I enjoyed reading Obama's response to these policy questions. It is nice to see him drill down on some specifics and I agree with or at least respect almost all of his answers. I don't think it is necessary for a successful presidential candidate to score 100% on that science quiz off the top of their head, just as I don't think he has to be an expert in economics, law, math, military strategy and literature. I expect them to be familiar with the issues and hold an informed opinion, and to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 10:58 PM on September 2, 2008

Looked to me like she was pushing past the line, they told her to step back twice, she tried to keep going, then they shrugged and arrested her. Being a reporter does not give one the right to ignore the police.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 7:33 PM on September 1, 2008

OSC and his personal views (about this very issue even) have been referenced here numerous times before (see 1, 2, 3). I came to respect him by reading his books, like many others he was one of my favorite authors when I was younger. And no, I'm not gay. When someone you respect holds a different opinion or philosophy from your own, hopefully it spurs you to evaluate your own ideas again, engage in debate, and not just write them off immediately as stupid, uninformed and wrong.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 11:26 PM on July 29, 2008

The Presidents of the Unites States of America pay homage to the boll weevil.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 10:37 AM on July 15, 2008

Thanks, enjoyed this. Apparently it was sponsored by Animate Projects, who maintains a list of other great video projects they have funded. Some good stuff in there.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 10:54 PM on July 10, 2008

One thing a forest firefighter explained to me, and I did not see mentioned, is that in the natural cycle, fires burn through every few years, turning dead wood and underbrush into fertilizer and reinvigorating the system. When you don't let the forest burn as it would naturally, the underbrush and dead wood accumulates. Then, when it does inevitably catch fire, the whole forest ends up going, devastating the entire ecosystem. It burns hotter and longer, and not much is left standing. This is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 10:23 PM on July 10, 2008

These days it's called flatland BMX. And it is awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 7:52 PM on July 7, 2008

These stacks of blackboards were common at Berkeley, the classic hijinks was to get on a ladder and write something hilarious and inappropriate on the upper level blackboard at the back of the stack, which resulted in the whole class bursting into tears of laughter as the professor pulled the cord to reveal the hidden message halfway through lecture, and was powerless to erase it without the ladder. Ahh, good times.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 8:39 AM on June 12, 2008

Doesn't anyone knock anymore?
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:44 AM on June 12, 2008

Correlation is not causation.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:46 AM on June 12, 2008

I think her case against the twin studies is particularly weak, there is significant evidence that there is in fact a genetic basis for not only homosexuality but many other human behaviors. It is not entirely genetic, but genetics does play a large part, with many scientists putting somewhere around 50/50 for both "nature" and "nurture". A cop out perhaps, but probably the most realistic picture we are going to get.

The criticisms she mentions,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 11:27 PM on June 1, 2008

Or they could just pay with a credit card like everyone else.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 9:32 PM on May 20, 2008

Pew Research - Polling has regularly found that the public favors the teaching of multiple perspectives on the issue in the schools. While solid majorities believe that evolution should be taught in science classes, roughly two-thirds of Americans favor adding creationism to the school curriculum.

Surveys are also fairly consistent in their estimates of how many Americans believe in evolution or creationism. Approximately 40%-50% of the public accepts a biblical... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:54 AM on May 20, 2008

Seconding ornate insect and the Detroit Cobras.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:32 AM on May 20, 2008

P: Our mission in general is to document and theorize and perhaps even...

S: Lie—

P: And act out and make up stories about doll games.

Essentially, yes, the site is about two people who were acting out and making up stories about doll games. I was quite confused trying to figure this out as well. It is undeniably representative of a certain Berkeley approach to the world, and the entire enterprise... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:22 AM on May 19, 2008

Why couldn't you have posted this last week, before my philosophy of language final?
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:43 PM on May 15, 2008

lol
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:51 PM on May 14, 2008

Sweet.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 4:08 AM on May 14, 2008

No.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:36 AM on May 6, 2008

The newest fad in assisted suicide.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 1:59 PM on April 29, 2008

It is no more or less cheating than those who take steroids to excel at sports, a comparison the authors also make. Some people are blessed by genetics, others make up for it with chemicals. As an ethical issue, it doesn't really bother me. If a particular student or professor is able to achieve what otherwise would have crushed and broken them, then I don't see how it is cheating to take a bunch of Adderall and get it done. When people say they should have bucked up and done it on their own,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 8:40 PM on March 12, 2008

Are Liberals and Conservatives Different Species?

No.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:46 PM on February 29, 2008

99% Baby, that's an A+.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:39 AM on February 26, 2008

I hate that show.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:49 AM on January 25, 2008

Singularists are the optimistic twins of the Peak Oil apocalyptists. One assumes never ending exponential growth which will inevitably lead to rainbows and supersmart self-conscious AI, the others focus exclusively on the limits of growth and how horrible it will be when we hit the wall.

