This is the thread where I say things and maybe other people say things too

[JoeW]

It’s actually pronounced Wenz-day per Webster’s...duh :)

[Crazed_Insanity]

I love how the europeans pronounce aluminum aluminium. Sounds so much fancier and exotic.

[MR2 Fan]

I used to love TED Talks...from around 2006 when there was a documentary about them, I though they were a great way to share things from certain people in various fields to improve the world. Now I just read there's 25,000 so far.

I think they've lowered their standards, which is why I haven't paid as much attention to them. I think they should have kept it to the more important topics, but that's just me. I realize TED didn't even start out as this kind of platform, but it emerged to be one.

[dodint]

Next you'll tell me you don't pronounce the first 'r' in February. *pshht*

[JoeW]

I read that the differentiations between USA written English and written UK English came about when the first published English dictionary was written in the USA. Apparently they decided that the UK written English inserted too many unnecessary letters in order to over complicate words and make sentences appear more sophisticated. So they decided to eliminate the unnecessary letters when asking their dictionary. Hence tyre vs tire, colour vs color etc and so on.

[dodint]

My understanding was similar, except that it was done in an effort to differentiate America from England. Done out of a sense of nationalism rather than effeciency.

[George]

Apparently they decided that the UK written English inserted too many unnecessary letters in order to over complicate words and make sentences appear more sophisticated.

Somebody needs to do that with the French dictionary.

[JoeW]

Yes exactly but I think they used the ruse of simplification.

[dodint]

I don't appreciate your ruse, ma'am.

Your ruse. Your cunning attempt to trick me.

[JoeW]

Just watched that again recently due to its appearance on Netflix. Awesome.

[JoeW]

Try not to suck any dick on the way through the parking lot!

[speedpimp]

As a kid, I used to watch a TV show on Saturday mornings called Isis...or now I see it was called The Secrets Of Isis.

Wow, it sure looks cheesy today. :lol:
]

A few years ago it was on Netflix. It was paired with Shazam. I think it came on after The Hudson Brothers Show. The trailer for the new Shazam movie actually looks funny.

[Dicknose]

I love how the europeans pronounce aluminum aluminium. Sounds so much fancier and exotic.

You mean we pronounce aluminIum as al-u-min-Ium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium

The official spelling ends in "ium"

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes, Americans made it sound less great for sure.

[speedpimp]

Can't wait for those MAGA(Make Alu-mini-um Great Again) hats to hit the market.

[Cam]

:lol:

[JoeW]

Of course it makes sense that the UK spelling would be predominant because it is the origination point of English.

[Dicknose]

It was complicated - the English guy who named it changed his mind and he went with "num" ending.
And America mostly used the "ium" spelling initially.
Anyway - both are acceptable, but only one is the official.

And its crazy that the pronunciation differs from the first syllable.

But hey - dont get me started on words like "solder" - that gave me much grief in the USA.

[JoeW]

Yeah solder here is basically just “sodder”.

[Drachen596]

How do you guys deal with an eight hour shift in a workplace with absolutely horrific music? I think I might kill myself if I have to listen to one more disco tune or shitty 70s romance song. Everyone I work with is ancient and thinks "The Rolling Stones are too damn heavy." :mad::mad::mad::mad:

When I worked at ChickFilA it was Christian radio only. We kept track and determined that much like Christmas songs there are really only ten songs. They're just redone by every single group in the genre.

It was almost magical when that station did their telethons and got turned off for the week or two it ran.

[Freude am Fahren]

At least we can all agree gif is pronounced with a soft G, right?

[dodint]

It would if it was spelled 'jif', yeah.

[JoeW]

Yeah I do the hard G simply because the word the G stands for is pronounced with a hard G.

Otherwise only choosy mothers would choose the peanut butter version.

[Freude am Fahren]

Or the guy who invented the damn thing.

The "it's a hard g, because graphics is a hard g" was just made up to justify a wrong pronunciation.

[JoeW]

Edit...The inventor was Steve Wilhite...jif is correct. Per his instructions.

[Dicknose]

buoy

Had a surf carnival at the beach this weekend and one of my American students got very worried when told the boat race was "out and around a buoy".
They were buoyed to find out no kids were harmed!

[JoeW]

We pronounce that one boo-wee.

[dodint]

Inventing a file format does not give someone command to change the phonetics that make up a shared language. :lol: This isn't a Porsh/Por-shuh situation.

[Freude am Fahren]

Acronyms do not have to be pronounced based on the pronunciation of the words that make them up. That is actually made up garbage. NASA, POTUS, ATM, NATO, SCUBA

And if we're talking about rules (which is kinda dumb in English, since every rule has about a million exceptions). g's are pronounced soft if followed by i, e, or y. Gin, Engine, Genie, Gym.

[dodint]

Like gift? :lol:

[George]

Like gin. The hard G just sounds wrong in this case (at least to me).

[Freude am Fahren]

Like I said, English is dumb, but

https://jemully.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/JIFF-VS-GHIF-683x1024.jpg

Or you could just use "Jay Fegs"

[George]

Acronyms do not have to be pronounced based on the pronunciation of the words that make them up. That is actually made up garbage...POTUS

You mean POTHUS, right? :lol:

[Crazed_Insanity]

I really don’t give a damn.

[mk]

Reclamation.

[Crazed_Insanity]

As long as we understand what each other’s talking about, is it necessary to be that anal about sounding?

I still remember that one time I was having a face to face conversation with DN and he was talking about a team of some kind... and my mind was wondering which team was he talking about... must be some sort of Aussie sports team that I’m unaware of... then I realized he was talking to me about Tim. :|

[Godson]

Today I learned how to make a group of people on the internet get involved on a singular topic.


How to correctly pronounce a made up acronym.

[Kchrpm]

The fact that people think there should only one
be "correct" pronunciation for a word like that is so silly to me. I have seen and heard people passionately defend and attack positions on this for years, and it's such a fascinating look into nerd culture.

I hope to some day find out that no one really cared or even had a preference either way, and it was all just an improv sketch on which they decided to continue riffing.

[MR2 Fan]

Drax: "Nidavellir? That's a made up word"
Thor: "All words are made up"

[George]

I think you're probably right already about people picking a side - either side - and then bashing those who've chosen the other team.

What else are we gonna do around here?

[MR2 Fan]

http://extrafabulouscomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/sports.png

[MR2 Fan]

DAMN...I don't know what to say, but this is brilliant

https://twitter.com/catvalente/status/1089293175360028674

[21Kid]

Exactly! I was pissed about Maher's comments too. She summed it up perfectly.

[FaultyMario]

Exactly! I was pissed about Maher's comments too. She summed it up perfectly.

Fuck that guy. In the bad sense.
Fuck that gal. In the good sense (would that rather be 'make love to that gal'?). The end to her twitter thread was beautiful, and I quote: "You get one life on this rock. Why in the hell would you give up something you love just because you got old enough to really appreciate it?".

[Godson]

Why do people get so mad at a talking head whose sole job is to be a shock jock?

Seriously, ignore the fuckers.

[JoeW]

Because we’re on the Internet and we’re not going to take it anymore!!!!

[George]

*lights Molotov cocktail* :mad:

[speedpimp]

Why do people get so mad at a talking head whose sole job is to be a shock jock?

Seriously, ignore the fuckers.

But nothing he's saying is shocking at all.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, grow up people.

Yeah, Peter Pan's only adult role model was Captain Hook, it's no wonder he doesn't want to grow up to be like him...

But to forever be stuck in Neverland and be the king of the lost boys also won't do you any good.

