Datasets:

---

nreimers

/

reddit_question_best_answers

like 14

[ { "body": "On a scale of 1-5, how irritated are you about those 30 seconds you lost?\n\nEDIT: I'm seriously curious.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "While we're at it can we make a special tag for Klazart commentaries? Listening to this guy makes me homicidal.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "It boggles my mind that we have to bring this up again after the last sub got 70+ upvotes not even a month ago.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pan-seared-rib-eye-recipe/index.html\n\nexcept i would recommend peanut oil, higher smoke point. though there will be a lot of smoke anyways.\n\nor you also have this method, though you really have to watch the heat of the cast iron, it will retain a lot of heat.\n\nhttp://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/steak-with-bernaise-recipe/index.html\n\n<edit>\nregardless of how you decide to cook your steak in your cast iron skillet, i would highly recommend one simple step every time, pan sear the steak on high heat on each side (one minute each side, 2 or 3 if it's >1.5\" thick) prior to cooking. This makes sure that a crust is developed keeping all the juices inside the steak. If you don't sear or seal in the juices prior to cooking it, you will most likely end up with a dried up steak.\n\nalso, i recommend the peanut oil instead of olive oil simply because of the smoking point. In fact, i have merely read and heard that peanut oil is the way to go, but have never even really tried it since i am a poor college student and can't really afford to diversify my cooking oil that much, i just use olive oil and it is fine really.\n\nI found the pan seared method the best when i was in Florence, Italy. the bistecca florentine is a huge t-bone coated in olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper then preppered by searing each side in high heat pan, then baked in oven etc. and it is fantastic!\n\nWhen i do have the time/effort set a side to prepare a real nice steak though i would never do the pan fry method. I get a conservative ~1\" thick ribeye (something with a good amount of marbling in it) and stab repeatedly with a fork, give a real nice seasoning rub, and let marinate at least 2 hours to overnight in a powerful marinade and then grill over high heat in a charcoal grill. Though when i don't have much interest in investing all that time, the pan seared method works very well.", "score": 14 }, { "body": "I just looked at the Alton B. method; it's similar to my own method which I have refined over the past 30+ years of pan searing steak. The following is what works for my preferred \"Pittsburgh style\" steak. \r\n\r\nI get the pan RF hot and let it sizzle for something closer to two minutes on first side. Don't prod, poke, touch or fiddle. Then turn it over and immediately pop the pan into the 450 F oven. Crust, crust glorious crust. \r\n\r\nBearnaise is a lovely accompaniment - I make it the way St. Julia taught us, as I also like a \"Bearnaise with authority\" as she puts it. Come to think of it, I usually go with Bearnaise for a rib-eye. For a strip (a.k.a. shell or NY strip) steak, see next paragraph. \r\n\r\n\r\nBut my favorite has to be _au poivre_. Coarsely crush (or grind if your grinder has a __very__ coarse setting) a shitload of Tellicherry peppercorns. Salt the steak (liberally, with kosher or sea salt) then dredge it in the pepper. Yes, it's a LOT of pepper - no to worry. After preparing as above, remove the steak to rest. Return the pan to a medium hot burner and toss in some finely diced shallot. Add a dollop of butter, if the pan is too dry. Cook briefly, just to soften the shallot. Optionally add a tablespoon of Dijon style mustard. Add several glugs of brandy or cognac to _flambe_. You might want to add the booze off-heat, especially if you're cooking with gas. When the booze has reduced to a almost nothing, add either a cup or so of beef stock OR preferably a tablespoon of _demi-glace_. If using stock, reduce by half. Add about 2/3 cup of heavy cream and bring to the boil. Boil just to _nappe_ (until it coats the back of a spoon). Drape the steaks with sauce and call your cardiologist to let him know you'll be having a coronary shortly. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "here's mine:\n\n- pre-heat the oven to 180 cel\n- pre-heat the skillet till it's smoking hot\n- season both sides of the steak with salt, pepper and olive oil\n- drop steak in skillet for 1 minute, turn over and continue to fry for another minute\n- drop some cherry tomatoes in the skillet, add a tablespoon or so of balsamic vinegar and shake the skillet so everything gets coated\n- put skillet in over for 10 mins or so (10 mins will be medium so adjust for how you like your steak)\n- eat!!!!!!", "score": 4 }, { "body": "First season the pan or you will end up with a mess. I presume your pan is not preseasoned. Seasoning is washing off any sealing storage coating then rubbing the pan all over saturated fat to fill in the little pores. I prefer using lard or bacon fat for seasoning. I think vegetable oils and Crisco leave a sticky surface. In the long run only animal fat wil produce a stable non-stick surface. Then you bake the pan in an over for at least an hour at at least 250F. \n\nAs for cooking heat up some coconut oil until very hot (peanut oil is too high in Omega 6 fatty acids to be healthy) then sear the meat until juices appear on the top side. Then sear the other side and turn down the heat until it reaches your preference for doneness. I like mine mooing. Let set for at least 10 minutes after cooking. (Searing does not, contrary to internet asses, \"seal\" in the juices. That is not the dynamic at all. The heat drives the juices into the inner portion of the meat. Letting it set after cooking allows the juices to move out to near where they were. This keep the juice in your steak. If you cut a steak without resting, the built up juice in the center will flow onto your steak and the rest of your steak will be dry. That is why letting meat set after cooking is imporant. ) ", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "They're kurta pyjamas, super common in South Asia. The top is either a kurta or kurti. And the pants are probably churidar pyjamas. \n\nI bet his cost a couple thousand, but otherwise they can be super cheap!", "score": 7 } ]

[ { "body": "After biking regularly for about a year, I am in the best shape of my life. I lost 25 lbs. Fantastic cardio exercise, but you have to know how to push yourself. \r\n\r\nFor instance, it is easy to get lazy and just keep the pedals turning but not really burn much. There is a lot of opportunity for rest while riding if you stop spinning. If you have a heart rate monitor, you can push yourself to a certain percentage of your max. Or you can just shoot for a certain speed / cadence and stick to it. I suggest keeping in a mid to low(ish) gear and spinning faster, which is a better cardio workout. \r\n\r\nMy legs are definitely stronger now - I have pronounced muscles in my quads and my calves, and I never had before. This also burns more calories even while I'm resting. So although I didn't bulk up muscle in my upper body, I am more stable and can walk faster. Also, my core is stronger because I don't lean on the handlebars too much (bad form, bad for your wrists). Support yourself with your abs, and you'll feel strength all around your midsection. Practice cycling without holding onto the handlebars - that'll really get you going. \r\n\r\nThe best part of bicycling that I've found is that it is low impact. I can't run because my knees are shit, but cycling doesn't kill them. In fact, it has strengthened the muscles around my knees and made it easier for me to do day-to-day tasks without hurting my knees. Also, my lung capacity has definitely increased. I used to have athletic-induced asthma, but I don't get that cycling - just running. \r\n\r\nI started biking by incorporating it into my daily routine - yet another benefit. I bike commute, which is easy for me to work in. It is also a way to ensure that you'll actually stick to it. \r\n\r\nBest of luck to you, heruz. And as they say in cycling circles, \"keep the rubber side down\" (don't crash).", "score": 13 }, { "body": "Cycling's great for cardiovascular health and burning energy. But I wouldn't call it a full-body exercise.\n\nKeep in mind that your body will typically burn muscle along with fat during weight loss unless you give your body a reason to keep the muscle around. Do strength exercises to ensure you don't lose muscle while you're losing weight.\n It's biologically impossible to grow muscle when the body is losing weight, so don't worry about gaining any significant amount of muscle during your weight loss.\n", "score": 5 }, { "body": "From a purely cardiovascular standpoint it is entirely a function of how intense you ride, as it is with any aerobic exercise. The best way to train on a bike is with a fixed gear system which does not allow the rider to coast. That said, all training is exercise specific. Cycling will not make you a great runner or swimmer in terms of cardio vascular endurance and vice versa. ", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Absolutely. I commute to work regularly on the bike, and have found it excellent for controlling body fat. The arms, shoulders chest and abs are worked more than you might think.. \n\nOne tip though, if you're trying to keep lean and not gain bulky muscle in the legs, keep your cadence high, and power low. That is, keep the legs spinning faster in a lower gear, rather than powering away in a high gear. Cardio will be better this way, and you'll keep muscles lean. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Been there, done this.\n\nSounds like you're suffering from depression. Get help, go see a doctor. I don't think your mom's one bad incident with a psychologist should deter you from seeking help, even if just from a general physician. If you see a GP, he'll be able to fully determine what's up with what's going on with you.\n\nDon't stress out right now over wanting a girl friend, it probably won't go so well until you sort things out with yourself. It's really hard to love someone else if you don't love yourself first, trust me.\n\nI'm speaking from personal experience here. I went through all this starting from about April of this year, and it gradually got worse until September when I finally got help. \n\nIn the meantime, you can do plenty of other things to help yourself out. Join a gym, the endorphin release after a good work out is a tremendous help. Find a friend with a dog or a cat... petting animals can be very therapeutic. Find things that are happening around your city and get out and do them: experiencing life can be very rewarding. Find a new hobby: I know this is hard, because by now you're probably not even enjoying things you used to enjoy, but if you can find something new, do it (I found out that I really enjoy the TV show Fringe, so I went and bought season one -- I still re-watch it all the time).\n\nIf you ever need to talk, PM me.", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "I think quacks suffer from a fundamental malfunction in terms of reality perception. As such, even if they did stumble on to something real, they wouldn't be able to tell it from the fantasy.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Information is only valuable if it can be communicated in some form. If they can neither demonstrate superior results, nor describe a testable theory, then they have shared nothing. If a man goes and walks across a lake without obvious explanation, it won't matter whether or how he understands himself to be doing it so long as others can try to understand.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 \"Choral\" , 4th Movement, by one Beethoven. Roughly around the 18:00 minute mark.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "The Star Spangled Banner - downvote away.\n\nFor those who came before and fought for the ideals that we, the people, strive for.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "Mad World-Gary Jules (I think thats how you spell his name)\r\n\r\nIt was the song for the commerical for Gears of War 1. Also from the movie Donnie Dracko. That song just gives me chills when I listein to it.\r\n\r\n9 Crimes- Damien Rice\r\n\r\nAnother great slow song that just gives me chills. I noticed alot of these songs were upbeat ones and thought I would post 2 slow songs that give me goosebumps.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "Pearl Jam - Black \r\n \r\n*I know someday you'll have a beautiful life \r\nI know you'll be a star \r\nIn somebody else's sky but why \r\nWhy-hyy \r\nWhyyyyyyyyy can't it beeeee \r\nWhy can't it beeeee miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine* \r\n \r\nChrist... I'm getting goosebumps just typing it out.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "\"House Of Dreams\" by Blue Rodeo and \"99% Of Us Is Failure\" by Matthew Good, both for the raw emotion they relay. \n\nHotel California for the awesome guitars :-D", "score": 3 }, { "body": "- Lake of Fire - Nirvana/Meat Puppets\n- Sliver - Nirvana. Definitive song about childhood.\n- Walk on By - Issac Hayes. That's some heartbreak.\n- Otha Fish - the Pharcyde. Same deal as Hayes.\n- No Rain - Blind Melon. If you've ever been depressed at all this one hits it. \n- Sour Times or Only You - Portishead. \n- Original Fables Faubus - Charles Mingus. He really belts it out on that one.\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "[This always gives me goosebumps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhRw3nE67aw#t=2m47s). Any other Metal Gear Solid fan would agree. \n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "[Lord of the Rings Movement No.1 \"Gandalf\"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IorOng9qUOo&feature=PlayList&p=C167A1F26EDE0203&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=29) - Johan De Meij\n\nNote: this is *not* part of the soundtrack to the movie. This was written with only the books for inspiration in 1984.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "OP's list is killer!\n\n\nI'd add Floyd's Wish You Were Here to that list... The opening \"so\" gived me shivers every time\nAlso Nick Cave's Mercy Seat, The Cure's Pictures Of You... and Syd Barrett's Dark Globe", "score": 3 }, { "body": "The entire Blood on the Tracks album, though more specifically You're a Big Girl Now, and Simple Twist of Fate", "score": 3 }, { "body": "How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead\n\nThe ghost track on Damien Rice's song Eskimo\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXlzci1rKNM < This", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Off the of my head \n\n[Hummer](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2f53NhSD94) - Smashing Pumpkins, specifically 4:30 and on.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "[Mew - Comforting Sounds](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PvSbj22ZQY) It's long but worth it. I love how the singer almost sounds supernatural in the end. Seen it live 3 times and cried every time. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "> I'd pick quality over price.\n\nYou better! If you're going to buy cheap brushes, you may as well not buy them at all. High-quality brushes will be pricier, but they'll work better and will rarely need to be replaced if you take care of them.\n\nI used to work at Sephora and I'll happily attest to the awesomeness of their brushes. I've had one of their sets since I was a senior in high school (now a senior in college) and it still works just as well as when I got it: my makeup goes on evenly because the bristles aren't stiff, and the bristles aren't falling out all over my face. <3\n\nIf I had your gift certificate, I'd go for [this set](http://www.amazon.com/Sephora-Brand-Complete-Starter-Brush/dp/B002RWCXOA/ref=pd_sbs_bt_3). It has everything you could possibly need as long as you're not Lady Gaga. In particular, I *love* the brush on the far right - it has very short, dense, rounded bristles. I use it to apply really dense eyeshadow right at the base of my eyelashes for color that is intense but a little smudgier than regular eyeliner. <3\n\nYou can also go through the related items at the bottom and see what your other options are. I didn't go through all of them, but this set is a GREAT deal and none of the other sets I saw really came anywhere close.\n\nTo clean your brushes, use baby shampoo. Put a couple drops in a sink of warm water, swish your brushes around in it, moosh them gently (!) and rinse them all the way with warm water. VERY IMPORTANT: let them dry overnight with the bristles hanging off the side of the sink. This is how we cleaned our brushes at work - the idea is to keep water from just sitting in the bristles. That goofs up the glue and lets the bristles fall out. Make sure they're all the way dry before you put them away, and they'll be just fine.\n\nCheers!", "score": 9 } ]

[ { "body": "I have a question for you that's unrelated to your question, but related to my interests, if you don't mind.\n\nAt what age do your children get to decide if they want to believe in your version of god or not? In other words, do you give them the choice at the beginning? Or do you simply take them to church and read from the bible and hope they pick your religion when they turn 18?\n\nThank you for taking my question seriously (I have 2 boys ages 10 and 2 months).", "score": 7 }, { "body": "This one should be perfect: [Illustrated Stories From The Bible](http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Stories-Bible-Paul-Farrell/dp/1578849225)", "score": 5 }, { "body": "The [Picture Bible](http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0781430550/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0)\n\nBest. Bible. Ever.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "[The Big Picture Story Bible](http://www.crossway.org/product/1581342772) is a good one in terms of having some of the lesser known Bible stories and it focuses more on the overall themes of the Bible then the stories. It doesn't seem to have the verses and things more just tells different stories like a Children's book would. Let me know if that helps or if you are looking for a complete Bible (with verses and everything).", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Please, wait until your children can discern between nonsense and reality before teaching them religion. Ideally, don't tell them anything and let them choose for themselves.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I had a Precious Moments Bible when I was only slighly older than your son. The pictures and little notes helped my understanding, but if you read it with him I bet it wouldn't go over his head, and you both would be making some wonderful memories. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I tend to agree. Terrorism can be an umbrella term for any action not consistent with government opinion. Prosecution and punishment should be doled out for specific actions, e.g. destruction of person or property. Terrorism, in its relatively unrefined definition, is fair ground for fascist suppression of dissident activities.", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "If you like cyberpunk, you might want to try Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the world by Murakami.. \n\nOr, for something less 'hard', but very inspiring, try The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas. \n\nHave fun with books!", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "My uncle was killed in Korea by a Lay's Potato Chip. It was a senseless death. That chip stabbed him 17 times- he never had a chance. ", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "my preferred method:\n\njust put a nugget it in a regular pipe -- just make sure it's big enough not to fall through the hole at the bottom -- and as you inhale, slowly bring the lighter closer to the hash nugget until you see it start to gently smoke and liquify a bit. then bring the flame closer or further, as necessary, to keep it in that state as you breathe in.\n\nthe idea is to not get it to the point where it catches the flame and starts melting/incinerating.\n\nit's like cornering a bowl that's filled with weed.\n\nif you've got crumbly hash, put it on top of a bowl full of weed and use the same sort of technique... it's kind of like a poor man's version of vaporizing.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "Why ask Canadians? Us 'merican's know how to smoke that shit, too. Although it may seem annoying or confusing at first, I will describe how to do the easiest and most effective method, IMO.\n\nYou will need a glass (preferably see-through), a straw a needle, minute amount of sticky tac, and that fine hash:\n1. Put the hash on the needle (deep enough to hold when it burns).\n2. Sticky-tac the needle to a table.\n3. While the glass is over, but not completely covering the needle, light the hash and it will start to burn. It is at this point that you need to use your own judgment: Either let it burn until it goes out by itself (the self-extinguishment of the glass blocking the oxygen) or blow it out and place the glass over the burning hash. I prefer letting it burn for a few seconds and covering the hash with the glass, but it's up to you.\n4.Let the hash completely stop smoking (this is where the transparency of the glass comes in).\n5. Lift up a side of the glass (as little as possibly) and take a hit with the straw. \n\n*If you want to get the smoke out the glass the simplest, use a flexible straw. It helps clearing the bottom of the glass.*", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I'm from Kuwait so I smoke hash all the time, let me tell you how its done around the world. \n \n1. First, get some tobacco ready. Just break up a cigarette and leave it ready on a magazine(roll on the magazine or whatever surface because IT IS GOING TO MAKE A MESS if you're a beginner.) \n \n2. Put a piece of hash enough for a joint on a pin and use a lighter to heat it up and soften it up, you might have to let it catch on fire for a few seconds. \n \n3. Drop the heated piece on the tobacco and mix it up, it should break into tiny pieces, don't burn your fingers while mixing, so watch out. \n \n4. Break up any leftover big pieces so you don't get alot of hot rocks (flaming pieces of hash that fall from the joint and always end up burning your clothes or you), add a filter and then just roll it up like a joint and enjoy!", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Aliens capable of traveling across the galaxy only to be stopped by ....\n\n1) Water (Signs)\n\n2) The Fly's mac computer. (Independence Day)\n\nAnd I almost forgot, why none of the bad guys tried to hook up with Barbarella after she broke the orgasm machine; real men would have been all over that. ", "score": 41 }, { "body": "Maniacally insane cannibalistic humans who are absolutely beyond rational thought, yet are quite capable of (evidently) having a society that doesn't destroy itself, and pilot space ships.", "score": 32 }, { "body": "Minority Report:\n\nThey can track Cruises character by retinal pattern so he has surgery to swap out his eyeballs. Then when they catch him and put him in prison his friends use his original eyeballs to break him out of jail...\n\n'Cause you know they'd never remove the security clearance of a convicted criminal.", "score": 21 }, { "body": "The fact that the human race has invented faster than light travel, yet still can't cure breast cancer. (Battlestar Galactica)", "score": 17 }, { "body": "D9: why didn't the aliens just use the mech suit to steal the cat food?\n\nedit: the mech actually *did* work before the mother ship was booted up by the command module. the aliens walk it into the nigerians when they trade it for catfood.\n\n*sigh* i'm such a geek", "score": 16 }, { "body": "Minority Report: Nothing the precogs predict ever actually happens. Shouldn't they see people getting arrested instead of murdered?\n\nSixth Sense: If Bruce Willis was dead then how did that kid get assigned as his patient?\n\nStarship Troopers: Why didn't they just nuke the whole planet?", "score": 15 }, { "body": "The Matrix - how were the machines able to feed the humans for a lifetime, with a growing population? Feeding them dead people won't work for 70 or 80 years.", "score": 14 }, { "body": "Most of the X Files Mytharc. \r\n\r\nIn that universe, bees pollinate corn and are part of an alien plan to spread a virus that transforms people into ... oh, fuck, nevermind. I think Scully was pregnant for like a year and a half or some nonsense like that, too. Don't even get me started on Mulder's Lazarus number. Or the moronic way the Lone Gunmen were offed. \r\n\r\nWhy are the phone hard lines still working at all in the Matrix \"real world\"?\r\n\r\nIt's not a plot hole per se, but The Oracle insists on feeding Neo something every time she sees him. In both cases, he experiences a burst in abilities right afterward (bullet time/real world computer-sensing mojo). Is she just feeding him code, like the Merovingian did to that woman with the Chocolate Blow Job Cake?", "score": 14 }, { "body": "BSG - The first three seasons utilize well reasoned and thought out science. Season 4 and 4.5 toss that all away in lieu of \"One true god\" causing and solving all of their problems.\n\nTo me that was a giant cop-out. A wasted opportunity to do something so much more creative.", "score": 13 }, { "body": "The continued existence of Jar Jar Binks. How come the Jedi didn't dump him first chance they got? \n\nOr kill him, now I think about it?", "score": 12 }, { "body": "Bringing any character back from the dead, especially in stupid ways to serve no good purpose plot wise.\r\n\r\nThe most mind-numbingly egregious example: *Xenocide* by Orson Scott Card.\r\n\r\nIn a way I'm glad OSC turned out to be such a frothing bigot, because now I don't have to feel guilty about hating that horrible, horrible book.", "score": 11 }, { "body": "I know it's more fantasy than scifi, but... Heroes.\n\nMore specifically, Sylar and Peter.\n\nThese motherfuckers have multitudes of powers that they never use more than *one* of at a time. Peter has every power Sylar has just by being near him, plus the abilities of every single superhuman he's *ever* been near. Even excluding the ones he doesn't know he has, that's still enough to tear Sylar a new one in seconds from five miles away. Sure, they strip their abilities at every opportunity - virus, eclipse, conflicting powers, cancer etc., but despite that they have or have had *awesome power* that they never *use*.\n\nSylar could have painted to find his victims in advance, super hearing to know exactly where they are, focused radiation to kill them from a distance, do a quick non-invasive power-steal and then give them a dose of his blood to regenerate them in a pinch. Instead of having everyone in the world hate him, he could have quietly gotten his fix while gathering hundreds of powers from victims who have nothing more than a quick burst of nausea and a short blackout, and then their athletes foot is cured. \n\nPeter could have used *anyone's* abilities. Perfect memory means he only had to look at Suresh's files once to find the names of dozens of specials, the little girl's ability would let him find them anywhere, then he'd just have to be *near* them to steal their ability. Repeat times 1000, he's god.\n\nDon't even get me started on combination abilities - I've imagined Sylar turning his arm to metal, cutting off and regrowing his finger bones with his mind, charging them full of electricity and flinging them telekinetically like goddamn god bullets. \n\nIt's a case of writers attempting to give characters far too much power without giving them convincing reasons for them not to abuse them, and it pisses me the fuck off.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "picard leaves the nexus in generations only to put himself in the weakest position possible to fight soron", "score": 7 }, { "body": "Terminator 1 & 2 always bothered me for the time travel paradoxes involved. I could deal with Reese being John's father, but at the point they shut down Cyberdyne and destroy the Terminator parts, we really have an unresolvable paradox at that point. Either A)John should have faded out, BTTF-style, or B)it means we're in a polyverse and there's no reason for the people in the future to be sending all this crap back in time because everyone's on multiple timelines.\r\n\r\nI know that T3 attempted to fix this, but its explanation really didn't help much.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "The sudden appearance of Grandma in Farscape. \"Oh, by the way here's a new character who...um...was on the ship you blew up...um...and she was in your escape pod or something...yeah that's it...\"", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Pretty much any of Heinlein's later works- we know that when people can clone/have gender reassignments/live forever all that they want to do is to have sex with versions of themselves or people that they already know, so why not build a PLOT around it? \n\n", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Dude - I'd call out The Matrix for leaving the door open for a sequel and then not following through.\n\nWhat the fuck, seriously?", "score": 5 }, { "body": "The Matrix - \"[Human bodies] combined with a form of *fusion*\"... Umm, if you've got fusion of any kind, why bother powering a huge baby farm infrastructure... ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "That's the biggest plot hole you could find in the Matrix? How about this? With the sun cut off, where does energy flow into the system to keep the humans alive? Humans require higher \"value\" energy, and mainly give off low value energy (heat). Thermodynamics says entropy increases in a closed system. So, where does the energy for the human farms come from, and why don't the machines just use that? Edit: My son asked me if UFOs are real. My answer? What the hell could a space-faring civilization want from us that they couldn't get or make in space?", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Anything involving artificial gravity. I mean, come on man. If you can do that, on multiple planar arranged decks on a spaceship, in orbit around something with it's own gravity, rotated 90deg ... Aren't you pretty much God?", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "I find the broader internet quite dull. A bit like a trip to the mall. It's comfortable, sure. You always know what you're going to get. It never really changes. And there's nothing really new.\n\nReddit is where I go to really SURF the internet. The waves of interesting links crest and crash around me. Sometimes I can ride the tubes on a high of euphoria and lulz. And then sometimes I wipeout and I can only turn to the kleenex to mop up the mess.", "score": 18 } ]

