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MeFi post: Where's Kate? There she is! Oh, wait....

Which just comes back to "why not have a staffer do a brief photo/video session that isn't a fucking paparazzi mess" which brings us right back to conspiracy theories vs. incompetence/stubbornness.
posted to MetaFilter by cortex at 8:28 AM on March 20, 2024

God, I hate that I actually have an opinion on this. I want to believe that's her. 99% likely it IS her, the palace would be insanely idiotic to try to pass off a lookalike in this way.

But...while the woman physically resembles Kate, my brain can't reconcile the way she moves with the way Kate usually moves. Maybe that's just a result of healing from surgery. The other thing I find weird is that almost no one in the background is looking at them as they walk past. I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Preserver at 6:46 AM on March 20, 2024

Why is the TMZ video so blurry? Every picture of Middleton has been in 4k, then TMZ gives us early 2000’s era video? Make it make sense.
posted to MetaFilter by edithkeeler at 6:01 AM on March 20, 2024

For a glorious 25,000 pounds/$31,000 a year, no less! Granted, I imagine you can't get that type of job unless your name is Clarissa Cork-Nethersole and your family has a Georgian house in Kent and a townhouse in Belgravia so that won't matter much, but still.
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 12:35 PM on March 19, 2024

The RF are now advertising for a Communications Assistant 😂
posted to MetaFilter by ellieBOA at 11:40 AM on March 19, 2024

At this point I feel incompetent to tell if that video is Kate or "Kate" or not. It looks like her for a few seconds on the video, but freeze-frames on her face clearly look like it's a softer-faced-edged individual and Kate tends to have pointy features. The video has been verified with metadata so we have to go with "not 'shopped" on it now, but at this point I now feel incompetent to identify a woman I've seen in 9 billion photos over the years.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jenfullmoon at 11:33 AM on March 19, 2024

MeFi post: Government of Ontario faces class action lawsuit from scrapped UBI pilot

The problem in this instance is that the participants were promised 3 years of UBI during the pilot and shutting it down early will undo a lot of actions they had underway to improve their situations. They were promised stability and encouraged to use it to improve their life, pulling the rug out from under their feet is a rotten.

Not sold on the actual feasibility/effectiveness of UBI as proposed but this was a pilot program they should see it through and respect their... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by WaterAndPixels at 10:12 AM on March 21, 2024

Excitingly, two Basic Income bills were tabled federally in 2021

(In the British and apparently Canadian sense of putting something on the table for consideration, not the US sense of doing the exact opposite)
posted to MetaFilter by trig at 9:00 AM on March 21, 2024

MeFi post: Where's Kate? There she is! Oh, wait....

I just saw a post on Facebook that said approximately 'I'm no detective, but I was looking for a rich middle-aged lady who was tired of her shitty husband, I would at least *ask* Pete Davidson' and I laughed and I laughed.
posted to MetaFilter by jacquilynne at 6:15 AM on March 19, 2024

I find this whole thing fascinating. Not because of any interest in the Royal family but of watching conspiracy theories sprout and grow in the absence of information. This one is particularly interesting because it will have a resolution. Kate will re-appear and likely things will go on as normal. Its not like, say, a UFO sighting with blurry photos where "we will never know" and there is no resolution to shut down wild theories.

If so,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 3:37 AM on March 19, 2024

Well, that sure looks like Kate to me, and also throws cold water on my theory that the photo was doctored to hide eg weight gain from steroids. Though maybe it works just as well if it was doctored to hide weight loss?

Given the second doctored photo discovered (the one with the queen), maybe this really is just about a pattern of behavior rather than anything particular to this circumstance — maybe they do this quite a lot actually, for reasons no more nefarious than... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by eirias at 1:43 AM on March 19, 2024

There are a lot more people than Sarah Kendzior who do not think that the person in the video is Kate.

