In my experience, admitting that you're looking around because you're worried about the stability of your company is totally ok and probably one of the better answers you could give.

Bullshit is usually easy to spot. Don't make it emphatic, just say that you're concerned about the... "continued viability of the company" or something euphemistic like that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 10:49 AM on October 10, 2008

Game boards and pieces would be excellent, I think. Pick whatever board game you like most. I worked in the machine shop at school and in my spare time built a chess set with board out of the scrap aluminum stock from the freshmen classes.

Other options - parcheesi, backgammon, cribbage. The boards can have some nice inlay work and you could hollow them out and hinge them to hold the pieces inside. the pawns (for parcheesi, anyway) can be as fancy as you want.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 4:57 AM on October 10, 2008

I received someone else's mail the other week. It was addressed to [my street address], Cambridge ON. I live in Cambridge MA.

So not only was it the wrong town, it was the wrong freaking country. Congratulations!
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 9:34 AM on October 9, 2008

Another engineer coming in to mention that we don't all do it for the money. Good (design) engineering takes quite a bit of creativity, and the payoff isn't really the deposits in your bank account so much as the acquisition of knowledge and the synthesis of that knowledge into something awesome.

If I wanted to solve interesting and difficult math problems, I would have become a mathematician or a physicist. I'm driven by the same impetus as any artist, which is the... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 7:52 AM on October 8, 2008

Line tech for the power company? People lose power, you have to get it up again pronto. In a similar vein, nuclear power plant technician.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 11:15 AM on October 7, 2008

Try heating the air inside the balloon with a hair dryer just before you light the candle. That should keep it from collapsing long enough for you to get the candle lit.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 8:21 AM on October 7, 2008

Data point:

My roommate and I bunked our beds in college. He had psoriasis, which he never took care of. He also never washed his sheets, and it often looked like his bed had its own snowy microclimate.

I had the top bunk.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 4:16 PM on October 6, 2008

So bribery is allowed to avoid the self-link snafu?

I will accept six-packs of beer.

Or: 20 dollars, same as in town.
posted to MetaTalk by backseatpilot at 2:24 PM on October 3, 2008

The first thing I did in Lost Pig was light my pants on fire.

I should not be allowed near... well, anything, really.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 11:07 AM on October 3, 2008

The NTSB report is still preliminary and does not include the latest recovery, but it'll be updated within a couple of weeks I bet.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 9:25 AM on October 3, 2008

I lied, there's a short blurb at the top that the plane was recovered.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 9:28 AM on October 3, 2008

I think this can all be summed up as: be curious. I know too many people that would read lists like these not as wishlists but as "so what?" lists. Find something you don't understand or don't know how to do? Learn how to do it, then do it yourself. There's a lot of interesting stuff out there.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 1:11 PM on October 2, 2008

If you want contours, how about glow tape or glow paint instead?
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 8:33 AM on October 1, 2008

Entropy wins again!
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 5:21 AM on September 30, 2008

Cunard still does transatlantic crossings from New York to Southampton. I believe they use the Queen Mary II for it now; expect to pay $3,000+ for a cheap room. It takes five days to cross.

Cunard and several other lines do other (long) cruises, but they're usually round-trip and I'm not sure that you can use them as one-way transportation. Example.

You can request a brochure from Cunard's website, if you like. However, I don't think ocean... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 11:09 AM on September 29, 2008

Oh, slightly off-topic, but if you decide that ocean travel is too expensive and you really can't shake the travel bug, look to flying on brand-spanking-new jets. A lot of US carriers have Boeing 777s in their fleets, which are among the cleanest and most efficient aircraft you can haul passengers in. Keep in mind that fuel is expensive - the single largest expense for an airline - so not burning fuel is beneficial to anyone that flies an airplane for hire. The airlines are making efforts to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 11:13 AM on September 29, 2008

Thanks for the encouragement. I definitely recognize that I need to "feel" things a little more , but yeah I guess that will come with time.

Thanks!
posted to MeFi Music by backseatpilot at 6:39 PM on September 22, 2008

Pretty sure the video is not just airline traffic. I haven't spoken German in many years, but from their FAQ it looks like they're aggregating transponder data. Which would mean that any airplane on an instrument flight plan should be on the map. John Q. Pilot flying his Cessna in the clouds will be on the map.

