an addendum: i peeked in with a flashlight through where the grout is gone, and i expected to see some drywall, but instead i caught the glint of dull, gray metal. weird. i don't know what that is. is it possible the drywall has rotted away?
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 5:15 PM on July 27, 2008

there was a period of time (if memory serves, after 9/11, visa requirements became more stringent) that quite a number of latin players were found having lied about their ages. it's pretty uncommon these days--but tejada is an older player, from an era when that did happen. i don't think many people in baseball are surprised; in fact, it's possible baltimore and houston factored his possible age when signing and trading for him (respectively).
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 10:45 PM on April 17, 2008

i'm a fan of the flag. i have good reasons.

i like responsibility, and here's the thing about that. you can say whatever you want. but others have the right to their feelings about your comment.

i'll give you a hypothetical example. (and, being hypothetical, it's fair to say i think it's convenient for my purposes. i leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine if this example fits into the context of their feelings.)... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by moz at 10:31 AM on November 24, 2007

a compliment to the influences would be the band to whom tim gane (and, very late, laetitia sadier) belonged to -- mccarthy. both bands took different approaches to their music, but both were (are) quite political.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:30 AM on November 3, 2007

yeah...i'm not entirely familiar with bootcamp's technique, but i'm guessing they would use an absolutely positioned div (to create a sense of disconnect from the underlying screen) and, as blaze mentioned, manipulate the opacity of the div. firefox and ie both have different approaches to opacity, i believe, so you may need to cater to both. (i'm not even sure where safari fits into the picture.)
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 11:09 PM on October 20, 2007

thank you all for your responses -- you've been a great help.

(as an aside to indigorain: i feel i should say that google was indeed consulted prior to posting this question, as the tone of your first comment gave me the impression that you were not so convinced...)
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 10:19 PM on September 26, 2007

my impression of dba work is that it's not so glamorous. you're not the programmer, nor generally the lead designer, so your designs will largely be off of a spec rather than from your head (which sounds like the interesting part for you).

my impression is also that there is a sort of strange tension in dba work. programmers can (and often do) the same stuff as dbas, which means dba work generally comes only in large organizations with lots of delegation. there's a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:52 PM on September 25, 2007

i once encountered a group of bicyclists going down division street in chicago, in the gold coast. as i attempted to cross the street, however, i discovered i was out of luck; there was no stopping. i was less than happy, i must report.

the relationship between bicyclists, motorists and -- ironically, when you consider common motiviations for bicycling -- pedestrians, given these critical mass demonstrations, seem to me most firmly rooted in anecdote; strikingly so.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:11 AM on September 1, 2007

As for those of you who want the mass to be broken up at stop lights, you clearly have no idea just what a clusterfuck that would become. Imagine what happens when a column of cars turning off the cross street find themselves sandwiched between 1000 bikes in front and 1000 behind. Repeat until it's just an undifferentiated mass of cars and bikes, with nobody getting anywhere fast. Then someone loses it and just plows through a few hipsters on fixies. Then all hell breaks loose. Srsly.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:31 PM on September 1, 2007

i use a belkin kvm switch i bought from the apple store. it's meant to match the dimensions (width and length) of a mac mini, incidentally. it uses usb for the mouse and keyboard, and incidentally also switches sound as well. of course it also has a monitor connection...
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 5:02 PM on August 19, 2007

thanks everyone! (i should also point out my new job -- been there for a while, too! -- doesn't afford easy access to metafilter, so it's tough to come back here during the day.) i really appreciate all the advice.
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 11:03 PM on August 16, 2007

if it were me, by the time the client has described the problem in significant (well -- more than cursory) deail, i would be sending them a breakdown of what you would do and how much it would cost. it's not clear to me from your initial description of the typical scenario that this exchange happens, and i believe that it's important that it happen as near to the beginning as possible.
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 10:00 PM on August 8, 2007

i don't think you need a specific example or analogy of positive reinforcement to name it as the structure of games. moreover, i don't really believe that the way games are written, in terms of motivation to the player, is altogether different from the way that books and movies are written, either.

i think that what makes games stand out from other media is not this structure, but rather the interaction between the player and game. the interplay between interaction and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 10:53 AM on July 29, 2007

some background: i once worked for a sizable real estate firm in the chicago area, dealing mainly in condos, but i was not myself a real estate agent. i was, however, privy somewhat to the details of the business, and i can answer a few questions.

