MarshallPoe writes "'1944-46: Serves as transport pilot flying C-46s and C-47s in China-Burma-India theater during WW II; receives Distinguished Flying Cross.'

"Thanks for your service Ted."

Save your tears. Duke Cunningham was a war hero too, and he ended up in prison. Ted will avoid that, given that he's 85 and should have retired long ago, except that would have meant people not "storing" their stuff... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 7:28 AM on November 19, 2008

Somewhat similar to a spinal tap, I've had a myelogram performed on me. I simply have no concept of an adequate word for the pain. Simply off-the-charts. True please-let-me-die pain.

I'm with thorzdad on this one. It is pretty painful as it goes on; luckily I have the strength of ten men. And as he points out, there is a bonus anxiety-based followup around it; the fact that you cannot really sit up for some time after lest the little plug get... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ricochet biscuit at 12:34 PM on November 13, 2008

Hey, I'm Josh and I work for Governor Dean at the DNC.

In short, Governor Dean's decision to serve only one term had nothing to do with anyone not getting along. Honestly, he's been pretty open about serving only one term for a while now. I was a little amused by all the press it got today given how clear he's been.

As to how things have changed, there's a long list. The 50-State Strategy is a big one, in that it transformed how people look... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by joshmcconaha at 9:10 PM on November 10, 2008

from The Cure at Troy

Human beings suffer,
they torture one another,
they get hurt and get hard.
No poem or play or song
can fully right a wrong
inflicted or endured.

The innocent in gaols
beat on their bars together.
A hunger-striker's father
stands in the graveyard dumb.
The police widow in veils
faints at the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jeanmari at 5:42 AM on November 4, 2008

I'm going to be so relieved when this election is finally OVER. I'm sick of bursting into tears 4 or 5 times a day, either because of pure frustration or moments like this, where I'm so deeply moved that I can't help tearing up. Hang in there, Charles.
posted to MetaFilter by maryh at 7:51 PM on October 28, 2008

You know, I think the next time I interview someone for a job, I'm just gonna cut to the chase and hit them with some random D&D trivia question. I want to hire a nerd, and only a nerd (like me) knows this stuff.

"OK, so the paladin in your party steals the orcish priest's gold necklace and..."
"Wait."
"What?"
"Paladins are lawful good. They wouldn't steal anything.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Cool Papa Bell at 12:06 PM on October 23, 2008

It would have been funnier if they'd put arugala and a latte on the "food stamp" bill.

I mean, I know racism is always stupid, and racists always stupid people on some level. But this most recent spate of efforts to spin classic racist stereotypes against Obama is just particularly ridiculous. I'm surprised we haven't seen more hip-hop themed racist attacks, since one of the few ways in which Obama evokes a black identity in public is through allusions to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 6:54 AM on October 17, 2008

John McCain today on Barack Obama: We have to fight and I will fight but we will be respectful. I admire Sen. Obama and his accomplishments and I want to be respectful. ... He is a decent person, and a person you don't have to be scared of. ... He's a decent family man with whom I happen to have some disagreements."

Sounds like John is facing the inevitable.
posted to MetaFilter by ColdChef at 6:26 PM on October 10, 2008

Sometimes our best moment is also our last.
posted to MetaFilter by batmonkey at 11:51 AM on October 8, 2008

I've never been able to sleep
next to someone. If they're touching
me, I'll be awake all night.
It's happened.

Basically, I have an air
mattress that I blow up when
I have my girlfriend over.

I make it up real nice, with
lotsa sheets and a generous
comforter. She understands.

Look, we love each other to death.
And some things... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Sully at 3:43 PM on October 7, 2008

Astro Zombie: Would a less assimilated Anne Frank really have been that different, that alien and unrelatable? Was she not, assimilated or not, first and foremost a teenage girl, and a human being?

Her diary is probably my favourite book, and I don't think I love it (I was going to write her there...) because she's an "easy everygirl". She was frequently arrogant, snobby and egotistical - and much of the diary was actually difficult for me... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ira_ at 3:29 PM on October 7, 2008

Ah very interest set of links - many thanks for posting!!