[ { "body": "Take Terence McKenna's advice and do enough where you get to the point that you say \"my god I've had too much!\"\n\nOr, take my advice and do a full tab. Set that watermark.\n\nOr, be a real psychonaut and seek out an ayahuasca ceremony.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Ann Coulter. Who are the members of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy(tm)? What is your Achilles Heel? What do you really believe? Who pays you to act crazy? Who would be most embarrassed by being found to associate with you or anyone you know? etc. I will tell everyone.\n\nEdit: I'd be down for L. Ron Hubbard as well", "score": 7 }, { "body": "L. Ron Hubbard - I could then bottle and sell the tears of Tom Cruise and John Travolta when I play the recording of the interview for them.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I want to answer George W Bush, but I'm afraid that:\n\n* His answers would be exactly what he's been saying in public anyway\n* Any attempt at healthy debate on the issues would be pointless\n* He was only acting on the delightfully inadequate information he was given.\n* He honestly thought (thinks) he was doing the right thing.\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Couldn't plan a piss-up in a brewery.\n\nCouldn't reason his way out of an open paper bag.\n\nHe's got a two bit memory and a parity error.\n\nA butt like two ferrets fighting in a sack.\n\nIQ lower than his shoe size - and small feet.\n\nHung like a sparrow.\n\nImagine an all-chrome, polished auto in the midday sun underneath the ozone hole on the ice in Antarctica. That's how blank your stare is.\n\nAlso: check out Wodehouse's similes etc.\nhttp://www.pgwodehousebooks.com/quotes.htm\n\nShe looked like she had been poured into her clothes and forgotten to say \"when\".\n\nMind like a Welsh railway: one track, and dirty.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "It was like trying to stuff warm butter up a tiger's ass. \r\n\r\nIt was like trying to pick fly shit out of pepper with boxing gloves.\r\n ", "score": 6 }, { "body": "She could suck the chrome off a tailpipe.\n\nRan that one to the ground growing up. Still good.\n\n\nMy coach used to say 'like shit through a goose'", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I'm happier than a puppy with two peters.\n\n**The best quip i've ever heard:**\nI'm madder than a three legged dog trying to hide a turd on a frozen pond.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "off like a prom dress.\nmake like a tree and leave. \nmake like a banana and split.\nsucks like a hoover\ntighter then a two cent whore", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Here are some more I remembered\n\n* I wouldn't piss down his throat if his lungs were on fire.\n\n* So ugly she made a freight train take a dirt road.\n\n* Like trying to piss up a rope.\n\n* She could suck a golf ball through a garden hose.\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "It's hotter than two rats fuckin' in a sweat sock.\nAs sharp as a bowling ball.\nAs sharp as a bag of wet mice.\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "* \"He couldn't plan a piss up in a brewery\" \n\n* \"He's like a madman's shit in a field\" (Everywhere, for those of you who don't know...) \n\n* \"Up and down like an indecisive whore's knickers\" \n\n* \"He's as thick as pig shit\"\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I used to work in a machine shop with one guy that would measure and re-measure forever, then make the worst cuts. We came up with a saying that applies to false precision or applying precision in the wrong place.\n\"Measure with micrometer, mark with crayon, cut with axe.\"", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius (\"Last good emperor of Rome\") expounds his reflections on stoicism and explains how, even in the face of divine intervention, we are in charge of our own destinies. His ideas about personal responsibility truly inspired me to be more introspective and to have integrity, and stirred in me an independence from divine providence that ultimately led to my atheism.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are and The Wisdom of Insecurity, both by Alan Watts. \n\nTaught me that reality isn't some objective, unyielding monster, and that I am in no way alienated from it.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I would move on. Sure it sucks and perhaps they will always have a place in your heart, but you need to look to the future. It sucks when *anyone* you know get addicted to heroin and there isn't a whole lot you can do about it.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": ">... The instructions for adding this are on the splash page.\n\nWhat about us linux gamers whom's Wine emulated TF2 won't show HTML splash's :'< put the instructions to reddit steam group pls :\\", "score": 9 }, { "body": "As much as I would like to have played at 5 AM, I was sleeping. I will try to be available to play a bit tonight. Keep up the good work.\r\n\r\n\\- James", "score": 7 }, { "body": "Here is the code for your autoexec.cfg file:\n\n alias +teamonly \"+teamtalk;+voicerecord\"\n alias -teamonly \"-teamtalk;-voicerecord\"\n\n bind f +teamonly\n bind v +voicerecord\n\nEDIT - You can bind them to whatever you want f and v are optional and can be changed.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Had fun last night for a bit on hoodoo while the admins were playing with the borked server :) it was my first time on a reddit server :)\n\n-me, aka bubbaganoush!", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Slight concern. The only all/ team talk plugin i know of breaks muting players clientside. Does the plugin you use do the same thing?", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Moderating an /r/ isn't difficult, except dealing with overly dramatic people. You just start it and make sure you add tons of content. You need to be sure that you can carry your /r/ by yourself for a while. Once you get a decent little community of active subscribers you can take a step back and let it run itself for the most part. When I started my /r/ I was accused of spamming it by a lot of people because I posted around 12 links a day into it and no one else was very active. However, it's a subject I have always been passionate about. We won the \"Raise a Reddit\" contest back in 2008 and still have a strong community of 6,700 subscribers and growing!", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Yo dawg, hit up /r/newreddits and advertise it (and /r/music too!), and give us a shout if you want help.\n\nAlso I recommend you let people post their fave live videos.", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "I am a native of the town of Norman, OK and i would be extremely happy to see this coming from my hometown. i never was a Christian in any sense, but i have only recently begun my interest in nontheism. if you do this, you must tell me so i can become a part. i have been in japan for 6 years due to military service, but my time in tokyo is up. im finally coming home this month! please respond, for i know everything about the place and am very excited to hear of this on reddit. i like to think of Norman as a sort of \"progressive thinking\" island in the middle of a simple minded sea. thanks for representing my town in such a way to give it dignity. maybe people will see that not everyone from Oklahoma is some slackjawed moron following the whims of a televangelist snakehandler.", "score": 10 }, { "body": "If a big part of the point is to increase the public standing of non-believers, then I'd suggest making it a cooperative service organization, with the goal of getting non-believers and believers to work together to charitable ends. Make sure that, in your charter, you specify that the organization is meant to be non-promotional for either religious beliefs or atheism -- meaning that members aren't allowed to promote their beliefs or lack thereof while working with the organization. You can print up t-shirts for charitable events that include the names and logos of the sponsors; that way, churches can still advertise their name at the events, but only alongside atheist groups that have also contributed. And since that'll be the only kind of self-promotion allowed, groups that work with you will be more inclined to donate money if they already have members signed on for your events.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "At the beginning of Half-Life, a bunch of innocent-looking scientists ask you to help you with an experiment. All you need to do is push a trolley to deposit a sample, what could possibly go wrong?", "score": 45 }, { "body": "In Fallout 3 theres a gang out ghouls that want to get into Tenpenny tower, but the people in the tower are the racist type, downright refusing to let ghouls live with them.\n\nYou can choose to either kill all the ghouls, kill all the people or convince the people to let the ghouls in (obviously the good option).\n\nChoosing the last option will cause two things to happen:\nThe first being the people who downright refuse to share accommodation being kicked out of the tower, forced to wander the wasteland forever.\nAnd the second being the ghouls deciding that the people they live with are unworthy of the tower, killing them and piling them in the basement. The ghouls seem unrepentant and cool about murdering every single person in the tower.", "score": 22 }, { "body": "In the Witcher, there is an under-the-table business transaction (intentionally left vague to be spoiler-free) going on near the beginning of the game, and you have the choice of either letting it proceed (and making both parties happy) or killing the buyers on the spot. If you let it proceed, a character in the next act from whom you can get quests is murdered at a certain point, which can cause all the quests you got from him to fail if you haven't completed them by then.", "score": 12 }, { "body": "I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet.\n\nIn Oblivion, there's a highly paranoid character in the second town you go to (I forget his name.)\nAnyway, he asks you to investigate a bunch of people in the town and see if they're plotting against him. After following about 5 people around all day, you report back to him that they're all innocent. He responds saying \"yes, yes. I see. They're all innocent. That must mean that you're plotting against me!!\"\n\nAt that point he pulls out an ax and tries to murder you.\n\n\n", "score": 12 }, { "body": "Resident Evil 4, you rescue Ashley and then you have to deal with her shit for the rest of the game.", "score": 10 }, { "body": "The Witcher. Sometimes, it seems like everything you do fucks you over in some way. The fact that the choices you make often don't take effect until the next chapter ten hours later helps prevent \"Oh, I'll fix that with a quick-load-itis\" and then, on your second playthrough, you realise you didn't \"fix\" anything, you just fucked yourself over in a completely new way.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "There's a part in KotoR2 where if you hand a bum some credits, he ends up getting knifed over it, and Kreia teaches you a lesson about how being mindlessly good can lead to unintended consequences.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "In Demon's Souls, if you rescue Yurt, he will leave for the Nexus to kill all of the NPCs there. You really need these NPCs too, if you hope to keep learning skills, or continue storing your items, etc... ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "Dragon Age.\n\nSomeone in your party who you've done nothing but please the whole game will probably just leave and take all your preorder bonuses with them.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines. When you try to take sides with the hot schoolgirl vampire who owns the club in Santa Monica after the haunted beach house mission, you later fail the mission and the game basically calls you a stupid idiot accompanied by a scathing failure message in your Quest Log.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "In Final Fantasy Tactics, the character Gafgarion is a member of your party for the first half of the game. Later, he betrays you, and you are forced to fight him several times. The catch here is Gafgarion keeps whatever items and skills you have given him over the course of him being in your party. If you equip him with the best items you will face a harder fight because of it. If you take away his armor and turn him into a weakling Time Mage, the fight is significantly easier. The one caveat is that he is always equipped with the Night Sword, so he still brings the pain somewhat.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I am not going to read any of this thread, but just in case people don't realize it **SPOILERS AHEAD!**", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Are you talking about standard-plot-of-the-game-wise, or actual choice made by the player-wise? There are a few possibilities in Dragon Age. One that also pops to mind from a few years back was in a Splinter Cell game, I can't remember which one, but if you haven't played them and picked 'em up in the steam sale you might want to stop reading. You suddenly receive an order from your superior instructing you to terminate an ally as she's heading down an elevator. It's really a split-second decision, with nothing to go on except your blind faith in superiors and gut instincts. If you disobey orders and spare her, you are attacked by snipers a little later in the level. If you obey orders, you only get a vague explanation for what you've done and have a nagging feeling that you killed an ally for no good reason. It was one of my favorite video game moments even though its effect was pretty much insubstantial on the overall story.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Braid: you spare the bunny's life and climb down the ladder, only to find that your generosity has only added fuel to his rage, and you can't climb back up. ", "score": 4 }, { "body": "In GTAIV, I think the first dude you have the choice of killing (storyline wise)...if you let him live, he comes back later and attacks you on the street.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "In Diablo, Snotspill asks you to fetch the tavern sign from around the corner. When you do, he and all his friends just beat your ass. Typical Carvers.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Observations of French rudeness toward foreign tourists have a long history, but for most of the last fifty years the attitudes toward France (at least among Americans) were much the same as those toward other european countries--which is to say they were mostly composed of semi-supportable stereotypes: the Germans are cold and officious, the Italians are lazy and lascivious, the British are constipated and classist, etc. By my account, the singling out of France as a \"bad\" country is a recent phenomenon spurred by deliberate bad press in the wake of the Iraq debacle at the UN in 2002.\n\nPeople forget, but after all the backroom arm-twisting by the US, France's one final request regarding Iraq was that the weapons inspectors be allowed 60 more days to finish their work. 60 days. For this they were excoriated, and grotesquely insulted (French wines poured into the sewers for mass media cameras, French Fries renamed to \"Freedom Fries\", and so on). It should be obvious why this happened. The Bush administration was acting out like children caught in a lie. The French called bullshit on them so they stomped and screamed and threw mudballs.\n\nWell, throw enough mud and some of it will stick. Suddenly, the rudeness of the French takes on new and malicious overtones. France is seen not as our grumpy old friend and ally, not as the giver of the statue of liberty and the first celebrant of American democracy, but as an effete, cowardly traitor.\n\nOf course by now these perceptions have created real animus. The French sense that they were punished for being right about WMD's, and for showing mature restraint when the U.S. was clearly out of control. Who can blame them?", "score": 60 }, { "body": "Because both Americans and French people are convinced that they are from the Best Country on Earth.", "score": 26 }, { "body": "\nI'm French married to an American (ha!), and when we go travel in France, we both tourists. Sometimes I won't even bother speaking in French I let my husband do the talking as he would like to learn. I intervene when he obviously really need the help.\nPeople always been nice and tried to communicate. So I honestly don't know where you guys hang out.\n\nTo be honest the few times I've been in the US myself. I couldn't understand a word of what they were saying. It took me quite a few month to get use to it, but I could read and write really well.\nAmerican people basically treated me like I was some kind of special needs kid.\nAlso there I never heard of anybody trying to speak something else other than English.\n\nWhen I go in the states I'm expected to know how to speak english.\nOther countries expect the same thing as well.\nI'm currently in Germany and I don't speak much of it, but every time I deal with German people I would try and speak their tongue.\nYes, I probably sound like an idiot to them, but who cares as long as you're trying and we understand each other.\n\nDon't expect everyone to know English, even if we have to learn it in school, when we hear the REAL thing is completely different and very hard to understand from what school taught us.\n\nIt's the same for every language I had English and German in French school and fuck I still don't understand what the hell the Germans are talking about! Even though I can read and write it just fine.\n\nI've had my share of rudeness with americans(\"you're in a ENGLISH speaking country, you MUST speak ENGLISH! NOT FRENCH!\" is only one little example, of all I been through ), and I don't go complain about it. It's not because you had bad experiences with some idiots that you need to put everyone in the same bag.\n\nWe not all rude, snobs, and proud. Unless I been blind all along and I'm some kind of rare breed.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "score": 16 }, { "body": "Disclaimer : I love France. I work for a French company and spend about one week per month in Paris. I've made many genuine French friends and it is a favourite holiday destination for my girlfriend and me.\r\n\r\nThat said.\r\n\r\nFrench politics and academia has an air of granditude about themselves that they don't deserve. French cultural output is insignificant in a global context but it's hard to find anyone who is even aware of this. France is a profoundly conservative society to the core. Socialists are still steeped in the us-vs-them 80ties mentality while the upper-class part of society is doing everything it can to maintain the gap between the have-possibilities and have-not-possibilities (think about the grand ecoles etc). The entitlement mentality in the public sector and big firms is stiffling and killing creativity. And maybe most damning of all : France is all to willing to be support and prop up murderous regimes in Africa on the sole basis of their leaders participating in what is called the Francophonie (speaking French) instead of judging them on their merits in creating stability, freedom and prosperity for the regular folks...\r\n\r\nIn short : France does deserve criticism for all of that and much more but there is nothing there that other countries are not just as guilty...", "score": 11 }, { "body": "I'm actually in France this very second, and I feel obligated to contribute.\n\n\nI'm US born and I had no problem with the French before coming over here. My girlfriend teaches English to students as a teacher assistant over here in Mulhouse. Since getting here, it has been very difficult to do much of anything. The French are absolutely lazy and don't give two shits about anything if it means they have to do work. I've seen this time and time again. It's getting to be absolutely ridiculous - sure there are a few nice people, but the people who work with customer service - say, the people who work the help line for Air France in CDG airport? They're absolutely worthless. I was in a line with about 15 other people for *four* hours, waiting to get a hotel because one of my flights was cancelled in Paris. Every 15 minutes, one of the workers (there were three of them, helping the 15 of us) would get up, stretch, and go take a smoke break. I felt lucky to have even gotten service.\n\n\nAnd then my bag was lost for about 11 days. We called Air France numerous times to update our delivery address information (we're travelling), and about 60% of the time, they would hang up on us or just enter wrong and totally irrelevant information into our file. We eventually had to keep calling the British Air France customer service line who did eventually get my bag delivered to me.\n\nThe French, especially the ones in Paris, are arrogant, snooty assholes. My girlfriend is fluent in French - but doesn't have the best French accent. She has been sneered at by others because of it. I really can't wait until I can get out of here - the US really doesn't seem that bad compared to here in all complete honesty. In the US, you really do get much better service and respect from others. England was also better, and Germany. Belgium was sorta half and half of France and Germany in terms of kindness and such. Just my two cents.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "As a non-French living in Paris, I can tell you that the Parisian people definitely are a stressed bunch, chain smoke, stay stick thin and still eat a baguette every day. They drive incredibly bad, and will definitely not hesitate to swear at you if you accidentally bump into them in the metro. They love to party, and are fun to party with. They love their city, and I do too. There are few things more beautiful than walking past the Seine on a sunny cold morning. Its like everywhere, good and bad.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "Old habits die hard. It's easy to parrot what has been heard previously, without actually taking the time to think about what one is saying. As a global population, we're often quick to react and slow to understand.\n\n\nPoking fun at France seems to be a long running gag, especially in the U.K. and America. You would need to look at the relationships between these countries and France, searching specifically for any subtle cultural difference which makes for easy comedic fodder. \"Oh look, they're different, how funny!\".\n\n\nEngland and France have a long history of conflict (going back to the Battle of Hastings in 1066, if not further). Why? Geographical proximity? Familial infighting? Nationalism and arguments over responsibilities and territory?\n\n\nMy best guess would be repeated attempts on both sides of the Channel to assert sovereignty over the other, and the subsequent trickling down of general dislike between the two populations. Colonial expansion by both countries into the 'New World' in the 1600's and the Napoleonic conquest of Europe did little to ease tensions between England and France. Many are quick to remember how France fell to the Germans in WWII, yet fail to recall continued French resistance actions during the occupation - actions which certainly made the Allied invasion easier to carry out.\n\n\nAnd then there is the the French withdrawl from NATO in 1966. My guess was that de Gaulle had legitimate reasons for the move, however America and England probably viewed it as simple duty shirking against a perceived Communist threat.\n\nNumerous reasons exist for dislike against France, but I think at the end of the day it comes down to this: human nature is petty and selfish. Despite our lofty aspirations toward the 'common good' of the planet, people will never really change. ", "score": 7 }, { "body": "From my experience, it was the way that French people believe that France is the center of the universe in all respects. I met many nice people there, but I also met many rude people who sneered at me for saying \"Sorry, I don't speak French\" (in French) and rolled their eyes while I was very obviously struggling to find words. I actually cried on numerous occasions because of this, because I was trying so hard, but I couldn't remember an accent or a part of a word. I remember sitting with my now-husband's friends, talking about my schooling, when they said \"Why did you learn Spanish? You should have learned French\" and they were appalled when I said, \"Spanish is much more useful to know in the States. I have never been in a situation where I even once needed to know French.\" They couldn't believe that any other language but theirs was important. \n\nI do have to say, though, that the Quebecois are much ruder in this attitude than the French EVER were to me. I have been told by my husbands friends to go back to the States because I don't speak French (I'm learning, btw). He says it's a joke, but I know that some of them mean it.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "My bf leaves in Geneva and says that what pisses him off the most is this:\n\n- How they think their French is 'purer',\n\n- How they complain everything is better in France and yet so many cross the border to work here,\n\n- Parisians have the stupidest French ever. Its amazing how an accent can give such a believe of self-importance,\n\n- Arrogance\n\n\nFrom myself, all French people I have met (over 10, easily) tend to be arrogant and quite cruel, mocking and judgmental. They are also extremely proud and while there is nothing wrong with that per-se in certain situations it can be very annoying, the best example I can think of is when they refuse to speak in English only to be difficult. ARGH.\n\nBut honestly, Im sure that the French are really a lovely lot when you get to know them, lol. Not American btw :D", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I'm French and I disagree !\n\nI've travelled a lot and every time I come back home, it's always a relief. Here is a list of what I found great about my country : \n* grants for university\n* I pay 4 € per year to go to university\n* I don't need a student job to survive\n* I receive money to help me pay my rent\n* I pay 20€ to go to the doctor and few days later I'm reimbursed.\n* I don't have to wait 6 months to go the dentist\n* Alcohol is cheap (and wine is good)\n* Food is good\n* We don't like religion, most French people are Atheists\n", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Don't forget that the French helped us win the American Revolutionary War and gave us the Statue of Liberty to commemorate the signing of our Declaration of Independence. I have nothing against the French, and frankly, the whole \"Freedom Fry\" thing disgusts me. Most French hatred, at least from Americans, seems to come from hearsay, persistent stereotypes and ignorant overreactions.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "vestigial remains of historical conflict between the anglosphere et la francophonie, namely the seven years war and napoleonic wars.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "France didn't slavishly follow the American line on Iraq, or many other matters. It actually behaves as though it has its own interests and has an independent foreign policy - unlike, say, the UK. This is worthy of hatred and punishment.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I've read that some 48% of English words are French. England hating the French I can understand because of the Norman(French) Conquest.\nAmerican hating the French I cannot. It must be our ignorance.\nDo some of them look down on Americans? Yup! I figure they do, and no doubt have good reasons.\nDo they not attempt to warn us about the world out there?\nDid they not attempt to tell us that Viet Nam was a losing cause?\nDid they not attempt to tell us the getting involved in the Middle East was a mistake?\nThey've been there, done that, and got the tee shirts and scars to prove it.\nDo we ever listen to the French?\nOf course not...Cause we're Americans, and we \"know things you don't know\" and \"can do things you can't.\"\nWe are like children.\nThey are like the parents.\nBut....What the hell do they know? Right?\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "As an English speaking Quebecer Its like having 2 older brothers who think their shit doesn't smell.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I believe the French may have been a crucial factor to America winning the Revolutionary War. So we may owe them our entire existence and history, and would rather pretend that that bit of the past never happened. 'We're so self-sufficient, and never needed help from anybody', you know?\n\n\nThe French tend to resist American ideas and culture and initiatives more than any other western european nation. In other words, they tend to stand up to us more than others. So there's that (they're not a lap dog like Great Britain so often is).\n\n\nFrance has also proven itself (so far) to be the only nation on Earth which seems competent at using nuclear power safely. Indeed, many countries over past decades have outsourced many nuclear jobs to France, since they are so good at it.\n\n\nAmerica desperately wants to claim it can do peaceful nuclear power competently too-- but in the past BOTH our private and public efforts in the field have made some major mistakes. We're much better at killing people than keeping them safe, with nuclear energy.\n\n\nFrance also seems to have a healthcare system that makes ours look like exquisitely pure crap. Even more so than just about any other country in the world.\n\n\nFrance also is nowhere near as sexually repressed as the Puritanical Americans. We may hate that most of all. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "This story shows exactly what Reddit is all about, other than just the jokes and taking the piss out of thing. Good to hear that you are well again, and I will definitely nominate the comment for comment of the year . :)", "score": 188 }, { "body": "I was having migraines for years. I saw several doctors who all had a different idea of why. Last guy I saw told me to go off my pill. Problem solved. It causes a lot of issues that people never think of.", "score": 131 }, { "body": "We need to stop making women responsible for contraception. \n\n(Yes, I know, Whisper the vehement anti-feminist just said that. When you're finished dying of shock, I'll go on.)\n\nSeriously, their parts are not only a DNA dispenser, but also a life support system and hormonal clock. It's complicated, and messing with it has consequences. Our bits are simpler and easier to interrupt. \n\nI see no reason why a deposit with a reliable storage service, followed by a quick vasectomy, shouldn't be a rite of passage into adulthood for *every* young male in our society. ", "score": 50 }, { "body": "That's great to hear. \n\nOne thing you might find is that you occasionally slip back in to your depressed state of mind during your recovery. The important thing to remember is that you now know you're strong enough to pull yourself out the other side and continue getting better. Over time it will happen less and less often, and wont last as long. Eventually you'll be able to see it coming and give yourself a mental slap round the face.", "score": 26 }, { "body": "Wow, this is a great story. Congrats to you!\n\nThis reminds me of a lump I had in my neck when I was 21. One of my glands was swollen and I was convinced I was going to die from Leukemia or Lymphoma, etc. I went to a doctor, a surgeon, another doctor. No one thought it was cancer, but no one had an explanation.\n\nFast forward 12 years. I was 33 and I had a TERRIBLE pain in my face and front tooth. I mean hammer and nail in the face, crying excruciating pain. I went to the dentist and he drilled a tiny hole in the back of my front tooth and relived pressure and did a root canal.\n\nApparently this is what happened: when I was 5 years old I fell and my mouth hit the ground causing my tooth to be slightly injured. Tiny microfissure cracks unseen to even dental X-rays let bacteria slip into my tooth. By 21 this VERY low grade infection was being responded to by my immune system. By 33 the infection was severe enough due to widening of the cracks, thinning of the enamel to require needing a root canal.\n\nAnyone, 3-days after getting the root canal at 33, the left gland that had been swollen since my early 20s was gone and has not returned in over 5 years.\n", "score": 21 }, { "body": "Dear Reddit: I am utterly depressed because I have to use condoms now that my wife stopped taking contraceptives. She has suggested that I get my tubes tied...", "score": 19 }, { "body": "My girlfriend (yes, she's real... wanna fight about it?) had the same problem. She was on the NuvaRing, and her mood swings were just unbearable (for both of us). She took it out and switched to a non-hormone IUD, and her whole demeanor changed almost overnight. We're both grateful, both for the change in her mood and for a much more reliable form of birth control.\n\nHormonal birth control works for some women, but for my girlfriend, it just didn't work. Dpressd's case is obviously significantly worse, but I worry about how many women out there are suffering from similar symptoms without even considering that it might be the high doses of hormones they're being sold by the pharmaceutical industry. Oral contraception isn't for everyone, and I hope that doctors and other reproductive health professionals are doing a good job of warning women about the possibility of serious mental health side effects.", "score": 13 }, { "body": "Congrats! Might I also add that I was on the verge of divorce about 2 years ago because my wife's sex drive was non-existent. We had experienced a normal sex life for many years, but gradually her drive just diminished into nothing. Even though she had been on the pill for well over a decade with no problems, she decided to \"take a break\" on the advice of a friend and within a week she was as horny as teenager. \n\nShe's off the pill permanently and our sex life is back to normal. (With the occasional abnormal ;)\n", "score": 10 }, { "body": "You should also maybe consider the possibility of new-onset bipolar disorder. The way this post reads, makes me feel that it could be a real possibility. In a 2005 study called \"The Use of Placebo in Clinical Trials on Bipolar Disorder: A New Approach for an Old Debate\" by the clinical institute of psychiatry and psychology, it was found that placebos are very effective against bipolar disorder, it logically follows that quitting the oral contraceptives might not actually be a full solution. \n\nThis isn't an attempt to diminish your recovery. I just don't want to see you fall back into depression after an extended manic episode, as highs and lows can be even more difficult to cope with than depression alone. ", "score": 9 }, { "body": "As a male with diagnosed depression, I find myself wishing I had birth control to get off of. In any case, I'm glad you found such a simple solution to such a crushing problem.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "I'm so happy for you. I can't say this strongly enough, though: make sure you stay in close touch with your doctor. Serious depression is almost never as simple as \"change this one thing and you'll be all better\". \n\nI know you're feeling great right now. Euphoric even. That feeling is unlikely to last. Hopefully you'll go back to a normal rhythm of ups and downs like everyone, but there's also a danger that you could slip back into major depression. Please, no matter how you're feeling, make sure you keep the lines of communication open to your family and doctor open. Talk to someone regularly. If they prescribe meds, stay on them. If you want to come off of them, make a plan with your doctor about how to do that.\n\nOn top of all that, stay safe and know that the people in your life love you.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "Yeah, I've had 3 female friends with similar response to birth control. I think its way more damaging to women than we ever knew - and not only that - its been shown to change the way they pick men. (so when women get off the pill and suddenly don't love their husbands - and everyone wonders what happened)\nAnyway - Congrats - and hopefully more guys will appreciate condoms a touch more from this too.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "I'm a 37 year old guy who has had lots of experience dating women on various forms of birth control.\n\nI've seen women go nearly psychotic on the wrong birth control. I dated a woman whose body rejected an IUD (and somehow I knew it would). But I've also dated women who had to find the right formulation- if one version of \"those damned pills\" make you depressed, chances are not all formulations will.\n\nIt must be said, though- messing with women's hormones and emotions is far more dangerous than the doctors will let on!!", "score": 8 }, { "body": "This is way more common than most people or doctors realize, my wife and I went through a similar experience. Had she stayed on BC, I am fairly certain we would no longer be married. Congratulations Dpressd, and be aware that it will take several cycles before your system is really back on track. Yes, condoms suck, but condoms are way better than a depressed and suicidal spouse.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "This is a heartwarming story indeed, I have heard of people having side effects from birth control pills, but never anything as severe as yours.\nI hope you can fully enjoy life from now on :)", "score": 6 }, { "body": "My girlfriend tried the pill and started getting panic attacks, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts. She stopped it years ago but I don't think all the symptoms went away completely.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Isn't it amazing how something so simple solved your problem and a doctor didn't have enough sense to do a process of elimination!! I couldn't take the pill cuz I was a bitch and pissed for no reason...so i guess that was great birth control...how would want to fuck me!?! I'm glad you feel better!!!!!", "score": 6 }, { "body": "this exact same situation happened to my best friend. she had a boyfriend of three years and was taking oral contraception, but had changed to a different one towards the end of the relationship. another big thing contributed to her depression, but the birth control really intensified her feelings. it took several months of despair and a suicide attempt for her doctor to correctly diagnose her. now that she's off birth control she's back to her old self again and i'm so thankful. and hey, i'm thankful that you're back to your old self again too (even though i don't know who that self is!)! and it's great that you sought help. not many people have the strength for that. welcome back! :)", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I was startled to realize how much your story meshes with mine. Anti-depressants didn't do squat for me - but in my case, the answer has always been exercise. There's something fundamentally cleansing about some kinds of physical activity - riding my bike for a couple of hours is (for me) like zen meditation.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I'm glad you're alive!\nGood story to show that so called 'safe' products should be taken with a grain of salt and at ones own risk.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I took a mini-pill one day, fairly soon after having my first child. I got incredible hives, with itchy lumps from the soles of my feet to the top of my head; we went to the ER because I had trouble breathing. It lasted for 4 days on steriods and maximum benadril. I never took another, and I haven't gotten hives again, twelve years later. Every doctor to whom I have mentioned this insists that a hormone pill could not have caused this, but it is the only thing that I did differently that day.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I've heard a number of cases of birth control pills \"turning\" on people. For me, I cannot tolerate them. They change my mood within two weeks of taking them. Some people are less affected by synthetic hormones and find them to be a godsend. It is really important to listen to your body, since your doctor is never going to be able to tell you how you really feel. I'm glad to hear you've found a solution that works for you.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I am so glad you were able to realize this and stop taking birth control. I had a similar experience with birth control affecting my mental health not long ago. \n\nI was on the Nuva-Ring for a couple of years and eventually I developed debilitating anxiety and panic disorder. After just a month of not using it anymore, I felt much better. I still have anxiety due to 2 years worth of panic attacks and constant anxiety, but changing birth control helped me immensely. I now have a copper IUD - no hormones to mess with my system, and I am still well protected from the baby-making. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Actually I agree with this because of my own experience with a Girlfriend. She went \"nuts\" while on it so we got her off it ASAP! I am truly happy for you.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I had an IUS for 9 months and it was terrible. I never felt happy and I was constantly frustrated with my husband and infant daughter. I gained weight, my hair started coming in frizzy on one side of my head (seriously, WTF) and I never laughed. I got it taken out and within a few weeks I was a whole new person...I felt so happy to just be alive again.\n\nMy doctor said that the amount of hormones in an IUS is so trace that it wouldn't affect me the way birth control pills did...but she was wrong and I am so glad I got it taken out when I did. I imagine there are a lot of women out there suffering due to their IUS that have no idea it is the cause of all their problems. I am so glad you are feeling better!", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Things like this make reddit worth it. I am utterly happy for you. I remember reading your other AMA and this was a very nice surprise.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "my wife is off all BCP. has been for years. When I met her, and while we were dating, she was on all sorts of anti-depressents, psychs diagnosed her as depressive type so and so... she was on a BCP, no one asked about that. After she started talking about wanting to die, we got more serious and looked at everything she did.... she tried going off BCP and within 2 weeks I had a brand new girlfriend... she was a different person. No depression at all. Doctor said it 'resolved' itself. no crap, sherlock. Those BCPs are poison and screwing with a LOT of women out there who never suspect it could be the problem. hormones are a delicate balance, and those pills can wreck that balance.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I went through the same thing, believe it or not. I was on birth control pills for about 6 years because of polycystic ovaries. After about 4 years I became horribly depressed - sometimes suicidal, had full blown panic attacks several times a week, constant migraines, and no energy. I was also borderline anemic so the doctors advised me not to go off the pill because the heavy bleeding would cause full blown anemia. \n\nI went off it anyway about 2 years ago. My bleeding isn't heavy at all and I rarely get periods. I'm WAY happier. I haven't had a migraine in months. My last bad anxiety attack was.. i think in the summer but I honestly don't remember and don't care... I DO have full blown anemia now (in the past couple months or so which I do not think is related to going off the pill), but I just started taking iron and B12 supplements a week ago and already feel tired less often.\n\nGood for you! :)", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I'm so glad for you :) \nI had developed a muscle twitch that was getting worse which stemmed from a magnesium deficiency. When I started taking supplements, my recent-but-consistent depression also went when my muscles relaxed. Then I learned that magnesium deficiency can cause depression too. \n\nA lot of people don't understand that our bodies are walking chemical factories that are very hardy, but also in a very delicate balance. ", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I honestly wonder if this might be the cause of increasing levels of depression among teenage females... It gets worse every year...", "score": 4 }, { "body": "This is somewhat unrelated as far as symptoms go, but interestingly I had a similar birth control related issue for a while. Over the course of a couple years, I had 2 fairly severe head injuries that healed but left some residual effects, or so we thought. I began having constant dizzy spells, which were often triggered by absolutely nothing. I analyzed all of my activities, stress levels, food/beverage intake, time of the month, relationship issues, physical exertion, etc. etc. In addition to dissecting all these factors, I had 2 CT scans, an MRI, diagnostic work done by an audiologist, an ear/nose/throat specialist, a brain wave scan performed...every single test showed up completely normal. We thought surely the head injuries must have caused the dizzy spells, but could not find any link through these tests. Of course, I always mentioned I was on the pill (ortho tri-cyclen) and had been for some time (about 5 years or so). None of the multiple doctors I saw seemed to think this could have any connection to my dizzy spells, so I dismissed the thought. The only vague connection I'd found was that when I drank hot tea or coffee, I would always have a dizzy spell the same day. So as absurd as it sounds, I attributed the dizzy spells to hot beverages. Well about 2 years after I started having the dizzy spells, I decided to get off birth control. After doing some research, I was no longer interested in ingesting synthetic hormones, increasing my chances for breast cancer, or contributing to growing levels of harmful environmental estrogens. It has been 7 months, and I have had only 2 dizzy spells, and none within the last 5 months. Activities that used to make me feel as though I would have a dizzy spell are no longer a problem. And thank god I can drink coffee again! I just find it really fascinating that the only factor doctors refused to consider was (I believe) the culprit all along. Really makes me think hard about what doctors say and what they are trained to believe, and makes me extremely skeptical of hormonal methods of birth control.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "i fell in love with a guy, got on the ring (nuvaring or whatever), then broke up with him. i was very depressed and lost all attraction for him. a month later, i got off the ring and suddenly remembered why i loved him. we got back together. \n\nit's amazing how hormonal contraceptives affect these things!\n\ni read an article, a few years ago, about how most doctors personally use non-hormonal IUDs. makes sense to me...i haven't done any research on them, but i really like the idea of no hormones.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "In other news: [Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why.](http://www.wired.com/print/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect)", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I'm about to finish medical school and I have not been told about a correlation between depression and hormonal contraception. \n\nMy class is studying for its final exams right now and I will use this opportunity to let people know about this.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I am new to Reddit, but I love it.\nThis sort of thing is why this place is the best place on the internet.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Good stuff. I know a few stories of depression caused by hormonal imbalance, cured when cause removed, my own and my mum's included. I'm amazed docs didn't get you off the contraceptive pill as fast as possible.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I hate hate hate how often the pill is prescribed when there are BC methods that are less invasive to one's bodily chemistry and how often it is overlooked as the cause of a myriad of health problems.\n\nI have a Paragard IUD now and couldn't be happier with it. It doesn't fuck with my mood, my libido, my skin, my head, or my rhythms.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Thank you Dpressed. I am literally on my way to my doctor in about an hour to discuss contraception choices. This is very useful knowledge. Glad you're better and happy. I love Reddit", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Were you taking Yaz? I cried several times a day every single day on Yaz and felt suicidal while I was on it. When I stopped taking it the whole world seemed so much brighter. \n\nJust remember to still use protection. I'm glad that you figured out the source :)", "score": 3 }, { "body": "this happened to my wife...not deep depression...but a feeling of being out of sorts...manic...low energy. She switched pills then finally went off of contraception altogether. She feels like herself again. Of course now we have a kid to take care of but....", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I was on BC pill from the age of 16 to 20. When I stopped taking them, my life improved immensely. The side effects list some possibility of mood problems, but I really think they understate the effect.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "people actually stick this up their vagina? http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Mirena_IntraUterine_System.jpg", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Even though I am very glad you found the help you desperately needed, I think it's important to remind people that **nobody but your doctor can accurately and safely give you a diagnosis**.\n\nI would hate for people to start getting their medical advice from Reddit. Any medical professional would tell you **it's unethical to diagnose someone who you haven't examined personally, and whose medical history is unknown**.\n\nThat being said, I'm happy that this story has a happy ending. Good luck to you in the future.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "An old partner of mine opted for the Depo Provera shot which is popular in Canada. Huge mistake, her temperament changed over night. Worst part was she couldn't just stop taking it, we had to wait weeks while it dissipated into her system.\n\nCongrats on this realization, there are much healthier ways of dealing with birth control.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "This makes me very sad. I had a girlfriend... oddly enough about 7 years ago... who started taking BCs and got very strange. This is a few years into the relationship. Things quickly fell apart. I met up with her a few years later, after she had switched to a different BC, and she was pretty cool again. Not quite right, but not a stone cold bitch either. It was like hanging out with a dead relative in a dream. Too late and too far away to fix anything though. =(", "score": 3 }, { "body": "The exact same thing happened to my girly friend, on advice from a friend she changed to a progesterone only pill (and eventually to an implant in her arm) and the difference was just astounding.\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "what pills were you taking? did you talk to your doctor before you just stopped? I'm not discounting your experience right now at ALL; if you feel great, then that is amazing. But stopping hormones suddenly will cause shifts in mood that may not be permanent, so I would talk to your doctor about what was in those pills specifically that might have caused it, and perhaps look into other forms of birth control (a copper IUS for example has no hormones, and is 99.7% effective.).\n\nI'm really glad it helped, but it's only been 20 days, so I would make sure that you're not going to have a relapse that's way worse than the original depression.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Why would anyone downvote this?\n\nAlways glad to hear redditors helping each other out. That's what it's all about. Wishing you many more years of happiness!", "score": 3 }, { "body": "This is probably going to get downvoted, but...\n\nThe harmful side effects of contraceptives are often downplayed for political reasons. Any way you look at it, \"The Pill\" is a poison, it's just taken in such low doses that *hopefully* only one side effect is noticeable, i.e. temporary loss of fertility.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Spontaneous road trip to a place you've always wanted to go. Spontaneous in the sense of put cash in your pocket, and go. If you pack more than a day's worth of clothing and gear, that is not spontaneous enough. You can always buy clothing and find housing once you've reached your destination. Live life man, no one else will do it for you!", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I think the common advice you are going to get here is that she is into you and that's just how women are and you have to just put up with it. Fuck that and any other fairy-tale advice.\n\nWhatever you do don't let her be passive. Don't try to placate her. Push her and get the answers you deserve. The only reason you should care about her in a romantic way is because SHE makes YOU happy. As a guy that has been in your shoes that let the girl be a stupid passive girl, learn from my mistake. You will end up resenting her for playing with your head and your heart if you don't.\n\nPassive girls are idiots. They think the way to build trust in a relationship is to sit back and protect themselves at all costs. Think about that for a minute. Is that how you even make friends? Let people always come to you? Let them do all the work? Is a good friend one that always thinks about themselves first? The answers here are obvious.\n\nSo push her for answers and don't accept BS wishy-washy \"I don't know\". If she can't give you that, then distance yourself from her now as she can only be an emotional drain on you.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "She is the one getting mixed messages. You kissed her on the cheek???\nI would be totally disappointed and look away too. She was probably embarrassed because she was hoping/expecting more.\n\nThen she puts her head on your shoulder and kept looking in your eyes , hoping to be kissed. What were you doing watching tv instead?\n\nI don't understand you. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "You are a fool for staying with her. Nothing good will come from this relationship (apart from sex). She's not some victim here and she wasn't \"taken advantage of\". She went and took photos of herself and sent them. She had plenty of time to think about it and you should be angry at her and not the loser that complimented her. He owes you nothing and beating your chest is just going to make you look stupid. \n\nWhat are you going to say, \"hey, keep away form my girlfriend who has shown she is interested in you by sending you naked pictures\"?\n\nAlso, you most likely don't know the whole truth. ", "score": 42 }, { "body": "Well the pictures are more your girlfriend's problem than yours. She shouldn't have sent them, and if the guy does pass them around, then yeah that sucks. Hopefully he won't sink to that level of asshole, but if he does there isn't a lot you can do to prevent the damage (I'm not sure if there are legal methods to punish him for it?)\n\nAs for how you act around him. Plain old civility and forgetting he exists. Don't invite him to parties, don't get him a drink when you're getting up, but don't yell at him or really let him in your life at all. If it ever gets you riled up at a social event, just politely excuse yourself and go chill out. Anything more gives him far more power over you than he's worth.\n\nJust try to remember that someone (his own mother, if nothing else) thinks of him as well as you think of your girl, even though they both did the same thing (and the overriding opinion here is probably going to be that she did worse because he was unattached). He had his own reasons, insecurities, and problems that led him to do what he did, and the more you humanize him the less anger you'll feel and the more apathy. Which is just what he deserves. Hatred is just another form of respect.", "score": 19 }, { "body": "I so, so sympathize with your feeling like you need to get revenge and mark your territory by hurting the other guy in some way. But that's a really bad idea. Not just because that would make him likely to spread the pictures around, but also because hatred like that is toxic to relationships. If you've decided to forgive your girlfriend, your focus has to be on the relationship with her, not on your beef with the guy she sent photos to. Thoughts of revenge can easily start to consume so much emotional energy that there's none left to maintain a healthy relationship.\r\n\r\nI think all you can really do is pretend he doesn't exist. Any kind of confrontation is likely to mean that all your mutual friends find out about the whole situation and at least a couple start pestering Sleazebag for the photos. ", "score": 15 }, { "body": "It is cheating. Would your girlfriend be okay with you doing the same with another girl? I doubt it.\n\nI agree with the other advice given--it's not worth taking revenge on the guy. Also although he could pass around the pictures, couldn't she pass around the pictures of him? Because of this, I would hope neither would pass pictures around.", "score": 13 }, { "body": ">Here is my main dilemma. How do I deal with the other guy?\n\nYour main problem is that you don't understand that your girlfriend is the problem. If she was so easily talked into sending these pictures, do you really think she couldn't do something like this again? I'll agree that there is enough blame to go around here, but if you stay with her I can guarantee you will regret it.", "score": 10 }, { "body": "Well sir , sounds like you have a really shitty girlfriend. Proceed with caution.\n\nMost girls won't send nude pics of themselves to someone they know unless they have actually already fucked them, just FYI.\n\n**How the fuck was this downvoted?**", "score": 9 }, { "body": "\" But baby, he tricked me\"! \"I was feeling so bad, and he was so nice to me\".\n\n\nI automatically have a minimum of respect for fellow redditors, you accepting BS like this from a *slut* deducted quite a chunk.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Just let it go, cut him out of your life in any way. Cheating is a two way street, and it seems like your girl started it. It's only going to make things worse if you go around beating your chest just to make yourself feel better.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "your view: \" It started off friendly, and then took a turn for the worse. \"\n\nhis view: \" It started off friendly, and then it got AWESOME!\"", "score": 3 }, { "body": "You don't deal with him. You let him have her because they deserve each other. Think about it this way. If she did it to you, do you think it's any less likely that she'll do it to him? If he was the kind of guy who would do that with a girl in a relationship, do you think he'll be any different if they're together?\n\nMove on. It's tough because you're getting intimacy and you're comfortable with her, but it's obvious that she doesn't love you. You don't exchange nude pictures with someone else if you're in love. That much should be obvious.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Vibram 5 fingers. The barefoot running movement is growing, and so far my experience with them has been amazing.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "find a store in your area/city that fits you. they should do this for free. they'll look @ your feet, gait, and (should also look @) the wear pattern on your current shoes (it doesn't matter if you're not currently running in them). different shoes are designed for different feet, under-/over-pronation, surfaces, styles of running, etc. \n\nin chicago we've got fleet feet sports (in some other cities as well) and running away. \n\nanybody here telling you what kind of shoes to buy without taking all of that into account is doing you a disservice. \n\nTHAT said, even life-long runners are noobs to the barefoot scene. it's completely different, and while after X years doing things one way barefoot may not be appropriate for you, it's much more natural. you'll find that you'll naturally find a gait/rhythm that will suit you, and you'll stay on your balls (of feet) and toes which is much, much better for your knees.\n\nsorry. bad balls joke. but...", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I don't know what website you were on or whether it's legit, but seeing as Grim Fandango isn't being sold for download by Lucasarts at the moment, you'd be paying for a pirate download (assuming you got anything at all). I mean, that sentence about this \"patch\" alone sets off all kinds of scam alarm bells, man.", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "[Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumo_and_His_Miraculous_Adventures) by Walter Moers.\n\nIt's one of the most fantastical and in-depth stories I've ever read. He writes a lot of backstory to both the characters and the land (Zamonia, a fictional continent inhabited by everything from multi-brained nocturnomaths to the heads of decapitated giants) and you wonder what it's all about, but it all plays a very important role in the end of the story. The writing is really masterfully done.\n\nThe book was originally written in German, but the translator did a fantastic job changing it to english.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Though the later books get a bit more unfocused and the last book is having to be edited together post-humously, the *Wheel of Time* series is the best non-Tolkein fantasy I've read.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "\"The Prince of Nothing\" books by R. Scott Bakker. Having also read George R R Martin, I find Bakker to be somewhat more eloquent and adventurous in his prose. Some of the stuff he writes is so beautiful I had to read it again several times just to soak it up. \n\nThe story is modeled in the Crusades, but underneath the hood you'll find a grand treatise on determinism and free will, along with several cool takes on the usual fantasy tropes. \n\nBakker is probably my favorite author. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Or even worse, when I'm online and all the links on Reddit are purple, I've sufficiently stalked friends on Facebook, I have no unread emails and nobody is on Skype. When the internet is down, you feel like you're missing out and you know when you get back on, Reddit will be a treasure trove of blue. When the internet works and you've run out of things to do, *that's* when you know you have a problem.", "score": 10 }, { "body": "Sitting online, staring at the laptop screen. Occasionally looking at phone. I should call someone. Hang out. But the list of people I can call without anxiety bubbling up has dwindled to one. And he's depressed and going through some shit so he probably won't pick up. I'll call him tomorrow. Oh, and there used to be a girl, but it went to shit. And I can always ruminate upon whatever silly mistakes I did to make that go down in flames.\n \nMy Roommate is here though, but I have grown to hate that guy so much. Being around him I become a worse person. \n\nHim, with his playing of the video games all night, and the repeatedly drinking of my beer even though I've told him in no uncertain terms that he should get his own. Me, growing ever more resentful as he relates another one of his anecdotes on something inane and trivial. It's getting hard not to yawn when he speaks. \nAt this point I even have dreams of killing that annoying prick. These are not fantasies, the hatred has invaded my dream scape.\n\nI'm trapped, and lonely, in an apartment with one of the few people in the world I actively harbor ill feelings towards. I recognize that I have no friends, just acquaintances. People I drink with. Friends of friends. Strangers that know my name.\n\n\nThe self pity threatens to swallow me whole as I grab a beer from the fridge(Hooray - there was one left, you beer thieving motherfucker). I think about the girl, curse my own failings under my breath. Gently punch the wall in an impotent display of anger and frustration as I walk back to sit. Sit in the cold glow of the laptop and stare at the world from the safe vantage point of my bedroom. \n\nMy life is empty and devoid of meaning. I take a sip of the beer, put on some music and open up a tab in Firefox. The first of many. For a brief instance the idea of reaching out to someone pops up, but I block it out. I've got Reddit and some whiskey stashed away somewhere. I'll be fine as long as my connection stays up. I've got Reddit.\n\nSo, yeah, I know how you feel.\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "Nova is my alarm clock. I can't stand the inane drivel of their morning crew, so having them chirping in my ear at 6am every day motivates me to get up and out of earshot of the radio.\r\n\r\nIt works quite well.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "I listen to Triple J and swap to Nova if they start playing crap music... I then swap back when a floppy penis commercial comes on (which is inevitable with Nova).", "score": 6 }, { "body": "4ZZZ's community radio isn't it? I mostly listen to CDs in my car but when I listen to the radio I listen to 4ZZZ, Triple J and Nova. I like the variety on Triple Z - you're just as likely to hear grotty underground punk as you are jazz, 50s rock, metal, and modern local bands.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I switch between Triple J and 4ZZZ. 4ZZZ does have its moments of yucky screamy, but I've stumbled on some cool jazzy stuff during some times of the day, and even once heard Hakuna Matata.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Only triple J, if ever! the rest are terrible, except when bbc has some world news on, can't stand nova and triple m etc etc the hosts just love to hear themselves talk!", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "The main cause of running injuries aren't shoes, it the running form that the shoes promote. If you have great running form, doesn't matter what you wear on your feet, you will be able to run the rest of your life with out injury.\n\n\nWhen you look at the design of the human foot a couple of things become very apparent:\n\n - One, the ball of our foot is designed to handle a landing. It's got all sorts of muscles and tendons and bones to allow for a very soft and controlled landing. \n\n - Two, the soles of our feet should feel the way to the landing. Our feet have nearly as many nerve endings as our hands. \n\n - Three, we are natural born runners. It's a known fact that in a marathon, a human can beat out a horse. This mostly has to do with our ability to cool ourselves while running. But this also gave us an amazing advantage when hunting. And evolution works really.\n\n\nSo now why are running shoes bad? \n\n\nWell for one, most sneakers (exception running flats, example: Nike Zoom Waffle Cross Country) are designed to protect the heal from impact. This stems from a movement in the 60's or 70's when some guy invented the sport of jogging, which is kind of like a shuffle with a heal strike. (Jogging != Running) Now, compared to the ball of the foot, the heal is ridged and not really well set up to take an impact. Any strike with the heal cause shock to travel though the legs into other parts of your body, example ankles, knees hips, lower back, and spine. This is the root of most running injuries, including some issues i had for a long time. This also causes muscles to feel tight as they have to handle much more stress then running. \n\n\nSo what is the proper way to run you ask. Well first thing is first, relax. Don't tense up your upper body or hands or face, and defiantly don't tense up your feet. You want to have a ball to mid-foot landing with a high cadence of 90 steps per minute. Your body should be straight with a slight lean forward, this is where you get your speed. The more the lean the faster you will run. \n\n\nFinally you should not be pushing yourself forward but more keeping yourself from falling. Your foot should strike on ball and then use the elasticity of your leg muscles to control the landing. At the bottom of your landing the heal should lightly kiss the ground (this will let you calves rest between each step). Finally as soon as the heal kisses the ground, you should use your hamstring to pull your foot. This will cause your body to naturally fall into what is called a figure 4 position.\n\nA good example is \"nike free\" video on youtube, if you search for barefoot running form it should be on the first page. Also, if you get the chance have a friend record your running form on video, you can then compare what your body is actually doing to what you think it's doing. You may think you know what you are doing, but till you see it on tape you don't really know. Then correct any mistakes. \n\nAnyways, hope this helps. \n\n\nEdit: The YouTube [link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbgSEG_Yx2k)\n\nOne of the things to note in the video, his torso barely moves up and down with each step.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "You didn't make a mistake! Anything you do to start an exercise program is a good thing. There are a lot of good comments already about what you can do to reduce the risk of injury. I would just add stretching and icing to the lists. Also, your muscles will get stronger much faster than your connective tissue. You'll need to raise the volume of your runs slowly if you want to avoid over-use injuries in your ligaments. Listen to your body and back off when it tells you that your doing to much. This advice is easier to give than to follow, however. I got into CrossFit last summer and I've been laid up for the past 2 months because of tendinitis in my achilies.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "If they're $45 then they probably don't have all the extra cushioning that causes injury (especially for heel-strike runners). Don't believe that you have to replace them every three months or whatever -- like toothpaste commercials that show as much toothpaste on the brush as can possibly fit, it's just to get you to spend more money.\n\nI love my Vibrams but they're not for everyone. Benefits of more traditional shoes include warmth (I can't run outside in the winter, partially because my shoes are too thin) and less time to get comfortable running. The point is to run -- if you decide to try Vibrams later, go for it, but don't think you have to have them in order to run properly.\n\nRun on the balls of your feet, even though it will probably feel funny for a while; that's how humans evolved to run. It doesn't matter what kind of shoes you have -- the heel-first stride causes shin splints and knee problems.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "It's my impression that dedicated runners (people who run) get a little bit overexcited about running shoes, compared to a beginner. Furthmore, it seems that runners go through shoes quite fast.\n\nOn this basis, I would suggest that almost any shoes are fine as a \"getting-started\" pair, and once you keep it up for a few months, you can step up your shoe-decisions and become more obsessed :) Not to say it isn't warranted, but I think you'll be fine.\n\nThat said, I have no personal experience in the matter at all.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "First, are you talking about Vibram FiveFinger shoes or talking about any running shoes with Vibram soles? \n\nFrom what I've read in Women's Fitness and various other magazines, the long-term negative effects of running shoes are probably far less than the negative effects of not running at all (or no exercise at all). That being said, running on trails is probably better than running on asphalt. It's more fun too. Shoe quality is paramount as its the only real gear you need so buying a pair that fits YOU best is most important. I personally don't find FiveFingers has the ankle support I'm looking for in a trail shoe. Your Asics should work just fine. Try them out a couple of times and see what you think. It's better than not running at all.\n\nEdit: I would also run whatever way feels best for you. I land on my entire foot and push off with the balls (yeah, that sounds funny).", "score": 3 }, { "body": "It's all about the shoe you buy. If you get an all-purpose running one, it fits properly and you do the laces up nice and tight there won't be an issue with it.\n\nProblems crop up when people buy the wrong shoe. Shoes that add extra support on the inside of the foot, but you run on the outside of your foot or vice-versa. The worst thing you can do is if you just plan on going for a jog and you were dedicated straight line shoes. Nike make a pair that look good, are very popular, but are just for straight line movement while running flat foot. That'll do damage over time for the majority of people. \n\nRunning with the barefoot shoes take longer to get used (puts the impact to a different part of the leg) but works as if you bought the correct shoe in the first place.\n\nAsics are my shoe of choice and you would have picked up a nice versitile pair, I think. Shouldn't be any issue... shoe wise, anyways. Enjoy your run!", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Ok, I am a collegate XC and track runner, and often do 70 miles a week.\nThat's a lot of steps, so if you don't do them correctly, they add up and start to hurt.\n\nShoes don't matter at your level. Don't worry about it. Also, the way your foot should hit the ground is midfoot (balls of your foot), then the heel, and as you start to push off, your toes should leave the ground last. Don't run with your heels first, you can get away with it for a while , but you will injure yourself eventually.\n\nAlso, stay loose, don't tighten up when you run. Pretend you are holding some potato crisps in your hands and don'y want to break them. Relax your shoulders. Start off slowly. If you are inhaling or exhaling for less time than it takes you to to take three steps (right, left, right) you are going too fast. Have fun! and PM for any questions! ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I happened to know this because in a mushroom-growing book I've got they suggest loading a mixture of veggie oil and edible-mushroom spores into your saw and simply walking around your woods making slashes in dead and dying trees.", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "I was at WalMart (so my day was going badly enough) and one of the elderly greeters, who looked just like Santa Claus I might add, stopped me on my way out. He said, \"Are you close with your father?\" I told him I was. He continued, \"Tell him the crazy old man at WalMart said he needs to send you to Florida. Do you know why?\" I said no, and he said, \"So you can exercise those beautiful freckles.\" I live in Wisconsin and it was a gray, sunless winter day (as most of them are). Probably he was just really good at his job but it made my day.", "score": 23 }, { "body": "I remember when I got a concussion in intramural volleyball my junior year of college a guy that I hardly knew came over to my room and brought tea and chocolate for me. I was lying down on my futon and he sat on the ground and tried to cheer me up even though my head ached and I felt sick. It made my day that an acquaintance would do that for me. He stayed for hours and made me laugh and feel much better. \n\nTwo years later and we're engaged! ", "score": 20 }, { "body": "I have chronic nightmares. I always have and my bf always has these incredible dreams. He's at the point where he can control what's happening. I'm still running from zombies and trying to save kittens. \r\n\r\nThe last few weeks as I sleep, he comes up to me and reminds me to have good dreams and just speaks really sweet and tries to banish my night time boogey men. I woke up last night and heard him doing talking to me. ", "score": 16 }, { "body": "I threw a college party a couple of months ago, and it was all going great, but just as the party was winding down and people were leaving, my friends girlfriend threw up all over herself and the couch. We ended up getting her cleaned up, made sure she was OK, and I gave her some sweatpants and a shirt to get home in.\n\nTwo days later I get back from class, and waiting on my front porch was gift-type bag, with my clothes washed in it, along with a wonderful card and a bottle of wine. I dont know why, but that card still makes me smile every time I see it.", "score": 15 }, { "body": "Was camping out w/ my dad one hot summer, building a new Renaissance booth. The showers on the grounds were disgusting, but I needed at least two of them a day from the humidity in Ks. Found a $50 bill on the floor one day, drove into town and bought myself some new music, chips & guacamole, and some candy. That was a good day.\n\nLater that night, the heat wave broke, and the forest came alive with cicadas and all manner of chirping, fluttering, and glowing insects and whatnot. It was like a serenade from the heavens. My dad and I stopped fighting for an hour and laid back and just listened.\n\nThat was 15 yrs ago. I haven't spoken to my dad in over a year. ", "score": 10 }, { "body": "I worked late a couple nights in a row for a really shitty project.\n\nA few days later, I found a six pack of Stella Artois and a hundred bucks in American Express travelers cheques courtesy of my manager. I already get comp days for when I have to work late over a long period, so the other stuff was a nice gesture.\n\nSadly, the company has gotten so much bigger, that those type of things don't happen as much.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "My first train pulled up this morning right as I got on the platform, and then my transfer was waiting for me when I got to that stop. No waiting for trains in the cold weather for this guy this morning!", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Waiting for the bus on a dreary, uninspiring day, generally feeling a bit low, I saw a pathetic pigeon hobbling around, one foot missing. Those things always make a low mood worse. \n\nBut then I noticed the most heart-warming detail: there was a carefully applied little bandage on the pigeon's stump. That someone had made the effort to care for this common, everyday pigeon completely made my day.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "My wife's insistent guilt about using the Xbox and TV to play Dragon Age. \"I feel bad...are you sure you don't wanna play?\" If she only knew how nerdy cute watching her listen to every single dialogue tree was. \n\nIf only I could break her of her Alistair crush!", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I was just thinking about this time that I was at a baseball game, I was freezing my ass off, and since my blood apparently does not do an amazing job of circulating to my extremities, I was *really* fuckin' cold and just trying to have a good time. Some nice guy got up to get himself a coffee and he bought me a huge hot chocolate. I'm from a place where the only kind of person you can find is an asshole, so when I was somewhere that actually had nice people, I was shocked. \n\nThis is just one of the things that has made my day in my lifetime. Lots of things have made my day. Last year, we didn't have water for three days after a snow storm. We live in the deep south, so snow isn't expected to be much of an issue. Anyway, once the water came back on, I don't think I have ever been more grateful to flush the toilet. THAT definitely made my day as well. ", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "Nice. I'll probably be able to do Saturday. This will be the first time I'm in a tournament with people I almost know.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I likely be unable to make Saturday's tournament and may need someone to send me the results so I can update the standings...", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "An interesting take... ([source](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703558004574582411800110766.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular))\n\n> Here's the thing: the unit of reverence in Europe is the family, which is why a child born today of unmarried parents in Sweden has a better chance of growing up in a house with both of his parents than a child born to a married couple in America. Here we revere the couple, there they revere the family. This is also why homosexuals in Europe have no comprehension of why homosexuals in America are fighting for the right to marry: They are perfectly happy to simply have equal civil rights, without the language of marriage. But here in America, marriage still has a mystical, intangible power: It is a passport to adulthood and respectability and to a certain extent citizenship. Any relationship less than \"married\" is considered temporary and not worthy of honor.\n\nEdit: To clarify, I thought the take was interesting so I brought it up for discussion here, but I'm not suggesting that I support or oppose anything. ", "score": 37 }, { "body": "God is infallible. God gives absolute certainty. God tells people what to do. If you don't do it, you will be punished.\r\n\r\nReligious people have been conditioned to be scared of not following God's directions. When they see someone not following God's directions, they think it will lead to more people not following God's directions. That's scary. It's scary because it calls into question what they believe in is right or wrong. Cognitive dissonance causes the fear and irrational responses.\r\n\r\nEDIT: Changed \"right and wrong\" to \"right or wrong\". Doubt is scary to the religious. But, many of us know, \"with doubt comes freedom.\"", "score": 25 }, { "body": "I used to spend time in an atheist chat room. Naturally, it attracted fundamentalists like a magnet. Occasionally the topic of conversation would turn to homosexuality. On at least two occasions I PMed the fundy in question, pretending to be on their side, and tricked them into posting [this link](http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28970) into the room as proof of how evil homosexuals are.\n\nYes, I know. I'm a bad, bad person.", "score": 22 }, { "body": "I've been hit on by gay guys a few times, so that could be considered \"recruiting\", but it's stretching the definition. ", "score": 17 }, { "body": "You know, if I quit hanging out at that gay bar I probably wouldn't have this problem.\r\n\r\n*chinscratch*", "score": 10 }, { "body": ">What do they think will be the end result of demonizing these groups?\n\nGod will give them better prizes?", "score": 9 }, { "body": ">Is the logical conclusion for these religious people not some sort of final solution?\r\n\r\nHitler was a huge fan of Martin Luther, the rabidly anti-semitic founder of Protestantism.\r\n\r\n", "score": 8 }, { "body": "my college had an elective course on gay literature. christians protested outside the building the class was. \n\nno homo ever protested the old testament (intro to bible 1)elective in the same building though. ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "You know that \"what's the difference between a gay man and a nazi\" and the whole 90-degrees-at-the-wrist joke? It would be awesome to recreate one of Hitler's rallies, but have everyone do this, with big rainbow banners in the background, photograph it and label it as a gay rally. Glen Beck's head would achieve orbit.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "> I wish they understood that it is our differences, our separate tribes, our unique thoughts and feelings which make us altogether human.\n\nI think we all wish they realized this. Maybe, instead of wasting all of our time fighting each other and trying to fight for/against getting basic rights for people, we could, you know, actually try to benefit the world.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale. I had a friend of mine come visit from NC (up around the Boone area but not in Boone so it was out there). \n\nAfter being there a couple days he asked me why he was having issues with meeting women even though they were all over the place. \n\nI asked him: \"Has a gay guy hit on you yet?\"\nHis shocked reply: \"No of course not!\"\nMy response: \"If the gay guys aren't hitting on you then you likely will have trouble getting women too.\"\n\nIt's just the way things were there 10 or so years ago. Not sure if it is still like that.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Reminds me of the time I went to visit San Francisco. There was an older man holding a sign saying something to the effect of \"FAGS, BABY KILLERS AND SODOMITES GO TO HELL\". I walked past and said \"Hey buddy, what ever happened to 'Judge not, lest ye be judged'?\" and I just got an empty stare. It's not fun arguing with people who haven't thought their position through.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I think the point that is being missed is that people rarely choose their sexual orientation. People always choose their religions, unless they are born into it. Even then it may get questioned, most atheists I have met are from very religious families. \n\nI suppose the argument is that we are born into heterosexuality...\n\nThe question then: is sexuality a choice? REDDIT I ASK YOU.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I like how they will convert you by any means possible. Religion is the biggest scam ever once you die there is no way you can get a refund. What if god only rewards people who only eat clams and sleep hanging upside down? Sorry no after life for you!", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I have had a gay person accost me, but that doesn't make them all bad people...I'm a good looking bastard, what can I say?", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I've had a few gay people try to recruit me. But only temporarily, and I was flattered by it. The gays have great taste so I took it is a big compliment.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I've been hit on by flocks of gays, but then again I was in the gayest district (Castro) of the gayest city (San Francisco) on the gayest day of the year (Gay Pride Day.) Didn't matter that I was wearing a tattered shirt and looked homeless.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "i've always contended that the men least likely to be hit on by a gay man are the most concerned about it.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Let's be fair here. As an atheist, I try to \"convert\" religious people all the time by explaining the merits and logic behind my worldview. I can pretend like I don't want to destroy their faith, but if I put any effort at all into explaining my beliefs and lack of beliefs, it's because I think my perspective is one that's worth having.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "They must not have many regional gay recruiting centers in your area, go to www.ABBA.com for listings of the nearest gay recruitment centers in your area.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I find this very funny as I hear Catholics spout off about this non sense quite a bit where I'm from. They have no evidence of it, and when you think about Catholic's try to recruit and convert as well. Thankfully they gave up some of their harsher tactics, such as torture and death if you refused to convert.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Oh come on.. go to a gay bar, they'll definitely try to recruit you and convert you. They will accost you for being a straight dude in a gay bar and evangelize you about how fantastic teh gay is. They'll restrict your freedom to leave by cornering you in a bathroom stall and telling you \"yeah you're straight, straight to my bed!\" (well maybe not, happened to me though)\n\nI'm also personally friends with several groups of morally bankrupt gay people. \n\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I think a person's model of evil is usually based on themselves. Jung called this the \"shadow aspect\".\n\nSo in a Jack Chick tract, you see how people are seduced by Satan... give impressionable youngsters extravagant promises, and eventually involve them in group rituals led by a person dressed in symbolic clothing.", "score": 3 }, { "body": ">I have never had a gay person attempt to recruit me\n\nHaving a few gay friends, I know that is is many a gay man's fantasy to turn a straight male gay. Not that anyone should take it personally. You've just not been hanging out at the right bars. :-P\n\nI'm sorry if you might feel I am trolling, but as a religious person, I must say that these kinds of Christians only exist as a sensationalized minority thanks to the internet. Where I live, for example, pretty much every single church is gay-friendly.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I do have to admit, I had a few gays in the Castro try to tell me I was in denial when I on the rare occasion, went with gay friends to gay bars. It wasn't really a big deal, but, it angered my gay friends a LOT, they sorta spotted a familiar tune as well. Those were a fraction of a fraction of the thousands of gay people I've ever encountered, and pretty much a 2 second 'he's definitely straight' from a gay friend pretty much settled the issue for them. I have never known a gay person that wanted to somehow put gay flags in capitol buildings, or anything of the sort. \n\nThis is my own opinion, but religion I think is an easy way out, and an easy fall back if you don't want to handle adversity that life throws you, but also don't want to confront your prejudices, or want them to be confirmed. My family went apeshit over Christmas when they suggested that the 10 Commandments should be in all courthouses and I pointed out that it was un-constitutional. I love my family, but they really don't like it when they have to confront that our constitution doesn't allow them to shove their views down the throats of others. They REALLY don't like when I point out that if Muslims became the majority in their town they would object if the core tenants of Mohammed were posted in the lobby of their courthouse, they would be thrilled it was un-constitutional. I damn near was pushed out of Christmas dinner, and they think I'm a still a Catholic! (My parents know I'm an Atheist, ZERO coming to my defense for stating fact.)", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I've never hit an animal, an animal has hit me though. \n\nWas driving down a flat stretch of road in PA heading to my grandparents house and notice some birds on the side of the road. Big whoop, their birds. Keep driving. As I go past where the flock of birds are sitting, one of the more foolhardy ones gets the notion he's going to show my 3 ton vehicle who is the boss and launches into flight smashing head first into the side of my car.\n\nI've also seen a goose get hit by an 18-wheeler. It was like somebody bombed a pillow factory. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "ActiveScaffold can be very helpful with the admin interface. \n\nhttp://github.com/activescaffold/active_scaffold", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I would recommend avoiding this unless absolutely necessary. There are a number of admin plugin/gems out there which will do this for you.\n\nCheck out Typus [here](http://github.com/fesplugas/typus) and [here](http://intraducibles.com/projects/typus)\n\nIt's extremely configurable and has worked wonders for me.", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "Can we see some pictures. I have a pectus excavatum and I am always wondering what I could expect from surgery.", "score": 9 } ]