i would take "agent owned" to mean that it is owned by the association for whom the broker works. for example, if the building has its units sold through the xyz properties agency, then i would interpret this to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 7:45 PM on June 25, 2006

Tom's Hardware and Hexus are two websites I visit for hardware reviews, and they definitely help...there are a lot of choices out there.

for $500 dollars, you'll definitely need to be cost-conscious for your purchases. a dual-code processor is probably out of the picture (2.8Ghz pentium D's tend to go for about $250 -- worth it if you have the money, were you to ask me).

linux generally has good support for hardware, unless it's extremely new.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 8:42 PM on April 14, 2006

neither wrigleyville nor lincoln park have metra stations.

the libertyville metra stop, on the milwaukee-district north line, doesn't really go through neighborhoods i'd recommend living in the city. or at least, the ones that are nice are generally suburban-like neighborhoods in the city. (i.e. forest glen.)

even further complicating a metra commute is that deer park is a northwest suburb, while libertyville is more of a north suburb. i'm not... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 12:51 PM on March 24, 2006

i'm not certain that the methodology of the study was as complete as perhaps it should be.

i think there are two basic approaches that people take to dealing with their feelings, whether that be body-image or otherwise. you either internalize or externalize your reactions. a person with a negative self-image may internalize their feelings and withdraw themselves from their friends; or they may externalize their feelings, seeking to self-medicate with something from... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 7:58 AM on March 17, 2006

And moz, I've noticed little difference if any between pretty girls who are introverts or extroverts; I've also noticed that smart pretty girls are just as bad as stupid ones.

well -- that's why i think it would have been beneficial to have included it in the study -- what you offer is anecdotal... note also that "pretty" does not equate with positive body image.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:47 AM on March 17, 2006

i'm an avid BP reader, but i am not certain if there's a website that details quite what you're looking for. i can offer my own opinions, for whatever they're worth, which have been formed through osmosis during my experiences with sabermetrics.

to me, an average OPS is in the .700 range. An OPS of .800 is good, .900 is great, and 1.000+ is sublime. but when you're looking at OPS, it's often more helpful to break out what the OBP and SLG are. an OBP of .350+ is... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 11:02 AM on March 15, 2006

what has always interested me about soccer in england is the difference in which we refer to the teams.

for example, in the nba, we have "the miami heat". but in england, you have "manchester united". it seems that to refer to the team as "the united" simply isn't done; it's always "united", or, if you're feeling cocky, "man u". i don't know if this is specific to teams with plural team names that have no s (of which... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:16 AM on February 27, 2006

But There has been conflict with some of the few Americans to play professionally in Europe. Over here, to be payed to play soccer is a novel, somewhat southern-California-sunnytimes-tanned-athletic-penis sort of vocation. Over there it a day in, day out... job. Whatever club you work for owns you and tells you what to do and what to wear. It is work, and only very rarely glamorous work.

where is "here" and where is "there"? it... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:18 AM on February 27, 2006

tkolar:

Get yourself and your pets the hell out of there, and cut off any financial entanglements you have. People in manic mode are far more likely to (accidentally or through negligence) hurt other people than they are to hurt themselves.

it seems that every time i come across posts to ask metafilter regarding major issues with their loved ones (such as this posting), there is someone who suggests a complete cut-off. i... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 3:06 PM on February 24, 2006

personally, i think the days of the major (as in, large, caters to corporate as well as consumer interests, e.g. red hat) distro are dead for the regular users. your two big choices are ubuntu and knoppix. those distributions basically pack everything you could want into them, and are built to work with just about any hardware your computer has. (to the point that, if it doesn't work on those two, it probably doesn't work on linux at all.)... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:31 AM on February 21, 2006

this seems more urban legend than fact to me. it's pretty simple to apply permutations to the free dictionary lists out there, whether hacker-speak or otherwise. beyond that, though, i think that the law of diminishing returns applies -- i mean, at some point, you will end up attempting systematic character combinations if none of your usual tricks work, and if you already have a copy of the password list, then it's just a matter of time...
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:27 AM on February 21, 2006

i'm one of those people where, if it's not written down, it's likely forgotten. that earns me a lot of trouble, so i do my best to fight it off.

