Did you DTMF? Did you eat it? What's its name? June 22, 2012 4:29 PM   Subscribe

UpdateMe! I solved my infinity antonym problem. Have you had an Ask question that solved itself years down the line? What happened?

A few years ago I asked this question, looking for an antonym for an infinity symbol tattoo on my left forearm. Unfortunately what I was looking for didn't really play along with mathematical definitions of infinity. I was a bit down on infinity being a closed loop, with anything possible already being accounted for. I got a lot of technical answers which were fascinating and could be cool tattoos, but I wasn't comfortable with getting math-y thing I didn't understand fully.

I happened across the optical illusion of the Devil's Fork or Blivet this week, and it struck me that I finally had it. If infinity accounts for everything is, has ever been, or could ever be, what is left but the impossible? Looking back on the question now it seems that carmicha had it closest by suggesting a mobius strip.

Anyway, I wanted to update folks because the question led to some neat concepts and debate, but the thread is over two years old. I thought I'd post here and see how other people's long ago questions ended up! What happened?
posted by yellowbinder to MetaFilter-Related at 4:29 PM (80 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite

I ate it. I died.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 4:34 PM on June 22, 2012 [8 favorites]


I DTMF, but I did not DTD.
posted by michaelh at 4:36 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]


It's name is Robert Paulson.
posted by Splunge at 4:39 PM on June 22, 2012


I try to go back and answer the 'stumped' questions. Most of them are very specific, and require local/specialist knowledge.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 4:43 PM on June 22, 2012


I franchised my trunk cookie business and retired after becoming really wealthy!
posted by special-k at 4:46 PM on June 22, 2012 [11 favorites]


She flaked and never called me back.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 4:46 PM on June 22, 2012


I finally got a counter-top deep-fryer about six days after this question about broccoli closed.

That was the best answer by far. Get the freshest freshy-fresh broccoli you can find, one head per person, of the deepest green you can muster, washed and dried totally dry, maybe a little salt.

Pull the head apart so each floret has a tailing stem. Thick stems can be sliced up the middle to just below the floret. Fry as much as possible at once, for about 3-4 minutes or until you can see the desiccation on the stems. Drain, sprinkle with finely-chopped dried chilies, and then douse with equal parts malt vinegar and soy sauce.

Eat fast.
posted by carsonb at 4:47 PM on June 22, 2012 [20 favorites]


Yum.
posted by safetyfork at 5:01 PM on June 22, 2012


I just realized I snuck a recipe into MetaTalk. And now a comment in <small>. Ha!
posted by carsonb at 5:08 PM on June 22, 2012 [5 favorites]


I was pregnant!
posted by mattdidthat


Eponysterical?
posted by jonmc at 5:30 PM on June 22, 2012 [6 favorites]


I once asked what was killing one of my walnut trees. About a year later a botanist friend informed me that it was an elm. I became disappointed in my own ignorance, especially since I never really appreciated its rare beauty when it was still alive.
posted by Toekneesan at 5:34 PM on June 22, 2012 [2 favorites]


Antimony.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:37 PM on June 22, 2012


Infinity is not necessarily everything is, has ever been, or could ever be. There are different orders of infinity so some infinities contain "more" than other infinities. Also, it's possible that everything that is or ever could be is finite.
posted by rdr at 5:39 PM on June 22, 2012


If everyone can wait a year or so I promise to go back to the screambarfing dog and (at the very least) shoot a video.
posted by hermitosis at 5:40 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]


We moved countries three times thanks to MeFi. which conjures up images of angry Mefites with pitchforks, but it was really quite amicable.
posted by arcticseal at 5:48 PM on June 22, 2012 [3 favorites]


If everyone can wait a year or so I promise to go back to the screambarfing dog and (at the very least) shoot a video.

I feel like such an asshole, but I laughed so hard at that question. I'm pretty sure it had much less to do with that poor dog's distress than with the word "screambarfing."
posted by emumimic at 5:49 PM on June 22, 2012 [4 favorites]


My son will be going into fifth grade and is thriving at a Montessori school, so I guess I can mark this question resolved after almost eight (!) years.
posted by bondcliff at 5:52 PM on June 22, 2012 [3 favorites]


Congratulations on solving your tattoo conundrum.
posted by crunchland at 5:54 PM on June 22, 2012


I found a two-compartment steel lunch tin that will work, although it's not quite what I had in mind.

