Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with generic

I want to give off a vibe of 'anime' without being a particular character.

jacalata — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:23:57 -0800

[AnimeCostumeFilter] What are some elements that could make up a 'generic anime costume'? The main plan is crazy blue spiked anime hair, with halloween as an excuse (suggestions on how to accomplish this aspect welcome). But I can't think of any particular anime characters with blue hair I want to dress as, so I was thinking 'generic anime figure'. My main requirement is that the costume doesn't go anywhere near 'school uniform' or 'cleavage/slutty' themes, and apparently that is cutting out all the ideas the google is giving me. (I'm going to have the hair, so I want to be able to wear the outfit to work, where normal dress is jeans and tshirt but some people will be in costume for the day).
me: 24, female, needs long sleeves and pants for warmth, blue eyes, wear contacts but could put on glasses if it fitted in. I would like it to be recognisably 'a costume' not just look like 'what those crazy kids wear these days', but it's going to be DIY.

Ideas so far
- really bright colours? I have shiny blue trousers and a bright orange gaming tshirt.
- karate style outfit? I'm sure someone I know has one.
- particular logos/symbols/details I can add that people would associate with anime?
- is it possible to do the eye makeup without looking as weird as all the photos of people trying it on the net?

Generic Drugs When?

misanthropicsarah — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:28:28 -0800

When will Effexor XR (extended release) go generic in the US? I've Googled around but have found non-answers and contradicting answers. Is there an official place to go to find out?

As a bonus question, there are other drugs that I'm curious about. Where, in general, can I go to find out about when they will go generic in the US? Or, how long after a drug is released to the market does the patent expire?

Where can I get my generic prescription pill analyzed for contents?

jnnla — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:31:02 -0800

Where can I get a prescription pill analyzed for chemical contents? I'm doing a little experiment. I recently ordered a generic version of my prescription drug from overseas for much, much cheaper...but I am a bit dubious as to the drugs actual contents. Currently there is no official generic of the brand name drug as it is still under patent - so for all I know I could be ingesting paint or dried toothpaste or whatever from India.

I would like to have one of my overseas generic pills tested against one of my brand-name pills to see if it indeed contains the same stuff, as advertised. If it does I would literally be saving hundreds and hundreds of dollars per year - so it is worth it to me.

Are there commercial labs that will run such tests? I am in Los Angeles. Could I take it to a med-student and have them run a mass spectrometer on it? Would that even be the tool used? Where can I pay to have the contents of a pill analyzed?

I want my old iTunes Back.

nomad73 — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:08:43 -0800

I stupidly updated and installed iTunes 8 on my Win XP Home laptop. Now some icons have turned "generic." This annoys me and I would like to go back to an earlier version of iTunes The only icons that have turned generic are ones for MS Office (files and the icons for the actual app) and Adobe. The icons still function normally - the correct program launches, opens the document fine, etc. But I'm still quite annoyed by this. At first I thought it was a Windows update that did it and I did a system restore, which fixed the problem. Then I tried starting iTunes and got some error - can't remember what. So I downloaded an re-installed iTunes 8 again. And the icons went away again. I'd like to go back to an earlier version of iTunes without losing my playlists, listen-counts and so on. I found an old installer for iTunes 7.5 or so, but it won't let me install it. I assume I must uninstall iTunes 8 and then install 7.5 but again - am worried about losing playlists. Any advice? This will be the last time I update that program - v. 7.0 was a nightmare and v. 8 has problems too. Ugh! Thanks.

Advice / Guidlines on handling floater laptops?

bartleby — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:45:51 -0800

Any tips on "floater" (e.g. check out generic laptop #6 for the day) laptop policies and procedures? Several people who need to do occasional fieldwork/travel were given "desktop replacement" laptops, with the idea that it would be easier to pop the laptop off a docking station and go.

But reports are that they're just not performing as well, or as administrated as easily, as a PC tower for day-to-day operation. TCO turns out to be too high, especially since they're only needed for fieldwork 4 or 5 weeks a year total - meaning people are stuck using an unneccesarily weak machine for the other 45 weeks a year.
Consensus is that they'd rather go back to towers than get better desktop replacment laptops.

So the idea is to get these folks new towers, but to keep these laptops as generic floaters to be checked out when needed. They're older Thinkpads, and with some polishing, would be fine for fieldwork purposes.

If you've done this, or something like it, any tips would be appreciated.
Storing them so they're updated and ready to grab and go? (because of the software used, it's necessary to run updates almost weekly - any way to make it less of a chore?)
Security? (TrueCrypt the hard drives?, preventing out-of-sight-out-of-mind problems?)
Logins? (6 laptops, shared by 12 users, and we don't use roaming profiles. Just a generic login for each one?)

DIY bumper sticker materials?

willie11 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:41:36 -0800

Help me make my own bumper sticker please! Do you know where I can find plain white bumper sticker material that I could write on? So, I've got a great idea for my own Obama bumper sticker, but I don't want to go through the hassle of creating one a la CafePress. Is there anywhere I can go to buy or order a few plain white bumper stickers that I can write on with a Sharpee or something? Will they hold ink?

