Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Old

Why is my Russian Dwarf Hamster so irritable lately?

Jimmie — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:52:30 -0800

Why is my Russian Dwarf Hamster so irritable lately? I own a male, Russian Dwarf Hamster. He is nearly 2 1/2 years old. He has been a happy, healthy hamster for most of his life. Recently (the past few months), he has been noticeably more irritable. He constantly nips at human skin. It does not seem like he is just looking for food - he's nipping and not letting go. He will grab onto my skin and hang there as I attempt to pull him off. It doesn't seem like he's trying to pierce my skin though (as he's done when I've frightened or annoyed him in the past).

He does not use his exercise wheel much anymore, and he doesn't show much energy when I put him in his hamster ball.

I have not changed his diet in a while. He has always been happy with the brand/mix I buy him.

--

Possible reasons might be:

We recently moved across country, by car, with him in it. Could this have traumatized him?

Winter is coming and in San Francisco it is getting cold. Perhaps he is eating more and exercising less to prepare for hibernation? Maybe this makes him cranky?

Maybe he's just getting old?

--

Additionally:

He's got a bit of brown fluid in his left eye. I was told that this is common for hamsters, particularly older ones, and nothing to worry about. What do you think?

His stool, eating, and drinking habits all appear fine. He is not exhibiting any signs of wet tail. His weight seems fine. His hair seems like it might be thinning, but it could just be my imagination. His ears have been down more than usual, they are not as perky.

I haven't heard him crying, in fact, I have heard him softly 'clicking' for the first time in his life. Perhaps I just wasn't listening close enough before. I read that this means he is happy/content.

--

So why is he so angry?

Found a bunch of some really pretty, nicely shaped clear colored with rainbow streaks, wine bottles. Any ideas what they can be used for?

watercarrier — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:24:13 -0800

Creative ideas for old opalescent bottles?

Amo Amas Awhat?

The Whelk — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:23:36 -0800

Is there a Medieval Linguist in the house? I need a very short conversation between Cistercian nuns in Saxony translated into Medieval Latin. Any help so I don't sound like a complete idiot warmly welcomed. Background, it's 1301 in Lower Saxony at Wienhausen Abbey

"He wishes in all humbleness to adore the relic."

"Impossible."

"But abbess, he has brought a wonder! He says it is a gift. He only wants a moment with it."

"Bring him to me."

Total Side Question: I can't figure out if the nuns wouldn't used Old German or Latin when speaking to each other rather than writing religious texts. Some sources say Old French, even.

Old but awesome shareware.

metacollin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:35:27 -0800

Help me identify an older mac shoot-em-up with procedurally generated levels. Identifying features:
*This was a 360° space-shoot-em up style game.
*Gameplay focused heavily on rooms connected by teleporters, and I remember these rooms being rocky in nature. It did not take place in space.
*These rooms featured interesting obstacles in addition to enemy spacecraft, and were different every time I played, leading me to believe there was some randomization or procedural generation going on.
*Enemy space craft would often drop their weapon, which you could absorb, similar to Kirby. I remember a variety of lasers, multishot, and even a ball and chain style weapon.
*This game was shareware, and I BELIEVE it came out soon before or after Mac OS X adoption began taking place. I'm by no means certain about this. There may be a classic version, OS X version, or both.
*It is by no means limited to the mac platform, I am only sure that there was a mac version.
*There was a boss fight every level, or possibly every few levels.

What to do with the Apple II?

niles — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:27:18 -0800

What do I do with several Apple IIs (and a Commodore, and maybe a few other "vintage" comptuers) that I have? Nostalgia has finally given way to practicality, and I need to do something about the basement shelf overflowing with computers older than I am - but I have absolutely no clue how to do it. It seems wasteful to throw out a perfectly working Commodore 64 (in the original packaging!), or any of several models of Apple IIs with boxes of related 5.25" disk software. I read about a team at MIT creating cheap computers out of Apple IIs for developing countries, and while I can't find any further information for them online, donating to a cause like that would be awesome. Short of that, what else can I do to clean out the house? What's the best thing to do with these computers?

How did saloons in the Old West get their liquor delivered?

Senor Cardgage — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:19:52 -0800

How did saloons in tiny towns in the Old West get liquor delivered? I'm watching Silverado (pretty good flick btw) and wondering how small town saloons in the old west managed to keep their liquor in stock.
If it's true (and it may not be) that getting goods from point A to point B without your wagon train getting robbed was such an issue, and if it's also true that there wasn't much for a man to do in these towns BUT drink then it seems to me like you'd run out of stuff like crazy.

Did they keep huge storehouses of the stuff?
Weekly wagon deliveries?
Were there regional liquor distributors running well-secured freight operations?