Grow up and have babies with Wendy, give up the fantasy porn with Tinker Bell. Make something of your life!!! Don't fuck Bill Maher, don't fuck Captain Hook, fuck Wendy(in a good way) and raise a proper family of your own if you think the previous generations didn't know what the fuck they're doing. Don't continue to hide in Neverland is what Bill was trying to say I think. Do something with your life. If you keep this up, being Peter Pan, there won't even be a future generation to complain about your sorry generation.

Earth is in deeper shit than ever before. Birthrate is declining. Old farts will all die away soon... May the super heros in you start the grow up soon and rise to the occasion. Earth needs you. The balance of the entire galaxy is at stake here. If you don't grow up and start using your powers soon, we'll all be fucked!

[speedpimp]

Go dildo yourself with Kryptonite.

[Jason]

I'm just here to say the GIF is pronounced with a hard g.

Anyone who disagrees is basically a Nazi

[Crazed_Insanity]

Go dildo yourself with Kryptonite.

I think one made of vibranium from Wankanda would be a much better choice than Kryptonite?

[FaultyMario]

Your holes, man. Fill em up to your heart's content.

[JoeW]

Your holes, man. Fill em up to your heart's content.
I think this settles it nicely.

[Crazed_Insanity]

No, the whole point was to grow up and stuff your holes with more realistic materials!!! :p

[speedpimp]

If that's the case than feel free to fill each and every one of your holes to the brim with leaky nuclear fuel rods.

[2ndMoparMan]

Fuck Tom Brady.

[MR2 Fan]

I'm reminded how much I don't like Maroon 5

[Drachen596]

The number of angry posts on Reddit because of the Sponge Bob song not being played is hilarious to me.

No one involved in the halftime show EVER said it was going to be played. A few groups hinted at it and apparently managed to drag in more viewers as a result.

[tigeraid]

http://scontent.fyhu2-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/51141373_10155741621772352_7682647820444106752_n.j pg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent.fyhu2-1.fna&oh=dd1da7ef5b9c7e856fe929b15f3c28fc&oe=5CB58112

[Cam]

WoOOOOoooo!

[MR2 Fan]

I only saw the first half of the Superb owl, but a lot of the commercials had a creepy vibe, with LOTS of IoT and robots, trying to make them funny...it didn't work.

Nothing was very funny to me except the Bud Light ads.

[sandydandy]

I only watched the third quarter. It was dull. Didn’t catch the first half or halftime because I forgot it was even on.

[George]

I saw almost all of the game and most of the ads. I came away unimpressed by all of it but full of good food, thanks to our next-door neighbors who hosted a party and everyone who brought good food.

The most exciting thing I saw was a few middle-aged ladies hooting and hollering when some tattooed guy took of his shirt at halftime. The rest of it seemed pretty ho-hum, in great contrast to the amazing second half of the AFC Championship game this year.

I missed a commercial with "The Dude", apparently.

[JoeW]

He abided.

[Freude am Fahren]

I watched the whole game, since I'm a Pats fan, but I would have switched over the puppy bowl if I wasn't. I heard they had Sloths and Capybaras!

I didn't see any of the ads really, except a few I watched on Monday to see if I missed anything good. Not so much.

Also, somewhat related to the ads, especially the Stella one with The Dude, I was on Netflix, and looking for that Danny McBride/Chris Hemsworth Dundee movie I remembered seeing commercials for a while back, only to learn it was an elaborate ad/hoax for Australian Tourism, culminating in a Super Bowl ad. :lol:

[JoeW]

Yes that was genius.

My favorite ad ever is still Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. Just pure hilarity.

[George]

Just saw The Dude & Horseface ad on YouTube.

Yawn.

Much ado about nothing, says I.

Super Bowl LIII: The Sloth Bowl (thanks to FaF for the idea :lol:)

[George]

My favorite ad ever is still Terry Tate: Office Linebacker. Just pure hilarity.


https://youtu.be/RzToNo7A-94

:lol: :up:

[JoeW]

Gets funnier every time I watch the whole series.

[MR2 Fan]

Terry Tate is a LEGEND...still my favorite as well

[George]

https://youtu.be/JJmqCKtJnxM

[JoeW]

Also genius.

[MR2 Fan]

so this idea of fake videos of world leaders being more easily made has me concerned, but I had a minor idea.

Why not for all planned speeches and special reports, etc. there's multiple cameras, angles and audio sources used. So it would be still possible to fake what is being said and heard, but it would be more complicated to do so and we can be more assured of what's actually being said.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes, can’t rely on single source anymore. If something cannot be confirmed with multiple sources, just don’t take it all in. Even for measures against fake news, we probably ought to read the news from both right and left angled medias in order see it the real news.

[MR2 Fan]

We're humanizing that mars opportunity rover way too much, and I'm just as guilty.

[dodint]

Yeah, reddit was pretty much unusable last night.

[George]

I'm liking reddit less and less lately. A young guy at work turned me on to it when I got my first smart phone in 2017 and I found the app a delightful time-waster. Lately - and perhaps always but it's just now starting to bother me - when looking at r/all, I see the same things posted over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

[George]

...and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over...

[dodint]

Yup. Subs just cross-posting themselves all over the place, not adding anything to the discussion.

[Kchrpm]

I ended up following certain subreddits and my homepage only shows posts from them instead of r/all.

[speedpimp]

This week we lost 20% of our drivers. Though it was only two guys the effects will be felt over the next few months or however long it takes them to find replacements for them. On the upside it looks like we'll be getting a raise. Heh.

[dodint]

I ended up following certain subreddits and my homepage only shows posts from them instead of r/all.

This is the definition of silo'ing. ;)

[sandydandy]

The past 24 hours have been very sad around here. Last night an Amber Alert was issued for a little girl abducted by her father on her 11th birthday. Apparently he was separated from her mother and failed to return her at the agreed upon time. The alert went out at around 11:30pm, texted as an emergency to people’s phones in southern Ontario.

It was established that the father was clearly a disturbed individual, who had threatened to harm himself and his daughter. Turns out he made good on that threat. At around 12:30am another message was sent out, cancelling the Amber Alert, as the child was found. I thought all was fine, but no. He murdered her in his basement apartment and then fled. They found him an hour north of the city.

Fucker killed his own daughter on her birthday. What kind of monster does that? As the father of an 11-year-old girl myself, this hurts so much. I didn’t know either of them, but I still find myself really disturbed by it. It’s so gut wrenching and heart wrenching and cuts to the core. How can a man do that to his little girl???

Couldn’t sleep last night and was sluggish all day today thinking about it. Gave my daughter a couple of extra hugs today. It’s so tragic what happened.

The worst part was people complaining about the Amber Alert waking them up in the middle of the night. Get fucked with an AIDS dick if you think your convenience outweighs the life of a missing child. Petty bastards. :mad:

[dodint]

Sorry you went through that.

To play Devil's Advocate, it's highly unlikely the child would have been in the bedroom with any of those sleeping people. And if she was they were unlikely to tell anyone. But yeah, I don't think I would've complained aloud about it.

[Kchrpm]

This is the definition of silo'ing. ;)

Except that I don't go to Reddit for actual news, I go to it for, effectively, pop culture news and memes. I use Google News for news, because it prevents the things you complained about on Reddit :)

[tigeraid]

The worst part was people complaining about the Amber Alert waking them up in the middle of the night. Get fucked with an AIDS dick if you think your convenience outweighs the life of a missing child. Petty bastards. :mad:


Yeah, the whole "we're all nice people here in Canada" trope got tested mightily this week. Buncha assholes.

[sandydandy]

Sorry you went through that.

