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Happy Birthday, tootall113!!! | I know you have at least about 10 minutes left of being 22 in the States, but here in Germany, you've been 23 for almost 6 hours! I hope [today and your year end up great :)](http://imgur.com/xMXj4.jpg) | 12 | [
{
"body": "You just made me cry... thank you sooooo much!!! This is the best, I came home to a 12 pack of beer, a dozen roses, and I just checked reddit and saw this. It rocks and your rock even more! Thank you! I couldn't have wished for a better way to start my birthday. I do still have a little over an hour left till my actual birthday - but I do try to stretch it out as much as possible! It's perfect. ",
"score": 5
}
]
|
What has been your most racist/sexist experience in an airport? | My most sexist experience has been here in Qatar's Doha international airport. Here in Doha's international airport, where I am sitting right now, there are, as in most middle eastern countries, separate lines for both men and women. That's not the issue here. The issue here is with the progress of said lines. The line for men moved extremely quickly, while the line for women LITERALLY did not move at all. Thus, a good deal of people are on the verge of losing their flights. It's to the point that when families with children in strollers are sent through, the men and children are allowed to go through, while the mothers are made to stay. It's not a problem of sparse resources either, as the line for women is moving at the rate of one person per four minutes, while the male's line is moving at a far more brisk pace. This is absolutely outrageous. I've flown through Bahrain, Dubai, Riyadh, Muscat, and Jeddah before and I've never seen idiocy like this.
As far as racism goes, I don't really have too horrible experiences to tell, apart from the seemingly all brown line and the seemingly all White line for security in Bahrain. In the USA, I guess I have seen selected for far too many "random searches" as a brown man.
Edit: Damn, it's hard to be typo free when hammering away on an iPhone while angry. I apologise in advance for them.
Edit2: Unrelated, but interesting; it seems like Qatar simply drops any connection being made to wikileaks rather that displaying a blocked page warning.
Edit3: It seems like this has been happening for some time now. | 3 | [
{
"body": "Leaving Costa Rica I was talking to another tourist who made a comment to the effect of \"...and half of the waiters and waitresses in this country don't even TRY to learn English and speak to us in our language.\"\n\nI was pretty much speechless but I wanted to slug him for perpetuating the stereotype of an ugly American tourist.",
"score": 3
}
]
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How long is your 3-second rule? | Personally, I change it to however long it will take me to retrieve said food off the floor. It helps in justifing to myself I am not a dirty slob. | 13 | [
{
"body": "Mythbusters proved that it doesnt matter how long its been on the floor. I dont have a \"second\" rule anymore. If its a dry type food and i dont see added debri i eat it. Wet or debri gets fed to the cats.",
"score": 35
},
{
"body": "I am a firm believer in the 21 bounce rule: if it bounces less than 21 times, you can eat it. I've tested this rule with rigorous scientificicity: nothing bounces more than 21 times, so this is a very good rule.",
"score": 31
},
{
"body": "I don't have a 3 second rule, but more of a 3 second formula called \"3xy.\" X is the coefficient of floor-grossness, with really ugly floors having a <1 value while clean, dry floors have a >5 value. Y is the coefficient of food, where stickier foods with high surface area get a <1 value while drier foods with low surface area get a >5 value.\n\nThus, if you drop a slice of pizza on the bathroom floor and you employ the 3-second formula, you have several nanoseconds to pick that shit up before your universe collapses. On the flip side, if you drop an m&m on heidi klum's buttcheek, you have till the end of time before that's even remotely disgusting.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "Personally, it's a Speed Challenge to see who can drop to the floor and eat the piece of food first between my dog and me. And he's a fuckin' greyhound, so that shit is *tough* to win. I think the longest anything's *ever* been on the floor for is about half a second.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "In a bacterial contamination kind of way, it doesn't matter if its 3 seconds or 3 minutes. So it depends how much I want to eat whatever it is a dropped.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Depends fully on how much loose crap is on the floor and what the food is. Covered in hair and dirt with a food stuff that'll pick it up, I toss it, if it looks even close to still clean I'll eat it. I've eaten skittles found under the couch days later because they were still cleanish.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Permissible time Formula: t=(Desirability of the food x Cleanliness of Floor)/(Moistness of the Food x Number of People around who would disapprove) ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "this is actually the five second rule. when i clicked on the post, i thought it would be about how long i could stay in the paint when my team has the basketball, and the answer to that is as long as i want to until we score. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "We have dogs. We only get seconds to get to it before they do. If you beat out the dog, you win and get to eat it. If not, oh well.",
"score": 3
}
]
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I have no job, car, school, or friends. How do I get my shit together? | I fucked up high school so bad that I can't go back, and now I'm stuck with getting my GED. I'm gonna be able to go to a great college, but I hate the fact that I can't finish out high school. | 3 | [
{
"body": "Anything you could possibly get from finishing highschool will be proven useless after a month in college.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "First: Stop smoking weed\nSecond: Figure out what you want to do, aim at it and work really friggin hard.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm guessing it's too late to do anything about the high school thing, so just get the GED. Just wait it out until college. There's nothing else to do. Then get a job. It shouldn't be too hard. Work at a grocery store, restaurant, clothing store, anywhere really. Use the money from your job to get a car. Use the car to get to college. Use the college to get friends. You can probably make friends at your new job, too. You want to get your shit together so get out there and do it.",
"score": 3
}
]
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IAMAn Employee at a sex store | Ok, well I caved, and am doing this IAMA as per [request](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/aoh8d/the_fleshlight_who_has_one/c0imsdm) despite the fact that one of these has been made in the past, though I figure that enough time has elapsed and my experiences have differed from the OP of the other one that it is safe to post my own.
I live in Canada and started working at the sex store in October '09 (so not very long) and started working on a [blog](http://sex-store-confessions.blogspot.com) around December to recount my experiences working at the store. It has honestly been one of the most interesting jobs that I have worked, and I honestly do love my job and feel that I would very much like to stay there for as long as is possible.
I am willing to answer any questions that you may have regarding what it is like working in a sex store (though I will not answer any questions that will identify any of my clients) and anything you may want to know on the subject. To let you know I am going out for a couple of hours but will respond to all your questions when I get back.
Edit: And if any mods could let me know what I could do to get my gold star would be muchly appreciated. | 18 | [
{
"body": "Does your shop have masturbation booths? If so, do you hear people going eh eh eh, as they fap? \n\nIn all seriousness, thanks for doing this IAmA. Do many females come in? or is your clientele more male? ",
"score": 5
}
]
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Apologizing to my ex. Anything to be gained? | I was with my ex girlfriend for 3 years and we broke up last summer. I struggled with it mightily. It sent my world crashing down and I went into a tailspin. At first, it was difficult to function day to day. But I think I'm over her now. I've accepted that we're over. I've convinced myself that we were at different stages of our life and had different expectations and it would have been very difficult to work things out at the time. I know that even since the breakup, we've become very different people than we used to be.
I think I'm slowly getting to the "friends" stage. She wanted to stay in contact after our breakup. I couldn't handle it, so I didn't. But recently we opened up a line of communication, and I can handle seeing her and talking to her without being flooded with emotion. I ran into her at the gym yesterday and it was very friendly and we seemed happy to see each other. It's her birthday tomorrow and I plan calling her to wish her a happy birthday. We've gotten lunch and talked in depth a couple times too. That's kind of where we're at right now. She's an amazing person, and I always knew I didn't want her out of my life completely, I just always felt I wasn't ready for it yet.
So now to the actual question. I was recently going over some of our emails and texts from when we were breaking up. And for some reason, I feel like I should apologize. Not for the things I said, but rather, the position I put her in. I was going through a rough time and I basically dumped it all on her. She was really the only one who knew what I was feeling, and it put enormous pressure on her. And that was the beginning of our problems (although it was hard to see at the time). So, is there anything to be gained from explaining this to her? In my mind, it would come off as mature and could make our friendship easier going forward. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it would come off differently and not accomplish anything (or even create more problems).
Thoughts? | 7 | [
{
"body": "No. Leave it in the past, or you're going to set yourself (and possibly her) back. It doesn't sound like you did anything really wrong. She will most likely interpret it as a way of you trying to get back with her.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I guess \"we broke up\" means \"she dumped me\".\n\nYou're just looking for a backdoor way of starting up again with her.\n\nIf you broke up once, there were good reasons. You're best off understanding your motive here and finding someone else more compatible.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I know you think it seems like a good idea but it is not. Don't apologize for anything. In fact, you probably shouldn't be hanging out with her or talking to her either. Not for awhile at least. Go incognito for awhile. Make her wonder where you are and what you are doing. Then she will think you have moved on to bigger and better things. Then later on if you just so happen to open up a line of communication and things get back on a romantic track then and only then would I consider an apology. Otherwise leave it in the past as a lesson for the future.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "It seems like the consensus is not to apologise, which surprises me a little, I didn't think I'd be the only one who thinks there would be some merit in it.\n\nI generally try to stay friends with my exes, or if not actively friends, at least on good terms should we ever bump into each other again.\n\nI have been through messy breakups where both of us said things we later regretted, and generally find it easier to move on and let bygones be bygones if I apologise for my part in the debacle. More often than not, they apologise too and we can move on from it.\n\nIf you think she may interpret it the wrong way, maybe preface your apology with something along the lines of \"I know we've both moved on since then, and I'm not trying to win you back. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for the way I acted (or whatever). I genuinely hope we can be friends.\"",
"score": 3
}
]
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My wife might have been fired illegally, does she have any legal recourse? | I'll preface by saying I know we should go talk to a lawyer, I'm just not in the same state and I'll see one as soon as I get back into town.
She works in Florida. Long story short, the location manager found instant messages on AIM between her and another employee. They were discussing the manager acting like a child.
Now she had AIM set to not log the conversations which means he either had a keystroke logger or was remotely logged in and was watching her desktop. She never signed anything or was ever told about a consent to monitoring, and she never had any negative documentation about her before this. If she was fired and the only reason given was an instant message found, was it illegal?
The only other strange thing was that the other employee involved wasn't terminated even though what she said was worse. She wasn't fired because she's a single mom and has been there for years.
(This was reposted after the one I posted 5 min ago had missing words & info... sorry)
| 6 | [
{
"body": "If it was on the work computer, and the company owns it they can remotely monitor it and fire at will. I don't believe anything has to be agreed to, they do it all the time here. \n\nAny \"personal\" viewing of the internet, email, or aim was grounds for termination. \n\nI had a co worker send me an email about a job and they fired him the same day, because they captured my screen, and then threatened to fire me for opening the email. \n\nThats how they roll",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "It is always a bad idea to say, text, or email things about your boss while at work. hard lesson to learn. Move on to better things.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You'll likely get the same responses here. If your wife was using company resources on company time, there is no recourse. There isn't a reasonable expectation of privacy on IM, particularly since it was on their computer, on their network, and their time. I'm sorry to hear it - and really the most important thing to do now would be to find out from her Human Resources department if this made her ineligible for a rehire. Not that she would work there again - but HR departments are ethically bound to only disclose certain things when giving a reference - hire date, last date, and whether the person would be eligible for rehire. A lawyer can't/won't help you with this.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "> She works in Florida. Long story short, the location manager found instant messages on AIM between her and another employee. They were discussing the manager acting like a child.\n\n> Now she had AIM set to not log the conversations which means he either had a keystroke logger or was remotely logged in and was watching her desktop.\n\nWas this at work or over a VPN? All her web traffic would be visible to the employer. Or the other employee involved could have ratted her out.\n\n> If she was fired and the only reason given was an instant message found, was it illegal?\n\nDoesn't seem to be. Florida is a right-to-work state, so she can be fired for any non-discriminatory reason.\n\nTake all this with a grain of salt, I don't really know what I'm talking about.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Henny, \n\nI advise you to look at the case objectively. The employer will argue that your wife was for engaging in an internet activity (instant messaging). Whatever message was involved, the fact remains that she engaged in such activity. Employee always has the reasonable expectation that his/her actions are being monitored. \n\nNow you need to establish if the activity is prohibited, or forbidden. There are some rules need not to be included in a rulebook. Common sense will tell us that using company resources for personal purposes may be against the employer's interest. The employer is acting prudent and in observance to its best interest to fire your wife. \n\nIf the activity was not prohibited, you have to establish whether or not the act was done during \"working hours\", if it is so, the employer can argue that she was basically \"not satisfactorily working\" but rather doing her own business \"chatting.\"\n\nFor the sake of unemployment benefits purposes, your wife can argue that the rule was not reasonably or uniformly applied or enforced to all concern individual. Your wife has to present evidence (anecdotal or through documentary evidence) proving that she has been discharge when others were not. \n\n",
"score": 3
}
]
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By Request: IAMA independent pizza chef, AMA | I am one of 3 kitchen workers at my restaurant. We do mid-range to upscale Italian food. I have worked here for about a year, and before that in various other kitchens. The specific question I had was about dough, and so I'd be glad to answer that, but feel free to ask me anything about pizza, Italian food, or working as a chef in general.
Edit: Okay, as I seem to be getting this question over and over again, I am in Guelph, Ontario Canada! I am not Italian, and I was born and raised here. I am Jewish, and this is why I love New York so much. | 78 | [
{
"body": "Okay, so, dough recipe is relatively simple and here it is:\n\n- 6 liters (approx, I adjust based on how the dough feels) of white, unbleached flour\n\n- 2 liters of water\n\n- 3 tbsp of salt\n\n- 1.5 oz weight of wet yeast (in our busy season, this is best, but doesn't keep long) *or* 4tbps of dried brewers yeast (in our slow season)\n\n- 2 oz volume of olive oil\n\n- 4 oz volume of honey (waaaay nicer than sugar)\n\nKnead the dough in an electric mixer or by hand until elastic. Portion into 9oz bags and *refrigerate overnight before use.*\n\n...and that's it! Keep in mind that this is a flexible recipe and depending on how the dough looks, I may change the ingredients slightly from batch to batch. Keep in mind too that this is a HUGE FUCKING BATCH, so you may want to ratchet the portion down by half or by a quarter for personal use! The recipe should scale up and down rather well.\n\nEDIT: This is a basic recipe, feel free to add to it. I just remembered how amazing it was when I had fennel seeds in my dough a while back on a whim. SO GOOD. Experiment!",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "I make sauce a lot, and my sauce always, to put it bluntly, fucking sucks. What's your recipe, my friend?",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Have you tried Domino's New and Improved Pizza? What do you think of it? I don't know if many people have caught the ads, but the owner of Domino's keeps admitting that their pizza sucked, and now it's super awesome: with BAM!-new cheese, BAM!-new sauce, BAM!-new crust. I can't wait to try it. I'm so excited because I felt, before this new pizza technological breakthrough, that the pizza tasted ok, but now, it must taste FUCKING AMAZING! I can hardly breathe right now; I keep envisioning Domino's pizza being forced into my mouth, and I'm loving every choking minute of it. I must have it! It belongs in me! ",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I'm really into gardening and would like to grow my own pizza ingrediants and possibly mill my own flour. I'm looking into buying a goat so I can make cheese and get some help trimming weeds and mowing my grass. What kind of tomatoes do you suggest I grow? I know even the freshest tomatos don't compare to a really good canned tomato but I plan to pressure cook them to get that taste. Any specific species you can think of? Also what about the herbs? Lastly what type of flour do you reccomend I go with? I'm not a fan of whole grain but I understand that fresh home milled whole grain tastes great. Would this come out well as a pizza dough or should I just buy the flour already made? What's a good yeast? Do you guys use regular salt or a special variety? Sorry for all the questions.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Do you ever feel pizza chains have lost the meaning of what pizza is all about? I mean, it was cool back when it was coming from the streets of Naples. You'd have kids in their kitchens getting their first piece of dough, doing all sorts of crazy, inventive shit with it like tossing it into the air, adding tomatoes. Basically laying the foundations for what we know as modern pizza. But now it's gone overboard with BBQ chicken, steak, and whatnot. You don't put an entirely separate meal on top of a pizza and call it a fucking topping. And what's this \"dessert pizza\" bullshit all about? ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I will be eternally grateful if you could answer this question:\n\nWhy do people leave the seeds in olives? My bf was a wood oven pizza chef for 5yrs and he always pitted and halved his olives. But where I live, they almost always leave the seeds in. WHY? It drives me insane when I bite into a giant olive seed, it puts me off my meal entirely. The only reason my bf could think of was to weigh the olive down so it doesn't roll off when you spin the pizza in the oven. But yeah, we're both clueless as to why anyone would think this was a good idea.\n\nAlso, do you put the prosciutto on before or after the pizza goes in the oven?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I have been a regular over at pizzamaking.com for about 4 months and the guys there have helped me to the point where my ny style is better than 99% of what I can get in the city I live in. Lots of friends who have tried my pizza keep saying I need to open a restaurant (although there's far more to having a restaurant than making good pizza), so I have lots of questions :D\n\n* What brands of flour and cheese do you use?\n* Do you use the same dough recipe for stix as for pizza (if you do stix that is)? \n* What type of mixer?\n* Deck/conveyor/brick oven (guessing conveyor based on dough recipe)?\n* What do you use as a base for your sauce? \n* What is your food cost as a % of sale price for a standard pizza?\n* About your dough recipe, it looks like it has a low hydration and quite a bit of sugars which leads me to believe you bake at a relatively low temp (450?). How hot/long do you bake?\n* Do you hand toss or use a press?\n* Approximately how many pies do you sell a week? \n* I am guessing based on your high end menu that you have more in store sales than take out / delivery, is that true?\n\nThanks for doing the AMA.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Not sure if it's been asked already but which do you prefer, New York or Chicago style? I personally like my crust somewhere in between, can't stand thin, floppy slices! ",
"score": 3
}
]
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During a conversation with my little brother I unintentionally mentioned I don't believe in religion. | I read /r/atheism fairly regularly but I have never had a reason to post, until now. I was talking on gtalk with my little brother who is in high school and I unintentionally mentioned to him that I don't believe in religion. We come from a typical large Catholic family with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and dozens of cousins on both sides being devoutly (or at least well pretended) religious. I had never mentioned my religious feeling to my family before because even though my mom knows I don't go to church it has always been one of those "if you don't talk about it then you don't have to deal with it" situations, like drinking before I was 21.
Anywho, I think my brother was thrown for a loop because it took him two and a half hours to respond. When he did he asked why I don't believe in religion, and this is the response I gave:
> I think religion divides people more then it brings them together. More hate, anger and prejudice have happened as a result of religion then love in my opinion. Religious people disbelieve thousands of stories, myths, legends, and the religions/gods of other cultures and often are amused at some of the far-fetched ideas in them, but they turn a blind eye to their own religion. They easily see the absurdity of Zeus, Thor, Scientology, etc but think that *their* faith is different because it was how they were raised, and therefore it must be right.
> But it’s not even that, I think religion is great if it makes the individual happy and brings goodness into the world, but more often than not it is used as an excuse for exclusion and hate. People go to wars over it, people die for it, people are ready to throw away all that is important in this life for what they perceive will be a better existence after they die. I felt that if people spend half as much effort being good humans and making this world a better place instead of spending their zeal on an uncertainty, then our planet would be a great enough place to live that people wouldn’t need the promise of a heaven to get them through this life, and then our planet might actually have a future instead of the downward spiral it is currently in.
> That’s my two cents.
This was kind of an intense moment for me and I figured this would be the best forum to share this experience. Thanks to all three of you who might have read this, commentary welcomed.
EDIT: Sorry I didn't think to post this with the original, but his response was
> Well to each his own I guess.
And the conversation pretty much ended for the night. Also, I see that you all seem to be correct that I more stated why I dislike religion as opposed to why I don't believe in it. I guess that is because in my mind I was thinking of believing in the potential of something as opposed to its existence. Like how someone can choose to believe or not believe in Conan, even though the reality of his *existence* is not debatable. | 54 | [
{
"body": "> why I don't believe in religion\n\nYour arguments are why religion is bad.\n\nTo answer his actual question - you don't believe in religion because it is nonsense.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "I made very well certain that my little brother wasn't corrupted by religion. I had the same conversation with him not long ago and was glad to hear that he never believed in god.\n\nHe is being indoctrinated as a Roman Catholic and has to go to church school every other week or something. Whenever he comes home I always make a point to ask him what he thought about what they told him and make sure he remains skeptical. When he's a little older I'll be the one teaching him about Epicurus and Russell.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Your response suggests you do believe in religion (it exists as a cognitive phenomena). I'd be confused too.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Agreed -- all you said was secondary, a reply to the unasked question \"but--religion does so much good, how can you just give it up?\"\n\nThe actual question, \"why don't you believe?\" needs a better answer. Bad-mouthing the social and psychological aspects of religion is a cop-out. It lets you push religious practice away without confronting the central lies.\n\nTo be honest with your brother and yourself, you need to say specifically and in detail how you don't believe the stories you've been taught. You need to review that catechism you both were made to memorize and have reasons to deny each point. Can you? Because if you can't, you still believe, and the honest response is to stay in and try to make religion work.\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my little brother thinks religion is bullshit. I was reading *The God Delusion* on a car ride to Six Flags with a few of my friends and my brother, and would occasionally read interesting passages out loud. His responses were always of agreement. We weren't *that* close while I lived at home, but since moving out we've started getting along a lot better. I never talked with him before about religion. However, I'm not surprised he reached the same conclusion I did, growing up in the same religiously apathetic family.\n\nI also just found out he tokes. Fuck yeah.",
"score": 4
}
]
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what do you do with your ps3 besides gaming? | im just wondering what else i can do with my ps3 instead of playing games and watching blurays.
any great ideas? | 22 | [
{
"body": "Media center! It's fantastic for streaming videos from my desktop (which has a 20.1\" monitor) to a 46\" LCD!",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I've a 58\" 1080p plasma screen in the living room. The PS3 is hooked up to it. So is a small cheap PC.\n\nThe PS3 is for gaming, DVD, Blu-Ray, and Netflix streaming. It's also a UPnP client, and nearby I've a system which is up 24/7 anyway (it's my email / web / file server) and on that system I dumped all my MP3s and all my JPEGs (family pictures) and all my home videos, and I installed a UPnP server (called PS3 Media Server) on it - so I just watch all that media material on the PS3, very comfortably, streaming from my email server.\n\nAny video file I get from the Internet, I either put it on the UPnP server directly, or I convert it to MP4 first (AVC video, AAC audio) on my desktop (using MeGUI) and then I put it on the server, and then I can watch it on the PS3.\n\nThe PC has a decent graphics card (it's the best part of it), a so-so CPU, and everything else is cheap. It is running XP, it logs in automatically to a generic account (but we all have personalized accounts on it, too - just like the PS3, except the PS3 does not log in automatically to the generic account). The PC is for Windows gaming.\n\nAlso has a browser (Google Chrome) and I use that mostly to watch Jon Stewart online, full screen on the 58\" TV. I also installed Boxee and Hulu for Internet TV. Also has WinAmp and VLC for music and video files, just in case I'm not watching them on the PS3. I also put Google Earth on it, and stuff like that which I almost never use.\n\nI set the PC up with large fonts and large icons. The desktop has a few big shortcuts on it: Chrome, WinAmp, Boxee, Hulu, and it's otherwise empty and black; the taskbar is configured to auto-hide. Screensaver is the black one with the WinXP logo and kicks in after 5 minutes. I've a wireless keyboard and mouse hooked up, but they are pretty crappy, the range is too short, I need to replace them.\n\nI love this setup. You can't do everything with a PS3, but add a little PC and that's it, you're done.",
"score": 5
}
]
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Help! I have an intern/co-op interview (phone) with Google. Any advice? I'm really nervous... | I am interviewing for a summer co-op position. I am going to have online questionnaires and 2 phone interviews. Any advice from redditors who work for Google or a similar company would be great. I am only in year 2.5 of a 5 year program and I have no idea what to expect.
**edit:** Thanks for all of the great advice! I'm going to wade through this all and brush up on my algorithms, hopefully I'll be back with good news in the next couple of weeks! | 7 | [
{
"body": "[I assume this is for a software engineering or related engineering position, if it's not substitute the engineering stuff for generic \"knowledge\" terms, the message still applies]\n\nI have some (successful) experience of interviewing at Google. The single most important piece of advice I can give you, from my own experience of shitting bricks during those interviews, and talking to other engineers, is to be passionate.\n\nA lot of \"get a job at google lol\" sites tell you to know your algorithms, be comfortable coding on a whiteboard (not relevant to a phone screen, but coding on some shared document/wave/whatever might), how demonstrating how you think is more important than being 100% right immediately all the time. That is all true, and you should be prepared for all of that. The candidates who prepare for the interview don't usually get that part too wrong.\n\nAn interviewer that comes back from an interview doesn't say \"Wow, he was really thinking analytically and knew his distributed sorts! And he codes on the whiteboard like a champ!\" When they come back from interviewing a superstar, they will rave about how passionate the candidate was.\n\nMaybe the interview drifted onto designing sensor networks, and the candidate happens to be a huge embedded/RF/swarm geek, and you had an amazing conversation about how you'd detect a loose screw that causes disk-killing vibrations in datacenters, using dirt cheap sensor platforms. Or maybe you drifted into distributed hash tables, and talked for an hour about the tradeoffs and security implications of Kademlia vs. Freenet, and how you'd improve on the design of both along some axis. Or hell, maybe you're really into architecture, photography, deep-sea diving, and you talk about that for a bit and rave about how awesome it is.\n\n\nSo, yes to all of the people telling you to be prepared on the algorithms front (don't forget graph algorithms, sorts that perform better than O(nlogn) for certain kinds of inputs, and stream processing stuff), to be ready to code up a snippet of something, and to emphasize demonstrating good thinking rather than focusing on being 100% correct and optimal immediately. But, if you are passionate about programming, hacking, technology, or something else, don't forget to let that shine through as well. Someone passionate will be driven to writing good software and learning new things, which in the end is frankly more important to us than whether you know the exact correct answer to question 2c right now at this instant.\n\nBeing passionate can make up for the pure technical side of the interview. All the technical prowess of the universe won't compensate if you don't feel passionate about what you're planning to spend a large chunk of your waking hours doing for a living.\n\n\nI hope this isn't scaring you, because that really isn't what I'm trying to do. Just don't forget that you're not speaking to a faceless company evaluating if you'd be a valuable contributor to the bottom line. On the other end of the line is a human being who's wondering if you're someone cool to work with. She also has to make sure that you do know a thing or two about these computer things (and thus are likely capable of contributing to the bottom line), but too many candidates forget about the rest of what an interview's about.\n\nAlso don't forget that you are interviewing Google as much as the other way round. If you have questions or doubts about whether you want to work there etc., the interview is also there for you to ask those questions (usually at the end, the googler will ask if you have any questions for them) and establish whether you actually want to work there.\n\n\nAnd, finally, whether it works out or not, don't sweat it. I've seen a lot of people who are devastated when a \"cool kids\" company (Google or other) rejects them, because suddenly they think their life is over and they'll be writing J2EE accounting software for the rest of their lives. Don't be one of those people. You're 2.5 years into a degree that will lead to a long career full of opportunities, whether you get a summer gig for this particular company or not. There are great opportunities everywhere, so if this one doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world. And, in the end, it's all just a job, and even the best job in the world is no substitute for having a rich, interesting life.\n\nBest of luck, live long and prosper, and drop me a private line if it turns out we'll be colleagues for a bit :)",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "EDIT: Formatting\n\nI've worked at one software giant and am starting another soon (one that qualifies me to respond to this specific post... ).\n\nGeneral interview advice:\n-They want to know how you think. You can get by without getting a single question \"right\" as long as you convince the interviewers that you thought like a programmer about the questions.\n\n-You should be able to think on a whiteboard. If you have time before the interview, try to do some homework or study for an exam in a small group (or at least with one other person) and go through some problems or topics on a whiteboard with everyone else following along. If you don't have time for that, try teaching someone in your family or a roommate something new using a whiteboard or a piece of paper. Make sure that you can say a train of complete sentences that make sense and express a concrete thought without having to memorize it--this sounds very easy, but it can be difficult under pressure.\n\nSpecific Google advice:\n-As another poster said, ask many questions at any interview. At Google specifically, ask questions about the projects your interviewers are working on right now. You may or may not get much of a chance to do this over the phone, but it helps out big-time in person (and if you don't get to the in-person interview, then you need to practice the basics: big-O analysis, recursive data structures, at least a basic familiarity with sorting and searching algorithms, API design, OO principles, and requirements analysis/product management principles). You may have heard that Google employees are more self-assured than average--in other words, self-involved*. Use this tendency to get on your interviewer's good side by being genuinely interested in what they do at work. Sample questions: \"Tell me about your most recent release/your most recent completed project. What do you wish you could have done differently?\" \"Of everything you've done at Google, of what have you been most proud?\"\n\n-Don't misrepresent yourself, but do try to show off your nerdy side if you have one. Try to highlight any side projects you have hacked on, mention your favorite technologies (frameworks, programming languages, etc.); you have a decent shot of having one of these in common with an interviewer and it can make for a more natural and therefore less stressful conversation than some kind of vanilla softball question.\n\nIf you haven't had a technical interview before, read up on how to interview at Microsoft (but ignore the \"How many piano tuners in Chicago\"-type of questions, those are out of date and you will almost definitely not get asked one on the phone); Google's process mirrors theirs and the coding questions are going to be coming from the exact same pool.\n\nIf for some reason this doesn't work out, do not be too discouraged. Google is competitive and it may just turn out that you need some more interview experience before you can clearly represent yourself as a candidate. Good luck!\n\n*As a side note, I believe this comes from two places: 1) Google hires new grads with more emphasis on test scores, GPA, and the reputation of the alma mater than other companies, which means they pull in people who are used to accolades and competition and 2) promotions and bonuses can be heavily dependent on how much an employee publicizes their achievements, which may accustom them to talking about themselves and their work.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I went through the same process for a summer internship in the Sydney office a month or two ago. I wrote a list of questions I gathered at my [website](http://www.smerity.com/interviews.html). Your mileage may vary but I ended up getting the internship. The other thing I'd suggest is buy some bibles (Python, C++, Java, algorithms) and skim read over them, filling in any blanks you may hit.\n\nYou'll also want to focus on showing your thought process - don't stay quiet as they primarily want to see how you consider and attack a given problem. The interviewer is usually quite willing to help prod you along the way especially if you seem to be close to solving it but they can't do that if you're saying nothing.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I've interviewed (and been offered positions) at a couple of the software giants. Perhaps the one thing that helped me with all of that has been the following: Ask questions. Ask lots of questions. Not only will you have a chance to validate all of your assumptions and figure out the 'real' problem that they're asking you if it's a trick, but it will give you some more time to think about the problem and formulate an answer without an awkward silence on the phone.\n\nOther than that, brush up on the basics of whatever languages you have on your resume, don't worry about specific code over the phone (use pseudo code, it translates better), think outside the box and just don't panic. Have fun with it, it will go better.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Agreed, ask lots of questions. Brush up on your CS fundamentals like data structures and basic algorithms. You should be able to do stupid stuff like reverse a linked list or write depth-first search in your sleep. If you have those basics down, it will make the questions they *do* ask you a lot easier.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I recently got an intern/co-op position over this (australian) summer at Google, so here's the deal.\n\nThe first phone interview is just to make sure you're not an idiot. They might ask you simple questions, like, what's the difference in Java between \"final\" and \"finally\", what's the complexity of finding a given element in an unsorted list, what's the difference between a process and a thread, etc.\n\nAlso, have something prepared for the questions: \"What have you been doing that is interesting lately?\" and \"What projects do you work on in your free time?\"\n\nAfter the first idiot proofing, you get 2 phone screens. Phone screens aren't too hard, just typing code into google docs. I wrote my answers in C. Learn how to rotate buffers efficiently in place. Learn how to do a counting sort. Usually they give you interesting algorithmic puzzles to solve. Don't be afraid to think out loud, they'll give you hints if you're stuck.\n\nBest of all, be enthusiastic and also try and demonstrate your knowledge. If you have an idea as to how to solve a problem, but it might be way off, do it anyway! Or, better still, ask your interviewer if he/she thinks it's a good idea.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey reddit. Anyone know any good charities for those that want to help the folks in Haiti who had enough misery in their lives before getting shit on by the earthquake? | Just seems fucked up folks down there had enough problems getting shit on by their government and having the luck of being born in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere before ol' Mother Nature came along with a barbed strap-on to ruin their day.
