Questions you want answered.

Jonman wrote:

Recommend me a coffee table!

  • Not looking to spend a fortune, but not looking to go super cheap either (we'll be replacing the crappy one we got for free when we first moved here - this will likely be the coffee table our as-yet-unborn kids take their first steps around)
  • Not averse to IKEA, but this is for exploring other options.
  • Wants to be light enough to be moved regularly (we reconfigure our lounge furniture regularly for Rock Band or parties or whatever)
  • Space is not an issue, and it does have to be a table.

Mainly I'm just wondering because I've not bought furniture in this country that wasn't from IKEA, and I have no idea of where else to go.

Vintage teak g plan coffee table.

Tanglebones wrote:

If you're looking for good quality, stay the hell away from Raymour and Flanagan.

But they're having a sale!

They are always having a sale. And I'd concur on the quality. They're a step up from college leftover / garage sale furniture, but I wouldn't shop there for a serious furniture piece. A bigger table on casters is handy if you need to move it, though you may want something smaller if you're prone to letting things stack up on horizontal surfaces.

DanB wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Recommend me a coffee table!

  • Not looking to spend a fortune, but not looking to go super cheap either (we'll be replacing the crappy one we got for free when we first moved here - this will likely be the coffee table our as-yet-unborn kids take their first steps around)
  • Not averse to IKEA, but this is for exploring other options.
  • Wants to be light enough to be moved regularly (we reconfigure our lounge furniture regularly for Rock Band or parties or whatever)
  • Space is not an issue, and it does have to be a table.

Mainly I'm just wondering because I've not bought furniture in this country that wasn't from IKEA, and I have no idea of where else to go.

Vintage teak g plan coffee table.

Teak is an awesome wood. It's hard durable and decay resistant. If you can avoid buying it, please do. There are quite a few Asian Rainforest type woods which are supposedly sustainably harvested, but rarely are these actually sustainable models. Balau for example. 148 of the 196 species of shorea (genus) are listed as endangered.

North America has a softwood economy which is much more sustainable; though it's not sustainable IMO either. The industry experts disagree. The Canaidan Wood Council is an enormously powerful lobbyist, and has political tie ins. Still, spruce pine fir, are fast growing. Rainforest hardwood is not.

If we could find a way to preserve the contents of the internet, what would that mean for society?

History has traditionally been recorded by the wealthiest, best educated, most powerful people. This has obviously changed.

Ghostship wrote:

If we could find a way to preserve the contents of the internet, what would that mean for society?

History has traditionally been recorded by the wealthiest, best educated, most powerful people. This has obviously changed.

When I was a kid, I thought, how neat it would be if we all had computers on our arms so we could play games all the time and communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Fast forward to today, I hate smart phones (smart phones make stupid people is my motto) and I am in serious danger of deleting my facebook profile. And don't even get me started on the pointless vapidity of twitter.

For me, more connection seems to equate directly to more "puke in my mouth" moments (and the occasional "get off my lawn" moments too...)

Ghostship wrote:
DanB wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Recommend me a coffee table!

  • Not looking to spend a fortune, but not looking to go super cheap either (we'll be replacing the crappy one we got for free when we first moved here - this will likely be the coffee table our as-yet-unborn kids take their first steps around)
  • Not averse to IKEA, but this is for exploring other options.
  • Wants to be light enough to be moved regularly (we reconfigure our lounge furniture regularly for Rock Band or parties or whatever)
  • Space is not an issue, and it does have to be a table.

Mainly I'm just wondering because I've not bought furniture in this country that wasn't from IKEA, and I have no idea of where else to go.

Vintage teak g plan coffee table.

Teak is an awesome wood. It's hard durable and decay resistant. If you can avoid buying it, please do. There are quite a few Asian Rainforest type woods which are supposedly sustainably harvested, but rarely are these actually sustainable models. Balau for example. 148 of the 196 species of shorea (genus) are listed as endangered.

North America has a softwood economy which is much more sustainable; though it's not sustainable IMO either. The industry experts disagree. The Canaidan Wood Council is an enormously powerful lobbyist, and has political tie ins. Still, spruce pine fir, are fast growing. Rainforest hardwood is not.

