How about the formula to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/genericv2/1859/68/01AwcAX0iLcl4AAAABAAAAAAAAAAA:.jpg
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:03 AM on September 25, 2008

Cricket chirps to temperature ? Temp = CPM/4 + 38

Where CPM = Chirps per minute and temp is in Fahrenheit .
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:07 AM on September 25, 2008

yes.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:32 PM on September 16, 2008

Tung Oil would be a nice natural finish on this, or a poly oil mix like these followed by some good paste wax. The oil will make it darker and bring out the burl.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 11:59 AM on September 3, 2008

Watco would do the trick too http://www.acehardwaresuperstore.com/watco-danish-oil-original-watco-formula-p-975.html?ref=42
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:00 PM on September 3, 2008

You do need to do both sides to equalize moisture absorption so that it doesn't warp/crack
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:01 PM on September 3, 2008

FineReader by ABBYY is far and above the best out there, all the free ones are really bad.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:01 AM on August 22, 2008

The only one that did a half decent job was Cuneiform
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:05 AM on August 22, 2008

The only free one I mean.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:06 AM on August 22, 2008

Also XP has a built in OCR thingy MODI
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:07 AM on August 22, 2008

RX8
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:15 AM on August 7, 2008

You could also get a used G35
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:17 AM on August 7, 2008

How to start/stop things. How to rebuild projects (where is the source, what apps do you need, dependencies etc) What jobs run and what do they do. Anything you can think the person that replaces you will need to know in order to keep everything running.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:10 PM on August 4, 2008

I don't think the gay cousin and boyfriend are exactly impartial in pronouncing someones gayness. Leave him be, perhaps he's lonely, doesn't like his girlfriend but doesn't want to be alone and is trying a little to hard to make friends with your guy. Doesn't make him gay.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:01 PM on August 1, 2008

There is one in Montclair Park Oakland too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:24 PM on July 31, 2008

Watch Survivorman
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:35 AM on July 31, 2008

Make that Survivorman
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:36 AM on July 31, 2008

It didn't work for me at all. All it tracks is if you move your arm around a bit, so if you are sound asleep and not twitching it isn't going to do a thing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 10:56 AM on July 29, 2008

I think it's snake oil :) The thing I use now that does work great though is a light that comes on slowly, ramps up brightness over about 30mins, that thing is great and I always manage to wake up very easily sometime during the lighting up phase (after which the alarm goes off). I get up early so it's always dark out though, wouldn't do much good if your room is normally bathed in light when you get up.

Another great alarm was one my friend had that started with a click,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 11:42 AM on July 29, 2008

For when they get a bit older after going through a bunch we got a Jeep Umbrella Stroller, super light, folds up real small and wheels the kid around. Perfect.

I was never very happy with any of the strollers we had for the baby though, they all seemed too big and unwieldly so can't help you there I'm afraid.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 10:09 AM on July 11, 2008

Ours is like this but a different color. Super cheap too :)
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 10:10 AM on July 11, 2008

Sell it privately for whatever you can get, use that to pay down the loan and just get a cheap beater. Fuel efficiency really doesn't figure into things at this point.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:12 PM on July 10, 2008

This is a little off the wall but could you pop one of these neck fans on and blow the fuzzies away? Or something similar in the blow them away vein.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:44 AM on July 10, 2008

Perhaps one of these
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 8:18 AM on July 10, 2008

Could you wear a hat and put the ipod in that?
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:45 AM on July 9, 2008 marked best answer

I'm English and for peas I always went tines up. Don't sweat it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:31 PM on July 2, 2008

Also to get the food to stay on you need to stab part of it (say some peas) to act as a small wall against which the rest can balance.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:31 PM on July 2, 2008

I have one of these a Netgear MP101 that works like a charm. Connects to a Wi-Fi network.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 11:06 AM on July 1, 2008

You'll need a pair of cheap computer speakers with the Netgear.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 11:08 AM on July 1, 2008

The Netgear plus speakers will do this for about $80, and it's about the size of a decent sized cookbook.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:21 PM on July 1, 2008

How about you just ignore the note altogether. Your shed, you can paint it any color you want, and she is more than welcome to place something in her backyard that she'd rather look at.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:59 PM on June 30, 2008

union should do it
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:54 PM on June 30, 2008

(select dept_name as a from depts)
union
(select alt_dept a from depts)
order by a
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:58 PM on June 30, 2008

amazon is nice for legal - mp3fiesta for less than legal.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 10:24 AM on June 30, 2008

Well the recent addition was an upgrade to a new motherboard/cpu combo, so uninstalling not really an option :) What I'm trying to do is definitively figure out what is causing the crash, instead of blindly swapping out bits hoping it goes away.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 8:33 AM on June 30, 2008

It's pretty random, and can go days without crashing then boom. The computer has been perfectly stable when it was hot outside and crashed this morning when it was freezing.

Does the fact that the mouse moves but everything else is dead point to the videocard/drivers? Or could it really just be anything?

I'll try out the process monitor.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 8:57 AM on June 30, 2008

I did a repair install of XP when I upgraded my motherboard, I'll try memtest; pretty sure I ran it just after upgrading but will give it another shot. I reused the RAM when I upgraded but definitely possible I fried it in the process.

Is there anything similar to memtest that could be used to stress test the videocard?
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:35 AM on June 30, 2008

I wish more folks were as conscientious as you aydeejones. I think not using https on pages with sensitive information on them speaks volumes about them as a company and I wouldn't do business with them - they are cheap for a reason...

I don't think the chances of someone intercepting your file on the fly is high at all, but that's not really the point is it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:03 AM on June 30, 2008

I signed up for Mozy recently and it's been spotty. At first their backend servers were on the fritz so I couldn't complete my upload and the restore file part of their website has been unavailable a fair number of times. The data did all get uploaded (58GB of it) though and it's super easy to use.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 8:06 AM on June 30, 2008

The Mozy software doesn't impact day to day operation of the PC, I don't even notice it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 8:06 AM on June 30, 2008

I stayed there in 95 and had a great time (I actually met my first wife there). George is a crazy old coot who dries his dishes with newspaper and has 90yr old twins come sing opera for him on the weekends.. It's slap dab dang in the middle of Paris and all he asks is that you do some chores and write a description of your stay for him when you leave. If he's still there (he had to be at least 110 when I stayed there) give him my regards. It's not exactly the height of luxury mind, you'll need... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 6:42 AM on June 30, 2008

There are actually a couple (one?) private room that's available, but the pretty face rule applies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 6:45 AM on June 30, 2008

If it's red then it's alcohol and not mercury (which is silver), but not sure how you'd fix it I'm afraid. Centrifuge ?
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 9:57 AM on June 27, 2008

Urgh broken centrifuge and thermometer, it's not your day is it :) How about attaching it to an electric drill with a string, and using that as a centrifuge... It's crazy enough that it might just work (and failing that you'd be a hit on youtube if you got it on video)
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 10:06 AM on June 27, 2008

You can always down sample...
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 11:13 AM on June 25, 2008

I'd give the telcos immunity in a heartbeat if those that asked them to break the law were prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 8:51 AM on June 25, 2008

Nada for Wednesday...
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 12:30 PM on June 24, 2008

To attach wood to concrete either use bolts epoxied into the concrete or tapcon screws that are designed to screw into concrete. Place wooden plugs over the heads of the bolts/screws.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:30 PM on June 23, 2008

Also make sure you use a nice rot proof wood, redwood, cedar, something pressure treated.
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:31 PM on June 23, 2008

You could also just pour yourself a nice new concrete step...
posted to Ask Metafilter by zeoslap at 1:33 PM on June 23, 2008