1692 MetaFilter comments by The God Complex (displaying 1 through 50)

Looking to buy a house in Toronto? Why not buy Toronto's smallest house (about 300 square feet), built in a former driveway. via.
comment posted at 4:31 PM on Oct-18-07


NFL Superstar implicated in dog fighting ring, has sponsorship suspended. Meet NFL quarterback, Michael Vick. Virginia Tech Alum, Heisman Trophy candidate, Vick has been indicted for taking part in a dog fighting ring. In defense of public relations (if not his employee), here is what his boss had to say on the matter at hand.

What is dog fighting? Why is it bad? Here is an FAQ on What dog fighting from the Humane Society of the US. Also, here's if you need to be further dissuaded, here is an ugly page on the blood sport, with some gruesome pics.
comment posted at 12:36 AM on Jul-20-07

Self-Diagnosis: Five anonymous doctors frankly discuss their patients, other doctors, American healthcare, and the inevitable mistakes doctors make, including mistakes they've personally made that jeopardized their patients' lives.
comment posted at 12:20 PM on Jun-14-07

Australian TV show The Chaser recently went to New York and asked some American citizens what date the September 11 attacks occurred on. Here are some of their answers.
comment posted at 12:57 AM on Jun-14-07

A bowhead whale was recently killed off the coast of Alaska. When its hunters carved it up, they discovered someone else had attempted to kill it- more than a century earlier.
comment posted at 12:13 AM on Jun-14-07
comment posted at 12:33 AM on Jun-14-07
comment posted at 12:45 AM on Jun-14-07


100 words every high school graduate should know (according to the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries).
comment posted at 9:58 AM on Jun-13-07
comment posted at 10:15 AM on Jun-13-07
comment posted at 10:46 AM on Jun-13-07

First hundreds of pets were killed by the poisonous food additive, melamine, from China. Then it turns out that this poison got into the human food chain leading to humans. Then there was the flap about cough syrup killing thousands of people. Then, there was that warning a couple days ago about imported monkfish actually being deadly puffer fish. And now the FDA has issued warnings that toothpaste imported from China has ethylene glycol in it. Yes, the same ethylene glycol that keeps your engine running in the winter. China responds to the warnings by saying "Hey, we printed the ingredients on most of the labels, it's not our fault if antifreeze kills you."
comment posted at 9:24 AM on Jun-5-07

1986 Mac Plus vs. 2007 AMD Dual Core "When we compare strictly common, everyday, basic user tasks between the Mac Plus and the AMD we find remarkable similarities in overall speed, thus it can be stated that for the majority of simple office uses, the massive advances in technology in the past two decades have brought zero advance in productivity." Factor in the internet, and the technological advances have brought me negative productivity.
comment posted at 10:35 PM on May-31-07



"The old, mean man" vs. "The mean old man." Here's an aspect of English (and other languages) I've never thought of before. If you're using a string of adjectives, there's a natural order for them to appear in: "opinion :: size :: age :: shape :: color :: origin :: material :: purpose". (Although I find "old, mean," due to it's strange order, sort of striking.) [more info: 1, 2, 3]
comment posted at 7:17 PM on May-19-07
comment posted at 11:06 AM on May-20-07

The slur "white trash" has been used longer than you may think. ^
comment posted at 10:46 AM on May-19-07

[NewsFilter] Jerry Falwell was found unconscious in his office today and has since died. Exactly what did they mean by "heart challenges" ?
comment posted at 10:40 PM on May-15-07
comment posted at 11:08 AM on May-16-07

"Hey, do any of you people who are leaving want to stay and talk about this or do you want to run out like cowards?" [YouTube] Over 80 people simultaneously walked out of Mike Daisey's recent performance of Invincible Summer. One of the people came onstage and poured water over his only copy of the show's outline. "And it wounded me in my heart, because I trusted these people."
comment posted at 12:46 AM on Apr-23-07

Kurt Vonnegut, Writer of Classics of the American Counterculture, Dies at 84 "His death was reported by Morgan Entrekin, a longtime family friend, who said Mr. Vonnegut suffered brain injuries as a result of a fall several weeks ago. Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States." .
comment posted at 9:26 PM on Apr-11-07

