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As the sysadmin for a really boring law firm, I feel somehow honor bound to wreak some kind of non-CLM technical havoc at work in honor of April Fools (only on those that can handle it, of course). What have you done/had done to you that brought peals of laughter but didn't get anyone fired or indicted?
posted by vraxoin at 10:50 PM PST - 1 comment

$200 falls into your lap. You can only spend it on something cool for yourself. Perhaps something electronic. Your picks?
posted by mecran01 at 9:25 PM PST - 24 comments

Are dental dams commonly used in the dating scene?
posted by spork at 9:19 PM PST - 8 comments

Why does the head on beer taste like pennies?
posted by tomharpel at 6:37 PM PST - 22 comments

Has anyone here tried out XM radio? After listening to dead air and buffering delays all day today, I figured I might just break down and get an XM radio for my home office to hear Air America Radio and whatever else they may have on the dial. I'm thinking the PC kit looks cheap and I could use my exisiting good-sounding computer speaker setup. So is it worth the ten bucks a month? Are there good selections of indie music on the dial? Anyone tried piping sound to their PC with this kit before?
posted by mathowie at 6:12 PM PST - 6 comments

Does anyone know of some good free collaboration software that runs on Mac AND Windows? VNC and NetMeeting don't have Mac versions.
posted by badstone at 4:48 PM PST - 6 comments

My Mozilla bookmarks are gone! For easy access, I place links to my favorite sites in a toolbar. The bar is still there - it has icons for Home and Bookmarks on the left - but all my links are missing. I didn't delete them, I didn't switch profiles, and I didn't disable them, at least not intentionally. I'm using Mozilla 1.3.1 (yeah, yeah...). I tried dragging a new link to the toolbar, but it didn't show up. What's going on? Where did my links go? How can I get them back?
posted by punishinglemur at 4:08 PM PST - 9 comments

I’m looking for journal articles about the social implications of electronic surveillance in public spaces. [mi] [more inside]
posted by Hegemonic at 1:40 PM PST - 9 comments

What's the best site to backorder a domain name? The one I am interested in expires in early May...
posted by Macboy at 1:10 PM PST - 3 comments

Has Google permanently gone into redirect mode? Seems to me that prior to the redesign, a result link was usually a link directly to the result site, and only occasionally did they go into "link goes to google with a redirect to the search result site" mode. Now it seems like all result links are like that. More inside. [more inside]
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:20 AM PST - 5 comments

Atheists and other non-Christians: Ever have to take an oath in a court of law? How did you deal with it? [More Inside] [more inside]
posted by bondcliff at 11:17 AM PST - 30 comments

Ok, I love Firefox. I have been using it since it came out. The question I have is that every now and then I will go to load a page and it says Cannot Resolve Host. Yet if I open it in IE it loads perfectly fine. Now this wouldn't be that big of a deal if it happened seldomly, however this happens after about 5 minutes of heavy website browsing. All of a sudden NO domain can be reached until I fire up IE first.

I do not have this problem with IE, nor do I get this problem on my mac with Safari or IE Mac. My question is, Did I screw up a setting somewhere in Firefox that it just hangs? Does anyone else suffer from this same problem? And is there a solution? [more inside]
posted by thebwit at 11:07 AM PST - 16 comments

I'm starting a research project on animal pests, and I'm interested in any and all information (and info sources) you may know of...[more inside] [more inside]
posted by gottabefunky at 10:30 AM PST - 4 comments

What does the term "Chicago brick" mean? I Googled and found plenty of references, but no definition. I have heard that it refers to houses done in multi-colored brick, but it may also refer to a certain type of brick. Interested in photos, any info about derivation of the term. Thanks!
posted by GaelFC at 9:46 AM PST - 6 comments

Internet infrastructure: how does the physical infrastructure of the internet cross oceans? Is all of the data transmitted by communications satellites, or are there big-ass intercontinental cables running across the ocean floor? And if there are big-ass intercontinental cables, how are they maintained? [more inside]
posted by COBRA! at 9:06 AM PST - 10 comments

For a radio piece I have to record, I'd like to get a digital recording device that I can hook up to a nice microphone -- something with Flash memory or a hard drive, rather than DAT or minidisc. Can someone recommend one? Some guy at Radio Shack suggested the iPod itself, but it doesn't seem to have a mic jack.
posted by inksyndicate at 8:07 AM PST - 15 comments

OK...I just got in a car accident yesterday. I'm okay, my car is a little screwed. Some guy switched lanes, and i dodged and hit a concrete median, lost control, and shot back across the highway, hitting the lane switcher. A witness says I was trying to pass him in the left hand turning lane (where there was another car). Being that this is Florida and everybody else was a retiree, I got the ticket. I'm going to fight it on the grounds that I couldn't have been doing what the witness said because ITS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for me to be where the other car was at the time.

My questions: Anybody successfully fight a crash citation? Any pointers? Anybody get a police report amended? I don't know what I'm facing here...and yes, I've already contacted a lawyer. I see them Monday.
posted by taumeson at 7:15 AM PST - 13 comments

A question about using Folder Action scripts in Mac OS X and tinkering with them to get them to do what you want. [more] [more inside]
posted by emelenjr at 5:23 AM PST - 8 comments

Win XP pword issue. I'm locked out of my laptop. I don't use it often, and the password expired - it was set to 30 days. Being an idiot, I didn't make written note of the admin password anywhere. Multiple guesses have so far yielded me nothing. I found this site but haven't tried it yet, since I have no access to the Win 2000 cd.

Anyone know how to get in w/o losing all my data and reformatting/re-imaging the thing?
posted by yoga at 5:22 AM PST - 7 comments

I've just bought a CD-Burner from ebay. No maker's mark on it, so how can I tell what model it is? (lots of serial numbers all over it). Also, I need a good CD burning program. Can anyone recommend any free applications? [more inside]
posted by Frasermoo at 2:49 AM PST - 12 comments

I've invented two toys. One is kid-friendly and easy to produce, and the other would require a plastic mold-injection process (so I can't possibly make a mock-up) but rave-kids would go nuts for it.

Obviously - I guess - I can't say what they are, since I'm afraid of people stealing my ideas. What do I do? Should I just email companies and tell them what my ideas are? Will they steal my ideas, or is it company policy to honor the inventor? [more inside]
posted by interrobang at 11:51 PM PST - 13 comments

Who is Jon Stewart imitating when he does that weird voice on the Daily Show? He does it almost every night and I don't really get the joke.
posted by adrober at 8:55 PM PST - 30 comments

MP3 to WMA in OS X, EI.EI.O. I'm looking for some utility to convert MP3s to WMA format under OS X. I have a cheap "MP3" player that will either take some proprietary format of MP3, that will never never ever work under OS X, or takes Windows Media WMA files, no matter what platform. It can run from iTunes, the Terminal, or some magic. Anyone have any ideas? [more inside]
posted by mkelley at 7:56 PM PST - 6 comments

Is it possible to get good color out of an (oldish) laptop LCD? {More Inside} [more inside]
posted by Grod at 6:59 PM PST - 2 comments

I picked up an abandoned Mac Plus on the sidewalk yesterday, for sentimental reasons. It boots, expecting a floppy. I haven't tried booting it fully yet, but it should work. The screen is wonky, but fixable.

Anyhow, I need to locate a mouse and keyboard, since it lacks them - and it predates ADB (which I do have). Is there an easy (and cheap) source for this, or should I just prowl computer "junk" stores and thrift stores?
posted by O9scar at 5:47 PM PST - 11 comments

I have a bunch of American coinage (quarters, dimes, etc.) and I sure as hell don't want to count and roll it all. Do you know of a company or service that converts change to paper money for a small percentage? Bonus points for outlets in San Francisco. [more inside]
posted by squirrel at 2:53 PM PST - 17 comments

Oddball question about diet/exercise and weightloss.
(More inside, obviously) [more inside]
posted by anastasiav at 1:52 PM PST - 12 comments

Small Business Owners: Any experience with Quickbooks or related software? Pros/Cons one system vs. another? How about the various 'point of sale' systems avaible, which might you suggest to a retail business about to start?
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 1:41 PM PST - 11 comments

How do permanent creases (not the sewn-in ones) in pants stay permanent? [more inside]
posted by rhapsodie at 1:28 PM PST - 5 comments

Because I only know pidgin HTML, I'm not sure if what I'm about to ask is Web Design 101 or Web Design 665, but: If I want to have a collapsible list, such that if someone clicked on "Words that start with B" in the following:

Words that start with A
Words that start with B
Words that start with C

the page would then reformat to show

Words that start with A
Words that start with B
balustrade
brickbat
bumptious
Words that start with C

without the whole page having to reload. Can someone please point me to a resource or study-able example?
posted by blueshammer at 1:12 PM PST - 7 comments

Are there any visualisation plugins for winamp (or other windows based mp3 players) suited for ambient music? [more inside]
posted by noisia at 1:05 PM PST - 3 comments

I remember reading somewhere about a law firm that will pay $25 for each instance in which it successfully sues a company sending out spam faxes. I recall that they needed a minimum of 10 spam faxes and it was completely free of charge. Does this ring any bells?
posted by sharksandwich at 1:03 PM PST - 2 comments

Has anyone here been in prison? If so, would you care to share your experiences? [more inside]
posted by o2b at 12:04 PM PST - 25 comments

Searching for two drawing implements: Firstly, I want a pen with grey ink, nothing too dark, nothing too light. Something with a fine tip. Of course I could get this effect by mixing my own ink and using nibs, but I don't like using them. Secondly I'd like a marker or very broadly tipped pen of the black pigment ink variety to fill dark areas quickly and more importantly, evenly. I have a dying Staedtler jobby that has since been discontinued, I think. Any advice on brands, models and places to purchase them would be greatly appreciated.
posted by picea at 11:55 AM PST - 6 comments

What does buckminsterfullerene (a.k.a. "buckyballs") look like in macro? We see lots and lots of computer-generated images of the molecule itself, but how about an aggregation of the stuff in a test tube? Is it a black goo or something?
posted by brownpau at 11:23 AM PST - 4 comments

Question from a very beginner guitar player about chords and strumming. [more inside]
posted by Seth at 11:08 AM PST - 11 comments

Qs about hard boiled eggs and egg salad: a. What's your fave recipe for egg salad? b. how long do shelled hard-boiled eggs keep? c. is there a good formula for hard-boiling multiple eggs? [more inside]
posted by dobbs at 10:48 AM PST - 15 comments

After twenty years of wet shaving, I'm buying an electric shaver, mainly for traveling. Any useful recommendations for lower budget ones (i.e. less than $100), or more importantly, ones to avoid? I have fast growing, black, thick/wiry stubble, so it needs to have plenty of torque or whatever it is that electric shavers have.
posted by carter at 10:41 AM PST - 10 comments

Anyone want to throw out some low credit card rates and who they're with? Or recommend some good comparitive websites for research? I'm searching, as mine seems to have crept up and MBNA America isn't willing to lower it. [more inside]
posted by allpaws at 10:28 AM PST - 13 comments

any suggestions for web based market data and charts providers (open source or for pay service)? ... delayed data/charts are fine.
posted by specialk420 at 10:02 AM PST - 4 comments

How can I convert PDF files into PPT on XP? Freeware is always appreciated.
posted by signal at 9:45 AM PST - 2 comments

After cleaning my ears, adjusting the left/right panning controls and developing the paranoid belief that I was starting to lose my hearing in one ear... I switched the earphones around, and everything sounds fantabulous! What is that? More... [more inside]
posted by precocious at 7:58 AM PST - 17 comments

My toilet is plugged, and I don't have a plunger. Sweet Zombie Jesus. [more inside]
posted by cortex at 7:42 AM PST - 21 comments

How to order a normal coffee...... [more inside]
posted by sgt.serenity at 5:30 AM PST - 58 comments

On behalf of a friend: when did the US close the last debtor's prison?
Google has been no help at all, and since I'm not from the US, I don't have access to any US-specific libraries or resources or anything. Any help?
posted by sailoreagle at 3:15 AM PST - 2 comments

Can anyone recommend some very very good speculative fiction books that I can read that are maybe along the lines of the Parable books by Octavia Butler (They don't have to deal with apocalypse though). Reading those was just bliss for me and I look forward to finding similar novels.
posted by Slimemonster at 12:47 AM PST - 7 comments

Going away for a bit and I have a close friend house sitting for me for the week. We've got several pets and such to tend to, which should not be a problem. What I am wondering, is there a good checklist of items the house sitter needs to know and what sort of things do I need to provide for them. Shut off valves, emergency numbers, where the board with a nail in it is to fend off intruders, etc. Looking for things to add to the checklist for the house sitter to be. [more inside]
posted by jeribus at 11:14 PM PST - 11 comments

What program will let you import registry and email information from one hard disk to another, using windows XP pro? The built in version won't let me, because both disks are in one machine.
posted by Keyser Soze at 9:37 PM PST - 3 comments

I don't understand RSS, and even less so, Atom. Can anyone provide a simple layman's explanation of them? [more inside]
posted by swank6 at 9:31 PM PST - 7 comments

I'd like to control iTunes for Windows programmatically, but I'm not sure if this is possible. More. [more inside]
posted by tirade at 8:10 PM PST - 4 comments

BEST. ASKMETAFILTER REPONSE. EVER.
On March 1st, I posted a question about how to have "recently playing in iTunes" data show up on your website if you use Windows (solutions already exist for Mac users). I got a lot of interesting answers, and I used one suggested app, Bloglines, for a few days before it inexplicably stopped working. But then MeFite krunk was so inspired by my question that he coded an entire freakin' app to mine the iTunes XML file and upload a list of the latest songs you've played to your webserver. Ladies and gentlemen, meet IndieRock, probably the first piece of software inspired by AskMetaFilter and a damn fine way to show off your listening habits to the world. Now that's an answer! [more inside]
posted by Asparagirl at 6:12 PM PST - 20 comments

Acoustic guitar question: I wonder if anyone is familiar with this problem. I have an old steel-string guitar, where the B-string breaks every time I tune it to the right pitch. Every other string is fine. Has anyone ever encountered this problem? Is it fixable?
posted by inksyndicate at 6:00 PM PST - 8 comments

I am wondering if anyone out there has had experience with absolute real estate auctions. I have to sell a farm fast and am in a contract for one of these (long story i hope i don't have to get into). Anyway i need to know soon if i have to change it as advertising has not started but will start at the end of the week. What is the best and fastest way to sell, absolute, reserve or privately through a realtor. I have read several links from google but what i really want to hear is personal experience and advice.
posted by Recockulous at 5:21 PM PST - 0 comments

Does anyone know of any online resoucres for up to the minute new york city police reports? [more inside too] [more inside]
posted by darkpony at 5:14 PM PST - 6 comments

Well, I have a Computer Science degree and a job to match. I'm slowly but surely working on an art degree (Art classes tend to be during the day) and easing my way out of the computer field forever. The thing is, I do have a mortgage and a wife (no kids, thank goodness) so I'd prefer not to starve and lose my house over it. Has anyone made such a switch from a professional pursuit to a personal pusuit, and do you have any info, resources, advice, etc. related to that change? How'd you make it happen? How'd you manage with a career and juggling college courses mostly offered during the day? How'd you make ends meet?
posted by internook at 4:39 PM PST - 5 comments

Needed: Advice for removing dog hair from a car I'm about to sell. [more inside]
posted by machaus at 4:24 PM PST - 10 comments

Long ago I asked a question about locating a hard to find song. Well, I finally did, but it is on a SoundScan CD. Any way to listen to it? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by oflinkey at 3:22 PM PST - 1 comment

This one has been bugging me for a while. Why can I spend around $300 and easily find LCD computer monitors that can handle 1280x1024 resolution, but even if you spend thousands upon thousands on a LCD Television, you can only get 1280x768 max resolution? The 768 vertical pixel limit seems to make 1080i HDTV impossible on these new TVs, only allowing 720 and 480. Why the discrepancy?
posted by mathowie at 2:29 PM PST - 6 comments

Is there any conceivable way one could use a bathtub as a boat? Have you heard of anyone doing it? Would it even float? I found the site for the annual Yukon River Bathtub Race, but the boats in their galleries are more like regular boats that just happen to have bathtubs mounted on them.
posted by edlundart at 1:19 PM PST - 12 comments

Is there a way to block images from certain sites in Netscape? I've had enough tubgirl for a lifetime, thanks...
posted by JoanArkham at 9:57 AM PST - 12 comments

i've always wanted to learn how to draw. i picked up drawing on the right side of the brain for reasons i don't remember (it was on my amazon wishlist for a long time), but are there any other books/methods anyone can suggest for someone who wants to learn to draw?
posted by callicles at 9:46 AM PST - 20 comments

What are some examples of Victorian novels with elaborate (and ridiculous) chapter titles? I know these ("In which our hero meets an extraordinary figure, who resolves some puzzles, and at last explains the purpose of his life, and the meaning of his many adventures") are satirical examples, but what about the genuine article? Are there particular authors (or genres) notorious for the practice?
posted by Aaorn at 9:42 AM PST - 14 comments

Since my wife went on a woman's weekend retreat and I stayed home with the kids, she told me that I could go away for a weekend sans children. I can't think of anything to do. Can you all?
posted by grefo at 9:37 AM PST - 21 comments

When I was on Dallas on business last month, I saw these, which seem to a be a pile of memory-foam like substance, wrapped in cloth. Though it was comfortable, it seemed a bit pricey for what it was. Anyone seen anything similar, or know where I could find that foam that's inside to make my own?
posted by benjh at 9:32 AM PST - 3 comments

Those memory-foam mattress things. Tempurpedic and the knock offs you can find in other shops. I've noticed some cost as low as $400, scroll down to the bottom (beware, it's an awful site) with the Tempurpedic running about $1800 for a fullsize. There are other knockoffs (one by Sealy i think) but I can't find a link. And what's with the latex beds? Consumers! REPORT! thanks. I have a friend whose life was changed by these things. I worry it's a fad, like the waterbed but I've heard good things. I have two questions. 1) go Tempurpedic or try something else? 2) for those with one, what is sex like on them?
posted by Peter H at 9:07 AM PST - 13 comments

How do you get mildew out of furniture? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by jaded at 8:55 AM PST - 5 comments

Where would you suggest looking for vacant 800 numbers? It's not as easy checking for domain names... [more inside]
posted by Macboy at 8:05 AM PST - 2 comments

My yard is being taken over by moles, and I have tried practically everything short of calling an exterminator (which I don't want to resort to) but the moles are destroying my yard. I've tried the vibrating sticks that you pound into the ground, I've tried castor-based repellents, which sometimes work and sometimes don't. Someone suggested that the key to moles is getting rid of their food, the grubs, so this year I am putting down Grub-Ex. I've even gotten the suggestion of burying ammonia-soaked rags in the ground in their tunnels. Does anyone have any tried and true mole solutions? I live in the country up against a nature preserve. I'm beginning to think it's hopeless. My backyard is becoming a giant sinkhole.
posted by archimago at 7:52 AM PST - 17 comments

I've got a chance to do a cartoon for our local paper. Our town has 8,000 residents. So anyway, I'm lazy and want to rip-off David Rees' Get Your War On. If I want my own super cool, retro-talking heads clipart do I have to scan it in myself, or is there a cheap/free source out there I can plunder? Many thanks.
posted by mecran01 at 6:42 AM PST - 14 comments

A client sent me his company's logos in .PSP (Paint Shop Pro) format, however I am on a Mac and would like to edit them in Photoshop. I need a program that will convert .PSP to .PSD, while maintaining the original layers in the .PSP file. I don't want to have to manually remove all of the white space surrounding the logo, so keeping the layers intact is very important. Does anyone have any suggestions? [more inside]
posted by teem at 5:56 AM PST - 10 comments

I've found the most incredible page on angelfire that just has to be shown to Metafilter. The problem is, well, it's angelfire...

