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MetaChat's thread of suggested automated AskMe answers. From "Don't eat it" to "Try Craigslist" to "Check out these twenty-five identical previous AskMe questions on this topic" to "Learn how to communicate. Pouring your heart out to 60,000 random strangers on the internet ≠ effective communication with your partner", we've pretty much got every topic covered.
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 10:28 AM on July 18, 2008
(120 comments)
I'm going to be organizing a pub night for my class from the grade school I went to at some point — probably in September or October. The best location for the pub is probably in the north end of Toronto, say on Steeles or Finch somewhere, and not too far east or west. Not being very familiar with that area, I'd like suggestions as to a good venue. I'd like a quiet and comfortable atmosphere, decent food, and definitely nothing dive-y or too bar-like.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 10:28 AM on June 28, 2008
(3 comments)
Either I'm being paranoid or the stores I frequent have stopped stocking certain items beloved by me because they contain both chocolate and peanut butter. Paranoid or not, I can bake, and am therefore not at the mercy of the peanut butter and chocolate overlords. Which leads me to ask the question, what decadent peanut butter and chocolate recipes do you have to share?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 6:51 PM on June 15, 2008
(13 comments)
I want to buy some bubble bath for a gift for someone who says he takes baths solely for the bubbles. As a no-nonsense showers-only girl, this is unknown shopping territory to me. What's some seriously good bubble bath? I guess my criteria would include but not be limited to: doesn't leave a greasy residue on the skin; prolific, long lasting bubble action; and geared for a grown man, meaning no overpowering floral scents or sparkly teddy-bear-princess-themed packaging.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 8:07 PM on June 4, 2008
(8 comments)
Looking at my rhubarb patch, it seems I'm going to be eating a lot of rhubarb this summer. Though my mother always had some in our garden, I don't think I've ever eaten rhubarb in any form but in rhubarb pie or rhubarb crisp. What's your favourite rhubarb recipe?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 8:34 PM on May 16, 2008
(37 comments)
I want a
rotary clothesline for my back yard. But the area in which I want to put it has concrete laid down already, so I'd like the clothesline to be freestanding rather than slotted into concrete as such clothesline usually are. Where can I find a freestanding rotary clothesline? I need to be able to either buy it in Toronto or have it shipped there.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 12:09 PM on April 28, 2008
(11 comments)
So, I'm going to be in Raleigh, NC, May 22 to May 29. Do any MeFites in the the triangle want to have a pub night sometime that week, and if so, may I join you?
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 12:26 PM on April 26, 2008
(46 comments)
Please help me find a relatively easy, yet not cutesy, ballet-themed cross-stitch kit or pattern.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 12:50 PM on April 15, 2008
(9 comments)
Will all those who think the
YFZ Ranch FPP is a "yawn" or "not the best of the web" please complain about it in this thread rather than in the blue. Thank you.
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 7:01 PM on April 8, 2008
(63 comments)
A friend of mine would like advice about her prospective trip to Prince Edward Island.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 11:33 AM on April 4, 2008
(11 comments)
I would like to find something to put in my fake fireplace.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 11:23 AM on March 28, 2008
(24 comments)
Where in Toronto can I find a good secondhand upright piano?
My question would have been more complex, but I got the rest of the advice I needed from this great thread, so don't feel obligated to advise me on how to appraise one, move it, or to tune it after I get it home, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 10:02 AM on March 21, 2008
(9 comments)
My father has a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis. I’m hoping those of you who have arthritis or have loved ones who do will have some information to share.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 9:10 AM on January 31, 2008
(13 comments)
This year when I host the Swan family's Easter celebration as I always do, I'd like to serve an apple-based dessert for the sake of one of my nieces, who LOVES anything apple. She doesn't seem to much like cake of any kind. She does love apple pie and apple crumble/crisp, but they seem too ordinary. What recipes do you have for a *special* apple-based dessert?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 11:20 AM on January 16, 2008
(20 comments)
I'm uncomfortable that this
"How Can I Be Homeless?" question was approved. Seems to me this person should not be helped to pursue a course of action that is not only dangerous but which will almost certainly involve his making use of resources intended to help people who truly have nowhere to turn.
