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What are your true feelings about Haiti? | I'm writing from a faked account because I'm ashamed of myself.
Watching the news about the recent events in Haiti I recall the similar situation with tsunami in 2004 where I had the same problem as I have today: I just don't feel anything. Watching news, the endless help and donation calls I just... don't feel ANY regret or sympathy with these poor people. And I don't know why. I fully accept that this is a huge tragedy what happened to them, and I'm in no way happy with it, no, of course not, but... I just don't have any impulse to help them, to make a donation just because I'm not affected emotionally by their distress. I just don't care... It's like a movie, something what happened in a parallel universe... I understand that THIS is not right, that I'm an idiot and that I should feel something, but I don't and I can't change it...
Reddit, am I sick? Is something wrong with me? What are YOUR true feelings? It looks like there are lots of emotionally affected people around me, but are these feelings really true? Is it ok to express a regret and to continue to play golf?
I'm lost.
PS: sorry for my english, I'm not native speaker. | 11 | [
{
"body": "Directly stolen from another post of mine:\n\n[Monkeysphere](http://www.cracked.com/article_14990_what-monkeysphere.html) or [Dunbar's number](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number)\n\nTl;dr: It's not possible to care about more than about 150 people. If you think you care about the people in Haiti, you need to understand that you are grouping them all together into \"people of Haiti.\" You can't possibly care about and empathise with every single one who was affected.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "I don't think what you're saying is a bad thing, it's probably, to some degree, how most people feel. The majority won't be moved to tears.\n\nThe media have a lot to do with this. Barraged with constant images of events that we can do nothing about has left the public feeling helpless and numb. Therefore most of us, nowadays, just say \"oh dear\" and get on with our lives.\n\nIf you get a moment you should watch this clip by [Adam Curtis about the birth of \"oh dearism\", as featured on Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW3XeT7qavo)\n",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Honestly, I have little empathy for them, because frankly they do not matter to me. I have never been there, I have no friends from there, I have no friends who have ever been there. If Haiti were to disappear, it would have zero impact on me. Its a little rough, but it is the truth.\n\nThat said, I do feel bad for them in a very technical non emotional sort of way. I recognize that it is unfortunate and that I would not like it if I were in that situation. At the same time my heart doesn't exactly go out to them because I know they will be fine in the long run. As much of a disaster as it is, the whole planet is reaching out to help them right now.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "honestly i didnt think it was such a big deal, but then i heard somewere it was a hundred thousand people that have died! (i heard second hand) but thats 1/3 the population of my country of Iceland! ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I feel like it's my duty to feel empathy and worry for the people in Haiti, because if a disaster (natural, man made, whatever) happened to me, I would want people from the \"outside world\" to give a shit and help me and my family.\r\n\r\nWe haven't seen anything yet. Haiti barely had an \"infrastructure\" before the earthquake, and what little they had in the way of health and sanitation services, communications, etc. are now gone. There are 100's of 1000's dead now, but what happens those who have the heart attacks, the infections, those who were lucky enough to receive regular medical care and now receive none die? How are the bodies being taken care of?\r\n\r\nWhat about air borne diseases? What about plague? What about famine? There were a bunch of prisoners in Hatian prisons who are now roaming free. Looting. Rioting. Bandits. Gangs.\r\n\r\nAll I can say, is that I'd want help if it were me.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think a lot of people think this way. They can mentally accept that a tragedy has happened, but they don't feel it. The fact is, I feel similar. You can't have empathy for every bad thing that happens. Millions die from AIDS, cancer, but we grow numb to these things. So what do you do? Donate. Don't feel bad or sad. Just give up ten bucks to the red cross. Remind people how easy it is to donate. I think people want to do good things, they're just lazy. http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_BigRedButton",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "\"But for the grace of God there go l\" -its called empathy, if the images of suffering don't move you to have any feelings then imagine that one of them is your mother and you are unable to reach her, maybe then you will change your mind.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Mostly I am in awe the enormity of it. I went to bed hearing that there was an earthquake and seeing some images of the damage to the capital, to waking up and hearing 100,000+ died. That's horrible.\n\nI can understand what is going on there, and what these people are going through, but emotionally I am completely unaffected. It was the same thing with 9/11 and the Tsunami. (In retrospect 911 is a bitch) In some ways I feel like the media urges us to feel bad when these things happen, even if they have no bearing on our lives. \n\nIf this had a functional effect on my life, or had it happened to people I know, or to a place I'd been, I would feel different. I guess you could say that I have lost nothing in this incident, therefore I am unaffected.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Honestly, I don't give a fuck :S\n\nI should, and I feel wrong about not giving a fuck, but I really don't. Just like 9/11 or any other major disaster.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Chinese Redditors, are there consequences for continually searching online for things you aren't supposed to? | Since Google decided to pull out of China, a lot of people have been mucking around with search engines based in your country and trying to get them to trip on something you're not supposed to be looking for. We get banned for like 10-15 minutes. If someone in your country did this continually, would there be "other" consequences for him? | 3 | [
{
"body": "The Great Firewall of China pretty well blocks anything to do with the Falun Gong cult. Search for it, or try to access a site affiliated with the cult and you just get error pages or redirects.\n\nSearching for Porn, no problem. Watching porn, no problem. \n\nThe internet police don't come to your door here if you find something you shouldn't. \n\nHell, people who see tankman here, just don't give a shit.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
To what noises do you prefer to fall asleep? Particular music? Woodland, thunder or creek sounds? | I am going to sleep as we speak. To the sounds of a chirpy creekbed on my iphone. I really fucking need to buy a nighttime stereo.
Good night, reddit! | 3 | [
{
"body": "I love to fall asleep to torrential rain, thunder and lightning outside, whilst I'm nice and cosy in my warm warm bed.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
So he asks, "have you been smoking?"
Sigh, "yes...."
and he just smiles wags his finger and says "Naughty, naughty. Next time do it outside." | My dad just knocked to come into my room. I was in bed reading but i'd been smoking weed and i'd accidently blown it into my room.
So he looks at me funny then asks, "have you been smoking?"
and i was like, sigh, "yes...."
and he just smiles wags his finger and says "Naughty, naughty. Next time do it outside.
I replied "Yes dad, sorry.
I've been trying to discuss medicinal marijuana to my conservative dad for months to help the symptoms of his chronic nausea. This is crazy awesome!
| 45 | [
{
"body": "I make my 17 y/o daughter blow the smoke out the bathroom window ( 2nd story of our house) so her Ma wont get freaked out. My rationale is that its better for her to smoke at home than on the street where she could get busted. ps I smoke also (35 years and counting)",
"score": 39
},
{
"body": "The only problem with smoking outside is that neighbors may be able to smell it. \n\nI've been smoking pretty voraciously in my apartment for about a year now and there's not a hint of a smell anywhere. Not even the couch. I mostly use a bong, but I don't think it matters.\n\nYou'd pretty much have to have a 7+ people weed smoking party in your room every night for 3 months before it starts smelling.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Being almost 17, I really can't find it imaginable that parents wouldn't care if you smoke. My mom would be absolutely furious if she found out about my habit.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Would you buy bread from me? | I am still unemployed and getting very bored. So bored that I have started to bake our own bread instead of buying it.
I sat down and calculated that I would be able to bake, if I am lazy, 6 breads in 3 hours.
That the bread is home-made, I am new in the bread market and it will keep me occupied I thought I would just sell each bread for $2 each. I won't get rich, but I won't be poor.
I will check with Brisbane City Council if I need any license and if so, what type of license.
Of course, the real question is, is there a market for it? Would you guys buy bread from a complete stranger? A clean stranger mind you. ;)
I can only assume I will roam around West End or see if I can get a cheep place at the West End market on Saturday. | 8 | [
{
"body": "[From a bit of quick research, the Food Act FAQ](http://www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/documents/ehu/32428.pdf). (See bottom of page 5 and also page 8, looks relevant)\n\n> Would a bakery making only bread products; eg bread rolls and loaves, and no pies, cheese and bacon rolls etc still require licensing?\n> Yes. There is no exemption for such activities under Section 48 of the Act.\n\nNot sure if you'd fall under that, since you're not a retail outlet.\n\nEdit: Actually, even more relevant, [bread and bakery products](http://www.health.qld.gov.au/ph/Documents/ehu/19398.pdf) fact sheet.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Martin Luther King Jr - Born Jan 15th 1929; murdered April 4th 1968 - Civil rights leader and activist for peace, justice and human rights… On his birthday – trying not to lose the real man – and his real message. | nb: the link doesn't seem to be working - you can find the material via the URL below - thanks!!!
http://leftfocus.blogspot.com/2010/01/on-his-birthday-jan-15th-trying-not-to.html
Dear readers: This material is avaliable at the 'Left Focus' blog. Based in Australia - but often with an international outlook - we also have a Facebook group - and genuine supporters are welcome to join.
This video celebrates the life of Martin Luther King Jr - but digs deeper to unearth a radical leader - a leader whose radicalism has often beem obscured by the praise heaped upon him by the mainstream.
Left Focus has extensive archives with lots of left wing essays and opinion... Readers are welcome to bookmark us and return regularly... And also to contibute to discussion... (but no flaming or trolling)
NB: one last thing - the link with this post will take you to the specific post in question... But by clicking the title in the upper left corner you should be able to access all other recent posts... And navigating through the archives you will find a wealth of other radical material... | 24 | [
{
"body": "The best way to learn about King is to read his words as he wrote them, without commentary. Here's his [letter from jail.](http://abacus.bates.edu/admin/offices/dos/mlk/letter.html)",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Hi Portland, I'll be in town for a day. What should I do? | I'll be arriving at PDX at 9am and have a job exam at the Oregon Convention Center from 2pm-4pm and my flight back is at 7pm. Any advice on the best way to get around, where to eat, and/or what to do in my limited amount of time? Thanks! | 7 | [
{
"body": "Powell's on Burnside between 10th & 11th (Streetcar), if you love books. Take Max from Convention center to downtown, then transfer to Streetcar going north (or you could walk the 5/6 block from there...might be faster).\n\nIf you are stuck downtown, Maybe a 30/45 minute walk around the esplanade on both east and west banks of the Willamette. You can get there easily from the Convention Center; walk down to the Rose Quarter then go south (to the south side of the Steel Bridge) and take the walkway/long accessible ramp down to the lower pedestrian crossing on the Steel. You can then walk either bank and cross over at the Hawthorne Bridge and walk the other side looping back to the Steel. I made a quick google map, just for fun:\n\n[http://bit.ly/8rdKYJ](http://bit.ly/8rdKYJ)\n\nedit: FYI, Voodoo Donught shows up on that same map, and is a few block off the riverfront. :). Well worth it...two words; Maple Bacon.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "trimet.org... this will get you nearly anywhere you need to go. The max even has a stop at the convention center and you can use the trip planner to find a combination of buses/ max trains that will help you out. \nWhere are you staying? The convention center is in SE Portland, I think the best restaurants are downtown, basically three or four stops more west on the max red/blue/green line. Bijou cafe is is really good. Make sure you get some stumptown coffee and some voodoo doughnuts... Voodoo is world famous! Check out Powells books, its the largest independent bookstore in the country! What kinds of things are you interested in?",
"score": 4
}
]
|
So I finally decided to buy a fightstick... | I've been playing with a Mad Catz FightPad for the past year. A few days ago I broke it by wearing off the directional pad from using it too much.
I decided to look around and found that the Mad Catz Tournament Edition FightStick is rather popular on Amazon. I should get it on Friday.
Some say I'll finally be playing this game the right way :)
Does anyone have experience with this particular stick?
Also, I've looked at some tutorials on building your own. I think I'll do this for my second stick. | 5 | [
{
"body": "The stick is great. Depending on your preferences you may want to modify it but, since you don't sound like an enthusiast set in their ways, you should be quite happy quite out of the box.\n\nBear in mind there is a learning curve though, but once over it you'll find yourself doing much better than before.",
"score": 6
}
]
|
I'm going snowboarding for the first time...what equipment do I need? | So this March I'm going Snowboarding for the first time for my brothers stag-do to the South of France. I've never snowboarded in my life....any tips for total begineers?
And what equipment/clothing do I need to buy? My brother is offering to lend me some stuff, but what should I really be looking to have with me?
Seriously, any advice is really appreciated, as I'm worried about either really hurting myself, or turning up and looking like a total muppet! | 4 | [
{
"body": "If you're serious about snowboarding, a lesson would definitely help.. it would also give your brother a chance to get out and shred some pow while you do some learning!\n\nAlso, wrist guards.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Why is the world (Which includes TV/Film/Video Games/Writers) so obsessed with the Desert Eagle? | It:
* Is impossible to conceal
* Is Huge
* Has a small magazine size
* Is Inaccurate
* Can easily accumulate a lot of sand and grit because of the way the slide works
* Shoots an expensive caliber that isn't fun to shoot.
Yeah i get that it's big, but so is the .357 Magnum, and the Nitro Express... | 13 | [
{
"body": "Well, it's really accurate in Counterstrike, and it looks impressive to many people in a way that large revolvers don't. I, personally, would like one with underbody neons and a spoiler.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "Because it looks good on film. Concealing, magazine size, accuracy, reliability and expensiveness are real world problems, film makers don't care about them. .44 magnum was their previous big and scary hand gun, but I guess revolvers look too outdated now. ",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I think it should be noted that the Desert Eagle is not an inaccurate pistol in the hands of someone who knows how to fire it. If anyone tells you that it's inaccurate, it's because they've either only fired it in the games, or they're flinching. If you put a scope on it, you could easily use the Desert Eagle as a hunting pistol.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": ">>Is Huge\n\nThat's why.\n\nI can apply this to an SUV\n\n * It's impossible to manuver\n * It's Huge\n * Has low MPG\n * Can roll over\n * Pollutes the Environment\n * Is overkill for daily driving\n\nBecause it's an unnecessary luxury that really isn't all that great.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "You left out prone to jamming. If you watch enough video on youtube you'll see people clearing malfunctions WAY more frequently than any other semi-auto. \n\n\nThe DEP is available in, among other calibers, .357 Magnum. \n\nGiven its fixed barrel design and weight, its probably extremely accurate. I am willing to bet that any claims to inaccuracy are due to the fact that the people who are fascinated with them are novices.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Fame is often reinforcing. The Desert Eagle led a fairly innocuous life as an Israeli large caliber handgun of no particular note for the better part of two decades until the late 90s.\n\nIMO, what happened was The Matrix. Some genius (and I use the term honestly) convinced the armorer for that film that the meanest mfer hand cannon for the supernaturally strong/fast/mean villains was *this* oversized hand cannon. It works. It's large, it's sleek, it's got a crisp report. Best advertising ever.\n\nSo people all over take notice. Despite most DEs being built for 44 mag, the ignorant public understands that 50 is more than 44. 44 was big scary stuff in Clint Eastwood days, and now they have 50 ZOMGZ. It's a shoe-in for any wikipedia expert to write this bad boy into their cop show, game, what have you. Before that period you would occasionally see them at \"large caliber handgun\" day at the range or gun shows, and that's really it.\n\nVideo games, particularly Valve's, have a weird take on it. I have never understood why pistols are so accurate in those games. (See any Valve game, Halo, etc). I assume it's because their accuracy model primarily reflects the recoil scatter of automatics. In any event, so if you assume impossible accuracy from weapons, the most energy per shot comes out to a 50 AE ... bzzzt it's probably still a hot load 44 mag thanks to chamber specs, but don't tell anyone, it'll be embarrassing, and please nobody mention the old S&W 500 ...\n\nThat's one thing I dislike about games is that it's more useful to \"snipe\" with an unscoped, unrested pistol than an accurized battle rifle. Sure, any pistol of decent barrel length *can* be accurate, IF you bench rest it with a scope. I don't recall the zombie hordes in L4D2 pausing to let me get my vice set up for each shot, and yet I can take off heads at rifle distances ...",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "It's Iconic as the fuck-off handgun. Sort of like the **AK47** :D is for rifles. The fact it may be inferior and impractical compared to other weapons is ignored simply for the wow factor it offers as well as being easily recognizable to the layman.\n\nAs for defense in video-games just about all of them save the military simulators, deal with very small areas. You're generally never fighting any farther than you'd be shooting at a gun range. The inaccuracy of the pistol means little in these ranges. In most games the sniper rifle is a completely idiotic choice were it real life as none of the distances in game qualify for it, a regular rifle with perhaps a 2x sight being the most you'd ever need for the distances given.\n\nMost games also deal with point based health system, not realistic modeled human systems. One bullet to the inner thigh in real life from a lucky .22 could be fatal as it severs the artery, where as in game it's only say 10 damage. A bigger bullet in a game is *expected* to mean more damage whether it does or not in reality. Since the desert Eagle is the fuck-off gun, it has to do fuck-off damage.\n\nAnd much like the SUV reference, it's sort of like owning a musket. I mean you don't NEED a black powder musket when you can easily go buy an ar15 or a Remington 870, but that doesn't stop you from WANTING one.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Because it's huge, and semi-automatic. (Unlike Eastwood's .44 magnum.)\n\nHowever, the Desert Eagle's .50 action express has roughly the same muzzle energy as a .44 magnum +P+ round. (As previously stated, it's pretty much a hot .44 magnum with a larger diameter bullet.)\n\nI swear that in the unlikely chance I ever direct a movie, I will make the big bad \"fuck-off\" gun the S&W Model 500. The .500 magnum is a round that almost doubles the .50 AE in bullet weight and muzzle energy. \n\nIs it practical for home defense? Maybe, maybe not. Is it concealable, or practical for concealed carry? Most certainly not. Can it take down large game, or a medium sized bear? Most certainly. Is it cool? You bet your ass it's cool.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Okay, we now know who Twilight is. Reactions? [GIGANTIC SPOILERS] | Those of us who have been following season 8 will [now know](http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=24393) (warning - it's in the second paragraph, so don't read if you haven't read #31 yet) the identity of the big bad in the fantastic Whedon-directed canonical comics. What do you think of this?
edit: Sorry, identity isn't in #31, but a leaked cover of #33/#34 it seems, so *do not click on the link even if you have read #31 and don't want the identity spoiled* | 9 | [
{
"body": "I think Joss put some good spin on it, saying essentially that now the big revelation is not *who* Twilight is, but *why*.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I want to give a donation to Haiti but am sick of all the smoke and mirrors behind these charities. How can I know my money will actually GET to the people and not for paying off the charities debt for example? | Currently I am considering Unicef, any thoughts?
https://secure.unicefusa.org/site/Donation2?df_id=6680&6680.donation=form1 | 12 | [
{
"body": "I just donated $10 to the American Red Cross. They're definitely legit.\n\n[An average of 92 cents of every dollar the Red Cross spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. The Red Cross is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and blood to do its work.](http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=477859f392ce8110VgnVCM10000030f3870aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default)\n\nYou can donate ten bucks by texting the word \"HAITI\" to 90999.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Submit one web design resource [article/website/tool] that you think /r/web_design should be required to read/use/or see. | Post them up! Share those blogs, articles, web resources, and tools that you use on a daily basis. Maybe a particular article changed your way of thinking, or made something hard-to-understand easy-to-grasp. | 28 | [
{
"body": "[Firebug](http://getfirebug.com/\"I can't believe y'all wouldn't be familiar with this yet, but it's an integral part of my workflow and belongs on any list of tools for this.\")",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "My shares:\n\n* [How to Ask Smart Questions](http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html)\n* [The Tao Of Programming](http://www.textfiles.com/100/taoprogram.pro)\n* [Reddit submission: So you want to be a freelancer?](http://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/comments/ap64b/so_you_want_to_freelance_heres_a_couple_thoughts/)\n\nEnjoy!",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "DustMeSelectors searches your style sheet for unused classes and IDs.\n\nhttp://www.sitepoint.com/dustmeselectors/\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
My Stargate fish aquarium | [heres one](http://imgur.com/EIibz) - camera flash made the event horizon look awesome!
[heres another](http://imgur.com/0Nu64)
| 25 | [
{
"body": "Awesome... where did you get the Stargate prop?\n\nOnly thing that would make it better would be if you had a couple of Go'ould larvae swimming around!",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How do you name your one-use files? | When programming or just working with your computer, sometimes a one-use file is needed, say, to store a chunk of text or do some temporal operations. Just out of curiosity, how do you name it? For example: 'fu' (the one I use), 'shit', 'temp' and so.
In shared servers it's sometimes funny to launch 'w' see what people are doing:
$ w
someuser vi fuck
otheruser ls -lR > dada
anoherone diff sux1 sux2 | 19 | [
{
"body": "I let the computer decide:\n\n * In bash: echo someshit > $RANDOM\n * In DOS/Windows: echo someshit > %random%.txt\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "The location matters to me.\n\n- /tmp/ = I don't care about it at all. If I lose power, nothing lost.\n- ~/Desktop = important, maybe. Decide later, and sit in front of my eyes until I decide.\n- *elsewhere* = important.\n\nThe filename itself can be \"f\", \"g\", or a descriptive word like \"latlongs\" or \"bookrefs\".",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "New Text Document.txt\n\n:(\n\nWhen just working, anyway. When programming, I let tmpnam() or equivalent do the work.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I start the filename with a comma. So when I'm done with my particular task, i can just do \"rm ,*\".",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I usually use \"test\" or \"foo\". One thing that makes a lot of my fellow developers laugh though is when they look at some of my debug code (in PHP in that case), and see:\n\n die('motherfucker');",
"score": 3
}
]
|
typing furigana (subscript, superscript, どちでもいい) on the fly in MS word or other. | i just got out of my lesson with my japanese teacher. he made his lesson materials himself, and they all have impeccably-formatted furigana.
by that i mean they're directly over the kanji he's typed, roughly half the size. i asked him how he did it, and he said ”あ、大変ね” - he did it all bit by bit on an old word processor - not a computer, but a standalone word processor (!) and formatted each kanji/furigana combo individually.
i was typing a little message to one of my 2nd graders today, he had asked me about hide-and-seek and what kind of games i played as a child in canada, so i wrote him this little one-page letter - but because he was a 2nd grader, his kanji ability is below mine. i wanted to type it with kanji (it helps me weed out mistakes), but provide furigana for him... and it was a pain in the ass.
so i asked the internet a question.
[add furigana to kanji you've typed](http://www.1nichi1kai.com/2008/09/using-furigana-in-microsoft-word/)
i can't try it now, but if you get a chance, let me know if you were successful. | 13 | [
{
"body": "It basically works the same way in OpenOffice. Select the text, *Format* ≫ *Asian phonetic guide*... and superscribe whatever you like. [[PIC]](http://imgur.com/724sB.png)",
"score": 6
}
]
|
TIL that the chocolate that you are eating most probably came from child labour and possibly child slavery | Also check out
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/Child_labour_threatens_chocolates_sweet_image.html?cid=987422 | 135 | [
{
"body": "For the last time, they are not children! They are Oompa Loompas! They are just a little bit shorter than what we're used to. And it isn't like we don't pay them. We give them free cocoa beans all the time.",
"score": 135
},
{
"body": "Easy to fix: Buy fair trade chocolate and coffee. Yes it will cost a bit more. Been doing this since we could.",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "I’d like to offer a tour of the vast garbage dump here in Phnom Penh. \r\n\r\nThis is a Dante-like vision of hell. It’s a mountain of festering refuse, a half-hour hike across, emitting clouds of smoke from subterranean fires. \r\n\r\nThe miasma of toxic stink leaves you gasping, breezes batter you with filth, and even the rats look forlorn. Then the smoke parts and you come across a child ambling barefoot, searching for old plastic cups that recyclers will buy for five cents a pound.\r\n\r\n“I’d love to get a job in a factory,” said Pim Srey Rath, a 19-year-old woman scavenging for plastic. “At least that work is in the shade. Here is where it’s hot.”\r\n\r\nAnother woman, Vath Sam Oeun, hopes her 10-year-old boy, scavenging beside her, grows up to get a factory job, partly because she has seen other children run over by garbage trucks.\r\n\r\nWhen I defend sweatshops, people always ask me: But would you want to work in a sweatshop? No, of course not. But I would want even less to pull a rickshaw. In the hierarchy of jobs in poor countries, sweltering at a sewing machine isn’t the bottom.\r\n\r\nLook, I know that Americans have a hard time accepting that sweatshops can help people. But take it from 13-year-old Neuo Chanthou, who earns a bit less than $1 a day scavenging in the dump. She’s wearing a “Playboy” shirt and hat that she found amid the filth, and she worries about her sister, who lost part of her hand when a garbage truck ran over her.\r\n\r\n“It’s dirty, hot and smelly here,” she said wistfully. “A factory is better.”\r\n\r\n- selected excerpts from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html?_r=2&hp\r\n\r\n",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "Child labor is so pervasive in almost every aspect of the world we live in. As if walmart actually gives a shit that a child made those clothes or shoes that they sell so cheaply. The only time someone like Martha Stewart or Cathy Lee gives a shit is when it gets caught on camera. In the good ol' US of A, most likely the fruits and veggies picked, were picked by kids along with their parents.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "I'm interested in finding out which companies don't use cocoa from these plantations so I can stop buying from them.\n\nAny info on that?",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Diamonds come from slave labor, chocolate comes from slave labor, I think this means that you are not supposed to buy gifts for your girlfriend.",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "http://www.google.com/search?q=chocolate+child+labor\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_in_cocoa_production\n\nOther sources.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "If you look closely at much of what is bought and sold at market, you will begin to see the marks of child/slave/exploited labor all over. It isn't the second largest illegal market, after drugs, for nothing. $$$",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Sometimes I think I am part of somebody else's woes no matter what I do.\nSomehow, chocolate had thus far failed to get on my list.\n\nShit.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "\"They estimate that as many as 250 million children may be affected\". \n\nI call bullshit. That's a countries worth of people. That's 1/16th of the worlds population. There's no way 1/16th of the world's population is working in the cocoa industry.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "[No it didn't.](http://www.lidl.de/cps/rde/xchg/SID-3F57B261-63E33E58/lidl_de/hs.xsl/index_25808.htm?detail=extensive) \n\nOkay, so this is a German page, and the product is available (only?) in Germany, which is where I am. \n\n**IDKG;dr**: The German magazine \"Stiftung Warentest\" (kinda the equivalent of Which? or Consumer Reports) by the eponymous German consumer organization tested chocolate brands that are available nationwide in Germany. The brand that scored first place was a [fair trade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade) chocolate, and that's the brand I buy ([German PDF](http://www.test.de/filestore/t200711023.pdf?path=/protected/82/31/344b0c97-a205-48b5-859e-a24680248a3b-protectedfile.pdf&key=0C4CDDBCABC87F0AC84B3EB797373B0B6797EFC9)).\n\nPS: IDKG = I Don't Know German\n\nEDIT: The same chocolate is [also available in Ireland.](http://www.lidl.ie/ie/home.nsf/pages/c.service.sort.fairglobe.index.offers.FAIRGLOBEChocolate)\n\nEDIT2: [And in the UK.](http://www.lidl-fairglobe.co.uk/sortiment.php) And probably most or all [other countries where the same grocery chain does business.](http://www.lidl.com)\n\nEDIT3: [More info for German redditors.](http://www.transfair.org/produkte/kakao/einkaufen.html?tx_jppageteaser_pi1[backId]=65)",
"score": 3
}
]
|
IAMA Professional cinematographer and steadicam operator. AMA. | Long time lurker, but someone in another thread suggested I should do one of these!
I've been a cinematographer / director of photography for several years and I've shot stuff for Ford, Vodafone, Land Rover, Massey Ferguson and many more along with drama and music video work.
You can see my reels at http://www.edmooredop.com; my most recent project was for Ford Matech GT racing which I ended up editing as well. That's at http://www.edmooredop.com/corporate/matech-momentum/.
I'm also a steadicam owner/operator with lots of experience on that.
Ask away! Curious to know if anyone will actually have questions :)
**EDIT:** I'm http://twitter.com/edmoore if any other industry types want to connect up. | 39 | [
{
"body": "* What are thoughts on digital versus film? \n* How much longer do you think film will last before it is a niche and not the norm?\n* Any tips on shooting super low budget to still get a look that is better than home video?(i.e. what type of light to avoid that kind of thing)",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I watched your Mustang video. That is top shelf work man. VERY well done. I liked how you kept changing the contrast and the wash.. very nice man. \n\nCould you give a list of your gear? What's your favorite software to edit, post, etc. Favorite plugins? What did you do that last scene in the Mustang video with? The blue lights shining through the lettering.. nice affect.\n\nI did some editing for about 2 years and it seemed like a money drain. They would pay flat rates, about enough for a week's salary.. but editing it would take atleast 2 weeks. I'm not saying thats typical or that I was good, but it just seemed like a hard route to take if that's all you did.\n\nI'm currently messing around with AE and C 4D to do some stuff for work and am really enjoying it.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I'm doing some films on the cheap and while a steadicam would be great to have, the budget just does not allow it.\n\n1) What are your thoughts on home made steadicams?\n2) Do you know any home made steadicams which would do nearly a good of a job as a professional?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "How do you rate Roger Deakins' work? I just saw his latest for the Coens (A Serious Man) and, while I found the film a bit off, I was amazed at some of his compositions.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Did you go to film school? If so, where? I'm at a well-respected film school at a large university right now, and honestly, I think I could learn just as much at a 2-year specialized school, all the while having a lot more time to make short films and other projects. Your thoughts? Also, do you recommend graduate school for film?",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "How long did it take you to get comfortable with the steadicam? I've tested them out and was wondering about how long I'd have to rent one for to get used to using it.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Is there a good site to find out about train delays? | My wife is stuck in Mitaka but the trains aren't moving. She wants me to find out why. This isn't the first time, either. She says there are lots of police and nothing is happening.
Anyway, I'd like a good train traffic site to bookmark.
Thanks, Reddit. | 6 | [
{
"body": "http://traininfo.jreast.co.jp/train_info/e/qa.html#a1\n\nhttp://traininfo.jreast.co.jp/train_info/e/kanto.aspx\n\nAlthough, they put that information scrolling. But it's in Japanese.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Sherlock Holmes and the case of the affirmed consequent. | *Originally posted in [/r/PhilosophyofScience](http://www.reddit.com/r/PhilosophyofScience).*
I saw the new [Sherlock Holmes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_\(2009_film\)) movie last night and thought the whole Holmes business was interesting as historical scientific fiction. Chuckled at a few gems of philosophy-of-science wisdom that Holmes educates Watson with. His strict adherence to the facts, eye for detail and rejection of [confirmation bias](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias) strikes you initially as a hardcore empiricist - a [Baconian scientist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baconian_method). Yet he routinely develops hypotheses which seem to go beyond the evidence (particularly in regards to Watson's girlfriend) in rationalist fashion. Wanting to see just what style of reasoning Holmes' was using in making inferences, I accepted the case and duly began the investigation.
[Sir Arthur Conan Doyle](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle), who was himself a medical practioner described Holmes as not much more than a "calculating machine". Here are some [relevant classic quotes from Sherlock Holmes novels](http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes) which typify his philosophical position on scientific questions. In [A Study in Scarlet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Study_in_Scarlet), Holmes clearly sounds like an empiricist stating : *"it is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment"*. In the same novel, perhaps the extent of his rationality is defined : *"when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbably, must be the truth"*. In [The Boscombe Valley Mystery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boscombe_Valley_Mystery), he sounds very Kuhnian stating: *"Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing ... It may seem to point very straight to one thing, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely different.""* Holmes seems to believe that observation needn't be theory-laden if the scientist has the right mindset. In [The Adventure of the Cardboard Box](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventure_of_the_cardboard_box), he states *"We approached the case ... with an absolute blank mind, which is always an advantage. We formed no theories. We were simply there to observe"*. Yet in [The Five Orange Pips](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Five_Orange_Pips), he reasons *"As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both before and after."*
**[The author of this paper](http://www.ifets.info/journals/10_1/16.pdf)** believes that Holmes uses a style of reasoning known as [abductive reasoning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abductive_reasoning). The canonical example of abductive reasoning is as follows:
> Rule: All the beans from this bag are white.
> Result: These beans are white.
> Case: Therefore, these beans are from this bag.
While the inference is of course not logically valid, it is pragmatically very powerful and convincing in the right circumstances. A historically important example : the data that
Kepler had about the longitudes and latitudes of Mars’ revolutions around the sun suggested a finite number of
geometrical curves from which to choose. Kepler’s hypothesis was that the orbit is elliptical, which he then
corroborated against the available evidence. More on abduction [here](http://www.helsinki.fi/science/commens/terms/abduction.html).
**It's worth asking the questions - in what circumstances is abduction a legitimate form of reasoning? Why does deriving hypotheses from consequents often prove so pragmatically useful despite the logical fallacy of [deducing the antecedent from the consequent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirming_the_consequent)?**
As Holmes once said :
*To let the brain work without sufficient material is like racing an engine. It racks itself to pieces.*
-----
Incidentally I also discovered a book called *[Fact and feeling: Baconian science and the nineteenth-Century literary](http://www.amazon.com/Fact-Feeling-19Th-Century-Imagination-Literature/dp/0299143503)* pretty much confirms that Sherlock Holmes was meant to be the epitome of the Baconian scientist. **[This passage at pages 215-216 is a must read for Holmes fans](http://books.google.com/books?id=hFn1Zx_desIC&lpg=PP13&ots=MCZuIGWL4P&lr=&pg=PA215#v=onepage&q=&f=false)**. This book's basic theme is that several 19th Century literary figures paved the way in the public mind for scientific supremacy by bringing together reason and imagination. Will have more on the Baconian method in a followup post.
EDIT: Oh and by the way, for those who want to know whether the movie is worth seeing? Well I enjoyed the triumph of tough science over dogmatic manipulative mysticism. Robert Downey Jr was a more true-to-the-books Sherlock than the standard image of the guy with the funny hat and cape but the interplay with Watson wasn't entirely convincing.
EDIT: Awesome documentary about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the origin of Sherlock Holmes here. [Part 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJbYkq767QA), [Part 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtTNjfq1SKc), [Part 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw1hXu3hMxQ), [Part 4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_6KerhRW5o&NR=1), [Part 5](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie7_8UkdMOY) and [Sir Arthur speaks about Holmes and his mysticism](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eq18U5btcg). | 42 | [
{
"body": "> Is abduction a legitimate form of reasoning? Why does deriving hypotheses from consequents often prove so pragmatically useful despite the logical fallacy of deducing the antecedent from the consequent?\n\nAbduction is not inference, it's hypothesis-generation. Do you know of any other way to *generate* a hypothesis (not a rhetorical question, I'm really interested)? For each set of observations, there are infinitely many hypotheses that fit the facts. How do we choose which ones to test?\n\n* All the beans from this bag are white.\n* These beans are white.\n* Therefore, these beans are from this bag.\n\nJust replace \"therefore\" with \"perhaps\".",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": ">His strict adherence to the facts...\n\nUnfortunately, all facts are interpreted in light of our theories and background knowledge. Even such apparently foundational things like color, smell and taste are interpretations.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Dear Reddit, A documentary making Redditor needs your help! | Hey Reddit, Im a university Student from the UK. Me and my team are currently developing a comercial hour length documentary based on a interesting sleep pattern you may have heard of called Uberman, this was popular on blogs a while back, but we hope to descover some fresh information, a collate opinons and facts from those involved in the past, and new information in the present.
I will personaly be attempting to adjust to the Uberman schedule, which involves sleeping for around 15-30 mins ever 4 hours, We will be chronicaling this attempt, along with all the other information we can gather on sleep, this schedule and several sleep disorders. On the subject of sleep disorders, there have been several reports of this pattern of sleep curing insomnia, we will investigating this along with how it could possibly help with other disorders.
If I successfully, adapt, I will be evaluating how it impacts everyday life and if I can work for longer at a good rate, testing things such as Hand eye co-ordination and concentration.
Anyway, here is where you come in, I need some "Market Research".
So if you could leave a comment, with your age, proffession and wether or not you would like to watch a documentary based on this topic.
Thank you very much! We will be crediting Reddit for your help! | 3 | [
{
"body": "I am a 21 year old college student (in the US), and I have been interested in the Everyman and Uberman sleep pattern since I first read about them on reddit some time back.\n\nI'm sure you're aware of this, but if you adjust to this kind of sleep schedule and then deviate for a day or two, it can cause extreme exhaustion for a few days after. Good luck, and I can't wait to see your results!",
"score": 4
}
]
|
[7] I Table the Motion: Henceforth shall dwellers in the land of Trees be known as "Buds." | Bud has many good meanings:
* A buddy, someone you would be friends with or who wants to be friends with you.
* Something budding; full of potential.
* Cannabis (thank you [Wiktionary](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bud), I almost forgot)
* "_3.A small rounded body in the process of splitting from an organism, which may grow into a genetically identical new organism._" I'm not entirely comfortable with that.
* "_5.A weaned calf in its first year, so called because the horns are then beginning to bud._" But this is adorable.
Anyway, I propose a vote. Vote! | 15 | [
{
"body": "If I'm talking to someone and I don't know there name I always call them bud. So yeah I'm down, that or treeple I think that has a nice ring to it aswell.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think it should keep changing from time to time. Who wants to get stuck in a rut? I thought last time's \"Twig\" was cool; I think this round's \"Ents\" is flippin' *phenomenal*, I like seeing all the creativity go into this.\n\nKind of describes us as a whole, really. We didn't like what was going on at the last spot, but rather than sit there and be miserable we just changed it all for the better. I think we should keep changing. Keeps us on our toes.\n\nBut I like the thought that went into \"Buds,\" we should definitely use that at some point.",
"score": 6
}
]
|
Crisis of confidence OR I'm really not that bad, so why am I single? | Throw away account, you betcha.