For those of us that want to help out, any recommend a reliable charity that will offer some real aid? | 19 | [
{
"body": "I'm recommending [YELE Haiti](http://www.yele.org).\n\nThe organization was started in 2005 by Wyclef Jean, who was born in Haiti. All of the money donated is going to go toward Haiti, and it is an established foundation with a lot of support and influence to deal with this crisis on site.\n\nThere are a lot of other foundations, but that's the one I trust the most for this specific issue. They've also lost some people in this tragedy, so this is personal for them.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
If you had access to a plotter (large printer, capable of printing posters on photo paper) what would you print? | So... me and some guys are about to be laid off and we have access to a tremendous amount of excess HP plotter ink and photo paper. We've been printing posters for ourselves to take home.
Can anyone give some suggestions for cool things you would print if you had access to a plotter? Direct links to large images would be awesome. | 3 | [
{
"body": "[VIGO, SCOURGE OF CARPATHIA, SORROW OF MOLDAVIA, COMMANDS YOU TO PRINT ME!](http://www.zteamproductions.com/images/vigo_carpathian.jpg)\n\n12 MB, 3600 x 5760",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey Reddit, are you passive aggressive? What is some of the best things you have done. | I like to hold open doors for people that are far away to see if I can make them run when they realize I am waiting on them. It makes me smile every time. The little victories in life! | 11 | [
{
"body": "Some group of fuckwits in the co-op behind my dorm was playing \"Take Five\" on loop for two days out of one of their attic windows. I went over to ask them to turn it off, but they insisted it wasn't them. The police wouldn't do anything.\n\nSo I got a nice big padlock, went to their breaker box, which was totally unprotected, switched off all their circuits, and padlocked the box.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I enjoy parking as close as possible to the driver's side of someone who parks like an asshole in the parking lot.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I get more-than-I-should pleasure doing passive-aggressive acts in my car. For example, seeing someone driving crazy: I'll box them in, maneuver my car so they can't pass, whatever. Often, they'll tailgate and become infuriated. If/when they do manage to get past, pissed as hell, I have found that the best pièce de résistance is to point and laugh... \n\nI did something like this once in heavy traffic and the guy blew a mental gasket, literally spitting mad. He pulled up on my right, window down and pointing to the side of the road, trying to get me to pull over to fight. We're moving slowly along with him screaming so I pretend to get mad and yell, \"Fine! pull over!\", and turn on my signal. He immediately pulls to the shoulder and I cancel my lane change and proceed on my way. Traffic filled the gap and he was blocked from merging back in. I never saw him again. I suspect other car drivers saw all this and also practiced passive-aggressiveness by keeping him parked on the side of the road.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "One vacation my brother was pissing me off in excess of the tolerable norm. To get back at him, I hid his socks right before we left (we were at a relatives house) inside a closet. A couple of months later, he got a pair of socks in the mail.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Dear WATMM, my favorite (+only) guitar was stolen from me, and it practically destroyed my musical life. I need your help. | I used to rock an American Fender Stratocaster. It was the first and only guitar I ever needed. I picked it after playing with tons of guitars, and thinking it had the sharpest, most alive sound, that you could hear really cleanly. No shitty Gibson fuzz or anything like that. Clear, ringing, notes.
I want a new guitar like that. For some reason, I feel like my guitar being stolen is a sign to get a new model, but I have no clue what to get to get the same thing I loved out of the Strat. My goal can only be described with these few adjectives: **sharp, precise, sound**.
What do you recommend? | 6 | [
{
"body": "A telecaster. \n\nAbout six years ago my house was broken into and ~30k worth of stuff was stolen from my studio... These guys were thankfully idiots. They left my tb 303's just sitting there, but took my hard drives ( with about a decades worth of work ) and Apple monitors, but left the two Mac towers .. \n\nThe one thing that they took that really broke my heart was my shitty ass, beat to hell, red, Arbor brand Explorer. It was my first guitar. I was in tons of bands with that piece of crap, and I loved it. I haunted pawn shops for years hoping to see her, to no avail. \n\nSo, If you know of any red and black Arbor explorers floating around let me know. :) \n\nGood luck with your search! ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I've been asked to name a few notable
professionals to invite to a Neuroscience career
panel. Does anybody know of any great minds to
invite? | They can specialize in any field relating to the mind. (including but not limited to psychology, cognitive science etc)
| 6 | [
{
"body": "[David Eagleman] This guy is amazing with lots of great publications is Science and Nature plus an fantastic communicator. He does research on a lot of cooler aspects of neuroscience including time perception, synesthesia, and multi-sensory integration. Get him if you can.\n\n[Marty Sereno] is a pretty good speaker and absolutely brilliant. He pioneered a lot of fMRI work (the good studies ... not the crappy stuff we see everywhere) including ways of flattening the brain to look at the structure better. \n\n[Geoff Boynton & Ione Fine]: A married couple who do tons of great work, Geoff is very into vision sciences and Ione has done a lot of work with creating retinal implants.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "[Brenda Milner](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Milner) - who has been credited with founding Cognitive Neuroscience.\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Could you give some more details on what you're looking for? And where this panel is to occur? And what kind of setting?\n\nI know some highly cited folks in the cognitive sciences (face processing, data analysis, Autism, neural networks, emotion/memory).",
"score": 3
}
]
|
US Airways stole my camera with private photos on it, now they won't help. | TL; DR? (right at the top, nice right?) Bottom Line: Camera was stolen from checked baggage on Christmas day. I made it clear I was only interested in the memory card being recovered because it contained private photos (lingerie) of my wife. I received back a form letter, 16 days later, which just said they don't cover cameras but would try to refund my baggage handling fee. Wife and I were forced to travel with another airline to reach our destination, we were assured we would be refunded for the flights we did not take; US Airways has only given us a refund for one of us. What can my wife and I do? All in all, our privacy was invaded, we feel violated and we’ve been screwed out of spending Christmas day with my family, taking any pictures of my nieces and nephews, including the youngest who was 6 weeks old, a $260 fair, and a $400 dollar camera. What can we do?
EDIT2: I got the second ticket refunded! Thank you REDDIT!
Full story: My wife and I were traveling to visit my family. We were set to depart on an 8am flight on Christmas day. I checked the flights at 1:30am, everything was fine. At 3:30am, I received a call saying that our flight was cancelled. I begged them to get us onto an earlier flight. They did, but it meant changing airports and leaving in an hour. We did it. We arrived at the airport and found that no one from our flight was being boarded, instead they were hustling everyone on another flight (leaving just 15 minutes before ours) through check in. By the time we got to check in, the flight was leaving in less than a half an hour. We were charged 25 dollars to check our bag, and then discovered they did not have a seat for my wife. She insisted I go and she would come down the next day (from a third airport, mind you). She left with tears in her eyes.
I got on the plane and prior to take off, the plane collided with the jetway. Another plane would not be available for four hours. We were taken off the plane, and, since I won’t make my connection, I was (along with everyone else in the same boat) supposed to speak with the gate agent. I try to get onto the same flight as my wife, they don’t have it. They wanted to make me make two connections and travel for a total of 12 hours (not considering I would have to go to an airport in a different state for the first flight- easily an hr and half to two hours in a car, so more like 14 hours traveling or in airports).
To add insult to injury they refuse to take my luggage off the plane while it’s sitting there for the next 4 hours. I’m told it will be waiting for me when (or if) I ever arrive at my destination.
They gave me a phone number to help make alternative travel plans. My wife and I both spoke with them and confirmed that they would refund our tickets for the way down, but could only do that once we’ve traveled back up. Fine. We scramble and get tickets on another airlines (Jetblue) that will get us to our destination by 10:30 pm. We’ll have missed Christmas with the kids, but we’ll be together and we won’t have to worry about cancelled flights and delays screwing us over the next day. (Plus we will save two very expensive cab fairs- we still wound up taking four taxi rides on Christmas day, but the other airport they were sending us to would have been outrageously expensive to get to.)
Jetblue is great, we arrive with no problems. The airport at our destination is basically closed for the night- which means I can’t get my luggage.
The next day, the minute the baggage offices opened, we’re there. I get our bag. We go straight home. I open the bag (we are in the same clothes we traveled in the night before, haven’t brushed our teeth, etc.) and I notice immediately that the bag has been riffled through. We search it thoroughly and discover the camera is missing.
I received this letter from US Airways:
*Please accept our apology for the inconvenience caused by your recent baggage incident. This is not the impression we wish to convey or the level of service we strive to provide. Information regarding our baggage service is valuable to us and will be used as a tool for continuous improvements.*
*I have requested a refund on your bag fee of $25.00.*
*We regret that we are unable to compensate for your camera, battery and SD card, as it is among those items excluded from coverage per our Conditions of Contract.*
*We appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.*
*Sincerely,*
*Cathy Hayashi*
*Central Baggage Resolution Office*
This is 16 days after the fact. They don’t even mention any attempt to recover the camera or the photos- which I made it very clear from the beginning both with the two people I spoke to over the phone, in my faxed cover letter to their baggage office and in the follow up emails that I have sent, is my chief concern.
Adding insult to injury (If you think I say this a lot, it's only because I feel I've been very insulted and deeply injured), they only refunded one of our fairs for the trip down. Total damages: Camera, $400; ticket, $260; baggage fee (which Ms. Hayashi has really put her self out requesting it be refunded…) $25; extra cab fairs $100 = $785 plus no Christmas and the knowledge that some baggage handler is perving over pictures of my wife; priceless.
US Airways, they may never get you where you’re going but they sure as hell will steal(force you to waste) nearly $800 dollars from you.
EDIT: Fixed the italics (I think).
EDIT2: I got the second ticket refunded! Thank you REDDIT! (also placed higher for the lazy.)
EDIT 3: Bizarrely, there is no customer care number, nor can another department connect you to them, you have to go through there website and this produces no results. So I'll just keep sending them emails and trying to get through to them. | 33 | [
{
"body": "Contact consumerist.com. I would also look into taking this to small claims court. The second U.S. Air is served with the papers they will probably call you and try to resolve this. The cost of the airline sending someone to your local court is far greater than the cost of them paying what they owe.",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "The **only** way to guarantee that your camera gear is safe in checked bagage is if you include it in a locked case with a weapon. Saw [this](http://www.boingboing.net/2006/09/24/secure-your-checked-.html) a few years ago, and it seems pretty valid to this situation.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Did you buy your ticket via a credit card?\n\nYou could very easily refute the charges if they won't deal with you, forcing them to deal with you.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think you have a valid complaint about your fare refunds, but seriously you can't really expect US Airways to be responsible for your camera.\n\nNext time carry it with you, especially if you have semi-naked pictures of your wife on it.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "1. write a song, post it on youtube...\n\nhttp://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/smashed-guitar-youtu-4850/\n\nor...\n2. don't fly\n\nI do #2\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "That sucks big time. I did a lot of flying a few years ago and was always nervous about putting anything valuable in with my checked luggage. I always packed my camera into my back pack and took it on to the plane. Once I brought my XBox onto the plane in my back pack. I thought for sure that was going to cause some sort of issue with security, but they let me right through without even looking at it. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Interested in a free Reddit Ad? | Once again, I have an ad slot. Anyone interested? List your ad here, with a description / etc
(See previous version [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/freepromote/comments/a6bse/interested_in_a_free_reddit_ad/)\)
ready to purchase an ad on reddit? They start at $20 - click [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/selfserve) to learn more, then go [here](http://www.reddit.com/help/selfserve) to get started. | 7 | [
{
"body": "I'd love an ad! \n\nMy little company is Nerdy Baby -- http://www.NerdyBaby.net\n\nI'm a science-loving artist who is taking all the crazy Baby Einstein stuff to the logical extreme. :-)",
"score": 5
}
]
|
REDDIT HELP!!! A program called "Malware Defense" somehow appeared on my computer and is causing CHAOS!!! Help me get rid of it please! | I honestly have no idea how this happened. I'm generally very careful when I browse the web, but somehow a program/virus called Malware Defender has manifested on my computer. Now all I get are fake virus warnings and popups from a fake microsoft security center saying that I have all of these viruses and that I need to pay to get them fixed.
I've run Avast and AdAware and neither helps! | 3 | [
{
"body": "[Malwarebytes](http://filehippo.com/download_malwarebytes_anti_malware/).\n\nMake sure you restart and go into safe mode first.\n",
"score": 9
}
]
|
Has anyone here done a bartending course? Or are there any bartenders who got their first job with no bar/restaurant experience? I wanna get some input. | I'm trying to find out if it's worth it, any insights appreciated.
I'm in the DC area but I'll take any general info. | 3 | [
{
"body": "Bartendering courses aren't worth a fucking shit. They teach you nothing relevant and you won't get a job at the end. become a bar back and work your way up. Or find a place that is willing to train you. It's not that hard you can learn most of it in a couple nights. \n\nAs a former bar manager i would hire people based on intelligence, personality and looks. I can teach a fucking bonobo to pour a pint. I can't teach a bonobo to talk to a customer and be sociable though.",
"score": 7
}
]
|
Just got home from Canada (nug porn) | Here are some photos from a trip to Montreal, QC.
[Chronic Nugget](http://imgur.com/fgQ3M.jpg)
[Chronic Nugget2](http://imgur.com/cjPGo.jpg)
-In a salad of Chronic and Jack Herrer, sorry no nug shots of the Jack, smoked it all before I whipped out the camera :(
[Green Crack](http://imgur.com/xbdxk.jpg)
[White Widow](http://imgur.com/lxWGd.jpg)
[White Widow2](http://imgur.com/jn0j6.jpg)
[White Widow close-up](http://imgur.com/M7wQW.jpg) with no flash
The following photos are of some Nepalese Hash I sculpted a bit (not great to handle it too much, but it was just irresistible). It started as a 7...
[Buddha on a bed of Jack](http://imgur.com/AhHbq.jpg)
then I made the [Hashman](http://imgur.com/nODUP.jpg)
but I felt bad for not giving him a body so I made this [Hash Moleman](http://imgur.com/7BNjh.jpg) with [His smiling face](http://imgur.com/kOk1a.jpg)
And finally, the [joint we smoked before leaving home](http://imgur.com/usMEg.jpg). Maple syrup juicy jay papers to add a bit of Canadian spirit and we're canada bound! | 32 | [
{
"body": "Curse you.\n\nI have to study for my exam on monday. Including presentation / webpage...\n\n\n\n\n\nMust .. not ... smoke .. until .. monday..",
"score": 5
}
]
|
TIL something about idealized relativistic space (space-time) travel | According to the table and text under the heading "Trip across the Universe at constant acceleration" found [here](http://casa.colorado.edu/~ajsh/sr/wheelbig.html) (or [here](http://www.webcitation.org/5mkE2MH3m)) it's theoretically possible that folks could board a spacecraft and travel to any destination in the universe *in their lifetimes* from their own point of reference on their spaceship. The keys are time dilation and the Lorentz contraction of the distances traveled. Ah the lengths the laws of physics will go to, to keep us from technically breaking the ultimate speed barrier!
Of course, emphasis on the word *idealized* in the title. The page also points out the practical impossibility of this.
Still, it never ceases to blow my mind that time dilation is an experimentally demonstrated phenomenon. I've had a hard time wrapping my head around relativistic frames of reference, like what happens during travel at large fractions of the speed of light. There are always subtleties that a non-mathlete like myself will never get, but it's nice to see glimpses of what real physicists grapple with. | 10 | [
{
"body": "(any math experts, please correct me if I'm way off) The trip would take six years. In order to get close to the speed of light, it would take 3 years accelerating at a pace I could handle (typical muscle car) and it would take three years to decelerate down to zero again without being slammed into the front of the spaceship from negative g's. ",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Born into LDS/Mormon church, did secret Masonic ceremony, served mission, resigned, forced to leave BYU. AMA | Reddit, you've provided me with hours upon hours of unparalleled time wasting and intellectual exploration. Along with being a long-time convert from Digg, I am also a resigned member of the LDS/Mormon Church. I've never shared my story publicly; here's my not-so-anonymous contribution to the Reddit community. I was not offended. I didn't commit any sins which would warrant leaving the church or becoming ashamed. I also didn't go through hard times like many other people have after they resign, like divorces and being completely cut off from family. I simply took a year and investigated the organization I had been in since birth after which my family and friends accepted my decision.
*[PDF: Click here to read the full story, 22 pages short](http://www.mstrum.com/docs/LLC.pdf)
I'll just summarize my story here as best I can for those that don't want to read the whole thing. The full story contains a lot more details and documented sources along with scans of the resignation letter I sent the church and the three letters they sent back. Anyways, here it goes:
* Lived a pretty sin-free life for 23 years, never breaking the big rules (coffee, alcohol, sex, etc.) once all the way to the end
* Attended 4 years of seminary every morning before high school at 6:30 or 7 A.M.
* Started attending the Church's main university (BYU in Provo)
* Went through the mostly-copied-from-the-masons secret/sacred ritual all Mormons must go through at some point called the endowment. Wore my sacred underwear with the Masonic symbols every day after that until I resigned.
* Served a 2 year full-time un-paid Korean-speaking mission in Vancouver, Canada proselyting and preaching the gospel after 3 months of full-time training on how to be a missionary (제가 아직 한국으로 가본적이 없는데 이번달말에 서울대학교 교환학생 될거예요!)
* Learned various things from people I met on the street which sparked my interest on my mission:
* Various things removed from the endowment before 1990:
** Death oaths that the endowed members would violently take their life if they disclosed information about the ritual. Glad they took this one out before I did it ...
** Vow to take revenge for the blood of the prophet Joseph Smith on the United States. Romney should be glad this one was taken out before he tried to run for President ...
* Joseph Smith (the founding prophet) translated the Book of Mormon (the main scripture used by the Church which compliments the Bible as a record of Christians on the American continent before, during, and after Jesus which included a visit by the big man himself to the American continent) by looking at a seer stone in a hat, a detail somehow never mentioned to me
* Continued investigating after I returned home, missionaries can't use the internet except to email and can't read any unauthorized books:
** Learned that there are conflicting records on the account written about Joseph Smith's first vision which, for example, says he saw either God, Jesus, or a combination of the two. But I'm sure those are just insignificant details right? Oh yeah, a comprehensive history or the church was written soon after the founding of the church, but the first vision was not mentioned at all. Later, the first first-vision account was published 22 years after said event. The official account now is touted as the most important event to happen. ever.
** Learned that the papyrus of a translated document which is now official scripture, the Book of Abraham, was found and has nothing to do with what Joseph Smith translated it as. The document was a copy of the [Egyptian book of the dead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Abraham#Controversy_and_Criticism).
** Found out that Joseph Smith also practiced polyandry, taking wives already married to other men who haven't died. Oh yeah, and he told them an angel with a flaming sword would kill him if the woman didn't marry him. Also never mentioned by the church in my whole lifetime.
** Also found out that it was official scripture (as in printed as a revolution on the official scriptures) during Joseph Smith's life that the church only allowed one man and one woman to marry. The next prophet [removed that and added a revelation by the then-deceased Joseph Smith to the scriptures](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_and_Covenants#Portions_removed_from_the_LDS_edition).
* Read about [Chad Hardy](http://chadhardy.com/), the guy who did the high-profile Mormon calendar with shirtless male returned missionaries, who has still not received his diploma. Click the link, I don't want to summarize it.
* Read the BYU honor code, which states that, while non-members can study at the university, if any LDS student resigns from the Church, they must also leave the university until they are re-baptized. Most, if not all, LDS members I have told this to have initially told me that I was mistaken and that anyone of any faith can attend BYU. Nope.
* Transferred my credits and started school again at BYU's rival school, the University of Utah, after which I sent my letter of resignation to the church headquarters. You will be tracked down your whole life if you don't legally resign from the church using said method.
* Watched my life improve every day since I resigned over half a year ago
The best part? On my mission I was in a car with three other elders when one of them commented, "I heard that one of of four missionaries falls away from the church after returning home. I wonder which of us it'll be?" Out of all of them, I thought I was the least likely. I turned out to be dead wrong.
EDIT: [PDF: Here you go, my story](http://www.mstrum.com/docs/LLC.pdf)
Feel free to ask me anything about my experiences living in and leaving the church or whatever else. | 201 | [
{
"body": ">제가 아직 한국으로 가본적이 없는데 이번달말에 서울대학교 교환학생 될거예요!\n\n\"Even though I haven't gone to (South) Korea yet, at the end of this month, I'm going to be a Seoul University exchange student!\"\n\nGood luck!",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "Cool story, bro.\n\nI came from the same background. Here's a repost of questions I had from a different AMA about Mormonism's deepest root flaws; hopefully you find it interesting. P.S. If any current Mormons want to try to address these issues, I'd be more than happy to get a response (since I never got one from the original post):\n\n\n* As missionaries, we taught the importance of a living church with a living prophet at its head; why then has there been almost no newly revealed doctrines and teachings since the early days of the church? (note that most won't accept common sense teachings such as credit card debt/food storage, or cultural teachings like earrings, or revelations seemingly caused by outside pressure like polygamy repeal or blacks w/ the priesthood as truly new doctrine)\n\n* As a corollary of the last question, why are the miracles of the bible and spiritual gifts seemingly absent in the church today? (as an example consider that as a missionary, the gift of tongues could be simply seen as the natural effect of rigorous study as you never hear reliable accounts of someone being able to speak a language they haven't studied, or how recovery from little understood internal maladies can be attributed to miraculous healing, yet you will never hear of an amputee regrowing a limb as the result of a priesthood blessing)\n\n* How do you feel about the whitewashing of many of the more colorful bits of church history; if the spirit bears testimony of all truth, should it not do just a good a job of converting someone even if they've been informed of details that seem odd? And why would these bits even seem odd at all if the spirit bears testimony of these colorful yet truthful events?\n\n* Techniques taught to missionaries in the training center bear significant resemblance to techniques used in hypnosis and other types of psychological manipulation†, why do you think these techniques are implemented? († specifically: asking questions to which you know the answer to be yes to reinforce positive responses, creating a state where the investigator will be more open to missionary suggestion. Note that this is also done with the missionaries themselves i.e. encouraging them to say that they KNOW the teachings are true even though they do not)\n\n* How do you view the general dislike for mormonism in this thread? Is it a validation to you that mormonism is true because of persecution through satan's influence through your fellow redditors, or is it illustrative of mormonism's failings?\n\n* How do you feel about the fact that recommended prayer posture* puts one in yogic positions which naturally cause nervous impulses tied to supernatural feelings (i.e. the spirit)? (* one is taught to bow the head forward and close the eyes, combined with the idea that heavenly father resides beyond the sky, one's eyes are naturally directed upward in order to look at the being they are addressing, this puts the orator in a yogic position called the upward gaze (basically rolling your eyes back until you start to feel a little funny (not too hard though)) which works directly on the optical nerve causing odd sensations)\n\nHope you find this interesting. :D\n\n[(Original Thread)](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/aebf7/iama_practicing_mormon_attend_brigham_young/)\n\n**Again,** I would love to hear from any current Mormons addressing any or all of these issues.\n\nP.S. Sorry, mstrum, if I ended up highjacking your AMA :/",
"score": 29
},
{
"body": "I've always been quite impressed how well LDS missionaries manage to learn the language of the country in which they're preaching. I sometimes see them on the streets in Poland, a country with a rather difficult language, one that you only learn if you're extremely motivated. The Polish spoken by these lads is among the best I've heard from a foreigner. And here you go in Korean. Is there some special methodology used to teach languages to LDS missionaries? How did you learn Korean?",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "Was your life awesome before you left the church? Mine is shitty (my perspective) and I'm worried that it'll only get worse if I do leave. :/",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I'm Mormon\n\nThank you for the respectful, honest and informed way you're answering peoples questions. Most posts like this I've seen I could tell in the first minute that the person had never bothered to look for real answers to their questions from within the church at all. They usually don't seem to understand mormon doctrines or respect the good things we do. So far I'm genuinely impressed with the mature way you're addressing this.\n\nThat said I do disagree with your conclusions. It sounds to me like you never had a real testimony. Contrary to what many members say a real testimony is more than just having \"felt the spirit\", intellectually acknowledging it, then never questioning again. Thats only half way through alma's parable of the seed. For me I had to pray with everything in me for a long time. I wanted to know for sure if it was true. I decided I would pray with so much real, unbiased desire to know truth, conviction to follow through on an answer, and hope that if there was a God and he loved me and answered other peoples prayers he would have to answer mine as well. Only then did I receive the un-doubtable witness that I did. My only question is have you really tested Moroni's promise? That is the only way to know the church is true. And proving it wrong is the only way to know its false. \n\nI sincerely wish you happiness and peace of soul regardless of your convictions.\n\n",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "What are the \"secret\" Masonic ceremonies?\n\nEDIT: Also, could you link to your 24-page story? Classes don't start for another week and I have some time to kill.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Why do Mormons think coffee is evil? I just learned about his today, and I'm rather shocked. If it's about caffeine, do they apply it to tea as well?",
"score": 7
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{
"body": "U-T-A-H. U T A H GO FIGHT WIN\n\nI hate BYU and have also officlally renounced my ties with the church. Welcome.",
"score": 7
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{
"body": "First off, props to you. I'm planning on doing the same thing, but before I spend two years of my life in some strange place. Also, I am very interested in said 24 page story. Link please!",
"score": 5
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{
"body": "I heard that if you are a good Mormon man you basically get to be god of your own planet. \n\nIs this true.\n\n\n\nPs I still want them mormon cookies",
"score": 5
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{
"body": "Will you tell us about the various signs, tokens and penalties and most of all tell us about the silly underwear? Thanks.\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Wow. I'm sorry that I missed this last night, hopefully you'll come back at some point today.\n\nI just read through your entire PDF (although, I do begrudge you for putting it in PDF, and not something else) and the question that really jumps out at me is why you couldn't tell your father that you were also having doubts when he told you he was leaving the church.\n\nTo me, that speaks so much about the brainwashing the mormon church (and any church really) puts its members through. Even when you're already on your way out, you fear the power of the church when you confide in someone you should be (and from the sounds of it, are) very close with.\n\nA few months ago, a friend of mine decided (somewhat on a whim) to join the mormon church. As someone who grew up in the Jello belt - Gilbert, AZ - I was dismayed. She's a strong independent woman and is willingly giving that up. Essentially, missionaries found her immediately after she was dumped by her first boyfriend, in a time of weakness, and started their work on indoctrinating her.\n\nI suppose it would be one thing if she actually believed the teachings of the church, or would explain exactly why she wants to be a part of the church. Instead, we (my fiance and I) are constantly told by her how the prophets \"just haven't discovered that humans can handle alcohol yet\" and other oddities that really don't fit in with the LDS teachings.\n\nI want to help my friend, but she's already got the blinders on to the seedy parts of the church. She does things as you describe - claiming that prophets are human and therefore fallible - but we've been trying to convince her that she doesn't need a restrictive church in order to live a good life. Meanwhile, we are trying to show as much respect towards her as possible, as ultimately it is her decision and not ours. The real comedy comes in that I grew up in a town that was about 96% mormon, and have a fairly bitter taste in my mouth about that church because of it - when I got to college, she was happy to share her own problems with the \"cult\" with me. \n\nDo you have any advice for how to rescue her from the restraints the church will put on her? My fiance and I are somewhat under the impression that once a few \"nice mormon boys\" date her and dump her rather quickly (due to her independence and disagreement with some very basic church rules) she'll probably fall out of it. Clearly however, this is a sensitive topic and I don't want her to feel attacked.",
"score": 5
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{
"body": "Know any good Mormon jokes?\n\nHere's a couple that I have heard:\n\nHear about the missionary that got shot by a mugger and the BOM in his vest pocket saved him? Seems not even a bullet can make through II Nephi.\n\nWhat is one thing that a Good Mormon can never recognize? One of the Brethren at Wendover.\n\nIn what way does a Catholic priest act differently than a Mormon Bishop? The priest will say \"Hi\" when you run into him at the liquor store.\n\nEdit: The second one only works for SLC Mormons. Wendover NV, is the closest casino to SLC.\n",
"score": 5
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{
"body": "When I was in high school a good friend of mine was Mormon and preparing to go on his mission, out of curiosity I attended a church service(?) with him once. Having been raised Catholic I was sure nothing could be more boring than a Catholic mass, I was wrong.\n\nNothing to ask but congratulations on breaking free of religion. That's thousands of hours of time you'll be able to put to productive use now that you don't have to devote it to mythology.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "My situation is similar to yours in that I was a member most my life, served a mission, then left the church and became an atheist. I haven't requested my name to be removed from the church records though. I also never went to BYU. I just went to the U of U from the beginning. I actually did my own IAMA about the church and my experiences awhile back.\n\nAbout not being able to study at BYU if you resign from the church. Where exactly did you read that? I have read through the honor code at http://saas.byu.edu/catalog/2009-2010ucat/GeneralInfo/HonorCode.php and I can't find anything like that. All it says is that students who are not members of the church need an endorsement from\n>(1) the local ecclesiastical leader if the student is an active member of the congregation, (2) the bishop of the LDS ward in which they currently reside, or (3) the nondenominational BYU chaplain.\n\nThis is the requirement for all students of BYU who are not members of the church. It makes no distinction between people who used to be members etc. There is nothing about not being able to be a student if you resign from the church.\n\nGranted it may be difficult to get an endorsement as an atheist since you have no other ecclesiastical leader, and the local bishop or BYU chaplain might ask you about your belief in God before giving you an endorsement, but any atheist would run into the same problem, not just someone who had left the church. If you left the church and converted to Catholicism then it would be pretty easy to get your priest to give you an endorsement. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "As an AMA...\n\n1. Do you like coffee?\n2. Do you like alcohol?\n3. How much sex have you had since resigning from the church?\n4. Mormon policy on marriage between believers+nonbelievers? (I've met quite a few who are married as such).",
"score": 4
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{
"body": "Good work.\n\n>You will be tracked down your whole life if you don't legally resign from the church using said method.\n\nWhat do they do when they find you? Do they send wankers with black ties at 6am to your house every day?",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "How do you feel now that you are 'free' from the Church? Are you happy with your decision how that you've had a while to consider everything?",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "I live in Mesa, AZ, one fine day during high school my English teacher dropped the bomb of the [\"Mountain Meadows Massacre\"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Meadows_massacre), and of course there wasn't a single kid in the entire class (and several other classes, as I made it a point to bring it up whenever I could) who knew about it.\n \nI was surprised at how shocked everyone was. I had always assumed that the religious understood that all religions have pretty brutal pasts, but it was definitely a \"*omg they say religion brainwashes people and these people are **actually** brainwashed*\" moments\n\nedit-formatting",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "So a few years ago some family members suggested that I \"turn Mormon\" so I can study at BYU (I'm from some third-world country, not the US). Would this actually work?",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "Not much to say, except that I understand. My wife went to BYU, but I went to the U of U and am now in med school in another state. It has been weighing heavily on me how/when to tell my wife that I am an atheist, because it will break her heart. She is very shy and awkward, and the church gives her a stable social structure and gives her opportunities to make friends she wouldn't have otherwise. It's really hard to leave the church, but its much harder the deeper you get into it (marriage, kids, etc.) The church really does a good job of taking care of their own, and I will certainly miss that. \n\nI hope you didn't lose too many credits by transferring to the U. I know you lose your religion credits (meh), but hopefully not have to retake anything legitimate like a math or science class. \n\nI wish you the best. How did your family take it? Are you married?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "How do Mormons *really* view non-Mormons living in Salt Lake (like myself)? What kinds of things do they say behind closed doors? ",
"score": 3
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{
"body": ">Lived a pretty sin-free life for 23 years, never breaking the big rules (coffee, alcohol, sex, etc.) once all the way to the end\n\nCOFFEE is a sin?!?!!? im so fucked.\n*takes a sip of his morning coffee*",
"score": 3
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{
"body": ">I sent my letter of resignation to the church headquarters. You will be tracked down your whole life if you don't legally resign from the church using said method.\n\nCan you explain this to me? I never sent my official resignation to church headquarters, but I've not been chased around my whole life.",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "thanks for this AMA, and welcome to the club, I went to the church since 4 years old, and I stopped at 20, although I haven't get removed my name from church files, I am no longer an active member, I will read your pdf document this afternoon... and what can I say about being out the church, since I'm on \"my own\" my life has gone quite better I think I've enjoyed much more life since then, and lots of things have been cleared on my mind that being in the church I couldn't see, the bad things? relationship with friend that are active member is not the same since I left....\n\nbtw, I've learnt some things I didn't know reading through the answers.",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "Thanks for your story. I think we have very similar backgrounds. Here is a summary of mine:\n\nGrew up devoutly Mormon, went through the temple ceremony, completed my 2 year mission, got back and told my family that I had decided that I am an atheist.\n\nFrom your post it seems clear to me that you are still in the midst of the mental struggle required to reverse the brainwashing. It sounds like you are doing well but I hope you expect it to take years. I have been fully away from the Mormon church for 10 years now and I am finally getting to the point where I have little or no emotional response to many of the bullet points you mention above. Except maybe to chuckle...\n\nKeep up your course of honest inquiry and be patient and you will find the liberation you are seeking.\n\nGood luck.",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "Have you ever watched the All About Mormons episode of South Park?\nIf so whats your take on it? If not here is a link. [http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/712](http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/712) ",
"score": 3
}
]
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After break-up, ex has now moved on. I didn't feel terrible about it ending until I saw her with a new guy... | Would appreciate any input from you guys on this: Was with a girl for several years and broke it off a couple months ago due to big personality differences that we were unable to find middle ground on. I've felt pretty okay about it (of course the week after was tough, but got through it) until recently when I now see pictures of her with the new guy she's dating. I can't even figure out why I would be feeling this way about it.. I'm the one who ended it..
