"You know you're old when you remember when bacon, eggs, and sunshine were all good for you."
What with Adkins and all of the pro-egg commercials, all we've got left is sunshine to conquer to return to status quo...
I don't have a cite right now, but I remember reading a study which said that caffeine enlarges the blood vessels for a period, allowing for a more rapid flow. That's why you feel like you're thinking quicker. That's why caffeine can be a good quick fix for migraines. And that's why withdrawal can lead to headaches of its own. (You get used to the expanded passages)
*wry grin* I too have no cites to back this up, but I remember reading a discussion of safety glass (having your windshield break into fairly harmless pebbles of glass held together by a gummy sheet rather than huge shards of sharp glass) where they said that initially safety glass was opposed by auto manufacturers on grounds that people would drive more unsafely if the risks of crashes were reduced like that.
I also wonder if the installation of airbags (supposedly to be mandatory any day now) has reduced seatbelt usage.
As to why people started pronouncing it as "deuce", it could be because half the people I mentioned the game's name to when I first got it heard it as "Day of Sex." *sigh* I'd ask them to get their minds out of the gutters, but that positioning's an improvement over how they used to be...
One of my friends in college, her family owned a 1-800 number, the idea behind it being that it wound up costing them less than collect calls or using the exhorbitant college phone service fees.
It bears repeating... using it for simple body-building is absolutely foolhardy... instead of growing big pectoral muscles, you might inadvertently be growing yourself a big fat tumor... that'll look great at the beach
*shrug* All depends on where the tumor is located. It's like the story about the guy who heard that putting a potato down his swimsuit. After many women ran away from him screaming, a friend was kind enough to advise him that the potato goes down the front of the suit.
Heck, if nothing else, look at Prince of Tennis, a series following a junior tennis player. 83 episodes, 40 managa volumes, and at least one hentai doujinishi (don't ask how I ran into that one...) about tennis. Only in Japan...
At one of my Co-op jobs, I wound up working with a company which had restrictions against accessing the Internet. *wry grin* They also didn't actually have much work that could be done with my level of experience. So, with my boss's blessing, I started reading through the library of Project Gutenberg books kept on the local network. (Most of the digital library was actually product and equipment manuals, but someone had added an extra directory with the good stuff) While I would have preferred actual work by which I could enhance my skills, those eBooks proved a valuable way for me to keep my sanity.
Didn't hurt that it got me to read a few of the classics that I'd never had the chance to peruse before...
Actually... I haven't had a problem with staring at the screen for hours for at least a few years. I remember, when growing up, it was difficult on my eyes (which might have also been due to our "monitor" being a TV set), but lately, I've noticed no problems reading text on the screen for hours on end with little break. I read fanfiction, some of which is pretty close to novel-length, and I've been making my way through the books in the Baen libraries. No eye-strain or headaches from reading for long amounts of time. *shrug*
That said, I recently had an optometrist (mother of a friend of mine) claim that exposure to long amounts of screen viewing (TV or computer) at an early age was proven to do something to how one focusses one's eyes that later proves detrimental. *wry grin* Now admittedly, she had no actual article to cite, so that information may be suspect. Much like how your parents used to claim reading in low light would hurt your eyes. Possible explanation here.
You've got a point regarding the non-standard names. I heard some people outraged over the idea of somone "googling" them, finding out all kinds of personal information by putting in their name. So, I tried it with my name. To my amazement, I was not only the first result for my name, but showed up another 3 times in the first page of results and several more times in subsequent pages. However, to know which reuslts were actually me required some knowledge of who I was. And at that, the closest I got to embarrasment was that my first results were links to a chess variant and several digital images I created in my middle school and high school years. If you didn't know to pick those things out, I might appear to be a Computer Graphics book author or a Benedictine Monk who plays piano.
Since then, the algorithms have improved, I guess, such that most of my earlier results have slipped off the front page. However, my webjournal is still up there, so I guess I am now more prone to being "googled" as it is easier to figure that that's the right person. (Right age, location, etc) Dem's the breaks, I guess.
Anyhow, my point was simply along the lines of that the efficacy of searching for someone in Google is limited, even more so if they use common words in their name. Ever tried looking up a Catherine Church?
Maybe because there's less of a standard?
on
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^_^ Before I get flamed for my total ignorance, I'll state that I am a very peripheral Linux user. I can navigate my way through the command line interface and do a few useful things, but I've yet to do an actual install. Disclaimer duly mentioned.
My impression of the Linux platform is that upon downloading, most users start downloading various modifications or programming their own. As a result, individual systems can be fairly different, versus the Microsoft model, where they try to get everything standardized so everyone using their system is using one of 5-6 OSes, one web browser (theirs), one word processor (theirs), etc.
