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iPod blue
posted to MetaFilter by caddis at 12:22 PM on January 7, 2007

Oh, and there's a pretty healthy percentage of bad drivers that are sure they're not the ones that have committed the transgression, even when they very clearly are. My favorite example of this is a guy in a mini-van (again, the mini-van) turning left as if he had an advance green when he only had a normal green. Luckily, the only oncoming traffic was us, and we were turning right, so said near-accident was only us almost turning into each other at a reasonably low speed,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by The God Complex at 4:26 PM on January 5, 2007

Where does it say the goats themselves are threatening the argan trees? It seems to me it's the humans - over grazing practices, etc... - not to mention that they tie goats up in the trees to create photo stops for the passing tourist coaches.
posted to MetaFilter by Liosliath at 1:59 PM on January 5, 2007

Might I suggest that highly-compressed video isn't the best medium for tracking the movements of a small black dot?
posted to MetaFilter by TheNewWazoo at 5:59 PM on January 5, 2007

every minute you spend in second life is subtracted from the available minutes in your first life, which, in case you've forgotten, are not infinite.
posted to MetaFilter by bruce at 9:25 PM on January 5, 2007

I spent a little over 2 weeks exploring Egypt during an extended holiday in April/May. What I came home with is the realization that fundamentalist Islamics represent the average person in the Middle East just as well as Fundamentalist Christians represent me. (I have 2 siblings who are Fundamentalist, so let's just say: ie, not at all.) And also? (Dear Mefites, please don't attack me for saying this, but...) WOW, American media is incredibly pro-Israel... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by miss lynnster at 7:19 AM on January 2, 2007

This reminds me of an only slightly less perverse past-time I and some friends adopted in High school and college. And some of you from the Northwest who are of a certain age may remember the...

Adventures of The Stunt Monkey! Too bad there was no YouTube to document his adventures.

I had this fantastically well designed monkey doll from childhood. It had this insane facial expression and a wire skeleton and would hold poses. In 1980 one drunken... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by tkchrist at 2:42 PM on January 2, 2007

I want a vaccine to prevent any future unborn children of mine from voting Republican.

Not impossible. Republicanism may derive from deficiencies of imagination, empathy, and intellect; at least, it correlates heavily with such deficiencies.
posted to MetaFilter by aeschenkarnos at 5:32 PM on December 31, 2006

The day before Christmas, I had a bunch of last minute shopping to do that drove me, unfortunately, to visit the local mall and Best Buy. Everywhere I went, there were huge signs stating that yes, ps3's were available. Since I have a 360 and 2 Wii's (one I waited 11 hours in line for, the other an unexpected Christmas gift), I considered for a moment finishing out the triforce of next gen machines. Then I remembered that the PS3 is a piece of garbage and saved my money. But yeah - I've seen... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Bageena at 7:21 AM on December 30, 2006

Man...what is the appeal of "ghost ridin'"? I thought I was being reckless back in high school when I would sit on the passenger side of the big front bench seat in my mercury and drape my feet over the hump to operate the pedals so to make it look like no one was driving.

Well, that is pretty reckless.

One summer when I was staying with my dad in Mosquite texas, one of the neighborhood kids jumped out of a moving... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 1:27 PM on December 29, 2006

Riverbend: Why make things worse by insisting on Saddam's execution now? Who gains if they hang Saddam? Iran, naturally, but who else? There is a real fear that this execution will be the final blow that will shatter Iraq. Some Sunni and Shia tribes have threatened to arm their members against the Americans if Saddam is executed. Iraqis in general are watching closely to see what happens next, and quietly preparing for the worst.

This is because now, Saddam no longer... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MonkeySaltedNuts at 8:11 PM on December 29, 2006

"Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence," Mr Maliki said

Disgusting.
posted to MetaFilter by amberglow at 8:01 PM on December 29, 2006

The most amazing thing about all of this is not that there's a debate about global warming --- that would be merely embarassing --- but that people are actually waiting for the ruling administration to weigh in on the issue. It's like being in 18th century France and reserving judgement on the revolution until Louis XVI says it's morally justified.

