Wow, great answers so far. I'm not thinking of going to the extreme of lacing my own spokes, basically, I want to start with a good frame and then assemble the bike from parts I purchase retail, or get from the local bike co-op.

I ride my bike in the toughest gear [my thighs are carved from wood now!] almost all of the time, except when I hit the steep hills in the Cuyahoga valley. I'm not intimidated by tearing the bike down to its basic components and reassembling it;... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 4:43 PM on July 9, 2008

This bike is only going to be used on Cleveland streets [which have their share of canyon-potholes] but its not going to be a mountain bike by any stretch. I might very well tweak the bike up to the $2k range in parts over the years, but half a k is what I want to aim for at first, especially since I'm a n00b at this gig. I'm not interested in racks and panniers, but I'm willing to invest in good brakes, a good frame and the wheel package.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 4:56 PM on July 9, 2008

In re: to the toughest gear thing; I didn't consider knee-wear, I usually just go for max speed, when I'm even one gear lesser, the spin doesn't keep up with my RPM. Single-speed is out of the question, when I ride back from the local strip mall, I have a steep grade to climb; and I probably ride uphill into a 20mph headwind at least 3 days a week [the aerodynamism of a road-bike will hopefully cut down on this].

Randomstriker, I can go to my local bike coop and use... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 4:55 AM on July 10, 2008

Yeah, the main reason I want to build the bike is so that I can position myself on the bike more aerodynamically. That's pretty much impossible on my hybrid. I can feel the drag my body creates when I ride directly into the headwind on my way home. It adds up to ten minutes to my 20 minute commute when it is especially bad. Other than that instance, I'd have no need to sit in a racing posture.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:44 PM on July 13, 2008

If the goal is to rock the chest hair, but maintain a not stinky Polo, just get some V-necks. That's what I did once my girl told me she wants visible chest hair to come back in style.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:37 PM on June 27, 2008

Violent Femmes - America Is
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:34 PM on June 27, 2008

Web Developer Toolbar
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 4:44 AM on June 7, 2008

Grits with a fried egg on top. A serving of grits gets you about half of your RDA in iron.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 10:46 AM on June 6, 2008

Nah, she's not into you. No worries; I've been where you're at. There's nothing wrong with wondering about such things. My only tip is this: if you like a girl and interact with her it will be obvious if she likes you back or not. If you have to ask yourself that question, you already know the answer. Just keep being you, and be comfortable with yourself and others [this takes practice] and a lot of times that question will be moot.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:22 PM on June 1, 2008

Take I-70. I-80 is toll road for most of your route. I've been on every bit of I-70 and I-80 from the east coast to the Rockies. It is a bit of a toss-up, but if you like to do some serious ass-busting, rubber down, mile-humping I recommend I-70. You'll avoid most of the gridlock that driving through big cities can cause, and I enjoy the scenery on I-70 better. Plus, You don't have to pay the tolls in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 9:16 AM on May 30, 2008

Strike my advice on the Pennsylvania tolls, based on the other comments, I'm wrong. The only part of your route on I-70 that is toll road is through Pennsylvania. Based on the Penn Turnpike toll calculator, the I-70 portion toll is $5.25. It definitely costs more in tolls to take I-80 based on that info.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 9:27 AM on May 30, 2008

Visible Voice Books in Tremont. If they don't have it, they can get it. They're amazing. Mac's Backs would be the best bet on the East Side that I can think of.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 6:57 PM on May 18, 2008

I'd suggest calling up your alma mater or a check out the syllabi of film history programs. Those will give you the good basic background, but trying to find a definitive list isn't likely to happen, especially since film folks [that's what my degree is in] tend to really dig their own particular niches. I'll just offer a few suggestions from the early days of film since I could spend days compiling a list if I had the time:

The Magic of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 11:57 AM on May 16, 2008 marked best answer

The question is in the page title.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:54 PM on May 14, 2008

Now.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:12 PM on May 14, 2008

BrewedFreshDaily
Welcome to the Sissybar
Lustfelt for my Rustbelt
Jeff Schuler
RealNEO
Green City, Blue Lake
Callahan's Cleveland Diary
Organic/Mechanic [my site]

Let me know when you're in town, we should have a meetup. Welcome to Cleveland. You'll love it here.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:24 PM on May 10, 2008

Modern Cleveland
stuart_s has a foodie Flickr stream for Cleveland. I think he has a blog or two, but I don't remember the URLs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:29 PM on May 10, 2008

Lou Muenz
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:32 PM on May 10, 2008

CoolCleveland [More lukewarm than cool or hip. Although it seems cool to folks who like to be spoonfed their entertainment].

