I think getting your son more accustomed to being out of your arms during the day might be helpful to work on initially, before tackling the night time issue. There are a couple of areas you could address:

With Other Caregivers

Even if you are exclusively breastfeeding, at six months of age he can go two or three hours between feeds, easily. My son never really took a bottle, but starting at three or four months of age I was able to leave him... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 2:21 PM on July 3, 2008

To address the original example, it would not be necessary to refer to a Roman Catholic bishop as "Your Excellency" in anything other than the most formal of circumstances. "Bishop So-and-So" would be perfectly suitable in most circumstances.

To address your question in a more general way, there are three modes of address that can come into play when writing or speaking to most religious figures.

First, there is the way that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:04 AM on June 18, 2008 marked best answer

Thanks, everyone! This is all very enlightening.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:41 AM on May 24, 2008

People have mentioned this already, but I'd like to re-iterate that summer and day camp type places are a terrific source of teenage employment. It may be sort of stressful (the teen counselors tend to be given herds of kids to be responsible for with minimal training or pay), but it definitely builds character.

His involvement in sports will probably give him an edge. Also, most summer/day camps will require that he be infant and child CPR and first aid certified,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:51 AM on May 19, 2008

Although this would be more anecdotal, NewFNP is an amusing blog from the perspective of a nurse practitioner working in public health.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 8:00 AM on May 16, 2008

Memories from the days when my family owned a similar boat (it wasn't free, but it sure was cheap):

- the time that we backed the boat off of the trailer into the water via the boat loading ramp without putting the plug in, causing boat to sink

- the time when a piece of the boat trailer fell off on the highway, causing cars behind us to slalom and sticking us in some hot hellhole of a small town for hours while we found someone to solder the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 11:01 AM on April 16, 2008

The Three Ages of Man by Hans Baldung (1539) certainly shows the effects of age and childbirth on a woman's figure.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:29 PM on April 14, 2008

Oh, here's another one by Hans Baldung on the same theme which explicitly shows stretch marks. See the figure on the left (you may need to zoom in, depending on your browser).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:33 PM on April 14, 2008

One more: Rembrandt did nude sketches of women who looked like they had at least one or two kids - for example. Stretch marks and possibly varicose veins by the ankles.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:58 PM on April 14, 2008

What is the weather like? If it has been at all wet recently, wait for things to dry completely before trying to unstick the window. For some reason, moisture makes stuck windows all the more stuck.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 5:20 PM on April 9, 2008

Two data points:

My grandmother is Filipino, and loads anyone who goes to her house down with presents. These aren't presents she has gone out and carefully selected, though, they are more like whatever she wants to get rid of or whatever comes to hand (grapefruits from the tree outside, some random box of something she picked up at Costco, a model of the solar system she stashed from her teaching days way back when, a jean jacket she's had in the closet for decades... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 11:22 AM on March 20, 2008

Derailers - Bar Exam

Drink by drink I'm taking the bar exam.
I know beer, wine whiskey and gin
I studied every glass and bottle they come in
I pass with flying colors, so high above the others
So set 'em up I'm ready to begin
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 6:09 PM on March 8, 2008

Ouija board.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 8:39 PM on February 14, 2008

The most important issue with bridesmaid type dresses for someone with curves is going to be the underpinnings. Hie thee to the Spanx website. Their stuff is truly magical - with the more sheer formal dress, absolutely indispensable for smoothing out the silhouette.

As far as a game plan, I would:

- first, buy a Spanx body shaper. In no event may this be omitted.

- then, go somewhere where you can try on Alfred Angelo... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 11:38 AM on February 14, 2008

I had a kid because love seeks to share itself.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 8:08 AM on February 10, 2008

The Thin Man movies! Well, their marriage is a tad more alcoholic than the norm.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 3:24 PM on January 11, 2008

I don't think you necessarily can/should quell the urge to have BABIES EVERYWHERE. There are extremely good reasons (as well as powerful urges) to have children earlier rather than later in life if you are a woman.

On the one hand, there are various medical procedures by which older women with significantly reduced fertility can still carry a pregnancy to term - on the other hand, what a lot of people don't realize is that most of these procedures are invasive,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:19 AM on December 20, 2007

Some Traditional Medicinals Pregnancy Tea (available in most natural food stores).

The last month or two of pregnancy is really long and tedious. Mindless entertainment helps. Perhaps a DVD or three of fluffy comedic fare (emphasis on the fluffy..."Freaks" drifted to the top of our Netflix queue immediately postpartum, which was not at all relaxing) and a pile of non-baby related reading.

Cookies. Omnomnom.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 1:42 PM on December 17, 2007

Regarding developing a faith which is lacking internally through external actions - I believe you may be thinking of the advice that Pascal gives. Pascal stated in his Pensées that although if you began practicing the faith on the basis of his famous wager, you would initially just be going through the motions, and not truly believe in God, still, if you continued to practice the faith externally, it would eventually become internal.

