https://ask.metafilter.com/ The past 24 hours of questions at Ask MetaFilter Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:47:23 GMT Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:47:23 GMT en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 60
I am seeking your recommendations for a nice lighting solution, preferably a single floor lamp but open to other suggestions.

Further:
- ultimately he'll get whatever, but I think lighting for a dark basement suite will improve the space
- something he can easily purchase in Canada, e.g. Ikea, The Brick. Online if hassle free
- hoping for testimonials, lighting that really pops for you and makes a space better to live in]]> https://ask.metafilter.com/390095/Recommendations-for-lighting tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390095 Thu, 02 Jul 2026 15:47:23 GMT runsrealgood InteriorLighting Lamp https://ask.metafilter.com/390095/Recommendations-for-lighting/rss
This thing is about 40 pages when printed and it's formatted as an opensource text document that lives in Google Blogger. It's contact information [org name, phone, website, email, location, description] and then some other flourishes like maps of public bathrooms and art by local residents. Conceptually it's simple on purpose.

What have I done so far?
- I use Excel/GSheets a lot and to me it makes sense to update this by saving the information in a way that's table-readable. I have updates for the 150-ish entries stored in this way
- I have some formatting updates and simplifications and have reorganized sections in small ways.
- I've added more spatial content with linked googlemaps

What am I asking for help with?
- The big thing, is in spite of a lot of time searching for elegant solutions that work for my skill level, I haven't found anything to easily go from table data to formatted text. The blog version in Blogger can be viewed either as text or as html and I'm learning about the syntax for the latter (slowly). But I don't have a good way to use my usual tricks (concatenate, textjoin, etc) to go from table to text.

- Now that I've added updates in a table form, there are basically three formats where this project lives, (i) the original OSword document from the creator of this project, (ii) the blogger post that is the current online version of the OSword doc created by a previous helper and (iii) my updates in table form.

- I'm hoping to get something where updates in the table (which will be regular but more limited going forward) can be translated into text for future versions without manual updates.

- There are other wrinkles, like that the final text version needs to be all of the above (i) available online, (ii) printable as a textdoc/pdf/etc and (iii) that both of these can be translatable to foreign languages.

The current incarnation involves Gsuite, MSsuite and Apache's applications, but I'm open to using any tool, provided it's not too technical.

The best-case version is that this is something:
- using free apps
- not burdensome or niche to learn how to maintain
- as automatable as possible


Thanks for taking a look!
(FWIW, this really is a project that serves the most vulnerable and the idea is to develop this in a way that could be scalable to other regions)]]> https://ask.metafilter.com/390094/Help-me-help-these-deserving-people-Web-Content-creation-edition tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390094 Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:02:41 GMT Reasonably Everything Happens apacheoffice blogger editor excel homeless html markdown msoffice socialservice text word https://ask.metafilter.com/390094/Help-me-help-these-deserving-people-Web-Content-creation-edition/rss this (right-opening, door frame 70mm thick). It might be a 239599 or similar. How do I adjust clamping pressure of the door frame against the door gasket where the hinges appear to lack the central recessed adjuster sometimes seen in the door-side "rabbit"? Note that there appears to be no adjuster (?) behind the hinge caps either. Thank you!]]> https://ask.metafilter.com/390093/Adjusting-clamping-pressure-on-Schuco-barrel-hinge tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390093 Thu, 02 Jul 2026 12:00:22 GMT Inspector.Gadget door dooradjustment doorhinge hinge hingeadjustment home schuco https://ask.metafilter.com/390093/Adjusting-clamping-pressure-on-Schuco-barrel-hinge/rss https://ask.metafilter.com/390092/Anthologies-of-short-stories-with-the-same-title tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390092 Thu, 02 Jul 2026 04:57:09 GMT D. Ptak anthology literature ShortStories ShortStory https://ask.metafilter.com/390092/Anthologies-of-short-stories-with-the-same-title/rss https://ask.metafilter.com/390091/What-became-of-the-youngest-Agees tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390091 Thu, 02 Jul 2026 04:22:11 GMT mmiddle americanliterature biography JamesAgee https://ask.metafilter.com/390091/What-became-of-the-youngest-Agees/rss https://ask.metafilter.com/390090/All-ages-places-to-watch-the-World-Cup-in-downtown-Chicago tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390090 Thu, 02 Jul 2026 01:40:27 GMT gottabefunky chicago worldcup https://ask.metafilter.com/390090/All-ages-places-to-watch-the-World-Cup-in-downtown-Chicago/rss https://ask.metafilter.com/390089/My-bra-keeps-touching-me-Its-too-hot-for-this tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390089 Wed, 01 Jul 2026 22:55:29 GMT If only I had a penguin... bra heat https://ask.metafilter.com/390089/My-bra-keeps-touching-me-Its-too-hot-for-this/rss
The hot sauce is basically the whole flavor. My base is water, a vinegar-based ghost pepper hot sauce, a little sugar, lime juice, and salt. (That is generally how you run the popsicle stand. Each flavor is just that ingredient without much additional stuff.)

