Hello English!
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:23 AM on October 6, 2008

Well played, mrzarquon. I've been meaning to check out the Deschutes Pub, particularly with the Jubel being rolled out (is it that late in the year already? *sigh*). Sounds like a doubleplusgood meetup to me.
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 9:51 AM on October 3, 2008

Huh, works for me. I guess it knows you won't be there. Meetup sidebarred.
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 9:23 PM on October 4, 2008

Well, they're all skeleton keys. I'd take your broken bits to antique shops, which tend to have skeleton keys for sale at inexpensive prices, and look for a match. I gather there weren't so many permutations that it's unlikely you'd find something close enough to work in your lock.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:34 AM on October 1, 2008

You've probably seen it already, but the MRE Info buying/selling forum is a place to find folks who could hook you up. French and British rations seem popular among its denizens.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:25 PM on September 20, 2008

I don't think that I sniff, but as someone who takes daily walks I'm very aware of the tension that can manifest as you approach and make eye contact with someone some distance away. I tend to either nod, sometimes with a murmured "howdy" (curse my Texan formative years), or just stare into the middle distance and make like my iPod is really, really absorbing.

My girlfriend, on the other hand, says that she instinctively adds a kind of side-to-side lope to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 5:36 PM on September 20, 2008

I'm not picturing this side-to-side lope thing.

It's just exaggerated walking, perhaps slightly comic... Not more intense walking, mind, but bigger, heavier steps, with an emphasized shifting of her center of balance, accompanied by a head-bob. Elastic. Think one of the Seven Dwarves, hi-hoing his way off to work.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:05 PM on September 20, 2008

I'm in for PDX IX/XX. I was sorry to have missed jessamyn's house party.

The Dragon was a good spot, as a reconfigurable space that could accommodate twenty-odd peeps in a fairly user-friendly manner. Suggestions of other places to meet-up should be similarly flexible, or have a meeting room like the *sniff* much-lamented Rose & Raindrop... I'm blanking on west-side spots that are as friendly, but I don't spend much time over there these days. Does the Goose Hollow... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 1:42 PM on August 29, 2008

Sí se puede
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 6:15 AM on September 1, 2008

Thirteen of us, in the restaurant side. Come on, Stumptown, it's on.
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 6:18 PM on September 20, 2008

Renting a cheap pitch never, ever pays.

Leon, are you thinking of a pitch as a place where one sets up shop? Because I'm pretty sure splice meant it in the sense of a sales pitch or patter, which is not, as far as I know, a rentable thing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 8:10 AM on September 17, 2008

[...] the cruiser is poorly suited to riding around in Vermont

Is that an Electra Townie Balloon 8? I can imagine that having the cranks forward, while fine for flat city biking, might not be the thing for your terrain. I covet the Fat Franks, though. Ach well, Yahoo is your new bicycle.
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 12:14 PM on September 15, 2008

One deciding factor re: form will be whether or not you have end tables, console tables, etc. (or wish to acquire some) that can be home to table lamps. If so, then your options greatly increase. I don't, myself, and so I rely on floor lamps for localized/task lighting. It'd also be good to know if you're on a budget, and what kind of physical modifications you're allowed/willing to make to the apartment. For example, I suspect netbros' skylight suggestion is a non-starter, but how about sconces,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:28 AM on September 15, 2008

I quite enjoyed the JFK Presidential Library when I was last in Boston. Whether you would, however, probably depends on your interest in politics/recent American history.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 7:56 PM on September 14, 2008

Any flowers on the vine? If it's a type of passionfruit—there are non-edible varieties—the flowers would be quite distinctive.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:38 PM on September 13, 2008

I'm betting it's a non-edible passionfruit, then, if its flowers look like passionflowers. Also, passionfruit grow on vines. Quinces, pomegranates, persimmons and tamarilllos grow on trees, folks.

This would be one of those times where a picture would really help, though. Best you should look at some pictures of passiflora and see if any are likely candidates.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 7:06 PM on September 14, 2008

I think your TiBook is well and truly at EOL. I'm just waiting for the supposed October refresh of Apple's laptops to replace my poor long-suffering 12" 'book. Really, having a portable portable, with a working battery, high-speed WiFi, modern processor, able to run the same OS as your desktop and do sassy Leopardy things... I'm betting that when you get a new MacBook you'll wonder why you waited so long.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 3:12 PM on September 14, 2008

I do not believe that asking the person who posted it to take it down would be effective at all

Not to derail, but the person who posted it doesn't have to take the video down to meet your needs. If I'm not mistaken, they just need to remove your name from the page it appears on, right? Once that's done, Google should eventually forget that your name has anything to do with that video. Would be the uploader be willing to do that,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:22 AM on September 14, 2008

Pretty sure this gets asked somewhat frequently here for some reason, too!

