web trawler

MeFi: Charles Vance Millar and The Great Stork Derby

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:16:25 -0800

MeFi: Charles Vance Millar and The Great Stork Derby:

Charles Vance Millar was a Canadian lawyer and financier with a love of pranks and practical jokes. His greatest and final prank was his last will and testament.

MeFi: Georges Méliès, the Cinemagician

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:55:09 -0800

MeFi: Georges Méliès, the Cinemagician:

He invented or popularized a startling array of the fundamental elements of film: the dissolve, the fade-in and fade-out, slow motion, fast motion, stop motion, double exposures and multiple…

Ask MeFi: llama xray tango foxtrot

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:33:07 -0800

Ask MeFi: llama xray tango foxtrot:

I want to get my sister a llama x-ray for her birthday at the end of March. Is this possible?

MeFi: She can move out of her car and into your home for a mere $95!

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:17:46 -0800

MeFi: She can move out of her car and into your home for a mere $95!:

In the 1980s, American Girl dolls became an obsession for many young girls. The early options were limited, but the “family” of dolls has expanded to have Native American, New Mexican, …

Ask MeFi: Make me a film snob

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:10:26 -0800

Ask MeFi: Make me a film snob:

I’ve recently gotten excited about Film with a capital “F”, what should I watch?

#27920 - Tea Sub. Little yellow submarine for tea…

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:43:28 -0800

#27920 - Tea Sub. Little yellow submarine for tea…

Ask MeFi: Help me assemble Dessert Devastator.

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:46:51 -0800

Ask MeFi: Help me assemble Dessert Devastator.:

Can you help me find principles for dessert making, so that I can make a dessert without following a recipe?

Ask MeFi: Help me teach myself Physics via the Feynman Lectures

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:17:02 -0800

Ask MeFi: Help me teach myself Physics via the Feynman Lectures:

I’ve decided to nerd out by working through the Feynman Lectures. Help me turn that desire into a workable plan.

Owl in flight

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:17:27 -0800

Owl in flight

The Royal Nightmare

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:08:56 -0800

The Royal Nightmare

Disappointment

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:48:52 -0800

Fresh ‘n Easy’s store brand yogurt contains HFCS.

For shame!!

First week new job wrap-up

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:59:51 -0800

I’m only one week in, so this should be taken with a large grain of salt, but I like my new job so far. The work’s a little monotonous, I guess, but the organization I work for is great. I think the hardest part will be not so much the anticipated monotony, as having to deal with so many people!

My old org had a tiny staff. Here, I run into at least 30 co-workers every day in the hallways, in the work room, in the break room, in the lobby, in the parking lot, and on and on. They’re all really nice, but it’s still a huge cognitive load for this severe introvert. Very exhausting by the end of the day.

And, as you’d imagine, most of the socializing revolves around movies, movies, movies. That’s pretty much all my co-workers talk about with each other. Not just movies we’re working on, but movies we’ve seen, movies we should see, movies that are currently playing, movies that we want to watch, movies that others are working on, and so on, and so forth. I hope I don’t get sick of this! My problem, though, is that I haven’t watched as many movies as a lot of my co-workers, and I always feel like such a party-pooper when I have to admit I haven’t yet seen such-and-such film. I need to start a Netflix subscription or something so I can keep up.

The hours are much more regular, too, which I kinda like for now, because you know exactly when you can clock in/out. At my last job I ended up working a lot of extra hours because I’d lose track of time or try to sync with other peoples’ erratic schedules. Here, it’s in at 10, out at 6, and the rest of the day is mine!

The best part is the free movies. Every Friday I guess, there’s a short staff screening of a random film. And then, of course, my org puts on screenings! But I can get into films not just at my org, but also at other nice film venues around LA. Can’t wait to take advantage of this privilege!

MeFi: What's wrong with my Internet?

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 20:56:47 -0800

MeFi: What's wrong with my Internet?:

ICSI Netalyzr is a java applet that performs an impressive collection of tests on your Internet connection, and reports the results back to you (and to the ICSI) in an easily readable format.

MeFi: (Adobe) Flash Gordon!

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:10:46 -0800

MeFi: (Adobe) Flash Gordon!:

Gordon is an open-source Flash runtime — in JavaScript! Demos here and here. It only supports version 1 so far, but with hardware acceleration for things like

MeFi: Who watches what where?

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:02:36 -0800

MeFi: Who watches what where?:

A peek into Netflix queues. From the New York Times.

Conan O’Brien saves the world by presenting us with...

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:27:03 -0800

Conan O’Brien saves the world by presenting us with Puppies Dressed As Cats

MeFi: The Tonight Show with?

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:31:09 -0800

MeFi: The Tonight Show with?:

The Late Shift was a 1996 HBO movie exploring the highly political world of how Jay Leno and secures the Tonight Show hosting job over David Letterman (played by a young John Michael Higgens)…

Ask MeFi: Distinguishing between early 19th century piano composers?

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:41:53 -0800

Ask MeFi: Distinguishing between early 19th century piano composers?:

Can you describe to a non-music-theorist fan the differences a close listener might hear in the piano music composed by Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann and Beethoven? I’ve been loving…

MeFi: Play out 2009, B. B. Bunny...

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 12:30:16 -0800

MeFi: Play out 2009, B. B. Bunny...:

We already had video dating… but here’s The Found Footage Festival’s Top Ten VHS Finds of 2009

“Parks & Rec” get their hate on for the library:...

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:50:33 -0800

“Parks & Rec” get their hate on for the library: “the worst place in the world”