MetaFilter

Due respect, but that's an extremely anti-intellectual argument and is more a statement of your bias and ignorance than a coherent position.
posted to MetaTalk by klangklangston at 11:53 AM on June 18, 2014

Oh, and: "People have a strong motivation to oppose legislation initiated by people that they know for a fact are lying to them. Because when you know someone is lying, you don't know how many things they're lying about. You don't know why they're lying about the things that they are lying about. You only know that you cannot trust their stated words."

Since you appealed to rationality, is it reasonable to believe that Bill Clinton doesn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by klangklangston at 11:50 AM on June 18, 2014

"Not exactly. I'm saying that for those particular gun owners, their actions actually are reasonable for them - not just that they think that those actions are reasonable, but that given what their desires are, they are taking the most advantageous line of actions that they can possibly take. "

Well, no. No matter how sincere the belief, a belief that the earth is flat is not a reasonable belief. Especially since both flat earthers and gun... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by klangklangston at 11:42 AM on June 18, 2014

can anyone link to Savage being utterly contemptuous of "language-policing" other slurs?

Savage's column was originally titled "Hey, Faggot".

Instead of just acknowledging it was wrong, people keep doubling down with one rationalization after another. I'm curious as to reasons why.

Because acknowledging the truth– that witnesses have stated a heavy object... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ThatFuzzyBastard at 11:18 AM on June 18, 2014

Slate (and Auerbach) rediscover flow?
posted to MetaFilter by aught at 8:34 AM on June 18, 2014

hnnngh. This makes me want to refactor something.
posted to MetaFilter by boo_radley at 8:55 AM on June 18, 2014

Seconding aught. Flow isn't exactly new. Anything that produces intense concentration at a task at hand, wherein you lose your sense of time (rock climbing, painting, surfing, etc.) can give you a similar result. Also Ritalin and Provigil.
posted to MetaFilter by leotrotsky at 8:47 AM on June 18, 2014

I also don't think getting a glass jar thrown at you by one member of a community gives you a lifetime pass to treat every other member of that community however you want without consequence.

Certainly not. Nor does doing some good give you a pass for being an asshole. But it does suggest that one is not motivated by bigotry against or contempt for trans people, but rather a sincere disagreement with certain ideas.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ThatFuzzyBastard at 7:48 AM on June 18, 2014

Get a lock down on the day's video feeds asap.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Freedomboy at 11:37 PM on June 17, 2014

Talk to a lawyer. Tell them all of these facts. A lawyer will advise you on what to do next.

Do not talk to the local news or the store. Talk to a lawyer first and potentially the cops second - but talk to a lawyer first thing tomorrow.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sockermom at 10:19 PM on June 17, 2014

The store workers who asked for copies of your coupons were in on it, btw.

They can kick you out of the store, but no, they can't search your vehicle or take your personal belongings (ie - your cash.)

I would not talk to anyone at Walmart without legal representation. Period.

Did you get the "officer's" name? Could he have been an off duty cop?

In general, it is illegal to impersonate a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jbenben at 10:16 PM on June 17, 2014

Go to the police and file a report.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jbenben at 10:11 PM on June 17, 2014

As noted a few times, neither Savage nor anyone else is that upset about the glitterbombing. The throwing of heavy objects at his head, that's a little bothersome.
posted to MetaFilter by ThatFuzzyBastard at 9:46 PM on June 17, 2014

I think if he wants anyone to take any version of his story seriously, then he should have been consistent with his description of the events.

An account from someone who is neither Dan Savage nor the person who could (and should) suffer legal repercussions if it was a glass jar:

"The thing I find really bad on her part is that she threw the large heavy glass container at his head after she threw the glitter.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ThatFuzzyBastard at 8:03 PM on June 17, 2014

This got me to go back through the Aphex discography. I forgot I had a copy of the Ventolin EP when I was a kid. I also forgot that it's 54 minutes long, most of the "remixes" are completely new pieces of music, and that it's as great as any full-length Aphex album. Damn, he really does have one of those catalogues that are more like wormholes into other dimensions.
posted to MetaFilter by naju at 4:43 PM on June 17, 2014

I'm sad that the move away from the icosahedral group (icosohedron, dodecahedron, truncated icosahedron) appears to be permanent. All of the early balls and later ones are in the cubic group (cube, octahedron, tetrahedron). You can tell the difference by the simple distinction that the icosahedral group members have 5-fold rotation axes, while the cubic group members do not.

Year / Point group* / Comments (*idealized; removing stitches, labels)
1930-1966 /... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Didymium at 6:11 AM on June 16, 2014

I mean, shit, our legislative bodies both overcount rural votes (the Senate by built-in malapportionment, the House by the ease with which one can gerrymander away urban votes because of how clustered they are.) Now you want us to overcount rural votes in raw opinion polls???
posted to MetaFilter by tonycpsu at 8:04 AM on June 17, 2014

The 10th Regiment of Foot: Wow, really? You really are so disbelieving that you need a citation that most Americans are urban resident and can't be bothered to search "urban" on the Census site.