DIY enthusiasts, please help a brother out!

Thanks,

--- Willie

Generic books (titled as such)

suki — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:53:44 -0800

Did the Generic Food people put out Generic Books? I remember, during the 70's, the supermarkets in Maine (Shop-n-Save, now Hannaford's) carried low cost generic food (including generic beer - pleck).

I think I remember also seeing generic novels, with the same black print on a white background. They were titled simply, "Western" or "Romance."

Am I imagining these books? I doubt my 9 year old self would have been clever enough to come up with this concept (though my 9 year old self was a kook), and I have a fairly clear memory of flipping through some of them at the store.

Google has failed me, and the references I've found to the "generic" brand are only about the food and the beer.

Which allergy meds have gone generic or OTC since last year?

mediareport — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:33:04 -0800

Seasonal allergy relief: I've read a bunch of the previous questions, but was wondering about allergy medicines that have gone prescription to over-the-counter or brand-name to generic since last spring. I know there's a generic Zyrtec now, but was wondering if there are any others that might be more affordable/available than they were last spring.

Safe pharmacies?

anybirds — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:14:28 -0800

What are some safe online pharmacies to buy cheap generic drugs from? Just the links please (I dont need any lectures). I am looking for pharmacies that are considered safe and trustworthy, where people have actually gotten what they ordered. Google isnt great for this as theres too much spam. Im looking to save money buying generic Zoloft online. Any success stories?

Is it wise to take Pantocip for Protonix?

washburn — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:54:29 -0800

Is it wise to take Pantocip, an Indian "generic" proton-pump inhibitor, instead of Protonix? Having lost my insurance for the summer, I ordered some generic Protonix (Pantoprazole) from India, rather than pay the usual high American price for this stomach acid blocking drug (which I've found works better for me than Prilosec). The usual India "generic" is called Pantocid, I think.

Turns out they're out of Pantocid, and instead substituted "Pantocip." There are only 17 hits on Google for Pantocip, which is manufactured, it is said, by Cipla. Also, the first Google hit for Pantocip is from a website selling it $55 for 100 40mg tablets, which is quite a bit cheaper than the $100 I paid (still a good price) for a hundred tablets of Pantocid.

Should I be worried about using this stuff?

Are generic and brand name drugs exactly the same?

samh23 — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 13:05:17 -0800

Is it possible for me to experience different side effects on a generic drug vs. its brand name equivalent? The drug in question is neurological. I take Tegretol for epilepisy (siezure control), 200mg twice a day. Yesterday my doctor gave me a new writ, and I took it to a new pharmacy. I didn't realize they gave me the genetic Carbamazepine until I got home. Figuring it was exactly the same, I didn't worry about it.

Now I feel tired, somewhat out of it, and most humorously, I am slightly slurring my words. It's like I'm on a bit of cold medication. None of these side effects are uncommon for the drug. But I've been taking Tegretol for 20 years -- I'm very familiar with it. I didn't experience these effects (or experience them to this degree) on the brand name. That said, I could just be tired, sick, stressed, etc.

Is it possible that Carbamazepine is the culprit? Shouldn't the two drugs be exactly the same? I mean, a chemical is a chemical...right?

How are Brand-name foods repackaged?

ZackTM — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 06:20:11 -0800

Yes, I'm hungry and poor. So, how can I eat like a King but pay like a pauper? So it's my understanding that 50% of generic brand foods are actually just name-brand foods repackaged/labeled. Is that accurate? In addition, is there a list on line where I can find out what other names popular name-brand products go buy? (Why buy Rice Krispies when Crispy Cracklers are $2 cheaper and are the same thing). I'd be especially curious about parishable items but any and all information (even non-food) would be neat to know.

Is buying a generic laptop battery a good idea?

chuckforthought.com — Wed, 17 Aug 2005 10:08:24 -0800

Is buying a generic laptop battery a good idea? Ive owned a dell 700m, for a year, and the computer is great except for the battery. Is buying a generic battery a good idea? I realize dell propably does not manufactor the batteries in the first place and are rebranded, but id rather put my money toward something that is going to work best, and a warrenty. Im looking at going from the 4cell to the 8cell.

If I go with someone else I stand to save about 30%

Online pharmacies?

funkbrain — Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:23:04 -0800

OnlinePharmacyFilter: My doctor has prescribed a drug that my insurance will not cover. I can purchase a one-month supply of the drug for full-price from my local pharmacy for about $300. It seems I can purchase a generic version of the drug online for about $100 (without a prescription, even). [MI] So, do any of you MeFites have experience ordering legitimate medication (i.e. not V!@gRa) through online pharmacies? How might I determine the legal status of such an action? (I live in the US.) What assurance might I have regarding the quality and safety of the medication? As one might imagine, it's not easy to come up with a google query on this question with an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio....

Is generic vs. brand name a big deal when dealing with RAM?

BlueTrain — Wed, 12 May 2004 10:10:30 -0800

This is an extremely subjective question...In an earlier thread I mentioned that I couldn't find memory below $150, but several members here found it for much less. However, much of the cheaper RAM is generic. Does it matter? Is generic vs. brand name a big deal when dealing with RAM?