MetaFilter

Fred was almost sixty when that show was made and he could still move like gravity and inertia were at half strength

Ginger Rogers doing the Charleston at a fair old age makes me very happy and somewhat jealous.
posted to MetaFilter by shinybaum at 9:35 PM on September 6, 2010

The music sounded really familiar to me, and it was driving me crazy until I figured out that it's used in the Cave Story soundtrack.
posted to MetaFilter by Stove at 5:35 PM on September 6, 2010

The Police: (1-3)We were kinda cool when it wasn't (4-5)almost all about Sting.

Steely Dan: (1-4)Our brand of world-weary cynicism, (5-7) masked by slick production values and jazz hooks, (8-9) is no longer entirely feigned.
posted to MetaFilter by logicpunk at 12:44 PM on September 4, 2010

"Imagine a flower: A climbing orchid, to be exact; the one of some twenty thousand varieties that produces something edible. Now imagine that its blooms must be pollinated either by hand or a small variety of Mexican bee, and that each bloom only opens for one day a year. Now imagine the fruit of this orchid, a pod, being picked and cured, sitting in the sun all day, sweating under blankets all night for months until, shrunken and shriveled, it develops a heady, exotic perfume and flavor.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Plutor at 5:32 AM on September 3, 2010

This is terrible. My calculations clearly concluded that the number of cats would be seventeen catjillion by the fourth year. His amateurish mistake is simple to identify. He did not take into account the Feline Destructiveness Potential (FDP). In line with his calculations, I also presumed that all the cats live to breeding age and that there was an infinite supply of food for the cats. But in contrast with his work, I took into account the FDP of the collection of cats. And as most students of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TwelveTwo at 12:35 PM on September 3, 2010

That's how my father died.
posted to MetaFilter by Astro Zombie at 1:01 PM on September 2, 2010

If only it were from the same movie as this scene, I'd never need any other movie in my life.
posted to MetaFilter by bewilderbeast at 12:54 PM on September 2, 2010

There’s nothing in the world more tired than a progressive blogger like me flipping out over the latest idiocies emanating from the Fox News crowd.

I wonder if it's not just tired, but actively unhelpful to the progressive cause. How much time and energy is spent tracking, refuting, ridiculing, and getting outraged over every single stupid thing Glenn Beck or some other Fox News cretin does or says? What does any of it actually accomplish, other than... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pants McCracky at 11:13 AM on September 2, 2010

Raise your hand if there are a bunch of really neat, helpful things you've learned that you would never share on the Internet because you would get drawn into a dead-end debate with a bunch of random people intent upon demonstrating a few edge cases under which your helpful things turn into weapons of mass destruction.

Now keep your hand raised if this ever happened to you on Metafilter
posted to MetaFilter by circular at 12:35 PM on August 31, 2010

It's nice to see the accordion get some love around here. ;)
posted to MetaFilter by dorgla at 9:52 AM on August 30, 2010

I've worked on many horrible cartoons over the years but I never got paid to shit on the hard work of old school animators.
posted to MetaFilter by bonobothegreat at 10:02 PM on August 28, 2010

Perhaps I'm just getting older but I find myself having this reaction to things more and more.
posted to MetaFilter by Sandor Clegane at 7:46 PM on August 28, 2010

Oh yeah, I just realized, the two protests are going to meet on the mall and have a dance battle. I guess that makes it tolerable.
posted to MetaFilter by fuq at 6:44 AM on August 28, 2010

Led by archaeologist Alessandro Vanzetti of the University of Rome, La Sapienza, the researchers say that Ötzi’s body and artifacts were in fact carefully placed on a stone platform 5 meters away from where the body was later found.

Circular argument.

I>Among the larger artifacts, only the backpack frame, trapped against the rock, remained in place. Human and animal hair on the platform—which is uphill from the body’s final... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by DU at 7:02 AM on August 27, 2010

To be fair, some of the best videos I've seen have had shockingly few views

Oh, I agree. Space Alone comes to mind. Which until it was on the blue (and probably elsewhere), had very few views (if I remember correctly). But man, these videos were just bad.
posted to MetaFilter by IvoShandor at 3:59 AM on August 27, 2010

Moyer describes Dennett as believing that "The world is polarizing between the rational and the faithful and it's time to break the spell of religion." Dennett does not correct the characterization. This does not sound to me to be a person uninterested in dismantling religion.

He then likens religious belief to belief in any other supernatural phenomenon like poltergeists.

Framing religion as a coping mechanism that is grounded in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by oddman at 5:55 AM on July 26, 2007

The facial expressions are interesting. Serena Williams looks like she wants revenge against the tennis ball that killed her father. Elena Dementieva looks like a zen fairy.
posted to MetaFilter by weston at 3:37 PM on August 25, 2010

Take peanut butter. Trader Joe's sells 10 varieties. That might sound like a lot, but most supermarkets sell about 40 SKUs.

