Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 551
MeFi post:
Googles social interface
I don't want to sound like a Google fanboy, I'm just trying to figure out what problem this feature is solving.
Exactly. If it ain't broke, and really, it isn't, don't fix it. One of google's initial strengths was it's incredible simplicity. For the most part, they've held on to it. Don't blow it now.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 7:52 AM on July 23, 2008
MeFi post:
PorNOTgraphy, AMIRITE?
I'm not high yet because I've just rolled out of bed, but I laughed like a drain.
Riiiight.
*backs away slowly*
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 12:55 AM on July 17, 2008
MeFi post:
Dalai Lama teaches the Lam Rim at Lehigh
What's with the male voice that whispers things, quickly repeated by Tenzin, throughout that speech?
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 9:21 PM on July 16, 2008
Ah, later on it's clear that he's saying words in... tibetan most of the time... so they're translations. But other times it seems unprompted.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 9:27 PM on July 16, 2008
MeFi post:
"It was beautiful, kind of like abstract art"
Faint of Butt: I know about character frequency; that would pretty much have to be the first thing to go in order to make a code really tough. What if I were to say that this:
gggggggggggggggggggggggg
There are an infitude of ways this could encode a message. Generally, with "short" messages, it can be very difficult to determine whether there is any actual signal in the noise. And "signal" itself is quite... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 3:56 PM on July 16, 2008
MeFi post:
530 pounds, 240 kilograms, 38 stone.
That was excruciating.
She seems to be wresting with a sense that it is possible to be overweight and healthy.
I don't understand this. I've read a bit about fat acceptance and the more radical adherents seem to deny what is pretty well accepted medical science...
They contend that accepting fatness will make people less likely to aspire to achieve a healthy weight. Fat activists, on the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 1:51 PM on July 14, 2008
On (what should have been) Preview: What WCityMike said.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 1:52 PM on July 14, 2008
I accept all sorts of things I disagree with and find personally odious, because to not do so isn't really my business. I mean, what are the other options? Write long missives about how being fat IS unhealthy, god damn it, so stop being so crazy and drop the sandwich?
No, I don't think it makes sense to comment on the health decisions of individuals unless you know them really bloody well.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 2:00 PM on July 14, 2008
So all those plump statues of the Buddha, Babylonian fertility goddesses, Greek and Roman women, and paintings of generously sized Renaissance babes were all done without models? - tkolar
The Fat Buddha is, in fact, Siddartha Guatama during pre-buddhahood when he was experimenting with extreme indulgence (and in turn, asceticism) - he was a born a prince. After attaining Buddha-hood he is not thought to have been portly. Babylonian fertility... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 4:55 PM on July 14, 2008
were exclusively depicting the wealthy - when depicting more voluminous figures.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 4:57 PM on July 14, 2008
MeFi post:
Dub(step)
Whoops, one of my links disappeared in editing... add Boxcutter to that list.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 5:45 PM on July 11, 2008
Burial is great!
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 5:58 PM on July 11, 2008
(I didn't link before because his myspace profile is a bit... sparse. fair bit of stuff on the Hype Machine though. Basically the whole self-titled album is great.)
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 6:01 PM on July 11, 2008
Why in the name of Christ would you want to pigeon-hole your sound by labeling it? Isn't labeling an obsolescent practice from the bad old A&R days?
Usually, I'd totally agree but many of the people in this "genre" are from the same part of the world, know one another, and play at the same clubs. So it's sort of a mutual-influence thing.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 6:02 PM on July 11, 2008
The dubstep classification is also there to say that you can't listen to this music at home because your subwoofers aren't powerful and deep enough.
Dude, whatever.
*climbs down ladder on side of subwoofer to go make a sandwhich*
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 6:27 PM on July 11, 2008
I can't hear the bass fully on a pair of Mackie SRM450's, a fairly decent set of speakers.
The first time I truly Heard The Bass was at a skream gig in Gent, Belgium. It's completely unlike anything else in music.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 6:41 PM on July 11, 2008
MeFi post:
House of Gauss
If you wonder why EEs seem unusually prone to looking like crazy neckbeards... keep in mind this is how you begin to see the world.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 10:41 PM on July 10, 2008
damn dirty ape: To be clear though, that's going to show the effects of the magnetic field, but in a round about way. Holding string between two points... it forms a curve due to a gravitational field. But that curve is more complex that the field lines.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 12:07 PM on July 11, 2008
(Which is to say, cohesion and other interactions between the particles are signficant forces in the formation of those structures. Ferrofluid is so cool.)
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 12:08 PM on July 11, 2008
MeFi post:
Honey, where's the remote?