Probably because it was in heavy rotation on Night Flight, which I suspect is a sort of generational touchstone for a lot of Mefites. And it's the kind of thing that, when seen at 1am in one's formative years, makes a lasting, if largely baffling, impression. I remember watching Forbidden Planet, but my recollections of it have nothing to do with the plot... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:01 AM on September 14, 2008 marked best answer

Doh, I meant Fantastic Planet, not Forbidden Planet. There's a very good reason why those two plots are dissimilar.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:05 AM on September 14, 2008

I, too, have an elgato USB stick-thingy. Frankly, I think that the EyeTV software could be improved upon, but unfortunately I don't believe that anyone has a better solution for Mac users, so yeah, that's the option.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 11:19 PM on September 13, 2008 marked best answer

DOA. The original one. You're welcome to watch the Dennis Quaid/Meg Ryan remake, but for noiry noir-noir, accept no substitute.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:44 PM on September 13, 2008

Oh, see also (perhaps obviously) The Fugitive, (perhaps laterally) The Invaders, and (more recently) Nowhere Man.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:57 PM on September 13, 2008

Maybe I should have specified, what political assumptions.

I wouldn't be surprised if he were a non-voter who enjoys feeling like he's tweaking the establishment by wearing a tacky but topically-current shirt. Beyond the obvious sexism, I think there's the implicit message that people who seriously concern themselves with the presidential election are eggheads, amirite? However, any assumptions I make about the guy probably reflect more about my own... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:34 PM on September 13, 2008

They're down at the moment, but if you haven't already, try registering the theft of your bike at Finetoothcog. You might just luck out and have a helpful citizen spot your beloved lost whip.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:20 PM on September 13, 2008

I'm vegan, but not for religious reasons, and I wouldn't want to know after the fact. Really, she did her best, you did yours, the caterer failed you both. As almost everyone upthread has said, she can't uneat the bacon. Unless there's a purification ritual applicable in these circumstances (and I'd think that Peacheater's comment might have mentioned it if there were), I don't see anything for her to do but be sad/angry about it.

Definitely tell the caterer, however,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:05 PM on September 13, 2008

For what it's worth, I have before me a can of Eden Organics' "Small Red Beans." They're nutritionally similar to the Mi Casas (but zomfg, so much less sodium!). The label claims that they're "a popular member of the kidney bean family [...] but smaller and more rounded."
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:50 PM on September 11, 2008

It may be unnecessary to add, but you're gonna want to set Arrange by: to none. Any of the other options will continue snapping to grid, in the selected order

(I use "kind" myself, with ~100px icons, but I think I'm alone in doing so among my Mac-using friends. There are so many philosophies of desktop use...)
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:07 AM on September 9, 2008

Justification: Remember that Donald Watson himself defined veganism as a practice which "seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practical" the use of animals for food and clothing. You've excluded leather footwear from your life for 10 years, but have ultimately found it impractical. Watson knew that in the world we're born into, one can really only ever asymptotically approach a pure vegan ideal. Just continue to do your best by your own moral compass—don't... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 1:48 AM on September 8, 2008

Aww, that Times story is swell. Damned shame about the donks, but I'm glad you were able to find peace with it. Congrats and best wishes to you and Theresa.
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 9:57 PM on September 7, 2008

Dibs on "Faster, Plutocrat..."
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 4:06 PM on September 4, 2008

Steel cut oats sound awesome!

They are, and so damned easy to make. Before you go to bed, bring a pot of 3.5 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat, add a cup of steel cut oats, cover and go to sleep. In the morning, you'll have almost 4 cups of toothsome, chewy oatmeal that you can refrigerate and heat servings from for days (or day, if you don't overcome your oating disorder). Me, I fancy it with garam masala and cayenne. And raisins and brown sugar, I confess it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:17 AM on September 1, 2008

So, you enjoyed the podcast too?
posted to MetaFilter by mumkin at 6:54 PM on August 29, 2008

Huh?

