You forgot rule #1 of design.

I don't think Philippe Stark ever read that chapter.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:14 PM on July 2, 2008

oops, missed a c
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:16 PM on July 2, 2008

and reaches a top speed of 25 mph

Not something I'd advertise but hey, hippies aren't into speed.

Nice idea for a park, snarks aside.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:41 AM on July 2, 2008

It also proves that all that excitement about the Internet being a new oasis of LIBERTEH beyond the reach of national governments was total guff.

I think it still holds true, but we are too lazy. Convenience far outweighs liberty and freedom both on and offline
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 2:01 AM on June 24, 2008

what they're fighting for is a free movie or two

Bit more than a free movie or two imo. I should be able to download whatever I want without Government approval.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 2:50 AM on June 24, 2008

Good for you. I for one can't wait to see the world all this "producers of expensive stuff can only expect minimal returns" thinking produces; at this rate it's only going to take 10 or 20 years.

just like home taping killed the music industry right?
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:16 AM on June 24, 2008

Record and book shops were first up -- I was amazed how quickly they shut down, I thought it would take a lot longer.

I can only speak for having worked in a record store in the UK for 10 years but it wasn't the internet that killed the record stores and book shops, it was Tesco.

People will, on the whole, pay for something they place value in. The business models will do just fine, if they listen to the needs of their... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:24 AM on June 24, 2008

no rational market participant will pay for something when a free alternative is available.

True. I'm not saying all digital content should be free at all, but all this blaming kids who download is BS of the highest degree. The internet is not responsible for the death of record shops or book stores any more than it is resonsible for the death of the small independant retailer. Yet the record industry has tried to pin whatever blame it can on consumers... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:06 AM on June 24, 2008

Cite, please?

Well it's been over 10 years so I don't have any of the trade papers handy... try searching google. First page of Google results got me these, if it's any use to you.

On a positive note, sales of first release titles (as indicated by ARIAnet Top 100 Album sales) were up 14% in the first half. The decline in the overall audio album market can be attributed therefore to a slower moving back... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 8:48 AM on June 24, 2008

Why is that? Do you also agree that you should be able to take whatever you want from a store without paying for it?

No, I don't actually download anything illegally these days, all legit, but I should still be able to download whatever I want without Government approval or snooping.

Catch me selling your work for a profit then go right ahead. Otherwise get your nose out of my private goings on.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 9:06 AM on June 24, 2008

Maybe it says more about me than I want to consider, but I'd always assumed that drug dealers would consider it something of a prize to be known as "the dealer who provided XXXs fatal high"

No-one in the service industry want's to kill their clients before getting maximum return at the very least. Seeing as how Amy Winehouse probably pays good money and a lot of it, I really think killing her would not be any sort of prize!... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 6:15 AM on June 23, 2008

beautiful, all it needs is a battered Mars bar for dessert.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:12 AM on June 11, 2008

Probably saw one one those tacky skull bongs and thought... let's make a real one. Teenagers, love it.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:03 AM on May 9, 2008

Seriously, this is really fucked up.

Is it really though? I mean, it is a bit mad but teenagers do crazy things, taking drugs or not. Digging up an 80 year old skeleton isn't something I'd fancy doing but I can totally see how a group of kids could have taken a silly idea and went too far with it.

Beats collecting weapons and then shooting up half your class.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:21 AM on May 9, 2008

pot heads have been doing this for years.

yep those are the tacky skull bongs I was thinking about. So it's really not a huge leap to see where the inspiration came from. Lets ban skull shaped bongs, they are influencing our kids!!!!!!!
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:24 AM on May 9, 2008

I recall a time when, to shock adults, all a teenager had to do was drop one nice little F-bomb at the dinner table. ::sigh:: What have we wrought?

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"

Plato agrees.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 6:05 AM on May 9, 2008

If I wasn't going to get cremated that would so be going on my headstone LordSludge.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 6:39 AM on May 9, 2008

swings and round abouts isn't it. Everyone hated serif for the web at the start. Now it's all about the serifs. I'm lovin my slabs at the minute, maybe next year blackletter will make a comeback.

I would say (without reading the actual article) that both web and print design are 95% Typography. Then again, I'm biased, started my career as a typesetter.

