Displaying post 1 to 50 of 121
Are any writing systems or alphabets more efficient, in the sense that they are more readable, than others? What is the most efficient?
posted to Ask Metafilter by ecab
at 10:53 AM on July 10, 2008
(15 comments)
Please help me out with my doomsday anxiety. I need some respected, rational, realistic stuff to read about economy, oil, food, etc. in the near future and beyond.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Anonymous
at 8:15 AM on July 9, 2008
(37 comments)
How does a US citizen with an Italian heritage get an Italian Passport?
posted to Ask Metafilter by birdlips
at 10:26 AM on July 8, 2008
(12 comments)
LUGRadio has
closed it's doors. Can anyone recommend any Linux podcasts that can fill the gap?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Nik_Doof
at 3:40 PM on July 3, 2008
(6 comments)
2 July 1863, second day of
Gettysburg. Sickles has pulled his III Corps -- without orders -- off of Cemetery Ridge and positioned it a half mile in front of the rest of the Union lines. Longstreet smashes the hapless III Corps and its men are in full flight. Hancock rides back and forth inside the gaping hole left by Sickles. Below him, almost 2000 men of Wilcox's brigade are charging up the slope. They will gain a foothold on the ridge and be reinforced by Lee. As Longstreet pins down the Union left, Lee will roll up the center and right of the Northern army and chase them from the field. He will then march on and take Washington before turning north along the eastern seaboard. Lee will capture and burn Philadelphia and Boston in his March Along the Sea, chasing the Northern government from city to city until Lincoln finally sues for peace and the union is no more.
Suddenly, a line of blue-coated soldiers comes into Hancock's view. "My God, is this all the men here? Who are you?" "
1st Minnesota, sir." "See those colors?", says Hancock, pointing at the flags of the oncoming Confederates, "Take them."
posted to MetaFilter by forrest
at 5:45 AM on July 2, 2008
(82 comments)
Science-Fiction-Novel-Filter: Lost colony of Galactic Empire, in which a man is dispatched to the planet with an automated legged probe. There is a technology on the planet that is perceived as magic(?) to the natives...
posted to Ask Metafilter by strangelove
at 6:44 PM on June 29, 2008
(2 comments)
Why are sine waves considered "pure" tones? Why do we consider sinusoids the building blocks of periodic functions?
posted to Ask Metafilter by phrontist
at 7:00 PM on June 28, 2008
(35 comments)
Malor - your arguments have to stand on their own merits without bringing other people's names up.
posted to MetaTalk by Mutant
at 7:43 PM on June 27, 2008
(76 comments)
How do I make the projection screen in my NOC look like the control room at NORAD?
posted to Ask Metafilter by empath
at 8:13 PM on June 10, 2008
(20 comments)
The end of Rice-Boy.
T.O.E, Angel Eye, Calbash (alas we hardly knew ye) and Rice-Boy have ended their adventure. 2 years 1 month and two weeks after the start.
Evan Dahm produced one of the most engaging and beautiful webcomics over the past two years and it has concluded. A moment of silence.........
Ok now, the good news. Rice-Boy is done, but further Overside stories are likely. YAY.
posted to MetaFilter by edgeways
at 8:49 PM on May 16, 2008
(13 comments)
What should I cook with my cast iron skillet?
posted to Ask Metafilter by peep
at 10:30 AM on May 1, 2008
(45 comments)
An extraordinary piece of magazine writing by Chris Jones.
Jones tells the story of how the body of Sergeant Joe Montgomery makes its way from a Baghdad suburb to its final resting place in a grave in Indiana. It's one of the finest pieces of journalism that I've read in years. It’s extremely moving without being saccharine or twee. It’s a military story, but utterly without jingoism or indictment. And it’s wonderfully observed. If I taught a first-year creative writing course, I'd make this required reading.
posted to MetaFilter by dbarefoot
at 9:57 PM on April 30, 2008
(87 comments)
I have lately been hooked on
Glengarry Glen Ross and
The Big Kahuna, small casts with stellar scripts and casting. What other dialogue-heavy films in this vein should I be watching?
posted to Ask Metafilter by porn in the woods
at 6:26 PM on April 27, 2008
(59 comments)
At least it will sound like I'm furiously busy as I fritter away the rest of the afternoon racing.
TypeRacing!
posted to MetaFilter by BoatMeme
at 12:51 PM on April 24, 2008
(90 comments)
Water filterFilter: I'm looking at purchasing a Berkey Light Water filter. This would be intended for both daily use and also to have on hand in case a hurricane or some other disaster knocks out the municipal water supply and we need to scoop drinking water out of a stream. Does anyone have experience with the Berkey filters? How is the taste compared to mainstream filters like Pur or Brita? Do they look odd in your kitchen or are they an attractive fixture? Any other thoughts or brand suggestions, random or otherwise, on this are welcome.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Burhanistan
at 8:01 AM on April 23, 2008
(6 comments)
If you could use a great big free handbook of discrete math and algorithms, Jörg Arndt's
fxtbook wants to be your friend. Plain text
table of contents to whet your appetite.
posted to MetaFilter by Wolfdog
at 7:02 AM on March 5, 2008
(11 comments)
What fictional evil has great corporate branding? I'm knitting myself sweaters and want to use the merchandising logo of fictional and cinematic dystopian/corrupt/evil corporations or organizations.
posted to Ask Metafilter by cowbellemoo
at 1:09 AM on November 20, 2007
(96 comments)
R.I.P. John Wheeler
, theoretical physicist. Famous for the
Wheeler-Feynman equations and the term "
black hole," which he coined to describe a singular point mass, he has died at age 96. The NYT usually gives pretty good obituary but they outdid themselves this time.
