Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with cool

Bread for all seasons.

1f2frfbf — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:28:58 -0800

Good all-season low-temperature breads or tips? I live in an old, un-conditioned house. During the summer I can make sourdough and other breads to my heart's content since my house stays between 68-78° F, and yeasts will happily do their thing without my assistance. However, during the winter my house rarely gets over 60° F and can get as low at 40° F if I'm not home to throw wood in the heater. I've experimented with keeping rising loaves in the oven, but it's tricky to do, especially when I'm at work and the loves can easily overheat and bake, not rise. My mother kept dough on the water heater, but mine is in a very un-appetizing basement. Are there any breads I can get to work at such low temperatures so I can have fresh bread on cold winter nights or does anyone have any helpful temps for keeping yeasts warm and happy?

Coolest burning bulbs?

caveat empress — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:56:24 -0800

Help finding the coolest burning bulbs for my bathroom vanity... My upstairs is a pretty dark place, and it is necessary to have lights on anytime I am in the bathroom. Problem is the heat that the bulbs in the vanity gives off is pretty nasty.

What is/are the best option(s) for replacement bulbs (I believe you would call the base size 'Candelabra') that will give off the least amount of heat, yet provide sufficient light for a very small and dark room?

endothermic or exothermic?

phritosan — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:19:35 -0800

Apartment filter: I need my apartment to be cool inside! We moved into a very nice 3rd (top) floor, west facing apartment... in March... came home in June and no exaggeration, it was 94 degrees in my living room. The AC has a 20 degree difference and runs nonstop from 4pm to 11pm and its 84 degrees in the bed room till 11pm. We’ve had the maintenance people out three times. There’s a 20 degree difference between intake and output. The filters are new. Everything on the roof looks fine. But more than 2 feet from the vent and you can’t feel it anymore.

All the ceiling fans are going 24/7. The floor fan is on whenever we're home and not asleep. The sliding glass door is covered by UV/light blocking tinting designed for RVs, venetian blinds, and a blanket. The office window has venetian blinds and a blanket. The bedroom window has venetian blinds and very thick light blocking curtains. The AC is always set on 78. We cannot make any modifications that are visible from the outside.

Do you think it’s worth another $100 to tint the other two windows? The heat has to be coming through the walls, right?

I live in the Phoenix area, opening the windows after dark will not help. Moving is not an option till March and we still like everything else about the apartment.

What else can we do?! I’m not looking for stop-gap solutions like a bucket of ice water in front of a fan. I want my apartment enjoyable. There is no reason I should have a $230 electric bill for a 980 sq ft apartment when my parents have a $380 bill for a 5 bedroom house! Our electric bill in April was $76!

Help us mefi, you're our only hope!

I need inspiration for my new home office

carefulmonkey — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:13:29 -0800

Please give me home office inspiration I'm redecorating my home office and I need inspiration. I found a great one on lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/photogallery/mccoy/) and I was hoping the hivemind would be able to show other neat offices. This might seem silly but I thought I would try. To help I'm also going to give a rundown of my likes.

Likes:
Apple
David Bowie
Iggy Pop
Batman
Urban Fashion

Cool my Tent

kristymcj — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:09:59 -0800

How do I cool my tent for a Texas summer festival without electricity? Flipside, the Texas satellite of the Burningman festival, is coming up in May. It's a 5-day event.
Obviously a shade canopy and some battery-operated fans will go a long way but what about actually cooling the air in the tent?

It's hard to be cool. Then why is it so hard to get out of it?

twins named Lugubrious and Salubrious — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:14:27 -0800

I want to hear about "anti-cool". So I've been tasked with the assignment of researching new trends at work. And boy, is it depressing. I'm drowning in a sea of cool. I knew people's livelihoods depended on finding out what's cool and what's not, but it rings a little pathetic to me to see the ridiculous new levels to which some people have taken it.

For me personally, I want to hear from people who don't like "cool". Hate the very idea of it. Think it's stupid. Do not want.

I have no idea what "cool" is so yeah, this is a pretty broad question. Run with it.

