MetaFilter

The camera tricks are good, but the comic timing is great.
posted to MetaFilter by straight at 8:14 AM on January 16, 2014

I wanted to add my voice to the "unpopular" chorus.

Having urine, feces and vomit all over your house (or at least much of your house) when you have an infant/toddler is more than "inconvenient" as some people above describe it. And you are not unreasonable for not wanting to live that way.

We had a handicapped incontinent dog, a crawling infant, and a small bungalow where, despite our best efforts, the only (mostly) poo... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by pennypiper at 11:58 AM on January 16, 2014

History of philosophy without any gaps is interesting and informative but a little dry.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by crazy with stars at 8:48 AM on January 16, 2014

I came in to suggest using a large tupperware bin (like the one schroedinger suggested) for a littler box, and to have more than one. High sides is key I think. I also had to switch my cat to one specific brand of wet cat food in one specific flavour (Friskies Chicken and Cheese) or else my kitty would barf. She'd barf up all the expensive kinds of dry food, but the chicken and cheese friskies was good. I'm sure you have tried all kinds of foods to try to solve this, but I just want to make sure... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by PuppetMcSockerson at 5:58 AM on January 16, 2014

Yup, here comes the unpopular opinion again.
I love cats. I've just had to have a cat euthanised because he was suffering and more suffering would have been in his future if we hadn't. He was my pal for all of 16 years. That said:

You don't seem to be doing these cats any favours by keeping them around. Having them euthanised is not so horrible. They will not know what's happening; it's just another vet visit and another injection.
I do think that... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Too-Ticky at 1:15 AM on January 16, 2014

I am going to voice a very, very unpopular opinion -

I LOVE cats (that's not the unpopular opinion). But I would not judge you for having your cats put to sleep in your situation and might well do the same (there it is). I guess that makes me "lower than dirt" to some people, but I've thought about this quite a bit and I'm comfortable with my admittedly utilitarian conclusion (I think keeping unadoptable animals alive for months and years in kennels, as... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cilantro at 12:38 AM on January 16, 2014

The time I save by not praying and not going to church, I will spend working on my book, A Year Without God.
posted to MetaFilter by betweenthebars at 9:34 PM on January 15, 2014

Here is a relevant page from LSNJ. The upshot (my emphasis):
Where bed bugs are concerned, you should get legal advice and assistance if:

You live in a building with two or more apartments and your landlord tries to make it part of your lease that you will be responsible for getting rid of bed bugs.
Your landlord wants you to pay to get rid of bed bugs in your apartment. Even if you live in a single family house, you should get legal... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by en forme de poire at 8:58 PM on January 15, 2014

"There's no argument for Holy Book X being infallible that's not circular, however there's a tremendous amount of evidence for both the utility and predictability of Holy Book X, c.f. the knowledge of the creation of all existence, the ability to avoid hell and enter heaven through the right actions, etc."

Man, you really wanna play pretzels for theism, huh?

First off, let's look at Holy Book X. Does it make any... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by klangklangston at 9:33 PM on January 15, 2014

If I can just inject a pause here for a point of order, once we've worked out whether Yaweh exists, we've still got the rest of the Canaanite pantheon to work through so I suggest we move it along. For reasons of time should we lump them all together or take them on one at a time? Or if we're going to give priority to modern belief do we want to take on the Hindu pantheon first?
posted to MetaFilter by George_Spiggott at 7:08 PM on January 15, 2014

The question of whether god exists is completely irrelevant. Completely.

The relevant question is whether there is an afterlife. If there is no afterlife and god(s) do not interfere with the universe (which, discounting the medical "miracles" that the Catholic church uses for canonization (which tend to be things like falling from extreme heights and living or spontaneous remission of advanced and seemingly terminal cancer, not things like the suspension of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Hactar at 8:10 AM on January 15, 2014

An equally compelling fine-tuning argument (which is to say, not very, anthropic arguments are notoriusly weak) can be constructed to argue against a personal creator:
As Richard Carrier puts it "In short, if atheism is true, we will only ever find ourselves in universes like ours (extremely old and large, extremely hostile to life, but at least barely capable of producing it somewhere at some point eventually), so the universe we observe (including all its apparent fine tuning)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Proofs and Refutations at 7:41 AM on January 15, 2014

This thesis is so effective it not only proves the existence of God, but of His creator, SuperGod. After all, as the article suggests, the idea that something can simply exist without a creator is absurd.

