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Help this struggling atheist get over her desire to believe.
After years of drifting along as a "spiritual but not religious" believer I am beginning to come to terms with the fact that I'm not actually a believer at all. I am an atheist with a lingering but unwanted desire to believe and it is making me miserable. Can you help me move past this?
Where is my money stored?
Is most money just numbers on a computer screen? Or do banks actually have cash in their vaults to back up the "digital" money.
Assholes in documentaries for the win
The greatest a-holes to ever strut in front of a documentary film maker's camera?
UK TV Dramas
Recommendations for British television dramas.
Murder on the dance/office floor
I find repetitive noise maddening, to the point where I want to commit violence to make it stop. How can I stop this from happening?
ROCK ME AMADEUS
What are some of the loudest, heaviest, most rocking and head-banging classical pieces out there?
Help me regulate my sleeping patterns.
SleepFilter: How to I rid myself of the innate desire to always stay up two hours later I did than the previous night?
At home language learning for me and my child
Learn-at-home systems for languages: are they worth it? Could working with one help facilitate encouraging bilingual learning in a child?
descent of gould
Science reading for the informed layperson.
What are some TV series with really good story arcs?
I love me some arcs. Please share your favorite TV shows that offer really good story arcs. Leaning towards mystery and sci-fi. I'd prefer shows that feature "factual accuracy" within the context of the show.
Napping in New York
I'm arriving in New York at 5:30 AM, with nowhere to sleep until that night. Is taking a nap in a chair at Penn Station reasonable and unlikely to get me robbed/shivved? Is there a library or similar that you'd recommend instead?
Expand my language!
What are some good, off-the-wall similes/metaphors? R-Rated and PG-rated are both ok!
Wheels within wheels, feints within feints.
What are some books (or maybe teevee shows) featuring lots of Machiavellian intrigue and violence?
Books with just two (or something like that) people?
Are there any books out there that are basically just two people having a conversation and going about their business? Sort of a book version of Before Sunset, or My Dinner with Andre?
What should I read if I love Clan of the Cave Bear?
I love The Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel, and am looking to read other series in the same vein (i.e. historical, fact-filled, plot driven awesomeness) What would you recommend?
What documentaries should I "Watch Instantly" on Netflix?
What are some of the best documentaries available to watch instantly on Netflix?
Help me go cable (tv) free!
I would like to cancel my cable and watch tv shows on my tv from my computer.
Turn John Hodgman into Justin Long
What are the Mac equivalents of great Windows software? This was a great question about what a Mac person should install on a Windows box. I'm going the other way, as my office kindly bought me a new MacBook Pro. I'm a scientist and haven't used a Mac since OS 7.5. For the past decade my machines have been Windows, Linux, or dual-boot. Freeware/shareware programs I use a lot under Windows: Cygwin, Essential PIM, FLVplayer, IrfanView, Maxima, Openoffice.org, Scilab, Winamp, Xemacs, Xplorer2 pro. Commercial software: Mathematica, IDL, occasionally Microsoft Office. I'm mostly interested in freeware or shareware such as great text and image editors, tex/latex, and other nerdware. Thanks! Naturally, the new laptop runs Leopard.
Some good, interesting historical nonfiction?
Some good, interesting historical nonfiction?
Great Food Experiences in NYC
Can someone please suggest some particularly awesome food experiences in New York for this weekend?
Standing In Line
How do lines work where you live? I recently came across an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica [quote inside] about the novel introduction of the concept of "standing in line" by McDonalds in 1970s Hong Kong. Do other cultures today deal with lines differently? Where are lines accepted/rejected? Is the alternative a free-for-all, or are there other ordering schemes?
I want more of the same.
I enjoy literature with a dystopian and/or post-apocalyptic bent to it. I want more. Recommendations?
In search of something strange.... in NYC
Need a suggestion for something unusual to do tonight in nyc!
Books To Make Time Fly
I would like some good, engrossing, addictive, fast-paced fiction: thrillers, conspiracies, mysteries, anything.
Help Me Get Ride of Firefox?
I want to completely, entirely remove Firefox from my Macbook. Help me do that?
Get ready to burn through a lot of ink!
"A Solitaire Civization game that's compact enough to play on a plane ...
Using only a pad of paper, a pencil, and a specialized deck of cards, lead your civilization through the ages to become ... civilized." A free "print-and-play" board game.
Where did my lunesta butterfly go?
Why does lunesta sometimes work beautifully and sometimes do nothing at all?
Are There Any Good General-Topic Blogs?
