Okay, I'm not complaining about this.

June 4, 2004 2:24 PM

Okay, I'm not complaining about this. I'm genuinely bewildered. I've seen a few threads like this and I feel like I'm missing out on a Metafilter in-joke. Mefi, please hope me.
posted by 4easypayments to MetaFilter-Related at 2:24 PM (75 comments total)

No one post anything. Let's keep 4easypayments in the dark just for fun!
posted by scarabic at 2:58 PM on June 4, 2004

If you need to ask, you'll never know.
posted by reklaw at 3:14 PM on June 4, 2004

And to think we thought you might be cool.
posted by bingo at 3:34 PM on June 4, 2004

dfowler is actually Matt. mcgraw is (I think) Cory Doctorow. For some reason these two like to send each other coded messages in MeFi posts/comments. Some here seem to think they've broken the cypher, but I find that dubious.

Why do they do this? Because they can I guess. It's like the girl on a bike thing they did years ago. A-list bloggers are a weird group.
posted by y6y6y6 at 3:55 PM on June 4, 2004

it's clearly a message from al qaeda, warning of an attack invoving slippery stuff/oil/space shuttles/financial markets : >
posted by amberglow at 4:46 PM on June 4, 2004

it's clearly a message from al qaeda, warning of an attack invoving slippery stuff/oil/space shuttles/financial markets : >

And it's expected to occur sometime around, say, "Julyish" or somewhere thereabouts (give or take six months). So says the "chatter."
posted by The God Complex at 4:49 PM on June 4, 2004

Maybe it's the full moon, or something in the water, that has made metafilter go insane today. Or, more insane than usual.
posted by majcher at 4:50 PM on June 4, 2004

It's called "a parade of idiots."
posted by rushmc at 4:56 PM on June 4, 2004

*hands rush a baton*
posted by amberglow at 5:05 PM on June 4, 2004

It has been one weird day.
posted by scarabic at 5:18 PM on June 4, 2004

Okay, now let's all drop our pencils at the same time and really freak out the substitute!
posted by Guy Smiley at 6:16 PM on June 4, 2004

and then the horns kicked in and my shoes started to squeak.
posted by weston at 6:21 PM on June 4, 2004

It's Freaky Friday and I am Jamie Lee Curtis.
posted by wendell at 7:01 PM on June 4, 2004

Damn. I was hoping someone would have posted a chart.
posted by batgrlHG at 7:09 PM on June 4, 2004

Take your pick.
posted by wendell at 7:38 PM on June 4, 2004

How many petals are around the rose now?
posted by briank at 7:46 PM on June 4, 2004

King's Cross to ... Baker Street. Hah!
posted by bonaldi at 8:51 PM on June 4, 2004

bonaldi: you're forgetting, it's a leap year...
posted by Pretty_Generic at 8:52 PM on June 4, 2004

...and it turns out I have Baker Street with a hotel. You're gonna have to mortgage you entire West End. Sorry, bud.
posted by chicobangs at 9:45 PM on June 4, 2004

Wow.

Not even an attempt at a response.

I am convinced MetaTalk is actually a simulation of a high school lunch table.

4easypayments, you have been judged by the coolness council and found to be... lacking.

Oh me? No, no, I don't sit at the cool table either. I'm in the AV club, so, yeah, I'm not really with the "in" crowd.
posted by Ynoxas at 10:01 PM on June 4, 2004

Can we at least stick to the plan without resorting to futile call-outs? After all, there are certain rules....
posted by cbrody at 10:02 PM on June 4, 2004

Damn, damn, damn Pretty_Generic.

I'll have to go all the way to Mile End now.
posted by bonaldi at 10:18 PM on June 4, 2004

bonaldi, don't forget you have to go via Camden Town (Charing X branch). The Central Line is SO passé.
posted by cbrody at 10:22 PM on June 4, 2004

I thought y6 explained it, Ynoxas. I myself had no fucking clue, in case you didn't detect the irony.
posted by scarabic at 11:18 PM on June 4, 2004

By way of clarifying: these threads are not self-perpetuating, but they are self-generating. If you don't feel the need to blow off a little steam on a Friday, then lie back and watch the occasionally diversionary shitstorm.

