Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with Unknown

Webmail can get hosed too?

Iosephus — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:35:29 -0800

Is there a nastyware lurking in this computer? Strange Yahoo! Mail contact list kidnapping observed... A friend of mine suffered an odd incident on their Yahoo! Mail account, which they only use through their browser: a spam message from some consumer electronics company (that some googling reveals is a probable fraudster) was sent to all their contacts, and the contacts seem to have been deleted after that. They have changed the password and recovered the contact list, but since they are not really computer knowledgeable and I have no access to their machine (a typical Win XP system), not much else to be done there. Some more googling shows up another cases like theirs, but no identification of the nasty. Besides my willingness to help save their bacon, I'm curious about what kind of thing would this be and how it did its trick, able to sneak into a webmail access and spam around the contact list. I'm not linking to the fraudster so as not to give them traffic, but their site as mentioned also in the spam starts with an e, then a dash, then saloon dot com.

Ack I broke acrobat professional

special-k — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:24:01 -0800

I tried to update my Adobe Acrobat 7.0 and I broke something. Help me make it work again. I usually ignore Adobe update requests but for some unknown reason I clicked ok. It updated, asked for a restart. My spybot search and destroy asked if I would approve some new start up processes and again, being totally distracted, I said ok to some but not others. After the restart my Acrobat Professional 7.0 no longer works.

First I get "An internal error occurred"

Then I get "The instruction at 0x0408185f referenced memory at 0x38bdaac. The memory could not be read"

Googling both those error codes returns nothing. Under Program Files>Adobe>Acrobat 7.0>Setup>Acropro>ENU there is a file called acropro.exe.

I tried to repair my install and that didn't work either. The obvious solution would be to reinstall from a scratch but I don't have installation disks till the IT guy gets here on Monday.

What can I do in the meantime (I need to create and edit a bunch of pdfs this weekend).

Is there a corrupt folder I can delete to make this work?

I am on WinXP. Acrobat 7.0 (I don't know the sub-version)

Lost

hadjiboy — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:32:52 -0800

What tree is this? These are the flowers which grow on it (they usually fall off every night and are strewn across the ground). Here's a close up of one of them. They have a nice and pleasant smell... something like Jasmine perhaps? Not sure, but if anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks a lot.

What is this song with the sample from "39 Steps"?

churl — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 01:48:20 -0800

I would love to know what song this is. [Direct Link to 4.7 MB mp3] [Caution at work, song gets louder] Google tells me that the words of the lyrics/voiceover narration are from the opening of 39 Steps, but I don't know which version (if any). It doesn't sound exactly like the Hitchcock version, but that's the only version I could find to watch online and compare it against.

It came to me on an unlabeled mix CD from a friend. However, by the time I listened to and asked him to identify this song, he had forgotten it. Pressed, he thought that the song might be called "Oregon Grinder" -- he definitely specified "Oregon" and not "Organ" -- and the band called "Fear of Little Men".

However, the only "Oregon Grinder" I could find was by Hank Jones (obviously wrong), and I listened through both albums by Fear of Little Men and it did not appear on either of them.

He gave me the CD about two years ago, so the song must be pre-2006. That is everything I know.

The vault of imaginary movies?

Iosephus — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:06:55 -0800

Did I imagine that reference? Cloverfield got me thinking. Someone somewhere perhaps mentioned to me many years ago another "fake visual document" movie, this one involving a tv crew, a lake, a monster (or just a vague mystery?), and it might have been shot in black and white (perhaps to fake olden times?). Treat all preceding details as suspect, but feel free to go wild giving it a go. Yes, I've tried IMDB and Google. I suspect some of my recollections are wrong and hence the lack of hits. Unless of course I imagined the whole talk or conflated my memories with assorted mental flotsam, and hence there is no such movie. Or my search-fu is pathetically worse than my proud claims would like to affirm to the contrary, and then you have my permission to pull a Nelson Muntz on me.

Name that tune?

ooklala — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 21:55:29 -0800

Can you help me identify a freakishly old (I think) song that I recently found? I know nothing about it other than it is old, and has been used for many years in a Maypole dance. *link to song* (mp3)
Note: Song is very catchy.

Why can't I get the movie "Quiet man" from Netflix?

fx3000 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:49:07 -0800

Why can't I get the movie "Quiet man" from Netflix? For a while now it has shown availability "Unknown" and just shows up in the "Saved" section. A couple of months ago, it was in my queue but it always had "Very Long Wait".

What is this song?

jules1651 — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:44:00 -0800

Can someone please tell me what song is in the playing in the background here? You will make my day.

