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Recently verified heated outdoor gathering spots in New York City
I'm seeking casual gathering places (pubs, cafés, etc.) that serve food and/or drink, and that have truly outdoor seating, and that are suitable for groups of 6-12, and that have some form of outdoor heating such as firepits or heat lamps. Please only recommend venues where you personally have empirically verified the existence of real outdoor seating, within the last month, with your own senses. A roof plus two walls is fine, three walls is possibly okay as long as there's a lot of airflow, four walls is not okay.
Printable versions of FEMA independent study online courses
The United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers a bunch of free independent study online classes. There's interesting material in a bunch of those. I would prefer to skim the printable, all-in-one-HTML-page versions of the curricula rather than clicking through a hundred screens for each course. For many courses I can easily find the relevant link, but I'd like to work out how to download ALL of them; help me figure out the URL scheme? Also, for recent courses I can't; are there any, and if so, where?
Analyses of "Sid Meier's Civilization" intro videos?
Many editions of the video game "Sid Meier's Civilization" have included introductory videos/cinematics and trailers that composite together summaries of human history, often inspirational in tone (examples in full question details). I recently watched a few and was struck by their different emphases, hopes, arguments they make about what it means for civilization to progress, and so on. Could you point to good analyses (written or video) that compare, contrast, analyze, and/or criticize these short films, and maybe even put them in context with other similar edutainment montages of the history of civilization?
Good and bad experiences with Mountainsmith tents?
I just heard that Mountainsmith is having a big sale and I noticed several of their tents are available for 50% off. Most of them don't have reviews available on their website. In your experience, are these a good deal? Are their tents robustly constructed, and reasonable in terms of ease of setup? (I'm not a 100% novice at tent setup but have only done it maybe 3 times, with different models each time.) I will be camping outdoors in North America, mostly in the northeast within a day's drive of New York City.
Legit/credible Big Five personality testing
I just read a blog post by The Wrong Kind of Cheese about, among other things, “the Big Five personality traits” in the Five-Factor Model of Personality (also called The Big Five Model/CANOE or OCEAN). TWKoC said "I did a self-test at BigFive-Test.com (having searched for a free test, I picked one at random)" and that made me curious: is there an online Big Five traits test that is particularly credible or legitimate?
Book ID: a genre-breaking semi-romance historical fiction novel
My friend Teresa once described a novel I'd like to track down, set in nineteenth-century Britain: "published by Warner as a sort of quasi-Regency bodice-ripper, back when bodice-rippers were getting big but there weren’t enough of them yet to feed the pipeline. But it wasn’t anything of the sort!" Help with identifying this book?
What is this costume meant to convey?
There is a travelling entertainment called "Girls Night Out: The Show" in which hunky men dance while wearing very little. In this promotional photo, the man just to the left of center is wearing a black fedora?, tie, and blazer? suit jacket? and carrying a cane or umbrella. Are we meant to get a specific reference here?
Obscure Christmas play
Around 1991-ish, I performed in a community theater production of "The Night Before The Night Before Christmas," a play which I would like to track down and reread, yet cannot find. This play is NOT R. Eugene Jackson's play published by Big Dog, nor Andy Pavey's play, as neither of those mentions my character, Rudy. I welcome aid!
US network news year-end video montages from the 1990s
This front page post reminds me: when I was a child watching US network TV in the 1990s, I used to watch the evening national newscasts (ABC and CBS more than NBC, as I recall). I remember that, on the last weekday of the year, the news show would usually broadcast a collection of clips summarizing the year's news, often using a soundtrack of pop music released that year. I've tried and failed to find some of these online. How can I find and rewatch these montages?
Research on referring to others by fullname or part of name
Sometimes in conversation, people tend to refer to other people (not in the conversation) by full name, every time. Like saying "Ted Danson" several times instead of switching to "Ted" or "Danson". But sometimes we don't, e.g., "Biden". Is there research about patterns in who does this, which names get truncated vs. not, etc.? I have intuitions but would want to double-check. Would this be a linguistics thing, maybe interdisciplinary with sociology?
vacation house-type rental platforms that respect taxes/locals/etc.
