MetaFilter

Why would I give you $25 when I can get one for $20 in town
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:57 PM on March 12, 2024

Tired: single link youtube post
Wired: single link obscure single-interest Old Web post
Inspired: single link mystery meat post
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 3:01 PM on February 26, 2024

I have mentioned before the Sprinting Handcuffed Nude Bloke of Surry Hills. Like Roland in Warren Zevon's song I imagine him still sprinting, sprinting through the night.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:41 PM on November 14, 2023

[extremely philosophy of technology voice] all technical change questions are policy choices, and vice versa
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 6:20 PM on September 21, 2023

Yes, Flava Flavicon is the hype image for the band.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 6:04 PM on September 6, 2023

Black and white photography hell yeah. It's the best.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 10:34 PM on August 6, 2023

It's odd how watching Ashes tests being played in the English summer bring on that sensation of Australian end-of-year cricket, with the Boxing Day and New Years test matches. Glorious!
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 4:59 PM on July 2, 2023

The red panda is mostly silent but makes squeaky noises, they sound like twittering, but they also make a loud (for a red panda) noise called a ‘huff-quack’.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:55 PM on June 24, 2023

With respect to wombats. Here is one having a good scratch on a log.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 4:57 PM on June 25, 2023

I am a frequent user of the blockquote tag, I'd love a button.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 11:07 PM on June 14, 2023

In my work building there's a guy who has a clock and watch repair shop. He's pretty close to retirement so he is clear about his working hours, he works when he wants to, and he's there most days, but he pisses off to play golf or whatever if he doesn't feel like it. I admire this so much.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:09 PM on June 4, 2023

In the NSW Legislative Council, the upper house of the State Parliament, the chair and presiding MLC is President Benjamin Franklin. (Which gives you a response to the well-known trivia question).
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 5:56 PM on May 28, 2023

I will also say that the Quakers also have a tradition of being able to extremely firmly stick up for themselves (and others), and also that given their recent shift toward ecumenism that covers non-religious people, in 2023 they only marginally count as Christian. [I am not a Friend but am related to one]. When you insult the Quakers, whooo, you find out; you will be told; ‘Friend, you have been heard’.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 12:05 AM on May 21, 2023

The 1970s were a golden age for consumer technology in the West. The examples I like to use are motorbikes and for cameras. Transistor technology had got cheap enough that the electrics in both technologies got reliable and widespread; a camera or motorbike from the 1970s shares the basic design principles of its earlier 20thC forebears, but was in every way more reliable, easier to use, cheaper, and more powerful. For cameras that meant in-camera light meters and automation, for motorbikes… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 6:19 PM on March 27, 2023

I'm one of those people whose posts on the front page include a twitter link; it's to New Order's official twitter account. I'll have a go at responding.

I no longer have a twitter account, since I dislike the place, for all the reasons others have described above, but it remains one of those institutions that really can't be avoided for some things (since it retains so many official sources, and semi-official ones such as band accounts). It really does retain a spectrum… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:48 PM on March 8, 2023

The L and R channels: it's like having a devil and an angel on each shoulder. Which is which? That's for me to decide...
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 3:56 PM on March 5, 2023

If you're at the site for five minutes and you can't tell who the chatbot is, it's you.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:00 PM on March 2, 2023

I think there's some misunderstandings here about what an ombud/ombudsman does, and the likely outcomes.

I think it is essential that the defined ombuds role is something that a strong majority of the community feels will represent them well

To me the point of an ombud/ombudsman is that they do not represent anyone, much less represent majorities, which may seem like a definitional quibble but is I believe very important.… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 10:02 PM on February 16, 2023

I managed to leave short-term contracts and casual academic work behind, and got a proper, not-ridiculous job, with work-life balance and everything.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 4:40 PM on February 9, 2023

WD40 is a terrible terrible lubricant. It’s fine to unstuck things (though proper penetrating oil is better, and heat or force are often quicker) but it’s actually better as a cleaner to keep moisture out of things like electrical contacts, and it is a superb solvent to clean machine grease off hands and out of fingernails.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 3:21 PM on February 4, 2023

My car and motorbike keys are in a tray near the back door FYI
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 2:55 PM on February 3, 2023

W/r/t purely symbolic titular additions I am a bit surprised to find no 'vons'.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 11:58 PM on January 3, 2023

microcosm for preferences in government

But that's not right; decision making in government comes from all citizens' mutual responsibility for that government (and, collectively, ownership of their societies). Which is completely unlike metafilter, a privately owned website whose owner for some reason has delegated a lot of decisions to a committee.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 4:32 PM on December 19, 2022

There's a cat in my street, named Oscar, who visits. He's an extremely smart cat and if we leave the door open he's straight in the front door. The first time he did it I just saw his tail, and had to think about it---wait, I don't have a cat.

