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How can I fix the way Microsoft Zira pronouces certain words?

soelo — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 20:16:08 -0800

Is there a way to change the Microsoft voice Zira so she stops saying "Mississippi" when the word miss is used as a title or with a period at the end of it? I found two files (MSTTSLocEnUS.dat and MSTTSLocEnCA.dat) in the folder C:\Windows\Speech_OneCore\Engines\TTS\ that contain the text "mississippi" but they are both dat files and when I open them in Wordpad or Notepad, I cannot find the text. I looked in Windows Speech options and there is no place to fix pronunciations. I am using Windows 11 and it does not seem to happen when I use the David voice, only the Zira voice.

Did I see someone using some sort of posture alarm while running?

Gorgik — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 09:06:42 -0800

This was my experience this morning: I'm cycling, and I see this guy running, opposite direction to me. He has a cap on, and on top of the cap was what (at first) I thought was a light. Then I thought maybe it was a camera. Then as he got closer I thought it was a donut, like maybe an orange cream filled or something. then as I got closer I heard very regular beeping that I'm pretty sure was coming from the not-donut. And then I couldn't tell what it was, apart from it was orange and about 2 inches tall, maybe cylindrical or donut-shaped. My best guess is that it was some sort of device to help him regulate head/posture, kind of like "teach kids to walk while balancing books on their head". Google is not helping. Can the hivemind suss this out?

Is there a service that will buy and ship bakery items for me?

Alison — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 11:59:16 -0800

I've been missing Miami's Cuban bakeries. My plans to visit have been put on hold indefinitely, so I'm looking for options to have a few items (cuban crackers, cuban bread and pastries) shipped overnight to my house a few states to the north. Does a service that does this exist? I'm willing to put some dollars toward paying for this, but would prefer something established as opposed to posting a Craigslist ad.

I know that Vicky Bakery ships guava pastries and croquetas, but I'm looking for a wider selection. Thanks everyone!

Summer electronics intensive course

cnidaria — Thu, 02 May 2019 15:45:31 -0800

Is there anywhere in the United States I can take an electronics intensive course anytime between mid-June and October? I find myself needing to learn quite a lot of electronics quite quickly. I would do better with structured learning than independent study. Is there anywhere in the US that offers an intensive course with substantial lab time that fits my schedule (mid-June through October)?

Bonus points for Hawaii, Upper Midwest/Great Lakes, Pacific Northwest, coastal Canada, or New England. Thanks.

What's tiny, brown, lives underwater, and looks like a mushroom?

cnidaria — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 20:57:02 -0800

I went scuba diving at Clear Lake, Oregon today. I saw a ton of tiny, medium-brown unidentified biological-looking... *things* attached to some of the rocks. What were they? Their silhouette was roughly the shape of a fungus growing on a tree -- think a minaturized oyster mushroom or turkey tail mushroom, but with (as far as I could tell) not particularly pronounced gills. They were attached to volcanic rock.

What were they? Eggs sacs of some kind? Actual underwater mushrooms? Some other life form? In case it's relevant, other stuff I saw in the lake included verdant fields of algae growing off the silty bottom (where the volcanic rock isn't exposed), schools of trout (the lake is stocked), plenty of caddisfly larvae in their cases, and cold-water springs feeding the lake from deep potholes. Water temperature was 41 F. We went as deep as 85', but I only remember seeing the brown unidentified objects in shallower areas -- say maybe between 15' to 30'.

Study proposal: The Effects of Mud Wrestling on the Female Urogenital Tract

limeonaire — Thu, 24 May 2007 14:02:10 -0800

How do women who mud wrestle or take regular mud baths (esp. naked, say at a spa) avoid getting mud in their, er, orifices—or do they avoid it? Would tampons be useful in preventing such an occurrence? Or is that even necessary?

And if mud is allowed into the vagina or anus, does that lead to an increased incidence of infection (whether by yeast or bacteria)? How would one go about (or, ladies, how have you gone about) preventing such resultant infections? And do spas have problems with the transmission of such infections in their mud baths?

I've found an abstract from a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that found a greater incidence of pustular follicular dermatitis outbreaks among mud-wrestling college students (no joke) at the University of Washington in Seattle—but that doesn't speak to the question of vaginal, anal or urethral irritation stemming from prolonged mud exposure.

(And yes, this is a serious question, I promise—the topic came up during a conversation I was party to a while back about, well, vaginal irritation/infections. Fun stuff, huh?)

