Displaying post 1 to 50 of 66
Why do flip flops go flip flop? As opposed to flip flip or even flop flop?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 1:55 PM on July 4, 2008
(27 comments)
Seeking DVDs for a European to learn American history. Learning Company comes to mind, but your minds are more varied than mine. Any advice greatly appreciated.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 10:12 AM on June 13, 2008
(12 comments)
Seeking hard stats on how much of the wealthy population is genuinely rich (owns outright solid assets, stocks, cash, gold, real estate) as opposed to living rich (owns much of above but with borrowed money). I'm curious as to how many people living on, say, Fifth Avenue or in Atherton or Greenwich can actually afford it and how many are simply spinning plates on borrowed time, borrowed money, and a (for now) high income. (Time will tell, of course, and perhaps sooner rather than later, but I'm curious
now.) Many thanks.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 6:20 PM on April 25, 2008
(18 comments)
The Man is turning the company into an SAP shop. SAP offers training, but I'm looking for third party vendors who offer a better or cheaper option. Specific areas on interest are Portal and BI, possibly XI and MDM. Focus should be Administration more important than end user, but all is of interest. Horror stories welcome, good experiences more so.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 7:19 AM on March 19, 2008
What do governments do with seized contraband that cannot legally be bought or sold, cannot be set free, but ought not be simply destroyed? I'm thinking elephant tusks and rain forest hard woods, that sort of thing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 5:48 PM on March 10, 2008
(9 comments)
Co-worker's Outlook (2003) reminders pop up fifteen minutes and five minutes before appointments, but invariably hide behind whatever application is being worked on. Meetings are being missed or appearances are late because of this. How to make the reminders less shy? My searching turns up nothing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 9:04 AM on February 21, 2008
(10 comments)
Slight tangent from
this question: the sourdough rises on command and leavens the bread, texture is fine - but the sour is gone.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 11:07 AM on February 3, 2008
(10 comments)
With the death of
Louis de Cazenave,
Lazare Ponticelli is the last surviving French veteran of World War One, and the country has been wondering how to mark the inevitable.
By contrast, Germany's response to the recent death of
Erich Kaestner has been a more muted affair, indeed, all but unnoted.
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 12:40 PM on January 26, 2008
(10 comments)
Scoobie Doo endorses Mac&Cheese by allowing his likeness to appear on the box. Question- how do his master and the folks at Kraft decide on his price?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 5:36 PM on November 16, 2007
(5 comments)
How quickly do the parking lots near the Staten Island ferry fill up on any given Saturday? Sunday?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 10:46 AM on October 11, 2007
(2 comments)
Ingestible supplements for long distance running that are safe, effective, and not intrinsically disgusting?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 2:01 PM on September 10, 2007
(26 comments)
I heard once that the Indian accent for spoken English is a legacy of Welsh missionaries/teachers in the subcontinent. Granted, the cadences are similar, but on the whole the story sounds a little far fetched to me. Can anyone out there confirm or deny the truth of it, preferably with footnotes? Many thanks.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 6:30 AM on August 9, 2007
(11 comments)
The US government does not consider IRA money or 401K money (or stock market investment of any kind) to count as "savings" when they calculate US savings rates. Thus our perennially lousy savings rates vs. other countries. Or so I read. If true, what is our government's reasoning?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 5:34 PM on April 10, 2007
(24 comments)
Best large Spanish-English dictionary? Also best dictionary for Cervantes era spanish? (Reasons why best a bonus.) Many thanks.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 11:24 AM on April 3, 2007
(10 comments)
Charles Dickens claimed he never dreamt about his characters. Is this par for the course for fictionists?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 5:04 PM on February 14, 2007
(10 comments)
Daughter (age six) perhaps to begin piano lessons. Considering a weighted response electronic keyboard as a piano substitute. Seeking advice in brands, models, retailers, price, durability, and indeed, overall wisdom of this route over standard piano. All views even slightly extraneous welcome. Thanks in advance.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 6:28 AM on January 16, 2007
(25 comments)
Needed- best running shops in the New York metropolitan area for getting feet (flat) and gait (upright) analyzed and shoes recommended. A place that knows its stuff and isn't going to shove whatever they have the most of in back down my leg. (Or am I being hopelessly naive?) Thanks in advance.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 8:31 AM on November 8, 2006
(7 comments)
In the US army, majors outrank lieutenants, but lieutenant generals outrank major generals. How did this happen?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 5:41 AM on October 23, 2006
(5 comments)
Has anyone ever produced a movie with wholly Latin language dialogue? Not just snippets (e.g. Passion of the Christ), but a clear better-than-fifty-percent on-going conversation. (Productions of Latin plays definitely acceptable.)
Second best would be extended audio only. (I did a post once with snippets- I'm looking for extended play, something commute worthy, say.)
Finally, repeat above questions for ancient Greek. (There is a video of Medea by the NY Greek drama Company (1986, good luck finding it now). Anything of that sort would be of interest.) Thanks in advance.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 9:30 AM on August 26, 2006
(8 comments)
Patrick Dawes and Eugene Bazodis
aka Patrick and Eugene. Mr Dawes is the sometime percussionist for
Groove Armada, but the pair may be most familiar to Americans through that catchy little number heard on the
Volkswagen rabbit commercial entitled
The Birds and The Bees.
