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Not to threadsit, but just one point of clarification: grants / donations are currently not a key concern, and the contract with the accounting firm does not include generating reports for external funders.

Concerns about grant tracking and reporting are a non-issue for us presently (not to say that'll be the case forever, but for right now, that's not something we need to factor in).
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:34 PM on April 25, 2024

My read of You Can Call Me Al is three vignettes about three different men, but YMMV.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:35 PM on April 25, 2024

The Paul graphic novels are great. I like Ostie d'Chat even more (that's an archive, this is a collection), but I don't think they've ever been translated, and are very, uh, blue in their frank depiction of the sex lives of twenty-something Montrealers in the early 2000s. They're also written in joual/Quebec slang, which can be a hard slog for people who only really have read "France French".
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:05 PM on April 19, 2024

I bought on sale and really enjoy The Conquest of Go, which doesn't mess with the game itself but nests boards of increasing size and opponents of increasing difficulty in an overall "conquer the land" meta-game.

I don't get better at Go; I'm a perennial striver. So I've never gotten that far in the game. But I find it a bit more gratifying than getting pummeled by an AI or opponent over and over.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:52 PM on March 14, 2024

I am not a lawyer, not your lawyer, and not based in the U.S. but my first instinct would be to start with a realtor you know and trust in your area and ask them that question. Failing that, I'd guess you'd want to ask a real estate lawyer, who might direct you to contract law.

As somebody who has hired lawyers for various reasons in the past, my personal experience has been that "stop thinking about it" is absolutely the last thing that will happen, and if… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:49 PM on March 14, 2024

After several modest attempts to figure out how to make this work without a subscription model, I've resigned myself to vanilla Keypassium and a calendared reminder to push my database to my devices monthly to ensure the passwords are more or less up to date. No magic bullet for my scenario of sharing the database via Synology Drive and having the app pull a keyfile from Files. But I appreciate all the attempts to help! Best answers were I felt like there were good solutions for not-me people… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:58 PM on February 18, 2024

Long Dark and Frostpunk, both mentioned above, are the only games that have ever made me feel cold while playing them, regardless of the heat and time of year.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:50 PM on February 10, 2024

I've been in similar situations. It stinks. I'm sorry. Managing up you'll have to be careful to not be cynical or condescending; managing down, you have to be careful not to be tyrannical or condescending. You don't want or need to permanently damage relationships in a place you might be for a while.

To my external eyes, both of these behaviours are borne from anxiety. Your team lead feels overburdened or stressed by external factors and can't keep things straight. Your… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:12 AM on January 29, 2024

The Beautiful South have been referred to as "the iron fist in the velvet glove," and combine pop arrangements with strikingly dark and cynical themes.

Something That You Said is IMO one of the pinnacles of that combination; it's a bit less full sounding than the Alex Winston track you link, but certainly hits the fully-pop-but-secretly-terrifying mark.

John Congleton and the Nighty Nite never really made an… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:28 AM on January 10, 2024

Entirely up to you and your interests/tastes, but you can be friendly in other ways while setting the terms of engagement during the workday:

- Make a point of trying to notice and compliment small things -- "hey, is that a new shirt, it's really nice," "did you get a haircut? It looks great." "That sandwich looks great, what is it?" Then sit down and put your headphones on and get to work.
- Bake or buy treats and bring them… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:06 PM on January 9, 2024

I invested in a solidly reviewed mid-tier set of noise cancelling over-ear headphones, and every evening set aside 45 minutes to an hour to sit or lie down and do nothing but really listen to music, whether it's an album I love or something I want to explore. I'm trying to do this every day. It feels like it combines meditation and education for me (for the week I've done it so far) and I always end up feeling somehow both relaxed and energized.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:56 AM on January 7, 2024

If you want to do the janky version for very simple documents, you can go to Links -> Embed and just embed image files for simple hand-off if you're working with people in the same org who will have all the same fonts. But that makes the INDD document larger and will make real designers throw dinner rolls at you.

