I was hoping to find more options, but I haven't yet.

Just to follow up, I went with the sweypro database. The EPA data only goes back to 1985 and sweypro goes back to the 1800's. Plus the database has some nice extra data about the cars that could be helpful down the road. Thanks for the pointer uncleozzy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 9:05 PM on June 29, 2008

You can get the US National Park symbols in a font: Map Symbols & Patterns for NPS Maps.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 12:34 PM on June 9, 2008 marked best answer

My favorite summer whites wines are New Zealand Sauvignon blanc. They're not as sweet as a Muscat or Riesling, but they're definitely crisp compared with buttery American Chardonnay (or even American Sauvignon blanc). The exchange rate is making a good sub $15 bottle hard to find these days, but it's worth looking for.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 10:34 AM on June 3, 2008

I'm just seconding any accounts of Shackelton's ill-fated attempt to reach the south pole. Especially because there are amazing photographs from the trip.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 7:45 AM on May 6, 2008

was the wide end of the 17-35/2.8 too wide, or was the whole length too wide?

Yeah, I should clarify that I spent most of my time at the wide end of that lens. I'm not sure I'm disciplined enough to use a zoom, I just wanted to capture the whole scene because I could—and then I wasn't happy with the results. That's more user error than the lens' fault. Maybe I'll give the 17-35 another shot.

Thanks... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 2:43 PM on March 15, 2008

I shouldn't have knocked the 17-35 in my question, sounds like I didn't know how to use it to its full potential. I'm so used to the 50/1.4 that I'm going to need to take some time to get to know my next lens. Thanks again for the suggestions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 9:53 AM on March 16, 2008

A couple more to check out: swissmiss and collision detection.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 2:53 PM on February 21, 2008

One classic you should check out is a paper called Players Who Suit MUDs by Richard Bartle. He groups old-school online MUD players into Achievers, Explorers, Socializers, and Killers. It's surprisingly relevant to lots of online activity.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 11:07 PM on November 9, 2007

This might be too off the wall, but you might check out Guy Delisle's graphic novel Pyongyang about his experience working as an animator in North Korea.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 1:59 PM on November 6, 2007

I'm sure you'll hit it by default, but downtown Bend's Drake Park is insanely pretty this time of year. Smith Rock State Park is about an hour away and has great views. I also love the Cascade Lakes Drive, especially Sparks Lake. (Make sure this road is still open before you go, it might be snowed in by now.) And I'll third the High Desert Museum.

For a nice dinner out, check out Blacksmith (closing soon for renovation) or Merenda.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 4:37 PM on October 24, 2007

I'll second Apache for Win32, it's worth the effort to make the move. But take a look at ISAPI_Rewrite if you're sticking with IIS, it works well.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 7:42 AM on July 5, 2007

On reread, I concur with Nothing. You don't need .htaccess for simple access control. More: How To Configure IIS Web Site Authentication in Windows Server 2003.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 7:46 AM on July 5, 2007

I'm a big fan of Beyond Bullet Points. This guy took some basic story-telling advice from Aristotle and turned into a way of engaging an audience. It's better than it sounds.

Presentation Zen is a good blog focused on presentations.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 2:30 PM on July 2, 2007 marked best answer

Real World Camera Raw taught me a lot about photo processing. You might wait for a CS3-specific version though, as the PS Raw Processor has changed a bit.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 10:23 AM on June 27, 2007

For a ton of ideas about how to disassociate your physical address from your identity, check out the book How to Be Invisible.

I started using a commercial mail-receiving agency (CMRA, like MailBoxes Etc.) for business stuff, and it has cut down on some of my home catalog spam. But when I signed up for the box, I has to fill out a USPS form that tied my new box to my home address. Not a big deal to me, but the book I mentioned has some alternative (and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 11:22 AM on June 22, 2007

I like Shorpy for historical photographs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 3:26 PM on June 21, 2007

hmm, here's a close one by Bertrand Russel: "The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way."
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 11:31 AM on June 20, 2007

SXSW and Webvisions are similar conferences that offer podcasts of sessions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 10:24 AM on June 20, 2007

When I switched, lots of little things drove me nuts and I've been able to find a solution for all of them. For example, tabbing between form elements in a browser didn't work as it did in Windows. But switching on "Full Keyboard Access" in System Preferences/Keyboard Shortcuts did the trick. The Mac version of Firefox didn't have favicons in the bookmarks toolbar until I installed Mac Favicon. The Home and End keys went to the top and bottom of documents instead of rows on a Mac, but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 6:39 PM on June 19, 2007

Thanks everyone for the ideas. The county approach seems like the best bet, though that only covers the US.

I need to dig into the MSA and BTA acronyms a bit more. Maybe the answer is there, but again, sounds like that's US-only. I think Forktine nailed the reasons why this is tough.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 8:35 PM on May 23, 2007

I'm late the to BBQ here, but I like to use wood chips in a smoker box for my gas grill. I've found that gas grills don't add as much "grill flavor" as a charcoal grill or open fire as I like. You can find mesquite chips or even old wine barrel chunks, soak them for a while, and throw them in a stainless steel box on the grill and your food will taste a bit more like you were grilling old-school.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 11:11 AM on May 10, 2007

Check out the Creative Commons Podcasting Legal Guide. Especially the bit about Using Music.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 3:58 PM on October 13, 2006

I have to agree with mathowie and pdb. If you're going for small-town life, you'd probably enjoy Corvallis (where I'm at) or Eugene more than Salem--they both seem to have a bit more character. And if you're not after small-town life, Portland is probably a better bet, because there are more choices available.

And you'll probably have to give up being a foodie no matter where you move in Oregon. I moved from Sonoma County, CA to Oregon, and the food just isn't the same.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 11:27 AM on July 5, 2006

I lived in Sonoma County for several years, and my favorite wineries were along River Road in the Russian River area. Davis Bynum isn't tiny, but had great pinot noir and was always a favorite stop. Armida is on a hill, has a great view, and is a nice spot for a picnic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 11:16 AM on March 8, 2006

I believe it's just an internal name for a software package, named after the jungle town. They have other similarly-themed software packages if you watch the URLs.

Oh, and the obidos-bot is something I put together. It's the script that checks for book links used by Weblog Bookwatch. I named it after the Amazon software named after the town because it was originally just looking for Amazon links.
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 1:37 PM on December 12, 2003

Thanks everyone for the ideas and advice! We're still in the research phase and we haven't settled on Berners (we've only met one), and we haven't ruled out rescue. We're reading everything we can, focusing on the Bernese.

What specific qualities attract you to the BMD?

We started looking at BMDs because they have many of the qualities we're looking for: at peace with other animals (we have a six year old cat), intelligence,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by pb at 8:52 AM on December 12, 2003