I just wonder which will come first.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:54 AM on January 22, 2008

All the snowboarders I know avoid moguls like the plague, so I wonder if they are really the culprits "destroying" them. I am an avid snowboarder (taught for years, lived as a snow bum for years) but grew up skiing, and I can appreciate some resorts refusal to allow snowboarders. I have skied Mad River Glen, and I must say I hope they never change a thing.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 12:56 AM on December 20, 2007

How you can make a FPP full of Hole videos without anyone linking to the best one of the bunch is beyond me. There is something about the 'Awful' video that just gets me everytime, it was the first thing that made me actually look at Courtney as something less than a total waste of space.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 4:23 PM on December 16, 2007

The scattered girlysounds tracks i had were always some of my favorite Liz Phair songs, so thanks for posting these.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 8:18 AM on October 24, 2007

Best Wow Movies of All Time:

Illegal Danish Super Snacks (Winner of the Warcraft Movies Contest)

Onyxia -50 DKP Video (NSFW but absolutely hilarous if you are familiar with the encounter)

And of course... Leroy Jenkins (the original).
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:43 AM on July 29, 2007

Bill Maher is like an unfunny and disinsightful Jon Stewart.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 4:15 PM on July 27, 2007

I saw this jetpack company randomly as I was flipping through channels the other day, I think it was OC Choppers had just built a bike for the company and the guy came in on a jetpack for the unveiling. They said you couldn't fly for very long but it definitely seemed to work.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 11:35 PM on June 28, 2007

Stewart went on at length about how he is a comedian and his show is a comedy that happens to be about the news and politics. It is not a news show that that happens to be funny. His primary responsibility, as he puts it, is it infuse the political situation with some context and humor. The fact that the show is often more spot on than many news programs perhaps speaks more of their failure than his success. I love the guy too, but I think people too often look to him and his show as a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 7:03 PM on April 29, 2007

not prisons, jails.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 4:01 PM on April 28, 2007

Yes!
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 10:17 PM on December 1, 2006

I was there for an hour or so from around 11pm Pacific US time and there was someone operating the camera the entire time. I saw a herd of zebras, a family of turtles, two deer-like animals and multiple birds, and I wasn't paying attention the entire time.

I think it's really cool.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 12:15 AM on November 27, 2006

monkies!
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 10:56 PM on November 28, 2006

this kid seems to be trying very hard to make a case for himself, but it seems clear to me that his stories just don't add up.

i suspect he really is somewhat of an asshole, and probably likes to lord his oh so lofty 'video game art skillz' over those other pretentious 'traditional art' students with their flaky new age hairdos and silly leprechaun believing ways.

leprechauns ain't science? it might not be true, but i wouldn't want to be the one... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 8:02 AM on November 28, 2006

and those tickets aint cheap
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 12:55 AM on November 26, 2006

Before 9/11 the US was invincible. 9/11 shattered that image. Afghanistan was a righteous battle, but it was "not enough" to scare the world into thinking that the US was still invincible, because it didn't really allow us to get a lot of expensive planes in the air and tanks and expensive machinery on the ground where many Muslims could see the extent of our might. This is what Kissinger is talking about, trying to reassert the position of invulnerability that the US lost the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 4:09 AM on November 23, 2006

I heard the kid interviewed today, he seemed quite happy, because he admitted that he was ONLY BUYING THE PS3 TO SELL IT ON EBAY!

hmm $2k on ebay vs $7.5k new computer?
also, he already play WoW and other computer games. The interview made pc gamer look really stupid (unfortunate because i really love that magazine).

Funnily enough, i heard this on the PC Gamer Podcast itself.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 11:01 PM on November 18, 2006

nice
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 2:59 AM on October 23, 2006

He signed up for 23 credit hours his first semester at UVa, but found the workload wasn't as bad as he thought it might be.

"I found myself sitting around a lot with free time," he said.

...
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 1:47 AM on September 21, 2006

a) it should be a person's right to do with their own body as they wish.

b) illegal drug profits fund criminals, organized crime, and corrupt regimes. if legalized, that money would be going to the economy and the government.

c) when drugs are legal you can control their distribution. ask any high schooler what is easier to get: weed or alcohol. the answer is invariably weed, because they can buy that off the school dealer. alcohol... well... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:40 AM on August 22, 2006

I like how Brittany is just a normal kinda white trash girl who likes to get stoned and watch movies with her boyfriend. So she isn't the brightest bulb, at least she isn't all fake and rah rah anymore.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 4:06 AM on August 5, 2006

I did search actually. Went ahead and flagged myself for a double.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:26 AM on July 28, 2006

that is one scary gnome. i like the style.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 1:55 AM on July 28, 2006

I am really starting to wonder if Isreal's withdrawal of their settlers from Gaza a few months ago was a genuine gesture towards Palestine or if they were just preparing for the area to be a warzone and getting their people out.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:18 AM on July 18, 2006

I have recently been playing around with the idea that psychedelics trigger some kind of stress reaction, after hearing a recent radio interview with a stress researcher who mentioned the release of catecholamine hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine.

The old Aldous Huxley "Doors of Perception" theory seems, after a long look, to be pretty much totally bogus. His general premise was that the brain filters out most of the stimuli it receives and that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 12:15 AM on July 11, 2006

thats amazing.

did anyone else catch the part about 3/4 through the Montel segment when she mentions that "there was a divorce, there was a kidnapping, there was torture" though ?!?
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:56 PM on July 7, 2006

I like the idea of making organ donation opt-out rather than opt-in.
posted to MetaFilter by sophist at 3:47 PM on July 7, 2006