MetaFilter

I'm good at herding people. I'm a high school teacher.

For example, a couple of years ago my husband and I were taking the bus to the ferry terminal. The bus was running late, by the time we got lined up to get tickets there was only 10 minutes until the ferry left. The ticket agent came out and explained that the Nanaimo ferry was leaving in 10 minutes and could folks not going to Nanaimo let the passengers waiting for Nanaimo go to the front of the line. As soon as... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sadtomato at 5:30 PM on February 7, 2013

tragic.

It's more of a proof of concept project than anything... I mean it's not like I absolutely need to know how many favorites I have in real-time, like they're my internet life blood.
posted to MetaFilter by clearly at 8:42 PM on January 1, 2013

My Raspberry Pi spits out my MetaFilter favorites count to an arduino controlled LED matrix.
posted to MetaFilter by clearly at 8:24 PM on January 1, 2013

I'm guessing it's a stand for a studio camera.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by bill the tinman at 1:02 PM on December 30, 2012 marked best answer

This gentleman lost his wife the same day my great grandmother lost her husband - and he began the blog the day we buried my great grandmother. I'm sure they would have gotten along, though - it seems like they all shared the same sort of zeal and excitement and inability to sit around being sad about things - instead, keep moving and discovering.

My great grandparents were world travelers, but they met in the humblest of ways. My great grandfather worked at a press... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ChuraChura at 11:15 AM on December 30, 2012

Hi Meatbomb,

It's hard to know where to start. Obviously this question is aligned along left/right politics, so folk om the right-side of the spectrum will say things like "Harper's economic plan" and "strong and stable government" to support him. They might even warn, as Harper as done, that not voting Conservative will throw Canada to the "separatists and socialists".

As a staff member and moderator of Canada's... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Catchfire at 8:04 PM on December 26, 2012 marked best answer

30 Rock.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by deezil at 4:12 PM on November 25, 2012

Thanks for the post, but I'd like to correct one thing: in Puerto Rico, a solid majority has not voted for Statehood. In fact, the Statehood option only has 45% of the vote. It is very understandable that you were confused; I also was until a moment ago when I asked my dad, who's more up-to-date on the issues on the island.

Here is a wiki article about the referendum, which also makes the mistake of omitting blank votes when calculating percentages.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by verdeluz at 8:12 AM on November 7, 2012

It's interesting to me where these lines are drawn. There are always people suffering after all. I mean pre-Sandy how many homeless people were there in NYC? A 1000? 10,000? 100,000? How many kids going to school hungry? How many people walking around unvaccinated because they couldn't afford the doctor visit/co-pay/deductible? Yet there was little outrage that the city would spend public resources that could have been helping those people on security and closing streets.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Salamandrous at 11:18 AM on November 3, 2012

Is there? (The latest Apple product thread, for example, was pretty explicitly about Apple releasing a product.)

I dunno. I think tossing in the link to the Sony product was an attempt to make it not explicitly about Apple.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I like discussing the election, or a new iPhone, or whatever. I just enjoy seeing the creative ways people come up with threads to discuss these things when you... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by bondcliff at 8:06 AM on October 30, 2012

I just saw someone walk by wearing head-to-toe yellow ... Would he be part of some special task team, hence the getup, or is he more likely just some dude who owns yellow boots?

You say you live in Baltimore and you still have to ask?
posted to MetaFilter by psoas at 9:12 AM on October 29, 2012

I personally would not say anything, just graciously accept the gift... the most I would do is say "Friend, do your parents know any other Chinese people? I don't want to embarrass them, because I appreciate their thoughtfulness, but many Chinese people feel that clocks are bad luck to give as gifts. I'm sure they had no idea, and it was a sweet gesture... just wanted to mention it."

Or something to that effect.

I actually really... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sm1tten at 11:11 AM on August 25, 2012

Presenter: "About the only time you want to switch on the machine and see a blue screen! Heh heh!"
Teenage audience: [silence]

I bet that worked better when he rehearsed it on the way over.
posted to MetaFilter by CaseyB at 6:56 AM on August 1, 2012

I'm surprised at some of the suggestions here around using Shutter priority here (Tv). I would:

1) turn off the flash
2) Shoot in Aperture Priority mode (Av on canon) with the widest aperture setting possible for your lens (lowest # - probably 5.6)
3) Shoot at the highest reasonable iso - maybe 400 or 800 for your camera
4) Shoot raw so you can adjust the exposure in post (and potentially apply aggressive noise reduction)... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by NoDef at 12:19 PM on July 29, 2012 marked best answer

Gah.

I'm a standup comedian who runs a weekly showcase and open mic. We do our thing in a fairly small town but we've built a loyal crowd that draws excellent comics to perform for it. Know how we built that crowd? By not setting out to actively alienate half of it. And with that in mind, I would under no circumstances book Daniel Tosh.

