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Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, who is one of Pelosi's closest allies and probable successor

I did not know this (trying to pay less attention to hyper inside-baseball stuff after burning out in 2016). He's my representative. Clearly I should be calling his office more.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 10:54 AM on January 7, 2021

If you don’t live here - NYC Orthodox Jews really can’t be closely compared to most other American Jews, or for that matter to any other group at all, really. They are quite unique.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:51 PM on January 8, 2021

The only thing that makes this maybe not a "coup" is that the rioters had no idea what to do after they got into the Capitol building - they just kind of wandered around taking selfies in offices.

You know, a Trump supporter with an occupied capitol building's a little like a mule with a spinning wheel
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:14 PM on January 6, 2021

People in the comment sections of my parents’ friends’ Facebook posts are super sure this was all an antifa false flag. Exhausting.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 3:44 PM on January 6, 2021

I don't really care about the hat thing but the alien machines are CALLED FUCKING TRIPODS. There is zero room for interpretation there.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 10:57 AM on January 5, 2021

how long does it take, internally, for him to transition from the act of making up a lie to internalizing the lie so deeply that he believes it himself?

I believe you have this absolutely backward. He begins with the belief, not the lie. He has a vision of the world that in his mind IS fundamentally true, and the words he uses are the ones that support that vision.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:12 AM on January 4, 2021

Democratic politicians do not uniformly support the idea of ranked choice voting. Just look at the Democratic Party machines in New York City, who have unsuccessfully sued to overturn last year’s vote in favor of implementing ranked choice here. On the ballot, support for ranked choice won 74% of the vote. But the entrenched party mechanisms don’t care. Their paternalistic arguments that it will be “too confusing to minority voters” mask their absolute unwillingness to cede any of their own… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:33 AM on January 4, 2021

jb - I truly believe he would not be capable of absorbing and comprehending those words, no matter the scenario. Trump From The Future could show up like a Dickens ghost and tell Now Trump to his face and it would be like talking to a very petulant wall.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:38 AM on January 4, 2021

you're both wrong. it is a terrible, terrible mistake to believe that he has even enough principle to have a consistent ontological order of lie/belief.

No no no. You have misunderstood me. I think Trump just thinks shit and then says it. When I said "lie" I meant "what is obviously a lie to people who are not Trump or Trump supporters."
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 10:54 AM on January 5, 2021

Wow, a lot of the examples are HSE being annoyed that the term Heath and Safety Regulations is being used a in a generic manner.

I was under the impression that the phrase "health and safety" in the UK would not usually be used in a generic manner, because it's so strongly associated with government regulations.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:34 AM on January 4, 2021

They had not bothered to install a mirror and were pretending it was for health and safety reasons when really they were just being cheap at the expense of the disabled.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 5:06 PM on January 4, 2021

John Rodrick is a moderate-ly sized figure in the Podcast-iverse (The theme tune for My Brother, My Brother, and Me, Roderick On The Line, assorted other things) so it B will be interesting to see goes this drifts out into this week’s episodes.

My Brother, My Brother and Me are already backing away:

For reasons we’re sure you’re all aware of, we’re getting started finding new music for MBMBaM. You’ll probably hear a filler… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:43 PM on January 3, 2021

He deleted his account just now, but before that he was apparently arguing with all comers about the initial series of tweets. I've really only been following this here but that's the impression I got.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:53 PM on January 3, 2021

My feeling is that since 2010-ish, the internet has grown less insular and way less dominated by Gen X early-adopters, and as a result, obnoxious and hurtful behavior that seemed normal to straight/white/male/neurotypical/post-Christian people no longer seems normal. It's not that we as a society have changed our minds about the acceptability of irony poisoning and slurs; it's that the people who have fun with slurs are no longer dominant.

This… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:42 AM on January 4, 2021

Some comments have made it sounds like he's already been hit, professionally, for this, because his music won't be on mbmbam anymore...

Would that have actually been an income source for him at all? I always assumed they got to use the music for free, given that he was part of the same podcast network and they had the VERY thorough "thank you" for it at the end of each episode.

It’s not about income, more about… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 9:30 AM on January 4, 2021

When I was a kid, escalators kind of creeped me out a little. It was those teeth that the treads disappeared into. My kid mind imagined how easy it would be to get my foot snagged in the teeth if I didn't leap off in time. Images of my bloody, shredded feet and legs immediately followed. I got better.

In 1993 there was a highly publicized (non-fatal) accident where a boy's jacket sleeve got caught in an escalator. Here's a link to Rescue 911 coverage… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:42 PM on January 3, 2021

Well I had never even heard of bucatini before, but today at my local West Indian market I spotted some packets of something labeled "macaroni/macarrón" which was definitely either bucatini or something very similar. I grabbed a packet and will try it soon, I'm definitely intrigued.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:29 PM on December 30, 2020

Essexjan - the article also said that many places have reduced production of their less popular pasta shapes in response to the pandemic, so maybe the price hike is related to that.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:59 AM on January 2, 2021

>Between that Israeli general and Harry Reid and Barack Obama all talking about UFOs, and Trump's urgency about creating a dedicated Space Force, it seems increasingly plausible that the public is being gently prepared to accept the reality of alien contact.

