Shortly after 9/11 I had the privilege of spending a day with Father Roy Bourgeois. The day was originally planned as workshop to educate and prepare people who were planning on going to the annual protest at the School of the Americas, and that is how we spent the first half of it. But after lunch, we all got in a circle and had a group discussion about everything that was going on in those days—the fear, the tensions running high, the drums of war—and how we might possibly tackle all these... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 9:04 PM on July 30, 2008

I did find this reservations page for JR East, but it doesn't seem to cover any of my planned trips, at least by itself.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 7:45 PM on July 7, 2008

A few years ago I was doing laundry at my apartment complex. I was by myself for a while, until a man and his daughter, about seven years old, came in with a load of clothes. They loaded it all into the washers, and got things started. Then the man left, leaving his daughter with the machines. The girl would mostly just goof around—she clearly had something going in her imagination, and sometimes she would sneak around the walls like a secret agent—with interruptions to ask me... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 10:20 PM on April 11, 2008

Count me in.
posted to MetaTalk by brett at 9:20 PM on April 11, 2008

I am pro-meetup.
posted to MetaTalk by brett at 5:22 PM on March 28, 2008

For the SNES, I think the must-play shmup is Axelay. It feels like a game that couldn't come from any other console, it's a moderate challenge, and it's just fun.

I'm really fond of the SNES version of Gradius III. It still has the usual Gradius bullcrap where if you die you might as well reset the game, but at least it's better in that respect than its arcade counterpart, and the music's better.

I go back and forth on UN Squadron. It has a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 11:55 AM on February 24, 2008 marked best answer

OpenArena is a game based on the Quake 3 engine that tries to be pretty faithful to the original, though all the maps, characters, etc. are original work. You can usually find a good game or two going on public servers, too. And it works on Mac.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 8:33 PM on February 21, 2008 marked best answer

The Software Freedom Law Center may be able to help the developers pro bono.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 8:11 PM on February 6, 2008

If all you want to do is make sure that only select people have access to a file, encryption is probably not the best tool to use. I think it's important to say this for a couple of reasons. First, I think it's unlikely that you're going to find any kind of encryption that's fully cross-platform: the good stuff, like GNU Privacy Guard, doesn't come with Windows. Second, even if you do find something like password-protected ZIP files that everybody can handle, it may not be strong enough to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 9:17 AM on January 27, 2008

(Now that I think about it, Windows probably doesn't know how to talk to an NFS server, ruling out that option too... but at least there's still Samba!)
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 9:54 AM on January 27, 2008

I should be there.
posted to MetaTalk by brett at 5:46 PM on January 26, 2008

I half-remember a game that would be good for this. At a bare minimum, you need three players, and it would probably be better with four.

The It player thinks of a famous figure. You can decide for yourself what's fair game for "famous figures." This person tells the other players the first letter of the figure's name. The other players then ask questions that would reveal the figure's identity. You can be very creative with the questions if you want.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 8:15 PM on January 15, 2008

MetaFilter: Usually, nothing is actually funny
posted to MetaTalk by brett at 9:31 AM on January 13, 2008

LiveJournal has toll-free numbers you can call to make posts by phone. Under certain conditions, they'll automatically be transcribed. And if you want, you can clean up the transcript later.

On the upside, this takes care of everything for you, at no charge. On the downside, it only transcribes public posts, meaning that you'll have to share your thoughts with the rest of the world to use the automatic transcription. Also, you have... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 5:56 PM on January 11, 2008

Maybe I'm way off base here—this is not my field, sorry—but maybe The Sun?
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 9:37 PM on January 10, 2008

The highlight of this post for me was definitely the Ghostbusters link. Playing with that toy is one of my earliest memories. I had forgotten a lot of how it looked (although not how bulky it was), so thanks for that.
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 11:49 PM on December 15, 2007

Every Monday night some friends of mine and I get together to play first-person shooters online. I recently moved away from everyone so it's a nice way to still do something together.

In the last place I lived there was a big board-and-video-games bonanza every Friday night, some of the most fun I've had ever.

