If you're the kind of ignorant half-wit or disingenuous lying sack of shit who pretends to think Obama favors killing babies, we don't want or need your vote for Obama. Lying, slandering, disingenuous hacks pushing emotional hot buttons with disturbing mental images of things that don't happen in real life, or happen when a mother is fighting a massive ovarian tumor and needs chemo to survive, or when genetic testing is not done early and a fetus is discovered to have a terrible and fatal... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by fourcheesemac at 7:48 AM on September 21, 2008

Oh my god, really?

Really?

Look, to be fair, I was halfway through a post last night on my own site about how ridiculous I though all the hard-right Freepers/Cornerites/etc. were harping about Palin. She was basically their new Fred Thompson. But I am seriously dumbfounded that they would have been this stupid.

Don’t get me wrong, on a PR level this is masterful for McCain. He’s killed all the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by XQUZYPHYR at 8:10 AM on August 29, 2008

Women have this horrifying ability to receive pleasure from just being friends with men.

I know, it's bizarre. No it doesn't make sense. And yes, it isn't fair for her to expect friendship from you without putting out in return.

You should resolve just to be friends, stop fantasying about mounting her, and try and meet someone new.
posted to Ask Metafilter by wfrgms at 4:30 PM on August 23, 2008

When you are photographing someone, and you want them to look natural and happy, but they are camera-shy and stiff, keep the camera trained right on them and make them roll their head around, stretch their mouth out, furrow their eyebrows, and generally make the most ridiculous faces they are capable of. Make them do it, even though they will complain that it feels stupid. Then tell them to relax and you, yourself, laugh -- because it's funny -- and that's when you'll capture a natural smile.
posted to Ask Metafilter by prefpara at 7:23 PM on August 22, 2008

The poor man's graduated neutral density filter:

There are lots of times when photographing landscapes where the sky will be significantly brighter than the land. The difference is so great that it's impossible to capture detail in the sky and land at the same time. If you expose for the land, the sky will turn out white, but if you expose for the sky, the land will turn out black.

I often have just my little digital point and shoot, so what... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by driveler at 8:51 PM on August 22, 2008

"If you're bored then you're boring."

I always hated that. Maybe I'm bored because I read books and watched movies where aliens fought with humans wearing gigantic metal exoskeletons in the far reaches of space. I dreamed up alternate realities with multiple gradient suns on the horizon. Then found much joy in discovering just how amazing nature is, back when you were allowed to spend hours just looking around at ants on the ground, or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cashman at 9:11 AM on June 19, 2008

The power of positive thinking does not trump ethics.
posted to Ask Metafilter by fourcheesemac at 5:49 PM on August 18, 2008 marked best answer

Bellman, I know you've mentioned Professor Sprigman's work before, but I don't know how familiar you are with Dotan Oliar, his co-author on the forthcoming comedy piece. If you haven't, I highly suggest you (and other people interested in the topic) check out his article Making Sense of the Intellectual Property Clause: Promotion of Progress as a Limitation on Congress's Intellectual Property Power, 94 Geo. L.J. 1771 (2006). It includes some fascinating research on the text of the IP clause.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Partial Law at 4:40 PM on July 3, 2008

Oh my God! Our prisons are sorely underfunded! What could be the cause?!

Well, let's take a look and see what we can see. It seems that we're imprisoning a whole lot of people. More than we have room for in our prisons. Well, surely this means we have a problem with either the number of people committing crimes in our country OR the number of people being imprisoned, yes? Surely, these are issues that require attention not at the rehabilitation level but at the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by shmegegge at 2:23 PM on May 5, 2008

No.

This is a technique that men use to sexualize and objectify women in their daily lives. It's extraordinarily distasteful and offensive, and I hope for the sake of all the women around him that your friend learns to stop doing this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 4:38 PM on April 30, 2008

As rooftop secrets said, it's not the "ethnicity" that's the problem here. Thieves are thieves. The biggest ones are often in office and get your property and money without you even really comprehending it.

I had the window of a crappy 2-door ford broken out and my tapes stolen years ago. That's right, tapes. They broke my window to steal my tapes - didn't take my crappy ass stereo, just my hip hop. But hey, maybe they got some taste in music as a result.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by cashman at 1:01 PM on April 30, 2008

"I love the Kennedy assassination, but people... they say to me, "That was a long time ago, Bill, get over it. It was a long time ago!" "Oh yeah, well, then, don't come up talkin' about Jesus to me, if shelf life is your concern."
-Bill Hicks
posted to MetaFilter by Pope Guilty at 6:56 PM on April 25, 2008

Zimbabwe's economy went for two decades under Mugabe, before tanking - it wasn't growing, but it wasn't tanking either. All through the 80s, government spending increased, quality of life (in terms of health, education) improved but the economy didn't grow. In the 1990s, with the government in a debt crises, they followed the IMF's plan of structural adjustment and slashed government spending. Quality of life plummetted, and the economy did not grow. (Which is a damning indictment of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jb at 9:29 AM on April 18, 2008

I am late to the party, but I guess I would like to say a couple of things.

One, I have large breasts. Thus, I have experienced the annoyance, frustration, and oftentimes being-completely-fucking-creeped-out that comes from dudes staring at your breasts. It can be a very terrible, humiliating experience to have your teacher, or your boss, or your coworker comment on how nice your shirt looks while staring directly at your chest. You know it's not the shirt, it's not... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by schroedinger at 11:26 PM on January 23, 2008

As a guy in the hypermacho environment of the armed forces, this is something I had to figure out too.