So I'm having the beginning of a crisis of confidence about me being single. I think part of it is because I have unrealistic expectations of how attracted women should be towards me (I'm male) and how attracted I think they really are.
Bit about me generally:
I've a thin build and reasonably fit - play soccer and run regularly
I think my face is average looking, certainly not rugged!
I'm pretty smart academically (a near top student at med school) and socially I think I'm fairly switched on too
I'm funny, but with a black, dry sense of humour which I know can push some people away
My dress can vary from very sharp to fashion crime within the same week sometimes
Objectively I think I've got plenty going for me and I feel lucky because of that. But I've been single well over a year now and while I've flirted with a few girls over the past year, but I never get the vibe that they're into me that much. No sign posting if you will. I feel it's due to a lack of confidence, usually entering my mind as 'I'm not very interesting'. I think perhaps I need a hobby beyond running because that's a particularly solitary pursuit.
I also think I don't read the girl as being interested because I don't feel that she should be so all signs get played down.
I apologise if the above is disjointed
While it might appear I've answered my own question, the academics of it aren't helping me get over this confidence issue!
Hulp! | 5 | [
{
"body": "Ok here is the deal with finding a mate from a psychological POV. It's all up to chance. Basically you have to be in the right spot at the right time as someone else. It's not as if every single girl around you is objectively critiquing you and deciding they don't want to date you. Maybe the girls you flirted with weren't looking for anything serious. \nSo... what you have to do is increase the possibility of these chance encounters. If you want to start dating someone, make sure you are exposing yourself to opportunities to meet her. Go to lots of parties, or book stores, join clubs, or tell friends to hook you up. \n \nI guess the tl;dr version is: it's not your fault that you've been single for a while. Usually these things happen through chance encounters. Do what everyone else is saying and get yourself out there through hobbies, etc. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Running is a fine hobby and lots of ladies are into it. Of course, all the ones I know are in relationships already, but that's beside the point! I'm afraid posting here you're going to just get a lot of \"me too\"s. I fit your description pretty well, except I don't think I've ever dressed 'sharp'; it's what I'm working on now. I've decided my problem is more a lack of opportunity though. How many women are you exposed to on any given week? By exposed to I mean talk to in a social setting. Now, let's consider single girls only... my number is about 1 to 2 if I'm lucky. So I've decided to take every available opportunity to go out and socialize, even if there aren't likely to be any single girls there. I think my problem is Networking more than confidence; might be yours too?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I had the same thoughts about myself a while back, and I was single for a lot longer. I now have a great GF. All I can say is, stick with it and keep putting yourself out there. Get involved in more social activities and groups. It's bound to happen for you eventually.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
I can only buy a MacBook Pro on January 28th! What should I do? | I'm a New Yorker living abroad in a place where Macs are very very expensive. I've been wanting to get a new MacBook Pro for a while but I figured I'd wait until the next time I was home. Well I'll be in NY in a couple of weeks but flying back out on the 28th of Jan, and I just found out that they're supposedly announcing/releasing the i5 MacBook Pros on Jan 27? Assuming that's true, does anyone know if it will be feasible to purchase at the Manhattan stores on the 27th or 28th??? Maybe someone who has worked at an Apple store will have some idea of what I can do?
Thanks!
Thanks for the replies. Do you think that they could sell out on a day like that? I always used to walk past the 5th Ave store and see the crazy early morning lines on days when they released stuff but I never actually waited on one. Would it be the kind of thing where I'd have to get there at 5am, or would I be pretty much safe to show up at any point on the 28th (assuming they do announce on the 27th)? Thanks again... | 7 | [
{
"body": "Usually, if Apple is announcing new computers, they'll be available in-stores on the day they're announced. This has been overwhelmingly true for computers. ",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Hi /r/Fitness, who makes a good, accurate scale? | Hi guys and gals,
I am obscenely obese (5'10", 345 lbs) and am trying to take the weight off yet again. This time I'm trying the Hacker's Diet, which requires some precise daily weights.
I'm looking for a scale that can hold 350 lbs, is consistent, and it would really help if it beeped when it settles on a weight. I can't see the display of my current scale when I'm standing upright on it; I have to lean forward which makes the weight inaccurate and imprecise. Yes, I am very, very fat. I'm trying to change that.
So if anybody out there has some scale advice, I would greatly appreciate it if you would share that advice.
Thanks! | 20 | [
{
"body": "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PH2OR0/ref=ox_ya_oh_product\n$45\nEscali High-Capacity Bathroom Scale with Body Fat/Body Water Monitoring (440lb / 200kg)\n\nI have found this scale to be very consistent and accurate.\nLeaning on any scale [other than floor scales for pallets etc.] will change the results; its just the way load cells work.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Upvoted! I want to know the answer as well. I purchased a scale from Target with purported tenths-of-a-pound accuracy. That is, it reads XYZ.W lb, and for those of us who remember highschool physics class, that implies that there may be small errors in the W digit, but the XYZ digits are accurate. Yet the damn thing drives me nuts -- it has +- 2 pound errors between subsequent weighings, that is, I get off, get back on again, and it thinks I lost 4 pounds. Very very annoying, I want to find the engineer who made the display and re-enroll the fucker in high-school physics lab for two semesters so he can figure out what significant digits are.\n\ntl; dr; I want to know of a consistent and accurate scale as well.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Can't answer your question, but just dropping in to bid you good luck! I, too, once weighed nearly 340 pounds. Today, I weigh around 225 pounds. Drop me a message if you have questions!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "It doesn't really matter how accurate your scale is, as long as it's within 5lbs or so. The reason is your weight will fluctuate 3-4lbs in the course of a day through food & water intake, bowel movements, and water retention/loss. So, don't count a weight loss or gain of 3-4lbs as meaningful unless it's consistently that way for a week. That is, only if for 7 days straight you weigh between 345 and 350, then next week you weigh between 340 and 345, that's weight loss. Individual day fluctuations of a few pounds are only going to mislead you, so you don't really need an accurate scale.\n\nAnd regarding something that beeps, just pick up a cheap hand mirror at a pharmacy or department store and use it to read the scale.\n\nThey have lots of scales at Bed Bath & Beyond, and there was one on sale last week at costco for $25 that could hold 400lbs.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Can someone help me find or create a '300' style workout? | I've been reading about the 8-week program that the cast and crew of the film '300' undertook, but I can't find any information on how to build such a program.
I want to build functional strength and turn myself into a beastly Spartan warrior. I'm currently 6' 3" and 240 lbs with a good amount of lifting experience, and I'm looking to lose fat and gain muscle.
Can anyone provide some insight? | 5 | [
{
"body": "Crossfit workouts should work. You'll need to watch what you eat if you want a six pack, they are made in the kitchen not in the gym.\n\nWhats your lifting experience? How much do you squat, press, deadlift and bench? The reason I ask is because someone with \"a good amount of training experience\" wouldn't be asking this kind of programming question and you may be able to get better results with a different type of program.\n\nYou may be better of increasing strength and then trying to strip the fat. You can't do both at once unless you're genetically gifted.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "A little searching shows me this stuff:\n\nVideo:\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veVJa4vBlZ4\n\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ETHPvJzMQ\n\nText:\n\nhttp://www.davemanuel.com/2007/06/26/the-300-workout-plan-your-step-by-step-guide/\n\nhttp://www.menshealth.com/men/fitness/workout-plans/muscle-building/article/5e1790ecab7e1110vgnvcm20000012281eac\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Well, the 300 were spartans, which means since the age of 7 they were training hardcore to be warriors in defense of their city-state. [They ate foods like this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_cuisine#Foods). You also have to workout like they fought, which means, like you're protecting your homeland from the persian menace. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I've got a recipe kit on the way, any ideas to jazz it up a bit? | This is the [kit.](http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_452_42_161&products_id=12382)
Any ideas? I was imagining using several pounds of honey to get sort of that tongue-bruisin'-yet-sweet flavor you might find in say, Bell's Hopslam. Thoughts? | 6 | [
{
"body": "You can help get \"that tongue-bruisin'-yet-sweet flavor\" of HopSlam by matching the GU:BU ratio. [HopSlam](http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bells-hopslam/35488/) has an OG of 1.095 and ABV of 10.0%, which means the FG is 1.021. According to that same link it has 70 IBUs.\n\nSo the AHS Tripel IPA has an OG of 1.083 and is 8.1% ABV, which means the FG is expected to be 1.023. Close enough to HopSlam, so shoot for about 70 IBUs.\n\nYou can also try first [first wort hopping](http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/03/17/the-first-wort-hop-beer-brewing-techniques/) or a [hop back](http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2009/11/25/using-a-hop-back-for-homebrewed-beer/) to get bolder hop flavors and aromas. (I like BeerSmith but don't want to shill for them, those are just the best links that popped up in my search).\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Do any of you have reoccurring dreams? | I keep having a reoccurring dream in which the details of the dream are different, but it always ends the same. Not good. I don't understand why this keeps happening. Does anyone have any thoughts?
EDIT: Basically my dream always begins differently, I do remember the other night, the guy I thought was mine, shot another girl in the head, but she was totally fine. Then he aimed the gun at me, but then came to her aid and decided to leave with her, leaving me there. Then I went and sat on some park bench where there was an envelope full of bonds from a bank that had my name on it, and I was like, OK, I am going to be OK. Last night, My fiance and I (this is my dream) were going to some hotel or house or something with lots of different rooms and one bedroom with like 3 cots in them. Some maid came in and sprinkled the sheets with something that would get rid of lice, that was disturbing. Then my fiance met some girl and started talking to her and I said it was OK for them to go take a walk or something, next thing you know, they're all lovey dovey and I tell that girl, never touch him again. She's like, I didn't do anything. Then he just pushes me aside and goes off with her. Like he didn't want me. So this is the basic ending of my past few dreams. We're getting married in April. is this something to do with that? I am afraid of something?! So confusing!
EDIT: Thanks everyone for sharing all your dreams and nightmares with me. It's really interesting to see how the subconscious mind comes out in our unconsciousness. | 23 | [
{
"body": "Weird question. When I was younger, I used to have a reocurring dream where I would meet an old woman and we would sit down on a table and drink tea and talk about my problems and she would offer me advice. I remember the place as some kind of pleasant park, filled with trees and falling leaves and all that. I never remember any of the advice she gave me, but I remember it somehow reassured me. Till one day, not far too long ago (1 year or so), we met again and we talked some more, but when the dream was about to end, we hugged and said goodbye to each other. She waved me goodbye when I was leaving, and I never had this dream again. I knew, when I woke up, that that dream was final and I would never see her again. Weirdly enough, I actually miss her.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "\"Threat Simulation Theory holds that dreaming serves a biologically adaptive function because it allowed our evolutionary ancestors to simulate problem-solving strategies for genuine waking life threats.\" [source](http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/quirky-little-things/200806/damn-dream-again)",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I don't have recurring dreams as such, but I do have recurring _locations_ in dreams: buildings, towns, cities. They're not real (don't correspond to anywhere I've been) but are exactly the same from dream to dream; I suppose about there must be about 5 or so. Some of these locations have been popping up in my dreams since I was a kid.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "[Check this out](http://listverse.com/2008/10/07/top-10-common-dreams-and-their-meanings/). Your dream might be one of those. I kinda wished they added \"having sex with a faceless chick\" there. That's my recurring dream.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I have a dreamworld where most of my dreams take place. I can revisit places I've been to in other dreams and the characters evolve in time.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "This is not a dream... not a dream. We are using your brain's electrical system as a receiver. We are unable to transmit through conscious neural interference. You are receiving this broadcast as a dream. We are transmitting from the year one, nine, nine, nine. You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing. Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough to reach your conscious state of awareness, but this is not a dream. You are seeing what is actually occurring for the purpose of causality violation. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I was confused those first few seconds after my eyes opened.\n\nEverything was pretty blurry. I reached across my bed and snapped on the lamp. Didn't work. I reached onto my night table and grabbed my lighter. When I flicked it, a small flame popped up, giving me enough light to see out of the window.\n\nI wish I hadn't done that.\n\nThe sky was black, with balls of fire exploding inside of a cloud of dust. In the distance, I saw flashes of light. More fireballs erupted. Scrambling, I grabbed my lantern from my desk. Turning on the light, I could see more clearly. \n\nF-22s flew over my house, shaking the very foundation. They couldn't have been flying more than 1,000 feet above me, clearly supersonic. As I stared, one of them broke from the formation. A Sidewinder missile rocketed out from underneath, screaming towards a shape in the distance. I squinted, watching with terror when I saw it flying towards a MiG-35. As the explosion rocked the house, I was beginning to form a mental picture of what was happening. I opened my drawer and grabbed my camping radio. I switched it on, and began to dress myself.\n\nAs I got my gear on, the whole story was unfolding on the news. A war between communist forces, along with radicals, had begun. A small group of Russians had overpowered an old-time, Cold-War era nuclear bunker. Within minutes, fates had been sealed. A nuclear war had broken out, neither side sure of the cause. I had woken up to the third strike on America. Chaos had broken out in the streets. The government's power only existed on a loose state-based system, and federal power. \n\nI was alone. I had to fight for myself.\n\nI ran downstairs, rushing to my basement. I quickly got my old K-Bar onto my belt, slipping a sharpener into my pocket. I walked over to my safe. I slipped several times, rushing get the combination in. When I finally got it open, I reached in. I pulled out my two shotguns, a rifle, and my trusty S&W 9mm. I did a quick clean before loading the guns, putting all of my extra ammo into my bag. \n\nI scrambled upstairs, packing as much food and water as I could. I got all of my supplies in order. I waited for several minutes as the fighting overhead died down. I grabbed my police scanner, checking the frequencies. Apparently, an attack on Hawaii was going down. Fighters were diverted to assist with the escort of the President.\n\nAfter the longest half hour of my life, (besides my college exams I guess) I was ready to go. I siphoned all of the gas out of my motorcycle and work car into the tank of my SUV. I put the rest into gas containers. I would need it. Stuffing a couple extra tools into the car, I took one last look at my house. This would probably be the last time I saw it. \n\nI started the car.\n\nAs I drove off, the radio became a dim background noise, with my interest in it drifting in and out. I took out my phone. I called my girlfriend. No answer. I tried again. And again. No response. I must have sent hundreds of messages. No answer.\n\nThe gunfire outside was getting annoying. However, my journey went well at first. Until the road check.\n\nI was stopped, about 20 minutes after I set out, at what appeared to be a U.S. military check point. Two men in Army fatigues walked towards my car, holding up their hands, signaling me to stop. Normally, I would have blown by them, at least until I saw their assault rifles. I slowed to a stop and rolled down my window.\n\n\"May I help you?\"\n\n\"Identification please.\"\n\nI handed him my driver's license. I pulled up my cap so that he could better see my face. He looked at me, then at his partner, who nodded. He turned to me again and asked:\n\n\"Sir, is there anyone else in the car?\"\n\n\"No sir, there isn't. Just me and some basic gear. Riots were getting a bit too close to my home.\n\nHe paused for a moment. Looked at his partner who walked over to us.\n\n\"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to get out of the car.\"\n\n\"Why?\"\n\nI got defensive. I slid my hand into the pocket of my cargo pants, clutching the grip of my pistol. He suddenly shoved the M16 in my window.\n\n\"Get out now!\"\n\nBy now, I realized that they weren't U.S. Military. I swung the door, hitting him in the chest, making him fall to the ground, dropping the rifle. I yanked out my pistol, leveling it at the other \"soldier\". He raised his gun as well, but I pulled the trigger. One shot and he was down. But, in the confusion, the first guard had run. I swung to face him, firing two shots at him. Both of them missed. He took shelter behind the barrier of the road block. He returned fire, the shots hitting the ground near my feet. One of them caught the passenger side mirror. I squeezed off another three rounds before I finally killed him. \n\nMy instincts kicked in. I paced over to the first guard, collecting his rifle, pistol, and spare clips and ammunition. I did the same to the other man. I found their car and siphoned its petrol into the containers I had brought with me. Upon closer inspection I saw that both weapons were actually AR-15s. Regardless, I was proud of my trophies. I set the rifles in the passenger seat, along with the extra supplies I had collected.\n\nI got back into my car. I swung the door shut. I started the car again, and set off, into the great unknown of this new, desolate land.",
"score": 3
}
]
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Dear God, Please help the people of Haiti that you blessed with an earthquake and, before that, almost universal poverty and squalor. You are great! | When people pray for those affected by such horrible tragedies, it really enforces for me the absurdity of prayer and belief in a god who intervenes in the world. I'm sure there were many people praying for the Haitians last night, especially at Wednesday night Baptist services here in the southeast US. I would like to ask these people why their god did not help the Haitians by lifting them out of their poverty before the earthquake or by preventing the earthquake. Their god is either not omnipotent or not benevolent or neither. Most of them would probably reply with "God works in mysterious ways", but that is bullshit and a cop out for not dealing with the absurdity and irrationality of their actions and beliefs. A lot of help will come to Haiti because good, compassionate people will donate their money and time to aid these people, not because of the multitude of prayers that will have been said in vain.
**Edit**: It was not my intention to disparage or ridicule the Haitians. FSM knows they don't need any more shit dumped on them. | 464 | [
{
"body": "Lets not forget that God also allowed the earthquake to destroy the cathedral and kill the catholic archbishop.",
"score": 109
},
{
"body": "Thought experiment:\n\nImagine a world where there's a benevolent, omnipotent god who rewards the good and punishes the wicked, and listens to people's prayers.\n\nNow imagine a world where things happen according to natural laws and randomness.\n\nWhich world most resembles the world we live in?",
"score": 79
},
{
"body": "To Christians, who can't come up with rational explanations, this is either the work of the devil or the work of god.\n\nWhen it's difficult to determine what **ACTIONS** are those of a supreme, benevolent, loving god and those of an evil, hateful, demon, then I'd say you might have flaw in your religion.\n\nEDIT: words are important.",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "When shit like this happens theists can just brush it aside as the \"mysterious and unknowable\" ways of god, but the unknowable and the non-existent are indistinguishable. ",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "These people are so poor, they are [literally eating dirt](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22902512/). God could at least give them stale bread or something, jeez.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "If he didn't help his chosen people when 6,000,000 of them were exterminated by the Nazis... \n\nThe Haitians shouldn't expect really expect that much from him.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Reminds me of one of my [favorite songs of all time](http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x735v7_xtcdear-god_music).\n\n>Dear God, hope you got the letter, and...\nI pray you can make it better down here.\nI don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer\nBut all the people that you made in your image, see\nThem starving on their feet 'cause they don't get\nEnough to eat from God, I can't believe in you",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I read many complaints about the association of this topic with Haiti. I can see how it would seem opportunistic, and how it would feel comfortable to draw an equivalence between this and Robertson's remarks that God did it to them because they are so awful. (It's just obvious that these two things are equally bad, right?) But I see some reason to OP's approach.\n\nChristians routinely dismiss the Problem of Evil. I don't know why, really (it's actually a logical bind, and it only defeats a certain concept of God which is not anywhere in the Bible). They play down the suffering which occurs, or find ways to pretend that the buck does not stop with an omnipotent being, or say it is unreasonable to expect a being of unlimited power not to do things which would be unthinkable crimes from human beings, or say that this mass of unthinkable horrors means nothing because hey, Heaven is there. (At least for some of the sufferers; the others will be, say, tortured FOREVER for offenses like heresy.)\n\nAll that's easy to do from the drawing-room. From the drawing-room, it's easy to dismiss cases of natural disasters, like earthquakes, killing innocent babies, as if they were dry and abstract thought experiments of no real significance. So the argument is easily made and easily accepted by many, from the drawing-room. So you get no engagement, just ridicule if you raise the problem in ordinary circumstances.\n\nMatters are not so when you have a real tragedy that VIVIDLY does not jibe with a theology. When real babies are being killed by real natural disasters uncaused by any human being, for real, not hypothetically. This has the real chance of making someone think, where ordinarily they will just browse on. The problem of evil is not understood from a distance.\n\nThis is NOT a matter of winning people to atheism. It does not defeat theism in general. It does not even defeat Christianity in general. It defeats a certain set of claims about God. It is not that God is being put on trial, or that the existence of any sort of God whatever is disproven.\n\nThe underlying attitude is a plague. If you believe it defensible to will the horrible and repeated destruction of innocents, your moral values have been completely compromised. Such misapprehensions are serious enough to affect what you defend and what you decide. People who buy this have a fundamentally wrong idea about the nature of good - that whoever has the strongest arm says what is good, and that everyone else mouths pieties while obeying only out of a self-interest in avoiding torture and obtaining rewards. It's a bad value system and it encourages and downplays terrible abuses here on earth.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Dear Societies In Which I Live, who are the only real Elohim,\n\nThank you for supporting me and my family, as we support you,\n\nDo not forget those in less fortunate societies, nay verily aid them both materially and spiritually, for you know that, though our universe be material, spirit is still real,\n\nUnderstand and fight the true evils of this world,\n\nDo not turn your eyes away from me and from all people towards mythical places and beings,\n\nBe ever mindful of our world and curious compassionate towards its many tales and wonders of past, present, and future.\n\nStrawman.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Dear Invisible Hand of the Market, Please help the people of Haiti that you blessed with almost universal poverty and squalor. You are great!",
"score": 3
}
]
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How often is it OK to eat fast food? | I know the most ideal answer is "never", but god dammit Whoppers are tasty. I don't eat them all the time though. In fact, I only have fast food 5 times a year at most. How often is it OK to eat fast food (let's just say a Whopper for the sake of not over-generalizing) without endangering one's health? | 4 | [
{
"body": "There's no scientific evidence that says you can't eat fast food every day. I'm a scientist, so it has to be true.",
"score": 7
}
]
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I just got this email from a co-worker who's a Jehovah's witness... It's about an atheist and a bear. | An atheist was walking through the woods.
'What majestic trees'!
'What powerful rivers'!
'What beautiful animals'!
He said to himself.
As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him.
He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him..
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.
He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out, 'Oh my God!'
Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.
As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. 'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer'?
The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian'?
The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:
"Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen"
-------(end)-------
Report him to HR?
EDIT: You're all correct about it being a joke. I took it as a joke, just like I take all the political emails I receive. The question to report him to HR was just a suggestion of what to respond with. I would not report him, as it is not the right thing to do... Society is too soft IMHO, and reporting him for something like this would just continue the trend of people getting offended at a passing comments. I do not think this email was meant to offend me, I do think it was just a joke that truly meant no harm. | 53 | [
{
"body": "Suggest your Jehovah's Witless friend go out into the woods, find a hungry bear, and conduct a controlled experiment on the power of prayer.\n",
"score": 168
},
{
"body": "That's just not true. Atheists wouldn't say \"Oh my God!\" they would say \"**By the Power of GreySkull!!**\", transform into Richard Dawkins, and kick the bear's ass.",
"score": 118
},
{
"body": ">Report him to HR?\n\nWhy? This seems perfectly OK, self-decrecating humour. The atheist isn't the butt of the joke (indeed, you could slot anyone into that role without breaking the joke). Rather the joke is that \"converting to christian\" doesn't mean \"become a loving and good person\", but rather \"Pay lip service, then proceed with your meal.\"",
"score": 53
},
{
"body": "Eh, it's a joke, not proselytizing. If you're going to complain to HR about it, you need to complain on the grounds that it's a joke, and frivolous use of company resources.\n\nYou never use company resources frivolously, do you, redditor?",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "Reply with this:\r\n\r\nBill was excited about his new rifle and wanted to try it out, so he went bear hunting. He spotted a small black bear and shot it. There was then a tap on his shoulder and he turned round to see a larger black bear. The black bear said \"You've got two choices, I either maul you to death or we have sex.\" Bill decided to bend over. \r\n\r\nEven though he felt sore for two weeks, Bill soon recovered and vowed revenge. He headed out on another trip, found the black bear, and shot it. Immediately, there was another tap on his shoulder. This time a big brown bear stood right next to him. \r\n\r\nThe brown bear said, \"That was a huge mistake, Bill. You've got two choices. Either I maul you to death or we'll have rough sex.\" Again, Bill thought it was better to comply. \r\n\r\nAlthough he survived, it was several months before Bill finally recovered. Outraged, he headed back to the woods, managed to track down the brown bear and shot it. He felt sweet revenge, but then there was a tap on his shoulder. He turned round to find a gigantic grizzly bear standing there. \r\n\r\nThe grizzly bear said \"Admit it, Bill, you don't come here for the hunting, do you?\" \r\n\r\n",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I have got three people fired from my last job because they would keep coming up to me and tell me that they were going to pray for me. They would send religious emails to me trying to save my life. They also had posters setup in their cubical praising the lord. \n\nFirst, person to get fried was the lady in HR because she didn't take my compliant serious and didn't talk to the two people like I requested. I didn't want the two people fired. I just wanted them to be talked to by HR to let them know what they were doing wasn't appropriate for the workplace. So, I called the main HR department out of state and talked to the highest person there. They ended up firing her because she put the company at risk for not taking the correct action on a violation of the employee hand book what stated you are not allowed to display any political views or religious views. They also, talked to the two original people and told them this is just a warning but you have to stop sending the e-mail and not to talk to me unless it was a direct business matter. They were also instructed to take down all their stuff in their cubicles. \n\nAt this point I stared to carry around voice recorder at all times just incase. Sure enough a couple weeks latter they came and talked to me. Told me I was going to hell along with some other bull shit that its not to late I can still be saved. Gave the tape to HR. They got fired with-in 10min. \n\nTo put the story in context this job was when I lived in Utah. Fucking Mormons.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": ">Report him to HR?\n\nI'd confront him first. I've seen this joke before... if it was about any other minority it would be considered extremely offensive. Replace the atheist with a missionary and the bear with a cannibal and see how funny he thinks it is.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": ">As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. 'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer'?\n\n>The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian'?\n\nWhy would an atheist assume it was the Christian god? It could have been Zeus or Mithras or any of hundres of others.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "What seems to be ignored is the implied existence of God. The reason that I don't believe in God is the absolute lack of proof that he exists. If God were to stop time for me and ask me if I believed in him, I think that would be a pretty good case for me to believe. For this reason, I don't force my beliefs on people who don't force theirs on me, since some people actually believe that they saw God. \n\nNow the really interesting part to this joke to me is that absolute lack of mercy God is showing here. So, he's tending to one of his \"lost sheep\", but instead of teaching the sheep a lesson, he mocks him and sentences him to death and eternal damnation (assuming that this actually is God). Nice portrayal, I say. \n\nAll in all, I wouldn't report him to HR but I would ask him if he was threatening me with the email; because what is implied is that Christians will kill atheists, and it's OK if you say a prayer first.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "This is the kind of shit I find unbelievably frustrating about the religious.\n\nThe email is obviously a work of fiction, so...wtf? Is it a joke (\"ha ha, God only kills hypocritical atheists\" l-o-l), and if so, are we supposed to walk away feeling stupid or somehow challenged here? Is it just some pat on the back to themselves? (\"God would never let me die!\") \n\nI guess we'll never know.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "An atheist was walking through the woods. 'What majestic trees'! 'What powerful rivers'! 'What beautiful animals'! He said to himself. As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.. He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him. He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him. At that instant the Atheist cried out, '**MOTHERFUCKER!**'\nTime Stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent.\nAs a bright light shone upon the man, and his dad walks up with a flashlight and a shotgun. 'You deny my advice for all these years, all those hunting trips...you know damn well that you're not supposed to make exaggerated movements when confronted with a grizzly.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count on you to listen when your old man is talking'?\nThe atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as your son now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Motherfuker'?\nThe light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke: \"Son, fuck this. I should have bought you those piano lessons. Camping trips over.\" -------(end)-------",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "If this went down as the joke describes, then the atheist would instantly become a believer because he would have just received *direct evidence that God actually exists*. What's so lame about this joke is that it reveals that the writer think atheists don't believe in God *just because* rather than because there is no direct evidence at all of his existence. If this really happened to me IRL, I'd be all \"alleluia\" and shiz (right after checked to make sure I hadn't accidentally ingested something trippy).",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "This is how REAL christians deal with bears. \n\n[Elisha and the bears 2 Kings 2:23 - 2:25](http://wiki.ironchariots.org/index.php?title=Elisha#The_story_of_the_bears)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "you could respond back: Why don't Jehovah's Witnesses get killed during an earthquake? They're always in your doorway. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The person in that joke was originally a Christian. He just prayed to God that the bear would be Christian, skipping the whole time freeze thing. I heard it on Joel Osteen years ago.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Redditors I ask you: What is your general opinion of Affirmative Action, race relations in today’s workforce, and your treatment by people of other ethnicities. | First here is a basic source as to what AA is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirmative_action_in_the_United_States
Info about me: I’m a mid twenties white male, went to a state school, lived a middle class life, and have served in the marine corps where it just so happens my best friend was a black man. Every now and then, when we were out on some operation or mission and got bored wed discuss it. Sometimes we would argue the opposites side just to mess with each other. Sometimes we defended the ones we firmly believed in.
I myself could spend hours arguing against AA, I am also intelligent enough to understand the argument for it and I will concede that I do agree with some facets of it.
Have any of you been positively/negatively affected by AA? How about other race relations?
| 8 | [
{
"body": "Very complicated; we had long, drawn out debates about affirmative action in Constitutional Law.\n\nI think that affirmative action is the wrong way to go about the policy of achieving diversity. I think that minorities are not well represented at universities not because of their race, but because of their economic status. Minorities are more likely to be poor, and poor people are less likely to go to college; therefore, minorities are less likely to go to college.\n\nInstead of giving preference to race, give preference to economic status. A rich white person and a rich black person would be on equal footing, whereas a poor white person and a poor black person would get a leg up.",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "I'm a poor female Latina/Chicana raised in the projects; given that, here are my opinions:\r\n\r\n1. Regardless of race, we poor people (especially children) need more than Affirmative Action. We need better schools, medical services, social skills, and opportunities to enhance ourselves. Other kids may get this through their parents, family, neighbors, peers, etc. but we lose out because we happened to be born to a different set of parents. \r\n\r\n2. Ethnic minorities still experience racism regardless of their wealth just like other marginalized groups (LGBT, disabled, etc) still get crap regardless of their wealth and status. I don't know about you but I don't know many jokes made at the expense of straight and/or able-bodied people. And I know more racist jokes directed at ethnic minorities than at white people. \r\n\r\n3. I think diversity in schools, the workplace, and in other institutions is very important not only for the organization but for individuals themselves. I think diversity should include not only race but class, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, even hometowns. I've learned more--even more about myself-- when speaking to people from all walks of life. In my experiences, diversity in the workplace is also more relaxed because I don't have to worry about sticking out like a sore thumb since I'm not the only oddball in the room. \r\n\r\n\r\nTLDR: 1. I advocate policies more heavily based on class that provide opportunities that wouldn't be there otherwise for poor folks 2. However, that doesn't mean racism doesn't exist for richer folks, 3. I've found diversity (racial, class, political, religious, sexual orientation, etc) in itself to be beneficial.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "*1965 - U.S. Executive Order 11246 and Executive Order 11375*\n\n*The Johnson administration embraced affirmative action in 1965, by issuing U.S Executive order 11246, later amended by Executive order 11375. The order, as amended, aims \"to correct the effects of past and present discrimination\". It prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, skin color, religion, gender, or national origin. The order requires that contractors take affirmative action to ensure that \"protected class, underutilized applicants\" are employed when available, and that employees are treated without negative discriminatory regard to their protected-class status.*\n\n*The order specifically requires certain organizations accepting federal funds to take affirmative action to increase employment of members of preferred racial or ethnic groups and women. Any organization with fifty or more employees and an aggregate revenue exceeding $50,000 from a single federal contract during a twelve month period must have a written affirmative action plan. This plan must include goals and timetables for achieving full utilization of women and members of racial minorities, in quotas based on an analysis of the current workforce compared to the availability in the general labor pool of women and members of racial minorities.*\n\n*The order is enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the Employment Standards Administration of the U. S. Department of Labor and by the Office of Civil Rights of the Justice Department.*\n\n--\n\nI spent several years writing software that addressed this portion of Affirmative Action. Specifically, federal contractors with 50 or more employees. [Our software](http://www.yocom-mckee.com/software.html) incorporated all the rules that the contractors must adhere to (and that they freely agreed to, I should add) under this specific executive order. And I will comment on this only.\n\nDespite what this quote from the Wikipedia article that OP linked, there are no quotas. I can assure you of that. The goal of this executive order is quite clear and actually quite simple: If you do business with the government, you will not discriminate in hiring. The main method by which the government seeks to ensure that a company is not discriminating in hiring is to examine the racial and gender makup of that company's workforce, and the racial makeup of the area where the company is located. (Gender is always assumed to be 50/50). If any one race/ethnicity is over-represented, be it white, black, etc., the government *may* ask the company why that is. *If they have a good reason that one race is over-represented, there is no problem.* For instance, if they can show that they advertised a position without regard to race, and only white people applied, and they hired a white person, there is no problem. This is precisely why some employers ask for race as part of the application process...because they need to show the racial makeup of applicants in order to demonstrate that they are not discriminating.\n\nCompanies DO NOT have to hire lesser qualified applicants of certain races to meet quotas. I know this for a fact, because I've read the complete OFCCP manual and regulations, and I have incorporated it into compliant software, and it is simply not in there.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "In addition to the standard rectification for injustices argument, There are at least two arguments for it that I can think of that might be of interest to anti-AA people.\n\n(1) - AA makes institutions more efficient.\n\nOne is to encourage institutions and so on to be more representative. Where these are things like police forces, you might think being more representative actually helps how effective they are. So some affirmative action makes the institution more efficient at doing what it's doing.\n\n(2) - Selecting *in part* of the basis of race gives a *better* picture of how good the candidate is.\n\nA second is that one is compensating for disadvantages people have had, and hence getting a *better* picture of their potential. For example, if one group does worse at some exam then another because members of it have worse schooling, we might expect members of that group to do *better* than members of a more advantaged group that get the same grades. For example, in the UK state educated students with the same exam results do better at university then privately educated students. So admitting on the basis of exam results + whether you went to private school or not gives a much better measure of academic potential, which is what we're selecting for in the first place \n\nArgument (2) is interesting because it counts against people who are opposed to AA because it's not fair for the individual because it ignores how suitable/good for the job they are (which is the only argument you ever really hear against it). According to (2), in *some* cases, AA + looking at qualifications gives a better measure of the candidates suitability, and so is a better and fairer way of selecting on the basis of suitability\n\nOf course, how these relate to AA *as practised* is a difficult question.\n\n------------\n\nEDIT:\n\nBy the way, I'm undecided on the issue. I don't really have any opinions either way.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This is how I sum it up. I'm a quarter Mexican. Back in High School, when the PSATs rolled around, I forgot and didn't bring my calculator. I actually still scored pretty decently, but nowhere near as well as I could have. It didn't really matter to me because it was just the PSATs and I didn't think it had anything to do with anything.\n\nWell, it turns out that I got a letter in the mail saying that I was a finalist for the National Hispanic Merit Scholar Award. Apparently, being a quarter Mexican qualified me for it. Being young, I thought, \"Score, I managed to pull out something to pad my college education without even having a calculator on a test I didn't care about.\"\n\nIt was only a year or two later that I realized the full ramifications of that. Granted, even when I received the award, I thought it was pretty bogus, but I didn't care. However, the whole idea of it began to sicken me. I got awarded for a mediocre performance on a test just because my grandfather was Mexican. I had all the advantages of the other students who took the test with me, but there were kids who had the same score I did and got nothing.\n\nThe entire guise of helping minorities because they are statistically more likely to need help fell apart for me. It became obvious that the excuse was just a glorified way of saying that minorities need help because they're not as capable as normal students. They need a leg up because they can't perform to the level of white students, so we need to lower the bar. All things equal, I got an award that other people didn't have a chance to compete for because the bar had been lowered for me.\n\nThe bottom line is that the people who actually need help aren't people like me who went to decent schools and, while my family wasn't very well off, there was always food on the table and I always had something to wear and school supplies to use. The students who actually need assistance and a shot at getting to college and bettering themselves are the ones in bad neighborhoods with bad schools and teachers who don't care. Educational assistance for minorities fixes a percentage of the problem, but it unwittingly gives breaks to kids who don't need it and leaves other kids who actually need a leg up without the extra boost they need.\n\nI'm sick of the argument that minorities need help because they have a higher instance of poverty and then saying that a low socioeconomic standing has been demonstrably linked to lower test scores and fewer prospects out of school, for secondary education and in the work force. If you want to make the statement that it's actually a person's economic situation that gives them less chance to be a success, then don't take the extra step and say that the best you can do is help all minorities both rich and poor.\n\nIf you want to solve the racial inequality in the United States, invest in the bad neighborhoods. Promote education and workforce training in lower economic areas in a way that's not horrifically half-assed. Don't create initiatives based around race, make it about economics.\n\nDe jure segregation is over and the only reason why minorities are still statistically less likely to succeed is because people who are traditionally poor are less likely to succeed. It's a vicious cycle that has little to do with race. De facto segregation exists because being poor typically means that you're going to stay poor and your kids are also going to be poor. This happens to white families, too. Don't cut them out because it's more politically advantageous to say that you're helping minorities.\n\nWhat investing in the bottom rung of society will do is pull *all* of us up, regardless of race. And isn't that what racial initiatives all about? Promoting equality of opportunity for everyone? I'm not saying that there aren't still racial tensions and that people don't still discriminate in admissions and employment because of race. However, the people who do that would do it regardless of what a person got on their SATs or what degree they have.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Looking For Place To Go On Our Honeymoon, Any Good Suggestions? | I live in New York State and we want to go to some place warm. The AAA lady was not very helpful. | 3 | [
{
"body": "I recently went on a holiday to Phi Phi in Thailand. It's cheap, so you can stay for longer and has some really peaceful resorts as well (give anything on Long Beach a try) but if you like to drink there are also some good bars a short watertaxi trip away (these cost practically nothing).\n\n[I've put a few pics together for you here](http://www.flickr.com/photos/andy206uk/sets/72157623084028841/) so you can get an idea of what it's like.\n\nAlso, within a short distance there are some famous islands used in films such as James Bond and The Beach. Lots of other activities too, from snorkelling to cliff diving and loads more!\n\nI didn't want to leave!",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Ask photography: Which sites do you recommend for online print order fulfilment? | I've had quite a few people ask me if I have a website with prints available for purchase online, and while I do have a website, you can't currently order anything from it. I've used RedBubble.com in the past, but I wasn't too thrilled with them, and so I don't tell anyone I have that site.