That's a ridiculous thing for a rookie like myself to say; this is not a stance that is likely to be tested... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by EatTheWeek at 1:14 PM on July 11, 2012

it really kind of works both ways.
posted to MetaTalk by verb at 11:44 AM on June 14, 2012

I went to my hometown recently and watched a few episodes with my Internet-free mother, who pointed out to me that you can almost always tell which house they will choose because it's the one with no furniture in it (since they've already bought it and the original owners have moved out). Good thinkin' there, mom.
posted to MetaTalk by Bookhouse at 11:38 AM on June 14, 2012

I tend to be a bit reclusive and really only sell work to private collectors by word of mouth.

Don't worry, your miniscule online presence was enough for a herd of people to lecture/critique you on your use of safety equipment and the rest to make ball jokes. You're missing nothing.
posted to MetaFilter by jscott at 1:04 AM on June 9, 2012

Prostitution was going on. In this case that was enough.

So it wasn't "human trafficking" at all.

That's why I never take any statements by a politician at face value.
posted to MetaTalk by Jestocost at 10:36 AM on June 5, 2012

I'd guess that people who have to watch out for being triggered are even sicker of triggers than you are.

They might also find themselves sick of every little thing that bothers us or makes us feel ashamed being referred to as a "trigger".
posted to MetaTalk by ftm at 1:09 PM on May 29, 2012

Am I the only one who's sick of 'triggers'?
posted to MetaTalk by Mister_A at 12:58 PM on May 29, 2012

Could someone summarize the thread

MeFites desperately hate anyone who is paid to write; would run over their own mother's with a truck for a chance at getting a book deal.
posted to MetaFilter by Ian A.T. at 7:29 PM on May 16, 2012

Both are crap.

You could not be more wrong about that. Canadian Tire in general, and Mastercraft tools in particular, get a lot of love from me, and for good reason.

And the number one reason is, even though everyone calls it Crappy Tire, the fact of the matter is that at the Canadian Tire price point, it hasn't got any competition worth a damn. Canadian Tire's house brand of tools, Mastercraft, are not the best tools in the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mhoye at 8:07 PM on May 14, 2012

Okay, look. I'm going to be brutally honest. Nobody else has said this and it needs to be said.

My cat just had a $600 vet bill a couple of months back from being attacked by another cat whose owner let him run around, pretty much like yours. The cat came into my yard and attacked my cat. The wound got infected, which is pretty much standard for cat puncture wounds and it became an abscessed. If I found out that that cat's owners had exposed my cat to potential rabies... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by zug at 1:57 PM on May 6, 2012

I don't know who deleted your comment, but restless_nomad feels free to delete anything she doesn't like, including anything that makes her look bad.

if you keep acting like a toddler you are going to be eaten by a lion

i am just saying
posted to MetaTalk by elizardbits at 5:27 PM on May 3, 2012

How about making the lights look like they are on by having another lamp on a timer in your office?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by advicepig at 5:56 PM on March 25, 2012

Tread is now about downshifting. Thanks Grither.
posted to MetaTalk by Threeway Handshake at 7:22 AM on March 20, 2012

Honestly Palin actually makes me appreciate Bush in a way, and it's the most fucked up feeling. Please help
posted to MetaFilter by palidor at 3:36 PM on March 14, 2012

Sure, the ceiling is high for entrepreneurial adventures, but right now the floor is so low that it is lava. Times change. A few of my friends took risks when it wasn't so bad. They started businesses, farms, websites, invested. Some dropped out of college, and some did well for a few months. The ideas weren't bad. Problems happened. Times changed. The market wasn't buying, they couldn't manage it, employees were too costly, couldn't get venture capital, couldn't get the loan, market conditions... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TwelveTwo at 6:18 PM on March 15, 2012

You don't need qualifications if you're willing to learn and work under market rate in the short term in order to gain the necessary skills.

Hey, I have a PhD (in a science no less) but I'm doing under the table plumbing, carpentry, electrics, you name it. Everyone hustling just means that wages for the services that still have demand go down. That's great if you have income to spend but it's a recipe for poverty for everyone else... like me.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ennui.bz at 5:48 PM on March 15, 2012

I'm responding to the eye-rollingly stupid implication in the article that more young people "not even bothering to get their driver's licenses" can best be explained by fecklessness and timidity.

Right, blaming the drop in drivers' licenses on Facebook is somewhat ridiculous.

A driver's license these days is a long term investment, not a rite of passage. I didn't own a car until I was in my 20s, but I got a license... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by eschatfische at 3:33 PM on March 15, 2012

"Children's choirs were on the "hated" list, along with bagpipes, accordions, banjos, synthesizers, harps, and organs."

And you can hear them all (plus an operatic soprano rapping about cowboys) in The Most Unwanted Song (previously on Metafilter).
posted to MetaFilter by solarion at 2:18 PM on March 14, 2012

There's an alarm clock for Android that uses QR codes...you print out the code and place it somewhere else in your house. When your alarm goes off in the morning, only scanning the code will turn it off.
posted to MetaFilter by Ian A.T. at 12:55 PM on March 4, 2012

Let's make a pact, shall we? Everyone who was bored stiff by the Oscars last night, everybody who found them stodgy and dull, everyone who found the jokes stale and predictable....let's all watch them again next year amid about 30 Oscar post on mefi, mkay?
posted to MetaFilter by telstar at 11:37 AM on February 27, 2012

I remember getting this issue the summer before my sophomore year of high school. I had purchased a subscription to Sassy with cash I sent folded into a sheet of yellow legal paper with an address for a friend's house because my mom found the magazine completely inappropriate.

