Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with dork

Claude Bless America, Man That I Love

Juliet Banana — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:15:48 -0800

Shmoop Filter: My boyfriend always sings me this Harry Belefonte song while changing the words to "Yes, Lorena, my sweetheart from California." I'm trying to figure out what songs work with the name "Claude" swapped in. It would help if the genders worked and it was something that was halfway appropriate to sing to your loved one. Hopefully whatever word "Claude" is substituted for has the same number of syllables and kind of rhymes, otherwise I'm just awkwardly cramming his name into random songs, which I'm pretty good at without Metafilter's help.

Goofy is absolutely encouraged. I'm thinking something like "Claudey, Claudey, Claudey, Claude" instead of "Cloudy, Cloudy, Cloudy, Cloud" in this Ween song, though something I don't have to be baked as a cake to sing would be nice, too.

Ties with casual striped collared shirts?

mindsound — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:03:55 -0800

I feel that I have terrible fashion sense but I am attached to a habitual wardrobe of jeans and untucked colorful-stripey-patterned cotton button-up shirts. Is it conventionally [_] okay or [_] not okay to wear some kind of necktie with this sort of shirt? If so, what tie parameters should I look for? Here's a photo of several of my shirts; my favorite is #1. I am a software engineer in suburban Maryland and the office vibe is generally cheerless business casual. I am probably the least polo-shirt-and-khakis person in our relatively small office. The only tie I actually own is a very formal Calvin Klein dark blue silk that absurdly outclasses these stripey shirts. I would probably rather go naked than wear a novelty tie of any kind. I'm just wondering whether I can add ties to the relaxed casual thing in a cool and coordinated way.

My wife has a sweet sewing machine so raw fabric choices and patterns are also totally doable.

Tie me up!

If the Amish used computers...

Sys Rq — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:58:12 -0800

How do I get files from my modern PC onto an ancient Macintosh? I have come into some ancient MIDI gear, and I would like to put it to work. I have a vintage 68K Mac SE running System 7, loaded with all the MIDI stuff (OMS, Mirage), hooked up to all the necessary external doodads. All that's missing is an actual MIDI sequencing program like Opcode Vision or MOTU Performer or whatever.

Aside from constantly scouring eBay, the only way to get such software is to download it. Sounds easy enough (I've found it), except that the Mac has its original 800KB floppy drive. Fun.

Question: How do I get the files from my PC (Windows XP; floppy drive: yes) onto a disk that can be read by the Mac? I'd rather not upgrade the drive (it requires upgrading the motherboard), and I'd rather not curb the SE for a sexy young SE FDHD. I just want to get the files from A to B in the simplest way possible (is it possible?) given what I have.

Any help greatly appreciated.

P.S. I don't need to be told how stupid and unnecessary this is. Really.

Never tell me the odds - wait, no, please tell me the odds.

monkey!knife!fight! — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:56:27 -0800

With things falling out of the sky with a little more regularity then usual lately, and what with me being a bit of a flybaby, I was hoping some of the Metifilter geniuses could help reassure me with some science... I hate flying. I have to do it quite often, and sometimes I'm sort of OK with it, but I'm having a lot of anxiety about my upcoming flight (I'm pretty sure it's because I'm moving away from one city which I don't really love, and to another that I'm pretty excited about and am just doing my usual "Gee, I sure hope nothing goes wrong" thing).

I know this is stupid. I really do feel stupid for even asking this. But here goes:

What are the chances that some bit of the satellites that collided above the earth would still be a hazard at 30k feet? If the stupid FAA hadn't put out a stupid "hey pilots, watch out for bits of space debris as you fly" and didn't put any sort of end time for the warming, I'd likely be less insane about this. Also, honestly, what would the chances be of avoiding some bit of flaming something flying at you from the upper atmosphere if you were a flying a commercial jet? I'm guessing not so much.

What's the difference between a geek, a nerd and a dork?

feelinglistless — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:33:28 -0800

What's the difference between a geek, a nerd and a dork? For various (what I consider positive) reasons I've been called all three recently and I just wondered if there were differences between the labels (however subtle) as I thought or if they were interchangable? If there are differences can they be catagorised in subcultural ways?

