He was also a talented artist.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 1:26 AM on July 2, 2008

With some tweaking to two files, the demo can be run on Macs using OS X 10.4.11, maybe even others if you have all the other requirements. First you do this, and then you do this. Probably won't work when the full game comes out, but at least I can goof around and waste time with the demo.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 12:12 PM on June 25, 2008

The first and only thing I would so is find a cave as distant as possible from any other humans and not occupied by creatures larger than myself, and live there. I say that as someone who has studied that time period extensively, have a passing familiarity with the languages, cultures, and life of that time period, and as someone who is capable of surviving in the wild on my own.

Avoiding people is going to be the only way to survive, because I don't think a great many... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 8:59 PM on June 11, 2008

There's quite a bit of interesting reading and links about Chantix/Champix here. After reading through it all, I don't think I'd take it.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 9:24 AM on February 4, 2008

If you read the page about the project, you might see why that subject and the name was chosen.

I love tintypes. Tintypes of cowboys even better. Too cool!
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 5:34 AM on January 21, 2008

I have returned lots of lost things, and I have never even thought to take them to the police. If there's a central lost and found where I find it, like malls, stores, mass transit depots, I take it there, because the first place people look for lost things is where they have been recently. I know I have never called the police when I misplaced something while out and about. If it's outdoors or somewhere else there's nowhere to leave it, I take it home and track down the person myself. I thought... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 9:56 AM on November 28, 2007

After reading all the links, particularly the first one, it seems that in order to have your purchases and activity at external sites get sent to Facebook, you have to friend/fan/whatever the profile for the external company (i.e. Amazon) or in some way become a "fan" of a brand. So by not becoming a fan of a brand, wouldn't that mean they wouldn't track your purchases?

A likely scenario:
Shauna, who enjoys Revlon products, indicates she’s... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 4:22 AM on November 20, 2007

I am not being facetious. I asked a question: how can Facebook know what a Facebook member is doing on Amazon, unless there's some way for Facebook and Amazon to link the two accounts ... which, according to the link in my comment, happens when someone decides to become a "fan" of a company or product through that company's profile page at Facebook. Like here we have "contacts" and their activity shows on the sidebar of the front page, at Livejournal they have... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 8:56 AM on November 20, 2007

Thank you, delmoi. That's what I was trying to figure out without having to sign up for Facebook: that the user has to do the linking of various accounts.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 10:52 AM on November 20, 2007

The ones made out of tires have been huge disasters, and likely some of the early sunken ships that weren't cleaned well enough caused some issues too, but this project in Texas seems to be taking it's time to make sure the ships (and oil rigs) are thoroughly prepared before repurposing. Which isn't to say they may not cause other environmental issues.

Also, at least 50% of the money the oil companies would have spent salvaging their rigs are donated to the program... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 6:23 AM on November 15, 2007

The video is neat, but it seems like she picked the worst photos of the set to put on the web site.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 6:04 AM on November 13, 2007

The face touching. Oh yes, the face touching. That's how I can always tell when toenail clipping needs to take place. Nothing like pointy needles to the sensitive facial skin to wake me right up. But that's just what the sweet one does. The real monster in the house climbs to the top of the very tall lingerie chest and leaps with all 17 pounds of himself, directly into any soft belly areas left exposed. Repeatedly, if necessary. It usually isn't necessary, mostly because of the other one's face... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 6:11 AM on October 24, 2007

Some of these are so wrong, but I love them!

It inspires me to possibly open the packaging on my Hello Kitty Pez dispenser and mutilate it in some horrid way. Perhaps that would get the point across to my friends that I don't want to own every single plastic thing on the planet featuring Hello Kitty. All I really want are the small appliances.

