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Pamela Dean's fantasy novel Tam Lin is set at a fictionalized version of the liberal arts college Carleton (mostly in the Classics department) and Suzy McKee Charnas's horror novel The Vampire Tapestry takes place in a university setting with a vampire in the anthropology department.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 5:40 AM on April 21, 2024

Oh, I just remembered Neal Stephenson's The Big U and his co-written novel The Cobweb.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 2:51 AM on April 22, 2024

Dr. Lee at Urban Optix in 400 Fairview in South Lake Union is kind, funny, warm, and conscientious, and the staff have always lived up to her example. I'm happy to recommend them!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 12:04 AM on September 18, 2023

A few years ago Simon Willison commissioned an oil painting of Barbra Streisand’s cloned dogs. The service used might be able to help, cosmic owl.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 7:33 PM on November 12, 2022

From James Somers: Did you know that at one point, [Michael] Crichton had the nation's #1 bestselling book, the top movie at the box office, and the most-watched television series, all at the same time—and that this happened TWICE (!)?

In 1995 he achieved a breathtaking pop-cultural moment when he had the nation’s No. 1 best-selling book (The Lost World), the No. 1 movie (Congo), and the No. 1 TV… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 3:23 AM on January 23, 2022 marked best answer

Apologies for any off-topicality, but the song as described by Sockin'inthefreeworld reminded me so strongly of Coley Jones' "Drunkard's Special" from The Anthology of American Folk Music that I wanted to share! Apparently it's a version from folk tradition, too, called "Our Goodman."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 2:50 AM on December 31, 2020

Another series to look out for: Thames and Hudson's small paperback "New Horizons" volumes. They're nicely produced glossy art books that fit in your pocket. I really like the Chaplin one and the one about the history of scripts.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 3:54 PM on May 16, 2020

They totally are the same, Flying Saucer! That'll teach me not to click the links in an AskMe!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 8:09 PM on May 16, 2020

Sadly, no ability to install or really do anything that requires admin privileges on the Windows PC. It's pretty locked down.

The Chromebook concern mostly relates to none of the KVM things I've seen noting that they work with ChromeOS. They say yes about Windows, macOS, Linux, and UNIX stuff, but nothing about Chrome that I've noticed.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 3:51 PM on April 22, 2020

This land is your land, and this land is my land
From the California to the New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest, to the Gulf stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.

I do not see how land can fail. Here is some land. Here is some more land. Here is some less land. Here is all the land. There can be many types of land, sure, but they're all land in the same way rice is all rice and ice is all ice and bamboo is all bamboo, aren't they?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 7:21 PM on May 21, 2018

Not strictly relevant, but Its A Mad, Mad, Mad, Max World - Mad Max Fury Road Parody Trailer. Spoilers for both movies.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 7:20 PM on April 15, 2016 marked best answer

Natsuo Kirino's 1997 debut novel Out. Neal Barrett, Jr.'s oddball noirs
Pink Vodka Blues, Dead Dog Blues, Skinny Annie Blues, and Bad Eye Blues. Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls (and if you like that, her earlier novels also, though Moxyland and Zoo City feel closer to cyberpunk weirdness).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 2:46 PM on April 9, 2016

Steven Brust's Dragaera novels often deal with these themes and social mechanisms, especially in Teckla and Orca.

And previously.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 5:03 AM on August 26, 2013

Dilute?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 6:25 AM on June 12, 2013

Ze Frank reminds you to just breathe.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 11:10 PM on February 22, 2013

In Seattle people in real life actually say YOO-DUB when pronouncing UW, the abbreviation for the University of Washington. YOO-DUB sounds like a word to me, but I dunno if it qualifies.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 11:28 PM on January 7, 2013

Later in her career Jane Jacobs wrote several books in dialogue format. Here zompist reviews her. And David Warsh says: Jacobs was nearly 75 when she began Systems of Survival. The immense success of The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) was well in the past; so were the frustrations of her more analytical The Economy of Cities (1969) and the disappointment at the reception of Cities and the Wealth… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 12:26 AM on November 2, 2012

Dawson's Creek works this way with Dawson and anybody who Dawson loves or who loves Dawson, most especially with Joey and Jen, who have incredibly contorted juvenile chains of reasons and feelings for not getting together with Dawson or for not staying with Dawson, and who talk to each other and to Dawson at melodramatically rhetorically magnificently overblown length about the troubles and consequences and OMG yeah Dawson's Creek.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 11:51 PM on October 11, 2012

You might be remembering the Belgian researchers from a few years ago, a hoax. Language Log describes many instances of the idea.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 2:39 AM on September 1, 2012

IMDb's plot keyword search will find these for you. For example, here is "1920s", which defaults to being sorted by rating. You can combine keyword searches, too. Or 1920s + Prohibition. Downtown Abbey uses Edwardian Era for its keyword.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 10:55 PM on August 25, 2012

Downton. Bah. For some other examples, here are Weimar Republic; 1920s + China; 1920s + Chicago; and 1920s + San Francisco.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 11:08 PM on August 25, 2012

