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What quirks do you do without even realizing? | Once I was walking down the hallway at my school while thinking, and someone started doing very bizarre hand motions at me. I asked them what they were doing, and they informed me that I had been doing that. I apparently was using hand motions to emphasize my own thoughts, and didn't even notice. What stories do you have about being oblivious to your own actions? | 8 | [
{
"body": "When I was a kid, when I said something, I would repeat what I had just said under my breath. Weird. It went away. It went away. Shit! Its's back again. Shit! It's back again.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I balance things out whenever I do something. If I tap my left index finger, I tap my right index finger. If I chew on the right side of my mouth, I chew on the left side to equalize it.\n\nSometimes I'm very aware of it and actively balancing things, but other times it just happens without me thinking about it.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I move pockets of air around in my mouth - not terrible noticeable, but I don't always know I'm doing it. Also I clench and relax muscles in my legs in a pattern - and like gundy8, everything has to be equal - if I clench muscles in my right knee, I have to do it in my left knee. I don't know how other people don't fidget all the time.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "When I was younger, if I'm playing out a social scenario in my head, I' would sometimes say out loud what I was thinking I would say. Maybe not even the whole sentence, just a fragment. Kind of awkward. I swear I'm normal.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Rant/Cry: I think I'm failing as a Philosopher (some advice would be appreciated) | In highschool I skated by on my essays as if they were nothing. In University I find I have to structure them and plan things out. In Philosophy I feel as if my arguments are shit and useless, the same goes for my conclusions. I feel as if I am not capable of doing anything worthwhile. | 6 | [
{
"body": "Philosophy is *hard*. \n\nThat sounds patronising, but I genuinely mean it. Philosophy, academically, requires a lot of time and dedication; more importantly, it's a lot of time and dedication *on your own*. You're not with a lab group, most of the time you're not with a lecturer or prof. It's just you and the things you're reading. It can be difficult to keep your morale high in such circumstances; are you not understanding an argument because it's genuinely tricky (or wrong), or because you're just not up to scratch as a philosopher? Writing your own arguments down is just as difficult.\n\nBut there are, of course, ways around this. At least some, if not most, of your coursemates will be feeling the same way; talk to them. Discuss your ideas, discuss your arguments, discuss what you're reading. Philosophy began with dialogues, continue the tradition. Your lecturers *are* paid to help you, so visit them in one of their office hours to see if you can discuss the things that are causing you problems. Make sure that you *take your time* in writing! You can try to write an essay over night, but it isn't recommended.\n\nLast, but not least; remember that *nobody knows the answer to any of these questions.* As [the PhilPapers Surveys](http://philpapers.org/surveys/) show, there *is* no consensus on any given philosophical issue. So take your time, work through your arguments slowly, make sure they're accurate, and you'll be doing as well as anybody else involved in philosophy.\n\nHope this helps.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Well that's good. It's when you start believing that your arguments and conclusions are the end-all answer to everything that we start having problems.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "That's normal. Don't worry. Philosophy is hard, and organizing an argument is hard. Just keep trying.\n\nAnd hold on to your own work -- you'll be amazed at the improved quality even 6 months down the road.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "A colleague of mine said once that any philosopher who did never contemplate to drop philosophy is no true philosopher. In my view, doing philosophy must have intrinsic value for you. Thinking about publishing, the ways the profession works etc. is wasted energy. If you are looking for advice, I would say that you should seriously reflect why you do philosophy at all. There must be a way of doing philosophy that fascinates you, a problem you are trying to come to terms with, something that holds your attention. You should concentrate on that, as far as the syllabi of your courses allow. When I was in a situation similar to your own I came to the conclusion that I could not drop out without trying to tackle Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. The motivation was mainly sporty: I wanted to find out whether this guy was so much more clever than me that I could not come to terms with what he wrote. Well, years later I have found out that that may really be the case, but, well I've been hooked. Looking at more than 2000 years of philosophical thought can be really depressing. Concentrating on a problem or an aspect of a problem can really help, because in such an \"niche\" everyone with enough dedication and energy can become an expert. As soon as you find out that on this particular subject you may know more than at least some of your teachers, that usually gives quite an ego boost. And professors tend to like that attitude, because that is how they started out themselves usually.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Did anyone else see the "According to them, Guys like the natural look more than the make up look" article on Reddit yesterday, then the "Makeup attracts more men" one today? -.- | My theory is that men *think* they like the natural look, but would almost always choose a covered face if given a side-by-side comparison. I think they like the concept, but when facing the actual situation, go after the girl who has make up on her face because she is more likely to hook up/doesn't have obvious zits *anywhere*.
It's a sad truth in my college world. Opinions/thoughts? | 37 | [
{
"body": "Actually if you read both articles, they said the same thing. Guys can't actually tell if we're wearing makeup. They say they like the natural look, but what they don't know is the chick who looks naturally beautiful is wearing more makeup than the rest of us.",
"score": 27
},
{
"body": "I could be wearing a face full of make up and guys say \"I like how you don't wear *ANY* make up.\"\n\nSome guys also think that an hour is 10 or 15 mintues, and that five inches is actually nine.",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "When it comes to makeup, the best makeup is the kind that makes you look like you aren't wearing any, or hardly any. ",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Man here. My gf of two years has worn makeup for maybe 20 nights in that span (she likes be made-up while performing - she's a cellist). \n\nMaybe I'm a member of some \"mythical\" minority of men who can tell when someone is wearing makeup and dislikes it. I'm sure most men would prefer to imagine people as just \"naturally\" looking made-up, because, well, most people don't really care enough to go out of their way to figure out the truth.\n\nAnyway I think blanket statements such as \"men like\" or \"men don't like\" are probably all false, because there is a lot of variation in what people like. Personally, I think that being healthy and happy also makes a person look a lot better. ",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Hey, sometimes men don't know what they are talking about. I mean once in a while I see a girl wearing makeup, but I won't realize they're wearing makeup. Things like eyeshadow and lipstick are easy to notice, but it's the concealers that are difficult to detect.\n\nTrue story: I have rosy red cheeks (it's not rosatia), and I have to wear a green skin cream to tone down the redness. If I take it off, people wonder if I'm okay and say, \"Wow, you sure do have red cheeks, man.\"\n\nUnless it's obvious you are wearing makeup, people will think you're going with a natural look and will say they're attracted to it. When they see you in your natural look, they'll think something is up.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "This is what his happening:\n\n\"Men\" do not prefer make up more than nonmakeup. Anymore than \"men\" prefer chevy or ford or whatever.\n\n\"Some men\" do prefer make up, and know it. \"Other men\" prefer very little make up and think they prefer the natural look, or sometimes prefer the natural look, and even still \"Some other men\" prefer the natural look.\n\nThe Makeup attracts more men article is completely flawed in that it equates 'attracting men' to 'getting hit on at the bar'. It may be than men that prefer makeup are more likely to hit on a woman at a bar.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Dear ladies. As a possessor of dangly bits (well, really more of a keeper. The wife owns them) I would like to chime in with an opinion. \n\nHaving woken up to members of the finer sex the morning after, I can say that a woman with no makeup can be sexy as hell. And I don't just mean cause I got some last night. The wife really doesn't wear much at all (just some eyeliner) and I prefer it that way.\n\n**That being said**, not all girls fit this standard. Sometimes you gotta slap a little pain on the barn. \n\ntl;dr: some girls are pretty without makeup, some aren't. everyone is different.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The answer is judicious application of matte neutrals/nudes *and* good skin. Forget the shine, the sparkle, the glitter, and the obvious color application. But if you peruse the makeup forums almost all the girls care about is sparkle and pretty colors.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Men also say that they like women with higher confidence and, as far as I know, make-up helps boost confidence.\n\nI really couldn't care whether or not guys like the make-up look. I like it. I think I look better with it. That matters more than their personal preference. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I prefer the natural, but I can appreciate the occasions like banquets etc when a girl can look super nice with reasonable makeup on. And the natural look I think is achieved with makeup, just a very small amount. Natural look doesn't mean no makeup at all, rather it means no coloured eye shadow and liner and lip stick etc.",
"score": 3
}
] |
DAE do the pee dance? | You have to go really bad and you know that if you stop moving it will all trickle down your legs; so what do you do? Just DANCE! (at least until you reach your ceramic saviour)
Ahhh release it feels so good. | 12 | [
{
"body": "I did it yesterday, i was standing outside in the snow so pretended it was an \"It's really cold out here, *Brrr*\" dance.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Guns and your significant other... | My girlfriend was born and raised in China, and thus had never been exposed to firearms of any kind. I was actually quite hessitant to inform her that I had a few, but after hinting at it, she got really excited about the whole thing. She was scared to go to the range with me and a Neos, but all went well.
Now, she's taken a CCW course, has her own pistol that she shoots with 3 times a week. Our "date nights" involve reloading several hundred rounds of 45ACP, and cleaning our gear after a range trip.
Completely unexpected!
So, /r/guns, how did your SO react to your hobby/lifestyle and how involved did they become? | 36 | [
{
"body": "Several years back, some guys from my old company's Canadian office came down for a visit. Talking to them a few days before the flight, I asked if they wanted to go fishing while they were down here. They said that they weren't into fishing, but asked if I knew anyone who had guns to shoot. Boys, you're talking to the right guy, I said. They asked what I had to shoot and I ran off the list. Then I said that my wife (now ex) had a S&W .357 Magnum. It blew their minds that somebody's *wife* would own a gun.\n\nMy current girlfriend is a hippie and she was a little ill at ease around all my guns at first. But I taught her some gun safety and she's more comfortable, now. A while back, she was cleaning my bathroom (such a sweetheart) and she called me to come move my bathroom gun, so she's got the part down about not even touching it if you don't know what to do with it. And she says it's kind of a turn on for her, now, when part of getting busy involves me taking my gun out of my pants.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "I don't have a significant other, you insensitive clod! But if I did, she'd come with me to the range.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Most people from oppressive countries get very into the whole arms-are-a-human-right thing. Most of the Vietnamese families I know are armed to the fucking teeth.\n\nMy SO already hunted and did long distance rifle shooting, so it wasn't really a reaction. She did find it funny that I carry a gun everywhere, but she came from a small town where no one really thought that was necessary.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Inarticulate resistance. Still basically impossible to discuss rationally with her.\n\nMy dad has a couple of guns that \"have my name on them\", so to speak. Each of my brothers and I had our own designated rifle when he took us hunting. The company he worked for did a custom run of Colt 1911s and he got us each one (Mine is #23 in the run. HAIL ERIS ALL HAIL DISCORDIA). Some random plinkers and target guns as well. I enjoyed shooting as a kid, but didn't really think much about taking up the hobby myself.\n\nI was in the Navy. Submarine. Out to sea at the fucking time. 3 section duty while we're in port. She's a small woman \n(5' 100# soaking wet) but was breastfeeding so had a mind-boggling figure. We lived in a town house that was in a not bad neighborhood. Things would get stolen from your car if your didn't lock it (e.g., iPod, GPS). Graffiti would appear periodically but was taken care of pretty quickly. \n\n\nWhenever I tried to have a discussion about her being home alone with the kids and what was her plan... it would usually end with her accusing me of being unreasonably paranoid. I spent a lot of time underway thinking about it as a result. Eventually happened into thinking about what I expected to happen when I _was_ home. So, someone breaks in and... what? Keep quiet and hope they're content to steal the stuff downstairs? Hope isn't a security plan. What if they're not? Kids room is on the opposite side of the stairs so we can't just lock our door and hide. Etc. Etc.\n\nEventually got a Glock 19 under the guise of taking up shooting as a hobby (which is mostly true, actually). She didn't seem to much care one way or the other. Was noncommittal about coming to the range with me (never has). Jumped through the hoops to carry concealed in Virginia. We had the paranoia discussion again. She'd be snide if she knew I was carrying, but that eventually went away once as I got in the habit of waiting until _after_ we'd had a pleasant day out and about to point out (ZOMG!) I had a gun the whole time.\n\nHad a job lined up in NJ at a semiconductor specialty gas/chemical plant starting about a month after I got out of the Navy. \"Sold\" my guns to my dad rather than submit to or break NJ law. I enjoyed my job. She didn't like NJ. After our house in VA finally sold she started talking about moving back home to TN rather than finding something more permanent in NJ.\n\nPut together a really groovy plan. I'd keep working in NJ to build back up our savings. She'd finish up her BS in Accounting (her second degree), then move to TN and live with her mom until she found a job and scout houses. I'd move down to go back to school on the GI Bill, and probably get a job at a polysilicon plant they're building whenever they start hiring operators.\n\nSO. Yeah. I'm doing well in school (BS Physics, AAS Chemical Engineering Technology). She doesn't have a job and as far as I can tell her plan is to live off the GI Bill stipend and mooch off her mom. You can guess how the buying a house idea has gone. My dad still has my guns because it seems rude to get into that while living as a guest in someone else's house.\n\nLearned recently that TN concealed carry will treat an application from an out-of-state permit holder like a renewal if done within 6 months, so I went and did that. Didn't think much of it. Wife found some paperwork related to it and freaked out. Demanded to know why I didn't discuss it with her beforehand. Wanted to know where my gun is. Couldn't seem to fathom my position that it was about on par with registering to vote or renewing a drivers license, only it was quite a bit cheaper to renew rather than miss the window and be processed as a new applicant... so I was doing it now even though I had no immediate plans to buy another gun. Do admit that when I considered telling her about it figured it wouldn't have been a productive conversation and chose not to mention it. She's spun this into a grave violation of her trust. We have appointments for marriage counseling and everything.\n\nSince those events her mom's ex-husband has popped up and started sending her and her mom e-mail about wanting to meet. Haven't heard from this guy in about a decade. Creepy. Unspecified violence/drug issues. May or may not be cyber-stalking.\n\nWife is planning to start her third degree. MBA, building on the accounting. Evening classes. She talks about taking up jogging in the mornings to get/stay in shape.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "My 63 year old wife settled on and is quite comfortable with her concealed 8 shot .22 mag laser equipped Taurus . So one can imagine she's unconcerned with my little hobbies.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "First she told me that if I bought a gun, I'd have to find someplace else to live.\n\nSo I did the only natural thing, I bought guns and didn't tell her.\n\nAfter some time, she accepted the guns, but didn't want to see them.\n\nEventually she accepted them and suggested I buy a safe. So I bought two.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I had a friend bring over some glocks (9mm, .40, & .45) to try them out in my back yard. Asked wife if she would like to try them. She was hesitant at first, and after 2 clips, fell in love with the 9mm. Excuse me, magazine.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "My first refused to go to the range with me and eventually told me I could not bring my legally purchased and tax-stamped submachinegun into our home. I got a new home a month later. Thank FSM. \n\n\nMy current enjoys pistols, but has a neck problem that makes it difficult to use rifles (unless the sights sit so high above the boreline that a cheek weld becomes impractical...think AR15 carry handle mounted red dot, only useful for short range work). She's a keeper.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "She likes shooting but doesn't much like the idea of shooting a person. The first time she shot a center fire handgun at a human silhouette, she hit it but then began crying. That was twenty years ago, she's over it enough that she has her own .357. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Mine has all her granpas old guns, some very cool shit. M1, 1911, model 12, old model 70, etc etc etc. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "this year, my gf bought me my deer rifle for my birthday (remington 7600 in 30-06) and my shotgun for christmas (Remington 870, 12gauge). She's a good one.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "At first mine hated the idea of me owning any firearm. She was always told they were bad. I finally got her to go shooting with me and rent a gun. she loved them still said she didn't want me to have any. I've finally talked her into letting me have several and she even likes shooting with me, although she's still afraid of \"scary guns\" and for some reason doesn't want me to have a shotgun.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My girlfriend actually really likes guns, not as \"into\" them as I am, but she enjoys shooting and never takes an issue with my firearms. It's great!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My girl is pro gun, but doesn't want me to waste my money on guns like I have on gadgets in the past. I've bought gadgets that I intended for a purpouse (like a PDA that I rarely used for anything), but failed to be used and ended up wasting money.\n\nShe doesn't want me to waste my money on guns like that, and while I can understand the why of it - guns are useful, all guns are.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "So these stories suggest that there's hope for me yet. My last ex, an anxiety-ridden basket case, was freaked that I owned a couple non-scary rifles (despite the fact that she was from a family of hunters and plinkers). We once got into an argument about whether it was ever appropriate for a civilian to own a semi-auto and I kind of knew things were going to go downhill from there. Sigh.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My wife has her own .357 so she's fine with it. She enjoyed shooting it enough that I got one for myself. Only thing she won't do is shoot my Mosin rifles after seeing what they do. She's just fine on a .22 and my .30-30 though.",
"score": 3
}
] |
A Jehova's Witness told me this today, and I had never heard it before. Is it true, and what can be said to counter it? | I was having a friendly debate with a friend who is a solid Jehova's Witness. It went something like this:
"So, you claim there are many translations of the bible, and you just pick which one you think sounds right?"
"Yes."
"So how do you know the bible, any version of it, is true?"
"It has to be true. 60 different people all wrote the same book, telling the same stories, and giving the same rules. These 60 people were all over the world and had no way to communicate, and they were all written in different languages - yet they all wrote the same book, the Bible."
I had never heard this before, and no religious person had ever tried to use this on me before. Is this true, or was he taking some liberties with the truth? If it is true, what are some counters I can use in a debate if this is brought up again? | 13 | [
{
"body": "The bible was certainly written by many authors, and 60 sounds like a good rough ballpark number, but they all wrote different parts of it; they didn't each write the whole thing.\n\nThe Old Testament was certainly not written simultaneously all over the world. Over the course of a millennium it was compiled by various prophets and priestly editors; it was added to, removed from, edited, and eventually found it's final form sometime in late antiquity.\n\nIn the New Testament each book was written by a single author. For example, the Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and Thessalonians are letters, written by the Apostle Paul in the mid first century, to various cities to explain proper Christian(though the term would not have been used at the time) beliefs and practices.\n\nWhether or not you believe the authors of the Bible were divinely inspired, the book was written over the course of ~1200 years, in various pieces, by many authors. Your friend's statement is complete bunk.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "> I had never heard this before, and no religious person had ever tried to use this on me before. Is this true, or was he taking some liberties with the truth?\n\nLOTS of liberty. I was raised JW. This is standard fare for the faithful. \n\nThey claim an amazing, highly improbable history of the bible staying pure and faithful to the message god intended in the face of satan using his dominion of the world to attack, corrupt, and suppress it.\n\nIt's all bullshit, as I learned when I started reading scholarly work detailing the true history of the bible. (Which is forbidden by the organization, BTW. As part of satan's world, scholarly research is part of the plot to keep people from learning the truth of the bible, don't you see?)",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": ">60 different people all wrote the same book, telling the same stories, and giving the same rules\n\nOn the contrary . There are a shitload of discrepancies, many I didn't know about until a few weeks ago. I highly, highly suggest reading this book - 'Jesus Interrupted' by Bart Ehrman. So far I'd say within the first few chapters he's mentioned 100-150 at least. If you are a fundamentalist after reading this book, you are quite literally mentally handicapped. He gives a shitload of inconsistencies in the bible and tries his best to find a way to reconcile the differences so that they might in some way be true. Possibly to your surprise, the author is actually quite sympathetic to religion and I highly doubt it would offend any non-fundamentalist Christian (although it shouldn't offend any fundamentalist either since all he uses is quotes from the bible.\n\nHe's about as far away from Christopher Hitchens as you can get when noting problems with the bible. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "As far as I know 60 different people did not write the same book. Different people wrote different stories that were hand picked by interested parties to be collated into one book. Many other people also wrote other stories that were excluded from that book. The only thing that is special about the included stories is that they were included by these men.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Most of the old testament was lifted from (far older) Sumerian and Egyptian mythologies, so can be expected to have some continuity. Even by the new testament times, the stories were by no means from 'all over the world', they were pretty much from the same general area and likely shared the same basis or kernel - likely some oral folk tales. The entirety of both the old and new parts of the bible was written in no more than 3 languages AFAIK - being the ancient forms of Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek.\n\nIt should also be noted that when the final 'book' was canonized, they simply threw out a bunch of the more contradictory bullshit (apocrypha) .\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I've always thought of religious texts being added onto over time a lot like fan fiction. The authors are well read in the original material, but have their own stories that they would like to add.\r\n\r\nPlus, you have to remember that a lot of what's in the Bible comes from the mythology of one people. Their stories would essentially follow the same guidelines.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "It's selection bias. 60 authors \"didn't write the same book.\" 60 authors wrote a selection of documents that eventually got collected into one book. The argument he's using is like saying, \"Because I collected these 60 short stories from 60 different 12 year olds and put them into a book together, they have to be true!\"",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "You get tripped up on something like that and you're in for a world of hurt when they pull out some of their real zingers. Ricky Gervais tears it apart:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9bk4_SRcwE",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": ">what are some counters I can use in a debate if this is brought up again?\n\nHow about \"Prove it\"? Excellent counter because he won't be able to.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I interpreted the question in a couple of ways simultaneously:\n\n- 60 people all *contributed* to the \"same book\"? That's hardly miraculous.\n\n- 60 people (all over the world and had no way to communicate...) meaning they wrote some different edition of the Bible? Except they were *translating* from (a selected subset of the same) source documents?\n\n- 60 people (and I really hope this interpretation isn't what the JW meant) were all divinely inspired to write this book \"the Bible\" from the same \"divine source\", \"all over the world and had no way to communicate, and they were all written in different languages - yet they all wrote the same book\"...!?\n\n... I have a horrible, sinking-in-the-pit-of-the-stomach feeling that this third interpretation is the one the JW may have meant. Oh boy-oh-boy, I really hope I'm wrong on that.\n\n... anyway: either there's no miracle, or the JW has got the complete-and-utter wrong end of the stick there. That would be just bizarre.",
"score": 3
}
] |
I've removed my ego from the music I create and came up with this | Japanese Obstructionist Pop | WTF kind of genre is that you ask? Critique away WATMM. | For the past year I've been writing music based on a TED idea I saw, that of [Elizabeth Gilbert's: A different way to think about creative genius](http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/453).
It's brought me to an interesting perspective, that writing music should not be about perfection but of letting go, removing the ego and stepping out of your skin. In the process I've written some of my most honest music, 2 small ep's:
[A Violent Collection of Colours](http://onehundredowls.bandcamp.com/album/a-violent-collection-of-colors)
[Monseigneur](http://onehundredowls.bandcamp.com/album/monseigneur)
and currently finishing up a full length. [I am my own sycophantic laughter](http://onehundredowls.bandcamp.com/album/i-am-my-own-sycophantic-laughter)
I found a sense of freedom I haven't felt with music since I first started. The absolute freedom to create anything I want under one umbrella.
Enjoy and I hope you find your daemon in all of this.
---
Feel free to d/l the ep's, it's all free and under CC license.
[http://www.onehundredowls.com](http://www.onehundredowls.com) | 9 | [
{
"body": "That TED Talk was incredible! Thanks so much for posting it. I found it to be totally inspiring. \n\n\nI have always put a ridiculous amount of pressure on myself when writing songs and I think that allowing the vessel idea of sharing the creative responsibility with an outside entity is a fantastic way to adjust ones' mindset. \n\n\nI found your music to be particularly interesting and appreciate musicians that continuously push the envelope to evolve music. [Captain Beefheart](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbzmKPXgtZI&feature=PlayList&p=4F8194F50B14254F&index=8) and [U.S. Maple](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSkVtdxHyIw) are two of my most favorite bands. Both in my mind went out of their way to create interesting music.\n\n\nGood luck with the full length album, you should post a link here or something when it's ready!\n",
"score": 3
}
] |
Reddit, how can I be more decisive? | I have a horrible time being decisive from the very big things to the very little.
Here is an example: I'm about to purchase a new Nano online, and now there asking me for a color. I'm very used to silver (as my old iPod was silver) but green is sorta catching my eye and the pics of silver look a bit ugly imo.
Little stuff like this, ends up taking me a long time to decide. Its annoying some of my friends, and especially me. So reddit, I ask you, how can I be a bit more decisive? | 5 | [
{
"body": "Best thing martial arts ever taught me, and I don't know who to attribute this to, but he was some wise dude not bad with a blade:\n\nIf you have a choice to make, realize that both options are good ones. If one were worse than the other, you wouldn't be worrying about the choice. Therefore, chose quickly and forget about it. \n\nOr something like that. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You need to become comfortable with the fact that you will occasionally make the wrong decision. It's the way it works. Honestly, you just need to learn to \"shit or get off the pot\".",
"score": 3
}
] |
I was a Chimney Sweep, AMA | When I was younger, I spent a stint of my life as a chimney sweep. People seem to have this allure with chimney sweeps, so I thought I'd add anything I could to increase their understanding of this dirty, unlike Mary Poppins job. | 34 | [
{
"body": "Q: My mum says back in the days when people had coal fires in their houses chimneys would catch on fire if not swept regularly, have you ever known this to happen in your experience? ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "What is one aspect of your job that those not in the field would find surprising?\n\nAlso: My folks had a den of raccoons in their chimney...turned out to be 9 in all, removed by a humane animal trapper-relocator. But I've heard that raccoons can be vicious. Ever encounter them, or other unexpected animal/insect hazards?",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "How hard is it really to do this yourself? For the same hunnert bucks or so, i could get a brush and some rods and have at it myself.... without having to wait around for someone to show up.\n\nYeah, inspect the chimney liner, but... is it really that hard to spot a crack?\n\nWas there a guild involved?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "how often would you recommend getting your chimney sweep out in New York like weather? Also is it true that if you were to open the duct that goes from the boiler to the chimney, majority of the dirt and soot can be removed from right there?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I just read about chimney sweeps the other day! Were you allied with any sort of union or association?",
"score": 3
}
] |
I found out yesterday my gf is pregnant. Scared shitless! Reassure me. | I found out yesterday my gf of 2 years is pregnant, we're both 30ish, live together have good jobs and love each other but it was a hell of a shock. We're keeping it and im commited to doing my best for the baby but I really can't get excited about it. It was definitely an accident but im scared that im now going to say goodbye to going out with my mates the odd time, I know Im going to lose my music/computer room and I can't stop thinking about all the freedom I have to do things before the baby arrives that I won't be able to do once its here. I feel incredibly selfish but im having trouble thinking of positive things at the mo.
