MetaFilter

We, the electronically-enhanced music loving public, owe a tremendous debt to the engineers at Roland Corporation.
posted to MetaFilter by demiurge at 8:49 PM on April 11, 2013

And this is why my alarm is set to this

That was awesome.

My wakeup alarm is bird calls. It's a nice way to wake up. Except that I discovered the other night, when a mateless but territorial mockingbird started singing at 2:51 a.m. that I am now conditioned to wake up when a bird is singing. (He sang for hours and hours, but hasn't been back, at least not at night. Either he found a mate or got eaten. Don't care which.)
posted to MetaFilter by rtha at 8:28 PM on April 11, 2013

The horror of the marimba sound has led me to the realization that I can wake up instead to Sigur Ros' song Glosoli. So thanks!
posted to MetaFilter by seemoreglass at 8:11 PM on April 11, 2013

The radiant heat alone from white hot iron would almost certainly burn your house down.
posted to MetaFilter by 2bucksplus at 1:34 PM on April 11, 2013

A lot of men do something called mantling—that is to lean over the plate, surround it with their arms just for a second. It’s body language that comes from a time before speech.

Who does this?
posted to MetaFilter by Pruitt-Igoe at 12:40 PM on April 11, 2013

Look what we did.

Dear Iraq

Look what you made me do.

Love,

Abusive Boyfriend Superpower
posted to MetaFilter by charlie don't surf at 7:19 PM on April 11, 2013

And along the way we've taken major steps to turn our own society into the kind of society we were supposedly fighting against.

That's what they TOLD you. What THEY have been working toward is exactly what we're getting, and I suspect that the testcase of Iraq doesn't look all that unsuccessful.
posted to MetaFilter by oneswellfoop at 5:56 PM on April 11, 2013

I'll just go ahead and take a stab at this one:

Finally, after all is said and done, we shouldn't forget what this was about - making America safer... And are you safer Americans?

Nope, less safe. And along the way we've taken major steps to turn our own society into the kind of society we were supposedly fighting against.
posted to MetaFilter by flug at 5:46 PM on April 11, 2013

Look what we did.
posted to MetaFilter by Pope Guilty at 5:42 PM on April 11, 2013

What I remember most about reading that blog was her writing about the total inability to keep basic infrastructure like power and water running and the rage she felt about what was going on around her. She wrote with a lot of raw, justified anger and it looks like she still feels it, and she should.

Going without power for a few days during Sandy drove me absolutely nuts, I can't imagine my rage if I lived like that for months and years amidst a civil war because a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Drinky Die at 5:39 PM on April 11, 2013

Man those FFVII melodies have just been sitting there in my brain displacing chemistry and math this whole time.
posted to MetaFilter by Space Coyote at 10:51 PM on April 11, 2013

I would expect that the leaders and potentates of North Korea just about universally know that the public rhetoric of the state is bullshit

You haven't actually read any of the above-mentioned books and articles about like in North Korea, have you?

There's something truly (though grimly) hilarious about commenters saying "The U.S. isn't very different from North Korea," with no awareness that the very comments... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ThatFuzzyBastard at 9:43 AM on April 11, 2013

“It’s Big Brother, sort of, but with a good intent,” said Tracy Hurley, the dean of the school of business.

"To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic...Even to understand the word 'doublethink' involved the use of doublethink.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by googly at 7:18 AM on April 11, 2013

For some reason, I was expecting an Elder Scrolls movie.
posted to MetaFilter by 2bucksplus at 12:24 PM on April 11, 2013

And that's not all, folks:

The President Barack Obama administration is claiming that authorities do not need court warrants to affix GPS devices to vehicles to monitor their every move.

