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I just got in my first car accident a couple hours ago. I want to hear your best and worst car accident stories. | It was my fault. I thought I was in a turn lane, I was not. I crashed into another car. Everyone was really nice and it worked out pretty well, which I am extremely grateful for. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to hear every way that it could have gone worse. What are your stories reddit? | 15 | [
{
"body": "Mine isn't very interesting. I was just driving around the mall parking lot at night. Some jackasses in a van thought it would be fun to chase me in their van.\n\nLong story short, I get up to 88 miles per hour, travel through time, find myself on a pine farm, hit a pine, hit a scarecrow, then crashed into a barn.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "so i was 19 and driving a beater of a 1994 pontiac sunbird. \n\ni had bad brakes. a shaky bumper from a previous wreck involving beer and valium. no insurance. expired registration. expired inspection. yeeeeeah... i shouldn't have been on the road.\n\ni was driving along one rainy day in the far left lane of a 4 lane highway with only a thick white line separating me and the HOV lane.\n\nbecause of the bad brakes, i left *plenty* of room between myself and the car ahead of me. or so i thought...\n\nsomething grabbed my attention for longer-than-usual off to my right. by the time i turned back (maybe a second and a half), i saw the car in front of me with its rear-end up and brake-lights illuminated. i knew i didn't have enough time to stop. \n\nsplit second decision time. i check my driver side-view mirror. there's a big dually truck coming up the HOV lane. swerve into that lane and get rear-ended or slam on my brakes and hope for the best?\n\ni slammed on my brakes.\n\n*sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide* ****CRASH****\n\ni hit the car in front of me pretty damn hard. i was okay. \n\ni sat the for a second trying to figure out what i was going to say. i mean, it was completely my fault. i knew i was screwed. my car was getting towed and i was going to jail. fuck my life.\n\ni get out of the car and start walking forward to see the damage.\n\n\"FUCK\" i thought to myself.\n\nit was a cadillac. a really expensive looking cadillac. a really expensive looking cadillac with paper plates. \n\nthe lady got out of her car, ran to the back, looked at the damage (which had to be $1000-2000 worth easy) then glared at me. she instantly started to shake, clenched her fists, and screamed at me with all she was worth, \"YOU MOTHER FUCKING SON OF A BIIIITCH!\"\n\nthen she got in her car and drove away.\n\ngreatest accident EVER.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "First and only (knocks on wood) accident.\n\nDriving on a major street and merging into the left-turn lane. \n\nA lady infront is dangerously attempting to make five lane changes in a very slow manner, causing all cars behind to brake heavily and beep.\n\nI didn't think she'd go in front of me because I'm going the speed limit and going to pass her. Instead of waiting for me to pass, she darts in front. I beep, swerve, clipping her bumper. \n\nI confront her. She says I was speeding. I was telling her she was making dangerous lane changes (as in, not looking whether or not it was safe) and should've waited for me to pass before attempting to get into my lane. She wants me to pay for scratches on her car, even though they appear on the opposite side of where I clipped the car. \n\nWell, being well versed in Adobe Illustrator, I drew technical drawings of the incident. I detail everything... the intersection, the cars in front of me, the cars to the side of me, the number of lanes... basically the whole scene from a few seconds before to a few seconds after the incident. Granted, it wasn't as perfect as a recreation based on video taped evidence, but I made sure to do it right after it happened so that it was fresh in my mind.\n\nI also made sure to photograph her car, so that she can't damage it even further and claim additional damage.\n\nI fax the illustrations to my insurance company.\n\nA day later, one of the reps phones me, and says, \"I just want to say, these are the best accident diagrams I have ever seen from a client of ours. We don't find you at fault.\"\n\n",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Okay, I've told this one before, but here we go:\n\n**Rallying in Kielder**\n\nOkay, Kielder Forrest is a massive forest on the border of Scotland and England, the biggest forest in England, and one of the biggest in Europe. Covering a massive 200 square miles, it’s not a great place\nto get lost. However, it is a very beautiful area, and there is a reservoir, Kielder Water, there too.\n\nSo anyway, one day, I’m bored, and I phone my mate and say, “Wanna go to Kielder?” \n\nNow, Kielder is a good hour away from where I live, and that’s putting pedal to the metal. Why I decided to go there, I do not know. But, my mate agreed, we jumped into the car, and literally sped off.\n\nSo an hour later, we arrive in Kielder, and I find this forestry track, with a clear sign on it “Forestry Commission Vehicles Only”. Did I have a Forestry Commission Vehicle? No. Did I go on it? Of course.\n\nSo off I drive, on this windy, gravely track. Bear in mind, people, that this year the Pirelli International Rally had 115 miles of racing in Kielder Forest – that’s the kind of terrain we’re talking about here.\n\nSo anyway, I’m taking a leisurely drive. Parts of the track are wet and muddy, and it’s brilliant. I gain confidence, and speed up. After half an hour, I’m back where I started. And man, had I enjoyed it.\n\nNow, the point that I started at had a cattle grid and a gate. So I said to my mate, “How about we do a timed circuit?”\n\nSo I got out my stopwatch, reset my odometer, and floored it. Naturally, there was a certain amount of wheelspinning, but then we were off, careening along this winding track like a bat out of hell. It was awesome. Down dips in fifth gear, up hills in second, round hairpin bends with the handbrake yanked fully up, fishtailing out onto straights. Everything was going well. And then disaster struck.\n\nWe had been driving for six minutes, and had covered 6.2 miles, when I was doing about 30mph down a straight stretch. There was a slight bend in the road, and I hit the brakes. Worse thing to do on gravel.\nThe car slid to the left. I yanked the wheel to the right – too much. The car veered to the right. I panicked, and yanked the wheel left. We headed to the grass verge. Again, I panicked, and yanked the\nwheel to the right – far too hard. We left the track, and the car slid into an embankment, and stopped with back breaking suddenness. We were at a 45 degree angle, stuck in a V shaped ditch. I looked out\nof my window, and all I could see was grass compressed against the window. We sat in the car, and I turned the ignition off. I calmed down, and turned the ignition back on, confident that I could get out of this mess. I put it in reverse, and floored it. The wheels just span in the wet grass. The speedo went up to fifty, but the car didn’t budge. My mate told me there was nothing I could do. So, reluctantly, I got out of the car.\n\nWe were in the middle of nowhere, and now we didn’t have a car. It was cold, and was about three o’clock. There was no signal on my phone. We started walking. Finally, I got a signal, and called the\npolice. I told them that I had crashed my car, and we were on a dirt track, and the nearest tourist point that I could remember. \n\nUnfortunately, I got the tourist point wrong – there was no such place. For four hours we walked, and by the time we got back to our starting point, it was dark. Yes, it had taken us four hours to walk the distance that we had driven in six minutes!\n\nThe police found us at the side of the road, and cancelled the helicopter that was about to take off searching for us.\n\nI explained that I had got lost, and had swerved to hit a deer and that’s how the car got where it was – I was sure I was going to lose my license!\n\nThe police radioed the Forestry Commission, and we all went looking for my car. Fortunately, I could remember where I had ‘parked’ it, and kept telling the police, “It only took us about five minutes to get there.” I wish I had kept my mouth shut, though, because it took us twenty minutes to get there in the police jeep.\n\nThe Forestry Commission managed to pull the car, with a struggle, from the ditch, and, amazingly, there was no damage bar a broken back window. Even the wing mirror was intact!\n\nBut there was a problem. In all the confusion earlier, I had left the doors unlocked when I left it. And, get this, someone had actually come along, found my car, opened the door, opened the bonnet, and stolen the car battery! So the car was still going nowhere.\n\nThe police took me to a train station, where I got the train home. The next day, I went out and bought a battery, and went back up to Kielder, fitted the battery to my car, and drove it home.\n\nThe tracking needed re-aligning, but apart from that, the car was running fine.\n\nSo, there you go. My adventures rallying, albeit not officially, in Kielder. Would I do it again? OF COURSE!!!!\n\nTL;DR - Nah, read it, it's a good story!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Whenever I think of my first two years of driving I'm pretty sure they should raise the age at which one gets a driver's license. Wreck 1: Swerve to avoid dumb woman who pulls out in front of me. Go into ditch. Hit mailbox. Go airborne. Tear up civic. Get civic fixed. Wreck 2: 16 yr old bicyclist on tiny bike runs red light at blind corner. Swerve to avoid him. Hit him anyway. Hit curb. Go airborne. End up in bank parking lot. Tear up civic. Get civic fixed. Wreck 3: Ex-boyfriend (even at the time of the accident) is driving on a wet road at night. I say, \"slow down, this curve is a beast.\" He laughs. We slide off the side of the road into a ditch. He destroys his car for the 4th or 5th time in 2 years. Wreck 4: Riding with friend in town. Stopped to turn left. Sweet old lady rearends us. No damage to either car. She's too shaken up to drive. I drive her big old lincoln home. She gives us cookies and tea. It's awesome. So...moral of the story...if you let old ladies hit you...you get cookies.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "This didn't happen to me but someone I went to high school with. She was on a road trip with some friends and they were driving through Texas on I-10. My friend's friend was driving, her boyfriend was in the passenger seat, the driver's baby was in a car seat in the back, and my friend was asleep in backseat (no seat belt). She wakes up on the road to a cop putting a sheet over her as if she is dead. She thinks at this point that she must be dead because she can't feel anything. This goes on for a minute (she's in serious shock from injuries) until she realizes that she's breathing and that dead people don't breathe. She had to scream with a broken jaw and ribs that she wasn't dead, over and over and louder and louder until someone finally heard her. She was airlifted to a hospital in critical condition where she stayed for almost a month. The cop felt so bad he drove 6 hours to visit her. He said that he had never seen anyone even close to her condition be alive and it didn't even occur to him to check her pulse. I guess it gave him nightmares. The girl driving died at the scene, the boy in the passenger seat was airlifted, also in critical condition, to another hospital and the baby was the only passenger unscathed.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Dumbass teen driving a large van with an expired license and his parents *in the car* drives into our lane (no we weren't on the freeway) and completely crushes our minivan. I was seven. Back then I didn't wear a shoulder belt because it annoyed me. Because of this, all of the force of the collision wen't straight to my stomach, and I tore a hole in my intestine. I also broke my jaw by slamming into the seat ahead of me. My sister also broke her jaw, although this was due to a face-clipboard collision for her.\n\nI was reading when we were hit and was completely oblivious to all of this (I was told about it later). I just remember a screeching noise, then suddenly I blanked out for a second. I was dazed for a moment afterward, and then I realized that blood was flowing from my mouth in copious amounts. This all happened in slow motion, and it took me about 5 seconds to feel the pain. Imagine having hundreds of bricks shot into your stomach simultaneously. I remember either being pulled or getting out of the car and laying on the sidewalk, then being loaded onto a stretcher and placed in the ambulance. It was 20 minutes of hell.\n\nI received surgery during my first night in the hospital, and I recovered in the hospital for a week. I then stayed at home for a week to recover, and made it back to school just in time to see the first snow day my town had seen in at least a decade and my birthday.\n\nDespite the horror of the experience, I've never regretted it. No, not because of some life lesson. My mom felt so bad for me that she finally gave into my brother's and my cries for a gamecube, something she said we would never have as long as we lived with her. The week off at home was a Super Smash Bros gleefest. Of course this meant that game consoles were no longer off limits, so it wasn't long before we got an xbox and I discovered Halo. Anyway, I'm kind of rambling now, but that's my story. I'm 15 now by the way.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Okay, this time it's 1993 alright? I'm a dumbass 20yr old still living in Hawaii but it's cool because I've got this beat to shit 1981 Honda Hawk motorcycle to get around on. Seriously, this bike looked like a lawnmower that had been eaten by a gopher, vomited back up, and then had handlebars added. But hell, it ran fine and got me where I wanted to go. One fine morning (around 4am) I'm driving home from a booty call and it starts to rain out of nowhere. We're not talking a little drizzle or even a heavy downpour. I'm talking a rain of biblical proportions like God was personally trying to make me gargle with a firehose.\n\n\nSo, visibility is shit. I'm zipping past Aloha Stadium towards Ice Palace (no shit, an ice skating rink in Hawaii) to where I can get my ass on the freeway and I see that there's this crappy yellow Datsun going to make a left up ahead of me. You know how they say if you ride a bike you should assume you're invisible and drive defensively? Fuck that. I ride like I'm painted day-glo orange wearing a gigantic Spongebob bobblehead and there's a million dollar prize for anyone who can hit me. I am the ultimate paranoid biker. Now, being that I was basking in the booty call afterglow, I was off my game. I didn't notice fast enough that homeslice was going to make that left and collect the prize. Because it was so wet there was no way I could stand on the brakes and stop in time without dumping it and going underneath said yellow Datsun so as time slowed down I braced myself to take the hit. I believe my exact words were \"Fuck.\"\n\n\nThump. He plows into me broadside and I get popped up into the air like a champagne cork. I distinctly remember to this day what I saw as I flew over the hood: A large Samoan man with his O face. I think he may have pooped a little.\n\n\nSo I'm doing my best Superman impression and hit the ground like I'm sliding for home face-first. Luckily, because of the rain I hydroplaned for a while before I thought maybe I should try turning over on my back because my hands were starting to feel like ground hamburger. I manage to do so (still moving at Mach 3 down the street sans vehicle) and eventually came to stop when I hit the curb. My piece of shit rocket of doom landed **between my legs** on its front wheel, bounced up and over, and landed behind me on the sidewalk. That could have gotten ugly.\n\n\nAdrenaline pumping I immediately jump up, rip off my helmet and jacket and am feverishly taking inventory of my body with my hands moving all over me. It was like a retarded Modern Dance interpretation of A Chorus Line. I've just started to decide that I may be all in one piece after all and breathing a sigh of relief when my left leg politely taps me on the shoulder and informs me, \"Hey fucktard, you are standing on me. I am broken. That is not cool.\"\n\n\nI collapse and start to moan in pain. That shit **hurt**. By this time, the large Samoan guy has come over and pulled off his shirt to cover me up. He was freaking out and trying to be nice so I figured telling him to put his shirt back on because he resembled Jabba the Hut would be bad form. Someone else must have called the ambulance. While we're waiting there, soaking wet, I start to go into shock. People react oddly when in shock. In my case, I apparently think I'm doing a comedy show. \n\n\nI asked the Samoan guy his name.\n\n\n\"Eddie,\" he replied.\n\nI stuck out my hand and said, \"Eddie, it's always a pleasure to run into new people\" and started giggling. It was at this point he got **really** scared and probably thought I was going to die.\n\n\nThe ambulance arrived and as they are strapping me to the board I ask how much this ride is gonna cost me. They're not sure, maybe $300-400 or so. I demand to be put down and insist I will just meet them there, it's only a mile away. I think I offered to race them but it gets fuzzy at that point because they gave me something. Probably to stop the bad jokes.\n\n\nIn the end, I spent a month with a cast. I was very very lucky. My wonderful rocket of doom's frame was bent into the letter C and had to be put down. I miss that bike. I never did get together again with the booty call that caused it all.\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What are the ugliest countries? | Every time someone says they've visited a country, it's almost always followed by "one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen". It seems to me that it's just the earth in general that is beautiful. Even deserts have their charm in a stark sort of way. So are there any countries that are just plain ugly through and through; crappy, boring landscapes? | 6 | [
{
"body": "i've yet to visit a country that was totally ugly from one border to another. based on photos i've seen, mongolia is pretty bleak and boring, but i'm sure there are some beautiful places there too. the ugliest place i've ever seen personally was northeastern texas - just flat and dull. ",
"score": 7
}
]
|
I was a Doctor at an online pharmacy. I did not graduate High School. AMAA | ***First off, I am not advocating anything illegal. I am not saying that what I have done was ever morally right by any standards. What I am hoping to do is offer some insight in to a little-known multi-billion-dollar-per-year industry that was/is utilized by everyone from your aunt/uncle to your next-door neighbor to the people you watch on TV every day.***
A few years back I 'fell' in to a job at a call center that turned out to be a little more than I had bargained for. My original duties were to call people on a list and offer to have them speak with a physician in order to refill their medication over the phone. At first it seemed somewhat legitimate (plus Fridays were Pizza Day) so I thought nothing of it. Then I came to the realization that this "multinational corporation" was really just an operation run out of a single office with 20 people. For insane amounts of money they could get their Vicodin or Xanax refilled without having to ever step foot in a doctor's office. Within a year, I found myself doing the doctor consultations via telephone with some very interesting - and sometimes famous - people. I browsed through the medical records that people sent me, and on my computer screen was a button that said 'Prescribe'. By clicking that button I set off a chain reaction which culminated in the next-day delivery of their often-un-needed medication.
Oh, and I am not a real doctor. I did not even graduate high school.
This was a few years ago. I have put this behind me and as far as my current life is concerned, it is if this had never happened. I am not aware of the current state of this industry.
So, Reddit, what would you like to know?
The Rules:
I will not name any names.
I may give very vague clues, but nothing specific as to a person or location.
I will not answer your question if I feel it is based on anything other than genuine curiosity. [In other words, I will not give you all the knowledge you need to accomplish anything similar.]
I have taken all possible steps to be anonymous with this post, including the IP address issue, so don't bother telling me to watch myself.
For obvious reasons there will be no gold star for 'Verification' as I am not willing to provide anything other than answers to your questions.
Downvote me if you may, but my only motive is to inform and maybe provide some humorous stories if asked properly. | 260 | [
{
"body": "Did anyone ever go through your online pharmacy to buy legitimate prescriptions? Like someone needing their blood pressure medication filled? ",
"score": 39
},
{
"body": "Someone asked for a story: \n\nWhile our systems often unintentionally spammed peoples' phone lines, we sure didn't appreciate the intentional doing of the same thing to us. One day a woman used both her home telephone lines to tie-up our 1-800#. So with her phone number we were able to locate her proper name. With both of them we were able to deduce her address. From there we got a map of her street together with the names/house#s/phone#s of her neighbors and \"hilarity ensued\". We arranged Sunday BBQ's (blue-pant-themed), as well as garage sales, yadda yadda. Thanks to Google we were able to locate and dial up everything from pizzerias to taxis to candy-grams, and send plenty of things her way. All while masking the outgoing phone number so that it showed her number on any call display receiving these calls.\n\nWe never heard from her again.",
"score": 34
},
{
"body": "Ryan Haight Act.\n\nI wish I could just order some Vicodin off the internet. A lot of doctors would probably agree, no more ER rooms or pain management clinics full of drug seekers just trying to get high (I don't do that).",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "* Which, if any drugs were not the drugs on the label? i.e., was a valium prescription ever just a low dosage of prozac?\n\n* How often were there \"mix ups?\"\n\n* Were the famous people celebrities looking for their fix, or sports stars looking for the steroids?",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Probably a stupid question but I have to ask and I hope I get an answer cause it's a question I've been wanting answered for 5 years. Where the hell can I find a legit website like the one you worked at? Yes I get the spam emails but I find it pretty damn hard to trust a website that's screaming **VICODIN!** at me...",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "It sounds like you look back at that job as wrong, but were there any individuals whom you felt like you were justified in bypassing standard medical procedure?",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Tell the truth, did you sell Heath Ledger the party pack that sent him under?\n\nedit: Also can you tell us how to ask properly for the humorous stories? I love tales of shenanigans!",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Can you hook me up with some Viagra? Got a hot 3 day weekend with a horny wife who wants to call me master.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "When I was in high school i used to order some hard to find drugs online. Most of the 'pharmacies' were located in South America or Malaysia. Where did the pills ship from? Did you ever hear any stories about the boss?\n\nCould you give us some examples of what someone would pay? More importantly how? WU / MG ?\n\nLastly... Did you hear how the company got shut down? ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "So did you basically give the customers whatever they asked for or was there some sort of decision-support system that would tell you what to prescribe? Did people actually seek medical advice? If so, how did you handle it?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "SWIM enjoys a little bender every now and then and he's always wondered about these online pharmacies. Thanks for posting this AMA, he noes not to ever buy online",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I get the impression that you do not approve of your past employer. Have you ever considered contacting the appropriate authorities to try to get them shut down?\r\n\r\nOr are the kind of people who own that kind of business the kind of people who would be upset at such a thing, and have unpleasant ways of expressing disapproval?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "It sounds like your suppliers were legit but do you have any insight as to how widespread a problem counterfeit drugs are amongst web pharmacies? \n\nIs it a real problem or is that just \"Big Pharma\" spreading lies to scare people out of filling prescriptions on line?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "**Having worked in a legitimate pharmacy, I feel like I should mention a few things.**\n\nIf pharmacists are doing what they should be doing, they will notice whether Mr. Smith is getting more of drug ABC than he should be. If you're getting too much of Vicodin or Xanax, an alert pharmacist will notice. Some pharmacists I worked with were rather careless, but even the careless pharmacists would start asking questions eventually. The most alert pharmacists would begin to wonder if the patient's doctor is legitimately giving out prescriptions. How you guys were never discovered by alert pharmacists is beyond me. Someone should have been asking questions. This only applies to patients who regularly go to the same pharmacy.\n\nThe typical patient will only be on a pain medication for so long. An addict will want a perpetual prescription. Insurance companies will know this, too. They will see that their patients are buying too many bottles of Vicodin or whatever. Someone should notice this.\n\nBy the way, occasionally, law enforcement officials showed up at our pharmacy to get info on patients who are under investigation. We helped the investigators out. But investigators only came to us when they already had a name of a suspicious patient (e.g., someone on the run). I am just telling you this so that you know the law wasn't oblivious; it would just take them time to get to you.",
"score": 3
}
]
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2x show me your handbag if you will ... | Now while I am on the hunt for a good pair of jeans I am also in the market for a new handbag.
So what one do you use? why do you like it? what don't you like about it?
show us a pic if you can, and don't mind.
I know a while ago we all talked about how much we carry in ours here's an idea of what I have to carry so maybe someone can make a good recommendation.
* Purse
* diabetes kit (20cm x 10cm x 6cm)
* (soon to add) extra diabetes gear for pump usage so additional to the above kit and same approx size
* small container of glucose
* snack for my son (small packet of chippies type of size)
* keys
* cell
* sanitary items
* small bits of shopping :)
I think that's about it.
Currently I use a small satchel which will fit wallet, keys and 1 x diabetes kit. but I need to up grade to something bigger, but I don't want a back pack I want something womanly, funky, fun, yet practical.
So show us what ya got :D
**Edit** O.k I maybe have narrowed it down to [this one](http://www.kathyvanzeeland.com/shop/item.aspx?style=H45763) or [this one](http://www.kathyvanzeeland.com/shop/item.aspx?style=H45765)
Now to find something similar in NZ shops, or order it online. | 9 | [
{
"body": "You're all going to laugh at me, but [this](http://www.purseuing.com/bags/images/2007/07/kathy-van-zeeland-bag.jpg) is my primary handbag. \n\nI also have one shaped like a toad, and one made of little cut-leather monkeys. With a banana for a strap. I love offbeat bags. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I LOOOOVE Big Buddha bags.\n\nhttp://www.ebigbuddha.com/\n\nI own three of them- I have the Kristen in black for everyday, and it holds TONS. And I get compliments on them all the time. I've also had them for years and they hold up well. \n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "[This](http://www.peepculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/myphoto7.jpeg) is the bag I own now, it's from [Fossil](http://www.fossil.com/). It's supposed to be a men's messenger bag, but I love it. I first tried out a fossil bag a few years back borrowing one from my friend, and I never was able to find a bag quite like it.\n\nIt's canvas, so it's pretty heavy duty, and it's really big, but it settles nicely when I wear it, so it doesn't look like a big clunky messenger bag. I don't like using backpacks, but with this I can carry everything from school books / knitting / netbook and usual supplies like wallet, keys (and it has one of those strap clasps for the keys so I don't have to go digging) in it and it doesn't hurt my shoulders / back like most messenger bags do when I fill them up to the brim >.>\n\nI like that it has lots of random pockets, I'm a nutter for organizing things. I can't seem to find the link off of amazon where I got it, I guess there aren't suppliers for that specific bag anymore....but I really never got a bag I liked so much as Fossil, so that might be a decent place to start. I can't really say there isn't that much I don't like about it, aside from when I can't carry it with me (if I'm going somewhere where I can't take a big bag). I get so used to carrying around so much stuff with me that I feel incomplete without my giant bag ;p",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Finding a good bag is a constant struggle for me. Constant. I have needs that always wind up going unfulfilled. I just bought [a Roxy bag](http://www.endless.com/dp/B0028AEKYM/ref=asc_df_B0028AEKYM956225?tag=endlesscj-20&creative=380333&linkCode=asn&creativeASIN=B0028AEKYM) off Ebay, and I'm hoping it'll wind up alright. I wasn't crazy about the colour (it's the purple/pink/white one) but I was going mental looking for something decent and their bags are usually nice-looking in person. I also really need something right now.\n\nI want: \n\n- Some structure. I hate loose floppy bags.\n- At least two outside pockets and one inside pocket. I hate bags that are just like a giant hole you shovel your crap into and then dig desperately into when you need things.\n- Not too big or too small. \n- Wearing across the body is a nice option, but it can't necessarily be so, because with lighter clothing and a large chest doing that feels vulgar. Adjustable straps are good, but I'll mostly be wearing it as a shoulder bag.\n- Made of fabric. I don't want to buy leather (vegetarian) and I don't like the look of fake-leather stuff. \n- Vibrant colour. I hate how 90% of bags are neutral tones. (This plus the fabric thing makes the field very narrow for me.)\n\nEdited to add:\n\n- I WAY prefer two handles to one single strap. Also, the strap/handles must be long enough to go comfortably over my shoulder. There's nothing worse than straps that are too short, forcing you to keep pulling them up over your shoulder. I love Roototes, but I've had a couple and that's a consistent problem with them. \n- I don't typically like patterns, or at least I have a preference for solids.\n\nEdited again: (see, this is an emotional topic for me!)\n[Here's a bag that's pretty close to my ideal configuration.](http://www.zappos.com/volcom-true-romance-handbag-bright-blue) Two handles, two pockets on the front, decent size (not too small, not too big), bright solid colour... maybe I should have bought this one!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "[This](http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=BEAT-WEDNESDAY-TOTE&Category_Code=BEAT) is what I use. Maybe not quite right for your purposes, but cute!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Here is mine:\r\nhttp://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/Coach/14507_svbk_a0?$product_image$\r\n\r\nIt has a lot of storage space without looking like a diaper bag!",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "[Not so great, but you get the idea!](http://i.imgur.com/CAs6S.jpg) \n \nIt's Red by Marc Ecko. I love it! It weights about a ton with all the shit I have in it. I love it! ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "[This is my purse](http://rose-hulmanbooks.collegestoreonline.com/ePOS?store=505&item_number=40000074959&form=shared3%2fgm%2fdetail.html&design=505#)\n\nI'm generally not really into pink things, so it's half-ironic. The R on it is the symbol for my school, which is an 80% male engineering school.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE think that the coffee reddit should have a new logo? | I have no skill, so I can't. I think it'd be a lot better to have the reddit alien holding a mug or something. | 10 | [
{
"body": "I made a simple design of the Reddit alien holding a coffee mug, if you're interested. It's nothing too special, just simple and elegant!",
"score": 3
}
]
|
iPhone/Google Voice question. | I know they have the text-based google.com/voice/m website but I also pulled the GV Mobile app from Rock. When I go to place a call I press the button-- then Google is calling me. I answer, and it's connecting me to the ringing phone on the other end...
So is this a VoIP service? Is it using my minutes when I'm on WiFi? I'm really confused about it. What about when I'm just on regular 3G? Is it broadcasting over my data plan, over the 3G? Or the voice using my minutes? | 8 | [
{
"body": "You are using your minutes when you use GV Mobile. The benefit is using one number, as well as all of the other features Google Voice offers, such as customized voicemail settings, online viewing of everything, and free texting.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "What about if you're using the GV Mobile app if you've jailbroken? Does that still use your minutes or does it go VoIP?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I've read enough angry stories today, whats the nicest thing a server/customer has done for you? | Here's mine.
I was at Taco Bell with some friends, and my debit card was declined. I checked my account balance and had more than enough, but their machine would not accept my card.
I bought a drink with the change in my pocket and the manager canceled my order.
When my friend went to get his tray, it had my order on it as well.
It wasn't much, but I was starving and it made my day. | 258 | [
{
"body": "I was at a baby shower luncheon at a Longhorn Steakhouse - my 18-month old in tow. She was proud of herself asking for her own food, and she ordered cottage cheese. The server didn't blink - just went on taking orders. When we were served, and she had her cottage cheese, someone mentioned that it wasn't on the menu. I was confused. Our waiter came back to check on us, and I mentioned it to him. He said \"well, that baby wanted cottage cheese, and there's a Publix right behind us - it's not like she can eat steak and I wanted to make her happy\". He was sweet to my baby and he got a tip larger than our bill.",
"score": 365
},
{
"body": "I was 17, working a bad shift job, refusing to speak to my family (long story), rarely had enough money for a decent meal and driving a shitbox car.\n\nOne day driving along I glanced at the temperature gauge at the exact moment it went from below half to above hot in the space of about 2 seconds. Faulty gauge? Who knows.\n\nAnyway my car overheated and there was no way I was going to have the money to fix anything over about $20 any time soon which meant I was also about to lose my job.\n\nI was lucky enough to break down next to a Good Year auto service centre so i walked up there to see if I could borrow a phone (couldnt pay my bill so mine was disconnected). The guy behind the counter asked if I was alright, I guess I was looking pretty down. I told him my car had just overheated so he got his car, towed me into their shed and got one of his mechanics to take a look for me.\n\nThe water pump was busted and they didn't do that sorta thing so they patched it up enough for me to drive it down the road, put plenty of water/coolant back in and called a mechanic down the road to call in a favor he owed. \n\nI drove down there and the guy fixed my car for free that afternoon. I've never been so amazed or grateful in all my life - almost in tears. Without trying to go too emo here the car overheating that day was likely going to be the final straw and the day I ended my life. His reason for doing all that for a random on the street? He'd once been in a similar situation and someone had given him a helping hand that he never forgot.\n\nThis is an experience I will never forget and it changed the way I viewed life forever.",
"score": 294
},
{
"body": "Sometimes the Unix Servers at my job will operate perfectly without crashing or failing in any way. That allows me to relax and watch videos instead of constantly having to find out what is wrong with them and fix it.",
"score": 178
},
{
"body": "I took my five-year-old brother to McDonald's the other day because he wanted another Avatar toy that comes in the happy meals (he had three already, there are six all together). When he got his meal he opens it and sees that they switched to Alvin and the Chipmunks toys. He was very disappointed and asked if they had anymore Avatar toys and the guy said they didn't. At that moment the manager pops around the corner and says \"We still have the display in the office if you want that\". He ended up giving him the [whole display](http://imgur.com/O5rxv.jpg) that had all six toys on it, my little brother smiled and said \"this is the happiest day of my life\". My heart melted. ",
"score": 151
},
{
"body": "8 months pregnant, Christmas Eve night. A bar regular asked why I was still working, I told him it was because I had to. He asked me how much it would take for me to stop working that night. I told him I was trying to save 1500 more. I had to go take care of a table and when I came back up to the bar, he was gone and at his seat was a check for 1500 made out to my first name. I never cashed it, but the gesture was not lost on me. I cried like a baby. I was beyond touched. I kept that check for years in my server book and would look at it on rough nights to remind myself of genuine human kindness.",
"score": 149
},
{
"body": "When I quit my college waitressing job to go to graduate school - my regulars (who I served breakfast to every Saturday for 2 years) threw me a little party on my last day. It was an amazing surprise. One crusty old man gave me a card with 200 dollars and a note about how much he loved architecture school long ago and wished he had continued his education. It was the best send off I've ever had, period.\n\nI waited tables for 6 years. ",
"score": 136
},
{
"body": "It's something I did for someone but fuck it felt really good about it.\n\nI was a seasonal cashier at Target. About a week before Christmas I am ringing people up as usual when the next person in line hands me an envelope someone had left on the conveyor belt. He says to me that someone left it there it wasn't his. I look in it before throwing it away and find about $500 inside.\n\nI say \"Holy crap some forgot their money.\" The guy who handed it to me tries to say it is his over and over again. I tell him he is full of it I'm taking the money up to customer service. I call over management and he starts getting really pissed saying he will call the president of Target if we don't give him his money back and so forth.\n\nI tell my manager:\n\n\"This is not his money. I don't know who's it is but he told me it wasn't his and if you give it to him I'm quitting.\"\n\nMy manager told the guy he isn't getting it and if he has a problem call to call the cops. He says \"Let me give you my number if no one claims it I can have it?\"\n\nAn older lady came in the next day and collected it telling us exactly how much she had left. She told me she had just gotten her Christmas bonus and she wasn't done buying for her family yet. She gave me a hug.\n\nIt was awesome.",
"score": 123
},
{
"body": "When I was in high school I worked at McDonald's in the drive through almost every night. One of my costumers came through one night wearing a [Tick](http://video.movies.go.com/thetick/) and we started talking about the show and telling each other about our favorite episodes. A few months later the same guy comes through the drive through again and tells me that he has gotten married and his wife is making him get rid of his Tick action figures, then he hands me a large box and tells me to enjoy them. ",
"score": 98
},
{
"body": "That reminds me of when I worked at Taco Bell.\n\nEvery once in a while we'd get some poor slob who didn't have any money, and they'd make up some sad story about how they had plenty in their account, but their card wouldn't work.\n\nWe used to go back to the dumpsters, pull out day-old food, microwave it real fast, and put it on the next guy's tray. Saves them the embarrassment of going through the dumpsters themselves.\n\n---\n\n*This message paid for by McDonald's.* ",
"score": 85
},
{
"body": "When I was little getting a cherry limeade from Sonic was like the greatest treat ever. And I'd always make my mom ask for extra maraschino cherries in hopes of getting just *one* extra cherry. I still remember this one time, I don't even know if I was in school yet as I was very very young, but I did the whole \"PSSST ASK FOR MORE CHERRIES!\" routine as if my mom had forgotten. My mom asks the drive-thru lady if she can get some extra cherries and she peers into the vehicle, sees me, and smiles. She leaves and comes back and hands my mom an *entire cup full of maraschino cherries*! There are few things in my life that have made me as excited as a freaking cup full of cherries from Sonic.",
"score": 76
},
{
"body": "My second day waitressing at a restaurant (and ever), a customer pulled my manager aside and told him I'd given her the best customer service she's ever had.\n\nThough the manager initially approached me as though I'd done something fucked up, so when it turned out I'd actually done well I couldn't stop blushing for a while.",
"score": 69
},
{
"body": "It was late at night, about 5 minutes before closing time, and I popped into a KFC looking for a snack-wrap.\n\nI paid for the snack wrap and they gave me a snack wrap in addition to a bucket of fried chicken and a bucket of barbeque chicken. They said it was getting trashed anyway, so might as well give me some.",
"score": 66
},
{
"body": "This is tooting my own horn, but I'm saying this partially because it's relevant and partially in hopes that people don't think the world is full of dicks. Anyways, I work at a bike shop on a college campus where literally 90% of the 22,000 person student body rides their bikes to class. I do free labor on most people's bikes because I get paid whether on not they pay me, and it feel wrong charging people for tossing a single bolt on their bike. Everyone wins. Except my boss, but he's a dick.",
"score": 66
},
{
"body": "i was on my way home from school about two months ago. i had been having trouble with my rear right tire for a while but i had gotten it \"fixed\" prior to the drive (6 hrs). well i got about an hour out and it went low again. i stopped and filled it up <- something that i would continue to do over the three and a half hours it took me to get to jackson (normally 2.5 hours). it's about seven o' clock at this point and i took it to a walmart hoping to get it taken care of. no dice. they said my rim was a model they couldn't work on so they directed me to another walmart across town. well, i pull up and the guys are literally lowering the gate as i pull in. i asked if they were closing up and the man said \"yes\" but could obviously tell i wasn't in the best of spirits and told me to drive in anyway. he and two other guys stayed over an hour just to help me out and didn't charge me anything for the service. it was incredible. ",
"score": 64
},
{
"body": "Not a restaurant but last night I was catching the train home after a night out and missed my stop. We were walking along the road back to the previous station and it started drizzling, not really that much of a problem , just a little damp. A taxi drives up not long after, opens his door and tells us to get in. \nWe kindly decline because we're halfway there already but he insists that it's on his way back to the city \"you're human, I'm human\" and drives us to the station free of charge.",
"score": 61
},
{
"body": "It wasn't a server, but a fellow diner.\n\nMe and my 4 kids were driving 1/2 way across the country. After 18 hours in the car, we stopped at HoJos for some food. 4 kids and a 100 lb. dog in a car for that amount of time creates some weary, crabby, funky smelling, homeless looking folks...\n\nThis lovely older couple, decided they needed to pick up our tab, and insisted on all the kids getting ice cream sundaes. They were just so sweet, and their kindness really perked up everyone's spirits. \n\n",
"score": 60
},
{
"body": "It was a busy day at the winery, but the gentleman I waited on had a lot of questions and was having difficulty making his selections but I was happy to help (that's what I do!). After I ring him up for his purchases, he opened his wallet to tip me and found that he had no cash on him (we don't work for tips, but we are allowed to accept them. It's no big deal, just a nice extra). I told him not to worry about it, I was just doing my job. But he became visibly upset, I honestly thought the man was going to cry. He then handed over his money clip-- which I found odd and laughed a little, politely declining his gift. But he insisted! He said he simply had to give me something for my amazing service and wouldn't be able to leave without giving me something. That was years ago, and I still have that money clip-- because later I realized it has a CIA seal on it. C-I-fucking-A, I shit you not. I never saw that customer again.",
"score": 59
},
{
"body": "I am in southern Nevada and I used to do computer consulting until my breast cancer came back last spring, this time at Stage 4. \n\nI used to have my own little computer consulting biz, fixing computers and teaching people. I stayed away from hardware issues - fortunately 90 percent of my little consulting biz had nothing to do with hardware. Whenever I ran into a computer fix that was beyond what I could do for a client, I would refer the client to a local, reputable outfit called \"PC Laptops\". I ended up referring a lot of business to them - but I didn't know how much they appreciated the references until a month ago.\n\nThere I was, 2 weeks before Christmas and my laptop decided it was going to quit working due to a heat issue. I knew it had to be dust gunking the thing up because the thing was going down for awhile and it was due for a cleaning anyway.\n\nThis was a crisis because (a) I was low on money for food and medicine to the point of postponing my chemotherapy (b) I was working on my website selling original, Straczynski-approved jewelry to Babylon 5 fans so I could HAVE some money and (c) I needed to be able to afford a move to a new place to live because my landlord decided he wanted my room back. During the freakin' holidays, no less. \n\nAs soon as my contact at PC Laptops found out that my laptop needed help and that my cancer was back, he had NO hesitation inviting me to bring the thing into the shop for a good cleaning. For FREE. Because of the help I had given them in the past.\n\nI literally started crying. Man, I knew how well this place took care of my clients, but I NEVER expected them to come through this way for me.\n\nThe laptop got fixed, I finished the website - and next thing I knew, Babylon 5 fans everywhere got the word about my cancer situation and flooded in with orders. I ended up with enough money so that I could move to a new place, get my chemo situation straightened out, be able to afford food and medicine and generally start doing at least sort of OK again. \n\nIf you live in Utah or southern Nevada, you are a lucky stiff... you get the chance to visit this PC Laptops place. They have integrity and caring and I am deeply grateful to them for starting this chain of help when I needed it.\n",
"score": 55
},
{
"body": "A few days ago I was having a pretty bad day. I didn't get much accomplished, I was stressed about work, still hung up on a broken relationship. I had returned to New York, where I was adjusting to the large, indifferent crowds.\n\nIt was cold outside, so I wanted to warm up in an Italian restaurant.\n\nA twenty something attractive girl at the bar ended up serving me. She smiled often and was very attentive. As soon as she saw me finish my appetizer, she immediately made sure the cook had my meal ready. And when I was finished with my entree, she saw that I still had a lot of my tea left, so she didn't rush the bill. She just cleared the table and just sat there. That might seem like a 'duh' move but considering it was crazy busy and New York, I'm never surprised to see someone push me out the door.\n\nSo after countless disappointments that day, it was such a pleasure to have someone be exactly what I needed: patient, attentive, and prompt. Thus I gave her a 75% tip.",
"score": 50
},
{
"body": "I've been serving tables at Olive Garden for a little over a year now, and I've had moments that have made me question my faith in humanity while working there, but there's one table that redeemed my faith.\n\nIt was this past Father's Day, and I was working lunch. Towards the end of the lunch rush a pretty normal family of four came in, except the mother didn't have any hair under her ballcap. I assumed it was chemotherapy and thought nothing of it. When she ordered, she asked me if any of the soups didn't have too many solids. They all have lots of noodles/meat/veggies, but I told I could see what I can do. I cleaned a pasta strainer and gave her some strained soup before the rest of the table to see if she was fine with it. Afterward, the father spoke to my manager and told him that his wife was going into her last surgery the next day and the special treatment I gave her really raised her spirits.\n\nAnd they totally left me twenty bucks. Everyone wins!",
"score": 46
},
{
"body": "I was working at a small town Mexican Diner and one day, a lady and her 9 year old came in. The place was empty, so I gave the little girl the remote and started talking to the lady while her food was ready. Eventually, the little girl and I started talking a lot too. The three of us started watching VH1 together and talking about the latest young adult novels (her daughter loved reading) I wrote down a ton of books for her to check out, and the conversation just flowed after that.\n\nSomehow, the conversation lead to the fact that my parents were unemployed. The lady felt horrible about this for some reason, and then proceeded to call a few people and write down the names of some companies my parents could look into. It was really sweet of her to help me find jobs for my parents, and it meant a lot to me. She went way out of her way looking to help some people she didn't even know. \n\nI'v met a lot of sweet people on the job, but she always sticks in my mind. My post doesn't really do her justice. ",
"score": 43
},
{
"body": "I'm a Marine living in a Marine town, most of the places in town don't go out of their way at all (probably due to how many Marines are dicks) even when they're in the wrong. Anyway, one day I went to Red Robin's with a friend, and our order was misplaced somehow. The manager came out and apologized to us, had two more beers brought to our table, made sure the food came out as fast as possible, and made it all free. He offered free desserts but there was no way either of us could have eaten any more. We ended up tipping $15 on a free meal. ",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "This past summer I quit my job, gave up most of my earthly possessions, paid off my final bills, bought a van, customized the hell out of it, and then traveled 10k miles across the US with my wife, good friend, and cat. Now, you might think this is a crazy idea: and it was, but we planned this trip out for 6+ months. During the second half of our road trip we made it to Moab, Utah. Our plan was to drive on through to Mesa Verde to camp, and then after that was anyone's guess. During our short stay at Moab an art festival was going on. We stopped, went to this open park with all sorts of artists showing off their work, and the first place I walked up to was a glassblowing stand. Admiring the colorful wine toppers a man with sunglasses stand up, says; \"Now I use those....\", *takes off sunglasses*, \"for magic potions myself\". I said Hello and told them about our adventure; traveling across the US. The man's sister also came up and introduced herself. They then asked, \"Do you like dub music? We're playing a show in Durango; you can come crash at our house if you would like and come see us play live\". \n\nI couldn't believe it. Just winging it on this trip was already producing fabulous results. That next week we stayed in Durango at their house, enjoyed an amazing dub show, met tons of very nice people, and left with a renewed sense of human kindness. \n\nWhile in Boulder Colorado we stopped at a nearby Whole Foods. During my travels I made a rule to try and save as much money as I could by utilizing my highly efficient brain that I have. So, instead of eating out at a fancy restaurant; we bought a pound of turkey, some bread, a carton of juice, a couple yogurts, and decided to treat ourselves to these amazing-granola-bars-from-heaven that were made in store. The bars themselves cost as much as the turkey, but it had been a while since we had spoiled our taste buds so we decided to pull the trigger. Why not?\n\nPlacing our items on the auto-food-product-delivery-belt I stepped up to our hip looking cashier. He looked up at me (granted I hadn't showered in a few days, had major stubble going and and I had parked my [**multicolored-van-of-awesome**](http://imgur.com/U4VdI.jpg) directly in front of the big-ass window display) and said, \"Hello: Welcome to Boulder! You guys have any trouble finding smoke?\"\n\nI smiled and replied; \"My dear sir, we've had no troubles finding smoke *at all*\" (for the previous night we stayed at a Marijuana activist's house). He smiled and complimented our van (named \"Jean Claude Jam Van\"). I gave him a business card with our road trip info on it (documentary project and novel), and he finished ringing us up for the food we had purchased. The cashier said, \"And your total is...\", and just then, like a fucking ninja, zeroed out the price of the granola bars and a few other items. We ended paying less than half for our entire meal. Retreating back to the van we had ourselves a tremendous feast, stuffed ourselves silly, and proceeded to travel down to New Mexico where we found the Rainbow Gathering pre-seed camp, left 5 days later, took a wrong turn, was stuck in the dense clay for 5 hours as our van almost fell over a cliff, left for the border of New Mexico, spent a night at a camp site next to a military camp, was assaulted the next morning by an insane old man from the desert with a gigantic rusty dagger and a wallet filled with over 2 grand in counterfeit bills, floored it for Phoenix going an average of 110mph, experienced 111 degree weather at 11:30 in the morning, went to Flagstaff where we ended up staying a week off of BLM land and , inevitably, hit an elk going over 50mph. Jean Claude, however, is a fucking tank and less than $50 worth of damage happened. The elk, however, well that's another epic story involving am Australian family, \"Squanto the Marlboro man\" dragging the elk off the road with his bare hands, and a couple of cops who totally recognized Slimer mounted on the front of our bumper. \n\nBut in the face of all that, those goddamn free granola bars kept me going. Also; the [**coffee shop**](http://www.flagcampuscoffeebean.com/) in Flagstaff that let us come in, buy cups of coffee and use their free WiFi for 5+ hours a day while we planned our trips back home was downright epic. They even let us put on an open mic night with my friends and we made $8 in tips from customers (in which we promptly bought a 6 pack). \n\nAhh...last summer was epic. And thank you Reddit; writing this story has completely prompted me to continue writing my next 50k words. Much appreciated: ٩๏̯͡๏۶\n\n**EDIT**: Contrary to popular belief I'm not a hippy. I was just tired of working the same job and not having anything to show for it. That and the one guy that masturbated furiously right next to me on the bus; that can definitely help perpetuate your dreams to get the fuck off the bus and out of the city. ",
"score": 35
},
{
"body": "In Las Vegas my boyfriend and I were waiting to check in to our room at Treasure Island. There was a long line and check in hadn't even started yet.\n\nI went up to the courtesy desk and suggested that they might think about giving out pagers to guests who could then go off and gamble or whatever in the hotel casino while waiting for their turn in line, the way some restaurants give you a pager.\n\nI wasn't complaining or anything; I just thought it was a good idea and I wasn't looking for any special treatment. The manager offered us free champagne that night. :)",
"score": 34
},
{
"body": "I was on my way to sign divorce papers. I stopped at Starbucks to get a quick coffee. I asked the guy if he could run my card while I doctored my coffee because I was in a hurry. He said, \"Don't worry about it. It's free.\" It was a nice touch in an overall stressful day!",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "When I was going through the wendy's drive through the guy was doing a peter griffin impression, and his laugh was dead on. It made my day.",
"score": 30
},
{
"body": "It was my second weekend at my new waitressing job at an insanely busy Japanese Hibachi style restaurant and the nicest family patiently waited 20 minutes for service as I struggled to keep up with the pace of the restaurant. They ended up leaving me a $200 tip on a $100 bill with a little note that said \"keep your chin up!\". Awesome.",
"score": 30
},
{
"body": "I was at an expensive steak house at Disney when my then 2-year-old had an absolute freaking meltdown, he was just inconsolable and going berserk. Our food was taking forever so one of us had to wait with him in the lobby or bathroom while the other waited to get the food boxed. The hostess brought him a Donald Duck stuffed animal to keep and was trying to sweet talk him. Unfortunately he continued acting like a jerk (2 -year-olds can really suck) and we had to leave anyway, but I thought that it was nice of them to give him the duck. \n\nThey didn't charge us for our drinks and were very kind and understanding about our screaming child (probably because we were leaving instead of torturing other patrons)",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "This isn't a story about a good experience but a plea to people who have them. When these stories happen, tell their manager or a corporate office. Having worked in customer service a long time I can tell you how much it means, not just to me but management. \n\nEvery business likes hearing stories about how their employees did a good job, it makes everyone feel good about where they work.",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "Stopped in the middle of Nowhere, Tennessee at a Dairy Queen for a blizzard. This was on a 6 hour road trip.\n\nI get back out to my car, crank up, and here comes the cashier running across the parking lot with my wallet I had left on the counter.\n\nWhen I think about what a hassle it would have been to lose it that way, I am so grateful she did that.",
"score": 24
},
{
