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The idea that Mars could ever provide a survivable environment for more human beings than even the most degraded possible result of the worst possible disaster here is delusional colonialist space-opera nonsense that requires its true believers to ignore centuries of ecological research and insight.

All the criticisms about the abandoned Mars One scheme still hold true.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 4:56 AM on January 11, 2024

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posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:15 PM on January 10, 2024

After living in Memphis for about a year, my then-wife and I bought a house. The yard had kudzu in the back, and much of the backyard was in a sort of perpetual twilight because kudzu had grown up the guy wire for the utility pole, then grown out across the utility wire itself and dropped down in a sort of green curtain. I cleared it out--leaving a pile out front for the trash collection that was larger than our car--and before that was picked up, new kudzu had started growing up the guy wire.… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:15 AM on January 10, 2024

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posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:07 AM on January 10, 2024

Wow, this sure is a cornucopia of different opinions on the book(s). I just finished the first one, and while I did find parts of it tough sledding--being unfamiliar with the sheer brutality of the Cultural Revolution, the beginning was difficult to get through for me--but I thought that it was rewarding by the end. Just got the second book, we'll see.

As for the the adaptation, I'm in the "D&D were fine as long as they had solid material to adapt, and even… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 4:40 AM on January 10, 2024

I may be the only one on the blue who likes Black Tie White Noise a lot, but it's my favorite post-Scary Monsters album by far.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:21 AM on January 8, 2024

Is "Diamond Dogs" good?

Well...
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:36 PM on January 8, 2024

I had a therapist try to pressgang me into AA on the first session because I stated that I went to my local bar to socialize and play pinball more than once a week when they asked about alcohol use. I think they must have been in AA themselves or something similar because it was basically a fucking 12 step lecture from that point on.

Wow, as someone who's been going to meetings for more than a dozen years and has even chaired some, that's an awful… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:38 PM on January 5, 2024

The only thing that I'm worried about WRT the convergence of reality with future fiction are the Bell Riots, which, sadly, seem all too likely.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:07 PM on January 4, 2024

Don't remember what my ID is, let alone how many digits it's got. It was modestly fun for a while, and probably the first place that I realized that Wil Wheaton had a public life beyond having played the least-liked character on TNG, but this post was probably the beginning of the end in terms of it having any real relevance. (You might notice that a lot of the commenters are pushing back at CmdrTaco's peremptory dismissal.)
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:37 AM on January 4, 2024

The vaunted prophylactic prophecy of science fiction—the ability to prevent an undesirable future by loudly predicting it—has consistently proven false: most humans live in surveillance states that would make Orwell blush, and they followed up Squid Game with…non-fictional Squid Game.

Both of these statements are wrong; the "non-fictional Squid Game" isn't really that--AFAIK, it doesn't kill people--and if he really thinks that "most… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:20 AM on January 3, 2024

Thanks for posting the link to that Slate article, TedW, it really does put the case in context.

As for the Johnny Gosch case as described in TFA, well... I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the idea that the mom is supposedly "still on the case" and that she also had him show up out of nowhere to visit her as a grown adult and then disappear again. There's been more than one case of this supposedly happening with other people who disappeared as children… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:51 AM on January 2, 2024

OK, that link is a real eye-opener:

FBI special agent Herb Hawkins said drawing intense publicity to the case, as the Goschs had, is not generally advised. Too much attention can cause an abductor to panic, endangering the child. It can also make inside information that can be used to narrow down suspects part of the public narrative.

