The eye naturally goes left and right more than it goes up and down, which is why widescreen is superior. Information side by side is easier to read than information above and below. It's not just for movies. Therefore a comparable resolution widescreen display isn't as silly as some of the answers here might suggest.

I've always heard that the Dell displays are nice, and at the 20" 1680x1050 point, there are many different price levels to choose from.
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 9:07 AM on July 6, 2007

ସର୍ବପ୍ରଥମେ ଆପଣଙ୍କ ନିକଟରେ ଗୋଟିଏ ୟୁନିକୋଡ ଭିତ୍ତିକ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଅନ୍ତରାପୃଷ୍ଠ ଥିବା ଉଚିତ। ଏହା ମୁକ୍ତସଙ୍କେତ ହୋଇଥିବାରୁ ଏହାକୁ ଆପଣ ଇଣ୍ଟରନେଟରୁ ମାଗଣାରେ ପାଇପାରିବେ। ଆପଣ ଇଂରାଜୀ ୱିକିପୀଡିୟାକୁ ଅନୁବାଦ କରି କିମ୍ବା ନିକଟ ଅତୀତରେ ହୋଇଥିବା ଗୁରୁତ୍ବପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣ ଘଟଣା ମାନଙ୍କୁ ଯୋଗ କରି, ଓଡ଼ିଆ ୱିକିପୀଡାୟାକୁ ସମୃଦ୍ଧ କରିପାରିବେ। କୌଣସି ନୂତନ ପାଠ୍ଯ ଯୋଗ କରିବା ପୂର୍ବରୁ ଆପଣଙ୍କୁ ଏହା ଧ୍ଯାନ ରଖିବା ପାଇଁ ହେବ ଯେ, ଏହି ପୃଷ୍ଠାରେ ଅନ୍ଯ ବ୍ଯବହାରକାରୀ ମାନଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ ସମ୍ପାଦନର ସୁଯୋଗ ରହିବା ଉଚିତ। କୌଣସି ବିଷୟବସ୍ତୁର ସ୍ବତଃ ସଂରକ୍ଷଣ ୱିକିପୀଡିୟାର ନିୟମକୁ ଅବମାନନା କରିଥାଏ। ବ୍ଯବହାରକାରୀ... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 10:57 PM on June 14, 2007

So, so awesome, and I normally am not into this kind of thing.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 11:58 PM on June 7, 2007

Having held a job in the past with some of the same stigmas, I can say that humor helped me a lot.

I worked in computational chemistry and some of the companies who used our products weren't all that nice. When my friends would tease me about it, I would simply escalate it further and make a joke about it. (FR: I can't believe you help EvilCo. ME: But the monkey slaves and mind control drugs are such good perks!)

I did this because I recognized... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 9:02 AM on June 4, 2007

AWESOME.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 4:28 PM on June 1, 2007

I should clarify:

This is exactly the kind of post I want to see on MetaFilter.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 4:28 PM on June 1, 2007

The arithmetic one doesnt work for me. Oh well. I thought it was kind of neat until then.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 8:25 PM on May 31, 2007

Flunkie- this person apparently cut 2,788 dowels, sanded them, painted them, and then arranged them in a pattern to exactly match a piece of existing art. That sounds like a lot of work to me.

What does someone have to do to make you impressed? If the artist had done all this with only their mind, would that do it for you?

Art is expression. This person is expressing themselves by making you consider the physicality and medium of the piece as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 2:15 PM on May 29, 2007

The old medina in Casablanca I liked. Also Myungdong in Seoul, although it's less crafts and more manufactured goods- still massive though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 11:36 AM on April 27, 2007

On a similar note there's the Global Incident Map, which is a Google Maps mashup to display similar events.

from that site, i like this one: Officials: Pakistani man was not planning attack on Camp Casey. The "incident" was that a man was innocent. TERROR ALERT
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 6:33 PM on May 24, 2007

It's sad that this is true of so many things, but:

This is simultaneously exciting and not at all surprising.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 1:53 AM on May 19, 2007

Let me also share my experience of many hours of watching Starcraft on TV in Seoul.

It is exactly as you might expect, since ultimately people just find the lowest cracks and tipping points and simply try to get to them as soon as possible. For each faction, there are only a couple units you'll build, and you'll build them in quantity. From there, it's a different sort of game, simply trying to bait your opponent into making a mistake and then snapping the jaws of your... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 2:04 AM on May 19, 2007

Utterly awesome.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 11:59 PM on May 18, 2007

Sometimes I wish these things would only get posted when they were done with, so I could read them all the way through. Awesome, though, thanks!
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 1:20 AM on May 18, 2007

On convenient Region 2 DVD! bastards
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 7:48 PM on May 15, 2007

Are Americans fidelity adepts, or just inept seducers?

