I posted a very similar question a while ago, but the answers were less than satisfactory. There appears to be no facility for adding metadata to files in windows.

I ended up using an ordinary text file.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:55 PM on July 23, 2008

Is it possible that the wires are touching the concrete? Concrete is highly alkali, and can eat away at the insulation of older cables.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:16 AM on July 14, 2008

Here's a more pedestrian idea than dark matter:

All the gold on earth was created in a supernova explosion. The were not created in the sun or anywhere else in the solar system.

So all the gold you see around you was formed countless billions of year ago and countless light years away during the catastrophic violent deaths of massive stars. It drifted, accreted, and arrived on our humble planet. All we've done is reshape it. But it is still... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:06 AM on July 3, 2008

i haven't been eating or drinking more--in fact, i've been eating more healthfully, if anything....current diet consists of lots of fruits and vegetables, some lean protein, whole grains, and an ounce or so of dark chocolate at night for my heart and soul. a few beers on the weekend, but otherwise i only drink one cup of coffee

There's your problem. You aren't drinking more, but you changed your diet to food that requires more water to digest and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 7:01 AM on July 3, 2008

Also, you should be consuming more calories on the days you run.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 7:04 AM on July 3, 2008

Okay, when I said "an insane amount of water" I didn't mean to literally drink an amount of water that would classify you as clinically insane. I meant simply to drink a lot more water than you might think, upwards of 12-16 8oz. glass per day.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 7:27 AM on July 3, 2008

You could make dioramas out of the stuff you design on the computer. In other words, if you design websites, you could make a diorama (or a Cornell Box) of a site you made with doors where the links are that open to reveal other rooms/pages beyond.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 10:56 AM on June 30, 2008

I've never heard of a magic number 13, only that compound was better and would inherently build up the core, whereas isolation exercises might not.

Tangentially, I've been trying a workout based on a single-set of about 8-12 reps, but the point is to keep doing reps until you can't possibly move the weight another millimeter. If you reach failure after 12 reps, next time you add more weight so that you can't get past 8 or 9.

It is certainly an... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:32 PM on June 27, 2008

Without even checking the other lists posted:

First Doctor:
Unearthly Child (the first episode)
The Aztecs
The Sentinels - very classic early 60's scifi - some very creepy photography
The Dalek Invasion of Earth - mandatory viewing to understand Dalek brutality and the Dalek obsession with earth that runs through the entire series, even the current revival of the series.
The Chase

Second... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:00 AM on June 16, 2008

A very heavily redacted menu. For example, you list some food:

1. Chicken Parmesan - breaded chicken over spaghetti in a light tomato sauce. But then with a heavy black magic marker you blacken out all but "Chicken XXXXXXXXXXXX over spaghetti in XXXXXXXXX sauce."

Actually, it would be funny if you redacted all printed subject matter, wine bottle labels, the ingredients on soda cans (only leave 'water' visible), etc.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:45 PM on June 9, 2008

Now that I think about it, you should have a cake with a section of the center removed exposing the word "CLASSIFIED" on the serving dish below. If you serve pizza, randomly remove a slice or two and just write "CLASSIFIED" on the cardboard in the empty space where the slice was.

When you greet people at the door, the first thing you should say is "Did anyone follow you here/Did anyone see you coming?/Who else knows your here?" When they... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:54 PM on June 9, 2008

Economics: The Monetary History of the United States, Milton Friedman, 1963
Psychology: Beyond Freedom and Dignity, B. F. Skinner, 1971
Politics/Gender: The Feminine Mystique, Betty Freidan, 1963
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:50 PM on June 3, 2008

Also, I'd like to point out that if you had extended your range of interest to "the post-war period" you would have captured a number of far more influential texts written by people who were doing work in their field during the war, but could only publish afterwards.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:55 PM on June 3, 2008

Many of the stories of H.P. Lovecraft involve exploring vaulted caverns of unimaginable size below the surface of the earth. Stephen King wrote a short story "Jerusalem's Lot" (I think) in a similar vein about a man who discovers a world under his castle.