One thing to remember about InDesign is it dates way back to the earliest days of digital publishing, when people still did pasteup, printing things out,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:13 PM on December 10, 2023

Thanks for all the replies! Best answers all 'round. Unfortunately my town is the kind of size where any rental would have to come with a tech crew, and "affordable" is a sliding scale for the amount of use I'd get from the thing / amount of effort I'd be willing to put into finding a used one. I'll think of other ways to spook up the neighbourhood!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:24 AM on October 23, 2023

Not technically a music video, but from pretty much the best (and most under-recognized) comedy of its time, the riot scene from Hot Rod.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:00 PM on September 18, 2023

I am not a fan of downtown driving in Toronto, or parking fees. You mentioned train -- there is a Government of Ontario rail service called GO Transit that runs a fair ways out of the city, and they have free parking in their commuter lots.

When my wife and I go to Toronto from the east side, we drive to Whitby or Ajax, park at a GO station, and take the train in and out rather than driving in the city. Scotiabank Arena is literally a ~10-minute walk from Union Station,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:59 AM on September 14, 2023

Barbra Lica's The Food Song
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:28 AM on August 20, 2023

Thanks, everyone! Super helpful in inspiring ways, and also in a "what is missing from my current job" set of ways.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:20 AM on August 16, 2023

Some great answers and/or thought-starters here, thanks everybody! This has set me off on a path of other new thoughts that include the various Sefirot of the Kabbalah (Netzach - "Victory"!), words on esoteric fringes, and other things. The sword's past is still being determined but the note on the origins and intentions of its makers is also well taken.

Egregore is the top current contender, but I might swing* ultimately in a different direction. Much… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:13 PM on August 8, 2023

Some dehumidifiers come with pumps and a hose attachment, so you can have it pump at a higher elevation than the dehumidifier sits at. I've had one that does this. Rental might be an option if you're looking to just test it as a solution.

I've never run a dehumidifier in a garage; if it's got a lot of airflow etc. from the outside, I don't know if it would be very effective as you'd essentially be trying to dehumidify the world. If it's pretty tightly sealed, though, it… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:10 AM on August 2, 2023

If you go back a little ways in my blog, you can see drawings I made using Sketchbook and a dollar-store stylus on a first-gen iPad Air I bought a decade ago.

I bought Sketchbook even before that, and now it looks like it's free with in-app purchases (I don't roll like that, so caveat emptor, I paid some sort of flat fee back in the day). I like Sketchpad; I'm not an artist (obviously) but with layers, pen styles and the Fill tool, I can make stuff that I think looks… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:48 AM on August 2, 2023

(realizing post-edit-window that I didn't say that it still works -- it's been a while since I've published anything but was noodling around in it just the other day, so if it still works on a first-gen Air and you have an Air2, I wouldn't worry about compatibility etc.)
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:07 AM on August 2, 2023

Not to threadsit, and I'm very appreciative of the advice so far, but just to clarify the "below grade" thing, it's like 16 inches on one side where the garage abuts the side yard and the wooden wall is clearly rotting.

I guess I've been assuming that the city planners will be more adversarial than partnership-minded; this is very reassuring in terms of reframing my thinking of the city as people I can talk to rather than just looking at plans and saying… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:05 AM on July 15, 2023

Thanks, Candleman -- great question. An hour or two feels about right -- not all of that would be active talking time, but understanding how much life we'd get out of a setup will be very helpful in figuring this out.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:10 AM on May 17, 2023

Not to threadsit but the MAPL thing isn't intended to give people homework -- if you're pretty sure the artist is born / resides in Canada, that's good enough for me for now!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:13 PM on May 1, 2023

Do you feed him in the morning within about an hour of when he starts in? Our cats start yelling about an hour before breakfast, regardless of whether or not there is still food in the bowl, because it will soon be time for me to give them breakfast.

The easy litmus test for this is to think back to the last time Daylight Savings Time rolled around -- did the cat's shouting fits stay at more or less the same time, or migrate to… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:49 PM on April 10, 2023

Some time ago, I was in a similar (but not as extremely bad) situation, and started applying to jobs hard. Not firing off resumés willy-nilly, but really looking for jobs I wanted to do, researching the companies, carefully tailoring cover letters and CVs to the posted job descriptions, poking people in my network for help and support, and so on.

