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Long term care insurance - worth it?

Calling all insurance pros: Is it worth keeping my long term care insurance?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 12:37 PM on June 3, 2008 (3 comments)

Should I renew my Barron's subscription?

Please suggest publications or online resources you like for the purpose of monitoring the direction of financial markets.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 1:16 PM on May 7, 2008 (2 comments)

Four miles of yarn on a car

Timothy Klein gets art. I mean, he really gets it. And he likes cars. So when he decided to become an artist, he covered a 1967 Chrysler Imperial Crown luxury car with yarn. Correct, yarn. Then, Tim didn't just show his car off to the local cruzers at the Dairy Queen. No. Tim took it to Artscape at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore in 2002, where he met other famous automotive artists like Harrod Blank and Chris Hubbard. He took it to the Outsider Art Fair in New York in 2003. Wherever he takes the Yarn Car, he documents the trips on his site. He got featured in Reader's Digest and "made Diane Sawyer giggle". Tim will be in Houston on May 10 for the 2008 Art Car Parade. Don't miss the yarn phone in the car.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 3:26 PM on April 10, 2008 (17 comments)

Best Answer AWOL?

This AskMe post shows on the front page as having a Best Answer, but on the inside page nothing is so marked. Did a Best Answer get deleted?
posted to MetaTalk by beagle at 11:09 AM on April 7, 2008 (49 comments)

How do I stay more hydrated at night?

I wake up with a dry mouth three to four times a night. This has been going on for quite a few years, but it would be nice to find a solution that works and to be able to sleep through the night more often.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 12:23 PM on March 27, 2008 (25 comments)

Askme Snowclones?

This is a serious, intended-for-AskMe question, but under the rules (because it is about AskMe itself) it must be asked here. So, kindly play by AskMe rules. Here goes. Various authorities claim there are only 69, 36, 20, 7, 3 or 1 possible literary plots, all the rest are just variations on the basic ones. Is it possible to categorize all MeFi questions into a limited number of generic forms?
posted to MetaTalk by beagle at 9:06 AM on March 16, 2008 (48 comments)

Still living after all these years

Founded in 1947 and surviving today both as a relic of the psychedelic 1960s and a continually groundbreaking troupe, the Living Theatre found a national spotlight during the late 1960s and early 1970s as a "nomadic touring ensemble" performing anarchist, sexually-liberated, audience-participatory, collectively-created, sometimes nude or semi-nude productions like Paradise Now, the Legacy of Cain, and Frankenstein, under the direction of founders Julian Beck and Judith Malina. Beck died in 1985, but Malina, now 81, remains both an inspiration and a leading actress (currently starring in the company's Maudie and Jane).
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 6:35 PM on February 6, 2008 (3 comments)

The Last Battlefield

It has been called the Last Battlefield of World War II in Europe.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 5:17 PM on December 10, 2007 (37 comments)

Why are there still lighthouses?

In this day and age of ubiquitous GPS, why are lighhouses and foghorns still operating?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 8:40 AM on November 8, 2007 (26 comments)

What to do in Managua?

What do you recommend a gringo see in Managua, Nicaragua? I need to attend a meeting there in January, and have left one day free for whatever sightseeing might be of interest. I speak no Spanish; but my interests run to art, nature and history.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 1:02 PM on October 26, 2007 (7 comments)

Senator Secrecy

A senator places a secret hold on a bill designed to counter secrecy in government. The Society of Professional Journalists, which supports the bill, smoked out Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) as the source of the hold, one of the more obscure parliamentary tactics possible in the Senate. The bill in question is the OPEN Government Act of 2007, which is an overhaul of the Freedom of Information Act. (See also.) Kyl claims the bill would force the release of "sensitive information." Kyl is also behind a measure that would criminalize the leaking of classified information.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 9:39 AM on June 1, 2007 (47 comments)

You should see my fridge

How personally embarrassing does something have to be to qualify for an anonymous AskMi? Mold in one's microwave?
posted to MetaTalk by beagle at 5:55 AM on May 3, 2007 (86 comments)

Need tips for Alaska trip

My wife and daughter are planning a summer 2008 mother-daughter trip to Alaska. No camping, no major hiking.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 9:27 AM on April 5, 2007 (5 comments)

Seeking invoice generator

I would like to generate a couple of thousand invoices per week, using a data file with either fixed-width or tab-delimited fields.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 11:04 AM on March 20, 2007 (5 comments)

BookWikis

A new genre of literary wikis is in the works. Pynchon fans can find as well as contribute answers to questions about his works at the Thomas Pynchon Wiki. The site currently offers sections on The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against the Day. Each offers spoiler-free page-by-page annotations, alphabetic search and a compilation of reviews. The Pynchon wikis were created by Tim Ware, "curator" of ThomasPynchon.com. Elsewhere, literary wikis have been started for James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake and the works of Shakespeare.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 7:18 PM on March 18, 2007 (37 comments)

Most presidents gathered -- past, present and future

When, and where, have the most living past, present and future presidents of the United States gathered at the same time in the same place?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 8:14 PM on January 23, 2007 (10 comments)

Warning: the project posted Dec. 16 entitled...

