MetaFilter posts by alms.
Displaying 51 through 100. Subscribe: http://www.metafilter.com/user/14751/postsrss 
Vote for Your Ruler: "Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty."
posted on Oct-7-05 at 11:38 AM
Eprida: using biomass to produce hydrogen, reduce the emissions of coal-fired power plants, and suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, all while improving agricultural productivity. A new virtuous cycle (flash)?
posted on Jun-24-05 at 11:18 AM
Julians Beever draws on sidewalks with chalk. His drawings range from insects to commercial objects to self portraits. I don't know if he designs them on a his laptop, but as with LCD screens, viewing angle is critically important.
posted on Jun-4-05 at 10:16 AM
California Condors, including basic condor, condors in history, population history, and condor behavior.
posted on May-27-05 at 8:07 PM
Is he or isn't he? Slashdot member claims to be an Apple employee and posts detailed commentary on Apple's strategy and product plans, including information about unreleased products. He speaks with authority and seems to know what he's talking about. Apple does not sue Slashdot or fire any of its employees. Slashdot members debate the implications.
posted on May-17-05 at 5:18 PM
How to detect a housing bubble. (Via Seeing the Forest.)
posted on May-4-05 at 7:49 PM
The Fed's New Clothes: Stephen Roach, Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley, on the Maestro's historic drive to devalue income and savings and push speculation. The ownership society lurks in the background. Via Cunning Realist.
posted on May-1-05 at 9:27 AM
Rock, Paper, Scissors: 11 year-old twins close 12 million dollar deal.
posted on Apr-28-05 at 8:41 PM
Tracy Boulian's sports photography is dramatic, humane, sometimes eerie, and sometimes simply beautiful.
posted on Jan-31-05 at 10:35 AM
A right that ends in sorrow , aka the difficulty of standing up for something that really sucks. (via Amy Sullivan)
posted on Dec-16-04 at 7:45 AM
Thanks to our new service you too can spend quality time with Kato Kaelin. Unfortunately, Leon Spinks is currently unavailable. And if you think you might want to sleep or use your phone during the next week, make sure to read the faq.
posted on Dec-14-04 at 6:48 PM
Will Currency Wars Effect You? Oldman gives a quick run-through of the geopolitics of America's budget deficit, with some likely scenarios for the next 2-5 years.
posted on Nov-18-04 at 12:32 PM
When the Glen Canyon Dam was completed, it took 18 years for the waters of the Colorado River to flood 186 miles of the most beautiful canyonlands in the world. David Brower called it America's "most regretted environmental mistake." But now Glen Canyon is coming back.
posted on Nov-2-04 at 1:02 PM
This has a value in our profession, and it doesn't have to do with scale at all. It has to do with the actual meaning of a house.
posted on Sep-9-04 at 9:18 PM
Instructions for building your own hamster-powered night light.
posted on Aug-24-04 at 2:46 PM
ugh, get away
posted on Aug-22-04 at 7:46 PM
Vehicle Lifecycle Cost Analyzer
posted on Aug-13-04 at 3:01 PM
The Freeloader Registry. When an employer pays low wages and doesn't provide health care benefits, its employees often end up getting free care through state and federal programs. How much does this cost you, and which companies benefit from the practice? A new Massachusetts state law will provide detailed information about top corporate welchers. (This follows recent discussion of the topic in the context of Wal-Mart.) Via Good Jobs First.
posted on Aug-6-04 at 2:52 PM
Visualizing power plant impact. A nice use of flash to show the impact of electricity generation around the USA. You can zoom in on individual states and then individual power plants. Or you can view the national impact of several regulatory regimes.
posted on Jun-10-04 at 11:37 AM
Cynicism recapitulates fundraising: Direct mail leads to doctrinaire commitment; PACs lead to legislative co-option; hit-and-run media leads to uninformed polarization. Will blogvertizing be any better? Stirling Newberry on the ontology of political fundraising.
posted on May-3-04 at 7:00 AM
Where Has All the Acid Gone? (Anyone think our old friend will be making a return trip any time soon?)
