Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with night

How do you take a photograph through a mesh

wavejumper — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:35:42 -0800

At night, through the mesh netting of my tent, I often observe a beautiful effect that forms around the moon - sort of "shockwaves" or lines that spread out from it in four directions. It's some sort of diffraction illusion? How do I photograph it? Here's my best attempt - so fuzzy / out of focus you may not be able to tell what I'm talking about. It looks really amazing though, anyone know what I'm talking about and know how to explain the science behind it? Thanks!

http://www.wavejumper.org/MoonDifraction.jpg

I AM THE VINDOW VASHER

xorry — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:10:23 -0800

Quick! What is the joke about the vindow vasher? My friends and I are going nuts! ..and looking up salmon PR)N.

Low calorie snacks?

isoman2kx — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 20:03:07 -0800

Low calorie snacks? I need some low calorie foods you can eat the hell out of at 2/3 AM. So far I've come up with shredded lettuce packages where you have like 15 calories for every 2 cups of lettuce and even if you ate the whole package, it's like 150 calories tops.

I can't seem to stop late night eating . I can control myself during the day, but this 4-5 year late night eating habit is killing me. The only thing I won't eat is anything spinach, cabbage, celery stick related. I need something half-edible.

-Travis

Where should I go dancing in Toronto?

you just lost the game — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 14:29:31 -0800

Where should I go dancing in Toronto? I'm visiting Toronto this weekend, and a group of us want to head out on the town for some drinking and dancing, but it's been years since I lived there and I'm pretty out of the loop. We're all in our mid-'30's, so we'd prefer somewhere with a slightly older crowd, somewhere in the downtown core, with DJs (as opposed to live music). The other caveat is that one member of our party had a really bad experience once at The Dance Cave and doesn't want to go there. Any suggestions?

Where are the night dancers?

davebush — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:11:10 -0800

A few years ago, I saw a series of videos online, all featuring odd robotic time-shifted dancing within urban environments at night. I can't track them down. I recall a convenience store and a gas station. I'm also pretty sure the dancers were Asian. I really liked the atmosphere, colors and lighting of these pieces and want to see them again. Anyone know where I can find them? Bonus points for links to things with similar qualities.

Night Running?

youcancallmeal — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 18:36:21 -0800

Does anyone have advice on running at night? I live on a suburban college campus and I'm thinking I should take advantage of the relative isolation and start the Couch to 5k Plan. I just feel more apt to exercise at around 11pm than during the day. Is there anything about night running that I should be aware of?

Things I've already considered: wear light colored clothing, stay on the paved loop road.

What else?

Where is the music of the night?

TheWaves — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:11:54 -0800

I'm trying to find a music streaming website I found through StumpleUpon a few months ago, and the main theme was night and roadtrip music. The site had a dark colour scheme (possibly blues and blacks?) and allowed you to stream or download music. Most of the stuff was ambient but there were some cool indie rock-ish tracks as well. The only other things I remember are that you could search by tags such as 'roadtrip,' and while there were a lot of unsigned artists there were a few major label acts available to listen to as well. My search engine zen has failed me, and a search on MeFi turned up this possibility but the site is now down.

Heroes of AskMe, can you help?

Engagement ring on or off?

rglass — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:52:32 -0800

Should I sleep with my engagement ring on or take it off? Should I sleep with my engagement ring on or take it off? What do you do? What does your wife do? I realize that this is probably personal preference but am curious anyway. Thanks!

Fever at night, but morning's alright

Mozai — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:05:54 -0800

When I'm battling an infection/virus for a few days, my body temperature climbs as the sun goes down. My village elders tell me this is normal. Why do fevers get worse after sundown, but subside in the morning?

Help me sleep better at night.

dragontail — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 10:06:38 -0800

Help me to sleep better at night. It's pretty loud outside my window, and I don't sleep well to begin with. It usually takes me a good 20-30 minutes to fall asleep, even if I'm pretty tired. I want to learn how to sleep quickly and deeply. I've tried Counting sheep and it doesn't work very well for me (I've got up to 3000 before ¬_¬).

You must have witnessed people who can fall asleep with 5 standing up on a moving train, so it can be done. So how do I train myself to fall asleep quickly and efficiently? Got any good methods or advice you could share?

Fluorescent flat caffeine lights / It's furious balancing

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:40:39 -0800

What online reads can you recommend on the subject of circadian rhythms and rituals, preferably from an anthropological and/or historical point of view? I'm especially curious about examples where norms differ markedly from established contemporary western ones, e.g. "In Victorian England, it was customary to have five meals every day" or "To this day, tribes in Snarkania appoint night watchmen who stay up through the night and sleep during the daytime" (examples completely made up and intentionally oversimplified). Articles - science, journalism, blogs, anything - on contemporary western sources are welcome, too (compare this one from the NYT).

