I can't get Unicode character 0CAO -- which is a part of
a popular emoticon-based meme -- to correctly display in Firefox, despite, as far as I can tell, having the necessary fonts installed on the system. A picture speaks a thousand words, so:
These are my Firefox font settings.
This is how
this page looks in Firefox.
This is how it looks in Safari.
This page suggested I needed Arial Unicode MS (which
appears to already be part of the Mac OS X operating system?). I also installed a Kannada font from
here. No go. Any ideas? It's not so much that I really love the meme; moreso that I really detest seeing those Unicode boxes pop up everywhere on God's green Earth when the character fails to display in Firefox.
posted by WCityMike
on Jun 23, 2010 -
4 answers
Looking for two Firefox abilities: is there a Firefox extension that lets you select multiple tabs and move them to a new window with one action? And is there a Firefox extension that lets you merge bookmark folders?
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posted by WCityMike
on Apr 30, 2010 -
4 answers
Beginning this week, I will start using a Windows XP notebook as my home computer; to date my personal computers have been Macs. I've done some preliminary research as to Windows alternatives to programs, but I'd appreciate three areas of people's suggestions: (i) general tips for owning a Windows machine as your home machine; (ii) specific tips for people migrating from a Mac to a Windows machine; and (iii) critiques and/or alternate suggestions for Windows alternatives to the Mac programs I've used.
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posted by WCityMike
on Mar 21, 2010 -
23 answers
My internal hard drive died, and new purchases are out of the question for a while. Wondering about the drive lifespan of the LaCie d2 Quadra that is my bootable backup.
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posted by WCityMike
on Mar 13, 2010 -
18 answers
Free Enterprise (1998): Robert: "She's a hot little spicy salsa number." 15 minutes, 13 seconds into the film. Who is he doing an impression of? If not a particular person, what archetype or accent?
posted by WCityMike
on Feb 5, 2010 -
9 answers
At some point in the future, I'd like to follow the recommendations of some various sites I've seen online and scan most of my paper archives to PDF. It looks like
this would be the best solution (I'm a Mac user) – or, at least, that's the device I've seen recommended a few million times. However, I really can't see having the discretionary $417+ to purchase this device, not for a very, very long time. Does anyone offer this device for rental? (I live in Chicago.) Is there a
RipDigital equivalent for this kind of thing (a
very long time ago, they did the initial move of my music from CDs to MP3s)? Are there cheaper alternatives that are
just as good?
posted by WCityMike
on Nov 21, 2009 -
10 answers
How do you multiply probability across multiple chances? Let's say that every time you roll a die, you have a one-in-six chance of having five come up. What math would you perform to come up with the probability of five coming up at some point with the dice being rolled two times? Three? Five? Ten? (I'm using dice as a shorthand here: the actual probability figure I'm working with is 24%.)
posted by WCityMike
on Sep 16, 2009 -
15 answers
Whenever I listen to National Public Radio, I occasionally come across a news segment or op-ed by Daniel Schorr (he can be listened to
here, and
here's his Wikipedia article). I don't understand why, but his voice drives me up one wall and down the other. Why?
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posted by WCityMike
on Aug 24, 2009 -
32 answers
Something that's always had me a bit curious: how is what's happening to the breasts of the female skydivers in
this image that's circulated around the 'Net (NSFW) even anatomically possible?
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posted by WCityMike
on Aug 3, 2009 -
11 answers
I was watching
the Chumbawumba "Tubthumping" video, and while it's obvious that most of the women in the bathroom scenes are men in drag, I wasn't so sure about one: am I right in saying that the woman we see mouthing to "pissing the night away", "oh, Danny boy, Danny boy", and "don't cry for me, next door neighbor" is the lead singer in drag?
posted by WCityMike
on Jul 26, 2009 -
4 answers
Could someone explain to me two references I don't get? In
Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog, Billy receives a letter from "Dead, Not Sleeping" (
clip). Is that a reference to something? Also, in the
Total Eclipse of the Heart "literal" video I
posted to Mefi, there's a lyric that says: "And I've joined the Glee Club of the Damned (reference joke!)" (
clip). What's "Glee Club of the Damned" a reference to? I presume it's a reference to
something since they outright say it is ...
posted by WCityMike
on Jul 4, 2009 -
20 answers
Does formal, or politely euphemistic, language exist by which, early on in the job-hunt process, you can make sure you and a potential employer aren't considering salary ranges that are half a planet apart?
