Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with burning

Burning Wax Smell after Driving Car

millerizer — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 09:24:22 -0800

I have a 1997 Honda Civic that is running like a top. But the last couple of times I drove, there is a smell like burning wax. The car is not overheating or anything like that. Does anyone have any ideas?

How to cure subcutaneous itch/burn in my back?

noelpratt2nd — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:34:28 -0800

How to cure subcutaneous itch/burn in my back? Yep, I've had it for years but it's worse and more frequent recently. Between the shoulder blades. Sometimes I seem to pin it down to posture or strain at computer, but often it seems to awaken with my emotional stress about relationship. Should I see a neurologist or a dermatologist? Or no one?

How do I get the burning rubber smell out of my jeans and t-shirts?

Tesseractive — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 11:09:36 -0800

How do I get the burnt rubber smell out of my laundry? Something went wrong with the dryer(s) in my apartment complex and now almost all my clothes (cotton and cotton/poly blend things) smell offensively like burning rubber. I re-washed and dryed them in the other dryer, but the smell is still there. (Not sure if both dryers have a common smell problem or the smell just didn't go away.)

I will be taking them to a laundromat at the very least. Is this something a dry cleaner can help with? I have never had anything professionally cleaned.

I am very fragrance sensitive, and I use fragrance-free detergent, if that matters.

It's like cake on a fork!

mon-ma-tron — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 13:52:26 -0800

Hivemind, please help me come up with weird sayings for the RPG I'm in. So, I'm playing Burning Wheel with a group of friends. The GM assigned my character the "folksy wisdom" trait.

Since my character is the only one in this game from her particular "cultural background," and since people from her culture are known (in our game's context) for being "mysterious" and "opaque," I've been scoring artha for spouting semi-nonsensical sayings during roleplay. I like ones that are (kind of) easy to understand in the game context, but that also make little (or no) sense when taken at face value.

Some I've used already:

It's like cake on a fork! Meaning: Hey, this is easy/good!

Why not just start a fire in your hat? You're wasting your time on something potentially dangerous.

You're like a dog with shoes! general exasperation

Frogs, then apples. just straight-up nonsense

Help me come up with others? Meanings totally optional. The only limitation I can think of is that this game is set in a medieval-type time frame, so references to more advanced technology would be odd. But possibly workable, if they're truly funny/baffling.

Bees of the webs, lend me your oars!

What is the best and easiest way to clean soot from inside of our wood burning brick fireplace?

Tziv — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 09:26:45 -0800

What is the best and easiest way to clean soot from inside of our wood burning brick fireplace? We've cleared the fireplace and we want to clean the soot from the walls.

What can I mail in a care package to friends that are going to Burning Man?

brinkzilla — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 10:27:16 -0800

I want to send a care package to my friends at Burning Man, what should I include? I found out that you can send mail to a specific camp at Burning Man without much issue. I plan on sending a package out tomorrow via USPS and they should receive it next week.

I would love to get some suggestions. I will include some homemade mead, some canned beets, and pickles. I was thinking a fresh pinapple would last the journey and I think fresh fruit might be nice at that stage in their dusty adventure. They have all the basics, but maybe I'm missing something fun and exciting so I'd love any suggestions!

One more thing, I am trying to avoid things that can't be burned, consumed or kept for future events. They do have a storage locker in Reno, so they can reuse it next year.

These are good friends and I really want to make them smile.

Burning stinging vulva, what to do

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 09:24:43 -0800

I have had a burning/stinging vulva on and off for over a year and it's driving me crazy. I've seen lots of different healthcare professionals and none of them have been able to identify it. I've finally got an appointment with a specialist (thank you NHS) in chronic women's health conditions in a couple of weeks and I want to be prepared when I see her, so has anybody suffered anything similar? Very long, sorry, but I want to give all the details in case anyone else recognises the symptoms. I've had a look through past questions and couldn't find anything similar. I've already read through this guide to vulval problems.

Early last year, I got a new boyfriend and, as I am unfortunately prone to, had a series of UTIs followed by a few bouts of thrush from the antibiotics taken to cure them. I also started taking the pill (Marvelon and then switched to Yasmin due to skin problems) around this time. Soon after, my vulva began to feel very inflamed and would sting, burn and occasionally itch at random times, sometimes more, sometimes less. I went to the doctor who tested me for STDs, thrush, etc. and didn't find anything. Finally I saw a nurse who suggested it could be the hormones from the pill that I was reacting to and when we checked the less common side effects of Yasmin online, 'non-specific vaginitis' (i.e. plain old inflammation) was listed as one.