Also, MegaGod, who created SuperGod.

GigaGod begat MegaGod.

TeraGod begat GigaGod.

You see, I'm already beginning to write the one true holy text!
posted to MetaFilter by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 6:19 AM on January 15, 2014

If anyone knows of a good reading resource about questioning "biblical" archaeology methodology, I want to read it:

Hector Avalos' The End of Biblical Studies questions that and a whole lot more.
posted to MetaFilter by Pararrayos at 4:23 AM on January 15, 2014

Also, is it possible that Snowden could have been influenced by some of these "predictions?"
posted to MetaFilter by univac at 12:18 AM on January 15, 2014

I guess I'm surprised by how surprised everyone is.

Good God, do we need to talk about this "surprise" thing every fucking time we talk about the NSA? I get this intense visual of a teenager sitting in the dark munching on Doritos in front of a computer monitor. We get it. You were into [insert band name] before they were popular.

It would be amazing if the conversation started to revolve around how we got off... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by phaedon at 7:50 PM on January 14, 2014

If anyone knows of a good reading resource about questioning "biblical" archaeology methodology, I want to read it:

"If you interpret the archaeology in parsimony with the bible, you’re a maximalist; if you interpret the archaeology at variance with the bible, you’re a minimalist. ... In fact, I would argue that the archaeological record provides greater benefit at the interpretation of historical text than the other way around. This is ultimately the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Marauding Ennui at 12:30 AM on January 15, 2014

If you tell Siri "Wake me up in 8 hours" -- it will set the iOS alarm function to that time. And that alarm function (not the timer, the alarm) does have snooze.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by shivohum at 7:56 PM on January 14, 2014

I used to think that you can't take babies anywhere. Airplanes, submarines, restaurants, mosh pits. But one day I was chilling at the Burnside skate park, and out comes this skater dad and his skater infant like it's no big thing.

At first I'm like, "Brah, no way that tyke can shred."

Dad's like, "Sh'yeah, watch."

And I'm thinking like oh my god this parent is about to be arrested. But he pulls a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by compartment at 8:11 PM on January 14, 2014

Omiewise: what was not satirical was renum's highly favorited comment about how kids don't even belong at coffee shops or the grocery store.

Once again, that is not what renum said.
posted to MetaFilter by spaltavian at 7:48 PM on January 14, 2014

....when Vancouver chain Earls, which is fast casual, decided to remove the high chairs and change tables, my friends and I started a boycott. That was around 8 years ago. I used to go to Earls all the time - for business and social occasions. I haven't been back and neither have my friends. We eat out a lot and most of intend to boycott until they stop doing this, so that's several tables a week that they are missing out on. Just our little stand.

posted by... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by magstheaxe at 6:40 AM on January 14, 2014

I've seen a horrifying new trend developing in the family-friendly type of chain restaurants (e.g. Pizza Express in the UK), which is where 2 or more sets of highly middle-class parents breeze in with 3 or 4 kids, of 4-8 years kind of age - who they then get seated separately from the adults.

A bit like flying business and putting your kids in coach class on the same plane to be looked after by the stewards.

