Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with generation

What would you do if you had an engineering degree?

MechEng — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 08:55:15 -0800

What would you do if you were a recent engineering graduate? (What companies would you be looking into across Canada?) Suggestions for all branches of engineering are welcome.

A bit of background about myself:
Recent Mechanical Engineering graduate. ( with ~ 2 years of co-op experience). I am interested in almost anything Mechanical Engineering related, from vehicle engineering (aircraft, trains, automotive, etc) , HVAC, to power generation. What would you suggest as companies to apply for within Canada?

Willing to move anywhere for the right Job / experience. (Although Major cities of interest are Ottawa, Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto)

It has also been suggested to go back to school for something business related (seen a bunch of links about mba on ask metafilter)

I understand that mechanical engineering is a wide branch of engineering on it's own, and would like some suggestions as to which direction I should take.

Forgotten fall of the Roman Empire quote?

jellywerker — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:51:38 -0800

I am looking for a quote I once read about the decline of nations/empires. I think the quote was specifically referencing the Roman Empire and said something to the effect of when a nation starts putting the current generation ahead of the unborn generation, that's when it falls. I think the quote might have been in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, but I can't find it. I have always thought it was a very powerful quote, and rather relevant to today's social security issues.

Another way I think it might have been said was something along the lines of an empire falls when it puts pleasure ahead of the needs of the next generation.

I think this is also applicable to the cuts on education and research and development that recently went through, and I'd like to be able to quote it correctly.

How can one learn to be more patient and kind with an elderly family member who has a difficult personality?

mintchip — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:34:30 -0800

How can one learn to be more patient and kind with an elderly family member who has a difficult personality? I have an elderly family member who I've always had a very hard time getting along with. We've always been like oil and water. We just don't mix. She is pretty similar to Tony's mom on the Sopranos: negative, hostile and set in her ways.

However, as she gets older it's come upon family members such as myself to become caregivers. The struggle comes from caring for someone for whom I never cared much and who I feel bad when I'm around.

How can I learn to be above these difficult feelings? I'd like to be more patient and learn to be loving even when I feel that this isn't returned. I'm wondering what has worked for others and if you have any specific techniques or suggestions. Thanks.

Those kids and their dang music...

SpacemanStix — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:51:05 -0800

Why are we so connected emotionally to music from our generation, but not others? My parents, for example, are connected to music from the 60's and 70's, me from the 80's, my grandparents from the 40's and 50's. This level of emotional connection usually does not cross generational boundaries. Also, I don't get nearly as connected emotionally to new music now as I did when I was younger, which was true of my parents and my grandparents in relation to the music I enjoyed listening to. I find that I can respect music from other generations a lot more now than I used to, but it's in more of an academic sense, rather than an issue of being deeply connected.

I suspect it has something to do with what is being listened to at a key time in our emotional/physical/biological development, and it gets imprinted in us, in a sense. Has there been any official research or academic speculation discussing why this happens?

Carrying on a family name

youngergirl44 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:35:40 -0800

Is it OK for a family name (Firstname Middlename Lastname II, III, IV, etc.) to skip generations? Let's say my husband's name is Robert John Smith and his grandfather's name is Mark Joseph Smith. If Robert John Smith and I have kids, could I name my son Mark Joseph Smith II?

Andreana Weiner: recent-ish pictures plz?

Quarter Pincher — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 11:43:57 -0800

Can you find me some more recent pictures of Andreana Weiner, an American actress, other than from the ST:TNG s07e07 "Dark Page" with which co-stars a young Kirsten Dunst? Perhaps someone has Adams Family Values or Red Dragon and could take screenshots? Thanks!

The un-sexy side of the adult industry...

sandra_s — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 14:09:53 -0800

How Does one go about with the generation and delivery of adult hosted galleries for website affiliates. The un-sexy side of adult website management is inside. This is a purely technical (and long) question, but be warned: questions, ideas and answers inside may be NSFW, and definitely are not NSF Children. I own and run an adult website which caters to a niche of a niche, consisting of content I created (not purchased or leased content). I have had the site for about 6 years.