Ah. I was referring to yesterday's podcast, in which MeFi's own kokogiak is interviewed about his creation, The Big Picture. But I gather that's not what lead you to that particular post after all. nevermind
posted to MetaFilter by mumkin at 7:05 PM on August 29, 2008

Not seeing it, Kirth Gerson. I rather enjoy the idea of the site, too. Who among us hasn't encountered a sidewalk banana peel and heard the susurrations of a slapstick moment begging to be birthed? This is a link to a pictures of a hundred pregnant pedestrian pauses.
posted to MetaFilter by mumkin at 8:52 AM on August 29, 2008

Sounds like the kind of weirdness that failing RAM might give rise to. Don't suppose you've installed any new recently, have you? Does About this Mac show the amount of memory that you expect it to?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 9:55 PM on August 28, 2008

Definitely PBS. Jim Lehrer & co. have been doing a bang-up job this week. They certainly won't be commenting while the speechifying is underway, but their measured, unsensational coverage will nicely bookend Obama and Gore tonight, should you want to hear from the media, political historians, and reserved pundits.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 1:44 PM on August 28, 2008

Posting to MeFi Jobs couldn't hurt. I know of at least a couple of skilled freelance illustrators who are mefites, and I'm sure there are more. Of course, the odds are probably better that they're reading AskMe, so well-played!
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:46 AM on August 26, 2008

It would appear that all of the video clips that are inline on the show's site are restricted to UK-based IPs. Grrrr. Still, nice Flash development, that.
posted to MetaFilter by mumkin at 12:31 PM on August 24, 2008

Fully ethical: Buy as much as possible from the bulk bins in your grocery store. Do some price checking to make sure that they're really passing on the savings to you, but where I shop, it's totally worth it, particularly for herbs/spices, grains and tea.

Not ethical, but your call: when buying from the bulk bins, you are usually responsible for labeling your purchases with a product code. Oftentimes products that are visually... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 1:00 PM on August 19, 2008

Also, as someone who wears undershirts - and I assume you would want your undergarments to match - a black undershirt?

Wha? I'm a boxers guy, and I dare say it's never occurred to me to be concerned that my undershirt didn't match my shorts. Are you a devotee of Underoos?
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:51 PM on August 19, 2008

The Kam Wah Chung museum in John Day, Oregon is a fascinating snapshot of what was once the hub of the Chinese-American community in a frontier town.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:50 AM on August 18, 2008

I'm a bit confused by your requirements, in that you first say the wedding meadow isn't gardeny enough, and that you're considering the Rose Test Gardens (have you been to the old rose garden in Peninsula Park, by the way? It does have a gazebo, though), but later provide very un-gardeny images that are far more foresty-gladey. For the latter, I think of Kelley Point Park.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 12:49 PM on August 17, 2008

I absolutely hate doing these same tasks day in, day out, and I was wondering if anyone had ways of speeding up the process?

Is it that you need the process to go faster because you'd rather sleep longer/leave sooner/have more time to do things before leaving, or do you just want to speed it up because it's boring and repetitious? Because NPR's Morning Edition has been my constant dawn companion for decades, and while it's not guaranteed to be... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 10:51 AM on August 17, 2008

I vote for adding tags to MetaTalk because its over sixteen thousand proven threads represent a vast, untapped resource for our domestic backtagging industry. Reducing Metafilter's dependence on foreign threads will be essential in 2009 and beyond. Ask yourself: can we afford not to tag MetaTalk?

Also, it would probably be useful.
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 12:44 AM on August 15, 2008

The program you want is fseventer. First, quit any background processes that might write to disk, in order to reduce the noise. Then, fire up fseventer and press 'play' before beginning the install. Stop it once the install is done. Fseventer will track and nicely document every single change to the filesystem, so that you can hunt down those little that bits the installer leaves in unexpected places.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 1:47 PM on July 26, 2008

slyrabbit: If you're offering, it'd be great if you would post a translation of the kim jang po gi kimchi recipe you recommend. Also, your second link ("cabbage kimchi") is broken.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 5:54 PM on July 25, 2008

I took Wellbutrin (actually I think it was Zyban, but it's the same bupropion) for two months when I quit smoking last year. For the first few weeks I definitely felt like I was having a speedball for breakfast... right around 9:30 or 10 am it would kick in with the force of a quintuple-shot espresso, put eyes on the back of my head and make me want to climb the walls. The sensation gradually subsided, or I got used to it, and all was well. And I'm still not smoking, so thank you, bupropion.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 1:06 PM on July 25, 2008

Well, this is at once reassuring and fascinating. I can't imagine blurting out the name of an ex, though. I tend to go with "fuck!" "la, la la!" or just erupt in a meaningless "gnaah!" The nice thing about the la-la-laaaing (a la Babe the pig) is that, like ook, I can then make like I'm singing if need be. If I have a split second or so to compose myself, however, I will instead do as Miko and try to manage something more urbane, like "ah, the folly of youth.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mumkin at 8:50 AM on July 23, 2008

Aye, sorry not to have managed to party-hop. Come back soon!
posted to MetaTalk by mumkin at 8:42 AM on July 21, 2008