MetaFilter

I have a small camera-shaped stone box, in which a tiny bird pecks out photo-like illustrations on miniature stone tablets.
posted by burnmp3s at 2:04 PM on September 23 [+] [!]

eh, its a living.
posted to MetaFilter by ShawnString at 11:09 AM on September 23, 2010

I have a small camera-shaped stone box, in which a tiny bird pecks out photo-like illustrations on miniature stone tablets.
posted to MetaFilter by burnmp3s at 11:04 AM on September 23, 2010

I thought they were both stupid, stunty posts that had no plausibly good "best answer", because naturally how can you generalize to 50% of the global population? Inevitably it was going to be list of "shit I don't like" coupled with "well *I* don't mind that shit", with the occasional retort of "people who don't like that shit are overly-sensitive."

They were, therefore, shit questions from which no good could come, and inevitably... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by modernnomad at 6:29 AM on September 17, 2010

The AST forum is down, no doubt due to traffic trying to post to the Never Not Funny thread. If anyone wants to post a note to the show notes site, I've put up an In Memory post where you can leave comments. (Comments are moderated, so allow a few minutes for them to show up.)
posted to MetaFilter by The Deej at 5:24 PM on February 25, 2010

So if some guy we'd never heard of whose dad wasn't famous was missing, we'd also have an FPP for him?
posted by philip-random at 10:44 PM on February 21

With all due-respect, if it's not obvious from the comments above, he is well known to many of the members of the MetaFilter community, through his own work and through the many projects he's assisted.
posted to MetaFilter by ColdChef at 6:49 AM on February 22, 2010

.

Oh, this is just so sad. One of my friends bought a car from Andrew earlier this month. She didn't know he was the guy from Growing Pains until she saw his picture everywhere when he went missing. Apparently, when she went to pick up the car from his house, he asked her if she wanted to buy any of his other stuff. He apparently was trying to sell everything. She just thought he was a nice hippie who was a little down on his luck. We were all freaked out when she... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bluefly at 4:13 PM on February 25, 2010

Shamu wow.
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 1:20 PM on February 24, 2010

If you want "intertextuality" then use some fucking end notes.

copyright is a silly relic of the dinosaur old-media era and the sooner all that crap is eradicated the better and hahahahafuckthepublishingindustry, so... what's the correct line to take here?

Although I agree with your sentiment, how would you like it if I said you getting paid for doing your job is a relic of a bygone era?
posted to MetaFilter by nestor_makhno at 2:53 PM on February 12, 2010

I was going to make a jokey comment about this by copying and pasting other people's comments and posting it. I had things pasted and rearranged to make a coherent flow. Ten seconds afterwards I deleted the whole thing it disgust. I guess I'm no good at intercommenterality. Sorry I couldn't enter into a dialog with ya'll.
posted to MetaFilter by Mister Cheese at 2:50 PM on February 12, 2010

It's this weird intersection of the Venn Diagram of Snark where we want something for free, but we don't want anyone else to profit from it.
posted to MetaFilter by muddgirl at 2:48 PM on February 12, 2010

You know another German who was always taking over people's stuff?

Fritz Kleptomann?
posted to MetaFilter by Faint of Butt at 2:41 PM on February 12, 2010

Pro tip for men: Get up in the middle of the night and tighten the lids on the jars in the pantry.
posted to MetaFilter by digsrus at 4:05 PM on February 11, 2010

Alas, the press is owned by republicans capitalism, so that won't happen either.
posted to MetaFilter by rusty at 11:18 AM on February 5, 2010

"Politics: a strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles." - Ambrose Pierce.
posted to MetaFilter by phaedon at 8:49 AM on January 22, 2010

Among other things, the new proposals would effectively restore previous restrictions separating deposit and investment banks (as originally imposed by the depression-era Glass-Steagall Act)

This itself is huge. Not to get all post hoc ergo propter hoc, but the demise of Glass-Steagall took seven decades, and the subsequent zero-to-fuckup took only one.
posted to MetaFilter by kid ichorous at 8:31 AM on January 22, 2010

WSJ: Goldman Seen Hardest Hit By Prop-Trading Limit

Er, so it's not in place yet.

It will never pass.

Part of the idea is that you want republicans to vote against it, therefore forcing them to shed their fake populist rhetoric, so the democrats can run against republicans as Wallstreet's protectors.
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 8:14 AM on January 22, 2010

I haven't been this excited about political reform since Obama announced his plans for sweeping reforms of the health insurance system.
posted to MetaFilter by nanojath at 8:09 AM on January 22, 2010

Starting January 20th : it's cash-up-front, Mr. President.

On the day he signs a law with teeth, he'll earn full points.

Until then: filed under "Talk Is Cheap (and suspiciously timed)"
posted to MetaFilter by Joe Beese at 8:08 AM on January 22, 2010

I saw some excellent arguments the other day that it's going to be a 'teepee-shaped recovery'; consumers are completely tapped out on debt accumulation, and interest rates were already low and are now at zero. There's just nothing to drive growth, and the major reason the world economy has recovered even a little is because of the major interventions by most world governments.