A friend of mine turned out to be going through a similar shift and did an even smarter thing: she… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:05 PM on April 6, 2023

Sorry to follow this up so quickly with a "resolved," but I finally managed to blunder my way into an "updated hardware" prompt in an activation dialogue, which seems to have solved the issue.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:17 PM on March 13, 2023

Also, be aware that this will take time. A photo taken on my iPhone is about 4MB, so this could be about 100GB of files. A joke at work where I deal a lot with photographers and videographers is that it's faster to drive across town and hand-deliver an external drive than to try to move that many files over the Internet.

Try to be patient -- you will likely run into issues like things timing out, or you going to get coffee and your computer going to sleep and you having… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:48 AM on March 7, 2023 marked best answer

Another vote for Chunky here. I paid to upgrade it and the integration with Dropbox and other web storage tools has been tremendous. Admittedly I haven't tried any others, but I have a hard time imagining something doing a better job with comics on the iPad.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:19 AM on January 18, 2023

I love this kind of thing and if I have more time to think of it, I'll loop back around, but Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet" occupies a beautiful place between a pop song and a show tune, with lots of upbeatness and horns and such.

The Beautiful South sound positive (but are actually very sardonic), and a lot of their music bridges pop and has horns -- 36D is one of many, many songs that falls broadly into the space.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:46 PM on January 17, 2023

I came back! What a great thread!

The 2 Bears - Not This Time
Jungle - Busy Earnin'
Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
Chromeo - Juice
!!! - Man on the Moon
Radio Radio - My Dance Floor
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:20 AM on January 18, 2023

Ha! Well, that explains a lot. WELL DONE YOUTUBE. Also, if it means I never have another JORDAN PETERSON EVISCERATES LIB!!!11!!ZORZ video in my recommended list again, I am all in for our new robot overlords.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:03 AM on January 13, 2023

Good suggestions, thank you everyone -- yes, as macfly has observed, a goban isn't cut to the edge but is a square inside a larger board, and then a grid inside the square.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:19 PM on January 3, 2023

You may want to listen to the Maintenance Phase podcast episode on the Wellness to QAnon Pipeline -- it's a pretty good podcast by any measure!

Guest Mike Rothschild's advice (starting at about 31:00) is similar to capricorn's above, and is largely around "stepping in early," and letting people know you are there and they are supported; largely just being there and not picking at these beliefs, a bedrock of support so when they eventually, hopefully start… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:17 PM on December 2, 2022 marked best answer

I've vaguely gotten interested in my local Rotary Club(s) -- there are multiple chapters where I am -- and have talked to some local Rotary members about it. Their recommendations have universally been to come and hang out for a few meetings at the chapters of interest, which they welcome and endorse fee-free, because each Club is very distinct in terms of its member composition (I am nearly 50 and would be the youngest person in a couple), general culture, and even political leanings (within… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:38 PM on November 29, 2022

Not intending to threadsit but a quick thanks for the questions above about how I'm attempting to connect, which I'm going to mess around with a bit more when time allows. Thank you for all the replies/help to date!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:45 AM on November 22, 2022

Bear in mind law firms with libraries as possibilities -- AB has a lot of large firms, and a larger legal presence than you might think. I'm not sure how much law knowledge you need to move into that space, or what the current state of private law libraries is, but they definitely still exist in some shape or form.

On edit -- there even seems to be a vacancy within the public-facing Alberta Law Libraries system. Drop them a line! Who knows?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:55 AM on November 14, 2022

Is Ithaca an option?

Ith could be!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:27 AM on November 8, 2022

Psycho Goreman is not really horror but throwback Troma-style grossout horror-comedy, but it hit me like a freight train and my wife and I still yell lines at each other daily. Mileage may vary dramatically; it has the most obnoxious tween protagonist in the history of cinema, it's overstuffed with weird sub-Power-Rangers costumed villains, and the plot makes no sense. But we loved it.

AAARRGH GO SOUTH ON PRESCOTT ROAD AND TAKE THE SECOND SET OF LIGHTS… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:32 AM on November 4, 2022

I’ve also never known someone who wore [Birkenstocks] out in fewer than 20 years.

