posted 2 days ago on metafilter
What's the point of teaching a man to fish, if someone else owns the river? Berkeley professor Ananya Roy narrates a hand-drawn video about who is profiting from poverty.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
My girlfriend and I have our great AZ/NM road trip this month, and we'll be looping around and through the Navajo nation on our way to the Chaco Canyon UNESCO site. What should we know, what should we make side-trips for, and where can we get a good bowl of lamb stew?We have a multi-day route planned from Flagstaff up to Monument Valley on the Utah border, down to Chaco Canyon for hiking and archeological geekery, and back south to I-40 and Albuquerque. This will take us through and past a lot of those Tony Hillerman names - Tuba City, Farmington, Gallup - but we're not finding a lot of specific information on interesting sights or destinations in that Rez-adjacent NE Arizona / NW New Mexico area. Any advice from the hive mind? History, Native American culture, spectacular sights, and good local eateries all welcome. (Bonus points for actual experience with the Chaco Culture park and the apparently somewhat dicey roads that get you there. Are those going to be a problem?)

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
What are some good scifi / fantasy / horror novels about economics?Based on this post and previous discussion, I am looking for genre (scifi/fantasy/horror) novels that feature economics as a major, significant theme. Comics are also fine. You can squeeze in movies or TV shows if they're extremely good examples, please. I do not seek "any book in which characters ever use / need / want / have / discuss money," because that includes basically all books. To simplify things since the definition of economics is subject to debate, I'll mark as "best" only answers that include some brief note on why they're really about economics and/or books that at least 2 people here confirm "Yes, Title Here is totally about economics." Thank you!

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I just started taking 5mg of cipralex three days ago and am currently having the worst anxiety attack of my life. It's almost physically painful. Is this normal? I haven't felt like this since I had a seriously bad trip on mushrooms!!Mentally I feel mostly ok, it's just like there's an alarm going off in the back of my head freaking out and I'm sweating. It's a nice day out, nothing bad happened or is happening, this is surreal. I feel slightly stoned as well and have a bit of the stupids, which isn't helping. If it is normal, how do I deal? Bad effects are supposed to wear off after two weeks, but I don't think I can handle this for that long. Honestly, the generalized anxiety and depression were much much easier.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I ( a small 50ish woman, with modest mechanical skills) bought myself a Mantis mini tiller, with the 2 stroke engine. I assembled it last night, using the instructional dvd included, and it all went just fine. I put the proper gas/oil mixture in, and following the instructions, started it up and tilled a bit just to say I could! Tonight, I attempted the same amazing feat, and flooded the engine. This wasn't terribly surprising, in my experience with lawn care equipment, but I was disappointed. Anyone have any cool tricks or suggestions for me to be able to start this beast consistently and easily. I did spring for the fast start model, which makes this even more ironic. I will note that I have NOT gotten it to start YET this evening. I plan to just leave it be until maybe tomorrow, to let the gas evaporate and try it again. (It was too hot to till anyway, damn it.)

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I have just been given a script for Prozac/Fluoxetine 20mg. My doctor gave me a good overview of the process of adjusting to having this in my system. But I am now a little bit apprehensive about starting on them as I have a business trip in 10 days time. On the business trip I will be conducting a training program solo, so I can't really afford to be feeling nauseous, headachy, more anxious etc. These seem to be common initial side-effects. So my question is, should I wait until after the trip to start taking the pills, due to the initial side effects? Or are they over-stated in your experience?I haven't really ever taken ongoing-medication before so I have no idea whether I tend to be sensitive to side effects generally. Thank you.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I am looking for a text file of a list of words (roughly the 5000-10000 most common English words) and their root word and root word language. My Google Fu only turns up single words or pages that I can type in a word to get to another page to get the etymology. Wikipedia has some stuff, but it is sorted by language root, which is not what I am looking for. I would like to have a long list of words in a text file so that I can manipulate it programatically. Comma separated or whatever, any format would be great. Here is one use case: Yoke - [list of words that have yoke in the etymological history] (Many, many many English words come from the root work for Yoke.) All answers appreciated!

