MetaFilter

It really bothers me when people assume that "everyone knows" or "everyone thinks" or that everyone has patient, intelligent parents or teachers or friends to explain what "everyone" knows or thinks.

There's a first time to have this stuff explained. For some people, it's now. It's you doing the explaining.

It's you setting the example of how it will be explained to the next person in the chain.
posted to MetaTalk by amtho at 9:10 PM on May 5, 2010

I'm not sure I agree with this. I think cultural conservatism is correlated with poverty. I think divorce and teen marraige are correlated with poverty. Red states are poorer than blue states, and more importantly they have more poverty than blue states. I'd like if my sort of philosophy was vindicated and what I believed was responsible for better outcomes and people who believed differently were just being hypocrits I just don't think it's the case. I think poverty makes everything harder. I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by I Foody at 10:10 AM on May 4, 2010

Other people will be recommending specific artists; I'm going to recommend a book, The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. Machine Gun is part of their core collection, and here's what they say about it:Machine Gun is one of the most significant documents of the European free-jazz underground. The three saxophonists fire off a ceaseless round of blasting, overblown noise, built on the continuous crescendo managed by Bennink and... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by languagehat at 6:18 PM on May 1, 2010 marked best answer

> Do you have a source for your info?

Originally from stackoverflow: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1735933/streaming-via-rtsp-or-rtp-in-html5

Some more googling shows apple's developer notes (so that may be safari specific), with references to RTSP.

These guys appear to have rtsp working in an html5/ipad situation as well, http to deliver the .m3u file which references the streaming server.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mrzarquon at 8:06 PM on April 30, 2010

For me, Ico achieved exactly the feeling you describe, Grumblebee. Fumito Ueda was heavily influenced by De Chirico's paintings, and his games are awash with a feeling of mystery and desolation which permeates their every aspect. The universes they create and the stories they tell are sparse and wordless, but strongly emotional experiences.

Ico is short game by many standards, but the universe it created and the experience of playing it has stayed with me, vividly, for... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jon Mitchell at 3:00 PM on April 18, 2010

I confess I did actually read through every post in this thread. All I can say is: wow.

I'm primarily a writer, but I make much of my living speaking, and last year I wrote a book called Confessions of a Public Speaker , based on my experience giving 100s of lectures (including teaching college courses), but also some serious research into both the science of attention, as well as the history of lectures, and teaching, and universities.

First,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Berkun at 8:29 AM on April 16, 2010

grumblebee,

Regardless of what anyone's artificial candy tastes may be, what you wrote is what I love about food in the first place. Textures, smells, colors, the way it sounds when you eat it, all of those take you back to that "time in your life", or maybe it represents the future for some of you.

I've always liked eating broccoli, ever since I was a little kid. I see organic food shops all over the place where I am, and I couldn't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bam at 8:16 PM on April 1, 2010

I'm bisexual and write gay fiction and I thoroughly agree with Grumblebee and everyone else who thinks it's ridiculous to be offended.

It's not unforgivable or uncommon to not be able to keep those things sorted in your mind, but the solution is you should work on following arguments better, not ask everyone else to stop making rational arguments because you can't keep them straight, or even more absurd, because you worry other... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Nattie at 8:57 PM on March 27, 2010

As for my personal opinion? I think that homosexuality and beastiality are about as different as two things can be.

Really? You can't think of two things that are more different than two kinds of sexual attraction? Frozen yogurt and quasars? Shaker furniture and tonsillitis?
posted to MetaTalk by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 6:16 PM on March 26, 2010

Y'all sound like a bunch of beanplaters. The cognitive dissonance with the consent argument goes away when you stop eating animals.
posted to MetaFilter by Skwirl at 2:31 PM on March 26, 2010

I'm not sure, but this question reminded me of a passage from P. G. Wodehouse:

"Sir?" said Jeeves, kind of manifesting himself. One of the rummy
things about Jeeves is that, unless you watch like a hawk, you very
seldom see him come into a room. He's like one of those weird chappies
in India who dissolve themselves into thin air and nip through space in
a sort of disembodied way and assemble the parts again just... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Spacelegoman at 6:37 PM on March 24, 2010

Imagine, for a moment, that a significant portion of the population believed, based on your looks, that if they encountered you in public, you owed them a dollar. These people are total strangers to you, but they believe fervently that any time they see you in public, you are obligated to give them a dollar. They're willing to make polite conversation with you in the hopes that you'll willingly give them the dollar, but if you don't they're willing to follow you down the street and bug you about... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by decathecting at 8:34 AM on March 23, 2010

Now find me a job.