To play Devil's Advocate, it's highly unlikely the child would have been in the bedroom with any of those sleeping people. And if she was they were unlikely to tell anyone. But yeah, I don't think I would've complained aloud about it. I get that perspective but the reality is that people are always out and about even at 11:30pm, there's traffic on the roads and highways 24/7. The police don't know who's awake and who's asleep. In fact they caught the father based on a sighting from someone who saw the alert, so the system did work. Obviously the desired result was that the little girl would be with him and unharmed, but it didn't work out that way.


Yeah, the whole "we're all nice people here in Canada" trope got tested mightily this week. Buncha assholes. Yeah I heard people were calling 911 to vent. Abusing the system. Some people were complaining that their favorite TV show was interrupted because of the alert was running across the screen. Stupid assholes.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Wow. Calling 911 to vent?

Anyway, regardless of how such event affected you, people should just calm down and cherish and hug their love ones a bit more.

People are way too easily pissed off nowadays... and it really won’t do anyone any good including self.

[Dicknose]

I cant understand being angry and that divorce and kids is messy. I cant understand someone wanting to hurt their ex. But doing it by killing the kid - that is sick.
If you are that upset - top yourself and leave everyone else alone.

[Jason]

Caitlin had surgery to remove the tumor last night, and it went well. They removed one lymph node as well, and found it to be cancer free, so (knock on wood), she should be done with chemo, unless it's found to have metastasized elsewhere. If we get good news next week, then radiation starts in about a month, until sometime in April, and then it's back to getting healthy :up:

[FaultyMario]

Great fucking news, man! Been thinking about you two lately.

[tigeraid]

Awesome. :toast:

[sandydandy]

That's great news! :up:

[George]

:up:

Great news. Cancer is scary stuff.

[Kchrpm]

Yayz!

[Crazed_Insanity]

:up:

[dodint]

Good next step, congrats. :up:

[21Kid]

Glad to hear Jason. :D I was just thinking about you two, and was about to send a message asking how she was doing.


So, luckily you get to avoid me for another day. :finger:

[Jason]

:finger:

[TheBenior]

Huzzah!

[Ashie]

Excellent news. Congrats!

[speedpimp]

Good deal.

[FaultyMario]

Cam could you ask Lori if we're really this far down the hole? (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-ocean-is-running-out-of-breath-scientists-warn/)


Oxygen levels in some tropical regions have dropped by a startling 40 percent in the last 50 years, some recent studies reveal. Levels have dropped more subtly elsewhere, with an average loss of 2 percent globally.

[Crazed_Insanity]

If you can't trust scientific american, who can you trust?!?!?!

I am a believer of climate change, I think the data is clear. However, like I said before, what's less clear is what's the real cause and how can we fix it.

Take this oxygen level issue in the ocean for example, will reducing green house gases really help enough?

We could be sacrificing billions of dollars trying to reduce greenhouse gases with a global effort, but the ocean could still be fucked because of other pollutants we dump into the ocean.

Plants only produce about 30% of our overall oxygen, it's the ocean that generates 70% of oxygen. We can be reducing as much CO2 as we can, but if the ocean is truly screwed and can't create enough O2 by converting CO2, we'll still be left in a hot greenhouse all the while trying hard to reduce CO2 further in a futile effort.

Scientists now need to come up with as many possible solutions as they can. Surely there's isn't just ONE way like Jesus is the only way in order to solve this complex problem. Of all possible solutions to try, we'll try the one's with least public resistance 1st. Waiting for humanity to reach a global consensus is also unrealistic.

[Jason]

Spoke too soon. She needs more chemo and more surgery. Sigh.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Sigh... sorry to hear that...

[George]

So sorry to hear this, Jason.

[Cam]

Yes, Mario, we are that far down the hole.


If you can't trust scientific american, who can you trust?!?!?!
Climate scientists.


...what's less clear is what's the real cause and how can we fix it.
This is hogwash; propaganda from the fossil fuel industry that has a financial interest in subverting climate science. My wife is a climate scientist, legit. Greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels is the cause of anthropogenic climate change. Seriously. It is a scientific consensus among her peers. Really and for true.

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions is the only way to attempt fixing it. Yes, it needs to be fixed.

[Ashie]

Spoke too soon. She needs more chemo and more surgery. Sigh.

Bummer. Hugs to you both.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Cam, I’m not a fossil fuel lobbyist, just saying that if somehow we humans are also causing significant harm/decline of phytoplankton population, major converter of earths CO2 to O2, then we will be screwed no matter how much CO2 we cut.

I find it hard to believe us generating more CO2 is causing their decline. We must be polluting the oceans in other ways.

[21Kid]

:down::sadbanana:

[Cam]

When someone who really knows their stuff tells you what’s up and you still refuse to acknowldge it, what more can I say?

We are most certainly poisoning the oceans in additional ways; agriculture and resource extraction runoff, garbage/waste...

Anthropogenic climate change is caused by fossil fuel burning. Seriously. Scientsts that specifically study climate say so. Smart people. Smarter and more educated than us. It is their job to study climate. It’s what they do. It’s all they do. They know their shit. It’s their first love, much to their spouse’s chagrin. There is no debate in the scientific community. There is an agreement that an increase in greenhouse gasses released by modern human activity are causing climate change. Really.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'm not denying you and your wife's claim dude. Considering how many cars and factories and powerplants we have now compared to just a few decades ago, surely we are producing helluva lot more CO2 than ever before.

Again, not denying this reality. I'm not a climate change denier.

I just think there are most likely multiple solutions. And don't pull this crap the church pulls on the rest of the population... that there's only one way to be saved. Do it the Jesus way or the highway. Com'on, why should I believe that? ;)

Earth's climate is a complex system. I'm sure your wife knows what she's doing, but I'm willing to bet scientists don't all have consensus either.

Anyway, I just don't believe we can afford to wait until the whole world reach agreement in order to do something. Each nation can't even make up their minds yet let alone wait for the whole world to come to an agreement on this.

At the very minimum, let's each try to pollute our planet a little less in our own ways NOW!

[Cam]

The only scientists that do not agree with the concensus that fossil fuels are the problem get research funding from oil and gas companies.

Soooo, you would win that bet, I guess. :rolleyes:

[Cam]

Jason, sorry to hear about your lady. :( My mother-in-law battled cancer recently. 5-6 years ago, she had major cancer in her abdomen. She got treatment and is a survivor, beating the odds. There is hope!

[JoshInKC]

I think you're missing what Billi is actually saying, Cam.
He seems to be working somewhere along the line of: "Sure, this guy stabbed his wife to death, but somebody broke into my car last week. Why bother arresting him when there's still crime out there?"

[Crazed_Insanity]

Burning Fossil fuel= primary CO2 producer and O2 killer

Phytoplankton=primary O2 producer and CO2 killer

Cam, what is your wife’s view of phytoplankton? Are they declining or not? If so, why?

My view is that there are at least 2 ways to fix our problem. However, I'm not a climate scientist nor marine biologist, not even sure what's the best way to go the phytoplankton route without further upsetting the balance. For example, ingredients needed for phytoplanktons are water, light, CO2 and nutrients. All we need to provide are proper nutrients and ensure no pollutants... however, even if we could raise sufficient phytoplankton levels to offset fossil fuel emissions, they will dramatically deplete oxygen in the ocean, which might harm other marine lifeforms.

Cutting down CO2 is certainly the right step and perhaps the inevitable thing to do. I hope you understand that I'm not arguing against that.