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
Can someone help me find this graphic?It's shown on a tee shirt, but I would prefer it in the form of a poster or even a note card. I'll take the tee if that's all there is. I think it would make a nice office decoration for my lighting designer husband.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
19 people were shot at a New Orleans parade on Mother's Day, including 2 children. 3 are still in critical condition. David Dennis asks: "So why am I allowed to go outside? Where's the city quarantine or FBI and Homeland Security presence for this act of 'terrorism'?" "Now take a moment and imagine a Mother's Day Parade in the suburbs of Denver, a neighborhood in Edina or a plaza in Austin where bullets rain down on civilians and even hit children. I can't help but imagine the around-the-clock news coverage." Two suspects have been arrested.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I'm looking for a way to transfer files more quickly from my laptop to an external drive. Currently, I'm using USB 2.0 ports & a USB 2.0 hub. However, my HP HDX18 laptop does have an eSATA port & an ExpressCard 54 slot (Gen 1.0). Using Windows 7 64bit operating system.I do a lot of photo editing & store most of my photos on an external harddrive & back up to a separate external. Only one of my externals has both USB 2.0 & 3.0 capability. They are filling up though, so I am looking at getting another external with at least 2TB of storage - like this Seagate that Wirecutter recommends that has a good balance between price/quality/capacity. I don't know much about desktop eSATA drives, but would be open to suggestions. My editing & backup speeds are really limited by the USB 2.0 ports I'm currently using though. Currently, I'm using a powered USB 2.0 hub as a docking station for the external harddrives, wireless mouse/keyboard, & printer. I prefer hubs & external drives that are NOT self-powered & don't charge from the USB ports on the laptop. I have been trying to pick between these two ideas: Option 1) Using the eSATA port on the laptop by purchasing a USB 3.0 to eSATA adapter cable & USB 3.0 female to female coupler to connect to a single USB 3.0 external harddrive. From what I've read, eSATA is faster than USB 3.0, so the transfer rate would be limited by the USB 3.0 end of the cable but that is still way faster than my current USB 2.0 connections. My concerns with this idea are that I had read that I can't use a hub to connect multiple drives though this port, but can only use the eSATA port with a single external drive; if the adapters/couplers will slow my transfer speeds; and that I don't know what the transfer speed of my eSATA port is. Option 2) Getting an adapter to convert my ExpressCard slot to USB 3.0. While it would still be faster, I wouldn't get top USB 3.0 speeds because my ExpressCard 54mm slot is Gen 1.0 & tops out at 2.5gb/sec. If either of these will work with a hub, I'd get a new USB 3.0 hub to replace my old 2.0 version, which I've had over 6 years. My budget's not unlimited - looking for reasonable balance between price/performance (example - I'm not buying a new PC or iBook). The expensive components are easier to determine than the cheap ones - there are several brands & types of adapters ranging from $5 to $35 and that is the most confusing part. I'm hoping the tech savvy folks here can help me out since I've already spent a number of hours doing research online. I'm in a small town, so I'm pretty much limited to online stores - not just limited to Amazon, I also use newegg, frye's, etc, but not ebay. And I'm open to other product suggestions for the externals/adapters/hub - these were just picks based on what I found so far. Thanks for the help!

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
You Can Be Better Next Season, American Idol. Here's How. By Dave Holmes Dave Holmes hilariously recaps American Idol and The X Factor for Vulture. He first got into the public eye by not winning Wanna Be a VJ and still landing the job. He spends most of his days with his podcast or showing up on others, like this one or this one or this one or these or (my personal favorites) these. For the last three years he's also been a part of Mapping the Heavens with Dave Holmes & Rob Delaney at the Upright Citizens Brigade.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
The Untitled Black Lesbian Elder Project is an amazing Tumblr with photos, quotations, film excerpts, and ephemera that accompanies a feature-length documentary, now in production, that "will highlight interviews with black lesbian elders in their 60s, 70s and 80s from across the United States and situate them in a range of black historical movements, spanning the decades between the 1930s and 1980s."

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
We visited Weirdo Video back in 07 for propaganda films, but the YouTube channel has been steadily updating with yesterday's ephemera. Why not enjoy some vintage newsreels about STRIKES! SULTANS! SUEZ! SAN FRANSISCO! or some FITNESS FADS!

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
The thirteen types of armor female characters are forced to wear in the majority of MMORPGs (via)

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
Cleaning: The Final Feminist Frontier It's macho to be a "dad" and do childcare, and cooking is for tough guys, but cleaning? That's still women's work.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I listen to a lot of audio books on my iphone while driving and working. I also like listening to music in between for short periods, but still need to keep my place in the book. Right now I am using the bookmark app to keep track of the audio book, which seems to be the best app that I have tried so far. But the problem is that whenever I want to switch back to my playlist of music, the iphone music app defaults to the audio book that was last played. Is there any better way of switching back and forth so that the music app can remember that it is supposed to play a playlist and the audio book app remembers to start where I left off in the book?For some reason no matter what combination of apps I use this happens. Even in other music apps, if I open it after playing a book, or press play on my headphones, the book starts playing. It takes a few seconds for me to navigate back to the playlist I want, then pick shuffle all, like I always do several times a day. Then later I go back to the audio book app, and it has no problem remembering what book I was on, but why can't any music app seem to do this? I have tried a few others, such as "Groove" but the same problem exists, and I haven't found one I really like better than the original apple music app anyway. I can't be the only one with this minor annoyance. Suggestions?

