there was a period of time (if memory serves, after 9/11, visa requirements became more stringent) that quite a number of latin players were found having lied about their ages. it's pretty uncommon these days--but tejada is an older player, from an era when that did happen. i don't think many people in baseball are surprised; in fact, it's possible baltimore and houston factored his possible age when signing and trading for him (respectively).
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:45 PM on April 17, 2008

a compliment to the influences would be the band to whom tim gane (and, very late, laetitia sadier) belonged to -- mccarthy. both bands took different approaches to their music, but both were (are) quite political.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:30 AM on November 3, 2007

i once encountered a group of bicyclists going down division street in chicago, in the gold coast. as i attempted to cross the street, however, i discovered i was out of luck; there was no stopping. i was less than happy, i must report.

the relationship between bicyclists, motorists and -- ironically, when you consider common motiviations for bicycling -- pedestrians, given these critical mass demonstrations, seem to me most firmly rooted in anecdote; strikingly so.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:11 AM on September 1, 2007

As for those of you who want the mass to be broken up at stop lights, you clearly have no idea just what a clusterfuck that would become. Imagine what happens when a column of cars turning off the cross street find themselves sandwiched between 1000 bikes in front and 1000 behind. Repeat until it's just an undifferentiated mass of cars and bikes, with nobody getting anywhere fast. Then someone loses it and just plows through a few hipsters on fixies. Then all hell breaks loose. Srsly.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:31 PM on September 1, 2007

i'm not certain that the methodology of the study was as complete as perhaps it should be.

i think there are two basic approaches that people take to dealing with their feelings, whether that be body-image or otherwise. you either internalize or externalize your reactions. a person with a negative self-image may internalize their feelings and withdraw themselves from their friends; or they may externalize their feelings, seeking to self-medicate with something from... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 7:58 AM on March 17, 2006

And moz, I've noticed little difference if any between pretty girls who are introverts or extroverts; I've also noticed that smart pretty girls are just as bad as stupid ones.

well -- that's why i think it would have been beneficial to have included it in the study -- what you offer is anecdotal... note also that "pretty" does not equate with positive body image.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:47 AM on March 17, 2006

what has always interested me about soccer in england is the difference in which we refer to the teams.

for example, in the nba, we have "the miami heat". but in england, you have "manchester united". it seems that to refer to the team as "the united" simply isn't done; it's always "united", or, if you're feeling cocky, "man u". i don't know if this is specific to teams with plural team names that have no s (of which... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:16 AM on February 27, 2006

But There has been conflict with some of the few Americans to play professionally in Europe. Over here, to be payed to play soccer is a novel, somewhat southern-California-sunnytimes-tanned-athletic-penis sort of vocation. Over there it a day in, day out... job. Whatever club you work for owns you and tells you what to do and what to wear. It is work, and only very rarely glamorous work.

where is "here" and where is "there"? it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:18 AM on February 27, 2006

Paris:

O'Reilly won the "debate" by more than 60 percent. Especially after Letterman admitted he doesn't watch O'Reilly's show, and thinks baby bombers=freedom fighters.

actually, letterman did not say that he thinks "baby bombers" are freedom fighters. o'reilly said that sheehan thinks terrorists are freedom fighters. (the truth of that, i will not explore.) i'm not sure i can then accept your thesis... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:10 AM on January 4, 2006

dios:

I'm just amused reading the last 50 or comments in this thread that I am the one so often accused of making off-topic trolls.

yours was the first to get them really riled up on this thread. it only takes one to get the place stinking worse than a flaming handbag full of shit.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 12:12 PM on January 4, 2006

i'm not sure that there's anything you can do. you shouldn't legislate this sort of behavior for fear of the effect it'll have on your pocketbook; the social implications would be draconian, and moreover it is difficult to imagine anyone actually wanting to become a so-called burden on society. should they exist, certainly they must be few.

i firmly believe that, although you may never break a social pattern completely, the best way to put it to the margins is by... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 7:23 AM on October 7, 2005

FieldingGoodney:

There are many birth-control options available today, and still there is an increase in single mothers. Granted, stricter birth-control would see that rise go even steeper.