A good book to read to get an idea of the overall environment leading up to The Great Depression is Galbraith's The Great Crash 1929. Needless to say, there are many parallels to the present, between stock market and real estate asset bubbles observed back then and what we're going through now (real estate and credit derivatives).

The US Banking system back then was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 4:31 AM on September 29, 2008

Palin said, "I'm not one of those who maybe came from a background of, you know, kids who perhaps graduate college and their parents give them a passport and give them a backpack and say go off and travel the world. No, I've worked all my life.

you know -- and I say this as someone who's really not a fan of Bill Clinton's -- young Bill Clinton, not a President's son, not a US Senator's grandson, didn't have two nickels to rub together either,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by matteo at 4:19 AM on September 26, 2008

mothershock, I have done a lot of public speaking (I am actually Al Gore, you know), and I have found that staying calm really helps make one a more effective communicator. Actually having some idea of what the fuck you are talking about really helps too.

I watch this stuff, and I am convinced that she is listening to her own voice as she, which is a huge no-no. When you start listening to yourself as you speak, you completely lose the ability to speak coherently. This... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mister_A at 11:35 AM on September 26, 2008

Okay... take a deep breath. Two weeks ago you were asking how you could give your MOH something to help her financially, even thought she would be reluctant to accept it. This is it. This is your gift. It allows her to maybe heal the rift between her and her parents, as well as letting her child get some time in with his grandparents.

You are stressed with the wedding. Maybe your judgment is a little clouded, and you don't like these people much. But just take a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by kimdog at 11:40 AM on September 25, 2008

I will not be surprised if there are no debates of any sort this fall. McCain's chances are slim enough without having the electorate watch Obama mop the floor with him in successive debates. The recent demand in changes of the VP debate format were an attempt to give Palin an out as well. The Dems wouldn't bite but expect her to follow McCain's lead and turtle too. Should Palin exit her bubble and actually debate, no matter how candy-assed the format, I would expect it to end with Biden... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jim in austin at 12:53 PM on September 24, 2008

My fellow Americans, I want to take a few moments of your time to talk to you today about John McCain's decision to call timeout in his campaign.

I just want to say, I agree with his idea wholeheartedly. Wholeheartedly. (beat) It is, finally, a good step in the right direction -- a step that frankly I think we all wish would have happened, somehow, sooner.

If only he had called timeout when he was trying to gut the regulators in the 1980s.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by felix at 1:05 PM on September 24, 2008

What I'd really like to see is Obama debate McCain about this very bill directly on the Senate floor. That would be glorious.
posted to MetaFilter by MegoSteve at 1:29 PM on September 24, 2008

I certainly know from observation his supporters do.

Which supporters? What have you observed? All supporters, or just a subset? Please give evidence for "Obama's supporters disdain people from small towns." I currently live in a small town. I'm a supporter.

I'm not claiming small town people are any better than big city people. The latter are certainly more...polished.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 12:50 PM on September 18, 2008

casarkos: It looks like McCain may have helped cover up information about POWs left behind in Vietnam.

This needs to be in a FPP. I'm in tears right now and my stomach hurts just thinking that McCain could have done this to all of us who never get to know what happened to our family members.

If this is all verifiable, then he should be stripped of his medals, his right to wear the uniform, and any and all pretense of being... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dejah420 at 5:28 PM on September 23, 2008

I think George Soro's new book is highly relevant, here. At the end, he provides a journal describing his new investment strategy. At the end of the journal (p 140), he basically says "Well, I'm down on my investment, but it's too important to get this book published, so I'm going to stop here. Hope you get the idea. At any rate, we're moving into an era in which wealth protection is going to be very difficult."