The author is a russian woman who gives no contact details on her website. I'd love to share it with MeFi, but mirroring the images seems potentially dangerous. Thoughts?
posted by twine42 at 3:36 AM PST - 16 comments

Funerals - I've been asked to read at a relatives funeral (my grandfather who was very old, and quite sick)...and I've spent most of this weekend reading poetry books and searching online for suitable things to read. Now I turn to the well read people at MeFi - I'm looking for two things, one to commemorate a long life... and one to celebrate the fact that he may be meeting up with his wife again...

What are your recommendations for poetry resources? Or even specific poems you have read/heard for these occasions?

(I'm no writer - so I'm nervous about attempting something myself - apart from an introduction which will be simple and brief.)
posted by mattr at 2:10 AM PST - 6 comments

Quick research question for a play I'm writing: what's a neighborhood in New York City (any borough) that a) has elevated trains, and b) is a traditionally Irish neighborhood? The play takes place in the mid-'90s, if that makes a difference. (Googling turned up lots of historical references, but I not a lot of contemporary specifics.)
posted by scody at 12:26 AM PST - 6 comments

Anyone know much about Western Union money transfers? Specifically, I'm wondering how people who use them for scams pull them off if Western Union truly works the way people say it does. [more] [more inside]
posted by dobbs at 10:22 PM PST - 5 comments

I"ve been reading Free Culture and fuming about copyright law. Something's been puzzling me: why is copyright law in the E.U. even more stringent than the U.S.? The E.U.'s generally more liberal and closer to me on almost every major issue; this is a glaring exception that I can't quite figure out.
posted by Tlogmer at 8:09 PM PST - 4 comments

I've been fascinated for a while with stiff like tradesports.com and the ill-fated DARPA terrorism futures market, and got to thinking about building a fake, toy futures market. There are systems out there that simulate markets, but they're either simple portfolio charters or they have randomly wobbling shares. I'm much more interested in valuations created by groups of users gaming on the outcome of real events.

Ideally, as I'm very lazy, someone will have written one of these already, but I've googled away and had no joy. It could be me not knowing the lingo used to describe these things.

Failing this can anybody recommend a framework to work within? I'm thinking of something (probably the usual php/mysql) with e-mail/users/password recovery etc. built in for me to start from. Maybe the toy market would be best developed as a plug in to something? [more inside]
posted by Flat Feet Pete at 7:34 PM PST - 6 comments

I recently had a hard drive problem and lost about 20 gigs of Mp3's. While I could rerip all my cd's, the music is all on my windows ipod. Does anyone know how I can pull the music from the ipod to my windows (or linux) box?
posted by Apoch at 6:08 PM PST - 7 comments

Not to display (again) my ridiculous naivete, but what exactly is a half and half? [more inside]
posted by LittleMissCranky at 6:07 PM PST - 9 comments

Occasionally, when I sleep, I stick my arm under my pillow and rest my head on it (a leftover habit from having it in a cast years ago). I've gotten used to the confusion of having a numb, dead arm for a few minutes in the morning, but what's bothering me lately is something I remembered hearing a while back - which is that if you cut off circulation to a limb (put it to 'sleep') for long enough it can 'fall off' or suffer a similarly nasty fate.

So, can any sort of permanent, horrible damage result from what I'm doing, or is this just bunk?
posted by Monster_Zero at 4:44 PM PST - 24 comments

Website Mirroring Tools: I usually use wget, but find that it seems to have at least one nasty flaw: it doesn't fetch stylesheets, or images named in stylesheets (it may also have other flaws I'm not aware of). Is there something better out there that I can just give a homepage URL and have it suck down an entire site?
posted by namespan at 4:27 PM PST - 7 comments

How are Spanish and Portuguese different when it comes to grammar?

I speak Spanish fluently and now want to to take up Brazilian Portuguese. From hearing my Brazilian friends speak, and generally understanding them pretty well, I figured that Spanish and Portuguese grammar (syntax) must be very similar, the only differences between the languages being vocabulary and pronunciation. How right am I? If there are syntactic differences, what are they?

Would any speakers of these languages care to comment?
posted by pealco at 1:27 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm bored with the World Wide Web. Can anyone help? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by feelinglistless at 1:24 PM PST - 22 comments

How does my pocket calculator do this? [more inside]
posted by Termite at 10:06 AM PST - 7 comments

I'm trying to find someone from my childhood. I've googled and used classmates.com, but neither has turned anything up. Are there any good people-finding sites that I might not know about? I'd be willing to pay a small amount (under $100) if necessary.

To make things more difficult, this is a woman, so she might have changed her name in the 30 years that have gone by since I knew her.
posted by grumblebee at 9:19 AM PST - 10 comments

Cold sore coming. What do I do!?
posted by oissubke at 6:00 AM PST - 14 comments

Offhand (that is, without google or dictionary), how many of you know what the word 'empyrean' means? Explanation follows... [more inside]
posted by precocious at 4:20 AM PST - 23 comments

Is there a good place to find lyrics and discussion in english about non-english music? I have been trying to find information on the lyrics of Emir Kustarica's No Smoking Orchestra (specifically Pitbull Terrier) but no luck. Where do you get lyrics?
posted by crazy finger at 9:05 PM PST - 3 comments

What's a surefire way to pop one's ear following a flight on an airplane (or anytime else)? [more inside]
posted by werty at 4:10 PM PST - 17 comments

I'm planning on moving to Europe at the end of this year. Most likely start out in the French countryside of Brittany, where it is semi-affordable to live. Moving from the states. Any advice on working within France and renting a flat while there. I plan to go over on my passport and extend my stay every 3 months or so. Basically looking for first hand experience from those of you who have moved from the states to France (or neighboring countries) and if you have any advice, pointers or tips to go about planning my move it would be highly appreciated. I plan to do much music while over there, but it will not generate enough to sustain a living and France is not a definite locale to start from. I have also been contemplating Vienna and Berlin. Thanks in advance and I would be very interested to hear from others who have moved or have friends who have.
posted by otisfodder at 1:04 PM PST - 23 comments

When (and where, and maybe why) did people start doing this ? Is it mostly a UK/Europe thing ? Is it only occasional or a valid trend now ?
(Another question about a grammar anomaly, but I'm not complaining this time, only curious. This one only occurs in informal [Internet] communication and for some reason I enjoy it: a space between sentence end and final punctuation, when punctuation is a '!' or '?' Mostly UK- and Ireland-ers do it, like sgt serenity [a mad Scotsman] here.)
posted by Shane at 12:01 PM PST - 22 comments

Web coding quesiton:
I want to be able to offer my XML feed to others to implement on their webpages. I'm using Movable type (and have refrained from posting my site or it's feed (you can click on my name to get there).

I know they can get the feed via the link.

But, these other sites want just the headlines of the feed; and for it to be updated on their pages - I don't have the knowledge (which is why I came to Ask) - and my google searches haven't been helpful.

I'd love to get a nudge in the right direction.
posted by filmgeek at 11:27 AM PST - 5 comments

what's the current state of natural language programming? in particular, how close are we to:
1 - assessing emotional tone
2 - measuring how one fragment of text relates to another semantically
i'm thinking of technological solutions to the recent metatalk thread on political discussion - the examples above might be used to automatically moderate a group (so the second point measures whether you are contributing something that is both pertinent and new - i imagine that might require an additional "knowledge base").
posted by andrew cooke at 10:44 AM PST - 8 comments

Explaining American culture to the world:

a) Is the pledge of allegiance a compulsory thing each schoolday?

b) If funding for medicare is pro-social security, why did a Republican president push for it so hard?

Genuine enquiry: please no flames, just the facts, ma'am, just the facts. [more inside]
posted by dash_slot- at 6:04 AM PST - 28 comments

Words for women. I’m trying to compose a huge list of descriptive words which are mainly applied to women. This is for a feminism project for a friend. Everything from chick, babe, angel, etc to dog, nag, mare, cow to lush, slut and slag. Can MeFites help me out by streaming words for about a minute, then postfixing it with age, nationality and sex. Don’t worry about repeating words other people have chosen. I’ll start with… [more inside]
posted by seanyboy at 4:39 AM PST - 34 comments

What's your favorite movie soundtrack album? [more inside]
posted by milovoo at 12:04 AM PST - 90 comments

While there's been a previous "What CMS do you dig?" question, mine's narrower. What CMS would you recommend for a system using W2K Advanced Server and MSSQL? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by RakDaddy at 10:51 PM PST - 8 comments

Web designers and developers: what's in your testing suite? Do I really need Mozilla, Netscape, Camino and Firefox, or is one Mozilla-based browser enough? How much do they vary across platforms and operating systems?
posted by timeistight at 8:54 PM PST - 9 comments

Can someone explain the red liquid spray patterns that appear on the asphalt of Southern California freeways? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by quarantine at 7:48 PM PST - 6 comments

What's the best thing your community (interpret this as widely or narrowly as you like) has done to deal with hatred and violence? [more inside]
posted by stonerose at 4:51 PM PST - 9 comments

I am considering a foray back toward my roots in the Macintosh world. The aluminum powerbooks really are quite nice looking but have only one mouse button. I dont know if I can make such a big step backwards. I won't often use an external mouse with a laptop, so that isn't a great option. Any other right click addicts make the switch and thrive?
posted by jester69 at 1:58 PM PST - 23 comments

I come from a small town and currently live in a town of roughly 30,000 people. If I were to move to a larger city (400,000 or even much more), what kind of advice can someone who's done the same thing in the past give for how to make that change without being scared shitless? One area I'm thinking about moving to in the future is Minneapolis, Minnesota.
posted by angry modem at 12:14 PM PST - 27 comments

Inspired by this thread, I have a question: what happens to boogers after they leave one's nose? If I left a booger on a kleenex for days, what would I see happen? Would it just stay... forever, or until a cat or a spider or something ate it? Or would it... evaporate eventually?
posted by evinrude at 12:02 PM PST - 9 comments

I've been reading about biofeedback lately, specifically as a tool for relaxation and increasing my ability to focus for longer periods of time. Has anyone had any experiences with using biofeedback in this way?

I have a new ibook, and I'm tempted to get Wild Divine, which, despite all the new-agey trappings, looks like it would make a cool biofeedback system.

I've also seen the GSR2 for sale on Ebay.

So I guess what I'm asking is, behind all the marketing is this genuinely useful, can I do it on my own, and are there any good biofeedback tools that are affordable that work with or without OS X? [more inside]
posted by mecran01 at 11:34 AM PST - 7 comments

My 1999 Toshiba tray-loading single-disc non-progressive scan DVD player has stopped playing DVDs. What can I do to try to fix it? [simorede] [more inside]
posted by blueshammer at 10:35 AM PST - 11 comments

Did "Kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out" originate in the Vietnam War?
posted by Shane at 9:49 AM PST - 4 comments

Inspired by the responses in the HFCS thread, what are your suggestions on eating more "whole" foods? (see more inside) [more inside]
posted by evening at 8:59 AM PST - 12 comments

Does anyone have experience using a Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 in a 1.25GHz Aluminum Powerbook? Advice to share about installation, heat issues, battery life?
posted by Dean King at 7:42 AM PST - 5 comments

Which are the truly, undeniably American sodas and bar snacks? [more inside]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 6:53 AM PST - 67 comments

Suggestions for a workgroup color printer for under $400? It needs to connect to a network via ethernet.
posted by Macboy at 6:25 AM PST - 4 comments

Can anyone point me to a nonpartisan economic study of tax cuts, the theory behind their effects on the economy, and the history of the economic effects of pre-21st century tax cuts?
posted by blakewest at 6:11 AM PST - 1 comment

Mac OSX Safari --Is there a script/action that I can enable to automatically erase my cache and history files at a certain time each day? While being fairly Mac savvy, I have no experience with writing scripts. I'm really looking for an easy solution, perhaps a piece of freeware?
posted by sharksandwich at 6:02 AM PST - 6 comments

Free temporary anonymous ftp storage?-----> [more inside]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:23 AM PST - 12 comments

CSS - Does anyone know how to get me around an IE style sheet problem? Mozilla shows the right text box correctly while IE goes off and does it's own thing. Any suggestions?
posted by twine42 at 3:06 AM PST - 11 comments

What's the deal nowadays with HMDs (head mounted displays)? Sony Glasstron seems to be the leader, last I saw, but I don't know if they're even actually in production anymore (they're still plenty available online, though). The Glasstron lacks any kind of API for 3D, which wouldn't be a bad idea considering it does have separate screens for each eye. I-glasses seem also to be popular, but from the models I've seen they seem rather large and outdated (and embarrassingly marketed). Has there been no progress in this category? It seems like an obvious market, and I'm thinking of getting one.
posted by abcde at 9:56 PM PST - 5 comments

Now that Gamespy have added an advert splash page to their site, I've had enough, and I need a new place for gaming news. Who do you find the most reliable, interesting, and unbiased, for all your gaming needs?
posted by Orange Goblin at 2:18 PM PST - 18 comments

My partner is going to DC for the March for Choice next month. She'd like to stay an extra day, but the hotel wants to charge too much, and she's having trouble finding B&Bs and/or affordable hotels. Any suggestions? [more inside]
posted by me3dia at 2:11 PM PST - 30 comments

Is there software available for Micorosft Windows that slows CPU cycles, emulating a slower machine? For example, if I wanted to test software on a Pentium II 200, emulated on a faster machine.
posted by the fire you left me at 1:30 PM PST - 5 comments

People in my company often use a period instead of a question mark at the end of an interrogative sentence. I pointed this out to an old boss as I was proofing one of his e-mails, and he told me this is standard custom now in business communication. Is this so? What the hell? [more inside]
posted by Shane at 10:05 AM PST - 45 comments

Every time I load a Windows Media file on my OS X system, I am momentarily redirected to a file called "AOLTemp.html" on the site hosting the file. I don't use AOL; the files are not hosted by AOL; a Google search turns up nothing on that filename. What are these mysterious AOLTemp files strewn across the 'net, and what kind of MS-AOL conspiracy have I uncovered?? (Just kidding on the conspiracy bit. And for further clarification: I use Safari as my browser & WMP 9.0 for playback in these cases)
posted by bcwinters at 9:34 AM PST - 7 comments

doe anyone have any experience with email to fax server packages? if so any suggestions on open source? - win2k based would be ok too.
posted by specialk420 at 8:25 AM PST - 5 comments

Calling MeFi Kerry insiders: look at this picture. Can anyone explain to me why John Kerry has what appears to be a large plastic daisy flower keychain? It's kinda cute. [more inside]
posted by brownpau at 7:33 AM PST - 10 comments

Anyone have any recommendations on places to stay/live in Puerto Vallarta or Guadalajara for a period ranging from two weeks to indefinite? Any other tips about these cities would also be much appreciated.
posted by rushmc at 7:05 AM PST - 7 comments

By using a computer to analyze the word usage of the anonymously authored book Primary Colors, Don Foster was able to determine that columnist Joe Klein wrote it. Foster wrote a book about his experience, but it gives very little detail into his methods. From what I gather, the general theory is that different writers have statistically significant ideosyncracies that show up in things like vocabulary choices. The FBI is supposed to be able to do this with ransom notes, and I've heard of one guy who is trying to do it with the U.S. Supreme Court's theoretically anonymous "per curiam" opinions. I'd like to do some similar work. What is this general field called--is "forensic linguistics" the right term? Can anyone recommend a good bibliography of works to read up on this, or maybe even some software that helps?
posted by profwhat at 5:57 AM PST - 11 comments

I'm doing an audition for a part in an amateur production of The Mikado. I have no stage experience at all. Any tips? [more inside]
posted by cbrody at 5:23 AM PST - 6 comments

Lost in Translation:
I'm doing a bit of site redesign, and wanted to make sure that 'copie est mort' is a good French translation of the old MacLuhan adage "Print is Dead." Anyone able to say with more certainty than I? and feel free to share any thoughts on the design itself. other than validation-related stuff, which i'm going to focus on once I have things up and running.
posted by kaibutsu at 11:41 PM PST - 7 comments

I've always kind of wondered this. I don't know if it's a metaphysical question, an evolution question or just a childish question, but why exactly are there fruit trees? Has anyone seen a definitive answer to this. Does it seem weird that a tree would produce fruit just so animals can come and steal it? Do fruit trees benefit from producing fruit (like I understand how the leaves come into play)? I feel like a little kid asking this, but does anyone got an answer?
posted by Slimemonster at 10:42 PM PST - 28 comments

Anyone know a good shipping agent in the UK? I have a consignment of goods being sent there from Indonesia. I'm a UK resident but won't be back there until June. The goods will arrive back just before I do & I need an agent to handle all of the admin.
posted by i_cola at 10:01 PM PST - 3 comments

Military question -- On a website I was reading recently, I came across this tidbit: "The military continues to experiment with command and control structures designed to delegate and drive decision making to the front lines." Can anyone tell me more about this? I'm interested in how the U.S. military (or any other) has overcome the problem of decision-makers being too far from the action. [more inside]
posted by oissubke at 9:44 PM PST - 8 comments

Is there any way to use Mozilla/Firebird's "Block images from this site" feature while using Hotmail? While logging in, you get tossed from passport.net site to hotmail.com site to hotmail.msn.com site like a (insert something politically incorrect here). But Hotmail often kills my dial-up, so I'd love to block their ads from loading. Hope me, please?
posted by Ufez Jones at 9:06 PM PST - 10 comments

Once again microbiologists & bacteria enthusiasts your wisdom is needed. My roommate is mad because I left the butter out overnight, he won't touch it and said I have to buy a new stick. But my grandma always kept her butter in a covered dish on the counter, not in the refrigerator. My question then, what are the facts here: does butter require constant refrigeration? How long till butter goes bad {packaged, refrigerated, covered dish} and in what ways, and at what risk?
posted by Brad at 8:33 PM PST - 14 comments

What's the stereotypically Asian music called? You know, the music you hear in the background of Asian stores in movies? I'd like to buy some. Even better, is there a streaming station of it somewhere?
posted by crawl at 8:25 PM PST - 13 comments

How many Generals or Admirals, 1-4 star, are in the US armed forces?
posted by brent at 8:12 PM PST - 10 comments

Does anyone know the source of this image? (happy green thing merrily trotting forth)
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 6:50 PM PST - 6 comments

It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story. - James Baldwin

Where is this quote from? Thanks in advance!
posted by Slimemonster at 5:59 PM PST - 4 comments

LINUX QUESTION: Due to my current financial situation, I have been forced into using AOL Broadband as my ISP. It ain't pretty but it works. Sort of.... (Here's where the question comes in.)

