Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 1280
MeFi post:
Lacking Control Increases Magical Thinking
We look for patterns because we hate surprises and because we love being in control.
Or, perhaps some people trash magical thinking for faith, where you give up control to a higher power. That takes a little more effort than magical thinking, though.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 2:42 PM on October 5, 2008
MeFi post:
The young Dylan on TV
Just spent the evening searching for Dylan tracks on YouTube, and now this wonderful post! This is going to be a great month, what with the release of the new Bootleg CD... and I'll be taking my wife to the opening night (in Victoria, BC) of Dylan's North American tour, on October 23.
This version of Cry A While kicks absolute ass.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:48 PM on October 4, 2008
MeFi post:
Birth of an Ocean
small niggle, can I get the video in English or French or even German? Because the images are very cool but he could be trying to sell me Pepsi and I wouldn't know it.
It is unlikely the YouTube link is trying to sell anything, except perhaps salt. So you may choose this one time to trust the people talking foreign.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 12:25 PM on October 2, 2008
MeFi post:
Best albums of the 90s
Usually Top 100 lists are pretty dodgy, but I must say that I own(ed) about 80 of these albums. I don't know if these are the "best" albums, but they are 100 *representative* albums from the 90s. Just looking at the album/cd covers really took me back. Interesting find.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 8:07 PM on September 30, 2008
MeFi post:
Tell the short shite to pick Palin!
These sorts of gags are a subtle way to humanize Hitler and the Nazis while ignoring the utterly inhuman acts of cruelty and murder they perpetrated.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 6:16 PM on September 28, 2008
To be provocative (although I do believe indeed believe this), Europeans have always hated Jews. You can blame the Nazis, if not the Germans for the Holocaust, but the extermination of 6 million people was a pan-European effort (although the Danes, being Danes, did not collaborate with the Final Solution). Perhaps this is why this sort of humour persists.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 6:32 PM on September 28, 2008
MeFi post:
...hold the formaldehyde.
Hey kids, chocolate is bad for you, so who wants a nice, delicious bar of carob? Oh, yeah, before I forget, I got you another surprise - some hemp underwear! While the patriarchy and the military industrial complex are definitely uncool, kids, I broke down and got you the new General Obi Wan Kenobi action figure, but you can't have the gun or the lightsaber that came with it - we all have to pray for peace!
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 7:56 AM on September 28, 2008
MeFi post:
OMG only 18 months til the Olympics and you don't have tickets yet!
It's just up the road in Vancouver, B.C.
No, no, no, from my perspective, Vancouver is just over the Arthur Laing Bridge.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 11:25 PM on September 26, 2008
"With Glowering Hearts" -- turned out to be a very prescient choice.
I actually tried taking Cambie from downtown to go to the ferry, via Oak, on Monday. Never. Again.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 11:28 PM on September 26, 2008
MeFi post:
The Wars of John McCain
Mississippi mudslinging: Liveblogging the first presidential debate
Siri Agrell, 26/09/08 at 9:04 PM EDT
10:36: I gotta say, I think Obama got schooled. Every memorable line was McCain's. Every opportunity to take McCain or the Republican administration to task was missed. It must have been an intentional strategy, to avoid saying anything nasty or disrespectful that could be held against him. I think it was a stupid strategy, but... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 9:08 PM on September 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Because there are more important things to do on Friday night
Video for "Bush is a high-function moron"
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 9:38 PM on September 25, 2008
It seems that ever since the Palin pick, his strategy has been "We're not being absurd enough! We need more inanity, we need to look more ludicrous, and we need to do so in a way that shows we have a fundamental disrespect for the basic core of democracy!"
The sad reality is, no matter what McCain does, close to 50% of the votes will go for him, as people will continue to vote along ideological lines. It does matter how insane the guy... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 9:50 PM on September 25, 2008
Because I DON'T HAVE ANY FUCKING CLUE WHY ANY RATIONAL PERSON WOULD SUPPORT THE MCCAIN/PALIN TICKET. Enlighten me
It is because Obama is black, for one thing.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 7:42 AM on September 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Oh sh*t.
