I actually do think my point is a valid one for someone turning to photography. The attitude with which you take up a camera is at least as important as a crumb of technical trivia. Assuming you're only ever going to be mediocre seems like a poor place to start.
posted to MetaTalk by zadcat at 5:22 PM on August 24, 2008

Someone went to art school...

Nice snipe. I've never been near an art school.
posted to MetaTalk by zadcat at 5:45 PM on August 24, 2008

I apologize for my post in the referenced thread and for what I have said here.
posted to MetaTalk by zadcat at 6:29 PM on August 24, 2008

Once again: I was thoroughly wrong on every count, and I apologize.
posted to MetaTalk by zadcat at 6:53 PM on August 24, 2008

I don't know what else I can do beyond apologizing again here. I was wrong, first by expressing a gratuitous, hopelessly pretentious opinion, and then by expressing irritation at the entirely justified dismissal of my opinion. I was wrong, wrong, wrong, and I am sorry.

Can we close this thread now? I don't know what else I can say.
posted to MetaTalk by zadcat at 8:46 AM on August 25, 2008

Photography is not a hobby. It's an art form.

You aim for hobby, you get hobby. Aim for art.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:19 AM on August 23, 2008

Well, I do plan to keep the papers for now, myself. I was asking because I don't have anyone particular to leave them to, later on.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 10:42 AM on August 22, 2008

Oh yes, and I live in Quebec, and my impression is that Quebec's genealogists are pretty much only concerned with tracing the descent of the Quebec majority whose ancestry comes from France. But I may drop a line to the local Irish community group and see what they have to say.

Thanks all for the ideas.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 10:45 AM on August 22, 2008

OK, good to read the other side of the coin too. I'm not in a hurry to throw them away but I won't concern myself with passing them on to anyone in particular.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 12:30 PM on August 22, 2008

Are you worried about your family disappearing from the pages of history? Or you just don't want to (eventually) throw away some documents if they are interesting to someone?

More the latter. If I were worried about my family disappearing I could have arranged for it not to disappear. But there's an odd feeling that, once I'm gone, my great-grandparents and my grandparents will be utterly forgotten. I don't know why that should matter but it makes me a little sad.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:35 PM on August 22, 2008

(And I never met any of them.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:36 PM on August 22, 2008

I liked loiseau's thoughts on lonely ladies.
posted to MetaTalk by zadcat at 7:33 PM on August 17, 2008

The key to self-deprecation is not the deprecation, it's the self: that you're making a bid for attention regardless of the content. If someone does this a lot, I find it tedious rather than amusing. So OK, you can't add a row of numbers or tie your shoes or boil an egg, I mean honestly, who cares.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 1:57 PM on August 17, 2008

In other words, "aren't I adorable for my little foibles?" – and the answer is probably not.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 2:01 PM on August 17, 2008

not "organique" mendel, it's "biologique" or just "bio" in French.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 6:22 PM on August 12, 2008

images from Flickr
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:44 AM on August 10, 2008

Have you got connections or personal history in eastern Canada? Do you really know the area? Because it's not just any random slab of anonymous geography. Eastern Canada's pretty tight – people who live in Maritime towns tend to have known each other for years if not generations, and you'll be the people "from away" for decades. I'm not saying they'll be hostile, but you'll need to put some serious thought into being a good neighbour and fitting into the community on their terms if you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 6:01 PM on August 9, 2008

You're going about it a bit bass-ackwards. Most people I know who've made a go of freelancing started by getting some training, then doing dogwork at a newspaper or some small studio or similar business, moved on to refine their skills under experienced art directors, and then took their own show on the road, so to speak. Graphic design is not a fine art. You need criticism from people who know the business better than you do at this stage.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:55 PM on August 9, 2008

Eliminate wheat and dairy from your diet for a couple of weeks and see if that helps.

It may not have anything to do with it, but it's possible you've got a sensitivity to one or both of these things, and it's great to find out if that's what's bothering you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 4:57 PM on August 8, 2008

The pants-with-skirt idea you describe isn't so far off the Indian salwar-kameez outfit. It can look OK and be comfy in the right fabric, but be careful about wearing so many layers that you get hot. If you're practising with mostly older people, they may keep the place a bit warmer and stuffier than you need, and if you get too warm meditating you will get sleepy.

Also, prostrations are exercise and will warm you up as well, if you're working on ngöndro numbers and not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:49 AM on August 6, 2008

You can always get beaver tails in Old Montreal in summertime. Queues de castor. But what everyone else says is true: you'll see the chewed trees and the dams but you will not see the beavers.

