Great idea, and I love the art style too, so I ordered one as well. Thanks, divabat!
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 7:40 PM on July 23, 2008

The Teller essay made me cry, of joy and sorrow in equal measure.
Thank you.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 4:28 PM on July 22, 2008

the real problem is lazy and incompetent policing. I doubt these crimes are related.

The same person leaves her DNA at various different crime scenes, so that alone makes them related. Unless you don't believe in DNA evidence or think the police are making it up?

She steals sometimes, kills sometimes. She commits these crimes infrequently, and the crimes don't seem connected when they first happen, except for the fact that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 8:44 PM on July 20, 2008

After doing some of my own digging on Arlen Siegfreid I donated as well, primarily because I feel the need to work against ID candidates in general.

Kudos for getting involved and trying to make a difference, Sean. I don't agree with all of your policy stances (like many others have said, you might do some more research on immigration issues), but you seem like you would be able to do some good if given the chance. Good luck!
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 5:40 PM on July 16, 2008

The labeling of the Uighurs as "terrorists" has been ongoing for a long time, since way before 2001, and some Han Chinese are, frankly, terribly racist when it comes to this particular minority. It seems to me that equating the Uighur separatist movement with "Al Qaeda in China" is playing straight into the hands of the worst excesses of the PRC government - it offers a great excuse.

The way the Uighurs are treated in China has always been something... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:37 AM on July 16, 2008

I met him once and chatted for about ten minutes, and he was a really nice guy that came off as both incredibly smart and hooked into the political community, and yet very humble and kind of reminded me of a bumbling great uncle in a way.

A huge loss for journalism, for NBC, and for all the interested viewers out there. News, and particularly the election coverage, won't ever be the same.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 1:19 PM on June 13, 2008

Not funny, God.

Maybe God needed a decent election analyst hanging out with him for the craziness that's sure to come in the fall?
Having Tim Russert join you would beat trying to train up some angel for the job, I guess.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 2:04 PM on June 13, 2008

I had a Korean friend in China who made the most heavenly homemade kimchi - I have been hunting for a similar store-bought brand for years with no luck.

The Korean restaurants in Beijing were pretty darn good, and really taught me and my husband to like kimchi a lot - in most any variety. Thanks for the suggestion, MrMoonPie, we are still on the hunt for a good Korean restaurant in northern VA. Gonna have to try it sometime.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 5:17 PM on June 12, 2008

Here's an example of live Auto-tune going horribly wrong. At the Superbowl, no less.

OMG, so THAT was what was going on there! I turned to my husband when that came on and said, "WTF happened to Billy Joel? That sounds terribly wrong!" He didn't think anything of it, but it bothered the heck out of me for a while. Thanks for clearing up that mystery.

As for using computer software to help your voice along in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:08 PM on June 10, 2008

I'm actually really surprised that so many people still have problems with rude idiots using their cell phones during movies. I generally go to a movie a week, and I haven't seen anyone using their phone or heard a phone ring in the theater in years (generally it's crying babies at midnight shows that bothers me the most). I guess I just assumed it was people getting used to the whole idea and turning their phones off during the movie, but I guess I've just been lucky.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 5:18 PM on June 10, 2008

It's nice to see studies on loaded subjects that seem to "get" that correlation does not imply causation. It would be nice it it was easy to determine what impact violent video games have on kids, but it's not something that I foresee an answer to anytime soon.

Also, the vast majority of popular video games are not just single player these days. The social aspect of video games, with online play offering a lot of socializing and making new friends, is not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 4:46 PM on June 9, 2008

The Cyber Command is not set up to deal with at al-Qaeda or the Taliban, it's focused primarily at China.

Trojan Dragon: China's Cyber Threat
Red storm rising: DOD’s efforts to stave off nation-state cyberattacks begin with China
Chinese Cyberwar Alert!... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 6:45 PM on June 6, 2008

Someone on MSNBC: "I really wish I could hear Abraham Lincoln's reaction tonight."

This was my thought too. I am looking forward to hearing the reactions of the civil rights leaders, and wish that some of them were still here to see it today. As a naturalized citizen, it makes me happy - whatever happens next.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 8:56 PM on June 3, 2008

Oh, wow, I loved that movie. I think I saw it in the theater at least five times. Nice post and interesting article, now I'm gonna have to dig out the DVD and watch it again.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 8:28 PM on May 27, 2008

I once took a round trip bus from Taipei to Yeliu, which passes by these abandoned pods. We hadn't even heard of them, so to see them from the road was quite a surprise. We tried to get the bus driver to stop and let us off, but he wouldn't. Nobody on the bus knew what they were, so it took a long time to figure out what on earth was going on there.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 4:58 PM on May 27, 2008

I will tell you that the Swedes feel pretty down about the whole thing - being beaten by "little-brother" Norway is always humiliating (long, complicated story). There is a ton of popular interest in the internal competition that appoints the national representative, and a lot of the performers are either stars already or have become household names by the time the winner is declared for the year.