There are no vegetarian restaurants in Irvine within a reasonable distance of the airport Marriott, but I walked to the health food store somebody recommended and was glad I did (even though I literally didn't see a single other pedestrian in the mile-and-a-half round trip).
posted by Lexica at 6:13 PM on June 22, 2012


I asked a question a while back about seeing lots of WebTV boxes in thrift stores. Now I don't see too many. So, hey, problem solved.
posted by box at 6:16 PM on June 22, 2012


I ended up discovering Freeside Atlanta, which gave me so, so much more than just a place to work on my car.
posted by TheNewWazoo at 6:28 PM on June 22, 2012 [3 favorites]


From the OP of an anonymous question:
Here's how my old human relations AskMe ended up turning out.

I basically did what most people suggested and cut contact -- not hang out with the French couple myself, but not guilt my boyfriend for doing so. I also did not confront the French couple.

-I never ended up speaking to the French girl again since I posted my question. Several months later she added me on Facebook... while in the middle of a European vacation with the ex. Maybe they wanted to giggle over my pics together, but I didn't say anything and just declined it.

-I interacted with the guy twice more. Once he called the house for my boyfriend and pretended not to remember my name... after we'd been living together for two years. The second time, my boyfriend invited him to stay with us for Christmas without telling me. I found out when he walked in as I was wrapping Christmas presents. That was kind of my final straw, and I lost all perspective and maturity. I went into my bedroom and intended to stay there until the guy left. Eventually after a lot of wine, in the wee hours of the morning, my boyfriend realized he hadn't seen me all night. He ended up confronting the French guy that night. The French guy blamed it all on his girlfriend, then left early in the morning before I got up. They are still friends.

-The French girl ended up breaking up with him. She's now back in France where she will stay permanently.

-My boyfriend's ex moved back to her hometown, 1000 miles away from here.

-Unfortunately, as a lot of people pointed out, it turned out that the way this was handled was symptomatic of some deeper, much more serious underlying problems in my relationship with my boyfriend.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 6:28 PM on June 22, 2012 [6 favorites]


My first question revolved around what to do with the knowledge of a friend's affair. I wound up not talking about it with any of the involved parties (aka narcing on him), and am okay with that. I stopped talking to that former friend around the time of the question. He left the company a little over a year ago, and I've been glad to have that drama out of my life.
posted by AMSBoethius at 6:31 PM on June 22, 2012


I once asked what was killing one of my walnut trees. About a year later a botanist friend informed me that it was an elm.

An elm killed your walnut tree? Was it nuts?

I'm so sorry
posted by euphorb at 6:33 PM on June 22, 2012 [30 favorites]


Five years after I asked, I found some recordings of Rodo, Monster from Outer Space.
posted by moonmilk at 6:47 PM on June 22, 2012


I have changed to daily-wear soft lenses, and it is AWESOME.
posted by blurker at 6:53 PM on June 22, 2012


Well, I wonder if I'll always have to wonder if I was right about this question I found in "unanswered" and thought I figured out. I suppose I could MeMail to check, but then my life wouldn't be as interesting.

But in my case, the situation resolved itself to the point where I even regret asking the question.
posted by peagood at 6:56 PM on June 22, 2012


I've started wearing my cock ring correctly and it has made all the difference.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 6:57 PM on June 22, 2012 [2 favorites]


I sent this to the mods via the Contact Us form a few weeks ago (the response was that there's no way to update the question... but now I can finally share!):
I asked this question three years ago: http://ask.metafilter.com/123723/Where-is-this-quotation-from-and-how-am-I-misremembering-it

Tonight I found the answer!! I wanted to update the thread for posterity but it's closed already. Can a mod still add a comment? Here's the answer if so:

