Donald Barthelme’s Syllabus: I was given secondhand a list of eighty-one books, the recommendations of Donald Barthelme to his students. Barthelme’s only guidance ... was to attack the books “in no particular order, just read them.” Two of the books, Knut Hamsun’s Hunger and Flaubert’s Letters (numbers 15, 40), were written in the twentieth century, most in the past thirty years. And all have that dizzying sense of otherness and surprise common to great books, an affluence of vitality. There’s not a dull read in the group.
posted by geoff. to MetaFilter at Dec 22 at 7:14 AM
119 users marked this as a favorite
Help me develop sprezzatura, the art of "a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it." The "zen valedictorian" approach, but applied outside of a school setting. Or old-style Hollywood glamour, but updated for our millennium.
posted by Anonymous to Ask MetaFilter at Dec 19 at 2:15 PM
70 users marked this as a favorite
The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world's most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.
posted by srboisvert to MetaFilter at Dec 19 at 1:29 AM
59 users marked this as a favorite
The Physics of Space Battles "I had a discussion recently with friends about the various depictions of space combat in science fiction movies, TV shows, and books. We have the fighter-plane engagements of Star Wars, the subdued, two-dimensional naval combat in Star Trek, the Newtonian planes of Battlestar Galactica, the staggeringly furious energy exchanges of the combat wasps in Peter Hamilton's books, and the use of antimatter rocket engines themselves as weapons in other sci-fi. But suppose we get out there, go terraform Mars, and the Martian colonists actually revolt. Or suppose we encounter hostile aliens. How would space combat actually go?"
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey to MetaFilter at Dec 17 at 3:11 PM
48 users marked this as a favorite
Is this the thread where I come out to MetaFilter as transgender? I think it is.
*takes a deep breath*
Forgive me, but I'm about to do a brave, terrible, painful thing. But I doubt it'll hurt me any more than I've hurt myself over the years and the truth can only set me free. I am very fortunate to have a lot of friends here that already know...
posted by loquacious to MetaFilter at Dec 22 at 11:57 AM
119 users marked this as a favorite
Uhh, guys, cops pulling a gun is not something that is excusable because they are "hot under the collar." In fact, it's REALLY important that cops DON'T pull their guns just because they are "hot under the collar." It's kind of like, lesson one in cop school. We let them carry guns because they are trained enough not to just ...
posted by furiousxgeorge to MetaFilter at Dec 20 at 7:20 AM
116 users marked this as a favorite
I remember when I took a few radio classes at Local Community College a while back. It seemed like a neat thing to get into and I've always been enchanted by the "magic" of radio, so why not?
I remember the very day that our professor (a relatively famous local DJ) laid it all out for us:
1) This is not a business for people who lik...
posted by Avenger to MetaFilter at Dec 20 at 8:19 PM
102 users marked this as a favorite
My kid used to play it, until I saw all the Nazi symbolism, and the totally gratuitous violence. This game is why some people think video games are trash.
Gods bless you and keep you, theora55; you are the reason teenage rebellion will never get old.
posted by Greg Nog to MetaFilter at Dec 22 at 7:30 AM
97 users marked this as a favorite
Is it just me or do we Americans have some pathological fear that someone, somewhere, is cheating the system?
No. Americans have a pathological fear of what they perceive as someone having it off better than you. This is why we hate unions, health care, and illegal immigrants, and blindly support regressive taxes because we dream of ourselves ...
posted by XQUZYPHYR to MetaFilter at Dec 17 at 6:41 AM
93 users marked this as a favorite
The following post contains Too Much Information. You've been warned.
In the years I've been coming to this place, Metafilter has affected my life in a lot of ways. It's opened my mind and changed my views on a lot of things. It's helped me find anniversary gifts for my wife, helped me pursue an honest to god ADD diagnosis from a professional...
posted by bondcliff to MetaFilter at Dec 16 at 11:11 AM
84 users marked this as a favorite
The article is serious hagiography, and feels out of place on Jezebel. The author tries to place some blame on the Hollywood starlet machine, but Murphy had a live career until she started trashing it herself.
All we know is that a woman who gave much of her life and herself to millions of strangers through her performances is dead at the age o...
posted by fatbird to MetaFilter at Dec 20 at 4:36 PM
76 users marked this as a favorite
Um... Why would he take it "badly"? I mean, I doubt that any rational human being would think there's a line of code in HP's software that says, "Ignore all black people!"
In my mind, the development work is done in the United States, and the QA testing is done in India, and QA keeps filing bugs that the face tracking softwar...
posted by davejay to MetaFilter at Dec 20 at 11:44 PM
69 users marked this as a favorite
I keep a notecard my the computer for when I'm actually working and think of something offline that I'd like to do but can't at the moment. This drives my offline time. Here are some things on that list. Some of them have online components, but they're directed, not just aimless clicking.
- read books
- return library books
- cook dinner
- ba...
posted by jessamyn to Ask MetaFilter at Dec 17 at 2:23 PM
69 users marked this as a favorite
I wish I'd seen this a couple of weeks ago. *sigh*
I'm picturing you sitting on the curb outside the smoldering remains of your home. Both your face and the sky are streaked with smears of black ash. The sun barely shines, its light reaching feebly through the gnarled tree limbs that once shielded your home.
In the distance, a dog howls, but...
posted by robocop is bleeding to MetaFilter at Dec 18 at 9:58 AM
61 users marked this as a favorite
DTMFA. I am amazed at all these relationship posts where the OP is willing to turn a blind eye to or excuse a galling series of trespasses for some reason or another.
Lying to you? DTMFA.
Cheating on you? DTMFA.
Stealing from you? DTMFA.
The list goes on and on and on.
People of AskMe: Having a trusting, supportive and kind relationshi...
posted by Admiral Haddock to Ask MetaFilter at Dec 18 at 3:05 PM
59 users marked this as a favorite
and comments 