"body": "There is a drive thru falafel place in San Jose, CA that leaves quite a bit of left over falafel once it closes free for anybody who passes by!",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "I was traveling home yesterday with my 4 year old daughter. It was a rough couple of days as I went to funeral of a coach, teacher and mentor. We stopped at McDonalds because she likes it. I ordered her cheeseburger happy meal but forgot to say \"no onion\". As the food came out I remembered the no onion. I asked the couter person to please get me one with no onion. They did and when I asked to pay for it they said no.",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "Hey! Cupcake is a pretty amazing cupcake store/stand in Austin, TX that sells ah-mah-zing cupcakes out of those sweet, old, silver trailers. \nOne day right around my birthday I decided to get an amazing cupcake, but their credit card reader was down and I didn't have cash. I told the guy I would go drive somewhere to find an ATM but he gave me it for free. That guy totally made my summer/day/year. I hope I see him next time I'm there to tip him well. ",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "Not something that happened to me but more something I did. I was at Mellow Mushroom eating a calzone and on an $8.50 tab I left $58.50.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "I was driving back from a show late one night in Toronto and me and my girlfriend stopped at a Wendy's. We both ordered cheap $3.99 meals or whatever, and my girlfriend went to user her debit card, declined. So i tried mine, declined. I tried my credit card, declined. The lady tried turning the machine off and turning it back on, fiddling with the cords, nothing worked. Neither of us had cash on us so she just gave us the meals for free, it was awesome.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "When I was about 9-10 years old, I was usually left at home alone most of the time, since both of my parents worked full time to support the family. \n\nOne day after school, I was really hungry and didn't feel like doing the usual rice+eggs+soy sauce, so I decided to splurge on a pizza. I ordered something like a small pizza, wings, and a bottle of pepsi. \n\nI was so excited when the pizza came, but imagine my disappointment when the pizza guy didn't bring the drinks, so he didn't charge me for it. \n\nMy family didn't drink soda, so water would be my only option. He must have noticed the disappointment on my face, because 5 minutes later he came back with like 5 bottles of pepsi for me that he got from the gas station. \n\nIt wasn't much, but to a starving 9 year old girl, it was the nicest thing in the world to me. \n\n",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "This isn't about my own, but about my mom's. My mother grew up fairly wealthy, and donated a lot and sent a lot of children to school in her province. However, due to a change in regime, an assassination and then martial law being taken into place... my mom's entire village got burnt down, everything decimated.\n\nShe lived in poverty for nearly 10+ years of her life and wasn't able to bring herself or family back up. Her mother died giving birth to her last sister, and her father was exiled from the country. She tells me stories about having to sneak into sugar cane farms, and steal sugar cane and that was her entire meal for weeks. Taking care of her brothers & sisters herself.\n\nThere my dad was working in his job. Stumbled across my mom. First he gave her some food, and some shelter... later he had her and her sisters & brothers [13 total] working under him cleaning his office, house etc. Then gave them all an education. Bailed her brother out ($8,000 in 1960's which was a lot - from an inflation calculation it's about $60,000), continues to send my cousins to school & pay for their schooling, clothes etc. pays for their medical bills. He's given a lot, and in return has received little other than a lot of love from my mom, myself and letters from my cousins -- but for him, that's all he asks for along with his beer & cigarettes.\n\nMy dad = greatest server/customer ever [& dad too].",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "A few years ago I sold novelty items in night clubs for a living. One time a customer bought about $20 worth of merchandise, and as he was pulling the money out of his wallet, he dropped $100 in $20s. He handle me the whole $100 and told me to keep the change.\n\nIn reverse, at the same night club I found 4 $100 bills on the floor. Right then that would have more than doubled my income for that weekend. It also would have annihilated the late bills I had been stressing over. I could have turned the money over to the night club, but they would have just pocketed it. I thought about just calling it a night right then and there. Toward closing time, one of my customers from earlier in the night came up and told me he'd lost some money, and asked if he had overpaid or something. When he told me he lost $400, I told him I found it on the floor earlier, and gave it back to him. The guy couldn't believe it. That sucked...",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I was working at an office supply store about a year ago and it sucked. I was always stuck on the register and all day I dealt with angry moms and people who thought they could haggle with me over prices of things that I can't control.\n\nOne day, this weathered old man wearing overalls and a demeanor that made it clear he was a farmer or something of the sort walked up to the register to buy some receipt paper. He was very, very kind and kept cracking old man jokes, like quick one-liners and such. It made my day. Right as he turned to leave, he rotated back and handed me this tiny square of paper and said \"Here, have one of these.\" And he walked away. \n\n I looked down at the square and flipped it over and it read:\n\n \"One of these\"\n\n Best customer I've ever encountered and I still have that square of paper in my wallet.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "Austin has some amazing small businesses that really restore your faith in humanity.\n\nWhen I was in college I worked at an awesome ice cream shop called Amy's Ice Creams. We had a lot of fun working there, and got tips to match - customers loved us. One time when it was really slow, a customer came in and couldn't decide what he wanted. I was bored, so I asked him, \"do you trust me?\" He said yes, and with a few followup questions to check for allergies I created a monster of a sundae that had everything *I'd* want in it, and only charged him for a small. He said it was the best thing he'd ever tasted and tipped me $20 on a $3 ice cream!\n\nWe also had a visiting high school choir stop by while they were in town for a UIL competition. They sang for free crush-ins - they had voices like angels. \n\nAside from Amy's, we have a small vegetarian-only chinese restaurant on the drag called Veggie Heaven that used to have a standing policy for the homeless that often lived on that street. If you were hungry, you could just stand outside the window and raise a finger for each person you had with you, and they'd run out with that many bowls of fried rice. They'd also give out most of their leftovers when they closed. \n\nJust a few more reasons why I love Austin =D\n",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I was having a terrible day--I had been awake since 5:30 am, and it was around 10:00 pm and I was at my second job, and a customer had just been a total jerk to me, blaming me for something that wasn't really my fault, etc. I was still flustered and a little bit upset when I helped the next guy (who hadn't seen anything of the previous customer), and for whatever reason the transaction was taking me way longer than it should have. The guy could tell that something was going on, and he didn't say anything, just waited patiently, told me it was okay when I apologized for the delay, and genuinely wished me to have a better night when everything was all done. He may have even tipped me. He comes into both my jobs, and I always make sure he leaves with something free. He didn't even really *do* anything, he just recognized that I was having a terrible time and was kind to me, and that was what I needed.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Marc Anthony/JLo tipped me 1k, Christian Slater was ultra super overly nice, Simon Cowell tipped $100 on $300, Don Rickles offered a 'seat at the table' for knowing who played Darth Vader (voice), Jessica Alba and Cash Warren chatted with me basically like peers. All of it is highly appreciated and remembered. None of the big money went directly into my pocket but the generosity of the gestures, and the kind attention and appreciation from these people (and many, many others--the money not being the main thing) is what makes serving a rewarding and fulfilling job at times.\n\nIn any locale, at any pricepoint, every gracious and gentle, grateful customer is highly appreciated, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I was in Las Vegas last week. My buddies and I were really craving some Big Carl's from Carl, Jrs next to the Stratosphere. However, it was 4 a.m. and their lobby was closed. There was a drive-up. We were thinking of walking up to the drive through but knew they wouldn't serve us because of all the weirdos. I noticed a sweet car with a spoiler idling in the parking lot and made a joke we should just ask them for a ride.\n\nSomehow there guys must have heard me, but they actually pulled up and asked if we needed a ride. They offered it in return for a spicy chicken. Turned out to be a couple guys from California, one who just got done with his tour overseas. \n\nI got in and rode with the guys, and I ordered through the drive up. The drive through woman knew the guys previously for driving up, and wondered why they were back. They said because I needed a ride through the drive up. I ordered my friend and my food and got the two guys who gave me a ride a spicy chicken.\n\nOnce I got out food, and said my goodbyes, my friends and I stood at the bus stop and starting feasting. I reached in and was shocked to discover that I got doubled what I ordered. Needless to say, we were plenty full.\n\nA hobo came up to us afterwards...not asking us for anything, but giving us his life story. Eventually the Deuce arrived, and I gave the guy the extras we had.\n\nOne good deed, deserves another I suppose.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "A nice older woman put a hundred dollar tip in the jar of my coffee job becuase she thought I was nice, and I let her stay inside from the rain even though we were closed. ",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I am a server at a Michelin recommended restaurant in Northern CA. I am also an EMT for the county I live in. One day this elderly couple comes in for lunch. My co-worker took the table and was dreading it, due to the woman having advanced dementia and the man seeming a bit off as well. My manager assigns me the table after my co-worker is stumped by them. I was already running a full section with 6 tables all at various stages of their meals. Within seconds of talking with the gentleman I realize that something is very off. His condition is deteriorating rapidly. He was AxO 1, giving me his first name (turns out it wasn't his real name, but whatever... Since he could answer the question it was a good sign). Dialing 911 to get paramedics on scene as quickly as possible I found myself being the most medically qualified person there... I couldn't leave the guy since I had initiated patient care and to do so would have been abandonment (not to mention kinda f-ed up). It took the medics about 10 minutes to respond. During this time all of my tables were wondering what was going on. The elderly man was beginning to seize slightly and his wife was visibly scared. I was forced to ignore my tables during a busy shift, giving absolutely horrible service to the patrons for about 10 minutes. My co-workers couldn't really pick up the slack since they were all rookies and were having enough trouble on their own. When the man was finally taken away by ambulance (turns out he was in diabetic shock, blood glucose level of 25) I went to all of my tables to apologize for not being able to attend to their needs. My customers were beyond understanding and left rave reviews with my manager. On top of that, they all left 50% tips on their bills. \n\ntl;dr: I help a guy in diabetic shock and ignored people. They gave big tips. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "This last summer I bussed tables at a fancy restaurant, on a lake. There is camping all around the lake, but it's rare that people come into the restaurant from camping. I always go around bring bread and water, etc. but normally I'm not really supposed to talk to the guests. One time we had a table of six people come in from camping. They were all in flannels and jeans and stuff so they kind of stood out. They were really nice though. One guy asked what I would recommend, and I said, \"I'm just the busser, you'll have to talk to the waiter,\" or something along those lines, and he said it didn't matter. I suggested the $40 buffalo steak, saying I had always wanted to try it but never had. He said that he would have that. After the meal, as I was clearing their plates, he again asked what I would recommend for desert, and he got that. They all got drinks and were all really cool. At the end of the night, they were the last table still there. As I was clearing their table, they all reached into their pockets and pulled out mushrooms, and tipped me with them. This was only the second time I ever was tipped directly from a table, and it's the best tip I ever got. They also tipped the waiter like 50%.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "also, i was in london and my boyfriend showed me there was actually a drury lane. i made him walk up and down the street to find a bakery so i could buy a muffin. i asked for a specific one in the case and the guy asked why that one? i told him because it had the biggest top and that's the best part. the sign said muffins were 3 quid a piece, but because i made him laugh (blonde, america girl with a dopey grin of excitement) he gave it to me for free. best. muffin. ever.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "At Skyline Chili one night they only had one server show up and the manager to do all the cooking and prep work. To top it off, the restaurant was very busy, almost full. The customers were getting testy and impatient. My wife and I were in a good mood, so we were friendly to the overwhelmed waitress while waiting for our meal, even though service was very slow. After we finished our meal, we cleaned up our own table, stacked our dishes and wiped up the table with our napkins. Then we told the waitress and manager that we enjoyed the meal and appreciated their good service in light of the difficult situation.\n\nThe manager thanked us and said that they enjoyed serving us and that our meal was free.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "My wife and I were regulars at a restaurant and always asked for the same server. After going there for about six months, we told her we were coming back there for our anniversary the next week.\n\nWhen we arrived for the meal the server had a special table all set up for us; she had baked us a cake and brought it in; she had bought us a card and a gift and then she paid for the meal herself.\n\nWay above and beyond the call of duty.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "This is a story that my mom told me. \nMy family came to states about 9 years ago and my mom started an alteration shop to support me and my sister. Although she barely spoke any English she'd always provide her customer's with great service and endless smile. One day a customer came in with a really old travel case with a broken strap and asked my mom if she could fix it in 4 days because he had to travel somewhere. My mom took the order but was unable to fix the strap in time because her work was really backed up. When he came back to pick it up, he was extremely rude to my mom, cursed at her and took the beg and left. Few minutes later she found a envelope with cash around $1500 that he had left. After he realized that he had left his month salary, he was so embarrassed that he sent his friend to my moms store. My mother gave his friend all the money he had left without question and even refused to receive $50 appreciation tip. His friend thanked her many times and apologized for his friend's rudeness. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "buying flowers: \"peonies $8 a stem!? ok forget those, how about some gerber daisies\"\n\nshe finishes making a nice bouquet... \"who are these for?\"\n\n\"me. it's my birthday\"\n\n\"you're buying your own flowers on your birthday?!\"\n\n\"yep...\"\n\n\"the peonies are on me!\" and she hands me a huge bouquet of them. \n\n:)",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Freshmen year in college my dorm friend and I were hungry at 3am after a night of poker and decided to go to the only place that's open that late at night, Del Taco. And being freshmen we weren't allowed to have our own cars, so we did the only sensible thing and biked through the drive thru window. The guy at the window was obviously another student and laughed at our predicament, but he was really nice about it. I ordered 10 chicken hard shell tacos and my friend ordered a chicken burrito. The guy at the window apologized and told us they were all out of chicken for the night and asked if it we wanted it in beef. We said yes and when our food came he told us it was on the house because its not what we originally wanted. We thanked him profusely and started talking to him because it was 3am and no one else was in line. Apparently he was in a good mood because he had also given free food to these girls that came right before us that flashed their boobs in payment for tacos. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I guess this will be my second diabetes story today...\n\nA couple of years back we were meeting some friends at a bar. While driving there my blood sugar got pretty low. When I got to the bar I was having involuntary movements, screaming, and the whole works. I had to be restrained by my friends. Some people got scared because they thought I was drugged or something, and they left. Probably close to 25 people left the bar because of me.\n\nThe owner of the bar gave me a coke (it's a tourist area and they go for $5 a pop). And then kept refiling my glass until I was well (or maybe he was trying to kill me? ;). When I went to pay my debt, he said it was ok, I didn't have to pay anything and he knew what it was like. I insisted but he wouldn't let me.\n\nSo, the guy lost customers because of me, gave me like 25$ worth of soda, and didn't even think about charging me for it.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I was in LA on a jazz band trip and we went to a restaurant near our hotel. It seemed like every 5 minutes, the staff was singing for somebody's birthday and bringing them ice cream. There were about 10 of us there, and they made me get up and go to the bathroom. While I was gone from the table, they told our waiter that it was my birthday, which it wasn't. He replied, \"Ok, we'll do it, even if it isn't his birthday.\"\n\nI got free ice cream and a birthday song.\n\nWhen we got our bill, none of our drinks had been put on it. We grabbed the waiter to let him know that our drinks were not on the bill, and he just told us not to worry about it. He got about a 50% tip from our group.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I was working for a futon shop in Iowa City and it was our busiest time of year (move in for college). After dealing with pissed off parents claiming our futons were too expensive (we sold higher end stuff) and delivering to shrieky freshman I delivered to a set of girls. The cost of their futon was 200 bucks. They tipped me $50. I said I couldn't accept it, and it was too much, but they insisted. Later I found out their futon broke so I upgraded them to the more pricey (and sturdy) model free of charge (with the blessing of my boss of course).",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "About 15 years ago, I was returning home to NY from a business trip to LA. The flight was one of those awful flights where there was turbulence the whole time and all the passengers were complaining constantly. \n\nI was seated in the middle section of the last row, were there are only three seats. It was me and a woman with a little girl. I was working the entire flight, the woman was reading a book and the little girl was playing with stickers or a puzzle or something. We were pretty much the only passengers not bitching about the turbulence. \n\nAt the end of the flight, the stewardess comes over to me, gives me a bottle of champagne and complements me for being a \"model passenger.\" She then points to the woman and the little girl (who are complete strangers to me) and says \"you have a lovely family.\"\n\nI reply: \"Yes I do, but this isn't it.\"\n\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "The nices thing a server has done for me? Not break down, when I had to upload some important things.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I was working the concession at a movie theater on a weekday morning during the summer (very slow time for us), and an older man came up to the concession. I remember being friendly as I got him his drink and popcorn. He paid and then asked me if I liked blackberries and chocolate. I said yes, hesitantly--customers don't really talk to you at the concession unless they're crazy or angry with you. \n\nHe told me, \"The chocolate-covered blackberries from Karl Bissinger were my wife's favorite. They're seasonal. She passed away, and I'm diabetic, but I bought some anyway and decided to give them to the first person who made me smile today.\" He slid a Karl Bissinger box across the counter to me.\n\nAwesome day, awesome chocolate-covered blackberries, awesome guy.\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I was delivering pizzas to the port in our area while there was several US Navy ships docked. One of the sailors couldnt get any Australian dollars (I think the ship had run out), so he asked if I would accept US dollars. When I said sure, he gave me US$50 and said to keep the change. At the time, US$50 was worth about AU$95, for a $15 order.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "About a month ago I lost I went to DMV to get a new drivers license because I had lost my wallet. The day I go it is poring rain outside and the line is out the door, which put me in a less than cheery mood. I finally get to the front of the line after about 40 minutes and there is a little sign behind the man at the information desk that says \"all payment must be in cash\", I only had my debt card. Needless to say I was pissed.\n\nThe next week I go back, cash in hand. It takes me 20 minutes to find parking and I end up having to park in a neighborhood around the corner. I stand in the initial line for another 40 minutes, get to the information booth and he gives me a number. I then wait for that number to be called for an hour and half, luckily I brought my laptop with me to kill time. When my number was finally called I was excited just to get this over with and leave. I walk up to the counter, with my money and ID in hand and the lady starts to process my information. After a minute or so she looks down at her screen, then at my money, then at me and says: \"Put your money away, Merry Christmas!\" and gives me my interim license and sends me on my way. I couldn't have been more thankful, she put me a great mood for the rest of the day.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I used to work at Pathmark (typical chain supermarket in the NY tristate area), and I had my fair share of regular customers that I would always help out - you'd be surprised at how many different ways people want things scanned, bagged, and paid for. Anyway, there was this one woman who would always slow down my line by virtue of her just being ridiculously old (and she would also often come onto my line when I would be doing express checkout despite her abundance of items). When it got time to pay, she would always hand me her foodstamps card and tell me her PIN so I could do all that newfangled techno stuff and make it work. After many months of doing this, I happened to bump into her while I was walking through the aisles doing throwbacks, and she gave me a holiday card with $5 in it. Best gesture from a retail customer ever. She certainly wasn't affluent, and she had obviously been crrying around the card in case she bumped into me... Back in high school I had a pretty spotty schedule.\n\nThen again she might have just thought I was her grandson and I stole $5 from a kid. Either way, $5 man! Sweet!",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "i was at a restaurant for lunch, i ordered a taco salad, with no black olives, it came out with black olives. I didn't say a word, since the black olives were in a little pile on top of the salad, i proceeded to just start picking them off, not a big deal. The waitress comes back with our drink refills and saw what i was doing, and offered to take it back, to which i refused, saying i'd just pick them off. well by the time i got all the black olives off, she had come back out with another salad, took the one i had picked off, just in case i missed one, and gave me my lunch for free.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I was travelling home from West Africa last year for my sisters wedding. Every single leg of the journey was awful. Every flight was delayed or cancelled. On the way back my flight was again cancelled. The airline had 200+ passengers line up to get rebooked. I was lucky - I was towards the front of the line. The attendant was a young guy roughly my age. He had been getting yelled at, and judging by the line that wrapped around out of view, I could assume he would be getting yelled at more. I was as nice as I could be (I was frustrated) and explained that I had to make it back in a few days, how ever he could get it worked out. He got me a flight the next day.\n\nThe next day the plane was delayed again, but finally took off. At the check in counter the same attendant told me there was a problem with my ticket. He handed to his co-worker who played on the computer for a minute and said \"You've been randomly upgraded to business class. Have a nice flight...\" I was too confused/shocked to thank them, and just let the stewardess guide me to my ridiculously big and comfy seat. Best flight ever.\n\ntl;dr: I was nice to an overworked airline worker and was 'randomly' upgraded to business class on a long international flight. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I was in the drive through at a chick-fil-a and it took somewhere around 5-7 minutes total, from first entering the drive through to receiving my food. When I got to the window to pay the girl apologized for it taking so long, saying that they had to cook more french fries. She then said that my order was free.\n\nShe was hot too, it totally made my day.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I went to a pizza place and order a slice of Hawaiian (as I do quite often) for $2.75 and this time I only have $2.25. I apologized and he said \"Don't worry, it's free.\" I thanked him but I really hate being such a deadbeat. I tried to give him the money I had and told him I would get back to him, but he just smiled and put it in the tip jar. The next day I came in and tossed $5 in the jar. Now I just tip him every time, and that gets other customers to tip as well. He is well-renowned as a nice guy around campus.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I was working in big-box retail last christmas [for all intents and purposes Wal-Mart, but not USA]. I was on checkouts on christmas eve, and while it wasn't completely insane it was still reasonably busy. I completed yet another trolley-load of christmassy stuff for a customer, and after I handed her her receipt, she handed me the chocolate bar that she bought, and said \"This is for you for serving me on christmas eve\". Greatly restores my faith in customers :)",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Caught the last bus home and it was snowing it down something chronic. It only went as far as the town center so I was in for a 20 minute walk after getting off. Bus driver, realising I was getting off at the last stop, asked where I lived. Happened to be quite close to his route back to the depot and he dropped me off at my door. \n\nLegend.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "i went to this restaurant with my grand mother and one of the waiter came to apologies to her. She had in fact already went to the restaurant early in the morning to book a table, and a waiter unintentionally dropped a box on her foot, she had to go to the drugstore to buy bandage etc... so the waiter gave her money to cover the bandage charges, and offered us 2 cocktails. After the lunch they told us that we didnt need to pay for the lunch. it was pretty expensive so we were both really happy.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I was working retail in a high end electronics department. I was at the register with a 30ish, professionally dressed woman when a guy came up and asked me a question. I answered it. He asked another. I explained I was with the woman, and would be with him next. He said it was his last question, so I answered it.\n\nOf course, he asked yet another question. \"Let me see if I can find someone to help you.\" I said looking around but seeing all my co-workers with customers already.\n\nHe assured me again it was his last question. \n\n\"Look,\" said the young woman, \"he is being very nice and professional. He has to be. I don't. So let me tell you what he wants to tell you. Fuck off and wait your turn.\"\n\nHe stood quietly and demurely until we were done. I gave her the previous week's sale price.\n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I had one of those horribly tragic events happen to me a few years ago when I was in college. I was horribly depressed, but finally I got out of bed and went to the diner for some food. Everyone there knew something was wrong with me -- scruffy face, dirty clothes, bags under my eyes -- so no one wanted anything to do with me.\n\nI got some pancakes, didn't touch them. When the server come back to get my plate, she put her hand on my back and asked, \"What's wrong?\"\n\nAnd I cried like a little baby, uncontrollably. She wasn't awkward or uncomfortable toward me. Then she said the food was on the house and that I could sit there as long as I wanted. \n\nIt was, for the next few weeks, a safe place for me to be.\n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "A few years ago, I bought my sister's kids a game set from Cranium for Christmas and had it drop-shipped. It arrived in good time and all, but a few days before Christmas my sister's house burned down. Luckily everyone was out visiting at the time, but they lost everything. \n\nI called Cranium with the intent of buying another set, but when I explained what had happened, they said not to worry about it and sent out a replacement set for free.\n\nGiven how upset and traumatized everyone was about the house (my sister, her kids and my gran actually drove up the drive singing carols on their way back from a lights display when they discovered the house in full blaze), this was just one of those amazing things that makes it all that much more bearable. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I was working at Arby's and some guy spilled coke all over the lobby. He came up to tell me about it and shook my hand afterward. He slipped me a 5 during the handshake. Of course, if my manager had seen me accepting a tip, I would have been fired, so this guy actually managed to conceal the money to help me out. It doubled my earnings for the hour to a whooping 10! Most people made a mess and never even apologized or thought about it. This guy was awesome. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "When I was stationed at Cherry Point, NC, I'd go to one of the local Japanese restaurants by myself for an Asahi and some sushi. On one occasion, it took a while for the sushi to come out, although I didn't really notice or care -- I was enjoying the beer & talking to my folks on the phone. Apparently the sushi chef felt bad, though, because he finally brought out a comically large tray of nigiri -- easily double what I had ordered -- to apologize for the delay. So good.\n\nKabuto in Morehead City, btw.\n\nEdit: Left an awesome tip, naturally.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "* Christmas a few years ago got tipped $100. The rule is everyone who works Christmas splits the tips of just that day. (Coffee shop.)\n\n* We have 2 guys who always come in at night and get whatever we want to make them really. They gave me some cigars one holiday, have bought us food from a restaurant close by and actually brought us homemade food before. Probably some of the nicest guys I've ever met in my life.\n\n* Another regular buys us tons of bagels about once a month, just because she wants to.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "In High School I picked this girl up for prom and took her to what I thought was a nice Mexican resturaunt. I had been there once before and it was decked out with all kinds of decoration and had good food. But upon arriving this time, it had been converted into a sports bar and grill. I didn't try to pretend that I knew in advanced that it was a sports bar because I was wearing a suit and tie and she was wearing a nice dress and it was made clear from the moment we stepped through the door that we were WAY overdressed. I explained to the greeter that I made a mistake but said I'd stay and try their food because we'd be late if we try to find another place before the dance.\n\nWe were taken to a table which happened to be up inside a full size boxing ring with the ropes around us, and I had a grilled chicken salad. The greeter came by again and asked how the food was, and it was honestly one of the best grilled chicken salads I had ever had and I told him that. He let us finish our meal, leaving us the ticket to pay up front at the register when we left.\n\nWhen we go up to leave, we went to the register to pay and he confirmed that I thought the food was great and that I'd return again, and then he took the ticket, stabbed it through the reciept stack poker (whatever those things are called) and said, \"This ones on me.\" Apparently, he was more than just a greeter.\n\nUnfortunately the bitch I took prom had sex with someone else after the dance, another girl who actually wanted me to take her along had her heart broken, and the bar and grill closed due to low customer turnout.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "When I was in college, I had a problem with my car. I could not get it to go above 25 miles an hour, even when I pressed the gas to the floor. I took it to a few mechanics who, without even looking at it, told me I needed a new transmission. I can't remember how much they wanted, but for a broke college student, it was a fortune.\n\nI was ready to go back to my apartment and beg my parents for some money when I spied a local family-owned garage. I pulled in and an old man - greasy overalls, dirty ball cap, match stick in his mouth; the works - came out and asked if he could help. I explained my problem and told him that I probably needed a new transmission. He humphed at my suggestion and asked me to pop the hood. He had me start the engine, gun the gas and then had me shut it off. He walked to the back of the garage and got a can of WD-40 and sprayed it on a spot on my engine, then had me start it up again and gun the gas. Problem solved! I couldn't believe it; he told me that the butterfly valve to my fuel injector was gummed shut.\n\nI asked him how much for solving my problem and he said nothing; just promise to come back to him to get my oil changed and for a yearly check-up on my car. I gratefully agreed and until I moved away after graduation, went back to him faithfully. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I don't go to restaurants too often in order to save cash, but every now and again I'll head out. A couple of months ago I was out to eat with some friends and wouldn't you know it but *that guy* happened to be at the table next to us. He customized the hell out of his order, going so far as to tell the waitress exactly how he wanted the food laid out on his plate, how he wanted to vegetables diced up, and how he wanted the food sauced. We all decided that even if she managed to take the best notes in the world there was no chance it would come out the way he wanted. Keeping in mind that this place is [relatively] quick order Mexican food, we were unfortunately proven to be correct and he read her the riot act.\n\n\nOn top of that he ordered the manager over, badmouthed her, the other wait staff, and cooks up and down, and went so far as to say he wished he could throw his dish out the window because he was so mad. The poor server looked like somebody had backed over her dog, then run it over a few more times just to make sure it was good and dead. After that she did her best to keep the guy happy, but as you might imagine nothing was meeting his expectations that evening.\n\n\nDespite the jerk she was dealing with at the next table she did a great job with the service for my friends and I. As we were getting ready to leave I paid my tab and left a 50% tip along with a note telling her I was leaving a bit extra to make up for the jerk at the next table. Before I could even get to the door she ran over to the hostess stand and with an ear-to-ear grin thanked me profusely and told me to request her the next time I came in. I did, and when I got my tab my entree was on the house!\n\n**TL;DR - left a big tip for a server who was getting verbally abused by a customer and she gave me a free dinner the next time I came in.**",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "One time, I was wandering around in a grocery store and saw a 20$ bill on the floor. Checked if someone is looking and picked it up. I stayed near to see if someone is looking for it and a moment after that, I see this old man looking around the floor all puzzled and worried. I came up to him and asked him if this was his holding the bill in my hand. The look he gave me... \"Thank you... thank you...\" He said quietly. Words can't express how grateful he was. \nI felt so bad for him because he looked somewhat poor and all. In the same time, I felt really good for not taking that money. It made my day.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I went to a Japanese place for lunch one day (like a Benihana) and they were unusually full. Our orders took about an hour to come in and I was just chatting with my coworkers the whole time and the food wasn't cold or anything, but the management came up and insisted we have the food for free. Extra awesome because it is generally expensive food.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "One time during the winter break, when I used to worked as the cashier at the concession stand in a movie theater, I took an order from an elderly lady who was pretty nice to me as a customer since most of them are in rush and rude. After I rang up her order and gave her her foods, she then asked if I could give her change for a twenty. So I gave her two tens and she then gave back one of the ten to me and said \"Merry Christmas\" I will always remember her since she was nice to me and gave me ten bucks as a tip since most of my tips are anywhere from a quarter to a dollar if I am lucky! ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This isn't really a server/customer story, but just something that made me believe in karma all over again!\nI was at a 4-day music festival last summer, and we had driven about 2,000 miles to get there from home. On the last night of the festival, I somehow dropped and lost my wallet amongst a crowd of 50,000+ people. I spent the entire night calling my bank, canceling cards, and waiting by the Lost & Found in hopes that someone would return it. I felt hopeless; being 2,000 miles from home, now with no drivers license, debit/credit cards, cash, and for some reason I also had my SS card in there too!!\nWe drove home, all the while I was planning how I was going to replace all that I had lost (realizing it was going to be exponentially harder to replace my license with my SS card missing too). The very next day, I received a message on Facebook from a woman I didn't know. She had found my wallet laying on the ground at the festival, saw that I was a long ways from home, and was determined to find me.\nFacebook! Of all places! She express-mailed my wallet, and I told her to keep all the cash that was inside. And guess who's also getting a free ticket to next year's festival :)))",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "It wasn't specifically one thing that a waitress did, but there used to be a waitress at one of the restaurants I usually go to that was so sunny and upbeat that I if I had a down day, I would go to the restaurant just to be cheered up by her personality.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "my sister and i were flying to vegas to celebrate a friend's 21st birthday, and i had driven part way (2 hr drive) to our mom's house the night before to shorten the trip to the airport...and i forgot my fucking wallet at home. \n\ni realized this as we were on our way to the airport. i had no acceptable forms of ID, but my mom happened to dig up a photocopy of my license back at her house for some reason. needless to say we missed the original flight while searching her house/calling the airline.\n\nwe ended up getting on the next flight and the security people actually let me through with a *photocopied* license, along with everything else i had in my purse...check book, i think safeway receipts, etc., and my sister verifying my birthday and address.\n\ni was shocked that TSA would actually be nice and understanding in that situation! i usually get yelled at in airport security because my name on my license isn't my full legal name.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Four of us with long hair and very little money were packed in a '63 Ford Falcon pulling a U-Haul trailer from Ohio to Arizona. Long hair on guys was still a huge issue in the midwest. It was getting dark on the first night and we realized that the trailer lights weren't working. The only service station that was open would have nothing to do with us. Three huge guys in suits who were getting gas, walked over and asked if they could help. To our astonishment, they worked on the wiring for about 20 minutes. One guy took off his jacket and crawled under the trailer. Whispering to ourselves, we decided that these guys were probably narcs and might actually have been following us. But they got our lights working, wished us a good trip, and then, before getting back into their car, one of them handed us a business card and said, \"Next time, give EZ-Haul a try.\" They were EZ-Haul sales reps.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "A frequent visitor to Bob Evans, an older gentleman asked how the tips were one day. I replied that we were slow and I had about $10 in my pocket. He then asked how many waitresses there were. I responded \"5.\" He then handed me a $50 bill and told me to evenly distribute it among the servers. I told him that was all too kind and he didn't have to but he got in my face and told me to take it. I did and went to the register and got five 10-dollar bills and told the other servers about what had happened. They said if it were them, they would've kept all of it to themselves. I just told them that's the difference between you and me. (Not being self-righteous.) So we all ended up with 10 extra bucks in our pockets that day thanks to one person.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I worked in a warehouse liquor store for about a year. Our prices were not the best in town, by any stretch of the imagination, but we never claimed to have hot prices. Our goal was to provide the absolute widest selection around, which we did. Often times, people would come to us for the sole purpose of finding things they simply couldn't get anywhere else. This led to many angry customers complaining about our prices. \n\nSometimes, however, people really decided to take it out on the cashiers. Having absolutely zero say on prices, and having no course of action against these angry customers (short of calling a manager over, which, in my opinion, makes you look weak in the face of confrontation), I was resigned to simple keep a smile on my face and continue ringing the customer out. \n\nOne day I had a customer come in for a few cases of beer that he was unable to purchase at any other store in the area. When he came to the register he began with his spiel:\n\nHim - \"I just don't see how you people stay in business with prices like this. Every time I come in this store there is never anyone shopping. Your prices are OUTRAGEOUS and I wish I didn't have to spend my money at your store.\" \n\nMe - \"Were you able to find everything you were looking for today?\" \n\nHim - \"I mean, I would never shop in this fucking place if it weren't for the fact that I couldn't get this beer anywhere else. You god damned people are a joke! It just pisses me off that you think you can get away with this!\" \n\nI just smiled and continued to ring his order, effectively tuning him out by this point. He was starting to get very heated, and was really getting in my face about the prices. \n\nAt this point, the customer behind him in line got involved. \n\nCustomer 2 - \"Why the hell do you come in here if it is such a problem. I'm sure everyone here would be happy to never have to deal with people like you. Secondly, why would you take out your rage on the cashier, as if there is anything they can do about it? Why don't you do everyone, including other customers, a favor and stop coming here if you hate it so much?\" \n\nThe irate customer was red as a beet, and obviously very angry, but kept his trap shut the rest of the transaction. He mumbled something about never coming to our store again, but didn't say it directly to me. That customer made my day, and even apologized for the guy's behavior to me. \n\ntl;dr A very irate customer lost his shit about prices, and a second customer told him where to stick it. Made my day.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I used to work as a barista at a busy (non-Starbucks) coffee shop in Philadelphia. Because of the nature of the shop, we built a pretty good rapport with our customers, and one of our regulars brought me in a 40-50 year old, unopened bottle of Johnny Walker as a Christmas gift. Cheers.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I was in Tokyo this summer with a friend, and we decided to blow a large part of our budget for the trip and take a helicopter tour of the city. Through some confusion of subways and addresses and such, we missed our scheduled flight. The staff told us they had no other flights scheduled for the day, but they'd see if they could arrange something. After about fifteen minutes they put us on a [Sikorsky S76](http://www.flickr.com/photos/eliblack2/3627186277/in/set-72157621188897382/) by ourselves, and flew us around. I can't imagine that what we paid even covered the cost of starting one of those up. It absolutely made my day. Thanks, Excel Air Service!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I use to work at McDonalds and I was never exactly happy to be there. One day a man came through the drive through and he sounded pretty annoyed.\n\nHe asked for a double cheeseburger with EXTRA PICKLES! and the way he said it made it sound pretty important to him that he get extra pickles. Now when a customer asks for extra X we are told how much extra X we are allowed to give so that's what we usually do.\nBut for some reason I felt like sticking it to this guy and I gave him a metric assload of pickles surrounded by an afterthought of a double cheeseburger. \n\nI was laughing to myself thinking \"HAH That guy won't know what to think when he opens his burger and it's 85% pickles!\" \n\nAbout 4 minutes later I recognize the voice from the counter this time the man had come inside. I thought \"SHIT! This guys gonna complain of my jackassery!\" so I peered out through the little hood area to see what was going on and he had the burger in his hands.\nHe asked the manager to come over and I knew this was it. I was about to be chewed out for being a dick, not that I cared about the job or anything but I hated having to talk to managers. \n\nSo the manager heads for the guy with the pickleburger in his hand and the man holds the burger open and he calls the manager by name. So great he KNOWS my manager too this is perfect. \n\nthe man says \"SEE THIS! THIS IS HOW I WANT MY BURGERS! WHEN I SAY EXTRA PICKLES I REALLY MEAN EXTRA PICKLES! So I wanted to come in and say thanks to the guy making the food today for finally not being a bitch and skimping on the extra pickles\"\n\nNot exactly nice or anything but it was an interesting experience.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I don't know if the below is the nicest, but it is the first such story that made an impression on me as a kid.\n\nI was maybe 11 years old, and I got a job throwing a paper route. I didn't mind getting up and throwing the route in the early morning, but I hated going door to door every month to try and get people to pay their paperbill. This was several decades ago, long before people would subscribe using their credit card, etc etc.\n\nOne very old lady asked me to put her paper in a particular place near her front steps. As an 11 year old boy, this was a bit of a bummer, as it was more fun and challenging to throw the paper from the street and just aim in the vicinity of the front door and see how accurate I could get from throw to throw. Mondays were the best - the paper was thin, and with a crisp fold, you could get the paper to arc horizontally on the air and steer it into spots that a straight throw couldn't get to.\n\nAnyway, I oblige and put the lady's paper where she asked. Come the end of the first month, I stop by her house one evening to collect the prior month's bill. In addition to paying, she had already assembled all the rubber bands I had used to fold her paper that month. She returned these as well. Every month from then until she died she did the same. My parents explained she grew up in the Depression, and hence valued small things more than the typical person would. Eventually she told me she thought it was a better use of all our times -- if I didn't mind -- if she used a stamp and envelop and mailed me a check each month. Of course I didn't mind, as I hated collecting. When the check arrived each month, it always had the prior month's rubber bands.\n\nWith no intention to be cheesy or maudlin about this, I think about her from time to time, and the implicit lessons in her actions. As I see it, the lessons range from taking care with resources, avoiding a disposable society, consideration of others, and unrushed thoughtfulness.\n\ntl;dr: old woman returns rubber bands to her paper boy each month, causing an 11 year old boy to Think About Things.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
If you haven't seen "Das Leben der Anderen" or "The Lives of Others," you are missing out. (SPOILERS Inside) | Incredible film. On first viewing I felt like Wiesler's motivations were a mystery. I watched immediately after and started to a get a feel for the depth of the movie.
At which point did Wiesler start to change? Was it when Jerska died and he heard the music?
Why was he so sympathetic. Was it because he saw corruption in the GDR, or because he couldn't connect with people in real life (the prostitute scene was enlightening) and felt connected to people he spied on? | 86 | [
{
"body": "I watched this with my father who grew up in the USSR and actually honeymooned with my mom in East Berlin. He was nearly crying by the end.\n\nAs for Wiesel, I think he lost all faith in his government when he realized Dreyman was being monitored because the official had a thing for CMS. Then he started reading Dreyman's books and listening to his music and he felt he identified more with the people he was spying on than his superiors. The so-called \"enemies of the state\" were his countrymen more-so than all those \"loyal\" to the GDR.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "This truly is a fantastic film. I watch a decent number of foreign films, but I always wish I spoke the language to fully appreciate the nuances of the filmmaker's vision. This film was recommended by a doctor I know, and I actually just added the DVD to my amazon cart a few hours ago.\n\nIf you enjoy quality films, this is one of them. Easily one of the best films I have ever seen.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I thought it was from the beginning when Weisler saw the actress in the theater. He does a double take when he sees her which I took to mean that he kind of fell in love at first sight. The rest of the movie was him trying to be with her. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What is your personal natural temperature range (coldest and hottest weather you've experienced)? | My personal coldest was -30 degrees (not counting wind chill) Fahrenheit in Weare, NH.
My personal hottest was 120 degrees Fahrenheit in Las Vegas, NV
My personal natural temperature range is 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
Feel free to share any experiences you may have had with balls-cold freezers or ridonkulously hot saunas, but this is more of a question of the hottest temperature that you've experienced which might have hit a weather.com thermometer.
EDIT: please mention if you're talking about the natural temperature or temperature with wind chill.
I know my range is pretty big, but I'm sure there are some badass redditors out there who have been in waaay more extreme environments than myself.
| 4 | [
{
"body": "-36. thats fucking cold. northern vt. EDIT: not including wind chill. EDIT EDIT: wasn't really that windy.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Seattle sometimes gets into the 90's, last summer it went over 100 degrees for 3 days too. Coldest it ever gets is around freezing or just below. Nothing drastic. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I was working a job in a place called Zama city, Alberta. Right after Christmas of 08' when the thermometer was reading -53 degrees Celsius, wind chill was bringing us close to -70. Hottest is likely around 35-40 degrees Celsius. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Grew up in Syracuse, so we got -30+ without wind chill a few times a year; coldest was probably around -50? I live New Orleans now, so it's pretty much 95+ with 100% humidity for three months of the year. Anyone who's been to NOLA knows that with that kind of heat, you just don't expend any excess energy. Even talking is a well thought out plan.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I have worked outside all day when it was -30 F, but it was sunny so it felt like -20. I hiked all day in tne Utah desert near Capitol Reef , and at 10:00pm the temp was still 106F. I prefer hot over cold.In spite of that,I would love to go to the South Pole just to experience it.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Your thoughts on using the Dewey Decimal System to organize your library/books? | It probably wouldn't be very practical with a small collection, but I hope to one day have a whole library (when I move out of my parents, haha!), and I've been looking into the dewey decimal system, but all I see is disappointment. While I give the man credit for the number thing, I find his method of categorizing is rather ethnocentric..
For example, 7/10 classes in "Religion" are about Christianity--which, while I appreciate that it is the most popular religion in the world, "Islam" doesn't even have a class.. I'm not sure why this upsets me, seeing as how I'm an atheist, but it's the little things like that that turn me away..
So... What's your opinion? What would you change? How do you organize your books/library? | 7 | [
{
"body": "Use the [Library of Congress Classification](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress_Classification). A lot of books come with the classification already stamped beside the copyright info. This is the system that every university library that I've ever been to uses. \n\nActual librarians are even moving away from the Dewey Decimal system. A friend of mine is doing a Masters in Library Science and she told me that them learning the Dewey Decimal system is sort of like Navy pilots learning Morse code. It'll do in a pinch, but there are much better ways of doing things.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Foolish human race! Organizing your knowledge by category just made it easier to absorb. Dewey, you fool! Your decimal system has played right into my hands!\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I am surprised there are not more library nerds here on reddit.\n\nRedditors would most likely be more interested in faceted classifications: [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faceted_classification) \n\n[Colon Classification](http://kelschindexing.com/colonclassification.html) by S. R. Ranganathan. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_classification)\n\nI also really like the [Bliss](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bliss_bibliographic_classification) classification. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You might like reading [A Bibliophile, 3,600 Friends and a System](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/10/garden/10trad.html) from the New York Times. It's about a librarian at the New York Public Library who wrote a book called *The New York Public Library Guide to Organizing a Home Library*.\n\nMy library is very roughly organized by size and subject. Fiction is alphabetically organized by author into three areas: mass market paperbacks, trade paperbacks, and the rest. If I had them intermixed I couldn't pack them as densely and I'd need at least one more book case, and I don't have the room. My non-fiction is less organized.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
/r/sex: What's the funniest thing that's ever happened to you during sex? | The next two stories involve my boyfriend. In the middle of having a sex marathon, he got thirsty. Being the wonderful girlfriend that I am, I walked out naked and got him a glass of water. I sat close to him while he started drinking it and something made him cough while drinking. Unfortunately, his head was turned in my direction and he spat water all over me. Long story short, I was wet in more ways than one.
Story 2: My boyfriend and I use lube before sex, and I usually lube him up first. One time, I decided to do it differently and lube myself up, and he leaned in with a sexy look on his face and said to me, "Ooh, you lubed up your cock for me?" ... I nearly died laughing. That was the most awkward thing that's ever happened during sex for me. | 42 | [
{
"body": "My girlfriend and I were having sex in a hotel room in Bradenton, Florida somewhere around 2005. We decided to get frisky and move things onto the balcony, as it was 3 am, and we didn't think there was much risk of getting caught... it excited us really.\n\nAfter a few minutes of going at it from behind, and her holding onto the railing, the railing gave way, sending my girlfriend head first into the concrete (about 10-15 feet below) and me headfirst into the pool. \n\nLuckily, I was ok, but my girlfriend suffered a broken elbow from trying to break her fall, and we both suffered the humiliation of being locked out of our hotel room, naked, and with one of us injured.\n\nI didn't want to move her, obviously, so I had to go to the front desk, where they were already laughing up a storm. Obviously someone had heard the fall, and looked outside to see what was going on, and called the front desk.\n\nThey gave me the key to the room, and called an ambulance for my girlfriend. Luckily we were able to get clothing on before the police and ambulance arrived, but it didn't matter, as the story quickly spread to the paramedics, and the police officer. We didn't get into any trouble, but we did get an offer to stay for free, as often as we'd like in any of their hotels over the next 365 days. \n\nWe realized this was just to keep us from suing over the faulty railing, but I think we were both a bit too embarrassed to appear in court and sue them. \n\nMy girlfriend had some scrapes and a broken elbow, nothing too serious. She never talked to me again after that night.\n",
"score": 65
},
{
"body": "The funniest thing to happen to me was when my fiancee farted during sex, this was recently, and she was pregnant meaning weak bladder control. I burst out laughing after she farted and then she burst out laughing and couldnt stop and pissed all over the bed, causing me to laugh more and in turn her to laugh more in shock and embarrassment and then she farted again before running to the bathroom.",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "Due to a certain position, the thrusting became an action similar to a pneumatic pump. Each thrust in pushed air into my ex, and none of the outstrokes let any out.\n\nAfter five+ thrusts, I could NO LONGER FEEL HER VAGINA. It was a balloon and I could not touch the sides from the inside.\n\nWe both looked at each other in confusion and horror for a split second, before the next 5+ thrusts were accompanied by MASSIVE queefs. We had to stop :-\\",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "Not sure this is really funny, cuz it was really painful during. But we laughed about it afterward.\r\n\r\nBasically I got a HUGE cramp while doing my girfriend one night after work. She was on top, and I was under her grinding up into her. Then suddenly my whole stomach cramped up, like Godzilla had just stomped on my intestines.\r\n\r\nBut she felt me stiffen up under her and saw my expression, and must have thought I was cumming. So she began bouncing even harder and faster.\r\n\r\nHer: oh yes baby oh yes, do it! Do it in me!\r\n\r\nMe: YEEEIIIEEEIIARRRRGH!\r\n\r\nThat's pretty much verbatim too.",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "About an hour ago I was getting head in my room with the lights on. The way the light is positioned it puts a outline on the window blinds. Someone walked by and threw a snowball at the window as they could clearly see what was going on. She laughed and then proceeded to finish.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "One time, my bf at the time and I were going at it and I was on top. He told me he was going to come so I got off and started giving him a hand job to finish and he came, literally, ALL OVER his own face. I laughed so hard I fell off the bed because he had been bugging me that he wanted to do it to me... he never asked again after that. Hahahaha...",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "1) Farted the very first time my (now) wife had sex. \n2) While eating out my wife I burped. Neither one of us could stop laughing for a long time. \n\nI have to point out that this is NOT a regular occurrence and were in fact 8 years apart.\n",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Not me, happened to my friend. He was having sex with his girlfriend in doggy style when he pulled out to catch it in his hand (because his GF was a prude). So he jumps up to his feet on his bed afterward. Trouble is, his fan was running on high and he got hit directly in the forehead and knocked back off his bed. He then proceeds to place his hand over the wound due to the pain. That's right, the catching hand is the holding hand. Sperm all in his wound. It doesn't act like the sealant that you think it would. He wouldn't tell us that story for about a week. We kept asking, hey man, how did you get those stitches in your forehead? Oh you know....just something. ",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I don't know about you guys but when things get sweaty enough, boob farts can be pretty hysterical when you lie chest to chest..",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "An ex and I were in Cleveland National Forest, outside of San Diego. She liked going at it outdoors, and she just pulled me off the walking path, we hid around the hill, and started going at it. Turns out, there's another path about 25 feet from where we are, and some hikers walked by. She has a wicked sense of humor and starts laughing very loudly, but I didn't know why, because I didn't see them. Going limp because of the laughter, I start thinking wtf? And then I saw the hikers. \n\nNow, I am a grower, not a shower, so my dick calls a quick retreat. So, there I am with my pants down, my girl bent over laughing so hard she's snorting, and I have a bad case of shrinkage, while being stared at in disbelief by the hikers.\n",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "We had this sweet mirrored closet right next to our bed so i was riding my boyfriend reverse cowgirl with our legs off the side of the bed and we were watching ourselves in the mirror. After we finished i jumped off to go clean up, but his cock had bent down and without me on it, it sprang back up like a catapult and launched cum all over the mirror, into my boyfriend's face and into his mouth. he didn't think it was all that hilarious, but i couldn't stop laughing for days every time i caught a look at the smears on the mirror!",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "My (now ex) boyfriend and I were having sex doggy style. He was always a bit of a weird guy, but I never expected what he said to come out of his mouth.\n\nAnyways we were going at it and as he's thrusting he leans in and goes \"I want you to bah like a goat\". All I remember is going O.o and literally pushing him off of me. I was *not* happy about it, didn't laugh about it until after we broke up and I realized what a fucking dork he was.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "It's funny only in retrospect (I've told this story here before in the [\"sex injury\"](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/a0a8e/i_just_got_my_first_sexrelated_injury_please_tell/c0f9g82) thread a while ago...\n\n>I am deathly allergic to that gentle warming sensation shit they put on some brands of condoms... I didn't know this until it was too late...\n\n>\"Look what I got us\" he said as he opened a new box\n\n>\"Ooh, neat!\" I said\n\n>I could tell that something was seriously wrong just a few minutes into it. It wasn't just \"warming\" it was fucking burning, chemically burning actually... I have pretty sensitive skin in general, so I just assumed I was chaffed from an earlier session and this stuff was just really irritating me... I told him it was uncomfortable and he pulled out. We had been really into it (this was like our 5th time together) and I didn't want to stop, but we didn't have any more regular condoms to use, so I pulled it off of him and go down... I was still burning down there, and couldn't wait to get in the shower to rinse it out; but I really wanted to finish him off first...\n\n>I suddenly felt my chest start to tighten and my lips start to feel funny... Within 10 minutes my mouth was swollen and raw, and my eyes were puffy and watering... I couldn't breathe, and my asthma inhaller was doing NOTHING to help... VERY UN-SEXY...\n\n>We had to go to urgent care for a breathing treatment, and the best part was that I couldn't talk because I couldn't breathe, so this guy I hadn't known for that long (who turned out to be surprisingly shy outside of the bedroom) had to explain what was going on...\n\n>Humiliating!\n\n>(Also, I was peeling down there for about a week and a half... Like I had a really bad sunburn... ICK!)\n\n",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "We were on a bed that had a headboard that functioned as a shelf, with some stuff on it (photos, etc). One of those huge Yankee Candles fell off the shelf AND HIT ME IN THE EYE. I yelled, but I think he thought I was in the moment. And I let him finish. \n\nI'm laughing about it now, but damn it was awful at the time. He didn't believe me at first when I told him, but my eye was swelling almost instantly. I had quite a shiner the next morning. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Man, I don't think I can even come close to most of these, but probably the funniest thing that's happened to me is this. I'm on top and her legs are over my shoulders, and I'm at kind of a funny angle. The moment she comes, she ejects me with her pc muscles of steel, and I shoot right out with a super loud popping noise, like the sound you can make by popping your lips apart, but 10 times louder.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How should I pimp my house? | My wife and I just bought a house, and I'm currently wiring it for ethernet. What are some other fun and nerdy ways I can automate or improve my new home? | 5 | [
{
"body": "I said it before and I will say it again, if you don't have a secret door to a secret room, then I won't have anything to do with it.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Home theater, smoking lounge, wine cellar, arcade room. LED light hidden well enough that they cannot be seen during the day but when nighttime comes you can make any kind of ambiance that you desire. Gun room equipped with 18th century muskets, 14th century swords and battle axes, a suit of armor, a stuffed moose head, and a fucking canon in case of break in. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": ">How should I pimp my house?\n\nEasily, don't make any mortgage payments and let the bank take care of the rest.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "RFID entry system. Unlocking the door is just a matter of waving a keyfob in front of a sensor. If you lose a fob its no worry, just reprogram your system so the lost fob is useless. I use a DC electric door strike on my door, so it only makes a soft click. You can use an AC one if you want it to buzz, or use a mag-lock (silent), or an electric dead-bolt (less door frame modification). ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
[offer] I will draw you a spiffy picture of almost anything. | In order to brake the monotony of my job, I like to do a little "sketch sparring", so the little creative juices left in my head don't up and leave me for a better looking dude with more money....
