Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with big

Lather over Lotion?

CollectiveMind — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:07:00 -0800

Why does Palmer's Olive Butter Formula Lotion vary so wildly in price? In looking for a hand lotion, I noticed that their new offering began showing up in Big Lots for $2.00 for a .60 oz tube, $2.50 for a 8.5 oz bottle and $3.00 for a 17 oz pump. Besides that not making any sense, it was on the shelves throughout last winter and spring at these prices, only to disappear for about a month with only the bottle returning at twice the price (which, BTW is the same price it was selling in the grocery stories). Then it disappeared for another month and now, all three are back at last year's prices. Understandably, it is flying off the shelves, again. But (1) Why the disparity in price vs. quantity, and (2) Why even in the discount stores, was the price raised and then reduced again? I'm wondering what kind of market or corporate forces might be at work?

glasses for big nose

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:58:48 -0800

Where can I buy glasses that complement a large nose? Preferably something similar in style to this. Los Angeles area or online.

Big Ten Network football on streaming video?

ragtimepiano — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:34:08 -0800

Can I get Big Ten Network football games on streaming video online? Does anyone know if this is possible, and if so, how to do it?

"Let them eat bagels."

whimsicalnymph — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:08:15 -0800

Where can I find the best bagel in NYC? At the risk of starting a riot, I'd like to hear MeFites' opinions on where the best bagel can be found in NYC.

I have lived in New York over a year, and I have yet to eat a bagel (I think Super Size Me made me not want to eat them for a while).

I have a friend coming into town in October, and as part of her visit, I'd like to take her to a great NYC place, with the best bagels on Earth. No small feat, but I imagine if anyone knows where such bagels can be found, the people of AskMe will know.

I want the biggest and smallest. The rest can suck it.

rileyray3000 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:37:42 -0800

Where can I find a list of the smallest things (and for that matter) the biggest things in America? I've got some time off coming I have to take and I'm thinking of taking a trip with my new camera to photograph some of these things. I'm thinking of stuff like the smallest bar in America. The biggest hamburger. The breeder of the smallest dogs. The biggest shoes. Stuff like that.

The only thing that would be ideal (but not entirely necessary) is that there's some sort of designation of some kind. Like a sign that says "Smallest town in Texas" or "Biggest shoe in Tulsa."

If someone has one of these lists somewhere please help me find it. If not, feel free to list anything you personally know about.

Identify this tune from "Still Fly"

Bizurke — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:56:07 -0800

Is the hook from "Still Fly" by Big Tymers taken from another song? Youtube link here. The tune they use for the chorus sounds really familiar but I can't think of what it is.

Gigantor Needs Commuter Bike

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:13:58 -0800

I'm huge. I want to get a commuter bike. What's a good one? I'm 5'11", 350 pounds on a large frame. I want to get a commuter bike for about a 1.5 mile each way commute over flat terrain, preferably one with minimal gears. What's a good bike? I like the look of Electra cruisers.

Leaving google?

dougiedd — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:54:33 -0800

HELP ME get off of google I am addicted to google services: from gmail to igoogle, from google bookmarks to google reader to documents i am increasingly of the opinion that big brother is upon us and he has googly eyes i like the ease of use, and I am not terribly sophisticated at computer use, but can someone suggest step by step ways to rid myself of google?

Big Family Trip

Flood — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:42:56 -0800

Where should the big extended family vacation be? My parents are approaching their 50th wedding anniversary next year. I have 5 brothers and sisters. Everyone is married with kids. We would all like to get together for a big family vacation next summer to celebrate.

6 families total. 26 people total. Ages from 72 to 7. Somewhere with lots a variety in activity. Where each family can have a hotel room or a cabin. Where we can all come together easy, but also go off on our own here and there.

Most of the family is on the East Coast of the USA. Great Smokey Mountains or the Blue Ridge Mountains maybe. We have all been there - and would go further. The Rockies or Arizona. We have even talked a bit about Ireland.