I'm dubious of "sharing economy" platforms like Airbnb, because they tend to "damag[e] communities and push[] vulnerable individuals to take on unsustainable risk" and dodge taxes and regulations (as Tom Slee writes). If I want to book a house, cottage, cabin, or similar lodging in the US (especially in New England), what platforms are more friendly to my values?
sources for quotations in "How To Win Friends and Influence People"
Dale Carnegie in How To Win Friends and Influence People liberally quotes (sometimes rephrasing) lots of other people. Often -- at least in the cheap paperback edition I have -- there's no citation. Is there a bibliography somewhere that attempts to track down the provenance of these quotations and anecdotes? Sometimes I'd like to cite a story or aphorism from the book, but I'd like to know if I need to add a "may be made up by Dale Carnegie" disclaimer, and when possible I'd prefer to be able to cite the original source.
Feminist, nonfiction, &c. Hindi films/TV recommendations
I'd like to watch some films or TV shows that include a lot of characters speaking Hindi. I enjoy the big-budget song-and-dance you get in fictional Bollywood blowouts, but I often dislike the romance plots because the men treat women so condescendingly. Like, right now, I'm in the middle of watching Kal Ho Naa Ho and started yelling at the screen when Khan's character got all "you need to learn to smile" at the female lead. So can you recommend some alternatives?
ID this poem: "I've got my life back"
I'm trying to remember a poem. It's fairly short, I think, like under 30 lines, and I think I recall that the author is a woman. The narrator parks in a dingy parking garage, and vividly describes the dull colors, maybe the reminder of what level she's parked on. Then, I think in the elevator, the narrator has a sudden brilliant electrifying moment realizing "I've got my life back" or something very close to that, and it sort of dispels the gloom. What poem is this?
Good replacement for Muji recycled yarn socks?
My spouse and I are seeking a replacement for Muji recycled yarn socks. These socks "are discontinued and will not be back in stock". My spouse writes: "I’ve worn these socks for about 15 years without finding anything similar, and my last sets (purchased around 2018) are wearing out." He really loves these - help us find a suitable replacement?
Find me a place in rural California
Asking on a friend's behalf: "I currently live in a large California city and want to move to somewhere rural in California. It can be right up to state borders, but it must be within the state of California. Please help me figure out where to move to!"
Commercial property insurance for an individual in California
Asking on a friend's behalf: "I'm leasing a <100sq office as an individual, not a business. I need to obtain property insurance for it but have no idea where to start, I've only ever used residential insurance. The office is furnished; total value of my property in it is around $2k (most of that's a laptop)."
Would lions eat clams?
If you gave a lion a clam, would the lion attempt to eat it? Would they be able to eat it? Would they like it? Assume that the clam is still in the shell.
Crowdsourced list of non-Amazon online shops?
A few days ago I came across a website that provides a crowdsourced list of online stores that aren't Amazon. Like this Verge article but crowdsourced, and the website is devoted to the endeavor. Thought I bookmarked it, can't find it. May have had "green" in the name, and I think it's fairly new (like, popped up this year). What is it? Thanks!
Other national/geographical podcasts like BBC Introducing Mixtape?
BBC Introducing is how the BBC finds, chooses, and broadcasts new music by less-famous UK talent. DJ Tom Robinson hosts The BBC Introducing Mixtape, a weekly radio show that's also a podcast (show notes with timestamps), and it's a great way to discover new music & artists across many genres of pop, rock, rap, & more (95% music, very little talking by the DJ, no ads). Recommend other podcasts like this, especially covering other countries?
Deciphering 1790s German handwriting - what does this say?
Help transliterate or translate this handwritten, one-page German letter from 1792?
Essay about caring for the audience in performance art?
Years ago I came across an essay online by an artist, I think one who does a lot of performance art, arguing that confronting the audience with hostility was pretty tired and worn-out territory, and that caring for the audience (e.g., washing their feet) and expressing love and hospitality was the new frontier. I thought I bookmarked it but can't find it. Anyone remember this?
Do NYC Dept of Education background checks include violation charges?
My friend is working towards a teaching credential for the New York City school system. Will their arrest for disorderly conduct, and charge for that violation, show up on the DOE background check, and will it stop NYC DOE from letting them observe classrooms as a student teacher?
Children's picture book identification: women and water
Friend needs help tracking down his favourite book from when he was a small child in Canada around 1990. Possibly named "Still Waters Run Deep", involving women in a watery cave.