So let's play a game,
Spit out an idea... and I will provide you a spiffy drawing in the same vein as [this](http://i.imgur.com/Ml31x.jpg), [this](http://i.imgur.com/Scq3J.jpg) and [this](http://i.imgur.com/i58ib.jpg). They are 15-20 min exercises, so those asking for high resolution album art, or desktop wallpapers may come away disappointed.
Also, anything I do will end up in the [Reddart](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddart/) sub... cause redditor art kicks ass.
EDIT: I've gotten a couple PM's from other artists regarding color... and I thought I'd share a tip with anyone who gives a rats ass. If you use Photoshop, make sure you are using the Apple color picker, not Adobe's. Goethe's color wheel, which Adobe, Pantone, and many others heavily rely on, was theory derived from a paper medium, where as Apple's was re-calibrated from scratch with only the pixel in mind. The Red, Green and Blue areas of the wheel take up more of the spectrum, and align differently with it's compliments. Crazy, huh? It's the reason why the "feel" of Pixar's color palettes were so dramatically more alive than the palettes of other animation houses at the time... they were the first to switch completely over to Apple's wheel. Preferences>General>Color Picker>Apple. That is all, carry on. | 573 | [
{
"body": "Based on [this post](http://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/aqbk5/so_tonight_i_broke_some_poor_teenagers_brains/c0iur5f), would you be willing to draw a THREE HORSE GOAT LAMA HEADED DEMON? \n\nP.S. You should read the original post from that topic, it's hilarious :)",
"score": 711
},
{
"body": "draw me a platypus, tap dancing on a wheel of cheddar, wearing a snorkel mask, tutu, clown shoes, with a spatula in one hand and an umbrella in the other, blocking the cherry kool-aid rain. OOOH YEEEAH!\n\nreadyyyyyyyyyy... go!",
"score": 357
},
{
"body": "I'd love a picture of a King Cheetah making a silly face with a black ferret/weasel somewhere in the picture trying to eat a sandwich that is too big to fit in it's mouth. If you don't wanna draw all those cheetah spots I DON'T BLAME YOU, FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THEM LOL",
"score": 51
},
{
"body": "If your offer is still valid, there are a load of requests still pending in [this thread](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/9j075/what_would_you_like_on_a_tshirt_ill_draw_anything/) for t-shirt art.\n\nI'd like a happy spider wearing a monocle and stovepipe hat simultaneously playing all of the instruments in Rock Band, please :)",
"score": 45
},
{
"body": "I would like a cuttlefish with a monocle carefully examining a cupcake, while a lovestruck octopus hides under a coconut watching for his reaction.",
"score": 43
},
{
"body": "A Hornawk - A hornet and hawk, mixed. The size of a hawk. Four hawk wings. Talons. A big ass stinger. A beak, I suppose. The eyes of a hornet. Imagine a swarm of those motherfuckers and weep.\n\nIf you could draw one flying (maybe stinger down? attacking something? doesn't really matter) I'd be indebted.\n",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "Dude, this is definitely one of the neatest posts I've ever seen on reddit.\n\nI appreciate what you're doing here youngluck, these are all awesome.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "Bowser from super mario bros. 2 but he's got sunglasses on and he's looking over then going like \"wink\" looking all cool but he's got a double neck guitar and just wailing on it and notes are coming out of it but he's also on a surfboard so waves are coming up at the bottom and in cursive over top of it says \"Happy Birthday Rick\" and all this is on a pot leaf which is on a cross...\n\nso...\n\n* Bowser\n* Winking over Shades\n* Playing Double Neck Guitar with notes coming out of it\n* On a surfboard\n* \"Happy Birthday Rick\" above it in cursive\n* All in front of a pot leaf\n* Which is on a cross\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDS6UQpssSg",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Hmm. I'm on a windows machine, do you know if the windows colour picker does the same sort of thing as the apple? Or is there a way to get the apple colour picker for windows?",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "forget all the other ideas, just draw a pic of **one sexy ass fence slut.** \n\nyou know, like a white picket shorty just chillin' in her lingerie? just about any pic of a fence will get me off, thanks.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I just found this thread, if you're still doing them I'd love a drawn picture of me and my girlfriend, to give to her as a gift :)\n\nHer: http://i.imgur.com/cjY1V.jpg\n\nUs: http://i.imgur.com/YrULJ.jpg\n\nA drawn version of that 2nd image is fine, unless you want to do something creative ;-) Thanks!",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "A retarded looking Corgie standing on top of a couch with a smarter, but fatter Corgie standing on the floor yelling angrily while a man cooks bacon in the background. Also, everyone is about to be attacked by ninjas.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I have had this t-shirt design in my head for about 4 years but I cant draw for crap. The idea was spawned when the hyphy movement occured. I would like the center of the tshirt to be an anthropomorphic tree what is holding a beer and a fat spliff in two of its armlike trunks. It would show an underground scene as well showing the roots under the soil and fungal hyphae attached to the roots. (Trees have mutualistic associations with fungal hyphae which help them take up heavy metals from the soil and water and such that the roots cannot penetrate due to their increased size) The top slogan would read \"Trees get Hyphae\"",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I don't really have a request.... I just wanted to let you know that you are amazing, and you made me smile...",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "please draw a pic of a kid living in a post-apocalyptic burned-out city, sitting on the road with a somewhat steampunk-esque computer plugged in to something or other. Let's say he's hacking into the power grid or something.\n\nedit: pretty please?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Can you draw me a penguin riding a polar bear waving a sword and charging at an opposing army of walruses.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Warcraft characters ballroom dancing? Pretty please? My ballroom dance team made it's own guild in WoW. :D",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Here is a spiffy javascript snippet if you want to quickly display all of the images hotlinked in this (or any) post, just paste this in your address bar:\n\n javascript:%20var%20x=%20$(\".content\").find(\"a\").each(function(){var%20href=$(this).attr(\"href\");if((!$(this).hasClass(\"drowsapMorphed\"))%20&&%20($(this).next(\".drowsapMorphed\").length==0)%20&&%20href%20&&%20(href.indexOf('imgur')>=0%20||%20href.indexOf('jpeg')>=0%20||%20href.indexOf('jpg')>=0%20%20||%20href.indexOf('png')>=0)){var%20ext%20=(href.indexOf('imgur')>=0%20&&%20href.indexOf('jpg')<0%20&&%20href.indexOf('png')<0)%20?%20'.jpg'%20:'';%20var%20img%20=%20$(\"<a%20class='drowsapMorphed'%20href='\"+href+\"'%20target='blank'%20style='display:block'><img%20style='display:block;max-width:780px;'%20src='\"+href+%20ext+\"'%20/></a>\");$(this).after(img);}});",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "A Doberman pincher and a tabby cat sleeping like a lion and lamb. But with an evil looking manta shrimp hovering over them with menacing eyes. Those three are my pets and I always joke that the manta shrimp is the evilest creature in the house not the 100lb dog. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "A squad of Reddit aliens riding saddled velociraptors, assaulting the Kremlin with machine guns that shoot orangereds.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Two philoso-raptors with top hats playing chess while a meteor looms in the background and a bunch of other dinosaurs are running around on fire.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Wow, you are so talented. I hope I am not too late, but I always wanted to make an African anti-poaching comic book thingy, main character would have been this huge scary looking silverback gorilla riding this very pissed off rhino. I wanted the gorilla to have an AK47, maybe a military style helmet. If the gorilla had a name tag that said \"Hello my name is Steve\" that would be great. I probably am too late, but thanks anyway, I wish I could draw, I do trees OK, people look at them and say \"Oh nice tree\".",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Does anyone know a good way to deal with S.A.D.? | So every year around this time (depends how long I can stay positive) I go into a depression because of Seasonal Affective Disorder. After I become depressed I get severe anxiety and anxiety attack (which only worsen my depression). Basically until the sun starts coming out again I am less useful than a rock, I have tried the light therapy (half-assedly) and was wondering if anyone else knows any good ways to deal with it? Moving to a sunshine state is out of the question (for the time being).
Edit: I just finsihed watching The Lovely Bones, and now I am even more depressed! What a fucking sad movie... Why didn't someone warn me it was going to be that sad? | 4 | [
{
"body": "I might have got it for the first time this year, I live in Seattle. The sun broke through for about 10 minutes today while I happened to be outside, so I dropped everything and sat down on some steps. I was in heaven until the bastard clouds came back. I've been feeling like crap lately.\n\nFull spectrum lights in my studio didn't help, (at least they look nice). A lot of Seattleites take anti-depressants for it, or heroin.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "[Lightboxes](http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=lightbox+sad&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8) are supposed to be pretty effective.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I live in Seattle too and I use a dawn simulator to help me wake up in the dark hours. It is miraculous. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "SAD sucks. \n\nVitamin D has been very helpful for me. I started with 2,000 IUs daily a few years ago after my chiropractor mentioned that it might help with the effects of SAD. It used to be that winters were horrible for me. By March, ugh! Getting out of bed was a real effort.\n\nSince taking Vitamin D, I am fully functional during winter, without any unexplained depression. I *might* be a little less energetic than I am during the other seasons, but that could just be an aversion to being out in the cold.\n\nIt takes a couple of weeks to get into your system enough to notice any difference. It's very inexpensive. 100 tablets for around $5. (Be sure to get the 1000 IU. It comes in various IU strengths.)\n\nThere are some fascinating studies and research about Vitamin D in the last few years. They are finding it has far more health benefits than they thought and they are finding that most people are deficient. \n\nGood luck.\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I think I'm asexual. Is anyone else? How did you find out, and how did you deal with it? | First thing's first: I'm not a homosexual. I've been with women before... but lately I just don't feel the *need* to be with them anymore. I'd like nothing more than to be with someone and have love and companionship and all that BS but mentally I don't have any motivation to get the ball rolling again.
I'm hoping there are some other redditors out there who share my troubles, and perhaps have some advice on how to deal with it? | 6 | [
{
"body": "Check out AVEN, the asexual community online: asexuality.org. They're a great bunch of folks who deal with this question all the time.\nFirst off, realize that there's a huge diversity within asexuality. Eg, I'm not interested in sex but I am interested in romance and I have a sex drive; others have none of the above. Sex disgusts me; others are merely ambivilent. Asexuality is the most ambiguous sexual orientation. \nHowever, sexual orientation is generally the same. No one turns asexual or vice versa. If you feel your sex drive is drastically decreasing, it's probably not because of your orientation. Being depressed is the most common reason for decreased sex drive (I'm assuming you're not married) as well as side-effects of certain medications. \nI'm asexual. We deal with it the same way gay people do - either decide to not date or look for someone who's ok with not having sex or decide to have sex with someone of a different orientation and have sex anyway. It works out well for me because I don't want to be in a serious relationship anyway; even if I was sexual I probably wouldn't be having sex. What do you want to know?",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Any exmormons in the Olympia area up for a beer
social? | I haven't met many exmormons in Washington aside from a few of my dad's friends up in the Seattle area. If you are in the Olympia/Lacey/Tumwater area and are into beer... let me know. I'll get a social set up for all interested.
Just out of curiousity... what is your favorite beer?
Favorite Beer: Black Butte Porter
Runner Up: Black Boss Porter
First Porter: Polygamy Porter :) | 6 | [
{
"body": "Hey, I'm an exmo near seattle... but explaining to the TBM wife that I need some man-time to go meet with exmos and drink beer wouldn't go over well....",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Why I hate hearing people say they are praying for the people in Haiti. | (copied from my facebook note I just wrote, so this is also directed to theists)
This disaster has bothered me greatly. What also bothers me are those that will pray for god to help those affected. Why does this bother me? It just doesn't make any sense. Here's why.
Lets get a few things straight before we start. I'm going to assume in this note that there is a God for logical and reasoning purposes. Let's begin this thought experiment....
God is all-knowning
Therefore, God knew the Earthquake was going to happen, he must also have known the destruction and death it would have caused.
God is all-powerful
Therefore, God had the power to stop the earthquake from ever happening.
Because God knew this would happen, had the power to stop it, and since God controls the entire universe and holds all power to everything he indeed PLANNED for this to happen.
Therefore, this was an act of God.
The next question that can be asked is why did this happen? Nobody can say for sure. But most theists of any discipline would tell you that "God had a plan". But we already know that he had a plan because everything is controlled by him. So this answer just takes us in circles.
What we should really be asking is WHY did this happen? "God has a plan" is not a legitimate answer because we know that already. Lets break down what kind of 'act' this was by god.
Was it a good act from God?
No
Was it a bad act from God?
Yes.
Why would God bring down a terrible act upon people?
Because he was punishing them for something.
Thus, this earthquake was a punishment from God. Either that or he is 'testing' people's faith as he did in the book of Job.
( that would be like me beating my girlfriend, killing her family, and burning all her possessions just for the sake of 'testing' her love for me. That is SICK and DEMENTED for a person or a DEITY.)
If this was punishment from God, why did they deserve it? Are they more sinful than us? I guess we can't really answer that question. This is where I must stop. But Through logical reasoning of the nature of God we've come to the only conclusion one can:
That this earthquake was an act of god as punishment, presumably for the sinful way of life of the people of Haiti, and all those affected.
Can you see a problem with this logic? I hope so. Because this form can be followed for ANY DISASTER OR ACCIDENT to happen to ANYBODY EVER.
That time you lost your job? God is punishing you.
That time you broke your wrist? God is punishing you.
That time a family member died in a horrific car accident? God punished them.
9/11 terrorist attacks? ...sorry to say, but that was god killing those people as punishment.
Try it for yourself, simply start at the top and replace 'earthquake' with <your-own-disaster>.
I guess my point is:
Why pray for him to help? If he didn't want these people to suffer he wouldn't have planned for this to happen at all. | 6 | [
{
"body": "Reminds me of one my favorite Picard quotes: \n\nQ: \"Let us pray for understanding and compassion.\" \nPicard: \"Let us do no such damn thing!\"\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
No Duty on Photographic Equipment imported into Canada from the US | Hello All!
I have been doing some research on buying a Camera from the US instead of getting it up here, since it seems to be cheaper with taxes and shipping. After searching through the Canadian Tariffs lists, I found out that there is no Duty Tax on Photographic Equipment except for one-time use cameras.
Here is the [pdf](http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/trade-commerce/tariff-tarif/2010/01-99/ch90-eng.pdf) of the Customs Tariffs for some Electronics and some other stuff, Cameras start on page 8. | 18 | [
{
"body": "Just don't ship via UPS or they'll charge you regardless. Their brokerage fees tend to double the cost of anything you buy",
"score": 6
}
]
|
[8] DAE go on b34nz profile just to downvote his comments from time to time? | Can you get banned for it? If not, who's up for a daily trek over to his profile to reduce his karma down to the level it should be. That guy has no real karma! | 6 | [
{
"body": "Those who hate haters end up hating themselves.\n\nor\n\nYou cannot smother darkness, instead create light.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I am tired of the whole beanz thing. He is a dick, but I just don't ever think about him. Ever. I feel my life is better this way.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Getting an open source pdf printed and bound? | I was looking at MIT's SICP PDF and noticed that it was under an open-source license. I was thinking of printing it up and putting it in a binder, but then I remember the print-on-demand services, like Lulu. I didn't find anything about printing something other than your own stuff on those sites.
SICP goes for about $60 on amazon, $45 used. I would like to have a printed version so I don't have to switch from a PDF window to a screen when I'm doing the exercises, and so I can read it away from the computer. I stare at the screen 10-12 hours a day; I like the opportunity to get away from it!
Will I save any money having a PDF printed and bound on demand? Through whom can I do this? | 7 | [
{
"body": "Lulu won't give you any problems with this, I've inquired about the same thing, since I have some PDFs of public domain texts that are hundreds of pages. ",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Ladies of Reddit, I want to raise your awareness about a syndrome that 5-10% of women have, which often goes undiagnosed, and can have serious health repercussions. | I linked to a very simplistic description of it, but it's still good information. PCOS is something I take really seriously. I have a pretty bad case of it, and it went undiagnosed pretty much since I started my periods, 14 years ago.
After a week of testing (I was in a clinical research study) last fall, my doctor said that if I had a chance at having kids, I had to start asap. Which sucked, because I thought I had time.
And even if fertility isn't a concern of yours, the increase chance of diabetes, heart disease, ovarian cancer, and physical manifestations (facial hair/male pattern baldness/obesity/acne/skin tags) can your motivation for getting care.
EDIT: OMG, I'm sooooo sorry. I suuuck. I posted this, and my fiance came home, and we spent some time together and then went to bed, so I'm so sorry I left everyone hanging. When I couldn't sleep last night, I posted an apology in the comments below from my phone, and now I'm at a computer again (finally) so I can update!
here's the link I included (er, meant to include): http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/pcosinfo.html
Some answers to main questions:
I was diagnosed in March 09, Started seeing a reproductive endocrinologist July 09, was in a research study (as a control) in October and again in November (two parter) 09. The research study got me a shit ton of testing for free, and helped my doctor understand more about my situation, along with helping a study find out how sleep and the brain and diet and hormones all work together to help women with PCOS get more energy. It wasn't too bad, the "worst" part was 24 hour blood sampling, being hooked up with electrodes on my head, and the fat biopsy.
I started Met ER in November, worked my way up to 2000 mg, and had my first period in 9 months in December!!! Yay!
| 61 | [
{
"body": "OP is talking about [Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycystic_ovary_syndrome). My best friend found out she had it a few years back. It's really screwed with her future plans about having kids.",
"score": 24
},
{
"body": "I have this. It sucks big time...particularly for the side affects.\n\nRegarding weight loss, my gyno actually told me that low carb dieting IS a good idea, because of the way our bodies DON'T process sugar. When I can stick with it, lower carb dieting does seem to work. I eat a lot of protein, more veggies, a little fruit, and only a little bread. I usually shoot for roughly 160g of Carbs, 40-60g of fat, and 70-90g of protein. When I can make myself stick to it and when I combine it with more time at the gym (I live a moderately active lifestyle by default, as I live in an urban area without a car), it does work.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I have this also, PCOS has really changed alot of things for me. I went on birth control pill at 17 (I started my periods at 12) which, luckily, has helped (potentially), save one of my ovaries. I had to go through 3 gynecologists to discover what an unusual pain in my lower abdominal area was. After finally getting a doctor to believe that I have these \"unexplained\" pains he opted for exploratory surgery. \n\nHe removed over 30 cysts from my right ovary and said there was little damage done to the left ovary. Since then I have had issues losing weight (its damn near impossible), when I had periods (they are now suppressed because of the hormonal imbalance cause by the PCOS) they were followed with periods depression where I often lacked the ability to function, and we will not know if I can have kids until later (and all of the docs have told me fertility drugs will be my only option, but going off birth control WILL bring back the cysts and I should avoid the risks until i am absolutely interested in kids.) \n\nSo in short... PCOS sucks... really F's with your mind/hormones/body. ",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I was diagnosed in my mid-twenties. A lot of the symptoms CAN be controlled with lifestyle changes (I highly recommend [The Schwarzbein Principle](http://www.amazon.com/Schwarzbein-Principle-Healthy-Feeling-Younger/dp/1558746803) btw, there is quite a bit of good information about PCOS in there) but I can empathize with your sadness.\n\nDo you have a partner who wants kids? If so, here's an active and supportive [PCOS & fertility issues group](http://forums.fertilitycommunity.com/pcos/) for you to check out... If you don't, or simply can't start trying at this point in your life, I've found it helpful to immerse myself in alarmist overpopulation/end of the world issues to help quell the family envy/baby lust... ;) (Seriously! Read about disposable diapers and what they do to the environment! ...fucking breeders, destroying our planet....) ;) \n\nLife isn't fair sometimes.\n\nCan I ask what your doctor is doing for you? I'm just assuming a clinical research study involved experiments of some sort.... Has anything helped? What symptoms were you displaying that convinced you to finally see a doctor? \n\n",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "This was an article I wrote about two weeks ago for the PCOSChallenge.com newsletter. \n\nJanuary 19th marks the day for me. My life, up until January 19th, was finally starting to get on track. I was married to my best friend, living in a beautiful townhome, working as a technical writer for a university. I should have had my period on January 10th, and when it came and went with no results, I giggled nervously. \n\nJanuary 11th passed, then the 12th - still no period. My period was like clockwork with its two-weeks-on, two-weeks-off pattern. The 13th came, and my heart fluttered. \n\nCould it be? Could we be starting a family? Could there be a teeny, tiny baby growing inside me right that very minute? The store-bought pregnancy test said yes! I scheduled an appointment with the doctor for the 19th.\n\nI told my husband, and he was nervous but happy for it. I had been taking Phentermine, the \"better\" half of Fen-Phen, for about six months in a bid to drop my weight from 350lbs to something lower. The weight was always so hard to get off. My life felt like the Slimquick commercial: \"My husband lost ten pounds by not drinking soda. I haven't had a piece of bread in two years and I've gained three pounds!\" But, my family was on the heavier side, so I didn't think too much about it. However, once there was a possibility of a baby on the way, the Phentermine had to stop.\n\nThat's when my life started to fall apart. \n\nI stopped Phentermine on the 14th. On the 15th, I started to bleed. I thought, \"Well, maybe I wasn't pregnant after all. What a cheapo test!\" I called the doctor to let her know that things had changed, and she said to come in anyway. I protested, saying I was bleeding but not abnormally. \n\n\"Come in anyway,\" she said. So I did.\n\nSurprisingly enough, despite being 25, I had never been to the gynecologist. Everything had been the same for me in that department since I was 10. On two weeks, off two weeks. I am the first born in my family, so when my cycle was different, no one really worried. It was sort of like, \"Well, Audrey's always done her own thing.\" \n\nIn health class, we learn that a woman's cycle is supposed to last 28 days, but that it varies. I just thought my period fell into the \"it varies\" category.\n\nAt the doctor's office, the physician's assistant did my exam. There was a lot of hm's. I was hoping for more oh's and aw's.\n\nAfter having a speculum in me for the first time and finally understanding the jokes about how cold they are, I was shipped off to radiology for an ultrasound. As I laid on the counter, pantless with my legs near-over my head, the radiologist dimmed the lights. She approached me with a wand in her hand. It didn't look quite like the one you see for pregnancy ultrasounds, but I thought it looked like it could do the same thing. I asked, \"Do you need my to pull up my shirt?\" \n\n\"No. Here.\"\n\nShe handed me the wand. \"Ok,\" I said, \"now what?\"\n\nShe looked at me like I was the crazy one and said, \"You put it in.\"\n\nNow, I am pantless, my legs are practically over my head, and I weigh in around 300 pounds. As far as I can tell, this is as far as I bend - this 90 degree angle they've got me in already. \"Not gonna happen.\"\n\"Fine.\"\nShe pulls the wand back from my hand, and I offer, \"You know, I think if we're doing this, ya'll owe me a movie and a dinner.\"\nCrickets.\nI'm laying there with someone wiggling a wand in my hoo-hah. No one's talking to me. No one's telling me what's on the screen I can see.\nWhen the radiologist released me, the physician's assistant pulled me back into her office.\n\nShe said those words we've all heard: \"You have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It's no big deal. Here's some birth control.\"\n\nSince hearing those words, it's been an uphill battle. Not only was I not pregnant, but my life went from the American dream to the American nightmare. No white picket fence for me.\n\nLike every internet addict, when I got my diagnosis, I started googling. What happened? How did I get this? Is it curable? It was great to have an explanation on why I was obese, why my moods ranged from bonkers to bitchy, but was there no hope?\n\nThere wasn't much out there. Apparently, PCOS has only really been diagnosed the last ten years or so, and most doctors, despite their objections, seem to be clueless about how to treat it. I was instantly given a prescription for birth control, and at my next appointment, a prescription for Metformin (Glucophage). There were no explanations about what either does, how it affects your body, side effects, talk of the future, etc.\n\nNo one, until I found PCOSChallenge and spent my evenings pouring over research, ever said to me, \"PCOS is caused by insulin resistance, and your body cannot process the McDonald's you're eating into energy, only fat. Therefore, your body and brain are running off of fat byproducts, and that's why you feel so bad, why you have mood swings, and why you can't be thin.\"\n\nOnce I had a grasp of the situation, the depression kicked in. All the scenarios were terrible: You can never conceive, you can never be thin, you will always be hairy and covered in pimples, you will always seem crazy to everyone around you. \n\nMy home life got a little rough. My mood swings were off the charts, and now, instead of having two weeks on, two weeks off, I was rocking my period for months at a time. Did I mention the amount of time I was spending in the bathroom due to Metformin? I felt like crap. \n\nSo I started supplementing. Fish oil for mood swings, cinnamon for insulin resistance, vitamin B complex for energy, iron for anemia, and a prenatal vitamin for good measure. I change them up depending on how I'm feeling and what needs help or healing.\n\nAs I approach my anniversary, there are two battles I'm still fighting: weight and periods.\n\nMy birth control over the last year has been changed four times, and up until this month, (keep your fingers crossed, anyway), I was bleeding for around 75 to 80 days before I'm pretty sure my body just flat ran out of extra blood. After doing 56 days this time, I'm hoping another birth control change will stop the month-longs from happening.\n\nMy weight has been a lifelong battle, but when it jumped from 180 to 350 in under five years, it seemed hopeless. Since my diagnosis, I've been at the gym every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to work with a trainer. I haven't lost much according to the scale, but everyone I talk to who doesn't see me but every few months tells me how extraordinary I look. I'm monitoring what I eat on Fitday, and I read about exercises on NerdFitness. I've started barefoot running. I keep an online journal on Facebook and PCOSChallenge to talk about the hilarity of a 300 pound woman in a university gym, or, even better, a university pool. I have managed to drop my BMI ten points and I can run for 7 minutes.\n\nI still feel out of control at times, carbs can always get the better of me, I have two chin hairs instead of one now, and for better or worse, my period seems to be here to stay. But I have goals: 150 lbs to go, a manageable Low GI diet, and to be able to conceive. Doctor appointments have been scheduled for right after my anniversary.\n\nThe battles rage on.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I have this too! I am 21, and I was just diagnosed last year. I have some hair issues, and it is really difficult for me to stay in shape. My periods are far between and mostly non-existant. \n\nDoes anyone take medication for their PCOS? As far as I know, there isn't any kind specifically for PCOS, so doctors sometimes prescribe Gloucophage or Spironolactone (Aldactone) to manage symptoms. I am not diabetic, but my doc had me on gloucophage for a while, but it really upset my stomach. I have tried taking a few different kinds of birth control, but they all make me go pretty crazy and paranoid after a day or two. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I was diagnosed with pcos several years ago. My doctor did a pelvic ultrasound, and found multiple cysts. They weren't posing a problem, so she did not remove them. She prescribed no medication.\n\n*Acne*\n\nI had consistent acne from puberty until I went to Basic Training. I was on retin-a for a while, used all the special washes, and consistently had very oily skin and pimples. This stopped very suddenly about a week into Basic Training. My Basic Training was in San Antonio, TX, in June. They forced us to drink obscene amounts of water, which seemed to be what cured the acne. This was about 15 years ago. I have continued to be a very heavy water drinker. While my skin does sometimes get oily now, it's never to that degree and I have breakouts less than once a year.\n\n*Obesity*\n\nI am 6 feet tall, and weighed 265 at my heaviest. I was living in the south at the time, which did not agree with me. I hated the heat and humidity, so I stayed inside most of the time. I'm an outside person, and this depressed me. I didn't eat very well.\n\nI moved to the pacific northwest. I started walking a mile or two every day: to and from the bus, to lunch, to the store. The produce here is beautiful, and has more variety than I've ever seen before. The pounds started melting off until I plateaued around 200 lbs.\n\nI decided that I want more. I joined a gym this spring and paid too much money for a trainer. I started doing a lot of reading on weightlifting and nutrition. I've only lost a few pounds since then, but I have lost bodyfat and gained muscle. I had to buy new clothes. This is ongoing, but here is what I'm currently doing:\n\n* Walk or bike as much as possible. If where I'm going is less than 2 miles away and I'm not in a hurry, I walk.\n* Dance tango several nights a week.\n* Lift heavy weights at the gym 2-3 times a week, with at least 1 day rest in between.\n* Cut out processed foods 90% of the time. This includes bread.\n* Eat healthy fats.\n* Eat a protein and a fruit and/or veggie with each meal.\n* Eat 5 meals a day.\n\n*Irregular periods*\n\nWell, there's obviously not much I can do about this. When I first moved here, I lived in a house with 2 other healthy women. Through the magic of cycle synchronizing, I suddenly started having a cycle roughly every month. Between that and the weight loss, I've now normalized to a mostly predictable 28 day cycle. (I also have a Mirena iud, but this was normalized before I got it.)\n\n*Thinning head hair*\n\nI stopped using commercial shampoo to wash my hair every day. I use a little bar soap on my scalp when it's dirty, then let the suds rinse through the length of my hair. I scrub my scalp every time I shower, even if there's no soap involved. This allows some sebum to build up on my hair, which makes it thicker and easier to control.\n\n*Excess body hair*\n\nLaser hair removal. You can get a home kit for around US$600 now. I have a [Tria](http://hairremoval.about.com/od/laser/a/tria-laser.htm), which was the first to be approved in the US. I've heard really good things about the [Silk'n](http://www.amazon.com/Silkn-Personal-Light-Based-Removal-Device/dp/B001IV5X3O), which doesn't run on batteries and has a bulb that you can change. Laser hair removal takes months of treatment, and works best on individuals with fair skin and dark hair.\n\n*Infertility*\n\nI had a lot of trouble getting pregnant. Due to some changes in my life, I'm no longer trying.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Yeah a link would be good. \nI've been tested for it in the past but told i don't have it, although show many of the physical manifestations. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "It's likely that I have PCOS, but I have never been tested. My mother has it, and before I was 18, I was starting to have some of the symptoms (irregular periods, painful PMS, more hirsute than other girls, overweight, hard time losing weight, etc.). I've been on BC since then, so most of the symptoms are light or gone. Since I don't plan on having children, I'm not too worried about the fertility, and I'm looking at bariatric surgery to control my weight (which should keep other co-morbidities at bay for a while).",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm getting tested for this in March (the earliest I could get an appointment with the OB/GYN). \n\nI didn't connect the dots of the various symptoms I had over the years, but it finally came to a head when my periods (which were always highly irregular-- maybe 6 periods total a year) completely stopped-- I haven't had one since last May or so. \n\nI've always lost a TON of hair, am overweight/have an incredibly hard time losing weight, and have occasional severe pain in the ovary area. Not to mention the excessive facial hair (on the chin is the worst-- lots of waxing takes place). I just wanna get the symptoms under control, and want to be able to shed some of these pounds. I'm not so concerned about the kids thing (I'm 25, but pretty sure I don't want any). ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Thankfully I had my children very young and I'm finished so I don't have to worry about the infertility aspect, but I suspect I have PCOS, too. Two friends were diagnosed with it and they're convinced I have it as well. I have had repeated ovarian cysts and other symptoms but no doctor diagnosed me, (and now I've been 1 year without health insurance so not much I can do about it at the moment.)\n\nAnyway - thanks for this post. Hopefully it will help someone out.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Does having PCOS automatically mean you're infertile or is that one of many possible symptoms? I'm asking because my doctor suspects I may have it (I exhibit quite a few of the physical characteristics) but I've never had any problems with a missing or irregular cycle.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I read through the symptoms and I'm starting to feel nervous for a friend of mine. She has every symptom listed except for acne. But I'm not sure if they're all for different reasons or if it's possibly this PCOS.\n\nHer periods are wildly unpredictable and sometimes she doesn't get them for months. She has some hair on her chin and neck (gets them removed) but she claims it's because she's Indian and apparently this is common (?). She gains weight very easily, and I've noticed those dark patches of skin on her neck and legs.\n\nI'm going to show this to her, not to freak her out, but just in case... thanks for letting us know about this! I'd never heard about it before.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I am another woman with PCOS. It has been a son of a bitch experience from trying to get diagnosed and then trying to get non-hormonal treatment, to the horrible state that I am in healthwise and the stress that comes in trying to educate my family on why I am gaining weight *after* having the baby and why I don't want her eating cake (sugar issues inherent in the hereditary syndrome). \n\nI had to beg the gynecologist I saw to test me for a hormone imbalance. He was under the impression that I was just looking for something to blame my weight on. Even when the test results came back positive (luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone levels reversed and out of whack), he just had the nurse call me to prescribe birth control. When asked, the nurse confirmed that I had a hormone imbalance. I told her to send me my test results and have basically been on an odyssey to find doctors who will listen and treatment ever since. I overdid it a little in the middle and got pregnant! Now my symptoms are worse than ever, with new ones to boot. \n\nFor anyone else with PCOS or who wants to support their friends/family, this website has been invaluable for me: www.soulcysters.net\n\nIt can be a really difficult journey, misery compounded by the fact that people often dismiss your accounts out of hand, including your family and doctors. \"Oh, you can't really be eating 1200 calories a day and gaining weight!\" Fuck. you. \n\nSufferers, good luck to all of you! For non-sufferers, please support the people you know with the disorder and broaden yourself enough to allow that people have very different experiences with the same thing, e.g. metabolism. Cherry on the cake (excuse the metaphor), depression is linked to the disorder. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Is anyone here with PCOS not on Birth Control?? Can you treat it naturally, and if so how do you do it??\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Anyone have terrible roommate stories they want to share. Im trying to compile them. | My roommate went on a blind date last night with some random guy. He ended up being my ex. I found this out when I caught them having sex on the couch. He broke my heart, and now my couch. My roommate is the worst. - http://www.Myawfulroommate.com
| 4 | [
{
"body": "I was living in what they called \"suite-style\" housing my freshman year, which really means \"we stick eight guys in the same place, two to a room, and only give them one shower and two toilets.\" Over time my roommate and one of my suitemates somehow started a prank war that accelerated pretty rapidly. Started off simple enough but gradually became more complex and underhanded -- I definitely remember my suitemate hiding an entire loaf of old, moldy bread beneath my roommate's sheets, and my roommate at one point flushed both toilets nonstop the entire time the suitemate was taking a shower.\n\nAnyway, one night my roommate decided to end the prank war with a sweeping, decisive victory.\n\nThe suitemate was an amateur... either surfer or wakeboarder; can't remember which one -- but anyway, he had an early meet and had to wake up at around 6 AM. So the roommate decided that he was going to make waking up and getting ready really, really difficult for him. He spent several hours -- maybe from midnight to 4 AM or something like that -- taping up the suitemate's entire doorway, literally from top to bottom, with duct tape; he had the help of another suitemate for this, and they'd make big tape squares on one side of the dorm and then walk them over to the doorway and slap them on. Next, he stacked a good seven feet of random stuff, floor-to-ceiling, in front of the door, so that the suitemate would have to carefully unstack everything or knock it over and risk waking up the RA.\n\nBut he wasn't finished. He followed this up by filling a good thirty to fifty tiny plastic cups to the brim with water, setting them side-by-side in a path from the door to the suitemate's room to the door to the suite itself. *Then* he added the finishing touch -- shaving gel covering every single doorknob the suitemate might need to use; more salt in the wound than anything.\n\nOh, and he set up a camera to record the suitemate's reaction. I wanted to experience it firsthand, though, so I pretended to be asleep in my room, actually listening for the aftermath all the while.\n\nAround six, after listening to the suitemate slicing through the tape with his keys, knocking over the pile of stuff, and covering the carpet with water, I hear him yelling my roommate's name and banging on our door, with the roommate alternating between fits of giggles and categorical denials of his involvement. Once the suitemate finally got in -- I think the roommate had opened the door to taunt him or something -- he dumped the majority of the water on the roommate's bed and the two of them got into a shaving-cream fight that lasted a good 20 minutes.\n\nThat was pretty much the end of the prank war. Living through all that was equal parts amusing and horrifying.\n\ntl;dr: Roommate played a \"prank\" on a suitemate that would probably violate the Geneva Conventions.\n\nEdit: Here's a picture of [the door](http://imgur.com/r2Cp1.jpg).",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I can sum up, after sharing apartments for more than 7 yrs. \n\nThree things:\n\n1. Dirty kitchen\n\n2. Dirty bathroom\n\n3. Noise\n\nThese are the main sources.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE only focus on one instrument in a song? | I'm a drummer so i listen to the drums. I've met people who focus on the bass or the guitars or the vocals. Anyone Else? | 11 | [
{
"body": "I've been a musician since I was 8 years old, and play flute and piccolo. When I listen to different kinds of music, I find myself just trying to isolate one particular instrument, then moving onto another instrument, and so on. I like to appreciate the beautiful art of combining several parts to create something even more beautiful as a whole. We were asked to do that a lot in my wind ensemble class when I was in high school, and it really makes you feel more connected to whatever it is you happen to be listening to. It applies to all genres, really. ",
"score": 5
}
]
|
You guys, this is my boyfriend's opinion on Haiti. Am I dating a sociopath or do I just not understand his viewpoint? | HIM:
Although, honestly, way too much Haiti
ME:
In her feed?
HIM:
In the news
ME:
...you realize a hundred thousand people just died
HIM:
From a natural disaster
ME:
So?
HIM:
Why's that a big deal? Yes, the earth's tectonic plates can get bitchy. Lots of people died largely due to poor infrastructure. That is very sad, let's move on.
That sounded awful, didn't it?
ME:
...>_>
Little bit
HIM:
I'm having an Ayn Rand day
ME:
Aww
HIM:
I mean, it sounds awful, but I don't see why this is news. Natural disasters are not unusual and it's a third world country so it's not like we should be surprised by systematic failures
If 100,000 in Western Europe died from an earthquake, that would be worth this much news
ME:
...
HIM:
Not that Europeans are better
It's just more worth examining
ME:
Why?
