Basically the answer is you only think flip flops go flip-flop. Different languages have different names for the sounds of objects and animals. For example, in Indian flip-flops are called chappals and I think chap-chap-chap when I hear flip flops not really flip-flop. The same goes for the sounds animals make -- look at this extremely interesting list of the sounds that different animals are supposed to make in different languages. Dogs seem to make sounds all the way from vov vov and vau vau... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 2:23 PM on July 4, 2008

I'm almost exactly the same size as you (also a 36-38 D to DD) and I just bought an awesome strapless bra yesterday. I just bought a dress for which I had to buy a strapless bra so I went with the brand that I've had the most experience with and confidence in -- Wacoal. Their bras are pretty and very, very supportive. So I headed to Bloomingdales and picked up this Wacoal strapless bra in 36 DD (the biggest size they had). It's much much more supportive than any other strapless bra I've seen,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:17 PM on July 3, 2008 marked best answer

I'm in very much a similar situation with Indian parents and an American boyfriend. We aren't technically living together but I tend to stay at his place most of the time. My parents aren't terribly conservative in many ways and I told them immediately about my boyfriend but they are very concerned that I don't live with him to the point where every conversation ends with and don't tell me that you've moved in with him after the fact, it's absolutely not ok etc etc. Since I'm serious about this... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:52 PM on June 25, 2008

If you like logic puzzles I cannot recommend Raymond Smullyan's books more -- What's the Name of this Book? and Alice in Puzzleland. They can be hard to find since they don't seem to be in print anymore but I worked through all the puzzles as a teenager and found them really mind-bending.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 2:13 PM on June 23, 2008

Are you sure this is the best way of going about this? Isn't there any way you could contact them via email or postal mail? Because my first impulse upon hearing a prerecorded message (and I seem to get quite a few of them) would be to put the phone down immediately, before the message can get past hello.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:35 AM on June 18, 2008

I think you sound like a great candidate honestly. Like pombe mentioned many bio people are looking for someone with computational experiment to handle that side of things in their labs. The grad program I belong to is computational biology at Cornell and there are many students with similar backgrounds. You say that you're tired of programming and that you would like to get into the experimental side of things. I think that entering a program that values computational skills would help you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:11 PM on June 12, 2008

By experiment, I meant experience.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:12 PM on June 12, 2008

There are certain regions of India where people eat more meat based diets. Some regions of Indian cookbooks you should look out for are Kerala and Goa. Both have large populations of Christians and in general eat more meat than other areas. Hyderabadi and Anglo-Indian cookery might also be interesting. I found Mrs. K. M. Mathews' book on Keralite cooking wonderful. Don't remember exactly what it was called.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:05 PM on May 30, 2008

You can get the cheapest flights to anywhere from a particular airport using Kayak.com. You just need to use their Buzz feature. You don't need to have a particular destination in mind.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:34 PM on May 27, 2008

I've found the blog One Hot Stove to be a great source for (vegetarian) Indian recipes.
In terms of tips for making Indian food, I think the best thing to do would be to get familiar with the spices that are used. In the same way that you know for Western cooking what an appropriate amount of salt, pepper or cinnamon would be, as well as at what stage of the cooking process they should be added, Indian spices have similar guidelines that you can learn as well.
For... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 8:57 AM on May 26, 2008 marked best answer

But the speed of sound isn't very fast. It's about five seconds per mile. If that thing was, say, at 100,000 feet (and from your description it was not directly over you), then it was more than 20 miles away and it would have taken at least a minute and 40 seconds for the sound to reach you -- which would mean that the sound would seem to be coming from where you saw the object a minute and a half earlier, not directly from it.
This is interesting because of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:30 AM on May 21, 2008

It's definitely true that multiple fittings and alterations make any item of clothing fit better. For example, in India where lots of clothes are still tailored to fit, getting a perfect fit on each item of clothing often took 2-3 fittings and alterations. This is especially if you are using a tailor who has never stitched that item of clothing for you before. After the tailor has got the fit perfect, he/she can usually replicate that fit much better for similar items of clothing. Since... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 10:01 PM on May 20, 2008

Now is the best time to get this test exempted not after the final grades are posted when it might require far more work and complications. Write a brief, politely worded email to your professor explaining exactly what you have here. Be sure to mention that both the medical department and your TA mentioned the possibility of exempting the grade so that he knows you're not just making excuses. Explain why you did not talk about this with your professor immediately after the test. Also, only your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:07 PM on May 20, 2008

Fried cauliflower is very common in India -- both batter-fried and fried as in stir-fried. Not sure which one you mean. It's also common to dunk it in spicy-sweet sauce to make Gobi (cauliflower) Manchurian. Mmmmm.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 2:56 PM on May 20, 2008

I just recently started working with the Getting Things Done book. It's already impacted my life for the better in the couple weeks that I've been using it. I've found that the author's claim that you feel much calmer and less anxious about things once you get it off your mind and onto a list is really true for me. I used to stay awake at night worrying about lots of little things, only to forget about them in the light of day. Rinse and repeat. After I emptied my mind onto the lists described... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 2:31 PM on May 20, 2008