I've never heard of the Jesuits... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:28 PM on December 5, 2007

As a side note, if any of the snacks you end up settling on require prep work, do the preparation before you are hungry. At least in my case, when the GAH MUST EAT urge struck, I didn't have the patience to wash or chop anything. If it weren't for the readily accessible granola bars, I would probably have gnawed my own hand off.

- rice crackers (not *that* bad for you)
- prepared sushi rolls
- light broths or soups (seconding the miso... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 8:20 AM on November 15, 2007 marked best answer

I had the same question a year or so ago (re: San Francisco Bay Area non-ridiculous wedding dress)!

I ended up getting a Trashy Diva dress. It looks like they are liquidating their bridal line, so grab one fast!

I tried on and bought the dress at Soiree, a bridal boutique on College Ave (East Bay, I know, but worth the drive). Soiree has a nice little selection of vintage looking, interesting dresses. Some in ivory!... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 6:39 PM on November 5, 2007

Relax! Accidents happen.

The damage will almost certainly not get worse if you drive it further, although of course keep an eye on it. Since there are no other parties involved, I would definitely wait until your mother gets home before contacting her insurance company; she may prefer not to file a claim through them (or she may not have comprehensive coverage at all). I would also wait to try to have it fixed - she may already have a trusted source for body repairs.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 11:02 AM on October 25, 2007 marked best answer

Shivaree - Goodnight Moon
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 11:13 AM on October 17, 2007

Ow. I feel your pain (went through this in Aikido). I'm sure many of the warm up stretches you will be doing in Kendo will help with making seiza more comfortable eventually.

Also, this is kind of counter intuitive, but what helps speed up the acclimation process is to sit in seiza and stretch from that position. For example: are the top of your thighs burning? Sit in seiza (or as much of seiza as you can approximate) and then lean backwards until you can place one... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:35 AM on October 11, 2007

Fathers who are exposed to conditions which tend to mutate/damage sperm (e.g. deep sea divers, military air craft pilots) predominately father daughters. Fathers who have non-Hodgkins lymphoma are far more likely to have daughters (154 out of 190 in one study).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:00 AM on October 8, 2007

"I'm a Little Dinosaur" by Jonathan Richman. In fact, many songs by Jonathan Richman would be just the ticket - simple, absurd, gentle music. Try listening to some of this this album for examples.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 3:16 PM on August 1, 2007

Oh man, I totally feel your pain re: Victorian kitchens with layer upon layer of cheap and half assed 'upgrades' plus grease coated on from time immemorial.

We ended up moving to escape ours.

Failing that: nthing the suggestions to clean the hell out of it with a hard core grease remover and then see whether painting cupboards is a possibility. Even a high gloss white would help. Plus, new paint is much easier to clean than nasty old paint.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:31 AM on August 1, 2007

Although it may be a while before he gets the Latin puns, Asterix and Obelix generally goes down well with young boys - they like the general stories and the cartoon-ish violence long before they can comprehend much of the humor. Plus, teaches history! Err, sort of!

One other direction that you may care to take is giving a simple, colorful children's encyclopedia. I don't have a (current) specific example in mind, but I can remember being fascinated by both the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 8:40 AM on July 26, 2007

Oh hey, I did this! Except, instead of NYC > LA, it was San Francisco > San Diego. Still, prior to the move, I drove occasionally if necessity dictated, not constantly in order to survive day to day life.

Some thoughts:

My initial impression of driving in SoCal was that people were trying to kill me. This isn't necessarily the case - it's just that people make snap decisions at high speeds far more than I was used to. The driving style... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:25 AM on July 19, 2007

I had seriously unbelievable pain from chopping nine or ten peppers of various kinds, un-gloved. I kept my hand under ice and/or in water after the burning started, which actually seemed to make things worse.

Originally I thought I'd have to go to the emergency room for some topical pain relief, but we ended up calling poison control instead. They told me to soak my hand in an antacid, specifically Mylanta. That relieved the pain far better than anything else did,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:42 PM on June 10, 2007

Are there any groups of crows (what are they called, rookeries?) or maybe jays or other large birds with gruesome diets who live in the neigborhood?

When I lived in a house with some crows around, they occasionally dropped dead baby birds (or, um, parts of baby birds) on the sidewalk near where they perched.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 1:52 PM on May 31, 2007 marked best answer

I'm going to have to take a stand, here. Dear old Linnaeus, the founder of modern taxonomy, would probably have classified zombies as a separate species from mankind just on the basis of structural and behavioural dissimilarities (this is ignoring, of course, the phylogeny of zombies, which wasn't really taken into account in taxonomy anyway until the theory of evolution).