My first trick, that may or may not be possible for you, was to not care. That seems flip, but it's really not, it's how I got through basic without losing my shit. I just sort of told myself it was all a big joke, a genuflection to what the drills thought they should be doing and was able to let the screaming roll off my back.

Unfortunately,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kavasa at 2:47 PM on September 24, 2007

I'm a part-time cook at a vegan diner. I could easily tell you 20 great & easy things to make, but it's late & I'm fairly tipsy, so I'll give you one: vegan quiche. I didn't create this dish nor do we serve it where I work, but it's easy as hell and always a crown-pleaser. I stole this particular version of the recipe from one of those obvious vegan food websites, though I originally got it from a cookbook - I forget which one. The following looks just about right and is how I make... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Item at 12:32 AM on January 20, 2008

First, be smart from the very beginning. Pulverize all teeth, burn off fingerprints, and disfigure the face. Forcing a DNA test to establish identity (if it ever comes to that) might introduce the legal/forensic hurdle that saves your ass down the line. An unidentifiable body can, in a pinch, be dressed in thrift store clothes and dropped in a bad part of town where the police are less likely to question it. I don't reommend that disposal method, I'm just saying an easily identifiable body is an... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by scarabic at 6:27 PM on June 13, 2004 marked best answer

You cannot know what it is like to be homeless. Ever. As long as you have some form of retreat--family or friends who will take you in with open arms, a bank account with money in it, a grandma who will lend you what you need to get back on your feet, the clothes and time and ability to get a well-paying job when you feel like it--you will forever be barred from fear, pain, desperation, and the truly negative psychological effects of homelessness.

Furthermore, the fact... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by schroedinger at 7:50 AM on January 15, 2008

Given the interesting developments of the last couple of hours, I would suggest one thing to you, Holden00. If you are sincere about a career in philanthropy, you need some humility in the form of some good, ethical consultants to help keep your strategies in line and to develop a marketing plan, business plan, and philanthropic philosophy before going forward. What's clearer to me than anything else about your organization is that you are (all) inexperienced. You have a nice idea - you want to... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Miko at 1:11 PM on December 31, 2007

Lucy Bernholz has now posted a response on her blog about when she accepted board nomination. I'm glad to see that.

I've been listening to the audio of the board meetings this afternoon, and it's pretty interesting stuff. The inexperience shows. I'd chalk the whole debacle up to that. The co-founders don't know what they're doing; they don't have even a rudimentary understanding of the field they're playing in. They sound like student council. Lucy is one of the most... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Miko at 2:42 PM on January 2, 2008

I was driving through Mendocino county a few months back when I had the mother of all revelations: Ukiah is "haiku" spelled backwards.
posted to MetaTalk by tkolar at 12:11 PM on January 10, 2008

he's probably a pretty nice and decent guy who has some growing up to do.

My feeling exactly.

He's admitted he's a dweeb and doesn't quite get the "how to meet women" thing, but he's got a sense of humor and he's *24* for christ's sake. He's able to use CL to get laid if he needs to but he'd like to know how to meet women in person now that he's not a 21 year old guy talking to women on the streets.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 7:24 PM on December 18, 2007

‮‮ I'm quite sure he does this simply to freak out the squares. I salute his audacity, and wish that other minor celebrities would act in a similar fashion.
posted to Ask Metafilter by killdevil at 2:41 PM on October 21, 2007

OK, this is from a guy's point of view... if we're attracted to you at all, we don't care how the hell you broach the subject. We really don't. Come up and tell us however you like. It doesn't matter to us. We'll just be very happy that this hot person somehow thinks we're hot too.

Of course, if you're not confident that he's attracted to you, that makes it somewhat more risky. But not really. In fact, I'd say it doesn't matter at all. Just do... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 10:37 PM on August 15, 2007

Sandman. Transmetropolitan. Fables.

No sense in dating a woman who doesn't like comic books.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Faint of Butt at 7:45 AM on June 27, 2007

*must resist the urge to intentionally misinterpret the title of this AskMe question*
posted to MetaTalk by dersins at 2:15 PM on June 1, 2007

Tim Gunn? Hates fashion, loves rebuilding homes. Lost a bet in 2004 to Ty Pennington, his one time lover, and has been forced to job swap until one of their shows gets cancelled.
posted to MetaFilter by jonson at 5:37 PM on May 24, 2007

Metafilter: That must neab it's all gold inside
posted to MetaFilter by mr_crash_davis at 8:19 PM on April 16, 2007

As an ignorant foreigner maybe someone could explain to me why a college student needs access to not only one but possibly two handguns.

Target practice and defense of self and country are the usual arguments. Also, (this obviously doesn't apply to most college students), there are many civilians for whom handguns are daily-use items: hunters, farmers, ranchers, back-country campers, security guards, rent-a-cops, etc. Count me as chuckling at the... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by vorfeed at 1:50 PM on April 16, 2007

Thank you, Kurt, for everything you gave me, including that comment that you were committing suicide by cigarette, a tactic I have been trying to emulate for lo these many years now.

Damn.
posted to MetaFilter by mygothlaundry at 7:08 AM on April 12, 2007