My curiosity has been piqued.

Btw you should check this movie out if you like westerns, Costner notwithstanding.

Looking for old 90's mac/pc game involving a green haunted house...

frankie_stubbs — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:38:36 -0800

Looking for old 90's mac/pc game involving a green haunted house... The cover had a greenish haunted mansion on it and the object of the game was to go through the house and find clues to escape. You open random doors, talk to random creepy people, and play "educational" puzzle games. I remember beating it only once and I think the way out was through a fire escape type thing? I know if I see the title I will recognize it...I recall it being fairly long (meaning about 4 words or more), may have had a name in it, and for some reason, the word "spooky" and "mansion" comes to mind. And, I believe it was an educational game...

However, I looked up many other games and know that it isn't any of the following:

Spooky Mansion
Haunted Hotel
7th Guest
Transylvania
11th Hour
Phantasmagoria
Haunted House Quest

Please recommend articles, essays or books about aging.

cheapskatebay — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:50:37 -0800

Please recommend articles, essays or books about aging. I recently read two essays that intrigued me. One was a 2007 New Yorker essay by Atul Gawande and the other was a more recent Men's Journal essay by Pat Jordan.

Can anyone recommend additional essays, articles or books about what it's like to age, or to be old? I'd be interested in anything remotely relevant - the article does not need not be just about men, or Americans/westerners, and it need not be focused, like these essays, on the science of aging/health care issues or one man's subjective experience of aging. Essays would be particularly interesting but I'd certainly consider books, scientific articles accessible to the lay reader, sociology texts, a primer on gerontology... pretty much anything. Both fiction and non-fiction would be fine.

Many thanks in advance.

50th birthday coming up

sandra194 — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:01:40 -0800

The big five-O is coming up for me in August. Does this mean that I have to do something especially significant and particularly memorable? I don't want hubby to throw a party...although I do like to attend parties. Actually, I'd like to take a little trip somewhere alone--is that selfish? How did you celebrate your 50th birthday?

Old Mac, new life?

bsexton — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:36:15 -0800

A friend gave me a Powermac G3 this afternoon It's not the fastest in the world, but it has OSX installed 10.4.11. What are some cool things I can do with this machine? I had an ibook g4 before a few years ago, but I ran over it :( so I do know a little about Apple computers, other than don't run over it with a car.

I would like to do something cool with it, to make it useful in some way. I was thinking of a media streaming server, but it only has a 6GB hard drive installed at this time. I don't mind installing a new one if I can test it for a usefulness factor first.

My setup is this:
XP/Ubuntu dual boot desktop
Win7 laptop
and new/old MacG3

I thought about installing boxee but that's Intel only. Any other suggestions?

I also have an iphone, xbox360 (streaming media through the xp machine), and a wii if any of that matters.

And of course I would like to this without a huge $$ investment.

I'm also an IT student so I really got it to learn a little more about Apple computers and get a little more familiar w/ OSX.

What do I do with square pegs and a square hole?

scrute — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:53:02 -0800

What is this game? It belonged to my dad's cousin and she would have played with it during the 1940's, I think. It has found it's way to us through a circuitous route, and the people who would have played with it, including my grandmother, great-uncle and their neice, have all passed on.

It consists of a wooden grid (with a bottom so the pieces stay in place) along with square pegs in four different colours, and a bunch of triangle pegs in the same colours (two triangles fit in one hole).

I assume it's a game and not just a toy with which to make pretty patterns - Anyone have any idea how to play?

Seeking massive lathe

mearls — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:58:52 -0800

Does anyone know where I can find an old wood lathe to restore and turn massive burls? This isn't your father's lathe, it's more likely your great grandfather's lathe and hasn't been out of the barn since before the War. It weighs half a ton. If you hang out at the VFW or in old union halls and ask around a massive bowl will be your reward for the beta. I'll go anywhere in the Northeast if it's cheap and farther than that if it is free.

Stiff and sore

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:27:32 -0800

Are stiffness and aches and pains a pretty normal part of just being 48 years old? How about muscle cramps? Last few years I've noticed that my joints are pretty ache-y when I move after not having moved for a while (30 min, say). It pretty much goes away after moving around, but it's hard to get up off the couch and I'm literally limping a bit for a few minutes afterwards. My history is that I've never been in great shape. I weigh about 300 lbs but it's not as bad as it sounds as I'm about 6'4". But, I know, 300.

When I first wake up and go downstairs, I'm so stiff I have to kind of walk sideways down the stairs. (I did break my right leg pretty severely about 15 years ago and also about 25 years ago) I also get random muscle cramps all the time, all kinds of muscles, in my arms, chest, back, legs, anywhere. Sometimes I'll be standing at a cocktail party and have to leave the room because suddenly the muscles in my ribcage will start spazzing, or I'll have to pull over driving because it's so painful. Or in the dentist chair, or while getting busy .So: stiffness, cramping. Overweight, old.

