Favorites from spacewrench

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MeFi post: This isn't how grief goes
Waterfall grief has failed, we need Agile grief
posted to MetaFilter by Damienmce at 9:10 PM on September 29, 2022
MeFi post: In Lebanon, People Are Holding Up Banks to Access Their Own Money
Say what you like about Erdogan, he made the banks run on time.
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 8:16 AM on September 22, 2022
MeFi post: ‘Hey, how are we going to make this work today?’
If it really is this hard to maintain the US arsenal, how well maintained do we think the russian arsenal is?
posted to MetaFilter by DreamerFi at 2:46 AM on September 18, 2022
Ask MeFi post: please help me not turn into a furious conspiracy theorist?
anything else you think might help

What helped me was turning that white-hot fury inwards and using it to burn out the last vestiges of the Just World delusion wherever I found them lurking in my own thinking.

Conspiracy theories exist because people invent them to make sense of the world; specifically, to make moral sense of our surroundings. But almost all conspiracy theories are delusions propped up by... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by flabdablet at 6:16 AM on September 17, 2022 marked best answer
MeFi post: ’This is serious. It’s going to be really bad.'
I'm making a time machine to bring all of these wonderfully brave people back to 2016, or 2017, or 2018, but I keep having to start over to make it bigger.
posted to MetaFilter by Dashy at 5:44 AM on September 15, 2022
FiNaLLy, tHe TrUMp TelL-aLL tHaT WiLL sHoW EvErYONe tHaT hE wAs A bAD, iNcoMpeTeNt PrEsIdEnT. WE GoT hIM!!!!1!
posted to MetaFilter by Philipschall at 5:25 AM on September 15, 2022
MeFi post: I realized I was a bit of a sentimental hoarder
That was a beautiful and thoughtful essay. I often think of a verse from World Without End by Laurie Anderson:

When my father died we put him in the ground
When my father died
It was like a whole library had burned down.
World without end
Remember me.
posted to MetaFilter by gwint at 8:36 AM on September 14, 2022
MeFi post: email [deprecated]
Hosting your own incoming email with Mail-in-a-Box is pretty straightforward. You can even encrypt messages as they come in if you need to temporarily store them in the cloud before downloading them to a secure device. Pointing your MX records to a Big Email Provider should not be necessary.

Outgoing email is the problem, as Fenollosa explains. The cartel is forcing small players out of the market by making it more and more difficult for independents to get through to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by backwoods at 1:58 PM on September 5, 2022
MeFi post: Since the Search of Mar-a-Lago
Reality Winner would like a word with the DOJ about different standards in the system please.
posted to MetaFilter by nofundy at 9:44 AM on September 4, 2022
MeFi post: Secretive Billionaire Hands Windfall to Conservatives
"All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation."

-John Adams
posted to MetaFilter by clavdivs at 7:42 PM on September 1, 2022
MeFi post: I Pray the Tomb Is Shut Forever. I Pray the Rock Is Never Rolled Away.
What? How can you have a heterosexual podcast about these books? How?

I blame John Gaius, but it’s anyone’s guess.
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 6:06 PM on August 24, 2022
MeFi post: "We wolves are happy to provide operational support in the sheep pen."
The revolution will not be televised but it will be financialized.

You will not be able to bank from home, sister
You will not pay $9.95 per online or mobile trade
You will not watch the line go up
You will not watch the line go down, because
The revolution will not be financialized.

The revolution will not be financialized.
The revolution will not be brought to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 2:34 PM on August 14, 2022
MeFi post: Not a star, a chorizo
Oh come on, this isn't even in the same galaxy as Alex Jones telling everyone that dead kids didn't exist and their parents were actors in a scheme to take your guns and inject you with mind control chips.

This was harmless and funny.
posted to MetaFilter by Naberius at 7:07 AM on August 5, 2022
I know that disinformation is a major problem and the last thing we need is for people to have reason to distrust scientists but this is hilarious.
posted to MetaFilter by ejs at 5:38 AM on August 5, 2022
Ask MeFi post: Have I been fooled by joining this startup?
Stick with it if you believe in the product or service.

* John has raised the funds and given you a good team.

* Single-digit equity and a low salary isn't too out of the ordinary early on.

* Seven months to paper a deal is pretty long but not inherently inoffensive.

* Lead founders who are erratic and impulsive and swing from oversharing to secretive ... well that's most of them, right?... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by MattD at 6:11 PM on August 1, 2022
Not showing you the comp plan within a reasonable time is a Super Duper Red Flag, Double Extra Large.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 4:40 PM on August 1, 2022
MeFi post: Thunder.
Ancient Chinese whammy bar, @signal!
posted by spacewrench at 8:26 AM on July 21 [1 favorite +] [!]


is...is this where I say "eponysterical"?
posted to MetaFilter by adekllny at 9:37 AM on July 21, 2022
Ask MeFi post: How do I catch the eye of a self-driving car?
Hey! Something I can answer! So I never did anything with self-driving cars but I did do quite a bit with computer vision in advertising. Your question is valid and an interesting one but to answer it simply: don't do anything different.

