metathanks November 25, 2010 8:52 AM   Subscribe

thanks, mathowie, mods, and netizens of metafilter.

metafilter is part of my life almost every day. you make me laugh or cry when i least expect it, give me advice even when i don't ask for it, and keep me informed of things that would otherwise slip past unknown to me. this is a pretty good place to be, but it would be awfully lonely without all you folks.
posted by msconduct to MetaFilter-Related at 8:52 AM (134 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite

You're welcome!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:53 AM on November 25, 2010


Thanks Metafilter.

Thilter.
posted by The Whelk at 8:53 AM on November 25, 2010 [21 favorites]


Think nothing of it.
posted by jonmc at 8:55 AM on November 25, 2010


All I ask in return is that you start to use capital letters.
posted by gman at 9:03 AM on November 25, 2010 [49 favorites]


Thathowie, Thessamyn, Thortex (better take some athhprin) theebee, and Thacapinta
posted by boo_radley at 9:03 AM on November 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


.
posted by boo_radley at 9:04 AM on November 25, 2010


I'm thinking this is some kind of American thing. As a Canadian, I see please and thank you and excuse me and sorry all the fucking time anyway.
posted by philip-random at 9:04 AM on November 25, 2010 [7 favorites]


Rub-a-dub-dilter
Thanks for the 'filter
Yay mods!
posted by amyms at 9:07 AM on November 25, 2010 [8 favorites]


Wait, you actually SEE them? You must be, like, a tenth level Operating Canadian.
posted by boo_radley at 9:08 AM on November 25, 2010 [26 favorites]


MetaFilter: Jive/Turkeys
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:09 AM on November 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


As a Canadian

The joy of working for an international site is that I got to do Canadian Thanksgiving already. I'm off to Mauritanian Thanksgiving next and then I think Bulgarian Thanksgiving. If you do it right, you can do one Thanksgiving a week year round.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:33 AM on November 25, 2010 [18 favorites]


Since we Americans are supposed to be giving thanks and all, I have to say that metafilter is one of the things I'm most thankful for right now.

So, thanks y'all for being here - you are indeed a big part of my life.
posted by patheral at 9:33 AM on November 25, 2010


If you do it right, you can do one Thanksgiving a week year round.

We film it and call it Endless Thanks, Limited Stomachs.
posted by The Whelk at 9:35 AM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


I heard metathanksgiving originated back when mathowie first learned HTML from some American Indians.
posted by rocket88 at 9:35 AM on November 25, 2010 [7 favorites]


I am thankful for MetaFilter, pie, days off, parades, kittens, Vikings, moderators who are much smarter and more patient than I could ever be, a roof over my head, pigs in a blanket, Tom DeLay's conviction, my family and friends, champagne, smart attorneys, folding money you didn't realize you left in the pocket of your wool coat last year, my health, all of you people (including the miscreants, reprobates and malcontents), and Thanksgiving dinner cooked by someone else.

In no particular order.
posted by pineapple at 9:53 AM on November 25, 2010 [6 favorites]


I am drinking, typing and have to find 3 more chairs.
posted by clavdivs at 9:53 AM on November 25, 2010 [6 favorites]


If you do it right, you can do one Thanksgiving a week year round.

Metafilter: keeping you in touch with a lot of turkeys.
posted by chavenet at 9:56 AM on November 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


Yeah thanks. You made this term possible for me...

While my contribution to tonight's get-together is puttering away in the kitchen, I'll just go and second
you make me laugh or cry when I least expect it,
Remember that girl who cried every time she saw the Wallee trailer? That (and the recent Pixar-is-awesome post) sure got me by surprise.
posted by Namlit at 9:58 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Thanks, everyone (especially mods).
posted by nrobertson at 10:01 AM on November 25, 2010


I heard metathanksgiving originated back when mathowie first learned HTML from some American Indians.

Unfortunately they were repaid for their hospitality with XSS attacks and JPG exploits, reduced to a broad ethnic stereotype in television commercials where they cried a single tear when on seeing some carelessly sent spam.
posted by atrazine at 10:06 AM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


一点小意思,不成敬意。
posted by Abiezer at 10:07 AM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


I'm thankful that the worst thing I have to worry about most days is whether someone is having kind of a bad day on a website. I'm doubly thankful that I really like that website and the people on it.