[ { "body": "Scissors suck. They are assembled (even the both-handed kind) so that it's difficult to put tension on the blades with your left hand (pulling your thumb in on your right hand squeezes the blades to gether).", "score": 9 }, { "body": "I hate the desks at my college. The \"desk\" part of the chairs only cover your right hand and its harder to write without a place to rest my left elbow. \n\nOn the other hand, Chinese children a generation ago were beaten by their parents if they even showed a tendency to favor their left hands, so I guess desk problems aren't the worst thing one could have.\n\nAlso, Chinese calligraphy is a bitch left-handed. The right hand is the only way to go.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I am not left handed, right handed, or ambidextrous. I write left handed. I throw right handed. I kick left footed. I eat cereal with the spoon in my left hand. I have no ability to use the reverse hand/foot in these situations. What do you call that? schizodextrous?", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Do you lefties have an issue with ink smudging? I'd think that with certain pens, since you're writing left to right with your hand on the left, the ink would smudge as you go along. I don't think I know any left handed people to ask this. Downright sinister.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Something tells me I probably shouldn't go to www.southbaydrugs.com at work. Hop you have a great birthday tho!", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I've never seen anything like that happen with Preview. Also the characters seem to be mapped consistently to other printable characters, but in a completely non-obvious way. Could you please post a link to the pdf, or at least a bigger sample with also capitals and special characters?", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Stop being a pussy and asking the internet about what to do. You either care about your friendship with her boyfriend or not. You obviously are not the asshole type, because you wouldn't be asking us to help you. If you close this deal, believe that you and your good friend won't be good friends anymore. \n\nIn other words, leave it alone. Listen to carny666, bros before hos. ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "This is what's going to happen: twenty years later you're going to look back and realize that they haven't been dating in 19-some years, they weren't all that serious, and they broke up because he was banging some other girl, and you and he haven't spoken in years because he was just a highschool friend that you haven't spent any meaningful time with. And you'll realized you missed an opportunity. ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "I was in a similar situation once. My buddy had broke up with this girl X to be with another (Girl Y) and I was good friends with girl X (yes it's their real names). \n \nAbout 4 months after that while my buddy is still with girl Y, Girl X calls me to hang out. So we talk and hangout when she suddenly starts talking about how she didn't have sex in a long time and she's horny. Anyways, I told her that I wouldn't do it. \n \nTwo months later My buddy is back with Girl X and I couldn't be happier that I didn't fuck up my friendship. \n \nSo ya, it's a personal choice, but one night of fun can lead to an eternity of regret.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Make up an excuse to get up, and then go to the internet to ask a bunch of anonymous strangers what to do. Of course.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Just because you (1) have assemble a set of natural laws, (2) verify them beyond all measurement in isolation, and that (3) those laws lead to chaotic feedback loops and chaotic progressions.... doesn't follow that anything has failed.\n\nSometimes your tools say 'No'. Newtonian dynamics underlies everything, including the chaotic systems. Those approximations of chaotic behavior could not be made without Newton field theories.\n\nEpistemiologically, the source of knowledge and universalized, uncoerceable detail is the same. Arguing with a speeding truck has the same consequences, even if it is chaotically shaking.", "score": 11 }, { "body": "Control theory does not seek to \"correct predictive mistakes of Newtonian flight model\". Control theory uses the Newtonian flight model to make future predictions, and use those future predictions to go to a desired state. Engineers recognize that you will never have all the information needed to set an airplane or spaceship at a desired path and that it would stay there. It is (1) physically impossible to adjust angles and positions so accurate to accomplish this. (2) Impossible to acquire all necessary data of the environment to accomplish this. This is why we have control systems, that control everything. \n\nAlso, the field of flight dynamics does not \"correct\" the Newtonian model. In fact, all of flight dynamics is derived entirely from Newton. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "A question (from a non-physicist): Do we have reason to believe here that Newtonian Systems (for lack of a better term) that exhibit chaotic properties are exhibiting non-Newtonian characteristics or merely that Newtonian characteristics conflate in such a way as to make conventional (integral / differential calculus) techniques useless in predicting future states of the system?\n\nI guess I'd argue that inability to predict future states of a system doesn't necessarily negate physical theories, since non-quantum (and quantum, I suppose) physical theories tend to be statements about the natures of things *in addition* to statements with predictive power. Also, the physics of which I'm aware tends only to attempt to be predictive of simple phenomena and never pretends to talk about complicated systems.\n\nI wouldn't quite call it an example, but when we talk about Newton's gravitational constant, we talk about the rate at which objects fall in systems without wind-resistance (actually, we're strictly probably just talking about the effects of gravity in a system, but...). We don't pretend that the principle is negated when another factor (like wind-resistance) is introduced into our system and an object(like, say, a feather)'s behavior fails to act was a casual usage of basic the maths behind basic Newtonian gravity would tell us it might.\n\n*I could keep writing a whole lot more, but I guess I'd like to get a firmer grasp on what exactly you're arguing before I do...*", "score": 3 }, { "body": "As a lurker and philsci dilettante, I just want to briefly pop my head up and say that I think what you're doing in this subreddit is great. The quality of your posts is refreshing; thanks for that.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Are you mixing up [chaotic](http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Chaos.html) and deterministic? [Here](http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/DoublePendulum.html) is a derivation for the equations of motion of the double pendulum problem. These equations, derived from the Lagrangian which comes from the [Principle of Least Action](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_action), are exact, although the computations are done numerically. The error comes from the computations and initial conditions. The errors come not from fundamental laws being incorrect, but instead the inherit uncertainty in creating/finding initial conditions. If one could find 100% accurate initial conditions, then the system would be deterministic. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "[Planet Bike 1 Watt](http://ecom1.planetbike.com/3044.html) is pretty great. I have used similar lights from them in the rain up here in the PNW for years with no problems.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I used to use a Trek light, then a cateye quad light. I was disappointed in the light output of both. I recently switched to a [Night Rider mininewt USB light](http://www.niterider.com/prod_minmini.shtml), and absolutely love it. It's expensive (around $100), but has a really bright light (> 100 lumens), charges quickly, and can even charge from a USB port.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Hands down the new MagicShine! It puts out a TON of light, comparable to the high end NiteRider and L&M but at a fraction of the cost. It runs about $85 for the kit which includes Light, handlebar mount, LI-Ion battery pack, and charger. I've been commuting with it every to work and back in the dark, and it actually lets you see where you are riding, rather than just being seen. Battery pack fits under the stem or top tube, and provides about 3+ hours of constant light on the high mode. So far, I've had the light 3 months with no issues at all. I'm contemplating getting another helmet mount kit for trail riding at night.\n\nHere's a link to a comparison of the light output: http://www.bigringadventure.com/magicshine.htm\n\nAnd my vendor of choice is GeoManGear.com. Very good support, based in the USA, and has a presence on many of the major bike forums. Here's a link to the product on his site: [MagicShine Light Set](http://www.geomangear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4_41&products_id=138&zenid=nrnlc6o3dtm77vt3ai76qsp2r2)\n\nCheers!", "score": 3 }, { "body": "You should consider using a flashlight rather than a dedicated bike light. It's been awhile since I did the research, but at the time I concluded it's cheaper without sacrificing much performance. I'm not sure if there is just a markup for dedicated bike lights or if it is the surprisingly large flashlight subculture (see www.candlepowerforums.com) that keeps the quality high and the price down. For the price of a nice bike headlight you can get 2 or 3 bright, weatherproof, compact flashlights that use standard batteries. This allows you to mount a couple on your bars and one on your head or any other configuration you find useful and the flashlights are still useful as regular flashlights.\n\nI went the budget route and use only one midrange light: a Fenix L2D. It's not bright enough for riding fast on narrow windy paths but it suits my needs and only cost $50. It uses a durable LED and runs on 2AA batteries I can buy anywhere and recharge with my existing charger. Battery life is 1 to 8 hours depending on how bright you want it to be. I use the 4 hour setting. It's compact and I can easily stow it away when it is not in use. I mount it to my bars using the light mount from TwoFish. The mount could be a little steadier, but it works fine, was cheap, and is easy to remove. \n\nYou can get good advice on setups from the forum mentioned above or in the lighting subforum on Bike Forums.\n", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Here's the thing. American politics is a soap opera compared to Australian politics. Let me give you an example: The death of a leader.\n\nJFK is killed, in circumstances caught on film and with many witnesses. A conversation between Americans about how he *actually* died can go on for two hours.\n\nHarold Holt goes missing whilst swimming, with no witnesses, and the average conversation between Australians about how he *actually* died goes for about 2 words.\n\n\"Shark?\"\n\n\"Shark.\"", "score": 23 }, { "body": "I was until they started talking about this internet filter bullshit, at that point local politics became very much my problem", "score": 10 }, { "body": "US politics is definitely more 'zany'. Partly because there's so many more politicians, governors, pundits etc so there's always someone around to oblige the media with some stupid gaff. But it's also a style difference. Politicians in the US want to be noticed and love their bold ideological statements, not here. Every question must be avoided. \n\nIf someone asks you something awkward pretend they didn't ask it and reply with something tangentially related. If you are boring enough and talk long enough the audience will switch off and it will appear as though you answered the question. Rudd is the master of this, almost every interview he has ever given has been a farce, I don't think I've ever seen him answer a pressing question and the media on the whole is more than happy to just move on to the next question. \n\nPersonally I think this approach shows nothing but disdain towards the Australian people but either way I'd say that while American politics is basically bombastic, ideological zealotry, Australian politics is deliberate tactical boredom. So yeah, even if it is less relevant to us, US politics is more fun. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Yes and no. I'm more interested in Aussie politics than American because I'm in Australia. American politics are vastly more entertaining though...you can't compare question time to some of the bullshit goings on in congress and senate that I see on The Daily Show. Laughs a-plenty. I found Australian politics far more entertaining and enjoyable to wallow in during the Hawke/Keating years. There seemed to be more wit, more character and more style on both sides back then.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I'm Canadian and I have this same problem. I enjoy reading about politics and I try to stay on top of my national stories, but it's like reading a textbook at a circus. Sure, it's more useful to read the textbook, but *there's an elephant jumping through a ring of fire RIGHT THERE.*", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "That's a loaded question. I run what I consider a professional studio in my basement for myself. Occasionally I'll let friends use it, but it's mostly for producing my own music. Now I make enough to live off of that music, so you could say it's a commercial studio, but it's hardly what many would consider a commercial studio (the equipment is sparse, but it works).", "score": 13 }, { "body": "I've worked in recording studios, whether staff or freelance, since the late 1980's. I'm from NY but my first studio job was in Paris. I came back to NY in the early 1990's and began working at The Hit Factory. This was about as \"real\" a studio experience as you're likely to find. In just over 4 years I worked with an incredible list of artists and producers - Keith Richards, David Bowie, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder and on and on. It was an expensive place so you only really got big stars or young artists with a LOT of backing. Most of my experiences there were amazing. Worked with Sinatra, Phil Ramone, and Al Schmitt on one project. Nile Rodgers...Quincy Jones. Amazing times. I do own a successful studio now but it won't ever be like that. ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "I got a job as an engineer at a studio before finishing my degree from Musitechnic in Montreal. I called many studios, and although most said they weren't hiring, if the owner seemed knowledgeable and \"cool\", I asked to at least have lunch with him, and hopefully he could help me get set in the right direction. One particular owner thought I was very intelligent and likable, so he took me on to help with cleaning up thousands of lines of VO.\n\nIt was a studio built by a musician that realized if he wanted to be able to support his lust for gear, he'd have to turn it into a commercial studio.\n\nProblem was that he no clue how to run a studio, let alone a business.\n\nThose two years were a hell of a ride. I was the caterer, maid, engineer, manager, salesman, all at once.\n\nI got to produce and mix a couple albums, many singles and demos, and do all the VO for a couple prominent videogames for Konami. I worked over 100 hours a week between 3 different jobs, with over 50 a week being at the studio (where I sometimes slept).\n\nI'd have to say, **the best feeling** in a professional enviroment I ever had, was after 2 days of set up, and mic'ing drums, amps, vocals, setting click tracks and headphone mixes. I said, \"rolling...\", unmuted the click and sat back as the whole band came through the monitors, watched all the meters start jumping, everything working perfectly.\n\nNever felt so overcome with joy, that this was *my job*. Glad it was just me and the owner in the control room, because I was brought to tears.\n\n", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I've interned over a year now at a professional commercial music house. We do original music and post production on both radio and television spots. \n\nWhile I'm not a fan of the advertising world, I love being there - I get to learn how to use all the gear and am learning the technical side of things, which was my main reason for getting in. Also, my band practices there, and we're recording our EP there, so obviously that's a tremendous perk - we squeeze it in at nighttime and on weekends when we can. \n\nAt its worst, it's boring sometimes, because I don't really feel a connection to the advertising world. But that's really nothing. What I'm learning there is completely worth taking out the trash, making coffee, and listening to commercials. Plus, sometimes I get chances to sing on commercials, which means getting paid if they go through. \n\nI got my foot in the door by looking up studios in my area, cold-emailing them with the most heartfelt \"cover letter\" I've ever written in my life. At the time, I was 29, already in a professional career, but I always, always, always wanted to do music. That desire just kept growing stronger. So I wrote them, and this particular studio worked out, and I love it. I quit my job, took a paycut with another job that lets me keep going into the studio. \n\nThe other people who work there generally got their foot in the door via word of mouth - being referred from another studio, or someone who knows someone. \n\nI am fully, singularly committed to doing music in one way or another. Every single decision I make is based on this question: Will this help my music? If so, I do it. If not, I don't. I fully believe this focus is what has led to the many opportunities that have opened up for me. \n\nEDIT: If you want to make working at a studio your career, be prepared to eat shit the first few years. You won't make a lot of money at all, you'll work the longest hours of anyone there. In the end, if you're lucky, it will pay off. This is a something you have to be pretty dedicated to. ", "score": 4 }, { "body": "i do some freelance work in a couple of studios around ATL. right now things are down. 2008 was great, 2009 was terrible! best experience: getting to hang out/smoke/play video games with some of the biggest names in rap (even thought i don't listen to any of it) worst experience: the interning process and having to fix something behind the patchbay on the fly in the middle of the room with EVERYBODY waiting. i got my foot in the door by being an unpaid intern for a year. it is great work, just one big ebb and flow. sometime your phone aint ringing' and sometimes you gotta decide which job will pay you more now or pan out longer. it is a sharks tank at my level. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Your friend should learn how to sew. Could've done that himself. Stitching a wound is not rocket science.", "score": 8 } ]