Will losing weight and getting more exercise fix this? Or do I simply need to be younger?

Compfilter: My PC is almost six, and getting a little creaky - how do I keep it chugging on?

greenish — Thu, 14 May 2009 05:00:32 -0800

Compfilter: My PC is almost six, and getting a little creaky - how do I keep it chugging on? I'm reaching out to the other geeks here, especially ones like me who cling onto their old hardware for too long.

My PC has been faithful to me for almost 6 years, but she's starting to get creaky now. I've given her more RAM, more memory and replaced the power supply, but what scares me is the day she shuts down and the only answer i get from the techies is "oh dear, your motherboard is borked" or something else I don't know how to ressusitate her from.

There is a lot of software on her that I can't afford to replace, so I really want to keep her going for as long as I can. A new machine is not an option - some of the software is no longer available so I really just want to do what I have to to keep this old baby alive.

Any tips?

PS. Sorry for all the anthropomorphism, but she really is like an old friend now, albeit one who takes a while to get ready, yells at me a lot when I do something she doesn't like, and gets a lot of attention from my boyfriend.

What are these old copper printing plates?

gemmy — Sun, 10 May 2009 17:24:35 -0800

Anyone recognize these old copper printing plates? They were used to print some sort of encyclopedia or other information book, but which one? In the late 90s, my mom and I picked up some old copper printing plates [link goes to Flickr set] from an estate sale in Connecticut. We spent an hour or so picking out a few neat-looking ones from a huge set (I would estimate about 100-150) of these printing plates, stored in boxes and wrapped in old newspaper (the newspaper was from the 1950s, if I remember right). Each plate has a volume designation and a number. I did some serious looking in libraries and such at the time, but couldn't find anything about what these plates might have been used for. I have looked less seriously every few years since, but haven't found anything useful.

It looks like the copper plates were used for an encyclopedia type book, but the text from the plates isn't turning up anywhere online. For example, one of the plates says that Richard Wagner told Franz Liszt "Your God makes a lot of noise". But I can only find one place online that even mentions that Wagner quote, in a book from 1921. I only took photos of the ones I have hanging on my wall. I have two more plates in the closet - one is a picture and text about Tian Tan in Beijing, the other is a picture and text about the Great Wall of China.

I know it's a long shot, but do these plates look familiar to anyone? Any ideas what book they might have been used to print? Any suggestions for finding more information would also be appreciated. Thanks!

Help me find that game, please

Leech — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:05:51 -0800

I need to find a game I've played so many years ago in the old Windows 3.11. I need to find a game I've played so many years ago in the old Windows 3.11.

It consisted in a grid where you are placed in a cell, and there was few obstacles and monsters placed on other cells.
You can move in any of the axis direction (top, bottom, left, right), on each move, the monsters approximates to you by 1 cell movement.
If the monsters hit an obstacle, or between them they dies.

The objective of the game was to kill all the monsters by hitting objects or themselves. On each new level you get more monsters, which makes it harder to escape from them.

I'm looking for this game for a long time!
I need the game or at least the name or publisher.

Thank you!

water water everywhere!

kidsleepy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 07:23:52 -0800

Is "old" water safe to drink? I have no problem leaving a cup of water on my bedside table for a straight week and drinking out of it. I'll also drink out of a (previously opened) water bottle that's been rolling around on the floor of the car for days. SO doesn't even like to drink water left out over night, and has a half-dozen half-empty water bottles in his floorboards. I argue that water doesn't "go bad" or "spoil" under normal circumstances. SO claims this is "gross!"

Who's right?

Looking for some old Soviet knobs

electric_counterpoint — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:07:06 -0800

I'm looking for a few knobs like these, seen on a Russian-built guitar effects pedal from the eighties. Even a close approximation would be good, but I've struck out on the usual sources (Mouser, Small Bear). I'm actually actually trying to replace some missing knobs on the very model of fuzz pedal (the Sovtek "Civil War" Big Muff Pi) I linked above, so I'm certain it'll fit if I can find the exact one somewhere.

Any ideas?

How do I stop being Neal from "Good Old Neon"?

Anonymous — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:39:05 -0800

So, I just read David Foster Wallace's "Good Old Neon", and I feel like Neal is a creepily accurate description of myself at this point in my life. What do I do? (Sorry for not linking, but apparently nobody has thought of pirating this story to the Internebs just yet...)

It may have been a bad idea, but I just recently ordered whatever I could find of David Foster Wallace's writing and have made my way to "Oblivion" now, and while I felt touched by many of his characters, "Good Old Neon" was really mind-blowing in its identification potential.

