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I took German for a couple years in college and forgot most of it. This course at DW is much more structured than Duolingo and, frankly, better than my 4 semesters of college German.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lucasks at 12:27 PM on May 20, 2020

So thinking about grandstanding is a cause for self-reflection, not a call to arms.

See

"Another way is to phrase your point not as an assertion but as a question, just inviting others to refect on potential errors of their ways, merely point them the way to arrive at the desired conclusion themselves."

I tend to reflect on this problem quite a bit - I often wonder if... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sohalt at 8:05 AM on September 11, 2020

While olive oil adulteration is still a problem in the EU, it's nowhere near as significant a problem as it is in the US

Offtopic, but with respect to EVOO specifically,

In 2015, 32.3% of samples tested by the Germans (CVUA Stuttgart) failed.
In 2016, 11.8% of samples tested by the Italian MInistry of Health failed.
In 2017, 37% of samples tested by the Australians (Wagga Wagga lab) failed.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aramaic at 3:57 PM on August 30, 2020

My favorite superheroes are Ryan North writing Squirrel Girl and Kate Leth writing Hellcat- both willing and able to fight but much more interested in finding win-win scenarios and converting antagonists into allies
posted to MetaFilter by Pope Guilty at 8:03 AM on August 27, 2020

Hey guys, I have an update! I used some of the scripts provided in here, particularly the "there must be something wrong with my performance if person X, Y and Z (all male but I didn't spell that out) got promoted with the same tenure I me. I also brought up (had brought this up with all managers but none payed attention) that I have some experience/education in iOS and Android app development - which my department head was shocked to hear. Finally, I asked, again, for the list of... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by kitcat at 8:32 AM on August 14, 2020

I'd give it some time. Collect some usage data. I'm in the same area, with a smallish, oldish house that's probably leaky as heck and doesn't have a particularly efficient furnace. And after going through and switching to LED bulbs, there was pretty much nothing left that was plausibly cost effective. The weather is, for the most part, too mild for there to be a lot of big wins sitting on the table.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by wotsac at 2:58 PM on August 25, 2020

Always annoying when tourists pontificate about your home. I live in a small country that is sometimes on the receiving end of this. So I agree with Megami's request.

Quite weird, however, that the comments here took a common global issue and quickly applied the language and narrative of the US social justice movement to it. Apparently the people of Iceland, Spain, and Nova Scotia (the concrete Mefi thread examples raised) are "marginalised communities" being... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Klipspringer at 2:44 AM on August 13, 2020

As someone who is in recovery with respect to drinking AND compulsive food behaviors: people in active addictions are driven to do what they do, but that doesn't mean they have no accountability for the consequences of their behavior. And the COVID situation isn't causing addictions for many: it's revealing the tendency to head in that direction.

I disagree wholeheartedly with the notion that you should somehow downplay or dismiss the desire to be physically attracted... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Sheydem-tants at 2:37 PM on August 9, 2020

You say that everything you're finding online is about making you feel better, but based on your follow-up intel, I feel like...that's...still what you're looking for? You can't be the prince of divorce. Commit to never lying to your ex again, and let that be it for both of you.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Charity Garfein at 11:13 PM on August 8, 2020

This framing of "if you don't want other users to be able to delete your site contributions, you don't care about the safety of marginalized users!" is really gross. The pony request, as I understand it, is literally just: can we preserve the safety of marginalized users without also deleting whole comment threads by hundreds of other posters? Is there a reasonable way to do that?

And yet there seem to be people in this thread who have... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by mstokes650 at 9:19 AM on August 6, 2020

I think it's incredibly difficult to argue against anyone's need for safety, since different people have different risk profiles and different levels of risk tolerance. What feels like a safe level of risk to me might feel unsafe to you. Moreover risks are not static but evolve over time. Sometimes quite suddenly. If someone feels unsafe because their contributions to Metafilter are publicly accessible, then they should be able to wipe their account quickly and thoroughly. That's incompatible... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by dmh at 7:23 AM on August 6, 2020

In Atlanta, tickets at the AMC at the run-down mall were still $5 on March 13.

$30 is still a lot of money for many of us who don't live in NYC/LA/Chicago to see a movie.
posted to MetaFilter by hydropsyche at 2:17 PM on August 5, 2020

My transition to senior engineer was probably 50% confident white guy privilege but the number one difference I'd say in my engineering practice was thinking about two interrelated factors in software: first, what's the return on investment on building this feature or doing this refactor etc, is it actually worth it? Does it improve customer experience enough to make a difference in the bottom line, and, closely relatedly, how will this affect our engineering experience in 3,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by dis_integration at 9:08 AM on August 2, 2020

At a very high level, there are a couple of things it took me a while to realize about the transition from junior to mid-level to senior. The first is: junior people implement solutions, mid-level people come up with solutions, and senior people identify problems worth solving. You can see a version of this in this blog post.

