There are female backing vocals? I just assumed it was Grant Hart; his voice can be pretty high-pitched.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:19 AM on July 23, 2008 marked best answer

According to the Wikipedia entry on the album, Dez Cadena apparently did backing vocals on 'What's Going On?', but that's a different song, and Dez is a he.

Now, there were a number of women associated with the SST crowd at the time (late '83-early '84) so if it's definitely a woman's voice you hear (don't have the track with me; I hate it so I deleted it from my mp3 rip of the album) it could be anyone. Naomi Petersen, perhaps?
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:34 AM on July 23, 2008

AFAIR, the dollar sign originates from coins produced in the Mediterranean region hundreds of years ago; the coins featured a symbol representing the Pillars of Hercules (hence the horizontal stroke or strokes) with a ribbon or banner winding between them in an S-shape (hence the S-like curve).
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 9:02 AM on June 30, 2008

I would assume that many other currency symbols were based on that of the dollar, since many have also assumed the name (hard to believe that the original 'Tolar' had as much influence as the US dollar has).
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 9:04 AM on June 30, 2008

It's worth noting, if you'll be watching with some die-hard footie fans, that the "European Cup" usually refers to a club trophy (now called the Champions League Champions Cup, I believe).

You don't have to be that pedantic about it, really. The European Championship is also regularly referred to as the European Cup (or even the Euro Cup, as the famous Irish supporters' song from Euro '88 attests).
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 10:07 AM on June 28, 2008

Anecdotally, a cousin of mine who has American friends (and friends who used to live in the States) told me that one of her friends who had applied for a green card waited for SEVEN years before she got it (she's since left the States). On the other hand, they have another friend who (more recently) got her papers sorted in less than two years.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 4:10 AM on June 24, 2008

As an aside, I'd always assumed that cupcakes were just what we called fairy cakes. It seems there is a difference after all, so thanks for enlightening me.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 1:11 PM on June 9, 2008

There was (is?) a big used/new place on Bloor, opposite Lee's Palace. I was under the impression that it had been there for some time when I was there back in 2002; I believe it underwent a name change since then, and I don't know if it's still open or not. Not much of a help, I know.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 1:10 PM on June 9, 2008

At a job, you can start off by calling someone "the new guy" and then it can become "New Guy", where no article is needed.

Ah, but there's a difference here, since in the first instance it's a description, while in the second it's an appellation.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 2:34 AM on June 7, 2008

What are MMA, MA, BJJ, and GSP?

MMA = Mixed Martial Arts (the more legitimate term for what most people dismissively label 'ultimate fighting')

MA = probably a typo of the above (correct me if I'm wrong!)

BJJ = Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a variant of the traditional Japanese martial art developed and popularised by the famed Gracie family; Royce Gracie gained international prominence/notoriety when he... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 1:39 AM on June 3, 2008

On reflection, MA probably isn't a typo, and just refers to 'martial arts'.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 1:41 AM on June 3, 2008

As for for Edin Festival, I'd looked on the net and unsuprisingly found out the major event (The Tatoo) seems to be completely booked, but the Festival seems to embrace a lot more , so I guess I'll add one extra day to Scotland and maybe pickup an hotel in Livingston which is reasonably close (chances are I'll get there by rented car).

The Edinburgh Festival is really a whole bunch of different festivals (for comedy, film, etc) all happening at the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 1:33 AM on June 3, 2008

Skip Belgium.

I wouldn't be that harsh about the place –– I have a friend there -- but 'a few days' in Ghent is a bit much, I think. I agree it's a lovely town, but it's quite small; you wouldn't need to spend more than a day or two there.

Since you've got less than a fortnight, you might want to cut things down to what you simply can't miss.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 7:27 AM on May 28, 2008

*Which would take some doing, since I think there are four MeFis in Ireland, but you're very welcome!

Oh come now, there are way more than that! But most of us are in Dublin, which only stands to reason.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 5:07 AM on April 9, 2008

As an English-speaker (with a bare understanding of school-level French), I felt far more comfortable in Belgium than I did in France, in terms of communication. So I doubt you'd have any problems.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:00 AM on March 25, 2008

I second the gentle leader (or Halti, as it's branded over here). I've never had a short-snouted dog, however, so YMMV.

Just like Daddy-O says, many assume it's a muzzle because of the strap across the snout, despite the fact that the mouth is clearly not restricted in any way; some people are just plain stupid, I guess.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 11:59 AM on March 24, 2008

While, I don't believe that they purposely had this plan all along, I do think that they realize that keeping the supply down is in their benefit.

