MetaFilter

> Back in mid-March or so, I saw a comment, perhaps on facebook, that read: "I see that all of January's Constitutional experts have now become epidemiologists."

Just wait until November when they're Constitutional experts again.
posted to MetaFilter by ardgedee at 10:24 AM on April 22, 2020

LOUISE, DUMP THE MILK! THE CAT DRINKS UNLEADED FROM NOW ON!
posted to MetaFilter by entropicamericana at 11:59 AM on April 20, 2020

but am also wondering if part of it could be a software bug

no. it's because people are horrible.

i've been tipping heavily in cash for everything now and i'm already a 30-35% tipper so it's getting difficult but honestly the guy that brought me 4 bacon egg & cheese breakfast sandwiches 3 days in a row deserved $20 each time for not openly judging me.
posted to MetaFilter by poffin boffin at 4:05 AM on April 10, 2020

Imagine if people were just paid fairly and consistently for the labor they perform, rather than having to rely on the whims and fancies of individual customers. The mind fucking boggles.
posted to MetaFilter by Jimbob at 1:13 AM on April 10, 2020

Jeff Bezos just gave less than 0.001% of his net worth to food banks. Am I supposed to clap or something?

I don't know. That is entirely dependent how much of your own net worth you are giving to food banks right now.

Look. I agree that billionaires are not nearly pulling their comparable weight in society. And that people like Bezos should not be allowed to accumulate the GDP of small nations as their personal war chests.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 12:42 PM on April 3, 2020

Christ, what an eyebrow
posted to MetaFilter by fantabulous timewaster at 11:44 AM on April 3, 2020

That can't be right but I like the down clues I have already
posted to MetaFilter by fantabulous timewaster at 11:45 AM on April 3, 2020

Jay Rosen tweet quotes Gabriel Sherman saying, "...I've been talking to Fox insiders over the last few days, there's a real concern inside the network that their early downplaying of the coronavirus actually exposes Fox News to potential legal action by viewers who maybe were misled. "
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Winnie the Proust at 5:36 PM on March 30, 2020 marked best answer

No but I also wouldn’t have drunk them a month ago.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by supercres at 4:51 PM on March 29, 2020

In the early 80's I had an after school job at Bell Laboratories. There was a guy in my department doing experiments on overclocking 68K chips. He had the hardware for a Blit terminal which he had modified to run a 68K at 40MHz (5x the rated clock rate), IIRC. On the chip in the huge ceramic package was a machined aluminum tub that he filled with liquid nitrogen for cooling. On the floor, he had a box with dead 68K. The candle that burns five times as bright lasts only a week or so.
posted to MetaFilter by plinth at 3:02 PM on March 27, 2020

One person at the grocery store where you buy a single carton of eggs is infected but not showing symptoms. That person happens to be your cashier. They sneezed into their elbow 5 minutes before you met them, because that's what you're supposed to do. In addition to hitting the sleeve, some of the sneeze droplets also made it onto the conveyer belt.

As they ring you up, from six feet away the carton of eggs brushes their shirt sleeve and then they put the eggs on the... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by bilabial at 7:23 PM on March 22, 2020

The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings (Margaret Sullivan, WaPo Perspective)

Trump is doing harm and spreading misinformation while working for his own partisan political benefit — a naked attempt to portray himself as a wartime president bravely leading the nation through a tumultuous time, the FDR of the 21st century. [...]

Business as usual simply doesn’t cut it. Minor accommodations, like... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by katra at 10:16 PM on March 21, 2020

I think I would be comforted by the arrival of an enormous cybernetic crow, tbh

At least you'd know it would be for a good caws.
posted to MetaFilter by Mr. Bad Example at 4:30 PM on March 21, 2020

mefi mods: at last, an end to the megathreads, we can rest now
global pandemic: bonjour bitches
posted to MetaFilter by poffin boffin at 10:53 AM on March 21, 2020

Put an "almost the highest number" there. Like 9/10.

you can take specific requests/situations to a specific HR person if you know them and think they have a way to help you. But you have no idea where that data in the system is going to go. Best case, it goes to an internal HR survey of overall employee satisfaction, which isn't all that smart anyway since it's got no useful info on it. Worst case it goes straight to someone who will penalize you for the wrong answer.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by fingersandtoes at 4:53 AM on March 20, 2020

Emacs is more your swan than your duck. I mean, ducks can be bad tempered but they won't break your arm.
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 12:57 PM on March 18, 2020

/whacks Wordshore on the back

Good game!
posted to MetaFilter by mwhybark at 4:09 PM on March 11, 2020

While some contend it's exploitative to entice organ donors and their families with compensation, others maintain they should be rewarded for extending their generosity while risking complications and recovering from donation surgery. But many agree on one point: The focus should be less on paying donors and more on removing financial barriers that may discourage interested prospects from doing a good deed. [...] From a financial standpoint, estimates have found it costs a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by bleep at 7:53 AM on March 11, 2020

I would dispute that AWD versions of the cars you listed, however, are so much less “fun” to drive in RWD. AWD is used in plenty of performance and sports cars to get power down to the ground with maximum efficiency. They aren’t 4WD. They have adaptive AWD with a RWD bias. They have better traction, so they’re harder to drift and slide, but then you aren’t drifting and sliding on public roads in Virginia, are you? Or even going very fast most of the time. Or have you not examined the state’s... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by spitbull at 8:08 PM on March 4, 2020

OOh. God. I want to send this to my brother so bad.

