MetaFilter

I can think of a lot of tabletop games I have played in the past 30-some years, that I can simply retrieve from a shelf or box and fire up within moments. This is a major downside to digital versions: if the version is not maintained, updated, etc. you may have an unplayable digital artefact on your hands. That's not even touching the sheer villainy of any number of commercial interests who take good, simple, things and destroy it all just to make a buck.
posted to MetaFilter by elkevelvet at 1:47 PM on October 5, 2022

DnD 5e with every member of the party seated at the same physical table, pushing miniatures across a hand-drawn battle map and rolling physical dice but with a free app to help keep track of player character stats? Good.

That same DnD campaign over discord or zoom? Terrible.
posted to MetaFilter by subdee at 11:14 AM on October 5, 2022

It 100% looks like one of those real life brutalist buildings they find in London and use barely altered

As noted in this tweet, you got it in one - it's the Brunswick Centre (I thought it looked familiar). 1960s London Brutalism for the win!

Meanwhile the scenes in Coruscant Spaceport were based on - although it seems not actually filmed at - the McLaren Technology Centre just outside my home town of Woking. (In a nice... [more]
posted to FanFare by Major Clanger at 12:27 PM on September 30, 2022

The one with a sort of raffia-work base, that has an attachment?
posted to MetaFilter by flabdablet at 4:23 AM on August 7, 2022

Completely eliminating QI might be a step too far, but it definitely needs some serious fucking rework.

I know it's not the same since Stephen Fry left, but that seems a bit excessive.
posted to MetaFilter by How much is that froggie in the window at 6:40 PM on October 3, 2022

The public is afraid of being killed by cops, and cops are afraid of being laughed at by the public.

A very familiar refrain.
posted to MetaFilter by seanmpuckett at 1:59 PM on October 3, 2022

< 4th kind >
«guillemets»
posted to MetaTalk by BobTheScientist at 9:25 AM on October 3, 2022

The US seems a consequence-free attack surface for right-wing extremists. I wonder to what extent not throwing the book at the Jan. 6 seditionists has emboldened their fellow travelers.
posted to MetaFilter by They sucked his brains out! at 9:19 AM on October 3, 2022

After several moves, a hundred smoky house parties and other contributing factors, my 400+ CD collection was grimy, dusty and many cases were partially broken. I worked in an ad agency around 2005 when I decided to rip every CD I had to MP3. I did it at work so as not to burn out my own laptop's CD drive (I know...). I would bring 10-20 CDs to the office each day and rip them all using ancient iTunes while I was doing other tasks. Eventually I converted them all to MP3.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by SoberHighland at 3:04 PM on October 2, 2022

While some are into vinyl and the kids are all about the lower-fidelity streaming and downloadable audio formats, I'm buying up absolute classics on CD for like $1 to $2 each at thrift stores.
posted to MetaFilter by Artful Codger at 2:31 PM on October 2, 2022

I feel that CDs had more of a transformative impact for personal computing than music -- without in any way lessening the merits of high quality music that didn't wear out on replay. Before CD-ROM there was no way in the world to get dozens much less hundreds of megabytes of data to a home computer user. Very few people had any kind of internet access, and certainly not faster than an analogue modem. With CD-ROM, you could slide in a single disc and almost instantly experience miracles like... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by seanmpuckett at 2:19 PM on October 2, 2022

Worst “perk”?
Discount coupons for a babysitting service, with the coupons only eligible to be used on particular dates.
The dates in question were days when staff were expected to work unpaid overtime on certain public-facing events.
posted to MetaFilter by Calvin and the Duplicators at 2:32 AM on October 2, 2022

Ah man, I used to sell porn and sex toys for a living. The perks when I was just an entry level mook were the ability to watch and review as much hard core pornography as I wanted, free of charge. The first week I was there I grabbed five of the absolute most bonkers porn I could find and watched it with my housemates over like, five bottles of booze, fast forwarding through the boring bits (the sex) and just watching the good bits - the ever thinner justifications for sex, as seen through the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Jilder at 12:38 AM on October 2, 2022

The place where I work used to bring in this little "fun fair" once a year, which included a bouncy castle. One year I was watching from the fourth floor as someone bounced off the edge of the bouncy castle and did a belly flop on the bare cement, and that was the last time we had a bouncy castle at work.

