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Garth Brooks's Barth books
posted to MetaFilter by pianoblack at 10:18 AM on August 1, 2016

Def Jam's Ref Cam
posted to MetaFilter by Lucinda at 9:21 AM on August 1, 2016

Klimt pimped
posted to MetaFilter by dilaudid at 9:04 AM on August 1, 2016

What moral reason is there to keep people whom you know aren't dangerous in prison, what possible good could of that?

Decisions have potential, unknown costs that we can only estimate.

The political cost of having one former prisoner commit an atrocity is a lot, lot higher than the present political cost of keeping all/most of them detained indefinitely.

Politicians measure political costs in units of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Heywood Mogroot III at 9:35 AM on July 31, 2016

Bringer Tom, I think the story works well when you take it as an allegory. There's a cookie jar, it produces an endless supply of warm tasty cookies, and you can just keep taking the cookies and everything is fine. Or you can dump the cookies out and see that beneath them there's this awful wasteland filled with pain and desolation that you can't reach ... although maybe it will one day reach you.

It's like that story in the Christian scriptures... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Joe in Australia at 4:24 PM on July 30, 2016

King doesn't know how the cookie jar works, he doesn't know why it makes cookies, he doesn't know exactly how dangerous it really is, he doesn't know what Dale will do with it, and he doesn't seem to care. This isn't an "ambiguous ending." This is an unfinished story.

Like Puddle Jumper wrote, it's not about the cookie jar, or the other universe. It's about this universe, and how we handle our own knowledge of atrocious and dangerous things,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by me & my monkey at 4:20 PM on July 30, 2016

At work, but will definitely bookmark this for later.

He can be hit or miss. There do seem to be more hits than misses though. At least that's how I feel about his shorter fiction works. I'm usually a big fan of his short stories. One of my favourite short stories of all time is from the Skeleton Crew collection: The Raft. Still gives me chills just to think about it. I realize that collection is from a much earlier time in his writing career but even his more recent... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Fizz at 7:40 AM on July 30, 2016

like i realize that if your frame of reference is twitter

No, my frame of reference isn't twitter. It's a secret usenet group where we've been calling each other "cuck" and trading rare pepes since the mid 90s. Also, my uncle works at Nintendo, so I get all the games about a year before they come out in the stores.
posted to MetaFilter by L.P. Hatecraft at 12:07 AM on July 28, 2016

Everybody involved in this looked the other way and decided money was more important than doing the right thing.

More likely they decided their rent and food was more important and looked the other way.
Create enough fear and you can get people to do almost anything.

I can't figure out if this is a consequence of the current state of capitalism or the goal.
posted to MetaFilter by fullerine at 11:41 PM on July 25, 2016

My wife works in software development--as a software tester. When I first heard about this scandal, my first comment to her was that there is NO WAY the defeat software was the result of just one or two rogue developers.

Software design, development, and testing in a big corp like VW just doesn't happen like that.

Rather, this was CLEARLY the end result of many years of deliberate planning, design, development, and testing. And that means that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flug at 10:23 PM on July 25, 2016

My name is Luca
I lived on the ocean floor
I lived a long time ago
I don't think you've seen me before

But my genes live in all of you
In rats and squid and mudskippers too
But just don't ask me what I was
It's not that clear just what I was
Just don't ask me what I was
posted to MetaFilter by EmpressCallipygos at 11:27 AM on July 26, 2016

The West Wing: “Not quite the smuggest TV show ever made, but that’s only because The Newsroom exists.“

IT'S OK TO BE SMUG IF YOU'RE RIGHT.
posted to MetaFilter by Brandon Blatcher at 6:09 PM on July 26, 2016

In the technical sense, there is no distinction. If you told an ethicist that you valued ethics over morals, they'd give you a puzzled look

There is often some blurring of the definitions, but the most common academic distinction in philosophical ethics is that morality is the code of behavior that is understood to a community. Ethics, then, is the self-reflective discipline that explains why we understand those things to be normative, versus other... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by SpacemanStix at 7:55 PM on July 25, 2016

Stongly considering purchasing 100 units and solely decorating this year's tree with them.

"Daddy had a weird year, kids."
posted to MetaFilter by Abehammerb Lincoln at 12:13 PM on July 23, 2016

>How hot does it get in NYC in a particularly bad summer?

It regularly gets into the mid-90s and as zippy said the humidity makes the whole city feel like a soupy 105F degree mess. The air just sits like a wet fart over everything, trapping all the rising heat off the asphalt/brick/concrete and circulating it around and around until you're standing underground waiting for a subway train convinced that you've died and been sentenced to an eternity of hard labor on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by none of these will bring disaster at 10:26 AM on July 23, 2016

It is very unlikely that MH370 will be found by a random oceanic survey. The southern Indian Ocean is just about the remotest place on Earth. It not only isn't a place anyone goes, it's not on the way from any place people go to any other place people go. It is very deep and crossed by poorly mapped undersea mountain ranges. An airplane is a much smaller and lighter object than a ship like the Titanic, and mostly made of aluminum so not even magnetic. It is difficult to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Bringer Tom at 3:58 PM on July 22, 2016

Seriously, the "lone genius" theory of who makes science has to die.