If you have something (or nothing) to get off your chest, though, then you better hurry. Bonaldi's going to buy the entire London subway system, and the hamsters won't be lactating forever.

I know, I know. By saying this, I have violated the first (and second) rules of Slight Club. I accept my punishment willingly.
posted by chicobangs at 11:42 PM on June 4, 2004

y6y6y6 was right, except that scarabic is dfowler and mcgraw is chicobangs.
posted by bingo at 12:42 AM on June 5, 2004

*peers out from tunnel*

Is it over yet?
posted by davidmsc at 4:04 AM on June 5, 2004

SWEET KALI IN A SALAD CRISPER!

Are you people totally fscking mad? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Has no one called Embankment yet? How can this even be happening? There's hampsters lactating counter-clockwise, for Bob's sake!

Embankment! Charing Cross buried in Chedder nibbles! Rats on the rails! AND NO, THERE'S A DAMN FREAKIN' GIANT HUGE PACHYDERM IN PICCADELLY, YOU CAN'T EVEN GO THERE. Sorry.

Shut your gap, moonbutt. Chickens don't have three breasts.
posted by loquacious at 4:40 AM on June 5, 2004

MetaTalk: The Cool Table, as Run Exclusively By Those Once Excluded From One
posted by yerfatma at 8:44 AM on June 5, 2004

No Picadelly?

Mornington Crescent then. Hah!

And now it's Saturday, back to business, so I win.
posted by bonaldi at 8:50 AM on June 5, 2004

My thumb still hurts, by the way.
posted by ook at 11:27 AM on June 5, 2004

You're in Mornington Crescent and you're calling yourself a winner?
posted by loquacious at 11:46 AM on June 5, 2004

User #1 should ban anyone for a month who posts a thread like the one called out here without posting an explanation/answer after 24 hours.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:47 AM on June 5, 2004

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations
A faintly glimmering radio station

While Frank Sinatra sings "Stormy Weather"
The flies and spiders get along together
Cobwebs fall on an old skipping record

Beyond the suns that guard this roost
Beyond your flowers of flaming truth
Beyond your latest ad campaigns

An old man sits collecting stamps
In a room all filled with Chinese lamps
He saves what others throw away
He says that he'll be rich someday

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations
A faintly glimmering radio station

We know of an ancient radiation
That haunts dismembered constellations
A faintly glimmering radio station

While Frank Sinatra sings "Stormy Weather"
The flies and spiders get along together
Cobwebs fall on an old skipping record
posted by bargle at 11:59 AM on June 5, 2004

bonaldi, IIRC, the "No Piccadilly" reverse switch was specifically prohibited after it was found that, when combined with a lesser Arbuthnot's purloined gambit, it inevitably produce a simultaneous win and loss for all. Either the Piccadilly or the Arbuthnot had to go, and it was the Piccadilly. It caused a bit of a fuss at the time. Sorry, etc.
posted by carter at 12:14 PM on June 5, 2004

Tooting Broadway.
posted by carter at 12:15 PM on June 5, 2004

Tootie Ramsey
posted by amberglow at 12:43 PM on June 5, 2004

When children play at trains their game is connected with their knowledge of trains. It would nevertheless be possible for the children of a tribe unacquainted with trains to learn this game from others, and to play it without knowing that it was copied from anything. One might say that the game did not make the same sense to them as to us.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, 'Philosophical Investigations,' §282.
posted by carter at 1:11 PM on June 5, 2004

Isn't the "quote" manouver outlawed by the revised inter-game discussion regulations of 1902? I could be wrong, I can't check because I don't have the Johnson&Maybury 1924 annotated edition of the so-called "purple" book to hand right now, but if not, then I think my only reasonable move is, eh, Camden Town.
posted by bonaldi at 10:00 PM on June 5, 2004

I thoroughly approve.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:43 AM on June 6, 2004

mornington crescent!
posted by triv at 1:48 AM on June 6, 2004

Bah.

