MetaFilter posts by justkevin.
Displaying 1 through 28. Subscribe: http://www.metafilter.com/user/24879/postsrss 
Key & Peele's Luther the Anger Translator juxtaposed Obama's calm demeanor with the stereotypical "angry black man." Not seen as much since the Romney debates, Luther is back. But Obama doesn't need Luther anymore.
posted on Apr-25-15 at 10:28 PM
Do you like Cleverbot, but maybe wished that it was an androgynous jpop boy you could dress up and make your boyfriend? There's an app for tha-- oh no wait, nevermind.
posted on Nov-28-12 at 3:02 PM
Are the X-Men Human? The US government says yes, these people are no different from you or I, but Marvel claims their strange mutations and powerful augmentations move them beyond humanity into the realm of monsters, angels and devils. This Radiolab short explains why Marvel Toys argued in the US Court of International Trade that Wolverine, Professor X and Storm are inhuman.
posted on Feb-20-12 at 6:50 PM
Was Obama's decision to invade Afghanistan a mistake? Michael Steele, chair of the RNC seems to think so. Republicans and Democrats alike are irked and confused by his comments.
posted on Jul-3-10 at 2:32 PM
You may have seen Newt Gingrich this past Tuesday on The Daily Show describing Obama's decision to try the Underpants Bomber in the courts as "radical." He pointed out an incident in 1942 when Franklin Roosevelt suspended habeus corpus for Nazi saboteurs dropped off on Long Island by submarine to wreak havoc on Ameica. While "Nazi Terrorists" might be almost comic book class villains, Newt probably would prefer people not to recall the true story and villains of Operation Pastorius.
posted on Feb-11-10 at 4:21 PM
If, like me, you found Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video strangely addictive, you'll appreciate her fans' Badder Romance. Which is exactly the same, only... badder.
posted on Jan-10-10 at 6:13 PM
Overcharged for cigarettes. A NH man was charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for a pack of cigarettes-- a "little" over a quadrillion dollars per cigarette. Jokes about tobacco taxes aside, it wasn't an isolated incident. Numerous Visa customers discovered the same charge.
posted on Jul-15-09 at 10:37 AM
Sooner or Later István Madarász's sci-fi film tells the story of a Nazi experiment in ten minutes. Or maybe longer?
posted on Dec-4-08 at 7:57 PM
This American Life gives you Another Frightening Show About the Economy.. The guys who brought us The Giant Pool of Money (previously) explain the credit crunch and why it's so scary. And not in the Halloween fun-to-be-scared sense.
posted on Oct-5-08 at 9:04 PM
Happy Bicentenemail. Strongbad answers his 200th email in this installment of the long-running Homestarrunner.com web site. Featuring a musical intro by They Might Be Giants.
posted on Sep-23-08 at 10:45 AM
Some residents of Lesbos are filing suit, claiming only they have the right to be called lesbians.
posted on May-1-08 at 4:21 AM
Beautiful animated music video for Kwoon's "I Lived on the Moon."
posted on Jul-28-07 at 1:04 PM
NASA Plans Permanent Moonbase. The base, a potential stepping stone for further Mars exploration, will likely be situated near one of the poles. The advantages of a polar site (pdf) include a relatively moderate climate, possible hydrogen and oxygen resources, unexplored terrain and abundant solar power. They have apparently abandoned plans to use nuclear reactors, which is probably for the best.
posted on Dec-4-06 at 8:13 PM
Rolling Rock is sorry for their offensive new ad. Never mind that no one was complaining about the ad because they never aired it-- they are spending millions on radio, web and print media to let you a) see the ad b) understand how terrible it is and c) know how very, very sorry they are to have made it. The recently bought out Rolling Rock brand is hoping this manufactured controversy will somehow convince people to drink their beer.
posted on Dec-1-06 at 7:12 PM
Gbalf Xozmn Ram Rqzyk Wtacu Lkugc Aaxjx Owkyu Dkoxk Zamdg Bnuio Nmrxk Zmqyf Nqeog Ziqxf Gutxe Nkmxd Gzmqj Brqge Kxkfs Qqzui Nactg Djfnq Eenaa Xjnk
posted on Aug-4-06 at 8:41 AM
The worst possible gift for a stoner. Great for hotel lobbies, people with fake cancer, or just a brown thumb who likes the aesthetics of marijuana and visits from the DEA but hates getting high.