The second is related to the idea that, as you progress, your job involves problems more than solutions: they're not kidding when they say... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by caek at 11:55 PM on August 1, 2020

I used to use call suite downtime to read novels with absolutely no medical content. It felt like such a guilty pleasure at the time, but honestly I think I learned more from the novels than from PubMed.

My favorite book of intern year was Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres -- I have such a profound sense memory of lying on the uncomfortable black leatherette couch in the internal medicine workroom just devouring this family being terrible to each other,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by basalganglia at 4:49 PM on August 2, 2020

*big inhale* I'm a trans woman.

I was planning to come out on National Coming Out Day in October, but fuck it, my entire life is an absolute mess, I'm losing hope by the day, and the whole goddamn country is on fire, so nothing matters anymore. I'm 40 years old, AMAB, and I spent most of my life in denial and slowly killing myself by neglect until I finally had a breakdown/breakthrough (breakdownthrough?) in February and started seeing a gender therapist. Now I'm on HRT... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Faint of Butt at 9:03 AM on July 29, 2020

The newest person in my life is the one we grew ourselves, and it's awesome and draining and amazing and tiring. She is amazing though, super cute, even when she spits up milk spectacularly all over her father, requiring both a full sheet change for the bed and an outfit change for him. Babyfeet, having caused all the chaos, promptly went to sleep!

She's been here 2 weeks and it's already hard to remember what it was like without her.

A nice... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by freethefeet at 9:44 PM on July 19, 2020

I guess I'm a new people, sort of. I joined here 10 years ago (to the day!) as Homeboy Trouble, but... I don't know that it's a problematic name, but I don't know for sure that it's not problematic.

So I'm Superilla now, looking forward to the next 10 years and more.

But mostly I'm glad to hear mochapickle is now a fellow kidney recipient. Tell your loved ones if you want to donate your organs, folks. It's the greatest gift in the world.
posted to MetaTalk by Superilla at 9:13 PM on July 19, 2020

My new kidney!

Some of you may recall that I turned down a kidney transplant match at the end of March, which at the time felt as if it were well into the COVID crisis but was only the beginning. Taking on surgery at that moment felt entirely suicidal. I'd fully braced myself to lean deep into my four years of dialysis (and counting) and wait at least another two years for a match, but when another call came in May, it felt like a miracle in progress and so I took it.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by mochapickle at 3:58 PM on July 18, 2020

These accounts have targeted me extensively -- and not just on twitter -- for over 18 months. It has been relentless. They doxxed me, my extended family, harassed relatives of mine at work. They have spread outright lies about things they claim I said and did. They have sent me death threats, and threats relating to my children.

I have spoken with several lawyers, law enforcement (before this year), and a cybersecurity investigator. I have been told, repeatedly, that a)... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Eyebrows McGee at 2:22 PM on July 13, 2020

I still feel like a midsize wagon is the sweet spot, and would own one again with the right mix of features (sporty, RWD or rear-biased AWD), but I don't own one right now. I've owned a classic VW Squareback, a modern Audi wagon, and a Forester when they were still tall wagons.

Instead I have two Toyota Land Cruisers, a 'classic' 60 series and a 'just old' 80 series. They're not commuter vehicles so the gas mileage and size isn't much of an issue, but they will fit a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by a halcyon day at 10:35 AM on July 7, 2020

Bizarre absence of Kantian “time as rational framework/category to facilitate recognition of empirical objects”, but maybe a brief (lol) explanatory quote about time from Kant wasn't likely to fit in their lovely timeline bubbles.
posted to MetaFilter by zinful at 8:52 AM on June 7, 2020

Can her doctor, or the hospital, assign a social/caseworker to you/her?

My mother is seventy-five and is a problem. My dad is seventy-eight and *has* problems. Because my mother can't manage his necessary physical assistance needs on her own, the caseworker arranges & coordinates with insurance/medicare(?) for a support-type nurse to come three days a week, get him showered etc., and let my mom go to the grocery store.

My relationship with... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by A Terrible Llama at 3:47 AM on May 22, 2020

Dude, I have made sooooo many forms. You have no idea how long I've been a web developer :)

Also - that way of responding to me is kind of upsetting. Just... take a moment before you do it to the next, probably less experienced and self-assured, person. I don't want them to be too distracted by cynicism to just do what they imagine.