I agree with jabberjaw that finishing your PhD dissertation should be the first thing that you do. I think you will feel a sense of accomplishment after finishing the whole thing that will give you the momentum to do whatever it is that you decide to do after it. I also would like to reiterate that late 20s or even early 30s is by no means too old to begin a graduate program in the sciences. My boyfriend just turned 30 and is in the second year of a PhD program. It is definitely possible to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 2:26 PM on May 20, 2008

Since you're in Mumbai I shall just recommend the things that I really loved when I came to Mumbai for trips. Kababs are great. Go get yourself a shawarma -- I loved the ones from the stands around Colaba. For Indian food try out butter chicken. Chinese food outlets should be able to get you a good chilli chicken or pepper chicken. Basically just go to all the restaurants you would normally go to and try out their chicken and mutton dishes. From experience with other Indian vegetarian friends,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:29 AM on May 20, 2008

I've been on both sides of this issue: that is I've been the person irritated with the friend who loudly complained about how badly he/she had done and then did great and I've been the person who felt she'd done horribly on an exam and wound up getting the highest grade or at least doing way better than I expected. And my advice is: cut the person some slack. It's not always possible to tell exactly how well you did in a class. Many people have high expectations for themselves. I know I do.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:41 PM on May 19, 2008

I'm from India and I didn't understand what the CC symbol meant until you explained it to me.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:03 PM on May 19, 2008

Vegetarian Indian food offers a lot of variety and can be very filling. A great source of vegetarian Indian recipes is this blog: One Hot Stove. She's vegetarian so all the recipes are vegetarian and since she lives in the US you should be able to find all the ingredients.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:59 PM on May 19, 2008

My favorite cooking blogs:
The Amateur Gourmet
101 Cookbooks
Delicious Days
Chocolate and Zucchini
One Hot Stove
The Kitchn
Kalyn's Kitchen
None of these is especially for beginners but I found them a great source of inspiration when I started cooking regularly.
For recipes, you can't do better than epicurious.com. You'll also find great tutorials and food discussions at forums.egullet.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:49 PM on May 19, 2008

My boyfriend does a lot of Python programming and swears by Komodo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 10:36 AM on May 19, 2008

This my be a bit too advanced for an 8 year old, but I almost wish I were a kid again so I could buy The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 10:34 AM on May 19, 2008

Do you really want to bet your life on the chances that you won't get rabies? Chances are you won't get rabies, especially since the bite was provoked (that is, you reached over to pet the dog, the dog didn't bite you with no provocation). Go see a doctor and see what he/she says. If you knew the dog and about its vaccination history it would be a different story but even a small chance of rabies is worth taking a shot for. You'll feel much more peace of mind after you get the shot. I'm not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 9:07 PM on May 18, 2008

It's certainly possible to do a PhD in the NYC metro area and make a decent amount of money. I have the opportunity to do a PhD at Weill Cornell Medical College and will be paid a stipend of $30,000 + healthcare + tuition + $3000 academic expenses. Most universities pay a stipend to science PhD students. In fact, if you're not getting offered a stipend, don't do the PhD!
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 8:46 PM on May 18, 2008

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I think a few things really rang true for me.
Just because a lot of people have to deal with (a smaller version of) what you're going through during their freshman year of college, it's not in any way reserved to 18-year-olds.
That's true. I ought to give myself a break.

Read comfort books, and watch hilarious movies.
I actually have been doing this,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 9:45 AM on May 18, 2008

I think this something that a lot of people go through as they get older. I can sympathize because I used to be that kid with a lot of potential too. But the truth is as you grow older and make certain choices in life, other choices become closed to you. Not forever perhaps, but not without a lot of effort. To give you an example, when I was a kid I though sometimes about joining a start-up like you did but in the end I chose to complete college and go to graduate school. That was my choice. I'm... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 8:35 PM on May 17, 2008 marked best answer

I own a Kindle and the answer to this question is really -- it depends. Sometimes elements of the books are reproduced quite faithfully and sometimes they're gone without a trace. I was very disappointed when I downloaded a copy of Flatland from Amazon (without realizing that I could get it for free from Gutenberg or manybooks.net) and found that the cute illustrations of the people of Flatland was missing. That's pretty much half the charm of the book. I only paid a few cents for it so I wasn't... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:45 AM on May 17, 2008

Fonts and page layout are usually not preserved at all. The idea is that fonts can be resized at will, so preserving page layouts would be pretty much impossible. Footnotes usually appear in the text at the point where the reference to them would be with an asterisk.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:47 AM on May 17, 2008

I've read quite a few books with footnotes on my Kindle and that has not been my experience with any of them. All footnotes I've seen are represented by linked (underlined) asterisks that lead to separate pages at the very end of the document for each footnote.

