Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with tap

What sex is my kitchen tap?

domeheid — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:05:16 -0800

What sex is my kitchen tap? I want to buy an aerator for my kitchen tap to improve the flow of water and make it soft like all those lovely taps in Zurich, Switzerland (it also reduces water consumption by up to 60%), but I don't know which kind to buy: male or female. This website says:

"For taps with a thread on the outside you need a Female Aerator. For taps with the thread on the inside you need a Male aerator."

Here is a picture of my kitchen tap. Does this mean my tap is female? I wouldn't call that a thread and I don't think I could unscrew it.

Safe water

octomato — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:04:59 -0800

Should I drink my tap water? I live in Manhattan. I know the water is great in NYC, but after the city cleaned some pipes near me, the water has been coming out darker.

My doorman said it was a septic pipe (gross), but my neighbor said the water is always dirty here. I live in a very old building, where the pipes where changed in 2004.

I have a Brita filter. Should I just filter it?

PS my mom has been in town and she won't drink tap water in my house.

Thanks!!!

Best Beer Selection in NYC?

Black_Umbrella — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 07:36:03 -0800

I am looking for a place in NYC that is like the RFD in Washington DC. Any beer aficionados know? I am looking for a place that serves a very wide range of beer on tap and in bottle. Small craft breweries, world wide breweries, everything.

Short-term fix for broken tap washer?

hAndrew — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:59:36 -0800

My friend has a broken tap washer, but we can't source a replacement washer tonight. He turned off the mains to stop the water from gushing out. Is there a short term fix that we can apply to the tap-with-no-washer to stop water from coming out of that tap, so that we can turn the mains back on and use water in the rest of the house?

What real life bands/songs sound like Spinal Tap?

EKStickland — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:53:08 -0800

What real-life bands or songs sound like Spinal Tap? I love cheesy metal, and I want more.

Manowar is the "Tappiest" band I've found so far, but I'm sure there are others.

Please illuminate me on some other bands, and if possible specific songs that embody the Spinal Tap mystique.

Turning off double tap

chips ahoy — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:21:43 -0800

Is it possible to turn off "double tap" on my laptop's touchpad under Win XP? I keep accidentally clicking stuff. There's no setting for this in Control Panel > Mouse, and there's no tabletware in the task tray. Maybe there's a registry setting for this?

What does it take to listen in on a GSM phone signal?

micketymoc — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 07:10:44 -0800

Is it possible to listen in on a GSM cell phone conversation? Don't worry, I'm not planning anything illegal. I'm just wondering if a certain service provider's denials are on the level. In our country's elections last 2004, an audio snippet of our President talking to an elections officer made its way to the 'Net.

These days, a senator claims he knows how rogue intelligence agents split the signal to listen in; the service provider's spokesman claims that “special equipment is needed for it and we do not have that. Not just anybody can get that because it is highly restricted equipment (and) presumably very expensive. Whoever did the eavesdropping had access to such equipment, but not us.”

Who's right? The senator, or the spokesman? Let's assume someone actually did manage to tap the President's GSM signal - what did that "someone" do? How difficult is it, really?

I want rhythm, I want music, I want tap class, who can ask for anything more?

mostlymartha — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 17:24:05 -0800

I used to be a dancer. I was never a gifted ballerina, but in recent years, I have come to miss the tap. How do I find a great, easy going, affordable adult tap dancing class in San Francisco? I took ballet, tap, and jazz classes from when I was a wee girl until I was 15. At that point, unlike the girls I'd been taking with for years, it was clear that it wasn't what I wanted to do for forever, so I quite. Lately, I've been looking for a type of exercize that I won't utterly loathe, and I'm thinking tap might be the answer. I was always much better at that than at ballet, and I really used to enjoy it. I've done the standard google poking around, but I'd love specific recommendations or ideas on how to conduct a more focused search. I want a class for adults (and preferably beginners or nigh-beginners) that doesn't cost a ton. Also, I'd rather do classic, choreographed tap than modern "rad tap," unchoreographed, as fast as possible tap.

