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My son lives four hours away. I'm trying to do phone support for him on his PC (XP pro), which won't connect to the internet. In asking him to try various things and report what (if anything) happened we discovered that ipconfig /all is reporting his MAC address as 00-11-22-33-44-55. Nuh-huh! Fuller violently shakes head until pea brain rattles.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 12:50 PM on March 8, 2008
(13 comments)
I have a new little alien on my home net, namely my daughter's xbox 360. I don't know what this will do to network security hereabouts.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 8:16 AM on December 23, 2007
(7 comments)
I'm searching for a utility that monitors the speed of an internet connection from a hospital on this side of town to one on that side of town. There is a special consideration. (I didn't think it would be so special when I started looking, but apparently it is.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 11:21 AM on December 2, 2007
(10 comments)
Ignorant spreadsheet question: do most (or any) spreadsheets have the ability to tag cells with an arbitrary name or label and then do operations on only the cells with that tag?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 10:24 AM on September 2, 2007
(8 comments)
Is there such thing as a stand-alone editor for browser bookmarks files? Mine are large and unwieldy with many sub- and sub-sub-folders, they're on several different machines, and it's becoming painful keeping them synced up.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 7:55 AM on August 2, 2007
(15 comments)
I have an old record turntable (in excellent shape) that I would like to use, but I'm stumped regarding to power it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 4:40 PM on May 24, 2007
(6 comments)
Turntable help from vinyl geeks, please! Low-end but adequate direct-drive turntable recs?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 12:45 PM on May 2, 2007
(17 comments)
Compu musicians: what's the best software (if there is any) to use to make continuously variable swoopy-pitch sounds using a soundcard? I'd like to control and edit the actual roller-coaster profile of the pitch changes pretty closely.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 1:18 PM on April 8, 2007
(10 comments)
Is there a decent antivirus for MS server operating systems that doesn't cost a breathtaking amount?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 5:51 PM on March 11, 2007
(11 comments)
Has anyone had any experience with
IPodResQ or any other iPod repair outfit? Is there one you can recommend?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 4:25 PM on June 28, 2006
(2 comments)
Please help me start to search for volunteering opportunities for a high-tech worker in Asia.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 2:15 PM on May 24, 2006
(6 comments)
I'm presently working on a set of Pimsleur Mandarin CDs, and the Pimsleur system is spoken-only. I'm dying to write down what I've learned (I'm addicted to practicing with note cards, I don't feel that I'm really working hard on a language until I have a thick deck of dirty, dog-eared note cards.) But I'm nowhere near ready to write stuff down in Chinese characters. Is there a standard or widely used way of transliterating Mandarin into Latin characters, and somehow also indicating the tonal content?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 2:05 PM on May 9, 2006
(9 comments)
Some RAID questions about what happens if you lose not a disk but the controller.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 7:26 AM on April 27, 2006
(11 comments)
Is there a way to back up just the local username/password list in Windows (specifically Win2000 server) and copy it from machine to machine?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 3:44 AM on August 19, 2005
(2 comments)
I don't understand buying an ebay replacement for a busted cell phone.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 2:23 PM on July 3, 2005
(7 comments)
Increasingly many e-commerce sites and ebay vendors seem to be using paypal as the outfit that also handles their ordinary credit-card (i.e. non-paypal-account) purchases. This doesn't work, and blows the transaction. How can I evade this yet-another-paypal-gotcha?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 9:38 AM on June 6, 2005
(25 comments)
In
Neverwhere Neil Gaiman describes a Christian abbot thusly:
The abbot had known that this day would bring pilgrims. The knowledge was part of his dreams; it surrounded him, like the darkness. So the day became one of waiting, which was, he knew, a sin: moments were to be experienced; waiting was a sin against both the time that was still to come and the moments one was currently disregarding.
Is anyone aware of any Christian teaching that anticipation is to be avoided? To modern ears Gaiman's passage sounds so be-here-now Buddhist. I am aware of the passage in Matthew where Jesus says "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself," which is pretty explicit, but has this notion ever been taken up and turned into formal doctrine by any branch of the church, or has any historically important theologian ever grabbed this particular ball and run with it?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 7:16 AM on March 20, 2005
(7 comments)
Can anyone recommend a moderately priced (i.e. less $ than an iPod) MP3 player that has BIG, EASILY-MANIPULATED CONTROLS? I have 20 CDs worth of Mandarin language instruction that I want to rip to MP3 and use as a companion on a daily walk. Because I'll be playing language instruction instead of music, I expect to need to pause, back up, and restart a given section frequently. I'd like a player that can be manipulated easily by feel without stopping to look at it. If it can be set to loop a particular track over and over that's a big plus (though I expect that's an uncommon feature because how many people want to hear the same song again and again?) Thanks very much for any and all suggestions!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 8:57 AM on February 19, 2005
(9 comments)
What with the Archbishop of Canterbury on the point of being vanquished by plain old
Doubt (not that it was much of a contest in Rowan Williams's case) I was reminded of a drama I once read as a book and later saw as a TV screenplay. An abbot of a particular monastery has secretly lost his faith, and so does not wish to lead the brothers in prayer; he always gets someone else to do this, to avoid a personal spiritual crisis caused by having to pray publicly to, as he sees it, nothing. The Catholic hierarchy of that future time, unbeknownst to him, has become entirely atheist. An agent of the curia is sent to force the abbot to the point of a self-destroying confrontation with his unbelief. The agent achieves this by manipulating him into a situation where he can't avoid being the one to lead the assembled brothers in a public prayer.
