrs/week. (The actual number may be higher because it didn't sample people who... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 2:39 PM on May 15, 2008

Thanks ten pounds of inedita, I'll check that out. I'm guessing those numbers might even overstate the "hardcoreness" of players, since very casual players probably won't bother installing census UI mods.

But...are there any girls there?

Joanna, Fire.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:04 PM on May 15, 2008

Oops... unless you were referencing the Summoner Geeks... Then my deepest apologies.
posted to MetaFilter by Gary at 4:18 PM on May 15, 2008

TvTattle is good for TV related news.

If you're looking for specific dates and episode information, Wikipedia usually does a very good job at that sort of thing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gary at 10:35 AM on May 15, 2008