Hence buy vintage and not new.

Ghostship wrote:

If we could find a way to preserve the contents of the internet, what would that mean for society?

History has traditionally been recorded by the wealthiest, best educated, most powerful people. This has obviously changed.

Are you aware that the Internet Archive has been doing this (and more!) for quite some time?

http://archive.org/index.php

Ghostship wrote:

If we could find a way to preserve the contents of the internet, what would that mean for society?

History has traditionally been recorded by the wealthiest, best educated, most powerful people. This has obviously changed.

This Ted talk on lying talks a little about such things and how we evolved in a world where things we said were very quickly forgotten but that changed with writing, the printing press, and again with the internet but our brains are still operating in "temporary" space.

krev82 wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

If we could find a way to preserve the contents of the internet, what would that mean for society?

History has traditionally been recorded by the wealthiest, best educated, most powerful people. This has obviously changed.

This Ted talk on lying talks a little about such things and how we evolved in a world where things we said were very quickly forgotten but that changed with writing, the printing press, and again with the internet but our brains are still operating in "temporary" space.

Cool. Thank You.
Right at the end, "we're all leaving a record". How long do you think until Facebook, and Google are selling artificial people?
They probably own the rights to everything you've ever typed into their service.
I don't think it's unreasonable that you'll be able to buy an online companion who is unique. We may even see people selling the rights to themselves online.

What are some good ideas for date nights? My wife and I are working on going out on more dates, and we want them to be new and novel things. I'm more of a traditional dinner and a movie person, myself, so I'm at a bit of a loss. My imagination is letting me down here. Less expensive options are nice.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What are some good ideas for date nights? My wife and I are working on going out on more dates, and we want them to be new and novel things. I'm more of a traditional dinner and a movie person, myself, so I'm at a bit of a loss. My imagination is letting me down here. Less expensive options are nice.

Many cities have a paper, such as the LA Weekly here, that have a calendar of events for the next week or so, covering all types of things like dancing, free events, concerts and so on. I'd totally find out what the local event paper is in your town and start there. I got a ton of great date night ideas from the LA Weekly, for example.

I guess these ideas are maybe too cliched, but how about a museum or a walking trail?

If a person buys a brand new Porsche 911 and then slaps a gigantic bike rack on top of it am I legally allowed to call them a moron without suffering any repercussions?

Dakuna wrote:
Ghostship wrote:

If we could find a way to preserve the contents of the internet, what would that mean for society?

History has traditionally been recorded by the wealthiest, best educated, most powerful people. This has obviously changed.

When I was a kid, I thought, how neat it would be if we all had computers on our arms so we could play games all the time and communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Fast forward to today, I hate smart phones (smart phones make stupid people is my motto) and I am in serious danger of deleting my facebook profile. And don't even get me started on the pointless vapidity of twitter.

For me, more connection seems to equate directly to more "puke in my mouth" moments (and the occasional "get off my lawn" moments too...)

I'm waiting for the Scalzi-esque BrainPals, where I don't even need an external device - I've got one in my head that is already connected to everyone and everything.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What are some good ideas for date nights? My wife and I are working on going out on more dates, and we want them to be new and novel things. I'm more of a traditional dinner and a movie person, myself, so I'm at a bit of a loss. My imagination is letting me down here. Less expensive options are nice.

Groupon deals. I like the money saved, but more it is a great way for us to find info on new restaurants, new bars, night life events, etc.

Kehama wrote:

If a person buys a brand new Porsche 911 and then slaps a gigantic bike rack on top of it am I legally allowed to call them a moron without suffering any repercussions?

Legally? Yes. Morally, not so much.

Are rich people not allowed to ride bicycles in your world-view?

Jonman wrote:

Are rich people not allowed to ride bicycles in your world-view?

In my world view they're only allowed to ride penny-farthings while wearing a tuxedo, top hat, and monocle.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What are some good ideas for date nights? My wife and I are working on going out on more dates, and we want them to be new and novel things. I'm more of a traditional dinner and a movie person, myself, so I'm at a bit of a loss. My imagination is letting me down here. Less expensive options are nice.

