Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 93
MeFi post:
Wombs for Rent
...but it would be incredibly wrong and closed-minded of me to judge others for doing so...
I think we can safely conclude that psmealey is not a Republican.
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 5:50 PM on December 30, 2007
MeFi post:
Pedants
If only frobozz had spelled "your" correctly.... And I absolutely love the idea of an International League of Pedants. We could have a secret sign and everything. I bet it would look like this:
_____/|/|
O \|\|
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 6:03 PM on September 29, 2007
I swear it looked good on preview!
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 6:03 PM on September 29, 2007
Who'se?
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 6:53 PM on September 29, 2007
MeFi post:
21st century financial panic
[From an AskMe question:]
crush-onastick writes:
...pick a [mortgage] lender that does not sell its loans...
Why does it matter if your lender resells your loan? Nobody downstream can change your terms. The downstream holder might end up in a world of hurt, insolvent, or whatever, but apart from possible hassles finding the correct person to make your payment to, what could happen?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 3:52 PM on August 10, 2007
grouse: Ah, thanks. I (probably foolishly) assumed that someone taking out a loan would consider his circumstances carefully and decline credit on terms that were likely to be unsupportable. But I forgot: that's not the American Way.
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 4:06 PM on August 10, 2007
MeFi post:
I fought the linux, and the linux won...
delmoi writes: You shouldn't have any trouble coming up with a specific example then, right?
How about Thompson's MP3 patents (possibly infringed by various open-source players); Unisys' GIF patent (since expired, IIRC, but nevertheless probably infringed for years) and some of Adobe's hinting type-rendering patents (AFAIK, open source software includes a compile-time switch that a user can turn on to enable infringing code, plus a README file that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 7:40 AM on April 28, 2007
MeFi post:
e
I learned something from this post. I learned, specifically, that Richard Feynman won the Noble Prize. I knew about that other prize, but not the Noble. I wonder how much he got for that one.
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 7:57 PM on July 24, 2006
MeFi post:
Rape, murder--it's just a shot away...
Put Saddam back in power. He'll quell the insurgency, stabilize the country, and drive out the "terrorists" - just like he was doing before "your" side screwed everything up.
I bet we can even sell him some WMDs to help in those difficult tasks. The money we make will help pay off the deficits we're running...
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 1:48 PM on June 30, 2006
MeFi post:
Don't cry for me, I'm already dead
I hear Geraldo likes to go over there.
Now that there's some TV I would watch: Shiite-Sunni cage deathmatch. With firearms and Geraldo. "Three will enter, only two will leave. Who will be first to destroy the sleazebag with the mustache?"
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 2:42 PM on June 23, 2006
MeFi post:
The geopolitics of opium
"It is becoming easier to manufacture mind-altering substances, and the Internet has spread that knowledge all over the world," said Martin Y. Iguchi, a professor of public health at the University of California, Los Angeles
That's it. Time to shut down teh Internet. It is clearly a force for evil, not good.
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 9:10 PM on June 16, 2006
MeFi post:
Anonymous Law Firm
There's a small firm in Colorado that has (had?) somewhat the same aesthetic, except I think it was for real. In fact, I found out about it from a Metafilter thread. Googling turns up some crumbs for Powers Phillips, but the main web site is down and most of the caches don't respond. (Maybe it's my connection?)
An excerpt:
Powers Phillips, P.C., is a small law firm located in downtown Denver, Colorado within convenient walking distance of over... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 7:46 AM on June 3, 2006
MeFi post:
Click here to edit this law.
People who enjoy sausages and respect the law should never watch either being made.
-Otto Von Bismarck (as near as I can tell)Most legislators are lawyers, and they still come up with these abortions. Current U.S. education is not adequate to produce a general public that is capable of understanding the laws that govern it, let alone writing laws that achieve a particular purpose. (Obviously, laws that funnel money to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 12:17 PM on May 5, 2006
MeFi post:
Nuclear Nightmares
Hmmm, these pictures were stunning, but wasn't it just a few days ago that word came of flourishing wildlife around Chernobyl? Googling gives a 2006 report in The Independent about some people who live there, and here's another report about wildlife.
The thing that surprised me most was the claim that the Chernobyl accident wasn't accidental. They allegedly ran an "experiment" at night on April 26, 1986, and blew up the reactor. I hadn't heard this, or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 11:57 PM on April 22, 2006
MeFi post:
A good place for a blind date
How do we get the attention of our guide?
You will call out their name.
I'd go if I could be assured of having a waiter named Marco.
Marco! ... Polo! Marco! ... Polo!
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 12:38 PM on March 17, 2006
MeFi post:
Florida vouchers ruled unconstitutional
amberglow: all cases start out as state or local cases
...except federal cases.
US Supreme Court cases can overrule state laws and state constitutions
...when those state laws and constitutions conflict with the U.S. Constitution in an impermissible way.
The U.S. Supreme Court could get involved if, for example, Florida enacted a law that permitted state cops... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 11:17 PM on January 5, 2006
MeFi post:
Et tu, Vox Day?
But I believe the Constitution is, in fact, a piece of paper vellum, and our true human rights are secured with the (eventual) uprightness of our public servants and the spirit of communality of purpose among the citizenry wrt the American Experiment.
If that were true, we're well and trulier fucked than any of us knows. Fortunately, the Constitution contains certain limits on the lack of uprightness history and common sense suggest - nay,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 11:46 PM on December 20, 2005
MeFi post:
The last straw
caddis wrote:
...kind of like walking up to the craps table and putting your bet on red...
Which "red" would that be?
Because the "COME" bets are some of the best odds in a casino...
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 7:13 PM on October 12, 2005
MeFi post:
It Can't Taste THAT Bad
...the world's richest nation couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery...
Those Brits, they have a way with words.
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 3:45 PM on September 20, 2005
MeFi post:
Hastert Questions Rebuilding New Orleans
When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp.
But the fourth one stayed up...
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 4:36 PM on September 1, 2005
MeFi post:
Garcia stamp petition.
It's a way for you to gladly accept a tax.
Stamps (at least of the postal variety) aren't a tax. They're a way for you to pay for the service of delivering your envelope from here to there. And we shouldn't even complain about rate increases -- just convert to "pennies per day" and you'll see that the delivery charge hasn't gone up in years.
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 5:32 PM on August 22, 2005
MeFi post:
who were they? where were they from?
After a brief look around the site, I can't tell whether the figures include people who "just happened" to die shortly after leaving Iraq. I'm specifically thinking of people who are seriously injured and taken to hospitals outside Iraq, but don't survive.
Does the DOD have a list of all active-duty personnel who die, anywhere in the world, of any cause whatsoever? If you're seriously injured, do you get a purple heart and an immediate... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 9:54 AM on August 10, 2005
MeFi post:
How's them apples?
atrazine: Incidentally, the ruling only applies to "areas", you can't just condemn one house, but it's the thought that counts...
Just briefly scanning the syllabus, I don't see anything that limits it to "areas." Why couldn't you condemn just one house? It's the thought that seems to count: if the city carefully formulates a development plan that involves building a hotel on Souter's property, you'd think they'd be good to go.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by spacewrench
at 2:05 PM on June 28, 2005
