I agree with what a lot of people are saying; a University is a part of a community. The better the name, the more desirable the community. You will have more opportunities if you go to a "better" school via the relationships that are in place. It is not a requirement to getting a good job. If you have personal connections then you are golden, otherwise, a good university with strong ties to technology companies is a must. I would choose my school based on its co-op programs.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 9:59 PM on July 23, 2008

David Duchovny Why Don't You Love Me?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 2:28 PM on July 20, 2008

The Canvas Falcons by Stephen Longstreet is about the dawn of aviation in war time. The descriptions of pilots getting drunk so that their nerves would let them fly, firing at each other with pistols and hurling molotov cocktails are worth the price of admission.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 8:49 PM on June 29, 2008

One of my favorite movies of all time is Children of Men. I haven't read the book, but I've heard that you should choose one or the other because they are fairly divergent.

I also like the Omega Man, and (what I considered to be the remake) I am Legend. Logan's Run, Dark City, and of course, the Mad Max Movies.

Online you can read Monster Island, Monster Nation, and Monster Planet for a Zombie holocaust trilogy. Its free too!... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 11:44 AM on June 27, 2008

I was just in Kelowna this weekend and had a great time. I would recommend hitting the wineries. You can do four decent to excellent wineries in about two hours on the west side of the city (over the bridge). Check out Quail's Gate (medium/good value), Mission Hill (big/fancy), Mount Boucherie (medium/quaint/good value). There is another one right beside Boucherie called Little Straw that is family run and interesting to compare to the others. I would recommend eating a meal at Quail's gate or... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 5:24 PM on June 15, 2008

You can buy 500GB USB drives for around $120 these days. Might be worth checking out something like this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 3:11 PM on April 20, 2008

I feel like it would involve a drop rate (or supply rate) for inputs contingent on the average number of players to ensure that inputs required would be available. Drop rates would be a baseline for value, but then the benefit of output would skew value in other directions. I feel like this would be more easy to tweak in testing than to explicitly model because of how subjective a lot values of an item are; Why does somebody want this item? because its useful, cool, required for something.. etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 11:57 AM on February 9, 2008

My parents made me buy my own guitar. They offered to pay for a few lessons, but it was completely up to me to get the instrument. I managed to buy a cobbled together crap-tar for about $70, and a practice amp for about $50, after much mowing of lawns. I basically didn't put the guitar down for the rest of high school (learning about the specific strengths and limitations of all of the individual parts of the guitar along the way), while other kids, who got their parents to buy them the latest... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 11:07 AM on January 5, 2008

Over the holidays I watched a documentary about the British countryside. The narrator said that dumbledores were the original name for dung beetles. Maybe this helps?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 10:49 AM on January 5, 2008

Perhaps you could teach them about the concept of face , which perhaps predisposes Chinese culture to accepting information and knowledge control. Two other key topics are direct versus indirect communication and high-context versus low-context societies. (sorry I can't find a link for the former that is not extremely biased towards the American view that indirect communication is for passive aggressive jerks)

A source that provides comparisons between many cultures is... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 12:47 PM on November 21, 2007

Also, it might be useful to discuss the concept of moral relativism.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 1:01 PM on November 21, 2007

You could use Aurora, setting iCal to launch at whatever time you want. I think, but am not sure, that you can set iCal to auto sync on start up. That would do it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 4:59 PM on September 27, 2007

International Business Machines.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 9:05 AM on September 22, 2007

I don't know where these jokes come from, but my parents and I used to tell them when I was about 5 years old and they're still kind of funny (to me).

They all start the same way and its important to say the whole thing for comedic effect.

"What do you call a man with no arms and no legs who is.."

"..floating in the ocean?" - "Bob"
"..hiding under a pile of leaves?" -... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 9:44 AM on September 21, 2007

Gravity has a multiplyer effect on stressing your joints, so the higher your weight, the exponentially more stress your knees, back, etc. will feel. You need to eliminate gravity until you get your weight down.

People have already said it, but you should get down and dirty with swimming. It is an excellent work out and eliminates almost all of gravity's impact on the body. You might also try hot yoga to start, and then move to other types after you start to feel your body respond.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 6:11 PM on September 18, 2007

Do you think that it's possible that you miss the drama? Spending so much time in a certain emotional situation can often create feelings like that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 8:21 PM on August 11, 2007

flaterik, that link is brilliant. thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 9:53 PM on April 3, 2007

Maybe "sexy results" by MSTRKRFT
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 4:45 PM on March 31, 2007

Amtho, however if you are referring to two nouns of the same gender (or class, if you will) in a sentence you don't have the same convenience. I think this is just a convenience more than anything else; the order of the nouns and the context in relation to the language syntax of subject and object are of more value in understanding pronouns.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 10:35 AM on March 24, 2007

The hard and fast rule is "never be negative" about past experiences. If pressed, you're supposed to talk about how you learned from the experience and have come to appreciate the challenges faced and the opportunity to reinvent yourself.

But the key phrase is "if pressed".
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 7:59 PM on March 14, 2007

Are your sampling rates much higher for guitar/mic?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 5:07 PM on March 8, 2007

I'd say you're sleeping too much. If you slept less. like around the 8 hours that normal people sleep, you would not only have more hours in the day but you would feel considerably better. I'm guessing that you wouldn't have to search very hard to find sources that support this.