And now for a tired refrain: Not everyone reads Boing Boing, and it's entirely possible to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 9:26 PM on October 17, 2007

Whatzit: Are you telling me there is such a thing as a Hello Kitty extension cord in existence on this planet?!
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 7:11 AM on October 18, 2007

I can't really get too excited about this style of food. I like the gadgets, when I am looking at them, but I like my built in the 60's kitchen in which I turn out restaurant quality food that actually fills your stomach. I think that's the thing that keeps me from getting too excited about this stuff (because I do love food and flavors). For as much as people pay to eat this stuff, there really isn't much "stuff" there. I'd have to go out for a steak and baked potato afterward.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 2:25 PM on October 11, 2007

Yes! I decided on Cherry Limeade Kosher Dills. I loved them. My friends didn't. Good. More for me!!
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 10:49 PM on October 11, 2007

The Wikipedia article on HOA's give a good basic description. Particularly of note to those questioning the legality of their governance:

Like a city, associations provide services, regulate activities, levy assessments, and impose fines. Unlike a municipal government, homeowner association governance is subject to corporation law, and sometimes specific legislation governing homeowners' associations. As HOAs are considered private corporations, they are not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 4:24 AM on October 4, 2007

We looked at one piece of property in a new division, and the real estate agent handed us a book of HOA rules. I made it to the third page, the top of which stated that you had to plant Petunias, and you couldn't park pick-up trucks in your driveway, and you HAD to put in a flagpole and display an American flag. Then we started laughing and tossed it in the trash. It was just page after page of micromanagement of the homeowners' lives.

We drove by the place again (four... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 5:00 AM on October 4, 2007

I take issue with the wallet being returned sans money being classified as stolen. I found a wallet on the street. No money in it. Looked the guy up in the phone book and gave him a call. He said he'd had about $100 in it. I said it wasn't there. He accused me of having stolen it. I informed him I would be more than willing to drop the wallet back on the sidewalk I found it on so someone would have a chance to rape his credit cards and steal his identity (it had every form of ID imaginable in it)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 2:34 AM on October 4, 2007

Does anyone know if anyone has ever been denied health insurance for being on the underweight end of the BMI scale? I'm appalled that anyone gets denied for just their BMI score (which is an indicator but not the be-all of determining healthy weight), but I may finally be getting health insurance for the first time, and now I am worried. I fall well within the "so underweight I blow away in a breeze) end of the scale.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 1:44 PM on October 3, 2007

No eating disorder, just naturally tiny. Though everyone always accuses me of starving myself ... until they see I eat normally and don't visit the bathroom right after.

And desuetude, if you want to eyeball a 42 year old who has been a BMI of 16-17 since turning 18, there are photos on my profile page. Personally, I have always wanted to be voluptuous, but I guess you gotta live with the genes you're handed.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 4:48 PM on October 3, 2007

Jeez, some people on Metafilter will find any at all to argue about if it means they get to spew bile reminding us all how much they hate Texas and Texans. I know it's cool and all to hate on Texas because Bush claims to be from here (though he really is just a self-made stereotype of what he thinks a Texan is), but the last time I checked, Texas wasn't the only state responsible for voting him into office (twice). Really, you can spread the hate around a little more.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 2:38 PM on September 28, 2007

It leaves less time for the sorts of stuff you might read about in Canada as a "news of the weird" story about the wacky new bill some idiot legislator is proposing.

Um, yeah, in theory. Unfortunately, the Texas Legislature still manages to find plenty of time to argue about the most ridiculous things. A few years ago it was high school cheerleader outfits and routines being too sexy. (Previously on Mefi.)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 2:38 PM on October 3, 2007

I read this post and most of the comments earlier, and then it popped up on the local news. Talk about biased reporting:

Woman at Boston airport claims fake bomb is art

Police say an MIT student who was arrested Friday morning with a fake bomb strapped to her chest at Boston's Logan International Airport claims the device was just art.

If I hadn't heard anything about it before I read that little... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 8:07 PM on September 21, 2007

And yeah, they apparently got this information from the AP.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 8:08 PM on September 21, 2007

I'm just wondering... has anyone else on the internet or Metafilter read the 12 pages of police report on this incident? I ask, because everyone seems to be under the impression that the incident began exactly when the first cellphone camera got turned on, and there actually is some more to what happened than what appeared on YouTube (or the news channels).

