MetaFilter

SAVE THE PLANET
It's the only one with
BEER
and
CHOCOLATE
posted to MetaFilter by Greg_Ace at 1:15 PM on October 4, 2014

It frustrates me that writers like this treat it a sort of tasty intellectual morsel to savour before scrolling onto the next article

I feel you, but this is basically what The New Yorker is designed for. Think of it like recreational "intellectualism" as a lifestyle accessory: something not designed actually to affect what the reader does or thinks, but rather to make the reader feel happy they're the kind of person who... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by RogerB at 4:38 PM on October 3, 2014

<nelson>ha ha</nelson>
posted to MetaFilter by blue_beetle at 2:30 PM on September 30, 2014

It's not hard to come up with interesting high-concept, top-down solutions, but they ignore the really huge elephant in the room: the reason we're in this mess to begin with is because our institutions are either too weak when they're well-meaning, or too corrupt when they're powerful enough to get it done.
posted to MetaFilter by Kadin2048 at 7:51 AM on September 28, 2014

""Dozens of others in the US and Canada have tried to grow the plant - a type of horseradish that originates in Japan, where it is found growing naturally in rocky river beds - but almost all have failed.

The reason is simple: wasabi is deemed by most experts to be the most difficult plant in the world to grow commercially."

That's not a reason, that's just a restatement.

I hate it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones at 2:40 PM on September 18, 2014

The complete breakdown of civic institutions, of order, of the economy: where do these fit into the Glorious Bloody Revolution?

They've already broken down for most people. That's the point.
posted to MetaFilter by colie at 10:03 AM on September 13, 2014

I'm married to someone with a disability. You know what? He's not normal, and he'll be the first to tell you that.

Maybe it's because he has an invisible disability (we've noticed a big split between disabled people along visible/invisible lines before), but telling people about his limitations, that he can't do certain things that most people can, is liberating. They stop looking at him as if he's not trying; they just think, 'he has a disability,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jb at 4:35 AM on September 15, 2014

The best portrayal of IT work is House, with a vocabulary switch.

CHASE: House, we need to cure this server. It is very sick.
HOUSE: Did you rebooting it?
CHASE: I did try rebooting it.
HOUSE: Only stupid people try rebooting. You are stupid.
SERVER: Beep.
HOUSE: You are stupid too. Did you try re-installing windows?
FOREMAN: I re-installed windows.
HOUSE: You are an MCSE.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 9:58 AM on September 14, 2014

So as long as your Gmail password is unique from all your other passwords, you should be fine?

If it's true that these aren't google account passwords, but passwords to accounts on other systems that happened to be associated with gmail accounts, then yes.

But I'll remind everyone of one of the things this kind of leak means: would-be attackers have access to millions of real-world passwords. Now, most sites have at least half... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Zed at 1:19 PM on September 10, 2014

"You have to swear an oath to our god before we can send you off to fight those terrible religious extremists who want to live in a theocracy!"
posted to MetaFilter by The Underpants Monster at 8:10 AM on September 5, 2014

The less effort it takes to process a factual claim, the more accurate it seems.

That sounds about right to me.
posted to MetaFilter by arcticseal at 7:27 AM on September 3, 2014

It's not that the universe itself is holographic, but rather that our best descriptions of the universe end up being holographic.

It's similar to how you must turn an apple around in your hand in order to understand the entire apple. Those rotations you perform are not inherent in the apple itself, but you require those extra degrees of freedom in order to understand what's on every side of the apple all at once. A theory of everything is no... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by grog at 3:13 PM on August 28, 2014

For $750, they are not going to spend a lot of time on this.

This is not a court order from a judge. They can not compel you to pay anything.
Throw it in the trash.

If you get served a subpoena, then you have a problem.
Right now, you have a troll.

