MetaFilter

Talez writes "For the sake of argument if you had infinite manpower there'd be nothing really stopping the government from going to everyone and getting their outstanding CDS contracts and coming up with a number. I'm sure it'll be a mind blowingly huge number to most people."

Wait, that's the solution to full employment! Instead of a WPA, hire everyone laid off to enumerate the values of CDS contracts!

And to save... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 1:48 AM on December 2, 2008

Well, let me put this in perspective. I've lived in New York City, where you used to see kids outside all the time, particularly in the summer. You still do of course, but there are far far fewer of them. There was a particularly point this summer where I was taking a break from some experimental music thing in what I'd call a "poor but honest neighborhood" and I walked by the wide open door of a huge basketball gym, all spanking new and lit up - there were about half a dozen kids... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by lupus_yonderboy at 7:21 PM on November 22, 2008

You neglected to mention that Iran moved back towards the gold standard yesterday.
posted to MetaFilter by shii at 8:06 PM on November 16, 2008

No matter their skin color, a troll is a troll?
posted to MetaFilter by rokusan at 7:47 PM on November 16, 2008

Um, E-Mini S&P futures trade at x50 leverage. Even the alligator is too scared to stay in your bathtub.

ryanrs, no that's not how they work. They buy and sell levered products like credit default swaps, options, swaptions, futures etc. They are managed with the help of a computer algorithm that tries to ensure, but cannot guarantee, 300% the daily performance of the underlying. Over longer terms, the performance will not match.

Bottom... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fatllama at 2:02 AM on November 15, 2008

[nothing outside]
posted to MetaFilter by Effigy2000 at 10:29 PM on November 14, 2008

Just when I thought derivatives couldn't get more insane.

If you trade in this, your portfolio will soon look exactly like the front-page part of this post.
posted to MetaFilter by DreamerFi at 12:04 AM on November 15, 2008

[more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by Effigy2000 at 11:43 PM on November 14, 2008

Hahaha. That's just what we need.

You know the whole idea of a stockmarket is that it's an system that efficiently allows people to invest in productive enterprise, therefore allowing new wealth to be created from existing wealth.

But now it seems like a pit of scavengers fighting over the remains of rapidly decaying corpse, or something.
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 9:18 PM on November 14, 2008

I nabbed one this morning after reading about it on Gawker. The two women handing them out in front of Penn Station seemed pissed that they had been revealed so quickly, but then realized that the only reason I was there to get one of the fake-papers in the first place was because the word was spreading online.

Unfortunately, the paper takes every progressive idea ever and jumps off a cliff with them. It's great to see a headline trumpeting IRAQ WAR... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by greenland at 10:38 AM on November 12, 2008

Call them right now, this minute and say, "We've tried to be as polite as possible about this, but we absolutely do not want you here during this time. We absolutely do want you here in a few weeks after we've gotten settled. If you come now we will not see you, nor can you see your new grand baby. You'll be wasting money, time, and causing undue stress on mom and baby. Please respect our wishes. We will contact you again, by phone when the baby is here and we're ready for you to come... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by wfrgms at 7:18 PM on November 9, 2008

El Condor Nutsack

I'd rather take a shotgun to the nuts
Yes I would
If I could
I surely would

I'd rather take some shrapnel to my putz
Yes I would
If I only could
I surely would

You see, I'd rather sit to pee.
Like a chick. Without a dick.
Oh boy, I'd rather have no joy
It's a fact. An empty... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by stubby phillips at 4:46 PM on November 4, 2008

You know, it's up to you guys but it would be nice if this thread didn't turn into GRARGRAR Freepers froth. Their page on this subject is reprehensible and I think that's pretty much consensus here. Go get the vote out.
posted to MetaFilter by jessamyn at 3:00 PM on November 3, 2008

Sarah Palin is working hard to steal the jobs of all these hard-working American satirists.
posted to MetaFilter by ersatz at 8:20 PM on November 1, 2008

Hmm, my post gets deleted and this one is still up hours later? WTF?