Turned here because I don't talk to my friends too much about these things.. Any advice on how to get over these feelings of jealousy(?) and/or sadness about the situation?
**Edit:** Wow! Didn't expect this many thoughtful and helpful responses. Thank you everyone for the kind words of support. Sounds like the general consensus is to break all contact. I've done this.. but yes I have my moments of weakness when browsing through fb feeds. I'll try to use the hide feature in the future to stop that as well. Once again, thank you everyone!! | 14 | [
{
"body": "Honestly, try to avoid her at all costs. Don't look at her facebook or pictures, wherever they are. It'll be hard, but that's the only way to get over it. I was in the exact same situation last year about this time. The relationship wasn't really \"over\" for me until I randomly saw a picture of her kissing another guy. Then it hit me and I went into a terrible spiral of pain and depression for about 3 months. \n\nJust let her be, let her live her life, and you live yours. You both will be happier.\n\nGood luck!",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "Many of us have been there. I think the soundest advice is completely excise her from your world. That means no more pictures, Facebook friendship, communication of any kind. Forget about her completely and utterly. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I broke up with fiancee a year ago and she was straight into the arms of another guy (worse, it was someone I knew, and an affair, which is why we broke up). \n\nThe best solution is this: erase all memory of her for a few months. This means removing anything and everything to do with her from your house, Facebook, and life. Don't destroy it necessarily, just hide it away somewhere. You'll feel a little better after you've done that. Then go and have some casual flings with other girls, and before you know it you'll be back on track. \n\nI think it took me about 6 months of doing this before I felt truly comfortable with seeing her with another man, and we are now actually talking occasionally like friends. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Same here. We're no longer friends on facebook, so I don't have to see that shit at all.\n\nI'm also seeing a hot girl. It's better for us both.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I'm in a nearly identical situation and, although there aren't any of those pictures yet, I know they'll be there someday, and I dread it... You want her to be happy and everything, but it still breaks your balls. Damn. \n\nSorry I have no advice :( Just know others are in the same situation!",
"score": 3
}
]
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Looking for Apple experts to admin r/applehelp | I created a new subreddit, r/applehelp, as a place where demonstrated experts could admin and assist those with complex technical questions related to Apple. This is different from questions in r/apple in that I hope to connect experts (in the form of captive admins) who can answer questions and discuss problems that can't be solved easily using Google.
If you're interested in being an admin, post to this thread and I'll look through your r/apple posts, relative karma, and time as a redditor. The more the merrier.
Also, does anyone know how to set a subreddit to be self (text) posts only? Is that something I require a reddit admin for? | 6 | [
{
"body": "I'd be interested. I worked for Apple, originally in a customer facing phone-support position, later in a position that communicated between universities and the OS X engineers, making sure that universities' needs were addressed in iterative versions of the OS. \n\nI'm a network engineer by day, using OS X almost exclusively. I also have a [blog](http://thevagary.net) that's fairly Apple centric (the links are to whatever, but the articles are almost all about Apple).\n\nLet me know if you have any questions for me.",
"score": 3
}
]
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Why am i still single? | Okay, so Im in a bit of a funk, Im 28, and i've been single now for the better part of 7 years, It's really starting to mess with my head, I know part of it was related to being overweight for most of my life, both psyichally and mentally it affected me, but i've made major changes to my life, lost over 40 pounds, made positive changes in my life, but i still don't feel any better, in fact i've found that my confidence level has gone, Im feeling like i don't fit in with my friends, due to my mindset and appearance and have an even lower self image of myself..
has anyone else found themselves in a rut like this, how did you get yourself out of it?
| 4 | [
{
"body": "I don't think this relates to being single. You're depressed and you're looking for something that will distract you or fill the void or provide some kind of external affirmation. Even if you find a relationship, it won't really help.\n\nYou need to figure out how to be happy on your own first. Figure out a way to get that affirmation from yourself. Then you'll have something to offer a partner and you'll be able to find one if you want.\n\nI'll say it again: Your goal needs to be valuing yourself. And setting up your life so that you can continually achieve that value and feel good.\n\nOnly you know your situation, and only you can decide your priorities. But just from your brief post, it sounds like you need to examine the parts of your situation that bother you. Do you feel like you don't fit in with your friends because of your own issues, or is it possible you're just conflicted over the realization that you don't have the right friends? Why do you frame your question around being single? Is it because you don't see another way to be happy? Or is it possible you feel pressure from friends and family to adapt to social expectations that might not be right for you, especially right now?\n\nThere's a lot to examine. It'll take work. Sometimes it's hard to be honest with yourself. But it starts with figuring out your priorities, why you have those priorities, if those really are the right priorities, and then moving on to forming those priorities into goals and pursuing them. But along the way, you might want to consider getting diagnosed for depression. That path could include therapy and/or medication. Not for everybody (not for me), but I know lots of people who have benefited from it.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I never find people when I am looking. I suppose when I am looking I must look and act like I am looking and that must be unattractive. When I forget about it and enjoy myself I meet people and I suppose then I must look attractive.\n\nAlcohol can help. Just kidding about the alcohol. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I had this when I was 24. \n\nWhen I was 20 I was so fat I'd step on a scale and it'd say \"To be continued\", and that was killing me, so I lost all the weight, but my self-confidence and social skills were still that of a fat guy so despite my better physical attractiveness, I never even spoke to a woman for two years. It worked out ok because I was in school for those two years, but after I left school it started to bother me.\n\nWhat I ended up learning was interesting: It doesn't matter what you look like. It matters how you make people feel. It matters how you feel about yourself. It matters how much you put yourself out there.\n\nMeeting women is a skill set, and it's a skill set you can learn.\n\nCheck out Eric von Markovik, Neil Strauss, David DiAngelo, folks like them. You won't like a lot of their advice, and a lot of the realities they talk about will actually make you mad until you come to terms with it, but once you separate the good advice from the shitty club hopping advice(learn it all and use what works).\n\nOnce you have the tools to achieve your social goals, you'll feel much more capable, which in turn will help you achieve your social goals.",
"score": 4
}
]
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Reddit, What are some good books that provoke thought? | By which, I mean, thought in the "high-thinking" sense. Almost philosophical, but not directly reading philosophical texts. | 10 | [
{
"body": "I liked the \"His Dark Materials\" trilogy, which can be read as a cute and simple child's story or a more grown-up book laced with politics, anti-religion, gays, lies, scandal, etc.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I highly recommend **Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance**; i'm sure a million other people are going to plug it as well. It presents an interesting dichotomy and then tries to resolve it.\n\nI also recommend a lot of stuff by Hesse, namely **Steppenwolf** and **Siddhartha**. Both of them deal with similar themes (what is a good life? how can we deal with getting older?) but in different ways.\n\nFinally, **Atlas Shrugged**. Yeah, it gets a lot of hate, but I think it's important to read the book and examine for yourself its strengths and weaknesses. Right after you read it, check out **The Grapes of Wrath**.\n\nEdit: Seconding **Guns, Germs, and Steel**.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (Role of children/genius/peak preformance/empathy...)\n\nA Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson (Title about covers it)\n\nGod Is Not Great - Christopher Hitchens (Role of religions and the religious, how they came to be, why not to like them so much)\n\nForever War - Joe Haldeman (Just...whew)\n\nOn Liberty - John Stuart Mill (The son of the founder of Utilitarianism brings his none too shabby intellect to bear on the rights of the individual)\n\nCrito - Plato (read the Republic too if you want a good mind-fuck)\n\nThe Road - Cormac McCarthy (a post-apocalyptic story entirely about a boy and his father. Will make you think about everything from relationships to story telling)\n\nGuns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond (makes you think about how the world would be if Rhinos were tamable and could be used like horses, Collapse is good too)\n\nOrwell...",
"score": 3
}
]
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I've got $400 to spend on a laptop, primarily for school. | I'm currently considering 3 candidates: the asus Eee 1000HE, The Dell Latitude 2100, and, finally...a 17" Dell XPS gaming rig my friend's willing to cut me a deal on. Thing is, the XPS is huge, heavy, and only gets 1-2 hours of battery life. Your thoughts?
Edit: other suggestions welcome. | 12 | [
{
"body": "A refurb laptop from Dell is probably the best deal you'll get. I've found them to be indistinguishable from new ones, and they come with the same warranty. \n\nTake a look at dell.com/outlet. I've found the same laptop to be a few hundred dollars cheaper at the outlet.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "One thing you should consider is the way you intend to use your laptop. If you're planning to carry your laptop to class every day and use it to type notes, then you should take the smaller laptop (with lots of battery life). If you're planning to mainly use it in your room, and carry it around only occasionally, then you should take the larger one. \n\nBefore you make any decision, think very hard about this because getting a laptop that doesn't fit your pattern of use will be a big waste of money. \n\nAnother thing to consider is the size of the screen and the keyboard of the netbook. I find them to be too small and uncomfortable esp for tasks that require lots of typing (e.g. coding). You should try them out for a while (atleast 1-2 days) before buying.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I have the Asus 1000HE. It is an awesome netbook/laptop, but maybe you'd want to look at one of the newer models with updated specs?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
When I was a kid I remember being told the military fought for freedom, now I only seem to hear that it "keeps America safe" | When did America's national security become priority over freedom and the spread of democracy? Or are these two explanations synonymous? | 30 | [
{
"body": "Also, Bush claimed that the terrorists hated Americans because of their freedom. He then proceeded to take said freedoms away himself. ",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "The American military is there to protect and secure America's economic position in the world, nothing more nothing less. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "So they switched one transparent lie against another one. Big deal. \r\n\r\nThe norm is that armies fight, at best, for the interests of (the whole or parts) of their country. Ever did, ever will. That interests might some day actually be freedom, some day be security, most times securing your life style or company's profits or making sure your country is still top of the pecking order. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Both are empty platitudes and convenient lies to placate the public and feed the zeitgeist of the time. They have absolutely no relevance to the US's foreign policy.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "America's national security has always been the military's top priority. By maintaining our national security, the military can be seen as fighting for freedom. Spreading democracy and freedom to the rest of the world is nice if we can do it, but only if we can. Of course, people will choose to describe it in anyway they can to fit their viewpoint. If you're against America's current foreign policy, you might claim that the military is exporting terrorism. Conversely, someone might claim that the military is fighting radical Islam in the Middle East to not fight them here. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "The military doesn't fight for freedom nor to keep America safe. \n\nThe military fights for rich people and the spoils of war. When you are told otherwise, you are being lied to. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Honest question: Am I the only American who is looking for another country to live in, or do white Americans feel the same way? | I think I'm going to vomit after reading about the black man in Mississippi being thrown on death row for defending his house. Then I read the story about the white and hispanic men in Boston who were arrested for using his cell phone to record an arrest being made with excessive force. What is this country coming to? Do my feelings transcend racial lines? | 3 | [
{
"body": "Wanna stop feeling this way? Stop consuming the media. The media distorts reality, it focuses on the exceptions, the freaks, the odd happenings, not the regular, so it makes society look diseased and at odds with itself, but that shit's not real.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I'm not white nor am I well traveled but I did live in another country for several years. I'd say that shit like this happens all over the world and in many places it's worse than here in the US. I guess it depends on where you want to move, but I doubt you will be able to find a country where injustices like this never occur.\n\nedit: I meant to say \"never occur\".",
"score": 3
}
]
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$795 plus tax for 5 new textbooks, $55.40 for 5 used old editions. | It took me a semester to figure out I could buy the same books on amazon that the school bookstore sells but for $100 less. It took me another year to discover that I could just buy the old editions for around $10 with shipping charges included.
Seriously, I don't understand why the bookstore is so expensive. I mean this semester, there is one book that sells for $186 plus tax new at the bookstore, yet the same exact book sells brand new on amazon for $75.26 and comes with free shipping. ~$110 price difference. Doesn't make any sense at all.
Anyways, what I do now is just buy the current edition from the bookstore, then scan out all of the questions in the back of each chapter, scan the answers out of the back, and scan the table of contents. After doing that I then return the book to the bookstore for a refund. I can refer to the older edition text for actually reading the contents of the chapter, and then once it's time to do the questions I just print out my scanned copy.
So what is new with the newer editions? Sometimes they make the book skinnier/wider to change the number of pages. Sometimes they combine/split chapters. Sometimes the questions are the same but in a different order. Sometimes the questions are completely new. Always the book cover changes.
So far that's it. There hasn't been anything different with older editions that has hampered me. Though I know for the upper class courses I will need some up-to-date books. Anybody got anything to add? | 95 | [
{
"body": "For my final semester I purchased six 500+ page textbooks for roughly 4 to 6 dollars EACH from [AbeBooks](http://www.abebooks.com/), and they were all in excellent condition. Even better -- some of them had highlighted text, doubly accentuating the important material as I studied.\n\nI love Amazon to death, but AbeBooks is fucking kickass when it comes to used books.",
"score": 30
},
{
"body": "I stopped buying books entirely once I found that professors had to reserve a copy of each text at the library. Sure, I was reprimanded a few times for not having a book in class, but the rest of the time I had notes that were as complete as anyone else. Also, I would just remind myself that I saved nearly a grand a semester, which could be invested in the destruction of my liver.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "Here's the thing that saved me a ton of money after my freshman year...DO NOT BUY TEXT BOOKS!\n\nDepartments usually require professors to put 2-3 books as requirements. Professors have, however, generally been teaching the subject for years, they know it well, and likely aren't going to read the required texts either. They'll test on the lectures 99 times out of 100. You can usually study by reading really almost any book on the subject you can find for free at the library. Often last year's edition will be in the library free. Text books are a scam, an absolute scam that can cost you up to $500 per class. Save your money.\n\nWhen all else fails...like a math or foreign language book with the questions/problems in it....borrow it from a classmate, take it up to Kinkos and copy only the pages with the questions/mini-tests. Did this for two semesters of French and spent around $4 vs. the people who bought the text book for $200, the workbook for $40 and the language CDs for $100.\n\nNever, ever, ever buy text books. Ever.\n\nTrust me, between the 2008 and the 2009 edition, absolutely nothing has changed of Medieval English History, Algebra, or virtually any other subject. If a major discover was made...it'll be in the 2025 edition. Stick with the library.\n\n",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I stopped buying books altogether for the last year of college. I used google books and the internet, and I got mostly B's, and still graduated.\n\nthe truly frugal might want to just use the library too.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "trouble is some professors make kids buy the newest edition. . .\n\nit's got 3 extra sentences and a correction on page 75.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Take digital photos of each page instead of scanning them; just set up a tripod that faces your camera down, and have a friend turn the pages. You can merge the JPGs into a PDF, and use the built-in OCR feature in Acrobat Pro to make the text searchable. Don't bother wasting the time, money and paper in printing it out unless you absolutely have to. I've found, once you get the hang of the technique, you can do a thick textbook (300 - 400 pages) in about an hour. Besides, ctrl+F FTW.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "chegg.com to rent text books for about 20 to 40 dollars a book, they always have the most current books and for every book you rent, they plant a tree. :D",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "How long has scanning taken you? I'll have to consider doing that in the future.\n\nI generally buy my books online, get used, and save money. I don't like having older editions due to the changed problems.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": ">Seriously, I don't understand why the bookstore is so expensive.\n\nIt's easy to understand. The school, via the bookstore, is gouging you for profit. Not terrible difficult to understand why.\n\nYour school is actually a business. Even public schools need to make money.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "In college we had to buy an expensive TI calculator for our course (it was about $100). One guy in my class bought one and left it in the plastic package the whole year, if you pressed hard enough you could turn it on and do all the calculations, the only draw back was it was about 5x the size because of the packaging. At the end of the year he took it back and returned it, still unopened. Brilliant.",
"score": 3
}
]
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Was this a good thing I did? Or just stupid... | The other day I was at Denny's with some friends. Our server was awesome. He was way chill, talked to us, didn't charge me for my drink, and got me one of those round kids cups with the two straws, (It was my birthday). Right before we left, he pretty much told us the story of his life and beliefs, and it was fascinating and awesome. So, in the end, I told my friends I would cover the tip, and left him $20. The total tab was $21. It was my birthday, I felt like doing something good.
EDIT: Also, this is my throwaway account, not my main one. | 4 | [
{
"body": "While we're on this topic, I was just wondering. When I get bills and I pay with a credit card, I always leave a tip with exact change amount to get a nice number on my statement. I've always wondered if that bothers people, if they think it's cute, or if they couldn't care less. Any thoughts anyone?\n\nI mean if the bills is 24.27, I'll leave like 4.73 for the tip so that it comes out to 29.00, or even better, 5.73 to make it an even 30.00 ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I had a friend that left a 100% tip once. Everyone made fun of him because the server was a bitch.\n\nI'd say what you did was definitely nice, although a lot of people would probably question your logic. Hey, if you can afford it, why not?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Good service should be rewarded, and there are worse things to do on your birthday than a good deed.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "You fool! Now you will have to tip him $20 every time! EVERY TIME! And then that won't be enough - it will have to be $40 then $80 then $160 then $320 then £640 then $1280 then $2560 then $5120 then $10240 then $20480. Eventually you'll be up to $167,772,160. Can you even afford that? Does it seem at all reasonable to you? What's he even going to spend all that money on? He's clearly a modest chap, working in the food service industry. That much money could actually be HARMFUL to him.\n\nMy God, man. I know it was your birthday and you'd had a good time but I do wish you'd just spent a bit more time considering the consequences of your actions. Now this poor guy is going to end up partying with celebrities and developing a serious drug problem.\n\nThe only smart thing you did was post this on a throwaway account because otherwise I think a lot of Reddit users would have been moved to hunt you down and show you the extreme errors of your ways.\n\nEVERY TIME I CLOSE MY EYES, I SEE THAT POOR DENNY'S SERVER WITH A NEEDLE IN HIS ARM, DIAMOND RINGS ON HIS FINGERS AND PARIS HILTON EGGING HIM ON IN THE BACKGROUND.\n\nOH GOD OH GOD OH GOD.",
"score": 3
}
]
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Depression and anxiety rule my life. Please help. | I've had issues with depression and anxiety for nearly a decade. The anxiety bit makes me feel like I'm constantly reliving my most embarrassing moments - I'm constantly worried and uncomfortable, and I get panicky about stupid things. It makes it difficult to do even the simplest tasks and take care of myself, because everything is an event.
And then after I spin out in anxiety for a while, I become so depressed I'm lucky if I can get myself out of bed in the morning. I feel heavy, burdened, by some invisible force that prevents me from moving. This has caused me to miss work, which makes me feel even more pathetic because I know that I should be able to just get over it and get up (or so I tell myself).
I keep telling myself that these things are just in my head - and that I can beat them if I just snap out of it. But so far, nothing has worked consistently. I've been on anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication, but the side effects were so bad that I decided not to ever do that again. I've tried increasing the amount of exercise I get, but this is harder to do in the winter, and especially hard to start again after stopping. I've tried modifying my diet, but I already eat pretty healthy so I'm not sure what I could do there.
I've heard of a few things that I'm interested in trying, but I don't know much about. One is sunlight spectrum / virtual sunrise lamps, which are really expensive and I'd rather not spend the money on if there is a cheaper alternative (unfortunately, money is one of the things that fuels my anxiety). Also, I've started taking vitamin D because I hear this helps in the winter. Anything else you guys have tried and recommend? I'm desperate.
**EDIT**: Thank you for all of your responses. It has helped already just to know that I'm not alone, and hearing some new ideas to get me started. Today is looking better than yesterday - I hope it is for all of you as well. | 21 | [
{
"body": "I know a handful of people who have struggled or continue to struggle with depression. In all cases I have found that medication has been of little help (This does not mean that they don't help. I am sure there are plenty of people who have improved significantly because of medication, **just not in my very limited experience**). At times, when it has helped, the side effects have been a major cause of worry.\n\nI am in no position to recommend any kind of medicine or aid to help you out. But I have seen people successfully fighting depression without taking the help of medication. I am not saying that what I am about to write is a solution of any kind. In fact, it might not be of any help at all. Regardless, these are my observations.\n\n- lack of self confidence, self worth, self esteem or whatever one might call it, is a major part of the problem. (other than being my observation, this is something I have often heard from the person suffering from depression)\n\n- sometimes, all it takes is a slight change of perspective to get out of this vicious cycle of anxiety and depression. (achieving that slight change of perspective can take a lot of effort)\n\n- have belief in the fact that your presence brings something meaningful to the lives of people around you. Your family and friends in particular and society in general is better off with you in this world.\n\n- find out what you like about yourself. Ask your loved ones what they like about you. Once you identify a skill or a personality trait; build on it. If it is a skill then hone it, if it is a trait then put it to good use.\n\n- often it takes a large part of a lifetime to realise what you are here for or what you are meant to do/be. But self exploration often takes place when you go through new experiences i.e. meet new people, go to a new place, do something mundane, differently. Tell yourself that this anxiety of yours is stopping you from getting in touch with yourself and learning who you really are. Feel free to be embarrassed and fail at things. Situations that involve embarrassment and failure teach you more than anything that you do in your comfort zone. You should be excited that you might be embarrassed or that you might fail at a task. It **WILL** make you a more informed and learned person.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "If you really want help, you should go see a doctor. If you've been depressed for 10 years, you should talk to a professional and not the internet.\n\nAs much as we all want to be, only a few of us are doctors and know how to really help you.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "> I've had issues with depression and anxiety for nearly a decade.\n\nAfter dark, go out and sit down under the stars. See all those stars? Each of them is bigger than the entire earth, which is bigger than your town, which is bigger than you. You are not important -- 100 years from now, no one will remember you or your most embarrassing moments. *No one cares,* least of all nature.\n\nYou do not have to please everyone, you only have to please yourself. Learn to laugh at yourself, learn to stop caring what other people think, and stop imagining that other people actually care that you are not perfect.\n\nWalk in the forest. Pick up a leaf. Each one is beautiful. There is beauty everywhere. Nature is beautiful and you are part of nature.\n\n> I have seen (and do see) doctors.\n\nAnyone who goes to see a psychiatrist needs to have his head examined.\n\n\"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.\"\n\n-- D. H. Lawrence\n",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "reallysadpanda - I'm in exactly the same position as you are. Add constant migraines, a lack of money FOR a doctor or psychologist, and other things I'd rather not reveal at this time. Hoping someone has a better answer than we've gotten so far.\n\nGuessing you're in America, as I am, where the only free housing and health care you can get is by shanking someone (but not, apparently, by stealing $50,000,000,000 in a Ponzi scheme).",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Having suffered from a form of social anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder I can say first hand that anxiety can really mess with you. Depression almost always follows.\n\nMedication *may* help relieve some symptoms. What I found worked the best however was a 2 week intensive Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) course of treatment. This was a group therapy course at a psychiatric clinic. They basically teach you to observe your thoughts, and identify the ones that cause you to become anxious. These negative thoughts affect you by making you feel uptight, and by giving you the awful physical sensations like tight chest, sweaty palms etc.\n\nThe negative, automatic thoughts are usually rooted in beliefs you have about yourself and the world. It takes some time to get down to the beliefs but once you do it makes it a lot easier to overcome the anxiety.\n\nAn example is if you are going to attempt a difficult task - a very quick flash then occurs in your mind \"I *must* do this perfectly\". CBT teaches you to firstly recognise that this thought flashed by, and secondly to rationally respond to it, e.g. \"Why must I do this perfectly? I'll give it my best shot and that's all I can ask of myself. I'll get better with practice\". The anxiety associated with the task then reduces.\n\nMaybe in this example the person had demanding parents, and their efforts as a child never seemed to be enough. This is the belief - \"I am never good enough\". The \"thought flash\" above stems from the belief.\n\nYou can get a psychologist to do the CBT with you however it will take longer to get results than a group therapy course.\n\nAfter a while, you start automatically \"catching\" thoughts. They flash by really quickly, almost in shorthand. Feeling anxious means that a negative automatic thought has come before it. Catch the thought, rationally respond to it in your head, and feel the anxiety subside. \n\nMeditation helped me as well. Again, you are observing your thoughts as well as stilling your mind. Fantastic for reducing anxiety.\n\nExercise will help too. I ride my push bike to work. A DHA based omega-3 supplement may help, as might green tea (rather than drinking coffee).\n\nI have done all of the above. Depression went from 9/10 intensity down to 0/10. Social anxiety is down from 10/10 to about 3/10 and still improving. OCD is down from 8/10 to about 1/10. That one won't ever go away completely, but is now very manageable.\n\nFinally some advice for people about medication. Meds are cool at first to help reduce symptoms. Some people *may* need them for life. The majority of people should be able to get by using natural techniques like the above. I'm in Australia where pharma companies can't advertise like in the USA - so if you are in the USA you may feel under extra pressure to take medication. Meds can be literally life saving in severe cases, but as to their long term use I think there are better ways. Best for people to discuss this with their doctor, remembering that he/she was probably recently flown to some great conference in the ski fields by the pharma company.. this is what we are up against unfortunately.\n\nGood luck!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Having suffered from depression myself for over 30 years, and having an older brother who died from it, I will say that it is a very real disease and no laughing matter. \n\nI have tried everything: drugs, therapy, etc. Here's what finally worked for me:\n\n1. diet: I eliminated all sugar and processed flours from my diet. I now eat only fresh vegetables and fruits, dishes I or my wife cook ourselves and no processed foods. if I need something sweet for my tea or coffee, I use Splenda or Equal\n\n2. exercise: I started out by walking every day, now I go to the gym for an hour in the mornings.\n\n3. no alcohol or drugs, ever: I can't handle them. I don't have the physiology to process them, nor the maturity to use them sparingly\n\n4. choosing a career that suits my passion, mentality and gives me the freedom to do other things I like (I teach music)",
"score": 4
}
]
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/music/ can u guys help me find a older techno album from the late 90's? | So my cousin gave me a burned cd that I loved ten years ago. I got a strong yearning to hear it now that I have a wider appreciation of music. It was labeled "armin van buuren" but I after scouring his discography i'm almost certain it was not him because he does trance and this was more like house I vaugely recall. The key songs I can remember were a song that sounded like it was an electro saw, a song that begun with tingy funk then sounds of gunfire and a voice saying "toma! toma!" then a drum and bass and lots of scratching. And probably the most obvious was a song with a male soulful singer singing about flowers. I overheard one of the songs at a cybercafe last night and can't get it out of my head. I know it is a long shot and probably will be downvoted for assuming a burned cd was a entire album but my cousin had a strange knack for burning only whole albums and not breaking them up. Also I'm quite sure the album had to be between '95-2001. Thanks Reddit. | 5 | [
{
"body": "I would almost bet money that Armand Van Helden's [2Future4U](http://www.discogs.com/Armand-Van-Helden-2Future4U/master/76589) is the album. The electro saw track would be \"[Necessary Evil](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYEL0tWQs7k)\", the song with the soul singer singing about flowers is \"[Flowerz](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesSn53wEzw)\", and the song that starts with gunfire is \"[Psychic Bounty Killaz](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5JOGIxBeK8)\".",
"score": 8
}
]
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CIRCLEJERK HAS BEEN CONFIRMED AS THE NUMBER ONE SUBREDDIT OF ALL TIME FOREVER BY A POLL OF THE UNIVERSE | READ THE TITLE, IT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING. ALSO, I WROTE THIS IN ALL CAPS SO THAT MY POINT IS MORE VISIBLE. IN FACT, I'M GOING TO GO AHEAD AND THROW SOME BOLD IN. **YEAH, THIS IS GOOD.**
UPDATE: *THROWIN IN A BIT OF ITALICS* | 76 | [
{
"body": "This subreddit is so hot and awesome i just have to fap. Gonewild may have sexy boobies but we have intellect, style and ego!",
"score": 3
}
]
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If a nuclear device ever failed to detonate, would they send in technicians to dismantle it or leave it there? | I feel like it'd be safer to leave it, but what if it was ever discovered? (I'm talking about during a test, in an unpopulated area.) | 5 | [
{
"body": "Depends on the nature of the failure. A failure of the trigger mechanism means you have something that could potentially be rearmed, hence sending in a technician would make sense to retrieve the device. A failure of the nuclear payload to reach critical mass means the thing is just a scattered pile of radioactive material or a somewhat scorched container of nuclear fuel, hence it might not make sense to deal with it. Also, it depends on where it failed to detonate. Usable nuclear material in enemy hands is usually a bad thing.",
"score": 5
}
]
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My mother would like to euthanize the two cats we adopted. | The cats were about 2 & 3 years old when we adopted them from their previous home over 10 years ago (an allergic person was married into the family). I moved out on my own 2 years ago; my mother still lives with the cats. I cannot have pets in my home.