Though, I would keep an eye on your credit rating, as they might try to attach something to that.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Flood at 11:47 AM on August 28, 2014

"I bet this guy is white and I bet he is still alive"

*clicks link*

"Yep"
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:27 AM on August 13, 2014

If you run free, anonymous, unmoderated comment sections on your website, you aren't a victim of comment trolls. You are the cause of comment trolls.
posted to MetaFilter by Legomancer at 5:55 AM on August 13, 2014

I don't know the law but I've watched a lot of HR videos.
posted to MetaFilter by PMdixon at 5:19 AM on August 13, 2014

Calico is a project designed to make 40-50 year old billionaires stop aging. Anything else they discover along that road is nice but ancillary to their primary goal.
posted to MetaFilter by 2bucksplus at 7:29 PM on August 12, 2014

SPOILER: a disengaged young man drifts though a series of experiences; some mundane and some uncanny. Connections between these experiences remain obscure.
posted to MetaFilter by paper chromatographologist at 9:15 AM on August 12, 2014

I'm living at SNAP levels and have been for about a year now. The year before, I'd sworn off buying food with ingredients, except for the occasional RAPA scrapple and Little Debbie Nutty Bar, and the combination of a household ban on food with ingredients and poverty from an unexpected career change has been the catalyst for me going from being a fine executor of recipes to a damn good cook with whatever's at hand. In order to still eat cheese, my rule's relaxed a bit to include foods with 3-5... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sonascope at 8:30 AM on August 3, 2014

Metafilter: There appear to be people in the thread who did not read the article.
posted to MetaFilter by mazola at 3:50 PM on July 23, 2014

Passion and incivility are not the same thing. You can be both passionate and civil. That's a totally false choice.
posted to MetaFilter by Linda_Holmes at 6:00 AM on July 18, 2014

Life is sort of like a piñata filled with regrets
posted to MetaFilter by thelonius at 8:05 AM on July 17, 2014

Do you regularly decline helping out your friends?

Yes, but few of my friends need help in the area I specialize in, so it's easy for me to do with a clean conscience.

HOW do you navigate that without making anyone upset at you?

A phrase I like is "my malpractice insurance doesn't cover that." It deflects the issue on to a third party and makes it a little more clear... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jedicus at 1:07 PM on July 14, 2014 marked best answer

At this rate, I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up hating almost everyone.
posted to MetaFilter by stavrosthewonderchicken at 3:57 PM on July 6, 2014

His rolodex!

because everyone's in it
posted to MetaFilter by zippy at 5:22 PM on July 2, 2014

“If Americans want to change their government, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia,” Yarvin said in his talk. He conceded that, given the current political divisions, it might be better to have two dictators, one for Red Staters and one for Blue Staters. The trick would be to “make sure they work together.”

You can't say he doesn't have a sense of humour at least.
posted to MetaFilter by dng at 5:27 PM on July 1, 2014

And soon, that check for $3.72 will be in your mailbox.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Ruthless Bunny at 1:43 PM on June 28, 2014

This take you child to work thing is getting ridiculous.
posted to MetaFilter by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 6:13 AM on June 27, 2014

My roommate does heavy 3d animation and is super happy with his top of the line iMac. Today's top of the line iMac is way faster than a Mac Pro of just a few years ago. That said...

Everyone I know who has a Mac has a Macbook Pro, and they rave about how powerful it is—but I need a desktop for my workspace setup.

Why not a Macbook Pro with external monitor and keyboard? You get 2 screens and the option of taking your work to... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by the jam at 8:11 AM on June 26, 2014

That's why I've come to mistrust in general the reviews that at least one writer writes on a prominent blog; in one case, I bought the book on his recommendation, and it was quite awful.

I can only assume you mean Cory Doctorow, and oh ghods are his reviews ever untrustworthy. The man's as apt to sing the praises of a gourmet meal as he is an upended tin of Spam dripping fat.
posted to MetaFilter by johnofjack at 7:14 AM on June 26, 2014

To be honest with you, I'd speak with a lawyer before responding in any way. Condo boards scare the bejesus out of me. My experience with them is that if you cross them, they can make your life hell. So I would proceed with the extremest of caution.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by treehorn+bunny at 7:13 PM on June 25, 2014

Q: How Wrong Are You?
A: Not as wrong as you!
posted to MetaFilter by blue_beetle at 10:54 AM on June 24, 2014

…I suspect a lot of anti-vaccination parents will now become anti-public schooing and pull their kids out of the system…

The world needs its uneducated, low-wage, physical labourers. These folk are simply volunteering their children. They shall serve your children. Be happy for that!
posted to MetaFilter by five fresh fish at 5:15 PM on June 23, 2014

It's Chinese. 事到萬難須放膽. The literal translation would be "When affairs encounter ten thousand difficulties one must release one's courage" [literally, gall bladder]*

In other words, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.


