Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with odd

Odd blogs, please?

qldaddy — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:56:19 -0800

Mefites, please show me the oddest blogs you have ever seen? I am going to be leading a discussion at work and as part of that discussion, I would like to show some examples of odd or eccentric blogs. You know, when you hit the “next blog” button and something pops up and you think “Why would anyone spend any time putting that up of the web?” Like scans of tractor catalogs from the 70s or pictures of home-made clay models of imaginary beetles (I actually saw that once and have not been able to find it again). In English would be best, but I’ll take other languages if the intent and weirdness is universal.

Thanks

Please help me understand an odd medical event.

gibbsjd77 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:24:32 -0800

Please help me understand an odd personal medical event. Ever since I was little I've had this funny thing happen from time to time and I've never understood what it is or heard of anyone else having it. My inner ears gets a "pressure" type feeling like when you are trying to pop them by opening your jaw and straining slightly. The funny thing is, this happens very uncomfortably with a strange powerful itch/funny feeling on my inner thigh/privates. It is quick and intense and rare, it stops when I itch. I have no idea what it is and would appreciate any explanation. Thanks!

I need to be less odd. How?

Anonymous — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:47:35 -0800

I want to stop being seen as odd or eccentric. What can I do? All my life, I've felt like the odd man out. I seem to have trouble connecting with people and picking up on social cues. I'll often say things that are taken as offensive and not understand why.

Recently, I've become aware that most people at my work think of me as being extremely odd. I do have some odd behaviors. For example:
- I have a habit of answering my phone in a different way each time.
- Sometimes I speak in an overly formal way (i.e. I won't say "Yeah", I'll say "Why yes")
- Strange questions will come to mind (i.e. Someone says that a special prosecutor was appointed in a case and I ask "Was he wearing a black cowboy hat?")

I want to be more normal, for lack of a better word. It's tough being the odd man out all the time. Everyone around seems to get along and interact, but when I say something, it's as if the room has stopped.

I am currently in therapy for this, but my question is whether any of you know of any other resources and techniques I could employ to curb my oddness and eccentricity.

If it matters, I'm a man. I've also set up a throwaway e-mail at weirdodude1@gmail.com

Looking for Country and Rap/Hip Hop songs NOT in 3/4 or 4/4 time...

querty — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:18:50 -0800

Looking for Country and Rap/Hip Hop songs NOT in 3/4 or 4/4 time... Bonus points if you can find me a Gangsta-Rap song in crazy time signatures. Is there such thing?

Looking for information on how to deal with ODD kids

orange swan — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:38:41 -0800

A friend of mine has a fifteen-year-old daughter who was recently diagnosed with Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD). I'm looking for information and resources on parenting ODD-diagnosed/defiant and volatile kids to pass along to my friend: web sites, internet support groups, names of books to read, tips, insights and recommendations derived from personal experience, whatever you have that you think would be helpful. Thanks!

"it's getting very hot, we'd like to get out now..."

scruss — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:59:32 -0800

Short public access film: man asks eggs if they want to go for a swim, but they're too cold in the pan of water, so he turns the heat up, and they start to scream. What was this? I've been terrorizing my friends and family with the memory of this half-remembered clip for years. Please help me find it.

What I remember most is that it's clearly one guy holding the camera and doing all the voices. It's the eggs' happy little falsetto "Oh Yes Please!" response to the "Would you like to go for a swim?" question that really stuck with me. I'd really like to know how it ended.

I think it might've been featured on the show Manhattan Cable, which aired in the UK in 1991.

explain this email to me please

mizrachi — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 01:42:21 -0800

what is this email? I just received it.

Subject: To all the persons with ingenuous head and heart

To all the persons with ingenuous head and heart

If the bitch things hadn't happened to us , I won't care how dark the bitch China is . I hope my family and friends can live peacefully as you do . But all our family members were driven mad in the past, and worse now .

FYI

The Beijing bitches of our housing zone is from the worldwide famous Chinese No.1 University, the TSING HUA University ( I thought the No.1 should be the Peking University instead ) , which is the service company of our housing zone . They SERVICE us here by terrorism only since they have power as the government leaders .

Our house is new and the housing zone is new as well , I stand out organizing our House Owner Committee, asking our neibours to sign for this committee in our house , hoping to contribute something to our housing zone future . This enraged our Housing Service company , the HuaQingWuYe . Thus they arranged a dog to bite my mother !
And they note the Police to threat us , they send more than 100 bitches to our house , one by one , almost every day , to threat and disturb us , they use more than one year to arrange a complot to our Shenzhen company , they sent an agent provocateur to our company , and ask the supplier to send copied products to our company once we have new order from customers, that agent provocateur's name was also shown in the bitch sentence files , his name is Ye ZhiXuan. He has " worked " in our company for one week till all our clerks were put into prison by a secret abduction in the middle sudden night of May 21st., 2007 !

The bitch government clerks had also rob all our computers, 7pcs computer towers and 2pcs notebooks that night, as well as many goods , piratical or non-piratical !