Both of the cats are getting older and rarely have any desire to play. They frequently have "accidents" (defecating on the floor instead of the litter-box on random occasions), which my mother cleans up a few times each week. One of the cats cannot jump anymore, as he is slowly losing control of his hind legs, but does not appear to be in any pain.
My mother would like to euthanize them.
Do you believe in euthanasia? If so, under which circumstances? Care to elaborate? Which, if any, parallels do you draw between human and feline euthanasia? What do you think I/we should do and why?
Thank you in advance for your input. | 5 | [
{
"body": ">Do you believe in euthanasia? If so, under which circumstances?\n\nIt's a sad thing to have to do, but in many situations it's better than the alternatives.\n\n>Which, if any, parallels do you draw between human and feline euthanasia?\n\nNone, it's very different.\n\n>What do you think I/we should do and why?\n\nSorry, but from your writing it seems that she's housing them/caring for them/responsible for them in every way, in which case it's not so much your choice, or even both of yours, but hers.\n\n",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I have had a cat for about 16 years, and my cat is exactly the same as your cat. In her youth my cat used to go outside and play a lot. She would jump around on the fences, run about, she was happy and she killed many a bird.\r\n\r\nNowadays she can barely jump up to the windowsill, sometimes it takes her about 5 minutes before she decides to jump, she's lost confidence in her abilities. I guess her hind legs hurt too.\r\n\r\nShe spends most of her time alone in a spare bedroom, sleeping, never leaving the house as the younger cats bully her. A few times a day, when she's not sleeping, she'll either be eating, pooping or pushing her face along the side of my Mac (she likes the feel) until I pet her.\r\n\r\nFrom time to time she poops in the wrong places. Mostly in a dark corner at the bottom of the stairs (right where we can see it!) and once or twice just a few inches from the litter tray (IT'S ONLY A FEW INCHES! ARE YOU MOCKING ME!)\r\n\r\nHave I ever thought of having my cat put down? No.\r\n\r\nWhy? Because my cat is old and she still enjoys her life - she still purrs when I scratch her neck and rubs her face against my leg when I open a can of tuna.\r\n\r\nSure she can't jump too well anymore and she's lost her youthful speed. But that's just what happens when anybody gets old. I hope to God nobody thinks I should be killed just because I'm old.\r\n\r\nI do believe in euthanasia. But killing something just because it's old? That's cruel.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "When an animal is sick and in pain, I can understand the decision to euthanize. \n\nBut to me it sounds like the cats are just getting older. Sure, they're a little achy and have accidents, but that's to be expected as an animal ages. When you get a pet, you should do so with the knowledge that it is not going to remain young and spry forever. It doesn't mean that you get to put it down once it gets to be less fun to have them. That's irresponsible pet ownership. ",
"score": 3
}
]
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Hey Reddit, do you ever over think incredibly simple things that you do naturally everyday and then end up confused and unsure how to proceed? | For example, last night I'm in bed, and for some reason the thought comes to mind of where I usually put my arms when I sleep, and then where my tongue usually sits in my mouth when I sleep. I then spend the next half hour flailing wildly with my arms and testing which position feels more comfortable for my tongue in my mouth.
Does anyone else experience similar events? Also, how do you overcome these situations? | 4 | [
{
"body": "You are now:\n\n* breathing manually\n* aware of your blinking\n* aware of your tongue\n* contemplating swallowing\n\n...oh, and the Final Countdown is playing in your head. You're welcome!",
"score": 3
}
]
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Where's the best place to buy loose leaf tea (online)? | Follow up to a thread I had a while ago. [link!](http://www.reddit.com/r/food/comments/a21e1/i_drinking_tea_with_increasing_frequency_what_are/)
Anyways, since then I've only been drinking loose leaf tea. I bought an ingenuiTEA and some sample tins from Adagio. I'm now running low on a number of black teas, so I need to stock up. I was hoping Foodit could suggest good online tea stores? Maybe even delicious blends??? thanks. | 47 | [
{
"body": "If you are looking for high quality Japanese green tea: http://www.o-cha.com/home.php\n\nI've been ordering from them for over a year and I love everything I have received.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm fond of [Mighty Leaf](http://www.mightyleaf.com/). My standby ones are their hojicha, kyoto rice (genmai cha), sencha, and the organic mint melange tea. I have never found a mint tea that wasn't horribly bitter, but their blend is fantastic.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Metta-Care-Earthquake Disaster in Haiti | Tonight (and in the days ahead) the hearts and prayers and metta of millions of people all over the world will be with the Haitians in this time of great need. One hopes and expects that the humanitarian and medical response of the international community, Red Cross, and other relief groups will be swift and massive—and ongoing...
http://mettarefuge.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/metta-care-earthquake-disaster-in-haiti/ | 16 | [
{
"body": "To be the voice of reason, metta practice is not as effective in helping the people of Haiti as donations to aid organizations such as the Red Cross.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Proof as to how great cast iron really is | I thought some folks might enjoy this since there seems to be a lot of you who have discovered how awesome cast iron is.
http://antiques.about.com/cs/miscellaneous/a/aa013000.htm I have one of these that was handed down to me from my Grandmother when she passed away a few years ago. It's a #8 size, and in great condition. It could stand a thorough cleaning on the under side... but why bother? It's incredibly functional and I use it a few times a week.
I wish I had a way of figuring out how old it is. I'm going to guess it was produced in the 40's or 50's. It's pretty cool (to me) knowing that I'm not only using a pan my Grandmother did for years, but something that's lasted at least twice my age and works better than it did the day it was produced.
Edit: according to http://www.griswoldcookware.com/history.htm this link the pan was manufactured betwen 1865 and 1909. Damn! Older than I'll ever be. | 30 | [
{
"body": "I went to a large metal recycle center yesterday looking for cast iron pots and pans. It took a while for them to understand I was there to buy, not sell, and wanted to look at any cast iron pots and pans they had. And they had a pile. I was looking to fill some gaps in my line up (I cook with them, don't collect per se.)\n\nI got a new Lodge 16 oz melting pot for 70 cents, sells for $12/15 not counting shipping. A four-in-one-dutch oven, $1.41. A 12-inch skillet, $1.57, a Wagner 10-inch skillet, $1.44, a Griswold #8 tite-top dutch oven lid for 83 cents (a collectible I should be able to sell) a Wagner drop basting lid also for 83 cents, a small cauldron for $2.62 and a few others pieces, all for 35 cents a pound for a total of $14.35. The small melting pot and the 10-inch skillet only needed to be washed. I have two 10-inch skillets already and did not need a third but it was not only a Wagner and needed only cleaning up, but for a $1.44 I couldn't say no. The yard owner told me to come by about once every three months to check over the pots and pans. They had many more but I either had them already or they were a little to gone to rehabilitate. The rest of the haul I will be putting through electrolysis.\n",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I love my cast iron cookware. If you take care of them properly, they'll keep for ages, and they distribute heat very nicely. I did have a cast iron griddle/grill combo, but we must have soaked it accidentally at some point, and when I was cooking with it a while ago, it suddenly broke into two and one piece shot off the stove. I imagine a small bit of water got trapped in a microcrack in the metal or something and the heat expanded it, causing it to explode. Scared the crap outta me. Other than that though, love my cast iron cookware.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I have lots of cast iron, both traditional and an old set of Le Creuset that my grand mother gave to me, I love them. The only things I have besides them are an All-Clad frying pan (its the best in non-cast iron) and a non-stick egg pan.\r\n\r\nA tip for old cast iron that is rusted or dirty. I have gone to thrift stores and picked up poorly maintained cast iron, then I go to the beach and have a bonfire, putting the cast iron in the middle of it all. After a few hours of sitting in the coals and fire they come out like they are brand new.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I would love to use cast iron but I've always used non-stick teflon coated pans. Think switching would be difficult?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Yah!\n\n\nWe own a similarly old pan that the women in the family have been passing down for generations. It's seasoned beyond belief. The original owner likely purchased around the time of civil war.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I just started using cast iron a few weeks ago and I love it. It is my new \"go to\" pan. I had previously been using a stainless steel skillet (which I also love) and the transition was easy.\n\nFor those of you who use non-stick surfaces I could not recommend a cast iron skillet more. The switch is easy. After a good seasoning and a few rounds of bacon the surface becomes very slick, making clean up a breeze. The skillet holds heat very well, and as others have mentioned is totally oven safe. Cornbread anyone? How about browning some steaks and popping them into the broiler? But the biggest thing you're missing out on with non-stick skillets is delicious [fond](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fond).\n\nI'm probably preaching to the choir and beating a dead horse simultaneously but, get a cast iron skillet! They're fun and cheap.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I hate what America has become | For you pompous educated types taking a crack at me for this post: **I DID NOT TYPE THIS!!**
It is re-posted from craigslist.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There are so many reasons that frankly, it's hard to pick a place to start:
First of all.....when 28% of you brain dead fucking morons give a blithering IDIOT like Sarah Palin positive approval ratings and think she ought to run for president in 2012, it really makes me sick to know I am lumbered with that many mouth-breathing Cro-Magnons I unfortunately have to consider as my fellow countrymen....trust me.....I don't. You motherfuckers are beyond help.
And before you go thinking this is a "liberal" based rant.....that brings me to one more item on an ever-lengthening list.
This "Liberal" versus "Conservative" paradigm that so many of you simple dunces buy into.....as BOTH parties sell you out to the multinational corporations, banks and special interests that actually run Washington D.C.).....you do this STUPID dance every day, blithely detatched from the reality that YOU YOURSELF are helping to DIVIDE AND CONQUER the nation, as you myopically beat your little Hannity/Olberman drum of FUTILE self -righteous indignation. PATHETIC.
THIS is a nation of PUSSIES AND FUCKING COWARDS. If this nation had any BALLS WHATSOEVER, there would be a trail of DEAD MEN SWINGING FROM THE ENDS OF ROPES leading from AIG, thru WALL STREET, the not-so "Federal" reserve, the 9/11 commission, and right through every other set-up con-job you people just buy into like a bunch of CATTLE BEING LED TO SLAUGHTER.
It's not that Americans don't give a fuck.....every misled, misdirected group that goes out and crusades for the "Grand Cause" they think is responsible for the decimation of this ONCE great nation proves that.....the problem IS that the problem ISN'T illegal aliens (i.e. Minutemen) or Democrats in Washington (i.e. Teabaggers) or conservative policies (i.e. Code Pink).......the problem is ...... AMERICANS THEMSELVES.
AMERICANS have sat on THEIR ASSES while Washington and the Pentagon have BANKRUPTED THE TREASURY and sent our sons and daughters into MEAT GRINDERS in Iraq and Afghanistan for WMD's and connections to 9/11 that did NOT EXIST and even AFTER the overwhelming evidence that the intel was "swept all up" (doctored, falsified, unreliable) you STUPID SHEEP keep buying into the BRAIN DEAD notion that somehow, these wars are for the FREEDOM of America.
You're an IDIOT. They're wars for EMPIRE.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/pdx/1442403975.html | 25 | [
{
"body": "There is an old saying, \"When lions fight, the hyena gets a good meal\" this is what's happening in your country, polarised by class, religion, race and extreme political views, the ruling elite are able to help themselves to whatever they wish.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "Internet debating skills 101:\n\n* capitalise important words\n* compare opponents to livestock\n* an ellipsis can be substituted for any other punctuation mark",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "\"More like land of the SHEEP and home of the SLAVE\"\n- indeed.\n\nthat's one good ripping yarn. quite an eloquent rant regardless of what the nimrods below, who can't fathom an original thought, may belch.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Finding a flattering pair of jeans. | O.k 2X give me some pointers.
I'm at the point of needing some new jeans.
I love wearing jeans and just about live in them (The joys of being a stay at home mum)
Anyhow my problem is finding a pair that are flattering.
I mean I'm a big gal and I'm coming to terms with that and starting to do something about it, but that's another thread. The thing is because I'm a bigger girl I muffin top, not just when I have jeans on but I muffin top naked. I hate it but I have to live with it.
So in saying that what are some good pointers on finding a flattering style/colour/cut of jeans that works for me?
I hate going into dept stores as they will tell you what ever you have in your hand is the most flattering, and that what ever you try on looks really good.
If it helps I'm a 116-117 (46 inch) waist and 135cm (53inch) hip.
Also I'm all 174cm (5'8ish")
Oh and I'm not in the US, but I'm happy to shop online.
Or is it just a matter of going with what fits and trying to rock it with confidence?
Cheers 2X
**Edit:** O.k now I'm a little confused, I was looking at something else and realise I may have measured the wrong point for my waist. I remeasured and got 109cm (43inch) at just above my belly button where I'm skinniest. The measurement in the original post ^ up there is from along my belly button line, which is where I thought my waist was hiding, which is a difference of 3 inches, which makes a bit of a difference for pants. | 9 | [
{
"body": "You'll want to go with a darker wash, it's more slimming. Stick to a jean that has a wide leg. It should fit snugly through the waist and hip and from there just fall in a straight line to the floor. This will give a greater illusion of height, and will draw the eye in a vertical line rather than a horizontal one at the midsection. I find that sometimes, those types of jeans can be a bit dressy for just t-shirts and sweatshirts. If you choose to go a more casual route, stick to a boot leg or flare cut. Again, the darker the wash, the more slimming they'll be. \n\nAlso, sometimes things just have to be tailored. If you find a great pair that fit well through the leg and length, but are wide in the waist, have them taken in. A good tailor can do wonders on a so-so pair of jeans!!\n\nAs far as the muffin goes, look for jeans that have a longer inseam, so they'll fit higher on your waist. It may be uncomfortable to wear jeans higher than you normally would, but it'll help control any pooching. Also, if you can find a pair of jeans that really flatter your rear, it'll help balance any bulges. It'll bring attention away from your waist and muffin!\n\nOk, sorry that's so long! Re-cap: Go for a dark wash, in a wide leg, boot leg or flare cut with a longer inseam. Tailor them if need be! Good Luck!\n\nEDIT: spelling",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Do you have Lane Bryant? Their Right Fit jeans are the shit. You're a Red, I think. I just bought a pair of trouser cut dark wash jeans from them that I'm completely in love with. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I have a big problem with muffin-topping due to loose skin from a twin pregnancy. I find going with a lower waist gives me the best chance of avoiding the muffin top. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Thanks all ladies. \n\nMy other problem is knowing if I should go with a low waist which doesn't seem to accentuate the muffin top much, or a mid rise which does accentuate the muffin a lot or a high rise, which I'm not used to wearing and just feels funny but I would get used to it over time. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
More Snow. Britain Shuts Down. Again. | Bah!
There's another inch or two of snow. The schools are closed. Many roads are impassable. The local authorities are running out of grit. We now haven't had a refuse collection since 15th December. Good job it's so cold or we'd have bins full of maggots by now.
Whatever happened to the "I used to walk barefoot through the snow to school and it was uphill both ways" mentality?
It took me 20 minutes to clear the worst of the snow from the patch of road outside my house. Not that I want a medal or anything, but perhaps if a few more people asked "What are *we* going to do about it?" instead of "What are *they* going to do about it?" (the mythical "they" - the council? the government?) then we might get things started a bit sooner.
And please, don't even think about getting in your car unless you've got a shovel and are prepared to use it. Hint: try clearing the snow from around your car first, instead of just trying to drive over it.
</rant> | 78 | [
{
"body": "It does seem pathetic that such a small amount affects us so badly. However, we don't generally have snow on the ground this long. I'm not saying it's an excuse, but can you imagine the comments the government would get if they spent a couple of million on a fleet of snowploughs, only for them not to be needed for the next ten years? I could imagine people would then complain about the government using money unwisely.\n\nJust playing devil's advocate a bit :)",
"score": 37
},
{
"body": "I hear you, I'm amazed at how little snow it takes for everything to go pear shaped. The schools do not help, they are so risk averse that at the slightest hint of snow they palm the problem off to the parents. What happened to the development of character through overcoming hardship?",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1242052/Self-rolling-giant-snowballs-UK-Snow-pipes-rarest-frosty-phenomenon.html\n\n(:",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "A lot of the problems we seem to be having stem from people not even attempting to clear the snow themselves; this snow then gets walked/driven on and turns to an inch thick layer of ice, making it much more dangerous. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Whatever happened to the \"I used to walk barefoot through the snow to school and it was uphill both ways\" mentality?\n\nIn yorkshire we still do",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "> It took me 20 minutes to clear the worst of the snow from the patch of road outside my house.\n\nBusinesses like high street shops (and some residential property owners) are now refusing to clear the snow/ice outside their property for fear of being sued and found liable if someone has an accident on their cleared patch...\n\nbloody disgusting i know... not sure what's worse, the stupid mentality of not clearing it, or the few who seek legal action if they slip over.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I love the fact that this currently has 73 upvotes and over 100 comments on r/unitedkingdom. It seems the one thing we Brits love more than anything else is getting together to bitch about the weather!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Its thawing here in the central belt, after the last few weeks i was tempted to put my shorts and t shirt on when it was only 4 degrees outside.\r\n\r\n",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Yeah, over two hours to get into London this morning. Thats over twice the usual time. \n\nIt's not funny any more.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The road to my work's site is well known for being ridiculously slippy.\nIt also leads to a Police building used for storing prisoners that are being moved between prisons and 3 or 4 other big companies.\n\nThe council NEVER grit this road.\n\nWe actually have our own grit bin to keep our yard and car park safe but we aren't allowed to grit the road outside as the council will actually take legal action against us.. for helping!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Waiting for some bits to upgrade my PC - 1.5TB HDD, new graphics card etc. I looked on the Royal Mail website and they have *canceled* the special delivery next day guarantee! WTF!?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Down here in Basingstoke I had fully intended to go to work, but for some reason the grit supplies have finally given out and the bus route is 1\" deep in snow. I tried walking but after falling over repeatedly in the grit/ice/slush/mud mix with a couple of inches of snow over the top I decided that today was the day to test the thousands of £'s worth of remote access kit my office has.\n\nA couple of things this has made me think about:\n\n1) Why is there such a stigma about working from home? I have a VPN, a laptop, broadband and 3G mobile broadband, yet it is somehow not on if I cannot make it into the office. More jobs should include working from home.\n\n2) If your going to grit the sidewalk outside your house, don't just spread grit on the snow and leave it. Get a fucking spade and clear it! Packed snow is far easier to walk on than semi-melted slush and ice. Your not doing your bit to help, your a fucking menace!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I got up early this morning, went down to the train station to catch a train to Waterloo station, saw about 300 people on the platform shivering away watching a board full of cancellations, turned around, returned home and went straight back to bed. \n\nThe first signs of any snow and this countries transport system basically turns to slush. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
So let me get this straight about corporations. | In The U.S.A money is **everything.**
Large corporations have enough money to do whatever they want.
The government/politicians are supposed to regulate these companies so that we have a fair and free economy.
Corporations pay off anyone trying to regulate them/ pay off politicians to push through regulation that helps them.
Corporation wins.
Is the only option the people have boycotting? | 8 | [
{
"body": "Another option is voting out the clowns that give corporations so much power and take bribes from them.\n\nSeeing as....\n>A corporation is an institution that is granted a charter recognizing it as ***a separate legal entity having its own rights, privileges, and liabilities distinct from those of its members***. ([source](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation))\n\n...they should not exist.\n\nI don't think a lot of people realize that a corporation is what is described above - they are inherently illegitimate. People use the terms corporation and company interchangeably, which is not accurate.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey Reddit, need help picking hard drives for RAID-1 | So: I'm building a NAS and need a couple of drives for under $400~; if this can fetch me 2 x 2TB, that'd be awesome, but if not - 2 x 1TB will do I suppose.
WD's Caviar Green series seems to be the cheapest 2TB solution:
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136344 )
More expensive RE3 RAID-friendly 1TB version:
( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136313 )
But then I read about TLER ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-Limited_Error_Recovery ) and saw that WD has permanently disabled TLER on their caviar series forcing us to buy the more expensive RE3 or RE4 series hard drives for hassle-free RAID functionality. Similar stuff with Seagate and their non-ES2 series.
So: Does anyone have experience building a NAS using 3.5" hard drives in RAID-1 configuration? And has anyone tried using Western Digital's Caviar Green/Blue/Black series for RAID-1 configuration? If so, how did that work out? Any tips, links, advice, etc would be appreciated. Thanks!
*Edit: Sorry if this belongs in the Hardware section or something, feel free to move as necessary. | 3 | [
{
"body": "Raid-1 is probably not the type of raid you are looking for. It is just simple mirroring, when you write to the drive, you have to write to both drives. \n\nSince its is 1:1 mirroring, you dont need any special drives or sata controllers (since the mirroring is done in software). Any \"raid\" are usually used for RAID 0 or 5.\n\nIf you're set on RAID1 get the 2TB drives, although itll be slow as balls.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
So I bought hosting from A Small Orange, and now I have no idea what to put on the site. Any ideas, Reddit? | Something simple? I can do HTML and CSS, but I haven't learned any scripting languages yet (although I have been trying to learn PHP for awhile, but haven't been very motivated.) | 6 | [
{
"body": "I bought a plot of land in Connecticut, now I have no idea what to build there. Any ideas, Reddit?\n\nSomething simple? I can use hammers and nails, but I haven't learned any flooring techniques (although I've been trying to knit a rug for awhile, but haven't been very motivated.)\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "+ A personal site.\n+ A writing site.\n+ Install phpBB or something; start a forum.\n+ A podcast site.\n+ A site devoted to some unusual hobby.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "In the same way Google defined Google Wave as \"What email might look like if it were invented today\", you could create \"What [zombo.com](http://www.zombo.com) might look like if it were invented today\".",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Withdrew from college, now what do I do? | As of ~10 hours ago, I am withdrawn from my university. I was a comp sci major at a Top 40 overall school/Top 10 engineering school, but I was fucking miserable and hated it. I do find the subject interesting and I definitely have skill in writing actual code, but I'm not very interested in/good at the more theoretical stuff (which my school had a heavy focus on). I don't particularly want to just transfer to another school (doubt I could anyway, towards the end I stopped giving a shit and my grades dropped like Fat Man on Nagasaki), and from what I can tell from talking with pro-coders, I learned most of the useful tidbits already (in terms of development processes, algorithm and structure efficiency, etc).
So, thoughts on what I do next with my life? I have 6 months before my loan payment plan kicks in, and it'd be nice having some money to throw in that direction. Also, advice on breaking the news to my parents? Dad is a successful doctor, Mom volunteers all her time because she can. Both emphasize education.
Quick FYI, my school noticed that my grades sucked and they considered dismissing me outright, but I convinced them to just let me withdraw for the time being, which is how I find myself where I am now.
tl;dr - I'm a coder, dropped out of college, now what do? | 5 | [
{
"body": "I've got news for you, son. And you're not going to like it.\n\nYou aren't a coder. You're college drop out, who was stupid enough to leave school without a plan- in the middle of the worst economic shit storm in decades.\n\nI don't know if you're naive or just plain stupid, but someone needs to explain to you that this is real life, and you're treating it like a game.\n\nHere's what you do. First thing in the morning, you march back to that office where you withdrew and you explain that you'll do whatever it takes to get back in, but you want to switch to a major that's more in line with your abilities.\n\nThen you sign up to be a drama major or anything that you can actually pass.\n\nIf you want to quit school later, then go for it. But have a job waiting for you when you do it.",
"score": 38
},
{
"body": "Hey dude.\n\nThese comments all seemed pretty brutal(true, but brutal) and you don't strike me as the kind of person who would go back and \"re-enlist\" just because somebody on the internet told you to.\n\nI'll recommend something one of my friends did last year: the academic/theoretic crap started getting to him (he's an A student) so he took a year off, got a part-time menial job and bought an electric guitar and learned to play. So basically he just played guitar, relaxed, and did some karate-kid-style menial labor to finance this lifestyle. Last fall he quit the job, bought a Marshall amp with the proceeds, and came back to study.\n\nSo I'd say that don't quit 100%, just take a year off and devote it to some personal project(code a game or something) and then go back to finish your degree(although I'm not sure that's an option in the USA).",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Good job you ruined your future.\n\nNow you'll sit around for a few years and work some bullshit hospitality industry jobs until you can find a job in your \"field of study\". But that will never happen and you be 25 suckling off dads teat. Then you will return to school at a tier 4 school this time to complete your degree because you weren't feeling it before. \n\nCollege is about doing the bullshit work they assign you to show employers that you are capable on accomplishing long term goals and have sticktoitoveness. \n\n\n",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "As someone who went back to school at 28 and knows how much the corporate world sucks without a degree I have to say.... Turn around and re-enroll!!!",
"score": 5
}
]
|
I find it hilarious that everyone in the reddit main is freaking out about Google pulling out of the censorship biz in China when they don't give a damn about even attempting to inspect our little cage here in the US. | For example, almost no one outside of the conspiracy crew even knows that Flight 253 was the sloppiest false flag op in known history, due to every single US news outlet putting a blackout on the majority of what passenger Kurt Haskell and others have said. They just threw out what didn't fit their agenda.
Just another observation in paradise. | 152 | [
{
"body": "it's true, China is like a model of what the \"elites\" hope to implement globally. probably sooner than later.",
"score": 17
}
]
|
Ask philosophy: at what point do we cease to be human? | If we manage to transcend our physical form through science to become some sort of ethereal form, perhaps run on computing machinery.
What sense is there in having any desire to copulate? This appears to lead to all sorts of insanity, what point is there to pleasure, art, music - anything and everything becomes rather meaningless if we part with our flesh and animal form where it is a matter of necessity.
If we are able to be preserved beyond the human form and be executed on computing machinery which can simulate the brain, it appears to be all rather abstract and some sort of game.
On reflection, is this death? | 34 | [
{
"body": " ~wittgenstein: syntax error\n\n ~wittgenstein: You seem to be stuck in an ontological loop due to overuse of linguistic convnctions. Please rephrase.",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": ">What sense is there in having any desire to copulate? This appears to lead to all sorts of insanity, what point is there to pleasure, art, music...\n\nWhat *point* is there to pleasure and art when my body is flesh and bone?",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "What a very anti-human attitude. Striving to transcend our failings and limitations is everything we are. The point at which we cease to be human is when we stop changing.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "I think the question you are asking concerns semantics. If you can define the things about which you speak, you will have your answer.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "*Homo sapiens* is a species. You're then asking to get into definitions of species concepts, which is a muddled, arbitrary mess. There is no objective \"species\".\r\n\r\nWhen we \"stop\" becoming human thus entirely rides on how you define what a species is. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Had [a quick chat about losing our humanity](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/aktp5/hey_reddit_how_do_you_think_the_human_race_will/c0i47ex) the other day when flossdaily posted [this awesome comment](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/aktp5/hey_reddit_how_do_you_think_the_human_race_will/c0i3mbg) about how the human race might end.\n\nI think as we move away from our bodies, we will find new goals that are of greater importance, and we'll eventually think less and less like flesh & bone humans do. As we are now, so much of our time goes into sustaining the physical parts of ourselves. Also even now, the more you learn about yourself the higher you function and the more control you have over yourself, the less 'human' you become. Think of an incredible circus performer, a genius mathematician, a person with total control of their emotions - people refer to them as being 'inhuman'.\n\n> what point is there to pleasure, art, music - anything and everything becomes rather meaningless if we part with our flesh and animal form where it is a matter of necessity.\n\n> On reflection, is this death?\n\nIt would be the death of your biological self, but you are then reborn into a new mode of living beyond human.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "You are trying to evaluate the response to a paradigm shift with concepts pre-shift. Besides, you are making a couple of poetic assumptions that just don't work.\n\nFirst, let's suppose that our conscience is downloaded to some form of computer. There is nothing ethereal about it: We would be existing in a medium that has the potential of obliterate our existence, so some basic form of human struggle would still be present. How it would manifest, it's hard to tell. That's like a caveman asking himself what would happen if he didn't need to hunt for food (well, in a sense, in some countries, we are going trough this phase: we react to a change in environmental conditions with the same set of tools where useful in the previous conditions, so we are miss-adapted and fat as hell -but I digress).\n\nCopulation is pleasurable in our current evolutionary state. It doesn't mean it will still be pleasurable in a different evolutionary step. If that were the only source of pleasure, your reasoning would be right, but it's not. \n\nHaving said that, perhaps our evolution implies some form of conscience copulation (i.e., we incorporate that in order to keep evolutionary pressures on), perhaps we can go as far as obliterating the previous two consciousness to create a new one. In that case, the need for showing positive evolutionary traits would still be present and the \"biological\" need to create music and art would still be there.\n\nBut let's say that we remove all evolutionary pressures and we just exist and keep evolving as individual consciences (a very bad architectural flaw in the design, IMHO), there will be still evolutionary pressure to connect with other consciences that can provide us with knowledge we don't have. Some entities may resort to some kind of knowledge rape (if it's possible to hack into another conscience), but some will resort to some form of seduction in order to receive the missing pieces of knowledge. \n\nI think it's hardly improbable we would evolve into dead consciences. Most probably we will evolve along the lines of our previous evolutionary processes and we will bring with us some of the good and the bad of the human condition. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I don't know about the first part of your question, but I wouldn't call it death. It might not be what most would consider life, but if you are still conscious, I don't it would be death. Also, it seems our present language doesn't have the vocabulary to express this state perfectly.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Good question. Most of our laws, morality, political theory, culture depends on the idea of normality. That's because we're all of the same species, with sufficiently similar DNA such that we all get the same hardware and thus land pretty much on the same spot within mind configuration space. Yes, there's the occasional human who lands a little outside the norm. There are geniuses, sociopaths, mentally-disabled, etc, but we've learned to reconcile these to normality.\n\nWhat we're utterly unprepared for, in my opinion, is minds that exist in completely different regions of mind configuration space. I think people need to be made aware of just how big a deal this. Which is why I recommend reading [this](http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Paperclip_maximizer).",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "May I recommend Greg Egan's *Permutation City* in regard to the search for purpose in a world running on computing machinery as well as his *Diaspora* on questions of purpose generally.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "You're asking the wrong question. First you need to ask what it means to be human. If you find the answer to that (good luck) you'll have the answer to your question. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "If that's death, then we're already dead. Everything is already an abstract game. You just have to accept it and play it.\n\nSorry, I was channeling Baudrillard there for a minute. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "before one can ask this question it would be prudent to understand what the true definition of human is... ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Bell's HopSlam or Founder's Double Trouble...the war of Michigan Double IPAs. Who comes out on top for Beerit? | Or maybe it's more of a dual-campaign to take over the reign of best state for double IPAs? My point is, both these beers are incredible examples of the style worthy of adoration galore...but if I had to pick, I'd say [Double Trouble](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1199/34146) is a bit better than [HopSlam](http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/287/17112) purely because it's a bit drier/more-bitter like a west coast style DIPA. That being said, HopSlam is damn tropical-citrusy in both the aroma and taste so it has its own killer attributes. Who comes out on top for those in beerit-land that have been lucky enough to try both fresh? I'll now post twice in the comments, once for Double Trouble and once for HopSlam. Let's make this a beerit poll type thingie, so please upvote which one you'd say is better (or at least which one you'd choose first). We shall see how the results turn out, but my money is on HopSlam for the overall win. If you haven't tried these beers and have access (and like uber-hoppy beers), do yourself a favor GO BUY SOME ASAP! :) | 9 | [
{
"body": "I just picked up some double trouble so this is my first time trying it. There is a ton of grapefruit and pine with hints of pineapple. There's a light malt backbone but a very aggressive bitterness, so it's definitely on the drier side. I think it's delicious and I would recommend it, especially to dry IPA fans.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Gamedev podcast recommendations | Does anyone have any podcast recommendations about the subject of game development - indie or otherwise? | 20 | [
{
"body": "Game Developer's Refuge podcast has an indie bent, and frequently gets technical:\n\nhttp://gamedevelopersrefuge.org/GDR/viewtopic.php?t=581\n\nGDC radio seems defunct (or just infrequent?) but they have a lot of good stuff archived.\n\nhttp://castroller.com/podcasts/GdcRadio\n\nSubscribed to Industry Broadcast, but haven't listened yet:\n\nhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/Industrybroadcast",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Sign ups! Anybody who wants to play but hasn't got a team organise here. | Original FAQ: http://www.reddit.com/r/RUGC/comments/al7hq/tournament_team_organization_post_extended/
More info: http://www.reddit.com/r/RUGC/comments/aop26/tournament_update_registration_ends_9pm_est_sunday/ | 12 | [
{
"body": " I am a medic\n I suck at everything else\n This is a haiku\n\nhttp://redditgaming.hlxce.net/hlstats.php?mode=playerinfo&player=3396\nhttp://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197990706590/stats/TF2",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Just woke up to my first intruder. Can't sleep. Figured I'd share. | I've been up for half an hour now after I was awaken by the shuffling and sniffling in the hallway outside my bedroom door. It didn't "feel" like the sounds of a roommate and noone was supposed to be home. I cursed that both my knives were uncharacteristically in different rooms and grabbed a wooden chair and said hello.