I have a standing meeting I go to every Tuesday evening. On Tuesdays he waits near the spot I park my car when I come home. I'm pretty sure this cat knows what day of the week it is.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:21 PM on December 11, 2022

The bike I was given when I was a child and learning to ride was a BMX (then the absolute in thing); hot pink with white tyres, because that was the way we did things in the 1980s. Hot pink? Girl's bike? It's a bike.

It was later stolen, which told me then, and tells me now, all I need to know about the desirability of a hot pink BMX bike.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 2:26 AM on December 4, 2022

Can't wait until Google starts indexing all of those forums filled with aggressive nerds whose response to questions is always 'this solution is easily Googleable'
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 4:44 PM on October 18, 2022

There's a motorbike I've long daydreamed about owning, a Ural. It's one of the few motorbikes still manufactured with an integral sidecar, and there's a two wheel-drive variant with a drive axle to the sidecar wheel (to make God's own off-roader). It's the most up-to-date version of the BMW R71, which was shamelessly design-copied by the Soviets. Alas, it's still Russian-manufactured and therefore ethically out of the question, but a wonderful concept.

Time for some… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 7:36 PM on October 9, 2022

I once invited a young woman to see Todd Solondz's Happiness at the cinema, on the grounds that it seemed to be a light comedy. It is emphatically not light comedy.

(24 years later we are still together).
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 10:53 PM on September 4, 2022

Second gear on my motorbike, mid-revs and throttle held wide open, straightening out from the turn and pointing uphill.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 5:19 PM on August 21, 2022

we should care more about whether, on the balance, we're growing, shrinking, or staying the same size

I would say yes, kind of, but these conversations seem always to start with the assumption that growth in numbers is positive, and shrinking undesirable, which I've always hesitated at. When I look at a lot of the curves in wesleyac's charts which have either a peak or an inflection point around 2010--2012, I interpret it as a broader shift of internet use (in the USA… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 6:32 PM on August 17, 2022

I've read that thread a number of times, and I honestly can't see that any of the commenters who use variations on the phrase or sentiment (which as MollyRealized says is being used in its broader sense of general physical autonomy) are using it as justification for not wearing a mask, much less against vaccinating, as anti-vaccination campaigners do in a spirit of bad faith. The comments describe the practical reality that the original poster has no real way to force their wife to do this thing… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 8:29 PM on August 15, 2022

Who'll be the first to risk gastroenteritis from asking a robot 'can I eat this'?
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 2:43 AM on August 7, 2022

I was involved, peripherally, with a women's football club. Now, nicknames are endemic in footy indeed all kinds of sporting clubs; you can't choose your own of course, and being given one is an important rite of acceptance, so there's great attention paid to them, and the right one has to suit. Something that you do, something about you, or just an abbreviation of your name. Anyone named 'Smith' becomes Smitty. Tony Lockett inherited 'Plugger' from his father. Sarah 'Tex' Perkins for the singer.… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 10:57 PM on July 31, 2022

When I came back to my motorbike after work on Friday it was at the end of a row of knocked over bikes. Someone had hit the other end and down they’d all gone like dominoes. I swore a bit, and a young woman who was nearby waiting for her date came over and offered to help me lift mine, and I gratefully accepted. After we’d lifted my bike back to vertical , and I’d thanked her profusely, she said, should we lift the others too? I said no—it seems kind, but I wouldn’t want someone else touching my… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 5:17 PM on July 23, 2022

W/r/t breakfasts, the colloquial 'breakfast of champions' is an infinitely varying recipe that depends on one's region, upbringing, class, and every varying aspect of humanity.