A lot of effort is put into figuring out your intent, including things you're not aware of. Even with humans the eye contact thing is probably just more of a personal confirmation that you're interacting with someone more than actually... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by geoff. at 7:15 AM on May 26, 2022
MeFi post: A sign of where things are going
This was what the funders of the modern GOP have been paying for all along. Abortion was the sizzle; destruction of the administrative state is the steak.
posted to MetaFilter by Etrigan at 5:22 AM on May 23, 2022
MeFi post: Something Went Very Wrong
When I see HODL, the image in my head is of Jim Cramer telling people to buy Bear Stearns.
posted to MetaFilter by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 3:01 PM on May 13, 2022
Say: Anyone with more than $5 million in assets does a market estimate January 1st of all holdings and you compare to purchase or last Jan 1 price and pay taxes accordingly.

And you pay taxpayer back if the assets decline in value, right?
posted to MetaFilter by chrchr at 2:07 PM on May 13, 2022
MeFi post: The World’s a Mess
My 401k is a hedge against the risk that the world holds on somehow.
posted to MetaFilter by paper chromatographologist at 10:29 PM on May 13, 2022
Ask MeFi post: Is the political and legal situation this hopeless in the US?
the democrats are ahead on the generic ballot

No they aren’t. It’s currently R+2.6.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jedicus at 9:13 PM on May 12, 2022
MeFi post: Think of it like AskMeFi on acid. Add baking soda and let sit.
Some cyberpunk novels have secret endings that are not easily guessed. For example, the novel 1984 by George Orwell is set in a future world in which the government has control over the thoughts and actions of the population. In order for the protagonist, Big Brother, to have a successful and happy ending, he must be able to remain hidden from the government for as long as possible.

this website is vaguely incredible
posted to MetaFilter by taquito sunrise at 2:18 AM on May 13, 2022
MeFi post: 1 + 1 = GAY!
Anyone who has even, like, a three-sentence understanding of what CRT is (and if you're not a lawyer or an advocate, that's about all anyone could expect of you) knows how vanishingly unlikely it is that it would make any meaningful appearance in an elementary school math textbook. So anyone seriously arguing that "oh yeah that's CRT in those books" doesn't know what CRT is, but merely gleaned that it is somehow Bad and Controversial Talk About Race from right-wing rhetoric, and was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by praemunire at 6:24 PM on April 19, 2022
I don’t see why CRT or other touchy feely subjects are in math books. It’s math. If Captain Ron is correct, that CRT is in math textbooks

Why would you think CRT is actually in math books? Why would you believe "Captain Ron" is correct? And why would you feel OK saying you believe what he is saying?

Maybe it's because you believe racist garbage like DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw's fabrication of a Maya... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Nelson at 6:09 PM on April 19, 2022
Why is America so depressingly awful?
posted to MetaFilter by dobbs at 5:39 PM on April 19, 2022
MeFi post: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic
> it really felt like touching the future.

DALL-E, the Metaverse, and Zero Marginal Content - "Machine-learning generated content has major implications on the Metaverse, because it brings the marginal cost of production to zero."
What is fascinating about DALL-E is that it points to a future where these three trends can be combined. DALL-E, at the end of the day, is ultimately a product of human-generated content, just like... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 1:01 AM on April 16, 2022
Gonna have to go be a farmer, learn a trade., something physical I can do with my hands.

Definitely. First you'll need to start a subscription plan with John Deere for the software for your farm equipment, then it's time to look into licensing some seeds from Monsanto.
posted to MetaFilter by whir at 10:46 PM on April 15, 2022
Ask MeFi post: Is coffee truck profitable?
I used to own a coffee shop in the lower east side of Manhattan, Here's a few things to ponder over:

$150k a year in revenue is nothing. That breaks down to roughly $3k a week. If you're making 10% profit thats only a profit of $300 a week for you.

People often want more than just coffee when they buy coffee. I would suggest going to a coffee shop that has about the same amount of traffic that you would expect to get at your location and sit... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by newpotato at 2:52 AM on April 9, 2022
Ask MeFi post: CPAP sticker shock
I private msged you, OP. I have a very lightly used one that I'm trying to get rid of.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by extramundane at 3:57 PM on March 18, 2022
MeFi post: What is this, some kind of joke?
A seemingly newly-created one from the hostilities in Ukraine, featuring that pleasingly grim Eastern European humour:

A man arrives at a newsstand each day, buys a copy of the newspaper, glances at the front page, then throws the paper away. The following day, he goes the same thing: buys a paper, looks briefly at the front page, and then tosses it. And again the day after that.

After a week, the news vendor’s curiosity gets the better of them.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ricochet biscuit at 9:36 AM on March 10, 2022
Ask MeFi post: small claims question
This handy PDF guide to small claims in the NYS city, town and village courts says:

Which Small Claims Court do I use?

