Other people have mentioned how many single people find it unbearable to go so long without having someone else touch them. One sensual and yet non-sexual non-relationship way you could try to alleviate this is by learning social dancing. Swing dancing and other types of couple dancing can be really fun and social, and they provide an outlet for this type of touch without any romantic confusion or expectations.

You may also look into massage therapy as a way to receive... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by heatherann at 10:41 AM on October 5, 2008 marked best answer

My current theory of her reminds of me of a rule of thumb when scouting sports talent, especially high school basketball, and hey, she was a high school basketball star ...

Oftentimes, you see a high school basketball star get flayed at the college level, because up until that time, they've always been the best player on the court, and their game is centered around using their built-in talent advantage only. They have no flexibility in dealing with a challenge outside of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Cool Papa Bell at 3:48 PM on October 1, 2008

You know, I don't like to say it ..because it's mean and I would never, EVER talk to anyone like that you know, but sometimes I doubt Sarah's commitment to Sparkle Motion.
posted to MetaFilter by The Whelk at 8:31 PM on October 2, 2008

Ok, I thought that was a fun piece of music and was sure it was authentic. Curiosity got the better of me, looked up the lead singer on WhitePages and gave him a call. Sal Polichetti, a lovely guy. Told him there was a controversy about whether Sonseed existed or not, about this post. He was totally friendly and likable. Turns out he works in NYC, a couple of blocks from where I live.

I asked him if I could take notes as we spoke and said ok. This is what he... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by nickyskye at 12:42 PM on September 12, 2008

No. You're not only not going to do that viral astroturfing shit here, I forbid you from doing it anywhere. This is now the seventh time (I've been keeping track) that I've heard the republican spin that the housing crisis is caused by Hispanics/black/minorities/poor. A memo must have gone out the night Paulson proposed the plan because jowly white douchebags from all over are all simultaneously on board with the same talking points.

Let me be perfectly clear. It is... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by Pastabagel at 8:39 AM on September 30, 2008

The hysteria about what will happen to "the economy" if the "Big Bailout Plan" is not passed IMMEDIATELY is just that: hysteria. It is being manufactured.

Let me draw you a diagram.

Bailout stalls in Congress, plan is DOA on Monday. Short sell ban expires Oct. 2 (I think, perhaps earlier).

Financials are sold off and shorts return, destroying Morgan Stanley. Washington Mutual fails.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Pastabagel at 3:01 PM on September 24, 2008

snsranch: All I can hope for is that minority Americans come out and vote like they never have before and end this.

My fear? Replay of 2004.

That's an understandable fear to have, especially since McCain's campaign has become eerily familiar over the last couple of months. Some people are clearly getting that sinking feeling they got in 2004 when they realized that "It's just so stupid it just might work" turned out... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by joedan at 9:54 AM on September 26, 2008

malp, I think people believe that it will cause inflation because they see the government (potentially) spending $700 billion, and they know that the only way the government can get that money right now is to borrow it or "print" it.

"Printing money" being the problem. True, adding $700 billion dollars to the money supply would create inflation. However, that money increase is countered by the decrease in money seen by the devaluing of all these... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by gjc at 5:57 PM on September 25, 2008

Schmidt: The polls aren't looking too good John.
McCain: I knew you'd say that Stevie. That's why ol' maverick's got a plan here, you see!
Schmidt: (sigh) Another plan?
McCain: What if - now follow me here - we could buy a poll?
Schmidt: I don't think... Sir, you know how polls work, right?
McCain: Let's say we could buy a poll and make it look like we're doing better than we actually are.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by halfling at 5:07 PM on September 24, 2008

Who won the 2000 presidential election?

William Jefferson Clinton.

Who was sworn in as president on January 20, 2001?

A man who'd been controlled by the Clinton's NWO mind-control tools for a long time now. The same chip they put in Vince Foster's head, only now it works. I mean, come on. Nobody could screw up as long and as hard as Bush has -- Bush isn't a Republican President,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:54 AM on September 24, 2008

ne man gleefully showed my husband a clipping from today's Sunday classified ads. The clipping was a want ad for paid Obama campaign workers. He chortled, "They have to PAY people to campaign for him!" The ad stated no experience needed. Apparently they will be paying people to hold up signs...during the primary, there were folks standing on streetcorners holding signs for Hillary and I remember assuming they were paid to do so (if it matters, they were African American.)... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 7:39 PM on September 14, 2008

America is sick of Ivy League theorists spinning their vast and glorious plans by way of the fawning media machine.

Oh, it is to laugh. Let's look at this.

