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The Conversation II: Still Yakkin'
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:25 AM on December 19, 2016

My immediate reaction was "oh, so school shootings are my fault for not paying enough attention, when all this time I thought that some sort of sane gun control policy that keeps automatic weapons out of the easy reach of disturbed people might have a bearing on the situation."

Thanks for clearing that up, BBDO.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:55 AM on December 3, 2016

I've been frankly just kind of avoiding the subject since the election, and continue to be completely dispirited. And I'm in Canada.

This is what has me stuck: way back when, Colbert famously said that "reality has a liberal bias."

Which was cute, and funny, and true.

What nobody was expecting was for a huge chunk of the population to metaphorically say "oh, if reality has a liberal bias, then… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:15 AM on December 2, 2016

Shepherd woke me briefly to tell me of Castro's passing; I murmured something like, "good," and fell back asleep.

Now that I'm fully awake, he remarked how interesting it is how Americans are taught about Cuba & Castro as compared to Canada. I'd not considered it, TBH.

Yeah, it's been interesting watching the American/Canadian reactions. We talked a bit about it on our radio show this morning... Kitteh is about… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:38 AM on November 26, 2016

If this Muslim registry happens I, for one, would like to see bout 48% of the country nominally convert for about six hours or so.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:09 AM on November 18, 2016

So I woke up this morning with the fun thought that somebody should host and program a counter-inauguration, with Hilary Clinton as a keynote speaker, (the People's, if not the Electoral College's, President).

The country's greatest, most popular musical acts. Hamilton Live. Diversity, joy, excitement and determination. LGBT rights. Climate change a priority. Medicare championed. Vaccines for all.

A turn-out about 100x larger than the… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:02 AM on November 20, 2016

I have forgiven the universe for all the things, because it contains this, and this is beautiful.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:23 PM on November 17, 2016

I fly for vacations, and I used to fly for travel, but given that we're working super hard at turning Planet Earth into a combination of scorched earth and boiling oceans, I'm kind of moving toward the philosophy that maybe things that discourage cheap, casual air travel are a net bonus.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:07 PM on November 17, 2016

So Kitteh and I are actually going to be in Savannah, GA for election night, and she is all in for staying in and keeping her head down, whereas I am kind of looking for a "yes, I got shot but it only grazed my shoulder" kind of thing. Any bar recommendations?
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:50 PM on November 6, 2016

So this is what the co-creator is currently working on. I think I prefer the sentient bags of trash.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:47 AM on November 4, 2016

A field report from a Canadian visiting inlaws in Greenville, SC:

One bumper sticker out of all the 1000+ cars I've probably seen driving around; I've been in town for 24 hours and while I haven't spent a ton of time in residential neighbourhoods, I've been up and down highways, the whole downtown, a lot of shopping plazas, one gated-esque community and one substantial subdivision and haven't seen a single sign, either.

I wasn't expecting… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:53 PM on October 30, 2016

Rachel Slade wanted to know what happened and why. You will not soon forget what she found.

Or you could, you know, just summarize it for us in a pithy sentence.

I've reached the point where I absolutely refuse to support clickbait, so if somebody could let me know what this completely unforgettable finding was (and if it will make my jaw drop like seeing what Heather Locklear looks like now), I'd appreciate it.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:36 AM on October 24, 2016

and it is not ridiculous
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:04 AM on October 24, 2016

Of all the many abominations we have experienced over the course of this election season, the breakdown of proper forms of ecclesiastical address is surely among the foremost.

Wait, so if John Doe becomes a cardinal, he becomes John Cardinal Doe?
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:02 PM on October 21, 2016

Also, if John Doe and Richard Roe are both cardinals they are John Richard Cardinals Doe Roe.

And if they had a pet cardinal named Joe Blow it would be John Richard Cardinals Doe Roe's cardinal Joe Blow; if that cardinal were made a cardinal, John Richard Cardinals Doe Roe's cardinal Joe Cardinal Blow. Collectively John Richard Joe Cardinals Doe Roe Blow.


This is why people are leaving the church.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:18 PM on October 21, 2016

Is he strong?
Listen, bud
Technically he doesn't have superhuman strength but he's lugging around like 600 pounds of adamantium on his bones and can still do sweet ninja moves so he must be pretty robust

Can he swing,
From a thread?
No.