posted on Apr-5-04 at 6:29 AM
Richard Clarke asks MoveOn to remove his name and recordings of his voice from their new advert. MoveOn refuses.
posted on Mar-31-04 at 1:35 PM
There's Gold in Them Thar PCs. If you're worried about the growing problem of e-waste, if you don't want to ship your toxins overseas, you now have another option. You can recover heavy metals (precious and otherwise) in the privacy and comfort of your own home. Just make sure you leave a window open so you have some fresh air.
posted on Mar-16-04 at 8:16 AM
Dramatic Climate Change. The director who brought us aliens blowing up the White House has now turned his sights on climate change. In a very dramatic way. Will this highly sensationalized and unrealistic presentation of global warming have any impact on public attitudes? Are we looking at a possible a tipping point, or is director Roland Emmerich jumping the shark?
posted on Mar-15-04 at 8:03 AM
"There is no separation of church and state," she said. The Boston Statehouse and surrounding area is crawling with fundamentalist Christians who have come from all over the country to push for a constitutional amendment in our state. You can read minute-by-minute updates on the debate in the Statehouse at Boston.com.
posted on Mar-11-04 at 1:31 PM
It's not quite fresh, according to mainstream reviewers polled by Rotten Tomatoes. But Christian Bloggers feel very differently. As one reports, I went into the movie expecting to be moved, but never to the extent that I actually was. But both sides seems to agree the R rating should be taken very seriously.
posted on Feb-26-04 at 6:08 PM
Dear Mary, your father, recently said he would support adding anti-gay prejudice to the US Constitution, making you and millions of other Americans second-class citizens. As an open lesbian who has worked for years as a public advocate for gay civil rights, you are in a unique position to defend yourself and your community in this dire hour. You're right, this is very personal.
posted on Feb-24-04 at 8:11 AM
Pixar Dumps Disney: "It is impossible to know how bad this is for Disney." On the other hand: Disney can begin creating sequels to all of Pixar's films, something it could not do under its current arrangement and is almost certain to exploit. On the third hand: One film executive suggested that Mr. Jobs could now be considered a candidate to run Disney if indeed Mr. Eisner ever left.
posted on Jan-29-04 at 8:42 PM
The DOD Wargames Abrupt Climate Change: Turning inward, the U.S. effectively seeks to build a fortress around itself to preserve resources. Borders are strengthened to hold back starving immigrants from Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean islands—waves of boat people pose especially grim problems...As the planet's carrying capacity shrinks, an ancient pattern reemerges: the eruption of desperate, all-out wars over food, water, and energy supplies. Wars over resources were the norm until about three centuries ago. When such conflicts broke out, 25% of a population's adult males usually died. As abrupt climate change hits home, warfare may again come to define human life.
posted on Jan-28-04 at 6:20 PM
New Hampshire Crosstabs: Primary voter characteristics cross-tabulated with their candidate choice. Dean runs strong with PhDs while Kerry gets the high-school-only crowd. Veterans vote just about the same as everyone else. And, surprise surprise, there don't seem to be any African Americans or Asians voting in New Hampshire.
posted on Jan-27-04 at 5:33 PM
Did you think about buying tickets to the one day showing of all three LOTR movies? It would have been a good investment.
posted on Nov-10-03 at 8:11 AM
Nuclear plant operation correlates with increased infant mortality rate. Correlation may not prove causation, but these numbers are pretty dramatic.
posted on Nov-3-03 at 3:16 PM
WalmartFilter: "Wal-Mart controls a large and rapidly increasing share of the business done by most every major U.S. consumer-products company: 28% of Dial total sales, 24% of Del Monte Foods, 23% of Clorox, 23% of Revlon... Wal-Mart plans to open 1,000 more supercenters in the U.S. alone over the next five years.. giving it control over 35% of U.S. food sales and 25% of drugstore sales...The $12 billion worth of Chinese goods Wal-Mart bought in 2002 represented 10% of all U.S. imports from China." Setting aside questions of monopoly, isn't this a potentially dangerous monoculture?