I have a page of selected comics that I read every morning. Some days are completely unnoteworthy, but sometimes you get a good chuckle.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 11:23 PM on December 15, 2007 marked best answer

TheOnlyCoolTim: I'm not surprised to find out they had cuss words, but I am a little surprised to find out they used those specific cuss words. Like jokeefe said, it's amazing how well many of those insults have survived the years.
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 4:39 PM on December 2, 2007

There are only two things in SMB2j that I would say were outright unfair:
Warp zones that take you backwards (SPOILER: don't climb the vines in worlds 3-1, 5-1, or 7-1)Hidden blocks that are intentionally placed to block your jump, like the ones guarding Hammer Bros. in 8-3Yes, there are lots of other things that make the game harder, and maybe they make the game so hard that it's not people's cup of tea, but there's nothing unfair about them. This is an important distinction. For... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 3:25 PM on November 5, 2007

I have big hands, have played with an XO, and sadly, the keyboard simply isn't big enough for touch typing. Also, it's made of a sort of rubberized material, which is bad for tactile feedback but good for serviceability: you basically don't have to worry about spilling stuff on the keyboard.

None of these are meant to criticize the XO—it's a truly awesome machine—but they're holding me back from buying one myself.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 6:24 AM on November 3, 2007 marked best answer

This probably gets used for various comedic effects. In addition to the examples above, in a college anime group I once saw a "funsub"—some no-name anime with fan-provided subtitles meant to parody the conventions of the genre and so on. ("Attention citizens of Tokyo! The city is being invaded by a giant monster! Please try to act like this doesn't happen every day and flee in terror." Something like that.)

There's also some Hollywood film... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 7:04 PM on October 24, 2007

Mominoki House
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 11:16 AM on September 27, 2007

I had dinner at a macrobiotic restaurant that was great and unlike anything I've eaten anywhere. Menu on a colorful chalkboard, wooden floors, furniture, everything, cozy atmosphere, and the most hardcore green tea known to man.

Unfortunately, I don't remember any details that would actually help you find it. I think it's Chaya Macrobiotic, but that's only because it's the only macrobiotic restaurant I'm easily finding in my Google searches. A... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 7:18 PM on September 13, 2007

Wait, nevermind, it's definitely not Chaya. The place I ate was halfway underground, not on the seventh floor of a department store.

I'll ask my friend if he remembers and report back.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 7:20 PM on September 13, 2007

Don't know if this is still helpful, but the place I went to is Mominoki House. 2-18-5 Jinguumae, Shibuya-ku (take the JR Yamamote Line to Harajuku), phone 3405-9144.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 6:03 AM on September 20, 2007

I have a coworker who sees a chiropractor regularly. This is so banal that it doesn't inspire prying questions, and it totally makes sense that it'd be a weekly thing. So if you want to go the little white lie route, this might be a good one.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 7:20 PM on September 18, 2007

I'm planning on going.
posted to MetaTalk by brett at 7:07 AM on September 8, 2007

I'm with meech, I think. I see the problems with what we have now but I can't imagine anything better.

Occasionally for my job I'll get interviewed for some small piece in a trade rag. When this happens, I'm having a conversation with the reporter. Yes, I'm trying to get in something quotable every now and then, but more than that, I'm trying to explain a lot of technical stuff to them simply and quickly so they can write an accurate article.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 9:53 PM on September 7, 2007

Those TVC folks are waaaayyy too preoccupied with "she-males." Just sayin'.
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 7:52 PM on September 4, 2007

I've seen "Buttsex" in the wild. On the other hand, I used that network, so I guess it wasn't too effective.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 2:21 PM on August 17, 2007

pocams has it.

If you want to be portable, instead of comparing against specific errno values (which can vary between platforms), you can import the errno module and compare against the names of the errors you're trying to deal with. For example, instead of e.errno == 2, you would say e.errno == errno.ENOENT.

On a Unix system, you should be able to check the errno man page to see what all the names are and what they mean. You can also figure... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 3:52 PM on August 16, 2007 marked best answer

You won't hear me singing Disney's praises too often, but this video is really a testament to the quality of their animation. It's painfully obvious that the characters aren't saying what's being sung, because there's so much detail in the vocal animations. This'll never catch on to the same extent it has for anime.
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 7:51 PM on August 15, 2007

There's a webcomic critic site I very occasionally read, Websnark. He has a series of posts dubbed "You Had Me And You Lost Me," about webcomics he used to love but can't bring himself to read anymore.