[ { "body": "Last year, after providing a copy of a PETA's article \"accidentally Vegan\" to a vegan friend, he immediately pointed out a number of non-vegan items on the list; many of which he had verified the status of himself by calling the manufacturers directly.\n\nI contacted PETA about the apparent problem, and asked if they had also contacted the manufacturers, possibly getting newer information that he had.\n\nthey responded, in effect, that they were more concerned about getting the idea of veganism out into the mainstream, and weren't so concerned about a few items with animal-sourced flavors that happened to be on their list.\n\nI will say that the suspect items don't appear to be on thier current list:\nhttp://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/\n\nThough there are many items on there I'm not familiar with; can't say that I trust it much at this point.", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "The couple already responded, and really liked it. As I guessed they're not into calling me \"Master\", or collars or anything like that. Neither am I, btw.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "You might want to reword a bit of the dialogue. I don't think \"anus\" sounds particularly sexy to most people, for example, even if they're really into ass play.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Fifth Business is one of the most underrated, brilliant works of literature that I've ever had the pleasure to read. It's one of my favourites.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Try the [Crumpler Industry Disgrace.](http://www.amazon.com/Crumpler-The-Industry-Disgrace-Brown/dp/B001JQ4QCW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=apparel&qid=1262708974&sr=8-2) Nicely padded.", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "Tinted moisturizer is a little more sheer than oll over coverage. Wear something with spf because you want to prevent sun damage.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "i have tons of freckles and i've found that the best over-all powder for my skin is the bare escentuals (sp?) [bare minerals loose powder](http://bareescentuals.com/bareMinerals%20SPF%2015%20Foundation/MasterSPF15Found,default,pd.html) foundation. it's sheer and the teensiest bit shimmery, and you can determine how much coverage you want. if you really cake it on it does hide most freckles, but a light dusting usually works for me, and lets my freckles show through. it is kind of expensive, but it lasts a looong time. and it has SPF!", "score": 4 }, { "body": "What sort of uneven skin are we talking about here? If it's acne you might wanna ditch the bangs and see a dermatologist. Then once you're clear go makeup-less. \n\nBut if you're just talking about pigment discolorations or some other unevenness that you just have to live with, try a creme foundation and a sheer powder, because that will be the easiest to blend with bare skin. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Great thread to start: I was actually thinking about this myself.\n\n> So am I the only one that finds himself looking at regular girls/women throughout the day and wondering if they shave or not, and if not, how their bush looks / how full they are / what color they might be?\n\nYes, absolutely. I always figured I was a freak.\n\n> Do you guys like it hairy but trimmed or completely natural better?\n\nCompletely natural.\n\n> What bush hair color gets you going the most?\n\nRed.\n\n> Is your wife hairy down there?\n\nYes, as were my previous gfs.\n\nMy question for people: for those fans of a nice bush, how many of you are 20 years old or younger? I suspect that most bush fans are going to be older, having grown up in the 1970s or 1980s (or 1960s, I suppose).\n", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Does anyone else also find themselves looking at *any* body hair on a regular girl and getting turned on by seeing it? For example, some girls will bend over or their shirt will raise up in the back...revealing just a faint hint of some hair on the small of her back...drives me wild. A little hair on a girls forearm is also good and gets my imagination going.\n\nOn another topic, I say we find a way to share our porn stashes! I'd like to share mine and see what others have. Anyone know of a safe way to go about doing that? I hate using public posting sites like imagefap for concern of copyright infringement (most of what I have is models from pay sites that I've acquired from usenet or torrent).", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Do you guys like it hairy but trimmed or completely natural better?\nTrimmed, long as it doesn't look like a jungle. \n\nWhat bush hair color gets you going the most?\nI can't really recall seeing anything other than black, other than the odd redhead here and there.\n\nIs your wife/gf/whatever hairy down there? If not, have you asked her to grow it out?\nShe was shaved and no never asked her to grow it out, can't tell girls anything. ;)", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I think that many of us who've struggled with depression are very familiar with the periods of 'normalcy' mixed in with the depressive episodes...it's actually one of the real problems in getting treatment, as when you feel okay there's no reason to, and when you feel badly, you can't. \n\nI would very much recommend seeking treatment- I would suggest asking your family doctor for a referral to a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Medications do help a lot of people (especially when they're combined with therapy), and you are definitely not always on them indefinitely. I've found that a lot of people can use them to get over the 'hump', but then can taper off when they are feeling better or when therapy has helped. Other people are on them indefinitely, as some conditions can't always be corrected just by willpower or therapy. Some people need inhalers because they have asthma, some people need meds because they're depressed...it's medication to treat a problem. \n\nThere is a lot to be said for exercise and helping others- again, a lot depends on your specific situation, and that's something that a doctor is much more qualified to decide than people talking to you online. They are definitely worth trying to see if it works, but I tend to err on the side of seeking treatment as I've spent too much of my life miserable when I could have been getting help. \n\nAs for being embarrassed about talking to your doctor- don't be. They've seen everything, and certainly won't think any less of you for bringing it up. I've had a lot invested in my 'I can deal with anything' persona over the years, and no doctor has ever thought less of me when I've finally gone for help. It's actually a lot more embarrassing not to- why live your life with those horribly unhappy periods if you don't have to? That's kind of self-defeating, whereas asking for help shows that you want to be the best person that you can be. \n\nYou've already taken the big step of talking to your family, so why not take the next step? It becomes easier and easier to have suicidal thoughts the more often that they occur, and there's really no need to go there if you don't have to. Depression isn't usually caused by outward events or circumstances...sadness is, and there's a difference. ", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "Here!\n\nhttp://catinfo.org/\n\nHopefully you are able to see past the potentially off-putting militant tone of the writer here, and absorb the important info about cat nutrition. Also, while you can feed a cat an entirely wet diet, it's kind of bad for their teeth so you must pay attention to that at least. (I still feed my cat dry with some wet, but it's all better quality than most you'd see in a regular grocery store.)\n\nBasically, cats need muscle meat, not byproducts. Poultry and rabbit are ideal, not beef and seafood. No veggies, no grains (if possible)... Their digestive tracts are not made for vegetable matter, and grains just add carbs they don't need. Excess carbs can lead to diabetes, just like us humanfolk.\n\n\nRamble ramble. Good luck. :D", "score": 6 }, { "body": "[Here is a pretty good article](http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/tipsforchoosing.htm) about choosing food for a cat, what to look for. Basically, look for lots of meats and few fillers like corn or grain. Higher quality food is (obviously) more expensive than the cheap shit, but you will see the difference in the overall health of your cat.\n\nWe got our cat from a shelter that fed him poor food and, while he wasn't UNhealthy, his coat was coarse and he was fat. We put him on a diet of higher quality food and he has slimmed down considerably and his coat is now very soft and shiny. A vast improvement. Here is what we feed our kitteh:\n\nIn the morning, we give him a pouch of [Wellness](http://www.wellnesspetfood.com/cat_index.html) wet cat food. The pouches cost about $1 each so when you think about the monthly cost, it can be an investment. We also buy several flavors and give him a different one every day so that he has some variety and does not get bored of any one flavor. He seems happy with it so far.\n\nThen, in the evening we give him about 1/2 cup of [Taste of the Wild](http://www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com/products/cats/rocky_mountain_feline_formula/) which is a grain-free dry food. Also if we go away for a weekend trip or something we will just fill his bowl with the dry food and go and he is able to keep himself adequately fed. \n\nFinally, when you get the cat, bring him/her to the vet for a baseline checkup and talk to the vet about dietary needs and how much you should feed him/her when. Especially if it is a kitten, it will probably need different food than an adult. Ours was 3 when we got him so we just jumped right into the adult food. When in doubt, ask an expert! Good luck!", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "My dad is 82, lives in a tropical thorn forest in a solar powered bungalow by a sea. He has been a pool builder, blister rust controller, geologist that mined for diamonds in Venezuela but found none, canoed from Colorado to Maine in 1957 w/three other guys, ski movie maker/photographer, writer, landscaper/gardener. He grew up in the dust bowls of Kansas and went through the great depression. He exiled himself from the Mormon church when he was 16.", "score": 144 }, { "body": "My dad is an asshole. hes also a radiation oncologist. He cures cancer or some shit so that gives him a right to be a cunt to everyone apparently", "score": 106 }, { "body": "My father's name is Yeve Arno Evans. That's all I know.\n\nIf anyone out there knows someone with this name, or if it's you, I'd be interested in communicating. \n\n", "score": 106 }, { "body": "My dad was a drug using, ex-con and borderline genius who put his life back together and graduated from college with an associate's degree in Psychology and then promptly died at the age of 34. Now that I am a father myself I can see that it was his love for my brother and I that gave him the strength to change. At the time I was scared of him and chose to live with my mother and step-father in another state. They say he died of an aneurysm, but I know he died of a broken heart", "score": 51 }, { "body": "My father is a VIP of sales for a plastics company that sells it's plastics to Rubbermaid etc. He's also a dead beat asshole who left my mother and I and tried to control us with money. He already bought a lifetime subscription to my brothers love but couldn't give a shit about me, his only daughter. He hasn't talked to me in 6 years and didn't respond when I told him I was getting married. My mother on the other hand has been there through thick and thin and absolutely knows every trick in the book. She is the rock of my family, not my father.", "score": 50 }, { "body": "My dad pretends to know all the tricks in the book, but I'm starting to catch up to him. He made the mistake of teaching me to problem solve, and now I can figure out stuff he can't.\n\nHe's an aircraft mechanic.", "score": 40 }, { "body": "My dad is a history teacher and also a great musician, he plays guitar, piano and sax. He used to play in a rock and roll band back in the 70's. He is the [greatest!](http://i.imgur.com/qr8fJ.png)", "score": 37 }, { "body": "My dad is a Romanian mechanical engineer with several patents under his belt. He jump-started my movie obsession, and got me reading Asimov at an early age.\n\nFor the past six months, he's been unemployed because of severe depression. We used to talk about everything. I hope he feels better soon. ", "score": 35 }, { "body": "My father is a waste management coordinator. He lives in Missouri and works from home, coordinating... waste management. He arranges grants and does a bunch of other shit that covers up the fact that he's in the mob. \n", "score": 28 }, { "body": "My dad (the man that raised me) is a well-mannered British man and a mechanical engineer that owns his own business (I'm American). He is formally trained in operatic singing and used to act in musicals/plays. He used to sing all the time when I was growing up and I grew up loving the sound of his singing. He knows all things about plumbing (as his father owned his own plumbing business) and carpentry (his favorite class during school). He is the first to cry during a sappy scene in a movie.\n\n\n**Edit:** Something else that's probably worth including is that 10 years ago he was hit by a drunk driver who died on impact. My dad survived and is permanently handicapped and had to have his face reconstructed entirely. Yesterday, he turned 74 and he is still rocking it out at his own business, which has become really successful in the last two years. He is spunky as hell, extremely positive, and changed after his accident into being a very open-minded person (he used to be racist and homophobic, now his philosophy is live and let be). He changed profoundly and became successful at an age when a lot of people probably would have just given up.", "score": 28 }, { "body": "My dad was born in 1922, and lived through the Great Depression. His mom ran a speakeasy out of the house. He was a very spiritual man, but considered religion a private thing. \r\n\r\nHe enlisted in the Army in 1940. In August of 1945 he was on a troop ship heading for Okinawa to take part in the invasion of Japan. He was commissioned into the newly minted Air Force in 1948, though he never flew. He was assigned to the US Embassy in London in the late 50's, where he met my mom. They got married in 1960 - he was 38, she was 23 and looked like Marilyn Monroe. Dad's my hero. ;-)\r\n\r\nIn 1962 he went through jump school with the 82nd Airborne Division (Note that he was freakin' *forty* at the time) and became an Air Commando. He served two tours in Vietnam. \r\n\r\nHe finally retired in 1975. About a year later he found a job working for the Ministry of Defense as a contractor in Iran, so he spent two years there, coming home in December of 1978. (yeek!)\r\n\r\nAfter that, he sold real estate for a while, did a few odds and ends, but he was pretty much retired, and spent his time gardening, taking care of the house, and watching football. \r\n\r\nHe suffered a stroke in 1999, and recovered, but he was never quite the same. Diagnosed with cancer and playing pharmaceutical roulette, it was a slow decline, but he was in his 80's, had two grandchildren, and was happy with his life. \r\n\r\nHe passed away quietly on a sunny Sunday afternoon at home with his wife of 46 years. \r\n\r\nI miss you, Dad. ", "score": 28 }, { "body": "My dad survived the Khmer genocide. He walked almost 200km to the border of Thailand with his pregnant wife. He survived by stealing electricity and reselling it, and hustled books that he and my uncle wrote. Since he was an electrical engineer, they gave him the position of science physic teacher in the refugee camp. Eventually, they gave him and his family a visa to come to Canada. \n\n\nIn Canada, he did not speak french, nor english. He had the choice to either work in a factory or go back to school. He was an electrical engineer, and he was reduced to Secondary 4 (10th grade). He went back to school, because he wanted to show example to his kids. \n\n\nThe only time I saw my dad cried, was when he was studying for his philosophy class. He had work to do on Malcolm X, and he just learned the language. I remember him watching the movie about 12 times. He showed me his grades. He passed everything with 100, but he said the biggest accomplishment was the 62 he got in philosophy and 65 he got in French. He managed to get a diploma as an electrical technician. \n\n\nHe only went back to cambodia 12 years later. He built a mausoleum, and dug the body of his parents, 2 sisters and 3 brothers. Made proper ceremony and came back. \n\n\nI always debated with him, and the thing I liked most with my dad was that, even when I was young, if I had a very good argument that he could not answer to, he'd admit it and be true. He lived a lot of things but he never denied other point of view. \n\n\nHe also taught me chess, and taught me computer fundamentals with a 486. But the thing that stuck to me most was his philosophy. \n\n\nMy dad died on November 26th 2009. \n\n\nHe really is my hero. ", "score": 22 }, { "body": "My dad came to the US as South Korea with my mom in the 70's and started working at a manufacturing plant as a janitor. He would watch the various workers and see what they were doing. One day, a worker quit and my dad decided to speak up and tell the manager that he could do the work. They decided to give him a shot and he started to learn the ropes. Fast forward a couple of years... he eventually had enough capital (and a loan) to start his own manufacturing plant and it took off from there. My dad knew how to fix everything: our cars, our plumbing, roof, basement, etc. He really was a guy I looked up to. He died in 2001 from lung cancer. =( I miss him.", "score": 21 }, { "body": "My dad was a pretty cool guy, and a pretty terrible person at the same time. He was an incredibly skilled drummer, a true Harley riding biker bad-ass, and a great son/brother. \n\nAs a father and husband though, he failed. He was an addict, and a woman-beater. He beat the shit out of my mom, rather frequently, so she divorced him when I was only two.\n\nHe died in 1994, in a motorcycle accident. His family tells me he was a great person, with so much to give. \n\nAll I got was his name and his face.", "score": 19 }, { "body": "It's been a while since I've actually told strangers this story. But maybe it'll be cathartic. \nMy dad left mom and me when I was three. He was a drunk and a son of a bitch. He mostly got by by knocking off liquor stores and playing poker in seedy bars and suckers' houses throughout Texas in the 1960's and early 70s while ma raised me as a single mother (Love you ma! [She's awesome.](http://imgur.com/G9vkH.jpg)) Also rode with the biker gang types. I didn't even meet the guy till I was 24. His face was all fucked up from some bar fight he'd been in, and one of his eyes has cataracts, so it looks like it can see into your soul. I actually hired a private eye to track him down, and spent about $10k (in 1970's dollars) and nine months of my life, on and off, to find him. When I finally did track him down to a little roughneck bar a few clicks outside of San Antonio, I confronted him for being a fucking deadbeat dad. We ended up getting into a fistfight and I actually pulled my .45 Colt Buntline SAA on him. Didn't kill him, though I did scare the shit out of him at the time to such an extent that he almost had a heart attack. Served him right for naming me Sue.\n", "score": 19 }, { "body": "my father was dentist for about 40 years. loved his work. volunteered his services to the needy. retired after a heartbreaking and misdirected malpractice lawsuit [found cancer in a friend's mouth during a check-up; friend dies from cancer; insurance company sues everyone involved]. it broke his spririt. he sold his practice. did some travelling with my mom, off and on, for a couple years. now he volunteers with Catholic Charities placing refugees.\n\nhe continues to deeply love his one and only wife. they do everything together. raised seven kids together as well as taking in several of my siblings friends during troubling times. he's very unassuming and modest...and brilliantly insightful. although i disagree with him at times, he's almost never wrong. he's deeply compassionate and caring. \n\nhe's the reason i cry every time i see a movie or read a book that depicts someone's father dying. he's the greatest man i've ever known.\n\n...i have a phone call to make.", "score": 19 }, { "body": "My father doesn't deserve to be recognized with a post proclaiming what things he has done, not that there is much to be proclaimed. ", "score": 15 }, { "body": "My dad was one of 8 (from 4 different fathers) and ran away at 15 because he was tired of being beat up by his mum. He continues his studies far away but didn't amount to much and by the time he was 21 he was chief barman in The Palm Beach Casino in Cannes (was buddies with the likes of Sammy Davies Jr etc...) and met my mum who was dancing there on a short contract. Although she didn't speak French they fell in love and then my dad quit his job and learned to dance professionally and became a dancer/juggler/acrobat. They toured the world before being Can-can solists in the Moulin Rouge and then created their own Music-Hall production company. Now they live in the middle of nowhere with no work and no prospects, my mum giving English lessons and my dad reconverting our house into appartments! Kinda great but sad at the same time...", "score": 15 }, { "body": "My daddy died when I was 7. \r\n\r\nI found out at school, in second grade from a classmate who was my neighbor before my parents divorced. They split up a few months before he died. \r\n\r\nHe was taking a bath and slipped and fell. He drowned. I didn't know where he was buried till I was 18 when I accidentally found his grave when I was visiting a friend's mom's grave. \r\n\r\nIt was the strangest feeling I've ever had to see my dads name on a headstone. I think until that point, I didn't really believe he died but looking at that name, there was no doubt. \r\n\r\nMy mom is a strange bird. I think she thought the experience was too traumatic for a 7 year old to understand so she wanted to act like it never happened. I think their relationship had broken down so much that she just pretended he never existed. She never wanted to talk to me. Imagine being 7 years old and all of sudden the center of your universe is gone with no explanation and no one but you seems to care. \r\n\r\nI miss my dad every single day. He was by far the greatest man I've ever known in my life. He was in the Airforce and I remember when he used to come home in his uniform, he looked so strong and regal. He was kind and soft spoken. One time, out of the blue, he bought me all the Disney read along books for my kick ass playskool record player. He was the one that taught me to read when I was 3. I wish I had a picture or something to remind me of him. It's getting to the point that I don't think I can remember his face anymore. \r\n\r\nIt's not fair. I only had him for 7 years. \r\n\r\nIt wasn't enough time.\r\n\r\nPlease, for me...call your dad and tell him you love him. \r\n", "score": 15 }, { "body": "My dad is a mailman. He's kind of dorky and shy. He talks to his pets and does really bad impressions. He's a lot smarter than he gives himself credit for. He's also my best friend in the world. ", "score": 14 }, { "body": "My [father](http://imgur.com/LaoEt) was a biker, he was in a club called the Satan's Choice which was merged into the [Outlaws](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlaws_Motorcycle_Club). I was told by my uncle that he was in the documentary titled [Satan's Choice](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0170548/) but I have yet to see it. He died from a heart attack at aged 38 back in January 1983.\n\nEdit: I have JUST ordered the DVD from the CNFB, it costs me almost $1 CAD per minute.", "score": 12 }, { "body": "My dad used to be a logger, a College Prof., a locksmith, he literally has the makings to be a Hitman. o.O", "score": 11 }, { "body": "A family physician.\n\nHis road was pretty interesting. He came from an extremely poor family in Asia, studied ridiculously hard, went to university, got the highest marks in his class which earned him a scholarship to study in Canada for free. Did his residency in the United States, before working back in Canada for another oh... 30+ years (and still counting).\n\nDoesn't charge for house calls. Still works like a madman (six days a week, nine hours a day). Emotionally awkward, sometimes passive aggressive, some anger management problems, and really paranoid about worst case scenarios but otherwise, his heart has always been in the right place.", "score": 11 }, { "body": "My dad has bachelor degrees in microbiology, teaching and french language. Thus, he runs a photography studio and is a photographer.", "score": 11 }, { "body": "My dad became a father when he was 18. It's been interesting watching him grow up as I grew up. He was an asshole in his 20s--always drinking, always angry-- but he's certainly come a long way. Now that he's in his 40s, he's a lot more level-headed and rational; he quit the drinking and smoking ages ago, and he's ended up the better for it. Moreover, it's interesting coming home and having him tell me stories about work intrigues (he's an executive chef). It's funny because he was very naive when he was young, and we both learned together the more cynical side of society. \n\n\n\n\nTLDR: Once a jerk, now a mature, wordly guy; I'm proud of him and what's he's become.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "My father is a Roman Catholic priest.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastoral_provision\n\nNote the second to last sentence in the first paragraph. He was an Episcopal priest for twenty-odd years before converting.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "My dad is a retired Army LTC. He has mentally and physically abused my sister and I throughout our lives. I believe he helped weaken my mother's heart before she died. She was about to leave him. He found every possible way to dump us off to live with someone else. He couldn't wait for my grandmother to die so he could get her money. He made sure she died a lonesome death at an assisted living facility far away from her family and friends. My theory is he wanted to \"speed up the process.\" He makes horrible decisions with money. His idea of a gift is to buy ugly bargain clothes by the shit load that do not fit. At least I can donate them to the residents at my fiances' nursing home. He is the most racist, sexist, hateful person I know, but completely changes his act around people other than my sister and I. He negates our gifts. He is completely unbearable to be around. He has no confidence and my sister and I. My mind is completely fucked because of him. I hate him. My fiances' dad is the father I wish I always had. The worst of it all, he is completely oblivious and in denial of everything he has done to us.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "My father was a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. My mother was a fifteen year old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. My father would womanize, he would drink. He would make outrageous claims like he invented the question mark. Sometimes he would accuse chestnuts of being lazy. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane lament. My childhood was typical. Summers in Rangoon, luge lessons. In the spring we'd make meat helmets. When I was insolent I was placed in a burlap bag and beaten with reeds- pretty standard really. At the age of twelve I received my first scribe. At the age of fourteen a Zoroastrian named Vilma ritualistically shaved my testicles. There really is nothing like a shorn scrotum... it's breathtaking- I highly suggest you try it. ", "score": 9 }, { "body": "My dad is a racist redneck who has worked in the correctional system for over 25 years. He's an alcoholic, chews tobacco, uses the \"N-word\" like it's an adverb and has more than likely killed a half-dozen people. He's also the kindest, most creative and most accepting man you'll ever meet. I love him and I wouldn't have it any other way. My dad rocks.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "My father is my boss. I love my father, but I hate my boss. I've learned many invaluable lessons from him and I seem to learn more every day I work with him. He is very hard to talk to at times, but has a great heart even if he isn't the best at showing it. We run our family business together with his mother taking care of the books. If it wasn't for him I know I wouldn't be the man I am today and I'm eternally grateful for what he has given me.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "My dad spent his childhood (2-15) living on horseback in the western wilderness. He slept in tee-pees, caves, or under the stars. My grandfather was a former Hell's angel and wanted for crimes in many, many states. This is why he lived this lifestyle. At 15, his parents divorced and he moved with his mother and attended and graduated high school with his normal peers despite having received minimal formal education prior. He has devoted his adult life to cars, motorcycles, and anything else that has a motor. He owned his own business by the age of 23. He builds alcohol-powered engines for fun. He became relatively well known in the east coast drag racing circuit. He spends his weekends traveling at over 200 mph. His reputation grew to the point where he would receive payment just to show up at the track and do a burnout without having to race anyone. He has been featured in many publications and newspapers and has the largest collection of trophies I've ever seen. He has built entire cars from scratch for the hell of it. And he has always provided everything my sister and I could ever need. My dad is a quality man.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "My Dad was a Master Sargent in the Marines for 20 years. He retired but never fit into the social norms outside of the service. My parents divorced because of the pressures of not being able to keep a job and the resulting financial problems when I was 13. Then, he moved away and lives a rather isolated life in northern Minnesota.\n\nHe's a good man but I often wonder what life would be like if things would have been different. Now that I'm a dad I do my best to be the man he is but a better father for my kids.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "My dad was an attorney at law. He set a great example really, he made tons of cash and then spent the majority of it on having fun. Truly the most generous person I have ever seen, I saw him give away furniture, vehicles, cash and property to friends just because they inquired. One time this crazy neighbor came over with a cop and made accusations against me that actually my stepbrother was doing (his daughter and other things) and my dad looks at me and says did you do these things? I said no, the truth, and my dad smacks the neighbor in the face right there in front of the cop. Good dad and I do miss him. edit: A bit more, he had a full-on bar at the back of his office with a bartender and everything. This was quite the social gathering spot after work for the professionals and others. He gave me keys to the office at 16 yo and man what a great deal to take my dates to the office with bar, leather couches, plush carpet, etc, Thank you dad for the great times.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "My dad was a social worker for the City of New York for 35 years. He was the Director of Senior Centers. His job was to set up senior living centers for homeless seniors. He would often walk the streets with the mayor of NYC and take homeless people to shelters. The worst part of his job was that nobody wanted a shelter in their neighborhood so he had lots of political fights. He also volunteered at nursing homes helping the elderly. He died of Parkinson and dementia in a nursing home four years ago. Edit - He was 80", "score": 5 }, { "body": "My father is a piece of shi^H^H^Hwork.\n\nHe's worked for himself since he was 18, and a few years ago (he's 58 or something) he threw it all away, all for a woman from the Philippines who IM'd him on one of those fraudulent dating sites.\n\nHe began sending tens of thousands of dollars every month to her, because she \"needed\" it. He would fly out there just to be stood up. The first time he met her, he didn't realize that she looks like a piece of ground up hamburger, somewhat in the shape of a human. She looks more like a he.\n\nAll he would ever talk about is how she's subservient and how he will be waking up to a blow job every morning, and going to sleep with one as well. How he is going to leave his *successful* business to her and his ex-wife. Yes. Her *and* his ex-wife.\n\nSpeaking of that rancid bitch; he wonders *why* she divorced him. I grew up hating her with every ounce of my being, only to finally realize, he was the problem.\n\nSo, I've held true to my vow of never *becoming* my father, and I look forward to a lifetime of actually *being* a father.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "My dad is a foreman for the entertainment industry. The head of construction, he oversees budgeting, specifications, blueprints and construction of movie sets.\r\n\r\nYou've seen his work in Psycho (98), Panic Room, The Running Man, Terminator: Salvation, The Lost World, Pearl Harbor and countless others.\r\n\r\nHis crown jewel is The Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy (soon to be a 4th) and The Flying Dutchmen. With his own hands, he built it from the ground up with the help of his construction team. He then was able to sail on it all around the caribbean. \r\n\r\nYes, the boats function as real ships. Pretty neat.\r\n\r\n", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Economist the something with operational research then lecturer\n\nLikes football, loves rugby and generally the best dad I could have asked for\n\nYeah except my dad knows FA about cars or DIY strangely", "score": 4 }, { "body": "My dad is a son of a farmer, 2nd gen immigrant, went to MIT for undergrad and then UC Berkley for grad school, no doubt became a huge pot head (he used to go 'camping' and 'hiking' a lot), got a motorcycle license so he could borrow his room mate's bike on occasion, and then got called home, back to the east coast to help my grandfather retire from farming except my grandfather didn't end up retiring and my dad ended up being roped into the family business for the next +25 years. I'm sure he's bitter but if he never came back, he would've never met my mom and I would've never existed. :D\n\n...Yeah, he's definitely pissed.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "My dad is a nurse, he started working as a nurse in N. Ireland during the troubles and dealt with some of the aftermath of terrorist attacks. When I was about 5 he moved the entire family (mum, dad and 3 boys) to Wales so we did not grow up in N. Ireland during that time.\n\nHe is also able to build or repair anything and having grown up on a farm with no electricity and no running water (where I spent my first 5 years of life) he was pretty adaptable to any situation.\n\nWe had a big family (5 brothers) but he worked his entire life to ensure that we had anything we needed, he was not a perfect dad but he did his best and I am just glad that he is my dad and he is still around to be grandfather to my kid.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "My dad is in his late 50s and runs a engine reconditioning shop that he has had for 30+ years. Builds engines for race cars, drag cars, street cars and does machining for many other engine builders. He is one of those types that will never fully retire and will be still fiddling with cars when he is 90.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "My dad is a retired salesman for a cardboard box manufacturing company. There is nothing as glorious for a eight year old kid as pops coming home with a pallet of refrigerator boxes in the back of the car. Best fort evar.\n\nWhen I turned 10, and he turned 40, my dad decided to learn how to surf. I came home one day to see the two surfboards he had bought. Twenty years later my old man rips it up. Growing up surfing every weekend with my old man is something I'll always treasure. We're gonna paddle out next week when I visit them.\n\nMy parents are still married, and a lasting relationship like theirs is something I strive for. I feel lucky to have such a good role model in this respect. My dad is also now a grandfather to my two nephews, and he takes to it like he's been one his whole life.\n\nOne time my two year old nephew wandered over to the entertainment center at my parents house and started hitting buttons. He was enthralled with all of the components, but instead of stopping him, my dad just let him, occasionally explaining what each button and knob was for.\n\nThis made a big impression on me. My instinct was, \"Uh oh, stop him before he makes it inconvenient for me to watch TV.\" My dad's instinct was satisfaction in his grandson's happiness, combined with a small amount of wanting to teach.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I spoke with my biological father for the first time in my life the other week. Through facebook of course. He is a chef.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "My dad is a service desk writer. He was diagnosed with Diabetes at age 7, the doctors told him he wouldn't make it to 50...he is now 54. He was a car mechanic for 35 years before moving to a desk job. One of the hardest working people I know.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My father immigrated to NYC in the early 70s from Guyana with only $25 when he was 19. He had a friend in NY at the time who told him he would pick him up from the airport. While waiting my father met a man at the airport who told him if he had no where to stay to come meet him by a hotel in midtown Manhattan. My father's friend never showed up after 8-10 hours. \nMy father lived in that hotel room for 2 years with another 10-15 Indian males who too just immigrated (He claims they all made makeshift beds and slept on the floor and being he was the newest guy to join he had to do all the cooking and dish washing). He worked his way working as a janitor on a time square peep show place to eventually cab driving and worked his way to get a college degree. In the early 80s he opened a shop that had arcade games and rented out vhs movies. Around the late 80s, Blockbuster opened across the street and put him out of business. Since then, he has been stuck working retail as a manager for various drug stores (retail is evil, it has aged and stressed him out). In all, I love my father and can never pay him back for all the obstacles he had to go through. He introduced me to gaming (so miss having my own double dragon and indiana jones arcade set with unlimited # of quarters) and kept my family grounded. ", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My dad smuggled dildos into mexico for a lesbian friend of his, we didn't know about this until it ruined a vacation trip my brother took.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My dad's a food scientist that's been in international research and development for several large food distributors for over 25 years. He also helped develop the stuffed crust and triple-decker pizzas at Pizza Hut.\n\nHe is an *awesome cook*. ", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My father was the 8th of 9 children and group up in the projects in a small mountain town in Puerto Rico. The whole family shared a 600 square foot 2-bedroom apartment. He needed glasses when he was 6 but didn't get a pair until he was 14 since the family had no money for them. His school ended up giving him a pair. My grandfather was an alcholic, wife-beating and child abusing asshole. Two of my fathers older brothers and his one younger brother are serving life sentences for separate murder incidents, drug trafficking, and illegal weapons smuggling. Somehow, my father got out of that whole mess and got a scholarship to the best university in Puerto Rico. Afterwards, he was a teacher for a bit, played some minor league baseball, then joined the US Army and served for 22 years. Now he teaches again. ", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My dad is a control systems engineer for [very](http://www.conveyor-dynamics.com/img/projects/quintette2_large.jpg) [large](http://www.conveyor-dynamics.com/img/projects/phos_large.jpg) [conveyor](http://www.conveyor-dynamics.com/img/projects/mbr2_large.jpg) [systems](http://www.conveyor-dynamics.com/img/projects/elabra4_large.jpg) and travels all over the world to install/configure (Brazil, Chile, Australia, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, and more, right now he is in Jordan). He is born of a Swedish mother and Norwegian father, has one brother and two sisters. He was an Army Sargent, stationed in Germany. Worked Ski Patrol when he was younger, worked as a bar tender. He loves to fish and build things. He now races as a [rally co-driver](http://fatboyraceworks.com/gallery/v/Integra/2007OregonTrail/DSC00755.jpg) with my brother in a championship winning car, which they built from the ground up (actually, they've built several race cars).\n\nHe brought home a computer for my brother and I when we were around 10 years old. We both owe our entire careers to him doing that.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "FreeBSD, KDE libs, Koffice, KdeGames, Kdevelop, Amarok, GIMP, Battle for Wesnoth, x.org, gcc... Just to name a few.\n\nAll open source projects need more developers. If you can't figure out where to help out, the problem isn't that there isn't need, the problem is with you. Don't take the above wrong though. Helping out is hard. Some projects are easier to get into than others, but it is always hard to get into a code base, generally requiring several days just to understand enough to make a small change.\n\nTake gcc for example: compilers are very difficult, and gcc is hard even for compiler experts (which I presume you are not). However if you really cared about gcc you would spend the time (probably years) to learn how gcc worked and how compilers should work, and eventially you would know enough to fix things in a useful way. \n\nNo matter how hard amarok (or other music player application) begs for help, I don't expect to see a deaf person making many contributions, as it will never interest them. (They might make a breaking change in some graphics library used, and then change all apps that use the library so they can still work, but they wouldn't care about the point of the application)\n\nThe moral: don't ask what needs help. Find something that interests you and jump in. Everything else just leads to wasting the main developers time helping someone understand the code; who doesn't care enough to stick around and repay that time by contributing!", "score": 10 }, { "body": "Contribute to the projects you use on a daily basis. I'm sure you've got a pile of bugfixes or features you've been waiting to see in some of the stuff you use regularly: make them happen by diving in and submitting patches.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Auroraux is a solaris based kernel and an Ada userland. The project is quite young and slow paced so it's easy to keep up.\nauoraux.org / forums.auroraux.org help is always needed. Just drop us a visit on irc #auroraux @ freenode to get a jump start.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "\"Solaris\" by Stanisław Lem.\n\n\nEdit - Elaboration: \n\n\"Solaris\" is Science Fiction but at its core it's a Gothic romance. It is a story about a man haunted by his lover's ghost. It's also a story about how someone feels when they are competing with a partner's idealized memory of a previous relationship.\n\n\nEdit #2 - Ooops, sorry... \"Solaris\" is more about romance than sex... I should have read your post more carefully before responding.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "*The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure* by William Goldman.\n\n> \"WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT? WHAT'S HERE WORTH COMING BACK FOR?\"\n\n> \"Tr..ooooo...luv...\"", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I thought there were some great passages in \"On Chesil Beach\" (McEwan) and I loved the romance between Cal/lie and The Obscure Object in \"Middlesex\" (Eugenides). I guess there's a lot of beautiful love & romance in \"One Hundred Years of Solitude\" (Marquez). Otherwise I'm not sure I've read a whole book that could be called a \"romance novel.\"", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Most of Tom Robbins' books have great sex scenes, and a ton of romance - the best one for both of those is probably Still Life with Woodpecker. The tagline is something like, who knows how to make love stay?", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "The tl;dtype of my story: I was addicted to WoW and I was dismissed from my university because I failed classes and just played all day to distract from my depression. Went home, worked full time, guildie found out where I used to go and how much the school paid me, encouraged me to quit WoW and go back to school. It took eight months of paperwork, petitions, and appeals, but I'm back and receiving bookoo grants and scholarships for mechanical and aerospace engineering and space systems research.\n\nIt's a great, well-made game, and I absolutely love the lore. I also played Warcraft I, II, and III as well as some dota.\n\nSince I quit, I've been running and working out a lot. It's a great feeling. I used to smoke weed before I quit playing WoW (I quit both things at the same time) and the runner's high that I get is much more enjoyable than any high I've gotten from weed. I have more energy, my skin looks better, I'm in better shape (was never chubby, but my cardio was bad), and I'm way happier.\n\nI'm pretty much in a constant state of euphoria and elation because of being immersed in math, science, and exercise.\n\nI suggest grad school if you think you can juggle that, your job, and your family. Another alternative suggestion is to take up exercise, and if you can't shanghai your entire family into it, try getting your wife to go running with you or something. Otherwise, I think exercising and maybe picking up a hobby would be a great idea.", "score": 18 }, { "body": "My boyfriend and I quit WoW when we got a puppy. Also, we got to know more of the neighborhood and neighbors because of the walks. It was a win for everyone. Especially me because we got a corgi.", "score": 13 }, { "body": "Ex-WoWer here too. I gave up just after the Uldar patch (3.1 i think).\n\nI started missing raids during the summer when i began taking some cert classes. A few months later i was out of the loop and just quit all together.\n\nSince then, i've taken some programming classes, joined a gym, and gained faction with my family. \n\nGood luck with your newly found free time!", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I quit wow for a while but then started drinking pretty frequently with new friends. I have started wow again, but at least i dont drink as much. ", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Are you a gamer? Or did you just play WoW casually and never really played any other games? \n\nYou obviously need new hobbies to take up this free time you're going to have now; exercise never hurts. Hiking & photography and two hobbies that go well together and can shape your lifestyle. \n\nIf you're a gamer; you're going to find a lot of games lacking after being spoiled by WoW. I suggest playing different genres for now; before going back to any RPGs or MMOs. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Just posted [this](http://www.reddit.com/r/PS3/comments/alt9h/eu_psn_sale/) \n\nThe EU PSN has a few games on sale... some good deals", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "* NOW THAT YOU HAVE YOUR B.A.H.A., HAVE YOU HAD ANY TESTS TO MEASURE HOW IT COMPARES TO AN EAR WITH NORMAL HEARING!?\n\n* HOW OFTEN DO YOU HAVE TO CHANGE THE BATTERY? DO YOU CHARGE IT?!\n\n* DO CHICKS DIG THAT YOU'RE A CYBORG?!", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Our hearing loss is almost exactly the same. Are you able to actually hear sounds through your left ear or does the BAHA only work with your right? ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "The problem is definitions. You start off with a survey, and you ask a question like, \"Has a man ever done anything to you that made you even slightly uncomfortable, even for a second?\". And 92% of women say, \"Yes\".\n\nAnd then by the time that survey has passed through 20 filters and Reuters has a blurb about it, the blurb says, \"92% of women say they were viciously raped with steak knives to their throats\".\n\nAnd then the anti-rape groups get a hold of it, and they \"adjust\" the figures to compensate for all the women were who raped but won't admit it to the surveytaker, and now 142% of women have been viciously raped with steak knives to their throats.\n\nRape is a real problem. At the same time, it is an overstated problem.", "score": 70 }, { "body": "I know girls who feel like they've been molested if a guy they don't find attrctive talks to them. The word molested gets thrown around far to easily in my experiences. Having said that I know a few girls who have been legitimately molested.", "score": 41 }, { "body": "I'm a MAN and I've been both \"molested\" (quotation marks due to the fact that, even though I was between the ages of 6 and 11, I kinda liked it and it didn't bother me) *and* raped (no quotation marks because I was actually drugged and raped in Barcelona when I was 19). I think it is unsettlingly common and I've heard many a friend recount incidences of this sort. It took me a solid 4 years to recover from the Barcelona incident. I spent 3 of those years convinced I had HIV and couldn't have sex with anyone throughout that time. That said, I now love sex and I'm completely over the whole stupid thing. For those of you (female or otherwise) who have had this experience - hang in there. You DO get over it. Really. ;)", "score": 24 }, { "body": "Heather McDonald [writes](http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_1_campus_rape.html):\n>If the one-in-four statistic is correct—it is sometimes modified to “one-in-five to one-in-four”—campus rape represents a crime wave of unprecedented proportions. No crime, much less one as serious as rape, has a victimization rate remotely approaching 20 or 25 percent, even over many years. The 2006 violent crime rate in Detroit, one of the most violent cities in America, was 2,400 murders, rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults per 100,000 inhabitants—a rate of 2.4 percent. The one-in-four statistic would mean that every year, millions of young women graduate who have suffered the most terrifying assault, short of murder, that a woman can experience. Such a crime wave would require nothing less than a state of emergency—Take Back the Night rallies and 24-hour hotlines would hardly be adequate to counter this tsunami of sexual violence. Admissions policies letting in tens of thousands of vicious criminals would require a complete revision, perhaps banning boys entirely. None of this crisis response occurs, of course—because the crisis doesn’t exist. \n\n>During the 1980s, feminist researchers committed to the rape-culture theory had discovered that asking women directly if they had been raped yielded disappointing results—very few women said that they had been. So Ms. commissioned University of Arizona public health professor Mary Koss to develop a different way of measuring the prevalence of rape. Rather than asking female students about rape per se, Koss asked them if they had experienced actions that she then classified as rape. Koss’s method produced the 25 percent rate, which Ms. then published.\n\n>Koss’s study had serious flaws. Her survey instrument was highly ambiguous, as University of California at Berkeley social-welfare professor Neil Gilbert has pointed out. But the most powerful refutation of Koss’s research came from her own subjects: 73 percent of the women whom she characterized as rape victims said that they hadn’t been raped. Further—though it is inconceivable that a raped woman would voluntarily have sex again with the fiend who attacked her—42 percent of Koss’s supposed victims had intercourse again with their alleged assailants.\n\n> All subsequent feminist rape studies have resulted in this discrepancy between the researchers’ conclusions and the subjects’ own views. A survey of sorority girls at the University of Virginia found that only 23 percent of the subjects whom the survey characterized as rape victims felt that they had been raped—a result that the university’s director of Sexual and Domestic Violence Services calls “discouraging.” Equally damning was a 2000 campus rape study conducted under the aegis of the Department of Justice. Sixty-five percent of what the feminist researchers called “completed rape” victims and three-quarters of “attempted rape” victims said that they did not think that their experiences were “serious enough to report.” The “victims” in the study, moreover, “generally did not state that their victimization resulted in physical or emotional injuries,” report the researchers.", "score": 23 }, { "body": "I think if you asked 100 women \"Have you ever been raped or molested?\" WAY more than half would say \"yes\"", "score": 12 }, { "body": "Wow, this post has confirmed every reason why I NEVER talk about my experience with this, to people, in real life. I understand some of the warranted backlash against women who lie about rape, (or, to put it politely, are confused) but holy shit, it does actually happen. There are plenty of women who have stories with no loop holes or grey areas. (no, I don't know the exact number) Depressing. ", "score": 12 }, { "body": "This is all anecdotal, but I am a woman who was raped (and before some jerk attacks me, I was sober; he was sober; I had 6 broken ribs, a broken cheek bone, a broken nose, five broken fingers, 10 knife wounds, and was choked unconscious a few times; the bastard is in jail for rape and attempted murder). I don't think this kind of sexual assault is what you would call \"normal,\" but for what it's worth, my mother was molested as a child (forced masturbation of a man and him touching her) and my sister was attacked at a party by someone trying to rape her (she got away). \n\nThe main point is that I think people who have really been raped or molested often don't discuss it, even with people they have known for a long time and trust. Even though I went through a trial, I have only discussed it with probably ten people (apart from therapists, police, lawyers, etc.). Those ten people obviously don't include all of the people I know, go to school with, work with, or even call my friends. Had I not gone to trial, only those ten people would know about it. \n\nI'm skeptical if the numbers are really as high as they are often cited, but please don't make the mistake of assuming that because someone in your life has not told you about a sexual assault, that it has not happened to them (and please remember that boys and men are victims of sexual assault too!). ", "score": 12 }, { "body": "The \"1 in 4 women has been raped\" number is a myth debunked [here](http://www.iwf.org/news/show/19076.html) and [even better here](http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_1_campus_rape.html).\n\n(by the way, I can't believe I feel the need to say this, but I'm a woman. Just staving off angry cries of \"misogynist\" ahead of time)", "score": 9 }, { "body": "I can't find a decent source, but I took a class on Human Sexuality last semester, and we talked a lot about rape. One thing that stuck out to me was that many women have been raped, but there is not a proportionate number of male rapists. Basically, there is a small population of men committing a large number of rapes. (in response to your 3rd edit)\n\nI think it's really interesting how we talk about this stuff, too. The emphasis is placed on the victim. Do you ever read about \"men raping women?\" No, it's always \"women were raped.\" I think part of the problem with our rape culture is the language that we use to describe these acts. ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "My main avenue for talking to girls is OkCupid. I have had long conversations with dozens of girls there over the years, and probably around 10 have told me that they have been raped or sexually abused. The first time someone told me that, I was shocked, because I had always assumed it was an incredibly rare thing that only happened to people who didn't have computers. \n\nBut then there was another, and another. And these were not cases of \"Oh, I had sex with some guy in a frathouse and I didn't want to.\" These were cases of sexual abuse by a family member or a friend, and often took place in the early teens or earlier. And of course, I'm sure not everyone who had such a history revealed it to me.\n\nLook at it this way: how many men do you know who have bought something, filled out a survey, or done other harmless things they didn't want to do just because of pushy sales tactics, and felt regret about it afterwards? \n\nNow imagine if instead of trying to get you to buy an anti-theft system, these salespeople wanted to stick their dick in your ass, and instead of doing it at the car dealership, they were doing it at your home while you were a little kid playing with your toys, or later, at a party/bar while you were drunk.\n\nThat's pretty much the typical young woman's world.\n\nSo I don't think every woman or even half of women, but you have almost certainly met a woman who has been a victim of rape/sexual abuse, even the people who claim they haven't.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "I've noticed a lot of other men will do shit like touch the small of the back of a woman they don't know at all. If it's crowded and they're squeezing by for example.\n\nAfter my girlfriend mention that it was a very sensitive area (useful hint) and that random strangers doing that creeped her out, I asked some of my female friends. All of them said they didn't want random strangers doing that.\n\nI tell that to guys I know, and most of them get annoyed by it, like women are being picky about shit and guys have a right to touch them there.\n\nYeah, I can see how sometimes it seems like we have a culture now when you never know if you'll offend someone by shaking their hand or bumping into them.\n\nBut if it isn't kind of a sexual groping thing they're doing, why don't they touch other guys there? Would they expect another guy might dislike it? \n\nThen they should probably ask first or get to know the girl much better first.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "1 in 6 women are sexually assaulted. (rainn.org is a good website for stats)\r\n\r\nI am the victim of childhood sexual abuse/rape. (age 12) My sister is also a victim. Out of my 5 closest girlfriends, 2 have also been the victims of rape. One occurred during high school, one occurred during college. I have known other women who have been raped as well. Almost every girl I know has dealt with some form of unwanted sexual advances, though.\r\n\r\nIt's common. You probably know many women who have been raped or molested. (and) Just so you know, getting molested is just as traumatic as actual penetration. In both situations, you feel violated and helpless.\r\n\r\n\r\n", "score": 7 }, { "body": "If it's happened to my sisters, they haven't told me. But counting my wife and past girlfriends and other female friends who I was close enough to talk about these kinds of things, I'd say about half have either been raped or someone tried to rape them.\n\nIt seems like most of them were date rape, and the scenario is almost always the same: it's a first or second date, and they're happily making out with the guy, but wanting to leave it at that. The guy doesn't want to leave it at that. They say that's not what they want, but don't fight too hard to avoid it getting ugly. Once the guy's finished (or pushed away), he drives her home and they don't date again. The violence level is pretty low, but as long as the story is accurate (and I don't have any reason to believe it's not), I'd say that qualifies as rape or attempted rape.\n\nSo, I'd say among women I knew the rate's higher than 1 in 6, but probably less than half. ", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I don't know about anyone else, but I would take great pleasure in beating the living shit out of a man who raped anyone. My friends say I'm not a violent person, and I'm not, but this is just one thing that makes me mad beyond belief. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "In my personal life I know 1 woman who was raped. I know 1 woman who claimed attempted rape. The former told 2 people total, including me, neither of us being police or her doctor. The latter woman who claimed attempted rape (a friend walked in on her about to have drunk sex and told her the next day it was rape... so she called a rape crisis line and the rest is history), told basically everyone. Of course I was not in the room so I don't know, but this woman had preexisting mental and emotional problems that make me think she'd rather \"cry rape\" than admit she was about to have sex with someone she'd previously sworn she hated. Twisted, no? And the guy's life was ruined... 18-19 years old and had to register as a sex offender.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I've been a kid. It's one experience all redditers have in common. In my neighbourhood of the late fifties and sixties it was the girls doing most of the molesting. Strange, little is said about that now.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I really need to ask - are you American? Because what I read here really scares me (as a girl).\n\nMe, I'm European (living in Scandinavia now, but have lived in eastern Europe and Germany) and I know *one* girl who has been molested as a child by a distant relative (I don't know the extend of it, but it wasn't a rape), to which her parents put a swift end and she got great support from the rest of her family.\n\nAfter reading this thread... man, I'm never going to the US.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I know many girls who have been raped and molested. Most of my friends are white, upper/middle class girls. Many have told me in confidence. Others have been raped in childhood by relatives. One has made herself believe it was not rape - although when she described the situation (the only time she ever talked about it) it was clearly rape. Of all the girls I know who were raped or molested, only one occurred while she was intoxicated, but she had been passed out and woke up suspecting she had been raped given her condition (pants undone etc.) - she was at a party and had passed out in a bedroom - and no she wasn't on a date.", "score": 4 }, { "body": ">What's the worst thing a guy has ever done to you? \n\nThat's the problem right there, you're only asking for female input and a specific type of input so only women who have been raped/molested will respond. \n\n\n", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Among women with whom I’ve been close enough to discuss it, about half had been seriously molested and maybe a third or a fourth had been raped. It’s made me wonder if many of the supposed behavioral differences between genders are really the effects of trauma...", "score": 3 }, { "body": "A study looking at the prevalence of sexual assault among 1,014 women between 18 and 30 found that 38 percent had experienced sexual victimization and nearly half of that group had been raped, according to researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions. Of the 383 women who reported sexual victimization, 174 reported being raped.\n\nhttp://www.scienceblog.com/cms/node/4996", "score": 3 }, { "body": "i know the statistics on this stuff are fishy because so many cases go unreported, but are we really going to pretend we can answer this question with personal anecdotes?", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I'm a female that's been repeatedly molested as a child by a cousin. Then again after we moved, by a teacher in high school. It probably would have been rape but there were too many other students nearby for him to go any further than forcefully grope me. I was also raped when I worked part-time somewhere at the age of 19 or 20.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I wonder if the number of people you know who have been raped or molested is affected by the area you're in. \n\nFor my smallish group of friends through highschool and college:\n\n- one friend raped and physically abused by her father when she was under 12\n\n- one friend raped and molested by a step uncle while she was under 14\n\n- one friend and her younger brother molested/groped by the extremely \n fucked up 9 year old of a family friend\n\n- one friend raped at 15 (though she made a lot of stupid choices)\n\n- I have another friend who was molested, but she hasn't shared much about it\n\nand I was molested by one of my friends older brothers, though we were both pretty young at the time, it still gives me a creepy feeling when I think about it.\n\nI don't think any of these girls fall into the \"whoops, I got drunk and did something stupid\" catagory. We are (naturally) in the bible belt. \n\n*edited for formatting", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "People are just being stupid. \n\nThe very first game after I prestiged, using the default classes and killstreaks, I made the streets run red with something like 50-4. \n\nI probably got lucky of course, but the point is, if you use the weapons/perks at your disposal strategically it doesn't matter what level you're at. \n\nI did the same as you and held off from going prestige, but it's not worth it; go first prestige as soon as you can or you're wasting your time. You'll get an extra custom class slot, more callsign unlocks will be available, and new challenges will open up. ", "score": 13 }, { "body": "People are being stupid. It *is* Xbox Live, where they enjoy playing music into their microphones, team killing, and making sweeping comments about your ethnic background / sexual orientation.", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "Can you post details on the charity itself? As a rule I do not donate to causes which I can't do research on, as I don't want to direct my money to organizations which are wasteful or wind up funding genocide in lieu of helping those in need.", "score": 7 } ]

