I'm also a huge geek, so anything in the geek pantheon (tech, games, comics) would be interesting.

If you're going to the British museum, thats a good area for techie (on Tottenham Court Rd) to geeky (Gosh! comics on Great Russell St, Playin' Games on Museum St, etc.) so be sure to wander around that area.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:48 AM on November 19, 2008

In terms of events while you are there, Dec 4 is the lighting of the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 9:42 AM on November 19, 2008

The Oracle Installer allows you to set up a response file and then simply Run the installer without any interaction in "silent" mode. The response file can be found in a directory called 'response'.

Really, read your Oracle documentation. It explains all of this. Also try:

$ ./runInstaller -help
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:46 AM on November 18, 2008 marked best answer

Yes, your gap year will probably help. I'd wait to apply for the year that you actually want to attend Harvard.

As others mentioned above, there are kids with stronger grades and scores than you that will be rejected. But, the converse of that is that there are kids with weaker scores than you that will be accepted. Scores matter to a degree. Harvard is also looking for something else that separates you apart from the crowd.

As Fitzsimmons has... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:05 AM on November 17, 2008

Do you understand how different the Harvard undergraduate experience is from other universities? In a bad way. Undergrads have limited to no contact with professors, must live on campus for four years, at least two years longer than you'll want to live in a dorm (not that you could afford to live anywhere else in Cambridge) and you'll be expected to participate in traditional, structured group activities, with people you happen to live with, not necessarily the people you'd choose as... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 3:04 AM on November 18, 2008

Is it just sunning, drinking and socializing? If that's the case -- and pardon me if this sounds ridiculous -- what does the boat add to the equation to make it so desirable?

What does a beach add other than sand? What does a forest add other than bugs and insects?

For many people, including myself, there's something more primal about being out surrounded by water. I'm guessing this is one of those things you either feel or you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 9:17 AM on November 17, 2008

I really loved my Hedgren bag which I got in Hong Kong. Only problem is that you can't get them in the US.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:18 AM on November 17, 2008

My best guess is that Wilson refers to the U.S. President of that name. He's one of those select US Presidents that many Mexicans can name, mainly because of the Mexican Expedition.

Also, Mexican slang and Spanglish are two different things. The former is an urban slang, covered fairly well by this blog. The latter is more of a mixing of two languages and cultures. It is Mexicans not Mexican-Americans that say "a wilson.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 3:21 PM on November 14, 2008

Sorry but this is a complicated question. There are ways, as described above, of getting to the US with the help of your embassy but the bigger question is how you plan to get back into the UK?

Are you working in the UK now. That means you can't just re-enter with your US passport as if you're a tourist. To work or study in the UK you need to have the Visa that allowed you to do that in the first place. Is that with the UK Border Agency too? You might be able to sneak... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 4:25 AM on November 14, 2008

I thought Id' update this thread. I tried Mr. Coffee and the quality wasn't so good.

I did find these guys: Taylor St. Baristas across BishopsGate. These guys and the coffee stand on Whitecross st. are definitely the best coffee around this area.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 2:41 PM on November 13, 2008

I spent a month in London, Scotland, and Ireland in 2007 and had absolutely no problem using my American credit/debit cards for anything I wanted.

I lived there for almost five years, and had no problem with my American credit cards. It was only beginning in May–June 2008 that I was no longer able to use my American card at Cambridge station.

This may have changed very recently. An American friend visiting me last week had all... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 1:27 AM on November 6, 2008

Math is a great degree to have as proof you can think analytically and there are a huge number of professions which value that.

Math major friends of mine from college have become:
lawyers (an MIT math major I know became a public defender)
doctors (medical schools love anything math/science)
engineers (obvious, I suppose)
and bankers (many of my fellow math majors were heavily recruited to work on Wall St.)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 4:57 AM on November 3, 2008

Jeu de mots
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 11:25 AM on October 30, 2008

Previously

You can get a visitor's permit but you have to know a permanent resident.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:24 PM on October 29, 2008

Particularly: do they return your documents? The application requires one to send in originals of one's passport (presumably, the passport from one's birth country), as well as one's mother's birth certificate and an expired passport for her. All of those documents are obnoxious to replace, and I'd really like to get them back.

If so, how long does it take them to return the documents? Does it take until the application is processed? (How long is that, anyway?)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 1:32 PM on October 29, 2008

I think the two previous comments are missing the point. I read the book but didn't watch the movie. Even if its a true story, the question stands: Aren't there more efficient ways of communicating?

The chosen french frequency does minimize eyeblinks but it can be painfully slow (reciting the entire alphabet to get to the least-frequent letter?)

