Don't get me wrong, I love trains - I posted this as a huge fan of rail travel, and even of Amtrak in general. That said I think there's a lot that rings true in this article, if for no other reason than I've done the whole sitting-for-an-hour-waiting-for-freight thing far more times than I can remember just traveling the Detroit to Chicago corridor - which was IIRC supposed to be a high-speed rail section and of course didn't pan out that way...you can still see signs marked "CAUTION:... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 9:09 PM on July 10, 2008

KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-RUNCH!!!!
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 2:10 PM on April 30, 2008

Sorry about the onomatopoeia upthread. I was aiming that for a different window...
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 2:25 PM on April 30, 2008

¿que?
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 2:11 PM on April 30, 2008

Why does the porridge bird lay it's eggs in the air?
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 5:32 AM on April 28, 2008

If only we could get a librarian's opinion on this...

Well, until someone more qualified steps in and offers up an opinion, I'll say it works. We've been doing game tournaments at all of our branches for a while now and our Teen circulation and attendance is (anecdotally speaking) up. Many of the kids who come in for the games stay for books or studying afterwards. We also have Nintendo DS'es that kids can check out for use, and we offer a fair... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 9:01 AM on April 17, 2008

Robocop, didn't you get the memo? Books suck.

Nice weighted companion cube profile picture, by the way. That reminds me, I need to clear off some more books to make room for all the copies of Portal we just bought.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 9:28 AM on April 17, 2008

stupidsexyFlanders, the library was a haven for me as well. I actually work at the same library I went to as a kid.

I don't think we're talking about turning the library into an arcade. There's been games at the library for a long time- maybe not video games per se, but it's not like it's only ever been a pile of books with shushing librarians until just now. One of the things I remember fondly about the library as a kid was coming down after school to play D&D in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 10:10 AM on April 17, 2008

Totally. I figure a bunch of promotional condoms with "Your Academic Library: The Stacks Are for Fucking!" will help me play catchup.

I initially read that as "play catcher", and I thought: "Yes, I suppose they will help with that."
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 10:56 AM on April 17, 2008

Actually, yes they are still making those Choose Your Own Adventure books, or at least they're reprinting them.

They're like Zork, but made of paper!
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 12:22 PM on April 17, 2008

We already have a community center. One of our library branches is inside the community center.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 1:02 PM on April 17, 2008

And many of them seem to use artwork from other sources. See, for example, the "Furies need exercise too" link, which is basically a snippet of DJ Format's "We Know Something You Don't Know" with the music replaced. I'm also seeing a lot of Don Hertzfeldt in here too.

The "Fingers from Craters" one is pretty amusing for a few minutes, though.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:56 AM on April 8, 2008

Meh, never mind- I just realized this dude didn't actually MAKE any of these... he's just stockpiling them.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:59 AM on April 8, 2008

*head explodes*
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 10:37 AM on April 4, 2008

Very nice. This one in particular was great.

Also, there is a Waffle House in Lawrence, Michigan, as anyone who's driven East on I-94 from the Indiana border will tell you. It may not be the Waffle House, but hey, why quibble over details? It's only waffles we're talking about here. It does have "America's best restroom", FWIW.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 2:07 PM on March 21, 2008

I'm having chest pains just looking at that.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 4:50 PM on March 4, 2008

From what I understand, Uranus revolves around its axis nearly sideways compared to all the others, in relation to it's rotation around the Sun. Hence, it's on its "side".
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 2:49 PM on February 18, 2008

Daddy... daddy, I've lost the Lincoln Logs.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 1:25 PM on January 31, 2008

Exposé is indeed the shit. I can't count the number of times when I'm on my PC at work and I try to flip my mouse into the lower right corner thinking it'll move all my windows out of the way.

I've been a Mac user since the beige toaster era and I'm still surprised by the things it can do.

I've picked up a ton of useful info by reading some Mac-related blogs via RSS, which allows me to quickly sift out the more fanboyish blather from the truly... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 11:19 AM on December 17, 2007

or Butler.
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 11:37 AM on December 17, 2007

That pounding sound you hear is me trying to favorite that more than once.

stupidsexyFlanders, I favorited it for the next poster in line.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 8:58 AM on December 17, 2007

I'm a children's librarian. Mostly I sneak a peek at the MeFi RSS feeds when I have a spare moment, which probably explains why my post/comment-to-lurk ratio is way down.
posted to MetaTalk by 40 Watt at 10:20 AM on December 15, 2007

I found it utterly brilliant.

I just don't ever, EVER, want to read it again.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 5:32 PM on December 5, 2007

That's great. I like the way all the stands expand outward afterwards... it's like some sort of bizarro Murphy bed contraption.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:21 AM on December 1, 2007

I wonder what the MeFi empire's webcomic footprint is

We've also got Nedroid, too.

What's that? You don't know the sixteens different flavors of awesome that is Nedroid? What the hell is the matter with you people?
posted to MetaTalk by 40 Watt at 10:16 AM on November 15, 2007

I roll for initiative.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:44 PM on November 13, 2007

Is Flight 4 any better than the first three installments? I really, really liked the visuals in many of those anthologies, but as storytelling goes many of the bits were pretty awful- insubstantial, plotless, and forgettable.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 10:57 AM on November 12, 2007

God, it's been YEARS since I saw the Groove Tube, and I still think that ad is probably the funniest thing in it. Thanks, PlusDistance.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 10:48 AM on November 12, 2007

Works for me.

