I assumed the shotgun was for hunting the poor. I mean, what do you guys use yours for?
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 6:56 PM on July 21, 2008

I was ecstatic - ecstatic! - to sign the petition, and I'll be enthusiastically voting for the measure in November, canceling out the votes of the dour. I really don't see why this initiative generates so much heat among some people.

Issue a warrant for George Bush's arrest for war crimes?
Sure, then we'll send the San Francisco National Guard over to Washington to arrest him and bring him back here in chains.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:24 PM on July 18, 2008

Well, I'm fortunate to have a wide variety of things in life which fill me with joy and enthusiasm, which are largely irrelevant to this conversation. As for renaming the plant, it may be a token gesture, but I don't see it as a useless one for the reasons I outlined above.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 3:17 PM on July 18, 2008

Dennis Cooper, Chuck Palahniuk, and the erstwhile, ersatz JT LeRoy are armwrestling tonight to see who gets to write the novel set in this seedy underbelly of youth culture [...] Who do you think would win?

Katherine Dunn. Attic starts with the protagonist in a door-to-door sales gang of some kind, though I don't recall what they are selling.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:09 PM on July 18, 2008

I picked up some issues of Cthulhu Tales recently - the stories sometimes seem to lack an ineffable something, but a good deal of the art is agreeably awful. I especially enjoyed this portrait of a lady.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:02 AM on July 15, 2008

(er, that's awful in the complimentary sense, of course. Ia! Ia!)
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:04 AM on July 15, 2008

I never heard the show either, but from its description it sounded a lot like misguided youth pandering on the level of "check out our new extreme skateboarding NPR show - cowabunga dudes! Don't forget to Facebook us, bro! We're out here reading blogs and being young, just like you!"
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 5:10 PM on July 14, 2008

NPR misunderstands that "younger demographic" actually translates into "informal" (much like The Sound of Young America's solid interviews do) as opposed to snark for the sake of snark's sake

This sums up my feelings on the matter precisely. I certainly don't begrudge BPP for the attempt to try something new, but I feel like somewhere at NPR, somebody in charge of programming feels that "young viewer = bubble-headed... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 8:44 PM on July 14, 2008

Great site, thanks! I have discovered that the Rubber Soul Band does indeed have a website (presuming that the band playing the Long Beach farmer's market was not the Australian Beatles cover band).
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 8:45 PM on July 13, 2008

No one ever questions if a kitten is real.

Ahem.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 5:01 PM on July 10, 2008

I'm with IndigoRain, this seems like a pretty meaningless publicity stunt, and the Booker has generally seemed inordinately interested in its own fame in the past few years. I've heard good things about the book itself, but I'm not sure that it's suddenly more meaningful now that it's won the Booker Prize and the Best Booker of All Time As of 2008 Prize.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 4:48 PM on July 10, 2008

IndigoJones, sorry
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 4:49 PM on July 10, 2008

Oh, the Boston Globe pictures are via mefite Brittney Gilbert's excellent Eye on Blogs blog.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 4:04 PM on July 7, 2008

Can you imagine if some muckraker or shitstirrer did an in-depth review of the BB archives vs. archive.org?

Actually, not to derail this thread into something I'm actually curious about but does an automated tool for doing that kind of research exist? That would be extremely useful.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 7:19 PM on July 1, 2008

Additionally, it is quite a disingenuous rhetorical technique to say "I could talk about what a liar this person is, and I could trash them, but I won't."

Thanks to AskMe, I happen to know that the formal name of this particular rhetorical technique is paralipsis.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 8:14 PM on July 1, 2008

For a little background on the boyzone stuff for users who may have missed the epic threads of, uh, last November, there are a few links on the wiki that attempt to summarize what was a long and sometimes contentious discussion - that page could surely use some attention from interested MeFites though.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 5:25 PM on July 2, 2008

I guess it's pretty easy to sell out Aquarius when you only ship them 40 CD-R's. Also, this post reads an awful lot like PR for the band - the wiki page for Joy Division? Really? (Also, something about your favorite band)
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:03 PM on June 28, 2008

Also I wish people would stop talking about "symbology" like it's a real thing.</small?
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:12 PM on June 28, 2008

CD-Rs?

That's what it says at the top of the page I linked: "2xcd-r + book." Maybe I'm wrong and it's just some sort of unusual Aquarius terminology, though. I didn't mean to be a shithead about it.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:14 PM on June 28, 2008

That's what he gets for upgrading from MS Bob. It's a good thing Microsoft was able to get a handle on all of these usability problems in the five years since he sent the message.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 9:02 PM on June 26, 2008

There's sort of a bonus track available if you reboot the server from that little unix prompt, plus a few easter eggs. I managed to get r00t and am about to haXx0r the site!!1!
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 7:51 PM on June 24, 2008

I'm totally impressed by his ability to get people to physically chase him around (and his ability to escape from them). There's a little more information about him on Wikipedia.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 5:04 PM on June 24, 2008

you wouldn't find it at all odd or inappropriate if the Pope came out with a "position" on fingernail clipping?
When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;
Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:00 AM on June 24, 2008

I don't see where the language about men being created equal needs to have a religious justification. It's an axiom that describes how the founders wanted to set up their new society (and, though I'm no expert, I always saw it as partly a statement in opposition to the English monarchy). Natural human rights can derive from secular principles such as the golden rule, can't they?
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:22 PM on June 24, 2008

The assumption is that we're special because we have will and sentience, both of which are only distinguishable from sufficiently-advanced chemical reactions if you assume a supernatural "soul" in the driver's seat.

