MetaFilter

Can they jump to different heights? We have Boycat feeding at the top of the bookshelf, where the greedy Ladycats cannot jump. Advice in this thread may help us with our differing levels of appetite among the Ladycats!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:19 AM on July 5, 2012

A long-delayed follow-up: I messed around with CGI for a while, but then abandoned that and moved straight to Django, dropping Python lessons in favour of trying to figure out Django and retroactively figuring out Python as required. It's laborious, but I think ultimately will be the most rewarding scenario.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:08 AM on July 4, 2012

Fantastic answers, everybody! I've asked for and received magazines from about half of the mags on this list (asked for from all, received from a few). It's going to be a huge help when revitalizing the magazine I'm working on.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:04 AM on July 4, 2012

LCD Soundsystem's All My Friends is a little outside the current parameters, but I'm hard pressed of anything that builds, crests and collapses quite the same way it does.

And I am a bit gobsmacked that nobody has mentioned Godspeed! You Black Emperor yet.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:03 PM on June 16, 2012

If you like food, you should read up on Hardwick, VT -- The Town that Food Saved is literally the book on the subject -- and check it out. There's possibly the greatest B&B of all time in that town, too.

Outside of Hardwick, the Hillstead Farm Brewery is set miles away from the highway along a long, narrow, winding dirt road. They make small craft beers named after writers and philosophers, and it's some of the best beer I've ever had in my entire life.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:31 AM on June 13, 2012

"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass."

With the optional complementary second cross-stitch

"And I'm all out of bubblegum."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:18 AM on June 11, 2012

If you believe that a burger is a sandwich (some do, some don't), Flip is insane. I'm a vegan now, but I would seriously consider flipping back if I were dropped off there.

Vegan or not, the Garvey Burger at Soul Veg is not a meat-burger, but a hot vegan sandwich that is seriously great.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:39 PM on May 31, 2012

Well, that's a very strong consensus! I'll get myself through the half-marathon on more standard shoes (or look for some intermediate-drops), and focus on trying the Vibrams when I'm done the race and have more flex in my schedule to adapt.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:46 AM on May 25, 2012

Follow-up question, if I may: If I continue my "main" running in "regular" shoes, and build up to short 1-2K runs in the Vibrams on my off days, will I be adjusting to the Vibrams or just confusing the dooley out of my feet?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:46 AM on May 28, 2012

With a wooden stand (basically two wooden bars with grooves cut in 'em) and a bluetooth keyboard, my iPad has replaced my computer for about 90% of all tasks. I game on it, I word-process on it, I blog on it, I create art on it (Sketchpad) and work on other design stuff (TouchDraw). I tried to create music on it (ThumbJam, GarageBand) but quickly discovered my limitations (not the devices's).

The keyboard (I have an Apple, but my wife has a different, just-fine… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:09 PM on May 4, 2012 marked best answer

Obviously I'm biased, but the thing I like about the wooden "stand" I have is that it allows me to use the iPad in both the horizontal and vertical position on the stand, and a *lot* of iPhone apps force the iPad to be used vertically.

It's essentially just two wooden bars, about 1"x2"x8", with grooves that match the contour of the iPad (about 1/2" deep) cut about one inch from the front of the bars on the "thin" side. The length… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:36 AM on May 5, 2012

Corn starch + water = a non-Newtonian substance that will utterly and completely blow your goddamn mind.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:56 PM on May 3, 2012

I bought a pair of electric Wahl clippers for $34.99 at Honest Ed's at the corner of Bathurst and Bloor in Toronto. In 1995.

I haven't paid for a haircut since then.

I've also upgraded to full-bore head-shaving since then, too – the Headblade is fantastic – but if you've got some tolerance for occasionally sporting a reeeeal close crew cut, go for it. The worst that can happen is that you get #2 all over instead of #2 all over and #3 on top, right?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:31 PM on May 2, 2012

Folks, this isn't "movies that are well-made, but you happen to dislike personally," this is a call for bad. movies.

Got sick a while ago and spent a Netflix Day In Bed. Netflix.ca, which has far more limited selection, so I think you should be able to get these on .com.