HIM:
It's like with Katrina. It shouldn't have been that bad, so it was worth looking at why it was
ME:
It's a human issue though, not a technical one
HIM:
I don't see why we need the constant newsstorm about that though
ME:
...because a hundred thousand people just died, the entire capital is pretty much in ruins, and more people are still suffering there now
If you can think of a bigger news story ATM, please share
HIM:
The last two aren't unusual
Haiti is fucked anyway
And it's not about there being better news, it's about not constantly repeating the same news
ME:
With an incident this big, I think it's necessary
It's hard to get the full impact of the situation with a single forgettable article
HIM:
Why do we need the full impact? It's not like it actually affects us. We just want to make up for being rich Americans by feeling bad for black people for a while
ME:
No, some of us actually care
I just don't understand how you can see this and not care at all
HIM:
Because it's not my job to care about every other person's suffering. If it was, I would never come out from under the covers
People die all the time
But it only makes the news when a lot do at once
ME:
I mean, I donated money already and I'd be on my way to help now if I could
HIM:
And I don't understand that
It makes no sense to spend your life flying around to help poor people
It's /your/ life
ME:
I have no idea how to respond to that
**EDIT**: This is a throwaway, beeteedubs. He knows my normal UN.
**EDIT EDIT**: Yeah, guys, listen: I'm not gonna break up with him based on this. Sorry. I'm not looking for relationship advice so much as a way of understanding what's going on in his mind. Thanks. (: | 28 | [
{
"body": "Okay, so, here's another opinion on this. Your boyfriend has only committed the sin of being painfully honest. That's all. Even those of us who care, don't really care, and I am willing to bet that 90% of the people saying 'ooh, how terrible' will probably take 0 action. \n\nThis is what humanity is like. If you happen to be an American citizen, then you don't get to call this guy an asshole. Why? Because right now, as you sit here on reddit, your taxes are being used to torture people illegally and you are doing nothing about it. \n\nApathy reigns supreme within the human breast. Some people are more honest than others, but lets face it, as a group, we're all major assholes. Some of us are more up front about it than others. \n\n(And this is coming from someone who doesn't just donate to the red cross when disasters happen, but has been making a regular monthly donation for the past 5 years. And yeah, I still consider myself a fairly self centered twit, along with the rest of the human race.)\n\n",
"score": 172
},
{
"body": "Actually, I disagree with most of the commentators here. He definitely seems to have a general lack of empathy, and it's worrisome that he cares more about disasters that are 'unusual,' but generally I think he's just being protective of himself. He may have taken it too far, but mostly he seems apathetic because he's worried about getting depressed and feeling too affected by the world. The fact that he's concerned about \"never come[ing] out from under the covers\" shows that he's probably felt empathy before, and now recognizes that it can be a painful and deep emotion. So he's avoiding it.\n\nHe's being somewhat immature, but I think this warrants further discussion between you two. Try asking him if he's ever felt really affected by other people's suffering/world tragedies/etc before. Finding a good balance between extreme sensitivity and total apathy is something many people have to grapple with.",
"score": 52
},
{
"body": "I non-sarcastically agree with his point of view. I felt the same way about the Indian tsunami, doesn't have an effect on my life so I honestly don't care. He's not being a sociopath, just being realistic. After all in a week you won't hear anything more about this and people will stop donating even if the problem is still there because they gave their two cents and feel better about themselves for doing it.",
"score": 49
},
{
"body": "Honestly, he's just normal.\n\nLook at empathy like a sliding scale. On one end are people who donate all their worldly possessions to the poor and move to Haiti. On the other hand are people who only care about themselves.\n\nHe's right, this isn't really that interesting, just bad. But it's not bad enough for you to sell everything but the clothes on your back and donate your next 6 paychecks to Haiti. Even though you could save lives. Does that make you a sociopath?\n\nA sociopath is someone who wouldn't bend over to save a drowning baby. Your boyfriend isn't like that. He's just a normal guy who likely cares about his family and you most, his friends next, and people who live near him after that. People in an entirely different country are likely at the bottom of his priorities list, as they should be.\n\nMost of reddit is way too fucking sensitive.",
"score": 36
},
{
"body": "Am I the only person who doesn't think he's a total jerk? Regardless of the events in Haiti, there are millions and millions of people suffering elsewhere in this world who we ignore because there's nothing to be gained from helping them. At least he's honest about it.\n\nIt's horrible, but that's life.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "Doesn't having a throw-away account to post a specific conversation with the person you are trying to hide it from kind of defeat the purpose?",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "\"I mean, I donated money already and I'd be on my way to help now if I could\"\n\nIs this the first disaster you've seen or heard about? If not, then why do you say \"I'd be on my way to help now if I could\"... Surely you know this happens all this time, and there are plenty of organizations that do go to areas where a disaster has occurred. Why haven't you signed up for any of those?\n\n\"Why do we need the full impact? It's not like it actually affects us. We just want to make up for being rich Americans by feeling bad for black people for a while\"\n\nTo your own sentiment of helping, if you could.\n\nI'm with your boyfriend on this. It has happened, it's bad, but that's it. Although, I can understand the news coverage as being a way to get more people to donate to and help out... if you truly believe that news outlets are trying to do the right thing. \n\nReally it's probably on the news so much because we're all fascinated with destruction, especially mass destruction. Anything out of the ordinary fascinates us, or at least, we're told it's significant",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": ">HIM: I'm having an Ayn Rand day\r\n\r\nanyone who actually talks like this needs a punch to the face \r\n\r\nthe rest of it was real talk, though",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Your boyfriend has a good head on his shoulders. Future difficult decisions should be left up to him.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "While he makes a couple of good points (not his job to care about other people's suffering), and does show a bit of lack of empathy, this is the part that cements him as a jackass in my book:\n\n>\"...the entire capital is pretty much in ruins, and more people are still suffering there now.\"\n\n>\"The he last two aren't unusual Haiti is fucked anyway\"\n\nAlso, no, he's not a sociopath. He is just a jerk.\n\n",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "If you didn't care when Haitians were eating dirt -- *literally. eating. dirt.* -- why is he the sociopath for not caring now?\n\nAt least they're at peace.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "He has a point, I guess in a very basic sense. But you should definitely dump him for this: \n> HIM: I'm having an Ayn Rand day",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "This is probably a bit of a different perspective than most people's. \nYour boyfriend does seem to be lacking a bit of compassion, but he does also have a high sense of realism. There are thousands of people out there who do \"care\" that many many people have died and are interested in the story, but will likely never contribute in any way but to make sympathetic noises if the topic of conversation is brought up. It is probable that most reddit responders are part of this group. Now, these people will serve no more use to Haiti than your boyfriend who admits he doesn't give a damn. Then you must consider, what the purpose is for these individuals to \"care\". It is more than likely that the only people that are affected by this concern for the people of Haiti, are they themselves, by adding just that little bit of distress and sadness to their own well being. Your boyfriend seems to have pre-empted useless \"concern\", and realised that there is no point in it, since he does not have enough concern to actually physically contribute (which is the same as most people). \n\nSo yes, he does not have the same levels of compassion that you have. But he seems to have a realistic perspective, in that he has formed no emotional attachment to this issue, since he knows himself well enough that for him, there is no personal advantage to feeling upset about this issue.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I don't know about your boyfriend, but I'm questioning my own social conscience when I realized that his misanthropy bothered me way less than his misuse of \"systematic / systemic\".",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I can understand his point of view. I don't necessarily agree, though my actions show otherwise. I don't often actively care or donate to people in need, though I feel I should (I'm working on it).\n\nHe doesn't seem to be empathetic, or as wiki describes it \"the capability to share another being's emotions and feelings\". From his 'never come out from under the covers' comment, he has probably been empathetic before and found it extremely painful. It's not always easy to take on another persons pain and suffering. \n\nBecause of this, many people reject any empathetic feelings they may have. I don't believe that it's wrong, it's just more of a coping mechanism to protect himself emotionally. It's pretty common to see very emotionally sensitive people reject empathy because they are so sensitive and eventually they turn into what others see as hardened and uncaring.\n\nSociety encourages people to be kind and generous and empathetic and that's why so many find your boyfriends comments to be cruel. I have a feeling that refuses to feel empathy because it is too painful for him. If he wants to change (which is his business, I'm not saying he's wrong here) he can start with empathizing the little issues of other people. \"Oh I broke my 360; I ripped my favorite shirt\", later moving onto \"I lost my job, my dog died\", and then more painful issues such as massive death and destruction. \n\nIt is good to care about others and help those in need in my opinion, it just takes a little effort to break down the walls we build to protect ourselves.\n\nOr he could just be a jerkface, I never met him.",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "About 150'000 people die every single day without making any news. Now hypocrisy is that it is the earthquake, not people made it big. Of course there's a good deal of sensationalism in all that, which he might be trying to reject.",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "I think Stalin said it best young lady:\n\n1 death is a tragedy. 1 million is a statistic.\n\nOn the other hand, I'm sure your boyfriend would feel differently if he went to Haiti, and saw what all that death looks like. \n\nI kind of feel the same way as him. My first response to the news was \"sheesh. These shit hole countries can't seem to catch a break.\", while my very conservative buddy said \"yea, thats why they are shit hole countries\"",
"score": 3
}
]
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How can a person live with no money? | I quit my job several months ago, with the idea that I'd rather live the rest of my life not being miserable working. I knew I wouldn't look for a job. My intention was just to spend my savings. Once I got too low, I'd kill myself. That's still sort of my plan, I guess. I don't know if I want it to be that way, but if I do run out of money, I don't think I'd have any choice. I'm not looking for work. I don't know if I'll be capable of killing myself, so I'll be in a pretty miserable place in the near future when my money's gone. I imagine if I do spend all my money (note that I'm not at all being tight with it- I regularly order pizza, buy liquor, etc. despite the cost), I'll be living on the streets. I wouldn't have any place to store my stuff, so it'd just stay in my apartment for my landlord to collect. It just doesn't seem like there's much I can do. Most of the time I just feel useless. | 14 | [
{
"body": "How about doing volunteer work, right now while you are unemployed? It doesn't earn you any money, but it might just give you a fresh perspective on your own life.",
"score": 9
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{
"body": "You should consider volunteer work as redGPz suggests.\n\nAlso, how about picking up a hobby - something you like.\n\nIf you don't mind me asking: why take such a drastic step?",
"score": 5
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{
"body": "I know where you are coming from. Several months ago I, too, quit a job with no prospects because I could not stand it any more.\n\nI get what you are saying about work. I have not had a job in my life that was not, at best, minimally tolerable, and at worst made me want to quit or kill myself every day. I find this very frustrating because I like working and being useful and I have not had any job that I did not excel in (as far as the job itself is concerned) and I have done a variety of things. But I never make friends and management is always horrible and it's just always terrible. I'm rarely happy at work, I've never had a job where there was not a clock in my head for when I would leave. I want to believe that somewhere out there is a job that will pay better than minimum wage with decent people where I can be appreciated. I've heard that such places exist but I personally have not encountered such a work environment. The thought of having to do a huge job search and apply and interview at 100s of jobs just to go through another merry-go-round of hired/hate-job-want-to-quit/quit-suddenly/here-I-am-again makes me sick. Right now I, like you, am sitting on savings wondering what the fuck to do. Also, all of the fields I have skills in are fields I more or less hate.\n\nThis sort of hopeless, I-give-up situation is surprisingly and frustratingly uncommon, at least from what I can find online. I've thought about why this is. I think it's because most people have something else in their lives to live for, so a bad job is not catastrophic. Friends to see, a family to care for, a career to build on. That's what these volunteer and hobby suggestion people don't get. Those suggestions are good for people who already have some aspects of their lives together and are just trying to build a social circle or get out of the house or something. But for someone who has nothing and has lost basically all hope, these are not useful suggestions and in fact I find them harmful because they just drive home the fact that no one seems to get the real problem.\n\nOne commenter said that quitting is ballsy. I've been told that before too, in other circumstances. I know it doesn't feel that way, but really, it is from a certain perspective. Most people by far just fall into a track and plod along through whatever life gives them. It's very uncommon for someone like you, or me, to simply declare this is bullshit and consciously withdraw yourself from the game -- not suicide, but simply a refusal to participate in a system that has continuously fucked us over. I like to think that this uncommon and bizarre type of strength means you and I can have extraordinary lives once we figure things out. This is why I wrote in my AskReddit that I'm satisfied with my life -- not because I'm exactly happy but because I know that my life won't be ordinary no matter what else happens. I'm trying also to be content with what I have and who I am and not to judge myself based on what is conventionally successful or what others are doing. I think I've gotten pretty good at this and it has made a world of difference in my day-to-day peace of mind.\n\nI hate to say this but the horrible end game you are envisioning is definitely a real possibility. There are homeless people with heartbreaking stories everywhere and the sort of hopelessness you feel, unchecked, is exactly what will lead you there. So you've got to get at least a minimal grip on yourself or things will become very, very difficult.\n\nOkay, practical suggestion time. If you have any friends or family you can stay with or visit or anything, do that first and immediately. Being around a friendly face will help you through the very worst of the darkness. Look at your money and other assets like a car/motorcycle or things you can sell. If you have a lot of money or stuff, you have the freedom to travel or at least move someplace different and maybe interesting. If you have a little, then you need to go into emergency stay-off-the-street-and-out-of-a-homeless-shelter mode where you live off cheese and crackers, get a pay-as-you-go phone, a bus pass and a room off Craigslist. In either case, save that money! Don't waste it! You need it. One thing you should not do is keep doing what you're doing. It did not help me and it doesn't look like it's helping you, instead it is burning money that you could otherwise put to more productive or at least more interesting use.\n\nAnd now the million dollar question -- what to do? I don't know. I don't know what you should do. I don't have a job to hire you for. I don't what responsibilities you already have. But I will say this: if your life is this bad, it means that almost anything you do is going to be an improvement, as long as you do *something* and that something won't take you to your very last dollar. If you have nothing else going for you, you might as well think big. Do you like to travel -- do you want to move? I don't recommend international travel unless it comes with a work visa because unless you work, it's all just an expense and you need income. But here's a list of things you might consider based on the long list of things I've considered, mostly involving travel. The amount of money you have, as well as your education and age in some cases, will restrict what you can do:\n\n* I assume you're American. A Working Holiday Visa in Australia or Canada and maybe other places will let you find casual work abroad while you travel. \n\n* Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is a popular option for people who want to travel internationally but need to work too. [www.eslcafe.com](http://www.eslcafe.com/) is a popular site. Korea, Japan and China are decent money-makers from what I hear. Korea and China gigs tend to pay for housing and airfare in addition to salary.\n\n* Military. Not everyone's cup of tea but it will get you out of the house and making money. Take this step carefully, the commitment is real and your freedom will be significantly restricted. If you go this route then I suggest cerebral work (if you qualify) like translator, medic, or nuclear technician.\n\n* Youth hostels will sometimes let you stay for free in exchange for light work. \n\n* I've heard ski resorts sometimes do this too. \n\n* Working on cruise ships is short, interesting work with paid housing (I think)\n\n* Seasonal work in Alaska, either fishing or tourism based. Most of the temporary work in Alaska is in the summer, though. \n\n* Just say fuck it and move somewhere inherently interesting to you where you can work without a visa. America is a huge and varied place, you would not believe it if you haven't traveled here. Really let your mind wander. Hawaii? Alaska? NYC? New Orleans? Portland, OR? Yellowstone Park? Guam? Get a big map, or look at Google Maps in zoomed-out view, and just plot points.\n\n* Look at rideshares on Craigslist and hitch a ride somewhere interesting for the travel experience.\n\n* Have you ever seen the night sky in its pure glory unpolluted with light? Swear to God, I have never in my life seen the Milky Way in the sky, but I have been far enough in the country to know what you miss in the city. What about you? Maybe a road trip to Wyoming or the New Mexico desert is in your future? Mauna Kea observatory on the Big Island in Hawaii?\n\n* Have you seen the ocean? Mountains? A big waterfall? The desert? Snow? Skyscrapers? Anything by Leonardo da Vinci (see the National Gallery in DC)? Puget Sound on a sunny day? Palm trees? Shorts weather in February? The Aurora Borealis or the midnight sun?\n\nFor myself, like I said I don't know what I want to do. I'm still struggling with this, especially with the whole working thing. I've already seen and done some of the above, and it was a good experience but I'm still kind of stuck. Right now I'm just killing time at my parents, which is super boring because I don't have a car and they live in the suburbs. But I feel 1000% better than I did when I was lonely and literally dragging myself around. I'm expecting a big tax refund, so I'm waiting for that and hope to use that to make another go of getting out there and seeing what's worth seeing and living and working somewhere I want to be.\n\nI hope this helps. I hope you don't mind me talking about myself some, but I hope you can identify with some of it and realize that you are not alone. Note that all of this (in fact life in general) is YMMV so this is mainly to get you thinking positively about the future and not to give you step-by-step on what to do. Please let me know by posting here or by PM if you want to talk or share ideas or whatever.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Damn bro. That's tough. You can't underestimate your strength in taking this approach. I hope that strength transfers into something to make your life worth living. You are a tough person.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": ">Most of the time I just feel useless.\n\nMy first post ever on this sub-reddit.\n\nBut you're obviously depressed.\n\nWhat will probably happen with the money situation is that you'll get down to last thousand or so, then you'll figure out how to get food stamps (you should btw) and rent assistance (harder, better to move in with family).\n\nThen you'll get some menial McJob to tied you over. Then you'll either become more suicidal, or get the depression taken care of.\n\nMy advice? \n\nGet the depression taken care of. Go work in another country if you can, working conditions in the US suck generally.",
"score": 3
}
]
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Who here uses Gamefly, and what do you think of the service? | I tried it out for a month and I was pretty unsatisfied. All the new games had very low availability and it took over a week to get the game I wanted. What is you experience? | 3 | [
{
"body": "Personally I've loved it and have had it for 4 years. It helps that there's a distribution center in my city (Austin, TX) \n\nWaiting for the new games does suck, but, I figure it's kind of how it has to be, sometimes I get lucky but, I usually have a full queue, and get old games I'd missed. If you're using it solely to get just released games I would imagine it isn't great. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I’m actually a little surprised by some of the feedback here. I have nothing but positive things to say about gamefly. While I’ve never had a problem with getting a new release in a timely manner, we have been putting the games on queue weeks/months in advance of the release…so I’m not sure if that gives us priority or something.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I have had a subscription for a few years now and I would highly recommend it. \n\nAt about $22 a month, that amount to one newly bought game every 3 months. Instead on one new game every 3 months, I get 3 games all the time and can switch them up whenever I want. The only negative is that new releases can take some time to ship out to you. The best way to manage this is to keep your game queue empty, except for the new release you want, and then they will not ship out an older, more available game in its stead. It takes a few extra days to get the new games this way, but it is better than waiting weeks while you send back older, more available games.",
"score": 3
}
]
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What would you do with $200? | Say you were given $200 and had committed yourself to buy something actually tangible with it, what would you get?
No, I am not an aunt trying to figure out a gift for their nephew. I am just curious as to what's out there and/or how people feel about a realistic amount of extra cash. | 5 | [
{
"body": "I'd pay it forward and send it down to Haiti right now.\n\nThree days ago I would've used it to pay off some of my credit card.",
"score": 5
}
]
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Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson are NOT Christians. | This post isn't about believing in Christianity or Jesus or anything like that. I know many of you simply do not. This post is about the retards that appear to be leaders of Christians and how they don't follow the rules of the faith they profess belief in.
>**Luke 9:52-55**
...Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.
Though he might have just been trying to cover the fact that he can't really reign fire down on cities, he was probably telling them to quite being retarded, and turn the other cheek. Speaking of which:
>**Matthew 5:38-40**
"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
Sounds an awful lot like Pat and Rush need to be going to Haiti right now and giving the villagers their *own* clothes. In fact, Jesus had a reputation for hanging out with 'sinners'.
>**Matthew 9:10 - 13**
While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Once again, the idea is that Christianity is the cure, and Christians aren't supposed to just hang out with each other acting like they're better than everyone: They're supposed to be out there with the 'sick', healing them.
I'm not trying to convert anyone, or say that Christianity is the ultimate answer, etc, etc. I'm just pointing out their own hypocrisy.
**Fuck Rush and Fuck Pat. They need to read the fucking Bible.**
[edit] formatting
[edit2] more wisdom:
>**Proverbs 21:13**
"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered." | 30 | [
{
"body": "That's the [No True Scotsman Fallacy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman). You don't get to decide who's a *real* Christian and who's not. You can't speak for God any more than they can.",
"score": 39
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"body": "the bible is full of things people choose to ignore. this is no different than choosing to ignore the bible condoning slavery or saying that wearing blended fabrics are hell worthy sins.\n\nif they believe in christ, they are Christians in every sense of the word. you cannot discount them from a religion simply because you dont agree with them/their interpretation. it doesn't work that way.\n\nthey are every bit as Christian as anyone else who believes in the bible",
"score": 15
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{
"body": "Once I was old enough to understand hypocrisy, I began to be dumbfounded by how much of it I saw in Christianity. There many, many people who call themselves Catholic that don't even come close to following Catholic dogma, or even know it very well; and then there are many \"solam scripturam\" Christians that could recite you the whole bible word for word but completely miss the point.\n\nIt sickens me how many nominal followers of Christ not only ignore his teachings, but go so far as to spit in their own god's face by directly opposing his teachings **in his name*.",
"score": 8
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{
"body": "Really? Because from where I sit, they are as christian as they come. And what's worse, they are telling huge numbers of people how to think. I would say they represent christianity far better than your specific brand of biblical cherry picking.",
"score": 8
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{
"body": "They're Christians, they're just BAD Christians. By your logic, almost no one is a Christian, since everyone's done something bad to someone else in their lives. \n\nIt's like defining art. It's very difficult to say that something is not art, but it's easier to say that it's shitty art. Rush and Pat are just really, really shitty Christians. Non-representative, hopefully.",
"score": 6
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{
"body": "Hear hear!\n\nSame with this woman who got images of her twitter feed posted on reddit today. Assuming she's for real (and not a troll), she should be ashamed of the things she said about Haiti. She claimed to be a follower of Jesus. I'm not buying it.",
"score": 4
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{
"body": "Yes, they are. They may be _bad_ Christians, I won't disagree with you there, but there's no requirement to be _successful_ in being \"like Christ\" in order to call oneself a Christian. You don't get to disown the worst of your kind just because you think they're not good enough. They believe in God, they trust in Jesus and they believe that whatever they do, Jesus will save them in the end. Essentially, they're just taking the \"Jesus pass\" to it's logical conclusion. If you're not saved on the merits of good works, then you're not condemned on your failure to be good either. So, by their reasoning, they can do pretty much whatever they want with the Bible and their God as an excuse, and it won't come back on them in any way.",
"score": 3
}
]
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What are some atheism related book recommendations? | I've recently come to the realization that not caring about beliefs one way or the other, and just focusing on the minute details of life isn't good enough for me. Coming to accept my own mortality and appreciate life for everything it can be, for the few years I actually get to experience life has been a really profound experience. What are some good reads, funny reads, coffee table books, whatever you've read worth picking up?
Thanks, | 7 | [
{
"body": "My favorites in order:\n\n1. God is not Great (Christopher Hitchens)\n2. Jesus Interrupted (Bart Ehrman)\n3. God Hates You. Hate Him Back (CJ Werleman)\n4. God Delusion (Richard Dawkins)\n5. End of Faith (Sam Harris)",
"score": 8
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{
"body": "I recommend \"God is not Great\" by Christopher Hitchens, \"The End of Faith\" by Sam Harris, and \"the God Delusion\" by Richard Dawkins. Also the \"Atheist Reader\" by Christopher Hitchens is a good compendium of essays against religion. ",
"score": 7
}
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Hey guys can you explain your little [] thingys? The description is sorta confusing. | Thanks guys. This subreddit is so wonderful!
EDIT: after discovering what the [] means I think I can say I am a solid [8] | 21 | [
{
"body": "Haha yeah... if you can't look to the right of the screen and read the description on every single page you're at least a 5! Welcome ;)",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Keep in mind, this a logarithmic scale. An 8 is 10 times as high as a 7, a 9 is 10 times as high as an 8, etc.",
"score": 7
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{
"body": "I just transferred from /r/Marijuana to /r/trees, and I was wondering the same thing, so I'd like to thank you for this thread. Have an upvote, sir.",
"score": 5
}
]
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Hey, /r/Pets, the kitten I was about to adopt next week passed away tonight and my girlfriend and myself are devastated. I want to offer some advice. | I'm not so sure where to start with this, so I suppose I'll just start from the beginning. About 7 months ago my girlfriend and myself started seeing kittens outside of the apartment, but any time we opened the door they were so absurdly skittish and we barely had a chance of catching a glimpse of them. There were four of them.
Every little while we'd see them poking around in the bushes and gallivanting around the courtyard outside of our apartment. Mind you, we live in an apartment complex and we doubted that these kittens belonged to anyone. A month or two went by without seeing them at all. We thought they had left.
Fast forward a few months down the road, and the kittens returned this time, obviously much larger, but just as cute. We decided to start feeding them some food, so that they wouldn't starve. Despite the warnings from countless people about feeding strays, I have no regrets about feeding a hungry animal. They used to dart every time we opened the door, and wouldn't come anywhere near it until a few months later. After a while they begun hanging out on our window ledges and looking inside of our apartment. Time went on, we eventually came up with some makeshift names for them.
Up until recently, they wouldn't let us near them. It seems like we've started to gain their trust bit by bit over these past few months, so that we'd have a chance of catching them and finding them homes. Over the past month, they'll now let us touch them, and they always try to get into the apartment when we open the door to get inside. One kitten inparticular really grew on us. He was really skittish, tiny, and scrawny, but seemed very loving. He always was trying to get inside of the apartment every chance he got. It seemed like it was the only thing in the world he wanted more than food. We fed them every day, and they feel like our own.
We've tried calling the SCPA for advice, Catch and Release, and other sources just to try to get these kittens caught so we could find them a home and even adopt one ourselves. We have literally heard back from no-one out of all of the contacts that we have tried through email and phone. Voicemail after voicemail we hadn't heard back from a single person.
Earlier this week my girlfriend decided she was tired about none of the animal shelters returning our phone calls or emails, so we started getting more impatient and demanding with one of the shelters. We agreed that we were going to keep the small white one, get it spayed/neutered/tested for feline AIDS and leukemia and bring it in to our apartment to live with our cat. Her mom had agreed to pay to spay/neuter the rest of the cats if we could find them good homes. My girlfriend had finally gotten an appointment for next week. She had become extremely attached to the kitten as of recently.
The day after she made the appointment the white kitten (who we've named Yayo) went missing. He was there every morning we opened the door to feed them before I went to work, and there every day I came home from work, trying to force his way into the apartment.. but not these past two days.
Today on my way home my girlfriend called me in a panic, saying that she found Yayo laying in a pile of bushes adjacent to our apartment. His breathing was shallow and he was shaking profusely. She told me she picked him up, as he was generally unresponsive, other than a mew or two, and she brought him inside. It's been kind of cold here lately (abnormally so), so we've been more worried about the cats. After bringing Yayo inside, she had found a local Animal Hospital ER that we could bring him to, to see if he was okay.
We went off on our way and arrived at the animal hospital, only to rush him in to try to get him some help. Long story short, after doing bloodwork and other tests, they told us that he had either gotten into some rat poison or some antifreeze, and he was extremely poor condition, and his chance of survival was grim. We didn't want him to suffer anymore, as they said there was little to no chance he'd survive through the night. The vet recommended we put him down, and it was seriously one of the hardest things I have ever done to sit there and watch this poor little unresponsive kitten's life just slip out of him. We wanted to be there for his last moments, to let him know that we actually cared about him.. to let him know that there was actually someone out there that had a home for him. Petting him like he had been my cat for years as the life slipped out of him is something I won't soon be forgetting. I'll miss coming home every day and seeing him trying to get inside. More than anything.
The one thing he wanted more than anything was to come into the apartment.. and he finally got to before he had passed away. This is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life, and just for a stray kitten. We had made the arrangements to bring him in, and it's so ridiculously unfortunate that this had to happen now that we had finally done something about getting them all adopted.
*So, in the end*, I just want to let you know, if you face a similar circumstance with stray cats.. don't let the SCPA/Animal Shelters ignore your calls, you have to be the one that forces it upon them to help you, otherwise they'll never take you seriously. Don't wait longer than you have to, otherwise it just may be too late. There are still three kittens outside that we have an appointment for getting checked out next week that seem to be in good health, but we're not sure what to do with them until then. We don't want them succumbing to the same fate that Yayo had died to.
Thanks for hearing me out, Reddit. I just needed somewhere to relay all of this to. I didn't proof read this or anything, as I'm just wanting to pour my heart out while I still have the chance to. My only regret was that I hadn't done more sooner to get a shelter to respond to me. | 29 | [
{
"body": "I feel so badly for you but you did the best you could for that kitten. I befrended a white cat we named Snowball and it took him a year to trust me. We had to have him put to sleep when he was attacked by something much bigger and meaner than him. I understand what you are going though. Good luck with the other kitties.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I've been through this same experience twice, and it is truly heartbreaking. I am so glad you were willing to sit with Yayo as he died -- I believe it made a difference to him. The worst experience I ever had working with feral cats was the time a vet refused to let us be there when a desperately ill kitten had to be put down. I will never forget how hard it was to let tiny Woolybear be taken into another room -- but that jerk of a vet* wanted another $75 just to let us stay with the kitten while it was euthanized, and we could not afford that. \n\n(*For the record, this was the emergency animal hospital in Chattanooga. I don't know the vet's name because he never even came into the room but only relayed info through a technician, who hated being put in that position).\n\nAnyway: you say,\n>There are still three kittens outside that we have an appointment for getting checked out next week that seem to be in good health, but we're not sure what to do with them until then.\n\nBRING THEM INSIDE. It's only a week, and they can stay in the bathroom if need be. You can't blow that appointment.\n\nIf that's absolutely impossible, build them a shelter out of a large plastic tub with a door cut into the side and straw or polyester fleece to sleep on. You can find instructions for various shelters through [Alley Cat Allies](http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=191), where there is also a lot of info about Trap/Neuter/Return strategies. \n\nIf you have trouble catching them, try using a trap so big they don't recognize it as a trap. I use a medium-size dog training crate with a string tied to the door panel and threaded through the bars of the top, leaving a six-foot length for you to hold. Put plates of nice stinky food (tuna) at the back of the crate, then wait for them to enter. Cats don't understand physics very well, so they'll be amazed when you pull the door shut from six feet away. I've trapped three cats at a time this way.\n\nAs a bonus, the cats can stay in the crate, indoors or out, until they go to the vet, and can be delivered to the vet in the crate. (Be sure the vet knows they're feral.) If they stay in the crate, of course they'll need litter and bedding -- and a cover of tarps or blankets at night if it's outdoors. \n\nThank you for doing this difficult but necessary work, and also for talking about it here. Maybe your experience will motivate someone else to take in the kittens at their own door -- and your continued intervention will certainly make all the difference for Yayo's siblings. \n\nI have to go hug my rescued Lost Boys now ...\n\n\nEDIT: added link and details\n\n",
"score": 3
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{
"body": "I am sorry that you had to go through that kind of a loss.\n\nBut as to what you were saying. By the time you found the little guy, it was obviously too late to help him. But usually, most cases of rat poisoning and antifreeze poisoning are curable, *if you catch them early enough* (not so much directed at OP as much as everyone).\n\nThe other thing is, that this could have befallen anyone's cat, whether they owned them for one day or 14 years... if the cat it allowed to roam outside. Sometimes they get poisoned accidentally, and sometimes they get poisoned on purpose. That isn't even counting the plethora of other things that can happen - like getting hit by a car, catching the various diseases, or them killing other people's animals. So to everyone, please keep your kitties inside.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Death with no afterlife: Isn't that a more ideal version of heaven? | I believe there's no afterlife. I believe consciousness is physically real and there's no continuation of the sense or that consciousness after death. A lot of people find this to be depressing, hence the creation of religion. But my question to you fellow atheists/agnostics is isn't a death with no afterlife better than some other form of consciousness?
Part of life's suffering, at least for me, is being self-aware. Though sensing the physical world can be pleasurable, it can be painful, and worse it can be boring. When you're bored your mind can wander away causing existential anxiety. Isn't atheism/agnosticism's idea of an afterlife a "better" afterlife? | 12 | [
{
"body": "As I see it, three seconds of happiness followed by an eternity of not being there would feel no different to me than an eternity of happiness. I should try to die happy and hold it for three seconds until my conscious mind vanishes. That'll do.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I find the idea of eternal life loathsome and depressing. How many hundreds of millions of years before you just can't take the boredom anymore? As mortal beings we have the innate ability to make it all stop whenever we want.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Assuming you had a long, happy and fulfilling life, the idea of extinction of consciousness might seem fine and dandy. However, many people live lives of abject misery; believing that a better life awaits them after death. Often people live truncated lives, denying themselves pleasures deemed sinful to achieve this promised afterlife. It's a great system of social control. Don't agitate for better living conditions; you'll get a better life when you're dead.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
The Pope has Come! (This almost got me sued) | Back in high school, messing around in class, I started converting bottles of Liquid Paper Correction Fluid to Liquid Pope Conception Fluid. I thought it was pretty funny, and after a while, I took the time to make sticky labels on a laser printer. I'd ask to borrow someone's Liquid Paper, and return it to them a minute later subtly modified. Over the years, I did this to hundreds of students, teachers, professors, and co-workers.
In University, we ran an ad in the school paper for Liquid Pope (you can see the ad, and the label here: [http://imgur.com/Kgxvu.jpg](http://imgur.com/Kgxvu.jpg)). Shortly thereafter we got legal threats from both the Catholic Church and Gillette Canada. Good times.
Anyway, I came across a bottle on my desk today, and thought I'd share. So there ya go. | 98 | [
{
"body": "Going up against the Pope and Mike Nesmith? That's two very powerful men with silly hats. You're lucky you survived. ",
"score": 10
}
]
|
Wikileaks: Several rumours from google sources
that China accessed google's US-gov intercept
system which provides gmail subjects/dates | From http://twitter.com/wikileaks -
China has been quietly asking for the same access to google logfiles as US intelligence for 2-3 years now.
| 16 | [
{
"body": "Source: [UnsafeBits](http://unsafebits.com/2010/01/13/cyberattacks-on-major-firms-what-is-known/)\r\n\r\nIn mid-December, Google discovers that its network had been breached by attackers coming from China. The attacks were “highly sophisticated and targeted,” and the attackers stole intellectual property. The attackers also got some information from two Gmail accounts belonging to human-rights advocates in China. They were only able to access some account information and the subject lines of the e-mail messages, not the complete contents. - Source: [Google’s blog post, January 12, 2009](http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html)\r\n\r\nBoth the Internet addresses of the source of the attack and those of the server where exfiltrated information was sent corresponds to “a single foreign entity, consisting either of agents of the Chinese state or proxies thereof.” (Source: iDefense statement via e-mail)\r\n\r\nThe attackers used a zero-day flaw in Adobe Acrobat and dropped the Hydraq trojan. (Wired News article on Jan. 13 quoting iDefense, UnsafeBits has confirmed this with iDefense)\r\n\r\nThe attackers essentially conducted surveillance by **accessing the features of Google’s network that enable law enforcement to conduct wiretaps**. Source: [IDG News article quoting an unnamed internal Google source](http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/186786/google_attack_part_of_widespread_spying_effort.html)\r\n\r\n",
"score": 5
}
]
|
IAE disturbingly attracted to Carmen Sandiego? | I mean, I'm just saying, she's got good hair, exciting lifestyle, air of mystery...what's not to like? | 4 | [
{
"body": "Oh, yeah. I've tried a couple times to find her and ask her out, but she always manages to slip though my fingers.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
My Girlfriend & I Each Have a List Of Three People In The World That, Given The Opportunity, We Are Allowed To Have Sex With And It Not Be Cheating. What Would Be Your Three ? | Mine would be [Sofía Vergara](http://www.sofiavergara.com/), [Salma Hayek](http://www.mademan.com/chickipedia/salma-hayek/) & [Catherine Bell](http://www.catherinebellonline.com/) | 8 | [
{
"body": "My girlfriend once drunkenly told me that if she could have sex with any celebrity, it would be Jennifer Garner. I have spent every day since then trying to figure out a way to contact Miss Garner and get her to hear my plea.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "I'd just kindly ask Robert Downey Jr. to sex me thrice. Almost said John Krasinski, but he would be too nice to me.\r\n\r\nIf I *had* to name two more, I'd be stuck. I'm a straight chick, but I can only think of women besides RDJ. Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Rachel McAdams, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Kate Beckinsale, Helena Bonham Carter... if someone could just pick two from that list and surprise me? tyty",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I'd give Lady Gaga a go, because come on, she might be a hermaphrodite, and well, given the opportunity, wouldn't you want to find out too? ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "My 3 most recent ex-girlfriends. For some reason this did not go over well with my current girlfriend. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm an odd girl, but my boyfriend agreed to these three:\r\nBrendon Frasier, Nathan Fillion, and Sandra Oh\r\n\r\nyup, I'm a nerd.\r\n\r\nI WAS going to pick Alan Tudyk (from firefly), but I figured I’d never meet any of them anyway. Then one day, Alan Tudyk walked into the Quizno’s I was working at…. I kept thinking \"my boyfriend would understand!\"\r\n",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I would let her go first, and listen to her name famous people that she will never meet, nevertheless sleep with.\n\nThen I would name 3 girls that we both know and I may have a shot with.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This only serves a purpose if you actually have a SHOT of sleeping with the people listed. Otherwise why not just ask the real question: \"who do you want me to pretend to be, baby?\" ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE have very different ideas of what nerd and geek are? | To me,
Nerd - stereotypical suspenders, nerdy glasses, tucked in shirts, etc.
[most redditors]Geek - very computer savvy, lurks forums, reddit, etc alot. | 10 | [
{
"body": "Nerds - into science, math, school in general. Likes to play \"hardcore\" board games that require role playing and that shit.\n\nGeek- into computers, computer literate, spends most time with electronics (iPhone, game systems, phones, computers). Gamers aren't always geeks but most of the time they are, as they tipically like learning about game culture. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Just thinking about this the other day. Here's how I see it. Nerd=someone who's really into something like crazy (biology nerd, drama nerd, etc.). Geek is like a technology nerd; it's an offshoot. \n\nfor example, a nerd can be a nerd and still not have a clue about tech.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Nerds = Smart. Into science and math.\n\nGeeks = Not necessarily smart. Obsessive about comics, and gadgets, and very useless in general.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE sorta use their headphones around the house like the Na'Vi use their hair? | If I'm ever at home watching something on my laptop and I have to use the bathroom or get some food, or even go talk to certain people, I usually don't take my earbuds out. I just unplug the cord from the headphone jack and throw it behind my back like a braid. It saves me like 5 seconds of having to put each bud in the ear. I've been doing this for years, but I'm drunk now and just noticed the similarity. Anyone else this lazy? | 6 | [
{
"body": "I don't know if this is lazy, but I did envision you using your ear-bud cord to 'plug into' your dog... that naturally led to visual images I can never un-see.",
"score": 6
}
]
|
Anyone else miss the excitement of buying the disk set for a programming language and having it come with many volumes of paper documentation? | This thread is probably not going to resonate with the youngsters who have only known the Internet. In 1986, my dad bought me Turbo Pascal for my vanilla IBM PC. The disk came on one 5.25in floppy disk, and it had an awesome manual that I wore out and had to tape up when the spine finally gave out (and it's still at my parents' house!). A year or so later, I bought the Microsoft Assembler disks, and it had an even bigger manual, in a thick, hard binder.
The most exciting purchase, though, was when I was on a ship in the Navy circa 1997. I hadn't done much programming since college, and my Navy job had me running an office full of really sharp sailors, which left me some free time. I wanted to try to write a few programs related to ship navigation (a [moboard](http://imgur.com/MaNGa) program, in particular), and the QBasic interpreter on the office computer wasn't cutting it. We pulled into Kuwait, and on shore leave one day I walked by a computer store and saw that they had a somewhat recent version of Turbo C++ for Windows in the window. It was in a box about the size of a small suitcase, and it was *heavy*. It was also on sale (for $70 or so). I snapped it up and lugged it back to the ship. Opening it up and seeing the mounds of manuals was awesome, as I knew that those manuals were all I had to go on while we were out at sea.
I know it's so much easier to Google for answers these days, and online resources dwarf any hardcopy manual. But it's not quite the same.
(p.s. The moboard program turned out *great* and all the officers on the ship loved it. This was before there were any computers on the bridge of Navy ships (although the OPS guys did have the large radar screens back in OPS). The XO didn't like it so much, as he still wanted everyone doing the hand-calculations on the paper moboard. I wish I still had that program, just for old time's sake. It even had overlays for wind speed calculations for landing the helos. The pilots thought that was the coolest. That was actually my first GUI program--Win95, I think--and I can't even imagine the spaghetti code I must have produced...) | 64 | [
{
"body": "I miss it too, there is definitely something to say about knowing that you had everything you needed at your finger tips. To get the same effects now you need either an internet connection or a slew of books from different authors.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": " Oh Turbo Pascal how I miss you. The first place where I got to enjoy a full IDE (versions 4->7) where the inline help was adorably good, filled with examples (manpages can go toss themselves) and where the IDE was internally consistent and felt \"Seriously solid\" for all the things you tossed on it. \n \nMoving to Turbo C (++?) was something of a nightmare actually as the IDE felt haphazard and barely strung together, the cursor was finicky and the redraws weren't as solid, just something about how the UI felt to touch. \n \nAnd then it was the manuals. Well documented, solid, explaining the core of the language and the API's with small snippets of useful code that were at hand. Oh yes. Along with all the examples. \n\nSince then Delphi was a definite step down, and the manual shipped with Visual C was a joke in comparison. ( Same went for early VC's integrated help. Really didn't feel useful in that way ) and coming to Linux with the \"info\" pages ( install pinfo and they are usable at least ) or IDE's like Anjuta and Eclipse that just generally feel like haphazard collections of GUI elements without much thought to interaction, where you learn the quirks of the UI rather than the quirks of the language.\n\n",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I'm glad that era is over. I sure got sick of the foot high stack of manuals with each release, some even 18\" high. They consumed a lot of weight and shelf space. The manuals were always buggy because they couldn't be updated. These days just the postage for the manuals would be $30-$50, and the printing would be around $20 per set. It's a huge waste.\r\n\r\nI still have a lot of those old compilers with manuals in the basement. Someday I'll ebay the lot!",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I miss the days when I could buy a compiler (Turbo Pascal, Turbo C++, Microsoft C) and not only did it come with documentation, it was *complete*. Everything was documented. You didn't have to scour internet forums and dodgy expert-sex-change sites to try and figure out how to use a function or a method. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "One of the best things about QBasic back in the day was the built in help. I also had a BASIC reference that was a pretty hefty volume. It made some good bedtime reading.. ;-)\n\nActually, I'd have to say that the QB editor was one of the best programming editors I've ever used.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "When I was about 10, my dad fished a copy of Visual C++ 2.0 out of the trash heap at work (this is about 1995, so it was obsolete, but thanks to the compatibility albatross around MS's neck, it still worked fine).\n\nI spent many weeks that summer reading the x00-page documentation (WinAPI reference and all) cover-to-cover. I didn't absorb much of it; programming was still pretty cargo-cultic to me. In fact, I distinctly remember Find-and-Replacing all instances of UINT to UNIT in my windows.h, thinking it was a typo.\n\n*edit*: Oh, God, now I'm remembering an earlier instance. I started league bowling when I was around 7 or 8. We had a 386 with an amber-on-black monitor and a copy of dBASE III+. My dad wrote a database to track my bowling scores. I shoulder-surfed while he typed, and I was mystified by the dot prompt and the @row,col directives (I could navigate my way around DOS just enough to launch WordPerfect). So I grabbed the three-ring binder which dBASE came in and read the manual. A bit more of that sank in than the VC++ docs did later; my first programming project ever was to rewrite the dBASE III+ version in dBASE IV on our Win95 machine (the same one that I started using VC++ on; a Dell Optiplex GX1, I believe).\n\nDamn, I'm a nerd.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I used to love those binder manuals that came in a cardboard box, and had plastic pockets for the floppies. Even better if it came with keyboard templates. When I was a kid, I used to mindlessly bring them home if I saw any being thrown away. Also, my high school had a whole supply closet full of antiquated and mostly never-used software that I would rummage through for hours on end (things like IBM 3270 emulator).\n\nOne day I found one of these that had been thrown out and was left out in the rain, so the paper on the cover delaminated from the cardboard part of the binder. I actually spent a whole day regluing it.\n\nAh, my misspent youth.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "You had me at \"Anyone else miss the excitement of buying the disk set for a programming language\". I remember we used to talk about the \"splat radius\" - that was the radius made by the contents when you opened the box and tipped it out onto your desk.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'm a \"youngster\" (19) but have been programming for a while, since I was 13 or so. I'd much rather have paper documentation for reading and understanding concepts but electronic for cherry picking. I would think this is how many people feel. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I just caught the end of that era (I'm 23 now), and remember poring over the manuals that came with Powersoft's Power++ package on loan from a friend. \nYes, yes I do miss that sometimes…",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Funny you should mention that, I just found my old set of Turbo Pascal 3.5in floppies the other day. Not sure what happened to the rather sizable crate of books that came with them, but I'm sure it'll turn up.\n\nReally makes me appreciate modern technology though, given that the microSD card in my phone can hold 200 times more than that entire box full of floppies. Plus, it doesn't sound like someone's stepping on a seagull for hours on end while you watch the progress bar creep across the screen.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I can't believe that I used to literally read every function available in the language I was using. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I miss docs. I spent the 90s as a VMS systems manager, and the docs for new releases came on a *pallet*.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I miss having a wirebound book that told me the use of every memory location on my computer (an Atari 800 at the time).\n\nCome back, POKE and PEEK. All is forgiven.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Oh yes. I had the Turbo C++ set with the disks and the manuals. Also, my dad's friend brought over last years' MSDN CD set. It was awesome. All that documentation, sample code, SDKs and operating systems -- including working copies of Windows NT!\n\nWhen I was a kid my dad had a Tandy Model 16 computer. It was one of the first commercially available Unix workstations -- it ran XENIX by Microsoft. Along with the computer came a big, brown, wall o' binders detailing all the programming environments available for the machine. I learned how to program in C (XENIX) and Z80 assembly (TRSDOS) using that beast. It was beautiful.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "When I was 14, I bought a copy of Borland C++ from the local radio shack (back when we still had those in Canada), because I wanted to write programs that could run faster than what I was doing in BASIC. I learned C++ from the introduction in the manual that came with it; it even had a decent introduction to object oriented programming.\n\nThat's pretty much where it all started for me. There's an emotional attachment you get with physical objects like books, that I don't think you can replicate with online tutorials.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I had 1-2 versions of Turbo/Borland Pascal Pro that came with a whole box full of manuals. I may even still have them in a box somewhere.\n\nFor reference purposes, I wouldn't even think of picking up a book now. By that I mean if I want to know the name of a function or a class or what a parameter does. So I guess most of those old manuals would be useless.\n\nIf I want to learn something however I still prefer paper but there are very few (technical) books that are actually worth reading.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I missed the excitement as well, but I love going to the library at the university and checking out old, old programming books. I never get past the first chapter, but that's about as much as I ever manage to understand, where the authors are waxing loquaciously about the advantages of method X over method Y, the importance of real-time programming, what X language is really all about...\n\nThe Llama really sets the bar for introducing a language in a fun way. It's my favorite piece of technical writing. \"Perl may not be awesome, but we're sure it'll win your heart. Here's a stupid CS joke.\" (That said, I've not gotten beyond a Hello World app in Perl...things that are easier for me to configure, like Java, and plain old C, keep sucking my time.)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Wow! I went to college on an NROTC scholarship studying CS. My senior design project (1987) was a MoBoard program written in Turbo Pascal. The CS department wanted me to use a Naval Science professor as an adiviser. I don't think either department had any idea what I was doing, so they just gave me an A. Now I'm going to have to see if I can find my disk and get the program to run. I doubt if I have an OS for it.\r\n\r\nWe should start a post on MoBoard. I'm guessing most redditors have no idea what it is.\r\n\r\nI tend to agree with your XO. Watch standers should know MoBoard inside and out. Z-13-CC.\r\n\r\nWere you an O or an E?\r\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Yes. Think C, Think Pascal, MPW, Inside Macintosh (originally 5 volumes, plus more volumes for System 7, then volumes for AppleTalk, MacsBug, Communications Toolbox, etc). Then, later, Inside Mac became a serious many-volume set.\n\nAlso, the massive Visual C++ boxes for Windows NT development circa NT 3.0. Borland C++ plus the Object Windows Library. My shelves were literally sagging with these massive books.\n\nActually I don't miss that part. But Inside Macintosh volumes were incredibly well-written, a model of how API documentation should be done.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I would agree that paper has one quality to it that I don't like in online documentation: auto-generation.\n\nI'm sure auto-doc-generation's done a LOT of good for creating docs that wouldn't otherwise exist, but I also think it's lowered the documentation bar in general.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Yes... and I remember purchasing Minix from a bookstore. It came with the OS and utilities on 30 3.5\" floppies and a binder with a printout of all the OS's source code. Fun times indeed...",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I'm not sure if this would be interesting or not, but I'm an English teacher in China and here are some of my student's reactions to the Google affair | Keep in mind that these students are awfully educated, speak English well, and come from relatively wealthy families. They had all heard about the spat. That said:
>"Google is definitely going to be gone in the next couple days. It's sad."
>"It's terrible - Baidu is great for Chinese searches but their English searches are not very good."
>"I can get by without Google but I really hope that they don't block GMail. I don't know what I would do without GMail."
>"I already have a tunnel [VPN] to watch YouTube videos. It's a little troublesome but it doesn't affect me too much."
>"I don't use Google for searches but I really hope Google doesn't quit China. I need those websites to learn English."
What I find interesting is that usually Chinese citizens don't run into blocked websites, and so therefore the censorship issue doesn't really affect them. Usually, censorship happens in a more subtle way - either companies will work with the government to block certain content (ala Google), or more often, engage in self-censorship. The websites that are blocked are usually English-language, foreign websites, and therefore do not affect the average Chinese person very much.
So when Facebook is blocked, it doesn't matter, because the Chinese use "RenRen" (only a minuscule amount of Chinese people are on Facebook). When blogspot is blocked, the Chinese don't care, because they never use blogspot as a blogging platform. And so on and so forth.
With the blocking of YouTube this past summer, this marked perhaps one of the first moments in recent history that some Chinese people have run up against the Great Firewall. Yet while some Chinese people broke down and bought VPNs, the majority moved to other Chinese alternatives.
The Google spat may change this dynamic a bit. While Google is not as ubiquitous here as it is in the United States, 25% market share is nothing to sneeze at and its blockage would certainly be noticed. The Chinese most likely aren't going to get mad at the government and take out their pitchforks - their response would be far more practical. Those that can afford it would buy a VPN, which can be had for less than $1 per week.
Anyway, depending on when you get me, you can also ask the students anything. | 166 | [
{
"body": "Do they really feel like they are oppressed? Are human rights a real issue for them or some vague ideal that is more of an annoyance than a true injustice for them?",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "I don't know if it is an option for you to ask this type of question but here it goes. In the US when the government does some absurdly public and unethical thing it is common for it to be discussed in classrooms. \n\nCan you ask the students how they feel about the basic *concept* of widespread censorship? I would be interested to know if they feel it is good, bad, or are neutral to it.\n\nAlso the Google debacle is mostly based on the fact that the Chinese government hacked the Gmail system (in order to out human rights activists) and stole intellectual property from Google (along with countless other companies). So it would be interesting to hear how they feel about their countries role in that.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Google is, potentially, one of the most effective forms of soft power the US has in terms of extinguishing China's great firewall. What's both troubling and encouraging (only because of their record) is that it has the ability to influence foreign policy independently. Help us all if they ever become truly evil.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "From the recent amount of literature I've consumed about China, there seems to be a fair amount of resentment (justifiably) toward previous wrongs the West have caused China (eg the Opium wars etc.). And that to a certain extent this attitude can influence political and industrial interaction with foreign states.\n\nHave you noticed this yourself, and is this feeling evident in the minds of younger Chinese? ",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Hey reddit! How would you feel about the ability to transfer account histories and karma if you change usernames? | I've been on reddit for a long while now as "lousyhunter" but recently changed accounts due to getting sick of explaining that my username wasn't in reference to hunting or WOW. Would it too drastically alter the vibe of the community if people could transfer karma from an old account to the new or would that just spur excessive whoring? What about just being able to transfer over your article histories? Thoughts? | 30 | [
{
"body": "My initial username choice easily traced back to my business ventures. While I stand behind what I write, and try not to be a jerk, I also value being able to speak freely about sensitive issues without worrying about any sort of economic backlash. \n\nI say give everyone a single chance to change their username. Address the buyers remorse without enabling slimy behaviour.",
"score": 9
}
]
|
Heavy, thin, and now... | I come to you guys because I've attempted a ton of different routines and nothing produces wholly effective results. Alright, quick back story: I injured myself badly as a freshman in high school, spent about a year on crutches and ballooned to 300 pounds (I am 6'4", but 300 is a considerable heft regardless). In two year's time, I had dwindled to a sickly 180 pounds because I slashed calories and ran obsessively. Unable to endure the "you should maybe put some weight back on, Nick" comments any longer, I added roughly 30 pounds of muscle and 10 of fat. Today (age: 20) I fluctuate between 215 and 225 pounds. I have the cursed Italian tire flab, but a very muscular frame besides. I am looking to tone the abs and reduce the curvature on the obliques. I have the time and energy to lift five or more days a week (same goes for cardio activities). Any suggestions? Thanks so much, guys. | 3 | [
{
"body": "6'4 and 220lbs @20yo is a great place to start. \n\nGet your bf% taken. If you want to see abs ie. no tire, you need to get it down to 12%. \n\nPick a 3 day lifting routine i.e. SS, a 5x5 etc.\n\nAt your height weight you probably need a little more muscle so gain a few lbs, if you do it right maybe 50% will be muscle. Just do your lifting routine at a slight calorie surplus, about 500cals/day.\n\nWhen you decide to you have added enough base muscle keep your routine as it is and eat at a caloric deficit of 250-500 cals/day. Keep increasing your lifts. Keep doing till your bf is where you want it or you have achieved the look you want. You may have to repeat the cycle. \n\nAs far as eating, just eat a sensible healthy diet. Try a 30/40/30 split (protein, fat, carbs). Play with the ratios as you go along and figure what works best for you. Eat good fats and avoid processed carbs. \n\nIts really a body recomp. Your bf% is more of an indicator than your weight is. \n\nThis should take you 3 days a week, 5 hours tops. The entire process will take maybe 6 months. \n\nYou can always repeat if necessary. But usually as you go along you figure out what works best for you. ",
"score": 11
}
]
|
IAMA retired pot kingpin from Vancouver BC | I made a LOT of money in the eight years I was involved but the only thing I still have from it is the real estate the lifestyle payed for.The reason I got out was the event I wrote about earlier today on another reddit about true stories: I was sitting at my kitchen table with three friends playing cards at about midnight when 4 masked gunmen in black came through my front door with silenced pistols in each hand. They walked up to the table and singled me out with a pistol handle butt to the head and dragged me to the floor. my friends were layed on the floor beside the table face down and I was dragged into my living room face down. I was kicked in the face and ribs several times as well as being beaten on my head and hands with a hammer that had been brought out from my garage. My professionally trained protection dog (and best friend) who was locked in the basement was searched for and shot 6 times in his head. When they had finished ransacking my house they shot me in the leg while I was still face down then emptied a large can of bear mace/repellent on my head/face/ears and down my shirt. They told me on the way out the door that if I called the cops they knew everything about me and they'd kill my family. I didn't call.
