Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with World

Help us choose a charity!

springo — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:07:14 -0800

Anyone have any information about how good World Education is as a charity? What about Ashoka? We have gotten a small charity gift card for Xmas. Since we don't have an established charity to give to, this means that, in effect, we have been given a charity-organization research project. Truly the gift that keeps on giving.

We have narrowed our choices down to two: World Education and Ashoka.

Before we choose, does anyone have information about either of these organizations that might influence our decision one way or another? Personal stories are great. Biases and opinions are welcome. We'll even consider hard data, too, if you don't think that will be too much of a bummer.

Thanks for any help you can give us.

Can you help me find this essay?

codacorolla — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:18:01 -0800

I'm looking for a World War 2 essay that may be titled "Missing the War", which is about the difference in perception between how the Second World War was portrayed in the media and how it was for the soldiers involved. I remember reading it in a best-of essay collection that might've been published in 2006 or 2007. Google searching for that title doesn't bring up anything similar. It's a really great essay, and probably some of the best war writing I've ever read.

Magratheans, anyone?

The otter lady — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:06:41 -0800

How do I discover what day/night and seasonal cycles are like on a hypothetical unusual planet? I would like to be able to find out how, given, say, an earth-sized globe, with, say, two suns, and four moons, and a retrograde orbit.... or, wait, suppose my world is flat, like Terry Pratchett's Discworld; how fast does a miniature sun have to orbit to give the impression of normal daytime? What if the world is a cube; what does sunrise look like? What if the world is like a ball where the top half spins clockwise and the bottom half spins in the opposite direction; how do days and nights appear? What about if our Earth spun around the east-west axis instead of around the North/south one? What about a Dyson sphere, or a ringworld like the one in Halo? Spinning or stable? How long is a day, a year, a season? What's the climate like? Etc.!!

I'm not so much interested in the physics of how such a thing could exist, as how it would appear to people living on it. Obviously a lot of magic or fudging could be involved, but if there's something cool like "night only comes once every hundred years" or "a day is about an hour long, so the sun seems to whip across the sky like a comet" I would like to know it.

Is there a computer simulation program that could maybe help with this, or perhaps a well-written book that could make some of this understandable to the layman? Ideally I would have a pet mad scientist whom I could say, “Design me a planet that's shaped like a donut and tell me how it works!”... any volunteers?

Seeking documentary about every country.

nnevvinn — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:03:09 -0800

Is there a documentary that contains basic info (+ maybe some cultural info) for every country in the world? I don't want to spend my life traveling everywhere in the world, but I would like to know how people do things in different places, for the sake of being a little less confined to my bubble of thought.

I'd like to know things like: What does language X sound like? What kind of government and tax structure does every country have? Which key historical events have shaped the current culture of each country?

Is there a film (or compilation of them) that would help me out?

Children of the world and national anthems.

querty — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:43:43 -0800

In primary/elementary schools of other countries, is it mandatory for children to sing the national anthem? Just want to know how kids in other countries learn their national anthems. Would be curious to know if some places are mandatory to sing it every morning until a certain age or if it is regional/school district dependent or if it is up to the teacher, however patriotic he or she may be.

Where in the world best experiences

Wolfster — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 05:53:17 -0800

Where in the world to go/travel/live for the most interesting experiences I’ m not at this point yet, but within a few years I do think I’ll be at the point where I can travel/go anywhere for at least brief amounts of time (if not months/years for places that are ideal temporary workplaces for me). In anticipation of that, I’d like to expand my list of potential places to visit and see, beyond the list I’ve already created from reading and….simple curiosity.

This previous metafilter question did a great job of looking for the most beautiful and scenic places in the world. Now I am looking for a bit more.

In the past, some of the most interesting places I traveled to were because of the experiences (eg, hiking in the rain forest and seeing/hearing gorillas in central Africa; exploring a small town in Kenya and hearing the chanting from mosques and walking waround town and seeing a place that looked completely different from anything I have seen before [women wore veils, donkeys roamed throughout the town, etc] ).