Now that you mention it I have seen that footnote style as well. But there have definitely been books with footnotes in the text as well.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 4:07 PM on May 17, 2008

I would highly recommend Wacoal's bras. I've been really happy with their bras -- they last a long while, are highly comfortable and are very supportive. I generally prefer bras with underwires so I've not much experience with sports bras but this bra looks something like what you're looking for and it comes in a 44DD.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 1:12 PM on May 17, 2008

There are lots of great ideas for rhubarb in this Egullet thread about rhubarb.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 10:27 AM on May 17, 2008

If you'd like to try something different that will also use up a large quantity of dill at once try it in an Indian curry. The Indian name for dill is suva bhaji and it's used quite commonly in India in this form. Here is a recipe for it that I found when googling. It calls for toor dal (yellow pigeon peas) -- a kind of lentil that you should find at Indian stores. The pickle spice mentioned is a little puzzling too but I think you could probably omit that with no ill effects. Give it a try and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:23 AM on May 16, 2008

David Lebovitz just put up a recipe for homemade dill pickles on his blog.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 9:58 AM on May 17, 2008

I think you need to look at the list of qualities you use to define who you are and think about what among those are your priorities. For me, for example, I would find it very difficult to be friends with people who are religious or who are conservative. So I might be a casual friend of someone like that but it's unlikely to deepen into anything further. On the other hand I don't smoke or do drugs but those aren't huge issues for me so I'm unlikely to find a person who does drugs or smokes... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:50 AM on May 16, 2008

Try wearing a pair of gloves and trying to move the mouse on your keypad. That won't work either. I guess it needs a small locus of pressure to work.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:52 PM on May 15, 2008

By gloves I meant woolen mittens.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:53 PM on May 15, 2008

I think that you should set up a Wiki for this sort of information and let college students access it and edit it themselves. My graduate program set up such a Wiki for incoming students and it has been an invaluable source of information for good courses to take, profiles of professors, good books to buy etc. And the best part is that once you set it up and drum up some enthusiasm for it, it pretty much takes care of itself.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 8:43 PM on May 15, 2008

The dangerous organisms are inside the egg, but introduced much before you bought them from the outside world. The quality of the egg has a lot more to do with taste and flavor than whether you'll get salmonella or not. I mean I suppose that's one measure of quality as well but it's more important that it just didn't get contaminated in any point in its life cycle. The waiting time inside your fridge isn't likely to introduce salmonella if it wasn't there before. What it can do is spoil your egg... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:21 AM on May 15, 2008

Thanks for all the warnings against Kiyosaki's books. I now have something to say to my parents when they ask me to read his books. Will recommend some of the other books mentioned here to them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 1:42 AM on May 15, 2008

Here's what looks like a good recipe from Epicurious: Roast Veal Breast with Marsala-Mushroom Sauce.
Any meat in the grocery store that says "Manager's Special" on it shouldn't be purchased. It's marked down for a reason -- it's old and/or no one is buying it because it sucks.
Are you serious? They're specials because they'll go bad in a few days, that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy them now if you can find a way to use... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 9:42 PM on May 14, 2008

Sounds like Anki.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:08 PM on May 14, 2008 marked best answer

I used to get awful cramps in my calf muscles at night. I would literally wake up screaming and clutching my leg. They usually went away when I started taking a multivitamin. I think it was the calcium and magnesium in them which was supposed to be most helpful.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 10:45 AM on May 14, 2008

The Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie?
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 11:12 PM on May 12, 2008

Finito.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 10:31 PM on May 12, 2008

Things that are associated with sick days in India for me: hot tea with lemon.
Also Maggi chicken soup out of a packet. My mother never liked buying it but for some reason I always craved it so I would ask for it when I was sick and knew she couldn't refuse.
Pomegranate juice because it was suppose to soothe an upset stomach.
Ditto plain buttermilk(not the US kind, but made with watered down yogurt). When I wasn't sick the buttermilk would be mixed with... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 7:15 PM on May 12, 2008

I've had very good luck with LaRedoute. Not a discount site as such but their prices are always reasonable and they often have great sales. Have been very impressed with the quality of clothes.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 9:56 AM on May 12, 2008

Make Pad Thai with tofu. Go to this site and follow the recipe there using the recipe for tofu and using the substitution for fish sauce suggested there. Bit of a long-winded recipe, but the results are absolutely worth it. Even if you don't follow the recipe exactly, the suggestions she makes are worth reading -- making sure the wok is absolutely smoking hot, making the sauce beforehand so you don't waste time during the crucial stir frying step opening bottles etc.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 6:11 PM on May 11, 2008

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'll try out IndyBudget and PeachBudget. I have been trying to do that thing where you only withdraw a small amount of money from your savings account and use it for the month, but I forget to do that and end up with problems. So I think the solution is to the automatic transfer like cschneld suggested.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 8:09 AM on May 10, 2008

Stick to the outer aisles of the grocery store -- the produce, meat and dairy sections and avoid the vast deserts of processed foods in the middle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by peacheater at 9:46 PM on May 9, 2008