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 11:14 AM on January 15, 2008
(125 comments)
Since I seem to be hurtling towards old maidhood, I’d like enjoy the ride as much as possible. It irritates me that single women are so often portrayed as sadsacks just marking time until they can get married, or as being eaten up with bitterness and neuroses because they never found a man. So, I’m looking for positive role models and inspiration. What examples of fabulous freewheeling women can you think of in fiction, movies and real life?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 9:36 AM on January 9, 2008
(54 comments)
I want to get my father a hat for his 70th birthday. No, I don't mean one of those awful narrow-brimmed glen plaid affairs that are about as stylish and becoming as toe rubbers. I’m thinking a wide-brimmed fedora made of a good quality gray felt – something like
this, and like what "Jack McCoy" sometimes wears on
Law & Order (unfortunately can’t find a picture of Sam Waterston in his fedora). I’ve looked in the malls in Toronto and the only suitable hat I could find was $85 plus tax, which is both rather steep for my gift budget and too much to spend on something I am not convinced my mother and I can coax my dad into wearing;-). Does anyone know where (preferably) in Toronto or (plan B) online I can find a less expensive hat (hopefully not over $50) for Dad Swan?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 9:27 AM on January 2, 2008
(11 comments)
I need to have annual maintenance done on my furnace. Can any Toronto-area MeFites recommend a company or person for this job? Also, what kind of price range can I expect? Send contact information to the email address in my profile if you do not wish to make it public. Thanks.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 11:44 AM on September 17, 2007
(5 comments)
A friend of mine, CK, is a conservative Mennonite. CK wears her hair in a bun with a little white bonnet pinned over it, and nearly always wears skirts and dresses of a modest cut, though otherwise her clothes are the kind every woman wears. She is a senior level civil servant for the Ontario government, and as a Mennonite woman is a rare sight in Toronto's Queen's Park, people find her a curiosity. CK often hears certain dumb questions and comments. I told her the hive mind would just love to come up with some great comebacks she could use to break up the monotony. She doesn't doubt it and is looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 6:59 PM on August 28, 2007
(46 comments)
After two years of almost daily wear, the gold plating is starting to wear off my beautiful and beloved Bulova watch. Is it worth my while to get the plating renewed? How expensive would that be? How long would it last?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 11:38 AM on July 9, 2007
(2 comments)
The Orange Swan Review
This is a book review blog, which consists of my personal essays about/reactions to the things I read. My reading materials are a very mixed bag, but I'm working on a long-term project to review all the Newbery Medal Winners since 1922, so this site might be of interest to those who like children's and young adult literature. It's not, strictly speaking, a new project, having been originally launched last fall, but I wanted to wait until I had a fair amount of content before posting it here. To date, I have something like 27 essays posted.
posted to Projects by orange swan
at 7:51 AM on June 24, 2007
Bag Ladies and Gentlemen....
Yes, you conscientiously refuse plastic shopping bags and use enviro bags as often as you can, but still the plastic bags manage to breed like roaches. How many plastic bags do you have stuffed in (naturally!) a large plastic bag somewhere in your home? And do you despair of ever using them up? Fear not! If you have more bags than home furnishings and décor items, you could make a
chair, a
few throw rugs,
cushions, a
chandelier, or a
Christmas wreath. If you’d like a stylish yet waterproof wardrobe, you could make a
cape, a
raincoat, or a
bra. It would be less utilitarian but equally cool to make your own menagerie:
chickens, a
zebra,
more chickens,
sea creatures, and
still more chickens.
[more inside]
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 8:47 PM on June 11, 2007
(35 comments)
The Top 10 Geekiest Yarn Creations
If you've ever felt knitting was in danger of getting
too sexy these days, the people at
Threadbanger have provided an antidote. They've compiled a list of the ten geekiest projects on the net, which include an Atari 2600 system
(on which you will never max your Pac-Man score), a knitted Hogwarts
(though it appears to actually be crocheted and needlepointed), and a scrollbar scarf. And if anyone wants a crocheted yoda hat and matching light sabre, I am not taking orders.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 5:29 PM on June 3, 2007
(41 comments)
I loved fairy tales as a child, and now that I am (nominally) a grownup, I love the "retellings" of fairytales — the fleshed-out versions which, for example, feature actual character development instead of lines like "she was as beautiful as she was good". I love Robin McKinley's retellings of "Donkeyskin", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Beauty and the Beast" (which she did twice for good measure), and Gregory Maguire's surprisingly political
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. What other good grown-up fairytales are out there?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 8:52 PM on April 11, 2007
(60 comments)
Are there any attractive slippers out there? Since moving into a house that is much colder than the condo I used to own, I have been buying things to keep me warm: an electric blanket, eight pairs of wool work socks, a very plush bathrobe, and ugly slippers. I’m now on a mission to find myself some not-ugly slippers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 5:46 AM on April 4, 2007
(18 comments)
In honour of the 1st, we're revisiting the "deliberately flameworthy hypothetical AskMe question thread"
over at MetaChat. Feel free to join in with fake questions or answers.
