Ask MetaFilter posts by mudpuppie

Mystery in the fast lane

mudpuppie — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:39:36 -0800

Mostly on highways, but also on large surface streets, there are these configurations of tar lines. Usually two per lane. They're sort of octagonal -- basically squares with angled-off corners, making them 8-sided. Additional lines of tar lead from the roadway to the shoulder. What are they?

Trout Fishing in America

mudpuppie — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:02:22 -0800

Teach me how to fish. GF and I are going camping for a few days on the Yuba River in Northern California. I want to go fishing. I haven't been fishing since my dad took me as a kid, and I have no clue how to start. I think the Yuba is populated with trout, mainly. In any case, that's what the GF wants to eat, so that's what we're hoping to catch. We obviously won't be fly fishing, being such novices and all.

So, tell me what you know about trout fishing. Specific questions:

1) What kind of rods/reels should we buy? Do we need a specific weight of line or a certain kind of reel?
2) You catch trout in pools, right? Do you fish off the bottom, or at the surface? And do you leave the bait there? For how long?
3) What kind of bait is best?
4) What kind of hook is best?
5) I remember that my dad used a certain kind of knot you use to tie on the hook. Point me to a diagram of it?
6) Do we need waders, or can we fish from the bank?
7) If/we catch a fish, what then? Bucket? Stringer in the river? Clueless!

What else do I need to know?

Give a girl a fish, and she'll turn up her nose and say "Yuck!" Teach a girl to fish, and you'll keep her entertained during a weekend in the woods.

Foodier than the average bear

mudpuppie — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 14:27:38 -0800

Camping for ~~dummies~~ foodies? We're going camping for a few nights in Tahoe. The gf and I are both foodies. I'd like to come up with some fun, more-interesting-than-average campfire food that we can make/mix ahead of time, pack in bags or jars, then cook with minimal fuss. In other words, we'd rather not eat canned beans, hot dogs, or other pre-packaged stuff. She eats anything, so all recommendations are welcome. (Looking for ideas along the lines of: Make yummy pasta sauce -- maybe puttanesca -- pack it in the cooler. Boil dried pasta for dinner.)

Equipment available: Large ice chest. One or two pots, plus one or two pans. Might take the dutch oven. We'll have a fire pit, plus a two-burner propane stove.

Yes, I've read this thread. It's helpful, but not quite what I'm looking for.

This here bug needs a name.

mudpuppie — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:06:03 -0800

Name this bug! This little guy landed on me a little while ago. Strangest bug I've ever seen. It had a really long, very articulated neck. He could swivel his head around too. Looked like a dinosaur. Weird tail-like thingy. Seemed curious and, you know, interested in stuff.

Didn't bite or sting, nor did he make any attempts to. I kind of miss him. :(

The bug and I are in California's Central Valley, if that helps.

For sale: Dead car. Not very pretty. Perfect for target practice.

mudpuppie — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:03:24 -0800

Can I sell this car? And how? That car that's been sitting in my driveway for seven years? I'd like to get rid of it. I know I could donate it, but I'd prefer to try to make a couple hundred bucks off of it.

The details: It's a 1988 Sentra. It's been sitting for so long that it's not running, but it was running fine when I parked it. It had a complete valve job before I stopped driving it. I'm in CA, but it's never been registered here.

I don't imagine anyone would buy it to drive (nor would I encourage them to), but it's got some junk value, no? (Especially with the new valves?)

My first question, I guess, is will anyone buy it? Two, how much should I ask for? (KBB value is approximately $900.) Three, how do I best word a Craigslist ad to attract the type of person who wants to chop my car into pieces?

Many thanks.

Nom nom nom woof

mudpuppie — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:04:43 -0800

Weird foods do dogs like to eat? A friend and I are considering selling gourmet dog treats at the local farmers' market. We're especially interested in incorporating unusual ingredients (fruits, nuts, veggies, popcorn, etc.) that will appeal to their owners. Problem is, neither of us have a dog. (We're thinking of doing taste tests at the local SPCA.)

Help us get started. What are some weird things that you've known dogs to eat, and that aren't unhealthy? (In other words -- suggestions like rubber bands and ink pens and socks and the like aren't all that useful.) And what are some non-weird things that you've seen dogs absolutely flip for?

Also, what about common supplements? Are they palatable to dogs? We know that garlic and nutritional yeast are often used as flea repellent, but do dogs like stuff like that? Which ones seem to be the tastiest?

Thanks.

Wax on, wax off

mudpuppie — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:56:02 -0800

How can I safely remove candle wax from metal baking sheets so that a) the surfaces of the baking sheets don't get scratched, and b) they're food-safe again? An extended power outage required the used of dozens of tealight candles (a bag of one zillion can be had at Ikea for $2!). Said candles were deployed on metal, nonstick cookie sheets. Hindsight tells me that I should have covered the cookie sheets with aluminum foil, but hey -- it was really dark.