But I do appreciate the meat of your comments.
posted to MetaFilter by amtho at 2:00 AM on May 23, 2020

Probably yeah “loves to work/works hard” is right but only for a very narrow band of definition, which includes categorically a disregard for the exploitation of others and an obsessive denial of forms of labor which do not produce money.

I am working, lovingly and exhaustingly, on a birthday gift which involves painting tiny poems on about 75 shellacked rose petals. This is hard work which I love to do, and will feel a bit bereft when i finish... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by zinful at 11:35 AM on May 1, 2020

A failure to vote for Biden is only a vote for Trump if your vote is the property of the Democrats and the onus is entirely on you to provide it to them, no matter what. That this is the explicit view of the national party is part and parcel with the ongoing insistence that they shouldn't have to do anything to win except nominate somebody who doesn't have an (R) after their name. It doesn't work- their sole electoral victory of the past twenty years is a candidate who, regardless of how he... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pope Guilty at 8:07 AM on April 14, 2020

I'm not going to say anything except that I'm 23. I know I can't be the youngest user of this site. But it often feels like it in these threads.
posted to MetaFilter by Acid Communist at 9:34 AM on April 10, 2020

I think I need to indicate to her that this is not acceptable behavior...my goals are to get a recognition that this was absolutely not OK, and that she will never do so again

This sounds like (the rather common) Millennial confusion of therapy goals with loved ones and success goals in professional relationships. Your goal here should be to extricate the both of you from this little mess with minimum offense to her and thus damage to your career.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by praemunire at 10:31 AM on April 9, 2020

Kate Shaw, a host of multiple properties across Southern California, said that Airbnb’s reliance on the government to help its hosts is passing off the moral and fiscal responsibility that the company should have.

“They should have been prepared with an insurance or fund,” said Shaw, who has relied on renting her properties as her sole source of income since late 2018. “Without hosts they have no business, and they should have morally and fiscally been... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ickster at 7:05 PM on March 24, 2020

I admire Warren's late in life shift towards a progressive agenda. But I've been a Bernie fan for 30 years. No doubt that any sort of back room deal making that reshaped the landscape over the weekend was shot through with overt and latent sexism. But let's be clear: every policy position that is or was important to Warren over the last ten years is something Bernie has been stumping for decades.
posted to MetaFilter by 99_ at 1:56 AM on March 6, 2020

> And here’s me, thinking a burger and fries is about tasting good and making me full, with proper amounts of salt and grease.

One of the best burgers I've ever had cost $20 at the upstairs bar of a farm-to-table restaurant in Michigan where there was hardly anything on it: some lettuce, a tomato, a little mayo. I had one bite and handed it to my wife and said, "Try that." She tried it and said, "That was a happy cow." I agreed,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ardgedee at 7:44 AM on March 3, 2020

Olivia fought for her recruiting bonus. She didn't care about him, she cared about meeting her quota.

Companies can avoid alienating good candidates in technical interviews simply by having an HR department incompetent enough to get the candidate to walk away before the technical interview ever happens.

Here's a few Olivias I encountered on my most recent job hunt. You can pick your favourite.

(All... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Cardinal Fang at 9:28 AM on February 28, 2020

For all that is good and holy, someone please edit Polly and slash out 3/4 of the text of her answers. There's about 6 plugs for her book in there, and she only has one idea but it takes her FORTY paragraphs to spit it out.
posted to MetaFilter by See you tomorrow, saguaro at 6:08 PM on February 25, 2020

Well, he's also not looking for just any coding job. He's looking for the plumbiest, get-richest, most competitive companies on the planet. Yeah, it's hard.

I have never been a part of a hiring team and I am sure there are things going on that I don’t know about.

Yeah. They're also probably evaluating that you maybe didn't communicate very well for the specifc role they want you to do.
posted to MetaFilter by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:43 PM on February 21, 2020

"Little Bunny Foo Foo" is totally about scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head.
posted to MetaFilter by Cocodrillo at 4:10 AM on February 19, 2020

Morning-after thoughts: with climate change underway, a lot of curently viable farmland in southern and central European latitudes will become arid/desertified. Meanwhile Doggerland is believed to have been fertile lowlands prior to its inundation—the British isles were chilly subarctic uplands, heavily glaciated in the north. And today the Netherlands are one of the most productive agricultural regions on the planet per hectare under cultivation (of which there are not enough).... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cstross at 1:52 AM on February 13, 2020

Obligatory.
posted to MetaFilter by Thorzdad at 4:22 AM on February 14, 2020

Fifty years ago, we had machines that would take us to the moon and back. Now, we do not.

fifty years ago we treated mental illness by shoving a knitting needle up behind someone's eyeball to scramble their brain like an egg. I'm not sure that everything we did 50 years ago is a great idea just because.

look, I get it, the moon is pretty cool but you know what's there?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by GuyZero at 6:07 PM on February 7, 2020

Is this just how commercial software development is? If I continue on this career path, am I condemning myself to week after week, month after month of plumbing these grim tunnels?

