MetaFilter

For my parents' 45th anniversary, my siblings and I wrote down very short descriptions of favorite childhood memories (e.g., baloney sandwiches on the back steps, Disneyland, saving that baby skunk, Dad bringing home candy from work, etc.) and framed a card filled with them. Our parents loved it. Not only was it fun for them to read and remember, but it meant so much to them to know that little things they did were things that we've remembered all our lives. I was totally stunned--my mom would... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by corey flood at 6:51 PM on November 3, 2008

Except in pubs, people seem to form queues spontaneously at shops, cash machines (ATMs) or anywhere else they have to wait.

There's generally a queue in the pub as well, its just an invisible one in everyone's head.

Queuing is definitely part of the national psyche here. People moan about kids not being brought up badly and not queuing properly but that's just kids being kids and it's always happened.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by garius at 5:39 AM on October 22, 2008

The best thing you could do is to be the kind of parents your child will want to spend some or part of their 18th/21st birthday with.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Brandon Blatcher at 3:48 AM on September 29, 2008

Standard rate is usually 2-3 times what you make per hour in a salaried job or a salary divided by 1000. See my profile for a more detailed article on calculating your rate (self link). However, depending on your market and your experience, I'd suggest $35-$50 per hour. It also depends on whether you're doing light copy editing, substantive editing or what-have-you. I charge a lot more than that, but I've been around for a while and I have built up a niche. YMMV.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by acoutu at 7:52 PM on August 24, 2008

We had a similar situation in our house. We ended up going the traditional route: mama takes care of the baby, papa works to pay the bills but dives into caring for the boy (and the mama) when he can.

However, for the first week or so, my wife was bed-ridden, so I took care of the baby a lot. Also, I mostly worked at home for all of it except the first month or so after paternity leave, so I was able to watch the boy here and there throughout the day.... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Mo Nickels at 9:07 AM on July 10, 2008 marked best answer

The spiritual/emotional/transcendent aspects of parenthood are nearly impossible to quantify, because, in my practical experience, they're different for everyone. The one thing that I can say was common to my father, myself, and my friend Randy was that we didn't immediately feel like Dad: for all three of us, it took between three weeks and a month for us to register that we were now a parent.

My dad said it didn't hit him until about a month in, when he was sitting at... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by scrump at 4:12 PM on July 22, 2008 marked best answer

Feces, urine, intercourse, vagina, fellatiator, Oedipus and breasts.
.
posted to MetaFilter by iamkimiam at 11:29 PM on June 22, 2008

Shit.
This pisses me off.
Fuck, the guy was only 71.
So many cunts wanted him silenced.
Now the cocksuck(ing) motherfucker is tits-up.
posted to MetaFilter by tomierna at 10:18 PM on June 22, 2008

Some good friends of mine suggested art supplies -- crayons, paints, papers, stickers, coloring books -- because they get used up and don't take up space permanently.

I bought my neice a bunch of this kind of stuff last Christmas, but I also made her a custom coloring book to go with it. I stole the idea from LifeHacker and got some advice about the details in a previous AskMe.

Basically it just involves running your own... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by burnmp3s at 10:02 AM on April 29, 2008

Our son just received "No No Yes Yes" as a gift, and he loves it. He dissolves into hysterical laughter and wants to read it again and again.

The left pages have "no noes" (baby has his finger up his nose) and the right pages have "yes yeses" (baby blowing his nose with a tissue). The no noes are pure comedy and basically an illustrated guide to every natural behavior of a toddler.

With a $50 budget you could get... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by peep at 9:40 AM on April 29, 2008 marked best answer

"I'm sorry, but I have to focus on my work right now. Can we finish this when I'm back at my desk goofing off?"
posted to Ask MetaFilter by iamkimiam at 10:26 AM on March 28, 2008

There's a poster who's sure
All he sells for is gold
But he's climbing a stairway to bannin'
When he gets done he knows
That the thread will be closed
With five bucks he can get what he came for
Ooh, ooh, and he's buying a stairway to bannin'

There's a sign on the page
That he wants to ignore
'Cause he knows it's worth the Google rankings.
On a post to the... [more]
posted to MetaTalk by robocop is bleeding at 3:35 PM on March 15, 2008

I can't use the plain stylesheet. I require color to let me know what level of attention I have to pay to the coherence of my comments:

Green: Write clearly and on topic

Blue: Try to be on topic. Well... don't try too hard... Ok, at least, try not to constantly call everyone "pig-fuckers".

