Well, as someone whose family was at one point Baha'i, but has now left, let me give you a little bit of my experience.

My parents joined the faith after a couple of introductory meetings. They had friends who were involved, they liked the syncretic message and the emphasis on peace, internationalism and a personal God. They discussed it a bit with us, and we joined up.

We primarily attended rural center for the monthly Feast; it was an... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 11:03 PM on September 3, 2008

On long road trips, the generally accepted game is that by being the first person to append the surname of your compatriot to a freeway exit sign, they have to have a child and give them those first and middle names. For example, in Florida, you might yell "El Dorado Omega Johnson!" and your friend Dave Johnson would have to name his kid El Dorado Omega.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 9:28 AM on August 28, 2008

LittleMissCranky—You forgot the other part of that game. When a person is making the ring with their fingers, if you can shoot your finger down into the hole without looking at it (or being caught looking at it), you get to punch them.

We called this game "Fuck you!"
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 1:48 PM on August 28, 2008

Look, I want to snark at you here, pretty hardcore. It's kind of wishful thinking, selfish and poorly-articulated.

That said, there were plenty of people in my high school circles that managed to pull this off. I wasn't one of them, and I'm trying not to let that color my response. Looking back on it, a lot of the criteria seem absolutely moronic, but that wasn't true at the time.

The folks I knew who pulled this off were in one of two classes:... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 5:53 PM on August 27, 2008

Find a friend to kick in $40.

Then buy pudding.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 4:08 PM on August 27, 2008

"Would you like to come back to the Casual Sex Cave? It's like the Batcave, only, well, you know."

At parties, I had decent luck with "Wanna make out?" and "Wanna touch my beard?" but the latter only works if you have a beard, I think.

I'll also give the caveat that I never managed to hook up with a girl without it turning into a relationship (which, y'know, I was cool with, but it doesn't sound like that's what you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 5:23 PM on August 25, 2008

DDA—If you've got a pre-intel mac, it's a no-go. Which blows, since (despite promises), NBC didn't show the goddamned steeplechase.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 10:39 AM on August 25, 2008

One reason for this—It would be pretty trivial to set up a money-laundering plan where, say, Dirty Money X is "donated" to party A by party B, and party A then uses that money to "buy" goods or services from party B.

You can, however, offer to sell advertising.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:15 PM on August 22, 2008

Grant Hart's 2541 is a great one, as is Leavin' Here by the High Numbers (later The Who).
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 1:46 PM on August 21, 2008

Some more oblique than others:

Los Angeles—X
Leavin' On Your Mind—Patsy Cline
Moving to LA—Art Brut
Many Happy Returns—ABC
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 7:55 PM on August 21, 2008

A tremendous wealth of military songs can be found here.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 1:43 PM on August 21, 2008

It also sounds less "dated" because bands are sincerely making music that sounds similar today; the "dated" sounds of a lot of albums come when the sound is abandoned or seen as a failure.

However, I once got challenged by Chuck Eddy over describing something as dated, and have yet been able to think of a reason why "dated" should be a criticism.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 9:56 PM on August 20, 2008

For me, my new allegiances are based mostly on my old ones. The Lakers and the Pistons have a longstanding rivalry (though the Lakers acknowledge it less), so I root against them in favor of the Clippers. The Angels are in the same league as the Tigers, so I know them, but have trouble rooting for them, unlike the Dodgers, whose success never really impacts the Tigers.

And my father was White Sox fan because he lived on the North side and hated Cubs fans (and he had... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 9:23 PM on August 20, 2008

Folk Nation doesn't have one particular color scheme, rather local gangs adopted into its structure maintain their own. It was green bandannas where I lived in Michigan.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 2:38 PM on August 19, 2008

There's a user on MeFi (Mach3velli) who usually recommends post-rock even when it's not appropriate, but for some reason isn't in this thread. This is his blog, which is full of the stuff you want.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:47 PM on August 19, 2008

Sorry, that's Mach3avelli.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:50 PM on August 19, 2008

Part of what looks like the problem in making you look younger is that those bangs and squarish-bob thing that you have in older shots really squares off your face in a fairly brutal way, which by virtue of being inelegant translates to childish. Avoiding bangs and going with an off-center part will make your haircut less punk rock, but more suited to your head shape on the whole, and therefore a bit more sophisticated and less young.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 3:10 PM on August 17, 2008

Man, OK, I used to work at a Mexican restaurant and had to both fight for control of the radio and cater to the classic rock circa '97 sound.