posted on Oct-15-03 at 2:31 PM
Phylogeny recapitulates potheads. Apparently getting stoned affects the behavior of the smoker's sperm. The little guys start out really excited but then burn out before achieving their goals. Why does this sound familiar? Would it be a good ad campaign? Ah, I can't be bothered to figure it out, pass the bong.
posted on Oct-13-03 at 11:02 AM
An Elevator to the Stars. The paper of record claims this isn't science fiction, but do we really believe that in ten years we'll be able to build a 60,000 mile long cable capable of supporting 13 ton cargo loads? Would you trust this to take you into asynchronous orbit? (Or maybe you just want to make like Joe Kittinger and jump out at 100,000 feet.)
posted on Sep-23-03 at 6:34 PM
The Little Mermaid Explodes. This is only the latest in a long series of indignities suffered by Denmark's national symbol. Why are people so into this sort of thing?
posted on Sep-17-03 at 6:44 AM
Can't wait to see your new baby? Now you don't have to. Umm, but maybe it's better to be patient.
posted on Sep-9-03 at 10:30 AM
Warren Zevon, RIP Born January 23, 1947. Died September 7, 2003. Now I guess he can get some sleep.
posted on Sep-8-03 at 6:49 AM
Bird-Dogging involves showing up at a presentation or speech by a public figure and asking well-informed, pointed questions. Now Bird-Doggers are getting organized. Live near New Hampshire? The American Friends Service Committee has a handy set of tips and a schedule of appearances by the Democratic contenders. What questions would you ask?
posted on Sep-2-03 at 6:22 PM
Don't think we're going to let this drop. at the end of the day it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get karl rove frog-marched out of the white house in handcuffs. and trust me, when i use that name, i measure my words. -- Joseph Wilson
posted on Aug-28-03 at 6:54 PM
The Forest Brothers spent years hiding in the woods of Estonia and Latvia. They lived alone, carefully covering their tracks, sleeping in clammy bunkers, no bigger than walk-in closets. Then things got less comfortable. (warning: nytimesfilter.)
posted on Aug-25-03 at 9:42 PM
Not Your Usual Morning Commute
posted on Jul-31-03 at 6:44 AM
Du'a of Sheikh Muhammad Al Mohaisany (warning: flash, sound) The singing is beautiful, the images disturbing, the worldview very different from what we're used to in the rational west. I've only found this linked from Zionist sites. Questions of provenance? More on Du'as here.
posted on Jul-9-03 at 9:28 AM
John Kerry joins the Forest Service: In an effort to more effectively manage the increase in the volume of e-mails received by my office and to respond as quickly and thoroughly as possible, I am using a new web based system that you can access through my web site at kerry.senate.gov. The e-mail address john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov will no longer be active. Thus we see that the economies of power, access, and influence quickly respond to unmanageable distortions caused by new technology. Will the new equilibrium be any different from the old, or is technology ultimately irrelevant?
posted on Jun-18-03 at 4:15 PM
OK girls, what have you done to earn a merit badge? Learned about underarm hair or menstrual cramps? Made it through a preganancy test? And boys, what have you done to earn your merit badges?
posted on Jun-5-03 at 7:42 PM
Interest rates are so low that you lose money buying bond funds. A preview of the liquidity trap?
posted on May-20-03 at 5:59 AM
Get together with strangers to discuss highly contagious respiratory diseases.
posted on May-15-03 at 1:45 PM
Southwest: an exquisite gallery of photos by three friends on the road, including shots of Bryce, Antelope, and The Wave. The web has done wonderful things to that old phenomenon of vacation photos.
posted on May-7-03 at 8:04 PM
Is Cuba Next? As long as you're cleaning up for Poppy, why not clean up for the Democrat's martyred Sun King at the same time?
posted on Apr-11-03 at 2:00 PM
Take enough electricity to power 100 houses for two minutes and use it to generate enough elecrticity to power one 40-watt lightbulb for one ten-thousandth of a second. What do you have? Nuclear Fusion.