The shuffling stopped but no response. It didn't feel like a prank. For the first night in almost a year I have a phone. Yay. I, starting to tremble, dial 911. They answer then I say hello louder. I tell them I think someone is in my home. There is then definite movement in the hallway moving slowly away from my door. They send cars. I open the door and some confused older guy, maybe drunk, is staring at me at the end of the hall, I describe everything to the lady over the line and let the guy know cops are on the way, he starts going back downstairs and leaves as they show up. They take him but I didn't press charges because he had taken his jacket off and was just in the wrong house. He was confused, not evil, but still startling.
| 17 | [
{
"body": " A good buddy of mine spent 3 months in prison for passing out on his next door neighbors living room couch... He thought it was his house and stumbled in and was out... He awoke to a family staring at him while the cops were called... The way houses all look alike in yuppie suburbia, I can see how it might happen.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "This is sobering. Considering how scared I am of an intruder situation, I may well have shot the guy for an innocent mistake. Maybe the guy was drunk, maybe he was just senile. Either way, I don't know if I'd get past that.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "i'll share my situation. \r\n\r\nI was living with my mother at the time. she was at work. i was in the shower. I kept hearing a loud knocking. It was persistent. I got out of the shower cautiously, quickly put on underwear and went downstairs to see what was going on. I started to get a little scared and concerned when i noticed that this person was knocking on the inner garage door that leads to the house. \r\n\r\nwith nothing in my hands, i opened the door to the garage to find a filthy, long-haired, redneck meth addict stealing my mom's broken television. with this being a subdivision set back in the woods in a semi-swanky part of town, i'm sure the last thing this guy expected was a pissed off black guy in his underwear. \r\n\r\nthe second he saw me, he yelled an expletive, dropped the tv, and ran to his still-running truck. I was understandably angry and banged on their window. the lookout in the passenger side looked like he was about to cry. \r\n\r\nso they sped off. i didn't break their windows like i wanted to do so desperately. i called the police, gave them the lic. plate number. they found the guys pretty quickly, but when a detective came by my place of work to have me pick the guys out of a lineup (pictures), i chose the wrong guy (they all looked alike) and the detective said that they had to let him go. \r\n\r\nthis was a scary situation and i believe i acted foolishly. if either of these guys had the malice or the means, i could have been injured or even killed. i can only suggest that, should you want to confront the person going through your belongings or actively stealing from you, have a plan in mind and be prepared. Or get in a closet and call the police. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I've been there! Except I broke into a hostel in budapest by climbing up to the second floor window. I scared the crap out of some other girls. I just had the wrong window. I bet that guy actually felt really badly about breaking into your house. I know I felt bad.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "man thats freaky\r\n\r\nI had an incident late last year .. i pulled into my drive way to find a older man standing at my front door staring into the beam of the car headlights ... i froze and he was already frozen ..5 mins later both still frozen and then he walked up to the car window and claimed he was enjoying the view as he thought the occupants (me) of the house had moved out, i corrected him and said GTFO!!!!!!!! \r\n\r\ni then spent all night crapping myself as my shitty doors didnt lock and my windows didnt lock either \r\n\r\nheeby jeebys!! ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Over here in good old SA intruders torture you with a clothes iron until you tell them where the non-existent gun safe is..... \n\nWell, only now and then.\n\nIn the commune where I used to live while I was still a student, we got intruders quite often.\nOne of my housemates found a little kid (12-ish) sneaking about looking to steal something.\nAnother found a bum going through our trash... INSIDE the house.\nI saw the door handle move as if someone was trying to open it one night, but luckily/unluckily it was locked. It might have been the whore (figuratively) that also lived there's \"catch\" of the night, or maybe she herself. I say that because she was awake and the back door stood open. Still not cool.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I have woken up to a cop pointing a gun at my head. Same year, I was robbed, although he had already left when I got home. It is scary as shit! ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
My 8yo son was browsing on-demand and gleefully asked "Daddy, is Star Trek appropriate for me." Brings a tear to the eye. | We then proceeded to watch the Voyage Home. He loved that the whales were at the Montery Bay aquarium which we've visited many times.
His conclusion at the end of the movie. "If the you can go back in time by going around the sun, then why arn't we going back in time because the earth goes around the sun." | 593 | [
{
"body": "Something similar happened to us before Halloween this year, my 8 year old was having a dilemma about what to be for Halloween. Well he is very rigid in his thinking, very science minded, and very logical. So I suggested the obvious, he declined. I was heartbroken until I realized he has no idea what I am talking about. So we sat down together and watched a few episodes. [This is him on Halloween](http://imgur.com/brymJ.jpg), and he refused to smile for any pictures all day! So proud. ",
"score": 189
},
{
"body": "It sounds like a drug commercial.\n\n(Announcer voice) \"Ask your parents if Star Trek may be appropriate for you!\"\n",
"score": 92
},
{
"body": "> If the you can go back in time by going around the sun, then why arn't we going back in time because the earth goes around the sun.\n\nJust 8 years old and can already realize how ridiculous Star Trek is.",
"score": 40
},
{
"body": "D'uh, it's because we would need to reverse the polarity of the poles and reroute the thermic motion of the gulf stream, though it would still probably lead to an earth core breach.",
"score": 34
},
{
"body": "Sounds like my household. We took our 10yr and 7yr old to see the new Star Trek movie this past spring. They loved it. So I took it on myself to further their cultural eduction and ordered the ST-TOS season one disks. We slowly worked our way through them and now we are in season two.\n\nMakes me so happy to see them doing as I did when I was a kid. They run around playing Star Trek. Even made the understairs storage area into their own spaceship!\n\nIt has also been fun to watch all the ST-TOS's order to see how the show evolved. During the first season, Spock was considered a 'Vulcanian.' Only later was this to change to 'Vulcan'.\n\nHere's to geeks raising kids and teaching them the geek way!",
"score": 24
},
{
"body": "That's awesome. I didn't think I could be more proud than when my 10yo daughter got hooked on Star Trek TNG, until I introduced her to the original tv series and she fell in love with that even more. Since I have told her about the conventions, she won't stop begging me to take her to the next DragonCon or ST convention. ",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "After you went away happily to mow the lawn, He launched the incognito mode in chrome and started reading gore threads in /b/.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I hope when I have kids they turn out just like yours. Now to teach him the merits of the 'inverse tachyon beam' and the 'class-1 probe'.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Please PLEASE get this kid some age appropriate sci-fi novels, he sounds like a bright, intelligent kid... reading is only going to increase that...\n\ni recommend the Tripod Series and any of Andrea Norton's books!",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "\"No, see the Earth goes around the Sun counter-clockwise. That means we're going forward in time. You have to go around the sun backwards to go backwards in time.\"",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "\"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.\n\"Some of my little friends say there is no Star Trek.\n\"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'\n\"Please tell me the truth; is there a Star Trek?\n\n\"bgog_son.\n\"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.\"\n\nbgog_son, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, bgog_son, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.\n\nYes, bgog_son, there is a Star Trek. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Star Trek. It would be as dreary as if there were no bgog's. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.\n\n(Edit: removed a Virginia)\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "HELL YES, SON\n\nI would love a geeky kid. It's the how-to-convince-my-heart-to-fall-in-love-with-a-cool-ass-wife-instead-of-the-hot-plebes-i-usually-deal-with that I'm stumbling on =/",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Dude, I watched Voyage Home when I was his age too, like 12 years ago. Keep up the good work! Nostalgia is one thing, but I can only hope I get to raise my kids on the same stuff I grew up loving.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The next question is, \"Is reddit appropriate for me?\" \n\n> His conclusion at the end of the movie. \"If the you can go back in time by going around the sun, then why arn't we going back in time because the earth goes around the sun.\"\n\nHe'll go far here.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I think I can actually understand what your kid must be feeling. When I was a kid I was flipping thru the channels one Saturday morning and came across some show about a moose and squirrel. At the time it looked like it might be more \"adult\" than I was allowed to watch so I woke my dad up and asked if I could watch it. And that's how I came to learn the awesomeness that is Rocky and Bullwinkle.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "You're kids 8 and has to ask about Star Trek? \n\nMy 6 year old daughter saw it the weekend it came out!\n\nMy little girl is a total geek.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Is it against the law to take pictures/videos of the gardai? | I saw a video the other day taken on someone's phone (I don't have a link unfortunately). The clip appears to be of a crowd outside a pub at closing time, something along those lines. It's hard to tell what's going on. Then a garda shows up and starts threatening the guy with court and a 5000 euro fine if he keeps taking pictures. They argue back and forth for a bit and the video cuts out.
Does anyone know if this is true or just someone flexing his muscles? I can't really find an answer either way. | 18 | [
{
"body": "http://www.digitalrights.ie/2006/05/09/photographers-rights/\n\n_the taking of a photo of a garda while on duty is not illegal however the publication of said photo is, if the member of the force is identifiable. However if the photograph is of a member of the garda whom acts unlawfully or against the public good, then the garda is no longer acting as a member of the force but as an individual and therfore the photograph may be published._\n\n",
"score": 21
}
]
|
What are some ways to have more interesting Sex? More Frequent sex? | I've seen proposals to try and schedule sex so you can keep it an important part of a relationship when "life" starts to get in the way. Outside of that, what are some ways you can keep sex interesting and break free of the "same position in the same bed all the time" scenario? | 4 | [
{
"body": "Create anticipation in the morning. Say some dirty stuff before you go off to work, tell them what you're going to do to them when you get home in the evening. Any examples I give here will look ludicrous in print, but hopefully you know the sort of stuff that you can say within your relationship to make them want you. Bring up something they like to do in the bedroom and tell them how much you want to do that exact thing tonight.\n\nCome home from work an hour early and put on nice clothes, light some candles etc. Run a bath and have a soak together. Anything to break the routine and stop you both from collapsing in front of the TV and then neither having the energy to initiate anything that night.\n\nAlso on the subject of energy, make sure you are both taking good care of yourselves physically. 'Life' shouldn't be an excuse for being tired all the time; go for a run; eat some vegetables etc.\n\nI have found that dry spells in relationships tend to come in waves; one good sex session is often enough to break the monotony, and then you're good as new again for a while.\n\nBasically the same as anything else in a relationship -- don't get complacent. No matter how much you'd like to think otherwise, you are engaged in a complex mating ritual; as with any non-trivial task, lapses in concentration will have negative consequences.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Touch your partner regularly. Conciously increase the amount of physical contact you have. Casual contact will lead to more sexual contact. \n\nBuy some books on sex. Have one of you read one and highlight things that sound fun/interesting. Have the other read it after and highlight with a different colour. Try the things you have highlighted. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
what is one thing that makes you instantly calm? | for me its running my hands under hot water - idk its soo weird but it just makes me the calmest I have ever am! I try not to do that too often though because i feel like it wastes water. I like hot water bottles too | 40 | [
{
"body": "Catastrophe.\n\nBeing in a situation like an accident or similar, I'm immediately calm and focused on what needs to be done.",
"score": 52
},
{
"body": "A *really* good really tight hug or spooning from my bf. I can actually *feel* all my muscles relaxing when I'm tense and he hugs me or wraps himself around me in bed.\n\nThat or a spliff. ;)",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "**[Blue](http://www.freewebs.com/approach_light/ADB-Alnaco-Taxiway-Light-lit.jpg)**, just the color blue, like airport landing light blue.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "A massage from my g/f\n\nEven better: g/f is half laying on bed with her back against the headboard - then me laying face up on the bed between her legs with my head resting on her tummy. She then gives me a nice massage to my head, neck, and shoulders. It really feels good when you get a nice face rub - eyebrows, cheeks, temple, nose, everything... I'm in bliss!\n\n(I do this for her too)",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Hard/alternative rock/metal.\n\nSounds odd, I know; but nothing cures a road rage buildup as much as aggressive music. 20 seconds of pantera or guano apes and I'm in complete harmony with my surroundings",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "If I haven't seen my boyfriend in a few days I find myself really calm when I get to hug him, sometimes I even catch myself sighing (sorry if anyone puked after reading this). ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "The few minutes before falling asleep... when your mind begins to shut down and all kinds of nonsense starts to make sense. It doesn't last long, but I love that.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Thorazine\n\nEDIT: To the downvoters, you may or may not know that Thorazine is what is given to extremely agitated persons in places such as mental hospitals. It instantly makes them comatose.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Baking. Something about knowing the measurements and the process. Focusing on the exact-ness of a recipe and the procedural details helps me take my mind of whatever is causing me anxiety. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Sitting in a hot tub or a hot bath works every time. I'm almost lifeless once I sit in there for a few minutes. It's like I'm melting. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Let it Be. \n\nWhen bad things happen, I repeat this to myself. I believe most things happen for a reason, and that no matter what I'm going to be ok.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "If I'm really at the end of my rope, a cigarette paired with a Jameson on the rocks just soothes me. \n\nI don't need to get drunk, and I don't need to puff away neurotically, but the combination of those two can bring me back to level from the worst situations.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My cats, when they're calm/sleeping. Petting/cuddling them, especially when they start purring. \n\nWarm baths work well too.\n\nCombining these two things, however, has the opposite effect. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Can you help me cheer up a friend who has cancer? | One of my best friends was diagnosed with breast cancer in December. She is having a double Mastectomy on Thursday. She won't be up to having visitors for a while and is going to be going through Chemo. Please give me some ideas for things I can send to her, via regular mail, to help her know that she is not alone and that I care about her. | 8 | [
{
"body": "Find stuff on Flickr and print it into an album. Give her something new and wonderful to look at every so often. Maybe buy an Onion compilation (Our Dumb Century is the ultimate reader). \n\nThat's the best I can think of. That sort of news isn't something you can console. Just be there for her, and help her get through it. Your strength will be appreciated.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "A card is always nice, Or sit down and indulge in the art of letter writing. Letter can be a very treasures thing for someone going through a rough patch. Good luck to your friend and to you, and I will keep you and your friend in my heart... again good luck.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "that is sweet, sending little parcels to let her know you are thinking of her :)\r\n\r\nhow about a ridiculously cute little fluffy toy animal, with a note to go with it, like ''I sent you this dog/lion/hippo, to keep guard over you''",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "If you cant visit her. Can you call her? If so, call. Listen if she needs to talk, vent or cry. If she doesn't, talk about anything else and help her relax and take her mind off it a little while. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Ask PetIt: My cat's always been bitchy. :( Anything I can do to make it not so? | (Unspayed tuxedo female cat, 8 months old)
Almost always, when I try to pet her she shrugs away, she only tolerates me holding her for a few minutes before she starts to whine and growl.
I've had her since she was a 3 month old kitten.
Rarely, she will spontaneously jump up next to me and let me pet her.
Sometimes she will sit next to me or on my leg and just purr, but not really want me to pet her. If I put my hand towards her she backs away.
She will let me pet her if she is in her favorite spot.
She treats other people the same.
Is there anything I can do to make her more sociable?
I am having her spayed soon and I am hoping that might help her demeanor. | 9 | [
{
"body": "Have you ever had a needy girlfriend/boyfriend? That's how your cat feels about you. Leave it alone.\n\nMost cats feel confined and unhappy when held. Let her come up to get pets on her terms. You can encourage her to warm up to you with treats (treats are always more effective if you don't have \"open feeding\" meaning you feed them meals instead of always having food available). The second she's tired of it, leave her alone. Even better, stop petting her *before* she's tired of it.\n\nBe very gentle. Don't overdo it. Be patient.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "It's a female, if you want a cuddle kitty you should have gotten a male. \r\n\r\nMales are usually much more social and accepting of physical love.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Spaying might help a little bit... You might ask the vet to check her over to make sure she doesn't have something else bothering her.\nDoes she have a history of trauma? \n\nAlso, you might try just leaving her alone sometimes and not pay attention to her. Some (most) cats don't like smothering, and it makes them even more skiddish. Usually cats will come to you on their own terms, if they want. Don't make her feel like you're forcing her to pay attention to you... I she still doesn't, she may just be that kind of cat.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My cat Millie was just like that. She was spayed as a matter of course, and it didn't change her demeanor one bit. The only thing that changed it was time. When she was 3 years old, she started to tolerate pettings better. Now she's 5, she'll cuddle up on the couch (but only if you pretend you don't see her at first).\nSome cats are just like that. It doesn't mean that she doesn't love you - it just means that she's independent.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Reddit: I am looking for some great recipes that are somewhat healthy, and quick to throw together. | My wife and are both love to cook - we pretty much make every meal home made. No frozen pizzas, dinners, etc. The problem is with 2 young children we don't have the time and energy to cook a big home made supper every night anymore. We are looking for decent recipes that can either be prepared ahead of time, or quickly prepared for supper. A good example would be something you can throw together in 10 mins and fire in the oven. I am considered by friends/family as a master in the realm of steak cooking - often times I am told my steaks are better than most restaurants. This is true because I am never impressed when I order steak, and have ceased to do so. I don't always have the time or energy to properly prepare steak anymore and am wondering if there are any easy methods for cooking striploin / t-bone / prime rib steaks indoors? I find frying in a pan does not compare to grilling at all. Does anyone have a good recipe for steak cooked in the oven or broiled?
Any quick/easy homemade recipes will be accepted, healthy recipes is a bonus.
Note: We rarely ever deep fry. | 9 | [
{
"body": "For pan-cooking a steak, be sure to see Alton Brown's episode [\"Steak Your Claim\"](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KrjeJDNKUA). We really like this method, but it does smoke a little during the first searing.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I'm going to give my GF an anal douche today. We are both a bit inexperienced. Any tips? | She's had anal sex several times before, but it hasn't been pleasurable for the most part. I think most of the guys didn't lube much, or take their time; they just went to town. I have assured her that it can be wonderful when done properly, and she is willing to give it another shot with me.
A few days ago, I played with her ass a little bit to get her warmed up. I started with a lubed finger, and slowly/gently inserted it up to the first knuckle. After a few minutes of this I moved on to anal beads. These were the jelly kind, which start off very small and gradually get bigger. Again, I applied lube liberally and went very slow. I instructed her to speak up at the first sign of pain or discomfort. She took them like a champ. However, as I pulled them out, little chunks of undigested food and some poop came out with them. I didn't tell her about this at the time. I grabbed some moist towelettes and cleaned off the beads, my finger, and her asshole, and then we resumed regular sex.
I did tell her about the incident the next day, which might have been poor form. I don't know, I prefer to be open and honest with this sort of thing. She was embarrassed, but I suggested that we could try douching, and she seemed fine with that. I went to a sex shop this morning, and picked up the only douche they had available. I think it might be a bit large though. It is a [Nite Ride.](http://www.adammale.com/sp-nite-ride-ez-squeeze-douche-4146.aspx)
I don't think starting with the douche right off the bat is a good idea, given its size. I suppose I might have to go through the same warmup routine as last time before douching, which might mean dealing with poop again. That's unfortunate, but I can live with it. I have no experience with douching, and neither does she. I have done a little research on the subject. Right now the plan is to fill her with water, have her hold it in for about 30 seconds, sit on the toilet and release it, then repeat several times until it comes out clear.
The tube is detachable from the insertion piece, and it had crossed my mind to just insert that. But that's probably a terrible idea because the edges are hard.
Anyway, I would appreciate any insights, tips, or comments you may have. I'm going to see her this afternoon. Thanks, Sexxit!
**EDIT:** To be fair, the session was impromptu, so I doubt she was prepared for anal play that day. Maybe things wouldn't have been quite so messy if she had known in advance.
**EDIT 2:** Thank you everyone for the replies. Upon further review, I agree that the device I bought is pretty ridiculous. I picked up a more traditional enema bottle at the drug store. Yes, I understand that people poop from there. It wasn't a huge surprise, just a bit unsettling. No, I do not have a scat fetish. I thought administering the enema before doing the deed was the natural course of action, but I suppose that's not the case. I guess we'll skip anal play today, and I'll give her the enema bottles to take home for next time. | 26 | [
{
"body": "Don't make such a big thing of it. Wait til she poops, have her take a shower and clean well with a soapy finger and then water, and go to town. Anal sex isn't like in porn ... you're gonna get some shit on your dick sometimes. If that grosses you out, wear a condom.",
"score": 29
},
{
"body": "You're going to give your girlfriend my old boss? Dude, he's a shitty gift, your GF will break up with you for sure.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": ">little chunks of undigested food\n\nI'm having a little trouble with this one. There aren't many foods that should still be recognizable once they're this far in the digestive process. It sounds more like a dehydration thing than a need for an enema. \n\nIf you guys end up continuing with butt play here's some general advice: She should drink plenty of water to minimize diarrhea due to dehydration. Up the fiber - and when you gotta go, GO. Exercise to keep up the metabolism is great too because if you're doing it right you should pretty much \"go\" right after you eat. Finally, **stay the fuck away from fast food**. Forever. It doesn't help in that area *at all*.\n\nBasically you shouldn't need an enema. If she's relieved herself (and cleaned up) you should be in the all clear. Chances are you're not getting past the rectum, so fix the cause, not the symptom.\n\nEDIT: If you do decide the enema is necessary - she can do it herself. You don't want to be there and once she sees what it's doing, she won't want you there. Trust me. ",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "What they say on the [Sex is Fun podcast](http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Asexisfunradioshow.blogspot.com+%28%7Eenema+OR+anal+douche%29): Buy one of those cheap douches that doesn't seem like it will physically hurt you. Empty it out. Fill it with clean lukewarm tap water.\n\nAnd don't go fancy with coffee or wine. You can easily overdose or introduce odd germs where you don't want them.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Dude, I think you're confusing 'douche' & 'enema'. A 'douche' is a feminine hygiene product used to clean the vaginal area and is highly advised against as it washes away healthy bacteria. The word douche also means shower in French. An 'enema' is what is used to clear out the lower intestines and relieve temporary constipation. No need for special items from sex shops. Fleet sells already prepared saline enemas at the supermarket & drugstore for $2 for a box of 2. The nozel tip is smaller than a pencil tip. There is no need for someone else to administer, it is self-service. The instructions are on the box & easy to to follow. \n\nUnless you have a poop fetish, why would you eve consider being a part of this step? Do you usually watch other people use the restroom?",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Thank you to the people keeping this submission alive. Apparently it only takes one downvote to knock this off the front page. This might be a throwaway account, but it's my first actual Reddit submission, so the downvotes were quite discouraging.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Surprise Anal is typically not a good idea. You always want to give the person at least 24hrs notice so they can pass eating that big plate of corn and spend some time cleaning up beforehand.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "You know, I used to do plenty of butt play with plugs without any problems...and then the instant I switched to beads, there's shit. When I go back to dildoes or penises, no problem! But beads? Shit. \n\nAnyway, just thought I'd add that. Not really advice - other people took care of that...just a personal observation. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How do I become a freelance web developer? | I'm good at front-end development ( css, jquery, (x)html ) but I'm no designer.
( Ultimately I'd like to be a full-time ruby-on-rails coder ).
Where do I find freelance coding work that doesn't require that I pretend to be a designer? Because writing code for friends and family doesn't work unless you design them a site to go with it. | 3 | [
{
"body": "How do you feel about working with a partner? I'm sure there are web designers out there who are looking for your skills, who might already have an established client base. I'd say your best bet would be to advertise your skills to web designers and let them find you work.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
This will probably be depressing, but I think I was sexually assaulted as a child. Can I get an e-hug? | My apologies in advance, this may be disjointed.
Hi there, I'm a man, just thought I'd put that out there. This is a throwaway account. I don't know where else to post this, but I think I may have been sexually assaulted as a child. I went to /r/rape, but that's apparently for people with rape fetishes. I figure that you guys would be the most well versed in something like this subject (sad but true).
I'm 22 right now, but I've been wondering if I was hurt as a child for some time now. Reddit search sucks, so I would have posted it somewhere else, but there doesn't seem to be an /r/molested (if anyone knows of something like that, just forward the link).
Uh, anyway, I've had oral and genital herpes for as long as I can remember, long before I ever kissed or had sex with a girl (yes, I let her know before hand). So obviously there was some contact or something. I think it might have been one of my dad's friends, or maybe my mom, if anything happened at all.
I walked in on one of my dad's friends changing when I was 7 or 8 and he said that I could stay, if I wanted to. I think I left the room, I'm not sure. The only reason I mention this is because I have always felt really repulsed by him, but for no real reason that I can think of. He just really disgusts me on some physical level. Now, my dad works in a very international trade so I never really had a lot of contact with him after that. I really just don't know there, but I've been having some nightmares about him, but maybe it's because I was wondering about him maybe hurting me. I just don't know. He just fucking disgusts me, for no rational reason.
As for my mom, she has been inappropriate before. One time, I was sleeping with her in her bed while my dad was away on business and she kind of spooned with me and tongue fucked my ear, but then backed off and said "sorry" so I'm not sure what to make of that. Pretty sure it's not my mom.
Look, I don't really know anything about this and I've never told anyone, I guess I just wanted to put it out there. I'm just confused because I don't really remember anything bad ever actually happening to me, but at the same time, I've had oral and genital herpes since I was fairly young. Heh, I also feel a little diseased, too, since I have it. I ended up giving my ex-gf genital herpes and I feel horrible about that (she was a virgin until she had the misfortune of meeting me). Is there any way to live with this? I really don't know if I can have sex with anyone again, because of my disease, and I can't stay hard during blowjobs because of the fear that I will give her it (sorry if that's too sexually explicit).
Anyway, sorry to post this in your subreddit, but I couldn't find an appropriate one to post it in (hey, point me to one if you know it and I'll get out of your hair) and I really prefer the company of women to men.
Uh, and this isn't a troll post, and sorry if I rambled, I'm feeling not quite good right now. | 21 | [
{
"body": "You should see a therapist. They could help you figure out how you feel and what might have happened to you. However, don't go to a 'repressed memories' type of therapist -- that's complete hogwash and can be more harmful in making you believe false memories.\n\nI say what might have happened to you above, since you're not really sure and don't have exact evidence. Which is fine -- molestation is a terrible thing to happen to a child (or anyone of any age) and people can often cover up the memories. But you can't take not remembering as proof that something *did* happen. The herpes is also a clue, but herpes can spread from any skin contact. If your mother had a cold sore at some point and touched it, and then touched your mouth (even helping you blow your nose or something) it could spread. Or if she had one developing and kissed you innocently it could spread. Likewise, oral herpes can spread to the genitals by touch -- if you had an oral outbreak, touched it, and then touched your genitals yourself, it could have spread that way. Oral herpes and genital herpes are (or at least, can be) the same thing. Generally it's different strains (HSV-1 vs HSV-2), but either can show up in either place. If you're worried, go to a clinic and get a test to see which strain you have.",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "Hia! I have a similar experience-- when I was little my parents left me with a babysitter who later we found out was a pedophile and abused several kids sexually. I have no remembrance of any event, but I did end up with some really screwed up ideas about sex and my body that are consistent with sexual abuse. \n\nI went to a therapist and talked about this, and she advised me that it is more important to make sure that you're okay now, and functioning now, than it is to remember what happened initially. Kids naturally block out things that are really awful because they can't deal with them, and it's a completely normal/healthy thing for a kid to do. As an adult you just have to cope with your weirdness, deal with the possibility that something did happen and any trust issues or sexual issues that happen because of that.\n\nAnd, like the other folks mentioned, the herpes issue doesn't have to have been from sex, some people get herpes from just normal kissing from a relative who has it and spread it to their own genitals by accident. Hopefully this is what happened for you, although I'm sorry it happened at all.\n\nBest of luck and plenty of e-hugs.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "*hug* I'm so sorry you have to be thinking about this... I wish I could help you more.\n\nThere may be an innocent explanation to how you got herpes on your genitals. This is because oral herpes can be transmitted via unwashed fingers to the genital area too. Something like half to three quarters of Americans have oral herpes - and kids touch themselves, lick all sorts of things, kiss their mums on the lips, share sippy cups etc. all the time. So the kiddy you gets oral herpes, then touches your genital area - and ends up with oral herpes on both areas. (Yeah, they're two different viruses, but they both can be on your lips and on your genitals... you'd think they wouldn't use location-specific names, right?)\n\n\nI had to deal with the possibility of having HSV, and man, I felt like a diseased leper too. The fact is, we're filled with microbes even when we're \"clean\". We're teeming with bacteria and viruses, all kinds. You have a virus, but it's mostly dormant. Think of pneumonia - we all have that inside our lungs, but do we count ourselves as diseased? Most likely your next girlfriend already has oral herpes, if not genital herpes as well. At least herpes doesn't cause cervical cancer, like HPV. We all have baggage - and as long as you tell (and take time to educate) your sex partners about the risks they're taking, you shouldn't feel guilty.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": ">Is there any way to live with this [herpes]?\n\nHerpes is an extremely common virus. Something like 80% of the population have oral herpes and 25-30% have genital herpes. Yes, it can be quite a discomfort and feel embarrassing but it's important to remember that you are not alone. \n\nThe risk of infecting someone else when you don't have any symptoms (tingling, itching, blisters et.c.) is very small. This risk also decreases with time. So since you have had it since you were a child the risk of you infecting someone when you are not experiencing any symptoms should be very slim.\n\nI think it's right to pay attention to your body so you don't have sex with anyone who is unaware of your condition when you have symptoms. But it sounds like you are beating yourself up about it, and that's definitely not necessary. You and 30% of the population have genital herpes. That doesn't make you disgusting or abnormal. It just means you have to be a little bit more careful.\n\nThat said, if casual sex still makes you feel guilty and stressed out, why not just skip it and look for more serious relationships? You sound like a very considerate and intelligent person and though there may be a few assholes out there that would judge you I can't imagine it would be harder for you than anyone else to find a person who loves you for who you are and either has genital herpes themselves (1 in 3 people you meet is already going to have it) or is willing to accept your condition thanks to your great personality.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You can have your e-hug.\n\n(((hugs)))\n\nYou've already gotten all the good advice about therapy and all that. I just want you to know you're not alone. You're not disgusting, you can have a mutually satisfying sexual relationship again, and it's not your fault. I wish you all the best in your healing. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Dear /r/anime, can you please tell me some of the funny animes you've watched or currently watching? | I see a lot of great anime suggested - a lot of the serious ones eg. Baccano!. But I'm curious about the things you guys unwind to.
