Kronos_to_Earth> you can use computer technology as dominoes...One Thousand Five Hundred Dead Hard Drives!

What a gratifying thlunking noise they make.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 8:43 AM on September 2, 2008

To me this is more akin to the pre-recorded fireworks in Beijing than to the miming of the little girl. Now, if they actually a group of actors pretending to be musicians because the real orchestra look too homely... well... then maybe.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 12:33 AM on August 27, 2008

I haven't read every word of the articles, but it seems like they're using the word "troop" where perhaps "uniformed personnel" might be a less pejorative term. I'm not sure if it's inaccurate or not, but talking about, say, "11 troops" in New Zealand, does rather conjure up visions of fatigues and assault rifles rather than class A's and attache cases.

I think if our hypothetical Egyptians wants that sort of presence here we could only be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 11:38 PM on August 26, 2008

If your engine can do one impossible thing, it can do a second impossible thing. (Assume a third impossible thing). True of False?

Hmm... score well enough for an A, and then still argue over the questions? Yeah... guess not much has changed since school for me either. :)
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 9:28 PM on August 24, 2008

I didn't get get a drivers license or car until I was about 25 (for purely financial reasons; I couldn't afford one) and reading this story brought back all those horrible feeling of every time I've found myself on foot in unfamiliar surrounds. I almost feel sweaty palms now as I remember sliding along the emotional spectrum from concern, to worry, to alarm, to near panic as I find myself in an industrial part of town that isn't even on my damn map and it's already getting dark, there won't be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:51 PM on August 18, 2008

Roger Waters almost always gets me. "Two suns in the sunset" - "and you'll never hear their voices... (daddy daddy!)", "The Moment of Clarify" - "I had a little bit of luck you were awake, I couldn't take another moment alone.", "Sunset Strip" - "The land of my fathers is calling to me, And I sit in the canyon with my back to the sea". I don't know why he pushes my buttons so consistently. Listening to just the songs won't do it,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 7:52 AM on August 8, 2008

Wow, a lot of hate on HDR. Sure in shot after shot like this it's just too much, but I could definitely see one or maybe two of these shots, suitably framed, looking quite striking on a wall. I just wouldn't want a coffee table book full of them.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:41 PM on August 4, 2008

Sooo... if I raise my kids now like it's the 1940s, they can turn on, tune in, drop out in the 2030s? Awesome. I'm going to stop playing with them straight away so that I can have grandchildren with cool names like Moonbeam and Meadow. That's the sort of retro I can deal with. :)
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 4:54 PM on July 31, 2008

Normally I don't like these online puzzle game thingies much but this one's a pleasant diversion. The interface is nice and simple so you can concentrate on the puzzle and not on the program. Playing it reminds me a little of playing "Dots and Boxes" in class when I was meant to be learning algebra.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 4:03 AM on July 15, 2008

So, how does this Leon guy feel about our precious bodily fluids (youtube). 'Cause honestly, it reads about the same.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 8:04 PM on May 27, 2008

I'm sure what 'computer' this is plugged into some glorified address book, but how is this head set lame? I'm wondering why my computer doesn't have one right now. Oh... I'm lame? I see. ;)
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 6:21 PM on May 25, 2008

Nice to listen to. Impossible to navigate.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 12:36 AM on May 20, 2008

So that was enlightening. :) I think I now understand the "financial alchemy" that turns dodgy mortgages into mortgage backed securities with good and bad tranches, and how you can play essentially the same trick again to turn dodgy MBS tranches into collateralized debt obligations that also have good and bad tranches. But what happens to the "toxic waste" from the CDO's? Are there people out there buying this known badness? Do the CDO's hold onto it themselves? Does... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:12 PM on May 12, 2008

goo> Here's the transcript of his turn on Australian Story

That transcript contains one my favorite Garry Macdonald moments, his speech from when he accepted his Hall of Fame/Life Time Achievement (not sure what it's actually called) Logie award.

Thank you very much. I must say I was, very surprised when they told me I'd won this award because only a couple of months ago I was on 'Where Are They Now'. Which didn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 1:59 AM on May 5, 2008

I don't really know much about Ms Bryce, nor care too much about the politics of monarchy vs republicanism(1) but I almost met her a few years ago in her role as Governor of Queensland and was very much struck by her graciousness. Each Australia Day weekend the Governor's residence has an open day with tours of the house and picnics on the grounds and bands and hours hourly firings of the cannons ect. A few years ago we took my then, two year old daughter along. Late in the afternoon of what... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 2:02 AM on April 14, 2008

Dave Faris>A quick google search for "reporter hit by airplane" turns up this, which gives a little more than just the nut-grabbing 2 seconds of horror.

