Random Thoughts 7

[WWGD]

In some states, it seems you can't legally put ex-lax or similar on your food/lunch, if you believe, or even know, someone is stealing it.(Edit: Doing so, putting ex-lax, is considered assault) This guy bypassed the prohibition by putting in it an incredible amount of spices, then alleging he usually puts such amount on his food.

 

[jack action]

In some states, it seems you can't legally put ex-lax or similar on your food/lunch, if you believe, or even know, someone is stealing it.(Edit: Doing so, putting ex-lax, is considered assault) This guy bypassed the prohibition by putting in it an incredible amount of spices, then alleging he usually puts such amount on his food.

I worked with someone who had a neighbor who let his dog out in the morning to do its business on the neighbor's lawn before letting the dog back into the house and going to work.

One morning, my coworker gave the dog ex-lax and apparently the whole house of his neighbor was covered in dog poo. Like the dog spent the entire day sliding his butt around the house, smearing it everywhere.

 

[WWGD]

I worked with someone who had a neighbor who let his dog out in the morning to do its business on the neighbor's lawn before letting the dog back into the house and going to work.

One morning, my coworker gave the dog ex-lax and apparently the whole house of his neighbor was covered in dog poo. Like the dog spent the entire day sliding his butt around the house, smearing it everywhere.

Thanks. I'll be gifting someone a dog soon.

 

[WWGD]

Kind of funny. They were interviewing this guy in a talk show from a while back.
" Where are you from ?"
He says :
" Neptune".
Everyone in the audience cracks up.
Guy replies:
" Neptune New Jersey!!".

 

[WWGD]

I worked with someone who had a neighbor who let his dog out in the morning to do its business on the neighbor's lawn before letting the dog back into the house and going to work.

One morning, my coworker gave the dog ex-lax and apparently the whole house of his neighbor was covered in dog poo. Like the dog spent the entire day sliding his butt around the house, smearing it everywhere.

Did the dog happen to be a Sh*t zu?

 

[symbolipoint]

WWGD, about part of post #1055,
I just checked for the proper spelling using Wikipedia.
The dog breed spelled to be Shih Tzu.

 

[WWGD]

WWGD, about part of post #1055,
I just checked for the proper spelling using Wikipedia.
The dog breed spelled to be Shih Tzu.

Well, make some tweaks to allow for the joke.

 

[symbolipoint]

Well, make some tweaks to allow for the joke.

I may have missed the joke, because might have been too obvious. I focused too much on spelling.

 

[Astronuc]

Erwin, Tennessee on the Nolichucky River, usually a small meandering stream - not after ~14+ inches (~35.5+ cM) of rain.

https://news.yahoo.com/news/overflowing-raging-river-washes-away-052949848.html

https://news.yahoo.com/way-bridge-collapses-river-flooded-205541101.html

https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/erwin-tennessee-flooded-unicoi-county-hospital

 

[Swamp Thing]

I was very skeptical when I first learned about those headphones that you could control from a proprietary app, thinking that it was a pointless way to appeal to the consumers with an app-first mentality. Most of the essential features were available through hardware buttons anyway, and something like, for example, equalization could be supported, if really needed, by generic apps.

Now I find myself with a use case where that feature is proving genuinely useful. My father is 93. His vision and finger dexterity are such that he needs to ask me to start a small playlist for him on his phone, so that he can listen on Bluetooth headphones.

The problem comes when I need to talk to him (or to reply to something he said), because they are on Automatic Noise Cancellation (ANC). Without the app, I would have to press a button on the physical device, which is way sub-optimal. With the app, I can put him on "talk-through" which will pause the music and pipe my voice to him without me having to get up from my chair. <Double thumbs up/>

 

[Swamp Thing]

The dog breed spelled to be Shih Tzu.

I believe there are US accents that would pronounce "Sh*t Zoo" like "Sheeee-uht-zoo".

 

[jack action]

This is why I have trust issues:

​

 

[jack action]

Yesterday I went to a discussion group in Montreal found on meetup.com (first experience for me). Here's part of the description of the event:

Discussion: The Rule of Law

We live in a society governed by laws but do our laws really deliver on the promise of justice? Is it OK to break the law in the interests of a higher ethical or moral code? What do you think about the rule of law?

Join us for fun, friendly and substantive discussion about the important topics of the day. All viewpoints are welcome for this friendly, moderated discussion.

How it Works
Everyone will be invited to share their opinion, share relevant facts and reasoning, and respond to the views of others.

Our moderator will ensure that everyone has equal opportunity to speak and that dialogue will be kept respectful. All viewpoints are welcome. After the event, you are invited to stay for friendly, informal discussion if you wish.

Name and Pronoun Preferences
If you have specific pronoun preferences or any other requests to help ensure that you feel comfortable and respected, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the event organizer. Your needs and preferences are important to us, and we want to make sure our gatherings are supportive and inclusive for all attendees.

