Know of any interesting advertisements? [more inside]
posted by awesomebrad on Mar 15, 2006 - 22 answers

MetaFilter landlords: Please help me aquire a lease... [more inside]
posted by cmonkey on Dec 7, 2005 - 11 answers

I'm over 30 and probably know as much or less about history, politics/ gov, and current events as my 7 year old niece. Now, I want to be aware and don't know where to begin. I've tried just "merging in" but the references, terms, and names are lost on me. I need a starting point that will give me a framework or bird's eye view to start from and build on. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Jul 24, 2005 - 27 answers

My boyfriend and I live in a flat built in the '20s. We have reason to suspect that the outlets provide inconsistent amount of electrical current. Is there something we need to get for our computers to protect them? [more inside]
posted by FortyT-wo on Jul 7, 2005 - 16 answers

If we can have wireless voice communication and wireless data transfer, why can't we have wireless electric current?
posted by PrinceValium on Aug 8, 2004 - 16 answers

International Voltage adapters... [more inside]
posted by lkc on Jul 6, 2004 - 5 answers

How do microchips work?

I understand it at a very basic level. I know that when you apply current to a semiconductor, it becomes conductive, and that this closes the gate in a transistor. By opening or closing the right gates, you're able to do basic counting and logical operations.

Here though, my conceptual model totally falls apart. Because try as I might, I can't get my head around exactly what it is that controls the current going to the semiconductor in the gate in the first place. How does the microprocessor know to open or close a particular gate? It seems like if it already knew to open or close a gate, then the operation has already been done. It's like you'd need another microprocessor controlling the current within the first microprocessor, and so an and so on back to some omniscient prime mover.
posted by willnot on Apr 12, 2004 - 13 answers