If the scenario plays out as you describe, look for a serious rehabilitation of "judicial activism" in conservative circles (albeit under the cover of "preserving our best traditions"). I imagine Scalia will become an ideological sinecure for republicans wandering in the wilderness of good governance. Republican legislators will have to learn how to make concessions with a majority and will make what common cause they can with the Blue Dog faction among the Democrats to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by felix betachat at 11:21 PM on October 6, 2008

You forgot the best one, the neuter accusative gerundive of obligation: e.g., pudendum: "that of which one ought to be ashamed".
posted to Ask Metafilter by felix betachat at 6:55 PM on October 6, 2008

God Naomi Wolf is inescapable these days. Here's to hoping her next book is called: "The Outrage Fatigue Doctrine."
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 6:07 PM on October 6, 2008

Ugh. Right.

See, proves my point...
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 6:12 PM on October 6, 2008

Hey, look on the bright side: we'll have the "War Memoir" genre locked up for decades.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 8:55 AM on October 6, 2008

Does that mean everything he writes is covered in blood?

Dude, wtf. Saddam was all GGG but then it got too heavy & he was all like "Safe Word!" But Bush was too into it and blood got all over the place and now the rest of the world is all like "DTMFA" but America was all "But we're in love!"

But we learned our lesson now.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 10:08 AM on October 6, 2008

America's NIV? What? We make it ours by mechanically copying its words and dressing that up in technological narcissism and wasted gasoline? How quintessentially American.

If Zondervan actually gave a good goddamn about what the text says, they'd put this choice nugget on an index card and send it to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Let the king who lives there spend the next few months copying that.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 9:18 AM on September 30, 2008

Rapture, hopefully.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 9:40 AM on September 30, 2008

I will pay someone cash money to have this religion thread not be about konolia.

TPS on point as always.

*repents in dust and ashes*
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 9:52 AM on September 30, 2008

Bummer when your backup plan involves a yank on Cory Doctorow's heartstrings.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 8:34 PM on September 29, 2008

or some other compromise in the middle.

Cross-post questions with the "travel" tag and have a single thread updated jointly from both sub-sites?
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 7:07 PM on September 29, 2008

That was my idea originally!

Obviously, you cross-posted it in my head.
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 7:23 PM on September 29, 2008

Here's a baseline for you.

3 1/2 stars.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 7:23 PM on September 27, 2008

Another baseline.

Also 3 1/2 stars.

this could get fun.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 7:26 PM on September 27, 2008

If Obama were smart and ruthless, he'd suggest that the debates go on, but that the economic debate be shifted to Friday and the foreign policy debate be postponed. He could frame it as a "responsibility to speak frankly from our privileged position about the challenges facing our country." And it would put drive a stake into the heart of John McCain's campaign. He'd maintain momentum, look like he wasn't flinching in the face of challenges, and that he knows how to use his current... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 1:04 PM on September 24, 2008

oh, I see that while I've been writing my comment, history has marched on. Good show Obama. Grill that leathery old bastard.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 1:07 PM on September 24, 2008

The reporters keep asking leading questions, wanting him to slam McCain, and Obama keeps redirecting them to the point (remember? our free-falling economic death spiral?). Obama is a freaking living masterclass in not biting the hook.

Better still, he has perfected that tone of gently scathing mockery that's become characteristic of his attacks on McCain since the conventions. Reporters were pushing him to declare McCain's grandstanding rush as out of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 2:02 PM on September 24, 2008

He should have just called her a moron. Or a cretin. Or an imbecile. Or an idiot. Or any other historical term for the mentally infirm that has been successfully integrated into the language as a term of insult.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 7:50 PM on September 21, 2008

Some Political Views May be Related to Physiology

Well, duh. Conservative Republicans are big dicks. This is news?
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 4:43 PM on September 21, 2008

You might want to check out the research of Theodore Sasson. "After Birthright Israel" (pdf available on the linked page) in particular should give you a sense for the political and religious implications of participation in a Birthright trip. Obviously it's not simple indoctrination, but you'd probably be wise to read up a bit on what the organization hopes to get in return for the money they're spending on your trip.