The quotation is from the short story "A Slow Boat to China", and here it is in full:
I forced words out: "There are some things about myself I can't explain to anyone. There are some things I don't understand at all. I can't tell what I think about things or what I'm after. I don't know what my strengths are or what I'm supposed to do about them. But if I start thinking about these things in too much detail, the whole thing gets scary. And if I get scared, I can only think about myself. I become really self-centered, and without meaning to, I hurt people. So I'm not such a wonderful human being."
posted by telegraph at 7:03 PM on June 22, 2012 [4 favorites]


Whatever happened to Gasket, the catbonerfart kitteh?
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 7:21 PM on June 22, 2012 [6 favorites]


I looked at some porn.
posted by spockpuppet at 7:28 PM on June 22, 2012


And the question I never actually posted, about songs that name a bunch of dances, like e.g. 'Land of 1000 Dances?' I found a few.
posted by box at 7:33 PM on June 22, 2012


I got a guy in Switzerland to scan me the paper that was published from the obscure French thesis and then got it translated to a mixture of Spanish and English.
posted by dhruva at 7:56 PM on June 22, 2012


I lost the game.
posted by Eideteker at 8:01 PM on June 22, 2012 [2 favorites]


For whatever reason, she's not into me.
posted by rhizome at 8:04 PM on June 22, 2012


I could not solve this question, or get resolution this way, but I found the terrible song online as the internet finally caught up with me.
posted by oflinkey at 8:28 PM on June 22, 2012


I asked the name of a song, but no one could tell me. It turned out to be "I Don't Know" by Isle of View.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 10:07 PM on June 22, 2012 [1 favorite]


I got lazy and just stopped caring that the fly on my jeans didn't zip well. I still wear those jeans a lot.

I never did find enough RFID tags.

I stopped caring about whether I needed a mattress cover, that the newspaper was muddy, and how much time I spent on email every day.

I found a microwave at work and ate a lot of microwave rice. I also learned that garlic does not split up into smaller cloves in the store - my local Food Lion just sells crummy garlic.

I later lost the tooth; on the plus side, I did not get lice.

I loved Swamplandia! but read it over a year after I visited Tampa. I never did find a good cafe to work at in Paris, but I did eat the best tart of my life at les Philosophes and had a fantastic cup of espresso at le Square Trousseu.

I later met Mr. Gunn; unfortunately for him, I still use Zotero.

I got a blank lease using Nolo through my local public library and am moving in to the new place next Thursday.
posted by k8lin at 11:18 PM on June 22, 2012 [3 favorites]


Antimony.
posted by StickyCarpet at 1:37 AM on June 23


Her sister, Mary.
posted by Decani at 12:02 AM on June 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


Reader, I married him. A quiet wedding we had: he and I, the parson and clerk, were alone present.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:26 AM on June 23, 2012 [4 favorites]


I took the lower insurance offer (with a salvage title) and got my Bug rebuilt. The cool VW guys in Austin rebuilt it with salvaged parts so it wasn't too expensive.

I attended a memorial for the man that was killed and think of him often. There hasn't been any news about the hallucinating woman who caused the wreck. She was arrested but beyond that I don't know what happened to her. I half expect to see her on trial some day.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 12:40 AM on June 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


I went to a conference in Japan instead and had a wonderful time, then I finished my PhD and got a job (in Europe) in a different field.

And our postgrad support group totally petered out but later on a bunch of us started doing pub quizzes together which was way more fun anyway. One of my pub quiz PhD buddies is coming to visit me next week even though we're now on the other side of the world showing how the bonding totally worked.
posted by shelleycat at 2:25 AM on June 23, 2012


If you can dissolve the body in acid, it's then possible (though highly environmentally unfriendly, obviously) to decant the solution into a number of glass jars and from there to the sewers. Tricky business, though, and it takes ages. I wouldn't recommend it as a hobby.




What?
posted by Grangousier at 3:07 AM on June 23, 2012 [9 favorites]


Antimony...