What are my other choices for having a 3rd party handle my print/frame orders?
I'm aware of:
http://www.zenfolio.com
http://www.pictage.com
http://www.redbubble.com
http://www.smugmug.com
For my personal printing needs, I've used http://www.mpix.com and frames from http://www.americanframe.com
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!
===Edit====
Just to clarify, I'm looking for a site that I can post images to, and then people can go there and purchase prints and the site will take care of everything required for them to get their prints. | 10 | [
{
"body": "if you have your own website and have lightroom its probably worth investing in something like this: [The Turning Gate Highside Pro](http://lightroom.theturninggate.net/html-galleries/ttg-highslide-gallery-pro/).\n\nit can link right up with fotomoto and paypal.\n\n\nedit: if you don't want to deal with the lightroom gallery and website integration just go straight to http://www.fotomoto.com There is no subscription fee which is nice. They charge you the cost + 15% and you keep the rest of the money.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Part MMO, part Pixel Party, Part Gauntlet homage: Realm of the Mad God | It's a Gauntlet MMO done in 8-bit style. Plays a bit like a shmup. Are you are as excited by those words as I am? Pop in over yonder: http://assemblee.wildshadow.com/ | 15 | [
{
"body": "Man, this is actually really fun once you get going. I hope the developers keep adding in at least some content.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Awesomely fun little game! Got to 7 and had a Wand of Death before a stupid giant killed me :-(\n\n\nName is Voyd ",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Yo dnb... what other kinds of music are you into? | Me: house, techno (acid, not minimal), breaks, old skool rave. Also some rock & indie. I try to give everything a go but that's what I like the most. | 7 | [
{
"body": "* Hip Hop - Lowkey, Jehst etc and the old US - De la Soul, Jurassic 5 etc.\n* Glitch - [edIT](http://www.last.fm/music/edIT) kills this. Check out \"Ants\" and \"Ashtray\".\n* Hardtek - Techno at DNB tempo? Badass.\n* Hardstyle/Hard Trance ([especially](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TTbS4SjaSs&feature=channel) when [stacking it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JL98qQNb4U))\n* Progressive House - Sasha, John Digweed, Bedrock 'n the like.\n* New Orchestral stuff (caning [E.S. Posthumus - Nara](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhh3TSw8ac0) at the mo)\n* UK Garage\n* Breaks ([NSB Radio is good for this](http://www.nsbradio.co.uk/))\n* French Reggae ([Tiken Jah Fakoly](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tiken+jah+fakoly&search_type=&aq=0&oq=tiken+ja))\n\nand a whole load more crap I can't think of right now.\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Programmer aptitude test? Is there a good one out there? | At a recent tech convention someone there mentioned some study, I swear he mentioned MIT. Where they had come up with a good aptitude test to see if a person had an aptitude for programming.
Can anyone point me to this study/test? | 7 | [
{
"body": "Do you enjoy writing thousands of lines of text where a single character out of place renders your entire work unusuable? If yes, programming is for you.\n\nThat's the test I took.",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "You may find this interesting: http://www.cs.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper1.pdf\n\nThey make some pretty interesting claims.\n\n\"We can predict success or failure even before students have had any contact with any programming language with very high accuracy\"",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Have a look at the paper \"The Camel Has Two Humps\". It's research into the reasons for bimodal distributions in computing courses, and may be the paper you're looking for.\n\nhttp://www.cs.mdx.ac.uk/research/PhDArea/saeed/paper1.pdf\n\nTo sum up, people who are internally consistent tend to score really well in programming courses, whether or not they've ever programmed before. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "as a cs teacher, i ask prospective students if they enjoy:\n1. crossword puzzles\n2. sudoku puzzles\n\nif they do, that's good, but then i challenge them:\n\nso you spend 20-30 minutes filling in a little piece of paper that you then throw away, that nobody else sees, that gives no status nor monetary award? that seems kind of dumb... why?\n\nwhen they tell me about the feeling of satisfaction and intrinsic reward that they get by completing a challenge and completing it well, and how time sometimes disappears when they're totally involved in the problem, and how sometimes as soon as they finish one puzzle they start the next, then i know we have a potential candidate...\n\nnot all programmers need to be puzzle people, but many puzzle people seem to have the ability to be programmers.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
DAE get that funny, "my heart just slowed and skipped" feeling? | I don't know what's going on...but I get it about once or twice a day. (for the last week or so)
I know I should see my doctor, but has anyone else had this happen? Did you find out why? I'm getting a bit freaked out. | 62 | [
{
"body": "I had the same thing and did see a doctor and I would assume this is what is also happening to you. It is called a [Premature Ventricular Contraction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premature_ventricular_contraction)\n\nEdit: I'm not saying don't see a doctor. Especially if it is something that is freaking you out.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Sometimes when I play hockey It feels like my heart is beating in my throat for a few seconds. Anyone else get this?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Hi Happy,\n\nI am a doctor. There are several explanations for your feeling. Go and see your doctor. It's probably an innocent thing, but if it isn't, something can be done about it. \n\nF",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I get it when I'm dehydrated. I drink more water and it goes away in a few hours. I had PVCs so bad one night that I was getting one every couple of seconds. Scared the living crap out of me. They actually slowed to about one every couple of minutes only a few minutes after I drank a big glass of water. I haven't noticed one for at least a year now.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What are some of your favorite lyrics about being in love? | Just wondering, haven't seen something like this in the context of the lyrics questions. Anything about a girl/boy, love, etc. | 6 | [
{
"body": "My love for you is like a truck, Berserker\n\nWould you like some making fuck, Berserker\n\nMy love for you is like a rock, Berserker\n\n\n\nThe Berserker is just so obscene\n\nLikes evil people you know what I mean\n\nHe takes your soul and then just rips you apart\n\nHe'll steal your heart\n\n\n\nWould you like to smoke some pot, Berserker\n\nMy love for you is ticking clock, Berserker\n\nWould you like to suck my cock, Berserker\n\nWould you like some making fuck, Berserker\n\n[reference](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRbhNQUZYh0&feature=related)",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I don't believe in an interventionist God \nBut I know, darling, that you do \nBut if I did I would kneel down and ask Him \nNot to intervene when it came to you \nNot to touch a hair on your head \nTo leave you as you are \nAnd if He felt He had to direct you \nThen direct you into my arms \n~~ Nick Cave [Into My Arms](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4gRmvvDsU) \n\nOr else; \n\nI ache for the touch of your lips, dear, \nBut much more for the touch of your whips, dear. \nYou can raise welts \nLike nobody else, \nAs we dance to the masochism tango. \n \nSay our love be a flame, not an ember, \nSay it's me that you want to dismember. \nBlacken my eye, \nSet fire to my tie, \nAs we dance to the masochism tango. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "She's got eyes of the bluest skies\n\nAs if they thought of rain\n\nI hate to look into those eyes\n\nAnd see an ounce of pain",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Would you kill 100,000 people to save 3 million? | It's all based on the idea of utilitarianism vs deontology.
Utilitarainism says that an act is good if it benefits the majority of people, even at the cost of evil being done to the minority.
(The greater good) Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. - Spock
Deontology says that only an action can be judged, and that the end never justifies the means because the end is impossible to determine for sure. So it only sees the killing of one person and not the saving of 10.
edit: Great video from the comments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY | 17 | [
{
"body": "Through inaction or direct action? Letting someone die is easier than killing them. Unless it's someone with the ability to time travel who's going to try to have sex with your wife.\n\nI heard a whooshing noise one day as I sat down to get some work done in my office. I ignored it til I felt an accompanying eddy around my feet. Curious, I uprooted myself and went down the hall. The bedroom light was off, where moments before it had been on. My wife frequently reads herself to sleep, and she has the bad habit of leaving the light on most times. I knocked gently and opened the door to check on her, and nothing appeared amiss. I smiled, and went back to the office.\n\nThree nights later, something similar occurred. Again, I didn't think much of it. This time, I was watching a TV show in the living room, further away from the source of the noise. I felt no eddy, and didn't pause the show to investigate. After it had ended, I got up to get a beer and heard the hushed noises of lovemaking. I didn't knock before entering my bedroom this time.\n\nStraddling an unrecognizable stranger was my wife, moaning and digging her fingernails into his chest. She threw her hair back and, in so doing, spotted me, staring aghast at her.\n\n\"It's not what you think!\" she exclaimed, disentangling herself from the man who'd made a cuckold of me.\n\n\"What else could it be?! FUCK! You could have at least waited until I left the house or went to work or something. How long has this been going on for? And who the fuck-\"\n\n\"He's from the future!\" my wife shouted.\n\n\"The future?\"\n\n\"The future.\" The man stated this with perfect aplomb, rising lithely from the tangled mass of sheets. He looked smug. Like the cat that got the cream. Or deposited it in someone. Or something. The bastard.\n\n\"That doesn't explain a fucking thing. Why are you fucking my wife?\"\n\n\"You are Scott Church, aren't you?\"\n\n\"Yes, but-\"\n\n\"And you're 27 years old, and this is 2009, and you haven't seen a single alien?\"\n\n\"Of course I haven't, you lunatic bastard!\" I was growing impatient, and my blood was boiling. My fists curled into weapons of purpose, and I felt spittle collect in the corners of my mouth like a rabid dog.\n\n\"Exactly.\"\n\nI punched him then, square in the jaw. It broke my heart when I saw my beautiful wife rush to him and cradle him in her bosom. She'd broken my heart, and by damn I hoped I'd broken his jaw.\n\nI hadn't. A lifetime of pacifism hadn't prepared me to punch well or accurately, or elucidated how painful it was to the person delivering the blow. I shook my fist and stuck it between my legs to try to numb the pain.\n\n\"No, no, it's alright Debby, I would have done the same thing.\" The supposed time jockey patted my wife's smooth hand reassuringly, and picked himself up. \"Debby here didn't believe I was from the future at first either, but I proved it to her as I will now prove it to you. In thirty seconds, the lights will blink on and off in this room, and you will hear a caterwaul from a distant place. It will echo out twice before it is cut off abruptly by another cat.\"\n\nThe lights didn't blink. Not really, anyway. They did dip in brightness momentarily, but we have an old house. And the cat did howl, but it was in heat, we'd been hearing it all week. I didn't believe a word of it. Until I looked in that bastard's face, and he winked, before disappearing.\n\n\"What the fuck?!\"\n\n\"Scott, it's OK. He's going back to the future.\"\n\n\"For what, condoms?! Why the fuck would-\" Before I could finish my sentence, he'd returned, carrying a ReFree brand coffeechocosnack. Best before 06 Jun 2134. I know, because he handed it to me to inspect.\n\n\"I figured it would be easier to bring back material evidence. But I can't let you keep that, it could alter the course of history.\" So saying, he snatched it out of my hand and took a bite. The bastard.\n\n\"But why are you fucking my wife?!\"\n\n\"I told you. The aliens. They overrun the planet in 2129, and begin infiltrating the governments of the Third World powers through replicant bots. Once they gained a foothold in the SuperUN, they slipped in legislation regarding the civil rights of those scum. They now have rights to all of Earth's oceans. By using their cephalopodic anatomy, they're able to harvest the resources of the sea, and they're selling whatever they find back to us at exorbitant markups. We've entered a factory system of indentured servitude, and there doesn't seem to be a way out.\"\n\n\"That's shitty and all, but why are you fucking my wife?\"\n\n\"Because I must. Believe you me, Debby is a hellcat. I'd love to go to town on her taut, rounded ass as she's begging me for every inch, right now with you in the room 'cause she just gets me that crazy. But that's not why I do it. I do it for the future of us all. Debby's going to have a child one year from now, and he's going to be the great-great-grandfather of the man who will lead the resistance against the Cephs. He's a brilliant scientist and a hell of a tactician, and we need him to win this war. The Cephs are using their Advanced Resonating Fields on us to ensure that we don't travel back in time to alter the course of their hegemony, but we raided one of their ships. I lost my best friend in that raid, saw him die in my arms. But it's all worth it if this works.\"\n\n\"If she's having a child in a year, couldn't I just fuck her?\"\n\n\"No. You cannot. Romulus ThetanLevel Church doesn't have DNA indicating you as the parent. In fact...\" he paused to look longingly at Debby. The bastard. \"I am.\"\n\n\"So couldn't I just fuck her for the next three months, and then you can have her some?\"\n\n\"Y'know, I hadn't thought about that.\"\n\nAs I exploded with rage I leapt, fingers extended like claws and a low, guttural snarl coming forth. As I reached the point where I would have made impact with his body, it phased out of existence.\n\nI haven't seen him since, but I hear suspicious things all the time. I've lost my job, and I can't sleep beside Debby anymore without crying in the middle of the night. But at least I haven't seen that smug time jockey bastard come around anymore. Debby and I finally talked when the day came that she got pregnant, and we really went over everything. Her feelings, my feelings, what the future's going to be like and what we can do to prepare our family and the world for it. What she'd done with him, and how often... We stayed married, but it was tough. It was real tough.\n\nAnd the worst part was she'd been doing it anal at least half the time.",
"score": 31
},
{
"body": "depends on which group I like better. I wouldn't sacrifice 100,000 fun people for 3 million assholes, but i would sacrafice 100,000 assholes for 3 million fun people.",
"score": 27
},
{
"body": "A much better question is this. Would you kill 2,999,999 people to save 3 million? This question reminds me of this lecture:\r\nhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBdfcR-8hEY",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "I'd say let the 3 million that need saving be tasked to kill the 100,000 so they at least earn it. Plus it's like street justice. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Personally? With a pistol? Probably not. But if I could make the decision from a sheltered control room, probably.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I killed 100,000 men in Reno, which is pretty much the entire male population in Reno based on Wikipedia's population estimate of 217,091, just to watch them die.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "someone asked me if I would be able to kill one baby (bare hands, no weapons) in order to bring world peace. \ni still dont know.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Not enough information.\n\nAs soon as you attempt to answer the question, by necessity, you have to visualise the scenario. As soon as you do this you are not asking the question as posed, you are resolving an dilemma specific to the conceptualised scenario.\n\nWithout a context the question is non-sensical.\n\nErgo, the only logical answer is to state that your question is unanswerable.\n\ni win\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "god damn it. I have not seen one really cogent analysis in this thread of this thought experiment (called the trolley problem, and part of a larger class of thought experiments called lifeboat problems), so now I am doomed to try to post it myself after the thread is already full of witty, karma-worthy wrong posts. And I am not that fucking witty.\n\nThe problem comes down to whether or not you believe that taking an action (such as pushing a button that will immediately and directly cause 100,000 random strangers to die) is somehow morally different than refusing to act in a way that would save their lives (push a button that will prevent their deaths). Get that? One person is pushing a button to kill them, a second person is letting them die by refusing to push a button. are they both murderers, or is just one?\n\nSome people in this thread are arguing that there is a moral difference between the two, but i think this is bullshit. I think that the moral evaluation is not of the action you take (pushing or refusing to push the button) but of the *choice you make* (choosing to have live people or dead people). I think choosing to have dead people when you could be choosing live people through trivial effort on your part is murder. \n\nEverything else in this thread asking who the people are, or about whether or not you would have to actually personally kill all the people is irrelevant to the moral question at the heart of the problem. Even the large numbers that the OP uses in the question are just to manipulate your feelings. The real question is: \"would you act to cause harm if doing so was necessary to prevent a much larger harm? All of answer \"YES!\" to this question every time we get a filling at the dentist... it isn't pleasant, but it is better than the alternative.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
[6] I just went through my full ashtray and picked out all of the blackened yet solid weed pieces and smoked them in my bong, should I feel shame? | The ashtray looks like [this](http://www.furnitureinfashion.net/images/ashtray_0305202.jpg), and I only use it to empty out my pipe. It hasn't been emptied in half a year, and has a considerable collection of weed ash and burnt bits in there. Since I haven't been able to buy weed for five weeks due to living on a shit campus, I finally stooped to what I would imagine is a new low by going through this ash and picking out all of the solid parts that I hadn't smoked properly.
Through my bong to mask some of the bad taste, it has got me pretty high, after long stretches of being dry, so I am not sure how to feel about this.
Can you decide my morals for me please trees? | 41 | [
{
"body": "THC is THC man. Looking back on it, you went from a [0] to a [6] and it cost you nothing but a little dignity.",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "Being dry myself I would say that this was a good idea, had I been given the oppertunity I would have partaken in myself. +1 for the inovative high! ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "yes. you should feel shame.\n\nshame in your government for making you pick through an ashtray for a substance that's milder to the human body than asprin is.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Yeah, I gotta admit I've done that a few times.. Also taken roaches and rolled spliffs out of the leftovers :P\n\nYou do what you gotta do sometimes",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I once smoked a roach that had been sitting in an ashtray in a musty basement for at least 10 years. That ashtray also had rusty razor blades in it. I shit you not. Got me a little high, barely even. It tasted like the basement it was in with a tiny whiff of weed. Definitely not worth it. \n\n[1]",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Dude, I once took a chopstick to my bong pipe, collected all the black gunk, microwaved it dry and smoked that. And I felt no shame. There is no way you should.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Hehe, I find this funny because this is basically what I did this week too. The past two weeks I've been dry since all of my usual's are currently out. I've been smoking the kief built up in my grinder using the hot-knife method but this week I wanted something different so I gathered all my pipe ashtray remnants and loaded them into the vaporizer. Works quite well but there is a bit of an unpleasant charred taste that seems to follow the vapor. I say when you have to make do then you make do :D Peace [6]",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I like to call this \"hard times\". No shame in it at all. When I get down to a few days worth of smoke, I start making the calls. If I find a bag I save whatever I have left in the box where the roaches to every joint I've smoked lives (since the last time I fell on hard times), just waiting for their turn to be torn open and smoked when I have to fill the gap between bags.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
[Request] Help me pick a photo for my photo class | For a free choice still life project, I chose the theme evolution of news media. I have narrowed down my final selection to three images. Could you please toss in your two cents as to which picture I should hand in? I can only adjust brightness/contrast and crop the image, so please don't suggest modifications. Thanks.
http://imgur.com/Tod9C.jpg
http://imgur.com/Z3rHm.jpg
http://imgur.com/X2xZZ.jpg | 13 | [
{
"body": "Definitely the first. Has a definite foreground, midground, and background, and is framed on the top and bottom by two almost vertical lines representing the rule of thirds. Much better than the other two.",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "http://i.imgur.com/Z3rHm.jpg\n\nIs by far the most interesting of the bunch. The other two are busy and unfocused with multiple subjects, which serve to clutter up the shot and draw the eye all over. ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "If you had the opportunity to move the alien a bit more towards the lens on the first one, I'd say that. Since not, I have to say the second one.\n\nWhy? Although the first shot is good, it's too linear imo. And not only that there feels to be no subject, it's \"just a shot\". The second shot however has a focus, as you KNOW the reddit alien is what you were looking at, and everything else being just a tad bit out of focus gives it a good effect. The third is just too flat.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "As a fellow photo student, I have some advice to pass on, if I may.\n\nAesthetics are more important than a message. Make a pretty picture, *then* think about the message you are trying to convey.\n\n\nThat being said, pick the first. The second conveys the message more clearly, but using the reddit alien will require you to explain your message. I had a professor that told me \"As soon as you discover the need to explain your image, you fail.\" He was harsh, but right.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Help with map rotation for a public server | The server is a 32 slot, will only be running original maps. This is not a reddit server, but I see reddit players on it regularly, so I want to see your recommendations.
We are having a small issue with keeping players particularity in the KOTH sawmill into Pipeline change. At other points the wait to get on the server can be fairly long.
HLstats: http://50.hlx.artofwarcentral.com/tf2
Musts for the rotation:
* PL_Badwater
* PL_Goldrush
* CP_Dustbowl
* CP_Egypt
* PL_Hoodoo
* PLR_Pipeline
So lets see some rotations.
P.S. Come in and join us for a game sometime. | 4 | [
{
"body": "I'm generally not a big fan of Pipeline especially the 3rd round where there is no setup time. I don't quit out if Pipeline comes up generally because I don't see tons of turtling on it so the rounds go quick, but then again I've never played it on a 32 player server.\n\nI would say drop it for a week as a trial and see if anything changes. \n\nThe other option might be to add voting in?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What's the single most important thing you've lost to a hard drive crash or other technology failure? | I've lost music during the HD crash of '04. I learned my lesson. The music is not so important as photos or videos. I'm glad I have not lost those.
Here's how I've handled my data since:
* I have a network storage drive that is mirrored.
* Quarterly I copy the contents of the drive to a USB hard drive.
* At the end of each year I burn all my photos and videos to DVD.
Give copies to my mom.
* On a regular basis I upload most of my videos and pics to Flickr. I say most because there are some videos too big for Flickr.
So, what have you lost and how did you change your backups because of this?
**Edit:** Formatting | 7 | [
{
"body": "Everything. I literally lost everything. I'm an idiot who didn't backup.\nLost all of my pictures since 4th grade. Pictures of all my trips to India, Ghana, Spain, all of my pictures from college, all of my hiking trips, class trips, parties, pictures of my friends, exboyfriends, all of my essays, my stories, my poetry. \n\nWhat hurts to have lost the most though, were pictures of the only person I've loved that is no longer in my life. I had all of our msn and aim logs saved, recordings of him singing for me. Meh. I guess those were good things to lose, as its time for me to move on but I really miss hearing his voice sing to me. \n\nEdit: Now I back up everything.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Deckbuilding Contest #2! This week's card is... | **[Cloven Casting](http://magiccards.info/arb/en/86.html)!**
Moving up a few years in Magic's history to the most recent small set, we have an expensive enemy color enchantment with narrow-- but huge-- effects. Is it a bad card? Or is it just difficult to build around?
I also considered Circu, Dimir Lobotomist, Thousand-Year Elixir, and Mishra, Artificer Prodigy, but this seemed like a greater challenge.
Rules for this week:
* EDH is allowed.
* Legacy banlist applies. No Power, sorry!
* **Don't worry about the landbase unless it does something cool or you're playing 4/5 colors.** Otherwise, assume ideal 1/2/3 color manabase, and just fill in manlands and lands with an effect.
And here's this weeks bonus challenge: **You get 1 bonus point (added to your upvotes next Thursday) for each color beyond UR that you use.** For a color to be considered "used," you must have 2 cards that require it, and you must specify that your manabase will support it (if you're playing 3, just call it a B/U/R deck, for example. If you're playing 4/5 colors, show the manabase).
Winner is calculated January 21st, by adding upvotes and bonus points, and they'll be responsible for next week's card and rules. | 7 | [
{
"body": "Here's mine, a grixis deck:\n\nEDIT: In compliance with the rules, I should probably specify that this deck is B/U/R and that the mana base will support it.\n\n Enchantments:\n 4 x Cloven Casting\n\n Instants/Sorceries:\n 4 x Blightning\n 4 x Twincast\n 4 x Lightning Bolt\n 4 x Burst Lightning\n 4 x Earthquake\n 4 x Elemental Appeal\n 2 x Cruel Ultimatum\n\n Creatures:\n 4 x Painter's Servant\n 2 x Djinn Illuminatus\n\n Planeswalkers:\n 2 x Chandra Ablaze\n\nIts a pretty basic burn deck. Painter's Servant is in there to give everything a second color that you aren't playing, making all spells multicolored and covered by Cloven Casting. Whats more fun to copy than cheap burn spells?\n\nI also have some Djinn Illuminatus in there because they're so similar to Cloven Casting, backing up the theme. Lastly, Chandra Ablaze is in there. She could be useful with all the burn spells in this deck.\n\nP.S. WOOO thanks for second place in last week's competition!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "So, I figure that the best way to abuse cloven casting is to cast as many spells as possible, and what better way to cast more spells than to drop a Maelstrom Nexus?\n\n Enchantments (10)\n 3x Maelstrom Nexus\n 3x Cloven Casting\n 4x Trace of Abundance\n\n Creatures: (5)\n 3x Maelstrom Archangel\n 2x Bringer of the Blue Dawn\n\n Other Spells (19)\n 3x Cruel Ultimatum\n 3x Bituminous Blast\n 4x Lightning Helix \n 4x Terminate\n 3x Maelstrom Pulse\n 2x Conflux\n\n Lands (26)\n 4x Reflecting Pool\n 4x Pillar of Paruns\n 8x Vivid (3 Black, 3 Red, 2 Blue)\n 2x Graven Cairns\n 2x Cascade Bluffs\n 2x Sunken Ruins\n 1x Twilight Mire\n 1x Swamp\n 1x Island\n 1x Mountain\n\nThere is no secret combo or anything like that, you just try and not die till you land something stupid and win the game.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I've also started a blog [here](http://secondcitymagic.squarespace.com/) to store our results. This is so that we can keep a record of all of this. I've stored the top5 decks from last week on tappedout.net. I made sure to give credit where credit was due!\n\nI'm looking forward to this week's cool card! Congratulations Trog!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This is my submission. Its a Domain inspired version. It hopes to cloven cast a Last stand for the win. It even has a Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in there to guarantee a victory. I also added a Glittering Wish Silver Bullet Sideboard package.\n\nAlso there is a coalition victory + transguild courier alternate win condition if you have been hated out.\n[tappedout](http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/reddit-w2-acidix/) link.\n\n Enchantment (3)\n 3x Cloven Casting\n \n Sorcery (20)\n 1x Coalition Victory\n 3x Exploding Borders\n 3x Glittering Wish\n 3x Last Stand\n 2x Maelstrom Pulse\n 3x Rampant Growth\n 3x Reap and Sow\n 2x Reborn Hope\n \n Instant (9)\n 3x Harrow\n 3x Lightning Helix\n 3x Terminate\n \n Creature (3)\n 3x Sakura-Tribe Elder\n \n Land (25)\n 8x Forest\n 4x Island\n 3x Mountain\n 3x Plains\n 6x Swamp\n 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth\n \n Sideboard\n 1x Cloven Casting\n 1x Coalition Victory\n 1x Esper Charm\n 1x Hull Breach\n 1x Jund Charm\n 1x Last Stand\n 1x Lightning Helix\n 1x Maelstrom Pulse\n 1x Putrefy\n 1x Reborn Hope\n 1x Slave of Bolas\n 1x Teferi's Moat\n 1x Terminate\n 1x Transguild Courier\n 1x Vindicate",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Easy peel hard boiled eggs? | I am aware freshness is the best way to make an egg easier to peel, but does anyone else have any tricks? Our method is to put x number of eggs into cold water, bring it up almost to a boil, cut the heat, and leave it covered for 20 minutes, then transfer to a fridge. I've also experimented with ice baths before the fridge.
Any find any tips that work for you? | 4 | [
{
"body": "A teaspoon of vinegar in the boiling water with the eggs makes a huge difference. Boil the eggs for about 10 minutes, rinse, peel!",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Is the Red Cross a secular organization? | There's the MASH + symbol, yes, I get that. But their name 'seems' to denote something else. Also there's the Red Crescent, which, if the Red Cross wasn't attached to a religious organization, why would there be the need for a Muslim version? Just wondering - because I'm considering Red Cross or Doctors without Borders for aid assistance to Haiti. | 18 | [
{
"body": "The red crescent was introduced in 1877 by the Ottoman empire, since it felt a red cross would hurt the feelings of its soldiers. There is also a red lion which was used in Iran for a while.\nMore recently the red diamond was proposed as a completely secular icon to replace current ones. It would however have to be entered into the Geneva convention which hasn't happened yet, as the 190 something member states didn't manage to meet on the topic back then.\n\nedit: correction. my bad. it was actually accepted into the federation of red cross and red crescent organizations in 2006. so huzzah i guess. i really don't care. the red cross is not the christian cross in my eyes anyways.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I used to donate to the Red Cross until I received a phone call from a Red Cross volunteer thanking me for my donation. She said *\"God loves you and all of us volunteers at Red Cross continue to pray that you continue to donate.\"* After that I started donating to the local food bank instead.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "The Red Cross *probably* has no connection to the Knights Templar, who had a red cross on their [shields](http://medieval.stormthecastle.com/images/productimages/templarshield), and they *probably* did not engage in secret occult practices later promoted by the [Rosicrucians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosicrucians), whose name comes from the ancient alchemical symbol the [Rosy Cross](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosy_Cross). So, other than the *slight possibility* that the Red Cross is a bunch of occultists drinking virgin's blood out of the Holy Grail in secret Satanic ceremonies, I'd say 'no' they're completely secular.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Reddit, the nice person/waiter post inspired me to write about something that happened to me a few years ago. I hope you enjoy. | In fall 2005, I joined thousands of other freshmen that the University of Illinois in the incredible moment between being released by our parents and the beginning of classes. Amidst the fascinating haze caused by endless beer and beautiful girls, my most memorable moment of the semester and perhaps my whole tenure, was on a bus in the mid afternoon.
I was one of three people on the bus that goes from the 6-pack dorms to the quad, waiting for the bus driver to start the route. These were pre-iPhone days and I didn't bring a book, so I occupied my time by scanning the floors and seats of the bus when all of a sudden I noticed a brown leather wallet wedged between the seat across the aisle and the wall. I hopped on over and opened it up to find a score of twenties, three credit cards, a university ID, social security card, and a driver’s license. The thick wad of greenbacks mocked me and thoughts of my own empty wallet screamed that I should hollow out the contents and ditch the empty carcass on the floor and out of sight. Yet, something compelled me to do otherwise and I hurried up to the driver to see if he recognized the picture of the student, perhaps he just got off the bus and I could catch him. The man shook his head and then informed me that all lost items must be turned over to the bus driver and grabbed the wallet from my hand. I stood there speechless. There was no way I believed this bus driver would just hand over five hundred dollars cash to the station, and I felt cheated that my attempt at a good deed would be in vain, enriching an undeserving person that wasn’t even me. There was nothing for me to do but sit back down and scowl as I watched the driver further postpone the route by inspecting the wallet I had found. After about a minute, he stood up and walked over to ask me a question. Why he asked this I don’t know, but something amazing happened afterwards: “How do you think his name is pronounced?”
He hands me the license and I replied, “Oh, I don’t know. Seer…Seerha Lamdoa?” The driver shrugged his shoulders and turned back towards his seat when a woman in my first seat jumped up.
“That’s my son! Why are you talking about him?”
We both were skeptical, so the driver checked her license. Sure enough, she was Mrs. Lamdoa! I was pretty amazed by the coincidence, but when she went into detail about the whole story, it blew my mind.
Her son Seerha was about to begin his freshman year at the university, and was the first of her children to go to school. She had given him the cash to open a bank account down state, and he was on his way to the bank when he lost his wallet the PREVIOUS day. He had no way of getting food because he couldn’t access his dorm food account and had no additional cash, so he called her the night before and asked for help. Since Mrs. Lamdoa didn’t have a car, she had to take the morning train from Chicago to Champaign and then the bus to give her son enough cash to hold him over. By the time she and I crossed paths, she had already met with him and was on her way back to the train station to head back home. So in some crazy twist of fate, she managed to take the exact same bus that her son lost his wallet on, it had been left untouched for over a day, she was there at the same time that the wallet was found, and she was sitting right across from the person who found it, close enough to be within an earshot when the driver asked the odd question about pronouncing her son’s name. I'll never forget the look on her face as praised me through a stream of tears that I must have been an angel sent from heaven. | 28 | [
{
"body": "> I'll never forget the look on her face as praised me [sic] through a stream of tears that I must have been a __quantum physicist, who was really good at finding wallets.__",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "You're more fortunate than her son. For the rest of your life no one can tell you you're dishonest and selfish. Congratulations to you.",
"score": 6
}
]
|
DAE think of themselves as basically just their own nervous system? | Whenever I visualize myself from an outside perspective, I feel like a pair of eyes, a brain, and a bunch of nerves suspended in a big fleshy container. Am I the only one that feels a sort of detachment/unrelatedness to the rest of my body? | 12 | [
{
"body": "You're basically just an imagination of yourself, as that \"you\" is nothing but electro-chemical interactions that react to the environment around it in combination with access to memories. \n\n\nThe \"you\" that you are referring to, is not your body.\n\n\nThat \"you\" is the consciousness/ conscious observer of your body. \n\n\n\n...\"Here's Tom with the weather.\"",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "We are conditioned to believe that we are separate from the universe - that we exist only within our bag of skin. This is simply not the case. You exist everywhere, at once, and you always have.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
Question for Hockey Fans | Do you have a hard time separating the team you root for with your countries Olympic team? I'm a Devils fan, and an American. My teams goalie, Brodeur, is playing and has played for Team Canada. When the US plays Canada, obviously I want the US to win, but I always find it difficult to hope my NHL goalie fails.
Thoughts?
EDIT: Please state your team and country | 20 | [
{
"body": "Absolutely not. \n\nI want Kessel and Komisarek to go a combined -16 in any game they play Canada. In games not vs Canada, though, sure I'd like to see them do well.",
"score": 23
},
{
"body": "Not really, I'm a Red Wings fan but when its the Olympics I don't care how the Datsyuk, Zetterberg or Lidstrom do as long as Canada is winning",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "i'm a Flames fan, but that won't stop me from wanting to see Kiprusoff get shelled for 10 goals when Canada plays Finland. that being said, i can still cheer for Kipper to shut out every other team",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I'm a Caps fan from the U.S. and most of the team is not American, at least the ones who will play in the olympics. I'll hope they do well but will be pulling for the U.S. when the games are on.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "NHL: Penguins Country: USA\n\nI remember in 2002 when the USA played Canada in the gold medal game, I couldn't choose because Lemieux was playing for canada. At that point, I just decided to sit back and enjoy a terrific game of hockey. When canada won, I was happy.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I'm a Flyers fan from the States. I will root for my home country during the Olympics, but I'll be spending most of my time hoping for no Flyers injuries.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I think hockey transcends patriotism, so no, I don't have a problem rooting for Brodeur (yes, I, too, am a Devils fan) when he plays in the Olympics. Hockey players are the best athletes and the most dedicated to their sport, not the paycheck, so I'm with them regardless which country they come from. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I am fining myself cheering for Canadian players in other divisions now. Or more-so cheering for their health. \n\nFlames fan by choice, team Canada fan by birth. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I'm a Los Angeles Kings and Team USA fan. I don't think this answers your question, but this is what it made me think about.\n\nMy hopes for the Olympics go in this order:\n1. Incredible hockey throughout the tournament.\n2. Team USA wins gold.\n\nSo while I'm cheering for Team USA (mostly because it will be *very* good for hockey in the US if they make the medal round), I'm much more interested in seeing some great games.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I expect Kesler will probably get booed in Vancouver for the duration of the tournament, but as soon as it's over he's back on my favourite players list. My first allegiance is to Canada throughout, but after that I'll be cheering for players rather than teams (so luckily I can find reasons to be happy if Canada, USA, or Sweden win). ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Canada\nCanucks.\n\nFor Luongo, And just simple Pride for my country and life-long support of Hockey Canada i want Canada to win. But because of luongo they're my team. I want The Sedins to do well. Maybe silver or bronze. they already won, so i don't feel too bad about it.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I installed TF2 again because I bought a new video card for 48$ (9500gt) and now I can run the game on FULL graphics. Where do I play? | So now that I can see the game in full glory, where can I join a great server?
I want to play with the same people and chat in the mic and have a blast, but most server I find using the ingame search have 4/5/7 people, the ocassional 18 people.
Is there a Reddit server? I´ve checked Reddit gaming and the servers are typically empty with only 3 people.
HELP! | 6 | [
{
"body": "Pretty much any time after 3:00 PM Central weekdays and all day weekends the RUGC (Reddit Unofficial Gaming Community) servers are jumping.\n\nHead over to [http://redditgaming.com/games.html](http://redditgaming.com/games.html) to see a list of RUGC's servers. Generally, \"Central/East\", \"Midwest Chicago\", and \"Reloaded\" are the three most active, though I've been hearing rumours about a California server going up sometime in the future.",
"score": 6
}
]
|
Does anybody else liken trees to their safe smoking space? | By that I mean, we all have a friend's house (or maybe our own if we're lucky) where we can just spark up and not have to worry that people are going to give us the look of disapproval, we're going to get in trouble, or people are going to think we're idiots. Does anybody else feel like trees is that space on reddit? | 20 | [
{
"body": "There is a look out spot I love to toke up at. It's peaceful, only stoners and hikers go there, and the hikers don't give a fuck. It's awesome. There is a little gazebo to chill in if it's rainy and looking out over the ocean and a bit of your town while blazing is a great way to meditate and just have some alone time.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "yeah, it's somewhere i can say complex stuff, simple stuff or strange stuff and no one will be up in my face about it. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "This place is awesome. One thing that I've always thought was awesome about weed was how much it can make you friends with some instantly. If you're at a huge party and everyone's drinking, it can go either way. Some people turn into loud angry obnoxious drunks. Not there's anything wrong with drinking; I do love me some beer. But if you're at said party, and there's a group of 10 people that scamper off to go some where private and pass a blunt or two, you know you can always start talking to those people and most of the time they'll be cool as shit. Good times.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "hey guys how are you.\n\nOkay so my friend sold me what ended up being pretty good weed. So good, in fact, that I cannot really speak now.\n\nI want somebody to love. (alliteration to song)",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE: Get the urge to jump when they are standing somewhere that's a great height from the ground? | In the back of my head it's like I have a little voice saying, "We need to see what will happen if you jump." And I know what will happen, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "I need to see what'll happen."
