Ask local colleges. The engineering deparment at my university would sponsor exactly this kind of stuff in the hopes of getting this kids to study there in the future. All they asked where that you give out some fliers.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 6:55 PM on May 1, 2008

I have a similar setup, and have no need for the laptop screen.
What I do:
1. Start with computer and monitor OFF
2. Turn on computer, close it so it goes to sleep.
3. Turn on monitor. This will wake the computer up.

You can now work with a closed laptop and everything on the external monitor. There must be a saner way to do it, I jus stumbled into this method.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 1:35 AM on May 1, 2008

Processing. All the way. I write Actionscript for a living, have used flash to do stuff like what you want to do, and it is fairly easy, but if you want to play by the rules, flash costs several hundred dollars, processing is free.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 5:27 PM on April 28, 2008

I was raised on Alpura 2000, now called Alpura Clasica (It was from the future!) as soon as it became available. It has a very distinct flavor, better than Parmalat.

Your location is not listed in your profile, hard to help you find it locally. Here in SF I have seen it in mexican corner stores.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 3:33 PM on April 5, 2008 marked best answer

Well lukeklein, hard to tell where you can get it. Do a search for "alpura" and "FDA", it will give you an idea.

Mexican Costcos carry the stuff, but I could not find any online shop that carries the stuff.

Alpura started paying their produces fair prices in Mexico, forcing Nestle to do the same. No matter what the FDA chooses to beleive, Alpura is not completely evil :).
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 6:17 PM on April 5, 2008

Go HEPA.

I kept a clean room once for some mushroom cloning work. Medical / Lab quality were too expensive, and the small drugstore purifiers did nothing to prevent contamination.

I built a bigger version of this DIY HEPA filter for less than $30, and never had airborne contamination again. I installed it inside cardboard box, and could add satchels of activated charcoal for odor issues or water absorbing polymer pellets to deal with humidity.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 1:00 PM on April 5, 2008

There are several rat repellents that work to different degrees. Because of the dog and not wanting to leech stuff into the ground, you could use a predator scent based one like this, or a botanical like this.

Keep this in mind from UC Davis "Rats have an initial aversion to some odors and tastes, but no repellents have been found to solve a rat problem for more than a very short time. There are no truly effective rat repellents registered for use in California.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 1:18 PM on April 3, 2008

Forgot to mention my favorite, but illegal where I live now, method of rat control: deck chair, good tobacco, glass of rum, patience, and a 6 foot blowgun with some sharp darts.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 1:20 PM on April 3, 2008

For more than 12 years, while I was still living at home, my mother would have colleges students staying there, from all over the world, paying and non paying. These are some of the lessons learned:

Everyone has a different idea of what is acceptable, and expect other people to agree. Implicit expectation will NEVER BE MET. Make everything explicit, write it down. My mother ended up with a 6 page list, but offset this 'crazy old lady' impression by making it very clear... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 12:54 PM on April 3, 2008

The best boxes I have used for moving are balikbayan boxes, you can find them at any Filipino store.

Filipinos use them to send all kind of stuff back home, and they come in at least three "strengths", the lighter and cheaper ones are good for light items, IME the stronger ones can be filled with more than 100 pounds of books and they will hold.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 5:42 PM on April 2, 2008

The fastest and best lemonade you can make (my wife's family does this all the time).

1. Fill blender with water.
2. Add one or two limes, whole.
3. Add some sugar.
4. Blend.

Serve over ice. I like to top it with a little bit of bubbly mineral water.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 1:11 AM on April 2, 2008 marked best answer

One of the best: Pedro Paramo y el llano en llamas. Good luck finding an English translation, the Spanish original is great.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 6:45 PM on March 28, 2008

"they are all excellent and useful."

You are doing it wrong.

A great exercise in critical thinking would be to find the best, or the best three, answers in the thread.

Why don't you go back, see if you can finds the answers that are similar to each other, the ones that contradict others, the ones that told you something you did not know, the ones that gave you no new information. This would... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 8:02 AM on March 24, 2008

The best way to get an atypical job is to hang out with atypical people, they don't tend to advertise these jobs.

