Being a part of this thread warms my cockles. And then some.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:46 PM on June 4, 2008

The Metta is strong
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 4:02 PM on June 1, 2008

Our world was a better place with him in it. Can you just imagine, though, somewhere on the planet right now may be a scruffy toddler who will grow up through his or her own trials to become their own sweet, strong, fearless, loving, singing version of U. Utah Phillips? It's when I remember that we are still making great people that I lose some of the despair I feel at news like this.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 2:40 PM on May 25, 2008

In about 1977 I was trying to re-connect with a wonderful old girlfriend and found her at the Pratt Institute (art school) in Brooklyn. She was into all this (speaking of) avant garde art, some of which I actually liked, and took me on tours of Soho and museums. The only gallery I remember was a show consisting of fairly stark 8" by 10" b & w photos around the walls and a jukebox in the corner. The photographs were numbered and the numbers corresponded to tunes on the jukebox. You... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:05 AM on May 12, 2008

Dammit, why does he persistently refuse to come north of the Mason Dixon?



Really? That's a shame. I was kinda hoping I could get the Monadnock Folklore Society to bring Tom to the Nelson Town Hall. We can pack in over a hundred folks and they never charge more than 10 bucks. Another dream is dying.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:12 AM on May 8, 2008

It must have been pre-1963 that Willard Scott had a radio program in Washington, DC, with another guy. Absolutely all I remember about it is their theme song, which they sang in unison: "We are The Joy Boys of radio, we chase electrons to and fro...". Those were the days. It was good to be alive.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 4:25 PM on April 29, 2008

Good post. Great pun.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 2:39 PM on April 27, 2008

quidnunc
Your comment :


Wait a second. Is this just the kind of "boyzone" comment that's killing metafilter? Shouldn't I place myself in the position of my intended audience before making what is essentially a tired attempt at misogynist humour? I mean, I don't even have a wife! My whole comment is just pointless attention seeking, and I really should just think abou-

may be witty as all... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 9:52 AM on April 9, 2008

is it too cliche now or will it trip the Godwin alarm if I point out that every time I hear "homeland" used in the context the Bush administration uses it, I immediately think "Vaterland" and "Völkisch"?

Well, at least there are two of us. We didn't used to use this sort of language. Up until very lately, it was always the "bad" governments using such rhetoric to whip their citizens into a frenzy or just... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 3:22 PM on March 29, 2008

XM... The phrases you cite are not personal attacks on mefi members as is what Phaedon has been spouting. He's out of line.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:20 AM on February 1, 2008

Not a snark, really, but what good HAS come out of the last seven years of Bush/Cheney?

Besides the above-mentioned possble consciousness raising this period of Right-Wing hegemony (just wanted to use that word for the first time, doubtless incorrectly) may have brought about, my only hope for some good coming out of this is my firm belief in the role of Unintended Consequences as the Prime Mover. Of course, if that realy is the motivating priciple... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 1:44 PM on December 9, 2007

Good luck restoring some of the rights taken away in these repressive times. Maybe we in the US will get a clue from your actions. How politicians can blather about the need to spread freedom and democracy while curtailing these same things at home and not choke on their own words is amazing to me.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 5:47 AM on December 6, 2007

Wonderful books. I just bought the "His Dark Materials" set, having originally read library copies, so I can re-read them. Do I recall correctly that there's a mefi member named Serafina Pekkala, after one of Pullman's witches? I wish the movie version hadn't been sanitized -it's just as Dawson says, we are way too polite and sensitive to believers in invisible supernatural sky-beings.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 11:34 AM on November 30, 2007

These comments about how things should be Left to the Authorities, even if the Authorities will never do anything, are depressing

Second the motion. Let there be guerrilla fixeruppers! Very cool post.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:15 AM on November 27, 2007

shut up bitches
I don't like being called a bitch, by anybody. Nor do I like hearing/seeing anyone else called a bitch. I jumps off the page at me. It's rude. Do you think you could have made your point without the shock-value?
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:35 AM on November 25, 2007

Jeanette you ignorant slut...

Now what is this comment about? Didn't we have a great discussion about just this sort of thing over the weekend?
I'm a man, and this "slut" shit just makes me shudder.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 12:39 PM on November 19, 2007

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten. I didn't really like hearing it even then, but I suppose that was the whole point. Perhaps I was too fast on draw, and if so, I apologize.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 12:45 PM on November 19, 2007

Do need to have my humor-meter tuned up? I've been sitting here in shock since reading designbot's comment. Someone tell me.
On topic, as said above, trying to talk sense to True Believers is probably a waste of time.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 1:04 PM on November 19, 2007

Two cups of coffee over breakfast can be bracing and tasty, and a tea in the afternoon is nice. Just a hint of sweetener tastes wonderful. Tobacco used as a sacrament, may be beneficial and not cause cancer or emphysema. A little bit of alcohol used to celebrate special ocassions can enhance the experience.
This is not the way so many of us use these substances, though. Could it be that a dose or 3 of LSD really might be mind-expanding, or at least a good thing, but that tripping... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:47 AM on November 7, 2007

