Also, what about people with unsecured wireless? I mean, are you going to ban a person because another leeched their bandwidth and downloaded the latest HOT POP ACT?

I would guess that they would be told to secure their network after the first warning.

Also, given the choice between a relatively large number of people facing the inconvenience of losing their ISP, and a relatively small number of people facing cripplingly huge... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:44 PM on February 12, 2008

Sadly, I think the author is simply too proud to admit that her own narcissism led her to undervalue the men she now regrets breaking up with, so she's come up with this bizarre argument instead. Hopefully at some point she'll get over herself to the point where she's actually able to enjoy a normal relationship.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:25 PM on February 10, 2008

How does a ballot design featuring a completely redundant but required step make it into production without anyone pointing out the problem? The apparent incompetence is breathtaking. Can anyone provide an explanation?
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 4:55 AM on February 5, 2008

A UK cable channel recently changed its name to Dave. Coincidence?
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 6:45 AM on February 4, 2008

Like 90% of rants about men, this article is actually about alpha men. Non-alpha men don't even exist in the minds of women who write this kind of stuff.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 3:03 AM on January 31, 2008

I think a better suggestion would be to work on reducing bigotry generally, of which racism is just one type. That way, everybody gets plenty of work to do. Atheists and fundies, hawks and pacifists, Democrats and Republicans, Labour supporters and Conservatives, all need to learn to see each other as fellow human beings who take opposing positions, and not as strange, alien enemies.

Incidentally, apologies for linking this back to the presidential... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:32 AM on January 28, 2008

This is heartbreaking.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:39 PM on January 22, 2008

This is a nicely produced website. The fact that they bothered to make transcripts of almost everything is particularly cool.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:17 AM on January 22, 2008

If Nabokov was of sound mind when he made this request, I don't see how this is even a question. If his surviving family were destitute or something, you could make an argument that he would have wanted them to be comfortable, but that seems to be nothing to do with this situation.

I like Nabokov too, but the idea of publishing Laura against his wishes seems to me to be driven by a kind of unhealthy idolatry. I think painquale is right when he identifies something... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:43 AM on January 18, 2008

I take it, then, you wish the Aeneid and all Kafka's works had been burned.

According to Wikipedia, Brod at least had the excuse that he'd told Kafka he wouldn't carry out his wish to burn his manuscripts, and despite this he had not taken this opportunity to appoint another executor.

What is not clear from the article is whether Nabokov's wife or son actually promised to destroy these index cards, explicitly said they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 8:06 AM on January 18, 2008

I loved these photos. Kucinich was my favorite, but all the candidates seemed unusually human and vulnerable.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 3:29 AM on January 13, 2008

I'm happy that people are enjoying this guy. To my ear, he is the most musical guitarist I have learned of in a long time.

nickyskye, did you see my Isaac Guillory post last summer? He's another fantastic guitarist who provoked quite a few wistful sighs from female audience members in his time. And you can see his face!
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 1:52 PM on January 1, 2008

Can respect he was more technically skilled but I like FretKillr's singing and style better, more meat there, more heft to his style.

In that case, you would probably particularly the album Solo, which has a distinctly heavier and more percussive technique than his later stuff. In terms of kind of gut-level emotional response it's my favorite as well, but the others, especially Live and Slow... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 1:27 AM on January 2, 2008

It's a pleasure to have any opportunity to talk about Isaac. His music was the reason I first picked up an acoustic guitar back in 1994. In the late nineties I had the privilege to see him perform live which was an amazing experience and a memory that I really treasure.

Also, I forgot to mention, if you click on the "Play" link from anetstation.com you can hear quite a few tracks from Isaac's albums - just let the .m3u load into Windows Media Player or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 1:13 AM on January 3, 2008

With a bit of luck they'll get someone who actually knows about computers to pick some of the questions. I remember when we were all excited about Paxman interviewing Gates a few years ago, but then it turned out that his relative unease around technology turned him into James Lipton.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:20 AM on January 2, 2008

UAC is easy to turn off, if you want. For me, the main issue is the awful, awful, performance of some basic file operations. Like, 15 minutes to decompress a 5 Mb zip file. I cannot imagine how Microsoft thought it was OK to release a product with a flaw like that, which as far as I know is still not fixed. If someone knows better, please correct me.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 4:50 AM on January 2, 2008

WinRAR doesn't seem to have this problem on Vista, though it is a bit slow.

