MetaFilter

always amusing to read Westerners on the internet vigourously arguing in favour of it

My friend the the Zen priest always brought these kinds of discussions back to "do you sit an hour a day?" If not, then you know nothing of it.

He took me to sit at a Zendo in San Francisco, and after about forty minutes of sitting in a row, facing a windowless wall that bordered the street, an argument between a street walker and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by StickyCarpet at 6:54 AM on December 8, 2007

i like the idea of Zen. it's also always amusing to read Westerners on the internet vigourously arguing in favour of it

• The first rule of Zen Buddhism is, you do not talk about Zen Buddhism.
• The second rule of Zen Buddhism is, you DO NOT talk about Zen Buddhism.
• Number three, kill the Buddha.

Also, if this is your first night at the Zendo, you have to sit Zazen.
posted to MetaFilter by moonbiter at 2:31 AM on December 8, 2007

When I can't rent an item that I need to use one time or just a few times, but can't afford it or don't want to tie up that much capital long-term to buy it, I buy it new, then sell it on Craigslist, Amazon, or eBay to recoup most of the cost. The advantage is that you can keep it a lot longer than a few days, too. You could buy one, keep it for a month or two, then resell it for 85-90% of what you paid. Better yet, although slightly riskier, you might buy a used one, use it,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by evariste at 3:27 AM on November 11, 2007 marked best answer

You probably should stop using words like "overwhelmingly" and phrases like "I definitely lack self-control in this area." It's good to be aware of your weaknesses, but it's bad to frame the issue as one that's out of your control, because that usually means that at some level you're already persuading yourself that it's understandable and OK to give in to emotional/hormonal urges, as much as you (the "you" you would like to think of as the "real" you, to... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by No-sword at 4:15 PM on November 21, 2007

I recently went through a 10-month period in which I was feverishly attracted to the person I sat next to at work. I feel for you, my own situation was miserable. I tried many of the things suggested here, but the only way it really resolved was when he got a better job and left.

I'm not saying leave your job or anything like that, you are probably built of stronger stuff than I. But be prepared for battle with yourself. Make a conscious effort to see and speak with... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Squee at 8:33 AM on November 21, 2007

Comedy is totally subjective, and different things are funny to different people.

I'm a bit meh about Sarah Silverman, but she's better than some of the suck out there.

But humor is like politics, different people have very different things they find funny.

In fact, here's a test for where on the funny spectrum you fall. I *know* it's on OK Cupid, but, in spite of this fact, it's not a terrible thing to see where on the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by MythMaker at 4:30 PM on November 17, 2007

There is a concept in the mapping sciences called "fractal dimensionality" that describes, if not expressly corrects, the phenomenon you are describing. Basically, if a planar surface has 2 dimensions and a fully-solid tangible object has 3 dimensions, there should exist a range of values between 2 and 3 dimensions to describe the surface in terms of its complexity and form. This paper gives some elaboration on the case that dhartung mentions, common to all mapping endeavors: you... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by zachxman at 7:58 AM on November 20, 2007 marked best answer

Are you thinking of working as a program officer or -- is there a pure research branch of the Ford Foundation? (I can't figure it out from their website, which has no full list of staff.) From what I've seen, people getting hired as program officers at foundations often bubble up from nonprofits. (I do have a skewed sample, since I work at a nonprofit). Apparently, foundations are the top of the nonprofit heap. I think they're looking for people who know the field, know... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by salvia at 6:40 PM on November 14, 2007 marked best answer

What an excellent question!

Have you considered - and this is going to sound kind of odd - clicker training? In Don't Shoot the Dog (a book I know I suggest about every two months on AskMe) the author discusses having "training" sessions with groups of humans. She explains it much better than I could, but I've played it as a party game. Essentially, one person - "The animal" - leaves the room, and everyone else agrees on a single person to be... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by thehmsbeagle at 4:25 PM on October 22, 2007

This might be a controversial way to look at it, but my conscience is begging me to link to The Singer Solution to World Poverty. I find myself often having to take a different perspective on the idea of spending money on myself, since we are pushed so persuasively into it by our culture.