Anyway, I thought it would be helpful to see what the hive mind could recommend (and I fully realize that this is what you may find interesting and it may not be entirely applicable to me).

What are the most interesting places (and experience in that place) that you would recommend? So if possible don’t just list a place…tell me why that place/and the particular experience that a person should seek out.

Things that I have found interesting include historic ruins (historic castle, whatever…with a story behind it), up close observations/encounters with wildlife, the culture (which can include music, art, plays), etc. Please don’t limit yourself to these types of experiences, though.

There could be other events that are occurring in different countries and places, too. For example, a play festival, music festival, etc. If you have experienced these (or read about it and it seems like a great experience), please feel free to put that here…or if you have seen a blog, book, etc that lists all these things, drop that there, too. If possible, excluding the US for now…I have a USA-based travel question that I’ll ask in a week or two.

Thanks

A pirate's life for me...

B-squared — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:08:20 -0800

I need an authoritative listing of the world's seaports (by country) or failing that, a list of the number of seaports by country. Exhaustive searching has only turned up inaccurate/incomplete lists and I can't seem to find one on the IMO website either. Any ideas?

Help me find good international music

rollbiz — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:15:04 -0800

I'm responsible for providing music for a local soccer tournament styled after the World Cup. It is a celebration of the various cultures of the immigrant communities here, and I'd like to play as much music from the participating countries as possible. Can you help? I have asked the team captains to help out, but I don't want to rely on them as they have many other responsibilities between now and the weekend. The countries represented in this year's tournament are Columbia, Macedonia, Ecuador, Ireland, Brazil, Iraq, Jamaica, Guatemala, Iran, Liberia, Albania, Togo, Ghana, and El Salvador.

It's non-profit and I'm a volunteer committee member, so free music would be wonderful. Music available via Amazon, iTunes, and emusic would otherwise be preferable because I have accounts on those sites already.

Use MacBook mic instead of headset in WoW? Why not?

musofire — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:02:29 -0800

Why can't I use my MacBook's microphone to play World of Warcraft? Why do I need a USB headset? We're out in the country without my stepson's headset, and anyway, I'd like to hear the chatter. (He's showing me the game.)

Is there a way in WoW to use the regular microphone and speakers instead of a USB headset? If not, is there software that will allow me to use the regular mic and speakers to spoof a headset?

Books on Hitler - Nazi Germany

snap_dragon — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:05:05 -0800

I just finished reading Hunting Eichmann and am wondering if any MeFites could recommend any other popular nonfiction books on Nazi Germany, Hitler, war criminals, etc. I don't do huge tomes well (400 pages or less!). The only other books I have read are MAUS and Explaining Hitler. Thanks for your input. So much out there...don't know where to begin. Probably the more well known the better as they may be available at my library.

Suggest some world music styles for me and my students to explore

argybarg — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:36:02 -0800

I'm looking for striking, rich new fields of world music to explore with kids. I'll be teaching elementary school music starting in the fall. I'd like to introduce my students to musical traditions from around the world that will catch their ears, preferably styles they can play around with themselves.

An example: Gamelan music. It's dreamlike, circular, exotic sounding and not too hard to reproduce with drums, chimes and idiophones set to a minor pentatonic scale. But I already know about gamelan music!

A counter-example: Bulgarian choral music. Beautiful, but full of tricky harmonies, dissonant to American ears and too demanding for children to play around with themselves.

So what world music styles can I introduce that kids can pick up with delight?

what to expect in Durban and Port Elizabeth?

nanhey — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:03:30 -0800

What can we expect when we travel to Durban and Port Elizabeth for the World Cup? Looking for info on transport, safety, lodging, etc. i found lots of info on Cape Town on AskMefi, but nothing on Durban and Port Elizabeth -- what are these towns like? are they safe? cheap/expensive? how should we get from one to the other? We (my boyfriend and I -- both 24 yr old white kids, in case that is relevant) are planning to be there during the World Cup.

any info you have would be greatly appreciated!

