MetaFilter

Nobody is being forced to get a vaccine. If they don't like their employer's vaccine mandate, they are free to leave that job and find a different one that is more to their liking. I have been informed that this is extremely easy for anybody to do in America, and that anyone who stays in an unsatisfactory job lacks gumption and deserves to fail.
posted to MetaFilter by Faint of Butt at 9:08 AM on September 10, 2021

it'd do us all good to not have the comment section of this website look like an embarrassing shitshow of horrible language to future readers.

Yes, I would much prefer to be on the record to future readers as calling the anti-vax folks by their proper nomenclature, "monstrous fuckbuckets of turds".
posted to MetaFilter by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 9:00 AM on September 10, 2021

The media seems to have missed just how sick, so to speak, those of us who have been doing the right thing -- which involves no small amount of sacrifice -- are with the braying jackasses whose utterly politicized refusal helped give the Delta variant a foothold.

And it was refreshing to see Biden more or less state outright that some Republicans are playing games with their constituents' lives in order to hurt him politically. More of this, please.
posted to MetaFilter by Gelatin at 7:47 AM on September 10, 2021

We can vax if we want to,
We can leave red states behind
'Cause your friends don't vax,
And if they don't vax,
Well, they're no friends of mine.

We can vax, we can vax,
Some of us are takin' the vax,
We can vax, we can vax,
Believing in science and facts...
posted to MetaFilter by snofoam at 8:27 AM on August 30, 2021

The owls are not what they seem.
posted to MetaFilter by kersplunk at 2:38 AM on August 26, 2021

No, that’s not too much. It’s what lawyers get an hour, and that’s on the lower side. And no, despite what Metafilter loves to tell people, consultations with professionals are not free. Lawyers are entitled to be paid for their time and expertise, just like anyone else is.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by holborne at 11:48 AM on August 20, 2021

If the risk of your not getting this advice stacks up to significantly more than $400, you’re getting a good deal. If not, then not.

Don’t think about price, think about value.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by rd45 at 11:25 AM on August 20, 2021

My experience is that consultations are free only if they are part of the sales process. So, I have had free consultations with lawyers in the context of "is it worth pursuing legal action in this situation?" If the answer is yes, I'd be expected to hire them and pay them (or in some cases they may work on contingency), and that's why they do it for free. Sometimes if the answer is no, they will hand out some free advice as part of the conversation. But I don't think many lawyers give... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by primethyme at 10:44 AM on August 20, 2021

Exactly what wierdo said. How are the condo buildings' finances? Do they have large reserves funds, so they won't be hitting you up for money when things break? Are the public spaces in good repair now, or are they letting them run down? Is there a preventative maintenance schedule? Are they holding meetings and keeping minutes and passing a budget on schedule? What are the long-running problems for the association, and are they things you can live with? (There's likely something: buggy... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by mersen at 6:06 AM on August 20, 2021

You can do something about the kitchen later. You can't renovate more space into a condo.

More important is checking the association's financial records. Do they have appropriate reserves or have they been kicking the can down the road to keep fees low? The last thing you need is the possibility of an unaffordable assessment hanging over your head.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by wierdo at 5:56 AM on August 20, 2021

Next thing you know, they’ll be doing CrossFit and then those damn robots will never shut up...
posted to MetaFilter by azpenguin at 6:55 PM on August 17, 2021

N.Y.P.D. Robot Dog’s Run Is Cut Short After Fierce Backlash: The Police Department will return the device earlier than planned after critics seized on it as a dystopian example of overly aggressive policing
The department changed its plans, he said, after the device became a “target” for people who he said had improperly used it to fuel arguments about race and surveillance.

“People had figured out the catchphrases and the language to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 3:32 PM on August 17, 2021

I know Hubert Horan is mentioned in the OP, but it's really worth digging into the stuff he wrote for Naked Capitalism on the economics of Uber which I first read back in 2017 and were convincing to me even then. (n.b no need to read all 40 parts, 1-10 have everything and the rest is mostly updates.).

