MetaFilter

Grumblebee, have you seen the reviews section at Strange Horizons? They might be a bit more "within-the-genre" than you want, but they tend to value high quality prose and other literary aspects.

Also, perhaps Torque Control? It's a blog, so not all the content is reviews, but I think it's along the lines of what you're looking for.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by overglow at 9:17 AM on December 24, 2010

Politics aren't one-dimensional, m'kay? Also, $40,000 also isn't a whole lot of money.

Small Business owners are far more politically active. I'd have to guess that the combined small businesses in a tiny town would easily exceed the $40k donated by Target, and that most of that would go toward anti-gay politicians (given that virtually none actually support full marriage equality).

Also, don't get me started on what goes... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by schmod at 1:30 PM on December 21, 2010

I believe this state -- knowing you're doing wrong, hating it, but -- at least for now -- being unable to stop your bad behavior -- is very, very, very common: so common as to be, basically, a mundane aspect of human existence.

It's been around long enough for Socrates and Aristotle to have discussed it.
posted to MetaTalk by Lexica at 2:00 PM on December 12, 2010

1. As a post it was kind of weird and was getting flagged at a pretty solid clip. I've deleted it.
2. People who don't think a post should be on metafilter should flag that post and move on.
3. People who have a problem with comments in a post should likewise FIAMO.
4. If you want to start a metatalk discussion about something, use your fucking words and address the issue you're starting the metatalk about. This coy cutesy framing does not... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 4:25 PM on December 11, 2010

Does this represent a change in language?

An interesting question that I'd love to see answered (or to find out has been answered already) is whether confusion of its and it's is even something that is a change from some prior point in whatever portion of English usage history the distinction was first made.

There tends to be this presumption that one's style gripes and peeves represent some recent change... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 2:48 PM on December 8, 2010

Calm down calm down! There's some defensiveness in your responses, which I think is part of your problem.

Why? Because your writing falls into a certain genre of student writing: the writing of a smart kid who doesn't know what he's talking about, but who is used to playing with style in a way that fools people into thinking he does. And, let's face it, some high school teachers are just going to be impressed by the sophistication of your diction and... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:33 PM on December 7, 2010

Slacktivism: It's The Least You Can Do!
posted to MetaFilter by Lazlo at 11:21 AM on December 5, 2010

Speaking of Christmas, there's Jingle Bells, right? I mean the song, of course. Did you ever wonder why you never hear anything but the first verse and the chorus to that number? It's because the rest of the verses are godawful. Just painfully bad. Don't believe me? OK, I'll post them here. Tis the season!

A day or two ago
I thought I'd take a ride
And soon, Miss Fanny Bright
Was seated by my side,
The... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by flapjax at midnite at 6:43 AM on December 5, 2010

If I heard rap that sounded like a Miles Davis song or a Gershwin song or a Mozart song, I'd probably like it.

How about this or maybe this?
posted to MetaFilter by mrducts at 4:09 PM on December 4, 2010

I get stoopid, I shoot an arrow like Cupid,
I use a word that don't mean nothin', like looptid

If that ain't poetry I don't know what.
posted to MetaFilter by Civil_Disobedient at 3:08 PM on December 4, 2010

Well, grumblebee, than I do have a suggestion. You can put a theory of mine to the test, and it won't take years.

Pick a single rap album and start putting it on as background music. Like, when you're housecleaning, doing the dishes, doing anything except concentrating on it.

My experience has been that when we actively listen to something, we tend to look for interesting markers in the places we expect them to be, and if they're not there, we... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by neuromodulator at 12:08 PM on December 4, 2010

Might want to give Saul Williams a spin, grumblebee.
posted to MetaFilter by hermitosis at 10:09 AM on December 4, 2010

You have received a lot of great answers so far. People have been focusing on the fact that you said you enjoy challenging and arguing with others because that's the one thing you brought up that you think might be problematic. There might be other things, too, that you're unaware of. I think people who unintentionally alienate others probably generally have no idea how they're doing that.

There are a number of people in my life that I have either cut out of it or see in... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by xenophile at 11:57 AM on December 3, 2010

F'rinstance, okay, to go straight for the controversial example: a guy who says "I'm not a racist, but..." — he knows that he's about to offend some people. And as far as I can tell, the point of the disclaimer is to broadcast that knowledge.

"Look, I know this story will offend some of you. Of course I know that — I'm not stupid. I mean, a stupid guy might say shit this offensive by accident. But me, I'm setting... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nebulawindphone at 1:29 PM on November 27, 2010

Is FemSex radical?

