Wow.

I guess after all these years I shouldn't be surprised by snarky hate and ad hominem attacks on people discussed on MeFi. But I still am astounding at the viciousness of commenters here about this whole thing.

I'm lucky enough to know both Violet and the BB crew. You know what? They are all nice people. You'd like them too. They are all polite, kind, and care about the people that read their sites.

Too bad... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:02 PM on July 1, 2008

Empath: Sense of entitlement because you visit their website? Wow what an ego you have. I guess you have entitlement to everything you ever lay your eyes on in life, eh?

My comment is directly relevant. When individuals are insulted for things that have nothing to do with the topic (post removal) it's way out of line.

You expect journalistic ethics from one party but feel free to personally slam someone else? What hypocrisy...
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:12 PM on July 1, 2008

Languagehat - "there are very few "BoingBoing haters" in this thread"

What thread are your reading? Certainly not this one.

The MeFi snark/schadenfreude measurement here is at 500 year flood levels...
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 12:12 PM on July 2, 2008

He caught Angelyne in her pink Corvette - (more on Angelyne)
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 2:59 PM on June 24, 2008

Wow, infinitewindow beat me to it. I guess TV engineers think the same way.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 3:01 PM on June 24, 2008

A damn JPEG warning would have been appreciated too.

Like: WARNING: JPEG IMAGE ON A WEB PAGE!

WTF, dhammond?
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 6:38 AM on June 25, 2008

I read all the postings by the car owner/message board poster.

It seems that the parking enforcement company violated the contract with the home owner association in booting the car instead of warning the car owner. It's clear in the contract that booting may only occur in certain conditions, and that those conditions did not exist at the time the car was booting.

Many of you think the guy that didn't bow down to the 'authority' of the parking... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 9:44 PM on June 18, 2008

I guess I prefer to overgrown children to petty tyranny everytime.

Perhaps that makes me a slanderer.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 8:38 PM on June 20, 2008

Amazing stuff. Thanks for the post.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 6:55 PM on May 4, 2008

Great story. Thanks for posting.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:16 PM on April 29, 2008

NY Times story with picture
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:18 PM on April 29, 2008

Banks' books lack a certain gravitas... ;)
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 8:52 AM on March 24, 2008

mrbill, I would suggest starting with Consider Phelbas first. THe book covers many of the Culture basics well. The books are not really in a chronological order, so you can pretty much start anywhere.

The other you might start with is Excession.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:56 AM on March 24, 2008

Universe Man, powerful man....
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:19 PM on March 16, 2008

I think they are ignoring the psyops tactics that could be employed. Several approaches come to mind:

1) Loud playing of Michael Bolton music - This will drive any creature with ears in the other direction
2) A helicopter carrying a gigantic cake - This could be used in a carrot-on-a-stick method to draw the creature away from civilization, since everyone (even monsters) loves cake
3) Shoot the monster full of Ecstacy - Add in blacklights, a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 8:38 AM on March 5, 2008

Great invention. Thanks for the post.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 7:33 AM on February 20, 2008

Jody Foster looks great in that shot. But Renée Zellweger steals the crown for most emotion in her shot.

Good post.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 5:59 AM on February 8, 2008

I want my 3:03 back.

What am I missing here? A guy opens a box is 'best of the web'?
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 11:01 PM on February 4, 2008

For those that want to dive deeper into the samurai genre and the legacy of those films:

Ran is Kurosawa's version of King Lear

Yojimbo was remade as A Fistful of Dollars and later as Last Man Standing

Seven Samurai was remade as The Magnificent Seven

The Hidden Fortress was influential on George Lucas in his creation of Star... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 7:17 AM on January 30, 2008

Wouldn't it be cool if there were a real Left in American politics?

Wouldn't it be cool if our politics couldn't be reduced to two choices, Left & Right?
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 7:46 PM on January 28, 2008

I'm of several minds on the real estate market trouble and the resulting effect on home buyers.

On one hand, I believe in personal responsibility and that the individual is on the hook for their commitments. Made a second mortgage to remodel? Got the low interest ARM with bubble payment? You assumed the risk, now you suffer the downside. So sorry for you, but it's your own damn fault.

