Adding sugar will remove most/all of the bubbles, and if you're in a cafe it's pretty easy to get.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 3:44 AM on June 30, 2008 marked best answer

Heat will also do the same thing, btw, but I'm presuming that you don't want boiled cola.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 3:50 AM on June 30, 2008 marked best answer

There was an addDOMLoadEvent call for that function in the .js file, so I moved it to a body onLoad and it worked nicely! It did, however, shut off another function - which was using an addEvent(window, 'load') call - so I moved that into the body onLoad as well.

Short term solution, thank you Pinback! Long term solution, do I need to put every onLoad event into the body tag directly, and call none of them via other means? I don't really want to play... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 6:39 PM on June 19, 2008

Thanks very much for your help, guys. I guess I was plugging too much external code in without seeing whether they would conflict with each other somehow.

Also, I hope your exam went well!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 7:22 PM on June 20, 2008

You can see the path to the CSS code by viewing the HTML (the link to the CSS page is in the head), but to make it fast Web Developer is the best choice.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 2:45 AM on June 7, 2008

Read a good book. Kidding!

I'd look on this as an opportunity to really get a handle on being completely self-directed. So many people, when faced with a large amount of free time, are just unable to establish the discipline necessary to do what they want. It's like people who win the lottery but don't know how to handle the influx of money. You have the opportunity to establish good habits that will put you in good stead later on, so focus on what you want to be and do... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 5:19 PM on May 12, 2008

I can't identify the specific issue, but there's a pretty good list of IE bugs and how to fix them at Position is Everything. Perhaps this one?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 12:09 PM on May 10, 2008

Anecdotally, Polynesians smile when they're nervous. Some of my Thai students smile for a whole lot of reasons, including when they're unhappy: link.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 7:30 PM on April 29, 2008

Google Groups can be restricted to an invite-only list, but everyone you want to see it would have to be invited and be able to sign in to Google (they don't need a GMail address, but they would need to register their e-mail address with Google). You could create dummy addresses for each of your unsavy relatives and then just give them the login details, but that's about as simple as it would get using this option.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 8:29 PM on April 28, 2008

It has already been done. First in parody in Spaceballs, and then in reality in bars and recently in an aerosol can: see Wikipedia and Go2Air. As far as I know, there haven't been any scientific studies supporting the idea that it could be beneficial - the Go2Air website above lists mostly consumer and/or general public pieces rather than rigorous studies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 8:19 PM on April 28, 2008

The theme from McBain, from The Simpsons, is pretty clearly a parody. "The rules that constrain other men, mean nothing to McBain. The punches that bring pain to other men, mean nothing to McBain." It's available on the CD 'Go Simpsonic'.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 3:59 PM on April 26, 2008

It's a bit of a cheat, but there's the possibility of meta-questions.

What interview question do you wish you were asked, but that no-one ever seems to ask you?

What was your favourite question from an interviewer?

...and so forth. It draws attention to the artificiality of the interview process, and puts you both on the same side with regards to it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 5:35 PM on April 23, 2008 marked best answer

Other photos from the same ceremony show that there was a flag procession of state flags. Chances are good that you're seeing the top corner of Mississippi's flag there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 12:32 AM on April 22, 2008 marked best answer

To echo the above, Ephesus is worth it, Cappadocia is absolutely worth it, Ölüdeniz is the best beach ever, and has great tandem paragliding. I found the treehouse hostel over-rated - but then, I'm not a party person. I was in Turkey during the start of the war (late 2003) and never had any problems, so it's probably not too much different now. Photos and travel diaries from my trip are on my website (link in profile), if you're interested.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 4:37 PM on April 21, 2008

I'm the aforementioned fiance - thanks for all the recommendations, everyone. I have a cold right now, and supercrayon's trying to track down some reading material.

