Ask MetaFilter posts by treepour

Bank account for a group project?

treepour — Sat, 05 Apr 2014 14:55:22 -0800

I'm collecting donations for a group project, but don't want to deposit the funds in my personal bank account. Is there another type of account I can use instead? I'm playing the role of treasurer for my Burning Man group this year. We're going to be asking for donations via paypal from our members to help fund the stuff we're going to build, transportation, etc. I'd prefer not to use my personal bank account for this, but I'd also prefer not to create a legal entity such as an incorporated business or non-profit organization. I just want a place to keep the group funds separate from my own personal funds. Is there a type of bank account that's used for this sort of thing? If so, what is called or what should I ask for? Are some banks better than others in this regard? In case it's relevant, I'm in California. Thanks!

Help identifying this jazzy classical adaptation?

treepour — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 22:32:49 -0800

A jazzy choral Bach adaptation -- who is the artist and what's the album name? We've had this on our playlist for years. It brings us much joy. But the original CD has been lost to the ages and when we ripped it we didn't fill out the metadata and now, for the life of me, I can't remember the source. I'm thinking a Bach adaptation from the Swingle Singers. Any help identifying the album, artist, and piece would be greatly appreciated.

Storage key combination lockbox for a big key?

treepour — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:13:13 -0800

What's a good storage key combination lockbox (the kind realtors/landlords sometimes attached to the front door of properties) that can accommodate a big rental car key fob? I'm going on a car camping trip with some friends. We'd like to make it possible to generally keep the car locked, but allow everyone access when needed. Since we're renting the car, I'm not counting on being able to get a copy of the key for each person.

One suggestion I really like has been to keep the key in a combination lockbox that we could hang from, say, the car door. I'm thinking of something along the lines of this. Reading through the reviews of this and similar products, however, it seems like most of them aren't big enough to accommodate one of the gigantic remote/fob-style keys that all new vehicles seem to have. Additionally, it seems like all of them have a few reviews in the customer claims the lockbox simply wouldn't open after being used a certain number of times.

If anyone out there has had some experience with this style of lockbox, I'd really appreciate any insights or suggestions as to what might be a reliable option that could hold a big rental car key fob. Thanks!

How do I convert audio from 3ga to mp3 on a Mac?

treepour — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:27:18 -0800

Mac question: how can I convert a 3ga audio file to mp3 or other friendly format? For an online radio show I'm working on, I need to edit audio that's sent to me. Usually it comes in relatively reasonable/familiar formats. This time, however, I got files with an extension of 3ga. After doing a little research, it seems this may be a proprietary mobile format that encapsulates the audio portion of a multimedia file that would normally have an extension of 3gp.

Googling "3ga to mp3" or simliar only brings up suspicious malware-looking sites, unresolved forum posts, and ads for video conversion software. Similarly, a search for "3ga" in the App Store only brings up video conversion software. I tried the highest-rated one, and it couldn't process the file because it there was no video component. Finally, some forums suggested just changing the 3ga extension to mp3. Probably needless to say, this didn't work either.

Worst case, I can at least play the file with VLC Player and then capture the audio with another piece of software -- but I'd really rather not go there unless I have to.

Any help/clues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

We're getting sued.

treepour — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:40:56 -0800

We're getting sued. My partner got a notice (left on our apartment steps) that he's being sued for about 6k (and possible legal fees). He was apparently very delinquent on a citibank credit card, and the debt was purchased by some other entity. This is the entity which is suing.

This is totally new territory for us, and I know we need to get a let a lawyer, but if anyone else has been through something similar, what should we expect? What happens if we don't go to court? Can we settle out of court? Can monthly payments be made? Do we have to appear in court in person, or can this be handled through correspondence? Is it legal to leave such a notice on someone's unattended apartment steps? How much can we expect to spend on a lawyer, and will it be comparable to something we could settle for anyway? And so on . . .

Any advice or insights would be hugely appreciated. We're pretty freaked-out and totally naive about this sort of thing.

Quiet restuarant in Houston on a Saturday night?

treepour — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:28:33 -0800

Is there a quiet, intimate, conversation-friendly (on a Saturday night!) restaurant in or near the Montrose area of Houston, TX? My significant other is going to be visiting his family in Houston tomorrow, and wants to take them out for dinner to a place that's as intimate and not-too-loud as possible. He prefers something in the Montrose, Museum District, River Oaks, the Heights, downtown, or nearby. Patio a plus, but intimate overrules patio -- he's visiting on a rather serious occasion. I realize this is next-to-impossible, but would really appreciate any suggestions.

Adobe Audacity vs Logic Express

treepour — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:04:40 -0800

Switched to Mac, looking for Adobe Audacity replacement. Should I go for Logic Express? I used Audacity primarily for two things (in order priority):

1) Splicing existing recordings together as seamlessly as possible. Here I used the "Echo Chamber" effects quite extensively. These helped create the sense that the musicians stopped playing and then started playing something else -- the ambient echo of the previous section carried on into the next.

2) Severely warping recorded sounds via a variety of filters/effects, combining them together via the multitrack interface, mixing the multiple tracks down to single tracks then continuing the process.

Can I do these kinds of things with Logic Express? Or would I be better off using Audacity via Windows vmware? Learning a new piece of software isn't a problem, I just want to make sure that the software will enable the kinds of things I want to do. Also, any other similarly-priced Mac recommendations for this sort of thing besides Logic Express would be appreciated.

Help me identify the solo violin melody/recording from Crispin Glover's "What Is It?"

treepour — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 15:16:17 -0800

What composition/recording does the eerie melody played by the solo violin in the trailer to Crispin Glover's film What Is It? come from? Does anyone recognize the tune and/or recording? (YouTube link to trailer inside). I realize it could have been composed for the film, but I was under the impression that the film's soundtrack was a mashup of various recordings.

Before clicking on the NSFW link, please be aware that the trailer contains some bizarre, disturbing, and possibly offensive imagery.

The solo violin starts around 0:52.

How do I know when I'm being self-assertive vs. being a jerk?

treepour — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 22:00:36 -0800

How do I know when I'm being self-assertive vs. being a jerk? This question has plagued me for a long time, but I currently find myself in a job where it's become pretty central. For the first time in my life, I'm working in a relatively small and pretty unstructured environment where there's no clear path to making my needs/wants known.

I feel like I'm missing some sort of internal barometer here, that I lack an innate sense the difference between not speaking up and being too much of a "squeaky wheel." As such, I almost always err on the side of not speaking up, but I feel like this needs to change in order for me stay afloat -- if I don't assert myself, I feel my requests for support/help/assistance/etc. will remain at the bottom of everyone's priority list, but if I'm too overbearing, I fear I'm going to come across as a jerk, overly sensitive, or both.

What social cues or internal signals should I look for to help me determine whether I'm being appropriately assertive or too demanding?

How to find images of the first German edition of Wittgenstein's Tractatus?

treepour — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:36:40 -0800

How might I obtain images or facsimiles of the first and last page of the very first German edition of Wittgenstein's Tractatus? I want to find decent-quality images (not necessarily pristine or exact, jut not especially blurry, tiny, or heavily pixelated) of the very first and last sentences of Wittgenstein's Tractatus -- and I want them to be from the very 1st German edition ever published. I've found a few possible candidates via Google image search, but nothing that indicates whether these are from the 1st edition.

I realize this probably a pipe-dream, but any suggestions short of buying the book from a rare book dealer (way out of my price range) would be greatly appreciated.