Congratulations, triv!
posted by carter at 7:47 AM on June 6, 2004

you guys are incorrigible !
posted by t r a c y at 8:41 AM on June 6, 2004

And encouragable. Please don't.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:14 AM on June 6, 2004

Who would want to corrige us, anyway?
posted by chicobangs at 9:18 AM on June 6, 2004

No soap, radio.
posted by bingo at 10:15 AM on June 6, 2004

Cinco: 1 7 4 17 2 7 5 6 6 5 3 9 6 2 3 5 3 5 4 7 2 4 3 8 6 2 6 4 4 7 3 4 5 2 4 5 3 2 5
posted by filmgoerjuan at 10:55 AM on June 6, 2004

And encouragable. Please don't.

*kicks EB in shin* you're not the boss of me.
posted by t r a c y at 11:14 AM on June 6, 2004

Mornington Crescent
posted by TheCuriousOrange at 11:32 AM on June 6, 2004

But I'm a bossy britches. It's my nature.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:52 AM on June 6, 2004

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........
Unbleached enriched wheat flour [flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid] sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening (soybean and cotton seed oils), semi-sweet chocolate [sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor processed with alkali (dutched), milk fat, soy lecithin added as an emulsifier, vanilla extract], nonfat milk, whole eggs, contains 2% or less of: cornstarch, egg whites, the spirit of our ancestors, salt, natural flavor, soy lecithin, baking soda and peppermint oil.
posted by elwoodwiles at 11:59 AM on June 6, 2004

But I'm a bossy britches. It's my nature.

yes, you certainly are the consistency hobgoblin when it comes to being bossy ! in that you are most incorrigible, and clearly very encouragable, which of course renders your admonishment a tad hypocritical. *flicks EB on the forehead*
posted by t r a c y at 12:09 PM on June 6, 2004

Would you two stop the flirting already?!
posted by elwoodwiles at 12:30 PM on June 6, 2004

Would you two stop the flirting already?!

Yeah, take it to MeTa ... Oh, wait...
posted by SpecialK at 12:42 PM on June 6, 2004

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter (be sure to use real butter), granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla (get the good stuff - it's worth it) in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in semi sweet chocolate morsels. (No, do not add nuts. Nuts have no place in these cookies, no matter what anyone tells you.) Taste dough repeatedly until you are sure it's really worth baking. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake. Eat cookies. Make enough to share, if you have to.
posted by batgrlHG at 1:18 PM on June 6, 2004

Being totally uncool and lacking a sense of humor, I too would like a straight-forward explanation.
posted by grumblebee at 2:44 PM on June 6, 2004

grumble, this is it. At least, it'll clarify a few things in the comments for the thread.
posted by Salmonberry at 2:52 PM on June 6, 2004

What does freebird think?
posted by trharlan at 11:28 PM PST on June 4

I don't, actually. It makes things so much easier.
posted by freebird at 2:59 PM on June 6, 2004

Salmonberry: I'm familiar with Mornington Crescent, and I grasp that once the random bullshit got started it mutated into a game of Mornington Crescent, but that doesn't explain the random bullshit. And frankly, I don't believe that dfowler is actually Matt and mcgraw is Cory Doctorow. I don't understand what the original thread was about (unless it was just dicking with the site because Matt wasn't paying attention, which has happened before) and I don't really think 4easypayments deserved to get treated as Idiot Boy for asking about it. But I'm not going to let myself in for the same treatment by seconding his question. I just wanted to point out that your answer wasn't actually an answer.
posted by languagehat at 5:24 PM on June 6, 2004

This is all very meta.
posted by carter at 5:40 PM on June 6, 2004

I feel like I'm missing out on a Metafilter in-joke

i didn't get it either, if that's any consolation, but didn't give a rat's ass and moved on to a more interesting thread.
posted by t r a c y at 6:04 PM on June 6, 2004

I feel like I'm missing out on a Metafilter in-joke.