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posted by WCityMike
on Jun 12, 2009 -
8 answers
Looking for a Twitter client with very specific certain requirements. Does it exist?
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posted by WCityMike
on Apr 21, 2009 -
6 answers
I'm looking for mottos, slogans, or quotes that are short enough to be easily remembered, that are meant to spur someone to take
action towards their goals, and/or that warn against overthinking and overplanning and staying in your head – in other words, that laud the merits of action over thought. I've already thought of "just do it" (which is the precise sentiment I'm looking for), but it is
so overplayed that it doesn't have much meaning any longer. Any sentiment of any length is appreciated, but ideally it would be something that easily sticks in your mind.
posted by WCityMike
on Apr 3, 2009 -
81 answers
I have a podcast that downloads as multiple segments over multiple days. Its format arrives as YYYYMMDD_showcode_segment.mp3; so, for example, one download might result in files as 20090323_goofa_01.mp3 through 20090323_goofa_21.mp3, and also
within the same download 20090324_goofa_01.mp3 through 20090324_goofa_21.mp3. What I'm looking for is a Unix script (shell, perl, what have you) that would look at a directory and look at what dates are represented there, and let me join all of the segments together by day. I can use mpgtx -j to do the actual joining; I'm looking for the code that would let the script determine what dates are in the directory and then get each day's segments united into a single MP3 for that day's show.
posted by WCityMike
on Mar 25, 2009 -
5 answers
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act helps unemployed people with their COBRA payments in two ways: it subsidizes 65% of their payments, and because this lower price makes it affordable for many who couldn't before, it allows people who didn't elect for COBRA the first time a second chance to elect for coverage. I was laid off on October 24, and I
did elect for coverage on January 28. But I haven't paid yet. The grace period for payment ends in a few days, on Saturday — it has to either be paid online or postmarked by then. If I were to
not pay, would I be given the same second chance as those who didn't elect the first time around — the difference being that I would have elected, but not paid? It's a substantial financial difference for me. A little bit more inside.
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posted by WCityMike
on Mar 11, 2009 -
3 answers
I'm writing a shell script to take a webpage and convert it into a text file. I'd appreciate tips as to how to store URLs, save the file with the URL's title as its name, and also just general tips as to how to improve the script and/or achieve the process better. Specific questions inside.
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posted by WCityMike
on Jan 30, 2009 -
17 answers
Semantic question: When initially proposing a "getting to know you" predate, the common invitation is to go get some coffee or to go get a drink. If you don't enjoy coffee or alcohol
(yet), what alternate phrase can you use that doesn't sound weird? "Get a soda" sounds like "let's go get a malted!", and proposing "getting a drink" and then not drinking alcohol yourself can be
problematic — and engaging in even a one- or two-sentence-long explanation about how you don't drink takes the question's tone away from casual and into "sounds complicated-neurotic" territory.
posted by WCityMike
on Jan 17, 2009 -
47 answers
Is the presentation of a choose-item-from-multiple-choices-presented menu possible to implement into a Javascript bookmarklet?
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posted by WCityMike
on Dec 29, 2008 -
3 answers
Is there a Firefox extension, or Mac app that can work with what is currently on Firefox, which will export the current webpage as a PDF file that is not paginated and reproduces the screen appearance, such as what Saft's "Export PDF" feature offers for Safari?