Mine are due to be replaced after about 15, and only as "fair-weather" wear; I'm in Canada so the wear window is about six months long, and they aren't daily. The heels are toast. This is not to say they aren't quality footwear, but moderate use for a decade and a half did mine in. I am a "heel walker" and burn through shoes pretty fast though.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:45 PM on October 20, 2022

Thanks, everyone. Kind of arbitrary Best Answers that orient around directions to look or potentially valuable clues.
- old stale cigarette smell
- we don't always smell it at the same time
- we're on a corner lot with no littoral, literally 18" of grass between the house and sidewalk

We're likely now going to:
- pay attention to humidity
- tell each other when we smell stale cigarettes
- continue to think ghosts are pretty cool
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:08 PM on October 20, 2022

Breaking out of the Metroidvania genre and looking at the "explore and mythos" elements...

Terraria side-scrolls; it's like a 2D Minecraft, so it is a crafting-and-building game, but really scratches my "explore weird new world" itch. Starbound is much the same. They do arc toward combat to progress past certain points, but there's a lot of early game where you just footle around digging and finding weird stuff underground or on strange new planets,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:37 AM on October 19, 2022

Within the last while I have received a scan of a passport, a full mortgage application including months of bank and credit card statements, two other sets of house purchase negotiations (in the UK and in California) an email from a child at a private school in Pennsylvania telling his parents how classes are going, a number of invoices for Australian boat rentals, an invitation to a wedding, and other such things from at least five different people who have a similar name… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:25 AM on October 18, 2022

Thanks for all the considerate answers to date. The use cases here tend to be sporadic but urgent -- we have a lot of need for temporary but large one-off signs ("Conference today!" "Go upstairs for Event X"). Sometimes we just have a few days to turn these over, and/or information that changes up to a day before.

There's also a back of the envelope project to produce large-format photos (posters, essentially) and frame them, but cycle through them… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:20 AM on October 5, 2022

I am going to cook these, working my way down, and slowly Best Answer the ones I like. Tomorrow: Mujadarah, as recommended by warriorqueen!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:37 PM on August 30, 2022

I'm also not being deliberately obstinate in not saying why I don't like lentils. I just... don't think of them very often, and when I do, I don't want to use them. For some reason. I don't actively dislike them that I know of. My sister decided she was going to be a vegetarian in the early 1990s and subjected my family to a lot of horrifically bland and not particularly well-thought-out lentil-based meals, so it might be a holdover from that.

But I… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:41 PM on August 30, 2022

Solid B for warriorqueen's Mujadara recommendation! We did the first of the "three ways" recipes; I could have used even more caramelized onion, and I'm glad we chose puis lentils because it might have gotten reeeeal mushy if we'd gone with a squishier type.

It made enough for probably three meals, and then it's my wife's turn to cook, so I'll probably loop around to Jeanne's recommended lentil soup next weekend.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 3:18 PM on September 3, 2022

Of Jeanne's recipes we tried the Misir Wot (I didn't have the ingredients for the soup), and it was sadly a C -- we followed the recipe as closely as possible (we have a well stocked spice drawer) and unfortunately we both agreed that it tasted like what we stereotypically think of as a "lentil recipe".

This is actually very helpful, as it's zoning me in on what I don't like about lentils -- not the lentils per se, but I think it might be a combination of… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:25 PM on September 9, 2022

Thanks for the thoughts so far -- to answer some questions:
- No, there's no promise of additional content or anything you "get" by signing up
- The form itself is created by MailChimp, so I'm hoping/assuming that they are ahead of the curve on making sure the form isn't vulnerable to exploits
- I have added a recaptcha and double-opt-in to the process, which were great suggestions -- thank you!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:55 AM on August 25, 2022

This may be dumb, but why not just build one big plywood box with an internal divider and two slots on top, and paint or put a sign on it that has arrows for "MMIDDLE'S MAIL" and "HOUSEMATE MAIL" pointing to the two slots? It's one box, you're not creating a new "B" address that denotes a separate accommodation (which frankly the municipality should be concerned about). You're just asking the mail carrier to separate mail when he delivers it. It's only one mailbox,… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:07 PM on July 29, 2022