Kirby Kreations

wittgenstein — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:47:12 -0800

Jack Kirby/Fourth World filter: I have a question about the real people that influenced Kirby characters in the Fourth World series. I have read that Mark Evanier was a model for Mark Moonrider, and that Mr. Miracle was based on Jim Steranko's magic, and that Big Barda was based on a Playboy picture spread of Lainie Kazan (sp?), and that Funky Flashman was Stan Lee and Houseroy was Roy Thomas. But what about the rest of the characters? Are there any other real world models I have not mentioned? I thought Mark Evanier said somewhere that almost all of the characters were based on real people, but maybe I dreamed that.

Please help me find some linguistics posters!

iamkimiam — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:37:07 -0800

Looking to purchase some awesome linguistics-related posters. I've searched for hours on the internet and I can't seem to find any family tree posters, IPA posters, or even anything remotely related to linguistics that is interesting and somewhat academic. It would be cake to find something like the "History of Programming Languages" poster, but for Indo-European languages or some other branch of the world tree. I'm tempted to just make a language tree poster myself, but that'd be a LOT of work.

Also, any ideas to spruce up a giant bulletin board and/or small linguistics 'lab' room are welcome.

It's got to be sexy funky ladies

DolorousEdd — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:28:02 -0800

Where can I find some skates like the ones in Flight of the Conchord's Ladies of the World? I've been looking around for some outdoor quad skates. These appear to be New Balance or Saucony? The skates are absolutely ridiculous. I must have them.

San Diego-filter

answergrape — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:37:42 -0800

We're setting sail from San Diego on May 25 for a cruise, but we have two days in San Diego beforehand. How can we work the transportation to Sea World and the wild animal park before our cruise while not being stuck going all the way back to the airport for a rental car? Is there a better area to stay or a better way to arrange transportation to support this?

Lollipop Fields and Robot Makeovers?

thebellafonte — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:10:31 -0800

Can anyone identify these cartoons? One about two poor kids who dream of a world made of food, then wake up to a feast in their kitchen. Another about a young couple at a future world/technology expo where they see instant houses, get groomed by robots, and ballroom dance? I had a VHS tape as a kid with a few cartoons on it.
Here's what I remember from the first cartoon:
Brother and sister living in poverty. They stand outside of a baker's (?) window and lick their lips, which the baker sees. Baker goes over and starts whispering to town butcher (?). Mother feeds them cake for dinner, and it's hard so the kids dip it in milk. They ask for more food, but there isn't any. Mom starts crying on table. She tucks them in, their blankets look like swiss cheese. They have this mutual dream in which everything is for eating- lollipop flower fields, possibly some carnival rides made out of cheese wheels and things. They wake up and realize it was only a dream. Then they go to the kitchen and there's a huge table full of delicious things to eat. The baker and the butcher are there. The boy stabs himself with a fork to make sure he isn't still dreaming.
Second cartoon:
Follows a young man and woman as they make their way through some sort of future world expo. There is a bullet train that takes the people to the expo, which is in a tall, rounded skyscraper. Inside, houses are being built very quickly by machines, and a stork flies by and drops a baby in one of the chimneys. The man sits in a robot chair that grooms him- shave, haircut, etc. And the woman steps into some sort of mold that gives her an hourglass shape and a cute dress. I think there's also some robot thing that puts lipstick on her and curls her hair. They go dancing in a ballroom. Oh and I just remembered that they each dance with a robot partner before dancing with eachother. Then they go up to a machine, press a button, and a block falls out. The block unfolds itself and is a totally awesome car. They get in and drive away.

I think about these cartoons more in my adult life than I'm willing to admit.
I'm 23, but I think they're from the 40s. Maybe 50s.

Any help as to identifying them or an idea of where to get a copy would blow me away.

Cheapest place in the world to live?

skwt — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:07:06 -0800

What's the cheapest place in the world to live that is relatively safe? Hi,

I currently live in Toronto.

I'm wondering what the cheapest place in the world is to live, that is also relatively safe, for about a year, maybe two. (I'm male, which I guess helps define 'relatively safe'.)

Please take into account only cost-of-living (spending), not local wages (earning). I'm assuming I would only spend money I've saved.