I really, really want to load Linux on my system but there's a bit of a snag. AOL does not automatically connect me to the Internet; I need to open their software and connect through it. I am wondering if it is at all possible to find a Linux version of the AOL software (the AOL homepage and internal sites have been no help, if the information is there it is very well hidden from my searching skills), or if there is another method of allowing my to connect to the Internet via my AOL broadband connection using Linux.
posted by Dark Messiah at 5:42 PM PST - 7 comments

I've been reading my mail on the server for a long time, but I'm starting to provide hosting for people here, and some of them want to read their mail through a regular old POP client. Is there a secure way to provide this service? [more] [more inside]
posted by majcher at 4:30 PM PST - 9 comments

Browser questions: (1) are there any browsers that have word-wrap options? I find that when I read certain pages, specifically Usenet via Google Groups, each line runs way past the edge of the screen, and I have to scroll to the right to read. (2) Are there any browsers that have word-wrap options for print? I'm tired of having to remember to set orientation to landscape so the right edge of text doesn't get cut off. [more inside]
posted by grumblebee at 3:31 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm going to Bangalore (work-related) for a month (from the US). Anyone know how to find a cheap place to live (near Basavangudi)? General info also appreciated.
posted by jeb at 3:24 PM PST - 1 comment

I'm looking for a recommendation for newsletter content brokers. I've found a few, but their offerings seem a bit on the weak side. Has anybody worked with any that have high value content available? Bonus points if that content skews towards Human Resources/Staffing/Management.
posted by willnot at 3:03 PM PST - 2 comments

I need to create some charts (as in bar-, pie-, etc.) for a presentation. I have used Excel (easy but boring), Illustrator and Freehand (slightly more complicated and exciting) for this in the past, but want to expand my repertoire. Are there any really snazzy looking, easy to use charting apps for XP? [more inside]
posted by signal at 2:54 PM PST - 12 comments

ChicagoMachineFilter: I left Chicago nearly four years ago, and just last night I received a bill from the Chicago Dept. of Revenue (aka Soprano Family, Midwestern Branch) via some law firm called Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson demanding $670 in fines and penalties for parking tickets incurred in 1995. (the more, she is inside.) [more inside]
posted by scody at 2:43 PM PST - 12 comments

Can anyone recommend a better alternative to Windows Task Manager? [more inside]
posted by badstone at 1:42 PM PST - 7 comments

I wanted to buy something online (tea), but I found the price to be prohibitively expensive unless ordering in bulk. I couldn't use the bulk amount msyelf though, nor afford the full bulk cost. Is there a place online where people can meet and pool money to order bulk items and just split them up when they arrive?
posted by crazy finger at 1:18 PM PST - 1 comment

What is the point of being able to draw a dotted square with my cursor on my desktop [Win98]?
posted by dash_slot- at 12:14 PM PST - 6 comments

Seders in San Francisco? My partner and I are looking for a Passover gathering in the Bay Area that is focused on a younger (25-40), more progressive crowd. We're frankly a little tired of the same old seder with her family and want to meet more young people who, like us, may be actively constructing or redefining their Jewishness.
posted by squirrel at 12:10 PM PST - 5 comments

"When a woman learns to walk, she's not dependent anymore; a line from her letter May 24."
An excerpt of lyrics from The Go-Betweens. What site do you recommend for finding lyrics? There seems to be about 4 billion lyric sites.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 11:43 AM PST - 9 comments

Popstar - The British Version of American Idol. Does anyone know where I can find the clip of the Sikh guy who audtions for the judges - and is the equivalent of William Hung? As I recall he doesn't really sing, and in the middle of his routine he starts to do something that resembles some breakdance moves. Painful to watch, yet funny.
posted by turbanhead at 11:10 AM PST - 5 comments

Determining the region/format encoding of a DVD with OSX? [more inside]
posted by dobbs at 10:14 AM PST - 11 comments

As I've mentioned here before, I have a Pocket PC that uses SD cards. I've had the device for about 18 months and it is in good shape. I'm at a crossroads now where I'm not sure if I should continue to invest in SD accessories, or simply wait for the compact memory arena to settle down. Anyone with some insight into the future of Pocket PC's, SD, and its competition? [more inside]
posted by BlueTrain at 8:15 AM PST - 3 comments

Can anyone suggest a way to remove extra whitespaces from a string that exists in a Flash variable? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by jpburns at 7:29 AM PST - 10 comments

OS X coders, what is your freeware text editor of choice? Something with syntax highlighting, line numbers, auto-indent, a versatile local open/save dialog, and [optional] FTP Open/Save. Right now I use SubEthaEdit and jEdit and like them both, but I'd like to see what other software I may have missed in Googling.
posted by brownpau at 7:15 AM PST - 19 comments

What do I need to do in order to get a job? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by Katemonkey at 4:40 AM PST - 25 comments

Photography discussion forums. I'm sure there's thousands, but do you have any favourites? (More inside) [more inside]
posted by MintSauce at 2:20 AM PST - 6 comments

I'm thinking of going to Seattle for a weekend conference in late April, but if I do I'll be on an extreme budget. I've found the hostels through the web. Any other tips on how to make it as cheap as possible? [more inside]
posted by croutonsupafreak at 12:38 AM PST - 13 comments

4 or so years ago, Bacardi let people download poster size images of advertising online, and I used to print them out to be 5 feet tall by 4 feet wide. Where can I find bacardi (or alcohol related) images that can be printed into posters?
posted by Keyser Soze at 10:06 PM PST - 8 comments

Besides Husqvarna and Hallmark, I'm wondering what other logos out there currently sport crowns? I googled, but came up with random results for folks selling tiaras.
posted by silusGROK at 9:44 PM PST - 21 comments

Another (probably stupid) Safari question: how can I (if it's at all possible) add bookmarks without driving one of my essential links off the toolbar? [More inside.] [more inside]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:38 PM PST - 10 comments

Why do we applaud to indicate appreciation of a performance?
posted by Nikolai at 6:41 PM PST - 11 comments

What is the best way to determine if a charitable organization is legit? I'd like to donate to spiritofamerica.net but want to make sure my cash would go where they say it will. They claim to be a "501c3 public foundation" but I couldn't find a .gov searchable database for those.
posted by gwint at 6:36 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm looking at taking some martial arts classes, specifically tai chi and some variant of kung fu. What can I expect to pay? [more inside]
posted by jazzkat11 at 6:36 PM PST - 12 comments

Does anyone drink Campari?
posted by the fire you left me at 6:32 PM PST - 21 comments

Let's say I have an Apple OS X computer with a gigantic, 1.5 GB file that I'd like to put onto 3 or 4 CDs, to give someone. What's the best way to spread a file across several discs? Multiple zip files? The UNIX zip command? Some backup program?
posted by inksyndicate at 5:18 PM PST - 9 comments

All day, I've been looking into the murky world of graphics cards, and I don't feel any wiser. Need help [mi]. [more inside]
posted by ascullion at 3:18 PM PST - 17 comments

Can anyone point me to information about color in the marketplace? I.e. (e.g. ?), which colors produce which responses in consumers? [more inside]
posted by o2b at 3:06 PM PST - 11 comments

I am trying to track down a distributor for the Israeli film "Checkpoint Machssomim." I'm working with the SF Arab Film Festival this year and we may be interested in screening it. I need to contact a distributor who can send me a preview copy. I've emailed every Google hit for the film and director name. Anyone know a better way to find a film distributor? All the info I have about the film is [inside]. [more inside]
posted by scarabic at 2:44 PM PST - 7 comments

What is your favorite album right now? I am looking for something new to listen too and was wondering what people are digging.
posted by Quartermass at 2:25 PM PST - 66 comments

Planning on visiting Moab, UT at the end of the week . . . any suggestions on short hikes or good places to stay in the area (preferably motel/hotel or camping)?
posted by nyoki at 1:30 PM PST - 7 comments

Photoshop gurus: I've got a rectangular photo, which I plop down in the middle of a colored background. I'd like to create a smooth transparency gradient in the photo with respect to the background (more transparent at the top, opaque at the bottom). How would one do this?

(Specifically, I'm contructing a header image for a website... the top of the header is a solid color, with logo, etc. in it, while the bottom of the header is the photo. I'd like the solid area to dissolve into the photo).

Thanks- if anyone ever needs PHP/Postgresql advice, let me know!
posted by gsteff at 1:16 PM PST - 6 comments

Where can I find a vector-based (or just a large rasterized) image of a Chinese character? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by vraxoin at 1:11 PM PST - 8 comments

Please recommend fantasy novels for someone who doesn't like fantasy novels (more inside). [more inside]
posted by grumblebee at 10:10 AM PST - 59 comments

What is the "upstart, Linux-like cooperative" search engine mentioned in this Reuters about Google?
posted by tranquileye at 9:00 AM PST - 2 comments

How hard would it be to get an action figure made of your own design? Anyone have any experience with this?
posted by agregoli at 7:43 AM PST - 17 comments

If I wanted to get a hypothetical product, created by a hypothetical design studio, in front of a non-hypothetical audience of professional and amateur video editors, how would you suggest I reach them? I have found a short-list of forums and how-to sites but feel I must be missing some other resources and/or online communities. Thnx.
posted by coudal at 7:38 AM PST - 5 comments

I think I need a man-purse. Any recommendations? What with a cell phone, PDA, Costanza wallet, digital camera, GBA, etc., I'm running out of pockets. Something manly yet stylish and versatile would be good. [more inside]
posted by EatenByAGrue at 1:37 AM PST - 30 comments

This product is really cool, but why is this thing so damned expensive? It seems like a simple enough idea: a Cardbus to pci adapter allowing the mobile user to add more powerful equipment. PCI video cards beat the hell out of crappy 2x AGP 8mg mobile cards. PCI Audio cards blow the pants off built-in sound. This should cost $50 bucks, not nearly $1k. Am I missing something? [more inside]
posted by Grod at 9:07 PM PST - 11 comments

Just received a "cybersquatting, trademark infringement and unfair competition" letter for registering a domain name. If any MeFi users have had a similar experience, I would love to hear about it. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by cup at 8:57 PM PST - 11 comments

What is your cup of tea?
Specifically, does anyone have any recommendations of loose teas. [more inside]
posted by milovoo at 8:22 PM PST - 29 comments

TravelFilter: Anaheim/Orange County. Limited time, no car. What to do? Where to eat? [More inside] [more inside]
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 4:47 PM PST - 4 comments

My parents' 30th wedding anniversary is Wednesday and I want to send them flowers. They live in Boca Raton. Should I: (a) order flowers from online? (subpart 1) If so from where?; or (b) track a local florist in Boca Raton to deliver the flowers? If so, how? And for a 30th wedding anniversary, what type of flowers? Thanks!
posted by adrober at 2:44 PM PST - 12 comments

Short Story Research Filter: In films, a prostitute will often ask if she can use the bathroom. I'm guessing that it's for the purpose of freshening up, but (a) does this entail anything specific? and (b) does this actually happen? (cue embarrasment at my woeful lack of knowledge / ability to ask what is probably a stupid question / the nature of the question).
posted by seanyboy at 1:31 PM PST - 17 comments

Bugger. I got bit by the Witty worm. It destroyed my boot sector and has ripped shreds through other data. I was able to use the recover CD from Alienware to get the system booted, but it seems to have installed a second version of windows. Because so much is toasted, I plan to fdisk and start over, but I'm trying to get as much data off the system as I can beforehand. But, I can't get my CD burner to work, even after reinstalling the Roxio software that came with the system, and updating all the drivers. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by dejah420 at 1:30 PM PST - 7 comments

Service of Process: I'm going to be serving legal papers later this week, as I have never done this before I am curious as to what I should say, and what are some things should I expect?
posted by mhaw at 1:12 PM PST - 8 comments

Anyone fancy coming to UK ATP Weekend 1? [more inside]
posted by nylon at 1:08 PM PST - 3 comments

Academic research resources: I do research in the field of global health, at the intersection of medicine and social science. After months of using Medline, Proquest, and ASSIA and being frustrated, I just stumbled upon Scopus, and it's rocking my world. But now I wonder: is there anything better that I'm missing?
posted by stonerose at 12:54 PM PST - 3 comments

Regarding motion pictures: I know what a screenplay writer does. I know what a director does. What I do NOT understand is what a Producer does. Nor do I understand what an Executive Producer does. And how do they (Producers) figure so prominently in blurbs, reviews, and awards? Insight, please?
posted by davidmsc at 12:14 PM PST - 19 comments

Jewelry advice. I would like to propose marriage with an antique ring. Is this acceptable? Details inside. [more inside]
posted by Mayor Curley at 11:52 AM PST - 34 comments

I can understand "sunny-side up", but where does the phrase "over easy" come from in relation to frying eggs? Why easy?
posted by Mwongozi at 10:57 AM PST - 10 comments

India:
My company has just decided to ship me off to Bangalore for two weeks, starting FRIDAY. Please, inform me about what I need to know about travelling to India. [more inside]
posted by Hackworth at 10:42 AM PST - 25 comments

How do the TV networks account for the time shift while entering/leaving daylight savings time? [More inside] [more inside]
posted by ewagoner at 10:35 AM PST - 6 comments

Does anyone do medical transcription? Can someone point me to a site that gives a good overview of needed equipment, cheap courses or something. It's tough to wade through the sales pitches that a google search turn up.
posted by TuxHeDoh at 9:39 AM PST - 2 comments

Northern California State Forests...I'm considering a drive from Seattle to there in a couple weeks with my four-legged companion. [More inside...] [more inside]
posted by vito90 at 9:35 AM PST - 6 comments

Anyone know anything about SQR? [More Inside] [more inside]
posted by bondcliff at 8:08 AM PST - 4 comments

How do I find a good hairstylist? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by weston at 1:14 AM PST - 17 comments

Wedding officiants. I'm getting married in Pennsylvania this summer, I'm struggling to find someone to marry me and my fiance, and we belong to no church. If I wanted a friend to officiate, but he or she isn't a minister of anything (or a county official), how could that person become an "ordained minister". OR: how do I find someone good to do it? [more inside]
posted by thebigpoop at 10:38 PM PST - 16 comments

What the hell is wrong with me? Everything (yes, everything) has been giving me heartburn for the past month. I even fasted for 4 days (just water) and then had a piece of toast and that gave me heartburn. [mi] [more inside]
posted by dobbs at 10:28 PM PST - 18 comments

My Dad, who worked as a social worker for natives in southern Alaska for the year of 1963, says at the time there was a program wherein you could get for free 150 acres of your choice of undeveloped land, if you helped establish civilization there by building a cabin etc., then IIRC after a couple of years paid a relatively small fee. Someone he'd met had a free island 3 days by boat from civilization. And, of course, large parts of the state were up for dollars or even cents an acre anyway. But now even more remote smallish Alaskan islands are sold in the millions, and I hear nothing about obscenely low land prices anymore. What has happened? Has that program disappeared, and why? Have private interests bought up all of thousands of acres of tundra (certainly not using it all!)? It's an interesting economic phenomenon, a ten-thousandfold (or infinityfold) property value growth.
posted by abcde at 4:55 PM PST - 8 comments

Need help identifying the nationality of this Asian bank note, circa 1947. I think I see kanji but I don't recognize the other characters. [more inside]
posted by Shane at 4:18 PM PST - 10 comments

What are the legal requirements for selling a firearm to an out-of-state buyer? There's something about having a local gun dealer (FFL licensee) ship to another dealer (FFL licensed) near them, but I can't find any official information from the ATF about it.

I've got a Glock 19 that I'm trying to sell, but the only people who are interested so far are out-of-state. If I *do* end up with no local buyers, I want to follow the letter of the law in exchanging firearms for money.

Any pointers appreciated.
posted by mrbill at 4:02 PM PST - 7 comments

I finally have enough miles for a free off-peak RT to Europe (on American). Has anyone ever used theirs? Any tips or tricks to getting flights?
posted by amberglow at 2:07 PM PST - 5 comments

I've been enjoying Firefox quite a bit, ut there's one thing I really miss from IE. I had the Google toolbar installed on IE and I frequently used the "highlight" button to make whatever term I entered show up in yellow inside the page. This is really useful when poring over Google results. Is there an extension I can use to do the same thing?
posted by scarabic at 12:21 PM PST - 4 comments

Among the usual deluge of spam to my hotmail account, received a rather graphic solicitation for what appears to be actual kiddie pr0n. I'd like to report this but I'm not sure to whom and how, and I'm reluctant to google on the topic or forward indiscriminately. FBI? (slightly uncomfortable using their online submission form) or someone more local?
posted by jalexei at 11:15 AM PST - 24 comments

I'm heading to NYC in a few days and I was curious if anyone knew of any cool shops where I could find some nifty ancient artifacts for sale. I'm also curious about if anyone knows of any art galleries or shops that deal with old pieces of art. I'm on a tight budget, so the cheaper the better (but I'll take any suggestions because I like to window shop).
posted by Stynxno at 8:41 AM PST - 7 comments

Performances by Russian ballet companies in England? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by sueinnyc at 10:39 PM PST - 3 comments

RAM question. PC100 ram comes in two flavors, low density where each chip on the stick is 16mb, and high density where each chip is 32mb. Someone told me that name brand laptops never use high density. This meshes with my experience, but what I want to know is: why? The high density stuff tends to cost half as much. [more inside]
posted by Grod at 8:53 PM PST - 8 comments

In keeping up with trying to get back into shape and the coming of warmer times here in the midwest, I am looking to purchase a bike. Haven't bought one in decades and I am getting a bit bewildered by the vast selection out there. Any suggestions on a mid-priced bike for riding on city streets with the occasional foray into state park trails? I'm also fairly poor in the "upkeep" department, so some kind of rugged workhorse would be preferable.
posted by sharksandwich at 3:14 PM PST - 11 comments

Looking for examples of weak AI, that is, machines acting as if they were intelligent, but simply on the basis of a complex set of rules. Things like Google Sets or Twenty Questions come to mind, and to a lesser extent Google itself. Anything else I should look into? [more inside]
posted by Jeff Howard at 2:26 PM PST - 15 comments

I just got a DVD burner and have been trolling through the amazing Prelinger archives, picking out interesting titles to burn to disk for living room viewing. Anybody want to recommend anything they've stumbled on here?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 12:49 PM PST - 6 comments

I love This American Life and like Now With Bill Moyers and Frontline. I like listening to these shows while I'm doing mundane tasks around the house. What other audio or video streams of great journalism are available for free online?
posted by grrarrgh00 at 12:10 PM PST - 13 comments

Musical notes in Visual Basic 6.0: I wrote a program that writes random songs, and I'd like it to be able to play them, so I don't have to plunk them out on my bass to know what they sound like. [more inside]
posted by alex_reno at 12:10 PM PST - 13 comments

What causes houses to "beat"? It's very windy here in St. Louis today, and every time the wind really kicks up, I hear a distinct "hoom, hoom, hoom", at a frequency of about one per second. When I was a kid, i thought it was the spinning vents in the attic, by the house I live in now doesn't have those. Spurred by this thread on beat frequencies, I thought I'd pose the question to the AskMe hive.
posted by notsnot at 9:36 AM PST - 13 comments

Film equipment question. [more inside]
posted by sgt.serenity at 6:34 AM PST - 15 comments

A little mouse has somehow gotten loose in my room and I was looking for a way to coax him into leaving, without really having to trap him, which would most likely kill him, or have to deal with him running circles around me. Its a really cluttered room and he could hide in there as long as he wanted to, but he's starting to bug me a little.
posted by Slimemonster at 2:09 AM PST - 18 comments

What's a good and cheap way to get from New York City to Middlebury, Vermont without a car or jet pack? My gf is attending a summer session there and finding transportation tangled and expensive.
posted by scarabic at 8:19 PM PST - 7 comments

