I've experienced toe numbness. Here's what I did. I brought it up with my GP. She referred me to a neurologist. I had a 10 minute appointment with the neurologist and he determined that I didn't have any issues. Then I was off to a podiatrist for an examination and that resulted in my getting some special insoles made up and a steroid injection. My gait and my shoes had combined to put pressure on some nerves.

That was a few years ago. Since then, most of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:19 AM on May 12, 2008

HAS gone away.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:20 AM on May 12, 2008

It was definitely widely in use on usenet right from the start. The first mention I found in Google's usenet archives was from May 23rd, 1981, and it's a digest of an email list that has the message using the term from May 12th.

I used to be involved in APAs in the late 80s, and my recollection is that the term was in use there too. I suspect that it would have originated in sf, comics and/or media fan publications at some point, but don't ask me when. It could have... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 10:59 AM on February 16, 2008

Nthing Diana Wynne Jones, Ellen Kushner, LeGuin, et al.

For fantasy, the very best I've read in recent times (and possibly ever) has been the Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks.

I really like Susette Haden Elgin, especially her Native Tongue stuff.

Ellen Klages is great. Green Glass Sea isn't SF per se, but it's informed by it and her short stories in Portable Childhoods definitely are SF/F.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 8:50 AM on February 8, 2008

You also might want to check out the past winners of the Tiptree Award.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 8:54 AM on February 8, 2008

37 years old. Didn't have siblings near my age at all. I played 'the floor is lava' all by my lonesome all the time when I was a kid. I don't think it's a meme so much as just something kids come up with when they're climbing all over furniture.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:09 AM on February 4, 2008

I'm thinking that the point is that the loony right is making shit up to tar the left with and no one's really trying to rename Thanksgiving.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 11:32 AM on January 16, 2008

re: UW, check out this page on the Husky Promise.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 2:35 PM on January 1, 2008

There's a Singas in Manhattan too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 11:42 AM on December 26, 2007

Although, I now see that the link from Singas' web site doesn't do it correctly.

Here.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 11:44 AM on December 26, 2007 marked best answer

Merry Christmas from Chiron Beta Prime.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 6:18 AM on December 16, 2007

Was the more pleasant flight less crowded? Much of the reason air gets bad on flights is due to ozone reacting with people's breath and skin.

Less people on a flight makes for better air. I just had a nearly empty flight and it definitely was a lot more pleasant in many other ways too, but the air certainly wasn't as close as I'm used to encountering.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 1:43 PM on November 21, 2007

Yes, re: Woody Guthrie.

He wrote and performed New York Town, but Cisco Huston really took up the song and made it his.

On Mermaid Avenue (wherein Billy Bragg & Wilco too Guthrie Lyrics and put them to song) there is Walt Whitman's Niece and on Mermaid Avenue II there is Joe Dimaggio Done it Again.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:09 AM on October 25, 2007

I'm 37 and will soon be applying to archaeology MA programs in the UK, which I found out about while I was volunteering at this year's Society for American Archaeology conference.

Find and join similar relevant institutions in the field you're interested in. Volunteer for their conferences. You'll get a great opportunity to pick the brains of people in your prospective field, find out about opportunities. You'll get an idea about what kind of research people are doing... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:31 PM on October 14, 2007

Check out 3rd Ward in Brooklyn.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 8:42 AM on October 8, 2007 marked best answer

Back in the 90s I was in your situation, except I didn't really like my boss. I was not getting any opportunities for growth and I got fed up.

I did quit without something else lined up. I ended up freelancing for about 3 months and then lined up another job. I left that one a couple years later (after my original employer got bought out by an accounting company) when I fed up again, but that time I had a job lined up when I jumped.

The latter... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 11:33 AM on October 3, 2007

In Finnish: mehiläinen
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:29 AM on September 29, 2007

Plaxo does syncing between gCal and iCal automatically. It may not be ideal for you, but it works well for me.

Looking at my account and sync logs, I know that it periodically updates and pulls from gCal when there's something to sync. I'm not 100% how it works on the iCal side, but I know for sure that whenever I open iCal it's up to date. I sync between gCal, iCal at home and iCal at work. It's also free for the basic setup.