The next big advance will be css3 support for embedded fonts. God help the web and readability... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 1:25 AM on May 9, 2008

It all depends how good the designer is leahwrenn. If you take mefi for example, Matt could probably make the top menu have a repeating background so if you increase your text size the menu background adjusts accordingly. Much like the way that the bottom links stay in the dark blue footer.

Realistically though you have to just design for a standard and hope the layout degrades "gracefully" as they say.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:21 AM on May 9, 2008

elite snipers, they like the elite republican guard? Like, really, really elite for the purposes of heightening your anger and hatred of them?
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:34 AM on May 9, 2008

changes nothing, the chances of getting locked up for smoking a spliff are still next to none. What is Gordon Brown playing at though, he must have the worst possible team advising him.

The harder they fight cannabis use the more harm they do to the precious youth they are trying to protect. At least home grown isn't polluted with a load of bulking material more harmful than the drug itself.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:34 PM on May 7, 2008

It's some hallucinogenic shit and probably deserves to treated more like heavy acid than anything else.

Oh come on, I think you need to take a step back and stop spreading FUD.

I have tried some of the strongest bud out there and also lovely unadulerated homegrown. Fact is, everyone is different. An occasional user will get blown away by skunk, I'll get the giggles.

This isn't macho posturing, just... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:34 AM on May 8, 2008

OMG, this is turning out to be the best year ever for music with all my heroes playing gigs over here... Nick Cave, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and now Tom Waits... can't believe it!
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 1:26 AM on May 8, 2008

Tom Waits a genius of Branding and Marketing. Brilliant, hadn't heard that before.

I don't think you are uncool, just trying to be cooler than the coolest. That's fine, but you are wrong.

You reckon Frank Zappa is a genius and so do I. But really, Titties and beer, Jewish Princess... a lot of people who didn't get Zappa would think there was no genius, just nonsense there. Maybe you just don't get Waits. Genius he certainly is though.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:01 AM on May 8, 2008

Love both Waits and Zappa for that actually.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:02 AM on May 8, 2008

I don't *want* my brain to be put through a blender

Life is a brain blender. LSD is more like putting your brain through a bubble blower. Shit when the bubbles burst though.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:41 PM on April 29, 2008

Smoking pot is bad for your health.

You don't have to smoke it. Lame argument from people who don't know/want to know the simple facts about a really beneficial plant (and it's not just for getting high, that's just a great bonus)

Besides. People want to harm themselves, who are you to stop them? Where do you end it? Caffeine, Chocolate, sugar?
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:26 AM on April 21, 2008

want to deny their children simple pleasures that they enjoyed growing up;

Really? Because a main reason I strive for conservation and sustainabililty i so I don't deny children the simple pleasures I enjoyed.

Of course we may be of a different generation ourselves, perhaps your simple pleasures were being driven around in you moms SUV, eating McDonalds and playing on Land fills (when you weren't stuck indoors on your... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 1:45 AM on April 19, 2008

Shit, I just checked out your profile standbythree and we are the same age. What were the simple pleasures of your youth that would be denied by sustainable living?

You come from poverty so you say you aren't a privileged white male and also that you consider yourself intelligent. Yet a statement such as:

Given the absolute lack of any actual impacts on the day-to-day lives of human beings from global warming so... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 2:56 AM on April 19, 2008

Not a fan of the English Fry (Black pudding... yuk!), they just don't cut it compared to the good old Ulster Fry... Sausage, Bacon, Beans, Potato Bread (yum yum yum) and Soda Bread.

This has just put me in the mood for a fry... must. resist. (it's bangers and champ with beans for dinner, can't be overdoing it!)
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 2:00 AM on April 18, 2008

If I had to choose whether to have back bacon or streaky bacon for the rest of my life, my answer would surely be yes.

Best Bacon I've ever tasted is Black Bacon from O'Dohertys in Fermanagh. If you love your bacon as much as you seem, you owe it to yourself to try get some.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:21 AM on April 18, 2008

Ah for fuck sake. A precious memory from childhood was playing "see what you see in the clouds" with my parents. Now we'll be sitting with our kids as they shout - "look mommy, McDonalds in the Sky. Lets go to McDonalds."