But the Goschs (who divorced in 1993) had other advisors telling them the opposite. In a rare interview in 2018,… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:23 PM on January 2, 2024

Vigo the Butch, as some of us call him.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:29 AM on January 1, 2024

Bread and circuses, 21st-century style.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:52 PM on December 29, 2023

Considering what it would actually be like to live on a cruise ship for three years, I'm reminded about the old saw that the happiest days in the life of a boat owner (not a small boat, but something (theoretically) large enough to live on) are the day they get the boat and the day they get rid of it. If everyone was cool and the weather was good, sure, but what about when it gets choppy and even the non-seasick-prone are getting seasick? What if people really are trying to work on the boat (as… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:03 AM on December 29, 2023

The throwing stuff on stage reminds me of an anecdote from 70s Alice Cooper (recounted by Bob Greene in his book Billion Dollar Baby, for my money still the best book about a rock tour); when they took the tour to Toledo, they were pelted with stuff from the opening notes of "Hello Hurray" and left the stage during the second number. It hadn't happened in any other show, the objects seemed to be picked to hurt (as compared to the Beatles getting jelly beans thrown… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:43 AM on December 22, 2023

If Friedman ever succeeds, it would be so fetch.

Unlikely, he's always been streets behind.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:01 PM on December 22, 2023

not everyone will GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

They may be down with the sickness.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:37 PM on December 23, 2023

Apollo has entered the chat
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:46 PM on December 23, 2023

My data point WRT this is that I was married for almost a decade to a woman who was 16 years older than me; I was 29 at the time of the wedding, but I'd had little experience in relationships, and a lot less than her. When the marriage started to break up, and I'd moved out, in one of the meetings that we had--maybe the one that led me to believe that we'd never really fix things--she offhandedly mentioned that she'd taken a trip to her hometown, by herself. At that point, we'd made plans to go… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:30 PM on December 21, 2023

I saw this discussion blow up on Tumblr a few weeks ago. Yes, I assure you, there are people out there who think a 50 year old man dating a 47 year old woman (or vice/versa) is a predator, because age gap.

Something WRT Tumblr in particular is that its membership/commenters still seem to tend to skew pretty young, and thus may not have much life experience to draw on. I'm still moderately astounded thinking about the thread in which someone seemed to… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 3:36 PM on December 22, 2023

Israeli forces shot down a Houthi missile just above the Kármán line, perhaps, which might count as the first space combat in human history.


As much as I love my space operas, this milestone is more than a bit dismaying.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:12 PM on December 21, 2023

Not sure how they decided to pass over Michael Lewis' book on Sam Bankman-Fried, since the book was apparently bad enough to trash Lewis' own reputation. And, although I probably won't ever read Spare, I raised an eyebrow at the description of Harry as "a raging Sloane who must look up the word compere in a dictionary when his brother asks him to be one at his wedding."
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:52 PM on December 21, 2023

But MC Hawking is still cool, though, right?
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:38 PM on December 21, 2023

One of his pieces reminds me a lot of the alien communication scenes from the movie Arrival [FanFare/spoilers], and the better ones evoke that sense of simultaneous wonder and a smidgen of awe bordering on terror--cool, it's a giant stag, but I hope it doesn't notice me. Yeah, a lot of it is very dorm poster-y, but at least it's a bit more creative than yet another poster of a Lamborghini or a woman in her underwear holding a saxophone or whatever (you can probably tell that… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:53 PM on December 20, 2023

Other holiday positions:

Doubling Up on the Sled
Decorating the Tree
Going Down the Chimney
Going Up the Chimney
Getting Stuck in the Chimney
Milk and Cookies
Grinchin' It
O Holy Night (requires gloryhole)
Dashing Through the Snow
The Holly and the Ivy
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:45 AM on December 20, 2023

These aren't the droids I'm looking for.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:26 PM on December 19, 2023

Something that's new to me: Metallica's cover of "Whiskey in the Jar." Also, they covered Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" [CW: rough depiction of sex work, violence].

My Xmas prep is almost done; going to try to get a wish list for one more person and if they really have no ideas then it's hence to the gift card rack.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:35 PM on December 18, 2023

I mean, Henry VIII changed some stuff that the Catholic Church seemed to think was unchangeable, albeit for some not-great reasons.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:47 AM on December 18, 2023

Now I've got a craving for herring in sour cream on either Triscuits or regular saltines. Hot damn ziggety zam.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:17 PM on December 17, 2023

The same, but octopus.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:57 AM on December 15, 2023

It was a pretty huge deal for those of us who weren't particularly good at meatspace socializing; it was also an early lesson in not feeding trolls, and also in how evanescent some online communities could be. Cantor and Siegel were blamed for being the proverbial serpents in paradise, but it was probably inevitable.

alt.peeves
alt.tasteless
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:04 AM on December 15, 2023

Aubrey Plaza.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:19 PM on December 14, 2023

I remember, as a teenager in 1990, seeing him play Iago to Avery Brooks's Othello.