I'm getting a little worrn out on hearing the Ivy League implicated as shorthand for the liberal boogeyman. Firstly, I'm not sure how many people even know what the Ivy League is - it's an athletic conference, made up of only eight schools: Brown, Columbia, Cornell,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 11:02 AM on September 16, 2008

I certainly know from observation his supporters do.

Which supporters? What have you observed? All supporters, or just a subset? Please give evidence for "Obama's supporters disdain people from small towns." I currently live in a small town. I'm a supporter.

I'm not claiming small town people are any better than big city people. The latter are certainly more...polished.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Miko at 12:50 PM on September 18, 2008

Here’s the small-town values and politics I know.

My entire family, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, is from Wyoming. Now, granted, by Wyoming standards, they're from large towns – but relative to much of the rest of the country, they’re still small towns. I spent a good chunk of my childhood in Laramie. My dad grew up with the Cheneys in Casper (he knew Lynn Cheney when her last name was still Vincent); one of his paintings hangs in the Cheneys’ home.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by scody at 10:46 PM on September 19, 2008

The moment you start to resent a person, you become his slave. He controls your dreams, absorbs your digestion, robs you of your peace of mind and goodwill, and takes away the pleasure of your work. You cannot take a vacation without his going along. He destroys your freedom of mind and hounds you wherever you go. There is no way to escape the person you resent. He is with you when you are awake. He invades your privacy when you sleep. He is close beside you when you drive your car and when you... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by netbros at 8:05 AM on September 22, 2008

Umbrella today? Yes. Umbrellas every day, my good man!

What we really need is a website that can tell me what sort of umbrella to carry. For example, my henchmen and I have planned to lift a rare poison-beaked hummingbird from the Gotham City Zoo. It's a certainty that that meddling winged rodent, the Batman, is likely to attempt to interfere. What umbrella to best handle him?

Should I use the old standby, the knockout-gas... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Parasite Unseen at 2:20 PM on September 8, 2008

I wish a was a rich man:
I would spend money like rich men,
And no matter how poor I got
I'd soon be rich again.
I'd throw away a fortune,
Just like old Freddie Mac,
And every penny spended
Is a penny I'd get back.
Oh, to live without comeuppance!
No creditors! No jail!
You can't go broke like us poor folks;
You're just too rich to fail.
posted to MetaFilter by Astro Zombie at 8:08 AM on September 22, 2008

Be willing to shop around and to change your meal plans based on what's on sale. For example, when whole chickens are $1 a pound or less, I always buy one (sometimes two) and roast them that day. Use one for a stew or soup, which can be frozen and re-heated when you're busy, and eat half of the other for dinner that night. The rest of the second bird can be chopped up and put into chicken salad for the next few days.

Freezing and not being afraid of leftovers are two... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by k8lin at 2:40 PM on September 15, 2008

Forget coupons. Those are almost always only for pre-packaged foods, which you shouldn't be buying if you want to save money. It's far cheaper to buy ingredients and cook dishes yourself. Go once per week or less and take a list with you. If you have a farmer's market nearby, use it. It'll be much less expensive than a grocery store for fruits and veggies.
posted to Ask Metafilter by eratus at 2:41 PM on September 15, 2008

Unit pricing

Absolutely. I'm continually amazed by how many people don't do this. Always look at the unit price. Sure, the ultra-huge tub of peanut butter is on sale, but you're still paying +11c per 100g over the smaller tub.

Ignore 'Sale' signs

Look at the unit price instead. Of course, sometimes there are products you really like, so it's nice when they're on sale and drop to... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:21 PM on September 15, 2008 marked best answer

Don't waste the food you've got. A common consequence of buying for specific recipes and buying packages with optimum per-unit prices is that you'll often find yourself buying more of a given ingredient than the recipe calls for. Put that extra stuff to use - don't let it languish in the pantry or go bad in the fridge. Instead of buying for seven dinners a week, buy for four and improvise the other three with whatever is sitting around.
posted to Ask Metafilter by jon1270 at 4:20 PM on September 15, 2008 marked best answer

I worked at a grocery store as a teenager and can tell you these secrets:

Make a list of the staple items you buy and what you pay for them. When they go on sale, stock up. You should never have to pay full price if you plan ahead because they'll go on sale before your stock runs out. Supermarkets typically rotate the sale items every 10-16 weeks and if you have more than one chain in town, things will be on sale more often.

For the most part,... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by tomwheeler at 5:52 PM on September 15, 2008

I find I can keep my budget well under control by doing my grocery shopping online. Is this service available where you are? I have to pay $10 delivery, but it is absolutely worth it, for these reasons:
• I have to plan ahead for meals, and so I just add to my cart through the week, with certain meals in mind. I find I tend to think through purchases and stick to a plan when I'm shopping online, and I don't have to walk past the bargain basement tissues or chocolate or whatnot to get... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by lottie at 8:55 PM on September 15, 2008

1. get your life calm enough so you can focus on applying some of these tips and have the energy to do this kind of planning. It's hard to do this stuff if you are stressed out and frantic all of the time (speaking from experience).

