It's so much more complicated than it seems...

Most sites don't deal exclusively with an ad network; they only use the network to farm out their "remnant" inventory, i.e. the inventory that they didn't sell directly. The inventory that they did sell directly goes for a lot more money.

Then there are non-banner sponsorships, advertorials, co-branded ads, ads exchanged with partners, ads that are added-value as part of some other business... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 11:19 AM on July 13, 2008

I say this as a white man who works in advertising - the "patriarchy" doesn't want you to get in shape. What it wants is for you to keep eating your candy bars, watch TV, work your ass off at your job for low pay, and die.

The high fructose corn syrup that you are consuming is not some kind of nectar made for feminists from a recipe embedded in a poem by Christina Rossetti. It is shit made for stupid, reactive people.

Are you a stupid,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 7:55 PM on July 11, 2008

Say you broke up, and you aren't ready to talk about it. That's it.

p.s. She slept with your friend in order to make the breakup stick, not because she actually liked your friend.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 2:44 PM on July 10, 2008

I like to expand the scope of the conversation, so that it's not just about my mistake anymore. Own the mistake, but give the client something to think about besides the mistake.

"I let these three mistakes get past me, but now they have been corrected. However, I realized while making the changes that we really ought to be thinking about X, Y, and Z. Which is your preference? I'd recommend X." etc.

Ending any statement to a client... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 10:06 AM on June 24, 2008

She has contacted you three times in the last three years. She is not harassing you by any stretch of the imagination.

It sounds like you have issues relating to your relationship with her. You should tell her what those are, say you hope she understands that this is why you won't be responding to her from now on, and will in fact be filtering her emails to automatically get deleted. You hope she understands and has a good life, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 12:17 PM on May 21, 2008

you wouldn't just stare blankly through somebody you knew in real life if they said "hi" as you passed, so why do people act like it's ok online?

I've done this in real life many times. Maybe it's just a matter of your priorities.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 9:34 PM on May 31, 2008

The truth is that "Thanks, but no thanks" replies (in email, and in person), usually do not have the desired effect. The other person wants to talk about what went wrong, etc. This is part of the dynamic that led them to try to keep up the correspondence, even if they weren't getting any feedback.

There are degrees of blowing someone off, and if you think the other person is good at "getting the hint," then you can spare them the harsher alternatives.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 6:12 AM on June 3, 2008

Uh, yeah, I commented in that thread several times.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 6:27 PM on June 13, 2008

However, I'm definitely part of the "ask" culture. I just don't think that has anything to do with this situation. Nobody is asking anything.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 7:43 AM on June 20, 2008

What I mean is, I'm part of the ask culture, and yet I am opposed to overtly stating the problem in this case, because that's not asking. It's telling. And that's different. When someone in the ask culture asks, it doesn't mean that they are owed an answer, or that they should continue to ask when they don't get one.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:05 PM on June 23, 2008

I think it's for jewelry. A sort of case for a single item, perhaps to be given along with that item as a gift.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 7:58 PM on June 23, 2008

Technically, "noir" was something that happened (or imagined as happening) in the US during World War II. "Noir" is how the French referred to the new wave of cynical American films, which was a surprise from a nation that had previously come up with so much happy musical pap.

However, you can still find noir-ish themes: the law defeated, labyrinthine plots in which the hero becomes the villain without realizing it, emasculating women, drinking and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 4:15 PM on June 20, 2008

Be braver about starting conversations with guys (also mentioned above by aeschenkarnos). There's a lot of sweet touchy-feely stuff in this thread about boosting your own confidence, which is all well and good, but I know a lot of confident, unattractive people. I also know plenty of otherwise attractive women who are obviously making a big show of acting confident, and that makes them less attractive.

What the OP obviously wants is to be approachable, and as far as... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 7:38 AM on June 20, 2008

Regardless of how you broach the subject, do it before you move in together. That way, there is an implicit threat that if she doesn't work with you to solve the problem, you may not actually make the move. Feel free to bury this implication under as much indirection as you like; it will still be there, and you should use it.

If she doesn't seem motivated to do anything, then you need to step that up a notch, to the effect of "This issue really... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 3:45 PM on June 11, 2008

I'm a fat guy who goes to the gym regularly. Put simply:

1) Nobody cares. Yes, they know you're there to get in shape. In other news, people who see you at restaurants know you're there to eat.

2) Don't make it complicated. Pick one simple thing (say, treadmill), do it for half an hour, and leave. Repeat until you feel comfortable being there.

3) Go where the hot people are. It's inspiring. I used to work out at a gym... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:29 AM on June 11, 2008

I have lost over 40 lbs. myself, more than once, and here's the deal, in my observation.

To most thin people, you are either fat, or not fat. They don't have a sense of scale the way that fat people do. Sure, they are technically capable of telling the difference, but it's like a switch that they turn off. A lot of them are made uncomfortable or disgusted by fat people, and in order to tolerate us, they just try not to think about the bodies of the fat people they deal... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 5:45 AM on June 3, 2008

Hmm. Well, I doubt the employer will cancel the policy on me for late payments, but I'm sure they are not going to make my payments for me until they've received them from me. In other words, if I send them the money, they'll forward it; if not, they won't.