Two important concepts: "greenfield" and "start-up". The latter is the easiest place to find the former.

Otherwise, yes, expect to spend your career wading through other people’s muck. And really greenfields are just a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Tell Me No Lies at 5:52 PM on February 6, 2020

Why is that reasonable? Are you just so used to having people get out of your way that you feel entitled to demand it?

OK, so I just walked a few blocks to get something to drink, and since I was following this conversation, I was paying more conscious attention: I was on a collision course with a stranger approximately 58% of the time. I didn't crash into anyone because between the two of us, we were always sufficiently alert to resolve the... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by praemunire at 2:43 PM on February 4, 2020

Late 40s/50s senior job search dos and don'ts:

* Treat the severance as if it doesn't exist. Your job search is a new full-time job you just started. Don't make severance an excuse for a lengthy break but ALSO if your search takes a while you shouldn't feel that "running out of severance" marks some kind of inflection point that should lead you to be desperate.

* Really appreciate where the market is for compensation, benefits,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by MattD at 12:03 PM on February 2, 2020

One “trope” that I wish would die is there not being an armed revolution of the proletariat.
posted to MetaFilter by Potomac Avenue at 5:33 PM on January 31, 2020

On "how do you know I'm not x" -
This is bullshit behavior for sure. I've been hoping that after a cooling-off period and hearing what other Mefites have to say, that miss-lapin would recognize as much and walk it back. But I think giving that space has ended up being more harmful so I'm done with that now.

As we're trying to move on some of these more complicated dynamics of how race (and other categories of marginalization-in-a-given-conversational-context)... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by LobsterMitten at 9:23 AM on January 29, 2020

I have this problem too, although I suspect it's for somewhat different reasons. I laugh and joke a lot, and I think it's perceived as not taking things seriously. It's still happening to me, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but:

-First impressions are important. When you start a new job, concentrate really hard on being open and friendly for the first couple of weeks. If your co-workers' initial impression of you is that you're angry and anxious, it'll be... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by kevinbelt at 6:59 AM on January 28, 2020

It would be so much easier if we could just see comment deletion as less of a big deal.

Metafilter's like this big magazine that we all write for. Publication's pretty easy. Nearly all submissions are accepted! But every now and then there's one that, for whatever reason, doesn't fit the needs of the magazine. It's a distraction, or it leads the conversation in a weird direction, or maybe it's just confusing. So that entry doesn't make it into the final publication. It's... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by selfmedicating at 7:05 PM on January 26, 2020

Fame is a bee.
It has a song—
It has a sting—
Ah, too, it has a wing.
--Emily Dickinson
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 12:45 PM on January 27, 2020

The social judgments and pressures are very real and can be objectively harmful, but in thinking about this, I keep thinking about how strange it would be to get far into your thirties still internalizing these values if they weren't already yours (e.g., not actually wanting a kid by 32 or whatever), and thinking as if social media were an accurate reflection of reality. You're not really a grown-up until your "shoulds" are your own--if your circumstances are such that you're being... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by praemunire at 12:00 AM on January 25, 2020

I am a Red-tailed Hawk!

(Miss you rtha)
posted to MetaFilter by jaruwaan at 7:15 AM on January 20, 2020

I don’t give a shit about Peloton, but I would stationary bike around Hyrule or the Neir: A wastes or New Mombasa like speed running was my job.

When I discovered that it wasn't so much that I wanted to replay my old MMOs, so much as I wanted to jog around town listening to the soundtrack in those areas, long-distance running got so much better for me. I've set up FFXI playlists that take me on my Gustaberg -> Ronfaure route, for instance, and my... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by curious nu at 5:55 AM on January 15, 2020

No thank you is a complete sentence and conversation. If he opens it up again, I would just stay firm: No thank you, as I said yesterday, I'm just fine.

If he then keeps going, he's trampling your boundaries and there is something weird going on. You do not have to find him any alternative for his charitable impulses; if that's what they are he's more than capable of finding another student who needs help, if there is one.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by warriorqueen at 6:09 AM on January 14, 2020