This isn't about political correctness, its just about politics. If the kid had accepted the invitation to be on the team sponsored by the league board member, then there is no way he gets banned from pitching. We have some major sour grapes going on here. The problem is the people who had the sour grapes were in a position to do something about it.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:46 PM on August 26, 2008

One of the funniest bits of French-bashing I heard was from a cousin of mine who said I shouldn't shop at Target because it was owned by the French. Its funny because Target is headquartered in Minnesota, and I figured that this myth must have grown out the custom of referring to the store "Targét". I guess not everybody got the irony in the pronunciation.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:27 PM on August 11, 2008

Another big advantage for the switch-pitcher is longevity. In the modern game, managers keep a very close watch on a pitcher's pitch count, and the clock is ticking once they get to 100 pitches in a game. With a switch-pitcher, you could keep a separate count for each arm and be able to go deeper into games without either of your arms getting tired. I'm sure pitching takes a toll on other parts of your body besides your arm, but I'm sure that is the first thing to get tired.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:49 AM on June 20, 2008

Some (mostly power) pitchers get almost all their velocity from their legs/lower body. Roger Clemens was a prime example. (Yes, he got the legs via steroids, but the baseball went so fast b/c of the legs.) You can tell when their legs start to go.

good point, but the switch-pitcher still has an advantage since they will be pushing off on their right leg when throwing right-handed, and left leg when throwing left-handed.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:54 PM on June 20, 2008

Very cool. Thanks for posting this. I played my own small part in making this happen. Back in the mid-80s I was a co-op student (i.e. intern) at NASA Ames Research center in Mountain View, CA. At that point, the Spitzer observatory was known as SIRTF (Space InfraRed Telescope Facility), and was based at Ames before being moved to JPL.

I was tasked with generating diagrams of the viewable sky for the telescope given the orbit, given the shape of the sun-shade and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:10 PM on June 5, 2008

I saw Phillip Glass perform this live with the movie about 20 years ago in Ann Arbor. I second the comments above that this was a very powerful movie when it came out.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:12 PM on May 11, 2008

I came late to this party as well..... I didn't even know it was a party. I found Two-Headed Boy through Pandora a year or two ago, which led me to the album. I was immediately hooked. Until I saw this thread, I didn't realize the album has had such a following.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:32 PM on February 10, 2008

My last dealing with Sears was a number of years ago. I bought a TV cabinet through at Sears. A couple days before it was supposed to be delivered, "Sears Home Life" went bankrupt. I thought I was dealing with "Sears", but apparently, "Sears Home Life" was not just the name of their furniture line, but was actually a separate company that had floor space within the Sears store.

They should have just said, "We're so... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 1:49 PM on January 4, 2008

If you can get the grandparents to watch the kids overnight, pop off to a B&B up in wine country, or over to Half Moon Bay.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 9:49 PM on October 27, 2007

Now if anybody was in need of a logo re-design, it'd have to be Sherwin Williams.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:41 PM on October 25, 2007

If the pentagon has written so many plans, why did it not plan for a scenario where we were not treated as liberators in Iraq. Its a zero sum game. Time you spend on planning for attacks on Canada is time you didn't spend on planning for all of the different scenarios that could have arisen in Iraq.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 6:40 AM on October 14, 2007

You just winged him, and made him a Unitarian.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:37 PM on August 8, 2007

Interesting trivia about Mike Bacsik: His dad was also a big league pitcher and had faced Henry Aaron while he was also sitting on 755 homers. (got this from the local announcers in SF)
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:42 PM on August 7, 2007

In the next phase, the army starts recruiting young video gamers into its ranks. The kids, who think they're just playing a game, are actually remotely controlling the TALON.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:16 AM on August 4, 2007

And along those lines, I've never understood why a lefty hitter batting against a lefty pitcher is supposed to be harder than righty on righty.

I think the answer is that a left-handed hitter can pick up the ball better off of a right-handed pitcher. Same for right-handed hitter vs. left-handed pitcher.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 9:50 AM on August 4, 2007

I originally read the post and interpreted it that the characters themselves would be blindfolded, which sounded weird, but intriguing. As it is, this is still intriguing, and the results a bit weird.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:33 AM on July 11, 2007

I like the shared bike idea if they make it work. I looks like it is going to run on a subscription basis which might intrroduce enough accountability into the system so that bikes are returned.