The administration maintains that position despite the Supreme Court’s infamous decision last year that concluded that attaching the GPS devices amounted to search protected by the Constitution.. (Wired)

In... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nTeleKy at 1:31 PM on April 11, 2013

I swear to god on my eyes it is like EA is rolling around the floor laughing as they keep anteing up the bets for "how big of a shit can we take in our customer's mouths and have them keep coming back begging for more" because the people do keep coming back for more no matter how big the shits get. There is going to be someone in the corner who is basically cannonballing schnapps, peanuts and creamed corn right now just to see what will happen in 24-48 hours.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by seanmpuckett at 10:47 AM on April 3, 2013

It cracks me up that the electric recharging stations which provide power to electric cars do not require electricity.
posted to MetaFilter by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:16 AM on April 3, 2013

I know more about this subject than you can possibly imagine, and I can tell you with near-certainty (P<0.001) that the subject is a kitty exhibiting autocraniosomnolence.
posted to MetaFilter by Mister_A at 7:15 AM on April 11, 2013

I peer-reviewed dmd's research and I endorse his findings.
posted to MetaFilter by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:35 AM on April 11, 2013

I'm an expert on cats, and I'd just like to verify for everyone that that's a kitty.
posted to MetaFilter by dmd at 6:34 AM on April 11, 2013

BBC Radio 4's always engrossing In Our Time covered The Cult of Mithras a few weeks ago. Available here.
posted to MetaFilter by NailsTheCat at 7:48 PM on April 10, 2013

The Way of the Knife: NYT’s Mark Mazzetti on the CIA’s Post-9/11 Move from Spying to Assassinations
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 9:33 AM on April 10, 2013

I was asked for a cite that the men killed were widely known to be ISI agents and that this was reported in the press at the time.

The Wikipedia entry for the incident leads to a few, here's one from Time Magazine which says "Equally misleading, say Pakistani officials, is the claim in Pakistani media that Davis' victims had been "ordinary men", or even as "robbers," as the State Department has suggested. "They were from the ISI,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by w0mbat at 5:58 PM on April 10, 2013

US was a major supporter of Indian independence (as part of their pressure on UK to end colonialism). When the British partitioned India, they decided to keep Pakistan as a closer ally for strategic reasons (location, location, location) and also because India's Prime Minister Nehru (and other Indian political leaders) wanted India to chart its own independent course in international affairs and not play second fiddle to any major power. Pakistan's early democratic leaders had their own reasons... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by vidur at 5:16 PM on April 10, 2013

Counterexample of people doing punk right: Pussy Riot.
posted to MetaFilter by jaduncan at 11:26 AM on April 10, 2013

One of my favorite things to do in Chrono Trigger was play the cheesy minigames in Norstein Bekkler's Tent of Horrors over and over again, because if you won any of them more than once, you got cat food as a prize. Then you could go to your house and there'd be extra cats hanging out! I think I got up to nine or ten before I got bored and decided I should probably stop screwing around and save the world.

Alfador was my favorite, though.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Metroid Baby at 12:35 PM on April 10, 2013

They forgot the Nethack cat.

f
posted to MetaFilter by Nelson at 8:47 AM on April 10, 2013

For all its hype, big data still can't recommend me a decent film on Netflix, or a book on Amazon. As someone here mentioned: buying a blender on Amazon means Amazon recommends you ten more blenders.
posted to MetaFilter by 2bucksplus at 3:11 PM on April 10, 2013

victim of a hundred and one other far-more-subtle things we're blithely unaware of.

All but universal remedy: Write a list of what you need. Write it before you go. Do not purchase anything not on the list.
posted to MetaFilter by jaduncan at 3:00 PM on April 10, 2013

It's getting to the point where there is almost no unconsidered element of a supermarket. It's funny how many people think they're wise to it, as well (same as almost everybody thinks they're immune to advertising).

We know not to go in hungry, and we avoid the smells of the bakery and we try to ignore the end caps, and yet we still come out with stuff we didn't go in for, victim of a hundred and one other far-more-subtle things we're blithely unaware of.
posted to MetaFilter by bonaldi at 2:58 PM on April 10, 2013

But he couldn't outsmaht Jahnny Lawbsta!
posted to MetaFilter by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:37 PM on April 10, 2013

I really don't see how Fox has a leg to stand on. Fashion cannot be trademarked, right? I mean, it's a hat of a particular design, but that's it. It has no logos on it. Obviously they have lawyers and whatnot, but I really don't see how this is actionable in any way.
posted to MetaFilter by Slinga at 8:49 AM on April 10, 2013

It's rather simple to establish personality cults because most people tend to believe they are superior for following the leader under conditions of threat and reward for blind obedience. This fake superiority is perhaps the only way for most people to deny to themselves that they are in fact dishonest and cowardly, and in most cases, intellectually bankrupt. Just look at the true believers in Ronald Reagan for a glimpse of it in a relatively resistant milieu for personality cults.
posted to MetaFilter by Brian B. at 7:03 AM on April 10, 2013

It's worth asking oneself who is telling you how serious or unserious the North Korea threat is or what we need to do about it.