What good things come of a baby? | 40 | [
{
"body": "You're missing the long term picture here.\r\n\r\n\r\nGoing out with mates to drink; losing your computer room; having the freedom to go out late at nights. Those are the kind of things you *grow out of* as you get older (and trust me, at 30, you're already very close to it). Sure, these activities used to fullfill you and give you a rich life in your limited view. But eventually the tarnish goes out the gadgets and the possessions and the nightlife. Your body wears out. you want to spend more time inside. You're not as agile, sprite, resilient, enduring as you used to be because every day **you are dying a little.** It's inevitable. And when you reach your 50s, you'll wonder how those things ever used to hold your attention and how you managed to *survive* that much punishment.\r\n\r\nNo, by 30, you should be settling down, be happy with your life and start to think about the next few decades. And when you do that, you'll start to think about everything you've learnt so far and every piece of wisdom that has been so hard-fought and won; every victory and failure and how it has shaped your life. And you'll get an overwhelming feeling of passing it on to someone else.\r\n\r\nThat someone else is *Your Legacy*. That what's your baby is: a piece of you - an echo - reaching out into the distant future, full of energy and eagerness. And you need to protect and nurture that piece of yourself. Do your damnest to spare it Hardship. *Encourage* him/her to be so much more than what everyone else expects of them. To take the future by the *balls* and form a family of their own. And pass on your wisdom as they see it, along with theirs to *your grandchildren*. And if you're still alive by then, you're going to be so fucking proud of that and **everything** you've think you've accomplished and are so afraid to lose right now will look so insignificant and so bane. Every night spent indoors instead of outside. Every night spent awake nursing that child and soothing its fears. All of that will be *worth it*. Because if you play your cards right, your son or daughter could grow up to be the next leader of our race, someone who takes us one step further from this Technological and Cultural Adolescence our Civilization is in. He or she might discover the next great thing in Medicine or Art, or Science. Maybe even our next greatest Leader who takes us to the *Stars*. And you'll look around and tell everyone around you with burning pride \"That's my Son/Daughter\". \r\n\r\nCONGRA-FUCKING-LATIONS to you Redditor - you're about to become *Immortal* through your children. Be excited. Make your girlfriend excited (if she's not already). Go out and Celebrate like you never have and probably never will. It's going to be tough but you can do it - even Morons manage to raise little Morons everyday. You'll blind them all with the flashes of Sheer Awesomeness your Parenting shall be in comparison.\r\n\r\nGood Luck, Sir!",
"score": 45
},
{
"body": "everything is going to be fine. it *is* scary. and the first few weeks are going to be brutal. but, everything will be fine. by 6 months time, you'll be madly in love with your child. it's an amazing transformation. hang on tight. it's quite a ride.\n\neverything will change. everything is different now. and that's ok. all those freedoms/things parents lose aren't really lost...they're just not as important anymore.\n\ni don't like being one of those parent who insists on offering advice but i think the following is globally helpful:\n\n- when momma is happy, everyone is happy. the greatest thing a father can do for his child is love their mother.\n- routine is key. it matters less what you do than doing it the same it same every time. children thrive in a stable, routine environment.\n- your girlfriend and you won't agree on everything. but you do need consensus. you are a team now and you have to back each other up. be a family.\n\nit's going to be great. enjoy it.",
"score": 32
},
{
"body": "You are right, everything about your life is about to change, but change is a good thing. The best things about having a son or daughter, I can't put into words. They are feelings you will have \"the first time (s)he...\" First time my son said \"daddy\" on purpose, I about cried. The best times will come when they are 3 and start to comprehend things.",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "You passed on your genes. You will live on after you are dead. Be grateful you bastard. It's worth giving up your computer room. ",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "My father had me wen he was 20 years old. I'm now 21 and he has never said that I was an accident.\n\nGrow the fuck up. That kid is going to be the most awesome thing in your selfish life. You are going to learn more from him than him from you.\n\nC'mon dude.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "My wife and I occasionally have this conversation.\n\n**Her:** \"What would you do if I got pregnant?\"\n\n**Me:** \"Panic.\"\n\n**Her:** \"Okay, then what?\"\n\n**Me:** \"Attend our child's graduation ceremony.\"",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Look at it this way. Your girlfriend is making a bigger sacrifice.\n\nNow its just time to be more of an adult. Make plans to go out with your friends but yes it should be not as often as you used to. A lot of your priorities are going to (well, should) change but thats part of growing up...",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Your parents now get to laugh at you when your child does the exact same thing you did and say, \"Payback time!\". They mean it in a loving way though, I think.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "NEWSFLASH: You aren't really going to lose that much by having a kid. It does change your life, but you can still go out with friends and stuff...just not quite as often, as you have to temper you-time with spending time with your gf and giving her time off.\n\nAlso, you two should get married. If you're committed and want to raise a healthy kid, then the kid should know that you two will always be there as mom and dad, not mom or dad.\n\nEDIT\n\nAlso, be as involved as you can with the whole process. It is absolutely amazing how quickly the little guy will grow. See here: http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-images-2-weeks Click through the weeks. We did our ultrasound at 7 weeks and I could see the little heart beating already.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I remember only being able to think of the things I would lose, and could barely imagine the things I would gain. What you are feeling is normal. You will make a new normal and you'll be happy again. You are not any more selfish than any other human being on the planet. Good luck. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "My girl friend just called me today to let me know she is a week late, I am losing my mind. I am only 21 and have yet to find a paying job, I am scared shitless!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "At first I read that she was \"2 years pregnant.\" I was worried for a second.\n\n\nAnyways, congratulations! You'll get more excited as it draws nearer, knowing that you'll have brought someone into this world. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I have a 7 month old son. I am the same age as you. It's been awesome so far. Like a new hobby. \n\nIMPORTANT: Your gf will more then likely go through some strong chemical imbalances over the next few months, and for a while after the baby is born. Anticipate this, and react appropriately. \n\nREAD: The happiest baby on the block. Written like a manual. Five S's from the book really really really work. \n\nEXPECT: Some strange feelings. Guilt over lack of excitement. Strange disconnect from the unborn baby. Fuzzy brain from the lack of sleep. etc. All goes away a couple of months after the baby is born.\n\nAWESOME: Sex with pregnant gf. I can't wait for the next one for this reason alone. \n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I didn't read any of the comments from others so I hope I am not repeating, but I signed in because this may be the one thing that I can actually give some good advice on:\n\n1. No matter how bad you think things are going to be, they aren't going to be anywhere NEAR as bad...\n2. You are an adult and you don't have to worry about her dad kicking your ass etc...\n3. You won't have to necessarily give up your room, you just have to rearrange things.. (smaller desk? hang your instruments from hooks in the same room? Closet space for guitars etc...? \n4. The going out with friends cutoff is only temporary! While your baby is in it's first 6 mo or so you should stay home and help at night.... or if you have an awesome GF then trade nights, or trade weekends to sleep in, and still go out with friends still! Let her have \"girls night\" and you have \"guys night\" tell friends you need a few hours advance notice instead of \"Hey buddy! we're on our way to \"X-club\" meet us there!\" \n5. The work of raising a child isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It takes a few minutes to change a diaper. It takes a few minutes to make lunch, A.K.A a bottle. \n6. Do yourself a favor and baby proof everything before he/she starts crawling. if they can't get into anything or pull anything down then all they do is crawl around and explore/ play with toys while you surf reddit. By age 1 they understand \"NO!\" and \"Food\" and \"Mama, Dada\" and you can actually start to tell what they want to be happy.\n7. Babies sleep a lot. In the first three months you will have lots more free time than you expect. Go to dinner and movies, bring diapers and bottles and the kid will sleep through anything.\n8. The joy you experience will out weigh ANYTHING you have experienced so far!\n\nI was 17 and a senior in HS when I had my first I also got married my senior year. He is 12 going on 17 now and I have 2 more. I can't wait for the next one, they are lots of work but sooooooooo much fun. Send me a email if you want to talk more, I know it's a nerve racking time....\n\nP.S. should I do a teen dad AMA? i have thought about it but doubt there would be a ton of interest...",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "It's easy to think of all the things you'll lose (free time, etc.), but when you see the baby for the first time, and hold it, you get this powerful feeling -- it's almost a revelation -- that THIS is What It's All About. You'll understand when it happens. Plus, you run on adrenaline for the first six months. By the time you realize you're tired, the child is sleeping through the night. Then you realize you haven't lost anything -- but have gained a whole new dimension in your life.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "it's normal to have a bunch of selfish thoughts. i planned my pregnancies and still missed all the easy fun i had before. by the time the baby comes you will have resolved most of these feelings. what doesn't get resolved you live with and work out. babies are hard and rearrange your life but they don't end it. the good things that come of a baby... let's see. they are cute and smooshy. they smile at you and it's the most amazing thing you will ever see. the first time they really laugh hard is hysterically funny. they grow to be crazy fucking nightmare toddlers who are also fun, learning from everything around them, developing real personalities. then they become kids. my kids are 6 and 8. they are unique- i mean i really couldn't have made my daughter up if i tried, smart, fun, interesting. it's really indescribable. some of it will be the hardest stuff you will ever endure but then some of it will be the most beautiful. but for now you have to suck it up and support your girlfriend. vent here and then go make sure she's comfortable. it will be good. babies are good. CONGRATULATIONS! seriously. it will be awesome. you don't even know because there are no words. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "A baby will make diversions as computer and partying seem like the waste of time that they really are. Once you see that little person looking at you, grabbing your finger, smiling at you, you'll feel such a rush of endorphines that all previous experiences will seem like faked orgasms. And the funny thing is that you don't seem to come down from this high either. \r\n\r\nA baby restructures the way you view life, and gives it a new purpose. A purpose where the ego steps into a second plane, and the urge to provide the best possible upbringing to your little golem becomes a priority. \r\n\r\nComputers and going out with mates... Like you haven't done that to your heart's content already. Besides - going out a little less often makes you value even that experience in a new light. And then you'll find out that you'd much rather be with your kid at home, without a hangover. But yeah. I guess what I'm trying to say is: my sincerest congratulations and welcome to the team, daddy. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Yes your life will change more than a little.\r\n\r\nNo your life is not over.\r\n\r\nYou don't have to give everything up. Just make some adjustments. You might not even mind doing it.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Nothing will inspire you to become the best version of yourself quite like your child will. \nHappily, humans are very adaptable. It's going to be hard at first. At times, you'll feel your limits are being tested and strained. You will adjust. Then the baby will grow...and then, one day, you'll find parenthood is much easier than you feared. \nNow, go have yourself a proper celebration! Ravish your girlfriend. Throw back a shot of something expensive ;-). \nCheers!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "of course you can be scared! It's completely normal for anyone who's having a baby to be scared, even if it is planned. At least you're in a well established relationship, have a good source of income, and aren't 16 yrs old. I know people who were 16 or 18 years old in this situation with no real job and no reliable or stand-up partner...they swear it's still the best thing that's ever happened to them and they wouldn't change it for the world.\n\nCongratulations! It's probably scary as shit now...but when the day comes and for the rest of your life it will be the best \"accident\" you ever had.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Dragging words to the dictionary icon used to launch and search the word. Now it only launches. Any ideas? (OSX 10.5.8) | Can't seem to find anyone with the same problem on Google. I've tried fiddling with the preferences and taking out the plist files, but I've run out of the few ideas I had.
I perform this drag and drop action to the dictionary icon hundreds of times a day--mostly because I want to be able to jump to wikipedia. The other ways of accessing Dictionary (ctr + cmd + d, etc.) aren't as useful for me.
Huge appreciation to anyone who has any idea how to deal with this, even it means reinstalling dictionary.app (if that can be done selectively?). Thanks.
EDIT: MANY thanks to all those helped. I've just performed a complete reinstall. Now the drag-drop function is back. And now I have a total nightmare on my hands trying to restore all my old data. I guess this is what happens when one gets obsessive about some minor function.
I still don't know what caused it. I tried verifying everything to do with Dictionary.app through Pacifist. No luck.
grr
| 5 | [
{
"body": "EDIT: Thanks to those who've tried to help.\nI see there's an issue where many people think reddit apple shouldn't be used for asking for help. I can understand to the extent that you don't want people asking questions they could answer themselves, but I think the subreddit would be pretty useless if people didn't share tricky problems...and learn something in the process. (i.e. if you don't like the question, ignore it and move on to the next thing you like getting antsy about.) ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I know you said that Ctrl + Cmd + D wasn't as useful, but I'm just making sure you know that, after you hit that key combo while hovering over a word, you can click \"More…\" and it sends you right to the Dictionary app.\n\nEDIT: Crap, I'm on Snow Leopard; it may not be the same in Leopard. Sorry.",
"score": 3
}
] |
I hooked up with a friend, now they're avoiding me. What do I do? | We've been hanging out for a few months, and we have a similar circle of friends. But after hooking up, he now avoids me in group situations and online, and has definitely toned down his friendliness / affection. The thing is, I would be down to be f buddies or just remain friends. I don't want to date or anything though, because I'm interested in another guy that he knows about. We've never had that talk though, because he now avoids me. I'm not sure what to do. I miss his friendship more than anything. Advice? | 4 | [
{
"body": "I've been the guy in this situation.\n\nHe is avoiding you because in his mind, he doesn't want to lead you on. He is thinking you might want to pursue a serious relationship and his avoidance is his way of saying \"I don't want to be your boyfriend.\" He is feeling this way because he bedded you relatively quickly and is not emotionally invested in you. His fear is YOUR emotional investment in HIM, so he avoids you hoping you'll get the message.\n\nLet's call the avoiding friend Billy, and we'll call the guy you're interested in Jason.\n\nFrom now on, when you talk to Billy, it needs to be ALL about Jason. \"Hey Billy, do you know Jason's favorite band?\" \"Do you think Jason would like this shirt for his birthday?\" \"Do you think giving Jason a secret admirer note on Valentine's Day would be cute or creepy?\"\n\nThis will demonstrate that you are NOT emotionally invested in Billy because you are CLEARLY emotionally invested in Jason. If Billy acts aloof and says something like \"Why don't you ask Jason\", you just reply that you want Billy's opinion because he's a nice friend.\n\nDone. You won't scare Billy anymore because he won't see you as clingy or that you're expecting more from him than he's willing to give. If you want his respect back though, you can't sleep with him anymore unless he expresses a commitment to be your boyfriend.",
"score": 4
}
] |
Anyone still play Diablo 2 (LOD)? Just starting to get back into it. | So, I finally purchased the Lords of Destruction expansion pack (bit late, eh?), as I had stopped playing Diablo 2 shortly after its release and had never bought it.
I've been playing classic for the past couple weeks, and am wondering if anyone else on reddit is playing the expansion? It would be good to get a full server up and running to just play through the game for fun (rather than to just item farm, rush acts, or power level). | 7 | [
{
"body": "I thought about trying it out again to see how it's changed (I only played it when it first came out) and then realized the expansion is $20. That seems a lot to me considering Titan Quest, Sacred: Gold, and Torchlight have all been $5.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Question for the straight guys | Do you ever find yourself fapping at picts of dicks? I find the male form can be sensual and I admit to having tossed the odd one off here on gonewild. What about you other straight guys?
[follow up] Thanks everyone for your comments; insightful and funny as ever. In hindsight I think the real point of my question above was just how liberating GW can be. Especially for the some of us who don't, for whatever reason (in my case, probably the combination of lazy and shy), actively pursue alternative sexual interests. I won't ever actively go seeking out picks of nude guys because my interest isn't great enough. But there's so many of them on GW that you can't but help but trip over a few, and as I say I've learned to not just automatically pass them over. | 18 | [
{
"body": "Everyone is a little gay. It is just a matter of to what extent. You should check out the \"Kinsey Report\".",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "im somewhat bi, so i like wanking off to dicks, but people who think that watching something makes you some sort of sexual alignment are totally wrong. Does watching lesbian porn (as a male) make you a lesbian? no? why would watching gay porn make you gay?\n\n-Watching- is an appreciation of whats going on, not what you want/desire/like etc. \n\nSexual is a spectrum, its very large and very very far from black and white. Liking penis doesn't even necessarily make you gay/bi. Liking penis may be an appreciation. Equivalent to \"hey, nice hair\". Does that make you gay? ofcourse jacking of to it is a little different, but nevertheless does not equal gay/straight/bi in any way.\n\nJacking-off is all about YOURSELF and has nothing to do with anything you may be viewing. \n\nthen you can take a further step back and look at the situation as living vicariously through what your watching, or even a sort of self-worship of the penis. \n\ntype of porn = irrelevant. sexuality is determined but a fuck load more factors than what porn you watch. (my own personal opinion is that even who you sleep with does not determine sexuality - though it goes a long way to suggesting it...)",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I wouldnt jerk it to a pic of just a dick. And im not even straight. Theres something to be said about the sum of the parts.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Anyone else get super annoyed/irritated with overly happy people? | I don't know what it is...but people who have that little bounce in their step, are always laughing at lame jokes, smiling unnecessarily get on my nerves to the point where I consciously make an effort to piss them off. Is there something wrong with me...? :( | 53 | [
{
"body": "Only the \"fake\" happy people. Those passive-aggressive, teethy folks.\n\nThose that are just genuinely happy people are fun to be around.",
"score": 95
},
{
"body": "Hi OP! I'm the guy on the other side.\n\nI used to be a cheerful person with a bright disposition. I used to think that by being kind, considerate and friendly towards others, including strangers, I could do my bit towards making the world a better place.\n\nEventually I realised this made me a shit-magnet. If you're nice to others, they take it as a licence to be rude to you because you're soft. If you try to be fair, they label you as naive and try to cheat you. If you're happy, miserable people hate you and try to drag you down.\n\nMaybe you have a god-given right to put your shit onto others, I don't know. Nowadays I deal with people like you by walking around with a scowl on my face, regardless of my actual mood, and avoiding interactions with strangers and assholes.\n",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "I recently switched from being the only IT person in our happy, outgoing Retail department to being one of many cranky introverted geeks in the IT department.\n\nThank god.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Do you know what else is irritating? People who mistake bitterness and snark for wisdom and experience. People who think a minor inconvenience is a tragedy, and an excuse to be an asshole. People who lash out at those who don't stew in their misery, and then wonder why everybody avoids talking to them. People who think switching between rage and mope mode is acceptable behavior and then wonder why they're popping antidepressants like candy.\n\n\nI'll take an offensively cheery person over an offensively bitchy one anytime. There are already enough assholes in this world.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "**Dr. Cox:** *Lady, people aren't chocolates, do you know what they are mostly? Bastards...bastard coated bastards with bastard fillings, but I don't find them half as annoying as I find naive bubble headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine'...*\n\nI, too, hate those guys.\n\nEdit: Fixed spelling",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "There was once a dude I raided with who was obliviously happy regardless of anything, and he was inexperienced. He totally pissed me off. The guild we were both in failed, and he had become a pretty good player by the end. Later I went on to lead a guild, and denied his application because of my distaste for him. A week or three later we needed his class pretty badly, and I came to the conclusion that I was retarded (but yet didn't make amends), not only for disliking someone because they were obliviously happy, but for denying a player who most people would get along with and had skill. \n\nMy conclusion is that happy people are healthy people to have around, and even if you're annoyed or irritated with them, you shouldn't let that manifest as they could become useful. Sometimes they will even surprise you if you let them.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Eh, I'm okay with it. Some people are happy. I like being happy, so I don't mind. \n\nUnless it's your direct supervisor who uses a big grin, lame jokes, and flirtatious compliments as a mask for her backstabbing, do-anything-to-get-ahead ambition. Fucking bitch.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I like to tell these people about how they should feel bad because of all the sick shit that goes on in the world. I might tell them about genitalia mutilation, or people selling body parts for food, or maybe about the candiru that swims ups a mans urethra. It all evens out, while they go form \n\n:D -> :O -> :( \n\nI go from\n\n:|->:]\n\nAh, good times, good times.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I am one of them. The time people hate me the worst is when I am on call and I am cheerful at 1:00 AM after being woken up. Don't worry, I have my moments when users drive me crazy (I am in IT) but I try very hard not to let them see it. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think sometimes with their overly happy personality it just seems like they're trying too hard, and that's what puts me off about them. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I just find it distasteful when people pretend. I don't find you really need to try too hard to find a positive aspect to your existence and you can tell when people are more or less telling *themselves* they're happy (which can be construed as annoying) and who are genuinely happy (now if you're annoyed by this then fuck you I want to annoy you more). I don't mean to imply it's normative, just that since everything in this existence seems to be arbitrary anyway, you might as well look for a way for the glass is half full, you know? I get this feeling that it's uncool to be happy, or something. It's like there's this social pressure to \"suffer some hardship\" and smoke a cigarette and then to one-up each other about how miserable your lives all are. No, thanks.\n\nDownvoted because I think you're miserable and trying to justify your choice to not be happy by bringing the people down who have found their contentment. But I don't think anything is wrong with you... I LOVE YOU!! ♥♥♥♥♥ CARE BEAR STARE!! :D:D:D ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I used to be one, now I'm just incredibly bitter. I seek them out like a zombie to fresh brains, to bask in what I once had and pretend a bit. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I can't stand people who always want to talk to you. I am a quiet sort of person and I would love to be left alone. Its not that I don't like you, I just want to be by my self sometimes. \n\n*Whats wrong? Why are you so quite all the time, say something!* \n\nLeave me alone!! \n\nEDIT: Massive spelling error, thanks!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Happy people are fine. The ones that get me are the ones with unbridled optimism. The ones that sound like they are more trying to convince themselves that every day is the best day of their life.\n\nI consider myself a generally optimistic person, but I want to falcon punch those people in the gonads.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Asking the Experts of NetSec: details of S/MIME question. | Hello NetSec. Sorry for the length of this, but I thought this would be the place to get an answer. I think I know a fair amount about PKI, but I am puzzled by one thing concerning S/MIME email transmission. Here's the scenario, I believe this is correct:
* You send me a message
* Your MTA encrypts the message with a session key
* Your MTA creates a hash of the message as a digest
* Your MTA encrypts the hash, the session key and the encrypted message with your public key (x.509 cert)
* Your MTA Sends the message across the internet to my MTA
* My MTA verifies the authenticity of your public key using stored CAs
* Once verified The envelope is decrypted to retrieve the session key, hash and encrypted message
* The encrypted message is decrypted using the session key
* My MTA makes a hash of the message, if the hashes match, then data integrity is maintained
Step 5 is where I am a bit stumped. All the documentation I can find is too vague here. My confusion: If I trust a CA, then I am implicitly trusting any certificate that is signed by that CA, so there's no need for a prior key exchange. This is the power of PKI. If I don't trust the CA, but I previously trusted the certificate itself by manually telling the MTA that it's a trusted cert, then I would no longer have a need to check its reputation against the CA. With that being said, I have an MTA that needs both the CA and the certificate for a self-signed certificate. There is no security gain for needing both because if you send me a bad cert to import manually then I can just as easily manually import a bad CA from you. Is this extra step necessary in all MTAs or is the one I'm using mixed up a bit.
Thanks Redditors | 10 | [
{
"body": "First, the message is not encrypted using public key crypto, only the session key. That's because symmetric crypto is much faster than public key crypto. \n\nThe whole point of the hierarchical PKI is that you leverage trust in the CA (and it's certificate) to establish trust with the certificates that the CA has signed, so you don't have to do it manually. If everyone is using self-signed certs, then you don't get much benefit. Seems like you might be happier with the \"web of trust\" model of PGP/GPG. \n\nS/MIME is really designed for larger, more \"institutional\" deployments. The value of the CA is really in the procedures that it uses to vet users that it issues certs to. So, for example, a company might have a CA which issues certs to the employees, and if you receive a mail which is signed by a user which has a cert signed by the company CA, you can trust that it came from a company employee. Unless they have left the company, and the cert has been revoked. In that case you still need to check the company's (CA's) certificate revocation list (CRL) to make sure the cert is valid or use a realtime online certificate status protocol (OCSP) server to do the same. \n\nThere are other business applications of PKI such as non repudiation. If you get a signed purchase order from someone in a company, you could trust that it really came from them. And if they later found a cheaper supplier and pretended that they never sent it, you would have strong evidence. So there is more to it than just the security side. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Is the short version of your question, \"Why is a self-signed certificate better than an unsigned certificate?\"\n\nSelf-signed certificates are not really better than unsigned certificates, but a self-signed cert may trick a medicore X.509 implementation into thinking that a cert is \"complete\". Using one is probably a good idea because it will minimize potential incompatibility. Using a real cert from a recognized certificate authority is even better.\n\nI think you mean MUA, not MTA. (Haven't read the S/MIME specs and seen what their usage is. The signing and verification is done by the end-point user agents. These should be called MUAs, even if the S/MIME spec is old-fashioned and calls them mail transfer agents.)",
"score": 5
}
] |
My little indie games team will soon be releasing game 3 and I have a few questions if you guys don't mind... | G'day Reddit,
I'm one of 2 full time guys over at [2.0 Studios](http://2point0studios.com/), and we are about to release our 3rd game. I don't really want to say what it is before it is done, but I guess that makes up another question then doesnt it?
Currently we are just making games for xbox live indie games. Our first 2 games were somewhat less than stellar, but definitely not crap (*A space trading/upgrade game and an Arcade zombie shooter*). Our 3rd game is what we are really proud of, and is the culmination of around 5 months of hard work.
We really want to go back and scrub up/re-write our first 2 games to a higher quality (*since we started making them before we finished uni, and had little XP regarding any kind of game creation*) and release them on PC.
So these are my questions:
**#0)** Will the XNA framework we have chosen to use thus far, hold us back or disqualify us from certain retailers/competitions?
**#1)** Has anyone here had any experience with Steam, Direct2Drive, Impulse, etc...? And if so, what would be the process/limitations that these retailers would have? Or should I just man up and contact them?
**#2)** What are some good competitions to enter? We're gonna try XNA Dream build play again this year, but also want to enter a bunch more.
**#3)** What is generally expected of indie games? Lots of unique art like Braid, or simple but fresh gameplay mechanics like Gish or Plants vs. Zombies?
**#4)** Does lots of info about a game prior to release (blogs, vids of funny bugs, screenshots) apeal to and build up a potential crowd of gamers? Or should stuff be kept really quiet until release?
**#5)** Anyone know of any good books for little indie startups?
Of course I will do my own research, but the reddit community is very bright and diverse and might grant me that nugget of wisdom I would usually miss.
**Edit:** [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPowUp6uNd4&feature=player_embedded) is a vid of our game. No trailer yet, but this sums it up. It's called **Physics Lab** | 8 | [
{
"body": "> #0) Will the XNA framework we have chosen to use thus far, hold us back or disqualify us from certain retailers/competitions?\n\nNo, however, it will limit your options for porting to Mac, iPhone, Wii and PS3. XNA is fine for Xbox 360, PC and Zune only.\n\n> #1) Has anyone here had any experience with Steam, Direct2Drive, Impulse, etc...? And if so, what would be the process/limitations that these retailers would have? Or should I just man up and contact them?\n\nI sell [Cogs](http://www.cogsgame.com) on Steam and Direct2Drive (among others). These distributors are interested first in game quality. As long as your game meets their quality threshold and can be packaged for distribution on the PC, then you're in good shape. However, these guys also get A LOT of requests every day, so you'll almost certainly need some other media attention before you'll get a response from them. Put out a trailer and some screenshots, put together a nice webpage, put out a press release, and if possible, get a prerelease (even if it's just a small vertical slice) in the hands of some media/reviewers.\n\nEverything at Steam goes through Jason Holtman and the indie rep to get in touch with at Direct2Drive \nis Damon Marshall.\n\n> #2) What are some good competitions to enter? We're gonna try XNA Dream build play again this year, but also want to enter a bunch more.\n\n* IGF\n* TGS Sense of Wonder\n* IndieCade\n* Pax-10\n* Wired's Next Fest (Canceled this year)\n* ars electronica\n* ID magazine (design community)\n* SIGGRAPH\n* AIAS awards\n* The Experimental Gameplay Workshop at GDC\n* European Innovative Games Award (deadline September 25th)\n* Indie Game Challenge (deadline October 30th)\n* Europrix (only young companies and students in Europe)\n* GameStop Indie Game Challenge - http://www.indiegamechallenge.com/\n\n> #3) What is generally expected of indie games? Lots of unique art like Braid, or simple but fresh gameplay mechanics like Gish or Plants vs. Zombies?\n\nIf it's not unique, you'll have a hard time making a splash. The more you can do to differentiate yourself from what's out there, the better. The converse is that selling something REALLY new is hard because the audience doesn't necessarily have a basis for comparison. I've heard it said that a good indie game should have exactly one thing that's totally new, whether it be a gameplay mechanic, look or story.\n\n> #4) Does lots of info about a game prior to release (blogs, vids of funny bugs, screenshots) apeal to and build up a potential crowd of gamers? Or should stuff be kept really quiet until release?\n\nFrom everything that I've heard from indies, I've formulated a general rule of thumb that as long as you can show one new thing (trailer, screenshots, gameplay mechanic, etc.) every month from now until release, it's not too early to start building hype. For Cogs, we started this process too late and had to play catch-up.\n\n> #5) Anyone know of any good books for little indie startups?\n\nThe business models change so fast, I think blogs may be your best choice. I put together a [Cogs postmortem](http://www.lazy8studios.com/2009/cogs_postmortem) to try to at least make what I went through easier for the next guy.\n",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": ">#0) Will the XNA framework we have chosen to use thus far, hold us back or disqualify us from certain retailers/competitions?\n\nProbably not. The XNA Framework has been around long enough that most competitions will accept it. As for retailers, again, probably not an issue. You'll just have to require that the XNA Framework Redistributable is installed with your game. No different from requiring DirectX.\n\n>#2) What are some good competitions to enter? We're gonna try XNA Dream build play again this year, but also want to enter a bunch more.\n\nI've never entered a competition, but the PAX 10 and IGF are two of the biggest indie competitions. You should definitely enter both.\n\n>#3) What is generally expected of indie games? Lots of unique art like Braid, or simple but fresh gameplay mechanics like Gish or Plants vs. Zombies?\n\nIndie is all about being unique. The games press love it when you do something original. Big game developers are boring; they rehash old IP and are afraid to try something new. Indie developers have the freedom to do what they can't.\n\nThis is often accomplished by having a relatively new game concept (such as Braid), but sometimes it can be an old game concept, but executed extremely well (such as Castle Crashers). One thing to notice is that both of these games have a particular style that appeals to the audience. Braid has beautiful art and music. Castle Crashers has goofy animations and a comical presentation. Both of them have immense aesthetic appeal.\n\n>#4) Does lots of info about a game prior to release (blogs, vids of funny bugs, screenshots) apeal to and build up a potential crowd of gamers? Or should stuff be kept really quiet until release?\n\nTell people about your game, and tell them often. execmech said this well: \"People are inherently more comfortable with things they've heard of before.\" Get people excited about your game. Tell them early, and keep feeding them juicy bits frequently. Release new screenshots, or maybe a trailer every now and then. But don't blow it all out at once; keep the flow of information at a steady pace. The more people hear about your game, the more they will talk about it, and the more likely it is that people will try your game.\n\n>#5) Anyone know of any good books for little indie startups?\n\nYou could probably just search Amazon for some books, but I highly recommend [The Art of Game Design](http://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-book-lenses/dp/0123694965). It deals exclusively with game design, rather than running an indie startup, but it's an excellent read.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "\"I don't really want to say what it is before it is done, but I guess that makes up another question then doesnt it?\"\n\n^ ok there's the first red flag I see (also relates to #4). SPREAD THE WORD! People are inherently more comfortable with things they've heard of before. Do not be shy about sharing your game's details. Trust that nobody is trying to steal your game idea. They don't want it because they have their own.\n\nThink about it this way. Did you guys want to build YOUR own games, or did you read something about a game somebody else was working on and wanted to steal those ideas? Everybody has their own ideas and they want to build those.\n\nThe only case in which ideas get stolen is when there's an obvious success story (like Farm Town) and you get a stupid, relatively evil company (like Zynga with Farmville) that clone it to ride on its success. Your game isn't out yet so nobody's going to do that.\n\nSee http://blog.wolfire.com/ for more info along these lines. You may also find answers to your other questions there :) Best of luck!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "While I'm not an indie developer, I do review indie games as a part time job and can potentially offer some insight on #3 and #4.\n\n#3) While indie games do receive a lot of press focusing on innovative gameplay, this quality is a must for **any** game. It doesn't matter if you have multi-million dollar budget, I don't want to play yet another WWII FPS or Super Mario clone. Innovation is key for the entire gaming industry. Indie games are just noted more on that point because they allow developers to experiment with creative ideas without breaking the bank.\n\nAlso while a clear artistic vision is superb, that's not usually what makes a game great. You mention Braid being praised for its artwork, which it was, but it was the gameplay that clinched those rave reviews. The artwork provides a medium for the developer to frame his or her game, and in Braid's case, it was a perfect union between the two. So please, don't be artistic just to garner positive reviews. If you don't have the vision and gameplay to back it up, it'll come out looking pretentious and ultimately alienate a large chunk of potential gamers. \n\n#4) **Always provide info prior to your release.** I really can't stress that enough. Send some screen caps to various indie blogs, post in some XBL forums, and do whatever it takes to get the word out. Sure, if you release information early on in production, you risk having your concept stolen by evil companies. However I can't tell how frustrating it is as a critic when developers release review copies of their game the day it hits the market with no prior info on the title. If I know nothing about your title and there's no interest from the community to promptly review it, your game is instantly bumped down to the bottom of my review queue. Honestly developers and critics have an excellent symbiotic relationship; you provide us with material to write about and keep our fan base up, and we provide you free publicity. \n\nSo make nice with a few writers on a couple of indie gaming blogs. It'll pay off, especially when you release further titles because you'll already have outlets to showcase your work. The absolute worst thing you can do is just sit on your hands and assume word of mouth will be enough.",
"score": 3
}
] |
What gaming console had your favorite game of all time? What was it? | My favorite was the Nintendo 64 and the game was Majora's Mask (played it before Ocarina of time). Closely followed by mario 64. | 11 | [
{
"body": "For me, it would be [Super Mario World](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_World) followed very closely by [Chrono Trigger](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronotrigger). Both for the SNES.\n\nEDIT: It was hard for me to narrow it down to the two I picked, so I will also give an honourable mention to [Kirby Super Star](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_superstar). Also for the SNES.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "My favorite was Orcarina of Time on the N64. I can't imagine any game ever replacing it as my #1, mostly because I played it in my youth and it is just oozing with nostalgia goodness.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Goldeneye on the N64. It was essentially all I played for one year straight.\n\nOcarina of Time and Perfect Dark are close seconds and the reason I adore the console as a whole.",
"score": 5
}
] |
DAE type a word of which they're unsure about the spelling and then type something like "asdfas" to see if a red squiggly line shows up on a misspelled word? | This is especially a problem because my home applications (Firefox and Pidgin) are set up to spell check but my work applications (IE and Messenger) aren't. Even then, the spell check on FF or Pidgin will stop working occasionally - so I end up doing it all the time.
Anyone else? | 67 | [
{
"body": "Not really... I usually Google the word. If Google doesn't correct me, it must be right. \n\nThe most annoying thing to ever happen in my spell check world was when Firefox switched to the Queen's English. \n\nIT'S NOT COLOUR!!!!",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Yes, supplementary questions not worth their own thread.\nAnyone consistently misspell the same words despite having looked up the spelling numerous times? Mine are tomorrow, vehicle and bureaucracy. \n\nAlso anyone ever been writing with pen and paper, wondered if a word is spelled right and found themselves thinking for a fraction of a second; 'well it must be because there's no red squiggly line' ",
"score": 3
}
] |
So, I'm watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids right now and I have a science question. | So the kids get shrunk right... (spoiler!) and there's a part where the daughter checks her watch, presumably to emphasize that it's getting late. I'm assuming that a shrunken watch would count time differently but I can't get my head around why exactly that might be. Am I right about this or not? Any relatively simple explanation why? | 3 | [
{
"body": "Similar question: If their shrunk bodies are exactly proportional to their normal bodies, do they keep the same number of atoms? If so, have their atoms shrunk as well, or are they just closer together? If they are closer together, does that make their bodies more dense? If so, surely it would be harder for them to move around, right?\n\nAnd if their atoms didn't shrink, then they must have lost some during the shrinkage. In which case, when they become full-sized again, did they get those atoms back? Or are they forever missing, and their original bodies no longer exist?",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "As long as all of the components of the watch shrank in perfect proportion, it would still continue to keep time exactly as it would larger. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "if all watch components receive the exact same level of shrinkage, then all gear ratios will remain in tact, regardless of their size...it's the fact that the transformation affects the components globally that makes this happen.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Wrong, bonzo. If the watch has an old-fashioned balance wheel, it will keep time faster because the distance the wheel rotates is propertional to the shrink size, but the weight it proportional to the shrink size cubed.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Why do I even both trying to contribute to Reddit, when *none* of my posts show up on the NEW page of the site? | I don't really care if my submissions get downvoted (serves me right for posting crap, right?) But I do care that my submissions are not even showing up on the "NEW" page of the appropriate reddit. Almost all of my posts are only visible to myself, I believe.
