Recently Resolved Ask MetaFilter Questions

Prozac for dogs, pros and cons?

patheral — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:09:20 -0800

Pet behaviorist says Prozac may be the way to go, but our vet isn't so sure. Does anyone have experience with Prozac for dogs? I'd like some insight. So, I had a certified dog behaviorist come in and assess my dog Brandy, whom I've asked questions about before. And even though she's come a long way since we adopted her, and she's no longer going after the cat or barking at everything in sight, the behaviorist suggested that we talk to the vet about putting her on Prozac because she is still anxious in new situations and when confronted with new things. It's very difficult to train Brandy when she's anxious and/or fearful and that's the reason why we're considering it. Once she overcomes her anxiety and/or fearfulness she's very easily trained. Now, I don't expect her to be on Prozac for the rest of her life, but only until she gains enough confidence to not be as anxious when confronted with new things.

Well, today we did talk to our vet about putting her on Prozac and the vet wasn't very comfortable with the idea. He's giving us a recommendation for a veterinary pet behaviorist who has more experience with mood altering drugs. Now, I have no problems with mood altering drugs because I take them myself for bipolar, except I can totally monitor my moods and let my psychiatrist know when they're not working. It's a little different with dogs I think.

So anyway, my question is: Has anyone had experience with their dogs on Prozac, or with prescribing Prozac (or similar drugs) to pets? What are the pros and cons? Are there alternatives? We've started her on clicker training (she's overcome her fear of the clicker, which is good) and that's helping a little.

ID this Buffy illustration in TV Guide?

nicebookrack — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:03:22 -0800

In 2001, I saved this surreal Buffy the Vampire Slayer art from a page in TV Guide. Who was the artist? [SPOILERS discussed for BtVS season 5] Back then I pasted the art page to a wall with sticky-tack and it's hung there ever since, which is why the page is so faded and ragged in my photo.

Going by my memory and text on the other side of the page: The art is on page 23 of the September 8, 2001 issue of the U.S. magazine TV Guide. It accompanied an article speculating over Buffy's forthcoming season 6 premiere in October 2001 and discussing the season 5 finale, especially Buffy Summers' death in the finale. Hence the corpselike & ghost Buffys in the illustration.

I'd love to own a copy of this art printed on something sturdier than fragile newsprint. Failing that, I'd at least like to ID the artist. Any ideas?

Help me optimize my Chemex production

arcticseal — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:40:36 -0800

My lust for a Chemex has finally been sated with my birthday this week. Please help me optimise my coffee production from this wonderful piece of apparatus. I'm already loving the output that I'm getting from it and the simplicity of hot water, filter and a carafe. My current production method uses beans, ancient Bodum blade grinder and a kettle. My coffee snob friend is recommending that I purchase a scale to measure out the beans to get the ratio of water and beans correct. I'd like to get a burr grinder, but am reluctant to dispose of a perfectly functional blade grinder while it's still working; does a burr grinder make that much of a difference?

What should I be doing to get the best possible brew?

Bonus points for good online roasters in Canada.
Super bonus points if someone can recommend their favourite travel mug. Mine is decrepit and I'd like to replace it with something like this as I'd prefer to drink out of ceramic rather than plastic but it only comes in a 12 oz. size and I'd prefer a 16 oz. size.

Macbook with old tv?

the twistinside — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:26:55 -0800

I want to be able to watch Netflix from my laptop on my very old tv. Is this possible? What cables would I need? I have a MacBook from about two years ago, and a Toshiba tv from 2005. Its model number is MD20Q41 if that helps. Would this be possible?
The Bluths are back [and I want to see them on my tv]!

Do you have advice for an MPP student ISO research position job?

blandcamp — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:51:44 -0800

I'm starting graduate school in the fall: yay! I need to learn an entirely new set of norms around interviews, resumes, etc: oh no! I have a meeting set up with the head of a research institute where I'd LOVE to work there while I'm studying. What do I say? What's OK to ask for? I will want to work at least a few hours a week to pay for food and things, and to get some relevant experience on my resume. There happens to be a research center near campus that works on precisely what I'm interested in! So I emailed the director of the center and asked to meet with her, and now we have something set up.

But ... I'm not sure what to do at the meeting! What's expected of me -- thoughtful questions about the center or about the issue are, an elevator pitch, something else? Is it reasonable to ask for some work there during or after just one meeting?

