MetaFilter

“Before we get to your car questions,” my former next door neighbor, Terrance, said, “I need to tell you both something. My wife left me. My kids won’t talk to me. I lost my job. I embezzled almost a half a million dollars because I’m addicted to BMWs, and have been hiding them all over the state. I’ll probably be going to prison soon.”
comment posted at 4:57 PM on May-3-17

After escaping from the Orange County Jail, three violent criminals needed transportation, so they called a taxi and took the driver hostage for six days. Predictably, they went back to prison. But that wasn't the end of the story for the driver.
comment posted at 2:21 PM on May-3-17

"It’s coming around again, as it has probably for time immemorial — the thing where someone who doesn’t knit discovers that there are people who do knit, and some of them are apparently under the age of 90, and then the next thing we know, someone is writing articles or spouting this line on TV or social media or something: 'This is not your grandmother’s knitting.'"
comment posted at 6:05 PM on May-2-17

"It’s April 1992, and ABC commentator Judith Miller’s voice has an exasperated tinge as she reports to her audience that not one of the officers who beat Rodney King on that infamous videotape has been found guilty of any charges. Soon, riots break out in Los Angeles. Thousands of stores are destroyed. At least 55 people are killed. And less than a mile away, Joel Schumacher is directing Falling Down." April Wolfe writes for LA Weekly on the 25th anniversary of a film that remains as polarizing and provocative as ever. Hey, White People: Michael Douglas Is the Villain, Not the Victim, in Falling Down
comment posted at 7:37 PM on May-1-17

After a short twenty-year breather, former WFMU DJ The Hound, featured previously on Metafilter here and here, is back.
comment posted at 7:39 AM on May-1-17

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) visited Greybull High School for a scheduled Q&A with students in grades 6–12 on April 20. Enzi responded to a question about LGBTQ rights in Wyoming with an anecdote about a man being surprised at the fact that he gets beat up for “wearing a tutu to the bar.” For Wyomingites, Enzi’s anecdote wasn’t random. It instantly called to mind Wyoming resident Larry "Sissy" Goodwin, a Vietnam veteran, retired professor and well-known crossdresser whose story has been featured by media outlets. Enzi apologized to Goodwin, and Sissy said “he offered an apology and I have no doubt to believe it was genuine.”
comment posted at 7:58 AM on May-1-17

You could easily argue against the idea of “slowcore” as a genre. But, crucially, there is a sound—or, rather, a continuity of sound—a commitment to allowing songs the room to breathe, to stripping things down to their essence before something bigger can be built back up around them. Even when the songs are fast or loud or busy, they never lose that essential clarity, that push toward beauty as its own end. slBandcamp
comment posted at 2:18 PM on Apr-30-17
comment posted at 5:14 PM on Apr-30-17
comment posted at 7:37 PM on Apr-30-17

Wellness, Womanhood, and the West: How Goop Profits From Endless Illness
comment posted at 12:19 PM on Apr-30-17
comment posted at 12:52 PM on Apr-30-17

If clear-knee jeans don't go far enough, TopShop now offers full clear jeans (or used to; perhaps they came to their senses). And Nordstrom takes virtue-signaling to new, er, heights with pre-mudcaked jeans. Baffled commentary at Consumerist.
comment posted at 3:50 PM on Apr-27-17

Erin Moran aka Joanie from Happy Days and Joanie loves Chachi has passed on at 56
comment posted at 5:10 PM on Apr-23-17
comment posted at 6:35 PM on Apr-23-17

A father sends a letter to all 30 MLB teams, asking them to make their pitch to be his infant son's favorite team. “I must tell you I don’t take this lightly. I firmly believe that picking a team is sacrosanct,” wrote Pete, an Ashland resident who works as a senior digital video content manager for PBS. “Friends may come and go, political affiliations and beliefs in higher powers may change, but one’s team is one’s team. Forever.
comment posted at 9:09 AM on Apr-23-17