To anybody with even the most passing familiarity with climate science, global warming is, undeniably, both a real and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Tiresias at 2:14 AM on December 28, 2006

haha this is awesome
posted to MetaFilter by lazaruslong at 6:02 PM on December 28, 2006

Honestly, if all of Texas worshipped a giant sky-banana,

If!?
posted to MetaFilter by loquacious at 6:20 PM on December 28, 2006

Folks, this really is a big deal. It means that your computer's basic functionality is being crippled because of Hollywood. Vista will be shinier and prettier than XP, but substantially less functional.

Worse, in their attempts to detect tampering, they've built a whole series of kill switches in... if your hardware acts funny in any way, Vista drivers are supposed to set a 'tamper bit', disabling (at the very least) playback functionality, and perhaps disabling the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Malor at 8:36 AM on December 24, 2006

only as long as the world is populated by worshipers at the altar of mass-produced packaged prefab corportainment. shut off your damn television. visit the library instead of the fucking cinema. stomp that iPod and learn to play an instrument. have a conversation. play a board game. this shit is your fault.

Grandpa? Is that you? I thought you were dead.
posted to MetaFilter by srboisvert at 2:28 AM on December 24, 2006

Can anyone please offer technical and subjective definitions of "high quality" (or premium) content as Microsoft is using the term here? Will this be higher or lower quality than is the current norm?

Generally what's being referred to here is HDCP compliant tech in Vista, and Secure Audio Path.

HDCP (part of blue-ray and HD-DVD, the new hi-res DVDs) allows for content creators to force video output of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ArkhanJG at 12:49 AM on December 24, 2006

Of course, we could all do something novel, like, band together and force the government to actually enforce antitrust laws or create new legilation to actually promote the interests of the people instead of business. Certain misguided individuals (and organizations) will scream 'liberal!' over that, but it's really just accepting the simple concept that the government is best when working for the benefit of the people, as a whole, rather than the interests of capitalism. Doing so might prove... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Goofyy at 10:51 PM on December 23, 2006

Every human alive now is only likely to have between 2 and 5 wholly original thoughts in their lifetime. Let's drop the pretensions and admit we are all thieves.
posted to MetaFilter by jchgf at 2:20 PM on December 24, 2006

I think people rarely have original thoughts. Maybe just a couple in a lifetime. Five times if you count repeats.
posted to MetaFilter by srboisvert at 11:18 AM on December 24, 2006

It is my belief that an average human being has an original thought twice (perhaps, in rare instances, up to five times) over a common lifespan.
posted to MetaFilter by hal9k at 11:02 AM on December 24, 2006

Re: Hitler's skull

Does the Godwin law work in real life? I can imagine a dinner party where all your guests are in your living room, and someone points out the skull, and the moment someone announces what it is, some jackass with only a rudimentary idea of what Godwin actually said starts shouting "Godwin!" and demands that everyone put their drinks down and go home because the party is over.
posted to MetaFilter by Uther Bentrazor at 7:40 AM on December 21, 2006

condolences to the family, but the work after Tom and Jerry was shlock.
posted by cogneuro at 7:06 PM PST on December 18

When you're dead and gone, here's hoping someone points to this post and pens something on the order of, "Here lies cogneuro, yet another negative, arrogant, myopic, mouthbreathing intraweb troll. Monstrously, inappropriately critical; enjoyed pissing on the dead. He never made a mark on anything. Really, it's best... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by frogan at 7:17 PM on December 18, 2006

Who was the most dominant combat pilot of all time? If avaiators include video arcade players then Smart Dalek makes a good candidate, losing but 2 games plus 1 quarter more to a computer over the course of an afternoon playing R-Type.
posted to MetaFilter by Smart Dalek at 4:59 AM on December 19, 2006

Oh yeah, I was big into absolutes when I was a teenager too.
posted to MetaFilter by thirteenkiller at 6:14 AM on December 19, 2006

God's cleaning house
The cynicism in this remark is even too much for my sarcasmic powers. Let's be clear: we have certain people using charisma, hypocrisy and hate mongering to generate income in "god's name", a racket oft repeated for thousands of years of swindling the masses by abusing one of our brain's most open and potentially viable vulnerabilities: the search for our place in the cosmos coupled with resolving our own mortality of flesh but... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sarcasman at 11:19 AM on December 19, 2006

The products are based on bentonite clay.

