Just to be different...my office dumps everything every month. That allows people to plan ahead a little more - you can stock up on sandwich fixings, juice cartons, cereal, milk, etc.

But we do toss everything on the last Friday of the month (the weekend cleaning crew tosses everything & cleans the fridge). The freezer is left untouched though, so it's a good hold-over location for the weekend if your items can survive being frozen. We have a freezer purge about... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 9:32 PM on August 19, 2008

The body has no 'wet' sensors so it compensates by interpreting cold+pressure as wet. This is also why you think your raincoat is leaking if you're wearing short sleeves while it's raining outside - the cold pressure of the jacket on your arm makes you think your arm is wet when really it's dry.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 5:33 PM on July 30, 2008 marked best answer

How dense it it? Is it bad because it's long hair on his back, or is it bad because it's thick/dense? If it's just long hair then shaving (with an electric razor) to a much shorter length (but not all the way gone) will help a lot, and may be all that's needed. Going all the way to skin can cause stubble/ingrown hairs.

If it's thick/dense, then shaving won't help - it'll just be neatly trimmed carpet on his back instead of shaggy, but still bad. Then you get to go waxing...
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 12:00 PM on July 8, 2008

Crossfit is a popular new workout movement that's focused on functional fitness, and one of the affiliate gyms created a set of athletic skill levels to rank yourself against to measure well-rounded fitness.

Even if you're not doing Crossfit, the athletic skill levels give you a good, well-rounded set of goals to work towards, and includes many things that you wouldn't normally think of (which is what I think you're asking for).

Some... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 11:01 AM on July 3, 2008

Seconding davejay, movers have dealt with this before. Either the company will charge you more for the extra labor/time, or will refuse in which case you should contact another company who's willing to have your business. The moving company should provide its own smaller truck to ferry between your apartment and the semi, and handle all the loading/unloading/transferring itself.

No extra tipping required, you're already paying them for a well-defined service. If they... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 7:12 PM on July 1, 2008

My Spanish friend taught me this:

2 quarts orange juice
2 liters inexpensive red wine (good wine has too much body, is distracting)
sugar to taste (2-4 cups at least)
sliced fruit (oranges, strawberries, apples, etc)

That's how her family makes it, and my friends have all loved it :)
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 7:29 PM on May 19, 2008 marked best answer

Are there any skills that you could learn which would help you in your new position? This is a great opportunity for some self-education, especially if it's work related.

When you show up in your new department and your boss asks what you did for the last 2 weeks you can tell them something productive instead of vague answers about looking busy....
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 11:10 AM on May 12, 2008

Looks like I'm late to this party. If you're at all interested in science, then New Scientist is awesome, it's a weekly science news magazine from the UK. But you don't have to take my word for it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 9:14 PM on March 31, 2008

Just a clarification, most of what you've mentioned is regarding fitness, not health. Many people who are healthy can't run a mile, do pushups, etc. And many people that can do pushups, have low-bodyfat, etc are not necessarily healthy.

I think this is partially subjective, some people value fitness (pushups, mile run) while others value lack of illness but don't care about fitness.

Crossfit attempts to address the fitness question, you can... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 11:16 AM on March 31, 2008

I stutter; I've never had anyone actually try to finish a word for me so I'm not sure if I'd like it or not. Most likely not, I'm well aware that I'm stuck and if I can't get the word out I'll usually give up and rephrase what I was saying. Everyone I interact with just waits patiently for me to get unstuck, acting as if I was only pausing to organize my thoughts, which seems to work well.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 9:56 PM on March 18, 2008

Like GMail, you have to think differently when using iTunes/iPod. There are no folders, instead everything is in one giant list and you search for whatever you need. Once you find what you want, add it to a playlist. Repeat until your playlist has what you like, then arrange the playlist and save it.

You can create smart playlists which automatically update with new content based on filters for genre, rating, etc.

