Got no clue, but I once hooked up with a Phillipino girl in college and all my friends asked me about referenced joke. Actually, the funny part is that what you said was twice as funny as what you meant. Being a former Spanish colony, Filipino refers to a male from the Philippines, and Filipina refers to a female from the Philippines. I don't think any filter, 180 included, can repair the damage caused by accidentally sleeping with a lady boy.
I had a similar issue with Sprint PCS a few years ago. They thought I owed them cancellation fees when, according to my contract, I didn't. I didn't hear about the matter from them until some collections idiots started getting a hold of my family asking them where I was. After sending some legal paperwork to three different sets of collections agencies, I ended up filing a better business bureau complaint. A very friendly lady from Sprint called me within days and fixed everything, even getting the credit report corrected.
Speaking of Sprint, I do remember getting a bill for them when I canceled. I tried to login to my account on their website to contact customer support and let them know they were wrong, but my account was deactivated because I had canceled my account. When I tried to call them to discuss that problem with them, their automated phone system would not allow me to speak to a customer service rep because, you guessed it, my Sprint PCS Phone Number was invalid. So I wrote a letter explaining it all to them, stuffed it in their pre-paid envelope, and sent it back. 3-6 months later, their outsourced collections lawyers responded.
I wonder what would happen if a subscriber didn't update their credit card info once their card expires to let the account lapse. Blockbuster Online kept charging me for about a year after I cancelled with them. Most of this time was after my credit card had already expired. I guess they were able to continue charging to the same account because the account number itself did not change, just the expiration date on the new card I was issued.
That's really creepy. I'm a big fan of stile and rotten.com, but for some reason the image you just painted makes me a little queasy. Is there a condition associated with that? I know ear wax can become light brown, but I've never heard of it being so dark. I was just wondering if it's relatively normal or if she actually has some sort of condition.
If you want to get really scared, have your ears cleaned at a barber's shop in Vietnam. They use long pointed sticks. I'm not kidding. Luckily I was able to talk myself out of it after seeing the procedure performed on a local friend (who enjoys it a lot and has it done at least once a week). Smart move. Most Asians have dry, flaky ear wax, which is removed easily and [relatively] safely with ye olde ear pick. If yours is wet instead of dry, they likely would have ended up jamming a lot of wax further into your ear canal.
That kind of thing is what happens when you give customer service reps bonus packages for retaining canceling subscribers. I absolutely loved canceling my AOL account. I signed up for one of those free trials while I was traveling, used it for maybe 3 months, for free, from various hotel rooms which did not have internet but had a phone line. Then I called to cancel, claiming I was having problems maintaining a connection. They offered me tech support, but I said "no, I just want to cancel." So, of course, they offered to send me a new modem, for free, and give me another 90 day free trial, hoping that'd solve my problem. I got a free modem, and 6 free months of service from various hotel rooms across the country, and then promptly canceled my subscription.
The second time I called to cancel it only took me a few minutes to get them to cancel.
Blockbuster online, however, has been a complete pain in the ass. I called them to cancel at about the same time I started my traveling spree, and even got a confirmation number. When I got done traveling and managed to read a year's worth of mail, I noticed that blockbuster had just continued billing me for the entire year. I still haven't been able to get THAT money back.
Face it, paying Microsoft $50 to play games online is fucking stupid and proves what sucker fanboys 360 users are. Sony and Nintendo have totally free online play and better downloadable games (they're not inaccurate "remakes" like on Arcade but are the original games in emulated form). Isn't Sony behind EverQuest? And doesn't Sony charge an outrageous price for playing EQ online? Last I saw it was like $15/month!
Is that warning label on that Holy Bible real, or is it photoshopped? I really am not sure if that one was photoshopped or not. I do know that, a while back, there was a movement to put similar warning labels on bibles, particularly gideon bibles in hotels, in response to the warning labels placed on evolution textbooks stating that students should remember that it was "just a theory". So I know people really did put similar labels on bibles, but I'm not sure if that's real or not.
No, it's to satisfy current the quasi-precedent in product liability the lawyers have been able to secure from mouth-breathing juries.
So you're claiming that these product liability verdicts are the result of mouth-breathing juries, so stupid they can't interpret obvious things such as "coffee is hot"? Well, I'm sure your proof will be good!