I now have PTSD and sit at home all day. Im 33. | 29 | [
{
"body": "Got any moneymaking tips? I have some friends who run a small business of their own, and I have my own pill franchise...",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I had a friend get ripped off for 30 lbs or so, and 5 years later we still do not know where he is, dead or alive (presumably dead).\n\nThere is a huge (by my standards) federal investigation going on right now because of this.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "How much money could you expect to gain every harvest from growing and selling 25 plants (Kush) worth of pot?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I don't buy my pot until it gets down to surrey (south of Van), but I've always wondered what role Hells Angels / Bacon Bros / any other gangs with silly names play in the trafficking world, and how big you would have to get before they take notice.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Dammit, I was really hoping to hear about [Kingpin](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116778/). I am disappoint!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Did you launder any of the money? If so, how?\n\nI can't imagine you just bought a house with a suitcase full of cash :)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "A family friend's son was running a large-ish operation. He was busted a while ago. Apparently the Feds were trailing him for months prior. He wasn't in it for nearly as long, either.\n\nGranted, this happened in the U.S., but how did you manage to avoid police detection for that long?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This may be a little off topic, but seeing as you haven't quit smoking and are planning to set up a Health Canada affiliated grow-op, could you possibly lend advice on getting into cultivation? It's an art, I know, but I'm young and would love to learn a bit about it before trying anything. \n\nAlso, an intense story, friend. I'm glad to see you're doing well enough and still getting high.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Trying to write a story with some grower/dealer characters right now and could use a couple points.\n\n1 - With a fully modern grow op, how many times can you expect to harvest from a single large plant in a year? How many ounces does that come out to?\n\n2 - Does the cycle and yield change much if the plants are grown outdoors?\n\n3 - Why tin foil the walls? \n\n4 - Would you live in the same room as the plants for a good reason, or would the smell be too much?\n\n5 - Trailer park boys--great show, or the *greatest* show?\n\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I remember reading a piece in the Economist a while ago about drugs and violence in Vancouver. I think it mentioned that money made through pot was being used to buy guns and harder drugs from abroad? If this is true, could you talk a little more about it?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "You've made a few references to how licensed medical marijuana will change everything... really? I can't imagine that the Americans will ever allow BC to have the liberal drug laws that the majority here support.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Why do we value original works of art more highly than their replicas? | This may seem like a stupid question, but given our advanced technology we are able to create nearly perfect copies of paintings and sculptures (not to mention books or music). In fact, these copies are often so good that even experts can mistake them for originals. An average Joe is even easier to satisfy with an inferior copy, yet even he thinks that the original is somehow worth more? Why is that? | 47 | [
{
"body": "> Benjamin used the word \"aura\" to refer to the sense of awe and reverence one presumably experienced in the presence of unique works of art. According to Benjamin, this aura inheres not in the object itself but rather in external attributes such as its known line of ownership, its restricted exhibition, its publicized authenticity, or its cultural value. Aura is thus indicative of art's traditional association with primitive, feudal, or bourgeois structures of power and its further association with magic and (religious or secular) ritual. With the advent of art's mechanical reproducibility, and the development of forms of art (such as film) in which there is no actual original, the experience of art could be freed from place and ritual and instead brought under the gaze and control of a mass audience, leading to a shattering of the aura. \"For the first time in world history,\" Benjamin wrote, \"mechanical reproduction emancipates the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual.\"\n\n[Walter Benjamin's The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction](http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm)",
"score": 27
},
{
"body": "A sensation of closer contiguity to the creator. It's impractical, and probably illogical, but it's similar to having an author sign a book. It almost establishes a kind of pseudo-relationship with the statused artist.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "Walter Benjamin's [The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Work_of_Art_in_the_Age_of_Mechanical_Reproduction) is a very interesting read on the subject.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Personally, I am very much into mass produced art. The fact that I can take records, DVDs, books, etc with me and enjoy them wherever is one of their most interesting qualities. As much as I love art, I usually find museums and the like to be weak places to actually take in the art. Due to size and quality, even near exact replicas of most great pieces are going to be expensive if they're difficult to create. And in the case of things like paintings, a photograph will never be a substitiute because it lacks the texture of the original paint. But a reproduction can still be very desireable to people and is certainly worth more to many more people than a photo. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
So I find out she has herpes.... what now? | Background: I'm a 20 year old male, but I have actually never met anyone I was interested in dating. This is partially due to myself being very picky about girls and partially because of my limited circle of friends.
So, recently I actually found this girl that I really connected with and I thought was overall awesome. She has more of a sexual history than me, but that doesn't bother me at all.
But see, today we had a conversation that really stumps me. So, it turns out that she has had a one night stand with one of my friends and that she also has herpes (genital, recessive, although I could still get it from her). Her hookup with my friend doesn't bother me at all, but the herpes is a bit different.
Here is the thing: I might have a meaningful relationship with her, but is it worth it if it involves getting herpes? The symptoms aren't particularly detrimental, so my main concern here is having to warn all of my potential partners after her about the condition. Is it worth it? Or is herpes so widespread that I'm going to get it eventually anyway, so I shouldnt let this bother me?
EDIT: a useful [link](http://www.herpes.com/hsv1-2.html) about herpes in general | 9 | [
{
"body": "unless you want all of your future girlfriends to have to ask themselves the same question, then no. you really don't want herpes, especially at such a young age.",
"score": 27
},
{
"body": "Not the last question! I wasn't going to comment because this is a tough one, but herpes is not so widespread that you'll get it eventually. Take that thought off the table.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "**It pains me to see so many people misinformed about herpes.**\n\nFirst of all, there are two strains of the virus, HSV1 and HSV2, 1 is commonly associated with cold sores, and 2 is more associated with genital sores, but they can and will live in each others zones. However, if you've already got HSV1 (cold sores), the chances of you getting it AGAIN as a genital infection are very very slim, due to the antibodies you create from having a previous infection. Same thing goes for HSV2. So before you jump to any conclusions, you should both get blood tests to confirm which of the strains you both have. I say both because a huge majority of the population gets cold sores on their mouth, which is HSV1. You probably have it too. So stay with me here, if she has a genital infection of HSV1, and you've got a facial infection of HSV1 you've got nothing to worry about. Also, if this is the case, HSV1 doesnt live very well in the genital nerves so the first outbreak is often the last. Not a big deal at all. IF she does in fact have HSV2, the risk can also be lowered by taking anti-viral medication, and being really, really careful. Herpes is not contagious when you dont have an outbreak. It is contagious maybe a day or two before and after an outbreak, so there is a small risk, but it's quite small, with outbreaks lasting no longer then 2 weeks, and only occurring a few times a year if at all. If she's aware of her body and can see the signs and is not having an outbreak, I would say sex is definitely still worth it. Imagine if you refused to kiss anyone who got cold sores, or let someone give you a blowjob if they've had a cold sore before.\n\nA relationship is a bit more of a commitment, as regular sex increases the possibility of catching her just before an outbreak, but I have so many friends with herpes who have never given it to anyone. In fact, a friend of mine who just shared her two year anniversary with her herpes-infected partner just had a baby. It was accidental. *She got pregnant before she got herpes*\n\nIn conclusion, ask her how often she has outbreaks, how she got it, whether it's HSV1 or 2 and whether or not she's ever given it to anyone. You can make a much better decision this way. \n\nEDIT: the first line of this post is in regards to everyone in this thread telling you to run away.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Yea, Slowly back away. \n\nYou don't want to have to tell all your future girlfriends about this.\n\n>I might have a meaningful relationship with her\n\nYOU DON'T HAVE A MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH HER. \n\nThe risk is not less than the reward. \n\nSex with her < Sex with any of your future girlfriends. \n\nBy having sex with her, you eliminate 90% of all the women out there from your potential lovers list. `",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Sounds like a tricky one, better do some research on herpes. The only case I can think about taking that risk is if you were looking at spending the rest of your life with this girl. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Do you want\n\n[This](http://www.iusti.org/images/cd-rom-herpes/herpes05-Genital_herpes_multiple_superficial_ulcers_on_the_penis_CDC_small.jpg)\n\n[This](http://www.suanming.com.cn/sex/eng/atsk/std/herpes_ulcers_penis.jpg)\n\n[This](http://genital-herpes-picture-photo-image-pics.com/herpes_pictures/herpes07-large_herpetic_vesicle_on_the_glans_penis_small1.jpg)\n\n\n[This](http://www.atsu.edu/faculty/chamberlain/Website/lectures/lecture/image/herppen.gif)\n\nNo! You fucking don't. Don't spread the disease by voluntarily contracting it.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Herpes is not really that big a deal. About one in five people has genital herpes. Most people who have it are practically asymptomatic. Even for those who aren't, it's highly treatable (but admittedly not curable).\r\n\r\nShe has a disease that something like a fifth of the dating pool also has. She's been honest with you, so you know exactly what to be careful of. The person you dump her for might have herpes as well and not know it -- or know it and not tell you. Or might give you gonorrhea. Or HIV. Or mono. Or the flu. Or who knows? You know exactly what you're dealing with now, and you know she has enough class to be honest. This is a point in her favor.\r\n\r\nDan Savage answered basically your question in his column about 10 years ago. Maybe you'll get something out of it:\r\n\r\nhttp://www.thestranger.com/seattle/SavageLove?oid=260",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "buy some rollerblades, get a puppy, start hiking, go on lots of picnics and do other herpes-like stuff from the commercials...\n\nstay away. not worth it dude. EVER.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Wait! Seriously? Listen, I love banging chicks...I LOVE BANGING CHICKS, but you have to think about something: You said you are picky right? Well, man...I've had some experiences and I have to say this. How good would intimacy be with a chick if you know an STD is possibly being passed on to you? I mean I get turned off by smells, by a certain physical aspects...etc. etc... \r\n\r\nI can't imagine holding an erection with a woman that I know has a disease from sex...and worse! Can possibly transfer that to me!\r\n\r\nAlso, what if it doesn't work out? Now when you meet the love of your life someday, you will now know that you risk fucking up HER life.\r\n\r\nUgh...don't do it. In fact, why would you even want to do it. It's just gross. Let her meet someone else that has it....they already know what's up....don't become part of the 'pool' of people with it.\r\n\r\nI know many people have it...nothing against them...could be a mistake...but they have to reveal that and date those that already have it...not spread it.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Not worth it. If your SO finds out they have it and you want to marry them then *maybe*.\n\nI wouldn't dream of getting into a relationship with somebody with herpes and that seems to be the general consensus here... so even if you DO decide that *you* are ok with it you have to realise that most people *won't* be, and that will cut down your possible partners in the future by a **lot** .",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "RUN. Desperation is a maddening thing. But DO NOT succumb to some \"she's the one for me\" rationale. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Are you being serious? There is so much I want to say to you...\r\n\r\nThe choices are (as I understand it):\r\n\r\nA. Pursue tainted female in hopes of having a meaningful, lasting relationship with the knowledge **beforehand** that you *will* (it is only a matter of time) get a permanent, life-altering disease that will change every relationship you ever have with any woman in the future.\r\n\r\n*or*\r\n\r\nB. Realize that you have just dodged a potentially massive blow to your otherwise healthy sexual/love life. You fucking luckbox (pun intended).\r\n\r\nI suggest you don't waste anymore time with said individual.\r\n\r\nAnd no. Herpes is not so widespread that it is only a matter of time before you catch it. This isn't chickenpox. \r\n\r\nWake up?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You're too young. If you were older, I'd say go for it as herpes is so common, but 20 is too young to have to explain for years to come. She won't be worth it.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Dude this chick does not sound like she would improve your life. Being diseased is one thing, but she hooked up with your friend. Unforgivable.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Every time there's some major disaster the celebrities and [insert other people] clamor for donations to relief funds. Where the heck is the outcry to support the poor and others in their own nation? | I'm just tired of it. There's poor people and sick people and dying people all over the country and other countries. People are all about rallying to support a water well in [citation needed] some country other than their own, but what about the guy in their alley? | 19 | [
{
"body": "I agree there's poverty and suffering everywhere, but seriously, compared to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the amount or degree doesn't even come close--especially after an earthquake.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Wouldn't it be best if we not only helped people suffering from natural disasters in other countries, but people suffering from natural disasters in our own country? \n\nI think the assumption in the U.S. is that out government and highly organized volunteer organizations like the Red Cross are always at the ready. But in reality, this simply isn't the case. And as of late 2008, FEMA and other emergency-related government organizations had *not* improved since Katrina. \n\nI will donate in some way to help the earthquake victims in Haiti. \n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "If you live in a developed country, it can be quite a bit more cost-effective to help those in a developing country than in your own.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "It's all because people think too much of meritocracy. If you're poor or sick, it's because you made the wrong choice or you're lazy. In this way, it's all too easy to dismissing the misfortune met by other people.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Where is the force in weak nuclear force? | Before you answer...:)
I have done my wikipedia due diligence. I know about beta decay and understand the Feynman diagram: n -> p + e + antineutrino
What I have never understood is how this is a force, as opposed to an event.
The other forces have obvious attractive and/or repulsive elements. Near as I can tell with weak force, some poor neutron is just minding its own business when *bam* beta decay!
So where is the force part?
| 29 | [
{
"body": "The beta decay is a process, but a more complex process than the one you have written down.\n\nImagine an electron scattering off of a proton. The process would look like p+ + e- -> p+ + e-. What this doesn't tell you is that the scattering occurs when the two particles exchange a virtual particle. In this case, the process is an electromagnetic interaction, so the particles exchange a virtual photon, the mediating particle for the electromagnetic force.\n\nIn beta decay, the virtual particle that is exchanged is not a photon, but one of three weak gauge bosons that mediate the weak nuclear force. These are either the W+, W-, or Z bosons. When these force-carrying particles are exchanged, the process you have described occurs. Forgive my lack of ability to properly post a link, but here is an image from wikipedia that describes exactly how the process occurs.\n\nhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Feynman_Diagram_-_Negative_Beta_Decay.png\n\nI hope this helps. I'd be glad to elaborate more on the subject if you'd like.",
"score": 17
}
]
|
/r/android: This is how you make Barcode Scanner useful | I feel like the benefit of the [Barcode Scanner](http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-google-zxing-client-android-xzA.aspx) app should be known by all Android users. This application allows you to scan 1D barcodes and 2D QR codes. The later proves very useful as it can contain links to websites, Android applications or even contact information. The real power of the QR code is revealed when combined with your web browser: you can open the current webpage on your phone in a snap. This is what you will need:
* [Google Chrome Extensions](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/search?q=qr) - [My favorite](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/honmmebmobkooojhhblgjdanecndkico)
* [Firefox Extensions](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search?q=qr&cat=all&advancedsearch=1&as=1&appid=1&lver=3.5&atype=0&pp=20&pid=5&sort=&lup=) - [My favorite](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2780)
* Bookmarklet for other browsers:
javascript:void(window.open('http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=300x300&chl='%2BencodeURIComponent(location.href)%2C'Qr%20code'%2C'top=100%2Cleft=200%2Cwidth=350%2Cheight=350%2Cstatus=yes')); | 54 | [
{
"body": "(I made this:) A handy adressbar trick, just slap **QRCur.com/?** in front of any URL, and you'll have the QR code. Browsers other than FireFox do not seem to need the slash typed in.\r\n\r\nThis is what reddit looks like: http://QRCur.com/?http://reddit.com\r\n\r\nor more interesting, the semi-official Last.fm app: http://QRCur.com/?http://www.csmarshal.com/android/fm.last.android.1.3.4.apk\r\n\r\nNo installing needed, and excellent for when you want to show off to someone (don't we all..)",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Could you use the scanner to, say, scan in all your books from your personal library, and thus have a handy listing of every book you own, so the next time you go to the used bookstore you don't end up buying some book over again? Because that, sir, would improve my life hugely.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Replace `location.href` with `getSelection()+\"\"||location.href` in the bookmarklet and you can use the same one for the page URL or selected text on the page:\n\n`javascript:void(open('http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=qr&chs=300x300&chl='+encodeURIComponent(getSelection()+\"\"||location.href),'Qr code','top=100,left=200,width=350,height=350,status=yes'))`\n\nThen you can paste it into something like [AK Notepad](http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-akproduction-notepad-pzx.aspx) or any text field.\n\nIt looks like the Firefox extension you link to has this feature as well.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "and google goggles\n\nEdit: I just realized 3banana prefers Barcode Scanner over google goggles, therefore, so do I.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Should Churches be tax exempt? | /r/Christianity, I wanted to get your opinion on whether or not Churches should be tax exempt or not. I've asked this many times and have never gotten a good answer.
Most people will tell me that Churches do a lot of charity events and such and need all of the money to go toward those things, but the thing is charity events are tax deductible anyways. | 7 | [
{
"body": "Yes. As long as they remain non-profit. Most churches, like mine, are barely staying afloat financially, and doing a lot of good for the surrounding community. (Also, churches have a number of strict requirements to retain their non-profit status, including never endorsing a particular political candidate, using all proceeds for its own ministry, etc. Any church that breaks these rules runs the risk of forfeiting their NPO status.)",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I'm perpetually torn on this one.\n\nFirst off, the *real* reasoning behind churches' tax-exempt status is the establishment clause of the first amendment: The government could arguably unfairly promote one religion over another by manipulating how a given religion is taxed or not.\n\nOn the other hand, the establishment clause is also where the very idea of the separation of church and state comes from. When a church becomes deeply involved in politics, it is, IMO, crossing that very same line.\n\nBut then I think of Martin Luther King and the SCLC. Then I think of Jerry Falwell et al. Then I just want to throw my hands up in confusion and dismay and get really, really drunk. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Churches sometimes partake in charitable causes. If this was all they did with their money then they would be like a charity and exemption would be fine. But this isn't the case. Some money would go on the maintenance (in all aspects) of the church itself.\n\nImagine if someone ran a themepark based on donations. People visited the themepark and got a service out of it - some satisfaction. The themepark itself collected money from donations and uses it to build the themepark larger, to keep it in working order, to advertise the themepark, to franchise it and build more themeparks elsewhere.\n\nIn this instance there is no reason why we *shouldn't* be taxing the revenue stream of the themepark. The idea of collecting donations could be compared to simply being 'voluntary ticket pricing'.\n\nChurches are in the same situation. We would tax that themepark and so we should tax churches.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
For those wanting to see Daily Show clips but can't because they're "Not allowed in your country". (Firefox users only i'm afraid) | It always pissed me off that people in the UK (and presumably other countries too) aren't allowed to see Daily Show clips anymore. This addon for firefox gets around this stupidity:
[Modify Headers](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/967)
Once installed go to Tools > Modify Headers > (Top left drop down box) Add > In the first Text box type "X-Forwarded-For" (no quotes) > Second Textbox type "12.13.14.15" (again no quotes) > click 'Add' > Click the Configuration button (bottom right) and tick the "Always On: Enable Modify Headers when the window/tab is closed" option.
Now you should be able to watch Daily Show clips. Enjoy!
(Sorry if this is common knowledge, but i thought it worth pointing out even if it is) | 18 | [
{
"body": "Unfortunately, does not work for Hulu.\nIt seemed to take longer to deny me with the modify headers - but I was given the dreaded \"not in your country\" message.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What do you do when theists argue that the greatest mass murderers were atheists? | I was on a message board earlier today, and a theist made this argument, using Mao, Stalin, and Hitler to back himself up. Needless to say, rebutting Hitler was easy, but what can I say regarding Mao and Stalin?
EDIT: Thanks for all of your suggestions. This helps a lot. | 25 | [
{
"body": "Hitler killed in the name of nationalism. Mao and Stalin killed in the name of communism. None of them killed in the name of atheism.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Simple: no one killed anyone based solely on their lack of belief in a god. They never used it as a reason to kill. They still had a dogma. It may have been a secular one, but the issue is dogma, religious or otherwise. No rational person does the things these people did.\n\nOn the other hand, the Crusades, Inquisition, etc were specifically done in the name of the Christian god.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I say \"wait a minute... Hitler didn't believe in Santa... And _you_ don't believe in Santa... That means... YOU'RE HITLER!\"\n\nIt's the same argument, basically. I'm as much a mass murderer because of what I _don't_ believe in as Hitler was.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Hitler, Stain and Mao never collected stamps. They are also not astronauts. They didn't play guitar, didn't do LSD. They aren't computer gamers, teachers, medics. They also aren't fireman. They all have never used air conditioning. None of them are avatar fans.\n\nThey didn't believe in Zeus, didn't believe in ghosts, didn't believe in the Egyptian gods, and don't believe in leprechauns. Finally, they (maybe) didn't believe in the Christian god.\n\nEveryone *doesn't do* a lot more things than they *do*. How this is relevant to anything is difficult to understand.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I say \"so what?\"\n\nThey were also men. Does that mean there is something inherently wrong with being a man, versus being a woman?\n\nMost of them were European or Asian, should we be wary of those shifty Europeans?\n\nDid they also wear shoes? Oh my god, we really need to beware of anyone wearing shoes!\n\nAnd just keep going until they get the point or try to explain that those don't *cause* anything, to which I argue that neither does not believing in God. There is no causal path from non-belief alone to killing, while there can be one from belief...",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Remind them that Hitler, a mass murdering fuck head as many historians have said, was catholic and believed he was doing gods work. \n\nOr that statistically more people in prisons belong to some faith.\n\nAnd the ever classic reminder that more people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason. to quote Carlin \"Those of faith don't really care about killing, not really. It depends on who's doing the killing and who's getting killed. The more devout they are the more they see it as negotiable.\" rough quote from memory ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Read Chapter 17 in \"God is not Great :How Religion poison everything\" by Christopher Hitchens.\nHe has by far the best response to this.\n\nBasically those totalitarian regimes of 20th century were not reasonable and were the same problem in a different form.\n\nThe Vacuum of religion left had to be filled and those cases it was filled with something nasty.\n\nIn essence, it was still religion.\n\nSo you should challenge him by asking him to show you a society that fell into nightmarish chaos and slaughter and starvation society that follows the ideals of Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and Baruch Spinoza and John Locke.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Hitler was Catholic, as was a majority of the Nazi high council. Throughout the Third Reich, not a single member of the Nazi party was excommunicated from the Catholic Church. Except Joseph Goebbels, who was excommunicated because he married a Protestant. As for Mao, Stalin, and Pot, these were already described in other comments",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "You say \"Non sequitur! Simply because person x, an atheist, is morally inferior to you, a theist, does not mean that god exists.\"",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Read them [some of these Hitler quotes ](http://atheism.about.com/od/adolfhitlernazigermany/tp/AdolfHitlerChristian.htm)\n \n\n- I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so.\n\n\n- My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. ...Today, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed his blood upon the Cross. ...\n\n\n\n- The fact that the Catholic Church has come to an agreement with Fascist Italy ...proves beyond doubt that the Fascist world of ideas is closer to Christianity than those of Jewish liberalism or even atheistic Marxism...\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
So how does having a pet help humans evolve? | So I don't post much, and to be honest I'm slightly tipsy, but how does having a pet help humans evolve. I can see why we have attractions toward another humans to helped us, but having an attraction (ie care for, nuturing, growing a relationship) to another animal like a cat or dog, how does that help? | 3 | [
{
"body": "By controling Pest animals, By assisting with hunting, Herding and EVen companionship, by being one more set of eyes, they made living easier and food more abundant, so yes...",
"score": 3
}
]
|
So DnD is pretty popular around here. What other systems do redditors enjoy regularly? | Seems like almost every post is mostly focused on the old standby DnD. Which is pretty understandable, it's long been the public face of the industry, it continues to be wildly popular, and is most gamers introduction to the hobby. I start off with this so that people don't get the wrong impression. This is not a complaint about seeing too much DnD posts, nor a hate fest against the game. I just think variety is the spice of life, and would love to hear more about the other systems people are using. So let's have it redditors, what are your favorite systems, and why do you enjoy them? | 20 | [
{
"body": "Savage Worlds, because it handles theatrical combats very easily. I whipped up a one-shot zombie virus outbreak on a cruise ship while my players were creating characters, 30 minutes or so.\n\nPathfinder--okay, a spiritual descendant of D&D more so than any other non-D&D-branded game, but technically still a different game.\n\nTunnels and Trolls: although the spell names are silly, the game is golden in the right hands. My GM is good, and the simplicity of the rules enables him to make (what I think of as) sensible rulings, and that, in turn, encourages our group to be very creative when coming up with solutions to problems.\n\nCapes--a great, GM-less superhero game. You can play different characters in different scenes, including the villain, and you can even roleplay situations like a ticking time bomb.\n\nCall of Cthulhu. The original (more or less) horror RPG. Dying is almost as much fun as staying alive, and refereeing the game is fun to see the lengths players will go to, to keep the characters alive. (Trail of Cthulhu is also cool, but CoC has my heart, probably for tradition's sake.)\n\nIn A Wicked Age looks good, but I haven't found a group to play it with. Not totally GM-free, but the GM has less of a godlike role in it. It's also only 37 pages long.\n\nOh, there's tons of others.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "The games that currently get played at the gaming table are: \n* Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 2nd Ed\n* Palladium Fantasy RPG \n* Pathfinder (I know it's basically DnD)\n* There's talk of a WoD: Hunter game being thrown around as well. \n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I think it's just because D&D is the most popular system. I'm actually a little surprised that there aren't many Palladium (rifts, robotech, etc.) fans on here. I used to play Palladium games most of the time until 3e came out. I've been into a lot of other games at different times though.\n\nD20 Modern - I like the fact that you can play just about any modern form of game, Sci-Fi, Horror, Action, etc. I ran a Red Dawn for a little while using d20 Modern.\n\nSpy Craft - I used to play in the Living Spycraft campaign. I haven't had a chance to play SC2.0 yet but have the core book.\n\nCall of Cthulhu - It's classic and I actually like to see how long I can make a character last. It's also fun to make 15 different characters for one game session :)\n\nTwilight 2000 - I played this a lot back in High School, meaning early 90's. Half the fun is seeing if your character will survive character creation.\n\nKobolds Ate My Baby - If you can get a copy, PICK IT UP!!! This is a beer and pretzels rpg and a hell of a lot of fun.\n\nMunchkin d20 - yes, based on the card game. I love it for same reasons I love the card game.\n\nDogs in the Vineyard - This is my fav game of all time. It's an indie but the game mechanic is fucking awesome. This is another one I highly recommend picking up if you can find it.\n\nSome quick other things that I've played: Rifts, Robotech, Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles, Systems Failure, World of Darkness (vampire, mage, werewolf, etc), Tank Girl, Star Wars d20, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tons of fun with the right group)\n\nThings that I haven't played but would like to: Paranoia, Traveler, Shadowrun, Battletech, The Masters of the Universe, Marvel super heroes, Killing Puppies for Satan, Big Eyes Small Mouth",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "For the past 2 years or so, my friends and I have been playing mostly Scion, a White Wolf RPG. The main reason that we like it is the extreme degree of freedom that the game allows for us to make our characters and how we've taken advantage of it. Not to mention, all of the characters are the children of mythological gods (Zeus, Baron Samedi, Odin, etc.) so we can do things are just completely out in left field.\n\nFor instance, in one game we were trying to infiltrate a highly defended compound (think prison-level security. Wall and all that). After botching when trying to simply talk our way in, we decided, after a long discussion with the daredevil of our group, that we would just push him out of an airplane while the rest of us parachuted into the compound. He was immune to falling damage. The guards were so shocked by him falling in, brushing himself off, revealing himself to be the famous daredevil \"Nick Nitrous\", and telling them that his stunt had just gone wrong. The rest of us got in without a hitch. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I'm a games reviewer with a popular magazine, so I get a lot of stuff for free, but despite all of the new stuff I've managed to acquire I still tend to stick to a few longtime favorites: AD&D 1st ed., Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Call of Cthulhu and Traveller. Some of the newish stuff I enjoy include the NWOD games (props to Scion, it's awesome - so is Geist), Pathfinder and Savage worlds. Oh, and occasionally, we pull out All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Great fun. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Many people here don't like it. That aside, I like Unhallowed Metropolis, 7th Sea (looooove it), Shadowrun 4th ed. My group started a game of Star Wars Saga Edition about 3 weeks ago, and last week we switched it to the Primetime Adventures format and I'm liking it quite a bit so far.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "[dungeonslayers](http://www.dungeonslayers.com/): free, simple, hack'n'slay.\n\ni was able to start with a group of mostly newbie players in no time, thanks to the system being incredibly easy and the free rulebooks. for advanced players there may be too few rules and there's not much material around yet.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "7th sea is AMAZING if you can find it.\n\nI havn't played yet, but I got the Dr Who RPG for christmas. Very simple and very story based, but looks like a hoot.\n\nCall of Cthuhlu is always fun and pretty easy to play.\n\nThe d20 (D&D 3.5) Conan RPG is a riot if done properly. Written in such a way as to feel just like the stories.\n",
"score": 3
}
]
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LSD/MDMA/Shrooms/Weed at the same time? | Thinking about taking a trip to the edge of the universe. Anyone else done something similar to this before? Is it a (relatively) safe combination? | 17 | [
{
"body": "My friend did this plus alcohol. He said it was a ton of fun, but it wasn't worth the absolutely horrific hangover/psychedelic haze he had the next day. I wasn't there so I don't have any personal experience with combining so many substances, though.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "don't do lsd and shrooms at the same time, it's a waste, one just over powers the other. everthing else sounds fine though.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Its called disassembly, and is a ton of fun - if you enjoy really intense trips. If you're feeling brave, you can time it so you peak on all three at once (weed doesn't count, its just a catalyst to make you trip harder here) - take the acid first, then about 1-1.5 hours later eat the shrooms, then wait another hour to pop your X. The peak will be ridiculously intense and visual. Bonus points if you get ebombs that have MDA in them.\nThe only combination I've done that had me tripping harder than this one is shrooms, acid, and 2c-e.",
"score": 3
}
]
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i want to leave my g/f, but we live together, any suggestions on how this could work? | seriously she drives me nuts and i just can't take it anymore. i've tried dropping hints, talking directly to her about it, nothing seems to be getting through. other than flat out just up and leaving one day, i have no idea what i can do? any ideas redditors?
edit thanks everyone for all the HELPFUL *ahem* feedback | 31 | [
{
"body": "First, secure another residence whether it's a separate apartment, a friend's place or an empty unit at a nearby U•Store•It.\n\nThen gradually begin moving your belongings out one piece at a time. Start with the small stuff like a fork here, a DVD there.\n\nIn the meantime, spend less and less time around. One night you come home at 10:00. The next, 10:02. Until you never come home at all.\n\nIt will be as if you just simply faded from existence. She'll have a vague memory of someone who used to live with her, but she won't be able to recall who it was or when they left.",
"score": 91
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{
"body": "Ok, first you're going need bottle of chloroform, serious pull with everyone who's ever met her, and a lot of careful planning.\n\nSo the first step is to get her out the apartment for a significant amount of time. While she is gone, remove *anything* that was hers and alter the appearance of your apartment. Get new furniture, rearrange everything, maybe even switch up which room is your bedroom. \n\nThen you need to find the girlfriend and knock her out with the chloroform. Don't skimp on the amount you use, you want her to be knocked out for a long time. If you cause some brain damage and memory loss, ALL THE BETTER. Maybe hit her head a bit. Don't kill her, just maybe a light concussion that's all. \n\nThen, you want to change her into a different set of clothes, something she's never worn before. Then dirty up her outfit and face and leave her by (or in if you're feeling a little bit callous) a dumpster in an alley. Before all of this, you need to have talked to everyone she knows (friends, coworkers, family etc.) and convinced them to act like they've never met her before in their entire life. (threaten them, blackmail them, whatever it takes) You need to get these people *totally* on board with the program. Give them acting lessons if you don't think they are up to the task. \n\nThat way when your girlfriend comes to, she'll have serious psychological issues stemming from a loss of external recognition of her identity. She'll harass you for a while, sure, but eventually she will resign herself to her bizarre fate and spend the rest of her life going insane on the streets.\n\nProtip: If one of her friends or family members absolutely refuses to cooperate, kill them and replace them with a professional actor who looks just like them. I know what you're thinking, \"They'll look totally different no way she'll buy it\" But because of modern sit coms, people are accustomed to actor changes mid-series.",
"score": 28
},
{
"body": "A guy told me one time, \"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.\"",
"score": 23
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{
"body": "You can go back and forth with the sorta-breakup for weeks and months. You're wasting precious time, and things aren't going to magically improve. Eventually you just have to sack up and get it over with. \n\nSign a new lease. The cost alone will put a fire under your butt and steel your resolve. \n\nPut in notice with your property manager that you will not be renewing the lease on the old apartment. Let them know that you are moving out, request an inspection, and insist that you will not be held responsible for any damages to the property. Do whatever you have to do to dispose of the old lease. \n\nGather five friends and a stack of boxes. Show up one afternoon and start a whirlwind of packing - this works best if she is out of the house. Call her and say \"We tried to work it out, but it is not working for me. I'm sorry. I'm packing and will be moving out today. It would be best if you stayed away from the apartment while I get my things together. We can discuss this all later.\" Hang up. \n\nIf she shows up there will be a bunch of activity to distract and diffuse the situation. You'll have social support. You will be distracted by coordinating the move. Neither of you will have the time or space to break down and start crying, so on and so forth. \n\nShe may have a tantrum. She may plop down on the floor, take out her cellphone, and call all of her friends to complain about how you are being an awful person. This is fine, and not your concern. Give her some money for a movie, insist that she leave the premises for a few hours, and inform her that you'll let her know when you are done. \n\nMove everything out.\n\nBuy all of your friends a massive dinner for putting up with your shit and being great buddies. \n\nEmail her the next day to work out logistics on any remaining items. Apologize once for the ambush, but don't start begging for forgiveness. \n\nDon't forget the security deposit. Give it up to her if you have to - it may help smooth over the whole process. Consider it a tax for poor decision making.\n\nBottom line: She made a decision to move in with you knowing full well that things might not work out. She's a grown up, and you are not responsible for taking care of her anymore. She will do what she has to do to secure housing.\n\nNext time you'll know to think three times before you move in with someone before you're on the marriage track. It's asking for trouble.\n\nEdit: I've been through the exact same thing. The same pain, the process, and (as you'll discover) the liberating recovery. You've made your decision and you have to find the courage to act. It won't be easy, and it won't be \"nice,\" but it must be, and is for the best.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "Start pooping in odd places, eventually the smell and sheer ludicrousness of the situation will drive her away :)",
"score": 11
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{
"body": "Dude, seriously.\n\nGet a place, pack your shit, move.\n\nSomeplace during that process, break up with the girl.\n\nShe really has no power over any of that.\n\nAnd yes, believe me, it really is that easy. Deal with your emotions later, sitting in the new crib.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Untangling your lives when you've been in a long relationship is a pain, but so worth it. Just leave her and move out. Do it quick, like a band-aid.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm actually dealing with this issue right now. Just be honest.... you want your own space again. Tell her you are going to start looking for a new place to live and that she should start doing the same.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Start asking for dirtier bedroom acts. Start with some hair pulling. Move on to Slapping. Spitting. Gagging. .. Eventually you ask for the boston steamer... If she agrees to all of them. She is a keeper. You can't lose. ... If she agrees and you still don't want her. Send her to me.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Easy-This is how I did it. \r\n\r\n\"Hey, I'm leaving. I'm not happy. Bye.\"\r\n\r\nAnd packed up my crap and rolled out. You are not her pet. You are a grown ass man that can make his own decisions. It may be complicated if you're on the lease or share bills together, but basically, lay it out for her, non-negotionable style and work out the details, but just leave. \r\n\r\nDon't be an ass and leave while she's gone. That's cowardly. Man up, and just tell her you're leaving and not ever coming back. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Well, I am sorry to hear you are going through this, but I do feel better that others have weathered this storm too.\n\nBackground: She had no steady work, paid no rent, rarely paid for food, did pay utilities(which she should have as she was there all fricking day burning through the electric), routinely drank my booze, gave away bottles of wine that were not hers to give, etc. This culminating in the last month(Happy Holidays!)\n\nAfter 6 months, it was clear we were done. I felt bad about her situation and did not want to kick her out(thank GAWD I resisted her attempts to get her name on the lease) as her parents are unstable and not a very good place for her. I slowly stopped buying groceries, ate dinner on the way home from work, came home later, stopped having sex(that was a tough one, but to be honest the sex stopped being good months ago), etc. This did not work directly...\n\nI came home early with groceries(for a change, even bought her a sandwich) and the door was chained. Interesting, calmly walk into the apartment after she let's me in...notice that she has her hair done and some make up, rare for her that time of day, but still in boxers and a tshirt. I calmly walked to the kitchen stowing the groceries and I note a male's bag and jacket in the dining room. She immediately begins stammering apologies...\"I felt invisible, I needed to feel something, I haven't cum in forever, I needed a release, I'm sorry, This is the only time, blah, blah, blah.\" I continued to put away the groceries and told her very calmly that we would discuss this as soon as he left. He quickly left, don't even know what he looked like, but I want to buy him a drink. Anyway, he left and I offered her a CocaCola(cliched, but it was what I just picked up at the market) and calmly told her that I could care less if she was fucking other men, sheep, or dogs but it was absolutely insulting that it would be done under the roof I paid for and that she had to call someone to pick her up immediately and she could make arrangements to remove her furniture. I told her to pack any personal items such as photos and anything of value that could easily be moved and take it with her that night. She became very upset and confused by my utter lack of anger. Then she became angry that it was clear I was utterly apathetic to a rather unfortunate end to a relationship.\n\nI was WAY too gentlemanly about the event and as a result she took several items such as light bulbs, toilet paper, a night light, photos(that I took), shower rings, several kitchen utensils and probably a few other petty items that I haven't noticed when I allowed her to return to pack her remaining items(I was present but did not hover). She actually had the nerve to complain that I purchased new dishes, silverware, coffee maker, etc and didn't wait until she moved everything out. Keep in mind I gave her 2 weeks in which to arrange to move her items and I ended up taking the day off from work when she moved her furniture lest she steal anything else. CRAZINESS. I probably should have given her a 2 days instead, but I am a terminally nice guy.\n\nAfter my confessional, I HIGHLY recommend that the poster end this ASAP. Do not torture yourself or inconvenience yourself with a bad relationship. If easier, move out. If not,sit her down and tell her she needs to move out. Make sure you change all of the utilities etc. Take plenty of photos, so if she damages anything, etc. you have some proof. I would also suggest that you have a witness or two present to prevent any hideous allegations thrown your way.\n\nI hope it goes smoother than mine...\n\nCheers!\n\n",
"score": 3
}
]
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Okay, seriously now. Why are applications like Photoshop/Mathematica/Final Cut Pro/etc so expensive? | Yes, I know they're all very high-quality programs, but those of you with any detailed knowledge, can you please tell me what *truly* justifies high-end programs often costing upwards of a thousand dollars? Do they really offer something unique that can't be found in a cheaper/open-source alternative? Or is a lot of the cost simply the branding? | 3 | [
{
"body": "Well, they market it for professionals who can afford it. They expect everyone else to download it illegally",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I am all about open source, if you can find something that does the same thing for free, by all means go for it.\n\nHowever with that said, most times programs like this do not have reliable, or viable open source alternatives. \n\nI work on a software development team, and those costs go to pay for the hundreds of hours of coding and testing done by these groups. \n\nOn the flip side, we license products for thousands of dollars per user because we need them to efficiently do our job. \n\nBusinesses are typically the only ones actually paying these very high sounding prices.\n\nAlso support is generally bundled in licensing costs as well. A company that needs to maintain a trained and knowledgeable support staff will require a massive amount of additional overhead.\n\nRemember that open source usually means for purposes that do not gain profit and usually no support beyond the developer community.\n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I agree with your idea that it's the branding. These programs become industry standard tools, so options are: 1) go OSS and risk bugs and no tech support (not good for business) or 2) pay to play and get the peace of mind that you'll be supported. Guess what most businesses opt for? Everyone else bootlegs or goes open source.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Manufacturers would say it is to offset the cost of development and rampant piracy. But I think it is because they can get away with it. In business speak, they charge \"what the market will bear\". I would think if they charged a reasonable price, tons of people would buy these products that would otherwise have pirated them, gone without, or used opensource alternatives.\nThis is just opinion, though. I wish someone from inside the business would post the real scoop here for us. I have wondered about this one for years - it just doesn't seem to make sense to charge such prohibitive prices - it's like the manufacturers are cutting of their own arm. They do lots of marketing studies, they must know the price point they would need to hit to start selling tons of product, why don't they sell their product at that price point?",
"score": 3
}
]
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I just found out that after 31 years, the man I thought was my father, may not be. I have a name. What do I do? | Backrounder:
I'm 31 years of age. My parents have been divorced since I was 8. My father wasn't really around after the divorce (booze, bad decisions etc.). Recently, over the past 6 months or so, he tracked me down and tried to re-kindle our relationship. Also, these last few months have been extremely challenging for me in terms of my lack of employment (graduated from college last June), debts, falling outs with close friends, health issue etc. Challenging to the last.
During our most recent phone conversation (he lives 900 km from me), he expressed his concern for my well being, as a good father would, but added that he's always been particularly worried about me specifically, my whole life. I have an older brother and younger sister. I asked what he meant, and he slowly revealed that there was a strong doubt in his mind that he MAY NOT be my biological father. I was able to coax a name out of him as well.
Initially I focused the rest of the convo on him, telling him that I was glad he told me, and that it must have been hard for him to harbour that for so long. I held off my emotional response until after the call was finished. It was....unpredictable, thus far.
Has anyone else had an experience like this? Is it okay that I'm not sure how I feel about this? Should I begin searching for this other man? How do I confront my mother? So many questions.
**EDIT 1:** -The next course of action will be a paternity test, just trying to find out how to do this with 900km separating us. I've never had so many orangered envelopes and upvotes! Thanks. And an appearance by karmanaut....nice!
**EDIT 2:** -Spoke to suspected, alleged father today, he's down with the DNA test. We'll find out in two weeks or so. We should go on Maury. | 3 | [
{
"body": "There was this running joke in my family my Dad isn't my Dad because I look nothing like my siblings and am the only one that has blue eyes. My parents married when my Mom was 7 months pregnant and barely out of a divorce with a previous husband. \n\nA few years ago I was digging in some of my Mom's old photos and I saw a picture of the previous husband and I look SO much like him, blue eyes and all. I asked my Mom and she flipped out on me and promised that I was my father's daughter. But I have always felt a bit unsure about it. My Dad was never there either for the same reasons yours wasn't. I haven't seen him in 15 years. \n\nI have always felt that I don't want drama screwing up the other guys life just in case I may be his long lost daughter. If it is possible since you are reconnecting with your Dad, to get a DNA test next time you see him, then do it. \n\nAs far as talking to your Mom about it, if she was dramatic as my Mom was, you'd be better off waiting for DNA results. If she is laid back, go for it. \n",
"score": 3
}
]
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Washington DC Meetup - Saturday, January 23rd 2010 (Update from the 16th) | So, since the general consensus in [the old thread](http://www.reddit.com/r/meetup/comments/ao8u8/washington_dc_meetup_saturday_jan_16th/) was that the 23rd was a much better date for most people than the 16th. I contacted a mod about getting the title changed, but (sadly) that's seemingly impossible.
So I'm resubmitting this with the appropriate date in the title, just so things are all on the same page (people were getting confused with the old title, and rightfully so).
As I noted in the original post, I'm willing to take care of making sure there's a sign and junk at the meetup so people don't get confused. Seems most people agreed on [Bus Boys and Poets](http://www.busboysandpoets.com/) (*the **14th St** location*) as an ideal place to meet; I suggested a time of 4PM, which seemed to work for some people, so I'll move forward with the assumption that we'll meet at that time.
If that time doesn't work for you, speak up. I'll edit this post as more details are set in stone.
**EDIT - 01/22/2010:** For those who are definitely still attending this, I'll aim to be there around 3:50-ish. I'll wear a bright red sweater that says "Nike" across the front, and for the hell of it I'll most likely hold a Reddit bobblehead in my hand. Hopefully it'll be impossible to miss - see you there!
**Edit 01/23/2010** I am outside right now, in case anyone is checking this thread. 3:44 PM
**Edit 01/25/2010** Seems like this weekends meetup went pretty well, definitely wanna organize future ones. Despite all efforts, though, we still had some confusion surrounding this stuff - could've been my fault, I dunno. In trying to tackle this problem, though, I just went ahead and created a meetup.com listing for this stuff:
http://www.meetup.com/Washington-DC-Metro-area-Redditors
This thread should have been sufficiently spammed to hell and back by this point^, and I'll do separate postings to /r/meetup and /r/washingtondc to push it further. I encourage everyone in the area to join up on this, because it'll auto-email you whenever a new meetup is announced.
^ = Yes, I know I could've messaged everybody privately, but I realized this well after I was done in the comments. Sue me. ;D | 29 | [
{
"body": "While the idea of Reddit crossing the threshold from internet into reality is frightening, I may just do this meetup anyway...",
"score": 4
}
]
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So I met a retired physicist playing basketball today and we got into into a conversation about global warming. These are his opinions... | * Global Warming is untrue and is being blown out of proportion by the media
* The models that scientists create to predict future climates are too easily manipulated. Also, there are too many variables to consider when creating these models, so they will be inaccurate.
* The temperature rise of the Earth is due to the fact that we are recently (maybe 13,000 years of so) coming out of an Ice Age.
* CO2 levels are miniscule in proportion to the rest of the atmosphere. The notion that CO2 levels increase the amount of water vapor (the most prevalent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere might be true, but he argues that over time, if water vapor accumulates enough, there will be more clouds which will reflect sunlight.
* Cap-and-trade is a ridiculous idea because companies can just buy emissions credits and will emit similar amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, this will drive supply costs up, and thus prices, which will have an adverse effect on the poor.
* Melting ice caps should not cause more powerful hurricanes because the melting would create an ocean with more uniform temperatures
* The temperature cycles of Earth only show a correlation with CO2 levels, and are not necessarily caused by them. CO2 rises follow temperature rises, which prompted him to believe that lower temperatures led to more animals, and consequently more CO2.
I, unfortunately, did not know many facts about global warming, so I basically asked him questions about his opinions. I have been lurking reddit for a while now and it obviously has conflicting opinions about global warming and I just wanted to get the other side. Any thoughts?
Also, he said some other stuff about green energy and electric cars if you guys are interested, so if you are, feel free to ask.
