MetaFilter

This is like the perfect storm of tone-deafness, asshattery, and prosecutorial dick-swinging.

Because what is the ONE THING that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES a law-enforcement agency will do? Back down. Never, never, never. No matter how wrong, how misguided, how inept. No matter the cost in innocent lives and reputations. Never Back Down.

That's fucking ENGRAINED in these assholes -- there is no mistake so large that it cannot be covered up, paid off,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by BitterOldPunk at 2:12 PM on July 8, 2013

Saying that you're going to bomb an abortion clinic would fall under that line.

Maybe if there was an actual line, and it was drawn consistently in one place, not defined at the discretion of thousands of different local law enforcement officials with different agendas all over the country. But our system isn't top-down. Local prosecutors and judges get to draw the lines wherever they want.
posted to MetaFilter by saulgoodman at 2:06 PM on July 8, 2013

If you make a comment about causing violence on social media, humorous or otherwise, but possibly construable as a threat, and someone reports it to the police, you will probably be investigated.

True, but to get from "investigated for" to "charged with," there ought to be some sort of logic and evidence in between...
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:04 PM on July 8, 2013

Muhammad Ali in his prime was much better than anti-lock brakes.
posted to MetaFilter by Lorin at 6:02 PM on July 8, 2013

Can we have one Jay-Z/Kanye thread without people just shitting on Mr. West? Regardless of your opinions on him, it isn't great for conversation to just go "nuh uh" every time somebody suggests he has talent.
posted to MetaFilter by JimBennett at 5:16 PM on July 8, 2013

I'd like to apologise on behalf of Canada for the dumbass that caused this.
posted to MetaFilter by windykites at 1:52 PM on July 8, 2013

Have there been any complaints of sexual harassment at meetups?
posted to MetaTalk by klangklangston at 5:11 PM on July 7, 2013

People are not taking heroin to cure pain. They are taking it because it gets them high.

Is that observation based on your own experience? Or hearsay?
posted to MetaFilter by Mister Bijou at 5:02 AM on July 7, 2013

If they had actually branded it the "Troubled Sidekick", I would have been all over that shit.
posted to MetaFilter by everichon at 7:42 AM on April 16, 2010

MBATR: I had the same thought. Disgusting to read "thankfully megarich facebook woman didn't get hurt" even as its still unclear how many people were injured and killed.
posted to MetaFilter by pdq at 7:27 PM on July 6, 2013

"Twitter has been ridiculous throughout this. The plane exploded! It cartwheeled! Everyone walked away! John Cho was killed"

There was an explosion and it spun around horizontally.

No more ridiculous than the news outlets ("its too early to tell if it's terrorism or not")
posted to MetaFilter by schwa at 6:22 PM on July 6, 2013

I'm not certain who I should laugh at here. The council, the mayor, the confused children, or the person who wrote the article. Or, if I'm to laugh at ALL of them, a diagram as to which order they should be laughed at would be helpful.
posted to MetaFilter by HuronBob at 10:28 AM on July 5, 2013

Wow. @SeinfeldToday is horrible and trite (much like the show was), but @Seinfeld2000 is amazing.

Counterpoint! Seinfeld2000 is completely formulaic in the mold of Crimer, whereas SeinfeldToday manages the sublime feat of carrying through the original Seinfeld's formula in a new setting.
posted to MetaFilter by kenko at 8:26 PM on July 5, 2013

Man, it's great to see El-P having a moment (or renaissance, depending on if was actually a moment before). He deserves all the praise and more. Fantastic Damage and I'll Sleep When You're Dead are superb albums, his production for Cannibal Ox was superlative, and DAMN Run the Jewels is one of the best albums, and for sure the best hip-hop album, of the year so far. It's FREE, fools. Why haven't y'all downloaded it yet?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by The Michael The at 6:50 PM on July 5, 2013

dobbs: El-P, maybe?. Go check out his collaboration with Killer Mike: Run The Jewels. It is my favorite hip-hop or rap release of the year.

Sorry, Yeezus.
posted to MetaFilter by raihan_ at 6:18 PM on July 5, 2013

Sorry not to be able to dig it out right now but Butch Vig recently did an interview where he described the process of working with Kanye, and it seemed pretty clear Kanye had next to nothing to do with the way the record sounded.

Has Butch Vig ever even worked with Kanye? I'm not sure he has any idea what he's talking about. The people who actually worked on Yeezus all seem to believe that Kanye is wholly responsible for his sound, and from... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by JimBennett at 5:26 PM on July 5, 2013

After listening to the new Jay-Z and then going back to Yeezus, I am struck by how much Magna Carta Holy Grail sounds like yesterday and Yeezus sounds like tomorrow.

(Also, if you're sick of hearing about Kanye, maybe this isn't the right link to click on?)
posted to MetaFilter by incessant at 4:52 PM on July 5, 2013

A far more compelling argument here is that 4:3(or even 5:4) is a superior aspect ratio for computers.