What to do in Greenwich at night?

hoverboards don't work on water — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:34:24 -0800

My girlfriend and her girlfriends are going to see the Spice Girls at the O2 Arena in London tonight, and I've been invited to drive them there. I'm not going to the show, so what is there in the area that I can do between, say, 6pm and 10pm? I would've liked to go to the National Maritime Museum but it's closed at that time of night, as most things seem to be.

Is it safe to go walking around the area with my camera?

I don't know anybody in London and there'll be nobody else with me. My fallback plan is to sit in the car and hum Spanish Flea to myself, so I'm pretty desperate.

Bumming Around All Night in the Capital

davidstandaford — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:27:02 -0800

Recommendation for an all-night place to hang out in Washington D.C. Saturday night that is safe and clean, has wireless and bathrooms, serves food, and will let me stay there all night. I'm visiting the capital this weekend and I've got a place to stay Thursday and Saturday, but it looks like I don't have a place for Friday, and instead of getting a hotel for one night, I'm thinking of just pulling an all-nighter. I spent a night in a McDonald's in New York one night with wireless internet and it was great. Any suggestions of good places in DC? On a Metro line is nice, but not essential. Are there 24 hour chains with wireless here?

Night spots in Sydney?

fac21 — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:58:41 -0800

Which night spots should I hit in Sydney? I'm a 28-year-old single male and I'm mostly interested in French electro/house-type music (Daft Punk, Justice, Ed Banger, Kavinsky, etc). The centerpiece of my trip will be seeing Daft Punk at Never Ever Land. I will be there for a week and I do not know anyone there. Thanks!

Deep in-the-ear earbuds that don't leak sound.

grumblebee — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 12:01:41 -0800

I'm looking for cheap, deep-in-the-ear earbuds for listening to audiobooks. The sound quality doesn't have to be great, because I won't use them to listen to music. I want cheap ones, because I inevitably break headphones, and I don't want to have to spend $100 every month. On the other hand, I'm willing to spend $20 a month if I have to. In-the-ear, because I don't want to keep my wife awake with "leaking" sound. I listen audiobooks when I have insomnia, which is way too often. But if there's even a tiny bit of noise leakage, my wife complains. The only solution I've found is that sort of earbud that sticks way in your ear canal. There's no leakage, and I can keep the volume really low and still hear.

My full-bodied (enclose-the-ear) headphones don't leak, but they're too uncomfortable when I'm lying on my side, which is what I mostly do in bed. Only earbuds seem to allow me to lie on my side.

For whatever reason, I'm finding it harder and harder to find earbuds that go deep inside your ear. I live in NYC, and all the ones I see are those ones with the little round buds on the end. Those leak too much.

I've tried expensive ones, but they're not worth the $ if you're just listening to audiobooks. Also, I'm careless with them. I break them and lose them.

I thought I found EXACTLY what I was looking for at Radio Shack. Deep-in-the-ear headphones for $10 (I got a better deal than what you'll see via the above link). I figured they'd be crappy and that I'd have to replace them, but I'm fine with $10 a month. So I bought about five of them. And -- no joke -- they lasted about three days each! After that point, the sound kept cutting off, and I had to constantly bend them and put rubber bands around them to get any sound out of them at all. I guess you get what you pay for.

Feel free to suggest other solutions or talk me into expensive headphones. I want a solution, and I'm willing to think outside my box.

Requirements: no leakage. comfortable when lying on side. inexpensive (in the long term).

How do I cure my night sweats?

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 10:23:45 -0800

How do I stop the night sweats? I am a female, 20s, not on or coming off of any medications or substances, though I do take vitamins. For the past couple winters (weirdly, only in winter, maybe once or twice in warmer weather) I have regularly had night sweats. Sometimes I wake up and everything is soaked, a pain not just for me but for my boyfriend as well. The only thing that helps a little is sleeping nude without blankets, but then I'm freezing and can't sleep anyway. I'm not sick. What could be causing this?

Fun date night for married couple

msacheson — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 14:23:49 -0800

Got a fun 'date night' idea for a married couple? We're both 35 years old and we'll be leaving our 4-year-old child with grandparents for the night. We're bored with dinner-and-a-movie. My wife had the idea to go bowling, which is sounds better than anything I've come up with. (I like the idea; I just want to bring more to the table than darts, pool, etc.) By the way, we live in Oakland, CA.

Help me photograph some meteors!

ultraultraboomerang — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 13:57:58 -0800

Ideas for photographing the Perseid meteor shower next month? Bonus points for a good place to watch in South Louisiana. I have a Nikon D40 I've only had a few months. I've never done any night sky photography so I plan to practice in the next couple of weeks, because it's the best shower of the year and the peak is on the night of the new moon, which is awesome, and I'd really like to try for a good shot or two. I have a few blog posts and how-tos bookmarked but you people are usually smarter than anything I can google.

