Favorites from TheDonF
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Last time, you didn't have holes in your feet!
My father passed away this morning. I'm going through his file, and I came across JOKES.TXT ... which contains only the punchlines.
Can the Mind please tell me the jokes?
Pack 442
Cub Scout Pack 442 of Cloverly, Maryland, has been forced by the BSA National Capital Area Council to remove a non-discrimination statement from its website that included sexual orientation.
Give me your wisdom, let me see through time!
Calling all 40 year olds... what do you wish you had done when you were 30?
Cherokee, Dirty Harry and Big Billy
1973 news report on the training of Glasgow bouncers, This Week: Documentary about 1960s Glasgow Gangs
Nothing to hide?
Why Privacy Matters, Even If You Have Nothing To Hide, by Daniel J. Solove
The nothing-to-hide argument pervades discussions about privacy. The data-security expert Bruce Schneier calls it the "most common retort against privacy advocates." ... To evaluate the nothing-to-hide argument, we should begin by looking at how its adherents understand privacy. Nearly every law or policy involving privacy depends upon a particular understanding of what privacy is. The way problems are conceived has a tremendous impact on the legal and policy solutions used to solve them.
Help my kid make friends
Please help me help my 10 year old to make friends.
Christopher Kimball: "He may be the sole person associated with food journalism to remark, 'There’s something about pleasure I find annoying.'"
"Cooking isn't creative, and it isn't easy." A NYT Magazine piece on Christopher Kimball, Cook's Illustrated, and his franchise (America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Country, et al.). "At the core of C.I.’s M.O. are two intrepid observations Kimball has made about the innermost psychology of home cooks. Namely that they 1) are haunted by a fear of humiliation, and 2) will not follow a recipe to the letter, believing that slavishly following directions is an implicit admission that you cannot cook... What the magazine essentially offers its readers is a bargain: if they agree to follow the recipes as written, their cooking will succeed and they will be recognized by family and friends as competent or even expert in the kitchen... The bargain further holds that the peppercorn-crusted filet of beef or butterscotch-cream pie will turn out not only in C.I.’s professional kitchen, with its All-Clad pans and DCS ranges, but also on a lowly electric four-top, using a dull knife and a $20 nonstick skillet."
A sea of words
Six years ago, New Dorp High School on Staten Island, NY, had a 40% dropout rate, and more than 80% of freshmen were reading below grade level. In spring 2013, the school expects an 80% graduation rate. What happened? New Dorp decided to teach its students how to write.
Tim Gunn reads Ask.Metafilter
Tim Gunn of Project Runaway fame finally provides the definitive answer to the question What color socks should I wear with brown shoes and blue jeans? in his new book, Tim Gunn's Fashion Bible.
BABBY FORMED BY METAFILTER
BABBY FORMED BY METAFILTER
Is there a non-homophobic version of the boyscouts?
Is their a non-homophobic alternative to the Boy Scouts in the USA? My wife and I think our six year-old son would love the boy scouts. He enjoys camping, hiking, and nature, and seems to thrive in structured situations and programs. However, we don't approve of the ban on gays and know that our close gay friends would be very hurt if we had him join a local troop (or pack? I don't know the lingo).
We are married to our first wives
In an interview published yesterday, Dan Cathy, president of Chick-Fil-A, tells the Baptist Press that Chick-Fil-A is "very much supportive of the family -- the biblical definition of the family unit." Also this week, Cathy told radio host Ken Coleman "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say 'we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage." This is a change in Chick-Fil-A's corporate position; in 2011, responding to criticism that the company and its charitable arm, the WinShape Foundation, support organizations that work against LGBT rights and marriage equality, Cathy stated that the company "will not champion any political agendas on marriage and family." Chick-Fil-A is a fast food chain of franchises that operates in 39 US states; in 2011, annual sales exceeded $4 billion USD. The company is privately held.
Dup Leppard
Rock band Def Leppard has decided upon a unique solution to the problem of making their music available for electronic distribution despite conflicts with Universal Music Group: Re-record their entire back catalog as accurately as possible. They're calling the songs 'forgeries.'
"Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them."
Save the Words:
Adopt words that have been abandoned by the English language.
THOMAS
Apparently, the USHOR Appropriations Committee feels uncomfortable about permitting convenient bulk access to THOMAS database of bills.
