This happened to me once. Happily it ended without incident (she stopped talking to me after I did the two things I suggest below, and then moved on to boys her own age) but it was intensely uncomfortable while it lasted.

-- Never, ever, ever be alone with her. Talk to her outdoors, where other people can see you. No more cat sitting. If she comes over, talk to her on the porch, not in your apartment. Keeping it all in public will (hopefully) insulate you from a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by Forktine at 7:26 PM on December 27, 2007

IMHO, making effort to say 'not interested' on your part is needlessly hurtful to her and over-reactive.

Younger girls get crushes, they bloom and then decay. Nothing will come of this, so your best bet is to be a decent role model and when you interact with her say things that will boost her self confidence and interest in activities out side you ( "Oh you like [band/sport/science] that's cool, you and some friends should go [see/play/write a phd in] that.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by oblio_one at 6:31 PM on December 27, 2007

Plenty of kids like to have an older adult with whom they can converse and share things with. And it doesn't usually go beyond that. It makes a kid feel good and more grown up to have adult friends. It's exciting to feel accepted by someone older. There's a familiarity with you since she feeds your cat, so you've become that older friend.

To me, is so important to underscore. Like Jessamyn, I know I grew up in a more "innocent,"... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by scody at 8:32 PM on December 27, 2007

Single feed requires a way to grab one page at time from a stack of pages. This requires a certain precision in the mechanics, a control system to determine when the page has been fed to to correct position, when it has failed and pages have jammed, and mechanical access to clear the jam. More complex -> more expensive.

Continuous tractor feed only requires a wheel; and bonus, the page's position can be easily determined by the amount of the wheel's rotation.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by orthogonality at 6:46 PM on September 25, 2007

I'd have been a bit put out by the dance thing too. Depending how often the cultural hegemony of the couple had thoughtlessly rubbed my nose in my own unprivileged state lately, I might have been extremely put out. Adding an all-dance phase at the beginning would have helped a great deal, though.

Come to think, if the newlyweds themselves had the grace to leave the floor at the same time as the singles, my concerns would have been... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by eritain at 8:13 PM on July 12, 2007

First off, no one with any sense jumps on a moving car. In the years when I did this I never once saw anyone try this. That's just garbage from the movies. So don't do it.

You get on the train in the yards when they are stopped. I'm sure things have changed now but I used to go into the freight office and ask the dispatcher which track and what time for a train to my destination. I doubt you could do that anymore, but you might try it.

You... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by JackFlash at 10:51 AM on May 8, 2007

most CS students could create a working operating system.

You have a much higher opinion of CS students than I do.

I was one, at a school with very smart people, and I doubt many of them could actually create a working OS.

I've been a professional programmer for quite a while, and an OS isn't something I'd want to tackle.

Unless your definition of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by flaterik at 11:22 AM on March 11, 2007

One slice swiss, one slice Colby Jack, on bread that's wide enough that they only double up in the middle third. Then eating the sandwich is like a good novel - build the story (single slice area), climax (double cheese area), dénouement (other single-cheese area).
posted to Ask Metafilter by notsnot at 11:08 AM on March 11, 2007

Saw one of these ads as I was leaving work today, and I had the exact same reaction. They should have one where a man goes out on a date with a woman, they get back to his place, he drops his pants, she laughs, he leaves, he buys a Hummer.
posted to MetaFilter by EarBucket at 3:22 PM on August 15, 2006

What if you ate tofu while a homo gave you a hummer?
posted to MetaFilter by jonmc at 3:32 PM on August 15, 2006

A = the event triggers the first time. p(A) = 0.2
B = the event triggers the second time. p(B) = 0.2

You want p(A or B). The obvious way is to do what JakeWalker did, and say "p(A or B) = p(A) + p(B) = .4". What's wrong with that? You've over counted once (that is, you've double counted the p(A and B)). This is inclusion-exclusion principal, which says "p(A or B) = p(A) + p(B) - p(A and B) = 0.2 + 0.2 - 0.04 = 0.36".... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by sbutler at 10:12 PM on August 14, 2006

posted to MetaTalk by brownpau at 9:37 PM on July 23, 2006

Odes to Deleted Crap

In vast expanse of green or blue,
Where thoughts unbound are most imbued
With pure paternal pride,
A perfect snowflake fell to ground.
But mistaken for a steaming mound
So suffered crapicide.

The Mods saw not the crystalline grace,
Unique design on every face,
Frozen as life’s very essence.
So blinded by the heartless... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:29 AM on July 12, 2006

I can't imagine supporting any group of people who blow themselves up

The Israeli apartheid wall is a kind of gerrymandering. Israel claims to be the "middle east's only democracy" yet they are also "a Jewish state." Lo and behold, if you include the poor folk living in the territories, there might in fact be a majority of Arabs in the country overall. The demographic trends are also against Jews in Israel. Arab birthrates are... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by scarabic at 9:29 PM on May 28, 2006

meatspace=IRL
posted to Ask Metafilter by zerokey at 8:38 PM on July 4, 2006

Let me get this straight..... you have a friend who is about to go to court for a fourth degree DUI, and you are wondering whether he should lay off of drugs before the trial?

Yes. Both of you need to lay off the pipe.
posted to Ask Metafilter by crazyray at 9:20 AM on June 26, 2006

Genomic DNA, the kind that can form an animal, is fragile. There is a large difference between getting an entire functioning genome and enough DNA to identify something.

So assuming you get the genome out whole, you've got to put it in something, like an ovum. Then you've got to get that ovum to replicate. That is no small task and you aren't even talking anything identifiable as an animal yet.

So let's assume you get to the point of creating a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by 517 at 12:59 PM on June 1, 2006