Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:03 am

I often give my sheets to the dog and buy new ones. Not because I can't be fucked washing them (I wash clothes, after all), but because he has to live outside, and is used to being an inside dog, sharing my bed and cuddling. I figure "sheets that smell like big sis" could at least help him sleep peacefully.

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:08 am

Oh, to be able to buy sheets that don't cost over a hundred bucks. Sorry to harp on that, but it really sucks that I can't buy a set from wal-mart when I need new sheets.

Let me phrase that as a question: Where can I buy cheap mattresses? I prefer king or queen size since I move a lot (and honestly have company with me more often than it would seem when I'm depressed and verbally shitting myself). I'd like to spend less than $100, but I might be able to go as high as $300 if needed. Used is okay as long as it doesn't smell. I've had enough bad experiences with Craigslist to make me reluctant to look there...

Seriously, I am tired of owning one set of threadbare, raggedy sheets because buying a new set will set me back half a week's pay.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:05 am

Count, do you have a needle and thread? Buy two/four/whatever sets, and set to work. Even if you're amateur seamstress, it's gotta be better than old, raggedy sheets.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:19 am

I tried googling, and it turned up a few sites that completely failed to produce results. Those links look more promising, except they all seem to eventually feed back to archives.com which is perfectly willing to allow me searches in exchange for 39.95$ a year, or a seven day free trial which, despite being free, requires credit card info. I was hoping to do this for zero monies, but that's beginning to look impossible. I have gotten close with zabasearch and intelius, I think. Oh well. That last link had some info about how to access the records through the health office, which is probably what I'll end up doing even if it costs a little bit. Thanks.

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:24 am

Count Arioch the 28th wrote: Let me phrase that as a question: Where can I buy cheap mattresses? I prefer king or queen size since I move a lot (and honestly have company with me more often than it would seem when I'm depressed and verbally shitting myself). I'd like to spend less than $100, but I might be able to go as high as $300 if needed. Used is okay as long as it doesn't smell. I've had enough bad experiences with Craigslist to make me reluctant to look there...

I've had luck with the Ikea damaged goods section with mattresses. I picked up a cheap 'Memory foam' (polyurethane?) mattress and latex top layer for < !/2 price a while ago. The visitors I've had use it tell me it's decent. I certainly had no troubles sleeping on it for a week.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:49 am

"Memory foam? I don't want that, my mattress remembering everything that happened on it. If anything I want amnesia foam. If anyone asks, it's just all 'I dunno man, I think there was circus music and crying?'" - Arj Barker

K · Post by K » Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:13 pm

Why flip out over perfectly fitted sheets? Just get a bigger set and tuck them in.

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:33 pm

Tried that. They kept getting pulled out two or three times a night, and it was getting annoying.

RobbyPants · Post by **RobbyPants** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:16 pm

You might be able to try larger sheets, and then use a needle and thread to cinch up the corners, or something.

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:19 pm

I can try that, except sewing was the only skill my mother didn't teach me (which is due to her not knowing herself). I can do some basic mending, but that's the limit of my abilities. I suppose I can google it and figure it out. can't imagine basic shit like that is too hard, especially if I don't care if it looks pretty or not.

PoliteNewb · Post by **PoliteNewb** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:35 pm

DSMatticus wrote:So, because sex is such a boring topic, let's talk about death. I have a certain relative who is in the ground, but I do not know where and would like to find out. I have names (multiple, there were multiple marriages and divorces and separations, and I'm not actually sure what the name legally was at the time of death), a fuzzy location, fuzzy date of death, and fuzzy date of birth.

What are my options here, and what are my odds?

How fuzzy is the location?
I wouldn't go with the sites trying to sell you information access...what you're looking for should be available through government websites for free, if it's available at all.

Have you tried this?

http://www.deathindexes.com/

If you know the state, try searching state websites for death certificates, death records, etc.

violence in the media · Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:08 pm

Count, Have you tried these Sheet Suspenders or something similar?

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Thu Jan 05, 2012 6:06 pm

PoliteNewb wrote:Have you tried this?

http://www.deathindexes.com/

If you know the state, try searching state websites for death certificates, death records, etc.

Yeah, I've ended up there and at my state's website. The problems seems to be with my state, Ohio. When you check out that subpage, the only thing for modern death indexes is a paysite (unfortunately, the obituary listings don't turn up anything). The ohio.gov website mentions "searching fees and times," so I'm under the impression they're not very digitized. But it does give you instructions on how to request information from the local health office, with a fee depending on the transaction. That's what I'm leaning towards, barring the discovery of any further untapped resource.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:30 am

CA wrote:Let me phrase that as a question: Where can I buy cheap mattresses?