Her sister, Mary.
posted by Decani


And in the spirit of antiphony, (alternate, or responsive ideas or opinions,) there is also Antiphony.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:14 AM on June 23, 2012




I've been getting better at following up with these things in-thread

- I got good advice from AskMe and found a nice coffee shop and had a terrific trip to MO and TN and met a neat MeFite in TN who took me up into the Smokey Mountains
- my uncle was impressed that I could track down that quote so quickly, I did not take the credit
- asked the doc and he said don't worry about it, I'v ebeen doing more exercise that keeps me in THR mode
- the memorial service went fine
- the POP import went fine
- we found a bug in Google Calendar and Google fixed it

I think that catches up the last few years for me.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 9:03 AM on June 23, 2012


I found my sister and will meet her again in August-- I last saw her just before she was taken at the age of 12; she's now a bright and beautiful 18 year old.
posted by mireille at 9:09 AM on June 23, 2012 [11 favorites]


Back in 2005, I asked for help in finding the house in Vienna where my mother had grown up, before she and her family fled the Nazis in 1939. Remarkably, Arco found the address for me.

My wife and I visited the building, but we couldn't get in because it was sealed off for some sort of construction work. I assumed it was being renovated, and I reported that in my final in-thread update.

It turned out I was wrong. Some time later, my nephew (IE, my mother's grandson) visited the spot-- and my mother's old apartment house was gone. It turns out the building hadn't sealed off to be renovated; it had been sealed off because it was about to be torn down. So not only did that AskMe thread bring me to my mother's childhood home, it brought me there weeks, or perhaps days, before it ceased to exist.

Two years ago, my mother returned to Vienna for the first time since she was five. She went to the site of her old home, and by then, there was a new medical building standing on the site. She tried to go in, but she couldn't go any farther than the lobby-- admission beyond that point was only for people who had appointments...
posted by yankeefog at 9:17 AM on June 23, 2012 [7 favorites]


My potato salads are always awesome.

I never got around to campaigning for shrimp & grits to be the state food of SC, I've since moved states. Anyone who want to start this campaign will have my whole-hearted support.

Still haven't figured out where I saw that thing by that guy.

My lovely wife nearly got clocked by a cabbage on Magazine St. We had a blast.
posted by 1f2frfbf at 10:45 AM on June 23, 2012


The year-old feral cat whose spay was botched is now four and never wants to go outside again. Her brother who urinated on my favorite purse has developed bilateral hip dysplasia and is no longer flexible enough to take the "Can I Pee On This?" challenge.
posted by catlet at 12:44 PM on June 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


I collected letters from my coworkers and they were brought to my dying co-worker. Both he and his family greatly appreciated the thoughtful and funny memories from us. He ended up being the first dead body I've seen... I had a phobia of funerals/lifeless bodies and decided to get over it....
....unlike my emetophobia, which I still have major issues with.

I did a lot of reading and self-exploration after receiving comments from my suspension of disbelief question. I still occasionally go back and re-read the answers.
posted by KogeLiz at 12:52 PM on June 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


- we found a bug in Google Calendar and Google fixed it
I *still* get invited to attend heartworm appointments, so I need to get in touch with your Google people.
posted by mgar at 2:08 PM on June 23, 2012


I posted a request for vegan fettucini alfredo and the recipe I tried was given a thumbs up by my son. I'm about to head back and post an update there, too.
posted by dotgirl at 3:34 PM on June 23, 2012


My boss quit and I never did get the intraoffice job, so problem solved itself.
posted by jenfullmoon at 7:44 PM on June 23, 2012


I'd found an old cassette in '92 labeled only "Maestro Mix", and I asked a question in 2004, and then again in 2005 with no luck.

And then by sheer chance- I can't recall why- I happened to type "Goddamn the Empty Sky" into youtube a year and change ago, and finally got the answer! The band is "Maestro Subgum and the Whole" out of Chicago by way of Madison, and happily, it now seems they're prepping a reissue of their entire catalog.
posted by hincandenza at 10:25 PM on June 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


This is working out extremely well (six and a half months so far!) and I totally underestimated him.
posted by carbide at 4:25 AM on June 24, 2012 [3 favorites]


AskMe sent me to Highgate Cemetary for my birthday, and it was awesome! I've been back since to see more of it.