The urge is strong enough to make me uncomfortable, but not quite enough to make me actually do it.
| 14 | [
{
"body": "I know what you mean. I have a problem over-visualizing things, so that includes anything really frightening. What really freaks me out is when I'm holding my daughter near an edge looking at something (like, say, at the mall) and I picture someone coming up and grabbing my daughter and just tossing her over the edge. It's enough to make me step back a few feet.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Definitely. Sometimes when I'm driving, I visualize myself swerving into an oncoming truck something and imagining the whole thing - my car being demolished, the airbags deploying, myself being thrown around the car and everything. All I can think is, \"Oh god, I hope I don't do that!\" Then I'm really relieved afterwards.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
IAMA guy that gets less than 5 hours of sleep a night on a regular basis. AMA. | I never personally thought this was all that interesting, but I saw it as a request, so what the hell. I typically sleep about 4-5 hours a night, AMA.
(If anyone actually does respond to this, I will answer, I promise, but it may be this afternoon before I get a chance to). | 23 | [
{
"body": "Don't ever start playing WoW or the number of hours you sleep each night will fall into the negatives",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I am a miserable person with 5-6 hours of sleep. I can get by with 7 hours, feel good with 8, fantastic with 9. But 8-9 never happens unless its the weekend.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "A lot of the commenters seem to be assuming that the OP is doing this as some desperate measure or that he is suffering for it.\n\nThis doesn't sound true, and is entirely possible. The \"default\" amount of sleep one needs varies from person to person, and there are extremes.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I do it too but pay a price. Always tired, dark circles under eyes, dry skin, lack of energy...\r\n\r\nI work a little over 50 hours a week. Coming home and going to bed 4 hours later so I can get my 8 hours isn't something I could see myself doing anytime soon. There's just so much to do...",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Myself and my best friend are like this as well. \n\nAll through high school and college we would get around 3-4 hours of sleep and suffer no ill effects in the morning. We would actually feel worse if we had a normal sleep schedule of 7-9 hours. \n\nMost of the time we spent our time playing videogames on our computers (Starcraft, Total Annihilation), watching movies, etc. My parents didnt care how late I was out at night as long as they knew where I was and my grades stayed as high as they were.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Me again... I am a fellow insomniac. But I go through acute bouts of it, followed by (fingers crossed) months of normal sleeping. Do you every go nights in a row with no sleep, or is it a more chronic thing for you?\n\nWhat do you do to try to combat it? Autogenic training is my best weapon; but not easy to master!",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Ask /r/gaming: New JRPG? | Hey guys, I've been kind of pining for a new game in the style of earlier Final Fantasies, Wild Arms, Kingdom Hearts, etc., but Final Fantasy XII was just too much of a departure, and XIII looks to be even worse, while there doesn't seem to be any other companies making games of that sort at all. I like other styles of RPG, for sure - Dragon Age, The Witcher, Eve Online, Borderlands, etc., all great games that I love - but the turn-based, rich-story 'Final Fantasy style' console RPG seems dead, AFAICT. Can anybody recommend any good, new games in the genre?
I have PS2, DS, Wii, and PC. I *might* consider getting a PS3 **or** an X360, but not super likely - there aren't enough games I'm interested in on either to justify taking away from my PC gaming budget. Of the two, X360 would be the more likely candidate if only because I'm somewhat interested in Forza, but I would really like to know if there are any games on systems I already have. | 5 | [
{
"body": "Just a few greats off the top of my head:\n\n**PC**\n\n* *Septerra Core* - It's old, but if you can find it, very worthwhile. Basically the only PC-based, English language JRPG I know of.\n\n**PS2**\n\n* *Rogue Galaxy* - Scifi, heavily-Final Fantasy influenced gameplay, best graphics on the console\n* *Dark Cloud 2* - Relatively hardcore dungeon crawler with an extensive \"town building\" subgame\n* *Shin Megami Tensei* series games - Wander around fighting evil demons, taming them, and using them to fight bigger evil demons\n* *Persona 4* - Go to high school and make friends during the day, then commit suicide and kill evil demons in your brain at night\n* *Dragon Quest 8* - Story-light, classic-turn-based gaming at its purest\n* *Tales of Legendia* - Real-time but VERY easy to pick up combat, hilarious, lighthearted story that occasionally gets VERY dark and interesting\n* *Tales of the Abyss* - Better graphics than Legendia overall (except the overworld, which is hideous), more annoying main character, more interesting plot, slightly better combat, but also more complicated.\n\n**Wii**\n\n* *Tales of Symphonia* 2 - Sequel to GC hit Tales of Symphonia; less world exploration (you can only move between set points), but it is great in that it basically says \"Hey, that everyone-wins-it's-all-OK-now!\" ending from the last game was bullshit and the world is a lot more complicated than that.\n* *Tales of Symphonia* - The current pinnacle of the Tales series, IMO, but once again, if you don't think you can stand real-time combat, no matter how ludicrously awesome it is, then you'll need to skip it. It's also a GC title, so you'd need GC controller/mem card for Wii.\n* *Baroque* - Moderately well-reviewed demon-slaying fun for the Wii that's fairly traditional and doesn't make TOO much use of wand-waving.\n* *Baten Kaitis* 1 or 2 - Mixture of CCG (collectible card game) and standard FF-style turn based combat in a world of flying people, evil churches, and gemstones that are actually stars (or something like that--the plot is fucking weird). It's also a GC title, so you'd need GC controller/mem card for Wii.\n* *Lord of the Rings: The Third Age* - Brilliant FFX clone that rips off the graphical style, combat, and pacing, but basically makes it into a LotR total conversion about a few warriors following directly behind the Fellowship and cleaning up the messes they leave behind. It's also a GC title, so you'd need GC controller/mem card for Wii.\n* *Skies of Arcadia* - **This is the best game on this list. Literally my favorite RPG of all time. It's a lighthearted tale about a sky pirate (everyone has flying ships) who, along with an awesome cast of helpers, overthrows the evil empire holding everyone down and casts down an ancient evil hidden in the moon, all while stealing and upgrading powerful skyships to take place in ludicrously cool turn based aerial battles alongside more standard normal battles. . . plus the best soundtrack on the sytsem. It's also a GC title, so you'd need GC controller/mem card for Wii.**\n\n**DS**\n\nFuck, there are just too Goddamned many to even think about. Get the old school Final Fantasy remakes (either DS or GBA editions). I think there's one for 1-5, and maybe 6 as well. Get the oldschool Dragon Quest remake trilogy (they have 4 and 5 done, I believe, with 6 upcoming). Get Dragon Quest 9 when you can. Get The World Ends with You and enjoy fashion-based combat. Get most of the Pokemon series. Get Lunar (it doesn't suck THAT badly). Get Magical Starsign and revel in brilliance). Get Golden Sun 1 and 2, and no, I don't give a Goddamn that they're GBA games. This list would never end, so I'll just close it with **Chrono Trigger** motherfucker.\n\n**Xbox 360**\n\n* *Tales of Vesperia* - Hilarious, over-the-top RPG in the Tales series with a somewhat slow-to-boil main plot, but absolutely killer real time combat.\n* *Lost Odyssey* - It's like the guy who made the oldschool FF games wanted to make a 3D RPG but forgot every major advancement in modern gaming! Which actually isn't terrible!\n* *Blue Dragon* - Lighthearted, \"kiddie\" JRPG with deep, albeit usually easy, combat, a fun, but not terribly deep combat, and art that you'll either love or hate from Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball, Chrono Trigger).\n* *Last Remnant* - Heinously complicated, difficult game, that actively punishes you for leveling, doesn't ever let you directly control the fight, has a middling story at best. . . yet is somehow stupendously addictive.\n* *Infinite Undiscovery* - If you run out of other things to play, I guess you could buy this. I haven't run out of things yet, so I haven't bought it. Might never, honestly, but I know one guy who swears by it.\n* *Final Fantasy 13* - Except that you think it will be shit. Well, more copies for me, then!",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon for the 360 stick to the formula. Lost Odyssey is the far superior to Blue Dragon as its characters don't make you want to blow your brains out.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Go get all the dragon quest games for both the DS and PS2. And while your at it... YOU MUST PLAY Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 for PS2. \n\nYou can probably get all 4 games (DQ V for DS, DQVII, Persona 3 FES, and Persona 4 for PS2) for well under 100 bucks.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Get Skies of Arcadia Legends. It's for Gamecube, but it'll work with your Wii. Old, but one of the best JRPGs of all time. OF ALL TIME!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I just finished Eternal Sonata, and despite the terrible English voice acting it was a decently entertaining and thought provoking game. It's put out by Tri-Crescendo, so it plays like a Tri-Ace game; if you're at all familiar with any of the Star Ocean games you should feel right at home. \r\n \r\nIf follows the final hours of Frederic Chopin's life and his journey through a dream world, tying story elements with various scores he's written. It's a bit abstract at first, but it comes together quickly enough, and at no point in the game was I confused about what I was doing or bored with a particularly lengthy area.\r\n \r\nAside from ES, there's Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon (like others have mentioned). Both games are produced by Mistwalker, a studio put together by Hironobu Sakaguchi and older team members from Square. I've never played Blue Dragon, but Lost Odyssey was an awesome throwback to traditional JRPGs.\r\n\r\nEDIT: Oh, by the way, [RPGFan](http://www.rpgfan.com) is a pretty good reasource when looking for an RPG to sink your teeth into.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "**Shadow Hearts: Covenant** on PS2.\n\nSeriously.\n\nIt's amazing.\n\nWW1 era European setting, fighting against some crazy ass paranormal villains with a hero who is being hunted by the Vatican for his ability to fuse the souls of demons to his own. \n\nAlso Gepetto is one of your first party members, and you have to find gay porn to trade to a pair of tailors to get them to make new outfits for Gepetto's doll, which give him new spells to cast. \n\nAlso you get a vampire wrestler who only uses giant blunt objects as weapons and occasionally (based on in-game time) becomes invisible, transforms into a golden bat or transforms into his super hero alter ego, the Grand Papillon (Giant Butterfly). In bat form he attacks super fast but can't use spells. In Grand Papillon form he is super powerful, and in invisible form he's basically unhittable.\n\nAnd then for gameplay you have a ring with a needle that swings around it for every attack, and timing button presses when the needle passes certain zones on the ring increases the power of your attacks. You can modify each character's ring to increase the number of attacks they can do and the power of each attack. You can also combo attacks with other party members for increased damage, but the ring zones are harder to hit. You can choose to hit enemies up into the air and then combo to slam them back into the ground for extra damage. You also have a magic system similar to FF6's espers, where you find \"crests\" that you equip on characters to give them magic spells, and finding certain combinations of crests gives bonus spells to different crests. The environments and graphics are also really cool.\n\nJust play this game, seriously.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "As someone who's knowledge of JRPGs doesn't extend much further than FFVII, I can only recommend the *Golden Sun* series for the GBA (yes I know, but it also works on the DS).\n\nBoth 1 and 2 have compelling stories, simple but fun battle systems and puzzles that aren't hard but are satisfying.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "PS2:\r\n\r\n* Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits\r\n* Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne\r\n* The Shadow Hearts series\r\n* Grandia 2\r\n* Dark Cloud 2\r\n\r\nGCN:\r\n\r\n* Skies of Arcadia: Legends\r\n\r\nDS: \r\n\r\n* Contact\r\n* The Dragon Quest series\r\n* Etrian Odyssey\r\n* Phantasy Star Zero\r\n\r\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I picked up [Nostalgia](http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/nostalgia?q=nostalgia) for DS and I've been enjoying it quite a bit. It's got the classic Final Fantasy style gameplay, but it's set on an alternate 19th century earth rather than a fantasy world. And, much like the also-great Skies of Arcadia, you're handed an airship within a couple hours of starting the game, and you get to engage in semi-tactical air battles along with the regular land-based combat.\r\n\r\nThe only problem is that the plot is pretty standard stuff. And that's really my biggest complaint with JRPGs these days - it seems like the plots (and characters within them) are completely rote and stagnant.\r\n\r\nAs a side-thread to this one, can anyone recommend any JRPGs that have actually interesting and unique plots? Difficulty: I dislike \"tactics\" games, so no SRPGs unless they are *truly* exceptional.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
My SO has Depression/Seasonal Depression; Any Words of Wisdom?? | Hello all.
My SO has depression and seasonal depression. He's been having a lot of trouble sleeping (although he's very tired), lots of anxiety, and just generally down about things. He's a wonderful boyfriend and is always kind and considerate and has never lashed out at me about his depression. I just want to be able to try and help him.
Any at home remedies you guys would recommend?
He doesn't like how medications make him feel. I've encouraged him to start taking a multivitamin but is there anything else?
I've read the Omega-3 fatty acids tend to help. We don't really have a lot of money (poor 20-somethings) so the cheaper the better.
Thanks Reddit!
**EDIT:** Thanks so much for your advice! There some really great stuff here that we'll try. The hardest part will be the exercise. I don't know how comfortable either of us are walking around the neighborhood after 9, plus it's so cold! Thanks again! | 18 | [
{
"body": "Try doing Vitamin D supplements everyday. She is probably not getting very much sunlight and I've heard it could help with depression (among other things).\n\n",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Seasonal Depression may be caused by a vitamin D deficiency. Have him try taking some vit d supplements. It couldn't hurt him and is worth a try.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Just as if not more important than medication is counseling - is he getting help? Exercise is also supposed to help a lot. Multivitamins are a good idea, but what I found out in my research is that a high protein, low carb diet can greatly improve mental health. It might help.\n\nProps to you for sticking with him through thick and thin. I'm lucky that my girlfriend feels the same way, although when I went too long without getting help she had to draw the line =P\n\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I've always had seasonal depression. I've tried all kinds of medication and counseling and light therapy gives me migraines. The only thing that I've really found that helps it is spending a lot of time outdoors and exercise. Tell him to find some old people and shovel their driveways! Sometimes going to a tanning place helps if I'm especially lethargic. I also like audio books for times when I don't want to be bothered by depressed idle thoughts, this is also good if this is what is keeping him from sleep. \n\nI've tried so many different depression medications, some of them worked partially, but all of them had very bad side effects. They work well for some people, but I just can't recommend it. Especially if he's anything like me, the main depression will have passed before he's out of the adjustment period. I would recommend that he ask his doctor about anti-anxiety pills, but like pain killers, it is rare for a doctor to prescribe them. Smoking weed can also help, giving him a break from being depressed during, and stabilizing his mood after, but if he's not getting up and about with the outdoors or exercise that can probably hurt more than help.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "About your edit comment about exercising in the cold and dark - there's alot of other ways to get some exercise, especially to a depressed person where \"exercising\" means not laying in bed. Pushing a shopping cart around a grocery store, housework (I like vacuuming and scrubbing the tub), walking up steps all count. If there's two of you, there's even more stuff - buy a skip it and try to beat each other's record, or get a copy of some old exercise videos and make fun of them while you do it, or play twister together. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Update: "Sad Shiksa" finally moved on... I'm very sad, but I appreciate all your advice. | A while ago I submitted a request for [advice about a guy that I very dearly love, but who couldn't commit to me for religious/family reasons.](http://www.reddit.com/r/relationship_advice/comments/aatf8/he_cant_commit_to_me_due_to_religious_and_family/)
To update you, we had a lot of talks about the specific issues at hand and as much as I adore him, I admitted that even if I did convert and his parents were willing to accept my conversion, I don't really feel comfortable with the strict Orthodox upbringing and beliefs he envisions for any children we would have in the future. He also apologized for not being more upfront in the beginning of the relationship; he said he initially didn't expect to fall in love with me or our relationship getting as serious as it did.
I still really love him with all my heart and secretly hope that we'll end up together one day. But I realized (thanks mainly to your advice) that things would only get worse between us the longer this carried on and I didnt want the best relationship I've ever had to end in bitterness and resentment.
I'm hanging in there. Could use an Internet hug. | 11 | [
{
"body": "Sorry to hear it had to come to that for you. Really hope you feel better about it all but I can assure you when you finaly do have a child they will consider it a kindness.\r\n\r\nChin up :-)",
"score": 6
}
]
|
What is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you? | Here's mine. I had to do a project freshman year of college. I needed to make a video where I dressed like Karl Marx, and it was 10 o'clock pm the night before it was due, and I had no costume. I was in the lobby of my dorm, and all of the sudden this attractive girl walks down the stairs wearing a karl marx beard from a party store. It was actually sold as "Karl Marx beard". She let me borrow it. | 234 | [
{
"body": "I was playing poker at the casino, using my fake ID, as I did almost every night for the past few years. I had a system and always stuck to it. I usually tried to show up around 11-12pm, this way I could spot the table with the most action and the drunkest players. Last call at the casino was at 1am and as players got tired and sober there poker got progressively bad. This particular night I found the softest table I had sat at in a long time. However, after a few insanely bad beats I had gone through my nightly max. Again I NEVER went to the ATM, it’s just a good rule to have. But I could not leave this table, so I broke the rule this one time. I went back to the table and continued to play. Unfortunately, I was having the same luck. Finally, as I was running low on chips I flopped a straight. I had a bet and a re-raise in front of me. I went all in and got 4 callers! The turn came and gave me a royal flush! (not the lucky part) I sat with a grin on my face as the action continued. The card were flipped over and one of the guys had aces full of jacks. The table went NUTS! In the casino there was a special going on called a “Bad Beat” jackpot. Since I beat this guy’s aces full of jacks we won the jackpot! (not the lucky part) The jackpot was over $35,000 dollars and about $10,000 of that was coming to me! Well as you may know, when you win this kind of money the casino is required to take down your information. Remember I was in the casino using a FAKE ID. I started to sweat a little as the manager began collecting IDs. Then it dawned on me that it was 2AM, September 5th. It was officially my 21rst birthday and I was playing legally for the last 2 hours! The manager gave me a bit of smile and the table got a big kick out of it. I had class a 7am and I walked around campus all day with a roll of $100s stuffed in my pocket. Great 21rst!\n\nEDIT: Im ashamed to say that your heckling got the best of me and I left work just to find this picture: \n\n<a href=\"http://imgur.com/IeRsB.jpg\" title=\"Hosted by imgur.com\">http://imgur.com/IeRsB.jpg</a>\n\nhttp://imgur.com/gWxE3.jpg\n\nFirst time I have used imgur so I hope one of these links work\n\nAlso, before you jump down my back again, Im hodling just under 8K in all hundred. I won just under 10K less dealer tip 800 less enough to pad my poker roll without my parent's noticing.\n",
"score": 378
},
{
"body": "In the summer of 97 I started studying at a university here in Sweden. I was 20, had never been drunk and was pretty convinced I was the last virgin(I'm male) on campus, if not Sweden. I couldn't pick up a girl if my life depended on it. One weekend, I'm at the local student pub mastering being drunk.\nSuddenly, a tap on the shoulder. I stare straight into a pair of blue eyes. A girl! \nShe's asking if I'm having fun, what do I study, favorite music, do I live in the student area? \nI get incredibly nervous. Sweating, not knowing what to say, just answering her questions with Yeah, math, Guns n Roses, yeah....Don't ask her one single question back. \nChit chat, all her. Then: \n“I have some Guns n Roses cd's at my place. Wanna go listen? Musics crap here anyway” she says.\n“Yeah, I like Guns n Roses” is my answer. Not only virgin, but a lobotomized virgin as well. Super!\nShe shared a flat with a female friend. Her friend was out partying, “It will just be you and me”\nSo...we're sitting listening to GnR on her sofa. She's trying to hold some form of normal conversation, and I'm sure I'm growing creepier and creepier for every minutes that passes by. I think she's about to kick me out. Instead.\n“Aren't you gonna kiss me?”\n“...Ok”\nGame on! First base, second base, third base. But wait. Erectile dysfunction. So that's what it feels like. She's on her knees with Mr Limpy, and I'm on the sofa cursing the day I was born.\nThe dreaded “It happens to a lot of guys” floats by. Kill me. Kill me now.\nKey in lock. Door opens. Roommates home. Craaaaaap! \n“You home!?” Roommate calls.\nHere starts the magic.\n\nBlue Eyes just says “Yeah!”. Roommate walks into living room. “I can't believe I couldn't hook up tonight. Guys are...oh hi!”\nI'm on the sofa, pants at my ankles. Blue Eyes still hovering around Mr Limpy.\n“Hi” I say. Sometimes panic and coolness looks the same.\nAnd so starts the weirdest discussion and situation I have ever heard or been involved in. Two girls discussing if Roommate should leave or join forces with Blue Eyes to battle Mr Limpy, who at hearing this, gets stiff as a board.\n“Oh hello!” says Roommate and starts off my first and only threesome. Two girls tag teaming me, more like. They didn't kiss each other or anything. \nI was complete crap in the beginning, but had two great teachers and had the basics down by morning. How's that for lucky?\n\ntl;dr Virgin being a complete failure, gets sexually tag teamed by two girls.\n\nEdit. Translation error.",
"score": 339
},
{
"body": "I overslept for work & missed the 8:30 ferry into Manhattan from Staten Island on 9/11/01. If I had caught it, I would have been directly under the towers when the 2nd plane hit & subway service was stopped. Instead I just watched it all happen from the safety of the 9 am ferry. ",
"score": 218
},
{
"body": "I just moved into my room sophomore year and I just got back from the bank with ten $20 bills and I was bored. I saw a sharpie on the table and started writing my name on them, for no reason in particular. A month later I went to taco bell with some friends and the order came to $4.97, I handed him a 20 and he gave me 3 cents in change. He claimed I gave him a 5 I told him he was wrong. I handed him my ID and told him to look in the drawer. Awesome.",
"score": 197
},
{
"body": "I was riding my motorcycle on the expressway when I got an itch on my nose. I took my hand off the throttle to scratch it.\n\n\nNot more then 2 seconds later a car from the left lane and the lane to my right both decided to go in to my lane in an overly aggressive manner. They slammed in to each other and the car from the left lane went pinging off the center barrier and back in to my lane.\n\n\n\nIf I hadn't taken my hand off the throttle I would of been right behind their accident and probably nailed one of the cars myself.\n\n\n\nI've never been happier to have an itchy nose.",
"score": 189
},
{
"body": "My family and I were driving through Buffalo, WY in the winter. We were towing a large travel trailer (24' I think) behind us and it was night.\r\n\r\nWe came down a hill that had 2 canyons at the bottom and the highway crossed them both. There was ice on the first bridge and dad had the truck on cruise control. The automatic transmission downshifted at the bottom of the hill, directly on the ice.\r\n\r\nThe sudden downshift/acceleration broke the rear end free and we started fishtailing before diving off the road. The trailer flipped over and the frame sheared off. The trailer splayed open like a stomped cardboard box but the frame stayed attached to the truck, upsidedown.\r\n\r\nWe finally stopped about 20 feet from the next canyon. If the trailer hadn't flipped over and created extra drag we would have gone over the edge of the next canyon, which was pretty deep.\r\n\r\nFootnote: I had my kitty in his kennel in the trailer and the impact popped the kennel door open. When we went to look at the wreckage, kitty was gone. \r\n\r\nThere was a light dusting of snow so I grabbed a flashlight and started making circles around the wreck. I eventually found his tracks and followed him nearly a mile up the road where he was hiding in a culvert, unhurt. So it's' a double lucky story :)",
"score": 171
},
{
"body": "Not me but my friend:\n\nHe met this girl in a bar, which he never does and decides to see her again. Well the date goes well and he gets lucky.\n\nThey are cuddling afterwards and she rests her head on his chest and notices an irregular heartbeat. This girl is a nurse and demands he go to the emergency room immediately.\n\nThey made him have major heary surgury right then and said in a day he would have died. He didn't even know anything was up.",
"score": 161
},
{
"body": "From the time I was 8 years old until I was 10, after church we'd go to the store my grandma was working at I would check the coin return on the arcade games and I'll be damned if I didn't always find a quarter. After a while I started to believe I was the luckiest kid in the world. The summer of '89 I even won the raffle her store had for a badass bmx bike. The next day, my bmx bike had been stolen. That was the beginning of the end. I was no longer the luckiest person in the world but the quarters still showed up every Sunday and soon forgot about the bike and I was back on top. Then it happened. \n\n\nShortly before the Halloween of '89 I was sneaking about and I over heard my mom on the phone. *\"Yeah, she puts quarters in there right before we get to the store\"* My mom likes to say I stared at her motionless for two minutes but it was more like 45. Two months before my 10th birthday. Crushed. I went from being the luckiest person in the world to never believing in luck again. Cruel, cruel world. ",
"score": 148
},
{
"body": "I'm a stand-up comic. I had a gig cancelled once, and immediately got a phone call for another one. My friend took $20 from me and threw it out the window. Just afterward, I was putting on a jacket I hadn't worn in a while, and found $20 in my pocket. Life always seems to balance out for me.",
"score": 111
},
{
"body": "I bought a used car in 2006 and paid roughly $3500. In 2007, I was rear ended buy a guy delivering for Papa Johns (I was in my Jimmy Johns delivery uniform so it looked like a battle of fast food drivers on the side of the road). My car was declared totaled and his insurance gave me a check for about $4000. However, I found a body shop that repaired everything for about a grand so I was able to keep my car, pay it off and take the rest to Europe.\n\nAt the end of 2008 a drunk man dressed as Santa Clause pulled into the driveway my car was parked in and, in an attempt to back out, ran over its hood. The poor car was totaled again, and this time it wasn't even on the road. His insurance paid up and I was awarded another $3700. Since I had just moved to a big city and didn't really need a car, I pocketed every cent, bought a new Nikon camera and went to New Zealand. I still have money left over and I have a special place in my heart for insurance companies. \n\n",
"score": 79
},
{
"body": "years ago, i used to cash my paychecks and keep the money on me. i was working a shit job at the time so it wasn't *that* much, but still.\n\ni went to go see my girlfriend one friday night after getting paid. we hung out, did our thing... had a good time. everything was great until it was time to go.\n\ni got in my car, started it up, and began driving like i normally would. i noticed my internal lights were dimmer than they normally were. i didn't think much of it.\n\na couple miles later, i noticed them getting dimmer, along with my headlights. i was losing power in acceleration. everything about my car was dying all at once. \n\nmy alternator took a shit. i was stranded on the side of the road at 2AM in the middle of nowhere. to make a long story shorter than it could be, i ended up getting jumps by four different people; one of which confessed to have just stolen the truck. wtf in itself.\n\ni ended up getting about 10 blocks from my house when it died for the last time. by now, the sun was coming up, i was super tired, and was in walking distance to my house. i pushed the car into the closest parking lot and walked across the street to the convenience store.\n\ninside, i grabbed myself some water and some cigarettes, paid, and left.\n\nlet the unlucky begin.\n\ni was wearing some cargo shorts with pockets off on the side under the normal pockets. when i wore these, i always put my wallet into the left side pocket. i was about 3/4 of the way back to the house when my left hand grazed it just right for me to take notice that something was wrong. my wallet wasn't there.\n\ni threw down my water and *ran* as fast as i could. i was living with my mom at the time. i bolted ass inside, ran up the stairs, banged on her bedroom door and demanded her keys to her car to drive back. \n\ni got back to the station and frantically looked around. i accused the clerks on duty of stealing my wallet. i was confident i had left my wallet on the counter. that was the only explanation. i called the police and filed a report. my wallet was gone along with my license, social security card, and full paycheck. fffffffuuuuuuuuuuu\n\nfast forward to sunday. i'm sitting upstairs in my room, drowning my sorrows in porn when the doorbell rang. i stopped fapping just in case and thought about everything bad that would make my raging teen hard-on subside. \n\nsure enough, my mom called me down. i couldn't think of anyone that would be coming over as usually, anyone i knew would let their coming-over be known before doing so. i ran *every* possibility through my head while walking down the stairs except the one that mattered most at the time.\n\nhe was an older, frail black gentleman with a fedora, kempt beard, and warm smile. \n\n\"are you so-and-so?\", he asked? \n\n\"yes sir, i am. how may i help you?\" \n\n\"i found this in the parking lot up the road yesterday. it belongs to you. i came by yesterday, but no one was home.\"\n\nit was my wallet. i opened it and nothing was missing. all money inside. license and s.s. card. everything. \n\ni wrapped my arms around him in joy and picked him up, thanking him.\n\ni pulled out $75 to give him what i felt was a due reward. he declined and wished me a good day. i wasn't having any part of that. i insisted.\n\nas i'm walking towards him with the money extended to him, telling him to take it, he kept assuring me it was mine, i should keep it, and to have a good day.\n\nhe got back into his vehicle, started the engine, mouthed 'may god bless you', smiled, and drove off.\n\ni consider that to be the luckiest day of my life.",
"score": 72
},
{
"body": "I got arrested+convicted for armed robbery. Not so lucky you say? I ended up spending ~64 months in prison for it, got my act together, and today I am in a Ph.D program for Electrical Engineering at an Ivy League university. Had I not gotten in the amount of trouble I did, I would likely have wasted my life.",
"score": 68
},
{
"body": "I don't think this was my absolute luckiest, but it was pretty lucky:\r\nI was at the boardwalk with one of my friends when I was 13. We were at an arcade and each only had $5 to play games with. Fortunately this was before every game cost more than a quarter, so we had a good time. Eventually we ran out and started heading out of the arcade. On the way out I stopped at the change machine and made some lame joke about being The Fonz and then hit the top of it with my fist. My failed attempt at humor was quickly punctuated with shock as the machine then proceeded to erratically dispenense about $10 in quarters.",
"score": 55
},
{
"body": "When I was nineteen years old, I bought myself a train ticket and left home. \n\nI had $20, a suitcase and a backpack, and got on a train bound for California, where I would stay with a guy I'd met on the Net and find work as a writer. I was leaving a crummy home situation and crummy people, and was very relieved to be going going gone, though I was little prepared for what I was getting into. \n\nNo sooner had I taken my seat than the hand of the old guy next to me landed caressingly on my thigh. I got up immediately, left without looking back, and didn't return to my seat for the rest of the trip: discouraged, I went down to the smoking car and sat working my way through the carton of Marlboros I'd brought with me.\n\nI was there for maybe three hours when the next Romeo showed up, this time a big friendly black guy who offered to buy me a drink. I was thinking Pepsi and was thirsty as hell, so I agreed: when he came back, I saw he had a little bottle of Old Granddad. Still, I was raised to be polite, and the guy seemed cool, so I drank it anyway. (Happily it didn't affect me much, I had a strong alcohol tolerance in those days.)\n\nHe asked me to come into the bathroom with him: I was under the impression somehow that he had some weed and wanted to sell, so I went with him. We get in the bathroom, he shuts the door and walks up to me, reaches out and tries to get me into an embrace.\n\nWell, now I was totally dejected and pissed. \"No, no, **no**,\" I growled, struggling free of him and out the door again. I left the bathroom, going straight to the lounge car. He didn't come after me, and eventually I fell asleep there, a dumbass naive small town female sleeping there in public with all my stuff around me. \n\nWhen I woke up, Utah was scrolling past outside the windows, none of my shit was stolen and I was hungry as hell. I bathed (sort of) in the bathroom sink, got dressed and went to have a breakfast cigarette in the smoking car.\n\nAbout halfway through that day, somewhere in Arizona I think, the train stopped at a station and this guy got on. He was dressed 'business casual', had short black hair and a mustache, and was carrying a briefcase: he glanced around the car, saw me, and walked over to sit next to me. \n\nI didn't want to talk. I'd been there one day and had been molested twice. I'd left home because my stepdad was a grabber for Christ's sake, I didn't want to talk. I looked out the window next to me and smoked.\n\nAfter a couple of minutes though, the guy started talking to me. At first I barely responded, but he kept at it and eventually I was drawn into a conversation with him. He was a Pepsi machine salesman, he said: took a binder from his briefcase and showed me all these pictures of Pepsi machines with all their features. Amused, I sat talking to him for about half an hour.\n\nI made some comment, apologizing probably for how I looked, and he asked me if I'd like to take a shower. I just looked at him.\nHe took out his room key and held it out to me. \"Go ahead,\" he said, and told me where his room was. \"Lock the door behind you, I won't bother you.\" \n\nI was feeling really wary by that point, but he seemed sincere, so I took the key and went to get a shower. While there, I saw that he had left all of his stuff in the room, along with an expensive-looking watch prominently placed on a small table beside the shower. \n\n*This is weird*, I thought. *I don't know who's more of a mark, me or this guy*. \n\nOf course I didn't disturb anything in the room, I just got my shower (unmolested), and went back to where he was waiting feeling like a billion bucks. I thanked him profusely and gave him back his key, and we talked for a while: he asked me back to his room, and I trusted him enough by then that I went. \n\nThere were two beds in the room: he told me that he would be meeting a companion at a later stop, so if I wanted somewhere to sleep I could use the spare. We talked for a long time, joked with each other like old friends: by that night we were cracking sex jokes about the people down in the smoking car. He was awesomely funny and completely cool. \n\nHe bought me dinner (over my protests), and I ate a nice chicken dinner that night; he let me sleep there at the end of the day, and never made a move on me or touched me. His kindness was unreal, and I was very grateful.\n\nHe wouldn't let me photograph him for some reason, but he took a picture of me next to the train station sign in Albuquerque. I still have the picture. \n\nHe gave me a business card when we parted: he got off at the stop before mine. (His 'companion' never showed up.) \n\n\"Let me know how it turns out,\" he said, and I kept that card close for two years: sadly, I lost it eventually when I accidentally left my wallet on top of the car while leaving a swap meet. There are few things in my life I have regretted losing more than that card: his name was M-something M-something, but I can't remember that either. \n\nI still can't quite believe how lucky I was to cross paths with that guy. It's hard to overstate how naive I really was -- I had just left a small town with a population of 700, had never really been on my own before, and was not very streetwise. I don't know what else could have gone wrong if he hadn't intervened, I was sleeping out in the lounge car and apparently trains are pervert meccas. \n\n**tl:dr--**\n\nI moved 2000 miles at nineteen, alone, and had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat on the train. I was saved by the greatest Pepsi machine salesman of all time.\n",
"score": 43
},
{
"body": "I got into a pretty crappy accident 2 years ago. I never heard a horn and she never hit the breaks. But I saw a white flash out of the corner of my eye going through the intersection and gunned it. That probably kept the bitch that blew the light from hitting me in the front of the car instead of the back.\n\n[Pic of the carnage](http://www.flickr.com/photos/fantasysage/2163034797/in/set-72157603624293942/)",
"score": 39
},
{
"body": "I was born two months premature when my mom's appendix ruptured and I rushed out as a C-section. I was taken away form my mother on the spot ant placed into the ICU. My parents were told I would not survive 24 hours. After that, they were told I would not survive a week. My mom didn't actually get to see me until two days after I was born, and even then it was a videotape of me that my dad took when he first saw me, while I was in the ICU. The first time I was held by my parents was two weeks after my birth. I'm 19 now, and that makes me feel very lucky.",
"score": 31
},
{
"body": "I bought real estate in Arizona in 2004 and sold it in 2007. I was also on the hook for three grand on a spec home I had built in 2007 for $257k. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, I refused to buy the home and lost my three grand. Last time I looked the place had sold for $112k. Best three grand I ever lost.",
"score": 31
},
{
"body": "Once I looked through a crack in a door to see if a female friend was awake and she was standing there completely naked, but she didn't notice me.",
"score": 29
},
{
"body": "I was swapped at birth with another baby. I was in the hospital car park being carried to some strange family's car when a nurse realised the mix up. Some days it seems luckier than others that the swap didn't go ahead...",
"score": 28
},
{
"body": "In 4th grade the big school project was to do a report on someone famous, only it wasn't a paper report but a 5 minute presentation on camera - the gag was to present the report as if you were the person. Kids came in dressed up as their subject but I completely forgot all about doing the report. Luckily I preemptively signed up as Stan Lee as my subject when the teacher first told us the project.\n\nLuckily no one had a clue who Stan Lee was, really neither did I - other than the fact that he's responsible for Marvel Comics, so I winged it with complete BS. To make this more clear I was citing fake names and dates that I put on a sheet of paper while others were doing their presentations, as well as stories of how I came up with comic book characters.\n\nEveryone believed it and I got an A. Had the teacher fact checked my work I would have failed instantly.\n\nTL;DR: Completely forgot about a video presentation in 4th grade, made up all my facts, luckily no one knew who I was presenting anyway.",
"score": 28
},
{
"body": "This is going to sound corny, but it's meeting my wife. I met her in 2003 and we started dating soon after that. We were married in 2005. She literally saved my life. ",
"score": 24
},
{
"body": "I was able to transfer from a junior college to a 4 year university. The following quarter, admission was closed to new incoming students due to overcrowding.\r\n\r\nMy parents divorced (unlucky) a week before I was to file for financial aid. Because of the amount of child support my dad had to pay, I was eligible for grants for my education.\r\n\r\nI was able to find a full-time job when the economy crashed, and was able to sustain my finances until graduated. I graduated college with 12 cents in my bank account.\r\n\r\nThe quarter following graduation is when the budget cuts and prices went up 20% for tuition. I would not have been able to afford college.\r\n\r\nThen, in what appears to be one of the worst economic tundras since the 1930's, I was able to find gainful employment and am able to be thankful for my good fortune every single day.\r\n\r\nLuck +5\r\n\r\n\r\nEDIT: For \"dirty\" 30's and .12 cents.",
"score": 22
},
{