Even if you're not lichen the framing of this story, you have to admit he seems like a fun-gi.
posted to MetaFilter by brevator at 7:38 AM on July 22, 2016

This smells an awful lot like cover to distract the markets that Tesla probably won't be able to meet their own production targets anytime in the near future.

As my late uncle used to say "Bullshit baffles brains".
posted to MetaFilter by PenDevil at 5:26 AM on July 21, 2016

but it charted for 3 weeks and peaked at 102. Why would anyone think it was any good?

It might have been ahead of its time musically, or too raw and political for the airwaves. In the absence of all contextual information, "Ready 'N' Steady" was something like Schrödinger's cassingle: a quantum superposition of all possible songs, good and bad. It only collapses into rockabilly mediocrity after you press play.
posted to MetaFilter by Iridic at 2:45 PM on July 20, 2016

I would thank you for the cool post but you may have inadvertently cast me into this rabbit hole forever so I guess it's a wash
posted to MetaFilter by prize bull octorok at 2:17 PM on July 20, 2016

I mean, when she started working, was there such a thing as, "Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Engineering"?

I'm assuming her and the teams she was a part of invented many of the things such a degree would, you know, cover.


So give her a pass, already. And an honorary degree.


And like name a planet after her.

And more.
posted to MetaFilter by alex_skazat at 10:36 AM on July 19, 2016

All of your actions make the rich richer.
posted to MetaFilter by sylvanshine at 8:47 PM on July 19, 2016

There's always charcoal dust at the bottom of the Brita.
posted to MetaFilter by rhizome at 7:58 PM on July 19, 2016

Your favorite online service is purchased by Google three weeks after you finally have it set up and working perfectly. Six months later they announce it will cease operating in six weeks, despite it costing them less to keep running per year than the sodas given out for free in building 19A over a two-week period.

Their export tool has some minor bug (someone set a '==' test to be '=' or decided a crucial column in the DB was superfluous), but that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by maxwelton at 6:57 PM on July 19, 2016

All lights, wherever you go, buzz. But they change HOW they buzz every few minutes so your ear never quite gets used to it. Turning them off reveals a whining noise that makes you think you might have tinnitus, except it goes away when you hold your head just so.
posted to MetaFilter by rouftop at 3:28 PM on July 19, 2016

the best part of the article is how someone somewhere believes that the 2nd avenue subway will be finished by this upcoming december, like a christmas miracle
posted to MetaFilter by poffin boffin at 1:35 PM on July 18, 2016

Not sure you want to start from a premise of mocking the fans of the show you're writing for, as a beginning point.

Ron Moore talks about joining the writing staff and having to basically hide the fact that he's a Trekkie for fear of professional repercussions.
posted to MetaFilter by danny the boy at 6:15 PM on July 18, 2016

Oooooh man one time at my Friendly Local Game Shop, they had a whole bin full of discount Star Trek "action figures." Like, 3 bucks per doll or something. MuddDude and I stood there digging for minutes hoping beyond hope for a Lt. Barclay doll but it was Miles O'Brien all the way down.
posted to MetaFilter by muddgirl at 3:18 PM on July 18, 2016

To be fair, the "young man with unusual abilities destined to grow into great power and authority" is pretty much a fascist trope.

To also be fair, Star Wars passes on the latter half of that. The young man with unusual abilities grows into great power, and appears to sidestep authority, leaving that sort of thing to other people while he wanders off and deals with personal business.
posted to MetaFilter by SometimeNextMonth at 10:30 AM on July 16, 2016

Me, 2015: imagine if we had Twitter during major historical events. Wouldn't that be funny! ha ha Me, 2016: Oh God, no it isn't!
posted to MetaFilter by zabuni at 2:39 PM on July 15, 2016

This hit markets just after 3:30; and it was bizarre to see the lack of news on anything other than Bloomberg terminals for a good 30-45mins. needless to say my day(in risk in finance... argh) just got waaaaaay the fuck longer.

2016 has been on notice for a while. and this week just seems more brutal than any we've had in a while.
posted to MetaFilter by larthegreat at 2:30 PM on July 15, 2016

(A Few Notes on the Culture)
posted to MetaFilter by rustcrumb at 9:37 AM on July 15, 2016

1) Citizens are justifiably angry at "elites" who've consistently sold out their wages, rights, etc. to bolster corporate profits over a period of decades.

2) That anger is not always (often) (almost ever) channeled rationally, and is quite vulnerable to being redirected by demagogues and hucksters for their own ends.