What is this giant red and orange cone-shaped thing?

0xFCAF — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:44:15 -0800

What is this large red and orange checkerboarded cone I saw on I-5 somewhere around Olympia, WA?

Does anyone know this piano song?

Bill Shinji — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:01:30 -0800

Does anyone know about this piano song? Maybe it's George Winston's. I've been searching for this unknown song listening sample music from George Winston's Albums on Amazon. So far I got nothing. Maybe I am wrong about the auther in the first place. The bottom line is that it is a piano song.

Since there is no lyric in the song it is extremely hard to find what the song is.

Anyone who has any information about this song or possible authers please let me know.

Here is a youtube link to the song in question:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mx-WN-T_Uw0

who-the-heck-sings-this-song filter. Help me identify an obscure piece?

jwhowa — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:14:39 -0800

I've got this MP3 I'm trying to identify, and many attempts at googling the lyrics have left me wanting. The lyrics to the chorus are "you're feeling sorry, feeling sorry, alright... (snip) for nobody but yourself" It's a lady singing, very catty, chacha beat. Link to a snippet of the song is inside, if anyone could provide me artist/title/album or any of the above that would be fantastic! Thanks for considering it! Snippet is located here:

http://technodaddy.com/feelinsorry.mp3

What kind of lighter is this and where can I find one?

blackout — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:36:21 -0800

What kind of lighter is this and where can I find one? Here are a couple of pictures. My brother got this lighter as a gift years ago and I've always wanted one. Anyone know where I might be able to find one. My brother always refers to it as a "miners lighter" and on the bottom it says; IMCO TRIPLEX SUPER austria 6700

Weird phone numbers showing up on my cell phone caller ID

parilous — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:04:49 -0800

There are weird phone numbers showing up on my caller ID - what's going on? What should I do about it? (I've already called Verizon about this, but they had no information.) The past two days I have received:
* 7 calls from: 233-242-248101
* 6 calls from: 01

The phone rings/vibrates only once, as if I had received a txt message. They take place between 1-2 minutes apart. I have received three "sets" of these calls -- 9am (MST) yesterday, 11am (MST) yesterday, and 1pm (MST) today. My cell is an LG, but I doubt that makes any difference.

I have googled the number and it looks like it may be an international call, possibly coming from Ghana, and likely connected to a calling scam. I don't know how to stop these calls, but have been assured that no minutes are being deducted if I don't answer. I guess what I'm worried about is whether or not my phone is being hacked (or something similarly nefarious). What's going on, should I worry about it, and how should I take care of it?

Unknown fantasy book title

tjbarrett — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 09:55:04 -0800

I'd appreciate some help trying to remember a fantasy book I read when I was younger, but I can't remember the name of it. Don't remember if it was a single book or a series, the only details I recall are: 1. The bad guys rode horses/monsters with six legs 2. There was a culminating end battle where a prince, formerly capricious and care-free, sacrificed himself on the main bad guy's sword to kill him 3. And somehow King Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere were involved, and their part in the story ended with a resolution of the love triangle involved between them. Sorry about the vagueness of this question, but it's all I remember, and it's been bugging me for a while, as I've been walking down memory lane lately and reading old books, thanks for any help. :)

What is this painting?

flabdablet — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:27:47 -0800

Can anybody identify this painting? For siahny.

Unknown book about a man who decided to be a tourist in his own home

Lush — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 07:56:22 -0800

Help me identify this book! A friend asked me this, and I quote: "book from the 17th century? about the guy who decided to be a tourist in his own home. he wrote a whole book about how he's exploring his kitchen and livingroom. finding things he'd never seen before. marveling at a cupboard he hasn't opened for a long time. stumbling upon a pretty rock underneath the carpet." There are no other clues. I told her I had no idea what it was, but now I too am curious and interested in reading it. Apparently, not even the person who recommended it to her could remember the title or the author. Any ideas?

Should-Have-Bought-The-Right-Edition-of-the-Textbook-Filter

BackwardsCity — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 17:31:26 -0800

A longshot, but hoping. Can anyone identify this statue? My wife has been using an outdated edition of her art history textbook for a summer course. Up until now every photo in the homework has been in her book, but on her latest assignment she's been asked to identify a painting that's only in the new edition and compare it to a work by Rodin.

From the question's context she thinks it might be a Michelangelo, but she isn't sure. Does anyone know this one?