However. You may be able to see marmots, if that would make Madame happy. They're not beavers, but they're large fat waddly rodenty guys, and they're not so afraid of people. In Montreal there are usually some living not far from the huge geodesic dome near Jean-Drapeau metro, and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:45 PM on August 4, 2008

The answer is yes. Maybe alternate between tragedies, comedies and histories, but if you have an itch to read them, go ahead. And don't hesitate to declaim aloud if the mood strikes you, except maybe on the bus.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 3:05 PM on August 2, 2008

Why does it matter? Keep tippy breakables off the surfaces and give them a quick spray and wipe before you use them again yourself, and don't worry about it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 12:48 PM on August 2, 2008

Maybe you don't need them and your body is letting you know.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 4:46 PM on July 28, 2008

Are you at all swarthy? Most of the guys I see around here with 'staches are North African or Middle Eastern. Under some circs I suppose this might get the wrong sort of attention, depending where you live and who you deal with.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:26 PM on July 27, 2008

I learned Scopa from a nice old Sicilian lady. It's fun, but you'd need a 40-card Neapolitan pack.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 11:38 AM on July 27, 2008

I live in Montreal and, while of anglophone background, I speak some amount of French daily, and have definitely had dreams in which there was dialogue in French.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 10:30 AM on July 27, 2008

I thik the "speak now or forever hold your peace" bit refers specifically to people with knowledge that one of the parties is already married and thus not free to marry again, rather than an opinion or evidence that one of them is a "douche".
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 3:55 PM on July 24, 2008

For starters I wouldn't do it in Photoshop/Gimp but in a vector application like Illustrator, Corel Draw or even Freehand. Generate your type, get it onto the angle you want, create the black drop-shadow either with an effect or with the even simpler method of popping a black version of the type behind it and offset by a couple of points, and make a three-point gradient (white, yellow, orange) that you paste into your letters. Voila.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 1:23 PM on July 23, 2008

Around here Cocotte is well thought of, and they don't come from a third world sweatshop either.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 10:48 AM on July 23, 2008

There are products targeted at people who worry about these things.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:27 PM on June 24, 2008

We're not a very sociable crowd here. Had a meetup this winter, six people, pleasant enough but no cries for an encore.

Poutine follows drink.
posted to MetaTalk by zadcat at 5:52 AM on June 20, 2008

The way to go about this is not to find a blog that does it, but make a blog that does it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:14 PM on June 18, 2008

According to my sister, who lives there, learn to sing the Wilhelmus and say "Hup Holland Hup" a lot. Also, wear more orange. No amount of orange is too much.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:06 PM on June 18, 2008 marked best answer

What about the nameless women who invented agriculture while the men were off hunting, or more likely hanging out in the forest bragging about their exploits and having pissing contests?
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 4:23 AM on June 5, 2008

The site's pretty Web 1.0, but Media Job Search Canada carries listings that might be relevant.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 7:16 PM on May 20, 2008

Chat?
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 3:13 PM on May 16, 2008

When one of my 2 cats died rather suddenly, a friend came by with a large slab of smoked salmon, which may seem like an odd gift but was just perfect. Maybe a bottle of champagne to toast the life of the departed kitty would be just the right thing, too.

I can't recommend pointing them to that Rainbrow Bridge business. If they don't buy that particular view of the afterlife it's not going to help.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 11:24 AM on April 26, 2008

La petite vie
Les Bougon
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:39 AM on April 26, 2008 marked best answer

It's Rue Ste-Catherine. No S at the end.

The Jazz Festival will be on in Montreal – it's on from June 26 till July 6 this year. Lots of free outdoor shows, as usual.

Saturday, June 28 there will be Italian fireworks at La Ronde and visible from various other locations around the waterfront, part of the annual fireworks festival.

The Grand Prix will be over, and the comedy fest doesn't take place till mid-July.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 8:10 PM on April 25, 2008

Bribe him with ice cream, and if that doesn't work, you'll have to resort to medication.

In other words, if DQ doesn't work, it's off to the DR.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 11:11 AM on April 20, 2008

Not everyone has mass storage space for industrial quantities of t.p. and soap, though.

To me the added expense notch for many of these things has to do with how they smell. Or, more to the point, how the classier ones don't smell while the cheap ones do.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 9:19 PM on April 13, 2008

I've no idea how good an internet connection you'll have in Burkina Faso, but while you're brushing up, Quebec's Grand dictionnaire terminologique might be very handy. I've mostly used it for computer-related terms, but it's got lots of science and technical terminology in it too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 1:10 PM on April 12, 2008

I was on a trip with a friend who got frustrated because my photos were good and his were crap. He asked me why this was.

I pointed out something that is so obvious that people forget it. A photo is nothing but a rectangular image framed a certain way. Nothing else gets in there. You have to put in what you intend to put in, leave out what you intend to leave out, and remember that nothing else - not the smell of flowers or the chirping of birds, or your sadness or your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 6:17 PM on April 7, 2008

Still Life by Noël Coward, the play from which the film Brief Encounter was made. One set: a railway café.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 4:37 PM on April 2, 2008

Barbara Milner is still doing neuroscience at the Montreal Neuro at age 89.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 6:09 PM on March 31, 2008

I always put sushi cravings down to needing a protein surge.

Well, it's either that or you've got a serious wasabi deficiency...
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:02 PM on March 30, 2008

Coming from a graphic design background, I just want to note that although you may be keen to learn new software, often it's a very big messy deal to change a basic package in which a lot of a shop's work has been done: people have to be retrained, archives become worthless, tried and true methods are swept away, and many things have to be reinvented from scratch. So it's not necessarily a stupid or retrograde choice on your employer's part, and I can guarantee you this is not the last time you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 4:55 PM on March 30, 2008

Font Bureau Sloop.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:49 PM on March 28, 2008 marked best answer

I'm pretty sure I spoke English with Safwan when I got inked at Imago.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zadcat at 5:29 PM on March 26, 2008