I'm coming to this world from years in nonprofits, HR departments, official job postings and the like. Any advice Metafilter has to offer would be fantastic.

Please help me find this monkey.

macadamiaranch — Sun, 19 May 2013 10:45:17 -0800

Please help me find this monkey. This is my dog Frankie with her favorite toy (and a quarter for scale). This specific monkey toy is her favorite -- other monkey toys aren't as pleasing. We bought a bunch of these at PetSmart when we last saw them and Frankie has worked her way through them. She is on the last one and it is in bad shape. PetSmart doesn't have them anymore (and doesn't know where they came from). Can you help us locate more of these monkeys for Frankie before this one finally disintegrates? Here's a picture of just the monkey.

How do I deal with someone I dated for six weeks two years ago...

ipsative — Sun, 19 May 2013 09:37:38 -0800

... who was not my friend beforehand and dumped me dishonestly and, it seems, also rather callously?This happened 2 years ago (!) and it should be SO over by now, but in the past year our circle of common acquaintances in this small college town has multiplied in such a way that he is even - literally - in my food sometimes. Two years ago we had a very short and painful (to me) "dating phase" of six weeks with this person - let's call him Waldo - who is about six years younger than me. It was a very "relationshipy" period of time, intense, he was superexcited and gave me love poems, we even spent a weekend at W's home town meeting his parents. And it ended with W breaking up with me a week later after meeting someone new.

In general (tl;dr), the questions I would like answered are:

1. Am I being too mean in applying Hanlon's razor? Or too generous? How much am I allowed to expect?
2. How does forgiveness work when there is no "friendship" or "relationship" as a basis to connect and resolve the issue, no attempt to apologize or redress, and the feeling from my side that I was used and discarded?
3. Are there alternatives to forgiveness and acceptance that don't make me look like a vindictive asshole?

Question 1 applies especially to the breakup and the months after that. Question 2 applies especially to the present.

But first, some background info:

0. In hindsight, he did right in dumping me, I wasn't good for a relationship at the time. I was very confused (see 1.) but relieved when it ended. Relieved, because it what was a very trying, transitional period in my life after graduate school, financially up in the air and looking for a job without really knowing which path I wanted to take. So it took away some stress. I had two academic job offers that VANISHED before my eyes within a month, both of them for organizational-kafkaesque reasons. My former classmates were moving out of the city and I was basically jobless, directionless, alone. And poor. It was a bad time. He probably got bored because I wasn't much fun to be around back then. W was in his early twenties and filled with energy and curiosity and all those things young people enjoy supremely (as they should!). I really liked that, and I think he can be an interesting person. But he was also pretty dominating (and so am I), very critical of STUFF and just kind of overbearing. A very interesting person, but I think in the long run he would also have rubbed ME the wrong way.

I have trouble finding BAD words for him that don't seem exaggerated, but I can't call him nice either... he may very well be supernice, I just only felt it at the beginning and then BAM! MotherFuckingLiar!

1. When the new school term started, a week after he was already cold and distant (because had already met a whole bunch of new friends and, I would find out later, a new girl, whose hand he was seen holding in the street about a month after me). The last couple of "relationship"-weeks were confusing, the family visit was brutal (only child, overbearing mothers and so much latent vitriol). I may have called him once or twice after that, either with no answer or no meaningful communication. On Wednesday we had a lunch date, I didn't want to cancel, so I got out of bed with migraine, took Tylenol and went. He was already sitting, having lunch on his own when I got there, as he was in a hurry, so it was a short date. I think I event mentioned in passing that I was sick. And then two days later I got a text one evening which said "we should talk soon".

So after about a week or so of his/our distance and increasingly odd behaviour, my distrust and increasingly odd behaviour and walking around with a really heavy weight in my stomach, I chickened out and answered the text with something to this effect: "I get it, we probably don't even need to discuss it, I understand, have a nice life."

His answer (I wrote it down in my diary): "I would really like a chance to talk to you in person. I don't want to end anything!"

So I went. It went something like this:

Me: Hi.
W: Hi. I think I may have phrased my message last night wrong. I do want to end this.
Me: Ok.
W: [A personal version of "it's not you it's me" complete with horrible ex-girlfriend who broke his heart at 16, fears that he will die an early death and the wish that we will remain friends because "he enjoys talking to me"]
Me: Uh-huh. So you already knew you could "not fall in love with anyone because you are so broken" but still chose to make me think you were into this?
W: Well, I knew that I wanted to get to know you anyway.
Me: There are other ways you can get to know people. [Either silence or other stuff I don't remember.] Do you mind if we stay here for a while so I can think for a moment and get everything out that I want to say to you? In my last breakup I didn't get a chance to say everything I felt and it haunted me for a while.