I am open to hearing almost any idea. And I greatly appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

Trying to find a random photo

nitsuj — Sat, 23 May 2009 17:09:38 -0800

Longshot filter: Sometime in the mid-90s, Big Brother magazine ran a photo of a male skateboarder sitting on a bench or concrete wall, skateboard in hand, and a female next to him, kissing him on his cheek. Is this photo online? I think it was in black and white, if that helps! Either the male or female was blonde -- possibly both.

BLACK DOG

crazylegs — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:55:45 -0800

Who did the big band version of Black Dog and where can I find it? Once, years ago, I heard a Big Band version of Led Zeppelin's song 'Black Dog'. I've been trying to find it on You Tube with no luck. Who did this version?

Where can I find Biggie Smalls' secret tape?

herrdoktor — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:31:06 -0800

Biggie Smalls' demo tape info request: link to blog with mp3s from a secret, early demo tape where he's rapping over other artists' early tracks for the purposes of demonstrating flow, and whereby said artists would emulate his delivery? A while ago I came across a blog where someone came into possession of a suepr secret tape. On this tape were early demos of rappers, only Biggie was rapping in place of them. The tapes basically show that he either a) wrote all the music and words for people who would become stars in their own right, or b) that he rapped their parts for them, to show them how they should rap-- what their style should be, etc.

In one case, he was rapping over a demo track for a female rapper, rapping about... female things, and when this is compared to to actual release sans Smalls, said female rapper copied his delivery down to the phrasing.

Anyone? Help! 8D

How can my ex-girlfriend and I live together while avoiding jealousy and drama?

Anonymous — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:38:13 -0800

How can my ex-girlfriend and I live together while avoiding jealousy and drama? My girlfriend and I broke up, mutually and amicably, about three months ago. We live in the same apartment, although we have separate bedrooms. This is Manhattan and it's an amazing apartment and neither one of us is leaving it until summer at the earliest. We want to remain friends as best we can, and we both realize that while we loved each other very much, our personalities and lives are simply incompatible in the long-term. This is the background.

Now, both of us are going out and seeing other people. We have an agreement not to bring other people back here, although in theory I care less about that aspect than her. However, last night was the first night since we broke up that both of us stayed out all night; I got home about five minutes before she did this afternoon. It wasn't outwardly awkward.

But: I felt a twinge of jealousy. Hypocritical, yes. Ridiculous, yes. I truly want her to be happy, and I want her to find a nice man with whom she can have a good relationship. I really do. But there is an unpleasant, atavistic seed of jealously that hurts when I know she is out with someone else. I'm sure that sometimes she feels the same way.

I apologize for how needlessly prolix and boring this is, by the way. Because this is anonymous, I want to make sure all the facts are out there.

So two questions: one, how can I control/manage/kill that spark of jealousy? I don't want to treat her poorly or seem hurt or standoffish or childish when this sort of thing happens. Two, how can I be respectful of her feelings and not make her feel anything similar to what I felt? Have any of you been through this before? What should I know?

Thank you.

Where can I find nice larger-sized men's dress shirts?

pluma moos — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:40:36 -0800

I am looking to purchase (online) a dress shirt for a man with a 20-inch neck and 34-inch sleeves. I have googled but it's hard to tell what the quality is so I would appreciate specific suggestions. I am willing to spend from $75-150 depending on how much I like it. This is to go with a dark blue suit. As an example of what I'm looking for, I liked some of the patterned Perry Ellis shirts in the store (which were too small of course).

It's big and it's standing at attention

saysthis — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:11:31 -0800

Broken tibia & fibula, 3.5 months ago, clean snap. I got an intramedullary rod in the tibia, screws at the ankle and knee, and absolutely no recommendations for PT other than some exercises to do at home from the doctor. Everything else seems to have healed well enough, but - my big toe ain't movin', and it's stuck in permanent "up". Specifically, my big toe won't recline past a certain elevation, and I just can't move it up past a 90 degrees from my ankle. And when I move my foot downward, the toe sticks up. I can't push it down. Even when I'm resting, it's just sticking up, saluting the sky. I do have some movement in the toe, just...not much, so it's not like the muscle is dead or gone. The best way I can describe it is that it feels "shortened". Everything else seems to be healing well enough, but this is frustrating.