Granted, the US has an overwhelming majority on general aviation traffic, so what you see outside of North America and western Europe is probably pretty... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 9:59 AM on September 22, 2008

Also, overlaying air traffic with NEXRAD imagery is fun.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 10:01 AM on September 22, 2008

Awesome! So, uh... where do we go? I haven't really done my research, to be honest. Maybe we can do a blowout on that Friday so I can fly home with a hangover.
posted to MetaTalk by backseatpilot at 7:31 PM on September 16, 2008

I am all about brewpubs. How does the Marble Brewery on the night of the 17th strike anyone?
posted to MetaTalk by backseatpilot at 5:45 AM on September 18, 2008

I think I'll had this to the meetup calendar for visibility. For now, let's say Marble Brewery on the 17th at... 7-8ish.
posted to MetaTalk by backseatpilot at 12:41 PM on September 20, 2008

The idea of a bunch of superscientists running around sounding like chipmunks just popped in to my head.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 12:40 PM on September 20, 2008

Geez, already?! Didn't we just do this? Aaaargh!!!!
posted by Space Kitty at 9:35 PM on September 18 [+] [!]

No no, see, you're doing it wrong. "Yaarrrr" - open the mouth a little wider.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 4:53 AM on September 19, 2008

Depends how screwed you think we'll all be. For a 1930s-style depression, if you assume some sort of WPAish agency will be established, then I imagine trade skills would be in higher demand than manual laborers. Welding, bricklaying, carpentry, things like that. Auto repair might be good to get into if people can still afford to drive but can't afford to buy new cars.

Embalming might be good, since people are always dying, but I'm not entirely sure how you would... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 1:22 PM on September 17, 2008

I got a 4. Now the blue background here looks like it's shimmering.

The trick for me was to get the really obvious ones and then fine-tune by taking a block and sliding back and forth until it looked like it disappeared.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 11:00 AM on September 17, 2008

We used to have "punch and pie" parties at school. So, um... punch and pie.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 9:41 AM on September 16, 2008

This is an honest question, so please don't take it as snark - in response to all of the information presented about the societal costs of Down Syndrome, can someone enumerate the benefits? There's a lot of talk in the other thread about people not thinking of all of the positives Down patients bring to the world, so I'm wondering if someone can provide data.

I used to volunteer at a home for special needs children (mostly Down Syndrome kids) and I tutored a couple kids... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by backseatpilot at 5:51 AM on September 16, 2008

Listen to This American Life's episode The Giant Pool of Money. They do a great job of explaining what caused the current mortgage crisis and goes on to explain a bit how that is affecting other parts of the market.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 7:59 AM on September 15, 2008

Is this another drunk thread? Please let it be another drunk thread.
posted to MetaTalk by backseatpilot at 2:34 PM on September 11, 2008

This confirms everything I had ever feared.

It's hard being a nerd. You go to a tech school, the ratio of guys to girls is 5:1. Then you move out to the big city. Here, you think, there will be women who are cultured and intelligent, who enjoy the finer things in life... who are single.

I lived in a big apartment building when I first moved to Boston. Every woman that I met who lived there with me was either a) living with her boyfriend, or b)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 4:44 PM on September 10, 2008

Can someone explain this in English?
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 11:51 AM on September 9, 2008

I remember there being more to the "chicken butt" version. After the "guess what" lines, something like:

"Guess where?"
"Where?"
"Underwear!" (I think)

I think there was a "Guess when?" line, too, but I can't recall the "punch line".
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 8:04 AM on September 9, 2008

Thanks, I had no idea about KEH before; their used section is pretty good and I found the lens I was looking for. And I'm definitely driving out to the camera show.

Pentax lenses have an "A" setting on them that allows aperture priority. My point in including that data was that I currently have several very old lenses (pre-aperture priority) that are kind of a pain to use on my current camera body.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 10:01 AM on September 8, 2008

You may try New England Theater 411. It's geared towards stage shows, but it's a fairly well-trafficked site. You can make a post specifically for a casting call.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 8:41 AM on September 8, 2008

I am backseatpilot, funny enough.

What are people's impressions so far? Ars and Wired both seem to have panned it a bit, but I think it's a lot of fun - I only made it to the beginning of the tribal stage before I had to go to bed, but it's pretty addicting right now.
posted to MetaTalk by backseatpilot at 8:23 AM on September 8, 2008

To add to what others have said, if the platform needs to be removable, you can build a square frame at the top of the legs that sits inside of the platform when it is installed. Have it fit snugly against the platform frame and hold them together with bolts and wingnuts. You could probably do the same thing without the frame (bolts through the frame to the legs with wingnuts) but the leg assembly may be a bit unstable when the platform is not installed.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 1:30 PM on September 5, 2008

I understand the position you're in, because guys who are not interested in sports definitely seem to be the exception in America. It's certainly difficult if you're speaking with someone who as some influence over you - interviewers and whatnot.