Yeah, the problem is with the built-in ZIP handling. IIRC, 7-Zip was also fine.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 5:11 AM on January 2, 2008

When you idealize people for whatever reason, you're invariably going to be disappointed.

True enough. And when we get disappointed, it's always tempting to get angry at the person who seems to have caused the bad feeling, rather than acknowledging that it's actually ourselves that have constructed an unrealistic fantasy about them.

There are times when personal integrity and professional integrity come into conflict, and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 4:40 AM on January 2, 2008

There was a thread sometime in the last few weeks where IIRC there was some support for the idea of using the term "water torture" instead of "waterboarding". It can be problematic, but in this instance, I would feel OK about using language to change the way people think. "Global warming denier" on the other hand, is an abomination and badly needs to be retired.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:11 AM on January 2, 2008

The Achewood take. Bonus: how do you know when to avoid a bathroom if a lady has been in there a while?
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 10:25 AM on January 1, 2008

There used to be this great Arabella Weir character on the Fast Show. The sketch would start with her and another woman playing two confident, assertive modern women having a heated discussion about some technical topic or other. At some point in the proceedings, a man would join them, at which point Arabella's character would be instantly transformed into a fawning airhead, to the undisguised horror of her female companion.

I hope I'm not being a dick if I say that I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 12:23 PM on January 1, 2008

Since you've linked Mouser, I hope I can be excused for linking my own program, Type to Click. I haven't had a whole lot of feedback about it yet, but I think it's a workable (although still slower) alternative to the mouse for those of us who find the keyboard more comfortable.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 11:59 AM on December 29, 2007

Regarding mouse gestures, you can get software that will let you use them across all your programs. I used the unfortunately named StrokeIt for a while.

I have no problem with a relevant, comment-only self-link, but I'm not an admin

Actually, I'm sure it's fine - the "I hope I can be excused" stuff was just me being spineless.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 12:44 PM on December 29, 2007

Is this Noel Coward's funnier sister?

There's also a couple of references to "There's a guy walks down the chip shop swears he's Elvis". You wouldn't expect kirstymaccoll.com to be harboring a Mondegreen like that.

Anyway, I think it was a good decision to delete the word, and the reversal just sends the message that a gay slur is acceptable where a racist epithet wouldn't have been. I wouldn't want to spend... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 1:01 PM on December 21, 2007

The reasons I wash my hands when I go to the bathroom are:

1) It's a good thing to wash your hands regularly, and
2) Might as well do it while you're in the bathroom, then.

If the rest of the world was as clean and fresh-smelling as my genitals, I might not feel the need.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 5:04 PM on December 20, 2007

The article is flawed (the completely absent linkage to the last 5 being the worst mistake), but there's some good stuff in it and I think it deserved a lot better than the response above. This kind of thing is why I don't bother recommending that people come to this site - because the first thing they see might be one of these.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 6:24 PM on December 16, 2007

Atheists, even if you reject the idea of God completely and claim to live according only to the cold logic of the physical sciences, you all still live as if the absolute morality of some magical lawgiver were true.

I interpret this to mean that morality eventually reduces to some basic axioms that have to be taken for granted one way or another, not that morality requires the supernatural. It's a point about the limits of rationality.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 5:56 AM on December 17, 2007

teleskiving Its still an incorrect assertion.

I think that's debatable. I'll admit to not having read much philosophy, and I'll not be surprised if Kant or others have had a pretty good go at trying to create a moral framework that eliminates all subjectivity, but I will be amazed if there is any formulation that doesn't have serious flaws. A lot of people think they can prove God exists as well, that doesn't mean the question is closed.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 6:16 AM on December 17, 2007

Given that theistic morality is pure, unfiltered subjectivism, I'm not sure what the problem is.

A lot of people seem to be treating this article as an argument that atheism is no better than theism, and I think that's a mischaracterization. The argument is that whatever differences exist between the two sides are not sufficient to justify bigotry, which doesn't get problems solved anyway.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 7:14 AM on December 17, 2007

Do you see the problem here?
consider,
"I don't think that cars run on internal combustion. I'll admit to not knowing much about auto mechanics."