Remember, the infamous McDonald's coffee cup [overlawyered.com] had a warning label! But the jury decided it wasn't prominent enough.
While OVERLAWYERED.COM certainly sounds like a reputable and impartial website, I have to dispute your version of the facts.
If a software manufacturer sold you a program which said, hidden in the EULA, that it would unavoidably, permanently, physically damage 10% of the computers it was installed on, would you be comforted that "well, it DID say so, even if I didn't notice it"? Or would you accuse them of some form of negligence in creating a product which could reasonably be expected to cause real damages a certain percent of the time it was used?
The facts behind the "hot" coffee incident do not exactly make it the perfect example of a frivolous lawsuit. The media has been misrepresenting this case since they first labeled the case as "hot" coffee instead of something more accurate, like "scalding". You would expect coffee to be hot, in a temperature range suitable for consumption. You would not expect to have to wait half an hour after purchasing coffee for it to be suitable for consumption without seriously burning your mouth. The media, however, is unable to change the actual, undisputed facts of the case, which are as follows:
Liebeck attempted to settle for $20,000, the cost of her medical expenses, before suing to recover the damages
Liebeck, a 79 year old grandmother, was a passenger in her grandson's car when she ordered a coffee at a McDonald's drive through
The coffee spilled in her lap, as they were stopped, when she removed the lid to add cream
As a result, she suffered third degree burns over 6% of her body, and needed skin grafts during her 8 day stay at the hospital
There were over 700 claims from similar situations occuring between 1982-1992, many of which were settled by McDonald's
McDonald's mandated that all coffee be held at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit.
Liquids at 180-190 degrees Fahrenheit produce scalding in less than one second of exposure/contact, and a full-thickness (third degree) burn within three to seven seconds
Most home coffee makers serve coffee at ~135 degrees Fahrenheit
It takes nearly 10 seconds of exposure at 135 degrees Fahrenheit to produce scalding, and roughly 30 seconds to produce full-thickness burns, which is plenty of time for the liquid to cool and for the victim to react (shake off the hot liquid, pull the clothing away from the skin, etc.)
McDonald's acknowledged this danger, and claimed that they were not negligent because, not only was there a warning, but their customers intended to drink the coffee at home or work and were simply purchasing it on their way.
McDonald's own market research showed that the majority of customers intended to consume the coffee while driving
The facts in this case were entirely undisputed. For there to be liability, McDonald's had to know, or reasonably be expected to know, that their product would cause serious burns in a certain number of customers. They not only knew this was a possibility, but were already aware of more than 700 reported cases of this happening. They determined that it would be more cost-effective to pay 70 or so settlements every year than to increase their costs in producing coffee, so they continued to not only produce a product that was unfit for consumption due to its dangerously high temperatures, but advertised it as ready for consumption. They did not take any attempt to mitigate this risk, wa
I'm not sure whether it was photoshopped, but I recently saw some pictures of a rather low-hanging sign above an escalator warning people not to hit their head on the sign above the escalator. Unfortunately, I can't find a link right now.
This is one of the most bizarre signs I have ever encountered. The sign is comical in itself: stick figure rides up the escalator and bumps his head on a hanging sign, the impact causing VIOLENT RED RAYS OF PAIN. Beware! All is well and good until, armed with a newfound caution, you look around for the offending object and realize that IT'S A SIGN ABOUT THE SIGN ITSELF.
Thank you, yes, that was it. Regardless of the logical explanation at the link you gave, I'm still laughing.
So, we are not to use that fireplace lighter near fires or flames? Doesn't it make flames? Precisely! Didn't your mother tell you not to play with fire? You could start a fire, burn yourself, or burn the house down! So, if you do any of that using that lighter, they're not liable. They told you right on the label not to use it near fire or flame in an attempt to warn you not to burn the place down.
On a lighter note, I recently found a new favorite laundry label. (linked to my site because the site it was from seems to have regularly changing URLs. Originally from extremefunnypictures.com).
I'm not sure whether it was photoshopped, but I recently saw some pictures of a rather low-hanging sign above an escalator warning people not to hit their head on the sign above the escalator. Unfortunately, I can't find a link right now.