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posted by WCityMike
on Dec 1, 2008 -
6 answers
There are two beverages that nearly every American adult seems to like, but I dislike both: coffee and beer. I would like to develop a taste for both of them. For morning caffeine, coffee's free at most workplaces whereas pop isn't; and beer is a cheap mood alterer; but more importantly, both are social lubricants, one that isn't achieved by drinking a soda while others get either awake, buzzed or drunk. It's been a while since I had either, but remembering the tastes, I think it's that I dislike the bitterness in each drink.
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posted by WCityMike
on Nov 15, 2008 -
56 answers
I could use people's advice as to finding out the most likely future of our economy, how to come out of a period of unemployment proud as to how I used my time, and how to best prepare for the worst.
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posted by WCityMike
on Nov 2, 2008 -
6 answers
Why do medical insurers treat obesity different than other vices? Not a GYOB (I've got one); I literally don't understand the facts of the situation.
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posted by WCityMike
on Oct 20, 2008 -
20 answers
You've moved to a town very remote from any of your established social circles: you have no best nor casual friends nor any romantic relationships. You go into one or more meetings of utter strangers with whom you know you share some common interest (OneBrick, a Mefi meetup, a Meetup.Com thing, or something else entirely). What do you do — specifically, pretend I've got Asperger's here (no offense to those who do) — to take things from the level of "just an amiable conversation" to an actual friendship?
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posted by WCityMike
on Sep 25, 2008 -
27 answers
What are the underlying processes occurring during an orgasm that are the biological causes of the pleasurable sensation we associate with it? Is the sensation of orgasm a function of the nervous system, or is it something neurochemical in the brain, or both, or neither? Is the reason that certain masturbatory and/or sexual acts feel good because of nerve concentration in the erogenous areas, or is it something different or more in nature?
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posted by WCityMike
on Sep 2, 2008 -
9 answers
I'd honestly like to know why half of America voted for George W. Bush in 2000: what their reasoning was.
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posted by WCityMike
on Aug 25, 2008 -
100 answers
I am a Mac owner who bought
Hazel, an application that will do a number of different tasks to your files based on certain rules. (Think of it as Outlook rules for your Mac desktop.) However, I've really found myself stumped as to what to
do with it, and it's basically just been sitting on my machine unused. If you have it, what do you do with it? If you don't have it or have a Windows machine, do you have any good ideas for rule logic, or automated rules, to apply to files on your desktop, anyway? Looks like it'll auto-run AppleScripts and Unix shell scripts, too. Basically looking to tap other people's minds on this one since my own seems to be balking at this particular mental problem. Thanks.
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posted by WCityMike
on Jul 31, 2008 -
8 answers
Consistently, every single time I come home, my cat will come over to a particular corner of my desk -- I need not be sitting at it or indeed be anywhere near it -- and meow while
faux-scratching it. He occasionally will stretch his back after the scratch, but not always. It's extremely cute, and he's such an affectionate cat that I'm even kind of touched by it. But I suppose I find myself curious as to what the gesture breaks down to. I'm assuming it's a greeting, since he repeats it without fail every time I come home after being out for more than a few minutes, but I suppose I'm curious as to what the action signifies. I doubt it's totally random, but I can't quite figure out what "animal world" thing he would be doing by that particular pattern.
posted by WCityMike
on Jul 23, 2008 -
11 answers
I recently switched over to a plain text file as my to-do list; I can structure it the way I want, it is an absolute cinch to access in any one of a hundred zillion different ways, it's crossplatform, and so on. However, I am running into one methodology I can't figure out how to translate into the "plain text" world, and that is repeating tasks.
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posted by WCityMike
on Jul 7, 2008 -
23 answers
I would like to know a few things about withdrawing (not loaning, but flat-out
withdrawals) from 401(k) funds.
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posted by WCityMike
on Jun 26, 2008 -
4 answers
How can I best set up a question regarding furniture rearrangement (in terms of spatially rearranging things, with measurements) on the Internet, and is Ask Mefi the best source or are there other communities that would be better? Are there Flash tools that let you post furniture floorplans and let others come and rearrange things? Alternatively, for advice simply on arrangement of furniture, how much might a professional's advice be, and would an interior decorator be the profession to turn to? (Do they still call themselves interior decorators? It seems a '70s term.)
