We're supposed to accept two thirds of the New Testament as gospel when Paul himself admits to being an ex-roman guard.

ZachsMind - curious to know what you're basing that on. Could you provide a reference?
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 11:13 AM on June 30, 2008

speaking of amending second things..

double?
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 7:56 AM on June 26, 2008

nice, I saw a guy reading this book on the train the other day, and had to perform contortions to read over his shoulder. What I saw looked pretty interesting - agreeing with vorfeed that a lack of devotion to craft is hurting our society.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:22 AM on June 23, 2008

excellent. agreed that the film quality really ratcheted things up a notch or two.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 8:41 AM on June 6, 2008

Now, this will seem like pure conjecture now

yes, yes it does.

The author explains the name of the website:

I recalled the term intellectual whore and applied it to this situation. These women had made me into their intellectual whore. Since then I have dedicated a large part of my life to avoiding this trap, and the various bitches that try to put you in it.

ugh.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 1:31 PM on May 20, 2008

Metafilter: sewage pants for vegas
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 6:49 AM on May 19, 2008

Compared to standard gas bikes, they're expensive. In my opinion, (and from other comments in the link) they're ugly. Those are pretty big hurdles to overcome before they're widely adopted.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 8:30 AM on May 14, 2008

Here's the best-kept secret the energy lords have been keeping from you about Hydrogen-On-Demand: WHY COMPRESS HYDROGEN IN DANGEROUS HIGH-PRESSURE TANKS WHEN IT IS ALREADY "COMPRESSED" IN PLAIN WATER - AND CAN BE EASILY AND SAFELY RELEASED??!

stupid energy lords - always keeping secrets!
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 1:31 PM on May 13, 2008

incredible post. Thanks.

I knew that the dying/bleaching process for cotton used a lot of awful chemicals, but never thought of cotton more than one natural color.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 2:27 PM on May 9, 2008

I like single link McSweeney's posts about as much as single link youtube posts.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 2:37 PM on May 7, 2008

In this entry the author posts a photo of an unknown subject. To me, it looks like this guy, though I can't figure out why the family would have a photo of him sitting around.(second photo taken between 1860-1865 by Matthew Brady)
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 5:42 AM on May 6, 2008

mostly I just feel bad for the kid; continuing with that kind of unrepentant attitude is going to cause him (and probably others) a lot of grief in life. And I suspect that there are much deeper issues when a seven year old steals a car because he's mad at his mother. He also said it was because he wants to do "hood rat" things with a friend who smokes "real cigarettes".
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 10:46 AM on May 1, 2008

so this is an unattended aircraft - meaning, no crew. What is the 1000 lb payload that it's expected to carry? Purely sensor and communications gear?

First tireless buzzing robot dogs, now this. It's like they never heard of Skynet.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:27 AM on April 30, 2008

Normal people don't use their middle initial everywhere.

try telling that to Alfred E. Neuman.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 12:39 PM on April 17, 2008

I am forgetting my 11th grade biology here, but how large would a 6 week old fetus be, and would it be visually recognizable as such?

about half an inch,and here are some photos.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 12:31 PM on April 17, 2008

But there is really only one answer to the question "Can you think of any reason why I shouldn't beat you?"

"Because I'll beat you back."

Setting aside, for a second, questions as to whether retaliation actually stops violence: In the context and the culture where Mama Wangari was a child, do you think that responding with "Because I'll beat you back" would have been effective? Personally, I think it would have been fatal.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 10:24 AM on April 17, 2008

Retaliation does not stop violence, but this isn't violence, it's abuse.

That's an interesting clarification; thanks. I hadn't thought of it in that way. You're correct in implying that what's going on here is specifically not between equals.(Retaliation turns abuse into a fight which is never what an abuser wants ) However, I think a physical response to her father's authority would most likely have escalated the physical abuse. By... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 11:28 AM on April 17, 2008

i dunno, I kinda liked it. seconding From Bklyn; the music made it a lot more interesting.