Inside the Schwarzchild radius everything falls into the hole regardless of velocity, no exceptions.
And we know this how? While it would probably be better to say "no known exceptions", we do have a fairly good set of data on this. The evidence is pretty strong, from what's been observed, that radiation, light, matter, and the entire electromagnetic spectrum is unable to escape, regardless of velocity. Keep in mind that a Black Hole, by definition, cannot be escaped by anything. This is according to the theories which initially predicted and defined black holes, based upon general relativity. Indeed, if anything escapes from within the Schwarzschild Radius, the object in question is not, by definition, a black hole.
IANAQP, of course, but it appears debatable whether Hawking Radiation escapes or not. I've read little on the subject, but it seems that Hawking Radiation, if it indeed exists and the theories are correct, originates from just beyond the event horizon anyways.
Have a friend use a tweezers for the hard black chunks.
Thanks, I haven't been that scared in years. I can't imagine how anything could possibly go wrong with such a procedure. I'd rather trust my friends to give me a colonoscopy with a long, rusty nail.
Have you considered that the hard, black chunks in your ears might actually be dried blood from previous cleaning attempts?
Yes, I'm fairly confident you were joking, but... I couldn't resist taking it seriously and replying. Sorry.
Although you, as an IT guy, may feel that it "works fine", you're likely losing 100,000+ man-hours every year on people trying to navigate the menus and figure out how to do relatively simple things in Word and Excel. I can't even remember the first version of word I used, but it was a very long time ago. That being said, as soon as I started beta testing Office 07 at home I started bringing all my word processing work home to do there instead. It is just a lot faster and easier for every task I need to use.
I'm no fan of Microsoft. I generally prefer to use Linux, but I have found a lot of ways to make windows almost as useful for most of my purposes. Vista, at best, sucks ass, but don't let that blind you to the fact that Office 07 is a great product. It is going to dramatically improve productivity for anyone who is not extremely proficient with Excel. All of the old keyboard shortcuts work when trying to navigate the ribbon, and the backwards compatibility is good. My only complaint is that the theme in Beta 2 was far better than the one they went with for the final release version.
Can you actually edit from behind a proxy? Aren't Wikipedia servers supposed to prohibit this kind of editing by checking if a (open) proxy is being used? There's a big difference between an open proxy and a proxy. Open proxies should be checked for and restricted by any site or service because there's no reason users should be connecting from them. An open proxy is, by definition, a proxy which anyone on the internet can connect through. A proxy, on the other hand, is a quite common thing. Many governments and governmental organizations route all of their traffic through proxies for security or bandwidth throttling reasons.
Note that I'm not saying open proxies are a bad thing. I use them to access stupid websites, like NBC, which don't allow me to view episode listings because I'm not geographically located in the United States at the time I am accessing their website. It's also a great way to anonymize traffic or get around some of the less brilliant web monitoring or parental control software. A dozen log entries on my router saying I've accessed "anonymouse.org" would look a lot better than chickswithdicks.com, goatse.cx, etc. But it certainly does make a lot of sense for an IRC server or freely editable wiki to restrict or ban the use of open proxies.
Here we see the whole chicken/egg issue of IPv6. If that's all that's stopping us, it should be rather easy to implement IPv6. We solved the chicken/egg issue a long time ago. The egg was around in other forms long before the chicken evolved.
Come to think of it, this is exactly the opposite of the chicken/egg issue. We already have the chicken (IPv6) developed, we just need to start putting it in some eggs (ISPs). Eventually, through natural selection, ISPs which can offer 200 IP addresses per customer will become the dominant species.
Obviously you know little to nothing of purple turtle mats, which are relevant to almost every story, ever. Thank you. I would like to reward you with karma and a "first laugh" award, but I seem to be fresh out of both. Instead, I'll apologize for the idiot who modded this as offtopic. He will be disposed of shortly.
As for the recipe you quote, it's far more specific than what you propose, specific food and drink is important, as is light. Your solution would only work in one direction, and would make it quite worse in the other. Perhaps for some people. For me, it's worked every time I've flown between Japan and the US and when I've flown to Europe and back to the US. It's never taken me more than a day to fully recover.
