Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with changes

changes in turkmenistan?

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:01:01 -0800

How has Turkmenistan changed since the death of former-president Saparmurat Niyazov/Turkmenbashi? In undergrad, I briefly studied Turkmenistan and how the president created very strange and restrictive laws, erected giant gold statues of himself everywhere, made his memoir required reading for schoolchildren, etc, etc. Now, stumbling on a Turkmenistan-related news article has once more piqued my curiosity.

What has changed? Are the human rights issues any better? Are there any books or articles dealing with this topic (preferably in English but Russian is okay, too)?

Thanks, MeFi!

What can I do to feel more positive and confident while riding out uncertaintiy in "transitional" phases of my life?

Chrysalis — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:30:31 -0800

What can I do to feel more positive and confident while riding out uncertaintiy in "transitional" phases of my life? I'm in my mid 20s, and after a pretty traumatic breakup, have just moved back to my home town. I haven't lived here for 3 years, and while it's great to be back amongst my old friends and have a chance for a fresh start, it's also quite unsettling that I haven't got a long-established routine or a clear future plan now. I'm trying to use this as a time to reconsider what I want for my life (now that my plans with my partner won't be happening) and get in touch with who I really am etc... but I can't help feeling uneasy about the fact that nothing's really happening right now... I'm about to start studying, I've applied for a job, I'm keeping busy with training for my sport, but right at this moment there's nothing major that I'm passionately working on and towards, that I can pin all my hopes on (I realise this is unhealthy and almost definitely the cause of a lot of my unhappiness).

I've felt similarly before, and always just either stayed in an unhappy situation to avoid this happening and tried to "make it work", or jumped into a poor but distracting situation to avoid having to go through this. These situations have been both geographical, career or relationship situations, but my response so far has always been the same.

This time I want to stick it out and not just run away from it. I feel like this is my chance to become more authentically "me" and comfortable with that, and make better choices from that position, and hopefully end up being comfortable and reasonably happy day to day without it being pinned on some future awesomeness, but I keep being tempted to either run away (distract myself with things I don't really want or literally move overseas again) or hide in my room forever cos it's just too hard.

What can I do to face this time in a positive, constructive manner?

I'm Moving Out

Bageena — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:41:22 -0800

Sort of like a question I asked before, but not quite as whimsical. I've reached the end of the lease with the apartment my wife and I live in. It's up as of February 1st and that's perfect, because we'd like to be out by then. The problem is that they're asking for a 60 day written notice and we just gave them notice today. In the last 7 days, Mrs. Bageena's father died and while we were out of town for the funeral, someone broke into our apartment and robbed us. Please forgive me if this question isn't quite as clearly written as it should be. I've had an emotional week. Ok, so, here we go.
My wife and I have lived in an apartment in Mesa, AZ for the last 12 months. When we moved in, we signed a year long lease with no deposit down. They put in the lease that we would need to give them a 60 day written notice. We found that out around the beginning of this month when I called in to inform them that we were planning on moving out at the end of the month. We thought, well, you know, that sucks but we'll just have to stick it out if that's what the lease said.
Then, a week ago, this happened. Gilbert is my wife Tara's father. He passed away Saturday the 10th driving from a round of golf in Globe to his home in Snowflake. Tara and I were notified shortly after it happened and we immediately drove to Snowflake to be with the family. The funeral was on Friday, and we drove home on Saturday.
On top of that, we recieved a call after the funeral (on Saturday when we were driving home, actually) from our apartments letting us know that someone had kicked in the door of our apartment and robbed us. They stole my wife's laptop, my Xbox 360 elite, about 20 games, and went through our financial stuff. All in all, I think the loss comes to about $2000 worth of stuff. The police officer explained to us that this was actually the 4th break-in within the last 7 days at our apartment building.
So there you have it. We wanted out of the apartment at the end of the month from the very beginning, but when we found out Gilbert had died, it seemed even more important that we free ourselves up a little in case we need to help with Gilbert's finances. Then, with the break-in, we very simply put no longer feel safe in our apartment. They barely fixed the lock on our door and haven't even made it a point of importance to come back around and fix the door frame, which shattered when it was kicked in. My wife can't deal with any of this stuff right now, and the person we usually turned to for advice with this sort of thing was her father. So Mefites, can you help me?