You write a book about your faith and the path you've taken it, and I'll lend a hand editing it. My instinct is that your story will speak to a lot of your fellow citizens.

I wonder if it'd be possible to leverage the entire MeFi ecosystem to get it published. I'll bet there's enough talent and resources here to do the job...
posted to MetaFilter by five fresh fish at 9:41 AM on March 21, 2010

I want to say something here, but my story is so long and tangled, I'm having a hard time condensing it. Here's the "short" version, half of which can be found scattered throughout my previous comments:

At age four, I begin telling people I am going to become a preacher. In retrospect, I think that had a lot to do with me wanting not to become like my brutal abusive father. I had an image of ministers as good, gentle men, and I thought if I became a minister,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pater Aletheias at 3:27 PM on March 20, 2010

If I understand The Gervais Principle (and as a Loser I probably don't), what you see as "The Game" may be genuine multi-leveled power communication among Sociopaths, but is more likely members of the Clueless fooling themselves into thinking they're playing "The Game." Trying to learn the rules of "the Game," e.g. how to be a Sociopath, marks you indelibly as Clueless. (Note: the labels Sociopath, Clueless, and Loser have specific meanings withing the Gervais... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Devoidoid at 8:57 AM on March 15, 2010

Oh, good, I can restart my heart now. Please to not doing this to us.
posted to MetaFilter by scrump at 10:15 AM on March 8, 2010

And this work continues; the junior-year program for history majors devotes one semester to research of a document (generally in manuscript, as I recall) and one semester to an artefact (usually some strange unidentifiable object). Where the research leads is up to the student. For the artefact semester, a friend was assigned an object she ultimately determined was a campfire sandwich toaster, and then wrote about the growth of leisure camping in the 20th century. I can't remember what... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Admiral Haddock at 3:49 PM on February 26, 2010

Here is your greasepony. Don't ride it inside the house.
posted to MetaTalk by zamboni at 3:58 PM on February 25, 2010

It's often claimed that the ideal female body-type has changed from plump to skinny ('from Rubens to Twiggy') over the last few hundred years. I've never been convinced by this, and the use of dubious arguments from evolutionary psychology (e.g. 'food was hard to come by in those days, so fat women were perceived as sexy') doesn't do much to change my mind.

The problem is that images of women in Western art are so numerous, and so diverse, that it's very easy to pick... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by verstegan at 3:54 AM on February 25, 2010

Very interesting, and the music was quite pleasant. As for Dr. Cope's philosophical outlook with regards to his work, I find myself surprised by partly agreeing with his detractors. I think reacting with fear or anger is ridiculously over-the-top, but I also think that Cope is (partly) missing the point of music, and more generally, art. He is conceiving of art as something that is created by an artist in isolation, and likewise enjoyed by an audience in isolation. What Cope's missing is the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Edgewise at 10:47 PM on February 24, 2010

A great novel is the intimation of a metaphysical event you can never know, no matter how long you live, no matter how many people you love: the experience of the world through a consciousness other than your own. And I don't care if that consciousness chooses to spend its time in drawing rooms or in internet networks; I don't care if it uses a corner of a Dorito as its hero, or the charming eldest daughter of a bourgeois family; I don't care if it refuses to use the letter e or crosses five... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by xod at 11:22 AM on February 23, 2010

KathrynT: "This kind of superfertility has been a guiding principle of Hasidim since, well, forever. Are we overrun with Hasidic Jews? If not, why not?"

Speaking as a Jew, I would attribute this to the disparity between who pretends to be the dominant partner in Jewish marriages and who actually is the dominant partner.
posted to MetaFilter by Joe Beese at 9:04 AM on February 21, 2010

I like Vonnegut's rules, which are more about holding your work together than holding yourself together.
posted to MetaFilter by gum at 9:07 AM on February 20, 2010

As a screenwriter who has to read a heck of a lot of novels as potential adaptations for the screen (and has one under his bed) and then adapt them into forms that people will pay money to go see, I offer up the following, which may or may not be helpful:

1. A novel is a kind of contract with the reader. It promises that in return for reading, it will deliver an ending which lives up to what goes before. The better the foregoing, the better the ending has to be. A book... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by unSane at 5:51 AM on February 20, 2010

Not to get too chatty here, but in response to MadamM's "When I was a little kid, I have absolutely no clear memory of even knowing what race was." That's sort of the problem.

Most white people try to pretend there aren't races, in an effort to avoid looking racist. Studies have shown this kicks in with white kids around age 7-10; they start pretending to be colorblind. They are well aware of what social cues and taboos are, even if they... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by fontophilic at 9:07 AM on February 16, 2010

Oh my God! The Mars Rovers! I have totally come to think of them as living creatures. I don't even fight it any more.