And I think the clunky acting makes it more of an abstraction, perhaps. It was hard to feel that the actors meant what they were saying. In addition, there's no way some of those guys are old enough to have a daughter that age. So the ability to suspend disbelief is again strained. It made me think about what I consider acceptable levels of unreality in entertainment. A defined... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 6:47 AM on April 17, 2008

Hm. I live in NYC and don't know if I'd let a nine-year-old ride the train alone. Depends on the kid, I'd say. I do know that when I see kids who look like they're alone on the train, I keep an eye on them, and wonder where their parents might be

As background, I grew up in a rural/suburban area with lots of woods. We ran around unsupervised all the time, and I'm still alive, still have all my limbs, etc.

I don't think people are more or less... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:41 AM on April 12, 2008

but if they don't allow catch-alls, they're going to have a loooot of angry (ex) customers. Of course, anyone with a sense of outrage probably jumped ship six weeks ago, so maybe they're just banking on the fact that their entire remaining customer base just doesn't follow the news...

I just found out that my current provider - Inmotion - doesn't allow catchalls. We had switched to them after a supremely negative experience with Network Solutions.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 1:37 PM on April 10, 2008

JaredSeth: I was told it was to cut down on spam. IANAsysadmin.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 2:49 PM on April 10, 2008

You're the IANA sysadmin?!

stupid acronyms!

(I'm not a) sysyadmin.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 3:40 PM on April 10, 2008

I don't read him as a luddite. It's possible this is because I'm being selective and not paying attention to the parts I don't like.

Berry has pointed out that he does not advocate "returning to an earlier time" - pointing out that at no time has America done a perfect job of valuing people and places. Berry certainly is not averse to innovation - he's involved with Wes Jackson and the Land Institute. Briefly, The Land Institute is trying to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:52 AM on April 10, 2008

Do they mean "Haysi", right across the border from WVA? I don't know of a place called "Hayside" in Virginia.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 11:23 AM on April 9, 2008

i'm getting sympathy pain in my eyeballs just from reading this. ow ow ow.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 12:39 PM on April 3, 2008

in your face, Alexander Hamilton!

This is interesting stuff, at least for people interested in craft brewing or making their own entertainment. I grew up near Franklin County, VA - a locale that claims to be the Moonshine Capital of the US. Wondering if a similar law there would prompt folks to seek legal status or not.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 1:24 PM on March 22, 2008

Thee entertaining screw-ups

great band name right there.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 1:44 PM on March 20, 2008

I remember standing in the crappy Walden Books reading these as a kid. Hours of just standing there. I'd never seen a graphic novel. It seemed like an embarrassment of riches.

Same for me, only in the SF/fantasy section of the library.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 1:23 PM on March 20, 2008

I'm curious as to what is meant in the article by "legally male".
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 12:18 PM on March 20, 2008

Interesting stuff.

the interpretation that arming individuals will help prevent government tyranny in general is probably the closest we're going to get.



While this argument crops up from time to time, i don't think that the arms that are legally available to you would be much help if you are attempting to stop actual government forces in the act of tyranny. For this line of reasoning to make sense,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 3:06 PM on March 18, 2008

Rocket Surgery.

Yep, that's goin' on a t-shirt.

Fletcher thought so too
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:31 AM on March 17, 2008

man, I just cannot stand the pingy snare.

strange that they picked such a long grindcore track.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 12:14 PM on March 14, 2008

This looks pretty interesting; I'd be curious to try it out. I'm an engineer, and I don't like overuse of autotune or any other "studio magic". However, it's a means to an end, and like many devices, it can be used sparingly with good results.

I wish everyone that acts so concerned about the purity of music available would stop posturing and apply that passion to making music of their own.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 8:24 AM on March 14, 2008

Perhaps the reason it's being pursued or banned isn't actually a war for your consciousness?

Maybe it's just that another drug scourge = more funding for law enforcement.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:33 AM on March 12, 2008

oncogenesis: There are five times as many comments in this silly thread as there are in the NSA/driftnet wiretapping thread next door.

perhaps because, given Spitzer's presentation of himself as watchdog, this is more surprising?