[ { "body": "SO2 is fairly benign in itself. The only way that I know to easily remove it is to add hydrogen peroxide which will rapidly convert it to sulfuric acid, which is something you wouldn't want in your fruit. (This is what happens in the atmosphere to generate acid rain and aerosol (haze) pollution).", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "1. Expertise comes from having more experience than many of the people around you.\n\n2. there is a tremendous need for people with expertise in computer sciences and something else, like medicine, etc. \n\n3. there is the danger that you will drop out, and never go back, and once/if you go back, it will be all that more difficult to get back into the groove. This would be bad for your career.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Medicine + computer is a really great field to get into. Seems like that's where most money is being driven anyways, tech-wise.\n\nIf anything, we need more tech oriented people in medical research.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I would start on fetlife.com or Collarme.com, make a few online friends, attend a few munch's and go from there.. :)\r\n\r\nhttp://www.drkdesyre.com/munchfaq.html\r\n", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I know tons of people who have found friends/partners at FetLife. The members of the site range from beginners to pros, and there are as many people looking to chat and be helpful as there are people looking for playmates. BDSMcommunity also seems to like alt.com, though I haven't checked it out myself. :) \r\n\r\nMy suggestion would be to start by going to a munch in the area, and getting to hang out and chat with a few people so you can get a better idea of what kinds of things you're looking to do. S&M covers a lot. Even if you don't meet someone to experiment with right away, you'll probably find someone who knows someone (who knows someone who knows someone).", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "Socially awkward teen and a virgin. Smoking weed gave me a new perspective about my life and newfound confidence in myself. It allowed me to be more comfortable in my own skin. I got laid shortly after that and my life has been only uphill from there. That was six years ago.", "score": 76 }, { "body": "My weed success story: The doctors have been telling me since i was a kid that I am bipolar, ADHD, and borderline schizo. I started to notice pretty shortly that the \"medicine\" they had me on wasn't stopping the symptoms, just masking them and putting me in a zombie-esque state of mind. I started smoking pot young, having grown up in a fast environment. By the time I was 16 I had quit taking all of the pills and was smoking pot on a daily basis and my parents were commenting on how \"sane\" I had been acting lately... They didn't know I had quit taking the pills. The pills ruined me, turned me into a 100 lb zombie with never ending kidney infections and UTI's, having to drink a gallon of cranberry juice a day just to TRY to avoid the hospital. Seven years after having stopped taking the pills I am still smoking pot every day and I can actually function. I don't have the manic or depressed episodes, or my straight up crazy episodes, unless I have to stop smoking for a few days for one reason or the other. It makes me SANE. And capable of dealing with people [I'm good for cussing out strangers when I haven't been smoking]. I love MJ, it was a miracle cure for me without the horrible side effects of what the doctors were giving me. It has helped me to live my life on a wonderful level ^.^", "score": 51 }, { "body": "I lost 7kg (so far) getting stoned every day and spending 2 hours on this:\nhttp://imgur.com/YvXeX.jpg", "score": 44 }, { "body": "I've been smoking weed regularly since I was 16 years old, and I'm now 24 years old. In my high school years I bought weed from other kids my age, until I finally realized that I could save a lot of money by growing weed. \n\nI invested a lot of time and energy in learning how to grow MJ, and now I manage a small crop for personal use (about 3 plants at a time). Weed isn't difficult to grow, but it is difficult compared with most herbs and vegetables. My grow room now contains 3 MJ plants and about 100 other plants including tomatoes, various types of peppers, thyme, rosemary, sage, lavender, basil, dill, and many more.\n\nBasically weed taught me a lot about indoor horticulture, and has saved me and my friends a lot of money. 8 years ago I had no idea how to sustain a crop of plants. Now I can grow just about anything indoors and make it flourish. The legalization of weed would encourage more people to learn about indoor horticulture.", "score": 28 }, { "body": "I'm not sure how well this relates to what you are asking for but I'll give it a go.\r\n\r\nMost every aspect of my life was better when I smoked on a regular basis. I maintained a better job, a cleaner house and had a much more active role as head of my family. I got a lot more shit done and even had time for my odd combination of hobbies (acoustic guitar and going to professional wrestling school) while maintaining a slightly closer relationship to my family and a more active social life than I currently have.\r\n\r\nEver since I quit, a **lot** more of my time goes into trying to replace the deep introspection and profound realizations of the simplistic beauty of life that I used to have while high. I sleep much more yet wake up feeling more tired than half the amount of sleep would leave me feeling during my smoking days. I quit trying to learn to wrestle (which was my main physical activity, so I am in much worse shape now) and in the years since I quit my guitar playing hasn't improved nearly as much as it used to (plus I play much less often). \r\n\r\nI've started drinking much more than I used to as it is the only legal replacement available (I have no insurance so I can't get any synthetic goodies) and this has taken an adverse toll on my life as well. I have it under control but it still causes more problems for me than smoking ever did.\r\n\r\nMy wife works harder than ever to make up for my recent slack in so many areas, yet I appreciate her less. I am so much less aware of my surroundings now that I forget to even notice how hard she is laboring.\r\n\r\nObviously this as all anecdotal. I won't be discussing my reasons for quitting, let's just say it was pretty necessary. Also, my life is still very good. It's not like quitting ruined my life it just made me forget how to appreciate it. \r\n\r\nMy thoughts on weed are that it is not the evil \"omg, think of the children\" devil drug one side makes it out to be but it's definitely not \"cure all medicine, let's all smoke all day and the world will be a better place\" wonder-drug that the other side makes it out to be either. \r\n\r\nIt can be a bad thing. Mental dependency (I will not use the word addiction when relating to cannabis) to it and over-use/abuse of it can be serious and just as harmful to a persons life and family as alcohol abuse can. Also, it effects everyone differently and some really do turn into the zombie video-game playing machines that you see in the anti-pot commercials.\r\n\r\nWhen used responsibly and moderately it can have a very positive effect. So much great art, music and literature would not have been as great without it and for many severely introspective people it can be the best medicine for helping them calm down and enjoy life. It also is a good medical option for a host of other things though, as stated, the cannabis community sometimes exaggerates on just how many diseases it helps with. Sometimes the drug already commonly prescribed drug is better.\r\n\r\nI may add more to this later but my coffee fueled sermon is running out of fuel now. I hope this helped.", "score": 20 }, { "body": "My story: I got Hep C from a girlfriend that I shared needles with. Fast forward 20 years later and I am SICK. I vomit every morning and half the day, mostly dry heaves. I weigh 128lbs, fully dressed with shoes, belt, wallet, phone, etc. At 5'8\", not a normal weight. I am lucky if I can eat once a day and basically subsist on Nesquik chocolate milk...trying to eat anything is like trying to chew on sawdust; I can't even get it to the back of my mouth to swallow. Doc puts me on some meds give me a small appetite, but they cost $490 for 11 days worth(what my insurance will cover) and make me sensitive to light, forget stuff and have diarrhea. Things are not getting better, even after Interferon treatment. I am living off of my savings and the 5 hours or so I can work a week and am out of pocket over $60,000 for doc bills not covered by my insurance.\n\nOut of desperation I move in with a friend and his wife. She is a nurse and wants to help, and she has Hep C. She is on medical MJ and is relatively healthy, but since I am a recovered meth addict, I am deathly afraid on ANYTHING that might lead back to that. After much coaxing, I decide that I really have nothing to lose.\n\nThat was 4 years ago. I now weigh 177lbs butt nekkid, I eat regularly and almost never vomit(there are spells). I work ~50 hours a week in I.T. and bill over $150,000 a year for my work(which makes my boss very happy), and I grow my own meds at the cost of about $150 a month and have so much that I give half away to local card holders.\n\nI do suffer some short term memory loss, that I counteract by writing everything down in a notebook. I also occasionally suffer from a severe case of Cheeto fingers, which soap and water is an excellent cure for!\n\n", "score": 20 }, { "body": "i had fairly regular migraine headaches since my teens, i started using medical grade cannabis when i was 24, i am now 29 and **haven't had a migraine in 5 years.**", "score": 19 }, { "body": "I've been smoking regularly since 14 or 15 years old. I'm now 21, about to graduate with a BS in Mechanical Engineering from a bottom-of-the-top-tier engineering school, with at least a 3.05 GPA. \n\nLast summer when I had an internship I restarted going to the gym (had went the previous summer, also when I had an internship, but fell off at school because of my irregular schedule). My goal has been, and still is, to bulk up a bit. This past summer I went from 145/150 to 160/165, with virtually no fat gains. I smoked at least once a day over the summer, and significantly cut back my alcohol consumption (down to once a week or less from 3-4 times a week)", "score": 15 }, { "body": "was run over by a hit and run drunk driver as a teen... the meds they gave me were making me extremely nausiuos.. i wasnt eating and losing weight fast.. my parrants were talking about putting me back in hospital to get an IV drip.. i was really hating life.. in pain, sick to my stomach.. druggy.( i know it;s weird but i dont like this feeling)\nOne of my friends stopped by with a joint(i didnt really smoke all that much.. once or tiwce a month.. normally at parties) I was amazed how fast my nausia went away.. my pain was still there but bothered me less..and half an hour later we went to mcdonalds and scarfed.(before that the most i'd eat is a few crackers)\n\nAfter that was the first time i bought pot... to treat myself.. without all that nausea.. but i honestly think POT kept me out of the hospital.. and i know it helped me get through that time with all my broken bones. it was also a kinda of strange epiphany for me.. the drugs they gave me and said were good for me.. made me feel like crap and didnt really work.. while the illegal drug.. accually made me feel ok.. with the only side effect being the munchies.. which is exactly what i needed at the time.\n\n\n", "score": 11 }, { "body": "I've been smoking since I was about 13. I have only gotten in trouble with the law once, and it resulted in no arrest, and no fine. I graduted Cum Laude with an English degree and got job offers right out of college. I am self-taught in web design and web development, so I now freelance offering these services and make enough to support myself. \n\nWeed opened my mind to new ways of thinking, new ideas, and new philosophies. I was a mindless automaton until I started to be consciously aware of all of the beliefs I took for granted. It also fostered my interest in things like exercise, art, philosophy, and a million other small interests and hobbies I have. It showed me that the journey was much more important and fun than the destination, and that has given me the motivation to go to the gym (about 6+ years consistently now), learn the guitar, write fiction and non-fiction, and pursue knowledge and new experiences in general. \n\nAt this point I can't see how my life is separate from weed. Although I only smoke occasionally these days, I still recognize the massive impact it has had on the attitude and lifestyle I have today.", "score": 10 }, { "body": "I have managed depression and pain by medicating with marijuana. It has made me able to do a variety of things which I probably wouldn't.\n\nIt is an amazing social drug which unites disparate groups and has granted me many friends which I would not otherwise have had.\n\nI have gained insights into literature, music and art while high which have impacted and improved my worldview - and these insights virtually always survive sober consideration!\n\nIt's helped me eat better, exercise more often, and find meaning in a meaningless world.", "score": 10 }, { "body": "When I was 12, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. In and out of the hospital regularly, mostly for malnutrition. During a flare up, with regular bouts of intense pain and no appetite whatsoever, being bed-ridden, with Crohn's-induced arthritis leaving me (as well as in more pain) unable to stand, or move myself the 8 feet from the head of my bed to the toilet, vomiting multiple times daily, using the bathroom more than 2 dozen times daily...\n\nA few weeks after I graduated from high school, I decided to smoke with my brother as he did a few nights a week. My life has never been the same - have not been admitted to the hospital for Crohn's once since I began smoking. The day of my high school graduation, I hadn't eaten anything in 8 days. I forced down a few pieces of bacon, which granted me the ability to stand in agony for a few hours. I still suffer from appetite problems when I'm sober, but I can just smoke a bowl and enjoy some food anytime now.\n\nI started smoking last June, and this was the winter has been the first since I was 12 that I did not lapse into a terrible flare and live a miserable life, burdening everyone around me. The only burden my family deals with now is, occasionally, the smell.\n\nUnfortunately, New York does not have an MMJ program, so I am committing a felony every day. It's funny, because if I wasn't sick and was able to have more of a social life in high school, I would have found pot earlier - and if I smoked weed in high school, I wouldn't've been absent hundreds of times throughout my education.", "score": 10 }, { "body": "A friend of mine is bipolar. When I met her she was still in high school, and she was very typical with the symptoms - arm cutting, suicide attempts, hallucinations and paranoia, etc. She was on a lot of drugs. She was basically unemployable - when she was working, her jobs were temporary 'cos she'd eventually do something to thoroughly freak out her co-workers and boss.\n\nWe got talking about all her meds and their respective side effects, and I wondered if many of her symptoms were actually because of the meds and not her mental illness. I suggested to her that pot might help with some of the symptoms where the other drugs weren't working. Note that she was terribly against the use of \"illegal drugs\" and was initially horrified at the idea of becoming a \"druggy\".\n\nEventually her curiosity got the better of her. First time she smoked up, she got higher than a kite, and laughing said \"I've felt like THIS before!!!\". I laughed because its true - she'd spent all of high school completely stoned on meds, so why was this buzz any different? It was also the first time I heard her have a total true-from-the-belly laugh.\n\nWithin a few months, she stopped cutting, her hallucinations and paranoia were fewer and farther between until they just vanished altogether. Then she stopped taking the medicinal drugs altogether and used only pot. Her symptoms have never come back.\n\nThat was more than 10 years ago. Now she has a good job and is very productive. She's still rather OCD, but that's a lot easier to manage than the other symptoms. Besides, I'm sure her employer appreciates that her work is always done as perfectly as she is able :)\n\nEDIT: tl;dr - My bipolar friend became \"normal\" after ditching meds and replacing them with spliffage.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "Plain and simple: anxiety relief. It has helped me a lot of times when I have a anxiety/depression episode, much better than Fliuoxetine and anxiolitics.", "score": 8 }, { "body": "My story:\nI started smoking two years into my bachelors degree in CS, and do so nearly daily. I found it to be the best, safest way to unwind at the end of a stressful day of school. It lets me calm down and think without stress and emotion getting in the way, and I've managed to visualize solutions to problems I've been trying to solve while baked. It's great.\nAfter I began smoking, I managed to increase my overall GPA, and secure an awesome internship with a major software developer that turned into a $80k job programming video games.\nAlso, my Dad smokes, and he has a PhD and is the director of cardiovascular research at a major medical school. \n\nI really wish society would be more open to hearing stories like this.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I'm ADHD and was struggling through school. The Ritalin gave me a nasty anxiety disorder as well as some various health issues. When they suggested another drug to help with all the side-effects, I started looking for an alternative and found Marijuana.\n\nI've used marijuana every day for the past three years. My side effects include lack of anxiety, rare instances of migraines (one every few months as opposed to at least one per week with Ritalin), and straight-A's (the first time ever in my life I've been able to accomplish that). Last semester I also tutored nearly 40 students (20 per class in group tutor sessions). Thank you, Marijuana.\n\nRitalin was my gateway to Marijuana, and Marijuana has become a gateway to a better life and education. I never thought I'd ever have the focus, grades, or sanity to achieve my career goals... but now everything is crystal clear and great.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "When I was 14 I got into some mad depression and attempted suicide. I was hospitalized for it and put on Prozac, which made me have these angry lash-outs. So they put me on Zoloft, which seemed to do fine, but about that time I started smoking pot regularly. I quit taking the Zoloft and my mood improved dramatically, even when I wasn't high. The docs took me off my meds and I quit seeing the psych docs. I got a job. I got good grades. I decided one day to quit. Just stop. It was getting harder to find weed and easier to find meth, and I hated meth. I hated what it was doing to my friends, and since I really didn't have any weed connections outside the meth dealers, I decided to quit. Cold turkey. There was no come down, there was no ache of addiction... the depression never returned. 15 years later I indulge once every few months for a little entertainment and I am a hard worker and productive contributor to my community. Since I'm older, I associate with a better crowd, some who smoke weed... I'm talking elected officials, CEOs, athletes - all who smoke pot. It's proof that weed not only has great medicinal benefits, but doesn't make a person lazy, and doesn't create a \"druggie\" - its taking the weed out of the hands of the good people and putting it in the hands of the criminals that create the \"druggies\" and where the reputation comes from. When the law cracked down on the weed, the meth became more readily available. If weed was legal it would create less crime, less druggies, less depression, while not taking away from our individual contributions to society. That's my experience.\n\n**Edit** For those who question the moral damning possibility of weed smoking... I made a conscious decision to remain a virgin through my teenage years when I was a daily pot smoker. I didn't want babies and diseases that some of my friends had. It wasn't that I was ugly or anything, I just had different priorities. Weed never compromised this goal. I never felt a loss of self control or moral judgment. In some cases, it was quite the opposite.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "One time I got really stoned while walking around the Redwood Community Forest behind my school, and in one day I stumbled across a woman playing guitar (whom I smoked a bowl with), a shamaan camp, complete with used peyote buttons, a rusty knife, trip books, trip drawings, etc. Then, on my way back, I got more stoned, closed my eyes to use \"The Force\" and walked in a random direction until I looked under a bush randomly and found this book called \"The Secret Language of Destiny.\" It's a book that tells you all about your personal Karmaic path, your personal pitfalls and strengths. It's like horoscope shit, but freakishly accurate. You open up the book and on the first in-flap are a bunch of dates, from 1880 to 2020, where you then find your birthday in your birth year, then go to the page it references, and you shall soon know more about yourself then you ever would through just trying to live in this ass-fuck society. \nSo, basically, smoking weed has made me become a righteous freedom fighter with jedi-like skillz, and a book that makes me know the destiny of anyone, really. Thanks pot!", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I am a recovering alcoholic in my mid-twenties. Off the hooch for 2 years now and have never felt more genuine contentment on a regular basis than presently. I can attribute much of this progression to marijuana. If not much more, it was undeniably the catalyst to my realization that I no longer craved (and more importantly) didn't need alcohol. These insights were inspired while \"high\" of course as are many other positive self-examining tools that can potentially be unlocked should you choose to open up. I have integrated meditation as well as making physical fitness a priority as well which of course adds to the overall mind-body connect. Ignoring all the BULLSHIT surrounding marijuana, we need to exactly as the author of this thread says and EDUCATE through COMMUNICATION. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "No intended offense dude, but your weed success story isn't the type I feel this movement needs. While I personally admire your weed-influenced decision to eat healthier and connect with nature more, I think that the majority of Americans would see your lifestyle as somewhat of a counter-culture thing. We need what sells everything else: the average Joe who enjoys smoking weed. It doesn't affect his life at all. He has a family with a steady job in middle management and he secretly gets ripped face in his basement while playing PacMan and masturbating to goat-on-horse porn. Something totally normal like that would do a tremendous service to the legalization movement and forever change the face of the effects of marijuana. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "[6] Smoking opened me up to whole new types of thinking/creating/decision making that I wasn't even close to before. It's sort of a universal awareness (I sound like a hippie) but I really appreciate the person its helped me become. I've expanded in a lot of ways, I have better friends, and I care about more important things now. I started writing again, I learned to play guitar and banjo. As someone who plans on being a writer, I feel it gave me the creative spark I lacked for so long in high school. \n\nMost say pot makes you lazy but, for some at least, I think it helps you not care about shit that doesn't matter. I'm more of the eccentric personality type now, I read more books, philosophize more often. \n\nI didn't start smoking until I got to college, and I'm now a junior with a 3.2 GPA. \n\nAlso cushions, food, the internet, sex, movies, jokes, anything humorous, monotonous work, music, adventures, ghost hunting, and baking are all more enjoyable if weed is involves. AM I RITE", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I have a horrible medical plan, and a neglectful, un-helpful doctor. I also have epilepsy. When the two mix, I end up having issues, which leads to seizures. Since I can't seem to get a referral to a GOOD doctor, I went and got my medical marijuana license (Colorado resident).\n\nNow, even though I still have seizures on occasion, I sleep better and I am less… \"spazzy\" is the only word I can think of to describe the feeling. My seizures have decreased, and I don't get lost in a loop inside my head as often as I did before, when I was just taking pills.\n\nIt's not a cure-all, but since my bank account and the American Health Care System are making it all but impossible for me to receive good, Westernized medicine and proper neurological care at the moment, it's what I do. And it's a hell of a lot more fun firing up a huge blunt than it is twitching and jerking on the floor.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "My story...I started smoking weed when I was 18. I'm 22 now.\n\nI've known since I was 13 that I have both bipolar disorder and social anxiety. I was straight edge when I was in school, and my family didn't have insurance so I was never put on prescription drugs for it...so during that time I was literally out of control. I would have massive mood swings that ended in crying and destroying things I loved, and I would be so tense that I would get charlie horses sporadically throughout the day. During that time I learned alot of mental techniques to keep myself semi-normal but the depression was a constant struggle.\n\nI honestly don't want to be put on mood-stabilizing drugs...I've done research and their side affects scare me, especially since I've learned how to control it without them for so long. The major issue is the depression...and that is where the weed comes in.\n\nI would be lieing if I said weed cured me. It doesn't. Smoking weed does not make me stop being depressed...but it does make a difference. When I'm stoned I'm still sad...but that's it. Just a little sad, not manic, not crying, not out of control. Just a little sad.\n\nThat little difference is what allows me to hold down a job even if the stress is getting to me, what allows me to learn to think my problems through instead of just crumpling into a depressed mess. I'm very thankful for it...but I know that it isn't just the marijuana. I don't think weed is a magical cure all...I see it more as a helper. With a little boost it can take you past some obstacles, but it won't fix your life. That's your job.\n\nUm...thanks for listening?", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I had a major knee surgery a few years ago, and after I got out of the hospital I was prescribed norco for the pain. I had been an everyday smoker for years, but the job I had at the time made me cut back and eventually I stopped smoking. So, I started taking the norco and after a few days I was crawling in my own skin. I would wake up in the middle of the night so uncomfortable, my who body itched but it felt like it was underneath my skin, and there was no relief. I eventually stopped taking the medication and talked with my surgeon about alternatives, but his only remedy was more medication. The thought of having deal with more sleepless nights and more pain until we found a medication that worked was a situation I refused to accept.\n\nI called a friend of mine who still smoked, he hooked me up, and the results were, as you can guess, 100% what I needed. I could manage my pain, sleep, eat.... all the things that the medication hindered. \n\nMost of my life I have had problems with anxiety and sleep, and it wasn't until after I had my surgery that I realized, weed could help me with those problems. I smoke everyday from my trusty vaporizer, sleep like a baby most of the time, and I truly feel like weed gives balance to my life. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I have been an insomniac since adolescence. I'm 25 now and I discovered that weed gives me sleep. I'm more productive and happier now. Also, I simply enjoy weed, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with doing something because you enjoy it. One of my favorite things to do is snowboard all day (I live in Steamboat Springs, CO where we get 100's of inches per year of some of the lightest snow in the world) and then get high when I'm done. The combination of thoroughly worked muscles with the weed high is incredibly comforting. What's so wrong with that?", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I developed a very nasty drinking problem as a teenager (from 16-19 was blackout drunken craziness), to the tune of about 3 liters of vodka per week.\n\nAfter almost being killed on the street during a mugging (who's easier to mug than drunken kids?), I kinda snapped together, and decided to give up drinking. I can't believe how long it took me to realize my chances of dying were really really high. There was a problem, though.\n\nStopping heavy drinking fucking *sucks.*\n\nI needed anything to help keep my mind off drinking, to help stop the physical pain that grips an alcohol-starved alcoholic, and the alarming and often suicidal thoughts that went through my mind. Enter cannabis.\n\n2 years later, and I can't believe how well it's working. I still have a beer every now and again (the Pacific Northwest has some great microbrews), but I haven't been drunk since.... last spring, I believe. And that was a kickass party anyway, so I let it slide.\n\nTo summarize: Cannabis has worked tremendously in helping me to stop drinking. So it's not only a safer (and, honestly, more enjoyable) alternative to alcohol, but it's also a medicine that can help someone stop abusing alcohol, and possibly other substances.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I'm 19. I had terribly high anxiety. But I feared taking pills would just make me feel like I had no control over my level of anxiety. So medication was not an option. My grades were terrible and I was in an all-around downward spiral that was gonna lead to me transferring back home.\n\nI started smoking regularly and my anxiety is gone. My grades skyrocketed and I'm staying at school. Thanks, cannabis.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "after years spent thinking that marijuana was evil, and a very bad first experience, i later discovered that it could help alleviate a lifetime of chronic pain from an accident when i was a child.\n\ni honestly didn't even know i had the pain until then -- i just thought that was how it felt to be alive.\n\nit made a huge difference in my life, and has made me a much happier person.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I smoked every day this quarter while attending the University of Chicago, and made Dean's List no problem.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Pot is what helped me to see that I was headed down a dead-end in my degree program, and gave me the courage to do what I really wanted to do. I directly credit pot (as a channel for God) with opening my eyes to my life's focus and work. Some years later, I'm almost finished with my Engineering degree and hope to start my own business when I'm out. \n\nAlso, it helped me overcome huge anxiety problems and probably a minor undiagnosed bipolar condition.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "My migraine medications usually make me super out of it and sleepy to the point of missing classes and calling in sick to work during college because the meds made me non-functional. My boyfriend had me smoke once when I was over his place and had forgotten my meds. Not only was my migraine gone as soon as it kicked in but I was more than functional... able to go about my daily life without the groggy haze caused by the medications prescribed by my doctor. ", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Lost 70 lbs.\n\nEnded my depression and anxiety.\n\nMade a funeral way more tolerable.\n\nExercise doesn't make me itch or nauseous anymore.\n\nMakes philosophy awesome.\n\nFun social activity. I don't feel as lonely as I did.\n\nMore confidence. \n\n\nEverything is better. I know that is hard for non-users to grasp but they should at least try it properly before introducing ignorant criticism into mainstream thought. I'm a better person because I discovered cannabis. I can better empathize with people and I genuinely feel compassion towards people now. Social situations are a little more tolerable and.. \n\nEverything is better with cannabis; don't knock it until you try it.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Seems to be quite a few bipolar/depression issues that have been helped in this thread due to marijuana and I can add my personal anecdote to that. \n\nI had a son when I was 17 years old. I joined the military right after high school and before I knew it my wife, my son, and I were living in a small house on a military base in the middle of nowhere (South Dakota). Things starting getting really bad for me, I was more than under-performing at work, I was purposefully acting out and continually being disciplined by my commander. I hated being in the military and hated any form of authority. I was also becoming more introverted and reclusive, even from my own family. Eventually I lashed out physically against my wife. I was taken in by the MP and my wife left me. Now I was out in this strange place I didn't want to be, all alone. I started getting severly depressed and attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills. I was found and brought to the hospital. I was required to go under extensive evaluation as I was still in the military at this point, and I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Fortunatley, my commander felt sorry for me I guess and pushed pretty hard for a medical discharge under honorable conditions. About 8 months ago I was offically discharged from the military and able to come home and return to civilian life. I was under heavy medication and I didn't like it at all. I was on a pretty bad cycle of starting/stoping my medication and random and it was reeking havoc on my emotions and mental state. Eventually, I stopped taking my meds all together and starting smoking weed on a regular basis. Everything has been going uphill since. I've been accepted back on my ex-wife's side of the family, and even though tensions are still being worked out between me and her, I see my son everyday now and I get along with her mom again (who I have always been pretty close with). I'm starting college in a week and I'm really excited about that. And probably most importantly, my emotional instability is almost non-existent. I have had no serious thoughts of suicide or felt anything close to what I was feeling before I started smoking.\n\nDidn't mean to make this so long, but really, my life has done nothing but improve since I started smoking.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Casual smoker since 1996. Medicinal user since March 2009.\n\n8 years ago I was diagnosed with depression and severe anxiety disorders. After an antidepressant gave me diabetes(!) I switched to Lexapro. I was on that for 6 years. In March of 2009 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. The anti-depressants did nothing. Marijuana was the ONLY thing that calmed my nerves during that awful period. I no longer take Lexapro.\n\nNow, marijuana has been shown to help people with MS gain new mobility. On top of that, my creativity has exploded and I am writing some of the best music I've ever written in my life.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Things i directly attribute to weed:\n\n1) confidence, and getting laid for the first time\n\n2) better grades in college, and now 2 job offers\n\n3) meeting my fiance\n\nEDIT: word and format", "score": 3 }, { "body": "smoking weed lets me hear and play much more complex musical phrasings.. stuff I could never come up with while sober..\n\nalthough other psychedelics do the same.. :D", "score": 3 }, { "body": "UPVOTES FOR EVERYONE! I loved reading all of your stories.\n\nI began smoking after my sophomore year of high school, but I didn't really start smoking until college. My first year was essentially a continuation of my work habits from high school, but with the help of the herb I began to see what a hole I had worked myself into. Smoking awakened this sort of nascent lifestyle within me, like I was waiting for my life to begin.\n\n Upon reflection, I came to the conclusion that I was living my life in a completely irrational way. I was overweight and hated it, so I stopped drinking soda and started actually enjoying exercise. I've dropped 20 pounds so far and I feel much better now. I run 5 miles in the morning now.\n\nIt's also renewed my love of learning. I read almost obsessively now, and my grades have moved from the low B range to the A range.\n\nI have too much to say about cannabis, but the illegality of a drug that has done so much for me and so many others bothers me. It has been nothing short of life-changing, I don't know where I'd be without it.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "When I was a kid I was a real trouble maker, always doing shit I wasn't supposed to. Later when I tried going to high school I could never stick, I went to 7 schools without graduating due to not showing up and disagreeing with the teachers. Since i started smoking weed I've gone back to school and now I'm at Uni. and I'm top of my class. On a fast track to my BSc in math and most probably PhD by the end.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "It has given me an interest in theoretical physics. I used to fix computers for a living, but after I took a job as nightguard at a hotel I suddenly had every other week free to smoke and watch documentaries. After gaining the initial interest in it, I started reading books at work. I did however not know the math needed, but after I read up on that too I discovered I understood stuff I knew nothing about mere months ago. \nIt has made me consider going back to school to get some higher education. \nNo more fixing computers for arrogant, overpriced men in suits.\n\nI've also learned a lot about other subjects while blitzed with the internet to supply me with the information. \n\nI short, good hash and the internet made me much smarter.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I have a hunch that the unspoken question is what *free* apps people like, so I'll try to keep it to those...\n\n[UltraVNC](http://www.uvnc.com/), [Filezilla](http://filezilla-project.org/), [Foxit Reader](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/reader/), [Pale Moon](http://www.palemoon.org/), [µTorrent](http://www.utorrent.com/) and [PeerBlock](http://www.peerblock.com/), [VLC Player](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/), [Microsoft Security Essentials](http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/)", "score": 72 }, { "body": "vim is my most favourite program.\nmocp for music\nhtop for monitoring processes.\nrtorrent for my torrenting.\nchromium for my browsing.\nirssi for my IM needs.\n\nI like to think I've tried out a vast number of applications, and the reason I use those the most today, is because they are my favourite (and rightfully so.)", "score": 33 }, { "body": "* [MusicBrainz Picard](http://musicbrainz.org/doc/PicardDownload) (I'm a stickler for music organization)\r\n* [Opera](http://www.opera.com/browser/)\r\n* [Virtual CloneDrive](http://www.slysoft.com/en/download.html)\r\n* [VirtualBox](http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads) \r\n\r\n**Edit**: Links", "score": 25 }, { "body": "I hate to advertise my own program, but [TorrenTV](http://code.google.com/p/torrentv) has made my life easier. \n \nIt checks for new episodes of TV shows (on torrent sites) and downloads them automatically. My wife loves it too, and she doesn't know much about computers. It also had a quick \"movie search\" option that saves me seconds on the minute. \n \nAlso, a great self-made stalking tool: [Phusk](http://code.google.com/p/phusk). Finds private photos in photobucket accounts. I use it every now and then with great success. One of my friends touts it as \"the greatest program ever.\"", "score": 20 }, { "body": "Dunno, lets ask the computer:\n\n$history 1|awk '{a[$2]++} END{for(i in a){printf \"%5d\\t%s \\n\",a[i],i}}'|sort -rn|head\n\n 237 rm \n\n 179 ls \n\n 131 cat \n\n 77 mv \n\n 37 cd \n\n 36 less \n\n 28 vim \n\n 26 find \n\n 19 fdupes \n\n 12 x11vnc\n", "score": 20 }, { "body": "Ultramon (multiple monitor stuff)\n\nmost useful it puts a taskbar on each monitor and allows dragging maximized windows. ", "score": 16 }, { "body": "as for unspoken\n\n[FileHippo Update Checker](http://www.filehippo.com/updatechecker/)\n\n[InfoRapid Search and Replace](http://www.inforapid.de/html/searchreplace.htm)\n\n[Agent Ransack](http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/)\n\n[Paint.Net](http://getpaint.net)\n\n[Notepad++](http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm)\n\n[Kompozer](http://kompozer.net/)\n\n[Wootalyzer](http://www.wootalyzer.com/)\n\n[IrfanView](http://www.irfanview.com/)\n\n[HP Product Bulletin](http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/productbulletin.html#intro) - for specs on work servers\n\n[Untangle](http://www.untangle.com/) = awesome\n\n[SSLExplorer/Adito](https://sourceforge.net/projects/sslexplorer/) = awesome\n\n[Terminals](http://www.codeplex.com/Terminals) = awesome\n\n[AD Manager Plus](http://www.manageengine.com/products/ad-manager/) = awesome for AD management in a small/medium size business. free version works well enough for me, even after expiring\n\n[Secunia PSI](http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/) - meh, but I put it on here\n\n[autopatcher](http://www.autopatcher.com/) - meh, but I put it on here. actually caught a new remote desktop client for xp, so that's cool", "score": 15 }, { "body": "[XBMC](http://xbmc.org/), best mediacenter software out there. Runs on Xbox, windows, OSX and Linux.\r\n\r\n[FreeNAS](http://freenas.org/freenas), turn an old PC into a FreeBSD-based NAS. Also has many other useful features like the [Transmission](http://www.transmissionbt.com/) bittorent client. I actually built a new PC for it for €200. Black desktop case so it fits in with other equipment, the cheapest combination of parts I could find plus an extra HDD I already had. It's barely powerful enough to run win7 but it's been running like a champ for the last 8 months, current uptime: 68 days, 13 hours.\r\n\r\n[Opera Browser](http://www.opera.com/), Firefox is too slow and I don't care for all the extensions, Chrome doesn't have all the features I like.\r\n\r\nAll free (as in beer) BTW.", "score": 15 }, { "body": "[Chrome Beta](http://www.google.com/landing/chrome/beta/), [Winamp](http://www.winamp.com/), [VLC](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/), [Irfanview](http://www.irfanview.com/), [Digsby](http://www.digsby.com), [Avira](http://www.avira.com/en/pages/index.php) w/ [popups disabled](http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-the-Popup-Ads-in-Avira-Antivir), [Pixie](http://www.nattyware.com/pixie.php), [FastStone Capture 5.3](http://www.oldapps.com/fast_stone_capture.php) (last freeware version), [Crimson Editor](http://www.crimsoneditor.com/), [Virtual Clone Drive](http://www.slysoft.com/en/virtual-clonedrive.html)", "score": 14 }, { "body": "* [Everything Search Engine](http://www.voidtools.com/) - awesome tool, and Windows 7's own isn't.\r\n* [Opera 10.5 alpha](http://my.opera.com/desktopteam/blog/happy-new-year) - mandatory browser fanboyism.\r\n* IrfanView.\r\n* [Xinorbis4](http://www.freshney.org/xinorbis/) - see what is hogging your drive space.\r\n* [Media Player Classic - HomeCinema x64](http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/)\r\n\r\n\r\nLast but not least, I recently discovered [Q10](http://www.baara.com/q10/), a typewriter-inspired program (with typing sounds!). It's also great in the respect that its interface is completely minimalistic, improving your concentration and focus greatly.", "score": 14 }, { "body": "If you're using a linux terminal, gnu-screen is a game-changer.\n\nIf your console dies all your processes stay alive, and you can have several sessions going at the same time. All without using the mouse.\n\nI ssh to a linux box and start screen before I do anything else. Later that week if Microsoft updates my desktop and reboots it, it's trivial to get back to where I was with all my windows and editors exactly the same.", "score": 12 }, { "body": "**I have used all these programs on a 64-bit Windows 7 computer with no problems**\n\nVoice Comms - [Mumbles](http://mumble.sourceforge.net/)\n\nFree non-bloated Anti Virus - [Microsoft Security Essentials](http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/)\n\nFile Extract/Archiver - [7-Zip](http://www.7-zip.org/)\n\nSystem Optimisation - [CCleaner](http://www.ccleaner.com/)\n\nVirtual Drive - [Daemon Tools Lite](http://www.disk-tools.com/download/daemon)\n\nPDF Reader - [Foxit](http://www.foxitsoftware.com/downloads/index.php)\n\nDisk Defragger - [Auslogics Disk Defrag](http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/disk-defrag/download)\n\nBitTorrent Client - [µTorrent](http://www.utorrent.com/)\n\nInternet Browser - [Firefox](http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/)\n\nAddons for Firefox: \n\n* Sync and access your bookmarks anywhere - [Xmarks](http://www.xmarks.com/)\n* Ad Blocker - [Adblock Plus](http://adblockplus.org/en/)\n* Customise your tabs - [Tab Mix Plus](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1122)\n\nTrack down stolen computers for free - [PreyProject](http://preyproject.com/)\n\nI use WMP12 so I use this awesome all-in-one codec pack which comes with everything you'll need for a 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 OS:\nAudio/Video Codecs - [Shark Codecs](http://shark007.net/)\n\nFor those that use Windows Media Center these two programs are awesome:\n\n* Watch online TV - [TunerFree MCE](http://www.milliesoft.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9&Itemid=11)\n\n* Nice way to view your movies and TV shows - [Media Browser](http://www.mediabrowser.tv/)\n\nEdit: Formatting & Content\n", "score": 11 }, { "body": "[Launchy](http://www.launchy.net/) or any keystroke launcher like [Gnome Do](http://do.davebsd.com/) or [Quicksilver](http://www.blacktree.com/).", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I use Avafind (not very well known, but is totally awesome), Launchy, Fences (Windows 7), BitMeter, CDBurnerXP, 7-Zip on my Windows 7 laptop. ", "score": 7 }, { "body": "I swapped VLC to KMPlayer when VLC came out of beta and the features I liked appeared to have got broken.\n\nFoobar 2000 and EvilPlayer for audio depending on the machine i'm at.\n\nUltramon on any machine with 2 or more montiors.\n\nµTorrent for torrents\n\nSynergy for controlling 2 p.c's over lan connection with one keyboard and mouse.\n\nUnlocker for killing open files \n\nSupercopier for shifting large amounts of data around harddrives.", "score": 7 }, { "body": "Total Commander, the most versatile and configurable file manager out there. I would use my Debian VM more often if there was a good clone ...", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Notepad++ -text editor \nAVG - antivirus \n7-zip - compression utility \nFoxit - PDF reader \nSpybot S&D - spyware removal \nXnView - image viewer \nVLC - porn viewer \nWinMerge - diff tool \nPaint.NET - image editor \nActivePerl - perl scripting \nFirefox - browser", "score": 6 }, { "body": "*For Windows*\n\n---\n\nMp3Tag - editing tags in audio files. Doesn't just do MP3 files:\n\nhttp://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html\n\n---\n\ndbPowerAmp - very accurate and paranoid CD ripper.\nEAC can produce rips that are just as good for free - but requires much more fiddling about.\n\nhttp://www.dbpoweramp.com/\n\n---\n\nVice Versa - A good backup tool with excellent functionality.\nRsync is also excellent - and free, but I have never tried it with Windows.\n\nhttp://www.tgrmn.com/\n\n---\n\nGnu for Win32 - ls, grep, et al; but on Windows!\n\nhttp://sourceforge.net/projects/getgnuwin32/files/\n\n---\n\nVLC - plays almost any media file\n\nhttp://www.videolan.org/vlc/\n\n---\n\n*Linux*\n\n---\n\nRtorrent - great Ncurses torrent client\n\nRsync - amazing file sync tool\n\n---\n\n*Cross Platform*\n\n---\n\nPidgin - IM client\nhttp://www.pidgin.im/download/\n\n---\n\nMusicIP Mixer - performs sonic analysis of your music collection and creates configurable mixes based on songs' similarity.\n\nhttp://www.amplifindmusicservices.com/what/downloads.php\n\n---\n\nSqueezebox Server\n\nServer software for the Logitch Squeezebox\n\nhttp://www.mysqueezebox.com/download\n\n---\n\nTwonky Media Server - stream media around the home to various devices.\n\nhttp://www.twonkyvision.de/\n\n---\n\nESET NOD32\n\nThe only AV client I'll install\n\nhttp://www.eset.com/\n\n---\n\nXboard/Winboard - play chess against the computer, or online\n\nhttp://www.gnu.org/software/xboard/", "score": 5 }, { "body": "UltraMon (Seriously, why doesn't Windows 7 have this functionality built in?)\n\nFoobar2k\n\nPidgin\n\nFirefox\n\nRealVNC\n\nFolding@home\n\n", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Definitely mplayer. It's fast, easy to use after you realize that you use the keyboard to control it, It has everything you need for playing all kinds of movies, it has a vast array of settings and no useless QT/GTK/X toolkit GUI, but rather gives you input feedback via its OSD.\r\n\r\nIt's when you have absolutely no hassle with a program when you realize it's great :)\r\n\r\nAlso: Opera (I love that one, too), transmission (nice BitTorrent client), Amarok _1.4_ (not the new Version) and feh (a simple image viewer).", "score": 5 }, { "body": "easier computing: isorecorder, firefox, vlc, qip, skype, irfan\n\n\ncannot miss: putty, winscp, mplayer (vlc alone doesn't fit), 7zip, mp3tag, mirc, pstools", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (for all my C++ coding)\n\n* with [Visual Assist X](http://www.wholetomato.com/)\n* with [Rockscroll](http://www.hanselman.com/blog/IntroducingRockScroll.aspx)\n* with [Ankh SVN](http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/)\n\n[PSPad](http://www.pspad.com/) (for all my non-C++ coding)", "score": 4 }, { "body": "I don't see any mention of **TuneUp Utilities**...is there an similar but better program out there, or do people just not know about it?\n\nI know it's proved invaluable to optimizing this piece of shit laptop.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "MP3Tag, Everything, Foobar2000, 7-Zip, Firefox, µTorrent, K-Lite Codec Pack, Filezilla, Flashget Classic, Thunderbird, Truecrypt, Wampserver, Notepad++, Miranda IM, CDBurnerXP, Photoshop CS4, and TeamSpeak 3.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "awesome thread..got some new crap to play with.. we should do it again sometime.. and i'm sure we will .\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Mac: \n\nFirefox, TextEdit, TextMate (for real work), bash/Terminal, Preview (for making pdfs fun again), Adium, Netnewswire, MATLAB (too bad the interface still sucks for osx)", "score": 3 }, { "body": "vim - edit files\n\nssh - do stuff on other computers (or more stuff on this computer!)\n\nvlc - everything video\n\nchromium - browser\n\nirssi - IRC\n\nlyx - latex editing\n\nbanshee - music\n\ngcc - for all your other needs.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Are you kidding? I'm a girl and I'd love nothing more than to think a guy could get so turned on just by making out with me!", "score": 35 }, { "body": "If you and I are thinking about the same kind of kissing (not just a quick kiss in the cheek), she is probably getting wet as hell too if she feels comfortable. So I think you can relax and assume that she would not be shocked ;)\n\n(or if she is, then that would only be caused by the fact that she is veeery inexperienced - there is nothing that would be your fault; in general: there is nothing embarrassing about this topic that the two of you can't talk about friendly and openly; it's just sex :) ). ", "score": 11 }, { "body": "Flaunt it don't hide it! As long as you are confident about it you can't go wrong. Don't make an effort to hide it. She'll notice it eventually and if she mentions it just say something along the lines of \"well what do you expect you are smoking hot?\" Say it in a confident and lighthearted manner and she won't freak out. If she gets uncomfortable because she thinks it's too close to sex just reassure her that you respect her boundaries but you cannot change your biology. If she notices it but _doesn't_ say anything it's probably turning her on, don't hold back.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I have to say, as someone who was quite inexperienced at 18, I would've been confused as to what I should do for the guy -- that's not to say don't tell her, because now 2 years later, I love it.\n\nStart telling her slowly, testing how she reacts to that kind of stuff. Maybe she needs to be eased into it? Or if she's totally comfortable with it, sweet and go hog wild.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "A serious question: do you want things to escalate physically? Does she? While I agree communication is key, you can forgo the conversation by letting her have a go at your unmentionables.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "You know, it's considered normal to sell knitted goods for about twice the cost of materials, not that your wife would need that information until she sets up a way for redditors to start ordering them.\n\nAlso, if she can make a pattern, [Ravelry](http://www.ravelry.com/tour/peek) - [(They love their geeky items over there)](http://lunastrixae.blogspot.com/2006/01/fsm-sighted.html) would be a fantastic place to put it, but really - the opportunity to make money exists, here.", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "My mom is a farmer. Her favorite thing to tell my boyfriends when I was younger was that she knows how to castarate...\n\nBeyond that, she is involved in local theatre, is an award winning ski patroller, and made my wedding dress. She has a type-A personality and is turning 50 this year. We often complete each others sentences or discuss a subject without ever identifying it aloud. I don't know what I'd do without her.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My mom is simply amazing. She is the strongest and smartest woman i know. My dad passed away when i was 12, so my mom raised me and my 7 siblings all by her lonesome. She started doing online classes a couple years before the youngest turned 18, so when we were all out of the house she could go to a university and finish up getting a degree. She will be graduating this spring, and not a moment too soon as she is turning 60 this year. \n\nShe has always pushed me and my siblings to do the best we can with whatever it is we decide to do. She kept music in our ears, pencils for writing and drawing, and books in our hands all through our younger years. She made a very smart and talented bunch out of all of us. All while keeping herself sane and in good spirits. She loves to sew, draw, and do crafts. She always has some project or 10 going on.\n\ni love you mom. thanks for everything.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My mom is a paper conservator (meaning she restores works of art on paper) who specializes in early 20th century art (and specifically methods and materials) and is the director of a well known NYC museum's conservation center. She is an expert in her field and probably *THE* expert in her specialization. She's written a book or two on the subject and is currently working on a paper about Roy Lichtenstein's method for an upcoming show at the Guggenheim (not the museum she works for). She privately restores and makes recommendations about what one should do with their pieces, and has even worked for that guy who invented microsoft (she's been in his house!!).\r\n\r\nShe's also a graduate professor who teaches art history and conservation at NYU and hence I went there for free.\r\n\r\nOn top of all that, she's a great mom and because of her, I grew up learning a lot about art which always seems to impress girls (or annoys them when I know more), so one could argue that my mom has indirectly gotten me laid.\r\n\r\nSuck. It. Everyone.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I'm from Northern Minnesota and it sounds to me like you are having a heat wave. I'd have on a mini-skirt, tank top and go-go boots if it was that warm here. The real temp here tonight is going to be -30F with -40 windchill. I'll be wearing pac boots, merino wool socks, duo-fold long johns, flannel lined jeans, a padded bra, duo-fold undershirt, blouse, flannel shirt, lined/insulated flannel jacket, down parka, insulated coveralls, thinsulate snowmobile gloves, alpaca scarf, merino wool hat, have a few heater pacs in my pockets and be wearing some really sexy panties. I'm going ice fishing. Get a wood stove for the house, it feels really good on a cold day. When I sleep I have a Chihuahua and 3 cats piled on me. I'd kill a polar bear and wear his fur but the global warming has already killed all the polar bears in this area.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I gave up trying to deal with the cold a long time ago. I moved to southern California where I can eat my lunch outside by the pool in January.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Live in Canada. More specifically Winnipeg right now and used to live on the mountains in BC.\n\nCold is just a way of life here. Ill consider it a nice enough day to wear jeans and a hoodie with no jacket if its -18 C (-4 F)\n\nWinter jacket doesnt even go on till its like -28 (-18F)\n\nColdest ive ever seen was about - 48 ,-62 with the windchill (thats - 52 and -71 F for you yanks)\n\nYou just get used to it. you learn to accept the cold. You learn to not shiver. You learn that a good glass of whiskey or scotch goes a long way to making you feel warm. In fact, if it weren't for whiskey, lots of the settlements in the early 1800's when our nations were being explored may not have been able to stand up to the immense cold and toughness of settler life.\n\nSo how did i deal with cold? just got used to it. Mind of matter. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Also depends on the temp where you live. Something similar happened to me but it was winter so I just kept a bag outside. Oh, butter and most cheeses don't need to be in the fridge. I think eggs as well but you might want to google that one.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Oh man, I have an old typwriter from the 30's that still works and was thinking of doing this very thing...Send me a letter and I'll send you one back...typed!\r\n\r\n", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "If you want to brush up on Java problems, I recommend [JavaBat](http://javabat.com/) It's a ton of progressively harder problems that you can code and test in your browser. Even as a relatively experienced programmer, I had a lot of fun working through them.", "score": 15 }, { "body": "A small one I've gotten before is to swap the values of two integer variables without using a temporary one, had me stumped at the time because its a puzzle i'd never considered before. The real answer is \n\n int a=1;\n int b=2;\n\n a=a+b;\n b=a-b;\n a=a-b;\n \nI asked did it have to be done in java, and when they said no, I answered it in assembly using \n\n mov ax, [value 1]\n mov bx, [value 2]\n push ax\n push bx\n pop ax\n pop bx\n\nA friend went for an interview there the following day and got the same question, and was told \"some guy answered this in assembly yesterday, but we couldn't figure out what it did\"....", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "Apply double sided tape to the areas she scratches. Put catnip on the scratching post. This has worked for all my cats over the years except one. Didn't matter what I tried, that cat scratched the couch for 18 years. I miss her. ", "score": 11 }, { "body": "What a beautiful cat! I commend you for adopting from a shelter rather than buying from a pet store :)\n\nAs for the scratching, I never did find a way to stop my cat from scratching my couch. In the end I didn't care that much...now that she's gone I look at the couch and miss her.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "She's a cutie, Kinda reminds me of my baby girl! Especially the markings under the eyes.\n\nhttp://i.imgur.com/xTb6Z.jpg", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Target has cardboard scratching boards that our cat LOVES. He used to scratch the wall and ignored his scratching post completely. I can't recommend them more- much easier than trying to keep him away from things he shouldn't scratch. :-)", "score": 4 }, { "body": "She looks lovely! If you get her a scratching post that will be good to get her to scratch that instead (it's good for the claws don't you know!). Weight-wise, it's quite a normal thing in times of adjustment so it should pass. Anyway, good luck and I wish you and your feline friend all the best.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "[AI](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212720/)\n\nIt's been a long time since I watched this, but I have a strong and abiding impression that it should have ended when the child, David, was underwater at the blue fairy or whatever that statue thing was. The stuff afterward was needless exposition (from the vague, memory impressions I have of it).\n\nEDIT removed The Matrix. I agree with OP.", "score": 12 }, { "body": "The Man from Earth\n\nI would have preferred if the end was left less obvious instead of confirming it for viewers.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Wall-E was the main character, and even though he was a robot he still has to follow the same path as any character in a story. The main character has to 'change' and 'grow' as the story goes on, but if you suddenly end the film with the main character having forgotten everything and learned nothing then the story will be worse for it. \n\nNot to say some movies shouldn't end sooner, just that I think you are wrong on Wall-E.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I hate the last, like, twenty minutes of Minority Report. What was a mind-blowing tale of determinism vs. free-will worthy of Philip K. Dick turned into a run-of-the-mill murder-mystery worthy of a Lifetime movie. Cruise should have shot Crow who should have been the real kidnapper. He found him and killed him only because of the redball and there was a redball only because he killed him. It would have been great.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Mr. Brooks. I thought it should have ended at the point where his daughter stabs him to death, instead of him waking up and having that part be a dream.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Layer Cake. Cut the movie as he's walking down the steps before he gets shot by that chump kid for no real explainable reason. Only thing I can figure is the girl was his girlfriend. And whats worse is the kid saying sorry after shooting him. How can you be sorry the exact second after shooting someone if noone put you up to it? Lame.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I have had an incident on New Years day that has yet to be addressed, but I may lose my job. No call no show for a day I wasn't supposed to be scheduled on and nobody told me or called that I was missing my shift.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Sorry to hear. At least they waited to after xmas.\nI got made redundant in a job 2 weeks before xmas a few years back and nobody is looking to employ around xmas", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "You should get 10 cards, labeled 1-10, and score each fart as they come. This may not solve the problem, but would be worth doing. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "Older guys don't do it voluntarily. They might have enlarged prostates, and when the bladder is released, so is the pressure on the rear gas valve.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "My advice: be tough on yourself and b ea RUTHLESS self-editor. \nFor example, out of that set never post duplicative shots like \nhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/27858589@N05/4247571546/in/set-72157623142894498/\nand \nhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/27858589@N05/4247576272/in/set-72157623142894498/\n\nPare it down to your fave 5 shots, then go out looking for advice and comparing what's different between your shots & shots you really admire. The paring forces you to identify your own strengths and weaknesses and also makes it more digestible for critique. ", "score": 10 }, { "body": "Everyone else has said this, but I'm putting it in one sentence.\n\nHere is the key to being a good photographer: shoot more, show less. ", "score": 5 }, { "body": "At first glance, you need to learn to edit your work. You have lots of photographs that are basically duplicates of each other. Take the time to look at them and decide which one you like best. Upload that one. \n \nAlso if you're going to shoot landscapes, you have to make sure your horizon is straight. You can rotate the image in photoshop. \n \nThe sunsets are nice but sunsets are the most cliched shot ever and really they need some stunning foreground to make them worthwhile. \n \nThe majority of the shots are just quite empty landscapes. You need to look for landscapes where there is a clear subject, or some sort of depth, or some amazing light.... just something more than a nice-ish scene. Like this for example, http://www.flickr.com/photos/27858589@N05/4247571546/in/set-72157623142894498/ It's just dull. Where you excited when you looked at it? Were you interested? I can't tell. It seems like you took a picture of it because you felt obliged. Things like this are the same http://www.flickr.com/photos/27858589@N05/4247645508/in/set-72157623142894498/ \n \nhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/27858589@N05/4246961003/in/set-72157623142894498/ This is my favourite one because there is something going on. I like how the children's heads just pop out of the dark area. \n\nI hope this doesn't seem overly harsh. The brilliant thing here is that you're going out and shooting lots of pictures. The second part of shooting lots of pictures is to analyse them. You can go through and write down things you like about a particular shot and things you don't like. If there are common themes of things you consistently like or don't like, you can see what you need to work on. This will also help you editing down your collections. ", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I got a different word of advice to share - a lot of these pictures have very distorted perspectives (look how the walls curve up etc'). I'm assuming you're not doing this on purpose, unless it's some kind of artistic vision I'm missing :)\r\nAnyway, these are caused by shooting at too wide of an angle. Different lenses will show these abberations at different levels of severity at similar angles (you could even get optics designed to counter act these affects) but for the most part you simply need to manage the angles and distances better. Step back and use greater zoom if you want to try and capture large objects (and straight walls are really the worst). Get up close and personal with smaller objects for shallower DOF and those out of focus effects that bring out your subjects better.\r\n\r\nHope this helps, I'm just an amateur myself.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Congrats on the 35 lbs! \r\n\r\nThe simple of it is that eating better is 90% of weight loss and unless you are an olympic athlete that does nothing but train all day, no amount of exercise will make up for bad food habits.\r\n\r\nThat being said, you should still be able to lose a lot of weight easily with what you currently weigh and if you want to look fit after shedding all those lbs, you'll need to be exercising. I'm sure you've heard of 'muscle confusion'. I won't get into elaborate discourse, but:\r\n\r\n* For Cardio: instead of only the elliptical, try the Spinning bike (not the recumbant bike which is no workout at all) and Treadmill (if your knees can't take running/jogging yet, you can get a good sweat if you use incline and don't hold any bars with your hands). Rotate between these and even an UBE if your gym has one (bike for upper body). Make sure you really sweat though, (even Richard Simmons knows this one). It's called a workout for a reason. \r\n\r\n* For Weights: Up the intensity, 5x5 is great for strength, but you should also consider switching up to do lower-weight & higher reps routines. Nothing will make your arms turn to rubber like 4 sets of 12 with 60 secs rest max. Make sure last set or two you really have to work to get last couple reps. I've even lowered the weight a bit on my last set and go till failure to really feel burn (up to 20 reps). Like cardio, mix up the heavy days with high reps days, but make sure both days your appendages are mush afterward.\r\n\r\nHope this helps, and always be thinking how to mix up your routines...\r\n\r\nEdit: You dont need 2 hrs either, you can get great workouts in 60 mins or so...all weights, all cardio, 50-50 of each, whatever you feel like.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I would think that direct http downloads from web browsers would far outnumber torrents. And there would be a heck of a lot of downloads done by the Wubi installer too.", "score": 11 } ]