I've then... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by colie at 5:57 AM on January 14, 2014

Something that is worth emphasizing is that screaming kids in fancy restaurants is largely a theoretical problem. I eat out a lot, mostly at nice places (not $500 a person before drinks, but not Olive Garden either), and I can remember maybe one time or two times there was a fussy kid, and the parents just walked it outside and things were fine. Drunk and loud adult patrons are a nightly occurrence, as are socially awkward people who won't stop talking to you no matter what -- but crying kids,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Dip Flash at 5:47 AM on January 14, 2014

The Committee of Horrific Compromises has decided that Alinea is to be burned to the ground and the offending family sold into slavery. The ceremony will be concluded with a solemn treat of ice cream.
posted to MetaFilter by Foci for Analysis at 12:49 AM on January 14, 2014

Interesting that corroborating info came from a DOJ employee. I wonder if DOJ knowledge of the program had anything to do with the lax punishment/non-prosecution agreement they handed down to HSBC for laundering Sinaloa cartel money.
posted to MetaFilter by compartment at 10:12 PM on January 13, 2014

On 3 very special occasions in my life I have had the pleasure of dining at Alinea. I would have been TOTALLY bummed if the very special experience (yes, more than just the food) had been marred with a crying baby, making the experience more akin to flying coach (which alas, is how I fly). Now, if I had been at a Denny's (or Red Lobster, TGIF, KFC, Noodles & Co, etc, etc, etc) and a manager reprimanded parents because of a crying baby, or insisted the family leave, I probably would be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Lylo at 10:35 PM on January 13, 2014

This reminds me of when I checked out a copy of Thomas Paine's Age of Reason from my conservative Christian university library, and it contained several students' marginalia, all warning future readers that the book could seriously damage a person's faith. As I recall, there was a very emphatic warning on the title page just to turn the book back in and not risk reading any further, but other editorial comments continued throughout most of the book, taking issue with various... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pater Aletheias at 1:17 PM on January 13, 2014

Randomly coming across abusive marginalia in a book can be the best thing ever. Reminds me of the time I opened an old copy of Wilfrid Scawen Blunt's My Diaries (1919) and found that the whole thing had been marked up in fountain pen by a very angry British Marxist in about 1920. When you find annotations like "unscrupulous, greedy, ambitious, conceited, gushy, canting Winston Churchill" and "blue travelling snob jingo Tories who make wars," you know you're... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Sonny Jim at 9:37 AM on January 13, 2014

enthusiast
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Marauding Ennui at 11:24 AM on January 13, 2014 marked best answer

amateur.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by tylerkaraszewski at 11:23 AM on January 13, 2014

Spend tens of thousands of dollars installing luxury cat furniture - the cat then finds a box and sleeps in that for the next week.
posted to MetaFilter by codacorolla at 8:12 AM on January 13, 2014

Ironmouth, are you just cataloging inconsistencies, or do you have a theory that you think (maybe the Maddow one) explains things better? I'm just trying to understand your comments.

I do have an alternate theory. First, I'm building on Steve Kornacki's reporting. The guy knows NJ politics. The idea is that it might have had something to do with a fiancing contract for the Hudson Lights I development, which was signed on Sept. 16. Hudson Lights I is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ironmouth at 7:29 AM on January 13, 2014

If you are really concerned about bringing bedbugs home with you, then I think the main thing you should do is not bring your suitcases back into your home when you return.

Leave your bags outside. Shake out your clothes thoroughly. Wash them in hot water and run them through a hot dryer; or if you can't wash in hot water just run them through the dryer cycle several times. Vacuum out your suitcase and immediately throw out the vacuum bag and filters or alternatively... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by brookeb at 11:27 AM on January 12, 2014

Regarding the strange three-way overlap (everything sounds dirty when you're talking about porn!) of Sarah Palin, Lisa Ann and Tina Fey, Fey has gone on record saying that out of the three of them, Lisa Ann knows the most about foreign policy.
posted to MetaFilter by Faint of Butt at 7:16 AM on January 13, 2014

The world-renowned fruit was grimly hanging low.
posted to MetaFilter by Kirth Gerson at 6:23 AM on January 13, 2014

From my visit the Japan, many, perhaps most, Japanese are amazed that a Westerner can use chop sticks.