posted on Jul-24-06 at 1:00 PM
RIP Harriet. She passed away overnight from a heart attack. She was 175 years old, the size of a dinner table, and may have known Charles Darwin. She was Harriet the Tortoise, the world's oldest living animal, and lived a life of quiet dignity.
posted on Jun-23-06 at 7:26 AM
[TV Guide Filter] Tonight on Frontline: The Dark Side. An in-depth look at Dick Cheney's battle with the intelligence community to shape the War on Terror. From Boston.com's preview: "Frontline" delivers a devastating look tonight at the efforts of Vice President Dick Cheney to gain control of the war on terror after 9/11. In doing so, the show purports, he compromised the integrity of America's intelligence system. Check your local listings.
posted on Jun-20-06 at 3:37 PM
Gates to Leave Day-to-Day Role at Microsoft in 2008. Following the tradition of previous capitalists-turned-philanthropists such as J.P. Getty and Andrew Carnegie, Bill Gates has announced that in 2008 he will quit his full-time role as head of Microsoft to focus his attention on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (whose website seems to be having issues at the moment). [NewsFilter]
posted on Jun-15-06 at 2:51 PM
"The groom confesses he has had some difficulty finding a bride, but he is hopeful that 'this one will stay.'"
If you were a young man looking to settle down with a girl, what would you do? Let friends or family set you up? Try the bar scene? Match.com? If you lived in rural Kyrgyzstan, you might skip the courtship and just kidnap whatever girl catches your eye. This fascinating Frontline/World piece explores a strange but shockingly common practice. According to one study, more than a third of ethnic Kyrgyz women are married by kidnapping.
posted on May-25-06 at 8:40 AM
Science imitates Star Trek, again. Physicists Nicolae Nicorovici and Graeme Milton have published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences outlining a theoretical means for constructing a cloaking device. A superlens constructed from a metamaterial with a negative refractive index could be used to create a resonance that cancelled the light coming off of a (very small) object, rendering it invisible.
posted on May-3-06 at 5:53 PM
I'd like your smallest painting. No, smaller than that. Even smaller. Wait, that's too small.
posted on Mar-23-06 at 6:25 AM
Tempbot (QuickTime) is a new short by Neill Blomkamp. This piece combines the ultra-realistic robot CGI seen in Tetra Vaal and Alive in Joburg (QT) with a softer story of everyday alienation very reminiscent to Greg Pak's Robot Stories.
posted on Jan-6-06 at 9:29 AM
NewsFilter: Supreme Court nominee Alito advocated overturning Roe v. Wade in 1985 DOJ Memo. The National Archives have just released a new collection of records pertaining to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. One document in particular (pdf) will likely draw considerable fire during his nomination hearings.
posted on Dec-23-05 at 7:22 AM
What is a "fair wage" for contractors working in Iraq? Halliburton subsidiary KBR pays subcontracted employees far more than they could earn at home, in exchange for living far from friends and family in a dangerous work environment. KBR insists their contractors adhere to all local labor laws in the country where they operate. But when that country doesn't yet have an effective or legitimate government of its own, and the workers are brought from a country with a 68% poverty rate, is that enough?
posted on Dec-2-05 at 9:21 AM
Abu Ali guilty of terror plot. A Virginia jury has found Ahmed Omar Abu Ali guilty of terrorism related crimes. The prosecution charged he provided material support to Al Qaeda (pdf). His defenders claim his confession while in Saudi custody was obtained through torture. Does the goal of preventing terrorism justify relying on the Saudi's questionable interrogation methods?
posted on Nov-22-05 at 3:40 PM
Do Gravity Waves Exist? This is one of the big unanswered questions in physics. Gravity telescopes such as the LIGO and the Geo 600 may soon tell us. These massive detectors are sensitive to a displacement of 1 part in 1000000000000000000000-- that's like "measuring a change of one hydrogen atom diameter in the distance from the Earth to the Sun." Such a discovery would mean a tremendous boom to science. And big cash payouts to those who put their money where there mouth was.
posted on Nov-18-05 at 9:38 AM
America is now $8 trillion dollars in debt. That's nearly $27,000 per citizen, or almost $61,000 per taxpayer. A little over three years ago the total stood at $6 trillion.