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts: From 1958-1973, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein (Previously on MeFi) played live, educational concerts with the New York Philharmonic that were televised nationwide on CBS. Tapes of the broadcasts were eventually syndicated to 40 countries, introducing an entire generation of children to a wide range musical concepts, styles and composers. The first concert to air was "What Does Music Mean." Bernstein led a total of fifty-three Young People's Concerts during those fourteen years, and covered a broad range of subjects. The works of the great composers were explored, including tributes to modern masters such as Dmitri Shostakovich, Paul Hindemith, Gustav Holst, Aaron Copland and Charles Ives. Bernstein discussed "Jazz in the Concert Hall," "Folk Music in the Concert Hall," and "The Latin-American Spirit." He explained the intricacies of Music Theory in programs such as "Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals" and "What is a Mode?" He broached complex aesthetic issues such as "What Does Music Mean?" (his first program) with clarity and without condescension. Bernstein also used the Young People's Concerts to introduce young performers to the musical world. The sixteen year-old pianist André Watts made his debut in the concert of January 15, 1963. 25 of the 53 concerts are available on YouTube 1) What Does Music Mean? Playlist. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 2) What is American Music? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 3) What is Orchestration? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 4) What Makes Music Symphonic? Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 5) What is Classical Music? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 6) Humor in Music. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 7) What is a Concerto? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 8) Who is Gustav Mahler? 15) Folk Music in the Concert Hall. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 16) What is Impressionism? Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 18) Happy Birthday, Igor Stravinsky. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 21) What is Melody? Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 23) The Latin American Spirit. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 27) Jazz in the Concert Hall. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 28) What is Sonata Form? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 31) A Tribute to Sibelius. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 32) Musical Atoms: A Study of Intervals. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 33) The Sound of an Orchestra. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 34) A Birthday Tribute to Shostakovich. Playlist. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 36) What is a Mode? Playlist. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4 40) A Toast to Vienna in 3/4 Time. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 43) Quiz-Concert: How Musical Are You? Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 46) Berlioz Takes a Trip. Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4 47) Two Ballet Birds. Parts: 1, 2 3, 4, 5 48) Fidelio: A Celebration of Life. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Many of the linked videos are in black and white. While the programs are appropriate for children, the language used to describe various music forms is sometimes not politically correct, according to modern sensibilities.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I feel like the best way for me to improve my very basic understanding of PL/SQL would be a book or website designed for an audience of programmers who know Java or C# or VB.NET. Is there such a thing?Yeah, PL/SQL is procedural, it should be simple (I imagine my hecklers saying), but when I see REFCURSORs and RECORDS and TABLES declared and manipulated, I just don't get it. If you can't suggest something quite like what I am looking for, please do tell me what you think the best PL/SQL book is if you have an opinion on that. I appreciate it.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I've been offered my dream job! But between it and me is my worst nightmare--a terrible 1hr+ commute in LA traffic. A commute like this is a deal breaker for me, but at the same time, this position is a career-maker and I really want to figure out how to make it work. Does anyone have suggestions, tricks, or creative ideas to make my commute better? Specifics and details below.So this is the commute I'm looking at. I know Google says it's a 30 minute drive, but Google is not so hot at estimating traffic here. Plus, even a 30 minute drive really gets to me. Ok, so why do commutes bother me so much? First, I literally get sick in cars, especially when slowing down suddenly (e.g. constant braking in traffic). It's a kind of headache and mild queasiness. I hate it, but it's not unbearable. Secondly, I really feel trapped by the 40 hour work week. I have so many other things I'd like to do with my life, and I feel like working a full 40 hours leaves me almost no time to get stuff done for myself. Putting commute time on top of that adds to the misery. Also, I get incredibly bored in traffic. I have a very active, creative mind that doesn't want to stop: in the past I've listened to online courses and audiobooks, and podcasts, but ultimately, I am left with a sense of anxiety because I can't actually actively DO anything while driving. Solutions? Take the metro. This makes the commute 1.5 hours, assuming I always arrive at the perfect time at the three or four various busses and trains I'd have to take. But on the other hand, I could use that time to do whatever I wanted--read, write, create... Ride my motorcycle. This makes the commute closer to Google's estimated 30 mins, but then weather becomes an annoyance and I get rattled up by the wind and the noise on my way to work every day. Get a better car. My current car is a noisy, clunky piece of junk that is a big part of the reason I get sick when I drive. A quieter car, (an electric?) would help things out. But my wife and I are both extremely frugal and extremely opposed to debt. Rideshare. I don't exactly know how or if this works, but I assume there is some way to find people with the same commute and pay them to drive you. But I think this would be hard to work out, especially since I would have a somewhat unreliable schedule. Taxi. Really expensive, but the bump in salary from taking this job would probably cover it. I don't actually know how much taxis cost though. ???