Or, I guess, since they are the evil police, we can't believe anything they might have to say about it.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 4:13 PM on September 20, 2007

Did you watch the second video from the next day, when she takes it back? Apparently, she had a "senior brain-poopy moment" and of course, she knows the world isn't flat. Look, the woman is two years younger than I am, and I have yet to have a "senior brain-poopy moment" in which I forget whether the earth is flat or not. If she's already having memory issues that severe at 40, she might want to visit a doctor and get that checked out.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 10:16 AM on September 20, 2007

When I was little (late 60's - 70's), my parents had two rules for me regarding strangers: don't go anywhere with someone you don't know and if they grab you and try to make you go with them scream and try to get away. That was it. Strangers were allowed to talk to me, make faces at me, push me on a swing, whatever. They weren't going to molest me in public, so the only thing to avoid was going away with them or letting them take me without a big ruckus. Twice in my younger years someone did try... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 1:51 PM on September 13, 2007

I started out as a shy kid too, and my parents did the exact same thing Devils Rancher does with his kid. Had they not (even without instilling OMG STRANGER DANGER fear), I don't think I would have ever gotten out of being terribly shy, and I would have been worse off for that as well.

aramaic: Ha, ha ... exactly. Wouldn't want your kids associating with "those" people, whoever they may be. ;)
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 2:20 PM on September 13, 2007

One of my husband's friends is on SL (way, way to into it, if you ask me -- all she talks about these days). I've told him to ask her the next time they talk if she has a baby unicorn, without telling him why I want to know, so he won't blow it (or freak out) when she gives him the answer. I can't wait to hear her answer. She seems the sort to want one, no matter what she had to do to get it ... which seems just a wee bit sick to me, but to each their own, I guess. At least it keeps some of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 7:23 AM on September 13, 2007

Could the major astronomical events not all happen in one week, please? I might be caught up on my sleep from watching the eclipse by Friday, when I know I am going to want to get out of the city to see the meteors. Then I get to get up early, early On Saturday. No rest for the weary sky-viewer!

natabat:I used it as an opportunity to try taking nighttime sky photos myself. Here's the best I ended up with.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 10:27 AM on August 28, 2007

After reading all the comments here before clicking through to the article, I was expecting to read some hand-wringing, hair-pulling freak-out by some chick about OMG PORN! I didn't find that. What I found was some girl who was likely raised in a household like mine with the same sort of sexual standards and values passed on by my parents and who, I think, handled finding her boyfriend's porn rather better than I have seen some of my friends handle it.

A cunt? A bitch?... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 6:40 AM on August 25, 2007

EB: They are still together, so I guess they worked that out. It did freak her out a bit though to be presented with the concept out of the blue while already in bed getting busy. He, ahem, handled the presentation of it poorly. They had been married for about a decade when it happened, and the most "outrageous" thing he'd ever wanted to do up to that point had been having sex in a car, so it was a bit of a shock to her (which I then had to hear ALL about).
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 7:01 AM on August 25, 2007

I guess that would depend on whether they merely enjoyed watching bestiality or whether it was something they wanted to actually do. I probably wouldn't kick someone to the curb for wanting to watch it sometimes (though I would never be interested in seeing it), but I personally wouldn't want to be in a relationship with someone who really wanted to do it. I have as much right to be icked out about it as someone else has to want to do it or watch it, but maybe we wouldn't be a good match in a... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 7:33 AM on August 25, 2007

You can watch the episode of Dan Rather Reports (called The Trouble with Touch Screens) on line. It's worth watching, especially for the interview with the people who had been working at that paper factory. Well, it's just worth watching anyway to learn about the shoddy quality of our made in Manila sweatshops voting machines. Good episode.

Might make you ill though. While everyone has been screaming about security on these things, it's the reliability we should be... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 12:28 PM on August 18, 2007

I always dreamed of having my own island. Thanks to this post, I got to see that really, there are some affordable islands out there (maybe a little small). Then I excitedly told my husband we should sell the house and buy an island. Buzzkill that he is, he reminded me about that global warming thing and asked if I thought the sea levels might not rise during our lifetime. Gee, thanks for bringing me back to reality there bub.

But then he also reminded me he wants to buy... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 10:59 PM on August 17, 2007

This is not a manageable population over the long term.

Yes, it is.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 4:22 AM on June 15, 2007

My painting turned out sort of cool, but alas, my personality still sucks.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 9:37 AM on May 18, 2007

I like KoolAid, and I like pickles (a lot). Though I am not too sure about the combination of the two, I will be making some of these in the near future if for no other reason than to gross out my husband (who hates KoolAid and hates pickles).