I don't mind dark humor or satire. I love Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. I enjoyed Azumanga Daiyo (I love reading Yotsuba&! as well), Ouran High, Nyankoi and ToraDora immensely. And if there are similar ones, please rec. I don't mind fanservice but not in excess or too ecchi (I'm a fan*girl* and hence the fondness of Ouran).
Thank you for your time ^^!
Edit: Can't believe i forgot Gintama! Though some of the arcs can be very serious. I love Tomokazu Sugita and Kazuya Nakai's banter in it.
Edit2: Am having strange flashes of memory - Adding Detroit Metal City to the list of rofls. | 13 | [
{
"body": "[Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDLUr2zKB3w). The only anime that I've seen that comes even close to the sheer zaniness is Papuwa Island, which I also recommend.\n",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Abenobashi is probably the anime that has made me laugh the hardest and I watch it when I need a good laugh. Puni Puni Poemi & Excel Saga too. I find that parody shows make me laugh more consistently (apparently >.>).\n\nClannad made me laugh out loud on more than 1 occasion before it became serious.\n\nLots more too but have been mentioned already :)",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Although Zetsubou-sensei is adapted from a manga, the director, Akiyuki Shinbo, has been constantly doing similarly strange anime series, including Maria Holic, Bakemonogatari, and Pani Poni Dash. He also directed the relatively tame (but very fun) Hidamari Sketch in a similarly quirky, artistic style.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Seto no Hanayome is my favorite comedy of all time. Kyouran Kazoku Nikki and Macademi Wasshoi are runners-up. All a few years old, though.\n\nCan't think of what I've enjoyed more recently, other than Nyan Koi (which you mentioned) or Sora no Otoshimono (which is the very definition of 'fanservice in excess'- you may have seen the 'flying panties' ED.)",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I never laugh while watching animes, however rare episodes of One Pieces is an exception... that is until I saw Detroit Metal City. That show really made me laugh out loud on almost all episodes.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "School Rumble is the funniest anime in recent memory (season 1, not 2). As a girl, you might also like Aishteruze Baby. really nice anime.\n\nMaria Holic too. really sick, but a lot of fun. In one episode, a dog takes the place of virgin mary in a christian procession of sorts.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "NHK is being discussed in the other thread... that show's great and completely hilarious the entire time. If you loved Zetsubou sensei, you will probably love it. I was recommended Zetsubou after NHK, so I'm sure it will work in reverse.\n\nI also hear lucky star is pretty good... but I've been hesitant to watch it due to the super moe character designs (but I guess that's part of the gimmick).\n\nBut then there's TTGL (MUST WATCH) and FLCL.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "[K-ON!](http://myanimelist.net/anime/5680/K-ON!) is a recent and very good anime about 4 girls in high school starting a band. It's funny and I loved the OP and ED. Can't wait for season 2 :)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "if you've watched a lot of classic anime (fist of the north star, sailor moon etc etc.) then Excel Saga is a must. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "[Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bludgeoning_Angel_Dokuro-Chan) is a great show, as is [Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nogizaka_Haruka_no_Himitsu). Also check out [Golden Boy](http://hsbsitez.com/files/1605/Golden+Boy) the English dubbing is pretty good imo, but it has a good amount of fan service in it.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Skip-Beat! always gives me a good laugh. Also I randomly stumbled upon Muteki Kanban Musume one night and thought it was hilarious, but I was kinda drunk, so who knows?\n\nAnyway. First ones that came to mind that haven't already been mentioned.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "If you like JRPGs then give Mahoujin Guru Guru a try. It's a charming, hilarious parody of japanese RPGs that manages to be random without completely derailing into madness (as Excel Saga, Abenobashi and the like do)\n\nNote that I love those hectic shows as well, but it's nice to have some variation.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Not sure if you're into slice-of-life, romantic comedy-ish stuff, but I suggest Lovely Complex, which I found hilarious (when you're done with all the other great suggestions here, that is, like Fumoffu or Abenobashi, or want to try something different).\n\nEdit: wow I can't read. You mentioned Toradora, which I also enjoyed. Maybe you should watch Lovely Complex!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I might suggest *The Irresponsible Captain Tylor*, which is a spoof of the space opera genre. I'm about ten episodes in, and I'm loving it so far.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
[7] About to go to work, today is great. | How many other treeple are high at work? I am 20x more productive when I'm high, I swear. Also, get to doodle. :3 | 16 | [
{
"body": "In the summer I work at a blueberry farm picking blueberries. It's all on a volunteer basis; you get paid for how much you pick. So on the drive out there I'd smoke one, and spend about four hours in the morning sun, watching it rise over the hills, picking blueberries (which is the easiest thing to do really), get paid cash at the end of it and get a free soft ice cream. Awesome.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Who/what represents the last decade to you? | I'm going to a costume party on Saturday, the theme of which is "Noughties". I'm not really sure what i think represents the noughties - other than things like technology or political events which would be hard to depict in a costume. Do you have any ideas, Reddit?
I'm a girl with red hair, it that makes any difference.
EDIT: Thanks for the ideas everyone! If i manage to do any of your suggestions any kind of justice i might do a follow up. | 15 | [
{
"body": "The war on terror. The rise of Google. The internet explosion. George Bush's presidency. China's economic rise. Flu scares. \n\nEdit: just thought of another... reality tv and glorified talent shows... *shudder*",
"score": 30
},
{
"body": "Fucking stupid celeb-reality. You could go as some sort of horrible Frankenstein monster composed of Flavor Flav, Danny Bonaduce, Tila Tequila, Kim Kardashian, and Scott Baio. ",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I travel a lot, so I'd say the once pleasant experience of flying becoming just a horrid way to travel. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "A cat, with \"Oh hai\" in large block letters on the costume. Bonus points if you ask people for cheezburgers.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "To me it would be the internet in general. from 2000 to 2009 how people use the web changed drastically. Go as a tube, or not a truck =P",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "You could go as 9-11. Just make a twin tower and wear it, on fire of course (Might be able to incorporate your red hair for the fire). You could even just fall down at random times, demonstrating how awkward it was for the building to crumble on it's self. \n\nOther things that come to mind. \n\nSpeaking of collapses you could go as the banking industry, wall st.\n\nPatriotism was unrivaled from 2001 - 2003. \n\nThose pictures from Abu Graib are haunting so that's an option. \n\nBest of luck,\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
npr story this morning on race mentioned that when it comes to mixed marriages, atheists are the least trusted group - then they had a good chuckle about it. grr... | here's the online story that doesn't mention the atheist angle: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122459398
edit: Here's the quote from the full report (at http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/blacks-upbeat-about-black-progress-prospects.pdf):
The survey finds that most Americans also
are ready to accept intermarriage in their
family if the new spouse is Hispanic or
Asian. But there is one new spouse that most
Americans would have trouble accepting
into their families: someone who does not
believe in God. Seven-in-ten people who are
affiliated with a religion say they either
would not accept such as marriage (27%) or
be bothered before coming to accept it (42%).
| 10 | [
{
"body": "Well I mean if you think your spouse is going to go to hell why would you want to accept them as part of the family\n\n:(",
"score": 4
}
]
|
What's a Good First Car? | So I'm 16, a licensed driver, but I haven't really had time to look around, because I've been really busy with high school wrestling. Anyway, I'm a musician, and i often find myself carrying amps and stuff over to friends houses to play (though not lately). So i need something that has enough cargo space. The first thing that caught my eye that i really like was the Pontiac Aztek. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the tent. Anyway, tell me what you think
EDIT: Well, it seems most of you suggest a Civic, or something similiar. I've definetly looked into them, but this this much good feedback, I'm seriously considering trying to find one for me. Thanks | 29 | [
{
"body": "Anything by Toyota or Honda. My daughter is still driving her 1999 Toyota Corolla and I'm still driving my 2002 Prius.",
"score": 52
},
{
"body": "ACK! - Pontiac Aztek is the ugliest POS ever created with four wheels. I would argue that this thing is a substantial contributor to the collapse of GM. \r\n\r\nFrom http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/11/13/028479.html :\r\n\r\n\"The first thing that strikes me about the new Pontiac Aztek is its sheer ugliness. I’m sorry, but to my eyes, this is one of the most plug-ugly vehicles ever to put rubber to pavement. It looks like it’s been whomped with an ugly-stick. Already it’s being known as the wart-hog, because of its stubby body and pushed-in styling job. Even my teenage daughter - to whom the Aztek is being marketed - has mixed feelings about it. “The front’s okay,” she says, “but the back looks like it hasn’t been finished.” To put it mildly.\"",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Volvo wagon. Look at the benefits:\n\n* you're going to get in an accident, stats don't lie. they're safe.\n* holds lots of stuff\n* nearly indestructible\n* parts are plentiful and cheap\n\nDon't buy something nice at first, you'll wreck it. ",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "if you live somewhere where snowy roads are an issue, I'd reccomend a 95-99 subaru legacy or outback.\n\nThe AWD is great in the snow (although it's important not to get overconfident and think AWD makes you invincible).\n\nThe mileage is quite good for an AWD car (close to 30 highway).\n\nThe legacy wagon or outback can haul a good amount of shit.\n\nVery reliable - specifically, the 2.2 liter non-turbo engine is rock solid. The 2.5 liter turbo will sometimes have headgasket issues, but is still more reliable than many engines you could end up with.\n\nI was in the same situation as you and ended up with a '97 legacy wagon with 135k already on it. It's been four or five years and i've abused the car relentlessly, driven it up logging roads, through icy snowbanks and across snowy fields, bombed down rutted dirt roads, delivered papers for several months (very hard on a car), and the thing has been nothing but solid and reliable. I've watched friends my age go through several cars of the same age in the time that I've had mine.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "After reading quite a few car threads on Reddit now, I've noticed the majority of the advice given here is purely subjective. Usually there's nothing wrong with that, but with car advice I'd much prefer hearing from experts on the subject or at least people with more experience than the usual 20 year old Redditor recommending a Honda Civic for the 20th time because he knew someone's Civic that made it to 200K miles. You'll be better off asking a more specialised forum.\n\nBeing from the UK I don't have much specific advice to offer you, but make sure you do your homework on any car you plan on buying. That means:\n\n* Read multiple reviews on the car (don't rely on one source)\n* Check it's service history has been fairly regular\n* Check for rust or poorly repaired damage\n* Test drive the car\n\nOh, and avoid the Pontiac Aztek. You can thank me later for that one.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Volkswagen Bus.\n\nYou can fix anything on it with simple hand tools in your garage. Parts are extremely cheap and very easy to get. They are cheap, light, fun to drive, and get decent gas mileage.\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I recommend something unreliable and fast. Something to teach you how to be a man. That or a miata. Those are dirt cheap, reliable and fun to drive. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "You should look into something cheaper and safer than an SUV. You need cargo space, but you can get that with a wagon/hatchback with folded down seats.\n\nDepending on income look into the following:\n\nNewish Honda Fit. Lots of cargo room, good on gas, pretty good quality.\n\nNewish VW Golf. Again, plenty of cargo room, good on gas, decent quality. I wouldn't go older than maybe 3 or 4 years, but hey.\n\nMazda 3 5-door. Same as above.\n\nA 5 - 10 year old Subaru Forester. Same as above, although a bit pricey to maintain if things go wrong. Generally great quality, on par with Toyota these days.\n\nWhat other needs do you have for the vehicle? I can probably suggest stuff. I do strongly recommend against an SUV. They cost too much to run and aren't very safe, especially for younger drivers.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Look for a used, low mileage Nissan or Infinity. Nissan make an awesome 6 cylinder engine that is powerful, fuel efficient, reliable and inexpensive to maintain. Also, their cars have one of the lowest resale values, which means that you can find a 2-3 year old model, great condition with low mileage, for half of the original sticker price or even less! Depreciation is greatest during the first three years, so by the time you purchase it, its value is dropping at a much slower rate.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My first car was a hand me down from two older brothers. A 1994 escort lx named Blue Thunder. I miss that car :(",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Is there ever a time to keep a secret from a significant other? | What situations do you think it's acceptable to keep a secret from someone you're in a relationship with? Do you eventually come clean with the person? If you've done this, how has he/she taken the news? | 21 | [
{
"body": "I once read a story about a kid who lived in the country. He and his buddies would throw corn at passing cars to entertain themselves (hey, it was the country). One night they threw an ear of corn at some man driving by and it caused the man to lose control of his car and wreck. The man died.\n\nYears later, the kid who threw the corn falls in love with the woman of his dreams. Unfortunately, she's the daughter of the man he killed. Does he tell her or keep it to himself?\n\nI don't know what the man did. I do know that keeping a secret in order to protect you or a loved one often fails, and fails miserably. If you can be 100% sure that your partner will never find out then you should be okay, but can you ever really be 100% sure about anything?",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "When the secret is relevant to the relationship, you need to come clean. That's my litmus test. \n\n\n\n\n\n",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Yes. Lets say you idly are attracted to a lady in your office. You guys talk a little during the day (nothing inappropriate, just friendly) and you think she's sexy. You even think about maybe going out with her instead of your current lady, but then you realise how amazing your current relationship is and cut contact with the other lady.\n\nIf your SO knew that you had been having those feelings it might make a hole in your relationship that cannot be repaired. Otherwise it would just be a blip on your radar and no more.\n\nNoe *everything* needs to be said.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "There are no secrets between the wife and myself (and I'm not just saying that because she browses reddit. Hi honey!). I don't think that my relationship is especially typical, but we're always completely honest with each other.\n\nThat being said, there is such a thing as questions that we don't ask because the answers would be honest but awkward. ;)",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Well depends. I keep quite about looking at porn because it pisses her off. \n\nBut keeping an actual \"carry it to the grave\" type of secret?\n\nPerhaps if you killed someone in the past, or date raped someone in college, or something that would have your partner completely change how he or she thinks of you.\n\nKind of goes hand in hand with \"white lies\". Just a little fib that prevents a massive nuclear argument in a realitionship.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "That thing you did with your dog when you were 13, don't tell her.\n\nSeriously though, some secrets are of no use to a relationship, and only have potential to be harmfull. (I would like to give examples but I would have to post with a throwaway account) ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I told some of my secrets to a friend of mine who I trust deeply, and asked her for some advice. I'm a friend of her husband, but I wouldn't tell him the same things I told her, and she kept those things from him in respect of my privacy. In a way, she is keeping a secret from him, or at least withholding information, but is this wrong? Personally, I don't think so.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "It's a gamble, and it depends on your conscience.\n\nIf it's going to hurt you to keep the secret then no there is never a good time. \n\nIf it's not going to hurt you and she has a chance of finding out, then you may want to consider it.\n\nIf it's not going to hurt your conscience and she will never find out then ignorance is bliss.\n\nI think lying is a skill that gets a bad name. I wish my parents hadn't taught me it's bad to lie in any way at any time, because there are a lot of appropriate times and places for lies. Job interviews/Marketing/First impressions/Lying to yourself, and so much more. \n\nNot lying is crippling to relationships.\n\n",
"score": 4
}
]
|
I need help teaching a teenager guitar.... | He's fifteen, his parents recently have divorced, he's dropped out of all his extra circular activities and his grades have gone from A's to D's. His parents don't seem to mind that his mental health is obviously slipping. I want to help him, but the only skill I have is playing the guitar. He has come to me asking to learn and I'm willing to teach him. The only problem is I don't listen to music that a fifteen year old would listen to. I need some help finding some that would be simple enough for him to start with and catchy enough for him to stay motivated to learn.
Any tips and or advice would really be appreciated.
thanks | 3 | [
{
"body": "Blues. If you are ever in doubt of what to teach a beginner, teach them blues. It is the basis of nearly every popular genre of music and is a blast to play. \n\nAlso, ask him what he wants to play. If you can learn the songs a week ahead of time then it will be easy to teach him. \n\nDon't forget to mix in theory, drills, scales, and the not fun stuff for 30%-50% of the time. Learning to play songs is fun, but learning the theory will make playing enjoyable for a lifetime, also stress the importance of playing by ear. ",
"score": 5
}
]
|
My Bank of America credit card represents the majority of my credit history over the past ten years. If I cancel it, and get a credit union card, will my credit score take a hit? | The way I understand credit, the longer you've had a credit card and of course the better that it's been maintained, the better you're credit score will be (ignoring other factors). So, if I were to cancel my BoA credit card, which was my first card (of ten years) and is also the card I have been using the most by far, and open a brand new credit card from a credit union, how bad (if at all) will I take a credit hit? Should I just leave it open and stop using it? | 9 | [
{
"body": "Yes, leave it open and stop using it. I have six or seven cards that are open, which I never use. Is that optimal in terms of credit? Probably not, but I am careful about credit, my score is in the upper 700's, and I never get turned down for loans or whatnot, so I am not going to mess with it.\n\n(The other day, I was cleaning out my computer desk and found, literally, five credit cards that were replacements for expired cards, and they were all unopened and unactivated.)",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "My understanding has always been its better to pay that card off, but keep it open, and just move forward with a new credit union card. Having available credit, even if not using it, I think helps your credit score...but I may be wrong so feel free to correct and attack redditors.\r\n",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Would our problems with China's currency be any
different if China had adopted a gold standard? | I have constantly heard from Krugman et. al. that China is manipulating their currency in order to gain an unfair advantage in the marketplace, but I can't wrap my head around how any country can subvert the economic force of pricing mechanisms and simultaneously accumulate great wealth. Wouldn't the same phenomenon happen if China had adopted a relatively venerable gold standard, except that its treasury would accumulate gold instead of dollars? | 6 | [
{
"body": "Not really. The Chinese treasury buying a ton of gold would cause the price of gold to spike, causing the Yuan, which would probably have a fixed conversion rate to Gold, to appreciate against other currencies. This would lead to Chinese exports falling, helping the manufacturing sector in other countries.\n\nThis is what should, technically, be happening under a float economy, actually, except swapping gold for USD. As China's central bank holds more and more dollars, a steady supply of Yuan would increase in value, considering it is now backed by more dollars. However, the Chinese government has been printing Yuan and dumping it on the exchange market to keep the Yuan at a steady exchange rate against the USD, despite a growing stock of Dollars. This prevents Arbitrage.\n\nA similar situation would exist with a presence of a Chinese Gold Standard if the Chinese government devalued the Yuan against Gold whenever its central bank increased its gold stock.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey, Reddit, I want to learn modern web design but have absolutely no idea where or how to develop the skills. I was an HTML 3 baby, but all this Java-Flash-CSS-PHP-Drupal-AJAX-#F - Whatever crap is alien to me. | I used to run a WordPress blog, but I had to get my arty friend to do the layout for me, 'cuz I look as CSS and sort of WTF. I used to be the 'arty friend' back in the day, but now I'm pretty much reliant on other people to fuck with web stuff for more, 'cuz I can't figure out where to go or start. I don't know, could anyone suggest like, some books or something to develop the skills and mode of mind for basic web competency?
edit: also, I barely grok what a widget is. | 14 | [
{
"body": "There is so much to write about, but I'll try my best to give you a quick answer before I go into work.\n\nMy first suggestion would be to learn doctypes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctype\n\nDoctypes tell a web browser what kind of document/file you are presenting. This will help fix a lot of CSS bugs in various browsers (although in the case of Internet Explorer 7 and earlier, you'll still notice a lot).\n\nThe reason I mentioned this is so you can validate your pages, either with the W3C validator (http://validator.w3.org/) or this handy Firefox extension: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249 . If you use one of the strict doctypes, all the styling code made outdated by CSS will show up as syntax errors. You will also see where certain HTML tags/elements have become outdated, or changed (e.g. <br> in XHTML is expressed as <br />).\n\nAlso, don't let yourself get hung up on what the differences between HTML and XHTML are. I just expressed the largest difference you will most likely see. XHTML is really nothing else but HTML with syntax and relationship rules enforced.\n\nCSS itself is a modular approach to styling a web site. For example, let's say you have a static box on your site that you would like the font color to be red. In HTML 3.2, you would probably just wrap the box with <font color=\"red\"></font> or something similar. With CSS, you can just specify in a separate file, or in the head of your HTML document, the ID or class of the box with all styling rules apart from your HTML:\n\n<style type=\"text/css\">\n\n#mybox { /* This is a comment in CSS, and we are selecting the box with the ID of mybox. There is supposed to be a pound sign, but Reddit seems to remove it.*/\ncolor: #ff000;\n}\n\n</style>\n\nClasses can be shared amongst multiple elements, and ID's have to be unique per page. There are also other ways to single out different HTML elements. This will keep your HTML simple, concise, and easy to read.\n\nHere is a great place to check out the different selectors you can use in CSS, although beware as not all of them will work in Internet Explorer 7 and before: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/selector.html\n\nBecause of this, I highly recommend teaching yourself first in another web browser, or the latest version of Internet Explorer.\n\nSection 5.1 will be the area of interest for you, although you are certainly welcome to read all you want.\n\nNow, for JavaScript. CSS support has always been a little shaky in different browsers (although with Internet Explorer caught up, more or less, this is less of a problem than it was), but JavaScript support in various browsers tends to be a bit more...confusing at times. Also, the standards aren't exactly the most developer-friendly.\n\nHere is where I recommend jQuery: http://jquery.com/ Once you learn CSS, you can reuse your knowledge in JavaScript and learn more about the way elements are related to each other. The DOM (Document Object Model) is key. I am assuming you have some programming or scripting knowledge, but I could easily be mistaken. If I am, JavaScript might take some more time for you to learn.\n\nI wouldn't concern yourself with Flash yet. Flash is not an open web standard and involves an investment in Adobe products. It is nice to be able to compliment web standards in the areas they fall short in, but there is still a lot you can do with the (X)HTML/CSS/JavaScript trio.\n\nNow, we move on to server side languages.\n\nJava for use in web servers has kind of waned, and despite the name, is not related to JavaScript at all, really. I think you can safely ignore it in terms of web development, potentially forever.\n\nDrupal, much like Word Press, is a CMS (Content Management System). Using a server side language (PHP in the case of both, and a server environment like MySQL) we can store article or entry information in a database and assemble a web page dynamically - they are not stored as pre-coded web pages. If you have programming experience, both PHP and MySQL should be fairly easy to learn; if not, you can jump that hurdle when you get to it.\n\nAJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a combination of client side and server side efforts. You can submit or pull information to/from your site without reloading the web page. Sites like Facebook use it extensively. \n\nRuby is another web development framework like PHP, although it is newer. I don't have much knowledge of it.\n\nF# I'm not familiar with at all, however I am not familiar with any web sites that use it. Most modern sites follow one of the two following tool sets:\n\n1. Client - (X)HTML/CSS/JavaScript, Server - MySQL, PHP\n\n2. Client - (X)HTML/CSS/JavaScript, Server - Microsoft SQL Server, ASP.Net\n\nClient side languages are open standards; server side technologies can be anything. I've coded sites in both situations listed above, but I prefer the first set.\n\nIf you have any questions, feel free to message me. I'm still inexperienced to using Reddit, so I'm not sure how that goes, but I'm sure it's not too difficult.\n\nAlso, the w3schools web site is quite useful: http://www.w3schools.com/ There are tutorials and quick references.\n\nEdits: Various grammar and typo corrections, added a forgotten resource.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Web design is easy. Here's some books to get you started:\n\nWeb Standard Solutions, by Dan Cederholm\nhttp://snipurl.com/u2hxm\n\nBulletproof Web Design, also by Dan Cederholm:\nhttp://snipurl.com/u2hyd\n\nCSS Mastery, by Andy Rudd, et al:\nhttp://snipurl.com/u2hxx\n\nAlso, check out Robert Hoekman's stuff. He does a great job of conveying UX ideas and techniques in his books. Essential if you want to be a web guy worth your weight in salt.\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I've been making webpages for about 3 months now. The best advice I have received: get firefox, use firebug. It has a javascript console. It makes finding elements with all their css crap easy. It also has a section to view http headers and such, making debugging a cinch. I'm ashamed none of the comments mention this. Also learn jQuery. Not only is it a great javascript library but the documentation is awesome. I use dojo for some things but their documentation blows. Finally the w3schools.com tutorials are really good for basics. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "If you want to learn modern web design, here's what you'll need to be successful. I recognize that much of it will be gibberish at first, but it's not intended to be much more than a basic pointer in the right direction. It will all begin to make more sense as you begin to study it. Don't expect to learn what you need to know on a forum like this; it will take you at least a year or two to become profficient in enough of these to make a career out of it. Also, this isn't intended to be a \"here's everything you need to know about the eb\" post. There's *no way* to give you that much information without writing at least a dozen books. Don't believe otherwise or you're setting yourself up for failure. That's not to say that those who have posted a bunch of basic rules about some technologies are wrong; just that it's much more complex if you want to make a career out of this. My post is merely intended to help you learn *what* to learn.\n\n**First, the development skills:**\n\n- HTML/XHTML. (And a clear understanding of the difference between the two; many folks don't.) HTML is the base language that all browsers use to turn a bunch of text into some semblance of layout. You *must* have a clear understanding of it, including it's strengths and limitations, both for design and for development.\n\n- CSS and an understanding of the Document Object Model (DOM). This is the language that should be used for all presentation, layout and styling. If you're still using tables for layout (or frankly, for anything other than tabular data), you're doing it wrong. Also, you'll need to understand the concepts surrounding selectors and IDs vs. classes, and why you'd use the former for DOM-related selection, and the latter for styling.\n\n- JavaScript. This is the scripting language used by browsers to alter the behavior of a web page without requiring a page re-load. You'll particularly want to learn JS as an object-oriented language, how to utilize libraries and frameworks (especially YUI and JQuery, as they are both widely-used and very sought-after skills), etc... but don't expect to pick all of that up right away. To start, just focus on how JS can assist with forms, show and hide objects based on mouse clicks, etc. AJAX is a serious plus in the industry, though you may not end up using it personally unless you're building web applications.\n\n- Server-side technologies, such as The LAMP stack. (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP.) Learning at least one server-side language will help you to understand how your Wordpress themes are put together, what you can edit, and what you shouldn't - at least until you learn more PHP. Which language you choose is a bit more flexible, as there are many specialists out there; some use LAMP, some use Java and JSP, some are Ruby on Rails or Python, etc. But I'd recommend that you start with LAMP and go from there, especially because it will be more intuitive when beginning to understand JavaScript and object-oriented programming. Also, it tends to be a bit more widely-used by startups, so is a more marketable skill.\n\n- Knowledge of at least one major IDE. (A complex editor with support for version control, libraries, server interaction, etc.) (Intelli-J Idea, Eclipse, etc.) I personally use more lightweight editors for most small projects, but you're going to need to be able to show employers that you know how.\n\n- Version control. This allows you to constantly track every change you make on your sites, work on files at the same time as other people, and easily roll back to earlier versions if you run into a problem. (Using version control is a good idea regardless, but any employer you actually want to work for who is doing any kind of major deployment is already using version control, or they're hiring you to help them implement it. If they aren't doing either, you don't want to work for them.) Version control is also the start to running multiple versions of a site simultaneously (also known as A/B split testing or bucket testing), which allows you to track which modifications are making the biggest impact on your users.\n\n**Now for the design skills:**\n\n- Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. You're going to need to learn how to use these, regardless of how much love you have for open source software like GIMP. As nice a concept as it is, the *industry* uses Photoshop. Save your opinions about free software for *after* you have a job. You won't even make it in the door with many organizations if you can't use the software they have installed on all their machines.\n\n- Flash. Required if you're focusing on design, but at least some base profficiency in Flash will be useful for any developer who is also responsible for any desig elements. Add Actionscript (the Flash version of JavaScript) if you plan to be more heavily involved in design or want to make more money.\n\n- Basic design. This isn't an acquired skill so much as it is a practiced talent. Learn how to learn - go take 2-3 semester's worth of design 101 classes at a community college. They'll be hard, and require quite a bit of literal cut and paste with scissors and glue (regardless of the century we're in), but the lessons you'll learn are invaluable. Learn about color theory, and how it affects a user's impression of something. Learn about how to use white space, and how sometimes more is less, etc.\n\n- Adobe Acrobat. Not as important as the other two (unless you plan to do a lot of print work), but still relevant for distributing print documents on the web.\n\n**Some adjunct skills to be aware of:**\n\n- Usability. Don't just design your sites to be utilitarian. A site must be immediately intuitive to Average Joe, who's visiting the site for the first time, wasn't on your development team, and isn't very technical. Remember: content won't keep your users on your site any more. That's just how they get there. Make your site usable and intuitive, or your users will find another site that won't make them learn a new way to use it.\n\n- Accessibility. Web sites need to be usable by as wide an audience as possible, including those with disabilities. On the web, this means blind/color blind users (don't use a green button; use a green button that says go, with a label and alt tag), deaf users (don't require sound and/or offer alternative text-based options), and developmentally-disabled users (don't require interaction of a certain speed or within too short a time interval). Accessibility isn't just about making sites accessible to blind and deaf users in order to avoid lawsuits, although that's certainly something to be aware of. (Section 508, the law that mandates wheelchair ramps and morse code on elevators also speaks to the web. Also look up ADA requirements and WCAG standards.) It's also about making sites easy to use for everyone, regardless of technical ability or background. There's a reason Google has stayed so simple for over a decade.\n\n- Project management. This is more of a professional skill than a web-based skill, but is also relevant for web design because it is quite possible that you will end up working for a web design firm, on more than one project at once. This skill will be invaluable both for you personally, and for your career down the line.\n\n- Search Engine Optimization. (SEO) You won't become an expert without focusing exclusively on this. (My last two companies have employed a team of people who do nothing but SEO.) However, it's good to understand the basics as they pertain to development. For example, using semantic code: only one h1, always wrapped around the most relevant part of the page content. Making sure title tags display information that is useful to users, but also contains relevant search terms and keywords. Making sure that if you pass variables in the url (anything after a question mark in the URL), that anything important is before the query mark, since search engines will ignore anything after it. (For example: don't use a query for navigation unless you use simple urls/permalinks, or your site will never be spidered.) The list goes on and on.\n\n- Microsoft Office. Yes, yes, Microsoft is evil, OpenOffice is better, yadda yadda. See my comments about Adobe software, above. You WILL have office installed on your machine for you, and your IT department WILL require it for any kind of support. There are of course exceptions; this is generally the rule.\n\nI hope that helps! I know it's a lot, and frankly, it's not a list that you'll have complete until at least 4-5 years from now. But it's a good starting point, and will hopefully help you decide what path you want to follow. Let me know if you have any questions.\n\n*edited for typos*",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "We still write html, but usually these days there's a programming language on the web server side that spits out HTML for the browser. That's where PHP / Python / Ruby etc come in. \n\nCSS is pretty neat because it tries to take a lot of styling elements out of the HTML. Change the CSS, you change all of the web pages. \n\nWell, that's a start for you :) \n\nEdit: Forgot to mention Javascript. It's a scripting language that runs in the web browser. There are many libraries you can use that making writing it easier. \n\nJust wanted to help clear up what the different elements are so that you can start to figure out what it is you want to learn. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Abandon all you know and all you think you know. All of it. XHTML and CSS is a very different way of thinking and operating than straight HTML. So start with that. Try w3schools.com as a good starting point.\n\nOnce you can manage static XHTML/CSS pages without difficulty, move on to CMSs such as Drupal and Joomla and possibly Wordpress. I hope you know how to program, because you'll need to know PHP for these.\n\nAJAX is a set of techniques for loading and processing things asynchronously between the server and the client. It'll be a lot more comprehensible for you if you learn JavaScript, and there's a metric assload of stuff out there for learning JS.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I strongly suggest starting with going to a computer- or web-specific subreddit to post this sort of question.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I am an American running a "girls bar" in central
Tokyo. AMA | So I've seen lots of "I *whatever* in Tokyo". I thought you guys may be interested in my story! I have an exclusive "girls bar" in the heart of Tokyo night life.