I know the achievement/disappointment/fear pattern quite intimately. My perspectives on therapy, meditation and religion as coping mechanisms are almost exactly as described in the story. What ways out of this would you recommend if the one from the story (involving a car, a bridge abutment, and "stepping out of linear time") was not an option?

(As a side note, I am slightly frightened by the fact that even the schoolmate who has "emerged from years of literally indescribable war against himself" ultimately seems to have been deluded about his emergence.)

Mad Magazine, pure brilliance.

DolorousEdd — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:14:05 -0800

I know many magazine questions have already been asked, but I believe this one needs its own thread. What do I do with the MAD magazines I have from about 2000 to now? Specific ideas would be preferred, as I know I can toss them on Freecycle or Craig's List any time. I tried to donate them to the military once, as I had read a letter from an Army librarian in Iraq to the magazine thanking them, but there is no real way to give it to them.

[DOS game filter] Help me find that old DOS RPG?

melogranato — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:08:39 -0800

Trying to remember the name of a game from the late 80s or early 90s -- text only, proto-RPG, DOS based. So, for some reason the imaginary imagery of this game has stuck with me for about 20 years. I had a copy from a friend on 5.25 floppy and I'm not sure if I ever knew the name -- but I'd love to try and hunt it down for a friend's kid. Can you help? The game began in an English garden of some sort, (I want to say it was Coventry Gardens) with people walking around. The game would feed you a descriptive line and you had to respond with particular commands. All I really remember was something about stealing a pram, buying bird feed so the crow (raven?) would drop something, and opening an umbrella at the right time after climbing into the pram so the wind that rose would carry you off to another land. My memory also includes a witch and a really large mushroom but it's hard to tell what I've made up over the years.

Anyone have any idea just what the heck I'm talking about? I swear this isn't a drug induced memory... THANKS!

Old Play-By-Email space-strategy-war-game: what was its name?

Balna Watya — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:01:50 -0800

Old Play-By-Email space-strategy-war-game: what was its name? Back in the late 80's or early 90's, I played a space strategy PBEM game. There was a 100+ page manual that you would use to write orders for your units, with the orders themselves being long strings of numeric codes (like the unit number, then the order number, then the star system to go to, etc.). Games were large (dozens of players), and cost a few bucks per turn. The tech tree was very indepth, and had technology trees for spying, trading, building weapons, compressing gas giants, and dozens of other fields. I think there were also player corporations and a galactic UN, as well as Elder worlds left over from those who had gone before. In general, the game was very dense, with various complex formulas for production, planet morale, etc. In particular, I remember that when you received your turn back, there were funny quotes at the top of the turn files.

Does anyone know the name of this game? Sorry for bothering the hivemind about this, but I'm googled out and it's driving me crazy.

Handiman?Handiwoman? Please help me open these 1960's era windows.

pomegranate — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:44:09 -0800

How do I open these aluminum windows from the 60's? The lock has a top-of-window sash component, then a metal ribbon-looking thing, and a screw in the top of the bottom sash. It's a beautiful day here in Houston and I really want to open the windows but I also want to be able to lock the windows again later.
I know my way around some WD-40 and a flat-head screwdriver but I thought I better come here to learn how the locks are supposed to work before I end up accidentally removing them completely.

Thanks for your help!

A gift for the man who has everything but introspection.

Help, I can't stop talking! — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:42:34 -0800

Help me find an appropriate (guided) journal to give my father as a birthday gift. My father is turning 60. He's got everything (actually, he's remarried so he has two of everything), and I really want to get him something a little more symbolic. I'm thinking of a nice pen and a journal, but I know that if I get him a blank journal, he'll never actually write in it. He's not particularly in touch with his emotions and he's spectacularly concrete in his thinking. I know there are guided journals out there, but so many of them look like the kind of New Age smiley stuff that he wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Anyone know of a "Self-Insight for Dummies" or "Guided Journaling for People Who Think Like Spreadsheets" or something similar?

Name That Movie

whimsicalnymph — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:20:33 -0800

[Oldmoviefilter]: What is this movie? When I was a girl, I saw a movie that (at the time) I found hilarious. I believe the movie was made in the 1950s, maybe 1940s, in color. A woman has relationship problems because every man she falls in love with becomes wildly successful, then dies a tragic death (or leaves her?)?

Then afterward, the men she tells her woes to invariably fall in love with her, and the pattern repeats. She begins to gain more and more riches as a well-to-do widow (one of her husbands was Gene Kelly, as a beatnik entertainer), but all she wants is the simple life.

Finally she marries a farmer, is happy and pleased...then her farmer husband discovers oil.

What is the name of this movie?