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FWIW, I'd also be wary about becoming That House that's always breaking up kid's playtime. You're being reasonable, but kids are famously not, and you don't want to get a tree full of TP (or worse) if you get on their bad side over something like this.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:31 PM on June 30, 2019

I'm subscribed to /r/pebble, and have been seeing inconsistent reports of notifications not working on the iOS 13 beta. It's just a beta, doesn't break all notifications, and doesn't break for everyone, but it's definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Also if you do decide to buy a Pebble, keep battery life in mind, especially for the later Time/Steel/Round models. My 2015 Time is down to ~4 days runtime from the original 7-10, and that's with moderate notifications, minimal… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:41 AM on June 30, 2019 marked best answer

Several recent franchises have pulled the trick of turning the third chapter into two separate films, i.e. Hunger Games: Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 and 2, etc. It always seemed like a naked cash grab to me that left the stories feeling narratively overstuffed.

Also, not a film, but I've been feeling this hard with the Halo series of video games. It was originally a… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 2:42 PM on June 26, 2019

A little searching suggests this video card is also known as the Intel GMA 4500MHD, which was an entry-level GPU even when it was released in 2008. Notebookcheck.com has a page full of benchmarks and FPS scores for various games; the performance is pretty abysmal, but here are some titles it can run tolerably well:

Sims 3 (low)
Trackmania Nations Forever (low)
F.E.A.R. (low)
Quake 3 Arena (high)

It has… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 3:04 PM on June 25, 2019

I would get in touch with Gillware and see what they can do. They specialize in data recovery, including reformatted SSDs, and they'll both give you an initial quote and send you a list of recovered files free of charge. You only have to pay if they are able to recover the data you want. They're not cheap -- IIRC it's in the hundreds of dollars for a failed hard drive, though your case may be easier/harder -- but they're cheap-er than most competitors, and given the lack of… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 2:42 PM on June 25, 2019

BlahLaLa: "Something out of classic rock?"

Those horn arpeggios remind me of the ones in "How to Disappear Completely."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:14 PM on June 21, 2019

Legendary "close-up" magician Tony Slydini did a number of specials for Dick Cavett that were both technically impressive and quite funny; some highlights:

The power of misdirection

The torn and restored newspaper

The Helicopter Card

Cutting the rope
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 4:25 PM on June 10, 2019

When this happens, can you look at the screen to see how it's transcribing your question? You might have to scroll back up if it inserts one of those infoboxes.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:07 PM on May 23, 2019

Mid: ""Play Oye." Can someone try "Play Oye" on Siri and see if they get the same "I found two?""

Yep, it's doing the exact same for me!

brook horse: "I tried “play Oye” and Siri thought I said “play boy” but when I edited the text to reflect what I was trying to say, she said “Which one?” (but not “I found two”) and provided those two options.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 1:59 AM on June 7, 2019

Project Sunder
Project Riven
Operation Separation
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:35 PM on June 5, 2019

One promising possibility, from Rosemary Ashton's One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858:

Darwin and Dickens, though neither knew it, had shared a moment in June 1838, when they were both elected to the Athenaeum Club, founded in 1824 to celebrate intellectual and literary attainments.

While she suggests here that the two didn't meet directly (or at least consciously), and goes on to describe… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:28 PM on May 31, 2019 marked best answer

"Steal My Sunshine" by brother-sister duo Len (built around a disco-era sample from Andrea True) is like a sun-drenched '90s beach romp in music form.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 4:31 PM on May 28, 2019

Katamari Damacy is probably my favorite game of all time -- a joyful tone, unique and intuitive gameplay that's also deeply satisfying, a timeless design aesthetic, and one of the greatest soundtracks ever made. There's a reason it's one of the few video games included in the permanent collection of the MoMA, along with other landmarks like Tetris and Myst. It also got a note-perfect HD port for the Switch last year (Katamari Damacy Reroll), including a two-player… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:19 AM on May 19, 2019

Given that most fandoms have an associated wiki, tracking the biggest/most active wikis would be a decent metric. Fandom.com (formerly Wikia) has a "Wiki Activity Monitor" that uses "traffic, engagement and growth" to calculate a daily score (out of 100) for each of their wikis. The current top 10:

Marvel
Marvel Cinematic Universe
Disney
DBZ Dokkan Battle (mobile game)
Star Wars
Game of… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:58 AM on May 17, 2019

At the risk of being too obvious, is regular Duolingo an option? In my experience the app is kid-friendly and highly colorful and gamified, to the point that I'm surprised to learn they have a separate app just for kids. While it might be more challenging, it's still very basic compared to a full-fledged elementary school language class, and she could always just skip irrelevant or difficult sections.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:48 PM on May 15, 2019

Imperfect, but Google's Ngram Viewer of English usage shows "hippie" skyrocketing in the late 60s and peaking in the early 70s before a sharp collapse by 1975. "Punk" is probably construed a little broadly ("punk kids," "you little punk," etc.), since it rises steadily even into the 2000s, but even then it didn't overtake "hippie" until the early 80s. Also consider that it's based on published text, so there may be a bit of lag time versus what… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:43 PM on May 11, 2019 marked best answer

DOUBLE KING

It's probably the finest animated short film I've ever seen. Mesmerizing visual style, impeccable music and sound design, rich and well-timed comedy without a word of dialogue, and a plot that's just narrative enough to be compelling while still dancing on the edge of the surreal dreams that are usually seen in one-man animator Felix Colgrave's other work. Even the credits are worthwhile.

It was so good that I not… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:20 AM on May 7, 2019

Google Earth itself is pretty fantastic, if they can learn all the tricks for navigating it:

- the basics: touch and drag to pan, pinch and stretch to zoom
- double tap a spot to zoom in, single-tap with two fingers to zoom out
- double-tap and hold, then drag up and down to zoom in/out
- two-finger drag up and down to tilt the view (critical for enjoying anyplace with 3D imagery)
- two-finger rotate to turn about a… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:56 PM on May 3, 2019

Blue-water vessels can sail the open ocean, as opposed to green- and brown-water which must stick closer to shore. A blue-water navy is one that can project naval force throughout the world.

Blue whales are the largest animal known to exist.

Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox

Children's TV shows Blue's Clues (US) and Blue Peter (UK)

Picasso's Blue Period and Rhapsody in… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:24 PM on April 30, 2019

One thing you'll have to decide is what constitutes "the entire Halo series." You can't go wrong with the core Bungie trilogy, but speaking as a long-time Halo fan, I frankly wouldn't bother with 4 or 5. The original trilogy campaign ended flawlessly, but after Bungie went independent to work on Destiny, Microsoft brought in a new studio (343 Industries) to continue the series. The multiplayer component stayed fairly solid, but IMHO the new team made some… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 8:46 PM on April 30, 2019

Very short-form, but I found this dramatic reading of a Reddit comment about heroin to be very, uh, harrowing.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:46 PM on April 27, 2019

Atoms for Peace - "Ingenue" for acoustic guitar (plus a tutorial)

You know like the back of your hand
Who let them in?
You got me into this mess, so you get me out
You know like the back of your hand
Your bell jar, your collection
Ingenue
You got me into this mess
Fools rushing in, yeah
And they know it

The seeds of the dandelion you blow… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:56 PM on April 24, 2019

The venerable Blue Sky Tank at Paramount Studios, used for The Truman Show among other films.

The Eastern Columbia Building

4833 Fountain Ave. was originally an Art Deco hospital building, but in 1977 it was bought by Scientologists as a local headquarters and dubbed "Big Blue", with an azure paint job to match.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:17 PM on April 23, 2019 marked best answer

Arcade Fire's "Wake Up" is interesting in that the bulk of the song is anthemic and epic but the tail end shifts abruptly into something looser, jauntier, hopeful, and even fun.

More Radiohead - "All I Need" has one of their all-time best outros, a glorious climax of piano and strings very different from the subdued bass textures and chimes of the main track. Along the same lines, their 2011 B-side "The Daily Mail" is also… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:48 PM on April 22, 2019

Most screamers are designed to be traumatic, though.

I'd recommend Dramatic Chipmunk, which is about due for some nostalgic popularity. Or maybe THX for the Eyes for a slower but still surprising burn.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:24 PM on April 18, 2019

Google Books cites pensioner Charlie Hoogstraal using the similar construction "rusty years" back in 1972. Given that the "golden years" phrase was coined for a retirement community ad campaign in 1959, that's fairly close. But it's also an easy enough joke that I doubt it has a single originator. He very well might have independently coined the phrase within his social circles.

