Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bio

I need a specific CMS that allows each user to edit one part of a page.

grumblebee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:27:46 -0800

I need a page of bios integrated into a WordPress site. I would like to give each person the ability to update his own bio without letting him mess with other people's bios. It would be awesome if the list was alphabetized. In other words, if you visit the bio page, you'll see something like this:

Fred Alberts has worked at Acme for five years. He lives in New Jersey...

Alice Jordan loves the NY Times Crossword and...

Peter Smith is a gourmet chef who has lived in London and Paris...

If, say, Alice no longer likes the crossword puzzles, I would like her to be able to log in someplace and change her bio, but I don't want her to be able to change Fred's bio.

This system will slowly grow in terms of me adding more people. Currently, there are about 100 people. I will probably add about ten more people to it each year. These people will regularly want to update their bios, and I don't want them to have to email me each time they want a change made.

Ultimately, I want all the bios on to be on one page of a Wordpress blog.

Is this something that exists already, or do I have to code it myself?

I want to see more bad people

reenum — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:48:37 -0800

Please suggest movies, TV shows and books that feature unrepentant, amoral characters I was a big fan of Seinfeld when it was on, and now love It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia and Eastbound & Down.

The common thread running through these shows is a character or group of characters who are often selfish at best, amoral at worst and unrepentant about it. Also, the characters don't seem to have an epiphany that makes them "good", like the case with many movies and books. For example, I loved the movie Roger Dodger until the ending.

I want more of this. I'd love suggestions on TV shows (except Weeds), movies, and nonfiction books or biographies. I've read about such characters in fiction, so don't need recs on those sorts of books.

Thanks!

potassium & ekg's

brevator — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:14:06 -0800

[Bio-med-dorkfilter] Why does hyperkalemia cause peaked t-waves on an EKG? On an EKG the t-wave represents the repolarization of the ventricles. It's my understanding that the first part of repolarization is potassium leaving the cell. This occurs by diffusion through potassium channels. Diffusion is the movement of particles from high concentration to low concentration. My thought was that if you increased the concentration of potassium outside the cell, then the potassium inside the cell would be slower to move because it naturally wants to go where there is less of it, not more. This would make the t-waves smaller, not heightened.

Where is the problem with my logic?

The Wright Brothers' family dynamics

np312 — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 08:49:57 -0800

Does anyone know any details about the Wright Brothers' actual brotherly relationship? I'm looking for books, anecdotes, articles, or documentaries you've read/seen that actually address this aspect of the great American story, their personalities, family dynamics, etc. I just read the 1975 bio "One Day at Kitty Hawk," which was great but basically glossed over most of the "emotional" aspects of the brothers, the things that made them human and relate-able. I want to know more about them beyond the dry historical facts, but there are so many books on the airplane's invention to dig through that I was hoping someone in the metafilter community could point me in the right direction.

All I know is that Wilbur Wright was the more driven, methodical and secretive of the two, whereas Orville was a bit of a dandy and more of a risk-taker. More information on their personalities (and overall relationship) even if it's just anecdotal, would be very interesting for me! Thanks in advance for your help in finding sources to answer this question.

Sea to shining sea?

Freedomboy — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 10:48:04 -0800

Agronomy / save the planet question: Since vast stretches of land are owned by the government running right beside the interstate highways what plant groups could be used there to provide ongoing good bio mass to harvest using those wonderful paved lanes right next to the ..er..side of the road?

StatsFilter: Evidence challenging/contradicting conventional controlled/placebo trials?

pallen123 — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 15:15:52 -0800

StatsFilter: Evidence challenging/contradicting conventional controlled/placebo trials? I'm looking for articles, evidence, books that challenge the validity, accuracy, and/or adequacy of what's commonly been ascribed as the gold standard for clinical trials: controlled placebo trials (CPT).

I understand that the CPT has evolved to become the standard for scientific research for good reason, and that, like capitalism, is often cited as the "best system/solution when weighed against the alternatives". I also understand the hazards of anecdotal research and bias.

However, I suspect there must be some legitimate contrarian views concerning CPT, as well as some proponents of alternative research techniques.