The host of the event has been organizing this type of event for the last 6 years, about 250 of them.
It's free. He even made his own app to moderate the discussion! Nobody was raising their voice or being intimidating in any sort of way. Very well moderated.

With a crowd of about 30 people, only 2 women were present.

I really don't understand where the women are, or what they're doing. This is clearly not a boy's club. It was even a gender-neutral subject.

Talking with other people and the host afterward, they said it was exceptionally low but women are always underrepresented. They have no clue how to make these discussions more appealing to them. 6 years. 250 events.

 

[WWGD]

Yesterday I went to a discussion group in Montreal found on meetup.com (first experience for me). Here's part of the description of the event:



The host of the event has been organizing this type of event for the last 6 years, about 250 of them.
It's free. He even made his own app to moderate the discussion! Nobody was raising their voice or being intimidating in any sort of way. Very well moderated.

With a crowd of about 30 people, only 2 women were present.

I really don't understand where the women are, or what they're doing. This is clearly not a boy's club. It was even a gender-neutral subject.

Talking with other people and the host afterward, they said it was exceptionally low but women are always underrepresented. They have no clue how to make these discussions more appealing to them. 6 years. 250 events.

Wow, it's hard to get just 2-3 people to disagree without the exchange degenerating into a shouting match after just 10 minutes or so. My respect for the organizers.

 

[WWGD]

Few things more uncomfortable than following up and reminding someone of a favor they offered you.

 

[WWGD]

Seems one can buy special wallet slips to protect oneself from RFID readers. But wrapping it in tin foil seems to work as a Faraday cage too. I can save with the latter, using some tinfoil from my hat ; ).

 

[jack action]

Wow, it's hard to get just 2-3 people to disagree without the exchange degenerating into a shouting match after just 10 minutes or so. My respect for the organizers.

The app the guy made is really great.

When you arrive, the moderator enters your name on his phone. Then on his TV, you see the name of who is currently speaking. Underneath the name, you have a column for who is waiting to speak and who is waiting for a quick rebuttal to the current speaker. You have 2½ minutes to present your point and a slightly shorter time for a rebuttal. The background changes color from green to yellow to flashing red as time goes by. There is even a beeping sound when in red. At that point, the moderator usually adds a "Sum it up!" if the speaker doesn't seem to end his train of thought.

To get on the list, you just raise your hand to signal the moderator you want to speak. For a rebuttal, you keep your fist closed.

What is even better is that the app takes into account how long each person is talking (cumulatively, throughout the discussion). So the order not only depends on first come, first served but people who haven't spoken much are also prioritized.

Even with all of that - or maybe because of it - it feels a lot like a casual discussion.

 

[Mayhem]

When I was younger, Camus' quote "Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?" was a poignant existential quote.

My few years in academia made me realize that he was simply a scholar screaming for help.

 

[WWGD]

Wonder if there's a polite way of asking some of my acquaintances: Who are you today, Jekyll or Hyde?

 

[WWGD]

Interesting :https://www.visualcapitalist.com/which-countries-are-the-healthiest-in-2024/

 

[Astronuc]

Couple driving along Interstate (I-40) in North Carolina escapes a landslide. Back window of the car cracks then drops into the back of the car.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/watch-40-mudslide-triggered-helene-003046012.html

Elsewhere - Lake Lure is full of debris of what were once houses/businesses/dwellings, contents such as furniture and boats.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hurricane-helene-leaves-wreckage-behind-062636761.html

 

[Astronuc]

SPRUCE PINE, N.C. (AP) — Two North Carolina facilities that manufacture the high-purity quartz used for making semiconductors, solar panels and fiber-optic cables have been shut down by Hurricane Helene with no reopening date in sight.

Sibelco and The Quartz Corp both shut down operations in the Appalachian town of Spruce Pine on Thursday ahead of the storm that swept away whole communities in the western part of the state and across the border in East Tennessee. The town is home to mines that produce some of the world's highest quality quartz.

With increasing global demand, Sibelco announced last year that it would invest $200 million to double capacity at Spruce Pine.

https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-quartz-hurricane-57153eaba12ba9dcb87bf618d72364ec

Semiconductors are the brains of every computer-chip-enabled device, and solar panels are a key part of the global push to combat climate change. To make both semiconductors and solar panels, companies need crucibles and other equipment that both can withstand extraordinarily high heat and be kept absolutely clean. One material fits the bill: quartz. Pure quartz.

Quartz that comes, overwhelmingly, from Spruce Pine.

“As far as we know, there’s only a few places in the world that have ultra-high-quality quartz,” according to Ed Conway, author of Material World: The Six Raw Materials That Shape Modern Civilization. Russia and Brazil also supply high-quality quartz, he says, but “Spruce Pine has far and away the [largest amount] and highest quality.”

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/30/nx-s...ne-quartz-microchips-solar-panels-spruce-pine

My wife read that the two mines apparently account for 80% of the US, or global, supply. I don't have the source, since it was read in passing.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS) Spruce Pine received 24.12 inches (61.3 cm) of rain. Some areas received more, some less.