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posted by WCityMike
on Jun 11, 2008 -
12 answers
I'm a very overweight man in my early to mid-thirties, and I would appreciate your advice as to how to dress in a way that's complementary to me for social situations (such as going to clubs, bars, lectures, etc.). More inside.
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posted by WCityMike
on May 23, 2008 -
27 answers
Is there a way that I can access some very old PDF files that are encrypted with a password I cannot remember any longer? I have a system running Mac OS X (Leopard), and I do need to do the decryption myself.
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posted by WCityMike
on May 16, 2008 -
12 answers
I recently bought a Sonicare. I like how it makes my teeth feel cleaner than they had been, and anecdotal evidence from others suggests it's going to help my gums. But I really can't figure out how the toothpaste works with this thing.
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posted by WCityMike
on May 7, 2008 -
10 answers
Are there alternatives to the lotus position for classic meditation that don't leave the back unsupported? I've found that sitting in an unsupported position, or in a chair that doesn't have a seat back, ends up making my back ache rather strongly. I've thought about investigating meditation (and looking into the more classical, early practices), but have wondered if there's a "kosher" (accepted in the discipline) way of doing the more classical meditations while having your back completely supported (by lying on the ground, or doing it in a chair, or what have you).
posted by WCityMike
on Apr 24, 2008 -
17 answers
Is there a Firefox extension — preferably a Firefox 2 extension — that will alter Firefox's copying behavior so that, when you copy something, it is copied to the clipboard (or pasted from the clipboard) as its HTML, instead of plain text?
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posted by WCityMike
on Mar 27, 2008 -
4 answers
I'm primarily looking for the most complete iCalendar out there that catalogs Chicago activities and goings-on; secondarily, I'm looking for cool iCalendars in general.
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posted by WCityMike
on Mar 12, 2008 -
10 answers
In many places throughout the country, you often hear a eight-note melody played prior to church bells tolling the hour. Can you help me identify it?
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posted by WCityMike
on Mar 5, 2008 -
18 answers
A medication pill has dropped on the floor and seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. I'm concerned for my cat.
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posted by WCityMike
on Feb 26, 2008 -
30 answers
Mefites, help me be clever yet immature on the playground of our lives. I need to know how to more effectively tell someone he's a boogerhead.
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posted by WCityMike
on Jan 30, 2008 -
62 answers
A keystroke is misbehaving on Firefox with the del.icio.us Complete extension, and I'm at a loss as to how to debug the problem.
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posted by WCityMike
on Jan 18, 2008 -
2 answers
I have a cat who is a wonderful and well-behaved affectionate little guy in most respects. He has an annoying compulsion I don't know how to cure: he loves to eat toilet paper and Kleenex.
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posted by WCityMike
on Jan 4, 2008 -
16 answers
There are gay bars, lesbian bars, and leather bars. Are there "geek bars"? In geek culture, what institution, meeting, or whatever serves the purpose that "meat market" single bars do amongst the non-geeky populace?
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posted by WCityMike
on Dec 17, 2007 -
50 answers
How do places where precise timekeeping is essential handle the repeat of an hour when we go off Daylight Savings Time?
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posted by WCityMike
on Nov 6, 2007 -
11 answers
Many adjectives used to describe overweight men in a nonoffensive manner can also be used to describe muscular men (
i.e. stout, beefy, etc.). What are some adjectives that describe, with a positive or neutral connotation, the state of being both male and overweight, but that are not used (or at least not
commonly used) to describe muscular men as well?
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posted by WCityMike
on Oct 10, 2007 -
52 answers
I would basically like to rip off, wholesale, some command-line script which will provide me a countdown -- only in days. No years, months, minutes, or seconds. Unfortunately, adapting an existing script is beyond my ken.
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posted by WCityMike
on Sep 27, 2007 -
5 answers