We're watching your comments for correct comma usage.
"Who knew people were so interested in commas?" Ben Yagoda has written three NYT pieces on correct comma usage: Fanfare for the Comma Man, The Most Comma Mistakes, and Some Comma Questions.
Your Congressperson Is So Dumb, He Speaks at a Ninth-Grade Level
The Sunlight Foundation, an organization dedicated to transparency in government, has analyzed 17 years of Congressional speech (per the Congressional Record) and found that the Flesch-Kincaid grade level of speech on the floor of the House and Senate has dropped by nearly a full year in the last decade.
S03E23: Comparative Hoaxology
A woman opens an old steamer trunk and discovers tantalizing clues that a long-dead relative may actually have been a serial killer, stalking the streets of New York in the closing years of the nineteenth century. A beer enthusiast is presented by his neighbor with the original recipe for Brown's Ale, salvaged decades before from the wreckage of the old brewery--the very building where the Star-Spangled Banner was sewn in 1813.
These stories have two things in common. They are tailor-made for viral success on the internet. And they are all lies.
Oniongate
Undoubtedly, at some point in your life, a recipe has told you to brown or caramelize some onions for 5-10 minutes. As many frustrated cooks have found through experience, this step of the recipe is a damned lie. In fact, the now-ubiquitous suggestion of 5-10 minutes isn't even a remote approximation of the amount of time it takes to brown an onion; Alton Brown and Julia Child weigh in on the matter, suggesting that the task can take anywhere from 45 minute to an hour.
Well, I never hated you.
Jake Cole of the film blog Not Just Movies discusses the semi-legendary hour-long debate about Monty Python's Life of Brian on the BBC Four program Friday Night, Saturday Morning. The debate features Pythons John Cleese and Michael Palin on one side and opposite them broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge and Mervyn Stockwood, the Bishop of Southwark.
The Thin Wall Challenge
Hi, my name is Ryan, and that sound you're hearing is my neighbors back there doin' it. Welcome to The Thin Wall Challenge. (MLYT) (mildly nsfw)
The only James Dean movie you gotta care about
150 things to read, watch and listen to, so you don’t die of boredom this summer... according to Sassy Magazine, July 1990.
stop eating my food people!
How do I get people to stop eating my food? We have a common refrigerator on my hallway (in a dorm at college), and someone at 3 of the 4 fruit tarts that I had put in there on Friday night (and no, I didn't label them as mine, but that's beside the point. I'd like to post a humorous, but clear note on the fridge commenting that taking other's food is not ok.
Javascript
What's a JavaScript Closure? Ever wonder about some of JavaScript's more advanced and esoteric features? Nathan Whitehead's interactive tutorial explains and walks through each of these concepts one step at a time. At the end of each lesson, you are encouraged to write short snippets of code demonstrating the concepts that you just learned, which are then automatically checked for errors and verified.
Perhaps you're new to JavaScript, or programming in general; CodeAcademy offers similar interactive tutorials that will teach you the basics, and hold your hand along the way. Perhaps you'd rather learn at a more even pace; CodeAcademy's CodeYear will introduce you to one new concept every week throughout 2012.
Perhaps you're new to JavaScript, or programming in general; CodeAcademy offers similar interactive tutorials that will teach you the basics, and hold your hand along the way. Perhaps you'd rather learn at a more even pace; CodeAcademy's CodeYear will introduce you to one new concept every week throughout 2012.
My nose did something very odd (potentially icky question)
This may be considered a little disgusting for some - it involves ingrown nasal hairs and a MYSTERIOUS DEVELOPMENT (queue twilight zone music)
Jingle Rock Bell
A terrible desecration of a beloved Christmas song. Sic it on your relatives today!
Cottage of the weird sisters
With the death of the childless Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, the son of Mary Queen of Scots and the reigning King of Scotland became next in line for succession to the English throne. On 11 July of that year the crowns of Scotland and England were united as King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England. The Union of the Crowns was made possible by the the fact that the James VI was protestant, married and had healthy children – heirs to the throne. The English were also comforted by the fact that the Scottish King was a scholar. Among other literary accomplishments, he had authored a number of books on witchcraft. Written in the Socratic form of a dialogue, Dæmonologie presented a wide-ranging discussion of witchcraft, necromancy, possession, demons, were-wolves, fairies and ghosts.