I am also thankful for Minecraft, though I'm not sure Matt or Jess is.
posted by cortex (staff) at 10:09 AM on November 25, 2010 [11 favorites]


WHAT'S THE STATUS OF THE SERVER JOSH?!?!?!
posted by The Whelk at 10:10 AM on November 25, 2010


can't come ear turkey. Someone is thankful on the internet
posted by Namlit at 10:11 AM on November 25, 2010


eat. argh
posted by Namlit at 10:12 AM on November 25, 2010


considering what we all know about chickens maybe you where right the first time.
posted by The Whelk at 10:14 AM on November 25, 2010


you riddle me
posted by Namlit at 10:18 AM on November 25, 2010


I'm an Indian, in North America no less, thank me dammit!
posted by dhruva at 10:20 AM on November 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


Isn't it a little early to be drunk already, msconduct?
posted by anniecat at 10:32 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Crap. I forgot it was thanksgiving.
posted by anniecat at 10:33 AM on November 25, 2010


When I lived in Eugene, our yearly orphan's thanksgiving celebration consisted of cooking piles of complicated Indian (as in the sub-continent) recipes, and watching Bollywood movies until our eyes fell out, and dancing in all the songs. It was great.
posted by kaibutsu at 10:37 AM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


Thanks
posted by edgeways at 10:37 AM on November 25, 2010


sorry, sorry that was a bit much perhaps... but still.... Uncle Bill!
posted by edgeways at 10:37 AM on November 25, 2010


I am thankful for Metafilter, and mefites, and mathowie for inventing this place, and pb for keeping it running, and jessamyn and cortex and vacapinta for keeping from running completely off the rails.

And pie. I'm really thankful for pie.
posted by rtha at 10:40 AM on November 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


I am thankful for the swirl and the twist, in that particular order.
posted by nomadicink at 10:43 AM on November 25, 2010


Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen....
posted by fixedgear at 10:45 AM on November 25, 2010


This MeTa is nowhere near contentious enough. I wanna see the Thanksgiving Banclever in action.
posted by gman at 10:46 AM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


Cleaver, even.
posted by fixedgear at 10:47 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm celebrating GODDOMOT FRONKsgiving.
posted by Eideteker at 10:48 AM on November 25, 2010


In England this is known as Cheersgiving. Apparently it began when a VHS from some arcane alien society was brought to our shores by the Gulf Stream and completely transformed our culture.
Almost overnight, people started saying sarcastic remarks and getting pissed.
The blonde joke was invented.
The myth of the stupid postman stems from this era.
The bitter and twisted dwarf barmaid with a heart of gold - now a staple in all neighbourhood pubs in England - dates from no earlier than the discovery of this VHS.
It's possible that the 'tradition' of knocking on doors and asking for treats without the commensurate potential 'trick' also stems from 1982.
It seems so long ago now....Kelsey Grammer had a little hair and Ted Danson could smile. Woody Harrelson didnt have a menacing edge to his grin.

Aah, we're grateful for all these things...so grateful in fact that we replay this 'show' almost nonstop on our tellys.
Cheers!
posted by dash_slot- at 10:53 AM on November 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


I [+] MetaFilter (yeah, I ordered the t-shirt)
I [+] Matt and TeamMod too!
Thanks!
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:57 AM on November 25, 2010


bitter and twisted dwarf barmaid

barf dwarm-aid?? Some kind of post-turkey medication?
posted by Namlit at 10:58 AM on November 25, 2010




Isn't it a little early to be drunk already, msconduct?

Fact. Your Friend's Hard Cider is a wonderful way to stop your huge howling coughs!
posted by The Whelk at 10:59 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Thanks.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:16 AM on November 25, 2010


Thanks Thanks.

tthhaannkkss
posted by The Whelk at 11:17 AM on November 25, 2010


Thank you falettinme be mice elf agin.
posted by Sailormom at 11:24 AM on November 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


She's givin' thanks, we are given thanks. Thanks for givin'.
posted by Mister_A at 11:26 AM on November 25, 2010


PS I dinna get you anything.
posted by Mister_A at 11:26 AM on November 25, 2010



Crap. I forgot it was thanksgiving.


