Medical marijuana may help take the edge off, but one of its major side effects is anxiety when discontinued.

Marijuana can also induce anxiety attacks. Let's leave the doctoring to doctors.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 6:22 PM on October 7, 2008

1. Is it standard to ask just what those unforeseen circumstances were that took out pick #1?

It isn't relevant. The position is open.

2. How should this affect salary negotiations if I decide to take the job, or should it? (Again, this is a NPO -- I've never worked for one and I'm not even sure how to negotiate in this instance.)

Many employers would not have actually treated... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 6:05 PM on October 7, 2008

Healing up OK so far, going to switch to the Tegaderm tonight so I don't have to change the gauze every 8 hours or so...will let everyone know how it goes!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:55 PM on October 7, 2008

Ron Paul
Obama
Apple
4chan
Linux
Linus
Truthers
Not funny macros
Links to blog reposts instead of original articles
Links to bad writing (Huffington Post staff) rather than the exact same thing covered by people who know how to write an interesting article (New York Times) that doesn't punch you in the dick with an overt partisan slant and disregard for nuance
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:54 PM on October 7, 2008

I know we can rip the standard def DVDs, but if I bought a Blu Ray drive can those discs be ripped at 1080p quality?

Yes. You can decrypt a Blu-ray disc just like a DVD using either AnyDVD HD (best option) or DVDFab (doesn't work on all BD discs, but DVDFab HD Decrypter will do every disc that the full DVDFab package can for free).

Here, approximately, is my work flow for processing a Blu-ray disc for backup. Note that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 1:37 PM on October 7, 2008

I should also note that you can use DGIndex or DGAVCIndex to check audio/video sync in the source, if you're uncertain about any delay.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 1:52 PM on October 7, 2008

arniec - Windows. A similar conversion MAY be possible on Linux, but AFAIK Apple does not yet support Blu-ray except probably as a dumb volume. I'll check back to this thread a few more times today so I'd be happy to explain anything you're unfamiliar with.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:43 PM on October 7, 2008

I think the kids may need a few reminders about how to handle pets if they haven't lived with them before. A few years ago my very young cousins, the oldest of whom was about 7, gave their dog a bath with dish soap and the poor dog died of an allergic reaction. The whole thing was so innocent and the girls were really upset about it for a long time; they had no idea to even watch out for that sort of thing. I think the kid-adult, pet-kid, and new adult-pet interactions will probably go fine.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 12:18 PM on October 7, 2008

This is a good offer. I don't know about your student loans, but you can put away 10K a year and live in a relatively expensive DC studio or moderate 1BR on not much more than a quarter or at most a third of your take-home pay, assuming after taxes and your bonuses you end up a bit above 60K.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 9:54 AM on October 7, 2008

Also, how common is this practice?

Anywhere that political correctness matters, you'll find something stupid like this.

My advice would be not to tell them any more than you're comfortable with. The form is voluntary - they've certainly hired people who have left it blank in the past. And if they're really that concerned with your ethnicity, they'll meet you in person eventually anyway.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 8:13 AM on October 7, 2008

Can you flesh out your question a bit more? Are you unable to find anything in your price range? What is your price range and what cars/years are you considering?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:02 AM on October 7, 2008

I think "in the wilderness" is inapt because the lobbying money will keep rolling in and the wasting of taxpayer money will continue. Politics never changes and the minority party is rarely on the outs for long enough that they can't be bought. I do expect some degree of fragmentation coupled with some minor policy victories:

-If the Brady Bill pathos coalition tries to put together some sort of legislative reaction to Heller - even... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 5:56 AM on October 7, 2008

"Hey, Boss, I have to go to court to deal with an old traffic ticket. I'll need to miss about X days/hours of work. If you could let me know on which days in the next 2 weeks my absence will be the least counterproductive I would appreciate it; I will try to get the court to schedule my hearing, etc. for those times and I will let you know when I will be out as soon as possible. I realize we're in a busy season/down economy/middle of an important project and I will plan to come in on... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 9:47 PM on October 6, 2008

I am a kidney transplant recipient and in the past I have retained a fair amount of water due to sodium-sparing steroid treatments and was unable to use Lasix, etc. because of the transplant. I drank a LOT of water and iced tea, did moderate exercise for long periods, cut the carbs, ate a close-to-zero sodium diet (as reported by nutritional info, anyway), ate only at mealtimes, and ate a crapload of potassium. I shed about 5 pounds of water in 3 or 4 days.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:24 PM on October 6, 2008 marked best answer

Does he know you have a cat? Pet allergies would be a great excuse here. If he knows, but has mixed pets, maybe you're allergic to his dog.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 1:27 PM on October 6, 2008

A friend of mine rented the upper floor of Garrett's in Georgetown for a birthday party and collected money at the door; he kept the cover charge and the bar got the money for all the alcohol purchases. There are an abundance of more upscale bars in DC, but Garrett's is decent and wasn't at all expensive to rent. It is fairly close to the Foggy Bottom Metro and is right in the central Georgetown strip near other bars and restaurants.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 11:15 AM on October 6, 2008

Now in my Sophomore year, I'd like very much to be properly prescribed for some medicine, as I feel that the extreme procrastination I had experienced for the past many years is an indication of myself having ADD.