i think you must also consider education. you might be surprised at how few people know about birth control options -- let alone how their bodies work.

my wife, growing up in the south, was witness to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 7:49 AM on October 7, 2005

what is sort of wearying, for me, is that ebay and skype's business models aren't very similar. this really is one of those bizarro dot-com deals of the 90s, and in that regard it's very haunting.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:59 AM on September 12, 2005

well, for all of Daley's failings, he does keep the city running. it's a lot cleaner than i remember when i was a kid, and there's a lot more green. with all the corruption that has gone on, it's still hard to vote against results -- which is why i think clinton got himself re-elected, too. (hey, lewinski wasn't the first...)
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:39 AM on July 27, 2005

what's interesting to me about the whole debate regarding gta:sa is the clash of old versus new. particularly, the old, venerable practice of putting in easter eggs (even nigh-unreachable ones, but as gamespot demostrated with its gameshark codes, certainly not absolutely unreachable) and the new practice of "modding" games. (you can thank id games for popularizing the latter, starting with DOOM and especially with quake and its little language, quake c.)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:56 AM on July 21, 2005

xquz:

Pessimism against McDonalds is seen as a "liberal" ideal and therefore there's an effort from many on the more pathetic fringe of the right wing (in this case, as others noted, some TSC/FoxNews dork) to find any opportunity to mock it... you'll find more right wing blogs, for example, linking to the latest embaraassing antics of PETA than any liberal group ever will.

perhaps in part due to the fact that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:26 AM on July 19, 2005

trharlan:

Really? I thought he merely put forth a few possible explanations.

So much ado about an innocent, tempered remark.

this man was a president of a university. (and not merely a university, but harvard university.) i think that the issue of women and mathematics is clearly controversial; certainly the outpouring of opinion and emotion that has sprung from his comments would not be were it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 7:54 PM on January 31, 2005

Thankfully, there's still a little Polly Esther around, and isn't Wonkette an ex-Sucker?

the editor of wonkette is ana marie cox, i believe a former editor of suck.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 12:29 PM on January 26, 2005

you can't really stop this sort of thing. which is ok ... i mean, obviously, there are a few people who recognize this form of marketing. the fact that it bothers some of us is that the recognition of it requires the use of critical thinking. it reinforces the notion that we have to be mentally on-guard, and it frustrates us that there are those with no consideration of that. but -- it beats falling for propoganda.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:42 AM on January 25, 2005

Video game production is pretty notorious for overworking people, so I can't believe that he didn't know what he was getting himself into.

sure -- the person (how do we know it's a he?) knew they were getting into a situation where they'd work long hours. the article written by ea_spouse highlights an extreme situation of this notorious work practice, so i don't think you can say that the person "didn't know what he was getting into"; that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:59 AM on November 11, 2004

fascinating. i never knew much about how foreign aid to other countries works; it seems that it is really a massive form of pork barrel spending. you have a guy like cheney leaving politics to go work with halliburton, and then go back to government; guys like schultz and weinberger leaving bechtel to be with reagan in his administration; it's eye-opening.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 1:14 PM on November 9, 2004

kravinsky does seem obsessive in his pursuit of the ideal utilitarian philosophy. in giving up his own kidney, and in his righteous rhetoric, i think he shows his conviction. but this is not the mere start of a moral life, but a picture of an extreme outlook upon morality that has taken years for him to fashion.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:04 AM on August 10, 2004

i'm not sure what to make of this. it sounds like the reorganization under one website is not the true issue at hand...rather it is the introduction of a more intense effort at managing (read: editing) content. there is no reason that they could not put forth this effort in a non-consolidated web environment, as they have now.

cursory glances, suspect and superficial as they are, led me to read Joe Gurman's statement of which a part... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:10 PM on August 9, 2004

PigAlien:

Of course, I realize not everyone can exercise or meditate, but certainly the vast majority of people on anti-depressant medication have no physical reason they can't exercise. Meditation is a different discipline altogether, but why not look for a wholistic solution to one's problem, rather than medication?

there is no reason not to consider wholistic options when it comes to one's mental health. i would say that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:44 AM on December 16, 2003

trharlan:

The problem, IMO, is that too many physicians are pushers, and not practitioners of science, and that too many people who aren't truly clinically depressed are looking for a free lunch.

i won't dispute that some who seek the use of antidepressants are not clinically depressed, but how can you call pills a "free lunch"? the consequent side effects of the medications, in tandem with the small if not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:43 AM on December 17, 2003

hegel schmegel! great link, monju.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:56 AM on October 30, 2003

that is one of the greatest and most accessible talks on coding theory and cryptography i have ever read.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:19 PM on October 25, 2003

RevGreg:

My question: is anybody other than Hillary really suprised by this?

in the article, Kahn writes that:

"The heavy promotion of Mrs. Clinton's book initially seemed to signal new tolerance, given that the English version refers repeatedly, and in some cases pointedly, to Chinese political repression, the status of Tibet and other topics that are not generally discussed here.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:55 AM on September 24, 2003

Atom12:

Let's say you're in a hick town in Nebraska and just heard about Turbonegro and want to hear them. All you have to do is go to the web and *bam* there it is. You can listen to samples, read the bio and even have "Ass Cobra" mailed to your house priority mail.

That's a lot different than driving a couple hours to the largest metropolitan city, finding the punk or indie record store and picking through hundreds of albums... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 12:05 PM on September 18, 2003

beauty is an ugly business, as you may see; but there are plenty of men willing to conduct it, and plenty of women willing to submit to it.

orange swan:

it already exists, just as you say.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:28 AM on September 16, 2003

i can't really work up any outrage for this. i think franken chose the title because it would provoke fox. if they felt they needed to defend their trademark in court, what does franken get? publicity, in media and by word of mouth. if not, it's no skin off franken's back. you can't buy this kind of publicity, and franken got it simply for naming his book. smart guy.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:49 AM on August 12, 2003

zoid:

Last I heard you had to pay $10 for this.

last i heard, it was impolite to derail threads with nitpicks, but hey -- who follows social convention? get on with your rebellious self: nothing could better help than a refreshing Anti EstablishMint.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:46 AM on August 11, 2003

wow: from homosexuality to sinister subcultures to national health care. i didn't think i'd see someone link all of those together in the same breath, but you did, ewk. the national board of paranoid conservatives salutes your efforts this morning.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:47 AM on August 5, 2003

i read the article linked here some time ago, and it still resonates. it's not difficult, in my experience, for advocacy to become evangelism (and to then become proselytization).

we can make objective choices about politics, or programming, but we often don't because our choices are functions not only of the circumstances at hand but of our past experience. if i wrote some good software in perl, i might want to stick with perl rather than some untested language. if... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 12:16 PM on August 4, 2003

y6:

My point, and I'll be the first to admit I'm not making it well, is that while our troops are dying for an unjust cause, this kid's letter isn't going to help one tiny little bit.

of course it won't "help." this letter was published because it gives perspective on the living conditions of a soldier fighting our current war. the perspective ranges from near-daily assaults to boiling water and lice; those who've... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:40 AM on July 29, 2003

the album itself doesn't need to go away. i have a lot of respect for the notion that a band can produce an album as an artistic expression, and i listen to a lot of CDs that i can go straight through while skipping very few songs.

because of that, the itunes store should offer tracklists of songs sold together. this allows bands to define what they consider to be their expression, while still providing music in mp3 format. original songs would be available as well,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:36 AM on July 3, 2003

mkelley:

Who had a website first? Who was published as Moxie first? Whomever it was, deserves the name. If someone came up and used mkelley or even mathowie, even though both Matt and I have used those names as a part of our online personas for years. I'd be pissed. It's what ad people call "Branding!", so yes BlueStone, this is exactly like what corporations fight against.

the notion that a nickname is yours to own... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:02 AM on June 12, 2003

i'm not a game designer, but:

I agree; it's great stuff. But (IIRC) didn't The Sims Online crash and burn? Any game designers want to venture a guess as why someone so smart got it wrong in that instance?

the sims was designed as a single-player game. someone above will wright decided that the sims should be retargeted as a multiplayer game, and work was put into creating the sims online.