So, I guess I give up.
Does anyone else have this problem? Does anyone at Reddit care? | 6 | [
{
"body": "[Apparently the folks at Reddit do care.](http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/anbbt/as_a_matter_of_fact_we_feel_the_same_way_all_the/)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I only see one post from 27 days ago that was accidentally nabbed by the spam filter. Did you delete your other posts? Also, do you message the moderator of the community you are submitting to when you think it has been banned?",
"score": 3
}
] |
Anyone else found the L4D2 "Versus" online community to consist mainly out of tards? | Not sure if I just had a bad day, but trying out the "versus" mode for L4D2 (I've been playing plenty of the standard campaign before and never really experienced anything comparable), I found exclusively servers filled with idiots, griefers and trolls. It's not like I could ever "choose" a server, since all I have is the vague lobby that often enough sends me on a 250 ping server full of other people with 250 pings. But that's not really the issue.
I get this "Counter-Strike" vibe, where it is so ridiculously easy to mess things up for your team, that anyone with the least bit of experience gets a superiority complex against all "lesser" players and starts spamming insults until you either leave out of frustration or get bullied off by votekicks.
You know, I'm new to this. The game fuckin came out 2 months ago. I got it in the Steam sale. So occasionally, my charger gets stuck on some invisible bit of wall and I waste a life. I can't see shit because everything is glowing and blinking with a million shader effects and I'm just happy to find a halfway good place to spawn and immediately get accused of not being a team player for not participating in some glorious strategy that nobody bothers to explain.
Again, I never choose a server. There are no "noob" servers. I have to start somewhere. It's fun with some decent people or if friends are online, but public servers are horrible. I seriously haven't felt that negative about a FPS online community in a long time. TF2, for example, never had that. Hell, even L4D2 doesn't have that in the normal campaigns. If someone sucks, you swallow your pride and drag him along like a baby. I really like the gameplay and wanna get better, but joining a random game is like entering a douche parade.
Well, if I ever get good enough to enjoy this, I'll try not to be a hater towards newbies. Maybe you want to join me.
PS: I just realized, Valve could fix this by automatically grouping players by experience (through achievements, stats, etc). The lobby system already forces you onto specific servers without your control, so why not go all the way and balance this more? | 29 | [
{
"body": "Welcome to last year , this is how I felt when getting in on the first L4D versus. \n\nI can imagine how bad it is now.",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "some servers are better than others. you really need to just be ok with leaving and joining a new game as soon as you hear your teammates yelling at each other. fuck that noise.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "Making a Reddit steam group for L4D2 might be a good idea. You can also try playing with your friends.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "To come at it from the other angle:\n\nIf you are not a great player, the hatred and vitriol that can be fired in your direction is nothing short of horrific. I have spent so many hours playing L4D 1 and 2 and enjoyed myself immensely. Versus mode has not been part of this. Why? Because the second you put a foot out of place, you get voted off. One prick says you aren't doing it right, initiates the vote and the entire server votes you off without any discussion of any kind. It's the worst kind of on-line behaviour.\n\nHowever. The co-op games that I have been involved with have shown me the best of the on-line community. Once you play a Realism game on Expert with some good players then you'll understand. When you see your team mates looking around to make sure you are ok, you know things are going to go well. The joy of seeing your team mate's flash light coming back for you when you are on the ground having been taken by a smoker is a great feeling. Camaraderie like that is hard to find these days. Battling the horde to get your mate back on his feet and fighting to the safe room together is a joy! \n\nSo, two complete poles of gaming in a single game. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Everytime I'm in a game with nice players, afterwards I add them to my friends-list, and most add me back. \r\n\r\nLater, When I see a spot open in a Versus-game with one of these \"friends\", it's usually a good game. And I often get invites to their friends-only lobbies.\r\n\r\nI am a medium-good player.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "You can choose your servers by typing 'openserverbrowser' in the console. It allows you to choose a server with suitable ping and you can even add it to favorites, making sure never to lose it again :)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Dang. I just came here to make a similar post. I just (5 minutes ago actually) came out of a versus game where 1 survivor kept running for the safehouse leaving behind his teammates. He never really made it to the safehouse but got pretty far.\n\nAnyway, I told him that he was ruining the game for his teammates and for the infected team and that he's completely missing the point of the game (co-op teamplay).\n\nHe responded by calling me a n*gger,f*ggot,assh*le,etc several times and that I should just rage-quit.\n\nI stayed to the end of the game and just ignored him but this went on for quite a while.\n\nIsn't there some way to report these things to Valve? I saw the guy's steam ID page and he has a picture of himself there. \nAs I expected, he's just a kid.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I play Killing Floor and noticed the mid day crowd was much worse than the weekend, weeknight crowd. It took two months before I ran into someone that acted like a fucktard from counterstrike. Worth looking into. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "ok, whenever me and my friends play, 3 things happen with the other team\n\n1. we drill them into the hole so badly that they will rage after the first map.\n\n2. we get our asses handed to us and they stay\n\n3. most rage except for the one either very good or 'so hopeless he doesnt even realize it' bad and new players come in to fill the slots, only to get mad when they see that their team is behind by a mere 200 points.\n\nwhen #3 happens, you can go through 3-5 entire teams depending on how good you are and what campaign it is (4 maps or 5 maps).\n\nOn a side note: what do you guys think about having all 8 survivors meeting up? if they do it as well as they have with the 'meet the- ' videos then i will be happy. i will be even more happy if they do a 'reservoir dogs' type of stand off... without the shooting of course... well... yeah the shooting can stay. x3 ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Here in Australia I always come across groups of Chinese L4D2 players on Australian servers who will kick any locals because they declare it is a friends game only (why not do this in the lobby?). This is especially annoying as it gets you a temp. ban on groups of servers.\n\nOtherwise, the community in Australia is not as big as I would like it but for the most part it is great.",
"score": 3
}
] |
How to get green onions for free | Well, you have to buy them at first, but after that...chop them down to where you leave about 1/4" of green above the white part. Put the onion, bulb side down, into a glass of water. You only have to have the bottom inch or two submerged. Change out the water every couple of days and the rest of the onion will grow back.
Do this with about 6 onions or so and after a couple of weeks you'll always have green onions when you need them, unless you use them very frequently.
I'd heard about this and decided to test it first. I put it in water 3 days ago and now there are little roots growing out, and a bit of the green has grown back, so it seems to work!
Edit: many people know them as scallions. Same thing. Just in case there's any confusion. | 78 | [
{
"body": "This is kinda like this method of getting free veggies of all sorts I head about once. It is called gardening or something like that. But I'm not sure how it works. ",
"score": 167
},
{
"body": "Pro Tip: Nutrients in, nutrients out. In other words, you get what you put in. Gardening isn't magic; to get healthy vegetables you have to grow them in a healthy medium. Sorry.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "i just watched some dude on PBS tell me how i can turn a single shrub plant into a backyard full of hedge using kitty litter and some magic root powder. i shit you not. i was amazed... O_o",
"score": 3
}
] |
DAE ever feel sad when the bad guy loses? :) | I do. There's usually a back story and I feel sad that they get killed or put in jail when it's nothing a little counselling and love couldn't fix.
Plus, bad guys are way sexy :) | 5 | [
{
"body": "Cheetah chases innocent, baby gazelle. Baby gazelle runs for its dear life. Run gazelle, run! Yes! He escapes! Cheetah gives up. Cheetah then returns with no food to her.... cute, baby cheetahs. *Sigh*.",
"score": 3
}
] |
So, I just got done watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids and have a question. | Remember the little cartoon shorts that for a while, Disney put before their live action movies in the '90s? I thought I remembered that HISTK was one of those movies but the DVD had nothing. Anyone know which movies came with these? | 7 | [
{
"body": "It would appear that you are partly right. The cartoons were spin-offs from *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* rather than part of the film they played with, so that's probably why they don't appear on the DVD. According to [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit#Legacy) (which we all know is always 100% reliable) *Honey I Shrunk the Kids* was preceded by a short called [*Tummy Trouble*](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLDtYsxtwXU) \nDoes that look familiar?",
"score": 6
}
] |
My ex ask me about my status, implying that knowing that I have sex with another girl would help her to move on. | Dear redditors, sorry for my broken english.
I am 29yo, she is 24.
I apologize if my words are not well chosen, of if I look (am) an asshole, I am trying to be sincere to get appropriate advice... so yeah I might definitly be an asshole.
Have been dating this really nice girl for 4 years... and we broke up 9 month ago.
When I met her (4 years + 9 month ago), I was looking for a one night stand, turned out that she was an unexperienced virgin but a really interesting girl with a lot of qualities (smart, nice, funny).
We ended up living together really fast and enjoying it.
I am not sure that I ever was in love with her (and reciprocatly), but she turned to be the individual that brought me more than anyone else in my life (being with her made me stronger, more happy and overall better).
I know that I will never met a better mother for my childs (she would really be wonderful as a mother).
Sex was really bad, I prob did not put enough effort into changing that (she was unexperienced and I could prob have helped thing but did not for some unknown reason).
During our last year together I was a bit depressed and obsessed by something outside our relationship, we ended up gaining more weight (15kg + each) and I did not felt attracted to her anymore (bad sex turned into no sex).
Tried to deal with the weight problem, but it did not look like a solvable issue at this time (she is not into sport at ALL and does not seem able to handle this matter).
=> Relationship slowly turned into a 100% asexual one, and it killed it.
We broke up, we are now living few thousand km away from each other, still keeping contact. She kinda suggested few times to get back together, I declined without being too harsh but apparently I did not kill any hope.
ATM I dont feel like I want to go back with her:
-She is still overweight and I hate it.
-I want to fuck more girls to satisfy my ego.
-I think that her meeting other guys would definitely be better for her next "serious relationship" (I HATE the idea of her with another man, but I am convinced that having "more" experience with guys would make her next serious relationship much more likely to be successful weither it was with me or not).
-I dont want any of us to get back with the other "by default".
-I dont feel like getting committed for next 2 or 3 years.
But still am pissed by the fact that I might be missing the best mother my child could ever had... and that I might have been able to solve our issues (sex and weight) if I had put enough time/effort in it.
Problem: 3 days ago we talked, and she asked me if I had sex with another girl (I did not despite trying), and she implied that knowing that I had sex with another girl would help her to move on...
I REALLY hate the idea of her "moving on" and replacing me, but I feel that its unfair to keep her hoping about a common futur when I am not ready to offer one at the moment.
Reddit, please tell me what I should do/say or how to look at this situation. | 11 | [
{
"body": "If you were with her for four years and weren't sure that you were ever in love with her then you probably don't and she probably isn't the right one for you. If you don't love her then she's not the best woman to raise your children.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "If you really love her, and want her to be happy, make a decision. Either let her go and find someone else, or reconnect and commit to her fully. Anything in between is not fair to her, and it really isn't fair to you either.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "You're wanting two completely different things. You have to make this decision on your own. You want to go around and fuck all the women you can or you want to grow up and start a family with the girl that would make \"the perfect mother.\" \n\nYou to make a relationship work through communication. You have to be subtle, but honest. She seems more than reasonable, bring the issues up with her. \n\nThe choice is all yours.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "There are other wonderful mothers out there, I promise. Give it time and you'll start seeing wonderful mother qualities in other women. A wonderful mother who is not right for their wonderful father is not the mother your future children out there need.\n\nDon't tell her what you are doing (or not doing) with other women. She only thinks that will make her feel better.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Hey Reddit, I'm going to be moving into my first apartment soon. Any advice for someone learning to live on their own? | I'm really excited to move out and get a life of my own going. What tips do you have to make the transition smoother? Thanks! | 74 | [
{
"body": "-Pay your bills on time, every time\r\n\r\n-Don't rent furniture\r\n\r\n-Don't talk about Fight Club\r\n\r\n-Don't start petty wars with the neighbors\r\n\r\n-Learn to love Ramen\r\n\r\n-Don't be a pushover to your landlords, know your rights\r\n\r\n-Buy a plunger (someday it will save you)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n",
"score": 106
},
{
"body": "Don't buy cheap pots and pans. It's better to have one really fucking awesome skillet than a set of bullshit that you're going to have to replace.\n\nThis goes for almost everything, in fact.",
"score": 76
},
{
"body": "Don't poop on the floors and then smear it all over the walls.\r\n\r\nDon't chop up strangers and put them in a trash can full of formaldehyde and try to store them in your apartment.\r\n\r\nDon't cut an escape hatch into the the floor....or ceiling.\r\n\r\nMaximum number of cats is 1 per bedroom. 150 cats is too many. The same goes for dogs and snakes. \r\n\r\nDon't go next door and borrow sugar...that means you want sex.\r\n\r\n",
"score": 55
},
{
"body": "1. Videotape the whole apartment from top to bottom before you move in. Most landlords are great. Some bite balls.\n\n2. If a landlord does not fix something before you move in, they will never fix it without constantly being on their ass.\n\n3. If an apartment is in poor, or a condition of disrepair, expect your landlord to service you accordingly.\n\n4. Treat your credit cards like your bank account. Never spend more money than you have on hand to pay for it.\n\n5. Start saving for an emergency fund. Car broke down? You had better have saved for the repairs ahead of time. Emergency flight for a funeral? You had better have saved money ahead of time for that. Laid of work? You had better have saved at least 3-6 months living expenses to ride out your unemployment. \n\n6. You know you have yearly expenses. Save head for them like car insurance every 6 months, or Christmas gifts once a year, or vacation. You know these expenses are coming, simply deduct that amount from your pay check & put it into savings so that when the time comes to pay it, you are ready.\n\n7. Here are the basics on money management. Start reading them over & applying them over time. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/money101/",
"score": 43
},
{
"body": "Respect your neighbors. Don't have loud conversations in the hallways, don't slam your door, don't blast the stereo or TV. \n\nMost buildings have \"quiet hours\" but you should still be respectful the rest of the time.\n\nAlso, have plenty of toilet paper.",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "Make sure you have a shower curtain among your possessions when you move in. Nothing like having to go shopping before you can take a shower your first day in your own place.",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "Don't buy the same amount of food your parents did for the family. I came from a large family and it took me MONTHS to train myself not to buy excessive amounts of groceries. I kept reducing each time, but it just took forever to find the right ratio.\n\nedit: also, take the time to buy some basic non-perishables. Some tinned food, peanut butter, jam, condiments, etc etc. Buy some bread, eggs and milk, maybe some froze dinners (or whatever other easy things) the day before and bring it all over in a cooler. That will tide you over until you do proper grocery shopping.\n\nDon't forget some toiletries too.",
"score": 30
},
{
"body": "always clean your toilet (no shit stains)! you never know when a cute girl will come over unexpected to borrow a cup of sugar. (always have sugar)",
"score": 29
},
{
"body": "Buy perishable stuff like milk in SMALL quantities, because it'll go bad before you can drink it.\n\n\nYou might immediately encounter a pest problem upon moving into a new place. Boric acid is an excellent long term solution to roaches, but can take a couple days to start killing...",
"score": 23
},
{
"body": "An egg in those ramen noodles will give you protein and adding some canned veggies will help as well.",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "1. Don't. have. f'ing. credit. cards.\n2. Don't rent anything except movies or a carpet cleaner\n3. YNAB...look it up\n4. If you have an IKEA..go..its awesome\n5. Totally agree with not putting up with people who don't respect the ground rules for your place.",
"score": 20
},
{
"body": "Invest in a guitar amp with distortion and buy a Les Paul. Then when your asshole neighbors above you are nailing their weekly whore and playing Nelly albums really loud you can retaliate. This got me through college. True story.",
"score": 20
},
{
"body": "Try not to accumulate too much stuff unless you have very long term plans to stay at this apartment.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "Spend a few bucks on eBay to pick up a set of stickers for a Brinks type of home alarm system. \n\nDon't accidentally move into a complex that accepts Section 8. I'd never heard of it when I got my first place, but I was pretty pissed off when I discovered I had unemployed crackhead neighbors who got subsidized rent. Especially when my girlfriend and I got evicted on Valentine's day for being full time students, which was apparently a violation of our lease. I'm not making this up. \n\nLearn to cook. It's quite easy. If you like meat, get a grill. For nearly the cost of a shitty fast food combo meal you can grill a decent steak at home. ",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "Buy those folding tables you use to eat dinner in front of your TV. They are amazing and you will use them for EVERYTHING. ",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "Buying cheap stuff has a lot going for it. I know a lot of people say you should buy the $140 non-stick frying pan because it will last for years, etc, but a lot of cheap stuff is just as good.\n\nWhen I had my first place everything was from the cheapest sources ever. Cheap cups, cheap plates, knives, EVERYTHING. The silver chopping knife that cost $6 in 2003 still still going strong today.\n\nFor bills - make small payments on a regular basis. If the electricity is $210 every three months then pay $70 a month ahead of the bill. You can't spend money you don't have so paying off bills a bit early is a good way to ensure you don't get caught.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "Make sure to clean the place thoroughly atleast once a week. If you have roommates, make sure you're not the only one doing this. Make a chore chart if you have to, and make sure it gets DONE or else you should move out.\n\nDon't become one of those party apartments where the door is always open and people are always coming by to drink/get high. If you enjoy doing those things, go to someone elses apartment. Trust me, you do NOT want to live in that kind of environment. \n\nKeep your fridge stocked with necessities, set a grocery budget, and make a list before you go shopping. It helps a lot. If you're rich then you can probably skip this one and just buy whatever the hell you want. \n\nPay your bills on time, especially rent, and especially if they are in your name.\n\nInvest in a nice entertainment center, a couch, a kitchen table, and a bed. You don't have to get them all at once but don't piss your money away on stupid shit. Save for these things, they make every place feel like a real home. \n\nRespect your neighbors. This kinda goes back to the beginning about not being the party house. Don't play super loud music and don't stomp on the floors (especially if you live on like the 3rd floor). \n\nDON'T GET A CREDIT CARD unless you can seriously afford to. This is a mistake I see so many people do. Debt is not something you want to be in when you first get into the 'real world'.\n\nHave fun.\nEat ice cream for breakfast if you feel like it.\nAnd welcome to adulthood!",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Go to Goodwill and buy crap stuff there. All your kitchen stuff is available for nothing. Put the extra money in a IRA immediately. You're going to forget to clean it for weeks on end and will just end up throwing the s*#t off the balcony anyways. (You're laughing now, just wait.)\n\n Learn to live like a pauper and put your money away. You'll retire in 15-20 years! \n \nYou are going to move a lot! Buy the folding shelves. Do NOT buy big heavy furniture. One mattress, a couple beanbag chairs and a rug is all you need. Tell everyone you decorated Japanese style. \n \nOh yeah. Enjoy your castle.\n",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "DON'T hang yourself. As an apartment complex owner it is very hard to rent out an apartment that someone died in.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Are you moving to a new town?? This makes all the difference. I moved from a small town in Maine to New Orleans for college, and eventually into an apartment with my boyfriend. The most important things I have learned are how to keep myself busy/entertained when no one is around. Get to know all your local venues for music/comedy/theatre/booze-ahol, and find excuses for having people over (football games have been working great for me lately).\n\noh, and: shop salvation army and yardsales\n\n",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Don't think that just because you don't hear your neighbors it's because the walls are really soundproofed. The walls are thinner than you think. The only reason you don't hear them is because they're waiting for you to go first. \n\nMost apartments you're able to hear *that* people are talking, if it's quiet in your apartment and they're talking with their 'outside voice', but not hear what they are talking about. I lived in one place where I discovered I could hear quite clearly what the girl next door was saying when she was talking on the telephone. It really kinda creeped me out.\n\nIf you're at all concerned with your privacy, I'm giving you the heads up. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Don't be afraid to call your mom. Seriously. i mean be your own dude... but moms don't get to be moms unless they know how to fix everything just right. \n\nI'm 26, a veteran, and have my own apartment in Manhattan. At least once a month I call my mom to find out things like just how strict the use by date on eggs are, or how to replace the towel rod I broke when I leaned on it. \n\nOh, also eggs last for fucking ever. Buy eggs. You'll be hungry and they'll be there to save you.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Rice cooker is a wonderful save for home cooking. Not only can it do rice, it can do rice meals (Like curry), and you can usually steam veggies too. \n\nOh. And grocery shopping on your own loses it's novelty really fast. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Expect to make a shit-ton of mistakes early on. Basically, screw up as much as you can in a fairly short timeframe; this works as long as your parents are there to lend a hand. It's expected that you'll make a mess of things at least a few times, and they're are probably willing to help you out. The best way to learn how to live on your own is to learn how not to.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Realize that living downstairs below someone else is like living inside of a giant drum, especially if they have small children. Everything they do is going to be amplified and annoying to you.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Stay as organized as possible, get the things you wouldn't realize you'd need at first... things like an in-drawer organizer for utensils, a paper-towel holder, ALL utensils (wine openers, can openers, scissors, bottle openers, whisks, etc). Be sure to have more toilet paper than you need (this goes for paper towers as well). \n\nMost importantly, wash your dishes as soon as you are done with them otherwise you wont.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "* Although the stove is quite warm, don't use it as a source of heat.\n\n* If the apartment has baseboard heaters, use them very sparingly. They cost a fortune.\n(can you tell I'm cold right now?)\n\n* Try to avoid eating just *want you want* and not a *meal*. Make time for a good meal. It's almost as comforting as eating back at home.\n\n* Don't let the laundry pile up.\n\n* The living room and/or bedroom may be cluttered, but PLEASE keep the bathroom clean. It's an instant turn-off for visitors.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Depending on how much you need the damage deposit back and how honest your landlord is, take proper film pictures of the place and any damages that exist before you move anything in. Then mail these (or maybe one set of copies, so you have another one as reference) to yourself via certified mail and do not open the letter. I'm sure you will also do a walk-in inspection, but it's better to be safe by having evidence of this stuff yourself. I live in a town where the landlords damn near never give back the damage deposits and often sue in small claims for damages that weren't legitimate. \n\nKeep the place clean. Pick up DAILY. You never know who might stop by. Don't worry though, you'll forget about this one soon enough. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "this one saved me: when moving in, get the apartment complex's email address--when i have repairs i need done (major ones like leaking ceilings, etc... minor repairs will likely be up to you) i email the apartment instead of going to maintenance. the reason? the email is forwarded to my apartment complex's corporate office, which checks up on repairs. i've lived in my first apartment for the last 2 years, and this has saved me WEEKS of living with a maintenance problems",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Laundry is the bane of my existence. I would do anything to have my own washer and dryer, and to not have to haul my laundry elsewhere to use a public facility. Your life will be so much easier if you get a place with your own washer and dryer. If you don't have your own though and you have to go to a laundromat, my suggestion is to go to the bank first and take out plenty rolls of coins and ONLY use them for laundry. There is nothing worse than desperately having to do laundry and having no change for the machines.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "* Keep social (it's who you know)\n* Don't skimp on a decent rented house and look after it\n* Learn enough food combinations to give you at least a weeks worth variety\n* I Stress to invest in a good bed and good shoes if you're not in one you're in the other.\n* Bandwagon's are bad, your orginality goes a long way to making you self reliant and people will respect you.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Get a cat. If you get a place that is haunted, you can blame all the shit on the cat and not go crazy.\n\nDon't always buy cheap shit, but try to score free stuff whenever possible.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "[I'm just going to leave this here.](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/aj3zs/whats_the_laziest_thing_youve_ever_done/c0hu35c)\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Photograph and/or document the condition of every square inch of the place as soon as you are able to. You will need it when the landlord tries to blame you for any damage when you move out. ",
"score": 3
}
] |
IAE irritated that The History Channel now spends more time on prophecy or end times than with actual history? | It seems as though every time I turn it on, it's something in that general category. Is this a daily part of the programming, now? Are end times sexier than history? Will they eventually change to *The Wild Speculation Channel?* | 69 | [
{
"body": "I like Modern Marvels. You would never think a one hour show about shovels would be interesting, but it sure is.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Frankly, if you like history, get yourself a subscription to HBO, a lot of their shows will give you a far better an actually more historically accurate look at the history of the topic than any so - called \"Documentaries\" on the History channel, which is mostly just drivel. (Or buy the DVD box sets of the shows, examples: Rome, Deadwood).\n\nI'm a person with a professional degree in history and I'm being serious by the way, the history channel is generally looked down on by most of us (at least that I've met).",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Too many of their shows belong on Discovery. I just saw a preview for a new Nascar-based show. Wtf...",
"score": 3
}
] |
What will happen when Natural resources become rare? | I was thinking today that some natural resources are non renewable and thus limited, something we all know. But then i got to thinking that the demand on these resources is based on the world population. Big population few resources, small population more resources.
So I was thinking and I ask, when will the rich people kill off the majority of the worlds population to save themselves and secure their own futures?. Certainly at some point such a decision will need to be made, but when. | 4 | [
{
"body": "There's no good reason for us to run out of anything. Much can be recycled endlessly, and other items can be replaced via use of different technologies if we ever did run out. Most claims of long term shortages in the world are bogus, and only used to convince us that prices have to continually go up.\n\n\n[There are NO absolute shortages of living space, materials, or energy: the foundation commodities which ultimately determine the costs of everything else](http://www.jmooneyham.com/artificial-scarcity-institutionalized-poverty-in-america-2.html)\n\n\n[CITATIONS](http://www.jmooneyham.com/artificial-scarcity-institutionalized-poverty-in-america-2-reference.html)",
"score": 4
}
] |
I am an American. However, I don't relate with the culture. Moving here has been the most radical experience of my life. AMA. | I was born in Puerto Rico and lived there until I was about 5 years old. My dad finished college and joined the Air Force as an officer. After a short 2-3 months in Texas we were off to England where I lived in Mildenhall for a short while. My parents wanted to immerse me in British culture, and so, sent me to live with a relative in Liverpool for 4 years ( I went to public school).
This is where I developed my English accent, as I only knew Spanish prior to the move.
Again, my father moved us to Misawa, Japan (but I lived in Hachinohe). I lived there for 8 years (best place I have lived in I think) and then we moved closer to Tokyo where I went to an international school for a little while.
Not too long ago, my father told us we would be moving to the states. And here we are, in the mid west, getting ready for college in the fall.
Some interesting things:
* I am a Texas resident although I only lived there for 3 months and live in a different state now. As long as I'm careful, it will stay that way for better college choices (this state is sort of lame).
* I am surprised by the diversity of Americans, I am not used to it.
Size is also surprising. Americans are bigger, height and build, I was very intimated when I arrived in JFK for the first time in over 13 years.
* I don't understand American's fascination with living in different countries. American citizenship might be the most highly sought after thing in the world.
That's all I can think about now. Oh, and Florida is very nice, although I like California a little better.
(and I have lost some of my accent, but it is noticeable to my friends here). One more thing, TV blows my mind! Basic cable, 85 English channels (we only had 1 in Japan: AFN)? Last thing, I am getting introduced to a lot of fast foods, good shit: Arby's, Perkins, Hot Potato, In 'n Out... the list goes on.
Alright I just typed that last paragraph as it came to mind. AMA!
| 8 | [
{
"body": "Watch out for those fast foods...You may end up like the rest of us, bigger!\r\n\r\n85 channels and nothing good on TV!\r\n\r\nTry to keep your accent! It's a chick magnet!",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "As a scouser our accent is far from \"English\".\n\nThis is AMA so which public school in Liverpool did you attend?",
"score": 7
}
] |
Benefits of a Masters degree in Graphic Design? Insights please! | **I am applying to the following 5 graduate schools:**
- [Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)](http://www.risd.edu/graduate_graphic.cfm)
- [Pratt Institute](http://www.pratt.edu/academics/art_design/art_grad/grad_communications_design/)
- [California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)](http://calarts.edu/art/programs/graphicdesign/mfagraphicdesignprogram)
- [Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)](http://www.vcu.edu/arts/areas_of_study/graduate_programs.html#)
- [North Carolina State University (NCSU)](http://ncsudesign.org/content/index.cfm/mode/1/fuseaction/page/filename/master_graphicdesign.html)
I will be graduating this May with a Bachelors degree in Graphic Design. I am undecided whether I want to pursue a Masters Degree or find a full-time job in the field. Please help me figure out the best path to go down.
**Should I start my career with a Bachelors degree or go to Graduate school?**
1. I hear that a Masters degree is really only useful for a teaching position. I do not have any plans of teaching in the future, but it may be a good option to have if I ever feel the need for a career change.
2. My thinking is that a Masters degree will make me more applicable to jobs that will advance my career faster, as well as help me get a higher paying job. I really want to start my own design firm, or work in an existing agency. I enjoy doing web design, but ultimately want to land a position as either a Creative Director or principle owner of my own firm. Will a masters degree help me get there faster?
3. What career possibilities will a masters degree open for me, other than teaching?
4. I also hear that a bachelors degree will be equivalent to a high school diploma in a number of years. Is there any truth in this? Will a masters degree be more valid for longevity in the field?
5. Is a Masters degree really worth all the extra debt? Will I see it pay off in the future?
I hope someone can shed light on the benefits of a Masters degree in Graphic Design. I don't want to indebt myself even further if I wont see any benefits, other than more knowledge and thesis work.
Please share your thoughts.
My portfolio can be found here > [phillapier.com](http://phillapier.com) | 5 | [
{
"body": "Time to join the real world and get working. You are not going to learn any business in school. Work a few years and then decide, you will be capable of getting more out of graduate school with some experience. Plus, in this economy, I would not go one cent in debt for an education.",
"score": 5
}
] |
Is Anyone Else Childfree By Choice? | A lot of childfree people always say "Oh, I love kids, but...blah blah blah."