3) Far-right nationalist/racial supremacist groups have been particularly successful in using that anger to get... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:03 AM on July 15, 2016

Yeah, I can see how democracy could go a bit off the rails when every other institution which underpins it has been systematically attacked for the last thirty years.
posted to MetaFilter by TheWhiteSkull at 8:57 AM on July 15, 2016

God Angrily Clarifies 'Don't Kill' Rule:

Get it straight. Not only do I not want anybody to kill anyone, but I specifically commanded you not to, in really simple terms that anybody ought to be able to understand.

posted to MetaFilter by kirkaracha at 6:58 PM on July 14, 2016

Reminder:

1. Choose not to hate.
2. Choose not to make baseless assumptions.
3. Choose not to be online.
4. Love.
5. Think.

If you find this kind of news overwhelming, distressing, and traumatic. Consider signing out of your social media/news-feeds. In a few days the news will settle and more truthful and reliable information will be out. And emotions will also not be at as high a level. Stay safe.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Fizz at 4:11 PM on July 14, 2016

This is a step in the right direction, but at the same time, we still have stuff like this going on:

The pay hike comes at a time when the company is under fire from employees, who are unhappy that Starbucks has cut their hours. An online petition posted on coworker.org 18 days ago claims that cutbacks in hours and staffing at stores is killing employee morale and hurting customer service. It's already garnered 12,800 signatures.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by triggerfinger at 2:02 PM on July 12, 2016

Whales for Krillary!
posted to MetaFilter by phunniemee at 9:33 AM on July 12, 2016

This is what I've been telling friends and relatives in coastal GA, FL, AL and MS for years. Their houses don't have to be underwater for them to wind up a climate refugee. They can dodge every major storm, every tornado, every hurricane, forever: if the local infrastructure simply doesn't exist anymore and the local municipalities aren't looking to rebuild, they're still screwed. They're screwed in a nice house, but screwed nonetheless. There is an immediacy to certain climate... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Sangermaine at 9:57 AM on July 11, 2016

348? That seems like a very low-ball number.

It is a low number relative to the stated scope of Obama's clemency initiative. It's better than nothing but there are a number of roadblocks impeding the thousands more who meet the criteria (10 years served, no history of violence, no gang affiliations, would have been sentenced to less time today) from also being released. Part of the problem was using volunteer attorneys to screen applicants, part of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bepe at 9:16 AM on July 11, 2016

Every thread about this topic needs a link to Eric Schlosser's book Command and Control.

The Palomares incident is in there, and it might not even be in the top 3 craziest things in the book.
posted to MetaFilter by chimaera at 8:58 AM on July 10, 2016

So, notice how W had a rebound in his popularity after he left office? He was a terrible president, and now most folks are like, "Eh, he was an alright guy, all things considered."

Obama's reputation going to be like the second coming of Roosevelt once he leaves office and there's no benefit to Republicans sandbagging him anymore.
posted to MetaFilter by leotrotsky at 8:40 AM on July 10, 2016

Hell, a better example is Guantanamo.

Executive Order 13492 was signed the 22nd of January 2009. Literally third day of the presidency. The Senate four months later approved the amendments to H.R. 2346 90–6 blocking any money from being used to transfer the detainees to United States soil.

You telling me we lost a 53 person majority in four months? Or the far more likely option is that Senate Democrats aren't automatically beholden to the president's policy.
posted to MetaFilter by Talez at 7:57 AM on July 10, 2016

From the article Which doctors sexually abuse?: The charm and clinical skills that win doctors the support of their communities also can allow them to manipulate and exploit patients. They may not even see themselves as offenders but as sexually desirable men – they’re almost always men — with a keen sense of patients’ needs.

When do we as a society stop valuing charisma and charm? They have been proven to be, at best, unreliable indicators of any... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by palindromic at 3:36 PM on July 8, 2016

you know that visceral reaction of just.. I dunno, wrongness(?)

I'm not going to say whether this video does it "right" or not because, well, there is no Art Detector that can tell you that objectively. But I have been, if you will, guilty of writing to deliberately evoke that sense of wrongness, because it can be a powerful tool for aligning your beliefs and expectations. Sometimes art works precisely because it's disturbing, as Edward... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Bringer Tom at 6:19 PM on July 8, 2016

Yeah -- I'm Jewish; I was thinking that -- but I didn't want to bring up any specific religions in a cute, fun thread about giant hamsters.
posted to MetaFilter by jeather at 5:22 PM on July 9, 2016

It's really something that one tragedy has so easily flowed into the next so much that there's no reason for individual Mefi threads on particular events anymore. It's just one long nightmare now. It's actually kind of nice to just come to the blue now and not have to read about everything being awful.
posted to MetaTalk by theraflu at 2:46 PM on July 8, 2016

Progressive people are awesome at consuming and undermining each other. Such it seems to always be.
posted to MetaFilter by transient at 9:17 AM on July 6, 2016

He invented the Picard Maneuver.

*reflexively tugs on shirt*
posted to MetaFilter by Strange Interlude at 2:08 PM on July 5, 2016

Everybody jokes about Trump ushering in an age of celebrity politicians but guess what knuckleheads, I would vote for a Dwayne Johnson/John Cena ticket in heartbeat and tbh I wouldn't really even for like a millisecond think about voting for anyone else.

How far down the chain of succession do you have to be to not have "natural born citizen" obligations? Because the Iron Sheik belongs in that cabinet.

I mean, look... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by delfin at 4:25 PM on July 4, 2016