Great work by Teall and Flux; funny as hell. I know some of you think it a shame that Emmerich "bought" his taste, but that's what professionals are for. We don't expect people to be their own lawyers. Anyway, there are more samples at the Flux website.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 4:09 PM on August 7, 2008

Glad to see everyone is joking and having a good time and making the same joke over and over and over, but this is a pretty serious issue, and I hope that this Ladyman fella and his alter-ego "Mark Williams" get(s) hit by a truck.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:20 PM on August 7, 2008

Some people read McCarthy and Murakami and Roth and Eggers and Rushdie and yes D. F. Wallace and the ever-hated S. King and Calvino and Eco and Updike and sometimes even People magazine and Ecclesiastes all in the same day and also manage not to get in sissy slap-fights on the internet about whether or not the 973rd most widely-read writer in the U.S. is more or less twee or noteworthy or hipster than the 976th most widely-read writer in the U.S., then drawing some ridiculous conclusions about... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:34 PM on August 6, 2008

If a website is linked to on MetaFilter, and then the post is deleted, it magically disappears from the internet and no one's copyright is infringed. PHEW!

Wondertwins yhbc and dnab activate!
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 11:16 PM on August 5, 2008

Other hospitals are more aggressive, routinely sending uninsured immigrants, both legal and illegal, back to their homelands. One Tucson hospital even tried to fly an American citizen, a sick baby whose parents were illegal immigrants, to Mexico last year; the police, summoned by a lawyer to the airport, blocked the flight. “It was horrendous,” the mother said.

Serious question: why do journalists say shit like "one Tucson hospital" and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 1:18 PM on August 3, 2008

I'm still reading the grand jury report. It is astonishing. The incompetence of the DHS employees (and those of MultiEthnic) would be sufficient to get you terminated in about, oh, three hours at your average privately-owned business. How is it that bureacrats like Cheryl Ransom-Garner are never fired or disciplined or replaced until they do something that winds up in the papers? How come the fry cook ay Rally's can get shitcanned for showing up late, but at a state agency you can make two... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 10:43 AM on August 2, 2008

Why the hell didn't this girl's family surrender her to the state if they couldn't be bothered to take adequate care of her?
posted by orange swan at 12:03 PM on August 2

Because then they can't cash her social security check.

I hope that the state continues to give Andrea Kelly three meals and day and a bed to sleep in, in the darkest cell PA's prison system has to offer.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 12:15 PM on August 2, 2008

I wouldn't put it past them to pollute Mars with Earth life forms

That's ridiculous. NASA has a Planetary Protection Office tasked with preventing exactly that.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 9:52 AM on August 2, 2008

As a designer, it's hard not to agree with Draplin, who is a great and talented guy. But a lot of the fault lies with the consumer, who balks at the idea of paying professional prices for professional work, and with the small business owner who will charge $15,000 for a simple illuminated cabinet sign yet who only pays his 19 year-old designers $9.50 an hour.

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to change something that frankly makes the project way worse.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 12:45 AM on August 1, 2008

Secondly, leave Blippo alone, I believe it was Robert Bringhurst who said, "There are no bad typefaces, only ones you know how to use or don't know how to use."
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 11:46 AM on August 1

First of all, Bringhurst himself said "I once believed that there were no bad typefaces, just misunderstood ones. I am no longer so sure when I see type [designed by] Zuzana Licko." (And I'm a fan of Licko's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:03 PM on August 1, 2008

The total absence of any known motive on the part of Ivins is troubling.

It was probably just a big-ass check from Karl Rove & Company.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 11:38 PM on July 31, 2008

FDR entered Columbia Law School in 1905, but dropped out (never to graduate) in 1907 because he had passed the New York State Bar exam.

Kennedy graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in international affairs.

Gandhi was by all accounts an average student in high school, but he did go on to law school and by the age of 25 he had founded the Natal Indian Congress.

Doesn't look so irrelevant to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:28 PM on July 30, 2008

At meetings, activists would later say, Sapone advocated taking illegal or violent action to advance the movement. She befriended a 33-year-old activist named Fran Trutt, who in November 1988 would be arrested for planting a remote-controlled pipe bomb near the parking space of US Surgical chairman Leon Hirsch. According to Trutt, on her way to carry out the bombing she lost her nerve and placed a call to Sapone, who convinced her to follow through with the plan—a fact that prompted... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 11:45 AM on July 30, 2008

Most of us long time CM riders make a point of calling any yahoos out for confrontational behaviour
posted by regicide is good for you at 6:24 PM on July 29

And some, like caddis, revel in it. Congratulations, caddis. You know that asshole in the SUV? He's just ignorant - but you're ignorant and malicious, which is much worse, and much sadder.

And if this is the behavior you're going to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 6:46 PM on July 29, 2008

If only the liberals and conservatives would cancel each other out... Paradise!
posted by a3matrix at 12:06 PM on July 28

Liberals don't go to conservative megachurches and shoot people. But conservatives have been known to go to liberal churches and shoot people. I'll stick with the liberals, thanks.

