Mark Phelps on a freaking horse?

It is a little difficult to feel you have thought about this when you cannot correctly name the man who is arguably the best swimmer of all-freakin'-time. That said, it is interesting that apparently swimming is the hardest of the disciplines to take up: you can learn to run and ride and shoot and whatnot, but it takes having been a world-class swimmer first. Yay water people!
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 1:00 PM on July 23, 2008

I don't understand the conceptual aversion to volume measurement.* It is really easy: fill this thing to the top.

* I get not having measuring cups.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 11:41 AM on June 10, 2008

Yeah, I went to the subway when I (a) moved far enough out that I tend to get a seat and (b) started missing my reading time. But I think the point is that many folks think cycling takes too long, and this proves it doesn't for your average commuter (who is unlikely to be taking a toddler and groceries to work).
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 11:47 AM on June 3, 2008

No seriously, most people I know think it takes a lot longer than it does. I used to think so. It is the illustration of one point, and an exercise to pique folks' interest. Fortunately, Transportation Alternatives spends the bulk of its time working to make cycling safer and more convenient.

As for "covering all the cases," no single option does that. That is why is preferable to live someplace where you can choose the option that works best. I want to read: I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 11:59 AM on June 3, 2008

It's kind of interesting that even in Manhattan, a city with great public transport and terribly congested roads, the car completely thrashes public transport -- even during rush hour

Fort Greene is in Brooklyn. That said, a car is often faster in NYC, but it is an expensive pain in the ass. Is the train faster in other cities (London, Paris, etc.) or is it a better option all things considered?

Also, looking at the location... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 12:31 PM on June 3, 2008

Oh, I see. Sorry, I can't watch the movie right now: I just extrapolated from the map. A commute where you have to take the bus to the train is not a commute many people are willing to make. Definitely not surprised the car won.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 12:47 PM on June 3, 2008

This is why a lot of clothing stores now sell fashion glasses. I own a pair. They're just pretty frames with clear plastic lenses. Vision is for chumps, man, but you don't have to look like one!

Fuck that shit. You didn't earn it reading by streetlights when you were seven. You don't get it. Just like short girls dating tall boys. We suffered for it when it wasn't cool, we get the rewards. Posers.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 6:15 PM on May 21, 2008

My tattoo is like this. I also just got a semicolon. As far as punctuation goes, I like the ampersand best for looks, but the semicolon for meaning.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 6:10 PM on May 21, 2008

Interestingly enough, in swimming right now there is a lot of debate about Speedo's newest racing suit. A ridiculous number of world records have been set since it came out a few months ago, and many folks are asking if the suit helps "too much." In addition to the hydrodynamic properties of the suit, compression has been amplified in certain places, possible helping folks with weaker cores hold better body position.

Interesting to see the debate pop up across... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 2:23 PM on April 10, 2008

Eh, some people just find the show annoying. I know I do. I don't like the pacing; I don't like the voice; I don't particularly like the show's POV. Altogether it grates. Just like some people can't stand the sound of styrofoam pieces rubbing together.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 1:03 PM on March 19, 2008

I thought the LA one was pretty accurate, except the "five" sounded funny. Others I can't say, since that is the one I know best.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 9:31 AM on March 2, 2008

I'm too tired to look it up, pineapple, but once upon a time, when I was in school, we were taught the Sun Belt migration (based on AC and lack of unions) as established fact with citations and whatnot. So what any major dude is talking about is or was a somewhat substantiated theory.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 7:56 PM on October 16, 2007

It isn't amblyopia. Because that limits me and the magic eye too (and geez do I have the eye surgery and prescription to prove it), but I can make the dancer switch at will.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 6:56 PM on October 9, 2007

What bea said. Besides, all the people trying to keep their kids out of the water are the source of grownups who fear the water forever: the sooner they go in, the less likely kids are to be afraid; the less tense they are, the easier it is to learn how to swim; the easier it is to swim the safer you are. So contribute to the future: drop a baby in a pool today.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 5:51 AM on October 4, 2007

There is definitely something between the seventies-style up-to-yr-neck waist and the nineties-style, better-get-a-wax-before-you-put-those-on "waist." And while I am not generally a giant Old Navy fan, I have found them there. I hope this variety of rises trend continues.

