Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bastards

If they're hobos, shouldn't they be outside?

ga$money — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:38:17 -0800

I think there are hobo spiders in my house. How freaked out should I be? Time to call the exterminator? We moved into a spiffy new house, the only down side so far being the large, brown, long-legged spiders that have come to join us in the basement TV nook three times in the past two weeks. I'm not normally squeamish and am happy to trap them and throw them outside. But these little bastards are brazen, seemingly unconcerned at our presence, even when I started making moves to trap it. One dropped directly onto Mrs. Ga$Money, also not a squeamish person, which made her move astonishingly fast. They seem to be coming across from the walled off, unfinished portion of our basement. A little google-fu suggests they're probably hobo spiders based on appearance. Sorry I don't have a photo, but I was too busy crushing the last little bastard with a plastic water bottle after it crawled across my Rock Band guitar strap. Anyway, long story short, how worried should I be? The websites I could find are inconclusive, but I'm mainly worried about a nasty bite or my adventurous Bengal cat getting ahold of one.

Replacement for American Crew Classic Wax

sbutler — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:53:53 -0800

ARGG! American Crew has discontinued my favorite hair prod, their Classic Wax. Help me find a substitute. First, I have short, brown (little dry) hair. If I don't put something in it then it just sticks every which way. So I like to flatten it a bit forward.

Things I liked about Classic Wax:

- A little bit of it would go along way. Just getting a dab on a couple fingers was enough to do my whole head. Usually took me a couple months to go through a jar (or whatever you call the container).

- It didn't look to greasy/wet, IMHO. I used to use their Firm Hold styling gel, but was never really happy with it.

- My hair was just firm enough to hold it in place, but not firm enough to give me helmet head.

- Okay, I liked the smell too!

Not tied to American Crew products, so give me other suggestions if you know something that works as well. I'm a little pissed at them right now, actually.

How do those scummy cheats do it?

jacalata — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 18:50:12 -0800

Inspired by this question, I would like to know what people actually do to cheat in university (or school, or academic settings generally). I'm looking for something less generic than 'ask a smart friend' or 'pay a smart nerd'. Surely there are some ingenious methods out there for increasing your grades? (disclaimer: I've never used any, and I don't need to. People who cheat to get through end up being the dumbass in my group project making me do all the work because they still can't write).

My girlfriend's ex-landlord is a complete asshat

antifuse — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 01:36:23 -0800

Is my girlfriend's ex-landlord trying to screw her? My girlfriend has a bit of a situation that we need some help with. She came to Canada in December 2003, on a one year student work visa. Upon moving into her apartment in (mid) January 2004, she informed the building manager that she could not sign a 1 year lease, as she would be leaving at the end of December for sure (her visa was up, and she HAD to return to Ireland). The building manager said no problem, and ammended the lease appropriately (to 31 December, 2004). She asked the manager if she would need anything else signed to make her intentions of leaving clear. The building manager said no.

In June 2004 (or thereabouts) a new building manager was assigned to the building. My girlfriend spoke to this building manager, informing her of the agreement she had made with the previous building manager. The new building manager said that it was no problem, etc etc etc. Come end of November, my girlfriend went down to talk to the building manager again to verify that everything was still kosher, and the BM then informed her at that point that she MUST give 60 days written notice, and would not be able to leave prior to Jan 31, 2005. She immediately gave written notice to the BM that she was intending to leave Dec 31 (she no longer has a copy of this notice). The BM said this was fine, and before the end of December proceeded to check the apartment for damage (as per the security deposit), and show the apartment to new prospective tenants.

Thus, my girlriend assumed everything was fine. However, in October 2005 (or thereabouts), my girlfriend received a letter (in Ireland) from the property management company that manages this building, which was a bill for well over a month's rent, with a threat to report it as a bad debt to Equifax if it was not paid. What steps should she take in this situation? If it was simply a matter of never returning to Canada, she wouldn't worry about it, but we are planning on coming back to Canada and do not want her to be saddled with $2000+ worth of bad debt sitting on her credit report.

She doesn't want to pay it as a matter of principle, but I've warned her that she very well might have to. Is she responsible for anything more than January's rent + interest? I've checked in the Tenant Protection Act, and can't seem to find anything about this. It seems as though the charges added on by the management company are pretty much equal to extortion.

Note: she also had a roommate (named on the lease) who is also back here in Ireland, but she is no longer in contact with this person (they had a falling out). Is she really only responsible for HALF of the outstanding balance? Or will the landlord try to put this bad debt onto BOTH of their credit ratings?

Black pit of despair

lunkfish — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 02:37:11 -0800

Is it alright to leave a dental cavity unfilled? I recently went to a dentist for the first time in years, and found I had some cavities. He's filled most of them, but there is one obvious one left. He said 'we'll just keep an eye' on my teeth now, and to rub sensodyne into the spots where I get twinges.

He's a good dentist, but being UK national health I'm suspicious that he may have his own reasons for not doing the work now. To my mind, it would be best to fill it so it can't get worse. It's not huge, but it is a little black hole.

What do you think? I could try and make them do it, or get it done privately. On the other hand, I am brushing really well now, and if it's okay to leave it a lot of hassle would be saved.