Is this only a problem in the United States? There was a Wii shortage here in Ireland before and during the Christmas period, but since mid-January they've been widely available once again.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 7:22 AM on February 24, 2008

I just got a Buffalo router that's working fine with my cable broadband and plays nice with my MacBook. However, I believe Buffalo are currently barred from selling their routers in the States due to some patent infringement case.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 7:00 AM on February 1, 2008

Nearly every pub in Dublin city centre will be showing the match on some sort of big screen, so you'll have no problems seeing it.

But it won't be that much of an event, really. Come back after we've won a few matches. (Though the chances of that happening this year...)
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:55 AM on February 1, 2008

My girlfriend's friends have recommended Jet in the past. There's a Jet store in nearly every mall I've been to in Pretoria, but I can't remember seeing one when I was in Cape Town (then again, we were only really shopping at the Waterfront so you'd probably have better look in the centre of town).
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:56 PM on January 23, 2008

'Look'? Of course I meant 'luck'.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:57 PM on January 23, 2008

You'll love it in Cape Town. Just watch out for the power cuts -- or 'load shedding', as the goverment and Eskom like to say euphemistically. There was a group of tourists stuck at the top of Table Mountain for a few hours one day last week when the power was cut to the cable cars; when stuff like this starts effecting tourism, you know you're in trouble.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 4:39 AM on January 25, 2008

'Heat of the Moment' by Asia. (NB: Probably only suitable for prog/South Park fans.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:49 PM on January 23, 2008

3) As to generating the right filename extension, is that simply a matter of editing the extension type on the fly?

Go to Finder > Preferences > Advanced and check the box for 'Show all file extensions'. That should help.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:18 PM on January 20, 2008

NB: I'm still using Tiger so the above might have changed in Leopard, but I doubt it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:18 PM on January 20, 2008

The only airport I've ever seen this at is Johannesburg's. I've never bothered using it though, as it doesn't offer that much extra protection, other than being a deterrent to the odd pilfering baggage handler.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 9:45 AM on January 17, 2008

SST Records is for all intents and purposes defunct (no new records from artists other than owner Greg Ginn's own projects since the late '90s) but in the 1980s, it was arguably the biggest and greatest independent alternative label in the US, essentially charting the development of alternative music in the States, from west coast punk to midwest hardcore to east coast art/noise rock and all stops in between.

Most of the big names of alt-rock in the '80s had a record... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:12 AM on January 16, 2008

More on SST: This is pretty much the definititive article you're going to read about SST Records. See also" 'Get in the Van' by Henry Rollins (basically recounting a lot of the history of the label, from the point he joined Black Flag in '81) and the recently-published 'Enter Naomi' by the label's former manager Joe Carducci (which I'm looking forward to getting soon).
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:29 AM on January 16, 2008

Oops, messed up that link, it should be:
http://www.furious.com/perfect/sst1.html
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:30 AM on January 16, 2008

Just over the water here in Ireland, chicken sausages are available in most of the larger supermarkets, which would include Tesco. I'm sure there are one or two Tescos in the UK too...
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 5:48 AM on December 29, 2007

FWIW, I have never, ever felt nauseous from swallowing phlegm or from post-nasal drip, so it's certainly not a rule, unless I'm the exception to it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 1:03 PM on December 28, 2007

I feel compelled to ask, doesn't Britain have it's share of spiders and snakes?

Northern Europe is not known for its poisonous spiders (virtually all stories regarding such critters involve stowaways in foreign food consignments). And it's too cold in the British/Irish Isles for reptiles to thrive, so Britain only has a handful of varieties, and only one -- the adder -- is poisonous (though I've never heard of any fatalities from an adder bite).... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:25 AM on December 28, 2007

If one happens to be sans-ice, a folded facecloth rinsed in cold water and draped across the forehead achieves a similar effect, especially if you have a fever/sweats. It doesn't do much other than provide a welcome cooling sensation, but sometimes that's all you need.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:50 AM on December 18, 2007

That's my mystery solved! Thanks muchly to everyone -- I didn't expect such a response.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 12:20 PM on December 13, 2007

But different people taste things differently, and if you concentrate you can make out the wintergreen in rootbeer.

In my case, it was the smell of the root beer that I had (may have been A&W, I can't remember) that surprised me, because it was so strong for a soda, and because of my previous familiarity with Deep Heat. But to me it didn't taste anything at all like its smell.

