Hah, the hunter's blind, finally a social network where having a group called "predator" isn't inappropriate.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:16 PM on July 24, 2008

Hey, it's jake with me.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:14 PM on July 23, 2008

I'd bet they just installed the software and had it block everything, why on earth would a library block "blogs and forums"?
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:08 PM on July 19, 2008

Speaking specifically we had a discussion last week where a count was made of how many times nigger, fuck, and cunt appeared on meta filter. And the whole pissing elephant thing. More generally there is quite a bit of NSFWish discussion here that those who advocate blocking probably wouldn't want to have their kids exposed to.

Sure, but that doesn't explain why they would block "blogs and forums" as a category of which metafilter is a part.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 1:19 PM on July 20, 2008

You know, if I had, I wouldn't have opted for white male. Not in this day and age. I remember applying for college grants - I needed them because my family didn't have enough money to send me to college. I had to pay for it myself, on loans, and a full 8 years after I got my degree, I am still paying them off. But back to the application process - every single specialized low-rate loan, every grant, every kind of fellowship I filled out an application for - EVERY SINGLE ONE - had a... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 12:16 AM on July 13, 2008

Thank you, delmoi, for graphically illustrating why so many otherwise tolerant white people have become hostile to affirmative action programs.

You're welcome!
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 4:09 PM on July 13, 2008

I was sure this was going to be that Jamie Lynn Spears thing.

Tony Snow was Lynn Spears' baby daddy!?
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 4:47 PM on July 12, 2008

I consider this yet more painful fallout from the unremarked-upon retconning of hacker to cracker whenever the former term could have been viewed in an illegal or pejorative manner.

Well, they tried that but it never really succeeded.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 5:13 PM on June 28, 2008

A
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:18 PM on June 17, 2008

but add some keyboard navigation. You ought to be able to press a key on the keyboard, and have it skip to that letter.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:19 PM on June 17, 2008

yes
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 9:19 AM on June 15, 2008

(oops, danb beat me)
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 9:20 AM on June 15, 2008

I think the idea that the U.S. is having issues not simply an artifact caused by confirmation bias.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 7:43 AM on June 11, 2008

Wow, Pepsi Ice Cucumber.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 7:26 AM on June 10, 2008

why not just put the first day of the month if you don't want to use your 'exact' birthdate date?
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:29 PM on June 8, 2008

Also, for "Status" we have "Single", "Taken" or "Open". But it seems like the opposite of open would be "Closed" What are catholic priests supposed to enter!?
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:31 PM on June 8, 2008

ASK ME IS NO PLACE FOR JOKING AROUND

IT'S SERIOUS BUSINESS!
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:06 AM on May 27, 2008

Keith Olbermann is at least 10% as annoying as Hillary Clinton. Yes, it was an unfortunate and even shocking statement, but K.O's commentary is just way over the top.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:01 PM on May 24, 2008

Now that I think about it, K.O is probably only about 1% as annoying as Hillary, over all.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:17 PM on May 24, 2008

Hmm, here is an diary on Talking Points Memo talking about how Hillary never really faced a tough election herself before.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 7:31 PM on May 24, 2008

I can hardly believe it. If, in January, you would have told me that Hillary would exit the campaign in this fashion ... Who'd have thunk it?

No kidding. I was expecting to go from mild dislike and anger about her war vote to grudging acceptance and even defense the way I did with Kerry in '04. Instead she not only feel behind but started acting in a totally obnoxious way.

What this really illustrates is that she's... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:22 PM on May 24, 2008

Then you're bluffing. Did the electoral college analysis take you by surprise?

Different EC analysis's show diffrent things, and many show obama winning. here's one from Survey USA showing McCain with 256 EC votes and Obama with 280.

Also, since you don't understand mathematics, so it's not surprise that you didn't get the Gödel reference.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 11:49 AM on May 17, 2008

What, specifically, concerning the Gödel reference was I supposed to understand? Since you get it, then you can explain it. Please feel free to use any terms you feel comfortable with.