On the other hand, the mortgage & real estate industry... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 8:27 AM on January 25, 2008

Obviously, the best swear word from science fiction is TANJ ("There Ain't No Justice") by Larry Niven.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 7:00 AM on January 16, 2008

Gizmodo must be run by idiots.

First, completely unprofessional behavior at an industry event. This is not a public space where one might reasonably expect quiet.

There will definitely be a blowback to this. At a minimum, they will be banned from any future CES show and possibly other trade shows.

Likely, they will be embargoed by Motorola, meaning no more cool gadgets from a leading cell phone manufacturer. There... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 6:38 PM on January 10, 2008

I know they are being jerks, but it's hilarious anyways...

Thanks Empath!
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 8:51 PM on December 22, 2007

The Theosophical Society was the group that groomed Krishnamurti for his role as the "world leader". Krishamurti then went on to "denounce all organized belief, the notion of 'gurus', and the whole teacher-follower relationship", undercutting much of the focus of the Theosophical Society.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 4:14 PM on December 18, 2007

As someone actively involved in managing the archives at one of the major studios, I can talk a little to this.

The technology involved is fairly straightforward. We use various methods to preserve digital versions in various locations, some literally in salt mines.

The issue is the sheer magnitude of the amount of content there is to be digitized.

We are not talking about 10-12 movies a year. We are talking about all... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 12:29 PM on December 2, 2007

muppetboy: Yes, that has been considered. Intellectual property laws make it difficult though. Actors, writers, musicians, directors, etc. would all have to go along with any plan for rights to be given to a third party, even a university.

As we can see from the current writer's strike, it is not only the fabled studio tycoon that is interested in profiting from their IP.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 5:29 PM on December 2, 2007

Hrrm, as an avid video gamer, I'm of two minds on this.

Blizzard has the best reputation in gaming, bar none, with a string of success going back to 1994 with the launch of Warcraft.

Activision is a publisher rather than a studio, but with a fairly good reputation.

I'm guessing the money people see synergy & vertical marketing opportunities a plenty.

My take is that gamers will decry this as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 11:53 AM on December 2, 2007

I work in media and deal with more general entertainment. In the technology space, we often discuss as to what the 'adult people' are doing.

In the brief history of the web, the adult film industry has led innovation in several areas such as video streaming, paid site membership, affiliate based marketing, and even user generated content. On the back end, they dove into prosumer grade video production and non-linear editing well before mainstream media.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 5:50 PM on November 30, 2007

Is this even possible to do with modern satellite and cable television?

In theory it's still possible, but it's unlikely.

The intrusion was done in each case by overpowering the correct signal with a higher power broadcast.

TV stations are often some distance from their transmitter tower. Rather than run cable between the locations, many stations would use a microwave link to send the TV signal to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:55 PM on November 22, 2007

Good stuff. I think the self-mockery of their profession was in full force.

If only I could write The Model of a Modern Engineer...
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 1:26 PM on November 19, 2007

There is nothing technophobic about wanting people to shut the hell in public space that you cannot easily leave, like a bus or train. The Luddite comments are specious, not really focusing on the issue.

The problem is people's lack of common courtesy when using a a mobile phone. I'm 'on call' 24 hours a day and have to carry a phone. If I'm in a public place like a restaurant or store and the phone rings, I walk outside or to a private place to hold my conversation.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 3:03 PM on November 4, 2007

As an ENTJ, it's about time you all got with the plan. Get to god damn work, and stop mucking about on the internet.

I didn't get this corner office by wasting time overanalyzing my navel, so stop with the posting and get back to work.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 9:23 AM on September 29, 2007

I've seen this story linked a few other places, and each place you can see people denigrating football players and other professional sports players.

I'm not sure why this is. It's easy to say that internet nerds are just jealous of the success of these athletes, but it seems deeper than that. There seems to be the need in many, some in this thread, to question whether athletes are the mental equivalent of others.

This boggles my mind. I never... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 6:39 PM on September 9, 2007

Weird stuff. Letters tend to be notes written on paper and shipped via the postal system.

What I saw on the site were short notes, not different than a blog entry. Nice writing perhaps, but not letters.

I am a letter writer in the traditional sense. I write my brother a letter from any hotel I stay at on the hotel stationery. For over 20 years, he's been getting letters from me, sometimes 20 times a year, depending on my travel schedule.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 12:57 PM on August 28, 2007

I'm responsible for a television broadcast facility that requires constant power and cooling.