I'm sure there are writers, lyricists, documentary filmmakers, etc. out there who are much cleverer than I at getting this concept across. I'm looking for people who don't like cool, I'm looking for smart pieces that make fun of the rest of us for even buying into the concept. The cleverer, wittier, and snarkier the better, but it should be firmly placed in the "I don't want to be a part of this anymore" camp. (Doesn't count if the piece in question lambasted cool, and the writer/etc. is now more popular because of/despite it.)

The only thing I've been able to find so far that approaches what I'm looking for is this, actually. I should note that I'm not looking for uncool things as much as I'm looking for things about uncool. I also don't mind the overwrought scholarly deconstruction of cool itself. And any interesting takes on the subject would be great too. TIA.

Looking for Goggles that should do nothing.

Del Far — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:19:16 -0800

Is there a good website or store to buy a freaking sweet pair of goggles? I'm looking for something either old fashioned, like pilot goggles, or just old fashioned looking, or maybe something more steam punk, I've looked but Ive never found any really good websites that sell a nice variety of goggles.

And is it possible to get a pair of goggles fitted with prescription lenses?

Dress me up in your love

Andrhia — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 12:35:07 -0800

What do the hip creative girls wear to work? I may soon be taking on a project in a creative role in Manhattan. And... help me, I have no idea what to wear into the office every day! I haven't had a Manhattan job in eons, all of my suits are out of style, don't fit me, and are anyway a little too... well... bland for this kind of thing anyhow. This is definitely not a suit-and-tie kind of gig.

If this project is going to happen, I need to build a new wardrobe. Then again, I'm a little poor right now and can't afford an all-out shopping spree to Nordstrom, so I need to invest wisely.

I watch What Not to Wear and I've gleaned from it a vague idea of how to put together an outfit... but I don't really know what basic pieces I need, or where to buy them. I don't know how to get from one or two outfits to dressed well every day. Help, help!

I'm a 33-year-old writer in video games and new media marketing. I want to look put together, but still a little edgy; not like somebody's mom, you know? That said, I do have two little kids, so dry-clean-only and navel-baring are both right out. I'm average height but short-waisted so I love petite sizing; hippy and busty with a well-defined waist. If I were trying to be a model I'd need to lose about twenty pounds but for a normal human being I'm OK. :) Though all of these empire-waisted tops, they make me look pregnant, and I will be glad when they are gone.

So where do I go, and what do I buy there?

Swim pool railing

wallstreet1929 — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:23:52 -0800

Please link me to a picture of a hip and cool swimming pool railing.

Help me secretly educate children!

featherboa — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:12:08 -0800

What are some cool Words of the Week for my kids' bookshop? I've been running a tiny childrens' bookshop for about a month, and one of the things I've been trying to institute is a 'word of the week'. I've had some good feedback from the kids and their parents, but I'm running out of 'cool' words.

Basically, I'm looking for (British) English words that sound funny - maybe they have a tongue-twister element - or that have an interesting meaning, but one that is easily understandable to kids. Ideally, they should also be words that are unfamiliar to most adults, and I'd prefer to avoid anything too slangy.

So far, we've had discombobulated (confused), petrichor (the smell of summer rain), copacetic (cool, fine), borborygmus (tummy rumbling, from this thread) and the current word is bagatelle (a small, unimportant thing).

What words do you think would fit the bill?

Good present for a teenaged boy.

vilcxjo_BLANKA — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:33:34 -0800

What would be a cool present for a 15-year old boy who wants for nothing. My 15 year old son has nothing he wants for Christmas. I'm enormously proud of him this year. He's a very hard worker - harder than I ever was. He started high school, and has gotten mostly As with a couple Bs in the most challenging courses offered. He is on the hockey team, he plays Lacrosse in the spring, and he fences all year round.

He's very interested in games, especially World of Warcraft and D&D. I know almost nothing about these, other than my trusted adult friends who grew up on them say they are wholesome.

He's also a talented saxophone player. He needs a new horn, but I'm thinking $5000 is more than I want to spring for for a christmas present. I was thinking some kind of windsynth might be a good toy, but maybe I'm just thinking about what I would like for myself.