I ask for help worldwide .
And the Beijing bitches threats to kill me .
And the Beijing bitches finally abducted me into the Shenzhen prison the same way as they did to our company clerks , on Jul. 13th., 2007 .

We were tortured into half-death by their bitch way in the bitch prison , you can't bear . You can only pray the earth to blast and kill all the bitches for you .

4 persons of a family , including a cousin , in prison , not knowing alive or dead , can you bear ?
No one of the bitch Chinese government do anything to punish their bitches and pay for their bitch actions to us till now , though I'm still asking for help worldwide !

Dear GeGe , if you still think such a bitch government is hopeful , please type out all the documents in the "http://www.firstsing.com/news_8.htm
http://www.firstsing.com/sue2007.rar "
and send to the highest court of the bitch China through the address below :

最高人民法院立案庭东城区东交民巷27号100745 85256114
The Registry Court of The Highest Court of China , Building No.27, DongJiaoMinXiang, east city zone, Beijing, China
Zip 100745 , Tel. 86 010 85256114

Don't say it's my idea .
We don't know whether the bitches will do next . They are stakeouting all our family members and friends every day .
If we can't do anything to save ourselves , they might kill all of us by their bitch way sooner or later .

Please help identify this childhood book.

0.0.0 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:58:27 -0800

Please help identify this childhood book. I'm 90% sure it was english, otherwise it could have been written in spanish. The book was wider than tall, probably 15" by 10", very colourful but dark and weird at the same time. The only page i remember is one where s the main character is walking through a cave or forest and all these very interesting animals/creatures looking at him. (I think there's also page with just eyes surrounding him in the dark). The creatures are oddly drawn and very interesting and it was scary if anything. I believe this was a hand-me-down but eitherway I had it late 80's early 90's. I know the details are vague but i'm just hoping someone out there can bring me to peace. Thankyou

Oh my god it burns -- but not in the right place...

Anonymous — Thu, 01 May 2008 07:54:31 -0800

My tongue tingles when I have the urge to urinate. Is this normal? Really folks, this is a serious question. I'm a relatively healthy woman in my early 20's and I've been experiencing this phenomenon for as long as I can remember. I asked a doctor about this once many years ago and my concerns were more or less blown off. I haven't really wanted to bring it up again for fear of seeming like a hypochondriac. Is there something horribly wrong with my nervous system or is this within the range of normal?

Help me find this website with a collection of odd, bizarre medical cases

ArchBr — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:59:07 -0800

Help me find this website with a collection of odd, bizarre medical cases Years ago I came upon his website that had a massive collection of the most bizarre, incredible cases in medical history. Most were very old, cases that happened tens of years ago, before there were all these advanced exams and resources. The cases were separated by nature, like birth/delivery, extra limbs, cerebral, etc.

Any of you seen this site around the web lately?

Laptop Shopping Question Oddities

franklen — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:23:40 -0800

I am looking to buy my first ever laptop. What I would like to know are the following oddities that I haven't gotten much info on yet: 1) Is there typically a time of year when companies all roll out there new systems? And I might be able to take advantage of sales on new systems, or on year old systems? 2) It doesn't seem like Bluetooth is available on very many midrange systems based on my initial scans, do I really need Bluetooth or just want it (for cell phone interaction now, other components in the future perhaps). 3) Are Intel processors really that much better than AMD, or is the extra money to spend on them not the best value? 4) If all I am concerned about is speed, does Vista really slow a new system down a whole lot to be concerned? (I have been borrowing a friend's from his business after I lost my desktop, but he needs it back for IT to update on yearly schedule, and is 4 states away, so time to bite the bullet and buy my own). I am not here really to ask which is the best laptop for me, I am familiar with specs that I would like to get such as 1.6-2.0 GHz processor, 1 GB ram, 100+GB hard drive, etc (I likely will fluctuate with these based on prices, am looking to spend around $1,000). But these 4 questions have been bugging me.

Surely there's weirdness in NE PA?

killerinsideme — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 19:45:33 -0800

Some weekend this January or maybe February my boyfriend and I will be making our way from our home in Philly to Stroudsburg, PA to partake in some indoor go-karting activities (as a belated Xmas gift for him), and to get the hell out of town to a destination other than relatives. It's a bit of a hike and, like I said, we need to get out of the city for a bit. If we tried to make a weekend of it, is there some offbeat stuff we could do as we make our way along 476N to Allentown, 78E past Bethlehem to Easton, and 209N to Stroudsburg (and back)? I mean goofy museums, odd shopping, strange places to stay, weird photo ops. I saw a billboard for an Unclaimed Freight store and I'm checking roadsideamerica.com, but I'm not coming up with much as you can see and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Weird phone numbers showing up on my cell phone caller ID

parilous — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:04:49 -0800

There are weird phone numbers showing up on my caller ID - what's going on? What should I do about it? (I've already called Verizon about this, but they had no information.) The past two days I have received:
* 7 calls from: 233-242-248101
* 6 calls from: 01

The phone rings/vibrates only once, as if I had received a txt message. They take place between 1-2 minutes apart. I have received three "sets" of these calls -- 9am (MST) yesterday, 11am (MST) yesterday, and 1pm (MST) today. My cell is an LG, but I doubt that makes any difference.

