Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 658
MeFi post:
Happy Birthday, Justice Marshall
Born and reared in Baltimore, [he] was excluded from the all-white law school at the University of Maryland. Later he brought successful lawsuits that integrated not only that school but also several other state university systems... Years later, the University of Maryland named its law library for him, and the City of Baltimore honored him by placing a bronze likeness, more than eight feet tall, outside the Federal courthouse. From the third link, above.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 8:58 PM on July 2, 2008
MeFi post:
Would you like obesity with that?
BPA has not been banned in Europe. Canada is the first country to consider a ban.
Sure, there are all sorts of chemicals that might be bad for you. But it seems particularly ludicrous to make baby bottles and line food cans with a chemical whose first commercial application was as an estrogen substitute. BPA is a great example of a situation where the precautionary principle should rule, i.e. you should err on the side of precaution. But in practice the US regulatory... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 12:39 PM on May 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Nigerian Scammers
Book of Joe:
Every now and then, but as infrequently as possible, perhaps once a year, I buy something on eBay that I can't find anywhere else.
...
And every time I do, I'm reminded of why I repeat this behavior as infrequently as possible.
eBay's "Buy It Now" feature is the Bizarro World equivalent of Amazon's One-Click.
It involves innumerable screens, clicks and pages, confusing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 7:48 AM on May 9, 2008
MeFi post:
The Coming of the Demobamic Party
Looking at them isn't enough. You have to read them. If you did that, you'd see that the fpp text is taken directly the linked articles.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 6:34 PM on May 8, 2008
MeFi post:
Amazing Birth
Miko, here's some extended commentary from a former L&D (labor and delivery) nurse who agrees with you. She says, among many other cogent things: After just a few years in a high-volume L&D I began to see the connection between obstetrical interventions routinely applied to healthy laboring woman (70% of all pregnancies) and a steep increase in the need for additional interventions, unexpected complications, operative deliveries and breathing difficulties for the baby.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 10:03 PM on January 20, 2008
Moxiedoll, "less physically traumatic" /= "super fun" (at least not always -- in the case of the mom in this video it apparently did).
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 10:13 PM on January 20, 2008
MeFi post:
Improve Your Writing
Still my all-time favorite Tom Swifty: "I'm experimenting with homosexuality," Tom said, half in earnest.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 7:29 AM on September 10, 2007
MeFi post:
A horror movie come to life
NPR story on the subject concluding with an interview with James Atkinson.
He says that this type of hacking is relatively easy to do, and puts it down to java-based viruses infecting web-enabled cell phones. One possible route of infection he cites is myspace guestbooks, where the signer says "click this link to my site" and doing so actually downloads code that mods your phone. At that point you've lost control and pretty much anything can happen.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 7:43 PM on June 30, 2007
Also keep in mind that in the scenario under discussion, he would have access to the phones and to the tower. The phone users want to know what is going on, and the cell company should want to know what is going on, and law enforcement should be helpful.
Unfortunately, the cell company response was "the customer is not worth taking seriously" and the law enforcement response was "we don't know how to figure this out.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 6:42 AM on July 1, 2007
MeFi post:
Gay-OK in MA
The amazing thing to me is that the opponents of gay marriage could not even get 25% of the legislature to support their amendment. That's an amazingly low threshold, and they couldn't get it. It just shows how unremarkable gay marriage is.
My brother just visit MA from Seattle. He got to the hotel first and told the person at registration, "my husband will be arriving later. Can you leave a key for him?" The person at registration didn't bat an eye. It... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 8:26 PM on June 14, 2007
MeFi post:
More than a browser.
Why release Safari on Windows?
Because it makes it 95% easier for web developers to validate against Safari.
Many current Ajax applications do not run in Safari. If the Ajax developers want to fix that, they need to buy Macs for all of their programmers, add them to their QA team, etc. It's a pain in the b***, especially given the fact that Safari is only used by 5% of the population.
But if... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 12:02 PM on June 14, 2007
MeFi post:
"I have finished my life work."
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Approximately one dot for each time I read the Prydain Chronicles. Time to add another dot.