[ { "body": "It might be better if you have your players read Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Or perhaps some of your players are sociopaths...it's commonly held that around 2-3% of people have such traits, so who knows.\nThen again, if you're playing in a setting that parallels early middle ages or dark ages mentality, many societies had no problem what-so-ever with slavery, even people that would have been considered \"good\" and \"ethical\" at the time.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "I'd argue the \"kobolds sold into slavery\" isn't a good/evil issue, but rather a lawful/chaotic point. \"Good\" implies benefit to others and promotion of life, which slavery could be seen as an alternative to genocide. \"Evil\" implies benefit to oneself at the expense of others, and slavery fits that description as well.\n\nHowever, \"Lawful\" clearly puts the interests of society/the group above the interests of individuals/personal freedom (\"chaotic\"). One those grounds, a \"chaotic\" idealist would oppose slavery under any circumstances, save for the Chaotic Evil \"might makes right, the strong rightfully bully the weak\" alignment.\n\nThat said, conventional wisdom among gamers seem to hold \"Chaotic Neutral\" as \"do whatever the hell you want regardless of ethos (so long as you never do the same thing twice)\" kinda thinking.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Once again, pretty much 90% of sci fi TOMTs are from the 1990s Outer Limits... finding the exact episode.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Outer_Limits_(1995-2002)_episodes", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": "Best sources of timely basic national statistics are Central Bank sites. Just google for \"Central Bank country_name\" and go from site to site, collecting what you need. Most of the countries that comply with IMF reporting rules (pretty much all of G20) have English versions of macro tables available.\n\nEdit: To answer the second question, IMF gets the macro reports mentioned above and WB probably gets cc'd also. Besides that, all the organizations you mentioned have regional offices with staff dedicated to collecting and processing national statistics published inside the region's countries for domestic consumption.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "The fighting will never end there will always some war or other to send them to. Yemen/Somalia next by the looks of things", "score": 5 }, { "body": "I agree with the concerns but not the desire to continue the war. They are often messed up, but they deserve to come home. ", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "Even though I didn't take things apart that often when I was younger because I considered it to be a waste of perfectly good stuff (I consider this to be kind of a waste of opportunity now because I don't have a whole lot of older stuff sitting around anymore, heh), I got into electronic systems engineering because of the general interest. \n\nDo you still have that link to the inner workings of the traffic lights, by the way? I never saw it.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I would go with Debian, you already know how to do what you want to do with Ubuntu, so you could apply that to Debian while keeping control of what you want in your system (like not using pulseaudio).", "score": 48 }, { "body": "9.10 was a pile of shit. It scared me off too. I went to Debian and I'm very happy with it. I use stable, but have a couple packages from unstable. ", "score": 16 }, { "body": "My advice is to try Archlinux. It's a distro that doesn't get in your way, and you can configure it exactly how you want. It doesn't obligate you to use Pulseaudio or Gstreamer or whatever if you don't like them. It's simple, flexible and it has a knowledgeable community. It has great 64bit support and pacman is one of the most awesome package managers. You can build new packages very easy with PKGBUILDS and integrate them into the system. And a lot more good stuff :)\n\n[Download page](http://www.archlinux.org/download/)", "score": 14 }, { "body": "Try one of the distributions that gets recommended each and every single day in here. Not a day goes by that someone's not asking which distribution to try out.", "score": 11 }, { "body": "Try Mint, its Ubuntu but a lot snappier for some reason.\n\nAlso if you are looking for super lightweight, try Slitaz, the entire distro is 30 megs! Run on virtualbox first to see what its like, Slitaz is nowhere near as simple to use as Ubuntu.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "As a 10-year Gentoo user finally hanging up my hat on that distro, I highly recommend you stay away from it. The maintenance and setup headaches are simply not worth it. (and other distros like Sabayon, based on Gentoo, can't really fix all of that)\n\n(edit: as pointed out below I couldn't have been using Gentoo for 10 years, so maybe it's more around 7 or 8. Either way, I've been riding the Gentoo boat for a very long time.)\n\nIf you don't mind an initial setup migraine, I'd go with Arch. If you want something better off the bat, go with Debian.\n\nMy laptop runs Arch i686, my HTPC runs Ubuntu 9.10\\*, and my production server I setup a long time ago runs Gentoo\\**.\n\n\\* I regret upgrading from 9.04. When 10.04 LTS comes out I will be fresh installing that and not upgrading from there. (its main use is XBMC)\n\n\\*\\* I REALLY regret using Gentoo for this server, and in the future will be using Debian Stable. I had used Gentoo for servers previously but in the last year, as my site has become more popular, it's just become a pain in the ass.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "If you want to pick and choose parts, Arch is for you. As I'm sure you know, you start with pretty much nothing and work your way up to a full desktop. Write a list of all the software you want on your computer, then install it through pacman. You will have no more and no less than what you want, and some new \"update\" isn't going to add things you don't want like pulse. ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "It makes me sad that gentoo isn't even in your list.\n\nAs far as picking and choosing, gentoo is about as close as you can get to LFS with only small migranes.\n\nOutside of my gentoo love, I've found Fedora to be pretty sane and quite reliable.", "score": 6 }, { "body": "Use a gentoo based distro...the package manager will blow you away! I would recommend Sabayon linux. It gives you two package managers, one for building from source, the other for installing binaries. It is the best of both worlds.", "score": 5 }, { "body": "If you want something that's userfriendly and still uses apt-get but is a refreshingly different change of pace, try out PCLinuxOS. It's the only Mandrake-based operating system that uses the apt-get package management system, as far as I know. It has a lot of neat tools that you won't find in any debian based distro, and was the first distro to make it super easy to use all the proprietary stuff an end user needs like codecs, flash, and nvidia drivers (they included them in the ISO).", "score": 4 }, { "body": "9.10 screwed with my netbooks network settings, so im happily staying with 9.04.\n\nDon't give up on Ubuntu!", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I bought another hard drive for my laptop. When I have to do work (network sniffing, cracking, abusing, etc.) I slip in 9.04, when I want to do everything else I slide in the Windows 7 disk.... Yes you read correctly, Windows 7. What can I say, it works.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I have a weird problem where the speakers start emitting white noise at semi-random intervals. It usually stops when I do anything at all that has to do with sound, even performing anything in the GUI that plays a sound.\nHappens with 9.10 32bit, 64bit and Fedora 64. I have my hopes on 2.6.33 with some new Intel driver and ALSA stuff.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I've been running Fedora since it was called Red Hat. I wouldn't recommend it if you're fed up with flaky software. It's bleeding edge, and the breakage that you're now experiencing in Ubuntu is probably worse in Fedora. Every single version breaks something, and upgrading one release to another is not always reliable.\n\nLately the focus seems to be on breaking fundamental stuff like audio (PulseAudio), basic networking (NetworkMangler) and graphics (Nouveau is not ready for prime time). Oh, and VMware was a complete bitch to install under Fedora 11, but that's more to do with VMware. You won't get any of that rolling release stuff either.\n", "score": 3 }, { "body": "A lot of people are happy with Arch, so I guess that could be a next step for you. Also there are no versions on Arch.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "> As there is no easy way to remove the hydra that is pulse\n\nIf you can remove it in Fedora, I'm guessing you can do so in Ubuntu", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Debian Lenny [netinst](http://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/5.0.3/amd64/iso-cd/debian-503-amd64-netinst.iso) for stability, apt and installing only want you want.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I was at my wit's end with Ubuntu as well. Like you, sound issues drove me crazy. I had to rebuild alsa anytime a kernel update occurred on 2 of my machines. Then there was all the nonsense with Flash that drove me crazy. Now, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit it, but I'm a Mac user and loving it. Shit just works, and I still have most of what I love about Linux (cool OSS tools, command line, etc).\n\nI've been using Linux exclusively for 3-4 years now, and working as a Linux sys admin for awhile. I just couldn't take it anymore though. I love Linux, but I want to focus on using my computer to get shit done. Unfortunately it got to the point with Linux that I was burning too much time fighting Linux instead of just getting things done.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "You really don't need a better lens, you need more light, a small aperture, lower ISO, faster shutter speeds, a tripod, and the \"Clarity\" slider (unsharp mask on the midtones).\n\nSmall aperture = greater depth of field; this makes more of the image appear sharp\n\nMore light allows you to use that small aperture at faster shutter speeds and lower ISO. Faster shutter = less camera shake and subject movement. Lower ISO = less noise in the image. The tripod will also help eliminate camera shake. You can substitute an image stabilized (IS on Canon, VR on Nikon) lens, or use an image stabilized body, for the tripod, up to a point.\n\nOn the clarity slider: skin tones tend to be in the midtone range on most images (unless you're intentionally shooting a high-key exposure). An unsharp mask filter will increase the apparent sharpness of edges (borders between light and dark values). So running the USM on the mid-tones only will increase the apparent sharpness of the skin (pores, stubble, labia and all).\n\nSo, you don't really need a better lens; the \"kit\" lens with almost any consumer-level dSLR will do. But, if you want to go that one extra step ... get a prime lens (for this kind of work, a telephoto of 80mm or better will help you avoid perspective distortion), which generally have less chromatic aberration (fringing) at the corners, edges, and borders with bright backgrounds.\n\nUpvoted for giving me the chance to use \"labia\" in a comment.", "score": 9 }, { "body": "I'm at work so can't look, but a prime lens will usually be sharper than a zoom. You also need a good sensor that won't produce much noise, and plenty of light. Someone mentioned unsharp mask, but I recommend [Focus Magic](http://www.focusmagic.com/) instead. It's great for repairing minor focus or mostion blur problems, but I actually use \"fix out of focus blur\" with a radius of 1 pixel for most of my photos. It makes things really crisp without causing ugly artifacts/halos.", "score": 4 }, { "body": "Almost any DSLR lens will do that.. you just need some Unsharp Mask.\n\nThey have a shallow DOF so it's probably shot at f1.8 or something. You can get a $100 50mm f1.8 for Canon's and Nikons. ", "score": 3 }, { "body": "[This photo](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2702/4241258543_70143af2f6_o.jpg) is a 100% crop taken from a much larger photo. It was taken with the Canon 18-55IS kit lens. I've edited the photo to make it **less** sharp (the fake bokeh was added in with a Photoshop plugin).\n\nIf you like I'll show you how it looked straight from camera. It was very sharp, and the lens I used was a cheap zoom lens.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I don't do colour, but [Freestyle Photo](http://www.freestylephoto.biz) makes cheap papers (Arista brand) specifically for students. Maybe see if they have what you need.\n\n(Their B&W film is great, and for ~$3/roll shipped to Canada you cannot beat it.)\n\nedit: well I checked and Arista does not make colour paper... So... Sorry", "score": 5 } ]