Thank god I remembered I'm Indian, just in time, oh wait, that's Japanese...
posted by The Lady is a designer at 11:30 AM on November 25, 2010


Two years ago I did Thanks as authentically as possible, meaning like hard track and cider and wood-roast goose and gourds gourds gourds.

Year before I tried to make Thanksgiving a fashionable brunch, turkey waldorf salad, sesame figs, sweet potato chips and mimosas.

Now the idea of a Thanksgiving-Subcontinent fusion has entered my brain ...if I'm well enough next year. (achoo)
posted by The Whelk at 11:36 AM on November 25, 2010


Thank you, America, for turkeys.

They're perfect when you have a huge appetite but find chicken too tasty.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:49 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Turkey! The ideal bird for people who don't like chicken!

Or duck!

Or goose!

Or Squab!

Or Game hens!

Or pheasant!

Or Emu!
posted by The Whelk at 11:55 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Thank you...for thanking me
posted by DU at 11:59 AM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


My uncles had Thanksgiving (one of them's American) and so I spent the first part of the day making bread and the latter part of the day eating tons and tons of food and then I went to an open house at the Feminist Society of Iceland to get information about female candidates for the constitutional assembly and that was very informative so I'd like to give thanks for bread, uncles and feminism, oh, and MetaFilter's pretty swell too.
posted by Kattullus at 12:12 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]

Or Emu!
Actually that's true. It's one exotic fowl that actually tastes nothing at all like chicken: more like an even more lean venison. If you find chicken too tasty you'll hate emu (and God knows how you'd get a whole one in the oven, much less stuff one).

Incidentally I don't recommend Australian Thanksgiving where sometime in early December, a radio talkback host takes callers who claim you're invading their suburb, racially abuses you and calls you a bludger, and incites crowds to riot at your beach. It kind of sucks actually.
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 12:15 PM on November 25, 2010


Aww.. group hug everyone!
posted by The otter lady at 12:23 PM on November 25, 2010


HAPPY FAMILY! HAPPY FAMILY!
posted by The Whelk at 12:30 PM on November 25, 2010


The Whelk, I think you're thinking of Christmas. My personal favorite is lemon chicken.
posted by boo_radley at 12:36 PM on November 25, 2010


How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
posted by Duke999R at 12:40 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


The fire place is a IS ROARING.
i love this place
posted by clavdivs at 12:40 PM on November 25, 2010


My personal favorite is lemon chicken.

Ow. That's got to sting a little.
posted by loquacious at 12:43 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


Metafilter has never made me cry. Nothing on the internet has ever made me cry. It's made me laugh, though. A lot. The internet is for laughter, people. Oh, and porn.
posted by Decani at 12:43 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


In England this is known as Cheersgiving. Apparently it began when a VHS from some arcane alien society was brought to our shores by the Gulf Stream and completely transformed our culture.

Two years ago I was spending a few days in London and was meeting up for drinks with a colleague. She asked me where I wanted to meet. I said that as a visitor I was happy with anywhere but that I was hoping for a place with a bit of history (I was thinking one of those pubs that has been open for centuries, like the Olde Cheshire Cheese or the World's End). At her insistence, we met at Cheers in Piccadilly Circus. It was not quite what I was aiming for, but on the other hand I can tell anyone I meet that we sat at Cliff and Norm's spots and people can visualize it exactly.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:47 PM on November 25, 2010


Fanks, init.
posted by Artw at 12:50 PM on November 25, 2010


MetaFilter has made me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time! It's been a pretty big shoulder to lean on and I'm thankful it's been there.
posted by deborah at 1:11 PM on November 25, 2010


*hits the thanks button*

Wait, where's the thanks button?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:30 PM on November 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


Happy {Harvest Festival} everybody.
posted by klangklangston at 1:36 PM on November 25, 2010


Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

Author unknown
posted by netbros at 1:40 PM on November 25, 2010 [5 favorites]


I got your thanks button right here! The question is, would you hit it?
posted by dg at 1:43 PM on November 25, 2010


I like MetaFilter. I also like liverwurst sandwiches. These facts are unrelated.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:06 PM on November 25, 2010


Happy Thanksgiving, you bunch of Americans.
I'm with you in spirit; just got back from the Beer Store even though I usually try to wait until Friday. But it's been a particularly stressful week so fuck it. Thursday is the new Friday anyway.
posted by chococat at 2:17 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I like MetaFilter. I also like liverwurst sandwiches. These facts are unrelated.