I'm actually at home sick on medication that is making me sleep around 14 hours a day and let me tell you that it makes me feel miserable, even though its all I seem to do. It makes me feel... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 1:07 PM on March 5, 2007

I'm all about American Apparel. Very simple and classic design; they don't have any logos. But they make you realize how poorly cut other polo shirts are. They are sized slightly small.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 8:08 PM on March 4, 2007

I want to say Jacob's Ladder. It is steeped in Christian mythology but it is clearly Jacob against himself as he fights to find peace in death and traverse up the stair case to heaven with his dead son (purity lost).
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 7:50 PM on March 3, 2007

I think this is a special case and isn't exactly blight, but Vancouver, East Hastings area is the closest approximation of hell I have ever seen.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 12:36 PM on March 3, 2007

The ol' getting drunk and making out is always an option.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 4:41 PM on February 9, 2007

Montreal is pretty good if you can handle the freezing cold. Its generally quite affordable with the lowest rents you'll find in a big city in North America. Although most day jobs are quite shitty for English folks. The scene is fairly niche oriented and it might take you a while to get going there, but its a hell of a lot of fun if you want to spend your life doing music.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 8:00 PM on January 26, 2007

You can use any mbox device that says "ProTools Compatible" on the box with ProTools. I've known people who have switched their boxes based on the application and used the same laptop. Works like a charm.

I don't know about any of the limitations of LE, but I assume that there wouldn't be a device limitation.

Have fun!
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 1:49 PM on January 26, 2007

Godspeed You Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas Towards the Heavens.

But you probably already knew that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 3:59 PM on December 17, 2006

Saskatchewan is probably the best value for your money. You can buy a really nice house there for under $150,000 so I'd imagine land would be cheap. The summers are quite pleasant but the winter wind is very very cold. Good luck.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 11:14 AM on December 16, 2006

Jeff_W knows what time it is.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 10:47 AM on November 22, 2006

A guy I worked with did this and I can assure you that he was looked at as being kind of ridiculous. His wife left him not three months later so maybe it was karma...
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 2:49 PM on November 20, 2006

job boom in environmental sciences.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 6:59 PM on November 19, 2006

Do you have a CRT monitor (basically, not an LCD screen). Sometimes putting your speakers too close to a CRT monitor can amplify noise (in this case, CB radio). If you do have a CRT, try moving your speakers away from the monitor and see if it helps.

Otherwise, get better quality speakers if this bothers you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 5:34 PM on November 19, 2006

Yeah I second Geoff. Even if you break the ice with her, its mostly because its her job; but seriously you're money and you don't even know it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 10:13 AM on November 15, 2006

All sound or just from iTunes?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 12:13 PM on November 14, 2006

I bought a long wool coat and got the perfect navy blue sweater, started getting my hair cut at the right place in town for my demographic, stopped some of my bad habits, got a lot of exercise...
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 4:19 PM on November 2, 2006

I get to see him speak on the 10th. Really looking forward to it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 3:53 PM on November 2, 2006

I can relate fake, your story basically sums up the events of last weekend for me except with a bit more of a pragmatic, amicable split.

While I can appreciate the reassurance of supposed certainty that some people believe in, I find the idea of making some sort of eternal promise to be irrational and, frankly, kind of childish. Some would call me cynical, but I'm just trying to be pragmatic.

Maybe we are flattered to think that there is nobody... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 2:11 PM on October 11, 2006

A French friend of mine abrieviated associate researcher to "ass. researcher" on her resume and I giggled.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 10:52 AM on October 3, 2006

I got into Mew lately, some of their stuff strays into electro dance.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 6:40 AM on September 21, 2006

Brickyard is okay. Go to the Columbia, or, on the 23rd of September go to the Balmoral. My friend Andrew is throwing a party and its bound to be kick ass..
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 9:19 PM on September 18, 2006

to me his tone sounds like a tele on the with only the humbucker closest to the fret board on. high and mid range settings up on the amp, no reverb, little bass, and no brightness.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 10:02 PM on August 17, 2006

My Grandma speaks highly of Dell tech support.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 7:59 PM on August 15, 2006

Hungry Eyes by Patrick Swayzee. It's the Swayzee-ist
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 6:48 AM on July 5, 2006

Oh damn. I mean, She's Like the Wind, also from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack.. I'm so ashamed.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 6:51 AM on July 5, 2006

For the recording of Nevermind, Nirvana were completely wasted on codeine cough syrup because Kurt had a bad cold at the time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 1:12 PM on June 26, 2006

2. It is very easy to scrape by in Montreal, however, it is very difficult to get a good job if you don't have any contacts or aren't billingual. Good jobs will pay you about 75% of what you would make elsewhere in Canada.

Also, it is not always summer time in Montreal. Just keep that in mind.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 9:40 AM on June 25, 2006

Not at all. The guy knew what he was doing, but probably in his mind a threesome doesn't count as cheating because the two girls cancel each other out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 12:26 PM on June 15, 2006

Montreal sushi is by no means great. We just aren't close enough to the ocean. However, we have a disproportionate number of great restaurants, so you might be ultimately more satisfied looking something other than sushi.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dobie at 7:13 AM on June 15, 2006