Take a look
Overhead
Now look down
Because he's pretty short

- Excerpt from "Wolverine: The Animated Series," an aborted Ralph Baskhi project from the late '60s; they wound up going with another hero instead
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:00 AM on October 20, 2016

where does this fit in the X-Men films continuity?

An Alternate Future that must Never Come to Pass, is my guess.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:42 AM on October 20, 2016

20 days to go....

Same as in town.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:24 AM on October 19, 2016

Trump is kind of Zoltar, isn't he? Autocratic, all bluster but no brass, weirdly vain. So if Hilary and Obama are Mark and Jason, who is Keeyop?

And who is 7-Zark-7?
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:24 PM on October 19, 2016

#Scout
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:23 PM on October 13, 2016

We lost a great Justice. Scalia, great Justice. We need great Justices to uphold the constitution.

FOR GREAT JUSTICE

SOMEBODY SET US UP THE TRUMP
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:24 AM on October 7, 2016

I thought for sure this was just overblown but I watched the thing and yes, short of resoundtracking it with Popol Vuh I have a hard time seeing how it could be creepier.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:52 AM on October 4, 2016

So I'm vetting some stuff for a radio show I'm doing, and running the first track of Steve Buscemi and Elliott Sharp's "The Right Spells" over the "Violent Mix" video for Sadness above is kind of weirdly perfect.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:59 PM on September 30, 2016

It occurred to me yesterday, eight years too late, that Mitt Romney is basically Silver Age Batman villain The Penguin.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:17 AM on September 28, 2016

The whole country would tear into the moderator for shutting down a debate that they have waited months to watch. And they'd be right.

While yanking him off the stage would probably not be super great, having a giant "PENALTIES" number that counts up behind each participant would be HILARIOUS.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:30 PM on September 28, 2016

Yo Brian Eno, I'm really happy for you, and I'ma let you finish, but uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:46 PM on September 26, 2016

Smith became a living symbol of all a mother must never imagine doing to her children, of all a human being simply could not be. After she was found guilty, Entertainment Tonight held a call-in poll where viewers, for 50 cents a vote, could say whether they believed she deserved to die in the electric chair.

Sometimes I look at things like the Trumpification of America (or the Harperization of Canada, until recently) and wonder if we're all becoming… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:13 PM on September 23, 2016

A FUCKING SHREW

what the hell Pottermore
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:19 PM on September 22, 2016

“This is my adventure,” Halbig told me in July at a diner in Newtown with a 26 angels sticker on the door.

No, it really isn't, you gaping festering wound in the face of common human decency.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:39 PM on September 6, 2016

She adopted black turtlenecks, would boast of never taking a vacation, and would come to practice veganism.

#notallvegans
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:18 PM on September 6, 2016

If you, like me, want to listen to the mixtape in a non-Apple way, you can stream it via Spotify here.

maybe that Complex link has a Spotify stream, but I couldn't get it to work ("too many redirects")
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:00 AM on August 26, 2016

I just posted something about safe zones for Internet purchase exchanges three posts up on the main page, and now I feel silly.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:34 AM on August 24, 2016

I learned what a boll weevil was from, amazingly, Ambush Bug comics when I was about 10 years old; I don't remember the outer context, but the punchline is some sort of panic where Ambush Bug screams "IT'S A DEMOCRAT PRETENDING TO BE A REPUBLICAN!" and everyone screams and runs.

I was pre-politics and Canadian and for some reason the whole thing was just so weird that it stuck in my head to this day. Thank you, Irwin Schwab, for your myriad educational virtues!
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:16 AM on August 22, 2016

What a bizarre thing to worry about. Why would it matter, to those of us on the losing end, whether the lottery Smith won was the income lottery or housing-appreciation lottery?