I met Mr. Alexander when I was about ten years old, at a book release party for one of his new books. My Dad brought me, and we brought along a hardcover set of the Prydain Chronicles, which Mr. Alexander had the graciousness to sign each volume of. Sadly, those have disappeared... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 6:54 PM on May 19, 2007
MeFi post:
WiserEarth
Guidestar is great, but it's not nearly as ambitious as this. It's not built from user generated content, and it's not structured and linked. You could say that WiserEarth is the web 2.0 version of Guidestar.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 4:34 AM on May 10, 2007
Idealist isn't a wiki. It's maintained by paid staff. Organizations can pay a fee to have jobs posted on Idealist, and organizations can submit their own organizational description. But fundamentally Idealist is modeled on the newspaper classified ad paradigm.
WiserEarth is a structured wiki. It's akin to Wikipedia, except that where Wikipedia uses flat files of html for each entry, WiserEarth stores all its data in a relational database, allowing much more complex... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 6:59 AM on May 10, 2007
MeFi post:
Yurts!
I'm going out tonight with my friends who live in a yurt they built in Vermont three years ago. Their Yurtsite.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 2:58 PM on May 3, 2007
MeFi post:
The cat's out of the .... oh.
In the early 1990's I flew from Boston to San Jose sitting next to a woman who had five dogs hidden in her clothing.
When she first got on the flight and sat down next to me I thought she was a bag lady. She was very nervous and distracted and she did not take off her heavy winter coat when she sat down. She had several canvas bags that she arranged by her feet. About fifteen minutes into the flight she took the first dog out of an interior pocket she had sewn into... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 3:36 PM on May 2, 2007
MeFi post:
The Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien
I'm with Manjusri. The versions of this story (in the Silmarillion? Unfinished Tales?) that I've read are depressing and turgid. I hope this one is truly better.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 6:58 PM on April 20, 2007
MeFi post:
Kurt Vonnegut Dies at 84
Rented a tent a tent a tent.
I think I'll commemorate his death by giving one of his books to someone who's never read any.
Indeed.
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posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 10:25 PM on April 11, 2007
MeFi post:
"I would love to see it banished off the face of the Earth."
It's not just cancer. It's a variety of different genetic ailments that can follow having your chromosomes and hormones screwed with while your body is developing.
Over 100 studies published in peer-reviewed journals show that BPA is biologically active at extremely low exposures (a few nanograms per kilogram of body weight). In some cases, a single exposure of BPA has been show to have effects four generations downline.
Here's what the Journal... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 11:59 AM on April 7, 2007
Oh --- in terms of baby bottles. BPA is clear hard plastic. Think Nalgene bottles (which are also made from BPA). So you want to look for baby bottles that are made out of the softer, cloudy plastic. Or glass.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 12:01 PM on April 7, 2007
I bought the damn BPA-free baby bottles. They cost $10 a piece. I have no idea whether that is just the typical Whole-Foods-style markup or an actual production cost issue.
The "b-truly-free" bottles, or whatever they're called, are very expensive regardless of where you buy them. I don't know whether that reflects an inherent production cost (I believe the bottles are made from polyethersulfone), or just the fact that this is a small... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 8:36 AM on April 8, 2007
MeFi post:
Stop End
Ah, should also have mentioned BNF.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 9:01 PM on March 19, 2007
MeFi post:
The politics of chemical security
As recently as this summer, I stood at the main entrance to one of the nation’s major oil refineries and watched pick-up trucks only slow down as guards waved them through. Sitting in the back of the trucks were several closed-topped buckets. When I asked the employee standing with me who they were, he said they were temporary workers employed by contractors. When I asked him what was in the buckets, he said, “I have no idea.” I wanted to know why the guards had not screened the trucks’... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 6:05 PM on March 1, 2007
MeFi post:
Renewable Energy Incentives
Don't forget to check the Federal Incentives, too.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 11:23 AM on February 23, 2007
GuyZero, if you have pointers to information about incentives in countries other than the US, that would be great.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 11:52 AM on February 23, 2007
Popechunk, it looks good to me. There's even a net metering provision, which allows you to sell any electricity you generate back onto the grid.
The biggest possible catch I see is that there might not be sufficient funding to cover everyone who wants a system. But hey, can't hurt to try.
posted to MetaFilter by alms
at 8:01 PM on February 23, 2007