In Sweden it's at least as popular as American Idol is in the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:05 PM on May 25, 2008

Thanks martinrebas for the numbers. I knew it was popular, but as a Swede-in-exile I guess I didn't even know quite HOW popular! And yes, Jilder, I found her kind of scary too. She was not at all my favorite from the Swedish qualifiers.

The most embarrassing part of the broadcast wasn't just Sweden doing so poorly, but the disaster that was the announcer of the Swedish votes. Who WAS that guy, and why did he sound like he made up the votes on the spot, and had no idea... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 6:57 AM on May 26, 2008

I watched the landing, then played some TF2 while waiting for the pics to come in. It was absolutely amazing that the whole thing went off without a hitch. To see brand new pictures from another planet always gives me the chills.

Good job, NASA guys and gals for getting it up there. Five years of work and everything going off without a single problem must feel just fantastic. Now let's see what the Arizona crew can find!!
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 8:54 PM on May 25, 2008

Very cool, and a neat way to visualize tags. Thanks!
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:51 AM on May 22, 2008

The bread is awesome! What a fun way to be artistic and a baker at the same time. Creepy, but fun. The "feast like a cannibal" thing looks too much like a stunt, to me, but the baked heads are just such a cool idea.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 5:10 PM on May 15, 2008

Loading.... 99%.... crash x3 times in three different browsers
Blah, nvm, guess I won't be back.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 8:44 PM on May 12, 2008

I think this is brilliant. Humans are great at finding patterns and solving puzzles, and if they can teach computers how to do it like humans, while having humans doing it as well, that's a huge step forward. Great idea, truly, even if it doesn't work out in the end (guess we'll have to wait and see).
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 11:30 PM on May 10, 2008

Can't sleep, zombies will eat me.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 12:34 AM on May 9, 2008

I agree with Busi - Attack from Mars, all the way, baby!!

Blast those Martians!!!
[also via MeFightClub]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 2:10 PM on May 5, 2008

I liked it, but then I like showtunes. What a great memory from a whirlwind day. Thanks for the post!
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:19 PM on May 4, 2008

This does seem like a very fanboy list, but I think that's got a lot to do with how they defined a "run".

I personally think that they broke their own definition: there is a fundamental difference between their number one and number two. The Claremont/Byrne X-Men embodies the very definition of "a run", but Gaiman's Sandman certainly doesn't qualify - it's just as much of a one-shot/one-man-story as Watchmen, just more spread out. Same thing goes for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 7:50 AM on May 3, 2008

gemmy?-- does your name come from where I think it does?
Pretty sure not, sry. :)
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 12:07 PM on May 3, 2008

I was in China when the Belgrade embassy was bombed. It was a very tense time for us for a few days. We got thrown out of cabs for being Americans and had to walk everywhere. We were refused service at a few restaurants because we were foreigners. The Chinese students that the day before had been all eager to practice English with us were too busy organizing bus trips to protest in front of the U.S. embassy to pay us any heed. We stayed inside a lot after accidentally getting stuck in a mob of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:50 AM on April 30, 2008

Those are very cool. I like the ones that, like Habitat 67, are built to maximize sunlight and to provide a patio for each apartment. So much nicer than the boxy apartments that's all we generally have to choose from.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 8:30 PM on April 26, 2008

Hm. I'm a tad annoyed now that these are not all actual houses, but some are just fakes (the floating castle) and proposed designs (the "Cactus House" is the Urban Cactus, the pic is of a model far as I can tell). I'm off to verify the others.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 10:49 AM on April 27, 2008

1. Gangster House - Real
2. Free Spirit Houses - Real
3. Upside-Down House - Real (An art sculpture, not lived in)
4. Cactus House - Concept Only (Website of supposed architect broken.)
5. Floating Castle - Almost certainly a photoshop (Not a house, per se, likely a grain or fertilizer storage building.)
6. Mushroom House - Real. (Seems to have actually been up for sale in 2006.)
7. Cube House - Real (aka "Kubus... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 12:31 PM on April 27, 2008

What Atreides said. Digitizing is all well and good for the content of a document, but there are all kinds of things that the original document can offer that doesn't transfer well. Sometimes the type of paper that the document is on, the ink color, and the smudges, the provenance of it - where it fits in the entire collection, the box that the document is in, where it sits in a stack of papers - all of that can tell you things you would never get from just a digital copy alone.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:10 AM on April 27, 2008

JohnFredra, I was under the impression that the artists in the book were all members of Di Lieto's portal, and thus had already given him permission to publish the images in their original form. Wouldn't that by extension give him permission to publish the images of the book pages as well?