Jetlag isn't about acceleration per se - it's about desynchronization of your circadian clock with that of your surroundings. Mainly true. Jetlag is primarily caused by desynchronization of your circadian clock, but the physiological stresses of flying are powerful contributors. Primarily we're talking about vibration and noise. If anyone remembers the days of flying large turboprops at 18,000 feet, they'll know exactly what I'm talking about. In addition, the psychological stress from waiting in line for hours and being crammed into a seat too small to allow comfort creates physiological stress.
Recipe for jetlag: Drink too much soda or coffee, wake up earlier than normal for an early flight, be stressed for the entire day from the moment you realized you forgot to pack something until well after you arrive at your destination, sit in a cramped cabin with babies screaming all around you, endure constant vibrations and noise for up to 14 hours, then go to sleep as soon as you arrive at your destination.
Cure for jetlag: Maintain a healthy diet and drink plenty of fluids. Try to nap during the flight. Use noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs during the flight. Stay awake until 9 or 10pm when you arrive at your new destination.
Although, besides breathing purposes, our atmosphere also protects us from harmful radiation from the sun, as well as protecting the planet from impacts from most stellar objects. Right, but what does that have to do with possible requirements for alien life? Certainly life as we know it, based on DNA/RNA, can not generally do well in an environment with excess radiation, but that does not mean that DNA is the only way to code life. Hell, a planet with a much higher concentration of lead, and lead on the surface, could result in creatures with an exoskeleton made of lead (or gold, for that matter).
All of the above scenarios make it possible for life forms to exist on the surface of a planet, but why would we even assume we would find alien life on the surface of a planet, respirating atmosphere? The Earth is literally covered with subterranean and aquatic life. The quantity of aquatic life on Earth dwarfs that of us surface-dwellers.
I would be extremely disappointed to discover alien life forms and realize they functioned in nearly the same way as those found on Earth.
I think we should shift more to a system which doesn't reward invention so much as it rewards the amount of effort that went into inventing it.
Perhaps some sort of "limited" patent which could be licensed for a sum of money proportionate to the quality of the invention and the age of it. At the very least the duration of patent protection should be based on the use of that actual patent; if products implementing (and not varations) a specific patent is no longer actively sold (people actually paying money for the product) by the inventor, it should end. Who cares how much effort went into making it if it's unique and nobody else ever had the brains to think of it? Let's use The Clapper as an example. It's simple enough that [high school] kids could make one for a science project. They just throw a bunch of existing semiconductors and all this other crap together, right? Then why did it take over a hundred years of electricity for somebody to create a simple sound-activated switch?
Do you really TRUST some dumb patent office clerk to determine the quality of an invention? If you were deciding the patents, would you have thought the clapper and the singing bass were quality inventions? I wouldn't have. Regardless, they deserve the same patent protection as the guy who toiled day and night to develop the first shipstone.
To the Heinlein fans: Yes, I know he didn't actually patent the shipstone, because there was no need. Regardless, he deserved the protection of a patent.
OK, good point, I could probably be arrested for saying that. Hopefully everyone knows I meant "If I were a terrorist" or something along those lines:). Not that it wouldn't be fun to do some security testing at some of these places...
You're thinking of the SAM Splint. Good tool, when you can get them. Thank you, that is exactly what I was thinking of. Great tool. I keep one in my vehicle and one in my med kit. Funny enough, that's one of the only items in my med kit I haven't had to use. The only other one is the suturing kit.
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I had a similar issue with Sprint PCS a few years ago. They thought I owed them cancellation fees when, according to my contract, I didn't. I didn't hear about the matter from them until some collections idiots started getting a hold of my family asking them where I was. After sending some legal paperwork to three different sets of collections agencies, I ended up filing a better business bureau complaint. A very friendly lady from Sprint called me within days and fixed everything, even getting the credit report corrected.
Speaking of Sprint, I do remember getting a bill for them when I canceled. I tried to login to my account on their website to contact customer support and let them know they were wrong, but my account was deactivated because I had canceled my account. When I tried to call them to discuss that problem with them, their automated phone system would not allow me to speak to a customer service rep because, you guessed it, my Sprint PCS Phone Number was invalid. So I wrote a letter explaining it all to them, stuffed it in their pre-paid envelope, and sent it back. 3-6 months later, their outsourced collections lawyers responded.