No, I'm well aware most people live within MSAs, but that is not the question. I read corb's statement as saying that she didn't believe the 90% number was representative, not because more people live near cities but that the sampling itself was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by tonycpsu at 8:01 AM on June 17, 2014

Democrats believe that rules that make sense to them in large cities should apply to rural areas as well, while Republicans believe that local areas should get to determine their own rules.

You're confusing the US parties with the Houses of Westeros and the Free Folk.
posted to MetaFilter by octobersurprise at 8:24 AM on June 17, 2014

while Republicans believe that local areas should get to determine their own rules

No, republicans believe that rural areas should be allowed to make conservative rules but not liberal ones, and that urban areas should be allowed to make conservative rules but not liberal ones, and that suburbs should...
posted to MetaFilter by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:33 AM on June 17, 2014

You've misread the sentence.

It seemed a pretty straightforward implication that as they were all lumped in together that they were being made equivalent, but if I've gotten it wrong, I'll happily regard NoraReed's actual intent and apologise for any misconception.

I...am not sure what you think people are trying to do, here. Even sarcasm is designed specifically to communicate exactly what the speaker means. Do you... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by gadge emeritus at 9:40 AM on June 17, 2014

h00py: And on preview: flagging a mod? Get real!

Why wouldn't I? The moderators here have the power to delete comments and then claim the comment said something it didn't, as has occurred here. One would hope that it's not just the single offending mod who sees flags and something would be done about this sort of behaviour. Other options include starting a new MeTa or emailing Matt, I suppose.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by gman at 7:47 AM on June 17, 2014

Yes, the comment was a bit convoluted in syntax, and I misread it. I'll add a note to my note, and I'm sorry, 0.
posted to MetaTalk by taz at 7:55 AM on June 17, 2014

Also, the number one cause of drowning is immersion in water.
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 8:33 AM on June 17, 2014

contempt, they found, is the number one factor that tears couples apart

Joy Division was wrong!
posted to MetaFilter by Cash4Lead at 8:18 AM on June 17, 2014

That seems like a mischaracterization of his comment. He pointed those things out as erroneous MRA beliefs that he is not at all sympathetic with.
posted to MetaTalk by Drinky Die at 7:14 AM on June 17, 2014

taz: Comment deleted. 0, you need to walk away. Do not come into a discussion about how to discuss misogyny on Mefi with bullshit framing about feminists "lying about rape and DV," etc. This is not a suggestion.

That's either an inflammatory mischaracterization of what he said or you misread the comment. Either way, I flagged your comment and you should apologize or delete what you said and the subsequent follow-up.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by gman at 7:26 AM on June 17, 2014

And the KKK apparently. And I think I noticed a nazi reference too! What other super offensive group can we bring into this?
posted to MetaTalk by Big_B at 7:40 AM on June 17, 2014

nadawi: it's my understanding that flags are cleared by the mod on duty so flagging the mod on duty is really just giving them extra work, which is a pretty shit thing to do considering the current state of mod coverage around here.

I didn't know that was the case and I didn't realize she was the only mod on duty. Having said that, I'm not too concerned about the rest of your comment as I'm pretty sure, looking at this thread, a single flag isn't going... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by gman at 8:00 AM on June 17, 2014

ominous_paws: Er, you really do seem to though, gman.

You'll notice you used the word "seem". Now don't be lazy; go through my posting history and see if you're correct. It's all right there.

bfranklin: As a lurker in many of these threads, I can say that sweetkid is not the only person associating your username with comments that come off as knee-jerk and frenzied.

Do you... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by gman at 8:15 AM on June 17, 2014

This is very, very cool and I'm glad it happened, but on first listen, I can maybe understand why he didn't want to release it.
posted to MetaFilter by STFUDonnie at 5:07 AM on June 17, 2014

the young rope-rider: It's a good space for women to comment in the vast majority of threads, which is great, but feminism or sexism? It's newspaper comment section time.

I would disagree with that, though I definitely agree that there's places out there that do these topics better. They're mostly specifically feminist/sexism-focussed sites, however. But newspaper comment sections are massively more toxic than MetaFilter, if for no other reason than... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by gadge emeritus at 10:24 PM on June 16, 2014

which is usually really low because a bunch of MRAs or mansplainers or someone with equally offensive and awful opinions have been talking,

Sorry, are you just using some hyperbole to joke around here or being serious? I figure the former but it's tough to tell if you're being sarcastic with just the text to go by. Don't think we have a bunch of MRAs on Metafilter, though.

I'm sorry, but did you not just argue... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by misha at 5:58 PM on June 16, 2014

Do you care whether individual people have changed, or just overall proportions? If you care about individuals, and they're just categorical, I would do some sort of paired permutation test; shuffle the second draw 1000 times (keeping proportions the same) and see the distribution of changes in outcomes for each category (i.e., by chance, you'd expect X%+/- Y% to switch away from choice A), then put the actual changes into that distribution (Z% actually switched away from A, and Z is in the Nth... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by supercres at 3:33 PM on June 16, 2014

...though as I understand it, a chi-square test will just tell you whether any significant changes in popularity have occurred — and not which options are significantly more or less popular.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by nebulawindphone at 4:45 PM on June 16, 2014

"It looks like the asker might be in Milwaukee, so, that rules that possibility out."