This post was deleted for the following reason: the new one has Rafaelloello. -- jessamyn
posted to MetaFilter by gman at 8:18 PM on November 1, 2008

For some reason this actually pisses me off. I hate Palin as much as anyone here, but this was just stupid, irresponsible, and disrespectful. It's like some 14 year old kid pulling a prank on his 6 year old deaf neighbor, or kicking a three legged dog. It just reeks of immaturity and hatefulness.
posted to MetaFilter by greta simone at 7:54 PM on November 1, 2008

My prediction
posted to MetaFilter by middleclasstool at 8:47 PM on October 29, 2008

I'd rather have a way to reject favourites. Somebody you don't like favourites one of your comments, and you can hit a button that says 'We don't need your stinking favourites. I *so* don't care what you think about my comment.'
posted to MetaTalk by PeterMcDermott at 4:55 PM on October 29, 2008

Someone deleted my pants! Cortex, I'm looking at you.
posted to MetaTalk by Pollomacho at 7:05 AM on September 30, 2008

I saw this recently. Apologies for the cut'n'paste but the original has disappeared. Anyhoo:

Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.

The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 2:23 PM on October 28, 2008

Is that a lag joke octothorpe? Or did you really not read mmkhd's comment?

In the old days, when watching English films in foreign countries, I noticed the audience laughed before the jokes were told. Oh, wait...that's subtitles.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:06 AM on August 7, 2008

Maybe thirty years from now these two will have an opportunity to be college professors.
posted to MetaFilter by thrakintosh at 7:36 AM on October 28, 2008

You gonna post a crap askme next?

The MetaTrifecta: seldom attempted, never accomplished.
posted to MetaTalk by lukemeister at 7:40 PM on October 27, 2008

The weird thing was that I had read all the Bloomberg articles already and so I found your post confusingly stalker-ish.

Frankly, I wish a giant tofu would fall from the sky and crush the entire Hong Kong Stock Exchange. It would be the kind of tragedy that would resurrect irony after its unfortunate demise on 9/11. We'd all know we were living in a surreal dream and that we needn't fear death or a bear market. It would also prove that veganism is the greatest crime... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by anotherpanacea at 6:25 PM on October 27, 2008

Can I just post the hugungous tofu thing without it being a double? Cuz, you know HUGUNGOUS TOFU!!!!

I hate tofu.
posted to MetaTalk by Fuzzy Skinner at 5:40 PM on October 27, 2008

I'd suggest closing this thread to prevent this spiraling further into madness, cause god knows it's already at the corner of Are You Okay? and What?
posted to MetaTalk by flibbertigibbet at 7:34 PM on October 27, 2008

YOU'RE BEING AN ASS IN A FUNNY WAY, RAFAELLOELLO
posted to MetaTalk by shakespeherian at 6:54 PM on October 27, 2008

Will someone with conservative cred stop by and tell this guy that he's being an ass in a funny way?
posted to MetaTalk by StrikeTheViol at 6:51 PM on October 27, 2008

ericb: Only one. The Best Deletion reason one isn't about his post, and he's highlighting the humor of the deletion reason.
posted to MetaTalk by CKmtl at 6:23 PM on October 27, 2008

I'm very, very, very, sorry that I purported the War of the Worlds style epic lie that the Giant Tofus from Grovers Mills were crushing the markets and taking over the world.

Exactly.

You have no idea how disappointed I was that this wasn't what the post was about. Or at least maybe tofu futures drying up or something.
posted to MetaTalk by loquacious at 6:09 PM on October 27, 2008

Greg Nog: I always feel bad when I take up the mods' time unnecessarily. Even a friendly e-mail saying, "Hey, could you delete this comment I made?"

I used to operate this way and then cortex was made a mod and the way I see it every minute I spend pestering him on IM keeps the pun-ratio down. Or at least spares others his ratatat machine-punning.
posted to MetaTalk by Kattullus at 6:06 PM on October 27, 2008

You know what goes well with tofu? LESS CRACK.
posted to MetaTalk by turgid dahlia at 5:57 PM on October 27, 2008

Eh, I ate a tofu bigger than that in Taiwan.
posted to MetaTalk by languagehat at 5:57 PM on October 27, 2008

I've been living outside the United States for about one third of my adult life now, and chuckdarwin is absolutely correct, religion is a very profund difference between Americans and other parts of the world.