Also, House of Leaves.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 7:47 AM on June 2, 2008

Star Blazers
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:48 PM on May 19, 2008

Oops, sorry. I meant Robotech.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:49 PM on May 19, 2008 marked best answer

To clarify, it isn't starblazers. When I first read the question, I somehow glossed over the transforming plane part of it. Star Blazers is definitely wrong.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:17 PM on May 19, 2008

Sorry to hear about your father, it seems incredibly unfair.

In addition to the great advice presented already, consider whether the old normal is something you really want to go back to - you aren't the old you anymore, are you? You have a different perspective now, and you've been reflecting on life. The death of a parent is a massively maturing event, regardless of your age. Perhaps the things you are supposed to be doing (attending dumb... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:11 PM on May 19, 2008 marked best answer

There's no way to know this, but I would assume that some people crack in the face of credible threats of torture, after the first serious pain (not a slap, but a punch), and then when the torture is stepped up (from ordinary beating to bizarre implements). People are also likely to crack upon being threatened with rape or with violence to their genitals. I don't think they would wait until the threat of a punch in the groin is made real.

Then, after admitting... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 11:17 AM on May 19, 2008 marked best answer

While he does sound like a lot of guys from north jersey that I know, some of what you are hearing is a comic affectation that you don't hear in his voice when he's being serious. In his infamous interview on Crossfire, in which he acknowledges he is deliberately not being funny and more serious, much of that affectation is gone. See also his interviews on Charlie Rose, and compare them with Daily Show clips. Without that affectation, what your left with sounds like standard New Jersey by way... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:28 AM on May 16, 2008

Futureshock's "Late at Night"?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 6:39 PM on May 14, 2008 marked best answer

92 G is roughly normal for a 100mph car crash, but G tells you nothing. Links and math here.

You ask about G-force, but you are in fact only attempting to calculate deceleration. G (32 ft/s/s) is a measure of acceleration, not force (F=ma).

Surviving is a function of force, not acceleration. If you fall into a hard chair from a standing position, you experience about 10G's on impact. But the force is spread over a half square meter of the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 9:17 AM on May 6, 2008

The correct way to do your simple problem (start at 150mph, end at 0mph after travelling 8 ft) is how _dario described it.

The problem is plug-n-chug equations of motion.

final velocity = (initial velocity)^2 + 2 * acceleration * distance.

Final velocity = 0
initial velocity = 150 miles per hour = 67.0560 meters per second
distance = 8 ft = 2.4384 m
solve for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 5:30 PM on May 6, 2008 marked best answer

Let me add one thing. When you say "93G sounds way too high", that's because it is. Princess Diana was killed in an approximately 100G crash from the back seat of a much safer car. But as you acknowledge, the physics of the actual crash and your simple model are not even remotely similar, so you can't do a gut check on a model that isn't modelling what your gut knows from experience.

More precisely, in reality the car and driver and experiencing... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 5:50 PM on May 6, 2008

isn't listed: that an aluminum can that goes into the recycling bin is back on the shelves in less than 60 days.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 11:22 AM on April 25

I've said it about a dozen times in various threads. Of any recycled product anywhere, aluminum recycling is far and away the most green. Aluminum recycling uses less water and energy than all other recyclings, and in fact uses less water and less energy than aluminum mining, which is... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:44 AM on April 25, 2008 marked best answer

it's my (possibly mistaken) understanding that the plastic used in two liter bottles is actually a petroleum product itself.
posted by toomuchpete at 11:25 AM on April 25

Almost all plastic in consumer products comes from oil. And all plastic used for packaging comes from oil. 40% of the oil consumed in the U.S. is not fuel or burned, but rather is used for chemicals the fast majority of which are plastics. To recycle plastic, you need... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:57 AM on April 25, 2008 marked best answer

Forget the bombs. Fallout from the tests adds up to less than 1 millirem per year, and typical background exposure is about 1 millirem per day.