There is no explanation in the book of why Morse code wasn't used. So it remains a mystery. There is... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 12:01 PM on October 29, 2008

I see those all the time at the Muji stores here in London. You could try the one in NYC.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:44 AM on October 29, 2008 marked best answer

Well, civility is not something you move past, is it? From the sound of your post, it seems as if you are the one who is more likely to bring up politics or religion.

Mutual toleration and understanding is the key here. Not "fundies" or "deranged." Think of it as an alternative lifestyle they are engaged in, then you'll see that a bit more tolerance should happen in both directions.

I'm as liberal as they come but I have a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 10:40 AM on October 27, 2008

What may be confusing you is that its different for different parts of the world.

But, yes, next week for you guys in the US.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 1:57 PM on October 25, 2008

Previously
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 4:02 AM on October 22, 2008

So I'm in Idaho. My voting area is Adair County, MO. I requested the absentee ballot, they sent it, and it has a bunch of arrows next to names and proposals with half the arrow missing. I'm supposed to fill in the arrows with the "special writing implement" that's included. Problem: there is no writing implement included. Suddenly I miss the hanging chad.

I got an absentee ballot from California. It also looked like yours, with half the arrow... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 1:56 PM on October 20, 2008

It's pretty clear that for this question to be meaningful, we can assume the OP meant to ask how much Mass each of these ships has.

This can be determined even out in deep space since you can measure the change in velocity of the ship after applying a specified amount of thrust to determine its (inertial) mass.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 5:10 AM on October 20, 2008

This question was asked last week.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 9:49 AM on October 15, 2008 marked best answer

This question has come up a few times, usually in the guise of "I'm a telecommuter. I can work as long as I have an Internet connection. Where in the world should I work from?"

If there was one answer, everybody would be there. Ultimately, the answer depends on what you want to do when you're not working. Do you want Nature? an Urban environment? A place to live cheaply? A place to meet new people? Learn a new language? etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 7:53 AM on October 15, 2008

Huh? In the grocery stores here in the UK, eggs are sold in the regular aisles, next to bread.

Eggs don't need to be refrigerated, you silly Americans!
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 9:07 AM on October 10, 2008

OED says:

to get the hang of: to become familiar with the proper wielding or use of a tool; fig. to get to understand, manage, master, deal with as an adept; to acquire the knack of. (orig. U.S. colloq.)
1845 N. S. PRIME Hist. Long Island 82 (Bartlett) After they have..acquired the hang of the tools for themselves. 1847 DARLEY Drama in Pokerville 67 (Farmer) The theatre was cleared in an instant..all running to get the hang of the scrape. a1860 T.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 9:54 AM on October 9, 2008 marked best answer

I've used the Chandler one which does explicity include a Southern hemisphere, and comes in plastic too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 9:45 AM on October 9, 2008 marked best answer

I don't have medical advice for you but I was in a similar situation as you when I was a teen of wanting to discuss something with a doctor that I was too embarassed to discuss with my parents.

What I did was lie to my parents about what the condition was but insisted I needed to see a doctor. In my case I told them the area around my hernia (which was operated on when I was a small kid) was causing me pain and perhaps I should see a doctor. Once in the doctor's office,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 7:58 AM on October 9, 2008

The best European road trip planner I've used is Via Michelin
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 6:48 AM on October 9, 2008 marked best answer

I meant to add that, yes, Via Michelin includes the tolls (total amount + all toll entrance and exits)!
It also gives an estimate of your gas costs for each route.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 7:09 AM on October 9, 2008

In case its not obvious from her username, romakimmy lives in Rome and, obviously, the world is not collapsing there or she would have let us know.

Likewise here in London. If you didn't read the screaming headlines it wouldn't be obvious that anything dramatic is happening over here. Everyone's working and eating. The streets are still full of tourists, shopping for knick-knacks and eating at overpriced restaurants.

The dollar is the strongest... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 4:59 AM on October 9, 2008

The Lion in Winter. Peter O'Toole is King Henry II, trying to decide which of his 3 sons he'll give the kingdom to. Amazing dialog.

Strongly seconding this. Completely engrossing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 5:56 AM on October 8, 2008

oh cool thanks! Relative does work. Unfortunately absolute doesn't. I can't change the app. (Can't tell you the app without violating confidentiality)
The loadbalancer is F5. I dont know why it hadn't occured to me to rewrite at the load balancer. Thats definitely an option!