I don't see anything worth getting excited about in her answers. I was unable to play the video, but got the text version.
SHE CANNOT SPEAK IN COMPLETE SENTENCES MUCH LESS INCORPORATE AT LEAST TWO CLAUSES INTO A SENTENCE, SOMETHING THAT DEMONSTRATES COMPLEX REASONING.
Ah, that felt better. This week has really reached Katrina-esque levels of surealism.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 11:47 PM on September 25, 2008
MeFi post:
Active Army unit to be stationed within US
I'm sure it's in the comments somewhere, but couldn't the FPP include a link to something other than "Democracy Now"? There is very little context here - could someone explain how this will enhance or compliment the role of the National Guard during times of crisis? Perhaps Katrina and Ike have demonstrated there there is a very real need to manage a significant risk, and there is currently not the capability to do so. However, perhaps the stress and chaos caused by redeployments in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:18 AM on September 24, 2008
Has the Bush administration been honest? Have they given you any reason to trust their judgment, competence, or motivations? Do you think it is appropriate to subject any important change in the way the federal government responds to "crises" to scrutiny?
Well, no, but it's no reason post an SLYT... I want *context*, dammit!
Anyway, you know what really keeps me awake at night? Another stolen election (2000, 2004) or an assassin.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 3:33 PM on September 24, 2008
MeFi post:
Obama's Got Options, Baby.
Until Palin was chosen as McCain's running mate, I always regarded Canadians' support for Obama (and it is nearly universal - the need for Obama to be in the White House is the one things all Canadians agree on, at least around the water cooler) as being kind of weird: the Democrats are anti- Free Trade and protectionist, anti- Oil Sands, etc, and will work hard to sink our (Canadians) economy. Why not look forward to a McCain presidency? You, laissez faire trade, that sort of thing. But ever... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 11:19 PM on September 23, 2008
Technically, it's the Greens who would restore the 2%. Dion's trick depends on the energy/manufacturing/transport industries not raising their prices higher than income tax cuts can cover.
Look, intellectually I can understand the Green Shift. But you don't win election by getting bogged down in the details. And no one trusts a government who says a new tax will be "revenue neutral". I think the GST is great (and think the worst thing the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:37 AM on September 24, 2008
MeFi post:
Michael Moores latest film free online
"This film, really isn't for anybody other than the choir," said Moore.
Too bad the people in Moore's choir can do little better than belching out the alphabet, and the occasional profanity.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 4:00 PM on September 23, 2008
MeFi post:
Witold Pilecki
Wow. Pilecki must have been tough, and it's ironic he survived the Nazi death-cult only to be betrayed by his own country.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 8:19 AM on September 20, 2008
MeFi post:
Vote in my space.
Brian Tobin, why hast thou foresaken us.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 8:37 PM on September 17, 2008
Ag Minister Gerry Ritz cracks wise about listeriosis deaths during official conference call, saying "This is like a death by a thousand cuts. Or should I say cold cuts."
I attended an industry banquet where Ritz was a speaker. He began his speech by announcing a snap election (this was back in February - the government-types I was sitting with simply stared in disbelief) as a "joke" and offered to fire anyone in his ministry who... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 7:23 AM on September 18, 2008
MeFi post:
Was there a Battle for Australia?
If you look at a map, and know anything about how close to Australia the Japanese were able to advance, and how fast, and the sorry state of Australia's defenses in the early stages of the war, and if you knew of just how terrible the conditions were on New Britain (or if you even knew where it was) I don't see how you could question whether or not there was a battle for Australia.
However, the great thing about living in a defeated nation like Japan is the almost total... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 4:36 PM on September 16, 2008
MeFi post:
culture club
How can it be that despite the absence of any evidence for the central tenets of Christianity
I suppose "Philistine" is just an Old Testament word for "Troll".
Love, humility, faith... these are bad things? Look, I'm no believer, but Christianity, stripped of all of the accumulated crap from the past two thousand years has an incredibly powerful message.
