DO NOT GIVE THIS PAINT TO HABITAT. For the love of god, we don't need it. I don't know of any Habitat that doesn't have 50-100 gallons of paint left at a site for us by some "good samaritan."

Old paint is a hazardous material. Hell, so is new paint. There are two good options here:
1. Open the lids and let it dry. Dry paint isn't hazardous, and can be thrown away without worry.
2. Buy a kiddie pool. Dump in a can of paint. Let it dry.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:04 AM on July 24, 2008

I shouldn't have been so vocal.

Basically, everyone has used paint. Some of it's nice. Some of it is really nice. Most of it sucks, and 90% of it is unusable because it's gotten too hot or cold or it's old or otherwise just gross.

If freecycle/craigslist can't get rid of it, then nobody wants it. Paint ceases to have any value once you buy it, it becomes a liability. It's nice that you want to make use of it but it's not a rare commodity. Pretty... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 6:24 AM on July 24, 2008

CFL's, especially cheap ones, can lose up to 75% of their longevity by being turned on and then off again less than 5 minutes later. While that might still make them last 2x as long as a cheap incandescent, they cost 3-5x as much and there's always the mercury issue.

Any CFL these days will snap on---not sure what a lot of people are talking about. I use them exclusively in a 10,000 square foot warehouse that doesn't get above 30 degrees on any given day in the winter... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:39 PM on July 22, 2008

There's a lot of good stuff in this thread. Thanks to every single person who posted. Just some clarifications:
*I don't work at the youth center any more. I work for another, larger, much better known NPO now, but I don't work with families anymore.
*I have no interest in a social work degree, in any format what so ever.
*I have worked in the mental health field before, for a mental health company, while I was working at the youth center. I wasn't a counselor... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 9:45 AM on July 16, 2008

Asserting that "Science" is "Real" indicates an acceptance of something called "Reality", whatever that may be. As cliche as "I reject your reality and substitute my own" may be, it's true.

Now don't get me wrong, I <3>
Back to my original point----believing that the science of your reality, or even that any given consciousness is real, is to believe in things that are beyond our current possible scope of anything... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:07 PM on July 15, 2008

oops bracket error. I !heart! science.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:08 PM on July 15, 2008

All you have to do to avoid Comcast traffic shaping is to use something like Tor for the client-to-tracker connection, and encrypting your headers. DO NOT USE TOR FOR TRAFFIC, THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M SAYING.

Proxying your computer to the tracker gets around (or at least USED to get around) their model and encrypting your headers obfuscates their method for looking at session initiation.

Changing the default port doesn't hurt, but it doesn't do as much as it used to.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 2:19 PM on July 13, 2008

The girl I've been with now for 4 years USED to be like this. She USED to be like a lot of things, but I still really care about her. I don't believe that anyone should ever enter a relationship with the intention of changing anyone else, however I believe that these things only get worse over time. 2 stories:

1. My girlfriend did this. I didn't stay to discuss, I didn't argue. I said "Well sweetie, I hope you find something to do, I'm out!" and left. She'd sit... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 6:17 AM on July 12, 2008

Depending on what your credit has done since you bought the car, you *could* consider refinancing the loan at another (or the same, I guess) lender to save some moneys.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:29 AM on July 11, 2008

Just because you signed up doesn't mean you have to accept the card. They'll ding your credit to determine your limit, but I can't fathom that it should "scare" a bank. When/if the card comes, just cancel it. I wouldn't worry.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:19 AM on July 11, 2008

I work for Habitat for Humanity in Appalachia. There are tens of thousands of people who do not meet our meager income guidelines of 35% of median income, and who live in no-windowed shacks of particle board/foam board and scrap lumber, heated by scrap wood and soft coal.

Poverty is very real and very much alive in these hills. It's not funny and it's not going away. Feel free to ask any question you want---this is my country and my life.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:03 PM on July 9, 2008

I think there are really 2 questions here:
1. What's a hillbilly. (We could debate this all day, connotations versus denotations and whatnot.)
2. Do conditions of abject poverty persist in rural America today and to what extreme. (Already answered a couple times over.)

There is a (shrinking) contagion of people who believe that hillbilly speech patterns are holdovers of colonial Elizabethan English, which remain by virtue of their isolation. It's... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:31 PM on July 9, 2008

I was an Americorps Member. My girlfriend is currently an Americorps member. It has, in the past, been my job to supervise Americorps members.