Why are playlists better than... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 10:37 PM on March 16, 2008

Be careful of your job selection, there's a difference between "sitting around doing nothing" and "being allowed to read". You'll want to check what your prospective employer's views are about reading on the job.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 6:50 PM on March 15, 2008

First, Perl was built for exactly this task, it's very good at text searching.

Second, most of the performance hit of an interpreted language is in the startup times. Once it's running within the interpreter it should be very quick. Compiled languages will be faster at startup, but once running will not be faster by default.

Trivia note - you can compile Perl, but then it's not as platform independent.

And as you've... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 5:46 PM on March 12, 2008

My Left Foot
Being There
Harvey

These all triggered a great amount of introspection and have become part of my life: "what would Christy/Chance/Elwood do?"
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 5:23 PM on February 12, 2008 marked best answer

For #1, I love Coppertone Waterbabies sunscreen. I use it for all my outdoor activities, and the burn when (if) it gets in your eyes is much less than any other sunscreen I've tried. I've also learned to wipe off any sunscreen from my eyebrows - it doesn't get absorbed well and consequently can easily run into your eyes when you sweat/rub your face.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 10:10 PM on February 11, 2008

I learned more about bikes from his website than any book I ever bought.
posted to MetaFilter by jpeacock at 1:16 PM on February 4, 2008

I'm a computer guy myself, and I just tell people that I write software and move on to other topics. Only if the person is truly interested will I attempt to explain what I do.

There is so much variety in computer jobs that you'll never get the same answer from two people about what they do. In fact, unless the computer people work at the same place (thus a common frame of reference) then it's difficult even for them to discuss what they do.

A... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 4:15 PM on January 15, 2008

I just fixed this last week for myself (Mac printing to CUPS printer hosted on Ubuntu over the local network), but I'm at work right now. I'll reply again when I'm home tonight with my settings if you haven't figured it out by then.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 12:35 PM on January 2, 2008

OK, here's what I did to get everything working - this is an HP LaserJet 1000 connected to the USB port on an Ubuntu 7.10 linux box, accessed across the local LAN via my OSX 10.4 iMac:

I was not able to get the Mac to see the printer until I added the 'BrowseAllow all' section, then it appeared. That's the secret - CUPS ships by default in stealth mode.

These are the sections that I edited. Basically I made the listen to be generic - port 631... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 10:43 PM on January 2, 2008

GuyZero, I was about to correct your science as I couldn't imagine that it ever became cold enough for the De-sublimation (aka deposition) of CO2 at -109.3F, but then my research backfired on me :) The Russian station at Vostok, Antarctica recorded the coldest temperature ever measured at -129F on July 21, 1983. But that doesn't happen every day, thankfully.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 4:31 PM on November 12, 2007

I'd recommend #3, and it's not really that much work if you use Wordpress.

There's a great tutorial about using the latest features of Wordpress as a CMS system:

Part I
Part II

Using this technique, you start with your personal blog and then build a second view of your site that only shows the professional content. You can then map a subdir of your site to the pro blog (me.com/pro), or sub-url (pro.me.com),... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 11:52 AM on November 4, 2007

I've one of these in storage, it's too good to throw out/sell/give away. When I reinvent the computer after the apocalypse, this will be the keyboard I use. If you've ever handled one then you know that it is literally bomb-proof.
posted to MetaFilter by jpeacock at 12:30 AM on November 4, 2007

As mentioned earlier, do interval training! You want to train smarter, not harder, and right now you're doing 50 minutes of endurance training. That won't make you fitter/slimmer/stronger, it just means you'll be able to go longer. Interval training will burn more fat and build more muscle than endurance training.

30 minutes of interval training will make much more of an impact than 50 minutes of cardio. If you want to get the full benefit, mix it up - do a long... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 9:08 AM on July 17, 2007

You can also create multiple wishlists, and make them public (to potentially receive gifts from) or private if it's stuff you don't want to share.