You're not qualified to diagnose this. That said, if you are legimately diagnosed with a disorder, and are prescribed a drug in the same class as Adderal, you (ethically) need not inform your doctor of past experimentation with it except... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:26 AM on October 6, 2008

Open the directory in foobar2000 ("Enqueue in foobar2000" on your Explorer right-click context menu), select all tracks from the playlist, right-click "Convert to...", select WAV, and select the output directory.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 12:39 PM on October 5, 2008 marked best answer

Airplain's answer confirms my thinking - why not put in a metal duct and then put a wood veneer over it?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 11:39 AM on October 5, 2008

Law school is already flooded with sycophants. The market is saturated. I go to law school with a guy that fits your friend's profile to a T and has already been heavily involved with political campaigns and tons of schmoozing and glad-handing. The long and short of it is this guy gets little to nothing out his investment in law school and would have met and socialized with exactly the same people by staying in the DC political scene - at a net savings of about $150K.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 11:07 AM on October 5, 2008

Is all this taking place in some subculture you might want to mention?

I read that to mean that the OP had the original threesome with two women as a "gift" from his girlfriend and is expecting a similar scenario this time around.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 10:38 AM on October 5, 2008

On top of an electric blanket?
In the shower?
Wearing everything but pants?
Group sex?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 9:45 PM on October 4, 2008

New York State does some sort of prescription recycling program. A quick google search didn't turn up anything but I had my family in NY turn in a bunch of my old Vicodin about a month ago.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 9:44 PM on October 4, 2008

I've had extended conversations with several physicians and two nephrologists about carbonic acid and the consensus opinion was that it won't do anything bad to you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:17 AM on October 4, 2008

I have a Western Digital external hard drive as well - a 500GB "My Book". Both the case and the drive itself seem to be well made and I haven't had a problem with either. In contrast, I've had a few failures of external enclosures (not the drives themselves, thankfully) where I was using off-brand hardware. Western Digital drives also come up with a reasonably good warranty, if I remember correctly. I would browse around NewEgg and look for drives that are not only well-rated but... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 4:26 PM on October 2, 2008

Kelly's Irish Times near Union Station bills itself as a Pats bar. Rhino Bar is where all my Pats fan friends used to go, and in fact it made this list geared to Pats fan in DC.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 1:34 PM on October 2, 2008

Which makes me think he may just want to enjoy it here and end it all when I leave, which sounds a bit unreasonable...

What? That's completely reasonable, in most circumstances. There isn't an easy choice here. That said, I think you guys should figure this out ASAP rather than later, to avoid you feeling like you are ...giving the best of [you] and getting hurt later.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 6:23 PM on October 1, 2008

In many places, ivory comes from state-approved culls to preserve biodiversity and thin elephant populations to allow particular populations to survive. In any case, the elephant's dead already and you didn't contribute to the demand for ivory because you didn't purchase any.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:30 AM on October 1, 2008

Is the Ku Klux Klan a group with legitimate concerns?

Maybe minor ones. Certainly not anything in their visible platform.

Is the Ku Klux Klan entitled to their views?

Sure. What are we going to do, beat it out of them?

Is the Ku Klux Klan needed in society for maintaining social balance?

What's "social balance"? Idiots cannot be balanced out by adding more idiots to a society.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 4:45 AM on October 1, 2008

Latex paint is water-soluble. I don't know much about compost microbe biology, but this has two implications: (1) whatever is in the paint will be in the compost after precipitation or otherwise hydrating the compost and (2) the doors should be pretty easy to strip of (nearly all of) the paint but that doesn't give you a pass on leaching from any finish under the paint.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:59 PM on September 30, 2008

I wouldn't "ask" for any other drug - neither the internet nor you are qualified to decide what treatment regimen is appropriate for you except in cases where you feel that it is doing you more harm than good and are within your rights to decline treatment. I would explain your problem to your doctor and ask for his recommendations, whether for a different drug or a referral to a specialist. Your options are to get more information from this doctor until you are satisifed with an... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 11:51 AM on September 29, 2008

Halo 3 on normal and then on heroic is reasonably difficult but you usually have an abundance of cover to get used to different FPS tactics.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 9:07 AM on September 29, 2008