No. Kids suck, I want no part of it. No B.S. from me, I don't want kids because I don't like them. | 19 | [
{
"body": "Ditto. I don't like children, I have no desire to be a mother... There are other things I want to do with my life. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "You know how much shit you have to put out with when you're a woman and tell someone that you seriously don't want kids? If a man is 50 and doesn't have kids then it seems to be fine but when a woman is 50 and doesn't have kids it's suddenly a big deal. Who cares? If I don't want a horse and not interested in horses and don't know how to take care of a horse, then I just don't get a horse! I watch a lot of 30+ women with kids that I know on Facebook and it seem like their kids are just a burden to them. I don't wanna get pregnant, don't wanna squeeze out this little critter in total agony and then spend the rest of my life taking care of another person! I wanna be free and do whatever the hell I want forever. It's my life dammit.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "ppl always ask me if i feel selfish for not wanting them. I think it would be more selfish to have a kid and really want one... Being an accident sucks.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "The thing that bugs me the MOST is that look of utter shock and disbelief on people's faces when I tell them I don't want kids. It's like they think there's something wrong with me. I've been told it's \"unnatural\" to not want kids. I've even been asked \"Why? Were you abused as a child?\" The nerve of some people!!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "i can barely afford to take care of myself...that's why a box of condoms is always part of my monthly budget",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Kids are pretty rotten. Perhaps my view will change when I start to get older and my 'maternal clock starts ticking' I may have a change of heart. But I doubt it.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Honestly, I think if our culture and society were more progressive and forward thinking, versus being money-driven, we could have an easier time raising children... as it stands, our jobs and dependency on this system we currently have makes it extra strenuous to have children. \n\nAnd no, the wife and I do *not* have children and intend to keep it that way. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "My wife and I have been married for nearly 5 years, and while all of our friends are having kids, we are still in no hurry to join them.\n\nAlso, semi-related, there was a good IamA a few months back that solidified my desire to not have kids:\n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/a6fmg/by_request_iama_person_woman_who_genuinely/\n\n",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Kids do suck. I'll get my occasional fix from my friends' kids when I'm over at their house sipping wine and talking about stupid melancholy middle-aged people shit, but when the kid starts whining about some toy he wants or that he's hungry or something, I want no part of it. Give the consumption robot to the parent at that point. Kids are just black holes that consume everything. They consume your food, your money, your free time, your dreams, your future. The common thing I hear people say is that they have kids so that they can give someone a better life then they had. I'd rather just work to make my life better instead. I guess I'm selfish.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Is anyone else having their new record erased constantly? | I've now had my records as demo erased 4 times in about 3 days. Is there some trick to avoiding this? | 9 | [
{
"body": "A week ago: Finally, I just got double digits for my first class! Now every time a map loads, I can feel proud and accomplished!\n\nThe Next Day: Wait...this can't be right. Oh well, I'm sure it's a glitch and I'll see my beautiful stats tomorrow!\n\nA week later, looking at my stats while TF2 loads map: ಥ_ಥ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Not really, i had my engie score update immediately.\n\nAlthough i got the 3 dominations in a single life and didnt get the achievement as soldier. I should have screenshotted the \"you have tied your previous best for dominations\" so i could petition valve support to give it to me.\n\nI personally thought that was one of the hardest to get.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Educate me on techno/trance? | I just recently started listening to techno/trance, specifically this 45-min segment from a 'DJ Liquid'. Am I in the right section? If so, what do you guys/gals recommend? I've got just a few clips from Astral Projection, Art of Trance - Madagascar, and Armin Van Buuren?
Help me out, I don't know where to begin r/trance! | 3 | [
{
"body": "The term techno isn't really interchangeable with trance. Listen to [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhB66rsotpQ). A great example of techno by a great producer (Ricardo Villalobos).\n\nThen check [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlABK0K-i6Y) out. A great trance classic. \n\nThey both use the same time signature, but that's about it. \n\nIt's like someone calling a punk song alternative. They might use the same time signature and instruments, but that's where the similarities end. Not trying to be snotty or anything, but the distinction needs to be made.",
"score": 3
}
] |
What if you're always failing no matter what happen? | Is there a way to get through life while knowing you're a failure compared to almost all your friends and acquaintances? What if you have a sense of hope but almost everything tells you it just can't work the way you'd want it to be? What if you're just ruminating those thoughts everyday because the past failures led to desperate attempts which led to even more failures. What if you tried to forget about the past failures and start something new but then, it led to a situation which just proved you're a failure? What if you're not an hermit but still, your entire life feel as if you were one and the few attempts to connect to people led either to a conflict putting an end to the relationship or it led to a lost of contact. Anyway, I know I'm just complaining for all and nothing. | 9 | [
{
"body": "Deliberately reject the other people's conception of \"success\". Redefine it for yourself.\n \nThe way you'd want it to be, often enough, is not enough. You can practice being content with the preferred aspects of life as it currently is. (This really gets easier with practice.)\n \nI can't imagine that the people you're comparing yourself to - those \"successes\" - have never been touched by failure. It's necessary to learning (at least some things) and if people are somehow sheltered from it early on, they're in for a hell of a crash later. When trying to answer a nebulous question there is definite value in attempting some of the possible solutions and discovering that they are *not* the correct method. These experiences will pay off again and again.\n \nEach day is a new opportunity to try something else, whether it's to pinpoint what you want to achieve or even to meet one more high-caliber \"road dog\".\n \n\"What if\" the version of you in 2020 had discovered completely different criteria for what constituted success - and looked back at your now-struggling self with compassion and pity? The race isn't over yet. None of us have a \"lock\" on what will happen tomorrow, or this spring. It seems far too early to determine that the absolute worst future is inevitable.\n \nThe problem with finding two or three sensational friends is that it can require a tedious, hit-and-miss process of ruling out many others who are not the a good fit.\n \n\"Complaining\" is not necessarily bad or worthless. I do not get a really clear idea of what's going on in my head until I write / type it out in a form that is somewhat coherent for someone else to read. (For others, it's saying the words out loud that provides another perspective.) We all need to \"vent\" too. You are definitely not the only reader of this group with the thoughts you posted, and we'll never know how many lurkers were relieved to see that they \"weren't the only one\".\n \nIt takes courage to risk looking bad - but unfortunately that's the way to get through some challenges. You get to decide what the characteristics of a real success are **to you**, and that can be exhiliarating in less time than you might think. \n \nOh - and the majority is always wrong.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I've tried to learn not to look at my life in terms of success or failure, but in terms of experiences. By most outward appearances I'd likely be considered a 'failure' by much of society- I've battled depression/anxiety most of my life, I've been married and divorced more than once, I don't have a career because of my kids' disabilities, and I'm poor as shit. Most of those things happened because of choices that I made, but I don't consider myself or my life a failure at all. I've learned from my mistakes (which means that I just get to keep on finding new ones to make), and they've all contributed to the person I am, and I'm not all that bad. \n\nWhen you look at the things that 'society' considers to be successful it's pretty screwed up- pretty house, loads of friends, happy relationships, sparkly perfect children, perfect happiness all the time. I've yet to meet anyone who has accomplished all of those things- the people that I know who are well-off financially are still as screwed up as everyone else, and the people that I know who are what I would consider 'happy' have usually gotten that way after many, many 'failures'. \n\nYou might have a dream that you're working towards, and all that you can see is the times that you've tried for it and failed. But most of those failures probably have something to teach you- it's all in the way that you look at it. One of my favourite anecdotes (even though it's probably fake), is about Thomas Edison. \"The story goes that \"Thomas Edison failed more than 1,000 times when trying to create the light bulb\". (The story is often told as 5,000 or 10,000 times depending on the version.) When asked about it, Edison allegedly said, \"I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb.\" There's a lot of truth to that. \n\nI don't think that you're just complaining- we all filter our view of our own lives through our own perceptions, but sometimes it helps to look at things from a different angle. Most relationships (romantic or friendship) fail at some point- the key is to make them as meaningful as possible while they last, and to keep reaching out. The same with life- what you're doing may not work, so look at why it didn't, try to make changes, and try it again. \n\n\n \n\n",
"score": 3
}
] |
Can anyone recommend a reputable Pokerstars fake chip buyer? | Im trying to sell my chips. I did it once before but the guy approached me and put his money in my account before I transferred the chips...
All those websites look like scams! | 3 | [
{
"body": "People buy play money chips??? WTF?\r\n\r\nSounds to me that if the guy paid you before you delivered, you made out on the deal. What's the problem?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "fake chips? you mean play money?\n\nwhy would anyone buy them? i can see people buying WoW gold... its part of the game - youcan buy more stuff in WoW then. play money just lets you buy in to higher stake play money games... don't really see why anyone would wanna do that, lol.\n\n(Maybe just to boost their ego? they can win at play money easily..?)\n\nalso... if he put his money in your account first, thats hardly a scam, lol.\n\ngood luck on finding a mug to sell play money chips to though, lol ;) ",
"score": 3
}
] |
What do you wear to a job interview? | I know wearing a suit is supposedly standard for guys, but I had gone on an interview today with a marketing agency and rocked a suit... and I felt tremendously awkward. I was interviewed by a few higher ups dressed very casually (jeans, sneakers) - I felt overdressed. The only reason I wore a full suit and tie was because my headhunter recommended it. I pretty much only dress in a suit when attending either weddings or funerals.
And I feel like an actor while wearing one. Since an interview is basically a sell for yourself, shouldn't you dress more like how you'd usually dress? Understandably a bit more kept, but staying a bit truer to form.
So what's the protocol reddit?
Also - At my last job I had interviewed potential interns, and I often paid little attention to their dress. As long as it wasn't outlandishly noticeable, I never really took note of it. | 7 | [
{
"body": "When I go to an interview, I shave off my beard, leaving nothing but a carefully trimmed mustache which I twirl into big loops on both ends.\n\nI make sure my nails are trimmed and clean.\n\nI wear nice black business socks, and sensible shoes to match. I am otherwise naked.\n\nI find that if you strut into an office, exposing your naked body with chin held high, people respect your self-confidence. \n\nWhen you walk into an employers office for an interview, be sure to make eye contact. If you notice that your nudity is distracting to some people, do what I do:\n\na) sway your hips back and forth, to accentuate your natural gifts.\n\nand\n\nb) do a magic trick where it looks like you're pulling a business card out from underneath it! \n\nThis is a great icebreaker.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "You wear a suit. Even if the people interviewing you were dressed casually (it's Friday), they likely wore suits when they interviewed. It really does make a difference to HR people, which is probably why your recruiter suggested it. It portrays an air of investment in your time and care about the interview.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "The rule of thumb that I've always heard is that you should dress one level up from what you'd wear on the job. It's (almost) always better to be overdressed than under dressed. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Suit and tie.\n\nI agree with some of the other comments, its best to be over dressed, looking like you are taking the situation very seriously, then under-dressed. If you out dress your interviewers, that's OK, they would expect it I think.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I work for a game publisher. I wear shorts every day. We just turned away an editor that showed up in a suit; I felt sorry for him. I don't think he researched how casual certain markets are, and just showed up in a sharp Armani-looking suit and frankly it was so out of place that the interview process was uncomfortable. Such a change from my early days applying to design firms.\n\nJust thought I'd show another perspective.\n",
"score": 3
}
] |
Update for /r/portland logo and CSS... any pros wish to have a go at it? | I created the original CSS that we have now just on a whim last year. Anyone else feel like it's time for an update? Lets do something about it! Since we're all mostly indoors for the winter I figure that now is as good a time as any. | 5 | [
{
"body": "Sure, I'll take a stab at it this weekend. The logo in the top left needs to stay at 120x40, right?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I can take a swing at it, Cinsere, can you let me know the details on restrictions of css, layout, and such..",
"score": 3
}
] |
Mass Effect 2 available on Steam 26th January, no pre-order (so it seems). | *(Like most Gamers on the planet)*
I'm keen to play Mass Effect 2 when it's released.
I want to buy it through Steam as it's the sole online gaming distribution platform I use.
Direct2Drive has it for pre-order, but not steam, asking Steam/Valve resulted in:
>"The information available on the Steam Storefront is the only information available at this time."
I want to play it at release but if there's any chance it'll appear on Steam I don't want to go elsewhere.
Contacting EA gave me the linked response, I know it's not a 100% confirmation, but I'm willing to trust it.
From this I'm willing to believe that Mass Effect 2 available for purchase (and download) from Steam as of the 26th January, which is the official release date for Mass Effect 2 anyway.
Just in case anyone else is interested. :)
[link] http://i.imgur.com/BXWfN.png
[EDIT] Looks like they've added Mass Effect 2 to the Steam store, this wasn't there a few days ago.
[URL for ME2 Standard] http://store.steampowered.com/app/901181/
[URL for ME2 DD] http://store.steampowered.com/app/901242/
Note: As redbrick says they both mention a "Pre-Purchase Offer" but you can't yet buy them and (as per the image) EA have said they won't be sold on Steam until the release date, some-one is wrong. :) | 4 | [
{
"body": "[Here](http://www.impulsedriven.com/masseffect2ce) is the pre-order available through Impulse. Realize you are looking for it through Steam, but posted just for the sake of completeness.",
"score": 3
}
] |
[-2]Ode to my first piece, which was destroyed recently | http://imgur.com/RSoTY.jpg
My first piece, got it 2 years ago. It's no more than 6" tall and has always been there. I found it today in its carrying case, two massive wounds inflicted by rogue pipe-destroyer demons.
Rest in piece.
Edit: It appears to have been 2 very clean breaks, so maybe some superglue will help... it's pretty critical.
[6]Edit 2: I'd write an ode but that's somewhat too complicated. | 10 | [
{
"body": "Very nice dude. Also, superglue works great for pipes and bongs, as long as the cuts are clean like yours are. I accidentally broke my bong, so I super glued it back together. Iv broken it 3-4 times since then because of cleaning it and whatnot, my break wasn't as clean. I need a new bong :( ",
"score": 4
}
] |
This is ridiculous. I have to use my Droid to watch an HD video on Vimeo because on my 2,000 thinkpad on Linux it cannot run without choppiness. | The performance of the videocard is terrible due to regressions and bugs: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/416073
Not even disabling compiz helps. This is the video in case you are curious:
http://vimeo.com/channels/hd#7809605 | 95 | [
{
"body": "Well, you see the decoding method is different. Your droid is probably using hardware-accelerated decoding for the MPEG4 video in the .flv. In your browser, your plain flash plugin is doing all kinds of stupid color conversion and software decoding basically in a virtual machine inside of it. There's nothing wrong with your 2000[currency unit] Linux Thinkpad compared to your Droid; it's how it's being used, and the software the vendors provide for it as per the status quo.\n\nI know it's a hassle, but you could get the Flashgot or a similar firefox plugin to download the .FLVs, then use mplayer or VLC to play them back with better results (given you use the right video output driver). Depends on how much you care about watching the video.",
"score": 37
},
{
"body": "blame flash, not linux.\nPlays fine on my 900mhz netbook with\n\n mplayer 'http://bitcast.vimeo.com/vimeo/v2/122/907/12290722.mp4?e=1263057274&h=ecefbf2bf6e826bebbf4b90fa4a58e39'\n\nuses 30% cpu. and this is on a shitty Intel Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML ",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "Poor Flash performance is one of the reasons why I cannot go full time ubuntu.\n\nAlso Intel Integrated graphics is crap also.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I find it pretty awesome to be honest. Think about the fact that linux, being developed by a lot of people, open source and free to everyone can play shitty flash videos almost as good as the fucking alternatives that invest billions of dollars in market restrictions, lobbying and development.",
"score": 8
}
] |
Hey WoWit, What keeps you coming back? | I've recently been wondering what aspect of WoW it is that keeps people playing and what brings people who have cancelled their subscription back.
I only really played consistently during Vanilla and for me it was largely the people I met that kept me around and just new content that brings me back. But with such great changes to the game that have occurred since release, I wonder what your opinions are? | 5 | [
{
"body": "One word: Content.\n\nI left right after 3.2, returned right after 3.3. 3.1 had Ulduar, which was nice. 3.2 was a huge disappointment as far as content is concerned. The argent tournament was a huge, boring waste of time. 3.3 has Icecrown Citadel, which is dripping with new lore, from quests to raids. Further, the Cataclysm prerelease event is coming soon, which should be awesome.\n\nAnother aspect that drove me back was the new looking for group tool, alongside how easy it is to acquire raid-level gear right now. This basically said that I can join ICC raids and enjoy the new excellent fights even though my previous equipment was heroic only.",
"score": 3
}
] |
How did you improve your proofreading skills? | In a couple of years I'll start a job that will require high volume proof reading skills. (If I stuff up I could kill someone.) But I've always been typo-ridden. I'll carefully read my writing back to myself and still miss obvious errors. They only way I seem to get around this is to read things aloud, but that would be distracting for the people I work with.
Have you ever gone from being a careless writer to an error-free one? How did you do it? | 3 | [
{
"body": "If it's words and not punctuation you worry about you could try to use a screen reader. These can be used with headphones.",
"score": 3
}
] |
DAE Have a smoking nonhumanoid buddy? | My oldest cat is quite fond of kicking back with me. She'll watch as I prepare the gear, look at me expectantly while I do the deed first. She actually lifts up her nose at me to inhale what I blow on her nose. She makes the stinkface but she doesn't run away. She tends to nap immediately after - I wonder what she's dreaming.
By the way, this only happens about 2-3x a month at most. So don't get all PETA animal rights on me. | 23 | [
{
"body": "I'm going to have to get all PETA with you, friend.\n\nOnly 2-3x a month? That's kitty abuse, mang. The stink is made for *sharing*.",
"score": 28
},
{
"body": "My girlfriends sister has a ferret that loves to get high. If I am preparing my stuff in the other room she will flatten herself out to fit under the door and then she will sit there and hotbox with me.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "My friend's cat, Zoidberg (aka ZeeBeezy) comes running when he hears a bag crinkle and he follows the bowl around the circle. Then when he's good and baked he sits on the couch purring and, no lie, drooling. It's hilarious.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "When I was younger I would smoke at a friends house often and he had a dog that would do the same thing, when you were preparing he would come and sit next to you and then follow the bong around the rotation waiting for someone to blow it in his face.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Our dog likes to enjoy the experience as well, most of the time if i smoke alone he'll plop down next to me on the couch and wait for me to blow it in his face, then he wags his tail frantically for a bit and passes out",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "My pug loves to chill with me when I smoke. Last week we both got pretty high and he watched the 3rd LOTR with me, he was staring at the tv the whole time. I wonder what he thought was going on.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "My friend's black lab/collie mix was a total stoner. If he was asleep and smelled smoke, he'd get up and find a place in the circle. If someone skipped him, he'd look at you all pissed off, like \"WTF dude? Hook a brother up!\" He also had the greatest stoned expression when he was high.\n\nBest dog ever.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "A friend of mine had the cutest jack-russel terrier puppy (annoying), and it would not let me smoke. Any time I would take a hit it would jump repeatedly in my face to get at the smoke, so I eventually just put her on my lap and she just sat there and took it all in.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "My cat is terrified of smoking. Everytime I smoke, I try and have her nearby, but as soon as she sees or smells weed in anyform, she books it\n\nWe adopted her when she was 1 because her previous owners abandonned her, so I guess there could be som residual memories of them smoking and harassing her :/\n\nI dunno, it's sad. She loves being around me when I'm baked though, she knows she'll always get my full attention, and lots of petting.",
"score": 4
}
] |
Hello /r/atheism, I am a christian but I think most religious people are morons. | I didn't know whether to post this in ama or atheism, so I chose atheism. I am just wondering how many others believe in a higher power but believe most religious people are idiots. I cannot believe how dumb most people are, dying for Islam and slaving for Tom Cruise, or even blindly following a book that was not meant to be taken literally and was edited by a multitude of people who were biased morons (the Bible). It's pathetic. I'm not going to tell you my religion is right, because I don't even know. Who else feels this way?
EDIT: Agnosticism sounds like it makes more sense to me, because nothing makes sense :) If nothing else a higher power could be electron teleportation. So by a higher power I mean something that is uncontrollable by man.
EDIT #2: Why not use this opportunity to make the world a better place before it's too late?
That's what I try to do. It would be great if I got an afterlife for making the world better but I doubt that. I'm going to enjoy and help out others while I'm here. I think most of the commandments in the bible are beneficial to humanity, so that's why I somewhat consider myself a christian.
EDIT #3 (Just In case I'm not clear enough): I identify as a christian because I think that most of the teachings in the Bible provide good morals even if I wont go to heaven or any afterlife because of them. That doesn't so much matter to me, I kind of look forward to sleeping for ever :) | 44 | [
{
"body": ">I don't even know\n\nIt sounds like you have doubts. Come over to the dark side already. We have lasers.",
"score": 52
},
{
"body": "In this subreddit, I suspect you will be alone in holding a belief in a higher power, but I can assure you that many of us also observe the increased likelihood of stupidity within various religious circles.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Why do you believe? Forget all of the false hopes and promises of an afterlife... One thing we do know is that we're all going to die. Why not use this opportunity to make the world a better place before it's too late?",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Hey, awesome post netfaux, I, too am a Christian, and am often disappointed by the idiocy of most religious people (Christians included). I would recommend doing some more thorough investigation as to where the Bible came from (we have near-as-makes-no-difference original manuscripts of nearly everything).\n\nThe problem so often is that Christians and others have no sense of nuance. Is the bible to be taken literally or figuratively? Well, clearly the answer is \"both.\" The sections that are historical narrative are to be taken literally, and the poetic/prophetic sections figuratively.\n\nOr another example, the term \"faith.\" Biblically defined, faith is merely the belief that God will be true to his promises, in the same way that one might say they have \"faith\" in a friend to do what they say they will. All the room in the world is given for evidence to play a part in Christianity. To have \"faith\" in God is to say that he's trustworthy, it makes no statement about believing something \"in the absence of evidence\"\n\nI am willing to say that my religion is right, and that others are wrong, simply due to the law of non-contradiction. Belief in Christianity necessarily entails nonbelief in Islam (usually over Trinity). We can't all be right. I am willing to say we might all be wrong, but also willing to defend my own position.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": ">I am a christian but I think most religious people are morons.\n\nthis alone should give you reason to think about what you believe and why. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Hello christian I am an atheist who thinks most (all) christians are wrong, but I have no tendency to call them names in an effort to feel better about myself.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "> blindly following a book that was not meant to be taken literally\n\nSure it was -- by plenty of rulers, at least. Different people and groups have used the book to different ends.",
"score": 3
}
] |
So I tried salvia today... | Technically I've tried it before, but experienced nothing more than an odd body high. This time, I experienced a powerful sensation that my friend was part of my head, and a coke can was my left ear. Simultaneously I had the distinct feeling that if I wanted I could grab the music and play with it. Sounds pretty cool, but I'd hardly call it an entheogenic experience, more just fucking weird.
Any crazy salvia stories out there? | 4 | [
{
"body": "The last time I did Salvia, the world turned into the eyeballs of the cookie monster. Out of these balls sprang the Virgen de Guadalupe. She made it clear to me that I had all of the mountains in my pocket. I asked for clarification, and she said - *Your Wife. Go To Her.* So I did. I explained the mountain thing to my wife but she didn't get it. So I sweated on the couch and called it a day.",
"score": 4
}
] |
Hey reddit, I just installed Windows Vista on my Mac! What software should I get? | I am a photographer, designer and filmmaker. What cool, Windows-only stuff have I been missing while in Mac-land?
EDIT: Vista is all I have!!! Please forgive me.
EDIT: I think I'm learning how trolls feel. It was with Parallels, I swear! | 4 | [
{
"body": "Uh, nothing? Seriously my friend, I live in both worlds. I work on macs at the office and use Windows at home. I wholeheartedly like both systems, but to do what you've done and install Vista (yes, Vista is awful - if you're really going to install Windows you should go with Windows 7) on a Mac. \n\nI don't have to tell you that Macs are great - the operating system is AWESOME for cool programs for designers, artists and the like. Even programmers and coders have a great environment in which to work - I am right now as I type this downloading a virtual box to set up a mac-like environment just so I can get to working more in a mac-environment for some awesome editing programs that they don't even make for windows.\n\nThe best thing about Windows - at least for me is the games. They actually exist, and they kick ass. Steam is wonderful in the ability to be able to try out and purchase new games instantly.\n\nYou can install Windows on a spare PC, but you can't easily do the same with Mac. \n\n*Whew*!",
"score": 3
}
] |
Shirt first or deodorant first? | I'm often in a rush, so it's always shirt first for me. I hate getting smears all on the inside of my shirt, especially if it's a white stick. | 8 | [
{
"body": "Shirt, then deoderant. I can't use anything besides a white stick. The gel shit irritates and burns like someone mixed bleach and EZ Oven Cleaner under my arms.",
"score": 3
}
] |
AskLGBT: How do I deal with the 'be fruitful and multiply' argument? | My brother and his wife are having a baby. Congratulations for them.
I don't have anything against reproduction, but some consider it so valuable that non-reproduction is bad (remember how using condoms is immoral?).
Because I am bisexual (and a guy and single), I sort of have a decision to make. What is more important to me: a partner I truly love or a way to reproduce? I know there are straight couples who don't reproduce or reproduce and truly love each other. But, I think the choice of whether I enter a same-sex or straight relationship is up to me and not the choice of some religious, state, or parental authority. (Okay, I am a bit anti-authoritarian, but who isn't in the US.)
On a side note, with my parents I have approval seeking behavior. It probably stems from physical punishment. The only way, I think, I can get rid of this is by becoming independent (moving out and living on my own). (My dorm is alright, but I still feel the long arm of 'the law').
I try to explain how my relationships (and future relationships) matter to me, but it comes out wrong or they won't listen or something else. Currently, I'm on a good streak with my family and don't want to mess it up.
Furthermore, when I came out to my parents, my mom cautioned about not telling my brother, because he might not take it so well. My sister is fine with me, just a little teasing, but she is more liberal than my parents.
How do I come to terms with choosing someone who I would be happy with, even if I get ostracized by my family? How do I tell my family that my relationship (whether same-sex or straight) means a lot to me whether or not I reproduce? I know they may have changed, but I have seen their anger and/or rage before and it is not pretty. | 13 | [
{
"body": "I would carry a lot of apples or maybe pears around with me and start getting really good at maths.\n\nOn a more serious note, It's ridiculous to marry someone you don't love just to retain a good familial relationship. Find someone you want to be with, then worry about the \"bear fruit and multiply\". There are many kids out there who need good, stable homes but don't have them.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "What does the gender of your partner have to do with whether or not you reproduce? You can get a surrogate or adopt if you end up with someone of your own gender. Also, in terms of being pro-multiplication in general, there are several arguments I can think of off the top of my head. \n\nFirst, God said that at a time when the world was underpopulated, to an audience that could benefit from some growth; now it's best for everyone if multiplication cools down a bit, and God loves his creations and wants them to be happy, so it's safe to assume that he'd update that for modern times.\n\nSecond, you could just argue that it's one of those commandments that modern people just ignore, like a lot of Old Testament orders (stoning people? Not wearing mixed fibers? Not eating shellfish?).\n\nIn general, I think you should find a way to be stronger when it comes to standing up to your family. You're an adult now; they don't have a right to decide anything about who you have relationships with, or whether or not you reproduce. Of course you don't want to be confrontational with them, since things are going well, but just remember that you are completely your own person. \n\nFor now, it seems like the best option is to just avoid bringing the reproduction question up altogether. If they ask when you're going to settle down and have kids, or something to that effect (which seems likely, given your brother's impending bundle of joy), it might be best to be vague and say \"when it feels right\" or \"when I find someone I want to spend the rest of my life with.\" If you settle down with a man, well, hopefully your parents (and brother) will be mature enough to accept that he's the person you've chosen, and they'll value your happiness over having a few more grandchildren (and don't forget surrogacy/adoption!).\n\n*Edit: grammar",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Tell them that the biblical argument has no stopping condition.. and if anyone's seen The Sorcerer's Apprentice, we all know what happens when there is no stopping condition. We were successful in being fruitful and multiplying... 6 billion people on a planet that can't support those numbers is taking the go forth and multiply idea too literally.\n\nIn some respect, I think you're trying to figure out \"What is more important to me: a partner I truly love or a way to reproduce?\" for yourself first. \n\nThe fact is that I think people struggle with this decision all the time (women more than men, I feel). I see all too often people will choose mates not because they are the all consuming passionate love as described by shakespeare but because they have a drive to have children and they want them. Which isn't to say that gay couples can't have children by other means.\n\nIn fact, truly liberal parents of gay children won't let their children off the hook for grandchildren if they come out to them.\n\nI am thankful for my nephew and niece every day. Now my parents wish I'd just find a nice guy to settle down with. *sigh*.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "What religion are they?\n\n Be fruitful and multiply:\n\n A)is old testament and not applicable under the new covenant. \n\nB) wasn't part of the law but just something told to the couple humans left alive after wiping out all the humans on earth.\n\nGo donate at a sperm bank and inform your parents that you'll have more children than them and your siblings combined. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Check out Dan Savage. He essentially says that non-reproducing people - queer or otherwise - pick up where others leave off. By providing the stability (alternate homes, parenting, etc) for children, we queers make up for the mistakes of others. We house those who are not housed, take care of those who are not taken care of. Does that make sense? maybe I'm not explaining it well but if you get my drift, it really helps in explaining why queers are so vital to a healthy society.\n\nI've always thought this to be true at least for myself and it's great to hear Savage putting it out into the world.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Redditers, do you mediate and does it help? | Well, the reason I'm interested is because someone here once gave said that the key to happiness is "not thinking about anything" or something along those lines. Which makes sense, because we think about useless crap way too often.
How do you mediate and how effective is it?
| 31 | [
{
"body": "Not nearly enough, but when I do, it is quite effective.\n\nZen - lotus position, no mantra, just silence. Staring at the wall until your eyes glaze over. Count up from one, as soon as a thought enters your head start over. See if you can get to 10 in half an hour..I couldn't the first four or five times I did it.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Cured my anxiety. No shit.\n\nDon't do it very often, but yeah, it's amazing.\n\nJust figuring out the breathing will change your life.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Many of our early memories are stored physically -- in the way we hold our bodies or emotionally. As adults we can rationally understand problems but have difficulty rewiring earlier physical and emotional habitual thinking patterns. Meditation helps the neocortex rule.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I do biofeedback - I have a thermometer which measures the temperature of my finger tip. The goal is to make the finger tip as warm as I can using only my mental focus. After a 15 or 20 minute session, I feel re-energized and mentally clear. Also, if I was getting a headache, this can usually nip it in the bud. When I do this every day, I notice I am a great deal calmer and am less affected by stress.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "There are various ways of meditating, which accomplish different things.\n\nMy personal favourites are these two:\n\n1. Where you annihilate thought. A few moments of blissful nothing, if that's a term all of you can be comfortable with. When I do this often, I find myself more alert in everyday life.\n\nBest method: imagining and acknowledging each thought as entering the mind via one ear and escorting it out through the other. After a while they stop coming.\n\n2. Where you engage in deep relaxation/self hypnosis. Comparable to lucid dreaming. Allows you to use an incredible creativity for exploring ideas, exploring yourself, or just having fun.\n\nBest method: supine position, progress through each body part individually while imagining them as becoming heavy and warm.",
"score": 3
}
] |
I'm 24 and don't want to waste my life: any suggestion? | I'm about to get my bachelor degree in CS and I already have a lot of working experience on system administration and business management.
After graduation I'll have the opportunity to join a local IT company: I'll work with various customers selling hardware/services and managing their infrastructure.
A few months ago a close friend of mine died in his mid-thirties.. that got me really loosing some sleep and thinking.
I'm now in fear of "wasting" my life: I'll wake up one day, realize that my life is ending and that I didn't done anything meaningful.
