Take the Boston Harbor Island ferry to Georges Island. It's got some great views, good picnic areas, and a neat abandoned Revolutionary/Civil War era fort. Plus on a hot day, being in the middle of the Harbor is the coolest place for miles.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 9:48 AM on July 22, 2008

Another note about the Downtown Crossing area: There's at least a couple major construction projects going on for the next year. I have friends who work right next to the new Filenes building, and it's virtually impossible to work there with the noise some days.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 9:58 AM on June 24, 2008

lassie: "we like good bars with extensive draft selections"

It's not exactly near you, but that's the word-for-word definition of The Sunset Grill in Brookline. 100+ taps, 300+ microbrews. The 66 bus will bring you there from Harvard Square.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 12:39 PM on June 19, 2008

Wicket seems promising, and Databinder linking it to Hibernate is encouraging, too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 12:25 PM on May 5, 2008

Angie's List tracks doctors, now. I haven't used it to find one, but, well, you could give it a whirl.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 8:07 AM on May 5, 2008

iconomy: "Jessamyn's stylesheet"

color: #fff? That's quite an assumption.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 9:46 AM on April 24, 2008

They may be 65-48 all time, but they're only 20-23 since the tradition of playing at home on Patriots' Day started in 1959.

19 Apr 1959 - W - Yankees 4 - Red Sox 5
19 Apr 1960 - L - Yankees 8 - Red Sox 4
19 Apr 1961 - No game played
19 Apr 1962 - W - Tigers 5 - Red Sox 9
19 Apr 1963 - No game played
19 Apr 1964 - L - White Sox 6 - Red Sox 0
19 Apr 1965 - No game played
19 Apr 1966 - No... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 6:34 AM on April 22, 2008 marked best answer

I missed the two Patriots' Day double-headers since 1959:

19 Apr 1963 - W - Tigers 1 - Red Sox 3
19 Apr 1963 - W - Tigers 1 - Red Sox 5
19 Apr 1966 - W - Tigers 0 - Red Sox 7
19 Apr 1966 - L - Tigers 6 - Red Sox... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 7:42 AM on April 22, 2008

When I think tasty cheap eats, I think of Fajitas and Ritas just off Washington Street.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 11:44 AM on March 27, 2008

This isn't really a great stand-alone gift idea, but my wife goes nuts for pickles from Guss' Pickles. (Especially their spicy pickles.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 1:25 PM on March 12, 2008

I've used Fog Creek Copilot a couple of times when it had free weekends, and I've been very happy. It definitely meets your "crazy simple" requirement, and it supports anything newer than Windows 98 and OSX 10.2. You can get an unlimited day pass for just $5 if you want to try it out for more than the two-minute time limit for free testing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:01 AM on March 5, 2008

I recommend you check out South Boston. It's a peninsula, so there's never very much traffic noise. It's gentrified a lot and is a lot less dirty and gritty than depicted in recent movies I will not mention. It's close to downtown, and the 9 bus goes right down Broadway and then to Copley. And there's a very wide range of options in terms of expense and neighborhood fanciness.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 1:00 PM on March 3, 2008

The Museum of Science's Gilliland Observatory is open and free (weather-permitting) every Friday night 8:30-10pm. They have a hotline you should call on Friday that has a quick recording about the weather forecast and a description of what they'll be viewing that night. (It's unheated, though, so this might be something you want to wait until April or May to try out.)

I subscribe to the RSS feed with What's Happening around Massachusetts, too, which often has a lot of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 12:33 PM on February 26, 2008

Sounds like a bust, to me. I've seen one-off deals a-plenty, but I was hoping there'd be some special "two-for-a-great-price" deals out there somewhere. I'm vaguely considering a Eee, but it's just a little bit too much on the uber-small side for me. Maybe if I drag my feet, the 9.7-inch nextgen Eee will be out.

Thanks, all.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 5:40 AM on February 16, 2008

Do Re Mi. Do Re Mi. A hundred times Do Re Mi. It's just a few blocks from the exit 18/20 toll plaza on the Pike and from the Harvard Ave stop on the B line, so it's pretty easy to get to. It's BYOEverything, and although they say no alcohol, I've never had them even look in our bags. As long as you don't get totally blasted and make a mess or wreck the place, you'll be golden.

