Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with categories

What categories exist for publication types?

ergibson — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:31:05 -0800

What type of publication has around 20 pages? I am organizing a collection of publications and I want to arrange them by publication type, i.e., newsletters, journals, broadsides, etc. I do not know which category to place items that are longer than newsletters but not long enough to be considered journals or magazines. I am further stumped by one item that consists entirely of reprints from a journal.

Roses are red & violets are also red

selton — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:11:02 -0800

Does everyone categorise shades of colours in the same way? I'm interested in the way shades of colours are bundled together in different cultures/languages. An example: The logo above this question: Ask (green) Meta (blue) Filter (yellow).

Within the Google logo there are also blue, green and yellow (the "G"s, the "L" and the 2nd "o").

The blues, greens and yellows used aren't the same shades, but if I was asked "what colour is the Google L and what colour is Ask?", I'd have to say both are indeed green.

1. Would someone from any other culture say that the Google L is "x" and the Ask is "y" ?

2. Would someone from any other culture say that the 1st google "o" and the 2nd "o" are just a different shade of the same colour?

Why are there no items in the category feeds of my self-hosted WordPress blog even though my overall feed is fine?

raddevon — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:01:10 -0800

Why are there no items in the category feeds of my self-hosted WordPress blog even though my overall feed is fine? I have a self-hosted blog at raddevon.com. My overall feed updates normally with all my posted items. I am using my categories in my posting, but all my feeds for the three overall categories on my site are empty.

The category feeds:
http://raddevon.com/category/gaming/feed/
http://raddevon.com/category/tech/feed/
http://raddevon.com/category/internet/feed/

I'm running WordPress 2.7. I would really appreciate any insight you might have. Other resources have failed miserably to answer this question. Thanks!

Help me fix my new blog.

Ironmouth — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:14:37 -0800

I just started a new blog on wordpress, which I've never used before. I want to make a totally minimalist blog, but I can't seem to get some things off the page. Wordpress seems counter-intuitive to me. The methods for changing the appearance of the blog are scattered amongst multiple menus and I can't seem to find a way to get some links off the page. At the bottom of my blog, there are three huge link areas, archives, categories and meta. I'd like these links removed. I don't want categories and would like to remove these links if possible.

Although I'm terrible at HTML, I found a few things which seemed to help with the issue, but I'm using a publically hosted blog and can't seem to find a place where I can even work with the html script.

Is there anything I can do?

How can I link to the first post of each category in a dynamically created category list in wordpress?

msbrauer — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:18:00 -0800

In a Wordpress-powered site, how can I create a list of categories that link to the first post in that category rather than the category archive? I'm using wordpress as a cms for a portfolio site and I'd like to create a dynamic list of categories with each category as a link to the first post in that category.

I currently use wp_list_cats(); to list the categories I want, but each link goes to the category archive page. I've temporarily gotten the behavior I want by limiting the category template to display only 1 post per page. If posts move around or get changed, however, the permalinks change for particular content that may be bookmarked or linked to elsewhere (i.e., what was at blah.com/?cat=26&paged=2 is now at blah.com/?cat=26&paged=5)

I'm not scared of code, just running into some difficulty determining exactly how to implement what I want; it seems like I could take a list of the category ids in the site, call up the posts for each category, put the first post id from each category into an array associated with the category names, and then print out the list of category names using the first post id as a link.

Is there an easy way to do this? A hard way?

I'm using wordpress 2.5 and higher

Shared Outlook Categories firmwide = possible?

bartleby — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:03:18 -0800

Is there a way to share Outlook Categories / Master Category list across all users on an Exchange server? Company has several thousand Contacts in a shared Public folder (separate from each user's own default/personal Contacts) = "Company Contacts" on its Exchange server (using Outlook 2003 at their desks, Exchange/Server 2003 at the server).

There are several dozen Categories applied to these Contacts (which branch handles them, what type of services they provide, who manages the account, etc.).

As it is now, that list of Categories has to be re-built for each new user/workstation MANUALLY, as the Categories in Outlook seem to bind to the individual Outlook account.

To deal with this, we have simply centralized the addition & categorizaion of new Contacts to a few individuals in the firm, and maintained their Categories lists accordingly. Easy enough.

But there's a move on to spread that responsibility out to everyone - so everyone will need that list of categories so that they can properly categorize Contacts they add to that shared list.

