At sea you see a ship's mast before the hull as it approaches. That wouldn't be the case of the world was flat.

I don't think this would have convinced me. Mirages do all sorts of weird things to light on the horizon--maybe hiding ship hulls was just a similar phenomenon.

P.S. I do, in fact, know that the world is round--I'm just saying back in the day.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 10:06 PM on May 4, 2008

Don't people shrink about half an inch during the course of the day due to the pressure of their weight on the spinal disks?

Take your height after a good long night's sleep, maybe you will be 6 feet tall! Or, after a long day of backpacking, if you prefer to be 5' 11".

Or measure yourself in centimeters, maybe you'll be an exact round number.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:03 PM on April 5, 2008

I'm going to be the "previously" guy, I guess. I usually hate that guy.

But to add a slight amount of off-topic value, bashos_frog, that story comes in two flavors. That was the "New Twilight Zone" version. Years later, I read a short story that was weirdly identical except for the ending. (Perhaps it was the original version?). This second version had the husband and wife discuss the moral dilemmas, with the wife being against, the husband for.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:27 PM on April 5, 2008

Black Flag - TV Party
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 8:59 AM on March 22, 2008

It's not exactly "lovin", but you also said, "being attached to the television", so I think I can also mention The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprishy - Television, The Drug of the Nation

Lots of potential songs along the same lines at the bottom of this post.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 9:13 AM on March 22, 2008

And, if you're reading things through Google Reader, then there's effectively a barrier between you and the blog - Google will only identify itself to the blog as Google, and will not pass on your account details or IP address.

Images embedded in the blog do not get redirected through google, so the blog owner can still see the IP addresses of readers by looking at the download logs for their images. Their may be other similar methods using other... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:49 PM on March 11, 2008 marked best answer

I had a neighbor who owned a cool looking Karmann Ghia. Or maybe it owned him. Working on it turned out to be kind of a second career for him. So while it may look quirky and neat, it doesn't strike me as particularly reliable.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:22 PM on March 8, 2008

Throw a bunch of sugar on top, whip out the blowtorch, and cook yourself up some pumpkin pie brulee.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:53 AM on March 4, 2008

Back in the '60s, Scientific American held the "First International Paper Airplane Contest". The result? The Great International Paper Airplane Book (Paperback)--you can still pick up a cheap used copy. This book provided many hours of diversion back when I was in junior high.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 1:00 AM on February 29, 2008

I have had my microwave door blown open by what could only be superheated water. Perhaps your pyrex bowl was damaged by impact after being flung from the microwave, and was not the cause of the explosion.

In my case, the pyrex measuring cup was not damaged at all--in fact, it was sitting in the microwave where I left it, basically empty. Water was dripping from everywhere in the microwave and across the kitchen where the water had "exploded" to.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:24 AM on February 23, 2008

I'm going to be a contrarian: nothing will kill your system's performance faster than Microsoft Defender. And virus software usually isn't much better.

I've been running without a resident spyware scanning software for years now. I'm considering disabling my virus scanning software. I have a hardware firewall, and I just avoid doing things that would get me a virus. How do most people get viruses/spyware these days, anyways? Maybe I'm forgetting something, but so far,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:02 AM on February 23, 2008

Nth+1ing everyone else: I swear the Garmin giant frustrated sign before it says "recalculating".

But if you do end up doing this, please be sure to include the phrase: "Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they get me to take you down to the bridge."
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 2:35 PM on February 17, 2008

Does it stain pillows?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:54 PM on February 10, 2008

The Photo.Net Pentax Digital SLR Cameras and Lenses page is a pretty good overview of what's available, along with some rough guidelines.

Personally, I'm lusting for this this Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Lens, under $200. Go for it, and let us know how it works!
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 9:57 PM on February 6, 2008 marked best answer

-2147221231 = 0x80040111

Leads to http://www.webf1.com/scriptdoc/AutomationErrors.htm

Which leads to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279129

"CAUSE The ServerXMLHTTP object is not supported on the Windows 95 and Windows 98 platforms."
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 10:09 AM on February 2, 2008

Assuming you're in the US, put the address into the USPS address normalizer. Whatever it spits out should be golden.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:54 AM on January 30, 2008 marked best answer

The website twofifty.org lets you keep track of which of the IMDB top 250 movies you've seen. In my opinion, the IMDB is a good mix of popular and critically acclaimed movies.