As an April Fool's joke, he did one about Garfield.
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 6:08 AM on August 5, 2007

It's quicksand Jesus! Quicksand!
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 10:14 AM on July 29, 2007

A few months ago I went to a party, and several of friends of mine—most of them roomamates—and I got together to carpool. Just before we left, there was some kind of blow-up between two of the roommates, and all my fellow passengers on the drive to the party spent a good amount of time hashing out their feelings about it. This was really awkward for me since I couldn't really participate in the conversation and was kinda trapped in the car—even though I thought it was great that they... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 4:52 PM on July 12, 2007

Here you go. From D. C. Simpson's I Drew This.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 4:14 PM on July 11, 2007 marked best answer

Three things.

First: if it requires Flash, it's not Ajax.

Second: what delmoi said.

Third: here's my chart. Do I get a prize?
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 6:31 PM on July 10, 2007

I agree with the comments to pare down. I keep track of my checking and savings accounts, and I personally find it very helpful. I know how well I'm staying on budget, when I can splurge, stuff like that. But I also have a retirement account that I barely think about. I just log in and check it quarterly or so.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 6:41 AM on May 20, 2007

goodnews: There's a clip of a similar play in an episode of This American Life, 20 Acts in 60 Minutes.
posted to MetaTalk by brett at 6:07 PM on April 17, 2007

I do want to echo miss lynnster's point that it is possible to say that something is gay without meaning it as an insult. But when it's derogatory, the phrase is offensive enough to me that my sisters get a little lecture about it every time they use it in my presence, which is often.

I'm not the MMORPG type but a guild that did not tolerate this sort of thing would definitely win big points in my book.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 3:25 PM on April 16, 2007

Balkan Beat Box. It's this Jewish big band techno rap... thing. I would call it "fusion" but I feel like that might be an insult. Their CDs are unbelievably subdued compared to their live performances, where everything gets turned up to eleven and everyone's jumping and dancing and having a crazy good time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 3:53 PM on April 15, 2007

My mom's Catholic; my dad's atheist; and they got married at your age, and I came around soon afterwards. Growing up, I did not go to church regularly, but did end up there a few times a year—after staying over Saturday night with grandparents or friends, or for weddings. I wasn't particularly worried about the possibility that Dad could go to hell, but in retrospect I couldn't tell you why. Maybe I didn't get the memo that nonbelievers were headed straight down. But I also think I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 8:16 PM on April 10, 2007

Free Software, Free Society is a collection of RMS' essays, which do a lot to outline why he believes software ought to be free, ethically speaking. The printed copy is nice, but note that you can also download the book as a PDF from that page, too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 3:41 AM on April 4, 2007

Yeah, need more background. Lexington is pretty all right all around, and last I recall the city was in the middle of a fight to offer domestic partner benefits to its employees. But Kentucky's pretty hostile.

It seems like this could be a good, thought-provoking list, but because of the way it's being billed we're all stuck discussing the meta issue.
posted to MetaFilter by brett at 3:57 PM on March 26, 2007

I have a bachelor's in CS and work at a non-profit. I've never worked in the corporate world, so I'm just going off what I hear, but I think damn dirty ape is right that non-profits are not as removed from the corporate world as people might think, that there issues with understaffing, etc. But, ah, I'm not quite as bothered about that. :) I also worked for a while as a programmer in a university after graduating, which was similar. In both cases, my work is/was usually a couple degrees... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 6:32 PM on March 11, 2007

Ahh, Soma. *wistful sigh* I have yet to find an equally awesome coffeeshop in Boston.
posted to MetaTalk by brett at 4:42 PM on February 24, 2007

This may be too geeky for your tastes, but I would be compelled to call this katamari damaseed.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 6:17 PM on February 17, 2007

A few months ago -- around the midterm elections, if I recall correctly -- in the middle of one episode, Ira Glass just goes on a tear about how he wished John Kerry would just disappear. It was amusing, but not good radio.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 6:52 AM on February 10, 2007

I was going to point you to an earlier thread about falling for maybe-straight guys that this reminded me of, but then I saw that you were the asker there, too.

I'm not criticizing. I've been there too, and I still don't have all my stuff in order. But if this one doesn't work out for you either, I might humbly suggest you try looking for love in places where the sexuality question has been resolved up-front. :)
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 5:58 PM on February 9, 2007

The pub quizzes I go to don't bother with anything so complex. Instead they just institute rules about team size. One says that if you have a team of more than N people, you can't win the first place prize. Another says you can't win a prize at all. I guess that isn't effective if you're not giving out a prize, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by brett at 4:24 AM on December 10, 2006