>>The chances that there is intelligent life that happens to be orbiting the nearest star to our sun and is now, in our lifetimes, sending out detectable signals for us to find are astronomical. Is… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 5:10 PM on December 31, 2020

Regardless of the rest of the arguments, “these brand new cutting edge prototypes are prohibitively expensive” absolutely does not mean “these things will literally always be prohibitively expensive.”
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:29 PM on December 29, 2020

6. We have to stop thinking of the Black Death as a purely European event. "It is time to stop taking the urban European experience of the Black Death as the model against which all manifestations of plague must conform."

I've always wondered about this. We learn in school that it came from Asia... so I asked a teacher once "so it was in Asia first then? What was it like there?" Answer: big fucking shrug. No one knows, no one cares, was the vibe I got.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:13 AM on December 28, 2020

Count me in as another who can’t believe people are baffled by the notion of terrorists seeking to minimize casualties while destroying infrastructure. Like, that happens all the time.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:03 AM on December 27, 2020

I don’t agree. For example if someone set this bomb because a voice in his head told him to do it, I do not agree that it “counts as terrorism.” Terrorism has a political goal, that has always been in the definition.

Look, this probably is terrorism, but there are rational and non-racist reasons for waiting until actual evidence emerges to make that determination.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:10 AM on December 27, 2020

>Anthony Quinn Warner had a specific beef with AT&T nee Bell South for firing his father back in the day. And for whether it's terrorism, it passes the Duck test with feathers, wings, bill and webbed feet.

>>I feel like that motive bears the same relationship to terrorism as an ostrich does to a duck, unless “terrorism” now includes any act of violence or destruction at large scale.

When I was a kid, a man who… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 3:35 PM on December 27, 2020

There are two Pantone colors picked this year, 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and 13-0647 Illuminating (a "vibrant yellow").

Together, they look like the colors of a spaceship loading bay in a 90s-era sci fi thriller.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 5:19 PM on December 24, 2020

Ohhhh my god this is fabulous.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 5:53 PM on December 23, 2020

Sorry but as a person losing their hair, I can’t see a video of Patrick Stewart saying “all I want” without thinking “a full head of hair.”

Legend has it, Gene Roddenberry was asked in an interview why they wouldn't have cured male pattern baldness by the 24th century, and he replied "by the 24th century, no one will care."
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:03 PM on December 23, 2020

There’s a reason I just binged the entirety of Deep Space Nine for like the third time this fall.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 12:21 PM on December 22, 2020

I think if people are going to get into Schitt's Creek for the kindness factor, they need to understand that it takes a while before that happens. The first season is the Rose family being awful people and that turned me off the first time I tried to watch it. I bailed on it then a year to two later, a friend told me that they really grow as human beings. OK, sounds good, so I started watching it again from the beginning and my friend was 100% right. However, you do need to watch the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 2:09 PM on December 22, 2020

While Elliot Page is amazing, Juno is definitely not a kind movie. It's not, like, especially an unkind movie, but kindness is not a defining feature. It was a movie that I liked a bunch at first, but then liked less and less the more I thought about it.

If Juno wanted to be a kind movie it would have completely excised the "creepy old fuck who wants to cheat on his wife with a pregnant high schooler" plot. Make him and his wife BOTH be… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:44 AM on December 23, 2020

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one character says of another “he’s a Viking in the sack.” Makes sense to me.

I really don’t give a fuck which interpretation you support but both of them clearly make logical sense, and the smug literalists who insist they can’t fathom understanding a metaphor really get under my skin.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:35 AM on December 23, 2020

I can't imagine that would be at all satisfying. Trump is not a normal person who reacts to things in a normal way, and I'm pretty sure he would not register the words coming out of your mouth as being true or applying to him.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:08 PM on November 28, 2020

Yeah I am willing to see what he does but unwilling to just assume everything will be fine based on the platform alone. To me that is a far more reasonable stand than just taking a good platform at face value.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 3:32 PM on December 1, 2020

... “It’s important to understand he’s pardoned from federal crimes,” she said. “He is not pardoned from state crimes. Last year I introduced a bill in the state legislature which would close the pardon loophole so that individuals such as the president of the United States would not evade justice. It’s important we have this check on presidential powers and that the state legislature, I’m so happy they passed that bill and it’s the law in the state of New York. President Trump cannot… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:24 PM on December 8, 2020

Not to be the turd in the punch bowl, but aren't there Ex Post Facto considerations here?