What a stupid post.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 11:30 AM on September 16, 2008
MeFi post:
Palin, pancakes, and the straight talk express
Oooh, scary, a "media backlash" against the McCain/Palin campaign. The media can say anything they want about Palin, and it will not change the outcome of the election - the "morans" who vote for the Republican ticket most likely don't even read all that much.
And besides, voting booth shenanigans and blatant disenfranchisement (remember Florida? remember Ohio?) will have more effect on this election than anything else.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:34 AM on September 14, 2008
MeFi post:
RIP, DFW
The Awakening of My Interest in Annular Systems was the first DFW story I read, and it blew my mind. Infinite Jest, I am sad to say, defeated me. For one thing, it was too big to lug around (I remember taking with me on an overnight stay in Las Vegas, and it took up more space than the rest of my belongings combined), and those fucking footnotes really really irritated me. And its length - better to call the book Infinite Read. The most frustrating thing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:37 PM on September 13, 2008
MeFi post:
Why does everybody hate me?
Thanks for the simulation. I had no idea that people living with schizophrenia had to put up with Realplayer.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:14 PM on September 11, 2008
MeFi post:
What makes people vote Republican?
Greensburg KS withstood an F-5 tornado in 2007. I stopped for fuel in August of this year. That's 2008 for those that can't read too well. Smiles everywhere. Money going in every direction. Buildings going up. New storm cellars going down. Economy in lieu of perpetual dependancy. I just about stopped and planted my back in that town.
This is disingenuous.
You can't compare NOLA to Greensburg. A town cannot just rebuild... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 4:38 PM on September 11, 2008
MeFi post:
Tastes like honey to the child; like oil to the elderly.
Put RFID chips on someone and the system can see if they are at least going through the motions of doing work.
Or you could monitor my activity on a computer to see how much time is spent being productive, and how much time is spent looking at MetaFilter.
I have it lucky, as I'm in a sales development and client management role, so I'm expected to be out at my desk. Still, developers are measured by how much quality code they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 3:18 PM on September 11, 2008
MeFi post:
Querying the noosphere
Peter Hessler in China reported on this about a month after the attacks, in 2001:
The DVD had been hastily produced by the government run Xinhua publishing house, in Beijing; its front cover displayed photographs of Osama bin Laden, George W. Bush, and the burning of the Twin Towers. Like many Chinese bootlegs, the back cover had tried for an air of authenticity with a false credit line composed of random Hollywood names and studios: Tom Hanks, Columbia... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:06 AM on September 11, 2008
Oh good - let's also run an opinion poll on what colour pants I'm wearing. Because people's opinions have SO MUCH RELEVANCE TO ACTUAL HARD FACTS.
At the end of the day, perception is more powerful than reality.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 10:08 AM on September 11, 2008
I think what makes the debate between two usually normal folks like rokusan and dirty ape so ferocious is that, at the end of the day, the attacks that killed nearly three thousand people, started two wars and basically ended the 20th century and introduced a new era were:
- committed by a *small* group of fanatics/weirdos from Egypt and Saudi
- committed using extremely "low" technology
- committed extremely cheaply (the whole operation... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 1:23 PM on September 11, 2008
I'm a Canadian who has lived for a significant part of my life in Japan (they use a different calendar), so I don't see my remark as being "American exceptionalism" (and if it is, then I suppose I have the right to call Americans "colonizers" for influencing my thinking so :) ).
Anyway, you could argue the 20th Century started in 1914 with the start of WWI. Look at all the things 1914 kicked off. And using the same sort of thinking, the 20th Century... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 1:58 PM on September 11, 2008
MeFi post:
Google's speedy little red browser.
Did you know I'm feeding half my RSS feeds through Yahoo Pipes to remove posts with the word "chrome"?
I can't figure out how to subscribe to an RSS feed in Chrome... It's really dumb. As well, when I migrated my FF bookmarks over to Chrome, not many of the RSS feeds worked. So I probably won't be using Chrome, except for Docs, Calendar and Gmail.
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu
at 9:05 AM on September 11, 2008