Fuck 'Em If They Can't Take A Joke

limeonaire — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:38:33 -0800

Where/when did the phrase "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke" originate? I've seen/heard it in a lot of different places, and associate it with the Church of the SubGenius. The guy in the cubicle next to mine says it originated with Bette Midler. A quick Google finds evidence that she said that 1979ish—but does anyone have an earlier Bette Midler reference for the phrase? Or, alternately, know whether this phrase gained currency anywhere else before that?

Go Green for Obama?

limeonaire — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 08:08:19 -0800

Does anyone know what those green lapel pins are that about a third of Obama's staffers seem to be wearing in the photos here? (via)

Civilian deployment blog?

limeonaire — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:11:14 -0800

I'm looking for a blog about a civilian embarking on a short-term deployment to Afghanistan (or Iraq?) in some sort of support role—I think he was involved in engineering or computer modeling or mapping or something similar. I believe he was either a MeFite or was mentioned somewhere on MetaFilter. Anyone have a link? Other things I remember: I believe it was hosted on Blogger, though it also may not have been. I remember the poster being sad to be away from his daughter and wife for six months, but the money was of course enticing. I remember there being a couple of pretty lengthy rundowns of his time traveling and being processed on a couple of bases in the U.S. before deployment, and being concerned that he wouldn't make his deployment window if he missed a flight, and there being some discussion of all the military-issue stuff he was required to buy in order to deploy (and some things I think he deliberately chose not to bring along). All of that is pretty common fodder for deployment blogs, I guess, but maybe it'll ring a bell with someone!

Searching for "civilian deployment blog" and "Afghanistan deployment blog" has brought up a few results, but I don't think they're the blog I'm seeking. This result isn't the right one, as far as I can tell, but it may be using the same template as the one I'm remembering. This is one of the top search results, but it isn't the one I'm looking for. This and this aren't it, either. Most of the ones I'm finding are from a soldier's perspective, rather than a DoD civilian's one—or if they are about deployed DoD civilians, they mostly seem to be ones who've served in the military in other capacities previously, or who are doing multiple-year tours in Afghanistan. This guy was just going for about six months...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

"The bitten cherry or the apple core"

clew — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 12:16:32 -0800

About a decade ago, an early music group -- possibly the Medieval Baebes -- sang a post-medieval encore that I can't find a whisper of. The line I think I remember is "The orchard didn't know if it was planted for/ The bitten cherry or the apple core." Can anyone identify this?

Desperately Seeking URC-1160 (Sorry, Susan)

yellowcandy — Thu, 14 Dec 2017 16:23:51 -0800

My Spectrum (formerly TWC) cable box works via RF with a particular remote that comes with it in some areas. Not mine. I've got the IR remote and need the other sort. Can't find it on Amazon or eBay... I've visited the Spectrum offices in my area (Portland, ME) and have been told that, in my area, the new cable box I have (the Spectrum 201-T, which is actually the Technicolor WorldBox) does not ship with its regular, RF-capable remote, the URC-1160. In some parts of the country, however, it does.

I've searched online to find a replacement--no dice. I've also called Spectrum, to see if they will send me one, and I was told that they can only request a new remote, not specify what sort. They shipped me another IR remote.

How can I get my hands on one of these URC-1160s?

How do you remove a Facebook post from an album? (part 2)

John Cohen — Mon, 23 Oct 2017 14:12:27 -0800

I asked a similar question a few months ago, but the "best answer" to that question no longer works because Facebook has changed the interface. I recently put a Facebook post (an article) into an album (using the relatively new feature that lets you do this with all kinds of links, not just photos/videos). But I changed my mind — I don't want it to be in any album. How do I remove it? I could use either a browser or the iPhone app.

Note that Facebook's album interface seems to have changed about a month ago, so older Facebook how-to posts might not be relevant.

I don't want to delete the post because it already has comments, etc.

Iridescent custom die-cut vinyl stickers?

limeonaire — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 18:35:08 -0800

Please share with me your favorite places online to order custom die-cut vinyl stickers, preferably iridescent or glitter or iridescent glitter, using art I provide. I'd ideally like these to be about 2 square inches, and really shiny or sparkly, but with good (outdoor-quality) staying power. I have a few different designs I'd like to have made, in quantities of about 55 each. I put in a bid with diecutstickers.com almost a month ago now and never heard back beyond the initial form response, so I'm looking for other options for quality work with a fast turnaround time. Thank you!

