Ask MetaFilter posts by mai

Australian Gift Card

mai — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:33:15 -0800

How do I acquire a gift card to an Austrailian home-goods retailer for a friend who is moving there? My friend is getting married and will soon be moving to Australia. Because it is so expensive to ship things there, she doesn't want anything material, but I would really like to give her a gift.

I thought it would be nice to give a gift card to a store in Australia that sells home things (dishes, etc.) that I know they will need, so that they can choose something when they get there.

However, I know nothing about the Australian retail landscape. Please recommend a nice store that would sell a gift card to me, paying from here in the U.S. My budget is between $50 and $100.

Name that earworm

mai — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:25:29 -0800

Help me find a song from the local reggaeton station. I thought the announcer said this song was by "natasha" or something like that, but I have turned up many "natashas" in my searching and none are the song I am thinking of.

This song is played on the local Chicago reggaeton station a fair amount, but it isn't exactly a reggaeton song. The words are hard to make out but at least some of them are in english. The beat is a little faster and more electronic, and it has a bubbly bip-bip sound in it. This is definately a dancing song.

Any wild guesses would be appreciated.

Sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor

mai — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:59:17 -0800

Sleeper train from Cairo to Luxor. . . there are some snags. If you have done this, help my mother out. My mom is trying to book a sleeper train from Cairo, Egypt, to Luxor, using
this company, Abela Egypt. Unforunately they are not answering e-mails and their phone number has been disconnected.

Tickets can be booked locally, but it is more expensive to do so. If anyone has done this before, any suggestions you might have would be appreciated.

I know this is a long shot, but the hive mind has always come through for me before.

Video game design for middle-schoolers?

mai — Wed, 16 May 2007 13:58:18 -0800

My middle-school students are interested in video game design. What classroom projects can we do? Many of my 7th-grade students (primarily the boys) have got in their heads the desire to make video games when they grow up.

I would like to give them a taste of what this would actually be like so that they can better understand the skills that go into creating a video game - storytelling, programming, art design, etc. I am hoping this will motivate them in general. Also it might be a nice way to pass a few days in class.

What online resources or other resources can I show them that either overview the game-design process or let them design their own games? How else can I teach them about video game design?

I have two computers in my classroom, and a laptop that I can, in theory, hook up to an LCD projector, although securing this is logistically tricky and so should have high payoff.

diagram this 94-word sentence

mai — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 16:41:44 -0800

How do I diagram this sentence? Here is the sentence in question:

"The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power."

This sentence won the bad writing contest in 1998. Googling reveals several ways of diagramming sentences. I want to diagram it the way a contemporary linguist would, but I'm not sure exactly what that is.

Hotmail access problem

mai — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 15:36:19 -0800

My roommate can't access her e-mail. . . my roommate is using IE 6 on our home wireless network (unsecure, if that matters, linksys router), and she can't access her hotmail account. She tries to log in and gets "this page can't be displayed."

Forgive me if this is a stupid question. I'm stumped although my knowledge is limited.

Recommend awesome music.

mai — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:28:50 -0800

Can you recommend some really excellent music? My friend requested mix cd's for her birthday. She and her bf both have very expansive listening habits, and I want to choose tracks that are new to her and that are, well, awesome. This is why I need your help.

I would appreciate recommendations for your favorite music that is upbeat, groovy, funky, or otherwise delicious, and that falls well off the beaten path.

Typical alterna-rock, while I have nothing against it, is not what I am looking for. Electronic is good if it is melodic and danceable. Music from other countries is good. Music from previous eras is good.

Examples of some things she and I both like: Bjork. Good disco. Music that involves people singing in Hindi. Your recommendations can diverge rather wildly from these examples.

I know questions like this have been asked before, but since I am seeking something rather specific I thought it needed a new question.

Blast you, balloons!

mai — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:31:00 -0800

I have a new laptop running win XP home, and I want the speech balloons to go away. Whenever something exciting happens, like if I connect to a wireless network or have a low battery, a speech balloon pops up coming from the relevant status icon and displays a message. This is annoying and I can't figure out how to turn it off.

I tried searching microsoft help, which seemed to suggest changing the registry, but the procedure suggested did not work.

What kind of laptop should I get?

mai — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 20:26:46 -0800

What kind of laptop should I get? Mac, PC, or something else for an elementary teacher just starting out? I know many have asked this before, but I am looking for advice tailored to my specific needs.

I am becoming a student teacher and eventually an elementary school teacher. I would definitely like to use my new laptop for keeping track of writing, notes and lesson plans. I already have a windows desktop at home which is still perfectly good and fast and has plenty of space on it and which does various important things including being my stereo.

I don't know what else I might want to do with my new laptop.

iMovie looks really good and some colleagues have used it to make fun movies with their students, which is what first drew me to consider an apple. That and the snazziness. The tablet toshibas are also drool-worthy: think how easy it would be to correct papers with that!
On the other hand Dell offers some super cheap ones. And will a non-windows machine play nice with my current computer?

So I'm stuck.

Important factors, in no particular order: cost, weight, ease of use, reasonable speed and capacity and ability to do stuff. Good looks. Lovability.

I don't have infinite money but I have some and would consider financing if I felt it were really worth it.

Are there features of a particular model that, once I get them, I will love them forever? What factors should be most important to me as I try to decide what to get? Please, put forth a convincing case for a particular kind. Get as specific as you can. For example, "I have a powerbook and it is nifty," is less helpful than "I think you should get a whoopty-dee brand 5775w with optional memory upgrade and booster rockets, because. . ."

Thanks for the input!

What should a Physics grad do until grad school?

mai — Sat, 16 Apr 2005 17:45:42 -0800

My friend was sadly rejected from all of the physics grad schools to which he applied. He wants to apply again next fall, so in the meantime. . . What should he do to make himself a more appealing candidate the next time around? What fun adventure of a life should he have in the next year? These two things may hopefully be one and the same. He got a good GRE score (>900) and had okay grades. Was surprised by all the rejections and would like to have better luck next time around. What can he do to impove his chances? What job or internship or project or tactic will help?

Additionally, he needs a plan for the next year of his life. He enjoys Northern California, creative writing, the outdoors, drawing, and of course, physics. He's outgoing and friendly and funny.

Ideally, his life plan for the next year will fatten his CV, but it need not - his mind is open to anything exciting.