Also, I have now read through all of this thread, and I'm still laughing at Hermitosis's screambarfing dog. screambarf will undoubtedly be my favourite addition to my vocabulary this year.
posted by greenish at 5:40 AM on June 24, 2012 [2 favorites]


I made this.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:04 AM on June 24, 2012


Greg Nog pointed me towards a list of the best Star Trek Next Gen episodes.

I traded my Android tablet for an old iPad, which suits me better.

I decided not to do the presentation about pirate women.

I got a guitar at Costco and it's fine.

So, things turned out okay. Or at least the ones I'll admit to did. My anonymous AskMes? Hoo boy, that's another story.
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:07 PM on June 24, 2012


From another anonymous poster:
I asked how to deal with a colleague who was publicly shunning me. The advice in that thread helped me stay on the high road. I continued to treat her like I'd treat any other colleague; she continued to act unprofessionally. About six or so months after I posted that question, she was given the choice of resigning or getting laid off. She resigned. I'm still happily working there.
posted by restless_nomad (staff) at 6:19 PM on June 24, 2012 [5 favorites]


Let's see.

The new job never happened; it was offered to me--my dream job!--and I quit my crappy office job to take it, then the "friend" who offered me the job told me she had taken it for herself (but I could work the drive through part-time for minimum wage if I wanted to). I'm still picking up the pieces of my life after that (going back to school, actually--I start tomorrow).

I asked for help last August predicting how things would go with my father's vascular dementia; he died last January from pneumonia. I felt mostly relief, since he and the family had gone through so much by that point.

The mysterious rash on my legs turned out to be simply a reaction to the cold. I've just learned that I have to wear long underwear when it gets below about 40 degrees during the day. Weird but true. I've actually asked several questions about my sensitive skin problems and haven't had a ton of success with getting answers, but I'm doing okay. I've learned how to make a simple moisturizer and lip balm and things seem to be stable at the moment. I've also started making my own laundry detergent and don't have to buy the expensive Seventh Generation unscented detergent any more.
posted by WorkingMyWayHome at 7:39 PM on June 24, 2012


I feel like such an asshole, but I laughed so hard at that question.

I haven't laughed that hard since I read George Roy Hill ripping William Goldman a new asshole in Adventures in the Screen Trade. I am actually still laughing as I type this.
posted by adamdschneider at 8:10 PM on June 24, 2012


Lets see...

I joined Metafilter back in 2010 so I could ask a question: how do I tell a guy that I like him. We actually ended up dating for almost a year and he ended up being the love of my life, but I lost him due to my own unresolved anxiety/depression issues.

On a more positive note, thanks to the helpful suggestions of fellow Mefites, my first custom built computer didn't blow up! I am actually using it to type this comment.
posted by littlesq at 8:17 PM on June 24, 2012


I never managed to get data on my phone from Laotel :-(.

Problem resolved itself when, the one time I was relying on it for a phone call, it died.
posted by pompomtom at 9:39 PM on June 24, 2012


I posted an anon question a couple of years ago about a pregnancy I was worried about, after an earlier miscarriage. The very healthy and happy twins that were the result of that pregnancy are now very vocally letting me know it's time to stop wasting time on Metafilter and make them breakfast.
posted by Ms. Next at 10:52 PM on June 24, 2012 [11 favorites]




Turns out I'm not allergic to shellfish. Huzzah!
posted by jquinby at 10:54 AM on June 25, 2012


I never got a manicure in Columbus, OH.
posted by Pax at 11:52 AM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


I did get into (and graduate from) grad school, but not for Linguistics, for English. I didn't move from Mississippi for it, but stayed put for the lower, in-state tuition.

None of my weird symptoms ever really went away; but the doctors never could make heads or tails of them so I've learned to live with 'em. Some are not as prominent as they were before, but they still present themselves now and again -- as can be seen in my erratic, and sometimes incomprehensible, postings. I still don't have health insurance. I've decided teaching isn't for me, at least not teaching kids.