So, I immediately stopped taking the pill and it went away entirely for several months until early this year, when the same symptoms mysteriously returned. I had broken up with that boyfriend in the meantime and am no longer seeing anyone with any regularity.

I went back to the doctor who suggested it could be eczema or another skin condition, as I do have eczema on my legs, and suggested using only Diprobase (an emollient cream) to wash with and applying 1% steroid cream a couple of times a day. That was a couple of months ago. The moisturiser has helped a bit but the steroid doesn't seem to make any difference and can make it feel worse if I apply it regularly. I'm also worried that using steroid creams over the long term will thin the skin. If I'm having a bad day it does seem to help calm it down though.

Possibly pertinent details:

- Random stinging and burning just around the vulva and entrance to the vagina, but not inside.
- Worse after drinking alcohol and sweating.
- Some pain during sex a few minutes in, but it feels more like chafing as it's already inflamed rather than any vaginismus/muscle spasm issue.
- Not painful to the touch at all, which would seem to rule out vulval vestibulitis and related conditions
-Slightly worse just prior to and after my period
- Tampons and sanitary towels are very irritating
- Not taking any other medication
- Recent pap smear - all fine
- No STDs or yeast (thrush)
- Not having sex with any regularity at the moment
- Not on any contraception
- Very careful to only use diprobase to wash with and sensitive detergent to wash my clothes

Has anyone experienced anything similar and did it ever go away? The second bout has lasted for 6 months now and it's really making me miserable.

Thank you.

Is This Smell Normal?

amicamentis — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:51:53 -0800

New sewing machine smells weird during use. Common? Should I be nervous? I just bought this sewing machine (a Brother XL2600I Sew Advance) and set it up yesterday. It took a while to figure how to work the ins and outs but I think I have everything set up properly.

However, I noticed while doing test runs on sample fabric that there is a strong, weird smell coming from the machine when I use it. It's like an electric smell rather than a burning smell, like the motor is working too hard or something. Is this common? Do most sewing machines smell like this?

The odor, as best I can describe it, is like when you leave the parking brake on in the car - that frictiony odd scent. It does not smell like anything is on fire.

What is the best way to troubleshoot the problem? Is there a problem? I am very new to sewing and don't know when something looks or feels "off".

Thanks!

What to do with 30-50 trees' worth of large branches?

amtho — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:22:06 -0800

What to do with 30-50 trees' worth of large branches in Orange County, NC? Burn, shred, give away for bird thicket, other ideas? My friend (who is smart enough to already have considered obvious solutions) just had some of her front yard cleared so she could have a garden. Apparently this has resulted in a huge branchy mess. She's invited me over to help her burn all these branches tomorrow (the tree trunks have already been sold and removed).

Having the tree guys back would involve having the backhoe back -- she doesn't want that, because it would tear up the ground/soil more than it already is.

I considered hiring a shredder, but I'm not sure whether, environmentally, that would be better or worse than her idea of just burning everything.

I believe it would be safe to burn the branches - there's a lot of clearing now, it should be fairly wet tomorrow, and she generally knows what she's doing.

Any ideas? I'm not sure how large these trees were -- I'm guessing there was a range. The last time I saw her house, she was definitely living in the woods, a mix of pine and harder woods.

For locals: She lives about halfway between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough, a bit to the west. She's already called TROSA but they won't come to her location.

Am I burning the bridge between two jobs?

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:32:13 -0800

A few months ago, I accepted a new job at a different company in town. I left my old job on good terms, and my boss said that if my new job doesn't work out, I can come back. It turns out she was serious and has recently offered me a new position. Should I take it? Details inside. Jobs 1 and 2 are at two of three major companies in my industry, in my city. Turns out that Job 2 was not a good fit for me (not good at all), but there is potential to move around within the company to some different areas. The position that has been offered to me at Job 1 is better than what I had previously, and is also better than what I could hope for at Job 2 for several years, so I'm inclined to take it. The catch is that the company that supplies Job 1 is much less stable of a company.

If I left Job 2 after less than three months, and then needed employment at that company again in the future, would there be any hope for that? I'm wondering if there is some internal policy that would actually prevent it, but obviously, I'm not inclined to ask them. Any thoughts?

Troubleshooting DVD burning problems on my Macs.

Tchad — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:05:58 -0800

Help me burn these family movie DVDs on my Mac, please! I have a DVD of some family movies that I would like to burn some copies of. Problem is: It doesn't work.