That summer, my grandmother was dying of cancer and my family was just an epic mess. Epic. I still have my diary entries from making my way through the lists in that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by rumposinc at 5:01 PM on February 24, 2012

man I remember the Galang-alang-alang-a mefi thread but re-reading knowing what a giant global superstar MIA eventually becomes is hilarious
posted to MetaFilter by nathancaswell at 5:59 PM on February 20, 2012

It's a list of the regrets of graduating seniors either way, isn't it?
posted to MetaFilter by feloniousmonk at 6:09 AM on February 2, 2012

Physically, she was everything I wanted in woman. Yet her thick Russian accent and her choice of words were holding her back from being a perfect “10.” One evening, we cuddled on the bed and watched TV when I noticed her large hoop earnings. I told her how nice they looked and she immediately responded, “I will make you jump through hoops for me,” in that thick Russian accent. Those words, along with her strong accent, turned me off instantly. Her gorgeous looks couldn’t save her.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nathancaswell at 9:42 AM on February 3, 2012

For those of us who've never heard of him, is it alright if we just scour his wikipedia page and find our own reasons to hate Cory? I call dibs on what he named his daughter - Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow.
posted to MetaTalk by mannequito at 10:22 AM on January 31, 2012

Why don't I like him? Whuffie.

Also, that I find a lot of his writing precious and twee and I think that his dialogue is often too reliant on the appearance of hipness (see also: Why I kinda hate Joss Whedon); I find a fair amount of his writing on technology to be naive and predicated on believing that his life and career are the new normal; I have too many friends who an order of magnitude less nerdy who keep getting way into him as their gateway to sci-fi (see also:... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by klangklangston at 10:18 AM on January 31, 2012

Lately he hasn't been as bad as he used to be, but yes- the self-aggrandizing self promotion really grated on my nerves.

He could never just make a post about something and let the creator of that thing take the spotlight for once. He always had to bring it back around to himself and how great he was. If he'd even once shown a little self deprecation or humility he might have come across better, but he really lived the smug superiority thing completely.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by keep_evolving at 10:13 AM on January 31, 2012

I occasionally like Cory and BoingBoing is often terrific. However, his general posture, or at least that of his internet persona, is smug, self-satisfied glibertarian on a soapbox. And his writing is terrible thinly-veiled moralizing.
posted to MetaTalk by Lieber Frau at 9:11 AM on January 31, 2012

If you keep signing her time sheets, not only is she going to be fired, but you will too.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by empath at 5:57 AM on January 23, 2012

I'm the person who did the pigeon cam stuff referred to above about ten years ago. I'm happy to answer questions if people have any.

It's amazing what Neubronner accomplished given how much heavier cameras were back then. I had a lot of trouble making a camera that my pigeons could carry.
posted to MetaFilter by amosl at 2:07 PM on January 9, 2012

As a Canadian, what I wish for my USian friends is universal and affordable health care.
posted to MetaFilter by sneebler at 8:20 AM on January 20, 2012

Hi, I'm an illustrator and designer too. Nice work man!

This is how I do promo:

Rule 1 IT CANNOT SMELL LIKE SPAM

• Don't send anyone stuff online. Smells like spam, no one likes it.

• Have a nice portfolio presence. You nailed this one, yours is great. Don't spam the url.

• Have a portfolio feed. Not a dedicated site, they're always cumbersome to update, next thing you... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Tom-B at 10:31 PM on January 18, 2012 marked best answer

As you might guess, what happened is the bill removed the requirement to post the owner's name and address, but forgot to remove the surrounding bit of law which specified all the "THIS STICKER MUST BE AFFIXED BLAH BLAH" text. Page 15 of the PDF you get if you download the bill.
posted to MetaFilter by hattifattener at 12:03 AM on January 18, 2012

You ask them, do they really want to be here? If they say No, then you tell them that they really don't have to work with you and they can leave if they like. If they say Yes, then you continue by telling them that in order to work with you they will need to behave in an appropriate manner - specifying, of course, what that consists of in this context.

Mainly, you make sure that if they leave, they do it because they have themselves realised that it's not working for them.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by emilyw at 8:40 AM on January 10, 2012

Pick the most outlying or strangest noun in the body of the email, then improperly adjectivize it. i.e.
outlying-ly yours,
cl
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Cold Lurkey at 4:06 PM on January 8, 2012

Here's the thing, though. I really enjoy going to brick and mortar stores, and I think other people do, too.

I can say without hyperbole or irony that unless I am in search of a meal, this sentiment of which you speak has never been part of my shopping experience in the last five years.
posted to MetaFilter by docpops at 1:39 PM on January 6, 2012