Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with lines

Help with vision problem

Bulgaroktonos — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:12:49 -0800

What are these moving lines in my vision? So, for quite sometime, I've experiencing a problem where I will get these moving lines in my vision. They look like worms, they're black and white and they move around for a few seconds then disappear. They're not floaters, which I also have. They only crop up when I've just exerted myself, or when I stand up. I've tried Googling, but I haven't come up with much. It's been going on for years, and I've never asked a doctor about it, which I probably should. I'm mainly curious, since it hasn't seemed like much of a problem before.

Some small entertainments for Disneyland queues?

carsonb — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:55:43 -0800

What should I bring in my backpack to keep my 2 friends and I entertained in the ride queues at Disneyland? We're going on Superbowl Sunday, so I don't expect the lines to be all that bad, but it would be nice to have a few entertainments along that I could whip out to help pass the time if/when we do get stuck. I'm really only going to have some snacks and water in the backpack besides, but don't feel like lugging around a huge load, so any suggestions for compact, enthralling entertainments good for 3 persons would be appreciated.

I always carry a deck of cards in the pack.

Standing In Line

Jeff Howard — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:41:36 -0800

How do lines work where you live? I recently came across an article in the Encyclopedia Britannica [quote inside] about the novel introduction of the concept of "standing in line" by McDonalds in 1970s Hong Kong. Do other cultures today deal with lines differently? Where are lines accepted/rejected? Is the alternative a free-for-all, or are there other ordering schemes?

I thought Visio was supposed to be easy.

jak68 — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:29:48 -0800

visio noob question: connected two shapes from center of one to center of other. Moved one shape. Connector line didnt stick to the same point on the second shape, it moved around and connected to a different point on it. How make it so that connector line stays in the same location no matter where I move the second shape? Googling hasnt helped, perhaps i'm not looking at right keywords. Found some pages which complained about the same problem. Surely a standard tool like visio has a way to 'freeze' connection points on shapes so they dont go all wonky if you move the shapes around? Or is that really too much to ask?

Dermatologists (or those who go to them) help me prevent & treat wrinkles (details inside).

mintchip — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 21:04:27 -0800

Dermatologists (or those who go to them) help me prevent & treat undereye wrinkles (details inside). I've been a die-hard sunscreen user for years, and I'm also fanatic about staying out of the sun. Consequently, people always guess I'm almost a decade younger.

However, newer sunscreen formulas always manage to get into my eyes and are extremely irritating so lately I've stopped using sunscreen around the eye area. Also, I tend to squint a lot when I smile.

ALL of a sudden(!) I just woke up with fine lines under my eyes...and they are getting worse.

My questions are thus:

1. Are there sunscreens that absolutely won't irritate the eye area?
2. If I learn to stop squinting when I smile will it make any difference at this point?
3. Is there any treatment that will really fix the fine lines? Do lasers really work and if so, how much do they cost? What about topical treatments (OTC, prescription, etc.)?

I know this might seem silly, but humor me please. I've been wearing sunscreen 365 days/year for years, so obviously I am hoping to slow Father Time.

Firefox extension for long URLs?

neustile — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:29:14 -0800

Is there a Firefox extension that will let me edit long URLs on multiple lines, or do I have to keep editing them in text editors and copying them over? I work with some web services that have huge URLs. Scrolling horizontally in the URL field is a nightmare, especially when everything looks the same. I currently compose my testing URLs in a text editor and copy them over, but it would be nice if I could do it in the browser. I'm looking for something that expands the URL field to multiple lines and then it'll parse out tabs and newlines when I finish the request.

Laugh lines are not funny.

pseudostrabismus — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:51:31 -0800

I'd like your real-life testimonials for wrinkle treatments that actually work. Bonus points if your skin is brownish. I'm in my 20s and starting to get naso-labial folds, or laugh lines, from my nose to my mouth. Ack. Right now they're pretty faint, and kind of look like the ones in this photo. Close to my nose there's a shallow fold about 1/2 an inch long, and the rest of the way down to my mouth it's like a slight darkening of my skin in the shape of my future wrinkle. Waah, what do I do? Right now I use a powder compact to tone down the darker colour, but it gets kind of cakey. Liquid foundation is even worse- it creases.

I have about the same skin tone as the person in this photo. Olive-brown with yellow undertones, with slightly darker patches around my eyes and mouth. So I'm particularly seeking melanin-friendly remedies.

Oh, and I scar easy, plus I'm a cheapskate, so no plastic surgery and no weird injections. But creams, masks, scrubs, you know, topical stuff like that- fire away!

Weird Lines in Firefox

edbyford — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 10:40:48 -0800

Strange lines/boxes appear in Firefox when scrolling or mousing over web items Firefox problem

Above is a picture of the problem I am having with Firefox. it seems that lines have started appearing when i mouse over certain objects (buttons, links, some pictures and when I type. For example, right now a line is appearing underneath this sentence. Also when I scroll down a page lines appear on the parts where I have scrolled past.

Has anyone come across this problem before? Any solutions?

I have tried turning on/off Caret Browsing.

I am running Win XP SP2 and Firefox v 2.0.0.8.

Two becomes one?

special-k — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 08:35:48 -0800

How can I rewire all my phone jacks to one line (from two)? There are two houses on my lot. House A has a landline. House B used to have a landline. I want all the jacks in house B to be hooked up to phone line A. Is there a simple way that I can do this by myself w/o paying the phone company a lot of money?