Kucinich 96%, Gravel 91%, Edwards 79% and Obama, who I had been favoring, only 70%. These quizes may be of limited utility, but they at least generate this sort of discussion, and I'm finding it interesting and helpful. Living here in NH, I get to actually meet lots of these candidates, and then I get to cast an early and influential primary vote.
What I don't want to do is "throw away" my vote as I feel I may have when I voted for Nader (in 200?).
... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 2:31 PM on November 2, 2007

Some liner note stated that Monk's wife called him "Melodious Thunk", which I've always thought was a pretty great name. Monk's music is what I often whistle as I go through the day, more off-key than on. Thanks for this.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:23 AM on October 29, 2007

Thank you all for some much-needed Friday afternoon bellylaughs. Carry on.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 1:57 PM on October 26, 2007

Here's a probably apocryphal bee story: Somehow, it goes, a person involved with the making of horror films heard that Eskimos from so far north that they had never even seen a bee, became afraid when exposed to the "sound of angry bees". So they shook up some bees in a jar, taped the resultant angry sound, and slipped that sound subliminally into the soundtrack of their next horror feature. I guess it was worth a try if you lacked faith in your ability to make a truly scary flick.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 12:23 PM on October 8, 2007

Tarantino gives me the willies and the shudders. I fear that if he didn't have moviemaking as an outlet for his madness, he would be acting out his shit in the real world. So I suppose it's good he has a way to work it out. Thanks for the post.To each his own, but this genre is not for me.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:53 AM on April 6, 2007

You would hope a technology rag would know the difference between science and metaphysics. Sheesh.
shownomercy: I just bookmarked this page to the category:Science and Metaphysics. I'm just ignorant.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:21 AM on January 26, 2007

I treasure a cardboard cutout of the three card-playing bats, "Bewitched, Bothered and Bemildred" from some old Pogo-related game or mobile. Pogo was the best.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:22 AM on January 25, 2007

for what its worth - DMT is also over-abundant in the brains of schizophrenics. They don't seem particularly blessed with keen introspection and self awareness.

My small acquaintance with schizophrenics has been very different. I've found them to be among the brightest, most self-aware and penetrating individuals around. Small derail over.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:19 AM on January 12, 2007

.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 1:04 PM on November 2, 2006

I'd love to see this, but my dialup status makes it impossible or at least improbable. Does anyone know if this film is available in a form I can access? I'd even buy it.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:09 PM on October 29, 2006

All I know is that Donella Meadows was a bright light and a lucid voice in this increasingly fucked-up world. She could cut through the crap and focus attention away from the spin and toward the real problems and real solutions. She left us too early and with no-one ( I know of) to take her place.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 5:27 PM on October 8, 2006

If the Bonnie Bramlett you're talking about is one half of Delaney and Bonnie or Bonnie and Delaney from way back when I was in my prime, then I'm going to have to ask you to step outside all over again, cause they were just the best at what they did (when they did it).
On topic: why should we care about this?
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 9:58 AM on December 2, 2005

I wish I'd thought to call myself "posthobgoblin".
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 2:50 PM on October 24, 2005

Reminds me of my own ad of 20 years ago which began: "Bad Catch wants True Love anyway..." and continued to mention that I was "too tall, too skinny...not upwardly mobile....drinks and smokes to excess...". This was to be an antidote to the then-current sort of ad in which all men seemed to claim to "love poetry and long walks on the beach" and to be in touch w/ their feelings. I did receive 6 replies and enjoyed dating one of the respondents who, picking up on my... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:43 AM on April 23, 2005

Squirrel expresses my feelings about NPR pretty well. When federal funding cuts were threatened, a couple of my friends urged me to contribute to save NPR . My response was that NPR was old and complacent and set in it's ways and I hoped that it actually would fail so that some bright and energetic upstarts could take its place. They began to lose me during the run-up to and the reality of the first Iraq invasion when even their opinion people seemed to go along to get along.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 6:05 AM on April 6, 2005

.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 11:22 AM on February 11, 2005

This is one of the best-designed sites I've seen. The illustrations are simple, clear and, in some cases, beautiful.
Also will doubtless improve my knifework.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 3:08 PM on February 2, 2005

You young folks are so funny with your pop culture and all...
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 2:17 PM on January 25, 2005

Hah! So I pretty much just liked the sound of it, and the "anti-consistency" connotation, when I was choosing a username.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:09 AM on January 13, 2005

Speaking of Toadies, isn't it interesting that the negative pile-on doesn't really start until Our Dear Leader has turned his thumb down on this post? The Red and the Blue don't really work for me, but using economic pressure (boycots) may be one of the few ways many of us have to ex[ress ourselves politically.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 11:02 AM on December 3, 2004

Thanks for this, mmahaffie. My cynical self needs reminders like this one about the things we spoiled Americans often take for granted.
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 7:05 AM on November 24, 2004

How can a person concentrate on these serious topics when kamlylyon has removed her shirt?
posted to MetaFilter by Hobgoblin at 12:50 PM on November 20, 2004