Me, too. I still feel bad about throwing sand in Aaron's face (hey, sorry, dude, but you were a jerk) in fifth grade and wince when I remember it. That incident was in 1978.

I get especially vexed when thinking about rummy communication with former friends, love interests, etc. I actually shudder and laugh a bit at my stupidity.

I am convinced it's the people who don't do this who go on to be rich, leaders, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 10:23 PM on July 22, 2008

When I worked at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle many moons ago, the (as I recall) 5th and 9th floors were locked. One was the psychiatric ward and the other was for dangerous patients (read, prisoners, etc.).
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 7:11 PM on July 17, 2008

I would actually counter the joint-bank-account advice, unless it's an account that is used solely for mutual expenses like rent or mortgage. As is wisely pointed out above, everyone needs their own space, mentally, physically, and financially. Come to an agreement that as long as the money is there to pay the mutual expenses that neither of you will freak about the other things each person does with their money.

Realize that there are going to be some mutual expenses... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 12:38 PM on July 12, 2008

Looking at the local market here in Seattle, I would think that car would be worth at least $11K at retail, maybe $14K if it's in really nice shape. That said, you're still a ways from being even.

Two options (mentioned above) are a personal loan for the balance + sell and get something much cheaper (like a 199x car), or sucking it up.

Another option might be to sell both of your current cars, assuming the total sales price of the two cars will... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 3:31 PM on July 10, 2008

I get this occasionally when riding a motorcycle. Usually don't notice until I stop for a break. Always, er, comes back to life much faster than if the same thing happens to my leg, but the mass is, sadly, considerably less. In my case, it's a function of the seat, leg position, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 6:52 PM on July 7, 2008

In the olde car world, "anorak" is typical, certainly in Britain, as rmd1023 points out. You can picture the fussy beard or mustache and the gentle clearing of throat as you're about to learn more than you ever cared to about some particularly obscure subject.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 4:35 PM on July 7, 2008

The second anecdote I have from those TV years is that I got to 'meet' (read: be at the same party as) models, actors and celebrities in general. I found out that some people look much better photographed than in real life, particularly ultra-skinny female magazine models.

I know a "magazine model," and you'd pass her on the street without a second glance. She's attractive, but not in any way different in person than half the people you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 1:07 PM on June 29, 2008

We occasionally use a citrus spray collar when we want our "crazy" dog to zone out a bit, if she's wound up. When the collar detects a bark it shoots out a blast of citrus-based spray which the dog finds annoying, even though it's harmless.

Our pup never goes on a junket of barking-for-barking's sake, it's usually in response to stimuli, so I don't know if this solution would work for you.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 10:25 AM on June 27, 2008

A thought, probably a bad one: I had this same issue when I upgraded to SP3. If you have an AMD processor machine, it might be worthwhile to check out whether you have this problem. But it generally shows up only after SP3 is installed, so odds are slim. Still...
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 7:29 PM on June 24, 2008

Don't assume you know the person's job better than they do. Don't assume they're a moron. Hang up your fucking phone.

And, please, if you get caught shoplifting, play along, pretend it was a mistake, pay for the item, and heed the friendly warning to please do your future shopping elsewhere.

As a former gun salesman, don't think about pointing that thing at anyone, especially me.

As a former clothing salesman, please,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 4:19 AM on June 21, 2008

If she's in a relationship (and you're not) and you don't find out until after some serious flirting, innuendo, etc. which turns out to not have been anything more than that on her side: frustrating and perhaps even mildly heart-breaking (thanks for that, B, all that time ago).

Otherwise, if I'm taken, assuming she is cool about it, it's always nice to know others find you attractive.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:01 PM on June 20, 2008

If you don't already have it, slightly off topic, but there is a plugin called "Wordpress Automatic Update" which takes 99.67% of the pain out of upgrades.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 8:06 PM on June 18, 2008

I resisted tablets for a long time but am thankful I gave in.

I work exclusively on a PC, so I can't address your computer issues, but for backups you might consider USB thumb drives. Two per project (a backup of the backup in case one goes bad).