Did I mention it's cheap? $30/hr for up to six people, $5/hr per... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 4:01 AM on February 12, 2008

Somehow, the Perfectly Normal Beast-Pikka Bird relationship always reminded me of rhinos and oxpeckers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 7:24 AM on January 22, 2008

Good answers, considering a lot of these are movies I've never heard of. The Chosen I haven't seen since elementary school, maybe I'd get more out of it now.

My wife's going to freak out at ten movies in a row from Netflix with spooky Jews. I'm looking forward to it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 8:07 AM on January 16, 2008

I think maybe you both misunderstand the opening scene of Snatch. They're not speaking Yiddush, they're speaking English. And they're discussing the bible as well as they can (since they're not really bible scholars). And when they come to the diamond exchange, you discover that they're disguised as Hasids so that they're mistaken for someone who was expected ("You've kept us waiting for half an hour. Are you trying to give me... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 5:25 AM on January 17, 2008

Every time I'm afraid to do something (or write something or talk to someone) because it won't come out perfect, I think about Ze Frank's advice on brain crack: "But somebody who does something bad three times still has three times the experience of that other person who's still dreaming of all the applause. When I get an idea, even a bad one, I try to get it out into the world as fast as possible."
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 9:45 AM on January 8, 2008

gum: "You can't patent a "business model.""

Yes, you can. That's not to say she has, but she could.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:49 AM on December 21, 2007

IANAL, but considering it was presented to American Intellectual Property Law Association and written by the Deputy Commissioner for Patent Examination Policy, I took it at face value. Apologies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 11:27 AM on December 21, 2007

Self-link: Three words, five minutes
I did this manually for so long, I made a page to do it for me. Enjoy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 11:50 AM on December 18, 2007

0217174: "Cause I was watchin Lord of the Rings (gotta love tnt marathons) and when they were battling and the org commander guy yells "FIRE!" I was like, hey they wouldn't say that. Cause they still use bows and arrows in that movie. There wouldn't have been a concept of FIRE."

Examining the etymology of Lord of the Rings is a complicated task. In the setting of the books, no one is actually speaking English, instead they are... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 9:27 AM on December 17, 2007

Not a city, but I've heard the (relatively dangerous) Savin Hill neighborhood in the south of Boston, MA called "Stab N' Kill".

Not really derogatory, but Brookline, MA, east of Boston, has a large Jewish population and a number of Judaica shops, and is sometimes called Baruchline.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 8:10 AM on December 17, 2007

east west
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 8:10 AM on December 17, 2007

Get a lawyer. Stop refreshing to see what other people say. Get out the yellow pages and call a lawyer.

I SAID STOP READING.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:04 AM on December 4, 2007

If you're likely to be able to wrangle a handful of fellow nerds, hit Pub Trivia. There's a bunch of locations throughout the greater Boston area tonight. I did trivia at Red Line (at Harvard Square) last Monday and it was good. Johnny D's (Davis Square) is a comfortable big place, too, but I've never been there for trivia.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 5:38 AM on November 26, 2007

The first time I heard growabrain's joke, it was an airplane pilot yelling out the window of the cockpit in a fog. The "technically correct but useless" answer told him everything he needed to know, because he knew where the IBM campus was in relation to the airport.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 11:54 AM on November 19, 2007

This question from a different perspective seems to indicate that fraudulent contact information is a valid reason for your domain to be taken away. You should use This InterNIC form to report it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:00 AM on November 19, 2007

Thanks for the great answers. I know that Napa is the most popular winery area, and probably not necessarily the best, but given our limited time limit and the fact that we'd like to visit with some friends and family in San Fran and San Jose, I think we'll stick to it.

But you guys settled my fears. I booked the trip last night!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 4:40 AM on November 15, 2007

The SD1000 is really nice, but I ended up opting for the SD800 for a few reasons. IS is the biggest one - you don't realize you're missing it until you've got it. And the slightly wider-angle lens and better reviews sold me. But the prices were a lot closer together when I got it (late Spring). Now it looks like the SD1000 is $75 cheaper. A side-by-side comparison of the high-end Canons will show you how very similar they all are.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:54 AM on November 13, 2007 marked best answer

DarkoBeta: "Image stabilization is a nice feature, but if you don't generally have problems with motion blur in your pictures..."