Thanks Dave. I'm glad the guy survived and even now seems to have a bit of a sense of humour about it. That hit was horrible. There was way to much genuine hurt and pain to people just trying to do their job for much schadenfreude in this video. 30 seconds from hahah, that guy fell... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 9:23 PM on April 8, 2008

Hmm... it seems to be the same mask every time. The single images look great by themselves but a few together look, well, faked. But well... it's still crazy fun. Picture of my daughter and I on the train the other day now looks like we were going somewhere awesome and exotic and not just to the mall.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 12:06 AM on April 8, 2008

delmoi> Also, the point about passenger jets. I wonder how hard it would be to switch hydrogen fueled jetliners. After all, the space shuttle is hydrogen powered, and it uses much more energy then a jetliner.

Leaving aside the viability of hydrogen as an alternate fuel, it is problematic as a way to fuel jetliners because it has a much lower energy density per unit of volume than jet fuel. You need a physically much bigger tank to fit the same... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 12:24 AM on April 3, 2008

> A barrel roll while pouring Iced Tea is one of my favorites.

The iced tea was cool and all... but good grief, those dead stick low level fly-bys and one wheel touch downs had my heart in my mouth. Staggering. Even in the 3inch picture of a youtube video the sight of that business turbo prob whistling past at eye level is breath taking. Thanks.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 6:33 PM on February 25, 2008

CautionToTheWind:Bask in the utter restraint of this caption

It all becomes clear.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 8:29 PM on February 21, 2008

... turn a sphere inside out

So, although I found that cool I really didn't appreciate the meaning of it (I assume that the properties of their abstract material provides mathematicians useful ways of handling... well, something..) My toddler however ever has insisted that we watch this video repeatedly over the last few days. She must be a genius. Or like purple and gold. It could go either way... :)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 4:26 AM on January 22, 2008

Argh, those recordings flipped all my switches and gave me a serious case of the heebie jeebies. I guess when your making it up its easier to crank the 'creepy' dial to eleven.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 10:43 PM on January 18, 2008

Wait a minute, we're getting our gastronomic advice from Satchel now? These eyes are definitely in the 35%.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 9:14 PM on January 9, 2008

is this something that I'd have to have lived in a box for 40 years to be surprised by?

No? Are you saying you knew everything in the video but without the years of research? Or what?

I don't think there was anything qualitative in the video that was news me, and I don't think I'd be willing to take their word on the quantitative stuff.

Overall it's not a bad video and broadly I agree with most of it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 4:46 AM on December 5, 2007

Of course it's very simplified - how else could you make so many large & thorny issues accessible in 20mins?

Fine, so leave out the details. Don't put in details that are wrong.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:05 AM on December 5, 2007

Ahh.. footnote 52. Yes, she really did take apart a computer and... oh, no "and". That's not really helping.

However footnotes 24, 26, and 43 were more useful on other points that raised my eye brow so I guess over all I'm happy.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:39 AM on December 5, 2007

Stupid questions trying to apply rationality to scenarios where, was anything similar to play itself out in real live, all calculated thought goes out the window. There's an out of control trolley and it's going to kill those, lets see, one, two, three, fo*splat*. Oh.

If it's just a thought exercise why not phrase it as such? "Could you kill a baby if it meant saving yourself and a number of others (including the baby) from certain death?" "Could you... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 6:42 AM on November 25, 2007

All I know is my daughter would love that take apart plastic fish.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 2:07 AM on November 19, 2007

I love the concept but there don't seem to many images of the 'bad art' itself. Is that 'cause I'm a philistines and the art isn't the art the process is the art, or something? Or are they just on some part of the site I haven't found? I'm especially curious about what came out of the crushing machine that they were so unhappy with the result. Geez, I mean it almost killed him. That's bad art! :)

I'm also not sure they they seemed to find the money... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 7:07 AM on October 27, 2007

Delicious, ­high-­quality salads will be sold ­everywhere ... that will make dieting a ­snap.

Huh. Apparently obsession with dieting will still be a feature of a matriarchal utopia. Guess this body image stuff isn't men's fault after all.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 9:55 PM on October 24, 2007

I think they are conflating zits and boils. I regret all knowledge I have of the two.

"Hmm..." I think to myself, "what is the difference?" Even wikipedia's dry synopsis of a boil turns my stomach. And then I followed the reference to carbuncles....

Regret all knowledge indeed. :/ I'm so glad I didn't actually click anything on the linked site.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 6:01 AM on October 21, 2007

The guy basically said he planned on shotting the deer once it was legal, or something.

Given that he was out there in his boat for some recreation killing of things this seems consistant on his part. Why the outrage at the hunting but not the fishing? Maybe he could have held it's head under until it drowned and claimed he tried to rescue it but was too late. MMmm... off season vension...
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 7:49 PM on October 20, 2007

Perhaps a useful way of thinking about this is to say, this means a 1% inprovement in the efficency of ships will reduce C02 emmisions as much as a 2% gain in the efficency of aircraft. I don't think anyone is suggesting we should send things via air rather than sea or that aircraft are more efficent at moing freight than ships.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 7:08 PM on October 20, 2007

I'm going to snark just becuase having so much Daily Show online is such a good thing it doesn't need to be expanded apon ('specially as we don't get it in AU) but...