posted on Oct-24-05 at 11:00 AM
posted on Apr-25-15 at 10:28 PM
Do you like Cleverbot, but maybe wished that it was an androgynous jpop boy you could dress up and make your boyfriend? There's an app for tha-- oh no wait, nevermind.
posted on Nov-28-12 at 3:02 PM
Are the X-Men Human? The US government says yes, these people are no different from you or I, but Marvel claims their strange mutations and powerful augmentations move them beyond humanity into the realm of monsters, angels and devils. This Radiolab short explains why Marvel Toys argued in the US Court of International Trade that Wolverine, Professor X and Storm are inhuman.
posted on Feb-20-12 at 6:50 PM
Was Obama's decision to invade Afghanistan a mistake? Michael Steele, chair of the RNC seems to think so. Republicans and Democrats alike are irked and confused by his comments.
posted on Jul-3-10 at 2:32 PM
You may have seen Newt Gingrich this past Tuesday on The Daily Show describing Obama's decision to try the Underpants Bomber in the courts as "radical." He pointed out an incident in 1942 when Franklin Roosevelt suspended habeus corpus for Nazi saboteurs dropped off on Long Island by submarine to wreak havoc on Ameica. While "Nazi Terrorists" might be almost comic book class villains, Newt probably would prefer people not to recall the true story and villains of Operation Pastorius.
posted on Feb-11-10 at 4:21 PM
If, like me, you found Lady Gaga's Bad Romance video strangely addictive, you'll appreciate her fans' Badder Romance. Which is exactly the same, only... badder.
posted on Jan-10-10 at 6:13 PM
Overcharged for cigarettes. A NH man was charged $23,148,855,308,184,500 for a pack of cigarettes-- a "little" over a quadrillion dollars per cigarette. Jokes about tobacco taxes aside, it wasn't an isolated incident. Numerous Visa customers discovered the same charge.
posted on Jul-15-09 at 10:37 AM
Sooner or Later István Madarász's sci-fi film tells the story of a Nazi experiment in ten minutes. Or maybe longer?
posted on Dec-4-08 at 7:57 PM
This American Life gives you Another Frightening Show About the Economy.. The guys who brought us The Giant Pool of Money (previously) explain the credit crunch and why it's so scary. And not in the Halloween fun-to-be-scared sense.
posted on Oct-5-08 at 9:04 PM
Happy Bicentenemail. Strongbad answers his 200th email in this installment of the long-running Homestarrunner.com web site. Featuring a musical intro by They Might Be Giants.
posted on Sep-23-08 at 10:45 AM
Some residents of Lesbos are filing suit, claiming only they have the right to be called lesbians.
posted on May-1-08 at 4:21 AM
Beautiful animated music video for Kwoon's "I Lived on the Moon."
posted on Jul-28-07 at 1:04 PM
NASA Plans Permanent Moonbase. The base, a potential stepping stone for further Mars exploration, will likely be situated near one of the poles. The advantages of a polar site (pdf) include a relatively moderate climate, possible hydrogen and oxygen resources, unexplored terrain and abundant solar power. They have apparently abandoned plans to use nuclear reactors, which is probably for the best.
posted on Dec-4-06 at 8:13 PM
Rolling Rock is sorry for their offensive new ad. Never mind that no one was complaining about the ad because they never aired it-- they are spending millions on radio, web and print media to let you a) see the ad b) understand how terrible it is and c) know how very, very sorry they are to have made it. The recently bought out Rolling Rock brand is hoping this manufactured controversy will somehow convince people to drink their beer.
posted on Dec-1-06 at 7:12 PM
Gbalf Xozmn Ram Rqzyk Wtacu Lkugc Aaxjx Owkyu Dkoxk Zamdg Bnuio Nmrxk Zmqyf Nqeog Ziqxf Gutxe Nkmxd Gzmqj Brqge Kxkfs Qqzui Nactg Djfnq Eenaa Xjnk
posted on Aug-4-06 at 8:41 AM
The worst possible gift for a stoner. Great for hotel lobbies, people with fake cancer, or just a brown thumb who likes the aesthetics of marijuana and visits from the DEA but hates getting high.