"body": "I won $100 in a raffle in 8th grade.\n\nThat's seriously the luckiest thing...\n\nOh wait, I was born white and in America.",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "Had just gotten my car back from some transmission repairs, and was fixing some things the mechanic got wrong (wires crossed and some other minor things). I take it out to drive down the road and test my fixes, and as I'm coming around a corner there is this bigass van in my lane.\n\nMy only options were to swerve to the right and go headfirst into a ditch, or swerve to the left and go sideways into a ditch. I swerve left. The tires on my car lose traction on a sandbank and my rear flips around, right at the time I hit a tree. The tree breaks, but provided enough force to start my car flipping along the side. Unfortunately at this time, my windows were down and everything I had was going flying around and out.\n\nAfter what appeared to be about 2 flips, and 3 more trees, my car lands on the roof, with me passed out. I wake up somewhere in the range of 5 - 10 minutes later, blood on the airbag, and I'm somehow leaning in the passenger seat with my seatbelt still on, upside down. I pull it off and start trying to assess my situation.\n\nPassenger side window opening has half a tree through it, and I couldn't get it to budge. Driver side window has probably 2\" to 3\", and has been severed in half, so no way I could get through it. I look to the back of my car and notice the hatch has survived intact, though cracked, so I start crawling my way back there and kick out the window to crawl out.\n\nI look around and find that not only did the people who were in my lane not stop, nobody is stopping. I had to walk about 4 miles back home, continually spitting blood out all the time, cause nobody would stop for me (and unfortunately I lived in a rural area at the time, so houses were far and few between, and those I tried to get help from were all not at home at the time).\n\nEventually I get home, ambulance and police are called and we all go back there. I get taken to the hospital while a tow truck comes to get the car. I later get told that there were *numerous* questions of \"Did this person survive?\", because the only thing holding the car up from coming down completely on me was a mostly shattered A-Frame from the driver side door.\n\nAnd, I walked out of it all with a few scratches.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "I was at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson NJ riding the roller-coaster \"Nitro\" when on one of the hills, out of the pocket of the passenger in front of me, pops his cell phone. In nearly zero gravity I watched the phone, a Motorola razor I specifically remember, slowly float in front of my face. It opened, spun slowly, and just flew there for what seemed like an eternity. I just calmly reached out and grabbed the thing out the air and proceeded to cackle with laughter the rest of the ride.\n\n The owner of the phone was mightily suprised when I tapped him on the shoulder and handed it back.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "It is actually the luckiest AND the unluckiest story. I opened a Powerade and won the grand prize of a trip to the Sydney Olympics... one month after the Olympics were over.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "i met the woman of my dreams, the one I'm going to marry... randomly in a bar one afternoon while I was posting up flyers for an art show I was hosting.\n\nthat's the luckiest thing that ever happened to me...",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "I somehow rolled my friend's car off of a bridge upside down into a creek that was 20 feet below and walked away with only a little bit of blood on my hands from broken glass. 16 years old of course. When my dad called the impound lot asking if he could check out the totaled car, the owner/toe truck driver assumed he would be meeting a father who had just lost his son (judging by how the car and the crash scene had looked). He was pretty shocked when I showed up too and introduced myself as that dumb kid. ",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "The other day I was at Walgreens and I locked my keys in my car. As I was making my exasperated plea to the heavens this woman pulled in next to me, asked me what was wrong, pulled out her cellphone and proceeded to call AAA and get someone out there to open the door for me. She stood outside with me for half an hour and talked while we waited for the AAA guy to come. I offered her money but she refused, when all was said and done I gave her a hug and thanked her profusely. She just told me to \"pass it on\".",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "One time I was at a value villiage, it's a used clothing store. I was buying a jacket for a halloween costume and I found this classy tweed jacket. While I was trying it on I found 20 dollars in the inside pocket. Some would say that the jacket...\r\n-*takes off sunglasses*-\r\nPaid for itself.\r\nYEAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "when I enlisted, sitting at MEPS, the career guy placing me into a job make a phone call and got me put into a field that was already full.\r\n\r\n11 years later i'm still in that career field as a contractor. ",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "In high school we had a group presentation on Anglo-saxon and Middle English poetry. We were unprepared. It was worth 15% of our total mark (which was a lot for high school). The night before our presentation my two partners and I are scrambling to figure out what to do. We toss together a presentation. It has all the information, but really it's just us standing up at the front talking. It was boring. We didn't know how we were going to pull it off.\n\nThe next day, the day of the presentation, I get a call from one of my group members informing me that a pipe had frozen in the boiler at school, and it was cancelled that day.\n\nWe took advantage of the extra day and polished up our presentation thanking our lucky stars and vowing to celebrate if school was closed again tomorrow. Well, the frozen pipe flooded the basement so we got the whole week off school, followed by march break.\n\nWhen we finally did give our presentation, we even managed to secure a 100%.\n\nIn the end, I managed to avoid a hard earned lesson on procrastination thanks to some cosmic intervention.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "When I was in high school I was hooked on cocaine. I had a delivery service that brought it straight to my building, and they always gave me an extra bag if they were late. Great service; great way to get really hooked. \n\nSo one night they don't answer the phone and I really really really really really really really really really need a fix (perhaps you know how that is). My standby guy was also not reachable, so I do the stupidest, most desperate thing I could: I go to [Washington Square Park](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Square_Park \"You go here when you want to buy shitty drugs at terrible prices with a high risk of arrest. In other words, when you are addicted and all else fails\").\n\nWithin thirty seconds of entering the park, a kindly gentleman approaches me and says \"yo son, what you need?\" I ask what he has; he tells me, \"bud, blow, and e\". I say to him that I need a bunch of blow and, what the hell, throw in 2 pills as well. \n\n\"That's a hundred man, you got that?\"\n\n\"No, let me hit up the ATM over there.\"\n\n\"Aite son do that and wait for my boy across the street there.\" He points at a spot under some scaffolding and starts to walk over to his colleague.\n\nSo I get the money and stand where I was told. Soon enough a rather rotund fellow saunters over and beckons me to follow. \n\n\"This is how we gonna do it. We're gonna walk by the subway station, and before we get to the steps I'ma hand you the package and you hand me the cash.\"\n\nI, remember, am jonesing like a motherfucker and probably shaking with excitement and minor withdrawal. I agree and it goes down exactly how he said. He hands me a folded up bundle of paper, I hand him five twenty dollar bills.\n\nSo I walk another block and go into a different subway station, completely elated. In twenty minutes I'd be home doing some lines. Standing on the platform, I start playing with the packet in my pocket. I run my fingers over its folds; I tease the corners. Eventually I completely lose myself in my anticipatory reverie and I take the packet out of one jacket pocket and move it into another. Then I do it again.\n\nI must have looked like a cracked-out kid (surprise surprise), because a police officer comes over to me. He asks what I'm holding. Now, today I know my rights, and know what a cop can and cannot make me do. When I was 17 I did not know. \n\nRegardless, I shove the paper in my pocket with haste. \"It's nothing,\" I tell him.\n\n\"Well if it's nothing then you shouldn't mind unfolding it for me.\"\n\nVisibly sweating and shaking at this point, I say, \"Look, Officer, it's a piece of trash I picked up. I'll throw it out right now,\" and start walking toward a trash can, not five paces away.\n\n\"No. Open it for me. Right now.\"\n\nI can't remember just how badly my hands were shaking as I unfolded the first layer of paper -- part of a takeout menu -- but I don't believe I am exaggerating when I say that it probably looked as though I were operating an invisible jackhammer. The cop was right to be suspicious.\n\nI strip away the takeout menu and there's another layer of folded paper inside. Deep breath. I unfold it, and there's a brown napkin. I know this is the final layer -- it's very clear that there's nothing folding inside of it: just $100 worth of rather illegal substances. My life essentially flashes before my eyes as I unfold that napkin.... only to find that it's empty. The motherfucker in Washington Square ripped me off! \n\n\"Y-y-you see, Officer? It was just trash,\" I tell him and chuck the whole mess of paper in the trash. He fixes in me a long, penetrating look before he walks off to catch up with his partner. The train comes. I get on it, I go home. Had I encountered a more honest drug dealer I cannot begin to imagine just how different my life would be today.\n\nPS\nAs of 12/30/09 I haven't touched the stuff in five years. ",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I was teaching my high school girlfriend how to drive a stick shift. 1984 Isuzu Impulse. We're on a quiet concrete roadway with curbs that drop off into ditches on either side, and the whole roadway is bordered by barbed-wire fence and surrounded by cow pasture in a rural area. It's 10:30 at night on a Friday night.\n\nShe's learning how to put the car in reverse and confuses the brake and gas pedals, suddenly rocketing the car in reverse. Going backwards, we pop over the curb, halfway through the barbed-wire fence, where the rear axles are now in the air and we are high-centered on the curb. The car stalls and all is quiet for a moment.\n\nI'm not pissed at all, just relieved that we're all okay--but the car is stuck on the curb, rocking back and forth ala cliffhanger style/one false move and we fall backwards into the ditch. I crawl out through the window and the car settles on the front axle, but it's no use--it's a rear wheel drive car, and the rear wheels are suspended in air above the ditch.\n\nOut of the darkness of one of the surrounding pastures, a family of four (husband, wife, daughter and son) appears and they offer help. The wife gets in the car while the rest of us get out and push the car until the rear tires are contacting the ground. We free the car and the family retreats into the darkness of the pasture. Weird.\n\nI would have been in serious trouble had those folks not appeared. It was both weird and lucky.\n\n",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "got a $400 flight from San Francisco to Munich once. if that wasn't lucky enough, they forgot to assign me a seat on checkin, so the people at the gate counter assigned me to a business class seat in the 747. best flight. ever.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I was sitting on a swingset next to a friend. My friend was holding a sharpened stick for grilling hot dogs. As we were both swinging, I opened my mouth to say something, and felt a sharp pain in the back of my throat. As I was swinging up and he was swinging back, the stick had gone into my mouth, past my teeth, over my tounge, and struck only the very back of my throat. \r\n\r\nThey couldn't get stitches in there, so I took antibiotics for a few weeks until it healed. Had my mouth been shut, or had the stick been a few inches higher or lower...",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Found a $100 dollar bill in a gutter. Bored out of my mind listening to my friends talk about some rpg I was staring at the gutters when this speck of green called out to me from a sea of dead brown leaves.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "As I was gearing up to do a month-long road trip around Europe with my girlfriend, I was driving back from the nearest town with supplies (a 15-minute drive) and my car just completely lost it's shit. I was barreling down the dual carriageway with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out of the engine. I pulled into a garage forecourt, jumped out of the car and ran away, because I was sure the thing was about to catch fire. The guy at the counter laughed at me. \n\nAnyway, we got it fixed right before we left and set off across Europe, so we basically had to head out with the car completely untested. We made backup plans expecting to have to abandon the flaming wreckage in a ditch in France somewhere. To everyone's amazement the car completed a 3,000 mile round trip to Norway and back without a single problem. We even had a slow tire leak in Belgium and a guy saw us passing and came running out of his house, flagged us down and made us park in his driveway while he got his air compressor and re-inflated it for us. Belgium is awesome.\n\ntl;dr: car became infamous for breaking down on 15-minute drives, decided to kill it by driving it to Norway, car made 3000 mile drive with no problems. Worked for another year afterwards too.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I threw a [plastic disc](http://fairwayflyerz.com/thebasket/images/Innova/ST-TeeRex.jpg311) 311 feet, across a field, between a few pine trees and into a [2 foot diameter metal basket](http://www.ediscgolf.com/images/352px-disc_golf_in_basket_1_.jpg).\r\n\r\nYes, I got a hole in one in disc golf. I figure it took appoximately 10,000 shots I have taken in the years I have been playing disc golf to get a single hole in one so that's about a 1 in 10,000 shot.\r\n\r\n\r\n It was so unbelievably rad. The icing on the cake was that there is a path that runs about 20 ft behind the hole and after it went in there was a gaggle of cross country girls running by and when they realized what had happened they all started cheering. \r\n\r\n[Here is a really shitty camera phone picture](http://imgur.com/VbFEI.jpg) of the hole I aced. You can't really see it, but the basket is between those two tall pine strees. I have no idea how it got through those trees.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "I was 10 years old and my mom made me go to the grocery store with her. I got bored so I started examining fruit to mimic what my mom was doing. My mom started going to another section of the store and I had time to lift just one more and to my surprise, a $100 bill was found folded under it. We didn't have much money growing up so I gave it to my mom instead of hiding it for myself. She let me keep it and spend it on whatever I wanted.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Honestly meeting my wife. I used to play some game online, some Pictionary type game iirc. She had created a room and I almost left but the room named caused me to stay. I jumped in and she and I started talking about video and making movies. She and her friends were making a short film and I had experience in it and began helping her and giving her advice. About a year later, she moved only a few hours away. So we decided to meet and a few years later she moved here and we were married. There are several more details, but that is the basic story.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Hydroplaned in a car going at 75 mph. I did everything that you are not supposed to do - steered into the opposite direction and slammed on the brakes. I swerved two lanes left, then three lanes right, and again two lanes left, did a 180 degree spin. \n\nDuring the spin everything felt to be in slow motion. I could see cars zooming past me both on my left and right side. I had time to think about my predicament and the major pain I was about to experience. However, I was fortunate enough that nothing happened. I spun to a stop facing oncoming traffic. No collision, not a scratch on the car. Everyone else around me was okay as well.\n\nEveryone should consider taking a driving class on a track, please please do it! You cannot prepare unless you've actually experienced it. ",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "\"Not only have you been lucky enough to be attached since time immemorial to a favored evolutionary line, but you have also been extremely- make that miraculously- fortunate in your personal ancestry. Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, everyone of your forbears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from it's life quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result - evetually, astoundingly, and all to briefly- in you.\"\n\n— Bill Bryson",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "(1) Independence Day vacation. I went to visit a friend in Atlanta. She lives in the Castleberry district, for those who are familiar with the city. Let's just say, it's 'up and coming', but not entirely on the up and up. \n\nI drover her home around 1:30am. The street is packed full of people. And it was a strange mix. Varying between homeless hustlers, pro-athletes in Ferraris, young professionals, and hookers. Like I said, the place is up and coming. I guess it's trendy to go somewhere dangerous. There are about 3 or 4 clubs on this street and people are drunk, loud, and obnoxious, stumbling to and fro. Her loft is directly next door to Spice Lounge. There are five policemen outside the club. Security for the whole block, but they're all milling around this one spot. I turned on the flashers, double parked and got out to escort her up to her building. We almost get to the sidewalk when she suggests that we go to Waffle House. \"Sure\", I say. \"Anything to spend more time with you.\" So we get back in the car.\n\nWe drove around for 45 minutes looking for a Waffle House. The fact that we could not find a Waffle House in downtown Atlanta might have been the luckiest thing to happen. I mean, there is one on every block outside of the city. Where are the WAFFLES?!? So we decided to head back to her place.\n\nI pulled up to the same spot where I had gotten out of the car earlier. She and I get out. She bends over and picks up something in the middle of the street. \"Is this your wallet?\", she asked. Holy shit! My wallet. I dropped it when I got out of the car the first time. And it had laid there, on a street packed with drunks, for almost an hour. All $190 still in there too. I felt really fortunate. \n\nIn retrospect, I suppose this could have looked like a sting operation. Wallet laying on the ground 12 feet away from 5 cops. Maybe that's why nobody took it. Maybe they just didn't see it. Either way, I was lucky.\n\n\n(2) Found eleven one hundred dollar bills wrapped in a rubber band, laying in the middle of Jimmy Carter Blvd, on the way to a WEEN concert. My friends and I had a great time that night. \n\n(I understand that the word 'Epic' is often misused, and that there is a movement to take it back. But I will tell my grandchildren about this night. Therefore, it was epic.)",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Not my luckiest but definitely a top contender: I was working this crap job a few years ago and went to the Avery products website to search for templates for labels I had to make. Anyway, I'm on the site and I see they had a sweepstakes running so I said \"Eh, what the hell\" and entered my information. Fast forward about a month I get a letter via FedEx saying I had won the sweepstakes! The letter had stated that I could choose one of three prizes: 1. Free maid service for a month (Boring), 2. Free meals cooked in home by a chef for a month (hmnnn...tempting) or 3. Three Thousand dollars!! HELLOOO!!! We have a winner!!! I signed the affidavit, mailed it back and a week later I had a $3K check in my hands. ",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Once I ordered an AK-47 variant rifle. They sent me the wrong one though (wrong caliber) and followed up by sending me the right one. I got two AK's for the price of one!\n\nThe silly photoshoots which ensued with my friends were quite funny :)",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "When I was a kid, my family was going to church and for some reason my dad drove separately, while my mom drove me and a friend a few minutes later. On the way there, my dad was in a 3 car pileup caused by a brake failure in a pickup truck, and if my friend and I had been in the back seat, we probably would have been injured.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Got laid off from a crappy but decent paying job. Found a position that gave me a major raise, better benefits, and great people to work with. Also, this is the first job in a long time that I really enjoy going to. Did not expect anything like this when I was laid off. That is luck.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Was born to my folks - for having the most awesome parents in the whole meeping world. Unfortunately, not so for them...",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Several years ago I was at an Eric Clapton concert in the ACC. We were way up in the nosebleeds section, but we didn't mind. About 20 minutes into the show a security guard comes up to us and tells our whole row we get to move right down to beside the stage. Our whole row cheers, and we go down, apparently a large group of people did not show up, so they gave the seats away to a random row. We spent the rest of the show 20 feet from Eric Clapton. It was legen-dary.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I filled out an online survey on a random tech magazine website that asked some basic questions about what I liked about it, etc. I thought nothing of it, other than it took a few minutes and there was a Palm as a prize for a randomly selected person.\n\nAbout two weeks later, I got an email from this magazine telling me I won my choice of either a Palm V or a Palm IIIc (both were ~$400 Palms that were current at the time). I chose the Palm IIIc, and about a week later, BOTH arrived at my house. I contacted the person who sent me the email, and she said it must have been a mistake, but I was free to keep them both.\n\nI sold the Palm V for about $350, and kept the IIIc.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "My first time ever riding a motorbike, I was wearing a long scarf. My friend and I were having a blast of a time until my scarf got caught in the back wheel. \nI was hoisted off the bike, my head hitting the pavement multiple times, and my scarf quickly asphyxiating me. My friend hadn't noticed me fall off because I had been holding on to the back seat.\nJust as I was losing breath and blacking out, my scarf tore in half. \nThe scarf burn healed, and I don't even have a scar.\nDoes someone this stupid deserve to be alive? I don't know.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Here's mine.\n\nI'm an opiate addict in recovery. But two summers ago, I was feeling really shaky and decided to pick up some drugs. I'm on suboxone, and if I try to use within about 48 hours of taking it, whatever opiate I use will have little to no effect. Knowing this, I decided to go for some benzos. \n\nI found this guy who was willing to part with a full bottle of 2mg pills of clonazepam. Now, I'd never taken clonazepam before, but I had taken diazepam (Valium) while going through detox, so I figure it was pretty much the same thing, and I would take the same dosage that I did when I took Valium, which was 10mg three times daily.\n\nSo I popped four of the pills (8mg). I waited about half an hour and wasn't feeling anything except anxious, so I might have taken a few more, but I don't recall. I don't remember anything for about a week after taking those pills. No recollection at all, really. There's a few seconds I remember here and there, but that's it.\n\nLuckily, I was with a friend at the time. I ended up losing consciousness, becoming totally unresponsive. He tried sticking me in a cold shower, yelling my name, slapping my face... Nothing. He took me back to his dad's place apparently, and I lived to tell the tale.\n\nSome months later, I was having some problems with anxiety and my doctor wanted to prescribe me something for it. I told him \"As long as it's not clonazepam...\" and then proceeded to tell him my story. He laughed, and told me that the amount that I'd taken definitely should have killed me, and that I was very lucky to be alive.\n\nI've had numerous close calls like this. I chalk it up to my liver and sheer luck.\n\nFYI I've been sober for 1 year, 1 month and 18 days.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "My uncle won a free flight on the concorde while it was still in operation. Just him alone in that plane much of been awesome.\n\nAs for myself, I don't think I've ever been lucky with anything. Though things seem to work out, I never get any gain from life....",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "In the same week, I won $1000 at a casino and got reservations at the French Laundry for Valentine's weekend. The money I won will be well-spent!",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Car accident, 2 pieces of wood came in, both through windshield, one 2 inches or less from face, other less than 6 inches from body. Pretty close. Was lucky. Also won a cell phone worth $500. Lol.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "This isn't necessarily lucky, but it's a coincidence.\r\n\r\nAt work there were a few ex-military guys who were complaining about how they were treated badly by the locals while stationed in Germany. I replied that they would find it weird if a German soldier was walking around suburban Virginia (where we were). They said they wouldn't.\r\n\r\nThat same day at lunch I went to go fill my gas tank. At the same pump was a German military truck being filled by an armed Luftwaffe officer. His name was Baumer and he was stationed at Dulles Airport.\r\n\r\n[\"Proof\"](http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread452657/pg1)",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I got my job. I think it's lucky not so much for the paycheck (which is pretty average) but for the fact that I get to drive awesome cars and get paid for it.\n\nFor example, my job last week consisted of driving a brand new BMW 7-Series around and writing about it, among other things. I've also driven various Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins and gotten paid for writing about them. It's the best job a car person could ever have. Of course you occasionally I have to drive a Kia minivan or something but since I only keep the test cars for a week or so you never get stuck with anything too long, but giving back an Audi R8 after a week is pretty hard too. When I first moved in to my apartment the neighbors looked at me funny because I would have a $100,000 Mercedes in my parking space one week, and a $15,000 Hyundai the next.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "i found a fortune on the sidewalk when i was walking to my car from class. it was raining and the concrete was dark so the white paper stood out. it read \"soon you shall fall into a great fortune\". being the poor college student i am i figured i needed all the help i could get. i was paying for part of a trip that my sister, mom and i were taking at the end of the month so it was definitely timely. well, it just so happens that two days later my mom surprised me by taking on the full cost of everything. so, i got to keep $400.00. best fortune ever. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Walked into a casino with my buddy to play some Blackjack. Headed to the ATM to withdraw some money, when we saw there was already $400 just sitting in the cash dispenser. We took the money and waited a few minutes to see if anybody would come back for it. When nobody did, we split the money and walked out with our \"winnings\".\n",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Won 2 bikes from the same grocery store.\n\nThe grocery store my mom would always go to when I was a kid always had contests to win a bike in a random drawing. While my mom was shopping I would stand up at the front and fill out the entries. I probably filled out hundreds of them. When it came time for the first drawing my mom took me up to the store and had me go inside to see who had one. I asked the manager and he said that they hadn't drawn yet, so I was welcome to be the official draw person. I reached inside and pulled out an entry and it ended up being me. Obviously the odds were tilted a little in my favor, but I was happy. Since I had my bike I didn't devote as much time in the next drawing, but I still filled out a few entry forms in between personal contests to see how much I could spin in a circle before I got sick - a game I played in the store because it was so boring. A few weeks after the first drawing my mom got a call that I had won a second bike and that we needed to come in and pick it up.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Went to Florida for a festival - 16 hour drive from where I live. On the way back the guy whose car it was took a crap at a gas station off 95. Head gasket, 4 cylinders cracked, big effin mess.\r\n\r\nSo, know I had to be at work the next day hell or high water, we stopped a guy who came into the gas station for a ride to the bus station a few miles up the road. Guy asks where we're going. We tell him. Guy stops pumping gas and says \"Where, again?\"\r\n\r\nTurns out the guy had flown down to Miami on a comped ticket, but being spring break weekend he couldn't get a comped ticket back. So he rented a car to drive back to work. Guy was in the Navy. Had to be in formation at 0600 the next morning.\r\n\r\nAnd he was stationed at a base about 10 miles from my house.\r\n\r\nDude drove us all the way back home. Right to my front door. Wouldn't take gas money or anything. All he wanted was some company for the ride.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I was at the casino and about to leave, waiting on a friend to pick up his meal from the restaurant. So I put $20 in a slot machine to pass the time and first spin I won $1200. I always seem to win when playing slots on the way out the door.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Mine's pretty generic. I won tickets to go see the Red Hot Chili Peppers from a radio station. Took a girl that I liked, found out she was really cool, got laid, and continued to date her for 2 years after. I guess I was pretty lucky, and it wasn't so generic...",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Mine just happened to me this week. Because of work, my soon-to-be-fiance's aunt and uncle are moving to/being stationed in another country for a minimum of 3 years. His aunt's mother lives with them in their 5 bedroom home in Colorado. They've asked us if we'd like to live in their house, completely rent-free, for the next 3+ years, beginning at the exact time my lease expires this spring. We don't even have to pay for utilities, tv, or internet. They'll put my boyfriend on the car insurance and let us use their SUV. All we have to do is live with his grandmother and dog (an awesome german shepard), and move to a new state. The only expenses we will have is food, gas, (my) car insurance, and general home supplies. I am psyched! The house sounds amazing, and even has a small gym as part of the soundproof 2nd story master suite.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I went to the doctor about an unrelated skin condition and had my melanoma caught in stage 1B so I had a 95% chance of living (rather than a 95% chance of dieing in stage III). I didn't notice it because it was red and brown because I am red-green color blind. Not lucky getting cancer so young, but lucky to have it caught at random.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This is pretty much every kid's dream: My friend starting working at a restaurant/arcade downtown. Really big place. Anyway, I went to go visit him but needed to buy a special card in order to use the arcade games. I went over to the counter to find another employee having a real hard time understanding the cardmaking system. The place was new and they were just working out the kinks. I asked for five dollars on my card and he made one for me.\n\nHere's the lucky part: when I went to check my card, it had **500,000** points on it. Games costed about 100 points to play, which means I had good 5000 tries on my card. Suffice it to say, I ran over to the counter and purchased more cards. The new employee just kept making the same mistake over and over again.\n\nI probably killed hundreds of hours in that arcade over the summer... My friend who worked there said they realized there was a problem with the card machine after the day I was there, and systemically weeded out the people whom they had given those cards to. In fact, my friend was the one assigned to find the mystery cardholder! I had so many fun days that summer, when I would treat my friends to any game they wanted! ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "We were running out of money, my boyfriend and I. The economy was looking worse and worse every day. I was supposed to be the breadwinner... I've got more work experience in higher paying jobs. But it just wasn't happening, and not for lack of trying. Things were so bad we considered moving away (which would be a huge expense, of course, but we'd be by people who could help us). Then I found this fucking cat. This stupid cat was running a fever and needed help and I took her in, like a dumbass. I couldn't find a home for her. The apartment peoples needed a pet deposit. I borrowed money from a friend. But the bookkeeper refused to accept my money as it was (first as cash, then as a money order, but she needed two separate money orders, because she's a jerk and I hate her). The leasing agents brightly told me they could use that pet deposit toward next months rent and we could just go pull another few hundred bucks out of our asses to hand it over to the bookkeeper in the way she wanted (yeah okay, they didn't actually put it that way, but that was the gist). I was not sleeping. I didn't have a job, I had this damn cat, my friends from out of state were visiting and I was being accommodating while trying to avoid talking about how bad life sucked. I cried in the leasing office, which was embarrassing. Couldn't stop. Then the lady who initially set up our lease came in, told everyone we didn't need to pay the pet deposit, and gave me a hug (which made me feel worse, but... y'know... it was nice of her). They used the pet deposit for the next months rent, and with some additional money off we had from a different deal we made earlier in the year, that brought our rent down to about $20. We walked outside, and started back to the apartment. I felt awful. I'd just gotten a pass because I cried. Lame. Then I found $20 on the ground. So my boyfriend and I (and our friends from out of state) went out for pizza and I used the $20 to tip the waitress. I got an awesome job about 2 months later. And the cat is healthy and living happily with us now. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Won $950 on a Star Wars penny slot machine in Vegas. Spun the death star thrice. And I never play penny slots... I just like Star Wars and I was bored.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This one time my parents came to visit me, and we went out for coffee. We had a good talk, it was all smiles, etc... Afterwards, when they were leaving, my dad slipped me $50 when my mom wasn't looking. Then my mom gave me a hug and slipped $50 into my pocket.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I've been skiing since I was 3, was actually an ex-ski teacher. Ski racing my buddy, he crashed in to me - bear in mind we are both very talented skiers this was just a horrible accident. I ended up flying into the trees and getting air lifted out. Intensive care unit 7 days, hospital 2 months. Many surgeries - collapsed left lung, partially damaged liver (fully healed within a week - only suspected) , several plates in my left arm and leg, leftover scars on each as well as a scar across my scalp, neck (was on a breathing machine) and chest (to drain the fluid). Tube fed while I was in the hospital.\n\n\n\nAlso broke both thumbs and now have 11 plates 29 screws in my face. Wheelchair for about a year, crutches for another. Now I can walk fine, with a slight limp, and I graduated among the top of my class. I am so damn lucky I live in Canada, didn't cost me anything, including the physio afterwards. I wake up everyday and am truly glad I'm alive.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "At my cafeteria at school there was a promotion for ice tea. You'd buy one and it would come with a little ticket with a sticker you peeled off for big prizes/free ice tea/small prizes. So one day i bought an ice tea and won a free ice tea. Subsequently, the ticket that came with the free one **also** had a free icea tea, and here's where it's awesome; the next free one i got had **another** free ice tea with it.\n\nI felt like a badass.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Best tech support chat ever. | Customer> Hello. We have a server that we purchased several years ago to back up an eCabinet. I have two questions today.
Customer> Second, I noticed that it has a lease expiration of January 19, 2010? I don't understand, and we have not evidence of a lease agreement. Could you help me understand this?
Tech> I am not familiar with any leases we have. Customers generally purchase the products from resellers
Tech> If you have a lease it would not be from *******
Customer> We purchased it from ******, that is why I am confused. It states under the Network Settings heading that the DHCP Server Lease expires on 1/19/2010 9:59 p.m. Does that help, or this still a mystery to you as well?
Customer> We purchased it in 2005....
Tech> That is how long the IP address is good for that is handed out by your DHCP server
*facepalm* | 10 | [
{
"body": "What you mean you didn't try to sell them a new DHCP lease? For $399.99 I can sell you one that never expires. And get you an extended warranty as well.",
"score": 22
}
]
|
Help! I need a safe word! | My boyfriend and I don't do the smartest or safest things in the bedroom. We decided that we need a safe word but we can't come up with one. I know you can help us reddit! | 15 | [
{
"body": "I've found that a safe sentence is much better for me than a safe word. I don't know about you, but I'm terrible about blurting out words like tuna salad, hossenfeffer, or boognish during the heat of the moment thereby causing any single safe word to become moot. So I personally use (and highly recommend), \"it puts the leprosy on the open faced sandwich or else it gets the ointment slathered manifesto again.\" ",
"score": 24
},
{
"body": "[FLŰGGÅƏNKδ€ČHIȨβØLﻛÊN](http://rlv.zcache.com/eurotrip_safe_word_bumper_sticker-p128310134397890889trl0_400.jpg)",
"score": 14
},
{
"body": "\"By the way, I'm ovulating.\"\r\n\"Hey, did you ever see your mother naked?\"(you can add on \"I'll kinda look like that in 30 years\")\r\n\"You know, Bea Arthur is a handsome woman.\"",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I suggest the full proof of either of the millenium prize problems. Anything simpler is guaranteed to burst out at inoppertune moments. I am aware that some of the proofs are not completed yet, but this should ensure that the participant who wants to stop _really_ wants to stop.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll\n\nLlanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Why doesn't Jay Leno step up and quit? | I'm not a Jay Leno hater, but I've got to wonder... If he is as offended about this whole situation as he claims, why doesn't he just quit and move on? He made his deal to leave late night and he should stick with it.
I'm with Coco. | 8 | [
{
"body": "Because if Jay Leno leaves, Conan might still leave to host a show on Fox, and Jimmy Fallon might leave to do movies, too, and then Carson Daily might end up hosting the Tonight Show, and they might promote it as \"Carson returns to the Tonight Show\", and everybody would think \"Isn't he dead?\", but tune in anyway, thinking maybe they're remembering incorrectly and it's actually country musician Fiddlin' John Carson that's dead, but they tune in and see it's Carson Daily, and the disappointment causes a nationwide rash of depression, rage, alcoholism, spousal abuse, and suicides. ",
"score": 62
},
{
"body": "He just wants to keep doing what he loves, and he's being unfairly painted as a bad guy. Network execs fucked this up, not Jay. It's the network's fault for not thinking this through more.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "I'm with you on this, but shouldn't we be more concerned about that other guy who really hasn't done anything to prove that he should be on TV in the first place? Jimmy Fallon, I'm talking about YOU.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How to help an abandoned kitty | Hi everyone, I recently found a kitty in the communal bikeshed who I think is abandoned. I've seen it before and I've asked around and no one knows who's kitty it is.
I've seen it around in the shed now a few times and it is pretty damn cold in there, I would like to know how to help him out while trying to find out if he has an owner or not.
I have no knowledge of cats whatsoever so what should I do? I'll try to get some catfood and milk. Maybe build him a little shelter.
Any tips are gladly appreciated :-) | 7 | [
{
"body": "milk isn't actually good for cats...\n\nIf you aren't willing to take it in, then old blankets and towels, food of course, perhaps a trip to the vet for some shots. Anything you can do to help.\n\nAlso, you could research a no kill shelter in your area and see if they'd be willing to take the little one in.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Age of Empires: Rise of Rome Expansion. The classic and one of the best, can't find anyone online to play with :( | Just reinstalled the game, how many hours I spent on it when I was younger.... now there's no one to play online with...
EDIT: I say we figure out where we can do a multiplayer game, set a time and date... what say ye? | 9 | [
{
"body": "Try Voobly. http://voobly.com/\nALthough there are more players playing Age of Kings, there are also some guy playing the first one.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Holy crap, I thought I was the only one who loved RoR (or more specifically, more than AOE2). I was actually so disappointed at the direction Ensemble Studios took with AOE2 that I never played another \"Age of ...\" game. That and I started getting into Starcraft..",
"score": 3
}
]
|
The time my boss at Swifty Gas Station got an STD test. | In college I worked at a full service gas station during the summers. It paid pretty well for my area and gave me lots of hours. Plus I got to work alone and only had to deal with my boss occasionally. But basically every time that I worked with him, it was incredible.
For context, this is what happened the first time I met him:
I came in to work and was trained by another employee for about a week. At the end of the week it was my first night to work alone. My boss called and said he'd come in to check on me that night, but that he had a date, "With my son's girlfriend's mom" and would come in before picking her up. It turned out that he and his son were going to a strip club with the son's girlfriend and the mom. When my boss arrived (remember, this is the first time I meet him) he was on a beat up old motor cycle, had his hair slicked back and was not wearing a shirt - just a leather vest. He showed me a couple things, asked if I'd be OK, and left. The next day he came in and told me that his son and the girlfriend didn't show up so he and the mom and a threesome with one of the strippers.
---
OK - now the real story.
My boss got in to the habit that summer of calling me in to work in the morning when his club hopping the night before had been too intense. Because of this, I'd always get to hear him explaining the whole night, half-hung over sitting in his office chair while I actually worked. This happened about three different times, but the last time was the most important.
That morning he told me he met someone he actually thought he could stay with at the bar. He had sat and drank with a lady until "he closed the bar down" and then took her home and continued to drink throughout the night while they hooked up. So he was still drunk and hadn't slept all night and was at the store telling me this.
Somehow closing the bar down with her made him feel like she was "the one." I don't understand this at all, but whatever.
Two days later he calls me in the afternoon and asks me to cover for him while he "runs an errand." I think that means like 20 minutes of something, so I go down to the store, punch in, and start working.
Two hours later my boss shows back up in his truck, gets out, doesn't explain where he's been for two hours and goes to the bathroom. Despite that the bathroom is solid concrete block, I can hear him in the bathroom screaming while I help customers.
I have no idea what is happening.
Finally, he comes out of the bathroom and goes inside. As soon as I'm done with customers I go in to find out WTF is going on. He says,
"I asked (girl from the bar two days before) to move in with me. I really love her. And she said yes, but she wanted me to get an STD test first."
I wondered if she knew that you get STDs from having sex, which they had already done, and not from moving in with someone, but whatever.
He continues, "You got to stay on the path you're on. Don't mess around with the ladies like I do. I really love this girl, and I had to get an STD test to prove it."
At this point, he leans in close and half-whispers in dead seriousness,
"You don't want an STD test. They shoved a cutip up my pisshole and now I scream when I pee."
I was at a complete loss for words and ran outside to help customers. He left and we didn't talk about it ever again.
Two weeks later he was fired and arrested. I found out that he had stolen $3000 from the company to buy a new house for he and the girl from the bar (who he had known for 2 weeks).
