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Mediocre is still up at OHSU. I left him with a pledge to check in tomorrow, along with cab fare and that book about Henrietta Lacks.

Thanks to my friend Troll, who happened to be working as a nurse at the medical tent and took me around the camp looking for the Livestream camera, whose operator pointed Mediocre out to me.
I'm super glad he was willing to go to the hospital. His speech was pretty non-linear. But he in general he was alert, oriented, and... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ottereroticist at 12:02 AM on November 9, 2011

I found him. We're up at OHSU ER. More soon.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ottereroticist at 9:53 PM on November 8, 2011

I got a toolbox from my dad when I was somewhere in the 6-8 year old range. It had a metal nameplate with my name and address on it and a few tools with it. My dad was a guy who disappeared into his shop on weekends but I could head down there with tools and I'd get little projects to do. All the tools had to be cleaned off before they went back in the box and he would stress the importance of doing a job well being partly cleaning up after yourself as well as just doing the thing. Every year or... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jessamyn at 6:00 PM on November 1, 2011

Video art piece (autoplay) with accompanying essay.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by BlooPen at 10:17 PM on October 24, 2011

Edmund White's The Flaneur: A Stroll Through the Paradoxes of Paris
posted to Ask MetaFilter by roger ackroyd at 3:27 PM on October 24, 2011

Ultimate Frisbee.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 7:22 AM on October 17, 2011

Start writing every day. Period. Write every day. I started on 100words.com which is on the honor system, write 100 words every day and only one "miss" day per month ie only one day per month where you forgot to write your hundred that day. You only get your month put up at the end of the month, after completing each days hundred; it's a nice motivator. And -- you try to write something, and really *say* something, in 100 words, do that and you'll learn to edit, cut! cut! cut!... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by dancestoblue at 3:14 PM on October 17, 2011 marked best answer

But breaking out of the rut and actually taking action is scary and difficult - I don't know why. It's only recently occurred to me that all of the stuff in my head might *not* be important, and that this level of introspection might actually be unhealthy.

Those two realizations are cornerstones of enlightenment. I have been plagued by similar problems. Like you, I do 10,000 things, but flit back and forth between them, depending on my mood. It's a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by overeducated_alligator at 6:55 AM on October 14, 2011 marked best answer

In college a favorite teacher talked me into editing our literary annual. I was doing precisely what you describe so eloquently. We had dinner one evening and, as we're both Jungian geeks, we decided I should summon a Goddess for help. I came up with "Industria" but she, wise woman that she is, said I would need the Goddess most like myself... "Procrastina." Next day she gave me this. It helped and so I'll pass it on to you.

And the great Mother... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by R2WeTwo at 6:52 PM on October 12, 2011 marked best answer

Put on a timer and do something for only 15 minutes. Practicing the starting and stopping is very useful. I try to practice with activities I avoid, and also activities that inspire hyperfocus.

My lapse in controlling my ADD tend to follow when I get over-absorbed in a project. By giving in to the tendency to hyperfocus, I stop worrying about all the other small things in life that creep up.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by politikitty at 7:37 PM on October 16, 2011

Google keeps rolling out their products internally, to Google employees, before opening them up via invites and then to the public at large. This ensures that the first people in the systems will be geeks, and friends of geeks, and that sets the tone for the community when you're building social software. There's nothing wrong with it, but it makes it hard to compete with Facebook, which started life as a way for college students to get laid.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by vacapinta at 12:06 PM on October 12, 2011

tommasz: "A couple of my Facebook friends said they were going to Google+ as a result. They posted once or twice and then it was back to Facebook."

Quitting Facebook is the new Moving to Canada.
posted to MetaFilter by schmod at 10:52 AM on October 12, 2011

Facebook is successful because they built an entire constellation of products by allowing other people to do the work. So Facebook is different for everyone. Some people spend all their time on Mafia Wars. Some spend all their time on Farmville.

I seem to spend all of my time trying to reset the privacy options and turn off "helpful" features. So much so that I have almost stopped posting. Yeesh. They've put the "work" in social... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 10:33 AM on October 12, 2011

Last night, I joked to my husband, "I wonder how many people are going to quit their jobs tomorrow and start following their dreams?"