To quote Family Guy, "Can't it be both?"

I think we spend a lot of time being afraid of having new people reject us, which leads us to get more attached to the one we're with, which leads us to be more afraid of risking that on having new people reject us...

A wise man said: If what they say is "nothing is forever," then what... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 2:42 AM on May 3, 2007

(I Am Not A Quantum Physicist.)

I'll say.

Personally, I don't laugh at the goofy, naive ideas of past cultures. They were doing the best they can with the tools and observations available to them. We're doing the same today.

In the 1930s, Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen wrote a paper proposing that QM wasn't a complete theory because it could not resolve a particular paradox. Thirty years later, John Bell... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 1:21 PM on April 30, 2007

(I Am Not A Quantum Physicist.)

I'll say.

That came out meaner than I meant it. I wasn't trying to call you out specifically, designbot, I just meant that I am in general frustrated with people making leaps about QM when they don't really know about it.

Really I'm just mad at the "What The Bleep..." folks...
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 1:29 PM on April 30, 2007

Awesome, thanks! I love things like this for long car drives.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 9:24 AM on April 24, 2007

Mactivism has turned more people off Apple products than any supposed benefits of their products ever attracted.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks. Seriously, this can't possibly be true, Apple sells tons of hardware. Haven't they been selling considerably more hardware, year to year? Don't a lot of people have iPods?

Not considering Apple products because some people like them too much would be ridiculous.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 4:08 PM on April 14, 2007

I want to live in a world where we don't need methodologies because everyone is interested and involved in what they're doing, and we're all tolerant of some failure here and there.

My sense is that if you are having problems with your daily stand-up meetings, your product has worse problems. My experience has been that projects where everyone loves what they're doing and are good at it too don't need any help whatsoever.

Naive, I know, but... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 9:37 PM on April 12, 2007

shit.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 9:04 PM on April 11, 2007

I went to Oulu, Finland to see Lodger. (I was already in Scandinavia.) They're one of my faves, and the show was great.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 7:23 PM on April 6, 2007

Solutions?
Anybody?

Well, I don't purport to be wise enough to solve the whole problem, but I'd bet that the first step has to be:

Stop being angry at the homeless.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 10:36 AM on April 3, 2007

The only problem I have with religious organizations helping people in need is sort of a wan one in comparison to the good work that some of them do.

That problem is that when someone is in need, they are considerably easier to sway to your side. Not just to religions, either- people in this kind of pain will latch on to anything, video games or Myspace or microwave burritos. Religion seems to hang on though, and it can form dizzying highs and lows of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 12:34 PM on March 23, 2007

My experience was quite, quite different than the above posters, apparently. Nobody rammed vodka down my throat.

I actually technically took the Trans-Mongolian, which comes from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar and then meets up with the rest of the route in Irkutsk, and on towards Moscow.

For the Trans-Sib itself, I recommend stocking up on a bunch of non-perishable food, drinks, etc, and also a bunch of small bills in rubles so you can buy delicious... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 1:24 PM on March 9, 2007

I have literally heard the "just once" story from kids. I've seen kids I thought were on the mend turn around and get into far worse trouble than they were in before.

I leave the kids behind in the program building, head down the street to the snobby wine bar, crack open a dense book and a glass of Sineann, and watch the richer people drink to excess and not have a problem. I wonder where the line goes between the guy putting away a bottle or two of wine a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 3:23 AM on March 9, 2007

I was in a in China (Dandong) and upon getting back to my hotel, I noticed a bunch of men carrying box after box out into the street. It turns out each of these boxes, each about the size of a standard moving box, was filled with fireworks mortars. They lit them off, all sitting next to each other, and basically we all just stood there, about 15 feet from these ridiculous fireworks, watching them all go off and land on roofs of buildings and set off all the car alarms within 500 feet.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 12:51 AM on March 8, 2007

Ok, for the Wu thing? There's a book called Rise Of The Vulcans, like the Roman god of fire. Bush's cabinet called themselves Vulcans.

He was having some fun (and making a pop culture reference that a lot of people get!) by playing off that. Sure it's funny- I think it's supposed to be- but he's not the space cadet you think he is.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 9:01 AM on February 20, 2007

There's an absolutely hilarious district court summary judgement hearing opinion available here:

Penguin Books v. Endeavor Academy

This court had fun writing it. Awesome moments:

- Skutch has denied that he ever asked the Copyright Office whether a copyright application could be made in the name of Jesus.

- Defendants maintain that Plaintiffs do not possess a valid copyright because the Course is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 8:28 PM on January 28, 2007

I once made a basil ice cream and served it, float style, with a tomato gazpacho. Everyone loved it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 8:33 AM on January 27, 2007

Meanwhile, a roundtable of experts responds on the Foreign Affairs website.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 2:21 PM on January 23, 2007

Visit Dandong, on the Chinese border, and you can get a good impression of the Korean life in about two hours. Go to the infamous bridge the US bombed in the Korean War, stand on the end, pay your three renminbi to use the binoculars.