If the world is busy fretting about a nuke war (or a few nukes have went off) I'm guessing people will have higher priorities then looking at what the bankers are doing or how Cyprus is going with the hairstyling of savers.

And if more economies were to deflate and crumble - the war could be blamed VS... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by rough ashlar at 5:30 AM on April 10, 2013

I'm starting to wonder if Lil' Kim seriously thinks he can win, if he's bought the propaganda.

It's worth asking oneself who is telling you how serious or unserious the North Korea threat is or what we need to do about it.
posted to MetaFilter by DU at 5:15 AM on April 10, 2013

On a related note, camping scramble bags are great too. You chop some veg or whatever scramble fixings and stir up some eggs, pour it all into a ziplock baggie and freeze. Then go camping. In the morning, drop the whole bag into a pot of boiling water and instant deliciousness with little cleanup. (hell, you don't even need plates)
posted to MetaFilter by iamkimiam at 7:47 AM on April 10, 2013

The Dry, Yucky, Crumbly Middle Of A Hardboiled Egg

the gross chalky bit

Man, what the hell are you guys talking about? The yolk is the best part and it is neither dry nor chalky if you have halfway decent eggs and don't over-boil them. I salute this man for bringing us a little bit closer to the glorious dream of an egg that is all yolk.
posted to MetaFilter by enn at 7:37 AM on April 10, 2013

Those eggs are homogenized boiled eggs, not scrambled!
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 6:58 AM on April 10, 2013

I want the gene therapy technology to advance to the point where I can first attain normal color vision and the advance to the levels of color perception available to this shrimp.
posted to MetaFilter by humanfont at 4:33 AM on April 10, 2013

I found it amazing and inspiring that South Korea pardoned her, considering her brainwashed. Imagine if other countries that suffered devastating terrorist attacks at the hands of adherents of extremist personality cults behaved like that.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 3:18 AM on April 10, 2013

The fact that this creature is at the same time very tasty, beautiful to look at, conveniently sized for keeping in an aquarium and an aggressive asshole you can eat without remorse is a clear sign that an Intelligent Designer not only exists, but also probably has a financial interest in the Asian seafood business.
posted to MetaFilter by Dr Dracator at 2:43 AM on April 10, 2013

It may yield a lot of beef, but I can only carry 100 pounds back to the wagon.
posted to MetaFilter by chambers at 10:27 PM on April 9, 2013

Well this is awesome.

What it also said to me was that game designers clearly need to study more biology, or more biologists need to get into game design, because even the most fantastical monsters are still boring fluff compared to nature. I mean, a brightly colored death machine with death pummel action? Yes, please.
posted to MetaFilter by barnacles at 12:04 AM on April 10, 2013

But let’s not be too hard on the kids. As Myatt recalled, they were invariably overwhelmed by the experience of being on the show. They were never allowed to see Treguard out of costume or character and completely believed in the world they were entering. “The odd thing is, when the kids arrived on the set, they were totally into it within about five minutes,” he said. “The suspension of disbelief stuff just happened.”

Take note, game designers. This... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 5:25 PM on April 9, 2013

I was expecting a poodle in a box of regular peanuts.
posted to MetaFilter by box at 4:54 PM on April 9, 2013

When you boil water, you get bubbles.

When you boil styrofoam, you get ferrets.
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 4:50 PM on April 9, 2013

Yeah, let's blame it on one guy.

Yes and his name isn't Davis. It's Voter.
posted to MetaFilter by srboisvert at 1:07 PM on April 9, 2013

There's definitely a way you can miss the point, too. ZING.
posted to MetaFilter by Cool Papa Bell at 9:53 AM on April 9, 2013

After I buy a Kindle book, it's still sitting on Amazon's servers and they can remove my access to it at will.

Calibre + DeDRM = Solved
posted to MetaFilter by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:36 AM on April 9, 2013

Mike Masnick shreds Scott Turow's NYT piece.
posted to MetaFilter by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:21 AM on April 9, 2013