Lowlights included:

Feast
Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds
Feast 3: The Happy Finish
Spun
The… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:56 PM on March 6, 2012

HUDSON HAWK IS AWESOME AND I WILL FIGHT ANY MAN-JACK WHO SAYS OTHERWISE
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:49 PM on April 25, 2012

Seconding Minidisc. It enjoyed brief popularity, and a kind of second life as a robust field recording tool (I did a bit of pick-up work for Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, back in 2003 or so, and they were standard equipment even then despite having been considered far, far over the hill for years by then).

Neo's bootlegs in The Matrix (when he is still Mr. Annnnnderson) are Minidiscs.

The failure of Minidisc is a fascinating story in… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:04 PM on April 18, 2012

Oh, and on the "disc" front, Laserdisc. I'm not nearly as well versed in the history of Laserdisc as I am with Minidisc, but it was a kind of stepping stone from VHS to DVD that shone brightly very briefly, but died in minutes once DVDs were introduced.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:06 PM on April 18, 2012

Re. the job back-and-forth, and the issue of some people "keeping tabs":

If it helps, I drew this up a few years ago* after a long, long bout of being stalked to explain to myself and others (mostly myself) that there is no way to engage somebody who is not currently mentally capable of discerning the difference between positive and negative responses.

There's a natural and very human tendency to believe in the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:38 PM on April 16, 2012

Thanks for the answers, all, and for pretty much talking me out of a bad idea!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:58 AM on April 3, 2012

For my money, no author towers higher than Mervyn Peake when it comes to raw descriptive power.

YMMV: his Work of Note is the Gormenghast triology, which gets slotted under Fantasy without actually having any fantastic elements in it except for the mere presence of an immense labyrinthine castle and characters with fanciful names.

This is the very first paragraph of the very first book, Titus Groan. Roll this around in your… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:17 AM on March 30, 2012

I'm using Cog, and while it is old and isn't actively supported, I love the freakin' heck out of it.

Sole disadvantage: no built-in album art viewer. You can pop the file information box, which will float there with the album art in it, but it's kinda dumb.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:32 PM on March 29, 2012

Leaping right into free jazz from something like Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker can be a nightmare – I know this from experience. You may want to start by listening to some of the fringe artists that live between structured and free jazz – Mingus was my "gateway jazz," and other posters may have even better ideas.

Years ago, I bought a Coltrane box set (The Classic Quartet set) that did a lot for my appreciation for free jazz, as it starts with fairly… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:39 AM on March 13, 2012

Favourited the Waits "Black Rider" mention above.

There are some longish instrumental breaks on the first Mr. Bungle album, which does "demented carnival" better than any other music I can think of offhand. “Carousel” is the song of choice for that.

The Dresden Dolls were self-billed as "Brechtian Dark Cabaret Music," and covered that territory fairly well. Not sure how purely instrumental they got.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:43 AM on March 8, 2012

I'm on Chapter 40 of Learn Python the Hard Way -- as of today at lunchtime, actually. I've been pursuing it off and on since last December, and am making slow headway.

It's my first programming language since BASIC in the late 1980s, and frankly, it is hard. For me, anyway.

LPTHW can be frustrating in that it teaches by doing; sometimes it feels like it's teaching by rote. There's no real why to what you're learning, just a… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:27 PM on March 7, 2012

Quick follow-ups:

I have Sword of Fargoal! Used to love it on my c64. On the iPad, not so much. I'm not sure why. It just feels muddy and not-fun. YMMV, obviously.

Downloaded and am playing Avadon, which seems to be the closest thing to scratching that Baldur's Gate/Planescape itch. Fun, and deep.

King of Dragon Pass looks awesome and I'm looking forward to getting it.

And -- surprise! -- it… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:01 AM on February 28, 2012

YMMV on how much printing you actually want to do, but The Dungeon of D is highly recommended, is for ages 8 and up, and is a free solo-player D&D-style adventure game. This recommendation thread from Board Game Geek looks great.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:58 AM on February 7, 2012

Chumpy: an idiot, poltroon, moron, dolt, imbecile, wetbrain, mooncalf. A standard-issue fool seen through the lens of a cranky matriarch.