Greek researcher Constantin Papastefanou found that tobacco plants contain up to 1,000 times more radioactive radium and polonium than the radioactive cesium fallout from Chernobyl left on plants. Polonium is considered one of the most deadly radioactive elements known to man, but is only harmful when inhaled or ingested.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:10 PM on April 24, 2008

That Tsar Bomba crater looks to be about 600 feet in diameter. I wonder what the volume of the fireball was if the bomb was detonated 4.6km above the surface.
posted by sciurus at 3:58 PM on April 24

It was dropped from 10 km, and wiki says the fireball touched the ground and almost hit the plane that dropped it. Assume r=5km. 4/3*pi*r^3 = roughly 2600 cubic kilometers = half the volume of the Martian moon Phobos.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:21 PM on April 24, 2008

I've done the entire northeast corridor except Boston on Amtrak more times than I care to recollect, and I have never seen even so much as a question asked about a bag. People I have traveled with have carried Leathermans, box cutters and other tools and there's never been a problem. I've seen kids cut with scissors on the train. Amtrak pretty much doesn't care what you bring.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 12:26 PM on April 24, 2008 marked best answer

The average age of a new car buyer is 48. By that age, the novelty of a pink car is probably gone.

That said, you can have a car repainted rather cheaply these days, so if ThePinkSuperhero needs a color coordinated super-ride, it will probably cost her a lot less than she thinks.

And once upon a time, GM did sell pink Cadillacs, though they were very expensive, even at the time.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 10:15 AM on April 24, 2008

After 10 months I can't play a single song. Not even the simplest two chord campfire favourite. I can't change chords fast enough to play actual music. My fingers simply will not go to 3 or 4 different places on different strings and frets in one movement in the space of a split-second.

Answer this question: are you having fun playing? Do you enjoy it? If not, if it is a chore, you'll never learn. The reason people learn so fast in the beginning is... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:40 AM on April 24, 2008

I would fix the XP. XP is incredibly stable on my machine, which has less memory and is a lot older than yours. Maybe a fresh XP install, without all the crapware that Dell and others include?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 10:15 AM on April 23, 2008

Well, from personal experience, foaming or frothy urine was indicative of high protein levels being spilled along with the urine, which was diagnosed as a kidney problem.
posted by jaimev at 5:04 PM on April 22

To all hypochondriacs: please note there is a difference between foam and bubbles. It is normal for bubbles to form when pee hits the water in the toilet. See a doctor if you are worried.

And please for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:30 PM on April 22, 2008

After I've eaten asparagus my pee smells weird. Or did you mean urine chroma, as in color of?
posted by wafaa at 5:25 PM on April 22

The compound producing the smell is always in urine after a person eats asparagus, but apparently only 40% of people have the genetic ability to smell it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:34 PM on April 22, 2008

And finally, you'll learn a lot more from your pee by leaving it in the toilet unflushed overnight. If in the morning the pee is excessively cloudy (all pee will turn slightly cloudy), it may be a sign of excess phosphates or possibly bacteria in the urine.

And I realize I know way too much about this topic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:38 PM on April 22, 2008

I use "ostensibly" with embarrassing frequency. Sometimes I even use it correctly.

I'm also fond of 'alacrity' and 'obstreperous'. A good book for improving your vocabulary is Word Power Made Easy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:34 PM on April 22, 2008

Dear Doormat:

Please take the following steps, in order:

1. Stop being a doormat.

2. Get a lawyer.

3. Get exclusive custody of the kid. Get a restraining order against wife and 22-yr old. Change the locks. Tell your kid that drinking alcohol makes mommy sick. This is better than the truth, which is that mommy is crazy whether or not she's drinking, and that daddy is a few cards short of a full... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 11:03 AM on April 22, 2008

Oops, I just saw the sockpuppet comment where you mention that the kid is 20. Ignore everything I wrote.