Coders to the rescue! See, I write a silly advice column. It's not syndicated or anything, as I'm still working the bugs out of the voice before I pitch it to anyone...but that's not the point. I've been outgeeked by a question...and need some real coders to help me craft a response. [more inside]
posted by dejah420 at 7:44 PM PST - 8 comments

Linux/BSD geeks, I need your help. I've got 60Gb of unused HDD space on one of my drives, and I want to install a variant of Linux/BSD on it (I need to upskill, and I want to start developing applications for X11). But I've got a problem: My drives are on an IDE RAID controller which none of the distros I've tried recognise. [more inside]
posted by cheaily at 5:14 PM PST - 11 comments

Neighbor problems involving a basement [more inside] [more inside]
posted by FunkyHelix at 3:40 PM PST - 30 comments

Why does a Google search for "logo" turn up a bunch of sites that don't even contain the word "logo"? They seem to be just all the major sites - sourceforge, ibm, apple, etc... I'm looking for the Logo that features programmable turtles - e.g. The Logo Foundation.
posted by badstone at 3:28 PM PST - 8 comments

We are having an antiwar rally here in Fayetteville tomorrow...and of course there will be a counterrally as well. My question to you all is this: We have been told that we are not allowed to carry signs larger than 2 feet by 2 feet-which is smaller than the average size poster board. Have any of you ever participated in a protest and been restricted in such a manner? (this is by police order, and I am rather stunned.)
posted by konolia at 2:34 PM PST - 25 comments

I have a Google API app that's getting a lot of traffic from a French site. Can someone give me a quick idiomatic translation into French of a two-sentence "API key overloaded for today" message? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by staggernation at 1:44 PM PST - 8 comments

EsotericMacSoftwareFilter: My senior year of college (1990-1991), I played a Mac-only role-playing game, the name of which escapes me. The game itself wasn't that good, but I loved the character creation system. You chose your mother and father's professions and that determined your base stats. Then you described how you spent your time in four-year blocks (25% study, 25% play, 50% womanizing, or whatever). These blocks further modified your character's scores. Over the years, I've conducted numerous web searches for this game, but for the life of me I can't find anything on it. Does anyone know which game this was? Does anyone know where I could buy (or download) a copy for my gathering-dust Mac SE? [more inside]
posted by jdroth at 12:06 PM PST - 9 comments

What is the theme for David Goodstein's The Mechanical Universe and where can I get it?
posted by rschram at 11:42 AM PST - 1 comment

Webcams. I have an iSight for my Mac, but need something that will be Windows compatible. I've looked at several Logitech models, but almost everything seems to fall flat of Apple's webcam. I'd like similar quality, and if not, then at least close. Any suggestions?
posted by benjh at 10:49 AM PST - 3 comments

In 1985 or so, there was an educational game for the Macintosh that I exactly once. It featured a robot on skates with an iconic programming language that you use to help make it travel safely through little virtual worlds. What was it called?
posted by plinth at 9:53 AM PST - 11 comments

Broadband vs. Dial-Up. I'm looking for current research that shows the number of users that connect to the Internet via Broadband vs. dial-up. I know its out there somewhere . . . [more inside]
posted by dhacker at 8:57 AM PST - 7 comments

Freevo. Does anyone use it? How good is it? Can someone in the advanced-beginner stage of linux knowledge install it and use it without swearing a lot?
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:15 AM PST - 7 comments

Does anyone know of a resource that provides "reviews" of academic journals - summaries of the kind of articles they accept, biases they are prone to, and their impact rating? Specifically, in the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology. I'm putting together some papers to publish, but don't know the "optimal" places to send them!
posted by Jimbob at 6:35 AM PST - 10 comments

International money transfers. I'd like to transfer some money, from the UK, to a family member in Australia. I'd like to do this as quickly and cheaply as possible. Preferably online. Any suggestions? (More inside) [more inside]
posted by MintSauce at 3:47 AM PST - 11 comments

Windows XP users - let's help each other help ourselves! What are your most treasured bookmarks for XP troubleshooting, tips and tricks, etc. Two of mine are inside. [more inside]
posted by taz at 11:13 PM PST - 14 comments

I'd like to learn about the Japanese film industry in the early 60s. Are there books or websites that talk about it? Google - as far as I know how to use it - hasn't given me what I want: a good history of the mentality behind the "Godzilla" movies. I want to know about the people who made the "Gojira" movies.
posted by interrobang at 10:42 PM PST - 6 comments

Double question: My XP Pro OS wont let me switch users anymore (5 account system), it will only let me log off. Second my brother got kicked from the computer and I forgot to get a password for administrator. Hes got his own password now. How do I reset the admin pass without using a linux boot disk?
posted by Keyser Soze at 10:39 PM PST - 2 comments

We've got quite a large DVD collection, but they naturally tend towards newer releases. This weekend I want to bolster the "classic" movie section. (more inside) [more inside]
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:21 PM PST - 63 comments

Questions about search engines: 1) What if you regret something you say on your website, say bad-mouthing an ex-girlfriend, is there ways of sending this down the memory hole? You could delete the statement, but how do you get rid of search engine caches? And how many different engines are collecting these caches? 2) what if you say something like this on another website - is there any way to at least get Google to stop showing it, even though you don't run the site?
posted by ass at 9:16 PM PST - 8 comments

My laptop is turning itself off at random [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Yelling At Nothing at 7:33 PM PST - 11 comments

Does anyone know anything about the New School Actor's Studio Playwriting program? Is it worth flying to NYC for an interview there?
posted by adrober at 6:28 PM PST - 4 comments

This live preview hack seemed so beautiful and simple that I'm currently implementing it on a personal website. Any geekerHeads out there who can find any potential problems, or better yet, provide something more efficient? [more inside]
posted by poopy at 5:57 PM PST - 4 comments

Is it possible to build a new laptop into an existing case? {More Inside} [more inside]
posted by Grod at 4:33 PM PST - 7 comments

My classroom is starting a production of Twelfth Night, and I need music for the songs sung by Feste, the Clown. We aren't going to be able to pull off live music. All of the versions of the songs I find on Google already have vocals. Does any one know of instrumental versions of the songs ("Wind and the Rain", "O Mistress Mine", etc.)? I'll even settle for sheet music and creating a MIDI version if I need to.
posted by Chanther at 4:07 PM PST - 2 comments

nameroute.com -- has anyone had good or bad experiences with them as a host? i believe they are also somehow related to hostroute.com, in case that helps.
posted by sa3z at 3:19 PM PST - 3 comments

Fun with narcolepsy: how can I keep from falling asleep during talks? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Johnny Assay at 1:57 PM PST - 17 comments

What's the deal with waterfilters? They're either sold like razors, with overpriced cartridges, (Pur) or offered through cheesy networks of multi-level-marketing that look like something from the Davinci Code.

After doing some googling I got interested in aquasana then discovered they were spamming usenet as recently as 1999. That sets my spider sense a-tingling.

I have yet to find an unsponsored site with reviews of filters, but Dr. Weil suggests a combination of charcoal and KDF for most filtering needs. Is there any reliable information out there, or do any of you have positive or negative experiences?

We're looking for something that will fit under our sink and make our highly mineralized well water taste good. Filtering out toxic crud is an added bonus. Thanks in advance!

addendum: This site (the NSF) has some good data, but no price-per-gallon.
posted by mecran01 at 1:26 PM PST - 10 comments

What does "teh" mean? I've seen it on several sites, including the site that must not be named, and it's usually used where "the" would be the more conventional choice. Is it like "intarweb"? [more inside]
posted by bshort at 12:30 PM PST - 33 comments

I have been looking for years for a pair of eyeglass frames like the ones Harry Caray used to wear, or the type Larry David's TV father wears. You know, the thick black boxy "television sets" that seem to be worn by older types in the entertainment business. I've come up empty handed, even after asking several eyeframe dealers. I suppose I could just fly down to Boca Raton and ask a wearer in person, but does anyone have a a name or manufacturer or style for these type of classes?
posted by sharksandwich at 11:54 AM PST - 9 comments

Used car suggestions: I've got 10 to 15k to spend...[mi] [more inside]
posted by skwm at 11:05 AM PST - 32 comments

Google hates me. For some reason, it's refusing to provide me with a comprehensive list of Quake 1 command line variables. Can you?
posted by armoured-ant at 10:40 AM PST - 6 comments

Vanity is fun! Ok I want a six-pack like those sexy beasts in magazines. I did a lot of research hoping that I'd find a wealth of information. Unfortunately the most I can find on usenet and Prescription Exercise is geared toward building strength, not that cut look. Most other information I found says all the situps can't help you if your body fat is not 5-6% (apparently that's really low, ahd how to measure body fat). So lacking any other clear sources, anyone here have experience with abs? Do they just magically appear at 5-6% body fat? If you work them out is that when the appear? [more inside]
posted by geoff. at 10:32 AM PST - 20 comments

Puppets - The Crank Yankers and/or Avenue Q kind not the Muppets kind. Does anyone know where I can get puppets like that? Not looking for toys, but rather "life size" puppets used in the show(s).
posted by turbanhead at 9:19 AM PST - 2 comments

AskCatFilter: I've had cats almost all my life; currently my girlfriend and I have three of them. One of them has an odd behavior that I've never noticed before, and I can't seem to figure out. [More Inside] [more inside]
posted by jammer at 8:49 AM PST - 24 comments

the IE6 browser on this computer use to play mpegs in a neat little quicktime box, but now when i click on an mpeg link (test link from here) i get a curious little square in the upper left-hand corner with a red 'x' in it. i see the icons on this quicktime test page, so what up? [more inside]
posted by dgaicun at 8:55 PM PST - 2 comments

I have always kind of wondered how the Atkins Diet has been received in Europe as well as Canada and Latin America. Personally I have some problems with it (How much exercise can you accomplish if you aren't getting any carbs???) but i haven't read Atkins For Life (or whatever the book is called) yet and I don't think I'm going to. Anyway, Specifically, I was wondering how the nations of England, France and Canada react to it? Is it popular there or just laughed at?
posted by Slimemonster at 8:42 PM PST - 21 comments

Flash Actionscript issue: I have a flash menu, with a series of links dynamically assigned using item.onRelease = function(link) {getURL(this.link);}; They work fine in flashplayer 7, but not at all in flashplayer 6. [a lot m.i.] [more inside]
posted by signal at 4:58 PM PST - 8 comments

UK-dwelling or motorcycle enthusiast MeFites may be able to help on this one. I'm coming up with nothing in my search for information about a magazine about motorcycle touring that's based in Bristol, England. I believe the title is Motorcycle Ventures, but that could be wrong. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
posted by emelenjr at 11:53 AM PST - 2 comments

I'm headed to Paris and would like to do some bicycling (in and out of the city). Any suggested destinations, Internet resources and cheap bike rentals? I'm not interested in joining one of those expensive group tours.
posted by sixpack at 10:38 AM PST - 9 comments

I'm looking for a good scientific encyclopedia. [More Inside] [more inside]
posted by substrate at 10:27 AM PST - 6 comments

I remember reading a few years (months? internet time is odd) back about devices that you could use to convert your cell phone so it could hook into your home phone system. I'm not using my land line very much except for my ReplayTV to dial up at night. Has anyone used one of these devices or can someone offer another solution? This Replay can't use my ethernet without major reconstructive surgery.
posted by spynotebook at 5:55 AM PST - 6 comments

Physical Exertion. I work from home and drink Guinness and so am getting heavier than I'd like to be, so i want to do some exercise. I'm not fat, but will become so. I also have trouble getting to sleep; my doctor says it's because I don't physically exert myself enough to become sleepy.

Can anyone suggest some good exercise? My difficulty is, I have no interest at all in competitive sports (no killer instinct) nor body building to look like Arnie. I have mild asthma and used to smoke; I also have mild Multiple Sclerosis. Is Yoga exertion enough, or is it more meditative? Is there a martial art that would suit me?
posted by Pericles at 1:54 AM PST - 34 comments

This is my first AskMe question: I've been annoyed for months by a sound problem with my PC. Simply put, my speakers pick up noise from the processor and hard drives that really offend my audiophile sensibilities. I think the cause is an IRQ sharing issue, but I'm not sure how to resolve it in Windows 2000. More inside... [more inside]
posted by Jonasio at 1:43 AM PST - 10 comments

I run a small (~15 person) software development company that is reliant on tracking timesheets for invoicing and payroll purposes. We built our own internal application for doing this a few years back, but it could be working better and rather than rebuilding it ourselves I'm thinking the easiest thing would be to just license something.

Any recommendations? Timesheets suck, so ideally it should be relatively painless to use, accurate, and produce useful reports.
posted by kaefer at 9:42 PM PST - 8 comments

I want to start a web design business focusing primarily on Flash design, but I need some tips on how to acquire clients. [More Inside] [more inside]
posted by banished at 9:29 PM PST - 7 comments

There are a lot of American products you can't get in Europe and vice-versa. Does anyone know of any private, Internet-based mail-swap scheme, similar to CD swaps? [More inside.] [more inside]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 9:14 PM PST - 40 comments

Las Vegas for 4 days. Where should I go? (More inside)
posted by jeremias at 7:57 PM PST - 24 comments

I'm a first time cat owner with a new 12-week-old kitten. I've read all the handbooks and official information I can get my hands on but I'm looking for practical advice from experienced "cat people" about feline psychology, training with positive reinforcement, and cat-proofing the house. How does this little crazy ball of fur become part of the family? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by web-goddess at 7:51 PM PST - 45 comments

I am sorry if this is a stupid noob question, but my laptop has gotten really slow the last few days- things take forever to load up and I get overlapping in windows, etc. I suspect there has been a buildup of processes, but I really am too computer dumb to know which ones I need and which I can shut off to improve the situation. I have run ad-aware, virus scan, defrag, etc. Is there somewhere I can go that is a cheater site to help me sort out what I can shut off?
posted by oflinkey at 7:42 PM PST - 12 comments

For an amateur photographer who is interested in documentary style photography, what are some "must have" lenses? I've got a tamron 28-105mm fixed 2.8 which rocks the masses. I'm looking to add one or two more lenses in the next year.
posted by inviolable at 5:19 PM PST - 10 comments

My faithful HP 520 black inkjet printer, our very first ever networked printer, died after 10 years of use (and abuse) by high school students. (Sniff!) (Please see inside for more) [more inside]
posted by Lynsey at 4:29 PM PST - 11 comments

Any biblical scholars out there? I got spooked out this morning by a suspicious person. More inside! [more inside]
posted by crazy finger at 4:13 PM PST - 23 comments

Should I ditch my cell phone provider? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:03 PM PST - 10 comments

Why does the iTunes music store have partial albums that are missing only one track? That makes it outrageously expensive to buy a CD with more than 9 tracks and seems a pretty dumb business move on their part. [Specifically, I tried to buy "Sign O'The Times" after the Prince thread, and it's missing a track.]
posted by adrober at 1:42 PM PST - 10 comments

Domain names are fun! My company has over 60 domain names with two main registars - Valueweb and Network Solutions. I would like to have all domains under one roof. Who would you transfer domains too and why? I find dealing with these companies very confusing.
posted by Macboy at 1:33 PM PST - 13 comments

How do you find out the extension of a file where it has been removed? I think it's a compressed file but I can't seem to get the slightest clue beyond that.
posted by Zootoon at 1:31 PM PST - 7 comments

I'm in a band. We just got our first pressings of our first album in the mail (funded mostly by myself). This is pretty exciting, except for this : I feel that my singer/principle lyric writer has very little time and continues to ask me if he can "Have Thursday Off" (as though I am his boss), my guitarist is very loyal, but ultimatly doesn't really have a drive to practice and improve. How would you, as a person with the vested interest in the band, encourage these other needed band members and not seem like a control freak in the process? I suppose this goes for any type of business relationship you have with friends who don't have the ability to contribute monetarily.
posted by psychotic_venom at 1:15 PM PST - 14 comments

On the heels of his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, I've been thinking about Prince again. I flirted with his music in college, but his discography has gotten so out of control that I don't even know where to start. Did he ever write/perform a better song than Little Red Corvette? Are there gems on his epic 3-disc albums? If you were going to make an all-Prince compilation disc, what would you be sure to include?
posted by blueshammer at 11:23 AM PST - 29 comments

I've come across this kind of very large¹, detailed, abstract illustrations, which are great for backgrounds or extracting small parts to use in your own projects. I thought they were called "macros", but have been unable to find any references or collections by that name. Is there a generic name for this kind of thing, what is it and where could I find more to download?
¹ The original image is 10 times larger.
posted by signal at 11:22 AM PST - 13 comments

In about a week, my boyfriend and I are flying from Chicago to Boston. He plans to play with his band while he's there, and so would require his bass (electric). This is not something we would want to check, for risk of damage or theft. But I don't think that sort of thing is allowed as carry-on. What can we do? I know that a lot of locked items are forced open nowadays for security checks. Does anyone have any experience with transporting instruments via air? We're taking ATA by the way.
posted by agregoli at 11:18 AM PST - 22 comments

How do spammers know my (former) home address? [more inside, natch] [more inside]
posted by Vidiot at 11:17 AM PST - 5 comments

I need help with a treehouse! (more inside) [more inside]
posted by bradth27 at 11:07 AM PST - 17 comments

Basic question about the windows interface, specifically the "browse" dialog box. --> [more inside]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:05 AM PST - 9 comments

ConsumerFilter:

I've just been given a rather attractive economic reason to switch from Roadrunner to Earthlink for cable modem access to the net.

Does anyone have good/bad experience(s) with Earthlink for high speed access?

Do they cap you for or restrict filesharing activities?
Is there USENET server good, bad/so-so?

