Complex fantasy series like George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen. Casts of thousands and tons of minutiae that influence plot five or six 900 page books later in the series.

And Tolkien.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 7:39 PM on July 25, 2008

Buy a dehumidifier. Crank it up. Dry out the corpse.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:12 AM on July 23, 2008

Karl Schroeder has his Virga series, set inside a giant dirgible/balloon type planet. The first book is Sun of Suns.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:56 AM on July 12, 2008

I always tell people to become a pathology assistant. It is an awesome job and PAs are highly respected. Ours are worth their weight in gold and get treated like it (because they tend to hold our practice together). It's usually a 2 year masters program.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:06 AM on July 9, 2008

LabTechHeadsetNewColonScalpelHands.jpg is pretty much what it is. The organ is a segment of bowel with a large fungating tumor.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 2:45 PM on July 9, 2008

I was just going to recommend the Roy Dotrice readings of GRRM's books. He is amazing on them and it's by far the best audiobook experience I've ever had. Highly recommended.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 1:57 PM on July 7, 2008

My two favorite small presses publish titles in those genres (not exclusively, thankfully) are:
Night Shade Books and Subterranean Press

others are:
Prime Books, Small Beer Press, Golden Gryphon
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 7:54 AM on July 7, 2008 marked best answer

I'm almost certain this a philip k dick story. Can't think of the name of it now, but I'm confident that I've read it. Will search some.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 2:52 PM on July 4, 2008

Opticbook 3600 for all your research (and copyright infringement) needs. If only you were using Windows. It's a perfect scanner for books. I don't know of an OSX equivalent.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:31 PM on July 3, 2008

what's GoodReads got over LibraryThing?
More than 200 books on a free account.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 9:04 AM on July 3, 2008

I bought a PCI FM transmitter card. Any audio on your computer you can route to this and then you can listen on any FM radio in your house. The wife loves it for our kitchen. It'll be ~$100 or so. I use a PCI-MAX card.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:36 AM on July 1, 2008

+100 bullets, +Y the last man (great great), +Sandman, +Watchmen, Sin City, The Walking Dead, Preacher. That'll keep you busy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:30 AM on July 1, 2008

Post-apocalypse is one of my favorite sub-genres of sf/f. Most of the really good stuff has already been mentioned upthread.

I'll just point out that Night Shade Books has put out a really great little anthology called Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. It was an excellent read if you are looking for some short fiction.

The editor of that short story collection, John Joseph Adams, has also put together four comprehensive Amazon Listmanias... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 12:11 PM on June 27, 2008

I've been with usenetserver for about 5 years. All binary and I haven't had any issues.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:00 AM on June 26, 2008

Force red ring and send it in ^as above.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 10:58 AM on June 25, 2008

Well hell if you're in St. Louis, head down to Schlafly's brew pub (Tap Room) or their brew house and try any of their beers. (You can also find it at the grocery store)

I don't live there anymore, but I always do some serious damage to some Schlafly six-packs when I come visit family.

They make a great Pale Ale and an even better Oatmeal Stout. But really, all their beers are great.

Seriously, leave the Bud to the frat... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 7:56 PM on June 22, 2008

Yeah just drink it black. Goddamn I love coffee.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 7:49 PM on June 22, 2008

I spent many many enjoyable outings on the Huzzah in my youth. Fond memories.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 1:32 PM on June 17, 2008

I would contact the credentialing office/coordinator for the hospital at the base. If you are a civilian, no one will be particularly interested in your personal political opinions on the war or anything else as long as you are not broadcasting them. There isn't any type of political test. Besides, I think that you'll find the medical corps to be one of the most liberal enclaves in the military (perhaps by virtue of being the most educated).

There is a military... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:29 AM on June 9, 2008

Cherie Priest has three southern gothic ghost novels set in and around Chattanooga. They're pretty good reads.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:04 AM on June 6, 2008

GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire series is on Audible (and I don't think you can get it anywhere else except P2P). It's awesome - like really really great. It'll keep you busy for months and months. Roy Dotrice is the voice and he does an amazing job with the material. It's easily the best audiobook experience I've had.

Altered Carbon kicks ass too. Even if you don't listen to the audio version you should read it at some point if you like cyberpunk.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:28 AM on June 3, 2008

Seems like Audible is the way to go if I'm going to be doing this regularly. Not a huge fan of the DRM restrictions

You can convert to mp3. Just google it. That's what happens when they don't support players outside of iPod.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 1:25 PM on June 3, 2008

Nah don't give them up. I'm a chronic procrastinator/video game addict. I managed to get through undergrad, med-school and residency with a serious counter-strike (and current xbox360) addiction. The critical thing is to be able to budget your time. And study away from where you live. Reward hard studying with some gaming time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 10:55 AM on May 31, 2008

She Talks to Angels by the Black Crowes is in open E.