Used:

Goodwill
Salvation Army
Freecycle
Newspaper
Habitat For Humanity ReStore (not all sell used furniture; some only sell construction materials, so check online)
Other thrift stores... St. Vincent DePaul, Local Hospital Charities, etc

New:

Closeout stores like Big Lots
Any mattress store - look for mismatched sets & floor models (especially right around now - I have seen quite a few $99/piece sales because they're trying to ditch old inventory)

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 3:05 am

Is there something on OTC medication that tells you that it is or is not FDA approved? I know I can go to the website or pick up their Orange book that tells me which is which. But what if I'm at the store and I"m looking at something stupid like Airborne or Boudroux's butt paste*?

* Yes this is an actual medicine. It's basically diaper rash cream.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 5:10 am

Cynic wrote:Is there something on OTC medication that tells you that it is or is not FDA approved? I know I can go to the website or pick up their Orange book that tells me which is which. But what if I'm at the store and I"m looking at something stupid like Airborne or Boudroux's butt paste*?

Sort of. Look for the drug information panel. It identifies what, in a product, is the drug (which is implicitly FDA approved because it's been classified as a drug).

Cynic wrote:* Yes this is an actual medicine. It's basically diaper rash cream.

Works like ass, too.

It's great for those who don't have an allergic reaction to it, but my son is apparently weird and it just destroys his skin.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:58 am

Ok, so I'm picking up my guitar again after years, figuring I'll try to teach myself, rather than try lessons again, because at least this way, if I fail to follow through, I only disappoint myself.

Downloaded the Gibson app, which has... a bunch of stuff on it, but most notably, at the moment, a tuner.

The only problem is... Well, I'm a Dumb. How do I tune a guitar with a chromatic(?*) tuner?

*I'm assuming this is the chromatic, it listens to the notes, has a needle. Every note reads like "A2" or "E3". It's been far too long since I did anything regarding reading music to know if the number means a damned thing.

Edit: Oh, it's acoustic, if that matters.

tzor · Post by **tzor** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 4:17 pm

Off of the top of my head the letter is the note and the number is the octave. So an E3 is one octive higher than an E2.

That's pretty much how bells and chimes are labeled, so I'm assuming that notion is the same for guitar tuning.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 6:08 pm

So, the wife and I are going to pax-east this year. We are thinking of cosplaying.

I really want to go as Sanjuro. He's the one on the right. I was wondering if I just need a kimono/gi or is the costume a little more complex than that. It kinda looks like he's wearing pleated pants/skirt or something but this is alien territory for me. So I have no idea.

The wife is thinking of going as Agatha Heterodyne. She seems to have a good idea of what the costume will probably look like. I'm the one who is kinda lost

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:03 pm

It looks like you need a kendogi (top) and hakama (bottom). Basically, the outfit for kendo.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 7:58 pm

Cynic wrote:So, the wife and I are going to pax-east this year. We are thinking of cosplaying.

I really want to go as Sanjuro. He's the one on the right. I was wondering if I just need a kimono/gi or is the costume a little more complex than that. It kinda looks like he's wearing pleated pants/skirt or something but this is alien territory for me. So I have no idea.

The wife is thinking of going as Agatha Heterodyne. She seems to have a good idea of what the costume will probably look like. I'm the one who is kinda lost

Why not go as Gilgamesh to match?

and yeah, that's a Kendo outfit, basically.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:46 pm

If one were to make a D&D movie and cast Jason Statham and Robert Downey Jr. in it, would making their charactars a dwarf(or halfling) and gnome, respectively, work?

Amethyst_Butterfly · Post by **Amethyst_Butterfly** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:43 am

Prak_Anima wrote:If one were to make a D&D movie and cast Jason Statham and Robert Downey Jr. in it, would making their charactars a dwarf(or halfling) and gnome, respectively, work?

Holy crap. I think something would explode, somewhere... I'd totally watch it though.

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:04 am

On the topic of Android/Kindle Fire...

What's with the food references? Android's OS comes in five versions - all dessert related - so it's a totally legit thing to say that you've installed ice cream sandwich on your gingerbread Kindle Fire. And rooting the Fire generally involves a burrito.

What gives?

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 6:45 pm

Linux has this tradition of giving a theme to their version release names.

Ubuntu does this with alliterative two word names.

I think some of them were things like Lucid Linx, Jaunty Jackalope, and my favorite oneiric ocelot. Complete list of all the names for Ubuntu.