I know it as 1x 600ml Coca-Cola in a plastic bottle and a cigarette.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 10:16 PM on July 25, 2022

Thanks box.

W/r/t the perceived slowing of news, it’s worth remembering the principle that just because someone is silent, it doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 2:55 PM on July 21, 2022

From memory of having filled the survey out there’s no geographic breakdown for the responses (this isn’t a question, only an observation about limits).

I’ve often wondered about how strongly the focus on the politics of the US figures in negativity/positivity for people outside that country. That’s also not a criticism; US politics leads the world for both good and bad, and hardly just on this website!

And conversely, thinking of specific… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 3:12 PM on July 18, 2022

Brideshead Revisited in the Warhammer 40K universe
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 9:53 PM on July 2, 2022

Maybe it would work better with a specific character or situation?

Fair point. A young Jeremy Irons as a WH40K space marine
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 10:22 PM on July 2, 2022

I like this pony. Might lead to some serious appropriate-at-work conversations with one’s manager if you weren’t careful with the feed. But yes.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 1:24 AM on June 13, 2022

I repaired a wall clock I've had lying around, that broke when its hook fell off the wall. $16 bought a new plastic mechanism and ten minutes with tools put it back in. Should have done this months ago, I have been *looking* by reflex at the space on the wall and annoying myself not being able to tell the time.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 12:16 AM on May 31, 2022

I had guessed Rupert Murdoch, and am delighted to be wrong!
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 6:09 PM on May 25, 2022

The survey data - the raw responses - will all be deleted

I'm hoping for the ritual burning of some gigantic wicker figure made of data to lead us to prosperity and good vibes for the new year
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 6:46 PM on May 23, 2022

Averyoldworld did detective work to find the details of a 1960s murderer.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 5:01 PM on May 22, 2022

To me 'forum' implies subject-specificity that Metafilter lacks. Whether it's a forum about parenting, a computer game, a of a neighbourhood association, or for owners of Yamaha single-cylinder motorcycles, even when they have 'general discussion, TGIF' boards, an 'internet forum' has to be directed in a way that excludes purely free-for-all posting. Certainly it's not a hosting site for ephemera (4chan) or permanent display (flickr), and certainly it predates 'social' sites. Nor is metafilter… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 9:52 PM on May 16, 2022

Who is the Big Cheese of MetaFilter?

Outside of America we have the metric system, so we call them the Royale with Cheese of Metafilter
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 6:27 PM on May 11, 2022

In the late 1990s I popped out of my job for a break with the smokers (as was the custom, 10 mins break morning and afternoon). It was about 10.30am on a weekday. A man ran by, absolutely sprinting for his life, barefoot and completely naked except for a very serious pair of steel handcuffs behind his back. Nobody seemed to be chasing him. I still wonder what happened to that guy.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 8:40 PM on May 9, 2022

As Wobbuffet commented in the other thread Mefi has a Social Explorer which shows users who have put a mastodon social link in their bio; I'm there.

One of the nice things about the technology & the concept is that instances are run on the basis of shared interest, shared identity, geography, or whatever at all. You should be able to find one that appeals—and importantly, an instance that blocks other ones that really really don't; the distasteful, the offensive, the dangerous.
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 8:45 PM on April 25, 2022

Two strokes: the smoke is universally acknowledged as disgusting, for the nauseating stink it leaves everywhere around one running, the greasy black-green staining on anything placed near an exhaust, and not least the absolutely terrifying levels of toxic atmospheric pollution (particulates). They're far noisier than four stroke engines, and it's a high-pitched, penetrating noise. People hate leaf blowers, chainsaws, edging tools, and rightly so.

Still: give me that… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 4:49 PM on February 6, 2022

In the name of the most holy and individual Trinity: Be it known to all, and every one whom it may concern, or to whom in any manner it may belong, That for many Years past, Discords and Civil Divisions being stir'd up in the Roman Empire, which increas'd to such a degree, that not only all Germany, but also the neighbouring Kingdoms, and France particularly, have been involv'd in the Disorders of a long and cruel War: And in the first place, between the most Serene and most Puissant Prince and… [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Fiasco da Gama at 5:07 PM on January 16, 2022