I read the transcript of that speech and - I admit it - I cried a little. I almost felt like I'd personally disappointed Steve for not finding a calling and throwing everything I had into it. I struggle with the "Shouldn't I be doing what I love? Am I wasting my life and talent?" question constantly.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Metroid Baby at 5:00 AM on October 6, 2011

One way to get out of this existential crisis is to realise that Steve Jobs saying that is a perfect example of selection bias.

Of course he can say "do what you love - it worked for me!" because, well, it worked for him. It didn't work for the zillions of other people who tried to do what they love, and failed to make a living out of it.

It's like every winner of Idol gushing "stick with your dreams & you can achieve anything!... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by UbuRoivas at 11:16 PM on October 5, 2011

Everyone is different in this respect, but part of this equation for a lot of people is figuring out what you love and then figuring out how to survive and be able to do that. For some people, maybe for a lot of people, "doing what you love" is synonymous with having a job that you love. This seems to make a lot of sense to a lot of people in America and if this equation works for you, terrific. I'm one of those people who always has the fidgets, with anything. I've had a lot of ideas... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jessamyn at 11:00 PM on October 5, 2011

Welcome to Oaktown! You're moving onto the same block as a good friend of mine - its a nice spot. You'll be listening to the drums at Malonga Casquelourd all day! There are a couple City Car Share parking spaces within a couple blocks of there - something that might come in handy. You're right by the main library of course too and if you get interested in learning more about your new home, you should check out the Oakland History Room. If you get REALLY interested in learning more about your new... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by serazin at 1:12 AM on March 20, 2009

OrangeDrink is right - you're in a great location. Take a walk around the lake up to Grand and you'll find lots of restaurants. On Saturday's there's a very popular farmer's market on Grand under the freeway. Go to the Grand Lake (vastly superior to Jack London cinemas!). Also, my favorite secret Oakland destination is the lovely Bonsai Garden in Lake Merritt Park.

If you find yourself wanting shop in Emeryville you can take BART to the Macarthur station and get on the... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by smartyboots at 4:56 PM on March 19, 2009

Because if you do all these things, and your life isn't better, when then?
Because if you start, and fail, you'll then be a loser -- which you aren't now, because aren't trying anything at which you could fail.
Because your rut does serve you, well enough, and you don't know whether this new way of living would.

Fear, basically. At least, for me.

How? Baby Steps. Flylady is about cleaning your house,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by pH Indicating Socks at 10:37 PM on September 12, 2011

Here is something else you should know about Javascript that seems like it was almost designed to be confusing as possible:
- There is a programming language called Javascript.
- There is a programming language called Java.
- There is an interpreter ('thing that makes it go') for the programming language Javascript built into most web browsers
- There is an interpreter for the programming language Java that is sort of built in to most web... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jeb at 7:05 PM on September 7, 2011

"There are compensations" would be one of my answers. When I was about your age and going through a rough patch, a friend who was a bit older said, "Don't worry, everything starts to get better and easier once you turn 30." She was right! My 30s were awesome. Meanwhile, my mother told me that her 40s were her favorite decade: she'd gotten over some stuff, she and my dad finally had some extra money. (My own 40s have actually been a little rough, but I guess YMMV.) And I know... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by not that girl at 7:23 AM on September 7, 2011 marked best answer

So let me get this straight: we should look to comic books for accurate depictions of reality. Gotcha.

Also, these are stories about people who fly through the air, walk through walls, and shoot laser beams from their eyes.

I see where you're coming from with this, but these kind of comments still really annoy me. One of the things that I really like about well-executed art/film/literature with fantastical elements is that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ZsigE at 3:32 AM on September 3, 2011

"I'm the Muad'dib. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His 'Dibeness, or uh, 'Diber, or El Muad'diberino if you're not into the whole my-name-is-a-killing-word thing."
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 3:27 PM on September 2, 2011

The linked Flickr set is wonderful. I want this person to do more.
posted to MetaFilter by everichon at 2:19 PM on September 1, 2011

Don't worry folks, this will be derided in the popular media as "liberal activist northeastern judges trying to hobble our brave policemen" and it'll be reversed in a 5-4 USSC decision before long.

We can't let citizens get in the way of the State's police powers, now can we?