I agree that you don't need to feign interest, but I've come to realize that for those limited situations where I'm trying to impress someone (as in an interview), having a small bit of knowledge of the past couple days'... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 5:19 AM on September 5, 2008

I had a used Altima as my first car which was pretty good in retrospect. Not sure how the newer models fare, but mine had a relatively small engine (so it was hard to do anything incredibly reckless), ABS, airbags, and was pretty comfortable.

Of course, my father traveled a lot so I ended up driving his Miata most days. If you want to get something you can "borrow" and have some fun with, go for it. Or, you know, buy one for yourself and give her your old car.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 11:31 AM on September 4, 2008

Any of Asimov's Robot stories. Slightly different from what you want, but it involves humanity's interactions with a new (artificially) intelligent lifeform.
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 7:28 PM on August 29, 2008

Really? I think Rembrandt and a Van Gogh among others might object.

You mean VAIN Gogh amirite?!

Sorry.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 11:33 AM on August 28, 2008

Flight schools will usually offer charter service also, but it's expensive. The trouble with flight schools is that their fleets usually only have very small aircraft - three passengers. And they can't go very far or very fast (they're for training, after all). That would mean stopping in the United States for fuel, so taking it to Cuba's probably a bad idea.

For 20 people or so you could charter something like a Gulfstream, but I'm not as familiar with those... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 8:16 AM on August 28, 2008

A couple of the top of my head - sloe gin fizz, (Polish) sidecar, Rickies, Fizzes. The cool thing about a lot of the older cocktails is that all the different "base" liquors can be substituted - a "Fizz" can be a Gin Fizz, Sloe Gin Fizz, Tequila Fizz, X Fizz.

My British friend has also gotten me hooked on Pimm's Cups, which may be difficult to procure at bars. Get some Pimm's and mix with "lemonade" (Sprite in the US, but I like mine... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 7:56 PM on August 22, 2008

My father told me a quote by a famous photographer once. The exact quote and the name of the photographer escape me, but to paraphrase - your first 10,000 pictures will be shit.

The takeaway is that, just like anything else, photography is learned through experience. Lots and lots of practice. Many people have said this on AskMe before, but get on Flickr and join some groups about photography styles that you like. Examine the pictures in the groups, find the ones... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 7:46 PM on August 22, 2008

If you're handy, you could make one - they sell voice recorder ICs that will play back whatever you store on them. In fact, my coworkers at my old job replaced the guts of an Easy button with one and secretly swapped our department head's Easy button with it. His mother came in and pushed one day, and they were both startled to hear, "That was FUCKING HARD!"
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 2:26 PM on August 22, 2008

Awesome, I had no idea this was actually an art movement. So much for believing I can think outside the box.

I think what I will try to do is GMOB and post the sounds alongside photos. Since we're all here, does anyone have experience with the Tascam DR-1? Can I actually get binaural or quasi-binaural audio with its built-in mics? (If I end up doing this I'm tempted by the 1/4" jack so I could also plug a guitar into it)
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 12:38 PM on August 22, 2008

I've noticed some interesting trends among my peers (who are all now in their early 20s, but it also held true in college). Most of the people I talk to about drinking generally find two drinking-related activities to be Bad Things - drinking multiple nights in a row and drinking alone.

The reason for this, it seems, is that to most of them "drinking" means "getting hammered". Moderation simply relates to the frequency you get drunk. According to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 6:25 AM on August 19, 2008

It's not even the same fucking penguin!

To be fair, 36 years is a long time to be fucking the same penguin.
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 11:28 AM on August 15, 2008

Next time, on Public Urination Confessions:

This one time I was coming home on the T late after a night of heavy drinking. I was kind of sauces but sobering up, and as the trolley was trundling down the street I suddenly needed to pee. Very, very badly. I was only about a mile from my apartment, but I couldn't wait.

I got off at the next stop and ran around looking for somewhere discreet to pee. This being a heavily... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by backseatpilot at 5:59 AM on August 15, 2008

Beer - porter
Wine - a dry red
Liquor - bourbon
posted to Ask Metafilter by backseatpilot at 5:47 AM on August 15, 2008