---
tldr; (you might be in the wrong sub-reddit, but...) my boss was straight-up crazy, got an STD test out of love, started screaming every time he took a piss, and told me all about it. | 12 | [
{
"body": "Wow, by description it sounds like you worked for my dad. Except he never owned a gas station. Or had a steady job for long.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Weirdest audio misconception? | I thought maybe we could have a discussion inspired by [this thread.](http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/26430-stupidest-things-you-have-ever-heard-during-session-119.html)
A couple of days ago a singer I was tracking said 'this mic sounds too pitchy, can we try a different one?' I spent a couple minutes trying to explain to him that the microphone in no way changes the pitches you sing, but eventually just grabbed a different mic he seemed to like and went forward from there. | 46 | [
{
"body": "I just remembered something... I knew a guy who asked an engineer if recording in a room with a lot of sunlight would make the vocals warmer.",
"score": 31
},
{
"body": "I was working at a studio/rehearsal rooms in south london back in 2000 that had a shop selling strings and whatever.\n\nA guy came into the place complaining that a microphone he had purchased from us didnt work. One of the guys asked him to explain what was wrong so the guy said that when he cut the XLR jack off the end, rewired it to a [mains plug](http://www.reuk.co.uk/OtherImages/13-amp-plug.jpg) and then plugged it into the 240v wall supply but it didnt amplify his voice.",
"score": 30
},
{
"body": "i always thought there was some single secret that sound engineers all knew that would make any mix sound fantastic. then i learned the secret is it's a shit ton of work and practice, just like anything.",
"score": 23
},
{
"body": "That apparently some engineers work at a hypersonic speed that changes the flow of time itself. Usually only applies to first timers at the studio, but still happens way more than it should. \n\nConversation usually goes like:\n\"What are we doin today?\"\n\"I got about 9 songs to get done today, Im sending them out tomorrow,\n so they need to be mixed and mastered.\"\n\"But you only booked 2 hours...\"\n\"Yea I know, I record at home all the time, it doesn't take hardly any time.\"\n/engy facepalm",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "I often hear beginners express the idea that because they are still learning and don't have much experience, good quality gear (or software/plugins) doesn't matter, for the reason that it would be wasted on them and not needed, or only necessary for professional level stuff out of their reach.\n\nIn fact, the opposite is true: the more inexperienced you are, the more you need quality tools; they will make it easier to sound good and be good without any limitations to work around, which is really what takes experience. I'm sure Bob Clearmountain could record and mix an entire album with a 4-track, one mic, and a pair of headphones. Most of the rest of us can't get by on that. High quality gear, both instrumentation and recording equipment and software, are more forgiving to use, so no one should ever feel that it won't help them immensely.\n\nI also think there is a misconception out there that one must be subtle. You know, in every mixing discussion there is the advice of using subtractive EQ more often than the other way around, and other ideas of this nature. Which is not untrue, but I think it makes some people afraid to really crank up gain knobs and learn the limits of audio and hearing for themselves what works and what doesn't.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "I don't know if this really counts as an audio misconception more than a genre and instrument composition misconception but here it is.\n\nPeople always say \"Electronic music isn't good/original because it's all pre-made loops and sounds, there's no talent\"\n\n\"DJs don't actually do anything they just play songs\"\n\nThose two statements piss me off the most. My response is always \"Then why don't you make some electronic music or dj?\"",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I have a few people that swear on doing one takes. They always suck it up... always gotta edit those guys the most.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "That louder makes it better.\n\nEDIT: Oop - didn't notice it said \"weirdest\" in the title. Never mind.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I work in audio software and its surprising from release to release how some people will be absolutely sure that from one version to the next that it sounds better or worse. Even when we know that we never changed anything that would make it so.\n\nIts not new to my current job either - happened in my last one and the one before that.\n\nAlso on the current release we have a guy saying that the Windows version sound much better than the Mac version. We test signal integrity on every release.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "\"Auto-Tune only does its thing on consonants and in between words. But use the RTAS version cuz the TDM don't sound right.\"\n\n\n\n\n\n",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "the weirdest, yet most common, audio misconception IMHO is the one that goes something like, 'the more like whatever im accustomed to something is, the better it is.'\n\nthat one just slays me.\n\nedit: maybe a better word for this, better than 'misconception,' would be 'dogma.'",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Are you sure his comment about \"pitchy\" meant he thought it was changing the pitch? Maybe he thought it didn't pick up enough white noise, thus causing it to hilight pitch? That's how i read it at first. I'm not a production expert, but I did a few years of speech research involving recording and know a bit about acoustics and how mics work, and a dynamic like this doesn't seem out of the question to me.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
DAE hate it finding that last thing that disqualifies a girl from dating you? | Been chatting with this girl in my town online, Cute girl, my age, interesting, kinda geeky (in a good way) we were getting along and it seemed we were headed toward meeting up...then she dropped the bomb....not *a* bomb, *the* bomb and started talking about how much she "loves god and tries very hard to follow his law..."
So staring at the screen, I face palm with one hand pound the table with the other repeatedly, and I was laughing as I said over and over to myself "LOL but she was doing so well! WTF she was so close...LOL" It's OK tho, she's divorced an nearly 30 so St. Peter's gates might not be locked, but just might need a little lube :) | 4 | [
{
"body": "this is pretty much my only deal breaker. And if she hates video games. She doesn't have to play them, as long as she doesn't get made at me for playing them. I've had a lot longer relationship with video games then any woman.\n\nedit: kind of surprised at the downvotes. I guess a lot of guys are so desperate that they would give up their beliefs and favorite hobby for a woman. For the record, I am married. Sorry ladies :)",
"score": 3
}
]
|
At 47, I Think I Finally Understand "Wisdom." | In a nutshell, I now believe there are three types of intelligence -- and a high capacity in any one can cover most deficiencies in the others.
Inherited intelligence is the inherent mental capacity you are born with.
Education is learning you have actively pursued.
Wisdom is all the shit that's happened during your lifetime. This is why wisdom comes with age. | 8 | [
{
"body": "This might be knit picking, but to be a bit clearer, I would say wisdom comes with experience and the process of _reflecting_ on these experiences, to avoid potential future \"mistakes.\"\n\nBut of course, typically the longer you live, the more experience you gain. ",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "A rather facetious saying that's stuck in my head: It's remarkable how mature wisdom resembles being too tired.\r\n",
"score": 4
}
]
|
I hereby reclaim the word "EPIC" on behalf of everything in this world that transcends the sandwich you had for lunch or the manner in which your friend tripped over the sidewalk. I am a high school English teacher, and I have the power to do this in times of crisis. | To those who use this word all too frequently: words have meaning. Language is important. When you confuse the definitions of the words "epic" and "good," you leave yourself stranded when it comes time to describe something truly amazing that you have not yet experienced, like sex IRL. Please refrain from using the word "epic" until you encounter a WTF that is truly OMG. If you won't be describing it to your grand-children, it isn't epic.
EDIT: I agree with so many of you who argue, quite correctly, that language can neither be controlled nor redirected with posts like mine from earlier today.
Some of you are purists, linguists, and descriptive grammarians. I consider myself to be one of you, even if I cannot wear this post as a badge of proof. I, too, believe that language is a naturally evolving creature that needs not our improvement.
Others of you seem to aggressively attack any threat to the memes that you hold so dear. Perhaps you think that if the memes die, so might you. For you, I hereby coin the term **"Stay at Home Fapper"** to describe your many, many contributions to our community. | 2,735 | [
{
"body": ">If you won't be describing it to your grand-children, it isn't epic.\n\nThat's actually a really good way to determine epicness.",
"score": 222
},
{
"body": "At the risk of sounding like a linguistic-anarchist, I say leave language alone. If people want to use words in a way that's not how it was used before, well let them. We'll find other ways of expressing those concepts. Language changes all the time and is in a constant state of destruction and creation. It's what I find beautiful about it.",
"score": 130
},
{
"body": "Thank you kind sir! Please also take back fail, I know its not as important as epic is but still the new use hurts my ears and brain. ",
"score": 91
},
{
"body": "> To those who use this word all too frequently: words have meaning. Language is important.\n\nThat's what I [understand](http://www.reddit.com/r/CommonLaw/comments/apa9e/the_word_understand_means_to_agree_and_the_intent/) too.\n\nI think it's [awesome](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rYT0YvQ3hs) that you want to take this word back.\n",
"score": 79
},
{
"body": "Unfortunately for English teachers, there is no standardization of the language. No Académie Française here. The only authority on what is proper in English is in the people who speak it. We're just speaking a Norman-Saxon creole a few centuries down the line.",
"score": 75
},
{
"body": "**The Internet Language Timeline**\n\n1 - 4chan starts using a word in an ironic way.\n\n2 - Instantly adopted by Reddit, Digg, etc.\n\n3 - Little kids hear of this and start using it, followed by people who don't even like computers.\n\n4 - The same fucking people who said those things in every other sentence now demand it stop, somehow well above who they were a few months before.",
"score": 65
},
{
"body": "My highschool English teacher was actually piss poor at english. For example, they would use double quotes to annote examples, which are single quoted; they would misuse phrases like \"confuse ... for\" when they meant \"substitute ... for\", they would fail to understand that one cannot be stranded without being trapped in a physical location, they would complain about metaphoric misuse of words while metaphorically misusing \"truly\", they would think that slang shortenings of words like \"legitimate\" were themselves words, they would fail to understand the meaning of simple words like \"frequently\", et cetera.\n\nFrequency, for example, is a ratioitc word. That is, if you have a light which shines every hundred thousand years, and ninety nine times in a hundred it shines in green, then it shines in green with an extremely high frequency. (That's why sound and color, both waveforms, are described as frequencies - it's the peak frequency.)\n\nThe best was when they would get all butthurt about words and go off on a rant that was completely numbskulled. For example, there was the Greek \"epic\" - a form of poetry. You'd think a highschool English teacher would know what an epic was, but of course, no: they thought that the word epic meant \"great\" or \"good\", when it actually means \"in the form of a hero.\" This is of course a ridiculous thing for an English teacher to not know, since most of the Greek heroic epics are about terrible failures, since Greek drama was so obsessed with tragedy derived from hubris. This was largely because the teacher in question had no literary background, which meant their bellyaching about literature was hilarious.\n\nAnd it was great, because the highschool English teacher the next door over thought epic meant \"long\", whereas most epics were only a few pages, because they'd never read an epic either.\n\nNonetheless the two came to loggerheads, arguing about the true meaning of the word, because they had both become so fascinated with their own occupation that they'd forgotten that neither one of them had the faintest idea what the etymology of epic - from \"epos\", simply meaning \"poem\" - actually was.\n\nThey were, in short, just talking, using their job as authority, when in fact they didn't even know that they were, simply put, in the wrong line of work.\n\nMojoJosh, there's a reason you teach at the highschool level.",
"score": 33
},
{
"body": "Using a catchphrase or idiom is faster and easier than thinking through your lexicon and assembling a unique sentence. \"Epic\" and \"fail\" are just word fads. The people who say something is \"full of win\" are the same people who said \"Yeah, baby!\" all the time after *Austin Powers* came out.\n\nIt will pass. Until then, we all suffer.",
"score": 20
},
{
"body": "As a student of philosophy of language, i refuse to bow to this tyranny. We must take our language back from the schoolmarms, to whom an unjust, monarchical authority has been given. Our language is fluid, and no matter how the technocrats of the classroom attempt to stifle it's movement, we must resist. The epic use of \"epic\" will result in a legit establishment fail. English speakers of the english speaking world, do not bow to the capitalizers; the only rules are those you impose on yourselves; the revolution will not be graded.",
"score": 19
},
{
"body": "I find myself intrigued by the overuse of this word.\n\nI guess you could say I was...\n\n*puts on sunglasses*\n\nepicurious.",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "> I am a high school English teacher, and I have the power to do this in times of crisis.\n\nEpic wanker\n",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "I partially blame WoW. Thousands of players running around with \"epic\" gear. Just how epic is it if everyone has it?",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "any effort to control popular language usage is misguided and bound to fail. if you were a real fan of language you would appreciate it as it naturally morphs over time. sorry teach, sometimes the troof hurts.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "While you are using your powers for good, could you also amputate the \"figurative & hyperbolic\" definition from \"literally\"? When a person adds \"literally\" to non-literal statements it makes me want to put kittens in a blender.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I'm glad that you feel your classroom experience as a high school English teacher somehow entitles you to tell me how to speak. Our culture has much larger problems -- basic literacy, for example -- than the overuse of the word \"epic.\" So instead of spinning your wheels on something so inane, why don't you get involved in something that really matters? God knows you have plenty of time -- you don't write your syllabus or pick your students' reading, and you have 2 months off during the summer. \n\nI also find it ironic that you're arguing against the use of an overused colloquialism, and in the same breath proceed to use the terms \"IRL,\" \"WTF,\" and \"OMG.\" Even further, your recommended replacement for \"epic\" is \"good\"? Your command of our language is absolutely breathtaking, high school English teacher. Proceed.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Your attempt to delineate a more verbose classification of the adjective form of the word epic has been denied. The locution of the term epic will carry forward, unceasing, by your ineffectual endeavor to restore it to its formal, more banal, definition. Furthermore, any venture to re-characterize the terms fail, or legit will likewise be repudiated. To ensure your cooperation in this matter I will be holding [Shakespeare](http://imgur.com/4TbVy \"do it or the fucking book gets it\") as a hostage.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "> you have not yet experienced, like sex IRL \n \nYou had me until here. \n \nEDIT: I'm an asshole.\n",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "I resent the assumptions you make about my life.\n\nConsider the midday nap of which I partook the day before last. It was, without a doubt, the single most epic nap experience by any man to date. The earth shook, the skies sang, crying tears of joy unto the ground, making a muck of everything. Small woodland critters gathered to witness \"The Über-nap\", chittering amongst themself in a frenzy. Many of them lost their minds and went feral for the sheer amazingness of my nap, driven mad by their want and need to partake.\n\nThe dreams, by gar *the dreams*! Stripper volcanoes, endless streams of single-dollar bills errupting from my many pockets; faraway, fanciful lands wraugth with danger and adventure, an unending buffet, with a selection so grand it seems to go on for miles.\n\n**Truly this WAS the most EPIC of naps. It shall be spoken of in hushed tones for generations to come!** \n\nWho are *you* to say otherwise? Fie! Fie on you for your blasphemous claims!",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": ">\"Epic\" isn't an example of a natural change to language over a long period of time. It's a short-term fad that is more like a hiccup and less like a trend. \n\nSo was \"cool\". \n\nSo was \"okay\", if you buy the theory that it came about from the fad of comically misspelling words (\"Oll Korrect\"). \n\nGranted, so was \"groovy\".\n\nI don't have any particular love for \"epic\" meaning good, and don't figure it will be around in 50 years, but something starting as a fad doesn't make it illegitimate automatically. \n\nI'll get off your lawn now. \n\n**EDIT**: I noticed you edited your post. The argument I quoted isn't in there any longer. As long as I'm playing devil's advocate:\n\n>When you confuse the definitions of the words \"epic\" and \"good,\" you leave yourself stranded when it comes time to describe something truly amazing that you have not yet experienced\n\nI assure you, I am able to describe a burrito as awesome, or a mountaintop view as awesome, in such a way that the listener knows which way I mean. \n\nI suspect you just really don't like the word 'epic'.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "Thank fuck I'm not the only one who thinks this. At first, I just thought it was a sign of me getting old. Hell, I haven't been to /b/ in over 2 years. Maybe I AM getting old.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "how about the most basic of overused words in our culture? Love and Hate?\nIf you love grilled cheese sandwiches, you have attachment issues. If you spend the required energy into hating Nickelback, you are paying them too much attention.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "You're a high school english teacher. I think you mean you have no power and a pocket full of broken dreams.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": " # #\n # #\n ###########################\n ###########################\n # # #\n # # #\n # # #\n # # #\n # ### #\n # ##### #\n # #\n ## ##\n ##### #####\n\n # #\n # #\n ###########################\n ###########################\n # # #\n # # #\n # #\n # #\n ## ##\n ## ###\n ##########\n ########\n ####\n # #\n # #\n ###########################\n ###########################\n # #\n # #\n #######\n ###############\n ###################\n ######## #######\n ##### ###\n ### ##\n ## #\n # #\n # #\n # ##\n # #####\n ## #####\n",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "> When you confuse the definitions of the words \"epic\" and \"good,\" you leave yourself stranded when it comes time to describe something truly amazing that you have not yet experienced\n\nNo, because epic, before it became a fad/meme, didn't mean \"something amazing\", or \"something amazing that you have not yet experienced\". Look in a dictionary. And even if it did mean \"something amazing\", there *plenty* of synonyms out there for that.\n\nBut to be fair, I'll fix your point to say: \n\n> When you confuse the definitions of the words \"epic\" and \"good,\" you leave yourself stranded when it comes time to describe **An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero, or something unusually grand in scale**.\n\nEven if you wrote this, you'd still be pissing in the wind, because people use \"epic\" in an ironic or sarcastic fashion, and **there'd be no way people would think you're being ironic if you were actually talking about something epic**, like D-day or the LOTR series. So the word is safe. \n\nLet me tell what you're *really* doing. You think people using the word \"epic\" the way that they do is stupid, and it annoys you. So you write a post trying to explain away your irritation instead of just telling people how much they annoy you, but end up failing miserably to come up with a logical explanation.\n\n> It's a short-term fad that is more like a hiccup and less like a trend. It's a linguistic meme that has seen its day.\n\nRight, you've just admitted that you're really not worried about all this stuff you said; you just think this thing some do people is stupid and annoying. There's really nothing with this, because I feel the same way about all kinds things people do. Illogical posts where people try to rationalize something that they just don't like, for example.\n\nEdit: And don't let your upvotes fool you into thinking you have sound reasoning. They're just people who agree that using \"epic\" for a sandwich is juvenile and annoying, because it certainly is.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "When the average internet junkie has beaten their misguided sense of irony to a thick, horse-flavored paste, they need to find something besides their douchEmo-y wardrobe to co-opt, like language. Calling a skateboard move 'Epic' is on par with the equally asinine habit of labeling everything 'Awesome' like we used to use back in my teens during the mid 80's. I still catch myself using it. The Hindenburg was awesome (and terrible). Dark Tower, while being a fantastic game, was not truly awe inspiring. It was, on the other hand, quite epic.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "> like sex IRL... If you won't be describing it to your grand-children, it isn't epic.\n\nKids... sex with your grandma was *epic*!!",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "As another high school English teacher, here's my take: Unlike 'awesome', 'epic' isn't a particularly useful word in its main sense. (And it never meant \"truly amazing.\") When did anyone describe anything as epic besides the Odyssey and the occasional really long movie? As an English teacher, this slang redefinition is a boon. Since 'epic' now means \"really cool in a beyond-other-things sort of way\", when you do teach a REAL epic, it will automatically be cool, because it is, by definition, epic. And when the kids read it, and realize that what happens to the main character is even more epic than anything they've ever called epic, the book will be even better to them. Seriously, you should be thanking your lucky stars for this particular corruption of the English language.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I officially support this decision. \n\nHowever, like a carpenter being relieved of his hammer, wordsmiths will require some sort of tool as a replacement. \n\nWhat do you propose?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "If I encounter something mediocre, yet go to the trouble of writing a long, narrative poem about the incident... could I then refer to it as 'epic'?",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "If your main concern is that your students lack sufficient vocabulary to describe the truly wondrous events in their lives since they have beaten \"epic\" into the ground, maybe you should give them a vocabulary lesson.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Are you a [prescriptivist](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_prescription)? Languages change over time, many of the words we use today once meant something else. It's not going to be anything you can stop, and I'm not sure why you'd want to. ",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I hate it how I always have to catch myself if I use \"epic\" legitimately these days. I'm embarrassed to use a word because of 4chan. Thanks, internet.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "♪♫ Can you feel it ,see it, hear it today? \r\nIf you can't, then it doesn't matter anyway \r\nYou will never understand it 'cause it happens too fast \r\nAnd it feels so good, it's like walking on glass \r\nIt's so cool, it's so hip, it's alright \r\nIt's so groovy, it's outta sight \r\nYou can touch it, smell it, taste it so sweet \r\nBut it makes no difference 'cause it knocks you off your feet ♪♫ - Faith No More",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Dear Lord of the English Language and Ruler of All That is Sacred to Linguistics, can you please take back all meanings of \"own\" that does not directly relate to possessions and those who possess them?\n\nThis has also started to annoy me.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I always love how language teachers\\majors think they have the right to control it. If a large number of people are \"overusing\" or \"misusing\" a word, guess what, they've re-purposed the word. Claim to have the power all you want, if people want to use epic, fail, legit, etc in contexts in which you feel they do not apply, you can't stop them.\n\np.s. i wish you could see the epic middle finger I'm giving your fail right now :)",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "You can touch it, smell it, taste it so sweet\nBut it makes no difference 'cause it knocks you off your feet ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Grammar aside; As the parent of a young teen that thinks dropping a piece of toast is an \"Epic FAIL!\", I applaud your reclamation effort!",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "All the effort to make your point, yet no definition and/or proper examples included. Epic English lesson FAIL.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "This has nothing to do with English or any specific language and everything to do with simply user-using a word to the point where it becomes annoying. It doesn't even lose its meaning, it's just annoying. No appeal to linguistics or the \"importance of language\" is necessary. It's just annoying.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Languages change, and evolve depending on the cultures that use it. Any language that doesn't change/evolve is a dead language. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I seriously will tell my grandchildren about the time an English teacher deemed my peers **\"Stay at Home Fappers\"**, therefore I feel extremely justified in calling this submission epic.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
"There is nothing to fear, but fear itself." -FDR | Does anyone else think these words mean more now then ever before? In light of the continual eroding of personal freedoms and liberties in an unobtainable quest for "security", I honestly believe that we are being told to be afraid of a vastly nonexistent threat to your average citizen. Sowing fear is what terrorism is really about, and the world's governments are playing right into it. | 11 | [
{
"body": "I'd like to know how our government can hold a policy that says \"no negotiating with terrorists\" even when American lives are at stake, yet they can implement the most inane security measures at the airport every since terrorists flew into the Trade Centers and feel okay about that. It's nearly the same thing. We're negotiating with them by tightening security after they compromised it.\n\nThe terrorists have already won. They've terrorized the hell out of our country and have managed to change the way we travel and the way we do security. They've caused us to sacrifice our privacy and our shampoo bottles and our time and money in order to feel more safe. But are we more safe? Sure, from another plane attack. That's like putting a new lock on your barn after your horse has been stolen.\n\n\nThey don't care about numbers. They don't care how many have died or how many survived. They care about the fact that our country reacted like a bunch of scared little girls and are tripping over ourselves to protect the country from another attack. The terrorists are still laughing at us and celebrating their victory.",
"score": 8
}
]
|
Why are Haskell "Complex Floats" so much slower than a pair of Floats? | Last month I started learning Haskell - so I tried coding a simple Mandelbrot calculation. I was very puzzled to see that the library Complex Float is about 10 times slower than a simple pair of Floats (which was what I originally used - apparently being a newbie has advantages :-)
Can you guys help me out in figuring why this happens?
I placed the 3 versions of my code (first: tail recursion, second: list comprehensions, 3rd: list comprehensions with library Complex) on GitHub: http://github.com/ttsiodras/haskellMandelbrot
Any advice most welcome... | 16 | [
{
"body": "The problem is the definition of `magnitude` in `Data.Complex`: http://haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/libraries/base-4.2.0.0/src/Data-Complex.html#magnitude\n\nI guess it's written this way for numerical stability (?) but it's clearly a lot slower than the version you wrote. If you hide `magnitude` in the import and implement it your way instead, the performance of the second and third versions become indistinguishable. (Indeed, the core generated appears to be identical up to renaming variables.)\n\nBy the way, has anyone ever written a tool to compare core up to renaming variables? It's basically just unification, right? Doing this manually was how I discovered what was going on, but it would have been easier with a tool.",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "According to [GHC documentation:](http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/users_guide/faster.html)\r\n\r\n> If you're using Complex, definitely use Complex Double rather than Complex Float (the former is specialised heavily, but the latter isn't).",
"score": 13
}
]
|
Know any home remedies for nicotine cravings? | I wanna quit smoking very badly but my nicotine cravings are abnormally intense. I've tried patches, but because they contain nicotine, I still would have horrible cravings when they were through. So, anyone know something I can take to end or at least decrease the severity of the cravings?
edit: Congratulations to all you who have successfully quit smoking :) | 4 | [
{
"body": "This is my foolproof Quit Smoking Technique. You'll need four days, two dozen doughnuts, and a bottle of Nyquil.\n\nEvery time you want a cigarette, eat a doughnut and take half a shot of Nyquil. On day four, fast, and drink three gallons of water.\n\n*et voila*",
"score": 5
}
]
|
What is the correct way to calculate the contrast between two colours? | Here's the problem I'm trying to solve: Given an RGB triplet and an assumption that we're talking about the sRGB colour space, how can I calculate a shade of that colour that appears to be as dark compared to the original colour as, say, 90% white looks compared to 100% white? I don't need to solve for colours very close to black, so I can assume a minimum apparent brightness. I'm also assuming that if I can calculate the contrast between two colours, I can solve for the second colour using constraints on hue and saturation.
I've tried converting to the HSL colour space, reducing L by a fixed number (or multiplying by a fixed factor), but I end up with inconsistent contrasts. In particular, I can't distinguish between HSL (60°, 100%, 60%) and HSL (60°, 100%, 50%), while HSL (60°, 100%, 50%) and HSL (60°, 100%, 40%) are clear as night and day. For most other hues and saturations, the contrast between 60 and 50 is just fine.
I'm guessing I'm working in the wrong colour space, but I'm fairly naïve about perception of colour. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
**EDIT:** [NotAbel](http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/apm5p/what_is_the_correct_way_to_calculate_the_contrast/c0ir9ch) gave me the answer I was looking for, so here's my Javascript implementation of the colour space conversions for anyone looking to do the same. RGB is assumed to be sRGB normalized to the range \[0,1\]. Formulae for [sRGB to XYZ](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRGB#The_reverse_transformation) and [XYZ to L\*a\*b\*](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lab_color_space#The_forward_transformation) were both sourced from Wikipedia. Also, here's an [image of the results](http://i.imgur.com/XZDDx.png) with darkened/lightened colour inside the background colour.
function rgbToXYZ (rgb) {
var r = rgb.r, g = rgb.g, b = rgb.b;
function fXYZ (t) {
return t <= 0.04045 ? t/12.92 : Math.pow((t+0.055)/1.055,2.4);
}
r = fXYZ(r);
g = fXYZ(g);
b = fXYZ(b);
var x = 0.4124*r + 0.3576*g + 0.1805*b;
var y = 0.2126*r + 0.7152*g + 0.0722*b;
var z = 0.0193*r + 0.1192*g + 0.9505*b;
return { x: x, y: y, z: z };
}
function xyzToRGB (xyz) {
var x = xyz.x, y = xyz.y, z = xyz.z;
var r = 3.2410*x - 1.5374*y - 0.4986*z;
var g = -0.9692*x + 1.8760*y + 0.0416*z;
var b = 0.0556*x - 0.2040*y + 1.0570*z;
function fXYZ (t) {
return t <= 0.0031308 ? 12.92*t : (1+0.055)*Math.pow(t,1/2.4) - 0.055;
}
r = fXYZ(r);
g = fXYZ(g);
b = fXYZ(b);
r = r < 0 ? 0 : r > 1 ? 1 : r;
g = g < 0 ? 0 : g > 1 ? 1 : g;
b = b < 0 ? 0 : b > 1 ? 1 : b;
return { r: r, g: g, b: b };
}
function xyzToLab (xyz) {
var x = xyz.x, y = xyz.y, z = xyz.z;
function fLab (t) {
return t > 0.00886 ? Math.pow(t,1/3) : 7.787*t + 4/29;
}
var L = 116 * fLab(y) - 16;
var a = 500 * (fLab(x) - fLab(y));
var b = 200 * (fLab(y) - fLab(z));
return { L: L, a: a, b: b };
}
function LabToXYZ (lab) {
var L = lab.L, a = lab.a, b = lab.b;
var y = (L + 16) / 116;
var x = y + a / 500;
var z = y - b / 200;
function fLab (t) {
return t > 0.2069 ? Math.pow(t,3) : (t - 16/116)*0.1284;
}
y = fLab(y);
x = fLab(x);
z = fLab(z);
return { x: x, y: y, z: z };
}
| 41 | [
{
"body": "It really depends on how accurate you need to be, and what exactly you need. The state of the art in this is CIECAM02, but for most things you can get away with a simpler model. I would try converting to L\\*C\\*H\\* or L\\*a\\*b\\* and proportionally adjusting L\\*",
"score": 20
},
{
"body": "The [luminosity of a color](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luma_(video\\)) is:\n\n 0.2126*r^G + 0.7152*g^G + 0.0722*b^G\n\nContrast is simply the ratio of luminosity.",
"score": 15
}
]
|
Reddit, I have been royally fucked over by the U.S. Military before my career has even begun, can you tell me what to do next? | (If anything)
- Today 5 days before (5 days before!) the day I am set to leave for AF Basic Training the man who recruited me informs me that he screwed up and I no longer have a date to leave (I enlisted in Oct and meet with him monthly, WTF??). I quit my fucking job two weeks ago because I was leaving. I've made a number of purchases and put other things in place to due to me leaving. I know people who have spent nearly a year in Air Force DEP, I am now in a very bad situation.
- Also, I completely understand the power of the U.S. military to do as it pleases but this is such a royal screw-up and the timing has such an impact on my life that I should at the very least be able to get this man in trouble with his superiors.
- Do I have any options? My life is now a fucking mess. (5 days before!)
- Edit: Thanks for all the advice. Sorry to bring out the flamers. I almost can't believe how pissed and upset I was a couple hours earlier. I admit this isn't a huge deal. I got so angry because I really didn't want to be screwed over by a recruiter and I thought I had avoided that. I am much calmer and will be making some phone calls. | 36 | [
{
"body": "Heh. This is nothing compared to how they'll screw up your life AFTER you leave for basic.... but okay, I'll bite.\n\nGo down to the recruiting station and talk to the officer in charge of the station. An officer, not the sergeant. Tell him calmly and without spazzing out that you had planned to leave on X, you've quit your job, etc. etc., and you need to go to boot camp ASAP, and can he please help you out.\n\nIt will all be settled. Receiving one peon more or less doesn't make any difference to the people at boot camp. Probably it's just a quota issue - the guy made his quota for January, so he's trying to push you back to February so he'll be able to make his quota for February. You don't have to play along with that.\n",
"score": 84
},
{
"body": "Here's your first introduction to the US Military.\n\nAll that is fucked, can be unfucked by the right person. Find him.",
"score": 26
},
{
"body": "Good advice so far. If they don't get you squared away walk down the street to the Army recruiter. Seriously, that's what I did after the AF recruiter jerked me around and it's one of the best decisions I ever made. I made E6 in four years. I get pro pay, airborne pay, basic allowance for housing, a food allowance that add up to $2130 a month on top of base pay. I live off post in a nice apartment. I'm about to reinlist for a cool $15,000 (tax free cause I'm deployed) I get free, good health care and chick dig my hat. In the Air Force I hear it's a lot harder to qualify for special pay and it takes a lot longer, like 8-10 years to make the same rank. They have slightly nicer barracks for the lower enlisted but in the Army you're not lower enlisted for that long and you can live off post on the Army's dime. I'm currently making more than any of my four roomates from college do and I can use the GI bill when I decide to get out.\n\nTo the smug fuck allotriophagy: I meet with and train Afghan teenagers and adults on a daily basis. I provide them with health care in the clinic on my FOB and my team is helping them establish security in our area against the taliban who like to, you know, show up at their farms, maybe steal some shit and rape a woman or little boy or whatever. No biggie, and not as bad as my team \"screwing them over\". Thanks for your comment though, I think it was really constructive to the original poster.",
"score": 23
},
{
"body": "For all the anti-military idiots that seem to rage on these forums, here is a little piece of info:\n**The military doesn't fuck you over, *people* in the military fuck you over**.\n\nNow that we have that out of the way --\n\nYour recruiter can not make any claim that you have a leave date without you having official paperwork where that leave date is already set in stone. There may be a way to call your MEPS outprocessing center and check to see if you are on record for leaving that specific day. Recruiters can be shady for reasons I won't get into, but threatening a recruiter, acting a fool, or pretending you have an officer's time of day will get you no where. Good thing is you have not sworn in yet, the bad thing is the military is a very small network of people (I come in contact with people my parents worked for, who worked for my parents, who used to supervise me and now are my equals, who were my equals and now supervise me, etc) so starting off on a bad foot will not help. I would go so far as to enlist the help of a separate recruiting center or recruiter and see if they can give you more clarified information. Calling the first shirt like another individual mentioned is a great idea, but like I said before, don't walk in and ask for the officer-in-charge, more than likely the NCO-in-charge or first shirt would be enough to help your situation.\n\nHave fun in the revamped basic, I went through when it was still 6 weeks :) Also, been in four years, have not and will never deploy in my current AFSC, go to school full time on the military dime, full health benefits, my house is paid for, my food is paid for, i work 28-32 hours a week, free gym access, and a plethora of other incentives. A few months from going officer, and the military has only done right by me.\n\nGood luck.",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Ask the recruiter who his First Sergeant is and give him/her a call. Have a little chat with them and see if there's something that can be done.\r\n\r\nAlso, have the recruiter show you in writing when your leave date is, or why what you have written down isn't the day anymore. You DO have a contract with a leave date, right?",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Welcome to the party. Just suck it up, drive on, do your time and decide if it's worth it to stay in.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Keep us informed! Good luck! \n\nGet the MGIB, start a bank account with USAA.com (seriously best credit union EVER), and use all the tuition assistance you can eat.\n\n",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "\"...I should at the very least be able to get this man in trouble with his superiors.\" - \nI can already tell by that statement that you aren't cut out for the military. You haven't even gone to basic training yet and you already want to jump the chain of command to try to get an enlisted man superior to yourself in trouble. You wont last long with that mindset. Calm down and settle into your place among the peons.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "If everything goes south and you want to throw your hands up and say Fuck It, you can walk away at any moment. As long as that moment is before you go to MEPS. They will give you shit about it, but there's nothing they can do.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "The first thing you should do is not ask Reddit. The vast majority of the people on here don't know what they're talking about and will probably just bash your decision.\n\nThe first thing you *should* do is calm down and adapt. You'll learn this in basic training, but you might as well start early. So calm down, and deal with it. Contact your regional MEPS center, preferably in person, and get it straightened out. Bring all the paperwork and notes you have. Bring your birth certificate and other vital records with you. The staff there are usually helpful and will have a lot of leeway and can very likely fast track you into Lackland.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Anyone ever volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters? | I've been thinking about volunteering but I'd like to hear some first hand experiences before I take the plunge. | 3 | [
{
"body": "I used to do this for about a year and a half. It was honestly a very difficult, but very rewarding experience. When I started, I had no idea what to do with a 10 year old kid or what I would even talk about. I mean I am not exactly a person who is good with children. It was definitely pretty awkward in the beginning, but overtime things got a lot better.\n\nWe would go to museums, parks, bike rides, and other activities, but the most memorable times was just hanging out doing nothing at all and talking about life. Amazing how something as small as eating pizza and playing PS3 could be so exciting to them. Definitely makes you appreciate the small things in life.\n\nI would say if you do it, do it for the kids and just be there for them. I could not fully understand the things that they grow through, but having a positive adult influence in their life can be phenomenal to their growth. Many kids come from single parent families or lower economic classes, but they have never let that get to them. It's an eye opener to see such optimism in difficult circumstances.\n\nI've definitely learned a lot of lessons from my little brother and I wish I had more time these days to keep up with it. Looking back, I think he gave me a lot more then I ever was able to offer him.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Dear reddit: My band is playing a cover show on Valentine's Day. What songs should we play? | We wanted to play a lot of classic 50's rock and roll tunes, although with more of a bluesy, garage rock sound. We're going to play about 20 songs. What song would you want to hear at a pub on Valentine's Day? | 5 | [
{
"body": "Here's songs we know, and plan on playing...\n\n* twist and shout\n\n* why do fools fall in love\n\n* big girls don't cry\n\n* you really got me\n\n* do you love me\n\n* god only knows/wouldn't it be nice\n\n* happy together\n\n* great balls of fire\n\n\nHere's songs we're considering...\n\n* maggie may - rod stewart\n\n* take on me - aha\n\n* wonderwall - oasis\n\n* space cowboy - steve miller\n\n* love her madly - the doors\n\n* take a walk on the wild side\n\n* burnin love - elvis\n\n* are you gonna be my girl - jet\n\n* blue moon- the marcels \n\n* all i have to do is dream - the everly brothers \n\n*edit: fixed the formatting. Also, you guys can recommend anything - We were focusing on some 50's greaser stuff... but will consider playing anything good (and somewhat simple)* \n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
People's faith in me is a burden | I've worked for many of the websites you know and love. In some people's eyes, I'm kind of a hotshot. An organization has just spent months of legal bills on me so I can work there.
But I'm doomed. I can't focus for shit. I have some kind of overwhelming self-hatred or death wish that prevents me from responding to normal incentives. My last five or six jobs all ended in more or less the same way -- with an impressive resume bullet point but a lot of disappointed people, that would never work with me again. The next employer relies on the resume (it's amazing how few people check references) and my interview performance (I'm very good at interviewing, and toy problems don't require long term focus). And the cycle starts over.
Already I'm making excuses to my new employers, and they're wondering what happened to that guy they interviewed. Believe it or not I already told this employer that I wasn't emotionally ready to work there. They said fine and a few months later offered me a different, related job. In this economy!