Using Josh's analogy, I think he's pretty close, except we need to add a bit of political context. Say that I'm black... and my wife or son was shot dead by a cop and I'm unable to get justice out of that because of fucking racists. Now my car is broken into. Okay, so now I don't feel like reporting that to the stupid police because they're racists, but I should still report it to my insurance company and get my car fixed, right? I shouldn't just allow other parts of my life to fall apart just because of some fucking racists are in the way? Likewise, we don't have to to wait for the climate deniers to come to agreement to do something. Find the least resistance thing to do 1st as 1st aid to our climate... hopefully in time, attitudes will change.

I'm assuming you never saw the climate discussion in the political thread, but FYI, I have solar on my roof and driving an EV. I hope that is sufficient to help you see that I'm not a fossil fuel lobbyist. You don't need to fight me about climate change. I'm fighting climate change in my own ways.

[FaultyMario]

Spoke too soon. She needs more chemo and more surgery. Sigh.

Sorry to hear about it, man.

Cancer treatment is a long battle, and when doctors recomend surgery, IME, it's because they think it's the best course of action, long term. Hold on, buddy.

[Jason]

Yeah, they just didn't communicate with us very clearly, so we were surprised. The second round of chemo (we might do a clinical trial with immunotherapy also, we'll see) is supposed to be "easier" than the stuff she was originally on, but is still going to come with side effects, and she tends to be sensitive to those. Surgery is because they didn't get enough healthy tissue when they removed it, so they might need to go back in and scrape more out, finding out more today. Either way, the odds are still in her favor for a good outcome of all this, but she tends to have bad luck so we're doing anything we can to minimize said bad news odds.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yeah, they just didn't communicate with us very clearly, so we were surprised.

I don't like the sound of that. Was this because you guys didn't understand properly or they failed to convey the message clearly or they just screwed up and trying to blame you guys?

Anyway, if possible, try to get 2nd or multiple opinions from other doctors to further minimize future bad news odds.

[Cam]

I was addressing: "...what's less clear is what's the real cause and how can we fix it." Weren't you talking about climate change here? Now you are saying this is not your view? :? :erm:

Analogies to other things like crime and cops are logical fallacies. I have nothing else to say.

[MR2 Fan]

in other news: a few large and unique deep sea fish have been washing up on shore in Japan and now California in the past few weeks...that's possibly a sign of an upcoming earthquake.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I was addressing: "...what's less clear is what's the real cause and how can we fix it." Weren't you talking about climate change here? Now you are saying this is not your view? :? :erm:

Analogies to other things like crime and cops are logical fallacies. I have nothing else to say.

I said that because if we're having issues with phytoplankton population... if earth's is losing it's primary capability of converting CO2 back to O2, then we'll be screwed even if we stop burning fossil fuel altogether, right?

It's obvious and no denying that we're creating too much CO2, maybe even unnatural amounts of it. However, I'd like to know how are earth's phytoplankton population changing as a result. Are they also increasing because of increase in CO2 but even working at their maximum capacity, they can't keep up with us? Or are they actually decreasing causing further accumulation of CO2 in atmosphere? Anyway, data on that seems less clear after did some quick googling. If you can consult your wife on that, I'd appreciate it. What are the latest finding?

This article, dated nearly a decade ago... is this still true? That we're also actually losing phytoplankton? So we can expect to suffocate to death because we just don't have enough oxygen generators around?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/phytoplankton-population/

[Godson]

Jason, I'm very sorry to hear this. Being on the "inside" of surgery, cancer is a bitch to get all of it at times. I'm hopeful you and yours get the best desired outcome possible.


Climate change:

Let's take this discussion away from this area.... It's clouding up a decent thread.

[dodint]

The thread's not the problem, bruh.

#CommonDenominator

[speedpimp]

Sorry Jason.

[sandydandy]

Man I heard some sad and shocking news over the weekend. A kid in grade 12 at my son’s school killed himself. Hung himself at home and left a note indicating that he didn’t know why he was doing it. My son is in grade 11 and didn’t know the kid or anything, but heard from others that he was a normal and happily social kid. I wonder what drove him to commit suicide. So devastating. My heart goes out to his parents, siblings and friends.

My son and his buddy went to a vigil last night in the neighborhood. He came back visibly shaken. He’s developed a stiff upper lip since hitting puberty about four years ago and doesn’t like to show weakness, but last night he was in tears for his fallen peer. As a parent it’s very scary because it hits so close to home.

This school is fairly new, only 10-12 years old. This is the first student they’ve lost. So sad. :(

[FaultyMario]

He’s developed a stiff upper lip since hitting puberty about four years ago and doesn’t like to show weakness, but last night he was in tears for his fallen peer. As a parent it’s very scary because it hits so close to home.

Great book, can't recommend it enough, (https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-Will-Listen-ebook/dp/B005GG0MXI) shouldn't be treated like a manual, more like a guide, though.

[MR2 Fan]

Man I heard some sad and shocking news over the weekend. A kid in grade 12 at my son’s school killed himself. Hung himself at home and left a note indicating that he didn’t know why he was doing it. My son is in grade 11 and didn’t know the kid or anything, but heard from others that he was a normal and happily social kid. I wonder what drove him to commit suicide. So devastating. My heart goes out to his parents, siblings and friends.

My son and his buddy went to a vigil last night in the neighborhood. He came back visibly shaken. He’s developed a stiff upper lip since hitting puberty about four years ago and doesn’t like to show weakness, but last night he was in tears for his fallen peer. As a parent it’s very scary because it hits so close to home.

This school is fairly new, only 10-12 years old. This is the first student they’ve lost. So sad. :(



I don't want to jump to conclusions about what happened there, but just wanted to say: As someone who had embarrassing incidents in middle school and high school, where something happens at noon and the entire school knows about it by the end of the day, I can't imagine the kinds of pressure kids are under when social media is involved now, and suddenly what you do can go global very quickly.

[sandydandy]

Great book, can't recommend it enough, (https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Kids-Will-Listen-ebook/dp/B005GG0MXI) shouldn't be treated like a manual, more like a guide, though. Looks interesting. I’ll give it a whirl.


I don't want to jump to conclusions about what happened there, but just wanted to say: As someone who had embarrassing incidents in middle school and high school, where something happens at noon and the entire school knows about it by the end of the day, I can't imagine the kinds of pressure kids are under when social media is involved now, and suddenly what you do can go global very quickly. I’m thinking that’s a possibility. His ambiguous suicide note didn’t help. Fucking kid was a few months away from graduation. If it was something/someone bothering him at school, couldn’t he just take a step back and realize that in a few months all of these people will be gone? High school will be over and he’ll be off to university (presumably) and a whole new world would open up and he’d never see these people again. That’s the kind of talks I have with my son if I sense something is bothering him at school. I try to expand his horizons a bit and tell him that high school is just for four years. Just to kind of keep his head level and see things from a wider perspective.

He’s off skiing today on a school trip. I hope he’s at least trying to enjoy himself. He was pretty shaken up yesterday. Especially after seeing the kid’s mother. I really feel for the family. When you see that sort of thing it’s hard to not visualize yourself in their shoes, with it being your own kid dead. The thought is unbearable. We raise our kids and try to protect them from danger. Worry about their future, their safety, their physical health and mental health. It’s maddening that some things are out of our reach. Just have to hope they have the mental strength to endure and resources to cope whenever life throws a curve ball at them. And life always throws em.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Yes.

HS kids are practically adults. Hopefully we’ve raised them sufficiently to be able to survive the real world. Can’t protect them forever.

There’s always a reason why somebody committed suicide, even if the cause were depression or other mental issues... whatever the reason, no need to dwell on it anymore. Particularly for the surviving family and friends..., remember to stop blaming yourself. Sometimes there’s just nothing we can do to prevent it.

Anyone contemplating suicide, please only do it after you’ve received blessing from family or friends!!!