Now admittedly, this non-standardization means that the average beginner may not be able to use their hardware at first because they haven't figured out which patches or modifications are necessary to get said hardware to run...
Most of the areas I've seen where wait-persons are allowed to be paid less than minimum wage, it is mandated that they earn enough in tips, or else the employer pays the difference. *wry grin* Unfortunately, rocking the boat by insisting on said compensation can lead to dismissal in some places. And in others, all tips are shared to simplify bookkeeping, which means you're supporting the deadbeats as well as yourself.
I've done the written test in two states (Kentucky and Ohio) and the practical test in one (Kentucky). The written test in KY was more difficult, involving not only being able to identify major rules and signs, but also some parts where you're given a situation and asked what to do. (Including the legendary question, which is almost always on one of the 3 exams you might have to take, involving what to do if an animals leaps in front of your car. The correct answer is to speed up, should you get that question. ^_^ KY, go figure...)
As for the practical part, in KY we had to demonstrate some simple driving around, at least one turn-around (driving past a side street, backing into it, turning to the other direction), downshifting if you were driving a manual car (in my family, the rule is that we take the test in a manual. After that, automatics are a snap), parking on a hill, and the parallel parking. Parallel parking is where a lot of people fail. Parking is done on an actual city street with cars (no sissy traffic cones for us) and touching the curb or, Heaven forfend, another car is automatic failure, same as running a stop sign or red light.
Now I haven't actually taken the Ohio practical exam, but a few people I've spoken to say that parallel parking is not covered. *shrug* Personally, I think they're crippling drivers by taking that out, but eh. Then again, I also think one ought to have to periodically take a refresher course, say every 5 years or so, to renew one's license. YOu should have to prove that you still know the rules, can still parallel park, and, most importantly, that all your senses and reflexes are still in good order. But hey, just my opinion.
I know that you didn't make this accusation, but one frequently attached to the growing cost of movies is that "special effects are emphasized over plot," often with people quoting older movies which only cost a few million to make, but were perfectly alright. In probably a good 50-75% (97.2% of statistics are made up on the spot) of those cases, I wonder how long ago these people actually saw the movie in question. We have become accustomed to special effects being slick, of the veneer of reality being pretty darn close to flawless. At one point, people could use cardboard rocks and the same sound stage over and over again for a movie, but today, we're not quite as ready to suspend that belief because we know they can do better. As example, note how many of the "movie goofs" have become technical things, "When Rod lifts the revolver, you can tell by the shape of the stock that it's the Eagle, only produced after 1775, inexcusable in a movie set in 1774."
*wry grin* Ok, there's my rant for the day. And I'll freely admit that there are a lot of well done low-budget movies. They're generally also the ones without big name actors though, so they often miss notice.
Being kids, one of the first things we did upon finding our grandparents' Ercetor Set was to make swords with the metal slats. *wry grin* Luckily, our parents caught us in the process of sharpening them, before anybody got badly hurt.
But yeah, a lot of good memories in those things. With a motor that had two switchable gear settings (more if you were willing to pull out the bars and change gears around), solid metal wheels, axles, and struts that could hold some fairly heavy loads, and the fact that the parts had integration with the other parts of the workbench (Build a framework and screw on some boards, for instance) meant hours of fun.
Speaking of odd mechanical sets, anyone else remember Robotix? Used hex bolts that popped into sockets, starter set came with 5 motors IIRC, complete with a control pad with ample switched.
The shifting of the plates is how the Earth relieves pressure. Earthquakes, IIRC, tend to form as the result of the plates sticking. They get stuck, generally due to friction, although I guess super-mussels may be a fairly viable situation now, and the earthquake happens as the result of the plates violently getting unstuck. Think of trying to pull open a jammed drawer. You keep applying pressure, trying to yank it out, then suddenly it comes loose and you and the drawer go flying backwards.
I'll admit that when he mentioned the mussels continuously sealing the ship, my first thought was starships... *shrug* More of an isolated medium out there, although you'd have to conquer those minor things like no breathable air and radiation...
And then giant space hamsters... yeah... ^_^
That's what the description reminds me of. Off of Amazon.com:
A millennium into the future, two advancements have altered the course of human history: the colonization of the Galaxy and the creation of the positronic brain. On the beautiful Outer World planet of Solaria, a handful of human colonists lead a hermit-like existence, their every need attended to by their faithful robot servants. To this strange and provocative planet comes Detective Elijah Baley, sent from the streets of New York with his positronic partner, the robot R. Daneel Olivaw, to solve an incredible murder that has rocked Solaria to its foundations. The victim had been so reclusive that he appeared to his associates only through holographic projection. Yet someone had gotten close enough to bludgeon him to death while robots looked on. Now Baley and Olivaw are faced with two clear impossibilities: Either the Solarian was killed by one of his robots--unthinkable under the laws of Robotics--or he was killed by the woman who loved him so much that she never came into his presence!