It's like goddamn clockwork - it is absolutely not possible for there to be a post about any kind of a victory for civil liberties or the left... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by strangely stunted trees at 11:10 PM on August 31, 2011

Buying a Macbook rather than a cheaper PC laptop has brought me a lot of joy. Buying a high-end Martin guitar rather than something less expensive was a good choice. Paying movers has always been worth it for me.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by mermaidcafe at 12:58 AM on August 31, 2011

In 1993, I was in my second year of university in Toronto, living in the Ryerson residence on the 10th floor; one of those apartment-style spaces where five bedrooms shared a kitchenette, two bathrooms, and a living space. There was a federal election going on at the time, and one day there's a knock at the door and I answer it and it's a kid -- well, somebody around my age, so a "kid" from my perspective now -- asking how I'm going to vote.

So I tell him I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:24 AM on August 22, 2011

Utilitarianism is a stupid philosophy. Even if you get both utilities - Water Works and Electric Company - you are fucked as soon as another player builds a Hotel on Mayfair. That's where the real money is. It's a "dog eat top-hat eat giant shoe" world out there.
posted to MetaFilter by the quidnunc kid at 10:22 AM on August 20, 2011

Why, the Sun Salutation of course!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by msali at 8:38 PM on August 14, 2011

There's rich, and there's rich.

The former, the nouveau riche, need to demonstrate that they are rich and so flaunt it with expensive clothes, trips, fancy gadgets and cars, etc. They'd talk about where they've been, who they've seen, where they're going, why what they're doing right now is merely okay but not the best ever, and if you want a better X you'll go somewhere else (far away) and have that X instead. They'll treat domestics and shop clerks... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by seanmpuckett at 8:01 AM on July 27, 2011

Are you smart? Do people like you? Do you get your work done on time?

Trust me, you can keep on slacking off. And until someone tells you you're spending too much time on the Internet, you can probably spend it on the Internet. When someone does mention something, then you can keep on slacking off (you might just not need to spend less time on the Internet ).

To answer your question: You can spend time figuring out how to slack off at work (i.e.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sandmanwv at 8:51 PM on July 13, 2011

We went on a whale-watching trip last year, and saw lots of whales - mostly humpbacks. Out by the Farallones - a marine sanctuary - three humpbacks approached our boat (the captain had shut off the engine) and hung out for at least twenty minutes. They swam around the boat, and under it, and spent a lot of time at or near the surface. At one point, when most of the other passengers were on the port side, I was standing in the stern and one of the whales surfaced and looked at me for a couple of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by rtha at 5:45 PM on July 14, 2011

The real Big Lie is that most people's beliefs have the slightest connection to reason. For almost everybody, reason serves to rationalize their existing beliefs, not to correct them. Offer evidence that contradicts their beliefs and watch how they use reason to try to maintain them anyway. As FatherDragon pointed out, you can really watch it in action.

There's a reason the scientific method was such a turning point for humanity.
posted to MetaFilter by callmejay at 7:30 AM on July 15, 2011

I got a spectacular first-hand experience with this effect when trying to debunk an associates fervent belief that Obama invented and instituted the 'mandatory backscatter scanning' of the TSA. After providing the machine's timeline and pointing out that Bush was responsible for the push back in 2002, and actively aware people were pissed about it back then. "Well, Bush may have 'pushed' for it, but Obama made it happen!" Well, no, the machines were being installed back in 2007 onward.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by FatherDagon at 7:17 AM on July 15, 2011

Harris employs one of the simplest meditation practices there is. (His intellectual personality and flat affect might be a turn-off to some people.) But if you practice Tibetan Buddhism, with all of its colors and syllables and deities, you still get pretty much the same effect. The endless internal chatter quiets; the sense that "I" am a self that resides behind the eyes and "has" a body...that phenomenon is ameliorated; and the sense that this body is independent from... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kozad at 8:12 AM on July 4, 2011

One of the emerging trends in the literature that surrounds this issue is that maybe computer classes, instead of being a run of four instructor lead seminars, should be a continuous workshop experience.

This is where I have been going lately.

Didn't want to self-link on someone else's blog, but this is basically the subject of my book. And the website for my book has a ton of handouts and links to stuff that's pretty useful.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jessamyn at 12:52 PM on July 7, 2011

Matt Haughey of Metafilter and his wife Kay split

Crap. I did not see that coming . . .

household chores right down the middle

Whew!

