It can seem awfully corny, but Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People is shockingly effective.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:12 PM on June 27, 2008

Your concerns might be misplaced. To put things in perspective, you're in Lalaland AKA Los Angeles.

The American Lung Association says:

Metropolitan Areas Most Polluted by Short-term Particle Pollution (24-Hour PM2.5)
Rank Metropolitan Area
1 LOS ANGELES-LONG BEACH-RIVERSIDE, CA

Metropolitan Areas Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution(Annual PM2.5)
Rank Metropolitan... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 12:30 PM on June 13, 2008

paulsc writes "Because, you know, it's actual second hand smoke coming out of her roommate's nostrils, if he's ducking right back inside, as many smokers do."

Bzzt. Wrong.

Per the CDC, true second hand smoke is "a complex mixture of gases and particles that includes smoke from the burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe tip (sidestream smoke) and exhaled mainstream smoke." (Emphasis added.)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 6:51 PM on June 13, 2008

"Am I just associating with a rough crowd? Or, am I naive and it is quite common for young people (20-28) to do those sort of things?"
Disclaimer: I live in California.

Carrying guns and knives around is a big red flag. There are not people I'd recommend 'sowing your wild oats' with.

Drinking in the back of the car without asking is questionable (it might get you an open container ticket, o noes), but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 1:02 PM on June 12, 2008

Move out immediately. Being in close proximity is not going to help the situation any more than ripping off the scab every day would make awound heal faster.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 11:09 AM on June 4, 2008

I have this problem with my MacBook Pro. Around the time it started doing this, it also developed a bulge. I got it replaced because it was subject to a recall program.

The next battery I got had the exact same problem. The laptop would die while still showing a 70%+ charge. Then it started to develop a bulge. I called Apple, and it turns out that the battery was also defective and part of the same bad batch.

They sent me a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 5:46 PM on May 16, 2008

If he leaves his desktop unlocked for a second: (in windows) make a desktop shortcut with the 'force shutdown' command. Put it in the startup folder.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 9:12 PM on May 13, 2008

Class Goat writes "That is a very bad idea, because it would interfere with work and would be very hard to fix."

I assumed 'don't take the joke too far' was implicit, but yeah, don't take the joke too far. It's good for a few minutes of harmless prank payback though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 9:23 PM on May 13, 2008

I can't believe nobody has submitted extratasty, which is like a cross between myspace and del.icio.us for alcoholics. There you can learn about all kinds of exciting, tasty new ways to savage your liver.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 3:04 PM on April 25, 2008

Here is a goldmine of Daft Punk mixes, some as old as 1996(!).
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:56 PM on April 25, 2008

Deltron 3030
DJ Krush
Handsome Boy Modeling School, and really, anything involving Dan the Automator.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:37 PM on April 25, 2008

1-3, 5) All generalizations are wrong, including this one

4) He probably got the impression that you have some unfortunate hangups about sex, or you're husband hunting, and he decided to back away to avoid more awkwardness. He's still being nice via email because he isn't a jerk.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 4:10 PM on April 15, 2008

You could rent goats.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 9:37 PM on April 9, 2008

Yes, you should work overtime and get it done. You might not get fired for missing the deadline, but your boss think that perhaps you're not capable of doing the job, and it could tip the scales against you in the future.

I also recommend the following-

mullingitover's magical productivity enhancer:

Step 1. Add the following to your hosts.ini file (or equivalent):

127.0.0.1... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 5:27 PM on April 9, 2008

You're looking for cygwin. It'll give you a working unix shell where you bash script this together in a jiffy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 8:14 PM on April 8, 2008

I've been doing this for years. I mix Dr. Bronners crazy hemp soap about 75% diluted with water, and it works great in any of the foaming soap dispensers. It takes me over a year to go through a whole bottle of Dr. Bronners this way, and my hands smell minty fresh. I have a bottle for the shower, too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 4:03 PM on April 7, 2008

Numbers 31 describes the genocide of the Midianites, with murder of women and children, and taking virgins as slaves to be raped.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 4:19 PM on April 1, 2008

I was about to recommend getting yourself a huge outdoor trampoline (and what a perfect excuse! "It's for my health.") They're a blast, despite being kinda dangerous (or perhaps because they are).

Then I saw the final caveat "it has to be able to be done indoors in a small space, with no prep."

So scratch that. I submit a simple and cheap solution: get yourself a length of rubber hose and keep it near your desk. You could tie... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 5:32 PM on March 31, 2008

I work with someone who uses metrolink to commute from OC to North Hollywood, and he has to leave the office at 5 PM in order to get to the subway and ride to Union Station to catch the last train. The metrolink schedule could be called commuter hostile with their schedule. For my colleague, it's nearly a 3-hour commute each way, and I'm also not sure about the 3G connectivity.