I work off of a separate server, which is probably overkill, but every machine I own has two hard drives in it...one that is in use and one which simply holds a backup copy of the other drive. On the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 7:43 PM on June 18, 2008

I spent two weeks in Houston. When I returned to the Seattle area, it was a shock to drive up even a minor hillock, let alone something like Queen Anne Hill. Biggest "hill" I saw in Houston was a freeway overpass.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 3:23 AM on June 17, 2008

It sounds like the system has lost pressurization, so it probably needs to be recharged and before that can happen, the source of the leak needs to be found. Most modern cars use the A/C to condense water out of the air before heating it, even in the winter, so it's not surprising that it has affected the heat as well.

Some easy things to check (I'm not familiar with the Frontier in specific, so these are general in nature):

* While it's rare for... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 7:33 PM on June 6, 2008

If you're happy, you've done OK. Condition is always worth paying for. Congrats on the bike.

As for blinging your discolored pipe, the news isn't too great (my BSA has a similar issue). There are products like "Blue Job" which claim to remove the blue, and some folks have decent results, but straw and other color blemishes are harder to remove. You also have to keep in mind that the chrome plating is only a few thousands of an inch thick, so any product that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 8:46 PM on June 5, 2008

My best exposure (and on very small scale compared to most) has been by getting recognized and linked to by other sites interested in the same subject. It's astonishing how even a few links in key places can make a difference.

Class Goat, thanks for widening my internet experiences: your link will not open in FF RC1 because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression, the first time I have ever seen that error.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 6:51 PM on June 4, 2008

I'm not the most experienced dude out there, but I think many, many people (men and women) make some sort of vocalization during moments of shared intimacy.

However, I think the dialog-type stuff you hear in porn if fairly uncommon, or at least more along the lines of fetish-type behavior, at least in my fairly limited sample size (less than 20,000 2,000 200 20 women). Then again, maybe I don't inspire a running commentary...
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:49 AM on June 3, 2008

Aside: There is also an odd img tag which isn't causing your problems, I don't think, but it has no src attribute, it's empty, which I've never seen. Is this a hack I've not heard of?
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 11:03 PM on June 1, 2008

Bunnytricks is right on the nose. If I could go back in time, I would do some/many/all of those things. (If you can avoid it, avoid the "hopeless crush" thing. It's just the universe's way of screwing with shy/non-confident guys. I was in my 30's before I figured that one out. Don't be me.)

One more thing: Prom is kind of a big deal to a lot of girls...and, culturally, there is also some expectation of hot-and-heavy action. It's not the ideal "hey I like... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 2:31 AM on June 1, 2008

I will not buy from anyone on eBay (or craigslist for that matter) who won't communicate via email (or ebay's in-house message system).

Prefer simple auctions (default plain template) with clear text and lots of large photos of the item, taken by the seller. Really try to avoid super-fancy tawdry template auctions with huge disclaimers, animated GIF American flags, etc.

Really, really, really dislike people pasting in brochure copy from some... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 5:21 PM on May 31, 2008

Thanks for all of the ideas. This field is about five acres, I think. The residents are the momma cows and their calves; yearlings and others are left out in the main pasture. I suspect some fertilization is possible from the dung but it's a fairly large field with a relatively small number of cows in it. (Every little bit helps, I guess.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 11:55 AM on May 27, 2008

(As an aside, my lower three arrow keys have notches worn in them because I use the tips of my fingers on them, and my fingernails have worn groves over time. The keys are worn smooth in exactly their frequency of appearance in the English language ("e" is slick, "q" still has almost all of its texture), which is pretty neat when you think about it.