That's going on the time machine list, very near the top.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:36 PM on December 13, 2023

So, born-again right-wingers are a land of contrasts?

I agree that there's no real "pipeline" as there seems to be from wellness to QAnon, for example. It may be simply a manner of following the money; the article notes that "Taibbi and two other Twitter Files reporters received a $100,000 award from a program of the Young America’s Foundation, long a bridge between establishment conservatives and each generation’s shoutiest right-wing youth." Dolla… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:23 AM on December 13, 2023

I wouldn't be surprised if the real barriers to legalization in Wisconsin are liquor distributors fearing loss of business to weed; you've probably seen lists like this.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:17 AM on December 12, 2023

Great visuals, absolutely no suspense--like, they're going to put out a car commercial that's "yeah, she totally died in a pointless stunt. Buy a Range Rover!" Still want to go to Iceland, though, if just to meet the guy who acted like seeing the river monster was no biggie.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:37 AM on December 12, 2023

Whether or not Cool Whip is edible, you can stir a tablespoonful or so of cocoa in it to create a substance that I will eat until I am stopped.

4 oz. heavy whipping cream
2 packets Truvia (stevia/erythritol mix)
2 tablespoons cocoa

Blend with one of those Braun wand mixer thingies, eat right out of the blending container with a spatula.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:40 AM on December 11, 2023

Totino's fulfills... other cravings.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:49 AM on December 11, 2023

One of the most useful things that I've learned is that you should be able to fix/replace anything outside the walls yourself, outside of big things like an HVAC system. Doing that (of course, knowing all the necessary safety stuff, such as shutting off power to electrical stuff first and then being able to test to make sure that the power is off to the correct circuit) helps build confidence for bigger/more complicated jobs.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:45 AM on December 11, 2023

Anyone here know the Time?

WHAT
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:35 AM on December 11, 2023

When I've heard people go on about how bad the Irish immigrants had it, it has almost exclusively been paired with going on about how they overcame it so if black people haven't it must be something wrong with them. Like, openly stated.

Same. I also find it quite striking how much opposition Irish-Americans have shown to integration and school busing in places such as Chicago and Boston.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:43 AM on December 10, 2023

Bill Gates wrote an open letter.

Just this one link (to a Wikipedia article) would have been worthy of an FPP by itself. I'd known the basics of the matter for a while; Steven Levy put it in his book Hackers, which is still one of the better books about the early days of the personal computer revolution. But the article is very well-written, putting the matter in the context of how much the early microcomputers cost and how… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:24 AM on December 10, 2023

Actually not bad for a listicle from a media company not at all above clickbaiting, with the exception of the Weird Al thing, of course. WRT "Xmas Shoes", I bet that I could make a decent amount of money with an Xmas-themed T-shirt reading "She won't need shoes in a coffin, ya little doofus".
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:09 AM on December 8, 2023

I respect that different people have different histories with different songs, but... Billy Idol covered "Jingle Bell Rock." So.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:19 AM on December 8, 2023

I don't know what you all have against Last Christmas.

I feel the same way about "All I Want For Christmas Is You." It's an exuberant song that puts people before presents. Maybe it's Mariah Carey? Some people out there hate Mimi that much? I dunno.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:32 PM on December 8, 2023

hippybear, adding some tags to this post naming the guilty parties might do the trick in terms of warning anyone who came across your earlier post.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:12 AM on December 8, 2023

How well funded was that 4-H program that someone could skim $100M off it over the course of six years and just now get caught?
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 4:44 AM on December 8, 2023

This is where I remind people of Rita Crundwell; she stole less, and it took her a lot longer, but also the city of Dixon, IL is much smaller than the DoD.
posted to MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:07 AM on December 8, 2023