What's a "girls bar?" What part of Tokyo? How is everyday life?
Ask away!
\*EDIT\*:
Wowza, didn't think I'd get so many responses! Trying my best to answer all the questions!
| 97 | [
{
"body": "Have you ever dipped into your own pot? Shit where you eat? Bite the hand that feeds you? or in other words have sexual relations with one or more of your girls at the same or different time?",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Average yen dropped by a salary-man per visit?\nMinimum you need to spend and still have a good time?\nIs it worth a visit by somebody who doesn't understand a lick of Japanese?\nCan you PM me your bar info as I'm planning to visit Tokyo in may ?",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "So kind of like a \"VIP\" section in a club in the US? Girls all around the booths to keep the men entertained (think toned down strip club + bar)?\n\nOr more of a bar-style scene with girls walking around (think Hooters + bar)?\n\nWhat do you like/dislike? \n\nAny fun/interesting stories that spring to mind?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Have you ever watched [The Great Happiness Space](http://www.thegreathappinessspace.com/)? It's a documentary about essentially your type of club except the hosts are men. I absolutely loved that documentary. \n\nIf you have watched it what are your thoughts on it?\n\n-looking right now for a link to watch it for anybody whose interested... update: I failed.\n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "have any of the guys who come to your bar sweet talked one of your girls enough to take them home? would you even allow that?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Are you looking for any English speaking potential emplyees? I'm going to be in Tokyo for a few months from April so I thought i might ask!",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm a (female) student at an engineering school in America that is going to Japan for a week on a class trip, with 10 students and the professor. We are going to be spending 4 days in Tokyo, and are responsible for our own entertainment.\n\nIs this really expensive? Would you give a fellow redditor and a couple of her friends a discount if they came by to sample this interesting bit of Japanese culture?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Did you read Tokyo Vice? How accurate was his portrayal? Do you work directly or indirectly for the Yakuza? If so which \"group\"? Any fun Yakuza stories?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I have an acquaintance who runs one in Osaka. It's a recent development that technically allow the clubs to stay open later. They're just so-so in my opinion. Although more expensive, I much prefer キャバクラ.\n\nQuestion for the OP sir: what visa are you on?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Have you ever seen \"The Great Happiness Space\"? It is a documentary about male host clubs. I know it's kind of the opposite of what you do, but I was wondering if you had any comments about how it compares to girls bars, and how accurate it is. I've heard that the hosts take home something like $10,000 to $50,000 USD a month, and can earn a few thousand a night. Is that really true? Is that comparable to what girls earn at a girls bar? It just seems like an unreal amount of money people spend just to \"hang out\", when having a real girlfriend would be much much cheaper.\n\nIf you haven't seen it, I'd recommend it.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Is it bad form/creepy/wrong to look up somebody you meet on Facebook or Myspace and bring up things you learn about them in conversation? | We've all been there. You meet a member of the opposite sex, and you two hit it off. You are bored, and decide to see if they're on Facebook or Myspace or something. Their info is just out there, and you look at it and find out some stuff that they're into. A few clicks later you have their AIM and Yahoo and such. Turns out you have some overlap, but you can't possibly have known it without looking it up on these social networking things. You suggest hanging out and enjoying mutual participation in <activity x> and they ask how you knew they liked <activity x>. You mention that you found them on a social networking site, and they look at you like a creep.
In this day and age of social networking and people just putting their info out there, is it creepy to use this information in real life interactions? Am I the only one who has this problem? | 20 | [
{
"body": "Nope, I do this all the time... sometimes I try to find where said member of the oposite sex usually frequents and hang around to get a glimpse of her. I find where she lives so I can sneak into her house and sniff her hair while she sleeps and use her makeup to paint small devotional works of my eternal love on her mirror. I use her personal information to change my eating, sleeping and work habits so I can follow her best. I change my music so I only listen to what she listens to. I set up elaborate situations where I meet her in the most heroic circumstances such as cutting her brake wires while she works so I can rescue her from a burning car. I wouldn't know where her workplace would be without Facebook or Myspace. I also love Twitter for this because I always know where my precious baby is at all moments of the day. So no, it's not creepy whatsoever... and it's not a problem.",
"score": 68
},
{
"body": "It seems the only difference between \"That's creepy!\" and \"That's romantic!\" is the other party's interest in you. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I would probably add them as a friend on Facebook first, that way you know when they've accepted and at that point there is a reasonable expectation that you will read their profile.\n\nThe only time this happened to me, I just joked about how I learned something about her while \"Facebook stalking\" her, and she admitted that she'd done the same, so there was no creepiness on either side.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Nah. If somebody posts anything on one of those sites then it's considered public. People WANT to talk about the things they post. That's why they post to begin with. If they look at you like you're a creep then you're probably just a creep and have other shit to worry about besides what you read online.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I think it's okay if you preface it in a way that acknowledges that you learned the info on whatever social network. Everybody seems to do it. Just don't linger on the topic and it can just be a good way to get the ball rolling. I wouldn't mention what you learn about the person of interest through their pictures because it starts to approach knowledge through voyeurism. That can be downright creepy, even if they may secretly be doing the same to you.\n\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Setting up reddit on fresh install of ubuntu-server 9.10? i'm stuck. Command history shown in below: | Hi redditdev, I just tried to install a local version of reddit on a fresh install ubuntu-server 9.10. As a disclaimer, I'll be honest, as far as linux dev work is concerned, I am a beginner.
I used the guide found at [RedditStartToFinish](http://code.reddit.com/wiki/RedditStartToFinishIntrepid) however I ran into problems so I then used some of SystemicPlural's suggestions found in this redditdev [post](http://www.reddit.com/r/redditdev/comments/ajk0j/problem_with_beautifulsoup_when_setting_reddit_up/)
Right after a fresh install of ubuntu-server 9.10, here is my entire command history:
----------
sudo apt-get install curl gcc gettext git-core libfreetype6 libfreetype6-dev -y
sudo apt-get install libjpeg62 libjpeg62-dev libpng12-0 libpq-dev memcached -y
sudo apt-get install postgresql-8.3 python python-dev python-setuptools subversion -y
git clone http://code.reddit.com/repo/reddit.git
sudo chmod 777 -R ~/reddit
cd reddit
git pull
cd r2
sudo apt-get install libxslt1-dev -y
sudo python setup.py develop --find-links http://www.crummy.com/software/BeautifulSoup/download/3.x/
make
sudo mkdir /usr/local/pgsql
sudo mkdir /usr/local/pgsql/data
sudo chown postgres /usr/local/pgsql/data
sudo passwd postgres
su postgres
cd /home/gadgetsolo/reddit/r2/
/usr/lib/postgresql/8.3/bin/initdb -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
createdb -E utf8 newreddit
createdb -E utf8 changed
createdb -E utf8 email
createdb -E utf8 query_queue
createdb -E utf8 awards
createdb -E utf8 award
createdb -E utf8 authorize
psql newreddit < ../sql/functions.sql
createuser -P ri
paster shell example.ini
----------
After running the last command, I get this error:
sqlalchemy.exc.ProgrammingError: (ProgrammingError) function hot(integer, integer, timestamp with time zone) does not exist
LINE 1: ...idx_hot_reddit_thing_award on reddit_thing_award (hot(ups, d...
HINT: No function matches the given name and argument types. You might need to add explicit type casts.
'create index idx_hot_reddit_thing_award on reddit_thing_award (hot(ups, downs, date), date)' {}
***
If anyone can spot any errors in my command history, I would really appreciate any feedback.
Also, if anyone has a working version of local reddit running on a fresh install of ubuntu 9.10, it would be great if you could share your command history from start to end.
**EDIT1**, Fixed formatting of command history
| 11 | [
{
"body": "Looks like this one wasn't successful:\n\n psql newreddit < ../sql/functions.sql\n\nWhat was its output?",
"score": 6
}
]
|
Starting to grow tomatoes: What variety of heirloom and where should I buy seeds? | I live in West Florida and want to start growing some tomatoes in pots on my balcony. I've been growing some that I bought at a local garden store and have had some fruit, but I find the flavor lacking. Frankly they aren't any better than grocery store tomatoes at $.99/lb.
I want to get some seeds to plant soon but am totally lost as to where to buy them and what variety to plant. I want a flavorful tomato above all.
Thanks for the help. | 14 | [
{
"body": "If you shop at a farmer's market and find an heirloom you like, you could just plant the seeds and see how many plants you can get going from them. Otherwise sites like burpee are easy to navigate and not too expensive (though their shipping rates are wonky).\n\nGetting the seeds from a fresh tomato takes a couple days. You dump the seed-containing goop into a glass, add just a little water, stir, cover with plastic wrap, poke a couple holes in the plastic wrap for air, and sit in a warm place. Daily you stir the mess and re-cover. After a few days, nastiness forms on the top, so you spoon that off and separate the rest with a strainer and rinse. Dry on a piece of wax paper by spreading the seeds thin over the paper. It could take 4 or more days to dry completely. \n\nOnce dry you can store til you're ready to plant.\n\nTomato seeds needn't be rehydrated before planting as long as the soil is kept moist. In case you don't know how to germinate from seed, you need some containers with good potting soil (not just regular dirt b/c it'll compact too tightly), make a hole 2-3 times as deep as the seed is long, and keep everything moist in a warm, sunny place inside. I like to put water in the container the flats sit in and the soil will take the moisture up to the top. Covering the flats with plastic also helps retain moisture at the top of the soil and makes it a bit warmer for them so they germinate faster.\n\nOnce germination occurs (which can take a while), and before they get too big, you have to harden them outside. That means getting them slowly accustomed to harsher outside conditions. Start with a cold frame and give them direct sun for a short while every day, but be wary of too much wind and especially watch out for conditions that are too cold (the cold frame is meant to help with that, but it won't help freezing conditions).\n\nOnce hardened you can transplant them to their final location in your garden as long as it's after final frost for your area. From seed, tomatoes should be started a few weeks before final frost, but once transplanted they grow to full size within two months so if you miss the start date by a few weeks, it's no big deal. I actually planted from a cutting last year and had more tomatoes than I knew what to do with for 3-4 months by the end.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I love Cherokee Purples. They grow well, have a good yield (even this past year with the blight problem) and taste wonderful. They're a beefsteak type, great for salads and hamburgers, and have lots of juice if you're into juicing.\n\nhttp://www.heirloomseeds.com This site has, like, 3 pages of heirloom variety tomatoes. They offer descriptions so you can pick a tomato to suit your tastes/needs. Just a fair warning, you'll want to buy all of them. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I get most of my heirloom seeds from [Baker Creek](http://rareseeds.com/cart/). They have reasonable prices, great variety, and generous portions of seeds per packet, plus customer service that is as good as it gets. They don't advertise it, but every single order I've made from there has (so far) come with a free pack of seeds.\n\nBrandywine, Cherokee Purple, and Kellogg's Breakfast are my favorite heirlooms. The first time I tasted a Brandywine, the flavor was so intense that I thought I was going to drop to one knee.\n\nNot all heirlooms will do well in all places! Brandywine prefers the climate in Ohio and Pennsylvania to the high plains or the deep south. I still get it to grow/produce in Kansas, but it doesn't thrive like it does further north and east.\n\nI keep a list of garden seed companies for my own reference. You may use it if you wish: [Seed Companies](http://compostedlinks.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-seed-companies-to-consider.html) You might see what they have for sale at [Seeds for the South.](http://www.seedsforthesouth.com/)\n\nOh, if you like cherry toms, you should try Sun Gold (F1) hybrid. It is AWESOME. My favorite heirloom cherry is Black Cherry, also awesome.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Ask TechReddit: Are there any 'stealth' IM clients? | I am curious if anyone is aware of any 'stealth' IM clients out there, either in a standalone or as some kind of theme for a client. I IM at work often, usually just to pass the time while something I am working on is processing, however it is generally frowned upon by my direct superiors (despite the fact that it has little to no impact on my productivity). In addition I often use it to work through problems I am facing with others who work in the same field as I do. Ideally, it would be something with an extremely minimal interface that isn't very eye catching so that it wont grab the attention of prying eyes in my office. I use chat within GMail for the time being but it's far from ideal. Any ideas? | 18 | [
{
"body": "Open an ssh connection to a linux server (or use your own box if it's a linux box). Run [bitlbee](http://www.bitlbee.org) on this server and use the [irssi](http://irssi.org) irc client to connect to your bitlbee daemon. I have been using this for about 6 months, and it works very well. It looks just like a random console application (especially to your superiors, if they are not programmers themselves).",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "> despite the fact that it has little to no impact on my productivity\n\nYeah, when you spend much of the day on reddit, a little IMing is really not going to make things that much worse.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Pidgin has an invisible mode that works fairly well. Set the opacity to 0, with a mouseover opacity of 25 or so.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I've used every IM client you can name. Every single one.\n\nHere is the one I settled on: http://miniaim.net/\n\nHasn't been updated in forever. It's a stand alone 63kb .exe file that stores it's settings in a .ini file. When it's open it uses about 5mb of ram. When it's minimized to the systray it uses 862kb of ram. My work comp is slow as hell and I wanted an IM client with no frills, just text, and not something that stands out.\n\nI love it. The interface is just about as minimal as you can possibly get. And theres maybe 500 people on earth that might recognize that icon. Give it a whirl. Just don't forget to go into the options and tell it to save settings in the .ini file or else you'll have to reenter them.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
2XC, I am looking for moderators for /r/rapecounseling | If a subreddit already exists that achieves what /r/rapecounseling intends I apologize and will contribute to that subreddit. Otherwise I felt that Reddit could use a safe *and heavily moderated* place for victims of sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape to seek counseling, advice, sympathy, reassurance, etc.
If you have any advice for the subreddit I welcome it. If you would like to be a moderator let me know. I think that if this subreddit becomes a success we will need a number of moderators.
Edit: I'm glad I have plenty of people willing to help moderate. I will expand on the moderator list as the subreddit grows so I will keep you all in mind. I encourage participation in other ways. If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.
1/14/10 - I am seeking training at my local rape crisis center to assist with this endeavor. It may be a few days before I make visible progress since I am also starting a new job soon (most likely). I will continue to keep all offers of assistance in mind as I continue. Once again, thank you for the support. (I'm kinda stressing out about this to be honest. stereotypewriter is correct about the required seriousness)
1/15/10 - I need to take a mental health day. I can go ahead and say here what I want to see done, do what you can or if you don't I'll get to it Sunday. I want to get the subreddit going with resources and information for people who wish to be rape counselors. I am aware that RAINN offers training in Online Rape Counseling but I am having trouble finding a center near me but their data is inaccurate. I can receive training in phone counseling but I don't know how helpful it would be. Such information could prove beneficial to anyone who may encounter the subreddit and wish to be helpful...or it may prove distracting to posters who are seeking help? Opinions?
PM me if you wish to get in contact with me via e-mail, I'll give you my address.
Okay, I'm stepping away from this for a day. I'm not as stable as I should be right now.
| 33 | [
{
"body": "As someone who has been raped 8 years ago this week and would have been incredibly happy to have had someone -- anyone -- to turn to afterward, I would like to do this very much.\n\nPlease contact me. I will do my best to make the subreddit a good safe space for victims to talk.",
"score": 23
},
{
"body": "Trees I'd be interested in helping with this project any way that I can including moderating. \n\nFeel free to PM me with what is needed. \nI support this idea 1000%. \n",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Wonderful idea! \n\nI have to say, though this is an admirable idea, and I don't mean to discourage you in any way, this is going to be a big job. If there's anything I can do to help, please just say the word.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I sit in front of a computer all day at work, I'd love to be a moderator. I have good sense for this type of thing. Feel free to PM me. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Treees, I think this is a great idea and I would be willing to help in anyway I can. People definitely need a safe place to talk about this. It may seem small, but sometimes just having someone to listen and put things in perspective can be huge in the healing process.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "You should do more than just \"check\" the people you choose. Contact someone for more thorough background research and I would suggest contacting admin for some financial support (in terms of private investigators etc.) because i think this is an invaluable service but at THE VERY LEAST requires an in home and at work interview with potential mods. \n\n\n\n\nYou are dealing with someones very life here. \n\n\n\n\n\nEdit: and no, don't ask me to do it, my plate is as big as a houseboat and it's full. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Treees, I think this is an excellent idea and I applaud you and who ever else is involved for taking the initiative on this. As usual, 2XC has offered excellent advice and if you need my help I'll gladly offer it, though I think you already have fine offers from people with experience both with counselling and Reddit moderation.\n\nI have neither, but if you need extra hands to ban things, I'll be there.\n\nAs to the legal concerns, a lot of websites out there offer helpful direction on the subject while also adding disclaimers. For example, TSRoadmap contains loads of legal discussion but has this disclaimer:\n\n>This is legal talk, not legal advice. Laws vary by state, and some of the information discussed on this page may not be applicable in your case. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information and provide it without warranty. Laws change and this information may contain errors and omissions. It is up to you to confirm any information herein by doing your own research.\n\nIt's been up for years and helped tens of thousands of trans people, despite that. I think you can achieve the same for any potential rape victims/survivors on Reddit. This remains a fine idea.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I don't think I'm up to it right now, emotionally or timewise. I will shoot this at my husband if there is no inherent objection to male counselors and see if he wants to help. He is trained in rape counseling and has been a volunteer victim advocate for SARC at his last three duty stations.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
In your experience, how does drinking alcohol affect body fat? | Hey guys, I'm a woman distance runner. I used to be able to eat/drink anything and remain scrawny, but my metabolism seems to have quit (I'm in my 30's). I also used to be able to cut out carbs for a week and lose 10 lbs easily - no longer. After tweaking my diet relentlessly, I am beginning to think that alcohol is the culprit. I tried cutting out beer and replacing with wine or liquor (low/no carbs) and that didn't work. I'm a scientist and have combed the literature but there doesn't seem to be consensus on how alcohol affects weight and body fat - some studies show weight gain, some show loss when alcohol consumption is increased. Therefore, I am asking for your anecdotal experiences with alcohol when trying to reduce body fat. I run, on average, 7 miles per day, more on weekends. I'd like to lose 10 lbs and get my abs back. I did P90X but it did nothing for me - the cardio was too easy and I didn't gain any definition from the weight part. My arms got bigger, but poofy-looking. Their diet plan does not address alcohol, strangely enough. Anyone have any thoughts? Thanks!
Perhaps relevant: Never had a baby and never will. Drink socially a few times a week. Desk job (ugh). | 18 | [
{
"body": "> After tweaking my diet relentlessly, I am beginning to think that alcohol is the culprit. I tried cutting out beer and replacing with wine or liquor (low/no carbs) and that didn't work. Drink socially a few times a week. Desk job (ugh).\r\n\r\nI would say it depends on your level of drinking. If you are not counting your alcohol cals in your 'tweaking' then you are adding 300 cals with two glasses of wine on top of your already planned food. The type of alcohol does little, although I would say that clear and/or dry alcohols contain less sugar, and would convert less amount to fat. That's also assuming you are drinking it straight. Mixed drinks will double or triple cal count...\r\n\r\nYou say you drink socially a few times a week, but this could be anything from martinis and witty quips (\"So I said I *must* get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini\" *golf claps*) to binging with beer bongs, so it's hard for us to accurately say how many alcohol cals you are taking in.\r\n\r\nTruly add up your booze cals for a week and divide by 3500 and you'll get the number of lbs you have to fight each week just for booze. The bugger of it all may just be that you dont drink much and your metabolism is now slow like the rest of us geezers and you have to eat less and really watch what you eat.\r\n\r\nAs for *my* anecdotal experience. Alcohol is the sole factor in losing weight when I am eating healthy and exercising. Drink it, no loss; Don't drink it, loss...\r\n\r\nEdit: spelling, etc.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": ">I'm a scientist and have combed the literature but there doesn't seem to be consensus on how alcohol affects weight and body fat\n\nSame here. I see nothing but misinformation and pseudo-science. \n\nI can tell you from one of my male friend's personal experience... he is extremely fit and very strong, relatively lean. Probably about 6'0\" at 165 - 170 lbs, not much body fat. He does mostly power building lifting exercises and basketball for cardio. \n\nHe drinks quite often and sometimes this leads to him gaining a little fat around the midsection. To my eye it is practically nothing, but he knows his body best. When he wants to lose that and get his definition back, he abstains from alcohol usually for about a month while doing his regular routine. Then it basically goes away. And he almost always starts up drinking again... it's kind of a cycle for him. I am surprised sometimes that he can hold off for a whole month. \n\n\nI also know a male distance runner, who doesn't look athletic at all due to a big spare tire around his belly, but he can run marathons without a problem. His vice is also drinking a couple of beers quite often. It doesn't seem to negatively affect his performance much, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt for him to lose it.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
TIL that the human eyeball has its own interesting variation on the left-brain/right-brain wiring. | Did anyone else think that the input from your left eye was going to the right brain, and the input from your right eye was going to the left brain?
I guess I thought that would make sense given how many times I have heard that the left brain controls the right side of your body, and vice-versa.
TIL that the right-most halves of BOTH retinas are wired to the RIGHT brain, and the left-most halves of BOTH retinas are wired to the LEFT brain. ([As shown here.](http://i.imgur.com/SxXc0.gif))
So your right-brain is interpreting data from the right sides of both eyes.
Yet, since the visual image of the world is inverted as it enters your eyes, your right-brain is interpreting data from the LEFT side of the world that lies before you.
(I probably was supposed to learn this in grade school, but I never did.) | 11 | [
{
"body": "I find it fascinating that the image projected on the retina is upside down - the eye being like a camera lens. The brain just processes it so everything is the right way up.\n\nApparently, if you look through lenses which flip everything over, after a while the brain will adjust to that and you'll perceive everything the right way up. After doing this it will take time to readjust once you take off the lenses and see the normal upside down image.\n\nMore info:\nhttp://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126901.600-eye-level.html",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "So, if I hold something to the left of my visual area, will I think about it more creatively, and if I hold it to the right of my visual area, will I think about it more concretely? - Hum, I don't know.\n\nThat's interesting stuff, though.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Any recommendations for some excellent Minimal or Microhouse? | I'm a huge fan of Gui Boratto and have been trying to find some similar stuff that isn't awful. So far I've come across Hug and Voodeux who seem pretty decent but a lot of it just doesn't do it for me. Any ideas?
EDIT: Thanks for the recommendations everyone, this is sounding pretty great so far. If it wasn't implied above, I would highly recommend both of these albums to anyone who hasn't heard them:
Gui Boratto - Chromophobia
Hug - Heroes | 7 | [
{
"body": "Do you know [Ricardo Vilalobos](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzxyw_XgMyU)? I'm more into experimental minimal atm, if you're interested check out the label raster-noton",
"score": 3
}
]
|
If you're an atheist, how do you justify repulsion when seeing for example a pregnant woman on the ground being kicked in the stomach? | Different incarnations of that **moronic** question appear in every debate I've seen between atheists and religious people. This specific form of the question appears in the documentary "Collision" which is a series of discussions between Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson.
The answer I've heard most of the time from the atheist side is that it is innate in us as a species, that we're born with it. Hitchens refers to it as "our common moral property". That's a fairly good answer but it doesn't seem to me as being the best one. The reason is that it's usually followed by: "If you say we're good because we have an innate, instinctual sense of morality, how do you pick and choose which instinct to follow? After all, we can agree we also have a violent instinct."
What I'd like to do is to attempt to answer that question differently.
I think our morality comes from years of trial and error. Hitchens has what I believe to be a very good definition for error in this context (I'm paraphrasing) "The society which doesn't follow those basic rules of morality will collapse." Natural selection. I don't understand why I don't see this answer more often.
Opinions?
Edit: I added the word in bold for the people that like to rate the question and not the post. | 22 | [
{
"body": "It's called empathy. It's innate in our species and many other intelligent animals. That feeling inside us is not caused by God anymore than it is caused by magical unicorn pixie dust.",
"score": 44
},
{
"body": "I see a person in some uncommon situation for which I have no cataloged reaction and ask myself \"how would I feel if I were in that person's place?\" And it costs me very little time, thought or effort to reach a vague conclusion about how they feel. How this has anything to do with a divine creator of the universe is beyond me.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "My cat does not believe in God but when I had to remove a thorn from one of my other cats paws and the injured cat yowled and screamed, my other cat came in and swiped at me and bit me then ran off. Same thing. ",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "That's kind of a loaded question. In return, I'd ask them if they'd kill people if they suddenly stopped believing in God. \n\nEmpathy isn't something that comes and goes as you switch or denounce religion(s). I've always thought that the capacity for empathy is something (unlike religion) that you're born with, so how can they be connected?",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Anyone who needs a RELIGION to feel revulsion at seeing a pregnant woman being kicked is a shell, a heartless sociopath. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "It's scary that the only thing keeping these people from committing horrible crimes is their fear of hellfire.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "It can be explained through evolutionary terms.\n\nIn the history of hunter gathering people who lived in communities were more successful as they were better at relying on others as others could rely on them so traits that made people better at being community oriented were bread in and the individuals who lived on their lonesome were less likely to breed and so were bread out. One of the traits that benefitted comunity living was empathy and understanding.\n\nso there we are and its quite simple.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "It doesn't take religion or God to understand that someone crying and screaming is suffering. Ask them, if Atheists don't believe in these common morals, why is it there is no record in history of wars between Atheists?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I am feeling stupid thanks to you guys! | Here's a little bit of my story:
So, I learned of Reddit through the [XKCD about tabbing](http://xkcd.com/477/), lurked a bit and eventually signed up to up- and downvote.
After I while I noticed that a lot of post from this subreddit ranked pretty high and as a Christian, a Seventh-Day Adventist who didn't have a doubt about the existence of God, I found most of the post inaccurate. I mean, a lot of those 'bad things' were done by people, God wouldn't have wanted it like that.
So in the beginning I downvoted a lot, but that is against the Reddiquette so I started hiding them the posts that weren't really informative and upvoted occasionally posts that interested me, because I thought criticism was pretty good. How can you grow in your belief if you don't see other views? So through a few posts I started thinking and came up with answers I was happy with.
But I think it was thanks to you guys that last week I suddenly thought/decided "There is no God". So I started thinking a bit more and I couldn't think why there should be a God.
Well, two days ago I told my sister (my whole family is pretty religious and so she was upset) and started reading "The God Delusion", which is interesting to read. I think I'll tell my parents this week, shouldn't be that hard.
But anyway, as I was thinking again I felt stupid I could believe in something like a God. That was all. I'm 18 at the moment, so it isn't that late luckily.