If Metafilter in any way reflects the concerns and priorities of the US at large, then I am forced to conclude that we get the government we deserve.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 10:26 AM on March 11, 2008

will reducing the human cost of war by removing soldiers from the battlefield make it "cheaper" to get public approval for war in the future?

1. The human cost of war extends pretty far beyond soldiers in uniform.

2. New and improved weaponry is only useful if you know where to shoot. I don't see how a more effective shotgun will reduce insurgency attacks.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 10:12 AM on March 10, 2008

Wouldn't it be better to, say, have a subscription service where you can look up any reference material you want and download an electronic copy (possibly with some sort of DRM to enforce limited time of use, if they must) and do it all from your home rather than having to drive to the library, navigate around the schizophrenics and cladestinely-masturbating pedophiles at the computers and dick with the Dewey decimal system only to find the book you wanted isn't even available anyway?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 2:47 PM on March 7, 2008

21 million pounds of beef were just recalled.

a fully grown minke whale weighs 4 or five tons. Assuming that the entire whale is edible, that's still more than 5 million whales needed to replace the beef that was just recalled.

according to wikipedia: "The total population of Minke Whales is estimated to be in the order of 184,000"

so... they're making a ridiculous argument. the motivation is found in the link:... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 8:32 AM on March 4, 2008

So yes, this is a laughable Big Whaling PR campaign- whale meat isn't plentiful enough to replace our own country's annual meat consumption- but that doesn't in any way detract from your absolutely atrocious and sloppy math.

yep, totally right. Thanks for correcting that; even with CORRECT math, whale meat still is not plentiful enough. Obviously the entire whale is not edible either; they are not swimming blocks of tofu.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 8:13 AM on March 5, 2008

We use modified electric vehicles and can be anywhere on a given floor within eight and a half minutes.

and now I am picturing GOB Bluth as a security guard.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 12:44 PM on February 29, 2008

And having served in Vietnam would suggest he's an elite shopping-mall ninja commando who's old enough to collect social security.

Obviously the ninja training has kept him youthful and sprightly.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 1:03 PM on February 29, 2008

For the Marvel adaptations, produced during each film's post-production period, the artists had not seen the films -- they were working merely from the script, with some key photography and maybe some concept art. Also, they had to conform to the page and printing standards of newsstand comics from 1977-1983. This meant that all the action of a Star Wars film had to be crammed into six issues (or, in the case of Return of the Jedi, a mere four).

Given... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 10:18 AM on February 29, 2008

Er, so how can Vader lift up Obi-Wan's cloak with his lightsaber?

Or is this one of those times that a "wizard did it"?

That wizard's just a crazy old man. I don't think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 10:21 AM on February 29, 2008

well, if those photos are correct, he certainly did lose some weight. Hard to say where the blame lies without more info.

I don't know how much interaction the kid had with AFS staff; do these programs have some sort of oversight, or is it just a drop-off and "see you at the end of the school year!" ?
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 8:41 AM on February 29, 2008

They all react the strongest against the thing that tempts them the most, like the old adage about hating in others what you hate about yourself.

So Metafilter is full of closeted Christians?
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 2:16 PM on February 27, 2008

I will give he was articulated


He was consisting of segments held together by joints? Hey, me too!

jokes aside- I didn't agree with all of Mr. Buckley's viewpoints. I do think that his passing is yet another milestone on the road away from reasoned political conversation in the US.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:24 AM on February 27, 2008

yeah, wow, that's pretty incredible. The voiceover is completely hilarious. Hope they get an A.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 6:23 AM on February 27, 2008

perhaps he downloaded it? oops, no, that'd be illegal.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 9:26 AM on February 26, 2008

thanks. i love stuff like this; knowing how it was created makes it even more enjoyable to try and figure out what might have made the sounds.
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 6:52 AM on February 26, 2008

OTOH, if Liberia knew they were sitting the world's biggest reserve of mischmetal and we desperately needed the neodymium to build out a mag-lev system in this country, what would Liberia demand from us?

I think the question is, what wouldn't we demand from Liberia?
posted to MetaFilter by dubold at 2:37 PM on February 25, 2008