None of this answers your question directly--but you could just embrace the wear as a humanizing... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 7:16 PM on May 26, 2008

(I haven't had Golden Syrup in years. Used to be the ONLY thing I'd allow on pancakes or waffles as a kid. No maple syrup for me! Beware that like any syrup it can solidify in the container if you are as glacial about using it up as I was last time I had any.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 6:53 PM on May 26, 2008

monococks

It's "monocoque," an impossible word to spell correctly, including for me.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 7:52 PM on May 5, 2008

Start with season one, as has been said. We bought the entire set and though I found them all watchable, they did lose something as time worn on.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 2:39 AM on May 1, 2008

I just picked up an early 70's BSA Thunderbolt which would be an amusing touring bike for the right person, but that person would have to find old steam engines amusing, long to own a model T, etc., etc.

Don't overlook the modern Triumph touring bikes. The Trophy is a very comfortable tourer and is powerful and reliable. It's a big bike, though. The Sprint is another good used value, especially tricked out with luggage.

If you're going to be... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 11:09 PM on April 24, 2008

I should note I'm not trying to pick on tinypic.com here, it just happens to be the closest example to hand.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 1:36 AM on April 17, 2008

It does happen across multiple browsers. My IE7 is essential as it comes from MS with whatever the current updates are, I don't use it and leave it alone. in FF, fooling around with various scripting options, etc. doesn't make a difference.

What's puzzling to me is that this should be a server side thing, or am I just not smart on this? In other words, if I can go to the page and the player loads, that means the request, complete with the query string, arrived at the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 2:36 AM on April 18, 2008

Most dealerships share their service history for this reason. They can look to see what work was done and when...assuming the servicing was done at a Mazda dealer. Also, pay $15 and get a carfax on the car. Many times, dealer servicing is shown on that record (you should never buy a used car without a carfax unless it's really cheap or ancient, in my opinion).

Start with a carfax, you can run that right now, in a few minutes. See what it tells you. If nothing, call a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:14 PM on April 7, 2008

GeekAnimator, thank you for settling a decades old mystery. Who knew Roger Corman was haunting my childhood?
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:06 PM on April 7, 2008

I have this issue as well, and in my case my IT expert friend thinks that it is because I'm on a shared hosting environment. So my return address is my domain, but in the headers is the domain of my host as the sender, and since they don't match, poof, spam. I have the SPF thing going and it hasn't made a difference, and I may have missed a nuance or two in my friend's explanation.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 1:31 PM on April 1, 2008

I have been (mildly) shocked by a live wire while wearing rubber-soled shoes on wooden stairs. Please ignore Ryaske's answer.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:54 PM on March 31, 2008

I suspect what she has is a slow "leak" of electricity from an accessory or system in the car which should turn off with the key but isn't doing so.

Typically, this could be:

* A new stereo which was wired up incorrectly so that it has juice all the time, or a new stereo with high stand-by power requirements

* A small bulb (like the trunk light or an under-hood light) which isn't going off when the lid is closed... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 10:17 PM on March 30, 2008

Oops, sorry everyone, got caught up in something else and forgot this. Bah. I appreciate the replies and I'll run some tests myself to see how it works.

In firefox, anecdotally, when I put a few large images in alternate css sheets, they don't seem to be cached until you've been to each version of the sheet at least once, which suggests they don't load until you switch the sheet. Dunno.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 4:50 PM on March 17, 2008

Sorry, sciurus, I'm glad she got a laugh or two in before going to her reward.

Another classic:

Two women went on a Girls Night Out, and had been decidedly over-enthusiastic with the cocktails. Drunk and walking home, they realized they both needed to pee. They were near a graveyard and one suggested they do their business behind a headstone.

The first woman had nothing to wipe with, so she took off her panties, used... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 12:22 AM on February 18, 2008 marked best answer

Problem is on this shared host, I cannot create a directory as I do not have permission to do so from PHP, which runs as "nobody" or similar.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 12:09 AM on February 15, 2008

The uploading community, such as it is, is a small group of trusted folks. A very small group, all available in the flesh to complain to.

I guess another way to phrase this. Let's say I have a web site that is maxwelton-is-a-dork.com. It's all flat HTML, and I store all of my image files in "/dorky_images/" which is set to 777. There is an .htaccess file in there that only allows files of certain extensions, but that's not important because I'm the only person... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 2:52 AM on February 15, 2008

Thank you all for your explanations, I really do appreciate your time. I knew some of this, but have never actually known what the real evil of a directory set to 777 might be, just that it wasn't best practice.