[ { "body": ">For how long a guy should accept the foreplay bj?\n\n\n10-15 seconds past ejaculation, tops. Anything past that just makes you look a little *selfish*.", "score": 120 }, { "body": "Options, depending on YOUR situation:\r\n\r\n1. Ask her.\r\n\r\n2. Stop her and go down on her.\r\n\r\n3. Pull her head away, flip her over on her back, and give it to her.\r\n\r\n4. Switch to 69.\r\n\r\n5. Ask her.\r\n\r\nThere is no one right answer.", "score": 43 }, { "body": "IDK about her but I have a huge oral fixation and I get turned on giving a bj. Feel her out. After a couple minutes, finger her a little and see if she's wet. If she is, it is safe to assume she's having a good time. But now since you're fingering her, you can't stop not until she cums or you guys start fucking. This way you could get a good idea if she actually enjoys giving head. \n\nAnd when I'm just not feeling cock in my mouth, it's obvious because there's just not as much enthusiasm; I slow down, less tongue movement, just kind of going through the motions. Either way, it's foreplay. If you feel like it's going on too long then just fuck her!", "score": 40 }, { "body": "ASK THE GIRL. Seriously, people need to start asking the person they are with these questions, not reddit. ", "score": 18 }, { "body": "Lol. Something about the confusion of when to tell a girl to stop sucking your dick is amusing to me. \n\nI would say as long as your dick is in her mouth, and she seems to be enjoying it, let her blow you as long as she'd like. If it's uncomfortable for her, or starts to hurt her jaw...she will more than likely tell you. ", "score": 8 }, { "body": "Long time... If you think it's getting to long, get the broad to jerk you off while you're kissing her, then if you're gonna jizz soon, get her to suck your dick again so you don't have a mess, and it feels good... Have fun.\n\n", "score": 4 } ]