So we sat there for about an hour, talking mostly about "the weather" because I couldn't come up with anything else. Also told me about all of his exes.

At the end, I also said that I didn't think it was fair to except friendship or things going back to normal, because people need time and distance, but I promised that I would try.

After a bit over one week after our talk I did come up with someone I needed to say/ask. So I wrote him an e-mail basically saying I didn't understand it, and that I could not believe he had felt nothing. He answered, it was "not nothing", but that there were "other feelings moving him now." Dot dot dot end of e-mail. No reply from me as I had this sneaky feeling, but stupid as I was it took me a while to put two and two together, and it wasn't after numerous witness reports and some first-hand evidence three months later that I saw the lie for what it was.

Before I had pieced it together though, we had one meeting to give him back all the stuff he'd left at my home and we had another strange talk about nothing. He kept theorizing about love. What is love? At about that time there was an ongoing discussion on his Facebook about love, men and women, and beauty and among a bunch of other stuff, Waldo wrote: "Everyone knows men age like wine, women age like milk". Ouch. It was meant as a cheeky comment, but ouch. Cue to me trying with all my might not to take this personally.

My working place was in his building (not anymore, thank goodness, though not that it would matter), so we also met often in the corridors. I wasn't doing well, putting a happy face, pretty confused still, saying "hey how are you doing, nice to see you, bye". It must have been very inconvenient to him to have me so "present". I have to admit that thinking about this today gives me schadenfreude, but at the time I was struggling to come to terms with EVERYTHING in life, including this one crappy situation. I was also probably crying every day for all sorts of reasons and looked like crap.

I got really emotional once when I walked to school and he, walking on the other direction, stopped to tie his shoelaces just as I was walking by. And I deleted him from Facebook when I stood at a concert with my friends where both he and his mother walked by me inexplicably treating me like air. From that point onwards I thought, message received and I was just nodded whenever we saw each other. Just as a gesture, as I don't feel comfortable pretending people aren't there (terrible actress, you'd see right through me).

2. The crucial part for me is: I find forgiving and forgetting incompatible with accepting this person in my life - unless he "makes it good" by offering an apology or showing how much he regrets what he did because I didn't deserve it, etc. And I don't feel like I'm in a position to expect an apology or redress because we were never friends, I can't honestly believe he cared or cares about my feelings, or I for his. And because his behaviour left a very lasting impression in me - I experienced him as a player and a liar - I'm not sure I want to be friends with this person. As far as I'm concerned, he treated me the way you treat people you want to get rid of as soon as possible. My impressions and feelings about this entire situation are very contradictory.

I think that for me it's mostly about the lie. The other stuff may be a bit more relative - in his defense, they're still together. He may well be a really nice person I misunderstood, or he was confused himself with his Deep Thoughts about love in an emotional dark chamber, caught in a difficult situation he hadn't the experience or the maturity to deal with properly.

Whenever I see him, I think of that horrible time* and the fool I played by genuinely trying to understand his confusion, while he was lying and probably wishing for me to disappear. I think of his claims of appreciation from back then, and the carefree politeness of today that I have to play along with, otherwise I'm just a miserable, jealous OLD ex-girlfriend who never got over him.

*It was pretty bad. I'm better now. About 6 months after this I checked into a depression treatment center, after one year the depression was totally gone and I'm doing well now. Still working on dealing with this kind of situation. For what it's worth, my therapist says W is a jerk I should ignore. I like my therapist and I'm satisfied with my treatment, but I'd like a second opinion on this.

Differences in RSS feedreader update times?

feelinggood — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:31:16 -0800

Why are there such differences in the updates times or frequencies of various RSS clients? Looking for an alternative to the Google, I'm trying out various readers, specifically InoReader and The Old Reader. If I "mark all as read" in both readers at the same time, two hours later The Old Reader will show (actual example) 67 new items, while InoReader shows 44. This is after refreshing both in my browser. I'm not actually concerned with speed or timeliness really, but just -- will I ever eventually get all the news with InoReader (which otherwise I prefer). Or will some feeds never show up? If I wait a week will they be equal or will InoReader ever catch up?
I wouldn't mind a few technical details in an answer -- like what's going on behind the scenes, and why are they different.
Also, is there any RSS client out there that is generally acknowledged to update quickly or frequently? (I tried Feedly a month ago and found it relatively slow.)
Bonus points: What's in the name "InoReader"?