I've heard from some more athletically inclined friends that this is a common sports problem, but that it goes away after a day or two. I'm just wondering if any of you out there have had this experience, and how you deal with it. What stretches do you use? What is this a larger symptom of? Specifically what muscles are involved, and what are they doing? How did I end up with such localized atrophying? Did the surgeon slice something he shouldn't have?

Physical therapy, believe you me, I'm going to ask for as soon as I go for my next checkup in two weeks. In the meantime I'm doing the recommended stretches and exercises. But any more suggestions on how to tame my toe are appreciated.

If it looks and quacks like a CS Degree, then is it a genuine enough CS Degree???

JoeXIII007 — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:15:25 -0800

Does it really matter where you get the Computer Science degree from? I am currently going to Washtenaw Community College to (of course) save money while getting the all important education. Currently majoring in Math and Science with a concentration in Computer Science.

At the moment I have pretty much put my future plans on going to the University of Michigan just a little further westward (which, if you have not heard, is a pretty reputable University other than being part of the Big Ten, as far as I have known).

MUCH closer (I live just barely east of downtown Ypsilanti, MI) to home is Eastern Michigan University. Going there would undeniably save money on not only tuition and supplies but also gas using the car. For either university, I would be commuting to them.

Now I make the following realizations no matter what the decision:
- The CS biz changes practically daily, so I know I will have to constantly learn new stuff.
- As far as I know, computer scientists are in high demand (at least according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- The education I get at college lays a foundation more than anything (doing a pretty deep google search confirmed this) and anything in industry will have to be picked up along the way.
- Having noted that, I already know people without CS degrees already in the industry (particularly with .NET).

Therefore, it really comes down to the money, quality of college education and risk with sacrificing either, and thus why I ask MeFi: does it really matter where I get the CS degree from??? I have done a lot of research into this decision and I am more than anything looking for the final factor (which I cannot seem to grasp) that will set the decision in stone.

Trivia: Currently 19 years old, holding a 3.97 GPA (only shy of a 4 thanks to an A- for some reason), and have put myself through two semesters (Fall 07/Winter 08) of 18 credit hour loads (for a total of 36 in the college career).

Are there any Jive and/or Swing clubs in NYC?

wildrain2008 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:35:07 -0800

Are there any Jive and/or Swing clubs in NYC? I used to take ballroom jive and would love to get back into it and party and dance to this sort of Rockabilly and Swing revival.. Jitter Bug and so on...

Is there a website where I can download high quality, large images?

thebrokenmuse — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:20:12 -0800

Is there a website where I can download high quality, large images? Without watermarks? I am interested in printing some art for my walls but I am having trouble finding images with high enough quality to look good printed 11 by 14 inches. I am looking for mostly historical photographs, fashion drawings, old movie stills and pin-ups.

I didn't get a big monitor because I'm blind, I got it to see more stuff

genghis — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:59:21 -0800

Why does my new 1680x1050 monitor, on some sites (including this one), show me ridiculously-freakin'-huge fonts in my browser? There are more details, of course... I've plugged my new monitor (an Acer X223W, not that it matters) into the VGA socket on the back of a Dell Latitude D505 laptop. Much configuration and X-restarting was required, but I've got 855resolution running at boot, and everything finally fits at the right size and it looks plenty pretty.

Except, that is, for Firefox (3.0b4). When the external monitor is plugged in, the browser apparently takes it upon itself to decide that Metafilter's body copy is too small, and doubles its size. Opera (whose UI I loathe and do not wish to use, thanks) doesn't misbehave. Firefox is fine when the laptop is using its own screen.