Grey: Everyone is a pig-fucker, let them know this. All the time.
posted to MetaTalk by quin at 7:36 AM on March 6, 2008

I never felt like their was anything missing in my life, either, but I can't imagine life without my daughter. We decided that we'd like to have a child because we were happy - we had good careers, were in a good financial situation, and life was on the upswing. We wanted to share that happiness with an addition to our family. It wasn't about filling a hole, it was more about sharing what is good in the world.

Being a parent IS hard. But sharing the things that you're... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by Ostara at 10:48 PM on February 9, 2008

There was a guy who was struggling to decide what to wear to go to a fancy costume party... Then he had a bright idea.

When the host answered the door, he found the guy standing there with no shirt and no socks on.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" asked the host.

"A premature ejaculation," said the man. "I just came in my pants!"
posted to MetaFilter by C17H19NO3 at 1:13 AM on January 18, 2008

I think it sounds cool, especially if you change your mind on the hyphen. It sounds all British and whatnot. I tried to talk my wife into it, but she is all old fashioned.

I just loved the thought of people saying things like, "We're having dinner at the Hawksworth-Featherington's tonight.

But our real names aren't quite that cool, and we cook a lot of food in the microwave.
posted to Ask MetaFilter by 4ster at 7:07 PM on January 4, 2008

Has anyone seen my molehill? I left it right here, but now there seems to be a mountain in its stead.
posted to MetaFilter by mr_crash_davis at 8:47 AM on December 2, 2007

they don't hurt my brain, but i don't like them either. the blue and the creepy icy white ones are the worst. also: they cast no light- i put a few strings up on my porch last summer and even when they were lit, it was still too dark to eat out there. led xmas lights are sort of sneaky somehow. they're like vampire lights. stephen king sometimes writes about colours from other dimensions that hurt his characters' brains- led xmas lights do that for mine. i think they're up to no good,... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by twistofrhyme at 12:27 AM on December 1, 2007

Here's the secret: view all advertising, lifestyle magazine articles, and reality tv shows as the product of clean and shiny white people with multicultural names, not eight years out of school, told all their lives that they were smart and special, now especially proud of themselves to be living in the big city with money to burn and to be working in a so cool renovated former industrial space with extremely comfy chairs, yet drowning their weekends in alcohol, cocaine and sex with strangers... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by TimTypeZed at 2:40 PM on October 20, 2007

[Sorry. This is a long post. I'm a computer dork with bad social skills, and I've been working on this same problem recently. I assume that for most people actually using social skills is old news, but for me it's new an fascinating.]

To build on what others have said: you can solve this problem and still be super helpful to everyone involved.

Here's how I'm guessing you feel, and I may be projecting a bit. You're worried that you're spending... [more]
posted to Ask MetaFilter by amery at 5:35 PM on September 13, 2007

Still, you can't help but wonder, what else might we have done with all that time and money if we hadn't blown it on the Internet?

Like what? Fight more wars?

What a malformed and misinformed tool. He basically just said "ZOMG. THE WEB WORLD SUCKS. IT'S FULL OF CON MEN AND CRIMINALS." Thank you, brain-trust of Canuckistan.

Saying "if we hadn't blown it on the Internet?" is... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by loquacious at 10:50 AM on October 27, 2006

Delta Chelsea off of Yonge St. has a day pass for the gym/pool. It was $12, five years ago.

But check around some of the public pools, especially ones not right in downtown Toronto. Some pools have 'no kiddie' hours that are less crowded. And except for a quarter for a locker - Free!
posted to Ask MetaFilter by typewriter at 3:38 PM on August 21, 2006 marked best answer