posted on Apr-7-03 at 7:21 PM
posted on Oct-7-05 at 11:38 AM
Eprida: using biomass to produce hydrogen, reduce the emissions of coal-fired power plants, and suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, all while improving agricultural productivity. A new virtuous cycle (flash)?
posted on Jun-24-05 at 11:18 AM
Julians Beever draws on sidewalks with chalk. His drawings range from insects to commercial objects to self portraits. I don't know if he designs them on a his laptop, but as with LCD screens, viewing angle is critically important.
posted on Jun-4-05 at 10:16 AM
California Condors, including basic condor, condors in history, population history, and condor behavior.
posted on May-27-05 at 8:07 PM
Is he or isn't he? Slashdot member claims to be an Apple employee and posts detailed commentary on Apple's strategy and product plans, including information about unreleased products. He speaks with authority and seems to know what he's talking about. Apple does not sue Slashdot or fire any of its employees. Slashdot members debate the implications.
posted on May-17-05 at 5:18 PM
How to detect a housing bubble. (Via Seeing the Forest.)
posted on May-4-05 at 7:49 PM
The Fed's New Clothes: Stephen Roach, Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley, on the Maestro's historic drive to devalue income and savings and push speculation. The ownership society lurks in the background. Via Cunning Realist.
posted on May-1-05 at 9:27 AM
Rock, Paper, Scissors: 11 year-old twins close 12 million dollar deal.
posted on Apr-28-05 at 8:41 PM
Tracy Boulian's sports photography is dramatic, humane, sometimes eerie, and sometimes simply beautiful.
posted on Jan-31-05 at 10:35 AM
A right that ends in sorrow , aka the difficulty of standing up for something that really sucks. (via Amy Sullivan)
posted on Dec-16-04 at 7:45 AM
Thanks to our new service you too can spend quality time with Kato Kaelin. Unfortunately, Leon Spinks is currently unavailable. And if you think you might want to sleep or use your phone during the next week, make sure to read the faq.
posted on Dec-14-04 at 6:48 PM
Will Currency Wars Effect You? Oldman gives a quick run-through of the geopolitics of America's budget deficit, with some likely scenarios for the next 2-5 years.
posted on Nov-18-04 at 12:32 PM
When the Glen Canyon Dam was completed, it took 18 years for the waters of the Colorado River to flood 186 miles of the most beautiful canyonlands in the world. David Brower called it America's "most regretted environmental mistake." But now Glen Canyon is coming back.
posted on Nov-2-04 at 1:02 PM
This has a value in our profession, and it doesn't have to do with scale at all. It has to do with the actual meaning of a house.
posted on Sep-9-04 at 9:18 PM
Instructions for building your own hamster-powered night light.
posted on Aug-24-04 at 2:46 PM
ugh, get away
posted on Aug-22-04 at 7:46 PM
Vehicle Lifecycle Cost Analyzer
posted on Aug-13-04 at 3:01 PM
The Freeloader Registry. When an employer pays low wages and doesn't provide health care benefits, its employees often end up getting free care through state and federal programs. How much does this cost you, and which companies benefit from the practice? A new Massachusetts state law will provide detailed information about top corporate welchers. (This follows recent discussion of the topic in the context of Wal-Mart.) Via Good Jobs First.
posted on Aug-6-04 at 2:52 PM
Visualizing power plant impact. A nice use of flash to show the impact of electricity generation around the USA. You can zoom in on individual states and then individual power plants. Or you can view the national impact of several regulatory regimes.
posted on Jun-10-04 at 11:37 AM
Cynicism recapitulates fundraising: Direct mail leads to doctrinaire commitment; PACs lead to legislative co-option; hit-and-run media leads to uninformed polarization. Will blogvertizing be any better? Stirling Newberry on the ontology of political fundraising.
posted on May-3-04 at 7:00 AM
Where Has All the Acid Gone? (Anyone think our old friend will be making a return trip any time soon?)
posted on Apr-5-04 at 6:29 AM
Richard Clarke asks MoveOn to remove his name and recordings of his voice from their new advert. MoveOn refuses.