It seems quite likely to me that the Fed will be forced to continue 'quantitative easing'... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Malor at 12:38 PM on January 22, 2010

There's a difference between impartial and active opposition. The sanest person on Fox at the moment appears to be Shephard Smith, other than that it is basically an on-message attack dog of the GOP, and has been since Ailes got the damn thing up & running.

And this differentiates Fox (being generally right wing) from MSNBC (being vehemently left wing) how? If Fox is not a news agency due to their tendency to report the right wing slant, logic... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by CountSpatula at 10:43 PM on October 23, 2009

metafilter: an infoporn operation
posted to MetaFilter by freshundz at 10:43 PM on October 23, 2009

But I thought the United States was a country that fully embraces socialism?

that's the beauty of our capitalist system - socialism demands you fully embrace it - capitalism just requires you to bend over
posted to MetaFilter by pyramid termite at 1:57 PM on September 7, 2009

Now where am I going to post this Wham! Naruto AMV about Ludwig von Mises? cortex, you commie fascist.
posted to MetaTalk by stavrogin at 6:20 PM on September 6, 2009

WHERE IS THE BIRTH CERTIFICATE, OBAMA???
posted to MetaFilter by Damn That Television at 11:51 AM on August 20, 2009

if Barney Miller had been able to open his mouth and incinerate the woman, dragonlike, with a massive puff of flame, he would have been justified in doing so.

Perhaps we could raise enough money for the health care plans by making this a pay-per-view event? I'd watch.
posted to MetaFilter by ilana at 10:36 AM on August 19, 2009

Why couldn't fiat currencies be considered to be backed in some part by the labor of their countries?

Because, for example, the value of the US dollar isn't just based on knowing that the Americans produce good products that you could pay dollars for; it's based on predicting that the dollars you're willing to pay aren't going to be devalued by an influx of newly created competitors first.

So, you're not just betting that the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by roystgnr at 10:23 PM on April 18, 2009

Why couldn't fiat currencies be considered to be backed in some part by the labor of their countries?

This is exactly what they are. A US Dollar, once out in the wild, has the primary attribute of satisfying a dollar of debt owed to the US Government by any given taxpayer.

Every other feature, like being a store of value, medium of exchange, central reserve currency, and cigar lighting paper for the rich are bonuses.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mrt at 10:17 PM on April 18, 2009

Well, you have to admit that the Wiki is objective - "Although often controversial, the Austrian School was once influential dating back to the early 20th century, but currently contributes relatively little to mainstream economic thought.".

I'm by no means an economist (I'm an econometrician by education and profession) but I share my office at University with a full on economist and The Austrian School came up recently, and termed them... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 2:15 AM on April 19, 2009

Oh, and for a tripple helping of outrage check out this Post from Matt Yglesias on a speech in two thousand and six by our sensational fed chair Ben Bernanke. The bit he quotes:The ongoing work on this framework has already led large, complex banking organizations to improve their systems for identifying, measuring, and managing their risks. Indeed, banking organizations of all sizes have made substantial strides over the past two decades in their ability to measure... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 9:19 PM on March 27, 2009

What do people care unless they are buying or selling a house?

You left off, what do people care unless they are buying or selling a house, or owning or renting a house, or living in a house, or wishing they lived in a house, or are a bank mortgaging a house, or a financial institution insuring a morgage on a house, or a financial institution selling derivatives based on the insuring of the morgaging of that house, or some poor schlub who's pention... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Pollomacho at 6:09 PM on March 27, 2009

.--. .-. . ...- .. --- ..- ... .-.. -.--
posted to MetaFilter by turgid dahlia at 10:11 PM on March 19, 2009

Great analysis there, and great commentary from Mutant. The numbers and truly staggering.

Now, as I've said before in previous posts: Told you so.

A few items:

1. These are not "assets", they are better defined as securities or portfolios or hell, 'crap' would be a good term. In general, they're just pools of bad debt/loans.

2. The "assets" that they represent, ie: homes,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by tgrundke at 10:07 AM on February 21, 2009

Wow I gotta tell you these documents are a Quants dream come true!!

Someone upthread asked exactly what we were getting for the taxpayers money; I got curious as well and started piling through all the documents. While looking at Appendix II [ .pdf ], I can provide some details.

But curious: I'm not sure the headline accurately describes the current value of the Treasury's portfolio.

Specifically, the values in the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 4:07 AM on February 20, 2009

Ah very interesting post. I have to admit I haven't been tracking performance under TARP as I would have otherwise liked, so many thanks for posting.