I totally identify with that tension, actually; grew up poor, am now mid-middle-class, live in a mixed-class neighbourhood, and (a) still have a fairly large chip on my shoulder against "the rich" and (b) am constantly, acutely paranoid that neighbours who aren't as… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:08 AM on August 3, 2016

I have to confess I have Pretty Good password security and have kind of fallen into the "you don't have to be faster than the bear, just the other guy" mentality where I figure my Pretty Good security will put me about six tranches below everyone who is using "Password" and "1234" as their password, and hackers will be so busy looting them that they'll never get to little old me.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:23 AM on July 21, 2016

God damn it, you bastards have forced me to fire the RNC Twitch feed up again. And this is is, frankly, insane. Why is she doing the Tomahawk Chop repeatedly? Why is she drunk? What is her top, is that a gown or a jacket or what is up with the weird cut of her right sleeve and WHAT IS HAPPENING AMERICA
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:50 PM on July 20, 2016

Ralph has the most practiced hand gestures of any human I have ever seen, like "I practiced this speech 100 times in front of the mirror and every missed gesture gets the lash" kind of hand gestures.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:53 PM on July 20, 2016

Wh -- none of this means anything. There is, like, nothing here. There is zero substance. NONE OF THIS MEANS ANYTHING. It's literally a guy just shouting stuff and a ton of old people in t-shirts going mental.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:05 PM on July 20, 2016

"He cn br a frn n brg mrca to grtnz unc gn" FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IF YOU ARE SO RICH BUY THIS MAN A VOWEL
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:07 PM on July 20, 2016

Walker does have a better grasp of speechifying than any of the other white people we've seen.

Yeah, I have to say that while he is a walking garbage pile, he is speaking in coherent sentences and seems to sort of grasp some of the basic tenets of small-government conservatism and WHY IS THAT NOW THE STANDARD FOR 'EXCELLENT' IN A NATIONAL CONVENTION FOR ONE OF ONLY TWO POLITICAL PARTIES
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:23 PM on July 20, 2016

FWIW "Zodiac Killer" is now about 90% of the Twitch comment stream.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:34 PM on July 20, 2016

That logo, affectionately referred to as “the gem”

I am a fan of the CBC. I have worked for the CBC. I know the CBC. And that logo is, and always will be, the "exploding pineapple."
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:08 AM on July 20, 2016

I love me some Tom Ellard -- among other things, he once graciously gave me permission to use a SH song title as the title of a comic I wrote and which was published by SLG, and I'm still thrilled to have corresponded with him -- but isn't this just a more verbose variant on the old cranky WHY A CHILD COULD DO THIS saw produced in galleries worldwide by sputtering meat-fuelled tourists in trucker hats?
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:59 AM on July 20, 2016

Ze is awesome and Telus, what's the point of sponsoring it if you're just going to disclaim the shit out of it?
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:20 PM on July 19, 2016

I went to high school in Canada, where required reading every year in English was (a) a 'great' novel, (b) CanLit and (c) Shakespeare; (a) was never Moby Dick. My knowledge of Moby Dick comes from:

- The movie Heathers, which may have slyly been doing something with homoeroticism ("I love my dead gay son!") through the reference, but if it was I never picked up on it;
- The Bill Sienkiewicz… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:57 AM on July 19, 2016

I don't live in Toronto, but visit fairly often, and I love the heck out of the open trains. They're super trippy to be on, the first time you get on one and look down the car and it... doesn't stop. Especially when the train is on a gentle bend and then it straightens out and like 120 feet of train just swings into your field of vision.

They're obviously a lot newer than the old-school subway cars, so saying they seem cleaner, more attractive, more airy and overall… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:34 PM on July 18, 2016

Is Fallon, speaking right now, cosplaying Umbridge from Harry Potter ironically, or sincerely, or is she just blithely unaware?
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:38 PM on July 18, 2016

Never mind, she'd gone and now it's a woman with earrings that are just about almost swastikas but kind of unbent enough that you could say they are starfish.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:40 PM on July 18, 2016

Oh my god the sea of whiteness as they pan across the floor for the official photo, it's like laundry day for every bedsheet at the Hilton.
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:50 PM on July 18, 2016

I (Canadian, no previous exposure to this as a livestream or minute-by-minute) had absolutely no idea how religious this would be; I kind of thought it would be... veiled, somehow, or that there'd be some sort of subtlety to the whole thing.

But I mean, it's crazy blatant. I figured there'd be some "founded on religious principles" stuff, but this was full-bore "WARRIORS FOR JESUS FIGHTING FOR JESUS, AND ALSO JESUS, PLUS DID I… [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:56 PM on July 18, 2016