MetaFilter

I'm her husband, and a caffeine fiend, so I think we may be able to work some sort of Jack Sprat alchemy here where we both end up with black tea.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:05 PM on August 22, 2011

Sorry -- forgot to mention that I had a flexible p-trap (rubber) that I detached after pulling the pedestal out.

The good news is that the snake, after a hell of a lot of elbow grease, is proving to be the third-greatest snake in history (after Snake Plissken and Jake "The Snake" Roberts). It's finally made it around the odd right-bend and is about 15' deep at this point, after pulling out some Cthulhuian gunk at the 3' and 10' depths. I'm running into… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:14 PM on December 12, 2010

Long-term follow-up: hours of work with the manual snake, making just enough progress that I never felt like spending the money/time on renting a power snake, eventually resulted in me pulling things from that drain that forever shattered my belief in a just and loving God.

But the snake did it in the end.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:44 AM on August 4, 2011

Almost Laurie Bird as The Girl in Two-Lane Blacktop, but she also appeared in Cockfighter, apparently.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:56 AM on August 3, 2011

Not strictly guitar, but very few people outside of Canada have heard of John Southworth, one of my favourite musicians. He’s -- hard to describe. “Fanciful” would be a good word; everything he does is steeped in nostalgia for some sort of half-remembered past that probably never existed in the first place. His latest album was released on cassette only.

Life is Unbelievable
Simple Simple Boy
Falling In Love With The Old World… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:55 AM on August 2, 2011

I popped in to recommend The Host, but there it is in your [more inside]!

If you like zombies, and UFOs, and rock n' roll, and general low-budget high-octane goofball tongue-in-cheek madcap awesomosity, Wild Zero may just be the greatest movie of all time.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:43 AM on August 1, 2011

I love to kite-fly in shallow water: I see that Oakville is close to the lake, but I don't know how accessible or wadeable it is. If you can wade 20 to 30 feet out into the water, you get a lot of space with guaranteed no wires or trees, room to move, etc.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:34 PM on July 14, 2011

The first thing that kind of pops to mind, and which is almost a fit, is actually a song. We are all, in some way or another, going to Reseda, some day, to die.

(gone savage for teenagers who are aesthetically pleasing or in other words, "fly.")
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:29 PM on June 29, 2011

Predating most of this awesomeness, some classic hacking from one of the greatest TV shows of all time...

Max Headroom:

Theora Jones, hacks a urinal @11:20 or so
Theora and Bryce have a hacker war, controlling elevators, doors, and even a barricade with you-know-what written on it, starting at 19:30 ish.

Pretty much every Bryce scene in the whole series features some awesomely flagrant "hacking-as-magic" stuff.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:18 AM on June 23, 2011

Oh yes, and also while not technically "hacking", the PREMISE of Max Headroom is that a computer-genius kid takes a man's damaged brain and converts it into a piece of software that commandeers television channels and has a lucrative sideline flogging diet soda. There is also that.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:22 AM on June 23, 2011

Practical tactics:

When you're in a meeting, don't talk unless you have to. Listen. Pay careful attention, and at the end of the meeting, offer your opinion, summarize the situation, and provide a clear set of next steps.

Be first in and last out, if you have productive things to do with that time. Let people see you're already there, and working, when they get there in the morning. Let people see you're still there, and working, when they… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:38 PM on June 17, 2011

Hey, thanks! Tons of great stuff here, and a few bands (Ratatat and Explosions in the Sky, which somehow I'd always heard about but never listened to) that are now on my track-down-or-die list.

Lots of "best answers" -- Jawbreaker has lyrics, unfortunately, and even Sigur Ros made-up wibbly-wombley vocals count as vocals.

Great, great music!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:58 AM on June 16, 2011

I'm giving some Vinca a shot, and have wild strawberries in a must-be-mown part of my lawn that I'm now thinking I might take the effort of trying to separate and transplant: I've tried a few garden centres around town and none sell wild strawberry plantings or seeds.

Ajuga is -- well, kinda not great-looking, at least the varieties they have around here.

Thanks for the help so far!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:27 AM on May 30, 2011

For clarity: there will be no collaborative editing, only "real-time viewing" of people entering text from their respective locations.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:27 PM on May 5, 2011

After a bit of sleep, I think I can provide a little more clarity by redefining the problem (and I think samsara is kind of proposing a solution already):

1. I've installed a bunch of programs like AVG, ZoneAlarm, iTunes, etc.

2. Instead of being associated with the user profile I installed them under (my "main" profile), they've decided to associate themselves with all profiles, even brand new ones.

3. I'd… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:18 AM on April 1, 2011

I think the initial question was a bit poorly framed (my fault) but resulted in better answers than if it had been better-explained, so... general win?

This hasn't been coming up in specific parenting-related matters -- I'm not dispensing parenting advice, or trying to tell people "how to raise their kids," in which case yeah, not being a parent means I'm missing a lot of valuable context about child rearing. Totally.

It's more in… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:26 AM on March 8, 2011

Great answers above, but some people want more clarity (I was trying to be succinct and not be one of those questions, but it's a fair comment).