Geez, you're the one who threw out Bayes' rule as a total non sequitur in another thread claiming that Hillary would win, as if it's mere existence proved your point (it didn't even apply). Live by the obscure mathematical reference, die by the obscure mathematical reference, I say.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 1:54 PM on May 17, 2008

Furthermore, risk can be assessed based on where the young woman is in her menstrual cycle. Fertility medicine is dedicated to just this sort of "risk assessment"

While that's certainly true what's not true is that a women is just going to "know" exactly what part of her cycle she's in. She can guess, but it can be irregular.

Even if there is a low probability of... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 7:40 AM on May 16, 2008

I'm not talking about buying a computer. I'm challenging the claim that software is free,

Woah, you are totally insane. The software costs nothing. It runs on windows, so you need to buy windows and whatever you need to run windows in order to run it (bootcamp, a PC) but for anyone who already has those things the software is free. It's no different then Linux requiring a PC to run on.

In other words it's... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:50 AM on May 14, 2008

Blazecock Pileon: Calm down. I have no idea why you're so invested in this argument, but it's definitely gone off the rails. Any time you find yourself arguing against an intuitive definition of a word, you've pretty much lost. For most people "free" means no direct monetary cost. If someone else pays for it, it's still free.

So even though Other people do provide money to Apple which they use to pay for the development of iTunes, it's still free for me as... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 4:58 PM on May 14, 2008

Eh, how often does this happen? It's not a huge problem given the $5 fee, and it gets caught right away. I'm more worried about insidious types who know the rules and break them in non-obvious ways.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:44 AM on May 13, 2008

_{my clipboard:}

Slavoj Zizek

posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 5:55 PM on May 9, 2008

The HTML I put in was valid. The HTML it produces is invalid.

So? It's not a valid XHTML fragment, just close yer tags.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 7:21 PM on May 8, 2008

Coincidence? hmm.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 2:35 PM on May 5, 2008

I'm pretty sure "property of wired" simply means they would own the physical letter you mail them, not the I.P. (i.e. you can't ask for it back)

I wouldn't worry about that bit of legalese too much.

Also, the iPhone's lack of openness sucks. The reason signed apps are a problem is because the signed apps have to follow a lot of rules that are more about Apple's bottom line then protecting users from viruses, etc. The system is more... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:33 AM on May 5, 2008

I think it could fall under chat filter guidelines as "survey" questions have been deleted, on the other hand it's not all that different from this What's it like to give birth question which everyone loved and didn't get deleted.

So it seems like an edge case to me, I don't have a problem with it, but I don't really get the whole anti-chatfilter jihad that people are so gung-ho about.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:25 AM on May 5, 2008

Hmm, I feel bad for this guy. Seems like there are a lot of these relationships where the girl just dumps on the guy, and of course there are a lot of bad relationships where the guy just dumps on the girl as well.

I guess there's not much that can be done about this.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 2:38 PM on May 2, 2008

languagehat - you are completely correct. It's entirely possible that the Character and Fitness interview for the Bar is an oral challenge of one's knowledge of cinematic portrayals of villainy and heroism followed by a fifty yard dash and timed jumping jacks, just as it was the three times I had them for medical training. I stand chastened and humbled.

Are you, like, stupid or something? Because that seems like such a dumb thing to say. What... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:25 AM on April 30, 2008

It's finally gone! If only I'd hit post sooner I really would have had the last post!

Oh well.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 5:58 AM on April 28, 2008

I don't get people who want white backgrounds. Bright text on black backgrounds is far easier on the eyes, which is why original computer monitors used that system. Bright backgrounds with black text is much easier to print and is fine for reading under passive light, but it's actually a bad idea.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 8:13 AM on April 25, 2008

Woah, actually I was planning on (maybe) being in Cedar Rapids that weekend. I should be able to make it to this. I'll definitely keep up with this thread.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 4:58 PM on April 24, 2008

I don't think it should be deleted either.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 7:15 AM on April 24, 2008

Some months later, I'm still most weirded out by the deep disconnect between the values and knowledge of some members of the wealthy donor sector and the values of the charities they say they want to support.