247/250 for me. Go me!
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 3:41 PM on January 26, 2008

It sounds like you're not local, which brings up the question: How are you planning on getting there? If the answer is "by air": isn't airplane travel not recommended after the second trimester?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 8:32 AM on January 19, 2008

Screenshots, hashes, mail, whatever: these prove that three was a file (or screen) that said X, but they do nothing to prove that that file or screen originated anywhere but a local photoshop/dreamweaver/emacs.

If you are at the stage of getting lawyers involved perhaps an injunction/restraining order that forces the ISP to keep records of the pages in question.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 8:42 PM on January 18, 2008 marked best answer

ArkhanJG, that sounds exactly like what ManInSuit was looking for. Neat. (I'd be interested to see how that service stood up in a real case, too.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:15 AM on January 19, 2008

The comments in this thread, from BoingBoing's article about D&D 4th edition, has several promising suggestions. The list includes the already mentioned Fantasy Grounds, but also OpenRPG and Kloogeworks, as well as a few homebrew system suggestions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 3:54 PM on December 16, 2007

Two credit cards at 20% interest

That's a guaranteed 20% return on your money if you invest in paying down your debt.

Maybe buy one cool thing for a thousand bucks to feed the beast, but I can't see any reason not to put the majority towards your debts.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:57 PM on December 15, 2007

This wasn't just a property crime (like a truck being broken into) this was the threat of assault with a deadly weapon. And if the car is still in the area, perhaps the crime is not over. I'd call 911. What's the downside of calling vs. the potential downside of not calling?
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 7:16 PM on December 11, 2007

This guy -- I'll call him Dick -- started yelling, "You just can't stop hitting that yellow button too early, can you? You just can't stop doing that!"

This rankled for weeks with me, but I didn't say anything to management.

Step back: Was he kind of a jerk? Yes. Did you do anything wrong? No. Why would you let such a thing rankle you for weeks? Sometimes people are jerks in this world. Don't give them power.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:16 PM on December 10, 2007

Chocolate chip dunkers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 2:21 PM on December 8, 2007

For a lot of people, especially those on a bike for the first time in the MSF class, panic = SQUEEZE DOWN HARD NOW! = over the top.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 10:19 PM on December 3, 2007

Code 128-B Barcode.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 10:33 PM on November 30, 2007

I got the worst case of food poisoning in my life a few weeks ago

Now's your chance to do something with that hard-earned immunity!
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:49 PM on November 26, 2007

Going along with floam, Nixon makes some nice watches that meet your criteria. I've got very little watch snob street cred, though, so you may want to let one of them chime in.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:26 PM on November 25, 2007

Tough love: Next time she calls AAA.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 10:01 PM on November 22, 2007

I do not know where the "if she calls AAA she will get raped" people are from, but in this neck of the woods, when you wait for AAA, you do not spend the time hanging out in rape alley. You return to wherever it was you just came from to wait.

And if the neighborhood she is in has no such safe waiting places, then of course you can use common sense and pick her up. But then I question the wisdom of allowing her go to such a dangerous location in the first place.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:03 AM on November 23, 2007

Bamboo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:27 AM on November 23, 2007

A piano keyboard has, oh, more than a hundred strings, right?

Phire alluded to this, but normal pianos have 88 keys.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 3:18 PM on November 22, 2007 marked best answer

I've got this Marantz 5002 receiver, which meets your specs, and I've been quite happy with it. I'm not sure how much you were intending to spend, so maybe this is over budget.

The Wii does indeed do component out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:34 PM on November 17, 2007

As a TA for a freshman engineering class at a large university, I had to grade homework and give weekly quizzes. I went the opposite way of many of the previous posters in this thread. My policy: if you missed a homework, you could turn it in up until the test for that section. If you missed a quiz, you could show up to office hours and take it then, up until the test for that section.

Being an introductory course at a large university, I had to teach three sections... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 11:19 PM on November 14, 2007

I would tend to use the word "Actually" to indicate that the next bit is somewhat surprising.