As many above have already identified, my issues with iTunes have included, but are not limited to:
1. Speed of importing music;
2. Absolute necessity of managing all music through iTunes;
3. A lot of proprietary fooferaw that I have to manually deactivate, and requiring… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:22 AM on February 9, 2011

Richard Buckner deals a lot with the lost and lonely, and does it with a unique voice. Your best point of entry might be, strangely enough, The Hill (ignore the video, listen to the song): an adaptation of the Edgar Lee Masters Spoon River Anthology; a set of poems (now songs) that tell the stories of the residents of the Spoon River cemetery. Since is also great, especially Ariel Ramirez.

If you want a one-off, the most perfect "grifters n'… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:16 PM on February 4, 2011

Another vote for "leaves, and ankh if I'm asked to look for a symbol."
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:14 AM on February 4, 2011

Celtx might work for you. I'm not sure how it handles simultaneous edits, but it has a pretty robust sharespace.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:45 AM on January 28, 2011

In 37 years in Ontario and Quebec -- including living through the Ice Storm just outside the black triangle in QC -- I've never seen thundersnow. That includes a stint of four years in Toronto and a decade not far from Oshawa, both on or close to Lake Ontario.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:59 PM on January 27, 2011

Talk to the police and heed the sage advice of the big red button.

Your stalker cannot distinguish between positive and negative input. He lacks the crucial bit of wiring that lets him process what you're saying rationally, and will interpret any signal coming from your direction as an invitation to pursue his obsession. There is no way you can communicate with this person that will not be parsed as encouragement to persevere.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:00 AM on January 26, 2011

Guilty pleasure and probably not at all what you're looking for: the Reacher audiobooks crack me up, largely because Reacher, being Reacher, is completely irresistible to women; since the audiobooks are read entirely by a man doing a gruff voice, they're interspersed with episodes where the narrator is not only doing Reacher's dialogue, but also the dialogue of the women that love Reacher. Which he does by bouncing his voice up about half an octave. This is in no way an approximation of the… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:59 PM on January 25, 2011

If your question is "I constantly think up stories and write them down, should I flesh them out and seek publication?" then yes, by all means, pursue that goal.

If your question is "I come up with half-assed plot summaries and semi-done stories in notebooks and on index cards, is that a viable medium for me to use to create fiction?" then the answer is also yes, but don't be surprised if people think you're half-assing it.

If… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:33 PM on January 21, 2011 marked best answer

Thanks for the link to the link, proj. Do you have experience with any of the 21 apps in the linked thread, and if so, which would you recommend for the above purposes?
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:06 AM on December 22, 2010

Following up because -- well, just because --

I started out with MiniDrum PRO and Multitrack DAW to get my feet wet -- they seemed to provide the best bang-for-your-buck in terms of being both understandable to a newbie and robust enough for ongoing use. I like them both, but Multitrack DAW is a little opaque -- it kinda-sorta comes with a manual, in the form of a FAQ section on the makers' blog. MiniDrum PRO is 90% intuitive (I had to watch some YouTube videos to see… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:36 AM on January 5, 2011

More on the "toy" side than the "tool" side, but both BeatWave and SoundPrism are surprisingly robust, and fun. PatternMusic is brilliant but too deep for me to get into at the moment.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:47 AM on January 21, 2011

A couple of best answers, but kind of arbitrary ones. I'll be trying schmod's method first, as it seems the most implementable without me having to acquire a whole new skillset (SVG, HTML5). I will probably be back weeping and clawing at my eyes at regular intervals.

Thanks for pointing out the "work for free" chart is entirely HTML and CSS, jessamyn-- that had escaped me, and I think digging into its CSS will be invaluable to figuring out how I can make this… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:06 PM on January 20, 2011

Also, moving away from Madonnas, would something like Manet's Bar at the Folies Bergeres work? It's got a clear central third, even if the outer thirds are complementary rather than self-standing.

Yes, totally. It's the thirding I'm looking for, not any particular period or style or subject. Great stuff so far!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:21 PM on January 6, 2011

ALL GREAT! Thanks so much! Please keep 'em coming and if I find any more in a reasonable span, I'll update here.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:51 AM on January 7, 2011

I gotta say: the Flirty Handshake sounds like it’s a hair's breadth away from the Funeral Home Director Handshake. Any two-handed handshake with eye contact that I've ever been subject to has been in the context of "sincere condolences," not "heyyyyy, how you doin'?"

I am a guy, though.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:53 AM on December 23, 2010

Late to the party, but if you like the Eno you're hearing, and you have an iPhone, iPod or iPad, you can download Bloom, which is an Eno collaboration: an app that generates Eno-esque “music” and that you can input notes into that are then played back as part of the soundscape. Also Air, an "infinite Music for Airports” app, and Trope, a "darker" variation on the Bloom theme.

I have all three, and they're great.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:24 AM on December 22, 2010

Faith Erin Hicks' Zombies Calling is a great graphic novel and not too expensive -- manga-formatted from SLG.