Personally, I'd go. Keep your eyes open... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by felix betachat at 3:04 PM on September 21, 2008

Chris Elliott is a god. I remember staying up to watch the old Letterman show with my mom and just being blown away by him. His characters were so cheap and ugly and most of all gut-wrenchingly funny. Between him and Larry "Bud" Melman, the Letterman show had this underlying tone of absurd malice that was the perfect antidote to pretty much everything else on television during that time. Sad that it has to be Dave Eggers who fetes Chris Elliott, but the whole interview is worth... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 9:01 AM on September 21, 2008

Something tells me every bar in Hyde Park will be showing the debates. For sure it'll be on at Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap, though you might have to get by on subtitles.
posted to Ask Metafilter by felix betachat at 10:35 AM on September 19, 2008

I want to ask for advice about something, to which I need to give sufficient detail, the nature of which is reasonably sensitive.

If you're St*v* Schm*dt, I'll tell you straight up: don't quit your job. Keep dredging the muck. Your boss will continue sabotaging himself and your best efforts, but your failure here is the first step toward a national renewal. Like most relationship and work answers on AskMe, this one too boils down to: "it's not... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 12:07 AM on September 19, 2008

I can't believe that a G-d of deliciousness would outlaw bacon. Now THAT is some hypocrisy.

Think it through, YHWH forbade the eating of delicious bacon...for mankind. He wants it all for Himself.

But don't despair. Sometimes he shares.
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 8:50 PM on September 16, 2008

Well, yes. Now that you ask.

Fortnightly, I prepare for myself a bowl of water slightly south of scalding, and give my seax a few slaps against the whetstone. While I wait for the water to steam, I apply a hot compress to soften the hair and loosen any particulates that may have accumulated in the interim. I raise a lather the consistency of meringue using a brush made from the bristles of a wild pig I stalked at the cusp of manhood. The soap is a bergamot scented... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 5:34 PM on September 15, 2008

I don't know what caused the blips either, but my preferred straight-out-of-my ass explanation was that it was Jesus doing Frisbee stunts.

Bullshit.

Jesus is totally a footbag guy.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 3:19 AM on September 15, 2008

But where are people's sympathies going to lie when they see an angry old man yelling at the nice, pretty hockey mom who only had a few weeks to get ready before being thrust into the national spotlight?

There is no way he'll yell. He won't intimidate and he won't push hard. Quiet gravitas and appeals to experience, the very themes McCain has been hammering home as essential to this election, will be enough to wilt this pick.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 8:58 AM on August 29, 2008

Why is everyone assuming she'll do so poorly in the debates? Because she's a pretty woman?

Why do you assume that's the only basis on which to doubt her performance in the debates?
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 9:00 AM on August 29, 2008

"Senator McCain, where is your VP candidate from?"

"Alaska"

"No, I'm asking YOU the question, Senator."

"Juneau."

"No, I DON'T know—that's why I'm asking!"

"Anchorage."

"Do you really need encouragement just to answer the question?"

Nome?

No sir, we do not. That's why we're asking you.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 9:03 AM on August 29, 2008

What did Sarah Palin do? She did NOT go to a local hospital and did NOT have her baby checked on a fetal monitor to make sure it was OK.

What a maverick.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 1:11 PM on August 29, 2008

Anyone know if Palin has an position on the Treaty of Westphalia?
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 11:48 PM on September 13, 2008

Quick boys, some Charlie and Ira. Before we lose our minds.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 10:14 PM on September 12, 2008

This will seem like a strange recommendation because it's really a modern translation of an old text, but pick up Seamus Heaney's Beowulf. Seriously. It predates the invention of prose fiction, but there's plenty of dramatic tension. And Heaney's English is sublime. It abounds in exactly the sorts of rich descriptions and muscular phrasing that is so characteristic of Nabokov's style. Both men have the same facility with the language and the same creativity in expression; they seem in their... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by felix betachat at 11:50 AM on September 12, 2008

Mah nishtanah haProgRock hazot?
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 11:29 AM on September 12, 2008

I played this in beta when it was called "blackamoor bloodbath."
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 7:54 PM on September 9, 2008

Interesting stuff. I think one of the reasons why Obama's rhetoric resonates so strongly in this climate is that he hearkens back to real techniques of persuasive oratory. These entail risk, since they try to forge a bond between speaker and audience instead of the former attempting to manipulate the latter's self-identification. There's certainly a lot of "narrative" making going on in Obama's campaign, and much of it weaselly too. But the centerpiece of his political persona is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 1:22 AM on September 9, 2008

How is this different than the last few elections - beginning with Reagan at least.