Case in point, you being in the UK and all:
A mexican friend got a pretty sweet job with a UK company, teaching abroad uk (They will CHARGE you to go work somewhere else, I am not recommending you use them) because he was playing drums at the beach with some biologist from their turtle conservation project. The owner was there, they struck a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 11:51 PM on March 19, 2008

Some relatives of mine opened a small rural hotel a few years ago, 6 rooms, 10 beds total. Mattress hunting was a nightmare until they printed business cards and a small flyer, this opened all kinds of doors.

They got to see models not available to the public, special prices, promises of free delivery, and one company even sent them a mattress to try for 10 days. They bought some extra for the family and their own home.

I am not suggesting that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 12:19 PM on March 14, 2008

I was where you are 2 years ago, now I write code. All of my friends that work in agencies have the same complaints.

I have to agree with everyone above that said that knowing how to deal with clients, and how to design stuff that actual people in the real world will buy, are very important aspects of a good designer. But there are ways to minimize the number of clients you have to deal with, and the intensity of the fights.

If you want to stay... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 12:09 PM on March 14, 2008

For many years I was not only broke, but shy and introverted. I never dated, but several times, when I learned that a girl I knew was interested in something, I would suggest we get together and actually do something. The end result was better than dating.

Pick a task that takes at least an hour or two, you will end up with something to show for your day and most importantly, you find out pretty fast if you will ever be able to work together, solve problems and have fun.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 3:57 AM on March 10, 2008

Sorry. No way to change where you come from.

I felt the same when I was between 19 and 23. Being sheltered and naive, I felt useless and worthless in the real world. You read and hear all this stories about men who own nothing and live free. No attachments. No matter what life throws at them, they always come on top. Pioneers, warriors, poets. And you are sure that any of it happened to you as you are now, you would cower in a corner and cry. So you go out to live that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 1:01 PM on January 15, 2008

These is the way I would explain it, after making sure conservation of matter is understood: If before grilling there are 5 grams of fat in the cheese, and after grilling there are 7, two grams of something must have transformed into 2 grams of fat. What is this something? Can you think of anything in cheese that under normal grilling conditions would transform to fat?


If grilling increased the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 4:02 AM on January 10, 2008

My Intuos 3 came with an assortment of stylus nibs.

Felt nibs are textured and give more traction, but I find them too rough for everyday use. I use the brush nib, it has a tiny spring that makes it feel softer, and set the sensitivity to very low using software, this gives a lot more control.

One of my coworkers just removed the smooth overlay and replaced it with a piece of roughed up polystyrene. This is more permanent than the picee of paper.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 4:21 PM on December 21, 2007

I have been in you situation, needing cheap plastic containers in rare sizes. Google failed me too, unless you want to import shiploads of containers from China.

Your profile does not list your location, in San Francisco, I've found very cheap plastic containers in hundreds of sizes and shapes in the kind of small Asian or Mexican stores that sell all kinds of imported crap, on Clement around 6th avenue, or on Mission between 16th and 24th streets.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 9:36 AM on December 20, 2007

I once knew this guy in Portland who would finance a pretty big Christmas party from all the tips in bright colored envelopes stuck to trashcans he would steal at 3 a.m. He would also look under the lid and under the can. If you are going to tip them, figure out a thief proof way.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 6:17 PM on December 17, 2007

A rich businessman has a son, and does not know if he should make him a banker or send him to seminary school. He asks advice from the town priest and the town banker, and a test is set up. They place a crucifix and a bag of coins on a table in a room, and hide behind the curtains. Depending on what the son picks up when he enters the room, he will become a banker or a priest. The son walks in, stares at the table for a second, and lightning fast he takes the crucifix in one hand and the money... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 9:10 PM on November 11, 2007

Maybe we are being had?

"Kafka on the Shore contains several riddles, but there aren't any solutions provided. Instead, several of these riddles combine, and through their interaction the possibility of a solution takes shape. And the form this solution takes will be different for each reader. To put it another way, the riddles function as part of the solution. It's hard to explain, but that's the kind of novel I set out to write."
posted to Ask Metafilter by Dr. Curare at 3:06 AM on October 31, 2007