I don't know about rentals, and I have no personal experience with her, but Karen Majewicz of Dreamland Faces, who are headquarterd in Minneapolis, does accordian lessons and repairs. I imagine she/they might have a good line on ukulele people as well.

And you should check out Dreamland Faces.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 12:13 PM on July 25, 2008

JBWeld claims to be non-toxic. It is a steel epoxy, and holds anything to anything forever. It's awesome.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 5:00 PM on July 23, 2008

The Decordova?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 8:21 AM on July 22, 2008

I grew up and went to school in New England but I live in Texas now. I think it should be noted here that part of the joy of layering is UNWRAPPING. So, you get to class and you are a toasty, frosty bundle, and then you unwrap yourself and you are wearing basically normal clothes plus silk thermals. Lots of places have weird heat and you may be very happy to be able to unwrap a LOT.

Also, common anecdote: I had a friend who had come to Boston from San Diego, where he had... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:19 AM on July 22, 2008

Oh, I forgot to mention, a thin, hemmed, oblong piece of woolen fabric, like a thin blanket, is a great multi-purpose cold weather tool. Get one thin enough and long enough that you can use it as a scarf or as a hood or shawl depending on your needs at the time.

Also, learn to tie your scarf the other way, where you double it around and pull the end through (Google is failing me, and I don't have time to explain this well. Anyone?) - it stays put better, is warmer, and looks good.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:25 AM on July 22, 2008

Friends of Dean Martinez has a Morricone thing going on, sometimes.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 2:33 PM on July 19, 2008

I have the same problem. I wear them basically every day and get 8 or 9 months out of them. I don't think there is a solution. I thought about maybe buying those leather Chuck Taylors, but the issue is not that the canvas gives out - it's everything else.

Every time it's the same thing - First month my right pinky toe hurts. Second month they don't look BRAND new anymore. Third month the shoes start to look really good. Fourth month the paint on the starts starts to wear... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 12:35 PM on July 14, 2008

I work for a local government website. Is our site great? No, probably not. But it *is* always up-to-date, accurate, accessible and visible in ANY browser, and ADA compliant.

Civic web stuff is such a different beast, to me, than private/corporate web stuff. You are doing everything on the cheap (at least we are), and it has to be all things to all people. The taxpayers are paying for it, so how do you justify spending X amount of your budget on efforts that will, at... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:59 AM on July 11, 2008

I call 'em subs now, but I grew up calling them grinders. Central Massachusetts.

When I was a little LITTLE kid we lived in Urbana, Illinois, and I remember we called them "submarine sandwiches", but that is probably less a reflection on any regionalism and more a reflection on me and my brothers thinking submarines were cool.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 8:14 AM on July 8, 2008

I just came here to ask this question, and have been similarly flummoxed by google searches. AskMetafilter rules!
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 11:39 AM on July 7, 2008

so are all references to suspect Canadian girlfriends references to the Breakfast Club?

Only the ones spoken by Anthony Michael Hall in John Hughes movies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:34 PM on July 3, 2008

I am outing myself as a fan of shameless pop music with this, but I thought Jellyfish was astonishingly, transcendentally good, and criminally underrated..

They were unlucky in that they came out with their extremely intnentional, sleek, retro-ish power-pop in 1990 (which is probably really still the late '80s, in any taxonomy of music sense), just when the last scourges of metal were being extinguished by the first rumbles of grunge. They didn't fit into either camp,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 2:31 PM on July 2, 2008

I am fearful this is not a good way to start a marriage.

I agree.

What do you have to gain from a pre-nup, other than HIS comfort in feeling protected from the horrible person he is pretty sure you are going to turn into?

Postpone. At the very least you need some time to get your bearings. He has been keeping his finances from you, demanding a pre-nup with the implication that you are out to get him?