That's really creepy. I'm a big fan of stile and rotten.com, but for some reason the image you just painted makes me a little queasy. Is there a condition associated with that? I know ear wax can become light brown, but I've never heard of it being so dark. I was just wondering if it's relatively normal or if she actually has some sort of condition.
The second time I called to cancel it only took me a few minutes to get them to cancel.
Blockbuster online, however, has been a complete pain in the ass. I called them to cancel at about the same time I started my traveling spree, and even got a confirmation number. When I got done traveling and managed to read a year's worth of mail, I noticed that blockbuster had just continued billing me for the entire year. I still haven't been able to get THAT money back.
No, it's to satisfy current the quasi-precedent in product liability the lawyers have been able to secure from mouth-breathing juries.
So you're claiming that these product liability verdicts are the result of mouth-breathing juries, so stupid they can't interpret obvious things such as "coffee is hot"? Well, I'm sure your proof will be good!
Remember, the infamous McDonald's coffee cup [overlawyered.com] had a warning label! But the jury decided it wasn't prominent enough.
While OVERLAWYERED.COM certainly sounds like a reputable and impartial website, I have to dispute your version of the facts.
If a software manufacturer sold you a program which said, hidden in the EULA, that it would unavoidably, permanently, physically damage 10% of the computers it was installed on, would you be comforted that "well, it DID say so, even if I didn't notice it"? Or would you accuse them of some form of negligence in creating a product which could reasonably be expected to cause real damages a certain percent of the time it was used?
The facts behind the "hot" coffee incident do not exactly make it the perfect example of a frivolous lawsuit. The media has been misrepresenting this case since they first labeled the case as "hot" coffee instead of something more accurate, like "scalding". You would expect coffee to be hot, in a temperature range suitable for consumption. You would not expect to have to wait half an hour after purchasing coffee for it to be suitable for consumption without seriously burning your mouth. The media, however, is unable to change the actual, undisputed facts of the case, which are as follows:
The facts in this case were entirely undisputed. For there to be liability, McDonald's had to know, or reasonably be expected to know, that their product would cause serious burns in a certain number of customers. They not only knew this was a possibility, but were already aware of more than 700 reported cases of this happening. They determined that it would be more cost-effective to pay 70 or so settlements every year than to increase their costs in producing coffee, so they continued to not only produce a product that was unfit for consumption due to its dangerously high temperatures, but advertised it as ready for consumption. They did not take any attempt to mitigate this risk, wa
Possibly you're referring to this bizarre self-referential sign?
This is one of the most bizarre signs I have ever encountered. The sign is comical in itself: stick figure rides up the escalator and bumps his head on a hanging sign, the impact causing VIOLENT RED RAYS OF PAIN. Beware! All is well and good until, armed with a newfound caution, you look around for the offending object and realize that IT'S A SIGN ABOUT THE SIGN ITSELF.
Thank you, yes, that was it. Regardless of the logical explanation at the link you gave, I'm still laughing.On a lighter note, I recently found a new favorite laundry label. (linked to my site because the site it was from seems to have regularly changing URLs. Originally from extremefunnypictures.com).
Also, ye olde sharp sign and bible.
I'm not sure whether it was photoshopped, but I recently saw some pictures of a rather low-hanging sign above an escalator warning people not to hit their head on the sign above the escalator. Unfortunately, I can't find a link right now.
And we know this how? While it would probably be better to say "no known exceptions", we do have a fairly good set of data on this. The evidence is pretty strong, from what's been observed, that radiation, light, matter, and the entire electromagnetic spectrum is unable to escape, regardless of velocity. Keep in mind that a Black Hole, by definition, cannot be escaped by anything. This is according to the theories which initially predicted and defined black holes, based upon general relativity. Indeed, if anything escapes from within the Schwarzschild Radius, the object in question is not, by definition, a black hole.
IANAQP, of course, but it appears debatable whether Hawking Radiation escapes or not. I've read little on the subject, but it seems that Hawking Radiation, if it indeed exists and the theories are correct, originates from just beyond the event horizon anyways.