Thanks.

Photoshop CS3 vs CS4 feature issue

pmbuko — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 08:45:26 -0800

In Photoshop CS4, is there a way to get the quick document size preview feature linked to the document info section at the bottom of an image window like it was in CS3 and earlier? With Photoshop CS3 and CS2, if you click on the document info area at the bottom of a document window, you get a quick preview of the image's size and placement relationship to the chosen page size. In CS4, this is no longer the case. Clicking in that area now displays a drop-down menu.

Can I make this section act like it used to?

(I'm asking on behalf of a CS4 user who recently upgraded. I still have CS3.)

Expat/citizenship Filter

Grrlscout — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:02:06 -0800

Expat/citizenship Filter: Before I became eligible to apply for citizenship in the country I live in, I was all for it. Now that it's six months past my first date of eligibility, I'm not so sure. Anyone else been through this process? Any advice? Any advice or stories from you wonderful Mefites to help a girl make up her mind? I have permanent residency, so it isn't a question of needing to apply to be able to stay. In short, I can't see many practical reasons to apply. The only thing I can't do here is vote, but I can contact my MP if an issue fires me up. If I need to work outside the UK, the company sending me files any necessary visa paperwork for me.

If I were to apply, it would be for personal reasons only, at this point... or because the idea of not having a vote really started to bother me. It was my principal reason for considering an application in the first place, but now I'm not even sure who'd get my vote if I had one. Barring this past presidential election, I already have citizenship in a country where I often hold my nose and vote.

I'm not used to this kind of doldrums, so I fully admit that there might be something going on in the back of my head about commitment to the country I'm in now or conflicted feelings about my home country. The recent changes to immigration law in the UK won't affect my application (aside from the possible new volunteer hours provision). They have left a bad taste in my mouth, though, and brought up all sorts of thoughts about my own foreignness and the shaky sort of acceptance I've been able to win. Just what does that all mean? In other words, a lot of money and hassle and a new passport later, just what will citizenship change?

I'm getting a little tired of questions from friends and family on both sides of the Atlantic asking me about this application. The Americans seem to be divided convinced that I'd be nuts to not grab the chance to get an EU passport and dual citizenship. The Brits seem to be equally divided between people who see it as my final commitment to living here and people who don't understand why I'd want to cement ties to this country.

So, what says the hive mind?

Reload reload reload reload.

wastelands — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:04:55 -0800

Why on some web hosts do uploaded file changes not appear immediately? On some web hosts I've used in the past, like my university's, I can upload a changed file by FTP but not see the changes through a browser for several minutes. Clearing cache, reloading the page, even uploading a *completely* different file with the same name fails. I have to wait several minutes until the server finally believes it's a new file. I assume it is some setting on the server to conserve resources?

Freed up a little bit. Now what?

zeek321 — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 19:35:34 -0800

Nagging, restless feeling that I could/should make large changes in my life. I read through posts tagged life+change. I've been meditating for a few months now using "The Practice of Lojong" by Traleg Kyabgon. As I hoped, I'm clinging a bit less to all the little rituals I "had" to do to keep myself safe, healthy, sane, etc, etc, whatever. This has given me a bit more time during the day and more mental space, and I'm wondering what the heck to do with it.

I have a list of my personal "impossibles" and "could-nevers" like helping people out, one-on-one (like tutoring, soup-kitchen-type-stuff). I'm wondering what other ideas people have.

I'm finally learning Spanish.

What are some important, difficult life-changes that require some courage, tenacity, and an ongoing time-commitment?

Or, what are some personal "impossibles" and "could-nevers" that you actually smashed to bits and started doing?

Moving from the Midwest to NYC. Help!

HeartAuntBee — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 11:33:38 -0800

I'm trying to make a big decision about a big change in my life. If all goes well, I could be going from working at a giant corporation and living in the midwest to joining a small internet start-up in NYC. What questions should I be asking the start-up? And I know cost of living in NYC is high. I'm looking at tripling my rent--at least! How much do I need to earn to be comfortable, with money in my pocket and in savings?

ch-ch-ch-changes

raztaj — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 11:10:22 -0800

Songs about change? What are some good songs about changes - specifically wellness, health, love, turning over new leaves, making some realizations, new mindset, attitude, path, etc?