While I agree that the "pirate hysteria" is certainly going overboard in some instances these days, this is a baldfaced theft and a totally despicable way to make money off... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 4:30 PM on April 19, 2008

While the April 18 DDoS attack on CNN in response to the Cafferty comments appears to have been called off, hacker group "Revenge of the Flame" is looking pretty organized, and may still strike.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 10:58 AM on April 19, 2008

There are some very happy people on the local newscasts, seemingly delirious with happiness over being able to go to the public Mass at the new stadium on Thursday. It would have been interesting to go to see him - just to say I did. But the limited tickets are going to people who actually care (and rightfully so).

I guess I'll just try to track his progress by watching the news helicopters from my office window in Rosslyn the next few days, and avoid going into town at... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 3:42 PM on April 15, 2008

Yea, this is really awesome. I especially liked the way you could tell some parts of cities apart only based on the difference between types of light - and how they could tell they were over Japan based on the color.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 4:10 PM on April 8, 2008

I like this Time China blog entry on the London protests and how they are being spun in China and the UK. It really shows the difference in media styles, as well as the difference between free press and not-so-free press.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 6:39 PM on April 7, 2008

When I saw the headline for this on Wired it was April 1, and I just assumed it was an April Fool's joke gone awry. Look at the picture, for goodness sakes, if that doesn't say crazy staging I don't know what would.

I guess I was wrong after actually reading the article. It's propaganda - part of the information war - I don't see it as too beyond the pale for the Pentagon. At least the "hiring bloggers clandestinely" part. The "hacking blogs to change... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 7:24 AM on April 5, 2008

Legal backing! Good one!!

Not everyone who works at the Pentagon is scum, despite popular opinion.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 10:20 PM on April 5, 2008

Thanks for this post, and the many good links here. EastSouthWestNorth, which klue linked to, generally has interesting commentary on what's going on inside China. The Time China blog is also offering some interesting insights.

One thing that hasn't been looked at in the mainstream media here in the U.S. has been the impact that the Tibet situation is having on the discussion in Taiwan - where the people are going to the polls to elect a new President this Saturday.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 4:07 PM on March 19, 2008

Thanks a lot for filling in with these latest developments, homunculus, et al. Otherwise I wouldn't have found out about the Tibetan malware attacks hitting the mainstream media, something I really think is an important issue. (Similar things are happening in the Taiwan community, something I've been tracking.)
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 5:55 PM on March 23, 2008

Fresh Tibet unrest as Olympic torch nears Beijing
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 9:29 PM on March 29, 2008

The thing is, holding the Olympics is not only related to trying to emerge as an important power on the global stage. The PRC government is also so focused on the Olympics because of how it plays for the average Chinese citizen.

Holding the Olympics successfully will be a huge boost to Chinese nationalism, and fervent nationalism has been one of the primary tools for the CCP to control the general populace. Hyper-nationalism is a useful way to divert attention away from... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 5:45 PM on April 3, 2008

And if you can explain to me what it is about video games that enriches your life like LEGOs, flirting, poker and building treehouses have enriched mine, then I'll finally feel like I really get it.

The question you are asking is important, I think, but answering it is hard. The thing is, I know exactly what you mean by those examples. I've built tree houses, I've played poker and with Legos, and I have the same associations with them as you do. But... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 10:09 PM on March 30, 2008

Ugh... if theres one thing worse than people who think videogames are the root of all evil it's people who formalise videogames into some kind of crappy "sport".

Why? A good FPS player utilizes some of the same skills - knowledge of the environment and awareness of other players, fast reaction times, ability to think out of the box, persistence in the face of defeat - that are key ingredients for making a good player in sports like soccer.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 3:46 PM on March 31, 2008

Ah, that makes more sense. Pretty much anyone who gets hyperdefensive is a bore. I guess I've never run into any such enthusiasts myself.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 4:09 PM on March 31, 2008

This was fun! I just really wonder what the original intent of the letter was.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 7:52 AM on March 30, 2008

Do you happen to know if that report is public, and online anywhere? Google is failing me.

I'm not sure if it's the same report Fuzzy talked about, but the most recent Congressional Research Service report on China - China-U.S. Relations: Current Issues and Implications for U.S. Policy, dated March 17, is available for download from OpenCRS.

The real estate bubble in China is coinciding with a stock market bubble as well,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 1:30 PM on March 28, 2008

Tripple Canopy was OK, albeit with text weirdly cramped below center on my 15-inch work monitor. On Rosa B it was too easy to mess up what you were reading by moving the mouse, and the color choices were awful. Issue was a total failure - I have no idea what the heck they were thinking.

In all, interesting post that made me really appreciate the plain text format of MeFi and countless other sites that get usability at least decently right.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 11:19 AM on March 24, 2008

.
posted to MetaFilter by gemmy at 3:58 PM on March 18, 2008