My tap water tastes flat

SampleSize — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 08:55:15 -0800

Can I make my tap water better, or is it time to get bottled water delivery? I am not happy with my tap water. I have no worries about it being safe to drink, but the taste isn't so good. I have an undersink Omni SFM2 filter, which takes an activated carbon cartridge -- essentially, it's a big Brita. Now, my tap water no longer tastes like it came directly out of a swamp, but it's still not great. I would describe it as dull/flat tasting. Any suggestions for how to improve it?

If not, I'm thinking of starting home water delivery. So, any tips on that would be appreciated as well.

I killed a man on the Mexican border...

hermitosis — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:28:23 -0800

NYC: Should I drink the water? I grew up in a rural setting where tapwater was (presumably) safe and clean. I live in NYC now and routinely shock people when I help myself to their tap. In some specific cases I have accepted their filtered water when told that they have specifically been warned about lead pipes in their building. But in all other cases, I've always been adventurous about the water I drink; I like how it tastes different everywhere you go, and I like learning why (variations in mineral deposit, etc.)

I am cynical about bottled water and filter companies profiting off of people's fears, which I assume to be exaggerated. Also, I drink a lot of water, and so bottled water and filters could wind up being a real expense for me if I am to cave in. On the other hand, I've been living here for 3 years now and am starting to think I should learn more.
Googling turns up an unbelievable and useless amount of info.

So is tap water in NYC "safe" or isn't it? I'd like to hear some real facts, but will settle for suspicions (though I get plenty of those from everyone around me). Do YOU drink the water?

Spinal Tap painting ID.

urbanwhaleshark — Sun, 13 Nov 2005 14:19:12 -0800

Help me identify this painting. It's from the cocktail party scene in Spinal Tap and comprises a diamond tesslalation of different shapes.

(x-posted from mecha)

Click-and-hold for Windows right-click?

kindall — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 10:08:08 -0800

Windows utility that fakes right-click when you left-click-and-hold? I recently got a Fujitsu LifeBook P1510D, a small notebook/tablet convertible laptop. Since it's not a true Tablet PC (the screen is touch-sensitive rather than having an active digitizer) it runs Windows XP Pro instead of XP Tablet. That's fine, as it came with its own handwriting recognition software and EverNote, except for one thing: right-clicking in tablet mode. Since the screen is passive, there's no button on the stylus for that, and since the machine's not running XP Tablet, the tap-and-hold function is not available. Instead, Fujitsu provided a taskbar icon that you tap to switch to "right-click mode" for the next tap. This is exactly as inconvenient as you'd imagine, and it's one of the few things I don't love about the machine. I'd really like to use tap-and-hold or, failing that, find a little program that, when you launch it, converts the next tap to a right-click (then quits) so I can assign it to one of the bezel buttons next to the screen. But if such software is out there, Google's having a hard time finding it, because search phrases like "click and hold" lead to pages about how to enable the function on true Tablet PCs. And you don't want to know how many useless "right click" results there are. Suggestions?

tap-tap-tappity-tap: it ain't what it used to be

humuhumu — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 10:01:59 -0800

Hot tap in kitchen sink; suddenly half the pressure it used to be; turn on, wait twenty seconds, and half pressure becomes all but a drip; all other hot taps in house work a-ok. Washer? Pipe? Tap mechanism? Simple to fix or in need of a plumber?

Spinal Tap style amplifier knobs that go to 11?

internal — Wed, 01 Jun 2005 15:02:14 -0800

Can you help me find Spinal Tap style amplifier knobs that go to 11? A friend's teenage son loves Spinal Tap and my friend wants to get him actual amplifier knobs that go to eleven. I have searched Google and eBay with no success - can the MeFi army assist? BTW, it is a Crate amp.