You should probably get a divorce. It doesn't sound like she wants to be with you all that much anymore. Sorry. Look at this as an opportunity to redirect the course of your life, to start fresh with someone new and without all the baggage about who took whom for granted. Just think, if you make positive changes in this life, your new girlfriend will think of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 11:14 AM on April 22, 2008

Corpse paint? Are you going to have black balloons and spooky cake too?

Listen up, and listen well:

The pig's head goes on the crucified naked girl at the head of the altar. At the foot of the crucifix is a recreation of the original album cover (NSFW) of Mayhem's De Mysteriis.... You could stand in for the body. Then someone could play some death metal song with an incantation, and you could "arise.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 10:03 AM on April 15, 2008 marked best answer

I vote for bug, approximately at the same distance from the camera as those out-of-focus rocks in the playground.

Either that, or you discovered the tiny zipper that keeps the sky closed. If you open that zipper, stars and moonbeams will spill out, covering everything in magic.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 10:32 AM on April 14, 2008 marked best answer

What dhartung said. Get a lawyer and swear out an affidavit (basically a written statement under oath) now before the legal action starts, that says exactly what you want it to say. Force your former employer to include it in your personnel file. You have to do something about this even if you don't want your job back, because things like this can and will come back to haunt you. And when they do, you'll probably be making a statement under oath in a deposition, but at... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 9:17 PM on April 12, 2008

Your child should have a primary care physician by age two.
posted by 1 at 11:28 AM on April 9 [mark as best answer]

He does. One that can't seem him until tomorrow. Hence the search for someone else.

Then find someone smart to help you figure out why you didn't go to an emergency room as soon as the accident happened.
posted by JimN2TAW at 11:24 AM on April... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 8:47 AM on April 9, 2008

Thanks, everyone for your answers, especially for the tip about finding an ER with an ER pediatrician. And no worries, JimN2TAW.

Turns out amro was right. According to the orthopedist, the clicking trigger thumb after an injury, but not accompanied by bleeding, cruising, or noticeable swelling, means that the tendon itself became every so slightly inflamed. Because of the inflammation, it is slightly too thick for the grooves in the bones ("pulleys") in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 7:14 AM on April 11, 2008

If you have to use a bike, something along the lines of Archimedes' screw is fairly simple.

For more practical applications, ditch the bike in favor of a treadle pump. You can build treadle pumps with ordinary bike air pumps. If you still want to use the bike, you could attach one end of an arm to some point on the wheel away from the center and the other end of the arm to the end of the pump, kind of like a locomotive wheel. The arms converts the rotation of the wheel... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:04 PM on April 9, 2008

I've been reading about the play pump, and I'm not sure that's the right way to go. The play pump and the pumps I linked to are for drawing water from an underground well, so you need a machine that can do a lot of work to counteract gravity and lift the water up. In the examples on the website, the water is actually pumped up to a water tower. Getting water out of the tower is easy. Just open the spout. Gravity is doing all the work.

In your case, you have a rain... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:26 PM on April 9, 2008

Here is a better link to a bicycle powered water sprinkler.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:39 PM on April 9, 2008

I asked a similar question once before. I have since read every book recommended in that thread, and it has helped me immensely to decide how to set up a shot and to 'see' the photograph before I take it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 9:02 AM on April 8, 2008

The Economist. Do not read the ones you listed, as you will learn nothing from them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:11 PM on March 31, 2008

You will notice it on USB cables connecting to peripherals like printers and scanners that need control sleep cycling based on data from the USB cable.

As others have mentioned, the idea is that coiling the wire around anything (and even nothing, simply coiling it) increases resistance to high frequency signals. AC signals travel on the outside of a conductor. The higher the frequency, the shallower the depth into the conductor they go. By winding the cable into a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 2:38 PM on March 26, 2008 marked best answer

I'm going with "Abite hortibus meis iuvenci scelerati" if it gets everyone's approval.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Pastabagel at 1:27 PM on March 26, 2008