Open a terminal on the mac and type:
ls -a /Volumes/[thumbdrive]/

where [thumbdrive] is the name of the drive (typically something like USB Disk. N.B.: if the drive name has a space in it, you'll need to escape it by prepending a backslash, e.g. USB\ Disk.

Are the names of the mac files listed?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 6:34 PM on September 5, 2008

Are American taxes done on households, or individuals?

It's the taxpayer's choice. I assume the numbers being tossed around are for married filing jointly, which is the most common option.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:52 PM on September 5, 2008

Yeah, warrant databases are shared between states, and it's likely that the police will run her name for matches to the database during a routine traffic stop. So she's certainly in danger. It's going to be a hassle, and it might be expensive, but it's probably best that your friend talks with a lawyer about sorting this out ASAP.

It's absurd, and it's unfair, and it sucks. But shit happens.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 11:15 AM on September 5, 2008

The Sopranos.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 6:24 PM on September 4, 2008

How were you damaged? As I see it, you got a few free bites of cookie.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 4:07 PM on September 4, 2008

My understanding is that the protestors represent the royalist, urban, pro-military side of Thai politics while the current government finds most of its support in relatively impoverished rural areas. That's why you're seeing big protests in the capital city even when the government has significant popular support nationwide.

Interesting. it was just a couple years ago that the military with popular support ousted the current government. Now it seems like that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:41 PM on September 4, 2008

I think most people who visit Thailand are looking for decadence, and a revolution would only ad to the air of wild adventure

Thailand has become a very mainstream tourist definition in recent years, especially for tourists from Asia (Japan, Korea, increasingly China) and Australia. We're talking family holidays at beautiful white-sand beaches, not adventure tourism in a developing-country environment.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:44 PM on September 4, 2008

And Thaksin would be the majority's choice for Prime Minister, if the military allowed it.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:59 PM on September 4, 2008

You can do all of this with LaTeX, and there are plenty of guides online to help you. I think you could probably bang together a template that works well for you in about an hour as a newbie, and making changes to accommodate different requirements will get easier and easier with practice.

Here's a link to a template for the UCLA thesis style, which includes double spacing.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 1:38 PM on September 4, 2008

Honda Accord or Toyota Camry. Depending on where you are, you can probably get something with under 80k miles for $10,000.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 11:24 AM on September 4, 2008

You should have at least 160 GB of drive space on the laptop. You might have as much as 250.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 5:51 PM on September 3, 2008

Basically, they sang like canaries, and even though he says they only gave up code names and first names of Chinese nationals, you'd have to assume that the Chinese intelligence agencies might have been able to track people down with the information given.

Yeah, I found that interview pretty shocking. These guys really endangered the lives of their Chinese collaborators for what appears to be a poorly thought-out stunt. Tremendously irresponsible.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 10:08 AM on September 3, 2008

fivethirtyeight.com uses a pretty involved methodology to predict election outcome from polling data. They did well in predicting the Democratic primaries this year.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 4:40 PM on September 2, 2008

Great post title, infinitewindow.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:31 AM on August 30, 2008

I don't know why, but Versailles: The View From Sweden is really calling to me.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:00 AM on August 30, 2008

Just chiming in to reiterate the answers pointing to a name resolution problem. Try an openDNS server.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 9:06 PM on August 28, 2008

Don't most US flights already use seat cushion floation devices? I only remember encountering vests in international flights.

Also, has a life vest on an airplane ever saved anyone? Honest question. It seems like survivable crashes are rare, let alone survivable crashes over water.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 2:37 PM on August 28, 2008

Non-powered speakers with RCA inputs are pretty strange beasts. You'll probably need cables like these, which are somewhat nonstandard. As for the amplifier, these were the hot item a few years ago; everyone was claiming that they gave exceptional quality for the price. I use one w/ my computer speakers, and I'm happy with it, but I'm no audiophile. It might be a nice option because you can run it off of the AC adaptor or with batteries.

If you buy a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 1:34 PM on August 28, 2008

First, the whole point of Bell Labs was to foster interdisciplinary research. That's contrary to the point of academe, where ones peers are those who share your subspecialty.

Eh. I'd say this is changing somewhat. "Interdisciplinary" is becoming quite the watchword in the engineering academy, at least. I know more than a few people who have gotten tenure by working at the interface of traditional disciplines.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 10:56 AM on August 28, 2008

The waffle-iron ought to be pedal-powered, perhaps augmented with solar.

A good waffle iron will draw at least 750 W (more like 1200 if you really want to get the job done). No way to do that with pedals, even if you have a good-sized portable solar array to go with it.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:23 AM on August 27, 2008

Are there any advantages to living near poor people? I can't think of any.

Low rent. Duh.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 7:34 PM on August 25, 2008

In a pinch, a sheet of white printer paper can be folded into a reasonably effective flash diffuser.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 6:03 PM on August 22, 2008

Previously.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 4:02 PM on August 21, 2008

Wasn't he beaten? I don't think beating was included in any of the lists administration-approved "enhanced interrogation techniques". Sleep deprivation and stress positions, yes, but not beating.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:45 PM on August 20, 2008

I just like that he worked the Death Star in there.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:58 PM on August 20, 2008

Personal animosity?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 12:50 PM on August 20, 2008

I think many of these statements assume the incoming Freshman were blind and deaf to the world up until the age of 13 or so.