No. Here's an article about what the new law says. It does not make something formerly legal that Trump did newly illegal. It merely says "New York’s criminal laws continue to apply to individuals who receive a presidential pardon and also have a connection to the president."
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:50 PM on December 8, 2020

I'm not a lawyer but that doesn't make any sense to me. A crime is still a crime even if a future pardon could theoretically get you off for it. Not to mention I'm pretty sure the crimes in question were mostly committed before he even became president.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:59 PM on December 8, 2020

So, more states without a Senate majority may be possible if Democrats use the tools of power, sharp elbows, the public square...but they aren't good at that. At all. It's weird how the pacifistic left factions manifest in the US liberal project, only(?) used for self-sabotage in intra-party conflicts.

Well, the Brooklyn Democrats have recently been pulling every dirty procedural trick in the book to prevent "fucking progressives" from… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:04 AM on December 17, 2020

If he does veto it, do all the Trumpy Senators vote to override his veto? Can they change their votes?

I think the deal with a pocket veto is, they wouldn't be there to override it, because they'd be adjourned. The new class of senators would have to take it up again. This wouldn't be the case with a regular old veto though, assuming it happened fast enough for them to vote on it before adjourning. But he hasn't said he wants to veto it, just that he… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:17 PM on December 22, 2020

I only have one mod right now, that gives everyone different clothes and portraits in different seasons. [link] Amazingly it's already been updated to be compatible with 1.5!

Apparently they gave popular modders early access so that they could ensure their mods were updated on time for the launch. Which is really cool!
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:16 AM on December 22, 2020

Stardew was my post-Trump-election escape, I must have put 300 hours into it in the first two months of 2017. I now know it so thoroughly that playing it stopped being fun because I know EVERYTHING that happens and how to maximize efficiency. Nothing left to explore.

Just started a new game and there’s enough new content that I’m engaged again - especially the new farm layout and the remixed community center bundles. I’m excited to keep going and discover all the new stuff.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 12:28 PM on December 22, 2020

Funny but I'm probably not going to share that on Facebook with my in-laws.

Really? I posted it to my Facebook right away. But then again my older relatives are the ones who showed us younguns a bunch of Randy Rainbow clips last Thanksgiving.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:23 AM on December 14, 2020

It's ironic that the world's worst pandemic in a century is going to usher in a new golden age of protection against infectious diseases.

Some fucking asshole wished for a cure for the common cold around September last year.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 6:37 PM on December 8, 2020

I'm so impressed that he actually made a sincere effort to make these taste as good as possible. I'm on the record as pro-pumpkin spice - or maybe it would be more accurate to say I'm strongly anti-anti-pumpkin spice. I just don't understand why some people get so very invested in hating it. I'm glad this guy didn't take that approach. Lots of people would take this concept and use it merely as a jumping-off point for a goof, but by the end of the episode I was actively craving those sandwiches.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 9:19 PM on December 6, 2020

Despite not being from the Midwest I’m a huge fan of Cincinnati chili, which has a lot of cinnamon in it. It’s great! Like the offspring of Protestant potluck food and Indian food.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 8:01 AM on December 7, 2020

I do think something could/should be done with chunks of mango and/or pineapple served in a bag of Takis.

Ohhh my god yes.

I had never heard of walking tacos and I am enthralled by the concept. I'm amazed they don't seem to have come to NYC yet. Someone is gonna make a killing bringing that concept here. Imagine the halal cart version!

I was familiar with Frito pie in the form of a casserole, but it… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 1:37 PM on December 4, 2020

I don't understand how on earth the name "pie" could possibly be applied to these things. Is a plate of nachos a pie?

That being said, I posted a link to this article on Facebook and my midwestern friend I've been having outdoor distanced dinners with was stunned I'd never heard of these and may be making me one of them soon... can't wait
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 4:18 PM on December 5, 2020

I just watched the 1995 BBC version for the first time last week, and couldn’t stop mentally comparing that Darcy to Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Same sexually glowery stare.
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 3:35 PM on December 3, 2020

Everyone in this thread should track down the excellent Ted Chiang story "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling." Wikipedia's description:

In the near future, a journalist observes how the world, his daughter, and he himself are affected by "Remem", a form of lifelogging whose advanced search algorithms effectively grant its users eidetic memory of everything that ever happened to them, and the ability to perfectly and objectively share… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 11:08 AM on December 2, 2020

Some people just read faster, just like some people just run faster.

Yes! Honestly, sometimes I wish I was not such a fast reader. Generally speaking, if I look at a not-extremely-long sentence I understand it with zero lag - I'm not really registering each individual word in sequence - and I frequently find that when I'm reading something suspenseful or leading up to a big reveal, I have to physically cover the page below the line I'm reading,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 7:32 PM on November 28, 2020

What is it in "synthetic scents" that people are allergic to? I recall only once encountering such a person and out of respect I disabled the artificial scents but I definitely thought to myself "that sounds like a solid excuse to give to when you just don't like 'fake' smells or whatever."

My dad used to refuse to enter the mall through a certain door because it's where the perfume counter was and it would give him migraines just… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by showbiz_liz at 10:01 AM on November 28, 2020