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If the whole goal is to keep your phone safe, consider a camera bag--in my experience, they tend to be better padded than regular ol' frame bags. The downside to that is that, if the phone is running a ride-tracking program, it will heat up in there, especially in summer weather. Even though you said that you didn't need access to it during the ride, you might want to consider a bar mount; Topeak makes a case and bar mount combo (RideCase) with cases that fit most models of iPhones and… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:59 PM on August 14, 2023

He shot his picture. The man was dying of cancer.

His reason for incarceration? Unspeakable.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:54 AM on February 10, 2023

Sorry I'm coming to this thread late; hope that your prep has been going well. One thing that I'd emphasize is that, if you haven't invested in proper bike shorts and started using chamois cream, you will need to when you're riding all day every day for a week. I thought that I could just get by with the shorts but not bother with chamois cream on my first RAGBRAI, and I paid for it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:20 AM on July 18, 2022

Gaming stores (which sell a variety of games, including RPG stuff) might carry the replicas; my favorite one has started stocking the Marvel Legends ones, which are pretty good if a bit pricy.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:20 PM on October 13, 2021

Scenic areas where I can take a quick walk
Scenic views where I can stretch my eyeballs

You're going to be going by the Allegheny National Forest on your way out, and cross the Pennsylvania Appalachians on the way back. Maybe also going by Pittsburgh? There's gotta be some Pittsburgher MeFites that can give you specific recommendations.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:13 PM on July 14, 2021

I've not been diagnosed with ADHD, but I can talk about the fitness aspect a bit. It's helped me a lot, in no small part because I get a little compulsive about closing the rings; I can even remember what was going on on the increasingly rare occasions when I don't close all three--the last time I didn't close any was in April of 2020 when I got word that my work furlough was going to be extended, and I just sat around and pouted. (I've since realized that I can turn that… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:48 PM on June 28, 2021 marked best answer

Hey, congrats on getting back in the saddle! I'm a Clydesdale who does a lot of riding in the city, although not Chicago, and am familiar with Chicago. My everyday workhorse is a 20+-year-old steelframe Specialized Crossroads (the current iteration of that model has an aluminum frame and seems very different generally), and my road bike is a no-name from Nashbar that is also a steel frame. Nthing the suggestion to either get a bike made for a bigger rider or being ready to have the wheels redone… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:42 AM on March 17, 2021

An alternative to the Great Smoky Mountains (lovely, but likely to be very crowded this season due to people catching up on vacation plans; camping in the backcountry requires a lot of hiking to the sites) is to go to the Chattanooga area, which has camping available and a big Civil War battlesite on Lookout Mountain. (Also a lot of tourist trap stuff like Rock City and Ruby Falls.)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 6:21 AM on March 17, 2021

Follow-up: Thanks for all the responses! I did apply and used Pages for my resume template. We'll see what happens!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:39 PM on May 10, 2020

I'm surprised that no one's mentioned the pebble jar. It's a metaphor for the usual (not inevitable) decline of sexual relations in a long-term relationship: if you put a pebble in a jar every time you have sex for the first two years of a relationship, and then take a pebble out every time you do it thereafter, the jar will never be empty.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:42 PM on October 1, 2019

I weigh considerably more than you (even when you have your backpack on; speaking of which, consider panniers), and I have never had a particular problem with breaking spokes on my city bike. My city bike is a Specialized Crossroads, but it's also over twenty years old; the current model seems quite a bit different. I've looked covetously at the Marin Muirwoods lately. As already said, ask your bike shop about getting beefier spokes, and maybe even consider a mountain bike with slick/reverse… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:00 AM on August 19, 2019

Hank Azaria's version of this trope was "the idiot ball", and he'd ask who was carrying the idiot ball for the particular episode of Mad About You that they were filming, not if there would be one.

There are probably bunches in Star Trek that I can't think of off the top of my head, but one that I can was from the DS9 episode "Children of Time." The crew and their starship crash-land on some isolated planet… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 5:34 PM on July 14, 2018

My dessert feeling isn't smugness; it's a combination of being slightly overwhelmed that this perfect thing is in front of me and it's all mine to enjoy, and yet tinged with regret that the enjoyment thereof will end its perfection. The anticipation of satiation and sadness.

There's also the feeling when I'm playing an RPG game and I'm the sole survivor of a team wipe with no hope of beating the bad guy, and instead of retreating or begging for mercy, I'm all, no retreat,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:50 PM on April 5, 2018

Chris Farley had a routine like that.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:50 PM on March 1, 2018

Arguably, the Vulcans in Star Trek, who maintain a form of emotional discipline such that they only have to have sex every seven years. (Although, when they reach pon farr, they really have to have it.) They can make love at other times, and may choose to, but it's implied that many if not most don't.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:19 AM on January 18, 2018

The things that made Snow Crash what it was and is are very different from RP1, which has been described, here on the blue and elsewhere, as basically a recitation of nostalgic references. SC actually takes a hard look ahead, in a way that RP1 apparently never really does (I've never been able to get into the book, even though it's in my iPad; that wasn't a problem with SC, which hits the ground running and picks up speed quickly), and is pretty blunt about what a crapsack… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:05 PM on November 16, 2017

I'm just curious if my slightly tingly spidey sense means anything.