(And nice link.)
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 1:05 PM on September 9, 2007

When the revolution comes, the slow walkers are first against the wall.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 6:49 AM on August 16, 2007

To begin with, football: eh.

BUT. For a long time I would have been with the sports are less valuable folk on this site. I was a gigantic nerd and I found academics awesome: I was all APed out in my little plaid skirt with my novels and chem texts and I loved it. As an adult, I've come to enjoy sports, and honestly? The things I've learned from training hard are different from the things I learned from studying hard, but at least as worthwhile. I wish sports had had more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 8:39 PM on August 9, 2007

The skills learned in sports are typically not applicable in the real world, at least I know of no jobs outside pro sports where tackling, hitting a baseball, throwing balls, etc are necessary skills.

Oh c'mon. If you are so smart, you should be able to see that's not all sports teach. Or to go to the library and get some awesome sportswriting that will make it clear.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 8:41 PM on August 9, 2007

"Oh c'mon. If you are so smart, you should be able to see that's not all sports teach."


Okay, I'm game. What do sports teach that wouldn't be taught by a well-rounded academic program?

Well, as I learned in English class, I shouldn't do your research for you. I mean, your school did teach you how to use a library?

But anyway, sports taught me a physical courage and mental... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 8:53 AM on August 10, 2007

You're not serious -- you make an assertion then send your disputant to the library to make your case for you? Gee, I can't say I ever saw that tactic attempted on the debate team. (Not that I was on one.)

No, I made the assetion that people wondering what one got from sports were being disingenuous, because obviously with their big academic dicks, they could have figured out the answer had they been genuine in wanting one. Did they teach you how to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 10:59 AM on August 10, 2007

Yeah, uh, I see an awful lot of people around here saying that high school sports taught them all sorts of life lessons IMPOSSIBLE to learn elsewhere -- and yet, I've known many adults who never played sports who had those same qualities, in spades.

How exactly does that work?

Different people learn things differently.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 5:39 PM on August 10, 2007

What better way to commit to a life of celibacy than to have the periodic table of the elements tattooed on yourself.

Just like to emphasize: science tat == 8 kazillion hot points added to your total. To be fair: I have a punctuation tattoo and am planning another.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 6:14 PM on August 8, 2007

I live above the line! Take that, suckers. When the time comes, sleeping places on my floor will go to the highest bidders.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 2:12 PM on August 4, 2007

Me too, desjardins, me too.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 2:39 PM on August 3, 2007

Yeah. Still not making me cook. Also, am I the only person who rarely finds recipes that make something they want to eat? I have not done careful research or anything, but every time I look at a cook book or list, I just find things unappetizing and stop. And go back to Trader Joes.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 12:42 PM on July 18, 2007

It is significantly more effort than I am willing to put forward. Because it is hard and I only have so much time. Chopping makes me sad. Buying raw ingredients means I have to eat the same shit over and over and it all inevitably goes bad. If you like cooking, then it is worth the time. But if you don't? No way. And all the quick recipes are lies.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 1:02 PM on July 18, 2007

Hm. Posted too soon. As far as I have ever found, food I like is too time consuming to make, and "quick" recipes are either bland, meat, or not actually quick.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 1:04 PM on July 18, 2007

sour cream in scrambled eggs

If someone offered me that, I'd beg them to kill me. Sour cream is the source of overpowering blandness that destroys any true flavor within range.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 3:14 PM on July 18, 2007

POD is crap compared to offset. Maybe you don't care, but I will never, ever pay for a POD quality book in the same way I am never drinking crappy beer. Life is too short.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 7:37 AM on July 9, 2007

Also, Harry Potter is popular because the story is good and the invented world compelling. I read plenty of well-written stuff, but for crack books, HP is high on the list.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 7:38 AM on July 9, 2007

Last I read, you can't tell a POD copy apart from a standard paperback.