What I found surprising is that major organizations would keep their research "proprietary" How bizarre. Why would someone who believed that they had found the best way to help people keep it secret, so that only they could be most... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 7:10 AM on April 23, 2008

It's interesting how people writing about this miss one of the most important points, which was that Holden was actually badmouthing other charities Heifer International while promoting his own brand.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 11:55 AM on April 23, 2008

It isn't shady logic at all to predict that a population with an average IQ of 70 is going to run into some serious difficulties when they take over a parliamentary democracy. That it's even a subject of debate is surprising.

The IQ of the average American was probably that low, or lower in 1776.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 12:17 AM on April 20, 2008

Also, this thread still going on? Wow.
Except the switch from white minority rule to black majority rule DID set in motion the events that led to the current situation in Zimbabwe. Race IS a factor, and an important one, and mentioning it does not automatically equal racism.
-- Artw
hey man, a butterfly flapping its wings in Singapore in 1978 caused the Patriots to lose the superbowl, causing me to lose my life savings. Don't tell me I... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 1:32 AM on April 20, 2008

Anansi said that it's impossible for white people to have 'the first inkling' of what racism is about, and that white people have never and will never experience prejudice or bigotry. As if it's categorically impossible, by virtue of their whiteness, for any white person to experience any sort of prejudice or bigotry anywhere and under any circumstances. I provided counterpoints to that. -- CKmtl

Obviously each ethnic group has a different experience... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 11:14 AM on April 20, 2008

Uh. No. That wasn't my argument at all. I wasn't doing the "you complain about racism, but you're a racist!" thing. My counterpoints were not a circuitous route to a charge of hypocrisy.

Well, I looked back over your comment and I didn't see any other 'counter example'. If that wasn't it, what was your counter example?

-Mainstream Science on Intelligence

Hey, if it appeared... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 2:45 PM on April 20, 2008

Or to put it another way, just like global warming denyalists, or creationists, racists also write up all kinds of psudoscientific bullshit, post it online (and in the WSJ Op-Ed section, from time to time) and then reference in order to bolster their own arguments.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 2:49 PM on April 20, 2008

Did you even take the time to scroll down to the end of the article.? Maybe you should have. I understand that reading it was out of the question, but you might be surprised to discover that it wasn't signed by Joe Blow, columnist.--BigSky

Sure, it was signed by 20 random people, out of the tens of thousands of practicing psychologists. Just like how Oil companies were always able to round up a handful of scientists to say global warming was false,... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 6:17 PM on April 20, 2008

If I need to consolidate everything I think is important to say regarding this thread, it would boil down to: Crying "racism!" in places that there isn't any helps nobody. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Ah, okay. Well the reason that that's wrong is that sometimes things actually are racist Does pointing it out 'help'? Well it doesn't seem like it would hurt any more then the original statements, it would just offend... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 8:18 PM on April 20, 2008

That'd be like you coming into this thread on the 307th comment and addressing it from the beginning instead of running in to put the boot straight into CKmtl.

He had another comment in this thread before that. Try reading. TIA.
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 9:53 AM on April 21, 2008

Yes, I know anansi was upset. I understand why he was upset. People say stupid shit when they're upset, but that doesn't mean the stupid shit gets a pass. --CKmtl
Ah, but see, what he said wasn't actually as stupid as your follow-up. Which in addition to being stupid, was also absurdly condescending and moronic.

Your argument boils down too "Don't act upset when you see racist comments, because that makes me uncomfortable. And it... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:08 AM on April 21, 2008

Well, I don't think the discrimination against blacks in the U.S. is nearly as bad as it was, say, 40 or 50 years ago. And even then there was a huge difference between different states. I don't think you can look at the US where 1 in 9 black men is in prison, while 1 in 106 white men are in prison (both numbers are horrible, by the way) and not say something is going on. But a lot of that has to do with institutional inertia and so on. Rather then any sort of overt racism, what you see are... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by delmoi at 10:48 AM on April 22, 2008