Fundamentally, the reality is this:

The unit economics of taxis are pretty well understood. The costs are the capital and maintenance for the car,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by atrazine at 5:07 PM on August 16, 2021

"We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they would be easy."
posted to MetaFilter by AlSweigart at 8:30 AM on August 10, 2021

Well, this is harder than it seems.
posted to MetaFilter by olykate at 4:16 PM on August 6, 2021

The term "get sick" is confusing and potentially misleading. Here's a way to look at the spectrum of possibilities without using that term.

1. Inhale some COVID particles. You have been EXPOSED to COVID-19. You may or may not get an infection. If the virus can't reproduce in your body, you don't get an infection. Stop here.

2. The virus begins reproducing in your body. You are now INFECTED with COVID-19. You may or or may not... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 7:52 AM on August 4, 2021 marked best answer

I am as much an epidemiologist as anybody living in this Pandemic(i.e., not at all, just read news and MeFi and articles). I think the term you want is viral load; a measurement of the amount of a virus in an organism, typically in the bloodstream, usually stated in virus particles per milliliter. If you get a smaller exposure to many viruses, your immune system is able to stop the virus. More viral particles = greater likelihood and severity of illness. It's my... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by theora55 at 9:50 AM on August 4, 2021

I somewhat disagree with Winnie's options. I've made some notes below. Overall a great layout of possibilities but a few important details seem off.

1. Inhale some COVID particles. You have been EXPOSED to COVID-19. You may or may not get an infection. If the virus can't reproduce in your body, you don't get an infection. Stop here. technically exposure doesn't necessitate inhalation - being in the same room with someone but not inhaling it is also an exposure.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by bbqturtle at 9:51 AM on August 4, 2021 marked best answer

I'm not totally sure this addresses your question, but an exposure that doesn't make you sick can still be detected - e.g. by testing that detects an asymptomatic infection, or by antibody testing that shows a response to different antigens than were in the vaccine, which would show some additional exposure.

If you inhaled two virus particles that just got caught in your nose mucus and died there, though, that's the same as if they got caught in your face mask and died,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Lady Li at 10:28 PM on August 3, 2021

Experience rather than science; I was fully vaccinated (Pfizer) and tested positive for coronavirus + was symptomatic 4 weeks later. I thought I had really really bad allergies, but I dropped a bottle of lavender essential oil and realised I couldn't smell it. As I'm in the UK, chances are extremely high that it was Delta.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by socky_puppy at 12:08 AM on August 4, 2021

For an in depth view of the research elements which underly your question - you could look at a paper like "Transmission of COVID-19 virus by droplets and aerosols: A critical review on the unresolved dichotomy"- this particular paper is from September last year and somewhat pre-dates 2021's emphasis on the differing infection profiles of different variants - and of the effects of vaccinations.

This December 2020 paper from Nature (Size distribution of virus... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by rongorongo at 3:29 AM on August 4, 2021 marked best answer

My understanding is that even for much more established illnesses such as influenza, the exacts of transmission are more in the realm of speculation and hypothesis than tested proof.
I suspect that quantity of viral exposure is less like a water level overtopping a dam, and more like buying an immense number of lottery tickets. That is, there are likely levels where incidental exposure is vanishingly unlikely to cause infection, and levels where infection becomes increasingly likely,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by meinvt at 4:20 AM on August 4, 2021

I follow Covid science and the delta news very closely. Delta doesn't behave much differently than the rest of covid, only a few variables change.

My understanding of what happens when your body gets ANY virus is this:

1. Some number of virus particles enter your body.
2a. Your immune system begins to react. It tries many things. If it has encountered a similar virus before, it tries those things first and more... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by bbqturtle at 5:57 AM on August 4, 2021

I've started watching some YT videos with Dr. Daniel Griffin going over recent research papers. Recent example here. One of the things I've learned is that there is a distinction between getting infected and getting sick. The percent numbers we see for vaccine protection are for getting sick.