(FWIW, I question the wisdom of trying to disprove this harmless bit of… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:12 PM on April 18, 2019 marked best answer

Follow-up: here's a PDF source for that cite, on page 9. It was actually from 1974.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 10:18 PM on April 18, 2019

The people mailing this address don't know it's the wrong one, so it hardly seems fair to flag their messages as spam, especially if it may get them incorrectly tagged as spammers. Plus doing this would in some small way be polluting Google's spam-detection algorithms, making them less effective.

Personally I'd direct the messages to a mark-as-read folder, then check it occasionally to see if anything critically important got through so I could try to let the intended… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 1:21 AM on April 16, 2019 marked best answer

Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes is an incredible vocalist. The band started out doing roots rock but their last album edged into a more modern/experimental sound.

Future People

Don't Wanna Fight

Hold On

She also had a fun musical cameo in Vice (that was unfortunately cut from the final film).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 8:45 PM on April 14, 2019

I really enjoyed Robert Charles Wilson's Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America, which takes place in a U.S. that has regressed into a theocratic neo-Victorian oligarchy about a century or so after the end of the "Efflorescence of Oil" and the subsequent collapse of industrial civilization. It's told from the point of view of Adam Hazzard, a naive young man who fancies himself a pulp adventure writer, and his journeys alongside his brilliant friend Julian,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 8:41 PM on April 12, 2019

Perhaps it was related to the concept of entropy? In the sense that all life processes (and work/actions in general) are dependent on exploiting energy differentials, and each such interaction inevitably increases the overall entropy of the universe until the (very) eventual heat death where life/action/time is no longer possible or meaningful.

One of my favorite short stories, Ted Chiang's "Exhalation," tackles this idea through the metaphor of a universe of… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:59 PM on April 10, 2019

TVTropes asserts that The Asphalt Jungle (1950) essentially invented the entire heist/caper genre. I don't think it has an example of this particular trope (did a quick search of "nobody," "no one," "before," etc. in a script I found online), but given that Bob le Flambeur came out in 1955, that should help narrow your search.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 9:59 PM on April 7, 2019

Fik-Shun rocks a World of Dance event with a brain-melting routine

Thom Yorke's medley of eccentric moves in the music video for "Lotus Flower", plus a spiritual sequel with interpretive dance partner Fukiko Takase in the video for "Ingenue"

Nonstop's incredibly liquid dancing (previously). Slightly over your time limit, but it's so good.

Electroswing dancing peppered with throwback vaudevillian… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 3:59 AM on April 6, 2019

From a more philosophical standpoint (building stairs in this example, but applies just as well to everything): Reality has a surprising amount of detail. Basically, even seemingly "simple" things are surprisingly complicated when it comes down to brass tacks, and can lead you to get intellectually stuck if you're not humble about how limited your understanding of a project really is.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 3:52 PM on April 5, 2019

All the following info is from either WordReference (whose English-Spanish glossary I've found quite reliable) or Wiktionary. Spoiler: only Korean and possibly Arabic are anything other than "red" -- maybe a native speaker can clarify?

Spanish: pelirrojo/a. Literally "hair" (pelo) + "red" (rojo).

French: roux/rousse. Related to… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 3:36 AM on April 5, 2019 marked best answer

Radiohead - The Numbers (originally titled "Silent Spring", after the Rachel Carson book). It was my least-favorite off their latest album -- a little too on-the-nose for my taste -- but it may suit your purposes.

It holds us like a phantom, the touch is like a breeze
It shines its understanding... see the moon smiling
Open on all channels -- ready to receive
'Cause we're not at the mercy of your shimmerers and… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:33 PM on April 4, 2019

Alabama Shakes - Hold On

So, bless my heart, and bless my mind... I got so much I wanna do, I ain't got much time
So, must be somebody up above singin' "Come on, baby girl! You got to get back up!"
You got to hooold on... yeah, you got to hooold on...
Yeah, you got to wait! Yeah, you gotta wait...
But, I don't wanna wait! No, I don't wanna wait...