Any other good/bad things to note about their services offered?
posted by BentPenguin at 10:47 AM PST - 13 comments

IDon'Unnerstand: Some visitors w/ .uk and .jp ISP addresses are googling for an old URL of mine that doesn't exist (used to be stored on Photoisland but the URL expired), and then they're entering my website by the search results. What the hell is going on? Does this mean someone linked to my image and I didn't know it, now the img URL expired and they're looking for it? [more inside]
posted by Shane at 10:33 AM PST - 8 comments

I've got a 14 cd network tower. I cannot figure out why I would use it instead of a big ol' hard drive. Anyone have any idea what I could use it for? [more inside]
posted by dogwelder at 9:16 AM PST - 7 comments

Making the most of politcal contributions - how? If one wishes to contibute something financially to help in this years presidential race, where would that money be best sent? Directly to the campaign? To a PAC or other group? To a Party Headquarters? What about limits, personal fund-raisers? There are a lot of vague-sounding rules and unknowns out there, wondering if anyone else on here has negotiated them.
posted by kokogiak at 8:19 AM PST - 6 comments

CSS question. I know you can orientate paragraphs horizontally and even vertically using CSS. However, is it possible to give paragraph a constant tilt, like this? [more inside]
posted by MintSauce at 8:03 AM PST - 5 comments

Suggestions of French pop tunes/artists? I know a very kind, lovely 11 year-old girl who is recovering from hip surgery in a dull, rural town. She'll be going to France on an exchange next year, and I'd like to take her there a little early, via a mix-CD. She likes Garbage, Sheryl Crow, Blink 182, Alanis Morrisette and India Arie. Can you help me make something...uh... hip?
posted by stonerose at 7:13 AM PST - 37 comments

ebay is littered with auctions to buy a 'link to a site where you can get a phone for £20'. Why...? [MI] [more inside]
posted by twine42 at 3:23 AM PST - 10 comments

There is a site I came across with a file that causes your computer to go crazy when accessed. It is a JPG. Want to know how it works {More Inside} [more inside]
posted by ac at 1:57 AM PST - 16 comments

Unusual wedding rings to replace worn meteoric ones? [more specifics inside] [more inside]
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:10 AM PST - 9 comments

Will fabric that is 96% cotton and 4% spandex shrink in the dryer? There's a certain garment I want to buy, but only if I'm able to shrink it a bit, since it's too large for me now. Google tells me to always dry spandex on low setting, but I'm assuming those are instructions for people who DON'T want to shrink their clothes.
posted by parrots at 11:15 PM PST - 6 comments

Songs about the Assassination of JFK


How can I find out who might be interested in a particular collection of 45 rpm records? They are mostly folk songs and all of them are songs written about the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
posted by small_ruminant at 11:01 PM PST - 8 comments

Does anyone know I can find a free online version of the Cliff's Notes (or equivalent with complete summary and commentary) on both The Book of Mormon and the US Constitution? All the links i found were teases for something i had to pay for. Man I'm cheap.
posted by Slimemonster at 10:19 PM PST - 9 comments

Is there a way to recover files from CPM? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by casarkos at 10:01 PM PST - 4 comments

Does anyone know where I can find an .ISO (or equivalent) copy of Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum's install CD? The drivers all over the web are made for use after the original install. I called Creative and the CD will arrive in a few weeks. I have googled for the last week, no dice. I hope this is not too specific. [more inside]
posted by Keyser Soze at 9:59 PM PST - 2 comments

Can anyone explain to me what's going on with this site? [more inside]
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:26 PM PST - 9 comments

Hoping this isn't too obscure, but here goes:

So I've got a perl CGI script. That script kicks off another process using system (or exec, or backticks, same difference.) That other process takes a long time, and produces a lot of output, which I'd like to stream to the browser continuously -- or at least often enough to keep the connection open -- instead of waiting for it to end before flushing the buffer.

I know how to use $| to get perl to autoflush its own output. How do I do the same for the system process being called from within perl?
posted by ook at 9:04 PM PST - 5 comments

I have inadvertantly let a domain name expire... [more inside]
posted by o2b at 7:43 PM PST - 6 comments

How are trips by sitting executive branch members to campaign for fellow party members paid for? [more inside]
posted by crawl at 7:02 PM PST - 4 comments

I'm sure many people have wondered this: Where do e-bay sellers get all their products? If the buy it now price on a barebones computer system, for example, is not significantly higher than the price of the individual components from an online retailer like tigerdirect or newegg, how are these people turning a profit? ~..MI..~ [more inside]
posted by Grod at 6:39 PM PST - 14 comments

I have a 350 watt antec power supply that whines when I pull the plug. If I turn it off and back on 3 or 4 times, the whine goes away and the computer boots. The whine is coming from the PC Speaker. I should know better and get a new one, but do I run the risk of damaging my components by using it? If the plug stays in the computer will turn back on.
posted by Keyser Soze at 5:49 PM PST - 1 comment

There's a quote I can't remember. I think it's from E.M. Forster, but I'm not sure. It's something about an "aristocracy" of people with a sense of humor -- a subset of society that is elite, only by virtue of knowing what's up, and having a humorous perspective on things. Ring any bells?
posted by inksyndicate at 5:36 PM PST - 4 comments

On Windows XP Pro, when I enable "Show common tasks in folders" under folder options, Windows Explorer will sometimes crash when I open a folder. [M.I.] [more inside]
posted by signal at 4:58 PM PST - 7 comments

I want to increase my wine-fu, but I don't drink much anymore. My main concern is finding affordable wines to serve at gatherings which other wine lovers will appreciate. Anyone want to share any favorites?
posted by insomnia_lj at 2:07 PM PST - 24 comments

What's the best way to watch a LAN? Someone on our work network is using a whole mess o' bandwidth and no one will own up to it. Is there a decent free package out there for either linux or windows that'll let me see what's up?
posted by ph00dz at 2:01 PM PST - 19 comments

IP EXPERTS! What's the definitive solution to comment spam on weblogs? I manage one that has been spammed with links to supposedly pornographic third-level domains, e.g. http://red-hot-anal-sluts.boringaddress.com, sometimes with a folder afterward. [Mo' inside] [more inside]
posted by soyjoy at 12:37 PM PST - 9 comments

How 'secure' is AIM? My brother is behind a firewall and uses a proxy to connect to AIM at his university. Assuming there were people who wanted to, how easy would it be for someone within the university to read his ramblings?
posted by attackthetaxi at 11:37 AM PST - 18 comments

I have Comcast Cable Internet access and a Linksys Wireless B Router. How can I get the two to work together properly? Previously, I had Verizon DSL and the router worked like a charm. But now, when I connect the cable modem through the router to the computer, nothing works. I run OSX 10.2.8 on an iMac. Thanks in advance.
posted by BlueTrain at 11:10 AM PST - 22 comments

There's a noise in my wall [mo]. [more inside]
posted by goethean at 10:11 AM PST - 11 comments

Is it just me, or does anyone else see Our Lord Cthulu's frightful visage on the bread of this sandwich, burnt there by the hellish flames of a Denny's Restaurant toaster?
posted by Shane at 9:24 AM PST - 16 comments

Miguel's Spoilt for choice thread led me to wonder how/when/why the term 'information overload' originated. Have we always thought that we have too much information to deal with? [More, ironically, inside] [more inside]
posted by carter at 8:11 AM PST - 4 comments

Being 1/2 Irish I really should know the answers to these questions, but I don't. This year I'm taking over the St. Patrick's Day dinner from my mom. 1) How much corned beef and cabbage do I need for 7 adults and three kids? 2) Is there a traditional Irish dessert (besides whiskey) that should be served afterwards? 3) What about appetizers? 4) Are the draft bottles of Guinness as good as the cans? 4b) Are they pint-sized? 5) Any other tips, other than not wearing orange?
posted by bondcliff at 7:08 AM PST - 16 comments

Do you 'merge' with your partner when you have sex? (more inside...) [more inside]
posted by skylar at 6:14 AM PST - 23 comments

Is there such a thing as a permanent tan? If so how do you get one? My Googling only leads to salons that offer tans which don't last very long.
posted by timyang at 12:58 AM PST - 9 comments

In the recent movie School of Rock there's a scene where Jack Black's character is standing in front of a blackboard on which he's sketched out a history/taxonomy of rock music. Does anyone know how I'd go about getting a poster of this? [more inside]
posted by namespan at 12:14 AM PST - 16 comments

Why can't I fall asleep on my back? [more] [more inside]
posted by scarabic at 9:39 PM PST - 23 comments

Is there any easy to implement, close to 100% reliable, HTML, CSS, JS or whatever -hack to make IE correctly implement full alpha transparency in PNGs? It would make the life of this web developer much more happy and carefree.
posted by signal at 7:41 PM PST - 11 comments

I'm looking for web resources on migranes -- multi-day, flat-on-your-back monsters, impervious to post-op-level codeine and other serious drugs, that leave you thinking (god forbid) about tumors and such. A friend's ongoing struggle with these is really starting to worry me, even though MRIs haven't shown anything. Of course, any personal stories and/or remedies are welcome as well. Thank you.
posted by gottabefunky at 5:35 PM PST - 19 comments

I'm looking for a good play to write a term paper on that isn't a play commonly used for such assignments. It'd be nice if it wasn't totally obscure so I could find critical analyses of it, but I don't really want to write about an extremely common one. Any suggestions?
posted by thebabelfish at 5:15 PM PST - 35 comments

Classes in Google-Fu

This MeTa thread suggests that some people could perhaps use some tips on how to Google (or otherwise search) more effectively. I often find that I give up on a search because I can't seem to hit on the exact right phrase that gives me what I want, or I get tired of wading through crummy, informationless, auto-generated sort of links. Masters of Googling, enlighten us!
posted by Shoeburyness at 12:37 PM PST - 26 comments

How can I neutralize fish odors, either in the air after cooking / preparation on plastic or metal dishware? [more inside]
posted by ao4047 at 9:00 AM PST - 16 comments

Where can I find a missing winspool.drv and powrprof.dll file? Windows ME, Dell solution and system restore do not help.
posted by brent at 7:53 AM PST - 5 comments

Looking for tips for making ebay selling a painless experience. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by bifter at 5:07 AM PST - 16 comments

Starcraft question: I need to find the name of the song in the background of the Brood War intro. Anyone familiar with the game? [more inside]
posted by ac at 1:37 AM PST - 10 comments

Can anyone see what's happened to the Yemen Times website? They seem to be trying to 'include' a google news search results page on their own front page. I didn't think that was possible.
posted by feelinglistless at 12:50 AM PST - 3 comments

Anyone have any live recordings of Jolie Holland? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Hegemonic at 9:46 PM PST - 2 comments

I'm looking for a great chef's knife. I'm getting married soon so we're registering for gifts. My fiancee and I already have a decent set of knives, but I want a really fantastic chef's knife. While poking around on Alton Brown's site, I noticed his glowing shill endorsement for Kershaw Shun knives. Does anyone have any other opinions or recommendations?
posted by zsazsa at 9:37 PM PST - 29 comments

RoadTripUSAFilter [part 1]
I & a friend will be arriving at LAX this Easter for my 4th visit to the US & my 3rd coast-to-coast road trip. We fly out of NYC on June 2nd.

This is the first time I've had to arrange my own transport. (First time was East-West in a Dodge RAM van, next was West-East in a converted School bus). Advice required...[A whole bunch more inside] [more inside]
posted by i_cola at 9:02 PM PST - 14 comments

Is it possible to take cats for a walk ? [more inside]
posted by sgt.serenity at 7:42 PM PST - 26 comments

Someone's using a friend's wireless internet connection. How can I mess with him/her? [more inside]
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:17 PM PST - 27 comments

Seasonal color palettes: I googled, but came up with lots of image consultants that don't really tell you much. A friend of mine wants to go get clothes in colors that make her look good, and I know she's a Winter, but I'd like to show her a palette of colors.
posted by notsnot at 2:05 PM PST - 6 comments

Does anybody know a fairly easy and preferably free way to convert (like the one's here) into mp3's that I could save to my hard drive?
posted by jonmc at 12:27 PM PST - 8 comments

I am looking for a piece of software that organizes ideas, thoughts, notes, etc. in a relational, graphical sort of way. And for the life of me I can't remember, or think of, what that kind of program is called. (It's Saturday, and creative thinking has turned to mush, thanks to Looney Tunes!)
posted by grefo at 11:37 AM PST - 11 comments

Do CD-RW drives have a limited number of burns? A couple of computer science majors at my old school told me this and I didn't really beleive it. However, my HP CD-RW has stopped writing discs (but still reads fine). I've had it since the summer of 2000 but granted it's 4 years old, I haven't really pushed it hard. I use it to read CD-ROMS and play music CDs occasionally, and have probably burned a couple-dozen music CDs. Is it kaput, in need of cleaning, or what?
posted by tomorama at 10:46 AM PST - 13 comments

Why are (FM) radio stations organized the way they are? I don't listen to the radio much, but after spending some time at home recently, I remember an observation I made as a kid: classical/jazz and college stations are sub-92, pop/hip-hop/etc. are 92-102, and oldies/classic/hard rock are 102+. I've definitely seen exceptions, especially in larger cities, but this split does seem pretty accurate overall. Is there a reason for it?
posted by Sinner at 7:42 AM PST - 9 comments

What are some of the problems with Objectivism? I'm aware its founder may be a few sprinkles short of a frosted donut, but what's missing in the philosophy itself?
posted by casarkos at 5:51 AM PST - 33 comments

BookNerdFilter: Is there a way to tell the printing and edition of a book given just the ISBN? There's abook I'm thinking of ordering, and I'm much more likely to do it if it's a first edition/ printing...
posted by kaibutsu at 8:14 PM PST - 3 comments

My laptop, a somewhat rickety Dell C-series Latitude running Debian Linux, died. Can you help me choose or recommend a replacement? [Details of my requirements will be revealed when reading the comments.] [more inside]
posted by majick at 6:11 PM PST - 22 comments

Are there any good blog portals out there? [more inside]
posted by o2b at 5:27 PM PST - 9 comments

I'd like to learn shorthand, to help take notes quicker and more efficiently. (Ideally, teach myself.) Any suggestions?
posted by gottabefunky at 5:26 PM PST - 2 comments

I'm a Mac head formatting a partition on my Windows 2000 Prof box - What's the difference between NTFS and Fat32? Which should I choose?
posted by jalexei at 4:32 PM PST - 8 comments

Anybody having trouble with Hotmail right now? I can't seem to access it this afternoon.
posted by konolia at 2:58 PM PST - 15 comments

My dad is looking for a hemispherical magnifier. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Vidiot at 2:39 PM PST - 4 comments

Help! My website's not working! (More inside...) [more inside]
posted by adrober at 2:35 PM PST - 9 comments

I need to put a new OS (hopefully linux) on a laptop with XP and no bootable media other than the HD that's already in it. [more inside]
posted by jaded at 11:44 AM PST - 13 comments

I'm reading a book about the London Underground that cites Paris as a radial city and New York as a grid city while claiming that London is unclassifiable. I'd never thought much about alternates to the grid system.

My question is, can anyone point to alternate schemes for organizing cities? Or know of/live in particular cities that exemplify one scheme or another?
posted by jeffhoward at 11:16 AM PST - 41 comments

My family has always owned manual (stick shift) driven vehicles. I currently have a manual but am going to be in the market soon for a new vehicle. What are the advantages/disadvantages of each type? It seems to cost more for the convenience of an automatic, but doesn't one also end up paying more for repairs and maintenance?
posted by sharksandwich at 10:07 AM PST - 49 comments

Anybody have anecdotes about visible, as in on the forearm, tattoos in a professional setting? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by guyincognito at 9:49 AM PST - 15 comments

I would like to rent a house for a week in June on a desolate beach somewhere. Any suggestions? [more inside]
posted by mert at 9:26 AM PST - 17 comments

What's your best/favorite recipe?
posted by yangwar at 8:39 AM PST - 32 comments

Someone's offered to sell me tickets to an event and tells me they are "fax" tickets -- I can paypal him and he can fax the tickets. Is this legit? I don't know this person. [more inside]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:31 AM PST - 14 comments

Why aren't animals solar-powered? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by jpoulos at 7:49 AM PST - 31 comments

I'm looking for chat/IM sounds that aren't pop culture and don't suck. I can't find anything that properly balances between obnoxious and ignorable. Seems like something Apple would have done but I'm coming up dry.
posted by smackfu at 7:20 AM PST - 6 comments

How does one take a screenshot on a PC if the keyboard doesn't have one of those handy "PrntScrn" keys?
posted by jpburns at 5:03 AM PST - 8 comments

Apparent CSS or related markup problem. This page renders mostly correctly in IE6, but most of the content disappears under Moz. It's a hybrid CSS/table layout. I need your Browser-Fu! [more inside] [more inside]
posted by weston at 1:34 AM PST - 17 comments

How does a stenographer's typewriter work?
posted by tomharpel at 12:10 AM PST - 3 comments

About a week ago, I started jogging a mile a day and already I've noticed I've been getting kind of a second wind maybe 2/3 of the way in and my time has been going down quite a bit. Does anyone know the reason or the science behind the body getting used to being pushed? Also, does anyone know the proper breathing techniques for runners? I have some unreliable information saying it should all be through the nose. Need a second opinion.
posted by Slimemonster at 8:27 PM PST - 13 comments

I recently purchased an Athlon XP 2400 266 FSB, to replace my Athlon Thunderbird 1.4ghz. Running at 133/133, the processor only shows up as a 1700 running at 1.49ghz. I have an ECS K7S5A with the Cheepoman BIOS (and I've tried this with the latest ECS BIOS as well). I've seen people talking about this combination being okay for them, but I can't for the life of me figure out why this won't recognize it as the right processor and clock speed. Bumping up the CPU speed to 166 causes my system to not boot. I've confirmed through the numbers on the processor itself that it is indeed an Athlon XP 2400. What else could be at fault here?
posted by angry modem at 7:17 PM PST - 14 comments

In your personal experience, how long do you use a computer before buying a new one? What do you do with the old one?
posted by jjg at 6:26 PM PST - 25 comments

What is an easy-to-install fairly secure Windows-based Webserver that I can use to show some static pages (so, no scripting needed) in an intranet. Non-IIS.
posted by vacapinta at 2:08 PM PST - 20 comments

The TMD thread, below, made me wonder about my odd condition, which sounds a little like TMD, but not quite. I get a pain in my jaw-hinge sometimes after drinking alcohol. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Once I start to notice it, I know I have to stop drinking right away. If I have another few sips, it will become EXCRUCIATING. Anyone know what this is or how best to deal with it?
posted by grumblebee at 1:28 PM PST - 12 comments

How can I get Flash to write data to an external file? Is really the only decent method to create a server-side solution which does the actual work? Either way, pointers to examples would be much appreciated.
posted by warhol at 11:44 AM PST - 11 comments

Calling all microbiologists & bacteria enthusiasts: left out two cans of Phillips backfin crab meat last night, which are supposed to stay refrigerated. It is pasteurized meat, but when we called the 800 number to ask their opinion, they said if the cans get to room temperature for several hours, you probably shouldn't use it. But hey, this is expensive crab meat. I'm thinking that if it is well-cooked, tonight, I will live to tell the tale. Opinions? [more inside]
posted by _sirmissalot_ at 10:11 AM PST - 114 comments

I have TMD. My oral surgeon gave me two choices - remove the fluid and debris in my jaw joint (via needle) and then inject steroids, or a hard mouth splint worn at night (not covered by insurance, so it'd cost me $650). He could give me no guarantees that either solution would be a permanent fix.