I don't mean meaningful like "saving the world" but at least something to be proud of, something that gets me in bed at night knowing I've done my part or I've at least tried.
Any suggestion?
*EDIT: I'm really appreciating all these comments, thank you for your time!
I guess I probably just need to have more courage and try to enjoy life doing things that I like, trying to help others more (also volunteering) and worry less on achieving a bigger "meaning".
Thanks to who said that I need to take chances: It's difficult to do it day-by-day but looking on my life so far I can see that all the time I was feeling happy and accomplished was when I was risking and trying new things (backpacking trough europe, studying in a foreign country, working on my own with new customers, studying finance, etc.). Another thing that would surely help and no-one really mentioned is having children, but before I'll do that I want to be sure I have my life generally "in order", at the same time I do not want to wait too much!* | 22 | [
{
"body": "1 - Don't waste your time with TV. I assure you, there is never anything going on on television that is more rewarding or interesting than what you could be doing otherwise. Even when you want to just chill, avoid the temptation and watch a movie or documentary or some such instead.\r\n\r\n2 - Watch Randy Pausch's [lecture on time management](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0). If you haven't yet seen his [lecture on achieving your childhood dreams](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo), be sure to watch it too. Take both of them to heart, he is right on the money.\r\n\r\n3 - Do not be afraid to take risks and chances.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "LEARN .... Learn to make stuuf .. play guitar, learn to bake , love someone , learn to make yourself happy and never say no to new things !",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I wish I could help, really, but some lessons you must learn by going through the slow, soul-crushing reality of it. Living with meaning is an admirable goal, but after years of seeing no results, you give up simply to get through the day.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "The advice to \"do what makes you happy\" is foolish. What makes you happy today will not make you happy tomorrow. You can also learn to be very happy with much more productive things.\n\n* Learn to be as selfless as possible: put others first, and don't expect any credit for it\n\n* Be curious: never stop learning. Make the development of new skills into a hobby. Not only is it rewarding from the sense of accomplishment, but you will be surprised to find out how often you can use those new skills to help other people\n\n* Make lasting relationships with people who truly, unconditionally care for you. These people will help you through the hard times, and will not be afraid to tell you when you screwed up. Also remember: to make this sort of friend, you must be that sort of friend. Put quality above quantity.\n\n-my 2 pennies \n",
"score": 3
}
] |
Feet first, not the head, ya fool. NSFW | I love [Divine Interventions](http://www.divine-interventions.com/index2.php) and own a few of the sex toys (Jackhammer Jesus, Baby Jesus butt plug, Buddha's Delight). Just wanted to share and see if any other Redditors have this particular kink. I feel like I have to keep it to myself because some men might flip out when I bust these out in the bedroom. I am not a terrible person. I just have a wicked sense of humor.
Guys, what would your reaction be if a woman showed these to you?
| 11 | [
{
"body": "I would absolutely love this. Of course, I would caution that you should probably verify a good sense of humor when it comes to religion before you bust them out. Personally I'm an agnostic and enjoy cracking religion jokes with my friends who are like-minded. However I could easily see this offending some people.",
"score": 4
}
] |
Reddit, how can I convince my dad that he's falling into a scam? | My dad recently has been going crazy over this grant program. He says they are willing to give him a 1.5m grant to remodel an apartment for the poor, but considering all you have to do to apply for one of these grants is fill out an application on an unsecured page, I am extremely suspicious.
The site is http://quidcorp.com/ and it comes off very suspicious to me because it was created in November of '09, while they claim to of been around since '99. There are also some subtle grammar errors throughout their site.
So if this is a scam, how do I convince my dad to not give them his dataz? | 15 | [
{
"body": "http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/wri/1515766653.html\nhttp://lasvegas.craigslist.org/sls/1540624729.html\n\nIt's clearly a commission-based sales organization, not a non-profit grant provider.\n\nhttp://www.ripoffreport.com/loans/quidcorp/quidcorp-mike-jones-liar-cheat-4333a.htm\ncached:\nhttp://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:G2-_gmxG20cJ:www.ripoffreport.com/loans/quidcorp/quidcorp-mike-jones-liar-cheat-4333a.htm+quidcorp+scam&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us",
"score": 6
}
] |
I finally bought new bras today! (and wanted to tell someone) | I don't often buy bras just because they are a bit expensive and when I do I find they tend to last a while.
So I realized today that I was really only wearing one bra (others were too old at this point) and in the store as I was trying new ones on I realized how uncomfortable my "most comfortable bra" was. I feel great now! :-D | 30 | [
{
"body": "I used to work at Victoria's Secret, and it's kind of funny to say how fulfilling it was to help women find the \"perfect\" bra for them. If only we didn't have to charge almost $50 each...",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "It is so hard to find an affordable 32D. Buying new bras is a rare and giddy experience for me as well.",
"score": 4
}
] |
Remember how easy it was to 'play pretend' as a kid? Why exactly can't we do that any more? | I mean, are our brains different somehow? Do we just have different subconscious priorities?
I used to be able to script an entire fight scene between the good guy and the bad guy _in real time_. All day long, _and with ease._ Now all I'm good at thinking about is science stuff.
**I WANT MY IMAGINATION BACK.** | 121 | [
{
"body": "I still do it. If I go make myself a sandwich at 2:00 AM, I'll dodge and duck around corners like a goddamn ninja. \n\nDustin Hoffman had a quote that sort of relates to this: \"I don't understand how anyone can be bored. Just close your eyes and go around your house pretending you're blind.\"",
"score": 114
},
{
"body": "The moment you start thinking about what other people think about your actions, you stop pretending and conform.",
"score": 67
},
{
"body": "you still can, but now it happens in the bedroom, and it's called [\"roleplaying\"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_roleplay)",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "I think a big part of it is, to use your example, when you scripted a fight scene with a bad when you were a kid it was *lame*. You probably did the same moves over and over again and had a blast with it. Now you're more aware of what you're actually doing and for fight scenes to be good you have to put a lot of effort into them, at which point you think \"What am I doing?\" and go on the internet.",
"score": 30
},
{
"body": "You didn't lose your imagination; you just use it in different ways now.\r\n\r\nPlay is 'work' for children. When they play, they are trying on new roles, new behaviors, and new ways of seeing the world. They are also practicing their social skills, emotional skills, language skills, and motor skills, and learning about how they, and other people, and the world, operate. \r\n\r\nThis is easier to visualize when you think about how young animals play... lion cubs pretend to 'pounce' on things, because they are learning how to hunt. Similarly, children are learning how to be 'grown ups' when they play. They are figuring out how things work, what behaviors and roles work for them, what to do in difficult situations, how much control they have over the physical and social world, etc. \r\n\r\nChild's play seems \"free-form\" because it is. Children are trying out anything and everything in their play. But, when something works in their play, they often repeat it over and over again - because what they are doing is strengthening the connections between those neural networks. They are, essentially, learning - when the brain learns something, it strengthens neural connections. Things that do not work the child's play are discarded, and those neural connections are not strengthened.\r\n\r\nAs we become adults, the neural pathways and networks we have formed become have stronger and more efficient. Because of this, our brains know what works in what situations, and we try those behaviors first. This has the advantage of making us \"adults\" - we can do things more efficiently and automatically than children, and are more likely to do the right thing the first time even if it's the first time we've encountered a specific situation. (Remember when you were a kid and you thought adults knew *everything*?)\r\n\r\nHowever, because those strengthened neural connections that help us be more efficient give *structure* to what we do, our imaginations are more \"bounded\" by our knowledge. When you try to think up a story about the good guy and the bad guy, your imagination is constrained by what you now know about how stories work and how the world works. A child's is not - his story may be about a good guy with cookies and hands who rides a monsterhorsepig and then the elevator alien from space comes and shoots him with a spoon but it's really a gun but he's NOT dead he's ON TOP of the world and he can fly like this and it's AWESOME plus also the bad guy is really bad. \r\n\r\nYour (adult) story, by contrast, probably has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and characters who behave pretty much according to how you know the world works. Your story is likely to be \"more efficient\" (people can follow it, for example), but because you have to conform your story to your adult expectations about stories and the world, you have to expend more mental \"effort\" putting it together. That's why it feels like when you were a kid, you didn't have to put in that mental effort - because, basically, you didn't. But that doesn't mean you can't still imagine a story!\r\n\r\n**tl;dr** You still have imagination -- it's just \"efficient imagination.\"",
"score": 24
},
{
"body": "What are you talking about? I'm 28 and I'm still doodling spaceships in my head and on paper all over. I'm imagining new, utterly fictional, technologies and the rules they would work by, and working my imaginary spaceship designs around them. Or, when I read or watched Harry Potter media, I would try and analyze and find a scientific system to the magic, simply so I could determine what level and types of technologies it would take to conquer the magical world and dissect its inhabitants so I could have their power tamed by the ever-progressing power of science! Mwahaha.",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "Speak for yourself, I am currently stowed away in my couch fort planning my trek across the house, but it will be a tough one because the floor is lava.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I think its because as adults we are burdened with using our minds for things like responsibilities, bills, payments, jobs and relationships. A child's mind has room for a clean slate to build anything on as a developing foundation. Think about what you are thinking and how important that thought would be to a 7yo. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "You mean to tell me you don't act a scene while your in the shower?! Just yesterday I was in a musical. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Having kids gets you right back into it. I was building Lego stuff with my son and daughter and was grabbing pieces I thought I would need -- competitively. \"No, I'm not making a triplane, I'm making a flying venetian blind, so I need all the flat wing pieces...\"",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Jung argues that children, along with people of the extreme distant past, and people while dreaming all think in a sort of primal, undirected sense. This \"fantasy\" thinking also occurs in adults while daydreaming, that is not guiding their thoughts in a word-associated or goal oriented way and just letting it flow. \n\nAdults are apparently educated (schooling, and in the trial-and-error sense) to the point that only directed/guided thinking is beneficial and yields a fruitful result, while the unconscious/id takes care of some of it's \"psychoid\" processes by indulging in fantasy thought through dreaming; of the day and while asleep variety. Seems there were studies that show that the more a person repressed their tendency to engage these undirected thoughts in the daytime, the more fantastic/phantasmagorical their dreams were to balance things out. (Check out Jung's \"On the Nature of the Psyche\" for a -good- explanation)",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Speak for yourself, I'm a LARP'er. Every other sunday for the past 2 years ive gotten together with roughly 100 other people in a field or elementary school parking lot pretending Im a spartan with a whole backstory with people pretending to be all sorts of other things with intricate backstories themselves. And then we beat the shit out of each other with foam weapons. Sometimes we gather for a whole weekend and campout in virginia and roleplay the whole time.\n\nIts the ultimate improv, if you wanna see more they actually made a documentary about our club that's actually quite good (albeit everyone is hamming it up for the cameras, so we all look a little extra crazy). We are called Darkon and can check out the movie on [Hulu](http://www.hulu.com/watch/68489/darkon). I'm a Laconian but joined after the movie was made.\n\nIf anyobdy in the DC/Baltimore area wants to add some creative spice to their life send me a pm and ill get you the info on upcoming events (ill arm you, all you need is black sweats and $7)",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I shot one of my goddamn toes off while playing pretend and that's all the lesson I needed. I DO NOT want my imagination back. I want my toe back.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Speak for yourself. LARPers, actors, and role-players still play pretend all the time. The difference is that we:\n\n1) have more rules surrounding the make-believe (because 'you got hit!' 'no I didn't!' was never fun)\n\n2) are less bored on a minute-to-minute basis (becoming literate was awesome)\n\n3) care more about what others will think when we act crazy (but who cares what they think Mr Bigglesworth?)\n\n4) lost our sense of play (sad).\n\nI think 4 is what you were thinking of, but I think it's not as common as you think. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I disagree. I feel perfectly at ease in imagining worlds and stories. I also believe authors and other artists would be quite proficient at utilizing their imaginations.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You can't? That sucks! Waiting for the bus is \"Waiting for the fuckin' space marine transport vessle\" I'm always following the car in front of me, not just driving behind it. I even put my arms out and run around the house making airplane noises. \n\nMy roommates and I go swimming once a week and spend the whole time on the bottom of the deep end \"defusing bombs\" in one way or another, SEAL style.\n\nCrawl from where you are to the furthest point in your house on your belly NOW!",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I just bought a 'grown up coat' basically a long wool overcoat. My girl was all proud of me...Until I started pretending to whip a machine gun out. I thought it was awesome to reach for my imaginary shoulder holster too.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Yes, young brains are definitely different. Those aspects, like visualization, imagination etc. decrease/change as a person ages. Those reflect fundamental qualitative physiological changes driven by the developmental process, not just the result of different use patterns.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "\"One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts get in the way of your imagination.\" -Sam Levenson\n\nexample: big poofy blankets are not fortresses, can they really protect you from big teeth and claws?! I'm 20, and I say yes. Absofuckinglutely. \n\nA good friend of mine once said that he thinks the way you play changes the second you remove the \"no girls allowed\" sign from your fort. I think it helps to have good friend/SO that can be silly and imaginative. I don't think it gets harder to pretend, I think it's just more apparent that you are alone when you are alone. My boyfriend is 26 and he shoots me with invisible guns almost every day. I don't think he does that when there's no one around. Maybe. >.>",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "lots of people do- but as grown ups they just do it differently- by joining an inprov group or being in plays- or by writing stories and making comics- or as a job as an artist or actor- also anyone who's around kids a lot for whatever reason can still play pretend whenever they want. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I think it's a social construct. As kids, we're supposed to play. As adults we are expected to be responsible. I'm betting there are lots of adults out there who would rather play video games than work. Also, why do you think Dave & Buster's exists? Because adults like to play too. But we're made to believe that we're immature and irresponsible if we do. \n\nIn terms of you feeling like you've lost your creativity or imaginative-ness or whatever, I think maybe it has to do with these social constructs becoming ingrained in your mind over time. Also, my future will be as a scientist, and I feel like I'm not the most creative person in the world. As a child, your brain is still developing and you're discovering shit tons of new things every day and it's kind of like a sensory overload almost I think. The type of person that you are to be interested in science, I think you'd have to be someone with a very logical thinking mind in the first place. I think the more logically and practically you look at things in life, the harder it is to tap into like a vivid or wild imagination. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I still make believe all the time, but in my head, in words. I narrate what I'm doing in my head as I go about life (comes from being an avid reader and write, I suspect), and as I'm doing that, a story will emerge. \n\nI am still in high school and have a lot of hopes and dreams for what I'll do as I grow older. Often, these will wind themselves into my daydreams... For example, I was at winter camp a few days ago. As I (ever a California girl) walked through the beautiful, wonderful, fresh snow, the words started to thread through my brain: reality first, then spiralling into fantasy... It's a lovely, free feeling.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I just had a pretend punching fight with my dog earlier tonight. excessive explosions and sound effects and all.\n\nThe other day I was changing the batteries on my remote and pretended it was a slow motion space ship docking procedure. again, excessive sound effects.\n\nI'm 33.\n\nYou're not naturally doing it because as an adult, you've usually got better things to do. Still, actively think about pretending for a bit and you'll get back into the habit of having a little fun with it every so often when you've got a minute.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Oh man. I have always been able to get lost in my thoughts or imaginings, but LSD takes it to a whole new level. LSD for me is like playing pretend, only I am the greatest actor in the world.\n\nI don't know if it has otherwise made my imagination more active, but it is a fun way to be amazed by the world in a new way and/or be a kid again.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "The only difference (for me) is that I can no longer include others in my 'pretend play'.\n\nI still pretend like I have super powers and blow up things while walking to and from classes. I also slow motion shadow box in front of the mirror.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "As we grow up, reality sets in and tarnishes our preception of what fun it was to just let life go on in the middle of your own mind... \r\n\r\nI WANT MY IMAGINATION BACK.\r\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "When I have trouble going to sleep, I have adventures. From the time I was seven to when I was, oh, eleven maybe, I developed a complex world with its own geography and culture, and I pick up a character in that world and explore until I fall asleep. Sometimes I'll be on the same adventure for a week or so. I stopped for a while (puberty, living with girlfriends, etc), but I'm twenty-four and I still go adventuring when I can. \n\nI like to think I'm stocking up on bedtime stories to tell my kids one day.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "What are you talking about? I'm always playing pretend.....\r\n\r\n\r\nthat I have a life and someday I'll find love =(",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "When I was 11 going to 12 I noticed I had a harder time pretending and playing. I decided I didn't wanted to go down that road and started to purposively and actively play and do crazy stuff. I tried to remember all the little things in my mind and daily activities from when I was a small kid.\n\nToday I'm 2 days away from becoming 23 and I have a lot of cool childhood memories. I still more or less understand how small kids think. I can still play. I have an office job, and sometimes I build little figurines from office equipment. I haven't gotten rid of my lego, tho I've moved to 3D modeling.\nI have dozens of trailer music CD's and whenever I'm bored I put them up and imagine the coolest things.\n\nI think clinging to my inner child like this has made me a happier and more complete person.\n\n\nAnyways. Here's some other stuff I do at the office. Don't tell my boss. Tho she kinda knows.\n\nThis was a chocolate bar which'd been too long in the sun and kinda trans-morphed into something rather mutanty.\n\nhttp://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/MadAce/DSC00001.jpg\n\nhttp://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/MadAce/DSC00002.jpg\n\nAnd this is my trusty electric stapler:\n\nhttp://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a68/MadAce/DSC00005.jpg\n\nOh, and about fight scenes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffJDNnxSgQ0 Did that back in high school. :-)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "in the us we do it daily, weekly, yearly and most importantly every 4 yrs.\n\nwe imagine we live in a country where we count, matter, have a say and our vote counts.\n\nwe americans have the best imagination ever!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Yeah, I don't understand why you can't do it. I do it all the time. My friends and I go out of our way to live as neo-Victorian lives as we possibly can, in fact, and we'll often (playfully) take on roles, such as the 'female chaperone for the outing,' 'the schoolmaster,' etc. \n\nMaybe we're just freaks. c_c \n\n...but we're damn good-looking freaks, I'll give us that. I just got the cutest little top hat~~~",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": ">I mean, are our brains different somehow?\n\nYes. The behavior you're talking about is common in young mammals, even if the subjective internal state we use to describe it might be unique. It's a biological state with a biological cause. We retain some aspects of that into adulthood, but it's like a sump where a hand used to be. You might be able to get some of the same functionality from a stump for simple things like pressing buttons, or be able to use a prostetic to get a small amount of functionality back (video games, to go back to the mind). But all in all, what's lost isn't going to be able to ever really grow back. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I don't play pretend anymore, either. But I do sit awake in bed at night when I can't sleep and \"write\" stories in my head that I never take the time to put on paper. I keep telling myself I'll write a book some day.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm 22, and I actually don't have a problem with this at all. There was a quote from somewhere [if someone knows, feel free to jump in.] \n\"It is only when we stop playing, that we become old.\"\n\nAnd for me, it's true. My toys are a little more sophisticated now (BJDs instead of Barbies), but I still play with stuffed animals and have a whole secret world built up around my stuffed ponies. One of them is a ninja who protects my partner and I while we sleep from other ninjas. -Nod-\n\nI dunno, I think it's all in how you look at things. You can tell yourself you're too old and grownup and mature to play and pretend, or you can continue to play all throughout your life and be happy you do. -shrug-",
"score": 3
}
] |
How do you use MPD? Various hacks, etc | I've written lots of small scripts that make my listen-to-music-experience nicer, including playlist handler, playlist randomizer, "mpdftp" that automagically upload current artist/album to an FTP of choice, etcetera. Some days ago, however, I discovered that the script that I've used the most, "mpdrand", for taking random tracks from the MPD db and add them to a new playlist and play them, suddenly stopped working. This was probably the first thing I ever wrote when I started using Gnu/Linux, so it's nothing fancy (but it DID work!):
mpc clear > /dev/null && mpc listall|sort -R|head -n 20|mpc add && mpc play > /dev/null
I guess that my music database is just overgrowed. Anyway, I'm currently in the works of rewriting this ugly piece of junk to perl, and hopefully it will work a lot better, and faster.
Enough shitting around; What are your favorite hacks that you use on a day-to-day basis?
**Edit:** If someone is interested, I got some scripts up at http://trapd00r.se/hacks/mpd-hacks/ . I don't know how up to date they are though.
| 46 | [
{
"body": "I created a web-based client for it. theory: http://theory.steelbreeze.org/ My Python is pretty bad, and this was my first project, but I still learned a lot.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "When I used MPD, I just used MPC from the command line, with a bunch of short aliases in my .bash_aliases file:\n\n alias p=\"mpc play %1\"\n alias s=\"mpc stop\"\n\n...stuff like that.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Back then when I still used Last.fm I had this script which got list of related artists from Last.fm API and added them to the playlist if they existed in the database. Script mimiced Amarok's dynamic playlist mode by adding new songs when the song is changed.\n\nCode is quite ugly but I put it available as a gist: http://gist.github.com/272790\n\nI'm not sure how well that works with current imlementation of MPD or Last.fm.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I don't use any hacks. Just mpd and ncmpcpp or qmpdclient. I'm not big on playlists, I usually just line up a few albums I'm in the mood for.",
"score": 3
}
] |
ask /r/fitness: What is your current fitness goal? | What is your current fitness level?
What's the goal of your current training regiment? Are you trying to gain or lose?
What's your current diet? | 7 | [
{
"body": "benchpress 1.25 x bodyweight, squat 1.5 x. Currently at around 1 x for both so some way to go on these.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "My fitness level is far faaaar below what it once was. Although not the abs, for some reason. Can't figure that out.\n\nMy current goal is a hundred push ups. Today. Not consecutive or the hundred-pushup-program. Just today. I will likely fail, but I plan on telling my brother to shout at me to get the last eighty done.\n\nMy current diet is full of cheese, cream and butter. It's awesome. I'll have my mashed potato bacon patties(or whatever, no clue how to translate) in just a moment.\n\nNow I'm just a little bit depressed and a little bit happy simultaneously. It's creepy :)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I may not be the most likely candidate at 215 lbs and 6'0\", but I am training for a marathon. My goal is to complete a half marathon as training for a full marathon.\n\nI will be using the Jeff Galloway method of training if anyone is interested.\n\nMy current fitness level is pretty good, I can run and swim pretty well. I eat just about whatever I want, but I stay away from junk food, desserts, and soda.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "* 6'1\", 225, excellent fitness level. I used to weight 285 and was all fat but I lost 100 pounds 8 years ago and have been putting on muscle (and a few chile verde burritos) since then. I've pretty much topped out at 225 with my current regimen and diet.\n* I am trying to stay at the same weight. I like it because I'm deceptively heavy and it helps out when I play hockey. I'm currently trying to increase my cardiovascular fitness and flexibility.\n* Since starting my weight loss and fitness regimen 8 years ago, I've never been a complete calorie counter. I read food labels very closely but only as a general guide. Nonetheless, generally, my 3 main daily meals consist of: BREAKFAST - Main: 2 egg sandwich with turkey \"ham\" and 2% lite Havarti between 2 slices of whole grain toast. Side: Rosemary roasted potatoes (which kick ass, if I may add). LUNCH: Boneless skinless chicken breast is a must. The rest is a rotation of brown rice, various beans, and various roasted vegetables. DINNER: More chicken and vegetables. I'll snack on almonds and various nuts throughout the day.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I dropped 30 lbs of mostly fat and 4 inches off my waist over the course of last summer, and completed my first half marathon in September. I started stronglifts in October, have since gained about 10 pounds of mostly muscle (no fat calipers, but waist size hasn't increased) and squatted my own weight for the first time yesterday.\n\nI'm hoping to do more of the same in the year to come; build muscle while it's cold out, then resume running a lot when the nicer weather gets here, reducing body fat in the process.\n\nIn short, I'm working to like what I look like in the mirror.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "i cook all my meals never eat fast foot haven't had Mcdonalds burger in 8 months I don't do diets anymore i never can be consistent with them because i always find them too restrictive because i love to cook and i can't see myself cooking the same meal majority of a week so i eat pretty much what i want excluding soda, fast food, and most sweets. my goal is to get as best defined ripped i have well defined legs but my upper body is still fatty so i have been focusing on that and cardio",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I might be setting my goals a bit high, but I want to be able to complete the [Tough Guy Assault Course](http://www.toughguy.co.uk/) in a few years. This is a bit of a stretch because I've only recently gotten into getting healthy, and breaking both my wrists a few months ago hasn't helped either.",
"score": 3
}
] |
UPDATE: I think I've lost the battle with my friend over horrible boyfriend. | Update from these posts [first Post](http://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/abtet/ladies_what_do_you_do_when_your_best_friend_is/) [ Second Post](http://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/addve/update_my_friend_with_the_controlling_boyfriend/)
My friend, I think has decided she would rather be with what I see as her abusive boyfriend, and in my last post concerning him most of you agreed, rather than being friends with me. We have been friends forever but now, I don't know who she has turned into, and I've tried to talk to her about it. But every time it turns into a big fight, and she just changes more. And this week has been the final straw for me. I've been trying to be myself around her, and extra nice to show her how much everyone cares about her, but she just is rude back and betrays me. Not to mention now my last hope of trying to help her is ruined, her sister is now dating my best friend's boyfriend's best friend and I had planned on trying to get her sister to help.
I'm feeling very depressed and lost. But I wanted to thank everyone who helped me. Thanks for all the wonderful advice and I owe everyone on this site A LOT! I just wished she could see how much I am trying and how much I care. | 18 | [
{
"body": "I read you're 2 other posts just now and want to let you know that the best you can do for her now is be supportive. I was in this situation for 8 years (i was the one being abused.) When I finally decided to leave him, I realized that I had pushed away all my friends and most of my family. Recently, I have started to talk to some of my family members about how \"stupid\" I was. When you are in that type of situation it sometimes isn't easy to see the warning signs from the \"inside.\" I was lucky enough to be able to salvage a few past friendships. I have since talked to them and apologized for what ever had happened. Your friend doesn't see what is going on. If you can try to keep in touch with her and be supportive in any way that you can. I know it will be hard to do, but in the end when \"the shit hits the fan\" she is going to need someone to \"fall back on.\" I'm sorry that this is happening to you but it isn't your or her fault and you have to remember that. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": ">her sister is now dating my best friend's boyfriend's best friend and I had planned on trying to get her sister to help.\n\nThis is the type of sentence that only women can understand on the first read. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "::sighs:: I'm so very sorry. You did everything you could. The way these things very often go, they'll only see it when it's too late. The best thing you can do now is carry on with your life and hope that it all turns out all right for her.\n\nIf she breaks free she may come looking for you and all I can advise is that you embrace her again.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "*hugs* I tried giving you advice in the past, and I know we had different approaches, but my heart goes out to you 120%. \n\n\nOnce he breaks her heart, she will realize what a fool she's been. It happens every time.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm sorry. Ending a friendship is horrible, especially one that was close. My thoughts and hugs are with you.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I've picked out the following because it jumped out at me:\n\n> I don't know who she has turned into, and I've tried to talk to her about it. But every time it turns into a big fight, and she just changes more.\n\n> And this week has been the final straw for me. I've been trying to be myself around her, and extra nice to show her how much everyone cares about her,\n\nWhat I'm reading here -- and this might be really off, I'm just taking the words from this page only -- but what I'm reading is that your friend did not believe that you were listening to her and gave up on you in frustration.\n\nShe can't just hang out with you, you keep forcing conversation back to how she's changing. In group settings she tries to be normal but you bring in fakey \"extra niceness\". Rather than say your piece and then move on (\"I'm currently not a fan of your boyfriend, but I'll shut up about it\") you're trying to involve her sister in some conspiracy to show her that You Are Right About Him. (A sister who for all we know hit off great with his friend and is fantastically happy honeymooning along in a brand-new totally not-abusive relationship.)\n\nBasically, you're NOT accepting what is happening in her life despite her multiple attempts to communicate. You're trying to maintain a co-dependent emotional drain on her and she's saying no. The abusive boyfriend and the enabling sister are sideshows. The real story is that your BFF relationship had major cracks to start with, and the boyfriend just exposed them.\n\n** I'm sorry that is so harsh, but that's what I'm seeing in your post. The real truth is surely something else besides what you know and the interpretation above.\n",
"score": 3
}
] |
Are LSD sugar cubes at all common these days? The price is at $15 a hit... | From what I've read that's a fairly high price. Are there certain questions I should be asking? I'll ask for dosage and reliability, but this is the first LSD dealer I've dealt with. | 10 | [
{
"body": "LSD on sugar cubes?\n\nNo, this isn't correct this is a low tier person that doesn't know enough as to how to protect themselves from the laws. \nHonestly, anything could be in those things claiming by some bozo to be LSD in order to get a higher price vs being honest and rattling off a long molecular name. \n\nThe reason why LSD is sold on blotter or other low weight carriers is not only because they're easy to hide. It's because the laws use a jailtime guide based upon the *weight* of the carrier and not the mcg estimate of the LSD itself. \nthe heavier the carrier the more jail time. \nIn the case of sugar cubes ... they've just increased the jail time from being perhaps one dosage (75mcg) to a thousands's worth of federal jail time.\n\nThe only time when sugar was used as a way to carry LSD was *before* it was made illegal and if someone gave a few doses to a friend at their house.\n*never* as a sale item.\n\nBottom line: \n-it's too much to pay\n-the person isn't likely to know what they really have\n-whatever they actually do have is likely to be \"watered down\" or cut in some way.\n\npass this one on by... \n\n",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "i've seen LSD on sugar cubes a few times. If the person has a vial they can drop it on pretty much anything. $15 is pricey though. I normally won't pay over $8 a hit.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Don't trust anything he says about his product. It's his job to sell product, not to make friends. $15/hit is highway robbery. Try to haggle down a little, at least. It sounds like he's making at least 2x on what he paid, there.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I've definitely had real sugar cubes, but not in about 10 years ... \n\nEDIT: 99% chance someone is trying to rip you.",
"score": 3
}
] |
I'm looking for political forums that don't necessarily agree with me, but are intelligent | It's hard to discuss politics on the internet because most people are idiots. I'd like to find a forum somewhere that isn't completely far-left-leaning like me, but in which people post coherently.
I've been reading stuff like Foreign Policy lately and it'd be fun to discuss this with intelligent people that don't *alway* agree with me. | 13 | [
{
"body": "I have actually had more enlightened conversations here than most anywhere else I have tried. However, I am content with my conversation not being at the top of the list. I find a topic and start talking...someone may or may not respond. If they do, voila, conversation. If not, maybe some other time.",
"score": 6
}
] |
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo | So I bought this book a few months back because Amazon wouldn't shut the fuck up about it or The Time Traveler's Wife. Both books are amazing, and it took me a little bit before I looked up the author and realized he died. I was sad about reading that line but instantly happy to read that the book was one of a triology. I've read the second one, but the third one isn't "released" in the United States yet, but it's in England. WTF?
Any British redditors picked up the third book? I'm thinking of signing up for amazon.co.uk and having it sent to my iPhone. | 12 | [
{
"body": "US fan - I paid the $$$ for the third book to be shipped from UK and it picks up exactly where the second book leaves off. And yes, it is worth any amount of money to get it months and months ahead of the US release. ",
"score": 4
}
] |
Side scrolling shooters, who likes them? | ***Some of my faves:***
-
R-type Final *(for PS2, looked incredible the last time I played it)*
-
Einhander for PS1 *(Squaresoft made a SSS?)*
-
A bunch for Sega Genesis *(Air flash, hellfire a few more)*
Are there any for Windows? (natively run)
Any good ones on consoles let me know too and I'll try 'em out on an emulator...