Most museums have a free day once a month.
Get dinner and a movie but find an art house or a special screening instead of hitting the cineplex.
Find a restaurant with a kind of food neither of you have tried before.
Bands you liked five or ten years ago are still touring, but tickets are a lot cheaper now.
Check groupon or college extension for fun non-credit classes (massage, magic tricks, Thai cooking)
Go to the most touristy thing in your area; it will be a novelty without family to show around.
Local children's museum, without the kiddo.

muttonchop wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Are rich people not allowed to ride bicycles in your world-view?

In my world view they're only allowed to ride penny-farthings while wearing a tuxedo, top hat, and monocle.

Hence the bike rack in question being gigantic? Or not...

IMAGE(http://www.gripsport.com.au/images/uploads/gallery/201/penny_farthing_on_hi_ride__large.jpg)

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What are some good ideas for date nights? My wife and I are working on going out on more dates, and we want them to be new and novel things. I'm more of a traditional dinner and a movie person, myself, so I'm at a bit of a loss. My imagination is letting me down here. Less expensive options are nice.

Mini-golf (cosmic or not).
Bowling (cosmic or not).
2-player drinking games night.
Write a story together.
Make some other kind of art together. (Clay, maybe? A painting?)
Go to a book-reading.
Go to a book-reading and heckle.
Comedy club.
Go to a used clothing store and try on the most ridiculous things you can find.

Jonman wrote:

Are rich people not allowed to ride bicycles in your world-view?

Oh, they're allowed to ride them, just strap the rack to one of your other cars. Putting a bike rack on a Porsche is like dating a supermodel but then demanding she wear a fatsuit and fake nose. It defeats the purpose of dating the supermodel in the first place.

Chumpy_McChump wrote:

Mini-golf (cosmic or not).

Cosmic mini golf? Either it's a kickass sci-fi themed mini golf course, or you mean eating a fistful of acid then going to mini golf.

Either way, it sounds like a hoot. Maybe combine the two Clocky?

Kehama wrote:
Jonman wrote:

Are rich people not allowed to ride bicycles in your world-view?

Oh, they're allowed to ride them, just strap the rack to one of your other cars. Putting a bike rack on a Porsche is like dating a supermodel but then demanding she wear a fatsuit and fake nose. It defeats the purpose of dating the supermodel in the first place.

So cyclists are only allowed to own a Porsche if they either (a) already have another car, or (b) give up riding their bike on any route that doesn't start at home? You have some weird rules, man

To correct your analogy, putting a bike rack on a Porsche is like dating a supermodel who also goes on bike rides with you when your riding buddies with sensible cars aren't available.

Dakuna wrote:
Schrensky wrote:

But then... It's Canadian Psycho?

Do they shoot any movies in the US? Besides westerns?

The great western, Open Range with Kevin Costner and Robert "Motherf**king" Duvall was filmed in Alberta. Costner said he would love to have filmed it in the States, but he saved a few million in Canada and he could do 360-degree shots without spotting a single item from the 21st century.

I'm tired of Google Chrome not working. I have to click off and then on a tab to show the contents. It sometimes freezes. I've reinstalled Win 7 and stuff but Chrome still acts up like this. What is a good alternative?

1) I need it to work with Norton 2012, Identity Safe.

2) It can't be Explorer.

3) It has to be sponsored by Satan. (I'm kidding.)

Strangeblades wrote:

I'm tired of Google Chrome not working. I have to click off and then on a tab to show the contents. It sometimes freezes. I've reinstalled Win 7 and stuff but Chrome still acts up like this. What is a good alternative?

1) I need it to work with Norton 2012, Identity Safe.

2) It can't be Explorer.

3) It has to be sponsored by Satan. (I'm kidding.)

Chrome has been spotty for my work, it began cropping some pages, and certain sites using Quicktime image viewers (thanks President Bush) just will not load. For work I have returned to Firefox. Firefox has some Norton plug ins as well.

KingGorilla wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

I'm tired of Google Chrome not working. I have to click off and then on a tab to show the contents. It sometimes freezes. I've reinstalled Win 7 and stuff but Chrome still acts up like this. What is a good alternative?