I read that one as a child. Always amusing to see how Asimov played with the 3 laws of robotics.
To me, the problem is not so much that they're appropriating the names of people doing the file-swapping, but that they're subpoenaing names without actually establishing a case and they're asking for massive lists of names which include many people not associated with the file-swapping.
As for me and my house, I will admit to having occasionally downloaded music. Part of it is that whole "free beer" thing. *wry grin* I'm of Scots heritage. I'm cheap. Part of it's also that I have a fairly eclectic taste in music. I tried for 6 months to find a commercial way to buy Nuit de Folie, a song by Debut de Soiree before finally just getting it off of Kazaa. It's less a moral stance for me and more of a practical thing.
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"You know you're old when you remember when bacon, eggs, and sunshine were all good for you." What with Adkins and all of the pro-egg commercials, all we've got left is sunshine to conquer to return to status quo...
I don't have a cite right now, but I remember reading a study which said that caffeine enlarges the blood vessels for a period, allowing for a more rapid flow. That's why you feel like you're thinking quicker. That's why caffeine can be a good quick fix for migraines. And that's why withdrawal can lead to headaches of its own. (You get used to the expanded passages)
*wry grin* I too have no cites to back this up, but I remember reading a discussion of safety glass (having your windshield break into fairly harmless pebbles of glass held together by a gummy sheet rather than huge shards of sharp glass) where they said that initially safety glass was opposed by auto manufacturers on grounds that people would drive more unsafely if the risks of crashes were reduced like that.
I also wonder if the installation of airbags (supposedly to be mandatory any day now) has reduced seatbelt usage.
As to why people started pronouncing it as "deuce", it could be because half the people I mentioned the game's name to when I first got it heard it as "Day of Sex." *sigh* I'd ask them to get their minds out of the gutters, but that positioning's an improvement over how they used to be...
One of my friends in college, her family owned a 1-800 number, the idea behind it being that it wound up costing them less than collect calls or using the exhorbitant college phone service fees.
And yes, I am an ugly American.
Heck, if nothing else, look at Prince of Tennis, a series following a junior tennis player. 83 episodes, 40 managa volumes, and at least one hentai doujinishi (don't ask how I ran into that one...) about tennis. Only in Japan...
Didn't hurt that it got me to read a few of the classics that I'd never had the chance to peruse before...
That said, I recently had an optometrist (mother of a friend of mine) claim that exposure to long amounts of screen viewing (TV or computer) at an early age was proven to do something to how one focusses one's eyes that later proves detrimental. *wry grin* Now admittedly, she had no actual article to cite, so that information may be suspect. Much like how your parents used to claim reading in low light would hurt your eyes. Possible explanation here.
You've got a point regarding the non-standard names. I heard some people outraged over the idea of somone "googling" them, finding out all kinds of personal information by putting in their name. So, I tried it with my name. To my amazement, I was not only the first result for my name, but showed up another 3 times in the first page of results and several more times in subsequent pages. However, to know which reuslts were actually me required some knowledge of who I was. And at that, the closest I got to embarrasment was that my first results were links to a chess variant and several digital images I created in my middle school and high school years. If you didn't know to pick those things out, I might appear to be a Computer Graphics book author or a Benedictine Monk who plays piano.
Since then, the algorithms have improved, I guess, such that most of my earlier results have slipped off the front page. However, my webjournal is still up there, so I guess I am now more prone to being "googled" as it is easier to figure that that's the right person. (Right age, location, etc) Dem's the breaks, I guess.
Anyhow, my point was simply along the lines of that the efficacy of searching for someone in Google is limited, even more so if they use common words in their name. Ever tried looking up a Catherine Church?
^_^ Before I get flamed for my total ignorance, I'll state that I am a very peripheral Linux user. I can navigate my way through the command line interface and do a few useful things, but I've yet to do an actual install. Disclaimer duly mentioned. My impression of the Linux platform is that upon downloading, most users start downloading various modifications or programming their own. As a result, individual systems can be fairly different, versus the Microsoft model, where they try to get everything standardized so everyone using their system is using one of 5-6 OSes, one web browser (theirs), one word processor (theirs), etc. Now admittedly, this non-standardization means that the average beginner may not be able to use their hardware at first because they haven't figured out which patches or modifications are necessary to get said hardware to run...
