MetaFilter

I appreciate Paul Ford's Quantified Outrage Rule.

([Wife] and I have a rule that when something enrages us we give money to the people we support. WSJ made me $100 angry at least.)

posted to MetaFilter by zamboni at 10:00 AM on February 27, 2011

This is a classic case of Ask Culture meets Guess Culture.

In some families, you grow up with the expectation that it's OK to ask for anything at all, but you gotta realize you might get no for an answer. This is Ask Culture.

In Guess Culture, you avoid putting a request into words unless you're pretty sure the answer will be yes. Guess Culture depends on a tight net of shared expectations. A key skill is putting out delicate feelers. If you do... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by tangerine at 11:38 PM on January 16, 2007 marked best answer

I will always love Real Life the most

Can't agree more. Always been a huge Albert Brooks fan and I'm looking forward to spending some time with this FPP. Anyway, at one point in my life I read the Bill Zehme profile in which he describes a letter that Brooks had dictated to his secretary and then had framed on his wall, ostensibly from Babe Ruth to a doctor at Mt. Sinai hospital in 1928. The letter was hilarious, and I decided I wanted to hang it on... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:20 PM on February 10, 2011

They would send that stuff to us if we had the img tag, Matt.
posted to MetaFilter by Mister_A at 7:50 AM on February 10, 2011

I hear 4chan is about to be snapped up by Hotbot.
posted to MetaFilter by washburn at 11:04 PM on February 6, 2011

Focus your serious, analytical energies on empathizing with where others are coming from. You can channel this intensity into understanding their perspectives, and in doing so you might naturally tone down your own negativity or gloominess just because you'll be more aware of the effect it has on others.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by anildash at 7:19 AM on January 18, 2011 marked best answer

Discuss.

Well it's interesting, right? If you believe in free speech then you have to sort of believe in both people's right to say offensive bullshit and also people's right to say "I am offended." If you just cut it off at people's right to say offensive shit and try to shame and badger people into not talking about the things they want to talk about in response, well, that's not real free-speecherly of you.

We... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jessamyn at 7:42 PM on February 2, 2011

*cries*
posted to MetaFilter by America at 2:40 PM on January 17, 2011

Mods: I've made a terrible mistake.

I totally read that in Gob's voice.
posted to MetaFilter by kmz at 12:03 PM on January 17, 2011

At least we still have Memepool.
posted to MetaFilter by These Premises Are Alarmed at 5:17 AM on January 17, 2011

Finally got to Paul's article, and though I was prepared from the title to get all wonderchickensian and cranky and contrarian, as usual, it's pretty much spot on. But that shouldn't have surprised me, because he, along with our own (but rarely seen) kokogiak and a few others, is one of my Internet Heroes, and has been for a long time.

I was expecting to be compelled to write a long counterpoint piece for my newly-resurrected main websitelogthing today; turns out I have... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:27 PM on January 7, 2011

There's a whole other side to Paul'a magnificent piece, which has to do with people's need not only to be heard but to be ... yes, consulted. Where the web populace has stepped over a certain bounds—I blame you, blogging—and there is no filter (!) on that terrible streaming firehose. Anyone can write—and publish—anything. Okay, it began with Oprah. No, it began (on TV) long before Oprah; whenever it was that Winston's ceased to be the thinking man's cigarette, and what I call Okie America... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by zo219 at 6:27 PM on January 8, 2011

I'd first encountered Bill online years ago when he made a blog posting app, and then re-meeting him at a Princeton event last year, he'd begun by saying, "You probably don't remember..." but we immediately reconnected about the cool project he'd done back then. More amazingly, he was doing super, super brilliant work at Princeton, which I found really inspiring and was so excited to see how far this young guy had come from such promising roots.

It's a terribly... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by anildash at 8:34 PM on January 5, 2011

You never get the call that says, "Hey your systems worked well today, thank you."

You'd be surprised. I get random emails and chats saying thanks pretty much daily. Some random MeFite sent me a $50 in a holiday card. I don't have to pay for my own beer at meetups unless I want to. Questions get marked resolved in AskMe every single day in a way that is super-gratifying. In my local job, I'm often teaching people how to double-click, over... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 8:56 AM on January 6, 2011

As a post-text to that, I would say that the situations in which the work we do feels most like that faceless-customer-service dynamic is when dealing with people who haven't really come to metafilter with any clear idea of what the place is like. They're more likely to be annoyed in an unforgiving way about the things they dislike or misunderstand, they're less likely to have patience with the practical guidelines of the community. Which is not surprising, even if it's a little vexatious to... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 11:29 AM on January 6, 2011

Here's the story of where I learned to love customer service.