2. Find a good food coop. We save 40 percent on our coop food, and most of it is local. It forces us to learn to eat vegetables that we might not otherwise bother with.

3. Grinding your own flour will cost you up... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by mecran01 at 10:33 AM on September 22, 2008

Well, I'm twenty-five, grew up with the Internet, and it's been my primary form of media since 2002 (when I moved to college and got a non-dial-up connection). I'd be lost without the internet. I'm also a huge book nerd; read constantly as a child and during my teen years, and still read a lot, both on-screen and off, whenever I have time. And I can pretty much positively state that I have a harder time reading long, complex arguments than I used to. I can still read light fiction like the wind,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Caduceus at 10:05 AM on September 20, 2008

In "Benson", a sassy-mouthed butler hired to manage the Governor's mansion worked his way up to become Lieutenant Governor. In "Air Force One", President Harrison Ford kicked terrorists off his plane. And both of those were about as realistic as "The West Wing".

And a PTA mom from a strip mall suburb has somehow ended up as a Vice Presidential nominee,meanwhile the current Vice Presidenthas been running his own shadow... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by billyfleetwood at 1:35 PM on September 21, 2008

That's right, Obama, your ass just got called out on METATALK.
posted to MetaTalk by The Straightener at 6:13 AM on September 21, 2008

OW, My bosons!
posted to MetaFilter by Floydd at 8:29 PM on September 19, 2008

Did anyone else immediately compose a Chuck Palahniuk book in their head about a couple who meets at the NYC asexuality support group? And it turns out that she's just there to meet guys and seduce them as part of a complex personal quest to prove there's no such thing as asexuality? And then she meets this one guy that she can't turn, no matter what? But then we find out that he's not only attending the asexuality support meetings, but also the sex addicts meetings, and he's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by rusty at 9:48 AM on September 9, 2008

Q: Why did Fonzie stop having sex?

A: Because he was ayyyyyyyyysexual!
posted to MetaFilter by hifiparasol at 10:12 AM on September 9, 2008

Alot of people have spoken to this, but this whole experience pissing match is just too stupid. Plus it took me a long time to type, so i'm going with it...

I am saying that it is wrong for the Democrats to claim Palin is less qualified than he. It is a ridiculous argument and it's time to drop it.

Despite totally disagreeing with you completely, I have a bit of respect for your input konolia. If only because you have stuck... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by billyfleetwood at 11:52 PM on September 3, 2008

Those of us who are true Christians and believe in the true Church and the word of God tend to dislike the satanic indulgence promulgated by you "Evangelicals," not least because it's the single greatest challenge that has arisen against the Christ and his mission in these two thousand years. So if you don't mind, quit blathering about a religion you know nothing about.

I am loathe to call people "not true Christians" in the same... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:46 PM on September 5, 2008

But don't tell me you are personally opposed to abortion and yet prochoice. Because what that tells me is you are either A. not really opposed to abortion or B. a coward without the guts to act on your beliefs.

What? I'm personally opposed to abortion—I'd be happier if no woman ever felt compelled to get one ever again—but I'm deeply pro-choice because I don't believe it's my place to enforce that eventuality.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by cortex at 11:36 AM on September 4, 2008

"She asked the library how she could go about banning book"

Oh yeah, now it's on!
posted to MetaFilter by jessamyn at 7:49 AM on September 2, 2008

Look, no matter who grabs the brass ring in November, the world won't come to an end. I have lived too long and seen too many elections and survived too many Presidents of varying calibers...we will be all right.

Your comment made me cry .... Because, you see, I don't think we will be. Here, in my own life, I don't think we will be. We just can't stand four (or eight) more years of this.

Between the two of us, my husband and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by anastasiav at 10:14 PM on September 9, 2008

I'd like to throw something out to the esteemed assembly here...do you understand just why it is all of a sudden that so many folks are jumping on the McCain bandwagon? Even though you have a brilliant wellspoken candidate on your end?

I think I do, konolia, and I thank you for asking. Genuinely. I had to sit back and think about it for a minute, and take genuine stock of my some of my beliefs and my justifications for them. But I think I am... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by penduluum at 8:05 PM on September 9, 2008

One of my sisters suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. And that sentence is true -- she does suffer from it. And so did each and every one of us siblings, and my parents, and anyone else whose life touched hers.