That's the thing - as I watched this video, I kept nodding, saying, "Yeah ... yeah, definitely, good ... yes, good they're teaching that ..." and never encountered some psychotic Solanasesque screed from anyone. Positive, informative, and it definitely sounds like a fun class, but "radical"? Maybe in certain contexts, yes. To me it just sounded like a decent education.

I think that's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by modernnomad at 7:53 AM on November 25, 2010

Do men actually look better in a suit or is it just the promise that they are successful/rich?

Consider the suit.

Most western Men's clothing has origin in warfare or that civilized form of war, sport. We all wear Tennis shoes without playing tennis, and so the militaristic or hunting qualities of the suit have become an echo - but they're still there effecting how one looks in a suit.. A proper suit emphasis,... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by The Whelk at 6:32 AM on November 11, 2010

I still don't know a way-in for me when it comes to the music part of rap, which, no matter how many times I hear it, sounds like noise to me.

I've flipped more people with older Lyrics Born than all others combined. This track isn't really rap but is a good break-in to LB. Then you could try this, which is kind of fun. Or my personal favorite, which features a verse that, when delivered with LB's incredible flow, always brings a smile to my... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by rollbiz at 1:52 PM on November 8, 2010

And yet not one person has offered an impassioned, reasoned defense of hip hop as something they love. Not one. Apparently people only like hip hop here because they feel they're required to.

Hm. I started listening to hip hop in the early 80s. I was exposed to it through my family's frequent trips to New York, where they came from. I found a local soul station that played hip hop very late at night, for about two hours. I stayed up and listened, and... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Astro Zombie at 7:45 PM on November 7, 2010

Why would you talk to another person like that?

There is some sort of general misunderstanding on the internet that if something is really unlikeable you are allowed to be similarly unlikeable in your response to the unlikeable thing or person. We'd prefer people didn't do that here, it's obnoxious and rarely leads to a better situation than whatever the existing situation is. You've got private hate for people? You can MeMail them [and risk banning]... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 4:06 PM on November 6, 2010

To be fair, people on the left often see false evidence of hypocrisy in the right just as often.

Like you hate abortion but love the death penalty, how hypocritical. Except I like abortion and despise the death penalty, which is consistent with my internal moral universe, so presumably the right's fits in with theirs.

But all rap music isn't gangster rap and even if you like gangster rap it doesn't necessarily conflict with any anti-sexist... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by shinybaum at 11:05 AM on November 6, 2010

We should set up a fund to pay Samuel L Jackson to drop out of the ceiling and stick up for people like this.

"The man has a question! Answer him!"
"Wha..."
"SAY 'WHAT' AGAIN, MOTHERFUCKERS!"
posted to MetaFilter by obiwanwasabi at 1:54 AM on October 29, 2010

Curiousity about why things don't work quite the way they should has been the greatest contributor to the advancement of the human race.

Being satisfied with answers like "it must be a mistake" is not all that great a thing.

Of course it's far better to apply these skills to the real world, but he'll be there someday--if he's not there already.
posted to MetaFilter by Zalzidrax at 2:45 PM on October 28, 2010

True story. A friend of mine was the lead designer on on a Star Trek video game.

Late one night, he gets a phone call.

"Hello?"
"Hi, I'm Dave and I'd like to speak to Scott."
"This is Scott."
"Is this the Scott that's the lead designer on the Star Trek game?"
"It is."
"I noticed that in the game, the Enterprise-D has X number of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Cool Papa Bell at 9:11 AM on October 28, 2010

OP, a small percentage of people actually respond really well to snarky putdowns of their stupidity. It is a really small percentage, however. I have had to learn, as a teacher, to restrict my use of snarky putdowns to the students who enjoy (at least in retrospect) and more importantly, gain educational benefit from them. The vast majority of people (and I must admit this disappoints me) respond in exactly the opposite way when they feel like they are being called stupid or ridiculous. On the... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by bardophile at 12:57 AM on October 28, 2010

There's a point in an argument where the person with a weak position can see it, and would let the whole thing drop (with maybe a parting shot for pride's sake) if you stopped pressing them. They'll go away knowing that they looked kind of lame, and maybe look into a better argument for the future, or stop getting into those arguments as often.

Then there's a point where you've gone too far; you've been aggressively trying to squeeze "Ok I'm sorry, I was totally... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by skwt at 5:37 PM on October 24, 2010

Threads like that are why you should sometimes think of MeFi as a debate, not a conversation. Say what you want to say, as concisely as you can. Read and think about what other people have said. Maybe rebut once, if you think there is some info missing. The constant back and forth chat room in the blue hardly ever works out well.