Bonus points for songs with a beat, rhythm, or something that inevitably makes a person move their head or tap their feet to...

I'm thinking along the lines of the chorus in Talib Kweli's 'Get By.' Thoughts?

bah humbug

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 13:48:18 -0800

My family members decided to suddenly start celebrating Christmas this year. I feel weird about it. Help me deal with these changes. Some family history is important:

My parents were immigrants to the US. We weren't raised Christian (or Jewish) and never grew up celebrating Christmas. The major family holiday was Thanksgiving, we'd barbecue on July 4th, have New Years celebrations, and go all out for Halloween.

Christmas (ie, winter break from school) was usually spent sleeping, watching movies, some homework, but mostly just hanging out. We actually tried celebrating Christmas one year with a small plastic tree, but it was weird. We never continued. I never felt deprived not celebrating this major American holiday, and it didn't seem to be a major things for my siblings, either. Sure, there were the pressures of "what did you get! what did you get!" - when we returned to school with our peers, but, it never really bothered me. I got gifts on my birthday, which was satisfying. I personally felt like I was in on some esoteric knowledge, of Santa's myth (sadly breaking the news to my best friend one year). I never felt this feeling like I was really missing out on something.

Fast forward 20-something years. My sisters are both married with kids (I am not). Their husbands are of a very similar upbringing as us.

This year, my sisters decided to celebrate Christmas. (By celebrate, I mean decorations, a tree, presents, everything in the secular sense). I feel really weird about it.

They invited me (which was nice) but I live several states away and had plenty of other things going on. I'm also a poor grad student - I can't afford to fly down often and buy gifts all around. I've also never had to worry about that before.

i think if it were just one of my sisters, it wouldn't be as uncomfortable - but it's like both of them are joining forces to suddenly start a new family tradition. I'm trying to think of this in light of my niece and nephews (toddler to elementary school aged), and that involved in the secular version of Christmas are still some fun and exciting rituals and activities.

I realizing that this is very me-centered, so I'm looking for advice for anyone who has ever experienced a sudden change in family tradition, and how you dealt with it. To be honest (and yes, totally about my ego) I feel kind of peeved that, as adults we've all kind of done our thing at the end of December, and am now feeling a sense of exclusion that - ok, new family tradition - and I don't really want to join in. I dislike the materialism, the malls, the shopping, the going broke, the bills, the formalities. It's foreign, and being "deprived" sounds bizarre to me (my sisters words, not mine) We always have Thanksgiving together as "family time" and I certainly celebrate the birthdays of my niece and nephews (if I can't go, send cards/presents). I'm scared that this tradition will continue, and unless I partake in it, I'll be the weird aunt. I'm generally very fond of change, but this change, not so much. Help me, please.

How to motivate mom and dad?

barrakuda — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:25:34 -0800

How do you motivate older people to do things that are good for them? In particular, I mean my parents who are both about 60. Both quite successful in their careers (both are self-employed) but at the same time both completely incapable of eating healthy, exercising, keeping the house clean (as in: not messy - for the record the house is not dirty just very messy). I would like them to start eating healthier but most of all to start eating less - they keep eating even when they are not hungry anymore, it seems to me like pure gluttony. They are not hugely obese or anything - but they should lose some weight (especially my dad who has heart problems). They do not exercise - they bought an exercise bike and an elliptical some 10 years ago but so far the two stand in their bedroom and serve as coat hangers. Finally, they are both highly unorganized.

I would like to introduce some positive changes in their life, and namely, convince them that the portions they are ingesting are huge and too fatty. That they should do some exercise, at least in a form of a daily walk - we did this for a week when we were all on vacation, and they loved it and promised they would continue when back at home - but nothing came out of it).

I'm just looking for ideas on how to help them change these thins, how to inspire and motivate them. One constraint is: I do not live in the same city as them, another: as most older people, they think they are too old to change, and finally they are devoid of self-discipline. But, in any case, feel free to give any sort of advice, whether it's empirically tested or not.