for one thing, i don't like using a computer to manage my tasks. it's not always convenient (when i'm not at my desk, or going from one place to another), and despite working with computers all day and being in an IT department, for simple tasks i find myself drawn to simple solutions such as pen and paper.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:27 AM on February 20, 2006

my own opinion is that linux's wireless support is not quite there yet. i actually bought a wireless card for my linux pc, which is my primary (read: only) pc, but i had to abandon the effort until a later date. we do have wireless in the house, but for now the linux pc plugs into a wired connection to access the network.

my guess is that a distro that would have good wireless support would be knoppix or ubuntu -- since they come with everything and the kitchen sink --... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:20 PM on February 7, 2006

vim. it's quite a powerful editor, great for touch-typists, and it's got quite a smaller footprint than emacs or any other IDE you may find. if you're coming from windows, you can use gvim (all from the same developers) and explorer to access your files.
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 8:59 AM on January 20, 2006

i use blackbox. no icons on the desktop = no distraction. you can maximize windows, but it doesn't fill the entire screen as it might in windows. to avoid the distraction of other windows, i often use shading (double-click the titlebar of the window and the contents disappear, rolling up into the titlebar as you might open a windowshade). os9 used to have this feature, but i've sadly been unable to replicate its functionality in osx.

honestly, i've embraced the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 6:54 AM on January 6, 2006

i think it's worth it if you would enjoy research and are interested in doing a thesis. you won't necessarily learn anything in a masters program that you couldn't have through self-teaching. as with any education, your own motivation is the key -- if you want to learn, you can learn anything.

some IT job opportunities require masters degrees. i often feel that these requirements are somewhat misguided, as their only real utility is to filter down the pool of... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:52 AM on January 5, 2006

the first thing i'd suggest is going into your options screen and looking at the display section. double-check that the incoming and outgoing character sets are what you want (mine are "Western (ISO-8859-1)"). it may help to check off the options, "apply default character coding to all incoming messages" and/or "use the default character coding in replies".

if that doesn't do the trick, i would then ask if you are 100% certain that... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:30 AM on January 5, 2006 marked best answer

i'm not certain if i quite understand what you are attempting to accomplish here, so i apologize in advance if my advice is off the mark. anyway:

the flags don't fix things here because they are reset after each if/else construct -- the only time $flag is significant is directly following if statement where you check if 'photos' was set among the HTTP GET vars.

you could restructure things using "if/elseif/else", assuming this conforms... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 12:27 PM on January 4, 2006

Paris:

O'Reilly won the "debate" by more than 60 percent. Especially after Letterman admitted he doesn't watch O'Reilly's show, and thinks baby bombers=freedom fighters.

actually, letterman did not say that he thinks "baby bombers" are freedom fighters. o'reilly said that sheehan thinks terrorists are freedom fighters. (the truth of that, i will not explore.) i'm not sure i can then accept your thesis... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:10 AM on January 4, 2006

dios:

I'm just amused reading the last 50 or comments in this thread that I am the one so often accused of making off-topic trolls.

yours was the first to get them really riled up on this thread. it only takes one to get the place stinking worse than a flaming handbag full of shit.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 12:12 PM on January 4, 2006

well...a project such as you suggest is not unheard of. before i say anything, let me point you to mini-itx ("the next small thing"), a website for people who like to make computers out of some pretty odd stuff. they would be a good starting point as far as getting the know-how for the project.

i would have said that the eMac rehabilitation project would be possible, if not simple, given the design of the machine. someone even took a classic mac and... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 12:34 PM on January 3, 2006

Basically I want to turn a eMac into a dumb monitor + port replicator + external ComboDrive.

Still no?

without opening the eMac myself, it's hard to say. if there is anything about the eMac that allows it to accept display from another source, that could be your ticket. if the connection between the CRT and the mainboard is integrated, i think you may have hard luck there.

the usb and firewire ports... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 12:57 PM on January 3, 2006

pci rather than agp may not save the day. ultimately, either bus protocol is simply an input for the drivers used by the computer; and while the code in the drivers for each protocol is different, it sounds to me like the drivers themselves are at issue.

if the generic VGA adapter is getting chosen instead of the drivers for the new card, it would seem that the computer is thinking that those drivers aren't actually compatible with the card. i can't tell you why --... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 10:38 PM on December 26, 2005

i wish i could be entirely polite, but i think bluntness in this case is not bad -- indeed, i believe it would strike true.

you are not in a relationship with this person. that is not to say that you can't be; merely that you aren't. women don't marry men with whom they are not in a relationship.

