Would now be a good time to mention that one of my favorite movie moments is the transit of Mercury in Sunshine?

Because it is. So awesome. The music makes it, especially.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:34 PM on July 18, 2008

sonic meat machine: "For my money, Microsoft cleaned up at this E3. Straight wins, top to bottom."

Except for, you know, the whole "Abruptly abort our most lucrative partner's months-long viral marketing announcement plan mere hours before its highly-anticipated climax without explanation, then casually leak the nature of the project to fucking MTV in the most unceremonious way possible" stunt.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 7:41 PM on July 16, 2008

delmoi: There was considerable speculation that Bungie's announcement would concern an entirely new franchise, which is a pretty big deal since they've turned out nothing but Halo products for nearly a decade now. Frankly I'd be more interested in an original title from them than some other Master Chief-less spin-off, like what's been rumored.

My hope is that Mattrick was not telling everything he knew, that Bungie has become large enough to handle multiple projects, and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:00 PM on July 16, 2008

Viacom, Google agree to mask 12TB of YouTube user data

According to our Google/Viacom scoreboard, the Big G beat the Big V 3-2 in court earlier this month, but that still meant Google had to turn over a 12TB database of every YouTube video ever watched—complete with user IDs and IP addresses. The decision immediately raised privacy concerns, but Google and Viacom have now signed an agreement to anonymize the logging database before the handover.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:46 AM on July 15, 2008

Here's what I never understood about this argument: Israel allows gays to serve openly in their military with no restrictions or hush-ups or anything. And yet the Israeli military is just about the most kickass fighting force in the Middle East, something I'm sure the vast majority of conservatives would agree with.

So what's the problem? Are they saying that America's current soldiers are just too pansy to deal with homosexuals in their ranks?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 7:51 PM on July 14, 2008

paulsc: "Eh, they may have a reputation in comparison to other Middle Eastern military organizations, but across the board, not so much. Some units in the IDF are quite capable. But I've seen 18 and 19 year old Israeli soldiers of both sexes cry and tremble in uniform, and even throw up in fear, on several different occasions. Sometimes, in confrontation with Arabs, or in preparation for such confrontations. Not every IDF uniform is filled with great courage or capability - often,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 8:25 PM on July 14, 2008

I like this day because it gives me an excuse to say "buckyballs."

Buckyballs!
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 1:48 PM on July 12, 2008

It is a bitter, bitter day for those unlucky of us trapped in the Icee Realms.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:08 AM on July 11, 2008

The EPA made the changes in two steps. First, in 2004, the agency cut the estimated value of a life by 8 percent. Then, in a rule governing train and boat air pollution this May, the agency took away the normal adjustment for one year's inflation. Between the two changes, the value of a life fell 11 percent, based on today's dollar.

Wow... what a crass way to discuss people's lives.

I'm getting a strong mental image of the head... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:57 PM on July 10, 2008

My first name (Jordan) is exceptionally easy for this kind of thing:

A capital J to a rounded n
A tailed o to an a with a shortened stem
A curlicue r to a slightly open d

It made things kind of boring when my classmates discovered ambigrams and spent the better part of study hall puzzling out a way of making their own names work.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 8:43 PM on July 10, 2008

Wow... some of these (like the Greater Desert Jerboa skull) almost look like modern art.

(Or, you know, good modern art.)
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:33 PM on July 10, 2008

Time for another choice Metacritic user review:

Conrad B. gave it a 5:
I saw the movie with my 12-year-old son the day it opened. Like most, I love Pixar's movies and we couldn't wait to go see it. My own reaction and that of my son both are negative.

When the fat people plot was revealed, my son leaned over and whispered, "That is so wrong." Of course, he's grown up in a size-positive environment, but he is quite... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 3:58 PM on July 10, 2008

If you go by population alone, the sheep are already firmly in control.

I pity whoever may be foolish enough to challenge them.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 2:55 AM on July 10, 2008

wmeredith: "The FISA cave-in, on the other hand, makes me sick. Retroactive immunity for the telecoms is unconstitutional, and the posturing about national security is absurd. The warantless wiretapping was going on before 911."

I'm no fan of immunity, either, but I'm not getting the "unconstitutional" argument as it applies to act of granting immunity. I've heard people mention the "Congress shall make no ex post facto... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:29 PM on July 9, 2008

a robot made out of meat: "How did McCain vote?

He didn't, as far as I'm aware.

Sometimes in legislative business you have to vote for imperfect legislation because it's the best that you can get. It was important that a version of this bill pass soon, and the president who is not up for reelection can easily play this game."

This.

The same thing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:43 PM on July 9, 2008

kid ichorous: "Had these all been NAY votes, the final tally would have been 47-50-3. More realistically, assuming that Lieberman's vote could not be swayed, it appears the bill could still have been stopped by a concerted effort of Democrats alone."

