In case you are not aware of this, this has happened to a bunch of people. If I were you I would I would check tech news sites until a fix is found. On a Gizmodo poll, there are 720 votes (11%) for "still trying to recover from the fallout".
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 7:33 PM on March 20, 2008

I would send these people an email. I know I did prints there as a kid (they had really cool summer camps!), so it wouldn't surprise me if they could do it for you. If they can't, I bet they would know who can.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 7:22 PM on March 20, 2008

If you want to win strategy games regularly you are going to have to do a number of things. First, you are going to have to know the rules. Take the rulebook and read it front to back at least twice. This will make sure you don't have any "wait, can you do that?" or "awww, I forgot about that case" moments. If you don't understand a rule, ask someone or google it.
Second, you need to start thinking mathematically. Most strategy games have an element of chance,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 4:10 PM on March 18, 2008

I'm not familiar with the condition (nor with NYC), but if typing is aggravating it, why not give speech recognition software a shot? If she is running Windows XP, I highly recommend Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I know a bunch of people with broken wrists or wrist conditions, and it has helped them considerably. Even if it is just used for opening and closing programs, and text input, that should give her wrists a break.
I believe that Vista has this built in (though I've never tried it)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 3:00 PM on March 15, 2008

I'll third what box said. Notebookreview.com is the largest laptop review site. I have a look there to see whether there are any common problems with a certain laptop, before buying.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 9:26 AM on March 14, 2008

Thanks guys. Looks like I have my work cut out for me.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 6:12 PM on March 13, 2008

The party never stops, scruss. I'll definitely have a look.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 6:31 PM on March 13, 2008

It would be cool to run electric sheep, but that would need a computer as well. Runs on just about anything though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 3:29 PM on March 6, 2008

Jeeze. Guess you already know about that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 3:30 PM on March 6, 2008

Where I used to volunteer, chilli and lasagna are pretty easy to make in large quantities. They are both cheep and nutritious as well.
If you really want, I can post the chili recipe (serves 80). I also have turkey stew, goulash and lasagna (all serve 80). Chili is easiest though. I have a meatloaf recipe that is fast and easy, but doesn't taste as good as any of the others.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 12:19 PM on March 6, 2008

Why don't you just reinstall Ubuntu over the old install? I've done this a couple of times when I've messed with things I shouldn't have. You can change the sizes of the partitions during the install - again something I've done on multiple ocasions.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 5:03 PM on March 2, 2008

As a student, I'm really sick of hearing plagiarism and intellectual property speeches and having to write "this is original work ... " on all of my assignments and papers. I've been hearing this since about grade 3. If someone is committing academic fraud at the college/university level, they do it with full knowledge of the ethical, legal and academic issues and consequences.

Does the college not have a computer code of conduct? If you do, placing a large... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 10:03 AM on March 2, 2008

If you are into RPGs, Baldur's Gate 2, and Neverwinter Nights are very good. Planescape: Torment and Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind (precedes Oblivion) have real depth and are my favorite games.
If you end up liking those, the original Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale (and expansion) are also gold.

Starcraft and Warcraft 3 are a lot of fun, though their multiplayer aspects have died off. Starcraft 2, when it comes out, is a must buy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:34 AM on March 2, 2008

I don't normally like FPSs, but CoD4 really impressed me. They could use a couple more maps, but they are all fun to play. I don't know if you were ever into the Starcraft/Warcraft 3 multiplayer custom maps, but Starcraft 2 should be even better, whenever it comes out.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 9:29 AM on February 29, 2008

I would strongly suggest not taking Tom's HW's advice. Sites like Anandtech, hardocp and Ars seem a little less influenced by donations from hardware manufacturers.

In the end, there a few things to remember.
- AMD processors are great for low power or low cost builds, but don't currently compare very well to Intel processors.
- For Intel processors, look for the highest FSB, most cache, and 45 nm processors. Only get a quad... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:15 PM on February 10, 2008

You may have to do a little digging, but I believe that the escapist has written a bunch of articles on MMO economies.

In my opinion, EVE has an economy that has a lot of impact on gameplay, making it important to have a well functioning one. I remember reading that they hired an economist to help them with its design and stabilization. Their Dev Blog has posts on trends they see. I know this isn't a direct answer to your question, but I think a good example of a complex... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 12:37 PM on February 9, 2008

nth-ing the "wanna come over and watch a movie". It is a well known euphemism, at least where I am.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 12:30 PM on February 4, 2008

I strongly suggest having someone that knows what they are doing show you how to do things the "proper" way before you give that bag a go. A video is ok, but waiting until you can get a live tutorial is more than worth it.
Screwing up a wrist or ankle isn't worth a month or two of exercise. Most martial arts studios will offer a free trial session or two, or a per session fee. If you explain what you want to do, they should be able to show you how not to hurt yourself... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:55 PM on January 25, 2008

I'm in the process of doing this right now. My version is a little lower tech - I use a pot, a funnel thingey, a filter, grounds and hot water. I don't use any measurements, so I can't give you a quantitative answer. It gets deadly after its third pass through, though.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 7:57 AM on January 23, 2008

I can't really back any of this up right now, so the following is just stuff to think about.