At this point, Kate Middleton could call on each of the conspiracy theorists in person and allow them to conduct their own DNA test - and they'd still refuse to accept it was her.
posted to MetaFilter by Paul Slade at 1:16 AM on March 19, 2024

It’s Kate omg. Just without a metric ton of foundation.
posted to MetaFilter by St. Peepsburg at 8:42 PM on March 18, 2024

MetaTalk post: RIP ricochet biscuit

I'm surprised and very sorry to hear this. It always seems impossible that people can leave us so suddenly; I was just laughing at a comment of his the other day (in the pee thread, fair warning).
posted to MetaTalk by LobsterMitten at 6:09 PM on March 19, 2024

Oof. I didn't know him well, and on the main site I mostly identified him as one among the many clever and interesting people commenting and posting here, but he was there at an extremely low point in my life when I went to MeFi Chat and just wanted someone, anyone, to validate my despair over what probably looked to be very trifling issues. He was kind and empathetic and helped me regain my equilibrium.
posted to MetaTalk by jackbishop at 6:23 AM on March 20, 2024

I am so sorry. I was glad to have met him at a meetup he called when he visited Boston in February 2013—he was amazingly engaging, affable, funny, smart, all the good adjectives. Here's a picture I took of him that day—of him taking a picture, of someone else taking a picture of him.

.
posted to MetaTalk by not_on_display at 6:55 PM on March 19, 2024

MeFi post: Where's Kate? There she is! Oh, wait....

There are lots of folks on Xitter claiming that that ISN'T Kate in the TMZ footage

One possible reason the "unblurred" version of the footage doesn't look like her is that "unblur" is not a thing unless you live in the CSI universe.
posted to MetaFilter by 0xFCAF at 3:49 PM on March 18, 2024

KP has now "moved" "Easter" to "after April 17." And they wonder why everyone thinks they are shady.
posted to MetaFilter by jenfullmoon at 9:42 AM on March 17, 2024

I'm not afraid for Kate, and as someone who had a hysterectomy in January, I can absolutely believe she's building her strength back up after abdominal surgery. I'm still on lift restrictions and my surgery was minor. What makes Kate's disappearance something I follow beyond general parasociality/leftover Anglophilia from living there in the 1980s is that I've realized that the royal press-spinners would be reacting the same way if Wills had beat the crap out of her and seriously injured her... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gentlyepigrams at 7:31 PM on March 16, 2024

Lol Don Pepino I legitimately can’t tell which parts of that are sarcasm. No shade either way.

In all seriousness, I have been asking myself why I DO care about this, as a person with no history of interest in the royal family or in celebrity gossip in general.

I think there are a lot of factors really. There’s the general atmosphere of resenting the rich and powerful and the way they feel entitled to set a narrative and expect us not to question... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 10:03 AM on March 16, 2024

Tucker Carlson Duped By YouTubers Into Interviewing Fake Kate Middleton Whistleblower (Deadline)

Most of the time, I hate pranks, but I'm going to make an exception and just LOL at this:

The YouTubers’ faked letter of engagement for the whistleblower included a clause stating that the palace had a right to amputate one of his limbs should he fail his probation period.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by creepygirl at 9:22 PM on March 15, 2024

perhaps kate middleton has drank of the water of life made from the last exhalation of a juvenile shai-hulud that has been drowned in water and so has received in one traumatic burst the memories and knowledge of all the past members of her line and has thereby gained very mysterious and very puissant psychic abilities but only at the obliteration of what she thought of as herself before the ceremony and every time they try to take a picture she either refuses to put her... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 10:39 AM on March 15, 2024

it feels like the least weird possibility is “Kate has gained weight / is bloated from her illness, and indulged in Photoshop tricks to conceal it."

Part of what has made this whole thing fun for me is exactly this: the overwhelmingly likely explanation is boring (and precisely the one they told us at the start). We know they haven't actually locked her in the Tower of London, but its hilarious how they keep effing up the PR... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Blue Jello Elf at 8:33 AM on March 15, 2024

The Royal Family and ableism
posted to MetaFilter by ellieBOA at 1:57 AM on March 15, 2024

I’m still hung up on the absence of Kate’s rings in the photo. She wears them almost always. She appears to have even worn them while snorkeling a couple years ago. Her sapphire engagement ring is one of the most famous jewels in the world, and royal-watchers note its every appearance.

