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Yep, it’s a nice bike. With only the one 30T chainring at the front you’re not going to be able to ride at huge speed on roads, but it’ll be perfect for up and down hills in the bush. That sounds like what you’re after, so have fun riding it!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 2:05 PM on March 13, 2021

If you can pull off the look, a ‘kurta’ (men’s long shirt, from India, Pakistan, Central Asia) is just what this is.

(Take it from an Australian though—the secret to hot weather is a wide brimmed hat).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:26 PM on March 12, 2021

Alatriste!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 9:03 PM on March 10, 2021 marked best answer

Kyle Reese:

Listen, and understand! That Terminator is out there! It can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead...

posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 6:38 PM on March 10, 2021

In that case, perhaps the story of the 47 Ronin?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 7:32 PM on March 10, 2021

Military officers in those democratic countries that don’t tend to fight wars or deploy overseas have a pretty enviable position.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 11:55 PM on March 7, 2021

In fact, Australia had a referendum to depose the monarchy after a governor-general overstepped his role--and it lost

Sort of—the referendum was called by a conservative, monarchist Prime Minister, decades after the 1975 Dismissal (and was mostly unrelated to it). It's true that the vote was lost; monarchists interpret it as a pro-monarchy vote, while everyone else interprets it as John Howard's canny splitting of the pro-Republic side into 'direct election' and 'by… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 5:39 PM on March 7, 2021

Where I am, you'd want the advice of a builder with a specialty in 'building defects'.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 6:47 PM on March 3, 2021

the fear of being seen as a failure or a quitter

To paraphrase Ray Smuckles, being a quitter is a fake idea. I got four years into a PhD which gave me exactly the same effects you're describing from your degree; when I abandoned it I discovered that there's a minor freemasonry of people who've done exactly the same thing, and got on with our lives outside the shame-and-guilt factory that is modern academia. You're absolutely right to look at your degree in terms of the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 8:13 PM on March 2, 2021

The book of Job is a lengthy exercise in this, as part of a dialogue on the themes of suffering and one's integrity—Job prays to God (6:8) to let him die:

‘O that I might have my request,
and that God would grant my desire;
that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
This would be my consolation;
I would even exult in unrelenting pain;
for I have… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 3:26 PM on March 2, 2021

England has panto farce, but African-American slightly-too-worldly preachers are a black character-comedy staple (think Arsenio Hall).

Outside character comedy, Catholic priests are always walking into American bars with their friends, the preachers and the rabbis...
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 11:47 PM on February 27, 2021 marked best answer

Simon Winder’s Germania and Danubia have this tone about German and Hapsburg history, respectively.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 1:02 PM on February 25, 2021 marked best answer

Jobs are a mutual arrangement, not a thing provided by a boss for employees to be 'grateful' for. Any boss who gives you that line is trying to pay you with your own shame; that's worth even less than getting paid in flattery.

I really think every adult should cold rage-quit a job at least once in their lives, just for the self-respect. There's even a song for it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 9:44 PM on February 23, 2021

Eric Olin Wright's Envisioning Real Utopias has a few concrete policies, but is more about the history of utopian concepts, and transformative imagination itself. That page of Wright's, which hosts PDF scans of the chapters, also has a bit of a reading list.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 6:18 PM on February 15, 2021

I live in a [rented] c.1885 terrace in Sydney. It’s great, because it faces almost directly north. That’s a key thing: the Victorian era development boom in Australia as elsewhere was marked by complete disregard for solar orientation—they built to be heated by coal, which was cheap then. Some Victorian-era housing stock gets great winter sunlight, and is lovely to live in, others get little to nothing and suffer for it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 3:58 PM on February 12, 2021

You can't win, and people just like you have been losing arguments and friendships with true believers since the 1930s, but if you want to recommend your friend some good books, a few absolute crackers—Karl Schlögel's Moscow 1937, which is a cultural and literary history of Soviet life centred on, but not entirely about, Stalin's purges. Sheila Fitzpatrick's Everyday Stalinism, a history of urbanisation and how ordinary people lived and coped with change in the high Stalinist era. (Fitzpatrick… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 6:57 PM on February 10, 2021

It's a Jacob's ladder (also pilot ladder). The oval wooden pieces are to stop the whole thing tangling up on itself and to make it easy to roll.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:34 PM on February 8, 2021