Help me make my 27th year my best year yet!

dumbledore69 — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 14:20:51 -0800

I'm looking for ideas on things I can "give" myself for my birthday to help me make a fresh start. Can you help? I am going on vacation in a week and will be coming back home a year older. Well, technically only a week older, but my age will have gone up a number. You know what I mean.

Anyway, I've had a rough few years in terms of gaining a lot of weight (to the point of being technically morbidly obese), being very depressed (which I am now finally working on with an awesome therapist & CBT techniques), and just not really sure about what the hell I want to do with my life. Sure, I've halfheartedly tried to make changes, but I never really had faith in myself until I started forcing myself to look at my situation rationally - that my past failures do NOT mean that everything I do is doomed. For the first time in a LONG time, I have faith in myself that if I put the effort into it, I can turn my life around and accomplish things!

Anyway, I don't have a ton of disposable cash, but I want to set myself up to come home to an environment where I am psyched and ready to work on myself. I'm hoping that a week away to relax will help matters.

So, what can I do or prepare to help psych myself up? I'm looking for projects I can plan for myself, tools I can purchase (not too expensive), charts or something I should make for myself, whatever. I want this to be my best year yet!

What qualifies as life changing?

jimmy0x52 — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:17:41 -0800

Health Insurance Filter: Life-changing events - I need some clarification on a life-changing event and what qualifies... My wife is having a baby soon and when she does I'd like to move her off our work group plan to cheaper individual health insurance. The baby is a life-changing event - but only to add the baby. I can't take her off until open enrollment in February.

I was told that gaining or losing a job is also considered a life-changing event. She quit her job back in May to stay home full time and grow the baby.

Can she:

A) Claim in September that she has quit her job because of the baby and qualify as life-changing? What's the window?

B) Do freelance work that is a new job for her and claim this as a new job so I can remove her from the group insurance?

C) None of the above, suck it up?

Just incase it's important, United Healthcare is the insurance company.

Thanks for the advice!

What are the key culture changes between UK and US Universities?

philsi — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:56:56 -0800

I've got the opportunity to do an American Exchange next Autumn from my UK University for about 15 weeks. What are the key culture changes that I'll experience? Of course, there's This will be only my second time out of the UK, and am wondering what the key changes between UK and US universities are. I'll most probably be going to Southern Oregon, or a small chance of the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire or Southern Maine.

I know that it's quite likely that I'll have a room mate (which I don't have at the moment) and have to share other facailities, but what other changes will I find? Will it be more restrictive than UK University? I know I won't be able to drink (not the biggest catastrophe ever) but any other key changes?

Finally, any comments about the usefullness of an exchange? I'm thinking it'll be a great thing for employers when I get a career on the basis I can survive in a foreign country for an extended period of time.

Anecdotes are especially welcome, and any university specific comments are welcome too!

Thanks for your input guys.

Moving NJ to California. Worth it?

PetiePal — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:57:39 -0800

I may have an opportunity to move out west from my native New Jersey to California. A friend of my father's may offer me a position with his company in supply chain out there where I could but my Information Science/Management degree to good use. It's a scary proposition to pick up and move out...has anyone out there done this? More details inside. I'm 24 years old. I'm 2 years out of college, graduated from Syracuse University with a BS in Information Studies/Management. I've worked for American International Group, contracted by Pfizer through Nokia, and now I'm contracting for Merck Pharmaceuticals.

It was tough to find this contract job after being out of work for abou5 4 months and I'm ultimately looking for full-time employment so I can get the boons of provided insurance again. Recently a friend of my father's had offered a job position out in California where I would train for 6 months and with 2 other men run a supply chain warehousing company.

I've never lived anywhere besides NJ and upstate NY for school before so it would definitely be a fish-out-of-water experience. I have been strongly considering it because the salary could easily be 6 figures. My reasoning is that even if I don't love it out there I could complete the training and be trained for those types of jobs back here in the Tri-State Area. All my family and friends are here in NJ, so it would be tough to leave. I'm trying to weigh what's best for me and my future as opposed to what's comfortable.

So my question falls into a few parts.

1.) Has anyone out there made a huge move like this? From where to where? Did you ever "start-over" in a brand new place far from home? What were the ultimate factors that made up your mind for this move?

2.) If you live in CA now, do you love it? What is there to do out there? Was it hard to make new friends and get back into a social life when you've moved someplace you knew no one at. What things did you do to do meet people?

