I shudder to think that any judge has the right to take a kid away from her family because he disapproves of what her parents named her.

Will the foster system treat her better if her name is boring? I doubt it, but you never know.

Also, what miss lynnster said.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 12:24 PM on July 24, 2008

Why did he focus on a bike that only uses steam for aesthetics when there are actual steampowered ones out there?
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 6:03 PM on July 23, 2008

The one time I took it (from Chicago to Dallas) it ended up 6 hours late, was no cheaper than flying, and I had to sit up the whole next to a variety people who insisted on repeatedly explaining that they weren't afraid of flying.

Oh. And the smoking car was FULL of young, crabby, chain-smoking old-order Mennonites.

So, yeah, if ever I have the luxury to conduct relevant anthropological research I might ride Amtrak again.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:09 PM on July 11, 2008

I'd agree, papercrane, but then I'm not a lawyer...
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:37 AM on July 11, 2008

Thanks for this post, by the way, Forktine. It's a very interesting article.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:38 AM on July 11, 2008

I get "het up" about illegal immigrants for a lot of reasons that aren't racism, and some of which are highlighted in this article.

If you are here illegally, and you're in these people's position, you're a slave.
You can bullied and blackmailed into doing whatever anyone legal wants.
You will take what they decide to give you, (which, individual unfairness aside, undermines the economy).
You can't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 11:01 AM on July 11, 2008

popechunk: I think it's possible to summarize their listenership as the "subaru/volvo/prius people."

I can't explain the disk rotor.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:50 PM on July 8, 2008

Wonder how well they wash.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 10:58 AM on July 7, 2008

I'm with pinback- I need more evidence before I'll be able to work up a good head of righteous indignation.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:54 AM on July 4, 2008

That's a great idea! If I got TWO of those and locked my bike between them I might have my frame left the next morning.

Actually, I do think it's a good idea- for in front of stores where you need to lock up for just a quick minute or two.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 10:21 AM on July 1, 2008

loiseau- that's pretty comparable to what I do, but then I'm in love with my bike.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 3:23 PM on July 1, 2008

"why should we have to live in a box?" [meaning an apartment], the last shreds of any sympathy I might otherwise have had vanish utterly.

You think raising kids in urban America is as good for them as raising them where they can run around, not get shot or run over, and not be surrounded by toxic spills? Most of the apartments around me don't even have a pretend yard, let alone someplace they can play.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:39 PM on June 30, 2008

I'm going to make a giant leap and guess that all you "insufferable bitch"es are single and childless, let alone children-less. Everytime my coworkers talk about how they have to schedule every second of their children's lives because they live in the city and it "just isn't safe these days" I just cringe.

-Their kids have no idea how to entertain themselves.
-If they have any physical coordination at all its due to structured dance... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:48 PM on June 30, 2008

I never heard the word disemvoweled OR suasion before. TWO new words- score!

As "piglet21" on sfgate.com said in one of the comments sections:
I can't help but think this every time I read Ms. Blue's articles: for a sex writer she is such a prude. It's like they hired Tipper Gore to write a sex column. The only thing about this writer that's "edgy" is the picture of herself that she attaches to the columns.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 11:58 AM on June 30, 2008

cuttlefish camoflauge
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:43 AM on June 26, 2008

Wow, bravelittletoaster. Just... wow. That whole comment is so screwy I don't know how to begin to address it.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 11:11 AM on June 23, 2008

I wonder how many of these people have microwaves and portable phones, both of which transmit radio waves in the 2.4 GHz frequency as WiFi.

Actually, my guess is "none of them." I know lots of people (including family members) who decline to own one or the other or both of these "just in case." It doesn't seem to have affected their quality of life.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 10:23 AM on June 17, 2008

Just seconding mudpuppie in stating that "ball-buster" is not a complimentary description, no matter how much you try to reframe it as one after the fact.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:44 PM on June 12, 2008

Or they could start using more fuel efficient planes...

This is clearly all a racist plot, possibly by the Chinese; everyone knows that on average Chinese people weigh less than Anglos.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 8:36 PM on June 11, 2008

Just because he thinks of sex all the time, is it fair that he involve other people with all of his sexual impulses?

A blow job generally requires some cooperation, though.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 4:00 PM on June 11, 2008

it's called breastfeeding.


The Rickets has been making a comeback in the UK article linked above says "Experts believe the problem could be linked to a failure to give vitamin D supplements to children who are breastfed. "
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 2:40 PM on June 10, 2008

But deep down, I think we all kind of know that there's a history behind our burgers that we would probably not be able to accept if we were actually there to see it.

There is a not insignificant portion of the population who has raised its own meat, or at least been party to it. Me, for instance, and just about anyone else who's grown up rurally.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 4:08 PM on June 10, 2008

We evolved ...

I think it's safe to say there is no "we." Different groups evolved differently.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 4:21 PM on June 10, 2008

And I grew up with the Doc Watson version, so there's another one. However, I don't know how to upload it, so here's the amazon page that has the preview thingee.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 10:57 AM on June 7, 2008

dabitch - kids who need to be in isolation for health reasons (like I did).
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:47 AM on June 2, 2008

I don't understand the comments complaining about people's accents. If you're going to sing in a foreign language, an accent just adds to the charm of it.

My favorites are the non-English language ones. Inability to understand the words adds to my enjoyment of pop songs.