The outage at 365 Main is due to a failure of 365 Main's systems, not any power outage.

To provide power in a shore power outage, a system must be capable of 3 things, 1) transfering the load to an alternate power source, typically a UPS, 2) sustaining the load for a short time on an energy reserve, typically a UPS, and 3) generating on-going... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 9:35 PM on July 24, 2007

Best band evar.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 7:45 AM on July 9, 2007

In agreement with Flashman, Tap did do some good primary research on the depth of cushion in relation to the sweetness of pushing...
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:44 AM on July 9, 2007

One of my favorite Heinlein quotes:

There has grown in the minds of certain groups in this country the idea that just because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is supported by neither statue or common law. Neither corporations or individuals... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 8:21 AM on July 7, 2007

I watched the video and read the report. Then I went back and read what she said in the Nowpublic post.

Seemed fairly clear to me that she intentionally poured the water on the ground. As a father with experience with sippy cups, they are designed not to open easily, so I have doubt that she did it accidentally.

I am no fan of the TSA rules, but IMHO the woman is to blame for causing her own problem her. It is made exceedingly clear that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:43 AM on June 18, 2007

DU, I disagree.

As a frequent traveler, I am often inconvenienced by people that don't obey the rules, think they can get around them, or are plainly ignorant.

The rules are made clear about liquids, shoes, etc. Personally I disagree with them, but the decision is not made by the local TSA staff on what to enforce. Those rules are set elsewhere. They are asinine, but they are the rules.

When I have to wait for someone... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:57 AM on June 18, 2007

Here is the version of the JPG Magazine About page from April 2006 via archive.org.

I've met them a few times and they are kind, good people. It surely does suck when bad things happen to good people.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 11:49 PM on May 14, 2007

Astro Zombie is my new Hero.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 10:21 AM on May 15, 2007

For all the LA bashing, the city has made good progress in the last 20 years putting in place light rail systems and expanding the bus service.

When you compare that LA county is over 4,000 square miles and New York is under 500 square miles, you are dealing with some large differences in what is achievable in the short term.

Regarding the 'shafting of the poor', the reality is that making subways in LA is something like a billion dollars a mile.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 9:42 AM on May 1, 2007

Geez, of all my better content, a cut & paste email of mine makes it to MeFi only to be savaged by the snarkiness of the blue.

Glad to know that I'm a "huge pain in the ass" crashlanding. But before you throw the hate you should do the research. Amazon does not advertise on Coulter's site, what you see are referral links, that she posted on her site, where she only gets paid if someone buys a book.

As far as the Ampd response, I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 5:49 AM on March 20, 2007

I'm an atheist.

I read the first PDF (Iroquois/Genesis) and thought it could be insulting to Iroqouis or Christians.

I read the second PDF (God/Evil) and felt it was basically a polemic against God. Actual advocation of his personal beliefs in a classroom.

As a parent of school children, I don't that it was appropriate for a public school class.

Private school or college, have at it.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 11:31 AM on February 22, 2007

Wow, when I posted the linkage I didn't expect outrage. It was supposed to be a funny first-day-back-in-the-office read.

For people to be so tweaked is a bit surprising to me.

You know there are a lot of good decaf coffees these days.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 9:47 AM on January 2, 2007

On a tangent, I posted this same story at Digg and a guy there accused me of plagarism because I "totally stole that description from metafiler." [sic].

Maybe we netizens do need fact checking before posting... ;)
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 11:20 AM on January 2, 2007

Nice idea and nice video.

But it was not shot as it happened. Most of the shots are locked or tracking shots, not handheld. There's even a ceiling shot.

There is no way a single camera could have recorded it. If they used multiple cameras prepared in advance, you would have seen them in the wide shots.

Also, the lighting is professional.

Excellent work, but the work of a professional crew.
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 4:59 PM on November 15, 2006

The purpose of protest is to change the minds of other people.

This is why the tactics of Ghandi and MLK were effective. It's hard to find fault with a person making salt or sitting on a bus calmly.

The protesters at Columbia did not act to change anyone's mind, they acted to make themselves feel good about their position. In doing that, they simply made people on the fence about the issue amazingly sympathize with the Minuteman speaker.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Argyle at 7:47 PM on October 9, 2006