I always enjoy the black art of tweaking pop-culture references juust enough for non-American audiences. Abbott & Costello Laurel & Hardy; Spiro Agnew Bill Clinton; "C'mon, Giles, it's telly television-watching time! Passions The Simpsons is on and Timmy Bart's down the well!"
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:01 AM on August 6, 2008

I'd go on to say that he looks like he COULD be a good example of a fiscally conservative public servant

As mentioned, he's facing state campaign finance charges. Last week, in a separate matter, the IRS moved that he be fined and jailed for failure to comply with a federal investigation. (Story here) Mr. Rinehart is not likely to be in office a hell of a lot longer, comic or no comic. He's going to be out a fortune in campaign signs, though -... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 10:38 AM on July 19, 2008

Also, here's another good write-up on the Rinehart situation, pre-federal-charges and pre-comic, by local GLBT political blogger James Nimmo. Includes some info on Rinehart's campaign manager (who carried a gun in his boot because "gays were after him"), thoughts on the all-pervasive good ol' boy cabal, and a charming little photoshop of Rinehart as Freddie Mercury for some reason.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 11:05 AM on July 19, 2008

"With all precincts reporting, Republican Dist. 2 Commissioner Brent Rinehart finished third in a three-man race."
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 12:02 PM on July 30, 2008

Akage no An ("Red-headed Ann") on YouTube. Featuring Eiko Yamada as Anne Shirley, Kazuhiko Inoue as Gilbert Blythe, and a young Hayao Miyazaki on storyboards.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 7:17 PM on July 29, 2008

Okay, here's the American Experience transcript that Herb Stempel's wikipedia article quotes several times. There's a lot of background in there, including the tidbit that Stempel took his big dive on the question "What motion picture won the Academy Award for 1955?". (Correct answer was "Marty" - "one of his favorite movies".)

So Herb Stempel was the guest of honor at the College Bowl national quiz championship in '97. He rushed through... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:47 PM on July 29, 2008

WCityMike -
The one where Mike Royko's utterly appalled that that mild-mannered kid in the corner who gabs about the movies could have come up with this trashy boob-fest? Good times.

According to this, Box 10, Folder 119 of the Chicago Newberry Library's Royko collection contains the only extant copy of "FOX! The Adventures of a Suburban Guerilla" (screenplay by Roger Ebert and Mike Royko, Sept. 1974).... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 1:42 PM on July 24, 2008

While I admit that I wouldn't like "unreliable narrator" gimmicks to be overused, Ebert comes off sounding almost betrayed by the revelation, as if it risked undermining his entire preferred art form.

"Because we see the events in flashbacks, we assume they reflect truth. But all they reflect is a point of view, sometimes lied about. Smart films know this, less ambitious films do not. [...] The wonder of "Rashomon" is that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:14 PM on July 24, 2008

"I don't know what a six-star hotel is," Schulze says, clearly agitated. "Who assigns six stars? If people talk about six stars, they obviously don't know ratings and they don't know the business. The six-star conversation is ridiculous. It's a joke."
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:23 PM on July 21, 2008

Oldest English-language joke in the book (courtesy of The Oxford Book of Humourous Prose):

There was in a certain town a widower who wooed a widow to have and wed her as his wife, and at last they were agreed and betrothed. And when a young woman, being servant with the widow, heard thereof she came to her mistress and said to her:
'Alas, mistress, what have you done?'
'Why?' said she.
'I have heard say,' said the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 12:09 PM on July 16, 2008

yhbc-
Clearly John McCain's version is the cruder, more sexist original, before it was cleaned up for Plantagenent sensibilities.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:06 PM on July 16, 2008

Well, Miss Squirrel is already a Marvel character. Meet Squirrel Girl.

And then there's Rainbow Girl's evil twin Roy G. Bivolo over at DC.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:18 AM on July 16, 2008

Hee, hee.

"Suggested Oklahoma City to Denver route:
- Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, TX Approx Duration 4h 14m
- Fort Worth to Springfield, IL Approx Duration 20h 10m
- (Bus) Springfield to Galesburg, IL Approx Duration 2h 15m
- Galesburg to Denver, CO Approx Duration 15h 37m"

Yahoo Maps Oklahoma City to Denver travel time: 9 hours, 57 minutes
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:06 AM on July 11, 2008

eritain - I live in Oklahoma City. I was thinking of visiting Denver later in the year. I had vaguely considered using Amtrack. Reading the thread prompted me to actually check out scheduling, and the result amusingly illustrated how underdeveloped Amtrak currently is in fly-over country. (Again, that 10-hour car trip involves a 42-hour (excluding delays and three station layovers) train and bus trip, including a 20-hour non-stop jaunt in the wrong direction.) If I wanted to use Amtrak... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:41 AM on July 15, 2008

In an astonishing coincidence, my own guiding philosophical lights are Fethullah Gülen, L. Ron Hubbard, and Colbert rox, lol. I hope you'll all give your time and effort to help me become your next King of Australia [citation needed].
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:54 PM on July 7, 2008

malthas,

There was ruinous trench warfare by the end of the Civil War. See this 1864 Harper's Weekly illustration of Union trench jockeys (note sandbags, gun-slits, and humorous helmet hat-on-a-stick gag). One of the great morale benefits of Sherman's March was that he was actually on the move and fighting while Grant and Lee crouched bleeding in the dirt for nine months.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:20 PM on July 2, 2008

alex-
Sure, but the guy in the etching isn't about to break cover - he's sitting with his back to the enemy, watching a card game. It's my understanding that if you knew you were going to be stuck in the trenches for the foreseeable future, the helmet-on-a-stick maneuver was more of an idle pasttime. At most, you get a bored enemy soldier to waste a bullet.

