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I'm not a huge fan of Crumb's work, but I've read a lot of his stuff and I think I sort of get where he's coming from, and I get why some people have a hard time liking it, especially in our very post-modern, cool-centric world.

The thing about Crumb's art is that it's the opposite of cool. It isn't wry, or arch, or ironic or anything like that at all. If and when it is a satire, it's really more farce than satire (like this reject New Yorker cover). Sometimes when we... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Doleful Creature at 9:27 AM on November 11, 2011

But even if we were to name it abuse, it does not change the fact that I was an obnoxious little shit.

Even if we were to name you an obnoxious little shit, it does not change the fact that it was abuse.

I slapped my daughter when she bit me. She was, in that moment, an obnoxious little shit -- I love her dearly, but she was being a brat. Biting me was absolutely 100% bar-none unacceptable, but she still did not deserve to be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KathrynT at 8:34 AM on November 4, 2011

Wow- that statement sure makes that judge sound like a pompous ass.

Really, Judge Adams needs to shut his mouth, stop talking to the press, and get a better lawyer

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. He must realize that he's not helping his case at all from a legal POV, but it appears he's in denial about the fact that he's abusive in the first place. Even so, can't believe he'd want to keep digging his hole like this instead of keep... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan at 7:16 AM on November 4, 2011

You know, the thing about growing up as a kid who got slapped a lot (among other things) as a form of discipline, is that now that I've become a parent, when things get tough, the slap is right there in my hand too, like an itch. I have to will myself to walk away. I've taken, and still take, "Mommy's Little Helpers" so that I'm not screaming mom and so that I don't get mean and hurt my kid.

And when my mother sees my daughter and I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by peagood at 2:36 PM on November 2, 2011

saulgoodman, the previous result is only 1+a bit sigma high. That's not evidence for anything, even with this new result. 3 sigma is the minimum for "interesting" and 5 for discovery. There are thousands 1-2 sigma results in particle physics; and that's statistically what we'd expect.

The reason I'm so convinced this is wrong is just that it flies in the face of several very accurate previous measurements (mainly the supernova one), and the fact that, as a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by physicsmatt at 2:32 PM on September 23, 2011

empath, that's a fucking shitty thing to say. jesus.

How bad is it that I have no idea which thing i said that he's talking about?
posted to MetaTalk by empath at 3:32 PM on October 26, 2011

Second: it's racist because it's an appropriation of a cultural heritage that is not your own.

I think it's kind of racist to say that Geisha's belong to the Japanese only, and that only Mexicans can be Mariachis. I mean, really. Would it be racist for a Japanese guy to wear a cowboy costume?
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 9:18 AM on October 26, 2011

Here's an argument that a lot of people probably won't like, so please don't pile on me here (also I swear to fucking god after this I am not going to post 'I am a disabled person' on metafilter for like five years):

I'm biased because I love Gervais. He is like some kind of id without the superego. Louis C.K. (who is pretty close to Gervais, I think) did a whole bit (in Shameless, I think) where his use of faggot was o.k. because in his environs, it didn't mean 'gay.'... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by angrycat at 7:15 AM on October 20, 2011

They still get ulcers when they don't know how they're going to pay the rent.

Well, no, actually: that plot point is obsolete. In modern times, ulcers are caused by Helicobacter pylori infection.
posted to MetaFilter by Mars Saxman at 3:16 PM on October 18, 2011

It might be entertaining, at least for nerds and pedants such as myself, to go through this thread and annotate every claim about the unprecedented and brand-new conundrums faced by contemporary authors with a similar claim about the unprecedented and brand-new conundrums faced by Ye Olde Classick Writers.

Exactly. Go through your favorite stories of just one generation ago and see how many plot points have been utterly obsoleted by technological and social... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by DaDaDaDave at 3:09 PM on October 18, 2011

Well there are two competing schools of what racism is, one of which (a sort of colloquial meaning) states that racism is basically equal to prejudice and the other of which (a more academic view) states that racism is specifically prejudice + power [otherwise it would just be prejudice, or bigotry, or other words that are similar]. So by the first interpretation you can be white and be the victim of racism in a place like the US, under the second interpretation this is much less plausible,... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 2:11 PM on October 11, 2011

My theory is that "47" sounds like a really random number. Try it yourself, pick another one... doesn't feel as random, eh?
posted to MetaFilter by Meatbomb at 3:40 AM on September 29, 2011

Is there a laundromat nearby? Most laundromats have bulletin boards for posting stuff for sale, etc.