There is probably a shift coming in the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Coventry at 4:03 AM on September 17, 2008

“Hello?”
“Hi have you heard the news.”
“No, what?”
“David Foster Wallace is dead.”
Silence for about ten or fifteen seconds.
“How did it happen.”
“He hung himself. It was in the LA Times, and on Metafilter. That's how I heard about it.”
Silence for about ten or fifteen seconds.
“Huh”/sigh.
“I know.”
Silence for about ten or fifteen seconds.
My phone... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by skwt at 7:37 PM on September 13, 2008

I lost my own brother to suicide. Carting around "Infinite Jest" on the subways of NYC in the weeks afterward had a kind of talismanic effect. The appraisals abounding on the Internet today are correct to say that he was brave, that his work had heart, that he eschewed the depthlessness and shoulder-shrugging of the postmodern establishment. That's why I lost myself, and loved to be so, in "Infinite Jest."

I met him in New York City. January 2006,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by foodbedgospel at 8:18 PM on September 14, 2008

adamdschneider -- "I'd say he's probably in bed right now, but I'll wager he'll chip in here in the morning."


Guys as much as I'd love to I'm not gonna be able to comment in this thread until later today, if then. You probably read there was an extraordinary trading session yesterday afternoon (2PM to 6PM EST), with closuring / booking of positions contingent upon Lehman's filing. Which, of course, has happened.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 3:29 AM on September 15, 2008

So, I'm a volunteer conflict mediator at work, and it sounds to me that part of the issue here is that you're doing something I see a lot: you are associating 'nice people' as those who avoid conflict - conflict which is normal in any relationship, and 'meanie people' as those who state their concerns and negotiate out a solution together.

Whoever said it upthread is right -this is an absolutely fine moment to call a little 30 minute roommate meeting and discuss this... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by anitanita at 8:11 PM on September 14, 2008

Reminds me of the chutzpah & cynicism involved when GHW Bush appointed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court to replace Thurgood Marshall.

Or like when Jack Ryan dropped out of the 2004 Senate race against Obama and the GOP replaced him with Alan Keyes.


You're going to hear a lot about Palin's toughness, demonstrated by her delivering a speech after her water broke when she was carrying her fifth child. Here's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hydrophonic at 12:24 PM on August 29, 2008

I don't think it's stupid. I think it's selling out, assuming she considers herself a feminist in a first place. It's like showing your boobs at mardi gras for beads. She got beads, how awesome! Who cares about setting women back or giving in to the disgusting misogynists who run the competitions... beads!!

This is exactly what I'm talking about.

Do we really all need to grow mullets and wear cargo pants and burlap sacks to be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by grapefruitmoon at 4:59 PM on August 29, 2008

I think God has a really, really big sense of humor. And He is in the process of proving it.

Gods with senses of humor are generally pretty bad news for mortals. The last thing I need is a conception of the universe that puts Andy Kaufman's hands on the wheel.
posted to MetaFilter by cortex at 12:41 PM on September 2, 2008

The sad thing I see here is this: in this election, we have lauded the virtues of the "ordinary American" - all of the major candidates have some incarnation of normalcy - of tragedy, even - in their message (childhood poverty, death, war, hard work with little/no payoff) - and then, in one fell swoop, we expose the rot of their myths, by exposing an honest-to-God (and especially fortunate) member of that "ordinary class" to a huge amount of media scrutiny and blowing the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mdonley at 3:22 PM on September 2, 2008

At some point during Palin's speech last night—I think it was the part where she was scoffing at the concept of reading someone their rights—I walked away from the TV, navigated to Obama's website and made a donation. I already had made one 5 days before.

This morning I called my dad. He's in his late 80s, an east-coast blue collar. WWII vet. Lifetime NRA member. He's voted Democrat all these years but he had told me some months ago he wouldn't vote for Obama because...... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jamaro at 4:47 PM on September 4, 2008

fourcheesemac said: I am going to pledge here and now to give $5 more (*above my regular contributions) to Obama for every post konolia makes in this thread from here on out -- I want her to feel like she's having some kind of impact!

Who's with me?