Shawnstruck, you mean to tell me giant pickles are not available in movie theaters everywhere? I've lived in the South my whole life, and I have never seen a theater (or convenience store) without them. :)
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 10:44 AM on May 10, 2007

So quin's wife likes pickle juice too? Hmm ... if quin didn't live way up north, I'd suspect he was my husband in disguise. Pickle juice is tasty, I tell you!

I'm still not too sure about using the "red" flavors, though those are my favorites, but I'm thinking tamarind with pickle might be sort of good. I'm going to go buy pickles and (more) Kool-Aid tomorrow, because I just have to know.

I do mention killing three times in... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 2:33 PM on May 10, 2007

You didn't throw away the pickle juice, did you, MrMoonPie and ColdChef?! Such a terrible loss if you did. ;)

I'm headed to the store tomorrow and am going to start some myself. I going to try Tamarind flavor and one of the "red flavors". We shall see how that goes. I'm still not 100% certain my love of pickles and my love of Kool-Aid are things which should be combined, but I have to try it ... and I haven't found any for sale around here (yet).
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 7:20 PM on May 15, 2007

Farmed fish have been fed meal spiked with the same chemical that has been linked to the pet food recall, but the contamination was probably too low to harm anyone who ate the fish, federal officials said Tuesday.

So I guess we now add farmed fish to the list of things that "probably" won't make us sick.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 6:26 AM on May 9, 2007

It's the whole "probably" and "we believe" when used with phrases like "won't harm humans" that bothers me. Fact is, I don't want to consume ANY melamine. I've seen what it does to dogs and cats, so I'd say the animal testing phase is now over, it apparently can be deadly to (at least) mammals, and living creatures, including humans, would be wise to avoid consuming it ... though that seems to get more difficult every time I read the news and something new has been... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 2:36 PM on May 10, 2007

oddman:You know what? This letter isn't that bad. The guy had seven misspelled words. Seven. Big deal. His diction was fine, his grammar was fine. He gets his point across in a cogent and brief letter. So, what's the problem?

The problem is with an attitude like that, why should the kids care whether they know how to properly spell and use punctuation marks, so long as they get their point across?

Wroksie: Am I the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 9:49 AM on May 3, 2007

They tell Joe to name a price, Joe names it, they balk, Joe changes the password

No ... he changed the password, they asked for access again, he asked for money.

Unfortunately, at that point, Joe changed the password on the profile, and didn't give us the new one, like he had done in the past. This changed the previous dynamic, and we could no longer access the profile at a moment's notice if need be. We asked Joe... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 7:11 PM on May 2, 2007

Are these people serious? There's one teensy little flaw in the mental processing on that timeline explaining how the sky in the photos of Gov. Arnold at the site houldn't have been dark (at the first link): He didn't inspect the site until that night. And as far as it still being "glowing wreckage" he's standing in front of, no ... it's a construction working on a man-lifter with a cutting torch. So I guess that's two teensy flaws in the mental processing.

I... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 3:22 AM on May 2, 2007

I thought it might not be serious, but I have a work associate who keeps sending me links to conspiracy sites, and well ... most of them make about as much sense (which means almost none at all), and those people are serious.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 4:56 AM on May 2, 2007

Thanks, Wolfdog! I've recently caught the audiobook bug and these should keep me busy for a while.

I have to agree though, they do sound like Hollywood Trailer Guy is reading them, but he's far less annoying than some of the readers I have heard on audiobooks I paid far too much for.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 10:02 AM on April 12, 2007

So what, just because it might have been a sibling that set this up, the cops aren't interested in pressing charges or even looking into it any further? That seems sort of insane. I never knew siblings could do whatever they wanted to each other without the law mattering.

Good thing I don't have any evil siblings (or any siblings at all).
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 6:39 PM on April 5, 2007

Another story with a bit more information. Seems they are investigating it now, but still saying they aren't sure a crime happened and it might be a civil matter, which I still don't get. I would hope if the windows, doors, sinks and whatnot that make up my house were to be hauled off one day without my persmission, someone would consider that a crime, no matter who did it or how they got the idea to do it.
posted to MetaFilter by Orb at 7:34 PM on April 6, 2007