Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 1661
MeFi post:
The Top Public Intellectuals
Someone should have notified the chans and we could have had Anonymous as The World's Top Intellectual. Anonymous' moral arguments on the fundamental invalidity of forgetfulness and forgiveness are fascinating.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 2:38 PM on July 3, 2008
MeFi post:
Boing Boing Finds 21st Century Trotsky?
"Unpublish" isn't even in the dictionary. Literally some new speak.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 10:00 AM on July 1, 2008
Did Xeni just call Violet Blue a pile of shit?
[T]his is our home, we are proud of the home we built and the guests who visit here with us, and we like spending time here ourselves -- so we don't like to leave piles of shit lying around on the floor.
Nice, Xeni, real nice.
That comment doesn't say that anymore. Can anyone vouch it used to? Has Boing Boing always been at war with East Asia?
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 2:38 PM on July 1, 2008
When blogs collide
the Metafilter group blog, another very enjoyable site whose remit overlaps that of Boing Boing but which is lower profile
Lower profile means less self-promotion, less incestuous-blog/media-bullshit, less money-grubbing, and less hipsterish, I guess. (That's right, Metafilter is actually less hipster than something.)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 8:44 AM on July 2, 2008
What breaks the spirit of the web is that a blog is considered as a record, sort of like a newspaper. Many newspapers endorsed George W. Bush in 2000 and did not endorse him in 2004, but they don't get to go back to their archives and burn or erase every mention of the 2000 endorsement.
They published these posts, and the internet doesn't like them to try to pretend they never did.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 9:12 AM on July 2, 2008
If not for the clumsy forgetting to delete the second XJ, there'd be no clue there was no editing going on, as it was done silently.
Don't worry, the second XJ has since been silently unsignatured. Can we get some Yakety Sax?
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 9:33 AM on July 2, 2008
Wikipedia also keeps a detailed log of all edits.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 2:47 PM on July 2, 2008
MeFi post:
I want a girl with a long skirt and a loooooong jacket.
But I live near a very Hasidic neighbourhood, and I don't think anyone considers Hasids a cult. (Do they?)
They're given a pass for reasons including:
-with very limited exceptions they don't proselytize.
-they've existed for a long time.
Other than that if you consider the FLDS a cult and not strictly because of polygamy and teenage brides, the Hasids are pretty much in the same boat.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 11:31 AM on July 2, 2008
MeFi post:
Harshing your mellow
Legalized Weed: Marlboro "Greens", etc. are quickly introduced, which contain enough pot to get you high but, more importantly to Altria, are still mostly tobacco to keep you addicted.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 5:46 PM on July 1, 2008
You know, it's likely that states actually would be able to legalize marijuana on their own under an Obama administration. I think Obama has said he supports decriminalizing marijuana, at least for people with small amounts.
Not so clear. Politics of change apparently means keep changing your stated position.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 8:57 AM on July 2, 2008
MeFi post:
A new jug ships clean
to say that the engineers were not caring about giving the most positive possible experience to the consumer - do you really believe that this could possibly be true in today's America?
If you say such things in seriousness please use <non-sarcasm> tags, for the most positive possible experience to the Metafilter consumer.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 9:51 PM on June 30, 2008
MeFi post:
Secret moves against Iran
All right, so the theory is that if Bush commits to a war in Iran, that Obama - assuming he is elected - would be committed to continuing that war?
Well, watch Obama get into office and continue (at least for some years and probably at a reduced intensity) the Iraq War, which is what I believe will happen. It'll just be called anti-terrorist operations or something rather than The War.
Also I see the possibility that if... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 3:41 AM on June 30, 2008
MeFi post:
Tornado Engines
So, what's in the pipe?
It's not "heat."