[ { "body": "See [here](http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/579). Do whole-disk (but for /boot) encryption via the Debian installer, then modify the initrd to start a dropbear ssh server that will allow you to ssh in and enter the encryption key to unlock the encrypted partition.\n\nI recommend whole-disk encryption so you don't have to worry about where your application or the system might be storing sensitive data -- easier to just encrypt the whole thing. \n\nAs has already been noted, it's not a perfect solution if a determined attacker has physical access, but there isn't a perfect solution against a determined attacker with physical access. It'll do just fine against someone stealing the physical box and trying to make anything of your data after the fact, though.", "score": 7 } ]

[ { "body": "I'd say you did good work. If she already had the look of disgust in her face, there was no way I would have let her have the last word.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "Once they spot it you sweeten the deal by 'accidentally' dropping a Magnum condom from your pocket and loudly saying, \"Oh dear I've inadvertently dropped my condom for my massive dong.\" \n\nAll part of the D.E.N.N.I.S system.", "score": 3 } ]

[ { "body": "I write my books with my hands! Just kidding. \n\nWhen I want to write something I know will be long and daunting, I write the good parts first. The trick is to have the entire story intimately recorded in your head, broken down into chapters. I have always made a point of mixing and matching characters with scenarios until something fits. Comic value, intensity, credibility... all of these things are important, so you need to have cast it appropriately.\n\nMake notes from your imagination, and keep them as guidelines subject to possible change. Don't be afraid to scrap entire chapters if they don't seem necessary or they interfere with the timing. It's your baby, and you want it to be perfect and adored by all.\n\nYou ought to be able to type any chapter out, and lay it out like a puzzle piece in any order, then adding other chapters as you progress in a way that makes sense. Make a point to denote any changes in plot or detail that you make as you go, because continuity will bite you on the ass if you don't.\n\nI write sci-fi/fantasy for the better part, so there are certainly times when a high action sequence is in order. Those sequences are usually the ones that I am inspired to write when I initially sit down. Once I have a satisfactory piece that is ready for the OUT bin, I make a decision to continue. I start writing equal or lesser chapters until I have a rough draft of every chapter strung together in chronological order. This becomes my baby after I have written the fifth or sixth chapter, so I won't suddenly lose interest.\n\nOnce you have the rough chapters in order, it's time to start adding the mortar. Bring whatever gags, sub-plot ideas, and aesthetic notes that you likely have thought up during your time away from the keyboard, and begin to fill in the spaces between chapters with \"getting to know you\" material. Any buildup you give a character, however subtle, will make him more sympathetic to the audience. Make at least one of the heroes an asshole, so people pay attention to him.\n\nMinor characters should have a purpose, and should not be exclusive to subplot. Minor characters exclusive to subplot are for 80's movie screenplays only. Interweave them, and create unlikely heroes. If you write something believable, people won't be able to say enough about it.\n\n**tl;dr?** Know the story in your head before you even start. Make it something people will have to turn the page to follow. Reward them for their time with nice surprises, human interest and a coherent story.", "score": 6 } ]

[ { "body": "I justify them by calling them \"mental health\" days.\n\nI will do this once every two months, or unless I'm motivated (booty call).", "score": 3 }, { "body": "My company, saying \"some people were abusing the system,\" cut back from giving us 10 sick days a year to just four, ensuring that everybody abuses the system.", "score": 3 }, { "body": "I'd have to say 90% of my sick days are just ninja'ed vacation days.\r\n\r\nI once however worked for a company(AEGON USA) who's HR policy was for every 2 days of unused sick leave left over this year(you got 10 sick days) rolls over to 1 extra legit vacation day next year. \r\n\r\nIt was amazing how such a small incentive slashed employee sickness. It's the only company I've ever worked for where so few employees ever called in sick. The contrast was night and day.", "score": 3 } ]