Well, I think it's fair to say that most governmental systems are based on the assumption that humans have free will and sentience - I'm not really sure where you'd end up if you were to attempt a determinist system of law. I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:56 PM on June 24, 2008

Free will isn't necessary for law to shape people's behavior, and that's all it's really supposed to do. Legal systems may pay some lip service to the notion that it's within everyone's power to obey the law, but I don't think this is really all that important.

I don't think I follow you. Surely the notion of deterrence, for instance, is based on the idea that people have a choice about whether to break the law or not? Moreover, if were no free... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:35 PM on June 24, 2008

oops... if there were no free will, I meant.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:36 PM on June 24, 2008

I can't believe someone wrote this non-ironically.

I phrased it badly; I am of course aware of its prominence in religious systems of morality. What I meant to say was that as a moral principle I don't think the golden rule requires a religious justification.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 2:14 PM on June 24, 2008

Since the thread hasn't closed yet: Sunset Style, inexplicably, posts photos of architecture from the Sunset.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 3:10 PM on June 20, 2008

I used this just this morning to figure out how to tighten my spokes enough to get my wheel back towards true and stop squeaking. It is awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:04 AM on June 19, 2008

Dang it, I was going to post this. I like how the author annotates his videos with notable events in the project histories.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:47 PM on June 18, 2008

Oh, I should have linked wfrgms's earlier, definitive post on fixed-gear bikes, because it's both recent and extremely excellent.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:23 PM on June 17, 2008

And blast, dobbs is correct; the Fix Push video was linked by photoslob in the fixed-gear bike thread mentioned above, though it hasn't been featured in a front-page post prior to this one, as far as I can tell.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:51 PM on June 17, 2008

premortem: when I've got multiple tabs open and I close the one I'm on, it will automatically go to the tab listed to its left.... not the last tab I was using.

That's the way I prefer it, personally, but if you install the Tab Mix Plus extension, you can control this behavior (and also tell Firefox to clone the current tab and all of its history when you open a new one, which is pretty cool).

Also, it's not a FF3 thing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:43 PM on June 17, 2008

People are really annoyed by recumbents? Why? I can understand the steampunk hatred, but I don't really see what's to dislike about people who ride silly-looking but perfectly functional bikes.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 4:37 PM on June 16, 2008

Fans of PKD will find a lot of interest at the (really badly named) blog Total Dick-Head. Among other things I've seen linked from there is this interview with one of Dick's daughters, who has written a memoir which has supposedly been blocked due to legal threats from the Dick estate; it also has some information about the upcoming Ubik movie and the unauthorized biopic about "William J Frick". I am loath to post this before I mine it for excellent PKD-related... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 9:55 AM on June 7, 2008

I was prepared to hate these with a burning hatred that burns like fire, but "Cane and Able Mobility Healthcare" and "Lord of the Fries" actually gave me a chuckle. Personally, I've always been a little astonished at the Doggie Styles pet salon, located as it is in tony Mill Valley. (For those of you at work, I would recommend against a google image search to find a picture of the storefront.)
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 7:03 PM on June 6, 2008

I have found that the show is immeasurably more irritating now that I've read this post about the Lost writer's script style from MeFi's own Matthew Baldwin. Also: McSweeney's handy synopsis (spoilers ahoy).

In regards to the main article, I don't really see how Lost is unique, the same sorts of para-media are formed over any moderately complex TV show these days (see for instance Battlestar Galactica, which also has an exhaustive wiki and endless boards and forums),... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:16 AM on June 2, 2008

Seriously. It makes me want to stab JJ Abrams RIGHT. IN THE FUCKING. EYE!
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:24 AM on June 2, 2008

Sounds more like a high-level rogue to me.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 5:16 PM on May 30, 2008

Indeed, from the first link: While stomping on him, Dillmann says, the government treats Budweiser with kid gloves, despite the fact that "This Bud's for You" also could be mistaken for marijuana slang.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:42 AM on May 29, 2008

do you have any fucking idea how hard it is to smoke beer?

I don't think you're using that beer bong correctly.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:56 AM on May 29, 2008

Holy cow, everichon, I always wondered what that was called.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 1:40 PM on May 29, 2008

New York to Back Same-Sex Unions From Elsewhere
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:37 AM on May 29, 2008

I'm with blasdelf on an non-beta AppEngine being more exciting to me, personally (you can run Pylons on it!). But the built-in compass and the Street Views app that rotates as the user does is pretty awesome, and the general openness of Google vs Apple on a phone is promising.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:44 AM on May 29, 2008

From the AP: White House calls McClellan's book sour grapes.

The White House responded angrily Wednesday to McClellan's confessional memoir, calling it self-serving sour grapes.

"Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House," said current White House press secretary Dana Perino, a former deputy to McClellan. "We are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew." [...... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 11:09 PM on May 28, 2008

It's missing a "ONE LESS ROCKETCAR" sticker.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 9:41 PM on May 28, 2008

This would be a more effective method of wiping humanity off the face of the earth if the cybernetic arms were powered by human blood.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 9:13 PM on May 28, 2008

In other news, Roku Netflix Set Top Box Is Just Shy of Totally Amazing. I'm extremely prone to sympathy for a big media entity taking the piss out of itself, but in all honesty I'm not sure exactly what differentiates these fetish items from the other consumer items that Wired routinely tries to amalgamate into its cargo cult every month.

/obligatory Wired hatred
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 12:07 AM on May 26, 2008

The most useful thing I've found about Last.fm is that you can easily get your information out of it via RSS, so you can export that information to something like SonicLiving, which can email you if a band you listen to is about to play a show nearby.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 4:15 PM on May 21, 2008