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I am making a dollhouse for my future grandkids. I'd like to include some elements of surprise, whimsy & silliness. Ideas?
posted by i_mean_come_on_now at 6:57 AM - 26 answers

Theoretically how many "Useful" things could you conceal about your person and still look normal, or mostly normal. I'm thinking about things like paracord bracelets or belts so you have rope. Lockpicks or multitools as a wallet card. A battery pack in a pocket or sewn into a jacket lining. A Compass in a shoe? [more inside]
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:17 AM - 16 answers

Help me come up with interesting and creative ways to say "This is done". [more inside]
posted by downtohisturtles at 4:34 PM - 65 answers

I am looking for references in science fiction - or anywhere else - about the possibility that we are being uploaded. [more inside]
posted by bru at 2:03 PM - 16 answers

I am researching my son's great-grandfather, born ~1911 in England. A census in 1944 lists him as Pvt #[6 digit number], R.A.S.C. Can I use this information to get the rest of his service record? Family lore says he died in the war, but I suppose we don't know that for sure.
posted by xo at 3:19 PM - 2 answers

Last night a fellow congregant at my UU church picked me up for a meeting. He's almost 80. He blew through a red light downtown and somehow everyone else reacted quickly and we didn't crash. It was terrifying and I have whiplash. I don't want him to be driving, and I'm trying to figure out what action to take. [more inside]
posted by mermaidcafe at 7:46 AM - 19 answers

For a short story: if you could magically combine any 2-3 (non-living) household objects in order to create a cool/wacky hybrid of the two, what would you combine? [more inside]
posted by egeanin at 8:12 PM - 18 answers

I'm going to a friends house to let their dog out in a couple hours. They wistfully reminded me last time we hung out how that the job we both worked at, everyone used to prank each other. I would like to start the prank war; need some ideas that I can put together on short notice. [more inside]
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:13 PM - 30 answers

My wife and I are expecting a baby girl in April. Since the beginning of the pregnancy we've been partial to a combo family name after each of our maternal grandmothers. It isn't feeling like "the name" though so we're going back to the drawing board. [more inside]
posted by timpanogos at 8:25 AM - 41 answers

What is the hinge on this tubular purse frame called outside of the purse world? Web page describes it as a "barrel hinge", but searching barrel hinge comes up with something completely different. Any chance of sourcing same or similar hinges without buying a whole bag frame--maybe with faster shipping?
posted by anaelith at 8:06 AM - 3 answers

I’m interested in living in Weehawken and commuting to Hudson Yards. I don’t drive. (I WON’T drive). What’s living there like? What is the commute like? What else do I need to know?
posted by Rock 'em Sock 'em at 1:16 PM - 9 answers

I like my job just fine once I get there and get underway. But I find I dread getting up in the morning. How can I brain hack/life hack this? [more inside]
posted by ficbot at 12:05 PM - 12 answers

My mom's car is in the shop for a few weeks, and she will need to share mine. The problem is that we don't live together (we're a couple miles apart) and our schedules have a lot of overlap, so we both want/need the car at the same time but never to go to the same places. Any tips for how to handle this in a way that maximizes convenience for both of us? [more inside]
posted by rue72 at 7:35 AM - 10 answers

So today I picked up an unknown number with a local area code (I rarely do this, but every once in a while I feel the need to take a sample and see if they're still all scams) and was treated to a lovely recorded message by Amy From The Healthcare Center. (My coworker got one earlier today about his extended auto warranty.) I am fully aware that this is a scam, but it got me wondering: if I hadn't hung up, what would have happened next? [more inside]
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:53 PM - 8 answers

Amazingly, I seem to have caught up on all the shows I wanted to watch, but there must be more! [more inside]
posted by madonna of the unloved at 5:05 PM - 32 answers

What are your day-to-day no-tech life tips? I'm looking for things like the knuckle rule for cooking rice, or that the perfect amount of salad dressing is just enough to coat the serving bowl. There must be lots of these things--incredibly straightforward and always foolproof. Can be cooking related or not; super low-tech, like using the mesh bag that onions come in to scrub pans, is also okay!
posted by stillmoving at 3:08 PM - 35 answers

Groundhog Day and certain recent Netflix releases have me wanting to fine-tune my Spotify alarm playlist. I want to copy the nice people on the TV and what they woke up to; this should either be jarring enough to actually make me wake up or make me smile as I hit snooze. [more inside]
posted by RainyJay at 5:44 AM - 11 answers

In my head, I'm still the kid who's always left out. In real life, people suddenly want to hang out with me. How do I handle freewheeling social-professional situations with nebulous plans and lots of unconnected social circles who want to hang out? [more inside]
posted by kutsushita nyanko at 12:07 PM - 3 answers

My young daughter and I discovered Scary Stories Told In the Dark and she LOVED it. It quickly turned into Our Thing where'd we'd listen together whenever on car rides. Unfortunately, some of the stories are not appropriate for her age -- course language, adult themes, or WAY TOO EXPLICITLY GORY -- and there's no warning given ahead of time that a particular episode might he one to skip. [more inside]
posted by armoir from antproof case at 11:44 AM - 9 answers

This is a weird spoon! (Bananas for scale). What kind of spoon is it, and where can I buy one?
posted by woodvine at 4:57 AM - 8 answers