These things having been said, I would classify zombies as

Homo... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 11:58 AM on May 15, 2007

oh crap, really that should have been Cereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeebra, instead. I should decline more often, obviously.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 12:05 PM on May 15, 2007

For a permanent make-this-shoe-more-comfortable fix, try a heel insert. This will stop the back of the shoe from causing blisters. I've used this with Mary Jane type dress shoes in the past to good effect.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 2:46 PM on May 3, 2007

Countess Erzebert Bathory was rich and powerful enough to get away with bathing in the blood of virgins in an effort to restore her youth.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 9:35 AM on April 29, 2007

Speaking as someone who grew up in Berkeley and now lives in San Francisco:

One advantage of growing up in city vs. suburbs (I'm counting Berkeley as "city" here) is the wealth of after school / other than school resources for kids. For example, the Berkeley Public Library, especially the children's section, is really, really terrific. Suburban libraries seem small and sad in comparison. Also, you can hit up the Oakland / SF Zoo, or go to museums such as the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 2:11 PM on April 27, 2007

If you are looking for answers to further questions about the Fertility Awareness Method in TCOYF, there is an excellent message board on the topic . More about mucus than you ever wanted to know.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 4:42 PM on April 24, 2007

Although most of the Old Navy maternity line is fairly depressing, I do have to say that their maternity jeans are the cheapest and best fitting that I've seen. If you're into jeans, that is.

You may want to check out Due Maternity as well - they're based in San Francisco, but ship internationally. And they have linen maternity pants.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 12:28 PM on April 20, 2007

Hey! I'm part Asian, and the exact same thing happens to me - bright pink cheeks and nose after imbibing insignificant quantities of alcohol. And yet, I love the hooch so. Here are my hard-won tips on minimizing the shame...

- different types of alcohol trigger more or less of a flush. For example, wine makes me Rudolph the red nosed reindeer after one glass. Beer has much less obvious effects, especially if consumed slowly. Experiment with different types of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 12:41 AM on April 5, 2007

While Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton were married, one of the rooms in their house was upholstered with Velcro. So that you could dress in Velcro bodysuits and fling yourself at the wall. Basically, the rich do what the stoned think would be a wicked cool idea.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 7:59 PM on January 10, 2007

Look into the park and fly deals at hotels around SFO and OAK. Basically, the idea is that you stay at the hotel for a night, catch a shuttle to your flight, and leave your car in their parking lot for the duration of your trip (with free hotel shuttle back once you get home). All of them let you keep your car parked in the lot for the first week for free, and charge some fee after that. How much? Dunno. But probably worth looking into. Probably cheaper to do near the Oakland Airport, too.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 4:42 PM on January 5, 2007

Although I am nowhere near New Haven, I do know that the swing dancing crowd tends to encompass all ages, plus there are often beginning lessons at the start of the dance. There appears to be a dance being held on Saturday, January 13th, in your area, with a live swing band. I would look around the rest of the Connecticut Swing Dance Society site for other options.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:14 AM on December 29, 2006

Pickup line that worked (on me):

"So, you wanna go to the dump and shoot rats sometime?"

Pickup lines that have failed to work on others, both from the ever classy homeless guys of the SF Bay Area:

"Hey, bitch, why you look so sad? You's hot!"

or, from the seaweed encrusted homeless guy on the beach to someone walking with their boyfriend:

"Baby, why don't you dump the hero and get with a zero!?" *mad cackle*
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 8:34 AM on December 15, 2006

Having held a job which caused regular (albeit well-masked) meltdowns due to the long hours, stress, and feeling that I could never take a day off, no matter how sick I was, or the world would as-plode and it would be All! My! Fault!...

Not all jobs are like that. Most jobs aren't like that. You'll never take or stay in a job like that again. If you don't end up liking a job, you now know that you can just quit. How neat and empowering!... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 11:10 PM on December 14, 2006

Taking some form of martial arts may help. At least in Aikido, there is a strong emphasis on the correct stance and posture, and my sensei frequently corrected my posture, to the point where, if I caught myself slouching outside of the dojo, I would flinch and straighten up.

Externally imposed and conscious good posture will ultimately become internalized and unconscious good posture.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 4:46 PM on November 3, 2006

Ooooh, it is hard to make genuine freinds once you have graduated college.

Suggestions? Volunteering / swing dancing / dragon boat / kite flying/ goat breeding/ whathaveyou is a good idea. Aristotle says that true friendship is based on a shared good (common purpose). What is your good? Find that, and you will find a friend or three.

Failing that, have some rather nice drugs to share.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:51 PM on September 15, 2006

There was a leak of ATM card numbers conjoined with PINs earlier this year which involved some major retailers (including OfficeMax and Walmart) . Thieves managed to obtain card numbers in conjunction with PINs, and used these to clone cards and make fraudulent transactions.

A friend of mine had this same type of thing happen to him (ATM used to make a withdrawal, indicating that the thief had both a card and PIN, even though card had never been physically out of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 6:09 PM on September 11, 2006

Must include Haddaway's "What Is Love."

I'm...kidding. What I have done in the past is to tell a bit of a story through the songs...or create a sequence of moods. Themed cds tend to hold up better over time than "here is a bunch of music which I like!" mixes.

See Tiny Mix Tapes for some excellent themed mix ideas.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:49 AM on August 8, 2006 marked best answer

Small children say all manner of odd things without really meaning them, or for reasons that adults would find hard to comprehend. For example, I can remember at about that age telling my dad that men have no purpose, since women have the babies. It wasn't that, at the age of four, I had become a radical feminist...I was just trying out some different thoughts, and phrased them in a way that disturbed grownups. Do not freak out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Wavelet at 10:29 AM on July 21, 2006