God, the principle behind the "remote control" method is so brilliant I'd have the researcher's children (metaphorically speaking). It's like an electromechanical RFID tag!
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 8:22 AM on July 9, 2008
Oh, and as far as "hacking" one of these... implementing cryptographically secure authentication (in ones scrotum) is pretty trivial if you can do the mechanical bit. There is no getting around the simple physics of inverse square radio energy falloff... you'd probably notice if someone were trying to brute force your chip.
Ladies, please a little breathing room please. I'm starting to think you're having a go at my vas deferens.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 8:26 AM on July 9, 2008
MeFi post:
Being slightly evil ensures a prolific sex life
Actually, it matters how many of those children go on to reproduce.
No, it simply doesn't matter. After every generation the average amount of your genetic information that will transferred to your kids is 50%. Next generation, 25%. After that, 12.5%, 6.25%, 3.1%, 1.5%, 0.7%, 0.3%, etc.
After two generations you're contribution is pretty trifling. But let's say you carry the Serious Player gene, and you crank out 20 kids. So... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 11:28 AM on July 3, 2008
MeFi post:
Everybody loves a choo-choo
This is wonderful.
I have a NYC subway map hanging over my monitor right now, and DC metro one above that (my family lives in DC). This reminds me how badly I want to live in NYC.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 1:16 PM on July 2, 2008
MeFi post:
A History of Techno
They put Kraftwerk in the top spot, so they got at least one right. Massive Attack above Aphex Twin? In terms of influence... I guess, but artistry? This list would pretty closely match my own, but the order seems a little random. I'm not sure how I feel about DJ Shadow's inclusion... if that qualifies, why not The Avalanches?
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 10:48 AM on June 29, 2008
MeFi post:
Holy Fucking Shit: 40,000
Okay, just listened to a half dozen of the tracks.
Meh. It sounds exactly like what you'd expect if someone sat down and tried to sound like a long list of trendy influences. stupidwordsrunningtogetheralbumtitle is annoying as well. The plodding drumming does really work for me in any of the tracks - much of Joy Divisions power came from their totally frenetic drumming style.
Over 80 pages in length, written by a University of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 9:22 PM on June 28, 2008
the plodding drumming doesn't really work for me. gah, I need to get some sleep.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 9:24 PM on June 28, 2008
MeFi post:
micro
This has been a favorite of mine for upwards of a year. It's really great, but I'm not sure this is a great post.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 6:15 PM on June 28, 2008
MeFi post:
The Women Who Wore The Pants
Wait, they call themselves men, they're treated as men, they have the same access to male culture that men do, yet the article keeps using feminine pronouns? What the fuck is that?
I think it makes the article a lot less confusing actually. People can have complex gender identities, but we don't need to upend our reportage of simpler biological facts because of that. Why would it even be insulting? I think it was dealt with it very well, using... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 9:20 PM on June 25, 2008
MeFi post:
Don't talk to the police
Yes. This is an incredibly important lesson more people need to learn, for all our sake.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 8:05 PM on June 25, 2008
Still, in the vast majority of situations, being honest with the police is the right option.
This assumes that most of the time the police are acting in the best interest of the citizenry. I've almost never found that to be the case, and I'm a lily white kid from the the suburbs. If you really do have useful information to give to the police, and for some reason believe they'll be improving the world with your help, do it through a lawyer.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 8:26 PM on June 25, 2008
Also, you should use all your rights on principle. If only the guilty use their rights, it'll only be easier to sweep them away.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 8:30 PM on June 25, 2008
This ACLU produced video is good for the specific case of road stops.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 8:33 PM on June 25, 2008
MeFi post:
The Weather Underground documentary film
Those kids were deluded and idealistic, in every negative sense of that term. But they cared, they did what they earnestly believed would help, which is a lot more than I can say.
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 1:17 AM on June 23, 2008
MeFi post:
Remembering Tony Wilson
This version of Love Will Tear Us will tear us apart is one of my favorite tracks. The energy around 1:45... just... ahhh. Do yourself a favor and download it (it's the Peel Session version from 1979). Subsequent versions had terrible production.
Disorder sounds like the sun setting on a sunday afternoon when you haven't gotten anything done, you know you'll be up all night, and your smallness in the world is disquieting.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 6:28 PM on June 21, 2008
MeFi post:
"No fixed pushers, and no magnet skateboards."
Ah, I love this, can't believe it hasn't been here before.
It's all in the details... the way they cross their legs over the boards first.
For those of you wondering what the hell this is all about, it's a parody of the hipster obsession with fixed gear bicycles, which have only one speed and cannot coast. Track bikes, used in velodromes were the first configured this way for reasons specific to that sport. The configuration won... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phrontist
at 9:59 PM on June 17, 2008