I'm 24...and very confused about where my life is heading, or if it's even heading anywhere at all to begin with. Any input and advice you can offer is most appreciated.

Small Changes that can positively impact weight loss?

tastybrains — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 11:04:55 -0800

Help me come up with some easy, small changes to make to my lifestyle to help me lose weight while dealing with other life issues (e.g. depression). I've been trying to lose weight for a number of years, ever since college. Since graduating college in 2002, I've always been on a diet. Most recently, I spent 2.5 years trying to follow the WW plan.

My issue is that I also suffer from anxiety & depression, which I am getting treatment for. Working with my therapist, I've realized that I go through cycles - 1 week of getting very excited about losing weight (and getting my life & mood together in general), 1 week of following my strict routine, 1 week of feeling kind of burnt out and half-assing it, and then about a month of just falling into a deeper depression and essentially feeling like I don't care and it doesn't matter.

Because of this, I haven't reached any sort of consistency. Following a diet plan isn't going to work if I only stick to it 2 weeks out of 2 months. And because of my depression, I am starting to feel like it's unrealistic from me to go from miserable-tired-emotional-binger to WW poster girl overnight. I've tried & failed too many times before, so that the mere thought makes me want to just crawl under a rock.

At any rate, while I am trying to mostly focus on my depression right now, I am also fairly overweight, and while I'm trying to accept myself for who I am and all that, I can't ignore my weight & my health.

So, I'd like to try a different approach. I would like to pick 2 or 3 habits to incorporate into my life, things that are not too small nor too drastic, and once I've stuck with them for a month or two, adding a couple more good habits.

So, can you recommend some small changes that, done consistently, could make an impact in health & weight over time?

(Note: I'm not interested in diet plans, especially ones that eliminate entire food groups. I'm working on trying to become a "normal" eater, but one who naturally chooses mostly healthy foods.)

seriously frivolous but nagging question

evariste — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 21:52:25 -0800

In a picture of me in first grade, I have loosely-curly red hair and freckles. Now, in my twenties, I have dark brown, medium-curly hair and a mostly-clear complexion. I can grow quite the fierce afro if I want to (and I have), but my hair laid down and flowed when I was a kid. I don't remember when the change happened (it was probably gradual, I guess), but I do remember that I had brown hair already when I was 12. Is this common? Or am I a freak? Is there a scientific explanation? My mom was a fair freckled redhead with and my dad had black tight-curly (nappy) hair and a dark (but not black) complexion. My hair is still really soft, just a different, darker color and with somewhat tighter curls. Has your hair changed as dramatically as mine since childhood?

DNS confusion

shannymara — Sat, 26 Nov 2005 14:01:09 -0800

Why would a new domain (registered today) work on Firefox on one computer, but not on the other, when they're both on the same DSL connection? I registered a new domain on Dotster today. To my surprise, the domain propagated quickly and in 30 minutes I was able to access the site through Firefox. I was able to set up the site, configure mysql, install SMF, and a bunch of other stuff, all of which used the new domain name.

So I turn to my other computer to see what it looks like in Firefox. It says "Looking" then pops up the dialog "__ could not be found. Please check the name and try again." But it works fine on other Internet sites. IE reports the same error. FTP and Telnet also don't recognize the domain name. I checked the spelling carefully.

Going back to my first computer, it still accesses the site great; no problems.

It's almost as if the computers are using totally different DNS servers. However they're on the same network (same router, which connects to a DSL modem and on to Sprint DSL service). I looked under Firefox to make sure no proxies were selected, and they both report a direct connection to the Internet.

The problem is more puzzling than annoying... any ideas what is happening here?

Can anyone recommend something which will monitor web pages and then post changes into an RSS feed?

feelinglistless — Sun, 13 Jun 2004 03:27:59 -0800

Can anyone recommend something which will monitor web pages and then post changes into an RSS feed. I've tried using things like MyRSS but they don't seem to work very well on pages were the content is non-linear. A Google search offers some results but it would be lovely to know about the good ones.

Website update monitors

inksyndicate — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 13:40:37 -0800

Are there any free services that will monitor a website of your choice, and tell you when it changes?