Totally unrelated.

<fnord>That's what they'd like you to believe. The Cabal has it's grubby fingers in the sandwich-industrial complex.</fnord>

posted by juv3nal at 2:19 PM on November 25, 2010


Just coming back from the turkey con accessories. Remember this is the UK, so we're early, sorta. The only American at the table went to bed sick halfway through (unrelated to delicious turkey), and there we sat: American's German wife, an Italian couple and myself, truly enjoying. Thanks, America, for Thanksgiving, the only feast that - for us - isn't loaded with family-must-do's and having to endure the evil auntie and her apple pie addicted dachshund. We can just sit down and have a great time.
posted by Namlit at 2:38 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm an Indian, in North America no less, thank me dammit!

In my dorm in college, there is a mural in the Junior Common Room that depicts the early days of Boston (because my college is all historical like that). The muralist, an artist from Italy, was commissioned sometime in the 1930s to depict "Boston Harbor in the 17th century, with Pilgrims and boats and Indians and what-not."

The mural features some very nice boats and half-timbered buildings and Pilgrims with tall black hats, and some magnificently turbaned Sikhs with scimitars riding noble stallions. You know, Indians.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:47 PM on November 25, 2010 [10 favorites]


Also, happy Thanksgiving and/or happy Thursday and/or Friday to you all. I am very thankful for this place, this year in particular.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:48 PM on November 25, 2010


"Schmoopy Pilgrims" is not a terrible name for an emo bluegrass band, either.
posted by Sidhedevil at 2:49 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Of course, I made up that auntie
posted by Namlit at 2:51 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


Sidhedevil: The mural features some very nice boats and half-timbered buildings and Pilgrims with tall black hats, and some magnificently turbaned Sikhs with scimitars riding noble stallions. You know, Indians.

Oh how glorious! Can you find pictures of it online? I have so many friends who would love this.
posted by Kattullus at 2:54 PM on November 25, 2010


Sadly, no. According to a 1940s New Yorker, the artist was Austrian, not Italian. But they didn't reproduce the picture and I am failing to find it. It's in the Lowell House Junior Common Room at Harvard in case someone has better Googling than I.
posted by Sidhedevil at 3:11 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


HAPPY THANKSGIVING MOTHERFUCKERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRS.

<3
posted by cavalier at 3:30 PM on November 25, 2010


Man. Remember last Thanksgiving?
posted by Sailormom at 3:42 PM on November 25, 2010


I am grateful for you all. I actually got "yay you're back!" memails from a few of you, and I can't recall that happening on any other site I've ever belonged to. Usually it's "please, please promise you will stop comparing the bi-partisan system to Ikaruga and we'll lift the read-only probation."

I'm especially grateful to Kattullus, who has been in constant contact with me, and has always been an all-around solid dude to hang out with.

And of course, I'm grateful for the staff here, who I'm surprised can still operate even-handedly after all this time.

Kudos!
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:46 PM on November 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


I'm thankful that the mods are reluctant to ban people.
posted by Joe Beese at 4:11 PM on November 25, 2010 [4 favorites]


Schmoopy Pilgrim
posted by The Whelk at 4:15 PM on November 25, 2010


Heh, I've been in the Lowell JCR. I never noticed the Sikhs.
posted by ocherdraco at 5:02 PM on November 25, 2010


Yes, thank you. I just saw an answer to an AskMe I posted that irked me and then saw a little while later that the comment was removed (the answer was not helpful or appropriate). It's little things that we don't normally notice that I am thankful for. Who knows how many thousand of those little improvements help keep this place flowing relatively smoothly.
posted by swimming naked when the tide goes out at 5:03 PM on November 25, 2010


Marisa Stole the Precious Thing: comparing the bi-partisan system to Ikaruga

In that they're both AWESOME?
posted by Kattullus at 6:15 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


*hugs Jessamyn, Cortex, PB, Vacapinta*

*chases Mathowie* HEY get back here I'm gonna hug you whether you like it or not! *tackle* HA! I hugged you, so THERE! :P
posted by IndigoRain at 6:18 PM on November 25, 2010


Heh, I've been in the Lowell JCR. I never noticed the Sikhs.