In superhero terms, this is Doctor Octopus, the Green Goblin, the Sandman, the Vulture, and Doctor Doom (not really a Spidey foe, but big enough to have more than the accursed Richards as an archenemy), drawing straws to see who gets to crash through the skylight first. I agree with RandomInconsistencies that this is stealth negging, that he's letting you know that you're who he's… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:10 PM on September 26, 2017

Fap fuel?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:08 AM on September 21, 2017

I am not "conventionally pretty", and I have been naked with a number of people, including some that I have had less-than-pleasant breakups with, and no one has said anything like the negging that this shitbird has given you. Do what's necessary to expel him from your bed and your head. Please.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:07 AM on September 21, 2017

"No More Mister Nice Guy" - Alice Cooper

"Thunder Road" and "Prove It All Night" - Springsteen

"Non, Je ne regrette rien" - Edith Piaf
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:53 AM on May 5, 2017

Self-pimping here, sort of, but at least some of the critiques on the Fanfare rewatch of Voyager (and the DS9 one before it) are from people of marginalized identities and experiences, although they may not overtly identify as such within their comments. It really depends on who shows up for the discussion of a particular episode.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:30 AM on May 1, 2017

Like most other forms and categories of sexuality, asexuality is not a binary, either/or kind of thing. Gray asexuality is a thing.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:46 AM on April 7, 2017

For comics, I would also suggest Chicago Comics.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:17 PM on March 13, 2017

I suspect that everyone here is bringing not only their own cultural biases but personal experiences as well to this question. My personal experience was as someone who made a very generous divorce settlement to their spouse: not just the house (which had a significant amount of equity in it) and assumption of several thousand dollars' worth of credit card debt, but also alimony payments for three years. I did this out of guilt because my estranged spouse had recently lost her job, even though… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:22 AM on February 17, 2017

My brother went to Disney World for his honeymoon. He was 23 and his wife was 20. He bought some wine at one of the parks (Epcot Center?) and let his wife have a sip of it. Suddenly two security people appeared and took my brother and wife through a side door into a security area. They asked for ID and threatened to ban them from the parks for life, but ultimately let them go with a warning.

I have no idea how they were watching, but they definitely were.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:39 AM on January 10, 2017

Nthing the "go see an ophthalmologist, not just an optometrist" thing. I'm diabetic and I see both, every year.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:04 PM on January 3, 2017

This is a very dated article from Wired (2005), but still very interesting given that it not only discusses the then-limits of the tech, but how it was improved in a matter of years.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:23 AM on December 26, 2016

You're playing the numbers game. One person with athlete's foot could infect everyone else, but it's much less likely with six people than it is with the hundreds that use a public or school gym every day, especially with the daily swabbing with bleach.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:03 AM on December 2, 2016

Forward, but that's at home, where I have the shower-in-a-bathtub arrangement, plus a shower head on a hose so that I can rinse off without having to turn around. When I'm somewhere with just a shower stall and/or no hose, I'll turn around as necessary to lather and rinse.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:16 PM on November 29, 2016

As you can see, opinions differ. Most of these have merit to some degree, although I can't really agree with brainmouse. WRT CheesesOfBrazil's (with whom I'm currently alternating episode summaries on the FanFare rewatch) list, I'd take out "The Forsaken" (I like Lwaxana Troi's appearances on DS9 much better than those on TNG, FWIW), "Facets" (big episode for Dax), and I would at least watch the part of "Q-less" where Sisko shows Q just how, and… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 7:37 AM on November 16, 2016

k.d. lang, "Pullin' Back the Reins." The first time I heard her perform this was live on SNL, and my reaction was that I didn't know that human beings could do that. Other songs:

Jeff Buckley, "Last Goodbye"

Jackie Evancho, "Sombra mai fu."

Jack Nicholson, "You can't handle the truth" from A Few Good Men. He drops his usual shtick, takes all the fury and contempt that he can muster, and focuses it like a gigawatt laser.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:57 AM on October 14, 2016

he doesn't have to be a bad guy to be wrong for me at this moment.

This to the Nth degree.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:36 PM on October 13, 2016

Why did the elephant paint his toenails different colors?
To hide in a bag of M&Ms.

What did the elephant say when he stepped on an ant?
[to the tune of the Pink Panther Theme] Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant dead ant dead ant dead ant dead aaaaaaant... dead ant dead ant!