A group tried this in Ann Arbor when I was going to school about 20 years ago. for about two months, you would see these stickers all over campus saying: "The Green Bike Is Not Locked."

After a couple months, a bunch of beater bikes, spray... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 8:18 PM on June 5, 2007

Penn & Teller

Penn perhaps, but Teller is not exactly known for his oratory skills.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 9:48 PM on June 3, 2007

I just got back from Spiderman 3, where Bruce Campbell provided a hilarious cameo. Not to be missed.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:24 PM on May 19, 2007

Why stop at $82/day for an upgraded cell and a measure of safety. For $134/day you can upgrade to the cell with a hottub, and for $203/day you can get WiFi and daily footrubs from the guards.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:02 PM on April 28, 2007

Mr. President, the issue here is not that liberals want to see everyone suffer, its that no one should suffer. Instead of allowing the priviledged few to buy a "get out of jail" card, fix the system so that everybody can feel safe while paying their debt to society. This is not a question of lack of resources, this is a question of leadership. This would not be an issue if the guards knew there would be ramifications (for them) for letting prisoners get raped.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:30 AM on April 29, 2007

Check out E. Guittard for another quality U.S. chocolate maker. Made here in the SF bay area.

Given the news about Hershey's moving production overseas, the push to loosen the labeling requirements is probably meant so they can produce a product that is more stable during shipping. You have to keep real chocolate below about 90 degrees F, or it will loose its temper and you won't get that 'snap' when you bite into it.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:50 AM on April 23, 2007

MetaFilter: By Design, Not By Chance.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:10 PM on April 22, 2007

Note to Galileo: Duh, its obvious that the heavier ball is going to fall faster, why go through all the trouble of climbing the leaning tower of Pisa? (I bet its still 'obvious' to many people that the heavier ball will fall faster, its so intuitive, right?)

I think that this was a pretty cool study for no other reason than the way in which the internet was used to create the alternate universes. It probably would have been very difficult to carry out a study on this... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:17 PM on April 21, 2007

You laugh, but I was just reading an article recently about services in India that convert email to letters and deliver them to villages where there is no internet connectivity. They act as an email to snail-mail gateway.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:36 AM on April 1, 2007

The Pork Store in San Francisco (mainly for breakfast)
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 12:45 PM on March 28, 2007

I just watched the first 3 episodes on Sunday. The footage is awesome, but I thought the narration was not on the same par as the visuals. I wish they would have kept the David Attenborough narration for the US.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 3:49 AM on March 27, 2007

Perhaps you can satisfy your wanderlust on a smaller scale. Get an apartment in a different neighborhood. There are dozens of neigborhoods around the city, each with its own character. You could move to a new neighborhod every year or two, and not run out for decades.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 8:18 AM on March 17, 2007

My roommate in college was in the Michigan Marching Band drumline. The best numbers they did (besides "The Victors" of course) featured the drumline: Temptation and Hawaiian War Chant; because you can't have one without the other. [more MMB drumline videos... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 8:56 PM on March 16, 2007

DU: This sounded like a good 3 minute diversion, but the way to vote is to email the guy? Pfff.

The second link in the post probably meant to go here: here.

Just click on any name in one of the divisions to get a pop-up ballot for that division.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:46 AM on March 13, 2007

d'oh
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:47 AM on March 13, 2007

Arizona and Nebraska
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:47 PM on March 2, 2007

PEAK OIL: here's a fun activity: re-read the thread, replacing the words terrorist or jihadist with communist.

OK: here's a fun activity: re-read the thread, replacing the words communist or communist with communist.