i feel this is confirmed in your initial concern -- she is leaving your work group. in the ideal situation, such an event wouldn't matter. as the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:14 PM on October 27, 2005

i'm not sure that there's anything you can do. you shouldn't legislate this sort of behavior for fear of the effect it'll have on your pocketbook; the social implications would be draconian, and moreover it is difficult to imagine anyone actually wanting to become a so-called burden on society. should they exist, certainly they must be few.

i firmly believe that, although you may never break a social pattern completely, the best way to put it to the margins is by... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 7:23 AM on October 7, 2005

FieldingGoodney:

There are many birth-control options available today, and still there is an increase in single mothers. Granted, stricter birth-control would see that rise go even steeper.

i think you must also consider education. you might be surprised at how few people know about birth control options -- let alone how their bodies work.

my wife, growing up in the south, was witness to... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 7:49 AM on October 7, 2005

you might also think about lowering the number of colors in the picture, say from several million to 64K.
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 1:33 PM on September 14, 2005

the traceroute program on unix (as on windows) relies on two protocols; ICMP and UDP. make sure that you're allowing packets for both protocols.
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:19 AM on September 14, 2005

what is sort of wearying, for me, is that ebay and skype's business models aren't very similar. this really is one of those bizarro dot-com deals of the 90s, and in that regard it's very haunting.
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:59 AM on September 12, 2005

well... since ram accesses can happen a lot, any ram compression would be pretty expensive. i would question the utility of it, even if there were a decent product for it out there.

a high-end consumer pc should be able to handle 4G with no trouble. if you're still paging memory, maybe you should look into scsi or some of the higher-end memory access channels.

which leads me to wonder...what are you doing that's so memory hungry?
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:35 PM on August 16, 2005

1) when i've transferred stuff in the past, i've used ftp. it might seem a little daunting, but it's really not bad. set up an ftp server on your linux box, bound to an internal ip address, and then connect to it from your mac. it might be good to tar+gzip or tar+bzip2 the music files if you're using the cmdline ftp program, so you don't have to say "yes" every time mget asks you if you really want this other file.

alternatively, you can set up a samba... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 7:24 AM on August 9, 2005 marked best answer

well, for all of Daley's failings, he does keep the city running. it's a lot cleaner than i remember when i was a kid, and there's a lot more green. with all the corruption that has gone on, it's still hard to vote against results -- which is why i think clinton got himself re-elected, too. (hey, lewinski wasn't the first...)
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 11:39 AM on July 27, 2005

what's interesting to me about the whole debate regarding gta:sa is the clash of old versus new. particularly, the old, venerable practice of putting in easter eggs (even nigh-unreachable ones, but as gamespot demostrated with its gameshark codes, certainly not absolutely unreachable) and the new practice of "modding" games. (you can thank id games for popularizing the latter, starting with DOOM and especially with quake and its little language, quake c.)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 8:56 AM on July 21, 2005

xquz:

Pessimism against McDonalds is seen as a "liberal" ideal and therefore there's an effort from many on the more pathetic fringe of the right wing (in this case, as others noted, some TSC/FoxNews dork) to find any opportunity to mock it... you'll find more right wing blogs, for example, linking to the latest embaraassing antics of PETA than any liberal group ever will.

perhaps in part due to the fact that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by moz at 9:26 AM on July 19, 2005

the G4 processor runs fairly cool, as processors go, which is one of the reasons why the Powerbook line hasn't been updated to G5 yet. but your laptop will still heat up.

one of the challenges of laptop design is heat dissipation. in a tower computer, you can dissipate heat fairly well with a heat sink -- something that will conduct heat efficiently -- and lead that heat elsewhere, such as the open space that typically resides in a tower. laptops typically have no... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 9:48 AM on May 12, 2005

if you're using bash as your shell, then you should be able to type a tab character like so: press ctrl-v, then ctrl-i. though bash will appear to have skipped ahead several spaces, merely the one (tab) character has been typed.
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 11:50 AM on May 3, 2005 marked best answer

to create a vfat (fat-32) filesystem on linux, you'll need a package called dosfstools. download the orig package from that site. (i can't contact the server right now, but a search on google seems to show debian as the best source for dosfstools.) installing the package, you should then have access to fsck.vfat and mkfs.vfat and you can go on from there.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by moz at 3:12 PM on March 16, 2005