I have put the disk into three different Macs I have and they spit it out. I have tried it in all three and they respond much like when you try to give cough syrup to a toddler.

Is there any way I can access the files or pull the files off?

I have tried to play it on my brand new iMac, my old G4 PPC Powerbook, and my ancient circa 2002 iMac.
None of them register it at all.
They recognize other media without a problem.

It is a Maxwell DVD+R. This should work. I have both played and burned DVDs on both the new iMac and the Powerbook before - is there a reason it isn't working this time? Everything else is fine.

I thought that I could pull the files onto a jump drive and then burn it one at a time.

It plays in some DVD players.

It is only video, there is no audio.

I would really like to have this done by Christmas, if I can.

Thanks!

Best free DVD burning program for PC video files?

Stryke11 — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:27:25 -0800

Best free (or fair cost - some commercial programs are ridiculously over the $100 range) DVD burning program that takes PC video files (mp4, avi, mpg, flv, etc...) and burns them to DVD for watching on TV. Hello! My latest hobby is taking video game Let's Play videos (where people record themselves playing a game and add color commentary on YouTube) and burning them to a DVD so I can watch them on my nice 42" TV rather than my tiny computer monitor.

Here is an example of a Let's Play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql0RnMXbKso

I am currently using DVD Flick which is ALMOST perfect but while it claims to make chapter points at every new video (and I have read the tutorial and know I'm doing the right things) when I am watching the dvd on my PS3 and push the "forward chapter" button on my remote the tv says something like "this action isn't available right now". So while there very well may be chapter points, I can't move around them, so what's the point? The DVD Flick website forum isn't operational, and the author doesn't put an email address anywhere I can find it.

So I've decided to jump ship for another program. It should have the basic functionality of DVD Flick (burns nearly every video type to a watchable DVD) plus the ability the have each video you add to a project have it's own chapter point that you can move to using the remote forward and back keys. I've been making a lot of these and my DVD's are usually almost two hours so the ability to navigate the chapters is a big deal for me.

Thanks!

Why won't my PC burn disks?

stupidsexyFlanders — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 14:22:50 -0800

My PC (lenovo something, bought this year) has a problem reading CDs. I'll put in a disc to burn something and the burning program (iTunes or CDBurnerXP) will say it doesn't recognize the disk or it's not writeable or it's not blank. They're all blank. I try multiple ones from the batch. They're not sketchy disks, they're Sony Supremas 700 CDs. I've tried other brands, same result. Is this a hardware problem and how do troubleshoot/fix it?

Help me burn a DVD

bigbluehouse — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:19:15 -0800

I downloaded this torrent. When I burned it to a dvd with Toast on a mac, the picture was fine, but I had no audio at all (which is sort of the whole point). Neither the Apple DVD player application nor my DVD player (a Philips DVP 5990) can play the audio. But when I play the burned disc with VLC, it works fine.

What's going on? How do I burn a working disc with the surround sound channels intact?

Help a novice cook

lewedswiver — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 14:48:12 -0800

Why do I keep burning my chicken breasts? I don't know how to cook. Not remotely. But I want to try to start -- and start at the very beginning.

So I'm trying to sautee boneless/skinless chicken breasts in a bit of butter and olive oil. It seems easy and tasty, and because it should take just a few minutes on each side to cook through, also fast. (This last is a big plus.)

But even though the chicken breast clearly needs multiple minutes to cook through, after just thirty seconds or so, the chicken is turning black and charred! I salvage it by cutting the breast in half and putting the raw middle face-down -- but why is the chicken breast burning so quickly? (It doesn't seem to do so in others' YouTube videos!)

----

By the way -- any other quick, simple, easy, big-portioned, and meat-y cooking suggestions would be very much appreciated. (I can't afford to eat at Subway twice a day. Nor should I!)

Serranos: is this an allergy?

randomname25 — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:16:36 -0800

Serrano peppers and (heat?) rash: sign of an allergy? Also, how do I stop the burning? About an hour ago I was cutting up some serranos to put in soup. I accidentally touched my mouth, and then for a while my lips and face burned pretty badly, but time and sloppily drinking whole milk over the sink helped a lot.

Now though there are two red splotches to either side of my nose, and a big red mark on one side of my neck. They are not raised (like I've read hives are), but they all burn quite a bit. I put hydrocortisone on my neck which briefly soothed it but now seems to have made it worse.