And for so many years we were in denial, we just saw her as an asshole, a rude and crude jerk, unbelievably intertwined with my parents, psychologically, financially, in just about every way, really. She also has epilepsy, and has suffered from seizures,... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by dancestoblue at 10:15 PM on September 11, 2008

Factors in the Democrat's favor this year: a disastrous economy, an unpopular war, an incumbent president with a 30% approval rating, far more money and better organization than the other side, a candidate who is charismatic, smart, accomplished and eloquent, an opponent who is old, out of touch, disliked by a large portion of his own party and a Washington insider when people want change.

Factors in the Republican's favor this year: the Democratic candidate is black.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by ND¢ at 8:31 AM on September 15, 2008

>>Wait...anuses (ani?) migrate?

A bunch of them just left Minneapolis-St. Paul.
posted to MetaFilter by SaintCynr at 3:13 PM on September 18, 2008

More to the point -- now that I've had my lunch -- I think that not only could MeTa stand to have the "everyone needs a hug" note (did anyone make t-shirts form the iron ons I handed out at the Cambridge meetup way back when?) but maybe posting a thread to Meta should come with a set of checkboxes

[ ] I am not just me being peevish, I sincerely think this topic needs the attention of the whole community
[ ] This is not something that would be better suited by... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by jessamyn at 10:54 AM on September 17, 2008

HEY EVERYBODY GREAT JOB ON ANOTHER WEIRD FUCKING METATALK THREAD

GO TO BED
posted to MetaTalk by cortex at 11:01 PM on September 17, 2008

Dear AskMe,

I've been in my current job now for almost 8 years, and I really feel that other people don't respect my work. [MORE INSIDE]

I made a lot of changes when I came in, and really tried to push through some radical approaches to things. But lately, I've noticed that my staff (and ex-staff) are criticising me, and saying that I got a lot of things wrong.

This one ex-employee - let's call him Scott - was... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by the quidnunc kid at 3:30 AM on September 15, 2008

OK, an 80% stake means the government -- us -- is by far the majority shareholder.

If so, are we the owners going to give the new CEO and top executives millions in compensation and benefits and golden parachutes for them to use when they screw up?

Oh wait, it's capitalism, so of course "we" -- our government masters who are in turn owned by the rich -- will.

Will "we" insist that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by orthogonality at 8:33 PM on September 16, 2008

Is there a difference between "discover your passion" and "discover what you want to do"?

I ask because I hear people talk about their Passion (with a capital P), as if everyone has one whether they know it or not. As it it's a special glowing ball inside each of us. Yet I see no evidence that this ball necessarily exists.

To me, it's more likely that we have things we like and things we dislike. A like becomes a passion when... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by grumblebee at 12:22 PM on September 4, 2008

John McCain does not provide a clear link to his technology policy...

That's a little unfair. John McCain was born before the word technos had even become a Greek root.
posted to MetaFilter by DU at 4:57 PM on September 9, 2008

$ telnet barackobama.com 443
Trying 66.39.143.229...
Connected to barackobama.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed by foreign host.
$ telnet johnmccain.com 443
Trying 64.203.107.149...
Connected to johnmccain.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
Connection closed by a real American.
$ _


Need I say more.
posted to MetaFilter by Combustible Edison Lighthouse at 6:16 PM on September 9, 2008

"That, it strikes me, is something that requires a serious response."

Sarah Palin -
- Finished second in the Miss Alaska pageant.
- Has a degree from from the University of Idaho in communications
- Had a 20% ownership in an Anchorage car wash business
- Two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.
- One year as chairman of an oil commission.
- A year an a half as Governor of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Ragma at 12:43 PM on September 5, 2008

I see visions of us geographically gathering together post-apocalypse and being the only functioning society on the planet ...

You saw the woman on the porch too? Colorado meetup!
posted to MetaTalk by carsonb at 8:47 AM on September 5, 2008

I didn't vote for Bush, but please bear with me.

I'm more of an old-fashioned Eisenhower limited-government, fiscal-responsibility Republican, I thought the administration did a very poor job of anticipating what would be needed in post-Saddam Iraq, and I'm very much concerned about the increasing suppression of dissent, invasion of privacy and, in general, encroachment on the civil liberties of you folks with whom I disagree so strongly on so many points. Therefore, no... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by jfuller at 9:27 AM on November 7, 2004

To follow up on the carbon rod comment: I just never got the impression that Kerry had a strong center, psychologically speaking. Kind of empty, too passive. I didn't see him as a leader, or even understandable as a person. That bothered me more than the sum of Bush's shortcomings.

Some demographics on me:
I'm a white, mid-30's male who's lived in California his whole life (all in LA, save for 5 years in Berkeley). Married to a non-citizen who isn't a... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by shoos at 6:28 PM on November 7, 2004