It was 2004 and I was going to SXSW. Having recently moved to Oregon, there were no direct flights from Portland to Austin, but I found various choices of cities to stopover in. I picked out SF knowing the chances were very high that I would know half a dozen people on the flight if I passed through there compared to say, Denver or Houston.

My first leg was uneventful and as soon as I... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by mathowie at 3:40 PM on January 6, 2011

As ND¢ says, customer service or in this case moderation can drive you crazy. You never get the call that says, "Hey your systems worked well today, thank you." Is is always, "Your systems suck. You suck. In fact you are one load your mother should have sucked."

Like Jessamyn said, this fortunately is not so much the case for us as moderators on mefi. There's plenty of critical stuff, certainly, but there's plenty of folks who are super thankful for... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 11:24 AM on January 6, 2011

Based on how a lot of MeTa threads unfold, I liken the mods jobs here to being the cat in this video.
posted to MetaTalk by Rhomboid at 7:57 AM on January 6, 2011

And is just me, or does humanity come off looking pretty sad after reading that article?

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with wanting to be important and special. I like that on MetaFilter I can say/favorite anything that I want and help shape discussions in ways that'll interest me. It's a lot better than being completely unspecial anyway.

The issue is more that not many designers spend their time asking... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Rory Marinich at 7:37 AM on January 6, 2011

That was really a very insightful piece. Some of the best thinking on media I've seen in a long, long time. I think he really nails what's going on with apps, and a lot about how the web has changed.

On the Steve Martin/92nd St. Y debacle, this analysis might be a little off, though --

Of course he didn't expect that. It's not his medium. All the same, here's a guy who, according to his autobiography, cultivated audiences at... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Miko at 6:58 AM on January 6, 2011

If I hear one more story about some stat-grinding min-max spreadsheet nerd is busily charting his next stunt diet into the next decade while carefully listing the size color and clarity of their daily shit I am going to beat them to death with my cast iron pan and serve them for dinner.
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 2:11 PM on November 8, 2010

Holy shit, who would have thought that eating less calories than you burn in a day will make you lose weight?

You'd be surprised at how many people are violently opposed to this idea. Many people will get very, very angry with you if you say this. I've learned to keep my Hacker Diet love to myself.
posted to MetaFilter by bonecrusher at 2:20 PM on November 8, 2010

Easy peasy. Look for Octavia Butler. She plays with some of the traditional SF tropes, like aliens, but deals very frankly with difficult choices women must make in affecting the outcome of both themselves and greater humanity. Sherri S. Tepper is also great, but more spacey. Oh, and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Really terrific, grounded realistic dystopian SF.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:45 AM on November 1, 2010

They follow where the grant money is coming in from, and it ain't from the Shakespeare prof.

Cash flow at Texas A&M. English and History both very profitable, Physics, Aerospace Engineering, Oceanography not so much.

Bottom line shows humanities really do make money.

But, according to spreadsheet calculations done at my request by Reem Hanna-Harwell, assistant dean of the humanities at the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by gerryblog at 9:30 PM on October 26, 2010

She should have posted to AskMe first.
posted to MetaFilter by davejay at 10:11 AM on October 20, 2010

Perhaps they didn't teach her the First Amendment at Witch School.
posted to MetaFilter by scody at 2:36 PM on October 19, 2010

Sad on a great many levels.

.
posted to MetaFilter by WPW at 4:58 AM on October 16, 2010

That's how my father died.

So you guys have seen that "Indian" Thriller routine? You know, that one where Buffalax misappropriated 'golimaar' into 'girly man'? The sword dude's dad.

They cut the clip too soon. The next scene was an elaborate song-and-dance number with the hero waving the severed arm around in homage to Gene Kelly's umbrella work in Singing in the Rain.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by the cydonian at 6:36 PM on September 2, 2010

I am so fucking tired of things that aren't this.
posted to MetaFilter by FAMOUS MONSTER at 1:08 PM on September 2, 2010

What is their current interest rate on basic checking?
posted to MetaFilter by fourcheesemac at 8:53 AM on October 6, 2010

Hey now. No Joe hate. I actually know Joe a little bit and he's one of the nicest guys you could meet. Talented actor, too.
posted to MetaFilter by papercake at 1:02 PM on October 5, 2010

I ran into Dennis Leary the other day and he told me this exact same story!
posted to MetaFilter by quadog at 10:43 PM on September 22, 2010

The Liberace Museum, once a tourist attraction on a par with the Hoover Dam

In both attendance and sheer volume of material!
posted to MetaFilter by GenjiandProust at 9:33 AM on September 18, 2010

Attitude to money may not have changed quite as much as is being assumed - my experience has been that Americans see finances as a strangely private thing, but this is not necessarily normal.