*(Chutzpah resides in the gall bladder. Now you know.)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by mono blanco at 6:48 PM on June 20, 2014 marked best answer

So CoinStar charges a fee to take your quarters and this 'service' charges to give you them. It a like a circle of life.
posted to MetaFilter by octothorpe at 5:12 PM on June 20, 2014

The code trance can be heaven or hell, depending if you are creating line after line without needing to test, or unable to find a bug that threatens to prove you are a fake who was never meant to be a coder.
posted to MetaFilter by stbalbach at 8:44 AM on June 18, 2014

Go to the police and file a report.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jbenben at 10:11 PM on June 17, 2014

I like them but keep having flashes back to Phys1 — "Find the effective resistance between point A and point B in the network".
posted to MetaFilter by benito.strauss at 4:01 PM on June 14, 2014

"While Portugal is still in the throws of recession...."

THROES! The word you're looking for is THROES!

#crankythismorning
posted to MetaFilter by magstheaxe at 5:33 AM on June 13, 2014

If he wants to mention the word, why not say "t-word" the way we say "n-word"?

Because grown-ups shouldn't be expected to engage in wink-wink "I won't say what I mean but you know what I mean" silliness. Either mention the word or don't mention the word.
posted to MetaFilter by Longtime Listener at 7:47 AM on June 12, 2014

My husband rides and introduced me to it, but then I took the Alberta Safety Council course (similar to MSF in US) and it really put it in perspective. Even if you don't want to ride, I think you should take an introductory riding course. You're anxious because the risk is abstract and unknown to you. Taking the safety course and riding a bit will make the risk (which isn't *that* high) realistic and normal.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Kurichina at 7:58 PM on June 10, 2014 marked best answer

What kind of monster would force children to read Corey Doctorow? All those trees, a whole forest died for this.
posted to MetaFilter by humanfont at 6:21 PM on June 10, 2014

I love the classics: Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About
posted to MetaFilter by NortonDC at 6:50 PM on June 6, 2014

Your local bar association may have contracted with therapists who are or specialize in law-career issues. Years ago, the Oregon State Bar ran an excellent program like this.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by mmiddle at 6:18 AM on June 5, 2014

I don't really feel like "sex is primarily about pleasure" anymore than "eating is primarily about pleasure".

Are you sure you're doing them right?
posted to MetaFilter by infinitywaltz at 4:03 PM on June 2, 2014

Interestingly, this is precisely what religion looks like to people who are not religious: It's baffling, but there's very little that can be done about it.
posted to MetaFilter by klanawa at 4:58 PM on June 1, 2014

I read earlier this week that Anne Lamott recently had been trolled pretty fiercely. ANNE LAMOTT, she of gentle and funny writings about spirituality and the writer's craft. There's something very wrong out there when that happens. I'm not sure what the solution is, but people who are on a good spiritual path need to keep speaking out and writing, and I see that happening in this thread.

I don't know anything about this specific incident, but I'm... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by rtha at 3:03 PM on May 24, 2014

It would have troubles passing legal hurdles, but if it is true that the more robocars are on the roads the safer roads are in general, then I reckon the long view means that robocars should always protect their driver at the expense of others because that would make adoption of robocars more attractive and result in potentially quicker uptake.
posted to MetaFilter by juv3nal at 6:17 PM on May 13, 2014

If the collector can't be arsed to figure out your physical address, f*ck 'em. Not your responsibility to help someone else serve papers on you.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by valkyryn at 3:04 AM on May 13, 2014

Cool, I've always wondered what other 20-somethings in San Francisco are like.
posted to MetaFilter by 2bucksplus at 6:16 PM on May 12, 2014