Good discussion, everybody.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:58 AM on July 3, 2008

A while back, I looked up this username at blogspot and found it was being used by an auto-redirecting purveyor of highest quality ass garters, with a long history of leaving enigmatic blog comments about anabolic steroids anabolic making making quality anabolic. Checked the AskMe archives for instructions, got him evicted, and took over the space myself. Which is why there's only one post, okay, I'll get back to it someday, god!
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:03 AM on June 27, 2008

And I think Pullman is a bit hard on Lewis; he's always banging on about how Susan is supposedly excluded from Narnia because she has become an adult woman, signified by her wearing stockings and lipstick...

That idea seems to get around. See also:

“There comes a point where Susan, who was the older girl, is lost to Narnia because she becomes interested in lipstick. She’s become irreligious basically because she found sex. ..... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:12 PM on June 23, 2008

No - no professional sports team? Oklahoma City already has the OKC Blazers, the greatest minor-league hockey team in the world. Over the years, the Blazers have dominated the likes of the Amarillo Gorillas, the Austin Ice Bats, and the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs - largely due to the awe-inspiring mustache of coach Doug Sauter. For several years there, the Blazers' mascot was a giant, foam-headed replica of the city's own beloved Coach Sauter, and his beloved mustache.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:57 PM on June 12, 2008

And there's the Rera Cise, who call themselves Tokyo's only Ainu restaurant. (Menu page) I believe they once called themselves the only Ainu restaurant in the world, but now the wiki on Ainu cuisine lists three more. In the world.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:33 PM on June 6, 2008

Clearly the only way for fans to save Dollhouse is to send in tens of thousands of some random crap that they guess will be associated with the series in eight months. At the moment, I think they're wavering between ball bearings (3/16" if possible), strawberry Twizzlers, and photos of a funny cat.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:06 AM on June 3, 2008

Their "worst of season six" pick is the Urkel sketch? But... Urkel! Hey, everybody, it's Urkel! Look, Urkel! And so forth. Love!

Hey, there's a wikia.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:44 AM on May 23, 2008

He was also the one who swiped unattributed the Iroquois term "Turtle Island" and turned it into "the Native American word for Earth", as seen in various forms of soft-headed "how-eco-conscious-those-noble-savages-were" green-porn. He has a poem in one of the early-70's collections in which he accidentally enters a redneck bar with "Proud to be an Okie from Musuokee" playing and thrills with terror at the brutish inhabitants thereof. I have somewhat... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 10:43 AM on May 7, 2008

Knew I had "Muskogee" misspelled wrong.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 1:18 PM on May 7, 2008

And less glibly, yeah, there's an undertone of the childishness of Middle America there, and the first half is all about setting up the narrator as infiltrator in hostile territory before he's charmed by all the short-haired joy and roughness - but I've obviously remembered the negative aspects distortedly prominently. I'm probably just pissed about the Muskokie thing.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:17 PM on May 7, 2008

flotson,

That wikipedia article (by a single author, no major edits) is kind of exactly what I'm referring to. "Many Native American tribes' term" is at first glance better than "the Native American term", but... name the tribes. Name a tribe, other than the member of the Iroquois Confederacy whose origin myth it is. While you're at it, find a pre-Snyderite use of "Isla Tortuga" for anything... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 1:43 AM on May 8, 2008

More ^

an hour to let them down wetting all myself always with some brandnew fad every other week such a long one I did I forgot my suede gloves on the seat behind
about 2 hours ago by mollyb from im

when I stood up and asked the girl where it was what do I care with it dropping out of me and that black closed breeches he made me buy takes you half
about 2 hours ago by mollyb from im

laughing and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 5:40 PM on May 5, 2008

I think we're all overlooking the softer, more tender side of John Ringo... John Ringo - webcomic fanboy.

Baen SF author John Ringo was profoundly affected by Sluggy [Freelance] while writing his Legacy of the Aldenata series; as a result, the crew of a massive mobile artillery platform that first appears in the third book of this series (When the Devil Dances) are depicted as die-hard Sluggy fanatics to comedic effect [...] A section of original Sluggy comics... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:23 PM on May 2, 2008

How do you cope?

I repeat to myself "Posts don't have to contain multiple links or end with a discussion-sparking question". Then I yell something about not being a number, and club Gorrister with an icicle.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 1:02 PM on April 24, 2008

LA'LCHEEZ'EDBURGER
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:27 AM on April 22, 2008

These public libraries.... it's really never been about the books has it?