"After thinking about it a bit more, I realized that, for many, this wasn't an inherent fact. Bugs Bunny is a rabbit, and while he is anthropomorphic, the suspension of disbelief only stretches so far for some people. It might not be a widely held understanding for white people, so immediately after talking to my friend about Bugs Bunny being black, I turned to my (admittedly, mostly white) colleagues and asked around. "Do you think Bugs Bunny is black?" I asked, only for many to not really understand the question."
comment posted at 12:37 PM on Apr-21-17
comment posted at 12:46 PM on Apr-21-17

Graham Isadore writes: "Earlier this month I decided to live a week as Ian Mackaye. I wanted to see what I could learn by emulating my hero. What I discovered is that most people don’t know who Ian Mackaye is."
comment posted at 10:22 AM on Apr-21-17

The case for being grumpy at work "Research shows that forcing workers to appear more pleasant and more cheerful than they actually feel can lead to a whole host of negative consequences—from emotional exhaustion to withdrawal. And women in particular suffer from the expectation that they should constantly demonstrate happiness." Constantly being expected to smile, or other types of emotional dissonance, can wreak havoc. Other studies indicate that appearing too cheery can actually harm a woman's chances for promotion.
comment posted at 12:25 PM on Apr-19-17

" I care a lot about quality ingredients but there is literally zero way I am making food as rich, complex, and expensive as what constitutes Prueitt’s notion of “all day.”"
comment posted at 12:30 PM on Apr-19-17

From Seattle's alt-weekly The Stranger, The Heart of Whiteness: Ijeoma Oluo Interviews Rachel Dolezal, the White Woman Who Identifies as Black
comment posted at 9:06 AM on Apr-19-17
comment posted at 11:31 AM on Apr-19-17

Talking to the Popular Girls, 20 Years Later | "Why we let male attention rule our entire world and why we were so devastatingly mean to each other still confounds me. To them the answer seemed at once utterly obvious and also unremarkable. 'Because we were immature,' Grace said. 'We didn’t know any better.' But I still can’t believe how much I gave up and how hard I worked at becoming cool simply because I had a crush on a Hot Guy in third grade. 'Having the boys’ approval was, like, everything,' Meg said, 'and so the meaner you were, the more attractive you were.' "
comment posted at 8:59 AM on Apr-17-17

History of Iron Maiden's Album Art
comment posted at 11:34 AM on Apr-16-17
comment posted at 2:29 PM on Apr-16-17
comment posted at 8:36 AM on Apr-17-17

Emma Morano, the world's oldest person, and the last person who was born in the 1800s, has died at age 117. She had attributed her longevity to her genetics (having multiple relatives who lived beyond 100 years), a diet of three eggs a day (two of them raw), and her decision to kick out her abusive husband in 1938.
comment posted at 7:58 AM on Apr-16-17

Comedian Charlie Murphy, Brother of Eddie, Dies at 57 [The New York Times] “Charlie Murphy, the older brother of Eddie Murphy and a comic performer in his own right who turned encounters with Rick James and Prince into standout sketches on "Chappelle's Show," has died. He was 57. Murphy died Wednesday in New York of leukemia, according to his representative, Domenick Nati. He was perhaps best-known for his appearances on Dave Chappelle's Comedy Central show. In the recurring segment "Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories," Murphy would recount how his brother's fame brought him into the orbit of the biggest stars. His versions of the experiences, played out by him, Chappelle and others, became enduring hits.”
comment posted at 5:09 PM on Apr-15-17

Japanese snack food manufacturers Calbee Inc. and Koike-Ya Inc. are halting sales of 49 potato chip products due to potato shortages. This is the result of poor crops in Hokkaido, a key potato-producing region, where a series of typhoons hit the island in 2016 for the first time on record. Calbee has said that imported potatoes from the United States are of insufficient quality and cannot cover the deficit.
comment posted at 1:31 PM on Apr-15-17

Bruce Langhorne 1938 - 2017

An inspiration for many a beginning guitarist, he was a remarkable person and musician.
comment posted at 8:38 AM on Apr-15-17

A Love Letter to Ace Frehley: Artists Share the Blazing KISS Solos That Inspired Them
comment posted at 12:53 PM on Apr-13-17
comment posted at 3:43 PM on Apr-13-17