Meanwhile, everything else in my life slides into ruin. Everything in my life is a project on hold for lack of willpower - fitness, cleaning, grooming, other projects I'd love to do on the side, and let's not even think about a relationship.
I keep telling myself that THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT and I've been to therapists over the past eight months but I already see the same patterns reasserting themselves, like all that effort meant nothing.
The truth is, I'm not totally friendless or without resources, but I'm very, very tired of all of this. I came close to suicide several months ago, but some good friends helped bring me back from the brink. And here I am again. I am so sick of disappointing people. At times, suicide seems like a reasonable way out. | 11 | [
{
"body": "Are you on any medication? It sounds like you're dealing with an overwhelming amount of anxiety and maybe you should discuss the possibility of getting a prescription with your doctor. \n\nAlso, work is not worth dying over. Are there similar positions with less pressure?",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "You're telling my story, my friend.\n\nI can only tell you how I got out of it, that's the only advice I can give you.\n\nI put an ad for tutoring in my local craigslist and I've been teaching ever since, designing websites on the side. It's not a lot of money, but I'm really happy and I can make my own schedule.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "You sound like me... startlingly like me.\n\nOne of my favorite lyrics ever sums it up\n>It's not that I want them all to be sorry when I'm gone, I'm just tired of waking up.\n\nI don't know what to tell you that will help you because I don't know what helped me. All I know is I just changed *my life* on *my terms* by *myself* and things are starting to look up.\n\nI know you've got good things, I had them too. But I did those same things, whenever anybody relied on me I rejected it each time which pushed me further into the thoughts you're having.\n\nBut right now I'm just living life for me and that helps a lot. I used to daydream myself to sleep by thinking of suicide every day and I haven't done that in 2010 yet.\n\nI think you're putting pressure on yourself when you don't have to. Go to work because that's just what you do, not something you have to do. Hang out with friends for the same reason.\n\nAnd talk to us, I'd take you out for a drink anytime.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "\"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got.\"\n\nI, too, am unmotivated by the standard incentives. I wonder sometimes if, perhaps, I just want a different life. Lately, I am ok because I am making good money and am subsequently paying off debt... but perhaps the greatest help to me is that I am starting to write again, which is something that I have loved to do since I was young. \n\nI guess my only advice is not to invest so much of yourself in your job... find something else that you find satisfying and life affirming, whether it be writing, painting, building, teaching, traveling, volunteering... and *do it regularly.*\n\nYour life is yours to build and design to your liking. No one else can do it for you.\n\ni hope you find peace.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
If you had to pick another concert to see other than Phish, who'd it? (Please only bands that are still touring.) | I'll get it started. Flaming Lips. If you haven't seen or have heard of 'em, do yourself a favor and drag you and yr best friend or loved one to the show! The first time I saw them, they open for SCI... I left more excited about the Lips then the Cheese. | 5 | [
{
"body": "I gotta agree with you there. I have seen them twice now and they blew me away both times. I am pretty sure their music and colors ripped tears out of my eyes and forced them horizontal backwards across my face as if I was flying through the air. Maybe an odd description.. but that is how I remember it happening, hah.\n\nOther than that, I love me some live Umphrey's. Their sound is so thick and tight. They are astounding musicians with great band chemistry and they put on one hell of a show.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
IAE the only person who does/did raise their hand in their class? | I'm kind of selective when it comes to which classes I'll ask questions in and which ones I keep my mouth shut for, but there's almost always that *one* person who raises their hand. Were any of you ever that person? Did you only ask questions in certain classes? | 13 | [
{
"body": "Fuck that guy, we're all trying to get out of class early and hes here asking questions everyone knows the answer to just to suck up",
"score": 3
}
]
|
A question for /r/books: How much time do you spend reading? | As a part of my new year's resolution, I'm trying to spend less time playing video games and more time reading and watching movies. I just bought a copy of Atlas Shrugged, which will probably take me over a year to finish at the pace I'm going.
So I ask you, how much of your free time do you spend reading? | 25 | [
{
"body": "1 hr on the bus every day. Another hour before sleep.\n\nThis time of year I tend to hibernate. I stay at home all day on Sundays drinking coffee and reading. It's fantastic.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "I have not \"read\" a book in almost 3 years. I have had this job, where I commute 1+hr to and 2+hr home, for those 3 years. It allows me to swallow audio books by the week. I listen to an average 2 books a week. When I used to read, I would only be able to read around 2 books a month.",
"score": 12
},
{
"body": "Not enough. I generally get a solid hour a day during the week, usually before bed. I'll try to squeeze some reading in during the day if I can, like when my boss is in a meeting.\n\nI feel like the character in the Twilight Zone episode that can never find enough time to read...",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Roughly two hours a day. I find, though, that the weather dictates my reading habit. If it is rainy outside, it could be 4 to 6 hours on the weekend. Also, in the summer when the sun sets later, I will read outside until my eyes hurt from the dimming light. I have a few audio books, have tried to listen to them while I work out. Never does it for me, would rather hit up an episode of This American Life or Wait...Wait on my jogs.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Depends on how good the book I'm reading is. If it's very good I'll use up most of my spare time reading it. If it's decent I'll spend at least 30 minutes before bed reading it, usually with an additional 30 min - 1 hr during the day as the urge strikes me. If it's horrible I'll either spend most of my time reading it just to get through it, or end up slacking off on it for a few days until I decide not to finish it.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Here's an option: audiobooks.\n\nEveryone's schedule is different, but with a 45 minute drive each way to work and 30 minutes walking the dog around the neighborhood every morning, I spend 2 hours \"reading\" that I would normally not have time for. I recently just got through Under the Dome in about a month at this pace, and have read dozens of books in the last year or two, mostly without ever picking up an actual book.\n\nAudio books can be expensive, though Audible.com is one good resource and quite often you can find them at your local library, or even download them for temporary use from some bigger libraries.\n\nThen there are always the illegal means, though I certainly recommend that you purchase the paperback copy of any book you pirate so the author still gets paid.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Recently? Seems like the answer is \"All of it.\"\r\n\r\nSeriously, I have a 1.5 hour commute by train, and I read both ways. That's 3 hours right there. Then I read for half an hour before bed, and some weekends, I just read all day, sometimes for 10+ hours. Seriously, I go through at least one 500+ page book per week.\r\n\r\nAnd don't read that drivel (Atlas Shrugged). Get some real authors, like Peter F. Hamilton, Neal Stephenson, John Meaney, George R. R. Martin, Dan Simmons, or even Stephen King.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Atlas Shrugged took me a year and a half to finish. I was an avid reader back then. The book just goes on and on and on. It IS preachy and somewhat ridiculous at times. I don't buy into her philosophy at all. But it's a classic and not a complete waste. \n\nIf you are just starting out with your reading I would definitely recommend something lighter like some Chuck Palahnuik, Kurt Vonnegut or Ray Bradbury.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "About a couple hours a day, before I go to bed. Maybe a little more if you count trolling the internet and the pages I sneak in here and there. I do watch a little tv, but I go days without it, and that helps.\n\nJust started Ulysses; I plan on reading 15-20 pages a day and then I put the book down and read something else.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "An hour to, and an hour from work on the train/bus/subway. Couple of hours in bed. Also, depending on the weather or crowd 3-4 hours at a cafe on the weekends, with wintertime here, this reading time usually is at home. I even read at a bar sometimes, usually one without a TV or jukebox blaring away, though the latter doesn't bother me.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I spend about an hour a day reading. If I am reading a particularly engrossing book I will read all weekend long. My new year's resolution was to read more books this year, and my list of books to read keeps getting longer, because I read through the comments in r/books to get suggestions. It's going to be an enlightening year.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Like most of the other folks here, I read about an hour a day. But that tends to shoot way up during the winter/weekends. So right now I'm cruising through books like nobody's business. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey reddit, I've got a cap and trade question that seems obvious to me, but I'm no economist/scientist/megabrain...etc. (question inside) | My understanding of cap & trade is that large industrial countries have a limit on their allowed amount of carbon emissions. If they want to produce more than their allowance, they can purchase emissions quantities from other countries. For example, the US and China are likely to purchase lots and lots of emissions quantities/rights/caps/trades (not sure the term) from underdeveloped or under-industrialized countries in South America, Latin America and Africa.
Now, these underdeveloped countries will be getting paid to not produce anything that would involve factories/industrialized components that would emit carbon. Would that essentially be stifling their growth? I know that it could be argued that they could use the money gained from selling their carbon credits to develop their infrastructure or manufacturing capabilities. But, I'm pretty sure the corruption and graft exist in all countries, and that wont' happen. In baseball, this system similarly exists in the form of the luxury tax, and team owners are often lambasted for putting the luxury tax money that they receive from the Mets/Yanks/Red Sox into their pockets instead of their team's payroll.
Thanks for reading, I'd appreciate your input. | 4 | [
{
"body": "I believe cap and trade is between business's not countries. \n\neven with graff and corruption, the remaining money gathered will help justify investment in long term business planning. new, smaller clean companies who are currently at a dissadvantage against current dominating dirty businesses. how would a clean fuel company compete again chevron for example. since both sustaineable and unsustaineable businesses need time to adapt to large scale change our times require, cap and trade seems to be ia smart way to encourage gradual change without disruption. \n\nIMHO, this is a great way for government regulation to affect change. way to go civil servants who thought it up.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How to properly check out a girl on the sidewalk/street/hallway | Sometimes when a girl walks by she looks down. I know they do this when im having a insecure day etc and the girl (they can normally pick up on this) is not interested or thinks im creepy. But how do you properly glance or check out a girl. I only look at faces and if they look at me I smile.
Edit: Me not being a creeper is one of those things in life I'm big on. | 5 | [
{
"body": "I walk with my head high, looking ahead, not down. As I'm passing by a girl I'll give her a little glance and smile (glance at at her face, not other attributes). If she smiles back I'll give a little turn and check her out as she passes. If she sees me checking her out and is still smiling I'll give a little wink or eyebrow waggle.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "The world is a pretty cold place sometimes, no doubt. Especially in a lot of bigger cities. Most people don't acknowledge you or smile when you randomly walk by them, and many will react poorly if you do. This goes for both men and women. If I see an old guy walking down the street and I smile and say good morning the majority of the time I'll probably either get ignored or just get some form of grunt response. \n\nI've found this varies widely based on location. The nicest place I have ever been was Edinburgh, Scotland. Between my train and my hotel I had *four* different people strike up conversation with me and offer to help in any way they could (I had a map, I was obviously a tourist). In that city it seemed like I could do no wrong - every smile was returned, everyone had a story to tell and everyone wanted to hear mine. \n\nContrast that to San Francisco where I went to college. I'm pretty sure you could drop dead on the sidewalk in the center of downtown San Francisco and no one would notice as long as you weren't blocking their path. Hell even if you were blocking their path they'd just walk over you. \n\nI realize this was slightly off topic, because you are looking for advice hitting on girls, but I think it's relevant. This is simply the way society trains us to be. Here in my home town anyone who looks at you and smiles probably *is* creepy - because it's just not how anyone is. I hate it myself and am tempted to move to a smaller area where the community is closer together, but this is life. \n\nAll I can say is try not to stare awkwardly at people. Remember to smile. You can try to make eye contact but expect that most people are going to be too nervous or disconnected to even acknowledge it. Just be friendly the way you think people should be and if they can't handle that: they can deal with it.\n\n",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I've found that getting a good-looking haircut and wearing nice clothes helps to cut down on looking like a creeper, and dramatically increases the odds of getting a smile in return. YMMV.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Metalheads of Reddit!
Post your favorite metal bands! | Back when I was in jr high I loved metal. That love faded as i got older. I recently played Brütal Legend and the metal flame has been rekindled in my black heart. What metal bands should I be listening to?
Edit: apologies for repost didn't even know there was a metal reddit till I was posting this. | 11 | [
{
"body": "* Opeth\n* Katatonia\n* Anathema\n* At the Gates\n* Slayer\n* Megadeth\n* Metallica\n* Amon Amarth\n* Dark Tranquillity\n* Ayreon\n* Wolves in the Throne Room\n* Agalloch\n* Ulver\n* Cradle of Filth\n* Dream Theater\n* Freak Kitchen\n* Blind Guardian\n* Winds\n* Pantera\n* Nevermore\n* Bloodbath\n* Corrosion of Conformity",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "[Destroyer 666](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMENVxndLf8) from my country! I saw them live for the first time just tonight, been a fan for nearlly 7 years now so it was a big treat \\m/ ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I like mostly Technical Prog-metal (in no order)\n\n-Sikth\n\n-Burst\n\n-Between the Buried and Me\n\n-Mastodon\n\n-Lye by Mistake (newer stuff is better)\n\n-Horse the Band\n\n-The Faceless\n\n-Lots of Post Rock (Isis, Russian Circles, If These Trees Could Talk), but this isn't so much metal, but metal people tend to like this stuff\n\n-I am extremely excited about the new Periphery album.\n\nAlso, if anyone has any suggestions based on the above, please let me know. (I know about PTH)\n",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'm fairly new to metal, so I've been listening to a lot of older releases. Here's some of the albums I like:\r\n\r\nDeath:\r\n\r\n* Incantation - Onward to Golgotha\r\n* Avulsion - Indoctrination into the Cult of Death\r\n* Deicide - Legion\r\n* Behemoth - Evangelion (blackened)\r\n\r\nDoom:\r\n\r\n* Cathedral - Forest of Equilibrium\r\n* Pentagram - Day of Reckoning\r\n* Electric Wizard - Dopethrone\r\n* Evoken - Antithesis of Light (funeral)\r\n* Ahab - The Call of the Wretched Sea (funeral)",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Slayer, Mayhem, Burzum, Acid Bath, Kyuss, Bloodbath, Deicide, Skinless, Black Sabbath, Dark Funeral, Death, Ensiferum, Enslaved, Venom, Children of Bodom, Pentagram, Satanic Warmaster, Sleep, Meshuggah, Bathory, Gorefest etc. \n\nHell, I need a new hard drive.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Decapitated, Arsis, The Faceless, Gorgoroth, Dark Tranquility\n\nplus everything skullcrusher mentioned",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Megadeth, Therion, Iron Maiden, Mastodon, Bongzilla, Neurosis, Envy, Emperor, Demons & Wizards, Sleep, Electric Wizard, Isis, bORIS, Kayo Dot, Sun O))), Dream Theater, Opeth, Klimt 1918... I have more but I won't post them until I figure out how to make bullet points!",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "* Aborted\r\n\r\n\r\n* Aeons Of Eclipse\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Akercocke\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Amon Amarth\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Anaal Nathrakh\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Anomalous\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* At the Gates\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Aversion To Life\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Behemoth\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Belphegor\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* The Berzerker\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Bloodbath\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Brain Drill\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Cannibal Corpse\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Carcass\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Cattle Decapitation\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Cephalic Carnage\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Circle Of Dead Children\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Cryptopsy\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Death\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Decapitated\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Decrepit Birth\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Defeated Sanity\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Deicide\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Desecration\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Devin Townsend Project\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Dying Fetus\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Emperor\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Ex Deo\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Gallows For Grace\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Gorguts\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Hate Eternal\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Hiroshima Will Burn\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Hour of Penance\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Kataklysm\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Mastodon\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Mortal Torment (UK)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Necrophagist\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Nile\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Nokturnal Mortum\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Opeth\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Origin\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Rotting Christ\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Severed Savior\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Strapping Young Lad\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Suffocation\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Ted Maul\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* Viraemia\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* 1349\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nTo name a few...",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How do you deal with the constant attacks to our Catholic faith and beliefs? | In a place like reddit and many other sites alike. We Catholics are constantly being attacked by the pagans and liberals. How can one deal with such hot topics as abortion and marriage come to a discussion? I know everyone is entitled to their opinion, but we are just being buried like there is no tomorrow for our opinions.
Opinions which are valid and heartfelt given. Even among our catholics fellows we are being buried because our conservative points of view. Where is one to turn for support of one's opinion?
Some tell me to go with the old group of folks, but I really do not see that much difference there, they are just interested in doing parties and stuff like that. In the youth groups they also just want to party and not discuss serious issues and many times they just bring their liberal agenda.
If someone has experience with the Knights of Columbus let me know, I am thinking of joining them in the near future. But I doubt it will be any different than the other groups I have been with. I am willing to give it a chance.
Ideas would be appreciated where conservative catholics can hangout online and share opinions with each other, without feeling like an outsider. Places I have been are the catholic forums and some others, they seem good, but full of liberal trolls that just like mocking the catholic faith. PM me if you know of any controlled or close-in community where this kind of trolls are kept under control.
Thanks.
**Where can a conservative Catholic find folks with similar points of view without being buried into oblivion?**
| 8 | [
{
"body": "As a non-Catholic, allow me to voice two immediate and superficial (as in, on the surface, not as in useless) concerns.\n\n> [T]he pagans\n\nis a fairly offensive term. If you were to say, simply, \"pagans\", there would be *less* issue, but honestly, it is best to leave out that term altogether.\n\nSecond, by drawing in the distinction liberal/conservative, I can only hope you mean that with respect to interpretation of the faith. If you mean this in some sort of political way, then you are sorely misguided, and off-topic from the question stated in the title. If just religiously, keep in mind that non-religious readers will not interpret your words that way in general (as I have not, here).",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Dear Reddit, what mustn't we miss during our London weekend trip? | We're a mixed group of Swedes going to London over the weekend, and the only thing we've planned ahead is Bonobo/Wax Tailor/Dj Vadim at Club Koko, Saturday. We'd love to go to both Fabric and Matter, though their lineups for this weekend are a bit weak.
What else is good at night? And is there anything special except for the mandatory tourist stuff we should keep an eye out for during the days?
EDIT: This weekend! Thanks for all the suggestions btw! | 7 | [
{
"body": "The Tate Modern, my friend. Head for St Paul Cathedral, which is itself quite a magnificent building, and the Millennium Bridge is just around on the side next to the Thames. As you're walking across the Millennium Bridge you'll see the Tate exactly opposite at the other end, a dingy factory with an art museum inside, full of the best contemporary art that we have to offer.\nIt's touristy but worth it.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Covent Garden on a Saturday during the day time-they have some sweet street performers, and there's a cake shop that blasts techno, which is pretty cool. Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park on a Sunday morning, if you're feeling good enough. But seriously, you could do worse than picking a direction at Southbank and walking. You're bound to run into something. Have fun, London's incredible.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "Brick Lane's pretty cool; but it's a bit of a bugger to get to unless you know the way. It's pretty damn good for classy vintage shopping though.\n\n\n\n Although occasionally if you take a wrong turning you either end up in a cool art exhibition or a quaint little crack den. Win/win.\n",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "If you're into tea, The Orangery at kensington palace was fantastic. Best tea I had in London, likely best I had in Great Britain, and not as expensive as many of the other really nice tea places.. ",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Ultimate Weapon vs Kwanroller, Ro4 MSL! | [Game 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOt6UiNp2f8)
[Game 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp-J_OvC5LE)
[Game 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4QmS5FuULc)
[Game 4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2ZDP5pDxMI)
[Game 5](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRHViw6xOG4)
Games 4 and 5 may be anti-spoilers. | 6 | [
{
"body": "I'm just saying that the series isn't necessarily 5 games. I haven't watched all of them myself, but I know that Jon747 sometimes creates anti-spoilers.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
reddit, what bizarre daily habits do you have? | I generally floss between 6 and 12 times per day, and keep a travel pack of floss in my backpack in case I get the urge away from my apartment.
What about reddit? | 5 | [
{
"body": "I have this really weird ritual I have to do each day.\n\nEvery day I force myself out of bed early and go for a drive for about an hour, then sit down and make myself depressed talking to morons for eight hours, before driving for ANOTHER hour.\n\nI've tried to stop this weird habit, but every time I do people shout at me.",
"score": 18
},
{
"body": "There's something I do daily... but for the life of me I can't remember what it is... I'm sure it will come to me.",
"score": 6
}
]
|
Wo/men, Tell me this is not true: "If we left every time we were hit, we would be very lonely" | Backstory: I recently broke up with my Girlfriend of ~3 years. (Actually she broke up with me...). I was talking to a friend about things related to the relationship. I was saying that I didn't think the relationship was a bad thing, we both got at least 2 very solid years of being happy. The last year had its good moments, but was mainly in a state of decline.
I made the comment that my Girlfriend should have left me about a year ago. A year ago we were doing fine, right up until I hit her. I still think that it is one of the worst things / biggest mistakes of my life. I did no physical damage, but I don't think that makes it much better, a bit but not much.
She responded with the quote above. And said that it happens, people lose their temper. It's just one of those thing you just "wash your face, brush your hair and walk back downstairs."
I don't want to believe that it is that common, or that it is at all okay to do what I did. I just want to know, is it really that common (we are talking the smallest of physical violence meant in a malicious way), or does she have terrible choice in men?
Thanks | 4 | [
{
"body": "I've never hit a woman. Never will. I never try to intimidate them by smashing objects near them either.\n\nI want my girlfriend to feel safe around me at all times. She should never have to worry that she might say something that would send me into a rage.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "Poor quote, and untrue. Violence is never justified, period. Temper, badgering, alcohol... there is no valid circumstance.\n\nWomen who put up with being hit are *almost* as big of a problem as the men who do it.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "I was slapped by my then fiance, who is now my ex wife. At the time we were in an argument and she lost it. I nearly did too, but I was way bigger than her. I restrained her, bordering on punching her. I don't think I breathed in those moments. \n\nI should have broke it off then. She never hit me again, but she turned out to a real downer in regards to me. If I would have hit her then, I would have been labeled abusive for the rest of my life. She did plenty of things she deserved an ass kicking for, but I am glad I never hit her. \n\nNo one should be hit, everyone should maintain some control. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I've never been hit by a man, have never hit one, and I don't think it's normal to hit somebody, even if you loose your temper. That would mean that hitting is your first reflex, which is not a very constructive way to resolve conflicts.\n\nI did broke my bf's rib once, but, well, let's say that even a small weight put on a rib while in a weird position can be dangerous.\n\n",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "I have never, ever hit a girlfriend. I find it utterly unacceptable, and would councel anyone who was hit by their s/o to leave the abuser. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "No. No that is not true. It is crap like this that let's women (and men) in violent relationships justify it in their minds.\n\nI was in a violent marriage for ten years. The first few times were \"just\" smacks. Then it was the famous \"I never hit you with a closed fist\". And then it was very, very bad.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I've never hit a woman. I am enormous and strong and would crush them.\n\nI am able to scare them into submission by simply bellowing or tearing a door off of its hinges. \n\nSometimes, a demonstration of physical violence is the only thing that makes sense.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "i would never hit my lady. Except you know in some kinky stuff, but thats different and she enjoys it. But seriously if I ever hit my lady and she didn't leave me, I'd leave her so that I couldn't ever hit her again.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "No, not normal. None of my boyfriends has ever hit or attempted to physically intimidate me. Maybe I am just really lucky. Maybe it's the fact that if any one who sleeps next to me were stupid enough to hit me, he would wake up on fire.\r\n\r\nAs to wortshape's comment. I think you need some help if you think intimidation is an automatic need in a relationship. There are more ways to abuse a person than actual violence. The person you love should know they are safe with you. I really feel that the world beats us down enough with out those that we love pitching in.\r\n\r\nIt is important to know in an argument when to take some time out and walk away. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I knew women who went out of their way to go out with wife beating psycho dickheads. My friend had a portable TV smashed on her head, was then dragged screaming by her hair about 600 meters away and beaten like hell even more. She then married this guy claiming that she loved him \"despite his problems\"... What the fuck. Life isn't complete for some unless it is 100% drama.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "She has terrible choice in men.\n\nIf someone can't settle their differences with someone else without resorting to violence, they have a problem. I don't care if it's a man or woman. Violence doesn't make your views any more valid, and it doesn't make you any more articulate.\n\nSure, it can be infuriating if it seems like the other person isn't listening. Arguing about the same old stuff around and around can be very aggravating. But there are better ways to break through a stalemate than abusing the other person.\n\nWe have a few that we use. One is the \"20 minute break for humor\". If our conversation is getting acrimonious, we take a break and say something we think will crack the other person up. Sometimes, it's not as funny as we hope, but at least we get points for trying.\n\nAnother is to put a bookmark in the conversation. If it seems like we aren't getting anywhere, one of us will ask to put a bookmark in the conversation, and pick it up later (we specify a time and place.) That generally gives us time to mull over the situation, and it's not that uncommon for us to meet at the specified time, and agree on a solution in under 2 minutes.\n\nA third is a take on a popular board game: we issue virtual \"Get Out of Jail Free\" cards. If we want to say something, but we're not sure how to phrase it, and we don't want to infuriate the other person, we'll ask for a GOOJF card, and the agreement is that if the other person agrees, we can say the half-baked thing and not get in trouble for it.\n\nIn the end, we care more about fixing our relationship and loving each other than about being \"right\", which also helps. My hubby rocks!",
"score": 3
}
]
|
By Request, IamA Tesla Owner. AMA. | By request-- I own a 2010 Tesla Roadster Sport (Very Orange) in Southern CA. I've had it for about 6 months. It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on. | 148 | [
{
"body": "Some questions I expect to see:\n\n- How far does it go on a charge?\n\nIf you put in in 'Range' mode, it gets about 240mi on a charge. In 'normal' mode about 200. But it depends on how you drive it. Those are 'ideal' ranges, which mean 'if you drive the way they do the EPA MPG tests'.\n\nBut, since you plug in at home, you start each morning with a full charge.\n\n- How fast is it?\n\n0-60 in 3.7sec. Since it's a one-speed transmission, no perfect shifting required. I don't remember to top speed, but I think it's electronically limited to 140 or so.\n\n- How long does it take to charge?\n\nIt depends on what you plug it in to. There are three types of chargers: a 120V wall charger, a 240V dryer-style plug, and a high-power fast charger ($3000). If you were to get it completely empty, it would take about 8 hours on the 240 and about 3 hours on the fast charger. I've never gotten it close to empty. I just plug it in when I go to sleep and it's always full in the morning.\n\n- Ever had any problems?\n\nA bad 120V cord (the GFCI kept tripping--their safety systems are over-tuned); they FedExed me a freee replacement overnight.\n\nI let a friend drive and we smashed the rims and damaged the tires on one side. Had to have them replaced.\n",
"score": 96
},
{
"body": "> It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on. \n\nWait, should I be taking off my pants when I shoot this heroin?",
"score": 57
},
{
"body": "I think it was me who requested this. Thanks for doing it. I don't remember what I wanted to ask when I requested, but there are some questions that pop to mind right now.\n\n1. I heard it self control speed on the turns so you never spin. Is it true?\n\n2. What is the average speed you drive it? I mean, it is a sport car, but you live in a city, right? You can't simply put 140 just because in a city.\n\n3. Do you comute on it? Do you receive any priviledges for doing so, like those people that do car sharing, since it is a 0 pollution car?\n\n4. Did you consider the idea of hitting the highway and topping it just to see how it feels?\n\n5. How does it handle, really? I believe you drove other cars in the past, can you give us a short comparisson?\n\n6. How does it feel to own one of the most exclusive cars in existence?\n\n7. Why did you decide to buy it?\n\n8. How much costed the spare parts you had to replace?\n\n9. If I remember right, it is suposed to make no noise, but they placed an artificial noise in the motor because driving an absolutely silent car was creepy and not very safe (no one knows you're approaching in a crossing, in example). Is it true?\n\n10. Ninjas or pirates?\n\n11. Will you keep checking this account for more questions later on?",
"score": 21
},
{
"body": "Do you enjoy egging on Prius owners in the parking lot?\n\n*\"50 MPG, hey? Might as well drive a Hummer.\"*",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "♪♫ It's not whatcha got, it's what you give. \r\nIt ain't the life you choose, it's the life you live. \r\nNo, no, no, no, no! \r\nIt's not whatcha got, it's a-what you give. \r\nAnd it ain't what it's not, but a-what it is. ♪♫ - Tesla",
"score": 10
},
{
"body": "Here's the big question that I, as a Canadian, have:\n\nHow does this thing handle in cold weather? Does the range plummet?\n\nProblematically, I don't see electric as being practical in cold-weather climates that can routinely see temperatures of -15C and under.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "Making the transition from internal combustion to electric, was it difficult in terms of the \"feel of the car\"? Does it feel like you're driving any other car? Is the sound the car makes hard to get used to?\n\nWhat's the inside cabin sound like on the freeway? A lot of wind noise? A lot of tire noise? Can you hear the motor?\n\nHow is the quality of the interior? Is it comfortable? Are the breaks soft/tight? \n\nSorry for such specific questions, but my goal is to buy one after I graduate and save up some money. The Model S is more likely though...",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "What are the maintenance requirements on it? What is involved with a major repair (cost, distance to authorized retailer, do they give you a loaner Tesla, does it take long to order parts, etc.)? Did the dealer give you any idea on long term cost of ownership? ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "I always wonder about people with really nice expensive cars, What do you do for a living? \n\nBuying a new car is always a terrible idea, and if you have the money for it, i assume you understand that concept. So you must do something awesome to afford the car :D",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Have you tried roadtripping in this car (i.e. driving past your range w/o returning home to charge)? If so, how did you arrange charging? Was it difficult?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What are you sick of arguing about? | I have a class on debating contemporary issues, and yesterday I realized that I no longer want to argue about abortion, capital punishment, Ron Paul, or euthanasia. It's been about fifteen years since any of those had an original argument and no one changes their mind. It ends up being a contest to see who is the better at stubbornly pissing off the other person.
What other things are you sick of arguing about. | 3 | [
{
"body": "Atheism. Glenn Beck. anything else that is posted on here 20 times a day. To the same fucking article.",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I'm sick of arguing about the Bible. Seriously. It was written by a collection of humans over the course of thousands of years, and while they all had the best of intentions and wanted to write exactly what they felt God leading them to write, looking someone in the eye and telling them that after over 1000 years of revision, translation, and reinterpretation this collection of books remains the complete and 100% pure Word of God is just plain disingenuous.\r\n\r\nSo much time is wasted with Atheists and Christians debating very minor details about what is described in the Bible...seriously, it's just another book, and I'm sick of arguing about it.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Religion and politics, no one was ever \"argued\" into changing their opinion on either of these topics.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "politics in the US. people feel the need to latch on to a party and hold strong, rather than focus on the topics at hand. people on both sides just blindly follow the party line, and mock/fear anything the other party does. you only give the opposite party more power the more you latch onto your own party. those that mildly associate themselves suddenly feel the need to more strongly defend their ideals without compromise.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Practically everything, actually. I used to have a lot of fun in debate threads, but these days I just can't seem to get up the effort. I'll just scan the thread, see that some people agree with me and some disagree, and realize that no matter what I say, nobody will care. Sometimes I'll write up my position, but if someone tries to engage me I'll just ignore it or throw in a joke.\n\nI've decided argument is a flawed method for arriving at the truth. It engages personal self-defense mechanisms that make people refuse to rethink anything (myself included). Instead, I just build my own position, and if I happen to see someone else make a good point, I'll think about it and incorporate it at my leisure, without dialogue.\n\nEdit: I do think it's funny that so many people in this thread are claiming they don't want to argue about something and then practically inviting argument by the way they state their position on the issue. Seems less like they don't want to argue and more like they just want everyone else to agree with them.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "My use of the word \"goddamn.\" There are about three people in this entire building who give a shit, and the second I utter it anywhere, one of them pops up to tell me I shouldn't. No amount of reasoning will convince them that telling another person to live by their values is just as, if not more, offensive.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Politics, religion, gays, middle east. But actually, pretty much every subreddit contains people arguing or insulting each other. And the internet has brought people closer together? Hardly. Yeah we now communicate more easily but grow more distant with our oh so wise opinions of ourselves.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I need some help finding out if a story about my cousin (an Army Ranger) is true. | My parents and I were talking this morning about a distant cousin of mine who was dishonorably discharged from the army after a friendly fire incident. I fear the story may be a bit embellished, and I don't want my parents believing something that isn't true...so I figured I'd ask around. They say he was part of a Ranger unit that was in a firefight inside the 'Golden Mosque' when it was destroyed. Apparently, his entire team was killed except him. Shortly after the fight ended, a female US soldier came running onto the scene and was shot by my cousin in his shell-shocked state. I don't mean to discredit my parents, but they sometimes twist stories into some new weird form and begin believing things that are not entirely accurate. Does anyone know anything about an incident like this? I've looked for information on the Golden Mosque, but can only find articles like [this](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022200454.html). | 14 | [
{
"body": "I'm skeptical. A lot of problems with that story just based on my own knowledge.\n\n* The Mosque in Samarra was an especially holy site to Shias - I can't see any Americans stepping inside for anything but the most unusual circumstances, even well before it was destroyed.\n* U.S. soldiers were almost certainly not present during the bombing.\n* A friendly fire accident like that wouldn't result in a dishonorable discharge - something criminal would have had to happen for a dishonorable discharge.\n* Mistaking a female U.S. soldier for the enemy seems highly unlikely - especially earlier in the war. Iraqis had difficulty moving tactically the way U.S. soldiers are trained. Even without uniforms, you can tell by the way people move.\n\nYou know what year this allegedly happened? ",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "you could register and check out;\n\nhttp://forum.armyranger.com/\n\nlot of rangers there and probably someone who could help you out. forwarning though. take the time to correctly type everything. read the posting rules. be courteous, refer to actual confirmed rangers as Ranger \"Username\". they should be able to help you out ",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "As a soldier in Iraq, I can say that an incident like this sounds very unlikely. Friendly fire incidents (at least the ones I've heard the skinny on) are almost always attributed to negligent discharges (an accidental firing of a weapon) or problems with indirect fire (artillery, mortars, and other weapons without line-of-sight). \n\nI don't know your parents, but I don't think someone would fabricate such a painful story intentionally. Maybe someone was misinformed, or details got skewed in a game of 'telephone'. \n\nAre you sure he was in a Ranger unit? Do you know which one? I'd be happy to help you out in any way I can.",
"score": 5
}
]
|
Reddit has a problem | No sensationalism this time. A redditor made an AMA titled [I am a possible date rapist](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/apdve/i_am_a_possible_date_rapist_ama/), and I followed it from the start.
I've seen a lot of AMAs from rape victims, but this was the first from the other side. It intrigued me. I wanted to see how reddit would react.
Please take a look at it. For my part, I see a lot of redditors coming to the opinion that the girl was a tease and either deserved it (by way of not taking herself out the situation) or really wanted it despite her verbal protests.
Please, am I over-reacting. It is a murky situation but a verbal "no, stop" should mean exactly as it sounds. If you set up a limit far before you get into the bedroom, it should not be ethical to push past that and simply call it poor judgement.
