Help me find an old comment about living in a war-zone? January 5, 2011 8:50 AM Subscribe
Help me find an old comment about living in a war-zone?
What I remember was that someone who lived in a war-zone (Serbia?) described their experience with food hoarders. The vaguely-recalled thesis was that in a crises people come together and for the most part share their stuff with their neighbors. It may have been on Ask but I really don't recall it very well.
What I remember was that someone who lived in a war-zone (Serbia?) described their experience with food hoarders. The vaguely-recalled thesis was that in a crises people come together and for the most part share their stuff with their neighbors. It may have been on Ask but I really don't recall it very well.
jedicus is so much speedier than I am! I knew it would be Dee, but wasn't sure which of her many excellent (heartbreaking, enlightening, enraging, sob-inducing) comments about being a civilian living in a war zone it might be. And my mefi search-fu is not all it could be.
posted by rtha at 8:55 AM on January 5, 2011
posted by rtha at 8:55 AM on January 5, 2011
Can this thread please become a roundup of Dee Xtrovert's wartime comments? Please!?
posted by Netzapper at 10:07 AM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Netzapper at 10:07 AM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
The next time the mods feel inclined to interview a member on the MeFi Podcast, Dee Xtrovert should be the first person they approach.
Please?
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:15 AM on January 5, 2011 [17 favorites]
Please?
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:15 AM on January 5, 2011 [17 favorites]
Also, I have a very amusing story about accidentally buying a $1400 jade buttplug, if you need a backup guest.
posted by Jofus at 10:18 AM on January 5, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by Jofus at 10:18 AM on January 5, 2011 [5 favorites]
$1400 jade buttplug
Was this term not on the AV club's Year in Band Names feature?
Maybe next year.
posted by Think_Long at 10:29 AM on January 5, 2011
Was this term not on the AV club's Year in Band Names feature?
Maybe next year.
posted by Think_Long at 10:29 AM on January 5, 2011
I'd like a podcast of The Whelk commenting on MetaFilter. Out loud. Until he runs out.
posted by iamkimiam at 10:38 AM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 10:38 AM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
I'd like a podcast of The Whelk commenting on MetaFilter. Out loud. Until he runs out.
It'd be like that episode of the Simpsons wherein Homer is damned to eat donuts eternally. Except he turns out to be perfectly content with it.
posted by griphus at 10:40 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
It'd be like that episode of the Simpsons wherein Homer is damned to eat donuts eternally. Except he turns out to be perfectly content with it.
posted by griphus at 10:40 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
Can this thread please become a roundup of Dee Xtrovert's wartime comments? Please!?
posted by Netzapper
Here you go.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:42 AM on January 5, 2011
posted by Netzapper
Here you go.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:42 AM on January 5, 2011
Also, I have a very amusing story about accidentally buying a $1400 jade buttplug, if you need a backup guest.
You cannot just say that and then not tell the story. It simply isn't done.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:03 AM on January 5, 2011
You cannot just say that and then not tell the story. It simply isn't done.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:03 AM on January 5, 2011
Yeah, "accident."
posted by "Elbows" O'Donoghue at 11:25 AM on January 5, 2011
posted by "Elbows" O'Donoghue at 11:25 AM on January 5, 2011
Just because you stick something up your ass, it doesn't necessarily make it a buttplug.
posted by electroboy at 11:29 AM on January 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by electroboy at 11:29 AM on January 5, 2011 [2 favorites]
Just because you stick something up your ass, it doesn't necessarily make it a buttplug.
That's true. Liquid, for example, doesn't plug anything.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:33 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
That's true. Liquid, for example, doesn't plug anything.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:33 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
That's true. Liquid, for example, doesn't plug anything.