Thanks.

Threatening App Store seller behaviour - credible?

falcon — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:25:18 -0800

I wrote a polite email to an App seller advising him I would be posting a 1-star review of his app on Apple's App Store. He replied, "Electronic postings of defamation, libel and slander are now well covered under English and European law. My litigation solicitors are [redacted] of London, who have looked after my interests for over twenty years now, nor have ever lost me a case, from individuals to a nation-state. Put up any post and it'll cost you several thousand pounds for each day it stays up; I do hope I make clear..." Can he do this, can I reliably protect myself, and has he violated any Terms and Conditions as a seller on the App Store? Specific reference to English and European Law and Apple App Store Terms and Conditions would be very helpful. Thank you.

I need a scripted line for why I'm not betting.

Fig — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:35:45 -0800

A friend of mine is celebrating his birthday at a horse track. I am going to go and have a good time, despite not having warm fuzzy feelings about the treatment of the horses. What can I use as an excuse for why I'm not betting, given that I am known for being a very enthusiastic gambler? Ideally, I could get away with just drinking and enjoying the company, but there are going to be questions asked about why I'm not throwing down bets. What is a good stock response? I don't want to ruin anyone elses' good time, so little white lies and/or deferrals that avoid the whole animal rights/cruelty issue altogether are welcome.

[CA]: unable to show proof of correction before fix-it ticket due date

chloe.gelsomino — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:18:09 -0800

Asking for a friend, this is regarding CA traffic law:From what she has said, the due date of the fine/court appearance is coming up in two days and seeing as her car is still in the shop, what options does she have? Plead not guilty in hopes of buying some time, and showing up with proof of correction? She's not sure if her car will be fixed and properly smogged in time on or before the due date. She was pulled over for having expired tags and the reason for her registration not being completed was due to a lack of smog check. She received a fix it ticket requiring her to either pay $25 and show proof, or appear in court and show proof. Her car is currently in the shop and has failed the smog check twice as the result of non-emission related car troubles.

Thanks, all.

God save Donald Duck, Vaudeville and Variety

steinwald — Wed, 15 May 2013 08:15:45 -0800

The Kinks' The Village Green Preservation Society is a song full of references to British culture and tradition. How exactly did Donald Duck end up being referenced?

Need a vendor to come on-site at work and stop a squeaking chair?

alice_curiouse — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:49:47 -0800

My boss has asked me to have someone come on-site and stop the squeaking of the CEO's chair--I cannot think of what kind of vendor might perform this service. (He rocks back and forth all day and is hard of hearing). I work in a regular, boring-style office on the 8th floor in downtown Pasadena, California.

Several years ago I found a furniture upholsterer willing to make the trip, but they've since gone out of business.

Do any of you lovelies have any idea?

Fabulous Dublin restaurant?

meerkatty — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 03:26:15 -0800

Fabulous Dublin restaurant for a special dinner for two? I'm looking for a fabulous Dublin restaurant to have a special dinner. Price doesn't matter, it should be central as we will be walking, great atmosphere but not noisy, any type of food welcome! Thank you.

Should I buy an air fryer?

Optamystic — Sat, 04 May 2013 06:47:50 -0800

Has any one used an air fryer? If so, would you recommend them? If (further) so, what brand should I buy? (I'm in the UK).

What is up with the metallic taste of German beers?

Mechitar — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:12:19 -0800

I am a big fan of beer in general, but not much of a fan of German beers, in spite of their much-vaunted reputation. This is mostly due to what I perceive as a metallic taste in some of the classics, such as alt bier and dunkelweizen. To me these beers taste like someone took a “regular” beer, dropped a bunch of pennies in it, and stirred it up. This is most noticeable when I’m drinking the beer by itself, but fortunately the metallic taste subsides when I have the beer with food. A few questions about this. 1. Is it just me? Is there some quirk in my palate that makes me taste this metallic flavor and most other people don’t? 2. If other people do taste the metallic notes, why/how do they put up with it or even like it? 3. What is it in the ingredients or the brewing process that produces this flavor?