In this case, I log in using FTP "manually" to create directories, under a username. PHP on the box runs as nobody, and hence cannot modify the directory structure I create under my username unless I change the permissions on the directory first.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:23 AM on February 15, 2008

Joe, I guess that was another thing I'm curious about. A 777 directory sitting on a server somewhere doesn't just give carte blanche to anyone out on the web to throw stuff in it, right? I mean, you'd need some sort of access to the box via something other than http? On a shared server obviously there are some other users of the server who you would legitimately have concerns about, but can the viewing public do anything with that?
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 6:30 PM on February 15, 2008

Here on the island, the deer have zero natural predators and there is almost nowhere left to hunt due to open spaces going away. There's almost nowhere you can point a rifle and have a stray bullet not find a house or road. There are a lot of deer out here...the coyotes just aren't big enough to prey on the deer.

So I think hunting is important, I just wish it was done a bit more scientifically, with some sort of census, does and bucks both hunted, etc.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:58 PM on February 2, 2008

Thank you, folks.

As an aside, the best I got was a month of it working before it would fail; since this machine is on all of the time, at one point it had failed without warning three weeks since my last reboot. On a software install restart, I was a bit surprised to be taken back in time three weeks as the non-mirrored drive took over. After the fourth such failure in the first three months of using it, I said screw it.

Neat idea; at least in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 11:35 AM on January 20, 2008

As a follow-up for anyone who might be in the same situation, be sure you turn your RAID off in the bios and not just by deleting it from the nVIDIA raid controller. Caught me out for a bit, but otherwise it seems to have gone from broken RAID to two normal drives without any hassle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 12:57 AM on January 27, 2008

Ambrose, as a designer who also is a programmer, the reason I learned programming was to ensure that the stuff I designed a) could be built and b) was built exactly the way I wanted it to be done. Perhaps appealing to the anal-retentive, pixel-perfect nature of the designer in them might be an avenue to their interest.

Pointing out that they'll never have to hear "we can't do that" if they say "I can do that" is an arrow in their quiver professionally.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 8:00 PM on January 20, 2008

I suspect that you probably cannot wrap a piece of furniture tightly enough to prevent all water ingress, but two thoughts come to mind:

1) You could in theory construct your own vacuum sealed bags by using plastic sheet heat welded together and then evacuated with a shop vac; essentially a large version of the commercial products sold for smaller home storage. If you do something like this, I would definitely use desiccant (like "Dry-Z-Air") inside the bag.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 12:19 PM on January 20, 2008

I had forgotten about PODS even though we used them. You could get at least two years' rental out of them for the price of the bubble thing, I bet. Plus they drop off and pick up.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 5:17 PM on January 20, 2008

Not helpful immediately, but might be worth it for the future if this happens to you a lot:

You might consider is getting a toll-free number through one of the cheap on-line toll-free providers, and forwarding that to your cell phone. My toll-free provider charges about $10 a month + a low per-minute charge.

Some advantages:

1) There is no such thing as a "private caller" on toll-free. You can always see the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:22 PM on January 19, 2008

Uh, obviously you'd never give out your actual cell number, to be clear.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 9:23 PM on January 19, 2008

One other aspect to keep in mind is that you'll be bidding against people who do this for a living. If they think they can make a profit on it on their lot, they're going to be in the game until the price approaches what you could get it for outside the auction.

If you want to do it for fun that's fine, but don't expect to save much if any money.
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 1:17 PM on January 17, 2008

I think your plywood idea would be just fine. I'm of the personal, non-professional, opinion that box springs are kinda a scam, frankly, that you'd be served just as well by putting the mattress on a solid object.

If your underlying bedframe is open, you might also be able to tackle this by adding slats (say, 1 x 4 pine) across the bed frame under the boxspring to give it more support.

If you do use plywood and your bed is larger than a queen,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by maxwelton at 3:17 AM on January 17, 2008 marked best answer