I'm not a religious man. But I like the UUs; they're good folk. This is sad, and sadly predictable.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 12:13 PM on July 28, 2008

Nobody will ever convince me that Obama didn't think his note would be read, or even published.

True, and nobody will ever convince you that Senator Obama isn't a puppy-kicking Muslim who hates women and wants to turn America into a radioactive wasteland. So who cares what you think?

I'd be a lot more convinced by anti-Obama arguments if they weren't all predicated on Ron-Paul-style insanities. You could talk about his tax... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 3:57 PM on July 27, 2008

What happens to the old slips of paper?

The old notes are considered to have religious significance and are buried in a nearby cemetery according to Jewish tradition.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 4:19 PM on July 27, 2008

How is it that I haven't heard a serious PEEP from Obama supporters about his shredding of the 4th Amendment with a "yes" vote on the FISA bill?

I guess you haven't been reading then - Obama supporters both here and elsewhere were largely disappointed by his FISA stance; however, one vote that I disagree with doesn't mean that I'm cutting off my support. When his position on civil liberties is worse than McCain's, then I'll vote for McCain.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:06 PM on July 27, 2008

So who's a liar? [. . .]

Police have cordoned off a broad section of the city centre around the speech venue, where European bands and DJs are to warm up the crowd before Obama takes the stage at around 7:30 pm.
posted by MetaMan at 4:54 PM on July 27

Yes. Obama was the main event. Before main events there are these things called "openers." By your logic the reason so many people show up to Rolling... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:11 PM on July 27, 2008

MetaMan, if Hillary is so great, and Hillary is supporting Senator Obama, why not follow her lead? Clearly, you trust her judgment. Why are you second-guessing her now?
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 11:05 PM on July 27, 2008

She's not supporting Obama because she thinks he's a viable candidate. She does want to defeat McCain.

These two sentences contradict each other. Can you understand that?

That said, the silence from the Obama's peanut gallery on his many profuse *changes* (not change) has been deafening.
posted by MetaMan at 11:26 PM on July 27

Okay, I'm done with you. Your repeated lies are tiresome and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 11:59 PM on July 27, 2008

Because objectively speaking, Thomas did kill Alexandersson.

No, getting hit by a train killed him. Thomas had no way to stop the train.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 6:43 AM on July 21, 2008

"Skinheads from Maine" features the worst New England accents on TV since "Larry, Darryl and Darryl" from Newhart.

You of all people should know that an over-the-top, "bad" accent is funnier than a joyless, boring, accurate one.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:47 PM on July 19, 2008

But you must believe me that if it was the native dialect of where ever you grew up, you'd think it was totally unfamiliar and disappointing. But you'd also (like me) be unqualified to say whether people from other areas should find the accent funny.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:42 PM on July 19

Ayup.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 9:07 AM on July 20, 2008

Dana Carvey doesn't make me laugh. Let's be honest. If you call yourself a comedian, you kinda have to make me laugh for me to take you seriously. I'm sorry to hear he's had "medical issues" in recent years. I'm not gonna start laughing cuz I feel sorry for him.
posted by ZachsMind at 1:21 PM on July 20

Failed stand-up comic calls amazingly successful stand-up comic and multi-year star of Saturday Night Live... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:54 PM on July 20, 2008

Unimaginably bad. Worse than I expected, and I didn't expect much. It was so bad that I'm actually angry at the developers of a game - an entire series - that I never cared about. I just want them to be punished for being really fucking bad at their jobs. Where does the money come from? How do they pay the bills?

Four fucking minutes of logos enlarging and shrinking to some godawful music. Note to whoever was paid to do... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:23 PM on July 18, 2008

I donated $10 before I saw this post, and I'm glad it's getting more attention. Good luck in your fight against Kissinger Q. Meanface, Sean.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 8:41 PM on July 16, 2008

Which will allow his opponent to say... now let's see... to say that Mr. Tevis is trying to buy the election with a large infusion of cash from outside radicals, foul-mouthed atheist internet kids (they'll quote some of you). . .

Yes, but his opponent won't have the money to tell anyone.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 10:32 AM on July 17, 2008

I will say, Sean, that for an Information Architect you do a fucking awful job of updating your site. Three thousand people - five times that of any other KS state leg pol - have donated to you in the last 48 hours, and yet the number tally hasn't been updated since what, noon? And your last blog entry is from July 11, regarding your E-PAC endorsement. It's probably wise in some sense to take things slowly, but you're dealing with Internet time now,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 10:39 PM on July 17, 2008

From the story about the NOPD cop brandishing a gun without cause, with children around:

"At that point one of the witnesses called 911, but several people said the responding officer spoke privately with the angry woman, then said loudly as the two walked together that she should've shot a man who told her to put her gun down because children were present, witnesses said."

But remember, everyone - not all cops are... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:11 PM on July 17, 2008

Right, cause that story totally proves that. Except, uh, it doesn't.
posted by wildcrdj at 5:15 PM on July 17

You're absolutely right. What proves it is that law enforcement officers, especially local police, are never arrested by their fellow officers when they break the law. Officers are only arrested or disciplined (usually the latter, almost never the former) when they are caught on tape or the person they wound... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:30 PM on July 17, 2008

Content: pretty boring.