Did she choose not to wear her wedding band and her engagement ring—Diana’s engagement ring—in a Mothers’ Day photo? (Maybe.) Did she edit them out of the photo? (Probably not, as she... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by obloquy at 6:40 PM on March 14, 2024

It was the first example I could think of, please give a girl with COVID a break lol.
posted to MetaFilter by computech_apolloniajames at 5:45 PM on March 14, 2024

I'm not sure the US Supreme Court is a useful example of a functioning organization.
posted to MetaFilter by krisjohn at 5:39 PM on March 14, 2024

The Supreme Court forgot to scrub metadata from a recent decision, and they are arguably much more competent admin wise, so I don't think that proves much.

FWIW I think it's adorable so many here are trying to take things presented by KP at face value, or treat RF protocols the same way an average middle class family operates.
posted to MetaFilter by computech_apolloniajames at 5:32 PM on March 14, 2024

My conspiracy theory is that the photo wasn't altered at all and all the things we perceive as poor attempts at editing are really the first unedited images of these slightly weirdly shaped humans.
posted to MetaFilter by Joey Michaels at 3:59 PM on March 14, 2024

Perspective from the Bellingcat expert, in that Cut piece:

It reminds me a lot of other conspiracy theories where they’re clearly building the analysis around a theory rather than building a theory from analysis,” he said. As an example of this faulty reasoning, Higgins pointed to Aston’s incorrect claim that Kate’s sweater comes in only cream and camel: “It’s really poor analysis, but I usually see that stuff about terrible war crimes, so at least it’s not that.”
posted to MetaFilter by eponym at 3:26 PM on March 14, 2024

It's not the crime, it's the cover-up.
posted to MetaFilter by Marticus at 1:52 PM on March 14, 2024

Kate's face was pretty much lifted off a 2016 Vogue magazine cover. No Photoshop expert was going to be able to hide the existence of the original image.

The Vogue cover is not the same photo, and I find it highly unlikely that anyone, even bad Royal photo-shoppers, would not have access to oodles of outtakes from other photo sessions. It would be utterly goofy to use an old Vogue cover if you were trying to pull the wool over someone's eyes.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by oneirodynia at 1:47 PM on March 14, 2024

The rest of you are seeing that sweater in cream or maybe beige as well, right? I've stared and stared at it and I just can't fathom all those people claiming it's blue.

Please accept this prize for Best Internet Meme/Outrage callback.

the prize is a dress
posted to MetaFilter by cooker girl at 11:40 AM on March 14, 2024

The rest of you are seeing that sweater in cream or maybe beige as well, right? I've stared and stared at it and I just can't fathom all those people claiming it's blue.
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 11:24 AM on March 14, 2024

Q-Anon for Wine Moms is just so incredibly dismissive and misogynistic, I can't even.

the royal family screwed up so badly that even my heterosexual male friends are *obsessed*
posted to MetaFilter by run"monty at 9:46 AM on March 14, 2024

I'm just here for the shitposts.
posted to MetaFilter by CynicalKnight at 9:42 AM on March 14, 2024

Q-Anon for Wine Moms is just so incredibly dismissive and misogynistic, I can't even.
posted to MetaFilter by computech_apolloniajames at 8:14 AM on March 14, 2024

I stopped reading the news because of Gaza about three months ago and the sheer relief of the Kate story as news that can be analysed and read but is utterly pointless is very, very welcome. A friend was talking about the current popularity of cozy books - when the world is this awful, people want something light and reliable. The Royals deliver that in giant piles.

