I've been using Vista (on an Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 2G of RAM) since last November and in fact it isn't bad at all. I can't say I like it significantly better than XP but it isn't really worse either.

A lot of the bad reputation Vista has is undeserved. For instance:

If I want to put the machine to sleep or shut down, there are nine--that's right, nine--options to choose from. None of these actually turns the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 5:27 PM on July 24, 2008

Rats. What happened to the link I thought I put in there? PIBKAC
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 5:28 PM on July 24, 2008

When I use "BFG" I don't use it for "Big Friendly Giant"... (Well, the "B" does stand for "Big", so I guess one out of three ain't bad.)
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 10:42 PM on July 22, 2008

The chocolate cake recipe doesn't contain any leavening. Apparently it relies on steam to make the cake rise.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 1:45 PM on July 21, 2008

This is possibly the most pernicious legacy of the Bush administration: government agencies trying to block hard science research when the results would cause problems for them.

You think that's unique to this administration? (You must be young.)
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 1:07 PM on July 20, 2008

That final comment was completely uncalled for.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:53 PM on July 19, 2008

There are four different Starbucks within easy walking distance of my apartment. I really figured we'd lose one of them, but none of them are on the list. Quite a surprise.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 3:59 PM on July 18, 2008

I've wondered if what's really going on is that if they ever admit that Duke Nukem Forever won't come out, and kill the project, then they'll have to write off all the money that was invested in it. As long as the project "continues" they can keep that loss off their books.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 10:15 AM on July 18, 2008

I never understood why Kovacs was cast in the role he played in "Bell, Book, and Candle". It was a complete waste of his abilities. (Maybe Lemmon got him the job.)
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 8:45 PM on July 15, 2008

"Best of the web"?
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 7:16 PM on July 15, 2008

Anyone care to see the National Review equivalent for McCain?
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:24 PM on July 15, 2008

Damned right. How could they leave out Uncle Scrooge? Carl Barks must be rolling over in his grave.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 4:39 PM on July 11, 2008

You know, it's not really hard to figure out. The short answer is that America is very spread out compared to places like Japan and continental Europe, where inter-city rail works pretty well.

Another reason is scaling of capital costs. For railroads, they have to pay to create and maintain the rolling stock, the stations, and all the rail. For airlines they have to pay for aircraft and airports (and air traffic control), but the air between cities doesn't have to be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:04 AM on July 11, 2008

PaulSC, fuel costs would have to rise a lot further than that in order to offset the difference in capital expense.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:05 AM on July 11, 2008

It's doubtful that Harry Morgan gets a cent. In those days, actors got residuals for the first three reruns, and that was it.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:15 AM on July 10, 2008

I gather that the term for this is "fancruft".
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:53 AM on July 8, 2008

Then it should have been posted to that thread, not to this one.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:15 AM on July 8, 2008

I think the name of that fallacy is "misleading vividness".
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 9:23 PM on July 7, 2008

If someone tried to go into an Obama "town hall meeting" carrying a sign that said "BARRY IS A COMMIE!", don't you think they'd have done the same thing?
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 5:31 PM on July 7, 2008

...an increasingly bleak public sentiment on the future...

Don't tell me, let me guess: the above was written by someone who wasn't alive during the darkest years of the Cold War, when we all feared we would be incinerated by a nuclear holocaust at any time.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 2:30 PM on July 7, 2008

Online polling? You mean like the online poll that picked "Hank the angry drunken dwarf" as the most handsome man on earth?
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 2:23 PM on July 7, 2008

I bet Al Gore has an even higher score than Bill Gates. (Gates doesn't travel as much.)
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 2:18 PM on July 7, 2008

It's known that some kinds of depression run in families. It's quite plausible that there's a genetic component to it.

One of the more interesting discoveries of the last few years is that autopsies of some people with bipolar disorder showed that their brains had far more receptors for the monoamine neurotransmitters than non-bipolars had. (The monoamine neutrotransmitters include serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.) But no one knows why that matters.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 9:01 PM on July 6, 2008

What SSRI's do is increase the amount of serotonin in synapses. It amounts to the same thing.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 10:01 PM on July 6, 2008

BUSH IS TEH STUPID
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 6:38 PM on July 6, 2008

Don't worry, be happy.

I thought that article was one of the most amazing examples of sophistry I've ever seen.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 5:01 PM on July 5, 2008

When I was a kid, the joke was that "Everything I enjoy is either illegal, immoral, or fattening."

When I was in high school we added another: "or causes cancer in lab rats."

Nowadays, if you can find anything that's fun which doesn't get disqualified for one of those reasons, then it'll turn out that you can't do it because it causes global warming climate change.

I can't eve die... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 8:08 PM on July 4, 2008

How can you talk about the Canadian Brass without mentioning Dixieland music? It's not just jazz!
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 11:25 PM on July 3, 2008

No. The trombone and the tuba are founders but I think all the others are replacements. However, the current lineup goes back more than 15 years.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:51 AM on July 4, 2008

They have a significant disadvantage: they can't track the sky. They always have to point straight up. So you can't see much, and you can't see any of it for very long.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 3:23 PM on July 1, 2008

Also, mercury vapor is poisonous.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 3:23 PM on July 1, 2008

You don't get a huge amount of time on any bit of the sky, but given the huge mirror you might get and the lower costs, it could work out alright.