[FaultyMario]

I hate HP printers.

[dodint]

I want to put an axe through my Epson. I think when I build my home office I'm going to get a full business size document center. The ~$200 consumer all-in-one's are trash.

[MR2 Fan]

I hate HP printers.


I concur, they used to be good, then they got cheap with their build quality

[JoeW]

Canon is my choice. Barring them I’d go Epson.

[Freude am Fahren]

My Epson isn't bad (for a printer).

But printers in general are a nightmare. I'll never understand how we can make so many new amazing devices talk to eachother so easily, but printers still feel like we're living in 1995.

And HP is one of the worst I've experienced.

[MR2 Fan]

I dunno, it seems to me like printers and copiers are an imperfect science. Unless it's dot matrix paper, regular sheets of paper could have a propensity to jam depending on circumstances (humidity, temperature, etc.). I'm just guessing on that though.

There was even a certain paper brand that advertised that it was less prone to jamming than others.

Similar to 3D printers, though, the quality of the media you're printing with probably has a lot to do with the quality and the possible issues.

Again, just my thoughts, I could be wrong. :)

[SportWagon]

I think I still have my Mannesmann Tally clone of an Epson FX80.

[Leon]

I hate all that is HP, not just the printers.

[Freude am Fahren]

I had an HP desktop I was quite happy with, of course that was nearly 20 years ago though.

Known some people that have had laptops from them and had plenty of problems. They throw a lot of bloatware at you.

I still think Dell is the best option for general PCs. Laptops and desktops.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I still use my cheap HP desktop I bought for couple of hundred bucks from woot... I think the sucker is at least 5 years old... just using it to stream stuff to be seen on our living room TV. Works great even running windows 10 now.

I dislike my smart TVs OS nor do I like fire stick. Just much easier to browse and surf with an actual PC.

Anyway, dont have inkjet printers anymore. Cartridges are too expensive. Black and white laser works well. We also got a cheap one online.., not even sure what brand it is... but works well and haven’t replace its ink for years...

[sandydandy]

I really love my HP laserjet printer. Lightning fast compared to the half dozen or so inkjets I had been using prior to it. I replace the toner maybe twice a year. I only have use for black.

I might’ve had an HP laptop a long time ago. I can’t really remember. I’m on my fourth laptop in the last 15 years. Sixth desktop.

[Cam]

I've owned four computers in 20+ years. I've changed gaming consoles more often than I've had a new computer. :lol:

[tigeraid]

I tend to go as far as 6-8 years on a gaming PC. My older machine still runs most games really well, but these days, the game makers are so good at making the game run well at "high" or even "medium" instead of "Ultra," so the rare time I need to turn the wick down, it doesn't bother me. I care so much more about gameplay now than just how perfect the graphics are.

I kinda prefer this to buying a new Playstation every three or four goddamn years, and they're almost as expensive as a PC build now!

[dodint]

Same. I went 2010 to 2017 with the last one. I hope not to upgrade again for some time.

[Freude am Fahren]

Current 2700k system was built in early '12, upgraded with a new GPU (GTX770 from a 570) and boot SSD a couple years later.

I was going to upgrade this year, but some unexpected expenses have put that on hold. Just as well, mostly I'm just using X-Plane and iRacing, both of which work fine on my system.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Remembered the days when we actually spent $1~2k on PC that can quickly become obsolete in 2 years?

Now we spend that kind of money on cell phones.

Hope we'll soon be able to have awesome reliable cellphones that won't quickly become obsolete for couple of hundred bucks soon.

Wonder what will be the next new gadget that we'll spend thousands of dollars on...

[Dicknose]

I've owned four computers in 20+ years. I've changed gaming consoles more often than I've had a new computer. :lol:

I’ve bought 1 computer in that time (around 2000), had a couple of handme downs including my ex-work Apple macbook

[Drachen596]

China has grounded all of the Boeing 737 Max 8s owned by airlines there.
The crash in Ethiopia is very similar to the Lion Air crash that was few months ago.

Some people are saying that it might end up like the rudder issue the 737 had in the 90s. Though this one is likely related to the MCAS thing they didn't even deem important enough to add to the pilots handbook.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Too early to tell... still, we had a good track record for overall commercial aviation for a while, sad that 737 max had to crash so badly... twice!

[FaultyMario]

Current ambient temperature: 29° C / 84° F
Current relative humidity: >15%
and almost no cloud cover.

Good lord, I'm dying!

[JoeW]

79 degrees
75% humidity
If the pollen levels weren't in the red at 10.3 then it would be a perfect day.

[George]

While you guys are suffering in the heat, I'll be enjoying the snow we're supposed to get here tomorrow.

Edited to add this after someone emailed it around at work:

Blizzard warnings issued for Denver, northeast Colorado for Wednesday storm (https://www.thedenverchannel.com/weather/forecast-parent/from-60s-today-to-heavy-snow-and-70-mph-winds-tomorrow)

"winds could gust up to 60 mph. Snow amounts on the southeast side of the Denver Metro area (where I live) will be in the 8 to 12 inch range, but the blowing and drifting will be the biggest problem."

[MR2 Fan]

been seeing some of these email extortion scams come through my spam filter recently. It's funny, they basically claim they've copied your webcam and visiting pr0n sites, then want you to pay them thousands in Bitcoin to keep it quiet.

What's funny to me is if people have that much in Bitcoin, they are probably somewhat tech-savvy and know a scam when they see one. I could be wrong though.

[Cam]

My wife has a work colleague who’s son was scammed out of his Steam account. They were able to get it back.

[sandydandy]

I get those emails all the time to my work email off the company website. They always refer to me as their victim. “Hey victim, this is you final warning”. Those emails get deleted straight away.

What’s even dumber is we still keep getting faxes from people claiming to be from overseas and working at banks. Or the relative of a Saudi prince who just passed away, whose heir shares the same last name as me, and has $50M stashed away. *Yawn* what bullshit, and waste of paper.

I’m thinking of getting rid of our fax line completely. Never use it for business anymore. Just collects spam faxes. Everything business related is done through email these days. Just a waste of money keeping the line going.

[Drachen596]

Considering completely canceling cable services and just using my phone for internet.
Savings could be like 2700 for the year or so.

I dont really know what the downsides would be. I dont game online or anything. I have unlimited data on the phone plan.

[balki]

There's either a hotspot/tethering limit (most providers) or you'll have bandwidth limits (Verizon)
As long as you don't Netflix/stream or have to download a game/large patch you'll be fine

[dodint]

We do this at our second house. We only stay there on occasion as it is under renovation. I can make it a weekend of Netlix, HBOGo, Youtube, and playing PS4 online without a problem. Not sure I could make it a whole month though since I have a 10GB cap per device.

[Crazed_Insanity]

When we have 5G and unlimited everything, cable companies can probably go away then like Blockbuster.

[Drachen596]

There's either a hotspot/tethering limit (most providers) or you'll have bandwidth limits (Verizon)
As long as you don't Netflix/stream or have to download a game/large patch you'll be fine

I have Sprint. 50gb hot spot and unlimited phone data. I do have Netflix and hulu right now. Coworkers have some HP dock that can be used for screen mirroring or if I get the right cable I can use the Note 9 as a baby pc.

[balki]

I've been able to get by with as little as 2GB/month, 10GB should be okay with only moderate monitoring.
50GB? what are you waiting for?

[Cam]

I have never been into golf. We have friends visiting who golf. One wanted to watch The Masters. I actually found it exciting to watch the final today. We streamed it for free from The Masters web site.