Infection can be detected via a blood test in patients who have not yet developed symptoms, but it's not what is helpful outside the lab.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by SemiSalt at 6:30 AM on August 4, 2021

I follow COVID research pretty closely and the best that I can come up with to tell you right now is that we are still trying to figure this out. I have been trying to explain to people that the initial emergency use authorization for the existing COVID vaccinations was based on studies that used an endpoint of essentially avoiding serious illness and hospitalization. It wasn’t until some months later that we had data that vaccinated individuals seemed to be less likely to be capable of being... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by honeybee413 at 9:49 PM on August 3, 2021

This is exactly why physicians need to remain independent professionals and not cogs in a machine that rubber stamp whatever it is their patients saw on TV that they want prescribed so they can stick to their 4 patients-an-hour schedule which keeps hospitals, pharma, and insurance companies happy and rich. I'd like to think that my colleagues would push back on prescribing this because they are smart and ethical, but I know that's not how it works in much of US healthcare.
posted to MetaFilter by Slarty Bartfast at 4:58 PM on July 30, 2021

As to "but other people spend money on him": if we had a society without money, people would still exchange things and give them to each other.

See that would be barter. I didn't see any mention in the article of activities or favors or even spending time with his own children that Johnston is providing.
posted to MetaFilter by bendy at 8:40 PM on July 21, 2021

What happens when you run it through the microcovid calculator?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by aniola at 11:06 AM on July 20, 2021

Which of the lenses is clearer? One... or two? One? Or two? How about now? One? Or two? One? Or two? How about now?

Those are all the same lenses, aren't they?

You caught me. They are.

That's okay - I've had my eyes closed the whole time, too.
posted to MetaFilter by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:56 PM on July 13, 2021

It’s easy to despair.

And that’s why I’m despairing, because it’s easy!
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 4:54 PM on July 2, 2021

The top (big) wheel pushes against the bottom of the plank and the small (fast) wheels on the ground provide the motive force for the pushing wheel, and the ratio means that you end up doing more force against the moving plank than you get from the ground, and the wheeled contraption moves forward along the plank, faster than the plank.

Quite so.

And if that rolling cart makes sense to you but Blackbird still doesn't, here... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 3:45 AM on July 2, 2021

DarkForest: My thought is that as soon as the vehicle reaches and possibly surpasses the wind speed, the propeller should begin to slow as there is nothing left to power it.

The first thing to understand is that the wind is not driving the propeller. The wheels are driving the propeller. The propeller is turning in the direction opposite what it would if the wind were driving it.

The record is 2.8 times the speed of the wind,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by clawsoon at 7:58 PM on July 1, 2021

If the US does nothing to fix its retirement system, 2.6 million formerly middle-class workers will be plunged into poverty by 2022

I've been reading the comments here, then I scrolled back to the top and re-read this pull quote. Guys, 2022 is in six months. Crap.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:30 PM on June 27, 2021

I'm curious about how the Ask Anyone a Question incorporates "who" you are asking.

So I asked the same question: Where should I eat? with just different people:


Slavoj Žižek

In the West, there is a marked gap between the price of food and the price of sex, and this gives the former a definite advantage. For this reason, the West has been the first to discover food as a pleasure in itself. This is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by RobotHero at 7:05 AM on June 27, 2021

It sounds like something in your A/C might be pulling high current. Traditionally, motors will do that when they're starting up.

Sounds like a failing start capacitor. That's a part designed to bank some extra electricity to help with starting the unit and not pull the line voltage down so hard that everything else in the house dims.

It's something you can replace if you have some DIY skills, but it's probably worth a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by JoeZydeco at 8:20 AM on June 26, 2021

In the Hacker News discussion I found this 2019 presentation the developer gave about the app and how he built it. Some details:

It's all Javascript. No other languages compiled to JS. Just ES5 Javascript, no Babel. Made without frameworks. Only 1150 lines of CSS. He cares a lot about performance, including rendering at 60fps. So he uses WebGL for graphics acceleration. He wrote his own Javascript minifier/obfuscator.