1) I need it to work with Norton 2012, Identity Safe.

2) It can't be Explorer.

3) It has to be sponsored by Satan. (I'm kidding.)

Chrome has been spotty for my work, it began cropping some pages, and certain sites using Quicktime image viewers (thanks President Bush) just will not load. For work I have returned to Firefox. Firefox has some Norton plug ins as well.

Yup. Going back to Firefox sounds good to me. Sigh. I love Chrome though but like my cat she's got problems.

President Bush?

Strangeblades wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

I'm tired of Google Chrome not working. I have to click off and then on a tab to show the contents. It sometimes freezes. I've reinstalled Win 7 and stuff but Chrome still acts up like this. What is a good alternative?

1) I need it to work with Norton 2012, Identity Safe.

2) It can't be Explorer.

3) It has to be sponsored by Satan. (I'm kidding.)

Chrome has been spotty for my work, it began cropping some pages, and certain sites using Quicktime image viewers (thanks President Bush) just will not load. For work I have returned to Firefox. Firefox has some Norton plug ins as well.

Yup. Going back to Firefox sounds good to me. Sigh. I love Chrome though but like my cat she's got problems.

President Bush?

I've been a long-time Chrome-head, and usually when I start seeing problems its because I've had tons of tabs open and Chrome is chewing through RAM. Then I offload tabs to InstaPaper for later reading, condense to a single window of <8 tabs, close out and wait for all Chrome processes to exit, and reopen.

Then I'm golden.

McIrishJihad wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:
KingGorilla wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

I'm tired of Google Chrome not working. I have to click off and then on a tab to show the contents. It sometimes freezes. I've reinstalled Win 7 and stuff but Chrome still acts up like this. What is a good alternative?

1) I need it to work with Norton 2012, Identity Safe.

2) It can't be Explorer.

3) It has to be sponsored by Satan. (I'm kidding.)

Chrome has been spotty for my work, it began cropping some pages, and certain sites using Quicktime image viewers (thanks President Bush) just will not load. For work I have returned to Firefox. Firefox has some Norton plug ins as well.

Yup. Going back to Firefox sounds good to me. Sigh. I love Chrome though but like my cat she's got problems.

President Bush?

I've been a long-time Chrome-head, and usually when I start seeing problems its because I've had tons of tabs open and Chrome is chewing through RAM. Then I offload tabs to InstaPaper for later reading, condense to a single window of <8 tabs, close out and wait for all Chrome processes to exit, and reopen.

Then I'm golden.

But I just wanna abuse my browser and have it work 100%! That's not asking for much right?

ClockworkHouse wrote:

What are some good ideas for date nights? My wife and I are working on going out on more dates, and we want them to be new and novel things. I'm more of a traditional dinner and a movie person, myself, so I'm at a bit of a loss. My imagination is letting me down here. Less expensive options are nice.

Rock Climbing Gym. Trust builder. This will fail miserably, if she's a manicure type gal.

Fondue Restaurant.

Dress Up to the Nth, and go get dinner in the lobby restaurant of the hotel where the celebrities and politicians stay.

Dress Up to the Nth, then go to a bar, and let people wonder. Be someone else for the night.

Pottery shop that lets you turn a project on the wheel? No reach arounds please. ...Ghost, the movie, people.

We have a Nordic spa nearby. It's like a low key (warm)water park for adults with (beauty)spa amenities. Not the kind of thing that's everywhere, but if you have one, or live in the Ottawa Gatineau area, GO! It's not really femme-y. I even booked a massage. My therapist was a ma-SIR, and not a flying flip was given by me that day.

Hiking day trip. Cook her dinner on the trial. May take some research and backcountry expertise. Dehydrated camping meals will not do. You have to amaze by cooking something with nothing.

Bird sanctuary? We have one with hiking trails through it.

Arcade trip? This goes with bowling for us. The bowling alley is the only place with pins. And the pins and cabs are for me, really. Maybe you have a Dave and Buster's?

Find a hotel with a water slide inside? Many larger cities have one.

Night skiing lesson?

Take her fishing?