**EDIT:**
I guess I didn't specify, I prefer flying style/spaceship type shooters. | 7 | [
{
"body": "Just horizontal scrollers, or vertical ones as well? Side connotes horizontals, so here are some of those off the top of my head:\r\n\r\n* Gradius series (Various)\r\n* Progear (Arcade)\r\n* Axelay (SNES. Alternates between vertical and horizontal stages.)\r\n* Pulstar and Blazing Star (Neo-Geo)\r\n* [Tumiki Fighters](http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/windows/tf_e.html) (PC)\r\n* Bike Banditz (PC)",
"score": 4
}
] |
What jobs are available in the field of anthropology? | My girlfriend is majoring in anthropology and while her and I both thoroughly enjoy the content of the discipline, I've always been curious about what her job prospects will be once she has her degree. | 15 | [
{
"body": "Think of a BA/BS in anthropology as a glorified liberal arts degree. When employers see it they immediately think...Indiana Jones? You can get into lab work in the pharma field, starting pay blows, or you can go into research, but with out a masters it's really similar to having a degree like art history, english, history,etc. It is useful to show that you finished college but hard to get a job in the field of anthro.\n\nYou could get a job in forensics lab if you study bio anth, or do field work internships which tend to be in the middle of nowhere.\n\nDepends on waht you want to do. I ended up in the IT field. Who knows. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Anything you want just about. Seriously you can work in academia to working for GM. You might help create policy in government or work as a liaison for social services or for business that deal with international or multi-cultural clientele. You may work for a PAC as an expert witness for certain agriculture practice effect on humans/landscape. You may not market the anthropology degree as much as the skills you learned getting it but when people act like it's a bad degree for employment I always get a little confused.\n\nYou might be interested in [Applied Anthropology](http://www.amazon.com/Applied-Anthropology-Perspectives-Contemporary-Practice/dp/0205414095/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263022639&sr=8-1), a book which explores the subject very well or a book that is really straight to the point \"[Great Jobs For Anthropology Majors](http://www.amazon.com/Great-Jobs-Anthropology-Majors/dp/0071437339/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263022344&sr=8-1).\"\n\nA lot of that you can do just fine with a BA/BS.",
"score": 6
}
] |
DAE Hate DVD Cases with locking side-tabs? | I mean, c'mon, what's with those things? Are DVD's escaping or something to the point where we need small plastic locks on the sides of our cases? | 63 | [
{
"body": "The only thing worse is when the dvd cases have the nipple of death gripping the dvd. I alway feel like I'm gonna snap the thing in half....",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Ugh, yes. They're horrible. After I open the DVD for the first time I usually cut or rip those terrible little things off.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "its so you cant just slip a razorblade through the plastic and steal the dvd out of the casing in about 5 seconds. now you have to unwrap the whole side and undo the clips. It seriously like triples the time needs to steal that fucking disc.",
"score": 4
}
] |
Help me find the title to a book I started to read a while back. | I never been an avid reader since I get so easily distracted but some years ago (2-3) I started reading a book that started with a guy waking up in a bathroom and not remembering anything, he would then go outside and sense that he was being followed eventually getting captured and taken into a an empty room (this last part might wrong), the whole thing appeared to be very similar to the first Bourne Identity movie.
I remember the book cover being red/black but don't remember much about it. Any help would be awesome. | 5 | [
{
"body": "I am pretty sure you are thinking of Code to Zero by Ken Follett. Follett has written a number of very good books IMHO, including this one.\nIt's even red and black. Cheers :-)",
"score": 3
}
] |
/r/Books what do you think the future of books is? | I was wandering through a used book store today and I'm incredibly conflicted. I absolutely adore book stores (both chain and non chain) because they type of people (especially in the non chain stores) tends to be awesome. You get to meet incredibly literate, well spoken people and on top of that you can find amazing books and support talented authors. However... I own a Kindle 2 and I'm in love with that as well. The fact that I can now get classics for free and most new books for $10, coupled with the fact that I can crank up the font for my bad eyes means I read 10x faster on my Kindle and I'm finding myself getting through more books and my space is less cluttered.
What do you think the future of printed books is?
Last thought... I do think there will always be a market for some things. I own a copy of "America in Space". It's huge and beautiful and I cannot fathom a way to duplicate the experience of hauling that tome out and leafing through it with a digital device. | 6 | [
{
"body": "I love books, I love libraries, I love the feel of paper, I love the smell of old books. I think there are too many people in the world who feel the same as I do to let the bound book die out. Digital media will rise, but I don't think books will fall.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "There are too many bibliophiles out there for traditionally books to simply disappear. Instead, I see the future moving towards print-on-demand. You can take an e-book, and have it printed and bound while you wait in whatever format you please.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "How about a combination of physical and digital? You could have a physical book with blank pages, each page being a sheet of e-paper. You then download digital books into it, and the digital pages get mapped onto the e-paper pages.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Well, I *hope* the future of books is that authors (and editors) are compensated financially, and their works are released as public goods, available to everyone. This seems far saner than artificially limiting the spread of books, and having middleman corporations be in control.\n\n(In the US, people think this has to be done by some top-down government agency, like the old Soviet Union or something, but it can be done in a democratic manner.)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I think physical books will eventually just be catering to the collector's market. They'll probably hang around a while due to the nostalgia of the generations that have grown up with them, but as new generations start growing up where the primary access to reading matter is electronic, they'll lose mindshare. There'll be a market in the same way there's a market for stamp collectors, but they'll be catering to the crowd that collects first editions and signed copies - a *much* smaller clientele. The paperback will probably die out completely, and instead we'll see smaller numbers of high quality, expensive limited editions instead.\n\nPersonally, I'll be glad to see them go. I *do* love books, but the thing I *most* love about them is that they are a media for the *text*. Their physical qualities are always secondary - nice but not indespensible. Balanced against that, their *negative* physical qualities compared to e-books, *do* add up.\n",
"score": 3
}
] |
Is it possible to experience a concussion without receiving an actual strike to the head? | I was just curious, looking back at my past on concussions and whatnot today. Now I am not someone who went without receiving a few from sports growing up (incase this plays a part). However, I had one experience when I was a high school senior that seems vaguely similar to them, but I never told anybody. It wasn't from any kind of contact, but when I was in church then I went blind for a period of time that I can't remember and it had this sensation that I experienced other times after concusions where it is similar to if you inhale water through your nose (closest comparison I can make).
Can someone tell me what may have caused this as well as if it is possible to receive concussions without a blow to the head? | 8 | [
{
"body": "An aural migraine perhaps. When I was a bit younger, one day on my way back home from school I noticed a spot in my field of vision that resembled the type of image that might be left behind after looking at a bright light. Well, this spot didn't dissipate. It slowly grew over a period of time until it overtook my whole field of vision until I couldn't see. I was freaking out pretty bad thinking I'd never be able to see again. My vision returned after an hour or so, but a horrible migraine followed. I had my vision checked out by my doctor and she said it was an aural migraine and that they were fairly common.\n\n>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(symptom)\n\n(Epilepsy not required)\n>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scintillating_scotoma",
"score": 6
}
] |
TIL that Georges Ruggiu, the Italian-Belgian who incited the Rwandan Genocide through his radio propaganda in Rwanda, was granted early release by Italy this year April and is now walking free. | [Wikipedia link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Ruggiu)
[This is how he looks](http://www.sudplanete.net/_uploads/images/films/RUGGUI_Georges_2009.jpg)
| 17 | [
{
"body": "that's very disappointing. first, disappointing that he only got 12 years. second, that he didn't even serve the 12 years. third, than a western \"legit\" nation violated a UN security council statute (sort of, as the ICTR was set up by the UN security council).\n\nanyway, everyone involved ought to be ashamed of themselves.",
"score": 3
}
] |
I'm a cam girl... and I love it! AMA | I make great money, I still have a boyfriend to come home to, and I all I have to do is get naked. Ask me whatever you want!
EDIT: going to bed now... goodbye reddit see you tomorrow! | 85 | [
{
"body": "I was just on a cam site, for obvious reasons, and it made me stupidly depressed.\n\nDo you ever get depressed with the whole thing? Whether it be from your own point of view 'I'm having people watch me do sex acts for money', from their point of view 'hundreds of poor guys are so alone they have to pay for female attention' or from the point of view of society 'we've got to a point where it's far too easy to see a large percentage of people getting naked.'\n\nI don't know. Something about it makes me so sad. This one girl I was just watching was so beautiful. I wondered what was going through her head (probably: MONEY! MONEY! MONEY) and I wondered what was going through the head of the other viewers (probably: SEX! SEX! SEX!) Are these really healthy ideologies to hold?\n\nPlus the whole thing seems so fake and pointless. The girl doesn't care for you, or love you. Yet I imagine for a lot of guys this is their only outlet for a connection with a woman. The woman is playing a game, pretending she does love you or whatever. Urgh.\n\nI know this makes me a bit of a hypocrite as I was one of those men watching her...but I would never pay for such things. If I was rich though, possibly I would.",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "What are some of your favorite books in your library, and what are the top 3 books that have influenced your world view?",
"score": 28
},
{
"body": "I think this would be a rare occasion on reddit where people wouldn't cry spam if you linked to your site. Bonus if you hold a sign that says reddit to get a star.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Have you no respect for yourself?! Jesus DAMNS YOUR SOUL! \n\n***Only kidding, I'll be watching this with some interest.\n\n*puts in monacle while puffing on pipe*",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Oh! I thought of another one. Can you recommend a good web cam that isn't too expensive. That is of course unless you just use feed off of a video camera.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I dissaprove of your career because I, as a man, cannot do it as well. There, I said it.\n\nOk, seriously though, congrats on the sweet job. It sounds like you're putting yourself through college with it. What do you want to do when you finish? Are you going to keep doing the cam-girl gig after finish? ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "How much do you make in a month by average? Even better, do you have statistics? It would be interesting to see when men are the horniest in a year :D",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Do you worry about, or have you ever had a problem with someone recording a session and then distributing it for free on the web?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I thought about doing that... easy money. How did you get into it, and what do you need to do it (besides the obvious, a webcam, lol!)?\n\nDo you have your own website, or is there a pay site you use?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "When you post your ad on Craigslist, how many responses do you typically get for each ad? Let's say if you were to post for a city like Atlanta or Boston. When you post, do you do a few cities at a time or will you post on 10 or more at once?\n\nFor all of those responses, what percentage of people actually become paying customers?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "i'm a part time camgirl too, but i was wondering how you found the site you currently use/how did you get your clientele? I'd like to be more successful at what I do (as you have) but I don't always know where to go",
"score": 3
}
] |
Reddit: I go in for a transplant surgery on tuesday. I just wanted to say hi before I leave for the hospital. | I have a transplant surgery for this Tuesday. I just wanted to say hi to everyone. I know I will be out for quite some time and this wont be on the page when I come back. And I am not trying to be any karma whore. I just wanted to say hi to everyone and bye if I dont make it back for some shittiest reason. | 95 | [
{
"body": "I had a kidney transplant 6 weeks ago and I'm already heaps better than I was before. So best of luck with everything and I hope it goes great for you.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "i had a kidney transplant-the first week or so sucks bet it gets better every day. And if you eat right you can keep it for a long time- It's been 9 years for me and I haven't had one problem.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Wouldn't darwin lose if you managed to cheat death via technology? Or are you planning to change it when you come out alive?",
"score": 3
}
] |
Hey Redditors (jobless or not): If you hate cops so much, why not join the force and try to change things from the inside? | Serious question, no disrespect intended. I just thought it would be an interesting conversation starter. | 23 | [
{
"body": "Because the cops that get in the way like that usually either wind up desk jockeys or get fired?\n\nIt's the same as any other job. Gone are the days where you can throw a spanner in the works and have the whole corrupt organisation crumble while you laugh with glee. These days the cogs of the machine will just chew the wrench up, spit it out, and bill you for the inconvenience.",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "If I get food-poisoning at a restaurant, I do not open my own restaurant - I sue.\n\nYou shouldn't have to justify a complaint or negative comment about a police officer getting away with unprofessional or illegal conduct, by actually dedicating your entire professional life to trying to become police commissioner.",
"score": 23
},
{
"body": "Several years ago I was part of the NYPD's civilian police officer program also known as the \"Auxiliary Police\". I volunteered every week sometimes as much as 12 hours. I used to wonder why so many people hated the police and gave them such a hard time and because my family would not allow me to join the military i still felt like i had to do some kind of civic service for New York City after 9/11. So i signed up to join the Auxiliary police program in my local precinct. Ever since, i've been involved in foot chases, I've settled disputes, and responded to car accidents involving injuries/deaths. We never got paid for what we did and we never got bulletproof vests for what we did but i enjoyed what i was doing while i was there.\n\nBut i stopped doing it for reasons i can't elaborate on right now. I've seen a lot of things that most civilians don't get to see within a police station. I've seen cops falsify police reports and a bunch of other things that make you question \"professionalism\" on the force. This is not to say there aren't decent officers, but when you've been involved with the program you see a lot more things most outsiders don't get to see and honestly i can't say i don't agree with those who despise cops.\n\nI can do an IAMA, if my post generates enough curiosity. However i suspect that most of you figure that a real cop posting an IAMA has already been done and hence a civilian one not be needed.\n\nEdit: I wanted to add that civilian cops aren't treated fairly in the force, despite their likelihood of running into the same dangers regular officers often face even if we choose to avoid it.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Up until about a month ago I was a cop. The majority of what goes on in the station, on the road and on the beat is pretty above board. Now the problem is the 1-2% of the time when it isn't. I saw some serious bad shit go down just because my fellow officers thought it was the right thing, judge and jury and all that shit. I got lit up not once, but twice because I refused to arrest someone after being told to by my supervisor (Sgt.). I am sorry but there was absolutely NO reason these two individuals should have been hooked up. It was just some of the more jackass officers and a supervisor on a power trip. Long story short I got a meeting with a Lt. on both occasions. Lt. \"Just assume they are lying to you. You can always apologize later.\" Wow so much for civil rights and all that stuff.\n\nAs far as the job goes. It was fucking crazy. There was a standard that everyone was expected to meet. We were on a 12 hour shift and to meet the \"standard\" the \"historical performance expectation\" (not a quota mind you, haha) would take you 2 hours if you were incredibly slow (this is day shift). So basically for the other 10 hours you could do what you wanted. Some officers even went home and basically kicked their feet up for the majority of the day. Funny thing was if you dared go out and be a hard charger, I.E. doing the job for anything more then that 2 hours, you could expect to have a little chat with a supervisor. Keep in mind that this office had one of the highest levels of activity in the state.\n\nNights were basically the same deal. Go out and hook up one guy a night per car and you were good. My partner and I had it down to about 2 hours from the time the lights went on till we were back out looking for another one. Of course when our numbers started getting to high it was another meeting and \"slow it down\".",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "The cynic in me says the problems are so intrinsic to the institutions themselves even a do-gooder with the best of intentions has his hands tied trying to enact real and lasting change.\n\n\nCf. Barack Obama, The Wire, Chinatown.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Because I'd be arrested, have drugs planted on me and have 18 cops testifying against me within a week.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think [this](http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil.html) explains a bit too, (well worth the watch)\n\nI personally wouldn't want many of these redditors among other critiques in the world in the force.",
"score": 4
}
] |
What are the best and cheapest websites to buy cards from? | My first option when buying is to go to my local store, but he sometimes doesn't have what I'm looking for. I've shopped at both Trollandtoad.com and whiteliongames.com, but never really anywhere else because they all seem to have the same prices. Does anyone know of other websites that offer good prices? | 5 | [
{
"body": "CoolStuffinc.com is my biased choice. (Full disclosure before you read any further - I currently work for them.) But it was before I went to work for them. They had a lot of cards, always what I wanted, and nearly always the low prices. Sure some of the other outlets would be lower but never lower and having all the cards I needed.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I won't buy from anyone who canceled people's preorders for Zendikar to resell the cases at a higher price. That means you, Channelfireball and you, too, starcitygames.",
"score": 3
}
] |
How do you break the awkwardness of a Facebook defriending? | I was recently defriended by someone on Facebook in the middle of a chat while I switched computers. I'm not quite sure how to react to this.
a bit of background: I'm a male, she's a female, we're both single, I was talking about BDSM with her, she was comfortable with the topic, and as far as I know I wasn't being rude or imposing. | 3 | [
{
"body": "Send her a message and say you noticed that she deleted you. Ask her if it was something you said, and if it was, that you're sorry if you offended her, and that it's just that you felt comfortable chatting with her and for her to not take it too seriously. Your job is done -- you've dealt with the issue so that you can feel at peace, and the ball is in her court. If she responds, take it from there. If she doesn't, then *honestly* she is not worth your trouble. Just let it go and don't worry about it.\n",
"score": 3
}
] |
Could there be a decent secular case in favor of saving sex until marriage? | The thread about the value of sex got me thinking.
I found out a while back that my parents were each other's sole sexual partners in life. Their marriage is the strongest and healthiest I've ever seen.
And then there's my current girlfriend and myself... I'm a virgin, and she made it clear from the start that she's saving sex til marriage. I kinda fear that /r/sex/ers will tune out right there, but it's not for religious reasons. She just wants to have one thing that she has only ever shared with her eventual husband, and that one thing may as well be the one thing that can produce a child.
As a liberal soul, I didn't think much for saving sex for marriage, for all the reasons you can name. But over time I've come to see her point. Things just seem more special when they're exclusive, you know? If she had sex with any guy who looked at her, it wouldn't feel much tied to love when I got it, and the principle works on the other extreme, too. I know that it would be special all the same, but in terms of the very real symbolic meaning that we assign to our actions, I think this might be for the best.
I'm a bit afraid that making this point will be like arguing for religion in /r/atheism, but I'm curious to hear your reactions and opinions. | 29 | [
{
"body": "Every argument I've heard, including this one, skirt a certain puritanical ideal. They insist that sex must be more special between two partners who have signed a lifetime exclusivity contract.\n\nThis always seems to me to imply that sex outside of a lifetime commitment is somehow dirty, and devalues an individual as a sexual and romantic partner. Sometimes it plays onto fears that one is getting involved with someone far more experienced. What if she's had better sex? Maybe her ex boyfriend was more skilled, or had a bigger dick? Maybe I can never measure up? Other times, it's rooted in jealousy. How can I come to grips with my lover kissing, writhing, moaning and giggling and fucking and screaming and sharing something so personal with another man, a stranger to me, before I even appeared on the scene?\n\nUltimately, the whole thing reeks of that ancient idea wherein an unmarried non-virgin is considered \"damaged goods\".\n\nIf I were to make a secular argument, I'd make it scientific and analytical. If we are both born without sexually transmitted diseases, then surely choosing one partner for life makes sense. We run a far lesser chance of contracting something horrible and sharing it with our partner. Think of it as a health benefit.\n\nWe are all free to come to our own conclusions on this topic. Most accept that they themselves have had sexual partners in the past, and so has their partner, and that it's irrelevant because their relationship together is a powerful, unique and most importantly *completely unrelated* thing not to be confused with past experiences.\n\nIf you don't already, I recommend that you google a column called Savage Love. The writer, Dan Savage, is a sex advice columnist with an extremely straightforward, open-minded, humorous and healthy attitude toward all types of sexual relationships.\n\nI don't expect it to change your behavior, but it will offer some very interesting perspectives. Plus, it *always* makes for great reading.\n\nBest of luck to both of you as you figure it all out.\n\n**Edit:** [Here's a link to the Savage Love archive](http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=3150577). Happy reading!",
"score": 39
},
{
"body": "Sounds like a great idea to me. I think the key lies in not insisting that this is the best situation for everyone, which is really the problem that I have with the religious purity stance.\n\nMy boyfriend and I had previous sex partners, and I think it has been way more beneficial than harmful. We have a wonderful close relationship, and I don't feel that he is any less mine because he's has sex with other girls.\n\nTo each his/her own.",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "Personally I think you just gave a perfectly reasonable secular case. This is something you and your girlfriend have decided it would be special to share together after you've made that commitment. You could choose to wait to share dessert until after marriage but you happened to choose sex. Physiologically sex is a complex mix of emotions and wonderful physical feelings and I think one could argue that not too many other activities included that level of intimacy and it is a bit different than sharing dessert. You haven't made statements or judgments about sex universally needing to be saved for marriage or those who have sex before marriage being unpure, unclean, or less than yourselves. You've both simply agreed that this is something you both happen to believe and want to do for yourselves. That's your secular argument right there - 2 people agreeing something is important to them, allowing for the possibility that in the future they may feel differently, but working towards the future with a similar goal in mind and without passing judgment on others for believing differently. That's how I see it anyway! ",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": ">I found out a while back that my parents were each other's sole sexual partners in life. Their marriage is the strongest and healthiest I've ever seen.\r\n\r\nOn the flip side, my mother and her first husband (were) each other's sole sexual partners, and their marriage lasted all of two years. Be careful of sampling biases.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Why *should* it be exclusive? Seems like you could apply the same general argument to any positive interaction between people. \n\n(Bad analogies incoming) Only talk in a friendly way with *one* person? Only listen to music with *one* group of friends (to save the analogy, suppose you could insist on turning the music off when hanging out with other friends ;))? Only build up trust with one person? etc...\n\nOf course there are all kinds of differences between such things and sex; the relevant similarity is that these are good things which don't directly diminish in value when shared (of course sex would *indirectly* diminish in value when shared, due to your preference for exclusivity :) But whether such a preference is desirable is the topic, isn't it?).\n\nOf course it's a matter of taste :) I think my taste is just biased against exclusivity in general...\n\n(Male) virgin here too btw, so the above is pure speculation.\n\nP.S.: I'm *not* arguing for cheating here; obviously lying and deception are not acceptable in a close relationship. Agreed-upon polyamory is a different matter.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "The thing is, sex is different just about every time. Even with the same partner, one time you guys can just have a quickie to satisfy you both, or you can have slow, soulful sex where you're both all lovey dovey afterward, or you can have wild crazy hot monkey sex, where you both collapse in a sweating heap afterward. The special thing about sex is that the people doing it are the ones making it special. It doesn't have anything to do with the act itself.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'm not religious. I would consider myself an atheist. I don't put sex on a pedestal or think its this special thing that should only be between married people. However I'm looking at it from purely mechanical reasons. If you have sex there is a chance you could get your partner pregnant. \n\nThe only way I would want to bring a child into this world is if I was married. The only obvious 100% true way of making sure this won't happen is to save sex until marriage.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I just can't see the wisdom in making that strong of a commitment without knowing whether you are sexually compatible. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The secular case is that people get to do what they want and you stay out of there lives. So if it works for you, good on you.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Have you ever watched 2 people who've never touched a racket before try to play tennis?\n\nI'm not going to touch the morality issue, but you should know that the first time you have sex, you are going to be relatively terrible at it (at least, compared to how good you will be with experience). Good sex requires conditioning, technique, and knowledge (womens' sexual triggers are all over the fucking place, but the general method to learn a new partner is always the same).\n\nNow, I don't personally know anyone who's *actually* waited until marriage to have sex, but I think the stereotype of the disappointing first time after waiting for 10 years is a reasonable assumption. Sex is a skill like any other. The only time that someone can jump in and be awesome at something they've never done before is in a movie.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The only rule in sex is do what you think you want to do without hurting others or yourself (too much).\r\n\r\nIn that case: if you want to save sex until marriage, go ahead and do it!",
"score": 3
}
] |
Hey Reddit - Where should I go on the west coast? | I'm in Vegas now, been here for a week. I have to be in San diego on January 30th. Until then... I have my car, a tent, an air matress, a bike...
Where should I go? What should I see? | 11 | [
{
"body": "I'd suggest wine country.\n\nBut then, I like wine.\n\nI'd also suggest Portland.\n\nBut then, I like beer.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "San Francisco. Golden Gate Bridge, the park, the waterfront, walk around North Beach. The head north to Muir Woods. Its where they filmed the forest scenes of return of the jedi. Nuff said. Also- Yosemite!",
"score": 3
}
] |
I am finishing up a 6-month sentence with an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet. AMAA | I will be stingy with facts relating to location, though I will say I am in Ohio.
I was sentenced to six months of the SCRAM bracelet ( along with 12 days in jail, 18 months probation, two AA classes a week for the duration of probation, a 72-hour DUI school in a hotel, as well as a two-year license suspension and ~$700 in fines)in August for my second DUI (blew a .134 while allegedly doing 38 in a 25 in the late afternoon)
Product website [here](http://www.alcoholmonitoring.com/).
AMAA | 7 | [
{
"body": "Why do you feel the need to continuously use a motor vehicle when you are so far under the influence that it would be difficult to see, let alone drive, straight? Why are you so cavalier when it comes to the danger these actions put other drivers in, as evidenced by your willingness to perform them?",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I should add a bit about the technology behind it.\n\nIt is a half-pound plastic box about 2\"x2\"x1\" that analyzes a sample of my sweat every half hour and transmits the accrued data 3 times a week when I hook its modem and activate the bracelet by holding a magnet to a certain spot which then transmits a wireless signal to the modem, which then transmits the data to a server, which a county SCRAM officer keeps track of on his office desktop.\n\nI am advised against using cologne and bodywash and cannot submerge the device, though I can shower in it.\n\nA positive alcohol read means jail for up to 165 days (I have served 15 days incarcerated total with my sentence of 180 days suspended if I do x, y and z [see above].",
"score": 5
}
] |
DAE get depressed when they find out someone deleted your comment on their page? | When using Facebook or Myspace for example. I commented on a girls FB status and now found out she just deleted it. Looking back I now realize how thoroughly creepy I came off. Nevertheless, anyone just feel like a huge loser when this happens? | 12 | [
{
"body": "It means we are losers. You said it yourself:\n\n>I now realize how thoroughly creepy I came off\n\nThis not creepy manner of commenting is something we must work on together.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Please help translate ANTI-PROROGATION posters! | Hi fellow Canadian Redditors,
I recently volunteered to make some posters/flyers for upcoming anti-prorogation rallies and am requesting Reddit Canada's help in translating the text into French. I know a little French, but do not speak it on a daily basis and thus, am unable to translate it into something that captures the message I am trying to convey.
The text reads:
Canadians for democracy, not prorogation!
Rally to Restore Parliament
January 23, 2009
1pm-5pm
If you're interested in joining the cause, the website is [www.noprorogue.ca](http://www.noprorogue.ca) and you can download the Toronto version of the posters [here](http://imgur.com/8hzix&mh7PN&Zg5ngl)
Thank you! | 4 | [
{
"body": "Here you go:\n\nLES CANADIENS POUR LA DÉMOCRATIE! \nPAS LA PROROGATION \nManifestation pour rétablir le parlement -- Avec ou sans Harper! \nLe 23 janvier 2009 13h00 - 17h00\n\nThat's as literal as I could get, but it could probably be made punchier if some reformulation is permissible. Perhaps 'Les canadiens disent: Oui à la démocratie! Non à la prorogation!' 'Manifestation' could be shortened to 'Manif' for a more populist tone. Also, note that your text reads 'restore parliament' but the poster you linked to uses 'resume'.\n",
"score": 5
}
] |
Hey Reddit, What everyday low-tech product design flaw bothers you the most? | Mine is when they make the glue on cereal bags stronger than the bags themselves making it impossible to neatly tear it open. Drives me nuts. | 8 | [
{
"body": "No, the worst is when the glue on the cereal boxes, or any box for that matter, is stronger than the cardboard. Thus, you tear the cardboard into different layers, rendering the stupid flap thing useless. So now your box looks like [Crab Man](http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/pincers-1.jpg) tried to open it.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I hate when a product encased in soft plastic has a small tear to get it going, but due to manufacturing error, the tear is in a terrible place and you can't open it right.\n\nThe other day I was making instant noodles and the packet of sauce had the tear right in the middle of the packet. I went with it and ended up with kung pao sauce all over my bathrobe and the floor, and almost none on the noodles. One of the most depressing lunches ever.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "The hand baskets at supermarkets. When you rest your arm by your side while holding it, you have to twist it so you don't whack it against your knees. Having the handles go length wise would be better, and I think it every time I walk into a supermarket.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "All the pieces of crap that apparently went straight from design to manufacture without any testing whatsoever. Random example : We have a child's bath ducky that, when put in the bath, capsizes and floats upside down.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Meaning of Radiohead's song "Kid A" | Supposedly, Thom Yorke had to distort his voice to sing this song in order to distance himself away from the song's "brutal and horrible" nature. I was just wondering what exactly the lyrics in the song meant. They seem somewhat depressing to me but not too such an extent that Yorke would refuse to sing them normally. Thanks. | 11 | [
{
"body": "Quite a few of their songs are violent. Not in the gangsta drive-by kind of way, but more like a psychotic serial-killer.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I know a lot of Thom's lyric writing is similar to the \"Hail to the Thief\" album cover in that he writes down many phrases that come to his mind then pulls together a few that seem to fit a particular song's feeling. A lot of song writers use methods similar to this. In the end you create a story around the phrases that you have pieced together then use that story to help produce and play/sing the song. I would bet that this song was written in that manner.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I've always seen it as a song about the band. \n\n>I slipped away\nI slipped on a little white lie\n\nBuilding themselves up as something they aren't. I've heard Thom can be pretty cold and that the band hates their own single Creep that made them popular.\n\n>We got heads on sticks\n\nYou got ventriloquists\nThe heads on sicks being the band and then the label, magazines, and so own manipulating that lie further.\n\n>Standing in the shadows at the end of my bed\n\nUnable to sleep given all the lies. \n\n>Rats and children follow me out of town\nCome on, kids . . . \n\nHe's now the piper for something he doesn't believe in.\n\n\n\nThough a bunch of random phrases is hard to stick together. The robotic like voice really helps tie it all together for me.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Reddit: Im 18, shes 24, Thinking of dating, what could go wrong? | shes out of college..
im in my senior year of high school..
she is into me and I am into her..
not for sexual reasons or anything to do with money or possessions or looks...
what should I look out for? what could go wrong?
I have never dated someone almost 7 years older...ive been with a few girls before..she has been with a few guys..were both good people in general...have so much in common and a great time together
I generally think age doesn't matter..just how they act and are as a person.
also..dont worry about college..Im going to one locally so if it goes well Im still here :)
give me any advice or tips with the age gap? | 4 | [
{
"body": "You could wake up on your 30th birthday and exclaim \"My God, I could have been nailing more high school chicks!\"",
"score": 6
}
] |
The saddest thing in the world | 15 hours ago I became a father to the most beautiful girl in the world. Her skin and long black hair are the softest things I've ever felt. Every time I handle her I feel like I'm going to break her. She is so peaceful, content and quiet. She doesn't cry very much and when she does it sounds like a kitten.
When I changed her diaper for the first time she peed and not having something to soak it up, her onesie was soaked. She cried the loudest I had heard all day, and the combination of the lack of sleep, the worries of being a new dad, and the feeling of love for my new daughter made me tear up.
