One thing that's nice about Comcast is that in many locations, you can order just data ($46/month, I think), then get a splitter and plug it into your TV as well and also get cable TV. It's not digital cable, but you do get Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, and the Food Network.

Comcast's customer service uses a horribly cynical system in which you can never talk to the same person twice, however.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 11:53 AM on July 15, 2008

Burpees might be the best overall bodyweight exercise there is.

The circuit training programs in Simplefit will also strengthen you up real good.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:20 AM on July 12, 2008

Taraje William-Murray is going to the Olympics. His blog is mostly about training, making rent, and the extreme sacrifice it takes to make the Olympic team, but I imagine as it gets closer to Olympics time, he'll have very Olympic-specific stuff.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 4:11 AM on July 4, 2008

MegoSteve: Huh, I never realized that he wrote assuming judo knowledge. Yes, it's judo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:27 AM on July 5, 2008

- Food, especially in restaurants, is expensive as fuck. Easily three times what it would cost in an American city. I ended up getting myself cereal and milk to take care of most of my meals.

- If you do get tired of camping, guest houses in Iceland (well, at least Akureyri) are pretty nice and a great deal.

- I remember that some parts of the Ring Road are steep and narrow. You may have to stop biking during some parts of your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 11:33 PM on July 2, 2008

Changing your diet to restrict the calories will help, as others have said, and it very well may be the key for you. Cutting out white carbs (white bread, white rice, donuts, refined sugar products) can result in some significant weight loss, too, and can increase the amount of energy you have to work with.

However, one thing that can make your exercise more efficient at burning fat is to do the high intensity stuff for extended periods of time. It sounds like you're... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 1:24 AM on July 2, 2008

Oh, yeah, also, don't skip the cardio. I recommend trading in one strength session per week for some running. I know people say that running three miles is only X amount of calories, but everyone I've seen that has started running regularly, even without any diet changes, thins out some. Maybe it alters body chemistry somehow. (Yup, that was pretty unscientific and very anecdotal.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 1:34 AM on July 2, 2008

If you're willing to listen to metal:

Moyses Kolesne of Krisiun is amazing in his relentless aggression. Krisiun were so fast and on point live I had trouble believing they were human.

Muhammed Suicmez of Necrophagist has an amazing fluidity that absolutely stunned me live.

Then, there's the - unfortunately retired - Jon Levasseur. He probably has the most traditionally melodic sensibility of the three.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:59 AM on June 27, 2008

Bjork on Space Ghost. Also, Mike Judge and Metallica on the same show.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 3:41 PM on June 26, 2008

Well, that breed was created specifically to fight other dogs. There is really a greater chance of it becoming dangerous than there is with other breeds. I read an account about the world of dog fighting that noted that once a pit bull gets a taste of fighting, there's little you can do to stop it from wanting to fight more dogs.

However, if he's never fought, and you have the time to make sure he's well-socialized and trained, he can be fine.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 1:44 PM on June 25, 2008

violetk: I agree that pit bulls can be good, loving creatures when trained very well, but let's not forget: Pit bulls were bred to kill other animals. When a pit bull becomes pent-up and isolated (a technique used by dog fighters to get them in the right mindset for the fight), it will kill things. When a rat terrier goes through the same treatment, it might get antisocial and start defecating indoors and might even get nippy but won't necessarily be dangerous.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 2:21 PM on June 25, 2008

Yup, the dog has had his blood test, shots, and microchipping.

It's good to hear the anecdotes of relatively smooth trips from you guys.

RZA: That's exactly my concern. I'm trying to find out the likelihood of problems or death. I guess that's something the vet could tell us.

I don't think I'd be able to convince her to give him up, as she's even more attached to him than I am, unless there was a serious risk of death or damage.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:53 AM on June 25, 2008

The final credits of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has a song with lyrics. (It's not so great, especially considering how shreddin' the rest of the soundtrack is.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 3:08 PM on June 24, 2008

Here's a couple of easy, easy things I make all the time:

Hamburgers: Ground beef, paprika, salt, pepper. Stick oven-safe pan in oven while preheating to 500°F. When the preheating has finished, pull it out (with an oven glove, obviously) and put it on a stove burner on high. Put the burgers on, leaving them on each side for three minutes (or more depending on the size of the burger). Put on buns with grilled onions or whatever you'd like, and enjoy. Usually way... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 1:50 PM on June 18, 2008

phearlez: Whoa, perl! I wouldn't've thunk it, thanks.

Yeah, I don't know these students, and I told him this is pretty involved stuff, but he thought they were pretty bright high school students and could handle some scripting. So, I'll pass these suggestions on to him and let him work out how to present it.

zap: Oh, yeah. I forgot Audacity had spectral analysis. That's something.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 1:23 PM on June 16, 2008

Would it help to keep a few lit candles on the nightstand?