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 4:42 PM on April 1, 2007
(20 comments)
I’m posting this on behalf of my friend CK. No, not Calvin Klein, but a female friend who is 34, married, the mother of a 22-month-old son and a senior level civil servant. And despite her considerable organizational abilities, she’s feeling a little overwhelmed these days.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 8:58 PM on March 20, 2007
(7 comments)
Knitters and crocheters of MeFi, which are the best Toronto-area yarn shops? I know about Romni Wools at Queen and Bathurst — what other stores should I check out? Alternatively, if you buy yarn online, where do you buy it (and are you really okay with not being able to feel up the yarn and ascertain the colour)?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 6:56 PM on March 5, 2007
(12 comments)
A co-worker of mine is the librarian at the publishing house where I work. She found some librarian "career girl" novels on the net and showed them to me for a laugh. I suggested she take a cover image to a T-shirt shop and have a shirt made. She loved the idea and is going to do it
with this image, and put the hilarious excerpt from the book on the back. Now I'm jealous and want a similar shirt that relates to my job. I'm an editor. I doubt they had "career girl" pulp novels about editing back in the day, so what equally cool/kitschy images could I put on my front that relate to editing?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 11:57 AM on February 2, 2007
(10 comments)
Why doesn't Canada have more regional English-language accents?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 7:05 AM on December 16, 2006
(43 comments)
I want to write a Christmas-themed essay for my book review blog, and I'm trying to come up with some Christmas lit to review. It might be fun, for instance, to gather together a selection of Christmas tripe such as
Santa's Christmas Prayer (link not safe for those who have any literary sensibilities and have just eaten) and go to town on it. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, to write something about Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol. Which Christmas novels/stories/poems do you love and loathe? I don't review movies, so text only please...
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 6:40 AM on November 28, 2006
(13 comments)
After a last minute sale of my condo, the deal on the house I bought closes on Thursday. I need to arrange for utilities, insurance, and some repairs, and have next-to-no time to do research. If you have a satisfactory provider of any of these things and said provider's services are available to a Torontonian, recommend away! And of course I'll think of you all when I'm doing my happy dance on my rooftop terrace;-)
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 5:25 PM on November 20, 2006
(8 comments)
Your real name and all ten of your aliases are on the AOL mailing list.
Or you’re an extreme computer geek and your mother is getting quite irate about the hundreds of used CDs cluttering up her basement.
(And your non-payment of rent. And the smell…) Or your alternative-punk-Celtic-rap band’s release was tragically unappreciated by the public. Whatever, you have piles of CDs sitting around. You’ve followed
this advice on how to minimize CD use and know that recycling CDs is not as easy as it should be, and maybe isn’t even possible in your country. What options do you have? Well, these people are
collecting a million AOL CDs and intend to dump them off at AOL’s corporate headquarters. These people
make clocks from them, and
you could too. Or you could use them to make an ambient
floor or
table lamp, a
throne, a
photo frame, a really huge
mobile, a
disco ball,
shingles for your tree house, or
quite a
few other
things, ranging from postcards to bowls to spinning tops. Or you could play a
quick game of disk hockey with a friend
(that is, if you have time before your mum gets home).
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 6:57 PM on November 18, 2006
(11 comments)
Early Sunday morning I made two minor changes to my user page (added my new blog's address, changed the text in the location line), and when I saved the changes and viewed my user page again, it and every other page of MeFi suddenly appeared as white with black text. And so it has remained. If I delete cookies and log out, I see it in blue, grey and green, but not otherwise. Why has this happened and how can I fix it? I dislike the white so much I can't stand to read the site.
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 7:45 PM on November 14, 2006
(5 comments)
Toronto Meetup Reminder Since we hadn't really decided on a venue by consensus, I'll be high-handed and say November 11th, eight p.m.-ish, the Bow and Arrow, at Yonge and Davisville. Looking forward to seeing you all!
