Displaying comments 1 to 50 of 292
MeFi post:
What should I do with my life?
I just faced a major rejection this morning, which has thrown me into a loop because it means I have nothing set for at least the next year.
Yeah, I have ideas, but they all really depend on what won't get me in trouble with Immigration.
Timely post. Just wished I was in the proper mindset to absorb it all.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 6:54 PM on June 26, 2008
MeFi post:
Chit Chat.
I keep wanting to check out the Brisbane ones, but they always clashed with something else I have on. It seems to be very design-focused - do non-designers ever present at a Pecha Kucha?
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 9:24 PM on June 24, 2008
What other similar innovative presentations exist out there, besides Pecha Kucha?
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 10:33 PM on June 24, 2008
MeFi post:
Religious Groups' Official Positions on Same-Sex Marriage
THANK YOU. I'm fed up of people who proclaim that "all religions despise homosexuality" when that is clearly not the case. I wish I could print this out and distribute this at lectures about health and sexuality where someone prominent always pulls out that trope.
some countries with large Buddhist populations, such as Thailand and Cambodia, disapprove of homosexuality and have not legalized gay marriage.
I thought Thailand was... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 9:04 AM on June 24, 2008
MeFi post:
Doing something well for its own sake.
What if you're interested in craft, but for some reason you just can't get good enough? I am quite interested in arts and crafts, but no matter how often I practice or try, I still can't get to a high enough quality level. Am I not trying enough? What is "good enough"? Is it ok to just do something, well or not well, for its own sake?
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 8:18 AM on June 23, 2008
MeFi post:
Floating university moored
Leon-arto: I'm not sure about the American unis on your list, but most of the international ones started and ended from 1600-1900. Hardly any of them were "new".
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 1:43 AM on June 15, 2008
Sys Rq: That's what they sum themselves up as currently, which is pretty much the best they can do considering they do lots of things. I was in the last WorldSmart crew (before they went back to the UWP name) and it basically went from hard-core performance with the odd community service (UWP 1.0), to tons of leadership and service but nearly disowning the performance angle (the two WS crews before us), to a better balance of both (UWP 2.0).
I should disclose here that I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 6:57 AM on June 15, 2008
MeFi post:
Rethinking Literacy
Alternative schools still perpetuate the oppressive and selective model of Development and Progress.
Huh, I missed that part. Other articles on the site advocate for alternative schools that hold a less Western-centric and more holistic form of education, saying that they work better in terms of providing education while still maintaining student rights and interests.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 5:32 PM on June 13, 2008
MeFi post:
Zombie-Like Doo-Doo Heads
delmoi: What does that make "whiners" who come from the Third World?
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 2:33 AM on May 27, 2008
When you have a career that earns you a lot of money, you are free of money worries,
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You don't know anyone with a money-spinning career, do you? Because from what I've seen, the more money you make, the more stressed out you get trying to manage it all.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 3:59 PM on May 27, 2008
stavros: but you then have to worry about which investment gives you better returns. And about economic downfalls. Spend now vs save for later. yadda yadda yadda.
And there's all the people who want to use you for your money in the guise of friendship - then mock you when you dare show a little bit of your wealth. From early on you learn that you can't trust people.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 2:12 AM on May 28, 2008
MeFi post:
Imagine It!
Here's the website of one of the projects: What's Your Post-It?
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 3:08 PM on May 7, 2008
This is quite different from company-sponsored competitions. For one thing, this was part of an Entrepreneurship Week, and the competition was hosted by Stanford. The Post-Its were Stanford's choice; they weren't actually sponsored by 3M.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 4:42 AM on May 8, 2008
Also, if those of you criticizing the idea actually watched the video, you'll realize that (aside from the Indian comedy group, who called the product a "stickpad", and one group that went to 3M to get more pads), none of them actually promoted 3M nor any specific function of Post-Its. It was just a tool for their wider use.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 5:46 AM on May 8, 2008
MeFi post:
Los Angeles libraries offer video games to kids
This is shocking how exactly?