They (or maybe "him"--the old New Yorker piece seems to think there's just one, so I may be misremembering) are/is on the northeast wall right near the bay window, about two-thirds of the way into the room on your left.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:19 PM on November 25, 2010


The mural features some very nice boats and half-timbered buildings and Pilgrims with tall black hats, and some magnificently turbaned Sikhs with scimitars riding noble stallions. You know, Indians.

I'd really like to see an image of that, too! I wonder, though, was the story documented at the time of the painting? It's really hard to say without seeing the paintings, but it really might not have been a mistake. Famous as the China Trade was in the development of New England's tradeport cities, the India trade was actually first, and at many points much more profitable.
posted by Miko at 6:31 PM on November 25, 2010


Ode to Thanks
by Pablo Neruda

Thanks to the word that says thanks!
Thanks to thanks,
word
that melts
iron and snow!

The world is a threatening place
until
thanks
makes the rounds
from one pair of lips to another,
soft as a bright
feather
and sweet as a petal of sugar,
filling the mouth with its sound
or else a mumbled
whisper.

Life becomes human again:
it’s no longer an open window.
A bit of brightness
strikes into the forest,
and we can sing again beneath the leaves.

Thanks, you’re the medicine we take
to save us from
the bite of scorn.
Your light brightens the altar of harshness.

Or maybe
a tapestry
known
to far distant peoples.
Travelers
fan out
into the wilds,
and in the jungle
of strangers,
merci
rings out
while the hustling train
changes countries,
sweeping away borders,
then spasibo clinging to pointy
volcanoes, to fire and freezing cold,
or danke, yes! and gracias, and
the world turns into a table:
a single word has wiped it clean,
plates and glasses gleam,
silverware tinkles,
and the tablecloth is as broad as a plain.

Thank you,
thanks,
for going out and returning,
for rising up
and settling down.
We know, thanks,
that you don’t fill every space-
you’re only a word-
but
where your little petal
appears
the daggers of pride take cover,
and there’s a penny’s worth of smiles.
posted by anotherpanacea at 6:43 PM on November 25, 2010 [3 favorites]


I wonder, though, was the story documented at the time of the painting? It's really hard to say without seeing the paintings, but it really might not have been a mistake.

No, it's a mistake--it's supposed to depict Boston in 1636, the year of the college's founding. The India trade really didn't start until the 18th century, did it? At least, that's what I took away from the Peabody-Essex Museum.
posted by Sidhedevil at 6:45 PM on November 25, 2010


I have dubious feelings about the holiday of Thanksgiving, given both its historical origins and the fact that I personally had a bad run of Thanksgivings for a while wherein bad shit just kept happening on the fourth Thursday in November. It seems to be better now, though the historical implications still cheese me off a bit. (Honestly: I remember being six years old wondering "If the Pilgrims and Indians were such good friends, why are there no more Indians?")

ANYHOO. I am actually thankful for a lot of stuff. Family. The massive quantities of food I consumed - and was able to consume since I live in a first world country and have a job and all that stuff. Friends. Football. MetaFilter. Kitties. Puppies. Hell, even that crazy squid-worm.

Pretty much I'm thankful for things that go along with "being alive" because it's pretty much the best. If you are also alive, I'm thankful for you too.
posted by sonika at 6:58 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


I am thankful to friends with children and dogs so that I can enjoy a family holiday without having to reproduce or carry around little plastic baggies full of warm poo.

I am also thankful for the internet. Thinternet.

But mostly, I am thankful for butter.
posted by maryr at 7:05 PM on November 25, 2010


I am thankful for dogs because I got to carry around a baggie of warm poo today instead of attending a social anxiety-producing holiday dinner.

You people also aren't chopped liver, on account of you are almost never anxiety-producing.
posted by FelliniBlank at 7:22 PM on November 25, 2010


. The India trade really didn't start until the 18th century, did it? At least, that's what I took away from the Peabody-Essex Museum.