Multiple gpg keyid search (script?)

jago25_98 — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 11:25:33 -0800

I have a file listing all my long keyID's for GPG and want to lookup the emails associated with these. I know the URL to do this is:
http://pool.sks-keyservers.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=vindex&search=

and the command is:
gpg --keyserver subset.pool.sks-keyservers.net --search-keys

But while I can do it with bash scripting for the commndline that command doesn't seem to find any of the keys I'm loking for.

Perhaps I can do it with a webscraper like scrapy? Or how can I just query that webpage repeatedly with curl and differeing keyID's and save it so I can grep for @ email addresses?

Here's a sample of what I want to get the emails out of:

BFD626E9E7E33BEFAAE1773AAF65AE980C825691

4AD605094A71F58A288798E915781F58CDB2035C
E2E704E21AE3B2982AEA67E755E2E5CAAA7B03D8
CB8C76F75031D397D3D43E25D8D37CDC80AD896A
5DCE001705FD8BFD5393D0991016CEC635EEA426
777D20CC1A9195721C18483A73F0EAC9B665CEAE

2AF53915AB21C06AB0DA40FB8BE390A001783095
ADCE8685F8A579AD7473F8F3359D80CC09FA3867
EC7588DC114335696EEA7A444375E8D0871AD5AA
D7122D53735F8F86509071C7A6CF5DA9B76A9024

How can I learn to grocery shop and cook on a college budget?

seandq — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:49:05 -0800

I'm going into my senior year college and have relied on a fraternity meal plan and eating out often. What should I be buying at the grocery store regularly, and what are some quick and healthy meals to make regularly? I'm a college student interning in Washington, D.C., and am trying to survive on a smallish budget. I'm lucky enough to have a paid internship, but I've learned that eating out for lunch/dinner daily can add up quick. In college, I've been on my fraternity's meal plan, and even when my dorm room had a kitchen, I pretty much stopped and started with scrambled eggs.

I know D.C. has great restaurants and I'm not opposed to eating out once or twice a week - but it's starting to get taxing, especially if there's any other things I want to do while I'm here. The house I'm living in has a kitchen and my landlord will occasionally offer me leftovers, but I don't want to be dependent.

I'm a bit overweight, so I'd like to focus on healthy recipes - ideally paleo - but frankly any home-cooking is better for me than restaurant food or fast food on a daily basis.

I know there's been threads on AskMeFi about this before, but most seem to have a specific angle that doesn't apply to me (veganism, cooking for a family), and I'm more interested on starting from square one, especially being on a budget.

Any help's appreciated, thanks hive mind!

Where can I rent a ramp or a light wheelchair in Chicago for tomorrow?

deliciae — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:21:12 -0800

I am doing a fundraising event tomorrow evening at Reza's Restaurant in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, in a second floor private room. I was just informed that two guests who use motorized wheelchairs are coming. When I called Reza's to double check the capacity of their lift, they said it cannot accommodate the weight of motorized chairs. Legality and ADA-compliance aside, I want to make sure that all of my guests can get to the event. Where can I rent either a ramp (because the restaurant does not have one of their own) or a light, airport-style wheelchair TOMORROW?

Much Ado About Claudio

Eyebrows McGee — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 21:45:46 -0800

Shakespeare Filter, Much Ado About Nothing Subfilter: Why does Hero still marry Claudio when he is the MEANEST PERSON IN THE WORLD? I just watched the Kenneth Branagh Much Ado About Nothing film, in preparation for seeing the Joss Whedon version, because apparently I have never seen nor read this play somehow. So Claudio sees the fake sex that Don John sets up to break up the wedding, waits until they're at the altar at the wedding, and then everything takes a REALLY DARK TURN and Claudio is pretty much as mean as it is possible to be to poor, innocent Hero. But then, name cleared, she goes ahead and marries him anyway!

I enjoyed the play/film overall and found Branagh's interpretation (which I understand to be abridged) generally lighthearted and joyful, but the first Claudio/Hero wedding scene is WAY dark, and I do not understand even a little why Hero is so eager to go back to Claudio other than the fact that Robert Sean Leonard is pretty.

Maybe this is what I'm supposed to get from it, this very very dark, harsh view of love at first sight? Maybe it's set in comparison to Beatrice and Benedick? Help me out here, Shakespeare-loving MeFites.