The one... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 8:45 PM on September 27, 2007

Having been innundated with pdfs to read for classes, I've been thinking about this too. I've got a blackberry, but I would not want to try to read articles in pdf format on it with its small screen.

If I continue to grad school and thus have more pdfs in my future, I'd seriously consider getting a Sony Reader. It's a one trick pony, but it seems to do the trick pretty well. Better than printing off reams and reams of paper.

I've seen one of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 6:19 AM on September 23, 2007

Beginning Glassblowing by Edward T. Schmid.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:11 AM on September 9, 2007

I'm male and prone to kidney stones, although for me that's meant about one every 5 years or so.

Definitely go to a urologist. They can help you figure out the kind of stone (catching one will help, so start using a strainer) and knowing that will help them treat you. I take a pill with meals that changes my urine ph and helps prevent the kind of stones I have from crystallizing. I've also made changes to my diet to reduce the accumulation of the particular substance... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:34 AM on August 23, 2007

And yes, I did the pee collection test too, like banannafish mentions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:35 AM on August 23, 2007

Seconding Samuel R. Delany strongly.

Check out Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu. It's a wonderful YA SF/F novel.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:42 AM on August 9, 2007

Joe Dimaggio Done It Again - performed by Billy Bragg, written by Woody Guthrie.

Guthrie recorded New York Town himself. It's available on This Land is Your Land: The Asch Recordings.

And let me 2nd Cub's original version of New York City.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 11:23 AM on August 6, 2007

I'm currently using Plaxo to sync between my work and home iCal calendars as well as my google calendar. It works like a charm. I don't even have to manually sync between them. It also supports yahoo, outlook and a few others. I don't think it does Sunbird yet though.

I have a blackberry and use PocketMac to sync up with my home computer. Once I've done that, I've essentially synced up everywhere else too. And they support a good number of devices: http://www.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 4:35 PM on July 29, 2007

Hey, if you like milling about at flea markets looking for cheap goods, Helsinki's got its share of flea markets (kirpputorit) too.

I really like the one at Hietalahti Market.

I've scored some really sweet postcards there, including many pre-war and WWII era ones.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 12:41 PM on July 24, 2007

I remember 7UP fondly too, but I think that your kids might be a little old for it.

Maybe Werewolf?
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:59 PM on July 20, 2007

Re-routing via the virtual domain worked perfectly! Thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:18 AM on July 14, 2007

jlkr, one is near Ann Arbor, which I think makes it easy as there seems to be a UofM related geriatrics fellowship there (thanks i_am_a_jedi).

The other is in Oscoda, which is in the northeast portion of the lower peninsula and much more remote.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 4:48 PM on May 19, 2007

Your question reads to me like you're being driven nuts by jackwipes honking all day and night on the street outside the window of your home, right? That's how I read it, but considering the number of responses that assume you're driving, you may want to clarify.

You're in NYC, so have you tried complaints to 311? You may be able to get some noise enforcement going. You may also be able to lobby to get your street posted as a no honking zone., especially if you team... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 3:07 PM on May 18, 2007

I'm another towel user, although I hadn't really thought about it until this post. Mostly I just keep my hands out of the water as much as possible.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:53 PM on April 1, 2007

The Airtrain->LIRR->NJT solution is, IMHO, the far most pleasant of the listed options. I hate being in NY traffic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 12:01 PM on March 29, 2007

Well, the cockrub warriors have already been linked, so...

I'm a bisexual man who started out with no interest in anal sex. And I'd probably have been just has happy not to explore that except that I actually started to feel the desire to bottom when I was with one male partner. I didn't end up going that way with him, but I did start exploring.

I found that the book Anal Pleasure & Health to be immensely helpful once I started feeling... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 11:05 AM on March 26, 2007

I've been quite happy with these.

Not waterproof, but they've done pretty well by me hiking in sun, snow and rain.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 2:26 PM on March 1, 2007

These.

