In "the worlds most fantastic Praying Mantis photo"

That is so great!

In "My House is Worthless"

In the short run, the devaluation is mostly affecting a few bubble markets--are you in one of those? If so, take the long term look, that any investment is going to rise and fall, but over a few decades it is hard not to make money on real estate.

In "Curious Ramblin' George: help name my rocketship"

Damn, that thing is sweet. And huge. The name should reflect its humongousness. Leviathin? Moby Dick? The Pequod?

In "Curious, George...new career?"

How about teaching? You could work in medical/nursing education at a university. Tons of jobs, a flexible schedule, and you get to hand out with young people all day without being seen as some kind of weirdo. The pay is less than what you are used to, but I'll bet there are things you could do on the side. Forbes just ranked college professor as the #2 job in America.

In "Curious George - York"

Oh fortunate Skirk! The wife and I visited York maybe 5 years back. We travel a lot and it remains one of our fondest memories. Enjoy yourself.

In "George Tirebiter was real!"

No anchovies?!! You've got the wrong man. I spell my name: DANGER! *slams down phone*

In ""

Thirding the Atlantic.

In "Whatever Happened to Polio?"

Great post, very moving pictures. Thanks.

In "Would you have dropped the bomb?"

I apologize for the condescending tone. No bananas for me. I can't see the comparison to American Indians at all. In the case of Japan, the bomb was dropped to end a war that was still, even without an invasion, consuming human lives at a ferocious rate. The bombs ended the war in the quickest way possible, and in so doing freed tens of millions of Asians who were suffering and dying under a brutal Japanese occupation. In the case of American Indians, they were attacked to steal their land. As to the Soviets, weren't they already pushing into Manchuria when the bombs were dropped? Or do I have that wrong?

I would have dropped the bomb, especially with the knowledge of hindsight. I'd have done it to save hundreds of thousands of Japanese lives, millions of Chinese lives, and tens of thousands of American lives. It really is not a hard question.

In "Scottish landscapes"

Lovely. Thanks!

In "Curious, George: Keeping up with the Joneses"

I paid $5 to join MetaFilter.

In "Curious, George: "

I would be able to footnote with a wave of my hand--in MLA or Turabian format, flawlessly.

In "The tragic story"

Great and poignant post. Hard not to think about those young men in their flight suits, trudging across the desert, getting thirsty...

In "Do a search on eBay for "monkeyfilter""

Cute kid! Is that Squid Jr.?

In "The Forgery Indictments and Biblical Archaeology Review"

A couple of years ago a student told me she was going to study Biblical archeology. How is that different from regular archeology? I asked. Do you start with your conclusions and look for evidence? "That's right!" she answered brightly, "we prove the Bible!"

In "Ever roast marshmallows over a campfire? "

Someone--here? on MeFi?--recently recommended soaking marshmallows in brandy and roasting them. Can't wait to try it. (And oh yeah, don't be a jerk, JimBob.)

In "Curious, George: Working at home"

Wolof: Have you taught before? If not, your best bet is to contact universities in your area. See what courses they offer in your field and create simple syllabi for some of the lower level ones. (For ideas, google the course title + syllabus). You need to get the department chairperson to feel comfortable with you and your abilities. If a course crashes and burns due to a flakey adjunct it is a huge mess. Once you have a few onlne courses under your belt and a file of positive student evaluations you should be able to approach schools at a distance. In the states the main source for academic job ads is The Chronicle of Higher Education and www.academic360.com/. Breaking in can be tough or easy, depending on your field. The pay is lousy, at least in the states, but with practice you can get pretty efficient at it. The Chronicle had a story a few months back about a woman who made around $80k/year teaching a lot of courses online--she wouldn't say how many. I am an associate professor at a small state school in the Midwestern U.S., I teach about 80% of my courses online. I miss the more direct contact with students, but love the many, many mornings my little boy and I have gone fishing while the rest of the world rushed off to work.

Do you have an MA degree in anything? Many universities, and especially community colleges, are desperate for online teaching adjuncts.

In "Best of the Web"

Why does this post appear under the deleted items and on the front page at the same time?

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