Slate Daily Podcast is for you! Also maybe MSNBC Podcasts, Seed Magazine.. oh man there's a whole bunch of non-podcast publications that have adjunct podcasts that are usually shorter than 20 mins.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 7:44 PM on January 22, 2008

Good point! I'm a bit put off by the prices though.. $60? I wonder if there are higher-end players in the field..
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 2:25 AM on January 3, 2008

Okay, yeah, as I think about it more I've decided that I don't care to try them on as much as I care to get something that's crafted a bit better.. in the sense that I'm thinking of $500-$2k stuff that'll last a decade-plus.. I'd like to get it from a firm that makes boots/shoes rather than sells 'goth stuff', if you follow. Keep the links coming though, they've been very helpful so far.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 3:11 AM on January 3, 2008

Yeah. Maybe another tack? Instead of going "i need goth boots", maybe "I need boots. That are tall and black and shiny. Preferably with buckles." I dislike the thicker soles.. okay time to be productive I'll check in later. I'm thinking maybe companies that supply theatres..
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 3:39 AM on January 3, 2008

Yeah, I think I'm gonna end up where I started, ie. looking at a certain type of online retailer. I actually like the more womanly styles, so now I'm thinking something that has both laces and buckles.. I can't abide platform soles though, so it's just a matter of looking around I guess.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 5:18 AM on January 3, 2008

Yeah I'm not sure it's specifically a 'zooming out' technique employed here, but there's definitely parallelism and other techniques related to repetition.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 1:34 PM on November 14, 2007

Well. If the opera's ending is supposed to be represent the city's life slowly ending, it's a microcosm.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 9:38 PM on November 14, 2007

(A classic example of a microcosm in literature is A Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich, where the prisoner's daily life is supposed to represent the whole of the USSR's condition.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 9:45 PM on November 14, 2007

Oh that place looks cool, I'll check it out tomorrow for sure. But I think the one Melissa Auf der Maur is wearing is probably just acrylic or something? Also has a bit of iconography, clearer shot around 0:10 here. I guess I don't have to get the exact same thing though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 12:46 AM on October 23, 2007

Hm, didn't glance at Newbury Comics but I checked out Hootenanny a couple weeks ago while looking for fingerless gloves and they didn't have anything (I eventually got random gloves from H&M @ Downtown Crossing and cut off the fingers myself.)

The Garment District was a total bust coz they were all ramped/focused on Halloween costomes and stuff (plus I think a lot of these types of stores are way more fun for girls and geared towards a female clientele.. stockings... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 4:19 AM on October 24, 2007

I don't understand what you mean. The parens for citation go outside the quote marks... I guess if the citation is within quotes, you could do:

blah (for example "xyz", Name 21)

That is, skip the parens around the Name 21 part. The point is to make it easy to figure out what you're referring to, not to be a stickler for symbols.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 1:11 AM on August 29, 2007

Er, where I say "if the citation is within quotes" I mean "if the quotation & citation is in your own parentheses".
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 1:14 AM on August 29, 2007

I just looked up the guidelines and the in-text citation style wasn't as flexible as I'd remembered—you can skip the author name in the parens if it's clear whose work you're referencing but the page number has to go in parenthesis. (I could have sworn it wasn't that acutely specific in MLA.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 10:33 AM on August 29, 2007

Message board flamewars. Maybe.

Um. I don't think people tend to get much stressed outside of a social or systematic context where they have to work within certain constraints (ie. live up to certain expectations). I'm not entirely sure you can convincingly impose said constraints on your own self. Looking forward to what others come up with.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 5:25 PM on August 28, 2007

Ironically I've found many women are willing hear *you* talk about yourself forever. I mean I'm not saying you want to make this chick your best friend slash confidante slash pseudo-therapist, just saying that even if you're going to take the 'sweep in with my talons and hook her' mentality you'll get more points for being warm and sharing stuff reciprocally than by scrambling to think of more questions to ask about *her* life.

Smile a lot and don't be afraid to come off... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 9:13 AM on August 26, 2007

Ha ha! No.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 8:18 AM on August 23, 2007

jaded, that song's lyrics are just perfect! ("I want to hold you close, soft breath, beating heart—as I whisper in your ear, I want to fucking tear you apart!")