Two things I'm trying to get right:

CALIBRATING THE HEAT

What's the reliable way to calibrate — freeze a test spoonful and taste it fully frozen, rather than tasting the mix warm?

Any tips on making the heat pleasurable rather than just punishing? I'm assuming sugar/acid/salt balance matters (like hot honey), but I'd love specifics on ratios or what actually shifts "painful" toward "crave-worthy."

Rough sanity checks on landing "very spicy but safe for a willing adult" would help

— I'd rather build up carefully than overshoot.

KEEPING IT EVENLY SPICY

I have noticed that when I make popsicles, often the ingredients freeze unevenly and all the flavor sinks to the top or the bottom. I am worried that if I make a ghost pepper popsicle all the hotness will concentrate in one place and it will be insanely over hot in one spot.

Is this something to be worried about? Are there ways to address it? I'm considering xanthan gum (~1/4 tsp per cup) to gel the base so nothing migrates. Is this a good idea? Overkill?]]> https://ask.metafilter.com/390088/Making-ghost-pepper-popsicle-how-do-I-calibrate-the-heat tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390088 Wed, 01 Jul 2026 21:41:53 GMT ManInSuit popsicle spice https://ask.metafilter.com/390088/Making-ghost-pepper-popsicle-how-do-I-calibrate-the-heat/rss
I'm wrapping up a long month of work travel in Maastricht tomorrow, my birthday. My return Eurostar train to London via Brussels has been cancelled due to the effects of a fire in the Rotterdam station. The problem has limited outgoing trains to the point that my return is now early Saturday morning, at 8:51 am. I'm not trying to find replacements for this Saturday Eurostar journey from Brussels to London, and I'd rather simply take the opportunity to have a surprise couple of days of vacation.

There is a little problem. As luck would have it, Andre Rieu begins a month-long residency in Maastricht tomorrow, too. Y'all you have no idea how crazy for Rieu Maastricht is right now. Every Dutch and German parent and grandparent is here to party. As a consequence, there are no affordable lodgings in Maastricht.

Can you help me think of places between / near Maastricht and Brussels where I can hop off to easily Thursday midday, stay through Saturday morning, and make it to Brussels-Midi by 7:30 am to catch my return train? I have never considered this stretch of Europe for a vacation and my creative thinking is a bit frazzled by this work travel and heatwave combination. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

What I'm not interested in at all: renting cars, scrambling for flights, taking many buses or train connections that have a lot of possible points of failure. I'm not looking for excitement, just a chill atmosphere to enjoy my own company.

What is very interesting: book shops, bikes, coffee, outdoors, walks, heck even a place to lie in the sun and fritter away the hours would be welcome. Bonus points for queer, vegan, odd, off-kilter calling cards. In other words, Maastricht would be perfect if it weren't booked up solid and I'm definitely open to (much, much) smaller places if they're accessible without a car.

Going (much) further north than Brussels seems ill-advised given the travel scheduling/connection warnings coming out of this Rotterdam fire. Going (much) further south or east than Maastricht is too risky for the ever-present worry about German trains.

My tired mind thanks you for any suggestions that come to mind!]]> https://ask.metafilter.com/390087/Sudden-unplanned-miniature-birthday-vacation-near-Brussels tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390087 Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:34:49 GMT late afternoon dreaming hotel Belgium Brussels holiday Maastricht Netherlands spontaneous https://ask.metafilter.com/390087/Sudden-unplanned-miniature-birthday-vacation-near-Brussels/rss Iguana Books, has given me their standard contract to sign. I can't possibly afford to pay a lawyer to review it for me. I am a professional editor with years of in-house publishing experience, so I'm not totally beyond my depth here, and I do trust this company as I have known its owner for thirty-two years, but the idea of signing the contract without any third-party advice whatsoever makes me nervous. While you are not a lawyer and/or not my lawyer, perhaps you have some sort of personal or professional experience with publishing contracts, and wouldn't mind giving the contract a quick look and sharing your thoughts about it with me?

I do have a few specific questions/concerns:

-- Should I agree to allow Iguana Books to accept returns (which will be refunded from my royalties, if any, or out of my pocket if my royalties don't cover it)?

-- When it comes to the granting of rights, are there any rights I should withhold?]]> https://ask.metafilter.com/390086/Contract-Concerns tag:ask.metafilter.com,2026:site.390086 Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:17:16 GMT orange swan bookpublishing contract publishingcontract https://ask.metafilter.com/390086/Contract-Concerns/rss