Many of those are conservative Dems that would never have voted nay under any circumstances.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:47 PM on July 9, 2008

I Foody: "The FISA bill is bad politically and practically. I get the trade offs involved but I think it was the wrong decision. In general I would like to see politicians do the right thing. I can understand occasionally doing not the right thing if there is high political price for not doing the right thing. Telecom immunity is not something that people are clamoring for. More people think of it as spying and bad than not.

Sure, among people who... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:54 PM on July 9, 2008

"For fuck's sake, Clinton even managed to get this right.

spiderwire: "Bill Clinton didn't exactly "get this right," though he didn't necessarily get it wrong, either. For example, being squirrelly under oath or pardoning (retroactively exonerating?) Marc Rich might be forgivable (as, I think, Obama's FISA vote is), but it seems like a bit of a stretch to portray Clinton as a shining example of upright Executive behavior.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:01 PM on July 9, 2008

Slap Factory: "I don't think that's accurate. He actually proposed on the floor of the Senate in January 2007 (when he was positioning for the Democratic nomination rather than a victory in the general election) that he wanted all combat troops out by March 31, 2008, and there wasn't any nuance about leaving a disaster in the wake"

Am I missing something? January 30, 2007 to March 31, 2008 is a 14-month period.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:40 PM on July 9, 2008

Blazecock Pileon: "Via Reddit:

1. "He voted to re-affirm and extend the PATRIOT Act.

2a. "He does not support the Iraq War but has voted to continue funding it. 2b. He does support the Afghan War.

3. "He now supports FISA and telecom immunity as a means of keeping America safe."

1. After sponsoring a replacement bill that replicated the Act's necessary... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:11 PM on July 9, 2008

Er, "spoken my peace."
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:20 PM on July 9, 2008

krinklyfig: "That seems like sound policy! Give our rights away now, but have faith that someone will win an election and give them back later! History teaches that's usually the way these things go. Even if Obama has to be corrupt now, he can be a better person later on, after he becomes the most powerful person in the world.

Better pray he wins, or we've given it all away for nothing. That would suck, wouldn't it? But if he does, I'm sure that he'll stop... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:34 PM on July 9, 2008

krinklyfig: "Opposing government spying is not an ideologically untenable position, by anyone's standards."

Maybe not, but that's not how this vote is going to be framed in the media. If Hannity, O'Reilly, et al, do their jobs, then the average voter will see this as "The government asked for these companies to cooperate in monitoring terrorist phone calls for the sake of national security, and now the Democrats are trying to punish them... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:47 PM on July 9, 2008

krinklyfig: "Show me the polling data that supports this."

Again, Rasmussen (for example) is showing that Obama is increasingly being perceived as a left-leaning moderate rather than the "the most liberal member of the Senate" meme that right-wing pundits are attempting to spread. Not that being liberal is a bad thing, but it's just not electable right now.

What have we "gained?" A... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:54 PM on July 9, 2008

krinklyfig: "I want polling data that shows Americans are favorable to allowing the government to spy on them, and to forgive and forget when it happens, or that they are favorable to candidates for this particular reason. All of the polls I've ever seen show that this issue is a winner for an opposition party. All the polls show people are strongly against government spying or letting them get away with it. I'd be interested in seeing polling to the contrary, because it would be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:26 PM on July 9, 2008

YouTube user AskGLaDOS does a dead-on GLaDOS impression... somehow.

It would be great if there were a text-to-speech synthesizer that could mimic that weirdly lilting voice...
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 3:14 PM on July 9, 2008

Yeah, this is pretty crappy at the moment, even with the Beta/Labs qualifier. The navigation is painful, the commenting system is wonky, and I don't really see what future it has at the moment. I'm wondering... did they make this from scratch or buy out somebody? There are many other much more fleshed-out 3D world programs out there...
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:09 PM on July 8, 2008

8 ʎlnɾ uo ɯd 95:L ʇɐ ıɯoɐɥɹ ʎq pǝʇsod
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:56 PM on July 8, 2008

The upside-down favorite and flagging buttons were apparently out staging an impromptu Riverdance number in Rockefeller Plaza. I told those guys to RSVP, but nooo.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:01 PM on July 8, 2008

Is that a referral link I spy? Oh, yes, it is.

From wbshop.com:

Join the WBShop.com affiliate program today and you can earn up to 10% of monthly sales you send our way.

The WBShop.com affiliate program is a free program that gives you the tools to sell toys, games, calendars, clothing, accessories, posters and more from your favorite Warner Bros. characters like Tweety, Taz, Batman, Superman and from your... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:57 AM on July 8, 2008

I find this entire situation hilarious. It happens every month or so, whenever a Wikipedia is mentioned in any notable media source (the funnier, the worse), and l33tpolicywonk's use of "lockdown" just hit the nail on the head in terms of what that mad scramble is like.

I imagine the site as a sprawling nation, dotted with countless small villages. And every so often the Gods look unkindly on one of them and unleash their wrath. Off go the sirens as the puny... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:51 PM on July 7, 2008

Maybe it was short for Burning Bush. You know, like God.

with a little beard action, he'd certainly look the part...
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:31 PM on July 7, 2008

parmanparman: "Also useful: not sitting through Wall-E. God, that movie sucked."

