Random Thoughts Part 4 - Split Thread

[Silicon Waffle]

I wouldn't have learned that unless you told me so.
I would only want to advise him to go fetch the dog to help its true owner if he loves Missy Lu.

 

[WWGD]

Seems like people at B&N are playing with my head : every time I go over a book there, wait till next day , see if I want to buy it, the book disappears.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Seems like people at B&N are playing with my head : every time I go over a book there, wait till next day , see if I want to buy it, the book disappears.

How many years have you been with books ?

 

[OmCheeto]

Usually it means, "best friends forever" ... not always, though...

You got it.

Bff might be the most anti-social person I've ever met in my life.
He's very much like those old men who sit on their front porches who scream at children in their yards.
But being mobile, in his wheelchair, he has the opportunity, on his trips to the store to get beer, to scream obscenities at everyone along the way.

To passing cars; "Slow down you [string of obscenities]!"
To children playing in their own yards; "You kids stay in your [expletive deleted] yard!"
To passing strangers walking down the street; "Don't even think about it. I'll [expletive deleted] you up!"​

After having sat with him for the last 2 months in my driveway, I've learned his life story.
I would describe it as a life, made up of possibly the most complete list of bad decisions humanly possible.

Some highlights:

At 16, his mother asked him to park the car. Being on acid, he drove it through the back of the garage.
At 18, he was ejected through the windshield of his friends car. They were both drunk. This was the first time he had a hip replacement.
At 35, he was arrested on suspicion of murdering his 2nd wife. I suspect she died of a drug overdose, so he was acquitted.
At 40, he started a 10 year stretch of living on the streets. I think this is where he honed his social skills.
At 50, he joined a marijuana growing commune in northern California. He didn't like that, because the liquor store was too far away.
At 58, he discovered me, and started telling me unbelievable stories. I kind of believe all of them now.​

He insists that we are friends.

 

[HomogenousCow]

That's for sure.

For those who don't know.
HitchBOT, the hitchhiking robot, gets beheaded in Philadelphia

That's quite sad. Whoever did this needs to go get a life.

 

[Borg]

That's quite sad. Whoever did this needs to go get a life.

Note the crumpled beer can where his head used to be. I would guess that alcohol was involved.

 

[OmCheeto]

That's quite sad. Whoever did this needs to go get a life.

Our country, needs to get a life.

The inventor, with a premonition:

It'll probably work in Canada. It would never work here, because here in the States, we would be put in the ditch, or shoot it.

We shouldn't dis on Philly. It was just a matter of time.

Reminds me a bit of that song by the Avett Brothers; "There's a darkness upon us, that's flooded in light, and I'm frightened by those that don't see it...".

ps. It would appear, that I'm having one of those "senior moments" again...

 

[WWGD]

How many years have you been with books ?

Now I just spend a few days with the books and then if I like them, I buy them (If I have the $$).

 

[WWGD]

Still having trouble understanding when my Jamaican friend talks. After many years here, he still has that heavy accent.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Oh man, I just found out they're "reviving" the X-Files. Apparently they've shot six brand new episodes that comprise the new first season. I think I'm going to be afraid to watch them for fear it just won't be the same.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

Still having trouble understanding when my Jamaican friend talks. After many years here, he still has that heavy accent.

How could one "pretend" to live a life of someone else for years to later claim that he isn't the one as he used to be just by a change in his accent ?
We can't change our history, some just cling to it always and forever.

 

[Enigman]

Oh man, I just found out they're "reviving" the X-Files. Apparently they've shot six brand new episodes that comprise the new first season. I think I'm going to be afraid to watch them for fear it just won't be the same.

Look at the bright side- if it turns out to be horrible we can make the horrible pun of calling it 'Oh-God-Y' files.

 

[WWGD]

How could one "pretend" to live a life of someone else for years to later claim that he isn't the one as he used to be just by a change in his accent ?
We can't change our history, some just cling to it always and forever.

IDK, I have this theory that people who have a heavy accent many years after leaving their homelands are still, at some level, psychologically, living in their homelands and have not moved on. But so many theories I have made have been wrong ...

 

[Enigman]

Changing your accent takes effort and practice. Something most of us are not willing to expend. On the other hand confounding people by talking to them in 3-4 different accents on different occasions is quite fun, because they never can quite figure out your real one. BTW your Jamaican friend probably maintains in his mind, like you do, that his accent is the only true accent-less pronunciation. Everyone else just talks funny. RP and GenAm still count as accents.