But I bet the 40 varieties that Kroger sells actually come from just two or three companies.
posted to MetaFilter by punkfloyd at 10:38 AM on August 25, 2010

Yeah, those first two Obama jokes are just weak. Ha ha Obama pretends to be an expert on things and ha ha his wife takes expensive vacations! The first is not true; Obama doesn't brag, generally, and yet I'm certain he's more of an expert on Kabul than O'Rourke and most of his colleagues. The second one ... well, I have no idea whether or not it's true, because I don't care, and who in their right mind would? These jabs are typical... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by creasy boy at 5:53 AM on August 24, 2010

And once again, a painter posted to MeFi turns out to produce work that looks like it's stolen from an 8th grade nerd's Trapper Keeper. Why does this keep happening?
posted to MetaFilter by nasreddin at 11:31 PM on August 23, 2010

From the "worst jokes":

Bec Hill "Some of my best friends are vegan. They were going to come today but they didn't have the energy to climb up the stairs."

I assume that made the list because everyone knows that being a vegan gives you super powers.
posted to MetaFilter by ocha-no-mizu at 12:39 PM on August 23, 2010

I actually liked his "worst" joke better'n his "best."
posted to MetaFilter by Mister_A at 11:40 AM on August 23, 2010

Losing art is a lost art.
posted to MetaFilter by dances_with_sneetches at 12:04 PM on August 23, 2010

Regarding your second link, from the perspective of a lot of people in urban studies, the suburbs are part of cities. The statistic quoted in the first link about 50% of the world's population living in cities - that only is valid if you count suburbs. Michael Batty's Cities and Complexity gets at how cities actually look and how they actually develop, as opposed to our idea of them.
posted to MetaFilter by outlandishmarxist at 2:30 PM on August 20, 2010

Urban Legends: Why suburbs, not cities, are the answer.
posted to MetaFilter by homunculus at 1:34 PM on August 20, 2010

For all the reasons sourwookie lays out, I'm fascinated by Vegas but will never go there. I feel as though you'd need to be a sucker to do so.

Actually, I find them to be precisely the reasons TO go. Make the trip as a sort of anthropological exercise; it's exactly why I went. (Well, that, and Vegas was the final stop in a road trip itinerary whose whole theme was "I want to find kitsch".)

Even if you don't gamble,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by EmpressCallipygos at 2:38 AM on August 20, 2010

Yeah, the Titanic resort is like all of Las Vegas distilled into one idea. A giant ship in the desert with water fountaining from the lower decks, a monument to folly where everyone tries to beat the odds but they all go down in the end... The concentration of irony would be so great it might actually create a black hole.
posted to MetaFilter by Kevin Street at 12:25 AM on August 20, 2010

He said he hoped to find a museum or college willing to acquire his $3-million trove.

and:

"Selling individual records isn't paying the rent," Gershenz said. "I've found about five people with an interest in the collection. But they want me to give it to them. I really can't afford to do that. This is my life's work."

Someone needs to teach Mr. Gershenz about... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cjorgensen at 2:55 PM on August 19, 2010

I'm on my way to go read this, because I would *use* a reputable, safe and clean mobile slaughter service.

Every year, my family raises pigs. (Please, can we not get all fighty about this? I raise my own meat and the pigs have a good, clean, sunshine-filled life until the end.) When they get big enough to go to the butcher, they go. About a week before butcher day, we park the trailer next to the pen so the pigs have a few days to get used to it. The day before, we let... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MonkeyToes at 4:37 AM on August 19, 2010

How about just stop putting dead, rotting flesh in your mouths? Just sayin'...
posted to MetaFilter by Mooseli at 3:58 AM on August 19, 2010

I'm just concerned that many of these idle doctors could become mad doctors.
posted to MetaFilter by fleetmouse at 8:24 AM on August 18, 2010

Well, one obvious FAIL is that not every Ph.D. expects and intends to get an academic job after those many years in the system. A great many go on to do other things because they want to, not because the market is any dryer than it has been in a decade.
posted to MetaFilter by clvrmnky at 8:20 AM on August 18, 2010

A bunch of us Houston Mefites just saw Eagleman at TedxHouston. He was a compelling speaker for sure.
His whole lecture was about the importance of acknowledging how very little we know about what's really going on, and advocating for possibility, and keeping questions open, rather than being so focused on answers. . He says he's a "possibilianist." My guess is, a lot of Mefites are, too.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by pomegranate at 8:38 AM on August 17, 2010

Thank you for creating the list yourself so I don't have to click 25 slides!
posted to MetaFilter by NoraCharles at 8:48 AM on August 17, 2010

Yeah, Starbucks whith their whole, "speak our way" is kind of sad. It was novel the first time I ever went in, but the second time I knew I would participate in their creepy-assed marketing shtick. Once a year though I like their coffee, "regular"

I can remember a day when one could expect to be barked at by hairy-armed NYC lunch-counter men

Eisenbergs, 22nd and 5th, if you're lucky... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by From Bklyn at 7:38 AM on August 17, 2010

She's wrong about Burger King. Well, I think so. It's been years since I went to one. But when I was a picky adolescent, I perfected an ordering system for my plain cheeseburger that went something like this: "..and a cheeseburger, plain, no ketchup or onion. Yes, just a dry bun, nothing else. No condiments please." Even so I had to make a trip back to the counter about half the time because I had neglected to exclude some other standard condiment, or they had... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 7:27 AM on August 17, 2010

"Actually, you might see extreme economic destabilization if you give an entire country of poor people large checks."