Now, how do I remove the wax from the cookie sheets without marring the nonstick surface? I can scrape the big clumps off with a piece of wood, but residue remains. I'm worried that boiling water will just make the localized wax residue become a generalized wax film. I've read that metal can be frozen to remove wax, but will it really get even the tiny little bits leftover? (Yes, I could just try it, but sticking a cookie sheet in the freezer first requires emptying the freezer, and if there's another efficacious method, I'd like to try it first.)

Use Hotmail, Provide iPhones to Nigerians!

mudpuppie — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 12:09:29 -0800

My girlfriend's Hotmail account has been hijacked. For real. Repeatedly. Help. The salient points:

On Friday, she could log into her Hotmail account with no problems. As of Saturday, she was unable to log in -- the error message said her username and password didn't match. She tried to reset her password, but her secret question had been changed too (meaning she obviously didn't know the answer). After filling out the support form on Hotmail's site, receiving an email from them at a different address, and giving them lots of information, they reset her password and she could access the account. That was Monday.

She logged into her account and discovered that a) many of her emails had been deleted, and b) there was a string of emails about eBay purchases that she did not make. Several of them were back-and-forths with sellers who were getting the Paypal runaround from the person who had hijacked her account. A couple of the sellers finally wised up and reported the fraud to eBay and the auctions were canceled.

Within a couple of hours of her successful login, her password and the secret question had been changed again and she was again locked out of her account. Hotmail has not yet responded to the most recent breach.

One of the emails in the eBay exchange included a name and mailing address in Nigeria. (As in, "No, don't worry, PayPal will make the payment soon! Please go ahead and ship my iPhone to this address!") I've googled the name and address and can't prove that the guy is real, but it is at least one piece of info we have. (I don't have his IP address, but I suppose I could email the eBay seller with whom he was communicating and ask if it's in his header info. Only problem is, the eBay seller also had a Hotmail address, and right now we're suspicious of anything Hotmail-related.)

She's filed a police report, by the way, but that isn't making Hotmail respond any more promptly. And since there's been no monetary loss so far, the police won't/can't actually do anything. (Like they would anyway....)

So, what's going on? How is someone repeatedly accessing her account, and how can we stop it? (She's signed up for gmail in the interim.) How is it possible that the person who hijacked the account knew, within the hour, that she had regained access? And how did that person access her account even after she changed her password? Is it possible that the offender works for Hotmail? Is there a key-logging thingy on her Mac? Were her tech support communications not actually going to Hotmail, but to the hijacker? What the hell?

Is there anything we should do to her computer to make sure there's no malware on there? (I'm not a Mac person, so I'm clueless on this front.)

Any other advice or possible explanations?

Google search pretty much just confirms that the situation is fucked up, but doesn't provide much in the way of help.

Allergic to the girlfriend?

mudpuppie — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 14:16:26 -0800

Help me. I think I'm allergic to my girlfriend.... Well, not to her, but to her apartment.

When I stay at my girlfriend's apartment, typically just on weekends, I break out in hives. This started three or four weeks ago. At first it was only a couple spots on my right arm, and I thought it was spider bites. During the week, staying back at my place, they subsided. The following weekend, they returned and increased in number, though they were still located on the one arm (with a couple on my right shoulder). At that time I decided it was poison oak residue lingering on my shoes (which I only had been wearing at her place in the city), so I treated it as such. Again, during the week, the itchy spots subsided.

For the past couple weeks, they get worse every time I'm at her place. They welts are still mostly on my right arm, but this weekend they also showed up on my left leg.

After doing some research, I'm convinced they're hives. I'm assuming they're an allergic reaction to something, but I can't figure out what, or how to stop it.

We've washed the sheets and changed the detergent, to no appreicable effect. I'm not using any soap or other toiletries that I haven't brought from home. There are no pets in the apartment (and I'm not allergic to any animals, anyway).

What else could it be, and what else should we try? I'm seriously considering the possibility that it's the water. Is it possible to be allergic to water? (Either from the shower, or from drinking it from their Brita filter?) This is in San Francisco, by the way.

Other data points: Girlfriend has no hives, either from the primary source, or from having come in contact with mine. Whatever it is isn't contagious and doesn't affect her. Also, I'm not at all allergy-prone (except for seasonal allergies). This is the only reaction I've ever had like this.

Any advice on other suspects to eliminate (excluding the girlfriend) would be greatly appreciated.

The poison oak, it burns.

mudpuppie — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:59:19 -0800

How can I clean lingering poison oak/urushiol residue off of my Timberland boots without damaging the suede? I know they sell leather/suede cleaner and stuff, but I'm more concerned about killing the evil poison once and for all.