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This, I believe, an antique shoe buckle, about 2.5 inches long. On the surface there are hundreds of faceted pieces of metal http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/504/1000592o.jpg , but what's fascinating is turning it over to find that each of those hundreds of pieces of metal is actually riveted to a frame!

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/5760/1000596b.j...

Can anyone tell me anything about this technique, and whether it has a name?

I've got this brass bottle, thickly lined with cork, with the attached name of the Great Lakes ore freighter, the S. S. Wilfred Sykes (one of the ships that searched for the Edmund Fitzgerald). Is it just a thermos bottle missing it's inner liner, or would something else have been kept in it? The cork is so thick that only a small amount of liquid could have been held in a liner. I'll assume it's a thermos, though, unless someone knows different. http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/1954/1000547x.j...

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/5685/1000544j.j...

I have a very large old cotton flag that looks like the Alabama state flag. But is there any way to tell if it is actually an old Confederate flag, such as a marine signal flag with the same design?

I notice that most home made soups and stews taste best after a day or two in the fridge, where flavors marry and improve. So ... should I put soups and stews that I intend to freeze in the fridge first for a day or two before freezing to improve flavor first?

I need to take out some red sumac trees. The dry wood is not dense and doesn't have many BTUs, but is it safe for use in the woodstove, or does it have too much tar like pine or other softwoods? Thanks for your help!

I want to see this, but I don't know whether to take along a friend with a low tolerance for movie violence.

I take violin lessons, but recently bought a cheap ($124) 17.5 inch viola on eBay to play around with. Now, though, I find the only cheap cases are too small. The only one I found that will accomodate a 17.5 inch viola costs $189 plus shipping. Anyone know where I can do better? Thanks!!

In Suzuki book three for violin there is a gavotte by "P. Martini", but I can't find him in any reference source. Does anyone know his first name, when he lived, etc.?

I need new tires and I'm thinking of getting Goodyear Wranglers. Any other suggestions??

The Defiant model uses an expensive catalyst, but is it totally necessary, or can I go a few months without it?

Is it okay to feed an oscar canned tuna? (Packed in water, not oil, with salt rinsed off.)

I lost the old owner's manual. I think it's rated at 200 w/ch RMS at 8 ohms. Would that double at 4 ohms? I want to use it with a pair of Magnepan 1.6 speakers.

I'm removing some old wooden screens from my porch, and some of the screws don't want to turn. Would WD-40 on them help, like it does on screws in metal? Or would it make the wood swell and make the screws even tighter?

I have an old cassette deck that has RCA type inputs for recording from other devices, but it has no specific microphone input jack. Is there any type of microphone that I can plug into the RCA type inputs?