Cost-of-living is my main question but cheap travel suggestions (ie, other than flight) are welcome. Boats? Over-land legs of trips?

As a point of reference, the cheapest place I personally know of would be a small town in one of the more out-of-the-way provinces of China, where I know I could find an apartment for about CAD$50 rent/month + spend about $100/month on food. I'll leave entertainment/miscellaneous out of my budget/question. So about $1800 for one year. However, a brief search shows USD$1358 as cheapest round-trip Toronto-Beijing flight. So total about CAD$3400 for a year, but with the average/year falling off as I stay longer.

Is this as cheap as living gets in the world?

In particular, does anyone know about very cheap living in South America that might have much lower travel costs? (I'm pretty good at picking up languages so assume that's not an issue).

Visas are also an issue. I won't assume everyone knows what's available for a Canadian, but any information is appreciated.

Thanks very much.

(I found this but it was mostly US. Also this after I wrote all this, which was helpful, but was talking about $500/mo and I guess I'm talking about living even dirter-cheaper.).

(One more thing: I need electricity.)

Distinct written and spoken languages

nthdegx — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:29:08 -0800

Are there any human cultures, past or present, which have developed completely (or largely) distinct spoken and written languages? That is to say, the written language is not spoken out loud, and even if it were, it would bear no relation to the established spoken language.

Need a reliable list of world leaders/minister in MS Excel.

BobbyVan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:46:41 -0800

I need a regularly updated, reliable list of world leaders/ministers (ideally, all the information contained here) in Excel format. Help! I've been going to the CIA.gov website to check on world leaders, but need something that will allow me to extract the data and use it elsewhere.

Is there another source for this information that is as reliable as that on the CIA.gov website? Thanks!

Who are the best feature writers out there?

reenum — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:21:10 -0800

Who are the best magazine and newspaper feature writers, past and present? I've been on a magazine and newspaper kick lately. I've gotten tons of articles by Michael Lewis, William Langewiesche and Jack Hitt. For sports, I love Gary Smith. I also like to read the in-depth articles put out by ProPublica.

Could you suggest others who write deep, delving pieces about a subject? The subject itself doesn't matter; I care more that the writer have the ability to engage a reader and explain a situation or subject in an interesting way.

Thanks!

Why is World of Warcraft so addictive?

Sully — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:40:20 -0800

Why is World of Warcraft so addictive? I've curious about WoW. I've heard a lot about it - how there's millions of people playing it. But I've also heard that it's ruined lives.

There are some sites where people talk about how WoW has ruined their lives, but they only go into details about how their lives are ruined. They mention that WoW is incredibly addictive, but they never go into detail about how exactly WoW addicts them.

Even the short Youtube documentaries about WoW just talk about how many hours they spend on the game, how they miss classes, or ignore responsibilities. They talk about the fallout from WoW without looking at the mechanics - which is what I'm interested in.

I have to say, I kind of want to try it. I play a lot of single-player games, like Fable 2, Fallout 3, Crackdown. I'm familiar with reward systems, and am curious about WoW's. I mean, to get millions of players, they must have an incredible reward system. But I am also afraid that if I try the game, I will find it so rewarding that I won't want to stop.

I've even read things where people say they've been playing this one game for years - doesn't it become boring? Can someone who has played WoW dissect for me how WoW compels or manipulates you into coming back for more?

Thanks.

Presentation on Shintoism..Any info. would be helpful.

lwclec072 — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:17:22 -0800

Presentation on Shintoism...any info. would be helpful Hi, I'm taking a class on world religions and my group is giving a presentation here in a few weeks on shintoism, just wondering if anyone practices that religion or knows about about that religion, from a personal perspective preferably, we want to make this educational though very interesting not like we're only presenting info./facts we found on the web, maybe making it where our classmates can take something away w/ them. perhaps a short activity. any suggestions would be excellent!