(They apparantly did this earlier as an instrumental to push Gordon's Gin). They do have albums, most notably
Summerisle , a mixture of jazz, ska, world, unlikely covers, and what have you. Possibly a little twee for many, but not without merit.
A cartoon video of the great hit found
here.
So now you know.
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 12:56 PM on August 6, 2006
(2 comments)
Who are Oscar and Emmy's parents?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 6:40 PM on January 31, 2006
(7 comments)
Where did pirate speech come from?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 11:12 AM on January 9, 2006
(18 comments)
How many golden tickets does the publishing world hand out annually?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 4:50 AM on November 7, 2005
(5 comments)
Albert Brooks
is set to release a movie called
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World . No doubt we'll be hearing more on that, but let us reserve judgement.
Meanwhile, for those who need persuading,
here are
some links concerning
13th century sufi
and funny man
Nasruddin .
His people are understandably proud and you can find a lot more of his stuff, probably better than what I've put up.
(This post prompted in part by Rumi post earlier today- for those who might be put off by the current trendiness of that most excellent poet.)
Enjoy.
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 4:33 PM on November 5, 2005
(26 comments)
Frank Hurley.
You may be familiar with his work for
Shackleton on the Endurance. Magnificent stuff, but only a fraction of what he was capable of. After the ice, he went to Europe where he did some of the most
haunting photographs of
WWI. Click the pictures to continue the series- they defy selection. (He did
reluctantly create some fakes for the
propaganda effort, but most of his stuff is straight and the better for it.)
After the war he continued to travel, and for those with some time on their hands, the Australian government has been good enough to put a few thousand items of his work on line
here)
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 5:12 PM on November 2, 2005
(27 comments)
Funny native accents?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 11:23 AM on October 16, 2005
(51 comments)
When, specifically, and under what circumstances were non-Muslims first barred from Mecca? Is there a scriptural theological basis for this? When was the last time an interloper was caught, and what happened to him (or was it her)? What is the current offical penalty for non-compliance? Foot notes appreciated.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 11:32 AM on October 5, 2005
(17 comments)
Greek as it was spoke.
Mrs. Jones thinks they sound like a cross between French and Chinese. You decide.
Alternatively,
Latin wav files, mostly poetry.
Or, for those into the bestseller circuit, there’s
this (narrator rolls the r’s a bit -
Jim Dale he ain’t).
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 11:32 AM on October 1, 2005
(34 comments)
What would Lincoln have done if the south had not fired on Fort Sumter?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 9:00 AM on September 28, 2005
(12 comments)
Tom Clancy's absurd Debt of Honor (1992) has a politically motivated suicider crashing an airliner into the capitol building. Hector Bywater's novel The Great Pacific War (1925) sort of kind of predicted December 7, 1941. Any other examples come to mind, novels presaging alarming events? Thanks in advance.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 5:01 AM on September 13, 2005
(24 comments)
Hernando Cortez- what's his reputation in modern Mexico?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 6:07 PM on August 29, 2005
(11 comments)
American Investor seeks Discount Brokerage Firm with access to Toronto Stock Exchange. On line access preferred. Foreign incorporation considered.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 10:17 AM on August 18, 2005
(3 comments)
When, how, where did the distinction between commissoned and non-commissioned officer in the military originate?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 7:49 PM on July 21, 2005
(9 comments)
Oriana Fallaci back in the soup.
She's being sued in Italy for defaming Islam in her last book,
The Rage and the Pride, and faces up to two years in prison.
The suit was brought by President of the Italian Muslim Union,
Sig. Adel Smith, a fellow who's activism even other Muslims sometimes
profess to find a bit much.)
And now, as if this makes things right, he's
gone to jail for defaming Catholicism.
Ms Fallaci's most recent book,
The Force of Reason, as radioactive as her last, is due out in America later this year.
The free speech in Europe thing is interesting, if crazy making, but does it distract us from the issues that dare not speak their names? Is she right, can East and West survive together? Or are we really best advised to
go our separate ways?
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 4:18 AM on June 24, 2005
(15 comments)
Assia Djebar
the
Algerian novelist and filmmaker was elected to fill the only vacancy at the
Académie Française, the august French institution that watches over the French language. Ms. Djebar, 68, is the first North African to join the 40-member academy.
Most interesting in light of recent discussions here on Dutch/Muslim relations. Comments from those who've read her books or know her from her work at
LSU or elsewhere would no doubt be appreciated
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 5:51 AM on June 17, 2005
(12 comments)
Is stuttering more common in some languages than in others? If singing is supposed to suppress it (true?), does that mean tonal languages (e.g. Chinese) do not suffer the phenom? Indeed, are there any languages in which it does not appear at all? If so, any theories why?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 4:25 AM on June 10, 2005
(7 comments)
Erik Petersen.
Danish newspaper photographer. Died in 1997. He took a number of pictures around WWII.
He never developed them.
Fortunately, sixty years later, someone else has.
Now they can be found in
a book.
Here's a bit of
bloggery as well.
posted to MetaFilter by IndigoJones
at 7:02 PM on June 2, 2005
(14 comments)
What's the deal with book publishing?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IndigoJones
at 5:43 AM on June 2, 2005
(11 comments)