**Based on the comments I am getting, I think I might have offended some people with this post. Just to be clear, I identify myself to be more liberal than conservative, and am just curious about another side about this issue (i.e. is this bullshit or not?) I have lurked reddit for a while now and know that reddit can do better than calling me gay or a republicunt.**
**Edit: Thanks for the comments guys. I will definitely have more to think about now.** | 424 | [
{
"body": "I think it's pathetic that the OP (or anyone) has to go back and define their political ideology in order to help legitimize their post. Why does everything have to be so god damn politicized?\n\nYou should never have to backup or reinforce your opinions with what political party you support.",
"score": 524
},
{
"body": "I say we just assume global warming is a real issue, and work towards renewable energy. \n\nWorst case scenario? Global warming is bunk, but the planet will run on renewable energy, and we won't be wrecking havoc on the ecosystem. Sure it will have cost us quite a bit of money to develop these energy sources, but oil WILL run out one day, and we will need to get it done, we might as well start now.\n\nBest case scenario? Global warming is real, but we were ready and avoided a disaster.\n\n",
"score": 449
},
{
"body": "Don't consult a physicist on something that isn't physics. That's like asking a climatologist to discuss the physics of general relativity. They may have a crude understanding of it, but it's not like this was a field of research where they actually bothered to read any peer-reviewed scientific literature, much less, contribute meaningful material to the subject.\n\n\nI'd like to address some of these claims:\n\n> Global Warming is untrue and is being blown out of proportion by the media.\n\nFrom my perspective, climate change suffers from 1) under-reporting 2) mis-information 3) incomplete information. Too often people think it's just about temperatures rising, when really it's just the net average temperature rising (which says nothing about the distribution of the temp).\n\n> The temperature rise of the Earth is due to the fact that we are recently (maybe 13,000 years of so) coming out of an Ice Age.\n\nIf you're coming out of an ice age, you are expected to warm at a certain rate, which is much slower than what we're observing. He's looking at the direction of change with no respect to the magnitude or speed of the change.\n\n> The models that scientists create to predict future climates are too easily manipulated. Also, there are too many variables to consider when creating these models, so they will be inaccurate.\n\nSee [this link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_climate_model#Accuracy_of_models_that_predict_global_warming).\n\n> CO2 levels are miniscule in proportion to the rest of the atmosphere.\n\nCO2 makes up roughly 380 parts per million of our atmosphere. Sounds small, right? CO2 levels do make up a small proportion of the total atmosphere's composition, but that doesn't mean the warmth-forcing effect of it is correspondingly small. By your physicist's logic, drinking a glass of water laced with a concentration of benzene of 380 ppm would be equally impotent right? Even that low of a concentration of benzene can kill you.\n\n> The notion that CO2 levels increase the amount of water vapor (the most prevalent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere might be true, but he argues that over time, if water vapor accumulates enough, there will be more clouds which will reflect sunlight.\n\nHe's assuming such an effect would occur early on enough to avoid significant ecological damage. If the water vapor levels in the atmosphere were jacked up that high (and that rapidly), we'd already be in a shitload of trouble. Besides, lots of terrestrial ice is already melting, as well as sea ice. Ice is very reflective to solar radiation. Water is very absorbent of solar radiation. When you start converting reflective ice to absorbent water by melting, it creates a positive feedback loop. You should ask him about that one.\n\n> Melting ice caps should not cause more powerful hurricanes because the melting would create an ocean with more uniform temperatures.\n\nFirstly, this one best shows how misinformed he is regarding what climatologists are actually discussing. The hypothesis involving hurricanes & warming is that global-warming may make stronger hurricanes (since hurricanes are known to be powered by the warmth of the water). **It has absolutely nothing to do with ice-caps melting**. Anyway, the scientific community has no consensus on whether or not there's a link between anything global-warming-related and hurricane intensity.\n\n> Cap-and-trade is a ridiculous idea because companies can just buy emissions credits and will emit similar amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, this will drive supply costs up, and thus prices, which will have an adverse effect on the poor.\n\nHe's portraying it as a simple tax, which it isn't. Cap-and-trade involves making sure there's a limited number of credits in the system, and as they're used up, they become more scarce, and as they become scarce, the free-market makes their value go up. So from the perspective of an individual or a corporation, yes you can pollute excessively, IF you can afford it. BUT, from the perspective of the government, they only made \"X\" number of credits for the entire country to share, which only allows a finite amount of carbon to be emitted. Without putting a hard-cap on any individuals, they can still manage to put a hard-cap on the net output of the entire system as a whole.\n\n> The temperature cycles of Earth only show a correlation with CO2 levels, and are not necessarily caused by them. CO2 rises follow temperature rises, which prompted him to believe that lower temperatures led to more animals, and consequently more CO2.\n\nIf you fill a transparent container with CO2, and look through it with a thermal camera, you can't see anything through it. This gas is very opaque to thermal radiation, which makes it retain heat like a blanket. If that isn't convincing, try this: The planet Venus is 2nd closet to the Sun, yet is the hottest planet in our solar system (yes, hotter than Mercury which is hella close to the Sun). Venus's atmosphere is mostly CO2. Think about that.",
"score": 208
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{
"body": "Alas, just because someone's a physicist, even a very good physicist, doesn't mean he has any competence outside his area of expertise (disclaimer: I am a physicist):\n\n* [Linus Pauling, the father of physical chemistry, propounded the quackpot \"vitamin C therapy\" concept](http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/pauling.html)\n* [Wolfgang Pauli, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, was a critic of the theory of evolution and a believer in psychoanalysis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli#Scientific_research).\n* [Julian Schwinger, who won the Nobel Prize with Feynman and Tomonaga, was an enthusiastic supporter of cold fusion](http://www.infinite-energy.com/iemagazine/issue1/colfusthe.html).\n* [And of course there is Brian Josephson, inventor of the ubiquitous Josephson junction, who spends his days pushing bugfuck crazy paranormal theories](http://www.tcm.phy.cam.ac.uk/~bdj10/psi/tucson.html).\n",
"score": 31
},
{
"body": "Human psychology. People tend to make a quick decision about something and then dig their heels in with confirmation bias to protect that belief. We're all prone to it, even the most intelligent. Once you've already made a quick decision, it takes massive maturity to step back, challenge your own beliefs, and try to look at it objectively. I find it massively bizarre when pundits, radio talkshow hosts, politicians, mechanics, the garbage man, and even physicists -- despite having no training in the area, having done no research in the area, and usually having not read even a single scientific paper on the subject -- think that they have somehow outsmarted climate scientists who do this for a living.\n\nThis is particularly true of things that attack \"core\" understanding. Many people in the backs of their minds believe the Earth is too big for us little humans to have much of an effect on it. So any claims otherwise are immediately assumed to be false, even silly perhaps. Then, when challenged, the heels dig in.\n\nLet's look at them one by one:\n\n1. Almost all climate science is consistent with global warming. That's not media. That's science. The media might exaggerate or distort information as they do in any subject, but that doesn't change the underlying science that backs it up.\n\n2. Multiple models are developed using our best understanding. They are calibrated and validated and give similar results. Certainly models can be manipulated, and they probably can't be trusted too far into the future as far as accuracy. If you want to know what the temperature will be in 2042 in New York to within 0.1 degrees, you're not going to get it. But they can be trusted in terms of trends and rough order of magnitude, however.\n\n3. Sure, we're coming out of an ice age. And that well describes the temperature changes over the last 10,000 years or so. It doesn't explain the increased changes in the last 150 years or so. It's not the *fact* that it is warming and melting, it is the *rate* at which is it warming and melting [that is the problem](http://www.reddit.com/r/environment/comments/ao8lt/what_is_wrong_with_this_graph/c0ilbws).\n\n4. The cloud reflection theory has been thoroughly tested and demonstrated to be false. It is there in the scientific literature for anyone to read.\n\n5. Well, that's an economic issue. Again, you should ask what training in economics he has. I'm not disagreeing on cap and trade since I don't know it well enough (and suspect he doesn't either), but there are many obvious counter-answers. If it makes costs go up, a smart company would spend the money on modifying production processes to be greener, thereby lowering costs and thereby stealing all of the market from under their competition who spent their money on credits instead. That's the point of it.\n\n6. Again, what's his training on oceanography? If you've got warming air and cooling water (from melting ice caps), and the different geographies (polar versus equatorial), I haven't got the slightest clue how he could think such a simplified assertion would even sound sane.\n\n7. This is the \"one cause\" fallacy. Certainly there is a complex relationship. He seems to be referring to the point that historically CO2 levels trailed temperature changes by about 800 years. (The correlation peaks at 890 years by my analysis of the Vostok data.) Actually, that's important. If one were to say that current CO2 levels are a *result of* increasing temp, then it should be from temperature changes 890 years ago, not now. The fact they correlate closely to the year strongly negates that it is simply more of the same.\n\nThe fact that warming temperature releases more CO2 does not negate that CO2 also causes temperature rises. The process is quite easily demonstrated. Rather, that makes it a feedback system in which, however it is started, one increases the other, which increases the other, and so on. Historically it would have reached an equilibrium when there was no additional source of CO2 or new heat or the relationship saturated.\n\nIn our case, we are continually adding CO2 from fossil fuels that would not have been released historically, so it *can* get worse than historically. (But, I'll point out again, it's not the magnitude that matters so much. It is the rapid change compared to the ability of ecosystems and economies to adapt.) But even there we'd probably reach an equilibrium as well. Just after we've put a decent percentage of low-lying coastal cities under water, wiped out some ecosystems, caused massive droughts in some populated areas, and made weather more extreme in areas without infrastructure prepared for it.\n",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "I did my bachelor's degree in physics but got tired of the arrogance.\n\nPhysicists think that because they know the underlying equations, they can understand everything about a system. However, the emphasis of physics education is on linear systems, and only a few actually buckle down and learn how to find approximate solutions for non-linear systems, such as the Navier-Stokes equations of fluid dynamics. They leave such mundane tasks for applied mathematicians and engineers, which is why I went into amath for my doctorate.\n\nHowever, he may be right about cap and trade. A carbon tax would be more effective and progressive.\n\nOur being in an interglacial period means very little. Just because there were a couple of cycles doesn't mean that the same kind of cycles will continue.\n\nHe's treating the entire ocean and the entire system of clouds as uniform. They are not uniform and their combined effect is not completely known. However it has been shown that while high clouds seeded by airplane contrails reflect heat during the day, they retain heat at night.\n\nWhat has been worrying me lately is the [clathrate gun hypothesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis). Warming in the arctic could release methane clathrates (AKA methane hydrates) from their solid form in underwater permafrost. Methane is 10X as potent a greenhouse gas and may have contributed to the [Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene-Eocene_Thermal_Maximum).\n\n[This article](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8437703.stm) might be the first indication that the clathrate gun is firing and we're in for a bout of extreme temperature variations.\n",
"score": 20
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{
"body": "> CO2 levels are miniscule in proportion to the rest of the atmosphere.\n\nI don't understand this argument.\n\n * The amount of red paint on a car is miniscule to the proportion to the rest of the car... but it's still a red car. \n * The amount of calcium in the [human body](http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/f/blbodyelements.htm) is less than 1.5%, but that's what keeps your skeleton rigid and carries the entire weight of your body.\n * The amount [iron in your body is 4g](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_iron_metabolism), something like 0.01% of your body weight... and that tiny tiny amount of iron carries all of the oxygen you breath to your organs.\n * The amount of polonium in Alexander Litvinenko's body was [10 micrograms](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Litvinenko_poisoning#Po-210_concentration_in_the_body_of_Litvinenko), around 2.0 × 10^-8 percent! And that was considered a massive dose, 200 times what kills the average person.\n * Almost every atom of carbon in every single plant on the planet was once carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And every bit of carbon in animals comes from plants. In other words, that tiny bit of carbon in the atmosphere managed to envelope the entire planet in life and create every single plant, animal, and person you know.\n",
"score": 14
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{
"body": "Sounds like your 'physicist' read Superfreakonomics. Pretty much every point you say he made is in Superfreakonomics last few chapters in almost the same order.",
"score": 14
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{
"body": "> Global Warming is untrue and is being blown out of proportion by the media\n\nYes, it is being blow out of proportion by the media. But the media does the same for the opposing viewpoint as well. They jump at every little thing that either \"proves\" or \"disproves\" global warming, apparently just to generate controversy.\n\n> The models that scientists create to predict future climates are too easily manipulated.\n\nModels represent our best guess. While they may be wrong, taking exception with our best guess without offering constructive suggestions aimed at improving our guesses is pretty useless. Additionally, models do not constitute observations and are not designed to support the science behind climate change. They are for making predictions. For instance, that objects fall to earth is an observation, and one model of this is given in Newtonian physics. The model is not evidence for gravity - it is a prediction of what gravity will do. Having an objection with the model in now way invalidates the observations.\n\n> The temperature rise of the Earth is due to the fact that we are recently (maybe 13,000 years of so) coming out of an Ice Age.\n\nI thought the warming trend we're so worried about began less than 100 years ago, with the rate of warming far exceeding any \"coming out of an ice age\" scenario, combined with the interesting timing of coinciding with the industrial revolution. Maybe he's right, but I have my doubts.\n\n> Cap-and-trade is a ridiculous idea because companies can just buy emissions credits and will emit similar amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, this will drive supply costs up, and thus prices, which will have an adverse effect on the poor.\n\nAgreed, but I'm not an economist and don't know much about the idea other than it smells of politicians and bankers.\n\n> The temperature cycles of Earth only show a correlation with CO2 levels, and are not necessarily caused by them. CO2 rises follow temperature rises, which prompted him to believe that lower temperatures led to more animals, and consequently more CO2.\n\nEcology studies have shown that warmer temperatures greatly increase primary production, which locks away more carbon dioxide in existing plant matter and detritus. Also, as a result of increased primary production, animal life becomes more abundant, which of course exhales CO2. But in this scenario, it's methane we'd have to be more worried about - whether being produced by organisms, or escaping from permafrost. In this case we may get a \"run away\" warming effect.\n\nOne problem with public opinion regarding climate change is that it's based on media reports and viewer loyalty to particular talk-show hosts who have absolutely no actual experience regarding climate change. The media does not do a very good job at reporting science, as they grossly oversimplify it all. Yet, if they didn't, they'd probably confuse even more.\n\nHistory has shown the human race to be incapable of long-term decision making (on the order of multiple human generations). I believe that chances are, we are doomed to live through some terrible ecological collapse, and hopefully we wise up as a result. And I don't believe technology alone is going to save us.",
"score": 13
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{
"body": "i have to applaud you for doing research on both sides. i hold a phd in applied physics and i'm a huge skeptic. not necessarily about global warming, per se, but about the anthropogenic origin. what is (and has always been) important to me is preservation for the sake of preservation, not some media hyped voodoo doll. we should always aim for preservation by making informed decisions with our wallets instead of demanding congress enact laws which may have very real and adverse effects (ie his example about the cap and trade schema). either way, i want to explicitly thank you again for making this non-biased research and informing yourself",
"score": 13
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{
"body": "I'm interested in the other things he talked about!\n\nThis is interesting because I like to hear about the other side that most people shun.\n\nCheers,",
"score": 10
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{
"body": "Why would anyone take your tone to be insulting or offensive?\n\nI have no real take on global warming in general: there are too many conflicting data from 'scientific' sources, too many varied and conflicting hypotheses and there's too much money and political motivation involved to get a truly clear picture. \n\nBut to be offended by someone who puts out a concept or idea that doesn't fit in with your preconceived notions or Gore-osophy?\n\nI would expect this kind of crap from the Right: the whole I'm-being-attacked attitude when someone pipes up with anything you don't want to hear, but a so-called Liberal to get offended because their precious carbon credits might be... haha... bullshit or their hero Al Gore might be even slightly wrong on a single point? I can't stand how fundie and completely taken in both sides of the political parties in this country have become. The only time I want to see Jesus or Gore mentioned is if they had a cage match.\n\nScrew carbon credits and green house gases. We owe it to our planet and our **own health** to come up with something better. Not out of some fear-driven, scary-ass, Michael Bay apocalypse but because we should be effing responsible instead of greedy.\n\nIt shouldn't take floating clouds of toxic sludge covering all of our major cities before we make a change. But we'll never care about ourselves and our environment as much as we care about our bottom line. Notice that most of the people shouting and protesting climate change are middle class and poorer? That's because the rich people don't have time to picket as they are too busy writing checks for carbon credits so they cal fly their private jet to Paris for a light lunch.\n\nNothing will get better until someone can make more money in green energy than in coal and oil. You want to save the world? Make renewable energy that lines the oil baron's pockets. That's it. We're trying to come up with clean energy that takes people off the grid. That means you're destroying oil and coal and natural gas profits. And you wonder why we've not perfected technologies that have been around for decades? We will have clean energy the day that someone can come up with a business model that proves a significant higher return than existing technology. Until then, you can picket all you want, but it's hard to hear that noise from a Learjet at 50k feet.",
"score": 9
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{
"body": ">Global Warming is untrue and is being blown out of proportion by the media. \n\nThe media is not one entity. Some of the media is trumpeting the alarms, and some of it is denying there's even climate change. One thing is certain; global-level climate fluctuations are real and can be demonstrated with available, verifiable data by well-educated and experienced climatologists. \n\n>The models that scientists create to predict future climates are too easily manipulated. Also, there are too many variables to consider when creating these models, so they will be inaccurate.\n\nClimatology is not a soft science (like psychology or economics). Models may take into account averages and omit a few variables, but the processes by which climate can be predicted are better honed than this gentleman would have us believe. \n\n>CO2 levels are miniscule in proportion to the rest of the atmosphere. The notion that CO2 levels increase the amount of water vapor (the most prevalent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere might be true, but he argues that over time, if water vapor accumulates enough, there will be more clouds which will reflect sunlight.\n\nI'm not a climatologist, but I am well aware from what little education I do have in the field that even relatively small amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere can have substantial effects on climate. 350 parts per million of CO2 may seem truly infinitesimal, but that increase of 200 ppm from the healthy 350 ppm means a global increase of 3 degrees. In 1958, the average was 314.67 ppm and it's now 387.27 ppm. \n\n>Cap-and-trade is a ridiculous idea because companies can just buy emissions credits and will emit similar amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, this will drive supply costs up, and thus prices, which will have an adverse effect on the poor.\n\nBasically, this is correct. Cap and trade has a worthy goal, but it's going about getting there the wrong way. \n\n>Melting ice caps should not cause more powerful hurricanes because the melting would create an ocean with more uniform temperatures\n\nI'm afraid that's not how it works. The earth still has seasons and polls, which create vast differences in air temperature. The greenhouse effect does not change this reality. \n\n>The temperature cycles of Earth only show a correlation with CO2 levels, and are not necessarily caused by them. CO2 rises follow temperature rises, which prompted him to believe that lower temperatures led to more animals, and consequently more CO2.\n\nSo animals can collectively change the atmosphere, but humans can't? This would seem to contradict the first point. \n\nWas this gentleman a climatologist? I have a degree in psychology, but that doesn't necessarily make me a forensic psychologist or a clinical psychologist, as those would require a great deal of specialty training and experience. ",
"score": 8
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{
"body": "> Global Warming is untrue and is being blown out of proportion by the media.\n\nHow about all the climate scientists? Close to ~100% of published climate scientists confirm the accepted theory. Every national science academy of every developed country on the planet confirms it. Why is he talking about \"the media\"? Does he not know to get his climate science from climate scientists?!\n\n> The models that scientists create to predict future climates are too easily manipulated. Also, there are too many variables to consider when creating these models, so they will be inaccurate.\n\nHe's accusing climate scientists of lying? All of them?! The models, when many are used together, [have been very accurate](http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2008/05/what-the-ipcc-models-really-say/).\n\n> The temperature rise of the Earth is due to the fact that we are recently (maybe 13,000 years of so) coming out of an Ice Age.\n\nWhat is the mechanism? The only one known is a 40% increase in CO2 since pre-industrial - and no explanation why that would *not* heat the planet.\n\n> CO2 levels are miniscule in proportion to the rest of the atmosphere. The notion that CO2 levels increase the amount of water vapor (the most prevalent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere might be true, but he argues that over time, if water vapor accumulates enough, there will be more clouds which will reflect sunlight.\n\nIt's not the quantity, it's the potency. The greenhouse effect has been known for almost 200 years. There is no credible scientific argument that increase CO2 by 40% would not raise the planet's temperature. His cloud 'theory' is basically nonsense - but it's a complex subject that requires some gnarly science to understand.\n\n> Cap-and-trade is a ridiculous idea because companies can just buy emissions credits and will emit similar amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, this will drive supply costs up, and thus prices, which will have an adverse effect on the poor.\n\nHow we attempt to mitigate climate change has nothing to do with the scientific reality. When people start flipping to the politics when talking about the science, it should act as a red flag that they're more politically-motivated than scientifically.\n\n> Melting ice caps should not cause more powerful hurricanes because the melting would create an ocean with more uniform temperatures\n\nNo one claimed they would. More heat in the 'system' will. Warmer oceans and warmer air contain more energy - that is already producing more powerful storms around the planet. That's nonsense about more uniform ocean temperatures.\n\n> The temperature cycles of Earth only show a correlation with CO2 levels, and are not necessarily caused by them. CO2 rises follow temperature rises, which prompted him to believe that lower temperatures led to more animals, and consequently more CO2.\n\n[One of the oldest Denier myths](http://www.realclimate.org/wiki/index.php?title=CO2_doesn%27t_lead%2C_it_lags).\n\nWhat you got from your retired basketball-playing physicist: argument from (false) authority and a close-up demonstration of Dunning Kruger effect. He's clearly been getting his 'science' from Denier blogs, found the answers pleasing and decided that, due to his *claimed* expertise in one subject, he must be clever in another. Afraid not. He's confused and *wrong*.",
"score": 8
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{
"body": "I call bullshit on this whole post.\n1) A retired physicist playing basketball.\n2) The writer playing basketball with a retired physicist.\n3) The talk turning to climate change.\n4) The author taking notes during the conversation.\n5) The conversation listing pretty much verbatim all of the same lines of opposition as other climate change deniers use.\n6) I just wanted to \"get the other side\" — what side is that exactly? Does being a physicist make you an expert on all fields of science, including climate?\nMe thinks this retired physicist is a straw man to push 'gregnortonrocks' own agenda. I could be wrong, but then again I'm a cynical asshole who distrusts most things and is right at least some of the time.",
"score": 8
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{
"body": "He shows an inadequate understanding of climate science. The argument that since CO2 levels are low, they must not have much of an effect is incorrect because they are a strong absorber of infrared radiation when compared to many other gases in the atmosphere such as N2. The feedback of clouds is a hotly debated issue, with some saying clouds represent a positive feedback and some saying that clouds represent a negative feedback. \n\nHow exactly is melting ice caps going to ensure more uniform temperatures?\n\nMost of these things are just asserted without any evidence. If he feels he has the answer, let him come out of retirement, publish research in peer-reviewed journals and make millions proving global warming is a hoax. ",
"score": 7
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{
"body": "I met a person studying her Phd in climate modeling a couple of months ago. Her opinion? \"We're fucked\".\n\nHope this helps, you know. Scientifically and that.",
"score": 7
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{
"body": "@Gregnortonrocks your physicist friend is a pretty smart guy. \n\n* The more unknowns any model has the less trustworthy it's results are. Climate models have hundreds of variables and a very poor track record besides as one can see from the local 5 day forecast.\n\n* Vlastok ice cores show that the temperature of the earth regularly varies by more than 5 degrees celsius and the current 100 years change is only .8 degrees. The current warming is not statistically significant.\n\n* There are plenty of other ways that we are destroying the earth that are easily proven, toxic waste, garbage everywhere, over-fertilization, pesticides, over-fishing, dredging the ocean, clear-cutting the rain forest, toxic air pollution, the list goes on. Why is the media focusing on the weakest argument in the bunch? It would cost much less to completely fix all the other problems than to spend trillions preventing global temperatures from rising. Think how expensive air-conditioning is in the summer and then imagine trying to control the whole worlds temperature. Total waste of money.\n\n* More people die from cold related deaths each year than heat related ones by a factor of at least 6. And more of the earths' land mass is in places that are too cold for agriculture (Russia, Canada) than is in places where it is too hot, so global warming is actually a good thing for us as a species.\n\nThanks for such a great open minded post. A lot of people just choose sides and don't take the time and effort to question their own positions. You're a better kind of man for your openness. ",
"score": 7
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{
"body": "I've read as many of these posts as I could be bothered to on both sides of the argument. Bottom line is that none of you have a clue whats going on. Everything you have said has been copied from something someone else said. All your data is someone else's data. This is not science, its pure speculation and we might as well be on the Big Brother website for all the incite that is on show here.\nYet again views are polarized, on one side you have the Eco brigade who won't be happy until we are all vegetarians living in hemp tepees and on the other side you have the die hard deniers driving 4x4's and working for Shell (probably the same people who were certain that ddt was safe). \nCongratulations, by wading in where you have no intellectual right to be you have turned this into a potato/potato, tomato/tomato debate. The rest of the world who frankly don't give a crap what happens in ten years time let alone in a hundred years time have switched off. Yawn.\n",
"score": 7
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{
"body": "The cap and trade legislation being pushed by Obama is more about helping Goldman Sachs than protecting the Environment. Who do you think will operate the market for the carbon credits? Goldman will get to buy up all the carbon credits in the beginning when they are cheap. Then when the restrictions get tougher each year, Goldman will sell them for a huge profit. If you haven't figured out that Obama cares more about wall street than everyday people you are foolish.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "No chance anyone will see this with 570 comments so far but whatever.\n\nI always thought global warming to be the wrong thing to watch. Pollution is the thing to watch. If we clean up pollution and stop polluting then we will save plants and animals and ecosystems and our planet will be better off for that. Don't shit in your backyard, don't dump waste in your forest. \n\nIf we take care of that then global warming will either stop if its man made, or continue if its natural. And if its bunk then at least we have clean water and land.",
"score": 6
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{
"body": "Nice set of fallacies. One in almost each sentence. I spotted the following.\n\ntitle > [Appeal to authority](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_authority)\n\n* lying media [red herring/ Ad hominem circumstantial](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem#Ad_hominem_circumstantial)\n* Possible to manipulate!=is manipulated [Appeal to probability](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_probability).\nMany variables->inaccurate [Appealing to complexity](http://www.don-lindsay-archive.org/skeptic/arguments.html#complexity)\n* The end of ice age is [Irrelevant argument](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignoratio_elenchi) as explained in other posts\n* Minisculeness is [Irrelevant argument](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignoratio_elenchi) as explained in other posts. [Willfull blindness ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_blindness) that clouds work both ways\n* [Ridicule](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_ridicule) using Cap&T [straw man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man). Poor will suffer [argumentum ad misericordiam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_pity) [and solution is worthless if it is not perfect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_solution_fallacy)\n* Ice caps>hurricanes [straw man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man)\n* temperature increasing CO2 does not invalidate that CO2 increases temperature [Deductive fallacy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deductive_fallacy)\n\nThere was not a single good argument. \nDid you spot more fallacies?",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": ">CO2 levels are miniscule in proportion to the rest of the atmosphere. The notion that CO2 levels increase the amount of water vapor (the most prevalent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere might be true, but he argues that over time, if water vapor accumulates enough, there will be more clouds which will reflect sunlight.\n\nExcellent, he has almost figured out feedback loops. But I guess since the actual climate models are so complex he felt the need to make up a simplistic one. Now all he needs is to put some specificity to \"over time\". Is it a year, a century, what? \n\n>Melting ice caps should not cause more powerful hurricanes because the melting would create an ocean with more uniform temperatures\n\nAgain, it is too bad that he figured that his simplistic models are better than real science. Actual climatologists are not able to figure out if warming will give more hurricanes or fewer. *One* of the factors would be the equalizing of the temps as he said, but there are several factors that interact in complex feedbacky ways. What the people with real models agree on is that the top end power will increase since more energy is being pumped into the system.\n\n>The temperature cycles of Earth only show a correlation with CO2 levels, and are not necessarily caused by them. CO2 rises follow temperature rises, which prompted him to believe that lower temperatures led to more animals, and consequently more CO2.\n\nWow, he really does like simplistic ideas. How about this: CO2 and warming are parts of a feedback system. In the past we have had warming first, from some other cause, that then gives more CO2 which gives more warming and so on until something breaks the cycle. But now we have the extra CO2 kick starting the cycle. \n\nI think you physicist friend has spent more time listening to the Republicans on this than reading the climatology stuff.\n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": ">>>The notion that CO2 levels increase the amount of water vapor (the most prevalent greenhouse gas) into the atmosphere might be true, but he argues that over time, if water vapor accumulates enough, there will be more clouds which will reflect sunlight.\r\n\r\nI have a hard time believing anything this so called physicist says. He for one says the models are so complex but readily have simple answers to the complex issues.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Yeah, Geologists also have this view that global warming is a huge scam. Most of them can produce temperature maps showing a \"sine wave\" looking temperature graph with the peaks at about 10,000 year intervals. Basically this means our planet has an ice age every 10k years or so. (from memory so I could be wrong) If you plot our current date on a projected graph, we have a 1000 more years of warming. At that point the ice caps will be gone and the earth will be out of it's \"snow ball stage\" This will hold for about 1000 years (the peak of the graph) and then dive back down into another ice age just like it always has. I guess this cycle has repeated HUNDREDS of times and is very predictable. I guess gthe right people don't get paid if we follow THAT story instead of the global warming scare one... sad",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I call shenanigans, for two reasons:\n(A): Physicists never retire. They just move to a lower energy level.\n(B): A physicist playing basketball!? I mean, c'MON!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "A retired physicist's opinions on global warming? Is that like asking a retired biologist's opinion on finance reform?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "We have data on the last half a million years worth of ice ages and corresponding carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Our particular warming era stands out from the others in that CO2 and temperature levels which are directly correlated with one another are much higher than they ever where in recorded history. Scientists derive this data from ice core samples all over the world. Ask you friend to explain specially how these ice core sample are \"easily manipulated,\" or otherwise how they are poor evidence for warming. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Just to remind everyone, science doesn't work this way. You can't take a **scientist**, ask him for an opinion, and then assume that opinion is scientific conclusion.\n\nScience is based on evidence and observations, not opinions of authorities.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Burn the poster! Doesn't he know that snotty know it alls on an Internet board know all about the science of global warming?!?!?! He should be ashamed! Clearly this physicist is a Big Oil plant meant to deceive!!!\n\nPay no attention to this scandalous article which no one has refuted!\nhttp://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/featured_articles/v14n01_climate_of_belief.html",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Honestly why doesn't anyone read the assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change? It's a literature review that uses thousands of sources of data and reviews all of these so called \"concerns\". If everyone just read the freaking abstract we'd all be in a better place for discussing this topic.\n\nhttp://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_ipcc_fourth_assessment_report_wg2_report_impacts_adaptation_and_vulnerability.htm",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "That's one of the problems with us physicists. We have enough knowledge to do \"back of the envelope\" reasoning. Which can sound quite reasonable, but be quite off the mark. Until someone puts their nose to the paper and gets their ass outdoors, and that's the climatologists. \n\n\nThe man is a retired physicist, not an active climatologist. I think that's all that needs to be said about the matter, unfortunately. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "So, you talked to some guy who used to work in a field that was maybe tangentially related to the questions you asked him about and are now letting us know about it?\nNext time, maybe you should chat up a bartender on the subject of global warming, and post his responses for everyone to see. I'd be just as interested.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "just curious, but why is a retired physicists opinion worth any more than anyone elses? This really isnt a physics issue. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Retired scientists or retired \"experts\" are always quoted by people who argue against anthropogenic climate change. While they should be respected and congratulated for a lifetime of scientific achievement, most of them have little background in climate science because of its relative youth as a scientific discipline. I would be especially skeptical of the opinions of a retired scientist who was *not* a climate scientist or in a related field like ecology or geology.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Cool, well just FYI I just met Einstein and he says your physicist friend is a tool and that if he disagrees he can \"STFU, that bitch aint got no shit on me, I'M FRICKEN' EINSTEIN!\" and I got to say I tend to agree with him.\n\nSee what fun it is to make completely unsubstantiated claims of hearing something from someone who may seem more credible than yourself in an attempt to add legitimacy to your argument and ideas. Did he also tell you that world is only 6000 years old or that a mother just know when a vaccine is bad for her kid.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Calling him retired is horrible because some people are retired and they can't help it they were born with lack of oxygen.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I am not an expert in global warming. That being said, my bro-in-law who is a respected university professor (EDIT geologist and oceanographer), and even teaches a class on global warming, echos many of the same points you listed in your post above. In my own limited research, I've found that many of the scientists actual claims regarding global warming are much more reserved than those depicted in the media/activist movement. \n\nMy conclusion is that global warming (especially the man-made we must stop it at any cost movement) is much more about political issues than scientific. That isn't to say I don't believe the earth is warming (most scientist will agree that is has had a warming period), but rather that efforts and money should be spent on adapting to a changing climate. \n\nThis is the first time I've posted my views here. Disagreeing with man-made global warming is usually seen as attacking the faith of its adherents... it usually results in name-calling and unpleasantness.\n\nAlso, I just want to add that there was an interesting chapter in Superfreakonmics on this issue.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Climate science is evolving at such a rapid pace that a retired physicist is probably not the best person to talk to about the subject, whether he believes in man-made climate change or not. \n\n(This is probably too late to be noticed, and may already have been said)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Gee, let's all discuss what one guy says another guy who might be a retired physicist thinks about global warming.\n\n",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm sorry, but this is too vague. I'm not against listening to people refute global warming, but just because this guy works in one field of science doesn't mean he's an expert on climate change. Also, I have no idea how good he is. He could be a seventh grade science teacher for all I know.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Here's your problem: \"I met a retired Physicist playing basketball\".\n\nWe all know physicists would never play basketball, even when retired. They only play with spherical chickens in a vacuum. Therefore, he's not a physicist.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "What did he say about the gulf stream shutting down when the caps melt? Who gives a shit about hurricanes.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "> Melting ice caps should not cause more powerful hurricanes because the melting would create an ocean with more uniform temperatures\n\nMelting ice caps would affect the salinity and therefore the density of the oceans particularly in the polar regions. If affected enough this could have a devastating affect on deep ocean currents which play a major factor in global climate/temperature.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Regarding cap and trade systems, he is correct in saying that they allow companies to emit more buy simply buying more credits. He just forgot about the \"cap\" part. There are a finite number of credits issued, limiting the amount of pollutant that can be discharged. The cap can also be lowered as companies install better control devices.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Sounds like you met yourself a crotchety old scientist who is commenting outside of his area of expertise. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Next time, ask him about something else he doesn't know about. Personally I consult other non-expert in this field, such as George Clooney, Christiano Ronaldo and Lady Gaga. If your non-expert wants to be taken serious, he should get the proper education, do field study, publish paper, get it peer-reviewed. Until then, his words has the same weight as my non-experts.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "A truly accurate model will predict changes in the near term even better than it predicts longer term events. With GW models they want us to believe that a model that can't predict jack shit tomorrow can get it right 25 years from now.\n\nIf that does not set off your BS meters then nothing will.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I support this post. I've had these opinions for a while too, based on some of the arguments that the physicist had. \nThe problem with the global warming debate is that it is highly politicized and is a money making operation headed by the UN. When you have a world governmental body being pushed by the largest central banks in the world to set in place a \"carbon trading\" scheme, you know that the situation is ripe for corruption.\nA lot of the pro-global warming groups have about as much basis in reality as many of the tea-party groups. They are emotional, they feel they are threatened by an \"enemy\", and they eat up all the humanity hating propaganda that shows how global warming is bad, how sea levels will rise, along with images of poor non-white children with the purpose of linking their instinctive nature to protecting children to the perceived enemy of \"other\" people causing global warming.\n..and when you try to point that out, man, does it ever shatter their little picture. it's fun to see how much AGW is tied into their psyche, and how it validates their phony hatred for the \"other\" mean people who are making it happen..then when they realize this is false they want to shoot the messenger, rather than explore a new viewpoint.\nof course that's not with all people, but generally the college aged AGW banner carrying protestors I have talked to is where I get this impression.\n\nedit* I wanted to add a quotation of where this political global warming comes from:\n\n\"In a report titled \"The First Global Revolution\" (1991) published by the Club of Rome, a globalist think tank, we find the following statement: \"In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill.... All these dangers are caused by human intervention... The real enemy, then, is humanity itself.\"",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "you played basketball with a retired physicist? did he destabilize space-time with chronitons to cheat?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I completely agree with this physicist. I think the proponents of global warming are typically blind followers and don't like to question people in authority. Collect your own facts (scientific, economic and social), think things through for yourself and you'll be able to draw your own educated conclusion. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": ">Global Warming is untrue and is being blown out of proportion by the media\r\n\r\nI happen to know an atmospheric chemist, and he thinks that global warming is understated by the media at this point.\r\n\r\n>if water vapor accumulates enough, there will be more clouds which will reflect sunlight.\r\n\r\nHe doesn't know what he's talking about. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas and is stronger than C02. More water vapor means more global warming, as the UV light passes through, but becomes trapped under the clouds.\r\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas\r\n\r\nThis is why you can get a sunburn on a cloudy day. Your friend is just mistaken on the topic.\r\n\r\n>Melting ice caps should not cause more powerful hurricanes because the melting would create an ocean with more uniform temperatures\r\n\r\nAgain, this isn't correct. More heat in the atmosphere, which melts ice, is partially regulated by the trapping of energy by melting, but the atmosphere still has more energy than normal, and thus increased transitions from hot to cold. More energy is more activity. The melting ice is like putting an ice cube in your coffee, the coffee will still be hot.\r\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "i don't see how these can coexist in a single mind:\n\n> Global Warming is untrue and is being blown out of proportion by the media\n> The models that scientists create to predict future climates are too easily manipulated. Also, there are too many variables to consider when creating these models, so they will be inaccurate.\n\nhere i read: 1) x is false 2) x is too complex to model accurately. proposition two is fair enough - a position of healthy socratic skepticism. but proposition one claims total confidence despite this position of total skepticism. what gives?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "What gets lost amidst the global warming debate is that regardless of the causes of global climate change and the effects of anthropogenic carbon emissions, we're still increasing the CO2 composition of our atmosphere by essentially pulling lots of it out of the ground.\n\nClimate is complex and not completely understood. We shouldn't be deliberately (or non-deliberately) meddling with it.\n\nRegardless of the perceived or actual negative effects of increasing the atmosphere's CO2 composition, we should work towards carbon-neutral industry.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "It's almost always cranky old retired guys who are not atmospheric experts, but think they know everything because of their past. Read the F*^%ing Literature. RTFL",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "So I met several thousand climatologists the other day, and we got into into a conversation about global warming. These are there opinions... \n\n* Physicists know shit about climatology\n* Retired physicists would get quite pissy about climatologists saying that they thought the theory of relativity was bunk and that physicists were lying about it.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I am outraged reddit. Today someone I love dearly got an abortion in the state of Arizona and suffered a great amount pain because of a pro-life bill that was passed last year. | So, someone close to me had an abortion today in Arizona. She had to wait a mandatory twenty four hours before the procedure, and read pro-life propaganda and state out right that she had read the material. The actual procedure was horrific. Because of the bill that passed, women who undergo an abortion in Arizona can have only a tiny dose of twilight. Basically, she was completely awake, aware, and was in excruciating pain. The pain, she said, was far worse than when she gave birth to her daughter. She said she was crying and screaming through the whole procedure. Afterward, she was a wreck and spent nearly six hours in pain and crying.
She came out of this whole ordeal fearing abortions, the tactics of the bill worked. She will never have an abortion again. I am not saying that it is a good thing to have one, only that they succeed in scaring people off by using propaganda and near torture levels of pain. I cannot believe that this is legal. Thanks a whole-fucking-lot AZ republicans.
So I ask you my fellow redditors, what can I do to change this? I am thinking about writing the Arizona congressmen. I know it is not much, but this hit close to home and I cannot sit idly knowing other women are going through this. Any advice?
NOTE: This thread is not to debate if abortion is moral or what not. You may agree or disagree with my friend's choice, however; that is not what this thread is about. I wish to seek sound advice so that I may help in whatever way I can.
EDIT: I read HB-2564, and found nothing about limiting sedatives. I am starting to wonder if the doctor cut her off, sourcing the bill. So he could have been ignorant, and a gross misunderstanding occurred with doctor misinterpreting the provisions of the bill... or he could have acted maliciously. Either way, I am going to still look into it further.
EDIT2: What I have been finding out is that Arizona has been setting codes and regulations in place outside of bills directly pertaining to Abortion in order to set implicit and otherwise bureaucratic barriers against legal abortion. I will try to find out more, however as it currently stands it is late and I need sleep.
EDIT3: Oh wow, this sure took off since I left. Again, thank you to those who posted good advice. I will do my best to respond as much as possible, however I do have some errands to run soon. I will be back soon.