- Humans are water based creatures. We did just fine without tea for a long time. We evolved to reap the maximum benefits from drinking water.
- Drinking water has the effect of diluting whatever else is in your digestive tract for easier removal of good stuff and bad stuff.
- Simply from personal experience, nothing is as refreshing an hydrating as pure... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 7:25 AM on January 17, 2008

How I would approach this is to make a list of all of these things and determine costs for each. Then have each member of the household rate each item (yes ... even the things they obviously don't care about) with whatever scale you choose.
Then think about how permanent these things are. For instance, an eyebrow waxing is nice, but books will contribute to your son's education and I assume everyone would get some use out of a computer (provided it doesn't become solely your... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 5:03 PM on January 12, 2008

http://longisland.craigslist.org/sys/

Otherwise, someone you know must have some ancient hardware sitting in their basement. I think you'll have better luck with something that does/did actually run 98, rather than something that you would piece together now.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:21 AM on January 7, 2008

If you have time, the Fedora Lounge is a great place to research certain hats. They deal a lot with vintage hats though. If you know what you are looking for (and in what size) there are always great deals on eBay for vintage hats in great condition.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 4:17 PM on January 2, 2008

The Lies of Locke Lamorra is a fantasy novel that is both large and is very well written. There is a second book in the series out, that is also just as good and big.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:01 PM on December 17, 2007

If you don't mind spending the time to script a scenario, NWN sounds like it might fit the bill (IIRC, you can switch to turn-based).
Have you thought about MUDs?
If you haven't, check out mudconnect.com and stay away from anything that even remotely mentions money.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 2:57 PM on December 16, 2007

Seconding Solo Piano by Philip Glass. I don't normally listen to anything mainstream, but I absolutely love that CD.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 11:06 AM on December 16, 2007

I have two ideas that I think will help.
First, record the cool things that you do in 2008. Whatever method you choose - notebook, sketchbook, camera, video camera, voice recorder - it will be a great reminder for the inevitable times in the future when you won't have the time or freedom to do cool things.

Second, make it a cool year for someone (or somepeople) else. Find someone you wouldn't normally do these things with (ie. not your SO or best friend(s)).... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:26 PM on December 9, 2007

There is an English science fiction author, Alastair Reynolds, that has used this idea. He writes about human future and the information through time idea plays minor but very important part of his series of books (Revelation Space series).
If you enjoy science fiction, especially rather real physics based* science fiction, his books are absolutely amazing.

According to current laws of physics, it is literally impossible to travel backwards through time, like... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 1:03 PM on December 9, 2007

There are a lot of options, but I'm not sure many of them fit all of your requirements.

The cheapest option is the Intel D201GLY2 might work. These guys ship to Canada:
http://www.logicsupply.com/products/d201gly2

Otherwise a microATX integrated graphics board (P5K-VM?)with a celeron 420, and a cheap case and PSU shouldn't run you that much. Check out Ncix.com.

There are loads of small, low powered computers... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:21 PM on December 5, 2007

Ncix generally has the best selection and cheapest/fastest shipping. Their prices are sometimes beat by Canada Computers and TigerDirect, but the shipping price difference usually amounts to more than the parts price difference.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 9:16 AM on December 6, 2007

Don't buy a character, you'll get bored quick. Without the reward of leveling, completing quests or acquiring new stuff I don't think you'll find it that fun (I don't play WOW, but know lots of people that do). If you do want to make things easier for yourself, buy gold. I don't know how it works and it is likely against the terms of service. And the equivalent of gold mining ruined my only MMO experience, so remember that when you pay from something virtual you affect many other people.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 12:04 PM on December 5, 2007

Xubuntu will be loads faster than Ubuntu, but if Ubuntu doesn't support your laptop, Xubuntu support will be the same. For the cost of a stack of CDs you can try out a bunch of distro's livecds.
I may be wrong about this, but if your hardware isn't supported on the newest kernel, there isn't much you can do by switching distributions.
If disk space is an issue DSL or Puppy Linux are worth a shot.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 4:23 PM on November 28, 2007

If you two are ready to get married, then I'm thinking that she won't have a problem kissing you whenever. So, kiss her whenever you think she wants you to (or when you want to ...) and you'll start picking up the signs. Don't kiss her thinking that every time you should end up making out passionately, just kiss her and see what her reaction is.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 1:57 PM on November 28, 2007

I absolutely love Ubuntu, but it sounds like XP Pro is the right OS for you. My laptop is well supported (except Compiz won't work even with lots of fiddling), so I've had a very positive experience.