Anyone know anyplace that broadcasts Eurovision contests in San Francisco? Meet up 2009?
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:12 AM on May 26, 2008

Also, does it seem incongruous to anyone else to see biologically female women in these acts? They are SO cut out for drag queen acts.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:16 AM on May 26, 2008

abulafa: not to mention adding an extra hour to your commute if you work someplace BART doesn't go.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:47 PM on May 22, 2008

Disagree do I. Improved by yoda-speak mushy self-disclosures are.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:28 PM on May 20, 2008

My parents tried this (without the bags of cash) and ended up having to work zillions of crap jobs to make ends meet. Also, the kids in my town had a lot more sex a lot earlier than my urban counterparts, if anecdotes are to be believed. There wasn't much else to do and country living gives you lots of privacy.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I've never understood why teen sex was bad.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:28 PM on May 19, 2008

Also, the kids in my town had a lot more sex a lot earlier than my urban counterparts

Yeah...and how many of em had 3 kids by the time they were 24 and are now divorced?

None that I know of. Lucky for us we had relatively useful sex-ed back then. And AIDS. Way scarier is the number of my urban friends who were strung out by the age of 24.

Three kids by 24 doesn't seem terrible either, though, if... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 2:00 PM on May 19, 2008

Not technically a mugshot, but one of my favorites.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 10:54 PM on May 18, 2008

chucklehead is going to be one of those words that marks a generation, like whippersnapper.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 10:48 AM on May 14, 2008

Kirth Gerson, I didn't know about this. Thanks for posting it.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:38 AM on May 14, 2008

I would love to drive an Aston Martin someday, even if I had to keep it under 70.

That is all.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:45 AM on May 13, 2008

I missed the "for profit" part, though I see he got his plane tickets reimbursed. Do you think he ended up financially better off for having done what he did?
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:49 AM on May 12, 2008

Holy crap! I was going off the other article, that only talked about Exoo. Yes, Susan needs stopping. Yi!
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 10:40 AM on May 12, 2008

I hate these commercials. I liked the link.

Any yogurt that puts 34 grams (7+ teaspoons) (Activia) in an 8 ounce container has just forfeited any legitimate claim to health benefits.

Fruity yogurt is dessert that doesn't taste as good as a real dessert.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 12:18 PM on May 10, 2008

My experience was similar to kittens for breakfast's gf.

Since Sandman I've read Joe Sacco's books and Carla Speed McNeil's and have otherwise given up on comic books. Most of them do indeed blow.

(And I agree with kfb on the women in Swamp Thing and Hellblazer, too, though I read them anyway. )

X-Men had some ok women, though the mutant-ness of the characters seemed more defining than their sex. (Nightcrawler was my fave when I was a young 'un.)
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 3:49 PM on May 8, 2008

I don't get how people can get so grinchy over something that's as fun and silly as steampunk. If the NY Times Style section managed to find people who missed the humour- well, every crowd's got some. And for all we know they were making fun of the reporter, who probably seemed determined to turn it into something it isn't.

From last year's Maker Fair: A school of salmon touring the Neverwas House, which is a small Victorian-style house that travels... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 12:23 PM on May 8, 2008

Not much makes me cringe anymore. If it floats their boat, more power to them. The exception is when people are self-righteous and humorless in a way that I know I have been some earlier era.

This Thing/Way of Thinking is the Only Right One! If you disagree, you are Ignorant and Uncultured! Even if you have 40 years' experience on me! Damn it, I read it in a book/ my professor told me so!

*CRINGE*
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:14 PM on May 8, 2008

Interesting. Thanks.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 8:59 AM on May 7, 2008

stbalbach, that's certainly one interpretation.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:53 PM on May 6, 2008

Faint of Butt- so what do people call their roommates, then?

Last week my boss was showing me pictures from her cruise. This is a woman who's never femme-ier than lip gloss about 4 times in the 8 years I've known her. For her cruise she got a super sexy Marilyn Monroe-esqe dress. She and her partner looked smashing! I told her I wished she'd got a picture of the two of them on the dance floor! And she looked at me funny and said- "well, we couldn't really have... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:57 AM on May 6, 2008

Both couples in this experiment were young and attractive. I wonder what difference it would make if they'd been the normal, frumpy, middle-aged gay couples that I usually run into.

Of course I don't usually see normal, frumpy, middle-aged straight people indulging in PDAs beyond hand holding, so I guess it wouldn't be apples to apples.

And even with straight people, major make out sessions are generally more the province of high schoolers.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:48 PM on May 6, 2008

Stylus Happenstance, I had the same reaction. I thought a scene in the local grocery vegetable section was going to come next.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 1:50 PM on May 6, 2008

clearly- inmates have jobs already. They even get paid for them, pay taxes, and pay for their "room and board." Many of these jobs support the prison infrastructure (like laundry). Many are contracted out to private enterprise. A whole lot of them are sweatshops.

Here's an article I just found by Googling, but I don't know how accurate it is, especially now. It was written in 1995. The Progressive published a similar article in the early 2000s but I can't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 5:02 PM on May 5, 2008

interesting related blog I just found.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 5:05 PM on May 5, 2008

Artw- In Starship Troopers and a couple other stories I can't remember right now, Heinlein felt the constitution should apply only to certain classes of people. In particular, people who'd already received the right sort of indoctrination, preferably via military service.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 11:43 AM on April 28, 2008

I'm not a "supporter" because I consider all priests/shamans/ witchdoctors/preachers/ televangelists/etc to be equally skeezy con artists. Wright == Robertson == Mullah Omar == Pope Benedict == Ayatollah Khamenei == Jimmy Swaggart == your local neighborhood preacher.

See, now you've just undermined your entire argument, because this kind of black and white thinking is just silly.
posted to MetaFilter by small_ruminant at 9:41 AM on April 29, 2008