Thank you everyone. | 701 | [
{
"body": "I am an attorney specializing in abortion. No joke. I work for one of the major reproductive rights organizations and know the Arizona laws well. I may be able to help you get some answers if you would like to contact me. I created a fake gmail account for this purpose. Email me at [email protected]\n\nI am terrible sorry to hear that someone you love had such an awful experience. I work to make the right to choose accessible, safe, and acceptable. It's awful when others make it otherwise.\n\nNote: This is not an offer of legal representation and our communications will not be covered by attorney-client privilege.\n\nNote 2: The issue of anesthesia during abortion procedures is complicated and we can talk more about it. It's a new back-door way to limit abortion practices through seemingly unrelated regulations. It won't be in HB-2564, but rather in recently promulgated state codes on the use of anesthesia in clinics. We can talk more if you'd like. ",
"score": 607
},
{
"body": "does the abortion law seriously ban the use of painkillers in the procedure? that is absolutely barbaric.",
"score": 227
},
{
"body": "There's no such thing as \"pro-life.\"\n\nThese people are \"pro-birth.\" They couldn't care less about mother or child post-delivery.\n\nIf you doubt it, look at any on their voting records on issues that affect women and children.",
"score": 154
},
{
"body": "I feel like I'm stepping into the twilight zone when I read all of the hatred spewed in this particular thread.\n\n>Sorry, for the pain your friend suffered, be by her side and encourage her to think about her actions before she opens her legs.\n\nWow. Fucking misogynistic bullshit. We're talking about excising a small cellular cluster contained in a woman's uterus, not the murder of a conscious, self-aware child. Get your fucking heads out of the bible and into the real world.\n\nEdit: I was drunk and angry from reading all of the hateful comments when I wrote this. I stand by it 100% but would have chosen less hateful wording in hindsight. I apologize to anyone I may have offended particularly with: \"Get your fucking heads out of the bible and into the real world.\" That wasn't a constructive thing to say and doesn't contribute to the debate anymore than posting dead baby pictures does.",
"score": 82
},
{
"body": "To the people using this thread as an opportunity to post pictures of dead babies, cry shame on her, and etc. That is, to the pro life propagandists:\n\nThis is the wrong place for the battle you are waging. \n\nYou fight to humanize fetuses in the womb, yet you fervently dehumanize the living, breathing, feeling people you are trying to sway--painting them as cold blooded, evil slaughterers of smiling baby boys and girls, as if they stalk into the playpens with spikes and vacuum cleaners ready to suck out brains. It's this kind of language and mindset that allows people to murder doctors.\n\nThis askreddit thread has been posted by a person who feels a wrong has been done, and is looking for a course of action to make the situation better. The abortion in question here has already been done, and you won't change anybody's mind about it. You are breeding disgust--not toward abortions but toward yourselves.",
"score": 81
},
{
"body": "The anti-abortion laws in the US are nothing short of barbaric. They are essentially put in place by the religious right to punish women for having sex. Fuck em. ",
"score": 42
},
{
"body": "I believe that one of the United States' biggest pitfalls is the amount of influence religion and it's morals still have over complete free will. If one doesn't condone a practice that someone else has does, then simply move on and live your life to your own standards.\n \nAbortion's not that bad of a thing, and it seems like it is becoming more accepted than in the past. Yes, you are taking a life, but is the intricacy and value of the life of an unborn fetus and an adult the same? Until you start getting more XP in life and developing your persona, you're really no more than a very resource-demanding plant. I think anyone can agree that a fetus has no organized collective consciousness. It seems incredibly hard for us to recollect thoughts from the first few years of our lives, much less the time we spent developing in the womb. \n\nWe share the same physiology, but it's all the psychological characteristics that we learn and apply throughout our lives that, I believe, truly define what it is to \"live\" as a human. I'm sure no one can say that they would want really want to be aborted, but if by the luck of the draw you were, you wouldn't even have a legitimate opinion on the matter in the first place. It's really not fair at all for those who are aborted, but I guess some creatures experience the harsh reality of life much sooner than others.",
"score": 27
},
{
"body": "I am from Arizona, I do not agree with abortion but do consider myself pro choice. I figure that if a woman is going to do this, she has to live with her conscience and face God later. Even if this is something I don't agree with, I think that a woman is entitled to it safely. That said, I totally feel sorry for your friend and am once again ashamed of the great state of Aribama (We are the Alabama of the West Coast). There is not much that can be done though, the voters have proven themselves to be retarded (look to Sheriff Joe as an example). As to writing Arizona Congressmen, it's not going to work. Those stupid Mongoloids can't even balance our budget on time.",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "I had an abortion when I was 17, it was the most excruciatingly painful thing I have ever been through both mentally and physically even though I was only about 6 weeks pregnant. I had two shots of morphine and I can tell you that the only effect was to make me feel slightly sick . I can not even begin to describe the pain. In my opinion women should be totally knocked out and sedated. Either ban abortions or do it properly, it is not the place of a doctor/nurse to dole out pain as a \"punishment\".",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "An abortion, even with pain management, is still really painful. I was really surprised after I got one that noone ever talks about how painful they can actually be. I remember thinking \"Wow this is really uncomfortable I hope it's over soon\" this was just at the begining when they were opening up my cervix. Then I look over and see the Dr reach for a switch and realize it's going to get a lot worst real soon. The pain was just beyond anything you can imagine. It was like someone vacumming your insides. The nurse had to hold me down because I was moving so much, at one point I started to black out. I had 2 forms of pain relief. I wish I knew the specifics better, but it was a long time ago. They gave me the option of an IV full of somthing or gas, I asked for both. I hope your friend get's better soon and that she goes to a Gyno soon to make sure everything's healing alright. Yeah after I got one I was pretty damn sure that I was never going to have another again and got an IUD. To all the ladies out there if you're not planning on having kids for a while get an IUD. It's the most common birth control method in the world. ",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "This is the first abortion (or more generally healthcare) related post that has genuinely made me sick. Regardless of if it was a fault of the doctor or if it is legislation put in place by the government something very fucked up has happened. All the best for your friend. Someone should be made to pay for what happened to her.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "Hmmmmm, my mom is a OB/GYN, and although I tend to lean towards the conservative mindset, I am pro choice all the way. In the idea situation, I am against abortions- I feel that if you can raise the child then that is the best situation overall. However, when abortion is not legal, things begin to go awry, exactly what happened to your friend. If women do not have the option to get an abortion legally then they will, in all likelihood, attempt to seek out someone who can perform one illegally. This is my issue- I would rather have a professional giving abortions where the woman is relatively safe than have a back alley guy do it with questionable methods. It is not right to shelter women from the option and I sympathize with your friend. Regardless, I am sorry about your friend- had she considered going to another state to go through with her abortion? ",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "wait, so she wanted to watch twilight during the abortion and the bill stopped her. finally legislation i can stand behind. ",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "This has left me feeling utterly disgusted. \n\nI think I speak for the rest of the civilised world when I say: Seriously, America? WTF? ",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "Concerning the edit: Talk to a lawyer and see if she can sue him for malpractice since it seems like the low painkiller dosage is nowhere to be found. This is unbelievable.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "That \"pro-life\" and \"pro-choice\" terminology you americans seem to have adopted is really strange to me. Who doesn't approve of life? And who the hell thinks free choice is a bad idea? And the people who wants to ban abortions can take care of all the rape babies and home school them.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "[New Law Requires Women To Name Baby, Paint Nursery Before Getting Abortion](http://www.theonion.com/content/video/new_law_requires_women_to_name)",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Get a lawyer, this is a legal issue. I am a guy and obviously unable to have an abortion but I had a procedure done once preformed by my doctor of 16 years where he did not use enough(and by enough I mean any) sedatives. Instead I was strapped down and forced to endure the extraction of a facial implant. I saw a lawyer, and was told I had a slam dunk case for pain and suffering malpractice, didn't follow through with it because of the long history I had with the doctor though, instead just got a new doctor.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "That's religion for you. I'm very sorry for her. Suggest moving somewhere else where there are less shitty puritans.\r\n\r\nAlso, pro-life? More like crazed fundamentalist religious tards. If they were for life they wouldn't have caused that big a pain to a life form, they would respect her choice, and they wouldn't be trying to get her to either give up on the pleasures of life and have a shitty life (necessary for the hope of salvation), or spurt children like a rabbit with the hope of getting more lambs off it. This is the real reason why religious idiots/meanies/mean idiots are against abortions.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Have abortion laws changed that much n the last decade? I unfortunately had to make the tough decision once and I received NO anesthesia or pain medicine, though i think perhaps they numbed me a bit. It was loud and painful and took a good ten minutes. No one looks you in the eyes, but someone does hold your hand. Im not saying that women who have made this decision deserve some royal treatment of medicinal cocktails and lavish massages, but a little sensitivity to the situation would have been helpful. A woman's reason is her own, she has already more than likely punished herself and will for the rest of her life. Should lawmakers be allowed to punish her as well?",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "How is it that the \"pro-life\" crowd automatically assumes that the OP's friend is a \"Slut\" or a \"Whore\" and that she deserved the pain and suffering she got for choosing to have an abortion? They're almost reveling in it. \n\nEven if I were against abortion, I would go far out of my way to avoid being associating with the stereotypical 'pro-life' crowd. These nutjobs are right up there with Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I'm getting out of this fucking medieval state by May. Too bad the beautifual scenery doesn't match the quality of life.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I have had an abortion and I am thankful that I live in a place where I was under general. I don't think I could take the emotional pain of having been awake throughout.\n\nI do know a lot of women though who have had abortions in clinics and they are given sedatives and they do describe the experience as painful.\n\nCouldn't she simply get her records and see what drug/amount she was given?",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Sounds to me like the Doctor, who shouldn't remain nameless *cough* know his name?? *cough*, took advantage of her not knowing the bill and used the lack of anesthetic and analgesics to punish her for not having the same values as him. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "If it's any consolation we have the same problem over here in Florida. I've actually created a non-profit organization that is going to help the stop things like this from happening. We plan on bringing a pro-chioce license plate (ya know, to counter the pro-life plate) and proceeds from the plate will be put towards good causes. Check out our website.\nhttp://licensetochoose.org",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Sounds like a bill both misogynists *and* conservatives can embrace... not that the two are mutually exclusive.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I don't really have anything to add, but I just want to wish you the best of luck. What happened seems totally unjust and unnecessary, and I hope you manage to bring about some change.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I am so sorry to hear about your friend - she should not have had to suffer like this for her decision. I can't help agree that she was steered the wrong way. I had medical abortion (pill) in Phoenix less than a year ago and did not have any of these issues. I actually posted an AMA about it here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9rttk/i_had_a_medical_pill_abortion_ama/\n\n\nMy regular doctor was a complete prick about it. After I found out I was pregnant, he had me schedule another appointment for what I thought was a check up. Instead it was an appointment for him to recommend adoption services. At first I was fine with the gesture, but then he started pressuring me to call his contact right then and there. I was especially upset when I received a bill for his office charging me not only my deductible for a regular office visit, but an extra $25 counseling fee...for something I didn't ask for in the first place! Needless to say, he is no longer my doctor.\n\nAnyway, I ended up going to Planned Parenthood and my experience there was wonderful. Everyone was supportive. I was asked if I wanted to see pamphlets on any other options and I politely declined and that was it. The doctor there was great and explained the differences between the medical and surgical abortion options. I opted for the medical because I wanted to just experience all of this at home.\n\nPer the AMA, the pain of the actual induced miscarriage was like none I've ever felt in my life, but because I was home and with my future husband, it was in a way, a bonding and humbling experience.\n\nAgain, so sorry for your friend - if she needs someone to talk to, feel free to send me a message.\n\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "All this will drive woman to try the old known herbs with abortive agents. Let's hope they know the dosage and don't harm themselves. Is that what the government wanted?",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "So Arizona legislated how much medication a *Doctor* can perscribe to their *patient* during a procedure? That's fucking evil and retarded. Holy crap, you don't even know how angry just that fact makes me. I feel so terribly sorry for your friend/loved one.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I know of the \"informed consent\" requirements [ARS 36-2153](http://www.azleg.gov/ars/36/02153.htm). Still, I don't know of any statute limiting anesthesia/sedation provided in a procedure. Can anyone help me find that?",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "That is cruel and unusual punishment. Plain and simple. Take it to the supreme court if you have to.\n\nBlessings to your friend and I hope she recovers soon from her horrific experience.\n\nWhile I'm no legal expert, I can offer some ideas on things she could try that might help her feel a little better emotionally:\n\n* Meditation to relaxing music\n\n* Peppermint tea (drink + aroma help)\n\n* Aroma therapy candles\n\n* Plenty of sleep\n\n* Watch movies/tv shows that she loves and are uplifting (no drama/horror, etc)\n\n* If she has any pets, extra cuddle time\n\n* Knitting works for me (stuff that keeps your hands busy can help keep your mind from wandering)\n\nHope it helps.\n\n-------------\n\nEdit: Human rights violation. The treatment was tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment that was decided as a result of the law (which is not the standard definition, but people without legal backgrounds tend to take certain liberties with our usage of legal jargon ;-p)\n\nEdit: It would be nice if everyone could provide helpful feedback on how a poor girl can receive help from an ordeal she has been through, rather than bringing the right or wrong nature of abortion into the mix. There's a lot of more constructive places to bring that debate (and it is a very important debate that this planet should be having). But let's keep our responses to constructive feedback that will be helpful and relevant to this particular Reddit :-)",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I hope your friend recovers and is able to fight this fight with you.\n\nThe Doctor who refused more painkillers needs to be confronted on this one, that is just cruel.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "It seems that the doctor acted out of line which should be enough grounds to contest legally. I am so sorry that your sister had to go through that. All the best for her health.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'm interested in this. I absolutely despise the pro-life activist coming to the university I attend to and impose their religious/conservative beliefs on everyone else. You should write letters to these congressmen and voice your concern! Sorry to hear about your friend, I hope she is doing well.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I just want to make a general statement about the efficacy of different forms of contacting politicians. an email represents the opinion of 50 people, a phone call is 500 voters a delivered letter from that is obviously part of a mass writing campaign 1000 people, but a truly personal letter that is delivered via regular mail holds the opinion of 5000 voters. This is the general standard politicians assign to various forms of contact from their constituency. So if you really want to be effective in voicing your opinion a handwritten truly personal letter will have more effect than you can imagine. just my two cents I hope this helps",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "> She will never have an abortion again. I am not saying that it is a good thing to have one, only that they succeed in scaring people off by using propaganda and near torture levels of pain.\n\nyea, im pro life but anyone with common sense will admit how messed up that story is",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think abortion is an immensely difficult issues, and while I would prefer it stays legal, I am fairly undecided on the issue myself, I totally understand where pro-life people are coming from. That being said, this thread reallllyyyyyy brought out the asshole in a lot of people. Can't we discuss this without being complete dbags?",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Thank god I live in a \"civilized\", albeit socialistic country: Sweden! \n\nI most certainly do not think anything except the woman who is with child is the one to choose if she wants to keep it or not. Neither religion nor politics has any right what so ever to forbid abortion just because of their beliefs. \n\nHope you \"Pro-life\" fools feel good for pretty much torturing this poor woman. I am by no means religious but anyone supporting bills that creates this kind of torture should \"burn in hell\".\n\nPro-Choice.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "1. Life isn't inherently valuable. \n2. There is a case where abortion is ordered by god in the old testament in the case of adultery. Most christians are too ignorant of their own belief system to realize this. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think you ignore the fact that many who are pro-choice, don't like abortion at all. Therefore, they favor laws that *discourage* abortion such as a waiting period and other such things that might prompt you to keep the baby or put it up for adoption.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I consider myself pro-life and anti-abortion (don't auto-downvote, please read!) and I also consider myself completely disgusted at what transpired. I value unborn life but I also value *all* human life. I'm not sure what the doctor or whoever motivated him thought they were accomplishing by degrading your friend. At the very least, you have reminded me that if I ever vote for something that is considered \"pro-life\" to examine the finer details of the wording and not to be satisfied with the hurtful, hackneyed \"policies\" that seem to follow these. This is reminiscent of the horrible Oklahoma law (or maybe just bill, not sure if it passed) that required all who got abortions to register their names on publicly viewable list. I blame republicans. You can't be conservative on a single/few issues; no you have to be a meat eating gun totin' bible quotin' republican.\n\nYou've made me think, and I hope you've made others who consider themselves \"pro-life\" think as well.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "It should not be too difficult for you to take pictures of this material so we can see it for ourselves - it also should not be that difficult for you to provide the actual law that prohibits pain killers.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Perhaps it is that particular clinic? There have been plenty of stories of abortion clinics where they actually are pro-life (or some staff) and interfere with the procedure. Instead of looking at state law, your friend should see if they wrote down anywhere the amount of pain killer given to her. Arizona isn't exactly pro-choice",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Iam \"prochoice\" and believe until a fetus can make it on it's own it is not a person. that being said - all you pro lifers out there - i would like you to tell the thousands of children that are tortured and if lucky die every year that they are better off than they would have been if they had been vacuumed before they knew about that wonderful life they have been given",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "This is some horseshit. An acquaintance of mine had an abortion in Phoenix and no such thing happened. Unless your friend was in Miami, or Globe, or some other such place that's ass backwards, I call shenanigans. Also, if it's true and not her way of coping with losing a child (for lack of better terminology) she's got a lawsuit.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "> So he could have been ignorant, and a gross misunderstanding occurred with doctor misinterpreting the provisions of the bill... or he could have acted maliciously\n\nDoubtful. If he really wanted to stop abortions from happening, he just wouldn't perform abortions.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Thank you for doing the necessary legal legwork necessary to arm yourself for this fight. Abortion, if done early is extremely fast and relatively painless and is an absolute right of the individual. Religion is killing humanity, not abortions. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Arizona is a State I would gladly give back to Mexico or use it for extensive nuclear bomb testing, especially Phoenix. Let's see you rise up from the ashes of a million explosions. DoucheState.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Next time have her come 6 hours to the east in Albuquerque. There may be kooks outside the office, but I believe you can get a non surgical abortion or a surgical abortion. Just an Idea\n\n ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Why would she subject herself to this? I understand the laws in the state are stupid, but why didn't she go to another state to have it done? Was it economically not possible, or something similar?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I am so deeply sorry that your friend was put through this awful experience. *hugs* and thank you for trying to make things right.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Vote with your feet. MOVE out of the state. The illegal immigrants and senior citizens can then enjoy each other exclusively, without all those young worker bees to pay for all their social services.\n\nSeriously, I lived in Phoenix for one year, which was more than enough for me. Between the corrupt police (including Sheriff Joe), the lack of jobs (since everything was geared towards the housing bubble), and the huge amount of ultra-conservative Mexican Catholics and Old People who've retired there, there really isn't any room left for left-leaning young people.\n\nYes I'm bitter, but Arizona (especially Phoenix) can rot in hell. And it will, as soon as it runs out of water in the next few decades.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You can get a Southwest ticket from Phoenix to San Diego for about $100 bucks. I know not everyone can afford this but it is what I would encourage my friends to do. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I am pro choice and if this is true it sounds terrible.\n\nHowever, are you SURE this is really how things went down?\n\nI had an IUD fitted, which is of course small fry compared to an abortion, but it was painful, pain was expected.\n\nLabour is generally very painful, and this is accepted, even if you have painkillers.\n\nI'm unsure that having an abortion can be expected to be pain free without paying extra to be put under. I'm not saying it should be agony - if men had to go through these procedures then they would all be painless - but some pain is to be expected. Are you sure that she didn't go through the 'normal' amount of pain but perceived it as much worse? (you already said she has a low pain threshold)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Get active. Tell this story to your community as much as possible. Write a letter to the editor. This is a serious issue for women everywhere. Next week we celebrate the anniversary of Roe v Wade. The difficulty of getting abortions, especially in red states, is horrifying. PBS did a great documentary on this a few years ago. It's called \"the Last abortion clinic\" and you can find it on their frontline website. I personally worked in Colorado against Amendment 48, which would have defined a person as a fertilized egg, making abortion and most types of birth control illegal. The fight for choice is always a long, hard road. What's important is that you stay strong and activate your local pro-choice community. \nGood luck. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "When I had an abortion, I wasn't sedated at all. I was given a painkiller like Excedrin after the procedure. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "This pro-life trash is completely nonsensical, and in the end causes far more pain than pro-choice.\n\nThe thing is, \"pro-life\" actually means \"pro-life as far as the fetus is concerned, but fuck you and your resultant child\". Pro-life will always be ridiculous so long as the focus is on the fetus. They completely miss what the mother must go through in having to nurture a child they likely cannot afford to take care of. After all, most people don't get abortions \"just because\".\n\nI say pro-life only makes sense if the people with a pro-life stance are willing to take care of this unwanted child. After all, THEY are the only ones that think this child ought to be born, yes? Otherwise pro-life is giving a fetus precedence over an ADULT and a CHILD. I'm not sure if I can speak for everyone, but I want to make it clear that pro-choice doesn't means we don't care about the fetus, just that we recognize that makes more sense to keep the mother's life intact than burden her with an unwanted child, not to mention that it makes more sense than bringing to the world a child who will only ever live a decidedly disadvantaged and sub-par life.\n\nAfter all, statistics show that an unwanted child is more likely to be neglected and ultimately turn to crime. 18 years after Roe v. Wade passed, crime rates in all the states affected dropped dramatically. This isn't enough to state cause and effect, except that the number of years abortion was legalized in states before Roe v. Wade was almost identical to the number of years these states saw the crime decrease before states affected by Roe. v Wade.\n\nI know I'm preaching to the choir on Reddit, but for those few people that may be reading that are blinded by misinformation or (more likely) religious propaganda, WAKE THE FUCK UP.\n\nEDIT: [Here's a link that articulates my exact thoughts on abortion, albeit far more eloquently and with some statistics to illustrate the bigger picture](http://www.thinkatheist.com/forum/topics/thoughts-from-an-abortion)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "First, I'd like to give you my condolences. No woman should need to go through that in the 21st century.\n\nThis is why people need to leave religion out of politics. Clearly God does not do enough to avert women from getting abortions. People need to intervene to make abortion either illegal, or extremely painful. This is not an attempt to offend anyone, I simply want people to think about what is actually happening here for the sake of \"morality\". ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "While I am pro-choice, I also realize that it's Constitutionally a state issue (10th Amendment). If your loved one did not agree to the AZ laws, they can (A) enact change in their state government and/or (B) go to a different state for the procedure. If you're saying the doctor fucked up, rather than the law, I don't see this as a legal gripe, but a medical one.\n\nOnce more for the trigger-happy redditors: I don't think West Virginians should be allowed to make my state follow the laws they want to, but I recognize this is a two-way road.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm so sorry for your friend. I've had an abortion (in Colorado, years ago), and the one thing that helped me through it was the caring & support of not only the medical staff at the clinic, but my mother as well. Yes, there were protesters outside the clinic the day I went in. Yes, both my mother & I were harassed and called horrible names. Catholic relatives of mine didn't speak to me for months afterwards, except to let me know how badly I would burn in hell.\r\n\r\nI don't understand legislation like this, it is just cruel & unusual punishment. An abortion performed correctly is a painful (both emotionally & physically) experience in & of itself. Why exacerbate it as an effort to prevent further abortions? \r\n\r\nThe decision I made was not done lightly and it wasn't done on the spur of the moment. I'm sure your friend went through something similar.\r\n\r\nNo matter what, stand by your friend, and don't flood her with your indignation as to how she was treated, she probably isn't going to want that. She'll most likely need your love & kindness.\r\n\r\nIf you can't find supporting documentation regarding the limit of anesthesia allowed an abortion patient, I would definitely file a malpractice lawsuit against the clinic. I'm sure there is a lawyer out there who would take this one in a heart beat.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Arizona is the worst state in the union. We would be better off selling it to a Mexican drug cartel.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Writing to your congressman will do shit.. he/she will simple have a page/helper read it and send you a re-improvised document with your name at the top. If you want to do anything, get a group of people, schedule a meeting and demand to meet with him. But you still will prolly only meet with an aid. Good Luck.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "On the one hand, you have so many that are desperately fighting for barely-conceived foetuses to be given the rights of a child or adult.\r\nOn the other hand, you have the vast majority desperately fighting for the right to use guns on them when they're older.\r\nGo figure.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "At last year's Values Voter Summit (the very name of which implies that anyone who doesn't adhere to their backwards thinking lacks values), speaker Lila Rose offered [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyyXQtQBKBw&feature=player_embedded) gem:\n\n>If I could insist: As long as they are legal in our nation, abortions would [*sic*] be done in the public square, until we were [*sic*] so sick and tired of seeing them that we would do away with the injustice altogether [...] Maybe then we might hear angels singing when we ponder the glory of conception.\n\nThese cretins don't give one flying fuck about women or babies or what women must go through (emotionally and physically) in order to endure this medical procedure.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I used to want to move to Arizona really badly. I'll stick to Michigan.\n\nI'll rate Detroit higher than Phoenix and that evil Sheriff any day.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "A person should have the right to undergo (almost) any procedure they want, in their own terms, especially in a country where you have to PAY for your medical treatments. If a costumer wants to buy an abortion, the doctor should clearly ask the question: \"Do you want an anesthesia with that?\"",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "There needs to be a lawsuit to change this, not just letter writing. If she is up for it, I would suggest you and/or your friend should try to find a pro-choice lawyer or legal organization and either the state and/or the doctor needs to sued. Something is not right there, either with the law and how it's implimented or with Dr Sadistic. I imagine their are plenty more women that would join in if this is the common practice from the law or this doctor. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I highly doubt the doctor performing the abortion is some anti-abortion crusader trying to hurt women that get abortions.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "fakeish7 - I am sure half of the people on here that have anything negative to say about your offer of advice are likely those who are either pro-lifers or just hate lawyers in general. Redditors, not ALL lawyers are money sucking jackasses; moreover, I know several who get into this type of practice to make sure that people rights are being upheld. If the lawyer makes some loot for ensuring our rights than good for him/her. I agree that some lawyers are out there to sue every drug company and physician they can find but if it weren't for those who stand up for American justice we would just be bitching that we aren't being fairly represented. People are quick to get on their soap boxes and judge. They don't call it a soap box just because when you stand up for something others can see you, they call it that because once you are up there it can be quite slippery! ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Just go to Tempe and ask an ASU girl where to go for pain free abortions, after about 4 or 5 tries your guaranteed to find someone who knows a place.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What's the difference between donating to the Red Cross for victims in Haiti, and paying for your neighbor's health care in America? | This thought came up today as my Mom sent a check to Red Cross for the Haiti relief effort. If someone is against public health care in America, would their attitude toward relief efforts in other countries be the same? "Let them pay for their own property/personal damage." etc.
BTW, this doesn't reflect my Mom's ideas.. it was just a kicking off point for a thought exercise. Interested in hearing your opinions. | 8 | [
{
"body": "Your neighbor isn't in a third world country and surrounded by people who will die without proper care... Health care is preventative, the people of Haiti were severely impoverished before and now have no home, no shelter, no food and NO access to hospitals. At least in the US hospitals treat first then bill later. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey Reddit, classes start tomorrow... Needless to say I'm nervous, but I want to make the most out of this semester. Any tips? | I'm a junior at a relatively large university... I feel like I haven't experienced college yet. I don't take risks, I'm shy and probably take life too seriously for my own good. Anyone else faced a similar situation and broken out of it?
I welcome any stories, advice, ect. | 5 | [
{
"body": "get drunk.\n\nI'm not saying become an alcoholic, or even to ever drink again. But I don't think anyone has really experienced life unless they've been intoxicated at least once.\n\nAs a side effect, my getting drunk in college lead to the courage to make out with a girl who liked me, but I didn't know how to approach. That lead to a four year relationship that evolved into a marriage that is at five years and counting.\n\nOf course, I also pissed on my living room floor one time, so mileage may very.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
So I've grown up and realised my life means nothing | Disclaimer: This is a throw-away account. I don't care if anyone even looks at this post, let alone up/down vote it. I think I just want to tell someone. /:
Okay, so back to it. I constantly feel stressed and quite depressed. I only really felt this way since I decided this year I would stop drinking & eating crappy food. I guess I was using drink & food to deal with my life being miserable, but I want to deal with it some other way.
I'm 21 (almost 22) and I feel like my life literally means nothing. I have no real friends to speak of. Never been in caring relationship. I hate my job. I hate my flatmates, my flat and the town I live in.
Has anyone else ever felt like this, then turned it all around? My problems may seem small compared to others. Before this day I have never broke down and cried in a true FML-type moment.
Edit: A lot of great advice here. I really appreciate it. Sure, I may not be "grown up" at 21, but I have enough responsibilities (need a place to live, for me and my mother, who is unwell), need to put food on the table, etc. I'm pretty much shackled to this shitty town. I could leave but I think I owe it to my mother to stay and help.
I've decided that since my job doesn't have any type of time-off or overtime (it's contract work) I will look into night school & online university courses. I'll also look at grabbing a second job so I can start saving some money in case I want or need to stop working.
Working out is something I'm already doing, to an extent. I don't often feel like it, as it's super frickin' hot here at the moment. I guess I'll just stick to eating healthy. I'll try to stay away from the drink for as long as possible, but needing to have a few drinks just to calm down & get a good night's sleep is not a dependence on.
tl;dr Thanks for all the advice. I'll see what I can do. I'll get back to you? | 27 | [
{
"body": "I felt the exact same way. Things were so much easier when you were a kid. I believe it has something to do with the mental transition to adulthood. I was hard for me until I realized that life pretty much sucks without you putting in some work. After 25 I felt a lot better but it's because I worked for it.\n\nYou need to surround yourself with good things. Keep negativity out of your head if that's a problem. It sounds stupid, but it works. Anytime I started thinking negative I would tell myself to stop. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just enjoy life. It's all about perspective, it really is.\n\nA good life needs to be built. Happiness in your personal and work life is very important. Do shit you wouldn't normally do. Excercise makes you feel even better. Go camping, enjoy nature, whatever. If you find something you are passionate/driven about, something that you wouldn't mind doing as a job, you should pursue it. This may require schooling. Think often about what you enjoy. Take the extra time to enjoy things. I know it sounds cliché but it really works. Why would you spend the next 20/30/whatever years doing something that you don't absolutely love when nothing is stopping you.\n\nYou need to make shit happen. It doesn't just fall into place. You need a different outlook on life. It's hard to change, but it's definitely feasible. I've been doing it and I feel very good about my life... even though I am unemployed and going to school again at 28.\n\nIt takes time and persistence but the rewards are very great.\n\nThat's my take on it and you may agree or disagree but it worked for me. :)\n\nGood luck, it gets better as you get older.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "You are young, shit really seems bad right now I have been there also... even attempted suicide once, glad it didn't work. My problems stemmed from undiagnosed mental issues I had been dealing with since adolescence, can you go to a shrink? I am glad your getting this off your chest, don't bottle this shit up and please don't give up hope. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "You're 21 with a lot more time to find some passion and change. I was afraid I was going to click on this link and find you having these thoughts at age 80.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "There was a time in my life that I was drunk almost all of the time. I lived in my car. I was dead broke. I had no relationship and very few friends. I kept telling myself maybe someday I'll quit drinking and get my life together. 20 years later I finally did. No instant turn around though, when I least expected it things started coming together. Now I am happily married with 2 wonderful daughters with a big house in the country. I am sober and happy. I don't think I would appreciate it as much if I wouldn't have gone through what you are going through now. Just don't wait 20 years to turn yourself around. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "My all time favorite movie quote from \"The Ballad of Jack and Rose\" spoken by Daniel Day-Lewis: \"If you don't like the situation you're in, then change it. If you can't change it, then LEAVE IT.\"",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "The best thing about Western society is that we're not born into a caste system, we're not strictly stuck with our loser families, and you are not limited in any way whatsoever in where you can travel or live. You can restart as many times as you want. I've restarted twice (I'm now age 37).\r\n\r\nSo restart.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "mrfuntime said everything I wanted to, but know that you always have a choice and if you are feeling really low [ /r/ suicidewatch](http://www.reddit.com/r/SuicideWatch/) is always available for support",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey Reddit, What did you think about Daybreakers? | I thought the prologue and the climax made the movie. Definitely a flawed movie, but a good one nevertheless... Id like to hear what you all think about it | 3 | [
{
"body": "I posted this elsewhere, but it's relevant. \n\n>This movie was frustrating beyond belief. It had everything it needed to be great. The cast was good and did a very good job, the art direction was superb, the idea/story was pretty original, and it was shot well, among other things. But dear god the pacing was awful. It made it practically unwatchable. The power and drama was completely lost because of the miserable editing. It made it difficult to become emotionally attached to any of the characters, to hate any of the characters, to feel the power and sympathy that we were supposed to feel. This movie is now my goto example for when I need to show to someone why pacing is important and can make or break a movie. It seriously broke this movie. It's such a shame too, I honestly feel that this flick could have been a great one.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE miss Pop-Up Video from the late 90s? | [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOU8GIRUd_g)
I apologize in advance for the old meme, but I use it solely to underscore my point... Pop-Up Video was an awesome show and so much more watchable than just the videos themselves.
Further reading:
[Pop-Up Video - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop-Up_Video) | 80 | [
{
"body": "*Pop* Darius Rucker, frontman of Hootie and the Blowfish, has seen the film *Stir Crazy* over 100 times. *Bwop*",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "All I remember is that damn guy's voice in my head. Pop Uuup Video! Said in that strange sing-song voice... I tried to imagine who was behind such a weird jingle and came up with the most ridiculous people. I miss being a kid.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Can you play TF2 well with the Novint Falcon? | If I get one, this is the game I'll be using it for. I want to know if you can actually be competent with something so awesome yet strange. | 5 | [
{
"body": "Short answer: Yes.\n\n------\n\nMedium answer: Yes, but not right when you start.\n\n--------\nLong answer:\n\n\nIt takes a lot (10-20 hours I'd guess) of play time to *really* get used to, but once you have a good enough feel for it to be able to tell what tweaks to the settings are beneficial to you, you'll be doing quite well. That said, don't mess with the settings too much 'till you get that feel or you'll just frustrate yourself.\n\nI do equally well with either the mouse or the Falcon, though I don't play competitively.\n\nYou'll find there's a sweet spot in the feedback scale which, if you can dial it in, you'll be able to feel the recoil, damage, inertial, and animation feedback without messing with your aim at all.\n\nPersonally, I love mine and love Novint (best damn customer service of any company, ever). Playing without it feels kind of like playing with the sound off. It's entirely possible to enjoy, but there's this nagging feeling that some part of the experience is missing.\n\n",
"score": 11
}
]
|
Southern Cross tattoos, stickers, etc - why so popular right now? Do you have one? | I found myself getting fairly cynical about the cloud of southern cross tattoos and stickers that I've being seeing. I've been questioning myself lately as to why I have this cynicism toward them and I'm trying to understand the reason someone might ink themselves for life with part of our flag - is it just a trend? Is it a sincere love and respect for our nation and flag?
Do you have a souther cross tattoo or sticker? Why did you get it? This is a sincere question from someone trying to understand the mind-set. | 39 | [
{
"body": "I'm cynical about it because I associate the southern cross tatoo/sticker (also wearing the flag as a cape) with the people who were in the Cronulla Riots. And those nit-wits who start trouble on Australia day. \n\nWhich sucks, because it shouldn't be associated with those people. And that loutish behaviour.\n\nA bit of patriotism is ok, but the proper Australian way to be patriotic was to always do it in an understated way. Not shove it down everyone elses throat.",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "Faux fashionable new-wave patriotism. Just as pathetic as the douchebags who drape themselves in Australian flags at Big Day Out or something equally un-nationality related",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "have you considered how many countries have the southern cross on their flag? i like to use this information to hang shit on the people with it tattooed on their body. ",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Yeah it's mainly a bogan thing as someone else said. It's a fad and a sheep thing. I don't do tattoos :)",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism#Ultra-nationalism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism#Ultra-nationalism)\n\n> National flags, national anthems, and other symbols of national identity are often considered sacred, as if they were religious rather than political symbols. Deep emotions are aroused.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Do I have one? no \r\n\r\nJust remember \r\n\r\nsouthern cross sticker/tattoo = racist bogan. the /r/australia hive mind will till you this its part of the set of rules for this subreddit.\r\n\r\nThe only person who I knew who had one was a soldier who had done a tour of Afganistan. He was a thoroughly decent bloke not a redneck and not a racist, why did he get it? Im not sure, ive never asked. \r\n\r\nIt always amazes me that the people here who will froth at the mouth if they see this type of generalisation about say Indian students or Aborigines will gladly spew forth the same type of bland hateful generalisations.\r\n\r\nDownvote away hivemind",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I'm a New Zealander who lives in Australia and I've noticed that there's a lot of kiwi pride going on in Australia. Silver ferns on car windows and lots of my kiwi friends have NZ tattoos. \n\nGosh darn bogans. Boganing up the place. Put a shirt on!",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "For a brief period I was considering getting this tattoo. I decided against it because, as someone else said, it's extremely bogany. \n\nIt's a real shame, because outside of the negative connotations, it's a terrific symbol of Australia. It's incredibly saddening that it's been associated so negatively with a group of idiotic thinking people. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "if you do a google image search for \"southern cross tattoo\" (i think) a friend of mine's tattoo is the first result.\nnot sure why he got it, but he is a fair bogan. \nme and some friends have southern cross stickers on our cars, but its mostly a tongue in cheek thing, having a laugh at bogans, not that we dont love australia...",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "After travelling the globe and our country for 30 odd years,, I am now considering getting one, for no other reason than this is home..... and I personally found it the one thing I missed finding in the night sky in the northern hemisphere.....",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Having been to Wet'n'Wild more times than I can count recently, I can certainly vouch for the amount of people with Southern Cross tattoos, they outnumber others at least 2:1.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
C Programming Language (2nd Edition) - Too dated? | It's arguably one of the most famous programming books ever written, and still cited as a great text on the C language, but the 2nd edition is from 1988. Is this book too dated to be of any use for someone who wants to learn the C language? Should I seek a newer alternative?
I almost feel like it should be on my bookshelf as an item of historical significance, but if I were to buy it I'd prefer it to be useful. | 10 | [
{
"body": "For me K&R (as the book is often called) is still the best and only reference to C. If there ever is some doubt in my mind about some particular feature of C, in pick up my copy. Also, I haven't yet read an introduction to C that would be as elegant, comprehensive and succinct as the book. I will recommend it for any learning of C that you need to do.\n\nOne especially great thing is that the book is, in its entirety (also containing the full ANSI reference of the language and the index), 272 pages long, so that you can conveniently read it over in about a week and then come back to all the places you didn't understand in the first go over and over again. This also means that there is no useless or extra material in this book. An example may serve here: on page 20 you will be presented a basic version (25 lines of code) of the unix program *wc* that counts the number of characters, words and lines given as input.\n\nIn some minor details, the book of course shows its age. For example, in the time it was written 16-bit machines were commonplace, as were Fortran and Pascal, giving the text a bit of an old-school vibe in some places.\n\nBTW, the fact that the book is co-authored by Brian W. Kernighan should be good enough reason to buy the book :)",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "No, no, no. It is NOT too dated. It lacks some features of C99 which are not that important anyway. K&R is THE book for C. Everything which is not there you may find in C99 ISO standard.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "To learn the basics of C and of all its derivatives (C++, PHP, C#,etc) this book is still useful. After you covered the basics and start programming it's easily the best reference guide around.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I just posted this in another thread, but here it is again:\n\nK&R2 is a must have. If you need a more detailed reference (and updated to cover C99), your best bet is [Harbison & Steele](http://www.amazon.com/Reference-Manual-Samuel-P-Harbison/dp/013089592X).",
"score": 3
}
]
|
That [M] boy who gets bored every few months is bored again... and testing out his new wireless remote/TV preview connection for his camera! Boyfriend included! | Hello again, gonewild Redditors!
I've posted before:
* http://www.reddit.com/r/gonewild/comments/9wjn6/bored_male_is_back_again_after_2_months_16_photos/
* http://www.reddit.com/r/gonewild/comments/979rk/i_posted_a_few_pics_last_night_heres_another_male/
Those two links are for all previous photos I've posted on gonewild.
* http://i.imgur.com/tuRkJ.jpg seems to be the most popular.
Here I am again. Nothing too fancy. My boyfriend saw me playing around and decided to join in for a few.
* http://imgur.com/vO5s4.jpg
* http://imgur.com/yYpo6.jpg
* http://imgur.com/M1pGg.jpg
* http://imgur.com/4BAiN.jpg
* http://imgur.com/AKuNg.jpg
* http://imgur.com/BvNO3.jpg
And one of me snuggling one of my cats, Dunbar.
* http://imgur.com/C3ThM.jpg
I swear I'm much cuter than that (narcissistic much?) but I haven't shaved my face in like a month and I'm letting my hair grow out so it's wild right now!
And I know I went through the trouble of blurring my face in these photos and previous photos, but I also posted a photo of me snuggling my cat that is not censored so that kind of defeats the purpose of previous censoring. I'm not too overly concerned about people seeing my body and knowing the identity behind it though.
Please refer to previous photos in the links I provided at the beginning of this post for extra awesomeness, since these photos are pretty mild and I'm flaccid in most of them. Just playing around with the camera, and much beer has been consumed this evening.
Enjoy!
edit: WOOPS! Replied to some of your posts using my real account... Guess it doesn't really matter since I already posted my cat snuggling photo without blurring my face and am not terribly concerned with people knowing my real identity in these shots... but let's keep my real account name under our bonnets anyway, shall we? Thank you :) One day I do plan to print a book of photos like these of myself (no faces censored or anything of course) so again... don't really care... still.. *shrug*.
Anyway, enjoy the photos! Have a good evening, everybody! | 25 | [
{
"body": "Amazing, dude. Really nice body, beautiful hefty cock, cute face and cat, and boy-touching!\n\nEdit: Jesus Christ, I just saw your most popular pic. That is fucking hot... I don't think I need to say that I am going to jack off to that now.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I can't say I disagree with that \"most popular\" pic. It's truly amazing.\n\nI like the second pic, too. It's almost like he just snuck up on you during your shoot and decided to give you a helping hand. ;)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm not sure how you could be much cuter than that... ;-)\n\nYou two are very sexy young men. I'm one horny old daddy bear type that would love to get you two nekkid!",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I do a damn good job brushing my teeth when I'm high if I do say so... [6] | Even better than normal. The higher I am the more attentive I become. Plus, the brushing feels like meditation and similar to a game that causes intense concentration. | 10 | [
{
"body": "I agree, it feels good. Even with out toothpaste sometimes. Im still torn as to whether i should use toothpaste...I know dentists are evil, but the minty is nice. :D",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Any 7D owners out there? How do you find it performs in low light? | I'm interested in getting a 7D but I shoot a lot in low light and I'm hearing that it doesn't really hold its own.
EDIT: Sorry. I'm currently travelling through Portugal and been caught without internet. Thank you all for your input. Considering i need the speed, I think the 7D is a better choice for me over the 5D2.
Thanks again. | 11 | [
{
"body": "Here's a few pics I took with the 7D on ISO 12500 with a 35mm f/1.4 all of the meta data is posted.\n\nhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jpgrace/4242703102/\nhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jpgrace/4242677530/\nhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jpgrace/4242719934/\nhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jpgrace/4242707940/",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "The problem is that everyone, including myself, inevitably compares it to the 5D II. **It is not a 5D II, so it does not perform as well in low light.** Once we get over this, we can begin to see how well it actually *does* perform in low light, for its price.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "For the price, it is a low-light champ.\n\nIf you want real low-light performance at a similar price, buy the Nikon D700. If you can spend more, get the 5d II, D3, D3s, or 1d IV.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Classic old detective style? | I have an idea for something I want to write up as a roleplay and I really want to use the old fashion detective style with over use of the internal monologue deal but I have no idea where to start looking for examples of this style. I only know of it from movies and tv shows.
Can anyone point me somewhere useful? | 5 | [
{
"body": "First you read The Big Sleep, and then The Maltese Falcon. \n\nThen, you pick which one you liked better. That classifies you as either a Hammet person or a Chandler person. There are only these two types of people in the world. Count on it.\n\nThen read everything they ever wrote. They both even wrote extensively about how they wrote and why, so that will come in handy.\n\nThen you hit the flicks. They're pretty easy to find, mostly adaptations of the books you have already read. Also, you should watch a movie called Brick, by Rian Johnson. It's great modern noir, no matter it's high school setting. Truly wonderful.\n\nGood luck.",
"score": 15
}
]
|
Dear Reddit, I did not have the balls to tell my mother that I'm atheist... What can I do? Details inside... | Most of my family is Christian, specially my mother. She is a hard core Christian on Dominican Rep. Today I received the usually call from her, now specially of the recent and unfortunate event on Haiti she started to talk about the "signals of the ends of times". I began to explain her about natural disasters and how they work [plate tectonics, hurricanes, temperature changes, etc. ]. Also, I explained that before we did not have the power of communications that we have today, where news are almost immediate; and because of that, we received news faster and usually news 90% of the time are bad news.
At one point the conversation went of limits because she mentioned that "I was blind because of the devil works on me". That infuriate me, I told her that I got my conclusions from the bible that she gave me [a study bible, pretty big with a archaeological supplement] where many bible places could not be located in their own maps; that the versions of the bible are so different; I continue with the key points that lead me to search outside the bible... In the end she asked me: "Do you still believe in god?" I paused for a second, I thought, I answered "yes, I do"....
My mother suffers heart problems, I could not forgive myself if she dies because of me telling her "I'm a happy atheist. I do not need god to be happy". She is one few people that I have not confess my atheism. But now, I have a moral dilemma with myself... What can I do?
| 4 | [
{
"body": "I was afraid of telling my father like you were of telling your mother. He was one of those guys who honestly believed that he saw demons and that God actually told him to beat us as children in order to keep us in line. When my Mother was married to him, the church would harrass and alienate her and he would side with the church, that kind of thing.\r\n\r\nWhen I finally told him, he made the pretense of being \"totally\" understanding and accepting, except he would passively aggresively harrass me about it, make comments to other family members about how I needed saving and all that. I eventually worked up the balls to talk to him about how he raised us as kids and told him that I hated religion and was angry at him for always choosing religion over his own family.\r\n\r\nHis reaction was to tell me that we deserved everything we got and because God told him to do that, me confronting him about it was tantamount to me trying to turn him away from his religion. \r\n\r\nIt was at that moment, that I basically disowned my own Dad and told him that we could have a relationship again if he acknowledged his own failings as a father and sincerely apologized to me and my two brothers over it.\r\n\r\nAs much as it may hurt your mother to learn that you are an Atheist, my best advice is that no matter how bad the situation gets, it's always better to have integrity and to be happy with yourself than always worry about what a bigoted and hate-filled family member thinks of you. I'm not telling you to cut your mom out of your life, but basically telling her that this is who you are. It doesn't matter if she accepts it, but always be true to yourself. Family should always rank high, but you should worry about yourself first and family second.\r\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I just got my wisdom teeth out on Monday, and I'm hesitant to smoke... | I heard smoking could cause a dry socket, which is apparently much more painful than going without smoking for a week or so. But I'm not sure if waiting a week is necessary. Does anyone have any insight into this? | 8 | [
{
"body": "I have no way to test this theory, but I smoked the day I got all four wisdom teeth out(and the day after....and the day after....etc) and it seems like my recovery was waaaaaay longer than friends who have their wisdoms pulled.\n\nJust take a week off, your health is worth it, and hey, you'll get blazed as fuck when you smoke!",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I wouldn't smoke. Have to remember that the burnt plant matter itself is not safe at all. If you can, make a drink or cook it. and bollocks is right. i've inhaled through the nose before just to be silly. it's a viable delivery method if you don't want to mess with the mouth. just be prepared to sneeze lol. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "waterfall bong. Make a Sobe, theres no suction so it can't result in a dry socket\n\nI did this as soon as i got back from the doctor and i was totally fine no dry sockets at all.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My gf and me had ours out recently. She was smoking a cig three days after and didn't get a dry socket. That being said however, see if someone will shottie a blunt with you, or a gravity bong.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "When I got my wisdom teeth taken out, I busted out the volcano vaporizer and inhaled through my nose strictly for a few weeks.....\n#1. This worked very well\n#2. The whole world smelled AWESOME.\n#3. Using herb helped me avoid opiate painkillers",
"score": 3
}
]
|
[Request] Can someone make me an SVG of this image? | http://imgur.com/19mH9
I've tried those online converters but I can't seem to get anything quality out of them. Can someone lend me a hand? I really appreciate it! | 5 | [
{
"body": "I don't know how to make text follow a path (though I can see the option right flipping there in Inkscape), but here's the rest. Maybe someone else can finish it: http://omploader.org/vMzkyYQ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
[F]ine, you only want sexy and not nude/funny? Let's try my [f]irst again. | So I tried my 1st post to GW [here](http://www.reddit.com/r/gonewild/comments/apf5g/my_first_post_by_request_i_thought_i_would_make/).
Let's try again with more "sexy" [pic1](http://imgur.com/2vbOk.jpg) [pic2](http://imgur.com/OalD5.jpg) [pic3](http://imgur.com/bJ1Br.jpg) | 146 | [
{
"body": "I didn't mind your first post, but I like this one better. ;)\n\nYou have a great ass and fantastic legs, you know that?",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "the first one in this set is amazing!\n\nYou look way better then in your first one. :) \n\nVery sexy and what looks like amazingly smooth soft skin",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Wow.\n\nAnd for the record...I dig funny.\n\n*edit* just noticed the ring on your finger...buzzkill. ;)\n\nStay sexy.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "To reiterate what everyone else is saying here.... I want to cute fuck you. \n\nEdit: Wait... did I go too far?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
IAMA (Former) clerk at adult video store, AMA. | This was during college. The video store did new releases, back catalog, DVDs (big deal at the time), video games (N64, Playstation, **Fucking Dreamcast**). But porn was the real money maker, and we had the largest selection in town-- easily twice as many as the normal sex shops, which made us the discerning masturbater's choice. | 13 | [
{
"body": "Yes! Let's hear stories!\r\n\r\n1. How much of the porn have you watched? \r\n2. Share some titles or description of the weird porn that is in the store.\r\n3. What were the most popular titles genres aside from straight up hetrosexual porn?\r\n4. Weirdest customer?\r\n5. Any sexual experiences in the store?\r\n",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "If people couldn't find what they were looking for, would they come to the clerk and ask for \"xxx Hentai Strapon Anal 4,\" or just leave silently?\n",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Whenever you inadvertently put your hand or fingers in something sticky or wet (i.e., check-out counter, curtain, DVDs, door-knobs, etc.), did you jerk your hand back like you burned it in fire? And then superstitiously have to wash it compulsively even if you knew it wasn't mangy spunk?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Does putting a wet tissue down the bong actually help filter it more? | i was told putting a wet tissue down the bong helps to filter it even more, i have tried it and it certainly goes down much smother any thoughtS? | 3 | [
{
"body": "Although I've never tried that before I would assume that you would be lessening the amount of thc that you inhale due to the tissue being in the way. The reason it seems 'smoother' may be because your inhaling less smoke overall. You know what makes it hella smoother though? ICE CUBES",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Remember, pure THC is great...but it's not what makes pot what it is. There are like a gajillion other cannabanoids that also have an effect. That being said......15 years or so ago I read a note from Ed Rosenthal (if you don't know who that is I STRONGLY urge you to learn) and he suggested that warm water would be a softer gentler way to hit bongs as the resins would stay softer and more comforting to your lungs. \n\nTake a deep breath of fresh warm air and fresh cold air and which makes you cough?\n\nTHC does not dissolve in water, it is fat or alcohol soluble but much of the other crap that burns and especially loose ash is caught in the water and that is better.\n\nA vape is cool.....but sometimes I just like the old tube of water and a bic.\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
TIL that Seymour's (Fry's dog in 1999 from Futurama) last name is Asses. DAE regularly watch Futurama and constantly find new hilarious jokes they never noticed before? | I flipped coin to decide which subreddit to put this in. I assume that, in another universe, the coin came up heads and I posted it in TIL. | 20 | [
{
"body": "I recently noticed a great joke. They are at a horse race and it's a quantum finish. The winner is announced and fransworth yells: Its not fair! By measuring you changed it!",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "futurama is better than new simpsons, family guy, cleveland show, american dad and is on par with KOTH. i love futurama.\n\nthe seymour episode (the first one) made me cry though.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Whats the best cheap dslr? | I'm thinking about taking up a new hobby, as I have a lot of free time that is currently being wasted. I always liked photography, it sounds interesting and should keep me entertained for a while. Though problem is that I currently own a pretty standard point and shoot, and I'm a student on a budget so I don't have a lot a lot of money to pend on a dslr. So whats the best cheap, used dslr I can get?
tl;dr-whats the best cheap, used dslr I can get? | 4 | [
{
"body": "Cheap and DSLR are not words that are normally used in the same sentence.\n\nI have a Nikon D40. It's on the cheap end in terms of DSLR cameras and I like it quite a bit. My only complaint is that it can't really take the shots needed to make HDR images which is something I'm interested in messing around with.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Tell me your betrayal story reddit. Why can't we all just be better people? Naive I know but I just don't understand how people can screw each other over so often. | So I am not perfect by any means. I've been screwed over a few times though, and it's starting to piss me off seeing the way people can treat each other. Simplistic I know, but can't we just not cheat, show a bit more respect for one another and stop lying as often? | 6 | [
{
"body": "I used to have a really close friend. We did everything together. She was 4 years younger than me, so I was like her big sister. \n\n\nI also used to have an asshole boyfriend. He was a horrible person, but I was crazy about him because I was young and stupid.\n\n\nMonths after me and boyfriend broke up, my \"friend\" and I were talking about him. She then casually says, without a hit of regret or sympathy, \"yeah, he and I fucked a ton while you were dating\". She then detailed when they had sex, what they did to cover it up, and how great it was. She thought it was hilarious, and she was totally unapologetic. They started dating a few weeks later\n\n\n....oh. She was 14. He was 18. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "As an old man, betrayed many times in my youth, usually on account of women, but sometimes money, there's no simple explanation I could offer except my own thoughts. In fact, the more I brooded over each major transgression in my life, I realized that I was to blame more than any one individual. Not to say I shoulder the moral guilt, but that I failed to take responsibility for the things I valued. That I failed to identify a person as untrustworthy. My solace would be in knowing that I would be alert in identifying the next thief, and being conscious of him.\n\nAlso, if you're a man, or a particularly violent woman, get a punching bag.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How does karma work for Buddhists if 'good' and 'bad' are subjective terms? | I was having a wonderful conversation about religion with megan, and while having a conversation with Kristen about the wonderful conversation with megan, I came to this question. I am incredibly glad to have stumbled upon the Buddhism reddit (hoping it actually existed) and am pleasantly surprised to see 3000+ subscribers! That's amazing! I hope you all have a wonderful tomorrow! | 22 | [
{
"body": "Karma is the Law of cause and effect:\n\n\"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.\"\n\nhttp://www.share-international.org/background/awteachings/AWT_main.htm",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Another way to understand karma is that it is your view of the world. No action in the world is bad or good - it just *is*.\n\nIf you cannot bear to part with things, then you will live in terror of loss - and you will suffer loss.\n\nIf cannot forgive, then you will find yourself wronged.\n\nIf you are constantly doing something, you will never stay entertained.\n\nIf you accept the simple being of every moment - of simple sitting - then you will find great beauty and wonder in the world.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Gonna give a shot at an answer, but I might be totally wrong on this one. Welcome constructive criticism and discussion =) \n\nI THINK(hence unable to quote Buddhist scripture) that karma is NOT a ledger account that some undefined force keeps like a bank balance and rewards you and smites you when the account is positive or negative. Rather karma is a RESULT of the observation by the buddha that cycles of good deeds beget good deeds and cycles of evil deeds beget evil deeds. I think the best analogy of karma that we can find to daily life is the concept of conscience. If anything you do leaves you with a good conscience you can take that it generated good karma, if it leaves you with a guilty conscience you can take that it generated bad karma, and if it did not affect your conscience you can take that it did not affect your karma. \n\nAgain, this is MY idea, as an experienced Buddhist, while I have not come across anything that proves this wrong, neither have I found any Buddhist scripture explicitly saying that it is so. So I welcome your thoughts =)",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "*Karma is subjective*. Your karma is your experience. Experiences are subjective.\n\n Your interactions with the world and with others, your behavior, your thoughts and feelings and decisions, and all the things that happen to you -- all of it adds up to your karma. You can say that you have bad karma if you feel that bad things are happening to you, that your decisions are bad, that your thoughts and feelings have been bad, your behavior has been bad, or your interactions with others have been bad.\n\nYou can likewise have good karma if you are being good and experiencing the goodness of life and recognizing the good things.\n\nIf others are evaluating if your karma is good or bad, it is subjective to them and their ideas of what you experience and how you behave. If they acknowledge you seem happy despite treating others poorly they may say your karma is bad even though you are satisfied with your life. You may assume your karma is good because you're self-satisfied, though if you are treating others poorly you may be missing out on a more serene synergy with your community, or may be subject to some negative consequences of your actions. If you ever figure that much out you may re-evaluate your karma and determine that it was bad, but also determine you can fix it by treating others well.\n\n There's no karma authority. Asking how does karma work if good and bad are subjective is like asking how good and bad work since they are subjective. Quality of life is subjective. Wisdom is subjective, even. And the wisest may know something of karma, but karma is simply a word and a concept and a way to refer to the sum of the qualities of each of our lives.\n\n'Subjective' does not mean meaningless.\n\nAs for those who believe in reincarnation there is no science to the idea that your karma will determine your next life. Just as people have different ideas of what Heaven will be like, people have different ideas about what karma will bring you in reincarnation, and what karma caused you to reincarnate into your current existence. Reincarnation is a continuity and the only escape is enlightenment which allows you to reach nirvana.\n\nMe? I like to imagine that all life is one spirit reincarnated as each of us and what I experience and others experience are equally karmic. I experience good karma by being generous, helpful, contributing to my communities and existing in community with those that reflect generosity and love back to me.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Karma is simply cause and effect playing out in the world. Every action we do, no matter how tiny, has some effect on this world. The choices you make ultimately come back to you.\n\nGood and bad are subjective but they are also just words. Don't get hung up on them as being \"good\" or \"bad\" but see things clearly. See the shades of gray in between white and black. That does not mean that there is no Right Action. Your actions should follow the Noble Eightfold Path to produce the best karma (cause and effect) for yourself and others.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Karma isn't \"what goes around, comes around\". It isn't all about fairness, or justice, or things being right.\n\nKarma's about choices and learning. As far as I can tell, we keep getting reincarnated until we \"get it right\". Your choices now determine the lessons you'll need to learn further down the track. AFAIC, *that's* karma.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "The effects of one's actions and choices will lead to suffering or a cessation of suffering, hence the need to reflect on karma. Even if suffering is only bad subjectively, it still matters subjectively.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Best Thai/Chinese fried rice recipes? | I've attempted variations of Thai and Chinese fried rice numerous times. No matter what alterations I make, it always turns into a pile of mush. I've used old rice, freshly cooked chilled rice, vegetable oil, sesame oil. To no avail.