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 10:04 AM on November 10, 2006
(17 comments)
What to do once your beer is all gone
All right, so you’ve finished your beverage. You’ve discreetly released the gas from your digestive tract via your mouth. And now you want to dispose of the empty can. You consider your options. Public-spirited as you are, you are too savvy to believe that you can
redeem the pull tab for a wheelchair or a dialysis machine, or that an
aluminum beanie will protect your brain from alien forces, and you are far too civilized to smash the can against your forehead. As a responsible, ecologically minded person you could recycle, but you’re also creative, and recycling would leave that artistic urge unsatisfied. So, perhaps you whip up a
morning glory wreath for the front door. Or an
airplane. Or a
honeybee. Or the
Starship Enterprise, a
shark, a
knight in shining aluminum armour, a
piano, a
hot rod, a
Christmas tree,
roses for your beloved, or
Easter lilies for your mother. Or
whatever else strikes your fancy. Then you have twin epiphanies: that you’ve entered the wonderful world of aluminum crafting, and that after emptying all those cans you urgently need to pee.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 6:39 AM on November 6, 2006
(22 comments)
Toronto MeFites, let us have a meeting of our not-so-secret cabal and create Canada's stealth plan for world domination. Or just have an alcohol-enabled bitchfest like usual. Whatever. Does the night of November 11th sound good?
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 6:15 AM on November 3, 2006
(13 comments)
Conversing with the matchless Judith Martin
I know you are all familiar with the
work of the inimitable (if syndicated)
Judith Martin,
alias Miss Manners, but I dared to presume that you have not come across this 2005 interview with her. In it she discusses the process of becoming Miss Manners, the cyclical nature of etiquette, her historical predecessors, sumptuary laws in Renaissance-era Venice, and the respective natures of aristocratic and democratic etiquette. Fascinating read.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 3:24 PM on October 24, 2006
(41 comments)
I'd like to have a nice formal picture of me for inclusion in my Christmas cards. Can anyone recommend a good Toronto-area photographer? "Good" in this instance means both "technically skilled if not possessed of wizard-like abilities" and "charges reasonable prices" as I am a) vain, b) plain, and c) cheap. Email me with contact info if you don't care to share the person's identity with the world. Thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 12:29 PM on October 24, 2006
(7 comments)
Looking for creative ways to sell my condo...
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 7:25 AM on October 11, 2006
(25 comments)
What women's fashion magazine do you like and feel is worth the cost? Or failing that, which ones don't make you hate yourself for buying them?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 11:21 AM on September 28, 2006
(51 comments)
Please help me select a book as a present for my nephew. He's 19, and when I gave him a Chapters gift card for his high school graduation last spring, he used it to buy a complete set of Tom Clancy novels. Political espionage/intrigue/adventure has to be the genre I know the least about. If my nephew likes Tom Clancy's and Frederick Forsythe's works, what other books in the same genre would he enjoy?
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 3:04 PM on September 17, 2006
(25 comments)
Help me find the perfect quote to send with flowers to a friend who's down.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 7:14 AM on August 30, 2006
(22 comments)
Is anyone here on
Consumating? They're having a
Toronto meetup tonight beginning at 9 to 9:30 at Paupers on Bloor Street (539 Bloor Street West, just east of Bathurst). Sorry for the short notice, but it might be a nice time if you can spare a few hours from your breathless social lives;-)
posted to MetaTalk by orange swan
at 6:06 AM on August 18, 2006
(17 comments)
Please be my virtual boyfriend and help me get my TV remote control working properly.
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 1:08 PM on August 13, 2006
(3 comments)
Advice for the Chap at heart....
"The web site you are about to enter contains words and images that may induce excessive languidity and an increase in levels of panache, leading to an overall rise in self-esteem. So sink into your deepest armchair, pour yourself a gin and tonic, light a cigarillo, and prepare to join the sophisticated world of The Chap."
Being a Chap is, apparently, much
more than just an excuse to wear a fedora and spats. The proper Chap has a
Manifesto and a
valet, shops at the
Chap Emporium, and possibly practices the
gentle art of househusbandry.
posted to MetaFilter by orange swan
at 6:24 AM on July 12, 2006
(41 comments)
And to think I grew up with a rotary phone and a typewriter… I'm moving in November, and I'm trying to figure out what my best options are for phone and internet service (I won't be getting cable unless it’s free or something). I'm asking these questions together because I understand bundling isn't just for the Amish anymore;-)
posted to Ask Metafilter by orange swan
at 10:40 PM on July 7, 2006
(12 comments)