We rarely watch TV. I have only ever had internet—no cable or hard line phone—since I lived on my own (2003). I never had any services in my name before that. Lori wanted to watch a few shows, so we have an Apple TV. We had Netflix and Hulu until about six months ago. Now we only have Amazon Prime. We rent a movie once in a blue moon via Apple TV. We use the Internet a lot for work and games, so we pay extra for a good connection.

[dodint]

I was on vacation in NC last year. Got drunk, walked home from the bar (didn't get arrested, suck it drew), turned on Amazon Prime and started watching Dukes of Hazzard Season 1 in HD. Forgot to set the sleep timer and the next episode kept playing automatically. Woke up the next morning and my 10GB was used up for the month.

[Leon]

Did Uncle Jesse still have the farm?

[George]

This story reminds me of an Allman Brothers song...

:sing:

I woke up this morning, I had them Statesboro Blues,
I woke up this morning, had them Statesboro Blues.
Well, I looked over in the corner, and my 10GB was used up for the month.

[Drachen596]

Anyone ever worked for UPS as a package handler?

Trying to get a second job and so far it's about the only thing I've seen to fit with my main jobs work schedule.

[drew]

I was on vacation in NC last year. Got drunk, walked home from the bar (didn't get arrested, suck it drew), turned on Amazon Prime and started watching Dukes of Hazzard Season 1 in HD. Forgot to set the sleep timer and the next episode kept playing automatically. Woke up the next morning and my 10GB was used up for the month.

I can't believe that shit was 16 years ago next week...

[sandydandy]

My nephew posted this image (below) on Facebook. Ended up getting kicked out of the house. Sounds ridiculous, I know.

A little background...my nephew is a student from India on a student visa. He’s 22/23. Came to this country in 2016. He lives with my brother-in-law and his family. He lived with us for the first six months, then moved over there. They’ve kept him since and it’s been a rocky relationship for 2 1/2 years.

My bro-in-law flipped out when he saw that post, thinking he was the target of it, which makes zero sense. I think he was just looking for an excuse to kick the kid out. Truth is the kid is fucking up. Going to school and excessive working has taken a toll on him. His grades have been suffering and he’s spending way more money than he’s bringing in. Collection agencies are constantly after him, and he’s on his last legs, academically. Someone got a hold of his academic report and his GPA was something like 0.8. So it’s bad. Really bad.

You’d think he’d be finished his program by now, but no. This semester that just passed by was his final chance to redeem himself, or lose his student visa and be ordered out of the country. I feel bad for him, but he fucked himself. It all boils down to poor time management. Spending too much time hanging out with friends, going to the casino and blowing his cash, in turn forcing him to work more hours instead of putting that time toward studying.

The semester is over and everyone is waiting on his results. My bro-in-law is being a dick, but to a certain extent I can understand his general frustration. No one can deny that he gave him room and board, totally free of rent. He even gave him a job at his pizza place. He fucked that up once by calling a female customer who he liked. He got her number off the order receipt. Classic case of creepy ass stalking. He’s so lucky she didn’t escalate the situation by bringing the police in.

But yeah this kid is on his last legs in this country. If he gets kicked out of school then he’ll either get back on a plane or go into hiding, and become an illegal. I hope it’s not the latter. I want nothing to do with him if he chooses that route.

I believe in helping people, and did offer to take him back a few times, and even now after this recent spat. But it’s a two way street. He needs to get his shit together, or go home.

EDIT - It’s impossible to click the thumbnail on mobile view, so I’ll just post a transcript of what it says:

”If you didn't hear it with your own ears or see it with your own eyes, don’t invent it with your small mind or share it with your big mouth.”

[Crazed_Insanity]

No doubt he also knows how fucked up he is..., and his behaviors reflect that. This kid obviously needs a lot more help than a visa, roof over his head and a pizza job. Obviously he has severe emotional and possibly mental issues. He needs lots of love and care and attention from somebody probably. Couldn’t find it from his home, then he tried to get some love from female customer...

Very fitting topic for an Easter weekend. Jesus was willing to die in order to help, but such help can only be received by those who are willing to receive help. Not even Almighty God can save everyone. We’re only human. Just help as much as humanly possible I guess...

Good luck to you and your nephew.

[sandydandy]

Thanks man. It's a really tough situation. Tuition fees for foreign students are through the roof, and it hurt him pretty hard as he had to keep paying again and again because he kept failing. So sad, we had such high hopes for him when he came. His parents back home are really hurting too. He's let them down. I know he feels it.

It'll be hard for him going back to a country like India after spending three years in Canada. You just can't go back to a place like that. The standard of living is like night and day. He'd have no opportunity there to become anything. This was his big shot in life to become something. I hope he had a good semester and can stay alive here with an extended visa. Or perhaps meet somebody and get married. I'm told he has a girlfriend...but I'm not sure if she's Canadian or just another fellow international student. Have no clue, he only gives everyone half the picture, which has been a huge issue. He doesn't tell anyone what he's up to. What his situation is, what his troubles are. We have to force it out of him. Then wish we never knew. What a mess. LOL.

[Ashie]

Anyone ever worked for UPS as a package handler?

Trying to get a second job and so far it's about the only thing I've seen to fit with my main jobs work schedule.

My brother did, it was hard work according to him. He isn't much into hard labor unless it involves the gym. Good luck.

[Drachen596]

What's wrong with some people?

Ex blocked me and hasn't contacted me for about three weeks. Today I get a message saying she misses me and hopes I am doing okay.

I reminded her that she's the reason we haven't talked and told her to choose to be my friend or go away. It's been radio silence again since that.

Was she expecting me to beg her to stick around and talk to me?

[Cam]

Probably best not to dwell on it. There is no making sense of crazy people.

[Crazed_Insanity]

What's wrong with some people?

Was she expecting me to beg her to stick around and talk to me?

Yes!

[Godson]

Probably best not to dwell on it. There is no making sense of crazy people.

This, move on and forget

[FaultyMario]

Yup, no cure for pain that's better than time and distance.

[George]

Silence is the stronger position.

[Crazed_Insanity]

What's wrong with some people?
I reminded her that she's the reason we haven't talked and told her to choose to be my friend or go away. It's been radio silence again since that.


I think we all have certain issues, but I think one problem we men have is that we tend to want to apply or expect too much reason from an emotional being... and when we can't deal with those raw emotions, then we just label them as crazy and leave it at that... For sure there are psychos, but if we keep on running into psychos, then maybe we need to rethink a bit... am I attracted to psychos or am I attracting psychos or perhaps what I'm doing is turning them into psychos? ;)

Men are emotional beings too. Falling crazy in love is seriously illogical and unreasonable sometimes. If you've been thru it, you know how it is. Our brain is capable of both reason and emotions... just need to strike the right balance and not fall to either extremes too much.

Lastly, as far as I know, my wife has a lot more close friends than me. Unless you're the social outgoing alpha male type, most guys I know have way fewer friends compared to any typical gal.

So I can assure you she doesn't need another 'friend'. She'd like to have a 'Man'. No girl would want to be told to choose me, as a friend or otherwise, or go away. She wants to feel wanted by her man. A man doesn't have to be on his knee to beg her to please stay and a real man can firmly tell her please don't go because I fucking love you you crazy bitch!!! Not in those words exactly but I hope you know what I mean. ;)

[Yw-slayer]

Sandy, the main problem appears to be the casino. Sorry to hear about it.

[21Kid]

Anyone ever worked for UPS as a package handler?

Trying to get a second job and so far it's about the only thing I've seen to fit with my main jobs work schedule.

I worked there for about a year after high school. Lots of bending and lifting. They were only 4.5 hr shifts, which sucked. Mandatory overtime during holidays.

