I think the quest for authenticity is almost too on point to describe Peter Pan syndrome hipsters. Its almost like the quest for the quest for authenticity.

That said, I always thought that Adbusters was being ironic (see the Blackspot sneakers they sell, for "kicking corporate ass") -- so I don't know if we all just got punk'd.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 11:31 AM on August 1, 2008

I'd rather not fight that fight dougzilla, you East Enders have more trash.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 12:15 PM on July 31, 2008

I feel like western journalist writing about China need to take greater care in being aware of their ethnocentrism.

For example:

Pollution today in Beijing was at its worst for a month, but officials say air quality will be good by the time the Olympics start on August 8


Should be:

Pollution today in Beijing was at its worst for a month, and officials... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 4:01 PM on July 28, 2008

From Wikipedia:

Knol[1] is a Google project which includes single author articles on topics ranging from "scientific concepts, to medical information, from geographical and historical, to entertainment, from product information, to how-to-fix-it instructions, and also cocks"

*shakes head, rereads*
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 1:11 PM on July 23, 2008

I thought the little paper clip in Microsoft Word was the grammar curmudgeon.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 8:02 PM on June 1, 2008

I think that it is related to synesthesia in that it is a topic that is about personal interpretations of music that is discussed almost exclusively on the Internet.

90% as well.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 8:01 PM on June 1, 2008

I assume you omitted the execrable Bodycount version, featuring Ice-T, out of good taste.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 7:34 AM on May 28, 2008

Oh SNAP.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 7:35 AM on May 28, 2008

Additional Links:

Video Overview

Personally Manage your Carbon Footprint - [How it Works]
Commuting your Commute - Video- [How it Works]
Avatars
Traceable... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 5:33 PM on May 19, 2008

Holy crap jkaczor.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 6:29 PM on May 19, 2008

I had a beer in a San Fransisco brew pub called "Old Thunderpussy" that was a 14% blueberry stout. Not bad at all.

A lot of the other Unibroue beers have great names: Maudite: "Damned", Don De Dieu "Gift of God".
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 7:40 AM on May 16, 2008

I really dig the feel of the starwars steam punk characters. However, I don't understand the motivation to use such exceptional craftmanship and talent to not try and author something original. I personally think that being a creator is a matter of being clever about who you rip off. This guy clearly has no problem there.

Anything Star Wars related gets you posted on blog aggregators. It guarantees a built in fan base, whereas original work carries the risk of obscurity.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 6:52 PM on May 4, 2008

Define "original". One could argue that "steampunk version of Star Wars" is original.

Yes it is "original", but it is not "legally original" and not something that he will be allowed to make any money from because it violates copyright. He might never get permission to sell his creations. Some people are the opinion that artists should just create for the joy of creation and copyright is the devil. But that is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 7:24 PM on May 4, 2008

Billy Dee Billy Dee.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 12:47 PM on May 2, 2008

"Children in a two parent home are more likely to experience a bankruptcy these days than a divorce."
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 6:32 PM on May 1, 2008

That youtube video looks great.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 10:04 AM on April 28, 2008

It's called a sidewalk not a sidebike.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 6:09 PM on April 27, 2008

Why do design oriented websites always have the most difficult to navigate interface?
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 4:46 PM on April 22, 2008

I have a sneaking suspicions that this Doug Benson fellow is not the insightful comedic genius that he appears to think that he is.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 2:35 PM on April 13, 2008

First I was like, oh, cumulatively about 100 grand.. then I reread it.. Oh.. only about 100 million.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 9:50 PM on April 4, 2008

I think that if they were to sell the individual track stems and call them "legally cleared samples" then it would be great for music. Sample-based music, as heard in the 80s and 90s, is basically impossible to do legally and cheaply anymore, and this could be another revenue stream for bands. Sounds like a win for artists.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 8:23 AM on April 2, 2008

I have condensed the article for those who can't read such nauseating copy:

"its secretly okay to go to the gym because other people are secretly going to the gym and we're all really rad and modest but like totally hip and like everything and not competitive but like secretly competitive but like in a totally cool way and i will totally hold it against you if i ever interview you for an article and you refuse to allow me to air all of your dirty laundry but like... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 1:29 PM on March 31, 2008

I think a part of me believes that this was the original reason for the Internet.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 12:25 PM on February 29, 2008

jacquilynne, I believe the term you're looking for is service economy. And I disagree with you completely.