Thanks
Laura

What world affairs publication(s) should I read?

parjanya — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 03:42:58 -0800

What world affairs publication(s) should I read? Since going cold-turkey on mass media consumption, I'm worrying that I might be a bit too ignorant on what's going on in the world. I'm looking for something that covers global politics and issues in a well-rounded and analytical yet not too technical or dumbed-down manner. Doesn't have to be mainstream, but it has to be available in print form because I already have 700+ items in my feed reader.

If it helps, I'm thinking of stuff like the Economist, Le Monde Diplomatique, etc (in terms of subject matter).

Will taking advantage of the gift of a year off destroy us professionally and leave us more experienced, but worse off?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 11:41:28 -0800

Travel free or just keep hunkering down? My wife and I have the opportunity to take some time off thanks to a generous benefactor (a relative, part of a wedding gift).

Put simply, we have the option of using a fairly decent budget (about $10k a month) to spend on 6 to 12 months of full time travel.

To pre-answer the obvious, there are no strings attached other than the requirement that we come out the other side a little older, wiser, more worldly and unharmed. We have enough savings to survive a few months of downtime at the end to find work. There is no option to use this money for any other purpose [investment, school, ...] or to even directly access the bulk of the cash prior to just before leaving [the person is quite intent on its use]. We lose the opportunity if we haven't taken off by the end of the year. Beyond that, there are no restrictions other our own fears of the future and the unknown.

I have read the other Ask questions on the "taking a year off" concept but they mostly seem to deal with kids fresh out of school or people early in their careers. This is quite a different situation, as I hope to explain below.

Non-worries -- logistics

We do not own a house or have kids or pets -- our only issue would be sub-letting the lease and putting our stuff in storage. That I can do in a week.

Friends and family -- we are very, very good about keeping in touch with people electronically.

Worries -- the meat

Safety -- if we are in fact entering a sharp and prolonged worldwide recession or depression, one can assume that safety will go down, but how much?

Health care. We will be able to afford COBRA for the duration, but this seems like overkill and is very expensive -- and worse, it runs out in 18 months. What if we get back and it takes me more than that to find a job? We are both in our thirties and relatively healthy. If we do this, what the heck works for international travel? And how expensive is it?

Career -- mine. I am probably at the peak of my career, rather prematurely. I am essentially one of four or five of the most important people on a project critical to the business and recognized as such by an organization of 200+ people (who know me by name and use me as the final authority). I am not exaggerating on this point, please take it on faith. From here out, the only trajectory for my career at my place of work is flat or down. There is no lateral transfer which will maintain my level of authority, access or prestige.

The reality, of course, is that I am in this position due to the last 6 years of extremely hard work and as a result I am burned out and getting more and more bored with my work. With the downturn the opportunity to do interesting or original work is nonexistent, just small improvements and features. Sometime this year, I am going to start looking for an exit: the most palatable option would be to go to a startup and fall back into 100% work mode, which is feels natural to me, hoping for the best but enjoying the experience (this is assuming startups still exist). I desperately need a break but this is throwing it all away.

How badly will this time off reflect on me when it comes time to find a new job? I would expect a serious pay cut if I leave my current position for any reason, new job now or later, but I am OK with that in the small (20% - 25%). Looking at the economy, I worry that we will come back at the worst time imaginable and I could be out of work for an extended time. This is my single biggest concern, significant enough that I've actually had several nightmares about it since the opportunity presented itself.

Career -- wife. My wife's career is doing better than it ever has, but the reality is she makes a tiny fraction of what I do. Realistically, a reboot of her career would be frustrating for her, but doable -- and would not affect us financially. She understands what the impact would be but is OK with the trade if we expect to land on our feet (my career). (I am not trivializing her contribution, just being realistic.)

Financially, we am fortunate (or unfortunate) enough that taking a year (or two) off will not drastically affect our retirement planning (we have a limited amount of savings, but short of hitting the lottery, we're in the same "there is no retirement for the next 30+ years, as of now there is no way I will ever stop working" boat as most everyone else).

Wants -- what we want to get out of this

Other than just the travel experience, I would like to spend some time somewhere learning a foreign language in immersion but have no idea if this is practical or even something that actually works for people. Has anyone done this? How did you separate the decent programs from the fluff?