This time I made it by frying, on high with sesame oil, onions and red/green peppers. Take peppers out and put in floursack lined bowl (to soak up any moisture). I then added zucchini, mushrooms, and small chopped tomatos. After each I'd add them to the bowl.
Then I added the rice with some oil, stirred it up to coat the rice, and made a well in the middle to fry the egg. Fried the egg, distributed, and tossed in the vegetables. It turned into mush. I added soy sauce, curry, and pepper and topped with cilantro.
It was tasty... but mushy. Nothing at all like the texture of the rice you get at take-out or restaurants. I've used calrose rice, plain white rice, and thai glutenous rice. I've had Thai fried rice with zucchini and tomatoes, but maybe they use magic to keep it from getting mushy?
Help? | 35 | [
{
"body": "Large, Hot Wok. Don't stir. Instead sort of... fold the rice over with the spatula and (if it's in big chunks because it's old) chop it in. (With the end of the spatula.)\nI use regular short grain white rice (rooster on the bag), or thai jasmine rice. Perhaps you're cooking your rice with too much water in the first place. \nWhat utensil are you using to fry it? \n\nI use peanut or canola oil. Sesame oil is usually used in dashes, just for taste, it's too strong to use for frying.\n\nAlso, I usually fry the egg until its *mostly* done first, and then throw it in at the last second and 'chop' it up with the spatula. This helps the egg stay seperate, and not \"coat\" the rice. The chefs that I know that can fry it in the pan *with* the rice have huge woks, and actually cook it on the side, without letting it really touch the rice at all until it's mostly done.\n\nCredentials: Being half chinese. Cooking with my mama since forever. Working in a thai restaurant for 4 years. Years of university, cooking leftover rice and leftover fridge contents into fried rice concoctions.\n\n\n",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "Oil, Protein & Aromatics, Egg, COLD Rice, seasonings (Soy and/or Golden Mountain sauce), Greens; in that order. In your case, I would fry the zucchini and tomatoes separately, then add them on top of the finished product. Make sure your pan is nice and hot, but not smoking (Teflon Flu is bad times).\n\n[This site](http://importfood.com/vendor_video/thai_street_vendor_videos.html) should give ya an idea of the techniques.\n\nEdit: Decided to give an explanation for the cold rice. If you're not using a wok on a VERY hot burner, you're not at a high enough temperature for hot rice to keep the correct texture. Instead of frying itself, it sort of just steams itself apart while you're mixing. Cold rice counters this by being a bit dryer, and taking longer to reach a point where it will steam itself into mush.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Cook the rice the day before. We always have rice with dinner and then have the fried rice for breakfast the next day. We have a rice cooker as well so our rice is always cooked properly - invest in a rice cooker - you can get one really really cheap and then you will never not cook rice properly again as it does it for you! Instead try to add less water to the rice whilst cooking it next time.\nWe use thai broken rice at the mo but we have never had a problem making it with anything else\n\n* WASH YOUR RICE - wash rice before cooking - it will remove the unnecessary starch and hopefully stop this mush\n* You do not need any particular oil or utensils - a large frying pan should get up to the temperature needed. A spatula is good but if you dont have one use the tip of the spoon to push down on the rice to break it up - like you are chopping it in half\n* sunflower oil is good for not adding flavour \n* Use a **hot** pan and put oil in - get hot and add your ginger first, then garlic and spring onions\n*cook your veg separately at first - especially zucchini (it's called courgette) and tomatoes - this is how all asian food is cooked to ensure meat is tender - veg soft/crunchy - it can be done all at once but it takes skill and practice so therefore save yourself the hassel get a bowl by the side of the oven and cook everything separately and then add everything in at the end!! \n\nedit - i see you do this anyway - hmmmm so this isn't the reason for the mush\n\n* do not cook soy sauce - it will burn and taste bitter when fried - so cook everything first then add a couple of dashes at the end,\n\nmaybe when cooking the egg, you might be stirring it into the rice too soon? \nTry bacon and frankfurters in your egg rice for a morning nom nom nom, as well as chilli bean paste.\nBest of luck and keep practicing. It sounds like you are almost there but just need to work on your rice cooking\n\nEdit - spelling and format\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "PRO TIP: bring all your ingredients to temperature prior to mixing together. for example:\n\n1. stir fry corn and peas together\n2. stir fry garlic, onion and meat of choice together, i like using diced bbq pork\n3. microwave overnight rice, or alternatively use fresh hot rice: start stir frying hot rice and create a little hole in the middle of the rice mound. beat a few eggs prior to pouring into the hole - let the egg half cook in there and then mix into the batch. this will help coat the rice and allow for a more even and fluffy egg in the rice.\n4. mix veggies and meat into rice/egg mix.\n\nremember: the KEY is to bring all the ingredients to temperature prior to mixing to avoid mushiness!\n\nCredentials: was a chinese bachelor.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Crash the JVM in one statement | Just discovered this the other day:
for(Object o=null;;o=new Object[]{o});
Edit: More info: http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/wasinfo/v4r0/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.support.was40.doc/html/Out_of_Memory/swg21164724.html
| 90 | [
{
"body": "I look forward to your next post detailing how an infinitely recursive method can trigger a stack overflow.\r\n\r\nEDIT: please note that I'm not saying the OP's for-loop is an infinitely recursive method. Rather, was attempting to point out that shitty code causes shitty results. I agree that this is a VM bug but this bug has been known for a few years now. That is all.",
"score": 74
},
{
"body": "Ok, now I want to download IKVM. If it doesn't crash the CLR I'm filing a bug against it for not being JVM compliant.",
"score": 27
},
{
"body": "Nicely done. Looks like it occurs in a Full GC:\n\n $ java -verbose:gc test\n [GC 512K->239K(1984K), 0.0017228 secs]\n [GC 751K->750K(1984K), 0.0029988 secs]\n [GC 1262K->1260K(1984K), 0.0028654 secs]\n [GC 1772K->1771K(2368K), 0.0027928 secs]\n [Full GCBus error\n",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "If anybody is a Java Thickhead® like me, and found this inscrutable, you can do the same in a slightly expanded form:\n\n Object o = null;\n while (true)\n o = new Object[] { o };\n\nWhy is this so problematic for the JVM? I am confused. :/",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "I did something like \"a = None; while True: a = [a]\" in Python.\n\nThen after a while, when it was taking up a few hundred megabytes, I interrupted it and asked the value of a. It printed a lot of \"[\"s then crashed the interpreter.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Woah, that's it? One of the extra credit assignments in my CS3 course, a while back, was to write a program that would crash the JVM. In retrospect, targetting the garbage collector would've been an obvious thing to try. What a lost opportunity :(",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "The CL equivalent would be\n\n (do ((o () (vector o))) (nil))\n\nbut I find this version funnier:\n\n (DO((O()`(().,O)))(()))\n\nWhy again don't people like Lisp? :)",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "I know this will get me downvoted by the anti-Microsoft brigade, but FYI it doesn't crash the .net CLR",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'm confused ... why is this surprising?\n\nIsn't this just turning o into a *very* deep array? It is probably running out of array references.\n\no = null\n\no = [null]\n\no = [[null]]\n\no = [[[null]]]\n\no = [[[[null]]]]\n\n...\n\nThere are many ways to crash a system (or jvm) ... why is this special?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I wondered why the \"-Xgcpolicy:optavgpause\" argument doesn't work with the Sun Java VM - it would seem it's specific to IBM's VM.\n\nAnyway, I tried it with IBM's VM (ibm-java-jre-6.0-7.0-linux-i386) and it crashes with an OutOfMemoryError exception (even when run with the -Xgcpolicy:optavgpause argument).",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I love Microsoft's suggestion:\n\n\"If you are unable to solve this problem and continue to receive errors, you can also uninstall Java.\"",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Weird. So this code declares\r\n\r\nObject o = null;\r\n\r\n(and note that the type of o is just Object), then creates a singleton array and assigns it to o. Ie:\r\n\r\nObject o = new Object[]{ \"whatever\" };\r\n\r\nStrangely, the compiler thinks this is just fine. If you change this to\r\n\r\nString o = new String[]{ \"whatever\" };\r\n\r\nthe compiler doesn't like it at all, predictably. My conclusion is that arrays must be considered instances of Object. I didn't know that.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Is this a (relatively) new bug? I seem to recall doing exactly this and running out of memory \"properly\".",
"score": 3
}
]
|
got a new PSP go any good suggestion ? | already have Beaterator, No gravity, Tetris (classic) and probably will get soul reaver psone.
edit: I'm happy with the GO it was my choice to be UMD less. thank you. | 8 | [
{
"body": "Motorstorm Artic Edge is really fun. The only other game I have really played a lot Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories and Ratchet and Clank Size Matters.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "So apparently the Go blows. If you get a real one God of War is good if you liked the PS2 versions. If you liked FF tactics the psp version is good; its got some new cutscenes, a new class, a few new battles. If you like games similar to FF Tactics then Jean D'Arc is good. Interesting story, good art.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Don't listen to these mooks. The vanilla PSP is unwieldy enough you won't bother taking it out with you half the time. The Go's screen is smaller but its resolution is the same. The UMD format will be dead in a few years, and Sony disc players have always been very fragile. Games, including reissues, are being released to PSN at an extraordinary pace, and many of them have playable demos. Carrying a bunch of games around with you sucks.\n\nTo answer your question: Patapon.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Here are some games I like that are available on PSN:\n\n\nArmored Core 3 Portable\n\nPower Stone Collection\n\nDisgaea 1 & 2\n\nHalf Minute Hero\n\nPrinny: Can I really be the hero?\n\nGurumin\n\nCastlevania The dracula x chronicles\n\nCrimson Gem Saga\n\nRiviera The Promissed Land\n\nYggdra Union\n\nDaxter\n\nGTA China Town Wars\n\nMega Man Maverick Hunter X\n\nUltimate Ghosts 'N Goblins",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey Reddit: Are there any online IQ tests that are actually reliable? | I am curious as to what my IQ is, and I know that online IQ tests are notorious for giving false results and adding people to spam lists. | 6 | [
{
"body": "start with a baseline of genius, 150 or so\n\nif myspace account: -80 IQ points\n\nif twitter user: -30 IQ points\n\niF TxT LiKE tHIS 4 rEaLz: -50 IQ points\n\nif installs 'dislike button is officially here!' on facebook: -50 IQ points\n\nif two or more of the above is true: clinically retarded",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "[http://www.iqtest.dk/main.swf](http://www.iqtest.dk/main.swf)\n\nis the most accurate free online IQ test that I know of. Notice the crapload of weasel words. Say goodbye to 40 minutes of your time. ",
"score": 4
}
]
|
I have random thoughts I need to sort out, and need the advice of fellow freethinkers. Please, interested Christians and other religious folks, stay out, I really don't want to hear from you. | To paraphrase Bertrand Russell, I'm an atheist to the layman, and an agnostic to the intellectual. I'm also a recovered Catholic who spent the first half of my life under the saddle of Christianity.
My issue is that I often swing between two forms of unbelief. the first is benign, recognizes cultural relativity, recognizes that family and friends may be religious but that I still love them, live and let live, yadda yadda.
The second is a raging inferno of resentment and hate for those who continue to perpetuate the lies of religion, and a worldview that is simply NOT TRUE. This version of me wants to take them all on and destroy their ridiculous arguments by making them understand what a shallow comprehension they have of life the universe and everything.
I am sick of fighting the religious in political and educational arenas. I am insulted that these backwater morons and intellectual cowards hold such sway in my society (USA). Their ideas are not worthy of respect, though the individuals, brainwashed as they are, are worthy of respect.
I have a hard time living among otherwise good people, who are all admirable, until it comes to matters of philosophy, politics and the nature of the universe, where they show themselves to be self-righteously ignorant retards. I want to crush the lies right from their inept, tiny little brains. Every time someone posits the idiot notion of hell, I want to stop my two decades of patient conversation, and just beat their fucking skulls in, yet I know that violence is not the way to win people to your side.
I know hate doesn't win friends, but it's hard to have anything but scorn for the simple-minded ideas that so many people hold to be true. Does anyone else suffer from this dichotomy? How do you deal with it?
EDIT: Thanks for your thoughtful comments, this is exactly what I needed to hear. I was in an especially frustrated mood when I wrote the post, and it helps to hear others also feel the same frustration. It's also good to be reminded to take the high ground, because I know that's generally the best path to take, but I appreciate the opportunity to vent. | 15 | [
{
"body": ">How do you deal with it?\n\nYou get angry. It's that simple. You get mad at these people for all the reasons you listed. And then you channel that energy into doing something about it. You write your congressman, you talk to people and try to explain science and skeptical thinking to them, you do anything and everything that you can humanly do to make a difference in the world.\n\nAnd unfortunately, on most people your efforts will be wasted. The majority of religious people will be unswayed by logic and facts.\n\nIt will be hard. It will be frustrating. It will even be heartbreaking at times. But you need to carry on. Because if you can get through to just one person and make even the slightest bit of difference then all the effort will be worth it. Because, in the end, the ability to make a difference in this world is all that we humans really have.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "Welcome to life as an atheist. You'll eventually work out your own version of dealing with religious BS. BTW, if you think it's shitty now, just wait until a family member is in the hospital and you have to deal with *everyone* saying they will pray for them. Nothing tests your patience and BS tolerance like that. ",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I understand how you feel. \n\nWhat does one do?\n\n(First, you try to remember that you were once in something of the same boat and try not to think too harshly of them, though often you're presented with silliness you'd never have contemplated at your most theistic.)\n\nYou take a deep breath and explain things in words of one syllable. Again.\n\nSometimes you have a positive impact.\n\nOccasionally frustration gets the better of you and you call a fool notion a fool notion. Sometimes even that has a positive impact.\n\nAccept your frustration as natural and your anger about the harm being done as an indication that you care about others. And take another deep breath.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I suffer from these same swings. A christian fuckwit goes on television talking about censorship in Australia and I'm enraged. I read about AIDS in Africa and Christian groups pushing abstinence and my blood is boiling. Some gay friends get married in Canada because they can't get married here and I'm a heartbeat away from Atheist Jihad to wipe out all religions.\n\nThen I have close friends who are Christians. Some are more devout than others. I'm accepting. I don't kick their asses. Ah, peaceful balance.\n\nIt evaporates a few days later when I learn a close relative has cancer and needs surgery and may die ... but the people at the church are praying for him!\n\nIn the end I hold back various things from my friends and don't talk about it. Sometimes I can't help myself and I say things like how it is fucking stupid to vote for a politician just because they superficially share the same religion as you.\n\nOther people I challenge. I do other things like write letters to politicians who are supporting censorship or whatever and tell them why they are wrong.\n\nSometimes I think it's better to view religion as a tattoo that can't be removed. The best you can do is attempt to stop it being applied. For those who are already tattooed you need to find a way to live with them.\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Just try to understand that everyone is a product of their own environment and nobody really gets to choose when (or if) they will wake up and abandon the illusions they once clung to.\r\n\r\n\"Hard it is to be born, Hard it is to live, Harder still to hear of the way, And hard to rise, follow and awake.\" -Dhammapada",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I'd like to volunteer in Haiti, any suggestions? | I know I can donate and I will, but I have about 3 weeks right now, from today until Feb 3rd, with nothing to do and I'd love to go to Haiti to help. I've looked into different agencies and they all seem to require specific disaster relief skills and a 3 month commitment, neither of which I have. I can afford to pay my own way and supply my own tent/food/etc, I just need someone to show me what to do when i get there.
I'm not sure to which sub-reddit to post this, any suggestions for where I could get more help are appreciated and I'll repost.
[The red cross](http://www.redcross.org/) | 4 | [
{
"body": "If you don't have any specific skills then don't even bother right now. They have a humanitarian nightmare on their hands. You are just going to be another mouth to feed and you are going to require resources that would be better allocated elsewhere. \r\n\r\nMaybe in a few months when the dust settles and they need help rebuilding, then sure, there will be opportunities to volunteer building schools and stuff. But seriously, the last thing they need right now is some unskilled gringo coming down and getting in the way of the professionals. ",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I thought about this to.. Instead of just forking over a couple bucks I want to volunteer. Hopefully there will be organizations that will take people to help rebuild. I would like to get involved with that..I'm glad I am not alone in that..",
"score": 4
}
]
|
So, in my relationship my girlfriend is always the one that wants sex, and a lot of the time I'm just not feeling it. Total role reversal. Is anyone else in the same situation? | I find my girlfriend sexy as hell, if anyone can turn me on it's this girl, but a lot of the time I'm either tired or just completely not feeling it. What's the deal guys?
EDIT: So, I've gotten a ton of advice from all of you. I think it mostly has to do with my sleep patterns and the fact that my life has become pretty routine lately. Also, I'm going to start working out again. I get the feeling these are the specific components of my problem.
EDIT 2: Just to recap, here's all of the suggestions people have made, in case anyone else is having this problem, but doesn't want to read through the whole thread.
* Caused by depression, guilt or stress
* Prescription drugs messing with your libido
* Lack of variety in your sex life
* Low testosterone levels
* Spending too much time watching porn/masturbating on your own
* Generally being unhealthy
* Not getting enough sleep
* Poor diet
* Having a sedentary lifestyle
* Unhappiness with your relationship | 23 | [
{
"body": "You do porn? Masturbate? If you do, stop doing those completely.\n\nThen it might be your life. Health. Etc. Look into those, too. Too many things there that might set you off.\n\nInstead of doing the sex-thing, how about trying to seduce her. Maybe it has gotten too easy. You two have to get back to beginning.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "My boyfriend is similar to you. I do my very best to be sexy for him, but I don't know what the deal is :(",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I feel you, man. My girlfriend is beautiful, sexy, cute, and horny as fuck. I've even cut out masturbation and porn for almost a month now, and no change. I cum harder when we do have sex, sure, but other than that I'm still at the same drive level I've been for the last year or two.\n\nI've got a couple likely candidates - undiagnosed ADD, depression, weight gain, sedentary lifestyle, and general tiredness, and those are the hard ones to deal with - it's hard to get more exercise when you get home from work and just pass out. I've finally started getting help for the ADD and depression, but it's only been four or so sessions so I can't say that it's helped a lot. \n\nPoint is, if there's one thing I can say is wrong in our relationship it's our sex life - not because the sex is bad, but because I don't want it enough and it's affecting both of our confidence. I want her to feel as beautiful as I know she is, and part of that is making her feel sexy and wanted, and I've failed in that area and it's killing me. I'm just hoping counseling, diet change and a more solid workout schedule will help turn things around. ",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Sounds like you have low testosterone levels. You should get that checked out because testosterone in a man does many important things including bone health, prostate health, etc.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Yep. Only I'm the girlfriend. We agreed on a good base level of sex x times per week, and we try and meet that.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Maybe you're just mis-matched.\n\nSome people, pretty much regardless of gender, have high drives and others don't. It sounds like you're saying she has a high drive and you don't.\n\nIs this a recent thing, or has it always been like that with her?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm not quite in the same boat, but my GF does have a very high sex drive. On occasions when I'm not feeling it I will still help her get off. Oral/manual sex or making out/petting while she masturbates. She's always willing to do the same for me in return. Neither one of us looks at it as a chore, just something fun and easy we can do to make each other happy.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm in a relationship where I'm the one constantly asking for it more than he is... the reason I do it, after psychoanalyzing myself, I think is because I am very self conscious. He is one of those guys that I know deep down i know is in love with me, but doesn't vocalize it and I get uneasy. I know that he thinks I'm hot, but the only way I can feel it is when I'm able to get him randy.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Ugh, I'm in the same situation (as the girlfriend). Except I get pushed away. \n\nWhen I ask, he's usually stressed or really tired from work, and just wants to kind of zone out and watch TV or get on the 360. I just usually try to respect that. It's frustrating, though :(",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Therapy isn't helping; my life continues but it's still lost | Sorry for using a throwaway account. I appreciate and trust everyone here for their advice several months ago - unfortunately I haven't gotten much better.
First, the diagnosis I've been getting: anxiety and depression. A lot of the time I don't want to sleep or eat anymore. Last semester I would pull all-nighters just because I didn't get tired or couldn't sleep. I would remind myself to eat once a day when I was focused on other things. I haven't had friends in 2-3 years. It doesn't interfere with my college grades because I'm a mediocre student already.
It's difficult/impossible to say what I want to do anymore. I'm studying urban planning, I only have skill in programming, and on the side I work with non-profits in science and education. I can't escape the feeling that my work is useless because so much of it is done remotely, I don't organize enough, I don't contribute enough.
I've been going to therapy on-and-off for over a year now, two semesters out of the last three. That therapist referred me to a psychiatrist, who put me on Paxil. Three weeks later, with my sleep-loss getting out of control and Paxil's side effects being the only effects, I stopped. That was months ago, and neither doctor has anything new for me.
So I had something new for them. I admitted to the therapist that I wasn't attracted to the girls in my class. I'd thought for awhile that it was due to depression. Then at some point, at the airport or mall or something, I saw a girl I did like. To my horror, she was 12 or 13. It's an emotional attraction, not explicitly sexual, so the psychologist doesn't think this is a problem. Really I have trouble getting him to listen to me talk about it at all, he just dismisses it because I'm such a "good kid" that this can't be a problem. As if it would go away tomorrow and I could joke about how silly it was back when I'd watch kids' movies for girls I find cute. I'm 21, this shouldn't be happening.
I see my college situation - without a plan or prayer to finding a job in any field - also meaning my future is in bad shape. I also hate not having friends, not having family I can count on, not enjoying anything I do. And every day I'm haunted by what some sick part of my mind wants. Sure I can keep on living if that's what I'm supposed to do, but it's still very empty and bleak when your life doesn't have a point, for three whole years that are supposed to be the best, the most defining years of your life. How does someone ever fix that? | 11 | [
{
"body": "It sounds to me like maybe a different therapist and doctor might not be a bad idea- it's pretty uncommon that they wouldn't have pursued other medications with you, as it's more common than not that people need to try at least a few before they find the one that works for them. (Just for the future- usually you have to wait about 6 weeks before you really know if it will work for you, and often the side-effects go away or lessen at about the 3-4 week mark). \n\nBut it bothers me more that your therapist is dismissing your idea of what a problem is, especially by saying that 'you're a good kid'. A therapist's job is to listen to what you tell him/her, and then make observations, but taking seriously what you think that your own problems are is a basic starting place. It sounds to me that it's likely that he just doesn't want to get into it, which also isn't uncommon. \n\nAs for the 12 year old girl- was it just that one time, or has it since expanded to encompass most girls that age? There are therapists who specialize in helping people with all sorts of sexual issues (even child-related ones), and if you do think that it's a serious problem that you need to deal with, we could help to find you resources in your area. Either way, from what you've written I'd strongly suggest finding a new therapist. Just because you've had those thoughts does not mean that you will ever act on them or that you are an evil person- many people have fantasies and desires that they will never act out in real life- from rape fantasies to unicorn and centaur fetishes to tentacle porn. A good therapist who knows what they're talking about will be able to help you figure all of that out. \n\nI think that you might be placing too much importance on your college years- many people don't really have their life kick into gear until after that, even though society expects it to be the best years of your life (of course they also say that about high school, and we know how true that is!) I'm 45, and I know very few people from university who are still even in the same fields that they took their major in- most of them have made major career changes at least once or twice. You obviously have skills that can be implemented many different ways, and academic performance is definitely not a predictor of how well you are going to do in life. \n\nI understand how you can feel disconnected from the work that you produce if you're doing it remotely- my husband telecommutes to his job, and that's one of the major drawbacks. Is there a way that you can occasionally make physical contact with those groups that you're working for remotely, or find some closer to home that would also involve some hands-on work and contact? Urban planning is certainly a good and productive career, and working with non-profits is an amazing way to give to people. \n\nGetting your sleep figured out is a big one, and you really do need a doctor who's going to be able to work with you on that. Sleep disorders are almost always comorbid with depression and anxiety, and it doesn't help at all when you can't sleep. It's a vicious circle- the less sleep you get the worse your anxiety and depression get, and the worse that your anxiety and depression get the less you sleep. That is something that is usually pretty treatable, but you need a doctor who is willing to treat you for that and not just give up after one med trial. \n\nI'm sorry that you're going through all of this- please don't ever hesitate to post, and if you want some help finding resources, please do pm me. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'm wondering if your lack of attraction to the girls of your own age, in your class, has more to do with your anxiety. Maybe you subconsciously dismiss them because you fear you would be rejected anyway. That you don't somehow \"match up\" to what they might expect. A skewed perception, by the way, because I'm sure you have plenty of charm :-) Maybe the appeal of that younger girl is that she seemed non-threatening, unlike the older ones. Think that through and see if it strikes any chords. If you gained more self-confidence, do you think you might find age-appropriate girls attractive again? If the issue still bothers you, then you should find someone else to talk to who isn't going to be quite as dismissive. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "A different therapist would do a lot of good. If you feel that you have a problem, then dismissing it is not a good idea. You can't forget that a psychiatrist is a person as well, which means that sometimes they mess up. It will better if you can get a new doctor as soon as possible.\n\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What is the highest you have ever been? | I was once so high that everything looked miniature not that it looked small or I felt big but like I was in a miniature world or something it was really fucking weird. | 8 | [
{
"body": ">I was once so high that everything looked miniature not that it looked small or I felt big but like I was in a miniature world or something it was really fucking weird.\n\nI've had a similar experience when I was ~18. I had just started seeing this goth girl and she wanted me to go to some club or something, idk I brought down some WW and we smoked about an eighth or so before driving down there. I started getting paranoid on the way down...it was in some abandoned industrial park with big metal fences everywhere, etc (btw, this is just how I remember it...it was probably much less menacing) which made my mind start thinking about how maybe I was going to die in there or something. So we go in and by now I'm fucking paranoid as shit...compounded by the fact that I'm trying my best to not look paranoid because I barely know this girl and think I like her, etc...\n\nso, inside the club, every instinct in my body is telling me to fucking run...but I sit down at what I think is a bar or something....there's only a few people there but they all look like they're little kids and I feel like a giant (I'm 6'5 with a large frame so most people already look tiny...they just looked even tinier) and the room looks tiny as shit too (the room feels like it's 10' x 10' with a bar, stage and dance floor in it). So I'm freaking out now and I don't know why or how, but I go out to the car and I'm just sitting there freaking out, kicking myself cause I know I must look like a crazy person now...and that just makes me more paranoid. I think I was telling her to stay and I'd wait for her or something, idk...we ended up driving around. It started pouring real bad and we were in my old neighborhood so I parked in front of my old elementary school and we made out for a bit, insulated by the rain...that's about when my paranoia went away.\n\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "[5] Hanging out with a bunch of people in the middle of nowhere and we were surrounded by RVs all gypsy-camp style. A cute pixie of a girl handed me half of her cookie and of course I nommed that like a damn cookie-monster with the munchies (the cookie not the girl). A while later I took a swig of lemony gatorade and no matter how many times I brushed my teeth, I could not get that awful flavor off of my tongue. Pretty soon, I believed that I was trapped in a 1950s suburbia with people mowing their lawns. I was pretty pissed off since I assumed it was a harmless cookie, not something made with I Can't Believe It's Pot Butter. I stomped off and attempted to sleep it off before it got any weirder. People that I tell this story to think that it may have been something else entirely. Moral of the story: Don't accept cookies from cute girls.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
St.....uttering Redditors... Should I finish the sentence for you? | I know what you want to say, and I know you're struggling to get it out, and I know YOU know I know. What I don't know is whether it's ruder for me to finish the sentence for you so we can move on, or to wait for you to finish and let you hang out there because I don't want to talk over you...
So, uh, whaddya reckon, should I finish your sentences? | 4 | [
{
"body": "It depends actually, some people get highly pissed off when you do it, and others appreciate it.\r\n\r\nMy brother has a really bad stuttur(I have a mild one, only at times), but growing up his was really really bad, every 2nd letter used to catch him. And I was the only one that always knew exactly what he was trying to say, so most of the time I'd finish his sentences for him.\r\nlol, the best is he would start \"Wu-wu-wu-wu\" and I'd be like \"What are we going to go do at the shops?\" and usually exactly right.\r\n\r\nAlthough I was also often really cruel. For example, if he was stuttering on the S on a start of a word, I would say every word under the sun starting with S, except for the word that I knew he was looking for, so his stuttering would be interupted by lots of n-n-n-n-no's and f-f-f-fuck you's\r\nAlways made me lol",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "No. I don't stutter because I can't get the word out. I stutter because I am trying to say the same thing 5 different ways and they are all coming out at the same time. I have to stop, process, then speak. Any attempts to correct me will only delay me further.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "In my last job i did telephone tech support. One of our clients had a severe stutter, but i always resisted finishing his sentences for him even if I knew where he was going. I'd just wait patiently until he finished, and then reply just as I would with any other person. I worked with him for a couple of years, and eventually he was so comfortable with me that his stutter almost disappeared.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Here are some pictures of the weapon I just submitted. I call it the Pain Train. | Here are some screenshots of what it would look like in-game:
[1](http://imgur.com/FyjKN.jpg)
[2](http://imgur.com/J8T5W.jpg)
[3](http://imgur.com/qrUHI.jpg)
Those are from when I was working on getting it in-game as a replacement for the Axtinguisher.
[Here's a larger image that shows more detail.](http://imgur.com/B5RsC.jpg) | 122 | [
{
"body": "I think you should put a faded *Sandman* logo on it, because it looks like the pyro killed a scout and claimed the bat as a trophy.",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "It's neat, but I think the Axtinguisher is badass enough as it is. I mean, barbed wire on an axe? C'mon.",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "How did you model that and incorporate it into the game?\n\nGuide/links would be extremely helpful\n\nThat idea looks brilliant!, have you thought about the pros and cons of the said weapon?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I'm not sure I like the name... Mr Pointy somehow seems more suitable *but* in terms of modelling and texturing it's a superb job, it looks very much an item you could find in TF2. Well done to you :) ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
My hair has a tendency to be poofy, and I just got a short haircut. HELP | When I first got it done it looked amazing because the stylist agonizingly blow-dried it too straightened perfection, using one of those brissly round brushes [my hair is naturally wavy]. I plan to practice doing this, but I rarely have that kind of time. How else can I get this poofy hell to lie flat? Or at least have a pleasant shape?
I straightened it with a flat-iron tonight. It looks good except from the back, where the ends poof out two inches. This isn't a frizz problem, just poof. My hair is thick, shoulder length, and angled on the sides. Arghgh, what can I do? I need something that won't take me an hour or more to perfect. | 4 | [
{
"body": "[Moroccanoil](http://www.moroccanoil.com/). Its the best product I've seen and I've been working in a salon for 5+ years. It's an oil that isn't greasy or anything, you just rub a bit through your hair and it helps to soften and smooth it. Depending on where you are it might be a bit hard to find, but it should be somewhere for around $49 a bottle (but it lasts for a long time). This sounds like a problem you're always going to have to struggle with so I just suggest trying out heaps of different things until you find what works. Good luck! :)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Drip-dry and do not brush or comb. As soon as you step out of the shower you can set your part with your fingers and then just leave it. Absorb water with a towel if you must, but really, don't rub or brush in any way. Once it is slightly humid or even dry you can add styling cremes or oils. This is how I discovered I wasn't doomed to a life of ponytails. Hope it works for you! :)",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I need help with car trivia for a short story I'm writing! | I need a make/model/year of a car that sounds so distinct it would be easily recognized just by the sound it makes when driving by. It has to be rare, but not ridiculously expensive (even a distinctive rare cheapy would be great). And the car would have had to have been in existence 6 years ago.
Anyone here up to that challenge? | 6 | [
{
"body": "Perhaps a Mazda RX-8 or something else with a Wankel engine?\n\nSkip to about two minutes into [this video.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-jN_29TFM&feature=related)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Porsche 914 (1970-76). Aircooled, sounds like bigger old style VW Beetle. Not many left. Cool 2 seater Targa, cheap, under $10k.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Apparently there were 348 1965-67 427 & 428 Cobras, see: [Shelby American Production Figures](http://www.carmemories.com/cgi-bin/viewexperience.cgi?experience_id=135). Here's a video with [sound](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnSyHEx8EWw&feature=fvw).\n\nEdit: please note there are quite a few reproductions of these, though.\n\n\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE get infuriated when someone you're arguing with doesn't seem to understand your argument? | For example, I had a long ongoing debate with Ian Goddard over the cause of the TWA 800 crash in the late 90's. He was insisting the US Navy accidentally shot it down. My argument was simply that he had not provided enough proof to indicate that a shoot down was more likely than an aviation accident. Every time we talked about it, he would argue against the strawman that it was "impossible" that a Navy ship shot down the aircraft, which I never said.
I see similar things happen when opponents to evolution weave their arguments back and forth between refuting evolution and refuting abiogenesis.
I've also found a lot of global warming advocates can't keep track of the two issues - whether or not global warming is happening, and whether or not it's caused by mankind.
Anyway, as I said - I actually get more angry over the apparent inability of the person I'm debating to grasp my position than the substance of the discussion itself. Anyone else? | 42 | [
{
"body": "It's simple,\n\nthey don't understand your argument because they are not actually listening to what you are saying and trying to understand your point of view. They are RIGHT and you are WRONG and it only seems like a debate because they're just waiting until you've said what you needed to say so they can rip into you again.\n\nEver listened to your married-for-20-years parents squabbling over something? They go round in circles because they don't listen to each other.",
"score": 12
}
]
|
Dearest AskReddit: Do you have a talent/skill that surprises people when you show it off? | Do you have a talent or a skill that tends to surprise people when they find out you have said talent or skill?
For example, I'm always (really, always) goofing off when I'm out and about. People usually peg me as the comic relief when they first meet me; if and when I tell them I can play three or four musical instruments pretty well and have a recording studio set up at my house they normally seem shocked that I take something like music so seriously.
Another example, just last week I found out my friend (skinny, nerdy fellow) is extremely good at soccer and can be pretty competitive.
Do you have any tricks up your sleeve? | 11 | [
{
"body": "I made this: http://i.imgur.com/iADxw.jpg\nPeople like it for about 5 mins and get bored. Damn Call of Duty generation!",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "People are often surprised to learn that I don't do drugs since everything about my appearance and general demeanor colors me a stoner :P I don't think not doing drugs counts as a surprising skill though.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "An incredibly loud and high pitched squeal. I've made people fall off their chairs, despite them knowing it was coming.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I, like your friend, am a skinny, nerdy fellow with pretty much the palest skin possible so people are always surprised to learn that I dance salsa and tango.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Yo-yo prowess. And the fact that I'm 6'3\", 37 years old, 205lbs and I can still put my foot on top of my head.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Chinese literate Redditors: Can you translate a couple street signs for me? | A few years ago I motorcycled all over China. For good portions of the trip, we had no idea where we were, and sometimes I would see interesting signs that I could not read.
I was looking through the photos from that trip tonight, choosing some to fix up and upload to Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamcohn/sets/72157602100517228/). I came across some of the photos that had stuff I couldn't read and I thought I'd post them for you guys to see if anyone can help translate.
#1: http://imgur.com/jfZe9.jpg A rural billboard
#2: http://imgur.com/OxaHa.jpg A billboard advertising something?
#3: http://imgur.com/pfMfh.jpg Street sign - where were we?! I'd like to find this area on the map
#4: http://imgur.com/9kH7Q.jpg This one is important to me. It's the Ghost Town/vacant city you can see in the Flickr set. If you can get any clue as to the name of the actual city (I know it was north of Lanzhou and a day or so from Shapotu) I would love to know what it is called and learn more about why it was empty.
#5: http://imgur.com/olisF.jpg We were way out in the Tibetan Plateau. Towns were many hours apart. I wonder what this said.
#6: http://imgur.com/ZddxK.jpg Rural sign with police in it?
#7: http://imgur.com/DpVLH.jpg What was this lady selling?
I know there are a couple more I want translated but couldn't find them tonight. Maybe tomorrow if folks are interested in helping?
Thanks!
| 5 | [
{
"body": "1. 弘扬中华民族敬老爱老养老的传统美德 to promote traditional Chinese merits of respect the old, love the old and feed the old. promoted by DingBian county Old People's office (it's pretty typical communist slogans.)\n\n2. it's advertisement for oil company in DingBian county\n\n3. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=%E5%AE%9A%E8%BE%B9%E5%8E%BF&sll=37.983175,107.017822&sspn=1.272911,2.469177&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Dingbian,+Yulin,+Shaanxi,+China&ll=37.681647,107.627563&spn=0.639066,1.234589&z=10\n\n4. 白银市 The Silver City\n\n5. Don't drive when you are tired, speeding is prohibited\n\n6. respect life and, be safe when driving\n\n7. gas",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "* 2：延长油矿管理局定边石油钻采公司. Something about extending oilfields and oil drilling company. Maybe someone else could translate?\n* 3: I guess it could be here, near Yinchuan, Ningxia region. The turn left leads to Yanchi village:\n[google map](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=lt&geocode=&q=%E7%A3%81%E7%AA%91%E5%A0%A1&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.729049,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=%E7%A3%81%E7%AA%91%E5%A0%A1&hnear=&radius=15000&ll=38.17991,106.465759&spn=2.469914,5.817261&z=8)\n* 5: Do not drive tired. Speeding is strictly prohibited. \n* 7: Petrol/gasoline",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Mostly just reconfirming zxn0\n\n1. Respect elders, love elders, take care of elders; traditional Chinese values.\n\n2. Advertisement for an oil refinery\n\n3. Refer to zxn0's maps link\n\n4. Silver City (Bai Ying Shi)\n\n5. If you're tired, don't drive. Speeding is prohibited\n\n6. Preserve life, travel safely.\n\n7. Gas (wtf in bottles???)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Shit Chinese here, but here's what I can offer:\n\n* 4: The city: Baiyin. Chinese for \"White silver\" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baiyin\n* 6: Respect life, leave the lane/road with caution. (Aka: Drive safely as you leave the lane)\n* 7: The lady's selling bottles of gas.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I know very little Chinese, but I've found [nciku](http://www.nciku.com) extremely useful for tasks like these. It allows you to look up characters by drawing them freehand. =)",
"score": 3
}
]
|
An album i engineered is nominated for 3 Grammy's AMA | India Arie
"Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" R&B "Chocolate High" feat. Musiq Soulchild TBA
"Best Urban/Alternative Performance " R&B "Pearls" feat. Dobet Gnahore TBA
"Best R&B Album "
**update**She won! Best Urban/Alternative Performance Pearls
India.Arie & Dobet Gnahore Track from: Testimony: Vol. 2, Love & Politics
[Soulbird/Universal Republic]
| 14 | [
{
"body": "Why is it that album engineering these days seems akin to squashing the entirety of the dynamic range out of every single track?\n\nSeriously, I'm sick of looking at waveforms that look like a fucking block. Tracks as low as -3dB...it sounds awful.\n\n",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Can you listen to other albums and just listen, or do you find yourself thinking \"ohh, that sounds awful. They should have tweaked this...\"",
"score": 4
}
]
|
TCP resets: how the Baidu-blogspot.google.com-blockout works (also, you're not blocking anyone else from viewing Baidu when you block yourself) | When data passes between China and the overseas internet, it's routed through one of the machines that serves as a section of the Great Firewall.
The packets are scanned, and there's a word or address on the Firewall's blacklist, additional tcp reset packets are sent to both you and the webserver, preventing you from connecting to each other for a couple minutes.
*This only blocks traffic between you and the webserver*. Everyone else is unaffected.
**It's not just "google.blogspot.com"**, it's any website on their blacklist. You also don't have to search for it, just add it somewhere in their address. Doesn't have to be an address either, banned words work too (although those are harder to figure out.
e.g.
[QQ.com](http://www.qq.com) is like China's MSN.
Same address [with ?www.facebook.com](http://www.qq.com/?www.facebook.com) should show 'page could not be displayed'.
[WOWChina.com](http://www.wowchina.com/) - China's world of warcraft page.
Same address [with '?falungong' appended ](http://www.wowchina.com/?falungong) should be inaccessible.
This seems to work for all Chinese websites.
---
Here are some related links:
[Ignoring the “Great Firewall of China”](http://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2006/06/27/ignoring-the-great-firewall-of-china/)
[Understanding TCP Reset Attacks](http://kerneltrap.org/node/3072)
---
edit: I think for people in China, if you add any of the banned addresses into a normally non-banned website, it would become inaccessible for a couple minutes. [Anyone in China care to try?](http://www.reddit.com/?www.twitter.com) | 113 | [
{
"body": "Repost from some [earlier](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/ap5vn/china_responds_blocks_the_string/c0iq4yx) [shit](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/ap4re/step_1_visit_wwwbaiducom_step_2_search_for_google/c0ipyvv):\n\n* GFW has been blocking like this all the time. Here's exactly how it works:\n\n $ nc any_chinese_ip 80\n GET gspot.com HTTP/1.1\n HOST: .blo\n \n \n\n This will get u RST'ed, too.\n\n* GFW can be used to block arbitrary oversea ip<->ip:port pair over TCP.\n\n* GFW can also act like a 10x amplifier for arbitrary UDP DoS. [Read this awesome shit in Chinese here](http://gfwrev.blogspot.com/2009/11/gfwdns.html)\n\n Best part is that, GFW is implemented on the backbone, no body can stop it :)\n\n* the RST will have an exact 90 seconds countdown, not 5 or 10 minutes, unless you trigger another keyword in the mean time\n\nI used to create a webpage and iframe it on my blog, it's full of something like\n\n <img src=\"http://echo.edge.msnmessenger.msn.com.akadns.net:7001/.blogspot.com\" />\n\nafter that try to get someone in China visit this page, when they finished loading the page, their MSN & Skype get disconnected for 90 seconds. lol\n\nI tried this on some Chinese web forum (paste a lot of pics in BBCode like that), too. It was fun.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "> preventing you from connecting to each other for a couple minutes.\n\nThis implies some stateful programming on the router, not just a TCP RST. Reset connections happen all the time, and are repaired immediately with programs that expect them, like web browsers. (Not \"repaired\" exactly. You may get an error displayed.)\n\nSo, it's not only TCP resets that block traffic. There has to be some additional blackhole for all traffic in the short term. This is probably because TCP reset packets are just as prone to lossage as any other packet, so one time out of a thousand, the \"spurious\" RST is eaten by the router grue, and the page would finish loading normally.\n\nI've been thinking about the sort of dumb filter you described for a few years, and if inspected single packets at a time, then we could fragment packets so that they'd only contain naughty words after being reassembled.\n\n[falung] [ong tienna] [men massa] [cre krisp] [y kreme]\n\nSince this is so trivial, I supposed that the Great Firewall would have to be smarter than everyone says.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "The title is not accurate in several cases as many people are behind proxies that use NAT. If everyone in your school, organization, house, etc all appear to be coming from IP X.X.X.N and you get X.X.X.N blocked -- it results in everyone being blocked until it is lifted.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "http://www.strangeusa.com/ViewJournalEntry.aspx?id=158\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nHaving worked on Government sites for the past year and a half that dealt with extremely confidential data, and having dealt with similiar hack attempts from China, (and other countries). I believe I am in a position to further knowledge about those for all of those who are interested. Plus I am asked a lot about this from friends and family... so I will make 1 post for all.\r\n\r\nKeep in mind, I no longer work on those government sites, nor am I associated with Google etc etc etc... This is 100% based on the news I have read, and my personal experience on similiar matters, so read everything with a grain of salt.... even from me.\r\n\r\n\r\nWho did the attack?\r\nIt looks like the Chinese government hired a team of hackers, and had them using a server inside a chinese government building, on a government ISP performing the attacks.\r\n\r\n[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html]\r\n\r\nWhy did they do it?\r\nThey are trying to track down people that are breaking their laws on censorship. Basically the Chinese government is after anyone who advocates for human rights in China, the hackers targeted accounts belonging to well known activists.\r\n\r\n[http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-approach-to-china.html]\r\n\r\nIf they hacked, why did they only get the email headers, and not the email content?\r\nIt wasn't a true hack, it was more along the lines of social engineering. The 'hackers' sent out malware that lets them control computers remotely, and gain login information.\r\nWhat they apparently found login information for a backdoor that OUR own government uses to spy on us. That allows them access to just the email headers, and not the email content... WITHOUT a warrant. To get the actual emails, requires a warrant, and more effort.\r\n\r\n[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100113/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_google_china]\r\n\r\n[http://kdka.com/technology/google.china.censorship.2.1423399.html]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nTHEY USED A 'US GOVERNMENT BACKDOOR' ???\r\nAll ISPS and some major email systems (like gmail) are required to provide our government back door acess to our accounts. Don't act so surprised, you can thank all the post 911 paranoia for that being allowed.\r\n\r\n[http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/06/eff-brief-accuses-doj-of-backdoor-wiretapping.ars]\r\n\r\n[http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gR9WWvqk6BCJhfXJUzcu8LbmIcNQ]\r\n\r\n\r\nHow did this hack take place? \r\nIt sounds like they are using an exploit that exists in Adobe Acrobat (a PDF reader, pretty much guaranteed to be installed on your computer). Essentially the chinese sent PDF's to\r\na bunch of peoples email accounts. A few o the 'idiots' opened the email despite security warnings, and got their work computers infected. Thus allowing all of their login information be sent to the hackers. Using that login info, they had easy access to anyones info they wanted. Had google not caught it in time, they could easily get into pretty much EVERY email inbox in the US thanks to the government mandated backdoor... You will likely hear more about this in the coming weeks... \r\n\r\n[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/14/google_china_attack_analysis/]\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat about the Google employees currently in China?\r\nI am rather concerned over that, but there isn't ANY info that I could find about it. No word on if they are being arrested because google un-censored their search engine in China over this. I am assuming no one has been moved out of China, due to how quickly this broke.\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat is China saying about all of this?\r\nI have read a few chinese web sites (with english translation of course)... Some are saying that 'Google accepted defeat by the local search giant there' and others are saying 'We have no idea why google is leaving, we are trying to contact them now to find out' and others are saying that google is pissy because their server in CHINA got hacked by some unknwon hackers. But nowhere on the China sites, have I read anything that looks even remotely believable.\r\n\r\nChina is blocking ALL access to the google.blogspot.om site, and even urls that reference it. Basically preventing the people from hearing googles side of this. Here try it out: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/aph4r/tcp_resets_how_the_baidublogspotgooglecomblockout/\r\n\r\nKeep in mind, that referencing a url with that domain in it, will block ALL of your access to any china based server for 10 minutes.\r\n\r\n[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100114/ap_on_hi_te/as_china_google_28]\r\n\r\n[http://www.changle.com.cn/thread-186714-1-1.html]\r\n\r\n[http://www.china.org.cn/business/2010-01/14/content_19237261.htm]\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat are the implications of this?\r\nWell... I have no idea what is going to happen. Some possibilities do arise though... \r\n1, we owe china nearly 800 billion dollars. If they make a call on that debt... Our economy can crumble.\r\n2, If China decides to jail every google employee, that might start a war.\r\n3, If US companies follow Googles lead and pull out of China, Their economy might crumble, followed by ours.\r\n4, If trade with China is called off, we can expect a MASSIVE increase of prices on pretty much everything. In the short term, this will hurt us all bad, but we will be forced to start making products locally again, creating new jobs, which in the long run... would actually be beneficial to us.\r\n5, We are already having a touchy situation with China, revolving around our trades with Taiwan (Selling them patriot missiles, attempting to meet with the Dali Lama, Their deadly manufacturing, etc) This could provoke an economi war.\r\n6, This could provoke a Cyber war. Frankly, I don't think most US companies could withstand an onslaught of hack attempts. \r\n7, China may flat out block all US traffic on their great firewall.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nMy Take on it\r\nOverall... I support Google 100% on this. I don't think they could have handled it better. I know there are issues with how they handled it, but every possibly scenario I can think of, would have caused more troubles than are currently going on. Granted... They likely shouldnt have been in china in the first place... but hey... whats done is done. Google has had many issues with China since the day they got there, this event can't be much of a surprise.\r\n\r\nLastly, I suggest that everyone tracks down a forum in China (domains with a .cn extension) and makes a post showing googles official word on the matter, and post content on things like the June 4th incident...\r\n",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Would be neat if the remote end could just be configured to ignore resets if the origin was a chinese IP address.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "So has anyone tried spoofing your ip to a china based ip to see if it blocks it. If it does you could block whole sections of china for 5 minutes at a time quite easily.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "> Same address with ?www.facebook.com should show 'page could not be displayed'.\n\n> Same address with '?falungong' appended should be inaccessible.\n\nThe shortest string is `.facebook.com` and `falun`\n\n $ nc any_chinese_ip 80\n GET alun HTTP/1.1\n HOST: f\n\ndouble enter, RST'ed.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
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