It doesn't seem like it was twenty years since Stanley Kubrick produced Full Metal Jacket based on the out-of-print novel "The Short Timers" by Gustav Hasford. While out of print, the full text of "The Short Timers" is available on his (memorial) website as is the followup, "The Phantom Blooper". Hasford's bid for an Oscar was colored by the discovery of nearly ten thousand stolen library books in the same year. Some say the experience of being caught red-handed broke him, leading to his death from non-treatment of diabetes at the age of 45.
comment posted at 2:10 PM on Apr-2-07
comment posted at 2:39 PM on Apr-2-07
comment posted at 1:24 AM on Apr-3-07

Grand Theft Auto IV (video, SFW despite age verification and Philip Glass) is coming. Even six months before its release, it is promoting rage and anger (...in NYC politicians). Fansite and Wikipedia article.
comment posted at 2:35 PM on Apr-1-07
comment posted at 2:40 PM on Apr-1-07
comment posted at 4:38 PM on Apr-1-07
comment posted at 4:39 PM on Apr-1-07
comment posted at 5:33 PM on Apr-1-07

The Worst Films of "The Modern Era?" There are dozens of places to start - do you go by cost of production to theater revenue? Here's a list of criterias to make it the worst of the worst. Or perhaps by continuity errors? Blatant ignoring of the laws of immutable physics? This Christian Group has their criterias ... (American Psycho-ZERO). IMDB's "people" votes? man, there's lot of hate for "Crossover." It didn't get any noms at the "Razzies." And if your memory fails, check out the previous "losers." Is Everyone a Critic? Or the best film critic - here's Ebert's list (though I SERIOUSLY disagree on TOMMY BOY!). Many others weigh in: Digital Dreams; Maxim, Rotten Tomatoes, Stinkers (in alphabetical order); Metacritic and Leonard Maltin for your PDA/mobile (you'll have to do a sort on BOMB). And of course, (NSFW) the worst porn titles. Er, Enjoy!
comment posted at 4:26 PM on Mar-27-07
comment posted at 4:30 PM on Mar-27-07
comment posted at 5:01 PM on Mar-27-07
comment posted at 12:28 AM on Mar-28-07

The Onion News Network. The Onion now comes in a tube.
comment posted at 2:40 PM on Mar-27-07
comment posted at 2:40 PM on Mar-27-07
comment posted at 2:40 PM on Mar-27-07


Results of tonight's election in Quebec are in. The Quebec Liberal Party has managed just barely to hold onto power in that province, winning a minority government--the first time this has happened in la belle province since...well...since the year the phonograph was first patented. But there's an even bigger story. And that's the apparent collapse of the separatist Parti Québécois vote, in favour of the centre-right Action Démocratique Party, surprising just about everybody other than those who actually live in the province. Here's the breakdown in the vote as of 11:00PM:
Liberal (32.50%) - ADQ (31.19%) - PQ (28.48%). What these results mean for Canada's federal parliament---also in a minority situation---is anyone's guess at this point. The smart money is on Prime Minister Harper calling an early summer election. These results tonight would certainly give him reason to think that Quebec voters are in the mood for change. But like spring weather in these parts, things are quite changeable these days.
comment posted at 12:06 AM on Mar-27-07
comment posted at 12:17 AM on Mar-27-07
comment posted at 12:56 AM on Mar-27-07

"I've been getting death threat comments on this blog." Kathy Sierra, of the Creating Passionate Users blog, has currently canceled a talk at the ETech conference because of death threats on (and off) her blog. Scoble's mad, and so is everyone else. But isn't this what happens when we bring anonymity to the Internet?
comment posted at 2:26 AM on Mar-27-07

"Did you see the politics? It made me angry." Conversations by Grownups As Imagined By Kids.
comment posted at 2:30 PM on Mar-20-07

The Criterion Contraption: Matthew Dessem is going to watch every last DVD in the Criterion Collection and blog about it. Illuminating and knowledgable film writing. You can start, if you wish, with the entry on my favorite film, The Passion of Joan of Arc, or pick from the complete index.
comment posted at 4:43 PM on Mar-20-07
comment posted at 7:09 PM on Mar-20-07

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