Maybe once or twice you can wake her up and ask her if she's having stomach problems. If she asks why you're asking, bring up the smell and that you're concerned. This could open the door to a conversation about what, if anything, can be done. Step 3: Profit.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 2:01 PM on June 11, 2008

Wherever you go, I think it's a pretty good idea to go with a partner or class, if you can. Working out with other people will help you stick with it, which is critical, and might even help you push a little harder than you would on your own.

The other benefit of a class or, even better if you can afford it, a personal trainer is that you'll get an idea of what to do much more quickly than if you just wander in by yourself. There's a lot of equipment in a gym, and some... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:22 PM on June 10, 2008

They're not that complicated to maintain, as long as you don't make drastic changes after they set it up for you. I remember putting heavy strings on a guitar with one of those Floyd Rose type things, and they yanked the bridge an inch off of the body.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:49 AM on June 8, 2008

The dog sounds like it's not at all a danger to the kid. Is there any evidence other than that he's very careful around her? I played rough with my dog all the time, and he was perfectly friendly to people and cautious around - but most certainly not hostile - to small kids.

Still, as high-strung as you sound you are, I think you'd be better off getting rid of the dog. Even if the dog is trained exactly as you as want him to be, something else is going to happen that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:28 PM on June 4, 2008

So, it turned out you can put the message board data onto an SD card. The thing is, I can't find a utility to read that data right now.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:22 PM on June 3, 2008

I always throughly check the cabinets under the sinks. If you see roach traps, the building has roaches.

Also, I flush the toilet and turn on the faucets to get a sense of the water pressure.

Even if you drive, being close to public transportation is handy, as parking downtown is shit. So, that's another thing to check for.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:18 AM on June 3, 2008

I agree with HighTechUnderpants that BJ Penn's book is probably the best out there, and also that, unlike weight lifting, you really can't learn this kind of thing from a book, assuming you want to learn to fight in MMA. The techniques are just too hard to explain in words, photos, or even video. You really need an instructor to show you the techniques and correct the subtle but critical things you're getting wrong, and partners to try them out with.

Also, about learning... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 7:41 PM on June 2, 2008

These have all been very helpful answers. I kind of went crazy with the Best Answer marking, so much so that it's no longer helpful, but I don't really want to go back and reevaluate.

I think what I'm going to do is sign up for Costco, but not get the 10-pound bag of frozen Perdue chicken. I'll look for fresh chicken deals there or elsewhere that have labels that don't raise suspicion.

jadepearl: The Amish farmer chicken sounded good, but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 8:52 AM on May 30, 2008

Slamber is probably the way to go, but I think that Cobra Commamber would also rule, as clumsy as it is.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 11:54 PM on May 29, 2008 marked best answer

Ruby on Rails is not only good for rapid development, but its formal adherence to the model-view-controller architecture will get you thinking a lot about an application's structure and keep you away from producing huge monolithic globs of code. That's something you can take with you, even if you end up working in another framework later. I think it's to web frameworks what Scheme is to traditional programming languages in that sense.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:38 PM on May 29, 2008

Yeah, take it to a repair place or Apple Store. They'll probably just replace the top case. If you didn't hear anything crunch, I imagine the DVD drive is OK and won't need to be replaced. If they replace the top case, I'd guess they'd charge around $120 for the top case and $70 for labor. That was the estimate they gave me when I had to have my top case replaced. (I spilled water on it.) It'd be cooler if they just straighted the top case out, but they tend to replace parts rather than repair.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 8:49 AM on May 26, 2008

If your job is unsatisfying, you're going to have to leave it sooner or later. Why not take the better job now, enjoy it for a year, and then use the better experience from it to get a similar job? And it's not even certain that you'd be laid off after a year.

I don't think it would reflect on you badly to leave this job, provided you don't start a long history of leaving jobs capriciously.

Waiting for another offer isn't a bad idea if the people... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:59 AM on May 24, 2008

Here's some Twitters from fictional figures that I find amusing:

Joke Factory posts jokes like this: "Q: Why did the chicken cross the road? A: Being run over would be a merciful release from the horrors of factory farming, America's shame."

Soupy Sales ruminates on his life as a washed-up comedian that used to life it up in the days of the Rat Pack.

Phunphacts keeps you informed with amazing trivia like... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 8:16 AM on May 24, 2008

The classic samurai epic Lone Wolf and Cub, which ran in the seventies, is available in its entirety.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:40 PM on May 22, 2008 marked best answer

It sounds like you might need to develop interests outside of relationships. Just focus for a while on developing aspects of yourself that will result in you being happy, girlfriend or no girlfriend. If you get that going, in your next relationship, you just might seem less clingy.