I actually don't know much about auto mechanics, but if someone tells me that their car breaks the second law of thermodynamics I can identify that as an extraordinary claim which is almost certainly bullshit. You can't do math... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 8:45 AM on December 17, 2007

Ethical systems have been constructed out of reason.

How is this different to saying "The existence of God has been proven, Thomas Aquinas did it" ? The fact that claims have been made, doesn't mean that the claims are true.

Promise me that one of the theories you've named above contains absolutely no starting assumptions at all, and I'll happily read it.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 9:33 AM on December 17, 2007

There is no claim of proof in anything I've said.

anansi, this started off from me saying this:

I interpret this to mean that morality eventually reduces to some basic axioms that have to be taken for granted one way or another, not that morality requires the supernatural. It's a point about the limits of rationality.

And this was answered by the following (from sotonohito)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 1:57 PM on December 17, 2007

Laugh tracks are the TV comedy equivalent of MSG. You wouldn't want to have them in everything, but they have their place.

even with the laugh track, Mitt Romney's insane "Jihadist Caliphate" fantasy really isn't funny "ha-ha"

Seconded. It's like the USA is some kind of weird alternate reality right now.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 6:29 AM on December 17, 2007

So we can usefully do math on a cell phone anyway

Well, I can, because I'm short and have small fingers.

I wish I were taller.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 3:48 AM on December 16, 2007

Interestingly, Dr. Who Producer Verity Lambert, who we talked about following her death a few weeks ago, executive produced G.B.H.

From Wikipedia:

Lambert's relationship with Bleasdale was not entirely smooth, however — the writer has admitted in subsequent interviews that he "wanted to kill Verity Lambert" after she insisted on the cutting of large portions of his first draft script before production began. However,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 4:24 AM on December 14, 2007

If there were any justice in the world, TP would be properly recognized as a bona fide National Treasure alongside the Pythons, Douglas Adams and Stephen Fry. Sadly, I don't think the awful news of his illness makes this a whole lot more likely to occur in his lifetime, but it'll happen eventually - the books are just too good to ignore.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 2:50 PM on December 12, 2007

Am I the only one who found her unbearably preachy?

No, you're not. Too bad, I really liked the graphics.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 6:40 AM on December 5, 2007

These hybrid dogs always remind me of drum rudiments. I imagine someone walking down the street with a flamadiddle and a pataflafla straining at their leashes.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 3:14 AM on December 4, 2007

The best moment was during the question, "would Jesus carry out the death penalty?"

It's question 19, on this page if anyone else wants to see it.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 4:01 AM on November 30, 2007

The paranoid and cowardly will always find an excuse for torture. The same applies to landmines, cluster bombs, extra-judicial killings and any other state-sponsored evil you can think of. If you don't accept that they should be absolutely, non-negotiably off limits, then you have to accept that their use will be commonplace.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 3:18 AM on November 16, 2007

Why, oh why, did Michael Moore not end that movie with The Who instead of Rockin in the Free World?

Townshend wouldn't give him permission.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 8:58 AM on November 12, 2007

We talked about this a few months ago. Much as I like this kind of thing, I think it's a bit soon for another round.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 5:22 PM on August 14, 2007

What a fantastic idea. I'm tempted.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 5:02 AM on August 2, 2007

I'm sorry, but the comedy level for Robocop's ED 209 is much higher than 1

No kidding. It's even funnier when you know that the whole design of the thing satirized American cars of the 1980s.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 10:28 AM on July 25, 2007

There was a Knight Rider TV movie. Will that do?
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 11:09 AM on July 25, 2007

It is a near-universal truth that "relaxed and happy" works better than "neurotic and miserable", not to mention being a more enjoyable way to live. There's only so many papers and books you can write about that, though.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 3:15 AM on July 24, 2007

This is great. 85 made me laugh out loud.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 7:49 AM on July 20, 2007

For completeness: Angry Kid: Captain Thunderpants.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 4:13 PM on July 17, 2007

This stunt does not increase my confidence that this film will rise above the "Ha ha! Homer likes donuts!" level. I would be delighted to be proved wrong though.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 9:50 AM on July 17, 2007

Great stuff, thanks.
posted to MetaFilter by teleskiving at 11:43 AM on July 4, 2007