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I am not nearly young or cool enough to make this happen

msali — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:53:13 -0800

I thought this would be simple, but it isn't. I want to purchase a song as the new ringtone of my At&t Blackberry Pearl, and I have hit all sorts of roadblocks. So the song is Nelly Furtado's "Manos al aire", more specifically, I want JUST the chorus to be my ringtone, and damned if I can't make that happen. I am not particularly web or phone savvy, but somehow in the past, I managed to make "Man of constant sorrow" and "Cigarettes and chocolate milk" as my ringtones. Now I want a song that is one of those chart-toppers, and I can't make it happen without purchasing a subscription! I want to pay my US$ 2.49 and make this happen, but it isn't working, even on the AT&T website (which asks me to enter my type of cellphone, and after I do so, the site just shuts down). Help?!?

Identify THIS laurel wreath

bdoop21 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:42:19 -0800

Can anyone identify this symbol? Italian Resistance, perhaps? A friend was recently killed in a bicycle accident. We are making a memorial for him at the site of his death. This is the tattoo he had on his wrist; it is a defining part of who he was and so we want it to be included on the memorial. From what we understand this is a laurel wreath symbol for the Italian Resistance but none of us have been able to find out for sure what this symbol is.
We have contacted the tattoo artist but he has not returned our calls and yes I can draw the symbol myself from this picture, but it would be nicer if we had the actual symbol.
So if anyone has any idea what this is please let us know. I wish he could just come and tell us..maybe he will, RIP John.

This American Life music IDs needed

grammalvsu — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 04:42:21 -0800

I really dig 3 "interlude" tracks that are played in episodes 35 and 36, but for the life of me can't figure out what they are. I've looked on TAL's online episode guide, which sometimes documents episode music, but not for these ones. I've tried the ol' google the lyrics trick, but nada. So I'm going to MF. Here're extracts of lyrics, and I've also attached clips of each of the songs I pulled from podcasts of the episodes.

#1
"We're riding home upon our horses. I'm sitting side saddle, of course"..
clip

#2
"I saw it lying on the floor, near the door, of my older daughter's room. The letter.....the letter"
clip

#3
"Well I got a letter from baby way back home" x2
"I read that letter. Boy there's something wrong"
clip

Please help me ID these songs! Thanks so much!

Handiman?Handiwoman? Please help me open these 1960's era windows.

pomegranate — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:44:09 -0800

How do I open these aluminum windows from the 60's? The lock has a top-of-window sash component, then a metal ribbon-looking thing, and a screw in the top of the bottom sash. It's a beautiful day here in Houston and I really want to open the windows but I also want to be able to lock the windows again later.
I know my way around some WD-40 and a flat-head screwdriver but I thought I better come here to learn how the locks are supposed to work before I end up accidentally removing them completely.

Thanks for your help!

Name That Movie

whimsicalnymph — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:20:33 -0800

[Oldmoviefilter]: What is this movie? When I was a girl, I saw a movie that (at the time) I found hilarious. I believe the movie was made in the 1950s, maybe 1940s, in color. A woman has relationship problems because every man she falls in love with becomes wildly successful, then dies a tragic death (or leaves her?)?

Then afterward, the men she tells her woes to invariably fall in love with her, and the pattern repeats. She begins to gain more and more riches as a well-to-do widow (one of her husbands was Gene Kelly, as a beatnik entertainer), but all she wants is the simple life.

Finally she marries a farmer, is happy and pleased...then her farmer husband discovers oil.

What is the name of this movie?

Name this children's book and TV series from the 80's

ticktockdoc — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:18:49 -0800

Name this children's book and TV series from the 80's...? It's Lord of the Flies meets Follyfoot. Kinda. Plot: Three (?) children [definitely two boys, maybe a girl too...] are living in their grandfather's/stepfather's/some dude's(?) massive house and estate/lands. For some reason(?) they decide to run away, but instead of actually going anywhere, they instead hide out in the land/forrest of the estate. They manage to hide out there for YEARS, within sight of the massive house all the while. They evade many search parties [something about a hollow tree...?] and it becomes rather Lord of the Flies, with them making clothes out of animals and eventually their escapade ending with one of the boys [dark-haired one] returning home to the big house [can't recall if he rats out the other two]. Maybe the dark-haired kid got sick, so that's why he had to go back...?

This was a book , but was also a TV series shown in the UK in the late 80's with similar production values as 'Famous Five' and 'Follyfoot'. I remember it being full of awesome. The closest I can come to remembering the actual title is: 'The Boys of Brendan Green'. But fruitless Googling and Amazon-ing(?) prove useless.

How to form an alliance with the IRS?

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:37:00 -0800

How do I bust my employer for TAX FRAUD? Yes, my employer is TOTALLY defrauding the government. He runs a retail business (about $15M Gross/year) in California. I have ALL sorts of documentation about not reporting large sums of cash (3-4M during christmas season), all sorts of documentation about where that money is physically kept, and a written discussion about how they get around good accounting.

Yeah, I couldn't believe it either about how open they were about all fraudulent activity. The employers also are HORRIBLE to all the employees...they scare them into subservience. So i want to bust them!