You'll see a charming place. A soldier pushes a cute young boy, helping him to learn how to ride a bike. Two well-dressed couples walk by in their wedding outfits. A man reads on the banks of the river. A ferris wheel sits idle on a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 2:22 AM on January 21, 2007

Painful, but wonderful. I have always had a soft spot for the dodo. Thanks.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 12:08 AM on January 18, 2007

During the 2005 term, there were 87 decisions made, 16 of which were per curiam, leaving 71. This article concerns 4 of those. Here they are, in the order presented in the article, if you care to read the reasoning:

Garcetti v. Ceballos
Hudson v. Michigan
Rapanos v. United States
League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry

Oliver Wendell Holmes used to ask his fellow justices to name a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 12:58 AM on January 17, 2007

by "this article", I meant the PFAW one, not the Atlantic one. Sorry.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 1:01 AM on January 17, 2007

I know you said you've done the "main" stuff, but if that list didn't include the Musee d'Orsay then you should definitely check it out. Also I highly recommend the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, it's got a great view, and then you can walk down and hang out on the Boulevard de Clichy and check out the Moulin Rouge.
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 9:56 AM on January 11, 2007

I love it, but maybe I'm biased.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 4:13 PM on January 10, 2007

There's a really good italian restaurant on NE 65th and NE 27th- sorry I don't know the address, but it's the only restaurant there. It's called "Casa d'Italia", and despite the silly name is some of the best food I've ever had.

I always liked Jazz Alley.
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 9:40 AM on January 10, 2007

I just checked out Gametap today, and it is really fun- 800 games for $10 a month. Some old stuff, some new-ish stuff, some retro stuff, even Dreamcast games- and it all works great. Pretty good for wasting time, since even if you hate one game you can discard it and have 700-something more.
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 1:34 AM on December 30, 2006

I like the Corbett Fish House. It's not a fancy place, but it is really delicious- the fish is fried, but it's barely battered- using a rice flour- so it's wonderful, warm, fresh, and excellent.

I think I'll go there today!
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 11:53 AM on October 14, 2006 marked best answer

from the article:

One intelligence official said "lack of confirmation is not proof of a non-event."

Love it.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 2:55 PM on October 13, 2006

My high school biology teacher sang that song at the beginning of our genetics unit to demonstrate... something. It wasn't ever clear what, exactly.

It did make us all think he was creepy.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 9:10 AM on October 2, 2006

I think you should carefully consider college, but by no means should you rush into it. You can absolutely succeed in life without it, and you can absolutely be happy without it.

I only went to college for a year and consider myself relatively successful- I even taught upper division CS for a year.

A friend of mine, at my urging, didn't go to college, didn't even graduate high school, and he's now an Important Person at Apple. Another friend of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 7:17 PM on August 31, 2006 marked best answer

Hey, I'm posting from an E61, using Cingular's MEdia Net service. I just swapped in the SIM from my old phone and it works great.

I have unlimited data for about 20 bucks a month. I think there's a secret T-Mobile plan that gives you unlimited but proxied data for less than that. Speeds seem comparable on both EDGE networks, except I think Cingular's EDGE network is larger.

Personally I wouldn't buy a phone that was missing an American band-... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 3:10 PM on August 28, 2006

From the description:

"When an About Me text of sufficient length is found, the application uses Flesch's algorithm to gauge the reading level of that user's writing. Simultaneously, the program loads in a section of Freud's essay and gauges its Flesch Index. Through synonym replacement of multisyllable words, the reading level of the Freud paragraph is then adjusted to match the user "reading" that portion of the psychoanalyst's essay. Other stylistic... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 12:19 PM on July 24, 2006

Separately, how did some of you find this question?

Personally, I just go to the front page and browse through the questions listed there. They're listed in reverse date order. That's how I got here.

(Sadly, I have no opinions on the coffee- I was curious what other people were saying.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by thethirdman at 11:53 AM on June 15, 2006

.
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 1:52 PM on June 12, 2006

Oh man, I was just about to look for some good links about Adorno. Thanks for the post!
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 9:32 AM on May 30, 2006

My love of science and math also came from a slightly crazy physics teacher. His name was Mr. Trtek, and he was willing to go to all ends to teach me about physics. I spent the latter half of my senior year in high school working through the third book of the Feynman Lectures with him, and I think there's never been a point in my life where I learned more in a classroom setting than those few months.

Because of that time alone, I was able to hold down a job writing... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by thethirdman at 12:37 AM on May 25, 2006