Oh, and:
http://www.phonocake.org/
http://www.netlabel.pl/
http://www.plexrecords.com/releases.html
http://www.aquavelvas.com/
http://www.kahvi.org/
http://hippocamp.net/
http://www.observatoryonline.org/index.html
http://www.ogredung.org/
http://www.skylaboperations.com/
http://www.2-nd.com/
http://www.mirarecords.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 8:54 PM on November 10, 2007

I'm happy to ruin your productivity, vertigo.

And for even more netlabel time-wastage, you could do worse than to read the No Error blog on a regular basis.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 9:01 AM on November 12, 2007

Man, that Zzap 64 archive is worth it alone for the cover art. I almost did a post on that a while back myself...
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:42 AM on November 6, 2007

Come on, man. I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man!
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:31 AM on November 2, 2007

I'm kinda new to Applescript, although I've used it for some minor tasks. I'm able to make a folder but I can't figure out the syntax to copy the name from the current file to the folder.
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 8:03 PM on October 17, 2007

See, this is why I freakin' love AskMe. Here I was trying to make it all complicated-like. Thanks, flabdablet!
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 8:33 PM on October 17, 2007

agreed. I'm all tingly.
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 8:52 PM on October 17, 2007

The Dead Milkmen, 1989. I was 14.... If I remember right it was the "Beelzebubba" tour. I bought a shirt and wore it proudly for a few years...
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 7:01 AM on October 2, 2007

Personally, I think it wasn't the timing that was the problem. It was the Moxie.

Oh, please. "Moxie contains gentian root, which is the path to the good life." What more do you need?

No one should listen to that much Yes. Or any Rick Wakeman for that matter.

For the record, I agree with you 100%, sourwookie.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 12:27 PM on October 1, 2007

Here's a working link to the samples. Sorry, I should have caught that.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 12:31 PM on October 1, 2007

I propose that Metafilter become a declared nuclear power. I'll provide the beer, you guys provide the enriched plutonium.

I've got a few hundred thorium mantles I removed from old Coleman lanterns and a big pile of glow-in-the-dark watch hands. Will that do?
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 4:34 PM on September 13, 2007

Thanks, amyms, that would do the trick but I'm trying to keep it on the down-low as far as hosting and data storage are concerned. I guess I should clarify- This needs to be hosted on our own servers, no third-party sites. Not that we're doing anything illegal, but we'd like to keep it a totally private affair.
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 8:58 PM on August 21, 2007

Hmm... well, that's a good start, cortex, many thanks. How are you doing the uploading/file management? Through WP's god-awful file manager thingy? I'm pretty handy with WP, so I could probably throw something like that together, but I've yet to find a decent file management plugin that takes care of the uploading and player linking and all that as simply as I'd like.
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 9:22 PM on August 21, 2007

oh, and I really like Jeroen's player... it's nice and simple. All I guess I need now is a way for users to upload an mp3 and have it instantly show up as that player controller without having to go through any sort of crappy file browser interface.
posted to Ask Metafilter by 40 Watt at 9:27 PM on August 21, 2007

This is great. Anyone know what the music is?
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 7:40 PM on August 21, 2007

Never mind- after looking around their site, it looks like the music is by Minilogue.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 8:48 PM on August 21, 2007

oops. And that's on the link on this post.

I really oughtta stop Internetzing before bed.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 8:53 PM on August 21, 2007

After driving a succession of hand-me-down Volvo 240s(the best cars ever made) through high school, college, and my first job(commuting into Detroit, no less), I made the mistake of buying a Saturn as my first new car purchase. I bought into the hype of "it's a different kind of company!", read halfway-decent reviews that I now realize were most likely plants and shills for GM, and looked at my bank account and assumed I couldn't afford better. After 8 years of ill-fitting,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 1:45 PM on August 9, 2007

Oh, and while it's admirable that GM is finally getting it's head out of the sand in regards to the internal combustion engine, the Volt is one of the ugliest cars ever to fall out of the GM tree in a while. Look at the beltline on that thing!
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 1:49 PM on August 9, 2007

Man, it's great hearing those Billy and the Boingers songs again after so many years, but the sound quality is really atrocious on those mp3's... probably because they're ripped right from the flexi-disc recording. Someone's gotta have the original master tapes around somewhere. The time is right for a proper Bootleg re-master and reissue!
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:56 AM on August 8, 2007

Let's not forget how nicely Psyche Rock plays with Purple Haze.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 6:30 AM on August 7, 2007

I think I'll stick with Señor Coconut for my Kraftwerk soul in not a Kraftwerk form.

Or alternatively, Lassigue Bendthaus/LB (another Uwe Schmidt pseudonym) did the whole digital-James Brown thing a while ago, and did it much, much better. The main problem with these guys is that they're boring as all hell... the kiss of death for anyone attempting to fool around with either James Brown or Kraftwerk.
posted to MetaFilter by 40 Watt at 9:46 PM on July 28, 2007