What's Firefox playing at? And how do I turn it off?

Help me find some awesome hiking in central CA.

kdar — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 19:54:17 -0800

Where are some good day-hike areas along the CA central coast? My girlfriend and I are going to be hiking for a few days in a couple weeks in California. We'll be leaving from Santa Barbara, and originally the plan was to go to Monterey and hike around Big Sur, but doing research I'm wondering whether or not we should consider other areas. We're interested in areas between Santa Barbara (but not actually in Santa Barbara; Morro Bay has come up as a good possibility) and the Big Sur area. Also, we'd like to stay in a hotel/motel -- cheap is fine, but if the only accommodations are camping sites, that's unfortunately out.

So, what are people's favorite day-hike areas? Specific examples would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I like elevation changes.

Bonus: with the UC spring break coming up, will that affect things at all?

Big Business Unwilling to Change

billtron — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:07:12 -0800

On the way to Henry's Market to buy the avocados for guacamole, I was listening to a story on NPR about the automobile industry's unwillingness to adopt stricter mileage standards at a time when gas is $100 a barrell yadda yadda. There are plenty of examples of companies that are unwilling to adapt their business practices in changing times, like the recording industry's fiasco with peer2peer file sharing and drug companies' ip battles. I imagine three hundred years in the future we will all be driving our garbage-powered plastic flying cars (or working at home) looking back on the time when oil was this hypervalued commodity and people were willing to kill other people over it and we will think how sad a time that was. My question, then: Are there examples from the past of companies or whole industries that used to be in a situation similar to oil, big pharma, RIAA, etc. that are now less causing of worry among the general public than they used to be? My roommate suggested railroads, and that makes sense to me. Any other examples?

How do I make a really big book?

gfrobe — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 06:09:54 -0800

I want to take a children's book and make a really big copy of it. What's the best way? What I'd like to end up with is a book about 2 or 3 feet high and about 6 or 7 pages long. I haven't decided which book yet but am really just trying to figure out the best way to do this on the cheap.

I thought I'd get some big cardboard, take digital photos of book pages, blow them up really big and then split the images into, say, six A4 sized images so I can mount them on the cardboard. Is this the best way to do it and if so, what software can I use to blow the image up while retaining quality and how do I then split up the image?

Also wondering best way to bind the book and whether I can laminate pages this big so I can protect the finished goods. Thanks!

My head is the size of a melon, and it just snowed.

mecran01 — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:34:43 -0800

I have a huge head and need a winter hat. my head is 25 1/2 inches, or about 66cm. That's a wee bit bigger than a men's xxxl hat.

I'm trying to find a warm winter hat or balaclava that will stop the wind, is somewhat water resistant, and will fit. I will be bicycling, hiking, and cross country skiing in Utah with it. My ears protrude like Prince Charles so I have to have ear coverage.

Should I:

1. just get a stretch hat and wear good ear muffs

2. Make my own from Polartec fleece (I have family that can snow)

3. Find a good balaclava and trust that it will stretch to fit

Or something else? My budget is about $30.

Where can I buy ice skates for my big feet?

gaelenh — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:36:58 -0800

Where can I buy large size ice hockey skates? I want to own a pair of ice skates so that I don't have to try to squeeze my foot into whatever beaten up pair the rink has for rental (usually size 13, sometimes 14). I wear a size 15/16 shoe. I think this correlates to a size 14 ice hockey skate.

I haven't had luck finding any online or in store (NYC). Any suggestions?

Anything wrong with a Big Mac a day?

gttommy — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 08:32:28 -0800

Anything wrong with a Big Mac a day? As long as I avoid french fries or anything fried which would be full of trans fatty acids, I could eat at McDonald's everyday without any worries right?

Looking at the nutritional content of the burgers, the macro nutrients like protein, fat and carbs seem pretty ordinary, on the contrary it seems healthy to have in moderation (roughly once a day).