21507 MetaFilter comments by jonmc (displaying 1 through 50)

"From ignoramus radio talkers to bigoted fans and a checkered past, Boston baseball has a race problem" [DigBoston].
comment posted at 10:39 AM on Jul-29-17
comment posted at 1:28 PM on Jul-29-17

Turned on by gremlins? Excited by ketchup or rare stamps? There’s a porn film for that. Inside California’s new growth industry. Jon Ronson on bespoke porn
comment posted at 11:14 AM on Jul-29-17

A week of political high drama - with vulgar palace intrigues, the President dealt a spectacular legislative failure, venting to Boy Scouts, and endorsing Police violence - is capped off by the launch of a North Korean ICBM with enough range to reach most of the U.S.
comment posted at 11:20 AM on Jul-29-17

Field Recordings of American Voices from the Dictionary of American Regional English. "From 1965–1970, Fieldworkers for the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE) conducted interviews with nearly 3,000 “Informants” in 1,002 communities across America. They visited native residents in all fifty states and D.C., collecting local words, phrases, and pronunciations. In addition to answering more than 1,600 questions from the DARE Questionnaire, many of the Informants, along with auxiliary speakers, agreed to be recorded by the Fieldworkers. These recordings consisted of conversational interviews as well as readings of “The Story of Arthur the Rat” (devised to elicit the essential differences in pronunciation across the country)."
comment posted at 7:12 PM on Jul-27-17


Written by Roky Erickson and Tommy Hall, Slip inside this house (alternative, another) is a song (live in 2015) by the 13th Floor Elevators (previously, and poolside performance of "You're gonna miss me"), appearing as the opening track on their 1967 album Easter Everywhere. Though mostly from Austin and Kerrville, Texas, the band became influential in the San Francisco cultural scene. Electric jug player Tommy Hall starts to describe what it's about; the original mono recording. With some lyric changes, the song was covered by artists such as Primal Scream (live) on their 1991 album Screamadelica, and also covered by Madrugada, On Trial, Oneida, and The Shamen.
comment posted at 11:23 AM on Jul-27-17

In Defence of the Bad, White Working Class. Shannon Burns writes thoughtfully in Meanjin about middle-class myopia in antiracist politics.
comment posted at 4:33 AM on Jul-26-17

On Aug. 1, employees at Three Square Market, a technology company in Wisconsin, can choose to have a chip the size of a grain of rice injected between their thumb and index finger. (SLNYT) Once that is done, any task involving RFID technology — swiping into the office building, paying for food in the cafeteria — can be accomplished with a wave of the hand.
comment posted at 2:17 PM on Jul-25-17


Microsoft has killed Paint after 32 years of faithful service.
comment posted at 11:38 AM on Jul-24-17

In "The Life of a South Central Statistic," Danielle Allen wrangles with the life and death of her cousin, Michael. While she went on to receive two PhDs, he was convicted of robbery and attempted car jacking. When he was released, she tried to help him get a second chance. (This is an excerpt from Allen's forthcoming book, Cuz. )
comment posted at 7:51 AM on Jul-23-17


Do you like Hot Wheels cars? YouTube user baremetalHW does. On his channel, he does all sorts of restorations and customization of old, worn out toy cars, as well as tips and tricks for folks who might want to try it themselves.
comment posted at 6:57 PM on Jul-22-17

Jane Austen died 200 years ago this year. There are events planned. There are too many adaptations to list, though most will cite the BBC's production of Pride and Prejudice, starring Colin Firth in a wet white shirt. Australian improv artists and rappers Sense and Spontaneity pay tribute to the scene, which wasn't in the book, in Dear Mr. Darcy. Jane's portrait will soon feature on the British £10 note.
comment posted at 4:16 AM on Jul-22-17

Your dog is basically a super social wolf, and scientists may have found the gene that makes him want to cuddle with you.
comment posted at 2:37 PM on Jul-21-17



In 1984, Richard Bachman's fifth novel, Thinner, came out. It was Bachman's first hardcover release, and the author thought he was on the verge of breaking out (especially since he had recently sold the film rights to The Running Man, his fourth novel). But a clerk at a Washington DC bookstore suspected that Bachman was not who he claimed to be: that "Richard Bachman" was actually Stephen King.
comment posted at 7:49 AM on Jul-19-17

George A. Romero is dead George Andrew Romero was an American-Canadian filmmaker and editor, best known for his series of gruesome and satirical horror films about an imagined zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead and notably continuing on with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.[1] His other works contributed include The Crazies, Creepshow, Martin, Monkey Shines, and The Dark Half.
comment posted at 3:24 PM on Jul-16-17

In 1971,, the Texas based hard rock band Bloodrock released the song "D.O.A." a tune about a plane crash and it's aftermath, described by one critic as "the most gruesome song to ever hit the Top 40. You be the judge.
comment posted at 2:19 PM on Jul-16-17
comment posted at 2:36 PM on Jul-16-17
comment posted at 2:41 PM on Jul-16-17

