Trip Note #2 - Metafilter has inserted a new "mental discipline" into offline activities. On this trip to Europe, every time I speak with someone, read the foreign press, watch TV, etc, I often ask myself : how relevant would subject be in Metafilter's context, what would commentary thread look like. It certainly sharpens conversations. (I think Max Weber called it "unintended consequences of routinized social action") Weird symptom, or do others experience the same?
posted by Voyageman to MetaFilter-Related at 7:18 AM (7 comments total)
I was shopping in Saks at the Houston Gallaria a few weeks ago. The have a whole new electronics department (run by CompUSA flunkies, but I digress). Along the wall, there was a line of G4 Mac Laptops.
I started flicking around with them as I often do and casually clicked the Explorer button and-lo and behold-all the laptops were hooked up and capable of browsing.
(as a side note of my side note: I always get pissed when I look at computers in the stores. Since most people use their computers for the web, wouldn't it make sense to show off their capabilities right there in the store?)
So, back to Saks: as soon as I realize that it is alive and kicking, I do two things: I log onto AIM and steer the browser towards MeFi.
Two hours later, I am still standing there. I am still on Metafilter, and I have helped to talk at least two people into buying a Mac.
The ladies I was shopping with had finished their shopping and they came back to find me right where they had left me.
Dammit, I hate to be a typical man, but there I was...
So, to answer your question: Yes. You can take the boy off the Metafilter, but you can't take the Metafilter out of the boy.
posted by ColdChef at 7:51 AM on November 29, 2001