But, this was 20ish years ago.
Fuck I'm old...

[Crazed_Insanity]

You’re forever 21 to us kid! :D

[Dicknose]

But, this was 20ish years ago.
Fuck I'm old...
So High School was 20ish years ago... yeah your real old!!
20 years ago I quit my job (3rd job and in it for 7 years) and worked on the Sydney Olympics. Id been out of high school for almost 20 years.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I guess you'll forever be a dick to us! :p

[speedpimp]

You’re forever 21 to us kid! :D

His wardrobe is Forever 21 as well.

[Drachen596]

I don't get mandatory minimum square footage for houses.

Minimum in the county I live in is 900 square feet for a house. I can however rent an apartment that's as small as 350 square feet in the same area.

What gives? Why can't I build a simple 1 bedroom or something that's the same size as an apartment?

[drew]

My house was 672sqft, but it was built in 1950. Otherwise I'd have had to remodel/expand.

[dodint]

We just bought a 750sqft house but we're basically doubling it with an addition.

[tigeraid]

That's a very dumb bylaw. Doesn't surprise me though. Encourages gentrification in a way, it eliminates frugal, lower income people who want to build a small house on a patch of land. Or a trailer, for that matter.

"Tiny Houses" are a growing trend in this area.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Didn't even realize there can be laws for minimum square footage... I'm only aware of city ordinances that limit you. Such as you can only build up to 1/3 of your lot or whatever other limitations.

Anyway, with every law, you can always find loop holes to get around it, right? ;)

[speedpimp]

Yesterday was a 14 hr day that had a bit of weirdness to it as well. I was delivering to a customer that takes their delivery through the back door. I went to open the door and a ladder starts falling towards me. I put my arm up and stop. Beats the alternative of wearing it as a hat. I go inside and cuss a bit and put the ladder in front of the cooler door. I go back outside to grab my cart and the door flies open and smacks me in my side. Turns out the manager was trying to open the door for me and didn't realize where I was. All I say is "COME ON, DUDE!", set the stuff inside and go back for the rest of the order. The manager apologized for the ladder thing and admitted they need a place to hang it. I get my invoice signed and go on my merry freaking way.
A few hours later at another location for the same customer I wheel my cart through the prep area and there are a few women working and talking and one of them gives me an odd/concerned look. I take the cart back to where the cooler is and she follows me back there and rubs the small of my back. WTF? I pull my cart out from under the stuff and hightail it back to the prep area and ask if one of them could sign my invoice so I could get going. Don't know if it's boundary issues or what, but I keep my hands to myself and expect others to do the same. Guess I'm a bit paranoid that way.

[sandydandy]

Sounds like you had “just one of those days”. Take it easy, me bruv. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

[speedpimp]

I know it was, dude. There's just been a lot of them lately. Heh.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Should sue her for sexual harassment! Nobody touch the small of my back!!!

[MR2 Fan]

I'm not posting on my old 3D Printer thread (may make a new one once my new printer is finished), but I'm working on a powerful tool-changing printer that's open source right now....just waiting for the company that makes the parts to be finalized in July.

ANYWAY, the point of this is that I can soon print things like this very easily...automatically (the person who made this had to swap the filaments for each color change):


http://gtxforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=3250&d=1557240682


This is a base platform as he makes F1 steering wheel replicas with his 3D printer...amazing work overall. Here's his twitter:

https://twitter.com/nachete2016

[SportWagon]

5 Play Station 1 memory cards I ordered from eBay arrived in the mail yesterday.

So I guess I should make sure to test them soon.

Now, they did come from Australia. So does that mean I must be careful to put them into the PlayStation upside-down?

[George]

Check for spiders and snakes!

[Dicknose]

Are they right hand drive?

[Leon]

If you flush them down the toilet, will they swirl clockwise, or anti?

[Drachen596]

Wondering where I would be right now if I hadn't helped my sister and her husband 2 years ago.

I think I would be better off than I am right now.

[Cam]

My wife was just contacted by an institution in Potsdam, Germany encouraging her to apply for a prestigious position. I told her it better be a major step up to make us leave what we have here. She said, "It is." :eek:

I could live in Germany for a while. :D Alas, that would mean giving up "My Garage." :(

[Crazed_Insanity]

In the future of autonomous driving, who needs garages!

Anyway, congrats!

[FaultyMario]

My wife was just contacted by an institution in Potsdam, Germany encouraging her to apply for a prestigious position. I told her it better be a major step up to make us leave what we have here. She said, "It is." :eek:

I could live in Germany for a while. :D Alas, that would mean giving up "My Garage." :(

I think it'd be awesome to trade the garage for the study of the molecular physiology of plants.

[Cam]

Chances are slim, but possible. It is also very likely that she would get a retention offer from her current institution if she threatened to leave.

[FaultyMario]

So my guess was accurate? Wooow! :eek: :up:

[Cam]

I did not know you made a guess at something or what that guess was.

[FaultyMario]

I thought it was the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology.

[Cam]

No. Lori studies climate and chemistry.

[Drachen596]

Pros/cons all weighed out. Emailed HR for more information and how to apply.

Hopefully I can get this done quickly and get through the CDL training. Good part is my time with the company should still count and health insurance should be the same.

[Phil_SS]

My wife was just contacted by an institution in Potsdam, Germany encouraging her to apply for a prestigious position. I told her it better be a major step up to make us leave what we have here. She said, "It is." :eek:

I could live in Germany for a while. :D Alas, that would mean giving up "My Garage." :(

Just change it to Die Werkstatt :)

[dodint]

My wife was just contacted by an institution in Potsdam, Germany encouraging her to apply for a prestigious position. I told her it better be a major step up to make us leave what we have here. She said, "It is." :eek:

I could live in Germany for a while. :D Alas, that would mean giving up "My Garage." :(

So, you posted this the day before I left for SC and I missed it until now. When you told me at the track I thought it was a secret so I haven't mentioned it to anyone. Clicked here and found out I missed the whole discussion. :lol:

You know I support you. Would be happy to know someone there when/if we make the move ourselves. ;)

[Cam]

As I keep saying, this community is obscure enough to not be noticed.

[MR2 Fan]

not much activity on the Pit Stop lately....people too busy or have we run out of topics?

[dodint]

I know I'm guilty of it myself a good bit but I'm just worn down with having to constantly debate people on everything. I do a lot more 'passive' reading now, here and elsewhere. I just don't engage the way I used to in Pit Stop type topics. I try and post more in the Garage and Paddock threads but there isn't much of a following there; I made a post which included pictures of three forum members participating in a racing event and it got no replies at all. *shrug* I'm thinking about going out to Bonneville to attempt a land speed record next fall and didn't even think to bring it up here because, honestly, who cares?

A more substantial answer is I've always felt this forum, for the amount of traffic it gets, has too many sub-forums. It might be easier for some to browse it if there were fewer places to look. Personally I just use the 'New Post' search so it doesn't affect me unless I'm looking for something specific.

I'm basically here to see what George digs up on Craigslist. ;)

[tigeraid]

Same. Debate is a struggle now. Perhaps social media has done that. I swore off arguing about ANYTHING on facebook about 3-4 years ago, and have succeeded at it amazingly. So now my desire to argue here is greatly reduced too, even if it's usually more reasoned debate.

[George]

not much activity on the Pit Stop lately....people too busy or have we run out of topics?

I think we've just about run out of people. So many who used to post here multiple times throughout the day have left over the years. I suppose that's typical. I've stopped going to some forums that I used to enjoy and found a couple new ones because my interests have changed. Life moves on.

There are some parts of this forum I never enter - not on purpose, but just from habit, I guess. I read The Open Road, The Garage, and The Pit Stop and not much else, usually. Maybe I should look around more often.