I’ve been in the situation. I rage-quit without a job to go to; took my box of desk things in a box into a taxi: it did wonders for my self-esteem, and I often think of the moment. I’m not saying it’s what you should do, just that that’s what I did.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 2:05 PM on February 8, 2021

Another vote here for Sublime Text. It’s superb.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:08 PM on February 5, 2021

You feel guilty because we have a terrible culture where 'work ethic' is subsumed into submissiveness and hyper-productivity. You shouldn't feel guilty, least of all as a junior employee.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 10:59 PM on February 3, 2021

Francis Spufford's Red Plenty (which I recommend to everyone) has a remarkable chapter in which a fictional Leonid Kantorovich rides a tram, and comes up with the right questions for which linear programming are the answers.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 8:42 PM on February 1, 2021

My country also has laws preventing discrimination in the workplace on the basis of political/religious/social beliefs, so even asking the candidate, in an interview, about the context of the quote would be a firm no-no—you can't make explaining one's religious beliefs, or the context of a Bible quote, a job criterion. A hiring committee needs to credibly say that they made decisions on the basis of factors that had nothing to do with the faiths of candidates (or the religions, or lack of them,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 5:05 PM on January 28, 2021

Turn all the lights off in front of you, place a single bright light immediately behind your chair. Try and avoid diffusion of light (with lampshades, reflection, and so on). You’ll be a dark silhouette.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 11:42 AM on January 28, 2021

If close contact with other people is your main concern, you can make a very rough estimate of how many people you'd come into contact with. Let's say, driving, you interact each day with workers at one or two fuel stops, two to three meal stops, and one or two hotel workers to check in and out—that's a minimum of 6 people each day, for three days 18–20 people (which you could reduce by stocking up on grocery food to make your own meals, and carrying fuel in a jerrycan). Flying, you would be the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 8:11 PM on January 27, 2021

Advice I received from an electrician and mechanic which is, IMO, more broadly applicable: If you use a tool every day, buy the best kind there is, even if you think you can't afford it. For all the other jobs, get cheap tools on the internet, and don't expect too much.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 3:34 PM on January 27, 2021

Kassia St Clair's The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 6:20 PM on January 21, 2021

I use Mastodon and suggest it’s probably not the right thing for this; the image handling is secondary to text, it’s ephemeral by intent, and the weirdness of federation is part of the appeal.

All of your criteria seem to be met by a plain old email listserv. How about an email group?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 3:04 PM on January 16, 2021

In NSW, the Office of Responsible Gambling carries out a regular survey, to work out how prevalent gambling is, how much harm is being done, and what is changing. In its Chapter 7, with the details in tables, are some surveyed amounts of spending. The 'median spend' (see p60) is $15 AUD a month:

Sub-sampled gamblers were asked how much money they usually spent per month on gambling. Three in five (59%) reported spending up to $20 per month on average, on gambling. Only… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 3:08 PM on January 10, 2021

In North Strathfield in Sydney there’s the Liu Rose, which is a Chinese restaurant in decor preserved from 1971, cocktail bar and everything.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 3:36 PM on January 9, 2021

Your suggested quote seems similar to Robert Browning’s ‘a man’s reach should exceed his grasp / or what’s a heaven for?’ (From Andrea del Sarto).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:12 PM on January 8, 2021 marked best answer

You’re already halfway into the acronym RICE for soft tissue sporting injuries, Rest (which you’re doing) Ice (soon) Compress (lightly with a bandage or strapping) and Elevate (on the lounge).

You’ll expect bruising up and down your leg, which is nothing to be worried about. It’ll be hard to bend your knee for a while, ditto. See a doctor if you see signs of infection, or if you’ve got joint pain after three days to a week or so, otherwise, self-pity and painkillers and… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 7:44 PM on January 6, 2021 marked best answer

The Wild Life zoo in Sydney (Darling Harbour) suggest their wombat may accept pats. I second warning against touching wild ones, though if you know where to go camping you can probably spend an evening surrounded by the sound of munching.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 11:50 PM on January 4, 2021

With respect to others knowing about your will and arrangements you make, you need to have that conversation with the people who'll most likely be dealing with your death; saying that your will is in such-and-such a filing cabinet, or with this-or-that lawyer's office. And when you're having the conversation, make sure to talk about organ donation, which would be an urgent decision your next of kin would make.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 7:20 PM on January 2, 2021