posted on Mar-31-04 at 1:35 PM
There's Gold in Them Thar PCs. If you're worried about the growing problem of e-waste, if you don't want to ship your toxins overseas, you now have another option. You can recover heavy metals (precious and otherwise) in the privacy and comfort of your own home. Just make sure you leave a window open so you have some fresh air.
posted on Mar-16-04 at 8:16 AM
Dramatic Climate Change. The director who brought us aliens blowing up the White House has now turned his sights on climate change. In a very dramatic way. Will this highly sensationalized and unrealistic presentation of global warming have any impact on public attitudes? Are we looking at a possible a tipping point, or is director Roland Emmerich jumping the shark?
posted on Mar-15-04 at 8:03 AM
"There is no separation of church and state," she said. The Boston Statehouse and surrounding area is crawling with fundamentalist Christians who have come from all over the country to push for a constitutional amendment in our state. You can read minute-by-minute updates on the debate in the Statehouse at Boston.com.
posted on Mar-11-04 at 1:31 PM
It's not quite fresh, according to mainstream reviewers polled by Rotten Tomatoes. But Christian Bloggers feel very differently. As one reports, I went into the movie expecting to be moved, but never to the extent that I actually was. But both sides seems to agree the R rating should be taken very seriously.
posted on Feb-26-04 at 6:08 PM
Dear Mary, your father, recently said he would support adding anti-gay prejudice to the US Constitution, making you and millions of other Americans second-class citizens. As an open lesbian who has worked for years as a public advocate for gay civil rights, you are in a unique position to defend yourself and your community in this dire hour. You're right, this is very personal.
posted on Feb-24-04 at 8:11 AM
Pixar Dumps Disney: "It is impossible to know how bad this is for Disney." On the other hand: Disney can begin creating sequels to all of Pixar's films, something it could not do under its current arrangement and is almost certain to exploit. On the third hand: One film executive suggested that Mr. Jobs could now be considered a candidate to run Disney if indeed Mr. Eisner ever left.
posted on Jan-29-04 at 8:42 PM
The DOD Wargames Abrupt Climate Change: Turning inward, the U.S. effectively seeks to build a fortress around itself to preserve resources. Borders are strengthened to hold back starving immigrants from Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean islands—waves of boat people pose especially grim problems...As the planet's carrying capacity shrinks, an ancient pattern reemerges: the eruption of desperate, all-out wars over food, water, and energy supplies. Wars over resources were the norm until about three centuries ago. When such conflicts broke out, 25% of a population's adult males usually died. As abrupt climate change hits home, warfare may again come to define human life.
posted on Jan-28-04 at 6:20 PM
New Hampshire Crosstabs: Primary voter characteristics cross-tabulated with their candidate choice. Dean runs strong with PhDs while Kerry gets the high-school-only crowd. Veterans vote just about the same as everyone else. And, surprise surprise, there don't seem to be any African Americans or Asians voting in New Hampshire.
posted on Jan-27-04 at 5:33 PM
Did you think about buying tickets to the one day showing of all three LOTR movies? It would have been a good investment.
posted on Nov-10-03 at 8:11 AM
Nuclear plant operation correlates with increased infant mortality rate. Correlation may not prove causation, but these numbers are pretty dramatic.
posted on Nov-3-03 at 3:16 PM
WalmartFilter: "Wal-Mart controls a large and rapidly increasing share of the business done by most every major U.S. consumer-products company: 28% of Dial total sales, 24% of Del Monte Foods, 23% of Clorox, 23% of Revlon... Wal-Mart plans to open 1,000 more supercenters in the U.S. alone over the next five years.. giving it control over 35% of U.S. food sales and 25% of drugstore sales...The $12 billion worth of Chinese goods Wal-Mart bought in 2002 represented 10% of all U.S. imports from China." Setting aside questions of monopoly, isn't this a potentially dangerous monoculture?