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I work as a graphic designer/layout/print production person, and this particular job classification has always been a problem at my company— they are deliberately comparing those of us with this position to other job titles with a lower pay scale. Can you help me determine an appropriate wage comparison?I am particularly interested in any input from HR professionals with access to salary data, but any and all help is appreciated. I was hired for my position 13 years ago (which was advertised as a "desktop layout specialist"), and the position's job classification was already an issue with the current employees then. At that time, we were classified as "marketing specialists", even though marketing positions are usually much different than graphic design or layout positions. So there was a push to get us reclassified as graphic designers—that would be an accurate title for our education, skill-set, and job duties. Although our titles were eventually changed to graphics specialist I or II we were told they would not use the graphic design salary data for review/comparison because it is too high. (!) At least they were honest, I guess? To skip over a long story, currently, the graphic designers in my company are not all located within the same workgroup and there have been a lot of changes to HR, position classifications, salary, etc. in the last decade. I recently had a performance/salary review under yet another new system with a different supervisor than other coworkers with the same position as mine, and I was informed that my position was being compared to a field tech for salary comparison. I was appalled and am still pretty upset about this. The field tech position in my company requires no education or experience; it's something a high-schooler can be and has been hired to do. It's probably one of the lowest paid positions in the company. If not unethical, this seems down-right skeevy, but it's an at-will employment state and I guess they can do whatever they want and if I don't like it, I can leave, right? Yes, I know it's probably a losing battle, but I would at least like to try to compile some data to present before my next review in order to get this fixed. If it was just a matter of looking up the average wage of graphic designers, I could do that. But I live in an upper-midwest state, so I understand that the wage of a graphic designer in Minneapolis or Chicago is not going to be equivalent to what I could expect. Does anyone out there have the data and know-how to provide me some definitive comparisons of what my salary should be on par with, considering where I live and also considering that I now have 13 years of experience and receive rave reviews? The last part is important—I don't want to just present average starting salary for my position, I really need to know an average calculation for someone in my position that exceeds performance expectations for this length of time.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
We grilled boneless pork chops on the propane grill w/a bit of bbq sauce last night. Is there a way to cook it further to make it more tender?The meat is...tough. It is actually almost crunchy in texture at places! Even the pieces that have no obvious tendon/fat attachments are tough. Cutting it into tiny pieces leaves me with tiny tough pieces :( Is there a way to save this meat? It is not edible to us as is and I hate to just throw it away.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
What is in place to stop health insurance companies from simply NOT doing things they are contracted to do (i.e.: process and pay for prescriptions. Pay doctors etc.).Greetings, My health insurance company (Nippon) is awful. I have been trying to get a medication I am on for 9 months, I have gotten it twice. They just come up with the craziest ways to avoid payment or filling prescriptions. They REGULARLY loose hard copy prescriptions, ask for pre authorizations over and over (ones that are supposed to last a year), make me re submit paperwork for pre existing conditions, just flat out not pay for stuff until I call to complain. I can't believe it is happening, it is so bad. I feel physically ill after talking to them sometimes. The supervisors are just the same and I just keep jumping and re-jumping through hoops and they just shamelessly break out another one, re run or not. I used to say "if I didn't know better, I'd think they were trying not to pay for anything". I now know that I DON'T "know better". I can't drop it as it is associated with employment. What can one do in this situation?

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
Does anyone know what happened with the 10 dollar art mystery? It's been a while and I can't find a resolution. There's the Wiki, but if it has any more information I didn't see it.

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
I'm selling my 250gb 360 slim with 2 controllers, halo 4, darksiders 2, hdmi, component, and turtle beach x12 headset. How much do you think I should ask for it?

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posted 2 days ago on metafilter
Resources on gardening in Southern Louisiana? It's currently me vs. bad soil, scary bugs and hot hot heat.This shouldn't be that hard. However, I'm from Illinois where things just grow and get huge and beautiful and come back year after year. Now, I have a yard with bad soil, insane heat, and the scariest bugs I've ever seen. I try to plant things but they die or get eaten by bugs in days. Does anyone have any resources for growing flowers and veggies in this weird place?

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