For my ten-year anniversary on the job, I was gifted a pair of foam rubber flip-flops with the institution's logo stamped on them. Retail value was probably... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by abraxasaxarba at 4:26 PM on October 1, 2022

Back in the Before Times, my office installed a fizzy water machine, which was actually really popular! In fact, it was so popular that they got mad about how often they were having to replace the CO₂ cartridges, and gave us all tiny company-branded plastic cups to passive-aggressively demonstrate what they thought a proper serving of fizzy water was.
posted to MetaFilter by Blue Jello Elf at 3:54 PM on October 1, 2022

I've not seen this film - at least not with accurate subtitles - but Netflix once assured me that I would like it because I enjoyed Arrested Development. So it's kind of like that, I guess?
posted to FanFare by Naberius at 6:26 AM on October 1, 2022

I worked for a company that made corporate recognition awards. Employees could buy any product in our catalog at cost.
posted to MetaFilter by nathan_teske at 2:13 PM on October 1, 2022

I mean, we all miss Troy as a character, but in the category of Ensemble Actors Leaving a Show Because They Think They Can Do More, Donald Glover is way, way, way on the They Sure Were Right! end.
posted to MetaFilter by DirtyOldTown at 2:50 PM on September 30, 2022

I imagine none of the kids today know anything about The Munsters, no reboot of that in the 90's...

Are you kidding? The Munsters, The Addams Family and The Adventures of Dobie Gillis are all alive and well on YouTube not to mention the H&I network.

And forget Gilligan's Island, Bob Denver's greatest role was Maynard G. Krebs.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by y2karl at 7:32 PM on September 28, 2022

You can just use "OP" for "Original Post" instead

OP is a Redditism for “Original Poster”, referring to the person who made the post. It typically does not refer to the post, or any linked article.
posted to MetaTalk by zamboni at 6:46 AM on September 25, 2022

In Old English literature, we find this concept called a beot: a boast made in public, which once made, the speaker must fulfill.

Naming oneself Coolio is a beot. And god, did he make good on it.
posted to MetaFilter by Pallas Athena at 5:05 PM on September 29, 2022

For the job candidates, the surprise of being told to cook a huge meal is "one of the most fun things they enjoy about the interview process," according to OS PR director Sabrina Zimring. "It's really fun."

It was a good thing you did making us all do free catering. A real good thing.
posted to MetaFilter by RobotHero at 7:15 PM on January 10, 2014

In the dental field, we have typically, for decades, conducted "working interviews" for assistants and hygienists. We pay at or above our normal wages (since, no benefits) and provide an entire day's work for a qualified candidate. So much more can be learned by working side by side with someone than could ever be revealed in a sit-down format.
posted to MetaFilter by OHenryPacey at 9:44 AM on September 27, 2022

It was pretty common back in the days when we wore an onion on our belts. Star Wars was initially released in May 1977 (and went wide in June); the novelization was out in late 1976.'

The Star Wars novelization was how I learned that, as a middle-schooler, that some things that are in screenplays, and even that get filmed, do not make it into the final film. It was my introduction to there being different versions of the same thing.
posted to MetaFilter by Well I never at 10:43 AM on September 24, 2022

All these things that try to make things logical ignore it would cause huge issues with religious celebrations, and I can't even imagine having to deal with the issues nearly all IT systems would have to deal with. This is solving a problem that isn't really a problem at all.
posted to MetaFilter by geoff. at 8:00 AM on September 26, 2022

Kind of puts (Mefi’s own) Yoon-Ha Lee’s Machineries of Empire books in perspective! (In which manipulating the observed calendar — holidays, rituals, cadences — causes observable changes in the laws of physics.)
posted to MetaFilter by sixswitch at 5:58 AM on September 26, 2022

Grangousier: I have a movie blog, and RHPS is on the queue for movies I need to review.

When I get there (in a year or so), you are hereby formally invited to write a guest post. You could probably just copy your comment above and polish it a bit.
posted to FanFare by EmpressCallipygos at 3:48 AM on September 26, 2022

potrzebie - The Rocky Horror Show was written by a resting (i.e. unemployed) actor to keep himself entertained and maybe make work for himself. So a huge amount of the show is there for no better reason than Richard O'Brien thought it might be fun for it to be there.

It was originally put on in a sixty-seat theatre above the prestigious Royal Court (which had tended to be the home for edgier, maybe more political, theatre, so Upstairs was the fringe... [more]
posted to FanFare by Grangousier at 3:34 AM on September 26, 2022

it wasn’t long before a shift in my hat brim showed a vulture circling way, way up. Then two. Just not… restful.

It was their lunchtime, too!
posted to MetaFilter by mandolin conspiracy at 3:41 PM on September 24, 2022

"But why did Mookie throw the trash can through Sal's window? It just doesn't make sense!"
posted to MetaFilter by Alex404 at 8:26 AM on September 8, 2022

It seemed very...joyous...somehow.

Like this, probably?

"Hey, everyone, look at me, I'm a cowboy! Howdy! Howdy! Howdy!"
posted to MetaFilter by mandolin conspiracy at 7:12 AM on September 24, 2022

I'm not getting how this works. I mean yes the corpses don't decay, but preservation of matter and all that, doesn't every bit of carbon return ti the carbon cycle when vultures exhale it or poop or die themselves?
posted to MetaFilter by If only I had a penguin... at 6:27 AM on September 24, 2022

I loved the slow pace of these first three episodes

Me too! Being able to soak in the details of the world was really refreshing (in stark contrast to Obi Wan, which zipped around at whiplash speed and all of it was ultimately forgettable IMO).