So to me, "Actually, I do know the time" seems a little weird--not very surprising that someone knows the time. On the other hand, "Actually, this watch is broken" is perfectly cromulent sounding.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 1:28 PM on November 11, 2007

This site claims that cooking spray polymerizes in high-heat cooking, and my experience tends to agree. Nonstick pans that never see nonstick spray end up better in the long run.

Put down a tiny dollop of butter for those eggs--you can use far less than you would use in a regular pan. Also, butter tastes good.

High-heat cooking in can ruin teflon pans, so if you've let your pans get too hot, that could also explain it. And it also emits... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:45 AM on November 8, 2007

Idea 1: Just somebody entering random data into the form, who happened to make up a random credit card number? Maybe someone wanted to get to the post-purchase confirmation page for some reason? A disgruntled customer of yours?

Idea 2: It could be someone trying to get revenge by making random charges on a stolen number. Just maxing out the card for a while screws them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 3:45 PM on November 4, 2007

According to Google engineer Matt Cutts:

[...] at any given time, a url in Google’s system has up-to-date PageRank as a result of running the computation with the inputs to the algorithm. From time-to-time, that internal PageRank value is exported so that it’s visible to Google Toolbar users (see the question below for more details on the timing).

Thus inside Google, your pagerank is probably not zero. It's just that you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 10:08 AM on November 4, 2007 marked best answer

I'm going to have to quote director Robert Rodriguez here: "Not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to f*ck. You gotta eat the rest of your life. You might as well know how."

P.S. His Puerco Pibil recipe in the video I link to is ok, but not as great as he wants you to believe.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:37 AM on October 21, 2007

I have two suggestions: "In a frying pan with butter or oil", except make sure you have a modern non-stick pan, and just use a spritz of olive oil from one of those refillable spritzers. The vegetable oil won't add any cholesterol, and will add very few calories, too.

(I recommend against the use of PAM on a nonstick pan, I find over time it makes the pan non-nonstick)

The other suggestion: just hard boil eggs and throw out the yolks.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 1:03 PM on October 20, 2007

FYI: When he's asking about using Win32::Console, the distinction between shells and terminals is pretty academic. In any case:

use Win32::Console;
$CONSOLE= new Win32::Console(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
$CONSOLE->Attr($FG_WHITE);
print "Hello...\n";
$CONSOLE->Attr($FG_RED|$BG_LIGHTGREEN);
print " Sailor\n";
$CONSOLE->Attr($ATTR_NORMAL);

WFM, good luck dude.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 12:33 AM on October 19, 2007 marked best answer

Chicago-born California transplant here. I mail order Lou's and have a "Chicago Pizza Party" every so often. My friends come over and marvel at the wonderful pizza, and I generally have a good time.

But as the night winds down, I usually find myself sadder than I started, because I can't help but realize that the mail-order experience is but a mere shadow of the glory of a fresh-from-the-oven pizza.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 9:20 PM on October 16, 2007

What would James Bond do, handed such a drink? Certainly not squeeze the fruit, certainly not fiddle with the fruit with a stick. Probably he would just drink it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 9:57 PM on October 10, 2007

I'm certain that Bessel Functions are involved. Somehow.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 2:43 AM on October 10, 2007

Tumbler Snapper. (Related)

Perhaps falls under social commentary, but then again, so does your Hoover Dam photo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 9:58 PM on October 4, 2007

Authentic renaissance wedding. With unclinkable wooden mugs for all!
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 9:26 PM on October 3, 2007

Your blood viscosity changes more than you might expect, depending on how hydrated you are. Try slugging back an extra glass or two of water 15 minutes before the morning workout and see if that changes things.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 3:17 PM on September 29, 2007

Nineteen answers, and not one link? I recommend StandardShift.com, which, in addition to the FAQ I linked to, has videos, other guides, links to How Stuff Works on manual transmissions, and forums. (When I was learning, it was great fun to read forum posts where people were having the same problems I was.)

I learned to drive a stick, at age 33, by reading the above resources, driving with a friend with a stick on a lunch hour one time, and then just going and buying... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 1:27 AM on September 18, 2007 marked best answer

I hate the guy to say "yeah, you should be worried", but yeah, you should be worried.
posted to Ask Metafilter by IvyMike at 7:22 PM on September 16, 2007