Any good ideas? I'm looking or something that will astonish him. (We talked about getting him a girlfriend, but decided that was too hard, and he probably needs to make the choice himself.)

Why WaWa?

Black_Umbrella — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:48:45 -0800

Why do people like WaWa so much? How / why has WaWa accomplished such a "cool" image in the last few years? Where are they planning on going from here?

It seems they roll out new products quarterly which people always end up loving. I was lucky enough to acquire a WaWa hoodie and every time i where it out people stop me to say how awesome it is. Frequently people try to buy it off me even though its a couple years old.

Why does a convenience store have so much clout?

I need examples of things and secrets only a very in the know sort of person would know about.

thebrokenmuse — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 17:03:10 -0800

I need examples of things and secrets only a very in the know sort of person would know about. Examples include: the Black American Express Card or Disney's Club 33. I am writing a story where the main character is very cool. I am talking the coolest person you will ever meet. He knows everyone, goes to the best parties and just generally awes people by his presence.

I need things that only the most in the know people would know about, own, get invited to, or be a member of.

Examples are the American Express Black Card, Disney's Club 33 or other such things that I am not cool enough to know about.

You Were Killed by Fluffy Wumpkins

misha — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:35:25 -0800

My son is entering that awkward teen stage and wants to put aside childish things. To that end, he would like to change his rather "kiddish" gamertag to something more intimidating (and less likely to be berated by his older sibling). Obviously, he's not looking for something like "Fluffy Wumpkins." He asked me to help him with suggestions for cool, edgy, threatening names. So, Hive mind, any ideas? Bonus points if it sounds particularly impressive or humiliating to the enemy after, "you were killed by..."

Cheap, cosmopolitan city near Australia?

hifimofo — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 03:55:52 -0800

In 6-8 weeks I will have accumulated some cash, about $5-6K. It's not much, but it is enough to survive 6 months without working while I write. 6 penniless months in Sydney, Australia. Where in the world should I go that will allow me to double that time? Triple? I think I would prefer urban over rural. Isolation makes me a dull boy. Also on the wish list: cosmopolitan/vibrant creative community, English tolerant and perhaps with a nice expat community if I start to go crazy.

Closer to Australia the better, as I don't want to blow too much of my meager nest egg on the airfare.

Personal anecdotes with cost of living estimates are most welcome.

Wall painting effect

Mitheral — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 02:03:59 -0800

How would one paint a wall with this effect. It looks like a blue base that has a random pattern masked out. How would one apply the top coats get the soft multicolour tile effect?

How do I run an XP3200+ at its rated speed?!

6am — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:27:44 -0800

How do I run my AMD Athlon XP 3200+ at the actual rated speed and not have it overheat ridiculously? I've had this CPU for a few years now - but have been having severe issues in running it reliably at the speeds it's rated to run at. It overheats like a mother, and so I've resorted to running it at 2500+ speed, which it's very stable at.

Although I don't have the model number to hand, I have a very decent and quiet socket A cooler which I simply cannot get it to stay cool with at 3200 speed. I have uninstalled, cleaned and reinstalled it several times.

Initially I wondered if I had been sold a slower CPU, but have checked the label - it IS a 3200 as far as I can tell, and I am not overloading the die with paste either - just a consistent, light, all-over coating.

I have tried two different CPU coolers - I initially had a Thermaltake Volcano which was OK, no problems, but the sound it made was that of a Volcano - and I use this PC to write music. So I really could do without having a windtunnel in the room.

My biggest issue is that having an older system, I don't have the four point mounting brackets around the Heatsink. If I did, I would just go out and buy a Big Typhoon and have done with it. At this point, I may just go buy another Volcano.

Do you have any suggestions for quiet (or not so quiet, fuck it), still (or ebay) purchaseable, non-4 point mounted Heatsink and fan combos that would keep it cool, or other general advice that could help me "upgrade"?

Luvyaluvyaluvya.