I've been doing some thinking lately about blogs. It seems that most of the really popular, successful blogs stick to one topic or another, pretty well defined (food, books, politics, celebrities, etc.).
Are there any really popular or successful (in the sense of widely-read, or just good to read) blogs that are about a variety of topics, or that take the 'one person's views on a whole bunch of things' model?
Call me fish meal.
What is the closet thing to MetaFilter, but about books and/or writing?
Books similar to Into the Wild?
I am looking for books similar to Krakauer's "Into the Wild." I used to prefer fiction, but after reading this book, I am craving some non-fiction similar to this book in a few particular ways...
I want to rock with the Big Bad Wolf
What kind of Jazz is The Three Little Bops and why can't I find anything similar?
Help Me Capture Text From Books!
What kind of options do I have for a gadget of some kind that can capture bits of text from a book or magazine? I read a lot and always take notes, highlight, underline, note page numbers to refer back to, all these things to use for reference later on. But actually copying paragraphs into a notebook takes time, highlighting and underlining doesn't really help as I have to go back to the book - but rarely do. Since I keep so much information on my computer, I have wondered if there are small devices (mini-scanners?) that can somehow capture a few lines of text and store it as a .jpg or something. It seems as if I have seen or heard of these but I really don't know what to look for. By the way, I have used Jott to read a paragraph and have it in my email as transcribed text. That's nice, but I don't want to make a phone call every time I want to capture some text.
As always, thanks in advance!
Don't read me a bedtime story.
What are some exceptionally well-performed audiobooks?
Help me stop being a liar.
I don't want to be a liar anymore but I don't know how to stop.
How do I get people to not antagonize my phobia?
How do I get people to respect my phobia? How do I make them stop antagonizing me by showing me the thing I'm afraid of?
Seriously this was a really good sandwich.
Can I patent a sandwich? I may have just invented the best sandwich ever, and before I reveal the recipe I want to know it's safe from those would attempt to misuse it's power for evil.
Books that grab you and don't let go
Looking for decently written, page-turning historical fiction.
I need some portable history for my commute!
Is the Eugen Weber lecture series 'The Western Tradition' available via podcast?
Too damn tired to think of a title
Where can I take a nap in NYC?
Best place to buy a used Mac?
What are some of the better places to buy used Macs? What are good models to buy? I'd like something that can run OS X and still has some life left in it, but also hoping to keep the cost down.
Best movies of 2008 so far
Amazing movies of 2008? Has there been any? What have I missed?
Best book for a beginner to learn C?
Best book for a beginner to learn C? I've never learned a programming language, but I'm hoping to learn C over the summer. My friend, a computer science student, is going to teach me as he learns it. We would like a textbook or reference book or work book of some kind. What would be a good choice?
How to do things with JL Austin
What's the big deal with JL Austin's "How To Do Things with Words"?
TIME FOR MORE STORIES
Last night, I spent an hour reading the crazy, hilarious stories posted here. One hour was not enough. I need more davesecretaryatwork - or at least, more like him.
Just the thought of a throat culture makes me gag
Can I train myself to tolerate throat cultures?
Idiot proof RegEx creator tool ?
How can I find a drop-dead simple way of creating Regular Expression strings without having to learn all the underlying mechanics?
An unbiased, informative site for heated issues
ProCon.org is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit public charity that has no government affiliations of any kind. On it, you can find unbiased information on the Pros and Cons of issues ranging from the the use of medical marijuana to whether milk really does do a body good. They use a system of theoretical credibility to give weight to cited arguments and opinions, and offer 1-minute overviews, top 10 Pro/Cons, Summaries, Little-known facts, and even extensive glossaries for each subject.
They are also following the 2008 election.
Bargain Bin Bliss
TM without the ™. When he's not directing one of the best movies of the year or sitting on intersections with cows, David Lynch is a vocal advocate of Transcendental Meditation. In his new book Catching the Big Fish, he talks about the Box and the Key, meeting Fellini, the Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit, why he doesn't do DVD commentaries--and TM, which he calls "the experience that does everything." If you're intrigued by TM but sketched out by the organization and the $2,500 fee, perhaps you'd like to know that there is a cheap, downloadable alternative.
Beyond Rape: A survivor's journey
Joanna Connors, a theatre critic, was raped on an empty stage.
She tells her story in vivid, lucid detail-- then traces her rapist's twisted family history. One of the best pieces of journalism-- or writing, for that matter-- I've read for ages. Lots of resources for survivors and their families, as well.