Don't think this way. If you don't experience motion blur, you're using your flash too much. Image stabilization and ISO 1600 open up your photography options so much.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:56 AM on November 13, 2007

My wife just got a T-Mobile Dash, which she loves. All of the things you want except for GPS. The form factor might not be quite what you want. It's not huge, but it's a bit wider and slimmer than the 8100.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 6:27 AM on October 30, 2007

I'm asking this question for a friend, and based on the way he phrased it, I'm assuming one of the following two facts are probably true: 1) buying the .com is not trivial-cost, i.e., it's already taken, or 2) he's trying to convince someone else. Since the question is asking for solid numbers, not just anecdotal experience, someone presumably wants to do some sort of ROI analysis with real data.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 1:30 PM on October 1, 2007

My friend says "It's a great domain where we own .org -- .com and .net person is a squatter who won't sell."

andraste: "I work for a nonprofit which owns both the .org.au and the .com.au, as well as .com; our website is on the .org.au and the .com redirects to it. From memory, we get about 1900 hits a month from the .com.au and .com redirects combined. (I used this as evidence to prove that it was worthwhile). I can check that on Wednesday if you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 2:23 PM on October 1, 2007

Oh, BTW, this is a shirt I already own, which might complicate the situation with some embroiderers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:09 AM on September 24, 2007

I had seen those kiosks before, but I always assumed they were 1) expensive and 2) forced you to buy an expensive hat or shirt from them. I'll have to swing by CambridgeSide Galleria to see if they'll do it as you describe.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:39 AM on September 24, 2007

oflinkey: "Mahar's is a beer-drinker's paradise. McGeary's, the Big House. These are "beer" bars."

Let me tell you, this is the only thing I miss about the Albany area. Mahar's is the fucking bomb.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:43 AM on August 3, 2007

scooterdman: "I am young (25), and would prefer to live around other young people if possible. Any suggestions?"

Would "don't move to Albany" be inappropriately wisecracky?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 1:59 PM on August 3, 2007

If you're looking for a cheapish place to live, you're probably better off looking north of the Charles. Somerville is a good place to live, especially if your work is somewhere on the red line (or the T in general). When you're looking at prospective apartments, be sure to check out nearby bus and subway routes on MBTA.com. The "trip planner" is improved in recent months, but it's still hilariously bad, sometimes. Using the whole system map is usually easier for me, but it might... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 6:19 AM on August 2, 2007

Scrabulous is flash-based.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 4:41 AM on July 31, 2007

Horace Rumpole: "What's wrong with Jillian's, jeffamaphone? I've only been there once, but it seemed nice enough."

It's nice enough, and it's pretty big, and the one time I was there it was nowhere near crowded. But if you like beer, you'll be disappointed by their ridiculously thin selection. And I don't remember being impressed by their tables, either.

Flat Top Johnny's is pretty much the best place in the area... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 12:56 PM on July 26, 2007

I live in South Boston, and I love it. Traffic in the neighborhood is never crazy, although you will always have to deal with all of the traffic lights and stop signs and double live-parking. It's easy to get to Broadway and Andrew on the red line (9, and 10 buses, among others), and to get downtown (9 or 11). And getting to I-93 and the Pike are a breeze.

And despite its reputation, most of Southie is safe and nice. I walk home alone from the T at midnight at least... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 7:02 AM on July 20, 2007

Sudok-fu
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:34 AM on July 18, 2007

If you need to ask for reasons not to cheat on your fiance, you're not ready for marriage. Break it off with Bill or you won't make it to three years.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 5:23 AM on July 17, 2007

Do you have a last.fm account? If so, you can go to events under your dashboard and see concerts for bands you listen to in the upcoming months in any area.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 5:43 AM on July 13, 2007

It's a shame the Moxie Festival is a couple weeks later. You got my hopes up, anastasiav! I didn't realize there was a museum, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 10:54 AM on June 22, 2007

Geeky's good, lobster's out (my wife's vegetarian).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 11:35 AM on June 22, 2007

Reading the actual comments, the comment is "from monty python", and it comes immediately after "whats the song tittle [sic]". What is the song? Is it possible that it was used in Monty Python?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 6:11 PM on June 13, 2007

No fishing, just backpacking.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Plutor at 7:54 PM on June 7, 2007