But you can only see a circle of the sky a couple of degrees longitude across.

What you're describing is known as a "survey instrument" and there are other, better ways of doing that.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 11:08 PM on July 1, 2008

But Schmidt cameras don't really tackle the same issue of mirror construction and cost that the liquid mirror approach does.

The cost-per-visible-sky is a lot lower for a Schmidt.

why not build it on an asteroid or other smaller body? Then you can control the pointing by shifting the entire body around.

Because it's relying on substantial gravity in order to form the shape, so it's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 5:34 PM on July 2, 2008

does mercury evaporate in vacuum?

Of course it does. That's why mercury vapor lamps work.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 10:16 PM on July 2, 2008

Another consequence of this Massachusetts reform is that the state appears close to full-scale taxpayer revolt. This November voters will be presented with a ballot measure which would abolish the state income tax.

If it passes, it could force the state to end programs like this one, because as a practical matter there's no way the state could raise property taxes and sales taxes enough to fully replace the lost revenue.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 5:01 PM on July 2, 2008

The obvious solution is for all those growers to use biodiesel for their generators.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 3:02 PM on July 1, 2008

One apocryphal story about this kind of thing was that a financial report about a company returning to profitability had the phrase "in the black" inadvertantly transformed to "in the African-American".
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 4:38 PM on June 30, 2008

You've convinced me. I won't vote for Bush this November.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 10:16 PM on June 29, 2008

Why is aluminum smelting in Iceland a bad thing? If someone is having to do a high profile attempt to try to raise awareness of it, then obviously it isn't causing any significant problems on its own.

Based on the Wikipedia article, the protest relates to creation of several dams to produce hydroelectric power. but I thought hydro power was supposed to be a good thing: no carbon dioxide or pollution, renewable, et cetera, et cetera. So what's the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 1:33 PM on June 27, 2008

To the person who called Iceland a godforsaken wasteland, don't be silly.

I didn't call all of Iceland a godforsaken wasteland. I referred to the area where they want to put the dam as a godforsaken wasteland.

The point is, if you can't put a hydro project there then where can you put one? What is an acceptable location if not that one? I'm getting BANANA vibes here.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 5:45 PM on June 27, 2008

and there's only so much of Iceland to go round in the first place

Oh, come on. It's the size of the state of Kentucky, but with less than one third the population of Rhode Island. You'd begrudge the use of 0.1% of that land for construction of some dams and a factory?

damaging a beautiful piece of land for just a few decades of industry money shows poor judgment

You can't eat... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 8:15 PM on June 27, 2008

I'm waiting for someone to say that the solution is to return to the gold standard.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 8:02 PM on June 27, 2008

Where we drive around in things like this and get 230 miles to the gallon, all for under 30k...

...and die horribly if we're in even a low speed crash.

That thing can't be legally sold in the US; it won't pass the safety standards.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 9:21 PM on June 26, 2008

I think that the energy problems will eventually get to a point where people have to give up carrying around 10-20x their weight in armor and instead plan on not crashing.

I don't think I've heard of anyone except a suicide who does plan on crashing. Yet crashes happen hundreds of thousands of times per year in this country. And even with "armor", 35,000 people are killed in those crashes per year.

In my lifetime I've... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 12:01 AM on June 27, 2008

Well, it's now thought that Earth took a hit like that, so why not Mars, too? (The Earth impact event resulted in formation of the Moon, among other things.)
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 11:56 PM on June 26, 2008

The single best summary of that situation I've ever heard was this: The Palestinians want to commit genocide, but cannot. The Israelis can commit genocide, but will not.

I see the Palestinians as being the international equivalent of alcoholics or heroin addicts. They have been given opportunity after opportunity, big and small (e.g. the greenhouses) to improve their lot, and have thrown them all away. They insist on following a path of self-destruction, and refuse to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 8:13 PM on June 23, 2008

Jimbob, if you did that the result would be nonsense, because Blacks did not embrace a path of self-destruction the way the Palestinians have. How many "black suicide bombers" have you heard of, compared to the number of "Palestinian suicide bombers"?

I am not impressed by your attempt to find moral equivalence where there is none. But I am disappointed; I thought y'all were supposed to be more sophisticated and nuanced than that.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 9:02 PM on June 23, 2008

All categorical statements are subject to exceptions. You know that and I know that. But that doesn't mean that categorical statements are useless and pointless. It also doesn't mean that they're racist.

The Palestinian culture is diseased. Their children are indoctrinated with hatred of Israel and taught to wish to become a "martyr" in the cause. Maybe it doesn't take with all kids. Maybe some of their parents don't like it. But that's what is taught in their... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 11:12 PM on June 23, 2008

Why use the emotive term genocide? Does this word have any authoritative meaning any more? What do you mean by it?

Genocide means to kill all or most of a people. If Israel were inspired to do so, they could kill 90% of the population of Gaza in two hours.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 10:02 AM on June 24, 2008

This is about as meaningful as the Emperor Norton. If this woman wants to call herself "Queen", then that's what the First Amendment is about.

But if she expects that to have any legal significance, she's got a bad surprise coming.

As to Hawaii ceasing to be a state, that would require a constitutional amendment -- and it isn't going to happen.
posted to MetaFilter by Class Goat at 7:37 PM on June 23, 2008