For this site I have an affiliate program (run through CCBill, my credit card processor). Basically what this is is, when an affiliate signs up they are automatically assigned, through CCbill, a numeric code. The affiliate puts this code inside any html link they create on their site, like a banner, (or any where else they link to me from), which sends traffic to my site. This code can be tracked and anytime someone joins my site after following the affiliates coded link, the affiliate receives a commission on the sale. This works very well.

The affiliate code looks like this:
http://refer.ccbill.com/cgi-bin/clicks.cgi?CA=XXXXXX-XXXX&PA=ZZZZZZZ

Where
“XXXXXX-XXXX” is my static account number that will be the same in every link, no matter the link or affiliate

And
“ZZZZZZZ” is the affiliate number assigned by CCBill to the affiliate.

The larger sites take this a step further and offer “Hosted Galleries”. These are generally one-page galleries, not just banners, which the adult webmaster hosts and the affiliate then places the link to out on the web.

I've wanted to add hosted galleries to my program for a while. I would initially design the gallery page, but the links on it back to my site would have to contain the individual affiliate codes in the link.

But what keeps getting in my way is that I cant figure out a way to get the links in the hosted galleries generated with the affiliate member’s codes already on them. Or a way for the affiliate to insert their code and generate the page at will. And the put the page on my server.

For example, as I see it, if I have 100 affiliates and 20 hosted galleries I'm going to need 2000 hosted pages generated automatically, or at will by the affiliate, with proper affiliate codes in the links (100 sets of 20). The only difference in the html would be the 7-digit affiliate ID code. The generated file would probably also have to be named “gallery01ZZZZZZZ.htm” or something like that

eeek!

I am looking for a script (ideally free, of course), or something I can built a page/site around that can do this. Or any other solution that doesn’t involve me manually changing the code on 2000 pages :-)

My HTML brain hurts!

Any thoughts?
TIA!

P.S. No, CCBill does not offer a tool to do this.

Sweat electricity

Keith Talent — Tue, 09 May 2006 12:56:35 -0800

Why does the equipment at the gym that uses rotational resistance not have generator feeding electrical power back into the power grid? The workout summary of both the exer-cycle and the elitiptical trainer say I'm burning approx. 200 watts during usage, couldn't that be utilized? It seems like a considerable amount of energy wasted, if you look at all the machines that are almost constantly in use.

Where to find a list of 'labeled generations'?

Wild_Eep — Tue, 06 Dec 2005 07:07:50 -0800

Where can I find an extensive list of 'labeled generations'? (i.e. 'X', 'Y', 'The Greatest', 'Baby Boomers', etc.) Is this only a 20th century thing? Were generations, say, around the time of the United States' Civil War labeled as well? Is this just a US thing?

Geneology/Census Question

BrodieShadeTree — Wed, 10 Nov 2004 09:17:25 -0800

Geneology/Census Question: Any way to find out how many humans of Nth generation live in a state. For example, how many 6th generation Arizonans are there?

Content cataloging script recommendations?

jca — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 12:13:36 -0800

Content cataloging script recommendations? I need to find a (PHP?) script to catalog content in a MySQL database for a website. Basically, it will be a website cataloging information about an item (like a CD, DVD, Book, and so on...). A few fields per entry. (Category, Title, Author/Artist, url, and other custom fields, such as an associated image, etc.) The database needs to be searchable/sortable by any field. And the user/surfer needs to be able to suggest/input entries (through forms), not just admin-side access. Ability to pull data in from sources such as IMDB, Amazon, etc. would be a bonus also.

Writing the script myself isn't an option at the moment.

Most CMS scripts seem overkill and not quite right - am I wrong about this? The few CD/DVD/Music/Media cataloging scripts I've seen aren't very customizable, and are usually geared towards one specific use or type of item.

Can anyone recommend any software/scripts?

Appreciate any help/info/suggestions.