posted on Jul-24-06 at 1:00 PM
RIP Harriet. She passed away overnight from a heart attack. She was 175 years old, the size of a dinner table, and may have known Charles Darwin. She was Harriet the Tortoise, the world's oldest living animal, and lived a life of quiet dignity.
posted on Jun-23-06 at 7:26 AM
[TV Guide Filter] Tonight on Frontline: The Dark Side. An in-depth look at Dick Cheney's battle with the intelligence community to shape the War on Terror. From Boston.com's preview: "Frontline" delivers a devastating look tonight at the efforts of Vice President Dick Cheney to gain control of the war on terror after 9/11. In doing so, the show purports, he compromised the integrity of America's intelligence system. Check your local listings.
posted on Jun-20-06 at 3:37 PM
Gates to Leave Day-to-Day Role at Microsoft in 2008. Following the tradition of previous capitalists-turned-philanthropists such as J.P. Getty and Andrew Carnegie, Bill Gates has announced that in 2008 he will quit his full-time role as head of Microsoft to focus his attention on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (whose website seems to be having issues at the moment). [NewsFilter]
posted on Jun-15-06 at 2:51 PM
"The groom confesses he has had some difficulty finding a bride, but he is hopeful that 'this one will stay.'"
If you were a young man looking to settle down with a girl, what would you do? Let friends or family set you up? Try the bar scene? Match.com? If you lived in rural Kyrgyzstan, you might skip the courtship and just kidnap whatever girl catches your eye. This fascinating Frontline/World piece explores a strange but shockingly common practice. According to one study, more than a third of ethnic Kyrgyz women are married by kidnapping.
posted on May-25-06 at 8:40 AM
Science imitates Star Trek, again. Physicists Nicolae Nicorovici and Graeme Milton have published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences outlining a theoretical means for constructing a cloaking device. A superlens constructed from a metamaterial with a negative refractive index could be used to create a resonance that cancelled the light coming off of a (very small) object, rendering it invisible.
posted on May-3-06 at 5:53 PM
I'd like your smallest painting. No, smaller than that. Even smaller. Wait, that's too small.
posted on Mar-23-06 at 6:25 AM
Tempbot (QuickTime) is a new short by Neill Blomkamp. This piece combines the ultra-realistic robot CGI seen in Tetra Vaal and Alive in Joburg (QT) with a softer story of everyday alienation very reminiscent to Greg Pak's Robot Stories.
posted on Jan-6-06 at 9:29 AM
NewsFilter: Supreme Court nominee Alito advocated overturning Roe v. Wade in 1985 DOJ Memo. The National Archives have just released a new collection of records pertaining to Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. One document in particular (pdf) will likely draw considerable fire during his nomination hearings.
posted on Dec-23-05 at 7:22 AM
What is a "fair wage" for contractors working in Iraq? Halliburton subsidiary KBR pays subcontracted employees far more than they could earn at home, in exchange for living far from friends and family in a dangerous work environment. KBR insists their contractors adhere to all local labor laws in the country where they operate. But when that country doesn't yet have an effective or legitimate government of its own, and the workers are brought from a country with a 68% poverty rate, is that enough?
posted on Dec-2-05 at 9:21 AM
Abu Ali guilty of terror plot. A Virginia jury has found Ahmed Omar Abu Ali guilty of terrorism related crimes. The prosecution charged he provided material support to Al Qaeda (pdf). His defenders claim his confession while in Saudi custody was obtained through torture. Does the goal of preventing terrorism justify relying on the Saudi's questionable interrogation methods?
posted on Nov-22-05 at 3:40 PM
Do Gravity Waves Exist? This is one of the big unanswered questions in physics. Gravity telescopes such as the LIGO and the Geo 600 may soon tell us. These massive detectors are sensitive to a displacement of 1 part in 1000000000000000000000-- that's like "measuring a change of one hydrogen atom diameter in the distance from the Earth to the Sun." Such a discovery would mean a tremendous boom to science. And big cash payouts to those who put their money where there mouth was.
posted on Nov-18-05 at 9:38 AM
America is now $8 trillion dollars in debt. That's nearly $27,000 per citizen, or almost $61,000 per taxpayer. A little over three years ago the total stood at $6 trillion.
posted on Oct-24-05 at 11:00 AM