I have worked in a power plant which recovers waste heat from a gas turbine through a large fancy heat exchanger, and they call it waste heat. I have an engineering degree, and this is valid engineering terminology. To be specific one might say the exhaust carries the waste heat.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 8:32 PM on June 27, 2008
build contained tornados
In some ways, nothing compared to what's contained in a gas or steam turbine.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 8:33 PM on June 27, 2008
MeFi post:
Suspension de l’abonnement internet
- If A=B, then B=A. Equality is symmetric. Got that? With me so far?
- Therefore, if copyright infringement is theft, then theft is copyright infringement.
- Therefore, if I reach into your bag and take your lunch and run away, I have infringed the copyright you hold in your lunch.
Just in the interest of logical consistency I have to point out this is a flawed argument. Copyright infringement could be a subset of theft; I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 9:30 PM on June 24, 2008
Harvard Business School researchers on iTunes vs. peer-to-peer.
Man, it's like smart people bullshitting about something they know nothing about. (Metafilter: ibid.)
Users of p2p networks choose whether to share (offer content that other peers can download) or to freeride (download from others and not offer content for others to download). Sharing content is costlier than freeriding as it entails committing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 10:32 PM on June 24, 2008
strange thread to argue that nobody cares about the legal risks, TheOnlyCoolTim. I think rather a lot of people care, and more will in France soon.
In America, few worry that they're going to get struck by lightning with an RIAA lawsuit or that someone's going to narc their external hard drive to the police and the police would care.
Also: odd that the strict rules that promote damaging filesharing of content on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 9:58 AM on June 25, 2008
Or do you mean intellectual property laws in general?
I think the prohibition of sharing will go away; whatever baby was left in that bathwater is going to be thrown out for at least these three reasons:
Sundry abuses of IP laws lead to hostility against them as these abuses are not beneficial to the common good.
Children are taught to share in kindergarten.
The creators of works are also consumers.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 8:56 PM on June 25, 2008
I too would like to see the story of 1731 especially as it relates to artistic output as well as the publishing industry.
This isn't luddism; the technology is wholly irrelevant to this. We already had a way of perfectly duplicating content at high-speed.
We didn't have a way of doing it for free. That's the key technological difference between the printing press and digital copying. The reproduction is free now. Marginal... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 1:37 PM on June 27, 2008
They tried many of the same things we talk about now: serialising works, for one thing. It's really only relevant to publishing, as the art world hadn't really picked up on copyright yet
I meant that in terms of whether or not the publishers started publishing in serial form, publishing less, or profits went down, did the authors stop writing?
I see evidence for a moral shift in the creative commons, Radiohead's free... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 3:08 PM on June 27, 2008
MeFi post:
The Aptera
...and die horribly if we're in even a low speed crash.
I think that the energy problems will eventually get to a point where people have to give up carrying around 10-20x their weight in armor and instead plan on not crashing.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 9:24 PM on June 26, 2008
I don't think I've heard of anyone except a suicide who does plan on crashing.
There is a difference between not planning on crashing and planning on not crashing.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 1:48 PM on June 27, 2008
MeFi post:
Birthright Israel
Oops, I meant ...a "Mega Event," a rally featuring... just to be correct about what it's called.
Also, the official site promises fuller video coverage of the various Mega Events but I either got 404s or Hebrew error messages.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 3:13 PM on June 26, 2008
winkingly encouraging us to get drunk and fuck each other
See, I was looking for something about this facet for the post but all I found was a bunch of wink wink nudge nudge references.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 3:03 AM on June 27, 2008
MeFi post:
ICANN has been under pressure
Interesting fact: DNS TLDs (.com, .edu, .org, .net, .uk, .tv, etc.) are all subdomains of the root domain which is represented as the null string, i.e., nothing. This is generally implied and neglected, but "metafilter" is a subdomain of "com" which is a subdomain of "" and so "http://www.metafilter.com./" should work in your browser - it does in my Firefox.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 10:33 PM on June 26, 2008
MeFi post:
What should I do with my life?
I quote the May 2008 issue of Educational Leadership:
Why are U.S. high school failing us?