Don't do it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:30 PM on September 28, 2008 marked best answer

Many personal injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis and will agree to pursue or decide not to pursue a case given their estimation of the likelihood of recovery. Unless the building owners are uncommonly risk-averse, they probably will not just offer to pay your medical bills. You also haven't pointed out here any reason why they would be liable for your injury - e.g., dangerous state of the staircase. My suggestion would be to find a lawyer that works on a contigency basis (doesn't... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 6:57 AM on September 28, 2008

"Committment" was probably a bad choice of words given the stigma it carries for men (I am a man), who sometimes perceive it as the sort of thing bridezillas and psycho exes talk about it. Without a thorough sense of the context there, I think you could have conveyed to him what you wanted him to know without putting him off by saying something like "I'd like to know you better and spend more time with you before we have sex". If, after that, he had broken it off anyway,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:59 PM on September 27, 2008

Speaking as someone who lives in an exurb, the solution to me seems like allowing entrepreneurs to use minivans and club vans on a part-time or full-time basis to run taxi routes into the cities in a laissez-faire manner. However it seems the main barriers here are insurance and regulation of taxis and buses. Maybe in this case getting government out of the private sector and forcing insurance companies to be more accommodating would help a lot.

I... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 8:10 AM on September 27, 2008 marked best answer

Yes. The world is a big place and there is an abundance of places your friend can go to smoke weed without bothering you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:16 PM on September 26, 2008

She told me I was her "comfort zone", and talking to me made her feel better. She isn't broken up with the other guy, they're still together.

Hey, doormat ... tell her to grow up. You've done too much for her already.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 12:32 PM on September 26, 2008

Close Final Cut Express entirely. Go to [your home folder]\Library\Preferences. Delete the "com.apple.finalcutexpress.plist" file. Delete the "Final Cut Express User Data" folder. Start Final Cut Express and do a test version of your normal encoding. Problem solved?
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 7:35 AM on September 25, 2008

DO NOT EAT IT. DO NOT TOUCH IT. DO NOT TOUCH IT AND THEN GO TO THE BATHROOM!
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 6:06 PM on September 24, 2008

But Thanksgiving is different; she doesn't want a turkey anywhere in the house lest she have flashbacks, yet I have no interest in the Tofurkey route.

She needs to see a therapist and you need to cook a delicious (small) turkey for yourself. Maybe you could invest in a mini-fridge to be used for meat in a way sort of analogous to the way plates are separated in kosher households. Her fear of turkey - that extends beyond eating it - is unreasonable.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:33 PM on September 24, 2008

You will run afoul of 501(c) protections that would otherwise give your organization tax exemption were you a non-profit. As mentioned above, the line is fine: there was a famous case (the name of which escapes me at the moment) in which a nominally non-profit dental trade organization lost tax-exempt status because of the degree to which they did commericial work on behalf of members. If you're contemplating for-profit status anyway, this may not bother you.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 10:35 AM on September 24, 2008

What do you currently deadlift? Double it.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 9:26 AM on September 24, 2008

Does your trip require you to keep conventional business hours? New York is an interesting place at night and for 3 days I'd be tempted to just keep the UK sleep schedule and not bother with adapting.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 6:03 AM on September 24, 2008

If by chance you find yourself with an Xbox 360 anytime soon, pick up a used copy of Crackdown for about $15. The word "Crack" is in there for a reason - I bought it yesterday and haven't been able to put it down. It isn't anywhere near as technical as Wolfenstein, etc. but you (as a ridiculous Robocop/Terminator guy) basically drive, shoot, and Chuck Norris your way through three street gangs while jumping from skyscraper roof to skyscraper roof and throwing around 10-ton objects in... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 4:55 PM on September 22, 2008

Waffles.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 4:25 PM on September 22, 2008

Mach 3 Turbo + King of Shaves gel, in the shower, with the grain only, FTW.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 3:33 PM on September 22, 2008

My younger brother used to play Wario World on Gameboy while dropping a deuce. He couldn't understand why it grossed me out so much. I have a sense this may be a small-scale representation of the sort of age/generation gap that governs how people perceive abthroom recreation.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:33 PM on September 22, 2008

Seconding kimdog. They do this to benches as well, much as some municipalities have taken to welding metal cubes to hand rails to keep skateboarders from grinding on them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 2:00 PM on September 20, 2008

I don't know whether it's the fact that I'm off of dope that's giving me this high right now, or if it's the fact that I haven't taken my medication yet, but I want to hold onto this feeling. I want to relish it and see where it takes me. I want to know once and for all what it feels like to be a man.

This is not the time to be philosophical, Kemosabe.
posted to Ask Metafilter by Inspector.Gadget at 10:43 AM on September 20, 2008