Needs an industrial or gothic rock cover version though :) I guess I was subconsciously looking more for the intersection of "love/lust/obsession/divinity/pain/death"—think La Belle Dame Sans Merci—than "I'm gonna follow you home" type stuff but in terms of what I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 8:23 AM on August 23, 2007

This isn't what you want to hear but to answer your question directly: far from cutting a good deal, 99% chances are that you won't be able to wring any value out of the idea. I'm sure others will elaborate but basically there isn't much of a marketplace for product ideas, especially not one for changes to other people's products.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 6:20 AM on August 3, 2007

You can grab the referrer via javascript and then hit myloggingscript.php?page=foo&referrer=bar, so the php script would store them in a database.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 6:58 PM on August 2, 2007

Where are you shedding? Grab some tissue and pick anything near the shower drain, grab some more and wipe off the sink, wash hands and be done with it. As for miscellaneous stuff collecting around the shower edges etc. you can't get it every single time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 4:38 PM on July 31, 2007

Dude. When you pick up a pen and write a story your brain can create fictional characters right? What makes you think your sleeping brain is less capable?

Whether these characters, events etc. actually are fictional or a product of past experience is a mostly philosophical question. You can argue that all imagination is derived from experience, or that they're entirely 'new' entities.

Scientifically nobody knows what dreams really are. Don't get... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 11:27 AM on July 28, 2007

Yeah maybe drop Jason Scott a note to see if he's interested in being sent them but any value these will ever have in your lifetime is sentimental/archival not monetary.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 9:36 AM on July 17, 2007

Lucia, that's unfair. The reason I'm skeptical of the notion is that regardless of how head-over-heels I've been, I've never actually changed my character in the process, which is what happens in these tales.

Also, if Cinderella's 'beauty' is the instigator of full-throated fairy-tale love, I'm not sure that that's a better way (in terms of values) to predict 'real love'.

I maintain that nobody falls in love with someone they... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 3:29 AM on July 14, 2007

fvox13, I think saying something like "Germany in the 1930's was&hellip" is well accepted, but I'd have to do some research to be sure.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 8:11 PM on July 13, 2007

Just coz it may be a distraction to my example, '&hellip' was my lame attempt at ellipses: "Germany in the 1930's was…"
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 8:13 PM on July 13, 2007

Yeah she doesn't have much more info…She: did you see the eqn?Me: LOL
honey you are way overestimating my drive, sparkle, and abstract reasoning skills if you think i'm going ot sit there pondering the hidden meaning behind a random algebraic equality :p
i'm not that awesome unfortunatelyShe: but oh firas, you are pure genius to me!
no need to ponder
you must know some mathematicians
and if theyre romantic at heart, all the better!She: it... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 4:59 AM on June 16, 2007

Aw yr right!
She: its called the Kiss surface
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/KissSurface.html
Me: i thought the representation itself has something to do with love
rather than the name of the pattern
http://xkcd.com/c55.htmlShe: well of course!
the Hershey's kiss!
It is so named because the shape of the lower portion resembles that of a Hershey's Chocolate Kiss.
It is romantic enoughMe: when i think romance, i... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 9:33 AM on June 16, 2007

Anil Dash gave you the best answer to your question as currently stated. The answer is, "no."
.
But as for first-hand input, don't even think of developing your publishing software in-house. Not unless you're really really confident in the team in question.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 6:59 PM on May 25, 2007

How are you guys posting? WP is not mixing up anything, the authors in the DB are exactly the ones showing up on that list. Apparently you've been assigning authorship via a category? Whom are you logged in as when you post?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 12:04 PM on May 21, 2007

Glad it worked out. What was the issue?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 1:40 PM on May 21, 2007

Try n I honestly think you're attempting to address the wrong issue here. Your general insecurity about your worthiness is probably more relevant here than this particular line of self-doubt.

A very slight touch of jealousy may be normal, but not this. It's not that you should try to suppress your considering of the fact that he's had a previous relationship, it's that the knowledge of the matter shouldn't bother you so much.

You may be... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 10:26 AM on May 20, 2007

Om
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 9:03 AM on May 20, 2007

It doesn't have a specific connotation. The concept is expansive by its very nature. It can be everything from an identity thing for militaristic Hinduism to a peace sign. But yes, it has religious origins.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 9:09 AM on May 20, 2007

Well. Do you walk away feeling bad, or do they actually mean to intimate that you should feel bad for mentioning this stuff?