The bigger issue, though, is that I really don't trust them to do this properly, and I wish there was a different way.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:10 PM on June 2, 2008

Uhh Yeah Dude is definitely about nothing. It's two (funny) guys talking. One (Seth) is a friend of mine, the other is John Laroquette Jr.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 9:26 PM on May 31, 2008

Why would they be saying they want the messiah to come faster? And chanting it in a parade? I'm Jewish and I've never heard of that. Granted, I'm non-practicing and didn't grow up in New York, but it still seems strange.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:24 PM on May 23, 2008

Don't be afraid to try suspenders. Especially if you wear them under a jacket. They really are the best way to solve the belly-over-waistband problem.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 7:38 PM on May 23, 2008

Nelsormensch: Yeah, and what does *that* mean?
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:45 AM on May 23, 2008

Let me clarify the question. What are these people doing after they sign up to follow 800 people? Are they actually reading regular updates from all 800 of them? Checking in to twitter.com and idly scrolling through them all to see if there's anything interesting? Or maybe they just want their own twitter page to say "following 800 people" because of some geek coolness factor? (But wouldn't the coolness factor come from 800 people following them, and not the other way around?)
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 9:48 AM on May 23, 2008

Okay, maybe I'm just not in the target audience. When someone follows me, it does not by any stretch mean that I'm going to follow them without knowing a lot more about them. I'm disturbed to discover that my attitude in this regard is unusual.

Similarly, I do use device updates...I get all the tweets via gtalk. Having them any more in the background, and they might as well be turned off. But...whatever.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 4:08 PM on May 23, 2008

In my last job, I interviewed a lot of people. If I had one who worked for someone I knew to be a monster, and she paid the monster only compliments, I would conclude that either a) she's the most resilient person on Earth, and that therefore she might be good to put with the most horrible clients and managers available, or b) she's a conniving, untrustworthy piece of shit who cares so much more about diplomacy than honesty that I know I'll never be able to trust her.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:13 PM on May 19, 2008

Seconding Nerve/Onion/etc. (eHarmony rejected me).

However, this:

So it's sad to say that the dating scene for an average Joe has been virtually eliminated. Unless you have fantastic looking body (Bruce Lee's, football player, or Antonio Banderas [for guys] / supermodel or a twig-thin [for girls]), you're in for a slow let down.

...is wrong, not just in my opinion, but in fact. If you really believe... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 4:26 PM on May 17, 2008

(astruc: I probably put "agnostic." eHarmony does seem to be a Christian-oriented organization, but I wonder if there's a correlation rather than a causation at work there. It may be that Jews tend to give "problematic" answers to some of the core questions about self-sacrifice, which seems to be something that eHarmony weights heavily.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 6:53 PM on May 17, 2008

Hmm...well, unfortunately, there were not even 99 people in the entire company at the time of the layoffs. More like 50. So much for that angle. And there was no severance clause in my contract...nor was there any contract, for that matter.

One week for a year actually is pretty unusual in the advertising industry in New York. I got laid off from another job about a year and a half ago, and they gave me a month's severance, plus a second month's severance if I agreed to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:23 AM on May 14, 2008

Just to clarify: The one week of severance was not an 'offer.' They just gave it to me.
They told me I was getting it, and a few days later, I had it by direct deposit. When I got hired, severance was not discussed.

When I got the axe, they didn't ask me to sign anything, which was a bit weird, since I actually had a lot of contact with vendors and clients...more combined than anyone else at the agency, in fact. But then, this lack of thinking things through... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 1:07 PM on May 14, 2008

I think you are really looking at this the wrong way.

If you're not familiar with New York, and your plane is landing three hours before your interview, then you don't have time to mess around. Plan on going directly to the building where your interview is. Between flight delays, lines at the airport for a taxi, the taxi ride itself, and not knowing your own way around, three hours is hardly any time at all.

If you get there early, find... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 9:05 PM on May 13, 2008

If your revenue source is the same as that of Dogowner's Monthly, does your competition automatically become Dogowner's Monthly?

That's really the wrong way to look at it. Two media companies do not share a "revenue source." Their revenue sources are the highest-paying advertisers they can get at any given time. The question is, do they share the same readership?

If you are a small special-interest website that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 7:17 PM on May 11, 2008

The way to tell is: Are they asking you to give them any money before they give you the $100? If so, that's obviously a scam (but that's the way a lot of scams work).

It's possible that the seller is just really scared that you're going to leave negative feedback on eBay.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:09 AM on May 7, 2008

Wow...thanks for giving me a lot more to work with than I had before.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:01 AM on May 7, 2008

In the adult section of any store I've seen, you will have a hard time finding trousers that are sold at 30 inches length. I'm 5'9, and I go into all trouser-buying expeditions expecting to just get something 34 inches long and have it tailored later.

A tailor could take in a jacket for you so that there is less fabric in back. However, the jacket should already fit you pretty well in the shoulders, and it should also just barely cover your ass. If that's not the case,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 5:09 AM on May 7, 2008

There are stretches on I-70 on your way across Kansas, where the road is so flat, and extends pretty much straight for as far as you can see, that it's very difficult to judge how far away you are from, say, the Rocky Mountains, which is the only thing in your line of sight that you can be sure is farther away from you than the road you're on.