You got to hold on...
When the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 2:55 PM on March 28, 2019

I was going to point you to the Kamusi Project, which was the only human-constructed online Swahili dictionary I was aware of, but that section looks down right now. Fortunately they do have a reference section with some other useful links on the language to peruse.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:49 PM on March 25, 2019

FiveThirtyEight has a weekly round-up called What The Potential 2020 Candidates Are Doing And Saying. It doesn't embed videos, but often links to them (or transcripts). Even when it doesn't, it's still a handy reference that makes it easier to search for the latest speeches, interviews, events, etc. for even lesser-known candidates (and even potential candidates).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 1:54 PM on March 25, 2019

TVTropes: Energy Beings, though as the article says these are often portrayed more like intelligent gas clouds
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:49 PM on March 24, 2019

TVTropes:
Humans Through Alien Eyes
Humans are Cthulhu

Some other possibilities:

Martian poetry

my cat is sad

Scuttle from The Little Mermaid

Perky "Canada" Has Own Government, Laws
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:43 PM on March 24, 2019

I seriously doubt an 8th grade Shapiro fan would be interested or even responsive to logical counterarguments. It's all about the abrasive "fuck your feelings" trolling.

If your kid does want to respond directly, IMHO the most effective way to do it would be with anti-Shapiro memes that (truthfully) undercut the too-cool edgelord "FACTS and LOGIC" reputation his fans try to cultivate. I.e.:

Despite portraying himself as… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:36 PM on March 23, 2019 marked best answer

I would first contact support@kinemaster.com. If they don't reply for whatever reason, you can try posting to the Help section on their community forum -- the developers (with red usernames) seem to be active there. But they specifically recommend emailing support first for "subscription" issues, which I assume refers to their licensing system.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:53 AM on March 23, 2019

Radiohead has a reputation for downbeat complexity, but some of my favorites are both uplifting and built around catchy hooks. B-side "Worrywort" centers on a cheerfully bubbly chiptune riff, "Desert Island Disk" and "Gagging Order" have satisfyingly soothing acoustic strumming hooks, "Present Tense" features a seductive bossa nova melody with dreamlike flanging, and "Bodysnatchers" kicks right off with a killer fuzzy guitar line that repeats… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 11:21 PM on March 22, 2019

theory: "Pixar films (and other animated films) have some of the better Hollywood fight scenes of recent years. The family and Frozone vs the robot in the first Incredibles movie is a good example with multiple characters involved."

Director Brad Bird developed a keen eye for movement, blocking, pacing, and physical comedy working on animated projects like this, and his first live-action movie -- Mission: Impossible - Ghost… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 12:55 AM on March 18, 2019 marked best answer

Ben Hecht's A Thousand and One Afternoons in Chicago (1922) is free to read online. Capsule review from Amazon:

A compilation of more than 60 columns written for the Chicago Daily News that Hecht's editor called "journalism extraordinary; journalism that invaded the realm of literature." The hardboiled audacity and wit that became Ben Hecht's signature as Hollywood's most celebrated screen-writer are conspicuous in these vignettes. Most of… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 5:02 PM on March 15, 2019

It's often said that a deck of cards can never be shuffled the same way twice. That's because there are 52! possible combinations (52 x 52 x 50 x 49 ... x 3 x 2 x 1). But that's a rather dry way of putting it. Mayor West dreamed up a more vivid metaphor in a thread a few years ago, to answer the question of how long it would theoretically take to deal every possible combination of decks at the rate of one per second:

How long is 52! seconds?… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 7:24 PM on March 14, 2019

Also, in honor of Pi Day, this animation is the most intuitive explanation of why pi is 3.14... that I've ever seen.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 7:28 PM on March 14, 2019

Food fortification. Like water fluoridation, it's been a subtle but hugely beneficial public health measure, and has only been around for less than a century at most in the US -- this article cites the various major waves as "iodization of salt in the 1920s, fortification of milk with vitamin D in the 1930s, enrichment of flour and bread in the 1940s, and the widespread addition of calcium to a variety of products beginning in the 1980s," and credits them with… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 6:58 PM on March 14, 2019

John Hartford - I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow (Instrumental)

Featured in the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack, but despite the name it's totally different from the more upbeat singalong version with Clooney et al. Gives me Ken Burns slow-panning-over-Civil-War-images vibe.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Rhaomi at 7:57 PM on March 12, 2019