 

[WWGD]

Changing your accent takes effort and practice. Something most of us are not willing to expend. On the other hand confounding people by talking to them in 3-4 different accents on different occasions is quite fun, because they never can quite figure out your real one. BTW your Jamaican friend probably maintains in his mind, like you do, that his accent is the only true accent-less pronunciation. Everyone else just talks funny. RP and GenAm still count as accents.

I save the weirdest accents, lisps and extreme stuttering for telemarketers.

Around 5th time this week that I almost (subconsciusly) hand my house keys to an attractive cashier when I meant to give her my credit card. I don't think any of them saw me handling the keys, though.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

[...]

Around 5th time this week that I almost (subconsciusly) hand my house keys to an attractive cashier when I meant to give her my credit card. I don't think any of them saw me handling the keys, though.

What happened next would be very thrilling!

 

[axmls]

I got my wisdom teeth out today. I've never been put out like that (general anesthesia). I think medical technology is remarkable in that I was having a conversation and the next thing I knew, I was in the recovery room. If this were 200 years ago, they would've just given me a bottle of whiskey.

Then I realized that 200 years from now, they may be saying "hah! 200 years ago the dentists actually had to cut wisdom teeth out of people's skulls! Now we just teleport them out!"

That, or we could be altering the genome so people aren't born with them anymore.

 

[OmCheeto]

Today was a cornucopia of randomness.
It ended, at least up to this point, with me buying 3 goldfish, 20 white clouds, and some frilly aquatic plant.
With the garden complete, and the harvest in, I figured I'd be bored without randomness to watch.

ps. Missy Lu showed up again today. She didn't stay long this time. But I did get a chance to feed her. Gads, I love that dog.

 

[WWGD]

What happened next would be very thrilling!

Sadly not too much so. I got my Frap crunch and sat down. Sorry to fizzle after a good buildup.

 

[WWGD]

Show "Num3rs" seems to push boundaries of believability at times. Lead scientist/Mathematician makes claims like : " I know the culprit is 5'10" , with an Austrian accent, and he overeats grapes". When asked why: " Look at the napkin he left by his coffee cup. It makes a 30 deg. angle and it has a tear right by the coffee stain..."(elaborate --supposedly Mathematics-based-- theory connecting the two) "

 

[JorisL]

https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/12th-dimensional-hypothetical-novelty-symmetry.827252/

crackpot index is over 9000 here.

 

[collinsmark]

What? Nine thousand?! There's no way that can be right.

 

[WWGD]

Had kind of a nasty exchange with a beggar today. He asked for my "spare change" ( because I guess I was going to throw the change in the trash anyway), which was around 35 cents. He seemed unsatisfied with the amount and then said something to the effect that he was sure that if he pulled a gun on me, he would find I had more than 35 cents on me. I replied: if I pulled a gun on you, I am sure I would find out you don't need the cane you are using and that at least half the story you are telling me is false.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Had kind of a nasty exchange with a beggar today. He asked for my "spare change" ( because I guess I was going to throw the change in the trash anyway), which was around 35 cents. He seemed unsatisfied with the amount and then said something to the effect that he was sure that if he pulled a gun on me, he would find I had more than 35 cents on me.

Hard to believe a guy with such a winning personality end up as a beggar.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Here's a tale I heard today, from a guy at a coffee house:

This guy worked at a water park in N.J. Big, long water slides lead down into a lake. One day, a couple customers point out to this employee a kind of dark, inverted bowl-like shape floating on the water. He has no idea what it is, but jokes with them that it's the resident lake turtle, and he forgets all about it.

Later a small kid on a boogie board paddles up to it and finds out it's the top of a drowned man's head. He's been floating there dead all day with just the top of his shaven head above water.

 

[zoobyshoe]

...little, tiny potatoes...

 

[WWGD]

Here's a tale I heard today, from a guy at a coffee house:

This guy worked at a water park in N.J. Big, long water slides lead down into a lake. One day, a couple customers point out to this employee a kind of dark, inverted bowl-like shape floating on the water. He has no idea what it is, but jokes with them that it's the resident lake turtle, and he forgets all about it.