How to keep car cool in heat?

forallmankind — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 09:52:14 -0800

As of tomorrow, my car will be basking in the Burbank sun 9-6, 5 days a week. What can I do so that getting back in it at the end of the day won't be the most unpleasant experience of my life? Oh, and I've got black leather sets too :-)

I've got the summer tv blues

pinky — Mon, 28 May 2007 15:01:54 -0800

Do good what-to-watch TV blogs or webpages exist? I'd love to maximize the usefulness of my DVR, now that all the finales have happened and nothing new is recording. The weekly tv calendar in Entertainment Weekly is a good start, but not nearly enough.

(and "get out more" is not a viable answer!)

Combining mini European city breaks into one great two week holiday

trashcan — Sat, 19 May 2007 01:12:51 -0800

Hi, I am trying to put together a series of city breaks in Europe so that I end up with one great summer holiday of around two weeks long. I'm thinking of using easyjet or some other low cost carrier so that I can spend most of the budget on romantic and well located hotels in the best cities Europe has to offer.

The trip is for my wife and I; we are from the UK and have previously been to Paris, Barcelona and know the UK cities well so these are off the list.

These are the cities I have in mind so far:

Rome
Prague
Amsterdam

I think three is about right, we could maybe manage 4 but imagine 3/4 nights at each of these would be perfect.

What do we like? Really varied - live music (rock), art galleries, inspiring history (the Colosseum is at the top of our list at the moment), food and awesome scenery.

I am not averse to hiring a car as well as flying, but what I guess I am asking is:

are there any better (?) cities,
more inspiring destinations that I haven't considered
better methods of travel
most logical order (thinking hectic at the start and gentle at the end?)
which hotels we should consider (location, romance, pool?)
we really want to be proud of our holiday....we only get a short time off and we want to look back and think, that was cool :o)

He was how old when he wrote it?

asuprenant — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 16:56:19 -0800

Cool classical music facts for kids? Any classical music facts that kids might find interesting as part of a summer concert series?

Looking more toward:

"Stradivarius may have used honey, egg white, and ash in the varnish of his instruments."

than:

"Doesn't Peter and the Wolf's oboe sound like a duck?

Bonus points for anything directly about the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Does stirring accelerate cooling?

flyingcowofdoom — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 13:10:11 -0800

Does stirring a mug of hot liquid make it cool faster? Let's say I have a nice, hot mug of coffee. It's too hot to drink at the moment because I got it from McDonald's. Would stirring the coffee with a spoon make it cool down faster? I'm just talking about a gentle stir. I think that stirring it fast enough to create a vortex would accelerate cooling because the surface area of the liquid would increase, but I can't decide if a gentle stir would affect the cooling process. What do you think?

Music to listen to with the top down

anonaccount — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 03:28:42 -0800

Music in the style of "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac, and "Crockett's Theme" by Jan Hammer. I'm looking for music for driving a fast convertible to. Ideally 80's style.

I already have a lot of Phil Collins, but want more in this sexy cool style of synthy goodness. What should I be looking for?

SartorialFilter: keeping cool in men's business attire?

tellumo — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 12:32:28 -0800

It's interview season for me, which means suits and ties. I don't mind suits in cool weather, but it's been very warm here recently, and sweating all the way through an interview doesn't exactly scream "professionalism." How can I stay cool? I think part of the problem is that I have a fairly quick metabolism; I prefer to wear short sleeves whenever possible. But an undershirt, a shirt, a tie, and a suit jacket all combine to make me very warm indeed. I've heard people recommend linen for keeping cool in hot weather, but I don't think I can afford it and it wrinkles in a light breeze anyway.

Ideally I'd like some combination of undershirt, shirt, tie, and jacket that is fairly inexpensive, looks good, requires minimal maintenance, and is comfortable in outside temperatures around, say, 80-85 F with moderate-to-high humidity.

Thanks!

Heatwave Filter

fshgrl — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:28:55 -0800

Should I blow the hot air out or the suck the cool air in? I don't have air conditioning in my tiny ground floor apartment. I do have a front door and a back door, windows in every room (all but one of which are on the same shady exterior wall) and fans. So far my efforts to utilise these to replace the hot air inside with the cool air outside come evening time have pretty much failed miserably.

Any advice? Rules of thumb from mefites in hotter climes?