My daughter's cry is the saddest thing in the world. | 8 | [
{
"body": "Noooooo...you are mistaking sadness for intense emotional release :-)\n\nShe will get louder, less peaceful, but much more fun. (Oh, and the next time you change her, it will probably be astonishing amounts of dark stuff from god-knows-where inside her tiny bowels. True but surprising if you haven't been warned!) Best times for dads are ahead - you relaxing in a comfy chair with her sleeping flat out on your chest, her ear on your heartbeat. Congratulations on the birth of your new daughter. :-)",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "She is beautiful.... Congratulations! And, by the way, get used to lots of worry and not much sleep. It doesn't end for a VERY long time :)\r\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm sorry sir, but it doesn't sound like a sad thing at all! Congrats on your daughter and wish you all the best! :)\n\n\nOn the other hand, if there actually is a reason for you to be sad when she cries (which all normal babies should), I guess it's cris du chat from your cat-comparison? If so, I am sorry for you. Hope you will love her just as much.\n\n\nIn either case, I wish u all the best!",
"score": 3
}
] |
MEN of reddit, what do you GUYS think of stretch marks, REALLY? | I'm a young girl, I'm not obese or anything, but I've fluctuated in weight a lot for the last few years, and it's left unsightly stretch marks on my stomach. I personally think it's gross and am way embarrassed by them. My boyfriend doesn't seem to mind and kisses my stomach all the time. I don't know how he does this, it grosses me out so much and makes me so uncomfortable. He's thin and in shape and adorable, and all his exes are skinny. So basically I'm being really insecure, but what do guys honestly think of a little belly fat and some stretch marks? Is it as gross as I think it is or do you guys not really care that much? | 55 | [
{
"body": "Does not make a difference at all. In fact I will not notice your earings, minimal hair modifications or outfit, or even if you wear the same thing 4 days in a row, especially if I like you, I'll be thinking about other things running through my head to coordinate(not perverted like you hear). Your perfume will make me cough if I get a strong wiff of it. so stop spending so much time worrying about it.",
"score": 152
},
{
"body": "When guys look at women, they look at what they like. When women look at themselves, they look at what they don't like.",
"score": 136
},
{
"body": "I'm too concerned with the overhang of my belly to be worried about the stretch marks on whatever girl i'm lucky enough to see naked.",
"score": 59
},
{
"body": "Shit, I have too many things about myself I'm worried about. A woman's stretchmarks don't even register on the scale.\n\nHow bout this, you promise not to laugh at my size, I promise not to laugh at your stretch marks.\n\n:)",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "I'll see them and think, \"Oh, stretch marks.\" Then never notice them again. Honestly, that isn't the basis of a woman's beauty. You could have an unsightly scar running across your face, and if I had fun being around you. I wouldn't care. If a man care's about stretch marks he is pretty much worthless.",
"score": 32
},
{
"body": "Stretch marks are unattractive. But you care about them a lot more than we do. Try worrying about something you can change.",
"score": 31
},
{
"body": "What I really think is that stretch marks are unattractive and that most men would agree. However it is not a deal breaker nor do I see it effecting a relationship in anyway, if you care for someone, something as irrelevant as stretch marks really don't matter.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "I have stretch marks from racing through puberty *really really* fast. Wake up one day, BAM boobs and hips and butt… with accompanying stretch marks :( \n\nI'm not too insecure about them, but this thread makes me happy anyway! ",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "I'm a guy and I used to be a fat fuck.\n\nI have stretchmarks that look like lightning bolts shooting out from my underpants.\n\nI think it's strong symbolism for my male virility.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Here's the thing: us guys don't generally care about 'minor' things, particularly if they're superficial stuff like stretch marks and whatnot. Sure, there comes a point where it may be too much, but the point is that when we're looking at a hot girl naked, or at least a girl we like very much, a few minor 'flaws' isnt going to have all that big an impact.\n\nThe point is - most guys aren't stupid. We know the 'perfect woman' image we're fed every day basically doesn't exist. Every woman you see on a billboard or an advert is airbrushed, photoshopped, warped. That image is a lie. Sure, we *like* nice skin. We *like* healthy looking women. We *like* sexy clothes. But that doesn't mean we *dislike anybody who doesn't conform to that*. Nobody on the planet has skin as perfect as that we see on television. And if you see *anybody* go on television without having gone through the makeup department, then they look it.\n\nNext time you watch the news, observe this:\n\n1: The news reporters look perfectly groomed, no real noticable flaws in their skin, teeth whitened, etc etc.\n\n2: Wait for them to do a report out on the street where they stop and talk to a normal person. Notice the immense difference between the people in the studio and the guy / girl on the street - whose hair is blowing out of place and has a spot or dry lips or what have you.\n\n\n\nI guess what I'm trying to say is physical imperfections are the norm, not the exception. Everybody (or at least, 99.99999% of people) has some minor flaw, be it stretch marks or cellulite or acne scarring or *whatever*. That doesn't mean they're ugly. It means they're a normal looking human being. When your boyfriend tells you he doesn't care (hell, maybe the stretch marks are an extra turn on for him!), just *believe him*. I can't speak for every guy out there, but I'm pretty sure I can speak for a large percentage: beauty is more than skin deep.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "It's never bothered me. Do your self a life long favor. Invert your understanding of beauty. High heels are not sexy, they are retarded. Push-up bras don't make you look bigger, they make you look like a liar. And be good to your self. Your character is dramatically more important then simple physique.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "It isn't a big deal if you have lost weight and they are there. But if you gained weight and have them =/ its not so good. I think you can use coco butter to try to minimize the appearance of them. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Not a deal-breaker. I don't they are attractive but not nearly enough for me to not date a woman. To give you an idea, I would say its about as important as the length of the girl's hair, meaning not that important at all.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You are being insecure but through no fault of your own, I'm sure. We're constantly being shown what magazine editors and commercial advertisers think beauty should look like. However, those images are generally targeted towards women, not men. I can't think of a single so-called supermodel that I find physically attractive (before or *after* airbrushing). I guess if you're into dating Skeletor, you might find them hot.\n\nFor stretch marks, I wouldn't beat yourself up. Imagine that you had the body you think men wanted...then imagine yourself after childbirth. Stretch marks happen to a large portion of the female population during pregnancy no matter what kind of shape they're in. \n\nI'm reminded of a story I heard many years ago, I'll give you the short version, but you'll get the point. A man spent his whole life looking for the perfect woman. When he finally found her, it turned out that she was looking for the perfect man... and he wasn't it.\n\nYou're boyfriend sounds like he's got his head where it belongs. Right on top of his shoulders, and in front of your stomach.\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Since I don't know you, I think your stretch marks are ugly. If I got to know you better, and I like you, then your stretch marks become beautiful. So I guess you should hide them from strangers but not from friends. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "A friend of mine gained so much weight in varsity (aka \"college\" for the Americans) due to drinking to much beer, that he got concentric circles around his belly button. We called him \"Bullseye\".\n\nBut honestly, we don't mind stretch marks, varicose veins etc in the ones we love. What I (maybe men in general) DO mind, is girls who are overly self conscious about little \"defects\" like not wanting to get into a bikini because of a little cellulite, who basically let being a non-perfect human get into the way of enjoying life to the fullest. I know a girl who has no real reason to be self conscious, who loves swimming, but will not swim without wearing a baggy tshirt and skin tight pants that come up to he ankles. This means that often when she wants to swim with the rest of us, she doesn't. Its totally ridiculous. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I was an overweight teenager (around 5'5 & 220 lbs) & I slowly lost a little over 100 lbs by the time I hit 20. \nMost of my stretch marks were from when I started gaining all the weight in the first place, by now they're sheer & barely noticeable. \nI've only had other females notice them with both good & bad reactions. I personally think that females look into things too much when it comes to what the opposite sex is thinking. \nMen REALLY don't care what color nail polish you're wearing, yes really.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I feel sorry for your boyfriend. Your insecurities will cause him a lot of stress because he knows there is nothing he can do to fix them, even though he really wants to see you happy. When he is telling you that the stretch marks don't bother him, he is telling the truth. Do him (and yourself) a favor and trust him to be honest about this.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "They aren't a big deal. Sure, all things being equal they don't add to attractiveness and I would prefer if they were not there.\n\nBUT they don't really gross me out and really I wouldn't spend all that much time thinking about them. Don't worry about it. Especially in my case, what can I say about stretch marks when I have a few myself from my teenage growth spurt, some more from when I lost weight, and a few others from when I started putting on muscle.\n\nThat being said, if you have a lot of stretch marks from gaining weight (and the weight is still there) that's a different problem.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Depends, I think too many are disgusting, but a few, I don't care about. I have a pretty high threshold for stretch marks. Unless you shot up to 300 lbs then got down to 130 I think it'll be fine in my opinion. I do like a little belly fat though. I don't find the regular skinny models attractive anymore. Real women have curves. There is some sort of cream for stretch marks I've heard about, but I dunno the name. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "The part about being insecure reminded me of this story: I dated a girl for a while who was a late bloomer, and had filled out really suddenly. This left a lot of pretty serious stretch marks around the top-of-hip/iliac crest region. One time we were reading on the couch together, and I was unconsciously fingering a particularly big one coming out of the top of her jeans. I realized what I was doing and pulled away sheepish, and she was like, \"What? It's just my stripey part.\" It was awesome. She was so confident, and cavalier about this in particular, that I've kinda found them hot (on confident women) ever since.\n\ntl;dr: Not being insecure about them made them not only not-unattractive, but actively a turn-on.",
"score": 3
}
] |
[9] Omhgod. I'm really high. Ever get that feeling? | I alwyas smile when I get that thought because i know Id be so typical when i say it. I say it anyways. Even to myself. | 12 | [
{
"body": "I meant to say, I love people, they are the most precious reasorce pf the world. So love everyone as if they are the last person you will ever see.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I am a little too high right now. I smoked a couple grams of train wreck hash homemade full melt. that scared off all my friends. Everyone got really quiet and left. Me and my girlfriend then broke out the cannabis infused olive oil and gave each other massages. She passed out in a puddle of drool a half hour later. I am having some serious waves of body-high pleasure and visuals but i am starting to nod out with intentions of turning the chrismas lights on for one last fling...",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "[8] I'm right there with you guys. I realized today that even when i smell weed my first reaction is to smile. what a wonderful plant : )",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "[8?] I always get the smell of ozone(generated by an oncoming storm), or a quick sniff of chlorine(a swimming pool at sunset.). Smells that remind me of childhood summer. ",
"score": 4
}
] |
Anybody else feel incredibly awkward flying solo at bars? | There's nowhere to sit, standing is anywhere from awkward to rude, and claiming a table for oneself is downright offensive. So, what can be done? | 12 | [
{
"body": ">Anybody else feel incredibly awkward flying solo at bars?\n\nAbsolutely, positively no.\n\nSit at the bar. You know, the bar? That's where the soloist play.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Places like Shorty's, Power Play (in Bellevue) or maybe even GameWorks possibly. All have alcohol and let you do something other than sit around, unless that is what you want.\n\nBig Picture in Belltown can also be cool, alcohol and movies is usually a pretty good combo.",
"score": 4
}
] |
Do other android phones have audio over USB? | I have a G1 and have wired my car so that by plugging in the phone it's simultaneously charging, sending audio to my head unit, and has a microphone near my head for hands free calling.
I'm thinking about getting a Droid or a Nexus One, and was wondering if I'd have to plug the phone in twice - once for power and once for audio?
| 11 | [
{
"body": "Our G1's have an \"extusb\" port which has 5 more pins than regular miniusb. these extra pins carry the audio, not the usb part. Since the N1 has a micro usb port i don't think it has room for extra pins so you will have to make use of the 3.5mm port for audio. It down however have charging contacts on the bottom so once they release the car dock you should only have to plug one thing in, then sit the phone on the car dock.",
"score": 3
}
] |
If you still lurk here A79... | We miss your links & your comments. Come back man, ML's not the same w/o you. All the posters add something valuable & I always enjoyed your posts (as I do most all the posts on ML). Consider jumping back in when / if you feel the urge.
You always had my upvote.
Now if we could only get Gabby-J to chime in once & a while. | 8 | [
{
"body": "Ugh. I'm back I guess. I can't undelete my old name so my Karma is all gone. Wee. I can't find any good usernames either. :p ",
"score": 5
}
] |
What do I do? I want to be normal | I posted this on self.needadvice and I am posting it here too because it was suggested that this may be a better place to post it...
Basically I grew up with abuse, physical to the point of broken bones, emotional, mental, maybe sexual? (i only have b&w dreams where its choppy pics.. stop motion? so I'm not sure if thats real or not)
Im in my 20's now and have noticed that I cannot form friendships. I honestly do not understand how to make friends. I constantly feel isolated and alone. If I were to get married I literally have no one to invite except the handful of family members i haven't cut out of my life.
I always feel like I'm on the outside of a clear box looking in. even around my boyfriend. I hate intimacy or being physical at all. I'm also terrified of the possibility of becoming an abuser. I have a young child and couldn't imagine ever hurting them but it still scares me.
Any words of Advice? Wisdom? Thoughts.. I don't even know what to do with myself right now but I have nightmares and panic attacks and am the laughing stock at work because if someone comes up behind me and are too quite I practically jump out of my skin.
seriously I think people have started sneaking up on me just so they can see me jump a mile and start crying.
Throwaway account for what should be obvious reasons...
And Yea, my boyfriend is the father. And I used to smoke a LOT to feel normal. Like a LOT and Im not talking cigarettes here... The only way I was able to be intimate and 'happy' and stuff would be while I was high off my ass. I stopped smoking literally the day I found out I was pregnant and it is no longer a part of my life. I also have made it a point to stay away from drinking because I have the type of personality where I love to get messed up so why risk getting caught up in alcohol or drugs when my life is no longer just about me?
The only time I have seen a psych I couldnt tell them the truth so it was a waste of time. I still lived at home and had loyalties to my family which made me feel like I couldnt say anything to get anyone in trouble.
I throw myself into work and count calories now. that is my routine for the most part besides the evening routine for the kid I excel in my job because I lose myself in my work, really though days are a blur and I can't really remember what happened yesterday vs what happened last week when it comes to the mundane stuff
I have the kid on a routine for bedtime that is followed the same time every night when I get home but for myself I get up the same time every day, go to work.. work on the same old corporate drone type job and on my downtime I read, and spend a lot of time on the computer, lately ive been exercising a lot too when I feel down.
sorry for going on.. hopefully it's not too boring and maybe there is someone who can relate or offer advice
| 24 | [
{
"body": "You are on the right track, just by talking it out. \n\nI may not know you, but I would be glad to come to your wedding. ",
"score": 23
},
{
"body": "How's your relationship with your boyfriend and child? Is he aware of how you feel and what's his opinion? If marijuana worked before, could you work with your boyfriend to use moderately? If you don't think you can manage your usage, then drugs should definitely be avoided.\n\nIf you're honestly looking for advice and want assistance, especially with your past, you should see a psychiatrist. If you aren't comfortable with one, find another; but honesty is very important. A psychiatrist will likely be immensely helpful with everything you've mentioned, even if you don't think so immediately, with time.\n\nExercising is excellent, I'll assume you do it at home? Joining a gym would offer an opportunity to meet new people, especially the classes that some gyms offer(a self-defense course could also help with your fears).\n\nYou can't provide too much information when asking for evaluations, so \"going on\" isn't an issue :)\n\nOnce more: a psychiatrist will be *much* more helpful then anything you get on reddit.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "i can relate- i also had bad experiences as a child and find it hard to let people in and for me to trust them 100%. \n\nI think a part of what it could be is that it is scary to let them in, just incase they abuse that trust once again. I'm sorry I don't have much advice to give, but thought I would post to let you know that you are not alone in feeling this way.\n\nOn a positive note though, you are doing really well, in that you are self aware, and motivated to improve your life. ",
"score": 3
}
] |
Help! Do I need to take Plan B tomorrow? | Okay, so here's the situation: my Nuvaring slipped out without me noticing and was probably outside of me for ~5-6 hours (the limit is 3 hours, I guess there's a chance of ovulation after that). During that time, I had unprotected sex, thinking it was still in me. I'm in the third week of using it. Is it worth it to take emergency contraception tomorrow? (I really don't want to; I'm just two weeks shy of my seventeenth birthday, so I'd need to find someone else to get it OTC for me...embarrassing >_>)
But man, I feel like such an idiot. Are the chances of me getting pregnant high enough to warrant Plan B, or should I just bite my nails for a month until I can use a pregnancy test? I'm freaking out a bit right now; any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys. (:
**EDIT:** I lied, I'm actually in my fourth week - I was planning on skipping my period. I don't know if that makes a difference—I know you can have unprotected sex during the entire fourth week if it isn't in.
Here is what the directions say about the situation:
"If NuvaRing® has been out for more than 3 continuous hours during the first or second week of use, contraceptive effectiveness may be reduced. Reinsert the ring as soon as you remember and use an extra method of birth control, such as male condoms or spermicide, until you have used NuvaRing® for 7 days in a row.
If NuvaRing® has been out for more than 3 continuous hours during the third week of use, throw the ring away and choose one of the following two options:
1. Insert a new ring immediately. Inserting a new ring will start the next 3-week use period. You may not experience a period from your previous cycle. However, breakthrough spotting or bleeding may occur.
2. Have your period and insert a new ring no later than 7 days (7 x 24 hours) from the time the previous ring was removed or expelled. This option should be chosen only if the ring was used continuously for the preceding 7 days. In addition, you must use a barrier method, such as condoms or spermicides, until you have used NuvaRing® for 7 days in a row."
| 7 | [
{
"body": "Plan B is easier, cheaper and quicker than getting an abortion later on.\n\nJust swing by your local Planned Parenthood. I think it's around $25.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I would go and see your local Planned Parenthood and ask them about the Plan B, to see what effects it might have and whether you need it. Just remember that most people on reddit aren't healthcare proffesionals so their medical advice should be taken with a grain of salt. **TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR/NURSE**",
"score": 3
}
] |
Learning to read/write Japanese | Hey guys... I've had prior experience understanding/speaking Japanese, but I've never learned to read/write (be it hiragana, kanji, or furigana). So basically, my question is: which one of these should I start learning first and where should I get started? Thanks in advance for any help.
Edit: I'm about to go to sleep, so I won't be responding for a bit, sorry about that. | 16 | [
{
"body": "If you already speak a bit of Japanese, learn hiragana ( ひらがな ) first as it's used for simple words and grammar. Later you can use a tool like http://www.hiragana.jp to help learn kanji ( 漢字 ) by adding furigana which is just small hiragana :).\n\nkatakana ( カタカナ ) is used for all the english loan words in Japanese, so it was the first thing I learned. It's less used than hiragana, but you still need it a lot.\n\nHere is a site I bookmarked ages ago, it looks to still be useful: \nhttp://www.sabotenweb.com/bookmarks/language.html",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "first off - i'd download dreamkana for your computer. it's a freeware flashcard program that flashes hiragana and katakana at you. \n\nwww.softempire.com/dreamkana.html\n\nsecond, learn the stroke order for each kana - it may seem like it shouldn't matter how you draw each one, but getting stroke orders ingrained in your head is very helpful later on when you're writing kanji like 強 (強い、tsuyoi - strong) that have a kana embedded within them (ム, at the top right). as well, getting it ingrained in your head that stroke order is important will help you write kanji more legibly (my writing is atrocious in english but in japanese it's downright pretty at times).\n\nas you learn, learn one line of kana at a time. like あ a い i う u え e お o\nかka きki くku けke こko and just take it a day at a time. it took me about 2-3 weeks until i had remembered them all. \n\nsomeone here linked to tagaini jisho, and it's awesome - it shows you stroke orders in a sort of animated .gif for each kanji you look up. \n\nas well, the book \"kanji and kana\" is a great starter. it has the jomon kanji (about 2000 or so) and as far as i can see, you'll only need that much to be fairly literate. anything beyond that is super-specialized (like names of important historical phenomenon for japanese historians, etc.) from what i've been told (but don't consider me an authority). \n\nhttp://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Kanji-Kana-Revised-Language/dp/0804820775\n\nalso, there's a thread on here that i can't find that puts together a really good list of the links i've put up, plus more i don't need. it's a way more exhaustive list, and you'll get more information from that. \n\ni think the title is \"links for beginners\" or something. \n\ngood luck! as you go, you'll find it's a lot easier than it looks. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Start with hiragana. Flash cards first, then writing drills, then word reading. Follow it up with Katakana. Furigana is actually just hiragana written in small text by the side of kanji. Once you've gotten hiragana and katakana down, you need to find lots of things to read to solidify it in memory. Either keep notes in hiragana exclusively, or find some beginner readers, or both.",
"score": 3
}
] |
A simple explanation of how a CPU works? | I know what a byte is, how hard drives and memory store them, and that the CPU is the "brain" of the computer. I even do a fair amount of programming--the lowest level of which was a basic assembly program that did some basic math.
But I really have no idea how a CPU, a physical object, can be commanded by programming--even if it is as close to the hardware as assembly language.
This may be a little silly, but would it be possible for a person to design and build a super simple microprocessor that could be programmed with its own assembly language?
I've done a little bit of electronics work. The most complex thing built being a simple adding machine. But what gives CPUs their ability to be whatever kind of machine we tell them to be?
EDIT: These answers are really helpful. Thanks to those who took the time to reply. | 78 | [
{
"body": "The story of a timer, a counter and a decoder...\n\nIt's been like 11 years since I've studied this and I'm writing from memory, so a lot of what I'm writing will probably have huge mistakes. Also, I'm trying to cram a lot of information in a single post so everything is way oversimplified.\n\n(I'll be happy to incorporate any corrections from replies)\n\nYou have to understand two types of digital components: \n\n* **Things that take input and give output** These behave like mathematical functions; but work with bits. They range from the lowly NAND gates to Adders and more complex circuits. Bits are (obviously) represented by something like high/low voltage. There are specific connectors for input bits and output bits, and they're quite simple to understand.\n\n* **Things that hold state** Those act like objects in OOP languages. They keep the value of some bits in themselves until they're changed. They can act like simple variables (e.g a register) or they can have some specific behavior (e.g) a counter.\n\n* A lot of circuits have a special **enable** connector, when there's a current passing through the 'enable', the circuit works, otherwise it doesn't. Often this enable isn't a continuous signal but rather a sudden pulse. This allows a counter for example to increment itself when receiving said pulse.\n\nNow for some super important circuits:\n\n**The register**\n\n* Holds a number of bits. \n* Has a 'read enable' connector; when the 'read enable' is signaled the register will see what's connected to its own input and copy it to itself, ready to be 'output' when necessary. \n\n**The RAM**\n\n* Has an input called address, and input called 'data', a 'read enable', 'write enable', and an output.\n* To write to RAM, set the address and data and enable writing. It will consume the address and data bits and write the data in a specific address.\n* To read from RAM set the address, enable reading, and take what's in the output.\n* note: I might have recalled it wrong, and the RAM's input and output are the same connectors, with different uses.\n\n**The decoder**\n\nThis is a very useful widget: it has N bits of input and 2^N bits of output. It works by setting all output bits to zero except a single one: The bit whose # is encoded in binary by the input. For example if you give a 3x8 decoder the input 011 then the output is 0000 1000 because bit #3 is the one encoded in the input.\n\n**The CPU clock**\n\nIt gives an impulse of electric current regularly every minuscule amount of time. It's the maestro that guides everything else.\n\nNow for how this executes instructions: Different CPU architectures do different stuff but the simplest is a Fetch, Decode, Execute cycle.\n\n*Fetch*: Read the instruction and associated data from memory. For example a very simple instruction could be LDC 15, which loads the constant 15 to a known 'data' register. Or ADC 100 which adds 100 to the same known register. When the instruction is stored in memory some of the bits would mean 'LDC' and the rest will carry the value to be loaded.\n\n*Decode*: Decide what is needed to execute the instruction.\n\n*Execute*: Do the job.\n\nThe basis the CPU is a timer connected to a counter connected to a decoder. Let's assume that the CPU needs 4 steps for the instruction cycle: the counter's output will keep cycling between 00, 01, 10, 11. Feed this to a decoder with four outputs and you'll get only one output active at a time:\n\n Counter | Decoder: Out0 Out1 Out2 Out3\n \n 0 0 | 1 0 0 0\n\n 0 1 | 0 1 0 0\n ....\n\nNow here's the most important part ever: If you want certain components to work at step N, connect it's 'enable' to decoder output N.\n\nMoving on...\n\n**How Fetch works**\n\n(It will help if you sketch all those connections on paper)\n\n* Assume a register called 'Instruction pointer'/IP is initialized to the location of the program's beginning.\n\n* The IP is always connected to the RAM's 'address' input, but the IP register's 'enable' is not always active so the connection doesn't always work.\n\n* The RAM's output is connected to (among other things) a register which will hold our instruction.\n\n* The 'enable' of the IP, the RAM, and the Instruction-holding register is connected the the decoder's (say) Out0. They will all activate at the same time.\n\n* The timer sets the counter to step 0 -> The decoders enables Out0 and disables all else -> The RAM reads data at address IP and writes the value in that address to the Instruction register. Voila! We fetched our instruction. \n\n* Don't forget to increment the IP register.\n\n**Decode and Execute**\n\nThe output of the 'Instruction' register is connected to....yes; another decoder! It enables yet certain parts of the CPU to work for certain instructions. For example to execute the ADC instruction, which adds a constant to the value of the 'Data' register:\n\n* Assume the 'Data' register's output is connected to the input of the adder circuit.\n\n* Assume the [bits in the instruction that carry the constant to be added] is connected to the adder's other input.\n\n* The adder's output is connected to the input of 'Data'\n\n* When the [what to do] bits of the instruction go through the decoder, they will enable: a) The Adder b) The 'read' of the data register. Therefore the adder will take the 'data', a constant, add them, and 'data' will happily read the new result.\n\nIf you reached so far, I hope you got a rough idea of how all this stuff works. The end :)",
"score": 155
},
{
"body": "I have a CS degree and one of the classes we took was a EE class that started with NAND gates and worked its way up to a fully functioning CPU. Granted it was an 8-bit processor based on the 8086 and was just a simulation. Then there was another CS class that covered more modern CPU designs, but was strictly done on paper, nothing hands-on. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you're in college, look for something like that. Or perhaps there are some class materials for that type of thing online.\n\nI'm having trouble finding anything good online, but look into the following things: flip-flop and the ability to store 1 bit of information in them. registers (made up of a certain number of flip-flops, e.g. an 8-bit register has 8 flip-flops, and so on.). ALU, the ability to take the output of registers (or memory locations) and produce different mathematical results. The ALU contains different circuits to do different arithmetic and logical functions on incoming data, usually data from the registers (or from memory). There are connections to the ALU, and to the registers, which do the following: tell the ALU what registers will be input into the ALU, which function of the ALU will become the output. There are also connections which tell the register when to set itself to the output of the ALU. I guess before that you'll want to know about MUX and DEMUX circuits work to select one out of various possible inputs. Now, all these control signals are coming from a bunch of (read-only) memory in the chip called microcode, which contains many bits, because you need bits to control every input to each circuit in the CPU simultaneously. Which microcode is used is determined by the instructions that the CPU reads in from memory (RAM). There is a register which keeps track of the current location of the executable program in RAM (called IP, instruction pointer). The instructions on how to read the instructions from memory are also built into the microcode by the way. The instruction is just a byte or bytes which is used to jump to a certain location in the microcode. So let's say the instruction is \"DEC AX\" (decrement AX register). The microcode will then send out signals to every part of the CPU in a way that will cause AX to go to the ALU, and the number \"1\" to go to the ALU, and the \"subtract\" function to be the output of the ALU, and then after that, to read the output of the ALU back into AX and for AX to store that value. Then the IP is automatically incremented to read the next instruction from memory, and so on. By the way, there is also a counter that keeps track of the current location in the microcode as well.\n\nI hope that makes a little sense, especially if you look up each of the terms I mentioned above.\n\nReading from wikipedia isn't very coherent but it's something.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arithmetic_logic_unit\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplexer (one of the basic circuits. basically it lets you do things like take in, say, 4 bits of control signals and use that to select from 16 different inputs of any size of a bus, like select from 16 different 32-bit inputs into an ALU for instance)\n\nDifferent types of registers:\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_register\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_address_register\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_data_register\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_register (note that its says sometimes they are made out of several flip-flops)\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_%28electronics%29 (complicated article, just note that it says it can store 1 bit of data)\n\nThere's probably a book or something.\n\nOh, to answer your question: yes, people have even built their own CPUs just from a whole bunch of TTL chips.",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "The key thing is the control unit, which can read instructions from memory and open/close registers to make available addressed data to perform the operation on. Operations are basically arithmetic, logical and transportation of data between different registers. A jump, for instance,is just to move a specific bit pattern from one place (register or memory) to the program counter.\n\n[Konrad Zuse](http://artematrix.org/archive/computer/zuse/k.zuse.intro.htm) actually built [the first working computer, the Z1](http://www.epemag.com/zuse/) 1936-38 in his parents living room, and as he had no 74-series of circuits to use life was a little harder then. This computer was not automatic, it was hand driven by a crank, and the software was punched holes on a paper tape. The world's [first automatic computer was Z3](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_%28computer%29), which he finished 1941. As you have already made an adder you have made an essential, although small, part of the ALU. At [my technical university](http://www.teknat.uu.se/cms/en//node26) there was actually someone who had built a working cpu in the 70-ies as a master thesis project, using the 74-series. Here is [a site](http://www.homebrewcpu.com/) about another homebrew cpu. You may also consider [using FPGA](http://www.excamera.com/articles/20/mp3c.html), then you can actually make something really interresting, apart from the learning, as FPGAs are quite powerful today. For FPGAs you can say that the actual hardware design is stored in a ROM which is loaded when the chip starts. That is, with the same FPGA you can test arbitrarily many hardware designs. With 74-series or equivalent you can only do that by simulation.\n\nHowever, as you will certainly learn a lot on the way, things that could be useful if you become the designer of the next generation of nano scale electronic computers, a word of warning, as building a cpu from 74-series, certainly takes a lot of time. For my own I built a graphical terminal with 74-series and dynamical memories 1981, which I actually used until I bought an Amiga 1986, I made two large circuit boards with in total 80 IC-circuits. Then I wrote the software in MC 6809 assembler.\n",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "I am suprised nobody recommended the amazing book : [Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software](http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263039177&sr=1-1)\r\n\r\nIt explains in simple terms how a processor actually work. It shows step by step how to build a CPU and dispel the \"magic\" of how computers work.\r\nLet me quote an amazon review : \r\n\r\n>His story begins with a description of various ways of coding information including Braille, Morse code, and binary code. He then describes the development of hardware beginning with a description of the development of telegraph and relays. This leads into the development of transistors and logic gates and switches. Boolean logic is described and numerous electrical circuits are diagramed showing the electrical implementation of Boolean logic. The book describes circuits to add and subtract binary numbers. The development of hexadecimal code is described. Memory circuits are assembled by stringing logic gates together. Two basic microprocessors are described - the Intel 8080 and the Motorola 6800. Machine language, assembly language, and some higher level software languages are covered.\"",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": ">But I really have no idea how a CPU, a physical object, can be commanded by programming--even if it is as close to the hardware as assembly language.\n\nEach assembly language instruction translates to a binary \"word\" that is stored in memory. A simple CPU loads one instruction word at a time, and logic gates determine what the instruction is (each instruction has a unique binary code). If it is an ADD instruction (for example), the input values are routed to the adder circuit, and the output of the adder circuit is routed to the storage destination. It is really just a large logic function that opens and closes \"switches\" to get the correct bits to the correct locations. \n\n>would it be possible for a person to design and build a super simple microprocessor that could be programmed with its own assembly language?\n\nYes, very possible. This was a semester project in my computer architecture class. I designed a simple 16-bit CPU from the logic gate level, and then loaded my design onto an FPGA. I was then able to run programs I had written (in this basic assembly language) on the hardware I had designed. It was cool stuff. \n\n\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "> This may be a little silly, but would it be possible for a person to design and build a super simple microprocessor that could be programmed with its own assembly language?\n\nYes.\n\nCPUs are very complex things - I recommend looking into a Computer Architecture book if you're interested in going down this path. However it's possible to design one from scratch - my school's undergrad architecture course has you build (in LogicWorks, the bane of my existence that term) a working [LC-3 Processor/Computer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LC-3). Anyway, here's my simplest explanation of a basic CPU that doesn't leave too much out.\n\nA simple CPU has a bunch of parts to it - the [program counter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Program_counter), the registers, the FPU, the ALU, special registers - all which form a *[data path](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datapath)*. Gates allow data on and off the data path from different parts. There is a [finite state machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_state_machine) which receives the current [opcode](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opcode) (from your assembled assembly) as input and then asserts or clears a number of wires all over the data path. This will have the effect of storing values in registers, putting another register's value on the data path, and so on. This repeats in a cycle - the finite state machine moves from state to state in a cycle: retrieve the instruction at memory\\[PC\\], decode that instruction, spend 1 or more cycles executing it, get another instruction, etc.\n\nThis leaves out a **LOT**. Modern architectures are several orders of magnitude more complex than this. But this is a good start of an answer to your question.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "this book explained it to me:\nhttp://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/\n\nedit, it takes you thru building a computer (including the processor!) from nand gates (in a hardware desscription language), to creating an assembly language and assembler, to a high level language (compiler etc) to creating a simple OS. \n\nYou can view most of the chapters for free on the site:\nhttp://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/plan.html\n\nIt really is an excellent book - I'm currently on chapter ten writing a compiler...",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "At the most abstract level, a CPU works based on an instruction cycle. The exact details differ from CPU to CPU but in general it's something like:\n\n1) Fetch instruction from memory\n\n2) Decode Instruction\n\n3) Fetch more things from memory, if necessary.\n\n4) Execute Instruction (e.g. for add, the CPU will send the appropriate values to something like the adding machine you built, then store the result in the specified register)\n\nAs long as you can recreate this cycle, you've got a CPU. It doesn't matter what you use to implement one, people with cards running around a building or electronics. \n\nTo answer your other question, yes it is possible to write a simple assembly language for your simple microprocessor. To do so, all you need is to define a mapping between your language to the actual instructions (usually bit patterns, called opcodes) used for the CPU.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm working on an extremely simple CPU design at http://github.com/kragen/calculusvaporis to try to make this a little bit clearer. The README explains it at the register-transfer level, and there's an incomplete attempt at turning the RTL into a netlist (which would be a lot clearer with a schematic, sorry). In the project there are also also an assembler, a simulator, and some simple programs. Maybe this will help.\n\nBasically **a digital circuit**, such as a CPU, **implements a fixed computer program**. There are a few differences from normal programming:\n\n- **the way you optimize** is totally different, because the program isn't being executed step-by-step on a CPU; for example, you can do any number of different things simultaneously.\n- **you can't allocate memory** (because that would involve constructing new circuits); you can only use the variables you started with. (But those can be arrays.)\n\nBut, other than that, the program's \"program counter\" is a [finite state machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_state_machine#Hardware_applications), its variables are [registers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_register) (just a bunch of [flip-flops](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip-flop_(electronics))) with a [multiplexer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplexor) on their input that selects where their next value comes from and that get their write-enable input turned on when there's an assignment statement to them active, side-effect-free expressions like (x+y) are computed with [combinational logic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combinational_logic) (such as an N-bit [full-adder](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_adder#Full_adder)), and control flow is implemented by running some input wires to the program-counter finite-state machine.\n\nSo a simple CPU is **basically just a CPU simulator** — a loop with a bunch of \"if\" statements in it that test what the current instruction is — **compiled into hardware**. (You can actually do this compilation with Verilog or VHDL or SystemC.)\n\nThe [TECS \"NAND to Tetris\"](http://www1.idc.ac.il/tecs/) course looks pretty awesome but I don't have the book. From the slides, it is somewhat divorced from the way things are done in the \"real world\", but that's probably unavoidable when you have four weeks or so to teach students with no programming experience to design a CPU from NAND gates.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I suggest that you forget about modern computers for now and start with something simpler.\n\n--\n\nHave you ever seen a music box?\n\nThey have a drum which revolves around and strikes plates to make a tune.\n\nThis is a simple program implemented in hardware.\n\n--\n\nThe next step in progress is the Pianola, which is a piano that reads from a punch-tape and plays music.\n\n--\n\nFrom this point it shouldn't be very hard to imagine a machine that interprets one tape (like the pianola) and then writes to another tape -- e.g., to transpose a song to another key.\n\n--\n\nFinally it should be easy to imagine a machine that can read and write from the same tape -- changing the instructions that it obeys in response to the instructions that it receives.\n\n--\n\nNow replace the materials, make it really, really fast, replace the tapes with random access memory and registers and so on and you should get to where modern digital CPUs start.",
"score": 3
}
] |
I am making a 50-year time capsule with 1,000 students in China. I seek theories and advice for what things should or should not go inside. | I am teaching spoken English at a high school in China, and we're working on a time capsule as our major assignment. There are twenty classes, and six groups of eight are given eight elective assignments for items to bring to put into a time capsule; not to be opened until 2060. They must include full descriptions in a note attached.