Tape the Metro card to the back of a 3x5 card. On the front, write something about web design, or a Tea Party meeting, something ubiquitous that won't lead to the card being taken.

Post the card on the bulletin board to be picked up later.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by gnossos at 5:48 PM on September 14, 2011 marked best answer

Pick a Duane Reade. Most are open late or 24 hours near Penn Station. Leave it inside a greeting card, preferably one that is unlikely to be bought (perhaps a more obscure holiday).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by kathryn at 9:43 AM on September 14, 2011 marked best answer

Funny, I got the impression that it was a desperate cry for help from someone who was a bad day away from shooting up his high school.

It might be useful to ask the people who liked Ender's Game why they liked it...I mean, some of us are not introspective and some of us will lie, but it still might be useful.

I liked Ender's Game quite a lot in my late... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 7:58 AM on September 8, 2011

Defenders of the historicity want it both ways: it's accurate historically except when it's not. It's accurate when a woman wants to complain that it's too much rape for her, because accuracy trumps any problems she might have with the text or any callouts for it being sexist, brutal or whatever. But if I drill down to a specific incident and ask, the defense is that no, of course, nobody expects specific incidents to be accurate, not even if they're characters who are supposed to be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:01 AM on September 1, 2011

The books are a fantasy retelling of the War of the Roses. Both the War of the Roses and the civil wars in Westeros are caused by succession conflicts directly stemming from primogeniture, which is institutionalized patriarchy. Nasty sexism was at the root of a lot of historical problems. As a feminist, I really don't see what's so wrong with Martin playing with history in this way.
posted to MetaFilter by oinopaponton at 2:30 PM on August 31, 2011

IANAGeneticist, but I'm a molecular biologist so I'll shoot for a crash introduction to epigenetics, as people seem to be interested. It's fascinating stuff.

DNA is often described as something like a recipe book or set of instructions for the cell. This is a useful metaphor, but stresses too much its aspect of being a string of pure, abstract information, forgetting that it's a vast physical structure inside a very complex environment. If it's a book, it's a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by metaBugs at 11:52 AM on August 16, 2011

I didn't have any friends in high school. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW?!?!
posted to MetaFilter by blue_beetle at 12:32 PM on August 5, 2011

I formerly had a diagnosis of anorexia, and now I am a relatively happy, relatively healthy fat person. Your husband has an eating disorder, and every single thing you are doing is making it worse. Full stop. I know you think you are helping. My mother thought she was helping by forcing me to eat in front of her, by "secretly" fattening up my food, by restricting my time alone (so I couldn't exercise), by stocking the house with junk food that I had previously loved, by making a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by catwoman429 at 8:58 AM on July 27, 2011

I do Civil War reenactments and dress in authentic reproduction clothing that I have made myself. From the skin out I wear 100% what a working class woman would have worn in 1861.

My corset is not tight enough to impeed my breathing, it is there to support my bust and also give me some support for all the heavy petticoats. With a corset the weight of the underskirts is distributed vertically along the boning instead of just cutting into my hips and waist.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TooFewShoes at 6:23 PM on July 19, 2011

(Also, rape is not about sex but about power, etc., I'll let you read the literature on that yourself...)

Actually, that's not true. Brownmiller is often cited as the source for that but she was neither a sex researcher, nor cited in context. If it were all about power, the violator would not be sexually aroused. Rape is still about sex, essentially.

Men who rape (I don't know anything about women who rape, so that's all I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by arcticwoman at 7:10 AM on June 28, 2011

Let's hope argumentativeness isn't a dominant gene, or their kid's going to be insufferable.

Quick side note: If argumentativeness were controlled by a single gene with two alleles (argumentative and not), their kid would more likely be insufferable if the argumentative allele were recessive. Here's why:

If the argumentative allele is recessive, and both parents are argumentative, that means both parents... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by a snickering nuthatch at 11:43 AM on June 14, 2011

Popular statements of this view are logically incoherent. If arguments were just "to win," instead of referrring at some level to facts of the matter, there'd be no reason to listen to them -- but their ability "to win" depends on people listening. Likewise, successful forms of argument are often truth-preserving ones

If argument was just a formal game with no reference to logic or underlying reality, it would look very different than it does.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by grobstein at 11:05 AM on June 14, 2011

I don't think this line of reasoning can get more circular. Reason developed to win debates? What did a pre-reason debate consist of? Wild assertions of non-sequiturs?
posted to MetaFilter by Mental Wimp at 10:57 AM on June 14, 2011

There is an underlying sociobiological assertion being made by sebarnes here, namely "Women are evolutionarily adapted to being raped and carried off by a foreign tribe while men are evolutionarily adapted to fighting off said tribe."

