MetaFilter

if > 51% of all the fans are rooting for the same team, can they secretly pool their fandom together and award all the points in the game to their team?
posted to MetaFilter by xbonesgt at 9:09 AM on December 12, 2014

If these people really believed they had to torture suspects, they should turn themselves in for prosecution and present an affirmative defense. Of course they won't, because they are really just cowardly sadists.
posted to MetaFilter by ryoshu at 10:07 AM on December 10, 2014

Maybe, oh just maybe those whom Judge Garzon wanted to bring to Justice over 5 years ago will finally see their day in the tribunals.
Lest we forget who these perverted and twisted people are :
Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,
former Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee
former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo
former Defense Department general counsel William J. Haynes II,
Vice President Cheney’s... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by adamvasco at 8:21 AM on December 10, 2014

Jose Rodriguez, a 31-year veteran of CIA

And also the guy who destroyed videotape evidence of the actual torture sessions.

So... who should we believe here... an exhaustive senate intelligence committee report, or a guy who destroyed evidence and his boss who has been caught in lies throughout the investigation?

I don't think you're making a very convincing case for reporting bias, if these are your sources to expose it.
posted to MetaFilter by adamp88 at 7:41 AM on December 10, 2014

Yup, what Wolfdog said.

There's no 3 in 42.

I count 14.
posted to MetaFilter by busted_crayons at 12:22 PM on December 9, 2014

Didn't sound like a PVD transition at all--seemed to me like it was sloppy video editing.
posted to MetaFilter by feckless fecal fear mongering at 11:34 AM on December 9, 2014

Yeah, I think you had to be at least legal drinking age in 1999 to appreciate the context of Sandstorm. I can see why it sounds boring and stupid to someone who's 25 now.
posted to MetaFilter by desjardins at 10:08 AM on December 9, 2014

But instead he smarms his way through five minutes of you wondering what's so special about 3, and he knows that's all you're thinking, so he buries the fact that there's nothing about 3 until the absolute end.

I think that's a bit harsh. It's a parlor trick: he makes a statement that sounds unlikely on its face, and then proves it's true. Along the way he demonstrates how mathematicians incrementally approach problems: in this case by writing out a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jomato at 3:56 AM on December 9, 2014

And please spare me the "Ad Hominem! Engage the argument!" BS. Someone else can waste their time reading #slatepitch horseshit.
posted to MetaFilter by tonycpsu at 1:44 PM on December 8, 2014

This is now an ex-toaster oven. Sorry!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by DarlingBri at 6:14 AM on December 7, 2014

"Just because you think that something was proven to be false on a factual level, because you accept the word of Z historian, does not mean I believe that it has been proven false on a factual level, because I may not accept the word of Z historian."

This sounds fine in the abstract, until you realize it's the same argument that Holocaust deniers make. Or Confederate apologists. There's often some ambiguity in historical interpretation, but... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by klangklangston at 9:08 AM on December 5, 2014

Many years ago, I went travelling in the central European country of Cransvartania. I bought a cheap, busted up old car and drove way out into the rural areas, where the primitive agriculture and medieval technology made it seem I was stepping back in time. The car was held together with spit and bailing wire, but most of the time I just about managed to keep it running.

All that changed one night, when I was driving through a rainstorm and the car finally died once and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Paul Slade at 8:59 AM on December 5, 2014

A very old lady walks into a bakery and says: "99 muffins, please!"

Says the baker: "Why don't you take one more? Then you'll have a hundred!"

The old lady responds: "And what the hell am I supposed to do with a hundred muffins?"
posted to MetaFilter by sour cream at 7:42 AM on December 5, 2014

Why are blonde jokes so short?

So men can remember them.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:42 AM on December 5, 2014

A rich executive calls home during a business trip and the new maid answers.

"Can you put my wife on?" he says.

"Well, uh, I don't think she can come to the phone right now," she says.

"What do you mean?" he asks.

"Well I hate to break this to you, but she had a tennis lesson this afternoon and now she and the tennis instructor are in bed together," she says.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by burnmp3s at 7:37 AM on December 5, 2014

The point is "your very presence" never caused a derail.
posted to MetaTalk by agregoli at 1:55 PM on December 4, 2014

It seems as though you and some others feel that if some opinions on certain topics are thoughtfully "rebutted", then the other person should change their opinions to match the rebuttal or shut up, rather than hold onto their opinion, and that to fail to do so is some sort of wilful malfeasance.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't expect to change minds with every argument I make. Here's what I do expect from someone who I've just... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by tonycpsu at 1:43 PM on December 4, 2014

If you think that in no way negatively influences how the forum as a whole will treat me, wow. I don't even know what to say to that.

Yeah, no.