Chumbly: like a chumpy, but more bumbling and foolish than dangerously stupid.


Both are from (sigh) the imagined things our cats “say” when my wife and I pretend that our cats are talking to us and decide to say what we imagine the cats to be saying in character voices representing the cats.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:12 PM on January 13, 2012

I think there's been a household sea change where we're going to stick to nut butters in the food processor; thanks for all the input so far!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:42 AM on January 6, 2012

I was going to suggest what wondermouse suggested: I often put a sleeveless CD in the case of a CD I'm putting into a computer/music player to keep it “safe”, then put the original CD on top of it in the same case without really looking later. Try to remember the last 10 or so CDs you listened to and check those cases.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:19 AM on January 4, 2012

I am not at all a text maven, and do not know much about much, but following this question, its answers, and a few weeks of mucking around, I am a very very happy (paid and registered) Sublime user.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:50 AM on December 21, 2011 marked best answer

Back when I was doing some pick-up writing for Ape Entertainment, they were putting out a comic that really thought an awful lot about this stuff. It's protagonist was a regular joe with just-flight powers. I can't remember what the upshot of it was in terms of limitations, but I'll e-mail Skipper and let him know about this thread. Odds are good he's done his share of research on it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:29 AM on December 21, 2011

Quick notes to follow up:

ToDo.txt: doesn't seem to have a mobile-workable solution (other than just editing the .txt file, which is going to get unwieldy when some projects have more than 20 subtasks in their to-do lists).

It's an intriguing enough thing, though, that it led me to TaskPaper, which seems to be something that adds juuuuuuuust enough interface (project selector, tag search) to make this workable. And TaskPaper may have a Linux… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:22 AM on December 21, 2011

Spotify is also not available to me.

But as an anglophone Quebecer who loves French music from here, some of my favourites:

One thousand times, one million times, Coeur du Pirate. Ah, I see just_ducky also recommended her on preview. Seconded!

Dumas is really good as well.

And Damian Robataille: he's a great musician, and also a brilliant lyricist with a rapier wit.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:58 PM on December 11, 2011

Oh, man! How could I have forgotten the amazing Acadian Franglish hybrid of Radio Radio? If you can make it through Nine-Piece Luggage Set (third song down on their Web player) without at least tapping your toes, I'll be amazed.

Not strictly French, but you need a lot of French to get it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:31 PM on December 11, 2011

bdc34, thanks -- I may get back to you with some more specific questions later.

After 24 hours of reflection, I guess I should prioritize my solutions:

• I'd rather spend $100 than 10 hours of time to figure this out.

• I don't have more than $100.

phliar's post scares the wet blueberries out of me: I'm just now starting to wrap my head around Linux itself, so the idea of anything involving… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:56 AM on December 9, 2011

Oh, and #4: install Ubuntu Studio and see if that works better for me. That's also very viable.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:00 AM on December 9, 2011

Reading the manual, I *hope* I'm getting this right and I'm okay:

Outputs 2 and 1: These are the main outputs for the dual
Audio Buddy preamps. They provide unbalanced outputs if a
tip-sleeve 1/4” plug is used. Or, they provide balanced outputs
if a tip-ring-sleeve (stereo) 1/4” plug is used. The level of these
outputs are independently controlled by the front panel gain
controls. Remember, Preamp 1 and Preamp… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:14 AM on December 10, 2011

Spalding Gray skirts the definition of comedy, but as a monologuist who is frequently funny, he's unparalleled. I first heard of him when I was flipping between channels as a student while putting my coat on to go to class -- I spent two minutes watching a man at a desk talk in what turned out to be Swimming to Cambodia.

Two hours later I was still standing in the same place. I hadn't yet managed to put my coat on. Equally amazed at both the material and the fact that… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:55 AM on November 25, 2011

You're almost certainly wasting your time with any of them unless you have a model to monetize this and can trade equity for funding.