Most of the good stuff has been mentioned, but:

Jimi Hendrix—The Ultimate Collection (or any of innumerable other best-ofs. While I love Axis, it has some weird shit on there).
Cheap Trick—Live at Budokan
Ministry—Psalm 69
Electric Wizard—s/t
Jay... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 11:19 AM on August 17, 2008 marked best answer

Regarding the derail on use versus possession: in most states, your body is considered a container.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 2:04 PM on August 15, 2008

Something mentioned on the Olympic broadcast was that Euro handball is played off-season in indoor soccer arenas. It's the same size field, just with hardwood instead of fake turf.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 1:51 PM on August 15, 2008

As far as making a career, your best bet may be to look for freelance opportunities in trade mags first, especially anything that has to do with your political persuasion. I remember that a lot of places like the Michigan Land Use Initiative (to use one example) put out regular publications and generally need writers with a strong analytic bent.

But yeah, underpaid and over-worked is generally the way things go. I haven't seen any positions advertised recently that are... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 3:41 PM on August 13, 2008

Haha, yeah. Commensurate.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 7:25 PM on August 13, 2008

I'll bet Dylan knows quite a bit more than me regarding online opportunities, but frankly, I've found very, very few that pay as well as print. Perhaps this is because I confuse commensurate with commiserate.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 4:56 PM on August 14, 2008

Cool Papa Bell has it—This is pretty much straight political pandering, just like McCain's proposal to lift the gas tax for a summer, or the plans to drill off-shore in order to bring gas prices down.

People are pissed because gas costs more, even though the margins for most oil conglomerates have stayed pretty stable (at least, the last time I checked). And really, the margins for refiners and distributors have been squeezed, because the supply costs more (scarce,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 9:27 AM on August 14, 2008

What's he gonna do when he finds out you're snooping? Dump you?
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 3:31 PM on August 13, 2008

"But "she spoke Spanish to them, they spoke Italian to her, and they understood each other 98% of the time" is typical of the kind of nonsense you hear when people toss the question around."

When I was in Italy, I spoke English to people and they spoke Italian to me, and we understood each other 90% of the time. Ergo, Spanish is only 8% different.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:01 PM on August 12, 2008

I have never once seen food spit on.

I have seen, in the course of working in three different food service jobs:

—Smaller portions for assholes
—Dave's Insanity added
—Dropped food served (if you ever hear people counting out three long seconds, you should probably eat somewhere else)
—Meat served to vegetarians
—Ham rubbed on balls
—Pizza farted on
—Floor sweepings served... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 5:29 PM on August 9, 2008

Psshaw, y'all are missing the real bands that become hilarious. Like, sure, Creed takes themselves seriously, but their music's just lame, not funny for it.

Now, on the other hand, there's Manowar. There isn't an ounce of self-awareness there, just hard rock action. Look at the cover of their Fighting the World album from '87, and realize that there's absolutely no recognition of the fact that they look totally gay.

I'm sure that I'll have more... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:46 PM on July 31, 2008

If I thought about love at the beginning of my relationship the way I do now, some six and a half years in, I probably wouldn't have said it three weeks in, when she asked as a precursor to having sex for the first time. I was definitely infatuated, and was willing to say it, but it didn't mean the same thing that "I love you" means when I tell her now.

Ultimately, this is something that you kinda have to work out for yourself, because everyone and every... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:10 PM on July 30, 2008

Someone once told me that you can be right or you can be happy. Which is more important to you?
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 11:23 AM on July 28, 2008

The Sparks have good advice.

Grow out the full beard, then trim down. I happen to not look good with just a moustache (my hair actually grows in kind of weird thin archipelagos from my top lip down, and without the cheek hair to kind of camouflage that, it looks weird), but plenty of dudes I know do. I'd advise you to err on the side of robustness, as a trimmed moustache can look overly fussy, but that might just be a personal preference (I know my dad looked far... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 10:56 AM on July 28, 2008

If we ignore the over-broad reading that many here seem to be taking ("Anything that's good! Here are some graphic novels I liked!") and look at those with structural reasons, you'll find that the most notable is probably Hopscotch, by Julio Cortezar, in that there are two separate stories contained within, determined by the order in which the chapters are read.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 4:47 PM on July 25, 2008

What's your ad budget? Tossing something up on Pitchfork (or any number of awesome print mags like Skyscraper, Bomb, Under The Radar, Paste, Pop Culture Press, Magnet, Wonkavision, Punk Planet or The Onion) would hit your demo perfectly—artists and hyper-aware fans.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 2:31 PM on July 23, 2008

"I wondered about that, too, but that doesn't explain spaghetti."

It does, if you remember Marco Polo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 5:19 PM on July 21, 2008

I'm going to buck the trend here a little—Don't start with Watchmen. Don't read Watchmen until you can appreciate the tropes of superhero comics. It's a wicked deconstruction, but it's much, much richer if you recognize the context that it exists and existed in.