Oh no - the British East India Company was trading in India from about 1600 onward through the mid-1900s, and of course for much of that time, the colonists in America were British and worked for and with the East India Company - the company had offices here, berthed and maintained ships here, and of course sold goods here. It was East India Company tea that was thrown overboard at the Boston Tea Party. The Peabody Essex documents a lot of this India trade going back to the earliest days of the EIC, when the colonies and Britain were one, structurally at least. Where the confusion may arise is at the point when, after the revolution, American merchants sought to develop their own trade networks in a much changed environment and started their own East India trading companies, including the East India Maritime Society, who founded the Peabody Essex Museum in the wake of the Revolution and incorporated it in 1799, reflecting and celebrating their trade successes as an independent nation. But the presence of Indian goods and occasionally, Indian people in New England goes back quite a way, because New England was such an important node in the British trade network.
posted by Miko at 7:43 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


Whelk, I am curious about the goose. Considering cooking one for Christmas. Do you cook it like chicken?

also i am thankful for everyone here because we had leftover thanks and its going to spoil otherwise
posted by backseatpilot at 8:02 PM on November 25, 2010


Being in the Midwest, I'm thankful for the ass-jittering cattle.
posted by Sailormom at 8:07 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


OMG I forgot to say my thanks and went straight to the nerding out.

Thanks to the creator and mods of MetaFilter. The job requires good judgment, patience, diplomacy, a good sense of humor, a strong value for tolerance, and genuine good-humanness, and all of you have those things in spades. MeFi at its best is a reflection of your collective strengths.

Thanks to the community of MetaFilter. You interest me, make me laugh, make me think, open my eyes and change my mind every day. I am so proud to call you peers and friends. What a wonderful thing it is.
posted by Miko at 8:07 PM on November 25, 2010


I want an underground gun range and bar.
posted by clavdivs at 8:09 PM on November 25, 2010


Thanks to Matt, the mods, and all you fine people who entertain and educate me every single day.
posted by bondcliff at 8:20 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


...I look at the wide summer, and a loud noise coming from a barn,
wineshops, cicadas,
towns, excitements,
houses, girls
sleeping with hands over their hearts.
dreaming of pirates, of conflagarations,
I look at ships,
I look at trees of bone marrow
bristling like mad cats,
I look at blood, daggers and women's stockings,
and men's hair,
I look at beds, I look at corridors where a virgin is sobbing,
I look at blankets and organs and hotels...

-Neruda
posted by clavdivs at 8:21 PM on November 25, 2010


Thanks dudes AND dudettes.
posted by marxchivist at 8:21 PM on November 25, 2010


In the course of Thanksgiving festivities this evening I have also been reminded how thankful I am for Wizard People, Dear Reader.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:22 PM on November 25, 2010 [2 favorites]


It's like never having to ask for seconds. Endless gravy ensues!
posted by buzzman at 8:39 PM on November 25, 2010


I want an underground gun range and bar.

You should totally get one. It's awesome.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:02 PM on November 25, 2010


Usually employed as a foil for comparison Paducah, KY isn't. I was there three weeks ago and it's Bohemian. I'm not kidding.
posted by vapidave at 9:23 PM on November 25, 2010


Thanks to each and every one of you for being here with me in this most wonderful nook of the internet, and as always, much appreciation to Mathowie, pb, Jessamyn, Cortex and Vacapinta! Hope each of you had/are having a wonderful holiday!
posted by Lynsey at 9:42 PM on November 25, 2010


I am so grateful for this site and to this community. I hope that all reading this, and any other MetaFilter members also, had a great Bird Day, surrounded by friends, family, love.
posted by dancestoblue at 10:33 PM on November 25, 2010


Fanks!
posted by aubilenon at 10:43 PM on November 25, 2010 [1 favorite]


English weirdos make a mess of classic AMERICANA in Italy. It must be 1973.
posted by philip-random at 12:23 AM on November 26, 2010


Ooh! Ooooh! Tanks!
posted by seagull.apollo at 12:25 AM on November 26, 2010


Fenks!
posted by clavdivs at 1:58 AM on November 26, 2010


In that they're both AWESOME?