In terms of the TARP is itself, many people (in this thread and elsewhere) use the term monolithically; keep in mind a couple of points: 1) TARP exists to purchase both assets as well as equity, and 2) TARP itself is a phrase used to describe four separate programs: The Capital... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 1:50 AM on February 20, 2009

god i miss new york...l.a. never smells like anything but hookers and failure.
posted to MetaFilter by sexyrobot at 9:42 AM on February 5, 2009

Great post, but just to clarify - its just not the United States that is considering such a vehicle; pretty much every country across the G7 seems to be publicly entertaining the idea (and no doubt rapidly and privately planning the launch) of a bad bank: The UK briefed Parliament Tuesday of plans to create a bad bank, the ECB is reportedly drawing up guidelines for the creation of a bad bank, even while Germany's commercial banks have begun to execute their own plans to create a bad bank,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 5:37 AM on February 4, 2009

If the question states that something is off limits, consider it so

This is usually right, but sometimes I think honesty is the best policy.

For example, consider a question like this:

Dear AskMe,

Every time I wash the dishes, my sister will find one that she claims is still dirty and smash it over my head. How can I get better at washing dishes? Please limit your... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by prefpara at 4:16 PM on February 3, 2009

Answer less questions? Works for me.
posted to MetaTalk by dead cousin ted at 4:07 PM on February 3, 2009

Favorites are nothing more than a measure of how loudly and eloquently you can agree with the majority.

Or sometimes how loudly and eloquently you can disagree with nearly everyone, you wrongheaded marmot-molesting wastrel.
posted to MetaTalk by loquacious at 6:39 PM on January 31, 2009

Goddammit, will somebody let me know who we're burning at the stake? These torches won't stay lit forever, you know.
posted to MetaTalk by languagehat at 10:58 AM on January 31, 2009

How to read financial posts on metafilter:

1. Go to thread
2. Click Ctrl + F
3. Type Mutant
4. Profit???
posted to MetaFilter by spicynuts at 6:35 AM on January 23, 2009

One of my favorite places in the city, The Earth Room.

And yeah, I think you do have to be a deep-city person to really dig it. ahem

I'd been living here about a year when I heard about it and made the time to find the loft and go. Having grown up in the rural midwest, the smell of dirt wasn't something I thought I would ever miss, but the minute I walked into the loft, even before I rounded the corner and saw the dirt, I was just overwhelmed... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by minervous at 11:56 AM on January 7, 2009

There's no glory in private schools. At my boarding school It was just like any other high school, just adapting to the conditions. There was still Crystal Meth, drunks wandering the hallways at night looking for people smaller than themselves to beat up (but it was all in good fun, right?), stealing of anything not locked up, Cocaine, Alcohol, Pot and cliques (although less defined).

The system was interesting, though. The higher grade you were, the more spending... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pseudology at 11:46 PM on December 12, 2008

Well, presumably the lack of a national transport policy that emphasizes getting people out of their cars and into public transport has something to do with it as well.

That lack was answered by a corporate national transport policy that emphasized the exact opposite.
posted to MetaFilter by Kirth Gerson at 3:32 AM on December 25, 2008

"And I submit that Free Marketerism and Wall Street greed has become a kind of religion, a racket that is held to be, among polite people, above criticism. It's Prosperity Gospel for people who have enough money that they can do more than just pray for it, but who still want more...."

"All of America claims to love Jesus, but no one will throw these money changers out of the temple. Instead, the counting house has been made the new temple, and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Asparagirl at 1:11 AM on December 13, 2008

The real problem is that a near religious belief in de-regulation and market capitalism for over a decade blinded regulators and soi-disant market "experts" to what in retrospect was simply and obviously too good to be true snake oil.

I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that a "religious belief in deregulation and market capitalism" is the root problem here. Unlike hedge funds which are by and large unregulated, Madoff was regulated... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by blue mustard at 10:35 PM on December 12, 2008

One Madoff investor, himself a legend, told me that Madoff's performance "just doesn't make sense. The numbers can't be straight." Another sophisticated Madoff investor actually went through trade confirms in order to reverse-engineer the strategy and said, "it doesn't add up."

So why did these smart and skeptical investors keep investing? They, like many Madoff investors, assumed Madoff was somehow illegally trading on information from his... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 10:03 PM on December 12, 2008

Hyper-inflation, that I can understand. A $750,000 note, that takes a certain level of perversity. I can imagine a Reserve Bank goon asking themselves:
Q. So, how can I just make Zimbabwean people's lives more burdensome?
A. Make everyday mental arithmetic harder!
posted to MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 6:12 PM on December 10, 2008

fwiw, salmon also recently sounded off on super-senior tranches, concluding: Ultimately, then, the error was one of management, not of financial technology. The banks’ balance sheets — and those of their off-balance-sheet vehicles — were expanding faster than the banks’ executives and risk managers could really keep a handle on. And rather than call a halt to that which they didn’t fully understand, they handed down edicts instructing the CDO desks to keep on dancing for as long as the music was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 4:49 AM on December 3, 2008

Not sure I'm following this, but it looks to me like these institutions realised that they were insuring investments (gambles) that could bring down the insurers, and lacking an insurance system big enough to cover what they were playing with, they created a new form of insurance (S-CDOs), and have been paying into that for some years now.

So while this thing could hurt a lot of people, I'm seeing this invention as the finance boys doing the sorts of cover-your-risk... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by -harlequin- at 8:07 PM on December 2, 2008