Really, I'm fairly close to DTMFA.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 3:28 PM on July 1, 2008

I know it'll be a challenge, but why not try to give them what they want? The more warm and welcoming and carefree you are able to come across, the more generally favorable the reporter will view you and the more favorably the reporter views you the more books you will sell. You are not being interviewed or photographed because you are supermodels, after all. They want you because you are normal people making it work, so be yourself and let them portray you in the warm light you deserve.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 5:13 PM on June 26, 2008

Do you have a team that you are a fan of? For me, I'm a baseball fan in general, I keep some track of the whole game, but it is sort of distant and abstract. I really, really follow my team, and tying in a love of the game with the specific players and, well, storylines, that are happening to my team is what really makes it sing. The tension between the cold, hard, statistical nature of things mixed with very unpredictable, human, messy, actuality of any given play is what moves baseball... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 8:21 AM on June 9, 2008

Oh, I meant to add (and other people have touched on it) look up rules that you don't understand. Knowing the subtleties of, say, the infield fly rule or a balk, make it much more interesting when it happens in a game.

Also, the more you know the more you can enjoy one of the other great aspects of baseball fandom: yelling at your TV when Tim McCarver says nonsensical crap.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 11:35 AM on June 9, 2008

Rick Springfield - Don't Talk to Strangers.

Sheesh, between this and the Huey Lewis and the Squirrel thread I am going to get all my cool points revoked.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 2:01 PM on June 6, 2008

Two years ago she got it, when she was 11? The future of the device is that it is going to fall further and further out of fashion so fast that it might take on a handsome red glow. This would be true to some degree about an older iPod as well.

She is probably taking lots of steps that distance her 13 year old self from her 11 year old self. Zune, in spite of the fairly high quaility and value for money of the device, has not broken into fashionabilty. So, she has an... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 1:15 PM on June 6, 2008

I think also this is sort of societal growing pains. People are by and large fairly adept interacting with opposite-sex couples - most people (not all) know the big potholes to watch out for. I think a fair amount of, uh, the square community has less experience with same-sex couples. They don't yet know automatically what stupid shit not to say.

I agree with the people "say thanks and move on" people, but I would include a *tinge* of "you've said... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:24 AM on June 5, 2008

Yeah, those buses exist, but they skip people a lot, get full a lot, etc. Not 100% reliable, and not knowns as "very nice" by most standards. (...) There are not UT shuttles that go that far, and that would be a long CapMetro ride

All Cap Metro buses are free for UT students. The express buses make extremely limited stops (so they are fairly quick), and are super cushy. Some of them even have free WiFi. I think they would be considered... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 12:38 PM on June 2, 2008

"You know how when you were in college you heard that story about the guy who took a lot of acid and freaked out because he thought he was a glass of orange juice and he was afraid people were trying to drink him? We're that guy. 1, 2, 3, 4!"

That was the best band intro I ever saw, and only because (point of my comment approaching) dumb as it was it was delivered well.

There are a million things you can do or say that will endear... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 7:55 AM on June 2, 2008

DTMFJA?

How about an iPhone?
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 7:02 AM on May 29, 2008

This happens several times in Rio Bravo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 9:57 AM on May 28, 2008 marked best answer

People get up at 3 in the morning and hover over their firebox all day long to get brisket right. There's just no shortcut that is going to produce acceptable results.

I fear that without actual physical smoke you might be out of luck.

You could, I suppose, try and make your OWN liquid smoke (tincture of ground fresh mesquite ashes and coals?), and add it to slow/pressure cooked brisket, and you might be able to fool someone who has never had... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 8:34 AM on May 28, 2008

Le Creuset does the lifetime warranty thing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 1:51 PM on May 23, 2008

A few things:

So far as I know there was only ever one belt, up until yesterday when I got the new one. The repair guy might have put in a new one, but I sort of doubt it.

The machine itself, before the belt issue, has served us well. Small sample size, sure, but worth noting.