Just as all shmups will eventually move towards a toggle-based power up system, all multi-party systems eventually move towards bi-partisanship. I'd launch into the entire thing about co-aligned bullets and toggle speed, but I'm still organizing my notes for a paper I plan to write on the subject. Tentative title: "SHOOT THE CORE: The Illusion of Multipartisanship As Reflected In Vertical-Scrolling Shooter Games".
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:25 AM on November 26, 2010 [3 favorites]


Fangs! (cos I'm goffik, right?)
posted by h00py at 2:56 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'd like to think that obvious followup to Ikaruga would be a tripartite system based on a color-blending system—Red/Blue/Yellow, perhaps, or RGB or CMY which might make more sense as light-blending approaches but let's go with RBY for now because that's the color system I actually know the secondary color names from off-hand.

So instead of having a strict polarity like in Ikaruga, where white ship like white bullets and hates black bullets and black ship hates white bullets and likes black bullets, we've got a ship that can take on three colors: red, blue, or yellow. Enemy ships and enemy fire can be any of those three colors as well.

Or, at later levels, secondary combinations: purple as fusion of red and blue, green as fusion of blue and yellow, orange and fusion of red and yellow.

Later yet, perhaps for boss and mini-boss fights primarily, you get fractional colors between even those six spots on the game's color wheel. And slow shifts.

And your ship can accommodate incoming fire from anything on it's half of the color wheel, so while in blue state it's okay with green and purple and up to a certain dicey point greenish yellow and purpleish red, but straight red and yellow are deadly. And if you're taking heavy fire from a boss with a chromatic laser that starts blasting you in blue and shifts around to green, yellow, orange, red, you need to shift your color state along with that in stages, safe in blue but needing to toggle to yellow somewhere in the green section of the laser blast to keep in the safe zone, and then to red state somewhere during the orange transition.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:13 AM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]


Interpreting this as a metaphor for e.g. the checks and balances of the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of the US government is left as an exercise to the reader.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:14 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


Mefi, I am so thankful for you this year. You've made me look 100x better in a sweater (bras that fit, woot), made me look in the know to my noise and industrial and electronic music-lovin' husband by knowing about obits and breaking news before him, and most of all made my dinners, including Thanksgiving last night, amazing and unique. Other than our family's patented bacon cheese on party rye toast appetizers, EVERYTHING I made for T-day was from AskMe: maple pumpkin cornbread; strawberry jello pretzel salad (soooo not my style, thought it'd kind of be a joke out of morbid curiosity and it was so omg addictive); butternut squash and leek gratin with goat cheese, sage, pine nuts, and Parmesan (I predicted this would be the winner for the year and it was); old fashioned horrid-for-you corn pudding; sweet potato cranberry bake; cranberry applesauce; cranberry sauce with chambord; apple cheese torte with almonds; bourbon pecan pie...so good.

(Random food rapture that will prob. be deleted in a GYOB sorta way: My mother-in-law was brilliant and we made a compound butter loaded with porcinis (!!), rosemary, thyme, and mint that she slipped between the meat and skin of the turkey all over before roasting (some went in the gravy too). The stuffing was cornbread, pecan, and bacon and she also made brussels sprouts with pancetta, lemon, and mini gold potatoes. Requisite mashed potatoes and some cranberry vodka punch complete with oh-so-Southern ice ring and oooh. My father-in-law who doesn't cook randomly made some guac and salsa, as he always does. Wine, and life was good.)

But seriously, AskMe made this my first 100% successful Thanksgiving contribution. (Every year before this some stuff has been good but some has been mediocre, either too out-there even for me or I felt burned from before and went uber-safe and predictable lacking oomph.) I had so many good ideas to cull from, and it was all easy and delicious. Thanks so much. (I have a bunch of recipes from Ask for other times of year that are in my permanent hall of fame--Sidhedevil's sumac grilled chicken, the infamous cranberry jalapeno salsa, a certain dead-fast-easy spicy sweet potato peanut stew...)
posted by ifjuly at 8:09 AM on November 26, 2010 [4 favorites]


Backseatpilot, you cook it like Duck, like chicken, low low heat over a long time while rendering and dumping ( or saving) the fat.
posted by The Whelk at 8:41 AM on November 26, 2010


I think cortex just invented the shmup that MUST be made.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 9:07 AM on November 26, 2010


I am thankful minecraft is not and will never be mandatory, like facebook.
posted by tehloki at 11:43 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


I am thankful for lactaid ice cream atop dairy-free red velvet cake. I am not thankful for the stupid blurty honesty that led to me telling my trainer at the gym exactly how much of that cake and ice cream I ate. (a lot.)
posted by elizardbits at 12:13 PM on November 26, 2010


I think this is where I have to point out once again that I actually got one of the inaugural MeJobs. Four years later I'm still there and it's still the best job I've ever had.