Who made this tile-picture?

misteraitch — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 06:11:51 -0800

Can anyone identify the picture shown in this photograph? It’s a framed group of six ceramic tiles, which collectively depict a group of colourful, elongated figures, in a boat. It was hanging on the wall of a Spanish villa where my wife and I spent a vacation in 2001. The villa was in Andalucía, between Estepona and Casares. Its owners were Belgian, I think. Here is a larger scan of my (regrettably off-centre) photograph. I hadn’t seen anything quite like it before (nor have I since), and I’m curious to know by whom, or where, it might have been made.

What don't we know?

-harlequin- — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 13:20:50 -0800

I would like to make a "scientific discovery", or otherwise contribute something (however useful, or not) to the body of human knowledge. What are some unanswered questions, or unexplained details of the world, or (most especially) developing fields of inquirey, that an amateur might seek to investigate with possibility of making progress into the unexplored? I feel like I do too much backyard science that has all been done before, or tech industry software stuff that, while cutting edge, and thus technically contributing to human knowledge, is a kind of technology-driven innovation that previosuly just lacked a means rather than being non-obvious.

It is pretty clear that there are plenty of unanswered questions if you know your field or know where to look, and plenty of examples of people answering them in ingenious ways that are not beyond the reach of the amateur.

I'm looking for something to investigate that interests me, but there will be things that I don't know about that interest me, hence I'm throwing the question right open. I'm hoping for suggestions in myriad areas, perhaps specific unknowns, a scattergun that will hopefully bring to light something I didn't previously know I was interested in.

Not counting standard consumer stuff like computers, cameras, regular tools, etc, I'd prefer fields that don't require specialised apparatus in excess of $1000 just to get started, but that $1000 is ebay/used/surplus prices, not retail ;)

(If necessary, I am willing to design/build my own instruments/equipment (and am probably more capable of doing so than many professional scientists, though I certainly have my limits), might there might be lower-hanging fruit in areas for which there isn't off-the-shelf equipment?

I've been to Science projects. The Society for Amateur Scientists didn't seem to have much to address this aspect. Any other links? I guess what I'm looking for is some vague way to improve my mental map of the edges of knowledge - so that I can better recognize the unknown when I see it. Or know where it is and go straight to it.

I'm not looking to make some epic discovery. Just work out or confirm some obscure thing that previously wasn't known :)

help find the name of this Japanese beauty

unrequited — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 22:36:49 -0800

I'm looking for who this model is... although these pics are PG-13 (a couple upskirts), they're still probably NSFW. They're not "porn" so I guess it's okay. I've tried a bunch of friends, and well, people I know who would be into this sort of stuff, but I'm still stumped. Here's a collection of the pictures I have along with their original filename as given to me.

UnknownPort Filter: (Dell Advanced Port Replicator)

hatsix — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 15:57:24 -0800

What is this port? It's on my Dell Advanced Port Replicator. I can't find any mention of it... http://flickr.com/photos/hatsix/92816980/ (p.s. the bottom one is of course a USB port... I'm looking for the upper one)

mysterious happenings?

foraneagle2 — Wed, 11 Jan 2006 21:04:43 -0800

What are some facts, rumors, and speculation about secretive/mysterious organizations or events? I'm not necessarily asking for conspiracy theories. I am curious about things like: what super-rich people may do with their wealth; what technologies have achieved that the general public does not yet realize or understand; corporate/government activities which are purposefully concealed, etc. Information about the past would be great, too.

Thanks!

Can you identify these old lyrics or doggerel verses?

misteraitch — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 01:38:57 -0800

My late grandfather (1916-2000) wrote a couple dozen pages of memoirs which he preceded with some untitled & unattributed verses which I suppose are either song lyrics or lines from a doggerel poem. No-one in the family recognizes them, and the subsequent pages cast no light on them. I'm curious to know their origin, but have had no success in finding them on-line. Here are the lines in question:

Still upon my recent marriage
I am thinking mother dear,
But the fatal step I’ve taken,
Cannot now be helped, ’tis clear.
She was such a duck I told her,
That to eat her, I’d be glad, and
Now, between ourselves dear Mother,
Don’t I only wish I had.

Who calls me at the same time everyday?

JPigford — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 10:23:16 -0800

Who keeps calling me at the same time everyday? Each business day between 11AM and 1PM I get a call from an "Unknown Caller". I pick up and say "Hello" and hear nothing. No pre-recorded message, no telemarketer...just empty nothingness. What is this and how can I stop it?

Question number 10584

crunchland — Thu, 30 Sep 2004 09:32:35 -0800

I'm trying to identify a song, and the person or persons who produced it. Its chorus is "Have you forgotten (oh, oh, oh) where you've come from? (oh, oh, oh)." Ever heard of it? . . . more . . .