In fairness I'm always amazed when Japanese people do "Western" things, like eat a hamburger or build an internal combustion engine.
posted to MetaFilter by 1adam12 at 7:38 PM on January 12, 2014

He's doing an AMA on reddit.
posted to MetaFilter by disclaimer at 10:28 AM on January 12, 2014

I haven't yet read it, but Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East sounds like it would be relevant to this question. "Sweeping in its action, keen in its portraiture, acid in its condemnation of the destruction wrought by European colonial plots, this is a book that brilliantly captures the way in which the folly of the past creates the anguish of the present.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 9:48 AM on January 12, 2014

I have the feeling his translator writes circles around him.

I can't wait to read the English subtitles for the Japanese movie.
posted to MetaFilter by pracowity at 7:19 AM on January 12, 2014

Also, the line about poverty being the natural condition of the human animal is a very pure distillation of ideology. It's very telling and very galling all at once. Of course poverty isn't natural! The economic system is not natural. Money really doesn't grow on trees! But that's what ideology does: it makes socially-constructed systems seem natural, static, and permanent to those enmeshed within them. And if the system serves you well, why ever question or threaten that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by erlking at 8:47 AM on January 11, 2014

it really is stunning what is quietly happening in America's backyards

It's been over 50 years since Michael Harrington's The Other America. It's no longer OK for Americans to be shocked by poverty hidden in urban slums or rural backwaters; that's a long-standing and institutional part of American society. As long as we have modern American capitalism, we'll have this kind of poverty.

Raising awareness of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by graymouser at 8:36 AM on January 11, 2014

It's the National Review, what did you expect?

For trash like this to not be posted here.
posted to MetaFilter by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 8:19 AM on January 11, 2014

This is the most criminally stupid idea in this awful article:

There is no cure for poverty, because there is no cause of poverty — poverty is the natural condition of the human animal.

It's a vision of society where probably 70%-80% of people are in poverty, and the majority of the remainder hang on to the scraps as best they can. This vision is the way that the architects of such a society assuage their consciences; they... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by graymouser at 8:17 AM on January 11, 2014

David Foster Wallace agreed with you, I think. He argues that a great athlete's ability to "shut off the Iago-like voice of the self" in clutch situations is what makes sports memoirs so boring.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by danteGideon at 3:24 AM on January 11, 2014

here's john baez (mentioned in the second video ;) on "the deep and mysterious links between geometry, number theory and physics" and, from the comments, here's terry tao on The Euler-Maclaurin formula, Bernoulli numbers, the zeta function, and real-variable analytic continuation :P
Clearly, these formulae do not make sense if one stays within the traditional way to evaluate infinite series, and so it seems that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by kliuless at 3:45 PM on January 10, 2014

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 ... = -1/12

One reason everyone sees this as sort of mind boggling is that they are taking three symbols that most people are quite familiar with (+, =, and ... - the ... denoting summation of a series with our normal notions of convergence etc) and redefining all three of them somewhat radically.

I mean if someone said, "There is a function that takes the series 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 ... and gives the result... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flug at 1:20 PM on January 10, 2014

How about an analogy?

There are these things called "analytic functions". They are defined on the complex numbers (actually, the complex sphere, which is all the a + bi that we're used to, plus one extra point called "∞").

These have great properties, but can be hard to work with if you just want to know "What happens to the analytic function z ↦... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by benito.strauss at 11:56 AM on January 10, 2014

> I consider the "lets show them the weirdest most confusing tricks without any sensible explanation" style to be extremely poor exposition.

I know you're trying to help. And I'm not meaning to pick on you, so what follows is really an attempt to illustrate a particular kind of problem that's not specifically a math problem.

Every one of these bolded terms in your next paragraph are not laypeople's terms; I don't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ardgedee at 6:26 AM on January 10, 2014

I consider the "lets show them the weirdest most confusing tricks without any sensible explanation" style to be extremely poor exposition.

Real numbers are defined to be equivalence classes of Cauchy sequences of rational numbers, meaning our usual notion of convergence is built into the equality sign. We departed that world the moment we touched a divergent series, so our equality sign must be based on another notion of convergence. Analytic continuation... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jeffburdges at 2:29 AM on January 10, 2014

that thing is the worst
posted to MetaFilter by en forme de poire at 1:06 AM on January 10, 2014