Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with soft

Are there any soft/plush hotel beds in Seattle?

Leenie — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:32:15 -0800

Just had an uncomfortable stay in Seattle on a firm hotel bed. Heading back in two weeks and need a better bed. My wife and I just returned from a stay in Seattle. We stayed at a nice hotel with a firm bed. I had the worst night of sleep in my life. (No exaggeration). The longest stretch I was able to sleep for was 90 minutes or so. I was normally waking up every 10 to 30 minutes.

She likes a firm bed and slept ok on it.

At home she has her side of our sleep number bed set to 75, my side is set to 40. I think the hotel bed was a 80-90 setting.

The sleep number beds at the Radisson hotel chain are not very comfortable. I think they are a much lower end model than the one we have. The Temprapedic beds are not comfortable at all. Everypart of my body that is in the material when I sleep, sweats. That is not an option.

We will be going back in two weeks and I would like to sleep better. Most hotels we stay at have firm or very firm beds. Does anybody know of a hotel in the Seattle area that has soft/plush beds? Are there any chains that have some in some rooms in their hotels?

Convertible with top - Lock the doors, or leave them unlocked?

rinogo — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 08:54:59 -0800

Loss prevention in a convertible with soft top - Lock the doors, or leave them unlocked? I recently heard an interesting loss prevention technique for convertible owners. Lock anything of any value away in a secure location within the car, and leave the doors unlocked. That way, a thief won't slash your $500 top to get into your car and realize there's nothing there. Just leave the doors open, and they'll look inside, realize there's nothing to be stolen, and take off.

Does this sound like a reasonable course of action to you guys?

Cookie Question

shadowfelldown — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:25:22 -0800

Why does putting a couple pieces of bread in a sealed container of cookies keep the cookies soft while the bread goes hard? Nana brought us soft chocolate chip cookies and there was hard bread in the tupper ware. She explained that it kept the cookies soft. WHY.

Why do the cookies have a stronger hold on their moisture than the bread? Couldn't the bread suck out the cookies moisture? Why dont they suck out each others moisture equally? Who thought of this? How? If I put english muffins in there, what will happen?

A Certain Kind of Beauty

divabat — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:25:39 -0800

I'm trying to cultivate a certain kind of beauty in life - something exemplified by the likes of Dumbo feather, pass it on and Keri Smith's blog. Where else can I find such beauty? This would be a hard thing to put into words, but essentially I found that I'm tired of the rat-race, having to promote myself every second, get to the top life that I've lived for the past few years. I want to take it slow. I'm also tired of having to define myself by what I do - I'd rather just be me, regardless of my job description.

I'm imagining this new state of mind in pictures - sunsets, blowing dandelion puffs, free and floating, soft and gently. Almost bohemian. Peaceful, somewhat magical, doing good for the world by sharing peaceful vibes.

I'm looking for people, media, resources, etc that inspire that sort of beauty.

Dumbo Feather is an Australian mook that interviews 5 people about their lives per issue - what I loved about it (aside from the great writing) was that while their interviewees did all sorts of interesting things, they weren't defined by their job. Rather, the interviews showcased how they saw and moved in the world. Similarly, this post from Keri Smith affected me deeply as it sums up how I feel, and I find her blog inspiring in the same way.

What else could I read, see, do? Does anyone understand the type of beauty I'm trying to reach out to? What else (or who else) exemplifies that beauty for you?

How should I build temporary, attractive walls/dividers on the cheap in my basement?

drinkspiller — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:24:24 -0800

How should I build temporary, attractive walls/dividers on the cheap in my basement? These paper soft walls look great, are flexible and temporary, but cost a small fortune. Looking for an alternative I could simply and cheaply set up myself to block off a 13'x13' section as a "room". The basement is unfinished, dry, with concrete outer walls and wood joists in the ceiling.

How to harden the fuck up already

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:45:43 -0800

I feel too much. Help me stop. Background: I’m middle-aged, healthy with no hormonal imbalances and non-theist. I have reasonable self-esteem. I’m not depressed (have been before, so I know the difference.) I find my overwhelming emotions make my life unpleasant. This is not new. It’s always been this way. I’ve done cognitive behaviour therapy , successfully I believe. I understand about automatic negative self talk etc. Yes, I’ve been to psychologists – they seem to think I’m fine.

