Here are some more suggestions from a question I asked a couple of years ago.

Also, backseatpilot is planning a Boston meetup for you!
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 11:56 AM on May 16, 2008

jamaro: In that case, how come I can use the trackpad with my knuckle or my elbow?
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 9:07 PM on May 15, 2008

Mostly MetaFilter, to be honest.

ml98tu is right that we'd need to know your interests to be of any real help. If you're interested in video games, you might like the weekly Sunday Papers feature on British PC gaming blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 1:15 PM on May 11, 2008

Is your music still on your computer in your iTunes library?
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 2:21 PM on May 10, 2008

If your music is on another machine, then nothing is permanently lost. Your best bet is probably to wait until you can resync your iPod with it (and, as beaucoupkevin says, be wary of accidentally syncing with other computers in the future!). As far as I know there is no freeware iPod data recovery solution, but maybe someone else has one handy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 3:21 PM on May 10, 2008

Inspired by this MeTa thread, here's a belated followup:

The preamp was the problem. I bought a new audio interface, and now all is well.

Thanks for your help, Ask MeFites of yesteryear!
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 2:05 PM on May 3, 2008 marked best answer

One thing I've noticed about that cliche (as it appears in movies, etc.) is that there's never any explanation of what "it" actually is, if it's really not what it looks like.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:19 AM on May 1, 2008

Hah. I like OMGJESSAMYN.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 5:40 PM on April 23, 2008

How about "I do it on the green," as a nod to those oh-so-clever school sports team t-shirts?
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 6:41 PM on April 23, 2008

Based on second-hand knowledge of the previous roflcon

Huh?
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:01 PM on April 23, 2008

I second both moxiedoll and jacquilynne. Phenomenally cool idea, but make sure you think through the logistics.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 8:42 PM on April 15, 2008

This guy has instructions for how to use NES, SNES, and N64 pads with your GameCube/Wii. He also sells preconverted controllers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 3:57 PM on April 2, 2008

I have an answer for your second question: the Nintendo DS Lite.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 9:00 PM on March 18, 2008

Can you plug the URL (http://www.justintsai.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/CeilingHillary.swf) into Zamzar?
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 10:23 AM on March 12, 2008

Annie being Annie (if you are named Annie)
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 8:28 AM on March 10, 2008

WalterMitty: ROFLCon has a couple of academics coming to speak. Not sure if they've published anything though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:07 AM on March 10, 2008

Dawg After Dark by David Grisman
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:24 AM on March 7, 2008 marked best answer

This thread has some good suggestions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 6:19 PM on March 3, 2008

My standard Cambridge recommendation is Club Passim. Tickets for shows range from $10-20.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:49 PM on February 25, 2008

It's 2712.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:27 PM on February 25, 2008

ikkyu2 is right. The third-party app I know offhand is Senuti. Can't vouch for it personally, but I've heard it works.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 10:05 PM on February 24, 2008

In case you didn't see it on the preference panel, you turn VoiceOver on and off with command-F5. I would guess that's how you turned it on by accident -- I do it all the time, instead of hitting Fn-F5 -- but it's a good shortcut to know so you can quickly turn the damn thing back off.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 6:34 PM on February 24, 2008

Samus is a great example, but it's kind of sad that they hide the fact that she's female until the end.

I dunno. I thought that was a great subversive touch. The sad thing, IMO, is that now she's just as much of a sex object as any other female character.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 3:18 PM on February 23, 2008

I have XP installed on a partition on my MacBook Pro. No problems to report.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 8:41 PM on February 22, 2008

(Also, for what it's worth, I have 2.33 GHz and 2 GB RAM and I've played Oblivion and Portal without any problems. Morrowind should be blazing fast.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 8:42 PM on February 22, 2008

Try varying your handwriting size. I know at least two people who wrote faster (and less painfully) after allowing themselves the luxury of larger letters; I suspect it took more effort and precision to make the small letters legible. On the other hand, I also know someone who writes faster now that she writes smaller -- the big loopy flourishy letters took too long, maybe.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 8:05 AM on February 18, 2008

Go to shows at Club Passim in Cambridge.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 5:34 PM on February 16, 2008

Doot doot
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 9:45 AM on February 16, 2008

(Friend is in the US.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 11:29 AM on February 15, 2008

There are several -- you can google "inflation calculator" to find them -- but I'm not aware of any that stretch back to the 17th century.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 2:00 PM on February 3, 2008

I found this thread through playing with the new search features and dug out my high school yearbook. My favorite signature: "have a nice life."
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 6:04 AM on February 3, 2008

I have the same habits as you. It seems very much related to Barry Schwartz's "paradox of choice" theory, which is more about consumerism than music but is still a convincing explanation of why we're wired this way.