Each group must also write an English letter to the future and include a photo of themselves (either printed or stored as data). I will also be offering a few of my own personal belongings (which I will reveal upon request). This will be a shot at living past our years for some of us, so I would like for these objects to be preserved as long as possible:
* An object that shows what the technology of 2010 was like.
* A child's toy or money. (This might be the coolest thing to see in fifty years).
* A newspaper article from sometime this week (Chinese or English).
* An object of personal importance or a written recipe.
* An object that shows what the current trend or fashion is.
* Something you made (a drawing, for example).
* A collection of songs that Chinese students listen to today.
* An object that you already think is old (include the date it was made-- at least from before 1999).
Students will choose which group has the best item for each of the eight, and the best will go into the capsule. Anything that can be compressed and stored separately as data, I intend to store on a DVD as well as a flash drive. I don't know how badly time will degrade any of these items, and I might request that a caretaker pay maintenance every ten years.
I have no access to a vacuum, but I have a plastic bin that I will insulate and seal completely before we store it someplace dry and free of pressure and temperature variance. I will keep batteries outside of the devices in a separate metal container. I have considered laminating any paper, but that might take away some of the novelty of them being "aged". Some of these things may oxidize slightly, but I feel that the limited amount of oxygen in the box will do minimal damage.
Please let me know what problems to expect, and perhaps offer possible solutions. Thanks, everyone.
| 10 | [
{
"body": "Making a time capsule with 1000 Chinese students? Will it look like [this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army)?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Photographs of the local area, architecture, cars, public transport. Pictures of areas that you know will change very little (like large public buildings) and places that might change a lot, like a new forest or an aerial view of an undeveloped part of town. I would also consider some foreign news clips, to show the future what the rest of the world thinks about China today.\n\n50 years is a long time. The question remains if objects will be readily available that can play a DVD or read a flash drive. If someone gave me a 5.25\" floppy disk today, I wouldn't know what to do with it - and that technology is just 30 years old. Also be mindful of what file formats you choose.\n\nBe careful if any devices have small batteries inside them, or any other electronics that might deteriorate and leak at one point or another. If nothing else, you may want to wrap each group of items in their own plastic bags before they're binned, so that nothing can ruin anything else.\n\nI think that a time capsule is a fantastic idea, although a few examples have shown that the next generation can forget where it's hidden. Be sure to keep records of its position somewhere safe :)\n\nGood luck!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "This will sound weird, but Silica Gel. the \"Do Not Eat\" stuff you find in new shoes. This will help absorb moisture and keep everything else.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Curious to hear from people in long-term 24/7 D/s relationships about how it works for you over time | Getting into my first-ever 24/7 D/s relationship, and I'm starting to see a lot of potential for a future relationship, but I can't help but wonder how these relationships tend to work over time?
I'd love to hear from any of you who have been/are in long-term D/s relationships, and your experiences with them. How did the dynamic change over time, if at all? Is there really a potential for longevity in this?
I just don't really have anyone else to talk to about this, so I'd love to hear any of your thoughts or experiences on the subject! Thanks! | 9 | [
{
"body": "If you haven't already, I would highly recommend you join fetlife.com. It's a great network of information and support, and I'm sure you will find a whole lot of people who are in the same spot that you are (or who used to be and will be more than happy to share their experiences with you). I'm not in a 24/7 D/s relationship so I don't have much to share other than that, but if you'd like to add me as a friend on fetlife I am lil_mouse. (Just send me a message first so I know who you are.)",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I don't really know what to tell you. I wasn't going to reply, but I figured you deserved more than one reply :)\n\nI think that there's potential for a long-term relationship, but I definitely don't think it's for everyone. Or most people. How serious are you? As in, do you play and sort of 'keep it in mind' during day-to-day stuff, or are you leaning more toward 'may I have a drink, may I use the bathroom'?\n\nI'm in a long term d/s 24/7 blah/blah/blah relationship. All those slashes make my eyes hurt. I've rambled about it in other comments, feel free to reddit-stalk. \n\nAll I can really say to someone I don't know is that it's probably (IMO) more work than a regular relationship. So keep that in mind. And if there's any questions I can answer, I'll be glad to. \n\nEDIT: re-read the post, though of something else. \n\"Over time\" was the key phrase I forgot to reply to. First, Just like a vanilla relationship, there's often that honeymoon period where you're both eager to push limits and whatnot. Remember that it's a lot of work to keep that up. \nThe other thing is, life may get in the way. Figure out early on what role D/s is going to play in your relationship as time goes on, so that if you ever end up getting off track, you know what you're trying to get back to. ",
"score": 3
}
] |
Women of the World: Men don't actually like perfume. | Perfume is marketed to women to make them feel sexy. The only impact it has on the male sexual response is negative. Frequently, it's an outright turnoff; no better than mosquito repellant. | 10 | [
{
"body": "I disagree. I love the smell of perfume on girls who use them correctly. Very sparingly, it can create a scent memory that lasts years. I still get nervous butterflies when I catch a whiff of a perfume worn by a former girlfriend. Then I get depressed. Then I smoke a cigarette.",
"score": 20
},
{
"body": "When will you realise that a lot of women's presentation efforts aren't for men, but for other women? They already know most of us are no good at paying attention to that kind of thing!",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "The smell of a woman just out of the shower smelling of nothing more than soap and pure woman,- beats beer, or anything else for that matter.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Studies have shown, edible smells, including fruit and other food smells are attractive to men. floral smells, on the other hand, tend to be only attractive to women.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Musky scents in small amounts is good. It's those women who slather themselves with those \"dead flower\" perfumes that hang around them like a cloud of evil that turn me off.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Dudes do it too! I don't know about all women, but I can't stand when a guy seems like he was trying to be the dude in the Axe commercial. Just because your body wash smells good, doesn't mean it needs to be body wash, shampoo, lotion, aftershave, spray, deodorant, and whatever other foofy products there are. I don't like sitting a few feet away from a nice fellow and then walking away smelling like him.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Help Reddit! I don't want my life to change. | Hey guys, I'm a senior this year, soon to be off to college next year. I got in early decision, I'm going to a good school, and I should have a lot of fun and learn a lot while there.
Now my problem is that everyone is always fantasizing about how great college is, and while I don't deny it will be fun, I feel like I will never connect with people the way I have with my high school friends. Some of them I have known since the 1st grade, some are neighbors, and some are like brothers to me. We have all grown up together, and I cannot fathom the idea of leaving them behind and 'growing up'. I wonder if I will ever feel about any of my future friends the way I do with my current ones. Also, I'm worried I will never connect with a girl the way I have with some I've hooked up with in the past.
I don't think I'm the only one who thinks/has thought this way about graduating HS. Is there any advice anyone out there can give me, that's not *too* cheasy? | 15 | [
{
"body": "I thought this exact same thing, so I went to a \"safe\" college close to home where almost all of my friends went, and I thought it would be perfect.\n\nBig. Fucking. Mistake.\n\nAfter a while, we noticed that none of us were making any new friends at all. It got to be pretty pathetic, with all of us in our safe little circle while people all around us branched out and experienced new relationships, etc.\n\nWe all got tired of each other, and we just started falling apart. One by one, we all either moved back home or just broke away for good. I finally got out and I've transferred and all is (relatively) well.\n\nWe still see each other during vacations. Makes it more of a special occasion. It's better that way.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Years and years ago, I heard a woman being interviewed on her 107th birthday. When asked what she felt was the secret to her longevity, she said that at a very young age she had accepted that things always change and always tried to find the positive aspects of it when they did.\n\nShe thought of life as an adventure to embrace and enjoy, rather than a journey to dread.\n\nI thought she was a very wise old woman and have often thought of what she said. I think her wisdom applies to your situation. \n\nDon't dread the journey. Enjoy the adventure.\n\n\n ",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I'd say that if you have a lot of close friends in high school, you'll have a lot of close friends in college. And other people later.\n\nA good friendship takes work and effort, if you're one of those people that spends time working on friendships then you'll not suddenly change when you get to college.\n\nEDIT: Also, high school and college are both temporary. It's the people that remain friends when close proximity isn't strengthening your relationships anymore that you will find are your most important friends. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "im in my second year of university. last year, literally 100% of my best friends moved 300 miles away from where we grew up to live within 15 miles of eachother (we're from LA we all moved to the sf bay area) we all went to different schools and we all hung out.\n\nthis current year, about half of them moved back to LA. We're still all great friends, we just don't get to see eachother as often. we all do art and music though and still talk over the internet, and so we get to talk a lot still. it doesn't feel weird or strange seeing them over break (like right now) things just ease back to normal. it is weird not knowing all of the little things that they've been up to, and I miss it, but when it comes down to it, the best part about people you know and care about is that the little things dont matter, you are still friends and enjoy each others company.\n\none of my best friends though, like best best, I'm on the verge of no longer being friends with. we both are learning to produce music using computers, he has always been extremely competetive, I am so un-competetive that I don't even play video games. but since almost the day I went back to school and he stayed down in LA, he just won't talk to me without being a huge dick because he is in such a competetive mindset with our music endeavors, that he has just been tripping balls over me I guess. I try to share with him and learn from him but he'll have none of it. it only took a couple of months before I just couldn't believe it any longer and just gave up trying to talk to him.\n\nI'm back in town now and have tried to hang out with him and he just cant do it. he thinks we are competing and is just so threatened by my non-competetiveness (I must just look like such a relaxed pro, way out of his league or something, when really he's probably better at what we do than I am, and I appreciate his tips and knowledge whenver he shares with me) that everything I say he takes as an insult. \n\ni thouht he had just become a big headed dick until we hung out a couple days ago and I realized he just was being extremely competetive. I plan on hitting him up tomorrow for a good talk, where I will tell him how awesome he is, and I am, and how if we werent both awesome we never would have been such good friends for so long. He knows I'm not competive (and seems to have forgotten) and I know he's super competetive (he's just been so competetive that I havent even realized thats what was going on) so I think when I tell him this he'll realize he has been having a really nasty ego trip, and that he can relax.\n\nbasically, the only thing that has gone sour is this relationship, and it's an easy fix now that I've thought about it. Just make sure you don't have misunderstandings or anything, because they fester when you aren't always with your homies.\n\noh jeeze, wish me luck guys.\n\none-love\n\nalso college is fun, I've met a lot of cool people and found out that they live near me in my hometown, and my old friends love my new friends and vice versa. \n\nmy friends are generally so close that I haven't come home and found that they are all of a sudden better friends with other people and I feel left out, but I can imagine this being a problem, since going away to college is a scary experience, and might make some people latch really hard onto new friends, so that when they see you again they may have routed their friendship energies from your friendship to a new one. i imagine though that it would only take a solid time together to get back on track.\n\nbest of luck, woo woo!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Here's my advice. Don't dwell on \"oh, well I won't connect with these people as well as my other friends\". You know what happens? You miss out on a lot of great friends. I made a lot of \"friends\" on my dorm floor last year, and while a lot of them still hang out, nobody ever invites me. I'm not in any of their groups. It's probably because I thought \"well, these people aren't like me, they aren't like my friends back home, who I've known for a long time. These people won't get me\". Now I regret it, because the longer I'm away from home, the further I seem to be getting from my good friends back home. I missed out on a lot of friendships because I always had in the back of my mind that they weren't going to be as good as the friends back home. \n This year, I pushed that out of my head, and now I'm making friends a lot better with people on my floor. I could totally see myself hanging out with these people next year, and I find myself enjoying all of their company, more than I did last year.\nDon't think of it as replacing your old friends, rather adding new friends to your life. Those old friends will still be there. Don't worry so much about it.",
"score": 3
}
] |
I want to introduce my wife to Star Trek TNG because it was freaking awesome, but I've only got one shot to get her interested. What episode should I play? | It is my opinion that some of the older ones were kind of cheesy, so I probably wouldn't choose one of those. I think one my favorite episodes is 'The Inner Light', but I'm not sure if she would like that one. The last episode was one of the most awesome episodes of any sci-fi show, IMO, but you need a lot of background to enjoy it. So what episode do you suggest? I probably can;t get her to sit for more than one, so it has to be good. What do you suggest reddit? Any women enjoy the show, and if so, what are your favorites?
Edit: I just thought that I would like to get my son interested in the show also, any suggestions for an 8 year old? | 41 | [
{
"body": "[The Inner Light](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inner_Light_%28Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation%29)\n\nPicard learns to play the flute while living the life of another man trying to save a doomed planet.",
"score": 66
},
{
"body": "Don't make her actually sit and watch any specific episode, you'll put to much pressure on having an opinion on (to what it will seem like to her) another cheesy sci-fi series.\n\nMy wife doesn't like sci-fi at all. Cannot stand BSG (thanks to the word frack) and likes TOS only because William Shatner is delightfully corny. Her preferred television is programming like Weeds, Freaks and Geeks, and Mad Men.\n\nWhen I got my wife interested in TNG, it wasn't because one or two episodes really caught her attention, but because I was watching it on a regular basis when she was home and in the living room, after a week or two of exposure and light conversation she sat down and started watching while she'd knit or grade papers (she's a teacher). During this time I'd explain characters, little jokes in the show, and other lore that enriches the universe, but the kinds of things she'd never go out and learn on her own.\n\nOnce she had a feel for the show and the context it became part of our regular evening viewing till we went through the series.\n\nI have repeated the process with a lot of other shows that normally she wouldn't like (Firefly, Metalocalypse, ReBoot, Twin Peaks, Tim & Eric...). However, you've always got to be ready for her not liking it.\n\n**but** if you're dead set on using one Star Trek work to sell the series, I'd actually suggest the movie First Contact. You learn a lot of easy things about the characters, it's a controlled dose of the show (instead of a 10 episode marathon) and as a movie it's designed to be a little more accessible.",
"score": 32
},
{
"body": "I am a girl and I love TNG. I guess I would recommend \"Measure of a Man\", which I believe is in Season 2. The episode has overall a good message, and it kind of hints at romance between that Data and Tasha Yar (extra girly points), and I don't think you need a lot of background to enjoy it. \n\nFor an 8 year old I guess maybe an action one? Maybe \"The Best of Both Worlds\" Borg two-parter from Seasons 3/4. ",
"score": 20
},
{
"body": "While \"The Inner Light\" is an excellent episode, I can verify that it's not a good one to start with. I know this from experience, because it was one of the first ones I watched. I didn't appreciate how great it was until I went back and watched the entire series in the order it aired. \r\n\r\nHave you considered starting from the beginning? \"Encounter at Farpoint\" does have some of the usual first season awkwardness, but overall, it's got an interesting story line and could be a good first introduction.\r\n\r\nHere are some others you might consider:\r\n\r\n* Who Watches the Watchers \r\n* Clues\r\n* Cause and Effect\r\n* The Ensigns of Command\r\n* Tin Man\r\n* The Measure of a Man\r\n* Remember Me\r\n* The Quality of Life (my personal favorite)\r\n\r\nBy the way, good luck! If this works out, she will get hooked on it. I was introduced to TNG by my husband as well and it's now one of my all-time favorite shows!",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "If she's interested in language and thought, then I'd go for [Darmok](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darmok)",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "TAPESTRY. \r\n\r\n\"Welcome to the after life Jean-Luc, you're dead\" -- Q\r\n\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK0l61SM6YM\r\n",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Wife:\n\n* Lessons\n\n* Captain's Holiday\n\n* The Masterpiece Society\n\n\n\nSon:\n\n* Sin's of the Father\n\n* A Fistful of Datas\n\n* Preemptive Strike",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "\"Déjà Q\" - the \"Q is made mortal\" slapstick comedy episode. By far the most humour in one episode, John deLancie is the best actor ever to appear on TNG next to Patrick Stewart, it has a Picard facepalm moment, and you just can't take it seriously, making it perfect for an audience who can't take Trek seriously.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "For your wife perhaps, Remember Me; it depends on what you think she will enjoy though. For your son, the Q episodes for sure, Q is like that crazy uncle who is powerful because he's an adult, but doesn't play by the adult rules.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "- the one where Picard lives another man's entire life on a doomed planet\n- any of the episodes involving the Borg\n- the one where Riker comes back from vacation with that mind control game",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "OP, have you thought about introducing her to Deep Space 9 instead of TNG? It has a continuing storyline with lots of interpersonal stuff, well after the 1st and 2nd seasons, making it into a space soap opera.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "The Inner Light (which I must state is a rip-off of Alan Moore's Superman story: [For the Man Who Has Everything](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Man_Who_Has_Everything)) followed by Lessons and Attached.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The canonical ratings for all episodes. \n\nhttp://www.trekmania.net/conference/listings/episodelistingstng.htm\n\nI'm a fan of tapestry. it's about picard's regrets and their effect on his life. \n\nEdit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation) I love the wiki pic with picard laughing with the knife coming out through his heart",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "How about the one where Data is Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty takes over the ship? It might be a fun contrast to the current movie.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I know some people will hate this but it was Voyager that got my wife into Trek... A friend let us borrow the first season and she was hooked. We watched all of Vger and then watched all of TNG. \n\nBefore all of that she couldn't stand SciFi. After we watched the Matrix she had a nightmare about \"That black man on the Matrix...\"",
"score": 3
}
] |
Should I be as jealous as I am about my girlfriend's past hookups? | I've been with my girlfriend for a year and a half. Out of curiosity, I was looking through some of her old chat logs (yes, I know I'm an asshole) and found out that less than a month before her getting together with me, she had a no-strings hookup with another guy. I've seen the guy around and know she's his friend but I never knew they had hooked up before. I don't know what to do about it; in theory it doesn't affect me since it was before our relationship started but for some reason it makes me incredibly jealous. Should I ask her about it? Should I be jealous at all?
EDIT: Our relationship has been good, actually she's been out of town and she gave me permission to look through her hard drive, albeit for sexy pictures and not through her chat logs. Also, she still talks to the guy on IM a lot. | 6 | [
{
"body": "Why the hell would you be? Your gf fucked another guy before she met you... was she suppose to be a virgin?\n\nNow, don't EVER EVER EVER tell her about this. I don't think your gf of 1.5 years will like that you read her old chat logs while she was asleep or taking a shower.... she'll most likely freak for violating her trust and privacy. Don't act weird around this other guy. If you feel jealous or angry just think \"tonight, I'm gonna fuck her while he's using lotion and thinking about his one-night stand\". That should help your fragile little ego.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Everyone is focusing on just the fact that she fucked someone else before they got together.\n\n\n\nBut I dated a girl who would bring her ex's over and shit.\n\n\nThere's a reason we're not together anymore.\n\n\nI'm sorry but I really can't have a good time at a party with four people, one of which you fucked.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "> less than a month **before** her getting together with me, she had a no-strings hookup with another guy. \n\nThe key word is \"before\".\n\n>she still talks to the guy on IM a lot.\n\nIf she fucks him again, you have a complaint. If not, you don't.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "A good rule of thumb is that if your relationship is at the point where you feel the *compulsion* to search through what your significant other wishes to keep private it is time to sit down and have a long conversation, or go your separate ways.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "It's possible she hasn't told you because she doesn't want you to feel weird around him. And presumably she could have been with this guy if she wanted to, but she chose you.\n\nI had a friend who I had a no strings thing with before my last boyfriend, and we continued to chat regularly (as friends) during my relationship - because primarily we were friends. My boyfriend wasn't the jealous type and never asked details of my past sex life, so I never mentioned it. If he did I would have happily disclosed the details.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Reddit, the F**K is up with this weather? There's a chance of snow here in *central* Florida in about four hours! | 8AM, forecast lists a chance of snow flurries. I also seem to be the only person in CFL that's comfortable with these temperatures. I guess that makes sense, but dammit, I didn't move to Florida for snow and below-freezing temperatures. There's already a light freezing rain coming down right now.
**EDIT** Ding ding ding! We have snow as far south as Lakeland as of about 2PM. Snow in Orlando as of about... 10-11AM. | 41 | [
{
"body": "The number one reason that Florida doesn't have snow skiing is that Florida doesn't have mountains, which also explains the total lack of mountain goats there. Although alligators consider goats a delicacy. But so do Arabs. Therefore, Arabs are alligators.\n\nHowever, the plus side is that Florida will now have some serious nipple action, if the swimwear babes are too dumb to put on coats. From Fox News tonight: \"Three blondes found frozen on the beach. They'd covered themselves in suntan oil in an attempt to stay warm. Shivering others were rescued and had this to say: 'This strange white stuff came out of the sky suddenly. It was horrible, like the day I accidently fell into the freezer compartment at the top of my fridge and couldn't get out.\"",
"score": 49
},
{
"body": "north atlantic current shut down\n\n\nhttp://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/05mar_arctic.htm\n\n\nBy disturbing a massive ocean current, melting Arctic sea ice might trigger colder weather in Europe and North America.\n\n\nYou do not mess with a closed system until you understand all the variables and what to compensate for much less have the technology to do so.\n\nFucking Humans",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "A phenomenon known as the Arctic Oscillation is really negative this winter, which is causing arctic air to race southward into the continental US. The AO basically comes from differences in pressure. More info can be found [here](http://nsidc.org/arcticmet/patterns/arctic_oscillation.html).\n\nHere in northern Alabama we have had snow on the ground for the past two days, and it has been in the teens and single digits for lows. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "You guys obviously missed this very important piece of news:\n\nhttp://www.daily.pk/norway-time-hole-“leak”-plunges-northern-hemisphere-into-chaos-14311/",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "15-25 years ago Scientific American had an article about climate with a model predicting that various kinds of extreme weather events become much more common if the global temperature goes up even slightly. It was back when chaos theory stuff was first being discussed in general public books/magazines, etc. \r\n ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Flagler Beach here! I didn't move to this shithole state to deal with snow. What are these sales taxes for anyways?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "EDIT: to many global warming jokes already how about a...\n\nThe vote for snow/no snow was a close one this year with snow winning out with 48.8% of the vote. 2.3% of voters voted for \"applesauce\"\n",
"score": 3
}
] |
[0] What's the shittiest piece you have in your collection? | Here's [Dusty](http://imgur.com/ed59a), the first piece I ever bought and quickly replaced. I've got fonder memories from smoking out of apples. Nevertheless I haven't thrown him out yet. | 10 | [
{
"body": "My light bulb vapo is definitely the crappiest piece I have. It hardly keeps all the smoke in, and its inefficient as hell. I still love the thing though, just not as much as I used to. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Your shitty piece would actually be an upgrade for me. I'm using a glass piece that broke and had to be repaired with aluminum foil. Too bad shipping is expensive, otherwise I'd ask you to mail me your \"trash\" so I could put it to good use.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I HAD, repeat HAD a pinch hitter that was made of whale bone, it was like 70 dollars from some florida head shop by Ft. Lauderdale. Well it snapped in half when I had it in my pocket so I fixed it together with a pin grippy. Shortly after I threw it away and just stuck with my bubby. (bubbler)",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I have a tiny little glass bong with a carbhole that never clears after you take your thumb off the carb, it just pulls more smoke...i miss my pipe :(",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "My first was my worst. It was accidentally thrown out a week or two ago so I don't have any pics, but it was a purple metal pipe. There were holes on each end and you unscrewed it so it split in the middle and packed the larger side of it. You had to keep the lighter burning it to get anything, so the metal would get really hot and burn your lips. Also, the hits were really harsh, it didn't have a filter so you'd always get ash in your mouth near the end of a bowl, and this nasty black tar shit coated the inside after every use. I'm not even sure that terrible thing was meant to be used as a pipe.",
"score": 3
}
] |
Citizens of Redditopia, how many of you listen to music while you sleep? | I'm a very curious person - so, I was wondering how many of you all put on some headphones or ear buds and drifted off to something? What kind of music is it? Does it affect your dreams in any way (if you dream, that is)? | 18 | [
{
"body": "I rarely listen to music while going to sleep. But I do listen to books on tape. Generally only books I've already read. Currently I'm listening to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress every night as I go to sleep, but prior to that I would listen to [The Outcasts of Poker Flat](http://www.archive.org/details/Outcasts) every night. I literally went like a year listening to the same short story every night.\n\nWow, when I actually type that out it seems kind of weird.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "For years I did this with the radio. But then my stereo became possessed by fuckin ghosts or something and the volume would randomly turn up (sometimes only a little, sometimes a lot) in the middle of the night and wake everyone up. So I stopped. Oh and occasionally a song I really liked would come on the radio and I would magically wake up, regardless of the time, listen to it and fall asleep again once it ended.\n\nNow I occasionally play an album on my laptop and doze off after a few minutes.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "During my teen years I would listen to Love Line to fall a sleep. Perfectly normal, perfectly healthy.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "yeah i have a sleep mix. Mono, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Bon Iver, Bark Psychosis, The Decemberists and The Antlers mostly. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Music will mess with your sleep pretty bad...BUT...ambient recordings are great. I have collected over the years a variety of sound environments that I use often through the winter when the windows aren't open... \r\n\r\nrecordings... streams, woods, birds, swamps, jungles... \r\n\r\nAnother thing that works great is a nature webcam with good audio... there's not a lot of reliable ones but there are a few...Something about the live sound is calming...",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Nope, I find music to be too well structured and it causes my mind to focus on the beat when I'm trying to clear my mind to sleep. I listen to podcasts now to help me sleep. The sound of people talking at a relatively low volume is quite soothing and my mind doesn't automatically focus on them. ",
"score": 3
}
] |
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