Questions:

1. Is this a sign of an allergy? I've cut serranos up several times without anything like this happening, and I've never had any issues eating them. I don't have any other food allergies. I'm thinking maybe my body's just overreacting to a regular capsaicin burn.

2. If it is an allergy, is it more likely an allergy to the capsaicin or to the serranos? In other words, will I have to avoid jalapeños and other peppers too?

3. Should I avoid the soup these are going into? I was really looking forward to it but I suppose avoiding a trip to the ER is more important.

4. How do I get the burning to STOP?

Stupid burning stupid hand

A Terrible Llama — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:47:25 -0800

Can you help me stop stupid burning my stupid hand? I have an All Clad frying pan which I love for its ability to go from the stovetop to the oven. However, because I'm a lot dumber than I want to think, I keep burning my hand on the handle when I take it out of the oven and put it back on top of the range to make a pan sauce.

Every. single. time.

So for example, I brown some chicken pieces on top of the stove, pop them in the oven to braise for thirty minutes (remind myself not to burn my hand), pull it out of the oven (remind myself not to burn my hand), set the chicken aside on a plate(remind myself not to burn my hand), proceed to make a pan sauce (remind myself not to burn my hand), add a few tablespoons of butter to the pan to finish the sauce, then grasp the 425 degree handle as tightly as possible. Then I wrench my hand away in horror and stick it under the tap to let the cold water flow over it for a good five minutes.

My first instinct was a potholder or tea towel around the handle but that's a fire hazard. The ergonomics of the set up are based on me being right handed and needing poor old lefty to do the work of holding the pan steady while I pour in wine or whatever. What can I do to that handle or to my environment so that when the pan comes out of the oven it will still allow me to grasp it tightly but will visually or otherwise remind me not to be so stupid?

It's the pits. Help me.

Sudden Problem Burning with Nero 7

absolutshrk — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:37:04 -0800

What would cause Nero to start erroring out every time I try to burn a data DVD?? I'm no newbie to burning Dvd's, I've done it for many years, data, movies, etc. However, lately I've been having no luck at all with movies or data - I'll stick with my data issue at the moment because its more pressing.

I have Win 7 (ultimate) with Nero 7 Ultra Edition, I've made no changes to my setup, and up until the other day, I had no problem.
Now whenever I try to burn a DVD or DVD-DL with just data files (I've tried both ISO and UDF format), the disc errors out on me.
Sometimes I get the error right away "Could not perform start of Disc-at-once", other times I get it at the very end "Could not perform end of Disc-at-once".
Link to the error

Either way, I end up with an unreadable disc. I'm using the same high quality media I always use top of the line TDK and Sony discs. And yes, I checked my DVD has no firmware update, but it shouldn't matter anyway, since up until a few days ago I was burning just fine.

Any help is greatly appreciated... p.s. The issue with movies (the last time I tried, before this data issue) was that I could burn them just fine, they would work perfect on any computer, but they always would freeze and cut out when played on any dvd player, sometimes at the beginning, sometimes not until the last 5 minutes, but I could never get one that would just work properly on a regular dvd. I'm stumped on that one too.

Thanks Guys!

my toes are burning. what gives?

krautland — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 07:27:21 -0800

my toes are burning. what gives? two of my toes regularly start giving me a burning sensation after about six or seven hours working at my desk. I mostly wear sneakers and socks. this feels like the skin is hot and uncomfortable. it does not feel like there is something going on deeper inside.

I noticed I rarely have this feeling when wearing my (larger) running shoes. so at this point I'm not sure if I'm just wearing a pair of sneakers that just isn't large enough when this occurs or if this might be something worth talking to a doc to.

any thoughts? does this remind you of any infection/ailment I should investigate further?

How to recover data from a DVD+R?

CancerMan — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:31:17 -0800

I have a couple of old sporting events burned to a DVD+R. My DVD players and computers no longer recognize any data on them. Is there a way I can view what I recorded, or recover the data? Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I recorded a bunch of college sports events on VHS. Later, I copied those events to DVD+Rs using a Sony DVD/VHS converter. I don't know why I used DVD+Rs, but that's what I had at the time.

Recently I tried to watch one of the discs again and my new Blu-Ray player indicated there was "no disc." My iMac reads it as empty. A physical look shows that there was something burned onto it (dark area, not as shiny as the rest of the disc), and I have watched the event at one point or another. Unfortunately, I can't recall if I used the same machine that recorded it or not.

Half of the discs play as normal and I can watch them both in my Blu-Ray player and on my iMac. The other half of the collection apparently contain nothing. Is there any way to recover the data on those discs?