As for a solution, I've trained myself to keep my iPod's hold switch locked so that I can't skip songs I'm "not in the mood for." After a few seconds I usually end up feeling fine about my "choice" and keep listening. If I'm... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 6:11 PM on February 2, 2008

Some people go to congratulate themselves for their refinement and affluence, others go for the music. Wear whatever you like.

Exactly right.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:00 AM on February 2, 2008

Metroid Baby, about 2/3 of the way down the page that null terminated linked there's a somewhat similar debunking of this theory. (Search the page for "This is clearly wrong.").
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:36 AM on February 1, 2008

Hatchet
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 8:02 AM on January 30, 2008

Priests vow to remain celibate, physicians vow to do no harm, and letter carriers vow to swiftly complete their appointed rounds despite snow, sleet, and split infinitives. Few people realize that psychologists also take a vow, promising that at some point in their professional lives they will publish a book, a chapter, or at lesat an article that contains this sentence: "The human being is the only animal that..." We are allowed to finish the sentence any way we like, but it has to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 9:11 AM on January 27, 2008

Erin McKeown's Sing You Sinners is mostly American standards , but there's one original stuffed in there ("Melody") that fits in perfectly. You'd never know it was written 60-70 years later than the rest of the stuff.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 6:55 AM on January 27, 2008

Tea-scented candles?
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 5:43 AM on January 23, 2008

I think b33j's scenario is most likely.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:22 PM on January 22, 2008

Two answers:

One, what??

Two, I'd think it's more the houses smelling like their farts (or, more broadly, houses smelling like their inhabitants).
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:08 PM on January 21, 2008

Heh. I have an MP3 of myself playing guitar along with that (don't ask). Unfortunately, I don't have the audio by itself...

If you really need it and can't find it anywhere else, I'll put the guitar bit online somewhere. Maybe I should do that anyway.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:07 PM on January 21, 2008

Is there any reason you need to use YouTube specifically? There are other video-hosting sites -- Vimeo is a personal favorite.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 10:03 PM on January 10, 2008

Not sure what the problem is -- I host my own WordPress blog, and I have Javascript in one of my sidebar widgets. jbickers' instructions should do it...
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 3:23 PM on January 6, 2008

I use WordPress and Dreamhost. Easy as pie, and you can still get your hands dirty in the HTML, CSS, PHP, and any number of other acronyms if you so desire.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 7:57 AM on January 6, 2008

My friend just got me into Radiohead last year, and it was through OK Computer.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 9:59 PM on January 5, 2008

How did you decide what to name your characters and places?

I collect unusual names. I have notebooks full of them. Some of the names I made up, like Quidditch, Malfoy. Other names mean something -- Dumbledore, which means "bumblebee" in Old English...seemed to suit the headmaster, because one of his passions is music and I imagined him walking around humming to himself. And so far I have got names from saints, place-names, war memorials, gravestones.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 10:17 AM on January 5, 2008

(Incidentally, I got to that link via Dumbledore's entry on Wikipedia)
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 10:19 AM on January 5, 2008

And just to finish it off, the OED gives "A humble-bee or bumble-bee; also dial. a cockchafer."

Now, cockchafer...there's a name Rowling could have done something with!
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 10:21 AM on January 5, 2008

Actually, Ask MeFi itself tends to get good answers to those kinds of questions -- Matt and Jessamyn have remarked on it a few times in the podcast. Take a look at other posts tagged with cooking.
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 6:37 PM on January 4, 2008

From what I understand, it's much more common at colleges than "in the wild."
posted to Ask Metafilter by danb at 8:25 AM on December 31, 2007