There's a point in an argument where the person with a weak position can see it, and would let the whole thing drop (with maybe a parting... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by ctmf at 9:24 AM on August 1, 2010

A few years ago, I was working in an adult novelty store which was, otherwise, staffed by 20something girls from East New York, Harlem and the South Bronx. All of them could code-switch between AAVE and standard English with remarkable ease. After weeks and weeks of 12-hour-long shifts with these girls, I found myself, in moments of extreme stress, breaking into AAVE myself. Like cursing in Russian, it felt a lot more cathartic than your standard "fuck you buddy."... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by griphus at 7:40 AM on August 24, 2010

If there is a hell, it is going to be filled with IT people who don't get that not everyone is an IT person.

What he said. The moment you say "But Ubuntu is easy to install now," you've already proven that you don't get it.

Regular people do not install operating systems and have trouble installing many applications. Even on the Mac, where the proper installer is "Drag this to the Applications Folder.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by eriko at 8:08 AM on October 22, 2010

I have had beautiful friends ever since I was a teenager - really beautiful girls and women who do more than turn heads, they have inspired creativity in others or been able to accomplish much because they had the privilege of beauty. And all of them have been very good people but extremely insecure, often for good reason. Whether its being used up and spit out by certain men, or dealing with the incomprehensible jealousies and cruelties of other women (and I have seen this firsthand, how... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Danila at 3:19 PM on October 21, 2010

katilla, my point is that she's not vapid- she's obviously reasonably bright and isn't really suffering from a youth coasting entirely on looks; this is not like the article Heidi Montag might write in 20 years, or Anna Nicole Smith were she alive and the money all gone like her looks.

She was then and still is incredibly lovely, and even her point here (and I loved this quote):Like everything else in life, there is always... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hincandenza at 1:22 PM on October 21, 2010

Senor Cardgage: I love that she turned what could have been a shallow lament into a beautiful piece on being comfortable in your own skin.

I hope people posting after me actually take the time to read it and don't just post canned knee-jerk responses about "the supermodel feeling sorry for herselfI kind of hear what you're saying here, but there's still a part of being in the "ugly ones" category that makes you not want to forgive. I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hincandenza at 12:56 PM on October 21, 2010

Here, let me blow your mind.

There is no trick.

Or rather, the trick is, it makes you think a trick is happening, when there isn't.

The trick is that you're just gullible.

Look again at how the "trick" is revealed.

You're thinking of a carrot, right?

If not, you're among the 2% of the
population whose minds are... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Cool Papa Bell at 11:50 AM on October 1, 2010

Fuck that. If someone is acting in bad faith fuck them.

Nope. If someone is acting in bad faith, flag it and move on. Ignore them. Proceed with your day. Send us an email if it's complicated and needs attention.

There is no trigger point at which crappy behavior suddenly becomes okay because someone else was doing it too. Arguably the key thing with how this fighty bullshit gets perpetuated is that people on both sides of... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 8:05 PM on September 30, 2010

One potential trick to try is the 5 Whys. It's used to uncover root causes, which I assume you mean by "the seed of this discontent/motivation/etc."

A made up example:

I'm overweight. Why?
I don't exercise enough. Why?
I don't have enough time. Why?
I do a lot for other people in my life. Why?
Other people need help more than I do. Why?
Because I am not as valuable as other... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by acheekymonkey at 11:07 AM on September 30, 2010

Oh hey! I so rarely get to trot out my own personal anecdotes because I'm usually keeping the peace but... I'm in a public library right now [doing work, not working as a librarian]. And here is my "I never thought these stories were true" moment as it affects both the old people thread and the "how to not talk to women" thread.

I'm at one of those big library tables and this nice older man sits down next to me [nice = says hi, is otherwise keeping to... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 12:48 PM on September 17, 2010

Are there really a significant number of dipshits who won't ask for directions? I mean, what the fuck else are you supposed to do when you're lost?

- consult a map
- look for a map and consult it
- check your GPS
- drive around in concentric circles looking for your destination
- call a friend who knows the area
- give up

I've done most of these. I have a bad sense... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 9:40 AM on September 17, 2010

I was surprised by both the request and the response to it.

People use metaphors to insult people a lot, by comparing one disliked person or group A to another group B. They do this so much that they cannot imagine foregoing the practice.

This is not necessarily because they themselves dislike or have some prejudice against group B. It's because English as a language has incorporated those comparisons. I myself have a habit of saying that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by a snickering nuthatch at 10:31 AM on September 11, 2010

Well, there we go. Y'all have revealed yourselves as hypocritical assholes. Dude comes in and asks you to respect his feelings, and y'all deride him for it.