Adding items to wishlists is just as easy as adding them to your cart, and multiple wishlists are accessible from the same button. You can easily mass-migrate items between wishlists as well.

I have had at times 150+ items in my wishlists, this is what they were designed for ;)
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 7:54 PM on July 6, 2007

My first thought was an anti-static footstrap for ESD protection. But on re-reading, you mentioned he's an officer, so probably not....
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 9:22 PM on June 21, 2007

eco sac looks like the perfect solution - it's what I'm planning on doing for my place if the price doesn't scare me off.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 10:21 AM on April 28, 2007

This doesn't work as well for the big life decisions, but is what I was reminded of when reading your short question...

Carry a coin with you, and when you can't decide what to do, flip the coin - heads you do A, tails you do B. Then you ignore what the coin says, because when you flipped the coin your feelings crystallized into desire for a certain outcome (heads v. tails). Follow your feelings for that outcome.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 1:11 PM on December 1, 2006

iirc, the glass vial has 2 metal contacts which the thermostat uses to detect if the metal spring has moved (because the mercury will flow to one side of the glass vial and cover both contacts, thus denoting a temp change as the metal contracts/expands). This can be reused as-is for some fun hacking.

build a little, low-power, switched circuit that is on when the mercury completes the contacts. now you have a tilt-sensor. hook it up to a flashing light and mount it... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 3:40 PM on August 22, 2006 marked best answer

Kodos to anyone who calculates how far you'll sink in

mercury is 5.5g/cm3 (about). another quick google found the density of school kids (yes, that was the first good link I found), about 1.10g/cm3.

You'd end up sinking about 20%, that would be a cool experience - ever better than floating in Salt Lake or the Dead Sea.

Alas, you don't have enough mercury to make a fountain.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 3:46 PM on August 22, 2006

I have the Aeropress, and I like it a lot. I don't think you'll ever completely rid yourself of grounds when using a french press. (which is why I switched to the aeropress - smoother/richer coffee, easy to clean, and now I sound like an advertisement :)

The paper filters for an aeropress are reusable - I reuse mine for about 4-5days before swapping to a new one. Helps me feel better about using paper filters.

I put two tablespoons of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 10:14 PM on June 5, 2006

Oosiks are interesting. You can find the them in tourist shops as cribbage boards, landscape/diorama carvings, Ulu handles, and more.

And I learn something new every day - you can get them from lots of animals!... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 7:00 PM on May 24, 2006

The Librarian

Main characters walk 1/2 way across a dilapidated wooden (trestle) bridge over a waterfall deep in a jungle. One almost falls through and gets pulled back to safety. The bridge then starts collapsing from the starting point and the main characters run towards the finishing point & jump the last bit to a safe landing.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 6:50 PM on May 24, 2006

set the screensaver to password-lock after 5 minutes. then they can't use it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 2:04 PM on March 15, 2006

This sounds like a food allergy (seriously). Clogged sinuses are usually due to dairy foods. Try eliminating dairy (especially milk, ice cream, mochas/lattes, etc) from your diet. It'll take about 2 weeks, but then you should be feeling much better.

For better results, see an allergist and get a skin test & blood test for allergies. (skin test will tell about pollen, animals, etc; blood test will tell about foods)

A friend did this, and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 8:05 PM on February 2, 2006

The Brown eye/Blue eye experiment was a famous study about racism in school children, using eye color as a discriminator. A google search found this and this about the experiment.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 11:53 AM on October 6, 2005

for erotic food, a fun place to stop by is the erotic bakery in Wallingford, just west (across the I-5) of the u-dist on 45th.

another seattle institution is beth's cafe on Aurora, next to Greenlake. 12 egg omelettes with all-you-can-eat hashbrowns, a true greasy spoon diner. open 24hrs!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 5:58 PM on September 21, 2005

You've pretty much described the Ortleib Messenger backpack. And it's waterproof too!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jpeacock at 4:18 PM on September 1, 2005