How Doctors Die
It’s not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don’t die like the rest of us. What’s unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little.How Doctors Die.
How do I become a web developer when my portfolio is secret?
I've been working as an IT Guy and part-time web development guru on and off for close to 8 years. I'm looking to take the plunge, and become a full-time web developer, but have virtually nothing in my "portfolio" from those 8 years to show for it. Help!
She never gets fucked hard enough..
So I recently suffered a relatively severe concussion. And since then.. I am hearing.. things. Voices. They are.. very specific in nature though.. and I'm kinda terrified and kinda giggling about it..
A sticky situation
Testing by Food Safety News has shown that more than 75% of the honey being sold in the United States does not qualify to be labeled for sale as "honey".
Hack the world!
A McAfee researcher has demonstrated that certain Medtronic insulin pumps can be remotely controlled without authorization. An unscrupulous hacker could, for instance, command the pump to release its full load of insulin, which would kill the diabetic.
I always dreamed of a Unified Scene
Folk-punk, Orgcore (UD definition) and Dadpunk are all names for a new wave of earnest, authentic rock that draws its roots from The Clash, Billy Bragg, The Pogues, Social Distortion and Bruce Springsteen. In England, its best represented by Frank Turner, the former singer of hardcore band Million Dead. His anthemic songs about life on the margins of fame, poetry, death, inspiration and the power of rock and roll have made him famous in England, leading to an upcoming show at Wembley Arena. He follows in the footsteps of British folk-punk pioneers Leatherface.
Dissolve my Nobel Prize! Fast!
Dissolve my Nobel Prize! Fast!
It's 1940. The Nazis have taken Copenhagen. They are literally marching through the streets, and physicist Niels Bohr has just hours, maybe minutes, to make two Nobel Prize medals disappear.
Reddit vs Metafilter - London Oct 10th
Reddit has discovered that the London Mefites are going to a pub quiz at the Hat and Tun on 10th Oct, and are proposing to 'hand their asses to them', along with alien signs, hats, vuvuzelas, etc.
The gauntlet has been thrown, Mefites, and we must respond with overwhelming pancakes.
He Was a Crook
"Nixon will be remembered as a classic case of a smart man sh*tting in his own nest. But he also sh*t in our nests, and that was the crime that history will burn on his memory like a brand." Hunter S. Thompson eulogizes Richard Milhous Nixon.
Don't Call Me Limey, Yank! Limey, Don't Call Me Yank!
Last summer the BBC did a series on "Americanisms," or how American English was "infecting" the Queen's English. Ben Yagoda responds and documents how in fact it's the other way around. He documents "Britishisms" on his blog.
How do I lick this weight problem for good?
How do I break the gain/lose/gain cycle?
More phone hacking revelations
"Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch and their former editor Andy Coulson all face embarrassing new allegations of dishonesty and cover-up after the publication of an explosive letter written by the News of the World's disgraced royal correspondent, Clive Goodman.
In the letter, which was written four years ago but published only on Tuesday, Goodman claims that phone hacking was "widely discussed" at editorial meetings at the paper until Coulson himself banned further references to it; that Coulson offered to let him keep his job if he agreed not to implicate the paper in hacking when he came to court; and that his own hacking was carried out with "the full knowledge and support" of other senior journalists, whom he named." (Most recent previously.)
"You can't reach for the stars at this point."
Generation Vexed: Young Americans rein in their dreams.
'Amid so much economic uncertainty, many are rethinking career plans, putting off marriage and avoiding the stock market like the plague.' 'Fewer than half of Americans believe that the current generation will have a better life than the last, according to a Gallup poll this spring. It was the most pessimistic showing for that barometer in nearly three decades. Another poll, of Americans ages 18 to 29, found that three-quarters of them expect to delay a major life change or purchase because of economic factors.'
To be fair, the desk is pretty small.
Since 2008, NPR's All Songs Considered has been doing the Tiny Desk Concert series in which they invite a musician or band or very large group to come and play a song behind the desk of the show's host, Bob Bollen, with the video camera running. The result can be intimate, absurd, raucous and just plain enjoyable. A browseable archive of all 150+ shows is here.