For example, since the validity of findings of significance in such trials relies in large part on the adequacy of the size and composition of the control group, there is necessarily an assumption that the etiology underlaying the condition being examined is sufficiently similar across controls and test subjects. If the etiology is complex, consisting of multiple confounding variables, it seems that the control and test groups could in many cases, by virtue of the heterogeneity of etiologies manifesting in common symptoms, be deceptively too small.

In other words, suppose 100 individuals with a diagnosis of say severe Autism of a specific age and within a specific profile of symptoms, take Ginseng for six months, and another 100 individuals with the same diagnosis take Sugar Pills for six months. Neither group knows to which group they are assigned. The target is reducing incidences of dangerous behaviors.

Suppose results show Ginseng causes no significant decrease in dangerous behaviors. Sugar Pills also show no decrease. Now suppose that a statistically insignificant 18 individuals in the Ginseng group showed a decrease in dangerous behaviors. And a statistically insignificant 20 individuals in the Sugar Pill group showed a decrease in dangerous behaviors.

Do these results indicate that Ginseng is as ineffective as Sugar Pills? Or is it as likely that, considering the true imprecision of a diagnosis of Autism, and the possibility that within the test group of 200 individuals, there were only about 20 or so with truly similar etiologies and biological idiosynchrocies, the results tell us little of significance about the influence of Ginseng and Sugar Pills on dangerous behaviors in individuals with Autism.

Obviously the larger the size of the test groups, the less precise you need to be about the underlying causes of the conditions manifesting in common symptoms.

Certainly for things such as burns and skin wounds, it would seem the number of confounding variables may be manageable. However for conditions for which there remains relatively little understanding of the underlying genetic, biological, and environmental factors, such as MS, most Cancers, Leukemia, etc. -- it seems as though traditional CPT, unless the trial sizes are enormous, is a blunt technique.

So often, anecdotal reports of efficacy of this or that treatment are dismissed by empiricists as coincidence rather than causal. But isn't it just as likely that alternative and complimentary treatments for various conditions/individuals may indeed be effective, given the genetic/bio/environ factors present for a particular individual? But that finding is buried when the target is evaluated within in a sea of individuals with different genetic/bio/enviro conditions?

An implication of this may be that a reasonable course of trx. for individuals with conditions of unclear genetic/bio/enviro basis, is rapid-fire trial-and-error and assessment of a wide range of conventional, alternative, and complimentary treatments. This is hardly the 'wishful' thinking approach, as most believers in CPT would proclaim.

Am I missing something?

"Read no history: nothing but biography, for that is life without theory."

oxford blue — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 19:38:52 -0800

Apropos of the above, can anyone recommend an excellent Benjamin Disraeli biography? Inspired by this fpp.

Which Howard Hughes biographies are worth the time? Why--accuracy or entertainment?

grabbingsand — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 06:45:27 -0800

BioFilter. Saw The Aviator last night. My natural instinct after seeing a decent bio-pic is to find and read an actual biography of the subject, but I'm having difficulty discerning just which of the available Howard Hughes biographies are worth my time. So I ask you ... can anyone recommend a Hughes bio? Furthermore, do any of you have a favorite biography in your collection? If so, what makes it worthwhile? Accuracy or entertainment?

Vanity Wikipedia Edits

kk — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 09:22:32 -0800

What is the proper netiquette for editing a Wikipedia entry about yourself? I just stumbled upon mine recently. Since it is written in the third person there is the presumption of objectivity. But then, it is my life, and I am the world's expert on it. What would you do?

VW Biodiesel in USA

gesamtkunstwerk — Sun, 23 Jan 2005 10:55:36 -0800

Fuel Filter? Has anybody had long-term experience using North American bio-diesel in a TDI? My dealership is dead-set against it, but my European friends swear by it. (I tend to distrust my VW dealer, but I don't want to be cavalier) Since I live in a moderately cold climate, I would only be using it in summer.

Good hard sf or biography book suggestions

Karmakaze — Fri, 12 Dec 2003 10:00:53 -0800

I'm in the process of trying to buy Christmas presents for my father and his wife. My father likes science fiction (hard, mostly) and I've had luck with Vernor Vinge and Neal Stephenson in the past. His wife... doesn't, although I am told she likes biographies. Can anyone recommend some good hard sf or biographies that might go over well?