Haven't ruled either out yet (yay for tax refunds) but I am wondering if people have had experience with either and would share their experiences.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:08 AM PST - 12 comments

Donald Fagan question: What does I.G.Y. stand for? I'm guessing International Geophysical Year isn't it.
posted by yoga at 8:44 AM PST - 12 comments

What's the best way to go about finding domestic US flights? Is there a decent site which considers lots of different airlines? What should I do about finding out what airlines they might not include?
posted by biffa at 7:29 AM PST - 5 comments

Am I facing possible computer death? I have a five year old PC with Windows 98. It started acting buggy a few weeks ago and now freezes a few minutes after startup or even during startup.... more inside. [more inside]
posted by zaelic at 1:23 AM PST - 12 comments

I'm starting to get paranoid about my credit history for some reason (probably because I just applied for a Visa Platinum card for the helluvit), so I googled up "Credit Check" and was bombarded with what seemed endless websites offering to give me a free credit check. I don't want to accidently be scammed or anything, so anybody have recommendations on legit places to get a credit check? (free is preferred, but I know thats not always the case)
posted by jmd82 at 10:50 PM PST - 13 comments

Question about online photo albums (more inside). [more inside]
posted by timyang at 8:38 PM PST - 8 comments

What are some of the worst cases of "vaporware" in the personal computer era? [more inside]
posted by gwint at 8:04 PM PST - 12 comments

It's embarrassing but a real need: Is there a simple one-click way, freely downloadable or hidden somewhere, to keep a permanent notebook while surfing and writing? I'm on an imac with OS X/Safari. [More inside.] [more inside]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:33 PM PST - 33 comments

I used to have a little Windows widget, found via MetaFilter, which would ping a configurable list of weblog-tracking sites. Does anyone either: a) know of a similar Mac program or b) remember where to download the Windows one?
posted by timeistight at 5:23 PM PST - 0 comments

Why do health-food supplements like ginseng and glucosamine go for years without the necessary study to prove or disprove, once and for all, their value? Perhaps these examples are not perfect ones, but it does seem as if there's a world of "nutriceuticals" out there are no one really understands well enough. Why? [more inside]
posted by scarabic at 3:31 PM PST - 11 comments

I was given a yucca root. My friend, who lived in the Dominican Republic, where apparently this is a staple, says I should just dice it and add it to soup as I would a potato. I think I could do better: any ideas/recipes? Sans meat, please.
posted by Utilitaritron at 3:14 PM PST - 12 comments

This is an idle thought but: how many uses are there for laptop LCDs? I'm wondering if, for example, I can take one and hook it up to a tv tuner (w/out using a computer) and have a cheap wall mounted tv? Or how about adapting one to serve as a second monitor for a desktop pc? Anyone ever done this kind of stuff? Know someone who has? Do tell.
posted by Grod at 2:04 PM PST - 12 comments

Design sites: Does anyone have any good links to sites with design ideas and tips at a medium-to-advanced level? I'm talking dead-tree here, no CSS thanks. There are plenty of sites about fonts and online design, but I want to do cool things with a nice piece of A4. [more inside]
posted by bonaldi at 1:34 PM PST - 5 comments

I have to use Frontpage to run an intranet - so that others can edit the content. How can I best prevent my valid HTML templates from being mangled? Frontpage seems to add random snippets of code.
posted by laukf at 12:31 PM PST - 9 comments

Warning: Unexpected character in input: '' (ASCII=30) state=1

Any ideas? More inside (culprits are currently Photoshop, FTP, and my ignorance).. [more inside]
posted by jmevius at 11:49 AM PST - 13 comments

I'm in need of a silly freeware utility that would let me make a list of folders and their contents on my hard drive. I've tried googling "directory List" + Util, but come up with lots of noise, no signal. Can someone point me to such an applet?
posted by Fupped Duck at 11:23 AM PST - 13 comments

CoolEdit Pro plugins. Which playing guess-and-play with the inbuild Graphic EQ plugin with CoolEdit Pro 2 is all fun, I'm looking for a graphic that will display a VU/EQ of the track behind the EQ of the track. Kinda like the little VU in WinAmp, but with EQ controls in front of it. Also; anyone know any other killer CoolEdit plugins?
posted by armoured-ant at 10:42 AM PST - 0 comments

These last couple of days, whenever I use Internet Explorer and right-click to open a link in a new window, the new window is incredibly small. I resize it, I maximize it, and so on, but the new windows still keep opening at that same small size. I'm on my work computer, which has Windows 98. Any way to fix this?
posted by Tin Man at 10:28 AM PST - 6 comments

Anyone here use Nikwax waterproofing? Is it good/does it require new coats often/most importantly: DOES IT STINK? (L'il more inside.) [more inside]
posted by Shane at 10:18 AM PST - 3 comments

Is there a good, free product out there that I can install on a friend's webpage so he can update HTML files through his browser and not have to know any HTML? (details inside) [more inside]
posted by chaz at 10:04 AM PST - 11 comments

What is the etiquette for putting future employment on your resume? I will be a summer associate for a law firm between May and August, but am circulating my resume to other employers in anticipation of the interview process next fall. Is it acceptable to put "[Law Firm] - Summer Associate, May 2004 - August 2004" on a resume that you are handing out today?
posted by PrinceValium at 9:52 AM PST - 15 comments

The answers in a thread earlier today got me thinking, can anyone recommend any neat tricks (or sites which list neat tricks) that can make one's surfing more pleasurable. Either by enabling simple features or otherwise, such as adding simple and trustable downloads. (Obviously I'm not an IT bod.) [more inside]
posted by biffa at 9:49 AM PST - 14 comments

I use both Firefox and Mozilla for browsing. Is there any way to share the bookmarks in both (i.e.: if I add a bookmark in Mozilla it shows up in Firefox and v.v.)?
posted by signal at 9:11 AM PST - 3 comments

BrowserFilter: Sometime during the past week, Amazon pages developed an annoying habit. When they're finished loading, they take the focus away from whatever page I'm reading. For example, if I'm typing a question in AskMe and an Amazon page completes its load, IE switches to the Amazon page while I'm typing. This sucks. How do I stop this? It's driving me crazy!
posted by jdroth at 9:10 AM PST - 14 comments

Excel question: what's the best way to build a chart to display this data? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:44 AM PST - 4 comments

Renter's Insurance- is it worth it? How much can I expect to pay?
posted by mkultra at 8:42 AM PST - 20 comments

MS Outlook 2000 (SP-3) continues to send emails to my contacts' former addresses. I've tried using the Windows Address Book to make changes to email addresses instead of the Contacts card view, but still have the same problem. I've examined all the fields of the updated contacts and the old address is nowhere to be found, yet Outlook insists on sending to it. What gives? [more inside]
posted by cbrody at 8:31 AM PST - 7 comments

F-in' SEARCHNAV! I somehow accepted a cookie from this monster, and it's annoying me beyond belief. [more inside]
posted by pomegranate at 7:49 AM PST - 13 comments

I use a whole bunch of PC's - three mainly, my laptop at work, and a desktop and laptop at home...I'd like to find a way of keeping my favorites synchronised on all three OR keeping them all in one place on the web and being able to access them...oh, and I'd like the solution to be 'free' and look cool...(is there an easy way to harvest the 500 favorites on my work laptop - and turn them into a web page?)

I use IE6 on all of my PC's....but some web based solution would allow me to access all my links from other machines/browsers.
posted by mattr at 7:20 AM PST - 8 comments

Wha' Happened? A Mighty Wind is a favorite of mine, and Mike LaFontaine's weak catch-phrase remains one of those generators of instant hysteria for me. A few days ago, one of my coworkers started saying "Wha' Happened?" as his own little catch-phrase... and he swears he has never seen A Mighty Wind, and that he has ALWAYS randomly said it during those catch-phrase-appropriate moments. "Maybe I picked it up somewhere," he says. It's making me crazy. Can anyone tell me if "Wha' Happened" actually has a non-Mighty-Wind origin? Maybe I missed an in-joke along the way.
posted by kittyb at 5:47 AM PST - 25 comments

Would you consider a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 platinum a prosumer sound card, as far as audio playback is concerned? [more inside]
posted by Keyser Soze at 2:48 AM PST - 4 comments

Your help please in playing DRM protected video clips without DRM software... (further details are contained within) [more inside]
posted by muckybob at 1:40 AM PST - 5 comments

How do I make a lamp shade revolve? (More Inside) [more inside]
posted by Homeskillet Freshy Fresh at 1:13 AM PST - 8 comments

Damn. All these huge anthills just sprung up in my backyard. I swear, this morning I had one hill, tonight I have about a dozen. Anyone keen on how to deal with that? Also, how would I know if they are or are not fire ants or some other monster flesh-eating or weirdo sort of ant? What is a safe ant? And god, what isn't? Can you tell by color or size? These are very industrious ants. 11pm and they're still at it.
posted by Peter H at 9:06 PM PST - 12 comments

I know this isnt LegalAdviceFilter, but I need some opinions on ways of protecting my property from vehicles. (more inside) [more inside]
posted by mrbill at 8:57 PM PST - 25 comments

I need help taking data from an XML file and putting it into an HTML file. (MI) [more inside]
posted by @homer at 7:22 PM PST - 17 comments

Besides Google's AdSense, what do you think of advertising.com, bidclix.com, and burstmedia.com? Which one gives the best rates to internet publishers?
posted by banished at 6:05 PM PST - 3 comments

Mail question: I recently got a new iBook and Mail for OS X has been behaving oddly. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by blueshammer at 3:17 PM PST - 7 comments

I'm looking for a pair of jeans I saw someone wearing on the street today. I think I saw the same pair on Gwyneth Paltrow in People recently. They're women's jeans, low-rise, dark-ish, expensive looking, (hot!). They have a horizontal seam across the knee and snaps the size of nickels down the outside of the pant leg from knee to ankle. I've called several department stores and looked online, but I just can't seem to find them again. Help?
posted by bonheur at 3:01 PM PST - 6 comments

Does anyone know of an online collection site like DVD Aficionado or Guzzlefish for books?
posted by Robot Johnny at 2:13 PM PST - 4 comments

Recently bought a car and the radio plays CDs. The panel says "CD/CD-R", but the manual had a big sticker across the cover saying "using non-original, recorded discs may damage this radio" etc. Is this some ass-covering copyright related legal thingie, or is it true that a CD I burn at home could damage the player?
posted by signal at 12:08 PM PST - 10 comments

IE question: Why is it that sometimes I can save images as their original gif/jpg format, and sometimes it'll only let me save it as a bmp?
posted by oissubke at 11:48 AM PST - 6 comments

Personal anecdotes on the topic of Squirrels--how to get rid of them are hereby solicited.
posted by y2karl at 11:47 AM PST - 23 comments

I inherited admin rights on a Novell 3.12 server a while back. To say I am weak in this area is a sad slap at the word weak. This morning, a user stated that a directory "got deleted somehow". [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Irontom at 11:13 AM PST - 4 comments

As a frequent user of Priceline, I now cringe at the idea of paying rack rate for a hotel. I am planning a vacation to Minneapolis the week of March 20 and would like a little more control over my accommodations than can be offered by Priceline. Any advice on finding a good rate? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Otis at 8:23 AM PST - 12 comments

A few questions about the SVG graphics format... [MI] [more inside]
posted by twine42 at 7:51 AM PST - 6 comments

My wife and I are going to London soon. I've lived there before, but it will be her first time. What are some good books that will bring the city's history and landmarks alive for her? Fiction and non-fiction are fine, as long as they are good reads (not dry or academic). I'm looking for the type of thing that will really make you appreciate the Tower or Camden Town or whatever when you're there.
posted by grumblebee at 5:18 AM PST - 23 comments

There's a cool feature in OS X that permits dynamic screen zooming. it looks gorgeous (it's part of Universal Access - a part of the system specifically for people with visual/aural disabilities).

I'm looking for a similar ability on XP - I need to be able to dynamically zoom in on some small widgets during a presentation.
posted by filmgeek at 5:01 AM PST - 3 comments

What to do about the compilations? I've recently started using iTunes for my mp3-listening activities, and finally have a use for metadata tags other than Artist/Song/Album (dynamic playlists make my socks roll up and down, up and down). But how to deal with greatest-hits collections and other compilations, where the album-release date has nothing to do with when the song came out? Do people (that is, you) actually look up the year for each song? If so, where? If not, what do you do?
posted by gleuschk at 4:58 AM PST - 13 comments

Anyone know a good general reference page for corporate scandals? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by rorycberger at 4:10 AM PST - 7 comments

I use the Safari browser because it was already on this computer when I got it. Lately, it's been giving me cached versions of pages I access rather than the most recent version of the page. I have to do a "force reload" on pages to see what's changed since the last time I looked at it every time I access a site, even if I looked at it five minutes ago. (This makes it extremely difficult for me to be a jerk.)

I've looked at the "preferences" on Safari, and I can't tell why this has changed. Can anyone tell me why? [more inside]
posted by interrobang at 12:52 AM PST - 10 comments

My fiancee and I aren't sure if we should do pre-marriage counseling or not. We agree on most issues (ie. money, children, religion) but aren't sure if the counseling will bring up issues we haven't thought about. Is pre-marital counseling just for religous folk or is it something everyone should do? What type of questions arise in the counseling sessions?
posted by graventy at 8:13 PM PST - 12 comments

I started using Google AdSense ads on a couple of sites a few weeks ago, and I'm getting good results and earnings. My question is, how is Google about paying out? Any hassles, delays, etc.?
posted by RylandDotNet at 8:00 PM PST - 11 comments

Finally decided to make Firefox my default browser, but the bookmarks it imported from IE are four months old. Is there any way to get the updated ones without handcopying?
posted by casarkos at 7:24 PM PST - 3 comments

PHP-randomizer help? [more inside]
posted by o2b at 6:54 PM PST - 11 comments

coming off an antibiotic jag ... [more inside]
posted by crunchland at 6:26 PM PST - 12 comments

What exactly is the proper way to dispose of my used Duracell AA batteries? I go through them pretty fast and I'd hate to think they were sitting somewhere corroding and leaking acid down to the earth's core or something (I know very little about how batteries work, obviously). What should I be doing with them? It's not as easy as tossing them in the trash, is it?
posted by Slimemonster at 6:11 PM PST - 16 comments

How do I get Dean Allen's Refer to show destination hostnames as well as $REQUEST_URI? [more inside]
posted by brownpau at 4:05 PM PST - 3 comments

am going to niagara falls in july (US side). i have a listing of some beds & breakfasts within a couple miles of the falls, but with B&Bs, i like to hear some testimonials from previous visitors. anyone stayed at a B&B near the falls in the last year or so?
posted by crush-onastick at 3:00 PM PST - 6 comments

Any real estate moguls on MetaFilter? I've been trying to think of a business I might be able to start-up for myself. Nothing I've considered so far has struck me as a winner. With interest rates still reasonably low, I've been wondering if buying a small (4 to 6 unit) apartment complex might be worth a look. The internet is full of get rich quick schemes, but so far I don't have the right query to get past all that to bare bones here's what you need to know before you can consider doing it due diligence stuff. Good books, web sites or the voice of experience would all be very welcome.
posted by willnot at 2:27 PM PST - 8 comments

IS there any evolutionary advantages to monogamy; non-violence; vegetarianism; religion?
posted by Pericles at 2:24 PM PST - 12 comments

When did people start smiling in pictures and why?
posted by internal at 11:10 AM PST - 20 comments

Me and two friends are headed out of Chicago to Costa Rica from March 14th until the 23rd. While we have a list of things we would like to do, I'm looking for suggestions on things not to miss. So far we are planning to hit Montverde, the Arenal Volcano, and Playa Montezuma. Any suggestions or trips for our travels?
posted by alicila at 10:32 AM PST - 17 comments

Has anyone here ever self published a book? I have a great idea, a sure-fire distribution venue, and completed content, but I'm clueless about producing the actual end product. Its quite short (about 40 pages) -- other than taking it to my local copy shop and having them photocopy and bind the thing, are there other options?
posted by anastasiav at 10:01 AM PST - 11 comments

mac/entourage prob: there's an email address that I cannot send to. Whenever I try and send something to it I get a msg: "Relay Access Denied". I have no probs with any other addresses. The address is for a discussion list and is css-d@xxxx.xxx-xxxxxx.org (of course just replacing the letters with ex's as it's probably poor to post the address here). Any ideas why it won't let me send? (It's not bouncing back, it won't leave my outbox). I receive emails from this address no prob.
posted by dobbs at 9:29 AM PST - 3 comments

I just got DSL and XP is nagging me to update... [mi] [more inside]
posted by keswick at 8:36 AM PST - 11 comments

Are there any location based retail search engines out there? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by MsVader at 8:21 AM PST - 6 comments

An html/mac/ie/div question thats driving me mad...

Basically, I have a div with scrollbars on top of an image. In a mac (possibly only IE) when you try and grab the scrollbar and scroll down it instead grabs the background image and trys to drag it away. Any thoughts? Sorry - the nature of the site means I can't give you an example URL.
posted by twine42 at 7:41 AM PST - 13 comments

Geese w/ research collars! I saw two last Wednesday. So far I cannot locate the program of which they are a part, nor has any program returned my e-mails.
IN-[more]-SIDE. [more inside]
posted by Shane at 7:18 AM PST - 4 comments

Got Milk? It does a body good? But is it true? There have been things recently, studies and such, that say milk may be better all around than people thought 10 years ago. But is it that good for an adult, and if so, how much should an adult have? [more inside]
posted by benjh at 7:18 AM PST - 29 comments

Possibly unanswerable question: I was working with this and I didn't wash it off fast enough with the right stuff. It's a polyurethane based gunk and I can't get it off my hands. Any tips on cleaning nasty, oil based, sticky, slippery goop off my hands now that it has dried? BTW, the truck looks great with it applied. :)
posted by ajpresto at 6:08 AM PST - 9 comments

Email security: I operate under the idea that sending credit card information via email is a bad idea. Is this a myth or are the security concerns real?
posted by Dick Paris at 4:33 AM PST - 16 comments

London in the 1920's -- what are the best books (nonfiction and fiction) and websites to research this topic? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by matteo at 1:47 AM PST - 6 comments

Do you leave your computer running all the time or turn it off when not in use? Why or why not?
posted by Jaybo at 1:18 AM PST - 34 comments

I have 100GB and 160GB hard drives in my XP computer. I tried using Norton Ghost to move the 100GB info to my latter drive, and it worked but with serious partition errors (windows not booting). I then moved a large amount of data to my 160, the 100 not really having changed. Everything in windows functions, but when I use Partition Magic 8 I get the following error: "Disk 1 appears to have partitions created using a different drive geometry (255h 63s original, 240h 63 current) You should back up...." etcetera. More inside. [more inside]
posted by Keyser Soze at 10:57 PM PST - 3 comments

I live in California. If I have a wedding reception at a hotel or restaurant and serve alcohol using the facility's bartenders and servers, who is responsible/legally liable if one of my guests gets into an accident - me, as the host of the event, or the hotel/restaurant who provided the servers and bartenders?
posted by echolalia67 at 9:55 PM PST - 7 comments

Sorting digital images. I went digital a year and a half ago and I still haven't figured out a way to sort my pictures that really works for me (by which I mean edit, in the sense of going through and picking out the keepers and organizing them by merit, subject, whatever). Before I went digital I used to just get cheap 4x6 prints of everything on every roll and had a very efficient system for sorting through, editing and organizing them, is there anything software-wise which makes this intuitive and easy, or should I just start printing? I find moving images around in folders really counter-intuitive for this purpose. Any suggestions?
posted by biscotti at 9:48 PM PST - 12 comments

Going to Rocky Point next week with friends and family, including babies. Any recommendations on family-friendly activities, good restaurants, and places not to miss? (The cheaper the better...we're all starving recently-marrieds here!)
posted by oissubke at 8:49 PM PST - 5 comments

I'm looking for recommendations for a reference cookbook to supplement my current bible, The Joy of Cooking. Your thoughts? [A list of what I've got already will greet you inside.] [more inside]
posted by me3dia at 8:25 PM PST - 39 comments

Help! I have less than one week to memorize a 5-minute speech for a contest--in Japanese. Most of what I can find on Google tells me not to bother with memorization, but the contest rules say I have to have it memorized verbatim. I have about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes memorized so far, but they're not solid yet. Does anyone have some tips for memorization?
posted by Jeanne at 8:08 PM PST - 17 comments

Ever since this I've been looking into recumbent bikes with an obsessive toy-hunger. At nearly 50lbs, the Bigha is widely denounced as heavy. My question is: how heavy is the average mountain bike, hybrid/commuter bike, and road bike? I can't find overall weight specs on the Cannondale website or the Specialized site. I'm not incredibly into bikes and have no frame of reference. Help me out if you can. How porcine is 50lbs?
posted by scarabic at 4:49 PM PST - 19 comments

I write and compose music. What I would like to know is what kind of basic equipment do I need to start laying down my own tracks and orchestrating my own stuff? My expensive toy PSR500M Yamaha has just enough bells and whistles to tantalize me as to what is possible to do. I have to start small, as finances are an issue at present.
posted by konolia at 2:54 PM PST - 10 comments

A few years ago someone gave me a tape of a gravelly voiced Russian folk singer who sounds a lot like Tom Waits. I believe he's fairly well known. Does anyone know who it might be? [more inside]
posted by mert at 11:14 AM PST - 7 comments

Can I put my electric toothbrush in the dishwasher? The bristle is detachable from the powered handle, and the threads collect gunk that I would just as soon power-wash away. The handle seems watertight -- the bristlehead moves via magnets, and the charging element is behind plastic.
posted by blueshammer at 10:56 AM PST - 5 comments

does anyone here have any experience with speed reading? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by joedan at 5:39 AM PST - 11 comments

What is the best free logfile analyzer? I've been using the trial version of Web Log Explorer Pro and like it well enough but I want more options about how to display and correlate data. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by Grod at 10:19 PM PST - 7 comments

Odd Ethnic Croatian instruments...I found my dad's old bugarija, and took it to the local folk-music shop to get restrung. They gave me strings based on the thirty-year-old strings that were on the thing. I looked online and foud out that the instrument is commonly tuned to an open D, but there's no way I can wind the strings up that tight without breaking stuff. If possible, I'd like to tune it like a guitar's top strings, and leave the bottom two strings as a drone and octave ('chorus'), but don't really know what my options are. My dad hasn't played it in 40+ years so he's no help...any one know anything 'bout a bugarija? One other thing: it's got five tuning pegs, but both the nut and the bridge have seven slots, with different spacing. Anyone know what the heck is going on?
posted by notsnot at 8:55 PM PST - 10 comments

Looking for the band/composer that created the songs on a tape I have. Song titles include "We can Rearrange the World" and "Goddamn the Empty Sky", "The Lament of the Corporate President's Wife" among others.
The tape had only a hand-written label on it calling it "Maestro Mix", and probably was made around 1991 or so. (more inside) [more inside]
posted by hincandenza at 6:11 PM PST - 3 comments

Disaster Strikes! I just managed to wipe out my C: drive with all my data -- is there any way to recover it, or will I just have to get very very drunk tonight? [more inside]
posted by muckster at 3:31 PM PST - 15 comments

Okay, for some reason, all of my .mpeg and .avi files when opened in Windows Media or Global DIVX play upside down and inside out. The audio is fine, but the image is totally inverted. What is up with that? How come .wmv files are playing normally? Did i do something to the files or is there something messing with them? [more inside]
posted by Slimemonster at 2:55 PM PST - 8 comments

#1 daughter is trying to get silkscreened logos off some of her t shirts. Cool kid. . .doesn't like anything commercial.