I'm in. I'm not going to have the prochoice/antichoice argument again; she and I have been dancing around that fire for nigh onto 7 years now, we're never going to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dejah420 at 5:42 PM on September 4, 2008

konolia just keeps regurgitating what they're feeding her. But then, so do a tragically large number of Americans.

I'd like to throw something out to the esteemed assembly here...do you understand just why it is all of a sudden that so many folks are jumping on the McCain bandwagon? Even though you have a brilliant wellspoken candidate on your end?

Obama is not my "wellspoken candidate". He does not speak for me and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by wendell at 10:18 PM on September 9, 2008

and in honor of the 'lipstick kerfuffle', a golden oldie...Barack flips Hilliary off, or was it an itc ...huh?

For the love of God, just stop it. As Barack Obama said in his acceptance speech, "If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things." Don't make this big election about small things.
posted to MetaFilter by jonp72 at 6:56 AM on September 10, 2008

Looks like Palin reached her base after all.

No. She's a frigg'n hero. Because SHE WON'T BEND!

Now do you get me, here?

Look these so called "values-voters" have minds like small children. MINE! MINE! MINE!

And it's precisely how the GOP treats them. They use endless repetition of carefully phrased single-syllable highly emotional catch phrases. They remove any... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by tkchrist at 1:32 PM on September 10, 2008

Ok, my darlings, can I just point something out here?

If McCain / Palin gets in...

1. The Supreme Court gets stocked full of assholes
2. We go to war with who knows how many more countries -- Russia? Iran? Somewhere else on the map I can bet you $50 neither McCain or Palin know ANYTHING about?
3. The economy continues to go to hell...except for rich people
4. We get a prescription drug-abusing beer heiress for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bitter-girl.com at 7:38 AM on September 12, 2008

I'm surprised that anyone's surprised that women abandon babies. We've grown up hearing these stories every few months or so. It's very frequent. It has been for hundreds of years in the written record, and it still is. In fact, I can't help but wonder if it's more frequent now that access to legal abortion has narrowed in the US - but I can't speculate too much about that, because no one can give numbers. There is no federal agency collecting data on infant abandonment, and no requirement to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 9:08 PM on September 11, 2008

I keep wishing somebody would come out with a complete line of products/stores/restaurants/foods that don't have HFCS in them.

It's called Whole Foods and/or Trader Joe's.

I was going to buy the all-cane-sugar fancy root beer at Trader Joe's the other day until I noticed there were 42 grams or sugar in a bottle. 42 motherfucking grams of sugar! I don't care if they make th sugar from corn syrup or ground up pixies, that's a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by GuyZero at 1:00 PM on September 9, 2008

Survey says cadre of old-guard military cronies of Great Leader Daddy Kim Il Sung, with a grandson as puppet frontman. They can't get away from the triple whammies of Communist Dynastic inclinations, the ingrained cult of personality, and the Korean blood-power first-born-son famililar piety imperative without shit blowing up in their faces.

Alternate guess: Fond Leader.
posted to MetaFilter by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:19 AM on September 10, 2008

definitely an original macintosh carrying case. it, or one like it, was the subject of the mac's first words, from the intro event.
posted to Ask Metafilter by disarray at 10:20 AM on September 5, 2008

I think the reason that you're getting some flak is that you're describing oatmeal as a vice. Oatmeal is porridge, the food of orphans. Your tummy is Oliver Twist, begging, "Please sir, I want some more". How can you say no to that?

Oatmeal is a healthy whole grain. If you have a moderate breakfast of grains at the start of your day, it should provide enough energy to carry you late into the day without hunger. That's a good eating habit. Simple oatmeal... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by cotterpin at 4:10 AM on August 31, 2008

This is gonna sound a little weird, but I'm absolutely convinced its true: old people.

Try at your local nursing home, or Denny's, or even homeless shelter. There's a lot of old folks out there, its just that we don't see as much of them as one would expect because we've become so adept as a society at pushing them to the lesser-seen margins of our lifestyle.