I never did get to use many of the recipes in the great dessert bake-off because the pot-luck went on hiatus and I kinda graduated and moved before I could really get going. The bonus is, I did get some great dessert recipes.

I never moved to Turkey.

And I still have my cat, though he did stay with a friend of mine for a few months.
posted by patheral at 12:32 PM on June 25, 2012


I also don't have an earbeat anymore.
posted by Pax at 12:46 PM on June 25, 2012


Whatever happened to Gasket, the catbonerfart kitteh?

catbonerfart kitteh Gasket update.

Oh, Gasket.
posted by peagood at 7:34 PM on June 25, 2012 [1 favorite]


We named him Evan Zachary.
posted by kpht at 7:59 PM on June 25, 2012


I still don't know where to aim when I urinate, but thanks to kelseyq's book recommendation I do have empirical evidence that aiming for the far porcelain is the worst option in the bowl. More information here, here and here.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 1:33 AM on June 26, 2012


I mastered chocolate cake, made my own vanilla (it was meh), had a beautiful healthy baby boy, used pretty much everything we bought for him, planted a dogwood in the wet part of the lawn, stayed with the dealership for repairs and found birds living in my dryer ducts. Thanks guys!!

Also, Zamboin, thanks for the update. I have wondered about that kid now and again.
posted by saradarlin at 8:03 PM on June 26, 2012


• I found a Golden Rod Cake pan! Here it is. I haven't yet used it to make a Golden Rod Cake or Waldorf Triangles, though. Later.

• I ended up using Miss LonelyNotes which eventually became SuperNoteCard. These days I usually just use Evernote if necessary, though it doesn't do everything I wanted back in that original question (and neither did Miss LonelyNotes).

My mom did not end up selling PhotoMax. (The question did get a spammy reply at the very end that is still there!)

• Never found out why I got laryngitis along with food poisoning or why my car window imploded, though I am pretty sure it was from a vehicle hitting the side mirror! Never found out why my phone numbers disappeared from the Do Not Call list. Was too lazy to make the mix I planned to make, but still mean to do it... someday.
posted by litlnemo at 5:04 AM on June 27, 2012


The question did get a spammy reply at the very end that is still there!

Not anymore.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 5:26 AM on June 27, 2012 [2 favorites]


Consider them resolved:
- I always buy Fuji apples whenever Honeycrisps aren't available.
- The shoes I bought for Zumba class are still working great.
- We found some nice curtains for our windows and so far the pets haven't destroyed them.
- We did build a deck in a weekend with the Dek-Block system and we really liked it.

Ennui interfered:
- I did not attempt to ask Bill Bryson a question, though I did meet him.
- I got overwhelmed and ended up going the the store-bought gift route rather than giving anyone frozen food.
- I didn't do anything with that bottle. Not sure if I ever will.
- Most regretfully of all, I still haven't ridden any horses even though I still think about it ALL THE TIME and do plan to make it happen in the not-too-distant future.
posted by anderjen at 7:05 AM on June 27, 2012


If a general contractor gives you a budget that seems low, don't believe any of their explanations about why they can do it so inexpensively. Just find someone who charges the market rate and comes well-recommended.
posted by slidell at 8:12 PM on June 29, 2012


I was looking for a set of mashups that used lyrics from Song A and music from Song B, and then flipped them.

At some point I found "Thin Genie" and "Boys are Back on the Bottle", which uses "The Boys are Back in Town" and "Genie in A Bottle".
posted by Lucinda at 9:31 AM on July 3, 2012


Thank goodness this thread can still be updated, because I have an update to a thread from 2007 that was driving me crazy for years.

In 2007, NewGear asked for a friend about something that, in the thread, I noted I had also been wondering about and almost tacked onto another question. What was that mysterious old school computer game that involved a museum, an elevator, and 'Give napoleon to Napoleon'?

Solved: History Mystery, on Apple ][, distributed by Scholastic Microzines (#18). By these fine atariage forum folks. (See pages 2 and 3 of this thread on their forum.) Admittedly, they solved it almost a year ago, but whatever, closure here now!
posted by cobaltnine at 10:31 PM on July 9, 2012 [1 favorite]


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