In preparation for Andor, I watched Rogue One again for the first time since it was released, and came away even more impressed than when I saw it for the first time. That movie holds... [more]
posted to FanFare by jeremias at 9:21 AM on September 23, 2022

There really are a ton of seemingly unrelated threads hanging out there now, aren’t there?

We’re still talking about the dress, right?
posted to FanFare by transient at 3:50 AM on September 24, 2022

Super weird that they'd drop an ep of Mando into the middle of Boba.
posted by crossoverman

Are we not doing eponysterical anymore?
posted to FanFare by rp at 8:14 PM on January 26, 2022

So not only did the staff perfectly anticipate what the online haters’ reaction to the show would be, they went ahead and made them the Big Bads for the series? That is some pro-level trolling right there.
posted to FanFare by 1970s Antihero at 5:23 AM on September 22, 2022

How a linguistic glitch tricks us into believing bank deposits are deposited in banks
posted to MetaFilter by chavenet at 3:17 AM on September 22, 2022

In the bloated whale category, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment has struck a deal with the Dairy Producers of Ontario to put Milk logos on Leafs jerseys. This has really ticked me off. Yes, of course, I don't like advertising logos on hockey jerseys as a general rule, but this annoyance is well beyond that.

The Leafs are not a poor organization. MLSE is not a poor organization. They've got plenty of money. They're doing just fine. They're also not an essential part... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by sardonyx at 2:41 PM on September 21, 2022

I was imagining them saying "I really like having a cooler..." in a Katherine Hepburn Mid-Atlantic accent
posted to MetaFilter by aubilenon at 6:25 AM on September 21, 2022

I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't enjoy this film.As someone who learned to walk in leg braces and wore them until a surgery when I was 12, I was very much not pleased with this film. That whole breaking out of the braces to run scene, I am still pissed about it because reinforces that ol ableist chestnut that disabled people just need to properly motivated and they are magically cured.
posted to FanFare by miss-lapin at 2:11 PM on September 21, 2022

When I was in college the local paper decided to do a piece about why this movie was so awesome and popular. They called the college of fine & performing arts looking for a film "expert" to weigh in. Somehow I got the call (I was an older student and I had started a filmmaking club, I guess that qualified me).

When I talked to the reporter I said that Zemeckis never lets the audience have their own feelings - the music and the directing are so heavy-handed... [more]
posted to FanFare by under_petticoat_rule at 12:13 PM on September 21, 2022

this seems like a good starting point: Tracking Trump’s ongoing investigations, civil suits and countersuits

Ironically, it was out of date as of yesterday. Under the "pending individual lawsuits", they refer to E. Jean Carroll's defamation suit; that's actually over a he-said she-said situation. She claimed in a book that he assaulted her in a Macy's changing room or somewhere similar; he denies it and called her a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by EmpressCallipygos at 2:03 PM on September 21, 2022

user92371, this seems like a good starting point: Tracking Trump’s ongoing investigations, civil suits and countersuits (Zachary B. Wolf, CNN)
posted to MetaFilter by kristi at 1:27 PM on September 21, 2022

Reminder: In 2018, Weisselberg was the guy who didn't know he was listed as the official treasurer of the Trump Foundation; the board hadn't met in 19 years.
posted to MetaFilter by Iris Gambol at 9:55 AM on September 21, 2022

- The list of defendants is as follows [...] Allen Weisselberg

- [...] complaint suggests that Attorney General Letitia James has the goods

A month ago, Weisselberg (former Trump Org. CFO) pleaded guilty to tax fraud (all 15 charges) and agreed to testify against the company. Weisselberg, who is seen as one of Mr Trump's most loyal business associates, worked for the former president for almost... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Iris Gambol at 9:49 AM on September 21, 2022

I'm reading the complaint now - and holy crap, she's going after EVERYTHING. The list of defendants is as follows:

It's Tiffany's time to shine!
posted to MetaFilter by jedicus at 9:35 AM on September 21, 2022

OK, I just listened to it. "The invisible front line." What the hell is that even trying to connote? It sounds like product placement for orthodontics.
posted to MetaFilter by Mayor West at 3:39 PM on September 20, 2022

Can I just say how much I enjoyed the moment in New Galactica when they used the theme from OG Galactica as the anthem of the 12 colonies?
posted to MetaFilter by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:17 PM on September 20, 2022

You are correct ricochet biscuit, which in a way makes it more of a family game. No one is lying to everyone else pretending not to be the traitor/werewolf/murderer.

And you can totally create a narrative about revealing yourself as the murderer.

"Did You Order the Code Red?"

"YOU'RE GODDAMNED RIGHT I DID"
posted to MetaFilter by Windopaene at 4:55 PM on September 19, 2022

"I'm not a racist, I just say racist things" is not quite the defense that Gillis thinks it is.
posted to MetaFilter by meowzilla at 12:15 PM on September 19, 2022