Think about it, 16:9 or 16:10 is shit for anything but video in that aspect ratio, or software that is specifically designed to take advantage of the widescreen format like a lot of left-to-right music production stuff.

Hear f***ing hear. A widescreen monitor is great on the desktop if it's large enough overall to show two... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by George_Spiggott at 3:57 PM on July 5, 2013

Is it wrong that my first thought was "Oh god we got to get him inside an fMRI machine when he's learning a new language"

Yes.
posted to MetaFilter by daniel_charms at 7:46 AM on April 23, 2012

Here's the thing to take into account - this kid is only 15 but has no doubt dealt with countless fawning, condescending white people who are SO IMPRESSED with him. And they talk endlessly about how he is proof that the American Dream is real and works. He's the pet model minority of all the adults around him, and he probably has a Ph.D in post-colonialist attitudes at his young age. The frozen caveman shtick he's pulling - tapping on the TV, astonished that there are white people in there! - is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by naju at 11:31 AM on July 4, 2013

I hate to say this, but Metafilter is quickly becoming another place where I really shouldn't read the comments.
posted to MetaFilter by GhostintheMachine at 11:18 AM on July 4, 2013

I remember taking these tests when I was a kid and there were questions about drug use. Everyone just checked every drug. Then we would see in the news stories about the drug crisis in inner city schools. "50% of NYC students admit to having tried crack"
posted to MetaFilter by Ad hominem at 11:09 AM on July 4, 2013

Be way funny if the reporter and the kid conspired to produce a fake "reporter hoaxed by African kid" meta-story just to troll Metafilter. Cuz that would be some A-grade trolling right there.
posted to MetaFilter by spitbull at 11:01 AM on July 4, 2013

One of the reasons I've avoided spending much time on the East coast ofthe US is that you encounter a certain attitude with alarming frequency, a combination of condescension, provincialism, and ignorance. Like, "oh you grew up in the Midwest, how do you like our toilets with running water here?" And at first, you're not sure if its because they're trying to be a jerk to you, or if somebody told them a tall tale once and thy believed it, or what. And it takes a while to discover that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Llama-Lime at 10:44 AM on July 4, 2013

Never attribute to malice what can be explained away by ignorance,

yeah, its the continued ignorance itself which can be dumb racist patronizing about the other

there I said it.

I don't wanna fight about it and I usually try not say it but this one here is ridiculous as are the arguments desperately seeking to convince that its just dumb journalism.

the whole fucking english... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by infini at 10:26 AM on July 4, 2013

Or because he's a person telling her something and we generally presume people are telling us the truth?

Especially if you're a journalist, apparently.
posted to MetaFilter by Navelgazer at 9:55 AM on July 4, 2013

My hamburger meter just broke.

it's tragic that US journalists and consumers reject modern images of the non-US non-Europe world.

And unlike previously, the internets (courtesy Googleballoons infact) are bringing this obsolete topdown view to our handheld devices, just like it tells us how third world Presidents are treated by the OECD.
posted to MetaFilter by infini at 9:54 AM on July 4, 2013

Well, because they'd presumably already speak English when they arrived, at least.

You'll never guess the official language of Nigeria.
posted to MetaFilter by Sys Rq at 9:25 AM on July 4, 2013

The zebra thing is just about forgiveable, but this:

“It was strange to meet light-skinned people,” he said. “I thought, ‘Who are they? Are they human?’” He had never seen a television: “I tapped on the screen: ‘Why are there people in there?’”

I mean, come on. Never having seen a television might be possible in very isolated communities in central Africa (and even then I'd take it with a barrel of salt and triple-check it)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by atrazine at 9:21 AM on July 4, 2013

(I used to do a similar thing back in the early days of BMX where I would explain Canada to American kids in Northern Michigan. Stuff like how we have winter tires for our bikes with nails and that our dad's stood guard while we BMXed to protect against polar bears. The best part was that we all lived much further south than the guys we were talking to.

Actually, I once convinced someone that we had grizzly bears (whose habitat is often described as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 9:17 AM on July 4, 2013

I'd of course prefer to think he was pulling the wool over the reporters eyes but I don't think it's the simplest scenario.

See, back when I was fifteen, I knew some kids who fibbed to stupid reporters who had showed up at our high school looking for a story about [cue eighties panic]....satanism!!!! Were there local satanists? Oh, of course there were!!! Lots and lots. Worshipping the devil in the abandoned Ovaltine factory down the street. Etc, etc.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 9:07 AM on July 4, 2013

“At first, I didn’t want to come to America,” he said. “My parents were strangers.” Boston was another planet.

“It was strange to meet light-skinned people,” he said. “I thought, ‘Who are they? Are they human?’” He had never seen a television: “I tapped on the screen: ‘Why are there people in there?’”
posted to MetaFilter by infini at 8:57 AM on July 4, 2013

This kid is going to go far.
posted to MetaFilter by Faint of Butt at 8:30 AM on July 4, 2013

They really missed a home run by neglecting to name their new company 'Facebuck'.
posted to MetaFilter by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:47 PM on July 4, 2013

They are the reason I stopped watching the show.