Not to mention years' worth of food for thought and lots of real (not imaginary) friends. Many, many thanks, not just to the mods but to everyone here.
posted by tangerine at 12:35 PM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


Or, at later levels, secondary combinations: purple as fusion of red and blue, green as fusion of blue and yellow, orange and fusion of red and yellow.

Later yet, perhaps for boss and mini-boss fights primarily, you get fractional colors between even those six spots on the game's color wheel. And slow shifts.


Thinking more about this, here's what comes to mind:

6-level game. 12 power levels, 3 lives, 3 bombs. Deaths replenish bombs.

In all levels, there are three colors (using your example, RBY) that you can toggle your ship through. In Level 1, bullets do not blend to make purple, green or orange. In Levels 2 through 6, they will, and with increasing frequency.

However, if you are able to beat the bosses of Levels 3, 4 and 5 without bombing during the boss fight, they will release a purple, green or orange pick-up item, respectively, which gives you the ability to toggle to those colors. So if you play the mid-stages well, you will be able to toggle through a maddening six colors in Stage 6. At the very least, you'll be able to toggle through 4 or 5 colors if you absolutely must use your bombs.

The balance this provides is it gives the player a choice between either choosing to bomb when in a pinch and sacrificing the power-ups that come from bullet absorption, or choosing to get better at dodging for the benefit of your shooting power.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:41 PM on November 26, 2010


Thanks, Metafilter for being a great place to hang out, with smart people, hardworking mods, and pleasantly functional design.

Thanks for having real-life meet ups where I've made some great friends that expand my horizons and make me sing karaoke.

Thanks especially for fantastic mods with such thoughtful, even-handed moderation. On January 1 I'll be starting a new job at my company managing our social media presence, and I'm not exaggerating when I say everything I know about managing online communities I learned from mathowie, jessamyn, and cortex. I might not even have this career opportunity if it weren't for Metafilter and what I've learned by watching you do your thing.
posted by misskaz at 12:43 PM on November 26, 2010


metafilter! fuck yeah!
posted by rmd1023 at 12:52 PM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]


I'm just thankful the site exists as an outlet for the stupid shit that goes on in my head. If I didn't have some place here to put it, I'd probably say it to coworkers and people on the street, and that's a fast, one-way ticket to a soft room and a coat that lets you hug yourself.
posted by quin at 1:03 PM on November 26, 2010


I'm thankful for mods who let people say stupid things and understand that people usually do this without any malicious intent. Very thankful, given my commenting history.
posted by dg at 1:33 PM on November 26, 2010


wow I meant to say "like duck NOT like chicken." Cooking goose is basically cooking a bigger, fattier-gamey-Duck. You'll get A LOT of fat. Like periodically drain the fat-water mixture a lot. Tho you should save some cause goose fat is heavenly to cook with. Goose is a heavy meal, you shouldn't need much to fill people up.

A decent sized goose means you're looking at a 6ish hour cooking time, longer if you want it really tender, on low low heat.

And don't brine it or anything, cause you'll want to save some of the fat and brine makes drippings super-salty.
posted by The Whelk at 9:45 PM on November 26, 2010


...and like with duck, low low heat until the final 90 minuets. You pour on a honey-soy sauce-wahtever you want mixture and turn the heat up to actual cooking temperatures. In the final 15 mins, you put it up really high to crisp it. Don't let it rest, cause the remaining fat under the skin will cool first and ew. Serve as soon as possible.
posted by The Whelk at 9:53 PM on November 26, 2010


90 is a whole lot of work, The Welk.
posted by idiopath at 12:03 AM on November 28, 2010


I eat only very refined geese
posted by The Whelk at 8:17 AM on November 29, 2010


don't forget, its only 90 minuets, perhaps The Whelk revolves rapidly? ;p
posted by The Lady is a designer at 10:10 AM on November 29, 2010


sing o shining song swiftly spinning
posted by The Whelk at 10:28 AM on November 29, 2010


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