At 4 days old, Brandless sells household products in minimalist packaging online for $3 or less. It has industry veterans at the helm who see the opportunity to disrupt the market and $50 million from willing investors. How do you brand "brandless"? You start by trademarking a white box listing its descriptors like organic, non-GMO, no added sugar, no artificial preservatives, and gluten free.
comment posted at 10:35 AM on Jul-15-17
comment posted at 12:19 PM on Jul-15-17
comment posted at 8:27 AM on Jul-16-17

Cat-Scan.com is one of the strangest sites I've seen in some time. I have no idea how these people got their cats wedged into their scanners, or why.
comment posted at 10:21 AM on Jul-14-17
comment posted at 10:23 AM on Jul-14-17

Michel Robillard is a retired Frenchman and a cabinet-maker by profession since the age of 14. He shares two passions, wood and cars and, it would seem, a true love of the 2CV.
comment posted at 10:38 AM on Jul-12-17

Can Anyone Repair the National Lampoon? Vanity Fair dives deep into the sordid (and ongoing) fate of the National Lampoon brand – a story that begins with Kenney, O'Donoghue, and the vanguard of 1970s comedy, and ends with multiple FBI raids, the 'Madoff of the Midwest', and a long, desultory history of tasteless movies and tie-ins.
comment posted at 4:24 AM on Jul-11-17

When we create systems of self-care for ourselves, we are dismantling the facets of patriarchy that dictate that emotions are weak and tenderness is inferior. But these systems aren’t built solely on the popular media’s portrayal of self-care: manicures, pedicures, and massage. In order to be sustainable, self-care systems need to be more than just a quick-release valve. They require scaffolding our lives so that when things get truly awful, we have the fortification to weather the shitstorm. So how can we practice sustainable self-care? Here’s what I’ve learned that works for me. Kate McCombs provides practical tips for reflective feminist self-care at Continuum Collective. (Note: Title in link may be NSFW.)
comment posted at 7:36 PM on Jul-10-17

Americans don't have egg cups. Brits are outraged!
comment posted at 7:42 PM on Jul-10-17
comment posted at 8:23 PM on Jul-10-17



This Secretive Billionaire Makes The Cheese For Pizza Hut, Domino's And Papa John's This is an oddly compelling account of the man who grew his family's Italian food import business in Denver into a multi-billion dollar mozzarella cheese supplier to most of the pizza chains you've heard of, providing unique cheese recipes to each one. Now he's expanding into protein powder.
comment posted at 5:16 PM on Jul-6-17


“Students will soon have to show that they've secured a job or received a letter of acceptance to college, a trade apprenticeship, a gap year program or the military in order to graduate”
  • Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago: “We are going to help kids have a plan, because they're going to need it to succeed. You cannot have kids think that 12th grade is done.”
  • Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union: “It sounds good on paper, but the problem is that when you've cut the number of counselors in schools, when you've cut the kind of services that kids need, who is going to do this work? If you've done the work to earn a diploma, then you should get a diploma. Because if you don't, you are forcing kids into more poverty.”

comment posted at 7:16 PM on Jul-5-17

Q: What group did one Maine legislator describe as having "power right up there with the NRA", saying they "do everything they can to protect their interests — and they have money"?

A: Dentists.
comment posted at 8:40 AM on Jul-5-17

O'Reilly books have a long and storied career; they were the technical guidebooks to the evolving internet, and were an incredibly important part of how developers learned how to get things done. Due to their high standards and strong editorial requirements, it was always difficult to get signed as one of their authors. Today, this has all changed. With the publication of the O RLY Book Cover Generator , anyone can create their own animal cover book... cover.
comment posted at 10:32 AM on Jul-3-17

The Third Thumb Project The Third Thumb investigates the relationship between the body and prosthetic technology in new ways. It is part tool, part experience, and part self-expression—a model by which we better understand human response to artificial extensions. It instigates necessary conversation about the definition of ability.
comment posted at 8:33 AM on Jul-3-17

"Many people don’t try to date the people they’re most attracted to. They try to date the people they think would impress their friends."
An interview with Everybody Lies author Seth Stephens-Davidowitz regarding what google searches for porn tell us about ourselves(Vox)
comment posted at 8:01 AM on Jul-3-17


Jay-Z Releases His Personal and Political Album ‘4:44’ on Tidal [The New York Times] “Jay-Z is back, and he is vulnerable. But for now, his secrets are digital exclusive . This veteran Brooklyn rapper, 47, ended weeks of speculation near midnight on Thursday, releasing “4:44,” his 13th studio album, as a digital exclusive on that streaming service, which he bought in 2015. The album — Jay-Z’s first since “Magna Carta ... Holy Grail” in 2013 — features 10 intensely personal and provocative tracks that, yes, include a few references to the marriage-baring “Lemonade” album by his wife, Beyoncé, and the recent birth of their twins.”
comment posted at 6:14 PM on Jun-30-17

Rolling Stone recently released their list of the top 100 metal albums of all time, and it is perhaps the least horrifyingly wrong top-whatever list ever created.
comment posted at 6:21 PM on Jun-30-17

RIP Gary DeCarlo, who sang the lead vocals on the stadium classic Kiss Him Goodbye (1969). Billboard obit; No no no Newt (1996) (one of a zillion parodies)
comment posted at 11:14 AM on Jul-1-17




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