downThemAll. URLToys.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:08 PM on July 21, 2008 marked best answer

The director (not sure his exact title) of R&D at Abbott Diabetes Care was previously a fusion physicist at one of the national labs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:41 PM on July 21, 2008

Did you move the old HD to an extra cable on the new machine? It's worth a shot, since the problem could be with the old MB.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:16 AM on July 21, 2008

Also, I don't have time to play with it now, but it looks like phptimeclock in pretty basic; it should be simple to see what the "punch out" function is (search the admin folder for the text which proceeds it in the interface), and either do a direct db status change on everyone, or write the necessary foreach $user in @users {punchout($user)}
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:41 AM on July 21, 2008

Does it for sure go away if you don't eat? What if you have foods that you normally eat for dinner that don't set you off? It could be a) the morning or b) any food in the morning. Nausea's complex.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:58 PM on July 20, 2008

Ms. Vegetable used to teach high school math. She hated it. She now makes double what she did teaching and is lot saner. Summers off ARE NOT WORTH IT. Even if a school were to pay her double what she is currently making, summers off are not worth it to her. You need that time to recover, evaluate your year, plan your next year, etc. Ms. Vegetable would much rather recommend that Mr. Anonymous find some other way to fulfill his desire for long blocks of time off - sabbaticals are a potential in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 3:50 PM on July 18, 2008

Could you break a long line onto two lines and have the second one have a blank number?
%s/^\(\w\{9\}\w\+\)\s\([^\t]\+\)\t\(\[^\t]\+\)/\1\t\3\r\2/
Or something like that.
(beginning of line) (ten or more word characters) (space) (non-tab characters) (tab) (non-tab characters) becomes (ten or more word characters) (tab) (phone number) (newline) (rest of name) (newline).

Maybe change the \w's to be something more expansive, or allow a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 1:29 PM on July 18, 2008

1) Certification will be needed for public schools, which tend to pay better to much better. Better private schools will want experience. Some districts will place a high value on a masters, but lots of people start teaching without one.

Because evaluating teacher quality is so hard, pay within a district is almost uniformly based on objective qualifications: years experience, certification, education. NCLB is changing this, but slowly because teachers hate the idea.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 9:42 AM on July 17, 2008

Write erotic stories to each other, or just find stories on the internet that you think are particularly erotic and email. Step B is collaborative writing. Step C is "collaborative writing".
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 4:27 AM on July 17, 2008

Transform the weird ones (a, dis, dep) to (a, dep, dis), do principal components (which you already have working) and use the component value.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 8:39 AM on July 15, 2008 marked best answer

Oh, PCA is just a weighted average (it's a linear transformation) with statistical respectability. The wiki article is fine for this topic, and it's correct that looking at factor analysis could do a similar job for you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 8:44 AM on July 15, 2008

You have to proxy through your library, but even then I've found pubmed to be less good at finding the full text than google scholar "find it at UofBlah!" which shows up when you're proxied.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 4:15 AM on July 15, 2008

If you don't know, we don't. It sounds like his drug habits are more having-fun than addict. Most states now take an extremely dim view of underage DUI, and the state's attorney can easily let him know what this would be if he was an adult.

I was persuaded to use fewer drugs when it became clear how boring they make you. Just like old narcissist hippies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 4:17 PM on July 13, 2008

I have a good new job coming up in a few months which, while there are no guarantees, looks likely to provide me with steady work for some time to come.

I can guarantee that your creditors will demand payment regardless of what happens and bilk you in high interest. If you take on this kind of debt, it will mean that any hiccups to the next job which delay your paying off your debt will cost you big time. Really, any woe between now and then (and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 3:43 PM on July 13, 2008

At the recent parade here in Chicago, the people with "Just Married" or "I Do" + "thanks California!" got incredible cheers. People walked in regular outfits. If you have the sign and strike up conversation with people with the same idea who have a float during the preparation time, they might invite you up.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:44 AM on July 12, 2008

When I lived in Alabama I once went to a dying church mostly attended by the elderly. It was Episcopal IIRC. After that I told people that I went there. Since there are lots of 'Christians' who go to church twice a year, it's not so strange that nobody would see you do that. An equally effective response when I lived in Jackson, MS was that I would "shop around" from time to time. This was true, I would very occasionally go to one to see what it was like.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:05 PM on July 8, 2008 marked best answer

There are about 10^4 guides to building a pc online. My case/psu and hardware purchases all came with the required cables. In fact, I have a glut of leftover cables because sometimes both ends came with cables (ie, my SATA drive and MB both came with SATA connectors).