I already feel like communicating here requires about the level of linguistic straight jacketry that existed in my urban studies/white-men-are-bad seminar in college. But, I'd been coming to terms with it, since it seemed that metafilter did a pretty even-handed job in terms of making sure that everybody's feelings... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Netzapper at 6:02 AM on September 11, 2010

You, my love, have Gifted Child Syndrome, the bane of any kids who grew up bright (and tortured as a result). One of the key components is thus: "I need to be an AUTOMATIC EXPERT at anything I discuss/try, WITHOUT ANY LEARNING CURVE, or else I'm a FAILURE." I know the feeling way, way too well.

You know objectively that that's not true, right? It might also help to know that intelligence is a spectrum of different characteristics, a few of which are... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by julthumbscrew at 10:20 AM on September 10, 2010

Less Wrong offers up How to actually change your mind.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by eccnineten at 6:50 AM on September 8, 2010

grumblebee, that narrative is amusingly similar to my own. I grew up in a staunchly religious conservative household -- I wouldn't say that it was particularly crazy in its intensity, but I was a kid given to extremes and I became very, very serious about my religious and political beliefs. Ironically, I think it's the intensity and insistence on certainty inherent in fundamentalism that caused me to ultimately reject those beliefs, but I definitely hear you about the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by verb at 7:47 PM on August 27, 2010

Re the use of “lizard brain”:

Look, I love the idea that a knowledge of human biology can help us understand why we are the way we are and why we act the way we act. I did a degree in psychology in which I studied physiological psych, and my most nursed obsession was evolutionary psych. I love the idea that we can understand ourselves through science. But let me relate two stories.

First story: my friend is in a band with his girlfriend. The... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by skwt at 9:59 PM on August 21, 2010

I agree with piratebowling that the key to what is going on with you is dreams, but from a slightly different point of view.

By chance, I happen to know a few people with narcolepsy (and read anecdotes about it as I am able to find them).

Among the problems they have in common is a tendency for dreamlike content to make its way into their perceptions and memories, rendering those perceptions and memories very distressingly unreliable in some... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jamjam at 12:52 PM on August 20, 2010

Chiming in late. Speaking as a woman though, I will say I am sorely disappointed with the anger the OP's thread provoked. Thank you but NO thank you, angry women of the world, for reinforcing to men that their feelings [of insecurity, confusion, fear, sexuality, etc.] ARE NOT appropriate for conversation. NO thank you for condemning a [presumably young] man whose main crime in Metafilter was the clumsy use of language to describe an emotionally charged situation. NO thank you for reinforcing the... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by human ecologist at 4:17 PM on August 19, 2010

Take a picture of yourself hugging a stuffed animal and send it to her. Pick a new stuffed animal every day. Take the pictures in weird places (steps of the courthouse, in the grocery store, on a hike, etc). Tag her as the hugged object. (:
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Heretical at 6:51 PM on August 18, 2010 marked best answer

If it's snarky I can understand this being an issue for you.

If it's not an answer to the question, it's an issue for me. We see this specifically in certain threads in AskMe

- dating threads
- drinking threads
- my family is crazy threads

Where people's only contribution is something like "You're just reacting to this because you (are|are not) from a culture that... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 7:46 AM on August 19, 2010

This post was a giant stage that enabled users to demonstrate their fiercely held convictions at the expense of actually being helpful. Many interpretations are hinging on the interpretation of the word "blatant" which could just mean "it wasn't possible that I could be seen as looking at anything else" or it could mean "drool was running down my chin and I was saying homina-homina-homina." We don't know without clarification, though that hasn't stopped hordes of... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by proj at 6:11 AM on August 19, 2010

Hey, congratulations to those of you who are canny enough to dodge these wily emotioneers! Keep those heartstrings taut! Guard your empathy for when it counts! You might run out!
posted to MetaFilter by Ambrosia Voyeur at 4:25 PM on August 15, 2010

To self link, for those interested in how different takes on Hamlet approach the material differently, including the version we're discussing today, here's a collection of comparisons I made a bit back with the same scene in a number of different versions. I've collected several more and will likely have a part III up eventually, but I'm rather pleased with the following:

Comparing Productions of Hamlet, Act II, Scene ii. (Part 1 of 2)

... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by John Kenneth Fisher at 11:32 AM on August 13, 2010

This interests me. Although I'm an atheist, I'm hard put to it to tell people what atheism and skepticism can offer them that belief can't. In fact, it will actively rob them of community, respect and support, in many instances. And for what -- to be correct? You have to be both economically privileged, emotionally independent, and highly cerebral to say: No, I will not believe this thing. I will not accept what you accept. I will not do it because it is not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Countess Elena at 5:29 PM on August 9, 2010