Depends on what you mean by 'plug,' exactly, but pitch is a liquid, and I'd say something that flows at about 10 years per drop would make a decent plug.
posted by jedicus at 11:40 AM on January 5, 2011
Depends on what you mean by 'plug,' exactly, but pitch is a liquid, and I'd say something that flows at about 10 years per drop would make a decent plug.
posted by jedicus at 11:40 AM on January 5, 2011
Boy, do I ever regret clicking into this thread.
posted by Zozo at 11:45 AM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Zozo at 11:45 AM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
But then you end up with pitch ass.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:59 AM on January 5, 2011
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:59 AM on January 5, 2011
Every proctologist joke ends "I swear, Doc, it was a million-to-one shot."
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:05 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:05 PM on January 5, 2011
Anyone seen my shot glass?
posted by cjorgensen at 12:14 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by cjorgensen at 12:14 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'd ask Hans Zinderholle, noted Austrian proctologist.
posted by electroboy at 12:21 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by electroboy at 12:21 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
We are awfully witty; surely this will convince them it's a capital idea.
posted by electroboy at 1:31 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by electroboy at 1:31 PM on January 5, 2011
I have elsewhere singled out that comment - which I am pleased to have provided her an opportunity to make - as one of the few identifiable instances where someone's Internet post fundamentally changed my attitude about something.
posted by Joe Beese at 1:41 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by Joe Beese at 1:41 PM on January 5, 2011
Me me me me me me me.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:53 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 1:53 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think this thread is the perfect response to keep handy for when women express the desire for a MeFi dating subsite. Let's bookmark this one, shall we.
If a fascination with backsides is all that's wrong with them, I'll take it.
posted by Melismata at 1:59 PM on January 5, 2011
If a fascination with backsides is all that's wrong with them, I'll take it.
posted by Melismata at 1:59 PM on January 5, 2011
Liquid, for example, doesn't plug anything.
I was going to comment that this might not be true if you used non-Newtonian fluids, but then I asked myself "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
To which I responded, "You know, the voices, the anger, the urge to burn, a frightening lack of middle gears, that you have those cats that leave their fur all over everything..."
Which made me reply, "Fair enough. Still, let this one go."
So... uh, nevermind, I guess.
posted by quin at 2:11 PM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
I was going to comment that this might not be true if you used non-Newtonian fluids, but then I asked myself "What the fuck is wrong with you?"
To which I responded, "You know, the voices, the anger, the urge to burn, a frightening lack of middle gears, that you have those cats that leave their fur all over everything..."
Which made me reply, "Fair enough. Still, let this one go."
So... uh, nevermind, I guess.
posted by quin at 2:11 PM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
Me me me me me me me.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero
Guys, guys there's a girl. Put a cork in the butt plug jokes.
posted by marxchivist at 3:32 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by ThePinkSuperhero
Guys, guys there's a girl. Put a cork in the butt plug jokes.
posted by marxchivist at 3:32 PM on January 5, 2011
I am, also, right here.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:35 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 3:35 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
And you should be nicer to her because it's her job to read all this. I, for whatever reason, chose to be here.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:43 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:43 PM on January 5, 2011
Also, I have a very amusing story about accidentally buying a $1400 jade buttplug, if you need a backup guest.
posted by Jofus at 1:18 PM on January 5
I am waiting to hear it. Just as I am still waiting to hear the rest of this one about the butt plug the size of a raccoon's head.
I think a dating subsite is a lovely idea ;-)
posted by toodleydoodley at 5:06 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by Jofus at 1:18 PM on January 5
I am waiting to hear it. Just as I am still waiting to hear the rest of this one about the butt plug the size of a raccoon's head.
I think a dating subsite is a lovely idea ;-)
posted by toodleydoodley at 5:06 PM on January 5, 2011
Dee's comment is a total warm blanket on my heart.
Cause I have that tic, not so much survivalist, as much as preparation tic, the ferrets in your brain that whisper "well it couldn't hurt." Even though I know I've got a .000001% of anything like that happening to me and I live in one of the densest cities on Earth so if something DOES happen, why own petty concerns will be dwarfed by what is no doubt a complete and total breakdown of civilization as we know it.
I'm more likely to be hit by a car, or struck by lighting, or abducted by aliens ...during an earthquake.