How do I do this? If you're going to refer me to this, yeah, I've been there and done that. I filled out the form, included ALL sorts of relevant info (tax forms, contradicting bank statements, emails, etc, etc.). I did that over a YEAR ago, and still haven't heard back. I also decided to do it with my real name/address/contact info. It wasn't even anonymous, because I knew how ludicrous it would sound to have ALL this concrete info about HUGE fraud. It really is crazy.

I understand that the IRS doesn't really have the time or manpower to investigate "my neighbor claims to use gel ink pens for work. But I see him using it for personal tasks". But this is HUGE. They have been defrauding the IRS for AT LEAST $1M EVERY year for 5+ years.

Anybody have any real advice. If you would prefer not to post on here, please feel free to message me.

Stay awesome, MeFites.

Who's Singing This Gershwin Tune?

dbarefoot — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:05:59 -0800

Who sings the version of "Someone to Watch Over Me" on the latest episode of This American Life? It is incorrectly credited to, uh, Sting, on the TAL website. Between the second and third ‘acts’ of the episode, there’s a nice version of “Someone to Watch Over Me”. On the TAL website, it’s credited to Sting. He has a version of the song but it’s not this one (nor is it nearly as good).

I browsed through iTunes and eMusic, but couldn’t find anything promising. I tried a few Google searches, but unfortunately there’s another episode of TAL named “Someone to Watch Over Me”. In fact, there seems to be some weirdness, because that episode (#269) includes the same ’second act’ as the current episode.

If anybody happens to listen to it (the song is at about 45:30), let me know if you recognize the singer.

Can you explain “this?”

ijoshua — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:58:24 -0800

How do you explain the this object? I was working with a student in Java the other day, and although Java isn’t my lingua franca, I did use it in college about 10 years ago, and I’m comfortable with OOP. But I struggled trying to explain this.

How would you go about explaining the semantics of this for an intro-level student, w/r/t Java specifically?

I love that segment, because it reminds me of myself...

mittenedsex — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 01:19:20 -0800

This American Life Filter: There's an episode where a guy finds out he's a lousy friend I remember hearing an episode of This American Life where a guy finds out through his friends that they really think he's an asshole. I'm not sure if "asshole" was the exact term they used, but he goes on to ask all his other friends and slowly pieces together all the little incidents where he really WAS an asshole and why they might've ignored him in the past. I've searched google + TAL website but can't seem to find it. Help?

Name this TSO song

parilous — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:31:44 -0800

[NameThisSong Filter] Help a friend of mine identify this (badly recorded) live song, performed by Trans-Siberian Orchestra at a Philadelphia concert in 1996. Here is the download link. [mp3, 5.25 MB] She wrote: "Here's the deal - every TSO show is structured pretty much the same way - they perform their whole first CD for the first 1/2 of the show, then they do stuff from the rest of their catalog. After one of the songs, they do a cover of someone else. This year they did Clapton (Layla). Anyway, after the cover, they do this song. It's not one of theirs, and they don't identify it in any way. I've seen some people say it's a jam session/improv piece, but since I've seen them play it at least six times (maybe eight - I see them at least twice a year) and it's virtually the same every time, I'm kind of skeptical that's it. Someone suggested it might be ELP; I definitely hear a kind of 70's thing happening, so that seems credible."

I've already run the file past my music geek friends, to no avail (guesses ranged from elements of Santana, Metallica, David Gilmour, and The Cult], so I appreciate any guesses you have. Thanks!

Help me locate a "This American Life" episode.

zorro astor — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 15:59:45 -0800

Help me find a "This American Life" episode. The narrator found a diary at a yard sale of a woman who lived in Chicago (I believe) and he becomes obsessed about finding out what happened to her. Assorted details: I believe the woman worked at a television factory, she was manic-depressive, and she lived with her sister. The episode appeared around 4 years ago that I can recall.

If anybody can help me, thanks.

what was this horror movie?

santogold — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:20:44 -0800

Please help me remember this movie. I think it was made in the 60's or 70's. The things I remember: It had women that had normal features but later looked really ugly either do to an operation or drugs. There may have been a "mad doctor" involved. It may have been set near "the water". Thanks in advance for helping me remember. I want to watch this movie again no matter how bad it was!

Who are these guys?

Corbienest — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:07:37 -0800

I saw this hilarious music video posted somewhere on myspace that I don't know the name of. Can any of you music buffs possibly identify the band and song for me? It was these two gay guys singing in falsetto. It was in spanish. And they used the word fiesta a lot. I really don't have anything else to go on, but I really need to know who it was. Please help!

Searching for a short story from This American Life

By The Grace of God — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 07:39:47 -0800

I'm searching for a short story from This American Life. It was read at the end of the show and is probably 2 or 3 years old. The story was about a little boy with a superpower of finding lost objects who, at the end of the story, focused the power on himself and discovered that he, too, had strayed from his rightful place.

Starlee Kine

andrewzipp — Fri, 22 Apr 2005 13:56:19 -0800

Is there a picture of Starlee Kine from This American Life on NPR anywhere? For some reason, the faces behind the voices are always a little bit disappointing, but I just can't stand not knowing any longer.

There's only a tiny B&W shot from far behind on the thisamericanlife.org website. I guess I could email them, but I feel kind of weird about it.