Ain't nothing wrong with some good ol' sociobiology, but you better check the details or you end up with discriminatory just-so stories. Yes, there might be some gender bias around accepting "the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jeffburdges at 10:31 AM on June 10, 2011

grumblebee: Alamo Drafthouses Coming to New York, L.A. in 2011/2012 (thanks birdherder)
posted to MetaFilter by eyeballkid at 5:46 PM on June 6, 2011

I thought I had my kids thoroughly trained to respect failure as a healthy and integral part of the process of learning - then I sent them to school... From the youngest age American society is geared toward motivating children by making them fear failure. It's so frustratingly counterintuitive.
posted to MetaFilter by any major dude at 6:28 AM on May 25, 2011

No it's not

Yes it is, you horrible blowfish-fondling funk-dribbler.
posted to MetaFilter by the quidnunc kid at 7:03 AM on May 20, 2011

I think most everyone would agree that Gravity's Rainbow is the peak of Pynchon's writing.

Some might say that it starts off at ground level, reaches supersonic speeds, goes ballistic as it passes through its culmination point, and then falls and lands and explodes before you even hear it coming.
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 11:14 AM on May 19, 2011

I'll bet he'd say we should be big enough to care more about other people's feelings than about our own freedom to say absolutely anything we want to, and big enough not to whine like children, "BUT THAT'S NOT FAIR! THAT GUY SAID IT, WHY CAN'T I SAY IT? I WANNA SAY IT TOO!"
posted by straight at 6:11 AM on April 25

This is another fine example of twisting someone's words to make a shaming straw man.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Decani at 1:41 AM on April 25, 2011

Oh and that a ping-pong table and complimentary soft-drinks is not a "benefit" for someone over the age of 11.
posted to MetaFilter by drjimmy11 at 10:09 PM on April 23, 2011

I understand the need for tipping, and do tip wait-staff, although I find the practice intolerable. You have to pay tips regardless of whether or not the service is good or bad, and you're also forced to evaluate performance, which is a spiritually unpleasant and undemocratic way to end a meal, which should be a pleasant experience. Why not do away with this remnant of the class system by getting rid of tips and increasing the hourly wage for servers. This new overhead gets passed on to the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by KokuRyu at 4:33 PM on April 13, 2011

They may think they feel love, but they don't.

That's why lube was invented.

What are we talking about?
posted to MetaFilter by Brandon Blatcher at 1:32 PM on March 21, 2011

Sidebar: I really dislike the argument that homosexuality/bisexuality/any other nonheteronormative sexuality is biologically determined. It might be idealistic of me, but I really would much rather live in a world where people get to have whatever relationships they want with whatever other consenting adults they want without us shrugging our shoulders and saying "well, biology made 'em that way, they can't help it!". It shouldn't matter if we/they were "born this way" or... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by NoraReed at 12:07 PM on March 21, 2011

"Please explain how that could be true."

OK.

I am a playwright and theatrical director. I know plays. I have studied plays, and taught playwriting and drama. In the course of learning my craft, I have taken on pretty much every possible position it is possible to have on a show. I know the history of theater. I am familiar with the stated intentions of most major playwrights, if such statements exist. I know the current movements... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kyrademon at 10:05 AM on March 5, 2011

much of modern and abstract art serves better as an excuse for people to wax pretentious and pretend to draw meaning where no such meaning exists

Meaning doesn't exist. It's not a substance. You can't weigh it or measure its barometric pressure.

Our minds have the curious ability to associate things with other things, put things in categories, and use that information to make inferences, predictions, and definitions. That's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by LogicalDash at 9:34 AM on March 5, 2011

For one thing animals and children don't try to scam people out of money...

I could comment on how only somebody unfamiliar with art would make this statement, but I am more struck by how unfamiliar you are with children.
posted to MetaFilter by Astro Zombie at 8:43 AM on March 5, 2011

Okay, I'm calling it: we nerds have finally jumped the shark. If your internet video boils down to "the things I like were not mainstream at one time", please understand that you are not making a clever in-joke, but preaching to a very, very large choir.