There are 2 different kinds of Americorps. Well, ok, 3.
1. There are Vistas. Can't do direct service, get paid less. Most people are most familiar with these. Vistas have the option of taking a cash sum instead of the educational award.
2. There are program Americorps. There are hundreds if not thousands of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:19 AM on July 9, 2008

Dang All.Star you worked for some weenies. Vistas are a different program than program americorps. (NCCC are program americorps.)

I cannot think of any possibly way that they could tell you that you couldn't work elsewhere. I can see them dismissing you for being unable or unwilling to do your job, but...meh.

And of course you can campaign, again just not AS an americorps member. Can code inspectors campaign? Can Policepersons campaign? You're no different.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 11:39 AM on July 9, 2008

I got a pair of Luxeon L2's at Sam's Club. They are the most unreal flashlights I've ever seen, much less as LED's. They're tactical-bright. Crazy, insane bright. Light up my entire backyard bright. 90 Hours of light on 3 AAA's, indefinite bulb life. 1500 lumens or something unreal. I really like them because the on button is a switch in the end of the light. I think I paid $27 for the pair.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 9:19 AM on July 9, 2008

You know, I worked with a girl here recently who was exactly my age, with more education but no experience. I make about $1,000 a year more than her, and I thought "well that's strange." And then I realized that my health benefits cost our NPO about $2,200 each year and hers cost $12,200 each year, and suddenly I was just a lot more confused.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:05 AM on July 9, 2008

Yea, if you're not a "breeder" don't "breed" your dog, especially not a Golden. They deserve better.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:58 PM on July 8, 2008

I uh, actually like the feeling of having my back waxed. Nair makes a microwave glide on thinger that feels damn good going on and really not bad on the coming off. The downside is that the goo on the roller dries fast, and it has a tendency to pinch your skin in the roller as it gets cooler. Solution: keep a warm moist towel nearby and wipe it off before you start each time. We only stopped because apparently the concept of going side-by-side-by-side and not willy-nilly-here-then-there just... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:56 PM on July 8, 2008

Anecdotal:
I only ever gave one girl a promise ring. I was 19, she 17. It wasn't an engagement, it wasn't a "zomg we gonna be togetha 4 eva." It was promising her that no matter what happened on the earth, between us, to us, or against us---that I would always be there for her and would make her wellbeing a matter of importance. 10 years later it's still true, and we haven't been together since I was 21. Still, she knows and I know that there's always someone there. I don't... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:07 PM on July 7, 2008

I should point out that my work uses USCellular and my GF's phone is now ATT. I REALLY don't want to pay for a data plan for her phone, she doesn't use any gadgetry, but she uses Skype often to call her parents out of state. We don't have ATT 3g here either.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:13 PM on July 4, 2008

I've worked with a lot of kids in this situation, both before and after they enter the system, and several after they leave it.

One way or the other, his situation needs to change. Period. Whether he enters foster care w/o counseling (bad idea), goes to a juvenile detention camp (probably not recommended), or enters a youth group home for a few months while they decide placement (really the best option), he needs removed from his current situation. We have no idea what... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:05 AM on July 4, 2008

I'm gonna comment one more time and then bow out of this conversation because it'll be hard for me to maintain my composure. I just wanted to make a few statements to things said since I posted:

1. intensely supervised probation varies GREATLY from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. In my town it means "see you 4 times a year unless you get arrested again and then we send you to level 3 lockdown while we decide what to do with you." There are... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 11:00 AM on July 4, 2008

Because if you do it right you can get hundreds of dollars of groceries for tens of dollars.

Linky.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 1:39 PM on July 3, 2008

In the thick hardwood forests of southern west virginia, my dogs were on revolution (it's my fave but gosh is it expensive!) and still were getting ticks. At the suggestion of a dog-store owner, I tried a collar called "tick arrest", which helps against nothing but ticks. Collar on, 2 days later no ticks anywhere.

This is in a place where I would routinely pick 100 or more ticks off neighbor dogs...daily. Disgusting and sad.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:43 AM on July 2, 2008

So, I'll probably get some folks to disagree, but I've got 3 dogs, each trained a different way. The last one is my first and only ever "Treat hound". He came to me like this. Anyway, for treats for SAR dogs and now him, we always used to:
-buy the cheapest nastiest hot dogs you can find. Chop them into wee pieces. Like, into slices 1/4 inch thick, then cut that into 4 pieces. Place them in a dish. Microwave them until they're hard. They'll last forever and dogs love them.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 2:50 PM on June 30, 2008

Whether you read it or not, I wanted to point out to you that the truth isn't always (or even usually) what you want to hear, and that the level you like a comment doesn't make it untrue. On Ask, we prefer people to truthful and honest, more truth and less fluff.