Bastards.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 6:47 AM on April 17, 2008

I want to post but have trouble with ryhme
I'll miss the scent of roses
but perhaps there will still be thyme
ah holy Moses
I'm crap.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 4:28 AM on April 17, 2008

Helped me get a good start to the day. dugg.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 2:35 AM on April 17, 2008

Grow your own. It's really not that difficult. 3rd year growing veg and I just can't believe how incredibly easy and rewarding it is. I'm not even really trying. I'm pretty confident that a couple of hours work a day and I'd have enough veg to feed myself and partner for the year. At the minute I'm spending maybe a couple of hours a week and we still get a meal or two out of that.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:16 AM on April 16, 2008

that comment was more aimed at the middle classes in the west... if we could start growing our own then it doesn't need shipped halfway around the world. Surely that's gotta help a bit? And we could still afford to buy our shiny stuff.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:19 AM on April 16, 2008

I tried growing amber fields up rippling wheat on my 2 square metre balcony. I encountered limited success.

Well don't grow wheat then! Even with a 2 metre square balcony you could be growing hanging tomatoes for a bit of fresh fruit, and you could possibly get around 20 grow bags with a couple of potatoes in each... which should yield a hundred odd potatoes.

But yeah, my back yard isn't great for growing. That's why I rented a plot of land.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:46 AM on April 16, 2008

I know. I was just being a smartass ...or trying, at least.


No, perfectly good smartass comment - The idea of fields of wheat in balconies gave me a smile... Seriously though, I reckon it's time (if only Governments were serious about tackling a food crisis) to free up land for their citizens to rent and grow food cheaply. Because I have a good bit of disposable income I can afford to privately rent a plot. the waiting lists for a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 6:14 AM on April 16, 2008

Pastabagel, a family of four could easily get about in a small 1.0L economy car like a polo or similar. How many of them do you see on the school runs?

Congratulations, your gas tax has condemned them to a life of slavery.

Maybe a life of public transport, but slavery?!? Don't make a mockery of the word.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 8:55 AM on April 16, 2008

It's just not fair

you know what else isn't fair, the middle and upper classes consuming far more than their fair share of global resources.

You worry about the middle classes and poor in America. What about those who haven't even had a chance yet to know what disposable income really is?

A gas tax is regressive, yes. But if it reigns us in then brilliant. Just like taxes on cigarettes I couldn't care... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 9:12 AM on April 16, 2008

Good fun. I miss being an indie kid. Not looking forward to my gran trying to dance to the pixies at my wedding either. I can relate.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:32 PM on April 11, 2008

Honestly, that should be one of your two or three biggest reasons to even bother having a ceremony and reception and everything.

heh, true enough!
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:10 AM on April 12, 2008

wow, takes a lot to surprise me these days. 1 in nine young blacks in prison, that's just fucked up. If that's the rate currently incarcerated what's the ratio of blacks that have been through the prison system. Shocking.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 11:12 AM on February 28, 2008

Of course they broke laws. There something broken in society though if a certain section of society is poorer/more likely to commit crime. Maybe not. Maybe all poor people, or blacks, just get a kick out of crime. Maybe it's in them. I go with the notion that it's a broken society that isn't looking out for the disadvantaged myself.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 11:31 AM on February 28, 2008

The guy had a mission from the outset. He knew if it didn't work he would still have a home, good education and future prospects. I bet growing up into poverty is a hell of a lot harder to get out off than this fella purposely putting himself in that situation.

He proved with the right mindset, yes, it's possible. But having a college education suggests he is already pretty intelligent. Not saying that people in poverty are stupid but they didn't necessarily have the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 2:50 PM on February 15, 2008

it will eventually become a polite custom in Arab lands to air-kiss a woman's bosom upon meeting her

Now there's a tradition we could all learn to love.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 2:38 PM on February 15, 2008

The viewpoint is that of God? are you sure thats right?

Is it not? God is the big bearded dude looking down at us from the heavens.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:38 AM on December 11, 2007

That was great, really cute.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 3:13 AM on December 10, 2007

No. Common sense put an end to it. Get over it.

So if a small person would like to be tossed into the air by another, stronger person, then we should get angry and "protect them". Oh please. It's only demeaning if it's forced against your will.

Personally, I'd love to be thrown into the air (safely) by someone else. Would be great fun.

As for animals. Just don't do it. Animals can't say no.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:35 AM on November 28, 2007

C'mon over here shorty. Let me throw you. I know you want me to. You won't get hurt. Promise.

Fantastic, forget meet ups, lets have a mefi-toss.
posted to MetaFilter by twistedonion at 5:57 AM on November 28, 2007