Most of the time, my rational side which is saying, “okay, you’re upset about this, but it’s no big deal” can’t win over my emotional side which is saying “oh god, it hurts, make it stop.” I find myself unable to focus on my tasks, even if I’m successful in not thinking about the event that precipitated these feelings. Sometimes, I feel so bad, I want to be sick. Even after I’ve resolved the issue successfully, I have this ball of anxiety in my stomach.

For the most part, this battle remains internal. Colleagues and family usually have no idea that I’m devastated. But it affects my life in that I don’t really want to involve myself in activities that involve other people because of the risk I (my feelings) will be hurt. I also avoid (necessary) conflict and when I do engage, my internal reaction is often disproportionate to the matter.

Some things that upset me include a mildly negative review of my work, being misunderstood in a conversation, the potentiality for making someone else upset, people on askme calling me unkind things. I know it’s ridiculous. I know I’m acting like a special little snowflake. I know everybody deals with disappointment and disapproval on a daily basis without freaking out. I don’t want to be like this. I want to be able to shrug off these things, like you do. I don’t want to care. I’d rather not use drugs, if there’s any alternative.

Help me stop feeling so much. If I can’t stop it, how can I make it less intrusive?

How do you make new bed sheets soft?

asuh — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:33:43 -0800

I received a gift of a 500 thread count sheet set. I've always been under the impression that the higher the thread count, the softer and more durable the sheets are. These sheets, however, are not soft. They are noisy, wrinkle easily, and don't feel very pleasant. Since I don't have the receipt to return them, what can I do to make them feel better? I've already washed them twice and used fabric softener sheets in the drier but with no success.

Sitting on a goldmine?

777 — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 14:52:07 -0800

Why does my bread become *hard* when stale, yet my crackers (graham, oreos) become *soft* when stale?

How do I reprogram my samsung phone's soft keys?

buybelen — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 08:58:06 -0800

How do I reprogram my samsung phone's soft keys? I just purchased a Samsung t509 and I love it. But I was wondering if it was possible to reprogram my soft keys.

For example, my right soft key is set to T-zones (tmobile internet) and I would like to reprogram this key to go to my message inbox instead.

Is there a way to do this???

Thanks

ID the song that uses this synth loop sample

intermod — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 20:42:18 -0800

Identify what current song uses this synthesizer loop from a 20-year-old song. One of the WREK shows that I listen to religiously is Personality Crisis, which airs on Sunday nights 10pm-12am (but I never listen live, going with the on-demand archive instead). This week the DJ played an old song by Soft Verdict which I hadn't heard before but which is built around a synthesizer loop that I immediately recognized from a more current song. I can't place it, but the current song starts with the same loop (sampled) and then, as I recall, breaks into short segments of slow tempo rock drums with lots of stop/start dynamics (which causes it to rawk). The original has no drums.

You can hear what I'm talking about as follows:
Step 1a. Go to the 128 kbps mp3 stream playlist and then skip to the 3rd chunk (Sun2300).
or
Step 1b. Download the 30 minute show segment of interest (28 MB)
then
Step 2: fast forward to the 16:30 mark (in the 30:00 minute chunk)

It might not be a very current song. I'm thinking it might be Amon Tobin from a few years ago, or perhaps something from NinjaTune. Anyone?

Soft drink fonts/free vector-based maps

blueshammer — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 15:41:15 -0800

Two seemingly unrelated design/illustration questions: 1. What are some of the fonts that have associated with soft drink companies have used over the years? I realize those logos are hand-drawn, but some, like that for New Coke, seem to have clear typeface antecedents. 2. Where can I find vector-based maps of various states? Specifically, North Dakota. Ideally, the map would be both the state's borders as well as its rivers, or at least its major rivers. More detail, like county lines and so forth, is better than less detail so long as it's a vector image with layers. Also, ideally it would be free.

Home Lighting Filter

ParisParamus — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 16:16:37 -0800

Why do incandescent light bulbs make my pale yellow walls look completely white? I recently painted the walls of my apartment a pale yellow with a green undertones (B.Moore's Stanhope Yellow). The walls look wonderful in natural light, but when the room is lit with incandescent soft white lamp light placed near a wall, said wall turns almost white (and turns completely white with a GE Reveal light bulb); the wall ~12 feet away from the light source remains the desired yellow. This whitening effect is less so with halogen lighting.

Since daylight is brighter than the incandescent lighting, what is going on here, and how can I avoid the "white-out" effect? And why would a bright halogen light source, halogen known for being very white light, not whiten the walls?