posted to MetaFilter by ikkyu2
at 10:22 PM on April 13, 2008
(64 comments)
Who to read besides Coupland, Stephenson, Gibson, and Sterling?
posted to Ask Metafilter by humannaire
at 8:45 PM on April 13, 2008
(43 comments)
Help me find the alternative superhero story I read online four years ago. Features a side character stuck in a time loop and a possibly unwilling superhero possibly named Bob.
posted to Ask Metafilter by lizzicide
at 6:03 AM on April 12, 2008
(4 comments)
What is the iconic (or just "your favorite") dead-tree product catalog (listing of merchandise for mail-order sale) for your hobby, industry, or trade?
posted to Ask Metafilter by cadastral
at 9:23 AM on April 1, 2008
(73 comments)
We're trying to figure out the best kitchen counter material for our new kitchen. I know there are lots of great options, but we've narrowed our needs/wants down to a few important ones and have a shortlist we can't get past too easily, so are looking for some insight.
posted to Ask Metafilter by iTristan
at 5:43 AM on April 30, 2006
(22 comments)
What are oldest known written or visual description of cunnilingus and fellatio?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Kattullus
at 7:45 AM on March 30, 2008
(18 comments)
I love listening to the groaning music of Mark Morgan (the Fallout soundtracks) and Lustmord (dark, dark ambient) while I read. I've been trying to find some similar music, but last.fm insists that Mark Morgan is like all other game soundtrack composers and Lustmord is akin to gothic wailing*.
So I turn to you. What other artists make music with this grinding, eerie, screetchingly dark post-apocalyptic quality?
* Nothing wrong with gothic wailing, just not when I'm reading.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Skyanth
at 1:41 PM on March 27, 2008
(19 comments)
Cope pipe without a jig.
Enter a few parameters and get a pdf that will give you a printable pattern that will allow you to notch tubing for welding or brazing to another pipe.
posted to MetaFilter by Mitheral
at 6:19 PM on March 15, 2008
(35 comments)
"How many brain scientists have the chance to study a stroke from the inside?" In 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor did (
previously), and she recently gave a moving
TED talk on her experience. If that merely whetted your appetite for more brainy videos, check out the complete archive of UCSD TV's
Grey Matters, a series of lectures on the brain. And for dessert,
The Parts of the Brain, as performed by Pinky and The Brain. [via
Neurophilosophy]
posted to MetaFilter by natabat
at 9:44 PM on March 12, 2008
(14 comments)
Which wireless internet camera would you recommend for deployment in a library? Also, does some form of wireless noise monitor exist?
posted to Ask Metafilter by robocop is bleeding
at 8:12 AM on March 7, 2008
(10 comments)
I'm looking for some funny and smart fiction books, along the lines of "A Confederacy of Dunces" and "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal."
posted to Ask Metafilter by banjo_and_the_pork
at 9:34 AM on March 6, 2008
(60 comments)
Inspiring books about mathematics and statistics?
posted to Ask Metafilter by chrisalbon
at 4:42 PM on February 29, 2008
(31 comments)
The Enigma of Amigara Fault
is an absolutely compelling and terribly creepy short manga story by
Junji Ito about mysterious human-shaped holes exposed in a cliff by an earthquake, each perfectly matching the outline of someone who is then compelled to enter the confining, claustrophobic darkness. For more of Ito in English, there is
Falling. Make sure to read from right to left.
posted to MetaFilter by blahblahblah
at 9:57 PM on December 10, 2007
(72 comments)
So I stumbled upon this flash game the other day, and it was fun, now I can't find it, wtf?
posted to Ask Metafilter by BobbyDigital
at 8:15 AM on February 27, 2008
(2 comments)
Say you're a real estate investor. Say an airport in the New York region is expanding to become a major hub. What would you do? What would you buy?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Gordion Knott
at 4:51 AM on February 26, 2008
(11 comments)
Building a landmark.
Nearly 135 years after first rolling up Clay Street, San Francisco's famous cable cars are still using an elegant, yet antiquated
system of understreet cables and two types of unpowered cars to move delighted tourists and patient locals across the city every day. But most riders don't realize that five specialized craftsmen in a shop in an industrial part of town make up the the last cable car factory in the world, still building
cars by hand, from plans reverse-engineered from a car disassembled in 1982. [
via]
posted to MetaFilter by toxic
at 12:05 PM on February 25, 2008
(13 comments)
Are there generalized signs of an empire in decline -- things that show up in different cultures and different points in history?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dugnorth
at 8:55 AM on February 21, 2008
(12 comments)
What French literature is relatively easy to read?
posted to Ask Metafilter by creasy boy
at 7:16 AM on February 20, 2008
(32 comments)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor officially calls it quits,
citing the Iraq war as a primary catalyst.
"The last American tour that Godspeed did was in the run up to the current war in Iraq. For what Godspeed did, it was very difficult for us to work out a way for us to communicate directly with the audience about what was going on." Umm...yeah. So who's to fill their giant
post-rock shoes? Well, most of the members have moved on to other projects, most notably
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band (among
others). That's not to mention the slew of next generation bands that have culled GY!BE as a primary influence to get your fix:
Sparrows Swarm and Sing,
Sweek,
The Seven Mile Journey, or
johnnytwentythree, just to name a few.
posted to MetaFilter by Christ, what an asshole
at 4:20 PM on February 12, 2008
(77 comments)
The
Pritzker Military Library, a "public institution for the study of the citizen-soldier as an essential element for the preservation of democracy." Found while doing some after-film research on
Charlie Wilson's War, the site is a trove of largely non-partisan, often refreshingly candid military perspectives. Particular highlights are video and audio interviews with
Jim Lovell and Congressional
Medal of Honor winners.
posted to MetaFilter by Bora Horza Gobuchul
at 3:07 PM on February 11, 2008
(5 comments)