But another that I've found personally of interest is the whole patriotic thing. In some parts of America holding multiple passports, something not at all unusual in Europe, raises red flags. Once I entered the United States at O'Hare and when the DHS Dude... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Mutant at 4:57 AM on October 21, 2008

I bet Obama's a Mac guy and McCain's staffers are all Windows people though. Obama would totally love all the Mac posts on Metafilter.
posted to MetaTalk by PeterMcDermott at 1:05 AM on October 23, 2008

I think it was the same as the previous post, just a mirror image of it. I feel it was deleted because it would have required constant moderation (deletion of vile comments and links); and it would have reflected how we are in the middle of the most hateful election there has been for a long time. Irregardless of who wins, riots will occur. It is not going to be a unifying moment. Another too devisive election once again prevents any of the real "problems" facing the states from... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by buzzman at 9:00 PM on October 22, 2008

five fresh fish: "The Obama version of the post is adorned festooned with a long-ass thread, which serves to ground that energy instead of having it infect all sorts of not-politically-related threads. Better off not deleted, I suppose.

That said, I think the stunt post should have remained. True, it's not a couple hundred posts long, but it would have provided another grounding point, and it would have been fair play.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by ponystyle at 8:53 PM on October 22, 2008

This callout has so many kinds of wrong:

But come on. I'm no newbie. I've been here at MeFi for a long time.

Pulling rank.

I know what's good and what's -filter.

More so than the rest of us, right?

And posting a few images - no matter how good they might be - is REALLY stretching "Best Of The Web.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by KokuRyu at 8:53 PM on October 22, 2008

Eh. Some of the responses to the Obama pictures post were creepy. The post itself was interesting, I thought. I mean where am I going to stumble across multiple collections of people's favorite pictures of an interesting subject -- other than a decent proportion of photography fpp's, that is, which means it's in good company.
posted to MetaTalk by Durn Bronzefist at 8:27 PM on October 22, 2008

What's the MeTa post for?

Therapy.

Kidding. It's so that maybe a few folks can discuss the relative merits of photo-gallery FPPs, or the level of worship and/or vitriol in the campaign as it relates to subsequent FPPs.
posted to MetaTalk by davidmsc at 8:27 PM on October 22, 2008

Sigh. I know, everyone. And thanks, jonmc -- as always, your voice of reason is appreciated. Why can't everyone here be as smart as you, BTW?

But think: by simply including a link to the OTHER photo gallery on the Digital Journalist site -- the one featuring John McCain's "quieter" campaign moments -- it would have at least been a more (dare I say) balanced FPP. Not that I expect MeFi posters to be balanced -- but if the poster was going for "oh, cool,... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by davidmsc at 8:25 PM on October 22, 2008

Look, I know I'm in the minority here at MeFi. Not liberal. Not Democrat. Not progressive. But I'm not exactly a McCain fan, either.

And as a pro-gay rights athiest, you're hardly the typical Free Republic conservative either, Dave. And a big chunk of the (admitted mostly left-leaning) MeFi readership of MeFi is not your stereotypical chardonnay-sipping New Yorker readers either. There's a lot of different viewpoints here, believe it or not. I can... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jonmc at 8:10 PM on October 22, 2008

They were nice photos and it was a behind-the-scenes look at the campaign trail of the last two years for the guy. I thought it was a nice link and worthy of being here. In some weird way, it reminds me of that HBO documentary on following Bush around in 2000 during the campaign, where he's calm and relaxed and frankly he didn't seem like that bad of a guy.

I think you're overstating the awfulness or non-mefi-worthiness of the post, and I'm not saying it because I voted... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 8:18 PM on October 22, 2008

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…………..\lllllllllllllllllllllllllll/………\;;;;llllllllllll,-`~-,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by fire&wings at 5:03 PM on October 11, 2008

I'm sure there are plenty of undecided voters reading Metafilter. Right?
posted to MetaFilter by smackfu at 4:34 PM on October 11, 2008

chung chung
posted to MetaTalk by louche mustachio at 9:34 PM on October 10, 2008

Go ahead, blame it on Bush.

The aggressive "China Plan"of modern day U.S. capitalism which has thrived under the last eight years of the Bush administration actually is responsible for the market flood of many shoddily made and/or unsafe consumer products, many of which are marketed for children.

Thanks for the opening, this has been bothering me for some time now.
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 5:45 PM on October 10, 2008

As the actress said to the bishop!
posted to MetaTalk by winna at 4:45 PM on October 10, 2008

grateful, a while back we decided to keep questions on the unanswered page if the only answers were by the original poster. There were several questions a day where the OP was simply adding more information about their question as a comment. This scenario where the OP answers their own question is fairly rare, so I think we'll live with that one in the cracks.

and hosted from Uranus, true, should be set now.
posted to MetaTalk by pb at 2:37 PM on October 10, 2008

Fixed!!
posted to MetaTalk by pb at 12:18 PM on October 10, 2008