Duet On Mars - by John Updike

Said Spirit to Opportunity,
“I’m feeling rather frail,
With too much in my memory,
Plus barrels of e-mail.”
Responded Opportunity,
“My bounce was not so bad,
But now they send me out to see... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 2:50 PM on January 31, 2010

At least he lived to see the iPad.
posted to MetaFilter by GuyZero at 10:46 AM on January 28, 2010

I have found in life that to be truly successful in your chosen profession, you must

1) lie
2) lie
3) lie
4) blame others when your lies are exposed

On the surface, this sounds like a recipe for disaster, but this method is how our nation's wealthiest and most powerful leaders have made themselves that way.

The truth is, everyone is incompetent. All this successful... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Avenger at 9:40 AM on January 16, 2010

koeselitz: But I also don't see how you can claim that a man who plans sex with other women months in advance can be characterized as "lacking self-control."

That's an interesting point, and it reminds me of several things: Case studies of binge-purge behavior that I read in school, wherein people would make elaborate plans to support their weekend-long eating/purging binges, and would engage in careful and highly organized behavior to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by lodurr at 6:46 AM on December 29, 2009

I can only speak for myself here, but I find astrology and/or the tarot useful when I don't know where to go with an idea, and am looking for a little bit of whimsy to get things started. Something to orient to, forcing me to analyze whether the random proposition that is suggested fits or not, even in some small way that hadn't occurred to me prior to being exposed to this outside influence. It's like when I want to go out to dinner, but have no idea where. If an idea is suggested, it's a... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by iamkimiam at 10:16 AM on December 22, 2009

Also, Sarah Josepha Hale, author of Mary Had a Little Lamb, was probably the greatest influence on Lincoln's decision: Hale is credited as the individual most responsible for making Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States; it had previously been celebrated only in New England.[26] Each state scheduled its own holiday, some as early as October and others as late as January; it was largely unknown in the American South. Her advocacy for the national holiday began... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Brandon Blatcher at 11:07 AM on November 26, 2009

You're assuming that discussing rationally and logically is the optimal solution to any disagreement.

Not everyone subscribes to this.

To some people, particularly ones without a high level of formal education, "logical discussion" is itself weaselly. It's weaselly because it's dispassionate. You can use logical arguments to put forth any viewpoint you like; a trained debater will usually win a logical argument against someone... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by emilyw at 8:16 AM on November 25, 2009

>I don't size all women up, sexually.

I think you might need to give that one a little more thought.

....I should think chuckdarwin knows his own mind well enough to give an accurate statement about it, don't you think so?

Look: some guys DO size lots of women up sexually. By the same token, some WOMEN size lots of MEN up sexually (raises hand a teeny bit). I wouldn't say it's so much a matter... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by EmpressCallipygos at 6:05 AM on November 23, 2009

This shouldn't apply to the actual literati, who should know better, but would apply to a lot of the reading public (ie, us): people tend to conflate "I don't like it" with "it is bad". If horror makes you feel bad, eg frightened, horrified, disgusted even; it may be because it is doing its job well.

Well sure, but that's the thing about "genre" literature. If you respond to its triggers but you don't like the feeling,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Powerful Religious Baby at 7:35 AM on November 15, 2009

At last it is time to reveal to an unwitting world the great game of Moral High Ground. Moral High Ground is a long-playing game for two players. The following original rules are for one M and one F, but feel free to modify them to suit your player setup:

1. The object of Moral High Ground is to win.

2. Players proceed towards victory by scoring MHGPs (Moral High Ground Points). MHGPs are scored by taking the conspicuously and/or... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by stuck on an island at 11:36 AM on November 3, 2009

I would like to offer a different (I assume because I haven't read all of this post!) possibility:

Math is unpopular because it generally needs a two-step argument at some point to become useful.

This is similar to the "problem solving" answer, which I agree with, but there are some "problems" which you can solve without taking logical steps and producing an argument.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by KMH at 4:03 AM on October 21, 2009

No one wanted 3D to take off more than I did, but I have yet to have a single overwhelmingly positive 3-D experience, even with recent movies that are specifically engineered to be viewed that way.

First and foremost, a good movie is an immersive experience no matter what. This Daily Mail article, says

"If you've had previous experience of 3D, your impression will probably be one of a flattish image with the occasional object... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hermitosis at 10:13 AM on August 21, 2009

He leaves me thinking I've been played, because I don't really believe he ever had that experience.