Can anyone tell me what this thing is that I remember? Title and author are entirely gone. Thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 2:43 PM on January 6, 2005
(4 comments)
When making software user instruction booklets for the Windows-based Compleat Idiot, in which you want to include screen captures of absolutely everything the user sees, is there a way to do screen caps of things like popup tool tips, right-click context menus and so forth that close automatically the instant you press a key? Can you do it without installing an additional screen-capture utility? If you have to have an additional utility, what's a good (= lightweight and cheap) one? I don't need any special features except one, what-I-see-goes-to-clipboard.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 11:50 AM on October 16, 2004
(7 comments)
Firefox question. Unmodified, just-installed firefox opens a new tab behind the current tab, instead of on top as Mozilla does; and the right-click popup menu for tabs does not have "close this tab" first in the list, as in Mozilla. Are these two behaviors customizable? I know I'm being lazy but these two misfeatures are deal-killers for me. If you knowledgeable firefox users tell me they're fixable in userChrome.css or users.js or whatever I promise I'll rtfm-rtfm-rtfm and become as rabid a firefox zealot as you might desire. But if they're not changeable then it's all wasted effort and I'll stay with Mozilla (or whatever they're calling it this week.) Thanks!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 5:58 AM on September 25, 2004
(11 comments)
DecoratorEyeFilter: what can I do about my bathroom? The pro is that the house is 50-ish years old and the wall and floor tiles are actual ceramic. The con is that they're PINK. Can anyone suggest some miraculous color for the non-tile walls above waist height that will reduce the atrociousness of PINK? I have considered grey, as one of the worst villains in the Rex Stout detective stories had an underground bunker/office with grey-stained wood panel walls and pink indirect lighting around the ceiling, but for all I know this color combo was chosen to show how warped and evil mr. villain was. Also, the way it's described, mr. villain's pink was a lot more subdued than the PINK I have to face each morning. Plaster and shower curtain are just white now. Should I just grit my teeth and live with it? The preferred solution (ripping everything out and re-doing it) is not a financial option. Hoping for a stroke of genius from of the many geniuses who hang out here. Thanks!
(PS, yes I also considered black, sorry, I'm chicken.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 5:15 AM on August 12, 2004
(24 comments)
I just gave up on two pages in quick succession; the first hung while it waited and waited on something from akamai, which was apparently taking a nap just then, and the second while it waited and waited on something from doubleclick, equally asleep. Like I care whether a page manages to do its dirty background business with doubleclick. Is there any browser that has a [SKIP IT] button you can click that means "give up on what you're trying to get right now, skip over it, go on and load the rest of the page"? Would such a button be feasable?Or have I been missing something that's been in front of me all the time?
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 6:23 PM on July 28, 2004
(7 comments)
Family-friendly things to do in Nashville? I'm headed there on Monday for training and my daughter (14) wants to go. I'll be stuck in class until 5pm and will only be able to take her places in the evening. Naturally one thinks of music when Nashville is mentioned, and both of us are willing to listen to country music (though we both prefer the rootsier Brother-Where-Art-Thou end of country to the Nashville end) but I assume most of the music will be taking place in bars and I don't want to take a teenager to bars. Are there other music places I should know about? We'll certainly try the Opry or the Ryman, but any other suggestions are welcome; also suggestions of non-music evening activities suitable for a 14-year-old, if you know of good ones. Thanks very much!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 11:18 AM on July 9, 2004
(10 comments)
What's your favorite recipe that can be prepared ahead of time in bulk and frozen? I'm a single parent with a 13 year old girl to cook for. I work a normal job, then spend evenings doing the Mr. Mom number, housecleaning, clothes-washing, car-repairing, homework-helping etc. etc. My time for even minimal cooking is practically nil and I order pizza or bring home Chinese much too often. Does anyone know something good that I could make several copies of on Saturday and then freeze for later? Some years back Consumer Reports did a review of frozen chicken/veggie pies, and included a recipe for their own homemade and freezable pie that beat all the commercial ones on taste, nutrition and price. That's the kind of thing I'm fishing for here. FYI, I'm a middling cook (my biscuits succeed, my puff pastry fails.) Thanks very much!
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller
at 9:02 AM on January 5, 2004
(33 comments)
