Awesome, Cold Chef, you just saved me an AskMe I meant to post earlier this week.

Does anyone recognize the song playing at the end of that NPR piece? The one that features the word 'dude' pretty prominently, and is in a style I'd just go ahead and call Dylanesque if I weren't afraid the answer will turn out to be late-period Monkees or something and I'll get laughed off MeFi?
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 12:41 PM on May 30, 2008

Thanks, FelliniBlank and R. Mutt!

(Fellini and Duchamp? Pretty cultured crowd we get around here...)

I guess calling Townes Van Zandt "Dylanesque" wasn't too bad. Uh, unless Steve Earle heard me say it.
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 8:18 PM on May 30, 2008

Useless noise should never be posted in an AskMe thread, of course, but because of the Unaswered tab, one needs to be ESPECIALLY careful not to do so as the first answer. Your "Great question! Now I'm really curious, too!" will keep an otherwise-silent thread off the Unanswered list, where more people potentially would have seen and possibly answered it.
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 8:46 PM on May 22, 2008

If--let's be honest: WHEN--you point that new bike down towards New Orleans, send me some mail before you leave. At the very least I'll chauffer you around for the night. If you're REALLY nice, I'll let you take my 1972 Honda CB400 for a spin. Pretty enticing offer, huh?
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 9:07 PM on April 15, 2008

Social Explorer is the bomb! The bomb that will bring us together.
AskMe AskMe AskMe!

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour...but heaven knows I'm miserable now. [more inside]
posted by Divine Wino to food & drink at 12:51 PM

i was looking for a job and then i found a job and heaven knows i'm miserable now [more inside]
posted by anonymous to work & money at... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 11:56 AM on April 15, 2008

Also, maybe we as a community could stand to be a little less, uh, meetup-fixated...?

I guess that came out wrong. Obviously meeting new people is one of life's pleasures, and one that we seem to find less and less opportunities for as we get older.

But within the last six months or so, it seems that meetup announcements have become more common, yet without a significant rise in actual meetups. Asking about a possible meetup has replaced putting... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 2:04 PM on March 27, 2008

In the sub-basement of what was once an industrial park, the server continued asking questions to the void. The network was long-gone--the ethernet cables vaporized right where they emerged to the surface--but this didn't stop the server. It had a queue.

The third wave of bombings had collapsed the ceiling, destroying almost all the other racks in the room, but the server remained. It was closest to the large metal cage that held the enormous emergency power supply. It... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 5:20 AM on March 17, 2008

I should have known, when I saw the outpouring of support for Ian A.T.’s utter tripe and foolishness, that I would have to be the person who pulled the trigger.

He acknowledges that he’s stealing from Bradbury—though in a sneaky and oblique way that will amuse those in the know while passing right by those who aren’t—so why doesn’t he also tip his hat to this article, which clearly “influenced” him to the point of plagiarism? Come on, then…it’s a fair cop, Ian.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 2:23 AM on March 19, 2008

Seriously, though, I want to thank everyone who has been so kind to me, either in this thread, over email, or on the sideblog. I’ve tried to send a short personal note to everyone who went out of their way to compliment me, so check your inbox for some lovingly copy ‘n’ pasted Gratitude Spam.

I’ve been emailed a few times to ask if I have any other writing on the web. Well, if you were wondering what I would do with an essentially plotless 800-page YA novel with nine... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 2:26 AM on March 19, 2008

(If anyone is reading this who lives in New Orleans and is interested in German-style board games instead of Warhammer, drop me a line...I have people over every couple of weeks. Also, why are you reading this thread? It's about Warhammer players in Arizona.)
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 9:35 PM on March 5, 2008

(Friends and family of Ms. Kagan who may be reading this thread: the . that a lot of people are posting is our way of showing respect for the departed. It stands for "a moment of silence.")
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 6:39 AM on March 2, 2008

I was just reading the archives of Ray's Place (the Achewood advice column) and I saw this list of question guidelines. I figure it applies to AskMe at least as well as Barger's applies to MeFi:

a) Don’t ask me about martinis
b) If you are having a relationship problem, please be at least over 27
c) I don’t know what the best car or gun is, that is mainly up to opinion.
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 2:31 PM on December 29, 2007

Laid.
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 8:33 AM on December 25, 2007

"I'm also peeved when people give a brief answer with a question mark, as a subtle form of hostility."

Yes! Also, when the first answer is one (frequently misspelled, almost never capitalized or punctuated) word. "OMGOMG I have to answer first!"

(Yes, I know that would make a good tagline, you lazy hacks.)
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 6:35 AM on December 21, 2007

I'm not going to say I miss the old Metafilter--I'm too busy missing Suck and Word--but there are definitely a few recent developments that drive me nuts. And, yeah, I'm sure they have been around since the very first Cat Scan post, but they seem to be getting on my nerves more and more lately:

*1*
The near-constant hurfdurfery present in every thread. You pretty much have to skip the first seven or eight comments of any thread because it's exclusively... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 6:10 PM on November 28, 2007

"MeFi" doesn't HAVE a pronunciation; it's merely used on the screen as a shortcut to typing "Metafilter." (And I hope everyone who uses the abbreviation are putting the 1-2 seconds they saved by not typing six additional letters to good use, perhaps by volunteering at a local charity.)

Anyone who actually says "MeFi" out loud should be kept at arm's length and away from human society, like people who use LOL and WTF in real world conversations.
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 1:54 PM on October 26, 2007

Alvy wrote: "I was reading the original September 11 thread yesterday and was struck by how many names I didn't recognize."

I was looking through the Kaycee Nicole thread about a week ago, and I had the same sensation. Even worse was the names I did recognize, only to realize that we haven't heard from them in years (and I hadn't even remembered to miss them.)

Of course, I have the opposite sensation when I read newer threads: I'm... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 6:40 AM on September 12, 2007

Hey Tony...what do you think about the success of your mate Keith's little girl?
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 11:12 PM on August 11, 2007

All links die...

No shit. The other night I read through the Kaycee Nicole threads and I don't think I found a single working link.

I know that's not surprising or anything, but it seems sad that no one, as far as I know, has preserved the non-Metafilter aspects of that story...
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 8:41 PM on December 24, 2006

Rodger Dodger: Thank you! I skimmed that entire thread, and this one, waiting for someone to bring that up. WTF, Metafilter?

Sportbucket: Hey, good job! Say hi to Richard Kelly for me! Unfortunately, even though this "viral" nonsense seems to have worked here, Southland Tales is still a gigantic turd...
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 1:38 AM on October 4, 2006

(SourBrew, that list was great, but you forgot my most hated AskMe topic: "My girlfriend loves cupcakes! Rather than make her a CD of songs that actually mean something to me, I'd like to make her a mix CD of random cupcake songs I've never heard before, suggested by strangers who are only using this opportunity to show off how awesome and esoteric their musical tastes are!")
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 7:01 PM on February 20, 2006

Just one quick addition then I promise I won't post in my own thread again. As I mentioned above, I did thank everyone for their answers--which included a long earlier answer from C_D--after the post had slipped a few pages off the front and the answers had slowed down. Also I've always tried to be really conscientious about showing my gratitude in my previous AskMe threads.

(I'll be volunteering on the Gulf Coast for the rest of this week, and my Internet... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Ian A.T. at 12:26 AM on November 30, 2005