Although I never knew it at the time, one thing my parents got right in raising me and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by allkindsoftime at 7:05 AM on August 30, 2008

Man, the Youtube clip of the B-17 flyover literally made me misty eyed. I am not nostalgic for the past, but these fine machines have a soul and spirit that has nothing to do with their use as machines of war. You have to feel the throb of those enormous radial engines in your chest, and you know there is a living being there.

These were machines that had to be wrestled with, but if you knew how to to fly them, could absolutely sing like angels. It's a lot like... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Xoebe at 6:57 PM on August 28, 2008

It was an amazing thing..

I am at work, going about my normal business. A very busy sports night at a bar that puts the Huey Lewis into Sports, with games on nearly every television.. Only one television, stuck in a corner with no volume, was the Democratic National Convention airing, unfiltered footage from C-SPAN. There was a couple people looking at it, no one really paying much attention.. But when Obama came to the stage, a few people started reading the Closed... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mediocre at 10:40 PM on August 28, 2008

The roll call was great, well-executed political theater. The disputed Florida and Michigan delegations were given crucial opportunities to cast their full votes, New Mexico honored the Illinois delegation by yielding the floor to them that allowed them to symbolically yield to New York in turn, and Sen. Clinton made the motion herself to nominate Obama by acclamation as expected. I'm certain that for more than a few supporters of Sen. Clinton, the way the ending was choreographed made the whole... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by DaShiv at 6:06 PM on August 27, 2008

I've been outside. It's overrrated.

Traditionally Outside receives extremely high ratings by those who like to see others play it, and these people are in many cases comfortably ensconced Inside themselves. Outside was released many years ago, it was in fact the first massively multiplayer game, and yet it has always managed to avoid the double-edged Retro tag. In its favor, continual user updates have kept Outside current; there are always new things... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aeschenkarnos at 4:19 PM on March 30, 2008

When I first read this, I wanted to know what your cultural background was. I totally identified with this question because I am Chinese too.

They were totally being nosy under the guise of doing some heavy labor for you. But aren't you used to this by now? Nearly everything my parents do for me is at a price.

"Let me bring you this giant bag of rice and these towels I bought for you because I know you like egyptian cotton and it was on... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by spec80 at 7:14 PM on August 22, 2008

felix's lists are a good way for you to make this decision, but if you just want our opinion's, I agree with arniec and anastasiav -- try to get a better offer, but even if that doesn't work, take the job. This is because you have no backup plan, and doing something, however imperfect, is better than doing nothing.

Issues:
Is journalism for you? Well, what if it's not? You don't have a backup plan now. It'll take you six months even to get an idea of a backup... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by salvia at 12:18 PM on August 22, 2008

You can't fight fire with fire, and wind will only strengthen the fire. Water will do wonders, lots of it. And what is water? It's love. It flows. It reaches all low places. It wears down the strongest rock and drowns out the low roar of flames. If you really want to be effective - you pour out your heart - through song, prayer, poetry and soft expression. The energy will counter any negativity they will be emitting. This is only a test. Who is stronger - the light or the darkness. Do not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by watercarrier at 5:33 PM on August 14, 2008

Thank you for your nice message.

It's been a couple of days since Karadžić was captured, and as you can imagine, my head has been swimming with many thoughts about it.

First of all, as imprinted as this man's face is in my mind, I don't think I ever would have recognized him in his disguise. And I cannot wrap my thinking around the idea that he had these strange websites devoted to his "healing" psychological / herbal / astral /... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Dee Xtrovert at 10:40 PM on July 22, 2008

the only debate should be whether it's life without parole or death.

While I can understand this sentiment, this isn't even a question for me.

The Serbs distorted reality and history to effect the tragedies they caused. Mostly they got away with it . . . because even some of their more outrageous lies provided enough excuse for the UN and NATO and the USA and others to turn their backs on the problems they caused. Many... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Dee Xtrovert at 8:29 PM on July 23, 2008