I have googled the number and it looks like it may be an international call, possibly coming from Ghana, and likely connected to a calling scam. I don't know how to stop these calls, but have been assured that no minutes are being deducted if I don't answer. I guess what I'm worried about is whether or not my phone is being hacked (or something similarly nefarious). What's going on, should I worry about it, and how should I take care of it?

Very strange art?

pdb — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 16:42:46 -0800

What on earth is this thing? I saw this one in London, at the top of the pedestrian subway on the south side of the Westminster Bridge. I also saw similar small mosaics in other parts of London, and also in Paris.

Are they just incredibly random graffiti, or do they actually relate to each other and/or mean something? They're pretty cool, either way, I'm just not sure what they are exactly...

he said/she said

mustcatchmooseandsquirrel — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 08:04:21 -0800

Looking for good books with alternating narration. In the same style as Rules of Attraction or The People of Paper or Theft.

Kind of like Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World or Robber Bride

I would prefer to find books more like the first three examples than the latter two.

Recommendations?

Parade of Oddities

strangeleftydoublethink — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 11:11:50 -0800

I'm looking for examples for odd festivals, parades, and events that fall outside the norm of the usual holiday and gov't sanctioned events, but that happen on a regular basis, primarily annually. One example is the May Day parade in Minneapolis.

My mac has a black box

floanna — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 09:03:52 -0800

How can I get rid of a static odd translucent black box on my mac user account? Picture of it here I think that it's possibly a widget that's gone wonky? I've not got any widgets open but my mate who has another profile on my mac says it's similar in size and location of a widget he had open (now closed). I can't click on it at all and if I do, it just clicks on whatever is underneath it.

Does anyone have a clue about how to get rid of it or what it is?? I've restarted a few times to see if it dissapears but to no success.

I'm odd enought already thank you very much!

clubfoote — Wed, 31 May 2006 12:53:32 -0800

Help!I think I'm "catching" a nervous tic. How can I stop this before it gets out of hand? Background:
I work in an open office with 6 others, not cramped but not overly spacious either. The co-worker who sits infront of me has a tic where he shakes his head back and forth from side to side, in a look right, look left motion. Its not constant, but still at least a few times a day. I noticed it immediately, and kind of smirked to myself, but otherwise it didn't bother me. I've been here about a month, and today I did it!

I know that its not contagous in the classic sense, so how can I avoid doing this regularly, since obviously the power of suggestion has started to take hold.

Whoop whoops?

geekhorde — Mon, 15 May 2006 00:01:48 -0800

Is there a name for the type of vocal 'whoop'ing that sometimes happens at some dance parties or raves or somesuch, where the audience will all yell out 'whoop' or 'whoop whoop' in time with the music? Bonus cool points for recommending songs that actually have samples of said whooping in them.

Where do I get a bra that's in-between 2 bra sizes?

anonymoose — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 13:16:56 -0800

Is there some place that sells odd-numbered bra sizes? (37C, for example?) So 36C is too tight, and 38B is too loose. Is there a 37B somewhere out there? Anyone tried such a seller and was happy?

Maybe teach them to bark and glue fur on the sides?

muddylemon — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 06:23:02 -0800

Have any interesting ideas about what to do with some extra PCs? I have a couple extra computers that don't do anything but stub my toes. A couple are older, but ok - around pIII, 256-512 memory, 60gb hard drives, etc. I've thought of just building a web server out of one, maybe attaching some web cams to another for a makeshift security outfit - but that seems boring. They're not powerful enough to be decent media servers. Any ideas?

Make Money The Odd Way

divabat — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 19:08:19 -0800

Interesting entrepreneurial ventures - what are some unique and quirky ways that people have used to make money? The ones I've heard:
Million Dollar Homepage
Selling stories on the street

Any others?

name changes

Hands of Manos — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 18:43:04 -0800

My wife wants the oddest gift for xmas this year, to legally change her name. We live in the state of Georgia and she said if I can gather up all the documentation on how to do it, she'd do the rest. Has anyone had experience with this? Is it difficult? Where do I start?

Strangely-colored fruits and veggies

oflinkey — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 21:08:50 -0800

What fruits and vegetables do you know of that come in "odd" colors? I know that parsnips look rather like white carrots. I have seen and eaten purple sweet potatoes, but I have to admit the purple and the white peppers were new to me. And then the black radish!
What other fruits and vegetables (or any other fresh foodstuffs, really) come in a "traditional" color and a "non-traditional" color(s)?

Is Zero odd or even

Phatty Lumpkin — Sat, 03 Jul 2004 21:37:00 -0800

The Number Zero: odd, even, or neither?