You're in my urine?

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 07:55:17 -0800

What's that funny stuff floating in my pee, and is it related to this other issue? TMI inside. So, I have a history of vuvlar irritation with no diagnosis as far as STI/UTIs are concerned. No funny vaginal discharge or weird smells. The irritation is sort of a burny pain near my urethra and up to my clitoris, and I also have some sensitivity near my g-spot, where it just feels slightly weird. Not bad or good, just weird. The pain and discomfort is pretty random. I'm not experiencing it now, nor do I experience it for most of the time. It's not caused by sex, and it doesn't hurt to pee.

Now, the stuff floating in my pee is colorless. It looks kind of swirly and very slightly opaque, if that makes sense. It's definitely very small whatever it is. It's there almost all the time, but I can't see it when my pee is very clear (i.e. when I'm hydrated), so I can't tell if it's *actually* there.

Any ideas? These have both been happening for a while. I've been tested negative for all manner of things for the irritation (UTI/STI/candida), but I've never brought up the pee thing. Obviously next time I will, but I wanted some opinions first. I have noticed the floaty things when I'm experiencing irritation, but also when I'm not. Could these be related? Is whatever is floating in my pee causing me problems at a higher concentration? What is that stuff in my pee? So far I've chalked up my irritation to either a sensitivity to dyes/perfumes/whatever in my hygiene products/detergent or to undiagnosed IC. I'm clueless otherwise. Thanks!

Avi to DVD -- with no DVD burner?

booksandlibretti — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:39:53 -0800

I need to get a few small .avi files burned onto a DVD that will play in a standard DVD player. Complication: I don't have a DVD burner. Are there any shops in Manhattan that will do it for me while I wait? Around 2 pm today (Friday), I'll get a few .avi files online. I can save them to my flash drive if that's helpful. By 8 pm, I need to go from .avi to DVD, and from midtown Manhattan to Alphabet City.

It would be really easy if I had a DVD burner, but I don't, and since this is a one-time thing, it doesn't make sense to buy one. Is there any type of shop in Manhattan that will accept my .avis (by e-mail or on my flash drive) and convert them into a DVD to watch on a standalone player?

Again, there's a tight timeline, so I can't drop anything off overnight -- I would need a turnaround of a few hours max. It's also really important that we can watch the video on a TV+player setup without a computer. And of course, I would really, really appreciate a reasonable price.

Any other creative solutions? Is it possible to rent an external DVD burner? I'd love any workable suggestions. Thanks!

Friends, MeFite, iFilm experts, lend me your ears.

timsteil — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 18:32:04 -0800

Any iFilm experts that can help me with this? Basically...how do you add data to a movie dvd so it 1. Plays in a DVD player and 2. Has the data accessible on a computer....data consists of gps - gpx files, pdf, and .mov files. I again bow to the hive mind with great thanks, and a six pack of warm Blatz.

How do I extract movies from a homemade DVD?

sidereal — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:09:48 -0800

My Dad burned me a DVD of home movies. Is there an easy, free way to extract clips in a common format? My Dad burned me a DVD on his Mac, and I want to extract and share clips from it. Is there an easy way to do this? Like, pull clips off in AVI or MOV format, with sound?

I'm assuming that there is no copy protection on it, but that's just an assumption. I am completely ignorant about DVD ripping. The root file system of the DVD looks like every other DVD I've ever bothered to nose around in:

AUDIO_TS
collateral
VIDEO_TS

and all kinds of BUP and IFO and VOB files in there. Also, Vista identifies the File System of the DVD as "UDF" if that's helpful.

Here's the menu I get when I pop it into my Windows Vista Home laptop. This may be informative with regards to its structure - I don't know. I don't have a Mac available, FWIW.

So I'm wondering if there's an easy way to pull stuff off of this DVD (using MS Vista Home OS) and share. I'm worried that the answer will be, "If you could do that easily, then you could pirate every DVD you rent from NetFlix, so, NO, you can't." Any clues welcome. Thank you.

How can I burn these .Mod files?

windbox — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:45:51 -0800

I have some.MOD video files (each one about 2 hrs long) that need to be burned on to a disc, stat. Windows Media players burner says it will not fit, even though the file is only 3.7 gigs and the disc can hold 4.7 gigs. When I put a DVD-R in the drive and try to drag the .MOD files into the file, it won't allow it. How can I get these videos on a DVD-R ASAP? I know nothing of computers. Thank you so much. Also, is there a way to fit all 4 of these 2-hour long videos on one disc?