You've got to go to the Velvet Tango Room.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:37 PM on May 10, 2008

Nothing practical. Connersville, IN HS, Class of '99.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 8:46 AM on May 5, 2008

I suggest having a London meetup and having friendly MeFites show you how it is done, especially since the more alcohol is consumed the worse their throwing ability will become. You can do a degradation analysis of their motion and the effectiveness of their throwing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 10:55 AM on April 29, 2008

You can always switch to a Mac and have it run a non-Mac OS [Windows or Linux] I switched a year ago and the only complaint I have is that I can't play Starcraft on the Mac because some aspect of the hardware or software prevents the game from running.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 10:49 AM on April 29, 2008

You could buy natural potpourri, or if you don't want the melange of smells, get some dried lavender or something else with a scent that is pleasing to you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 10:45 AM on April 29, 2008

You might consider adding the plant's name to the tags for later searching ease. It looks like its common name is Chinese Holly Grape.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:32 PM on April 28, 2008

I recommend looking for cheapy repair books at garage sales and the like. I've found quite a few that've been great with my own fixer-upper. I definitely advise maintaining a high level of confidence as you delve into home repair. I've done things in my first year of home ownership that I never expected I'd be able to do. A lot is actually much easier than you'd think.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:37 PM on April 25, 2008

That Tsar Bomba crater looks to be about 600 feet in diameter. I wonder what the volume of the fireball was if the bomb was detonated 4.6km above the surface.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:58 PM on April 24, 2008

forallmankind: I had them check out the other H&Ms in the area, but they were all out of stock. The one you describe with the strap is the one I'm thinking of.

Sfving: This is what I'm finding at UO. That's what I want, except gray.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 7:13 AM on April 16, 2008

That would be awesome! I'll MeFi Mail you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:43 PM on April 16, 2008

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. LeGuin
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 12:22 PM on April 13, 2008

ThoughtAudio [via]
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 10:12 AM on April 10, 2008

There's a song by The Frogs called "Grandma Sitting in a Corner With a Penis in Her Hand Going No no no no no"
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 11:26 AM on April 4, 2008

There are some huge antique malls about 30 miles east of Dayton on I-70. If you dig that sort of thing, it would be a great way to waste the day. Wright Patterson AFB/Museum is the best bet though, I've been there about 5 times. You can buy space ice cream!
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 7:19 PM on March 3, 2008

That's pretty much right on target for what I'm looking for... Thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:57 PM on June 26, 2007

My grandma died last weekend and we buried her yesterday. I didn't get to tell her all of the jokes in this thread, but the ones I did tell her gave her a laugh while she lived. Thanks again everyone.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 10:36 AM on February 16, 2008

Rock Hall is a waste of time. See also.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 9:39 AM on November 3, 2007

My buddy Liam from college was closely acquainted with my addiction to Orange Crush. When he came back from National Guard boot camp he told me that I must have a black person in my ancestry because every black guy in his barracks drank orange soda.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:24 PM on September 30, 2007

Pyschedelic Terrorist by Total Eclipse, on the Tsunami compilation .
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 3:01 PM on September 28, 2007

I asked a question awhile ago that might help out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 5:06 PM on September 3, 2007

Thanks, Slothrop!
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 5:09 PM on August 26, 2007

What you're seeing in the first picture, the yellowish stuff, is the Bix stripper. The orange stuff in the same picture is Bix stripper too, but it is obviously doing its job there.

I know I'm going to have to sand it, but there's a big difference between sanding an already stripped floor and sanding a painted floor.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 2:30 PM on July 26, 2007

The whole room was carpeted, but the flooring is likely as old as the house [107yrs]. There's no telling what was on top of the carpet. It does appear that the strip-resistant portion is centered in the middle of the room. Everything along the wall comes up easy as pie.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 3:57 PM on July 26, 2007

It appears that the section that would not strip is paint over untreated wood. Thus, the stripper was soaking through the paint and lifting up the varnish on the easy to strip portions. Since the paint was on top of this it came right up. On the unvarnished portion the stripper must have just soaked right into the wood. My guess is that there was a rug on the floor in the center of the room originally and they just chose to varnish the exposed wood. Halfasses.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 3:34 PM on July 30, 2007 marked best answer

The Massive Resource List for Autodidacts was posted on the blue awhile back. It might be useful.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 4:26 PM on July 28, 2007

What paulsc said. That's what my parents had me do when they wanted to find it. So, if you have a child to assign the job to, so much the better.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 1:43 PM on July 28, 2007

percussionista
Animal's offspring
kit terrorist
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 5:06 AM on July 21, 2007

Thanks to both of you!
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 4:28 AM on November 7, 2006

This comment was also necessary for my particular error.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 4:40 AM on November 7, 2006

Probably something like the joke about a Brazilian being killed in Iraq and Bush says "how many is a brazilian?"
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 6:56 AM on October 18, 2006

Hey seanyboy here are a couple of self-links.

Brief reviews of the Science Fiction Book Club's Top 50. This will probably give you some direction into what author's are idea-based as I understand your meaning of the word.

My review of Dark Matter: Sci Fi from the African Diaspora.

Perhaps your question isn't worded exactly the way that you want it, but I would suggest that simply finding books that support your theory... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 5:10 AM on October 12, 2006 marked best answer

For Blues, you can go to Fat Fish Blue, Robert Lockwood, Jr. plays there on a weekly basis.

The VTR has live jazz every evening, the Bop Stop has jazz intermittantly.

If you can cath The Up Ensemble, I heartily recommend them. They are playing at Nighttown on the 21st.
posted to Ask Metafilter by sciurus at 9:35 AM on October 5, 2006