GoLyteLy and related products used to flush the colon before colonoscopy are indeed polyethylene glycol with a special balance of salts. Polyethylene glycol is a solute that can't be absorbed by the colon; its osmotic strength holds water in the colon. The salts are necessary to prevent the unusual osmotic situation from catastrophically altering the blood sodium and potassium levels. Usually, liquids are absorbed in the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ikkyu2 at 2:13 AM on December 18, 2006

Your favorite person of the year sucks. Which is you. You suck.
posted to MetaFilter by interrobang at 7:05 PM on December 16, 2006

Um, gross.
Well? What did you expectorate?
posted to MetaFilter by hal9k at 4:46 PM on December 17, 2006

I just want to know if tkchrist got his money back. Seriously, people, that's a great story.

Well. You know. I did not.

I know Rollins and I talked a bit more but I don't remember because I was moon-walking through the fog of valium and booze.

That. And I didn't REALLY own his book. Funny, huh?

I was trying to start something. But he just laughed. He's smart and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by tkchrist at 3:33 PM on December 15, 2006

I prefer to buy my videos for $2 from Apple, because I'm an idiot.
posted to MetaFilter by smackfu at 9:14 AM on December 15, 2006

Wow, this is sad. A bunch of men sitting around talking about what women want

All you have to do is ask, buddy, and I'll tell you what I want. But I can only speak for myself-- not all womankind.
posted to MetaFilter by Secret Life of Gravy at 10:08 AM on December 15, 2006

How can so many of you be missing something so obvious? jon and others above are not talking about crushes and finding your dream boy, they are talking about scoring i.e. random one-night-stand sex.

Here, it's like this:

If a guy is horny and decides "Hey, I'm going to the bar and I'm going home with something tonight, as long as she's not a post-op tranny", there is *STILL* a significant chance that man is going home alone.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ynoxas at 10:07 AM on December 15, 2006

I don't see why they can't be replaced with a giant wall of foam. All the stopping power, twice the comic relief.

Hmm... or maybe a loop-de-loop....
posted to MetaFilter by tehloki at 9:24 AM on December 15, 2006

(Total murder and non-negligent manslaughter deaths, US, 2005, 16,692. Total traffic fatalities, US, 2005, 43,200.)

Nothing else seems to be working, so why not?

If you want to decrease the number of injuries, and you actually increase the number of injuries and damage, then you've failed, obviously.

Why use a bollard and not a gate? Gates work fine, and they don't cause this much damage if run through.
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 6:38 AM on December 15, 2006

IMO, it would be better to use those pop-up tire shredding spikes than these bollards. Same car-stopping and expensive-damage-causing power, but without the obvious risk of passenger and driver injury.

I mean, I don't sympathize with these drivers either, but at the same time, I find it difficult to argue that public safety devices shouldn't be designed to minimize risk to everyone affected by them. I would think a device that forces you to replace all your tires, and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by rusty at 6:10 AM on December 15, 2006

I love that the tallest man in the world is Asian

Assisting in the procedure, a teetotaling Irishman held the dolphin down while the Italian veterinarian gave directions without using with his hands.
posted to MetaFilter by horsewithnoname at 8:07 AM on December 15, 2006

I like it, it's sort of experimental or something. I love this whole idea of pushing the bar lower, to find out just exactly how far things can go before we hit bottom. It's an exploration of crappy post space; Where is the edge? What are the limits? How low can we go? Plus the video made me laugh. I mean seriously that fat guy has a good voice.
posted to MetaFilter by econous at 1:56 AM on December 15, 2006

Well, as a fairly soused mefite myself I'll just throw a few more things in.