I think it's still totally possible that the owner of a small plumbing shop in Milwaukee could be politically and/or religiously conservative enough to refuse to serve an abortion clinic.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by amaire at 4:27 PM on June 16, 2014

I see ratings and comments have been disabled for that video. Smart move, but also sad.
posted to MetaFilter by peripathetic at 12:47 PM on June 16, 2014

What makes you think that personal attacks (even if they are just "poking fun at an individual") have ever been okay?

Well, there was that whole Alex Reynolds/drama queen Metatalk call out that persuaded me to sign up here in the first place.

We still have pile-ons, of course. They're just a bit less explicit these days.
posted to MetaTalk by PeterMcDermott at 12:47 PM on June 16, 2014

I blame society.

Bullshit. You're just a white suburban punk; you'll be okay.
posted to MetaFilter by ZenMasterThis at 12:37 PM on June 16, 2014

'Forget it, shakes, it's wolfdreams01town'

Damn, Mr Snippy, you're way into grudge territory now.
posted to MetaTalk by 0 at 12:13 PM on June 16, 2014

CtrlAltD and nangar made very good points here and, rerailing the thread, I think that's a good start.

I would probably add that we can't always be telling men to listen to women if what we really mean is "don't comment unless you agree with everything I say." If feminists sincerely want these contentious threads to go more smoothly, we should not assume disagreement = bad faith going in.

Similarly, we can't shut... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by misha at 10:17 AM on June 16, 2014

Fair enough, jessamyn. I tried to word my example to clearly poke fun at hypothetical user X; if that kind of "poking fun" is okay, I have had it wrong since day one.
posted to MetaTalk by misha at 10:22 AM on June 16, 2014

Hey, gingerest, no problem. I didn't think there was any way to answer your question about who is popular than to be specific, so I did that. To be clear, if I feel a comment breaks the guidelines, I FIAMO, which is what we are asked to do. I am just surprised that specific comments stand. I like 99% of what elizardbits says, so no, I don't want to call her out!

Taz's input here has me thinking the guidelines have changed and I haven't, anyway. I... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by misha at 9:55 AM on June 16, 2014

Came across this the other day. Not surprising to anyone who understands how the tech works, but it offers some good concrete illustrations for non-techies on just how insecure the internet really is.
posted to MetaFilter by saulgoodman at 9:26 AM on June 16, 2014

I was curious, and decided to install Whisper to check it out. Here's the notification from the Play store:

Whisper needs access to:
Device and app history,
Identity,
Location,
...
Device ID & Call Information
posted to MetaFilter by codacorolla at 5:36 PM on June 15, 2014

> Wait, Google Chrome just did this one day with a nightly update with like zero warning? That's nuts.

This is the security lockdown against adware/malware Chrome extensions. This thread is relevant. Especially the first comment, from JHarris.

And yeah the zero warning part sucks, but Google has always released Chrome updates without notification and without change logs.
posted to MetaTalk by ardgedee at 10:23 PM on June 15, 2014

MeFites who hold unpopular viewpoints are held to higher commenting-tone standards

Not just commenting tone, but also standards of evidence and quality of argumentation. Comments from the majority viewpoint get thunderous applause even when they contain self-evident howlers that would be quickly identified and disparaged if that shoe were on the other foot. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen someone whose position I agree with but... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by George_Spiggott at 2:31 PM on June 15, 2014

Gingerest, I will give an easy answer that comes to mind.

Elizardbits is often hilarious. That's just obvious. It's a Thing. If you read Metafilter, chances are you've favorited a billion comments of hers. I know I frequently favorite her stuff. She's got a great Tumblr, too.

Now, one of the few actual written-into-the-site-from-day-one guidelines here is not to attack other users personally. Don't be a dick, everyone needs a hug, etc. People... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by misha at 10:58 PM on June 15, 2014

I find most feminism 101 comments condescending, honestly, and wish we saw far less of that tone.

I saw a comment up thread by zombieflanders accusing men here of lecturing women with "five-dollar words dripping with condescension". I can't recall any comments I would characterize in just that way, but I do agree that I don't care for the patronizing smugness of members chiding other members of equal status as if they were children,... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by misha at 9:30 PM on June 15, 2014

It's possible to simultaneously agree with the author of an article and find fault with their methods and it doesn't require too much imagination to believe that those complaining about the methods are doing so because they want the author to be successful in their endeavour.

I'm a pretty die hard feminist, but even I try to avoid commenting in such threads. I said this earlier, but what made me feel excluded is the "she can do no wrong"... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Shouraku at 4:41 PM on June 15, 2014