Read your MB manual all the way through. I missed out on dual-channel RAM config for years because I wasn't paying attention to which slots they weren't supposed to go it. I also had/have very... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 7:05 AM on July 6, 2008

Oh, you also need a box/folder where the broken down component boxes, receipts, manuals, etc. go and live forever. I recently had and ATI card die within the warranty period but couldn't find that UPC from when I bought it. That will make you crazy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 1:20 PM on July 6, 2008

Update: I bought Jedicus's second suggestion, which has not worked out. It came pre-glopped with way too much thermal compound. I thought, "maybe it is ok, why would the manufacturer waste money on too much glop? Besides, if it's too much I can just take it off and remove excess goop." I definitely observed the "blast pattern" on the existing caked compound, suggesting that it smoothed itself out. Then when I went to remove surplus goop after testing, I noticed that the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 7:30 AM on July 6, 2008

advice on any ideas about how to go about this without a sperm bank involved and without a potential donor (in other words, finding someone to have sex with for this purpose). Craigslist? Seriously, I'd love to hear your ideas and warnings about advertising for someone to help me do this the old fashioned way without them being involved with the potential kid.

I wouldn't do this. Since you're talking about unprotected sex with someone interested in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:44 AM on July 4, 2008

In order to retain relevance, I'd look at the five-year never-pregnant probability. For the typical user, that'd be very close to (.88^5)~=53%. For the perfect user (which is easier to motivate once you realize how large 53% is) it's about 90%.

That is, if you use condoms correctly every time for five years, there's still a 1/10 of at least one pregnancy. Using a back-up contraception method is a good idea.

Condoms are great because they... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 10:05 AM on July 2, 2008

discoverbank.com has a near 5% on a 60mo. Three weeks ago I saw 5.0% on 36mo at national city bank. If you think that rates are going up (everyone else does) then park it at 4.3% for a year or 4.0% for 6 mo and cope. You're also free to get into non-banking products, but we're living in interesting times, and there are few options that don't exposure you to a lot of variability. Remember, if it's "emergency money" you have to ladder it so that it becomes available on a regular... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 4:23 PM on June 30, 2008

Why, other than liquidity should I buy into the Vanguard fund rather than buy TIPS from the Treasury? In other words, why buy one over the other. I too have a big CD that is coming on renewal right now, and I was looking into TIPS.

Aside from liquidity, you don't have a fixed rate. With a fixed-rate investment you have a guarantee of income even if interest rates go down; with TIPS your rate is variable. Since the Treasury determines yields at... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:15 AM on July 1, 2008

Yes, I have a significant confidence in FDIC and the efforts of regulators and congress to avoid a consumer banking meltdown. My understanding is that if Indymac, National City, Countrywide, et al with bad mortgage exposure keel over others will start to domino and Very Bad Things will happen across the board. From the top there is an overwhelming interest in making sure that FDIC works, otherwise there would be a national banking panic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 8:17 AM on July 1, 2008

It's a good idea to have the emergency money in a Roth IRA containing whatever investment type (moneymarket account, CDs, etc) you're looking to get. If you go to your bank they'll be more than willing to set this up for you, and most places that have the investments will do the same.

The advantages are that you can withdraw the contributions any time without paying extra tax, the interest grows tax-free (but you can't withdraw it without penalty except under certain... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 4:46 PM on June 30, 2008

Side arms on security is one thing, but the Guard/Reserve folks with M16s are there for theater. You also should consider that the type of person who goes into airport security needs a phallic tool at hand.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 2:08 PM on June 24, 2008

If you start to get angioedema, you'll probably know. It's pretty rare, 0.1 to 0.5%*, more commonly in people of african descent.

If you are worried of the possibility of a mild potassium elevation, then it's not uncommon to have ACEI+thiazide or ACEI+loop since they have opposite effects on potassium. You'd probably rather just check up on it rather than adding another potential set of side effects. It's really a pretty safe med.

* Slater EE,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:17 AM on June 24, 2008

Also, it pretty much adds. Dark base + dark 'paint' = darker
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 11:59 AM on June 23, 2008

Nope, Bush took the $80M in 2004. During his virtually unopposed run-up to the convention, he could raise and spend as much as he wanted. That accomplishes pretty much the same goal.

Also, even though you can only give $2300 to a candidate, you can give almost $30k to the national party, which then spends the money to help the candidate. McCain right now has agreements with the RNC to split the costs of ads which are for both of them. The loopholes to launder money... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 8:48 AM on June 23, 2008

Actually this Roll Call article indicates that the joint accounts allow people to donate up to $70k.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 8:56 AM on June 23, 2008

Ah, this explains how the $70k is broken down. $2300 to the campaign itself, $28.5k to the national party, and the rest to the state GOP committees in battleground states. This is before giving to 527s.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 9:01 AM on June 23, 2008

Heat maybe? If you're on a laptop, try getting more airflow. Try checking your CPU sensors.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 4:48 PM on June 18, 2008 marked best answer

Ask someone is payroll/HR first. Is it possible that you're leaving out something like the increased taxes that you'll have to pay? First-month proration is also possible.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:59 AM on June 17, 2008

Ms. Vegetable plays the flute. One of her favorite recital pieces is actually for violin, but it's beautiful - the Prokofiev Sonata.

Is there a music school near you? I suspect any of the librarians or professors would be more than happy to share their expertise (and collections).