now, when... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:36 AM on June 11, 2003

i've been to 3wa before, though i'm not a member. it seems like a decent place.

pancake:

unemployed and college students are the majority of the over 7K members

but to support her excessive Princess of Manhattan lifestyle

i suppose it's too much to ask that bias be avoided in front page postings. i don't know that 3WA's members are mostly unemployed, nor... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 1:05 PM on June 3, 2003

stunning.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 3:32 PM on May 21, 2003

DaShiv:

what about the sensory appeal, originality/enjoyability of the experience, and replayability of the game itself, qualities which define classic games like SimCity and Duex Ex?

simcity was a great game, and it was one that did not have a set script. the story was your city, which you built however you want. deus ex, on the other hand, followed a script regardless of the path you took in the game. in that,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 12:37 PM on May 12, 2003

infowar:

I'm impressed by the RDF being run here. Mac-based and Linux-based DRM (digital restrictions management) seem to be swallowed whole by the Mac and Linux faithful (Linus has backed Linux DRM although I'm not aware of any shipping product with it), yet when MS or the RIAA mention it the music seekers protest loudly.

contrary to what you claim, this article on os opinion states that "[t]o say that DRM initiatives... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 1:19 PM on May 6, 2003

when i read something so patently over-the-top, such as josh's letter at purdue, it's hard for me to respond. what can you really say?

pj:

My tax dollars, my insurance premiums, etc, go to pay for healthcare for obese people, like smokers.

your tax dollars and your insurance premiums go to pay for a lot of things. you've got a right to resent it, but i think healthcare for disease... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 1:41 PM on May 1, 2003

grub asks you to visit this page if you're having trouble with grub visiting your site when it should not. that isn't non-trivial (assuming you know to visit the page), but it's definitely a kludge.

one way to ensure that bugs in grub don't pose a similar threat to websites is to design the program to communicate to a central server for certain directions. perhaps grub could ask a server "what version of myself is the latest," not connecting if the program is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:01 AM on April 23, 2003

command and conquer brings up two memories for me: one, of the commando yelling "Yo!", "I'm on it!", and "Let's rock and roll!"; two, of the ridiculously long amount of time between C&C1 and C&C2. the founding studio that first developed the game -- Westwood Studios -- will soon no longer exist. sad. they all but invented the RTS genre with Dune II.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:22 AM on March 27, 2003

matt:

I'm surprised it took this long to unearth the hoax. Everywhere I saw the "new puma ads" they were spun as being real and playing "somewhere in europe". Where were all the bloggers to "fact-check their asses" and figure it out?

it doesn't matter a whole lot, does it? that is what's interesting (or horrifying) with marketing today. it could have been faked or not, but it got you to think... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:11 AM on March 14, 2003

machaus:

If you have that much programming skill, why wouldn't you direct it towards some iron that is at least still produced, something in the embedded arena?

contiki is the product of hobby, which is in turn fueled by personal interest. it makes more sense to me that someone might choose a commadore 64 for the nostalgia.

Su:

Limitations can make boring and/or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:59 AM on March 10, 2003

“The ice sculpture was erected in a public space, one that should be free from menacing reminders of women’s sexual vulnerability,” Rosenfeld wrote in an e-mail yesterday.

if i might, i would say that the sexual vulnerability is, in this situation, interpreted. if one agrees to that, then one can agree that numerous interpretations may exist and may be equally valid, insofar as one's interpretation goes beyond the fact that there had been standing a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:19 AM on February 24, 2003

Macboy:

your thread text could use some quotation marks. but, that aside.

joe millionaire was intended to be trashy. twenty girls, ostensibly gold diggers, trying to get with one man who is supposedly a millionaire? i agree that any news, such as a contestant starring in bondage film or nude for a porn site, would probably boost ratings for either american idol or joe millionaire. but a possible explanation for this behavior is that fox did... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:57 AM on February 12, 2003

who knew the elder gods could be so cute? but, in truth, there are several on the web who have noticed the same, endearing characteristics in them. i wonder what it is that causes some to recast the cthulhu as such?

Underwhelmed.

at your commentary? yes.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 2:41 PM on February 11, 2003