She is trying duct tape and that is *sorta* working but I was wondering if there is a magic bullet when it comes to removing various silk screen inks.
posted by Danf at 2:09 PM PST - 14 comments

I know I should be validating all the stuff I put on the Intarweb on various different browsers, so I alternately run Mozilla 1.4, IE 6 and Opera 7 to review my work. I tried to download IE 5.X from a 'legacy browsers' site, but it wouldn't install with 6 already installed. How do I make that work? (And, as long as I'm letting my web dumbness hang out, where are the bestest places to validate your HTML and CSS, and what else should I be testing/validating that I haven't mentioned?)
posted by wendell at 1:33 PM PST - 6 comments

Web forums: I need forum software without a presentation layer. [more] [more inside]
posted by normy at 6:59 AM PST - 3 comments

Any ideas as to why I get this: Generic Error "TLS not supported by server" when I try to send email?
posted by jaronson at 5:55 AM PST - 4 comments

Does anyone have any experience with Mesh computers? A friend recommended them, but other people seem to think they are a branch of Hell, Inc. Any help?
posted by Orange Goblin at 4:38 AM PST - 6 comments

I'm behind a university proxy firewall and wanting to access ports that are blocked from direct access through the firewall. I was wondering if there are any telnet clients out there that have HTTP-proxy capabilities with authication (user/password) as well.
posted by teem at 4:37 AM PST - 4 comments

Registrar that allows you to register .to domains? I know register.com does it but they want us$225 for it. Anyone know of any cheaper ones? (I checked a bunch and none seem to offer it.)
posted by dobbs at 8:44 PM PST - 6 comments

So, say you put a bag of Chinese food in the oven and forget about it. The next day, you turn on the oven to cook and realize after about twenty minutes what that godawful smell is and find molten plastic decorating your oven rack. Besides scrubbing off the plastic and airing out your house, is there anything else you would have to wonder about? Hypothetically, we're not going to suffocate because of plastic fumes, are we?
posted by sugarfish at 6:33 PM PST - 6 comments

Looking for the truth of a famous (mis)quote: Did Warhol really predict that "in the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes" as thousands of hack journalists claim? Or did he, noticing that the unfamous crave fame while the famous claim to hate it, simply say "everyone should be famous for fifteen minutes" so as to spread it around?
posted by timeistight at 5:03 PM PST - 2 comments

I'm using a Canon Elura 20 video camera with Pinaccle Studio 9. I'm having a problem when I capture video it drops frames. It says that my hard drive is fast enough and I've update my hardware profiles. When I capture at a lower rate it drops less frames, but, still does it to an annoying extent. Has anyone run into this problem? Got any ideas?
posted by trbrts at 2:42 PM PST - 5 comments

I am looking for a battery powered mixer. Some friends and I want to start doing street shows with a pair of Handytrax and an old skool boom box. But, we're stuck on the mixer problem. Googling "battery powered mixer" turns up the wrong kind of mixers, and we don't want to use a generator.
posted by badstone at 1:56 PM PST - 15 comments

I'm thinking of establishing a new personal web site for the risque/opinionated stuff that I don't want on my family-oriented site. The thing is, I'm not convinced that MT and it's bloggerific ilk nor Nuke and it's bastard children can maintain the stylized newspaper/-zine site that I want to erect. What other styles of free or dirt-cheap CMS software are out there that I should consider for the new site?
posted by ringmaster at 1:03 PM PST - 10 comments

I'm looking for a list of all lists of WBRU's "12 Cuts Above the Rest." I've e-mailed the station, and searched Google for hours. Does anyone know if such a list exists, and if so, where I can find it? I'm 99% sure that WBRU used to have a searchable archive, but after the site redesign a while back, it went missing.

In actuality, I'm looking for a song that was incredibly popular on WBRU during late 1999 or early 2000, being on the "12 Cuts..." list for over 3 months. The name of the band escapes me, and I think the song title included the word "morning." But the band's music was never released in the United States.
posted by LouMac at 11:55 AM PST - 7 comments

What do you do when your spouse/partner/significant other is just being plain weird? Or rather, when (s)he's not being overtly bizarre, but is setting off your spider-sense all the damn time? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by LittleMissCranky at 11:51 AM PST - 40 comments

I'm currently a webprogrammer for my College and I'd like to show off my skills with some type of portfolio. However, most of the web applications I've worked on have restricted access and are home grown programs specific to the organization. What's the best way to show someone something that I've worked on without giving them actual access to the web-application?
posted by Stynxno at 11:41 AM PST - 5 comments

Why does Google, which purportedly have a mondo cache of everything, "lose" search results over time? That is, if I search on something today that I last searched on a year ago, my results don't include all of last year's results. I understand that there's a complicated ranking algorithm, but that doesn't explain why some results go missing altogether.
posted by blueshammer at 11:33 AM PST - 5 comments

Inspired by COBRA!'s question: I've seen a sticker on cars all around Seattle ever since I moved here but have never been able to figure out what it means. It has no text and doesn't seem to be connected to any ad campaign. It is a yellow equals sign superimposed on a purplish blue square. At first I thought it might be somehow related to the equal housing opportunity logo but it is kind of hard to imagine hundreds of people all over the city expressing their enthusiasm for HUD policy...
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:22 AM PST - 11 comments

I'm running in a 3.6 mile cross country race on Wednesday. It'll be my first proper race since I started running a few months ago. What should I do to prepare in the days and hours before it starts, e.g. food, drink, etc? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by adrianhon at 9:01 AM PST - 12 comments

When I let my cats outside on a sunny spring day, the first thing they do is eat grass. They're like miniature lawnmowers. Later, they hack the grass back up (like a hairball). Why do they do this? (Meaning: why do they eat the grass in the first place, and why do they then spit it back up?)
posted by jdroth at 8:10 AM PST - 13 comments

As embarrassing as it is to confess, I am not very sophisticated with computers and technology. Recently my computer has become the eager droid of "purityscan," which (to my never ending frustration and dismay) opens a few hundred pop-ups per hour. I Googled for the best spy/pop up removal software, but I am unable to tell the good guys from the bad guys. I downloaded and ran "adaware" but now that they have identified "368 spyware components" on my computer they want $30.00 to remove them. I have no problem paying to end this problem, but I do not want to pay for dreck or pay evil extortionists who create the problem and then sell the solution. So: Which software is best, from an honest company, to fix this loathsome problem?
posted by limitedpie at 7:53 AM PST - 19 comments

Is it possible to register domains with the Cuban .cu suffix? My searches online have come up with nothing, but I can't tell if this is because the market is dominated by American companies.
posted by twine42 at 6:28 AM PST - 4 comments

What stuff do you REALLY need for a baby? (more inside) [more inside]
posted by Shoeburyness at 3:43 AM PST - 39 comments

My butt hurts. Any suggestions for how to cope with an injured coccyx (and pride)? [MI] [more inside]
posted by gatorae at 10:37 PM PST - 15 comments

Firewire/camcorder problem... I'm borrowing a camcorder (Canon ZR-60) for home use, and when I hook it up to the computer, the computer recognizes it and says the correct device driver is installed, but won't take any input from the camera (in adobe premier 6.5)... It appears Microsoft is aware of people having this problem but I couldn't find a simple download to fix it. Nothing is wrong with the camera, as I used it to transfer video on a Mac earlier today.
posted by drezdn at 9:56 PM PST - 0 comments

I have a fairly new, but well used, coffeemaker that uses a thermal carafe and cone-shaped plastic filter holder. The carafe also has a plastic valve/lid, and the most relevant parts of the machine, where the coffee is poured through, are all plastic. This plastic, unlike stainless steel, absorbs the odor and color of coffee and I can't seem to get rid of it. The reason it's a problem is that the coffee that now pours through has a hint of this odor with every cup, and I have a sensitive palette. What are my options? [more inside]
posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:38 PM PST - 18 comments

There used to be a site where if you got enough people to commit to buying a particular product, the price would go down. So, if they got 200 orders for Product X, it cost $200/unit, and if they got 300 orders, it cost $175/unit, etc. Does anyone remember the name of the site or what this type of sales practice is called? Is this still around?
posted by UrbanFigaro at 7:01 PM PST - 8 comments

On the BBC World Service Radio show Music Biz, the old-school The Alarm was featured because they got a hit record by pretending they were the very young The Poppyfields, including a lip-synced video. But my question: the guy from The Alarm said he thinks even Madonna has an anonymous album out now. Does she? What is it?
posted by Mo Nickels at 5:58 PM PST - 3 comments

Road hypnosis or driving hypnosis (is there a better term?): you've been staring at the highway for so long you zone completely out, your mind goes somewhere else. What do you call this when the computer does it to you? Your eyes stop focusing and blank-stare; brain feels kinda numb-squishy like a sponge full of kool-aid, or like your face after a grain alcohol jello-shot (back in college.) Happen to you? Antidotes? [more inside]
posted by Shane at 4:31 PM PST - 27 comments

Rejection letters -- writing, not receiving. [more inside]
posted by o2b at 4:30 PM PST - 20 comments

Looking for good historical dramas, especially ones where the main character sticks to his/her principles, regardless of the consequences. Watched Matewan (John Sayles) recently, as an example. Movies or books would do.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 4:12 PM PST - 14 comments

Is there any establishment in the US, or country or region around the world, that accepts Visa or Mastercard but not both?
posted by werty at 3:13 PM PST - 16 comments

In need to find a a way to attach the hook portion of some velcro inside my car to hold an iPod. Is there glue or a specific velcro product that can withstand the heat inside a car during the summer?
posted by machaus at 2:36 PM PST - 8 comments

An empty gasoline container stored on the carpeted floor of a vehicle: good idea or forthcoming explosive disaster?
posted by keli at 1:46 PM PST - 15 comments

Eudora has been my email client since, oh, 1994. I now have several hundred megabytes of mail. It's disappointing that Eudora doesn't have an "archiving" feature like Outlook. Does anyone know of a utility that's up to the task? Doing with manually with over 35 folders is painful.
posted by madman at 1:15 PM PST - 5 comments

I'm trying to code a list of links to all open in the same new browser window. Since every link in the document should open in the same window, I'm using the {base} tag, for the sake of simplicity and size, but I've also tried adding "target='random_name'" to every single link on the page. Nothing's working. All the links are opening in new windows. Help?
posted by grrarrgh00 at 1:09 PM PST - 10 comments

I keep seeing a weird decal on cars- it's a circle, maybe 8" diameter, with this weird hawk-man thing inside flexing its wings/arms and screaming. This is in Minneapolis- I don't know if this is purely local, or nationwide. Does anyone know what the hell it signifies? Is it some sort of hawkman army planning a violent revolt?
posted by COBRA! at 12:10 PM PST - 20 comments

Two questions in one, relating to a new web site I'm working on. First: is there any knowledge base software out there that is reasonably simple to configure? What I have in mind could conceivably be done through Movable Type or a wiki, but the kbases I've seen are a better fit. Suggestions? And second: my hosting provider does not register .info domain names -- can anyone recommend a .info registrar?
posted by mcwetboy at 12:10 PM PST - 3 comments

Multivitamins. Does anyone know of a good brand? I've tried everything from $50 bottles to the generic drug store brands and haven't noticed that much of a difference. Is it worth it to spend more? What types of vitamins and minerals are essential in a multivitamin? I'm a relatively healthy 34 year old white male who works out about 3 times a week.
posted by fletchmuy at 12:05 PM PST - 9 comments

Is bluetooth worth the hype? I am in the process of changing cell carriers, and I am going from CDMA (Sprint) to GSM (T-Mobile) so I can't keep my phone. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by benjh at 11:48 AM PST - 14 comments

Has anyone here had their appendix removed? If so, what were the symptoms leading up to it? How long were you out, and was it painful at all? (a little more inside) [more inside]
posted by mathowie at 10:38 AM PST - 28 comments

Without having to go out and buy and try all brands, could I bother the community for a general consensus on what you think is the best non-alcoholic brand of beer? Import or domestic. (no fun in trying all brands of this stuff)....Thanks in advance.
posted by repoman at 10:36 AM PST - 10 comments

I've got new responsibilities at work, and now I have to [shudder] actually file paper. I'm a visual person, and once I stick stuff in files, I forget about it. But the alternative seems to be piling paper and then watching coworkers gasp in horror when they poke their head in the door. Any tips that work for you? Should I just throw it all away and pretend it got lost? Do I really have to file each piece of paper in 10 seconds or less?
posted by mecran01 at 10:29 AM PST - 9 comments

ULTIMATE USE OF ASK METAFILTER: Yellow pit stains on the white cotton t-shirts. What are the remedies? Throw the shirt out or do you have a proven bleaching/detergent technique?
posted by Peter H at 9:02 AM PST - 24 comments

Does anyone have any recommendations for applications that handle software development life cycle management? I am after something that pulls together scheduling of new development alongside bug tracking and feature requests for live code... [more inside]
posted by chill at 9:01 AM PST - 6 comments

My senior partner from west Texas always make me laugh by using silly sayings such as "looking at me like a cow at a new fence" or "smiling like a jackass eating cactus." I was looking for help finding some website with similar sayings. Is there some compendium or usage guide somewhere for these kind of colloquial sayings? Do these kind of sayings have a recognized name (besides similie)? Anyone know any other similar and funny sayings?
posted by Seth at 7:37 AM PST - 32 comments

Anyone have a procmail recipe that uses "bogofilter", "spamassassin" or both (in concert)? [more inside]
posted by RavinDave at 7:12 AM PST - 4 comments

Wake-up problems. I'm currently seeing a doctor to deal with my insomnia. Some progress is being made with getting to sleep, but my other major problem is getting up in the morning. (more inside) [more inside]
posted by bondcliff at 6:41 AM PST - 28 comments

I need some gift ideas. I'm attending a birthday party for someone I've only met once before [a woman in her late twenties/early thirties]. I have no idea what might be appropriate. Any thoughts?
posted by aclevername at 5:58 AM PST - 30 comments

I've got batteries on the brain today (slightly-earlier post about aftermarket laptop batteries), but this thread and my growing frustration with my increasingly-relied-upon cell phone brought to mind another question: how much battery life does your cell phone really get? No matter where I am, how much I use it, or even if it's on or off, my Samsung SPH-N400 gets 24-36 hours per charge, at best, compared to the advertised "Talk Time: Up to 2.9 Hours, Stand-by Time: Up to 7 Days." (more inside...)
posted by Sinner at 10:33 PM PST - 11 comments

Rubbers. What kind work best for the soles of shoes? Where would one find resources on shaping rubber? Buying it in small quantities?
posted by romanb at 9:20 PM PST - 2 comments

Does anyone know of any (genuine?) alternatives to the Dell printer cartridges required for their A940 multifunction printer? I would like to be able to get cartridges at my convenience, without having to wait for them to be shipped directly from Dell. I've heard (here) that although the printer is just a rebranded Lexmark X5150 MFP, there is something about how they "key" the cartridges that makes the Lexmark ones unusable. Any ideas? Should I refill?
posted by mrgavins at 9:02 PM PST - 0 comments

Yahoo! Japan search rankings - can you pay to improve your ranking? At work, we have been asked by one of our representative offices in Japan to pay AUD1,126.00 to boost our search rankings, but I am very skeptical of the truth in this. I have spoken to a couple of Japanese people (including one of our staff members) who use Yahoo! Japan's search engine a lot and they confirm that it is possible to pay a fee to improve rankings of a site. Can anyone definitely confirm or deny this? If it does improve our ranking, it would be worth paying, but I can't help feeling it is a scam.
posted by dg at 8:20 PM PST - 4 comments

What is the best thing to do with a small amount of money, around $5,000? Savings interest is almost a joke, CDs look attractive or maybe even mutual funds. Preferably the safer the better, as in investing it all in a high-risk mutual fund and losing it would make me cry. I've checked out "Investment FAQ" and it seems as if CDs are the best. I know little about investing but making money doing nothing intrigues me. What would be an expected return on such an investment? Is it even worth locking the money up for something like $10 a month? [more inside]
posted by geoff. at 6:19 PM PST - 20 comments

Does anyone have any creative ideas for healthy, portable brown-bag lunches? I'm way sick of peanut butter and jelly!
posted by catfood at 5:28 PM PST - 17 comments

Coffee shop tip jars. Do employees actually see that money or is it just dumped in the till at the end of the night? (expecting a variety of answers)
posted by alana at 5:21 PM PST - 6 comments

Wow! I just listened to Amalia Rodrigues for the first time. So who can recommend some other great Fado singers?
posted by rdr at 5:13 PM PST - 13 comments

Potential hard drive failure: What do I do? [more inside} [more inside]
posted by stoneegg21 at 5:03 PM PST - 6 comments

Are there good biopics about any of the jazz greats? Or movies focused on the jazz scene? I know there are a ton of documentaries, I'm interested in fictionalized, "shoot the legend" type stuff.
posted by lbergstr at 4:22 PM PST - 11 comments

I'm considering buying a new laptop battery and after scouring the web and usenet, I can't find any definitive word on aftermarket batteries. This thread essentially says they're both good and bad, as does this one.