"not good! not good!"

thinkingwoman — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 08:08:36 -0800

what movie am i remembering? a comic scene where something crashes or goes too fast or otherwise goes wrong in a catastrophic way, and the guy exclaims, "not good! not good!" this is driving me nuts. i feel like the movie was relatively recent, the actor may have been johnny depp, and he may have been speaking in a british accent. or not. it might have been from one of the "pirates of the caribbean" movies. or not.

hive mind, can you help?

"A screen",the pittiful cry they heard. Then more wailing and gnashing of teeth.

mu~ha~ha~ha~har — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:52:41 -0800

What is it? Is it possible to repair? Or where on Gods green earth can I get a replacement? Slowly increasing white strip with sporadic coloured lines throughout on my notebook screen. Funnily enough it is more frustrating to look for the answer than it is to just try to ignore it. Ok it was picked up by the screen and too firmly it appears. It started as just a few coloured lines and proceeded to spread inwards then turning white and getting larger slowly but surely.

It is a Sony Vaio VGN-B88GP (PCG-5B3P).

What gives me reason to think it's repairable is that I left it sitting close to the air con. When I came back and the screen flicked back on it was ok. Well I can't be sure completely but from when I was paying attention a good 3/4 of it was back to normal and then began to fade left to right back to white. So there must be hope... perhaps.

Everything I do, I do it for you.

yeti — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 07:21:31 -0800

What are some ridiculously cheesy lines I can say to a girl? I’m not looking for cheesy pick-up lines, but rather overly melodramatic or sentimental phrases to say to someone I’m already seeing. For instance, once when we were saying goodbye, I looked her deep into her eyes and sighed, “I never want to let you go. Don’t ever let me.”

The more ridiculous the better. Others I’ve used, also saying farewell, “I miss you already. But don’t think of this as ‘Goodbye,’ think of it as ‘I’ll see you later.’” *Cue soft lens* When we were both tired of walking one night, I offered, “I’ll carry you. I’d carry you through the Bering Straight. I’d settle a whole continent with you.”

What are some more I can whisper to her when she’s locked in my embrace and make us both crack up?

Wii Campout: Gameplan?

mrhaydel — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 17:07:32 -0800

What all should I do to prepare to camp out for a Wii? Anyone else doing the same? I've pretty much decided that I am indeed going to camp out in front of a Target store in order to get a Wii come November 19th.

Now, I've never done such a thing, and, I'm thinking I *might* be the first in line, so what all would the knowledgeable line-camper-outter bring with them? Is it common knowledge to bring some paper, pencil, and tape to start/post a list? I've made a dry run, and there's at least a covered area right outside the door to perch under.

I don't think I'm going to go as hardcore as bringing a tent, but definitely some sort of chair at least.

Anyone have any stories about any gotchas they ran into on their first experience?

I will be doing this with my wife, so I'll at least have a partner for food runs, etc.

As a bonus: are there any MeFiers out there in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (I'm in Grapevine) planning on doing the same thing? Anyone anywhere have a gameplan?

Use only as directed.

nathancaswell — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:33:57 -0800

Making text a specific number of NTSC scanlines high in Final Cut Pro 5.1. I feel like there has to be an easier way of doing this.

Right now my method is to either:

A) Sit there with a piece of paper and count them on a broadcast monitor.

B) Divide 525 scanlines / 720 pixels, getting 0.729166666667 pixels per scan line, then multiply by the number of scanlines I need (22), resulting in how many pixels tall the text should be. Then screenshotting the canvas at 100% and counting pixels in Photoshop (does this method even work?).

Is there some sort of website that converts font face/point size to NTSC scan lines?

Am I missing something? Did they teach this in editor school? Should I have gone to editor school? Why does anyone even hire me if I don't know this sort of thing? Does filmgeek have the answer?

STAY TUNED TO FIND OUT.

Why are some days bluer than others?

4ster — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 12:24:50 -0800

On some days, my Outlook calendar has blue and white diagonal lines on the sides of the day. Why is this? I know these lines mean "tenative," but I only really know one way to set appointments. Why do some days have these and others do not. I am not using Exchange or anything (I work in a small (two-person) office). I also sync with a Treo, if that matters.

what's up with chat lines?

octavia — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 23:54:23 -0800

what's up with chat lines like livelinks & quest? are they fronts for escort services? I'm up late a lot & they play those commercials on tv constantly. I've always been kind of curious.

Computer Lines

lotsofno — Sun, 14 May 2006 11:50:07 -0800

Why does my computer keep doing this? Moving around an open window does this. The purple lines usually pop out of nowhere, independent of what I'm doing. It started this week and has been happening more often as time goes on. Restarting the computer seems to be the only cure.

Why do power lines buzz?

kc0dxh — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 05:15:25 -0800

ScienceFilter: Why do high-voltage power lines buzz. Specifically, I'm looking for an explaination of how electrons passing through wire produces the compression waves that hit my ears. Bonus points if you can tell me why a buzz and not a whine or other sound.

Cutting in Line

magnetbox — Wed, 28 Jan 2004 09:03:09 -0800

Line etiquette: When standing in a line and another lane is opened, what is the etiquette for who goes in that new line? What should it be? Is it different when there are no numbered "lanes" (meaning it's just another person helping people at the same counter area)? Should another line be created in that situation, or should there just be a single line moving at double speed?