Extreme Totals and Flooding​

Over that three-day window from Wednesday, September 25 through Friday, September 27, rainfall totals exceeded eight inches across our Mountain region, with a foot or more falling in parts of Alleghany County and in a swath from Boone through Brevard.


More than 18 inches fell across southern Yancey County, western McDowell County, southeastern Buncombe County, and northwestern Rutherford County. That included 24.41 inches at our ECONet station on Mount Mitchell and 19.99 inches at our station on Bearwallow Mountain.

The highest apparent total from the event came from the North Carolina Forest Service’s RAWS station in Busick, with a three-day accumulation of 31.33 inches. While unvalidated at this point, radar estimates back up the potential for two feet of rain or more in Yancey County.

In addition to these automated weather stations, four CoCoRaHS observers recorded three-day totals of more than 20 inches: 24.12 inches in Spruce Pine, 22.36 inches in Foscoe, 22.12 inches south of Black Mountain, and 21.96 inches south of Hendersonville.

https://climate.ncsu.edu/blog/2024/09/rapid-reaction-historic-flooding-follows-helene-in-western-nc/

Forbes arrticle on the mines and topical storm Helene.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...-the-worlds-semiconductor-industry-heres-why/

 

[WWGD]

Indians with name Dev and Poles Wotech have a head start towards IT jobs?

 

[WWGD]

The app the guy made is really great.

When you arrive, the moderator enters your name on his phone. Then on his TV, you see the name of who is currently speaking. Underneath the name, you have a column for who is waiting to speak and who is waiting for a quick rebuttal to the current speaker. You have 2½ minutes to present your point and a slightly shorter time for a rebuttal. The background changes color from green to yellow to flashing red as time goes by. There is even a beeping sound when in red. At that point, the moderator usually adds a "Sum it up!" if the speaker doesn't seem to end his train of thought.

To get on the list, you just raise your hand to signal the moderator you want to speak. For a rebuttal, you keep your fist closed.

What is even better is that the app takes into account how long each person is talking (cumulatively, throughout the discussion). So the order not only depends on first come, first served but people who haven't spoken much are also prioritized.

Even with all of that - or maybe because of it - it feels a lot like a casual discussion.

Just curious, what was the scope of the topics? Did it include the likes of Abortion, the Middle East, the (Canadian equivalent of the) 2nd Amendment, Euthanasia, etc?

 

[Astronuc]

A mammoth may be hiding below a North Dakota garage - Search for bones resuming more than 35 years after the first find
https://northdakotamonitor.com/2024/08/28/a-mammoth-may-be-hiding-below-a-north-dakota-garage/

In 1988, Murphy said he received a report of a homeowner finding some woolly mammoth bones while digging a foundation for a garage in northwest North Dakota. Murphy did not disclose a more precise location of the find.

The family had already sent a couple of teeth to North Dakota State University to verify that they had come from a woolly mammoth, prehistoric beasts that lived in what is now North Dakota during the Pleistocene Epoch, commonly called the Ice Age.

Weeks later, word got to Murphy that teeth had been confirmed as coming from a mammoth and he went to the site the next day. But by this time, the foundation had been poured and the garage built.

Murphy said he asked the homeowner if he would be willing to have the garage moved and foundation busted up so there could be an archeological dig. Murphy said the homeowner was willing, as long as the garage was restored the next month.

But Murphy was not able to find the people or the money to make that happen.

In December, 35 years later, Murphy started going through his notes from that visit. After the holidays, he contacted the person who now owns the home and attached garage.
. . .
The homeowner agreed to a test dig near the garage. Murphy said the small pit revealed some bone fragments and pieces of tusk in the backfill for the garage slab. Digging a little deeper revealed three undisturbed bones.

 

[jack action]

Just curious, what was the scope of the topics? Did it include the likes of Abortion, the Middle East, the (Canadian equivalent of the) 2nd Amendment, Euthanasia, etc?

It was my first event but here is the list of past events, including abortion, an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, and euthanasia. There are often events with open topics, where the group votes on suggested topics to select one.

 

[WWGD]

Importance of capitalization: " Have a great fall". Ok, I'll leave my shoes untied.

 

[WWGD]

It was my first event but here is the list of past events, including abortion, an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, and euthanasia. There are often events with open topics, where the group votes on suggested topics to select one.

I used to be in two; on and off.
, though they weren't part of the Meetup system. It was shut down after the shoot out over "Taste Great/ Less filling" ;).

 

[Borg]

Some friends of the family have a second home south of Tampa about 5 blocks from the water. They just upgraded the entire house and installed an in-ground pool this year. I don't hold out much hope for what that place is going to experience from a direct hit of a major hurricane.

 

[Rive]

Mid-life crisis: when you suddenly notice that your 'game of life' silently becomes more and more like a survival one.