Maybe it is because I work in books, but I can tell. I think most people can if they bother looking. But since this is the internet, I guess we can't test it.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 7:48 AM on July 9, 2007

Oh, wow, thanks for that brilliant Internet-ranger observation. Obviously they are shit in my opinion. I already said that. But hey, you couldn't get a real publisher to do your book, so you want to believe that those vanity presses are okay. Way to go.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 10:16 AM on July 9, 2007

You know, bittergirl and lonefrontranger, I had a bad day and I took it out on you: sorry. That said, I think vanity publishing, which is what "self-publishing" is, is bad for both authors and readers. And leads to poorly made book-objects on top of it. You can disagree and I am fine with that, but like I said, as far as I have had experience, vanity presses have low quality in all ways, and if you feel your project is not low quality, it has been obscured by the general trend.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 5:45 PM on July 9, 2007

I'm sorry haterz, but no, this meme will never stop being funny. It has endless mutations of lolsome.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 7:16 PM on July 6, 2007

God, I miss living in New England sometimes.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 10:08 AM on July 5, 2007

It's called a restaurant. As long as you don't look like a savage and you ask nicely, they'll let you go.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 11:09 AM on July 3, 2007

"Correct" has no meaning other than "what native speakers say."

Oh give me a fucking break. I see today you are wearing your Defender of Descriptivism Derby and I know that it is a popular hat, but language does have parts and rules and reasons behind those rules, because in general it is a pattern. Are there exceptions to rules, often made because people find it pointless and start contravening it? Sure. But it isn't some crazy... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 1:07 PM on July 1, 2007

The religious folk think they can intuit the rules and reasons just because they're bright and literate, or they think they know them because they take the word of an Authority.

Actually, that is not so weird. You can intuit the rules if you pay enough attention in the sense that you can understand the pattern and put words to it. Likewise, taking the word of an Authority is a lot like believing in science because of what the scientists tell you, isn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 8:28 AM on July 2, 2007

Anywhere without water, food, shelter, heat, light and first aid is not a place I want to go on holiday anyway.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? And yet every year, millions of people visit the Grand Canyon, Sedona, AZ, the Grand Tetons, the Adirondacks, hurricane-prone Caribbean islands, salt-water fishing areas in the Gulf

And I wonder why they do. Honestly, I hate camping. I don't want to survive the apocalypse either.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 5:10 PM on June 29, 2007

Awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 8:57 AM on June 28, 2007

Ah, but you forget, the iPhone is not a fashion accessory for most geeks. It is a tool. A functional piece of technology that will be utilized to it's utmost, hacked, modded, and used to augment the said geeks already numerous computing devices. It is worth the $500. A bag from a designer label? Sorry, I have a really nice $75 backpack that can carry more, is more durable, less likely to be scuffed or messed up by extensive use, and comes with a thermos.

It's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 11:33 AM on June 27, 2007

Sea foam comes before seaborne. Last Name, First Name. There is no difference between the metaphorical and literal Viking.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 11:00 AM on June 22, 2007

Ugh. Fuck Bloomberg. All the stupid people are on his jock while he pretends to do stuff, all the while not doing anything useful. Wasting time on the Olympics and the West Side stadium no one wants? Congestion pricing, which will affect the outer-borough New Yorkers (you know, the actual middle class) disproportionately, over say, green rooftops initiatives that would actually make the city nicer for everyone? Missing the most basic urban-planning knowledge and supporting Bruce Ratner's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 12:34 PM on June 20, 2007

But at least he doesn't have a private office.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 12:34 PM on June 20, 2007

Also, fet, 311 fixes your shit when you live in Midtown. Meanwhile, in Bushwick, getting a street plowed in a reasonable timeframe would be a miracle. He's a rich mayor for rich assholes and people who would like to be. And people who don't bother to look behind things.
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 12:37 PM on June 20, 2007

Um, duh?
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 1:11 PM on June 19, 2007

I am physically incapable of seeing these! So then when people oooh and ahhh, I start telling them about how my eyes are effed up, and then I show them how I can only make one eye go up. Then I am more popular than the "magic eye"--mine is real and creepier!
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 9:45 AM on June 19, 2007

What is up with the fetishization of factory work on the "left"?

Unions. Which you know make sure people don't get totally reamed. And were a traditional source of left support.

Besides, you don't get poor people benefits by playing on altruism, because most people are selfish bastards. You get it by making the same benefits apply to the whole bottom stratum, which used to be really poor folks + blue collar workers.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 7:48 AM on June 14, 2007

who, people who like words
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 10:29 AM on June 13, 2007

I see I've been doing it all wrong, TGC!
posted to MetaFilter by dame at 11:18 AM on June 13, 2007