How Stuff Works' electricity article can get you started. It's heavily linked to connected ideas like circuit breakers, power grids, capacitors, and batteries.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 1:26 AM on August 24, 2012

"You are the menthol of autumn."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 3:38 AM on July 29, 2012

Rudy Rucker has recently worked through this problem and described his process with typical candor and humor.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 11:36 PM on June 27, 2012 marked best answer

"Why don't we put her in charge?" from Aliens.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 9:47 PM on June 10, 2012

Not even close, LMGM. And many more marvels.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 4:37 AM on March 10, 2012

You can get weekly hits of this type of thing from the television series Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, and (more absurdly but still fun) Leverage. In Burn Notice, your guy is Michael Westen with help from Bruce Campbell. On Covert Affairs it's moderately realistic contemporary CIA stuff. Leverage has a team of thieves stealing stuff from rich and powerful corporate types on behalf of the little guy, often using confidence games.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 7:29 PM on March 3, 2012

Toothpick dipped in superglue. Attach sticky tip to protruding plug. Wait until it sets. Remove the plug.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 6:00 PM on February 29, 2012

Kathryn Harrison wrote a fine book about a family murder in Oregon called While They Slept.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 10:21 PM on February 25, 2012

I'm not sure what story you're thinking of, e-man, but I am sure you should read Bradley Denton's 2005 novella "Sergeant Chip." (20,000 words.)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 2:45 AM on January 24, 2012

How about solid? Or synonyms like sturdy? Or as your title suggests, satisfying? Satisfy is good because it includes the idea of meeting requirements, which generic stories must do.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 3:56 PM on January 22, 2012

Estimates of hummingbird wing tips' maximum speeds range from 300 to 500 inches per second, or a little more than 28 miles per hour. They only appear to be so fast because they're so small. Many, many breathing animals have faster-moving parts, such as the ball-and-socket joints in people's shoulders when they throw a ball.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 4:55 PM on January 13, 2012

Probably the best-known and most widely read popular treatment is The New Science of Strong Materials, or Why You Don't Fall Through the Floor by J. E. Gordon, though it's somewhat outdated now. More recently science-fiction writer Wil McCarthy discussed some of the history of materials and how they work in Hacking Matter [2.3 MB pdf link], but he's mainly talking about materials at their molecular and even smaller levels.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 9:47 PM on January 8, 2012 marked best answer

J.M. Roberts published a serious, modern, non-kooky book in 1972 called The Mythology of the Secret Societies, which was reprinted in 2008.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 2:34 AM on December 21, 2011

IMDb does keyword searches. Here is New Year's Eve sorted by rating. Kim Morgan at Sunset Gun wrote about New Year's movies a couple of years ago.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 5:54 PM on December 19, 2011

If you don't mind scribd.com, it looks like you can see a version from a book of Feldman's collected essays called Give My Regards to Eighth Street.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 11:25 PM on November 23, 2011 marked best answer

Steven Brust's Taltos books integrate male and female Dragaerans at all levels of society from nobility to peasantry. Most of the discrimination in the books occurs due to various kinds of racism.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 1:12 PM on October 18, 2011

How about Steve Jobs?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 8:26 PM on October 4, 2011

You'll probably find John C. Lilly at the center of any such constellation of wacky new age/counterculture dolphin/alien business, Hesychia.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 5:26 PM on September 27, 2011

Last fall animators produced a four-minute promotional video for Steven Johnson's book Where Good Ideas Come From that seems to match your description.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 5:50 PM on August 20, 2011

Nice to see this resolved. Thanks, scamper.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 12:56 AM on September 3, 2011

R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" sequence works this way.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 8:21 AM on July 14, 2011

Heh. Sorry, schmod. R. Kelly may not meet your first criterion, "gotta be good."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 9:28 PM on July 14, 2011

In case you don't know, KingEdRa, Saturday is Free Comic Book Day in the U.S. Maybe stop by your local comic shop and ask around tomorrow?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 2:31 AM on May 7, 2011

I've seen this idea phrased "Might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 1:39 PM on May 4, 2011

Johnny Mathis?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 9:56 PM on March 31, 2011

Remy Zero's main theme for Smallville reliably does this soaring thing for me.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 9:07 PM on March 31, 2011

Ah, and so do the opening credits for Lie to Me, though the whole song feels flatter, less vibrant.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 9:15 PM on March 31, 2011

jb, Brokedown Palace nominally stands alone but it's also set in a weirdly parallel universe to the main world Brust writes in, Dragaera, and it's rife with Grateful Dead puns and inside jokes. I wouldn't recommend starting there for him; I'd suggest jumping right into the Vlad Taltos books with Jhereg. They read fast fast fast like wow fast and by the third book you're deep into the sense of depth the world affords, which grows richer book by book.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 11:36 AM on February 14, 2011

It is never, never, never too late to tip. Drop by the place with a tip, send it in the mail with a note, call and let them know you appreciated their work. They'll be happy you did, you'll be happy you did.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by cgc373 at 8:52 AM on December 23, 2010 marked best answer