Hmmm not sure what that will accomplish.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:43 PM on March 2, 2007

eurasian:Oh, and could someone in the know illuminate me on the whole 'cortex' thing?
See the MetaTalk thread.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 1:02 PM on March 1, 2007

Is it possilbe you are getting a couple stories intertwined here? The movie Excaliber ends with King Arther killing the bad guy in much the way you describe. There is a reconciliation of sorts as well between Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 10:26 AM on February 28, 2007

LooseFilter: If Fitzgerald really has Cheney in his crosshairs with Sealed vs. Sealed, then isn't impeachment sort of the least of the VP's worries? If he comes under serious legal indictment, he'll have to: 1. resign, and 2. try not to go to jail. get a presidential pardon.

There, fixed that for ya.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 1:11 PM on February 23, 2007

Metafilter: Lets go lower!
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:10 PM on February 21, 2007

I caught the Past From Above exhibit at the British Museum a couple weeks ago. Very cool.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 4:51 PM on February 14, 2007

The article has a pretty cool punchline. The coach has started using Google Earth to identify other green patches in the town, with the hope of making use of them for practice.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:03 PM on January 23, 2007

Check out the 3 worst signs; they're during the beginning of fall, the middle of the winter, and the beginning of spring. Those are all especially bad times for weather and road conditions.

Provided the opposite were true in, say, Australia and New Zealand, I'd say you were on to something.

You'd also expect that after a certain age, the differences in driving records would start to fade.
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 10:11 PM on January 22, 2007

If your camera is digital, you can also ask you question over at dpreview in the Canon lenses forum. Some lenses are interchangeable between digital and film cameras, so it may still be relevant.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 1:13 PM on January 3, 2007

Of course, I wonder how many kids do actually read the books. Part of the popularity of the Harry Potter series is, I'm sure, just being a part of it. How many kids buy the books so that they can tell their friends, "yeah, I have the new one too!" I would bet a respectable minority don't finish or even try to finish all of them.

You know, I'd say in several years, after all of the movies have been made, I bet fewer kids will read the whole... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:48 PM on December 21, 2006

I don't think it's fraud. Good marketing, a bad value for money, and probably not sustainable, but fraud?

Its not that the 1300% is fraud, its that they are presenting themselves as chocolate-makers, when in fact they are chocolatiers. An excerpt from the phone conversation the author had with the owner:

DF: So you guys make the chocolate?

KM: Uh-huh. We have a commercial kitchen here where... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 9:27 PM on December 20, 2006

OK, so after the deletion reasons, can you do one for:

"I for one, welcome our new ..... overlords"?, and
"This ....., it vibrates"?

(And no, I am not one of Mach5's sock-puppets)
posted to MetaTalk by mach at 10:52 PM on December 1, 2006

You could build an obscene coinstruction with 1000 pennies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 12:11 AM on December 1, 2006

Just a couple off the top of my head:
The Poseidon Adventure (New Year's Eve)
Lethal Weapon

You can also look at The Movie Timeline, which offers a chronological listing of movie events. This google search should yield a few results.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 11:17 PM on November 28, 2006

"Ehhh, What's Up Doc?"
"Abadee Abadee Abadde, That's All Folks!"
"That Wascally Wabbit!"
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:49 PM on November 28, 2006

I grill on a big charcoal Weber. I put the coals only on half of the grill. I then sear the steaks on both sides over the direct heat, and then move them to the indirect heat and put the lid on. Even if the coals flare-up while cooking, you don't have the steaks on there long enough to blacken.

The searing usually only takes a few minutes a side, so I keep an eye on it during this phase.

I found that when I used to cook the whole time over... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mach at 10:11 AM on November 28, 2006

In one of the areas I'd like to live - opposite a state park - somebody has a HUGE Confederate flag flying outside their house. (This is Michigan.)

But, that person has a right to fly it. Right?

Well, just as with the wreath, that would be regarded as speech. My example was the neighbor building an oil well or junkyard, which has more to do with land use (i.e. zoning)

My point was meant to be a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 11:49 PM on November 27, 2006

The difference between [zoning boards and building commissions] and an HOA is really only a matter of degree.

That, and accountability to the electorate, and being beholden under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution and assorted federal and state laws regarding government transparency and other trivial matters.

Most HOAs elect the governing boards, so yes, they are accountable to this electorate as well. I don't see... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mach at 12:34 AM on November 28, 2006