I've been slacking in my forum craigslist duties because I've been seriously shopping for my next car lately - my first 21st century car - rather than checking out old classics and other oddballs that I can neither afford to buy nor have the room to store but that are fun to look at and talk about.

[dodint]

Do you use CarGurus at all, George? I'm using it for my E85 Z4 search and it's been pretty great. It's effectively completely replaced Autotrader for me.

[George]

Yes, it's one of several search sites I have bookmarked. I have them all saved with what I'm looking for selected and I go through them two or three times per day at work, along with craigslist, of course.

Guess I can delete them now. Mission accomplished just now, today. :D

[dodint]

Congrats!

[sandydandy]

Same. Debate is a struggle now. Perhaps social media has done that. I swore off arguing about ANYTHING on facebook about 3-4 years ago, and have succeeded at it amazingly. So now my desire to argue here is greatly reduced too, even if it's usually more reasoned debate. Agreed about debating on FB. I tried debating a racist guy once who didn’t like NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, and he immediately saw my public family pictures and didn’t hesitate to go straight to wife/kids/cocks etc. I swore off debating political shit with people since. If I feel inclined to do it again I can always use my fake account, but it’s not exactly a priority right now, and likely never will be. I do comment on sports stuff once in a while.

As far as this forum goes, I agree with others that there’s not really much to talk about these days. I have near zero interest in US politics, especially with that orange menace in charge, and try to avoid reading the politics thread. I need to start avoiding the news as well. I do enjoy talking about movies and TV. Did a lot of NBA talk recently. It was a great distraction from the BS of the world, but I’m pretty much burned out of that right now.

[FaultyMario]

Please do not post pics of your cock on FB.

I recently read they're removing the original metadata from pics and putting in their own tracking code instead. But hey, if you want to be a subject of cock-recognition, then by all means...

[Leon]

Put a fake mustache on it. That'll fool them

[Godson]

Wait, what? Cock uploads on FB?

[speedpimp]

The last time I had my Combivent inhaler filled was Feb of last year and the price through my insurance was $60. I went to pick up a refill today and was shocked when I realized the price was now $10 instead of the previous $60. The non-insurance price was printed on the receipt. $484.95 for a 30 day supply. I'm really happy I've got insurance and don't need the inhaler every day.

[Leon]

Wow you guys get fleeced.

[balki]

Saw a business man in business suit entering a corporate skyscraper to go to a business meeting.
Everything checks out except the dress pants on his $1000 suit were hemmed up past his knees.
Looked 10x worse than jorts.

[2ndMoparMan]

What we need is another great thread like "Large Man with a straw in his anus" or "Wank Stomp Crabmeat"

[tigeraid]

Ahhhhh the crabmeat guy. So many memories. :sadbanana:

[speedpimp]

Saw a business man in business suit entering a corporate skyscraper to go to a business meeting.
Everything checks out except the dress pants on his $1000 suit were hemmed up past his knees.
Looked 10x worse than jorts.

Something like this (https://www.suitusa.com/tuxedos/39506?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIo7Li54_b4wIVRr7ACh3P9gpNEA QYAiABEgLB5_D_BwE)?

[George]

Or like this?

https://radioimg.s3.amazonaws.com/kvilfm/styles/delta__775x515/s3/USATSI_9508130.jpg?itok=n8XxVqhe&c=09ca564f3b6d69d9a39bdea164245d00

[George]

What we need is another great thread like "Large Man with a straw in his anus" or "Wank Stomp Crabmeat"

Probably not thread-worthy, but still: Radioactive Uranium, Rattlesnake, Open Bottle of Whiskey Found During Traffic Stop in Oklahoma (https://ktla.com/2019/07/11/rattlesnake-and-radioactive-uranium-found-during-oklahoma-traffic-stop/)

[2ndMoparMan]

yeah, I think I heard about that one on the RT podcast.

[balki]

Rich/George, yes, but much higher quality and with a fancy tie plus some high-end shoes.

Side note, I ran into my first robot.
Some +6’ beeping thing with eyes on it just roaming the supermarket unsupervised.
Pretty creepy

[sandydandy]

I updated my default Gmail settings to basic HTML view. Or I thought I did. It told me so when I was already in the basic HTML view. The next time I launched it, it went back to standard view, which is sooooo bloody slow and aggravating at times. Especially when switching between folders. Now I have no idea where to change this preference again. Went all through the settings menu and everything. What horseshit. :mad:

[speedpimp]

Click this link, bruv. Trust me. (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/17uvx7jri3ah3/?v=lui)

[FaultyMario]

That midget pr0n video you just linked to is amusing, Rich. It lacks the finesse commonly associated to this board, though.

[sandydandy]

Click this link, bruv. Trust me. (https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/h/17uvx7jri3ah3/?v=lui) Thanks, me bruv. It worked!

[FaultyMario]

Fuck, I did not need a bout with Dengue. Not right now. Day three and while the fever has receded, the meds have wrecked my stomach.

[Crazed_Insanity]

Just chill out and take care man.

[George]

Ah hell. Hang in there, Mario.

I just googled Dengue and didn't like what I saw.

Just about everything I see, hear, or read about these days sounds like the end times are soon upon us. :(

[dodint]

Seems unpleasant but not out of the ordinary for more tropical climates. Small chance of a high plains luddite contracting it. ;)

[George]

Well, I do prefer the classics - ague, barrel fever, chalkstones, croup, dropsy, lombago...

(trying to find an Abe Simpson clip similar to this but not finding what I think I remember - the closest I've come so far is the onion in the belt scene)

[Leon]

I love the onion in the belt scene. We use that to describe every conversation that my friends father starts (and then fails to complete).

[sandydandy]

Sadly, my favorite Indian restaurant closed down a short while ago. Just learned about it yesterday. It’s somewhat devastating. Been going there for almost 20 years. It’s going to be hard to find a replacement. :(

[Kchrpm]

20 years? That's a great run!

[George]

Yeah, that's pretty good for a non-chain restaurant. There are quite a few Indian restaurants where I live, but we are losing fast food restaurants. Seems like all the Burger Kings for miles around have closed (except the one inside a Wal-Mart) and a couple Taco Bells have been sitting empty for a while now (a year or two, maybe). There was also a Steak 'n Shake that closed recently in a shopping center where I find myself often on weekends. The drive-through always had a long line, but I guess there's more to being profitable than always having people in cars sitting there wondering why it's taking so long (that place was notoriously slow). I'm not a frequent fast food consumer, but one can't help but notice this.

What made me think of this is this is I drove by one of the former Burger Kings this weekend and noticed it is now an Indian restaurant.

I like Indian food. I used to get a lot of it at potluck lunches at my last job, but I don't go to Indian restaurants often enough to remember what things are called. But if it's fragrant and spicy-hot, I like it.

[Cam]

When I was in Vienna, I ate at a great restaurant that was in a building constructed in 1697. It was a bakery for almost 300 years until it became a restaurant.

I just tried to look it up. Apparently, it closed. :(

[Leon]

There's still a little Chinese place open today that I used to go to with my parents, 40 years ago, and I've no clue how long it had been going 40 years ago*

*sadly when I went back there for nostalgia reasons, I got epic food poisoning that destroyed me for several days.

[sandydandy]

20 years? That's a great run! Yeah man. There’s another Caribbean place I’d been visiting since high school that closed down a few years ago, which broke my heart. But luckily, unbeknownst to me, they had a second location that was still up and running. But that location is too far east to realistically visit on a regular basis. One hour drive. So that’s become a once in a year place, rather than once a month.