Also, the belt has very very little give. Just barely enough to get it on the wheel. But, the new one is tighter than the old one. It was much... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 10:40 AM on May 22, 2008

I agree with the 5 S's, specifically the shushing. When our son was tiny he was a fearsome crier and sometimes the ONLY thing that would turn it around was a LOUD long white-noise shush right in his little face. It feels weird to do, because in order for it to work it must be loud, so loud and close that it feels almost violent, but it would reset his cry-o-meter when nothing else would.

Decide nighttime strategies during the day. It's impossible to make clear-headed... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 10:53 AM on May 20, 2008

It seems like anyone would be willing to accept an amount of money matching the amount he stands to make from them, plus expenses. But then, if you are willing to pay that, why shouldn't he hold out for more? And still, I don't know if buying them from him, assuming you trust him, would do what you want. Once things are on the internet, they are on the internet. There's no real putting the genie back in the bottle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 5:33 AM on May 18, 2008

That's not at all true.
Yes, it really really is. If nude pictures have appeared on a site that people who are into nude pictures go to, rest assured someone has squirreled them away. Chances are the motivation/ability to link these pictures with your friend is low enough that it won't be an issue, but to think that they are gone if the site takes them down is laughable. If it's out there it is out there, and saying that it isn't true does not make it not true.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:52 AM on May 18, 2008

IANALIFICBRWOS* but I agree that this is just one of those things.

Well, think "don't" standing alone as a sentence is an exception. It doesn't stand alone particularly well, it just stands alone better than "I'm". "Don't" only works because of the utility of getting across the concept of not doing something without any extraneous stuff. "I'm" is never enough of a concept on its own to have forced a common exception.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:45 AM on May 15, 2008

The fact that he hasn't been re-arrested in 18 years says otherwise.

I imagine and would hope that some (large) portion of that 18 years was spent behind bars.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 8:38 AM on May 13, 2008

Boy, there is some nonsense being thrown around in here.

Being concerned that there is a person who was convicted of "forcible rape with an 11 yr old" near your (potential) home is not hysterical, or unreasonable. It is prudent. The fact that there clearly exist threats that you do not know about does not negate the ones that you do know about.
Saying "it's a world so perilous that it is impossible to track all the horrible threats,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 9:34 AM on May 13, 2008

Watch Rio Bravo, the John Wayne movie. Afterward, ask him what he thinks of it. Ask him about how the men deal with their fears and responsibilities.

Um. The two women is this movie are the dancer-on-the-run (who is archetypically about 95% 'hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold'), named Feathers who falls in love with John "old enough to be your father" Wayne after about 10 seconds and rearranges her whole life to stay with him. They speak about 50... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:58 AM on May 13, 2008

Robots? T3000? Tom Servo? Johny five? Autonomous Zombie Hunter Z-99? Roomba?

Zombies are a fairly known element. Robots have so much more potential as to make this a ridiculously unfair fight.

Plus, as others have said, Zombies need brains. With a well-planned power source (nuclear?) several robots could eventually whittle away the entire population of the earth once it has turned into zombies.

Robots win every war of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 5:24 AM on May 12, 2008 marked best answer

Polaroid integral film (the kind that you can watch develop) has a battery in the filmpack itself. The peel-apart film does not. so it sounds like you have the latter. Fuji makes, and will continue to make, film that fits it. Probably.

It sounds like you have maybe a 230 or a 3-something, with that weird battery with the snaps on either end. If so, it might be worth your while to replace those battery leads with a enclosure for two AA batteries, which is the same juice... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 2:46 PM on May 8, 2008 marked best answer

Shit howdy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 9:10 AM on May 8, 2008

He is absolutely not mistaken in that it is fairly common to hear about peeing on your hands to toughen the skin or deal with blisters. Whether the practice is common, or effective, is open to debate.

I know Jorge Posada and Moises Alou both have been fairly open about it. I seem to remember that Josh Beckett, who has had blister problems, said it was suggested to him at some point. His blister problems seem to have abated but I don't know if he is peeing on his hands.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 12:01 PM on May 7, 2008

The Chronicle is the Voice, more or less. The Statesman is everything else. They are both fairly good for what they are. 360 Online is part of the Statesman. I say keep an eye on both via the web.