1) I'm a former punk in the same way I'm a former kid. Punk is all about youth, all about the rejection of the adult world with its rules and responsibilities. But, jonmc has this part wrong, punk isn't the rejection of rules and responsibilities in themselves, but a rejection of those who make and enforce them. Punk was a form of empowerment: a rejection, but also a creation of an ethic. What... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by elwoodwiles at 12:38 AM on December 15, 2006

You get up on your little twenty-one forty-two inch screen, and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT Microsoft and A T and T and Dupont, Dow, Union Carbide Monsanto and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians Iranians talk about in their councils of state--Karl Marx Ali Shariarti? They pull out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories and minimax solutions and compute... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thecaddy at 12:27 AM on December 15, 2006

Bulgaroktonos, I beg to differ. Borders serve no purpose beyond causing conflict between fellow humans and as a foothold for rascist thought and tendencies. If I have the determination to make an honest life for myself somewhere else, who has the omnipotence to tell me I can't? Surely not American lawmakers who dispossessed these land in the first place.
posted to MetaFilter by hangingbyathread at 9:57 PM on December 13, 2006

No one wants to do the work these illegals do, nor do the corporate bosses want to pay wages for legit workers, nor do consumers want to pay for goods or services made by legal residents. And yet so much hate.

It boils down to "them durn furriners, by an accident of birth they're not as privileged as I am! Fuck 'em!"

Mix equal parts ignorance and racism and here we are. Bread and circuses. Plus a lot of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by maxwelton at 7:56 PM on December 13, 2006

Deep advice Burhanistan . ahh, the Source. Thanks.

T H E

S O U R C E

I S

T H E

C O OL E S T

T H I N G


EVE R








T H i S

P o s t... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nickyskye at 9:53 PM on December 13, 2006

I don't think #1 deserves Dante's Inferno for bad parenting. No such circle existed in the story, anyway. "Bad parenting", in Dante's time, would be defined as deliberately killing one's own child, and then only if no good reason existed.

Consider the situation from her perspective: a wealthy woman parks her car outside a very upmarket store, and leaves her child in the care of the servants of the store--specifically, the valets, who are given her car... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by aeschenkarnos at 9:40 PM on December 13, 2006

Kwanstar, I think you meant to say something else:

OUTRAGEOUS!!!!



Or maybe... O^UTRAGEOUS!!!
posted to MetaFilter by The God Complex at 5:58 PM on December 13, 2006

Hypothetical: if you and I are sitting in a waiting room along with a little 5 year old girl, and you see me expose myself to her, my guess is that you will do something. You will probably tell the police even. My guess is that you would be so offended and angry that you would probably act then and there.

Dios compares thing under discussion to completely different situation. Film at 11.
posted to MetaFilter by delmoi at 2:15 PM on December 14, 2006

We will eventually get to the point where politicians will load children into circus cannons and fire them at your house so they can arrest you for not having child safe walls.
posted to MetaFilter by fleetmouse at 8:27 AM on December 14, 2006

A string of drool oozed from Mick Crichton's twisted grin as he added another kitten to the blender.
posted to MetaFilter by fleetmouse at 11:10 AM on December 14, 2006

HEY ALL YOU JACKOFFS

IT CRACKS MY SHIT UP THAT MCJON THINKS I GIVE MANAGEMENT SEMINARS TO SEAGULLS. I HATE BIRDS AND I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MANAGEMENT. I HAVE STUFFED NERDS IN LOCKERS THOUGH SO MAYBE YOU BETTER WATCH OUT HUH. YEAH I SNIFFED GLUE BUT THAT WAS ONLY TO STICK SOME DORK'S BALLS TO HIS UNDERWEAR.

I HAVE BEEN THROUGH A LOT IN MY LIFE. I HAD BEER CANS THROWN AT MY HEAD AND BOY THAT HURT. GETTING ALL THESE TATTOOES HURT A LOT... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by HENRY ROLLINS at 6:25 PM on December 14, 2006