So it was more of a situation of smell = 'ugh' but taste = 'yum'.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:22 PM on December 13, 2007

I've had a Western Digital My Book 250 GB with Firewire that I use on my Macs (an eMac, an iBook G4 and a MacBook) for just over a year now with no real problems, other than the occasional refusal to mount (just plugging the cable back in again, or pulling out the power cord for a moment, always does the trick). I'd definitely go with WD again, and I intend to do so in the New Year -- especially considering I can get a drive with 500 GB for the same money I spent a year ago.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 2:49 PM on December 9, 2007

I love The Brak Show. I just got myself both volumes -- all three series -- on DVD.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:09 AM on December 4, 2007

Animal Crossing isn't really 'grown-up' -- aesthetically, at least, it's the kind of thing the Japanese word 'kawaii' exists for -- but it's certainly not really a kids' game, either.

If she likes board games and their ilk, definitely consider 42 All-Time Classics. It's one of the cheaper games you can get for the DS, but the price belies the wealth of content.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:10 AM on December 3, 2007

You might want to look into getting a SIM for your mobile when you get to Ireland; depending on the network here (there's only three to speak of) you can get pretty good deals for calls to the UK and the US. Probably wouldn't be worth it if you're making a lot of (long) calls, but it might be something to investigate nonetheless.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:06 PM on December 1, 2007

Who's the Boss? was remade as The Upper Hand in the early '90s. I'm pretty certain that at least some of the episodes used the exact same scripts, with minor incidental changes.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 10:08 AM on November 14, 2007

Also, Days Like These was a total flop because the '70s in America were far more interesting than three-day-week, glam rock Britain. That and it was just executed really, really badly.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 10:10 AM on November 14, 2007

Agree with the tape: blotting with tape (Sellotape in my case) worked great for cleaning off jewel case glue gunk. (Why do they insist on putting stickers, labels etc on CD cases that don't peel off cleanly?) But I haven't tried it on any of my Macs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 4:37 AM on November 14, 2007

The last time I had an ear infection (my first inner-ear infection, actually) I didn't feel any pain at all -- just a loss of hearing and a sort of squelchy feeling, like water or suds, in my left ear.

Because of those symptoms (and the fact that my hearing went shortly after I'd had a shower) I assumed that it was, indeed, water in my ear, or a wax buildup. But after 3 or 4 days of self-treatment with eardrops and no sign of my hearing returning, I went to see a doctor... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 5:16 AM on November 9, 2007

Caveat: I've read that nasal decongestants are illegal in Japan without a prescription -- which of course you wouldn't have, since they're over-the-counter pretty much everywhere else in the world. Please don't take my warning as gospel, since I can't seem to find a link to back it up, but I thought I should bring it up anyway.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 3:29 PM on October 29, 2007

Basically, I felt like the director did an absolutely amazing job of slowly putting the audience in a terrifying place, then building on and sustaining that terror.

I can definitely see that point, and as someone who enjoys the horror genre on the whole I can completely understand and respect the intentions of filmmakers who can craft those kinds of movies. That, however, does not mean that the end result will sit right with me -- often I've seen films... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 6:33 AM on October 24, 2007

what you'll find is the International Herald Tribune; the actual New York Times, I'd be really surprised if you did find it.

It's the same situation in Ireland, too. And they're usually a month or two out of date, too. Tower Records seems to be the only place that has them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 12:11 PM on October 22, 2007

Oops, I meant to add my 2 cents to this part:

I've seen the Sunday NYT in certain international newsstands/bookstores, but only the Sunday edition.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 12:12 PM on October 22, 2007

There's another option that no one seems to have mentioned -- if you have a MacBook, you could install Windows.

I got tired of VLC et al refusing to play so many copy-protected DVDs on my MacBook (both regions 1 and 2) so now I split the difference: I leave the OS X DVD Player set on region 1 (since I play those more often) and when I want to play region 2, I just boot into WinXP.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 2:36 AM on October 21, 2007

The Goonies scared the crap out of me as a kid. Seriously.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 2:24 AM on October 21, 2007

Also, since you mentioned Suffocation, the first Origin album (S/T) might be up your alley. Yes, the drums on it are partially triggered, but they don't sound programmed, and there's an undeniable groove to the whole record that sets it apart. Shame they lost that with everything else they've done since.
posted to Ask Metafilter by macdara at 10:28 AM on October 20, 2007