When he was 18 or so and I was a brat kid he discovered all those MENSA puzzle and quiz books and lorded over the house that he was soooooo gifted. He’d ask us one of the questions and before we could work out an answer he’d yell “NO. WRONG. You are all so dumb!” And march off, triumphant.

He went to meeting for supposed MENSA people at a local community college (I know) one night. And, man,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Everyone Expects The Spanish Influenza at 3:54 PM on March 3, 2020

To be fair, MetaFilter is basically the native habitat for people qualified for Mensa but are insufferably smug about not being members because Mensans are insufferably smug

Excuse me sir I’ll have you know that I also, at one point, had five dollars.
posted to MetaFilter by mhoye at 3:54 PM on March 3, 2020

Decades of companies not following the law now means that you must eat plastic to maintain Shell's profitability, citizen.
posted to MetaFilter by eustatic at 3:56 AM on March 4, 2020

Welcome to the new gig economy!

before you're allowed to turn the crank you have ten minutes to spitball C# code for a better algorithm for calculating the penny-drop-time than the machine currently uses; you're one of five hundred people who also want to turn the crank

Edit: once you start turning the crank you notice the same amount of pennies fall out no matter how fast you crank, but everybody keeps telling you you have to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by AzraelBrown at 8:20 AM on March 2, 2020

The article would've been so much better - though maybe not better for the author - if it had stopped here:

After a tough interview with Google and several interviews with small start-ups and companies, I have concluded that employment is not for me.

posted to MetaFilter by clawsoon at 2:00 PM on February 28, 2020

The 12th best programmer in the world sat down the hall. The 10th best programmer sat next to him.

Hans Reiser is out of jail? And Phil Katz back from the dead?
posted to MetaFilter by Cardinal Fang at 9:29 AM on February 28, 2020

Google doesn't respect your time.

"OK, now design an algorithm to filter out poor people and single parents..."
posted to MetaFilter by klanawa at 8:41 AM on February 28, 2020

Olivia fought for this guy.

Olivia fought for her recruiting bonus. She didn't care about him, she cared about meeting her quota.
posted to MetaFilter by octothorpe at 8:38 AM on February 28, 2020

My last interview for an IT job was different.
I got a letter whose sole contents were:

"Manager's Arms, one o'clock. Come prepared!"

I got the job.

The "Manager's Arms" was the staff nickname for the pub that was co-owned by the MD and where they all went on a Friday lunchtime. The "come prepared" had meant bring your darts and wife. My wife is a farmer's daughter and the pub was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Burn_IT at 8:12 AM on February 28, 2020

It's almost like they don't care what your software skills are but instead are looking for people who will put up with a lot of bullshit.
posted to MetaFilter by seanmpuckett at 4:50 AM on February 28, 2020

When I broke my leg in my teens I didn't realize I'd left it at school

What a twist.
posted to MetaFilter by groda at 2:16 AM on February 23, 2020

So to put this as gently as possible: you want to take a job from someone who does not qualify for those benefits, while retaining yours?

My suggestion is to either remain on disability, or direct your efforts towards finding employment that pays the equivalent or better than disability.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Crystal Fox at 5:05 PM on February 19, 2020

If they didn’t value your money enough to keep you, why do you think they’ll value your opinion? Don’t waste any more energy on this company, wash your hands of it and move on.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Jubey at 4:08 AM on February 19, 2020

I use Amazon for
* Ebooks
* Used books

I may have picked up a few new books from Amazon - I did get the Fate Accelerated rulebook from them when it was $5. It's now $7.20 at Amazon, and Bookshop.org has it for $9.66... in Danish. I don't think I'm going to be doing any shopping at Bookshop.org.

The idea of "spend more on both products and shipping in order to Support Your Local Businesses instead of the evil... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ErisLordFreedom at 8:27 PM on February 16, 2020

Biden discussing his relationships with notorious segregationists in nostalgic terms is distasteful to our 2019 sensibilities. Bringing them up is a mistake. But given the political situation of the country and the Senate of his first term as a US Senator, I don’t fault him, because he clearly doesn’t hold any of those views. Biden served as Obama’s VP, and he and Obama are friends, for goodness sakes!