Duck goes into the pharmacy to buy some condoms. Pharmacist asks, "Should I put it on your bill?" "Hey, buddy, I'm not that kind of duck."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:09 PM on September 29, 2016

You can put in a word or two about how you're willing to be flexible and roll with the changes... up to a point. There's also the idea that an initial probationary period on a new job is a way to find out if they're a good fit for you, and not just vice versa.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 12:01 PM on September 29, 2016

Roy Orbison had slipped into semi-obscurity before David Lynch used "In Dreams" in a Dean Stockwell lip-syncing sequence that put him back on the charts in the last two years of his life.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:34 PM on September 23, 2016

Robert Lincoln (as mentioned above, at or near the three presidential assassinations that occurred during his lifetime, and also the only member of his family to survive to see the twentieth century) had his life saved by Edwin Booth, J.W.'s brother.

The "Booth mummy" story has fascinated me for awhile, particularly because I lived for a short time in Enid, Oklahoma, where the man who would be Booth died. One of the more interesting things about the story is… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:59 AM on August 11, 2016

Rumble strips on rural roads in Iowa. One of the things that makes RAGBRAI not only possible but popular are the well-built and (usually) well-maintained rural road network in Iowa, and they have two to three patches of rumble strips on roads leading up to stop signs. RAGBRAI riders have a particular gesture for indicating their location (palm down, shaking or wiggling fingers) to warn riders behind them that they're about to get a very bumpy ride if they don't avoid the patch. I've never seen… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:33 AM on August 11, 2016

Some of David Lynch and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's works.

Specifically, Wild at Heart and Alien: Resurrection. The former is Lynch's take on grindhouse cinema; being Lynch, he has to throw in Wizard of Oz references, for reasons. (Plus cameos from Twin Peaks actresses.) The latter is a great example of a horrible mismatch between a great script and a great director that are utterly unsuited for each other.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:00 PM on June 26, 2016

Funny, when you mentioned fictional examples, my mind immediately went to the floppy-red-haired guy in the crowd scene near the end of Ghostbusters who actually appears earlier during the shot with all the clergy of various faith praying.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 4:20 PM on June 26, 2016 marked best answer

So, the second time I went to NYC was when I was interviewing there in the spring of 1993, and happened to time my visit with the worst snowstorm that they'd had in over a century. The interviews themselves went fine, but my flight out was delayed by a day. I was determined to do a little bit of sightseeing before I left, so I went out on the subway from the outer borough where I was staying with a friend into Manhattan... where almost everything was deserted. The subway was… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 2:32 PM on May 25, 2016

I'd suggest a look at DIY Soylent, which despite the name, includes a number of recipes that are based around alternative protein sources, including some that are specifically soy-free.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:46 AM on March 9, 2016

I don't give two shits about what happens to them

Then I'd suggest sitting on this decision for a little while.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:17 AM on March 9, 2016

Nthing the recommendation for cycling shorts, and I've done very well by switching over to bib shorts; they're a little less convenient for rest stops because you have to take off your jersey to lower them (most people wear them with the shoulder straps under the jersey), but the comfort and not having to worry about the shorts working their way down as you ride is nice. In addition to trying out the shorts on longer rides before your big ride, I also suggest the same for different brands of… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:06 PM on December 18, 2015

Are "toddlers" older than two? Because I wonder if many of them will understand the whole concept of a microscope. At any rate, sticking with everyday objects will probably be best. Paper money is fascinating to look at under a microscope, and leaves (green or dry autumn) would also be neat.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 10:19 AM on November 12, 2015

No lyrics, but the title would count: "Telstar" by the Tornados.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:05 PM on September 30, 2015

Ah, wish I'd seen this earlier. I was in college from 1982 to 1986, so I remember it pretty well. And, honestly, the fall of 1985 wasn't that great for me (for reasons that I'll get to shortly). I think that the thing to emphasize, although it's been mentioned pretty well already, was that media, particularly video media, wasn't nearly as ubiquitous as it is now, especially among college students. Yeah, there were video rental stores, but not everyone owned their own TV (and if they did, it was… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 11:07 AM on September 23, 2015

Quite a few of the X-Men have powers that were triggered by the onset of puberty; in the first movie, and in the comics, Rogue found out about her powers by kissing a boy and absorbing his memories (and, in the movie, his life force, although it didn't kill him). Later movies/comics describe her efforts to be intimate as a sort of metaphor for safe sex. (It's probably just a coincidence, although an eerie one, that she made her first appearance in the comics in 1981, the same year that the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:51 PM on September 18, 2015

I'd look for a round wicker basket that could be painted to look like the shield. See if you can find some red belt pouches to turn the dress belt into a utility belt. Maybe some red-white-and-blue cookies to give out from the basket?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 8:20 AM on August 5, 2015

it might also just be a correlation between the authors' writing and the sexual mores of the times they are writing in.

That was my thought; the authors that you list developed their careers during an era of increasing sexual liberation, for the most part.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 9:54 AM on July 10, 2015

Lots of k.d. lang's songs qualify, but the one that really stands out to me is "Pullin' Back the Reins". (This is an abbreviated version of the song, BTW.) I heard this for the first time when she performed it on SNL, and my jaw literally dropped open.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Halloween Jack at 1:03 PM on March 31, 2015