If there's any way you can do it, move as close as you can to your place of employment. I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 10:55 AM on March 28, 2008

It depends on your existing manual dexterity (already knowing another instrument, or even being a skilled typist helps) and the amount of practice you put in. I've played on and off for over ten years, and I was blown away by a kid who'd been playing for only six months.

I highly recommend drilling yourself for about 30 minutes a day on the modes of the G Major/E Minor scale. Scales are boring, but it's like going to the gym for your skills. You'll find that you pick... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 8:02 PM on March 24, 2008

Doesn't this sort of violate the Constitution? I thought the regulation (including taxation) of interstate commerce was the exclusive domain of the federal government. Heck, per a recent Supreme Court decision (Gonzales v. Raich, and earlier, Wickard v. Filburn), the fed has the power to regulate commerce you're not doing with other states.

IANAL, so I don't recommend that you follow my advice and pay zero, write a 'fuck you' letter to the state, and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:18 PM on March 11, 2008

Scrunch up your face as much as you possibly can. Then consciously relax every muscle in your face, then keep relaxing your entire body. It's like quick self-hypnosis; when I do this it seems like I can actually feel my brain relaxing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 6:15 PM on January 14, 2008

I've heard that hoarding is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. You may get better results attacking it from that angle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 3:36 PM on January 9, 2008

The S45 is fine, it has manual controls which are all you really need for a photography class. I'd go with the class, or you could teach yourself with the vast array of online resources.

Always remember the order of importance in photography:
Photographer > Lens > Camera

Stay away from film if you're learning, it makes experimentation prohibitively expensive. A wise man once said, "Your first 10,000 pictures are going to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 5:17 PM on January 3, 2008

1) Whereabouts are you from originally/live now. (To understand the contrast between Los Angeles and the culture that you originated from, if there is any.)
I moved to North Hollywood from Portland, Oregon, and I lived in various placed in Oregon for thirteen years before coming here.

2) How much time have you have spent in LA in your life, and how recently.
I've been here almost two years now.

3) If you moved there as an... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 5:06 PM on January 3, 2008

Eugene, Oregon might be a less-populated alternative to Portland. It's got a smaller population, and it's surrounded by beautiful forests. It's also a quick 90-minute (traffic permitting) trip to Portland if you'd like to experience the city life.

It's safe to predict that someone will jump in and say that Eugene is more liberal than San Francisco. However, when balanced with its siamese-twin sister city Springfield (they're separated by a freeway, and on opposite ends... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 7:24 PM on January 2, 2008

Well it's not necessarily farmers who are calling the shots in Iowa, here's the first item in this month's Harper's Index (Jan 2008)
Ratio of the number of Latinos in Iowa to the number of full-time farmers: 7:4

The second fun fact:
Percentage change since 2000 in the estimated number of Hispanic voters in the United States: +122

The US should get comfortable with the idea that it might be seeing the last generation of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 10:56 AM on January 2, 2008

I just stopped by to say how much I hate LA.





I keed, I keed. I moved to NoHo at the beginning of 2006 and it's been good to me. I can't say much for how the rest of LA has fared, but in the (almost) two years I've been here NoHo has developed nicely. I'm told by friends who've been living here for a while that they no longer fear being shot. Apparently NoHo wasn't such a nice neighborhood a few years ago.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 7:11 PM on December 19, 2007

Coffee shops have been geek bars for centuries.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 12:34 PM on December 17, 2007

I recommend setting up Espose with hot corners. I have the bottom left set to 'show all windows,' the bottom right to 'desktop,' top right to Dashboard, and top left to screensaver. It makes these tasks into gestures you can do with the mouse, and it's really handy.

I also recommend getting the Electric Sheep screensaver.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 12:21 PM on December 17, 2007

A dab of Vicks Vapo-Rub under the nose will solve your problem.

The other option is to adapt. The sense of smell begins adapting to a new scent and ignoring it within seconds. This is a way for your brain to determine if the smell is getting stronger or not. So as soon as you smell the scent that bothers you, actively pay attention to it and continue to smell it until your senses adapt and you can't smell it anymore. It should take no more than a minute or two.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 11:53 AM on December 11, 2007

Are you checking out Iceland? They're heavy users of geothermal energy.