Gay geeks... Are they more than one in a million?

kzin602 — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:17:39 -0800

Kinda like the anonymous question a little bit ago, but looking for the geeky gay guys in Phoenix. 27yo geekish gay guy. Not some hot little boi but defenately not a troll. Everywhere I've looked for other guys of my persuasion have been either hook-up type places (gay.com) or in the bars, and the bars just seem full of extremely self absorbed, dumb as a box of rocks little queens. Does such a thing exist?

I'd rather curl up on the couch with a boy and watch bad sci-fi and play a videogame than go out clubbing.

I mean random hookups are nice and all but it's easier just to stay home an jack off. Or are my fears true... The mythical gay geek is truly a super-rare occurrence

Help us rock out to TMBG

fijiwriter — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:04:45 -0800

Help us enjoy a They Might Be Giants concert and not stand out like dorks So Mrs. Writer and I are going to a They Might Be Giants concert in a few weeks. We've become fans after our daughter started enjoying their kid-friendly CDs and DVDs, so here we are: new fans.

We need your help to enjoy the concert - what can we expect? Is it audience-friendly, with interactions? We've been listening to their CD, Flood, for a crash course...what are we missing as must-listen songs? And this is an 18+ show, so there won't be the kids songs to enjoy I bet.

And the bigger question: we're concert n00bs. I haven't been to a live rock-type concert since college (and that was just a local '80s cover band), and she never has...So, do we dance, mill about, drink and enjoy the smoke? Will we be considered as outsiders and shunned? Or are we over-thinking a plate of beans?

Join the ranks of the unwashed?

Doublewhiskeycokenoice — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:36:42 -0800

Should I start playing World of Warcraft? So, a new computer is on the horizon and with that comes an OS newer than 10.2, so I shall, at last, be able to run WoW. I've got many friends who play, and the social aspect of it seems like a lot of fun, and the game itself looks right up my alley. The problem is, I'd just be starting out at the end of December, and all my friends are either at 60, or are pushing it hard. With the expansion coming out, is there a risk of them leaving me in the dust, and thus remove any chance of my getting to play with them on a meaningful level anytime soon? Has the game sailed over it's shark yet? Should I care about that last one? Any advice WoWers could give on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Also, my sister takes care of all the "WoW is for losers" talk for the entire world, so don't worry about that.

What's a grognard to do?

jammer — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 12:31:52 -0800

Help me find collaborative hex-mapping software. I'm looking for a way that a group of people playing a web-based MMO with hex movement can work together on mapping play areas.

The best thing I've found so far is gametable, but it seems a bit crude, and I'd prefer something more wikilike -- or at least something with an online editor, so we don't have to pass map files around.

Does anyone know of anything that might be useful here?

Help me find an obscure R.A. Lafferty quote.

rwhe — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 06:53:41 -0800

Help me find an obscure R.A. Lafferty quote. Just saw Little Miss Sunshine and was struck by its message of embracing one's own utter dorkiness. It reminded me of a quotation by SF writer R.A. Lafferty about finding or inventing for yourself a field of knowledge or an art form so unique (excuse me; you know what I mean) that you will be the first to study it and create in it, and since the first, therefore the best. Knowing Lafferty's inclination to use Biblical allusions, Adam may have been mentioned in there as the first to do a lot of things.

Lafferty has always been an inspiration to me. Ghod knows he certainly lived his advice, and didn't just spout it. Can you help me find it?

Does everyone call cats in the same silly way?

Bud Dickman — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 06:40:50 -0800

Does everyone yell "here kitty kitty" in a comically high-pitched voice when calling to a cat? My family did when I was a child, and I do now. But while doing so, I always feel like a total dork. Why the voice modulation? Why the same pattern of "here kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty"? Surely if the cat knows your voice, he'd respond to "Fluffers! Come here now!" in a regular voice. Or are cats taught at an early age to listen for this vocal affront to dignity? Do they secretly enjoy it? Is this regional, or universal? Thanks.