Some of his best friends are Obama.
posted to MetaFilter by Rust Moranis at 4:34 PM on June 20, 2019

Beating Trump is the only thing that matters. Not impeaching, not anything else. He must be beaten and those who support him must learn a painful lesson.

You're dangerously wrong about this. Trump is not a dark-horse outlier, he's the perfect culmination of the past 30-40 years of American culture and politics.
posted to MetaFilter by so fucking future at 2:40 PM on June 20, 2019

I don't think Biden would be vetoing progressive legislation if we have the House and Senate, but I think his "I'll work with the Republicans" line actively hurts our chances of getting the Senate. There are enough voters out there who don't pay enough attention to realize that a Republican legislature means nothing getting passed for four years and what that means for climate change but they'll be placated by Biden's bipartisan feelgoodery and not worry about getting Dems in Congress... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jason_steakums at 11:24 AM on June 20, 2019

the strongest Biden supporters I know back him not because of policy but because they think he’s the strongest possible candidate against Trump.

Sure measured by the same metrics that gave us Hillary's utter trainwreck of a candidacy and campaign.

He is absolutely the weakest candidate to anyone who isn't dead-set on voting DNC party line. He's a shitty 'centrist' liberal, who offers nothing to voters who want to see any sort... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by so fucking future at 11:16 AM on June 20, 2019

Abolish Delaware.

I’m serious, you get rid of Biden and the state’s host of creepy tax havens and corporate shelters. You can’t read a story about the crimes of American capitalism before hitting Delaware and its “pro business” legislature. Absorb it into Maryland and bits of PA and actually make businesses “headquartered” there pay taxes.

Merge North and South Dakota and offer statehood to DC and PR, there you don’t even have to change the flag.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 10:12 AM on June 20, 2019

Biden is everything that was wrong with the Clintons plus an added dose of mid-70s sexism thrown in for good measure.

His kind are what got us here. We need better democrats.

No, Joe. Go.
posted to MetaFilter by Pogo_Fuzzybutt at 10:01 AM on June 20, 2019

Sigh, even though Biden aligns with a lot of my political attitudes the only thing I like about a Biden candidacy is the possibility of more Onion articles.
posted to MetaFilter by BrotherCaine at 9:51 AM on June 20, 2019

Think of it this way: you consumers work for lower prices by collectively bargaining for them at every point, from supplier to retailer to logistical provider. That is what consumer demand does by simply existing. In this case, every consumer who ever used Amazon did it through Amazon.

The "real" cost of shipping means nothing as long as it's being done by willing actors all along the way. That is the real cost. Wait,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by 2N2222 at 5:29 PM on February 16, 2020

It's not really helpful to think of companies as "enemies" or "friends." They just are. And their nature is to take as much from the entities they interact with as they possibly can, based on the relative power of the interacting parties and the risk that the deal won't go through at all (which would be worse for at least one of the parties).

If you have even a vague sense of self-preservation, that does, actually, generally make them your enemies.
posted to MetaFilter by praemunire at 3:35 PM on February 16, 2020

Who has time and money to go out to a bar for soap anymore? Kids today just drink body wash at home.
posted to MetaFilter by aubilenon at 7:25 AM on February 13, 2020

Yup that’s the Sahara Sea

Funny how it’s easier to imagine fantastical feats of engineering and international cooperation on spending trillions of dollars than to imagine divesting from fossil fuels and halting (let alone ameliorating) anthropogenic climate change.
posted to MetaFilter by SaltySalticid at 2:42 PM on February 12, 2020

I'm glad there are people willing to do this work with us and confront us into doing it for ourselves, but at some point they will lose patience.

Probably not if you stay current on payments.
posted to MetaFilter by avalonian at 5:11 PM on February 3, 2020

The best advice I ever got when I was younger was to never have shoulds. There are things you want to do. And there are things you have to do. There are no shoulds.
posted to MetaFilter by 2N2222 at 4:28 PM on January 24, 2020

The nitwits who are organizing and mumbling ominous threats under their breath and getting all fire-breathing about it are--at most!--maybe 20% of gun owners.

I would be very surprised if it was anything close to 20% of gun owners. I would guess more like 2%, or even less, who are actually "organizing and mumbling ominous threats," with significantly more who are vaguely sympathetic to the cause but aren't ever going to do anything more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Dip Flash at 7:28 PM on January 18, 2020

Yea, that's gonna be a no for me dawg.
posted to MetaFilter by RolandOfEld at 6:46 PM on January 16, 2020

> Left alone, a human corpse will soon be feasted upon by maggots

You're not truly being left alone if you're being pestered by maggots.
posted to MetaFilter by The corpse in the library at 2:41 PM on January 16, 2020

$40. Set a baseline of one hour minimum and stick to it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Faint of Butt at 12:16 PM on January 8, 2020