Indeed high school are failing us.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 12:30 PM on June 26, 2008
But I suspect the majority of mostly college-educated, computer-using people who are reading about this here are people who have many more choices than they tell themselves they have.
Friends and I agree you could a religion, philosophy, way of life, or whatever by viewing The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits as a source of pithy wisdom like the Book of Proverbs or the Psalms. They've certainly got this... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 1:32 PM on June 26, 2008
Gnetlemen, stop fighting and drink beer or smoke drugs.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 8:51 PM on June 26, 2008
I decided to decide what's tinfoil and what's gold.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 10:01 PM on June 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Lost Souls
I'm sure that if you unplugged WoW from the internet, internet addiction would shoot way way down.
WoW is basically a giant slot machine. It's designed to do that.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 5:10 AM on June 26, 2008
if you knew you'd have more whatevers every time you logged on, you'd quickly get bored of it.
Relevant to WoW, a lot of quests involved gathering 10 eyes of newt or tusks of boar, yet apparently 9 out of 10 newts and boars lack eyes or tusks. This was one of the more blatant slot machine mechanisms, especially given how boring and unchallenging I found at least the lower level combat to be.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 5:11 PM on June 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Heller v. D.C. Decided
Feelings on gun control aside, I would have been disheartened to see this go the other way, with the government deciding it was granting some sort of collective right or granting rights (rather than powers) to itself. That sort of thing seems like it would end about as well as the Commerce Clause.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 11:55 AM on June 26, 2008
You do realize that those evil "conservative justices" were in the dissent in that case and it was the "liberal"(?) justices that were in the majority? The "conservative justices" were the ones who held that if it is grown and sold in California, then it cannot be regulated by the federal government. The "liberal justices" were the ones who said that the sweet, sweet pot might effect interstate commerce so the feds could regulate it under the CSA.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 2:10 PM on June 26, 2008
It might have something to do with this, as well:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Unfortunately, the Court decided long ago to pretty much flat-out ignore Amendments IX and X.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 3:54 PM on June 26, 2008
MeFi post:
The Beginning of the End of Suburbia?
our railways will soon begin to see a spurt in growth
More like regrowth in many areas. For example, in the first half of the last century, there used to be three train stations within about a two mile radius of me. Now the nearest train station gets one train per day each direction and is about 25 miles away.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 2:03 PM on June 25, 2008
we live Thoreau in the midst of nature, with the best of everything, clean public libraries not full of homeless people, good restaurants, trees fields, hills, rivers, sunsets, sunrises, silence
You just described rural areas, not sprawling suburbs. The trees, fields, hills, and rivers around me are being bulldozed to be replaced with the interstate, Wal-Marts, and McMansions, and there are a few good restaurants but many more TGI Fridays and Applebees.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 3:29 PM on June 25, 2008
But I hardly think that they are representative of "suburbia".
That's what they build these days, though. They look fake because they bulldozed all the land and trees before starting construction, and because the houses are built with just enough construction quality to hold together until warranty expiration and maybe meet code.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 3:47 PM on June 25, 2008
MeFi post:
Degree 2.0 mash-ups not advisable for computer games careers
Personally I like the Valve/HL approach of having everything you’d have in a cut-scene in the actual game most of all.
Agreed. The first time I went through Half-Life's train ride intro to Black Mesa, I thought it was cool that the cutscene was rendered in the game engine. Towards the end, I bumped the mouse, my view moved, and I realized it wasn't a cutscene.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 11:43 AM on June 25, 2008
MeFi post:
Itchy McItchy
Huh? It can for me. I can make any part of my body hurt at will, too, though not much more than a dull ache. And I often get mild sympathy pains from reading about injuries. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
Probably not the only one, but this does seem to me to be an interesting and rare ability.
posted to MetaFilter by TheOnlyCoolTim
at 8:46 PM on June 24, 2008