I am all for Canada doing less mining, less chopping down of trees, less heavy manufacturing, less oil refining; Canada is the worst polluter in the world per capita (because of small and diffuse population, and an abundance of natural resources). Our environmental capital should be money in the bank, not a line of credit. Canadians need to develop innovation... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 8:09 AM on February 28, 2008

Well, I wouldn't have seen it otherwise. Thanks hadjiboy.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 3:01 PM on February 26, 2008

wreckingball, regardless of the fact that the song is a reference to an obscure novel (one of many on the album), I that think "un deux trois le mirroir noir" is perhaps the most pretentious chorus I have ever heard.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 12:48 PM on February 5, 2008

You said it AceRock, for some reason this really makes me miss playing World of Warcraft.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 10:35 AM on January 25, 2008

Great post. Thanks.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 1:06 AM on December 16, 2007

I first heard about this in the fantastic book Collapse by Jared M. Diamond.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 10:00 AM on October 29, 2007

The crowd in the first link is actually kind of frightening.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 1:32 PM on October 28, 2007

This is known as marketing to the top of the pyramid. There will always be a small amount of people that will pay the highest price possible for something to be able to say that they paid the highest possible price. Quality is irrelevant. Therefore, this "$1 Million Challenge" is nothing but an advertisement, designed to make people scoff and pass the link on to their friends.

All the guy needs to sell is one pair of cables and he's made a ton of money. He... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 12:33 PM on October 21, 2007

I remember hearing about how the president of my undergraduate university bought herself a car on the student council expense account. Her punishment? She was impeached one month before she graduated. I believe she is now working in Ottawa.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 1:31 PM on September 29, 2007

Maybe now the smart people will actually stay and work in Canada rather than go to the U.S. so we don't have to care about what happens to our manufacturing jobs so much.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 6:28 PM on September 20, 2007

Word MattD. I can't find the source, but I'm reminded of an (I think economist) article that described how an African tribe fell to ruin after "liberating" their water supply, which was charged a nominal service fee that took care of the costs for treating the water. The result was that the now free water supply fell into disrepair and eventually became basically undrinkable.

Water, like all natural resources, should be seen as natural capital and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 10:05 AM on September 17, 2007

This is all described in like the first chapter of Machiavelli's The Prince. Iran seems to be both stoking the fire and practically daring the U.S. to leave the country [economist link] and they would be greeted by many in the country as liberators, at least initially. It would be the wrong thing to pull out of Iraq right now on so many levels, no matter how utterly wrongheaded the reasons for being there in the first place were.

I think that the only redemption for the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 3:23 PM on September 9, 2007

word blacklite.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 4:18 AM on July 7, 2007

I thought it was pretty funny. But I like me some low-brau.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 8:08 PM on March 27, 2007

God, I'm so tired of listening to people talk about punk.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 6:43 AM on March 27, 2007

That was the best video I have ever seen.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 5:42 PM on March 24, 2007

My laptop is an Apple, so I believe it is as pure as the driven snow, being comprised chiefly of fairy dust.
posted by veggieboy at 4:15 PM on March 19

And the creamy heat sink the come of laughing cherubs.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 8:46 PM on March 19, 2007

In that video about the rise of the military industrial complex that was making the rounds about a year ago, they mentioned that Halliburton (and other military contractors) had leveraged its political strength by having a factory in nearly every state. I wonder if being a foreign managed company will have any net effect whatsoever on the perceived American-job creation goodwill. I bet it wont.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 7:48 PM on March 12, 2007

So, what is IOKIYAR behavior?
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 7:42 PM on March 2, 2007

Is anybody else feeling all hot and bothered with all this talk of processing inputs? I need to take a cold shower...
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 9:11 AM on February 9, 2007

cgs06 -The investing/venture capital market in Canada is tiny and extremely risk averse. Despite any nationalist rhetoric you might hear, there isn't really the climate of fostering innovation that exists in most of the developed world. This might actually just be their cute and unsophisticated way of trying to get a bit of funding.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 9:22 AM on February 9, 2007

Man, I feel sorry for all those poor men who aren't getting laid. I've been sexually active for around 9 years and I can't imagine having to wait to sort out my shit until I got married to some uptight christian lady who does nails for a living because it gives her a chance to spread the word of god.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 12:41 AM on December 1, 2006

daaaaaamn. ;)
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 12:48 AM on December 1, 2006

I've heard homeless people make good fuel. Why not chop them down and refine THAT shit up.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 7:58 PM on November 18, 2006

I Love the Practice of Capitalizing Key Words. I'm going to do it in Every Case Study that I Do from Now On.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 9:40 AM on November 18, 2006

I love the crackpots on both ends of this nutty spectrum; Baby lets all get together and just do it until we're all some shade of post-Keynesians.
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 1:34 PM on November 17, 2006

If he was framed, stepping down seems like the wrong move. Its so easy to characterize that as an admission of guilt.

I wouldn't be suprised if he was framed, or if he like to suck a bit of dick now and again.

What a crazy bitch this life is, eh?
posted to MetaFilter by dobie at 5:58 PM on November 2, 2006