Warning: the project posted Dec. 16 entitled "A Charter Documents" attempts to fuck with your computer. At the very least, it tries to install Adobe's Google Toolbar with Schockwave, with a window that (as far as I can see) can only be closed by rebooting.
posted to MetaTalk by beagle at 9:47 AM on December 17, 2006 (30 comments)

What's in a name?

Thousands of new products and businesses every year need names. The creation of these names, is a business in itself, and is usually a pretty secretive process. But Igor, a naming and branding agency, offers a surprisingly detailed and illuminating primer on the naming game. Igor describes how they do it and who they’ve done it for. Igor’s naming taxonomy charts for various products (including one for the company names of naming companies) help illustrate the research portion of the process. Check out: studies of successful names like Pepperidge Farm’s cookie names, and why AT&T Canada’s name change to Allstream was a bad idea. And don’t miss Igor’s two blogs (metablogged here): Snark Hunting, “all about naming and branding in popular culture” and Wordlab, on “naming and branding issues.” For fun, try Wordlab’s own tongue-in-cheek naming tools, like the Drug-o-matic drug name generator, Name Your Band, and the Morpheme generator.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 2:43 PM on September 7, 2006 (25 comments)

Tour winner disgraced?

Landis tests positive for doping.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 7:34 AM on July 27, 2006 (141 comments)

Handicapping the midterms

As in the 2004 elections, several useful sites have sprung up to keep track of the 2006 midterms for House, Senate and state gubernatorial races. Some have a political point of view, others don't, but they don't differ significantly on the outcome at this point. One of the veterans in this game is ElectionProjection.com, which was pretty close to actual results in '04. (A creation of "the Blogging Caesar"). From the right, there's MyElectionAnalysis.com, while ElectionPredictions seems to come from a neutral corner. All of these track statewide polls as they are published; they may differ in how they weight results. For a more subjective approach, see Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball or the Cook Political Report. Overall, the consensus seems to be that the GOP will hold both houses, but with slimmer margins, and lose on the gubernatorial front.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 9:54 AM on July 10, 2006 (30 comments)

Dealing with radon

So I'm selling my house, it's under contract, and the inspector for the buyers has come back with radon test results over the EPA-recommended limit. What to do?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 1:52 PM on April 5, 2006 (7 comments)

Oscar neutrality?

Belated Oscars question: In this age of political correctness and gender-neutrality, why are there still gender-based Academy Award categories?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 7:36 AM on March 17, 2006 (22 comments)

And how effective is this program?

The White House Office of Management and Budget has published a rundown on all federal programs called ExpectMore.gov, rating them as either "Performing" or "Not Peforming." (See Previous discussion on programs slated for budget cuts , in which some wondered about the analysis behind the cuts -- this is it.) 72% of all programs are rated Performing (of which 15% are Effective, 29% are Moderately Effective, and 28% are Adequate. 28% are rated Not Performing, but of these only 4% are Ineffective -- the other 24% are rated Results Not Demonstrated because of a lack of established goals or lack of collected data. Under each rating you can find all the programs in the category and drill down to details on the assessment For example, leading the "Ineffective" list is Even Start, a DOEducation program that is supposed to "the cycle of poverty and illiteracy for low-income families." But OMB says that three major studies of the program failed to show it was having any impact. Ditto AmeriCorps NCCC and the Oil Technology Program (it hasn't led to any new reserves being found). In case you are wondering, both the Dept. of Homeland Security's Domestic Icebreaking Program and its Biological Countemeasures program are considered Effective.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 6:53 AM on February 17, 2006 (28 comments)

Lincoln's ailment

Poor old Abe. He had an impressive medical history, as previously discussed. Will we ever figure out all his ailments? As an explanation for "his especially clumsy gait," one theory claims that he had Marfan's Syndrome (with good company). But now researchers are leaning more toward a new theory, that a gene-linked disorder called ataxia. But Lincoln also suffered from depression which could have been heriditary, for which he took "little blue pills" that gave him mercury poisoning, which could explain his insomnia, tremors and rage attacks, gait, and more. Of course, we also suspect that he was in the closet. Lincoln's DNA will continue to be a growth industry, at least until somebody can get hold of a sample of the old guy and figure him out for sure.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 8:55 AM on January 29, 2006 (34 comments)

Acid test?

Is my flatware sterling, silver-plate, or something in-between?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 10:51 AM on December 5, 2005 (10 comments)

Need mover in New York City

Needed: New York City -to- New Jersey mover, plus someone who buys and removes whatever is left in an apartment.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 7:20 AM on October 24, 2005 (2 comments)

Cost of leaving a pilot light on?