Geothermal seems like the the most brain-dead obvious energy solution: we're using extremely messy nuclear materials to generate heat while we're sitting on a massive ball of superhot rock and molten metal. 100% clean and constantly available, more than we could ever use, and all we have to do to tap it is dig a hole in the ground.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 11:31 AM on December 11, 2007

I suggest you take up drinking with college students. They have a zest for life that will quickly get crushed out of the people in your own age bracket who are submitting themselves to breeding programs and wage slavery. The college kids will respect your experience, and you'll enjoy their youthful excitement about the world.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 11:45 AM on December 5, 2007

I think there's a bigger difference in the form the multivitamin takes than the origin of its ingredients. I've found that powder-filled gelatin capsules (Twinlabs), liquid vitamins (various sources), and chewables (Trader Joes) all absorb better than the solid, hard 'bedpan bullets.'
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 5:15 PM on December 4, 2007

Hussein, definitely. His half-brother also got his head ripped off in the hanging.

Some might try to claim that this was the Iraqi government, but let's be realistic: it's a puppet government, and it does whatever the US tells it to. It'll be a real government when it can prosecute US mercenary forces and US troops.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 4:33 PM on December 4, 2007

Get him some Philip K. Dick and tell him about all the movies that are based on PKD stories. His wikipedia page will tell you more.

William Gibson is also good and would be interesting at his age.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:16 PM on December 3, 2007

On your way out of town, steak breakfast and goodbye lap dance at the Acropolis.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:18 PM on November 28, 2007

Oh and don't forget Pix Patisserie.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:18 PM on November 28, 2007

Play it by ear and remember this rule: it's always better to apologize than to ask permission.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 2:16 PM on November 28, 2007

Get a digital camera, something as low-fi as 3 megapixels is fine. Take pictures of each individual note. Make a PDF containing each image as a separate page, arranged in the order you prefer (any mac will spit out a PDF with the print > print as pdf option). Add a preface and send it off to the publishers. Have a book in your hands early next week.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 11:00 PM on November 27, 2007

winston writes "A recording of an old-fashioned telephone ring (the type with an actual bell that would actually ring)."

This is actually included with the iPhone, and it's my favorite.

lilkeith07 writes "My friend Adam says you don't have to actually buy anything from itunes if you already have the song you want."

This is completely true, there's a writeup... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 7:23 PM on November 27, 2007

Thirding (fourthing? I lost count) the 50mm lens, in either the f/1.4 or f/1.8 flavors. The f/1.4 is about 3 times the price of the f/1.8 but has more solid construction and performs better in low light without the need for flash.

Here's why this is a must-have: she will use it to take excellent portraits. People will see the pictures she will take of them and immediately comment that she is a good photographer, because the 50mm lenses produce a soft background while... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 10:56 AM on November 27, 2007 marked best answer

You need Handbrake. Of course breaking DVD encryption is illegal, but let's assume you have a boat that you take out to international waters when you're doing this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 3:47 PM on November 12, 2007

Scrambled: the secret is some heavy cream. Not a lot, but for three eggs I'd mix in a fourth of a cup. Whip 'em up good, get lots of air in there. Don't overcook them, add some garlic salt, apply cheese liberally (I like pepper jack the best), maybe get funky and add some sriracha to the mix.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 5:20 PM on October 26, 2007

Funny, I haven't heard anyone use that term in the United Sates in years.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 10:15 AM on October 26, 2007

humuhumu writes "No, there is nothing that compares to Oink. There are plenty of private trackers around and some of them are music-focused (like stmusic, pedro's, etc) but there is nothing - and probably never will be anything again - like Oink in terms of size, scale, breadth of coverage, speed, users, etc."

I thought the same thing after audiogalaxy went opt-in, but eventually Oink showed up. Something else will come along eventually.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 10:08 AM on October 23, 2007

Google translate says:"Windows can not opening this program, because this is one system that directive is not allowed. Opening the event display, or ask your system administrator for more information"
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 9:08 AM on October 18, 2007

I think the implication is that change is so close to worthless that it's not worth the trouble of even picking up when you're a busy bartender/waitress. Going out of your way to give them change is an insult.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 8:56 AM on October 18, 2007

That sentence should read "What can I do in LA that could fill me with wonder, terror, and/or giddiness? "

That's how I started to write it. Then I decided that the fun I'm looking for doesn't necessarily need to be in LA. That would be convenient, but convenience isn't necessarily a requirement if the activity is holyshitawesome enough.
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 8:12 PM on October 15, 2007

Forktine writes "Saying 'what would be exciting?' is just too vague."

MaxK's answer was great. I'm hoping for more in this vein, but it's the best answer so far. I also like pompomtom's answer.

fandango_matt writes "You also might ask yourself what, exactly, it is in your life that's preventing you from experiencing and appreciating the wonder and beauty and excitement that surrounds you. If your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mullingitover at 9:13 PM on October 15, 2007