For instance? I don't see anything postdating 1990.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:34 PM on August 19, 2008

What IP addresses are the iPhone and MacBook reporting?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 12:40 PM on August 19, 2008

Also, what if you shove the data into your desk without looking at it, lock the drawer and bolt for the parking lot because it's Friday?

In science (or natural science, at least), an objective reality is taken as given. A measurement datum is a single instance slice of a probability function.

I'm not particularly sympathetic to the "postmodernist" cause, but the idea that there is some... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:41 PM on August 18, 2008

queers could start lobbying for equal treatment under the law, they had to argue they weren't either suffering from a mental illness or horrible moral degenerates. and so far as I know, "postmodern" theory has been instrumental in making that latter case.

For instance?

The most concrete "theoretical" approach to this question was certainly the APA's decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 2:49 PM on August 18, 2008

I am thinking of the activist culture itself. the culture and politics that developed around queer theory and third wave feminism are both deeply engaged with critical theory. (because we are not dealing with strictly literary theory here.)

But they postdate the actual activist movements. Queer theory was not an inspiration or a drive for the gay rights movement; it was an echo of and a response to it. The very phrase "the culture and politics... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:44 PM on August 18, 2008

...but the most tangental way.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:45 PM on August 18, 2008

The best part of that article is the Lemmy angle.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 4:41 PM on August 13, 2008

Maybe "***" is his tag?

Doesn't that mean "asshole asshole asshole"?
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 3:19 PM on August 18, 2008

Well, there's no Olympic cricket, so that's big.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 11:34 AM on August 18, 2008

I dont buy the "missing middle class" argument. All those gold-wining communist countries had no middle class or a very, very small middle class.

Plus, there are more people in the middle class in India than there are total people in most other countries.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 12:18 PM on August 18, 2008

Plus, you know, rampant starvation.

I thought that the food problems were in the countryside, and that the urban areas were comfortably fed. Wouldn't want unrest in the city....
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:33 PM on August 14, 2008

Nah, nothing's going to happen.

Well, certainly no one intends for anything to happen. But it is kind of a classic set-up for an accident that escalates into a mess.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:54 PM on August 13, 2008

Wait. This guy earned a PhD?

Harvard Polysci.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 11:23 AM on August 13, 2008

I think In the Hills, the Cities would make a interesting movie as well.

It could make an incredibly interesting movie, but it would take tremendous skill and creativity to turn it into a feature. And with the budget the effects would require, a short is probably impossible.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 5:27 PM on August 12, 2008

I have trouble feeling even an ounce of empathy for landlords. When your life's business is getting other people to pay for you to own property, you're pretty much the definition of a parasite.

That's a pretty absurd notion. You could apply that to restaurants, taxis, and any other number of services.

Well, services require the employment of a factor of production (labor). A land owner merely owns the land. They provide... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:08 PM on August 12, 2008

My wife recently complained about a $400 dental procedure involving 5 minutes of the dentist's time and one very, very expensive laser scalpel. I asked if her if she'd rather have 60 minutes of the dentist's time, an old school scalpel, and five times as much recovery time for the same price. Point taken, but she still had a hard time getting over the fact that it was only 5 minutes of his time.

You've brought up another classic example of economic... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:26 PM on August 12, 2008

If land belongs to everyone, then it must have equal value to all, yes? Therefore, homes in a crime-ridden ghetto would be equal in worth to the homes in a beachside resort.

No! Two points: First, the value all pieces of land is clearly not equal. Fertile farmland has a higher intrinsic value than barren desert, and the value of land in a manufacturing region will vary according to ease of access to transportation corridors. Second, Georgist economic... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:55 PM on August 12, 2008

Further, if land and the resources contained therein belong to everyone, what recourse does Country A have if Country B decides to invade Country A and take its resources?

That's more an issue of political theory than economic theory, but I would argue that the clear solution to this problem would be the abolition of counties.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:56 PM on August 12, 2008

Er. Countries.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 12:56 PM on August 12, 2008

I agree, and I think that's why Georgism fails. If the land belongs to everyone, then everyone must be able to use it.

You're confusing the ideas of ownership and tenancy. Even under a LVT system, tenancy rights are respected.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 1:52 PM on August 12, 2008

Tevis' story was on Morning Edition today.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_roboto at 9:57 AM on August 12, 2008

If we discard it and bury it in the ground, doesn't it break down?

Just a quick note: items discarded in modern landfills generally do not break down. These days, landfills are completely sealed to prevent leaching of contaminants into the groundwater and soil. They're essentially huge plastic sacks, and once they're filled with garbage, they're done for good.

Paper can be burned or composted rather than landfilled, however.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 5:35 PM on August 11, 2008

Because we use paper faster than trees grow.

This simply isn't true.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 5:39 PM on August 11, 2008

The Hindi/Urdu pair is another good candidate... But this discussion is doomed to go in circles, since any set of criteria for "closeness" is bound to be arbitrary.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mr_roboto at 5:02 PM on August 11, 2008