I have a Vermont Castings propane stove that heats about half my house. I turned the pilot light off in the spring and just re-lit it, a total of 5 months. If propane costs $2.20 per gallon, how much did I save, versus leaving it on?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 1:37 PM on October 12, 2005 (4 comments)

Church heating question

BTUFilter II: I'm looking for any input on replacing a steam boiler, which is cracked, with a hot water unit.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 8:52 AM on June 9, 2005 (3 comments)

Tire overinflation

The sticker in my Malibu Maxx prescribes tire pressure of 30 psi; the sidewalls on the tires list a maximum pressure of 44 psi -- is it OK to run them at 35 psi, or higher, to gain better gas mileage, or will the money saved be nullified by shortened tire life?
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 6:51 AM on April 19, 2005 (14 comments)

Persistence of language

I'm looking for examples of language survival for many generations among small groups within a larger mono-linguistic society.
posted to Ask Metafilter by beagle at 1:58 PM on February 21, 2005 (27 comments)

Just curious, is there some reason Ask Metafilter...

Just curious, is there some reason Ask Metafilter is linked to from MetaTalk, but not from MetaFilter? MeTa and MeFi are both linked from AskMe.
posted to MetaTalk by beagle at 8:55 AM on April 9, 2004 (15 comments)

New E-Book Reader

E-paper to make its consumer debut. A little Cambridge, MA firm called E-Ink is teaming up with 2 global partners (Philips and Sony) to introduce next month "the world's first consumer application of an electronic paper display module." The size of a paperback book, it will allow storage of the equivalent of 500 books, and display of up to 10,000 pages on a single set of batteries. The display technology comes closer to the appearance of a printed page than any previous electronic display. The future of this technology: "'expressive surfaces'-intelligent displays that are built right into everyday products." At the research level it is already capable of displaying color video.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 10:01 AM on March 24, 2004 (29 comments)

Kerouac bobblehead

Kerouac becomes a bobblehead. From the sports promoters in Lowell, Massachusetts, to the literati, everybody thinks it's a terrific idea. "Certainly, Jack would love it," says the executor of his estate.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 6:52 AM on July 29, 2003 (12 comments)

Welcome back, Jorn

Welcome back, Jorn -- The host of RobotWisdom and coiner of "weblog" has been on an unexplained break since mid-May, leaving some to wonder if it was for good. But he's back. Now if he would drop the Iraq-protest-black background so we could actually read it . . .
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 6:28 AM on July 2, 2003 (42 comments)

Global newsstand

Global newsstand: The Newseum has added a way to scan 169 newspaper front pages from around the world, same day as published, in full color PDF format. A good way to see how the same stories are treated in different parts of the world.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 11:00 AM on January 24, 2003 (19 comments)

A warning shot in the dark.

A warning shot in the dark: For connoisseurs of clever turns of phrase: The phrase "a warning shot in the dark" popped out at me from a Google News preview panel as being a mixed metaphor. Indeed, a Google search reveals that the phrase has never before been used on the entire Web, which is rather amazing. Delving into the story, it appears by paragraph three that the mixed metaphors are appropriate, in this case.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 9:41 AM on November 27, 2002 (35 comments)

How to make money off terrorism. This outfit will...

How to make money off terrorism. This outfit will e-mail you "near real-time notices about terrorism related news and events as a free public service" and expects 50,000 to 100,000 subscribers. According to their news-release page, "when subscribership reaches significant levels the email alerts will be an effective advertising medium for in-house efforts as well as outside advertisers." As in, for example, "Alert: there has been a biological warfare attack. This message sponsored by Clearasil Anti-Bacterial Soap."
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 1:46 PM on August 21, 2002 (13 comments)

Does it go far enough? Stock market is...

Speech of the Prez on corporate ethics. Does it go far enough? Stock market is "uninspired".
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 10:55 AM on July 9, 2002 (44 comments)

E Ink Corporation's "Ink in Motion"...

Coming soon to a supermarket checkout lane near you -- E Ink Corporation's "Ink in Motion" displays will look like a piece of cardboard (like the back of a chewing gum display box), but will flash a graphic at you. To follow: larger indoor and outdoor signage, screens on PDA devices, etc. Better angle visibility, brightness, contrast, than electronic screens; runs forever on a small battery. Comprehensive and informative site about technology that has gotten little attention but could revolutionize display technology, the sign business, point-of-purchase marketing, and publishing. (Previous 2001 MeFi mention in a comment but much new info.)
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 9:38 AM on May 23, 2002 (8 comments)

Or a bridge, road, telephone pole, or railroad....

When in Vermont, don't photograph a nuclear plant. Or a bridge, road, telephone pole, or railroad. It could get you 10 years in the clapper.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 8:05 AM on November 30, 2001 (20 comments)

Your challenge on this site is to separate fact...

Prototype mechanical soldier tried out in WWI! Your challenge on this site is to separate fact from fiction.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 5:48 AM on October 25, 2001 (16 comments)

...

Ghost site.
posted to MetaFilter by beagle at 9:26 AM on September 12, 2001 (9 comments)