More out of work humanities grads.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 4:41 AM on September 9, 2008

I don't care what kind of t-shirt you wear, if you're blowing i-bankers for coin, you're not a hipster.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 1:40 PM on September 7, 2008

Oh look. Somebody turned MetaFilter into bad cable TV.

What's that you say? Sexy singles? Want to meet ME?
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 5:37 PM on September 5, 2008

Patience, kindness and understanding.

If you make a commitment to another person, then you are taking their strengths and their weaknesses. It's okay to hope and even to expect growth and maturity. But if you're imposing your own expectations and timelines on that process, then you're probably not helping matters. I'd say that if you're really committed to this person, then the best thing you can do is find out why and how their panic attacks and obsessions bother you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by felix betachat at 12:10 PM on September 4, 2008 marked best answer

If in-kind rewards became standard for good answers, I think I'd spend a lot more time working the human relations category.
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 9:44 PM on September 3, 2008

Oatmeal raisin cookies are the tool of the devil and a craving for them is a symptom of severe derangement.

Oh, go choke on a bucket of raisin-studded cocks. Oatmeal raisin cookies are the food of the gods. Especially when made fresh by the gods' mothers and stolen, still warm and soft, from the famed cookie sheets of Olympus. Ben & Jerry's oatmeal cookie ice cream is too painful even to contemplate because they came within an inch of the... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 10:49 AM on August 31, 2008

Yeah, well, at midnight, all your sockpuppets come alive and dance around my bed.
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 5:57 PM on August 30, 2008

Ban googly.
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 6:57 PM on August 30, 2008

Well, torticat, it's a two-edged sword. The McCain campaign is definitely hoping for a bump (though not, mind you, of the "terrorist-fist" variety) because of Palin's good looks and heartwarming choice of life. Vetting these things is tantamount to asking: "are these really the things that matter to us as we choose our next leader." They're fair game because the stakes are as high as can be imagined.

That said, there's no excuse for wallowing in... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 12:40 PM on August 29, 2008

One really can't do that here, the reaction is pretty hateful, so much so that it's scary. I learned early on that dissent here will get you branded a lunatic and worse. There is almost no open-mindedness with some of the more vocal regulars.

Oh boo-hoo Clarence. Buck up or find another sandbox to play in. MetaFilter thrives on vigorous debate. If you're not locking horns with someone from time to time then you're doing it wrong. When people cross... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by felix betachat at 1:17 PM on August 29, 2008

Everyone remembers the "I have a dream" cadence, but it's worth recalling the beautiful words with which Dr. King closed his speech. It's the hope behind these words that Barack Obama drew upon so deeply tonight:And if America is to be a great nation this must come true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 11:29 PM on August 28, 2008

One last thing. Someone on the McCain team has already anticipated the connection between Moses/Joshua and King/Obama. It's what was driving that weird ad from last month. People recognized the creepy messianic overtones and rightly saw it as a dogwhistle to the evangelical right. The use of Charlton Heston as Moses crossing the Red Sea was meant to inoculate evangelicals against recognizing in Obama the realization of Dr. King's legacy. Irresponsibly, the McCain campaign raised the imagery... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 12:27 AM on August 29, 2008

The more that they feel cornered, the dirtier they will fight.

The difference is that this time we picked a couple of guys who know how to fight back.
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 7:43 AM on August 29, 2008

The turtle moves.

Pinch, man. PINCH!!!
posted to MetaFilter by felix betachat at 9:36 PM on August 28, 2008