One of the most famous historical ones is Pitcairn Island, much of whose population descends at some point from Bounty mutineers. The hierarchy within the community is serious (and odd), as are the social problems.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 10:49 PM on January 1, 2021

The left one that I’ve the most experience with is the notion that banks, as a cartel, exercise political power to suit the interests of the ultra rich. A statement which is both tritely true, but shades way too easily into the crassest and most classically conspiratorial (i.e. literally from the Protocols) anti-Semitic tropes about ‘financiers’.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:03 PM on December 29, 2020

Sounds like what you need, apart from our solidarity and support, is a project. All the things you've got listed there for you are passive—reading, watching, playing—but there's something to having an active project from which you can describe an outcome when you're done with it, something that takes planning and energy and intellectual engagement.

Sand and polish a piece of furniture. Learn to play the synth solo from that song you like. Knit a beanie.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 6:07 PM on December 22, 2020

Paprika
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:05 AM on December 17, 2020

If it's a brick or concrete or masonry wall, you might use an anchor eye bolt, they're perfect to attach a chain and a padlock to. (You'll need a masonry bit and a hammer drill to make the hole first).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 2:51 PM on December 16, 2020

She's a philosopher (so on the boundaries of your 'natural science' question), but Amia Srinivasan edits and regularly features as a reviewer in the LRB. For example: 'The Sucker, the Sucker! What's it like to be an octopus' is a memorable review essay on cognition and consciousness.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 9:57 PM on December 10, 2020 marked best answer

You're describing a workplace, not a friendship. And an exhausting boss.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:16 PM on December 8, 2020

Pacific; pelagic; plumed; predator.

Pottering; putting; pedalling. Pilgrimage.

Privateer; prizes; pieces-of-eight; pistols; pilot; punishment.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 7:34 PM on December 6, 2020

The classically unconventional shed—to mark your project as eccentric or hippy—is the geodesic dome.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:17 PM on November 19, 2020

Wolfgang Schivelbusch’s Tastes of Paradise is canonical on cultural history of drugs and spices in the human past—ingesting substances to produce if not healing, then definitely effects. (or at least it was when I was doing this at uni years ago)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 5:48 PM on November 9, 2020

This was a notorious habit of the Australian cricket team on tour in India (where they got sick of ‘the spicy stuff’) and had a crate of baked beans shipped to the team, care of Shane Warne.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 3:24 PM on October 27, 2020 marked best answer

The whole Government of the USA, in the sense of terminating a conflict. The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 was argued about in Congress. A treaty to end the Korean War would have to be similarly acceptable to Congress.

A complete surrender (as in the surrender of not just an army, or a bit of territory, but the political entity called the United States) is a lot more theoretical. The closest example we know about was the ceasefire and surrender of the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:07 PM on October 25, 2020

I train first aid (or at least I did, in the before times) and we train people to recognise this exact shaking reaction as a normal and inevitable consequence of stress. Even when you're unambiguously doing the right thing, like giving first aid, maybe saving someone's life. It's your body telling you that it recognises things aren't normal, and to help, it's going to trigger your fight/flight mechanism and dump a bucket of adrenaline into your system! Aren't you grateful?… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 7:56 PM on October 21, 2020

A red panda cub pouncing.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 4:44 PM on October 19, 2020

In 1893, there was a Depression in Australia, major strikes, and a split between moderates who would go on to found the Australian Labor Party (the current centre-left major party), and revolutionaries/utopians. Several hundred of the latter emigrated to Paraguay—in an even worse depression after a terrible, depopulating war—where they established a communist Utopia, led by journalist-activist Billy Lane, along the lines of communal ownership, prohibition of alcohol, despotic justice, and… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 8:20 PM on October 13, 2020

Another alternative is to bisect chords, which is illustrated here.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 7:18 PM on October 12, 2020

I've just seen you noted the circumference—far longer than any rope. Sorry. To go with nickggully's suggestion of flags, it would be very accurate with a known length of cord to bisect chords, mark those lines to the centre with pegs/flags, then walk to the intersection of two or three of them.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Fiasco da Gama at 7:27 PM on October 12, 2020