Not according to the new research in the book Just Give Money to the Poor.
posted to MetaFilter by puny human at 2:15 PM on August 16, 2010

Actually, you might see extreme economic destabilization if you give an entire country of poor people large checks.


What with the haitian economy working so smoothly just now, we really dont want to ruin something so perfect.
posted to MetaFilter by sgt.serenity at 2:55 PM on August 16, 2010

Viva la revolucion! (This is why nobody wants to go to / be in / live in the Upper West Side anymore. Fairway supermarket at 5pm on a Tuesday: 6000 Lynne Rosenthals elbowing you in the face to get to the fish counter.)
posted to MetaFilter by bukharin at 7:01 AM on August 17, 2010

I think RIAA is a branch of the Mafia.
posted to MetaFilter by five fresh fish at 2:55 PM on August 16, 2010

If you're trying to help a homeless person it's reasonable to buy him a sandwich instead of giving him money which he might spend on booze. But if you just stole $20 from a homeless person? In my opinion the right thing to do is give him his $20 back, and then maybe think about spending extra to make sure he gets a meal.
posted to MetaFilter by miyabo at 1:02 PM on August 16, 2010

I don't know if you've noticed this, but when people cluster, the average intelligence goes down.

I don't know if you've noticed this, but human culture and science.
posted to MetaFilter by DU at 4:48 AM on August 16, 2010

We are not all the same. And we make distinctions based upon differences. This may not be "fair" but it seems to go back to a tribal life pre-agricultural society.
posted to MetaFilter by Postroad at 3:51 AM on August 16, 2010

"We are all the same, and everyone should be treated equally," is a wonderful and, in my mind, accurate sentiment, physiologically. It seems to me that the divide then becomes one of culture.

How is this accurate, physiologically or otherwise? There is nothing wonderful or remotely accurate about the fiction that "we are all the same." "We" are not all the same, blacks are not all the same, whites are not all the same, my... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by three blind mice at 3:10 AM on August 16, 2010

I'm in agreement with those who see the Catholic orders as a refuge for homosexuals in cultures that were hostile to them. In fact, I suspect that "the calling" was, for the most part, a metaphor for homosexuality. Priests would take confession from boys who admitted to homosexual desires and recruit them into the secret brotherhood. This was a structure that worked well at perpetuating itself up until homosexuality became socially acceptable.

One of the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jimmy Havok at 3:20 PM on August 14, 2010

That's not really a design question, is it?

I don't think it's really a valid question no matter what your profession. "There are no stupid questions" you say? Oh yes, there are.
posted to MetaFilter by sunshinesky at 7:00 AM on August 14, 2010

Miko, let's assume that you're right, that there is value beyond dollars. This is a position I happen to agree with, so it's not an assumption which is hard for me to make.
But where I run into difficulties is that, if we're looking for value beyond dollars, why insist that we compensate that value in dollars?!

If you're doing something which transcends market forces, turning around and demanding that you be awarded the benefits of market... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by valkyryn at 7:42 AM on August 13, 2010

Good grief. She starts off by examining something having to do with "left neo-liberalism" and "right neo-liberalism", none of which seems (to me) to make much sense other than she is looking for two sides of an axe to grind...

Okay, her points about how artists aren't paid enough are good ones. We do undervalue art here in the US. I've known this since the mid-80s when I lived in Germany for a year, and there was a very different approach to how... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by hippybear at 6:07 AM on August 13, 2010

I think that her eventual and merely-implied point is that there should be public funding for the arts. I agree. Her arguments to get there are elliptical, anecdotal, whiny, and crappy. As far as I can tell, it boils down to "artists are undervalued, and because they must compete for funding, must do art about something that someone with money cares about. Also, neoliberalism sucks."

She seems to be presenting this as something that hasn't always been true,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by contrarian at 5:29 AM on August 13, 2010

because really if people are going to go to prostitutes we might as well do all we can to make sure it's as safe as possible...

I know this was meant as a devastating critique of the whole idea but, yeah, this is actually more feasable than trying to "build a society" where (presumably the government?) can force people to have "healthy, mutually enjoyable relationships" with one another.

Some things the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Azazel Fel at 10:07 AM on August 12, 2010