Final exam question about how infotech can help oppressed poor people
Years ago, on the web, I came across a test question that a college professor posed to their students, sort of asking them what information ought to go onto an ebook reader/mobile device that oppressed peasants could use to make their own lives better, but subtextually demonstrating that this problem is very very hard. I can't find it now -- anyone got a link?
How do I reach occasional and non-Anglophone Python programmers?
I'm working on a project (link in my profile) that affects probably 50-80% of people who use the Python programming language, and will want to spread the word super-wide (a) when we're in beta, to get testing and (b) when the big switch happens, to alert them of why things are changing and adjustments they may have to make. How/where should I advertise to reach programmers who don't or rarely read English, and programmers who only use Python occasionally?
How does poor pupil dilation affect recovery from cataract surgery?
Someone I know is getting surgery to remove a cataract in one eye. She tells me that, because her pupil has trouble dilating, the surgery will be more complicated than usual, taking about an hour rather than 5-10 minutes. She has had trouble getting in touch with the doctor to ask questions about details and the name of her condition, so I'm finding it hard to research how unusual this is, whether recovery will be different from recovering from normal cataract removal (e.g., longer), and what to particularly watch out for during recovery. Help?
Searching campaign contributions for local US elections
I'm researching the donations a particular campaign donor has made in local races across the United States that concern the criminal justice system (e.g., elections for district attorneys and judges). FollowTheMoney.org plus the Federal Election Commission plus OpenSecrets.org give me fairly complete campaign finance data at the federal level, but only partial data at the state, county, and city levels. Where else should I be looking?
Seeking fair-labor, nontoxic bindis that'll stay on forehead for 12 hrs
I'm an Indian-American Hindu woman living in New York City. I've recently started wearing a bindi every day -- the sticker kind, a.k.a. kumkum or kunkma. If I want ethically produced bindis that have nontoxic, long-lasting adhesive (will stay on my face for 12 continuous hours without moving around), what brand should I seek out, and where/how should I buy it?
What makes an airline choose Lorna Doones as a long haul-only snack?
A few years ago, on a plane flight, I looked at the list of free snacks -- potato chips, cookies, etc. Next to one (and only one) item (the Lorna Doone cookies), I saw the annotation: "long haul flights only". What (probably) are their criteria for this choice, and what makes Lorna Doones a good choice for this distinction?
Hindu temple in the Poconos with painted steps
Around 1986, my family visited a Hindu temple or similar religious facility in the Poconos area of Pennsylvania. I remember that the path from the parking lot up the hill to the building was a stairway of huge stone steps, each of which was painted with a different design. Does this temple still exist? Where is it? Online photos of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, the Jain temple Siddhachalam, and Sringeri Sadhana Center don't look like what I remember.
Why use a sentence instead of "anónimamente"?
On New York City building sites, why does the Spanish signage say "No tiene que dar su nombre" instead of using the Spanish adverb for "anonymously"?
Where can I rent a Dahon folding bike in New York City?
I live in New York City, and I'm thinking of buying a folding bike. Where can I rent a Dahon folding bicycle so I can try it out?
Recommend "how I made/fixed this software" podcasts by women
I love programming/sysadmin case studies, I love women's perspectives, and I'm swinging back into listening to podcasts. Help me find more of what I love?
Gadget review in the form of short dystopian scifi
Help me find an online review that someone wrote several years ago, reviewing a data-erasing gadget by writing a piece of dystopian fiction in which the user needs to use the device in a hurry.
What smartphone gives me root, has an OS that'll be around in 2 years, & won't crash too much?
What smartphone should I buy if I want root on my device (without having to jailbreak it), hardware & OS quality (crashing once a month or less), and upgradability?
Bad and good experiences with Collabtive
Your experience with Collabtive: I want to know. Should I put up with it for a month and a half, or go with the Bugzilla I already have?
Seeking ANG Newspaper Group fulltext archives
I want to get the full text of several articles I wrote that were published in Bay Area newspapers between 2005 and 2007. What periodicals database should I be hitting? Preferred sources: free or accessible via New York Public Library.
Recommend independent or well-treated Astoria cleaners
Recommend a cleaning person or service in/near Astoria, Queens? If a service, one that treats its workers well.
Web designers: how do you use CSS with :link and :visited ?
Web designers and developers: Mozilla wants to know how you use CSS properties and selector constructs regarding visited links and :link so they can fix a privacy issue. Asking for a friend.
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