I guess it helps if you read the whole post first.
posted to MetaTalk by deadcowdan at 12:20 PM on July 6, 2011

I resented the people I served, whom I had been brought up to believe I belonged among. I eventually found my way into more cerebral roles, but there were definitely times when I missed being alone in the early morning hours with a hundred pounds or more of cheese. And I never found better friends on the job nor laughed as much at work than I did in those days.

Look, let me tell you something - blue collar (and pink collar) workers often resent their... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Frowner at 10:52 AM on June 28, 2011

"I LOVE books," I said. "Do you?"

Yesterday, I told my two-year-old daughter good night and said "I love you."

Her response: "I ... love ... BOOKS!"
posted to MetaFilter by mrgrimm at 10:16 AM on June 28, 2011

Holy jeez, folks. The whole point of the article is that little girls are often interested in things other than looking like a princess, and if you make the effort, you'll see that for yourself. Five years old is not too young to talk about peer pressure. Kid's gonna face it pretty soon, and she's already reading a book about it. Why not discuss it further?
posted to MetaFilter by katillathehun at 10:09 AM on June 28, 2011

This is great and all, but I'm bracing myself for when this guy "gets arrested on a DUI" and after a few days it's revealed that it was really a 17-year-old gay Syrian woman writing it all along.
posted to MetaFilter by Maaik at 9:17 AM on June 28, 2011

Also, cortex lacks a driver's license, making travel difficult outside of bus routes, hemp wagons, organic pedicabs, or whatever downtown Portland deems worthy for sustainable transportation.
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 10:42 AM on June 27, 2011

He wants to be a journalism major, so I'm trying to spend the summer teaching him about all the 21st century tools of the trade as well as visit every working journalist we can. Anyone in Seattle work at the Seattle Times? (I suppose I should hit up my friends at MSNBC for a visit too).
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 8:51 AM on June 27, 2011

As far as ultra-self-referential goes, I think my favorite (though it's really hard to pick) is at the end of the episode where Michael Bluth thinks he has a sister, Nellie. It turns out the sister is actually a prostitute who thinks he wants to hire her out for sex. Of course, Nellie Bluth is played by Justine Bateman, who's Jason Bateman (Michael)'s brother in real life.

The last lines of the episode have Nellie tell Michael just how much money she makes as a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Rory Marinich at 8:26 AM on June 16, 2011

Oh yeah, like a guy with a four digit user number is going to comment in a thread made by a guy with a six digit user number.

COME ON!
posted to MetaFilter by bondcliff at 8:21 AM on June 16, 2011

I only have a couple hundred, and I'd like to get it down to one per year alive

Heh. I tried contemplating that, and the moment I did, the bargaining started. But dictionaries don't count!
posted to MetaTalk by Zed at 10:23 AM on June 7, 2011

I forget where I first read this, and I can't find a link to credit, but let me paraphrase something I saw a few years back: The people who want to pray in schools? Their interest here isn't the spiritual welfare of their own kids. The people pushing school prayer can pray with their kids from the moment they wake up, until the moment they drop them off at school and from the moment they pick them up until the moment they go to bed.

Nope, these people are pushing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by deadmessenger at 5:06 PM on May 26, 2011

Look, I think if an individual student is giving a graduation speech and wants to pray as part of it, it's her right and privilege as a person. (I don't see it as the school sanctioning it.)

But what is happening to this young man is wrong. I am personally offended as a parent that his folks have kicked him out. And it is UNCHRISTIAN what the others are doing as well.

If you aren't going to act like Jesus has told you to act, why do you think... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:39 PM on May 26, 2011

Thanks! I used to be the surveyor for a crew like that 20-odd years ago. We didn't have nearly as much automation; a big sled that was dragged under the ties, followed by a chain of specialized machines with one or two men on each one. We were just starting to deal with concrete ties when I went back to school. I think what we learned was that concrete ties were twice as heavy as wood ones, and the whole procedure fell apart. Not to mention the machines. Except the surveying part!... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sneebler at 5:20 PM on May 27, 2011

Thanks, everyone!

Here's my final list of words and phrases to search for and examine closely, compiled from all your helpful answers!

hence
thus
notwithstanding
inasmuch
insofar
yet
seem(s)
however
on the other hand
therefore
ultimately
unfortunately
scope
the fact that
at this... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lollusc at 10:11 PM on May 29, 2011