Instead, start with Moore's From Hell, his take on the Jack the Ripper mythos. It's dark, mystical, dense and wicked. Then I'd recommend trying Moore's run on Swamp Thing, which also subverts... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:35 PM on July 19, 2008

"I don't think this is true. I've tended to date two groups of men. One my age (~35) and one 15 years older (~50). The older men, who were coming of age in the 60's and 70's pretty much hate the shaved look. It doesn't resonate with their experience of sexuality and what turned them on when they were developing erotic preferences, and they find it a turn off. On the other hand, every guy my age preferred it. I attribute that almost 100% to porn.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 1:09 PM on July 18, 2008

Oh, and one thing that internet porn has done for me is make me realize that there are more than a few things that I think are incredibly hot to see or read about, but are kinda "meh" to actually do. Prior to the internet, a lot of these things wouldn't have crossed my consciousness, or at least not in such quantity. I realize this is one of those quantitative differences, rather than a qualitative one, in that I'd likely have had similar experiences later and separated my porn-viewer... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 1:21 PM on July 18, 2008

Ah, you want Fey or Twee music with an overlap of female singers. Here's some:

Tuscadero—Aside from Heat Lightning, which is a legitimate rocker, they came across as the softer side of Veruca Salt. Lots of songs with central conceits, like comparing the guys they date to candy or board games. Start with the Pink album.

Battershell—If only for the Shower Song, one of the most unabashedly girly indie pop tunes ever.

That... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 11:42 AM on July 18, 2008 marked best answer

Compliance officers generally have law degrees and don't litigate—they make sure that a company is acting in a way consistent with the laws that govern it. I've also seen ads looking for ethics officers with law degrees.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 11:26 AM on July 18, 2008

I can tell you two things:

First off, cold water shrinks your junk, and everyone will assume that rather than you being under-endowed.

Second off, speaking as a guy who occasionally gets hard-ons at the pool, the most successful strategy is to look for board-short style bathing suits that are made out of denser stuff, like canvas or denim.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 2:00 PM on July 15, 2008

Problems:

—As already noted, previous decades didn't really have single identities either, despite what Time Warner sells you as comps. The '70s were Led Zep, Donna Summer, David Bowie, Bread and the Sex Pistols. The '60s were The Beatles, The Temptations, John Coltrane and Pat Boone.

—People that have the most succinct view of the '90s were the ones who weren't paying attention. "But basically, it was the decade when rock finally died, as... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 12:01 PM on July 13, 2008

The reason I was hoping for local was because I wanted to make sure I could get proofs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 5:20 PM on July 11, 2008

Yeah, thanks dad, but Pat said he'd do it if I got him the specs for a place in LA—so I could see proofs—and paid for materials.

So… I'm kinda at that step now.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 9:45 PM on July 11, 2008

I've long been used to my last name being mangled, since it has an unfamiliar vowel and consonant cluster. I've always had more hassle changing it on the tickets than I have had at the airport just riding it through. The last time that we were booked by someone else, my girlfriend had four different mistakes in her last name (coming across something like Champfeet) and no one blinked an eye.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 4:35 PM on July 11, 2008

DIY record cleaner.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 3:29 PM on July 11, 2008

In the late '90s at CBGBs, I saw a not all-percussion-but-still-roughly-ten-people-painted-gold band called Paint.

Did they also have gold lamé leotards on?

(On a subsequent trip, I saw another band at CBGBs who were also called Paint, but they weren't in gold and they sounded a lot like Kill Hannah).
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 3:26 PM on July 11, 2008

When my ex-girlfriend cheated on me, I was pretty open about it. I think it helped that we were in a long-distance relationship, which is halfway like breaking up already, because I could just be like, well, that's that. I took a little time to go get shitfaced with pals, didn't knock her outside of that (though plenty of her foibles no longer seemed quite as endearing).

If you're going to be open about it, feel free to pop your collar and be blunt about it—she cheated,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 3:24 PM on July 10, 2008

Generally, subs. Grinders, as per Mancino's in Lansing, Mi., are baked in the pizza oven. I've also seen 'em called hoagies and heros, generally based on the shop. I'm from Michigan.
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 10:04 AM on July 8, 2008

An extra data point: People actually like songs MORE each time they've heard them, up until a burnout point. That's why commercial radio plays the same thing over and over again, despite the constant complaints about doing so—because Arbitron polling data dictates that the song is still being enjoyed. And that's a big part of why people tend to fixate on the music of their youth—they don't invest the same amount of time in repeating the song once they get older. As far as an explanation to this... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 10:55 AM on July 6, 2008

Sounds like a hopelessly screwed up sociopath. The more time he spends locked up away from the rest of us, the better.

Holy leapin' Jesus, what a foolish opinion.

Look, based on the information given, we can't conclude whether the kid is a "sociopath" and whether he'd be well served by a rehabilitation perspective or a strict removal and punishment approach. It's hard enough to tell when the kid's there in front of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by klangklangston at 5:33 PM on July 5, 2008