If it helps, I try really hard not to respond to your posts, Michelle, because I specifically don't want to do a pile-on when the irritant is due solely to personality. But the way you have of entering any given MeTa and twisting it to talk about how mean everyone is to you is both... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by winna at 1:39 PM on December 4, 2014

this thread makes me feel like I should get paid more.
posted to MetaFilter by scose at 10:04 PM on December 3, 2014

I will add that my experience mirrored that of anotherpanacea, who investigated police complaints for the NYC CCRB, which is an agency independent of the police that investigates these matters. He was also surprised by how many complaints were without foundation.

This is true, but I kind of resent being outed in this way. I just got done arguing in this thread that we shouldn't be required to have our resumes publicized before participating.... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by anotherpanacea at 3:36 PM on December 3, 2014

The one that blows my mind is ASMR videos.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by entropone at 1:30 PM on December 3, 2014

You can just buy decaf tea. It tastes pretty much like normal tea.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by fshgrl at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2014

It typically means that you don't need to pay cover, so you would just tell whomever is collecting cover at the door that you're on the guest list and give them your name.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Jacqueline at 9:28 AM on December 3, 2014

[in Sweden] you can’t get rich having a child with a high-income co-parent.

Gross.

Yes, I'm sure this is all very confusing to you if you start from the premise that both partners in a heterosexual marriage have equal access to money, resources, and opportunities.
posted to MetaFilter by Horace Rumpole at 9:36 AM on December 3, 2014

Interesting there are so many comparisons to Sweden there. In Sweden a child's current and future welfare is less tied to their parents. For example, there is no worry about a college fund or college payment (a main source of angst in my parent's divorce) because people go to college for free there. Another thing is it's less acceptable there to be a stay at home mother and American divorces involving a stay at home parent have to account for the fact that this parent often either won't be able... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by melissam at 9:34 AM on December 3, 2014

Crazy idea: Let's stay out of it and let the countries in the neighborhood deal with them.
posted to MetaFilter by Renoroc at 6:07 PM on December 2, 2014

Nthing no need to reply to a message if you aren't interested.

I also want to mention that sometimes after some duration with no reply to his message, a guy might send another message about you being rude or whatever. Don't let this behavior compel you to replying to every message! Ignore this too, and pat yourself on the back for avoiding a guy who gets aggressive when he doesn't get what he wants when he wants it.

On preview, ditto mullacc....
posted to Ask MetaFilter by nicodine at 1:56 PM on December 2, 2014

corb doesn't seem to get around to ever talking about the other aspects, so its not unreasonable to assume what she finds important is what she speaks up about.

I don't think that's necessarily the case, but I think it's the case that people simply don't notice. For example, in that thread, I also went into the grand jury proceedings and produced excerpts where the prosecutor was treating her own witness like a hostile witness... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by corb at 1:30 PM on December 2, 2014

The problem with your argument is that it ignores the political power the police unions wield.

I just witnessed an impressive display of police union power abuse near me on the 'liberal' Left Coast. It seems the Police Union in Arroyo Grande, California was dissatisfied with their last contract negotiations with the appointed City Manager and elected Mayor, both with over 10 years service to the town. There was gossip about the Manager having a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by oneswellfoop at 11:09 AM on December 2, 2014

Is there any MeFi policy on people bringing their day job advocacy to MeFi in the way that there are policies against self-linking or Pepsi Blue type things?
posted to MetaTalk by tonycpsu at 7:52 AM on December 2, 2014

Doesn't pretty much any instrument outside of a pure sine wave generator produce a tone an octave up as one of its overtones? So an octave gives the impression of similarity of pitch because it's amplifying a sound already present in the original tone.

Well, yeah it's true that the octave is almost always a prominent overtone when you have some periodic wave in a tube or on a string attached to some resonant thing. But that doesn't have anything to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Lutoslawski at 8:01 PM on December 1, 2014

I think it's different to say:

"If I were arguing this case, I would argue {$This}. And I believe it would win."

Than to just say

"{$This}"
posted to MetaTalk by Trochanter at 2:19 PM on December 1, 2014

I guess your point is that Ironmouth made his case and needed to "be cut off" because people were arguing with him.

I think her point (please correct me if I am wrong) was that after a certain point continuing to grind away on the "But it was legal" argument when people are actively talking about that and other issues is making the thread necessarily be all about your particular arguments and not engaging with other people's... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 10:32 AM on December 1, 2014

There are a lot of similarities with the Zimmerman case, outsized fear of young black men leading to panic.

Yep -- I was remarking to a friend of mine that both Zimmerman's and Wilson's testimony can be summed up in this manner:

"I was sitting in my vehicle thinking about how I can make the world a better place when I saw a black male who wasn't walking with his eyes cast down and who didn't reply "Suh?" when I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by lord_wolf at 8:10 AM on December 1, 2014

Get them a family subscription to Spotify with two users, $14.99 a month. They'll be able to listen to 99% of all available music free, with no downloads. For the outliers, like Taylor Swift et al., who don't do Spotify, buy the MP3s from Amazon. You can then sync those tracks into their Spotify and bobsyeruncle.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 6:39 AM on December 1, 2014

SPOILERS

Mirror: It doesn't flip left/right, it flips in/out! The reason it looks that way is that if you are looking at a person, you're right eye would be on the same side of the midline as their left eye (they're rotated 180 degrees, compared to you.) But in the mirror image, the images right eye is on the same side as your right eye. The easiest way to see this is to hold an arrow and look in the mirror. When you point the arrow right, the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by eriko at 8:20 AM on November 27, 2014

In the instance of the nuts and bolts, the water level would fall if the cargo was dumped.