Also I just finished David Mitchell’s book, Unruly, on British royalty, and highly recommend it alongside... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dorothyisunderwood at 8:03 AM on March 14, 2024

Daily Mash: Who is Lady Rose Hanbury and are they really at it, her and him? A time-saving guide.
posted to MetaFilter by TheophileEscargot at 2:53 AM on March 14, 2024

Stumbling through a week of posts here on dear old Metafilter. Wowzers. I must have missed the “Conspiracy Week” banner on the front page. Put down the Jolt cola and mushrooms, or at least give me some. I kid. I kid. Enjoying the crank energy.
posted to MetaFilter by Don.Kinsayder at 11:54 PM on March 13, 2024

"And, of course, right out of the "if you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" playbook, we've got the usual suspects (Daily Mail, Sun, Telegraph, probably others) putting up articles insinuating that Harry and Meghan photoshopped their pregnancy announcement picture. Of course, this is almost certainly bogus, as the photographer himself has come out with a denial (and the original color version of the photo). Yet another canny move by the Kensington PR team... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by krisjohn at 4:16 PM on March 13, 2024

I have photoshopped
the picture
you were hoping
would prove I was alive

forgive me

graphic design
is my passion
(Twitter)
posted to MetaFilter by ellieBOA at 12:32 PM on March 13, 2024

It's getting very Q-Anon-ish.

Have you any idea how much focus and concentration it takes to delete every last lizard scale on every. single. photo! of this family?

So maybe I do screw up the occasional sleeve or hemline. Sue me. Gettin too old for this shit.
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 11:39 AM on March 13, 2024

and so got them dressed in their best.

This is kind of where your theory falls apart, run”monty. We have an extensive record of the clothes they’ve worn, and this kind of coincidence is both statistically unlikely and massively off-brand. Positing that you’re reaching for the reasonable, non-conspiratorial interpretation of events is sort of approaching spherical-cow territory.
posted to MetaFilter by not just everyday big moggies at 11:18 AM on March 13, 2024

Actually someone who was obsessive about this could probably take a look at casual photos of the children in general and see to what degree they repeat outfits. If they all repeat outfits all the time, that makes a stronger case for "this is just another outfit repetition and by coincidence they are all the same"; if they don't repeat outfits much for photo opportunities, that makes it less likely that they're all repeating the same outfits on two occasions. I don't know much about... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 11:11 AM on March 13, 2024

So run"monty, you're saying that the same clothes part of babybank theory is true, the photo doctoring part of babybank theory is true, but that part about its having been an old photo that was doctored is false?

So 1. four people exactly repeated their clothing choices on two days several months apart and 2. someone subsequently used photoshop to alter the March image of them wearing the same outfits to make it appear that they're wearing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Don Pepino at 10:31 AM on March 13, 2024

> jenfullmoon: "Photographer claims the Monday photo of Prince William & Kate is legit"

In that article, the photographer gives a location for the photograph as nearby to 39 High Street in Datchet. A quick look around on Google Street View indicates what might have happened here: the bricks visible through the car window seem to be from a nearby brick wall, while the bricks above the car seem to be from the building a little further... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mhum at 10:29 AM on March 13, 2024

I guess I don’t understand the difference when TIME magazine or People photoshops a full head of hair and enhances the color of a thinning pate on their covers but (gasp!) we were bamboozled!!! in this case? It’s not like they inform their readers. AFAIK, the only time Time was seriously criticized was the OJ mugshot photo cover.

For journalistic outlets, the acceptable photo adjustments are cropping, adjusting the color balance, and slightly... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by lisa g at 9:53 AM on March 13, 2024

I've seen the image. There are a lot of buildings like that in London the UK.
posted to MetaFilter by run"monty at 7:18 AM on March 13, 2024

That car photo with the mismatched bricks in the background, however... that's egregious to the point of malpractice.

We have plenty of buildings with mis-matched bricks in this country. Also, when your subject is behind tinted windows, you'll need to up the gain in that portion of the image. (Or have I failed to get the joke?)
posted to MetaFilter by run"monty at 7:04 AM on March 13, 2024