The Brisbane City Council libraries (at least the one in Brisbane Square) has an XBox station. It's far away enough from the rest of the reading areas (the place is HUGE) and uses headphones, so there's no noise. There are also stations to use computers, watch TV, and listen to music. Occasionally there are workshops on all sorts of things.
Our uni just started a Games Design course, and for one class all you have to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 7:13 PM on April 17, 2008
I wonder whether all the people here who claim that kids playing videogames in libraries will create noise has actually been to a library that has video games. The people making the most noise are people chitchatting in the books area. The ones with the TV/music/internet (free!!)/video games area are quiet and focused.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 7:40 PM on April 17, 2008
MeFi post:
i can has privilij?
rtha: I've never been asked to speak for all white people, but in class after class after discussion group in college, I saw black, native American, Indian, Korean etc. fellow students get asked a variation of "So, [name] can you give us [ethnicity/race]'s prespective on [topic]?"
THANK YOU. This is what annoys me about many panels I see here in Australia (and in a few other places elsewhere). Whenever there's a panel about something - say,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 6:38 PM on April 17, 2008
MeFi post:
Toilet Signs around the world
The one in my old university had a moustache for men's, and either a pair of red lips or high heels (forgot which) for ladies.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 3:23 PM on March 28, 2008
MeFi post:
MindHabits
hey, I deselected "subscribe me to the mailing list" on the download page and I still got signed on anyway. sneaky.
Reach Out Central does something similar, and it's free.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 10:56 PM on March 27, 2008
MeFi post:
On this day of resurrection...
I come from a cram school culture (Malaysia) and I can tell you that it's nothing like what Eggers is explaining. From KokoRyu's description, "preparation for students striving to improve test scores" is the only reason those schools exist at all. Most of the students that go to "tuition centers" in Malaysia don't actually need the extra help - they're doing well on their own. But they fork out all these money because they think that without spending hours... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 2:54 PM on March 23, 2008
MeFi post:
Coptic Illusion?
I had a similar situation. On my UWP tour we went across 18 cities (spending about a week in all but one city), one of them being Koln, Germany. I was hosted with a group of Catholic priests. I fell down the stairs my first night there, and the really nice priest who got me to hospital and checked that I'd be ok (I sprained my ankle and went on crutches) had to leave the next day for a conference, so he put another priest in charge of me for the rest of the week. He was terrible! He accused me... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 2:56 PM on February 29, 2008
hadjiboy: I gew up Muslim but the only thing I retain from it is the no-pork thing, simply because it was ingrained in me. There were another 2 crew members (one Muslim one Jewish) who didn't eat pork, and a few vegetarians, and I always felt for them when they ended up with a family whose idea of catering to those limitations is to give them a small helping of salad. (That happened my first night in Japan - they made pork curry, and all I could eat was the lettuce. Somehow they didn't get the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 1:04 PM on March 1, 2008
MeFi post:
What Europeans think of each other
eye of newt: I was in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2005 and the jokes were still strong on both sides. It's more of a friendly rivalry thing though.
I showed my boyfriend (who went to Denmark for a year) the list and he confirmed most of it. I found Swedes to be a bit cold and the Danes to be a lot more open and warm, though I suppose the winter snow had something to do with it.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 4:24 PM on February 20, 2008
MeFi post:
Islamic Courting
Not every Muslim country has burqas as required wearing, people. You would hardly see a headdress in Bangladesh, and that's 90% Muslim.
as for the OP...*dies laughing*
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 2:52 AM on February 16, 2008
MeFi post:
Character. Integrity. Do.
The video was good...right until the end.
Iran or Iraq would not likely look up to Obama and think "this is who I want for the US president". For one entirely stupid reason, the same reason that is cited in some of the "sliming" emails: he should be a Muslim, but isn't.