Still, I look at my pantry and go "A new gallons of water couldn't hurt? You're not using the space are you?" It's some strange combination of a need for efficiency and a desire I can't place but it stirs when I see my nice orderly pantry full of what could be, creatively, a few weeks of food and dry stocks of batteries. And the few wind-up stuff gathering dust. Dee's comment helped me name the urge I was having. helped put me at ease.
It's not fear.
It's guilt.
I'm not afraid of Something Awful, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to help. Look at this place! So much unused space! Just a cabinet or two set aside, god you could house 6-7 people in here in total comfort, with water and reading material and blankets. It's all so wasted on just me and the SO. Which is lovely now, of course, but ye gods, the amount of goods that could be put to better use, hell even now, in a slower-moving disaster. The stuff. The guilt-inducing perfectly line mountains of stuff sitting around.
So thank you Dee, I'm going to box up a few things for Goodwill and Housing Works now.
posted by The Whelk at 5:32 PM on January 5, 2011 [4 favorites]
Cause I have that tic, not so much survivalist, as much as preparation tic, the ferrets in your brain that whisper "well it couldn't hurt." Even though I know I've got a .000001% of anything like that happening to me and I live in one of the densest cities on Earth so if something DOES happen, why own petty concerns will be dwarfed by what is no doubt a complete and total breakdown of civilization as we know it.
I'm more likely to be hit by a car, or struck by lighting, or abducted by aliens ...during an earthquake.
Still, I look at my pantry and go "A new gallons of water couldn't hurt? You're not using the space are you?" It's some strange combination of a need for efficiency and a desire I can't place but it stirs when I see my nice orderly pantry full of what could be, creatively, a few weeks of food and dry stocks of batteries. And the few wind-up stuff gathering dust. Dee's comment helped me name the urge I was having. helped put me at ease.
It's not fear.
It's guilt.
I'm not afraid of Something Awful, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to help. Look at this place! So much unused space! Just a cabinet or two set aside, god you could house 6-7 people in here in total comfort, with water and reading material and blankets. It's all so wasted on just me and the SO. Which is lovely now, of course, but ye gods, the amount of goods that could be put to better use, hell even now, in a slower-moving disaster. The stuff. The guilt-inducing perfectly line mountains of stuff sitting around.
So thank you Dee, I'm going to box up a few things for Goodwill and Housing Works now.
posted by The Whelk at 5:32 PM on January 5, 2011 [4 favorites]
My wife and her mother, both fans of post-apocalyptic fiction, got each other all worked up over swine flu last year and now we have 50 lbs of dried beans and rice in our basement.
posted by electroboy at 5:35 PM on January 5, 2011
posted by electroboy at 5:35 PM on January 5, 2011
It's my own personal Head Ferrets that aren't worry about dying, they're worried about being useless.
posted by The Whelk at 5:37 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 5:37 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think a dating subsite is a lovely idea ;-)
I, for one, prefer dating the main site, tbh.
posted by infini at 5:38 PM on January 5, 2011
I, for one, prefer dating the main site, tbh.
posted by infini at 5:38 PM on January 5, 2011
I don't know whether to feel complimented that my comment was well-liked, or disturbed that a thread about it garnered as many comments about butt plugs as it did the comment itself!
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 6:14 PM on January 5, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 6:14 PM on January 5, 2011 [5 favorites]
I don't know whether to feel complimented that my comment was well-liked, or disturbed that a thread about it garnered as many comments about butt plugs as it did the comment itself!