When do I sue in a Town or Village Court

If the defendant lives, works, or has a place for doing business in a Town or Village, you can use the Small Claims Court:
• In that Town or Village (for up to $3,000), or
• In... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by slkinsey at 10:13 AM on March 10, 2022
MeFi post: Bugs in Hello World
WONT_FIX
posted to MetaFilter by ryanrs at 3:44 PM on March 9, 2022
I gotta say, "doesn't report error condition if output file descriptor is full" is a little nitpicky. Or if you're going to go that route there's an awful lot of other failure conditions; maybe the output is redirected to a network socket that fails. Maybe the output hangs and never times out. I don't think the C version can run out of memory or other allocated resources in a way the program itself needs to handle but I'm not 100% positive. Other languages certainly could.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Nelson at 3:14 PM on March 9, 2022
MeFi post: That figure is far higher than NASA might have hoped.
If we stop sending people into space, how will we get rid of all the account executives and telephone sanitizers?
posted to MetaFilter by Faint of Butt at 7:44 AM on March 4, 2022
Ask MeFi post: Tips for first-time condo owners
Probably the biggest thing is to get an idea of how the building itself is managed. Are there funds for replacing the roof, maintaining exterior finishes, parking areas, etc. Depending on the situation there, you could end up seeing some pretty intense special assessments to cover a roof, foundation work, etc.

How does the board work, do you want to consider getting involved there (condo boards are of then the same few old dudes who have been there forever).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by rockindata at 5:59 AM on February 22, 2022
MeFi post: Amazing Marble Machine Music
LEGO!
posted to MetaFilter by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 4:49 AM on March 2, 2016
MeFi post: gm fellow truckers
Use Shamir Secret Sharing (SSS) to split the bitcoin key into 5 parts, 3 of which are sufficient to reconstitute it.

Distribute the 5 parts to 5 volunteer groups. Each independantly encodes theirs onto the covid-19 spike RNA sequence, encases it in lipid nanoparticles, and visits each trucker in turn, injecting them with their bitcoin key.
posted to MetaFilter by joeyh at 10:24 AM on February 16, 2022
MeFi post: Pence Quid Pro Quo
"I mean, Adolf is a great guy and I love the man, but he's just not mein Führer, if you know what I mean."
posted to MetaFilter by briank at 7:28 AM on February 5, 2022
MeFi post: Ex-NM labor official shares real world experience: capitalism sucks
Forklift-related accidents kill about 100 people per year; as a result of that, every reputable company requires operators to complete training from a certified instructional program before they can operate them. Wharton MBAs kill a lot more people than that, if less directly, and they're allowed to graduate believing a whole bunch of things that not only aren't true, but aren't even close to true, and get put in charge of much bigger, much more dangerous economic machines.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mhoye at 7:42 AM on January 21, 2022
Ask MeFi post: "Kitty kitty kitty!" in Japanese?
This Q&A on Japanese StackExchange has the following suggestion from a native speaker:

猫ちゃんこっちおいで。
Neko-chan, kocchi oide.

The answer also notes that it might be more typical to use "[cat's name]-chan"; "neko-chan" just means "kitty". (Disclaimer: I do not speak Japanese.)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Johnny Assay at 1:15 PM on January 20, 2022
MeFi post: "It's not fatal, at least that's something"
I was reminded of Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Though with considerably more cock and less roach.
posted to MetaFilter by vorpal bunny at 12:12 PM on January 20, 2022
MeFi post: Is that QR code a scam?
Love our cyberpunk present where everything is potentially fake!
posted to MetaFilter by dis_integration at 6:09 AM on January 7, 2022
Oh man. This seems like a very easy way to scam.
posted to MetaFilter by tiny frying pan at 5:49 AM on January 7, 2022
MeFi post: Reflections on Jan. 6
Neither the Biden Administration nor Congress can meet the moment.
posted to MetaFilter by ob1quixote at 11:28 AM on January 6, 2022
MeFi post: "When [Public Health] Works, It's Largely Invisible"
The way you can tell I'm smarter than you is in how I can find the misery in any situation.
posted to MetaFilter by aramaic at 6:47 PM on January 5, 2022
MeFi post: "These fringe beliefs... are no longer confined to the fringe"

I'm scared of roaches but that doesn't mean that I'm in danger of losing everything to one.

I mean literally all it would take is for me to lose my job and get sick in rapid succession and I would be flat out of money very rapidly. I watched my father lose his job and get sick in rapid succession, and go from "solid middle class job and nice apartment" to "in hospice paid for by Medicaid" within 6 months. I watched... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:07 AM on January 5, 2022
Well $65k is barely at the US median wage, but $85k is within one deviation up and why would you think they would be afraid of losing everything all the time?

Because I make 85K and am terrified of losing everything all the time.
posted to MetaFilter by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:55 AM on January 5, 2022
In my opinion, the "economic insecurity" trope is mostly due to middle-class and upper-middle-class white centrists/liberals trying to pin the blame for neofascism on their perceived social inferiors, rather than doing the work of acknowledging and addressing the rot in their comfortable suburban communities.

I tend to think it's more that "economic insecurity" in the United States now applies to almost everyone who isn't insanely... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 7:37 AM on January 5, 2022
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