It's about the ideas. The modern library argument is that those also come over the internet, on DVD, in graphic novels... And then there are video games, which are a little dicey on the life-expanding ideas front, but they get people in the door and provide a social outlet.

(The extent that public libraries are obliged to provide a social outlet is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:38 AM on April 17, 2008

Internet cafés are abundant and survive quite well on their own without "competition" from publicly funded institutions that are working outside their mandate.

Sweet god almighty, poor people exist. Public libraries were invented for people who couldn't afford an inflated fee when they needed to access information, and they haven't driven Barnes & Noble under yet.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 11:36 AM on April 17, 2008

Regarding prospero's comment on Peake's women... Titus's sister Fuschia is one of the most infuriatingly author-fiat characters I've ever encountered. She's a tomboy, she's a sheltered princess; she's canny, she's innocent; she's onto Steerpike, she's into Steerpike, she's darkly suspicious of him, she has no idea what he's up to because she's such a sweet sheltered innocent of radiant light. Every time she threatens to develop into an interesting character, Peake knocks her on the head and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:50 AM on April 16, 2008

Morning guys! What's... oh.

Regarding hillbillies, Rep. Kern represents District 84, which is in the middle of Oklahoma City. Her constituency looks to be about a third the whiter-than-whitebread suburbs of Warr Acres and Bethany (which latter is built around Southern Nazarene University, the chief training school for a small fundamendalist denomination. My little sister went there.) The rest of her district is poorer and shades Latino.

Her... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:18 AM on March 13, 2008

Aw, man. Not only do those U.S. sites both list the (nifty) Winchester Drive-In in Oklahoma City, they both mention the one in my crappy little pop. 8,000 mountain hometown. The Tower Drive-In's been in continuous operation since the fifties, partly because it represents a quarter of the movie screens in the city, and partly because of the mid-90's Showgirls incident. After the screening, the owner tearfully confessed to the paper that he didn't want... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 12:56 PM on February 18, 2008

I'm not sure if it's the first, but John D. MacDonald (slightly, but not much, more famous for his mysteries) has 8-year-old rokusan and Star Trek both beat.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 10:53 AM on February 16, 2008

Once upon a time, on an island far, far away, there was a native named Idiot Jed. Idiot Jed had bulging muscles, greasy hair, shining blue eyes, and was (secretly) not obsessed with logic puzzles. When anyone brought up a logic puzzle (which was all the damn time), Idiot Jed would shout "Kirsten sits next to Lord Bickerstaff who does not own a pony!" and run off to rotate the coconuts.

One day, a stranger showed up on the island, and said some crap about... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 9:37 AM on February 15, 2008

Previous exciting free energy discoveries on MetaFilter:

Magnets!

Magnets also!

Quantum excitation!

Cold Fusion!

The inevitable result.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 10:07 PM on February 9, 2008

Hell, I'm doing the work Americans would not do right now.

(And by "Americans", I mean "Marketing", those bums.)
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:39 AM on February 6, 2008

Here's the problem: what you eradicate from one generation will come back in another. You cannot eradicate prejudice or discrimination from humanity. You can drive it underground, discredit it, outlaw it, you might even be able to convince every living human of the wrongness of racial discrimination, and after all that effort... it WILL come back.
...weaker. A bit less organized, a bit less pervasive, a bit more stigmatized and furtive and that much easier for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:22 AM on January 28, 2008

Every moment that a school book (or most anything, really) spends in a warehouse is a wasted moment.

Or an end-of-term vacation. One of those two.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:11 AM on January 23, 2008

Second link, Astro Zombie.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 11:21 AM on January 9, 2008

Being cuffed, detained for an hour, and released with a warning seems like the exact "confusing a police officer" penalty you'd expect in War-on-Terror America. I mean, given the young-affluent-white-person-with-bystanders-present thing.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 11:32 AM on January 9, 2008

Amended tags.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 2:34 PM on January 6, 2008

I know, lundman, I know. But crazy violent pink-haired fictional Asian rocker chicks - they gotta go their own way.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 7:43 PM on January 7, 2008

C'mon, who are you people going to believe - krinklyfig's dead grandmother? Some jerk on wikipedia? I can personally confirm the delicious, Tulsa-produced bizcowhatever has been the official state cookie of Oklahoma ever since 2002, the same year we adopted the Baltimore oriole as state bird and changed the state song to "Here We Have Idaho".

At moments of controversy like these, I think we should all relax and take to heart the Sooner State's wise... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:38 AM on January 3, 2008

dw - No offense to yer man Bama, but I'm actually pretty good with the Braum's German chocolate ice cream suggestion above.

And come on, you know Stillwater's entire industrial output for the past twenty-five years has consisted of Eskimo Joe's merchandise. They're the Midwest's largest net exporter of koozies.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 7:22 PM on January 3, 2008

And they're just t-shirts now, right?
And koozies.
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 10:22 PM on January 3, 2008

WTF is a "koozie"?

Twenty bucks, same as in town.

Tip your waitress!
posted to MetaFilter by ormondsacker at 8:46 AM on January 4, 2008