Sorry.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 2:26 PM on March 1, 2007

I was using IMP, which is a part of HORDE, but it wasn't via IMP that the compromise occurred, it was a hole in the PHP implementation. I had actually tried to update PHP before the compromise, but that had caused IMP to cease working, so I put it off for the time being and got hosed for it.

PHP is off the table.

And I need a web front end for my existing mail server. GAFYD doesn't seem to supply that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 10:06 AM on February 20, 2007

I've had this on both feet. I went to a podiatrist and it was diagnosed as pressure on a nerve in the ball of my foot. Orthotics and some cortisone cleared it up for the most part.

Might not be your issue, but seeing a podiatrist should get you diagnosed properly.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:37 PM on January 29, 2007

My partner had this to say:

it's absolutely possible--she should definitely pick up a few phrases (even just from a phrasebook) before she goes, but w/a little patience & forethought, it's definitely possible. there's lots of signage in romaji (western alphabet) which will match w/what will be in her guidebooks, & if she wants she can also pick up bilingual atlases of tokyo or osaka--they're pretty useful, but i think she can do w/o. japan is safe,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:13 AM on January 8, 2007

Also, when we went together a few years later, we had both taken Japanese classes, but only for a few months. We couldn't really speak Japanese, but we knew enough to ask questions and it was definitely worth the effort.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 7:15 AM on January 8, 2007

I wear one on my belt every working day and often on the weekends. As long as I remember to pack it in checked luggage on flights, no problems for the most part.

Avoid having it on you when going to courthouses and sporting events though. I left it at home during jury duty, and I once had to stash mine in a potted plant outside Shea Stadium when I forgot to leave it at work before I went to a ballgame.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:30 AM on December 29, 2006

A monkey can't throw shit without hitting X.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 1:28 PM on October 31, 2006

Robert J. Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax series of novels for something that's a little bit more well informed on the paleaontological front.

And if you REALLY want to get your paleontology geek on, there's Orphan of Creation by Roger Allen McBride and No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 8:54 AM on October 31, 2006

If you spend time on the Upper West or East Sides (ala visiting museums), check out Alice's Teacup. It might be a bit twee for your BF, but the atmosphere is very relaxed and the food and tea are excellent. If you're into tea at all, you'll love it. And as a foodie, you'll probably really dig the fresh scones.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 10:45 AM on October 17, 2006

At 10, he's probably ready to play on his own without your help. I started playing at 11, so I wouldn't worry about it being overwhelmingly complicated.

Actually, there's a number of RPGs out there that are designed with kids in mind. 10 is getting old enough to handle complex rules for most games though.

Do you know what your nephew enjoyed most? If it was something simple you made up on the fly, especially if you let him have a lot of input... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 10:26 AM on October 16, 2006

I second Hangawi strongly. The food is excellent and the atmosphere is perfect for a quiet romantic evening. Walk in and feel all the hustle of Manhattan fade away.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 9:17 AM on September 19, 2006

Roger Zelazny's Amber novels.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 4:56 AM on September 11, 2006

I once took a telecommunications class where the instructor was more interested in showing the class his taped appearances on television than actually teaching anything. And his idea of a great class project was a pathetically basic LAN diagram that I whipped off in 10 minutes using some ancient ancestor of Omni-Graffle. By the time that rolled around, I was already completely contemptuous of the man and it showed (to me) by the effort and the quality of the work I turned in. He held it up to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 1:01 PM on September 7, 2006

Are you familiar with the series that inspired Utena? If you're up to digging up fansubs of series, it's quite worth it to go back to 70s and 80s.

The Rose of Versailles is excellent. It's the story of a young woman who was raised as a man and a soldier in pre-revolutionary France. The inspiration Rose of Versailles provided to the creators of Utena is obvious through every episode.

Another Riyoko Ikeda shoujo series that is compelling and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 11:14 AM on September 6, 2006

Time and Again by Jack Finney

Although, at this point in time, it'd be considered wholly historical as it depicts the New York of teh 1970s and of the 1880s.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 12:56 PM on September 1, 2006

If you're going to go the emulator route, you want Parallels and Virtual PC.

You'd also need a copy of Windows to go this route, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ursus_comiter at 10:38 AM on August 28, 2006