My (moderate Muslim) mum's been following the primaries here in Malaysia, and she's an Obama admirer. This conversation happened this... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 3:11 AM on February 6, 2008
MeFi post:
Russell's Teapot Comic
Do you pray? Do you go to church? If the answers to those questions are "no", then as far as acting on the existence of God, you're an atheist.
I believe in God, but I don't necessarily act on those beliefs (I'd define myself as Universist except that no one else does). I know a hell of a lot of people who identify themselves as Muslim/Christian/etc who don't actually perform the tenets of the religion.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 9:26 PM on January 29, 2008
MeFi post:
U2FU?
I've been following the discussions over new ways to promote music with interest, but I would like to know how it would affect the following: fans in non-first-world countries who have enthusiasm and some money to spare, but who hardly get to hear about most of the artistes to begin with.
I'll give Malaysia as an example. When CDs were hot in the rest of the world (98-99), the young people (major music buyers) here were buying cassettes. They were half price, most people... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 8:56 PM on January 29, 2008
MeFi post:
FAIL
Ah! The birth of a new meme!
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 7:52 PM on January 29, 2008
MeFi post:
Free, legal music downloads
I haven't seen anything to replace the promotion and marketing arms of a large organization (and don't tell me it's word of mouth on mp3 blogs and "the long tail").
Darren Hayes does this with his Powdered Sugar label (which is just him) - he and his close-knit group handle all the marketing and promotion, and he's made a lot of use of MySpace and YouTube. I've seen quite a bit of indie promotions going around too, though it tends to be more... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 8:43 PM on January 28, 2008
MeFi post:
A Portrait of the Intertubes as a Child
Mitrovarr: I think that's part of the joke - he has NYT's "Please resize your window" footer at the bottom of the post.
Yesterday my boyfriend and his housemate (and I on the other side of the world via GTalk) were talking about old-school webdesign. His housemate thought 1998 was old; I pointed out that I've been only since 1995 you young whipper-snappers get of my lawn. I remember my first website being one of those fill-out-the-form dealies with a bright... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 12:36 AM on January 27, 2008
MeFi post:
Heath Ledger dies
I first saw this on an acquaintance's blog and went "wait, what?!". Because he was one of the last people I'd expect to hear this about - and I don't even follow celebrity gossip anymore.
just. just wow. how sudden life can be.
.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 5:09 PM on January 22, 2008
MeFi post:
Amazing Birth
Wow. One of my best friends had a baby recently (she was the last person I'd ever expect to have kids), and she had a super tough pregnancy as well as a draining Caesarean. I only wish she was half as joyful as the woman in the video - it was hard to see her in pain.
but wow. so much respect.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 11:02 PM on January 20, 2008
MeFi post:
Visit your friendly local zine archive!
The Visible Ink space in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane has a great zine library too. When I was in uni in Malaysia, I had dreamt of starting a zine library there (possibly squatting in one of the undecorated rooms of the new uni "commercial" building) but never got round to it.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 10:30 AM on January 20, 2008
MeFi post:
Better World Books
twsf: When you're not in America, shipping that cheap for books is a GODSEND.
someone stop me from spending.
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 7:51 AM on January 16, 2008
MeFi post:
Google is “white bread for the mind" says professor
Very few undergraduates are concerned with, or need to be concerned with, bleeding edge research. In many cases, it wouldn't even be appropriate to a typical undergraduate research paper.
Damn, that must explain why I bombed my last semester: using sources that are too new. My most frequent comment from the faculty was that I wasn't using established theory, which was often old and very Western-centric. This was especially frustrating when it was a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 5:31 AM on January 15, 2008
the cydonian: But what if the article you're trying to cite hasn't been picked up by the academic databases? I often use international newspapers where I obviously don't have a copy and the website link has died or will die soon (Malaysian papers tend to do this to me!), but I've retrieved the original text from sources that I trust. And how about transcript of speeches/talks/other originally-non-textual information? Does the transcript have to necessarily be from a "top" source too?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by divabat
at 8:51 AM on January 15, 2008