Also, I think "macho" guys have just as many relationship problems as everyone else, so there's no point in emulating them for this purpose.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:36 PM on May 22, 2008

rbf1138: Whoa, that is an awesome job! It does sound like the general consensus among those familiar with Bulbasaur here is that Bulbasaur is just too tough for goodbyes, but it'd be great to get a definitive answer from her.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 4:24 PM on May 22, 2008

Thanks to everyone on their insights on the character of Bulbasaur! I was kind of hoping they're was some big dustup over ethics or one of them going too far with playing by his own rules or something, but the explanations so far do make sense.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 4:38 PM on May 22, 2008

For Korean advice, Ask a Korean!
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 5:04 PM on May 5, 2008

Yup. Most jailbreaks I've seen deal with the iPhone firmware itself, not anything host-platform-specific. Beware that it might not work, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 11:01 AM on May 1, 2008

Oh, sorry about that. I meant to link this.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 2:19 PM on May 1, 2008

I just went to the doctor about my knees because they feel much like yours do. Unfortunately, I think my knees feel the way that they do for different reasons than yours, but I can say that if you do start building up your legs, make sure you hit all of your leg muscles evenly.

My knee weirdness comes from the outside muscles in my legs being more developed than my vastus medialis oblique, which pushes my kneecap off-center. So, my doctor assigned me to do certain... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 12:56 PM on May 1, 2008

At that age, I loved having a pair of rubber nunchaku. Might want to run it by his parents first, though. I accidentally hit my sister with them and got them taken away, but man, while I had them, I felt awesome.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 11:11 AM on May 1, 2008

Looking at their site, it appears you can't do it with Inno Setup.

Do you have control of the application being installed? If so, maybe you can prompt for a value on start up if the registry key is still set to the default "StudyName" value, then set it the new value, and carry on with business.

WiX is free, but I've never used it. It generates MSI setups, so you'll be able to do pretty much whatever you want via custom actions. Or just... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 2:16 PM on April 30, 2008

Bodyweight conditioning exercises. These kind of exercises are sometimes called strength-endurance conditioning, and they bridge the gap between running and the kind of weightlifting it sounds like you're doing (heavy weights with plenty of rest between sets). These enable you to use the strength you're building for longer periods of time without rest.

If they tire you out so much that you're too fatigued to do your primary workout, you can just cut down the duration or... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 12:13 AM on April 29, 2008

At some points in my life, it was easier said than done to remember that it's just a game. If you're having trouble doing this, for the time being, just focus for the time being on how well you're doing given the conditions.

Are you learning more about the game? Are you doing pretty well considering that everyone's piling on you or that you're rolling badly? Remember that you only have control over certain factors, and the rest is luck. If you're making good decisions... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 8:32 AM on April 22, 2008

I've seen AutoMate used to click buttons at a certain time.

WinRunner can do the same, but I think it's more complex and harder to get into.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 8:19 AM on April 22, 2008 marked best answer

I've never had interviewers go all-out family style on me, but I have been double teamed a few times. They might have chosen that format to save time, but in at least one instance, it seemed to me that they did it so that one person could observe me without being occupied by having to lead the interview.

Either way, I think that a good strategy for you is to keep in mind that they can't really "gang up" on you. Only one person can ask a question at a time, and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:39 PM on April 21, 2008

Oh, a caveat to "forgetting the rest of the people for the moment": You still need to speak loudly and clearly enough that everyone can hear you, but hopefully, the interviewers will be arranged closely enough that you don't need to speak too much more loudly than you would to be heard clearly by one person, anyway.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 9:42 PM on April 21, 2008

Ohhh. OK, I have never heard of that, outside of game shows. My advice is irrelevant.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:05 PM on April 21, 2008

Thirding the pull-ups and not just focusing on the upper body.

There's not a whole lot you can get out of 8-lb dumbbells. It's worthwhile to invest in one dumbbell that's between 20 and 40 pounds, depending on how strong you are right now, and doing dumbbell clean and presses. Those definitely hit the upper body but will get your legs, too. Lay out a folded blanket in front of you when you do these so you can put the dumbbell down without bothering the family.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 11:57 PM on April 16, 2008

Assuming these singletons all have methods other than init() and will be used later, I wouldn't have a problem with this. If not, I'd pull the code out of the inits and break them up into local MainInit functions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:32 AM on April 16, 2008

A possibly applicable answer from an old job question. If you can get anyone there to talk to you (and it shouldn't be impossible to contact someone that works at Yahoo), it sounds like it could work.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:47 PM on April 14, 2008

They're really no different than car salesmen or any other salesmen. They are trying to get you into a job - any job - so that they can get paid. They are certainly not guidance counselors.

To get you into the job, they'll do pretty much anything, including trying to convince you you want something other than what you said you wanted. They'll do a lot of "Hey, just go on the interview. What's the worst than can happen?" cajoling and spit out... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 5:23 PM on April 14, 2008

If you want deep technology stories with lots of verisimilitude, Philip K. Dick's short story Autofac is a great story about technology and debugging, and I don't think he was even aware of the concept of debugging!
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 10:27 PM on April 13, 2008

What are you excited about? Try talking about that instead of forcing yourself to talk about things you're not interested in. Even if it's something most people aren't familiar with, they won't find your enthusiastic talk about it boring.

Sounding like you're not boring when you are forced to talk about something you don't care about is a lot harder, but start with just talking about stuff you like.
posted to Ask Metafilter by ignignokt at 3:20 PM on April 10, 2008