Maybe you'd like them better if they acted more robotic?
posted to MetaFilter by heathkit at 12:27 PM on July 4, 2013

I had some personal experience with this nonsense a few years back. When I started college, I got a part-time job at a nearby convenience store chain. They paid us through payroll cards, although we could switch to direct deposit at any time. The payroll cards were terrible--you had to take out money an specific ATM's, and they charged you extra fees in addition to the ATM fees. To make it worse, you can only take out so much from an ATM at once. The store ATM only let you take out $200 at once,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Green Winnebago at 12:03 PM on July 1, 2013

Why is the heroine wearing a bathing suit under her leather jacket?

Full-body replacement cyborgs only care about the weather when they need to.
posted to MetaFilter by mephron at 9:30 PM on July 3, 2013

I think I'll wait for the next Bitcoin Trust, founded by someone who stole the idea from WinklevossX2. Because they appear to be destined to always come in a distant second.
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 12:55 AM on July 4, 2013

It's worked before - Ellison's claim on Terminator is total bullshit.

Yep, and arguably helped lead to Ellison's second career as a plaintiff. This isn't really about whether or not Cameron is an asshole (already abundantly covered), or whether or not Avatar has had a cultural impact to match its financial success, or any cultural impact at all (there were a number of people who wanted to live on Pandora, as Na'vi, after the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:25 AM on July 3, 2013

You have that backwards. Culture is enriched and enabled by artists being free to be inspired and let themselves soar. In stark contrast, culture is suppressed and held hostage by these money-grubbing threats of lawsuits that artists face whenever they manage to turn their labor into something so innovative and exciting that people want to reward them for it.

Dean is hardly a nobody. His work didn't lie undiscovered allowing someone to steal his thunder.
posted to MetaFilter by anonymisc at 10:00 PM on July 2, 2013

Real justice would be slapping Roger Dean with a frivolous lawsuit penalty, having his threat dismissed, and having this happen within a day, at no expense, so productive people can get on with the tasks of being productive.
posted to MetaFilter by anonymisc at 8:22 PM on July 2, 2013

In other words, you were inspired by my stuff. You used it without my permission.

We need permission to use inspiration now?

For Dean fans, the smoking gun seems to be art designers on Avatar admitting that they used Dean's album art as inspiration. Ca-Ching!

And? Inspiration is part of the artistic process. Has Dean made payment arrangements with all those who inspired him?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by juiceCake at 4:13 PM on July 2, 2013

Yep. On one hand, this seems like a ridiculous money grab. On the other, fuck James Cameron.

Why the hate for James Cameron? I am not being difficult with that question -- I just don't know what the hate's about. I really really liked Avatar. Thought it was a great story and breathtaking cinematography. But what's the hate about? I just want to know.
posted to MetaFilter by qivip at 8:37 AM on July 2, 2013

But at this point, I really hope Zimmerman gets cleared of all charges whatsoever, and gets given a free ice cream sundae into the bargain. Just because I'm so sick of the lynching so many people want to engage in on this case.

Shame on you. Seriously.
posted to MetaFilter by eunoia at 5:58 AM on July 2, 2013

Please cite me a U.S. political dissident that has recently been targeted for kidnapping or assassination, or prison with torture, indefinite detention, and no trial.

Anwar al-Awlaki
posted to MetaFilter by banal evil at 12:09 PM on July 1, 2013

Please cite me a U.S. political dissident that has recently been targeted for kidnapping or assassination, or prison with torture, indefinite detention, and no trial

The statement you disagreed with included the statement "and others" which you are ignoring for whatever reason. The US has been murdering and torturing political dissidents around the world for DECADES.
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 12:02 PM on July 1, 2013

I'm very sorry that you feel that the suicide watch could've potentially led to torture, leading to the need for a suicide watch, empath.

What are you apologizing for, exactly? You are engaging in this thread in a really weird way.
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 12:00 PM on July 1, 2013

markkraft: Manning was detained in the way that he was due to a history of suicidal thoughts.

The justification is 100% irrelevant to the fact that he was kept in solitary confinement, which is considered a form of torture by international courts, psychological experts, and many others who aren't the US government. It doesn't matter why they claim they do it; it's still torture.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by IAmBroom at 11:53 AM on July 1, 2013

Jose Padilla, and An-war Al-waki, off the top of my head, but he said "and others", which includes everyone in Guantanamo, or elsewhere that have been tortured and murdered by the CIA or US military. Even before the war on terror, we tortured and murdered people all over Central and South America and in Asia.
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 11:10 AM on July 1, 2013

Putin said. "If he wants to stay here, there is one condition: he must stop his activities aimed at inflicting damage to our American partners, no matter how strange it may sound on my lips."

I'm not sure I've ever heard a politician say "I can't believe these words are coming out of my mouth".
posted to MetaFilter by el io at 10:02 AM on July 1, 2013