Why do I need ServerAlias? Won't Apache accept internal (behind the load balancer) URLs to the physical machine just fine by default?
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 5:43 AM on October 7, 2008

Because its a type of office furniture and thus you can save money by buying in bulk and buying what everyone else buys. In other words, its the reason most business offices in general look mostly the same too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 11:29 AM on October 6, 2008

Your question is a bit broad given the huge number of ask metafilter questions about things to do in London. Here's one which is very similar to yours.

My favorite offbeat museum is the Hunterian. The most under-rated big museum is the V&A.

My best advice is to just...walk. The best, most interesting things in London are things I've just stumbled across in an otherwise aimless walk. London is full of hidden treasures.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 10:22 AM on October 2, 2008

They have valet bicycle parking at all the screenings, in case you missed that. Mentioned here.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 7:02 AM on October 2, 2008 marked best answer

There's a great rubber stamps store near me - that is, right next to the LRB and the British Museum.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 6:59 AM on October 2, 2008 marked best answer

What about some middle-end sushi restaurants? I'm not a big sushi fan, but I'm sick of everyone telling me that it's because I haven't had sushi from the West Coast.

As someone who has lived in San Francisco and NYC, I'd say that the best sushi I've had has been in NYC.

That said, if you're in the Mission, Tokyo Go-Go is probably the best mid-range sushi bar in the area. Hip atmosphere too. I was a fan of Yo's sushi - in the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 1:47 PM on October 1, 2008

To not repeat what everyone else has said:

Once you fix X and Y, each of those two equations describes a plane in 3-dimensional space (A-B-C space). The intersection of two planes is a line (or a plane), but not a point.

The equation of the line they intersect at is X-A=B=Y-C
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:49 AM on September 24, 2008

I think the origin of this idea is probably European. Sartre in Paris or Nietzsche in Turin sitting at a cafe, writing for hours, even entertaining other friends who drop by.

These types of cafes do indeed have waiters but they are also large enough that they don't need to "turn tables" for the staff to make money. If anything, the server is overwhelmed with the few tables that are turning.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 6:44 PM on September 23, 2008

Here's a direct link to the Jewish map from Helga-woo's link. Strongly supports londongeezer's observation that it's basically north-west London.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 8:08 AM on September 18, 2008

chicken and waffles
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 9:38 AM on September 16, 2008

I'm an American in the UK.
Your voting address is just about where you last *lived* in the US.

You can go here to request your ballot. They'll also guide you through this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 2:35 PM on September 14, 2008

My friend who has a mac as well got a connection from 3, but ended up giving up as he wasn't able to get it working even after spending an hour on the phone with 3's tech support.

I used 3 and it worked fine on both our 1 and 1.5 yr old macbooks.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 3:08 AM on September 12, 2008

Bonus: Is it this that forces us to use uncertainty in our current model? Does measuring a particle's location, say, change its momentum?

One of the misunderstandings people have about Uncertainty is that it is some sort of experimental limitation we discovered.

Just the opposite, it arises directly, mathematically from the formulation of quantum mechanics. Things like position/momentum or Energy/Time are non-commuting... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 3:00 AM on September 12, 2008 marked best answer

I had friends in high school who didn't own a pair of long pants and did just fine.

I was one of those people. Another native San Diegan here too. Yes, the weather rules far and above any other city I've lived in. But, that statement should be qualified:

San Diego is large and spread out and full of microclimates. I grew up on the coastline and thats generally the best weather - the cold Pacific and the hot inland desert meet... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 2:10 PM on September 10, 2008

Also, I was born and raised here. It is one of a string of beach communities north of La Jolla. It is as idyllic as it sounds but real estate prices mean that its not so affordable to live there as when my parents moved in.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 2:17 PM on September 10, 2008

Shakespeare says its a "troop":

MISTRESS FORD: Where is Nan now and her troop of fairies, and the
Welsh devil Hugh?
- Merry Wives of Windsor: V, iii
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 6:51 AM on September 10, 2008 marked best answer

You can calculate the velocity yourself just by knowing that each proton beam is 7 Tev.

The rest mass/energy of a proton is 938 Mev. So, divide 7 Tev/938 Mev = 7460. That is, the protons are being accelerated to 7460 times their normal energy. But how fast is that?

From the relativity equation that OxFCAF posted above, 7460=1/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2). Solving for v/c we get 0.99999999!

Thats for each of the beams. Why bother with... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 4:14 AM on September 10, 2008

I play improvisational jazz piano. I can't read to save my life.
Well...I know how to read but just enough to read the piece once, memorize it and throw away the sheet music after that.

In any case, have you read Mark Levine's Jazz Piano book? Its a great book, sort of the improvisationists Bible for theory.
posted to Ask Metafilter by vacapinta at 12:26 PM on September 2, 2008