I'd also recommend Austinist.com

I've never even heard of the Daily Herald.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:44 AM on May 7, 2008

Aha! the Austin Daily Herald! Austin Minnesota. I was going to be awfully troubled to find out there was a daily newspaper here that I had never even heard of.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 7:34 AM on May 7, 2008

Next time it comes up, laughing but sweet- "Dude! It's Violetk, not Violetk!"

Also, don't discount the possibility that he knows it and just screwed it up. Like not looking at the lazy eye, or cousin Strawberry's birthmark, sometimes the thing you don't want to do is the thing you end up doing. So, he knows how to pronounce it, in the moment (knowing it was a big deal, well, not a *little* deal) he couldn't take the pressure and screwed it up.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 1:38 PM on May 5, 2008

Respectfuly, KokuRyu, even some co-sleeping, breastfeeding babies cry a lot. Maybe its just what western babies do.

Swaddle blanket as a nice gift for them and the kid, ear-plugs, white noise and scotch for you. A conversation that turns to swaddling or white noice shushing topics is ok, neighborly "HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT CO-SLEEPING BECAUSE I CAN HEAR THAT KID ALL THE TIME" kind of unsolicited advice is not.

Good luck.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 2:48 PM on May 2, 2008

Not only is she a plagiarist, liar, and fraud, she is a terribly ineffective one. You've made the right decision.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 10:49 AM on May 2, 2008

Ignore the buzzkillers. Well, actually, accept the wisdom of what they say and understand that it probably doesn't apply to your case.

Many people like super-slick wedding photographs. That's fine. But many other people prefer human, intimate photographs and (whether they have really articulated it, even to themselves, or not) they believe that a friend, with a certain minimum of technical facility, is more apt to get the photos that they want than is an intruding, fussy,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 2:43 PM on April 29, 2008 marked best answer

None whatsoever in regular school. Central Massachusetts, 'mid to late 80s. But, in 5th grade, I somehow got invited to a 'gifted and talented' afterschool 10 session program run by a principal (not 'our' principal - 'a' principal) about the stock market. The first thing he did the first session of the program, he handed each kid $100 in cash. This got our attention. But then he took the money back, and talked about the stock market or something for 45 minutes, and then we all left. I couldn't... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 8:29 AM on April 28, 2008

I think iconomy is on the right track. You should not be looking for a recipe, you should be looking for a supplier.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 12:50 PM on April 21, 2008

Hmm, but this isn't (or doesn't claim to be) most read. This is most emailed, and judging by the monthly view of most emailed pages ALL the other top pages are legitimately interesting. Well, you know what I mean. I can imagine people forwarding "Hawk attack at Fenway" and "Swan reunited with beloved paddleboat". This story? Not really.

And since there is an easily quantifiable action associated with "most... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 5:05 PM on April 20, 2008

I think it's a Ruscha too, but I can't find it online.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 8:31 AM on April 14, 2008

I have an M3DS and it is pretty damn sweet. Plain old MP3's play great and Moonshell is preinstalled. The only drawback is that the interface for the M3DS/Moonshell is pretty clunky and that is particularly jarring on the DS because you are trained to expect the interface to be so good.

I'd recommend getting the one with the rumble/ram pack for slot two, so you can use your DS as a web browser (the Opera browser requires the RAM add-on).
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:12 PM on April 7, 2008

I'm 179cm tall.(...) just say I'm 6 foot or 180cm
I'm 25. Not 25 and 10/12ths.

Interesting. It's OK to round the height up, but not the years? I think this is (yet another) one of those places where the imprecision of the world combined with our very human need to simplify makes us a little crazy.

You was only 25 years old for a moment, and I am 6 foot, 3.17548745954666 (with the 6 repeating infinitely) inches tall.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:16 AM on April 7, 2008

I is use preview.
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtdirt at 6:16 AM on April 7, 2008