I understand the first half of that sentence, but not the second. There's a monetization plan in place for when the site is up and running, but by "trading equity for funding" are you just talking about the rewards system these sites usually provide?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:06 AM on November 24, 2011

Great answers -- thanks, guys! I have created two characters for group play: Goosemaster, a scrapper that attacks with the proportional ferocity and tenacity of a goose, and the Pale Green Pants, a mystic blaster-type that has harnessed the power of a pair of Pale Green Pants with nobody inside 'em.

I was hoping to have a character that was invisible but for the pants, but that's apparently not possible -- invisibility is an all-or-nothing thing.

I'm on Union, so if you see me, say hi!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:36 PM on November 2, 2011

Since moving to my neighborhood, I've had to deal with an apartment building next door that has (a) people that put their garbage in my wheelie bin because it's closer than theirs; (b) people that leave cans of salmon juice out for my cat, on my porch; (c) people that I don't really know, but feel that being my neighbour entitles them to walk into my house without knocking; (d) people that think it's jake to park in my driveway when somebody takes their place in the apartment lot.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:59 PM on October 21, 2011

It's down at the moment, and I'm not... sure how to fix it, but my SLG-published comic Dead Eyes Open is online for free. It was, if I can pat myself on the back, pretty damn good, and different than anything else that's ever been done in the genre.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 4:57 PM on October 20, 2011 marked best answer

Probably too dancey, but I have been diggin' Analog Barbarian's Licks podcast mixes -- some of the more downtempo ones are great, no lyrics, and they have the advantage of being premixed, fire-and-forget, hour-long pieces.

Uh... avoid the ones labeled "Dubstep."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:19 AM on October 20, 2011

I thought -- from Notepad++ and TextWrangler -- that this was a pretty standard feature, but now that I'm mucking around looking at things, I see it's not...

FTP features/live editing is a huge plus for me as well.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:37 AM on October 13, 2011

Following up on a few of these: love love LOVE Sublime Text 2 visually and aesthetically, but there's no FTP functionality (at least, none that seems evident), which is kind of a dealbreaker for me. Is there a good plugin that covers this? (on searching their forums, a follow-up question: is mounting really a practical and intelligent solution to live text editing?)

WebStorm question: would I really have to buy different IDEs for HTML/CSS/JavaScript and for Python? I'm… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:44 AM on October 13, 2011

Sadly, both Komodo and Aptana refuse to work on my workplace Macs -- it might have something to do with the centralized server structure.

Price aside, I'm already a fan of Cyberduck, and I like Sublime to the point that I might be willing to suck up the expense and inconvenience and roll with it.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:55 PM on October 14, 2011

Thanks for all the input: after a lot of hemming and hawing, I think I'm in love with Sublime Text 2, despite the lack of FTP synch -- I'm already well accustomed to Cyberduck, and after some experimenting, "Open With" function in Cyberduck accomplishes everything I'd need from the FTP browser in the text editor.

I also got near-instant responses from their support team when I inquired about license portability, which is a good sign. There's somebody awake at… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:12 AM on October 20, 2011

My TuneIn Favorites list right now:

WWOZ
Fine Music Radio
Radio Booki 89.5
Chante France (Le meilleur de la chanson française!)
Birdsong Radio (does exactly what says on the tin)
Sveriges Radio P2 93.3
The UK 1940s Radio Station
WWNO 89.9 Classical

I... don't know what half of those are (and I'm at work, so I can't, er, tune in), but I must have loved 'em all for a reason.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:56 PM on October 12, 2011

I loved Dreamhost... easy, cheap, 100% recommended...

...but then the programmer on a project I'm working on requested that I switch to Webfaction for better Django support out of the box.

If you enjoy learning about "under the hood" kind of things, Webfaction is a lot of fun... but it's got a steep learning curve compared to DH. I'm happy with the switch because I understand more about how the Internet works than I did before, but if… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:17 AM on September 25, 2011

The Dutch mother of a friend of mine, who has lived in French-speaking Quebec for over 40 years, swears by daily crossword puzzles as what keeps her sharp in her native tongue, and also on top of new coinages and even pop culture. I don't know if there's a Japanese equivalent to something as awesome as the NYT Crossword, but if there is, it might be worth investigating.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:19 PM on September 15, 2011