Animation: mind-blowing. Did I miss a few years or something? Is there other Flash stuff being done this well? Or is this traditionally done and then packaged in a Flash container?
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 12:01 AM on July 17, 2008

His body was found by police on 5 July, who said his death was not suspicious.

A spokesman for the coroner said: "As far as we know nobody else was involved. There's nothing suspicious about the death."

A Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman confirmed his death was not suspicious.

"We were called to the address on Bodmin Road on 5 July at approximately 4.20pm to a non-suspicious death," she... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 9:12 PM on July 16, 2008

Jesus Christ, what a waste of a brilliant, important mind. I hope he recovers.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 10:28 PM on July 15, 2008

Hasty, ill-advised marriages are pretty much the norm among young soldiers, aren't they?
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:36 PM on July 15, 2008

Maybe. But does that preclude some empathy, Optimus?
posted by jonmc at 2:41 PM on July 15

It has nothing to do with empathy. I'd have been surprised if the marriage lasted more than three years even if Ziegel hadn't been disfigured.

I have nothing against hasty, ill-advised army dude marriages: I'm the grandchild of just such a pairing like pretty much everyone here.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:46 PM on July 15, 2008

Why waste America's homosexuals on the military?
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 8:01 PM on July 14, 2008

I'd say rumors of its death are greatly exaggerated. The decision was reversed.

Barely. And it shouldn't have gotten that far in the first place. It shouldn't even have become a case, because Kerry Wilson should have been beaten to death by the PTA. I'm not even joking on that last part.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 9:29 AM on July 13, 2008

He's not alone: the American people will have potentially fatal asshole problems until January 2009.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 8:26 AM on July 12, 2008

Are you really on the good side if you're cheering on the death of your enemies?
posted by smackfu at 10:18 AM on July 12

Yes, because the evil side murders their enemies. We just wait patiently for nature to take its course.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 11:03 AM on July 12, 2008

.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 10:55 AM on July 12, 2008

I'd do an even swap - every Latin American country gives us everyone who wants to work here, they have to take everyone who gets a boner about patrolling the border as a "minuteman."
posted by maxwelton at 1:00 PM on July 11

God, yes. Most of the "minutemen" are unemployed , uneducated, untrainable, useless white trash. Let me get this straight - at 10:00 am on a Tuesday, I'm at work, hundreds of thousands of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:31 PM on July 11, 2008

We need an amendment decreeing this instrument applicable to issues of male impotence. I am certain that my story is one of many.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 6:17 PM on July 8, 2008

Were the videographers there knowing something like this would happen?

Well, seeing as how this marks the twenty billionth time someone has been hustled out by cops for daring to disagree with a Republican candidate, I'd have to say that it was a near certainty.

Another reason to videotape things is because often police officers at those events will use weapons on peaceful protesters.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 7:42 PM on July 7, 2008

I walk out feeling like I got exactly what I was looking for.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 3:28 PM on July 7

That is unbelievably fucking sad.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 5:42 PM on July 7, 2008

Damn. This is hard.

I promised myself that I would be good and not talk shit about a dead man or woman in the next dead asshole obit thread. I know that we all fail to live up to our potential, and that I myself have been petty and unkind, and that all people deserve empathy and compassion.

And then Jesse Motherfucking Helms happens to be the dead asshole in the next dead asshole obit thread.

Fuck it. Good riddance,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 2:46 PM on July 4, 2008

I am using the ordinary everyday meaning of the word.

People who keep bleating about "blah blah the legal definition is" are, by this point in the thread, far past 'well-meaning but misguided' into 'wilfully ignorant and/or being deliberately provocative'.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 1:45 PM on July 3

Well, you're using a played-out and embarrassing rhetorical tactic called equivocation to change the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 4:58 PM on July 3, 2008

I simply don't understand the vitriol copyright holders have over all forms of perceived infringement. While the bulk of my income is not based on creative works, I am in a creative field and produce non-tangible things of value. But if someone uses a character or design I made and makes a t-shirt of it, or prints a poster, or uses it for other purposes, I don't care so long as a) they don't take credit for it and b) they don't attempt to profit from... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 6:35 AM on July 4, 2008

So - and I am asking this in all seriousness - what do you make of the fact that this week I donated about three hundred books to my local city library? I bought the books. I read them. But I didn't need them anymore and I wanted other people to be able to read them. In your calculus, would it have been better to just throw them in the trash? This is a serious question.
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 10:18 AM on July 4, 2008

Most books don't come with EULAs. None of mine did. I'm not asking whether or not what I did was illegal - we both know it's not - I'm asking whether you think it should be illegal. Should we only be allowed to donate to national libraries like the LoC and then only for archival purposes? What good is having archives if no one is allowed to access them? What should we do with the millions and millions of books at secondhand bookstores and lending libraries? Turn them into pulp? Your... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Optimus Chyme at 10:34 AM on July 4, 2008