I'm not not mad that previously uncool things have become cool. I love it. I think it's fantastic that sci-fi shows pull down some of the highest ratings on TV, I'm thrilled that people packed the theaters to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ®@ at 12:10 AM on February 19, 2011

I can answer some questions, grumblebee, but that one is a little beyond me. Instead, I'll give you a massive linkdump where you might be able to find answers :)

A series of blog posts by researchers from the Watson team in which they explain bits and pieces of what goes on in Watson's brain:
Watson's hardware
How Watson interacts with the Jeopardy systems
How does Watson know what he knows?
What's with those funky betting... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by badgermushroomSNAKE at 7:36 AM on February 17, 2011

My friend saw this recently. Here, excerpted, is the email he sent out describing his experiences:
You know what watching Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was like? It was like watching some smart-ass, pushy know-it-all lecture for three hours about American History without getting a single fact correct, all the while having access at their fingertips to Google, an encyclopedia and a whole shelf of history textbooks. It's like watching someone trying to bake a cake by following simple,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Sticherbeast at 7:55 AM on February 9, 2011

Okay, okay, I'll go into this, because people keep asking, and because others have described the character work in ways pretty much directly opposed to how I see it. This will take a while. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'll start with the UK version because the US version originally tried to copy that, then evolved when copying it didn't work.

The Office is kind of an inversion of a style of comedy writing called Center and Eccentrics. In... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Naberius at 1:36 PM on January 28, 2011

So I was at a bookstore yesterday and took a look at the book itself. I read the first few chapters: it looks to me like it follows the "Too Soft", "Too Hard", "Just Right" view that Judith Rich Harris talks about. In retrospect, when Chua describes her parenting style, she's characterizing it as "Too Hard." (She still views the typical Western style of parenting as "Too Soft." She does recognize that there's a much wider range of Western... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by russilwvong at 10:34 PM on January 23, 2011

let the kids have as much sweets as they want and maybe they eat themselves sick a couple of times but come out with a much healthier relationship to sweets than I think I've had than myself or others for who sweets were a special, supposedly-occasional thing.

I tried that approach with my niece when she was about four. I bought her that 5 lb bag of candy corn she wanted, saying, "Here, you can have this. But I want you to notice if you feel bad... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by StickyCarpet at 3:46 PM on January 23, 2011

As I mentioned, I've been to the exclusion zone. It was an intense experience (arguably literally). I could talk about it for hours, so I'll try to keep it to just things that really stood out to me. Firstly, about the disaster itself:

One of things I learned is that it's a much bigger deal than I assumed, and while we think of it as something that happened, it didn't - it is something that is happening. Largely out of sight, out of mind.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by -harlequin- at 7:38 PM on December 13, 2010

Don't. Really, just don't. It doesn't sound like you are particularly qualified or empowered, with this child, to engage in either the defense of the general intellectual reliability of science (which is in fact an extremely complicated topic, and consequently simplistic presentations of it are especially vulnerable to logically deficient but rhetorically effective attacks) or in criticism of particular religious positions on science. It is quite likely this child is in the influence of... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by nanojath at 9:16 AM on January 6, 2011 marked best answer

I am astounded, in all this discussion of Hamlet, that no one has pointed out that many, many scholars are convinced that Shakespeare, in creating the character, drew directly from current psychological theory as it existed (not called by that name, of course) during Elizabethan times. The "stages of melancholy" were a dominant theory, and Hamlet's progression through the play follows them very closely.

Sample quote on the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kyrademon at 6:07 AM on January 4, 2011

I'll tell you what it was like. 1966. One morning, every young woman comes walking out the door in one of these A-line mini-skirts, showing acres and acres of beautiful leg. But what you can't see from these pictures, is that simultaneously, they have abandoned their brassieres.

This dual, no-bra/miniskirt attack was the cruelest, most effective tactic in the generational war. It absolutely destroyed middle-aged men. The sexual... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Faze at 4:59 AM on January 3, 2011

having lived with both furry kittehs and a colorful cast of reptiles (not concurrently), i can contribute the following anecdata:

• leopard geckos (best kept in multiples as they are social) are like small, slow, scaly kittens. i know that seems nonsensical but they have adorably coy looks they flash and interact in ways that seem full of the same naive positivity people love in kittens.

• the australian frill-neck lizard we... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rube R. Nekker at 2:45 PM on December 31, 2010

I pointed out a clear example of attacking the messenger.

That's not a logical axiom, first of all. Although complaints of Ad hominem are common among people arguing on the internet, simply pointing out that someone else has done it doesn't make your arguments logical.

We aren't talking symbolic logic here we are talking about.

That's the only kind. If a statement... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 12:30 AM on December 26, 2010