His reactions to being in the strip club sound fairly genuine. If people-watching is a hobby of yours, a strip club is probably a good place to do it. There are certain emotionally charged contexts in which people will unconsciously adopt one of a limited set of behavioral poses.

When I meet friends for coffee in the city, I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ritchie at 1:04 AM on August 9, 2009

Sorry, JeffK, haven't been banhammered. I'm not sure how productive that would be.

If you've got some suggestions for how I could improve my participation in the discussions on this site, please let me know.

In some sense, I think I am better aware of some trends in my posting that apparently are turning a lot of people off to what I've got to say.

Cortex, the suggestion about stepping away from the computer helped.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by kldickson at 12:27 PM on August 7, 2009

He's 19!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by everythings_interrelated at 6:46 AM on August 6, 2009

On a completely different tact, my partner read a book on music and the brain, and the author recommends doing arithmetic (because it uses the same part of the brain). My own limited testing of this strategy has been successful.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by carmen at 7:19 AM on July 21, 2009

Psychologically, it's almost inconvenient when your physical and emotional needs become satisfied -- the instincts that have always point you toward striving and struggling and seeking become restless with disuse, and it's easier to find new pursuits to justify the existence of those instincts than it is to examine them or lay them to rest.

When it comes to other people, I have always been a hunter. When I got into a relationship, I expected all that to fade away, and... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by hermitosis at 7:19 AM on July 16, 2009

You wouldn't apologize if you INTENTIONALLY hurt their feelings, would you?

So if you also wouldn't do so when you ACCIDENTALLY hurt their feelings, then when--exactly--would you apologize?

-
posted to Ask MetaFilter by General Tonic at 7:10 AM on July 15, 2009

I'd like to believe that, with the democratization of these manuscripts, people would begin to recognize that the texts which form the fundament of their traditions are the products of human hands.

So? Why do atheists have such a problem with this? Christians aren't jews or muslims. The New Testament is not a book of rules. Every Christian I know knows that the Old and New Testaments were written by imperfect people who wrote it down... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pastabagel at 3:19 PM on July 6, 2009

Thanks Kattullus, this was wonderful to read.

Especially because this Friday, I am celebrating one year of sobriety.

This morning, someone on Twitter quoted Frank Sinatra saying that he feels sorry for people who don't drink because when they wake up sober, that's the best their day is going to get. Without being judgmental - because drinking and sobriety are both different for everyone - I casually informed him that my absolute worst day... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by greekphilosophy at 12:30 PM on July 1, 2009

I don't have much to say on the specific sex issue, but I think it's really important to point something out about a lot of the answers here.

People (on AskMe and in the rest of life) are incredibly keen to try to think about ethical questions in terms of rules – ie., that there is some rule out there, waiting to be discovered, that will dictate how you should proceed. As you can see, for a lot of people, "treat your wedding vows as an unbreakable contract" is... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by game warden to the events rhino at 6:56 PM on June 28, 2009

It is time now to talk about The Wheel.

Growing up, my parents had obviously read all the studies about praise and punishment and their effect on a developing child. My father came from a distant, reserved family and was the middle of three brothers. My mother grew up in a close-knit, church going family as an older sister. He went to gradschool for plasma physics and she was the secretary that typed up his thesis.

They obviously disagreed on how... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by robocop is bleeding at 9:15 AM on February 13, 2007

Here is a game that I was taught, which is called "breakfast combo."

It is a guessing game and goes as so. One person picks a thing (relatively specific: "King Kong" or "trail mix" or "that necklace you are wearing" are all acceptable things. "babies" or "rocks" perhaps not so much). The other person guesses things (of similar specific-ness, i.e. you guess "Is it King Kong?" not "Is it large?... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by that girl at 10:29 AM on June 4, 2007 marked best answer

[I couldn't find a single list with all the definitions, so I made one for myself.]

sui generis - constituting a class alone : unique, peculiar (pronounced "sue I generous" or "sooey generous")
solipsistic - extremely egocentric (Solipsism)
louche - disreputable or sordid in a rakish or appealing way
laconic - using few words; expressing much in few words; concise
saturnine - cold and steady in mood... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ian A.T. at 12:53 PM on June 15, 2009

I think sincerity is underrated. Meeting people who are able to articulate themselves, honestly, truthfully, without relying on sarcasm or snark to buoy themselves is always charming. At least to me.

I agree wholeheartedly. I find genuineness and authenticity in people irresistibly disarming and magnetic, and it saddens me that it seems to be so rare in our culture, because I think it makes the world a better place to live. I do think there's a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by velvet winter at 12:59 PM on May 26, 2009 marked best answer