Knowledge is power and generally it benefits employers when employees don't know how much each other makes, and it generally benefits employees when they do know who is making what.

I find people with a union background are much less likely to dis-empower... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by -harlequin- at 9:14 PM on September 1, 2010

Avenger, I'm not sure. I've met more then a few people in reprehensible employment who decided to take a gleeful supervillian take on it "ha ha I'm taking their church money and spending it on whores ha ha!" it seems like a viable Personal Narrative along with I Am Doing What Is Best, but they didn't tend to be very high up.
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 8:36 PM on June 18, 2010

Every morning I fall to my knees and thank Zog the Creator that I am sterile. Not because I hate kids, but because I hate parents, and I've enough self-loathing issues, thank you.
posted to MetaFilter by turgid dahlia at 9:53 PM on June 16, 2010

I regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.
posted to MetaFilter by Benjamin Nushmutt at 8:26 PM on June 13, 2010

Hmmm. I have a natural suspicion of trend pieces -- they're usually designed to boot pageviews, and not reveal truth. Gender stuff is kinda low-hanging fruit for this sort of thing, since it necessarily affects everyone who has a gender.

But, there are hints of truth to this. Like, I think there are fewer women now who list "must make a lot of money" as a requirement in a mate. In fact, most women I've talked to about this are just happy if the dude has a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Afroblanco at 3:05 PM on June 10, 2010

Griphus: Fuck it, I'll defend her. She was pushing 30 when the modern state of Israel was established

Fuck it, I will too. Israel circa 2010, is not the Israel of when it was formed in the late 40s , or even during any point past the 90s. It has grown decidedly oppressive, and fundamentalist, with a great deal of the political power now coming from the Orthodox Hasidim base, who're basically a version of the Jewish Taliban, with deplorable attitudes... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Skygazer at 12:17 PM on June 7, 2010

There have been multiple calls for explanations in this thread. I've known about Life for going on twenty years now, have played around with Golly in other contexts and have it installed on two computers, have written Life simulators before, and even once long ago created a computer game that utilized Life rules, so I guess I'm as qualified as anyone.

"Life," invented by famed mathematician John Horton Conway, does not require a computer to explore, although... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by JHarris at 7:16 PM on June 3, 2010

Oh fuck yes. I am going to annoy the hell out of Matt and Jess about this come the next podcast.
posted to MetaFilter by cortex at 1:24 PM on June 3, 2010

Is "NIN's not indie" the new "NIN's not industrial"?
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 5:43 PM on June 3, 2010

Never understood the Trent Reznor love in supposed indie circles. Fuck You Like an Animal was a massive high-rotation hit here, and he's been popular ever since. Terrible song, lowest common denominator stuff.

You probably have to listen to The Downward Spiral in its entirety to get it. About 100 times. When you were 19. In 1995.
posted to MetaFilter by empath at 5:41 PM on June 3, 2010

Is this the only Star Wars film to have had a second draft?
posted to MetaFilter by mazola at 6:53 AM on May 30, 2010

?
posted to MetaFilter by DU at 4:59 PM on May 22, 2010

LAFF REPORT FOLLOWS

* Was funny enough to watch all the way through
* Made me smile at points
* No audible laughter at any point
* Will not pass on
* Am older than 36.

END LAFF REPORT
posted to MetaFilter by everichon at 3:29 PM on May 6, 2010

[few comments removed - folks if you do not like this question, go to metatalk or have a muffin, calling people jerks is bad for the site and bad for karma and is harshing my very nice evening.]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jessamyn at 4:24 PM on May 5, 2010

on a serious note, i'm more surprised than I probably should be that we're apparently snarking about this. it seems to me like Mr. Ford has a right proper head on his shoulders, and he wants good things for his publication, which is, y'know, a good thing.
posted to MetaTalk by shmegegge at 2:46 PM on February 4, 2010

It always starts the same way. I am in the garden airing my terrapin Jetta when he walks past my gate, that mysterious man in black.
posted to MetaFilter by ennui.bz at 8:26 PM on May 1, 2010

As an English major, I just hate it for this one. It shouldn't annoy me because he looks like a babbling idiot to anyone who has ever taken a literature course ever, but going from the whole "I love geeks! I love life! Whee!" to shitting on other geeky people is just being an such an asshole. God, what a douche.
posted to MetaFilter by Solon and Thanks at 4:38 AM on March 9, 2010