The 'wayback randomizer' isn't random at all, I keep gettnig the same "Giant Head of Ted Koppel" followed by "Brutus the Buckeye" followed by...

I don't mind ads, that's how you pay for stuff, fine, good, but why does it have to be /the/ same ad everytime?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 8:49 PM on October 18, 2007

My, men sure knew how to wear a beard then.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 1:15 AM on August 12, 2007

Okay, granted I havn't so much as throught about the rubiks cube in almost 20 years but it never occured to be there might be /algorithms/ to solving it. It's like i need to hand in my geek badge. :) Thanks ZachsMind, it was.. an epiphany.

Oh... also I just lost the game.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 4:56 AM on August 9, 2007

That was quite awsome. Several times I thought... bah, boring, I've had enough... then it would do, or let me do, something new. Thanks.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:38 AM on July 16, 2007

Watching that video, I was struck by the extended period of the time the north held what looked like a very narrow strip deep into the southern territory along the Mississippi River. How did they hold this ground for so long when they were (on the map at least) essentially surrounded? Or does the graphic not reflect the reality on the ground in this respect?
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:48 AM on May 21, 2007

I think I know what you mean gwint. When GE came out was the first time I felt like we might finally be on our way to 'the information super highway'. I mean honestly, real time (well, almost), three dimensional flight paths that is free for anyone with enough bandwidth to access. How is that not awsome with a capital AWE?

Now if you'll excuse me USA1725 is on final into O'hara...
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 7:59 AM on May 10, 2007

I don't get how having teeth knocked out could count as a mark against him here. He took a blow that was hard enough to do actual physical damange and that makes him a wimp? Or do real mean have stronger gums than regular folk?
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 11:32 PM on August 12, 2006

Oh, colour me nostalgic. My brother and I have just been having a an old fashion singalong....


Don't you open that, TRAP DOOR!
You're a fool if you dare.
Stay a-way from that, TRAP DOOR!
'cause there's something down there.


Where I grew up we only had the ABC so weren't exactly spoiled for choice, but judging by the number of our old favourites featured on this site... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:02 AM on May 15, 2006

.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 11:12 AM on March 27, 2006

More than 30 years after Benny Hill created traffic chaos in Turin this incident in Maroochy is the only concrete example of life imitating art? I don't know weither to be reassured or concerned by that. The story seems to be that these systems, key to the infrastructure of our society, are at the mercy of any well informed nar-do-well who comes along. Not only was there no security, there was precious little logging or auditing either. Not sure I quite understand the disparity here betwen... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 5:09 PM on February 16, 2006

I always thought anime would provide the Snow Crash movie for us. So far though, nothing... :(
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 1:38 AM on February 14, 2006

More anecdotal evidence I'm afraid, but I think generally, sadly, there is indeed a racist undertone to Australians. I recently went to a neighborhood Christmas party, and I was dismayed at the casual racism. I don't normally have too much to do with my neighbors beyond the odd wave and a few words in passing but they're perfectly normal middle class Australians. After a few drinks I was appalled to hear them vilify Aboriginals (drunken bludgers), Asians (boat people), and Arabs/Muslims... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 8:59 AM on February 13, 2006

Binliner: I don't want to fall into the "Australians are racist" camp and get flamed but I cant seem to shake that notion. Does anyone know of any studies/surveys that clear this up?

I've been trying to find something less anecdotal but there doesn't seem to be too much.

The University of New South Wales' Racism Project was the only study I could find that attempted to quantify the attitudes of people directly.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 7:54 PM on February 13, 2006

Ritchie, I thoroughly agree. Who was asked? How were they chosen? What were they asked? In what context? What did the asker believe these questions would tell them? What gaps or shortcomings have been identified in the data? Who failed to respond and what does that mean for our data? It was largely on this basis that I linked to these studies rather than say, an article referring to them, ("... according to a 2001 survey n% of Australians think...") of which there are plenty.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 9:26 PM on February 13, 2006

I'm firmly on the side of "nothing to suggest anything other than an accident" but, just hypothetically, if this was a deliberate act (by Al Qaeda or anyone else) would it actually be terrorism? I mean, this could be concidered a strategically relevent site, and there were a bare minimum of casualities and, so far, no casualties. That would seem to be leaning much more towards legitimate guerilla warfare than terrorism.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 3:30 PM on December 11, 2005

Gah. That second 'casualties' should be 'fatalities'.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 3:33 PM on December 11, 2005

Oh I'm so totally hooked. In a few hours my son flies off to the US. It'd be cool to be able to listen to his progress live.
posted to MetaFilter by adamt at 6:16 AM on December 10, 2005