Wanting to be fondled, doesn't mean you give into sex. Not bursting into tears doesn't mean you give into sex. And certainly saying no all the way through should mean *something* more than that the victim is confused about her own wants. | 63 | [
{
"body": "I agree completely. There's a major rape-minimizing contingent on this site, no question about it. And they come out in droves on any post about any rape case, trying to show that it must not be real, the woman is lying, she really wanted it, etc. even when, not being members of the jury, none of us have any way of knowing the objective truth of a situation. \n\nNo means no. And more importantly, regardless of where a situation stands legally, only yes means yes. The absence of a \"no\" does not make it okay to proceed, only actual participation from your partner makes it okay. Why anyone would want to have sex with someone who's not into it is beyond me. ",
"score": 44
},
{
"body": "I'm just going to point out that he was on three different drugs at the time. While that doesn't excuse the behavior, people tend to take drug use by the victim into account without considering that being hopped up on three different drugs might have affected the aggressor's behavior too. And taking that into account, I don't really see anything wrong with how he handled it once he sobered up: he knows it was Not Good, wants to talk with the girl, would accept charges if she chose to make them, etc.\n\nThat said, I think Reddit is having trouble making the distinction because she was still making advances. OF COURSE consenting to oral sex does not imply consent to vaginal sex, but there seems to be this idea that human sexuality is a toggle switch and if you put yourself in a sexy setting your switch is set to \"ON.\" Not \"MOSTLY ON INCLUDING ORAL BUT NOT VAGINAL OR ANAL SEX,\" not \"SOMEWHAT ON INCLUDING MAKEOUTS AND HEAVY PETTING,\" just \"ON,\" an all-or-nothing no-holds-barred invitation. Which is a larger problem than Reddit, unfortunately. :/",
"score": 27
},
{
"body": "I read through most of the comments now and realized this actually happened in a third world country. The OP says that \"It would be fairly large scandal for her to even have sex or have been drinking\". Further the OP describes the sister of the girl he had sex with as an \"airhead\". I quote:\n\n>Daft: It means she's not very sharp. I'm in my Ph.D. program so all of the girls i typically meet are brilliant. This girl on the other hand probably barely finished secondary school, and has muddled through all sorts of cheap training programs without setting her life straight. Personally I have no problems with that. She's a sweet girl, even if she is an airhead.\n\nWhat a sad sad story. And it certainly gives this part of his description of the event some new meaning.\n\n>And that was around the time she asked, \"What will you give me?\". I stupidly replied \"orgasms\" and kept going till she explained. I kind of ignored the explanation because I didn't want to think of her as a whore.\n\nWhite, rich, educated man goes to third world country. White man meets poor, uneducated and sexually oppressed woman. White man ignores it when she says no and pretends he didn't hear it when she asks for money. What. The. Fuck.",
"score": 25
},
{
"body": "Yeah, that post made me rage too much even to respond. This guy sounds like an okay person who made a horrible mistake and was willing to listen to reason, had reason appeared. Instead he's going to get a pack of assholes telling him everything he did was just fine.\r\n\r\nEDIT: **Retracted.** Based on the AMA poster's comments in this thread, he is not an okay guy, he is a guy who intentionally sought out the Reddit rape-minimizing hivemind in order to make himself feel better. He got me with the faux-contrition in the other thread, but talking to Wandee he dropped it enough to show that he really doesn't feel poorly enough to do anything to remedy the situation aside from bragging about it online.",
"score": 20
},
{
"body": "While I agree that reddit does have serious problems, this one goes beyond it. The source of the issue, at least from the point of view of certain modern psychologists (i.e. not me), could be the way our society (Europe/US) goes about dating. I don't want to generalise or make it sound like something to be ashamed of, but, for some odd reason, the mind of a Western woman has this idea that \"I didn't have a choice, thus I slept with him\" is a best way to go. Everyone even moderately versed in seduction techniques knows this. This is why guys have to make the first move, why shyness is generally considered to be an attribute that is perfectly fine for girls, but not for boys, and why the whole \"no means yes\" fiasco started. Your best example is in the very submission:\n\n>I say no to my husband a lot. And he pesters me. And he pesters me, and I give in. That is the ugly truth.\n\nYou could argue that this sort of thing is just a game, but people, especially the less empathetic or experienced ones, tend to get confused by this sort of thing and you have a problem.\n\nAs for the part about being fondled and not wanting sex, you too, as a woman, should take responsibility and think about the feelings of others before doing what you \"want\". If you don't want to sleep with someone, give them a clear signal and be done with it. If doing something along the lines of *\"I fondled her nipple, and asked her in. She came to bed with me, and we continued\"* is your daily routine for people you don't want to lie with, yes, eventually someone will take that as a definite \"yes\" and the following \"no\"s as some sort of game. Don't want sex? Don't walk into the apartment of the guy playing with you nipples or let him do so in the first place.\n\nWhat I'm saying is not that it's fine to rape people, of course it isn't, but think of the consequences your actions might have in the future and the way the other party is likely to understand them. If playing with fire is the sort of thing you like to do, don't complain once you get a burn. The scenario in the post you've linked to could have been easily avoided with nothing more then a little vigilance, forethought and fewer drugs. Don't be stupid and you'll be fine.",
"score": 17
},
{
"body": "Just to put it out there... since people seem to have a problem understanding what date-rape is.\n\nHere are some resources.\n\nAlso you might want to take a look at this: \n\n>After the dance, they went to Kevin’s room and, eventually, started making out. She told him flat out that she didn’t want it to proceed to sex, and he said okay. But in a few minutes, he had pushed her down on the couch and positioned himself on top of her.\n\n> “No. Stop,” she said softly — too softly, she later told herself. When he ignored her and entered her anyway, she tensed up and tried to go numb until it was over. ... While it felt like rape to her — she had not wanted to have sex with Kevin — she was not sure if that’s what anyone else would call it.\n\n- [A New Kind of Date Rape](http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/tips-moves/new-kind-of-date-rape)\n\n\n> he first and most important thing a guy needs to understand is that NO MEANS NO. This is a non-negotiable fact. As soon as the word “No,” comes out of her mouth you must stop what you are doing and you should not persist by trying again. Even if it is a hot and heavy make out session as soon as she puts the brakes on you must stop. Even if the kissing starts up again you must not move things any further than she clearly indicates she wants them to go. If you have even a shadow of a doubt about what she really wants you must stop altogether\n \n- [Source](http://teenadvice.about.com/od/daterape/a/daterapeguysfyi.htm)\n\nShe said no. He did not stop. Her persisted. She continued kissing him, but always set the same limit. Eventually out of frustration (he says), he ignored what she was saying and just went for it.\n\nShe clearly indicated where she wanted to stop, and she was ignored. She was violated. I don't see how you can make this into a grey area. Its black and fucking white.\n",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "The first comment in that thread really made me really upset. [I wrote a reply](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/apdve/i_am_a_possible_date_rapist_ama/c0irkxs) and I hope I managed to stay fairly calm.\n\nI'll be less calm here though. I have to let it out. Honestly I feel like this woman is saying \"I get treated like shit every day and it wouldn't be fair if anyone else got better treatment\". Grrrrr..... If anyone wants to help me understand please do.",
"score": 11
},
{
"body": "Personally, I'm really sick to death of reading what should constitute rape and what doesn't constitute rape. It's wholly uninteresting to me and I think we can discuss more pertinent topics in R/Women, can't we? That's no slight on the submitter, btw. The problem is, these kinds of submissions invite critics who want to debate \"no doesn't really mean no\" and the rest of those ridiculous arguments which are:\n\na) indeed ridiculous; and\nb) not worth discussing.\n\nThe only thing a submission like this does is earmark the people I do not ever want to converse with here.\n\n",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I also was following this 'I am a possible date rapist' submission. I found the OP to have a really dark attitude. He was often insulting and rude to anyone who questioned how he saw the story and there were plenty of redditors ready to jump in and back him up at every turn.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "There was also an AMA about a guy who rapes his wife in **her** [edited, had wrong pronoun] sleep. naturally redditors defend him to the end.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
ADVICE NEEDED: Kinky sex and communication | Hi everyone, I hope this is the right subreddit to post something like this. I usually lurk around here a little bit, but I have sort of a weird situation on my hands and was hoping for a little feedback. I’m not sure exactly what my question is, haha, I just wanted to get some outside opinions on recent events.
Some background: I have been with my boyfriend for nearly two years now. Our sex life has been crazy and fulfilling, IMO, and it seems to keep getting better. We’ve slept with close to the same number of people prior to this relationship, but his other partners were mostly virgins and I had tried some more experimental things before (nothing super freaky, a little spanking and hair pulling and I tried anal a handful of times with my last boyfriend.) Enough that I came into this relationship feeling pretty confident that I like rough sex. However, my boyfriend told me MANY times near the beginning of our relationship that he considered himself totally vanilla and average, and didn’t have that high of a sex drive. ‘That’s cool,’ I thought. ‘He’s still totally awesome!”
I’ve always initiated sex way more than him, and also tried to subtly introduce him to some different things. Starting off with like, showing how much I love it when he smacks my bum or how much I like deepthroating him really enthusiastically. He teases me about wanting it more than him a lot, which kinda hurts my confidence at times, but I try to keep it in perspective. That must be how most guys feel with their SO’s all the time, right? He did eventually seem to warm up to that kind of thing though, and we progressed to a bunch of things I’ve certainly never done with another partner , like letting him choke me a little bit and slap my face with his cock, and eventually his hands. However, the communication aspect of things has always been lacking. I asked him if he liked treating me rough like that one time post-orgasm and he said “No, not really, I mean, I’m not a pervert.” (!!!!) Boys, DON’T say this to a girl after doing some pervy shit with her, it made me feel so slutty and bad like he was just humouring me. In fact, that statement was repeated a few times in the months that followed as a response to me trying to talk about our sex life.
“Mmm, you really like putting so many of your fingers inside me?”
“No. I’m not into fisting or anything!”
*FYI, it was four fingers, it was his idea and it was totally hot. I just wanted some affirmation/discussion that those feelings were mutual afterwards and I got shut down totally.
For this next part, I should mention that I have been interested in anal with him for a while but he’s told me flat out multiple times that he is NOT into it, so I refrained from ever asking. It wouldn’t be sexy if the guy didn’t want to do it, obviously. I should also mention that I know he watches porn and have never really cared or discussed it. It doesn’t bother me, apart from some very slight insecurity about porn star bodies vs. my regular body. Soooo when I was using his computer a while ago and shut a tab prematurely, then went to Recently Closed Tabs to retrieve it, I felt rather surprised to see the titles of various anal porn videos. I didn’t snoop, I wouldn’t want to betray his trust….but I did think about it a ton after that. Why would he watch that but not want me that way? Was it something about me that made the idea not sexy or is it just a porncentric fantasy? There is tons of shit I would get off to alone on the internet but not pursue in real life, after all. I tried initiating a conversation with him about wanting to see what kinds of videos he liked and watch some with him, but it went over terribly. He said he didn’t want to talk about it with me, it should be private, he only liked “regular things” and didn’t know why I was always pushing him to confess to being a pervert. This was pretty much the worst imaginable attempt to bring up something sexy with a boy, so I decided not to mention it anymore. Though, weirdly enough, the thought of him watching anal porn still turned me on and I coincidentally started delving more into porn movies on my own – I’ve always been a literotica kinda girl before this. A few weeks after this awkward conversation, I shyly bring up the idea that I could show him a few things that I like, instead. (I know, I just don’t know when to quit, right?)
Well, actually, it turns out I know exactly when not to quit! He totally came around and said he wanted us to be open with each other about this stuff from now on and we had a sort of sexy conversation about porn stars we liked – he even brought up liking anal in porn but not wanting to try it in real life, like, at all. Eventually we decide to watch some movies together (and BTW this is where my story actually starts, I’m so sorry for the enormous amount of background/context and thanks for sticking with me so far!)
So he puts on something he likes first (Eva Angelina, FFM threesome – I found it a little boring actually), and we start fooling around. Eventually, he tells me to find something I want to watch and I put on something a bit more questionable – Sasha Grey in a MMF threesome. (Full disclosure – I’d watched it before but decided to act as though I wasn’t sure what would be in store, so I could see his reaction) And uhhhhm he really seemed to love it. In fact, he told me he’d watched it a couple of times before, which is SO HOT (!!) So we are getting fresh and watching this video, and all of a sudden things are like 1000x rougher than they’ve ever been before – i.e. getting gagged with my panties while he fucks me and fingers my ass and calls me dirty names. “I can’t believe you like watching Sasha fucking Grey,” he said while we were going at it. “Now I know what a fucking slut you really are, she’s my absolute favourite, you know that?” This is embarrassing to type under an anonymous name even, but when he was ready to come, he held my face down on the floor and came all over it/the tiles, then made me lick them clean. It was probably the single hottest thing of my whole existence – in fact, that kind of treatment is sort of my version of ‘things I love in porn but never considered viable with a partner for real’. Now he says he can’t wait to fuck my ass and humiliate me and a ton of things I never expected to hear from him. I made a joke about finally converting him. He said he’s ALWAYS liked that kind of thing and it was just a matter of opening up.
So on the one hand, I can’t think about anything else due to being soooo turned on by these new developments. I still can’t help but feel sort of embarrassed in the bad way (vs. the hot way), though, and I’m reluctant to start a conversation with him again about this stuff, because of our history of totally uncomfortable conversations. On the other hand, what?? I can’t believe I’ve spent almost TWO YEARS fucking this guy, begging him to tell me his fantasies, constantly suggesting new things to try, thinking I was nurturing this delicate little flower lol, and in reality he has been into things that even I find shocking (in a good way) for how long? Years? I feel sort of confused and distrustful, just because I thought I knew him and understood his sex drive, I guess. It is weird to be with someone so long and think you KNOW what they are into and then be totally wrong. Maybe I should cut him some slack, though, right? I mean, it is pretty extreme to have tastes like mine – I never told him that I like that kind of humiliation in porn during all of this time, so why would he tell me if he did? It is just weird because he has always been the epitome of self-confidence (bordering on arrogance actually), so it doesn’t make sense to me that he was reluctant to talk about his interests for so long. Could it be because his other girlfriends were all so…virginal? I just cannot stop considering various possibilities, such as:
1) He doesn’t really love this kinda thing, but is humouring me and thinks I’m a total slut
2) He would rather treat a girlfriend respectfully, but now he thinks of me as totally depraved, and therefore less like girlfriend material.
3) There are endless other things he has been flat out dishonest with me about.
What do you think, Reddit? Am I overanalyzing? Should I just keep on enjoying my new, mind-blowing sex life or is there something genuinely off here? Is there something wrong with the way I try to initiate conversations that would explain his weird reactions? Sorry for the huge amount of writing, and I really appreciate any advice.
BTW, surely if my boyfriend happens to read this, I will be instantly recognizable as myself. There isn’t a whole ton here that I can’t live with him reading, so I will take the risk!
EDIT: Aw, fuck, I can't believe I spelled my own throwaway account name wrong. Talk about embarrassing :P
2nd EDIT: Thanks for all of the advice, I think I'm starting to understand how I was looking at this the wrong way. Our sex life doesn't have to be defined by any specific incident, we can just be fluid and try new things together. I know deep down that he respects me no matter what, and I can only assume he wouldn't do anything in bed that he wasn't interested in. I guess I've just been overreacting because I've never made myself so vulnerable with anyone before.
| 41 | [
{
"body": "I think you're just over**anal**yzing. He had just never been given the chance to be as open in the bedroom as he had wanted to be and never lived out his fantasies, and then when given the chance was unconfident, now you've opened Pandora’s box and sound like you've got a hell of a lot of fun to come. Very lucky guy. \n\nIf you ever split up, marry me?\n",
"score": 16
},
{
"body": "Your boyfriend sounds A LOT like me. Please check out this reddit post, and some of the comments:\n\nhttp://www.reddit.com/r/sex/comments/al70m/how_the_90s_killed_sex/\n\nWhether or not you think it's a valid point of view, a number of men in my generation were taught that their sexuality was predatory and wrong; borderline assault. Sure, we're a bunch of anxious introverts here, not all guys took all that stuff to heart, but I can tell you I did 100%. It felt **so** cathartic to hear that someone else was made neurotic by the 90's portrayal of men's sexuality. I felt like I wasn't alone for the first time.\n\nThat being said, I'm on my 3rd long-term girlfriend here, we've been dating for 3 years and we're in nearly the exact same situation you described above. For my part, I never enjoyed sex all that much previous times and preferred porn. I didn't feel like it was ok to express what I really wanted to a girl, and felt as if I always had to walk on eggshells instead of being honest. I'm 25 and that's finally just beginning to dissipate.\n\ntl;dr Your boyfriend is probably just self-conscious and repressed about what he wants; not dishonest. Explore slowly and carefully.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "Sounds like we've got a match! :)\n\nMy only advice is to never let him pull that \"No, I'm not a pervert [like you are]\" bullshit again. This dude is absolutely a pervert. Now that he's with someone with whom he doesn't need to hide this fact, he needs to man up and not put the self-judgment he feels on you (or anyone else).\n\nSounds like you've got him there, but I thought I'd just mention in case he regresses that it isn't fair to be like that, especially when everyone is so vulnerable.",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "It took me a LONG time to open up to my wife about anything in bed. Time is what he needs, that and a little friendly encouragement. As the strawman said, you are thinking about this too much - just keep the line of communication open and let him know how hot it makes you when he treats you like his little toy. He'll come around. When he does, look out! :) Enjoy!",
"score": 8
},
{
"body": "Congratulations that you finally got communicating, and that it seemed to work out for the best! That was actually a really hot story (about him gagging you with your panties and making you lick up the floor tiles - phew!)\n\nI think you are overanalysing things a little. If you have all these questions, seriously, why not just ask? Tell him you want to understand him and what turns him on and what gets him off. Sure, you might have to compromise on a couple of things, and he might have to compromise too, but I think he's starting to realise that the things he enjoys in porn are things he can do in real life. I reckon he's not made the distinction before.\n\nGood luck!",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "It's possible that not even he knew how much it would turn him on to be really rough with you until it just happened one day. My bf and I have been together for going on 3 years, and every so often we find out one or both of us is turned on by something we'd talked about or tried but weren't terribly interested in doing.\n\nSpanking was like that for both of us. The first few times my bf mentioned spanking I just thought it was a little weird. I was willing to try a few light spanks, but I didn't think it would turn me on at all. I mean, seriously, who gets turned on by pain? He even tried bringing it up by spanking me lightly during sex, but I still wasn't at all turned on by it. I didn't really mind watching it in porn but I had literally no interest in it. One day we were fooling around and got a little rougher than usual, and he spanked me hard. I loved it so much, that we soon worked up to whipping me with a leather belt, nipple pinching to the point of bruising, choking, slapping, hair pulling, etc. Turns out I really get off on pain. \n\nEager to return the favour, I tried spanking him. He was far more willing to experiment, and really liked the idea of being spanked, but he was a huge wimp about it. He'd start looking uncomfortable after one or two light smacks, and never really enjoyed it much. So we basically stopped spanking him for nearly 2 years. Then one day he decided he wanted to try it again, bent over and asked for a spanking. I was a little surprised, but went along with it. Lo and behold, it was all about position, if he's sticking his ass up in the air, suddenly he enjoys his spankings a lot more. I'll spank him so hard my hand will be bright red and stingy, and he'll still be asking for more. We'll have to start on some heavier duty toys for him too.\n\nWe've had similar changes of heart about bondage, dirty talk, anal (pegging is now on our to-do list), among other things. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Ok. I got wood reading that.\n\nThat aside. I agree with the others, you're overanalysing. Tell him you're turned on by the whole thing. When he said he wanted to be open he meant it. Guys are weird. We generally say what we mean, although sometimes things stop us from saying what we really want (and lets face it do you really want to be with a guy at a respectful dinner party whom when introduced to a couple says to the girl, \"My goodness, you have huge tits for a senator's wife! I would like to touch them!\")\n\nI think you should tell him how hot this whole thing is getting you, in excruciating detail. You should tell him the things you want him to do to you. Things you want to try. Tell him you want him to pound your arse so fucking hard till it bleeds. Tell him you want him to make you not just lick his come but snort it like it's coke so you can feel the drips go down your throat so you can tell him how good it is. Tell him you want him to abuse you, to chain you to the stairs, tie your legs behind you and fuck you with a vibrator until you reach the edge of orgasm then stop whilst he throat fucks your face before alternating. Tell him you want an enema with breast milk. Tell him you want him to treat you like a glass, pour champagne into your arsehole, feel the bubbles inside and have him drink from it. Tell him you want him to throat fuck you till you puke, then throat fuck you some more.\n\nShit, I have wood again. I guess those are things I'd want in his situation rather than yours. You need to find what you want and tell him. Look for things at the edge of your comfort zone and if he's the one you trust more than anything then push the boundaries with him.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Kinky sex is all about bringing more of what would normally be considered negative feelings to the surface. You can be shy *and* sexual, naughty *and* obedient, cruel *and* tender at the same time. Having kinky sex is often easier than talking about it. It's very understandable to worry about being seen as a dirty slut even if that's exactly what you want to feel at times. It shouldn't negate his respect for you, and he should be pleased with the depraved slut you can be.\n\nEspecially when talking about kinky things you have to remember they have more than one dimension going for them, it's never purely just like or dislike. I've found it most useful from a dominant perspective to ask my partners not just whether something turns them on, but how much it turns them on but also how much they feel humiliated by it, or how much something hurts.\n\nInstead of \"very little\" or \"a lot\" you may find it easier to answer in numbers. A ten point scale will do fine and will often get you an answer that's both easier to obtain as well as more informative.\n\nIf I ask you how much does anal sex turn you on and how much does it humiliate you on a ten point scale and you answered 5 and 10, that gives me much more than just a yes or no. I'd know it's a turn on but not the best thing in the world, but also that it would humiliate you sexually. If I knew that humiliation is one of your kinks, I could then to be much more confident about how or when to use this with you.\n\nSince you're the more submissive partner, you obviously can't control the discussion quite as effectively as from the dominant perspective, but next time you speak with him you might hint him into the direction of asking you in this manner. By being more clear about your own likes about something specific, such as saying that oral sex is a 10 for you as a turn on and 5 in humiliation on a ten point scale, he just might pick up on this and ask the same question about something else. If he's comfortable, you might also ask him similar questions.\n\nOr you could take turns. Or you can play it in the form of a game. Or you can take some quiz together. At the end of the day you want to empower him to humiliate you in ways that turn you on, which do not compromise his respect for you or your view of him as a gentleman.\n\nAbove all though, play safe, have lots of fun and be sure to post a follow-up.\n",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Question about Jiu Jitsu? | I’m not a grappler, so this may be completely obvious to someone who is. When someone goes to ground, and their opponent is still standing, the standing opponent needs to somehow get into or past the guard of the guy on the ground to continue the fight (assuming they don’t wait for the ref to stand them up).
When the standing guy rushes and commits his weight, my first instinct from the ground would be a hard heel kick to the chest or face. But, I don’t see that a lot. Typically the standing guy ends up in the full guard of the guy on the ground.
Is the kick a huge mistake from your point of view? Are you waiting/hoping for it? If you were coming in and you saw the kick coming, what would you do?
Edit: Thanks, everyone. That all makes a lot of sense. | 12 | [
{
"body": "The problem is there is a big risk involved with doing it, being that your guard is passed and you are put in a bad position. If you're confident in your ground game you're hoping to get control and to work your game, which will win the fight for you more often than an up kick. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Kicking up is sometimes risky. The guy standing may be able to grab your feet and swing them to the side of him. This means that you're going to end up on the short end of side control. \n\nA similar thing happened between Mousasi vs Babalu. Although Babalu didn't do an upkick, Mousasik throw his legs to the side, and proceeded to punch him out. ",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "[Ashy_Larry delivers.](http://www.mma-core.com/videos/_Ronaldo_Jacare_Souza_vs_Gegard_Mousasi_at_Dream_6?vid=10008330&tid=100)",
"score": 3
}
]
|
What rate do you charge for tech support? | My sister is asking me to lend a hand to one of her personal friends who is having computer trouble. I don't typically do this anymore, but I did back in college. How much do tech savvy Redditors charge people for this sort of thing? Do you charge different rates for "friends of friends?"
I know I could check out Geek Squad's rates, but I can't in good conscience charge on that level to anyone I didn't hate =) | 5 | [
{
"body": "what you do is have them research what it would cost them to be a normal citizen and take it to a shop/geek squad/etc. have them list each cost; no less than 3 places, no more than five.\n\ntake that list. average the costs together. divided that number by two.\n\ninstant tech support fee.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Depends on the service provided. Normally I just help a person out and receive future good karma, and some beer. I should point out though that I don't offer my services very often, as I don't find cleaning little Johhnys spam ridden pc interesting or worth my time. Maybe in college, but now that I have a real job, I just find the pay isn't worth it.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
How do you collaborate with remote musicians who use other audio platforms? | I'm trying to figure out the best workflow, software, and methodologies to use in collaborating with someone several thousand miles away who uses a PC and Audacity, Ableton Live, and a 4-track recorder. I'm a Mac user familiar with Logic, GarageBand, and Pro Tools. So far, my best idea is to maintain the master mix myself and trade utility mixes for recording additional tracks.
Now, I don't really want reddit to solve my problems, but I want to hear how you navigate this sort of obstacle. Obviously, the easiest thing to do would be to standardize on a platform, but that's just not going to happen, so what are some creative ways to collaborate long-distance, when the platforms are different? | 5 | [
{
"body": "#1. Keep a collaborative word processor, such as google wave, open during all your recording sessions. Make constant notes about each track: the effects used, the intention of the tracks, etc, etc. I do this for myself as a matter of course.\n\n#2. Find an effective way to batch render out all the separate tracks out in your prefered DAW system. It is very important that you find a way to automate this as much as possible. I think you may be able to do this with MAX in live, but I may be mistaken. Cubase does it, but not well, I've been told that Logic does it, (I haven't used it since they dumped the PC users), but the guy I was talking to was getting very defensive \"Uhh, yeah, Logic can do that too! Sure, and that, whatever it is! And that too, though it's clear I have no idea what you are talking about!\", so he was possibly full of shit. If you have to, use one of those key command scripting tools, like AutoHotKey and build your own, you will find it incredibly useful.\n\n#3. I don't think that the suggestions regarding stems are all that helpful. Any kind of mix down or rendering that involves you, rather than your machines doing the mixing, is time that will be taken away from the work you are trying to do. If this is a not a collaboration, but a producer/session musician situation - where one of you is very clear what they want the other person to provide, and the other person is happy just contributing whatever skill they are being solicited for, this might work. Otherwise, the back and forth will eat up all your composing time, and limit the other persons abilities to reuse and reincorporate your melodies.\n\n#4. You are fools not to want to standardize your platforms. Exactly what are you trying to save? \n\n* Time? \nYou'll waste far more time bouncing tracks and lining up stuff that you were sent than you will ever waste installing a new program and figuring out how to arm a track and load a VST. \n* Money? Recording systems can be evaluated these days at no cost. If you end up preferring it to your current system, you can go out and buy it. Do you think Ableton would be pissed if, through piracy, they gained another paying customer? Do you think they have a right to your money, if you purchased a tool \nand three months in discovered deal-breakers in the workflow? \n* Your current studios' capabilites? Even if this requires that you use only a subset of your studio's capabilities, or requires you to learn a new piece of software, it will make you (as a team) vastly more productive. \n\nI am constantly baffled by people who are so hesitant to new and different DAW systems. They are all the same! They do the same things! The fundamental process of recording are the same. They are designed for ease of use and adoption. If you are afraid to work with another DAW, I would question whether you are approaching your music creation with the end in mind - about the most essential part of any musical endeavour: knowing what you want to do. If you are noodling when you should be composing, a new interface can be intimidating: You aren't sure, when you sit down, what you are going to ask it to do, and so you have no idea where to being looking for it! (I'm not saying you can't invent at the DAW. I do 90% of my inventing there, when I am writing).\n\n#And apart from all that, the monstrosities that will be your iterations of wave files will drown you. You'll need a very accurate system of notating the files, unless you intend to send all the files, every time you make a change anywhere. A written document in your shared repository of docs will go a long way towards the consistency you need for time efficient work.\n\n#5. Use a repository, such as an ftp site, rather than sending files back and forth. This way, you both will know what is 'current' and what is 'old'. You can keep old versions around. Google is unveiling a free file upload system shortly, with a limit of 250 megs/file. I'm not sure if it does versioning, but between this, standardizing your DAW, and Google wave, I think you have everything you need. \n\n#5a. Another, possibly sexier, alternative to the one above, is to use [dropbox](http://getdropbox.com) as a collaborative file repository. You can share 2 gigs of files with each other for free (more if you pay), and have them synched automagically whenever you make a change. You could also use Jungledisk, or other alternatives to this.\n\nKeeping a long distance collaboration alive is VERY HARD WORK. Being a musician with a day job is also VERY HARD WORK. Anything that can save you time to compose is going to be critical, as is anything that can keep you both focused on the process, and take the place of the social cues for urgency that social interactions in a workplace provide. This is, quite literally, a long distance relationship, albeit one with a goal and consequently a time frame, so treat it as one, and work on keeping each other on track and accountable for remaining productive in the relationship.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Hey r/Anime/ has anyone else seen Kara no Kyoukai (The Garden of Sinners)? | This show has some of the the best fight scene animation I've ever laid eyes on.
It's a great series and I would recommend it to anyone who has not yet seen it, but has a pretty tough stomach. It's got a lot of "philosophical" elements, so if you don't like reading a lot of subs, you may want to pass, but I'll leave you with a few clips you should take a look at. ([ANN](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7472)) ([AniDB](http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=4932))
If you can't watch them all, just watch episode 5. It probably won't be too hard to follow if you missed the first 4, and it's the best of the bunch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBrWcKIteAo&fmt=22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWClr4Zghk8&fmt=22
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgJbJtulgCY&fmt=18
Enjoy. That second one is beyond anything i've ever even imagined possible in an anime.
| 20 | [
{
"body": "I thought the anime was very enjoyable. The story was pretty good and the action (when it happened) was well done. However the thing that I found best about KnK was the music. Kajiura Yuki is such a good composer, and KnK was probably my favorite of her works.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "I certainly wouldn't say it has \"the best\" animation of anything I've seen. Both the character design and the story are very typical of Nasu. The fight scenes are over-the-top and unrealistic, with a generous amount of CGI to make things \"pretty\". The story is one of those where the author feels free to make up supernatural phenomena as he goes along, with no attempt to unify it into a cogent whole.\r\n\r\nI'm not saying I didn't like it, because I did. It was entertaining. But it was a very typical soft fantasy with no real innovation and little creativity involved. In fact, Kara no Kyoukai (the novel) was a sort of prototype for the visual novel Tsukihime, which was earlier adapted into an anime (which was not well received). Many of the characters in Kara no Kyoukai have an equivalent in Tsukihime. I have played through part of the Tsukihime visual novel, and personally I find it to be more entertaining than Kara no Kyoukai.\r\n\r\nYou mention that it has \"a lot of philosophical elements,\" and I'd have to disagree. It has a lot of talking that could be construed as philosophical, but in reality it's nothing but a bunch of intellectual masturbation. Kara no Kyoukai is \"deep\" in the same way that Evangelion is \"deep,\" which is to say that it isn't.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "It's not the animation. It's the animation, music, and sound.\n\nMusic is the best Yuki Kajiura's done with a -possible- exception for hack//SIGN. The mastering of sounds and the VA is spectacular. I would watch this if it had no plot.\n\nWhich is good, since a lot of the philosophy wank makes it feel that way sometimes.",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I want to roller skate - derby style. | Dear Reddit,
I've been toying with the idea of roller derby for about a year now. I keep thinking about how awesome it would be to be a Rat City Roller Girl! Last night, a friend and I went skating, and we had the best time. Now - I'm getting serious about getting my own skates. Does anyone have any tips on buying my first pair of derby-style skates? The last pair of roller skates I had were purchased in 1989, and they were Barbie.
*EDIT* I made the decision - tryouts are Feb. 13th! (Thanks, boyfriend, for reminding me that everyone starts out as an amateur.) | 7 | [
{
"body": "I've been skating derby for the past two years. Above all, before you buy ANYTHING you need to make sure you get fitted for skates that will fit you perfectly. There is nothing worse than spending hundreds of dollars on skates that you assume will fit you, only to find out they're too big.\n\nOnce you can find out the correct size, check ebay/craigslist/freecycle. Hell, even talk to Rat City and find out if any girls can sell you old skates for cheap. ",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I'll try and get my wife to post in this thread. When we first started dating she was doing roller derby. I'm sure she will have some insight. ",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "As a derby ref, I have to put my two cents in on this one. I agree that proper fitting skates are a must. You should definitely get fitted and if able try the boots on before you buy them. Good pads along with the rest of your gear are also important. Expensive pads aren't necessarily better pads. Nothing stops a jam like a toe stop or kneecap spinning across the track. The biggest problem I have seen with new girls is simply getting out there and skating with a group. It's a different mindset than your regular Friday night skates at the rink.\r\n\r\nInvest in a small blister kit. Find good socks that work with your feet and your boots. Learn to clean your skates. You will see why soon enough. Get a decent mouth guard.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Email them and they'll guide you through it, the [fresh meat recruiter link](http://www.ratcityrollergirls.com/contact.html) towards the bottom there is the one you want.",
"score": 3
},
{
"body": "Definitely check out when they have open recruitment/ tryouts and make sure you really want to do it. A lot of girls end up spending a decent amount of money on equipment and then end up quitting. The girls are usually super helpful and can point you in the right direction. At our open recruitment, you don't even need your own skates, they let you use loners from the rink. \n\n[Our coach has a shop](http://www.skaterschoiceskateshop.com/t-rdu.aspx) that gives us a discount and \"might\" have some useful info. \n\nAlso, you might want to post on [Rat City's forum](http://www.ratcityrollergirls.org/Forum/) and ask about local places that give derby discounts. There are tons of websites, but supporting the businesses in your area that support derby is awesome. \n\n-Spank Sinatra- [Tampa Bay Derby Darlins](http://www.tampabayderbydarlins.com/j/index.php)",
"score": 3
}
]
|
I'm at the edge. The pain is just intolerable. | I've been getting more and more into philosophy the last few months and the thing that is now torturing me is the following quote:
>Optimism is "an insult to the sadness of our existence" we who are "tormented atoms on this pile of mud, swallowed up by death, the mere play things of fate."
And I can't find anything wrong about it. I would like to belief that I'm not just atoms but when I watch people in everyday life there is just nothing "good" about them. We are all soulless creatures who perceive a soul. And this fucking conscience is just killing me. I never wanted to be alive. I never wanted to feel a body. GODDAMN!!! | 16 | [
{
"body": "You are \"atoms\"\n\nYou are not \"mere atoms\", for there's nothing \"mere\" about it. What's the big deal that you're built out of particles instead of something else?\n\nI strongly suggest you read these two articles: [Joy in the Merely Real](http://lesswrong.com/lw/or/joy_in_the_merely_real/) and [Existential Angst Factory](http://lesswrong.com/lw/sc/existential_angst_factory/)\n\nThat we are made of particles does not in any way devalue us. We are made of particles. Somehow our minds arise from that. So?\n\nNot sure if this helps or if I misunderstood what's bothering you. Am listening though.",
"score": 6
},
{
"body": "I prefer to meditate on death. The fact that every moment could be my last is entirely out of my control. Brain embolism, meteorite, earthquake, nuke, when walking around \"trip fall hit head die\", when driving \"car accident.\" I think about those things constantly. I in turn lead a relatively hedonistic lifestyle. Sure I do some deep stuff in my PhD studies, but that's all for fun and... what's the word... the sense of accomplishment.\n\nAs is most likely the case, our shared experience here at this moment is the only thing we have... transient or not, I enjoy the present.\n\nDoes your body physically hurt?",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Reddit, are you having a good day? I'm having a pretty good day today, which is not common. | I'm just one of those over-anxious, stressed (self-induced), unhappy people that manage to live a relatively normal life but kind of walk around in a haze most of the time. Unexpectedly lost my job a week and a half ago, and since I was making very little at the time I have nothing saved up. Have been searching relentlessly for a job so I can eat next week (exaggerating, I have enough food/money to make it a couple weeks).
Anywho, **my good day:** got hired on the spot at a job interview! It's only temporary, but damn it feels good. Then, stopped to buy a pack of smokes, picked up a lottery ticket - and won $10!
d(>w<)b
How 'bout you? | 26 | [
{
"body": "My tolerance for Homo Sapiens is extremely low today. I might tell one of my co-workers to fuck off. We'll see.",
"score": 15
},
{
"body": "I needed to come home early from work today to let a repair man in, my boss gave me the entire day off, I am happy.",
"score": 4
},
{
"body": "Up at 4am for work. Which is good cause at least I have work. But it was damn early... Working on auto pilot though...",
"score": 3
}
]
|
Professional Game Developers: Do you ever get bored with your work? | I'm a web dev and pretty much every product / assignment is the same as the last, just like re-routing text entries in new or different ways. Does creating games ever seem like you're doing the same sports, driving, or FPS games over and over. Or is there enough next-gen technology and innovative gameplay concepts that you're always learning and doing something new? | 15 | [
{
"body": "I'm the sole programmer and puzzle designer for the game [Cogs](http://www.cogsgame.com) and I love what I do. I feel incredibly fortunate to be in a position where I have creative control over a product that I'm really proud of. Thankfully, I really enjoy the challenge of a lot of the everyday grunt work that others might find boring -- fixing bugs, implementing efficient algorithms, etc.\n\nBut since I'm the only full-time employee of Lazy 8 Studios, I also need to deal with a lot of tasks that I find boring. I don't consider myself to have much skill or intuition at actually running a business, so negotiating with distributors and reading through pages and pages of legal contracts is a huge headache for me. I could spend less time on that, but if I want enough income to finance the next project, it's important. It's also a small price to pay for having a job that I otherwise really enjoy.\n\nI've met some indie developers who create games solely as art and have no interest in marketing their games or running a successful business. If you're willing to live like an artist, that's fine, but I don't think it's a good retirement strategy.\n\nI highly recommend reading the [Cogs postmortem](http://www.lazy8studios.com/2009/cogs_postmortem) to give you an idea of what it's really like working as an indie game developer, bearing in mind that it's still quite different from working for a big studio. Just be ready for some salary shock; you'll likely earn 50-70% of your current market value, just because gaming jobs are considered desirable.",
"score": 13
},
{
"body": "\"Yes,\" Texel said as he jadedly looked up from his lunch - a meager arrangement of meat, bread, and cheese that the local delivery deli called a \"sandwich.\"\n\n\"I get extremely bored with it, same as any other job. Every game at its core is just like the last, even more so when your company has found its 'niche'. Next-gen technology is for academics and the senior programmers working on the next tech base.\"",
"score": 9
},
{
"body": "It's not the work I tire of, it's the lack of vision in those who drive my projects, as well as their total failure to comprehend their market or the technologies we use.\n\nI actually made a virtual lottery ticket scratch-off game.\n\nThere were no prizes, not even virtual ones.\n\n*\"But people love playing scratch tickets!\"*",
"score": 7
},
{
"body": "I can only remember one moment in the 7 years of my time in the game industry that I was bored. It was right after a title that the whole studio was working on went gold and we had no other games lined up to work on(A story for another time). \n\nSo, we had nothing to work on but to optimize the engine. I was in charge of making sure all the matrix and vector operations produced results correctly and efficiently. So, I spent two or three weeks writing unit tests to find any inconsistencies in the math. It sucked and was hella boring.\n\nIt ended up paying off sorta though. I found that our routine to create our quaternion matrices had two rows that were switched. That was a big WTF and it was a wonder how our last game even worked.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Programming will always be like that. I've yet to find a job where I don't think to myself regularly \"I've done this so many times\". On the other hand as a full time game developer I can luckily say that it isn't constantly on my mind as when I was doing web development.",
"score": 5
},
{
"body": "Biggest down side of Wii dev: friends don't get impressed the same way as they do when they find out you're working on a popular core game / generally even take your work seriously.\n\nBiggest up side: motion controls are messy enough to make me glad I did a math major.\n\nActually, that might be the biggest down side, also.",
"score": 4
}
]
|
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