If we had attractive female lab workers here (which we don't), I'd honestly prefer them to not be wearing said labtops. ^_^
Most of the areas I've seen where wait-persons are allowed to be paid less than minimum wage, it is mandated that they earn enough in tips, or else the employer pays the difference. *wry grin* Unfortunately, rocking the boat by insisting on said compensation can lead to dismissal in some places. And in others, all tips are shared to simplify bookkeeping, which means you're supporting the deadbeats as well as yourself.
Elven reverie anyone? ^_^
I've done the written test in two states (Kentucky and Ohio) and the practical test in one (Kentucky). The written test in KY was more difficult, involving not only being able to identify major rules and signs, but also some parts where you're given a situation and asked what to do. (Including the legendary question, which is almost always on one of the 3 exams you might have to take, involving what to do if an animals leaps in front of your car. The correct answer is to speed up, should you get that question. ^_^ KY, go figure...) As for the practical part, in KY we had to demonstrate some simple driving around, at least one turn-around (driving past a side street, backing into it, turning to the other direction), downshifting if you were driving a manual car (in my family, the rule is that we take the test in a manual. After that, automatics are a snap), parking on a hill, and the parallel parking. Parallel parking is where a lot of people fail. Parking is done on an actual city street with cars (no sissy traffic cones for us) and touching the curb or, Heaven forfend, another car is automatic failure, same as running a stop sign or red light. Now I haven't actually taken the Ohio practical exam, but a few people I've spoken to say that parallel parking is not covered. *shrug* Personally, I think they're crippling drivers by taking that out, but eh. Then again, I also think one ought to have to periodically take a refresher course, say every 5 years or so, to renew one's license. YOu should have to prove that you still know the rules, can still parallel park, and, most importantly, that all your senses and reflexes are still in good order. But hey, just my opinion.
I know that you didn't make this accusation, but one frequently attached to the growing cost of movies is that "special effects are emphasized over plot," often with people quoting older movies which only cost a few million to make, but were perfectly alright. In probably a good 50-75% (97.2% of statistics are made up on the spot) of those cases, I wonder how long ago these people actually saw the movie in question. We have become accustomed to special effects being slick, of the veneer of reality being pretty darn close to flawless. At one point, people could use cardboard rocks and the same sound stage over and over again for a movie, but today, we're not quite as ready to suspend that belief because we know they can do better. As example, note how many of the "movie goofs" have become technical things, "When Rod lifts the revolver, you can tell by the shape of the stock that it's the Eagle, only produced after 1775, inexcusable in a movie set in 1774." *wry grin* Ok, there's my rant for the day. And I'll freely admit that there are a lot of well done low-budget movies. They're generally also the ones without big name actors though, so they often miss notice.
Being kids, one of the first things we did upon finding our grandparents' Ercetor Set was to make swords with the metal slats. *wry grin* Luckily, our parents caught us in the process of sharpening them, before anybody got badly hurt. But yeah, a lot of good memories in those things. With a motor that had two switchable gear settings (more if you were willing to pull out the bars and change gears around), solid metal wheels, axles, and struts that could hold some fairly heavy loads, and the fact that the parts had integration with the other parts of the workbench (Build a framework and screw on some boards, for instance) meant hours of fun. Speaking of odd mechanical sets, anyone else remember Robotix? Used hex bolts that popped into sockets, starter set came with 5 motors IIRC, complete with a control pad with ample switched.
The shifting of the plates is how the Earth relieves pressure. Earthquakes, IIRC, tend to form as the result of the plates sticking. They get stuck, generally due to friction, although I guess super-mussels may be a fairly viable situation now, and the earthquake happens as the result of the plates violently getting unstuck. Think of trying to pull open a jammed drawer. You keep applying pressure, trying to yank it out, then suddenly it comes loose and you and the drawer go flying backwards. I'll admit that when he mentioned the mussels continuously sealing the ship, my first thought was starships... *shrug* More of an isolated medium out there, although you'd have to conquer those minor things like no breathable air and radiation... And then giant space hamsters... yeah... ^_^
To me, the problem is not so much that they're appropriating the names of people doing the file-swapping, but that they're subpoenaing names without actually establishing a case and they're asking for massive lists of names which include many people not associated with the file-swapping. As for me and my house, I will admit to having occasionally downloaded music. Part of it is that whole "free beer" thing. *wry grin* I'm of Scots heritage. I'm cheap. Part of it's also that I have a fairly eclectic taste in music. I tried for 6 months to find a commercial way to buy Nuit de Folie, a song by Debut de Soiree before finally just getting it off of Kazaa. It's less a moral stance for me and more of a practical thing.