Is there a way to share/deploy a Master Categories list firmwide, at one go? I really don't want to have to manually enter those Categories for each and every user profile.

Seems like there must be a way - everyone is using the same Exchange server, same version of Outlook 2003, etc - but I'm coming up empty.

Teaching resources about racial concepts: their biological validity and various cultural expressions

LobsterMitten — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:22:51 -0800

I need teaching resources about race: the biology of human "races"; why "race" is not biological but social; how racial categories have shifted over time and place; and related questions on teaching about race? This is as a supplement to reading The Mismeasure of Man in a university "Critical Thinking" class. I need more science and verifiable cross-cultural examples to back up my "there are no biological races" claim. Give me your best clear, scientific teaching resources (websites, books, examples) about why the idea that humans belong to different biological races has been discredited.

Two objections I'm especially interested in answers to:
1. Sickle cell anemia, Tay Sachs disease etc. Some groups do have biological characteristics in common (eg susceptibility to certain diseases). Why not then say that race has some usefulness in making biological predictions?

2. "Why are blacks such great athletes? I heard they have extra tendons in their legs, and more ATP." (!!!) I have a student who is very attached to racial categories. What do scientists make of the observation that, for example, many Kenyans seem extra well-suited to be long distance runners? Is there any good science on this?

Another request - evidence that race categories are arbitrary and shifting.

3. Pictures and info on different racial categorization systems that have been used in different places and times -- the more different from present-day USA, the better.

4. Sources of quotes etc on past racial categorizations (eg, the filthy Irish) that would discriminate against people who would now be considered "white".

Delete default category in WordPress.

KevinSkomsvold — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 09:24:28 -0800

Is there a way to delete the default category in WordPress so that all my posts don't show as uncategorized? Since the new WP 2.3 is using a tagging system now, I'd like to get rid of it. I've never used them and for me, categories are pointless. Thanks!

What labels do you use in Gmail?

pithy comment — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 08:23:53 -0800

What labels do you use in Gmail? I feel like I have too many labels for my Gmail account and there is too much overlap between them. What are the best sets of labels? Here's my labels,* and I think some could be added, some removed, some renamed:

Accounts - registration emails for websites, bills
Business - anything 'business' related (but not work, that's another email address altogether), like side consulting jobs, family
[Church] - church group listserv
[Condo Association] - I'm on the board
Family - any email from or related to my family
Forwards - some interesting forwards (I can't wait for Bill Gates and AOL to pay be $24,756!!!!1)
[Fraternity] - alumni listserv, local chapter alumni board
[Fraternity 2] - regional alumni association, I'm on the board
Home & Loans - mortgage, gas/electric bills, conto questions
[Hometown] - kind of like personal, but emails from friends from home and related to my highschool (reunions, etc)
Orders - any online order (Amazon, ebay, etc.)
[Part time job] - self explanitory
Personal - kind of a catch all for emails from friends from where I live now or my hometown
Politics - messages from a few lists related to politics
[Project] - a project I'm involved with
Recipe - a file of recipes
Travel - details of travel plans (flight confirmations, etc)
[University] - Alumni assoc emails, mostly
Website - anything related to domain registration, hosting, etc. Often get labeled with the [fraternity] or other label
X - messages from my ex-girlfriend (should I delete these?)

*Labels in [] genericized

Conference room names

thinman — Tue, 20 Sep 2005 11:42:02 -0800

My company (a web dev firm) moved offices, and the boss wants names for the four conference rooms on site. Suggestions? Personally, I like Pirate-Ninja-Dwarf-Elf.

Combine "Contact Us" and "Locations"

letitrain — Thu, 26 May 2005 11:28:01 -0800

I'm paring down categories on a website and I'm looking for a single phrase that can be used to replace "Contact Us" and "Locations." The info on each page is too similar, so I'd like to create a single page with contact info and location maps. It's for a medical practice with two offices. Limitation: around 12-15 letters maximum, to match the other categories and stay within the limitations of the menu. Thanks!

Free online blog host that allows post categorization?

synecdoche — Sat, 22 Jan 2005 23:20:46 -0800

Is there a free (some ads okay) online bloghosting service that allows you to categorize posts? For example, could I post something, categorize as "school," and then on the side of the page have a list of categories so I could click there and access those posts quickly?

blogthing seems to do it, but are not accepting new accounts presently. It seems to me that MovableType can do this, but I am awful at learning how to use such things properly.