John Warren "J." Geils Jr. founder of the band that bears his name, famous for such boogie smokers as "Musta Got Lost" "Houseparty", "Southside Shuffle" and "Give It To Me" and pop hits "Love Stinks" and "Centerfold" has passed on at 71.
comment posted at 6:09 AM on Apr-12-17
comment posted at 7:09 AM on Apr-12-17

Butter or Margarine? In Dunkin’ Donuts Lawsuit, Man Accepts No Substitutes [The New York Times] “If you order chicken, you expect chicken. If you order a coffee, you expect a coffee. But if you order butter, is margarine or a vegetable spread an acceptable substitute? It wasn’t to Jan Polanik, who sued 23 Dunkin’ Donuts locations in Massachusetts for serving him “margarine or a butter substitute” instead of butter with his bagels between June 2012 and June 2016. He filed a pair of class-action lawsuits in March against franchise owners who are responsible for multiple stores. He paid 25 cents for butter and was not told a substitute was used, according to the suits.”
comment posted at 3:31 PM on Apr-9-17

Rolling Stone has lots of coverage of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, including video and transcripts, but I just want to draw your attention to Rush's Geddy Lee playing bass with Yes in a performance of Roundabout. [Direct video link]
comment posted at 8:41 AM on Apr-9-17
comment posted at 9:12 AM on Apr-9-17
comment posted at 10:52 AM on Apr-9-17
comment posted at 11:44 AM on Apr-9-17

Canada.
comment posted at 7:59 AM on Apr-7-17

More than 50 U.S. Tomahawk missiles launched at Syrian air base. "The United States carried out a missile attack in Syria on Thursday night in response to the Syrian government’s chemical weapons attack this week that killed more than 80 civilians, American officials said."
comment posted at 6:59 PM on Apr-6-17

Of our relation to all creation we can never know anything whatsoever. All is immensity and chaos. (SLYT)
comment posted at 7:27 PM on Apr-6-17

Barry Manilow is gay and has been in a relationship with his manager, Garry, for forty years. Citing his belief that he would "disappoint fans", Manilow has stayed in the closet until coming out publicly two days ago.
comment posted at 4:52 PM on Apr-6-17

"Small rocks from the beaches of eastern Massachusetts began appearing at Lexington High School last fall. They were painted in pastels and inscribed with pithy advice: Be happy.… Mistakes are O.K.… Don’t worry, it will be over soon. They had appeared almost by magic, boosting spirits and spreading calm at a public high school known for its sleep-deprived student body. Crying jags over test scores are common here. Students say getting B’s can be deeply dispiriting, dashing college dreams and profoundly disappointing parents."
comment posted at 3:39 PM on Apr-6-17

"John McCool is neither a researcher nor a urologist. When received an unsolicited invitation to submit a paper to an open-access urology journal, however, he just couldn’t resist. He is the owner of a freelance scientific editing company, and has long been concerned about so-called predatory journals, which often publish sub-par papers as long as authors pay. And he loves the TV show “Seinfeld.”" Like many others before him, McCool decided to punk the journal by submitting a fake paper."
comment posted at 7:12 AM on Apr-6-17

As teenagers check their email even more obsessively than usual for college acceptance letters, it's been a pretty good week for some particularly high-achieving ones. Ifeoma White-Thorpe was accepted at all eight Ivies (plus Stanford). The Wade quadruplets Nick, Aaron, Nigel, and Zach each got in to Harvard and Yale (and a bunch of other places among them). Ziad Ahmed wrote "#blacklivesmatter" 100 times on his Stanford application and got accepted. (via the Root)
comment posted at 5:55 PM on Apr-5-17

Every Story I Have Read About Trump Supporters in the Past Week - Alexandra Petri, WaPo
comment posted at 10:50 AM on Apr-5-17
comment posted at 11:47 AM on Apr-5-17

Morrissey, We're Through. (slNoiseyVice)
comment posted at 7:05 AM on Apr-5-17
comment posted at 8:29 AM on Apr-5-17