In other words, your ass might look damn good, but possibly at the expense of something far more important.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lauranesson at 1:15 PM on October 5, 2007

The best thing somebody told me before my winter in Chicago was this: when it's freezing and dry and icy, you will feel like a NEW WOMAN if you go visit the orchid and fern rooms in the greenhouse at the botanical garden inside Lincoln Park. That is the most magical, warm, humid, amazing-smelling place. No winter doldrums can survive a visit there.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sparrows at 9:40 PM on October 5, 2007

She can get a handle on what's going on at Chicago Reader, Gapers Block, Daily Candy, Time Out Chicago, and Roger Ebert (sorry, movie nerd here).

Though there's a lot going on downtown, things get a different sort of interesting once one gets farther out in the neighborhoods, so there's no need to be shy about exploring.

It's also one of the best live music cities in the United States, restaurants are fantastic, and there are some pretty ok clubs.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by asuprenant at 3:57 PM on October 5, 2007

And then I realized it wasn't because I wanted everyone to look the same, it was because I wanted the movement to draw respect.

Real anger has been known to get results.
posted to MetaFilter by ericb at 1:15 PM on September 30, 2007

Do teachers ever drastically change their methods, to make sure that how they're teaching is really the best way?


This is different than what I thought you were asking. Yes, in fact, they do. Ansel Adams and Mapplethorpe would not teach photography the way the guy at the local community college does. In fact teachers change their own methods as a way of relearning their craft. An example would be a photographer who sets aside his $6000... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Pastabagel at 9:13 PM on September 26, 2007 marked best answer

Presenting: Frequently Asked of Metafilter (I updated it last night to include Invite Share and Site Invites.)
posted to MetaTalk by IndigoRain at 11:18 PM on September 18, 2007

This is one of the rare times when I disagree with ROU_Xenophobe. When you do a medication trial, you should do it according to an intention-to-treat design. That means you randomize all comers to treatment groups A and B and then you look at the treatment outcome for group A and the treatment outcome for group B and see if they're statistically different.

Group B couldn't tolerate their medicine and all stopped taking it? Don't care. Some of the people in Group B... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by ikkyu2 at 9:47 PM on September 18, 2007

For DJing:

Last Night a DJ Saved My Life.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by empath at 9:22 AM on September 11, 2007

Don't Make Me Think is a great introduction to web usability.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by belladonna at 7:25 PM on September 10, 2007

I'm a marketing director who *hates* bad customer service, and I tend to think my own personal crusades against this kind of infuriating ineptitude as campaigns. This is a biggie, so it calls for a pretty big campaign. In campaigns, you want the following things: a compelling message with consistency of tone, and you want the right reach and frequency, particularly with the best people for your message. If you achieve these things, you have the best chance of achieving your desired end result,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by mrkinla at 10:04 AM on September 8, 2007

Learn by doing. Try designing a database to record information about songs, e.g., artists, publishers, albums, composers, compositions (the "ideal" songs) and their covers (the "instances"/tracks of songs). this quickly becomes non-trivial. Make sure you design it in at least 3rd normal form. Explore the controversy between using synthetic keys and natural keys by implementing two versions of your database, one with each.

Once you have your database,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by orthogonality at 4:12 AM on August 28, 2007

Something small that I learned from cognitive behavior therapy: stop thinking about things in terms of what you should do.

Instead of saying to yourself: "I should stop being lazy and get out of bed already."
Say: "I'll feel a lot better if I get out of bed."

It's merely a small difference in how you phrase your thoughts about yourself, but it makes quite a difference. Instead of feeling like... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by arianell at 9:05 PM on August 27, 2007

Visual Studio Express is free, as are the betas of Visual Studio 2008. VS2008 will also have an Express version. When you install it, do install the MSDN Documentation as well.