So. Set the focus to infinity? Manually focus on a star at the center of the frame? Should I go for reeeally long exposures and deal with star trails or just a whole lot of 10-30 second ones (I have a remote)? All the way open? Would a lens hood minimize glare from the sky or noise from the long exposures? Suggested filters? Specific Nikon/D40 advice? Am I in over my head?

Bonus: I'm in Baton Rouge, but I spend just about every weekend in New Orleans and/or Lafayette, so there should be some good old fashioned Middle-Of-Nowhere in between, right? Any specific ideas for really dark, reasonably safe places in the southern half of the state?

Many thanks.

What subway systems are open around the clock

aubilenon — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:51:18 -0800

I'm trying to compile a list of subway or light rail systems that are open all night. So far all I have is the New York subway and the Chicago El, but there's got to be more than that. There's a lot of cities in the world!

Glass Danse

daviss — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:46:18 -0800

I want to bring back the John Lennon style glasses, but affordably. I want to find sub-$200 round frame glasses. I found these on Ralph Lauren Purple Label but at $400, the price is about double what I am willing to pay. I have scoured countless sunglass stores to no avail.

College Student seeks employment advice

crewshell — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 18:40:34 -0800

I am going back to school after a 3 year break. Help me think out of the box in terms of employment opportunities (while I am in college) that have working hours between 4:30 pmish and 1 amish. Income requirements = $350+ a week, of course $500 would be more ideal.

I am open to working full time this summer and then cutting back (in the same field) when classes start at the end of August.

I have military experience, admin, sales, and costumer service experience (waiting tables, fine dinning and volume work)

I personally know that waiting tables is a common job for people in this situation but I'm burnt out on it to a degree and am trying to find something a bit more fulfilling and long term, preferably something with health insurance though that’s not a necessity.

One idea I had was to go into car sales (I did it for a brief time about 4 years ago). I would work full time during the summer and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday while classes are in schedule. But I want to explore more options before venturing down this path.

Alright hive mind, as always thank you for your help!

(one side note, i definitely want to take day time classes (there are just more of them at my college) so I can finish my degree faster. Evening classes and day employment is not really something I am considering)

The rose petals on the bed weren't necessary, but our rider clearly states 'indefinable sense of magic'.

Happy Dave — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 01:43:41 -0800

I'm getting married in June - what's the best balance of luxury and value in hotels, for one night, in Edinburgh? I'm getting married to my sweetheart on June 2nd in Edinburgh, where I'm from. However, I haven't lived in Edinburgh for nearly 3 years, and I've never stayed in a hotel there (plenty of family and friends to stay with usually).

However, for our wedding night, we're hoping to find a nice hotel to stay at, in central Edinburgh. We're only staying one night, then off on honeymoon, so I want to get somewhere pretty nice, but without spending the earth. Bonus for unusual or historic hotels.

I spent a lot of time over the last few years staying in Hiltons and Holiday Inns for work, so I'd rather avoid any of the major chains if I can.

Looking to spend between £150 and £250 for the night. I'd imagine some of the guests at the wedding might want to stay there too, so obviously the lower end of that scale would be good, given they're Americans coming over on a weak dollar. But we'll push the boat out for the right place.

No budget short film tips

strangeleftydoublethink — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 11:47:39 -0800

I need tips and suggestions for shooting a short film on DV at night, mostly in a car. I'm using a Canon XL1 and am primarily concerned with getting good contrast. I'll be shooting at night without access to electrical outlets and mostly in a car. I've found flourescent and LED lights that run on batteries and car lighters. What filters, manual settings, etc. would help me achieve good contrast and a somewhat film look?

Can I get away with recording a band in an abandoned building in SF?

Bappy Lorenzo — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:10:46 -0800

San Franciscans! How safe/legal/easy would it be to record a band in an abandoned building in your city? I asked a band if they would like to make an album for my record label. They live in California, I'll be there for a weekend, I figured why not do something a little different? San Fran seems pretty open to this sort of thing. The band will most definitely be loud, but they don't have huge amps, which would mean easy in/easy out if need be. Will it work?

Low-light photography with an old digital camera?

the_bone — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 23:35:40 -0800

Please help me make the most of my old point-and-shoot digital camera in low light situations! I have an old Nikon CoolPix 2100. It's a 2 megapixel camera (buying a better camera won't be an option for a couple of months), but I was getting some decent shots with it three years ago. I haven't done much photography in the past couple of years though, so I'm very rusty.

Next week, a friend and I are taking pictures around Hollywood and Silverlake... we're making pilgrimages to sites mentioned in Tom Waits's songs and photographing them. To really capture that Waits-ian ambiance, we'll probably end up taking a lot of shots at night (I'm looking forward to photographing neon lights on Hollywood Boulevard) as well as indoors. I need some tricks to help make this work. Camera settings, tips to get motion effects with light using my gear, and any ideas you have to create good shots in the evening/indoors with less-than-ideal equipment will be appreciated! Don't be afraid to give basic tips, as I am woefully out of practice and want these photographs to be as good as possible.