He also wrote his own... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Nelson at 8:29 AM on June 11, 2021

Pretty sure those are for Burning Man.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sacrifix at 4:38 PM on June 10, 2021

Often I realize that in my enthusiasm to show my casual knowledge I’m about to correct someone that who has devoted a considerable amount of time and effort into developing their expertise in the topic. I never regret keeping my mouth shut and letting them speak.

I was about to say, "This guy learned not to mansplain!"

...and then I glanced over at the author's name.
posted to MetaFilter by clawsoon at 5:46 PM on June 4, 2021

. Free shipping is also the backbone of Prime. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos knew that the number one pain point for online buyers is shipping

I don't deny that free shipping is a big draw, but for me the biggest pain point is the checkout itself.

Having to create an account for a store I will never visit again, adding myself to yet another mailing list, typing in name/address/phone number, going into the other room to get a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by madajb at 1:50 PM on May 30, 2021

I dunno, I kinda feel like it's less the attraction of "free" shipping and more the "the price I see is the price I pay".

...it's gotten to the point that if I can't get a shipping cost estimate right there on the product page, I'm probably not going to buy from your online store because I'm just going to assume it's astronomical (or else why would you hide it?). It's a late point in history to be making me fill out my entire credit card info before I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aramaic at 12:32 PM on May 30, 2021

Somebody set us up the bomb.
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 7:51 AM on May 28, 2021

I'm an audiologist, and while I don't specialize in vestibular disorders, I am trained in diagnosing and treating them.

If you have the most common type of BPPV, the Epley, if done correctly, should resolve your vertigo very quickly. The Epley is the most effective treatment for the common (posterior canal) type of BPPV. You may feel a little weird for the day because vertigo is exhausting and your brain tries really hard to compensate for it when you do have it. This... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Lutoslawski at 12:10 PM on May 24, 2021

Dizzy as in spinning/moving with changes in head position, or lightheaded as in about to faint when you stand? You use both terms in your question. Vertigo is the former; the latter is syncope/presyncope. 90% of my day job is distinguishing between the two, as they have very different causes.

Causes of acute-onset vertigo involve the connections between the inner ear and brain: the aforementioned BPPV, viral infections (labyrinthitis, neuronitis), Menieres (accompanied... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by basalganglia at 4:36 AM on November 12, 2017

As somebody said on Twitter, “nobody wants to work” is the business equivalent of “nobody wants to date a nice guy".
posted to MetaFilter by acb at 8:59 AM on May 17, 2021

Perhaps US society needs more, well telegraphed, signposts directing ones way to a comfortable life in the middle class rather than ones to unobtainable riches beyond the reach of mere mortals

If we’re gonna fantasize about the future we might as well fantasize about being rich. A “comfortable life in the middle class” is as out of reach for most folks as a luxury yacht.
posted to MetaFilter by Jawn at 7:08 PM on May 14, 2021

Couple of somewhat related things I forgot to add:

People from Glasgow are known as Glasgwegians, or Weegies. The term Refuweegee is sometimes adopted as an affectionate nickname for New Scots who have come to the city in search of safety.

As she left the polling station after casting her own vote on Thursday, Sturgeon was confronted by a far-right candidate. One of the far-right supporters was filming, so we got to hear Sturgeon turn and flatly... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by penguin pie at 3:35 PM on May 13, 2021

I don’t want to risk being mistaken for a Republican. #mask4eva
posted to MetaFilter by double bubble at 2:08 PM on May 13, 2021

I like Slack and Teams because I can completely ignore them. I mean, I ignore email too, but Slack and Teams are great if you never look at them.
posted to MetaFilter by scruss at 5:24 PM on May 12, 2021

I want everything in email because I want everything to be on record. Your Teams messages, phone calls, and hallway conversations are nice and everything, but if you want me to do something for you you better email it to me, because if it comes to it I want to be able to forward that email back to you down the road.
posted to MetaFilter by turbid dahlia at 4:10 PM on May 12, 2021

I'm not sure where I heard it first but "The S in IoT stands for security!"
posted to MetaFilter by cmfletcher at 5:31 AM on May 11, 2021