And pretty fun to play.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:39 PM on May 30, 2008 marked best answer

1. Read slowly. When I read technical material for retention, I pause at every sentence, and really identify the subject of that sentence.
2. When you come to an important point, mentally rephrase the point as a question and answer in your head.
3. If I absolutely have to know commit something to memory I take good notes and then make a little question/answer quiz for myself.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:49 AM on May 30, 2008

Yeah if you're looking for a good freeware implementation of the spaced repetition algorithm for flashcards, I can vouch for Mnemosyne. It's pretty great.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:38 PM on May 30, 2008

Ted Chiang
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 6:31 PM on May 28, 2008

Love my EEE. I have the 701 (so small screen, but I'm really happy with it).
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 2:51 PM on May 28, 2008

I think that it didn't sell as well in the US.
You could order it from the UK (I import lots of stuff) free shipping there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:28 AM on May 28, 2008 marked best answer

I bought an Opticbook 3600 two years ago and I haven't looked back. Couple of hours plopped down in front of a movie = ebook. Now I have an entire technical reference library on a subnotebook (Asus EEE) that's smaller than a typical hardcover book.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:59 PM on May 27, 2008 marked best answer

nthing swaddling
Also get some kind of swing. Preferably one that moves so that if they refuse to sleep in their crib as newborns to six months (like both of mine have) you can plop them in that and move it next to the couch so you can sleep too!
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 10:30 AM on May 20, 2008

Nuke it from orbit THEN after you install everything (drivers, programs, configs, etc.) image the disk. Then if it happens again, you'll be in great shape.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 9:19 AM on May 20, 2008

(Despite being a corporate entity)We like Kraft's Food and Family magazine. You can sign up and they'll send you the magazine quarterly for free. We've found some winners in there. There are a lot of no-nonsense family type foods and things that are interesting for the kids.
End advertisement. *Goes to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:09 AM on May 20, 2008

As a laboratorian I'll just chip in with that GGT is a near-worthless test. It is completely non-specific and has limited value for working up any type of differential diagnosis. Transaminases (AST/ALT) have far greater value. Go see a gastroenterologist.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 8:50 AM on May 14, 2008

Pool Shark by Sublime (Bradley Nowell - RIP heroin)
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:01 PM on May 13, 2008

Honestly, AVS forum are probably going to give you higher yield info than the green. Some of those folks are really, really serious about their A-V hobby.

The most important thing that you are looking for if you are planning on using an LCD/HDTV for computer display (esp. for text) is 1-to-1 pixel mapping. This means that the TV won't interfere with the signal (overscan, scaling, etc).

Here is a thread on AVS forum detailing displays with... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 9:37 AM on May 12, 2008 marked best answer

And just to be clear (I'm a big user of Tiddlywiki I take extensive reading notes in it) - if you are working with large amounts of data on TW you will see performance degradation. Once your file size hits around ~1MB or so.

So I use and love TW but I have to split my notes across multiple TW files.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:44 AM on May 8, 2008

Mirror therapy seems pretty simple for a start.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:07 PM on May 7, 2008

Yeah sorry. I just realized that - I had that article on the brain.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:13 PM on May 7, 2008

Just to give you an idea of how high that is - 6.3 to 8.3 is about the normal reference range for protein. Reference ranges are typically +/- 2SD of the mean (the central 95.5% of healthy patients) so in the case of total protein the SD is about 0.5. A total protein of 14 is roughly 10-11 SD above 97.5% of the rest of the healthy population. That's really really high. Does it happen, sure, but most of those patient's are pretty sick.

So another vote for lab error,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:30 AM on May 7, 2008

Yep. Cancer lottery is exactly right. I'm a pathologist and if I had to get a cancer, papillary thyroid carcinoma is the one I want. Make sure you get a copy of your pathology report (after all someone is paying lots of money for it).
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 3:30 PM on May 5, 2008

You're definitely not alone. I'm an introvert and a home-body with a lot of introvert-type hobbies also. I'm perfectly happy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:45 AM on May 4, 2008 marked best answer

Fujitsa Scansnap will probably be the most recommended here.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 9:16 AM on May 1, 2008

Plastic surgeon. This is (a part of) what they do.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 8:49 AM on May 1, 2008

You broke the 'terrible toos'
- Too much
- Too often
- Too hard
- Too far

Shin splints are an overuse injury (I am just as guilty - I'm in the process of rehabbing right now). Rest until there is no pain with pressure on the inside aspect of the tibia (where the soleus meets the tibial bone). Then begin slowly:
-day one: walk 2 min, jog 1 min x 5
-day two: rest
-day three: walk 1 min,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 6:30 AM on May 1, 2008

Avast! offers a free license to home users as well (I greatly prefer to AVG)
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 5:23 AM on April 28, 2008

“My name is Werner Brandis. My voice is my password. Verify me.”

Good movie.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 10:05 AM on April 25, 2008

I've been fighting recurrent shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome), with flat feet and subsequent overpronation. Things that have helped me:
1. Arch supports and lifts (reduces pronation and decreases tension on the achilles/soleus)
2. Seated calf raises to strengthen the soleus.
3. Stretching the calves regularly.

For ITBS (which I was able to cure and hasn't recurred) I did a lot of side leg raises and stretching of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 6:58 AM on April 24, 2008

His biography, First Man, is a really good read and addresses a couple of the questions already posed, especially about continuing to fund space exploration (absolutely) and his privacy (hates the limelight).

Also Buzz Aldrin really comes across as an ass.
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 4:20 PM on April 23, 2008

Though their service was mediocre the one time I ordered.

I've had really good luck with them. Probably 10-12 orders to the East Coast US, most within 1 week of placing the order. The only thing that I find mildly annoying is that if you place an order with multiple book, each book gets shipped in a separate package. That happened on the first order that I placed and I was worried that somehow my... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by i_am_a_Jedi at 11:33 AM on April 21, 2008