Later a small kid on a boogie board paddles up to it and finds out it's the top of a drowned man's head. He's been floating there dead all day with just the top of his shaven head above water.

Maybe (the new ) Mulder and Scully can figure out what happened ?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Maybe (the new ) Mulder and Scully can figure out what happened ?

I want to believe the truth is out there. Let's sit and smoke a Morley and ponder it.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

He sounds so cute and sweet.

 

[WWGD]

Maybe Kylie (formerly Bruce) Jenner could work for Armani (S)ex change... Wonder if Hallmark has a card for this one : Congratulations on your new mom?

 

[Silicon Waffle]

I think it's all perfectly ok to me, why don't you try to love someone of the same sex to see how the new flavor may change your mind ? I tell you my silliness.
When I saw any handsome macho man passing by, I "felt" their beauty (to make some part of my bodily insides i.e around my neck, chest, stomach or bladder top secret some strange, sudden hormone and thus it choked me in a very short moment). I did it many times a day simply because just so many good looking men walked around me. But I was shy and ashamed in public if I kept looking at people with such a Babe-I-wan-cha urge, although I almost couldn't resist.

 

[jim hardy]

I tell you my silliness.

here's mine...

many years ago i caught the latter part of a PBS broadcast of "Twelfth Night".
An actor portraying the young boy Cesario looked, well, effeminate,

and i was getting quite uncomfortable with just how curvy and soft he appeared to be.

Imagine my relief when in the last scene Cesario is revealed to be a lovely young girl named Viola masquerading as a boy..
"He" turned out to be the incredibly gorgeous Helen Hunt ,
She did a GREAT job with the part.

 

[WWGD]

here's mine...

many years ago i caught the latter part of a PBS broadcast of "Twelfth Night".
An actor portraying the young boy Cesario looked, well, effeminate,

View attachment 87280
and i was getting quite uncomfortable with just how curvy and soft he appeared to be.

Imagine my relief when in the last scene Cesario is revealed to be a lovely young girl named Viola masquerading as a boy..
"He" turned out to be the incredibly gorgeous Helen Hunt ,
She did a GREAT job with the part.

Maybe next time they can have a woman masquerading as a boy masquerading as a girl (?!?)

 

[HomogenousCow]

Jesus Christ, massive explosion in TianJing.
The footage is unreal.

 

[jim hardy]

Maybe next time they can have a woman masquerading as a boy masquerading as a girl (?!?)

sounds vaguely familiar... maybe "Shakespeare in Love"?

 

[collinsmark]

I think you might be thinking of Victor Victoria.

 

[WWGD]

Great idea. Again !
Microsoft decides to , yet again, change the layout of its Outlook email program. But it is, or seems, mostly superficial
and arbitrary, no real improvement. I think they want to give the impression they are always
improving, when they are just making cosmetic changes, which just confuses the hell out of me.

 

[lisab]

Jesus Christ, massive explosion in TianJing.
The footage is unreal.

It's awful. I feel so bad for those people.

 

[dlgoff]

Great idea. Again !
Microsoft decides to , yet again, change the layout of its Outlook email program. But it is, or seems, mostly superficial
and arbitrary, no real improvement. I think they want to give the impression they are always
improving, when they are just making cosmetic changes, which just confuses the hell out of me.

Indeed, no real improvement. Actually they try to force all the other "socially thing" programs on you. So if you just want to check your email inbox, good luck. You may get there in five minutes or so. I've complained to no avail.

 

[Silicon Waffle]

here's mine...

many years ago i caught the latter part of a PBS broadcast of "Twelfth Night".
An actor portraying the young boy Cesario looked, well, effeminate,

View attachment 87280
and i was getting quite uncomfortable with just how curvy and soft he appeared to be.

Imagine my relief when in the last scene Cesario is revealed to be a lovely young girl named Viola masquerading as a boy..
"He" turned out to be the incredibly gorgeous Helen Hunt ,
She did a GREAT job with the part.

My case was totally different . In fact I did know well who I was right in the first place but I kept making a joke with myself in public and acted as if I had always been a real man to feel the unreal excitement. I also had friends who were nice to always believe I was a real man. My jokes were meant to make them believe more in my masculinity. Am I cruel ? I think so.