I've read quite a few of the suggestions already (Perdido Street Station, Gloriana, The Worm Ouroboros, M. John Harrison, Gore Vidal) or seen the mini-series (Claudius) and very much enjoyed them (although I found Perdido too... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 1:01 PM on April 19, 2008

Obscure, perhaps, but Wally Pleasant has songs like "I was a teenage Republican (George Bush Megamix version)", "Cool guy with a car", "She's in love with a geek", "Denny's at 4am"...
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 7:43 PM on March 9, 2008

Excuse the pun

It has become a politicized issue: the government here tried to impose a 'fart tax' on ruminants as part of an ecological policy and the resulting protests reinforce every pastoral-hick stereotype (that's the former leader of the opposition on the tractor). The point was made then that ows produce much more methane from the mouth than from the other end.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 11:41 AM on March 7, 2008

Margaret Laurence's A Bird in the House is pretty much ideal.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 10:48 PM on March 4, 2008

Lake Tekapo in NZ has amazing stargazing, and is gorgeous during the day also.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 6:03 PM on March 2, 2008

Browsing Wikipedia today I ran into this comment, regarding The 36th Chamber of Shaolin: "Not only did the film significantly influence subsequent Hong Kong films, but essentially set the precedent for the classic 'training sequence' in films of every genre"
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 12:52 AM on March 1, 2008

Bring something non-alcoholic, but distinctive. Trying a new flavour is the essential appeal of wine (well, that and getting sloshed), so if you can replicate that with something else you'll be in good stead. If you can find it, I've always had success with soda water and elderflower cordial - a light, unique, refreshing taste.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 1:17 PM on February 28, 2008

This is probably going to be a different take to other suggestions in the thread, but my favourite (fictional) expression of what it's like to live under a dictatorship is Vladimir Nabokov's Bend Sinister. In the same way that Eichmann in Jerusalem emphasized the "banality of evil", Bend Sinister underlines the incompetence of dictatorship, the emergence of gaps and exceptions and spurious party-serving 'laws', the feeling... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 2:14 PM on February 27, 2008

I had two uncles that manned isolated lighthouses (think someone dropping off supplies once a week), but you still have to radio ships of various nationalities as they pass by. In any case, almost all lighthouses are automated now.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 12:20 PM on February 22, 2008

It really only kicks in properly with 4+ players, but my friends and I (very similar tastes to yours) love Cosmic Encounter. The best version is out of print, so I would suggest getting the currently-in-print Avalon Hill version and supplementing it with cards from The Warp.

It is nearly impossible to describe the freewheeling nature of this highly chaotic, but not overcomplicated game. (Well, it can be as complicated as you want it to be, but the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 5:51 PM on February 19, 2008

The Judy Gene, from Project Gay.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 12:56 AM on February 19, 2008

For HTML, Webmonkey has a good intro.

For relatively advanced, but relatively easy to use, CSS and Javascript, A List Apart and CSS Zen Garden are excellent.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 8:47 PM on February 17, 2008

Along the lines you've suggested above, would a database and print/mail-merge be enough?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 5:15 PM on February 17, 2008 marked best answer

I've never heard it used here (New Zealand) in a non-ironic non-faux-archaic context.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 4:41 PM on February 11, 2008

Another Kiwi here. I'd suggest using YouTube to try-before-you-buy; I've provided some starting links below.

Dub electronica is pretty popular, but in particular I'd try The Black Seeds (mentioned above) and Salmonella Dub. Fat Freddy's Drop, described by Wikipedia as a roots/dub/reggae/jazz/soul band, is damn good. Their album Based on a True Story went seven times platinum here, and I especially like the single Wandering Eye. While I'm not as big a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 1:02 PM on February 11, 2008

I had a very successful movie night with Ed Wood followed by Plan 9 From Outer Space.