posted on Oct-15-03 at 2:31 PM
Phylogeny recapitulates potheads. Apparently getting stoned affects the behavior of the smoker's sperm. The little guys start out really excited but then burn out before achieving their goals. Why does this sound familiar? Would it be a good ad campaign? Ah, I can't be bothered to figure it out, pass the bong.
posted on Oct-13-03 at 11:02 AM
An Elevator to the Stars. The paper of record claims this isn't science fiction, but do we really believe that in ten years we'll be able to build a 60,000 mile long cable capable of supporting 13 ton cargo loads? Would you trust this to take you into asynchronous orbit? (Or maybe you just want to make like Joe Kittinger and jump out at 100,000 feet.)
posted on Sep-23-03 at 6:34 PM
The Little Mermaid Explodes. This is only the latest in a long series of indignities suffered by Denmark's national symbol. Why are people so into this sort of thing?
posted on Sep-17-03 at 6:44 AM
Can't wait to see your new baby? Now you don't have to. Umm, but maybe it's better to be patient.
posted on Sep-9-03 at 10:30 AM
Warren Zevon, RIP Born January 23, 1947. Died September 7, 2003. Now I guess he can get some sleep.
posted on Sep-8-03 at 6:49 AM
Bird-Dogging involves showing up at a presentation or speech by a public figure and asking well-informed, pointed questions. Now Bird-Doggers are getting organized. Live near New Hampshire? The American Friends Service Committee has a handy set of tips and a schedule of appearances by the Democratic contenders. What questions would you ask?
posted on Sep-2-03 at 6:22 PM
Don't think we're going to let this drop. at the end of the day it's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get karl rove frog-marched out of the white house in handcuffs. and trust me, when i use that name, i measure my words. -- Joseph Wilson
posted on Aug-28-03 at 6:54 PM
The Forest Brothers spent years hiding in the woods of Estonia and Latvia. They lived alone, carefully covering their tracks, sleeping in clammy bunkers, no bigger than walk-in closets. Then things got less comfortable. (warning: nytimesfilter.)
posted on Aug-25-03 at 9:42 PM
Not Your Usual Morning Commute
posted on Jul-31-03 at 6:44 AM
Du'a of Sheikh Muhammad Al Mohaisany (warning: flash, sound) The singing is beautiful, the images disturbing, the worldview very different from what we're used to in the rational west. I've only found this linked from Zionist sites. Questions of provenance? More on Du'as here.
posted on Jul-9-03 at 9:28 AM
John Kerry joins the Forest Service: In an effort to more effectively manage the increase in the volume of e-mails received by my office and to respond as quickly and thoroughly as possible, I am using a new web based system that you can access through my web site at kerry.senate.gov. The e-mail address john_kerry@kerry.senate.gov will no longer be active. Thus we see that the economies of power, access, and influence quickly respond to unmanageable distortions caused by new technology. Will the new equilibrium be any different from the old, or is technology ultimately irrelevant?
posted on Jun-18-03 at 4:15 PM
OK girls, what have you done to earn a merit badge? Learned about underarm hair or menstrual cramps? Made it through a preganancy test? And boys, what have you done to earn your merit badges?
posted on Jun-5-03 at 7:42 PM
Interest rates are so low that you lose money buying bond funds. A preview of the liquidity trap?
posted on May-20-03 at 5:59 AM
Get together with strangers to discuss highly contagious respiratory diseases.
posted on May-15-03 at 1:45 PM
Southwest: an exquisite gallery of photos by three friends on the road, including shots of Bryce, Antelope, and The Wave. The web has done wonderful things to that old phenomenon of vacation photos.
posted on May-7-03 at 8:04 PM
Is Cuba Next? As long as you're cleaning up for Poppy, why not clean up for the Democrat's martyred Sun King at the same time?
posted on Apr-11-03 at 2:00 PM
Take enough electricity to power 100 houses for two minutes and use it to generate enough elecrticity to power one 40-watt lightbulb for one ten-thousandth of a second. What do you have? Nuclear Fusion.
posted on Apr-7-03 at 7:21 PM
« previous page | next page »