 

[WWGD]

Indeed, no real improvement. Actually they try to force all the other "socially thing" programs on you. So if you just want to check your email inbox, good luck. You may get there in five minutes or so. I've complained to no avail.

Thanks for feeling my pain. How about we do this, which I already suggested in some forum here:
We find Bill Gates' car (assuming he drives it himself) and every time he changes either the interface on Windows or the one in some other of his products, we move the steering wheel somewhere else, ditto for the brakes, etc. which we can put in the roof of the car or in the trunk, and/or we remove one of the doors , and have him figure out how to drive the car that way, so he can feel the way Microsoft users do when his majesty Bill feels like improvising.

 

[jim hardy]

speaking of "forcing socially things on you"

have you tried windows 10 ?

At install time there's a 'twenty questions' session
where you need to tell it to not automatically track your web surfing and send same to microsoft for personalized advertising
and to not give out your wifi password
and so on and so on
see https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230462 ,,, though a lot of it was above my level

I found 10's "cute yuppie toy " automatic features so annoying and frustrating that after a week i went back to 7.
Really, i wish i could go back to DOS.

 

[PWiz]

I just finished watching Code Geass. It's one of the best (if not the best) stories I have ever come across - beautifully crafted, skillfully narrated, cleverly paced, and ingeniously concluded.
The incredible trauma in the story really got me though. It's definitely worth a watch, although you should grab a few tissue papers if you're not particularly strong hearted (it's very Game of Thrones-esque, so don't get too attached to anyone character) and avoid any Internet spoilers too if you decide to dedicate yourself to 50 episodes amazement.

 

[Enigman]

I just finished watching Code Geass. It's one of the best (if not the best) stories I have ever come across - beautifully crafted, skillfully narrated, cleverly paced, and ingeniously concluded.
The incredible trauma in the story really got me though. It's definitely worth a watch, although you should grab a few tissue papers if you're not particularly strong hearted (it's very Game of Thrones-esque, so don't get too attached to anyone character) and avoid any Internet spoilers too if you decide to dedicate yourself to 50 episodes amazement.

If you are okay with a high degree of morbidity you might want to watch Monster.

http://animehaven.org/dubbed/monster-episode-1

 

[Silicon Waffle]

If you are okay with a high degree of morbidity you might want to watch Monster.

http://animehaven.org/dubbed/monster-episode-1

I am not a fan of such anime, most of which are built on good stories but filmed at very low frame rates. 2D animation by Walt Disney I guess is almost outdated now but I am sure it will always remain as one of my favorites ever.

 

[PWiz]

If you are okay with a high degree of morbidity you might want to watch Monster.

http://animehaven.org/dubbed/monster-episode-1

Actually I'm more into intellectually engaging and morally challenging anime (like Death Note, etc), but I'll give it a try nonetheless.

 

[dlgoff]

have you tried windows 10 ?

No way. I had to uninstall update KB3035583 to get rid of the "reserve a windows 10 copy" application. Now I check for "more information" on every KB-update before downloading. My daughter was visiting and last night we were discussing this. Her opinion was that they kept dumbing down the operating systems.

... after a week i went back to 7.

Smart man.

Really, i wish i could go back to DOS

What version would you like Jim? I would recommend DOS 4.0. I can send it right away.

 

[Borg]

Now I check for "more information" on every KB-update before downloading.

I've been doing that also. As far as I remember, they've been showing up mainly in the optional updates section. It's a shame that MS is pushing an OS through the process that is supposed to be for software patches and virus definitions. It leaves me always wondering if I didn't load a patch that I should have or if I loaded Windows 10 malware when I shouldn't have.

I decided to Google "stop microsoft from pushing windows 10 updates" and found multiple links to stories like this:
Microsoft Releases Tool to Stop Automatic Windows 10 Updates

Closer examination seems to indicate that the title is misleading. It should read that they've released a tool that restores the ability to selectively install updates. Apparantely, Windows 10 takes that away. The tool was released because the updates kept trying to install drivers that were breaking and, once enough of the Windows 10 OS had infected your system, you couldn't stop it from trying over and over. Another reason I don't want their new OS. Looks like my next system is going to have a Linux OS. I've heard that Apple makes a nice computer.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I've heard that Apple makes a nice computer.

This. Solve all your problems.

 

[dlgoff]

This. Solve all your problems.

But, but, ... I just laid my mother to rest yesterday now Windows?