When the cargo is in the boat, floating on the surface of the water, they're displacing a volume of water that is equivalent to their mass. When they go in the water, they'll sink and only displace a volume of water equivalent to their size.
posted to MetaFilter by The Notorious SRD at 7:57 AM on November 27, 2014

"Ending the conflict in Syria". Makes it sound so easy! But who to target first - the genocidal jihadist insurgency? or their mortal enemy, the genocidal secular dictator?

Either way I'm sure that the plucky little Free Syrian Army, with enough US air support, will be able to knock one of the two sides off and then deftly spin around and whack the other one. Right?
posted to MetaFilter by moorooka at 3:21 AM on November 27, 2014

wait

i have discovered the secret of america
posted to MetaFilter by poffin boffin at 12:32 PM on November 25, 2014

Great question! This is right in my research wheelhouse - I study tree seedling microclimate and forest ecology. Snow actually insulates the seedlings to a large extent, protecting them from bright radiation (which can cause chronic photoinhibition), harsh drying winds that could otherwise dry out the soil and thus jeopardize the tree's turgor pressure, and frigid minimum temperatures which can also cause freeze-induced cavitation in really poor conditions. Conifers are generally... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by dialetheia at 1:01 PM on November 25, 2014 marked best answer

I don't get it. This is a justified shooting with a lot of media hype. The guy in NYC? That was police misconduct. Yet no one cares about that one and everyone cares about this one.

This begs so many questions that I don't know where to begin.

Brown's shooting didn't happen in a vacuum. People aren't merely reacting to the facts of the case, as you see them: the stolen cigarillos and the altercation between Wilson and Brown.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by evidenceofabsence at 1:26 PM on November 25, 2014

Jack Flash, you only have a trial when the prosecutor believes that the facts suffice beyond a reasonable doubt for a conviction. You don't just say "person A and person B were involved in a bad thing and person B died, therefore put person A on trial to see whether it was his fault." The prosecutor couldn't have made more clear last night that I believed the facts were entirely the other way, and used the grand jury for political cover.

If... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MattD at 12:46 PM on November 25, 2014

The silver lining here is the new grand jury system that has emerged. A system where the prosecution acts as an advocate for the defendant. Where all of the evidence is laid out for the grand jury and the prosecuter's office coaxes exculpatory evidence from conflicting testimony. It's amazing that we will have a system where the defendant is allowed to share her side of the story with the grand jury, allowing character testimony to influence the members of the jury. Not only will the prosecutor... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ryoshu at 11:15 AM on November 25, 2014

You do realize that in a trial, the jury would also get to see only the evidence the DA chose to present, PLUS the defense attorney, right?

It's too bad that in this grand jury they seemed to be the same person.
posted to MetaFilter by Gelatin at 11:04 AM on November 25, 2014

"We are not rich" sounds about as credible as "We are not racist"

Except that, y'know, actual numbers are available in TFA. And dragging parallels to racism into a discussion like this seems...counterproductive. At best.
posted to MetaFilter by Ipsifendus at 9:38 AM on November 25, 2014

I didn't know that robbery (which btw Wilson admits he didn't even know about) was grounds for summary execution thanks Mr. Lawyer

Technically, it's "not being a police officer" that's grounds for summary execution. Melanin is an exacerbating factor.
posted to MetaFilter by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 9:50 AM on November 25, 2014

I didn't know that robbery (which btw Wilson admits he didn't even know about) was grounds for summary execution thanks Mr. Lawyer
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 9:45 AM on November 25, 2014

> Sea lioning is basically Tone Argument v. 2.0

It's a conversational DDoS by dudes who want to roleplay the arguments they win in the shower.
posted to MetaFilter by postcommunism at 9:10 AM on November 25, 2014

Witness #40:


Well I’m gonna take my random drive to Florissant. Need to understand the Black race better so I stop calling Blacks Niggers and start calling them People. Like dad always said you cant fear or hate an entire race cause of what one man did 40 yrs ago.
...
The cop just stood there dang if that kid didnt start running right at the cop like a football player. Head down.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by tonycpsu at 8:40 AM on November 25, 2014

False positives on this blocklist make it absolutely useless and discriminatory, and also illegal. If even one person is unjustly blocked on twitter, it's censorship. That's why every morning I go through the few thousand emails Gmail has categorized as spam over the last day and go through them one by one to make sure that there are no false positives. I call on GamerGate to follow my lead.
posted to MetaFilter by Awful Peice of Crap at 7:29 AM on November 25, 2014