Similarly, you can get an express version of SQL Server for free, along with a free version of SQL Management Studio.

Windows XP Pro comes with a (limited) version of IIS 5.1 that is capable of hosting ASP.NET apps. Some of the limitations (e.g., 10 concurrent users)... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jedicus at 8:33 PM on August 25, 2007

I grew up in a tumultuous house with an authoritarian father who governed with bluster (don't make me angry!), and in my 20's I shunned conflict. I also had some serious depression that lasted from age 17-23. I'm 40 now, and I embrace conflict. I've come to realize that without conflict, there's no possibility of learning and growth and change. A conflict-free life is a stagnant life. Stagnation=Depression (for me). Conflict is Good. Resolution/Reconciliation is the path to satisfaction... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Bradley at 7:25 AM on August 18, 2007

Desjardins, you don't think you can just learn on the job? From what I've seen, so many GIS jobs (even ones called "GIS analyst" and not "GIS technician") only barely require programming, and you obviously have a lot of GIS and databse skills. Eg, this job [doc] (though not exactly the most exciting GIS job ever) only wants you to know Arcview itself and a few extension packs. The GIS consulting firm we work with sometimes has about a dozen people, and most have some area... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by salvia at 9:52 AM on August 17, 2007 marked best answer

I can't help rolling my eyes, because this topic has already been well covered by sexologists before, but that doesn't stop reporters from writing sheer speculation when actual empirical is available:

"The difference in status implications may be relevant to one of the enduring paradoxes of sex research, which is the inequality in tallies of sex partners. In a population with equal numbers of men and women, the mean number of heterosexual partners must be the same... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by jonp72 at 6:49 AM on August 17, 2007

Wait... I agree that it would be impossible for the mean number of partners to differ significantly between men and women (assuming that people in other countries, prostitutes, etc. don't skew the numbers too much), but it seem possible for the median numbers to differ significantly. Here's a numerical example to demonstrate this.

Say we're dealing with 100 men and 100 women. Suppose that among these 100 men, each has exactly 7... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by epimorph at 12:37 AM on August 17, 2007

Here is a good page on the double dash reason. Better explanation that I could write. It is kinda geeky, but if you work with the formula, it will make sense eventually.

Also, I noted that the formula was not an array. This does not mean SUMPRODUCT does not work with arrays. Just in this case, there is no need for the CTRL-ENTER when finishing the formula.

Double Dash via tech-archive.net

If you, or anybody else for that... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lampshade at 9:57 AM on August 12, 2007

This is the detail. As also suggested, a pivot would work, but this allows better manipulation for charts. Or at least I would like to think that it does.

This won't make sense without the pic and the image is not embedding so there is a link. The formulas look like this.
COUNTIF(A:A,E9)
SUMPRODUCT(--($A$3:$A$30=$E18),--($B$3:$B$30>=F$17))


Click for detail. (new window)... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by lampshade at 9:31 AM on August 12, 2007

Mara the Deceiver, the Evil One, was walking with his servant along a road. Ahead of them, a man was doing walking meditation. As Mara watched, the man fell to his knees and began to closely examine an object glittering in the dust.

"What has this man found?" Mara's servant asked his master.

"He has found a piece of truth," Mara replied.

"A piece of truth? Master, aren't you worried?" the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by BitterOldPunk at 4:20 PM on August 4, 2007

To admit that we are matter and mechanism is to ground our selves in the wholeness of the cosmos. In the new physics, self coalesces from the stuff of the stars, exists briefly,... then flows back into wholeness.


Buddhism called. it wants the lame, superficial co-opting of its eons-old ideas back.

As an atheist, these people are to me what the "god hates fags" people are to the average, sane Christian:... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by drjimmy11 at 3:59 PM on August 4, 2007

I'm 5'3" and my bike is a Marin with a 15" frame. From what I could tell while I was shopping, some companies make adult bikes with 13" or smaller frames, but some don't. (desjardins is right, though, about frame size not being everything.) It looks like folding bikes are more adjustable for shorter people - like these, which look awesome but are OMG expensive.