I've made a lot of purchases of refurbished equipment, but batteries have always been something I'm wary of. I've seen pretty solid recommendations of igo.com and Eagle Imports (whose batteries completely dominate the ebay laptop battery market), where they frequently sell for less than half the normal retail cost.

(Important: More inside.) [more inside]
posted by Sinner at 4:09 PM PST - 11 comments

What would you name a cafe that was located in a dental school? (I'm looking for a clever play on words like "The Sweet Tooth" but funnier)
posted by ColdChef at 1:43 PM PST - 74 comments

Two semi-related issues. Basically, both my mouse and my cell phone make weird sounds come out of my computer speakers. [more] [more inside]
posted by scarabic at 12:44 PM PST - 16 comments

You know those little icons that are showing up in the address bars of certain websites - like the MF one for metafilter. How does someone do that? (I ask cos' I wanna do that i don't know how to do that) thanks.
posted by Peter H at 12:32 PM PST - 11 comments

I'm trying to remember the name of a certain "Mod Era" item: it was a set of mobiles consisting of colored plastic birds with stickered eyes which dangled from metal springs.

And no, I'm not asking for your old set, I just wanna know what they're called.
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:00 PM PST - 2 comments

What's the best free software to extract Albumwrap mp3 files in OSX? thanks [more inside]
posted by matteo at 11:59 AM PST - 3 comments

Electronic Fax Receiving. My company has 4 fax machines running full speed during the summer. We are now ramping up, and I would like to switch to an electronic solution for receiving faxes. [more inside] [more inside]
posted by benjh at 11:16 AM PST - 7 comments

I got this link from the blue, talking about the deep blue sea. I want to find these types of deep ocean creatures in soft plush animal format. Someone, somewhere, must have made these already. I cannot find anything in Google besides the replicas or actual stuffed creatures. Help?
posted by agregoli at 8:11 AM PST - 10 comments

Does anyone know if Blueberrys (the handheld pagers, not the berries) are available in the US yet? I've googled and found Blackberrys galore, but it looks like Blueberrys are only in the UK for now. My boss is itching for one. Thanks for your help!
posted by widdershins at 7:58 AM PST - 6 comments

Anyone know where I can find a larger version of this picture?
posted by emptybowl at 7:40 AM PST - 29 comments

I need to install a window air conditioner in a casement window. (The kind that cranks open sideways, instead of sliding up and down) If you've ever done this, I would appreciate your thoughts. I do know I need to buy a special model AC.
posted by luser at 7:36 AM PST - 4 comments

Anybody here use both Vonage and a bit torrent client? Any ideas on how to get around the incredible voice quality degredation that BT apparently causes? [more inside]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:31 AM PST - 8 comments

A friend of mine wants to find a poem she remembers from high school. It includes/begins with the words "God is Dead... we have burned him in the ovens of Auschwitz" or something along those lines. It rings no bells with me and I've googled to no avail. Given my country's strenuous efforts to promote CanCon, this may well be a Canadian poem. Does anyone know the title or author of this poem?
posted by orange swan at 7:25 AM PST - 19 comments

Oh dear. Mac data recovery question. One of my coursemates accidentally deleted her final year degree coursework when trying to free up some disk space on her G4. [More Inside] [more inside]
posted by armoured-ant at 5:59 AM PST - 7 comments

I have an old alarm clock. And I replaced it before for the problem that I have. Sometimes it decides that it isn't going to go off. Now I have tested this awake and it isn't just me hitting off or anything like that. So the alarm was replaced before, but then its replacement got broken in a move and I went back to the old one. This morning it decided to not work. I want to get a new alarm, but I want something that looks good. Not just a standard hotel alarm or anything like that. I remember places like Service Merchandise used to carry all kinds of alarms, but unfortunately they are out of business here. Any suggestion on a store to go to and/or websites that have better looking alarms? Its hard to describe what I want because I haven't really looked for anything. Oh yeah, I want to spend max $40 on the alarm.
posted by thebwit at 5:53 AM PST - 7 comments

Any sound artists or signal processing engineers out there know of any good PC based software (ideally shareware) to convert FFT spectra into soundfiles? I can Fourier Transform waveforms to get frequency analysis easier than I can fall off a log, but doing it the other way round is not so straightforward for me. I'd ideally like to be able to import spectra as text files (or Excel or whatever) and then output them as continuous waveforms.
posted by nylon at 5:19 AM PST - 4 comments

Now that Paypal doesn't require people making payments to actually be a member, and allows merchants to configure their payment pages, I'm considering using it for a Web project. Yet, at the same time, I'm aware that a lot of people consider it to be Bad and Wrong.

Who would you lot recommend for reputable online payments? I'm in the UK and have a teeny tiny budget, but I'm doing this for a large organisation.
posted by bwerdmuller at 3:55 AM PST - 11 comments

Moth invasion. They came in with a bag of dog biscuits in September, and they're still here. [innumerably more, inside] [more inside]
posted by Alylex at 12:03 AM PST - 17 comments

It's easy to tell when a species has gone extinct. How do you tell when a new species has evolved? Are there any criteria besides not being able to mate with the former species?
posted by ph00dz at 10:19 PM PST - 24 comments

Excuse my naiveté: is Bush vs. Kerry the first modern presidential contest between two members of the American equivalent of the aristocracy? Call them patricians, preppies, rich kids, "old money", members of the upper or property-owning class; whatever. What does this mean, if anything? It looks significant seen from old Europe. [Given that Kerry is, like the Kennedys, a Catholic, I suppose WASPs no longer mean much in this respect.]
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:19 PM PST - 23 comments

Dedicated Server Question: What is uplink port speed? What is the difference between 10Mbps uplink and 100Mbps uplink?
posted by banished at 8:09 PM PST - 5 comments

Eighties educational toys. When I was growing up, I had some plastic building blocks that I'd like to find again. They came in bright colors and were covered in densely packed, tiny pegs on each face (front, back, and sides). If you pressed two blocks together, the pegs would interlock and stick together. They came in all sorts of shapes, but were thinner than wooden blocks and slightly flexible. Any idea what these were called or where I can find a set?
posted by Jeff Howard at 7:10 PM PST - 6 comments

I'm a pretty good cook but I have no idea how to do some basic things. One of them is cook sausage. I know how to do it on a grill but with an oven? Should I pan fry it in oil? Throw it in the broiler? And for how long? I saw these sweet italian sausages at the supermarket today and figured it meant less actual cooking for me, but now I'm stumped. :(
posted by Grod at 5:07 PM PST - 19 comments

I'm going to be having a baby boy soon, so I've been forced to handle a sensitive subject: foreskin! Should we circumcise him, or not? Is it genital mutilation or just good, clean hygiene? I'm snipped, so it's always seemed perfectly normal to me, but is it even necessary? Some professional medical advice would be appreciated, as well as any sociocultural perspectives/opinions you might have.
posted by waxpancake at 4:53 PM PST - 59 comments

Why does my laptop run 10 degrees hotter when plugged into a ground fault circuit interrupter receptacle? The machine runs at 40-45C on battery, 45-50C plugged into a normal outlet, and 55-60C on the GFCI in my basement. Plugging into a surge protector doesn't seem to help. Why is this happening, and is there a hardware fix?
posted by PrinceValium at 4:30 PM PST - 6 comments

Where was the quintessential boring weblog post example of "I ate a cheese sandwich" first mentioned?
posted by Nikolai at 2:36 PM PST - 12 comments

Geek Question: I took a look at my router's firewall. I'm getting a number of DDos attacks. Now, the firewall is acting all nice and blocking it...but, I'm sure this causing a slow down in my surfing/net use, etc.

Any ideas on how to make it stop?
posted by filmgeek at 2:24 PM PST - 5 comments

Windows 2K+ system administration: Can Automatic Updates be run when nobody is logged in with Admin rights?
posted by TimeFactor at 2:16 PM PST - 1 comment

Chicago? Going to be there March 4th through 7th. What to do? Where to eat? I'd like some good greek or chinese food, or both. Oh, and I need to find a sports bar there that will be showing the Duke/Carolina game on Saturday night.
posted by corpse at 12:32 PM PST - 15 comments

I'd like a signed ssl certificate, as signing it myself leads to warnings from both Internet Explorer and Safari.
Verisign signs 128 bit at $895, which seems ridiculous to me.
Does anyone have positive experience with other trust vendors?
posted by the fire you left me at 12:13 PM PST - 6 comments

CMSFilter: After hearing about Dean Allen's TextPattern on and off for the longest time without being able to actually try it, it's now available in what he calls a "gamma" version that he's been updating and bugfixing for the last week. Is it worth the time to check out or not, or not yet? And what's so special (or not or not yet) about this particular pile of code?
posted by wendell at 12:12 PM PST - 10 comments

Religious Question: If Jesus knew Judas was going to betray him before he did betray him, and Jesus is God because he's part of the holy trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), doesn't this prove that there is no such thing as free will? [More Inside]
posted by banished at 11:56 AM PST - 40 comments

Large external drive on ancient laptop: I've got a 160 gig USB drive I'm trying to access from a laptop running Windows ME. [more inside]
posted by muckster at 11:36 AM PST - 14 comments

I recently got given, as a gift, a 1991 PANTONE SWATCH BOOK. On the back of the book there's the famous disclaimer: "due to uncontrollable pigment fading (etc) this book will change in approximately one year ... This book should be replaced regularly to maintain accurate color communication" - Now, I've used (but never personally owned) Pantone books for years, old ones and new ones - and it's never really affected the color that is ultimately printed. Meaning the color I pick from the book ends up looking just like the color that was printed. Question to you all, does the (reasonable) age of a pantone book really matter? I can see how things might change slightly, since it is paper and ink - and they probably have to include this disclaimer for authoritative reasons unimportant to someone like me who just wants a kind of green, a kind of brown - and not a scientifically exact color. Really at 80 bucks this "use only for a year" deal seems crazy. Is my thirteen-year old Pantone book useless? Does anyone have an old one and a new one to compare to? Thoughts? Opinions?
posted by Peter H at 11:08 AM PST - 13 comments

I'm interested in broadening my cinematic horizons. Can anyone recommend a good movie that deals with the theme of international indifference to human rights violations? [more inside] [more inside]
posted by .kobayashi. at 10:59 AM PST - 16 comments

Maybe six or seven years ago I barely remember reading on the Internet a profile of Jack T. Chick. I think I remember the interviewer was an ex-born-again christian looking back in at a strange world-view with new eyes. I remember things such as a) a personal interview with Chick, b) a picture of chick {possibly wearing a helmet of some sort??}, and c) bemused author commentary on some of the salacious secular imagery leaking through the reactionary artist's work {including a sexy image of eve shown from one of the tracts}. Anybody know what I'm talking about? My memory is fuzzy and Google search didn't turn up anything.
posted by dgaicun at 10:19 AM PST - 5 comments

IE problem. Lately, Internet Explorer windows will sometimes not let me use the favorites menu. It will pull down but the selections won't work. The only way to solve the problem so far has been to close that window. Is there another solution?
posted by drezdn at 10:08 AM PST - 7 comments

ToiletFilter: I'm adding a toilet in the basement of our house. Should I get a low-flow 1.6 gpf unit, or go for a free multi-gallon unit? Can I retrofit a multi-gallon unit to flush less?
posted by daver at 10:03 AM PST - 8 comments

I'm getting a new computer in a few weeks, but I have a TV capture card I want to transfer from my old machine into the new one. Since it's going to be an XP machine, in light of the weird "hardware configuration" key they built into the software, should I install the capture card before I boot the machine for the first time, or should I wait until afterwards? On the one hand, I'd like to make sure the machine works as is before I crack it open, but on the other hand, I would not like to spend a bunch of time on hold with Microsoft to get the damned OS unlocked. How touchy is the XP hardware configuration key? (I know, I know, buy a Mac...)
posted by headspace at 8:15 AM PST - 3 comments

My boss is looking for somewhere on the US East Coast to stay for a holiday for the week from 8th -15th April (ie over Easter). They fly into Dulles and have to be in Charlottesville at some point, but want a week somewhere picturesque and out of the way with fairly upmarket accomodation. They were looking at the Sanderling in Duck, N.Carolina to give you an idea of what they're after but its a bit steep for the days they want. Any recommendations for somewhere to stay, prices around $200 a night for a double (with a view) would be appreciated.
posted by biffa at 8:01 AM PST - 8 comments

I've gotten conflicting answers from physicians, teachers, and Google searches so I come to you for anecdotal evidence: Is it really dangerous for menstruating women to practice inverted yoga postures? Has anyone you know ever suffered negative consequences from practicing inversions during her period?
posted by jennyb at 6:55 AM PST - 12 comments

Is there any central authority or archive for XML DTDs and Schemas? I am thinking of developing an *ML, and would like to know if similar work has already been done, if there are any naming conventions, etc.
posted by signal at 5:09 AM PST - 4 comments

My family would really like to send a thank you gift to the heart surgeon who operated on my father. First, this is okay to do, right? And second, if yes, what would a married doctor with kids like to get? I've spent 2 hours looking at gift baskets, but many are for sweet foods and (1) I think he practices Lent; and (2) he just lost a bunch of weight. I may go with a healthy (sort of) food basket, but can anyone recommend something else, maybe unrelated to food, that I'm overlooking? Other than a heart gelatin mold? Like a Netflix membership, except I'm not sure he doesn't already have one.
posted by onlyconnect at 11:15 PM PST - 12 comments

How do I go about finding how many different number/letter combinations are possible with the 10-digit codes on the iTunes Pepsi bottles? [more] [more inside]
posted by emelenjr at 11:07 PM PST - 12 comments

Looking for recommendations on an accurate and reliable (but affordable) scale for dieting purposes. The usual bathroom scales just don't seem to give consistent results. Any recommendations?
posted by oissubke at 10:26 PM PST - 7 comments

I have a pretty substantial collection of old Nintendo and Super Nintendo games (100+). I realize that at some point either all that silicon or whatever inside is going to rot away, or the batteries inside will die.

How can I either prolong the cartridge life or halt this terrible procession? Cold Storage? Some sort of Vacuum? Are new batteries available for NES or SNES games? It would pain me so to see my precious Earthbound be reduced to nothing.
posted by hughbot at 8:47 PM PST - 14 comments

How does one caucus in MN? Also, any thoughts on clarifying one's choice among democratic candidates? [more] [more inside]
posted by noether at 7:35 PM PST - 12 comments

I have always wondered when the movie trailer became what it is today. When i watch trailers for old movies, they seem to have this crazy fanfare with the star's names in huge type, etc. Then trailers from the 60s and 70s seem to have no music at all, but just a man with a very low voice narrating the plot. When did they become the flashy music-driven mini-movies that they are now? I'm guessing around the time of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I'd love to know the real answer.
posted by Slimemonster at 3:31 PM PST - 5 comments

Is this the easiest way to set the username variable with Win95/98?
posted by dogwelder at 3:31 PM PST - 2 comments

Are bicyclists supposed to obey the same 'rules of the road' that cars do? Such as: stopping for stop signs, red lights, not going up on sidewalks...etc.
posted by msacheson at 3:28 PM PST - 30 comments

I'm looking for some dedicated Windows hosting. Would like latest version of Windows Server 2003 Standard edition, MS SQL liscense, the whole she-bang. From around $150 -$350 a month? We have been checking out Ev1 Servers.
posted by corpse at 2:04 PM PST - 11 comments

I may apply for this clown job, anyone with any experience have some pointers or links? [more inside]
posted by clavdivs at 1:01 PM PST - 16 comments

Rotating my wrists, my thumbs, ... in certain ways elicits a soft cracking noise; imagine a more subdued version of cracking one's knuckles. While this isn't painful or particularly uncomfortable now, I'm concerned for the long-term. Any recommendations? I saw a doctor a year or so ago and he essentially just shrugged and said, you'll live. It hasn't gotten worse, but I'm worried that the condition will grow to be painful. Has anyone else experienced anything like this and, if so, what steps can be taken to remedy this?
posted by Raze2k at 12:24 PM PST - 20 comments

I need tips on computer components and electric violins. MORE INSIDE! [more inside]
posted by crazy finger at 11:38 AM PST - 12 comments

Unix/X-Windows Question: I'm attempting to install Hydrogen on my OSX Mac (X11 installed), and when I run "./configure", it throws crazy errors: "checking for g++... no, checking for c++... no, checking for gpp... no, checking for aCC... no, checking for CC... no, checking for cxx... no, checking for cc++... no, checking for cl... no, checking for FCC... no, checking for KCC... no, checking for RCC... no, checking for xlC_r... no, checking for xlC... no." I've had these problems before, in another context, but I can't remember how to install the modules. Hope me! Bonus points for a thorough explanation of the "why," not just "how."
posted by The Michael The at 11:05 AM PST - 5 comments

I might want to post a picture of W Bush with a potentially inflammatory caption on my blog. Probably NOT a good idea for me to just grab an AP photo..? (Inside, dere is more.) [more inside]
posted by Shane at 8:53 AM PST - 16 comments

PC hardware problem: I recently had my power supply replaced and now the computer now only reads half the RAM it actually has plugged into it... [more inside]
posted by picea at 8:29 AM PST - 5 comments

Advice sought for (completely legal) region-free DVD players. [Explanation inside...] [more inside]
posted by arco at 8:22 AM PST - 13 comments

NBA Rule 1: Court Dimensions
Section Ii: A half-circle shall be created 4' from the center of the basket.

Why?
posted by jazon at 7:33 AM PST - 6 comments

What type of sauce will go best with pumpkin tortellini? Anyone have good recipe suggestions? [more inside]
posted by skwm at 6:21 AM PST - 17 comments

My friend is in very bad trouble. We need some legal advice for Oregon, especially in regards to Measure 11. More inside. [more inside]
posted by Keyser Soze at 5:01 AM PST - 23 comments

Does anyone have a recipe/strategy for making homemade pie crusts? Tomorrow is my wife's birthday, and she loves apple pie [more inside]. [more inside]
posted by jpburns at 4:32 AM PST - 21 comments

A question of rights. Does anyone know the best place to start looking for film stills and the right to reproduce them in a publication? More specifically, if the precise frame isn't available, is it possible to take and use your own screenshot if the right credits/fees are paid?
posted by jonathanbell at 4:19 AM PST - 7 comments

How can I add a "what's playing in iTunes lately" widget to my blog...if I'm a Windows user? There's Kung-Tunes, but it requires using OSX and AppleScript, and our own Fearless Leader has a Trackback-based solution, but it requires using WinAmp with the DoSomething plugin. iTunes stores its info in an XML file in the Windows version (presumably the Mac version too?), so it should be just a matter of getting the relevant info. out of the file and online in some method, whether by FTP or passed as values in a URL or whatever. Bonus points if the solution can somehow be combined with Adam Kalsey's MTAmazon plugin for Movable Type to pull album art, release date, and other details about the embarassing stuff I listen to. [more inside]
posted by Asparagirl at 1:48 AM PST - 18 comments