I had a zombie comic published by SLG a few years ago as well, but it's kind of... different; more of a "West Wing with intelligent undead" concept than a standard BRAIIIINS approach. Not really for somebody into "classic" zombies.

As a board game nut I can say that utsutsu is right on all counts about both LNOE and… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:22 PM on December 13, 2010

With absolutely no expertise in the subject, I'd imagine that if you're in an an urban combat zone and ordered to keep your eyes on one particular building (watch this building for activity/there's a sniper in that tower/cover me while I approach), being able to register movement around you could be a useful survival skill, especially if the movement around you might be caused by people that want to shoot you.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 6:14 AM on December 1, 2010

Another vote for rowing machine, and seconding Concept2 as the best of breed.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:14 AM on November 23, 2010

Let me check my VHS box-o-movies. I don't have a VHS player anyhow. I've been offloading on my friends for months, so it might be gone, but if it's not, it's yours.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 9:09 AM on November 9, 2010 marked best answer

Not trying to police my own thread, but the estimates were definitely for sanding down and building up, not replacing the panel.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:25 AM on October 29, 2010

As a stopgap, would the touch-up pen prevent water/salt/crap from getting in the gouges over the winter? I'd rather save up and pay for the fix in real money rather than incur debt over it.

I don't live or die on having a car that makes people gape in awe: I own a Yaris. While I'd rather have an impeccable car, for $700 I could live with a version where you can see home-filled scratches if you tilt your head at the right angle.

Re. photos: I'll… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:50 AM on October 29, 2010

Close-up on scratches
Overview of scratches
Damaged plastic bit
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:22 PM on October 29, 2010

I am a 37-year-old man with the wrists of a 12-year-old waif.

Forget the band. You'll never find the watch you want with a strap that works for your wrists. Invest in the watch you want, then go to a proper jeweler's and (maybe) get a new watchstrap that looks good with it; the jeweler will be able to punch new holes in a leather band, or drop links from a steel band. They should be able to do that for any watch strap regardless, but if you get a new one they'll throw it in for free.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 11:54 AM on October 22, 2010

Go as your own tombstone with "Eaten by a grue" as your epitaph.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 2:26 AM on October 22, 2010

It might be worth reading up on, and arguing from the perspective of, confirmation bias.

If I think (for example) that most Canadians are pro-abortion, I will -- unconsciously -- have my radar on for any and all evidence that Canadians are pro-abortion. I'll disregard any information that disproves that theory, and let it slide past, but any time that something comes along that proves my inner thesis, it'll raise a flag and give me that affirming little yes-I'm-right… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 5:46 PM on October 13, 2010

Guys, the poster isn't asking "Is Star Wars too violent for my kids," he's asking "how hard is it to edit an existing film on a Mac."

You may want to consider title cards (they're easy in most editing suites! Trust me!) for the excerpted material; something to bridge the gap with a short explanation of what has happened. For a little extra effort, they'll turn "your cut" of the movies from a rough edit into a fun artifact for your kids to… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 7:54 AM on September 22, 2010

If you want to do a bit of diving yourself, I just linked to ccMixter -- a creative commons music resource -- over on the main page. There's a "dig" section where you can browse free-to-use music of all sorts: the soundtracks section might be of some use.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:36 PM on September 20, 2010

Oh hang on, you're composing it yourself, which kind of negates the need for CC stuff. By way of apology, I direct you to Mike Patton's Crank II soundtrack, which destroys a lot of action music clichés and rebuilds them into something clever and quite different.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 12:38 PM on September 20, 2010

Seconding Gainesvillain:

UT2004 is a great game for light pick-up play; there are lots of play styles for various types of games, fun fillers, and reasonably intelligent bots if you want to team up with your spouse instead of going head-to-head.

Total fail on "story" or "campaign" elements, though.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:41 AM on September 15, 2010

Re. your forum situation:

Laterally thinking, maybe you could (without naming anybody) post something on your forum about the situation you found yourself in, phrased as neutrally as possible and without making it sound like anyone involved was less than scrupulous and you were both caught up in a Bad System.

Ask if anyone has had similar difficulties and about better methods than PayPal to handle such transactions in the future.… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 1:10 PM on September 13, 2010

[Husband here!]

Windows Vista, I believe. It doesn't seem to be out on DVD yet. Capture and covert would be new territory for me, but definitely something I'm capable of handling technically; I'm on an XP box, myself.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 8:57 AM on September 13, 2010

I work at an ad agency, and am in constant contact with marketing professionals at BigCorps.

What companies look for -- more than great ideas -- from an agency are deliverables: not just whether an idea is good, but whether it fits into the company's marketing plan, their current marketing mix, their overall brand image, and their plans for the future.

I don't want to be discouraging, but ideas -- even great, out-of-the-box, one-in-a-million… [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:32 AM on September 1, 2010 marked best answer

And wow, apologies for spelling up there. I'm (cough) at work so sort of composed that reply in stolen moments over the last half-hour.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Shepherd at 10:35 AM on September 1, 2010