**Thank you!**
Edit: I have commented on a few comments, but I've read most others. Thanks for all of them and I'll try to make use of all suggestions. Now I only need to make the decision on telling my parents. | 535 | [
{
"body": "Don't rush telling your parents. \n\nRead a few deconversion stories; it can be very difficult for them.",
"score": 290
},
{
"body": "You are welcome.\r\n\r\nPlease watch this video before talking to your parents.\r\n\r\n[Instruction Manual for Life](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAIpRRZvnJg)",
"score": 79
},
{
"body": "Also, you might want to read a general science book (or anything by Carl Sagan), and you'll see how beautiful, wonderful and mysterious our natural world can be without the need for any supernatural intervention!",
"score": 49
},
{
"body": "Welcome to the Club.\n\nWe've got some dead babies on the buffet for your dining pleasure.\n\nRemember to wipe your feet off before entering so you don't track any righteousness inside.\n\n:)",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "While I won't discount the possibility that you are stupid, the fact that you have changed your mind after a review of the evidence casts that conclusion into doubt.\n\nIndoctrination is a powerful thing, and no matter how intelligent a person is it is often difficult to overcome. Regardless of the folks here who believe that religious belief equates to stupidity, it should be noted that there really isn't anything stupid about believing what your parents, friends, teacher's tell you is true when you don't have any reason to doubt them. That you have noticed the inconsistencies and rejected those teachings is a credit to you.",
"score": 24
},
{
"body": "Dude. Don't rush to tell anyone. Read lots. Finish Dawkins. Read Harris. Read Hitchens. Read Dennett. Read Stenger. Read Shermer. \n\nTHEN you can test the waters a little. If you don't get your shit straight, saying \"I don't know\" to the religious will only earn you a trip back to Sunday School. Without measured, reasoned academic stuff to talk about, they're going to think you went off the deep end listening to AC/DC. (you kids get off my lawn) \n\nSeriously, get straight, then come out of the closet. (that didn't come out quite the way I meant it.) ",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "Don't thank us- thank yourself. Our discussions and posts here may have cued your mind, but it was your own thoughts and rationality that lead you to your new conclusions about your beliefs.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "If you like Dawkin's style in \"The God Delusion\", you should read some of his earlier works too. He wasn't always an anti-religion evangelist, his background is as an evolutionary biologist. (Though he has never shied away from his non-religious viewpoint ... that is clear in all of his writing).\n\nSome of his earlier works that have shaped my understanding of evolutionary biology are *The Blind Watchmaker*, *Climbing Mt. Improbable*, and *The Selfish Gene* (In which he introduces the concept of the *meme* which is so popular today). These should all be available at your local library. If not your local public library, than a local university library depending upon where you live...",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Good for you! I know what a personal challenge it can be to admit to yourself (let alone others) that you might have been mistaken about something you believed so fervently. That's a huge hurdle for doubters who take pride in their intelligence.\n\nAs for talking to your folks, you might want to sit on it for a month or so unless you have a very close and open relationship with them. Two reasons: \n\n1) if you ceased believing in God last week, there is some chance that you will begin believing in him again next week, and \n\n2) a lot of new atheists go through an intolerant phase where they take out their hurt and embarrassment on those that still have faith.\n\n Best of luck to you!",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I have a completely unrelated question to anyone willing to answer. I know this is a stupid question but I am new to reddit and have just been wondering this. Why do some submissions have a dot or circle where the number of up votes should be? Is this because it is below zero? Just wondering. Thanks to any who answer.\n\nAlso I believe you(OP) should give yourself more credit. Overcoming a childhood of constant indoctrination can be tough. Having made the step past that shows that you do indeed hold some level of reasoning. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Cool but don't feel like you have to \"come out\" to your family. Just go with the flow. If it comes up it comes up be honest. No one likes shit shoved down ones throat besides not showing all your cards plays to your advantage. Just my unsolicited opinion.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Don't feel stupid, they got to you before you could think for yourself. Hard to fight the effects of indoctrination.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Take your time with it. For a lot of people it's easy, a bit like realizing there's no Easter Bunny and saying it out loud, no big deal. But for others, coming out to friends and family can be quite hard and have strange consequences, especially for those brought up in religious environments. Good luck.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "The suggestions about picking up some science related texts (Sagan most especially) are great... listen to these people!\n\nFor a quick fix, though, I'll give you [this link](http://wimp.com/bigbang/). I posted it to /r/science not too long ago, and it got some upvotes and good comments, one of which was: \"This is the closest I've ever come to having a 'religious' experience,\" and I rather agree. If it has the same effect on you, it'll show you that \"transcendent\" feelings and rushes of emotions are not the exclusive territory of religion... it's just that when it occurs in science and reasoning, it's sheer awe in the face of a beautiful, complex, complicated universe so massive that it boggles the imagination, as opposed to imaginary beings concocted to subdue and annihilate your own growth and self discovery.\n\nEnjoy =)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "There's no need to tell them at all. I mean if they ask, sure, but since they haven't, *what's your motive*? I think that's the main thing to ask yourself first: what are you trying to get out of telling them?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Big congrats.\n\nReddit fixed my waffling on religion as well. Good to have another enlightened one among us.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Don't feel *stupid*, feel mislead. Believing in a Higher Power isn't itself a stupid act-- basing your actions on pleasing the human establishment that claims to *know* what that Higher Power wants is. And unfortunately, that's basically how most religions work. \n\nAny meaningful relationship with \"God,\" whether He's real or not, has everything to do with examining yourself and trying to *actually* be the best person possible. If you hold yourself to the idea that it is, in actuality, incredibly difficult to *really* be a Christian (that is, be as consistent in character and loving in temperament as Jesus) then there is no reason to cast off your former Christianity as \"stupid.\" Just embrace a re-evaluation of what it means to be 'Christian,' and you'll find some real good in the mess of lies and manipulation. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "ohhh i know exactly what you're going through. i was raised SDA also! adventism is certainly a very special brand of insane. keep going in this new direction (away from ellen white and religion altogether) and the quality of your life will dramatically improve. \n\nin my particular situation i find its best not to talk about my beliefs with my mother. if you do want to inform your parents about your new beliefs, don't expect them to react positively. they will most likely try to talk some \"sense\" into you, and when that fails they will pray for your misguided soul. you might end up feeling bad for upsetting them, and annoyed if they decide to harass you. it might be better not to bring it up. \n\nafter all, you're an adult and you're entitled to your own opinions. you do not need your parents to understand or approve of your personal views. you don't need them to validate you.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How do you relate to people with ridiculous beliefs? | I've been told by many people that I'm intolerant of other people's points of view. Maybe "intolerant" isn't the right word -- I'm outright dismissive of their beliefs. Even worse, when someone believes in some bizarre crap, I'm not just dismissive of their stupid point of view -- I tend to dismiss the person as a whole, even knowing that there's a lot more to that person than their silly belief.
I realize that it's important to understand a person's motivations and reasoning in forming their views, even as worthy of dismissal as those views might be. The problem is, I'm having trouble actually relating. I can convincingly argue other points of view if I want, and on occasion, I do. But, in the end, I can't really bring myself to see how anyone could actually believe these things, or even relate to the people who believe them.
This wouldn't be complete without a slight dig at redditors. I see this type of behavior all the time on reddit. Some of the wiser redditors step in with gentle corrections, but some people here seem to think that people with the "wrong" views should be purged from humanity or worse.
So I was wondering, has anyone on reddit faced this problem and dealt with it successfully in their own lives? How did you reach a greater understanding of other people who hold patently absurd beliefs? | 4 | [
{
"body": "Absurdity is relative, my friend. If we're all just people, destined to die and decompose back into the earth, then why does it matter what someone believes?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "there are levels of intolerance:\n\ni think people who are against gay marriage are stupid and intolerant fucks that i can't stand. i am also, clearly intolerant, but i'm not forcing them to get gay married. but they are forcing their views onto gay people. bastards.\n\nmany christians think everyone who doesn't believe what they believe are going to hell. conversely, i think many of them are stupid. i'm just intolerant of their intolerance.\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My philosophy professor once told the class a story that can be somewhat related to this...\r\n\r\n\"In Nazi Germany a Jewish family was preparing the board a train...the wife had a baby in her arms...a guard asked if he could hold the infant. \r\n\r\nupon getting the child he rocked it in his arms, said a few coo's and then proceeded to grab the baby by the ankles and smashed its head open on the railroad track. killing it instantly. the family was then forced onto the train sobbing.\"\r\n\r\nmy professor then said the Nazi was a good man...and the entire class started raging at him. after all, how could a baby killer be a good man?\r\n\r\nhe then proceeds to say \"the nazi knew he would be tossed into a fire pit alive upon arriving at the camp, so rather than burning to death he decided it was best to end its life quickly. given the choice which would you choose for your infant? slow death by burning or fast blow to the head?\" \r\n\r\nwas the Nazi guard a good man? depends...which point of view can you allow yourself to see? \r\n\r\nEdit:\r\nif you can see both points of view of this story then i doubt you have any real problems seeing all sides of an argument...you just dont want to. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Just downloaded Steam! Need some help picking out some games! | So, as the title states, I just downloaded steam onto my fairly new EEE PC 1005ha. I tried to play gary's mod with half-life but it wouldn't load up :( My computer specifications are most likely not good enough. So does anyone have any game suggestions that I could play on my EEE PC? I upgraded to 2GB of RAM and the CPU is a Intel® Atom™ N270 1.60GHz.
| 9 | [
{
"body": "Considering your GPU is the Intel GMA950, you're pretty much screwed for most modern games. But here are some older/less-demanding Steam-based games that you should be able to run:\n\n* Beyond Good and Evil\n* Braid\n* Darwinia\n* Deus Ex\n* Dreamfall: The Longest Journey ([needs tweaking](http://forums.longestjourney.com/showthread.php?t=7129), but will work)\n* Half-Life: Source\n* Indigo Prophecy\n* The Longest Journey\n* Plants vs. Zombies\n* Psychonauts (unsure about this one, but it has a demo, so you can try without buying)\n\nOh, and for future reference, topics like this should probably go in [/r/gaming](http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/). :)",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Yeah, but you probably have a really weak graphics chipset like the GMA950 or something that will struggle to run most modern games. You'll need to stick with older titles. I would start with Knights of the Old Republic.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Torchlight is a fantastic Diablo-esque game (with some or all of the same dev team behind it)\n\nIt's apparently light on requirements, and has an option specifically for netbooks in the settings, so it seems up your alley if that's your kind of game.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Sadly, you just missed the christmas sale where damn nears the whole store went for pennies. That being said, if you like indie games check out Braid, Trine, and World of Goo.\n\nedit: You might get better advice if you asked this under [/r/gaming](http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/).",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Did anyone like Duel? | I'm just so surprised that Steven Spielberg didn't end up on the streets after making that movie. You can see his mastery of suspense blossoming, but the dialogue is horrible and the scenes last twice as long as they should. | 9 | [
{
"body": "FWIW, this was the 70s. Pacing was much slower than it is today in general.\n\nAlso, Duel was a TV movie. It would have been produced quickly and cheaply, and not a lot would have been riding on it. \n\nWhat's remarkable about Duel is that people do remember it and still watch it today, and that it launched Spielberg's career (even though he was still learning his craft). The default would have been for nobody to ever see it after it aired, and the director to maybe keep on cranking out similar forgettable, assembly line TV movies.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Has anyone played with fruit flavors in their brews? | I will be brewing a Blueberry Chocolate Stout next week. It looked interesting, so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Anybody out there try something similar in /r/Homebrewing? | 15 | [
{
"body": "I've got a Apricot Pale Ale (Should turn out sorta like Magic Hat #9, but darker as I added some Munich) in the Secondary right now. \n\nI've also done a Raspberry Wheat that turned out way to Raspberry so I'm waiting for that to mellow out a bit. (It was still a little young when I tried it last)\n\nMy favorite (although not a fruit) odd beer like this that I've done is a jalapeño pale ale. I'll probably play with this a bit and maybe try a raspberry jalapeño in the future.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Using real blueberries in secondary? Freeze and mash them to break the capillaries then add to pot and fill with water just over the berries. Steep them at 150 degrees to sanitize, or boil them, that seems to be a bit of a debate. Then pour the into your secondary and rack over top. Oh, and if you see some fruit floating and don't push it back into the beer, it will mold. Gross, yes, harmful, no. this probably won't happen with mashed blueberries though.\n\nEDIT: depending on your serving method you might want to go to a third fermentation vessel just to clear out some of the berry mess at the bottom.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My experience with blueberries wasn't very good. I didn't cook them so that could have been the issue, but in the end the beer just came out tasting a little bit like red wine. I think I only got the flavor of the tannin in the skin. Maybe it would turn out better if you filter some of the skin out? \n\nAlso, you could consider using a blueberry extract. If I were going to make another blueberry beer I think that's what I would go with. Since you're adding it to a Stout it's unlikely you'll be able to tell the difference between fresh blueberries and extract. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I worked as AmAgician for over a year! | I've been doing magic since I was around seven or eight. I started out working malls/downtown for tips with another magic buddy. Then I got hired by one of those rent-able cafeterias as a service for people. Then I got a gig at a Turkish restaurant downtown. I did a children's show for about 15 kids. On Christmas eve of 2008 I had two private gigs and made $250 for two strolling/table hopping entertainment sessions. Beyond those paid performances, I've hosted lots of private magic parties and demonstrated hundreds of impromptu effects. | 26 | [
{
"body": "HEY WTF?!?! WHAT'S UP WITH THE DOWNVOTES??? WHO'S DOWNVOTING ME??? WHY AM I RECEIVING DOWNVOTES?!?!?\n\nJust kidding; I know it's the bots ;]",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "I have a quick anecdote... I have a fuzzy memory as a small child of being at an amusement park and walking in to a small theater where a magician was performing. The magician had someone laying down hypnotized, i think with the intention of levitating them. He said something like, now I want you to fall into a deep sleep until I count backwards from 3 to 1. Being very young at the time, I got excited and yelled 3... 2... 1...! and the person sits straight up and everyone in the room looks at me.\r\n\r\nThis sort of leads to a question... Have you ever had something in one of your performances go wrong, or completely different from you expected/rehearsed it, and if so, how do you deal with it on stage?\r\n\r\nP.s. [The Prestige](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prestige_(film)) or [The Illusionist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illusionist)",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "* Do you have a favourite illusion/trick by another magician?\n* And are there any tricks that you simply *cannot* replicate, and don't know how they're done?\n* Have you seen [The Prestige](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/)?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "What's your weirdest audience story? Anyone try to upstage you, berate you, call you a heretic, or just not responding?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "how do you feel about Criss Angel and his \"TV magic,\" and basically paying large amounts of people to play along? Do you think he's destroying the art of magic, or creating a new direction for magic?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How's this going to go down? | Who is in charge here? Is there one redditor who's actually dedicating himself to this and working on it fairly regularly? If so, i'd like to volunteer to work with that person to do whatever needs done. If i've learned anything about reddit collaborations, it's that nothing gets done unless some individual takes point, and stays active with working on the idea/posting updates. | 15 | [
{
"body": "I motion to form the position \"CEO of cReddit Union.\" \nDuties will include, periodic state-of-the-cReddit-Union posts, moderating and guiding discussion, managing resources.\n\nFurthermore, I nominate Vorenus to fill this position.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
what scam on the internet or IRL have you fallen for? | The white van selling speakers?
The internet teeth whitening ad?
buying magazines at the door? | 8 | [
{
"body": "This guy was going to front me the money so I could pay the fees to get the inheritance my father, the Sultan of Nigeria, left me. I was even going to cut him in for twenty percent. \n\nHe had me take photos of myself standing in the toilet to prove I was trustworthy and then never even answered the door when I showed up at the industrial estate where he lived.\n\nSome people are downright cruel.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Tried to purchase some pseudo-legal drugs (specifically 4-Acetoxy-DiPT) on the internet. Paid via Western Union. I'm a huge idiot.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Big black guy comes up to me, kinda boxing me in and starts, \"hey man, I need some money for gas, my wife's white and waiting back there, i'll pay ya back real soon, I work for UPS so i'll drop it off.\"\n\nThe fact he mentions his wife was white and \"back over there\", and the twitching I see him doing tells me I'm either being scammed or politely mugged. Being that I only had six bucks on me I decide I'd rather not have a knife pulled on me and fork it over.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I got cornered by some guy in my first week at university saying he had just been kicked out of his house by hist girlfriend and had been living on the street for two days and could he ahve enough for a sandwich. I gave it to him. He tried exactly the same spiel ion me two days later. He was still trying it when I left the town 8 years later. I later discovered that he actually did have a house, and all the money he got was spent on cheap cider. \n\nI occasionally buy a sandwich or bus ticket for a someone who says they are needy but I won't give em moiney any more. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I was actually SAVED from from the White Van Speaker Scam because of the Internet. I was sitting at a stop light when a white van pulls up next to me. The guy in the passenger seat was waving at me wildly to roll down my window. I actually thought to myself \"maybe he's selling speakers.\"\n\nJust to be friendly I complied and rolled down the window. Maybe he needed directions for all I knew. The first thing out of his mouth was \"Dude! You wanna buy some speakers?\" I told him \"no\", rolled up my window again and drove off when the light changed. The funniest part was that he kept trying to talk to me even though my window was closed.\n\nHopefully I wouldn't have bought them anyway; I'm generally suspicious of anyone selling things from a van, but you never know.\n\ntl;dr Because I heard about the white van speaker scam on the Internet I didn't buy any.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Dear /r/wow, does anyone else cringe when they jump in the new dungeon tool and discover that their tank is going to be a deathknight? I have statistics to validate our feelings. | Ok. I have been meaning to post this for over a week. However I wanted to give it another week of dungeons before I jump to my conclusions. So I decided to tally up what happens when a deathknight is a tank in the dungeon... here is what I found.
Number of Dungeon Runs made in the past week: 32
Number of Successful Dungeon Runs: 23
Number of Unsuccessful Dungeon Runs: 9
Tanking Ratio:
Dungeons run with a Paladin: 10
Dungeons run with a Druid: 6
Dungeons run with a Warrior: 8
Dungeons run with a Deathknight: 8
Of the nine dungeon runs that did not succeed, 7 of them were with a Deathknight. That means of the 8 deathknights I ran a dungeon with only 1 was able to do his job successfully.
So thats the figures... that is what the math shows. Now I play a holy priest and am very good at my role. I promise you that. This also means that I have to watch what is going on at all times and keep my head in the game constantly... no slacking here. Here is what I have noticed.
Deathknights are horrible tanks for a number of reasons:
1) They blitz the instance, not allowing people to drink for mana.
2) They consistantly fail to hold aggro.
3) They are always geared for dps, never for tanking.
4) They generally have no regard for anyone else in the instance.
Also, I think my major theory is that the majority of people that play deathknights are just absolute noobs. They by and far have no idea how to play the class let alone play in a party in a dungeon...
So those are the numbers, in short, Deathknights suck at tanking. If anyone has a really good Deathknight tank, my hat is off to you. But from now on, when I use the dungeon tool, if I see that the tank is a deathknight, I instantly leave party and requeue. As a healer, it is just not worth my time. | 5 | [
{
"body": "I have to disagree here, to be honest.\n\nIt's not the DK class, it's the player.\n\nI'll admit that the class can often attract idiots, but as advocatadiaboli has said, I've seen just as many warriors, druids or paladins that just plain fail at tanking.\n\nThe fact that they are geared in DPS kit, their lack of consideration for other players in the group and failing to hold aggro, shows that it's the player and not the class.\n\nDeathknights don't suck at tanking - mine does quite well, and I've never really had any complaints. It's the player controlling the DK.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": ">They by and far have no idea how to play the class\n\nI think this is a failing of the entire \"hero class\" concept. I started a DK to do the intro storyline (which is fantastic) but never took him anywhere because I was so overwhelmed with all the different spells. \n\nWhen you level 1-80, you start with two or three spells, and you gradually put in new ones. So you have time to figure out how each spell works one at a time. With DKs, they just pick whatever works best for pwning mobs and never really explore the other ones; specifically, which ones to use for tanking.\n\nWhat I think is happening is DKs are frustrated because they just want to run an instance, but getting in as a DPS slot takes like 15 minutes, where a tank slot is instant. If you could check that tank box and get an instant group, would you, even if you didn't have the gear for it? \"Tanking can't be that hard, my guild's tank is an idiot, I'm sure I can figure it out.\"",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Sorry bud, but those aren't really 'facts'. This is anecdotal evidence.\n\nI run a DK, and I've put all my badges towards tanking gear. Do I have DPS gear? Sure. When I want to just run an instance and not have to think, I'll go in as DPS. However, when I tank, I wear T9 gear with some T10 pieces and we never wipe.\n\nI'm sorry you've had bad experiences with some players that don't know how to class, but I've spent time and effort to gear and learn my rotations for maximum single and multi-target effectiveness.\n\nThere are good and bad players throughout the game. I've never been kicked based on my class, and people have never bitched about me. I wait for players to drink and am patient (I play a high level Priest [healer], Mage and Pally). Don't lump us all in there with the handful of bad apples you've played with and call that 'facts'.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I've rolled a dual specced priest, shadow / holy. I'm currently lev 71. I do cringe when I have to heal a dk tank. I've successfully done so on numerous occasions but for the most part, my experinces have been enlightening. Most DK's either simply suck or, giving the benefit of the doubt, have not really learned how to tank their character yet. 90 percent of all DK tanks that I've been responsible to heal simply take MASSIVE more burst damage than a prot war / pally.\n\nWhen I'm healing a DK tank I will not bitch at all. I'll usually give us one wipe, because I'm a nice guy, after the second, I simply disappear.\n\nI've read an article (cant remember where) that for a DK to be a tank there needs to exists 3 things... something like frost presence and two other damage mitigating talents.. if anyone could enlighten me further I would appreciate it. I need to start tracking those things so I know weather I should even consider wasting my time. knowign what to look for will help identify weather the dk has learned, yet, how to tank and give me the opportunity to educate.\n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "meh...it's not the class, it's the person who is playing that class. I have run across horrible tanks of all flavors. And usually the worse the tank is the worse their attitude is, which makes no sense to me at all. \r\n\r\npugs are fun!",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Openprinter: feature request I | Which features would be most important in a printer? Which would make you want to buy it? Which must be present before you consider buying it? | 9 | [
{
"body": "My personal very short term goal for this project is to produce high quality black and white printouts using non proprietary ink or toner. If this project goes on using the continuous ink delivery system detailed in earlier threads, I would like to see an open \"recipe\" for the ink being readily available. Similarly, if the printer uses cartridges, I would like them to be refillable by the end user and easy to clean and service.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Laser printer, because:\n-long shelf life. Inkjet printers can clog if you don't use them regularly, and I can go months without having to print anything.\n-longer cartridge duration\n-print paper doesn't look/feel saturated.\n\nNetwork-capable:\n-I hate having to have data cables these days. I'd rather share the printer with everyone on the network.\n-Awesome to be able to browse the print queue via HTTP and see how long until my document prints, cancel it, etc.\n-Logging capabilities, maybe? Some companies \"need\" that sort of thing.\n-Takes standard memory/storage expansions. Preferably something new enough to not be expensive.\n-Upgradeable network/wifi would be nice to future-proof the device, but hard to manage. Maybe MiniPCI-Express?\n-Management for the built-in fonts.\n-If it has an LCD display, being able to set the text is a plus. If it doesn't, having a basic notification daemon would be nice, so we can hook up our own things to it.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Openprinter: Day 2 announcements | The openprinter project: day 2
First, thanks to everyone who read my initial ramblings yesterday and volunteered.
Secondly, there's a [wiki](http://openprinter.wikia.com/wiki/Openprinter_Wiki) that I set up yesterday, by the suggestions of [plaes](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0insw9), [retroafroman](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0inxe9)
If anyone finds it difficult to access or edit, please let me know.
Thirdly, I've made some interim position announcements as follows:
[observant_servant](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0io7wi) identified as a mechanical engineer and [ahgl](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0ioasm) as an electrical engineer. Based solely upon a few hours' seniority, they've been named first and second interim hardware lead, respectively. [telepunk](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0iocgg) also identified as a ME. I'll let the acting hardware leads designate an title for TelePunk5. I almost forgot: [flatulentgoose](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0ioua9?context=3) has been working on a RepRap 3d printer. Let's tap into his expertise as well.
[Calvin_the_Bold](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0inrwd) is a CS major. He's interim software lead.
Next, we need always to keep the legal aspects in mind. This needs to be an open-source project, and also needs to be accomplished without infringing on patents. [Inkjets have been on the market since the late '80s, and lasers since the early '90s,](http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcomputer_printers.htm) so the basic principles for both should be outside of the patented & protected realm, if the 17-year patent age limit is still the guideline (IANAL, etc). Additionally, SCC, a [manufacturer of after market print cartridge parts,](http://www.eff.org/cases/lexmark-v-static-control-case-archive) successfully defended, on appeal, against Lexmark's infringement allegations. Yes, [EFF](http://www.eff.org/) helped, and I imagine we'll need their help as we succeed, so please donate what you can to them.
Finally, [AsahiCat](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0iohas) has offered his services as a male ballerina and lingerie salesman. I welcome his talents, and I'm sure they'll come in handy. I just havent'a clue how - yet.
Moving on to goals for the next week:
A. We need to hammer out a list of features we'd require for ourselves and for others. This won't be a final, but a temporary framework that we'll flesh out. Please start this in the [feature-request](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/ap4ra/openprinter_feature_request_i/) thread.
Printing seems to be an essential requirement.
Connectivity to multiple OS platforms is important. IMO, this seems to be most reliably attainable with an integrated print server. This isn't essential, however; another suggested approach is making the printer as low-level as possible. [Here's](http://www.reddit.com/r/openprinter_announce/comments/aotep/announcing_the_openprinter_project/c0inrww) an interesting discussion on our choices.
These are two, and there are more features. If you see your feature, vote for it. If you don't see your favorite features in the feature-request thread, add it. This poll will be taken several more times within the next two months.
B. There are already discussions about technologies (Arduino, Intel Atom, and Postscript were mentioned.) Another open question is whether a dot-matrix, laser, or inkjet ought to be first. Feel free to make your threads here, make your case, and engage the hardware and software leads.
I don't want to get married to any particular technology, protocol, vendor, or personal fiefdom of any type. let the best technology decisions be made. | 21 | [
{
"body": "I am also in the process of building a RepRap. That is a great project. I'm not too sure yet what would translate over to a traditional printer, but I'm sure flatulentgoose knows well more than I do about that.\n\nOne question though; have we settled on one particular subreddit, or are we using the many that were identified in the previous thread?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Any Paranoia players/FCs here? I'd like to hear your most fond memory of play. | I'm coming up with a little mission series for some players and thought that perhaps I could draw some inspiration from your experiences. | 10 | [
{
"body": "Ah, can't beat the old R&D magic. Sent my players into outdoors sector for weapons testing. The good ol' Thermonuclear hand grenade. You can throw it 100 yards, blast radius: 2 miles.\n\nWell, it made *me* laugh.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'll lead off even. \n\nI had one player who jumped on a grenade while everyone else ran from the room. She was a matter eater, and was able to consume the grenade before it went off. Everyone else was quite confused when they didn't hear a boom and when they came back in the matter eater was relaxing as if nothing had happened.\n\nAnother player had the mutant power of puppet master and caused the team leader to punch himself repeatedly in the groin when the lights went out on a transbot. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "My favorite moment in Paranoia was actually one of those flavor text moments the GM had come up with. My group (we had ultraviolet access) were walking through a hall that was bisected by a red hallway. Everyone waited as a red made his way backwards down the hall, painting it ultraviolet as he went. It wasn't until one of our teammates spoke up that we realized that about 80 or so feet down the hall, the hall this red was walking down dead ended in a little alcove, trapping the red there. He was still trapped in that dead end when we got back 2 days later.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "In the first game I played, the Computer (aka the GM/DM) gave us an experimental weapon: a slug thrower (aka a gun). When you pulled the trigger, it locked on to a target, and shot it -- but the shooter couldn't pick who was targeted, it was just random. So in order to figure out who got shot, the Computer had us do a silent auction of perversity points (sort of like XP, except you get it for doing stuff that's amusing, and you spend it on stuff to amuse you). Whoever won got to pick who got shot.\n\nThe second game, I ran. That game included: my girlfriend, my sister, one of my sister's friends, my friend, and his brother. My friend's brother was a stupid obnoxious idiot, and therefore got killed, a lot. My girlfriend spent perversity points so that every one of his clones mutated him slightly closer to being a jackass -- by clone 7 we was brown, had donkey ears, a tale, and could only make jack ass noises (which wasn't much of a change from his normal play).",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How do I teach my cat to stay away from one particular piece of furniture? | So, my house is a dump, but I have a couple of things that are actually kind of nice (given to me as gifts). I love my cat, but I can't allow her to damage the only things I have that are worth something. Has anyone had success training a cat to stay away from a particular object or area? It would be best to know a preventative method, so I can keep her away before it's too late. Thanks!
Edit - Thanks for the tips! My furniture is leather, so I can't use tape, but there's a lot of great info here for the future! | 3 | [
{
"body": "Somewhere there is a cat reddit, and there is a post \"How to I teach my human to let me sit on my favorite chair\".",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "keep a squirt gun handy. every time the little guy goes near it, blast it! it wont hurt it but after a few times the cat should get the message",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Tin Foil.. My wife wants to keep our cats off of a certain sofa so she puts tin foil on it. The only draw back is there's tin foil on your sofa. You don't have to wrap the whole thing in it just put down a strip on the seat and the back. The cat's don't like to walk on it. \n\nThere is also a liquid spray but it keeps us away as well because it smells horrible.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I would put black pepper on it (dry or mix with water and spray on the furniture). It will make kitty sneeze and run off. Kitty is healthy and un-traumatized and it won't leave any marks on your good furniture.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I love Star Wars too but this is just stupid... | Just go to Home depot & buy a garden tool handle (i.e. stick) for $3.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/warfare/c7a0/ | 8 | [
{
"body": "well most of the toy lightsabers either have telescoping plastic blades or tubes with electroluminescent strips inside of them, the telescoping blades dont look right, and the EL tubes are too fragile to fight with.\n\nThis would be pretty cool if you painted it with flourescent blue/red paint and used it under a black light",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Some people don't happen to have a lathe lying around the house. $25 for some decent craftsmanship and a toy that is cooler and more durable than the plastic toy'sr'us version? Sign me up. \n\nJust because we can make snowshoes out of sneakers and duct tape bought from home depot doesn't mean we *should* -- OK Grandma? *Most embarrassing snow trip ever.*\n\n\n\n",
"score": 6
}
]
|
Kegel exercises for guys: do they work? | So kegel exercises for guys are supposed to increase their longevity, and the "power" of ejaculation. Can't say I'm fussed about the latter, but when it comes to longevity, does it work? And how long does it take to make a significant difference? | 27 | [
{
"body": "Locate the muscles by stopping the flow of urine several times while urinating. The muscles you sqeeze to accomplish this are the ones on which you will concentrate. If you do a correct Kegel while not urinating, you will notice your penis move slightly. Kegel’s done when you have an erection will cause your penis to move up and down.\n\t1.\tBegin the exercise program by squeezing and relaxing the muscles 15 times, twice daily. Do not hold the contraction at this stage. (These are called ‘short Kegels’).\n\t2.\tGradually increase the number of Kegels until you can comfortably do 60 at a time twice daily.\n\t3.\tNow practice ‘long Kegels’ by holding each contraction for a count of 3.\n\t4.\tCombine the short and long Kegels in each daily exercise routine, doing a set of 60 of each, once or twice a day.\n\t5.\tContinue with the Kegel exercises for at least several weeks. You may not notice results until a month or more has passed. By this time the exercises will probably have become automatic, requiring no particular effort.\n
^\nstole that from somewhere, don't remember quite where, I'm a little intoxicated. Yes they work.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I can completely express the significance that the exercises can make on ejaculation power/force/trajectory. It also increased my volume, and overall physical pleasure of ejaculation. As far as longevity is concerned, I think it is a mixed bag. I have lasted an extended time, but that is mainly because by doing the exercises regularly, I was able to really identify the muscles surrounding an erection and my impending orgasm. Knowing that, I can relax and not tense up whilst having sex. THAT is what leads to longevity, and a VERY happy lady-friend.\n\n\nEdit: \nForgot to say how to do them. Basically, it's all about control of the urine flow. Try in the midst of using the restroom and stop flow, and release a few times. As you get better control, try a gradual decrease and then increase of flow (That is especially hard). Once you've got yourself a bit of control, when in the act (or practicing on your own) tense up and release those muscles to vary the point of no return. Good Luck!",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Did you know that according to this website, a Pop Tart is considered a 'Fit Pick'? | edit: I thought it would submit my link and my text, but apparently you can only do one or the other. Here is the website:
http://www.fitpick.org/about.php
I work in a warehouse that also houses a vending company, and they had a pamphlet in their breakroom today about 'foods that conform to Fit Pick guidelines'.
Pop Tarts are on the list, along with lots of other really, really bad foods. While this might sound ridiculous to many people, these vending companies, WITH government approval, are putting stickers from this Fit Pick site/organization that say these foods are healthy choices.
you could argue that parents should be teaching their kids that these foods are not healthy, but why are we then spending tax dollars to have government workers decide that POP TARTS are now healthy, and why do I , as a parent, have to work that much harder to explain to my kids that these foods are not healthy, even though health organizations and a list of doctors, hired by our govt, all say, impossibly, that they are healthy?
edit: the important thing here is that the guidelines state that a food can have up to 35% fat, and 35% of *its weight* can come from sugar. I am betting this means more than 35% of its calories come from sugar... | 6 | [
{
"body": "No government workers were paid in the making of this program. \"Fit Pick™ was developed by the National Automatic Merchandising Association.\" It's a marketing tool to promote vending machine products, and Pop-tarts are easy to sell in vending machines. Just because it's a \"national program\" doesn't mean it's a government program, and \"uses government guidelines\" is a cynical claim that actually says nothing.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
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