'Mefi, please hope me,' indeed.
posted by carter at 6:14 PM on June 6, 2004

Is this something I need to be a pathetic wannabe to care about? 'Cause I don't.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 6:57 PM on June 6, 2004

Obviously not then!

/handbag
posted by Pretty_Generic at 7:42 PM on June 6, 2004

Ah, Pretty_Generic, you need to take Logic 101 again.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:13 PM on June 6, 2004

Mornington Crescent? That's what this is all about? That's so 2003. These days, all the cool kids are playing a game based on the Japanese bullet train network (and sometimes motorcycle rickshaw routes in Hanoi, but I'm not really allowed to talk about it).

*ahem*

No seriously, thanks for the info, everybody. I still don't completely get it, but at least I won't spend any more time scratching my head over them.
posted by 4easypayments at 9:34 PM on June 6, 2004

I actually used Mornington Crescent a couple of times after it re-opened. It's quite a nice little station. Much easier on the fried mind than the chaotic Camden.
posted by inpHilltr8r at 9:59 PM on June 6, 2004

Okay, I can see the Mornington Crescent thing here, in this thread. But it doesn't seem like there's anything like that going on in the original post. Are you all saying that this is what that post was all about?

Because of the dfowler/mcgraw incident, I passed it over, feeling that it was likely to be just another strange private joke between the two (or one?) of them. If it actually is an allusion to Mornington Crescent, can someone tell me how?
posted by taz at 12:55 AM on June 7, 2004

Ethereal Bligh: Shamefully, in my drunken state I misused modus tollens. I apologise.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 6:30 AM on June 7, 2004

Because of the dfowler/mcgraw incident, I passed it over, feeling that it was likely to be just another strange private joke between the two (or one?) of them

I thought the same thing, but in that case I can't imagine why Matt hasn't deleted it. Are we now free to post any damn crap we feel like to the front page and have a rollicking good time in the comments? I thought 9622 died (and was reborn: long live 9622!) to save MeFi from that sort of thing.
posted by languagehat at 8:31 AM on June 7, 2004

Now I'm hungry.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 1:31 PM on June 7, 2004

languagehat, I'd imagine it's not cool to do something like that every day, but every once in a while there's no harm in it.

Think of it like scrolling through a bunch of radio stations. Pop music, political talk, a little existentialism, and then over on the left edge of the dial you can sometimes get a freeform channel where people are just riffing and trying out ideas that had no place anywhere else, just because.

It had been a crappy day on the blue, and so a blank room was created for people to throw shit around in.

If you're irritated by it, let it go.

If you try to divine the meaning, you're thinking too much.

But if you felt the need, after the Reagan and Creed threads and the name calling and the nyah-nyah, to just yell stupid shit at your computer so you don't take a semiautomatic into a McDonald's tonight, well, consider that thread (and this one) a public service.

Now. Who wants gum?
posted by chicobangs at 2:34 PM on June 7, 2004

I just assumed either that a.) it was some sort of dadaist experiment signifying not the actual content of the links, but the process by which the mind tries to make sense of hypertextual artifacts; or b.) dfowler and mcgraw are really really really high.
posted by varmint at 2:37 PM on June 7, 2004

Why do they do this? Because they can I guess. It's like the girl on a bike thing they did years ago. A-list bloggers are a weird group.
posted by y6y6y6 at 3:55 PM PST on June 4

could i just ask what the 'girl on a bike thing' is? or am i *sniff* not cool enough to know?

There's no way i'm going to Google 'girl on bike'.
posted by Miles Long at 3:12 PM on June 7, 2004

Oh, you wuss. Google...

And the girl/bike story, such as it is.
posted by chicobangs at 3:23 PM on June 7, 2004