Your friends may have a bit of a character flaw (and um, 'poor little rich girl'? These are friends, right?) but there's nothing you can do about that I think.

The thing with friends is that all of them are different. You share emotional rapports with all of them, but you bring different things up with... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 11:16 PM on May 19, 2007

Yeah, I totally skipped mentioning the 'get new close friends' part. That's what I meant to get at with the 'different relationships with different friends' notion. I'd say this is the most actionable issue. Get more friends. Seriously. Friendships fade in and out and that's ok.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 11:18 PM on May 19, 2007

GushyFilter :( I hope the tone of the question doesn't make it a deletion candidate, I actually have a serious question in there. To wit: to what extent can software help with dressing? Do people interact with clothes in far too organic ways to use tools that abstract the behaviour?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 11:42 PM on May 12, 2007

Yeah, that looks cool. I'm sorta more interested in making such a thing than just using it, so at this point I'm seeking any input (mostly anecdotal) as to whether it'd be useful/used.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 12:13 AM on May 13, 2007

That's an excellent idea, harlequin, that a core asset would be the centralized information on clothing lines ("I have Levi's Model xxx, just add a generic image of it.")

Virtualization/flash is not in the cards right now.

I sorta want it to be useful even if you only enter 3-4 things to start with (and definitely want it to be interesting even if you're not logged in or have nothing defined yourself...) Damn, looks like I need to do a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 1:05 AM on May 13, 2007

Thanks all! I've put a URL in my profile where you can sign up as interested (my reading of the guidelines suggests this is ok…)

I have a bit of a mental gag reaction when it comes to some of this stuff [girlzone!] but I think I can pull it off—unless the site has to be pink :)

On the subject of guy-friendliness though, the idea of the average user being someone who isn't too sure of their style rather than an alpha vixen is a good one. I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 12:33 AM on May 14, 2007

carthik, are you familiar with OPT? You don't need a different visa to work; you can work an year full-time in your field of study.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 5:13 PM on May 13, 2007

In terms of cost efficiency, don't rechargeables outdo drain-once batteries by far?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 2:40 AM on May 13, 2007

Does the computer have a cd or dvd burner? You can boot into linux using a livecd and backup all your data using that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 12:26 AM on May 13, 2007

Yeah, I don't think he wants the mysql table dynamically changed. That'd be a touch deranged, heh. I think he just wants a way to iterate over all the fields.

What I occasionally do is have an array of the input names... vaguely like so, but neater:

$fields = array('FirstName', 'LastName', 'Location');

$id = (int) $_POST['id'];
foreach($fields as $field) {
   $data =... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 2:52 PM on May 12, 2007

In that case, I don't think you even need to check whether the column already exists... mysql won't let you add a column with a duplicate name. So something like:

foreach($_POST as $field_name) {
$data_type = 'varchar(30)'; // Replace with whatever type you want
$query = "ALTER TABLE yourtablename ADD $field_name $data_type";
mysql_query($query);
}
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 6:11 PM on May 12, 2007 marked best answer

No, my fault. Try foreach($_POST as $field_name => $value)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 10:07 PM on May 12, 2007 marked best answer

Er. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned this, but from reading the text, it seems like the "serious issues" are just re: academic behavior / pliability etc. rather than outstanding issues that aren't mentioned in the note. Look at the sentence again.

So to answer your q#3, I don't think you'll uncover anything interesting by pursuing this. Relax, you're normal.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 6:38 PM on May 12, 2007

Wow, I just had a brainwave. If you must seek closure here, do it outside of the context of ever having stumbled across this email. Just drop him a note and say:

Hi!

I'm [Name]; I'm not sure if you remember me but I was in your Xth grade English class in 1999. I hope you're doing well!

I'm in grad school now, reminiscing about my career and teachers I've enjoyed interacting with over the years, and thought I'd drop you a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 7:02 PM on May 12, 2007

The Secret (Denise Levertov)

Two girls discover
the secret of life
in a sudden line of
poetry.

I who don't know the
secret wrote
the line. They
told me

(through a third person)
they had found it
but not what it was
not even

what line it was. No doubt
by now, more than a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 5:26 AM on May 12, 2007

It was dive into mark, actually.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 3:56 PM on May 11, 2007

How Not To.

It's an incredible blog, I concur.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Firas at 3:58 PM on May 11, 2007 marked best answer