I think you'll be causing more than a few Mefi monocles to pop out, parmanparman.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:47 PM on July 5, 2008

I have to say that fifth image is not a very unflattering rendering of you, homunculus.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 8:20 PM on July 5, 2008

I just installed a great Firefox extension that does much the same thing using Google Translate. You just press Alt and click on a word to get a little pop-up bubble with the translation, or highlight a section to translate it all. You can also translate the whole page. It autodetects the language of the text and changes it to your language by default, but you can also tell it what language to translate into. And, because it uses Google's services, it's capable of changing any of the 25... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 7:11 PM on July 5, 2008

Oh, and since the extension is experimental, you have to sign up for an account at addons.mozilla.org to download it through there. If you don't want to do that, you can get the .xpi through the developer's site here.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 7:13 PM on July 5, 2008

I loved these as a kid! These, Goosebumps, and Shivers.

(let, let, let the mailman give you cold, clammy, SHIVERS SHIVERS SHIVERS)

Anyway, this is a great find, puke & cry. It's a shame the navigation isn't better...

And olya, I've got a transcription of my favorite scary story from this series in this older comment. Creepy artwork and all!
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:25 PM on July 5, 2008

fire&wings: "Show you a "better way?" The big door over there marked GTF."

If my Super Detector for Angrily Typo'd Acronyms (or SuperDATA) gets government approval, then angry, mistyped acronyms like fire&wings' will be a thing of the past.

It'll be for the good of society! and cashmoney
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 4:59 PM on July 5, 2008

Xurando: "Where will it end?"

I predict that this battle will go all the way... all the way to the source.

Oh sorry, that should have been "all the way to the source."
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:30 PM on July 4, 2008

Pfft. He's no match for Stalking Cat. He has a tail. He is also quite creepy.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 1:37 PM on July 4, 2008

The Stylistic Artistry of the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is perhaps the most masterfully written state paper of Western civilization. As Moses Coit Tyler noted almost a century ago, no assessment of it can be complete without taking into account its extraordinary merits as a work of political prose style. Although many scholars have recognized those merits, there are surprisingly few sustained studies of the stylistic artistry of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:59 AM on July 4, 2008

Here's the correct link

Creepy.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:18 AM on July 2, 2008

Twenty X-ty six!
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:41 PM on July 1, 2008

I got a kick out of this Metacritic user review:

K BASS gave it a 1:
I do not know what movie everyone else saw but the WALL-E I saw with my two children ages 13 and 9, offended me and my kids on so many levels. We felt we had been cheated and lied to. If I would have known how environazi this movie was I would not have gone seen it. Did Al Gore have something to do with this movie? Yes WALL-E was cute, but we as earthings are not that stupid. It was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:51 AM on July 1, 2008

Also, while I'm thinking of it, here's a very amusing Daily Show interview with author Jonah Goldberg, whose book Liberal Fascism inspired the National Review commenter in the last link in the FPP.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:03 PM on July 1, 2008

Hooray for YouTube!

Wall-E at work
EVE's arrival
FOREIGN CONTAMINANT
Dancing
The Repair Ward
The Space Pod
Directive (spoilers)
All 6 promotional... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:19 PM on July 1, 2008

ericb: "As you probably know, it's more than "attached." In January 2006, Disney acquired Pixar, thereby making Steve Jobs the largest individual Disney shareholder with 7%"

Fun fact (from zimbio.com):

Eve was actually designed by Apple’s behind-the-scenes design guru Johnny Ive, the guy responsible for the design of the iPod. Andrew Stanton told Fortune: "I wanted Eve to be high-end technology... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 1:15 PM on July 1, 2008

cowbellemoo: "Oooh, and anyone else dig the 'evolution of art' thing during the credits? Cave painting > hieroglyphics > Renaissance > Impressionism > Modernisme mosaic > ?"

Don't forget the 8-bit sprites at the end.

I thought it was a fascinating idea. Like we were seeing a condensed representation of future history. That is, that the state of affairs at the end of the movie (trying not to give too... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 2:46 PM on July 1, 2008

kyrademon: "Incidentally, I thought that the physical resemblance of Wall*E to Johnny 5 was an intentional homage ... I mean, there were little visual references to robots and computers from other sci-fi films throughout. The nod to 2001 was very clear, for example."

From firstshowing.net:

As for where he actually got the idea for the look of Wall-E, many have questioned whether it was inspired by... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 4:25 PM on July 1, 2008

Just when you thought the story couldn't get any more interesting, as the two, man and bear, made it to shore a person with a backhoe showed up out of nowhere according to Warwick. They loaded the animal into the backhoe and then into an FWC truck.

This is buried in the seventh graph, of course. *sigh*

Anonymous backhoe drivers: The unsung heroes of most waterborne animal rescue operations.
posted to MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 4:19 PM on July 1, 2008