To keep things running fast and smooth in XP, I'd recommend using the following programs:
Firefox (or Opera if you want more speed and the occasional screwed up web site).
VLC for movies and specific music files. It plays everything.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 7:53 AM on November 26, 2007

You want to repair.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 10:37 AM on November 25, 2007 marked best answer

List of random things it is.

- Complete change in appetite from loving veggies, home cooked meals and needing to eat at specific times every day, to not caring about what I eat or when.
- Waking up more tired than I went to bed.
- Headaches that can't be dealt with either through Advil or drinking water (this had always worked for me).
- Feeling full before a meal, eating because I know I have to and then feeling really hungry... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 3:42 PM on November 20, 2007

silentpcreview.com is a great resource for building your own or silencing a pre-built computer.

My dad recently bought a Dell XPS 420 that is more silent than my DIY built-to-be-silent computer (kind of embarrassing really).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:14 AM on November 19, 2007

Seconding Planescape: Torment, Neverwinter Nights (first one and the first expansion, I've never played NWN2 and the second expansion was terrible) and The Longest Journey. They are all games that I will remember.

I'm not a big fan of FPSs, but I found Bioshock to be a lot of fun.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 3:18 PM on November 17, 2007

Are there any kickboxing/martial art studios in the area? Not only would they probably let you try their bags out, they might give you their distributor's contact info (they might also have a couple of demo bags themselves). I really can't see Amazon being the best place to purchase a punching bag (won't shipping be horrendous?)
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:33 PM on November 12, 2007

Sweet. I found a couple of ways to figure out the height of the cube with respect to Chell's height. My values range from 70 to 90 cm, with my least error tests giving values around 75 cm. Again this is using Chell's height as 160 cm, so that may be a huge source of error.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 11:44 AM on November 10, 2007

I can't help you with regards to the Wiccan religion (other than check out the simple English wikipedia entry), but I strongly suggest exposing her to other religions as well. This is something I really wish was done with me when I was a kid. If you have Muslim, Jewish, Hindu or other religious adherents in your neighborhood, see if they are willing to discuss their religion with your daughter. She may not see the value in it now (especially if she is set on being Wiccan), but in the long run it... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:31 PM on November 2, 2007

Looks like I am missing a key point. I would really prefer non-knit stuff. I have knit gloves that I like, but find anything knit too bulky, as I have really skinny fingers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 6:04 PM on November 1, 2007

This isn't completely relevant, but it is interesting that some people assumed that I was female, solely based on the fact that I want cool gloves. Well, I assure you that I am a guy. And straight too (cause I assume that would have an effect on my taste in gloves).
Thanks for all of the posts, I'm much closer to finding what I'm looking for.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:58 PM on November 1, 2007

Googling vancouver military surplus turns up a lot of relevant hits. I know my local surplus store has large quantities of Canadian MREs. Is there really much of a difference between Canadian and American MREs?
According to mreinfo.com, they should be pretty similar (at least if menus are any indication).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 6:13 PM on November 1, 2007

Really, the error in HDD Health longevity calculations is too high to take them seriously. I really wouldn't put any stock in it.
Also, drives do fail randomly (or at least seemingly so). Out of all the hard drives I've owned, the two that have failed were both within a year of their manufacturing date.
If I were you, I would remove the second drive immediately, and then see if the pauses continue. Either way, backing up sounds like a great idea.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 6:31 PM on October 31, 2007

One of my profs mentioned this book in class the other day: Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, M.F. Ashbury 1999, Butterworth-Heinemann. Find it and it may have what you need.
None of my textbooks have anything about a gallium-alu alloy, which is weird as many specific aluminum alloys are covered in great detail in some of my books.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 5:49 PM on October 31, 2007

Well, there has to be a reason why she is staring at you. Why don't you ask her out? Sure, things will be awkward at your meetings if she says no, but if that is all you have to lose, go for it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:58 PM on October 25, 2007

I know this doesn't help much, but in Canada it would be illegal to hang onto said item, assuming it was actually stolen. It is twice as bad since the manager knows you have it, so if they report it you're screwed.
If I were you, I'd try to clear up some details such as where that money ended up (did your friend of a friend actually pay the company anything?), whether they are going to have the cops investigate, whether it is in fact stolen and whether the friend of a friend knows... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:54 PM on October 25, 2007

The cheese is dry, not shredded, and about three times what I would normally play for a similar brick. I really like the answers so far - I hope that this doesn't actually become a new budget category.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 8:25 PM on October 24, 2007

Here is something you otherwise wouldn't think of: happy hardcore. I find many of the tracks in it are extremely uplifting and positive. Examples are Paradise by DJ Dougal and You're My Angel by Styles & Breeze.
Ecstasy by ATB is another good example of non-mainstream happy music.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Ctrl_Alt_ep at 7:17 PM on October 20, 2007