I can't explain why I think they'd fit together, but for off-beat Gothic films, The Others and Vertigo seem like a good pairing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 4:08 PM on February 7, 2008

Eat Drink Man Woman and Delicatessen. Both off-beat foreign comedies about food from popular directors (Ang Lee of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Jeunet of Amelie) but also very very different.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 4:34 PM on February 7, 2008

British you say? Rowan Atkinson's stage show is skit-based, but very funny.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 9:41 PM on February 6, 2008

A habit I've picked up that has worked quite nicely: don't visit a website twice in one sitting. As soon as you realise that you're returning to a site you've already checked, you've stopped gathering new information and started wasting time waiting for potential new information to appear. Avoiding that better-recheck instinct is the best thing I've ever done for decreasing the amount of time spent online.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 2:11 PM on February 6, 2008

If the allowance is coming from his pay-check then it's not really being dependent on you, it's just putting a pre-set limit to his discretionary spending. But I understand how someone could see it the other way, so how about this:
Many people have issues with any kind of permanent monetary decision; it feels like it constricts your future, and that can be claustrophobic. It's better to ease into it. Suggest that you try having the checks signed over and setting a limit to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 7:21 PM on February 4, 2008

Yep, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Delivered by Steve Martin, who's trying to scam a free meal from a sympathetic woman.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 2:04 PM on February 4, 2008

I've kept an A4-a-day journal since January 1999. Switching the content around as others have suggested is fun, but I also like to be creative with the method of writing.

Some I've tried already:
-an entry in rhyming couplets
-an entry that's one long rambling sentence (with lots of parenthetical clauses)
-an entry that doesn't use any 1st-person pronouns (I, me, my, mine - harder than you think)
-a lipogrammatical entry... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 1:17 PM on February 4, 2008 marked best answer

As far as non-girly-but-beautiful-neck-adornments go, a nice Maori greenstone (jade) carving may appeal. I can't vouch for the particular store, but this place has some examples. One of these was my first V Day gift to my now-fiancee.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 9:14 PM on February 3, 2008

You seem to have encountered the ones that spring immediately to my mind already. Given that, this may be a bit obvious, but have you tried The Difference Engine?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 6:33 PM on January 31, 2008

Oo, The Anubis Gates is indeed a good one: Victorian, London, dark (but not too long, unfortunately). It's not an alternate history so much as a 'secret' history, though: the events are the same, but the causes and agents are quite different.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 6:58 PM on January 31, 2008

The Quiet Earth is also a book; the author is a former lecturer of mine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 5:21 PM on January 25, 2008

Books are bound in sets of pages called signatures - a single piece of paper that has been folded several times to create 4 (folio), 8 (quarto), etc. pages. If the page numbers of the book don't match exactly, they leave extra pages. When printing and binding, it's cheaper to follow a standard signature size than it is to try to cut out the extra blank pages.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 11:00 AM on January 25, 2008

Oo, sorry for the quarto answer. Yeah, what the others said.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 11:02 AM on January 25, 2008

Bury it in the garden, with one claw sticking out.

Hang it on a string in front of their front door.

Put it in a big plastic tub of water, freeze, cut away the tub, and then hide the huge ice-block in their fridge. If you boil the water first you should get a decent 'ice-man' look. (You could put their car keys in there as well as a bonus, but that's probably a bit too mean.) Alternatively, put it in jello. Or decorate it with cake icing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 7:09 PM on January 21, 2008

Dave's ESL cafe: Kids
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 2:39 PM on January 21, 2008

British-Indian indie rock electronica: Cornershop
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 5:28 PM on January 10, 2008

Sean Connery (according to Wikipedia) worked as a milkman, lorry driver, labourer, coffin polisher and lifeguard.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 1:27 PM on January 10, 2008

Seconding Tim Powers, especially The Anubis Gates
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 5:31 PM on December 20, 2007

Don Quixote is a great read, the Gormenghast series is an absolute must. I found Le Morte D'arthur engaging, and there are some excellent old Gothic novels that are long and involving (for stories inside stories, for example, try Melmoth the Wanderer or The Manuscript Found in Saragossa). I'm sure my friends are tired of me recommending it, but House of Leaves is the longest book I ever read in a day, and is fantastic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 11:21 PM on December 17, 2007

Lifehacker loves it some Mac software.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 1:17 PM on December 17, 2007

Failing a better answer, is there any reason you couldn't round up a bunch of your friends and record a simple version yourself? The lyrics are easy, and they might get a kick out of earnest attempts to pronounce the Maori words.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Paragon at 9:13 PM on December 9, 2007