Thanks, I haven't been that scared in years. I can't imagine how anything could possibly go wrong with such a procedure. I'd rather trust my friends to give me a colonoscopy with a long, rusty nail.
Have you considered that the hard, black chunks in your ears might actually be dried blood from previous cleaning attempts?
Yes, I'm fairly confident you were joking, but... I couldn't resist taking it seriously and replying. Sorry.
Although you, as an IT guy, may feel that it "works fine", you're likely losing 100,000+ man-hours every year on people trying to navigate the menus and figure out how to do relatively simple things in Word and Excel. I can't even remember the first version of word I used, but it was a very long time ago. That being said, as soon as I started beta testing Office 07 at home I started bringing all my word processing work home to do there instead. It is just a lot faster and easier for every task I need to use.
I'm no fan of Microsoft. I generally prefer to use Linux, but I have found a lot of ways to make windows almost as useful for most of my purposes. Vista, at best, sucks ass, but don't let that blind you to the fact that Office 07 is a great product. It is going to dramatically improve productivity for anyone who is not extremely proficient with Excel. All of the old keyboard shortcuts work when trying to navigate the ribbon, and the backwards compatibility is good. My only complaint is that the theme in Beta 2 was far better than the one they went with for the final release version.
Note that I'm not saying open proxies are a bad thing. I use them to access stupid websites, like NBC, which don't allow me to view episode listings because I'm not geographically located in the United States at the time I am accessing their website. It's also a great way to anonymize traffic or get around some of the less brilliant web monitoring or parental control software. A dozen log entries on my router saying I've accessed "anonymouse.org" would look a lot better than chickswithdicks.com, goatse.cx, etc. But it certainly does make a lot of sense for an IRC server or freely editable wiki to restrict or ban the use of open proxies.
Come to think of it, this is exactly the opposite of the chicken/egg issue. We already have the chicken (IPv6) developed, we just need to start putting it in some eggs (ISPs). Eventually, through natural selection, ISPs which can offer 200 IP addresses per customer will become the dominant species.
Recipe for jetlag: Drink too much soda or coffee, wake up earlier than normal for an early flight, be stressed for the entire day from the moment you realized you forgot to pack something until well after you arrive at your destination, sit in a cramped cabin with babies screaming all around you, endure constant vibrations and noise for up to 14 hours, then go to sleep as soon as you arrive at your destination.
Cure for jetlag: Maintain a healthy diet and drink plenty of fluids. Try to nap during the flight. Use noise-cancelling headphones or earplugs during the flight. Stay awake until 9 or 10pm when you arrive at your new destination.
All of the above scenarios make it possible for life forms to exist on the surface of a planet, but why would we even assume we would find alien life on the surface of a planet, respirating atmosphere? The Earth is literally covered with subterranean and aquatic life. The quantity of aquatic life on Earth dwarfs that of us surface-dwellers.
I would be extremely disappointed to discover alien life forms and realize they functioned in nearly the same way as those found on Earth.
Perhaps some sort of "limited" patent which could be licensed for a sum of money proportionate to the quality of the invention and the age of it. At the very least the duration of patent protection should be based on the use of that actual patent; if products implementing (and not varations) a specific patent is no longer actively sold (people actually paying money for the product) by the inventor, it should end. Who cares how much effort went into making it if it's unique and nobody else ever had the brains to think of it? Let's use The Clapper as an example. It's simple enough that [high school] kids could make one for a science project. They just throw a bunch of existing semiconductors and all this other crap together, right? Then why did it take over a hundred years of electricity for somebody to create a simple sound-activated switch?
Do you really TRUST some dumb patent office clerk to determine the quality of an invention? If you were deciding the patents, would you have thought the clapper and the singing bass were quality inventions? I wouldn't have. Regardless, they deserve the same patent protection as the guy who toiled day and night to develop the first shipstone.
To the Heinlein fans: Yes, I know he didn't actually patent the shipstone, because there was no need. Regardless, he deserved the protection of a patent.
OK, good point, I could probably be arrested for saying that. Hopefully everyone knows I meant "If I were a terrorist" or something along those lines :). Not that it wouldn't be fun to do some security testing at some of these places...