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This is just fucking incredible. I generally wear contacts, and since outgrowing my old glasses I haven't bought another pair due to the cost. It wasn't worth it to spend all that money for something I only wear occasionally.

Now, though... my god. I'm getting a pair, and if they're any good I'm getting like six more.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:43 AM on September 20, 2007

As one of those boring young people who keeps a stupid blog about my mundane life...

I keep it because it's easier than keeping a print diary. I've started and stopped doing that many times, but the thing about a blog is... you can't lose it. You can't run out of room in it. You can easily add photos to it. You can easily edit it. It's just... EASIER.

My friends who also keep blogs read it, but I'm not writing it for them or anyone else, I'm… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:50 PM on September 15, 2007

I made one of these years ago, but like others here, I never had anything really cool to keep in it. Now I just use it to hide my ipod in when I'm out of town.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 5:17 PM on August 1, 2007

I believe BPAL's been featured here before, when the Lovecraft scents came out a while back. I tried a few of those and liked them ok- but personally, I'm just waiting to see if they do Sandman ones for this collection.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:17 PM on July 23, 2007

This thread has made me realize that I really need to listen to more Pink Floyd. I wasn't familiar with them at all until this year, when my college theater company decided to do a run of The Wall in cooperation with a local band. We did it in an ivy-covered outdoor amphitheater, built a big scaffolding-like structure on the stage for people to dance on, spent $4000 on lights... it really was pretty impressive.

I wasn't blown away by the first rehearsal I saw, but every… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 10:56 AM on July 11, 2007

Is it really all that "sheltered and sequestered and scared shitless" of me to want to be able to defend myself, googly? I carry security guard-grade pepper spray (may cause blindness at close range!) when I go out at night- do you think that not carrying it would somehow make me... not sheltered? Less scared? I'm really not following you here.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 10:43 PM on June 29, 2007

I have no trouble believing in the existance of intelligent aliens... but if they do exist, the chances that they're similar enough to us for any kind of real communication to even be possible is a HUGE stretch. They would probably not even have our five senses. I doubt, for example, that they talk like we do- by using a complex system of air chambers to create resonant waves which are picked up by drum-like organs- because, seriously, what are the odds of that? Maybe they talk to each other by… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:46 PM on June 28, 2007

vibration seems to be the universal medium with which organisms communicate.

Yeah, but all of the organisms we've observed evolved here, on earth, from the same common ancestor as everything else, including us. That's a pretty limited sample. Maybe these hypothetical aliens can't even detect sound waves at all. Why would they? Think of all the waves WE can't detect.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 3:27 PM on June 28, 2007

...the ways that evolution has guided life on Earth to derive information about the environment are some of the most obvious and simple. It's silly to think that life on other planets will miss obvious things like the ability to detect electromagnetic radiation.

Over and over, you keep describing these ways of recieving information as 'obvious', but of course these things are obvious to you- you're a human! The five types of… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 9:53 AM on June 29, 2007

If I were filthy fucking rich, I would be preordering this RIGHT NOW. Alas.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:17 PM on June 28, 2007

yhbc- I saw the tit torture post and kicked myself for not posting this earlier.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:26 AM on June 26, 2007

I guess it's more accurate to say that suspension was inspired by those rituals, then.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:30 AM on June 26, 2007

The thing is, though, most people who do this aren't claiming to have some sort of spiritual kinship with the people who originally did this. If you're going to compare this to anything, compare it to, say, yoga. Westerners who do yoga acknowledge the spiritual roots of yoga, but the majority of them are in it because it's a good workout. So too with suspension. It was inspired by ancient rituals, but the people in those photos aren't pretending to be performing those rituals. They're taking an… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:07 PM on June 26, 2007

flarbuse- Who would say that about tattooing, drinking, smoking, or driving? In other words, what are you talking about?
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:09 PM on June 26, 2007

Viomeda- they only suspend for several minutes at a time, and the piercings are temporary.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:38 PM on June 26, 2007

dudd- I've always heard it as Lee, Ray or Wayne.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:12 AM on June 25, 2007

Handshakes could be gang signs? Right, so restricting handshakes will surely curb gang violence. This reminds me of my high school's strict 'no head coverings' policy (unless for religious reasons), which landed me in trouble once when I wore the hood of my puffy coat up one day in a cold classroom, and an administrator came in and made me stop. It really did a lot to curb my school's completely non-existant gang warfare.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:15 PM on June 24, 2007

If the owners of the complex felt like they had to interpret their own rules to the letter, so be it, they can and should do what they want; but that doesn't change the fact that this man did a heroic thing and thereby saved a woman's life, and, being experienced with firearms, he was not irresponsible in bringing his gun to the scene of an alleged shooting.

And, seriously, enough of this 'brandishing' nonsense.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:43 PM on June 21, 2007

The eating disorder example seems sort of flawed. Women with eating disorders said they had unattractive bodies, and others agreed. But if the women were anorexic, wouldn't they rate themselves as unattractive because they felt they were too fat, while others would judge them unattractively skinny?

Moreover, even if the women in question were actually overweight and rated themselves as ugly, couldn't that be seen as less "percieving the world realistically"… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:43 PM on June 19, 2007