I see Chicago has a bike co-op, so you might try buying from there. No telling what they'll have... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by clavicle at 1:15 PM on July 28, 2007

Adding this silly taking a poke at Buddhists comic to the chill factor.
posted to MetaFilter by nickyskye at 10:27 AM on July 25, 2007

Keep in mind that there is a difference between an annoying parent and one that is crossing some lines as far as acceptable behavior. It's hard sometimes to figure out when that line is crossed because we're all so wrapped up in our parents, but yours sounds like she's well over the line, specifically with the accusations and the anxiety with compulsive need for attention.

I have a similar relationship with my Mom and here are some things that helped me.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by jessamyn at 11:40 AM on June 15, 2006

I'm actually very glad you've asked this question. I've been faced with a similar choice - and it is, ultimately, just that. It's a choice to do something that doesn't sit well with you, or else you wouldn't have asked your question in the first place.

So......all of this is based on e-mails? This whole thing is based on things you've read? Okay, let's back up for a second.

Since you're considering all of this based on... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by TryTheTilapia at 7:56 AM on July 17, 2007

oh
my
god.

What an interesting world and fascinating problem solving. Wonder how the doll maker, Matt with the BONG tee shirt, started his biz.

At minute 33, when there is a running out of over-used body parts. yikes.

Interesting about these guys, they aren't bad looking really but there seems to be a rigidity in their approach -or lack of it- in connecting with organic others. They are in some... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nickyskye at 9:45 PM on July 8, 2007

Don't you think it's a little sick to be punishing people for having sex

Yes. It is punishing women who have sex.
posted to MetaFilter by kirkaracha at 5:58 PM on June 28, 2007

Put on the car cover, hold your breath, close your eyes, and fling lots of cayenne red pepper powder all over the car cover and the shed floor.

Or, if this will bother other shed users or vehicles, don't, and instead uniformly coat the entire shed floor with the powder every week or so.

Cats lick themselves clean, so they will learn pretty quickly that a trip through the pepper is Not Fun.

Unfortunately, they're also... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by -harlequin- at 10:31 PM on June 19, 2007

I am so very sorry for your loss. I too lost one of my cats in November. I know how hard it is. A great website I found the day before I lost my boy was The Cat Site. This thread in the forum is for people grieving and it is so helpful. Since it is a dedicated cat website, every single person there knows what you are going through.

As for ideas: When my boy passed the vet made pawprints in the clay for me. (I know you have ashes, but the symbolism is the same) I... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by MayNicholas at 2:50 PM on June 15, 2007 marked best answer

Speaking purely as a layman, it's my personal observation that most men have an emotional range from 20x to 100x what is socially acceptable in day to day American society. The last thing Ms. Anonyomous wants from Mr. Anonymous is "open communication." She really doesn't want to see his mad face, much less his rant face, to say nothing of the faces that enable men to kill elephants for sport, or butcher whales, or invent suicide bombing as a... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by paulsc at 8:28 PM on June 4, 2007

I haven't done exactly what you're trying to do, and have done almost nothing with Google Maps, only Google Earth. But on the off chance it helps you, here's an ArcGIS extension to convert a shapefile to KML. Hmm, skimming Google's page, it doesn't look like having something in KML will help much for the JavaScript. Sorry.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by salvia at 6:09 PM on March 8, 2007

A friend of mine successfully used lat/lon data to display US Census data on Google Maps. You might try contacting her and see what approach she took. You can see her project implemented at http://maps.webfoot.com/
posted to Ask MetaFilter by sanitycheck at 2:55 PM on March 8, 2007

Vacant frequency locator

Just type in your zip code and it will give you a list. For a trek type in a few zips along the journey and find the common vacant frequency manually. Brought to you by the helpful geeks at MIT.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by caddis at 6:51 AM on February 20, 2007 marked best answer