However, by the time you do reach the mountains, your fascination with this phenomenon will most likely have worn off.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 6:46 PM on May 4, 2008

No matter what you do or say in such a situation, what you're really trying to do is convey empathy. The person has accomplished something that is important to them, and you're letting them know that you understand that, even if it isn't necessarily important to you. Simply saying "congratulations" is actually one of the most honest ways to accomplish this, because it gets the sentiment across, and makes no attempt to do anything else.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 11:07 AM on May 4, 2008

The reason they gave you the inflated title is to guard against this very situation.

Also: I interview people all the time. If someone said "Actually, they called me a director, but I didn't get to make any decisions," then I would be pleased by the honesty and willingness to cut through corporate crap, two good qualities that I want in a co-worker.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 6:08 PM on April 19, 2008

I have ADHD and I'm pretty good at chess.

Concentrate on the big-picture strategy, e.g. play for the center of the board, don't make a lot of pawn moves in the opening, etc. Most people don't know how to do that stuff properly. Just get that down, and then learn some openings and how to use them, and how to respond to them.

Very few people are actually able to successfully think ahead a great many moves, and also know what they're doing. A... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 5:30 PM on April 19, 2008

Cut your hair. I too am an overweight guy with a boyish round face, so I understand your fear of looking like a child. But look around at the other overweight people you see with unusual hairstyles. The hair always looks ridiculous, like they are trying too hard to distract from their chubbiness. Ditto heavy people with crazy hair colors, lots of piercings, tattoos, etc. The most basic prejudice that people will have against you because of your weight is that you're sloppy. The best way to fight... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 10:50 AM on April 12, 2008 marked best answer

I interview people all the time, and I have to say that if I interviewed you, I might say something like "Hey, I see you worked for that guy who just got arrested. What was that like?"

I would *not* say "Are you going to testify against him? What? You mean you haven't even gotten in touch with the D.A.? Why, YOU AMORAL, SeLLOUT MOTHERFUCKER! How dare you think you're good enough to work here! Curse you, scum...CURSE YOU!"

Give... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 10:34 AM on April 12, 2008

I have not noticed this tower-buzzing thing ever happening on my own iphone.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 5:12 AM on April 1, 2008

And as far as not doing anything for fear of retaliation, I think it good to remember who are the children and who is the adult.

Retaliation from unsupervised, destructive children is to be feared a thousand times more than retaliation from adults. Especially if those children know where you live.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 9:08 PM on March 29, 2008

Permanent Midnight.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 6:27 AM on March 28, 2008 marked best answer

When you live somewhere with communal laundry, and you don't sit there and watch your stuff, you risk it getting stolen. That's going to be the case anywhere you live.

I advise against putting up a sign. Your new neighbors are just going to think you're a wacko. They might even steal another sock just to see how you react (I probably would).
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 7:45 PM on March 26, 2008

When I see a ring on the left ring finger, I assume she's married, or engaged, or wants to appear married or engaged, or is trying to make some sort of inane statement about how archaic the custom is, or is just clueless.

In any case, I won't hit on her. Those of you who say 'there's no harm in flirting'...well, you must meet far fewer people, and have much more time on your hands, and have different goals, then some of us. It's all a bit of a game until you're in your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 1:55 AM on March 26, 2008

nax: Not having to deal with those awkward moments is the entire point of paying attention to ring fingers. Also, the question is 'How can you tell if someone is single or taken just by looking at them?'

Also, where I'm from (and where I went to college, which is full of people from Chicago (where you live), and many other places I've lived), 'hitting on' does not have negative connotations in and of itself, and women are often heard saying things like 'I wish he would... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 8:19 AM on March 26, 2008

nax: By "getting hit on" I mean clearly sexual advances that you don't feel you have signaled or solicited. Flirting in my connotation has at the most an extremely suppressed, if any, sexual component.

There is a huge middle ground, wherein there are unsolicited (but welcomed, cautiously or enthusiastically) advances, in which the sexual component is not "extremely suppressed," but neither is it overt and sleazy, and immediate sex... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 5:54 PM on March 26, 2008

I work in online advertising, and krautland is completely right. Clicking on any ad makes it exponentially more likely that you are going to see the same ad again. It also makes it more likely that other people with browsing habits similar to yours are going to see the same ad.

More to the point, if it's a Google ad, then it's guaranteed that you are having a direct affect on the algorithm that evaluates how effectively the ad was targeted. Ignoring the ad does not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 5:23 AM on March 22, 2008 marked best answer

One more thing: Google charges less per click for ads that it thinks are well-targeted. So when you click on a Google ad you don't like, you are actually making it *cheaper* for the advertiser to show that ad to people like you. That's right: you are *saving the advertiser money.* Congratulations.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 5:34 AM on March 22, 2008

Not the ones that appear next to gmail, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 10:22 AM on March 22, 2008

It's because of those ads that gmail is free.
posted to Ask Metafilter by bingo at 2:49 PM on March 22, 2008