You're a dog-person who's landed in a field of dog-lovers, people who live and breathe dogs and who go out of our ways to make this crazy world a good place for them. Several things you said in this post brought... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:58 PM on July 1, 2008

I read once that BMG and Columbia House did what they did because they bought the rights to produce the CD's themselves in-house. This isn't gonna happen with bleeding edge console games, and basically the market will bear excessive prices. This would be the reason I own a ps3 and about 4 games.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:59 PM on June 29, 2008

If you possibly can, take a picture of the connectors on the dishwasher and the connectors on your plug, and we can tell you what to connect to what from there.

Black or red are going to be hot, white is going to be "common" or "neutral", and green or bare wire is going to be the ground. For this application you should be ok with yellow wire nuts, however you *might* want to consider springing for the goo-filled waterproof ones.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:54 PM on June 29, 2008

I almost put a "don't talk about BD" part to this question. I personally have a Biofuels company as my home business that I operate outside of work. We're very very close to ramping up production to ~10,000 gals a month, and then the diesel will be free. It also doesn't take 30 days, it takes 8 hours. 3 hours when we switch to centrifugal. (333 gals/hour maximum production for intermediate facility.)

Thanks for the heads up on all the other goodies. I should be... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:16 PM on June 26, 2008

Regardless of what anyone says, there are no stats. Labs are the most popular dogs in America. They are also the most commonly euthenized, most common to be out of control, and most likely to rip apart your living room.

Pits are, as someone said, usually bred by inept casual breeders who care little for the breed standard and care more for the ....whatever that word is, that you get when you stroll down the street with a boxer. That does mean that they're often prone to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:03 PM on June 25, 2008

The ColdHeat guns are....a giant GIANT pain in the tookus. NOT recommended.

Glasses are a must, you might consider those fiberglass glove-like oven mitts for hands. I always burn myself soldering, but then I stink at soldering. I also can't seem to have any dexterity wearing gloves.

Given my experience working with kids that age, I would explain the temperatures, the consequences of carelessness, and that anyone who was caught fooling around the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 12:02 PM on June 24, 2008

+1 to concrete. You can dye it, you know, or lay tile on top of it, or river rocks, or whatever. Concrete doesn't have to be fugg...it's also waterproof, bug proof, in this case waaaaay easier, and it'll last a lot longer. It also doesn't grow mold/mildew/get slippery when wet.

There's also no way I'd advise using liquid nails instead of a traditional fastener. The proper thing to do there is to use a low-velocity powder actuated nail driver OR masonary bit + TapCon... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:34 PM on June 23, 2008

It might just be old-fogeyism in full effect. You'll find very very few tried and true construction folks who rely on that stuff anywhere near it's advertised usages. You CAN use it instead of drywall screws, theoretically. Everyone I know who uses it also nails.

Also, for me, concrete is dusty and breaks down over time as it dries and powderizes. Liquid nails has different formations for freezing or non-freezing applications, expanding or non-expanding, etc--but you'll... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:20 AM on June 24, 2008

And to you I introduce the Insulated Concrete Form. It's right there in the first sentence. ICF's RULE, but for a lot more reasons than just stackability.

Case in point: we rocking an 8' crawlspace on a current build, total time to stack all blocks: 1.25 hours, + pour time of ~3-4 hours. 2 person team. Total man hours 11 maximum to build an 8' tall block wall with an r50 insulation rating.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:44 PM on June 23, 2008

Nobody probably including you is going to go for this, however...
When he started chasing you, you were 17 and he was 23. Insta-fail. Sure it's only 5 years, but at that time it was a third of your life. You were in high-school, he should have been out of college by then. His lack of motivation and obvious whatever it is that's causing him all these troubles is probably a REALLY GOOD REASON that nobody his own age would have him.

On top of that, you're 19.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 9:10 AM on June 21, 2008

Well, I went to napaonline.com and couldn't get really far w/o knowing your engine size and engine displacement. However, assuming you've got the bigger motor and 4wd, Napa lists prices between $22 and $200, depending on exactly what you're looking for. Here's the link to the vehicle selector: here.

Shocks and struts aren't necessarily easy to do by yourself, because they have to be compressed to fit usually, and that can go really badly.

If... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:57 PM on June 20, 2008

Ack! PLEASE DON'T GIVE HOMEBREW ADVICE IF YOU DON'T HOMEBREW, YOU CAN KILL SOMEONE, especially with sodas moreso than beer/wine. (Ever seen a Pabst bottle explode? nasty nasty.)

No, seriously.

Someone on here sent me their recipe for homebrew rootbeer a couple years ago. It was awesome. As I check mefimail I see that it's not there. Sadface. Anyway, it sounds to me like you could have a lot of issues, I'll list them here in my typical fashion.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:49 PM on June 19, 2008

True, 2L's don't bust as easily and they're not as dangerous, however once one pops its cap and/or its side seam and makes a huge mess and takes out several other bottles, you realize that they can all explode.

I personally only use plastic anything for soda, everything else gets glass from the first rack to the bottle.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:30 PM on June 19, 2008

My source was a batch of cyser I made about 6 years ago. Hygrometer tested throughout, final alcohol content of right at 28%. Firewater. 3 years later it was drinkable, although...it still wasn't very good. It fermented for months. And months. And months.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 8:11 PM on June 19, 2008

Boo to force carbonating for non-commercial applications. Naturally primed carbonation is soooo much yummier and trubbier than force carbonated, it's also cheaper, easier, and more science-ey.

Also, I wouldn't recommend shaking the bottles, but swirling them is perfectly acceptable and a good idea.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:39 AM on June 20, 2008

Zomg, dealership for oil changes? Ouch. JiffyLubeMonkey? Ouch.

I realize that "do it yourself" will glaze over a lot of eyes...but, seriously consider learning, especially on an 04 Civic! I run nothing but Mobil1 in my car, getting that change at any normal oilchange place costs ~$65/$75, whereas doing it myself costs ~$30 and 10 minutes, with a premium oil filter. Of course, $30 means more to some people than others.

I'd recommend your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:22 PM on June 17, 2008

Lol, not gold shavings, just high quality 100% synthetic. A $20 oil change is getting you some old skool oil. Fine for lots of cars...just not, you know...new ones.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 5:56 PM on June 19, 2008

In my experience there are a couple real possibilities, most have been stated here.
1. Heat. I have a huge HUGE heatsink on my prescott 2.8 and was getting heavy-load crashes. A bit of arcticsilver totally cleared up the issue. Get in there with some canned air and clean it out...consider taking off the heatsink and cleaning the top of the chip with some alcohol on a qtip, then reapplying thermal grease.
2. Ram. Could be a bad stick that's really only reacting under heavy... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:25 PM on June 18, 2008 marked best answer

Are you 100% positive that you've got the chip seated fully and absolutely, and that the sink is on the right way, and that your ram is fully seated?
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 2:07 PM on June 19, 2008

I have that 14.4v Hitachi. And the 18v. They are BEASTS. If you're stripping the heads then you're doing something wrong...anything from too-soft-screws to not pressing in hard enough.

I used this drill for the entire buildout of a store, everything from drilling through concrete to putting screws in wood to putting self tapping metal screws into 1/2" steel girders.

Go slow and press hard.

Make sure you have the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 10:57 AM on June 18, 2008

Just wanted to throw out there that in a drill with a clutch, if you overload the clutch setting you will smoke and burn the clutch in NO TIME. Some companies like DeWalt offer free clutch service at many of their public appearance settings...
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 7:35 PM on June 18, 2008

Posting for anonymous, pasted from email:
-My ED insists that he has been trying to get the personnel committee to convene for months re: the PDO. (Since January. There are 2 people on the committee.) Another employee stands to lose 6 weeks of vacation, which is the maximum she was previously allowed to carry. We work ~50-60 hour weeks with a minimum of support and have been told by this boss that, regardless of our vacation or other work schedules, if we are needed we are expected... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 10:44 AM on June 16, 2008

Fast clarification from Anonymous:
-My boss IS the ED.
-Audits happen every year, nothing special about it coming up. Big donors want to see them and the national organization expects them.
-Anastasiav-you have mefi mail.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 11:22 AM on June 16, 2008

Again from email:
Thanks for the insight, particularly that jobs are like bars and change over time. I appreciate that muchly. I will make an appointment to speak with the personnel committee folks and maybe the board president as well. I'll go without recording, but I'll certainly keep a communication log. Anything else I should add to it?
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 2:51 PM on June 16, 2008

I've been without a bathtub for the last 8 years.

Let me tell you how much I look forward to hotels.
posted to Ask Metafilter by TomMelee at 10:30 AM on June 16, 2008