Also, The Planets.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:24 PM on June 16, 2008

If you google around or pick up one of the many books on sexual positions, you'll see that some have deeper penetration than others. Try the ones with less.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 2:33 PM on June 16, 2008

I notice that that symptom list leaves out something really crucial for MS: there need to be at least two lesions separated in space (neurologic localization) and time (MS remits and relapses-- at least 3 months apart). Self diagnosis is unproductive; take your actual symptoms to the MD.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 9:03 AM on June 16, 2008

I use dyndns for this exact purpose; the ddclient with which it works is already in the debian/ubuntu repos. It claims to also work with EasyDNS, Hammernode, Zoneedit.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 8:54 AM on June 16, 2008 marked best answer

Small. I see some commercial software that offers to brute-force passwords of that length, but it takes quite a while. Also, random Joe is unlikely to know how to do that. There was an attack on 64 bit RC5, but that was a distributed computing project.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 4:45 AM on June 16, 2008

Long standing five poops a day and lots of gas sounds like a malabsorption diarrhea or irritable bowel disease, but could be other things. Consider seeing, you know, a doctor. Your teens and twenties are right around the time for Crohn's to show up.

I'd ask lots of questions about your poop and bowel habits to find out more, but it's anon. If only you could be scoped over the internet.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:33 PM on June 13, 2008

Ms. Vegetable:

Check out these - I know the latest issue had some YUMMY recipes, but it doesn't look like 2008 issues are posted yet.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:33 PM on June 12, 2008

C-14 has a very weak decay compared to other more dangerous radio-isotopes, like K40 and I131. There's also an enormous reserve of non-biologic carbon which C14 freely exchanges with; in contrast K and I are concentrated by mammals. If you go to the wiki on C14, you'll see that C14 currently makes up about 1/360th (~1 mrem) of the average radiation exposure, so you could double that about eight more times before you got on the same scale as our other sources of exposure. The current federal... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 10:58 AM on June 12, 2008 marked best answer

apart from the relatively negligible risks of radioactive contamination, are there any other foreseeable ecological consequences to increasing global C-14 levels by several orders of magnitude within a relatively short span of time?

A factor of two is not an order of magnitude. Aside from it's radioactive nature, C-14 is chemically identical to normal carbon. There are risks associated with non-carbon isotopes being produced, is that what you want?
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 11:20 AM on June 12, 2008

kmeans works with vector data, you just make the first argument a matrix (data in rows I think). You have really big N-tupples, so it probably will work like crap. Here's example code.


x1<-c(4,0,0,0,1);
x2<-c(0,4,1,0,0);
x3<-c(0,0,4,2,0);
x4<-c(1,0,0,0,3);
y<-rbind(x1,x2,x3,x4);
x<-y;
for (i in 1:15) {
y<-rbind(y,x1+rnorm(n=5),x2+rnorm(n=5),x3+rnorm(n=5)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:45 PM on June 11, 2008

Oh, and you could use your aprori knowledge in a couple of ways that I can think of. I have no idea how these behave statistically
1) Use the categories to generate initial clusters, since all minimization algorithms work better with a good guess. This is probably the best/most justifiable.
2) Tack on an extra dimension (or six, equivalently) to your N-tuples with values that will place varying weight on trying to push together like-catogied data.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:51 PM on June 11, 2008

What's the survey about; what kind of people are you looking for; how many people are you looking for?

The best way to get people to answer a survey is for it to be something that they're interested in. If there exist such people, find their forums / chats.

If you're just doing marketing research, then you need to be straightforward and look professional. I have to look at your email/ad and think that you're not a spam collector. Give an... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:23 AM on June 11, 2008

To get over this fear, you should travel to Australia, where the fat middle-aged smokers just wear speedos.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 11:11 AM on June 9, 2008

Ms. Vegetable is an actuary:

- Is she trying to pass P/1 or FM/2? FM/2 tends to be a bit easier, and companies really don't care which one you pass first.
- Does she have a recruiter on her side? First one that comes to mind is dwsimpson. Be aware, though, that they don't always look out for jobs that really match you. But they can potentially be useful for contacts.
- Underwriting or research may be departments (in insurance companies, anyway)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 5:20 PM on June 8, 2008

(Still Ms. Vegetable):

FWIW, I did take a year between college and starting a job as an actuary to teach. While I did not particularly enjoy it, it did pay for rent and groceries, and those "soft" skills of leadership and managerial style paid off in interviews. Several of my coworkers did the same thing - they taught until they passed an exam, and then immediately got hired as an actuary and quit teaching. If she chooses this route: private schools are easier... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:34 PM on June 8, 2008

If the sun is at zenith at 12, then 5-6 pm. There's a plot linkedhere. The farther north you are, the more attenuated UV becomes as the sun departs from zenith.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 6:43 AM on June 8, 2008

I remote control the cat with a laser. It's cute in every way possible.
posted to Ask Metafilter by a robot made out of meat at 8:28 AM on June 6, 2008