Metatalk can be a free fire zone for asses who would farkify everything on the internet. I looked at your user page and was surprised you only had 8000 favorites. Your painful recollections of Sarajevo under siege are one of the most valuable things on metafilter, on the internet, or any place I have ever seen.
posted by bukvich at 6:51 PM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
Metatalk can be a free fire zone for asses who would farkify everything on the internet. I looked at your user page and was surprised you only had 8000 favorites. Your painful recollections of Sarajevo under siege are one of the most valuable things on metafilter, on the internet, or any place I have ever seen.
posted by bukvich at 6:51 PM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]
Dee's comments indicate that, hells yes, she should write a book. It would be exciting, gripping, poetic and lyrically phrased while being accessible and readable... Tom Clancy mixed with methamphetamine... and it would rip the romanticism, or even the banal acceptance, of modern war and totalitarian nationalism right out of anyone reading it by the roots.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:01 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:01 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
I, for one, prefer dating the main site
Uh, that was supposed to be our little secret.
posted by Meta Filter at 8:27 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
Uh, that was supposed to be our little secret.
posted by Meta Filter at 8:27 PM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]
Yeah, Dee, write something long-form! I'd even pay good money to read it!
posted by Harald74 at 1:03 AM on January 6, 2011
posted by Harald74 at 1:03 AM on January 6, 2011
I'd like to do write a book, and I've given it a lot of thought. I have written many other things beyond what I've put here, with this idea in mind.
The problem is that I've never really felt right about any particular format - a war memoir would seem obvious, since that's what I write about here most often. But I'd like to include as much about America as about events in Bosnia, though the idea of a traditional autobiography . . . well, I don't feel like I have that sort of ego! A collection of essays seems boring, though. So if any of you clever people have suggestions, pass them on!
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 1:21 AM on January 6, 2011
The problem is that I've never really felt right about any particular format - a war memoir would seem obvious, since that's what I write about here most often. But I'd like to include as much about America as about events in Bosnia, though the idea of a traditional autobiography . . . well, I don't feel like I have that sort of ego! A collection of essays seems boring, though. So if any of you clever people have suggestions, pass them on!
posted by Dee Xtrovert at 1:21 AM on January 6, 2011
Dee whatever format, please, please get it down. I'm not the only one here who favorites almost everything saying one day I'll go and copy & paste them just to read the whole thing. PLEASE! Clearly we only have little snippits here and most of us will never know anyone who has been through something like this. In know Meta isn't RL but over the years of contributions there is no question it would have way more of an impact.
posted by Wilder at 3:50 AM on January 6, 2011
posted by Wilder at 3:50 AM on January 6, 2011
Personally I'd buy a hardbound edition of Dee's comment stream, unedited and without context but that's just me.
posted by Skorgu at 6:16 AM on January 6, 2011
posted by Skorgu at 6:16 AM on January 6, 2011
>: " A collection of essays seems boring, though."
Whatever part of your brain is telling you this is a damnable liar and is not to be trusted.
posted by Drastic at 7:58 AM on January 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
Whatever part of your brain is telling you this is a damnable liar and is not to be trusted.
posted by Drastic at 7:58 AM on January 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
Dee Xtrovert has many amazing comments about her experiences and the insights she gleaned from them. Click "Favorited by others" then sort by "Popular" and you could easily spend half a day completely absorbed in her fascinating life (I speak from experience!).
Dee, if you do write that book, I'm good for at least one sale! :)
posted by Jacqueline at 8:50 AM on January 6, 2011
Dee, if you do write that book, I'm good for at least one sale! :)
posted by Jacqueline at 8:50 AM on January 6, 2011
Dee, whatever you do write or collaborate on... a copy of it will be in my humble little library.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 9:38 AM on January 6, 2011
posted by PROD_TPSL at 9:38 AM on January 6, 2011
I appreciate Dee's non-war comments & thoughts just as much as those about the war, so my vote would go towards something that includes her thoughts on other stuff as well. No suggestions on format tho, I'd read anything!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 4:17 PM on January 6, 2011
posted by ClarissaWAM at 4:17 PM on January 6, 2011
It'd be like that episode of the Simpsons wherein Homer is damned to eat donuts eternally. Except he turns out to be perfectly content with it.
i am a monster.
posted by The Whelk at 6:07 PM on January 6, 2011
i am a monster.
posted by The Whelk at 6:07 PM on January 6, 2011
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posted by jedicus at 8:51 AM on January 5, 2011 [4 favorites]