What is Cibo Matto's "Emerald Tuesday" (heavily) sampling?

limeonaire — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 14:01:33 -0800

I'm listening to NPR's streaming "First Listen" of Cibo Matto's "Emerald Tuesday," off the forthcoming Hotel Valentine, and I know this song it's sampling from the first note. (And I think that's the point of the lyrics, that the ghost in the song listened/listens to the sampled song all the time.) I feel like it's also something my husband listens to all the time, or that was in a movie I just saw, but I can't pin it down. My first thought was Curtis Mayfield, but I'm not finding it. I know it's going to seem obvious to me once you tell me, but nonetheless—help! What is that song?

Where did I see this image of dragons around a jeweled book?

limeonaire — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 14:19:44 -0800

There's an illustration I remember fairly vividly from when I was a kid, but I don't remember whether it was a print or in a book. It depicted tiny dragons, smoke curling from their nostrils, lounging around and/or on a big, beautiful book with cabochons and other jewels either set on or around the book, perhaps with candles and greenery nearby as well. The image shows this from the perspective of slightly above and to one side of the book and dragons, but not from directly above. I don't know whether this was a stand-alone illustration or an illustration in the book, nor whether there was more than one such illustration. it might have been inside the front or back cover. I was really into jewels as a kid, and I remember being entranced by this image and spending some time staring at it. This could have been from the '80s or '90s or earlier. Anyone else remember this?

"Stranger things have happened, especially in driver's education class."

Shmuel510 — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 09:26:25 -0800

So I read a children's book as a kid in the 1980s that used the title quote as a running gag. Can anybody identify it? It may or may not have been a guide to surviving school. It was almost certainly a paperback from a Scholastic book order. (I had thought it was by Jovial Bob Stine, but no book of his that the Internet knows of seems to fit. It might have been bundled with one of his books, though?)

Pomodoro-style apps that are more gamified

bleep — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 17:55:48 -0800

I've tried a bunch of pomodoro-style apps that I haven't done well with. I recently found one that's like Pomodoro except there's a growing plant, and if you mess with your phone you'll kill the plant. This works for me for whatever reason. I was wondering if anyone knew of other apps like that; especially ones with more real-world consequences. I guess my will isn't strong enough to not mess with my phone just because some timer is counting down. But the charming messages about the poor little plant and the cute drawings appeal to me apparently.

I saw this app PocketPoints, which would be great except it only works at participating schools.

I'm also not interested in those apps that quantify how often you check your phone.

This is for iOS please.

Thanks!

Maps app with custom route selection

bleep — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 18:50:41 -0800

Is there a maps app that will give me time/traffic estimates on the route of MY choice? So for example, I ask Google Maps to navigate me back home and they give me time & traffic for a couple different options. But in many cases there's another route that I want to take for my own reasons that's not being presented, and I want to see how it's doing traffic-wise. I would like to be able to input the street/bridge/whatever I want to take and get a route based on that. Does such a thing exist? I'm on iOS (current).

I know I can add a stop along the route to force it to go the way I want in the worst case scenario but this isn't always possible or practical. I would like to find out if there's an app that has this functionality built in.

Waze doesn't do this either.

ID a Bollywood song

pH Indicating Socks — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 05:51:19 -0800

I am trying to find a song from a Bollywood movie. Please hope me if you can, based on the little I remember. Difficulty: I don't speak Hindi. The movie would have come out 2004-2007, and I think I remember it was about a young couple in an arranged marriage getting to know each other over time. The song was an upbeat dance song, but not a bass-heavy club song or anything like that. It had a longish title, 5-7 words, and here's the part that might actually help you help me -- it reminded me of Mere Sarpe Dupatta from Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo -- I had them in the same playlist on my (dead!) iPod.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

Looking for a kinetic coin bank

Alison — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 10:28:50 -0800

My husband has a birthday coming up. I know he would like something like this coin bank, but it's sold out and I'm having trouble finding an adequate, grown-up substitute. As a kid my husband really liked marble roller coasters and other kinetic toys, but never got them because they were too expensive. He expressed that he really liked the coin bank in the link above. There are some toy options, like this one, that aren't quite right, mostly because they are cheaply made and our 5-year-old daughter will claim anything sufficiently toy-like for herself.

I'm considering making something myself, so links to DIYs would also be helpful. Thank you for your help!